#starry... blease if you have new idea gib to us ASK AND YE SHALL RECEIVE more incomprehensible rambles
so i am still currently thinking about Daniel Fenton and Danyal. It's nothing concrete or linear. But, Daniel Fenton is perhaps as close to the truest form of Danyal there is: his wit, his sass, his puns and passion. his love of animals and his wanderlust. (he also does genuinely enjoy rock/punk/alt music). But much of him is till a lie. Enough so that Danny (Dany?) himself is not convinced himself that that is what he genuinely likes.
I like the thought that Danny is a little bit more petty and vicious than in canon, kinda like Damian is, but tones it back for Sam and Tucker's sake. He and Damian both have very extreme personalities. But while Damian's was encouraged, Danny forced himself to hold back because it would interfere with his work as a spy.
And while yes, being in the league sucked, my favorite headcanon is that Danny was really good at knife work and it was one of the few things he genuinely enjoyed while training. he loves collecting knives and learning about them, and its something he's got sequestered so close to his heart that he forgets all about it until he passes by some hunting shop with their knives on display and he stares and stares longingly until he's out of sight of the display. He's stolen Skulker's hunting knives and machetes multiple times and keeps them under his bed. When he has the time he takes them out and practices with them. He wants to incorporate them into "Phantom" but knife-loving is not what Daniel Fenton is. So he keeps it closely guarded to his chest.
And I also think that Sam and Tucker are not privy to Danny's past as an assassin. First it was because they were outsiders to the league and not deserving of the information. He wouldn't jeopardize the secrecy of the league for two children. Then, later on, it was for their own protection.
The league is no joke and Sam and Tucker are untrained teenagers. Even if Danny trained them, they would still be vastly unprepared and underqualified to go toe-to-toe with even the weakest league member -- i.e. Danny himself in all his rustiness. Danny does most of the fighting when it comes to ghosts, so they don't have experience even from that. And even then: fighting the dead is not the same as fighting the living.
Danny was always aware that there was a sliver of a chance that the league would come retrieve him. He would not put the deaths of Sam and Tucker on his conscious just because he thought it was safe to tell them about a centuries old secret. No. The league of shadows would remain what it was; a shadow. And despite what Sam and Tucker believe: Danyal is a fantastic liar.
i think rather than moving in with the Waynes outright permanently, Jack and Maddie instead agree to let the Waynes have him over for the summer. (i like the idea that the Fentons have no idea that Danny is an assassin or a spy, but i have no idea how that would work logically so i'm not addressing it.)
they'll figure out custody agreements after that.
I don't have much to say on the stay in Wayne manor other than Danny's his cold, reserved, and closed-off unusual-usual self. He's wary and distrustful of the Waynes and he's trying to figure out himself and who he is when he's not playing pretend.
The Waynes encourage him to be Danyal. Just Danyal. Not Daniel. Not Danyal Al Ghul. Just Danyal. Just Dany.
Danny doesn't know who that is. He's left bewildered and... well. a little scared. for what he isn't sure.
he also has issues with Damian. lots of unaddressed resentment and fear there. a distance between the spare and the heir that Damian is desperately trying to close and fix. Danny is too afraid of being burned to fully trust it.
but eventually i do think he notices Damian's efforts, and recognizes them as genuine attempts to reach out and connect with him and to fix the past. Danny doesn't understand why and he's baffled by Damian's behavior -- time really does change people, huh -- but he does see it. And, very tentatively, he reaches out as well
(Damian is ecstatic and dizzyingly hopeful)
how does he reach out? well. my immediate thought was letters. Danny's been sending report after report to the league monthly/bi-weekly for the last half-decade at least. Speaking out loud is hard and its even harder when its to someone meant to be your superior. Writing is much easier when he doesn't have to look Damian in the face and fall back on old habits.
So he sits down and writes a letter to Damian. It addresses a lot of things he wants left unsaid. He uses his best league handwriting and writes in arabic like he does in all his reports. he signs it formally with Danyal al Ghul at the bottom in neat calligraphy. He seals it in an envelope and slides it under Damian's door.
He gets a response the next day. A letter too. And suddenly they have a system. a letter per day to each other. and bit by bit danny slowly takes his walls down, brick by brick. it doesn't solve his identity issues in the slightest. he still doesn't know who he is. but its mending his relationship with the only twin he's got.
he gradually begins sitting closer to him during mealtimes. Damian silently glows with pride. Danny still struggles to speak to him informally though. He can't bring himself to speak to Damian without being spoken to first. The letters seem to help, but its not enough.
Danny grows frustrated. There's still so much resentment left over that not even pen and ink can fix, and his tongue turns itself to lead whenever he thinks about bringing it up.
He doesn't want to resent Damian, he realizes one day, halfway through the summer. He doesn't. he wants to be close to him. he wants to be friends. he wants to be brothers.
so he does what any good ghost does when they won't -- or can't -- use their words.
one day during the afternoon, his frustration boils over. he approaches Damian -- marches up to him, really -- with a fixed jaw and knuckles so tight they've turned white. Damian is with some of their brothers, and the room quiets at his approach. Tense. Everyone knows he's angry.
"we need to fight." Danny says through gritted teeth, frustration clogged in his throat like fire waiting to be spit out.
"I resent you." Danny says instead of repeating, and Damian flinches like he's been struck. He looks like he swallowed a rock. Danny won't stand for it. "And it is a problem. I do not want to resent you, so we will fight."
"I do not need to win." Danny clarifies when the room shifts uncomfortably and Damian looks apprehensive. "We just need to fight."
Damian still looks unsure. Its a strange look on someone who Danny used to know as so confident. But he will not back down from this. He rolls back his shoulders and stares his brother down in the eye. "Damian," he says, and Damian's eyes widen like saucers. "please."
Danny is cheating. They both know it. It's the first time Danny has willingly called him by his name. He sees Damian's resolve crumble like sand, and he stands.
"Fine. But there will be rules in place to prevent each other from significant harm."
Danny grins and the room startles simultaneously. It is a wild, delighted thing that shows too much teeth, like a cheshire cat that is much too sharp. It's his first proper smile. "Acceptable."
The rules are as followed:
No Maiming
No Killing
The fight ends when someone yields or if they're too exhausted/injured to get up
You may draw blood, but no serious laceratios
Danny is buzzing and thrumming under his skin the entire walk to the gym, his new brothers following him and Damian. He can feel his core pulsating with the urge to fight. It takes much of his willpower not to charge the air with electotricity. The hair standing up on end on his arms is proof enough that he's not succeeding.
They stop by their rooms to change into proper fighting attire, and Danny beats Damian to the gym with a pair of daggers he is twisting around in his hands. They're not allowed to start until Bruce gets there, and he arrives remarkably quick for someone who was supposed to be at WE.
The fight starts after the rules are stated, and the Waynes stand off to the side. Danny zeroes in on his brother, and attacks first. Danny's fast. Faster with his liminality, but Damian keeps up. Danny pours all of his resentment, anger, inferiority, his grief into this fight. He works through each one like he's undoing an intricate knot, and it sweeps up into the air and thickens to the point that even the others in all their varying liminality can sense it.
He lands blows on Damian, and Damian returns it in kind. Until finally Danny's worked through everything he's needed to say, and the fight becomes.. lighter somehow. It tastes like forgiveness. It's become playing.
When the fight finishes, they're both exhausted. They're bruised and battered, with cuts along their faces and arms. It doesn't fix everything. It doesn't fix Danny's identity. It doesn't fix the years of expectation and disappointment and the longing. But it does fix one thing.
Danny yields first, and he gives Damian his widest smile, his breath wheezing. "I needed that."
gummygunk
vaporwave
titsay
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
amandla
turnnoffyourmind
romaincrisis
