Anyone else thinking about how Important names are to Eridian culture, considering how Rocky addressed himself and Adrian, and what that would mean once Grace got to Erid.
(ignore statements of time i refuse to do the conversions)
Imagine, after decades of your world becoming colder and colder, you are saved. A single Eridian, the only one of twenty three to survive, arrives in an alien ship, accompanied by a creature you can barely conceive.
Everything about the alien is so loud, hinges formed from tissue thumping and stretching in constant movement, even while unconscious. Completely organic, reliant of oxygen and hydrogen. Instead of a protective carapace, it regrows its damaged tissues. It has senses you do not, and technology so unlike your own, both able to utilise a force you have never heard of. The same force that killed almost your entire mission team. Highly adaptable, able to teach itself how to fly its ship in under a week, able to become fluent in the engineer's dialect in less than four years.
And if Erid's best engineer is correct (and there's no reason it wouldn't be), this creature not only managed to breed a predator of the warmth-taker to survive in various atmospheres, including Threeworld's, but also turned around to provide aid when it discovered that the predator could escape xenonite.
And you think: Surely, this creature which protects itself without a carapace, which sleeps so lightly and knows so much and learns so quickly, which saved two planets at the cost of ever returning to its thrum, surely, a creature so extraordinary must have a name to match
And you think: Perhaps it is strength, Mountain-Base or Lonsdaleite-Carapace. Perhaps it is intellect, Diamond-Claw or Lockpick-Mind. Perhaps it is courage, Song-Through-Silence or Path-Carver
And you think: None of these names hold the true weight of what this creature is to them. How do you describe something like that, which aids without expectation of anything in return, which risks its own life for the sake of a species it cannot touch, which performs miracles simply because it was asked.
And then you learn: Your saviour's name is Kindness
Summary: Wild has an episode. His brothers call it a seizure, but Wild disagrees.
Words: 2,414
Art for this fic / AO3
For @linked-disability , alternate prompt 1: Rare diseases/disorders (PNES).
PNES (psychogenic non-epileptic seizures, sometimes called functional or dissociative seizures) are seizures that resemble epileptic attacks but are caused by psychological distress instead of abnormal brain activity. They are a form of Functional Neurological Disorder.
They are not pseudo-seizures.
This fic is based on my own experience with PNES. The information that Wild says about his seizures is the same information that I was given when I was first diagnosed. Unfortunately, that information is blatantly incorrect. Please keep that in mind while reading. (What Four says is correct)
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Being the designated chef of the group came with some perks: while the others set up camp and argued over whose turn it was for various chores, Wild simply pulled out his cooking pot and started to work on dinner.
Of course, he wasn’t able to skip out on all the chores, but as he watched Wind grumpily follow Sky to find an area to dig their catholes, Wild was glad he was able to miss the more tedious ones.
He hesitated for a moment before pulling the last of his fortified pumpkins out of the slate. Pumpkin stew was always a hit with his brothers, and they hadn’t stayed in a village in days. They could use the boost.
Still, as Wild cut into the pumpkins, he couldn’t help but be upset that he was using the last of his pumpkins. Ever since he first picked up the slate, Wild had made sure to keep it stocked with food and elixir ingredients.
Now, though, his slate was emptier than it had been in years. He was running low on multiple of his essentials; he’d need to restock soon.
He pulled out the Tabantha wheat and began to separate the wheat berries from the stalks, mouth twisting in annoyance as he thought through his inventory.
There were a few things that he could get in the other eras. He had already stocked up on multiple bottles of Lon Lon Milk, courtesy of Malon, and Twilight had already promised him more goat butter the moment they landed in his era. Acorns, eggs. and herbs appeared in every Hyrule, even the traveler’s, and it was easy to hunt for more raw meat.
But the majority of his items were from his era, and even if he could replace them, he didn’t want to. Every time he made dinner for the group, he was sharing a bit of his home with them. If he got the ingredients from other eras, it wouldn’t be the same.
He dumped the pumpkin and wheat berries into the cooking pot. Now, he needed to add… milk? Butter, maybe? No, definitely milk. He had this recipe memorized, right? He had all his recipes memorized. It was milk.
Everything would be fine. They would visit his era soon, and he would refill his slate then. The farmers in Hateno always kept a few of their best crops for him; hopefully that hadn’t changed in the months since he saw them last.
Had it been months since he was last home? It must’ve been. It couldn’t be longer than that, Hylia wouldn’t be that cruel. He would be home soon. He would - he had to be-
Shit, he was burning the pumpkins. Where was his ladle?
He blinked,
and
His head hurt. There was a rock digging into his back. He went to sit up, and a pair of hands quickly rushed forward to steady him.
“Whoa, hold on,” Warriors looked down at him, concerned. “You back with us?”
“Back…?” Wild’s head felt fuzzy.
Wild squinted at the captain for a moment, trying to figure out what that meant. When that didn’t work, he leaned forward to peer over Warriors’ shoulder to look at the rest of the camp.
He was laying on a bedmat near the edge of their campground. Behind Warriors, he could see his brothers standing around the fire and his cooking pot, trying (and failing) to look like they weren’t staring at Wild.
“Can you tell me your name?” The captain asked, gently.
“Which one? Link or Wild?”
Warriors grinned, obviously relieved. “There you are. What’s the-”
Wild stopped listening the moment he saw Hyrule holding his ladle.
“Are you letting Hyrule cook?” Wild asked incredulously, trying to stand up. Pain shot through his head at the movement and he slumped back down into Warriors’ arms.
“Okay, none of that. You need to lay down for a while,” Warriors scolded him.
“But the soup,” Wild complained, “Rulie’s going to burn it, and I don’t have any more pumpkins -”
“He won’t burn it, the pot isn’t even on the fire,” Warriors tried to push him back down, but he resisted, looking at the campfire again.
Oh, his pot wasn’t on the fire, and his slate was on the ground next to it. Good.
Satisfied that his soup wasn’t burning, he flopped back down onto the bedmat. The pain had cleared some of the fuzz from his head, and he was slowly realizing how weird this situation was.
“Wild,” The captain stressed, and Wild realized he should probably be paying attention, “Have you hit your head at all recently? Even if it was just a small bump.”
“Uh, nope.” They were treating Wild like he was injured, but unless he had somehow gotten hurt while he was cooking dinner, he was fine.
Hm. Actually, now that he was thinking about it, this felt weirdly familiar. Underneath the slowly shrinking layer of fuzz in his brain, some kind of alarm was going off; he just wasn’t sure what.
“Do you feel sick? Dehydrated? You’ve been eating, right?” Warriors asked, pressing the back of his hand to Wild’s forehead.
“I’m not sick, I’m not dehydrated, and I was literally just making dinner for us.” Wild waved his hand away. “I feel fine. What’s with all the questions?”
Warriors sat back, clearly unhappy with Wild’s answers. “You had a seizure, Wild.”
Oh.
The last of the fuzz cleared from Wild’s head. The headache, the brain fog, the missing time that he only just realized was missing… he had an episode.
“Oh.” He repeated out loud.
“Oh??” Twilight repeated from where he was pacing next to the fire. “You had a seizure, we used a fairy, and you just -”
“Twilight,“ Time interrupted him. The rancher shut his mouth with an audible click.
Cold shame dripped down Wild’s spine. The others had clearly panicked if they wasted a fairy on him.
“Has this happened before, Wild?”
“Yeah.” Wild shrugged, "If it helps, they’re not really seizures.”
“That was definitely a seizure,” Warriors looked sick. “Do you have- do you know what epilepsy is?”
“I know what epilepsy is,” Wild snapped, a bit insulted. He took a deep breath before continuing, calmer this time, “I don’t have it. Zel- Flora and Purah scanned me. They said there wasn’t any sign of abnormal electrical activity or brain damage. They're not seizures, just something that happens sometimes.”
“This just happens sometimes,” Warriors repeated, voice flat, “And it’s not epilepsy.”
“Yup. That’s what I just said.”
Warriors pinched his nose with a deep sigh, and Wild instantly regretted snapping. He knew the captain wasn’t trying to insult him, but this wasn’t the first time he had been doubted like this and the sharp pain in his head was already testing his patience.
“Why didn’t you tell us about this?”
Wild looked away. Shame continued to wrap around his shoulders.
“…I found a book that talked about pseudoseizures. It said,” Wild hesitated, choosing his words carefully, “It said that talking about pseudoseizures can make them happen more often, so…”
“So you didn’t tell us.” Warriors finished. “That’s…”
“That doesn’t make sense.” Legend interrupted them. Warriors shot him a look, but Legend continued, “No, seriously. How would talking about seizures cause them more often?”
“They’re not real seizures.” Wild snapped. “They‘re pseudoseizures and they happen for attention. If you don’t talk about them, eventually I’ll learn that they don’t work and they’ll stop. You guys should’ve ignored me.”
“When did they start?” Four asked.
Wild clenched his fists in annoyance. He just said that they shouldn’t talk about them, and they were asking more questions.
He considered not answering, but the camp was silent, eight faces staring at him expectantly.
“I don’t know. Sometime during my journey.” He closed his eyes, resting his head against the ground. “I can’t really tell when they happen unless someone tells me, and I didn’t exactly spend a lot of time around people. Flora scanned me a few months after.”
“So they happen when no one’s around?”
Wild opened his eyes, turning towards Four. Their smith’s voice was strangely intense, and his normally gray eyes were rapidly swirling red, violet, green, and blue.
Wild shrugged, voice caught in his throat.
“Then how could they get attention?”
“…What?”
“If they happen when no one’s around, then how could you get attention from them?” Four continued to stare down Wild, eyes swirling faster and faster. “And if not talking about them makes them stop, then why have you dealt with them for so long?”
“I… I don’t…” Wild blinked rapidly, his annoyance quickly burning off into nothing but shame. He didn’t know the answer to those questions.
“In my time,” Four pressed on, “They haven’t been called pseudoseizures in years. They’re psychogenic nonepileptic seizures, and they’re caused by trauma, Wild, not talking.”
Four’s words didn’t make sense for a long moment. The book that Wild read was half destroyed, tucked away in one of the furthest shelves in the castle’s library. Flora wasn’t sure when it was written, let alone if it was even accurate, but it was the only information any of them had found about Wild’s condition.
So despite Flora’s concerns about the book, Wild had just… accepted it. He accepted that he was doing it for attention, even if they felt uncontrollable. He accepted that he needed to push away any thought of them. He accepted that he couldn’t ever talk about the shame he felt whenever he had another one.
“They are real seizures, okay? You’re not doing it for attention.” Four finished, voice going soft. “The next time we’re in my Castletown, I’ll take you to the library. There’s books on it there. I’ve read them.”
”…Thanks,” Wild whispered.
Four’s eyes settled into a pale magenta as he turned away, face turning light pink.
“And you still should’ve told us about it,” Warriors hesitantly broke the silence, “I understand why you didn’t, but if we knew about these in advance, we would’ve known what to do.”
Wild nodded, only half listening. He was still repeating Four’s words in his brain, barely believing them.
Warriors sighed again. He stood up and turned to the group behind him, glaring. “That goes for all of you as well. I better hear about any medical issues well before they become a problem, alright?”
Everyone avoided eye contact as they mumbled in vague agreement.
Warriors’ eye twitched as he turned back to Wild, pointing. “You need to stay here and rest. I see that look on your face, and no, you aren’t cooking either. I know you have enough leftovers in your Slate for one night. We’ll survive.”
Wild grumbled as Warriors walked away. He was fine, really, the only problem was his headache, and even that would be gone soon. He didn’t even have his slate to entertain himself.
He looked around the camp, debating on whether or not he could sneak away. The others were too high strung for him to slip away easily, especially without his stealth armor, but the treeline was pretty close…
He started shifting his weight to make a break for it.
As if he could hear his thoughts, Warriors spun around from where he was poking at the slate, glaring.
“Wild.” He threatened.
Wild threw his hands up, pretending to be innocent. “I’m not doing anything!”
Warriors raised one eyebrow.
“…I’m thirsty,” Wild tried instead. “You have all my stuff.”
“Here!” Wind rushed forward with a water skin. Hyrule was only a step behind him.
Knowing that Warriors was watching him, Wild took the water from Wind and drank some.
“Thanks, Wind.” He tried to not sound disappointed.
Wind and Hyrule both plopped themselves down in front of Wild, and he groaned internally. He might’ve been able to convince Hyrule to run off and explore with him, but Wind actually listened to Warriors.
He handed the water skin back to Wind, and accepted his boring fate.
“You called yourself Dink.”
”Uh, what?” Wild asked Wind.
“You called yourself Dink,” Wind repeated, “When Wars first asked. You said your name was Dink.”
“Huh. I don’t remember that.”
Wind shrugged. “You were pretty out of it.”
It was quiet again. Wild watched as Wars struggled with his slate, poking it and squinting.
”What does it feel like?” Hyrule suddenly asked.
“What does what feel like?”
“You know.” Hyrule waved his hand. “The seizures.”
Wild’s first instinct was to shut the conversation down, but… Well, if what Four said was true, then he didn’t need to stay quiet about it anymore.
Wind and Hyrule were looking at him, faces open and bright. There wasn’t any judgement, no sign that they thought he was strange or weak. They were just curious.
Wild took a moment longer to think about it. He had never explained it out loud, and it took him some time to gather the words he needed.
When he did start, it was slow and hesitant.
“It’s like blinking.” The words became more confident as he spoke. “One moment I’m doing something, I blink, and I’m on the floor. I don’t even realize that time has passed. If my head didn’t hurt, I wouldn’t even be able to tell they happened at all.”
He smiled slightly. “I don’t remember right before or after the seizures. Apparently, one time, I stood up and pointed at the sky before seizing. Purah thought I was possessed.”
Wind snorted. “Trust me, you’d know if you were possessed. Ghosts aren’t exactly subtle about it.”
“…You sound like you have experience?” Hyrule asked, both concerned and amused.
As Wind launched into an overdramatic retelling of his experiences with possession, Wild felt something in his chest loosen.
He had spoken about it, and nothing horrible happened. He hadn’t had another episode and his brothers weren’t looking at him any differently. In fact, Wild was pretty sure they were trying to cheer him up.
Hyrule burst into laughter as Wind accidentally smacked himself in the face with a particularly dramatic gesture, and Wild felt warm. He reached an arm out to pull their youngest hero closer to him, ruffling his hair along the way.
Wind sputtered but accepted the impromptu hug, even when Hyrule launched himself against them and shoved them into a pile on the ground, still laughing.
“Does it count as possession if I’m just hosting a part of their soul in me? Because I might be possessed.”
“Wild, what?”
I found listings for their books just the other day, actually!
While looking for a copy of The Mincing Mockingbird Guide to Troubled Birds (those meme-ishpaintings images) on thriftbooks, I noticed copies of the more traditional artbooks, as well, all with delightful titles:
I love it when a song or movie or painting or whatever sharpens your teeth so when you bite into the firmament of life you do so with a stronger vigor and thus a grotesquely mortal thirst is quenched
Okay I'm as far as chapter ONE and they are introducing the boys
Tell me why the first thing that's mentioned when Kuroko is introduced in all his soft, sweet middle school glory, is how he's the one person the entire generation respects
Like I'm not even joking
Also Kise is immediately all over Kuroko, because of course he is. Like I thought, since it's been so long since I actually re watched the series, that I was looking at this shit with fanfic googles and had exaggerated the degree to which the miracles favored Kuroko. Turns out no, I didn't - look at my little bean, snug in the middle of the group. He deserves nothing less, tbh.
What's the process if you're a superhero and you come out as trans
Do you tell your villains?
Do you keep it a secret so no one can connect Spider-Man with your secret identity for a while? Or do you pop a pronouns pin on your costume and the next time you web up Doctor Octopus and he goes "I'LL GET YOU NEXT TIME SPIDER-MAN" you go "Spider-Girl actually! I've been figuring out some shit"
"Listen for Christ's sake we're a modern paper. Parker - Parker get in here - this is Madeline Parker, came out three months ago. Best photographer we've got. We're proud to have her on board. We at the Daily Bugle are proud to support the LGBTQ+ community bUT THIS SPIDER-GIRL IS A MENACE"
Overwhelming consensus on this post is that you should come out in your superhero identity first, and then a couple weeks down the line come out in your secret identity and when people ask just go “Oh seeing Spider-Girl come out really gave me the confidence to come out myself” which is the best possible answer
Morgan doesn't actually emote that much in general
Morgan doesn't show their emotions much. Like a look of shock is just a slight widening of their eyes maybe even a parting of their lips. They just don't emote much. Everyone else is just great at reading them. Like Barnaby or Ohio look over at Morgan and see the smallest crease of their brow and go "RIGHT?! It's stupid!" All of them understand each other perfectly.
(Subset to previous point) Alex sucks at reading Morgan
Alex tried. Oh boy, they try, but they just can't understand the small miniscule changes in Morgan's face in an instant. They get fussy if they don't understand Morgan immediately, so they use their powers as a crutch. Alex uses a something like a mind-reading power, just to to understand Morgan's emotions on the fly. And they refuse to admit it. Otherwise, they are forcing themself to pay attention to every small change of each of Morgan's expressions.
Alex has a shrine to Morgan
Alex says it's to make sure Morgan isn't lying about not being some puzzle god (hasn't shown results yet). In reality, it's that they're so down bad that they can't think of any other way to show their love. Alex plans to never show Morgan. The shrine is hidden in the back of the lair. (Even some of Alex's minions pray to the shrine, they support their boss's delusions. Also they just like Morgan)
Alex makes themself look more uncanny
Alex uses their powers to just trigger the uncanny valley fear in people when they're going through general life. What was that? Morgan asked them to pick up groceries but no teleporting? Alex float ever so slightly to make their footsteps uncannily floaty. Ohio needs help with getting something from a high shelf? Alex suddenly has limbs that are just a little too long. Barnaby needs to find something in a dark room? Well guess who's there? Eyes and y'know what teeth glowing as well. Yup, Alex. They just do it for the shits and giggles of it.
Morgan suddenly becomes hyper aware out of nowhere and it's always inconvenient
Alex being practically god never clicks in Morgan's head half the time. However, when it does, its always in the most inconvenient times. In the middle of a heist? Hold up a godlike being is pressed against me while we're avoiding detection. Morgan is holding Alex back from killing someone? Wait a fucking minute! Alex could just shrug me off and like break every limb in my body. It's always little moments of panic before Morgan completely forgets in five minutes.
While Morgan has a resting bitch face, Alex has a resting happy puppy face
I don't have any login behind this, but hear me out! Morgan obviously has a rbf, it's Morgan. But! But! BUT!!! Alex has a resting happy puppy face. Like they just look so happy-go-lucky and approachable. Why? Because I find it amusing.
They both wear heels
Alex does because they look fantastic in heels and they like towering over Morgan. Morgan does because they're tired of Alex constantly poking fun of them for being shorter. But! Alex can't walk in heels taller than 2 inches without almost dying while Morgan can rock 8 inch stripper heels no problem and even run in them.
lotr but nobody knows anything about the other races
Pippin thinks Legolas is a woman
Boromir is convinced that the hobbits are all 15 max
Everyone thinks that Merry and Pippin are twins, except for Legolas, who is convinced the hobbits are quadruplets
Sam thinks that Aragorn, Boromir and Legolas don't have to eat to survive
Legolas doesn't mention things he sees or hears because he thinks the others have noticed them to and just assumes they have a plan
Pippin complains that he is hungry and Legolas just gives him a handful of grass. Pippin is so confused that he just takes it, and now Legolas tries to figure out what hobbits can eat by just giving them random shit, like
Things the hobbits have accepted and likely eaten later (a list by legolas)
-Grass - Leaves
-Stones - a hair tie
-A feather - one of Gimli's shoes
The hobbits and Gimli just assume that this is what elves eat
Crack Fic! Where Everyone thinks Merlin is the reasonable one.
Everyone loves Merlin and thinks he’s the sweetest person, who couldn’t hurt a fly. So, they’re all annoyed when they see how Arthur treats him. The King is constantly overloading his manservant with work, ordering him to do massive tasks and coming up with ridiculous excuses to keep Merlin from taking a break. So, the knights and others constantly try to find ways to pull Merlin away from Arthur’s side and give him a break but Arthur always finds a way to mess up their plans.
Gwen and the other maids sometimes try to help Merlin with his chores
Gwen: Arthur you can’t actually expect Merlin to clean the entire throne room by himself
Arthur: *shrugs* Yes. I’m hardly asking him much
Gwen: It usually takes five maids to thoroughly clean the throne room. It’s ridiculous to ask one person to do so much work and then, to place Lancelot as a guard to make sure none of us can help him.
Arthur: Lancelot wouldn’t have to guard anything if you all weren’t so ready to disobey my orders. I said Merlin will clean the throne room ALONE and that is final
Gwen: I never knew you could be such a cruel person and to Merlin of all people
*Gwen storms off*
Gwaine, Leon, Percival, Elyan and some of the other knights try to steal Merlin away to the tavern to relax
Gwaine: Come on Princess. I’m sure you can survive one night without Merlin
*Gwaine tries to pull Merlin to their side but Arthur grabs hold of Merlin and pulls him back*
Arthur: Need I remind you, Merlin is my manservant and doesn’t have time to play around. He still has very important duties to complete
Elyan: What could he possibly have to do at this time? Most servants have gone home for the day?
Arthur: Well Merlin is the King’s manservant as I keep reminding you and still have very important things to do
Gwaine: Like what?
Arthur: *pauses* For one, he needs to clean the mess he made in the closet
The knights: *trying to process the bullshit Arthur just told them*
Arthur: *crossing his arms, 100% serious, daring them to challenge him*
Merlin: It’s fine guys really, probably next time *pulling Arthur and himself back into Arthur’s chambers and locking the door*
Or when something terrible happens to Merlin like the time he got kidnapped and everyone went into full panic
Arthur: *staring hard at Lance* Merlin’s been kidnapped?
Elyan: They ambushed us out of nowhere and before we knew it they were off with him.
Leon: Don’t worry sire, I’ll gather a search party immediately to have him found.
Gwaine: We’ll make them sorry they ever thought to mess with our Merlin
Arthur: *holding up a finger and turning to Lance again* Merlin’s been kidnapped?
Lance: ….. That is the story
Gwaine: Princess, have you not been listening. We need to hurry every second counts.
Arthur: I heard, just wondering why he couldn’t have chosen a better day to get himself kidnapped
*Everyone gawks at Arthur in disbelief*
Basically, everyone thinks that Arthur doesn’t appreciate Merlin and that their cinnamon roll deserves better and formed a protection squad to help Merlin get the treatment he deserves.
Meanwhile in Reality….
Arthur knows about Merlin’s magic. He is fully aware of how powerful Merlin is and finally sees that his manservant isn’t an idiot. He’s just a bloody madman.
===In the throne room===
*Arthur and Merlin both staring at a dark purple swirling vortex on the floor*
Arthur: *takes a deep breath* Merlin, why is there a hole in my throne room?
Merlin: Well, it’s not a hole. It’s a sort of gateway to the dark dimension.
Arthur: Oh, okay. Why is there a gateway to the dark dimension in my throne room?
Merlin: ….. I can fix it
Lancelot: Arthur, I heard you- *looks down at the menacing purple gateway on the floor and then back to Arthur and Merlin*
Lancelot: Should I go guard the door?
===After Gwaine, Elyan and Percival tried to take Merlin out for drinks===
Merlin: You know we both could use a break. I am a bit hungry. Been a while since I had a drink too
Arthur: Well maybe, we can join them after you explain why my Uncle is tied up in my closet
*Arthur opens his closet doors revealing a tied-up and gagged Agravaine making muffled noise*
Merlin: You told me to get evidence that he was working with Morgana
Arthur: And your solution to that was to kidnap him?
Merlin: What better way to hear it than from the man himself?
Arthur: What’s going to happen when people realize he’s missing
Merlin: Don’t worry, one memory wipe spell and he’ll be back tomorrow in his chambers like nothing ever happened
Arthur: You told me those spells were dangerous
Merlin: *laughs* Well, yeah, I’m not using it on us
Agravaine: *making muffled and panicked pleads to Arthur*
Lancelot: Sorry, Arthur, Gaius told me that Merlin needed m- *sees a tied-up Agravaine*
Lancelot: *nods* I’ll go stand guard
=== Arthur, the first to find Merlin after his “kidnapping” ===
Arthur: *folds his arms and looks behind his manservant to see a trail of bodies* Kidnapped?
Merlin: Well they did try to kidnap me. I just decided not to resist.
Arthur: *sighs* Is everyone dead?
Merlin: I was supposed to leave someone alive?
Arthur: *rolls his eyes* Come before I have to explain how my “innocent”, “weak” manservant took out a group of mercenaries.
Love the idea that Red Robin (the restaurant) doesn't exist in the DC universe, but *does* exist in the Pham's home universe.
Just a constant ongoing thing of someone saying Tim's hero name and whatever member(s) of the Pham are there say "Yum" without hesitation.
Everyone in the DC verse thinking that Tim - as Red Robin specifically - is some kind of Adonis to folks on the Ghost/Liminal Spectrum.
It's causing problems. Members of his family that are romantically interested in Pham members are salty. Bruce keeps trying to give him The Talk (the "how to let a group of people all interested in fucking you down gently and professionally" talk, and the "how to form a healthy polycule" talk, Bruce is nothing but thorough). The Younge Justice crew will *not* let him live it down. Dick is going all protective big brother on him, saying that if it makes him uncomfortable just let Dick know and he'll Take Care of It.
He's also deeply confused as to why they all sorta *sing* his hero name before they say Yum?? Is it some kind of call and response ghostly courting thing??
The Pham, notably, are entirely unaware of the chaos they are causing with this. For a long time they don't even know Red Robin (the restaurant) doesn't exist in this universe. They aren't even fully aware that they're doing the Yum thing. It's just too ingrained in them to fully realize it.
Superman has a stalker. He first noticed the kid a few weeks ago on a rooftop close to where he had just defeated some robbers. He hadn't thought much of it initially. Then the kid popped up a few days later once again close to one of his fights. This time, Superman took notice of a camera in the small child's hands. He had his suspicions about what was going on but held off until he saw the kid for a third time.
This time he couldn't help but go over to tell the kid off about how dangerous it was. He would be more than happy to take pictures with him later but being this close to fights was dangerous. When the boy managed a stunned nod, Superman thought he got the message. That is until he spotted this child a couple days later, tiny hands once again wrapped around a camera as he took pictures. It was at this moment that he recalled Bruce telling him about how Tim first got acquainted with the Bats. Oh no.
Surprisingly, Danny doesn't particularly mind his current situation. I mean sure, he's stuck in a ten year old body and stranded in another dimension but he was in a world full of superheroes. Better yet, the superhero of the city he was currently staying in was apparently an alien. How cool is that? Maybe the sneaking close to his fights to get pictures was a little much. But that had led to Superman talking to him. Ok well it was closer to scolding him but same difference.
Okay, hold on for a second, just hold on... You're telling me, that the nightmare magic that makes people live out their absolute WORST nightmares got a hold of Barry... and his worst nightmare is Wally getting hurt?!
I just- I need to sit down for a second. I can't see, it seems to be raining on my face.
This is the Dad™ of all time.
Barry is Dad. Look at that dad
Oh and see this? See how nightmare dream Jay says that Wally randomly 'slowed down' in the fight and that's why he got hurt? How much you want to bet that it'll end up being Barry that causes that? Either Wally-after-Barts-Death: Part 2 Electric Boogaloo where he'll blame himself for using too much speedforce and limiting how much the other could take, or this could potentially be Barry blaming himself for Wally's mental block.
Which would be very interesting because Jay specifies that this happened on 'his watch' in Keystone and Jay was injured. So it could be Barry manifesting his guilt for dying and leaving Wally on his own, because Wally operated in Keystone and was (semi) supervised by Jay. Barry could feel guilty that Jay should've been retired and shouldn't have been out in the field with Wally, and that Wally should've had a mentor that could keep up with him (aka Barry). Plus the fact that Wally went from keeping pace with Barry to barely breaking the speed of sound after Barry's death. It caused Wally a lot of trauma and pain and it was solely due to Wally watching Barry die.
(also Barry not being there when Wally got hurt is very telling. Wally got beaten to a pulp fairly frequently when he first started as the Flash and Barry was 'dead', completely unable to help)
It was more that Barry's death deified Barry in Wally's mind and this was on top of Wally's pre-existing hero worship for Barry. Barry, in Wally's mind, was the perfect father, the perfect husband and the perfect hero. He was a literal god among men.
Wally held Barry up on a pedestal taller than a skyscraper, so when it came to Wally filling Barry's shoes Wally psychologically could not let himself usurp Barry's legacy.
Barry would always be the fastest man.
Not the fastest man alive but the fastest man nonetheless.
So yeah it was all just mental blocks on top of mental blocks on top of mental blocks. There were a few other speedforce shenanigans going on here and there but they weren't really responsible for Wally going from 'Just a sec, im going to run through dimensions real fast and vibrate through everything in sight' at 14 to 'im struggling to run and I can do zero cool tricks' at 19. That was all the depression and trauma 😎👉👉
