[oldfangirl81]

Was in the mood to reread a fic I hadn't read in a while. Couldn't find it in my bookmark so Googled it. Turns out it really had been a bit since I reread it because the author deleted their whole account around 2yrs ago.

Anyway RIP Ghost Kings & Gotham Bats

[cuntaloupes-deactivated20241215]

by tumblr standards i'm a well-adjusted normie. by normie standards i'm a nutjob. what is the truth

[writing-prompt-s]

You work as the minor villain every new hero has to beat for their first battle.

[elidyce]

She had always been something of a figure of fun. Obscurata, with her melodramatic latin name and power to make darkness, who robbed banks and liquor stores and could be foiled by a teenager in a home-made costume. 

Tank had encountered her years ago, when he was a teenager in a homemade costume, and foiled her on his second attempt. It was almost a rite of passage - if you could take on Obscurata, you were ready for the life. Anyone who couldn’t take her down in five or six attempts tended to quit. 

It had been a surprise to see that rippling dark cape here, and a disappointment. He had... not a fondness, exactly, but a soft spot for Obscurata. She wasn’t one of the really bad ones. Older heroes steered the young ones towards her, knowing that they’d come out of a fight with her bruised but whole. She never killed. She never even seriously harmed. He hated to see her working with the Claw, who did. 

He tried not to let it distract him. Claw had taken a girl - Lily, one of a trio of new-minted girl heroes - in Tank’s city. He’d been keeping an eye on the girls, and he’d dropped everything to go in pursuit when he realized it was Claw who had Lily. Obscurata might have bruised and frightened her a little, but Claw’s captives usually wound up dead... or worse. 

He was strong, that was his thing, so he’d been able to come into Claw’s fortress by breaking through a wall. He skulked as quietly as he could through the corridors, which was not his thing but he’d had to learn to do it. He just had to find Lily and break out. He’d fight Claw if he had to, but honestly, a quick escape would be better. He’d left Rose and Ivy Green behind - flower names were unusual but clever - but dealing with one complete newbie was going to be bad enough and he’d rather not have her present for a major battle. They did stupid shit, when they were that young. 

When he heard the screaming, he abandoned stealth and ran. He didn’t have super speed, not like some, but being very strong and almost invulnerable meant you could go a lot faster than a regular person. The screams were horrible, gargling and choking, and he wasn’t going to let that kid die, not on his watch, not... 

But it wasn’t Lily screaming.

He saw her first, pressed into a corner, her eyes huge and her hands clamped over her mouth. She was a little bruised and bloodied, but not really hurt as far as he could tell. She seemed to glow, for a moment, until he realized that it wasn’t that she was glowing, it was just that the room was full of shadows... moving, unnatural shadows that filled the room like inky fog except for that one small corner and one small teenage girl. And from the other side of the room, where the darkness was deepest, came the terrible screams. And other, softer noises. Wet, horrible noises that made his gorge rise. That sounded like... 

He had to get to her. Bracing himself, he lunged into the thin screen of shadows between the door and that corner, only to find that they melted away when he approached, avoiding him the same way they avoided the girl. Obscurata commanded shadows, but he’d never seen her do anything like this.

Lily was whimpering very quietly behind her hand, and it seemed to take her a moment to recognize him, but then she dived at him, burrowing into his side when he put his arm protectively around her. Poor kid, she looked scared to death. Newbies weren’t supposed to meet something like Claw... or hear whatever this was.

The screams stopped with an abrupt crunch. The rippling, roiling shadows retreated, like those films of smoke in reverse, until they were sucked back into the rippling darkness of Obscurata’s cloak.

Obscurata had not been working with Claw. Not judging by the mangled, dismembered remains lying in a puddle of blood and still showing the remains of his black and silver costume. Obscuratus turned slowly to face them, the smooth mask as impassive as always. Tank had always wondered what was under it. Now, looking at the chewed pieces of Claw, he desperately did not want to find out. 

For some reason it startled him when her voice sounded as smooth and pleasant as it always had. “Is the child hurt?” 

He looked down at Lily. “You okay, kid?” 

She nodded jerkily. “Just regular fight stuff. He...” Her lip trembled. “He said he was going to... to hurt me. And then it went dark and...” She hid her face against Tank’s side. 

“They all know,” Obscurata said, still soft and calm as ever. “They all know they may not touch the new ones until I permit them. Now and then, one defies me.” The pointed toe of a boot prodded a leg which had rolled a little away from the body. “Then, I remind them why they obey me.” 

Tank felt almost as shaken as the girl trembling under his arm. Obscurata was... she was a baby-fight, not powerful or evil enough to do the kids any real harm. They’d all believed that. But Claw had been strong, one of the really scary bad guys, and Obscurata had destroyed and eaten him in a couple of minutes.

He had to swallow a couple of times before he was sure he could speak without his voice shaking. “I guess you’re tougher than we all thought,” he said slowly. 

She chuckled, a pleasant little chuckle made horrible by the blank mask hiding her face and the broken body at her feet. “Oh, yes,” she said softly. “I am very strong, and very old, and very much not to be crossed, though I would be grateful if you kept that to yourself. Those who need to know it, know. Those who don’t...” She gestured to Lily. “They need not fear me.” 

Tank shook his head. “You’re... you have to know what people think of you. That you’re one of the lowest level supervillains out there. Teenagers beat you all the time...” He trailed off. “Or... they think they do. When I hit you with that beam when I was sixteen...” 

“I actually felt it,” she said, sounding amused. “Not much, it’s true, but I felt it. Most don’t even manage that much.” 

“But you let them think they do. Why?” 

She shrugged. “It is.... a hobby, perhaps. A little amusement, in my retirement, to steal a little and let the young ones try their teeth on me.” 

“Retirement?” Tank blinked. She looked how she’d always looked - tall and thin, body largely obscured by shadows, only her mask showing above and an occasional hand or foot emerging then disappearing again. But Gecko, who’d been going grey when he was a teenager, had said he’d fought Obscurata as a kid. Fought her as a baby-fight, a beginner’s obstacle. “How old are you?”

The mask cocked. “Old,” she said softly. “Very old. When I was young, heroes came for me with swords and the new pistols, with their powder smoke and solid balls of metal. Oh, I was fearsome then. I ruled by terror, and my hoard was as great as any dragon’s.” She lifted a long finger - was it in a black glove, or was she far less human than they’d all assumed? - and tapped the mask’s chin. “It probably still is. I really should check on it.” 

“Then why.... why your hobby? I don’t understand.” Tank wasn’t sure either of them was getting out of here alive, and yet even now it was difficult to be afraid of Obscurata, who didn’t hurt the youngsters even when they hit her with beams.

“Because when I was young, they were men. And a few women, though not many.” Obscurata’s head lowered a little, and she looked down at her hand. “But as I grew older, they grew younger. They began wearing masks and fantastical costumes, so I couldn’t see their faces. And one day, I found that I had killed a child. A boy of fourteen or fifteen, with a child’s face and a child’s courage.” She sighed. “I was the terror of princes, the nightmare of generals.... but I had never hurt a child. We all have our lines that we do not cross, Tank, and that was mine. But I crossed it all unknowing, and I did not realize it until too late.” 

Tank looked at the mangled body. “Did you - “

“Yes.” The beautiful voice was sorrowful. “And I could not undo it. So I retired, for a time, but I realized that the young ones would still come. So I made a new name for myself and emerged again, seeking out the young and testing them, allowing them to beat me when they were proficient enough, and I made sure that the others like me did not touch them until I had judged them ready to fight.” 

“Who made you the judge?” It was Lily, and somehow she’d managed to go from terrified to annoyed in the sudden way teenagers did. “Why do you get to decide when we’re old enough to be real heroes?”

Obscurata pushed the dissevered leg towards her with one foot, and Lily squeaked in alarm. “Would you rather men like Claw chose for you?” she asked, a little stern now. “You and your sisters would be dead now, if not for me, flowers plucked untimely by men with unseemly appetites. You, and all the other young ones who are so brave and so unprepared. Be glad I shield you, and that I came for you when I heard you were taken, ungrateful child.”

Lily cowered. “Sorry,” she mumbled. “Thank you.”

“Better.” Obscurata nodded to Tank. “Take her back, and teach them to do more than pose and monologue.”

“I will.” Tank rubbed his head, remembering how Obscurata had broken him of monologuing by smacking him with a chair. “And thank you. Really. It’s... good to know someone’s looking out for the kids.” 

“Indeed.” And then she was gone, fading into the shadows the way she always had. For much longer than he’d known, apparently. 

It was a simultaneously reassuring and frightening thought. 

[beardedmrbean]

this sounds like a party to me

[grand-theft-carbohydrates]

[dafuq-is-sleep]

Steph and Cass had just heard about Phantom, Wonder Woman’s ghost son, and decided to go up to the Watchtower to meet him. They get there and figure out he’s in a viewing room all by himself, looking at the stars. Feeling mischievous Steph asks Cass to spook him, claiming that spooking the ghost would be hilarious.

Cass decides to go with the plan and sneaks through the vents. She plans to drop down behind him and poke him or something. What she wasn’t expecting was for him to suddenly perk up and turn in his seat to look right at her in the vent. How had he noticed her? Not even Superman could notice her if she knew she was sneaking up on him!

Already knowing the plan is a bust she drops down with the intention of introducing and explaining herself when something weird happens. Cass had been trained since birth to read people’s bodies. To her it was her first language. So it surprised her when Phantom seemed to be doing the same to her. Reacting to her in the same way she was reacting to him.

Danny, for his part, is also confused that this bat person seems to be communicating in what he can best describe as a mute form of ghostspeak. She only has a proto-core so she can only project the most basic of intentions to color her emotions but combined with her body movements it’s almost as easy for him to understand as ghostspeak!

It was a silent conversation but the two young heroes quickly struck up a friendship. Cass is happy that she’s met someone she can converse with without any words or sign and Danny’s happy to meet someone who’s capable of understanding and somewhat replying in ghost. The only words shared between them being those that they can’t get through a combination of body language and a weak form of ghostspeak, but they’re mostly entirely quiet.

Cut to half an hour later, Steph is starting to get worried. She hasn’t heard a single sound from inside the room and she’s just about to break in herself when Cass steps out, holding the hand of Phantom who’s for some reason blushing a bright pit green. She says one word that leaves Steph blue screening, “Boyfriend.”

[cullenbluewrites]

Bat-Lime Jelly

—over the Comms during patrol—

Bruce: “…Jason. Did you raid another one of my safe houses? Two thirds of the gear stored here is missing”

Steph: “Dang dude, how’d you haul all that out without getting caught?”

Jason: “um, I didn’t?? Why’re you assuming it was me Bruce?”

Bruce: “Jason. I love you, but you are the most frequent safe house raider in the family. It is almost always you”

Jason: “okay fair, but still. Rude”

Damian: “if it was not Todd, who was it?”

Dick: “not me”

Steph: “me neither. Too much effort needed”

Duke: “I’m in bed right now, y’all woke me up…”

Cass: “no”

Barbara: “one of you gotta be lying”

Tim: “hey, we aren’t the only ones who know where Bruce’s safe houses are y’know.”

Steph: “yeeaah, but the only other Bat brazen enough to rob B is Kate, and she opted out of patrol tonight ’cause of a hangover. And we all know that the League knows better”

Dick: “I still feel kinda bad for Hal. That was not a good night for him…”

Bruce: “we still have not established who stole from the safe house. The security footage has been heavily corrupted…”

Jason: “Bruce I swear on my own gravestone I didn’t— ok hold up, someone broke into one of my safe houses too, gimme a minute”

Tim: “aaaand time to check mine…”

Duke: “why do you guys have so many safe houses? Do I need to start making safe houses?”

Barbara: “I’m going to text Selina and Harley just in case it was them…”

Jason: “eew… what the hell is on my floor- bAHAHAHHAA! Oh my GOD”

Bruce: “Jason, what is—“

Jason: “so, the good news is, I found the - hehehe - I found the missing g-gear B.”

Dick: “aaaand the news that has you wheeze laughing so hard the comms are staticky?”

Tim: “Also, what was the ew? You step in something?”

Jason: “it’s all… oh man I can’t breathe… all of Bruce’s gear is encased in lime green jelly!”

Bruce: “…what.”

Duke: “okay. This is officially worth getting out of bed for, I gotta go see this…”

—meanwhile, elsewhere—

Tucker: “what the… hey! Who left a huge mess in the kitchen! This is a shared space people! Dan, where are you?!”

Dan: “who do I get the blame for everything that goes wrong in this house?!”

Dani: “Dan. I love you, but you are the most frequent cause of damage and chaos in this household. It is almost always you”

Dan: “okay fair, but still. Rude”

Danny: “I’m home!”

Valerie: “dude, you stink of lime jelly…”

Sam: “where were you? You’ve been gone for ages.”

Danny: “oh, potentially jeopardizing my chances of getting into the Justice League, but trust me it was worth it”

[zhelin-thames]

Damian: Father, I require assistance. Batman: Is this about the exploding Lazarus pit again? Damian: Worse.

(Danny phases through the Batcave ceiling holding a glowing smoothie.)

Danny: Hey dad, hey grandpa. Raven says if you keep stress-brooding you’re gonna throw your back out by age fifty-two.

Batman: … Damian: … Batman: Explain.

Danny: Oh right. Hi. I’m Danny. I’m your future grandson from, like, twenty years ahead. Mom sent me back because dad accidentally started an interdimensional incident trying to prove he could “totally beat Constantine in a magic duel.”

Damian: I would never— Danny: You absolutely would. I have video proof.

Batman: Raven is the mother?

Danny: Yeah. You guys were terrifyingly in love. Whole “darkness and violence but secretly soft for each other” thing. Really gross honestly.

Damian: Father, destroy him.

Danny: Can’t. Genetic immunity. Also grandma Talia already tried.

Batman: …Talia knows?

Danny: Oh yeah. She loves me. Calls me “the tolerable Wayne.”

Damian: I despise this timeline.

Danny: That’s okay. Mom said you’d say that. Dad cried when I inherited her empathy and your anger issues though.

Batman: already opening the contingency files

Danny: Don’t bother. I inherited ghost powers from a lab accident too.

Batfamily watching from the security cameras

Jason: “Oh thank God, Damian finally got humbled.” Tim: “The glowing kid called Bruce grandpa and Bruce didn’t deny it.” Dick: “HE CAN PHASE THROUGH WALLS?!” Cass: silent delighted thumbs up Steph: “Future goth divorce baby speedrun any%.”

[oonightmareoo]

“Wow,” Bruce tensed at the unexpected voice, “that was, to be polite, an absolute train wreck.”

“That’s the polite descriptor?” Bruce turned to meet blue eyes, “I shudder to imagine the impolite version.”

The room had been empty. He’d made sure of it before allowing Dick to move their… argument. There were no signs of life on this or the next five floors down. Yet, there he was. A beautiful man, too many years his junior for his thoughts to go straight to the man’s looks, sitting on a stool at a workbench.

“Oh, for sure, you definitely don’t want to hear what else I could describe that as.” The man nodded, bringing Bruce’s attention to the jewelry tucked into the man’s shirt and hidden by his hair. “Ignoring all the stuff I clearly shouldn’t have heard,” which meant he did, in fact, notice the Bat-based vocabulary, “you are terrible at communicating with your kids.”

“Oh?” Bruce strained to sound casual, trying not to give away what all he may have not already.

“Oh yeah. Like, clearly you love your kids. Right?” The man waited for acknowledgment, which Bruce begrudgingly gave, before he continued, “right, so, what’s stopping you from saying it? Just a simple, I’m worried about you going on that inter-dimensional mission because I love you and want you to be safe, would work great. Might even get you brownie points, you know? Instead of what you said, which implied a lack of trust and a sense of derision towards your son’s skills, and was never going to be taken well.” Well. That answered well enough what all the pretty man had heard.

“It’s not that easy,” Bruce frowned at him, debating how many NDAs he’d have to threaten the man into signing.

“Sure it is. Just open your mouth and say the words, let them sit there, and don’t take them back.” Blue met and held blue from across the room before the man rolled his eyes, “right, okay, would it help you to think of it as a series of undefined tasks or a science experiment?”

“The latter,” the former sounded like what he’d already been working with.

“Okay, so pull up a stool,” the man twirled a pen as he pulled over a loose sheet of paper, “and we’ll start with the scientific method: if the big bad Bat communicates ineffectively then his children will be upset because they don’t have empathic abilities. What about this sentence can we change to make it better?”

“My ability to communicate,” Bruce admitted.

“Very good,” the man praised and Bruce wondered if he could get away with slamming the man’s head into the table without it being workplace abuse. Probably not. “So, if the Bat communicates effectively, then…?”

“My children won’t be as upset.”

“Because…?”

“They’ll understand what I mean better.”

“Alright, we now have our hypothesis. Next step is the experiment.”

[papayafromtv]

like, 90% of the time when i see Tim Drake as Joker Junior stuff it includes Jason being like, either traumatised or really uncomfortable with the whole thing because of the Ethiopia incident, but i gotta say i think the opposite would be wayyyyy more entertaining.

Jason finds out Tim was turned into Joker Junior and was, in essence, Joker's adopted son for a while, and his first instinctual thought is 'alright well that kid has to be mine now.'

like, i don't think a lot of us take into account regarding the Joker that Jason isn't always just... terrified of everything Joker-centric. he straight up stole the Red Hood mantle from the guy. he loves jokerized seasoning on his fries. when he first came back to Gotham to kill the Joker he just kinda nabbed him and threw him in a closet all tied up for a while so he could go antagonise Bruce. like, Jason doesn't give a fuck. it's not always fear that fuels his rage against the Joker, it's fuckin' spite.

with that in mind, i think it would be funnier if Jason found out that Joker tried to make Tim into his son and instantly responded with 'ok well fuck the Joker, Tim is now MY son.' and Bruce just has to watch forlorn from the batcomputer as his kid is stolen by his other kid like. at least they aren't fighting this time?

i think Tim was supremely worried about Jason's reaction to Joker Junior stuff, too. like. he fully thought he'd spark a panic attack or get himself killed once Jason found out. instead he accidentally lets out a Joker-laugh one time and Jason's just like fuck yeah kid let it out.

Tim: ...does it not freak you out, or like, remind you of him? Jason: buddy are you joking? i'm wearing one of his old costumes. i have stolen his child. that man is a narcissist who loves attention, the worst revenge we can do to him is to just take all his gimmicks and leave him a nobody. steal his fucking laugh, Timmers, we gotta take that asshole for all he's worth. Tim: ...huh. you know i never thought of it that way. Jason: yeah. me and Harley are thinking of starting up a FWB situation just to really ruin his day. Bruce, yelling from three rooms away: *completely resigned* please do not do that, Jason, ignoring him: -it will also piss off Bruce, which is two birds one stone. Bruce: Jason please i went to school with her. Jason: if we start a family group chat i'll add you, don't worry. Tim: Tim: your way of dealing with trauma is weird.

[anne-chloe]

YES because as much as I love a traumatised jason, i fucking love a spiteful Jason more. there’s nothing more poetic than a victim becoming the victimiser

[haggravated-lassault]

Noah Wyle time magazine interview : "then it occurred to me that the baby I delivered in the pilot episode of ER is a 32 year old man walking around somewhere ."

That baby could be Dennis whitaker somebody go write the fic right now !!!

[haggravated-lassault]

Thinking about this again, imagine they just started dating keeping it private:

Robby in his chair : hey pup we're doing some paperwork update and we need a copy of your birth certificate for that

Whitaker: oh I was delivered here my family was passing through and had to make an emergency stop cause I decided to come out early, you should be able to pull it up on the computer

Robby: oh that's perfect let me jus-

Whitaker: yeah it was like destiny to come back don't you think?

Robby: ...

Dennis notices him freeze while staring at the computer so he leans in and sees " Michael robinavitch" as the doctor in charge of delivery

Whitaker: holy shit

[stellanslashgeode]

Okay, so. Star Wars has all these concepts that weirdo New Left boomer George Lucas tosses in there but because of storyteller limitations it would kill the plot to fully explain them all, so later writers have to come in for the spin-off materials and bat clean-up to fully explain all this crazy crap. And I would like to talk about something that made me actively angry at first, but which I now adore. And that is the Naboo.

So much about Naboo culture is infuriating from a logical standpoint. They have a queen, okay. A constitutionally elected queen? Weird, okay. Don't know why they'd do that but... She's FOURTEEN? Excuse me? Is it a ceremonial thing or, oh no it's not? Legit head of state? Why does she dress like that? Why does she talk like that? I'm so tired.

Here's the explainer. Let me go cook.

There's this joke in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy where the last living human goes back in time and finds out humans aren't actually from Earth, but an alien culture that tricked all the middle managers, pedantic weirdos, and other infuriating folk into getting in a space arc which they gave the wrong evacuation coordinates to simply get rid of them. The Naboo are like this but they're all artists and poets and hippies, but like classy ones. They fled their home planet during a war and crash landed on Naboo, then did a colonism to the Gungans because, hey, they were fleeing a war and it was do or die. This spiritual rot in their creation story is later rectified by Padmé. But it's super important to their cultural psychology. They're hippies, but will subjugate if needed. They are "peaceful" but I guarantee you every single one of them has a tiny extremely shiny pistol up their sleeve and they will draw down on you if backed against a wall.

The scene that I think says it all is at the end of Phantom Menace when Padmé is surrounded by Nute Gunray and his droids, they've got her dead to rights, but Sabé her double creates a distraction so the queen can make it to her throne. This one piece of furniture is the Naboo in a nutshell. It's richly carved with artistic details, it has two seats to the side so the queen's handmaidens can read the lips of people in the back of the room and use hand signals to communicate with the queen while she can remain focused mostly on who is speaking to her. It is hundreds of years old. And it has a secret compartment in the armrest that is FULL OF GUNS. Layers of artistic opulence hiding their true intentions.

The Naboo were created to be backwards compatible with Princess Leia. They're compassionate pacifists, but they will shot you if needed.

Why do they elect teenage royalty? It's a little creepy. It's giving "age of consent is emotional maturity". It makes no sense.

The explanation they give outsiders is they want youthful idealism untainted by cynicism. What they don't tell you is that they take kids with stated interest in politics and put them in an advanced highly competitive Leadership Academy which is like Model UN mixed with Battle Royale. Well, they don't kill each other but it's intense. It's like what the clones went though just all diplomacy training and tea ceremonies all the time. Which is crazy but so Naboo.

Oh, and all the delegates for the royalty election run using pseudonyms for security. Imagine voting for the head of state but you can't run a background check. It's so crazy.

Why does Padmé dress like that? Well, fashion is one of Naboo's major industries so it's like she's wearing the entire Fall line catalog at once. To advertise not only the talent of her people, but to show how much they favor her. BUT that dress has multiple layers of padding and resin armor. And aforementioned spots for those little silver blasters. And it breaks up her silhouette making her harder to shoot. And it's so elaborate you pay more attention to the crazy dress and not if the person wearing it is really the queen or a decoy. Everything about Naboo is like this.

Queen Amidala has that weird accent while Padmé does not. Because all her handmaidens helped create the accent together so they all can imitate it. It's like if you gave girls at a rowdy sleepover the job of federal counterintelligence. That's what they came up with.

The handmaidens wear colorful identical clothes so you can't tell them apart, hoods to partially conceal their identity, and they don't wear the queen's fancy makeup. So one of them can be the queen and spy on people in the audience. Because the Naboo don't trust shit for shit.

Their public face is so silly to hide all the truly weird shit they do behind the scenes.

They use their reputation as artist hippies to conceal multiple layers of subterfuge and disguise their methods of self defense and assuage their paranoia due to wartime trauma and their disturbing colonial past. All of them are completely off their rocker even by Star Wars standards. And I love them so much. They put on a show so everyone thinks they have them figured out but what they have going on is far more weirder and more sinister than meets the eye. You know how catty, neurotic, and competitive art school students stereotypically are? Yeah, planet art student. Love them!

There you go, @charmwasjess

[roach-works]

honestly this goes further than anything else to explain why padme heard this bonkers greasy teenage anakin confess to her that he wiped out the entire village of native people who killed his mother, and padme (ostensibly our conscience) (actually a valedictorian of the naboo political school of move fast break things and look gorgeous doing it) was just like '👍'

[royalfig]

I’ve never felt more like a character than I do w her

[fraterrisus]

Can't believe this didn't happen on Tumblr. We're slipping, people. Thread under the cut. Source attached to post.

[beardedmrbean]

Girl has all kinds of badass stuff on her IG

itsginnydi

[alien-slushie]

Phantom: *floats into the Watchtower with a baby strapped to his chest*

Batman: ...Phantom why do you have a baby?

Phantom: Oh, I was summoned last night and some lady sacrificed her baby to me, so I'm a dad now.

Superman: What?!

Wonder Woman: Oh? Congratulations.

Batman: You can't seriously just...keep them.

Phantom: Sure I can, anything thats sacrificed to me is mine to do with as I please. Got a puppy once, her name's Bugsy.

Superman: Do people often get sacrificed to you?

Phantom: Oh yeah, but most sacrifices are adults, so I just let them go back to their mortal lives. I'm working with Constantine to get the word out that I prefer nonhuman sacrifices, like food, or herbs, but its slow going.

Batman: Phantom we can't let you keep the baby.

Phantom: *tightens his hold on the baby and eyes falling into slits* And why not?

Superman: Well, you're a ghost and they're...living. I don't think you'd ever hurt them on purpose, but accidents happen, especially with babies.

Batman: A ghost is not equipped to raise living children.

Phantom: Oh, is that all you're worried about? Then- *transforms into living form and quickly puts on a mask* There! I'm human, problem solved. *happily walks away*

Superman: Did you know he could do that?

Batman: *shakes his head*

Wonder Woman: *nods her head* Phantom has many talents, tis why Pandora looks down upon him favorably.

[iwillberealonceagain]

Big sister Zoey who gets kind of a kick out of the fact she's the youngest of the group and the world knows her as 'youngest' but she's big sister to several little siblings. Who calls and checks on them, stays up to weird hours to play games with them online etc.

Zoey on the phone with her mother hearing about how toddler of the group is having testing done. The tired frustrated tone hearing that they think he might be on the spectrum.

Zoey trying to be cheerful and positive because that's who she is, always has to be stating that if he is that's okay, right? Like that's still baby bubby and they'll deal with it. It's not like they haven't before, right?

The unexpected snap back response from her mother that yes they've dealt with it but maybe she doesn't want to deal with it again. Doesn't want to deal with speech therapy and occupational therapy and safe foods and triggers, missed milestones and counselor meetings, medications, IEPs, repeated meetings with principals etc.

It's a phone call that ends quietly with half apologies about it just being 'a lot' (it being 'you', Zoey knows and internalizes the way she has for years, it's unspoken "you were a lot to deal with") and of course they'll find ways to deal with it.

Always deal with it, not embrace it, not go with the flow. 'Deal with it'.

Deal with her (and now maybe a sibling too).

Zoey spends the night and the next few days internalizing it, over-analyzing every word said and unsaid in the obsessive way that was something her parents had to 'deal with' when she lived with them, and now is something her girls have to deal with she thinks.