#tech shenanigans

[lancersafetysigns]

[birchtreecat]

I love being a child who VERY VAUGELY knows her way around a computer bc I have just gotten an emulator to work on a school computer without a hitch. like. Soul silver is JUST the surface the amount of games I could load in there???

[here-comes-the-moose]

Plot twist: Rex let Echo go with the Bad Batch because he took one look at Tech and Crosshair and their Twin Shenanigans™️ and was like “I have the perfect opportunity for karma right here”.

[cuddles-with-dragons]

*movie night* Hunter: Wrecker, for the last fucking time, we're not watching Rocky. Tech: *raises hand* Crosshair: No nature documentaries, either! Echo: I have some perfectly great movies right here, guys. Wrecker: Ya mean that pile of chick flicks? Echo, offended: They're rom-coms! Omega, looking through the pile: *holds up The Princess Bride* But this one says action and adventure... Echo: The box LIES.

[escelia]

DP x DC PROMPT/FIC

Gotham Portal

(If you get the notif for this post like 2 days ago, no you didn't! I wasn't done yet! You were imagining things!)

Where the story takes place in Gotham instead of Amity Park, the Fentons having moved before the construction and testing of the Ghost portal due to the high saturation of ectoplasm in Gotham. So, Danny's accident ALSO happens in Gotham, except he has no support system at all.

Enter the Bats stage left!

Danny couldn't believe he'd been so stupid. His parents had uprooted their whole life to move to Gotham. They said they'd need all the ambient ectoplasm there for when they built their portal. Jazz had been thrilled! After all, Arkham was a shining beacon of mentally ill people, and Jazz was like a psychology moth to a flame; it would be the perfect place for her internship after college.

His parents had wasted no time assembling the portal from their blueprints in the basement of the run-down apartment building they'd bought outright just on the edge of Crime Alley, complete with the Ops Center parked right on top. They'd gutted the place and completely redone it before they moved in. (Danny had no idea when they accomplished that. Maybe they'd been planning it for a while and only thought to tell their children two weeks before moving day.) He was genuinely surprised the local vigilantes hadn't stopped by yet to ask questions.

But anyway, back to how he was royally screwed! He'd just wanted a cool picture for Sam and Tucker now that he'd moved away. His parents weren't home (they'd gone back to the hardware store after their last test), Jazz had stayed after school to try and butter up her new teachers by running a study group, and he'd been alone. He'd even followed all the safety precautions his parents had told him about! He'd put on the hazmat suit and tried not to touch anything. But he'd tripped.

Through the whirling of green and the static buzzing in his ears, he remembered screaming, though he hadn't recognized it as his own. Every nerve in his body was on fire, and he just wanted it to stop. Stop, please stop, why won't someone save me, please!

He woke up to the smell of burning flesh, but he woke up. He was okay! Disoriented, a little disgusted by the smell and throat a little raw, but okay!

At least he'd thought so at first.

He'd begun to... change colors? And float, he floated sometimes, too. But the most irritating of all was that he would go through things. Forks and glasses slipping, quite literally, right through his fingers.

He hadn't told his parents. He'd been fine, after all. A little shaken up, but they'd been so excited he'd gotten the portal to work, who was he to put a damper on the mood when he was fine?

That brought him to now, staring at the mirror in the school bathroom in horror. He'd fought his first real ghost that morning around breakfast. He'd kept it together fairly well, in his opinion. Got through three whole classes before making an excuse to the teacher, slipping off into the blessedly empty restroom.

He'd been getting better and better at controlling his form, and he transformed in front of the mirror, taking stock of his appearance.

Odd colored hair: check.

Bright glowing eyes: check.

Floaty hair: check.

Could walk through walls, disappear, and fly: check.

He raised his finger to his pulse point and felt... nothing.

"I died," he whispered to himself in shock. "I... died," he repeated, this time in despair.

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

Damian Wayne was not usually one to keep tabs on his classmates. They weren't his friends, therefore he saw no point. However, the new kid, Daniel Fenton, had begun to act strange.

When Daniel Fenton enrolled in Gotham Academy it hadn't been anything special. He'd started the year a little last due to his family moving, but families moved for all sorts of reasons. He hadn't tried to immediately make friends with Damian like so many others had, much to his relief. But he hadn't tried to make friends with anyone else, either. Maybe he liked to be alone? It really wasn't his business.

But then the boy started getting skittish and clumsy. Clumsier than he had been when he started school. He'd developed a miniscule tremor in his left hand, so he'd probably sustained an injury. He began dropping things in Chemistry. So often, in fact, that he'd been banned from doing practical labs and was instead assigned extra book work.

If Damian had been anyone else, if he hadn't been raised by assassins or had his night work as Robin, he wouldn't have noticed. He wouldn't have followed Fenton to the bathroom under the guise of needing to see the school nurse for a headache. Perhaps if he were anyone else, Fenton might have noticed him following.

There was an alarming flash of light as Damian peered carefully around the corner. Fenton had changed forms. Something had happened to him.

"I died," he heard him say. Damian thought he was being dramatic until he watched him raise his fingers to his pulse point. His glowing eyes dilated in panic, and he repeated himself. He watched as his classmate, looking fragile and lost, curled in on himself floating in the air, and sobbed.

Damian didn't confront him that day. He watched, waited, and researched. He found the research of Dr's Fenton on ghosts and ectoplasm, most of which he was skeptical of up until actual ghosts started to torment them during patrols.

Ghosts were real, it appeared.

He also concluded that their findings on ectoplasmic entities being non-sentient and inherently malevolent was incorrect, having met the ghost of a little girl caught up in a rouge attack that killed her and her family.

Damian watched Daniel Fenton for about a week while he ditched class in a poorly hidden effort to fight and contain the ghosts that he and his family were having such a hard time dealing with. His father was even nearly considering contacting John Constantine, which was never his ideal solution. Damian had been rolling an idea around in his head for a while and he decided now would be the time to bring it up.

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

Dinner at the manor was more of a full table than Damian had expected. Not everyone was there, Jason's relationship with them was still a bit strained, so he was not in attendance, and neither was Stephanie. But Duke was home, and Dick was actually there early for patrol later. Tim was there, and so was Cass, so almost everyone.

"Ahem," he cleared his throat politely. "Father, I wish to recruit a new member."

The chatter around the room came to a halt, the clatter of silverware ceasing.

"What exactly do you mean, chum?" Bruce asked carefully.

"I have a classmate I believe would be a valuable asset in light of our trouble with ghosts recently. However, he has no training or support, so I'm asking for your assistance."

"Did... demon brat make a friend?" Tim asked bewildered and a little bit terrified.

"Tt. No, I've never even spoken to him." Damian rolled his eyes. "My classmate, Daniel Fenton, transferred to Gotham Academy about a month ago and started acting strange soon after. He came to school with a tremor and a Lichtenberg figure you can just barely see starting on his left hand and traveling up his arm. I believed he'd been in an accident, and my suspicions were proven when I saw him use meta abilities to ditch class and fight a ghost in the courtyard of the school. From my observations, they are newly acquired, but he has decent instincts and an inclination toward heroism. I believe it would be safer for everyone involved if we approached him first."

"What?" Tim muttered. Dick was smiling gently at him, though, as if he were doing something he was proud of.

"Do his parents know?" Duke asked. Damian scoffed.

"I highly doubt it."

"Wait, Fenton as in the ectobiologists?" Bruce asked. The ex-assassin nodded.

"And considering their research is not reflected in our own interactions with ghosts thus far, I do not believe we should tell them."

"Not safe?" Cass signed. Her brother shook his head.

"The abilities I've observed resemble that of a ghost. He even has an alternate ghostly form."

The implication that they'd be endangering him hung heavy in the air. They'd all seen the Fentons' research. It mostly consisted of theoretical analysis and blatant biases with a long list of proposed experiments they'd run if they ever caught one. They'd all agreed that the Fenton ghost hunters were not a viable option for their ghost problem, especially after seeing how they drove, which in itself nearly put them on the Bat's rogue list.

"We've been meaning to investigate the Fentons properly anyways," Dick pointed out.

Bruce attempted to massage a headache out of his temples. The stuff his kids stumbled into, really. But Damian was right. If his classmate was a new meta with no support, it was only a matter of time before the rogues zeroed in on him, and since his family lived there, he couldn't tell the kid to leave.

"I'm not saying yes just yet, but talk to him. Find out any more that you can."

"Of course, Father."

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

Danny finally felt like he was getting the hang of his ghost powers. He was pleasantly surprised, and also mildly horrified, that his parents' inventions actually worked on the ghosts he was now beginning to fight regularly. His favorite was by far the thermos, which did no ghost mutilating whatsoever.

He discovered he had a ghost sense and enhanced hearing and vision, which was cool and all, but now he could hear all the shitty things his classmates said about him behind his back. Which, rude! He didn't even talk to them, what did they have to be shitty about?

He also noticed that one of them, Damian Wayne, had been watching him. From what Danny had heard, Damian was the richest kid in school, a Wayne. Son of billionaire Bruce Wayne, to be exact. And his attitude reflected that. His standoffish, holier than thou rich guy attitude made Dash and Paulina look like they lived below the poverty line. Apparently, he generally didn't talk to anyone at school unless it pertained to class, so Danny saw no point in introducing himself.

That made it extra weird that Damian was following him.

It was right after lunch when a hiccup had a cold breath tumbling from his lips. He raised his hand and asked his teacher if he could use the restroom. He made his way to the bathroom on the other side of the building this time, hoping it would be too out of the way for Damian to follow. But soft rustling of his classmate's school uniform gave him away, no matter how imperceptible his footsteps were.

When he entered the restroom, he made his way to the sink instead, splashing some cold water on his face as Damian walked in behind him loudly as if announcing his presence.

"I know what you've been doing," he said confidently, crossing his arms and standing in front of the door so Danny couldn't leave.

"Oh, hey! Damian, right? I'm in most of your classes, but I don't think I've ever introduced myself. I'm-"

"Daniel Fenton, I know. You've been fighting ghosts." Damian had to give him at least a little credit; he'd become a great actor over the last week. Though, that probably had a lot to do with the fact that he probably didn't feel safe at home anymore.

"My parents are ghost hunters, but I don't think shooting a ghost in the face with a lipstick laser then running for my life counts as 'fighting ghosts'."

"Tt. You are lying."

"Dude, what are-?" Danny cut himself off when his words came with another misty breath. Crap! He'd taken too long!

The ghost of the day, an ugly, mutated, bird looking thing with claws at the ends of its wings and a full set of dangerous, pointed teeth, phased through the door behind Damian, poised to strike.

Without warning, Danny grabbed Damian's wrist and whipped him out of the way, throwing himself between the two. A green shield formed in front of him just as the bird slashed at them with one of its wings.

"Well, that's new," he said startled as the bird geared up for another attack.

Danny groaned at his miserable luck before throwing caution to the wind and transforming. He'd just have to force friendship upon one Damian Wayne in an attempt to keep him from telling anyone about his whole magical girl transformation. He tried to activate his shield again, but when nothing happened, he was flung across the room into the wall. God, this was embarrassing.

The next time the ghost tried to attack him, Damian yanked him aside in a dodge and bolted out of the bathroom with Danny in tow. He was dragged through the winding halls to one of the side exits of the school. In costume or not, Damian's priority was luring the ghost away from the other students.

"Hey, so uh, you won't say anything about this," he gestured wildly to himself, "will you?"

"Tt. Of course not, but I believe you have more important concerns at the moment."

“Right!” Danny patted at the sides of his hazmat suit. “Crap, I left my thermos in my locker!” He dodged another attack and retaliated with an ectoblast, trying to keep the ghost's attention off of Damian as much as possible.

"Your lunch? Really?" Damian shouted. Dang, Danny must have been doing a decent job if Damian had the spare time and attention to be exasperated with him.

"No! It's a containment device! Besides, ghosts are basically soup anyway!"

"Distract it," Damian instructed, "I'll retrieve the device." The boy took off. Danny had to wonder how he even knew where his locker was. The ghost tried to follow him, but Danny shot another blast at it.

"Hey ugly, auditioning to be one of Gotham's Birds? Sorry, but you don't really look the part." He had no idea if the creature could even understand him, but the way it turned to him and lunged again suggested it had done the trick. This time, his shield did work!

Danny could have cried tears of joy at finally having some consistency with it. The next few minutes of the fight felt like an eternity while he dodged and shot ectoblasts at it. The creature wasn't really that strong, and it didn't seem to have super dangerous abilities like some of the other ghosts he'd fought like Skulker or Technus. It ended up being a great opportunity to practice his new shield ability, actually. But he knew the longer he took, the more danger his classmates would be in.

The bird ghost slammed into his shield with a particularly vicious strike, slamming him into the ground and creating a small crater.

"Note to self, remember intangibility," Danny groaned.

In that moment he noticed a door opening on the school building. It was Damian! He was finally back with thermos in hand! Unfortunately, the other ghost noticed too.

"Oh no you don't!" Danny yelled, latching onto one of its feet as it tried to fly toward his classmate. He dug his fingers in hard and sunk into the ground partway to anchor himself.

"Big green button by the lid then the button immediately below it!"

Damian wasted no time popping the lid open and sucking the ghost into the device, the lid closing with a quiet pop. He had to admit, though the design was questionable, it was sturdy, light, and very clearly effective. He wondered if he could get away with sneaking off with this one to have drake examine later.

"That was some incredible timing, thanks." The ghostly form of his classmate floated over to him, taking the thermos from his hand. Damian did not pout.

"We should probably get out of here before the Fenton's show up." He could already hear the screech of tires and his dad's voice over the megaphone tearing through the air.

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

"Don't worry honey, we'll catch that nasty ghost boy next time," Jack Fenton comforted his wife. True to form, the Fenton's had arrived to the scene late, and most of the damage to the school yard had been from their vehicle crashing into things upon their arrival. Parents had been called and classes ended for the day, which was how one Bruce Wayne found himself at Gotham Academy trying to help the teachers talk the two down from storming and searching the school.

His son was standing off to the side with one of his classmates. Dark hair, bright blue eyes, lanky frame; Bruce could have mistaken the child for one of his own, but looking between the hulking man in front of him and the kid standing next to Damian, the resemblance was obvious. That had to be Daniel Fenton, the meta his son had told him about. Which meant he'd been the one to deal with the ghost before anyone else had gotten there. The classmate Damian had suggested they recruit for his safety.

"Danno, did you see where that spook went? When I get my hands on him, I'll rip him apart molecule by molecule for even thinking of attacking your school!" Bruce saw Daniel's breath hitch with fear.

"Sorry, no. I was coming back from the bathroom when I saw him fighting another ghost through the window. I was scared so I hid," he lied, gripping his left wrist while he spoke.

Bruce was impressed. The boy's fear was real, and he used that to his advantage to really sell the lie to his parents. His heart ached for him. He couldn't imagine seeing any of his boys looking at him like that, with such fear and distrust.

"That's okay sweetie, we'll get him next time. We're just happy you're alright. Let's get you home," his mother comforted, though Bruce knew it wasn't very comforting at all.

"Yeah, we'll teach you to use the Fenton Bazooka," well that was horrifying, "that way next time you can just blast him!" Danny wanted literally anything else.

"Actually," Damian interrupted politely. "We were assigned a project in class earlier on the history of Gotham. As Daniel is relatively new to town, I offered to assist him with the assignment. Father, would it be acceptable for him to join us for dinner?"

Bruce would have been incredibly surprised his son was inviting someone over for dinner if he didn't see exactly what he was doing. Daniel wasn't safe at home. And he clearly wasn't comfortable with the way his parents spoke of the 'ghost boy'. If his defeated expression was anything to go by, it hadn't been the first time they'd said something like that, nor would it be the last.

"What do you think, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton? We'd love if Daniel could join us for dinner."

"Please, call us Maddie and Jack. That sounds wonderful Mr..."

"Wayne. Bruce Wayne, I'm Damian's father," he introduced. If the two recognized the name, they didn't show it. It worked out rather well in his favor.

"Mr. Wayne. If its not too much trouble, that would be wonderful. It's about time he made a new friend, he's been sulking since the move. Now, we have a ghost to catch!" Maddie planted a kiss on Danny's forehead, leaning her blaster on her shoulder as her and her husband made their way back to the homemade assault vehicle parked haphazardly on the lawn of the school.

"Be sure to call us if you plan on staying the night! We'll let Jazz know she doesn't have to worry about dinner for you! We love you, have fun sweetie!"

"Are they always like that?" Damian asked after the two had pulled away. How had those two even gotten their driver's license? It was truly abysmal, he dreaded the thought of anyone getting into a vehicle with them. And then there was the speed in which they'd dumped their son into their laps, even suggesting they'd be okay with him not coming home that night.

"They mean well, but yeah," Danny replied, heaving a sad and defeated sigh. "Thank you, by the way. For inviting me over, even if you didn't mean it. They can be a bit much."

"Clearly," Damian mused back.

Bruce watched the two interact and felt pride well up in his chest. Meeting the Fenton parents just once was enough to convince him that their son needed help, maybe even their daughter too. That Damian had taken the initiative to bring this to his attention, that he had stood up for Danny and offered his home as a sanctuary for him, made him so incredibly proud as a father. He wasn't as prickly with Danny the way he was with other people, even his own siblings. That was a very good thing indeed, considering it was looking more and more likely this would end with another adoption.

Maybe Clark was right, he did have an adoption problem.

[laughhardrunfastbekindsblog]

Omega filling Crosshair in on some highlights he missed, after they've finished their first meditation session

Omega: There was this one time Tech entered a riot race to save us from being indebted to a dangerous gangster, and Tech won.

Crosshair: unsurprised, Tech always was an adrenaline junkie and of course the squad would run into trouble with a gangster

******

Omega: Oh, did I tell you about the time we went with Phee to find treasure? The treasure turned out to be the kill switch to a weapon of mass destruction, so we had to leave it there after almost dying.

Crosshair: unsurprised, the squad itself used to be a weapon of mass destruction, but of course they wouldn't be able to keep their hands on any treasure

******

Omega: I learned what flirting is by watching Phee talk to Tech. Tech couldn't do it well himself, but we all knew he liked her.

Crosshair: raised eyebrows, but... uh, actually, come to think of it, he could kinda see Tech having a girlfriend; he'd be more surprised if it were Hunter with a girlfriend, seeing as how Hunter is completely oblivious to anyone paying that kind of attention to him

******

Omega: So... Fennec, that bounty hunter Wrecker and Hunter are going to meet? We first met her on Pantora, I accidentally got lost when I ran after a puppy right after Hunter sold Echo to a shop owner...

Crosshair: [slamming open the door barging into the Marauder and glaring at Hunter the moment he and Wrecker return from space-Florida] YOU SOLD ECHO???!?

....

Hunter: Look, we really needed the credits and Echo wasn't going to stay there forever.

Crosshair: You told me a real leader protects his squad!

Hunter: That's what I was doing!

Crosshair: By selling Echo??

Echo [was in the middle of getting updated on the Fennec stuff via holotransmission and is still on the call]: It's fine, Crosshair. What's done is done. That was a long time ago.

Crosshair: Well, at least tell me they got 10,000 credits for you!

Echo: crossing his arms and joining Crosshair in staring Hunter down

Hunter: sighs

Wrecker: eating popcorn in the background, passes the bucket over to Omega when she shows up

(Crosshair may have teased Echo all the time, but he's a bit protective of his adopted brother too.)

[stealingyourbones]

Static Shock, Tucker, and Phantom team up to go fight Technus in Dakota City. Having lighting powers against a tech ghost is surprisingly effective, especially when your new friend builds you some ghost hunting gear that works with your superpowers.

[reluctanttrabbit]

something that still drives me insane since ruins anniversary is coming up

[ladyzirkonia]

Our favorite twins.

Tech : Crosshair gets offended by everything. Crosshair: What did you say about me?!? Tech : Tech : Case in point.

Crosshair: What goes up but never comes down? Tech : The amount of stress you're bringing this family.

Crosshair: Can I ask a dumb question? Tech : Better than anyone I know.

Tech : I’ve organized your messages into three categories. Tech : “From Crosshair” Tech : “Death Threats” Tech : and “Death Threats From Crosshair”

And the last one because we need this:

Crosshair: How the hell are you still alive? Tech : Honestly, I’m just as confused as you are.

[jtl07]

avatrice soulmate au

omg ant i hope this one actually is okay

it took Beatrice two steps down the stairwell to realize that she wasn't alone.

she takes these stairs everyday, arriving and leaving work, going to lunch as she is now - it's the principle of the thing, she'd explained to Camila, citing that their office was only on the 5th floor, besides, Beatrice wasn't one to pass up extra cardio especially after sitting in front of the computer working through feature specs and telling Crimson no, we will not be adding more custom dev hours to your most important tier 1 client who just happens to be owned by your cousin -

she hears it again: a sob.

it echoes through the stairwell, sad and lonely and broken. Beatrice doesn't know who it might be but the sound pulls at her nonetheless, a weight in her chest that gets heavier as she quietly gets closer.

then she sees her. Ava Silva, sitting on one of the steps, curled into herself, leaning heavily into the wall as she cries. Beatrice hasn't worked with her much - Beatrice tries to keep her interactions with Sales down to a minimum - but she knows of her. her smile, her laugh, her sometimes inappropriate jokes, the ease with which she brings joy into a room, that Beatrice has always felt when passing by her in the office. so to see Ava here, like this, is something of a shock.

Beatrice feels that tug again - knows she can't turn away and leave her alone.

she lets her next step fall heavy and the sound is enough to make Ava lift her head, scrub her face, hastily pull at her clothes. "oh - hey, Beatrice, off to lunch?"

Beatrice nods, hesitant. gestures to the space next Ava. "may I?"

"sure," Ava says, clearing her throat of tears.

Beatrice lowers herself down to sit as well, though she chooses one step behind Ava - enough to see most of her face, enough -hopefully- to give her space. it feels heavier here, though, like a storm attempting to swallow her whole. Beatrice isn't sure what to do in the face of such a feeling, sees it clearly even though Ava seems to be trying hard not to show it. but she has to do something.

she lets the heaviness fill her lungs, then thinks of freedom, thinks of air. speaks into the silence: "did you know this stairwell has access to the roof?"

Ava blinks, the tension in her body releasing at the unexpected question. "no," she answers, and Beatrice gets the pleasure of watching in realtime as the words register. "wait are you telling we could've been having rooftop parties all this time?"

Beatrice allows a smile. "not exactly. the engineers found out a couple months ago. they've been cleaning it up little by little." she glances at Ava. "it's better privacy than a stairwell."

the look Ava gives her is something curious, feels her gaze like a physical thing. Beatrice barely keeps herself from shivering.

"sounds like you're speaking from experience."

Beatrice lets out a soft snort through her nose. "you don't work in tech without at least one breakdown every quarter." Ava's laugh is soft but Beatrice still feels a bit of pride at the tendril of amusement peeking through dark clouds.

in her pocket, Beatrice feels her phone vibrate, a reminder of the limited time she has for her break. normally she rushes through it, but she wants the opposite now, wants to take her time, wants to know Ava more.

"well you can't tell from here," Beatrice says, glancing at the drab gray walls of the stairwell, "but it's a beautiful day outside. join me for lunch?"

Ava's surprise is palpable, burning even and Beatrice backpedals immediately. "only if you want, of course, i simply thought -"

"i'd love to." there's a curious, almost mischievous curve to Ava's smile now, something knowing that flusters Beatrice even more.

"right then," Beatrice mutters, standing up in hopes of controlling the sudden blush on her cheeks. still, she can't help the way her gaze stays on Ava, watches her stand - sees the moment she loses her balance.

Beatrice moves without thinking.

the next thing she knows, Ava's in her arms, heart beating wildly in her chest, eyes wide and Beatrice feels herself riding a rollercoaster of emotions: fear and relief and horny -

she pauses. carefully traces the last feeling to a source outside of herself.

Ava's grin is wider than Beatrice has ever seen it, knowing and joyous. "felt that, huh." Ava doesn't bother posing it as a question, likely already feeling the rush going through Beatrice herself.

"i suppose we'll be feeling each other a lot now." later, Beatrice will swear that she meant it innocently, in terms of the soulmate bond in general, but then she feels Ava's instant mischief, sees her grin turn wicked and she groans. maybe she should have taken the elevator after all...

[faislittlewhiteraven]

Been having some ISaT tech level and timeline (as in 'when backstory things happened') thoughts and want to ramble a bit:

Tech

ISaT's setting is based on your classic sword and sorcery fantasy JRPG so its easy to assume that tech wise everything is 'fantasy medieval' and call it a day but consider:

Body Craft is at bare minimum is magic sex changing surgery (earliest known equivent in our world dating to 1930) that any old person can learn to do safely on themselves in only a few months, and more likely has many many broader applications like regular old surgery, the 'combat healing' Mira and Sif use, etc.

Cameras and photos are rare enough that Odile comments on it (namely she's happy the group get a photo in the House due to them being 'so rare') yet are also common enough that everyone in the party knows about them and doesn't question the existence of a camera beyond being surprised that the mirror was one. (In our world cameras date back to the 19th century, with the earliest manufacturing of them being in 1839). 

Printing presses and ways to make plenty of paper to feed those presses given absolutely everyone in this game can read, expects everyone else to know how to, and both mass produced book series and newspapers are a thing. (Note: Printing presses have existed since waaaay back but it's the mass paper manufacturing that makes newspapers and The Cursing of Chateu Castle possible that really has my eyebrows raised here, especially since neither Siffrin or Odile find either odd in any way, indicating such things are common everywhere, and while newspapers have been around since 1604 in our world, mass produced fantasy books didn't really take off until the start of the 20th century).

Food production and storage: despite being in the middle of a national disaster that almost certainly cut off trade networks and access to most suppliers for literal months now, Bonnie, a small child, is able to easily get their hands on fresh Pineapple, curry ingredients (for samosa), potatoes, plantains etc with no issues or anyone commenting on this being unusual or lucky. Oh and the only character who even brings up the concept of potential starvation is the Fishing One, and only in a sort of 'we're not at risk now but sooner or later...' kinda way due to noticing that the fish they fish up for fun are disappearing and likely being frozen. So yeah, that heavily implies Vaugarde has very good food storage tech/Craft (possibly better than ours), and likely also good food production and harvesting tech/skills also.

The Island's incredible knowledge of the stars: while the oldest known orrery in our world is dated from around 205 to 87 BC (ancient Greek, earth centric model), the fact Sif -who would've learnt this as a child/teen- is so very certain that stars are big balls of fire made up of gas is interesting as that's something our world couldn't prove the theory of until around the 1900s (note: it'd been theorized a LONG time but Sif talks like its complete facts to them . Additionally the earliest existing record of a telescope in our world dates to a 1608 patent and we see one of those in game.

Post posting EDIT: A wonderful user qds-place pointed out that Mirabelle has anti-anxiety medication in her room. This is in both ISaT and SAaP and though we're not sure what form the medication takes (pills? Valium? Megitech esc Craft boosters???) the fact they specifically have 'anti anxiety' medication at all (as opposed to idk dragging Mira off and drugging her through the gills) is kind of impressive and if it IS modern anti anxiety pills those could be as recent in creation as the 1950s! So um. Some high levels of tech implied in chemistry there <3

So... yeah. All this, plus the fact that the highest tech implied area, The Island, literally specialised in the study/Craft of turning wishes into reality (for a long enough time period that Wish Craft is culturally so ingrained in the King and Sif that they do it without thinking and it seems intertwined with their nation's religion) has been completely erased from memory to the point anything heavily associated with them has been forgotten, and also we only ever see Dormont aka a little village well away from the cities, it's not hard to conclude that you can basically justify giving the ISaT world any level of tech you want, so long as you lock any of the truly 'setting breaking' stuff like planes and rockets behind The Island's forgetting curse (I would've said trains too but thinking about it trains were invented in 1802 so it's honestly easy to imagine that they totally exist in the ISaT setting/Vaugarde but aren't ever on screen because rail is way too dangerous to consider using while the Curse is active and potentially time freezing things on the tracks).

Side note: We know absolutely nothing about Vaugarde's transport system but as a fan of fantasy RPGs it is honestly a travesty I have yet to see a fic that has flying dragons/wyverns or other fantasy mounts in setting. Like, ok yes, the party would probably have wanted to use those but maybe they don't like the Curse and fled? Maybe the King's Curse targeted them first? Maybe all their handlers dropped the heroes off in Dormont and said 'Well Saviors it's been fun, but well me and Scales here are off to Poteria until things wrap up so best of luck to you' before buggering off?

This isn't really a serious complaint just. Me reminding myself/potentially other fanwork writers out there that there's a lot about the setting we just don't know about and limiting all travel to walking, horse drawn carriage and boat is not actually required. (Also please mix up travelling to the Island. Boats are a wonderful classic and have great thematic vibes for Sif's original leaving of the Island but like. Imagine the sheer in-universe wtf of the memories of The Island suddenly coming back and people on the north coast suddenly realising there's a massive bridge, subway or underwater tunnel leading there that everyone just forgot about - potentially filled with all kinds of Sadnesses that need taking down. Or Warp Panels in a House of Change, idk XD).

Timeline

Canon notes first:

Bonnie is a preteen (8 to 12), Mira and Isa are in their early to mid 20s (with Isa slightly older), Sif is late 20s to 30, and Odile is 40+ Nille is stated to be around 18 to 20.

Siffrin ran away from home when they were a teenager (13 to 17? 18?) and this is heavily implied to be when the Island was Forgotten.

Bonnie (in ISaT specifically*) says that Nille told them that when it happened all the adults were talking about it, hence why they think The Island is close to their village. *In Start Again a Prologue, Bonnie says that they themself remember the adults talking about the Island disappearing, which er. Is a bit impossible given they likely weren't even born yet when that happened but that can be explained away by AU differences, InsertDisc5 still finalising details between SAaP and ISaT, and/or OG Siffrin having been in the loops so long they weren't actually listening when Bonnie was talking and just 'scripted' in their head something 'close enough' to what Bonnie was saying to get the idea (note: mentioned that idea before in my post here on the differences between the House and King in Start Again vs In Stars and Time for anyone curious so er please feel free to give that a read if you haven't already).

Odile mentions remembering 'when it happened' as well and has been 'travelling for years'.

The King 'appeared out of nowhere' sometime in his adulthood, and lived in the city of Corbeaux for a few years before he became the King.

The King became the King as was freezing people in time long enough before his attack on the House of Dormont that everyone inside knew he was coming, there were a wall's worth of newspaper articles about him, and everyone was expecting Euphrasie to defeat him.

Mirabelle's quest began 'almost a year ago' and Sif lost their eye 'recently'.

Thoughts on the above:

Calculating when The Island was forgotten:

Sif being mid 20s to 30 and having run away from home as a teen means that The Island has to have been forgotten somewhere between 9 to 17 years ago with nine only possible if he ran away at age 17 and is only age 26 now, and seventeen being the far opposite if he ran at age 13 and is currently 30.

To narrow down the timeline: Given Sif ran away from home because he 'didn't want to eat his veggies' and 'just wanted to scare [his] parents a little bit' it's probably safe to assume Siffrin was likely on the younger end of the teen spectrum (teens run off all the time sure but with loving parents and over veggies? That screams 'kid who has not yet learned that freaking out the parents will get their ass grounded and/or yelled at a LOT and is therefore best saved for doing fun forbidden stuff that ideally the parents will never find out about' XD) Additionally given Siffrin can't remember his age/birthday etc but Isabeau outright says near the beginning of the game "But you're older than most of the people here?" meaning Sif must be visibly older than Isa or Mira, so he's probably closer to 30 than not.

Those alone would imply the Island likely disappeared closer to the '17 years ago' side of things BUT Nille (tops 20 years old) told Bonnie that "[the Island's disappearance] was all the adults would talk about for ages" and kids usually can't remember anything prior to 4 years of age so with that in mind...

I'd say The Island most likely disappeared between 13 to 16 years ago.

Nille stuff:

This is more a general mention but. Nille is tops 20 years old. Bonnie is between 8 and 12 and doesn't remember their parents at all.

This means Nille ran away with Bonnie and gained emancipation and custody of Bonnie (if Vaugarde has formalised that kind of legal stuff) while she was at most 12 years old herself and could have in theory been as young as 6..!

Regardless, it's very likely the original home situation was that bad, Nille deserves a ton of credit for raising Bonnie as well as she has and I'd say it's very VERY likely she had a lot of help from villagers in Bambosche and/or the local House of Change in doing so. ...But also Bonnie is very adamantly 'my sister and village' and not 'my sister and [specific names who live with us]' so there's clearly by the time Bonnie was 4 or so they were living in their own place so... Yeah. Lotta drive for independence there too it seems (so the party might have more trouble adopting Nille into their group post ISaT than Bonnie might expect).

King stuff:

Already an adult 13 to 16 years ago so at bare minimum 33. Given his vibe probably much older though.

Newspapers get printed pretty quick though for there to be so much speculation and research done into his background so quick, either Vaugarde has some form of fast messaging system (something like a Chappe telegraph on top of the Houses of Change? Odile I think does mention that they'll have a message sent to let Nille know they'll be returning Bonnie...) or the King was freezing stuff for IDK around a month or two before reaching Dormont? Alas can't find out how long it takes to walk across all of France out very easily (I'm sure the numbers are out there but my brain is pudding rn) but if we had those numbers we could probably make some guesstimates based off the rough sketched map of Vaugarde InsertDisk5 did... Which I would link but apparently the tumblr post I had it linked on has been deleted???? 'wails at this very unhappy development'

Mira's journey and Sif's eye:

We really don't know a lot but almost a year ago gives us somewhere around 9 to 11 months to spread the journey out along and after eye removal surgery the patient can out and about as soon as 2 to 6 weeks after, maybe sooner with magic healing (though full recovery/growing used to the changed spacial awareness -which Sif clearly does not have- probably can't be sped up and takes around 3 to 6 months) so um. I'd guestimate Sif's eye injury is really recent; like two months ago tops recent. ...Which sorta explains a lot of why Bonnie is not dealing with it right now and also why the others might be trying to avoid bringing it up (since Sif clearly loves avoiding the issue but they haven't yet realised that maybe they really should bring it up even if it annoys them anyway?)

Odile with some Ka Bue speculation:

When it comes to The Island, how did Odile, presumably living in Ka Bue at the time, remember 'when it happened'? Was the Island well known enough even on the other side of the world that it's disappearance made waves? Or was Odile herself or someone she's close to paying attention to the region? (Like maybe her dad or a friend is/was into politics or trade, keeping up with overseas news and got concerned it could happen to Ka Bue? I'd say 'I remember when it happened' line implies it was more immediate knowledge than being informed by a messenger much later though...)

As for Odile's 'years of travel' I have to wonder, what's left behind for her in Ka Bue? She brings up going back there quite a bit, might just miss home and possibly her father if he's still alive, but given it took her years to get here for something so personal rather than idk 'materially rewarding' I think Odile might have some kinda family estate or something back in Ka Bue... Something she wasn't worried about potentially losing while far away, but solid enough to want to return to, beyond her father who she'd definitely want to see again if he's still around. (...But given how open she is to chilling about Vaugarde a few more months with the others, I really don't think he is alive, since well, given their respective ages and travel between Vaugarde and Ka Bue apparently taking years, there'd definitely an uncomfortably high chance of him passing away while she's gone and that seems like the thing that'd stress Odile out so... Yeah. Probably got an estate in Ka Bue she'd like to take the Family to visit/possibly sell off if she decides she'd like to live with them in Vaugarde so... Just my off the cuff headcanoning here and hoping that gives others ideas or something).

---

Anyway that's all the ramble I've got in me so... yeah! Hope this was interesting and useful for those needing a bit of a 'possible tech'/timeline calcs breakdown for the Island + a few more vague things and um. Probably will post a long winding ramble about my attempt at a ISaT Selkie AU fic I've been working on next <3 (Not to be confused with looped-140-and-counting's already existing and quite wonderful Selkie Siffrin AU which already has a completed oneshot fic, a snippet of sequel, two snippets of prequel/Sif flashbacking and I believe a comic too, all of which I highly recommend <3)

[mbrainspaz]

people might be like "you waste like 4 hours a day scrolling tumblr and sometimes tiktok, why do you hate reels so much?"

well ya see, reels™™™ from "meta™" are a collection of completely uncultivated mindless gibberish content infested with rage bait ghouls that's constantly being thrust into my face on two platforms where I have worked for years to cultivate my experiences. On instagram I followed only artists I liked in order to see their art. On facebook I wanted to see posts from people I actually know, and nothing else. Meta hates that because I'm not CONSUMING enough CONTENT. Not clicking enough Links. Not interacting with enough brandsss.

In barges Reels with its endless stream of drivel about random bullshit like funny horse videos and celebrity drama. Do I watch videos like that on tiktok? Absolutely, and the crucial difference is that I went to tiktok and intentionally cultivated an algorithm that would give me content that I wanted to see when and where I wanted to see it. I wasn't tricked into going down a braindead video funnel by clickbait. I continuously and consciously cultivate my tiktok algorithm with a reasonable degree of success. Meanwhile Reels is over on the sidelines sobbing, begging me to click just ONE VIDEO PLEASE GODS JUST CLICK ONE! I refuse to be suckered in to watching some hour long rage bait video about ice cream in a toilet like 45 million other idiots. Like my aunt from Indiana who had to let the world know that she knows not to eat ice cream out of a toilet.

I wish I could set Reels™ on fire and feed it to wild dogs.

[here-comes-the-moose]

Crosshair: *chugging milk because Wrecker dared him to*

Echo: Aren’t you lactose intolerant?

Crosshair: This isn’t lactose, it’s milk.

Tech, facepalming: You’re a fucking idiot.

[phantom-0-writer]

The Justice League had finally given the go ahead to officially form the Young Justice. Not that any of them were going to stop regardless of having permission. Since the Justice League had opened up their slots for more than the original six earlier that year, Batman thought it would be a good opportunity to use the Young Justice to help reach out and recruit some other heroes without drawing too much attention by going themselves. With protégés of most of the originals in the roster it was a solid plan.

They had been told about their newest "assignment" (if you could even call it that) earlier that day and they would be leaving in the morning. They were supposed to go meet a duo in Illinois (it was their base of operation even though they'd worked in other place). Phantom has been in the vigilante/hero scene for almost 10 years now, and Red Huntress started a few months after him.

Their names were well known, Dick had known of them even before he became Robin. But despite their national (maybe even International fame) little was actually known about the duo and the rumored Team Phantom that alluded to there being more than just the two. Dick had been a big fan of Phantom, and modeled a lot of his moves off of the super-powered hero.

Batman told them that they had already reached out the Phantom (Red Huntress had deferred them to him, and refused to speak with them afterwords) and he agreed to meet the YJ team and mentor them for a designated amount of time. There had been rumors in certain forums that the JLA had reached out to Phantom to be one of the original members of the league but he had turned them down. When Kid Flash had brought it up during the meeting, Batman refused to confirm or deny (which was proof enough).

The plan was for the YJ would stay in Amity Park for 15 days and learn from them, they would check in after that to see weather their stay should be extended. Specifically citing that their legendary teamwork would be incredibly beneficial to learn from to strengthen them as a team. The other plan, and equally as important, was to warm them up to joining the JLA ranks since a direct invitation hadn't been received favorably.

All that was thrown in the window when, three days in, the YJ, Phantom and Red Huntress get portaled to an unknown destination, with strange and unknown life(?) forms, with no supplies, no working communicators, and worst of all, no way back.

[robotsandramblings]

can we talk about how Hunter is piloting like Tech ??!!!! and how good he is at it ?!?!

i'm going to be so bold as to say Hunter is the 2nd best pilot after Tech (within CF99).

[laughhardrunfastbekindsblog]

Out of His Depth

Summer of Bad Batch 2024 | Week 8 | Prompt: Swimming Lessons

Summary: Omega asks for advice in giving swimming lessons. Crosshair begrudgingly discovers a new talent. POV: Crosshair Rating: G (Word Count: 2847)

Read on Ao3

Notes: I can't help but think of Crosshair being the grumpy-uncle type who's adored by everyone on Pabu, especially the younger crowd (and he loves the kids too, but will never openly admit it, and will never understand why they like him so much). And I've been thinking a lot about what his early interactions might have been like with Jax, Eva, Sami, and Bayrn. And then the "swimming lesson" prompt popped up. Behold the result.

Also, I'm a huge Tech Lives believer, but this story takes place a month or two after the finale events on Tantiss, so in my headcanon Tech hasn't made it back to his family quite yet.

Omega walked wearily up to the group and plopped down on the warm sand with a sigh.

Crosshair eyed her questioningly. “What’s with you?”

“I don’t know what to do,” she mumbled as she rested her chin in her hand, staring out over the tranquil Pabu waters.

“About what?” Hunter asked, leaning toward Omega as Wrecker and Phee turned their attention to the conversation.

 “Helping Sami so she’s not afraid of the water,” Omega replied, nodding toward the tiny Pantoran who was currently sitting squarely in the middle of the nearby dock, waving to the boats passing by.

Phee had just returned to Pabu, and since it was Phee’s first time seeing Omega since the Batch’s return from Tantiss, it was decided that a beach day was in order. With Shep, Lyana, Mox, Deke, Stak, Jax, Eva, Sami, and Bayrn also joining the party, it had been a full and eventful day. Phee had been in her element for several hours regaling the younger crowd with tales of her exploits; given that Omega had excitedly requested several specific stories, it was clear the others had already heard about many of Phee’s adventures. Crosshair, meanwhile, had listened skeptically and wondered how often Tech had tried fact-checking these stories.

It wasn’t quite as painful to think of Tech now, not since Crosshair had finally convinced himself to visit the impromptu memorial Omega had set up for their brother in the Archeum. Still, Crosshair had found himself wishing more than once that Tech could have been here with them during this beach day – if only so Crosshair could have teased him relentlessly about his pirate girlfriend.

It had been later in the afternoon that Bayrn had been taken in for a nap, Shep and Lyana had taken Jax, Eva, and the former cadets out on the boat, and Sami had approached Omega to ask for swimming lessons. “Jax and Eva know how to swim,” Sami had said. “I’d like to try it.” And Omega had happily agreed, taking Sami to the relatively shallow natural pool at the far end of this stretch of beach, while the brothers filled Phee in more on what had happened since Tantiss and the slow progress being made toward finding the children’s families.

Given what Omega was now reporting, Crosshair would hazard a guess that Sami’s family had never made her enter a large body of water.

“Did she not know swimming involves getting in the water?” Crosshair asked Omega now.

Omega furrowed her brows in thought. “Oh, she knew, but I don’t think she really thought about putting her head in the water.” A pause, then “Or any part of her body above her knees. She doesn’t mind getting wet – I tried dumping some water over her head and she was fine with it - she’s just afraid of getting into a pool of water.”

“Just push her in,” Crosshair shrugged offhandedly. Realizing from the looks he was now receiving that the others thought he had been serious, he contrarily decided to defend his statement rather than explain he had been joking. “What? That’s what the trainers on Kamino did to me. And we were about the same age she is.”

“Well, that explains a lot,” Phee remarked drily as she gazed appraisingly at him.

“A lot about what??”

“About you.”

Oh, yes, Tech and Phee had to have gotten along great together, Crosshair groused internally, before Hunter spoke up again. “That’s how the trainers made you learn how to swim, Crosshair, and you are an excellent swimmer; but I don’t think it will help with our objective of making Sami less afraid of the water.” Turning back to Omega, who was still staring with no small amount of exasperation at Crosshair, Hunter continued, “What else have you tried?”

Still halfway tuned in to the conversation, Crosshair thought back to those earliest days on Kamino, when cadets began their swimming training when they were, developmentally speaking, seven or eight years old. There had been no time, sympathy, nor resources for individual attention, however; cadets were taught to swim in groups of twenty, and had to find a way to keep up or be dismissed from training. During their first class, Crosshair had only slightly hesitated when tasked with jumping into the training pool, and one breath later had found himself unexpectedly submerged in the water, gasping for air and frantically trying to stay afloat, having been shoved into the pool by the trainer who had shouted at him that he could either sink or swim.

Well, Crosshair had quickly learned how to swim, but had also discovered that he hated being in or near the water, despite having been surrounded by the ocean since birth, and approached swimming lessons with significant dread that was overpowered only by his stubborn determination to not be decommissioned. This loathing of large bodies of water had lasted for almost two months, until one night when he had been awoken by Hunter, who had told him in a whisper that the squad was “sneaking out.” They had never been so daring before, and Crosshair, excited by the prospect, had raised no objection – until he had discovered they were sneaking out to the training pools, the last place he ever wanted to be. Still, he had stayed quiet, and had been relieved when “sneaking out” didn’t involve actually swimming. Instead, he and Hunter and Wrecker and Tech had spent an hour just sitting at the side of the pool, kicking their feet quietly in the cool water, listening to Tech ramble on about the aquatic life on Kamino until Wrecker’s snores drowned out Tech’s lecture and Hunter suggested they all return to the barracks. These sporadic outings had continued for months –always spending time near water, always by the training pools until Tech figured out a route to a rarely-used landing platform built low near the water where they could sit and enjoy the salty air and crashing waves in closer proximity – until they had a close call with being discovered and had subsequently deferred sneaking out of the barracks for almost a year. Still, after just a few relaxed trips to the pools with his brothers, Crosshair had abruptly realized he no longer hated the water – actually, he rather enjoyed it, and swimming had gradually become an activity he looked forward to rather than feared.

He hadn’t thought about those times by the pools for years, and it was only now, sitting here on the Pabu beach listening to Omega’s troubles with Sami’s swimming lessons, that he suddenly suspected Hunter and his brothers had had ulterior motives for choosing the pools as their first destination for their rebellious outings.

And he had an idea.

“Have you tried holding Sami? You know, picking her up and, well, walking into the water with her?” Crosshair interjected into the ongoing brainstorming session.

Omega shook her head slowly. “I thought about that, but Sami didn’t want to try because she thinks she’s too big for me to hold her…”

“I can do it,” Wrecker promptly volunteered. “If she’s up for it, that is.”

Omega still hesitated. “The pool’s not very deep…”

Wrecker thought for a moment before nodding. “I can just sit in the water. We’ll figure it out.”

Omega suddenly broke out into a smile and rose to her feet before grabbing Wrecker’s hand. “Okay then, let’s go talk to Sami about it.” She took a few steps before looking back at the others. “You all coming?”

Hunter shrugged. “Why not,” he said, rising from his chair and whistling for Batcher to join them.

Crosshair, standing and preparing to follow, felt Phee’s eyes on him and turned to look at her. “What now?” he asked impatiently.

Phee chuckled a little as she shook her head. “Like I said, that explains a lot,” she said cryptically, before passing Crosshair to join Omega and Wrecker as they approached the docks where Sami still sat. 

******

Crosshair stepped onto the dock, waving only slightly awkwardly at Jun’s profuse thanks for his assistance in loading the boat, and made his way back toward the residential areas of Lower Pabu. 

He was fully aware of Sami standing a few feet away from the dock, holding Bayrn in her arms, but he had no idea the Pantoran was waiting for him until he had almost passed her and she suddenly spoke in a low voice that was nearly inaudible. 

“Mister Crosshair, sir?” 

He paused in bewilderment before turning to face her, and realized he must be scowling based on the apprehensive look on the young girl's face. Making an effort to relax his features - no need to intimidate her, after all - he elected to delay correcting her form of addressing him and instead cut straight to the point. 

“What do you want?”

She shrank back ever so slightly - hmmm, maybe his voice had come out a little sharper than he intended - but proceeded to make her request. 

“Would you hold Bayrn while Omega gives me a swimming lesson?”

Crosshair was far too nonplussed now to consider his expression or his tone.

“What?”

Sami gulped. “Uh, well, Omega's going to give me another swimming lesson now. Bayrn’s too little to swim, but I thought maybe he could get used to the water. It took me so long to stop being afraid, maybe it will be easier for Bayrn if he can be in the water now.”

The girl's full meaning finally dawned on Crosshair, and he looked at her aghast. 

“You… you want me to get into the water. And hold that kid. In the water?”

“Uh-huh,” Sami nodded, adjusting her hold on the baby. “It helped me a lot when Mister Wrecker held on to me. I would ask him, but him and Mister Hunter are out fishing and Mister Shep is busy and Mister Thom and Missus Hanti are getting dinner ready for us and…”

Peripherally noting that if Sami was persisting in calling even Wrecker “Mister,” he, Crosshair, would have to get used to being called by the same title, Crosshair cut her off. “I get the point. There's no one else. I'm glad you know I am a last resort. But I don't think I should be holding a kid.” And he frowned as he raised his arms in front of him, staring at his right stump. 

He hadn't gotten a prosthesis yet. He didn't even know if he wanted one. Echo had gone for years without one and had pulled off so many incredible feats Crosshair had often forgotten Echo was missing a hand. He doubted he'd ever reach Echo's level of skill, but he had been able to find new ways to accomplish more each day with just the one hand, and was growing rather accustomed to it. Still, holding a baby…

“Oh, you can hold Bayrn with one arm. It's easy. My dad does it all the time. He got his arm hurt bad in an accident so he had to hold my little brother like this, see?” And Sami shifted Bayrn to demonstrate. 

“You have a brother?” Crosshair asked as he observed Sami’s technique.

She had finally lost her apprehensive look, and now she actually smiled a little. “Yeah. I can't wait to see him again. I hope I can help him learn to swim too.” 

Sighing, Crosshair decided it was time to stop delaying the inevitable. He could come up with at least two dozen more reasons why he shouldn't accede to this request, but he knew that, no matter how much he may protest, he'd be in the pool holding the baby within the next few minutes. Might as well get this over with. 

“Fine. Let's go. No, wait,” he said as Sami started trotting off, “give me the kid now. I need to practice.” Before the kid becomes slippery as well as squirmy, he thought resignedly to himself. 

He may have reservations about holding the baby, but Bayrn’s own sense of self-preservation was obviously seriously impaired, for the baby cooed and smiled as he was passed over to the nervously scowling clone. If Crosshair wondered if maybe he was holding the baby too tightly for fear of dropping him, the baby didn't seem to mind, happily clapping before turning his attention toward examining his new holder. 

By the time they found Omega, Bayrn had thankfully released his death grip on Crosshair's ear and stopped his high-pitched excited squealing, and had settled into happily patting Crosshair's face. Omega, turning at Sami’s greeting, waved at them and impressively showed no sign of surprise or alarm at her sniper brother holding a baby. Instead, she called out cheerfully, “Crosshair! What are you doing here?”

He shrugged awkwardly, reactively adjusting his hold on Bayrn when the kid tipped forward while reaching out toward Omega. 

“Swimming lessons,” he said. 

“Oh?”

“I don't want Bayrn to be scared of the water, like I was,” Sami explained. “Mister Crosshair said he'd help.”

“Oh!” Omega nodded solemnly at Sami, but grinned so brightly at Crosshair he started to feel even more embarrassed than he already was. Letting out a slightly grumpy hmph, he stepped ahead of the girls into the pool, quickly finding an area of suitable depth where he could sit just about chest deep in the pleasantly cool water, and squinting as Bayrn squealed in delight and began splashing his little arms in the water. 

This was his punishment for ever poking fun at Hunter’s skills with children. At least Hunter wasn't around to witness Crosshair's humiliation in person, though Crosshair had no doubt Hunter and Wrecker and everyone else on this overly-friendly island would know about this event by sundown. 

“I don't think the kid is scared at all of the water,” he said to Sami while frowning at Bayrn's antics.

“Oh good! Yay Bayrn!” Sami smiled, clinging to Omega's hand as she cautiously stepped into the water herself. 

This was not exactly the response Crosshair had been angling for.

“You picked a great place to sit, Crosshair,” Omega said, pre-empting Crosshair's plea to somehow get out of this. “You can watch and tell me if I'm teaching Sami alright.”

“Oh goodie,” he deadpanned, though he smiled a little when Sami took a deep, nervous breath before plunging her head into the water and emerging looking rather pleased with herself. 

“Good, Sami. You're getting much better,” Omega smiled. “I think it’s time to show you how to not hold your breath all the time.”

“But I can’t breathe underwater,” Sami said.

“That’s right,” Omega said patiently. “You breathe in the air when your head is above water, and then breathe out when your head is in the water.”  

“Try blowing bubbles,” Crosshair blurted before thinking. At Sami’s questioning stare, he added in a tone completely devoid of enthusiasm, “It's fun.” 

For some reason, Sami took him at his word, nodding at him and watching Omega demonstrate before gamely trying it herself, giggling when she straightened. “That is fun,” she declared before, unprompted, repeating the task. 

“NOT you,” Crosshair warned Bayrn, who, having watched the display with interest, abruptly tried ducking his head toward the water to mimic the girls. Bayrn, obviously a bit put out, huffed for a few moments before suddenly smiling and resuming his splashing. 

By the time Thom and Hanti arrived to take Sami and Bayrn back home for dinner, Omega had started Sami on basic flutter kicks, with Crosshair – finding himself significantly interested in the proceedings in spite of himself – offering a few suggestions for improvement. His left arm felt like it was about to fall off from holding Bayrn for so long, even as he had daringly switched the baby to his right arm and discovered to his own pleasant surprise that this was quite manageable; and, to his own dismay, had found himself pondering how to best position Bayrn to help the kid get used to floating, so the arrival of the volunteer guardians couldn't have come at a better time. Still, he couldn’t hold back a sigh as he handed Bayrn over to Thom – yep, within an hour EVERYONE would know he had held a baby.

Omega playfully shouldered him as they trailed behind the children and their guardians on the way back to Upper Pabu, and Crosshair braced himself for what he knew she was going to say, even as he realized he had been rather hoping she would say it.

“You know, Crosshair, you'd make a really good swimming teacher.”

“Ha.”

“Provided you don't push any kids into the water.”

“Don't tempt me.”

“No, I mean it! You should start giving lessons.”

“Never gonna happen.”

******

Surprising to no one except, perhaps, Crosshair, it happened.

A few days later, Crosshair found himself confronted by Jax.

“Do you know how to dive?” the young Mirialan asked.

“Yes,” Crosshair answered shortly.

“Can you teach me?”

“No.”

Within a week, Crosshair had given Jax his first two diving lessons.

Within a year, Crosshair had become the go-to instructor on Pabu for swimming lessons.

The end. 

@summer-of-bad-batch