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#Gotham spirit au
phoenixcatch7 · 8 months
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Why can't we have a batman is the spirit of Gotham au?
He already is, in meta, in character, in theming. Him and the joker. He is so very built upon what Gotham is made of, and Gotham builds from what he needs in turn, the setting of his story.
What if that is the reason he can take damage that would permanently ruin a physical career and come back? What if that's how he's managed to maintain his no-kill streak to such an extent? What if that's how he manages to maintain such high maintenance and all consuming identities?
For the heart and soul of a city containing all extremes, the richest nobility and the lowest of the poor, the cruellest villains and the most compassionate heroes, orphaned children and ancient lineages, a city rooted in fear and madness and grit-teeth determination and hard won kindness, what better choice could you find than Bruce Wayne?
But what if he wasn't alone in that? What if Gotham has sunk to such a low because its spirit is damaged and corrupted?
For the heart and soul of the cruellest city in the dc universe, the most unrelenting and uncaring, the one that practically laughs at your pain and suffering as you try to make it through another day, what better choice than the Joker?
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nerdpoe · 10 months
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Spirit Halloween Meet Cute AU short
The ritual was well underway, and Bruce could see Dick choking on a strange liquid the cultists were forcing down his throat. It was the same liquid that filled the small pool he was restrained in.
It was Lazarus Waters.
As if that wasn't enough, drawn in blood on the ground was a strange sigil, presumably for invoking something or someone.
And Bruce knew he was out of time; if he wanted Dick to survive, he couldn't wait for a JLD member.
He had to move.
He broke the skylight and crashed into the middle of the enemy, trusting his team to follow. The fighting was mostly a blur, with Bruce's sole focus on getting to a now-limp Nightwing.
And then the sigil lit up.
From the Lazarus water Dick was resting in, a figure started to emerge.
It appeared to be a man around the same age as Bruce, a little taller than him, with snow white hair and glowing green eyes. He was haloed with an ethereal light as he picked up Dick's unconscious body like it was nothing.
Bruce did not think.
Only vaguely aware of the cries of despair behind him, Bruce launched himself at the strange being and decked it in the face.
The being reeled back, and Bruce used its distraction to rip Dick out of its arms.
Bruce darted back enough to hand Dick off to a swearing Jason, and readied himself to go after the being again.
But the being just stood there, hand to its face as it stared at him in...awe?
"You're a human," it-he-said, appearing amazed, "And you actually managed to hurt me."
Bruce bared his teeth in a facsimile of a smile.
"I can make it hurt a lot worse, too-"
"Marry me."
...
"...What?"
"Wait, did I say that outloud?"
"I can't...I don't even know who you are. So. Marriage is not. Uh." Bruce fumbled, unsure of how to handle this turn of events.
"My moniker is Phantom, my name is Danny, and I'm going to disappear now and act like I don't exist."
There was an overwhelming pressure, his ears popped, and Bruce's opponent was...gone.
"Tt. He is clearly not good enough for you."
"Cute."
"Black Bat, no; watching out father figure flirt is not cute. B, if you're done swooning, we need to finish mopping up the cultists."
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spacedace · 9 months
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Reluctant War AU Part 2
Part One
...I ended up writing more for that Reluctant War AU...Like. Wrote this before work and started on part 3 with plans for part 4 more.
this was supposed to just be a brain worm what happened (also thank you @catastrophic-crow for the AU name <3 <3 <3 Also, also: welcome to the cult of Ancient of the Speedforce Elle! Membership includes nonsense, shenanigans and chaos haha)
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Gotham had always been a place for ghosts.
Every corner haunted by death and tragedy.
Every street stained red at least once in its many years.
Every dark shadow holding the faint shadows and shades of the dead.
Gotham was, before all else, a grave yard.
Jason had known that his entire life. Every kid born and raised in the Alley did. Death came fast to Gotham’s streets. Especially for those the rest of the city turned its back on. He did his best to lighten the reaper’s load when it came to the people that called Crime Alley home. Well, mostly. He’d certainly added names to old Death’s list before, when the occasion called.
When the armies of the dead descended upon Gotham, the only surprise Jason could feel was that those white wearing pieces of shit had dared to try and hunker down in his city.
It was a sentiment shared by most of Gotham’s fine citizens. By the city itself - herself? Something to ask later, if there was a later - even if the impossible, living shadow that rose up out of Gotham’s many dark corners was anything to go by. He knew, almost instinctively, that the entity - skin of cracked pavement, mouth a bridge suspended too wide across the face, eyes of CCTV camera lenses and body built brick by grimy, bloody brick of the sharp skyline - was Gotham. Not a ghost but something bigger, greater. Something awfully, terribly alive in all its horrible, noble glory. His city, manifest in the shape almost human beneath the green glow of the torn apart sky above.
Phantom’s armies arrived without warning as they had everywhere else, and their enemies poured out in unforgivably unmarred white suits to meet them. Horrible and garish against the Gotham streets. How they’d ever managed to slink by unnoticed while being so blatantly, clearly not of Gotham Jason wasn’t sure he’d ever know.
If either side thought this would be like the battles they fought before, they were mistaken.
Gotham was a place for Ghosts.
A place the dead piled up, lingered well beyond their deaths. A place where the rules were different from everywhere else in the world. Where crime was rampant and chaos reigned but at the end of the day people said their thanks that they were born to this hellhole and not so cursed to call anywhere else in the world home.
The dead came to fight
And Gotham, a thing so alive it was sickening to look upon, rose up to fight right along side them all.
The agents were ready and prepared for the incursion of the dead. It’d been two weeks since the first volley of attacks. Two weeks spent shoring up defenses and ramping up weapons and strategizing ways to kill what was already dead. They were, as best as they were able to be considering how endless the armies that came for them, prepared.
They weren’t prepared for Gotham.
Weren’t prepared for the city itself to rise up and take spectral, eldritch shape. Jagged building spire and shattered glass teeth bared in a snarl that spanned miles. Screaming rage in a voice made of gunfire and the concussive boom of explosions and the shrieks of a furious crowd.
Weren’t prepared for its people to ignore the gentle ushering of the dead trying to push them away to safety and instead press forward to fight shoulder to shoulder with the ghostly armies.
Weren’t prepared to have brick and bottles and trash and debris rain down upon them from the jeering living. Weren’t prepared for dirty faced children with hard eyes to light up rags stuffed into chipped beer bottles filled with gas and kerosene and throw them with more speed an accuracy than any professional baseball player. Weren’t ready for Gotham’s motley crew of terrifying Rogues to band together with the citizens they so often accosted and worried and bring down wave after wave of chaos and Goons.
Weren’t prepared for Red Hood to swap out his rubber bullets for the real deal and start mowing the fuckers in white down, his own crew at his back, the rest of the Outlaws on their way.
The Justice League was trying to find a peaceful resolution. Trying to play go between to the US Government and the infinite dead. Too wound up in US politics to side with the dead outright, too disgusted by what the American government had done to ever want to stand with them. All it had gotten them was spun wheels and confusion and the slow creeping realization that the time to try and play negotiators had well passed.
Red Hood wasn’t a member of the Justice League.
He had no obligation to try and find a way to talk things out.
What he had was a grave he’d dug his way out of, enough ammunition to arm a sizable country, and a burning need to make things right.
Gotham had always been a place for ghosts, and Jason had long accepted that he was one of them.
Haunting the streets he’d survived as a child, the city he protected as Robin, the family he’d loved and lost a thousand and one times before and after his death.
The sky cracked open above his home, and it was not an invading army that came rushing out but a native one. Friends, neighbors, strangers on the street you caught from the corner of your eye. The people of Gotham knew their own and fought for them. Only Gotham was allowed to fucked with Gotham and they’d been screwed over enough by the government themselves to know what side they were on.
He lifted his guns and fired, teeth bared in vicious satisfaction beneath his helmet as white was splattered bright red.
A hissing electric whine of a weapon, a flash of green from the edge of his vision.
“Down!”
He was thrown bodily to the cracked and ruined street beneath him, the body shielding him warm and living as one of the agent’s weapon fired a blast of energy right where he’d been a second before. He’d seen that same weapon reduce one of the raging dead to dripping green and screams of agony the dead should not be capable of making.
Before he could shove himself up and respond in kind, the body above him was in motion and the air above him cracking with the snapping-popping-roar of a gun of a much higher power than even what he had. The fucker in white that had shot at him dissolved into a mist of red viscera, body seizing and shuttering in the briefest moment it had before it was obliterated completely.
“Watch yourself.” He looked up - and up - and wondered at the lovely, fierce face he found staring down at him. “Even without shooting at them you’re Liminal enough to trip their sensors.”
She was tall enough to be an amazon, six inches in height on him at least. Body strong beneath the pitch black armor she work - as deep and dark as the depths of space, etched with starlight, a familiar crest upon her chest in the dizzying burst of a supernova - she held herself with confidence. Strands of hair the color of a warning sunrise escaped out from beneath the helm she wore, bright against her pale skin, warming the glass-sharp teal eyes that had pinned him in place.
The hand not holding the gun she’d just used to delete the asshole that had just tried to shoot him - a strange, impossible thing that made him taste lightning at the back of his throat to look at it - stretched out to help him up.
He accepted it.
Something pulsed to life in his chest. A piece forgotten where it’d been left behind, half buried in grave dirt and broken pieces of a casket he’d clawed his way out of. It burned like a hot coal in his chest, froze him with the same aching cold of a blizzard, crackled his nerves to life with lightning even as his brain popped and fried with the same sizzling energy.
On his feet, hair on end and body and Core pulsing with the need to fight, to rend and tear and scream for all done to him, his people, his home, he met the eyes of the woman before him. Her cool gaze softened, just a moment, just a second as she seemed to realize what had happened. Her hand, lighter than the armor she wore should allow it to be, tightened on his just a moment, mouth tilting from determined frown to soft understanding.
Gotham had always been a place for ghosts.
Jason had long accepted that he was one of them.
---
Part Three
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dcxdpdabbles · 6 months
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Cave Boy Danny is a dad and that one fact makes Tim less suspicious of him.
Because the contingency plan for Bruce is his kids. It's also really concerning HOW young Bruce is a parent. (How old is he?!)
And this story won't be complete without Dani showing up to cause mayhem while calling for her Father.
She commits to the bit without even knowing all the details. Or the bit.
So, in Cave Au, I had planned to have Danny call Dani, his adoptive sister, instead of his daughter to make the Waynes much more nervous about him, but I'll write a different Au for you to make up for it.
Dani Fenton is the new kid in Tim's class. She's moved with her single father, Daniel Fenton, from a small town in Minnesota. At first, there is not much to her, even with her large brian.
She's a scholarship girl with a mind for chemistry that could make any scientist green with envy. Her uniform must be better tailored, likely second-hand, because it hangs loosely around her body as if made for a taller girl. She doesn't talk to other students, often popping in headphones when they are dismissed to the next class or during breaks.
Most of Gotham Acadamy doesn't want to interact with her, and she's completely fine with returning the sentiment. Personally, Tim only noticed her because she had a Dumpty Humpty sticker on her laptop.
He's surprised to find anyone in his generation who even heard the band, much less enjoyed it enough to have merchandise. It was a rock band that was popular twenty years ago when Bruce was a teenager.
Tim only knows about them because Bruce sometimes puts them on when he wants to work on any Bat vehicles.
He recognized her sticker, but it wasn't a reason to go over and start a conversation with her. The only action this realization caused was Tim pulling up his playlist and pressing one of Dumpty Humpty's songs.
No, what caused him to talk to her was an incident that happened three weeks after she arrived at Gotham Acadamy. It's a well-known fact that scholarship kids were picked on. Even though Waynes attempted to curb the bullying, it still happened to the kids they gave financial assistance to.
Tim had stumbled across a group of girls surrounding Dani by the soccer field. She was sitting on the grassy hill overlooking the field, and around her were various art supplies. Dani had likely been painting when the girls had rudely interrupted her.
It didn't take any of his Bat training to see how they were mocking her, and he sped up just as one girl reached out to try and snatch her screech book out of her hand.
The key word being tried.
Dani had been much faster, for she not only tugged her book out of the bully's reach but also kicked out the feet from under the girl in the same motion.
"Nice try." Dani taunted, her accent just peeking through. "Now, do me a favor and get your daddy to buy you a yacht you can't drive instead of bothering me."
"At least my Dad has money!" The other girl screeched.
Dani snorted. "Oh boy, you really cut me where it hurts. How will I ever recover from that comeback?"
"You Bitch!" A blond girl yelled. Tim knows her. Tina Lumière, the youngest of Harry Lunmiere- a family who ran luxurious vacation services. A family that was always quick to lure in investors. She's been trying to flirt with Tim since Bruce took him in, convinced he'll fund her family business if she bats her eyelashes hard enough.
Tim hates interacting with her.
"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. I'm a poor bitch that won't amount to anything, and I need to stay away from Timbo Dragon so you can go make rich stupid babies with him."
"That's not his name-"
"Look, I only have one day of the school week where I have a free period, and you're wasting it on this." Dani waves her hand around the group with an over-exaggerated squint. "I mean, honestly, why would I go after some guy? I'm a lesbian."
"You are?" The brunette in the circle of bullies asks, with too much interest. Dani sends her a wink, and the girl actually blushes. Tim is suddenly reminded of Steph, and that causes him to smile.
"That's not his name!" Tina shouts, stepping in between the flirting girls. Dani's face clouds over in distaste as she continues. "His name is Timothy Drake. I know you're lying about not being interested in him! I saw you staring at him in biology."
"I was looking at his rock band sweater. It's a band my dad likes-"
"Shut up!" Tina slaps Dani across the face, seemingly smug, but it doesn't last long since the raven-haired girl springs up with a nasty right hook.
It hits Tina right in the eye, knocking the girl down like her friend. She screams, which triggers all her friends to jump at Dani. Despite being smaller and outnumbered, Dani gives as good as she gets, throwing a girl over her shoulder and punching another in the throat.
Tim picked up his speed, walking into a fast run. He barely has the mind to pull out his phone and point it in the group's direction. "Hey, break it up! Break it up!"
The two holding onto Dani's hair let go like they've been burned. If a teacher had tried to stop the fight, they wouldn't have gotten far, but Tim is a Wayne. They have much more power than some poor staff.
"Tim," Tina wails. Her eye is already starting to bruise. She's going to look terrible for a while while it heals. "She attacked me!"
"No, she didn't," He says, rolling his eyes. He waves his phone at them. "Don't lie. I recorded the whole thing. Also, harassing others is super unattractive."
He didn't, but they don't know that. Tina's face falls apart as he helps Dani get her things and then escorts her to the main building. He doubts that will stop her harassment, but hopefully, it will detain them long enough for him to find a better solution.
"Thanks," Dani says after they finish walking. "That was cool of you."
"Don't mention it." He gives her a standard Wayne-dizzy smile. "What of mine sweater were you talking about?"
She grins. "The Dumpty Humpty one.'
"Oh yeah, that's my dad's. He loves the band."
Her eyes light up. "Mine does, too. Maybe we can get our dads to meet and discuss it."
Great. Dani Fenton was another opportunist trying to get Bruce to meet her parents. Pity.
"I'm sure there will be a chance in the future. Maybe the parent-teacher conferences, we'll run into each other," He says with a laugh, not giving her a direct answer. Dani nods and then walks off to her next class. He reports the girls, compiles enough evidence, and when he's sure the school will step in, he doesn't think about the afternoon.
Then, four months later, it's parent-teacher conferences. Bruce and Tim are just about finished visiting all his teachers, that are falling over themselves to get on Brucie's good side when Dani appears, dragging her dad behind her.
"That's him." She says, and Daniel's face lights up.
"You're the Dumpty Humpty fan?" He asks Bruce. His dad has no choice but to play along even though Tim knows he's dead tired and wants to go home.
"Of course. Who doesn't love a good Fairy Tale Ending to listen to on the way home?" Bruce laughs, and Daniel's grin widens.
"That's great, but I like Bloody Prince Charming more. Daniel Fenton, by the way." He holds his hand, and Bruce shakes it slightly more interest now. It's not that Dumpty Humpty isn't just old; it wasn't popular in this part of the country, so it's even rarer to find fans in Gotham.
"Bruce Wayne."
"Nice to meet ya!" Daniel chirps- seeing anyone other than Dick be that cheerful is odd. "Wish we can talk more, but I got to get to this one's art class."
"Of course," Bruce says, even though he's surprised they walked away so quickly without asking for anything more of them. Most try swinddle a second meeting somehow.
Dani waves Tim goodbye, and the Fentons are off down the hall, chatting between them in ordinary, eased tones. It's odd but a forgotten interaction for Tim after a few days.
Not so much for Bruce.
Tim finds out a month later that Bruce not only met up with Mr. Fenton again but even asked for his number on their second meeting. Then the two men went out for dinner, went to the mall, went shopping, and even did some charity fundraiser together.
Bruce would often message Daniel that it felt like he was the new teenager. Tim still did not think it odd.
Only when Damian burst into his room, dragging the rest of their siblings in. The youngest had called on a sibling meeting to discuss a new issue that worried him about Bruce.
"Tim, who is Father's suitor, and what are his intentions with Father?" The boy asked after everyone had settled.
"What?"
"Babybat has a point. I haven't seen Bruce this interested since Catwoman first appeared," Dick added. "I really hope this lover sticks around."
"What lover?" Tim questions Jason, who shrugs.
"A Daniel Fenton? The old man has been going steady with him for about a month now. Haven't you noticed? You were the one that introduced him."
"No, I've been focused on the Phantom case," Tim says, gesturing to the board covered in red yarn and a news clipping of the new hero.
Phantom had appeared a while back, going through the city and helping the little people. He's even harder to catch a glimpse of then Batman, but he's been helping to slowly cut down the pity crime and muggings, letting the Bats focus on the big guns like the Rouges.
The Bats had been trying to pin him down to offer assistance and gradated for all his hard work. They just catch him since Phantom is a meta and always slips away at the last second.
"Whatever the case may be." Damian started up again. "We must protect Father from those with less than honorable intentions."
"Hear, Hear," Steph and Duke cry, lifting up their juice boxes that Cass had passed out. It wasn't a proper sibling meeting without snacks.
"He can't be all bad," Tim said. "He's a single father."
"Having a kid makes him more worthy?"
"In my experience, step-parents have been really great." But Dana was incredible like that, so maybe Tim put too much faith in Bruce's dating life.
They all agree to closely monitor Daniel Fenton and his daughter Dani. There may be more than meets the eye.
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puppetmaster13u · 9 months
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Can't stop thinking about This prompt/au lol
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I almost like to think that Clockwork kind of half-sent Danny to the ghost-world version of Gotham because he was struggling and is honestly just a kid and could use some guidance. And with how the Observants dislike him to the point of murder, CW sure couldn't keep him in Long Now. But Gotham? Now there's a place that not many go, thanks to curses running amok, a very dangerous City Spirit, and amalgamations of fallen Guardians and Rogues. It's chaotic, dangerous, and a hell of a shot, but the Bat could, and most probably would assist the newborn guardian. The living world and the infinite are intertwined after all, influenced by whatever realm it drifts closest to.
Thankfully Danny seems to be enjoying himself- he has a proper ghost friend now! And he's starting to be able to understand Batblob's cacophony of Silent-EverSilent-Gurgles-DistantWhispers-QuietScreamsSilence easier too without Robin translating. (His Ghost-Speak is getting so good :D) He wishes he could bring Sam & Tucker but it's a little too far into the ghost zone. And the ghosts and Vlad doesn't bother him here! (The last time he tried, unknown to Danny, the older halfa was met with a malicious swarm of teeth and maws ready to rip and tear and not lose another child again-) He's even gotten shown the exits to the living-world's Gotham. Robin likes to ramble about the new and different living-robins and about their friend who was also a robin and who disappeared one day and whose core they carry on their belt. Maybe he can help them find out what happened to him...
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ikiprian · 2 months
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Damian's not quite sure what to make of this green, floating dog.
Gotham’s always bred a strange flavor of urban fauna. Damian himself has met, in his time living here: a two-headed pigeon, a bipedal rat which could open doors, and Killer Croc. (Jones’ birth certificate might say Florida, but everyone agrees he’s as good as Gotham-born, the way he chews metal and monologues.) But never before has Damian seen a puppy that glows, let alone phases through the lid of the dumpster it had been scavenging in.
The front of its tag has a logo for Axiom Labs, a company that was bought out some years ago by VladCo. The back has the name “CUJO” in permanent marker, and no phone number.
Well, it isn’t Damian’s fault if someone failed to chip their animal. If nobody comes to claim it, he’s sure Father will agree to a meta companion for Titus. 
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space-dreams-world · 3 months
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Inspired by this:
Except there's a twist: Danny adopts Dick, Jason, and maybe Tim.
Danny moved to Gotham (not bad end, but Vlad gets killed, trying to help Danny escape Amity Park, after de aging Dan and Ellie. Fentons, in their confusion and anger, make it even more unsafe for Danny to live there. Fortunately, Vlad made Danny his heir awhile ago, and in leaving, Amity closed their portal and Vlads. Vlad is a full ghost now. So now Danny is a runaway pregnant genderfluid teen that moves to Gotham, whether it be before the wayne murders or after. Jordan isn't born until a year into living in Gotham.)
He sets up a bakery/cafe near crime alley with his apartment on top of it and lab in the basement. He also owns a warehouse that he uses as a storage and training zone. He never makes homeless people pay, and if you can, it's a dollar. Even ghosts show up. He gets to know batman starting out and even maybe starts to court him as bats. They don't officially date until after catwoman reject his proposal, and Damian is permanently with Bruce.
Danny, while not at the circus prior to Graysons' murder, sees an escaped juvie grayson and is able to calm him down, even gets him to speak with his parents again and Danny with the help of Gotham threatens/scares Zucco into fearing for his life. He doesn't bring him back to Juvie but manages to save Dick's things and important paperwork. They declare him missing despite being needed in witness protection. Bruce wants to care for Dick but he doesn't have the same connection to Dick and sees Danny as his own Alfred, when B parents died. Danny raises Dick with a little help from Bruce.
Cannon events also happen, so Two-face and Joker get ahold of Dick for being near Batman and get beaten and shot. Danny brings Dick to the Far frozen and they heal him and he ensures to Two face/Joker that he will feel the same pain as what he has dealt to Dick and almost kills Joker but gets left with a warning.
Court of Owls actually loses Talons to Danny and are his and his kids' bodyguards now while trying to learn how heal them. Unfortunately, Bruce pulls back from the relationship with Danny, and this hurts them both.
Then,when Jason is on the streets, he sticks to near Danny's place and eventually gets adopted, too. Eleanor is born after. Jason loves his new family and is surprised that Bruce is back to dating Danny again. (Which hurts Dick because Bruce only came back for Jason)
In this scenario, Shelia reaches out to Jason for bribery reasons, and when Joker shows up, Danny is having none of it. He kills Mr. J crushes his soul and brings Jason to the Yeti, where he flatlines and gets to become a halfa instantly. This time, Danny is the one that pulls from Bruce as he never found out where Danny took Dick and now Jason to heal. So in the 6 months Jason was in the Zone practicing, Bruce took the worst of it and thought he was dead, but in reality Jason in the zone training with his powers and Dick helps out with his enhanced liminality. What seems like a death to Bruce is a coma or a loss of mobility for Jason. Bruce just assumes he's dead.
Dick grows up to be either a gymnast instructor or a social worker. Jason would be studying for literature or social or justice reform. Dan is a mechanic or security guard. He works part-time at the cafe and helps with branding and making the sweets. Jason, Jordan, and Ellie also help in the shop. Stephanie is a part timer.
Tim, during one of his photoscapedes, gets caught, and Danny and/or the kids save him and bring him to Danny. Tim, while dealing with years of parental neglect, stays with them, or Danny notifies Bruce of this. Either Tim stays with Danny, and despite Drakes having more money and power, Danny's otherness freaks them out and they decide fuck this or similar to cannon, Bruce adopts Tim.
Bruce, by the end of this, officially only has one or three kids: Damian, Cass, and/or Tim.
[I don't know if I want the boys into vigilante. It seems hypocritical for Danny to say no to vigilantism,but in another reality to this one, Danny says yes to the boys being vigilantes]
Hilariously, Danny and his kids show up to a Gala as Masters Heirs.
Jazz moves to Gotham after College to either be a doctor or work in Arkham.
Sam, while trying to leave her parents grasp, goes to Gotham for personal reasons and her parents threaten to cut her off from her inheritance unless she shows up at important events or Galas to support the Manson name.
Tucker is a tech fan and also moves to Gotham, but it is a bit of a recluse, but he takes an interest in teaching Babs, Dick and Tim in Hacking. He is an IT guy for Wayne Industries and an app creator.
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chrysanthemum9484 · 8 months
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DpXDc au where Danny by luck be it good or bad becomes the city spirit of Gotham.
He can leave the city and all but it hurts him due to unbelievable levels of homesickness. Being near the bats whenever he leaves helps a bit.
The bats and birds inherit some abilities which help with stealth, some slight increase in physical prowess, slight gliding and immortality level of healing factor in Gotham. Thankfully Constantine notices and explains it.
Danny always knows everything about Gotham. From people's personal history to their location and current activities.
Gotham is beyond cursed but what the bats are doing weakens the curses bit by bit. They are still a burden though.
Danny has conned the conman Constantine himself into keeping an eye on the curses too and to try remove any of them completely once they feel weak enough. No the bats and birds don't know. Yes they are beyond confused once the Joker out of the blue turns sane and gets put on death row.
Alfred somehow gets cursed into immorality and no one is touching that curse.
Unemployment percentage lowers and lowers slowly but steadily and at some point the batfam have no more goons and loons to fight. Red Hood's goons are registered as employed the very moment they get downgraded to street kid babysitters and worker ladies bodyguards because suddenly there are no more drugs shipped in Gotham.
So out of boredom the batfam annoyed Poison Ivy into creating a forest around half of Gotham, and a fruit and vegetable garden around the other half of Gotham and the most beautiful botanical garden in the center of Gotham.
That leads to lessening pollution, food prices and crime rate being half of what it used to be.
At this point the batfam are annoying their villains to find more legal ways to do what they want to do out of pure boredom. After all there is one theft tried a month at most, the villains have no goons, the Joker is dead and Ivy and Harley are happily tending to lord knows how many acres of land, there are no drug deals to take down, kids and ladies are safer than ever in Gotham and Tim is getting to sleep for 4 hours a day!
The bats create a show for the Riddler to host. He gets to ask all of his riddles and people are actually engaged and enjoying themselves!
Suddenly Red Robin invades Mr. Freeze's Lab, muttering about getting too much sleep and starts working on making a serum to save Nora Fries. And all Mr. Freeze can do is watch and wonder if Red Robin has lost his marbles as he effortlessly heals his wife.
Waylon Jones says 'fuck it' and joins Ivy and Harley and the gothamites slowly start treating him like a person.
Black mask hisses like a cat and leaves permanently with Danny chasing him out with an ecto-broom.
Danny helps Harvey Dent find healthier copying mechanisms.
Scarecrow moves to Amity Park and sets up shop there. Enough said.
And so on and so on.
Eventually Gotham becomes a gothic sunshine city and the batfam are bored to death aside from superhero club Things and Tim is complaining about having a regular human sleep schedule.
Danny is a happy little noodle man due to lack of curses weighting on him.
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moonlight-stalker · 10 months
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# 67 Dc x Dp
Danny had been cursed when traveling the infinite realms he was exploring a world where the year was 1528, he had been exploring when a person uses magic to try to bind Danny to himself instead he bonded Danny to the land killing the magic user in the process. Danny became stuck in this new dimension unable to leave, he had no one to look and find him. Over the years many have tried to bond Danny to themselves but ended with their death, and Danny with more chains and being cursed
In the year 1695 people started to settle down in the land that Danny was bound to. Over the years the place became known as Gotham Danny protect everyone he could but he has grown weak because of the chains that hold him down. When Batman appeared and started helping protect Danny's people Danny decided to bless him with protection and each Robin Batman had would be protected
In 2260 another magic user appeared and tried to take control of Danny this time they were able to take control of him, but Danny made sure that the magic user and he could not leave Gotham. Batman had to let The Justices League into his city with a couple of the Justice League Dark. John was the one to tell the bats that the magic user had been able to enslave the Gotham spirit.
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duskyashe · 1 year
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NaNoWriMo Day #8
[masterlist] [part two]
Prompt found here
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It was summer break, and Danny was lost in the Infinite Realms. He wasn't too worried, now that he'd officially been crowned the High King, his subjects had mostly stopped attacking Amity Park, and he was eager to finally get some exploring done now that he could take a break. Jazz, Sam, and Tucker knew Danny was, his parents thought he was spending the week at Tucker's, and he had Clockwork's promise that Danny would make it home by the end of the week no matter how long he was stuck in the Realms, so he was golden. The only thing he'd forgotten was the map of the Infinite Realms that would tell him where he was and how to get back home, but he'd been working with Wulf on making his own portals, so if he really needed to, he had a way out.
But that was just in case, for now, he was just having fun being lost. There were so many things to see and places to explore! Like where he was exploring currently, it was this old gothic theatre with surrounding alleys, there were hidey-holes and hidden storage rooms, and there was an old fashioned elevator floor, this place had everything!
"Martha, there seems to be someone here," a man's voice came from around the corner ahead of him. Danny froze, not sure what to do. W-was this someone's haunt?! It didn't look occupied when he first found it!
"Oh, the poor dear! I thought Bruce had put an end to theatre shootings, though?" A woman, likely Martha, responded. She sounded genuinely worried and confused as to why he was there, and that... That gave Danny pause. Because that wasn't the normal reaction of a ghost whose haunt had been intruded upon.
The man sighed. "Martha, dear, you know he prefers to go by Batman when wearing the cowl. I've told you before, we should respect our son's wishes."
Their son is Batman?! Does that mean Batman's a ghost?
"I know, I know, but Thomas, that's not the important part! There's someone in the theatre when there shouldn't be! What if they're hurt, or lost, or confused? We need to help them!" Martha exclaimed.
Danny took an unneeded breath and floated forward, a sheepish grin on his face. "Uh, hi there," he said, giving a small wave. In front of him were two gothically dressed ghosts, one male and the other female. The woman, Martha, was wearing a dark green and black striped ball gown, a line of golden buttons decorating the front of the bodice. Thomas, her partner, was wearing a matching green overcoat with black trim, and a matching pair of black dress pants and dress shirt, with a classy top hat, golden buttons, and cufflinks to finish the look. They both had black hair and glowing blue eyes, and both had a small golden bat pinned to their chest above their hearts. They both seemed surprised to see him, maybe they expected him to be hiding somewhere deeper in the theatre?
Martha seemed to come to her senses before Thomas, and was soon hovering right in front of him, pale fingers ghosting over his face and arms with a concerned look on her face. "Oh, you're just a child! You poor dear, you must be so confused! Where are you from, if you don't mind me asking? You certainly don't feel like one of ours, were you visiting Gotham when you died?"
Danny leaned back slightly, flustered and unsure what she was talking about. "I, uh, I've never been to Gotham? I was born and raised in Amity Park? I-I technically died there, too, but that's a bit of a story. Um, what exactly do you mean, I don't feel like one of yours?"
Turned out, if someone highly influential to a city or town died in either a highly traumatic or a sufficiently influential way, they became the spirit of that city or town. Thomas and Martha Wayne were highly respected and looked up to by all of Gotham before they were murdered, and while their deaths weren't exactly traumatic enough at the time for them to have become the spirits of Gotham, they did inspire their son, well known billionaire Bruce Wayne, to become the vigilante and Justice League founder Batman. Once Batman became well known across Gotham, the couple were elevated in status and the previous spirit of Gotham was relieved of their duties. A brief tangent revealed that the spirit of a city or a town had different duties depending on what their city or town needed. For Gotham, and more specifically Thomas and Martha, it was being a beacon of hope and change as well as helping their family's fight to better the city and minimize crime.
"So," Danny said slowly. "Because I'm the protector of Amity Park, does that make me Amity's spirit?"
Thomas shook his head. "It doesn't quite work like that, son. Not every town or every city has a spirit, and a city or town spirit can't be less than fully dead, unlike other powerful positions, such as the High King."
"Not to mention," Martha spoke up, "that as the High King, you can't hold any other ghostly position of power, or else the balance would destabilize, sending all of reality into chaos. As such, the oaths of the High King include the renouncing of any and all former ghostly appointments that might interfere with the balance. It's part of why the Observants never tried taking the throne from Pariah Dark, to be honest."
Danny sat there, thinking over everything he'd just learned. Honestly, he'd learned more about his kingdom, subjects, and the culture that goes with it in one conversation than he had in the entire time he'd been a halfa. "There's so much I don't know, isn't there?" Danny asked after a moment.
Thomas and Martha smiled comfortingly. "Don't worry," Thomas said as he put an arm around Danny's shoulder. "You have time to learn it all, though some of this you really should have learned before making your oaths. I'd like to have words with your guardian, they appear to have been slacking in their duties."
Danny's mind blanked. Guardian? Surely, not his parents. Though. This seemed to be another ghostly thing, so probably—"Clockwork? Or... Maybe Pandora, or Frostbite? I'm... Not actually sure who my guardian is, are they supposed to let me know they're my guardian? Also, how does that work, how does someone become the guardian of a younger ghost?"
"You don't know your own guardian?" Martha cried in disbelief.
"Danny, may I take a look at your core? I feel we'll get more answers that way, but I wouldn't want to impose," Thomas asked gently.
"Why would that be an imposition?" Danny asked.
Martha gently took his hand in hers. "A ghost's core makes up everything that is them, their likes, their dislikes, their personality, their obsession, even their bonds. To let someone look at your core is to trust them with your very soul. Never let someone look at your core unless you trust them with everything you hold dear, alright?"
Shocked, Danny nodded. There was a lot he didn't know. "O-okay, um, yeah, you can look at it, Thomas," he breathed shakily. "I trust you."
Danny did not have a guardian. He had fright-mates in the form of his liminal sister and friends, but he didn't have a guardian or really any other bonds. Thomas raged and Martha cried and the both of them begged him to choose someone to be his guardian. He was a baby ghost, halfa or not, and his core needed the support of a guardian in order to not overwork itself trying to protect him, and end up hurting him instead, potentially permanently. They cautioned him that, with how powerful he already was, his guardian would have to be quite powerful, themselves, like an ancient or a tribe leader. When Danny asked if a city spirit or two would work, they both hugged him so tightly and so warmly that he melted into the embrace, frozen tears falling from his eyes.
"So, does this make me Batman's little brother?" Danny asked with a sniffle sometime later, after the couple agreed to be Danny's guardians.
Martha gasped and put a hand to her mouth, looking to Thomas with mirth in her eyes. "Bruce always wanted a sibling, growing up," she agreed with a laugh.
Thomas smiled at both of them. "Danny even looks the part when he's human!"
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Two weeks after Danny's ghostly adoption saw Danny giggling to himself as he walked up the front steps of Wayne Manor with his backpack hanging from his shoulder. He knocked politely and waited for Alfred, the butler and his brother's father figure, to answer. When he did, he took one look at Danny and smirked. "They're in the family media room, master Danny. Would you like some tea?"
Danny grinned and nodded. "You're the man, Alfred. They suspect anything?"
"Not a thing, master Danny. I shall be recording everything via the security cameras, just as the master and madam requested. Nothing will be missed. I'll bring the tea in when things have calmed down," Alfred said as he started walking back to the kitchen.
He suppressed a maniacal laugh. This was going to be awesome.
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MWAHAHA!!! I SUCCESSFULLY MANAGED TO WORK IN A WAY OF ADDING ONTO THIS FICLET WITH AN ALREADY EXISTING PROMPT!ヽ⁠(⁠`⁠Д⁠´⁠)⁠ノ Now. If someone could find me the post about the spirits of cities, specifically Gotham, that'd be great. I know there IS one, cuz that's what spawned the fic "A Change in Management" over on AO3 (I'll provide a link and proper citing later), I just can't find it (⁠^⁠~⁠^⁠;⁠)⁠ゞ
I'm really happy I managed to finish this, because holy heck, my day was just... Really crazy (⁠;⁠^⁠ω⁠^⁠)but it was worth it for y'all (⁠◠⁠‿⁠・⁠)⁠—⁠☆
Have a good morning/day/night!
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@little-pondhead i wanted to add more to the fic from ask I sent you and that you added to so I did :3 (in a separate post because I’ll probably add even more, and others are welcome to as well!! and i didnt want to take up people’s entire dashes snfnfj) @cinturon-cadena
Dan had never quite mastered portals or long-distance teleportation, and he doubted he would be able to while he was so limited by this form, but it was a moot point when his top speed was far faster than Danny’s and he had Clockwork’s Time-Outs at his disposal. He took a quick trip around the globe, tipping over landmarks, moving some buildings, splashing around in some foul-smelling pools of ectoplasm and stealing some left shoes from the ninjas guarding said pools.
Once he was pleased with his mischief, (and more importantly: starting to get hungry,) he headed towards the familiar feel of the cursed city. It was significantly less destroyed than he had left it the last time he’d visited. He understood the necessity of Clockwork’s interference, but it was still disappointing. He had put effort into such widespread destruction!
At least the city’s curse-spirit-mind-whatever it was didn’t remember what he’d done, and as such no longer wanted to give him a slow and torturous End. That didn’t mean it approved of him being there, though.
Time unpaused and he’d barely had the chance to tear down some walls before Gotham slunk out of the shadows.
“Calm yourself!” He growled as he squirmed out of its grasp, wishing he could still turn his form into mist. Intangibility was of little use with a creature like this. “I’m not here for you, or any of those mortals you are so fond of.”
Gotham screeched, and if he had bones, several of them would have undoubtedly been broken. "You are Other! An outsider! You are not welcome here!" It’s voice mingled with the screams of the alarms and the shouts of inmates and guards alike. “You set the Madness loose!“
Their tussle was nonexistent to the mortals as they rolled beneath and through stampeding feet, clawing at each other like alley cats. “All in good fun, Gotham!” He snarled and bit through one of the tendrils intent on relieving him of his eyes. He grimaced at the sludgy texture. “Time Itself sends me, to play with your favored mortals and avenge your dead!”
“You are evil! You will cause harm!“ Gotham screeched.
Dan rolled his eyes. “I will kill the insect who terrorizes what is yours,” He promised as if it were an offering to her, and not something he’d been planning for some time. (Danny had been so upset when the insect who called itself the Batman and its brood were absent from one of his schemes, because they were busy with this Joker insect. It was annoying. No insect, no need for Danny to complain. Danny had even agreed to the plan!) “Decide his fate, and I will enact it!”
The city’s spirit relaxed its grip on him. “You swear it? You will rid me of him, you will leave my Knights alone?"
“I’ll leave them alive.” Unless they challenged him. Then he would destroy them. But that didn’t need to be said.
“I will watch you..." Gotham slipped back into the shadows.
“Oh, how spooky.” Dan grumbled sarcastically as he shook himself in a vain attempt to remove the lasting sensation of Gotham’s touch.
That little disagreement had eaten up much of his precious time before the heroes of this realm could catch up to him. He lifted himself off the floor, startling a few inmates, and surveyed the chaos for a moment, selecting the perfect target. He darted towards the plant themed-villain- Poison Ivy, if he recalled correctly. (He always did.)
The woman staggered, clutching at her head as she tried to force him out. Overriding her will was laughably easy, but he admired her attempt to fight.
“Ah- Hey! You leave her alo- EEP!” With a flick of Ivy’s wrist, Dan suspended the other- Harley, Ivy’s memories named her, -in the air, leaving her dangling from some vines. The baseball bat she’d tried to clobber him with fell to the floor. He kicked it aside as he strode down the hall.
“I’ll give her back.” He said with a shrug, overexerting the woman’s powers to restrain every person he could find within the prison. His plants dragged all the pitiful, trapped mortals to the largest room available, stringing them up from the ceiling in cocoons like the insects they were. There. That would make it easier to find that awful clown.
Unless he’d already escaped. That would be unfortunate. Not for Dan, of course, but unfortunate for anyone who got in the way while he searched the city. And unfortunate for that clown, when Dan caught up.
The clown wasn’t in Arkham, so Dan left the unconscious Poison Ivy on the floor and shot through the roof, grumbling to himself. He flew clear of the building just in time to see Batman enter through a window. He paused, spectral tail flicking back and forth as he thought, before diving back in after the hero.
Danny had said to see how many things he could steal from that utility belt without being caught... And it wasn’t like there was anywhere the clown could go that Dan couldn’t follow.
He slipped out of the visible light spectrum and bit back his gleeful cackles as he liberated some of those delightful green rocks from the confines of the Bat’s pockets.
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xysidhequeen · 1 year
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I adored the new chapter I get the feeling that Dick fully approves of Danny as Jason's boyfriend. Like Saving Jason from a second death and helping him adjust to the powers that came with his revival gave him major brownie points in Dick's eyes. But being generally a good person and having a similar sense of humor to himself means that Dick will skip the shovel talk and get to teasing Jason about his crush.
I literally can't wait for Dick to see Jason in Ghost mode. I get the feeling that Dick even though Jason hasn't told him his new name yet is going to recognize him immediately. I get the feeling that the magical rings of transformation that halfa's have are both going to be a great source of teasing and Evny. Teasing because doesn't the phrase magical girl transformation sequence ring any bells? Envy because Jason can now go from civilian to hero in less than the second.
Dick definitely approves of Danny as boyfriend material for Jason. Yeah he kinda chewed him out, but that just means he'll protect Jason. And Dick gets a brother in law who will indulge him in a pun off so Dick can't really lose here. I can't wait for Dick to show up again, he's already a favorite of mine to write and I didn't expect that at all. I'm actually going to have a minor new subplot added to the story where we deal with some stuff that apparently was happening to Dick around the time Jason came back (someone unfortunately informed me of Canon events. I asked for it. I just didn't expect them to be so awful, the events not the person)
Dick, meeting Phantom and Red Hood for the first time: my brother senses are tingling
Phantom: hey Di-
Red Hood, shooting Danny to shut him up: The fuck you want here hero?
Dick: >.> yo Jason you can stop pretending. There's like 5 people in spandex with a body type like yours and I know none of them would willingly come to Gotham
Red Hood: Well shit.
Dick will have so much new material to tease Jason with. He'll just start playing random magical girl show openers everytime he sees him. Even in costume. The goons are really confused because now they're getting beat up while the Sailor Moon intro plays in the background and WHY DOES IT FIT?!
A treat for giving me interaction which fuels me
💚
"Mmm, time to play whack a clown," Dannt sung softly as he twirled the bat, rings of light covering him and shifting his form to a more comfortable one. Danny let invisibility wash over him as gravity ceased holding any command over his body.
Danny took to the air and flew off, heading unerringly in the direction of the Asylum, the feeling of fear and rage growing as he approached.
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spacedace · 1 year
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Gotham loved all her children fiercely.
Every single parent working three jobs, every corrupt politician lining their pockets with tax payer money, every exhausted student scraping by on rent, every doctor, drug dealer, lawyer and killer. She loved them all. Even those she hated beyond words, beyond ability to comprehend, those of her children so filled with evil not even a mother’s love could excuse or condone, even those she still loved.
They were all pieces of herself. As much a part of her as her cracked pavement and unruly parks and dirty cobblestone street skin, as the smoke and smog and storming haze of her hair, as the glint of her stained glass and cctv eyes. Her Populous made her as much as she made them, over years more cursed than blessed, shaping her with their stubbornness and pride and strength.
She did not love equally though. 
It was not something that guilted her. That all children should have equal parts affection were concerns of living things. And though it could never be argued that the Spirit of Gotham was anything but alive, it is not the same as being living. She is a City Spirit, first and foremost. Her children are counted in the millions, and though she knows every second of every life that call her home, there are those that she gives more of her love to than others.
Her Bats and Birds, who flit around her jagged skylines and down her shadowed streets and gave all of themselves to trying to protect so many. She loved them dearly, wanted to do everything in her power to care for them as they cared for her. Had done everything, when it became clear that she hadn’t power enough.
A deal with the King Infinite could be a dangerous thing, a great risk only the most reckless were willing to entertain.
But the King that had instilled such an apprehension in the Infinite Realms was gone now. Stripped of crown and ring and title, consumed in his entirety by his conqueror - though it had taken time and a great deal of danger for the new King to complete that right - Pirah Dark was a bad memory.
Phantom was something else.
And Gotham was willing to be a little reckless in trusting the whispers of her dead that their new ruler was a fair and kind one. That his Obsession was not with power, but with Protection.
That the King could use a little Protection himself, on the mortal side.
She’d made an offer, a Deal.
The King’s Grave Mother accepted on his and their Grave’s behalf. If it was, perhaps, a little underhanded to speak with the Queen Mother rather than the King himself, well. Gotham was born of shady dealings, the language of slanted deals was her first, and she could craft contracts that would put any Fae or Demon to shame.
It was a good deal though. Equal and fair for both sides. She’d been born of human kindness and empathy too, though they were not as easy a touch stone.
The King was kind, and hurt and in need of a protector of his own. His Grave were doing his best, but Halfa were things Between. They could not live all on one side of the veil completely. They needed a place on the mortal side, where they would not need to fear being hunted. Gotham could give them that. Gotham could be that.
What she asked for in return wasn’t so great a price.
If, perhaps, upon the King and his Grave taking up residence within the bounds of her Populous, she gained more than just the power she asked? A mere coincidence. Surely. The other City Spirits were just bitter that their more straight forward Populous hadn’t allowed them to think of such a scheme, to claim otherwise.
Besides, she thinks it still worked out equal enough. Companionship for some of her lonely Birds meant companionship for the King and his Grave as well after all. 
Even if it took a bit of nudging to get them all to fall in place. It was a mother’s right to meddle in the lives of her children, after all. Her duty to help ensure they found good partners. And she was hardly the first parent to feel that nothing short of royalty was good enough for her children.
*
Blurb from me figuring out the vibe between the Spirit of Gotham and the Pham in my Gotham’s Favorite Therapist Jazz AU. Also a writing prompt for anyone who wants to run with this haha
Believe it or not, this originally popped up because I had the idea “What if the person Gotham loves most in the world is Alfred because he looks after her favorite kids?” and it turned into this lol Eventually I’ll actually write the scene where Alfred and Gotham sit down and have tea together and talk about their kids.
In this AU/my headcanons Grave is the term Ghosts use to reference family (in the context of people you love and care for, doesn’t have to be actual blood relations or anything and more often than not is used to describe found family).
I just like the idea of a grave being seen as a place of peace and rest and for actual dead/ghosts you find that not in a literal grave but in the people you call your own. Also just like the alliteration of “A Grave of Ghosts” lol
Also have the idea that a Grave has a social structure similar to wolves not in the sense of the shitty incorrect misunderstanding with alpha/beta/omega sense, but in the sense that it’s all family dynamics with one or more families grouped together with parents generally trying to wrangle/look after everyone else. The head(s) of a Grave is called a Grave Parent/Father/Mother (in this case, Jazz being the Grave Mother).
Not referenced in here but gonna add it here anyway: I like the idea that the concept of “Ghost King” is meant to actually be more like “Grave Parent to all Graves and ghosts” rather than actual king, and that Pirah Dark just kinda fucked that whole vibe up with his shit. Just really like the idea of things going back to that with Danny having a more protector role and ghosts start using the title “Grave Father” for him (maybe with some misunderstanding of what that means and folks not in the know thinking it some ominous title lol).
Don’t have time to tag everyone who asked at the moment, but I’ll come back & do that later after work
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bat-stuff · 1 year
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*Damian and Colin coming to the manor after school*
Damian: I still don't understand why you're wearing what you're wearing
Colin, in a baggy t-shirt and oversized basketball shorts: Do I really need to explain spirit week again?
Damian: I don't see why spirit week entails dressing like Timothy when hes been up for 46 hours...
Colin: ... It was Adam Sandler day Dami.
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puppetmaster13u · 8 months
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The GIW made a mistake when they went after Phantom. They made yet another upon venturing into the darkened alleys. They made their last when they harmed the ghostling. Gotham is a viscous, vengeful being, and their guardians just as much.
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I want to write a Danny Phantom in Gotham AU but I also have no energy so I'm going to spitball until it becomes a thing.
I mean there are so many ways to do this but I just want to... drop the kid there. Hole between the universes deposits this washed out ghost kid in an alley behind Gotham's one Aldi and zips up just as fast. The kid is soaked through with strange swirling green waters and is injured AF and as he looks up his mind races with the facts.
He's a halfa. He was just in the Ghost Zone or Infinite Realms.
He stands, seeing his face in the blacked out windows that all grocery stores seem to have. White hair, glowing green eyes, and what can only be described as a mess of a suit hanging off of him. He knows in time the suit will heal, as will his injuries.
He shifts back. Finds himself in a hoodie, t-shirt, jeans and shoes with a school bag on hand. Black hair and blue eyes look back. He's at least dry now.
He looks around. It's definitely some time late in the evening or super early morning. The streets are dead where he's at.
He has no idea where he's at.
Oh, and he has no fucking clue who HE is.
The boy digs through his pockets and upturns his bag eventually, finding a phone that was smashed at some point and therefore unusable, a wallet that lacks an ID even as it's got several gift cards and a handful of single bills, a strange thermos that slots easily into his grip (and, suddenly, he knows exactly how this thing works and what it's used for), several unfinished pieces of homework that he'd never even gotten to writing his name on, a handful of super expensive athlete-grade protein bars, a water bottle with a rocket ship sticker on it, and... at the bottom of his bag, a shred of paper.
It's crumpled, but, when the teen pulls it out and smooths it out, it's clearly a torn piece of newspaper, a shred about "Phantom" saving a school bus of children with part of his face visible in a picture between the print.
On instinct, he runs a hand through the bag. Not the human way, but the ghost way. Intangibly, he scans between the padding at the front, back, and sides.
He comes back with another wallet. A small zipper pouch that was light blue with butterflies on it. One that would not be too odd in the hands of a young girl. This one has a fair amount of money - in no way a life-shattering amount, but enough that he could probably get to the airport and buy a plane ticket to anywhere - and a note. "Danny - This is for EMERGENCIES ONLY! Doom DLCs are NOT Emergencies!" There's a little doodle in the corner that looks like someone with long red hair, but the picture is poorly drawn and yet somehow pulls at the boy's heartstrings. A person he knows and cares for but can't remember.
The boy - Danny? Phantom? - stuffs everything back in the back, zips it up tight, and, just to be extra careful, phases the zippers shut so that no one short of a ghost could easily undo the latch.
Danny may not know who or where he is, but he's sure someone will come looking. He just needs to survive until he figures out who or where that person is.
Gotham, a city that has always been a little too Liminial, watches as a new Lost Spirit tries to find their way in her city. She senses his power, but he does not use them against her, and, therefore, she watches to see if this will become a Guardian, a Passerby, or an Enemy for her Bats to squash.
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