#((also at LAST got put on antidepressants hopefully i react fine to them!))

[primordyalsoul]

can i get some Ws in the chat for me today folks?!

[arnorcttos]

( ludovico tersigni + 22 + muse 59 ) isn’t that apollo amoretto over there? i heard HE joined faction: nomads after they got back to west ham. it’s funny, ‘cause they were only on the service trip to terrorize his peers. hopefully they fit in there – they’re ADROIT, but also INDELICATE. oh, i’m sure they’ll be fine. ( james, she/they, 20, EST )

okay hi i’m james and this is my baby apollo, who is actually a brand new spankin’ muse of mine so !! we’ll see how this goes b/c i’ve literally never rp’d him before !! and i’ll b frank. his background is inspired by logan in veronica mars. sue me. actually don’t i’m already in college debt but sudfjkfg PLEATHE plot w/ him. leave a like. two likes. that’s not even possible. i may change his fc in the future b/c like ... i’m currently making his gif icons as i go and to b frank ,,, it’s rly hard sdjfkgh but i love him. so we’ll see. sdjnfkmgh

TRIGGER WARNING - DEATH, MURDER, MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

a e s t h e t i c s

fingers across keyboards and piano keys, m&m’s scattered, vintage gaming consoles and tangled wires, worn vans and broken skateboards, banging of drums and splintering drumsticks, deep rhythms beating with your heart, the hum of a hefty computer and the buzz of a monitor, green text against black screens, unruly hair unkempt, flannels filling closets, bloody baseball bats, posters lining up and down walls, loud punk music shaking the walls, glares and whispers, the suffocation that comes with loneliness, pills rattling in their bottles, unmade beds.

general info !!

full name: apollo casimir amoretto

nickname(s): caz, polly, lover boy, 2000 (b/c of his screen names lmaoo)

b.o.d. - january 31st, aquarius boi

label(s): the escapist, the hellion, the insurgent, the netizen, etc. etc.

height: hitting 6′0″

hometown: west ham, kansas !

sexuality: bi...? fucking. it’s pride month ofc he’s bi.

his stats are TBD but his pinterest is HERE !

biography !!

cristian amoretto and camilla silvestri had a romance that could be described turbulent at best, and down right explosive at worst

cristian, a native italian actor whose career began before he could walk, and camilla, the daughter of two italian immigrants with big dreams in a small town, met on the set of a coffee shop. their love story began quickly, dating within only a few months of knowing each other and engaged before the year was up

camilla walked down the aisle 6 months pregnant with lil’ baby apollo, who was then born in west ham, kansas, aka the town that camilla’s family had settled in

was raised primarily by his mother and grandparents! his father was often off shooting movies, leaving camilla to take on the role of stay-at-home mom despite her own dreams of making it big as an actress

apollo grew up as a huge momma’s boy -- i mean, god, he just really loved this mother, y’know? his relationship with his father was much rockier because of his ... lack of being around.

when his grandparents died around the age of eight, that’s when things got...worse. it felt as if camilla’s parents were the only barrier between camilla and cristian’s budding wrath.

it became more apparent that cristian was not meant for the family life, his anger quick and his fists quicker, stinging words and venomous glares. a control freak who couldn’t handle camilla being an independent woman.

this wasn’t apparent to the neighbors, or much of the town in general, because the amorettos were such a prominent family up in their mini-mansion in oak ridge -- it was hard to imagine that their life was anything but exquisite and dreamlike.

this was, of course, up until camilla filed for divorce and a restraining order in the same day, face bruised and nearly unrecognizable. she, obviously, got custody of apollo.

at this point in time, apollo was fourteen and...pretty stoked for them to get away from his father. they holed up in southside and life continued as normal. for the time being. gossip swarmed apollo at school surrounding the circumstance which was annoying, to say the least. it led to him becoming withdrawn from the other students, not getting the whole ... gossip appeal.

in hindsight, they should’ve moved out of west ham. death threats in the form of letters and the eerie feeling of eyes constantly being on them came to a halt on apollo’s graduation day: the day that his father also, coincidentally, murdered his mother.

for making me miss out on years of my son’s life, was cristian’s excuse as he was escorted from the bloody crime scene at their apartment and into the police car.

obviously, cristian was convicted and sentenced to prison. apollo still has dreams about testifying in court against his father.

and then apollo became known not as the son of two celebrities, but the son of a murderer. total bummer !

became even more withdrawn and almost dropped out of college a few good times! the only thing that kept him rooted to west ham was his band.

and now he can’t leave, and he’s surrounded by people who all look at him weird and he feels like they’re all expecting him to be like his father, and he’s not, but god -- when people expect you to be one way, it’s so hard to act otherwise. it’s just not a good time !

pretty much why he went on the service trip tbh ... like, y’know ... if ppl want to believe that he’s just as bad as his dad then damn ! he was gonna wreck sm havoc on the trip, just being an absolute nuisance. 

personality !!

his main focuses are computers / video games, drums / his band, and like ... skating ... vaping ... gamer things, y’know.

from a young age he’d always been very fascinated by video games, and being the Rich Boi (tm) that he was, ended up with a whole lot of them to play, on a whole bunch of consoles.

but like ... he’s a PC guy :/ he may have a super rare nintendo 64 console or two but nothing can beat his dual-monitor set up with his hand-build computer !

he also got real into hacking, y’know, just small things like watching security cameras in different cities and occasionally changing his grades b/c like ... who wouldn’t ? also ... cheated in dark souls. fucking loser.

his favorite games to play were always multiplayer games online like WoW and overwatch so !! he’s pretty fucking mad he can’t play them anymore. like. so mad. genuinely furious. he’s been trying to hack his way into like ... wifi or something dumb, ever since they got stranded in new west ham, but he’s had no luck !

he joined a band in high school because he was angsty and young, and like, turned out to be really good on drums ?? they had like ... some real big jimmy eat world / green day / say anything / old school fall out boy vibes. just a whole bunch of ‘fuck the government, fuck the authority, anarchy, rebellion, revolt revolt revolt’ angry rock music that got a buuunch of noise complaints during practice.

his role in the band was essentially the ~nerdy~ one, because he was a gamer, but like he was also Edgy and Angry and wore all black like Constantly (he still does who are we kidding)

probably paints his nails black and has a nose ring b/c gamers can be edgy too !!

huuuuuge junk food junkie. like ... he will consume Everything and Anything unhealthy. has a huge sweet tooth, he can’t remember the last time he’s drank straight up water.

but like ... he’s a loner pretty much. only friends he really bothered keeping were his bandmates and like ! half of them went missing along with the rest of the town so ! he’s feeling a lil’ lost

but not lost enough to do Nothing, y’know ?? coming back to west ham to an empty town awoke his little baby survivalist in him, probably due to a lot of survival games he played online, and he immediately took over his old home in oak ridge ! it was pretty much rotting there with his dad in jail, but not anymore !!

has also probably broken into a few homes already tbh b/c he’s just. ruthless. impulsive. if it feels like the end of the world then he’s yolo’ing, he’s peace-ing out, u cannot stop him.

uuhhh so he’s got this fucking...pomsky, right? her name is tulip. she was camilla’s before she passed away and like, what is apollo gonna do, huh ? put the dog in a shelter ? hell fucking nah. that’s his dog now.

unfortunately tulip isn’t the most .... tough looking dog. apollo set up a bunch of fucking speakers around the property of his dad’s house and plays large barking noises whenever somebody gets too close, just to ward off intruders, but like ... there’s no fucking big dogs man. it’s just apollo and tulip.

this isn’t like a Personality Trait but idk where to put it so ! apollo’s on antidepressants b/c like ... y’know ... the whole dad-murdering-mom thing sort of fucked him up a lot ! they make him feel pretty blah and diminished his sex drive so like ... hook ups aren’t really an option for him atm !

besides that he smokes a lot of weed b/c self medication

he’s ... sort of an asshole. like ... he can be rude and he doesn’t have much of a filter and i don’t know if there’s any softness left to him ! he just really misses his mom and his bandmates and has a lot of wishes involving changing the past and he reacts badly to things because he’s so defensive and on edge constantly.

he misses twitter the most, tho.

no but he’s just like. .. sad gamer boi ... a man and his dog ... who also carries like five knives on him and definitely knows where his dad kept his gun.

like he’s not socially awkward or necessarily Bad with people .. he’s just bad with people :/ doesn’t try hard enough ! is a little too apathetic ! chaotic to true neutral

wanted connections !!

i envision his band to have like ... four or five members including him. two guitar electric guitar, one bass, one drums / keyboard, any of them singing idk that’s not important. and since two of them have Disappeared, i’d like the One (or two) that Remains ! anarchy boys !

generally .. anybody else who is tryn to survive, that maybe he can bond with or completely clash with ??

i’d love enemies, just ppl he Refuses to get along with or they are just on bad terms for whatever reason

people he’s trying to not ! not get along with ! but it just doesn’t work out b/c like ... lbr, apollo’s pretty bad with other people.

just any falling outs.

uuhh ... maybe a few somewhat-friendships ! like... awkward acquaintances

ppl he knew primarily from high school / haven’t spoken to since

maybe one or two ppl who’s soft towards him or he’s soft towards or vice versa b/c like ! i’ll b real .. it’s pretty nice to have !

ex-flings, ex-somethings, ex-gfs, bfs, anything from the past.

hookup gone bad b/c he couldn’t get it up b/c antidepressants be like that (this is based off of a true story can we get a sad yeehaw in here)

gaming pals from before no wifi.

skater buds. vaping buds. b/c i can confirm that apollo owns like three juuls. stoner buds.

someone he’s like ... hesitantly forming an alliance with b/c sometimes it’s easier when you have someone on ur team ! b/c then drama when one of them betrays the other uwu

somebody trying 2 break into his house b/c u Know it’s got some good shit in there but he’s just like ‘alexa play dogs barking audio’ and then ur muse is like ... there’s no fucking dogs

juul pod dealer. that’s all.

i’m down for anything rly !! pleathe hmu !!

[gayforthemoon]

I was told by a friend it is healing to write out all of my experiences the past nine months out so I’m going to literally write out everything that’s happened in the way of my illness here and shout it into the void.

Last October I tried to give blood. They rejected it six weeks later, informing me that I tested false-positive for syphilis. Crazy, if you know me. They asked me if I had any autoimmune disorders or if anyone in my family did. No, I don’t recall, I told my doctor, but it was the beginning of it all.

Shortly after that, in my last month of fall semester, I got tired. Not normal tired, and even more than my usual depression tired. I was sleeping between 12 and 14 hours a night. Getting up in the morning was the hardest thing I could do. I missed activities I wanted to go to simply because, come six or seven in the evening, I simply couldn’t keep my eyes open. My parents were worried. They got me an appointment with a big kid doctor (bye bye pediatrician) and I went to him to ask him why I was so tired. Before I could even get there, on New Year’s Eve, I threw up. I don’t normally throw up. Even when I had the stomach flu I kept it down. Just another thing to bring to my doctor. 

He asked me about four times whether I was pregnant. Each time I answered I got shorter with him. I am a virgin, do I have to scream it for you to understand?? He ran blood tests, which came back when I was at school. My iron was low, he told me, which is likely from your period (insert eye roll here), but the stomach pains aren’t as normal. Let’s test your poop to see if there is blood in it. You could have a bleeding ulcer. Either way, take some iron pills. I guess he didn’t make a note that I was already on iron pills. By now, I was seeing a doctor at school who told me my poop was simply poop, no blood. But my increasingly painful stomachaches could be from an ulcer. He started me on the medication, and I started throwing up.

Every day, no matter what I ate, I threw up. Salad? Nope. Chicken? Big nope. Milkshake? Definitely not. I called my doctor back home for an urgent referral to a gastroenterologist. He complied, and within a week I had an appointment in Grand Rapids. All the quizzes online were telling me to “seek care immediately” but still I waited. Because I could still get up, go to school, look normal. I didn’t look sick. But climbing up stairs shouldn’t have left me panting, and going for a walk across campus shouldn’t take me twice as long as it did last semester. 

My first GI doctor visit was a whirlwind. He, too, asked me if I was pregnant. I should have been prepared for it, yet I vainly thought that a male doctor would trust me when I told him I was feeling ill and not ask me about my uterus. I felt like I was going to throw up in his trashcan. He talked a lot at me, felt my stomach, and ordered an ultrasound and an endoscopy. I got the ultrasound done right away. I believe they were mainly looking at my gallbladder and liver. Both were fine, but I was still sick daily. The endoscopy happened in February, about a month after I started getting sick all the time. They told me after that my stomach was inflamed, likely due to all the throwing up, but everything else looked fine. No ulcers, no tumors. Just stop throwing up and you should be fine. Why am I throwing up though? They had no idea.

My next GI doctor visit he told me to have scheduled a gastric emptying exam. I was given a radioactive meal to eat and they watched it move through my stomach. They ended the exam early for some reason, and while the results showed my stomach moved food slightly slower than normal, it wasn’t slow enough to be super concerned. However, they couldn’t give me any medicine for it because it would strongly react with my antidepressant, which I needed more. The test was four hours long and I got no answers.

Next on the list was a HIDA exam. They injected me with some radioactive substance and watched it move through my gallbladder. Another two hours in the machine, and no answers. The people at Holland Hospital started to know me, chatting with me every time I came in. Still no answers. After that test, my GI doctor told me there was nothing more he could do, keep taking your medicine, and call our office if you get any worse. He was a shit doctor and I went back to Lansing to get a referral to a new one.

My home doctor, when asked about my newer symptoms, tried to tell me I threw up after working out because I ate too soon to the workout. Me, a triathlete, a lifeguard, didn’t know how to balance food and exercise? I don’t think so. My mom and I pushed back, saying a healthy 20 year old should be able to swim a 200 without throwing up, or go for a run, or be able to climb the stairs without feeling woozy. Again, I got the pregnancy question. Even my mom had asked me at some point. I was livid. But we pushed and pushed, and got a referral to a doctor at the University of Michigan Health Clinic. Supposedly, they were the best.

My UMich GI doctor is much better than my Grand Rapids one. I’ve only had one appointment with him, but he quickly proved the other one wrong when he said there was nothing more to be done. He ran a battery of blood tests and ordered an MRE (special kind of MRI) and a head CT. I missed school to spend more than three hours under heavy machinery. The head CT, while a long shot, showed clear, which was no surprise. The MRE took pictures of my whole abdomen and imaged it, from my stomach to my ovaries. The only abnormal result was thickening on the lower portion of my small intestine. No cause for concern.

My UMich doctor also set me up with a dietician. She immediately put me on a low FODMAP diet. Still not exactly sure what it does other than take out 75% of what I eat, but I’ve been doing well on it, even if I have lost nearly ten pounds in the month and a half I’ve been on it. Something about fermenting in my stomach? Anyway, the only areas of concern have happened when we try to add things back in. Then my tummy doesn’t like me, and I get sick after a day or two. It isn’t supposed to be a forever diet, which is why we’re adding food in. She wants to use me as a case study with new dieticians to show them how the diet can have really good outcomes.

The blood tests came back. Of them, it has been determined that I do not have Celiac’s Disease and that my iron is still low. I also tested positive for autoimmune antibodies as seen in 11 autoimmune disorders. I have to follow up with that, and I’m doing it at school. At this point, it’s likely that this unknown autoimmune disorder is causing all my problems, the next step is figuring out which one(s).

The hardest part about being sick is that I can easily pass for healthy. I get classmates asking me if I’m going to run the triathlon with them, but how do I say I’m sick, I physically can’t do it? The other side of that is that to some people, I’m not sick enough. I’m no longer throwing up every day, so I must be getting better. I’m able to go to classes and do my homework, so I must be fine. Limiting my food has helped, but you don’t develop an allergy overnight, what is the underlying cause?

I will post updates as I get them. School can be hard, DM can be hard, but I’m getting through it. Hopefully soon I’ll be getting through it and also feeling healthy, but one can dream.

[wellthatjusthappend]

Flicker Beat (2/2)

Read on AO3

<- Previous

Damian was sleeping soundly on the couch at last. Dick took the blood sample he’d drawn, separated it out into a couple test tubes, added drops, and set them spinning in a homemade centrifuge of sorts he’d thrown together. The baddies were always cooking up some chemical this or that and while a trip to the cave would be ideal, it wasn’t always possible.

Case in point.

The Abuse kid said something about it not affecting Alpha’s as much, which was weird to say the least. Hopefully after these samples settled properly he could get a better idea of what they were dealing with. Damian seemed to be already doing better, but that wasn’t the point. Someone had taken a good shot at his partner and it irked Dick that he hadn’t been there for him. Damian was very dear to him. If that dosage had been lethal…

Dick closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He balled up the wrappings from the tubes and went to toss them in the trash. Dick paused noticing an unopened package that was partially buried under the rest. It was flexible and had been squished up as much as possible. There was no return address, but Dick recognized Leslie’s spidery scrawl.

I know this is hard for you, but it’s not your fault. Please take them, they really will help.

Dick frowned opened the sack. Inside were a couple different bottles of medicine as well as a bottle of antidepressants. He wracked his brain trying to think if there was a reason Leslie would give these to him and came up blank. He’d call her after Damian was feeling better and try to figure why exactly these were in his trash. In the meantime he put time safely in his cupboard.

He heard Damian move around in the other room and hurried out of the kitchen again.

“Little D,” Murmured Dick kneeling by his side and feeling his forehead. No fever anymore, that was good, “How are you feeling?”

“Less than optimal.” grumbled Damian, jade eyes blinking open to stare at him blearily before scowling, “Colin, that traitor.”

“I’m glad he brought you to me.” Dick said firmly, “You didn’t know what you had been dosed with, it could have been very dangerous.”

“-tt-” Damian looked away. Dick wanted to hug him. He settled for stroking a hand through his hair affectionately.

“I’m really glad you’re here, babybat,” Dick admitted, “You have no idea how worried I’ve been.”

“Your worry was unnecessary. I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself,” Damian scowled. Dick was quite sure that if he knew how much he was pouting he’d stop immediately.

“You still shouldn’t have had to.” Dick said angrily, “You’re 14 years old, you should be having to carry adult burdens. Just because you technically can doesn’t matter. It wasn’t an ok for your Dad to do that.”

Protecting Tim was one thing. And an important thing at that. But turning your teenage son out of the house was another. Dick thought Bruce sometimes forgot Damian was actually child. He had a bratty attitude sometimes, but for the most part it wasn’t like he ever acted his age much. Still.

“So why would he do it?” Damian shot back, his angry tone barely covering an edge of hurt, “Why? I’m the blood son. Me. So why would he choose Drake over…?”

“Because even though Bruce is some of the smartest men I know, he’s also one of the stupidest,” sighed Dick helping Damian sit up a bit so the Beta could sit and he could lean against Dick’s chest, “I don’t think he meant for you to be gone more than an evening, but that still doesn’t excuse his behavior. I think he thought you would just agree to stop attacking Tim and that would be the end of it but he really should have known better. He knows you, after all. You’re both so stubborn.”

“I don’t understand. Drake already has everything. Why does he insist on always messing everything up?” Damian gritted.

“Wouldn’t you say though that everyone deserves a chance to feel at home in their own skin?” Dick asked.

“Don’t be idealistic Grayson, bodies were always meant to be cumbersome things.” Damian gave Dick a look like he was stupid.

“And even so, we still all try to find our place to fit.” Dick insisted, “Tim has found his. The pack is supporting him in that.”

“Colin would fit, if he could.” Damian said suddenly, Dick looked at him quizzically, “My- the person who brought me to you, Colin.”

“The Alpha.” Dick nodded, pursing his lips at the memory. He didn’t like that such a big aggressive Alpha had been just living with his younger partner. Dick wasn’t sure what to make of the fact that Damian was calling this- friend?- by his first name either. Damian didn’t call people by their first names.

“He’s not an Alpha.” snapped Damian defensively, “He’s- he doesn’t fit correctly into the dynamics, but he would if he could! It’s not his fault. If he’s had a choice he would have and- And then there’s Drake, hah!”

Dick bit back a thousand things that came to mind in the younger Beta’s defense but he decided to let Damian vent for a little first.

“Drake fit before and now he’s just messing it up just because he feels like it. Dynamics matter. They’re everything you can’t just- you can’t just throw them out just because.” Damian tried to explain.

Dick let them sit in silence for a little before carefully asking, “If dynamics are everything, where does that put your friend Colin?”

“I don’t know.” Damian admitted sounding distressed.

“What if your friend decided he wanted to fit? He’d have to go do some of the same kinds of things Tim is doing.” Dick let that sit, “If, say, he decided to transition to being a Beta, would you consider him to not be a real Beta like you’ve told Tim over and over?”

“No.” Damian gritted out, “I am aware that makes no sense, but no.”

“Ah.” Dick felt a flicker of hope. He’d always kind of been worried Damian might never except Tim. But maybe…

“I don’t know what to do, Grayson.” Damian admitted quietly, then more loudly and frustrated, “These matters are supposed to be set and very clear. The rules are in place, and those with any ounce of integrity follows them. There a correct way of doing things for each dynamic that compliments each other. If you break for that there can only be chaos and heartbreak.”

Dick refrained from asking about what Damian thought of relationships outside of a potential bond or traditional Beta/Beta relationships. He was already aware Damian thought he and Jason were infidels. Still…

“If you want to talk about my take on it all, I’d be happy to share some of the insights I’ve heard.” Dick said slowly, “But it sounds like most of all you need to think about it all some more. Don’t just bottle it up and try not to think about it because it’s hard though.”

“I know that.” grumbled Damian wiggling close. Dick smiled to himself, knowing that Damian would deny snuggling till the day he died. It was hard to resist kissing his forehead, but he doubted Damian would tolerate it.

At first Dick thought that his throat was tightening up because he was emotional. But after a couple of times of trying to clear his throat unsuccessfully, Dick got a bit suspicious. Damian seemed fine though.

“One sec little D.” Dick said regretfully shuffling out from under the other.

“Where are you going?” Damian asked looking disgruntled at having to move.

“Just gotta check something.” Dick smiled reassuringly.

In the kitchen the centrifuge had long since stopped spinning. Dick’s eyes widened at the way all of the tubes had separated and were reacting really concerningly. It didn’t say great things about whatever this new drug was.

One of the samples wasn’t sealed properly.

He started to reach for it and became aware that his hands were shaking. Hard. And more by the second. And the room was starting to pulse in an alarming way.

“Dami-!” Dick tried to call but it came out a concerning weeze. He couldn’t breathe. And everything was- everything was-

Black.

*****

“Pennyworth! Please! Grayson has-” Damian started frantically pulling the Beta far away from the sample in the kitchen.

“I’m on my way.” Alfred began to say before Damian’s brain caught up to the situation.

“No!” He said, “Stay away. And keep Drake away too. This is a drug that only affects Beta’s, we can’t have you getting exposed as well. I’ll call the ambulance, you inform the rest of the pack.”

“As you say.” Alfred said, strain evident in his voice.

“I need you to send an ambulance. Do not send any Beta personnel,” Damian said briskly dialing 911, “My packmate has reacted to the drug called Flicker. He is no longer breathing. My address is 54th St and Adams. West Gotham, apartment 731. I expect you to arrive promptly.”

Damian hung up before they could answer and focused on giving Dick CPR. He wasn’t sure it was doing much but his brain was filled with statistics and facts about the brain starting to die after 6 minutes without oxygen.

“Grayson, you fool, you’re not allowed to die.” Damian told him, “Especially not because you were caring for me.”

The ambulance's arrival and the ride to the hospital was a confusing panicked blur. Damian tried to keep track of who was doing what and why but it was chaos.

“Stop! Where are you taking him?” demanded Damian when they tried to take the Beta away from him.

“Don’t worry kid,” one of the attendants smiled wearily, “We’re getting real good at treating Flicker victims. Your packmates going to be fine. We just need to take him for a few.”

Damian reluctantly sat back and channeled his worry into rage for the fools who dared to hurt his pack and what he planned to do to them.

“Damian!” Damian turned as his name was called to see Tim running up.

“You shouldn’t be here-” Damian started angrily. Regardless of what Drake really was, right now physically his makeup was closer to that of a Beta than an Omega which meant he could be at risk. They weren’t sure exactly what it was people were reacting to after all.

“It’s fine,” Tim waved him away, “If it was loes in the hospital then Beta’s would be collapsing left, right, and center.”

“-tt-” Damian turned away.

“Tell me what happened.” Tim said intently, and Damian knew in that moment he was dealing with Red Robin. That was fine. He always dealt better with him than Tim.

Damian explained all about the gangs and the drugs and about getting dosed and not knowing that Dick had taken a sample so he hadn’t thought to warn him about any potential dangers. Tim was frowning deeply by the time he finished. Tim nodded and quickly sent out a series of texts.

“No one can seem to get ahold of Jason, but Barbara is going to Dick’s place to get his samples. We’ll have an antidote of our own soon enough.” Tim said

“Todd is going to go on a rampage when he hears.” Damian said dryly. The grimace Tim made said he agreed.

“Where is Dick?” Tim asked, “How is he?”

“In there.” Damian nodded to the doors.

“I’m going to go talk to them.” was all Tim said. Damian let him do it. He had no patience for people caught in bureaucracy and they would likely not appreciate him hurling them over the counter when they refused to cooperate.

“This doesn’t make sense.” Tim said looking troubled when he returned, “The drug has dramatic effects. Deadly if not treated. But it’s not hard to treat. They’re telling me that it rarely takes more than a day for Beta’s to get back on their feet. If this gang is targeting Beta’s, then it can’t be this simple.”

“-tt- Perhaps they got sloppy.” Damian said.

“No, they have to know by now that people can treat it easily but they’re still producing.” Tim said frustrated.

Damian shrugged and kept his eyes fixed on the door. He and Tim sat in silence, Tim occasionally tapping away at his phone. It was the first time they’d seen each other since their fight. Damian expected to feel more resentful, but he couldn’t muster it in the face of Tim’s palpable worry about Dick.

A commotion by the entrance made Damian look up to see Jason shoving his way past personal with Colin trailing worriedly behind him. Both Damian and Tim were on their feet in an instant.

“Are you ok? Should you be out here so soon after-” Damian went straight for Colin.

“I’m fine, Jason said I already stopped scenting and I’m feeling better than usual since he was taking care of me.” Colin said quickly. Damian started to feel jealous at that but-

“Where is he?! Where the fuck is he?!” Jason yelled.

“Jason-” Tim started to lay a hand on his arm but Jason shook it off.

“No, fuck, you need to let me see him right this fucking second!” Jason spat, his eyes wild and feverish.

“Sir, calm down,” a nurse tried to calm him, “If your mate is somewhere here than I assure you that we can take you to him. The Alpha ward is this way if you’ll-”

“I’m not going to no fucking Alpha ward.” Jason snarled, “My mate’s a Beta.”

“Oh,” She blinked rapidly, “Um, well, technically then you’re not m-”

“He was just admitted here for unintentionally exposure to Flicker?” Tim cut in with a charming smile before Jason could lose his already frayed temper, “Could you tell us if his procedures finished?”

“Flicker? Oh, well that procedure should have been finished a while ago, it’s really quite quick. We don’t take names upon entrance since patients usually wake up again fairly quickly to tell us themselves. I can see if he’s in the system?” she said stepping behind a computer, “What’s his name?”

“Dick Grayson.” Tim said while Jason muttered things under his breath. Colin took Damian’s hand and squeezed it comfortingly.

“Hmm, no one here is by that name.” She hummed, “Can you give me any other descriptions?”

Tim listed off several more.

“I’m sorry, you’re sure he’s didn’t already check himself out? Flicker patience do that sometimes. The only Beta’s here for Flicker are in their teens.” she asked.

“You.” Jason rounded on Damian grabbing his shirt, “Why didn’t you stay with him?”

“I wasn’t permitted to-” Damian began to spit defensively.

“When the fuck has that ever stopped you?” snarled Jason, “You knew Beta’s were disappearing after taking this drug, why the fuck would you let him out of your sight for a second?!”

Damian felt very cold.

“Oh god.” Tim breathed, “Oh god, that- that’s very clever. They could just- and nobody would probably notice- oh god.”

“I’m going to go fucking find him.” Jason said spinning on his heel.

“I- I’ll keep looking for clues here.” Tim said shakily turning back to the front desk.

“Wait, just like that? You guys really think he’s gone?” Colin asked worriedly.

“If he’s here, Drake will find him soon.” Damian said trying to breath through- Dick, no, they couldn’t have taken Dick. Not the one person in the family who- “But if they have taken him we’ll only have a short window to intercept them.”

A window that may have passed.

“Damian, I need you here with me.” Tim said apologetically as Damia started toward the door with Colin, “you’re the one who was with him and might be able to identify those who brought him in.”

“Colin, you go help Todd. I’ll remain here with Drake.” Damian said pushing his friend towards the door, “You have the best nose out everyone besides Jason. See if you can track him down.”

“Are you sure?”

“No.” said Damian in frustration, “Now go.”

With one more cautious look, Colin took off.

“We’re going to find him,” Damian said turning back to Tim, “We must.”