Dp x Dc AU: Bruce has a 'if you can't beat them, join them' mentality about the tabloids claiming he adopts too many kids- Developing foster homes that are paid for through the Wayne inheritance, personally vetted by the Bats, they're the leaders in the space for child health outcomes and family placement. Insert Danny.
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Bruce has too much wealth, too many rumors and not enough reach into the abhorrent foster homes around Gotham to improve them. Tim ends up being the one to suggest it- He's the one who buys up their real estate for their safe houses after all- and Bruce is more than ready to pull the metaphorical trigger to get new clean welcoming spaces, Bat-background checked fosters and a new era of adoption in Gotham underway.
He's lobbied the state and the federal government for reforms of course, but this is a project he can micromanage. He spends time with every kid that comes through, talks with all the families that want to adopt and makes sure that these miniature homes are provided only the very best. Alfred personally hires all the staff, and with Barbara more than happy to help relocate the unhoused children she spots while they patrol, the project is a glowing success.
Occasionally, spots in their houses fill up, and those are the weeks were Cass takes on the Cowl of Batman- Bruce Wayne will personally invite a child in need to his home. He always has one of his kids present (they rotate on a pre-determined schedule) and he does his best to try and get them to understand that they deserve the world, have all the potential that anyone else has and can achieve a bright future. That he will personally aid them in their ambitions.
PR goes crazy for it of course, but Bruce and all of his children know its genuine. Almost too genuine, because a betting pool 'WILL THEY BE ADOPTED' regularly circulates between the siblings and the entire JL when someone spends time at the manor. And not just the black-haired, Blue-eyed kids get picked as favored outcomes- but obviously the running joke gets passed around.
It's a Thursday night when Bruce gets the call that the houses have once again filled up, and that there is a child in need of a home. The social worker (he knows her as Marsha and he has flowers planned to be sent on her birthday next week, like he does for all of his employees) (Say micromanaged one more time) explains that the kid is a bit cagey but has opened up with some humor. She explains that he has a few strange... mannerisms. She's not sure what to make of him, a non-gothamite for sure but something is, well, distinctly 'not from around here' about his energy.
Danny arrives at the house, meets Duke and Alfred, and by the time Bruce meets him at the dinner table it seems as though Marsha had it all wrong. This kid was laughing, he was teasing, he was totally playing along like he'd gone through nothing. Bruce is glad he's in high spirits but its just so... so different from all the other children he's taken in.
Bruce re-focuses on the conversation when Duke mentions something flashing, and its the first time that Danny goes quiet. Entirely still.
"...you noticed that?" Danny quietly asks, a bit of disbelief in his tone.
"You don't have a flashlight on or something do you? It was super bright whatever it is that you had in your hand a second ago?" Duke tries to sound chill but he's looking very much not chill. Bruce saw nothing, and that puts him further on edge.
"Look... I uh, I've been though... I've been through a lot lately. And the last lab I was in kind of, messed with me. I'm normally much better at dealing with it all, I promise." Danny sounds nervous, and the room seems to chill.
"Ah shoot, sorry." Danny notices something and frantically apologizes.
"Sorry for what Danny? You've done nothing wrong but I am worried about you- You said you were in a lab?" Bruce is desperately trying to calm him down while not slipping into Batman interrogation mode.
"Uh, yeah, like a lot of labs. It should get warmer in a second, its just cause I startled, I promise."
"You're a meta." Duke speaks softly and with hope in his voice- Danny is looking between them with wide eyes filled with fear.
"I mean I don't technically have the gene-"
"Danny, have you told any of your case workers where you were? Do any authorities know what you've been through?" Bruce needs to know, desperately, that who ever gave this young boy super powers is brought to justice. Danny goes quiet.
"I'm really sorry." He says softly, but he doesn't leave them.
Duke and Bruce try to ask a few more questions but the silence that meets them declares the conversation over, even with Duke admitting he himself is a meta. Danny didn't even look up from his plate. They watch a movie after dinner, and Danny seems to get back to the smile-y happy guy he had been before dinner.
Each of the bat-fam have their own interactions with Danny- And even if they're getting along amazingly, Danny won't open up. He doesn't open up to his provided therapist. Doesn't talk to Alfred. No one knows what's up.
So when Marsha calls Bruce back explaining they now have a spot for Danny and he can move out of the Manor... Bruce replies that he'd like to get started on Adoption paperwork, so long as Danny is fine with it.
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Turns out, Danny is fine with it. he's both the newest Wayne and their newest case. (And godamnit, his new family is going to avenge him. If only he'd let them try.)
Danny figures out that Duke= Signal early on because of that dinner, and if he's going to keep his parents out of jail, he needs to be as close to the investigation as possible. He knows that he shouldn't protect the Fentons, but he feels the upset in his core at the thought of letting them befall any harm. He has to protect them. Has to protect Jazz and her hiding spot as a mole within their lab. Has to.
Even if it meant lying to his new family who loves him, and who he loves in equal return. Even if it means lying to The Bats.
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Tabloids go crazy about the black-haired blue-eyed thing of course, but no poll was ever taken by the batfam or the JL who know the whole story.
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AND NOW FOR. SOMETHING BETTER. That tbh I DO really wanna pick up again. Something I DEF was keeping under wraps, holding it esp close to me.... but I got distracted and oh god I can't remember when I started this but it CANNOT be a year old at this point... surely it was just a bout of off-season Halloween fever.......... surely.....
REGARDLESS. HALLOWEEN DUO UPON YE (only sharing scraps/glimpses here!)
THEMATICALLY. A bit of a mishmash between Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, but the wolf is also just your average werewolf.
This was esp early in Mani's development, me trying to get a feel for it... and I thought the coolest/funniest way to do that would be to Sothis its ass. You thought you were just a formless apparition that lives in somebody's head? WRONG. GET PHYSICAL FORMED, IDIOT. (It is worth saying, this is just one really weird uniquely cursed Halloween night. Put that thang back where it came from OR SO HELP ME.)
Also ALL of the storytelling you can do w a duo unit. Goes crazy. Goes insane. ESPECIALLY in this case, where it's just two of the "same" person. INSANE.
Snippets/notes...
Please note these are all somewhat early notes!!! And tbh Mani lore is so fucking complicated I have trouble completely capturing it, myself. So... a lot of the information here does hold up. But in some ways, I think I may do things a bit differently... maybe just the presentation of it. I have gotten to the point where Mani has some really distinct mannerisms. So I'd lean heavier into those!
I think I may end up reworking Mani's look, but it is very classic lolita inspired. (Also!! Mimics the silhouette of Moe's typical robe/bloomer look... for a Halloween alt, goes CRAZY). MEANWHILE. MOE.
Moe..... aren't you cold.... or is the fur enough to keep you somewhat warm..?
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It’s all about hope and fear.
I didn’t leave the church because I was Smart and Logicked my way out. That’s not how you get in and it’s not how you escape either.
I left because I was lucky enough that I turned 20 and didn’t have a calling, hadn’t gone on a mission, didn’t have any friends in the church, and I had a number of friends outside the church, who were nice to me despite my sometimes annoying faith. I left because I knew my parents would still love and accept me even if I did, and for that I am also exceptionally lucky.
I was no longer emotionally involved in the church, no longer attached by friendship or responsibility, and I had clear examples that happiness was possible outside of the church, by people who had never even heard of Mormonism.
I left because my fear of staying outweighed my fear of leaving.
I’m not one to talk about fear a lot as a motivator, and I don’t mean for this to be a depressing look at humanity as “driven solely by fear”. I could rephrase, and say that my *hope* of leaving outweighed my fear of leaving.
But I’m choosing fear because it feels appropriate for the issue. I didn’t want to think about life outside of the church because of fear. I didn’t want to consider an afterlife that wasn’t the Mormon Standard because of fear. Everything on my shelf was put there and suppressed because of fear.
Fear of disappointing those close to me. Fear of eternal damnation if I strayed from the path. Fear of being hurt, or hurting others. Fear that if I thought too long about the flaws in the church and myself, I would become a sinner, an outcast, an apostate. Fear that the life I’ve lived for years and years—my entire life!—is actually a lie.
Fear that if I left I would never be happy again.
Because that’s what we’re taught! That those outside the church aren’t really happy, they’re just sort of… ‘happy’. And that every step away from the path was risking my eternal salvation forever.
Our brains want to protect us! When we see something counter to our beliefs, it tells us to stop, turn back, avoid at all costs. We get that feeling in our stomachs, the ‘lack of the spirit’, and all the thoughts are shut down because we sense danger.
And really, there’s only two ways out of that.
The most painful, but unfortunately very common for many exmormons, the fear of staying has to grow and grow until it’s larger than the fear of staying. Abuse, shunning, addiction, being overworked and used. Eventually, we have to make the choice of staying in a situation that we know might kill us, or make the jump into the unknown and hope there’s something out there to catch us. Like jumping from a burning building, unable to see through the smoke and yet knowing that anything is better than staying near the blaze.
The other option is less painful, but the church actively works to make it impossible. Instead of increasing the fear of staying, you have to reduce the fear of leaving.
Making friends outside the church, meeting people who are happy without the gospel, finding those with nuanced ideas on your principles. Creating a community, a landing pad to aim for when you jump for safety.
The church doesn’t want this, of course. But I want that for my loved ones still stuck in that great and spacious burning building, so I’m going to do my best to build them a soft place to fall.
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