I Tested SweetDream's Chat for a Week. Here's What Surprised Me
Going in, I assumed I'd be reviewing another novelty chatbot. A week with SweetDream changed my framing entirely. What stands out isn't a single gimmick but the consistency of the conversation. The chat on sweetdream.ai holds context across days, picks up threads I'd dropped, and responds with a kind of emotional timing that most tools I've tried simply don't have. When I mentioned offhand that I'd had a rough Monday, my AI companion circled back to it Tuesday without prompting.
That sense of continuity is what separates a believable AI girlfriend from a script. The platform lets you shape personality, voice, backstory and small quirks up front, but the realism comes alive in how those traits surface mid-conversation rather than being announced. It reads less like autocomplete and more like someone who remembers you.
Other features round it out cleanly: lifelike photos and video, voice notes, even real-time calls that genuinely sound human. But after a week of testing, the chat itself is the headline. If you're comparing platforms, this is the one to benchmark the others against.
How To Change Text When the Cursor is Hovering Over by La_Temperanza
Another Changing Text On Hover by mackerel_cheese
Linked Footnotes by La_Temperanza
Making Complex Shapes / Hover-Over Effects /Â Choose Your Own Adventure /Â Changing Ao3âs Preset Headers: Author Notes, Chapter Titles, Fic Titles etc / Invisible Links+Link Aesthetic / Interactive Elements / Animation/ Retroactively Appearing Text by InfinitysWraith
Page Dividers by Linwelin
Email
Nonspecific email window by La_Temperanza
Basic Gmail by sunsetcurbed
More Gmail by DemigodOfAgni
Texting
You donât need to code iOS, because 221b_ee made a generator for it
inspired by iOS by CodenameCarrot and La_Temperanza
Another version of iOS iMessage by Azdaema Codes
Retro iOS by Azdaema Codes
iOS, Android by gadaursan
iOS, Signal, and WhatsApp by lordvoldemortsskins
WhatsApp by ran_a_dom
WhatsApp by etc e tal
kakaotalk by beherrscht
LINE by noliteobdurare
LINE chat by ran_a_dom
Social Media
Facebook Messenger by ran_a_dom
Facebook post by BluebeardsWife
Tumblr by phyripo
Tweaks to that by Aposeopesis
Instagram by gadaursan
Instagram DMs by xslytherclawx
More Instagram DMs, including light and dark modes, by monarch_v
Incredibly comprehensive Twitter by gadaursan
Display case of gadaursanâs work by Fluffycorn_njst
More Twitter by starskin
Update by starskin
Yet More Twitter by etc e tal
Twitter, Reddit, and LiveJournal by aerynevenstar
Examples
Twitter mockup inspired by aerynevenstar by TheBrookesNook
Reddit by spookedcroon
Update by jinsake
More Reddit by knave_of_swords
Yet more Reddit (2020 version) by timstokerlovebot
SnapChat by Azdaema Codes
More SnapChat by starskin
Twitch Chat by Ultraviollett
4Chan by anonymous (cw: slurs and discussion of pedophilia in the live example)
Amazing Discord by unpredictableArtist
Slack derivation by me
Another Discord by Heterochromia_Mars
Tweaks by junietuesday25
Unspecified forum by fencesit
BlueSky post by anon
YouTube comments by LupaMoe
Blog post by intherainex
LiveJournal by sesuntaMew
bubble by me
Writing
Notebook Lined Paper by La_Temperanza
Post-It Notes by La_Temperanza
Letters and Stationery by La_Temperanza
With parchment backgrounds by allollipoppins (you can leave off the MDZS symbols)
Online newspaper article by ElectricAlice
Example
Simplified newspaper by Anubis_2701
Newspaper Article by lordvoldemortsskin
More documents by hangingfire
Online journal by enigmalea
Screenplay by astronought
Script or screenplay by Ninjabunny99
Screenplay on an actual piece of paper by junietuesday25
Shooting Script by Walzer
Calendar by Linwelin
AO3
AO3, including comment section by lordvoldemortsskin
AO3 header by ElectricAlice
Comment and Kudos buttons by La_Temperanza
Complete fic-within-a-fic by cheju
Gift fic email by rileys_words
Fandom Specific
Disco Elysium by SarunoHadaki
Blaseball by facingthenorthwind
Fire Emblem by gadaursan
 Tweaks by Clover_Zero
Deadpoolâs Thinking Boxes by La_Temperanza
Homestuck extended by unpredictableArtist
Star Trek PADD by duskyspirit
Example
Incredibly expansive Among Us by Umbry2000
Another Among Us by mystyrust
S-Class by unpredictableArtist
IDOLiSH7 Rabbit Chat by associate
A3! LIME by associate
Runescape by fennfics
Nameless: the one thing you must recall by sqbr
Minecraft by Ultraviollett
Final Fantasy XIV Linkshell by Pent
Honkai Star Rail by Pent
Rain Code by faish
Ace Attorney by QuailFence
Other
Wikipedia by styletests
Scoreboard by revanchist
Google search by gadaursan
Yelp reviews by kiwiana
Amazon reviews by kiwiana
Silent film intertitles by Kitsune_Scribe
Zoom chat by mystyrust
Replika AI chatbot by FaeriMagic
Cards Against Humanity by L56895
Most can be found in the collections (also check the bookmarks) A Guide to Coding and Fanworks, AO3 Useful Workskins, and/or AO3 Social Media Workskins. If youâve written a skin, add it to these collections!
I took this as just stuff that inspires me. I included shows, characters, places, and animals that I find myself returning to for inspiration. Obviously, this is not all of them, but it's a few <3
Love how tumblr has its own folk stories. Yeah the God of Arepo weâve all heard the story and we all still cry about it. Yeah that one about the woman locked up for centuries finally getting free. That one about the witch who would marry anyone who could get her house key from her cat and itâs revealed she IS the cat after the narrator befriends the cat.
PSA to fan creators who don't have a lot of regular contact with children: They are almost always bigger than you think. A 1-year-old baby may already be walking. A toddler is likely already hip-high. A 10-year-old may already be taller than at least one of their parents. A 14/15 year old may already have reached their adult height.
Okay I have things I should be seeing to but I couldn't help myself. In case you, like me, have not read all of these stories and would like to be amongst the lucky 10,000 today:
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
The King in Yellow by Robert W Chambers*
The Lottery by Shirley Jackson**
The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe
The Monkey's Paw by W.W. Jacobs
The Most Dangerous Game by Richard O'Connell
The Nameless City by HP Lovecraft
The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas by Ursula K LeGuin
There Will Come Soft Rains by Ray Bradbury
The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Veldt by Ray Bradbury
Honorable Mention from the comments/reblogs:
All Summer in a Day by Ray Bradbury
*note: this is actually a collection of short stories and clocks in at about 72k words
**Originally published in the New Yorker in 1948; interestingly, the New Yorker still has this story archived on their website BEHIND A PAYWALL. CAN YOU IMAGINE.
Batman & Robins (mostly post-crisis) comics reading list (Parts 1-3)!
As some of you may know, I've been working on a long project where I curated a comics reading list for my friend, M, who has had almost zero prior exposure to DC comics or other media. Though lengthy, this list is in no way comprehensive: the focus is primarily on the post-crisis era, and primarily follows storylines revolving around characters who have been Robin (as well as some major general Bat stories). After each "part" we get together to record a podcast episode to discuss their thoughts on their comics journey. I'm still in the editing phase for those, but in the meantime I wanted to share the first few sections of the list!
Part One of this list (in terms of in-universe chronology, it jumps around a lot re: publication date) goes from Bruce's early days as Batman until the end of Jason's time as Robin. Part Two picks up right afterwards and deals with the fallout of Jason's death, the introduction of Tim Drake and his early days as Robin, and also introduces a number of other important cast members such as Stephanie Brown, Helena Bertinelli, and Jean-Paul Valley (and of course, the ever-expanding rogues gallery). Part Three is pretty much just all Knightfall.
If you want to go back and read about my descent into madness as I compiled this list, or check out occasional screenshots and reactions from M as they read, I organize that under my blog tag "in which I force M to read Batman."
I know it can be really overwhelming knowing where to start, so while this is a rather bespoke list I made for my friend, I hope this can maybe make it a little easier for other people to jump into reading comics as well. Please always feel free to ask questions about this project or just chat with me about comics in general. I love to blab about my nerdy hobbies. :D
Original notes/commentary (like reasons why I included or left out certain things) from when I posted Part One under the cut:
This list is mostly focused on the Robins (as well as some major overall Batman storylines) and was compiled for a friend of mine who has had zero exposure to DC comics before this. The majority of the comics on this list are from the post-crisis continuity, though I threw in a few pre-crisis ones, as well as a handful of episodes of Batman The Animated Series. In terms of In-universe chronology, this section covers from Bruce's first year operating as Batman through to the end of Jason's time as Robin.
This is in no way a comprehensive guide! I already gave my poor friend 1600+ comics to read so I had to make some cuts. Since the focus on this was specifically on the Robins [+ characters and stories I knew would specifically appeal to the one person I made the list for (there'll be a lot of Azrael and Killer Croc in the future, for example XD)] there's a lot of excellent characters that don't get nearly as much focus as they deserve. Eventually, I want to make a more comprehensive Bats+ reading list that incorporates more of those characters and groups and etc that I ended up cutting from this particular guide. [More early Titans, more Justice League, more Batgirls, and more Huntress among others for sure]. For now though, please enjoy Part One of this guide as a quick start to reading post-crisis Robins.
I will also probably be updating this spreadsheet as I go with some notes and commentary on my choices.
Yes this is actually an amazing insight into Maddieâs personality. A well-respected scientist famous for some of her inventions, while Jack is only âbrilliant but bumblingâ? Thatâs a game changer. (Also this is a great reference sheet for character heights. The Trio are all short.)
ID: Image 1 is a picture of an article titled âPhantomâs Menace.â Below it is a paragraph summarizing the show. The characters of Danny Phantom are lined up from left to right: Danny Fenton, Tucker Foley, Sam Manson, Jazz Fenton, Jack Fenton, and Maddie Fenton. Beneath them are their names and a series of questions: âWhatâs his/her deal?â, âLikes?â, and âDislikes?â The corresponding answers are under the questions.Â
Image 2: A close up of the article showing only the word âanimeâ in italics.Â
Transcription of Image 1: Phantomâs Menace. Nickâs newest Nicktoon, Danny Phantom, is about a high school student named Danny Fenton. Heâs a half kid, half-ghost superhero phenom, thanks to his dadâs ghost-hunting experiment that went wrong. Now Danny uses his newfound superpowers to battle armies of hair-raising ghosts in his hometown, Amity Park. Hereâs a guide to the stars of Danny Phantom.Â
Danny Fenton. Whatâs his/her deal? Danny is funny, shy, and unpopular at school. He uses his quick wit and powersâlike walking through walls and becoming invisibleâto fight ghosts and bullies. Likes? Having his friends, Tuck and Sam, help him fight off phantoms. Dislikes? That heâs not able to tell his parents that heâs part ghost.Â
Tucker Foley. Whatâs his/her deal? As Dannyâs best friend, Tucker cheers Danny up when heâs in a jam. Heâs a techno geek and a loyal friend who is always ready for action. Likes? Exploring the ghost world. Dislikes? When Danny takes Samâs side over his.Â
Sam Manson. Whatâs his/her deal? Dannyâs friend Sam is independent and tough. While she was immediately drawn to Dannyâs optimistic personality, it took a little longer for Tucker to grow on her. Likes? Stuff thatâs out of the ordinary. For now, her interests include anime, punk, and sci-if. Dislikes? That ghosts can be just as annoyingâor more soâthan humans.Â
Jazz Fenton. Whatâs his/her deal? Jazz is 16 going on 25. She is protective of her brother, Danny, and she thinks her parents are a little too gung-ho about the whole ghost-hunting thing. Likes? Giving advice to family and friends. Dislikes? That no one ever takes her advice.Â
Jack Fenton. Whatâs his/her deal? A brilliant but bumbling scientist, Dannyâs dad invents gadgets to sniff out and capture ghosts, but they never seem to work. Likes? That he can spend his days experimenting with ways to hunt ghosts. Dislikes? That he hasnât captured any yet.Â
Maddie Fenton. Whatâs his/her deal? Dannyâs mom is a well-respected and well-paid scientist. While she fights ghosts with Jack, sheâs famous for some of the inventions she has come up with. Likes? Inventing gadgets that actually work. Dislikes? That her ghost-hunting adventures might be having negative effects on Jazz and Danny.Â
Why does this not surprise me? Sam just gives off the vibe that she likes anime. And not the âcringey all about sparkles, rainbows, and happiness anime,â more like the âdark, animes that are more fantasy and sci-fi mixed togetherâ.
Iâm gonna start writing fanfics about this. Danny and Tucker are gonna walk in on her watching and wonder what sheâs doing and sheâs just gonna rope them into the anime world.
Quiet day in Metropolis with clean up almost complete from the latest alien attack where a scout group of warring aliens got spit out a black hole into the Milky Way and somehow honed in on Superman specifically to make his life worse.
Clark is enjoying a cup of coffee during a break, chilling on the roof while Lois texts him for help spelling words which he answers promptly because heâs a good husband.
He hears something strange. Something like⊠whirring? Buzzing? Like if bees were getting electrocuted on a dance floor next to a washing machine thatâs breaking down mid-load.
âPlease No,â thinks Clark, who doesnât wanna do shit on his roof coffee break.
âLol Yes,â says the universe and a section of the sky above Metropolis splits open. This gaping maw of dizzying green swirls and crackling electricity can only mean Bad News.
Clark is gone. Superman is in his place in 0.2 seconds. He sends one last text to Lois, correcting her spelling of catastrophe followed by a quick explanation of why heâs disappearing.
That explanation being gotta go check out the hole in the sky brb
CLARK???? she texts back but itâs too late. Clarkâs gotta go.
He flies up to the area around the hole, which is large but has stopped growing. He can probably rule out the possibility of it trying to eat the city below him, but better to be safe than sorry.
Below him, Clark can hear people shouting in alarm, cars honking as people come to abrupt stops to stare up at the sky. There are multiple shutter sounds of photos being taken. When he glances down, he can spot Jimmy leaning almost all the way out of the window of the 13th floor of the Daily Planet, two seconds away from falling to his death. Luckily, behind him is Cat who is holding onto the back of his shirt, swearing up a storm as she tries to pull him back in before he breaks his own neck for a good shot of the hole in the sky.
He makes a little mental note to get her a nice pastry as thanks for saving Jimmy while heâs otherwise occupied. She could definitely use it, given how her weekâs been going.
The hole makes more strange noises. Like itâs gurgling. Like someoneâs stomach when theyâre really, really hungry. Itâs kinda gross, honestly. Clark backs away from it a bit, eyeing the hole warily.
Abruptly, the hole glows brighter, hisses, and spits out a boy.
Oh Shit, thinks Clark but heâs already moving, swooping down to catch the boy before he can plummet into Metropolis.
A quick look at his face tells him that this boy is Queasy to a dangerous degree and Clark quickly flies him just outside city limits and sets him gently onto the ground. Out of danger for now, and the hole closing up quietly and disappearing, gives Clark time to properly look at the boy and process what heâs seeing.
So. This kid is probably an alien, right?
Heâs got white hair thatâs moving around like heâs underwater. His eyes glow green, heâs semi-translucent, wearing a skin-tight hazmat suit with a symbol on it that looks like a D and P stuck together, and most importantly, Clark canât hear any organs inside the kidâs body.
Like. None at all. No heart. No lungs. Not even any blood.
âYou alright, kid?â Clark asks, because even if this kid is an alien, being spit out of a hole in the sky is probably upsetting for anyone.
The kid doesnât answer because he looks green in the face, expression twisted up into a grimace, eyes slightly glazed over. âMrph,â he manages to mumble out, then claps a hand over his mouth.
Alarmed, Clark moves to the side so heâs not about to get puked on, and rests a hand on the kidâs back. âEasy now, head between your knees and take deep breaths for me.â
The kid follows his instructions well, so he probably knows English. Thatâs good. Clark pats his back as the kid takes deep breaths that make his thin frame shudder. Itâs a few minutes before heâs able to sit up, looking much more composed and less likely to hurl on anything that bothers him.
âFeeling alright now?â Clark asks.
The kid gives him a weak smile. âYeah, thanks. That sucked. Iâve never felt so motion sick in my life.â
âDo you know what happened?â
âNot really? I got sucked into some kind ofâŠ. Ecto whirlpool, I think, but it kinda rattled my brain and I am having so much trouble focusing right now. Where am I?â
Thereâs a lot Clark wants to say to that, but he holds it back. Heâs got a question to answer, after all. âWeâre just outside Metropolis. A hole in the sky spit you out then closed right back up.â
âMetropolis?â the kid repeats doubtfully. âIsnât that just calling this place âCity Cityâ?â
Clark has no idea how to respond to that.Â
The kid doesnât care. He looks at Clark, properly takes him in, and tilts his head. âNice costume?â
â...Thanks.âÂ
Heâs about to explain that heâs Supermanâą and the costume helps people be less afraid of him when he arrives to help in disasters and other such situations but the kid has already moved on.
âI hope I can get enough signal to call my parents,â he mutters, pulling an old, clunky flip phone out of his chest. Clark blinks and tries very very hard not to react. âNope. No signal. Oh well, my parents will come pick me up eventually. Sorry for crashing into you, and thanks for catching me!â
The kid gets up and flies away.Â
Clark quickly flies after him.
âHey, kid!â
âItâs Danny!â
âOkay, Danny! Can you stop for a second?â
Danny stops and Clark floats in front of him. âDo you have someplace to stay while you wait for your parents? Any family friends are guardians around here?â Itâs a long shot, since he really doubts someone that got spit out of a green hole in the sky has any connections on Earth, but heâd like to believe that something could be easily resolved for once in his life.
Clark should have punted his hopes out a window because Danny shakes his head. âNah, I was just gonna fly around and pass the time until my parents get here.â
He bites back on the concerned question of what if your parents canât come and youâre stuck here for the rest of your life?
Donât freak the kid out Clark, thatâs a terrible way to be a Responsible Adult.
âWhy donât you stick with me until your parents get you? Itâs a dangerous world out there, especially to people who arenât human.â
â...I am human.â
âHumans canât fly like us Danny.â
 âWell, what does that make you, then? A ghost?â
Why a ghost, of all things? What a strange comparison. Clark shakes his head. âNo, Iâm Kryptonian.â
âI donât know what that is.â
âIâm a refugee alien from the planet Krypton. One of the last of my kind.â
Danny Lights Up. Literally, he glows and gets really bright. âAn alien!â he shouts, as if he, too, is not an alien.
This leads to a long back and forth where Danny shoots off questions about space and alien culture that Clark really isnât fit to handle, having grown up on Earth, and Clark struggling to get the conversation back on track, which Danny doesnât care for at all.
This is somehow more exhausting than a physical fight. Teenagers are stressful.
The impromptu Interrogation On Aliens comes to an end when Danny winces and puts a hand on his stomach.
Clark is on High Alert. âAre you okay?â
âYeah, just hungry,â Danny says. Which is strange because as far as Clark knows, this kid doesnât have a stomach. Or any other organs.
âWant me to buy you a sandwich?â
Danny squints at him. âI feel like Iâm not supposed to accept food from strangers.â
âI donât think you have a choice when everyone on this planet is a stranger to you.â
âFair point. Iâm in the mood for chicken wings. Know a good place for that?â
Clark and Danny get chicken wings. Heâs sure social media must be having a field day from the amount of people snapping pictures of Superman babysitting an alien teenager. Lois is never gonna let him live this down.
In fact, when he focuses, he can hear her talking to Perry about where he is.
âYeah, he really shouldnât try new types of coffee,â sheâs saying. âIt really messes with his stomach. Smallvilleâs gonna be on that toilet for days.â
I Love My Wife, he tells himself firmly. I Love My Wife And I Am Not Stealing All Her Left Socks When I Get Home.
He is going to eat the pudding sheâs been saving because, frankly, Clark deserves it more right now.
Chicken wings can only occupy Danny for so long. As soon as heâs had his fill, Dannyâs up and flying around, eyes wide at the skyscrapers that make up Metropolisâs downtown area. He looks like any other tourist, if you take out the flying, glowing alien boy part.
Sighing, Clark follows along.
This is what Superman does. He saves the world and then babysits easily distracted teenager aliens.Â
He bets Batman never has to do this.
Batman has to raise gleefully destructive teenagers who like to wage psychological warfare on him to pass the time, so you know what? Clarkâs happy to babysit Danny.
A few times, he hears a cry from help and grabs Danny to fly over. Danny is given strick instructions to stay in the air and not interfere while Clark helps people.Â
This means stopping a mugging, scaring off a group of low level gangsters who cornered a doctor on her day off, and stopping two car accidents.Â
Danny polite applauds him when he flies back up to join.
âYouâre like a real superhero,â he says.
âI am a real superhero,â Clark replies.Â
It doesnât matter, Dannyâs moving on already.
Danny starts asking more and more questions about Metropolis. Heâs fascinated by the big city, from the high rises of corporate hell to the gritty underbelly where gangs roam and weapons pass through too many hands. There are places all around being rebuilt after the last alien attack, and the hospital they pass by has a bunch of pictures of Superman, drawn in crayon by the children on that floor, all taped to the windows facing out so he can see them.
Clark is a grown man whoâs seen a lot of shit. Heâs died once. And come back. Been brainwashed too many times to count and stopped the end of the world multiple times. He can handle a lot.
But that does make him want to curl up and cry because itâs so sweet.
Danny starts comparing Metropolis to where heâs from. Clark listens carefully and tucks all that information away to pick through later.
Oddly enough, everything Danny describes sounds rather⊠midwestern. Very American.
When the sun starts to set, a whole chorus of gasps catch his attention. Clark whirls around to see what new crisis is occurring only to spot the green hole ripped into the sky appear once more.
Danny brightens and goes flying over.Â
Clark follows, Stressed As Fuck.
He has a dreadful vision of a whole horde of teenage aliens tumbling out of the hole trying to rescue Danny. And heâs gonna have to look after all of them. Lois better come up with a really good excuse for why he canât come in the next few days.
Itâs not a teenager that comes out of the hole, but a whole ass space ship.
âMy parents are here!â Danny announces cheerfully as a small white vehicle that resembles a space shuttle drops out of the hole and hovers above Metropolis.Â
âPlease NO,â Clark thinks despairingly.
The universe doesnât have to say anything in response because Dannyâs parents do it for him.
The top hatch of the ship pops open and a large man (bigger than Clark, who the hell is bigger than Supermanâą????)Â gets his whole upper body out and waves his arms in the air with a grin on his face. âDanny, my boy!â he bellows.
Danny wastes no time and zooms over to crash into the giant, who easily gathers him into a hug.
Clark floats over slowly, cautiously, testing the waters. He doesnât need to because Dannyâs already talking him up, but a little caution never hurt.Â
The giant man lets go of Danny, then disappears into the ship. Heâs quickly replaced by a normal sized woman, pushing a pair of red tinted googles up her forehead. She also hugs Danny and Clark hears her say, âWell, at least we know the tracker works!â
Heâs just. Not going to think about that. Thanks.
Then she asks more questions that heâd expect from a mother: what happened, are you okay, how are you feeling, did anyone try to hurt you, etc.
Danny assures her that heâs fine, he was just motion sick from being sucked into an ecto whirlpool and his headâs still a little fuzzy but thatâs normal after he hits his head.
âOh, honey, that sounds like a concussion,â the woman says.
âItâs fine, it barely hurt!â
âItâs still brain damage, Danny.â
âOh yeaaaaaaaah.â
Then attention is suddenly on Clark and the sharp light in her eyes feels distinctly threatening. But her smile is warm as she extends a hand and Clark was raised with manners, okay, he has to return a handshake.
âThank you for looking after my son,â she says, giving his hand a firm shake. âIâm Dr. Fenton.â
âCall me Superman, and no trouble at all, maâam,â he replies. âIâm glad you were able to come pick him up.â
âYes, Jack and I had prepared to face this possibility, so we knew just what to do when we lost track of Danny. Now that weâve got this tunnel on the map, we can visit in the future, so if you ever need any help, call for the Fentons!â Then she looks down in the ship, yells, âJack!â and a thick walkie-talkie looking device is tossed up into her waiting hand.
She gives it to Clark. He takes it to be polite.
âWe have to get going now, but itâs nice to meet you!â
Danny floats into the ship. As in, he density shifts and just. Goes in through the wall. Good for him. Dr. Fenton ducks back down into the ship and the giant replaces her to give him a hearty pat on the shoulder.Â
âGive us a visit if you ever end up in our neck of the woods!â he says brightly. âAny friend of Dannyâs is a friend of ours!â
Clark nods and thatâs enough for the giant to duck back into the ship. A moment later, he sees all three of them waving to him from the cockpit, and then the ship turns and flies back into the hole in the sky, which closes up after them.
Clark looks at the device in his hand. He looks at the sun setting on Metropolis. He goes home. He deserves a nap.
Pudding first, though. Lois will forgive him if he tells her all about what happened.
And the next time Brianiac attacks, sheâll shout something into the walkie-talkie and a hole will rip open in the sky above Metropolis ten minutes later, dropping Danny and Dr. Fenton, dressed in some sort of cyberpunk astronaut suit armor, right on top of Brainic to help him finish up the fight much faster and with much less property destruction.
He gets them both a slice of Maâs apple pie as thanks.
And as Midwesterners, they return a day later with some absolutely delicious fudge.
Clark is a man of honor. He gets to planning on what heâll need to make the best berry tart this side of the Mississippi has ever seen to give to the Fentons.
All in all, life is pretty good in Metropolis.
âWhat the hell kind of name is Superman?â Sam asks.
Clark, in the middle of talking to Perry, sneezes so loudly half the office turns to stare at him.
hubris have won, more Wonder Woman for ya. What's a good way to get to know her as a character better?
masterpost
To be honest, the first time he got surrounded by blob ghosts, right after big Justice League fight he joined because he was flying by, he got scared. In his defense, he had no clue what was going on, knew JL from one broadcast where they gave emergency number if someone wanted newly established organization to help, and the blobs were screaming and crying, clinging to him mournfully, unlike the usual ones from Amity Park, which seemed content with their simple life and much preferred portal to him or any other ghost around.
He lead them home anyway, making sure they safely went through portal before falling into dead sleep that would end too soon.
By the fifth time it happened, he just accepted it as another feature of these fights. Batman would stare at him like he was trying to figure out if he is trustworthy, Flash would share some snacks, Green Lantern would answer not more than five questions about space, Wonder Woman would tell him how to punch better and there would be blobs he needed to escort.
It was, all things considered, pretty decent routine.
~*~*~
Strong hand clasped his shoulder.
âYou did well today, Phantom.â
He felt his lips stretch in proud grin, core warming up at the praise. It wasnât casualty free fight, but with size of attack, there was no way it could ever be. A lot less people had died than could, if there was no one like him to focus on civilians while others fought.
âThanks Wonder Woman.â
Frankly, Danny wasnât sure where he stood with Justice League, exactly. He wasnât the member, he just joined when disaster got really big. He had a comm that he tried carrying whether ghost or not. He didnât know anyoneâs identities and they didnât know his, even though he knew they knew each otherâs. They trusted him to handle Amity on his own, despite the fact that he was far, far younger than all of them. They kept trying to teach him things, which was nice, even if they sometimes were a bit condescending about it. When he went on the job with themâ
Something small and soft hit him between his shoulder blades. Then another a bit to the left. He turned to face them, smile much softer kinder.
âHello little fellows, câmere.â
âWhatchu got there?â Flash asked, trying to see around Wonder Woman. For some reason, she looked stricken.
âA blob ghost.â
âAnd⊠how do blob ghosts look?â
Right, not everyone saw ghosts as easily as he did. He kept forgetting that with his friends, he kept forgetting it with his⊠with Justice League.
âGreen, vaguely-drop-of-liquid-shaped, sized from hamburger bun to full on loaf of bread. We donât really know what they are and how do they get made, but the ones back home are much happier and calmer. They like to nap around my room, or on me, in hoods and pockets and so on. Like weirdly affectionate cats. These ones are really distraught and seem to not really see world around them, they keep bumping into me, not like, to show affection, but like they canât understand Iâm standing there. So Iâll take them home and theyâll become happier and more alert then.â
âAre they dangerous?â Batman asked, sliding in unnoticed like he always did. Why was it turning into most important situation around? They just finished villain take down in populated are, there had to be something more attention consuming.
âDo we count the fact that they keep stealing my snacks?â
Batman didnât really emote, Danny came to understand he never did, but he gave of the vibe like he was considering it. Green Lantern laughed at him so hard Danny probably should feel offended and Flash tossed him his super dense granola bar, with somewhat mischievous smile. Wonder Woman still looked weird.
âHow many of the are there, usually?â
âIt depends. Now thereâs about fifty, that time in New York there was probably few hundred, first time we met there were none. I honestly donât know what it depends on, level of calamity maybe? My friend thought blobs could be imprints of strong emotions on ectoplasm and this would suggest it was true, but that doesnât feel right. I know better than to do science based on vibes though.â
Unlike some people he knew.
âHuh, thatâs interesting.â
Danny carefully gathered all blobs to his chest, so when he started flying, they wouldnât get lost as easily. Flashâs mouth turned into almost perfect o.
âI can see them now! They are adorable!â
Wonder Woman caught Flashâs hand before he got too close, just as one of the blobs snapped at it with row of tiny teeth. It was good to hear that they were visible though, because it meant they were getting stronger, probably with ectoplasm from him, which Ancients knew he had enough to share. It meant they could also fly a bit faster, which was going to be good when he started making his way home. He could take up someone on their offer and fly at least some part of the way in jet (which also, why did Justice League have more than one jet at their disposal? ) but it always left him wrong-footed. Probably because of Vlad. It felt safer, to have full control on where he wanted to fly and how fast he did that.
âOnes outside of Amity are a bit more skittish. Iâd say Iâll bring you some friendlier ones next time, but it may not be the best idea.â
âYeah no, better not risk little guys.â
They stayed for a moment, looking at blobs that were trying their damn best to fly into Danny like there was something they really wanted inside his chest or something.
âAlright, I gotta go if I want to put them to bed before curfew, see ya next disaster!â he said kicking off the ground with a glee. Out of all his powers, being able to fly was probably the best one.
âHopefully wonât be too soon, geist!â Green Lantern yelled after him, which yeah, true. He waved vaguely and shot higher up the sky. It was a good day.
~*~*~
Sneaking into the lab was always hardest part of these little escort missions he did. Sad blobs had this one advantage of being worryingly focused on area where his core was, so at least they werenât straying away too often. That still left him with task of sneaking trough ghost proofed and armored house with bunch of ghosts that were not cognizant enough to turn invisible, if someone showed up, let alone doing particularly complicated evasive moves when laser struck. Since there were too many of them to really turn invisible or intangible or whatever was needed, Danny tended to just take the shot. There were times when this part gave him more injuries than fight beforehand, but it was always worth it. Blobs were fragile, he didnât want to learn how they would handle his parentsâ weapons.
But also, Mortal Zone, as ghost sometimes referred to Earth and neighborhood, was simply not the right place for blobs. They needed ectoplasm to survive and thrive and for all cool things there were about this side of veil, even Amity Park, even Dannyâs own room, were not infused with it enough to be good for them long term. Some still came hang out, but they never stayed for longer than a day.
Thus, this quest. It was impossible to communicate to blobs that they need to stay somewhere while he goes for recon or anything of sorts, they just kept flocking around him and then darting to the portal like possessed, so he never really knew what to expect in each room on their way. It was stressful.
At this point, he was a master of hearing hidden weapons power up and moving in their line of fire instead of out of it. Heâd patch his shoulder when he was done with this part of the night.
There was one remarkable time, when mom caught him with blobs, though thankfully he had enough time to turn back human before she came in. He got away with it only because he managed to convince her that he didnât know what was going on and just wanted to get them to portal without shooting himself in the process. She let him then, probably only because she was barely awake after long few days of ghost hunting (frankly, Danny wasnât much better).
Finally, with his soul on his shoulder he cracked open door of lab and slipped inside. It was almost ominous, this time of the night. He was used to it bustling with sound and life, ironically, with bright lights that he almost hated, but now it was dark and practically quiet. Danny could hear low hum of small fridge and few pieces of equipment that needed so much time to get turned on and off it wasnât worth the bother and they just run all the time, but there was nothing else, thick walls enough to cover any sound from outside. The pungent smell of ectoplasm, strong enough that he could taste in on worst of the day, stayed the same.
Blobs darted forward as soon as they got in doors, bumping against shield on the portal with admirable determination. He opened the shield and green light spilled to the room, making it look ethereal and otherworldly in a horror way. Blobs melted with the wall of green before shields were fully up, leaving Danny to just stare after them. There was something both alluring and terrifying in looking at tear in reality like that, like a sirens song. Something begging him to come closer and disappear in the Ghost Zone forever, promising happiness and safety, while other part of him kept reminding him how much current running through his body hurt, how much ectoplasm in the lungs drowned, how much pressure thorn his larynx, howâ
He hit the button to put portalâs shield back up and smiled in resulting darkness.
It always felt like much bigger, more worthwhile accomplishment than it actually was, when he successfully brought blobs home.
~*~*~
It was surprisingly good fight. It wasnât the best, but they managed to move and contain it before they hit highly populated area. It was industrial neighborhood, where most places were off for the holiday night already, so there werenât many casualties.
It was still incredibly exhausting.
He curled up on some debris, taking a moment to rest and gathered few blobs close to himself, relaxing a bit. It felt better, for some reason, to keep them close up until they got to the Ghost Zone safely. Nothing bad could happen if they were with him.
Heâd just take a moment of rest, before facing the rescue efforts.
Just a moment.
Someone came up to him, debris crunching under their feet. He turned just enough to see their shoes. Wonder Woman.
âDo you need anything?â he asked. He wished she said she didnât but he was ready to handle it, if she did. His whole journey as Phantom was handling stuff whether he was ready for it or not.
âWould it be alright if I joined you?â
âItâs not like any of this debris is mine, come sit.â
He straightened because nobody in their right mind would dare to slouch in presence of Wonder Woman if they could not. It wasnât really that she was intimidating, or traditional, or any other reason someone would not want to slouch in someoneâs presence. There was just certain something about her, something regal but a bit to the left, that didnât allow him to look or really feel defeated and hopeless. Danny probably lacked the words to properly describe why.
He liked Wonder Woman, even if sometimes she felt like grand statue or a goddess that came down to Earth to help small, weak mortals live their lives as best as possible. Like Pandora, if she was still alive.
One of the blobs drifted towards her, slow and unsure like a wild animal. From what Danny came to see, they didnât do that often, generally rather content trying to figure out how to reach to his core or wail and cry somewhere close when they didnât manage.
Wonder Woman scooped it gently, holding it close to her chest like a precious kitten. He was still getting used to seeing people who could casually decimate a building, people who unleashed rage of gods and primordial concepts on anyone they deemed enemy, be so tender and human minutes later. Banter he could take, he did that himself, but this weird softens felt like too much. He understood that it was not an act, it was just who she was, just like it was who Superman was, if a bit differently, just like how Danny wasnât acting when he was awkward and fumbling, despite what Amity Park media liked to claim. But it felt unsettling none the less.
âDid you learn more about them since the last time?â she asked, voice barely above whisper. Blob in her arms moved and formed to emulate a napping cat. Her whisper sounded less like she didnât want to wake it up and more like she was talking about something sacred, that couldnât possibly be discussed any louder.
âNot really. I donât have many I could ask and they all live pretty far from me. I didnât have time to travel all the way there. Did you figure anything out?â
Wonder Woman just hummed, vague enough that Danny couldnât figure out if she said yes or no.
âThere is less of them this time.â
He turned to fully look at her, because it felt like such non sequitur and maybe something about her face or body would explain why sheâd bring it upâ
âYou did well containing the damage and evacuating stranglers.â
Danny didnât have heart in this form and he didnât really need to breathe, but suddenly his heart was at his feat and air was too thin to work itâs way through his lungs. He was never sharpest pencil in the case, but he could connect the dots drawn in front of him.
âNo.â
Wonder Woman looked apologetic, but not like she was lying and it got out of hand, but as if she was sorry she had to be the one to break it to him.
âNo, no, no. It- It canât be true. Youâre lying. You donât know it! You canât know it!â
He didnât mean to yell and he didnât mean to get teary eyed, yet here he was. He didnât brush the tears away, because it felt like admitting defeat and he couldnât do that right now.
âAmazons are closer to the arcane than menâs world is.â
âIt canât⊠No.â
âIâm sorry.â
âMaybe they just got lost? There are many natural portals all around the world,â Danny tried weakly. He didnât believe that, he could tell that closest portal was many miles away and was fairly small. Blobs had no reason to go through it and arrive all the way here, especially not in the pack of dozen. But he needed something, anything but Wonder Woman smiling sadly and telling him all blobs he met were people he failed to save, that their crying and wailing was due to the fact that they died in last hour. Anything but the idea that things he treated as sort of weird pets, silent and cuddly, were actually people who couldnât quite interact with world so soon after the tragedy.
âI know it hurts. I too would prefer if nobody died, but we canât change it now,â she said, slowly pulling him in for a hug. She wasnât forceful with it, if he wanted, he could get out any time, even without intangibility, but he didnât. Cold, hard armor wasnât most comfortable thing to hug, but he couldnât really be bothered.
He just cried, for all the people who passed.
âYou are doing your best and you saved many. And now you are guiding the rest home.â
~*~*~
Danny was avoiding the blobs. He was man enough to admit that.
Maybe man was wrong word, he didnât think most men in his life would be able to be honest about it even to themselves.
But he wouldnât lie and say he wasnât. He doubled down on his rescue efforts, jumping and throwing himself in every way he could, with little to no regard about the damage he took. He would heal.
Blobs that appeared anyway would not.
He avoided Justice League too. Not in a sense that he stopped helping when they called, he didnât think he would ever be able to do that, but he flew off as soon as he could, halfheartedly trying to loose blobs that trailed after him. He didnât want to see them, palpable proof of the way he wasnât able to truly protect, the way he was a fraud and maybe if he wasnât tricking everyone, someone more competent would take his place in rescues and all of them would be alive.
But he couldnât stop going, not when he was outright asked to help, and he couldnât leave the blobs behind, when they trailed after him like he was the only thing they could see.
Justice League looked at him sadly, and few times he thought they may want to intervene and talk to him like he was way younger than he was and still needed empty platitudes. He never let them speak.
Since he was a ghost, maybe he shouldâve been better at handling death and related topics. Maybe he shouldâve accepted this role with grace, treat it as unimaginable honor. Or maybe, because he was a ghost and he remembered every stretching to infinity millisecond of his death, because he knew that stories of heaven or any other peaceful afterlife were a lie, he was primed to see it as a burden it was.
He had some other business to get done in Pandoraâs Acropolis, when it all came to the head. She asked him to sit with her on one of the rooftops, saying something about missing her share of living world gossip. Danny had a mom and knew how it looked, when she saw that something was wrong and wanted to learn what was it without bringing it out right.
Pandora wasnât the person he could really say not to, not because she was scary or anything. It just felt wrong to.
âI heard some interesting rumors lately,â she started, and while her tone didnât betray it, Danny was sure she was teasing him. Good thing he was immune due to having no idea what the rumors could be since he came to ghost zone as rarely as he could, âSomething about halfa child gaining new title.â
Danny felt his brows scrunch up.
âI have titles?â
âOf course you do. Everyone has some, to be called during their summoning, but itâs especially with you, since you run into Ancients and other powerful ghosts so much. Half-reborn is one of them, the most obvious one. Vanquisher of the Fear and Emissary of Hope, are two of my favorites out of your list.â
He was not sure what vanquisher even meant, but if his guess was right, it was total bullshit. He slayed no fear, for he still got terrified of way too many things. Emissary of Hope sounded nice though. It tied him closer to Pandora, which was always good, but also, if he allowed himself some wishful thinking for a bit, it could mean he did well as a hero. That people felt hope when he showed up on battlefield.
It would be great on days he felt particularly delusional.
âOh, um. Thatâs good to know.â
âShepherd of Ascended and Corebound, is most recent one.â
He didnât know what Corebound meant, or how ghosts understood Ascended, but there was only one thing he was doing lately that would qualify as similar to shepherdâs.
He shoved the urge to cry as far down as he could.
âItâs about blob ghosts, isnât it,â he said as if he didnât know, trying to sound nonchalant about it.
âBlob ghosts?â Pandora asked with clear mirth.
âThey are small and⊠just shaped. Like a blob of paint.â
âThis does sound like description of Corebound ghost, yes,â she nodded, âItâs good to see so many of them make their way here.â
âHow can you say that?â
Pandora looked at him, like it was weird that he asked her how could she see so many more people die to be a good thing. Like she didnât expect to see him with clenched jaw and teared up eyes when she brought up all the people he didnât manage to save.
âIâm sorry, I tend to forget how sensitive Corelings are to conversations about death. Youâre still too young to look at it objectively. But if you want to continue, you have to accept that itâs going to happen regardless of how hard youâre trying,â she paused for a moment, before shifting the subject, âWeâre grateful to see so many Corebound make their way here, because they arenât as likely to do it on their own. They can sense ectoplasm and it leads them to natural portals, but they are rare phenomenon. It can take ages for young ghosts to find one and by then their development is crooked, or they stay on living side for so long they manage to become malnutritioned Corelings, haunting places they were connected with in hopes of gathering slimmest amount of feelings to grow on. Itâs terrifying fate,â she smiled at him, grateful and regal, like queen just informed that he fixed great plague haunting her kingdom, âYou make sure they get home, and you leave a mark so that ones you didnât meet have a trail to follow. I cannot imagine world in which thatâs a bad thing.â
Danny held from crying for a moment, shoving the urge as deep inside him as he could, but it slipped through his fingers. Sob got stuck in his throat for a second, before it forced itâs way out, followed by another one. He tried to get rid of tears. He shouldnât be crying, especially not in front of Pandora, not if he was her so called emissary, not ifâ
She drew him in for a hug, slowly petting his hair.
She didnât say anything.
~*~*~
âPhantom.â
This... was not a good day. All calculations suggested that meteor, which turned out to be alien space ship, would land in the ocean, away from any civilizations (even underwater kind, Aquaman made sure). But of course, they were wrong. Because math was always wrong when it truly mattered. It hit some city. Not as big as Metropolis or New York, but still. They didn't have enough time to evacuate everyone when they realized they were wrong. Danny kept fighting and rescuing, trying to not look at all the mournful blob ghosts forming around him. Trying to forget all the people who died under his hands just for a moment. As the least experienced in fighting aliens (or frankly living folks in general), he was designated to purely rescue missions. There were a lot of people who he couldnât reach in time. There were more that he thought he reached, but then lost because he couldn't fix what was wrong with them fast enough. There were notable few that could survive, if not for stray alien that Danny only saw when it was too late.
There was nothing he could do to help them now. But there were many of them. More than he ever saw, creating swarming green mass, closing him off from the world if he ever stayed still for too long.
âBatman to Phantom. Everyone is accounted for, come back to rendezvous point,â It took Danny way too long to figure out that voice was coming from the comm in his ear and what said words even meant. Blobs just got enough ectoplasm to start making audible sounds and all of them were crying. Danny wished he could turn his hearing off.
Danny wished they didn't flock around him.
Danny wished they didn't die.
He kicked off from the ground and sped off, hoping to loose blobs at least for a little bit. Those were all people he failed to protect, and only on that one day. Those were all people whose lives ended too soon. And all he could do for them now was to cowardly run away.
He landed in front of older heroes, all looking equally somber. He took calming breath in few seconds of quiet, before wailing returned. He flinched as they swarmed him, covering and pressing from all directions. He swayed under the pressure. It was suffocating.
âPhantom?â
âYou can't see them yet, can you?â It always took blobs a bit to get strong enough so living could observe them.
He couldn't see anyone either, but at this point he knew painful glances heroes exchanged almost better than he knew his parents' lab.
âHow many of them are there today?â Flash asked carefully. He sounded closer than Danny expected him to be, considering amount of blobs. For some reason, it was what broke him.
âIâ I can't count them,â Danny's voice cracked and he swayed again, âI can't see you. I can't see my feet. They're everywhere,â he whispered, closing his eyes. They were useless anyway, âThere may be more of them than there are people in Amity Park,â ...oh, he started crying. He shouldn't be doing that, not yet. âThey're all wailing. Some are using Ghost Speak and I can understand them. Some are just distraught and screaming. And I can hear them all. I can see them all. I can touch them all. I can- I can feel them all,â his breath hitched and noise picked up. Apparently, some blobs stayed quiet before.
Danny didn't realize what he was doing until his knees hit the concrete, hands curling around his ears, rubbing aggressively to mask the noise. His forehead touched the ground as he mumbled âPlease make it stop, please, please,â over and over again, disrupted by speeding up breathes that he shouldn't be taking.
He was almost sure someone was talking to him, but they were impossible to hear.
His whole world was just pure green and pain and scream. He might have started screaming too at some point.
Strong hands pulled away his hands from his ears, quickly exchanging them for something that actually helped. It wasn't all quiet, far from that, but the cacophony became tad less overwhelming. He pressed his hands over headphones as soon as they were free anyway. It felt better, even if it didn't do anything.
Someone else, someone lithe but surprisingly strong gathered him in their arms and rose to stand (probably. Danny still refused to open his eyes).
âLet's get you out of here, kid,â they yelled, close and loud so he heard them over howling. It sounded nice. It sounded beyond nice. At the moment, he wished for nothing more that to be somewhere else, somewhere where he couldn't be suffocated by thousands of Corebound he couldn't save. But... there was something else he was supposed to do. Something he owed them anyway. Somethingâ
He bolted upright so fast he almost made Flash drop him. Hero stopped abruptly, and thankfully it seemed like they were still relatively close.
âWhat's wrong?! Is Speedforce interacting badly with your ghostliââ
âThey won't find me if we run of so fast,â Danny barely forced out.
âThat's... a bit of the point. They seemed to be quite overwhelming back there,â Flash said, looking way too worried for someone who only met Phantom every few weeks during some crisis.
Boy gritted his teeth and tried to get up and standing, but older hero didn't let him. Danny tried a bit harder. He should stand on his own.
âI have... I have...â
âYou have to take care of yourself first kid. There is nothing you can do for them now. We can't bring them back.â
This for some reason made Danny furious.
âBelieve it or not, I fucking know Flash. If it was possible, I wouldn't be ghost in the first place, so don't go telling me how death works,â he bit back, ready to go further before it all drained out of him. He could hear crying again. Mass of blobs was floating their way and it was big enough that for few minutes, it covered the sun. Judging by Flash's terrified expression, he saw that too.
Danny suddenly felt ill. There was almost no ectoplasm in the city, nearest natural portal far away from it. If this amount of blobs found enough of it to grow so fast, they couldn't source only ambient left of from their... creation. They had to siphon it out of Danny himself and he could certainly feel the tool but... not a lot. He was powerful ghost. Really powerful, according to few friends he made on the other side of the veil.
And yet he failed all of these people here.
âKidââ
âThere is nothing we can do for them,â he echoed sentiment he heard each time Justice League met these blobs after they learned what they were. At last he managed to stand, using older heroes distraction.
For some reason it felt right to raise his hands in a hug to upcoming wave.
âI'm sorry. It's alright now. You're safe. I'll show you the way,â he promised to them, as they surrounded him again. He looked back at Flash, barely keeping himself from crying.
âThe least I can do for them is to guide them home.â
I was today years old when I learned that when you type "otp: true" in AO3 search results it filters out fics with additional ships, leaving only the fics where your otp is the main ship
i'm playing at a fandom archeologist part two and trawling through livejournal for old jason posts. so far i have found:
"looking back on my (fannish) 2003: a newbie's journey into Batverse comic fandom" (2004), an amazing essay about one fan's journey of joining the fandom
"Incinerated" a song about jason's death, sung to the tune of avril lavigne's "complicated", from wizard #135 magazine (i think), reposted on livejournal (2002)
tim saves jason in ethiopia fic (2004)
an 8k words brujay smut fic from the jasonficathon event (2004)
rant/squee about batman/robin as a romantic and/or sexual pairing (2005). quote: "That is, I'm feeling like one interpretation has become so common that the possibility of other interpretations aren't even considered anymore. Just as one example, the possibility that Bruce wasn't fucking Jason seems to have vanished from the fannish landscape." + 110 very interesting comments
a poll and discussion around the question: "Is your standard reading of canon -- not what you believe is intended, but your own interpretation -- that Batman has had a sexual relationship with any of his Robins?" (2005) + 76 fascinating comments
personal under the hood comics breakdown /1/ /2/ (2010)
4 jason todd fanfic recs: pre-jaytim jason and tim meet up, christmas eve in gotham, clark/jason/bruce sex pollen pwp, jason in the nolanverse (2010)
an attempted jason comic timeline (2011)
a fan talking about their negative experiences with comic book writers and editors at heroes con 2010 (a lot of racism and sexism). includes quotes from ian sattler in response to the concern over the treatment of minority characters who are killed off and sidelined: "we have pink and green people" and bill willingham about steph's death: "i wanted to gun down those girls who kept asking about the memorial case".
benicio127's jaosn todd tag (2010). includes a letter to dc editors and judd winick, discussions of jason comics as they were being published in 2010 (red hood: lost days, batman and robin) and under the red hood movie.
masterlist of fics by somehowunbroken (2020). the dc comics section includes tim/kon, tim/jason, other pairings and gen fics.
[part one of my findings is here]
if you want to check out livejournal yourself, i recommend using an adblocker, an antivirus and anti-tracking measures :) also, keep a tab open with wayback machine because a lot of stuff is deleted or corrupted.
GUYS. There is a Lazarus Pit somewhere in the BATCAVE.
So. Apparently at some point. Bane and Batman (probably not together? I'm sorry I'm just going off of a wiki) were both going around destroying Lazarus Pits.
ONLY.
Batman eventually found out that the Lazarus Pits are actually needed to keep the world stable. You can't destroy them all. That's bad. Very bad.
And so he decided to create his own and where would he put said pit? In the safest place he knows.
The Batcave.
Because he knows that's like the one place that Ra's will never get to so therefore The Demon Head will never use it.
But like can you imagine the DP X DC possibilities?!?!
Like what if the person who told Batman that destroying all the Pits was bad was the Ghost King?
What if Danny was the one who helped Batman to pick out a safe location in the Batcave as well as design the holding area for the Pit/Portal so that it would remain stable and be unlikely to hurt any humans?
What if the increased ectoplasm in the area makes the Batfam more liminal?
What if the increased ectoplasm in the air allows certain ghosts (Bruce's Parents, Dick's Parents, etc) to become more visible?
What if, depending on the timeline of just when the Gotham Lazarus Pit is created, if it was created sometime after Jason's death but before his revival....it's ectoplasmic presence helps to fully revive Jason. He forms a core in the coffin. His mind returns to him without the LoA having to get involved. He instinctively uses ghost abilities to escape from his grave without having to dig his way out. He returns to his family.
What if the Pit was created while Jason was with the League. And he's dealing with corrupted ectoplasm from that Pit. But when he finally finally ends up in the Cave (maybe he's severely injured and has to stay there for a while?) the pure ectoplasm in the Cave helps to filter out the corrupted stuff and helps him form a core then?
What if Jason feels like he can never go home because he's been replaced, he has too much blood on his hands....and yet the moment he steps foot in the cave or steps foot in the manor he feels like he's come HOME. And he has no idea why he feels so safe and protected there and why it's so difficult for him to want to leave when he's HOME until a while later when he finally discovers the presence of the Pits.
What if Batman created the Lazarus Pit on his own and he or some other family member accidentally becomes a Halfa in the process?
What if Ghost King Danny feels the presence of a new connection to Earth opening up and goes to investigate and discovers the Batfam?
What if Phantom (injured maybe, possibly in desperate need of a new haunt) comes through the portal/pit after they're created and feels the presence of another halfa (jason) or else feels a 'connection' to the Batfam in some way and ends up making Gotham his new home? (Found Family AU)
Also. Like. Could you imagine the freak out that Batman would have the first time an actual ghost came up through the pit? And if said ghost wasn't Phantom? Like nothing in his research mentioned creatures emerging from the pit itself! What is he to do?!
He created the pit in the cave to keep it safe from Ra's but he had no idea that the pits would come with their own 'problems.' And now suddenly there are these beings from the Infinite Realms hanging around the cave and he's desperately trying to research just who these beings are and what they're capable of and trying to find contingencies just in case they're more evil than gremlins. Plus HOW does he keep them from entering the cave itself?!
Imagine Technus messing with the technology in the cave. Skulker borrowing weapons to augment his suit. Johnny taking the Batfam's various motorcycles out for a spin.
Like...guys. There are soooooo many possiblities. So many.
>_< Curse my need to fact check before spouting off an idea to be free in the wild because apparently Damian was not resurrected via the Lazarus Pits. But instead by some sort of Chaos Shard thing.
Which that does make a bit more sense on why Damian ended up with powers temporarily when no one else who used the Lazarus Pits did. Because he NEVER used them. Foo.
And here I was thinking it would be cool that if the Lazarus Pits had given him powers, that would probably mean in a DPXDC crossover where the Pits are similar to Ectoplasm, that Damian would probably be more halfa than Jason would because of said powers so Damian and Danny could bond that way through Danny teaching Damian how to use his new abilities.
Which ... ... originially Damian's powers were temporary. If that's still the case here. Would he react the same way to "going back to normal?" Would it feel more like a loss? How would Danny react?
How would that even work for Damian with all the Ghost core lore? Like "Hello, I'm a halfa--*powers vanish* whoops...guess I'm not anymore."
And Jason just holds it over him, because sure he's not a Halfa, but he is developing his own abilities (far more slowly than Damian or Danny because he wasn't as exposed to the Pits/ectoplasm as they were as a kid) and he's not losing those.
