I traded my braincells for a pringles can

Ayup! Grown adult who sometimes does fandom things No real name >:( If you must refer to me call me Slime

[nudityandnerdery]

Hey, we’re in line for some absurd temperatures here in the southwest this week. This is very important to know and keep in mind. Be safe, stay hydrated, stay out of the sun as much as you can.

[katajainen]

For my fellow Europeans south of us who are currently suffering from extreme heat. Stay safe!

[belovedapollo]

I’d also like to add this

Additional you can also put them on your palms, also, make sure to always use a light towel or kitchen paper and don’t put the ice bags directly onto your skin!

[amanite-s]

EVERYONE GO WATCH ROCKY SLEEP NOW !!!

[nerdpoe]

Danny's found a way to dodge GIW trackers, as well as his parents. Their equipment hunts ghosts, ghosts run on emotion; so as long as he keeps his under a tight lid and doesn't feel anything ever, they won't be able to track him.

It works!

He's able to run from them, and goes as far as New Jersey. The plan was to stow away on a ship, and go to literally any country that wasn't America. He goes to Gotham, which hosts the one harbor he knows where no one will ask any questions.

But because of how weird he acted (completely emotionless during a Joker attack), he was fingered by police immediately.

He's handed over to CPP. CPP doesn't know what to do with a teen literally so traumatized that they don't show any emotion at all, ever. He keeps just...walking out of his placements. Just leaves without a sound.

Luckily, he's always caught, due to those placement houses having quiet alarms and him refusing to run.

They call the one foster parent they know who does.

Bruce Wayne takes in the strange, nameless kid who refuses to talk.

On paper, they gave him the filler name of 'John Doe', for lack of anything better to do.

Bruce does everything he can to make the newest arrival feel at home. Damian, for as territorial as he is, actually breaks out of his shell sooner than expected just to try to get the new kid to speak. To emote. To do something. Duke tries the open approach, then tries the 'no one will ever know, everyone thinks I'm an innocent goody-two-shoes' approach. Nada.

Tim even tries to trick him into talking, but nothing works.

Enter Dick; Dick heard about Bruce's new ward, about the situation, and decided to see if he could get the kid to open up.

Danny though. Danny's in trouble.

The Wayne Manor is weirdly secure, and he can't just walk away like he did his other placements. He can't use ghost powers or the GIW and his parents will immediately know where he is.

He really, really wants to take Bruce up on his offer and just spend the day relaxing. Respond to Damian's attempts to provoke him. Overshare about space facts with Tim.

But most of all, he really, desperately wants to get in a Pun Competition with Dick. He wants to laugh at Dick's jokes, and learn coolass gymnastic tricks!

But he can't!

If he relaxes with Bruce, he'll be content, which is an emotion. If he argues with Damian, he'll get annoyed, which is an emotion. If he sneaks out with Duke and breaks the rules, he'll get happy, which, again, emotion. If he overshares with Tim, he'll get excited, which is, yet again, an emotion!

The worst sin of all, he can't even show proper appreciation of the food the Butler keeps making him!

And now there's even more people coming over!

There's a quiet girl who keeps reading his body language and trying to get him to dance ballet, a blonde girl who keeps trying to kidnap him to take him to BatBurger, a guy with a stripe of white who wants to take him to a shooting range, and it just...he really, really wants to!

He wants to do all these cool things with them!

But he fucking can't!

[mikami1992]

I have read all the comments so far…

but they forget something…

The Waynes are a multi-millionaire family who own an international company….

Now imagine that for some reason a member of the family has a mandatory trip abroad (check some offices, go to a gala, investigate something like civilians, etc.) and you decide that perhaps a tourist trip with new experiences can help your family. new brother, so they take him…

Danny doesn't know where they are going, only that they leave on a private jet….

Now imagine the bats that accompany him seeing how an emotional switch turns on in his little brother the moment he knows they are in another country…

[undercookedcatgut]

They test this theory out a few times. Like any respectable bat, they can't go off the statistics of just a one time thing.

...

Tim has the brilliant idea of pushing and pulling Danny in and out of the American border. Danny's emotions turn on and off like a fucking light switch and Tim feels vindicated. He TOLD the others it would work.

-

Alternatively, meta collars block the ghost signals. Doesn't affect danny negatively but like maybe limits his powers a bit. The Wayne's figure this out. Somehow.

[sakuravalenp]

One of the bats had the theory that the lack of emotion came from a meta-gene activating during the Joker attack and decided to try the meta collars (All the lab results were inconclusive so who's to say that isn't a probability?), just in case, they needed to try everything.

Danny feels like he's ecto-signal is being blocked by the meta collar and risks letting go of his emotions, just a bit, to test it's limits, but the collar doesn't block much, and is easier to just don't feel at all than trying to control how much he feels. So the bats get to see Danny's face gain some emotion (nervousness? Anxiety? Hope? Fear?) for a fraction of a second before he goes completely emotionless once more.

- Theory one: The meta-collar isn't strong enough somehow, let's try with one more powerful. -> Danny doesn't want to risk it again, so he stays emotionless.

- Theory two: Since Danny doesn't react with stronger meta-blockers, then something about the meta-collar gave Danny an emotion strong enough to come through for a second. Maybe it brought memories of something... something before the Joker attack? Was... Was Danny a victim of meta trafficking? Did they just re-traumatize their new little brother multiple times?

Duke feels especially guilty about this because as a meta, "he should have known better". The bats are not as eager to keep experimenting after that, but Danny continues to be emotionless, so eventually they have to try something else, right?

[faeriekit]

*cracks knuckles*

*****

There are noises. Danny ignores them.

There’s a plate in front of him that he didn’t put there. It’s good food—eggs and pre-cut slices of ham and, ugh, toast—

Danny clamps down on his automatic reaction. Nope. Suppress it. Toast is—fine. He can’t afford to hate it right now. It's fine. He'll choke it down.

He can’t afford to feel anything— Not anymore.

The chair across from him scrapes against the hardwood floor. Someone’s joined him at the table for early breakfast. “Morning, John!” they greets him cheerily. Danny refuses to look up.

…He think the voice is probably Duke’s. Danny’s been trying to resist the urge to get to know anyone, but, well…familiarity with the foster family comes whether he wants it to or not.

It’s whatever. It is what it is.

Duke makes one-sided conversation about his plans at school and his friend group he’s headed out with later. Danny refuses to listen. If he listens, he’ll miss doing the same with his own friends. If he listens, he’ll want to ask if he can come too, just to break the monotony inside his head.

And he can’t.

So he just. Pushes food around with the silverware. Occasionally takes a bite.

Chews.

Swallows.

The next person to break through Danny’s carefully cultivated lack of awareness is the smallest foster sibling. Damian. He walks through every interaction as if he’s the Gotham Royal his father pretends to be, and always ends up reclining at the table with a cloth napkin in his lap and impeccable posture. Meanwhile, Danny’s seen his foster father pick chips off his shirt and eat them during required movie nights.

“Doe,” Damian greets Danny. Danny doesn’t respond. “Thomas, has Doe eaten an appropriate portion of breakfast yet?”

“Ask him, man,” Duke lobs back lazily. Damian glares. “Say, John, have you tried the pool yet? It’s going to be summer soon; it’ll be something to do that won’t have you fried up like an apple fritter.”

“We will not be joining you at the pool, Thomas. I have enlisted Doe in the morning feeding routine for the barn’s occupants. We are otherwise engaged for the morning.”

“Oh, those were your plans? Glad to know your afternoon’s free, then. I’ll tell Alfred to have your bathing suits ready at two.”

The kid’s glare is potent enough that if he was a ghost, Danny is certain he would have already fried off most of Duke’s hair with his eye lasers.

They argue (or, well, Damian argues) about what Danny is meant to do today, but Danny has no intention of providing input. Bruce told Damian that animal therapy might be beneficial for his deeply traumatized foster sibling, and, well…who is Danny to say otherwise?

…Not that Danny is traumatized. This is on purpose, so it’s not trauma. It’s just. What it is.

His fingers twitch. Danny specifically does not see when both of the other table occupants move their focus entirely to him in the hopes that Danny might have another reaction.

He doesn’t. He stops eating.

Someone comes up against his side. “A jacket, Master John? The report indicted that the weather is still rather chilly this morning.”

His arm is half-slid into a sleeve. Oh. Right. Danny shrugs the rest of the jacket on—and then has to suppress the urge to be grateful that everyone is doing their best to take good care of him.

He goes limp.

Alfred is too familiar with Danny’s tendencies to make a fuss. Damian takes Danny’s limp hand, orders Alfred to prepare lunch for their return, and trots them both out of the house towards the barn.

Danny lets himself pet the animals for exactly how long it takes to threaten to improve his mood.

He gives up on the activity right on the cusp of something that should have been contentment.

*

“Is it safe to take John out of the country?” Dick asks, perplexed. “Barring the fact that he’s still a foster, and I’m pretty sure that it’s illegal to cross the borders with him…”

Bruce sighs, and crosses his legs underneath his desk. “There’s nothing for it. There’s been a direct, public threat against the manor, and everyone’s safety is at risk—especially John’s, considering that he’s unable to defend himself. The best solution is to take the jet, publicly and visibly visit a nice resort overseas, and wait for the whole affair to blow over.”

…Dick chews on his lip. He fights the urge to pace; half the items in the office are antiques, and if he gets too heated in the moment…well…he’d been at risk for knocking items off of cluttered shelves before. “Alfred will be stuck here, though. Won’t that destabilize John’s routine? There’ll be a lot of novel stimulus, and we don’t want him to shut down the way he…”

The way he had been when John had arrived, Dick is careful not to say. The micro-expressions and placidity John displays now are leagues ahead of the unsettling blankness, lack of engagement, and constant attempts at elopement. The only conclusion that they can draw is that John is, if not happy and content, comfortable in the here and now.

Which means that disrupting that here and now might have long-term detriments for their teenage foster.

“No choice,” Bruce decides, which. Dick doesn’t know what he’d expected. Batman would never pick someone’s mental health over his expectation of their operative safety. “It’ll be your vacation, plus whoever you think will be available to be taken out of the public eye. Tim will be sheltering with me to maintain his work schedule, and Cass has already elected to visit Hong Kong for the remainder of the year. Pick a resort and get back to me. You leave tomorrow night.”

Dick’s salute is as sarcastic as he is bitter.

So. He packs for his upcoming…vacation. And he asks Alfred to pack a bag for John for a week.

And he hopes this won’t be yet another setback for John Doe, who didn’t deserve being subjected to Batman’s whims any more than any of Bruce’s other children.

But he sighs. And Dick packs.

*

Danny’s on a plane and he doesn’t know why.

Damian and Duke and Stephanie are all here, but not Tim, and not Cass? And not Jay? And Dick is…somewhere here? He thinks?

There’s cards. There are even cards in a little pile for Danny, even though he isn’t super sure what they’re playing. He points at one when prompted and tries to zone out for the rest of it.

The urge to have play along and fun is so strong. The world is surging in motion outside of their plane, and they’re cozy inside, with soda cans and cards and chatter and laughter, and…

Danny goes to sit at the back of the plane. There’s nowhere to hide from his longing. There’s nowhere to hide from his misery.

So he just. Hides.

He curls up his legs, puts his head in his knees, and waits for the ride to be over

…That’s enough.

*

Dick gets off the plane first, and helps everyone else get down. Danny’s not really afraid of either heights nor falling, so he doesn’t let Dick touch his arm the way he touches everyone else’s.

Dick’s nice, and that's the entire problem at hand.

Still, the man lets him go—and smiles, and gestures out with a hand. “Alright, everyone; this is nicest spot in the Caribbean, apparently. Welcome to Necker island!”

Damian grumbles, as he’s wont to, although Duke and Steph look suitably impressed by the greenery, and…

…Something in Danny unfolds. Wait. Are they…outside the US?

For one, Danny’s pretty sure that’s illegal. Isn't he a foster?? Holy shit.

On the other hand… Danny takes in more of the scenery, glancing around at lush green foliage and blue waters. He’s…they’ve got their own government, right? They probably wouldn’t have any ties to the Guys in White.

So. So maybe. Maybe Danny’s…safe, here.

(He’s almost too afraid to believe it.)

(Or. Maybe he is too afraid to believe it.)

They meander down the tarmac until they make it to a golf cart; Dick loads up their suitcases and makes chatty conversation with the driver as Duke and Stephanie haul themselves on board.

Damian does his level best to drag a stunned Danny up into the cart and onto a seat. Still. Danny’s a bit too perplexed. Is he safe? Is the Caribbean far enough away from the people hunting him down?

Something gets shoved into his hand. Danny looks down.

…Is that a pineapple?

Anyway. Rich people are whack. Vlad might have Fuck You money, but the Waynes have Fuck You and Your Whole Neighborhood money, since it can apparently let them buy out the whole island and their staff and meals and the beach and everything else for two straight weeks.

Two straight weeks.

And. Somehow. Danny has…a bathing suit…?

He definitely spends like twenty minutes staring at it. It’s no one else’s—no one else wears a Men’s Small, as far as he can tell. Not even Damian. It’s in white and red, like his favorite NASA tee. Just. Who bought this for him? Who knows what size he is??

“Need any help changing?” Duke finally asks, baffled by Danny’s bafflement, and Danny is startled all over again by the pure concept of feeling bafflement.

What a headrush. Fuck; acclimating back to the states is going to be horrible, he can already tell.

So Danny just. Goes into the bathroom. Puts on the bathing shorts.

Stares at himself in the mirror.

…Puts his NASA shirt back on, because looking at the Lichtenburg lines trailing across his chest makes him nauseous.

Danny takes a deep breath in. A deep breath out.

He feels…nervous. Scared. Happy. Excited for vacation. He hasn’t been excited for vacation since he was seven, he thinks. Where had they gone? Chicago? A conference?

Danny pushes himself out the bathroom. He’s scared out of his wits. He’s tired from the flight. He’s nervous to interact with people without his self-imposed emotional barrier.

And he’s so, so relieved, that he doesn’t have to shove it down before he feels it.

Duke and Stephanie are already in their swimsuits at the door, teasing Damian for his full-body suit and swim shoes combo that he insists is ‘tactically sound’.

Dick taps Danny’s arm. “Are you ready to go?” he asks, cheery as ever.

Danny, carefully, nods. It’s the first intentional gesture he’s done for anything non-vital.

Dick beams. 

The giant luxury house locks behind them. Steph hauls the towels, Dick hauls a picnic basket, and Damian insists on both the umbrella and Danny’s hand.

They go down to the beach. It is a brilliant, blue afternoon.

*

Duke collapses on the towel next to Dick, which is. Fair.

“Those two give you the runaround, huh?” Dick asks knowingly. He'd watched Marco Polo slowly turn into a death match just off the island shoreline. The exhaustion is warranted. Damian, who had insisted on the wet uniform he’d worn in the League, and Steph, who would only let a twelve-year-old defeat her if she was dead, make, uh…formidable opponents.

Duke groans into the towel. Fair. More than fair.

Dick lets the air cool him off, perfectly happy in his place under the dying light of the beach sunset, the virgin piña he’d ordered, and some sappy beach romance he’d found on Bruce’s Kindle account. It’s been pretty interesting so far, which means that it was probably one of Selina’s purchases back when they were dating.

Well. Not the first time they were dating. Maybe the. Third? Wait, which time had she moved in again??

“Dick.” Duke mumbles into the towel. “Dick. What the hell. Why am I exhausted.”

“Low stamina,” Dick identifies correctly. He takes another sip of his smoothie, and watches Steph bodily grab Damian in the hopes of chucking him further into the sea. “Get in more cave laps and practice your endurance when we get back."

Duke grooooans, which is the luxury of being young. When you start hitting your thirties, everyone acts like a complaint about your bad shoulder is a sign you ought to think about retiring your uniform.

Dick sits, and listens to the dulcet tones of children fighting and the roar of the ocean. Still, someone has to keep an eye on John, so he resists the urge to take a nap.

John, waist deep in the water, watches the sun slowly hit the horizon.

…It is a peaceful sight, if a kind of unusual way for the kid to behave. The ocean doesn’t allow for a lot of options for elopement, though, so maybe the behavior is an adaptation to his current environment.

“John made an expression in the house before.” Duke’s statement comes apropos of seemingly nothing. Dick looks down from his chair to see Duke watching him watch his foster brother. “He didn’t seem to understand why he had a bathing suit. So. You know. Stuff is firing on at least some cylinders.”

…Huh. Dick sips more overpriced smoothie. It may be the best thing he’s ever tasted. There have been other micro-expressions before from their enigmatic John Doe—brief moments of lucidity in the occasional odd moment—but full on confusion? Really?

“We should break him out of his routine more often, then,” Dick admits. Fine. This time Bruce got lucky, and no one died or wanted to kill each other, and John didn’t immediately shut down upon yet another change in scenery. This is a success. Maybe, next time, he can get Tim and Jason to ditch work and join in.

He’s sure that forcibly dragging Cass to an island for family vacation wouldn’t work per se, but maybe, if Dick gets Tim to bring in Lady Shiva in town for another brief tête-à-tête…

…Man, Dick’s really desperate for family time if he’s thinking about bringing in Lady Shiva into his plans. The second piña he orders should probably have rum in it.

So Dick watches Steph and Damian practice breath-holding exercises (carefully not retraumatizing each other by pinning the other down underwater), content with the new chill in the breeze and the spotty pinks making their debut on the horizon. They’ll have maybe another hour outside before needing to towel off and find an outdoor shower.

Duke rolls over, taking in the last of the sunlight.

—And then the kid bolts upright. “Dick!” Duke hisses, eyes on the shore in front of them. Dick snaps to attention. “Holy shit—look at him!”

Dick quickly scans the scene. Nothing wrong with Steph. Nothing wrong with Damian. John—

—John looks like some marine thing risen above pink-tinged waves, copper-green fire freckles glowing across his cheeks and exposed arms like drops of liquid flames. There’s something in the hot vestiges of sunset that makes his hair look white where the light hits it, and John looks bright—too bright, as if there’s no shadow being cast beside him.

He looks see-through. He looks like frosted sea glass against the surf.

But John looks…happy. Just…happy to see the sunset. Happy to listen to the sea-birds and Steph and Damian’s squabbling and to run his fingers through the waist-high waves, barely buffeted even when the waves break against his chest or pull the water back down to his hips.

“Holy shit,” Duke admires.

Dick can barely breathe. “Holy shit is right.”

“…So now we get to ask why he’s so comfortable here, as opposed to the manor,” Duke rationalizes, and, augh, he’s right. Dick’s not looking forward to that. Still, they have two weeks to try and untangle the knot of mysteries around their John Doe, and more than enough resources to do it with.

Dick slurps the last of his smoothie down and sets it aside. “Text the staff line and tell them that we’re upgrading to a completely hands-off experience, please. No staff are to be around except for scheduled cleanings and laundry service, and the occasional meal and restaurant visit.”

Duke holds his hand out for Dick’s phone, which, fair. Dick supervises the text, and his foster brother shoots it off into the atmosphere when prompted. And Duke gets up, brushes the sand off his shorts, and darts back off to the shoreline—already glowing faintly in the fading light.

Dick snorts with a smile.

John, at least, takes to Duke’s suddenly-brightly-lit appearance with little more than clear surprise. Duke hops under the water, his light giving away a clear location—and swims around John once or twice before John carefully lowers himself in after him.

There is, thankfully, no need to play lifeguard for his siblings. Dick watches them anyway. John takes to the water with a sort of placid playfulness, and Duke follows his lead; as soon as Damian notices that John is actually paying Duke real attention, swimming becomes a real free-for-all.

The sun tucks itself away until the sky is red and weeping. Dick will call them all into dinner for a minute. For now, though, he watches his sibling get along, and he wishes it could be this easy for them forever.

It won't be. But for now, Dick can appreciate his vacation.

[britcision]

If I may, there’s a hole we need to spackle up:

Why the hell would Danny allow them to take him back to the US? If he actually is safe when he’s out and away, he’d be literally fighting for his life to stay

And all he’d have to do is tell them the States are dangerous for him

So clearly it’s angst time 😈

**

Danny felt the pit falling out of his stomach, a dread he still habitually almost squashed. Maybe he should squash this one.

Two weeks hadn’t been enough to fully break through the walls he’d built up, to get him used to feeling anything at all again, but he’d almost been feeling human. Almost been feeling like a person.

And then, just to be sure (because obviously he was working up to how to explain to his new foster “family” that he just. Couldn’t go back to America with them. He’d even dared hope that since they cared so much… they’d let him without question)… he’d looked up extradition treaties.

Of course the US had an extradition treaty with Bermuda, Antigua, every bloody island government he could have been hiding out with. Of course the GIW could still get him.

All he could do was hope that the sheer distance, the unlikeliness of them having global scans out just for him rather than focusing on the States, had meant they hadn’t triangulated him yet. That he hadn’t accidentally outed himself by just daring to feel, for once.

The disappointment on his siblings’ faces when he came down for dinner his blank and emotionless self would have hurt, if he let himself feel anything.

He’d dared to smile at them these last few days, dared to offer more than just a few words to conversation. Dared to greet them with a nod or a wave.

No more of that now.

Although… it was the Waynes. There was, just maybe, the smallest possible chance that they’d let him choose the next vacation. And they were still far enough from the mainland US.

Dick could be, well, a dick when he wanted to, but he was the oldest. Indisputably in charge of this excursion and the responsible one even if it was largely against his will.

So once the concerned flapping and attempts to coax him to do more than blink had finally subsided in the rush to pack the car, Danny stole off to one side and took Dick with him, by dint of a simple brush on the back of his wrist.

(Ancients, they were so kind. So considerate, so caring… why did he only have this when he couldn’t let any of it matter?)

He didn’t even want to risk the words, to risk how his voice would break and heart would ache to speak it. So he typed out the words, turned them towards Dick, watched his eyes widen and hope relight his face as he read.

‘Can I pick the next vacation spot’

Of course, Dick immediately began assuring Danny a hundred ways that they could totally stay on the island longer, they’d buy it out for the rest of the month, the year if he didn’t want to return to Gotham that badly, but that wouldn’t work.

Danny knew about the extradition treaty now. The island, which had seemed like a paradise… wasn’t.

But Dick had already been so enthusiastic.

So he chanced a shake of his head, raised the phone again, even pointed to “next”. And Dick fell over himself promising to take Danny wherever the hell he wanted to, on Earth or off it.

(and. That. That nearly broke him. He knew the Waynes were richer than any six gods you cared to name, but Dick offering to fly him to space? How could that be a real offer?

But Dick looked so completely certain. So sincere.)

Clamping down firmly on the nugget of hope, Danny left as quickly as possible so Dick couldn’t wear him down. The guy had already begun to suspect Danny actually did like his puns, and since the very first time he’d let his lips twitch in a smile…

He thought Dick made a lot of puns before, but if Damian was to be believed there’d been a defined exponential growth in the number he’d been making every day since.

Danny couldn’t risk enjoying himself. He had a lot of research to do on extradition treaties with the US.

[ailithnight]

Ooh! Fascinating!

I would like to point out, there's no way the Bats aren't hyper-vigilantly monitoring Danny. For even the tiniest clues of what he might want or need or like. So there's no way they don't notice the research Danny is suddenly doing. And it's probably not enough to actually answer even one of their questions about John Doe. But it's a lead. Their first genuine lead.

Of course, now they have to wonder; what did John do (or think he did) that he needs (or think he needs) to flee the States?

[megasweetbones]

Dick, Duke, Damian, and Stephanie are going to debrief everyone on what happened on the island.

But, before that, everyone who wasn't on the island is going to panic, when they come back and it seems Danny regressed. Especially Bruce. He's kicking himself that his new kid, 'John', is no longer even doing micro expressions!

When they do do the debrief, they get questioned why they didn't just text anyone and stay longer? The four deadpan at the others, then say it's because they knew the others would come to the island and overwhelm the boy when he was just getting out of his shell.

Duke brings up that when John showed emotions his powers reacted. John wasn't afraid of his own powers, nor was he afraid to use them around the Wayne's. But he was afraid to use them in Gotham.

Dick brings up Danny's research of the US territories. When he found out the island was a territory, he stopped showing as much emotion. So maybe he's afraid to use his powers in the US in general?

Tim blurts out that maybe John's powers are traceable and that's why he hides his emotions. If he is a trafficking victim, knows that he's still being hunted after escaping, then maybe John is more afraid of these traffickers than he feels safe in the Manor? He doesn't trust that the Wayne's are able to protect him.

Damian brings up that John's powers being activated felt like the Lazarus Pits. Everyone goes stock still.

Duke brings up that John's eyes has glowed green when he was showing emotions. So Damian continues on that line of thinking. John has scars all over his torso that looks like Lichtenburg scars. Which wouldn't make sense cause those are supposed to fade away after a while.

If you survive.

Which brings up that he must have been thrown into a Pit or was given the water. Ra's wouldn't have done this, unless John had been an amazing assassin or something. So, they either have an enemy in their home, or someone else found a Pit and used John as an experiment. 🧪

[magical-awesome-kid]

I did, like, five minutes of research into this, but lets GO!

---

Danny was on a plane. Another plane. This time to a country he got to pick.

Kind of.

Most of the countries with non-extradition treaties to the US had their own issues. Countries like North Korea were an absolute no. Jason had looked horrified at the mention of Ethiopia, so Danny tossed out most of Africa just to be safe. The Middle East also seemed to have everyone worried, even as Damian was from there?

If Danny could emote, he'd have sighed in relief when Cass had mentioned Hong Kong. The family had a rather large penthouse there, as it was one of the major hubs for the various Wayne Enterprise and subsidiaries. Tim and Bruce agreed that an in-person walkthrough would probably be well overdo.

There was then some sort of side organization going on as the rest of the extended family seemed to decide who was going, though Danny hadn't even had to ask. Alfred was already helping prepare Danny's suitcase.

Danny also asked about his passport. He somehow had one with the John Doe name, which, huh. The Waynes must have pulled some strings being Richer than Six Gods.

Anyway, Danny was in the air on the Wayne Enterprise jet towards the back once more. The ride was long - nearly sixteen hours in the air, direct - so everyone was in various states of activity as they reached the mid-way point.

Cass, obviously, with the most knowledge of Hong Kong was along for the ride. She was in the front of the craft with Jason and Dick, who were all huddled around a table - because this jet was so big and spacious that it had tables, benches, and full lay down beds for the occupants - and were seemingly playing Poker.

Tim was a little farther back and in his own table section, typing away at his computer like a mad man. He'd seemingly clonked out for all of twenty minutes about an hour prior before shooting up, looking like he'd suddenly cracked a major code, and now was on his computer chatting with Barbara over something Danny couldn't quite make out unless he wanted to use some of his ghost powers or move closer, neither which felt right.

Damian and Duke had claimed two of the laydown chairs after playing some racing game on Duke's Switch, and both seemed to be passed out. Bruce was the closest to Danny in one of the more normal seats that could be converted to a bed across the aisle from the teen, the reading light above him on as he wore a pair of spectacles, seemingly perusing something on the tablet he held.

Danny had been mostly staring out the window the whole flight, bouncing back and forth between observation, listening to whoever tried to engage him (he'd been pulled up to the table to eat and play Uno at some point, though he'd only eaten the food and watched, and Duke had sat next to him for a good portion of the early flight so they would watch a movie - the movie was atrocious in that way a bad movie could swing around to being hilarious, but Danny had held in his laughter even as Duke was snorting and pointing out all the plot holes), or looking down at the tablet he'd brought with him.

He'd been looking again and again at the US extradition laws and Hong Kong's stance on various entities.

China wasn't the paragon of human rights, but, after a debacle between the Chinese Ministry of Self-Reliance trying to form a "Justice League of China," that League clashing with the actual Justice League, and the eventual absorption of some of the members into the League, China had been forced to adopt some of the League Doctrine in relation to metahuman and non-human beings.

And, for some reason, they had specified in their examples of acceptable entities including ghosts, amongst other beings like demonic and deity, as those that fell under the acts.

In accordance with Chinese Law, a ghost on their soil, so long as it abided by the other laws placed by the government, would be treated like any other human under the same circumstance.

Granted, there was still some hinky stuff kept under wraps, with the media control and how some speculated that the Ministry of Self-Reliance had just gone underground, but, well, that was a different story. Hong Kong, while part of China, was also constantly fighting with its oversight, seeking more freedom and, in fact, had further local rulings that would protect those seeking asylum.

The GIW, his parents, the US government... none of them could touch him there.

Danny realized that someone was approaching him. He flicked his tablet to the home screen as Bruce approached, having gotten out of his seat to go talk to the elder Wayne Children at the front. He had a blanket and pillows in hand.

"You should probably get some sleep, too, before we land." He pointed out. Danny glanced forward, seeing Dick having disappeared into the bathroom while Cass was having what looked like a staring contest with Tim. Jason simply flopped down on one of the sofas while kicking off his boots, getting comfortable for some sleep. "Do you need help with the chair? They're a bit older style, so some of the controls can be a mess." Bruce expressed sincerely, his voice soft.

Danny shrugged and stood, opening his arms to accept the items Bruce had brought over. Bruce smiled as Danny held his own things - Danny may not know how these stupid chairs worked, but he wasn't going to not help - as Bruce got the chair to lie flat. Danny was able to take the rest from there, shaking his head when Bruce offered further.

Danny huddled himself into the corner of the chair, back to the window so that he could keep eyes on the other occupants. He checked his tablet's app that kept track of their flight.

Estimated time of arrival: 7 hours and 23 minutes.

Danny felt his emotions simmer under the icy glass walls he'd placed around his heart, his mind, his core.

He dozed off, praying that the Fenton Luck wouldn't rear its ugly head.

---

It wasn't all fun and games as the Wayne Family packed up for Hong Kong. Tim and Bruce did have to actually attend to Wayne Enterprise while there, and Cass was enlisting Damian to help with a smuggling operation - it would be impossible to take them down and out in the Chinese ports, but the two were planning on doing a lot of intel, planting trackers, and freeing any endangered species should need call.

Jason had largely come with as he'd missed out on John's opening up on the last trip, and, well, once he'd pointed out how John might have had his own dip into a Lazarus Pit, he'd been insistent on coming, claiming something along the lines of "us undead guys gotta stick together."

Dick, having been the one to organize this, had also been a no-brainer.

And Duke? Well, Duke had pointed out that, as the only (known) meta in the family, he also had some unique insight into what that meant and how that could weigh on a person.

Steph had complained about not coming, but she was also swamped in cases. Barbara was had been offered an invite, but she, too, had too much on her plate to come along.

Bruce had been hesitant to leave Gotham, as he always was, but, really, if he needed to be back, the Zeta in Hong Kong could have them back across the world in minutes, not the hours it took for them to fly traditionally.

The plane had a variety of sitting areas, some with tables or chairs facing one another, two sections with couches, and a set of seats near the rear that wouldn't be uncommon on a first-class commercial flight, with one large seat to one side of the row and two on the other. There were nine chairs in this back section with plenty of walking space so that, even if all beds were laid flat, no one would be walking over another.

John had claimed the single in the furthest back row, so Bruce had settled in opposite, hoping to keep an eye on the whole lot from there while also not intruding on the foster's space.

Bruce had made sure to sleep some at the beginning of the flight, not wanting all of them to be out at the same time. While he had staff onboard and trusted his pilots, it was always good to have Bat eyes and ears in case of emergency. With everyone settling down for the last part of the flight to alleviate jet lag, he made sure to stay sentinel.

A body dropped into the seat next to him. Bruce, ever aware, was glancing over as Dick popped his head onto Bruce's shoulder. Bruce had once been a person who had shied away from touch when given the choice, having few who he felt comfortable having in his personal space bubble (though he faked otherwise well), but, well, Dick had always shown a lot of love through physical affection. The young man whom had swung from his antique chandeliers (and still, sometimes, to this day - there was a reason he'd either replaced or reinforced them all to hold human weight) and tried to run around Gotham in a aerialist's unitard (Bruce thanked whoever blessed him with Alfred, because Bruce certainly had trouble convincing his young ward that pants with Kevlar or some other light-weight armor was a requirement to be in the field) was always welcome in Bruce's bubble, as were his other kids.

"You should get some rest, chum." Bruce said, looking back at the tablet in his hands. He was reading over the Budget Report for the Watchtower, something that would be both shocking (the amount of money spent on rare herbs and volcanic ash, while not exorbitant compared to some of the other costs, would certainly cause questions if it wasn't for the fact that they had magic users and, therefore, needed magical defenses) and mundane (three new Speedsters had fallen out of the multiverse/timeline/whatever in the past year, and the food budget was in need of adjustment as they were brought on to various teams).

"Hm." Dick hummed. He was an adult now, well on his way to thirty, but there was something about setting his head on Bruce's shoulder that still made him relax just a bit. He could be fiercely independent, but he also had moments where he would just regress back to being nine, and Bruce's larger than life persona would shield him from the worst of the world for a little bit. "You think this is going to work?"

"I hope so." Bruce returned. "Any luck on finding out more details about John?" Bruce added, but he shifted to Romani so that, even if John woke and somehow overheard their conversation, he'd have, hopefully, no clue on what they were saying.

"He's a ghost." Dick returned in his first tongue, so much smoother than Bruce's accent. "Oracle found some traces of his path to Gotham, but his tracking was all over the place. We've tried using face ID, but we haven't found a match yet."

Bruce sighed through his nose. "I'll keep an ear out for updates from Oracle, then. We will also need to keep an eye on him to make sure that he doesn't bolt when we land."

Dick nodded before pulling out his phone. He switched back to English. "Want to video call Haly and Alfred with me?"

Bruce couldn't help but smile. "You call your kiddo, chum."

"She's the cutest little baby, and you can't convince me otherwise."

"Wasn't going to, Chum."

---

Danny's passing through customs was a bit of a blur. They'd landed at a private landing strip before being whisked away by a half a dozen local passport control agents. Danny kept close to the Waynes, still, because, well, he still felt like he couldn't break.

But the longer he was there, he could feel it.

The ice melting.

Cass had taken the lead once they'd settled in, showing them around her favorite haunts of the city and having Danny try much of the local food. Before the Waynes, he'd never been able to really travel and just be a tourist. Sure, there was one memory of him and Jazz in Toronto when they were very little, and he'd gone to freaking space to stop Technus, but he'd always been too young or in Hero Mode otherwise.

Bruce and Tim had taken him around Wayne Enterprise's main headquarters there the following day, though Jason and Duke had later "broken him out" to go to a local market and laugh at all the poorly worded shirts with bogus English on them.

Danny had cracked a snort when he saw a particularly bad shirt. He still didn't want to allow too much to spill, what with so many people around, but, well, the ASSA shirt with a poor man's Nasa logo had nearly broken him.

He wasn't really allowed to be alone outside of the Wayne Penthouse, where everyone got their own rooms for the trip, but Danny didn't mind. Everyone seemed to have a much better understanding of Cantonese compared to him (which was pretty much anything as Danny spoke none of the language, not that he felt secure enough to speak much anyway), so having everyone else translate was a blessing.

But then, about two weeks in, Danny finally felt the last of his ice break away.

Because Duke had asked him if he wanted to climb out to the rooftop deck, a telescope in hand, and try to find stars through the Hong Kong light polution.

"I think that's Sirius? The dog star?" Duke said as he pointed to a spot in the sky. Only the brightest stars could pierce the night shadow, much like with Gotham on its rare cloudless nights.

"You're pointed at Vega."

Danny was almost shocked as his own voice seemed to claw its way out of his throat.

Duke jumped, swirling back on the younger teen, before seemingly pulling himself together. He looked back at the night sky. Playing calm, Duke added, "Huh. You know your stars?"

"It's the brightest star..." Danny trailed off. He tried to keep his small joy down, his face contorting, but... he was so tired of keeping even his littlest delights down. Of keeping his interests at bay. Of crushing Danny. "...in the constellation Lyra."

"You want to take the bad boy for a spin?" Duke gestured to the telescope.

Hesitantly, Danny approached. He looked into the telescope, adjusting his knowledge based on where they were in the world.

Danny felt himself just... lighten. He could feel his ecto energy rise from his Core for the first time in so long, and he didn't have as much fear. Even if he somehow spiked Ecto now, he was an ocean and continent away from the people looking for him. He was somewhere that would treat him like any other tourist.

He could just... be.

Danny had gotten so caught up in the moment turning to minutes, dropping stifled facts about the stars that he'd always loved, that he forgot about his situation as he looked back, staring at the sky without the telescope.

The ecto flooded his eyes, and the darkness dispersed, revealing the cosmos overhead.

And, then, he noticed the white, floating hair in his perifery.

Danny grasped the hair, and he felt the tug on his head.

And he crashed back into himself.

He'd been glowing. His hair had turned white.

Duke was right there.

Danny tried to clamp down on his emotions, try to think, but the panic rose, his eyes no doubt flashing green, as he turned back to the teenager who was staring right at him.

---

Duke had played calm when John had spoken, desperately hoping not to scare the boy off.

And Duke had somehow hit the jackpot, it seemed, because the boy began to, hesitantly, speak facts about the stars as they looked into the night sky.

If Duke was honest, he didn't need the telescope to see past the darkened sky. His powers allowed him to manipulate the light and shadows around him, and it took barely anything to swipe away the darkness in his own vision to bring the stunning galaxies into focus. He could do the same for others, but, well, he didn't know how John would react if he had done so.

Still, as John took on that eerie glow again, that lightness in his body that seemed to give him a sense of antigravity, his hair turning almost celestial as white dots glowed into white bands, Duke tried not to stare.

But, this time, it seemed that John had become aware of what was happening.

It happened in a blink. One second, John was looking into the night sky, readying the telescope to show Duke another cluster of some kind, but then he stopped. He tugged his own hair, realizing the color shift, and spun on Duke.

Duke had half expected John to shut down, but, this time, it seemed that the walls had fallen away, because John was going into a full-blown panic attack.

John's eyes were the same eerie green, his clothes and hair floating with that unearthly glow and his eyes flickering - sky blue, toxic green, icy blue, and back - and, worse, the ground around John's feet was turning to ice.

"Oh shit." Duke threw, throwing up his hands. "John! John, it's ok. It's fine. I get it."

John looked down, up, down, a hand going to his chest like he was having a heart attack. The air around him seemed to spark and simmer with some kind of energy.

"Look, it's going to be ok. You're not alone."

Duke had lead the We Are Robins movement back in the day, and he had his fair share of helping kids through panic attacks now and through today. He'd learned a lot with Bruce, but patience was one of them.

"No one here is going to hurt you." Duke tried to assure, but the young man before him kept panicking. "Just..." Duke got an idea.

He pulled his powers, using broad body strokes. He didn't need to, but the act both helped him focus on what he was doing and project his movements for John to see.

John looked up as Duke wiped the darkness away from the sky, the galaxies now appearing to them like it did in the areas of the world where light pollution was a distant nightmare.

"I have powers, too. The family knows, and they have helped me through a lot of stuff." Duke reassured. Duke kept an eye on the ice that had been forming at John's feet. It had been seemingly climbing up his legs, across the rooftop (thank goodness that they had glass protectors around with the tall protective bars - they both acted to prevent people from scaling up there - ha, really, because all the kids could jump them - and create barriers that stopped anyone staring at the roof from seeing anything clearly; to an observer with a telescope, they would just see random lights on a penthouse rooftop). "You're safe here."

---

Danny felt his heart stop. Full stop. In his ghost form, he still had one, but it was sluggish and, of course, inhumanly slow. He could stop it like holding one's breathe, but that had never happened in his human form before.

But the shock must have done him in.

Because the sky was so beautiful, and Danny didn't have to fight anything to see it.

Duke was doing it.

Duke was a meta.

Did... did that mean the Waynes would help him? He'd been thinking about how and what he'd do when they planned to load up back to Gotham. They had only planned to be there for three weeks, though Tim had been talking about staying longer and inviting the others to do so if they had the time.

Could they just... help him stay? Cass had her own apartment in the city. She lived here. Could he stay with her?

Wasn't that aiding and abetting? Wouldn't they get in trouble?

Then again, Richer than Six Gods Combined.

Danny felt his heart clench, beating once more.

"I'm going to approach you, ok?"

Danny looked down at the ice then back at Duke.

He didn't want the other teen hurt.

Duke took a step forward and, looking at the ice and Danny's worry, he used wide strokes, once more, as his shadow reached out over the ice.

Danny watched as Duke stepped over the ice, like he was creating his own little Shadow Bridge.

He was like Johnny, in a way.

Heh, and they thought I was the John here. Danny thought vaguely.

Duke made it to Danny without touching the ice. "Can you breathe with me, dude?"

Danny did. He forced his breathing to match Duke's, watching as the other teen breathed in, held, and breathed out.

Danny felt his powers, trapped in a cage of his own making, slowly come back under his control, though bits stayed at the surface with his emotions. He wasn't sure how he'd fix that, but at least he wasn't freezing the floor anymore and managed to dismiss the ice he'd been forming. His glow settled some, and his hair had white mixed in with his black. While Danny couldn't see it, one eye was green while the other was his human blue.

"You feeling more grounded?" Duke questioned.

Danny, feeling like he just flew from Wisconsin to Amity and back, nodded, but he felt wiped.

"Can I take your hand? You look unsteady."

Danny hesitated, looking Duke up and down.

Danny wasn't like Duke. He wasn't sure what Duke was, but Ghosts were not part of the Metahuman protections. He'd looked, and the laws hadn't allowed it. It was the small loophole that the GIW and his parents worked through.

But, as he looked at the other teen, and with what he'd learned about the Waynes, he hardly thought any of them would truly distinguish it.

Danny took the hand offered to him.

And then he stumbled.

"Woah!" Duke rushed forward, grabbing Danny before he could hit the ground. "I think you should lay down. You're freezing, man."

"That's... normal... ish." Danny mumbled. Then, because he hadn't in oh, so long, he added, "I'm... a pretty... chill... guy..."

Duke stopped, startled, before staring at Danny for too long.

Danny thought he'd made the wrong move.

Then, Duke spoke, "Oh my gods, we have another Dick."

Danny couldn't help it. A small, wheezing laugh shook loose of his lungs.

Duke slung the offered arm over his shoulder, hefting most of Danny's weight onto him. "You need to eat more, dude. You're light AF."

Danny shrugged as best he could, feeling his exhaustion stomp down on what emotions he had allowed out. He felt his glow waver.

"Hey, I know you're tired, and, like, panic attacks suck, but, also, glowing? Seriously, are you gonna be ok? Do you need a doctor?" Duke questioned.

"Mm... fine..." Danny ground out. "Sleep."

Danny was out like a light before they got off the roof.

[pangur-and-grim]

my humours have balanced. I have become mentally normal again

[pangur-and-grim]

no, mentally normal people can still write spider sex books

[teaboot]

YOU

[legendarycherryblossombarbarian]

What if eridian pebbles make noises in their sleep since they dont achieve as deep of a sleep as adult eridians. —something about how evolutionary they need to be able to wake up if threatened while adults could just sleep through basically anything since they have much better camouflage, and a connection to the hc that pebbles have a thinner carrapace causing their organs to be heard.—

Eridians call this purring since pebbles can only do this when they feel safe enough to go into a deep enough sleep to let go of their "vocal cords".

The eridian medical team is quite surprised when the half-dead alien Rocky brought back feels safe enough around them to purr

[buy-more-oranges]

Artist rendition

[only3bra1nsellz]

Rebloging a bunch of phm posts before I go to work for like eight to nine hours wish me luck.

[sharkfiinn]

@avoid-avoidance hows it feel to be a supergenius

[teashadephoenix]

imagine if grace has gone ahead and sent a radio message to earth right when he woke up

so like two decades after launch, stratt gets a call that's just grace being like

and then two months later the beetles arrive and he's fine

[aliosne]

[7-inches-of-satanic-panic]

Grace gets a kidney stone at some point while living on Erid and Rocky who hears it forming inside of him thinks Grace is pregnant so he starts interrogating the biodome team like

[rederiswrites]

Cannot express how disinterested I am in seeing traumatized characters "reconcile" with their canonically shitty parental figures.

[rederiswrites]

I probably don't have to even say this but this has turned out to be the most "omg Blorbo from my shows" post I could have made. I have no idea who tf 90% of the people in the tags are but you're very passionate about them.

[rederiswrites]

[pris-cas]

“Lesson #1 how far can humans see”

[walmartnoodle]

Some silly sketches of Simon adapting slowly to life on Erid. Don’t worry him and Rocky love playing around

[walmartnoodle]

Knifes aren’t allowed anymore after The Accident.

[blackholesun321]

Okay so fic idea, I saw an artwork recently that was like a baby shower photo of Carl and Grace together, with balloons, party hats, and a huge banner that said something like, “Congratulations on the baby!” (If anyone can find it, please tag me so I can tag the artist here.) Anyways—

What if that party actually happened on Stratt’s vat during the ending days before launch? Everyone heard the story. (Let’s be honest, it was Olesya’s idea, backed by Dimitri and secretly Stratt, who wanted to subtly get back at Ryland for giving her the most confusing heart attack of her life.) They decided to throw a baby shower just to tease Grace and Carl.

And it’s of course a hit.

Grace is stuttering and flustered, but also kind of annoyed he’s being pulled away from work for this, but weirdly touched by all the people that came to annoy him— while Carl is surprisingly having a good time (Olesya spared no expense ’If we are having baby shower then we’re having baby shower right, but with drinking yes!’.) It’s probably one of the better parties the Vat has ever had aside from karaoke night, and everyone remembers it fondly.

And that picture— Ryland looking surprised, smiling, maybe a little teary-eyed while confetti rains around them in the background, the “Congratulations on the Baby!” banner hanging behind him with blue and pink balloons and a stupid party hat that says “You are the father!” — is stuffed into his personal effects on the ship. Because his friend might not remember him, but at least Carl will have something to show that he was loved, that he was happy, that he had friends.

Maybe it’s a little selfish on Carl’s part, but he hopes this stupid, fun night is the last thing Ryland remembers of him. And if he doesn’t remember in time? Well, he’s sure Yao and Ilyukhina will give him the rundown.

Except four years from the Hail Mary’s perspective, no time at all and eleven years from Earth, Dr. Ryland Grace wakes up with no memory of anything. He of course searches through his personal effects to figure out who he is— who he was. And then he finds a picture of himself. (Maybe Carl put in several.) celebrating the fact that he was apparently going to be a father.

He proceeds, as anyone would, to curse (-the first time he’s done so since waking up) and then freak the fuck out.

And cry, a lot of crying. Over the supposed child he’d left behind to go die in space for. (It has to be for them what else could it have been for?) The child he evidently wanted enough he threw a baby shower for. That same baby he can’t even remember the name of. Maybe not even born by the time he left from the lack of baby photos or ultrasounds in his personal effects. A baby he will never meet and never hold and never get to say I love you too.

…Would that be fucked up or what?

[purpldology]

on the trip back to Erid, Grace decides to properly record Rocky's language because he doesnt want to be limited to simple language. he modifies the computer to be able to capture the many tones that his human ear cant hear, and he notices that Rocky is fawning over him alot in a very high frequency. (i imagine eridians use different frequencies for different people/tones, like more complicated radio waves?)

He asks Rocky about this and Rocky admits he sometimes instinctively speaks to him that way because how clumsy and stupid(sleepy) Grace is + Grace being the literal age of a toddler eridian. That high frequency is specifically for baby eridians. Grace doesnt mind because he cant hear it and he fawns over Rocky sometimes too.

Grace still adds a small window on his computer that translates those frequencies and when hes half asleep and dumb he reads a really soft message from Rocky cooing over him and convinving him to sleep and calling him a soft pebble. Grace's falls asleep pretty quick with a warm heart over his best friends love for him coming from all frequencies. Next morning he finds the window displaying an untranslatable lullably that Rocky sang all night.

[thanatos7420]

So, I fell down the Project Hail Mary rabbit hole and, though this is probably woefully inaccurate, I can't get the notion of the Eridians not knowing the dangers of radiation out of my head. Therefore...

What if the Eridians have always believed that fertility issues are just a natural part of life?

Like, yeah, they make eggs, but the likelihood of them maturing enough to hatch from their metal shell is statistically unlikely, often requiring multiple attempts before one became viable. Even historically, when they buried them in the soils of Erid to protect them and keep their internal temperatures hot enough, there was still a low chance of them actually hatching.

So, it just became the norm.

Until Rocky and Adrian announce to Grace that they are trying for young, and Grace sees the newer technology that they are using as incubators, and he just- he just bursts into tears.

Because they've been using ionising thermal radiation to keep them warm.

They don't know the dangers of it. Their knowledge of energy is incomplete enough that they have been completely unaware that they've been dosing their young with small levels of radiation for years, pinning it down to just the "normal" when their young don't mature. Something entirely preventable, but they just don't know.

And their new, local, bleeding-heart empath decides then and there that he won't let another Eridian (especially not Rocky and Adrian's child) be subjected to the same fate by accidental ignorance anymore.

Grace, quite literally and rather alarmingly to his Eridian friends, doesn't sleep until he finds a substitute to keeping the eggs at a steady and high heat without the use of radiation. The first thought is "well, humanity has been heating things up since the beginning. Surely fire is the way to go?"

But, at first, it is difficult.

On a planet without biology similar to Earth, there is nothing like oil that can be used as a fuel. Everything is either rock or metal or quite comfortable at high temperatures, and, well, setting them on fire has historically been noted as quite difficult, nevermind in Erid's atmosphere. So, he somehow has to find a way to set, naturally occurring, liquid metal on fire-

And it is possible!

A gallium/aluminium alloy in water produces hydrogen gas, which is flammable... but it's finding a way to make it sustainable and controlled. Easy enough to be implemented everywhere.

Thankfully, with Grace's human understanding of combustion and safe-fire practices, paired with the Eridian talent of scientific engineering, they somehow manage to make a fully functioning, overly complex, 'heater' that functions well within the Eridian atmosphere.

Without radiation.

--And for the first time in Eridian history, their young start hatching. Consistently!

Without the interference of radioactive elements and an irregular heat cycle, the Eridian young are able to mature at a rate previously unheard of. And it is wonderful. Families begin to grow, and Eridian parents are no longer plagued with the doubts of never successfully having their young mature. The relief of a species is palpable, and the resulting celebrations last months into the Eridian year.

Grace, incidentally, becomes the Eridian equivalant of the 'Patron Saint for Children' for all that he has done for them, and is gifted title after title onto his name that he always gets embarrassed hearing.

Because he doesn't care about the titles or the celebrations done in his honour, he didn't do it for that... all that matters is seeing Adrian and Rocky's first child hatch without any issues.

...

And it does!

[orangy1701]

Child of the Hail Mary AU

There are some PHM fics where Eridians mistakenly think Grace is a pebble because of his age which got me thinking: what if there's an AU where Grace is genuinely a kid during the events of the book/movie?

What if the rate the astrophage dims the sun is slower than cannon so Project Hail Mary has time to add more food and breed enough astrophage so that the suicide trip becomes a really long round trip. Added bonus of more advanced tech for a variety of more situations.

What if one of the astronauts on the original Hail Mary crew is unknowingly pregnant when they all blast off into space? Everyone enters their comas none the wiser. For the next nine months, the little baby grows with Armando doing its best to care for this unexpected development. It doesn't wake anyone because the astronauts are all supposed to stay asleep until they reach their destination, so it delivers the baby and does everything it can to care for him as he grows into a toddler. The Hail Mary plays him TV shows for babies and toddlers that teach alphabets and words from the stuff Stratt pirated to try to keep him occupied. The child slowly starts to learn to talk to the Hail Mary, asking questions like who are these people ("She my mama? What's mama, Mary?") and why aren't they waking up, getting answers he sometimes doesn't understand. The Hail Mary doesn't have a name for the child, so he picks Ryland from a TV show and Grace from his mother. He often curls up on the bed beside her, wrapping her limp arm around him to pretend that she's giving him a hug like on the TV shows.

Meanwhile, the coma systems start to fail one by one as Grace grows up. He doesn't understand why Armando starts taking away the sleeping people (sealing them in their pods). Scared that his mama will be taken next, Little Grace tries to learn about the coma machines and why they aren't working. He asks Mary to help him learn, so the ship directs him to kindergarten and 1st grade level science materials on the laptops. Grace feverishly pours over everything he can, but his mother, the last astronaut, dies before he can even get a solid grasp on the basics. Devastated at her loss and the fact that he's now alone, Grace throws himself into learning everything he can so that something like this will never happen again. He'll know everything there is to know and maybe he can fix what went wrong.

Time passes and Grace soaks up everything like a sponge. At some point the crushing failure tainting his education journey lessens and he starts to really enjoy learning new things (especially since there isn't really much else to do). As both his body and mind grows he comes across scientific journals discussing astrophage which leads to him discovering the astrophage crisis. Cue a deep dive into what the internet had on Project Hail Mary up until launch. Grace learns who his mama and the astronauts were and why they were all in a ship in space. He wonders why there's no mention of him, though. He decides that since his mama can no longer solve the astrophage problem, he will instead. He declares as much to the pods holding his dead crew, promising that he'll fix it.

With renewed enthusiasm, Grace throws himself into building his understanding of the universe to greater heights. Math, science, physics, biology (oh, so that's where he came from! Ew) chemistry, history, language, programming, everything he can get his hands on. He studies like the world depends on it ('cause it does) as the clock counts down to his arrival at their destination. Grace makes sure to know every inch of his home the Hail Mary inside and out so he knows what everything is, how it works, and what exactly he's working with. This leads to him discovering what he eventually dubs the "don't go crazy room" where he can experience scenes from Earth in a much more immersive way. Sometimes he'll load up a video of a classroom and pretend to teach everything he's learning to the other kids on the screen. Not only does it help him retain the knowledge, it also makes him feel like he's making a human connection, at least for a little while. His love for Earth grows and adds to the physical ache of loneliness in his chest. He wonders how he can miss a place so much that he's never even physically been.

The years pass (Tau Ceti is not the destination, I want Grace to grow up a little before he meets Rocky so they're heading a bit farther out. Again, the astrophage isn't dimming the sun as quickly in this AU, so Earth has some time to spare) and Grace has absolutely devoured everything the laptops have on science and other subjects, becoming a child prodigy in the process (not that he knows that). He finds and corrects the error in the feeding tubes for the coma system, feeling both elated at the solved mystery and depressed that it was too little, too late. The Hail Mary arrives at its destination and he experiences zero gravity for the first time (he feels sick at first but grows to like it). Excited to finally start solving the problem that is his entire reason for existing, Grace fires up the Petrova Scope and quickly notices Rocky's ship. When he realizes that there's another intelligent person in this solar system he gets super excited to actually try to communicate with his first real person EVER.

Events progress until they're finally face to face. Grace is hyped, nervous, enthusiastic, and in general a little overwhelmed at his first real conversation with a real person. Rocky, in the meantime, is starting to get suspicious about how hyperactive and giggly this small alien is. He acts more like a pebble than an adult. It isn't until they've established numbers, a bunch of common words, and Grace proudly showing him his math of his calculated age that Rocky realizes that this alien is, in fact, an actual child and is completely alone with only the corpses of his crew and his parent for company. Horrified, Rocky decides that he'll have to watch over this strange child since there's no one else to do it. When he offers to watch Grace sleep, Grace gets excited at his first sleepover with his first friend. He runs back to the Hail Mary to get his bedding and makes a very quick video log to gush about it.

Grace and Rocky continue to collaborate their information, making a solid plan to go to the planet in the system with the Petrova line and find out why it isn't eating the star. Rocky is impressed with Grace's expansive knowledge, especially when he's able to figure out what killed Rocky's crew and explain relativity to him. He feels hopefull that with Grace's advanced scientific knowledge and Rocky's own engineering prowess, the two of them together can save their respective stars. He needs a better way to keep an eye on this kid, though.

Grace is ecstatic when Rocky moves in and happily shows him his favorite videos of earth. He answers Rocky's questions to the best of his ability, but he is saddened by the reminder that he only knows facts and has never experienced Earth for himself. He doesn't know what its like to swim, he's never touched a tree let alone climbed one, he's never seen any of the animals on these videos, and he's never walked the streets of a big Earth city. Rocky, in an effort to cheer up this sad little pebble, shares stories about Erid and what life is like there. Grace soaks it all up eagerly, asking what his family is like and what is it like to have living relatives (Rocky's hearts can't catch a break with this adorable walking tragedy). The two grow close, bonding over lost loved ones and dead crewmates. Rocky asks why Grace has kept their bodies aboard the Hail Mary. Grace admits that he talks to them sometimes so he doesn't feel so alone, but he's always wanted to give them proper funerals. Rocky helps him research what to do and gives him the emotional courage he needs to finally say goodbye after all these years. One by one they commend the bodies of the astronauts to the stars until his mother is the only one left. Grace tearfully thanks his mama for bringing him into the universe, promises to her that he will solve the astrophage problem, and shakily gasps out his goodbyes before commending her to the stars. Once her body is gone, he collapses to the floor, sobs wracking his body. Rocky settles down next to him, huddling as close as he can while Grace reaches his little arms as far as he can around his xenonite ball and cries himself to sleep. Rocky makes sure to remind his little alien friend to take care of himself when he wakes up, nudging him to go eat and hydrate. He's Grace's emotional rock. The two become even closer, looking out for each other and supporting each other. Rocky does his best to help in whatever way he can.

Grace finds life in the samples they collect at Adrian, kick starting their plan to capture astrophage's predator. It goes just as catastrophically as it does in the book/movie, with Rocky not wasting a single second before bursting out of his atmosphere and into Grace's to save his motionless little pebble. Grace wakes up after receiving medical treatment from Armando and nearly hyperventilates himself into a panic attack at Rocky's condition, the fear of losing his only friend overwhelming his tiny body. He promises to watch Rocky sleep before he falls apart, pressed against the xenonite as tightly as possible. He's not ready to say goodbye, he's not.

Grace works to study the predator samples they collected in order to distract himself. The moment he realizes that the answer to the astrophage crisis- the entire reason his mama and the crew died in space, his reason for existing- is right there in front of him, he has a small meltdown before feverishly working to make sure this amoeba could survive in a partially nitrogen atmosphere. Rocky wakes up to a massive hug from Grace and the solution to their problems. The two celebrate, giving each other gifts before realizing that it is time to part ways. Rocky is reluctant to leave his pebble and Grace doesn't want to go back to being alone. They both, however, know they need to go back to their planets. With heavy hearts they say goodbye and part ways. Neither are okay.

A little while later, Grace awakens to the alarms that there's a leak. He quickly deals with the escaped Amoeba, realizing that Rocky is going to be stranded in space if he doesn't do something. He makes the decision to turn back for Rocky immediately, surprising himself with how easy it is to give up on going to Earth. He thinks he understands the phrase, "home is where the heart is" a lot better now. Grace stuffs the beetles with Amoeba and everything he's learned about it, as well as a few personal vlogs that explain who he is, details everything that happened aboard the Hail Mary, and declaring what he's going to do next. With that, he launches the beetles and turns back for Rocky. He's sad to leave Earth behind, but excited to be heading towards the person he loves. Soon enough, he finds the Blip-A and reunites with Rocky.

The two head to Erid aboard the Hail Mary. Rocky officially adopts Grace as his own pebble much to Grace's delight and many tears. Rocky watches as Grace begins to grow up over the years they spend on their way to Erid. It's definitely a learning curve for both of them (puberty, yikes). Grace is a teenager by the time they arrive.

Adrian is very quickly charmed by this gangly, clumsy pebble tripping over his two feet with strange voice cracks sometimes changing his pitch when he speaks. They and Rocky both do their best to raise the little alien into a fine young man. All of Erid officially claims Grace as an Eridian and looks out for him. A therapist visits him twice a week to help him work through his trauma. Grace, meanwhile, is really enjoying teaching everything he knows to classes of little pebbles, running lots of experiments in his lab in his biodome, and slowly healing while surrounding himself with his new family members. He's home.

Meanwhile on the Earth, the beetles make their way back home. Humanity eagerly looks forward to the knowledge the astronauts sent back, hoping for a solution to their eminent extinction. The first video reveals an unknown child dressed in ill-fitting clothes aboard the Hail Mary. Humanity is first shocked and then horrified as this child solemnly reports the deaths of the original crew and the circumstances for his own presence on the ship. A child born in space outside of their solar system, raised in isolation, and yet functional enough to study and learn until he was able to send back the thing that would save a whole world he had never even seen with his own eyes. A child who spearheaded the first intergalactic collaboration and sent back knowledge on their neighbors in the 40-Eridani system. A child who, with tears in his eyes, informed humanity that as much as he longed to see the planet he came from and meet the people of Earth, Rocky was family and he would be taking him home to Erid. A child who asked if his hello could be passed on to any living relative of his mother and father. A child who had tucked away a few of his drawings into the beetles and asked if someone could hang them on a fridge somewhere, that would be nice, thanks.

Copies of the pictures are made and sent to every space agency on the planet for them to hang up on their fridges while the originals are delivered to the remaining family of Ryland Grace's mother. More and more copies are made until almost every family on the planet have one on their fridge. The Amoeba is sent off to Venus and the sun begins to brighten once more.

And Humanity comes together once again to launch a second interstellar mission with the intent to travel to the 40-Eridani system and bring messages and pieces of Earth to Ryland Grace, Child of the Hail Mary.

[megatronstherapist]

Normalize being so happy and excited about shit that you proceed to promptly eat shit.