Would love to hear how ‘Phantom is being treated kinda shitty when first summoned’ is resolved. The other ghouls reactions to their own neglect of him is it were
I'd love to tell you too!
I'm actually writing something a little longer related to my other post but here's some little drabbles while I finish that up.
once the ghouls realize that they've failed Phantom so much as a pack, some of them would immediately start to feel remorse towards their actions but others would remain hostile towards him for a little longer.
The ghoulettes instantly realise how they had neglected their youngest member because they had been too focused on their grief and teaching Aurora about the surface (I like to think that she was summoned just before Phantom, not at the same time). They start to include him in their lessons with Aurora with more basic content than she gets so that he finally starts to better grasp the surface and its complexities. They also induct him into their little sub-pack, which means that he MUST be present whenever it's ghoulette pile time or it doesn't count.
Mountain also comes around to him fairly quickly. He's always been the type to be pretty laidback about things and if the ghoulettes accept someone he's usually quick to follow. he starts to invite Phantom out on walks with him where he shows him different plants and bugs. mountain is not the most talkative of ghouls so he tries to show his regret for how he behaved by introducing Phantom to things that he loves. I like to imagine that they can be found together in the greenhouses a lot where Mountain picks lots of new fruits, veggies and herbs for Phantom to try given how he's still not acquainted with most heart foods (plums are some of his personal favourites)
Swiss chooses to sulk a little instead of trying to make up with Phantom straight away. He will leave a room when the other ghoul is in it almost immediately because he thinks that he will just make the younger more upset. It takes Cirrus and Cumulus cornering him and telling him to pack it in for him to realise he's actually making it worse as now Phantom feels like because they got in trouble for how they treated him, Swiss now hates him. Swiss then finally stops his sulking and starts to interact with the other more. he notices how Phantom will often watch whoever is cooking with eyes full of wonder so decides that he's going to teach the new one how to cook. It's a complete disaster. Phantom is still unable to read so can't follow any of the recipes Swiss presents to him and Swiss has a bad habit of skipping the steps on accident, but hey at least Phantom learns some curse words to use.
I think I'm going to do Dew, Rain and possibly Copia in a separate post just because of how carried away I've gotten already but be assured they and the longer work I've got currently half-written will be coming soon!
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i love your kanej parents fic!! you said before that you have a lot of thoughts about mama ghafa and inej talking about motherhood, do you mind sharing them?
Oh Anon, I never mind sharing my thoughts about Kanej as parents (or anything, really). So glad you asked!
As I mentioned a bit in the post to which you're referring, I think both Kaz and Inej will have complicated feelings about the idea of parenthood. I think Kaz will deal more with feelings of unworthiness and worry that he'll be bad at caring for someone the way a father should care about their child, but I think Inej will have to address her fear that what happened to her could happen to her child. Which is a recipe for just SO much angst 😊
More under the cut:
I think when Inej first realises she wants kids she doesn't really feel afraid; I think that comes later. Continuing from my thoughts on that previous post, I think Inej starts off on this journey feeling confident; she and Kaz have just spent the evening with the Van Ecks, and she's been watching Kaz be The Coolest Uncle to Jesper and Wylan's kiddos and feeling horny intrigued by the idea of a child of their own. A little of her and a little of Kaz, all in one tiny bundle? What's not to love?
At this point I'd guess thirty is around the corner for them both, and they've accomplished a lot. By now Kaz has the entire Barrel (if not the entire city) under his thumb, she is basically the queen of pirates and the bane of slavers everywhere, and they're pretty much untouchable. So as she leaves the Van Eck mansion for their own just a little ways down the Geldcanal (personal headcanon that Kaz's open admiration of the décor in Hoede's mansion prompts him to buy it at some point after CK) thoughts of all the ways this could go wrong are far from her mind. Their world is as safe as it's ever been, after all, which is something she tells him--several times--in the many, many discussions they have together before deciding to go ahead with this.
The first time they have unprotected sex there's a stirring of panic, but it's mixed in with all the excitement of "I guess we're really doing this!" Inej is deliriously happy with it all, struck by her love for the man she married, for his love for her, for the faith they have in one another to trust each other with their bodies and with the possibility of the new life that they may create.
The fact that they're not really trying to conceive so much as allowing for the possibility means that it doesn't totally feel real until Inej is waking up in her little cabin on The Wraith, checking and seeing that no, she hasn't started to bleed in the night, and that makes nearly seven weeks, and Saints above this is really happening.
Now the panic is real. What has she done? She is on a ship right now actively hunting slavers--almost the most dangerous thing she could be doing. And a child?? In this world? Where children still aren't entirely safe from those who would seek to steal them away from home and sell them into unspeakable horrors? How could she be so foolish??
And somehow, they end up pointed toward Ravka, instead of continuing on the lead they were chasing. By the time they get to the Suli camp, Inej has her worries buried deep. She's Captain Inej Ghafa, after all, and she doesn't need to panic because she can solve this problem. Or... she could, if she could actually determine what the problem is. Because the problem can't be the tiny thing growing in her belly which she already loves more than she can possibly say; it can't be Kaz, the only person she wants to do this with; and it can't be the baby's safety, because... well didn't she tell Kaz over and over that they would be able to protect their child??
Ostensibly this unexpected visit is because Inej wanted to tell her family the news herself, but Mama Ghafa recognizes the fear in her daughter's eyes that even her bravest face can't hide. After dinner she invites Inej back to her wagon to chat about whatever is on her mind, and Inej shouldn't be surprised but her Mama just knows.
"A mother's instinct," she explains, offering a gentle smile, and all of Inej's efforts to be strong collapse and she bursts into tears.
They'd always kind of tip-toed around the subject of Inej's abduction, and whenever they did talk about it they talked about what Inej went through. Sure it had been hard to tell her parents about the horrors she'd endure--even if she did so rather vaguely--but she felt that she needed to, that it was important to her and her healing. But however hard that was, it pales in comparison to hearing her mother tell her about what she and Papa went through during those years when they knew nothing about what happened to their daughter and couldn't help but fear the worst.
This too, Inej thinks, is important for her to hear. She needs to hear her mother say that her fears for her unborn child are valid, and she needs to hear her say that she mustn't let those fears control her. There is joy, love, and laughter ahead of her, and there is also frustration and heartache and fear. Parenthood isn't any one thing, and it isn't for everyone, but if Inej and Kaz have decided this is something that they want, then they deserve it, and they deserve all the immeasurable happiness it will bring.
Papa Ghafa arrives at the wagon a couple of hours later to find Inej leaning against her mother's chest, wrapped in her arms, both of them puffy-eyed but smiling. He fetches a pot of tea, seeing they've cried themselves dehydrated, and joins them, eager to celebrate Inej's wonderful news.
The three of them stay up all night, her parents taking turns telling stories of children and their shenanigans (Inej even shares a few stories she'd coaxed from her husband over a glass or two of whiskey), which turns into Inej asking questions about pregnancy and birth, which turns into questions about parenting, which turns into her parents offering sometimes-conflicting pieces of advice while the sun slowly rises behind the tree line. This is a pattern they repeat over Inej's long visit with her family, often with the addition of aunties and uncles and older cousins and anyone with advice or a story to share. And Inej treasures every one.
Now I'm not totally sure what Inej decides to do for the rest of her pregnancy--I kind of like the idea that she heads back to Ketterdam for the next few months, offering her spidery services once more to the Dregs because she wants to share these precious months with her husband (also because Dirtyhands does give the best massages for that lower back pain that never seems to leave her alone). It would also be amazing to have the Wraith be back, growing more and more pregnant with every sighting and still kicking ass as much as ever.
But I DO know for sure that Inej's parents arrive at the mansion about a month before Inej's due date, and get to spend all kinds of quality time with their daughter and soothe her fears as the panic of motherhood is picking up again. I'm obsessed with the idea that Marya is there too, and that she and Mama Ghafa are the ones who stay up all night with Inej when she goes into labour, helping deliver little Rosanna right before dawn. For sure Kaz is awake all night too, as is Inej's father, and Mama Ghafa probably has to kick Kaz out of the room until the baby is actually almost born because yes of course he deserves to be there for the birth of his first child but if he doesn't stop pacing he is going to drive them all insane. So Kaz gets to spend some time with the quiet and level-headed Papa Ghafa, hearing stories of Inej as a child and his own fears when his wife went into labour with her, sympathising and distracting Kaz when he needs it most.
I'm absolutely letting this run away from me but I do think that the Ghafas come to visit much more often after their granddaughter is born. Personally I've always felt that there are a lot of hurdles for Inej and her parents after spending so many years apart, not because their love has diminished at all but because the daughter they found is not the same as the daughter they lost, and they have to reconcile with that. I think they've all come a really long way since their reunion, but I think something about this whole experience and Inej becoming a parent herself does away with any lingering dissonance; she understands them in a way she didn't before, and I think getting to go through this experience together brings the whole family together in a brand new way.
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Dick gets his drink mixed up with another persons in the library while visiting Barbara.
He was drinking some kale smoothie thing, for health and stuff, and he set it down to grab a book from the shelf. There was another guy next to him, who also had a smoothie in the same kind of shake-n-go bottle.
They swapped by accident.
Dick checked out his book, said goodbye to Barbara, and took a sip of his smoothie.
That's the last thing he remembers.
He wakes up two days later pinned down by a practically feral Jason, who's eyes are glowing a sickly Lazarus green, with Bruce, Tim, Cass, and Duke all showing signs of losing a fight. He's sore everywhere, and Damian is nowhere to be seen.
"Uh...." his voice cracks, and he's suddenly aware of how fucking painful his throat is. "Hi? What's going on?"
"...Is it really you, Dickwing? I swear to God if it isn't and this is another-"
"Jay I really don't know what's going on, man."
Jason doesn't believe him. Dick is cuffed with anti-meta cuffs and escorted to the cave, where Bruce demands test after test and Dick tells them the last thing he remembers.
Apparently, after taking that sip, his eyes had turned to Lazarus green, and he had beelined for the mansion. Along the way there, he had run into the Riddler.
He had broken most of the Riddler's bones.
That was when everyone had been called in to subdue Dick, who for some strange reason kept gunning for Damian. Hence, Damian was upstairs and not allowed down until they were sure Dick was okay again.
It's concluded that Dick drank some alternate form of Lazarus Water, lost his mind, proceeded to take everyone out with enhanced strength and speed except Jason, who had entered a Pit episode just to keep up, and worked through it two days after consumption.
But who the fuck transported a material as dangerous as modified Lazarus Water in a fucking shake-n-go bottle?
Danny, however, is a little sad that his ecto-shake was stolen by some rando at the library.
Their kale smoothie was pretty good though.
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love when men cry about body hair bc "it's hygiene" and yet 15% of cis men leave the bathroom without washing their hands at all and an additional 35% only just wet their hands without using soap. that is nearly half of all men. that means statistically you have probably shaken hands with or been in direct contact with one of these people.
love when men say that women "only want money" when it turns out that even in equal-earning homes, women are actually adding caregiver burdens and housework from previous years, whereas men have been expanding leisure time and hobbies. in equal-earning households, men spend an average of 3.5 hours extra in leisure time per week, which is 182 hours per year - a little over a week of paid vacation time that the other partner does not receive. kinda sounds like he wants her money.
love that men have decided women are frail and weak and annoying when we scream in surprise but it turns out it's actually women who are more reliable in an emergency because men need to be convinced to actually take action and respond to the threat. like, actually, for-real: men experience such a strong sense of pride about their pre-supposed abilities that it gets them and their families killed. they are so used to dismissing women that it literally kills them.
love it. told my father this and he said there's lies, damned lies, and statistics. a year ago i tried to get him to evacuate the house during a flash flood. he ignored me and got injured. he has told me, laughing, that he never washes his hands. he has said in the last week that women are just happier when we're cooking or cleaning.
maybe i'm overly nostalgic. but it didn't used to feel so fucking bleak. it used to feel like at least a little shameful to consider women to be sheep. it just feels like the earth is round and we are still having conversations about it being flat - except these conversations are about the most obvious forms of patriarchy. like, we know about this stuff. we've known since well before the 50's.
recently andrew tate tried to justify cheating on his partner as being the "male prerogative." i don't know what the prerogative for the rest of us would be. just sitting at home, watching the slow erosion of our humanity.
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