#cass is also a Creature all the other ones are humans

[oberonbronze]

i love creature batman. no body just his pointy ears and eyes. he’s not even human. he can probably fly. he makes no noise when he moves. how he procures a seemingly endless supply of human children is a total mystery, but they seem to love him, so rescue efforts are usually ignored.

Commissioner Gordon, standing on a rooftop with a cup of coffee and a megaphone: Tim Drake, get away from the Batman. You have human parents and they are going to be very worried about you

Tim, sitting in Batman’s lap as a spindly, clawed hand affectionately pats his head: YOU’LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE, JIM

[goddess-of-graphite]

The Great Notes App Exodus: Gothic Dragons

Gotham has always been protected by a Dragon, even before it was ever Gotham.

There was a way about the land Gotham stood upon, that was all twisted magics and darkness and feral energy that never quite fit in man’s modern world. America had but one Guardian Dragon - except for Gotham, which was near a law and country unto itself.

Gotham was a sanctuary for the supernatural, but it was not kind. Those non-humans who risked its dark streets were the brave, or the foolish, or the terribly desperate. Gotham was a dark city, and it’s people adapted or were driven out.

(But should a threat ever come for her, all of Gotham would rise up in response.)

So Gotham had its own Guardian, but the Dragon guarded the world outside from Gotham’s brutality just as much as it shielded Gotham from those that would rend her apart.

But, of course, Dragons were only so many, and new blood must be brought in - human blood, as it often was, and so the trend of Dragon blood “skipping” a generation emerged.

And the bloodline of the Guardian Dragons of Gotham withered, bit by bit, because it is far easier to kill a human of dragon blood than it is to kill a Dragon of human descent.

(And Bruce Wayne has never hated this truth of the world more - because his parents had been Skipped, human, and if they had been dragons, they’d still be there with him.

But they weren’t.

It was just Bruce, a fledgling Dragon, and the butler left to care for him.)

-

Although Gotham had only ever had one Guardian Dragon, it had at one time had a whole lineage of Dragons capable of taking up the mantle. As the Dragons intermarried, however, more and more lines broke off with human kin, occasionally producing dragons.

But the Guardian Line had been reduced to one untrained hatchling. And that hatchling didn’t much care if it was a Dragon or a dragon that was Guardian of the city, just that there was someone to Guard it.

The problem is, of course, that the hatchling needs training - but he cannot get that in Gotham.

So he leaves.

He comes back ready to pull his city back from the brink, by force if (when) necessary.

Here’s the thing - Bruce is no Dragon, because for all that he is the last of the Guardian line he doesn’t adhere to the rules of that duty.

A Guardian’s duty is to the supernatural beings they protect.

Bruce has already decided that that is not enough. Human or Magical Being, if no one else will step in, then he will.

Bruce might have been the Gotham Dragon, but that didn’t mean he was the only dragon in the city.

The thing about dragon blood is that it tended to turn up dragons unexpectedly in families that had been mostly human. A dragon ancestor could have human children, and their children have human children, and then a dragon. It was a recessive trait when introduced into human bloodlines, and especially if it was paired with yet more human lines, but it also was tellingly stubborn - a human may only have a single draconian ancestor hundreds of years back, but they could still unexpectedly turn up a dragon hatchling.

It was just sheer dumb luck that a bunch of said unexpected hatchlings turned up within the span of the same generation.

[inbrightshadows]

*sticks one arm out from under my rock, slips this into the tag, and retreats back under my rock* Inspired by the cass apocalyptic series by somerandomdudelmao It's a very very cool rottmnt fancomic and you should give it a read 👉👈🥺 (Not canon but you might recognize some parts/dialogue from the comic) [warning for implied/referenced past infant death but no actual infant death (the boy is fine dw), infected wounds, amputation, and a dog like creature biting someone]

The first time Casey Jr almost dies he's about three months old, by their best guess, and he's only been Casey Jr for a week.

Cassandra and Raph go out on a supply run, which is normal. They come back with a baby in a box, which is not.

Fortunately or unfortunately, there's no such thing as government or paperwork in the apocalypse. So there's nothing stopping Cassandra from saying “I found him in an alley so he's my son now, his name is Cassandra Jr.” And that's that.

Thankfully, this isn't the resistance's first baby so there's plenty of formula and hand me downs to supply Cassandra in her sudden status as a Mom. And everything else the family quickly supplies.

Donnie is very uninterested in babysitting the oozy crotch goblin but Casey Jr's crib still has the genius built logo and built in laser security system to prove he cares in his own way.

Mikey breaks into his carefully rationed paint supply to paint a small mural above the crib and takes every chance to babysit he can.

And Raph? Well Raph dives headfirst into the roll of co-parent slash halway blockade.

Then there's Leo.

In his own words, he has a whole resistance to babysit. And besides that there’s not much he can really do other than what he’s already doing.

Fight the krang, stop the war, give little Casey Jr a better world to grow up in. And also avoid everyone’s efforts to get him to hold the baby.

He is not cut out for tasks that require a delicate touch but it seems like he’s the only one who understands that. He’s a gigantic mutant ninja turtle who, unlike his brothers, has never had any kind of hobby that requires any kind of delicacy. So he hangs back, he keeps an eye out for things that will be useful to the Caseys while he’s out on the surface, and he waves away attempts to hand Jr to him.

And then Casey Jr gets sick.

It should be fine. Should be normal. Babies are delicate little things, getting sick is a thing they do. Except there’s not much the way of medicine in the apocalypse. And babies are delicate.

It starts as a low grade fever. By the end of the day it’s a raging bonfire. They have a lot of things but medicine is in short supply. Nothing they have is working. It’s just Casey Jr, sobbing his heart out on Raph’s shoulder while Cassandra hovers and Raph tries to soothe all three of them.

There’s nothing Leo can do to help. They don’t have the medicine they need to treat the fever. At least not something safe to use on a baby. Raph is the one who remembers how Dad used to use lukewarm baths to break their fevers when they were little and he was still too scared to try human medicine on them. It helps enough that they can get some formula into the kid. But it’s not fixing things.

Two days pass and the fever refuses to break. The baths are becoming less and less helpful. After the third refused feeding attempt that afternoon Donnie slams down a map of ‘areas most likely to contain useful information or materials for treating a sick baby.’

Leo and Mikey gear up and head out leaving Donnie to monitor things back at base while April takes charge of running everything else so that Raph is free to help Cassandra take care of Jr.

It’s bad luck, really, that a pack of krang dogs find their camp on the first night. It should be fine. They should be able to handle it.

But bad luck is bad luck.

Leo sees movement out of the corner of his eye. He moves to dodge and the ground underneath him decides now is a perfect time to give way.

“LEO!” Mikey yells as Leo tumbles away into the dark.

Leo grunts, biting back a scream as the Krang dog’s teeth sink into his arm. They tumble into the dark together, bouncing down the stacks of rubble. It’s dead by the time he lands but the damage is done.  

The good news is that the fall kept the dog from getting a good grip on him.  

The bad news is that even if the bite won’t infect him with Krang regular infections are different story. Krang zombies have foul mouths.

Mikey can’t find out it managed to bite Leo. If he does he’ll want to go back and get Leo treatment before they look for the medicine.

And right now every second could mean the difference between getting medicine to Casey Jr in time or adding to their graveyard.

So Leo makes sure that by the time Mikey makes it down to him his first aid kit is a good bit lighter and any sign of the bite is hidden beneath his normal arm wraps.

When Mikey finds him Leo smiles and doesn’t hesitate to wrap both arms around his little brother.

“Are you okay- did it bite you?” Mikey asks, darting around him to hunt down every last scrape.

“Nah, just a couple of scratches,” Leo lies. “Let me heal them-” “No, we’ve got a ways to go, I won't risk you wearing yourself out too soon.” “Leo!” “I already used my first aid supplies on them! It’d be a waste if you healed me now!” Mikey glares at him but huffs and nods. “Fine! But if they start to feel bad-” “I’ll tell you, don’t worry,” Leo lies again.

Day two is a bust. There's useful supplies in the area Donnie marked out for them to search, sure, but nothing that will help  Casey Jr. Or the sensation of a burn throbbing its way up Leo's hidden bite wound.

Leo and Mikey mark out where the useful things are and keep going. Someone can go back for them when they're less pressed for time.

That night Leo waits for Mikey to fall asleep before he checks the bite. It's bad.

The moment the bandages come off he's gagging at the putrid stink of infection. It's hard to see it in the dark but then again he's not sure he really wants a better look. It wouldn't change his mind anyway.

He can make out the dark veins of infection spreading. If he wasn't green it'd certainly be a violent red.

He cleans it, spreads a thin layer of disinfectant cream that will do about as much good as throwing a cup of water at a bonfire, and re-bandages it.

His usual arm wraps go up over top of it, hopefully Mikey won't notice he's done them a bit higher than normal.

All the evidence goes into the fire. By the time Mikey's turn to take watch comes all that's left is ash.

On day three Leo wakes up feeling like someone dropped a building on him. He makes the mistake of groaning about it.

“Leo? Are you okay?” Mikey asks. “Yeah, yeah I’m fine. I just, uh, I think I’m inheriting Dad’s back problems! That or the Krang made the ground harder.” Mikey snickers. “I mean, they would, but I’m also pretty sure you just called yourself old.” “I did not!” Leo drags himself upright and makes a show of cracking his back. It obliges with a satisfyingly loud pop that makes Mikey giggle harder. “I think your spine disagrees with you too.” “Shut up!” “Awwww are you feeling cranky, old man?” 

Leo is too exhausted to feel properly offended or even think of forming a comeback but he plays it up for his little brother anyway.

Anything to keep him from worrying. Or forcing them to turn back. It’s fine. This shouldn’t take too much longer anyway.

It’s midday by the time they reach the second site. Just from a glance it’s obvious this is a more promising site. There are actual chunks of buildings scattered around and there’s enough of a shattered sign left lying around to tell them that whatever kind of care this place used to give it was geared specifically towards children.

There’s plenty to find digging through the rubble. Well. Plenty for Mikey to find. Leo is mostly trying not to let on how dizzy he is.

To both of their frustration, they run out of daylight before they find anything. Leo can feel his body screaming at him to lay down and rest. Just a little longer, he tells his body. They’re going to find the medicine. He can feel it. Leo just needs to make it at least that long.

The fourth day dawns. Mikey shakes him awake as soon as there’s enough light ot see by. Leo bites back a moan as he claws his way upright. Leo thought his arm hurt before but now it feels like someone is pouring lava down it.

He notes with a calmness that boarders on absurdity that he can’t feel his fingers.

Something must show on his face- or maybe he just looks at least halfway as awful as he feels- because Mikey frowns at him when he wakes up.

“I’m worried,” Leo blurts out. “If this takes much longer then- I don’t think- he’s already been sick for so long.” “We’ll find it. Today, I’m sure. I’ve got a good feeling.” Leo tries to smile for him and hopes the shaky thing he offers up is enough. Well. At least one of them is feeling good.

Leo is lucky. He’s always been lucky. Luck runs out eventually, it always does. But not today. Maybe it helps that Leo isn’t hoping for something for nothing. Because on day four they strike gold.

Mikey is a short bit away, digging through the rubble with his power, hunting for anything with even the chance of helping. Leo is doubled over just out of his site, trying to stifle his stomach’s efforts to rebel against him.

Don’t hurl, he tells himself, if you hurl there’s no way Mikey won’t realize something is wrong.

He forces his eyes open, hoping that focusing on something will help. And then Leo’s eyes fall on a shattered glass cabinet, several packs of some something promisingly adorned in cartoon human children. He reaches in, flips it, and feels a wash of relief when he realizes it’s exactly what they’re looking for.

“Mikey- Mikey look-” everything fuzzes, tumbles. There’s something under him. He blinks back blurs of color, tries to resolve them into something coherent. Mikey’s face hovers over him, mouth moving. He looks upset. “What's the matter?” he tries to ask. “Leo! Leo, are you sick? What hurts?” “Arm,” Leo answers without thinking.

Oh shit. Oh shit he’s not supposed to let Mikey know. But it’s a little late for that. At least the panic clears his head a little. Mikey makes a wounded sound in the back of his throat as he uncovers the bite.

“Leo.” “Yeah, I know. Sorry… sorry for lying.” He watches Mikey’s lip wobble until Mikey catches it in his teeth. “Leo this is bad! We- I don’t know if we have the supplies to treat this!” Leo hums. Now that the panic is fading it’s getting so much harder to think. He lifts his good hand before he can forget and flops it over towards Mikey. “S’okay. We can go back now.” Mikey takes the box of medicine with shaky fingers. “Leo,” he croaks.

Mikey is talking. Something… probably important? He looks scared but they’re not under attack. He’s pretty sure they’re not. Leo tries to focus on him anyway but it’s so hard. He’s so tired.

He’s been tired but there was no resting, not properly, not until they got what they needed. They do now so it’s fine, he can rest his eyes a bit.

Good. Seeing is hard too. Just blurs and colors.

He feels Mikey’s hand on his face, his voice in his ears. He tries to pay attention but he’s slipping, sliding away.

“Sorry,” he mumbles, but he’s out before he can think of what, specifically, he’s sorry for.

Leo doesn’t remember the trip back, just the thud of Mikey landing. Someone screaming. A hand squeezing his. Small. Thin fingers. Lots of them.

“April?” he might mumble. He thinks. “Shhh, rest big guy,” Probably-April says. “Donnie has it. He’s gonna fix it.” Oh. That’s good. He lets himself sink, lets her hold him together while he waits for Donnie to do what Donnie does best.

A light in his face. “Am I dying?” he says. Thinks? Someone hisses. Angry sound. Who does that again? “Not if I have anything to say about it. And I have a lot to say about it.” Oh. Donnie is here. That’s good. Didn’t someone say he was coming? “Now go to sleep, you don’t want to be awake for this part.” Leo doesn’t get a chance to answer, he’s already sinking again.

Leo blinks up at the ceiling of Donnie’s lab. He spends a good while just staring at it, trying to get his brain to work. His arm throbs. “Ow.”

Some several things crash and shatter and then Donnie''s face hovers into view. “How do you feel- nauseous? any pain, aches, fever? Chills?” “Uh, my arm hurts a little?”

“Which one? The one that got bit by one of the most disease ridden things in the apocalypse and then went four days without medical care or the other one?” “Hey I did some medical care!” “You did FIRST AID. You know, the thing you do to help someone before you get them ACTUAL MEDICAL CARE.”

Leo winces. There’s no arguing about that one. “Ok well, I was hoping we’d find the medicine and get back before it got too bad.” “Well. You didn’t.” “Yeah, I guess. How long was I out?” he asks. He tries to lift his arm but he can’t feel it move. He frowns. “It… barely hurts anymore. Uh. Donnie? I can’t- Um. Donnie. I can’t feel my arm.”

Donnie’s face twitches. Leo tries to turn his head to look at his arm. Donnie’s hand darts out out to stop him. Leo looks at Donnie again. Donnie looks away, grimacing and refusing to make eye contact.

“Donnie-” “Don’t look yet.” Leo tries to move his arm again but there’s still no response. No it’s not just that there isn’t a response. He can't even feel the weight of it.

He can feel his shoulder. He can feel a ring of throbbing pain a few inches above his elbow. And then it’s just… light? Like there’s nothing but air- oh. Oh. Okay then. There’s where his luck ran out. “...Huh. That’s. Hm. Let me see?” “Leo-” “Donnie. Let me see.” Reluctantly, Donnie eases back.

For a second Leo doesn’t do anything. He closes his eyes and breathes. He turns his head. He opens his eyes.

It’s gone.

Everything past his first crescent marking is gone.

He closes his eyes and takes a deep, measured, breath. Okay, he thinks. Okay. He’s a medic. He knew this was a possibility.  Donnie starts eyeing him nervously.

“Did he make it?” Leo asks at last. “...Yeah he made it,” Donnie says quietly. Leo feels like he's fully breathing out for the first time since Cassandra burst into the infirmary with a sick baby in her arms. "Good. That's good." Donnie puts his hand over the end of Leo's nub, covering the scar. He stares at the floor and says nothing. Silence reigns. Leo stares up at the ceiling, letting it settle around them.

Until the door slams open and the rest of his family tumble through the door, both Caseys included.

The last knot of tension loosens from him at the sight of Casey Jr, happily wiggling in his mom’s arms as he flails his arms at Raph.

He tears his eyes away as his family gathers around him, worried and loud, and Leo only knows one way to calm them down.

“So. I’m guessing I'm the opposite of... All Right now, huh?” Cassandra covers Casey Jr's ears. Donnie leans away, inhaling sharply. “Why are you like this?“ he asks. “Because it's all I've got... Left” Raph groans, hiding his face in his hands. “Already?” “Put him back under,” April says, deadpan. “Boooo,” Mikey says, and Leo pretends he doesn’t sound two steps away from tears.   “I hate you so much,” Donnie lies, a few screens manifesting around him. He taps away with the hand that isn't still covering the scar on what remains of Leo's arm while Leo laughs at his own terrible jokes.

“You no longer have a choice about getting a prosthetic. Mikey tried to say I had to ask before implanting experimental technology in your body but you know what? I’m making an executive decision. I can’t live with the puns.”

Leo starts laughing harder, so hard that it circles right back around to sobbing. He’s buried in a pile before the first sob can even fully leave him. Donnie’s eyes stay on the screen even as he shifts his hand to Leo’s shoulder and squeezes. “I’ll fix it. Don’t worry.”

Leo spends a lot of time sleeping but he’s never alone when he wakes up.

There’s Raph, showing off the balls he’s threading onto his mask tails so Casey Jr can climb them while Cassandra sits nearby, once more restitching her perpetually tearing sleeves on her shirts.

He wakes to Mikey making little fish or birds dance in the air while Casey Jr sits in his lap and reaches for them.

Or there’s April pouring over battle plans with a mug in one hand and the other wrapped around Casey Jr.

Point is there’s a lot of Casey Jr. So Leo really should be prepared to wake up with a tiny weight on his chest, healthy and safe and sound. And still so very tiny. His breath hitches, he doesn’t dare move.

“Bemused scoff.”

Leo carefully turns his head toward where Donnie is busily typing away at something.

“You know you can’t avoid holding him forever. Even I've held him." Leo gives Donnie the flattest look he can manage. Sure. Donnie has held Casey Jr. Once in a blue moon when there was literally no one else to do it (and Leo's hands were firmly tucked under his arms.) For about sixty seconds total. "...I've held him more than you have.”

Leo grimaces. “Look, I wasn’t cut out for holding delicate stuff when I had two arms. It’s an even worse idea now that I’m twice as likely to drop him.”

“Invalid excuse. I’m already working on a solution to your arm situation.” Donnie waves his hands and his ninpo sparks, building a blue print of an arm and some other thing hovering in the air between them.

“These are the schematics for a bio-mechanical arm and a socket implant to allow it to safely interface with your nero-” Leo’s brain glazes over the rest of Donnie’s explanation.

“...So you want to turn me into a kick ass cyborg?” he asks as soon as Donnie is done. “Did you listen to none of what I just said?” “C’mon, Don, I’ve got you for all the nerd stuff.” “Exasperated sigh, yes I’m turning you into a kick ass cyborg.” “Sweet,” Leo says, yawning. Donnie huffs. “Go back to sleep, Nardo.” “Can’t, baby could fall,” Leo mumbles. “I won’t let him fall. Just rest.” And Leo trusts his brother. So he does.

It takes a frustratingly long time for Leo to recover enough for the surgery to implant the port for the arm in his stump. It’s more low profile than he expected, hardly noticeable at all unless you’re looking head on at it.

Then there’s a whole other saga of learning how to use the arm Donnie has built him. It’s clunkier than Donnie’s preferred standards but it works almost as seamless as his real one. He gets good with it and he gets good with it fast because with the Krang you either do it fast or you don’t do it all.

The unintended and unwanted side effect of this is that now his family are no longer accepting “I’m not good enough with my arm I might drop him” as a valid excuse to not hold Casey Jr.

And they are very, very, intent on getting him to hold Casey Jr.

Look. Leo is thanking sweet pizza supreme in the sky and every one of the Hamato ancestors, Casey Jr bounces back from being sick like it never happened.

He bounces and wiggles, he babbles and giggles, as though less than a week or so ago he wasn’t so sick that Leo and his family (literally) risked life and limb to get him medicine. And Leo is thrilled. Really.

It’s just that he wishes his family would stop encouraging Casey Jr’s newest favorite game- trying to grab Leo. Because apparently one of any baby’s favorite thing is whatever they can’t have.

“Here! Hold him!” Mikey holds Casey out so that he faces Leo. Casey Jr, who seems to have a sixth sense for when someone is playing the 'try to get Casey close enough to touch Leo' game,  is thrilled. His tiny arms wave at Leo, itty-bitty fingers clenching like they’re ready to latch on the second they’re close enough to touch him.

“W-wait, I can’t!” Leo protests for the thousandth time. But Mikey isn’t taking no for an answer this time. A nudge of mystic power keeps Leo from fleeing. All Leo can do is tuck his dangerous un-baby proofed metal arm away from tender baby skin and wave his flesh hand pleadingly.

“C’mon Leo… you have to hold him eventually.”  Mikey cajoles, gently waggling Casey Jr.

“Not happening, no way.” Leo leans back as far as Mikey’s powers will let him.

“Yes way,” Mikey says, holding Casey closer and closer. Casey is giggling furiously, tiny arms flying at top speed.

“Do you even see how tiny he is?” Leo points at the baby, just in case Mikey needs a reminder. “I could break him with one finger!” There’s a tiny nudge to said finger. Leo looks down. Casey Jr is copying him, nudging Leo’s much larger finger with his own.

Mikey gets a look on his face. A terrible, evil, look.

“One finger? Like thiiiiis one?” Mikey grins as he lifts his middle fingers away from Casey Jr’s body. Leo freezes. “Mikey. Mikey no.”

“Whats that? Oh nooooo.... I can’t hear you over the sound of my grip slipping!” Mikey sing-songs. “Don’t you dare!” Leo stares at him, horrified and frozen. He won’t. Surely he won’t. Cassandra would murder him. Raph would double murder him. He wouldn't. Right? Right??? “Oh no! I hope someone catches the poor delicate baby!” And then Mikey drops Casey Jr.

Leo shrieks. He forgets that Mikey is literally magic and does not need his hands to hold a building, much less a baby.

“Mikey what the fuck!” Leo squawks, hands flying forward and closing around the tiny delicate bundle that is- … not falling towards the ground at all actually.

The gears turn, the realization that he's been tricked sets in. Leo glares at Mikey. Mikey grins, unrepentant, and waves his faintly glowing hands, a glow also present around a perfectly safe Casey Jr. The glow vanishes and Leo feels the surprisingly greater weight of the baby properly in his hands for the first time.

“Ahhhh Mikey- Mikey take him back!” Mikey stubbornly keeps his hands in the air and backs away, still grinning. “You’re fine, you’ve got this.” “I don’t have this!” in spite of saying this Leo is already tucking Casey closer to him. “It’s fiiinnne, you're doing fine! Look, he’s having a great time!”

Tiny clumsy fingers hit his jaw, drawing his eyes down. Casey Jr has one hand buried in Leo’s scarf. The other is pressed to the highest part of Leo’s face it can reach. As he looks down they stretch up, reaching for the vibrant red markings on his face.

“Ah- what- what does he want?” “Awww he likes your stripes, hold him higher!”

Hesitantly, Leo shifts the baby a little higher in his arms and Casey’s little fingers smack against his markings, clenching against them as best the pudgy little things can. Leo chuckles. “What? You want those? Hate to break it to you bud but they’re kind of attached to me.” Big dark eyes lock onto his. Casey Jr babbles. His little fingers flex against Leo’s face again.

Someone makes a noise like a slowly deflating balloon. Leo looks up to find Raph has found them. He’s standing in the doorway, his eyes shining with unshed tears.

“Please tell me Donnie has a good angle on this,” he says, voice wobbling. Raph’s com clicks on and switches itself to speaker mode. “Sending you the best shots as I speak,” says Donnie’s voice. “I hate all of you,” Leo lies. Mikey snickers at him, Raph is too busy cooing to reply. And then Casey Jr realizes Raph is there and decides he’s done being held by Leo. He leans his entire body toward Raph and puts all of his tiny baby might into wiggling free of Leo's grip.

“Oh fuck-” “Don’t cuss in front of the baby!” “Raph. Raph.” “You’re doing fine, relax-”  “He’s gonna fall! I’m gonna drop him- Raph!” Raph easily scoops Casey Jr up, saving Leo from the terrifying force of a wiggly baby.

Casey Jr giggles and grabs for Raph’s mask tails while Leo dramatically flops to the floor. Mikey continues to snicker at Leo’s expense, floating over to pat his head.

“I can’t believe you pretended to drop him just to trick me into holding him,” Leo groans. “You what?” Raph’s head snaps over to them. Mikey freezes. “I had mystic hands on him the whole time!” “Baby holding is a two hand activity!” “You literally hold him with one hand!” “Raph’s hand is big enough to count as two!” “Oh that is so not fair!” “... Leo watch the little man for a minute.” Raph sets Casey Jr down by Leo’s head. Leo makes an inarticulate sound of horror but before he can protest Raph is already bolting for Mikey.

Mikey flees with a yelp.    Leo looks at Casey Jr. Casey Jr looks at him. “So, you come here often?” Casey Jr stuffs his fist in his mouth and makes a garbled noise around it, almost recognizable as a very turtle like chirp. Leo checks that his brothers are out of ear shot and then chirps back. Casey Jr’s eyes widen and sparkle. He takes his damp hand out of his mouth and smacks Leo in the face with it. Leo grimaces. “Thanks.” In the distance, Mikey screams as Raph catches him but it's just as quickly followed by laughter.

Casey Junior grows up in between loss and stolen joy and forgotten childhood memories. He gets old enough to ask questions. Inevitably, the day comes when he asks “Sensei, how did you lose your arm?”

And Leo lies.

Or, well… He doesn’t lie so much as he just… leaves out some details. Details Casey Jr does not and will not ever know if Leo gets his way.

“Ah, you know… Krang dog got a lucky bite in. By the time I got back to base it was the arm or me and Donnie chose me.” He says it with a light little shrug, like it’s no big deal.  

Because for Leo, it’s not a big deal. Between losing an arm and losing family he’d chose the arm over and over again.

[ghost-bxrd]

So with Fae!Dick, we all know that Bruce is just… not gonna say anything bc of his own mental health, but do you think the other batkids notice anything once they come along?

On one hand, I think someone would have to notice. If not Jason, then Tim, Steph, Barbara, or Damian bc, well, they’re BATS. They literally have been trained to notice things.

On the other hand, though, I think it would be HILARIOUS if they just attributed Dick’s Fae nature to him just being weird. Like, completely unaware he isn’t human. Maybe not entirely realistic but I think it leaves for some interesting comedic moments 😅

Honestly at one point I think it all devolves into plausible deniability. 😭😂

Jason is the first to notice something amiss, obviously. But he joins Bruce in pretending it‘s just Dick‘s general weirdness. After all, as long as the dog just howls once in a while it’s not necessarily a wolf, right? And Dick, after the initial hang up and trying to kill him a little, is sweet as a summer‘s day to him and viciously protective to boot. Galas and all the rich people there that used to treat Jason like a circus animal aren’t a problem anymore because Dick always swoops in like a bat out of hell and distracts the creepy old ladies with a charming smile until they walk away with vacant eyes. It‘s all pretty funny. And very weird. But hey, Jason gets a laugh out of it and that secretive little grin from Dick so whatever.

Tim I headcanon has Dick all figured out within a month of officially meeting him (the opposite of this would be Tim never figuring it out which is also kinda funny and just attributing it to his circus past or something) and is veeery cautious about interacting with Dick for a time. It makes Dick kind of sad and Tim can only withstand the puppy eyes so long until he caves.

Steph just kinda shrugs and accepts Dick‘s strangeness at face value. It ain’t hurting her so why should she bother? Dick is cool. She likes Dick. End of story, thank you and good day. And yeah, fine, some of his habits are downright weird and everything but who is she to judge? And he‘s always down to cause mischief with her which is?? Super cool???? Even the more devious pranks she can bribe him into joining by handing him a jar of fresh honey or hand picked fruit!! Anybody trying to say shit about Dick lands them on her hit list, period.

Cass is Cass. Nobody can fool her. She may not know what Dick is, but she‘s painfully aware he‘s other. Most wildlife treats him like bees would their queen, there‘s always the scent of pines and rain following him. Dick‘s body language says ‘playful-content-happy’ but his eyes say ‘dark-dangerous-predator’. It’s all very conflicting; a study of contradictions. Cass learns to go by what his body language says and quickly finds a kindred spirit in Dick, who somehow always seems to know exactly what she tries to express but has trouble translating into words.

I headcanon Damian grew up with folklore so while his first theory may not be “fae” he definitely has Dick down as something other than human. Which means he must be powerful. Which means Damian must keep himself in Dick’s good graces in the hopes of making the creature teach him how to be powerful in turn. And, well, the kid grew up with a grandad that regularly takes dips in a magical swimming pool. I don’t think there’s much that can genuinely shock him lol.

Duke is… well, he’s the sensible one so of course he’s the first one to actually ask questions. And then proceeds to go nearly insane because??? Nobody seems to?? Care???? That Dick just rotated his head a full 360°???? Or that the manor sure af isn’t supposed to??? Randomly add hallways???? Or that there’s a whole ass SWAMP that appeared in the basement overnight???? Or a door that leads straight into the forest?????? Duke very nearly nopes the hell out because that’s too much even for him. But finally, finally someone takes pity on him (I headcanon it’s Cass) and she doesn’t explain anything per se, she just kind of… shows Duke. Shows him around the manor, introduces him to twisting halls and strange rooms, takes him to where Dick is lounging with the rest of the family, purring like a content cat. And Duke still doesn’t understand, not completely, but Dick smiles at him with too many, too sharp teeth and tugs him into the huge cuddle pile and?? Are those feathers on his neck?? No, he must have imagined it. Anyway, Duke thinks he can handle this… strangeness, if it scores him a family like this. It’s Gotham, right? Weirder things happen here on the daily.

Omg this turned into a whole ass essay I’m so sorry 😰😅😭✨

[desktop-writes]

Static on the Screen | 01

--A Lack of Backup--

<|AO3|Gala Au|SotS|>

(<- Part 2 of 14 ->)

[_|2|3|4|5|6]

{TW: N/A}

[Words : 1,736]

*Note: For any overarching triggers, please click on the Gala Au tab at the top. For warnings regarding this specific fic, please click on the SotS tab.*

Sometimes there’s a moment where you know things will never be the same. A turning point in a person’s life, if you will. It could be as monumental as the moment of the wrongful death of a loved one, leading to an obsession to right the wrong that had happened. It could also be something as trivial as bumping into a person at a coffee shop, leading to finding the love of one’s life. For Barbara Gordon, it was a simple click on a link.

It had started a week ago. Three meta-humans had attacked Jason, Cass, and Damian while on patrol. Seeing as all three family members had some connection to the League of Assassins, the first idea was that they were assassins. The fact that they seemed to glow a Lazarus Green color only provided more evidence for that theory. But as soon as someone verbally confronted them, the theory crumbled under its weight.

“They had called themselves Ghosts,” Cass had signed with their face screwed in confusion. They had emphasized the last word, marking it as important. The rest of the night hadn’t given her much besides debunking the Assassin theory. While she couldn’t do groundwork anymore, she is still one of the if not the best, digital detective on the team. She had made a file and labeled it accordingly, then she had started her search with the keyword ‘Ghost’.

It had taken her 2 days between her day job and getting roughly 3 hours of sleep to find what might have been a lead. A self-published research paper by the Drs. Fenton titled ‘Effective Warding Techniques Against Ghosts’. Barbara had spent 3 hours reading the paper, scanning every detail for information. She could barely find anything useful at the end of those three hours. A lot of it was opinions worded through a scientific lens and not actual scientific facts.

Spurred on by the lack of information, she searched for other papers in their names. Yet, the majority of it was filled with the same content. Descriptions of creatures in agony while being remarked as'manipulative' and ‘non-feeling’ by the two doctors. She knew this needed to be brought up to Bruce and the Justice League as a whole, but she needed more information for the presentation. Thankfully, she had the next day off, and she began a more detailed search of the doctors.

They had documents claiming them to be doctors, with Madeline and Jack both holding doctorates in biology and master's in engineering with minors in Supernatural Studies, but she couldn't find any records of their college days. A handful of papers referenced in the other self-published research papers had Vlad Masters as another co-author, but that dropped after Vlad’s accident. That set off alarm bells in her detective sense, allowing her to dive deeper into her research.

She was nearing the end of her research binge on the doctors and was gearing towards Vlad Masters when she spotted a weirdly named Web link on the last page of her search engine of choice. Thinking it was something similar to the doctor’s papers, she clicked on the link. While it wasn’t another research paper, it was something that grabbed her attention. A halfway-done website wouldn’t have been published unless they were hiding something, so she opened the source code, hoping to easily crack the passcode and start snooping around in whatever was hidden.

The code was surprising, to say the least. The code itself was the same Lazarus Green color as the Ghosts, changing languages every 7 seconds - yes, she had timed it -, and moving in a scattered pattern. The code fought back as soon as the cursor was placed in the text box, with the creator not far behind. With her getting little sleep and the surprise of the abnormalities in the code, she ended up losing against the person on the other side of the screen. With her loss, her screen turned black with a green I-beam in the left-hand corner. A message was written behind it.

<I don’t recognize your system. Who are you? What is your affiliation>

Barbara looked at the question before checking on the burner phone she had bought for this reason. They hadn’t touched any files, even though they had full access to her civilian computer. She went the complement route and hoped to get more information on what lay ahead.

<It has been a while since someone had bested me. You should be proud.>

<I will not ask again. Who are you and what is your affiliation?>

Barbara’s hope of the other hackers’ pride getting to them and spilling what they’re hiding diminished with their quick response. She debated her options mentally. She could lean on luck, tell the truth, and hope the person on the other side is an ally in her search. She could also make up a lie and hope they won’t see through it. While she was debating, a new message appeared.

<You have one minute to respond, or else I will destroy your system.>

It seemed the decision was made for her. Even if she were to call their slightly plausible bluff, there were way too many important files on her computer, including the one she was building against the Fentons. Plus, she had yet to receive a notification on her burner phone about a breach.

<I go by the name Oracle while online. My employer may need this information. Can you unlock my computer?>

<Only if I monitor your actions.>

It was a fair request, one she would make in their situation. From their perspective, she was an outsider wanting to look at something personal to them. She could handle a little monitoring if she could find a crack in this case.

<Deal.>

When the black screen disappeared, a light gray followed behind it, giving the website an industrial feel. Black text filled the tabs across the top of the screen, listing labels like 'Ghost Basics’, ‘Rouge Abilities’, and one with a lock emoji, among others. This was a hero database, given the mentions of rouges.

The database belonged to a group of small-town vigilantes, with the person she was conversing with filling in the guy in the chair role. She could tell they were young, with mentions of having to skip class or needing to find an excuse for the team’s main hero, Phantom. Just reading their rouge descriptions, as sloppy as they are compared to the bat’s, she could tell a lot about their team and how they worked.

She kept reading on about the rouges themselves. Even though the pictures were a blurry mess -similar to the stills she had asked Tim to try and clean up -, she could get some information through the written portion of the reports. Everything thing she was learning was leaving her increasingly shaken.

Needing a break from the rouges list, she looks to the Phantom tab to see if the Justice League needs to extend a hand or if they have it under control. She hovered her mouse over Phantom’s tab, only a tab away from the locked emoji. Right before she was about to click, her screen turned black again. Their previous conversation looked back at her, and a slight weight settled on her shoulders. On the other side of the screen was a child.

A child.

A child on an entire team of children being attacked by beings with the power levels of gods; who are being hindered by the very people they protect. At the very least, Robin had Batman, or even their junior teams, if something happened. She looks at the new message.

<Phantom is off-limits.>

She needed to keep the connection. Something is happening in Amity Park. Something big. She can feel it in her bones. Racking her brain for ways to keep the connection, she thought back to how unorganized and messy their reports seemed. Mentorship seemed like a good way to go with the kid.

<Your Phantom’s guy in the chair, right? I can help you with that.>

The next message was apprehensive, much like talking to an Alley kid. She should’ve expected this. She was a stranger who had attempted to hack into their database and then offered help with nothing in return. It had caught their attention, though, which was good enough for her.

<What’s the catch? Nobody would do that for free.>

<You seem to know a lot about Ghosts. We had a few show up in Gotham recently. You help me relay the information to Batman and the others tomorrow, then we can talk about our mentorship.>

It took a few minutes to get a reply, but that was okay. It gave her time to clear off her desk and start getting the papers strewed about in order.

<Let me talk with my team.>

<Take as long as you need.>

She continued cleaning up her apartment while she waited. While it wasn’t trashed, it wasn’t clean either. Taking empty snack bags and water bottles from the top of overflowing trashcans and putting them in a separate bag was repetitive and mind-numbing enough to pass the time. She set the filled bags by the door and rolled back to her desk, pushing the desk chair out of her way. It would be stupid to go out this late. She was finishing organizing the paper notes she took over the three days when she got a response.

<I accept. I am not giving you more access though.>

Her screen returned to normal; the same gray greeted her back. The only change was a small, lime-green chat bubble in the bottom left corner. She spent the next three hours getting a feel for Pharaoh’s setup while gathering more information on the team for her reports. She still had to collect information for the Justice League for them to look at what's happening ground-level. After three hours, she closed the database.

She told the bats, via group chat, that she had found answers to their meta case that needed to be discussed in person tomorrow. After closing the group chat, she checked the locks on the door for the second time that day. Assuring herself it was locked, she wheeled to her bedroom, locked her chair by the bed, and then pulled herself into bed. She went to sleep relatively easy, unknowing of the bombshell that would be dropped tomorrow night.

************************************************************************

Chapter 2 should be out by the end of next month at the latest.

[bet-on-me-13]

Silent Chaos prompt

I don’t know if that is the actual ship name, but Dani Phantom usually has Chaos in her ship name and Cass is really sneaky so Silent? idk, anyways-

I have an idea for an angst story involving this ship

Dani and Cass have been friends for a while now, and recently started dating, but the rest of her family doesn’t really trust Dani. She doesn’t have any sort of backstory, she seems to be (badly) hiding Meta Abilities for unknown reasons, she constantly references a Brother somewhere in Illinois who doesn’t seem to exist, and she is nowhere to be seen some nights. So overall she seems very suspicious.

Cass feels slightly betrayed that her Family doesn’t trust her Girlfriend, even when she vouches for her. There’s too many red flags for them to ignore, so she can’t really argue with them, but she still feels like they should trust her judgement.

Dani meanwhile has a passive aggressive relationship with them at best. She kind of dislikes them because they have made their opinions on their relationship apparent, but she tries to be passive for Cass.

This all comes to a head one night when Dani is at her night job. She is a low level henchmen working for Penguin, cause she needs to pay the bills some way and she can’t exactly set up citizenship while being hunted by the GIW. Dani also hates the idea of mooching off of her girlfriend. She gets involved in a fight with the Bat Family, and she is managing to barely hold her own, even while still hiding her powers.

She is wearing a classic Goon mask, so they can’t recognize her as she fights them.

Orphan joins the fight, and during their scuffle they rip each others masks off. They are both shocked, and Cass freezes long enough to get shot in the back by a stray bullet.

Dani just falls to her knees as the battle ends, the other Goons retreating as she stays with Cass on the ground. The rest of the Bat Family rush up to her and push her away, trying to tend to Cass. Maybe Damian even says something along the lines of “I knew we couldn’t trust you!”

But Dani knows she needs to hurry. Cass was shot in the Spine, which is going to kill her soon, not even mentioning the blood loss. So she rushes in, phasing past the Bat Family members that try to stop her, and jumps into Cass’s Body to Overshadow her. While being overshadowed, Cass has all of her powers including her Regeneration, but it’s going to take a while to heal damage this intense.

She manages to at least stabilize her, and then uses her floating to get cass upright.

The Bat Family immediately try to restrain her, try to do anything to force her out of Cass’s body, anything to save their sister. But Dani refuses, and can’t get a word in to explain. They are being very aggressive, verbally not physically obviously, accusing her of a bunch of stuff while yelling at her to get out of their sister. 

Eventually, Dani can’t take it anymore and has to run away. Flying away at top speed, she manages to get away and hide in an abandoned apartment while she focuses on healing Cass’s body. She also leaves a letter in her pocket, explaining what happened and that she needed to leave after this, because the GIW would hear about this and try to capture her.

Meanwhile, the Bat Family is assuming the worst as per usual. They think Dani only became friends with Cass in the first place to get the chance to steal her body, or to blackmail them by using Cass as a hostage, or something equally horrible.

They eventually find a lead. Dani had the same powers as an Ectoplasmic Entity, meaning she is an imprint of a Human Consciousness which has absolutely no empathetic or emotional feelings whatsoever. This further solidifies their theory that Dani was just using Cass this entire time.

(If they had been in a more right state of mind, they would have found that the Dr’s who published that study later retracted it for misinformation)

They also find out that there is a Government Agency called the GIW who works to hunt these sort of creatures. Out of options (JLD is off world), they contact the GIW under their Civilian identities, claiming that a Ghost kidnapped Cass in the night and escaped.

The GIW appears, manages to trap Dani as she is getting for supplies to patch Cass’s body up, and delivers her to the Waynes so they can perform an “exorcism” (basically they just boot Dani out of Cass’s body using Blood Blossoms)

Cass is released from the Overshadowing, still very much injured but stable and healing thanks to Dani. The GIW capture Dani as she tries to escape, and take her away.

Cass is put in the Medical Wing, and when she wakes up, she asks where Dani is. Bruce tells her that Dani was arrested for kidnapping her, and she wouldn’t hurt her anymore. Cass is angry, she had some memory of being overshadowed, and she could hear Dani’s panicked thoughts the entire time.

She was desperate to save her, even risking using up all of her energy to heal her. She used up all of her emergency funds to buy medical supplies, even knowing she would need them soon because her Power Usage would attract “them”

She tells them to leave her alone. And when they try to stay, she nearly screams at them, before her muteness kicks in and she just signs ‘Leave’, throwing a piece of paper at them. They pick it up and leave as she starts crying to herself

 It is the letter from Dani, apologizing for having to Overshadow her and apologizing for not telling her about the Night Job. She explains that once she is healed, Dani is going to have to leave and never come back, because the GIW will find her if she stays. And she can’t risk being captured, because the might do what they did her brother to her.

They are confused, finally second guessing themselves, and leave her in peace as they go to do a more thorough investigation. Now that they are in their right minds, and have seen Dani’s Ghost Form, Tim feels like it’s kind of Familiar.

He looks it up, and lo and behold, he finds an Article about “Phantom and Phantasm”, the Ghost Fighting Heroes of Amity Park who mysteriously disappeared about 7 months ago.

Right after the “Anti-Ecto Acts” were passed in Congress.

Which, now that he’s looking them up and reading more thoroughly, seem extremely unethical. They gave the GIW permission to do anything they want with Ghosts, declaring them non-sentient and completely malicious.

The Anti-Ecto Acts, combined with the letter mentioning her brother, makes Tim realize what’s going on.

The GIW killed the Hero Phantom, and they just gave them the Hero Phantasm. 

And that is the perfect explanation for all of their suspicions about Dani. She has no backstory because she died years ago (presumably), she was hiding her powers because the GIW would find her is she used them, her brother doesn’t seem to exist because he’s dead, and she disappeared some nights because she can’t get a Legal job and unfortunately Goon Work is one of the better paying jobs in the city.

And she ran away because they were screaming at her in a rage, not because she wanted to kidnap their sister. She was terrified of them.

Looking back to the studies on Ectoplasmic Entities, They had been retracted years ago after the Dr’s who published it discovered that Ghosts were sentient after all, and not all of them were malicious. Since then they had been speaking out against the Anti-Ecto Acts, saying that the GIW had killed their son, which, looking at their collateral damage records, was not hard to believe.

They had fucked up. And both Cass and Dani were suffering for it.

[puppetmaster13u]

Meat Marionette 7?? 8????

Thinkin of the lil robins and other kids and just, them trying to build Jarro a meat body maybe. Idk, still rotating Jarro and if he'd have one seeing as they had to build his human form via some different body parts and such...

Anyway did some sleep deprived sketches of each- though I just realized I didn't label Cullen, oh well lol. I like to think the first couple robins are all more flesh and exposed muscle looking as the Tunnels adjust to building bodies that can still, well, grow and develop. They've only just succeeded in building a body that can move and semi function with Bruce after all, and even then it takes a couple years for that body to shift into something more alive with like, a stomach and such that needs more than time in the Hive and some Lazarus water for food and hydration. And even then it's another year or so of the bodies needing to be fed via IV before everything actually becomes semi functional as well, a body.

But anyway, his eleven children!

Dick's body starts out the most simple, but is also the first that they discover that the meat marionettes can in fact evolve seeing as he starts to grow electricity-producing organs almost akin to something like an eel. Which is probably very distressing to Bruce because like, this is his baby?? Who can suddenly tase people which is fine, but what if it gets stronger?

Jason's robin body doesn't get a lot of evolution before the Joker Incident, and then it formed a cocoon to become the next form over a year or so. I do feel like his wings were fluffier and had some down still, not enough to prevent flight, but enough to slow down say, take offs.

By the time Tim & Steph comes around, their bodies have started to develop more armor similar to Bruce's. Like the bodies are slowly developing even when the Hive first creates them from the flesh walls as the Tunnels get better at building living moving bodies. Like it's still are mostly soft larva-esque chitin still, but It's still visibly learning.

And then with Cass her body is far darker, more similar to one of the Bats than the rest of the babies. There's still bits of color- bright yellows to warn for venom and poison- but it's such a sudden left turn that they're concerned about what the Tunnels might do next.

It's a relief when it goes back to more colorful designs with the next ones, even if Duke probably has ended up the most armored straight out of the flesh.

Honestly in general I feel like they're actually very soft if someone gets close enough to touch them. Like they look terrifying, especially in night when it's dark out, but compared to their parent & aunt they're like fluffy baby birds. Something the kids in Gotham are probably familiar with, because the birds will help comfort scared people and victims while Bruce takes care of whatever caused their distress. Sometimes just crouches down and pulls out a small puzzle or something from one of his bags while waiting for the police to arrive while distracting the kids, his own and not.

Jarro if he does have a body like theirs, meat marionette or made by them, I feel like it looks more like some sort of hybrid of whatever the batclan are and some sort of aquatic creature. Like an aquatic (swimming?) xenomorph compared to a runner or a drone. Visibly the same species, but looks almost like a similar caste or subspecies if that makes sense? But honestly if yall have any ideas I am open to them. ______________________________________________________________

Reminder that this Au is a combo of both mine and @phoenixcatch7 so check out their Possessed Doll au, and actually go check them out in general, they have a lot of fun ideas and drabbles <3

[dailycass-cain]

Spirit World #6 concluded the series this past week. Did it end on a high note? How was Cass within it? Well, all answers will be found here...

I love that this series fills the final gaps of questions I have for certain characters in the series. Namely, Wan Yujing's motivations, WHY the Jade Court are so meh due to Po Po's warnings back in #4. and how this ALL ties into the origins of Xanthe Zhou.

But like poetry, it also ties into Cass as into what she was going through in #1. Said issue, Cass was lost, but also feeling awful in helping slay a creature (even dark) and it took a slight toll on her.

Here in #6, it all circles back.

Seeing why Wan's desperation. Seeing the souls she's trapped. Seeing the Jade Court's inability to "want" to save the situation. All it ties into this isn't a simple solution of just slaying the demon.

But this doesn't just tie into Cass, but also the series' central character Xanthe. We get their full origin here. The mystery all pulled back and the scope of their powers revealed.

Writer Alyssa Wong sprinkled teases of Xanthe's origins throughout, and here they are on full display. You can also see why they keep company with John Constantine but also now open themselves to Cassandra Cain.

Why these characters just gell so nicely to each other complimenting it all. With how Xanthe finds the way to end this all.

For now at least.

The ramifications of this issue interestingly bring up new ideas for the DCU at large. Both in the mystical portion and well in Cass (more on that soon).

I find the whole mystical area of DC fascinating because they aren't just bound to one corner. Each magical user always brings something new to the table. Xanthe Zhou is just another character that I hope more tales are showcased with the character going forward.

The fact that well, not everything is tied up at the end leaves me to think that Wong has still so many more stories to tell of Xanthe and Spirit World itself. We've only touched the first layer of that.

To that, I hope allows the creative team to return and tell more tales.

The artist for the series, Haining has been exceptional with the various designs and actions throughout. Like I'm still in awe of the designs used or even how horrific Wan's demonic can be but Haining brings a level of cracks of her humanity through the body horror drawn.

That's not even bringing up the fluidity to the action we've seen throughout the series.

Every bit of the creative team brought their A-game to the table in telling something truly unique. Like I really want more.

And you get that there MIGHT be more.

Clearly, Wong lays seeds at the end of the Verdant Sorcess not at all pleased with the new status quo of Spirit World going forward.

I'm REALLY curious about their origins now with the reveal of the prior ones.

Not only that but in the case of Cass, only one of her subplots is resolved in the series. I mean yeah it's the big one: she gets to go back home.

But the "missing" time of her being in Spirit World (due to Batgirl Vol. 1 #72)? Why incident is all screwed (Shiva never killed Cass in that particular issue)? What new memories Cass lost in #3? Was Shen posing as Steph?

It feels like Wan found her, that while she was absorbing Cass, THAT's when Shiva brought her back. But it still doesn't answer fully what occurred with Cass during that lost time?

These are riddles still left unanswered, and it can't be coincidental given what next year being. So hopefully maybe THEN they are.

Please let Alyssa Wong cook DC!

Wong truly has an amazing grasp on the character and is the first to really bridge the lingering cracks Batgirl Vol. 1 left and bring it into this modern era.

Regardless, Spirit World was an exceptional series. It was something I truly needed to wash the sadness of Batgirls ending and another event douring the characterization of Cass.

I really hope DC goes all out in collecting this series. Show us all the Haining concept art.

Give me some words by Wong on how this series came to be. How they developed Xanthe Zhou. Give me it all!

.....

I've become Shen. My greed knows no bounds. 😅

Anyway, to those who haven't read this series. You now have the full excuse to read it all in one sitting. It's even BETTER when you do that actually. To those who read it like me keep hyping this and the other new minis DC created this year.

We need more of this!

[raviliuz]

Slytherin Quidditch Team jobs after Hogwarts

🔥Terence Higgs🔥

After graduation, he started working at the White Wywern as a bartender. He felt in the right place and his boss joked that they have never sold so many drinks before, because let's be real, who would say no to him? But it's obviously not a job for whole life. He was 26 when he changed his job and started working at Gringotts Wizarding Bank. He works in London, magical artifacts are sent to him and he's role is to discover their origin, history, and the way they work, as well as the function of the magic enchanted in them

⚡Marcus Flint⚡

Ha had offers from professional Quidditch teams but, surprisingly, didn't want to go professional. Being a professional player comes with many sacrifices and obligations. Marcus was afraid he would lose this pure happiness from playing due to the required lifestyle. Also, it's easy to get injured badly which can end one's career and affect the rest of the life. It wasn't an easy decision for him to make, he loves Quidditch and it was his dream for many years. He started working as a tattoo artist in a studio in Knockturn Alley. After the war, he started doing cover-up tattoos for the dark mark, using magical ink. Marcus was raised in a toxic pure-blood family but he has friends who helped him saw that bullshit and became a better person. However, he knows not everyone was so lucky and he understood what might lead them to the dark path. He was more than happy to help them to leave the past behind and become a better person

💀Cassius Warrington💀

Cass back in his Hogwarts years loved piercing and did his and his friends' ones. Obviously, they were completely unprofessional, done with a needle in the dormitory, but let's be real, we all were there. After Hogwarts, he started doing it seriously and professionally, in sterilized conditions, and started doing stick and poke tattoos. He bought the tattoo studio, the same one Flint worked at, so technically, he was Marcus' boss. Cass often calls him "captain" and Flint always answers with "boss". They remake the whole studio design. Flint specialized in tattoos and Warrington in piercing and small stick and poke designs

♦️Peregrine Derrick♦️

He worked his ass off during 7th year to persuade his dreams of becoming a healer at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Man passed 6 N.E.W.T.s with the best grades to be able to do so. Learning about magical creatures was interesting, not easy but he actually liked that so studying wasn't that hard and tiring for him. Transmutation on the other hand... He was lucky Montague is a transmutation genius and helped him a lot. Considering his love for magical creatures, it's not a surprise he decided to specialize in treatment for creature-induced injuries. Working in St Mungo's allowed him to see extremely rare cases. Obviously, his main goal is always to help his patient but he can't help but be interested in those creatures and the incidents that happened. Man lost all his hope in humans, hearing the stories and reasoning behind their actions. Amount of people sure that this random creature classified as impossible to domesticate would love them and make them the exception in their killing spree is amazing

🌱Lucian Bole🌱

He decided what he wants to do in life during the holidays, before his 7th year. It required exams from muggle subjects he didn't know shit about (wowie, ending education in muggle subjects at the age of 11) so he started learning them during his 7th year and took a year off after Hogwarts. He passed exams and started studying at a muggle university to become a dietitian and personal trainer. Luke accommodated himself in the muggle world quite well, found muggle friends and girlfriend, and lived his best student life. After uni, Lucian started working with wizard sportsmen but mostly like, solo-athletes instead of Quidditch players or teams (why the fuck wizards don't have more sports, controversial opinion but Quidditch is bloody boring)

🌻Adrian Pucey🌻

Adrian despite his good grades, overall the best from the whole Team, he didn't want to sit by the desk for 8 hours in ministry. After graduating, he started working at Madam Malkin's. At first, he thought of it as a temporary job to do something while he would try to find the job of his dreams. But he found his place at Madam Malkin's. Adrian loved watching kids excited about starting Hogwarts, nervous wizards looking for good clothes for a date, fiancees looking for perfect outfits for their perfect day. He fell in love with being able to help them. Adrian changed Madam Malkin's a lot, making it a very size-inclusive, body-positive place (to Adrian, who struggled a lot with self-esteem and his body image, it was incredibly important). He even started a second-hand department in the shop with cheap, used and renewed clothes

🕸️Graham Montague🕸️

QUIDDITCH! He was the one and only to go professional. He was the youngest player at Hogwarts in their times to receive an offer – he was 15 when Falmouth Falcons contacted him. But he wanted to finish Hogwarts first and more teams reached out to him. Graham decided to sign a contract with Ballycastle Bats. At first, he was reserve obviously, but the first-team chaser got injured at the end of the season so he got to play. He did well and made an impression good enough to receive his chance as a first-team chaser next season. He played for them for four years. During 4th season he got injured badly and had to end his career. But his team didn't leave him and Montague became coach helper and after a few years, when the coach retired, he was promoted to main coach.

🌸Miles Bletchley🌸

After Hogwarts Miles started working at Madam Malkin's with Adrian to have a stable source of money. In his free time, he wrote articles for Daily Prophet, getting paid for articles, not hours. Miles started writing stories when he was twelve and found a passion, he wanted to base his life on. After some time, his essays gained popularity and respect among editors. Miles got a work offer for 8 hours daily, with hourly pay, and changed jobs. After the war, he was promoted to main editor and fought with tons of bullshit articles like LOOK WHAT HARRY POTTER WORE (in polish we say it's fighting the treadmills, like in Don Kichot, to fight a meaningless war that can't end with success, idk if there's an english idiom for that). His main goal, which was more likely to have a positive outcome, was to clearly sort news from gossips.

Not me making job headcanons because I'm looking for a summer job and it's the only thing I can think about

Btw I finished high school and my exams, now wait for the results (7th of July, two days before my bday, don't they dare ruined it). I was scared for my advanced polish exam (the "only" task is to write an essay which makes the topic really important u know, get a topic you don't know shit about and you're screwed). But topics (you have 2 to pick from) were awesome, almost everyone, including me, wrote "functions of mixing the realistic and fantastic conventions", the second one was also cool, sth about using elements from mythology and Bible in works from different centuries but it imposed the use of book that no one likes

Idk it got kinda long

[felinemotif]

!!!!!!!! stephcass arachne!!!!!! pls tell me more 👀👀

(and the perpollo fic!! would it perhaps be the one where percy works in a museum and accidentally releases apollo from his statue? i think i read it last year ish def need to re-read bc i forgot??? all of it and it was very good)

yess that's the perpollo fic!! it was such an enjoyable read.

okay so for the stephcass fic it's like. arachne myth adjacent. so the basic premise is a gothic retelling where it was cass' ancestor who was cursed and turned into a spider creature.

so cass is like this human-spider hybrid thing but in a delightful monster way. thinking this for the general vibes of cass:

hi, hello, hey

(pinterest links!)

enter my girl, stephanie brown.

stephanie is not from high society like cass and her countess' mother. instead, steph is just barely getting by as a tailor's apprentice. though shiva and cass are sort of recluses due to their shared affliction, the silk they can make is very valued.

i'm also reading up on shibari bc... hello webbing is right there but also for fashion bc i saw this image.

smth like this for cass perhaps but uh, more coverage. i really love the idea of her leaning into the whole spider thing and just running with the motif like how lucille is associated with moths in crimson peak. just. spiders and webbing everywhere. like! look at this and this.

i am not. super set on a plot direction bc mostly i just want to write smth gothic and magical and sapphic. just two gals falling in love <3

but no gothic romance would be complete without the threat of violence and fear of death that's just standard for the genre sooooo i know in one version of the arachne myth, she and her brother both were turned and it was said that their offspring would kill them which is really interesting esp in combo with cass' issues with murder.

soooo with that said possibly as cass ages she is combating more and more thoughts of violence towards her mother. did you know spiders will eat other spiders? (plus it would tie into the whole shiva training cass thing if shiva expects and wants her daughter to kill her when the time comes, like she did to her mother)

perhaps the only time cass doesn't have those thoughts is when she's with steph. which is such a cliché but i happen to like clichés a lot.

i don't know. is this anything??

[f4nd0m-fun]

I had an idea which I'm going to call 'A Colony of Cryptids', as a group of bats is called a colony.

Basically, Bruce is probably the only human member of the family.

Alfred is over of those beings well asks for the firstborn child in exchange for something, and the Wayne's asked him for two things, servitude until they died and help to improve Gotham. Of course, they managed to improve it before they'd died, so Alfred was free to leave, taking Bruce with him, but decided he liked it here, and stayed because of his own will. If he was supposed to return based on laws of his kind, then perhaps he found a way to discreetly pass the torch to Bruce, meaning he'll be part of the Wayne family until the Wayne Name is gone. He's the only one who knows about everyone who isn't human. Perhaps he's an eldritch entity, which is how he knows as much as he does, and how he can still reign in the others.

Dick is probably some kind of fae, probably a changeling. He found himself enjoying life as a supposed human child, and then his chosen parents died. He was supposed to return, he's not supposed to interfere in the human realm more than he already has, but he wants to take their killer down before he gets dragged back. He meets Bruce, and ends up imprinting on him maybe, and this man becomes the only reason his old kind haven't dragged him back. He wants to be a real person, but he also can't let go of his past.

Barbera is an entity whose entire being revolves around determination and confidence. From proving herself as Batgirl, to refusing to step down as Oracle, she's always there, persevering through everything. She's either a spirit (personification) of perseverance, akin to the Spirit of Gotham, or really could be anything.

Jason is an entity who's supposed to represent the innocence of childhood, perhaps he already died before, much much younger, and this was an attempt by the Powers That Be to give him another chance, perhaps they just keep returning him until he can live a fulfilling life. The Lazarus pit did two things, it both enhanced and suppressed what he represents, resulting in the torn up Jason we see to this day.

Tim is a god of knowledge who sought the only thing he hadn't yet experienced - humanity. This is why he's so forgetful about human needs, like sleep. This isn't necessarily erasing all his mental accomplishments though, as he locked away his memories, so he had to learn things again, but he had an accelerated capability to do so.

Damien might be an actual demon, or at least half or quarter, depending on LoA lore in this AU. Perhaps they're a special kind of demon that is more powerful when mixed with a human bloodline, or they're humans that go through a ritual that turns them half demon, maybe Damien was forced through it early.

Duke is probably some kind of angel even though he likely doesn't know himself, he just knows he has sight and light based powers. I don't know as much about him though.

Selina might be a cat goddess, or maybe some kind of yokai or something, perhaps a nekomata or bakaneko who was abandoned by her owner, hence why she takes care of so many kitties?

Cass seems like a good candidate to be a shadow creature.

Spoiler might be the only other normal person, but I'm not sure.

[msfcatlover]

FINALLY HAD A STROKE OF INSPIRATION FOR HOMUNCULUS!CASS

The one constant in the various historical homunculi recipes I’ve been able to find is blood. Basically every other ingredient varies, but blood is always there. (Semen seems to be the next most common ingredient—not always, but it’s up there—so let’s just say that despite growing her in a vat, David Cain contributed exactly as much of himself to Cass’s creation as he did in canon.)

So. Cassandra Cain is a creature of blood. Not just Lady Shiva’s, but blood from all the greatest fighters David Cain could find. Her bones are clay, formed & fired by her creation rather than separate, her ligaments are wire spun from powdered iron & gold, and her skin is for every scientific purpose human.

But she has no muscles. She has no vessels. Her hands, her head, her shoulders, all the places we most often touch eachother are close enough to the bone that most people never notice the lack of structure, but squeeze the meat of her arm or try to punch her stomach, and her insides just… slosh out of the way. If you puncture her skin, she bleeds immediately & excessively, though her saliva is gluey enough that she can patch herself up just fine. If she loses too much blood, either from direct exsanguination or because it gets used up healing from other injuries, then she starts to look so very, very wrong. Just skin hanging on bone, with dark eyes that are a little too human.  (That last part can be amended by just refilling her stores, so everyone in the family declares her their resident vampire and moves on with their lives.)

She also has no pulse. Her heart is a ritual talisman rather than a functioning organ—in fact, she has no functioning organs. Shoot her in the head, she’ll just keep coming. But the softer parts of the heart are still vulnerable to damage, and damaging it can disrupt the magic in her body.

(As Cass becomes more loved, her form becomes firmer and her blood starts clotting on its own. She still slurps down a frozen blood pack happily after a rough patrol, and scientific examination would be hard pressed to find anything, but the love makes her more alive, and living things have different rules.)

[cassiopeiagarcia]

Cass was crouching behind a rock, completely covered in something that she really hoped was not animal shit and something else that she was pretty damn sure was animal shit.

She was being as quiet as possible, putting all her attention on simple things; where she placed her foot next or if the terrain made any noise as she stepped on it.

She was outside of Akila City. There had been a sandstorm not long ago, but she had been able to wait it out inside her ship, Chaos, which also acted as her home. When Fernando and María had given their three kids enough money so that they could get their adult lives started, Cass bet they hadn’t been thinking that their middle daughter would go straight to the Spaceport and purchase whatever ship she could get her hands on.

A medium-sized one, with space for three people, white, with missile launchers and laser guns, with engines that didn’t allow her to travel too fast… but she could grav jump, and did most times, so it was fine. As long as she kept her shields up at all times, even when she was sleeping, she would be fine. Even if piracy was the new in and being a respectful citizen and not stealing other people’s private property was out.

But none of that mattered, now. Because she had found the creature she had been stalking for the past few weeks. A Mossgnath. A gigantic creature, resembling that thing that Earth inhabitants used to call dinosaurs, covered in moss and very easy to confuse with a rock, if they were young or a small mountain, if they were adults or elders.

They were nervous creatures that ran away whenever they heard the softest sound – probably their ears were overdeveloped to escape the beasts that roamed the area, like the Ashtas. Blood-thirsty, extremely aggressive creatures whose body was made of scales so hard not every gun could penetrate their skin.

She got out her sketchbook, and started drawing. Little by little, line by line, making sure the sound of the pencil on the paper was inaudible… at least for her. But the Mossgnath didn’t seem troubled.

The gentle giant was sitting down, munching on leaves from a nearby tree, being the perfect model for her artwork without even knowing about it.

It wasn’t long until she had finished – at least tracing the basic shapes, she could work more on it when she was safe somewhere else.

Drawing number one thousand eighty-nine.

When Cass had enrolled in university, she had never thought that would be her life. She hadn’t been particularly into sciences; in fact, she would have preferred to study art. But her parents had been pretty strict about it, wanting her to have a good future, saying maybe at first she could study something useful, just so that she would have a backup plan and then, perhaps, go to painting classes…

And now, here she was. Collecting data that she would later on sell to MAST, or to the Freestar Rangers, or to anyone who was willing to pay.

Observing things most humans hadn’t laid eyes upon.

[closingwaters]

PARTIES: @magmahearts @closingwaters

SUMMARY: Teagan is angry to see someone near the lake, only to discover Cass is also fae. The two become friends.

TIMING: Current

WARNINGS: None

The cave where Cass had made her home provided her with a lot of things. Shelter, a place to keep her stuff, comfort. One thing it didn’t have, however, was a shower. It wasn’t necessarily something a nymph needed — the ones she’d grown up around certainly hadn’t cared if they were clean by human standards — but it was something Cass desperately wanted. After all, it was important to humans, and humans were important to her. No one would want to be her friend if she smelled bad.

So she found a lake. Maybe it still wasn’t the cleanest option, but it wasn’t as if she had a whole lot of choices available to her. It was either this or the ocean, and she doubted the ocean was any cleaner. So… the lake. It was a good bet.

Only there was someone swimming in it. Cass took a moment to stare, wide-eyed as the figure moved gracefully through the water. But… maybe she was staring a little too hard or a little too long, because the woman spotted her. And she didn’t look particularly happy about the intrusion. 

“Oi!” The nix barked out, kicking her dorsal fins and hind legs as she picked up speed toward shore. No one was allowed in the lake without a proper invitation. Teagan made that clear more than once already, having drowned her fair share of people in a short time. Only, this girl was different. The closer the fae got to her, the more the pleasant buzz grew in intensity beneath her skin. Could it be? Was the girl surveying the lake as another nix? Teagan had to find out.

She took on a more humanoid shape, her skin still a smooth pale pink akin to an axolotl, but her fin was gone. The only other thing that could give away what creature Teagan complemented were her external gills, which slowly receded into her neck just as she spoke. “Sister?” Tears sparkled in her eyes, gazing in wonder at the young fae in front of her. She smiled, allowing the hum to grow further as she all but tackled the girl into a hug. There was no mistaking it. She was fae. 

The figure yelled at her as she approached, but that wasn’t what Cass noticed first. Even the woman’s appearance, all fins and gills, didn’t quite register. No, Cass was stuck on something more internal, on that fluttering in her stomach and that buzz beneath her skin. Fae. The woman was fae. Probably a nix, based on the way she’d been swimming. And she was coming towards Cass, fins fading into humanoid limbs as she came close, and all Cass could think was that she was going to know. She was going to take one look at the oread, and she was going to know that she was bad, and Cass was going to be unwanted, yet again, by someone who was a part of the community she was supposed to belong to.

She tensed as the nix drew ever closer, her heart pounding in her chest. Would she figure it out right away? The nymphs back home always had. No nixies had been present on her island, but there were a few nereids who’d managed to get out of the rotation of caring for the troublesome oread. 

Only… this nymph wasn’t looking at her with disgust. At least, not yet. She looked excited. Happy. She pulled Cass into a hug and Cass knew she should pull away, knew it would hurt later when that unavoidable rejection came calling, but it felt so good to be held. She relaxed into the grip, swallowing. “Hi,” she said quietly, uncertainty nearly choking her. What did this woman want her to be? She could try to be it. She couldn’t lie, but she could convince herself she was someone else if it meant she could belong. She’d done it before. 

It was an awkward hug. Most were with strangers, but there was a layer of tension, of fear in the way that the young fae all but sank into Teagan. It twisted the nix’s heart to feel the loneliness and uncertainty. It was a cold and bitter thing, urging her to do her best impression of long lost kin. Because that’s what they were, wasn’t it? All fae were connected. It was why they could sense one another, feel the pleasant buzz of whenever they were near. Strangers on the surface, but united as one at heart.

“Hello,” Teagan pulled away slightly, keeping her hands on the girl’s shoulders. “What do we have here, hm? Pure lovely, is what it is.” She giggled, “Are ya a nix like me? Or a cousin? Whatever you are, is a pleasure.” Her smile grew and tears began to break through the barrier of Teagan’s lids. “Oh, you’re so young. Do ya got an Aos Sí here? Frankly, I don’t belong to one, but who knows? Maybe one will strike my fancy. Not sure any would want me though.” It was a joke, mostly. Her family no longer wanted her around, but that was neither here nor there. “What’s your name, lass? Oh—and sorry for being so rude before. Humans like to come swimming without permission.”

The nix was a bundle of excited energy as she pulled away, as if Cass was something to marvel at. It wasn’t something that had never happened before, but… With her, it felt different. In the past, when people found out what Cass was or what she could do, there had always been a sort of hunger to the reaction. A desire to use it, to use her. And she’d always let them, so desperate for belonging that she’d thought she could buy it if what she offered was valuable enough. If I melt the hinges on the ATM will you love me? If I promise bind this business man into giving you his bank account information will you be my friend? If I burn through this wall will you stay with me? The answer was always no, but she’d kept trying anyway.

And now, here was someone who didn’t seem to want her to try at all. Excited just to be close to her, happy just to meet her. It wouldn’t last. Cass knew that. It never lasted with fae, but maybe she could enjoy it while she had it. Maybe she could try that.

“I’m not a nix,” she said, trying to keep her voice from wavering. I’d be a nix if you wanted me to. I’d try. I know how to swim, is that okay? Is that enough? “I’m an oread. It’s nice to meet you, too.” Something acidic threatened to rise up out of her throat at the question of an aos sí, and she shook her head carefully. “No. It’s just me.” But then the nix continued, and something struck Cass. Not sure any would want me. Was this nix like her? A broken, unwanted thing, too much to belong anywhere? Some of the apprehension bled out of her, and she tried not to smile. “Why wouldn’t they want you?” Are you like me? Are you too much, too? We could be too much together. We could. “I’m Cass. It’s okay. Humans come to my cave sometimes, too.” She never hurt them, but she’d make the rocks move sometimes to scare them out. As much as Cass liked humans, she knew it was bad for them to be in her home. They’d think she was weird if they knew she lived there.

Cass not being a nix was not a disappointment in the slightest, and thus Teagan’s smile didn’t falter. It grew, her eyes beaming with a glint of anticipation. Neither one of them had a base filled with fae, and for the first time in a while, Teagan felt hopeful. Maybe she wasn’t the only black sheep, the only fae that was pushed out of an Aos Sí. 

“It’s a pleasure, Cass. I’m Teagan.” Her heterochromic eyes glided over Cass’s every feature, as if to memorize it in case she ran off. Teagan hoped she wouldn’t. Not when they both seemed to be mirror images of one another’s loneliness. “So,” She began, waving Cass to follow her to a set of boulders the two can sit on. “An oread is what you said, yes? Of volcanoes and stone? Am I correct?” Teagan sat down on one of the stones, settling into her seat with a content hum. “Didn’t even know volcanoes were around these neck of the woods. Or are you not from here?”

It was strange, Teagan’s smile. Cass was so used to being met with disappointment from other fae that finding herself face to face with anything less felt unnatural, like she was breaking some kind of unspoken rule. Of course, just because Teagan was happy with her now didn’t mean she would stay that way. Plenty of fae got caught up in the excitement of meeting someone like them only to falter when they realized just what a problem Cass was. She’d been through it plenty of times before, and it always ended the same way — with her just as alone as she’d ever been.

“It’s nice to meet you, Teagan,” she replied, trying to keep the uncertainty out of her tone. The words didn’t push that familiar ache into her stomach, so they must not have been a lie. It was nice to meet Teagan, even if it would probably hurt later when Teagan decided it wasn’t nice to meet her at all. Her eyes did light up just a little at the question, though, and she nodded. “Yes,” she confirmed, “volcanoes and stone. There aren’t any volcanoes here, though. There’s the mineral abnormality, but it’s not quite right. I’m from Hawai’i, originally, but I haven’t lived there in a long time.” Not since they got rid of her. “What about you? I like your accent.” 

Hawai’i. Now that was a beautiful place. Teagan had only seen it in pictures, but every single one was more beautiful than the last. Images of crystal clear water, lush green life, and people that looked just like Cass. She had to miss home terribly, the nix knew it; felt it in her bones. Or was that just the tug of Teagan’s heartstring to Wales? One could chock it up to empathy, and that’s exactly how the nix decided to take it. Her heart could ache for both of them. And it did.

“Fates, Hawai’i is a long ways from here. Never been myself. Just seen pictures.” Teagan played with the ends of her hair, claws raking through to untangle it. “I’m sorry you’ve been away for so long, lass. Is the same for me. From Wales. Thus, the accent.” She gave Cass a wan smile and took a deep breath, hoping to shove the ball in her throat away. “How long has it been for you? Been about twenty for me. Far too long, really. But, I, uh…” Biting her lip, Teagan shook her head with a dry chuckle, tears in her eyes. 

“Can’t go back, sadly. Bit of a downer, that story, but who needs that? How can I be anything but happy with a new friend like you?” Teagan winked tearfully, painting the best smile she could as she patted Cass’s lap. “Now, I got a cabin a short walk away if you wanna come in for some tea and biscuits. Think I have some Welsh cakes left, too.”

It was a long way. Cass had been moving further and further from it for almost as long as she could remember now, had probably spent more time away from it than she had on the island itself. Hawai’i was a strange entanglement of memories that filled her with both dread and nostalgia. She’d been born there, but not to anyone who thought her worth keeping. She’d grown up there, but not with anyone who’d wanted her to grow up at all. Was she sorry she’d been away from it, the way Teagan seemed to be? It was hard to say. She hadn’t belonged there, but she didn’t belong here, either. She didn’t belong anywhere. 

She shrugged at the question, a little uncertain. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I was old enough to be on my own, but not that old. I don’t know how long it’s been, exactly. It kind of blends together, after a while.” Those caretakers on the island who’d hurt her and the groups she’d fallen in with after who’d done the same sometimes wore the same blurry faces in her memories, interchangeable in their similarities. Cass was either an inconvenience or a tool to be used. Never anything worth keeping long term. Never anything anyone took on purpose. 

At least… not until now. Teagan’s story sounded a little like her own. Leaving home, unable to go back, carrying a piece of it with you even still. That was how it was for her, too, wasn’t it? She smiled, shrugging a shoulder. “Who needs it,” she agreed. She wasn’t sure if she meant it or not, but maybe that was okay, too. “I don’t think I’ve ever had Welsh cakes. Are they good?”

Uncertainty began to bid farewell to Cass, but there was a part of her that seemed determined to keep it. Like it was a comfort to have it. As if it could protect her from the idea of being wrong. Uncertainty did a lot of things, but what most people didn’t realize was that it provided safe harbor to those who lived in the midst of chaos. If something went wrong, the detachment that came with being wary made it all too easy to let go. As painful as it was. Of anyone Cass could’ve run into, Teagan thought the young oread lucky that she ran into the nix.

Everything made her uncertain, and she was fine with that, she thought. Life was an endless composition that no one person knew the outcome of. With or without anyone’s acceptance, life would happen. That was the song. More often than not, Teagan allowed herself to sing along, accepting her obligation of existence. She wondered if Cass would harmonize with her. At the very least, she sounded like she was beginning to hum. That was a start.

“Welsh cakes are very good. I like to add a dollop of butter to ‘em, but others like to use jam or honey. I’ve got them all.” Teagan slid off her boulder and took a few steps before turning on her heel and looking at Cass. She waved for the young fae to follow. “Come. Is only a short walk. If you like it enough, you’re welcome there anytime. Give you a nice nook to nap in, too.”

The more Teagan opened up in her body language and words, the easier Cass found it to do the same. She didn’t ask any more about Hawai’i, and Cass was a little glad for it. People wanted to know details, sometimes, but sharing the details with Teagan would mean admitting to the fact that she’d been cast out and unwanted. She didn’t want to do that. She didn’t want Teagan to begin looking for the reasons why Cass’s aos si hadn’t wanted her around, because if she looked, she’d find them. And if she found them, she wouldn’t want Cass around, either.

But for now, it seemed she was safe from that fate. Teagan had Welsh cakes and was offering to share them, and Cass wasn’t sure what Welsh cakes were, but her stomach was empty enough that it didn’t quite matter. She paused for only a moment before following Teagan as she waved, smiling faintly.

“I don’t really know how to cook anything from Hawai’i,” she admitted. She didn’t really know how to cook anything at all, but she didn’t say that. “Maybe I could find some recipes, though. I could make you something from there, too. Then you could eat something Hawaiian and I could eat something Welsh.”

Oh, Cass was warming Teagan’s heart, she almost couldn’t stand it. She wanted to charge into her for another hug, but she already looked far too drenched after the initial hug. Instead, she took Cass’s hand in hers, hoping that the girl didn’t mind the rubbery and soft sensation of her flesh. She didn’t quite feel like shifting back yet, especially when she wasn’t wearing any clothes. Personally, nudity wasn’t something Teagan minded, but she didn’t know how Cass felt about it. She thought it better to err on the side of caution for the time being. 

“Having you is enough, but if you really want to, maybe we can cook that together. We should make a day of it! Oh, it would be grand. Perhaps tomorrow! You can spend the night.,” Looking back at Cass, Teagan pulled her along with a giant grin, navigating the two into the cabin in a matter of minutes. “Now, I need a moment to get clothed. Make yourself at home, and I’ll be right back.” A moment later, Teagan disappeared up the stairs, changing as quickly as she could.

Having you is enough. The words were ones Cass had always wanted to hear, but hearing them now was terrifying. They’d never been true. Cass alone had never been enough for anyone, no matter how hard she’d tried. A promise bind hadn’t been enough to keep Kuma from casting her out, being born into their community hadn’t stopped her aos si from abandoning her, learning to steal hadn’t stopped any of the groups she’d tried so hard to cling to during her travels from moving on without her. Cass always needed something extra to make herself worth keeping, and even then, she could never make it a long term thing. Teagan liked her now, but she would change her mind. People always changed their minds.

But maybe Cass could delay that if she took her up on her offer to cook together. She could learn how to make the dishes she only faintly remembered from the island, could learn how to balance the spices just right. And it wouldn’t make anyone love her forever, but maybe it would convince them to stay awhile. 

Teagan’s cabin was nice. It was homey in a way Cass wasn’t used to. Roomier than the duplex where Kuma had lived, warmer than the cave Cass had lived in since the woman kicked her out. Unsure what was expected of her, Cass settled onto the sofa uncertainly while Teagan disappeared to change, scrolling through her phone without really seeing any of the posts. Her head shot up when Teagan returned, and she looked back to the other woman with an uncertain grin. “I like your cabin,” she said. “It’s nice. Um, and your couch is… really comfortable. I wouldn’t mind staying the night, if you’re sure it’s okay.” 

When Teagan returned, Cass looked like she had settled in, but it seemed so artificial. As if she was waiting for the shoe to drop. It looked too familiar, if she was honest with herself. Cass didn’t let herself fully extend in anything. At least not in what Teagan had observed as of yet. If this was a habit, it must’ve been built on a foundation of isolation, of being outcasted and ostracized. Teagan understood that, living it when she was just fifteen years old. Of course, it was her own fault, but she didn’t quite know if that was the case for Cass. Regardless, she knew it was still painful. 

“I’ve got a few extra spare rooms upstairs. Much comfort than that there couch.” Teagan placed her fists in her hips, proud of how put together her new home was. “Why don’t I make some tea and get a tray of treats together and we can watch a movie? Get to know each other a little more.” She headed toward the kitchen, stopping in her tracks for a moment to look at Cass again. “Do you like pizza too? Could order some of that for dinner. They don’t usually deliver this far out, but that’s nothing a good deal couldn’t fix.” Winking, she continued her path to the kitchen, yelling out a bit of information to her new friend. “And if you wanna peruse, the remote is on the coffee table! Got all the streams!”

The idea of sleeping in a bed, in a room in Teagan’s house was a strange one. Even when she’d stayed with Kuma, Cass had only ever slept on the sofa in the living room or on the floor. Never a bed, never a full mattress of her own. In all honesty, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept on a bed without someone sleeping beside her. She wasn’t sure she ever had, even as a child. The households that ‘took her in’ in her aos si (though perhaps that was too kind a phrasing to reflect how she was treated) often hadn’t had room for her, and most of them hadn’t utilized silly human things like beds, anyway. “I like the couch,” she said uncertainly, because change was such a scary thing. At least sleeping on a sofa would be familiar, even when nothing else about the kindness Teagan was showing her was.

The idea of a movie, too, was one that came with a familiar comfort. She liked movies. She knew what was expected of her during movies, could lose herself in the scenes if she needed to. With a smile that was a little more genuine, she nodded. “That sounds really good. And, um, I do like pizza. I’m okay with whatever toppings you want on it, too. I’m not a picky eater.” By necessity. When you found most of your meals in a dumpster, you couldn’t really afford to pick and choose. Picking up the remote, she began flipping around. Some of the tension left her shoulders as Teagan worked in the kitchen. The air around her became a little easier to breathe. 

This was temporary, she knew. Teagan would figure out what everyone always figured out, and she’d want little to do with Cass afterwards. But there was pizza on the way, and the couch was comfortable. Maybe, just for tonight, that could be enough.

[aghostwholovemonsters]

(I don't really know where your rule list is so if there's something here you don't/won't do I apologize)

I humbly request a male reader with a fem eldritch creature just holding each other as they drift to sleep, whispering soft lullaby's to each other in unknown tongues after a long day apart from their better half (I would personally prefer if the Lady to be of a cosmic nature rather than a seafaring one but you can do what you feel most comfortable with)

You might have found nothing, because I actually don't really write/make one shot 😅 I still did for this time because why not, but I'm usually not one of the blog who write stories. So I hope this will to your liking even if it's short 🙏 and that I'm not really good at making up eldritch (I'm also not very used to the male reader so it might seems a little gender neutral)

~~~~~~~~

Fem Eldritch x Male Reader

You closed the door behind you, exhausted. Work had been one of the busiest day and you were glad it was over but was what cost. It was already so late, the pleasure of winter time. The only thing you wish now was to take it easy and relax a little.

You let yourself fall on the couch with a groan. Your head all streched in the back, you saw her slowly float toward you and took shape. "I barely heard you coming love." You said with a smile.

Despite her human shaped body, she retained all of her cosmic attribute. Dark skin with white dots like the night sky, which sometime would have some taint of red or blue or purple like a cloud space, would color her body. Her eyes glowings in a bright white and hair floating just like a nebula. She was the most beautiful to your eyes. "Long day, handsome?" Cassiopeia asked setting next to you.

"You could say so." You rested your head on her shoulder. She felt so warm despite her 'emptyness'. You eyes felt heavy. Now that you were home, safe and comfortable, it was like a wave washed over you. "Cass, could you sing me that one song we both love so much?"

The eldritch agreed. She wrapped her arm around your chest to pull you in a thight embrace. You shifted yourself to be more comfortable. She soft sang a lullaby that was like heaven to your ears. It didn't sounds lile any languages on Earth and anyone would be afraid of some of the tones that came out, but you. You just hummed to her voice. Or voices? It wasn't clear when she would sing. Yet, the sounds made you drift to sleep fast. A nice clam and peaceful rest to the sound of her lullaby was defenitely what you needed after this day. "Thanks, love you." You whispered before left for dream realm.

"I love you too, my love." She whispered back pressing a kiss on your forehead.

[mywitchcultblr]

Karl and Alcina Swapping Place

Karl:

Lady Dimitrescu inherited her family iron factory while Lord Heisenberg inherited his family castle

Karl still has metal bending but also the blood disease and he needs to drink blood to keep himself from falling apart, he also has Alcina's near invulnerability when he's in human form, can turn into the gigantic metal bat-like creature.

Karl wearing pristine white suit and round black glasses but still saying bitch, fuck and all kind of profanities all the time, he also operating a wine business and using human blood as one of the specialty wine ingredients. Karl also using the cadaou and metal bending ability to fuse his human servants into medieval knight armors in his castle, making them his personal guards, like the verdugo in salazar castle

Lord Heisenberg is also known for his love for horses, he has an undead stallion fused with machinery ( Alcina made it for him )

Karl blindly loyal to Miranda because the brainwashing stuck in his head for what? 100 years? 80 years now? He really believe in Miranda and sees her as his mother Hence why Karl is Miranda's favorite, when Ethan met with the four lords for the first time in the ruined church, Karl genuinely defended Miranda's decision He controls the Moroaicǎ and anyone experimented + fused with metal by him. The fused creatures can move independently but Karl is still in control over them like a hivemind Heisenberg is actually worried that Miranda might throw him away once she revive Eva, but he keep this insecurity a secret.

Karl has his own special kind of cadaou parasite, it looks like any other piece of broken metal but its actually works like a nanite, the metal is just an encasing for the mold parasite. If you cut yourself on it or Karl inserted this metal into your body, you'll get infected with the mold and you'll turn into his mutated minion, this parasitic metal will grow all over your body and over take your mind, like red lyrium

Heisenberg and Moreau often fighting over Miranda's affection

Alcina:

The cadaou parasite still mutated Alcina into this huge 9'12 feet tall woman and gave her the ability to shapeshift into a giant wolf like creature, she also still has her long razors and near invulnerability in her human form

Alcina wearing Karl's attire but minus the hat and glasses because she has her wide brimmed black hat. Lady Dimitrescu is known through the village for her talent in engineering and inventing, she is the sole reason why the village has functioning infrastructure.

Bella, Cass and Dani are not only her daughters but also assistant in the workshop. Their mama taught them everything the girls need to know about engineering, biology, chemistry, literature and art ( also occult stuff ) the three girls also often hunting humans with their favorite lycans and vârcolac Alcina was loyal to Miranda until a few years before Ethan arrived in the village, she began questioning Miranda's motive and whatever the mother really cares about her four lords.

This trust and loyalty disappeared when Alcina found out about all of Miranda's plan, she pretended to be loyal but secretly building a soldat army to kill Miranda. She rebelling not just for herself but also for her three girls, there's no future for her daughters with Miranda. So the battle is about two mothers who will do anything for their daughters, Miranda for Eva and Alcina for the three girls

Alcina is not only controlling her soldat army but also a sizable portion of the lycans and a vârcolac, she's the ultimate alpha of this pack. They are usually patrolling around the factory

Alcina tried to warn the other lords about the possibility of Miranda killing them, Moreau and Karl didn't listen to her and only Donna who secretly agreeing with Alcina but she can't do much against Miranda

She and Karl rarely get along but after finding out about Miranda's plan, she feels nothing but pity for Moreau and Heisenberg, Alcina didn't show this tho out of pride

Alcina still doesn't care about the villagers, nope. She did offer Ethan a chance to ally with her tho, telling him that she can understand his feeling over wanting his daughter back since she is a mother of three daughters

Despite the fact that she wore leather jacket and top stained with oil from her machine, Lady Dimitrescu still behave properly like an aristocratic matriarch should be