The thing is, Tim didn't mean to put it on. He was just kind of playing with it to keep his hands busy while he was thinking about the recent murder case. GCPD had their hands full with the serial robbers that didn't rank high enough to catch Batman's attention, and Tim never had a problem with helping the police if he had time.
And the ring was a perfect fidget toy, if he is being honest. Small and plain enough not to distract him, but the round stone in the middle was loosely attached, making it able to spin inside the frame. Which is what he did, again and again, like those fidget spinners.
Of course, he was just destined to drop it sooner or later. And then, when he reached under the table to pick it up, his finger caught inside the ring, and, well.
The ring was now firmly on his finger.
The problem was that he couldn't take it off.
It wasn't stuck, at least not in the general sense of it - Tim could easily spin it around, and it wasn't tight. But it wasn't loose either, and as soon as he tried to move it past the knuckle, the ring heavily disagreed, almost like shrinking down and absolutely refusing to be detached.
Barbara suggested soap, which didn't work. Dick tried for a more mechanical approach, first with pliers and then with a laser, which the ring resisted with no effort. Cass, who was actually the one who brought the damned thing into the Cave after one of her adventures in Hong Kong, just smiled and shrugged, which was of no help either. Damian offered to cut the finger off, which probably would have helped, but Tim rather liked all his limbs attached.
Bruce called Constantine. The magician took one look at the ring, barked a humorless laugh, and pat Tim on the shoulder sympathetically.
"Congrats, mate," he said, a wry smile on his lips, "I hope you file for divorce."
Although, while all the rest of the Bats and Birds devolved into fits of hysterical laughter (Steph), indignant sputtering (Damian), and cries of outrage (everyone else sans Alfred, who was pointedly unimpressed), Tim couldn't even bring himself to be surprised. Really, his life had been a shitshow since he was around ten. It's not like he didn't expect himself to be accidentally married to some otherworldly magical creature by this point.
The worst part - worse than the actual engagement, that is - was that Constantine couldn't exactly tell them who the spouse was.
What he did say was that the Ring belonged to the King of Infinite Realms, Keeper of Unseen Worlds, and Eyes of Universe. But those were only titles, and, as John Constantine begrudgingly admitted, there has been a change in the management recently, so no one really knew what the new almighty monarch looked like or what they were, much less their whereabouts.
"You can't blame me for not being keen to find out, though," John said, wincing, "The last one was a bloody tyrant, and the Realms operate under the right of conquest rule."
At least, the mage assured them that since the being had not yet come to collect their shiny new spouse, they might never show up at all. The Ring has been lost for ages after all, so maybe the King didn't even remember having one. Or, the previous King didn't, and the new one didn't know about or didn't care.
The first week after the incident, they spent anxiously researching and worrying. Bruce even went as far as making Tim wear a tracker at all times, which was not great, but he did appreciate the gesture. Kind of.
After the first month with no sign of any changes, the worry started to abate. In half a year, most of the family stopped trying to keep an eye on Tim at all times lest he suddenly disappeared. Two years later, even Tim himself treated the Ring as a natural part of his daily life. The stone inside was still a great fidget toy, engagement or not.
Three years, one month, and five days after Tim first put the Ring on his finger, when the world was falling apart and breaking in front of him and there was not a single thing he could do to stop it anymore, Tim pressed his lips to the cold, dark strip of unknown metal on his finger.
"Whoever you are, I don't even care, please," he whispered in a useless prayer, his voice hoarse and his throat dry, "please, help."
And the world came to a stop with a short, amused chuckle.
Just felt like drawing my little guy as a little ghost prince. Really just trying to learn my new tablet, I'm lowkey struggling. Please don't @ me for forgetting the DP symbol, I was in a rush...
It is a widely used headcanon in the dpxdc fandom that the lazarus pits are corrupted ectoplasm. However I have never seen anyone give an explanation for why they are corrupted past "they're runoff of the Infinite Realms." What possibly in the dpxdc fandom could be powerful and corrupt enough to taint that much ectoplasm?
The Ring of Rage
When Pariah Dark was put in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep he was sealed with the Crown of Fire, but not the Ring of Rage.
In the time between when Pariah was sealed and Vlad found the Ring of Rage in his keep there probably could have been a couple hundred years where the ring was lost in some ectoplasm.
This gives a reason for why Jason has pit rage. There's nothing more corrupting than the Ring of Rage. Rage is (quite literally) in its job description.
It also explains why the pit healed his injuries and made him physically stronger. With the Crown of Fire, the Ring of Rage gives infinite power, so on its own it should still be pretty powerful. If mixed with ectoplasm (something known to bring things back to life) it could probably do more than just bring the person to the state they were in before they died.
And with power comes corruption, which can explain why Ra's al Ghul is so enamored with the pits. While keeping him alive for hundreds of years past when he should have reasonably expired is good on its own, the power of the pits corrupting him does make sense when you think about it.
I'd also find it really funny if Danny saw Jason and is just like, "excuse me when did you get your hands on the Ring of Rage."
Like he thought that thing was sealed with Pariah and then later sealed in his own haunt. Why does this random twenty something crime lord have the Ring of Rage's power intertwined with his (not even fully formed) core.
Danny: see's residue of the ring of rage's power on jason
"What were you thinking? No wait, you probably weren't thinking at all." Jazz hissed as she tied a bandage around Dan's arm who grumbled and looked out the side. They were currently the only ones in the hidden room of Sam's Mansion. "What were you even doing? You still haven't explained anything. Not where you went, nor what you did."
Dan only grumbled again, head still turned away. But from the corner of his eyes, he was watching Jazz. Though he refused to give an answer. His encounter with Talia of all people wasn't something he was going to tell her about. Nor that he overestimated himself. Well, he still thought he could take her and that that woman probably used some dirty tricks when he fought her.
He watched Jazz warp the obviously non-lethal cuts on his human body. They weren't lethal. Talia didn't aim to kill once when he tried to get answers out of him. Yet she was able to keep up with him, his ghost form specifically. Even knew how to counter him.
Dan knew this now and he was not going to get Jazz or any of the others involved with her. Danny wouldn't want that either. Though Dan was not doing that for Danny, at least that's what he told himself. Because Talia was dangerous.
He doesn't know how but she had Fenton technology and that damned taser Vlad created that could suppress ghost powers for some time and force Danny, Ellie and him into human form. Though Dan was aware that Vlad had locked all his inventions away, even destroyed some of them under the watchful eyes of him and Danny before, part of that man's redemption apparently, he also knew that this was the League of Assassins. He wasn't delusional, and it was likely since Talia knew about his existence she likely also already had procured any inventions that could counter ghost powers.
Which didn't lessen his suspicion of that woman at all. No, it made her even more suspicious in his mind. She must have something to do with Danny's disappearances. Especially when she said something about Danyal being where he belongs. Considering the bits and pieces he still remembered from his shared memory with Danny could mean anything.
"Dan! Dan! You aren't listening aren't you?!" Jazz groaned and Dan realized he had zoned out while he had been thinking. "URG! You and Danny are so alike!"
A dark chuckle escaped Dan but at the look, Jazz gave him, he bit back his snarky comment. Though a moment later it wouldn't have mattered anyway a portal opened right before them startling Jazz and causing him to course.
Though neither expected Wolf to be the one to step out of it. The wolf ghost looked around until his eyes fell on Dan and the ghost started to spew out sentences in quick succession that didn't make sense to either. Dan blinked before he finally elbowed Jazz. It sounded like something happened in the Ghost Zone. Something that wasn't good and for a split second Dan hoped that Fright Knight would be fine stopping anyone going through the gate at Vald's. "Call Tucker."
Meanwhile in a penthouse in Gotham…
"Was that supposed to happen?" Tim wondered out loud, questioning once more how he had let Steph talk him into this. Seriously, how? The two were currently staring at a chalk circle drawn on the floor of his bird nest. Stephanie right next to him. The book on ghosts open in her lap on the specific page of how to summon a ghost or more accurately, the ghost king.
Tim hadn't expected anything from this really. Like nothing at all, while he knew about magic, ghosts and all the other supernatural stuff. He did not expect this to work at all. He was still trying to learn how to decipher something akin to ghost language, that apparently Jason can read. Which he was still not over yet, he still planned on pestering the other for more answers. There had to be some better explanation of 'i just can, maybe because i died?' Because if that had been the case then he was pretty sure 90% of their family should have been able to read the damned green note.
Well in the middle of these struggles and logical conclusions Tim was trying to make Steph had gotten her hands on his book and… well she got invested too. Just not like him, in a different way. Like her usual, slightly chaotic way. Which resulted in trying to summon a ghost.
"We did everything right, right?" She muttered, flipping through the pages of the book. "Maybe I should have bought the duck candles after all instead of normal ones…"
Tim shook his head hearing that. "Steph, no." A sigh left his lips before his eyes focused back on the object that now lay in the drawn chalk circle. He was contemplating what to do. Maybe even call Greta until he noticed Steph reaching for it and slapped her hand away from it. "Steph, no."
He gave her a stern look as he repeated himself. His eyes went back a moment later to the toxic green ring with a red eyed skull symbol on it. It reminded him slightly of a lantern ring, just more deadly and likely dangerous. Considering they apparently had summoned it from what was described as the Infinite Realms, in the book.
The blond next to him gave him a pout before getting up and going to Tim's kitchen, coming back with grill tongs and picking the ring up with them before he could stop her again. "What should we do with this?"
The black haired teen sighted getting out one of his special evidence collection bag and opening it for Steph to drop the ring into it. Making sure neither of them would ever touch whatever they had just summoned directly. "I don't know yet. But I think I will make a call to Greta. Probably should have done so earlier. Also I will see if there is a way to analyse… this ring."
Steph hummed, her earlier excitement of doing a ghost summon gone. "That's… kind of boring." Tim could only shrug as an answer, again he hadn't expected anything at all from this. Steph had been the one to hype this summon thing up, expecting to actually summon something from the so called Infinite Realms.
"I want to try again later! Maybe tomorrow You know when everyone is out on patrols! Oh maybe we should try it on the highest building of iGotham, at Fullmoon! Like some real ritual thing!" Steph continued on her enthusiasm returning, Tim shook his head, thought he didn't disagree. A part of him was after all curious and maybe he could get some tips from Greta first before they tried again. The ring, as intriguing as its design was, was kind of disappointing as a summon result.
Another sigh left Tim's lips as they moved to clean up. He did not notice how a green post-it note appeared in the evidence bag by the ring with writing he would not be able to decipher.
the larger (cropped) version of my art for Phantom's Fate & Fortune, the Danny Phantom tarot deck (@dptarotproject). this project has been an absolute joy to work on (but also like, hella stressful, but still hella fun) so I hope yall like the pdf book cause I'm really proud of it & can't wait for yall to see the physical guidebook!
