You know I don't see enough de-aged Jazz, it's always the others that get de-aged and Jazz taking care of them. In this I imagine Dani and Damian are in their 20s
Danny(23) owns a petting zoo/animal rescue a few miles outside of Gotham. he has some animals from all walks of life; reputable breeders, other rescues, kill shelters, hoarding situations, breeding mills, ect. Be it dogs, to sheep, to goats, to snakes, to lizards, ro hamsters, to chinchillas, and much more- hes got a little bit of eveything. He makes sure they all have the right set ups, and can live as idealy as possible.
Damian(9) hears about this place and of course needs to check it out. Obviously, he needs to make sure the animals are taken care of and nothing else. And Damian just, immediately falls in love with the place. All the animals are so happy and healthy and the information packets are so well put together and accurate! He is disappointed that nobody is allowed to meet the animals in recovery, but he also knows its for the animals health and safety, which he appreciates. Hes impressed, and decides Danny just has to be his new father.
Bruce(34) thought taking Damian to the petting zoo/rescue would be a nice father/son bonding thing- he did not expect his 9 year old to then try and wingman him to the petting zoo owner, who, might Bruce add, is 10 years his junior!
Basically: Damian is trying to hook his father up with Danny because he wants unlimited animal cuddles. Bruce is unimpressed, Danny's equal parts amused and confused.
Danny watches this tiny little animal lover trying to hook him up with his dad. "Listen, Damian, I am not ready for fatherhood, and I am not ready for any type of romantic relationship, but I am always down to be the Fun Uncle."
Damian pauses and thinks it over, " I acknowledge your compromise and accept." Damian turns to Bruce, "Father, quickly adopt Daniel as your brother."
Danny(23) owns a petting zoo/animal rescue a few miles outside of Gotham. he has some animals from all walks of life; reputable breeders, other rescues, kill shelters, hoarding situations, breeding mills, ect. Be it dogs, to sheep, to goats, to snakes, to lizards, ro hamsters, to chinchillas, and much more- hes got a little bit of eveything. He makes sure they all have the right set ups, and can live as idealy as possible.
Damian(9) hears about this place and of course needs to check it out. Obviously, he needs to make sure the animals are taken care of and nothing else. And Damian just, immediately falls in love with the place. All the animals are so happy and healthy and the information packets are so well put together and accurate! He is disappointed that nobody is allowed to meet the animals in recovery, but he also knows its for the animals health and safety, which he appreciates. Hes impressed, and decides Danny just has to be his new father.
Bruce(34) thought taking Damian to the petting zoo/rescue would be a nice father/son bonding thing- he did not expect his 9 year old to then try and wingman him to the petting zoo owner, who, might Bruce add, is 10 years his junior!
Basically: Damian is trying to hook his father up with Danny because he wants unlimited animal cuddles. Bruce is unimpressed, Danny's equal parts amused and confused.
Danny watches this tiny little animal lover trying to hook him up with his dad. "Listen, Damian, I am not ready for fatherhood, and I am not ready for any type of romantic relationship, but I am always down to be the Fun Uncle."
Damian pauses and thinks it over, " I acknowledge your compromise and accept." Damian turns to Bruce, "Father, quickly adopt Daniel as your brother."
Danny(23) owns a petting zoo/animal rescue a few miles outside of Gotham. he has some animals from all walks of life; reputable breeders, other rescues, kill shelters, hoarding situations, breeding mills, ect. Be it dogs, to sheep, to goats, to snakes, to lizards, ro hamsters, to chinchillas, and much more- hes got a little bit of eveything. He makes sure they all have the right set ups, and can live as idealy as possible.
Damian(9) hears about this place and of course needs to check it out. Obviously, he needs to make sure the animals are taken care of and nothing else. And Damian just, immediately falls in love with the place. All the animals are so happy and healthy and the information packets are so well put together and accurate! He is disappointed that nobody is allowed to meet the animals in recovery, but he also knows its for the animals health and safety, which he appreciates. Hes impressed, and decides Danny just has to be his new father.
Bruce(34) thought taking Damian to the petting zoo/rescue would be a nice father/son bonding thing- he did not expect his 9 year old to then try and wingman him to the petting zoo owner, who, might Bruce add, is 10 years his junior!
Basically: Damian is trying to hook his father up with Danny because he wants unlimited animal cuddles. Bruce is unimpressed, Danny's equal parts amused and confused.
Danny watches this tiny little animal lover trying to hook him up with his dad. "Listen, Damian, I am not ready for fatherhood, and I am not ready for any type of romantic relationship, but I am always down to be the Fun Uncle."
Damian pauses and thinks it over, " I acknowledge your compromise and accept." Damian turns to Bruce, "Father, quickly adopt Daniel as your brother."
Danny "How about instead we can have you work as a volunteer here? Assuming your father is okay with it? There's tons of tasks to do around here and we can always use an extra set of hands."
It mainly involves Alfred supervising for like 2-4 hours every weekend while Damian takes the trash to the dumpster from different areas of the zoo. And inturn gets an unlimited pass to visit the petting zoo.
Danny(23) owns a petting zoo/animal rescue a few miles outside of Gotham. he has some animals from all walks of life; reputable breeders, other rescues, kill shelters, hoarding situations, breeding mills, ect. Be it dogs, to sheep, to goats, to snakes, to lizards, ro hamsters, to chinchillas, and much more- hes got a little bit of eveything. He makes sure they all have the right set ups, and can live as idealy as possible.
Damian(9) hears about this place and of course needs to check it out. Obviously, he needs to make sure the animals are taken care of and nothing else. And Damian just, immediately falls in love with the place. All the animals are so happy and healthy and the information packets are so well put together and accurate! He is disappointed that nobody is allowed to meet the animals in recovery, but he also knows its for the animals health and safety, which he appreciates. Hes impressed, and decides Danny just has to be his new father.
Bruce(34) thought taking Damian to the petting zoo/rescue would be a nice father/son bonding thing- he did not expect his 9 year old to then try and wingman him to the petting zoo owner, who, might Bruce add, is 10 years his junior!
Basically: Damian is trying to hook his father up with Danny because he wants unlimited animal cuddles. Bruce is unimpressed, Danny's equal parts amused and confused.
Danny watches this tiny little animal lover trying to hook him up with his dad. "Listen, Damian, I am not ready for fatherhood, and I am not ready for any type of romantic relationship, but I am always down to be the Fun Uncle."
Damian pauses and thinks it over, " I acknowledge your compromise and accept." Damian turns to Bruce, "Father, quickly adopt Daniel as your brother."
masterpost please no editing or concrit, I still cannot focus to edit with this headache, but I can write!
Danny’s resting his chin on the blob ghost that’s cradled in his folded arms, and listening to the others tell stories, mostly at the expense of their teammates. Robin is busy at his laptop. He’s been working for ages trying to save Technus. Danny’s grateful. All of these people trying to help save ghosts.
Save dead people.
Danny rubs his nose against the hoodie he wore. He refuses to wear any sort of super suit, even the domino feels like too much. He isn’t a hero anymore. How can he be? He doesn't know how dead he is anymore. Somethings that…
Things that should be easy…
He flexes his hands. His still healing skin pulls taut. The skin is startling pink, and Danny wonders if it will fade out to white like the rest of his scars.
“Are you okay?” Superboy asks. His words are quiet, but everyone zeros in anyways.
Danny shrugs. “It hurts. Being here hurts.”
“It hurts?! What do you mean it hurts? Why didn’t you—” Bart’s babble is cut off by Superboy shoving Bart back by a hand on his cheek.
“Are you okay?” Superboy asks again, calmly, but with a serious sort of pinch between his brows. He’s been different today, still distant but more… attentive, somehow.
Danny lets out a slow breath and nods. “Yeah. It’s like an old bruise or something. I think it’s because… I think it’s close. My core, I mean, I think that it’s close. The hallow of it aches.”
Superboy scowls, but it’s Super Girl who says, “That… doesn’t sound good.”
Danny gives a little snort at the understatement of it. The problem is, he doesn’t know what to do about it. Even if they find what’s left of his core it could be too broken to put back in. Maybe he can’t even put it back in. No one has said that’s even how it works. No one has said he could be whole again.
Half again.
A whole half and a half.
A half and a half to be a whole whole whole—
“Hey!”
Danny gasps in a startled breath. Superboy’s hands are pressed against Danny’s cheeks and there’s warmth suddenly, so much warmth. His exhale is as shaky as he feels.
“Okay, yeah, like that, keep breathing,” Superboy says. He’s close enough for Danny to see the little flakes of brown in the otherwise perfectly blue eyes.
Danny does his best to listen, but he doesn’t really feel that in control of what his body is doing right then. He’s pretty sure that he just had another panic attack. He tries to turn and look at the blob he’s holding, wanting to make sure he didn’t hurt the little thing, but wavers when Superboy moves his hands away. It leaves him cradling the blob and slumped against Superboy’s chest.
If he had the energy, he would’ve been painfully embarrassed.
As it is, Danny can only manage a weak smile for Barry and Wally as they suddenly appear in the room. “I’m okay.”
Superboy makes a derisive noise that says what he thinks of that claim.
“I—okay, I mean… I didn’t hurt myself, not like that last time,” Danny says. He makes an aborted move to try and sit up, but just ends up surprised by the fact that one of Superboy’s arms is around him. Danny blinks down at the ring covered fingers. But Superboy doesn’t even like him?
“What? No? I don’t… it’s not like I dislike you,” Superboy protests.
Oh. He maybe said that part out loud.
“Yeah, you’re sort of out of it,” Bart says from between the Flashes.
Barry reaches out and brushes a chunk of sweaty hair from Danny’s forehead. Danny closes his eyes at the touch. “Can you tell us what set you off? And if not that’s okay! But we don’t want whatever it is to keep eating at you.”
“My core. I was thinking about my core and… and I don’t know if it’s here and what you all found and—” Superboy’s arm tightens across Danny’s chest, and he sucks in a breath. “Sorry. It’s just…”
“No, you’re allowed to be upset,” Barry says, as patience as ever with him. “We do have something to show you, but we needed to secure and clear the area first. It should be almost done. Can you drink some water and have a few bites of a bar first?”
“Yeah, I can try,” Danny agrees because of course he does. He doesn’t want to be trouble for Barry and Iris. They’ve been so kind to him, opening up their house, taking him to doctors, never getting mad at him… he just needs things to calm down, just for a little bit.
Danny sips at more of the water than he eats the bar. The slightly off peanut butter taste wrapped in dubious chocolate turns his stomach a little, but he manages a few bites by the time he’s finished most of the water.
Barry has zipped back and forth a few times, and he’s back now, smiling tensely. “Okay, we’ve got the clear to go into the room. Flash and I are going to take you, but do you want Impulse to come too?”
“Yes, please,” Danny says quickly. He sits up and this time Superboy lets him. He makes sure to sand firmly and not waver, but Bart is by his side just in case. It’s nice, to know that he can break and people will be there to catch the pieces.
They go through the halls at normal speed. Danny keeps his eyes at their feet, following Barry, flanked by Bart, and with Wally behind them. Danny doesn’t need to see these halls again. He doesn’t need to be back here other than getting his core.
His core, they were taking him there now.
There was enough of it left to show him.
That was something.
It would be enough.
It had to be.
It was…
Except it was…
“Phantom,” Danny whispers, pressed up against the tube.
Phantom’s eyes snap open. That bright green gaze finds Danny’s instantly. A pale hand lifts, moving slowly through the ecto mixture in the tube. It presses against Danny’s, that damn glass in between. The glass fogs up where Danny breathes against it.
Jon: I will do everything in my power to help you.
Damian: Do not be so quick to offer, this may be the toughest assignment yet
Colin: It doesn't matter how dangerous or difficult this is. You need help. I'm in.
Damian: Thank you. What about you two? I know you're not really trained.
Matt: Oh im definitely going to help a friend! And don't worry about me. Terry taught me the good old one-two! I can definitely handle a fight.
Maps: I can also help! You'll need a master navigator in these parts.
Damian: Very well. Then we are all doing this. Prepare yourselves mentally. We're going in.
Danny smiling at the group of kids: Welcome to Danny's Edible Sculptures. How can I help you?
Damian: I wish to acquire an animal made of sugar glass.
Danny: Sure. What kind of animal would you like?
Damian, with only his eyes visible across the counter: I would like a cow.
Jon: I want a dog, a Great Dane if you can.
Colin: Can I please have a cat?
Matt: Can you make magical creatures? 'Cause I want a dragon-and-bat hybrid! I have a reference picture.
Maps: I'll have a turkey. A pretty one.
Danny: You got it. I'll start working on them right away.
Damian: I heard you only allow one per person. Is that correct?
Danny: Only one sculpture a day. Most people want multiple pieces, and it takes time to make each one, so I limit them.
Damian: I see.....Do you have the same rule for family members?
Danny: Ha! No for them I make many and often. They have special privileges you see.
Damian: I thought so. *snaps fingers* Team! Present profiles!
Jon/Colin/Matt/Maps holding up dating profiles of Dick, Jason, Cass, Tim, Steph, and Duke: Yes sir!
Danny: Umm?
Damian is standing on his tiptoes so his chin can go over the counter: These are my siblings. Pick one. I would be honored to have a candy maker with your skill level in my family.
Danny: Oh, that's cute and all, but I'm not really-
Maps: Before you make a decision, please listen to each of our presentations on our respective candidates. I think you'll find yourself quite intrigued
Matt: Plus, ever since one of them is rich, like buy-me-an-island, rich.
Danny: I-
Colin: They're kind and protective too. You'll never be afraid within thier arms!
Jon: They're the perfect match for any young bachelor such as yourself! Just pick any that grabs your attention, and you're on your way to marriage!
Damian: Join us
Danny mentally: Is this a cult requirement tactic????? I'd better make those sculptures and get these little freaks out of here.
if theres one thing that really pissed me off from my 3 years of architecture i took in high school it's learning about how we used to have all these little techniques to maximize or minimize heat or warmth and now we just merrily abandoned all those to have the same copypaste style buildings everywhere that are often INCREDIBLY unoptimized to the local weather and climate so we can just throw more money at our heating and cooling bills
where i live it is hot as balls approximately 80% of the year. i do not want a massive butt-ugly grey mcmansion with a huge echoey open-concept kitchen-livingroom-foyer-diningroom-staircase that has huge windows so i can have an hvac unit the size of a barge heaving and straining to keep it at a constant 72 the grees. i want a north indian traditional style home with small windows to force the airflow to cool, decorative grates to limit the amount of sunlight, and a COURTYARD with a POND *smashes unspecified large object*
this is exactly why I love talking about historical passive heating and cooling techniques
oh wow the glass-tower office buildings we constructed when we thought air conditioning and central heating would never have downsides...have downsides?
and we're still building them?
while the Victorian house museum where I work, with thick walls and small windows and big wooden shutters stays ~10 degrees above (winter) or below (summer) the outside temperature for days on end with no help at all?
uh. okay then
(also public transit. the history of public transit in the US is infuriating, because we had it! and then we destroyed it!)
in some cases it goes back to colonialism. colonizers trying to put a certain aesthetic that was thought of as more valuable or attractive in a place we were trying to force to be the way we wanted.
Trying to import a new culture, and replace the old culture, bringing in the architectural ideas of the old place. ignoring the local climate and ecology
So I literally had a DCxDP dream where Scarecrow finds an injured and delirious Danny and manages to synthesize a more potent Fear Toxin from his blood. Something something ectoplasm and concentrated emotions, yadda yadda.
I remember Harley Quinn goes to find Batman after Poison Ivy gets exposed and affected, which freaks Harley out because normally Pam is immune to toxins. She tells him that Crane is even more off the rails than usual.
There's a bit where the heroes find Danny drugged up to the gills and hooked up to a weird dialysis machine.
That's about all I remember. Not super coherent but I found it hella interesting (curse you, alarm clock!)
Did you know that AO3 allows fics with homicide in them? There’s a whole tag for Major Character Death and even more tags so you can find exactly what kind of character death you want to read.
Don’t they know that murder is illegal? You just know there are a bunch of homicidal maniacs out there who love to read those stories. They write them, too, in between killing people.
Anyone can read the stories on AO3! Kids can read them! They’re getting exposed to stabbing, poisoning, even guns! And they’re writing the heroes doing the killing, too! That’s basically telling kids it’s okay to go out and murder their families. It’s promoting violence and encouraging homicide and if we don’t do something about it soon, you’ll be murdered next!
I had a thought about Jason telling Damian stories. Damian thinks dead Robin is a ghost bird. Does not help that Jason has mentioned Robin moving his wings or loosing a feather
Part 1
(Omg yes)
“You know, I never knew that Red Hood told Little D bedtime stories at the League,” Nightwing said to Batman. “I need to visit home more often. I keep missing out.”
Phantom slightly turned his head towards them, interested in gossip. He had heard of the Red Hood before, but hadn’t ever met the guy, since he seemed antisocial and volatile from Batman’s words.
“Oh, you’re going to visit the Manor?” Batman asked, extremely casually, even though everyone and their mothers could see that he was standing at attention at Nightwing’s words, like a dog hearing the word “walk”.
Nightwing rolled his head in a physical imitation of rolling his eyes. “Sure, B. I’ll visit this week.”
“Hnn,” was Batman’s extremely overjoyed, jumping-in-glee answer. There was a pause before he asked, “What do you think of his stories?”
“Of the Ghost Princess and her Robin? I think it’s super cute, but I’m curious as to how he makes up stories with characters like Phantom or Wraith. Seems rather detailed, no?”
Phantom stood up then and everyone turned in his direction at the sound of his chair scraping against the floor.
If there was one thing that Phantom loved most in the world, it was his sister. And if there was one thing that she liked and mourned the most, then it was Robin, one of her most dearest and best friends while she was Queen Regent. However, he had been taken away by her by unseen forces that resurrected him in another world, rendering him unable to be found.
Phantom turned to the two standing in the corner and floated over. “Did you mention a Ghost Princess? I want to hear this.”
Nightwing and Batman shared a look and the former said, “Hmm. You and the character Phantom share the same name, huh?”
“I’m also a ghost, y’know?” Phantom said, his hands behind his back in an innocent pose. He looked at them with big, sparkly green eyes, already able to tell that both of them were softening. He wasn’t much older than Red Robin and he loved taking advantage of that. “Can I hear about the Ghost Princsss?”
“It’s a bedtime story that my son created in order to soothe my youngest to sleep,” Batman replied. “It’s a story about a ghost queen and her loyal subject, Robin, as they handle and take care of things in their kingdom.”
“Robin?” Phantom asked, pretending to be confused. “Like your Robin?”
Nightwing shrugged. “I asked our Robin and he thinks that “Robin” was more like a literal bird creature than an actual person like us, since Red Hood would mention golden wings.”
Phantom’s mind flashed back to the Robin he knew, whose yellow wings covered him like a cape as he protected Jazz. It was sounding more and more like this Red Hood was telling the story of Robin and Jazz together.
“Huh,” Phantom said. “That sounds interesting. What about the Ghost Princess and the character Phantom?”
Batman replied, “The Ghost Princess seemed to be queen regent, but preferred to be called princess, while this “Phantom” character was her crown prince. The two were a pair of siblings with two others, Wraith and Spirit.”
Phantom’s eyes widened.
Spirit was a name that Dani had chosen for herself when she was still figuring out her identity. However, what made it special was that she had never revealed her name to the public population in the Ghost Zone, meaning that only a few individuals knew her name. A few individuals that included Robin.
Phantom smiled. “That sounds interesting! I love ghost stories, I’d love to hear this story in person!”
There was no way he was going to let this go. He was most definitely going to find this Red Hood and drag him back to Jazz, kicking and screaming if he had to!
I have a head cannon that Jason used to tell bed time stories to Damian when they were in the league. The stories were really Jason retelling his time in the ghost zone, but they still became some of Damian's favorites.
Jason exhausted and stuck babysitting: Oi demon brat bed time
Damian still in his Robin costume typing away at the bat computer: Tt
Jason sighed: what needs to happen for you to go to bed
Damian: tell me a story of Ghost Princess and Dead Robin
Jason: if you brush your teeth and are in bed in five minutes I'll consider it
Part 2
(Ooh, wait, I LOVE this HC!!)
“You’re reading him a story?” Tim asked curiously. “You’ve never done this before.”
Jason hummed. “I’m not “reading” him a story. I’m telling him one.”
Tim snorted, “Like I said, you’ve never done this before.”
“I did when we were in the League,” Jason replied and Tim fell silent. Jason ignored him and finally entered Damian’s room, where Titus and Alfred the cat were already staying. Damian stared at him in his bed, clearly trying not to look too eager but still bright with attention.
“Todd, you promised! The Ghost Princess and her Robin!” Damian said.
Jason’s lips quirked. He wasn’t sure if Damian knew that the so called stories he told were actually his broken memories of when he was dead.
His precious, fragmented memories of his Princess. He could still faintly recall her bright smiles and cheerful laughter, the way her hair shone a bright crimson, and her tall, black crown.
He had been her Robin, her loyal bodyguard and assistant.
“Well? Start,” Damian demanded.
Jason gave him a lighthearted glare. “Brat,” he muttered before he cleared his throat. Behind him, he could hear the door open and Tim, Bruce, and Cass poked their heads in. In Cass’ hand was her phone, where Jason could faintly hear Dick on the other line.
Jason rolled his eyes but as he looked at Damian’s wide, anticipating eyes, he just sighed and began.
“It was a cold day as always in the Ghost Zone where the Princess and her Robin were staying. As usual, she slept in her bed while her Robin watched over her. It was her brother, Wraith, who had woken her up and brought her to breakfast. That day, she faced a particular dilemma.” Jason paused for dramatic effect.
“Don’t tell me it’s breakfast choices again,” Damian sneered. “That was only funny when I was 7.”
“Shut up and listen,” Jason said sweetly. “The Princess had to travel to the southern regions of the Ghost Zone in order to mediate between two minor vassal kingdoms. The dilemma was that she also had to attend a social gathering that night where she had to convince the officials to allow her to build a library. Do you remember her siblings? Why do you think this was a problem?”
It had been years since Jason had ever told stories of his days down under in the realm of the dead. He hadn’t even been sure if Damian had remembered those bedtime stories until today.
Damian answered, “She has Wraith, the oldest and the wisest.” Jason snorted at the thought of Dan being the most wise. “Phantom, the crown prince and the strongest. And Spirit, the brightest and youngest.”
“What’s the name of the Princess? And why is she in charge if there’s a crown prince?” Tim asked from the door.
Jason glared at him. “First of all, you’re supposed to be pretending like you don’t exist. Secondly, she was the Queen Regent, I just call her the Princess because she didn’t enjoy the title.”
“And her name?” Cass asked.
Jason ignored her. After all, he had long since forgotten the name of his princess. He continued, “The problem was that the Ghostwriter was attending the social gathering and he had a nasty feud with Phantom. Meanwhile, Wraith wasn’t the right person to either negotiate deals or mediate between people, and Spirit was too young to know how to navigate ghostly society. Only twelve, like you.”
Jason thought about the memory fondly. “So the Princess was torn between two choices. This was her only chance to gain the support of the nobility that could help her build a library or build two alliances between two kingdoms that could help stabilize her rule. She was already distrusted and looked down upon by her citizens, so this was her only chance.”
Damian’s eyes lit up. “She called on Robin.”
From behind him, he could hear Dick’s soft call of “Robin?”
Jason smiled. “Yes. She called upon Robin, her most trusted. She entrusted him to attend the social gathering with her little sister and gain the support of the officials. So he and Spirit went to the event while the Princess went to the south with Phantom. Robin was a protector spirit, like Phantom, so he was respected and powerful. He was able to easily schmooze the poor suckers and they all agreed to give money to the Princess’ project. Meanwhile, the Princess’s mind was eased from her worries and she was able to break the fight between the two kingdoms. They all worked together and were able to accomplish both goals. The moral of the story? Always try to depend on the people around you because you can do amazing things if you’re together. The end.”
Cass snorted softly. “Hypocrite.”
Jason graciously ignored her again. He stood up but stopped when Damian got out of bed to grab his hand with a light glare. “Another! I want to hear another! That was too short!”
Jason just sighed and ruffled his hair. “I only promised one story. That’s all for today, Dami. Go to bed now.”
Damian pouted but still got back under his covers. Cass darted over to tuck him in and Jason walked past her and the gazes of both Tim and Bruce, who were staring at him with narrowed eyes.
Memories of that beautiful, kind, gentle girl entered his mind, but all of it felt like smoke through his fingers.
He wished he could’ve had more to tell, more to say about his time down under, but it was impossible.
How could he tell another story if his precious memories of her were already beginning to fade?