#because it's not a child and an adult anymore

[bloggerspam]

Merry Christmas!!! Whilst this is technically the finale of the story, in true mimi fashion there will be an epilogue! Look forward to that in the future :)

Thank you to my wonderful betas, Keigo (social pending) and @file-n0t-found for putting up with my rush job <3

===

The first thing Dan does is look at Jason buried in his little blanket nest.

The second thing Dan does is sigh.

Bruce has sighed that way before, a tired kind of sigh before he has to do some bullshit paperwork for WE.

Jason really feels that right now.

He's still trying to come to grips with all he's seen today, much less decide what exactly to do about it.

He knows he's not going to find Sheila anymore, which pretty much guarantees a new future.

The biggest issue is how he's going to deal with his…siblings. His family.

Because that's the thing right? Danny had said they'd be his family in the future, after he dies.

He's not dying anymore, not anytime soon anyway, so how—

Would they even want to be family, if they don't have those experiences?

How did they even become family in the first place? How did Jason even come back from the dead?

Did they become family after his death? Before he came back?

Was he even considered family at all, or just an extra?

"Get up." Dan's voice is smooth, like cut glass. It pulls him out of his spiraling, but reminds him of the impending…what does Jason even call this experience, adventure?

Jason resignedly untangles himself out of his blanket, takes the short walk towards the older man where he now stands by the bedroom door with his arms crossed and looking impatient as all hell.

When Jason is a step away, Dan reaches over to turn the doorknob.

"Wait—I'm, I'm supposed to be dead right now—" Jason tries to stop him but Dan scoffs and ignores him, opening the door and stepping out into the hallway.

The medallion around his neck glows a soft red, but is no longer accompanied by any sound; No ticks or tocks or whirs or hums, just silence.

Jason follows Dan's surprisingly soft footsteps, cape billowing behind him softly, hesitant and cautious. But the Manor is big, and the hallways remain empty as they walk through.

"Relax." Dan says as he stops at the top of the stairs. He does a little chin tilt towards the foot of the stairwell, where Alfie is ascending the steps.

Or rather, where Alfie is frozen in the act of ascending the steps.

"You've stopped time." Jason finally understands, belatedly following after Dan descending past the butler.

Dan doesn't deign to answer, simply heading deeper into the Manor, towards the entertainment wing.

The two younger Dannies were jovial, if not a little sassy. Dani was plucky and a little feral, no doubt unsocialized from being an experiment (something Jason's trying not to think about). Danny was mature, and given what Jason's seen of their interactions, weirdly in charge. They remind him of Dickie, in a way. Dickie when he was Robin, Dickie when he's Nightwing.

Dan…Dan is an anomaly.

He's an adult, for one thing. Clearly reluctant to be here, which Jason doesn't blame him for, considering he wouldn't want to hang out with kids all night either.

It makes Jason hesitant to ask questions, Dan's entire countenance screaming the kind of reluctant annoyance all elder siblings have when they're saddled with a family friend’s child.

Not that Jason is a child, but compared to Dan…

They get to the theatre, still needlessly big as ever, with little trouble. Dan beelines for a middle back seat, plopping down and (as Bab's would say) man spreading like some kind of King.

It's kind of comically funny to watch the ghost almost sink into the ginormous plush seat. Jason almost giggles at it, but catches himself.

Dan, of course, catches him and rolls his eyes. He gestures wordlessly to the seat beside him for Jason to take, which he does.

Dan lifts a hand to snap, the large theatre screen lighting up in an eerie green light in conjunction with the echoing sounds of consecutive ticks, but no tocks.

Jason darts a glance at the medallion that the ghosts have been tossing back and forth at each other all night, curious. It's still glowing red, but one of the clock’s hands is spinning green.

Interesting.

Dan catches him looking and smirks, leaning down a bit to rumble a low, "The kiddies are powerful, but lack finesse."

Jason chuckles, just as the screen starts to show a man facing away from the camera.

He's built like a truck, with a brown leather jacket and wearing a blood-red helmet.

"That's you." Dan leans back, "Or, more accurately, it was you. Red Hood."

"Danny mentioned that name earlier," Jason absently says as he watches the screen intently, fascinated. "Is that my vigilante name?"

He—the man on the screen—Red Hood is staring out over Gotham. The camera pans out slowly, like some kind of action movie b-roll, but still Hood doesn't turn around.

"Yes," A pause. "No."

Jason raises an eyebrow, turning to look at the man. "Which one is it?"

"It's both." Dan huffs. "You're a bad guy, of a sort, at first."

Jason freezes, head whipping back and forth from the screen to Dan. Hood is still not doing anything on the screen, but he can see the whole outfit now: Black military pants, ass-kicking steel-toed boots, gloves.

Two guns, holstered on his thighs.

"Batman doesn't do guns." Jason says faintly.

"Batman doesn't kill either." Dan agrees, "And Red Hood has definitely killed."

Jason abruptly stands up, about to—about to leave but Dan's hand whips out like a snake, gripping his wrist to pull him back down.

He tries to breathe, tries not to cry, tries to fucking think but all he can see is the man on the screen, all he can hear is kill kill kill, all he can feel is a blackness threatening to come over him.

Just like his deadbeat dad, maybe even worse. A disappointment and a half.

"Breathe." Dan commands, a hand coming to clasp at the back of his neck to shake him like an errant puppy,

The crazy part is that Jason's body listens.

His lungs gulp in air, laughing a little hysterically, "I think—I think I forgot h-how—"

"Nonsense." Dan tsks, "In and out, even babies do it. You telling me you're worse than a baby?"

"Define w-worse," Jason stutters, "F-future kill-ler seems wors-se."

Dan clicks his tongue again, before petulantly crossing his arms to mutter, "You get better."

Jason can't help but honk out a laugh at that, manic as it may be.

But it works, it gets him breathing and more level-headed. It gets him to think.

On the screen, Red Hood suddenly looks to the left, revealing that the helmet is red all around, with white lenses where the eyes are supposed to be. He looks sinister, the blood-red of it almost getting darker in the shadows.

"What are we watching?" Jason croaks out, "He's not doing anything."

"Patience." Dan admonishes, "Who says he has to be doing something for this to be important?"

"Isn't that the whole point of all this?" Jason counters, "Danny said you're supposed to show me things I should know."

Dan gestures to the screen, as if to say well, aren't I?

"You've told me Red Hood is a killer. All you're showing me is Red Hood standing on a rooftop." Jason bites his lip, swallowing. "I—I'm not going to find Sheila, so I won't be Red Hood anymore. Why show me this?"

"You're still focusing on the wrong things." Dan sighs, shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose like Jason is being the unreasonable one. "And I told you, you get better. See?"

Dan sweeps a hand towards the screen, where the camera is still watching a brooding Red Hood menacingly looking over the building ledge.

"Just because he's not actively killing someone—" Jason snarks, only for Dan to click his tongue again.

"His chest, kid. Look at his chest." Dan flaps a hand, leaning an elbow on the armrest. He sets his cheek onto his fist, looking bored as he crosses his bulky legs.

Jason looks closer, and—"That's a bat."

"Batman wouldn't have given him the symbol if Hood didn't get better." Dan agrees.

Something in Jason's gut uncoils, burning metal sizzling into a low hiss, relaxing his body.

Something swings past Hood, whooping and hollering. It's a person, bouncing from roof to roof.

Another shadow quickly follows, chased by a quick come on Hood!

More shadows converge from all sorts of directions, clashing and swinging away, repeating in all sorts of different combinations.

It takes Jason a bit too long to realize: they're playing tag.

Those must be his siblings, the other vigilantes Danny was talking about earlier in the night.

Cassandra, Duke, and Stephanie. Tiny Tim, even—maybe Damian, if he's old enough. There're others too, more vigilantes Danny probably didn't get around to introducing Jason to. Maybe a whole hoard of extended family, this future Bruce seems to have a bit of an adoption problem.

Far off, Jason can even see a blur of blue that pangs through his chest. Dickie.

Hood simply watches, huffing a small laugh before shaking his head and settling down on the ledge.

"…Is he not gonna join them?" Jason asks after a long moment, watching the others play with Red Hood.

"…No." Dan says, after a moment. He sounds sad about it, like he's sorry.

"What is this supposed to teach me?" Jason slumps, making his voice nasally and acting out the best he can remember: "I understand, Spirit. The case of this unhappy man might be my own."

Dan flicks his forehead. "Ow! What the fuck!" Jason grumps.

Dan flicks his forehead again. "Don't call me Spirit. It's rude."

Jason huffs.

"I just don't see the point. Why show me someone who won't exist anymore?" Jason slides lower into his seat, feeling exhausted and tired. "And in the first place, if he gets better, why give me this second chance at all?" Jason scoffs, mockingly. "When my death, in the grand scheme of things, doesn't even matter?"

Dan breathes heavily out his nose, exhaling what feels like years worth of regrets and capital I Issues.

"Why show me a future that'll never happen anymore?" Jason mumbles, discouraged by Dan's silence.

"Because," Dan's voice is heavy, with the weight of a thousand lives, "In this universe, you die, and decapitate 8 crime lords."

Jason stiffens, but Dan's voice rolls over him anyway.

"In a different universe, I die, and I raze a whole planet into dust."

Jason is once again at a loss for words. Because that—that kind of comparison isn't even—it's just not to scale.

"When you die," Dan continues, the theatre screen flipping through a series of snapshots, "You crawl your way out of your grave, bit by bit with bloody nails, spitting dirt. You get exposed to something called the Lazarus Pits, what I know as ectoplasm."

"Like the—the ghostbuster stuff?" Jason blurts out, watching a bigger, buffer version of himself shoot out of a glowing green pit of viscous water.

"Yes, like the ghostbuster stuff." Dan rolls his eyes, gesturing towards the screen where future Jason is putting on the red helmet for what seems like the first time. "But the source is corrupted, and you get—sick, for lack of a better term."

"What kind of sick person goes on a killing spree?" Jason says confusedly, if a little fearful as future him dumps an entire duffle bag of decapitated heads onto the floor.

"The same kind of sick person that terminates an entire planet." Dan answers sardonically.

"But I get better." Jason is trying not to throw up, even though the scene with the heads has already cut past, back to the lonely tableau of Hood sitting on a ledge watching his siblings play tag. "You get better."

"For what it's worth, yes." Dan smiles, the first smile he's seen from the older man, and it looks like it hurts. "And we have family to thank for that."

Jason turns back towards the screen, making a face of uncertainty.

Dan huffs a laugh, a soft rumbly one that hurts less than the smile did, "This is why I'm showing you this."

On the screen, a big black shadow comes to join Hood on the ledge.

Batman.

The two of them sit in silence. It's not an uncomfortable silence, but even Jason can tell through the screen that it's not…not the kind of silence that Jason and Bruce usually share. It's stilted, unsure.

Precarious.

"It was never about Red Hood, you see." Dan's voice is smooth. "It was always about the isolation, and the heartbreak."

Jason watches as Hood wordlessly gets up, patting Batman once on the shoulder before exiting stage left.

The camera pans out, the shadows in the distance disappearing one by one, until Batman is the only one left, dawn just peeking out from the horizon, Gotham smog and air pollution giving the city its own splash of color in its otherwise dreary black and white tableau.

"Even if you're never Red Hood in this timeline," Dan lays a hand on Jason's head, heavy and comforting and admonishing all at once. "You tend to isolate, street kid habits always peeking through, never feeling safe."

"So you're showing me this because you want me to…to be better?" Jason whispers, watching as Batman finally stands up and grapples away back home. The big screen fades to black, sudden and blinding.

"I want you to feel safe." Dan stresses. "I want you to accept being loved as a given, to ask for help."

Jason feels tears fall down his cheeks, burning his skin and making everything feel hazy in the darkness of the theatre.

"…I didn't mean to be so reckless with my life." Jason whispers. "It's just that Robin is magic and it's hard not to feel…invincible."

"I know."

"I'm always—I dunno how long this will last. How long Bruce will let me stay."

"Forever, probably."

"Dickie doesn't even want me here, and I don't even blame him."

"Dick Grayson's problem has always been daddy issues. You just had terrible timing."

"…What if I—What if I take too much after Willis?"

"Personally, I think you take after Catherine more. But that's just me."

"Will—Do you think I could still, that I could help my, my other siblings? What if I fuck it up?"

"How would I know?"

This renders Jason speechless for a moment, causing him to whip his head up, tears abruptly stopping in his indignation.

"You have a fucking time medallion!" Jason yells, gesturing for good measure.

"So?" Dan raises an eyebrow.

And that—that's a fair point, Jason supposes. It drains all his doubts and fight and just—emotions right on out of him.

He feels a little lighter, like he's lost ten—no, twenty pounds.

"Is that all?" Dan asks, after a moment. Jason thinks on it a bit, before nodding and shrugging.

"Then let's get this over with." Dan floats up, dragging Jason with him.

"Wait, what?" Jason squawks as they float through walls and ceilings, "That's it?"

"You said that was it!" Dan argues, "What else is there?"

"I'm still confused, for one thing!" Jason oomphs a little as he's dropped like a sack of potatoes back onto his bed. "For another, I don't know, I feel like a finale should be a little more….dramatic?"

"A heartfelt spilling of guts isn't dramatic enough for you?" Dan raises an eyebrow, medallion losing its red hue and glowing green again.

"Well—I mean." Jason sputters, "So that's it? You're just gonna leave?"

"Yes." Dan sniffs, opening up a portal.

"No." Danny says, only for Dani to come barrelling through and tackling Dan through the wall.

Danny steps out of the portal, laughing as Dan and Dani roll around, from up from the floor, through the ceiling, back through the wall.

Jason sighs with a little bit of relief, though for what, he's not sure.

"Ready for the finale?" Danny smirks, settling himself beside Jason on the bed.

Dani falls through the ceiling, falling with a little bounce on his other side, with Dan floating through the floor with a huff to come stand by the bed.

Jason takes a bracing breath. "Ready as I'll ever be, I guess. How's this gonna go?"

"It's a little anticlimactic, I'm afraid." Danny says with an apologetic smile. "We're just here to say goodbye."

Jason groans, falling back on his bed. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." Dani giggles. "We'll get you back to the correct time, and it'll be like we were never here."

"Your memories will stay," Dan rumbles, "Just not forever. Like memories from when you were ten."

"That was only five years ago." Jason points out, curling onto his side. "I remember that stuff."

"But you won't when you're older." Danny reminds him, "The point is, you'll make your decisions, and the timelines will change. You'll forget about us, eventually, but you'll know what to do."

"What if I don't know what I want to do now?" Jason hedges. Because it's true. He still doesn't know what to do about his siblings, or about Dickie, or even Bruce.

"You know what you won't do." Dan shrugs, "That's the important bit."

“Besides,” Dani smirks, shrugging her shoulders in a careless gesture, “Everything we’ve shown you tonight is basically obsolete, isn’t it?”

"Fair enough." Jason sighs, before he sits up, and opens his arms. "Come on. Proper goodbye."

Danny and Dani grin, tackling him into the bed.

They roll around like that, laughing and squealing, before settling with Jason on the bottom and the Dannies piled above him. They all look over towards Dan, who scoffs.

Danny raises a hand, flicking a finger towards them in a beckoning gesture. Dan is yanked into the pile, where the tussle restarts all over again.

"This was fun." Dani grins. "I hope you visit the UK someday."

"What?" Jason pants, tired from the wrestling and realizing how out of depth he is in a cuddle puddle with three superpowered ghosts.

"Don't worry about it." Dan grunts, straightening everyone up, grabbing each of the Dannies under each arm. "Say goodbye, children."

"Goodbye children!" the Dannies intone mockingly, causing another ruckus of laughter.

"Bye, and thanks, I guess?" Jason's voice wobbles a bit, "It was a nice story, Mr. Dickens."

Dani giggles. "Thanks! If you like this, you should read the book!"

"You didn't even read the book." Dan rolls his eyes, the medallion glowing green once more to open a portal behind them. "You only watched the Muppets version."

"A masterpiece." Jason chuckles, getting a wink from Dani.

"Bye, Jason Todd." Danny waves as Dan floats them up through the portal, "I hope, this time, you're not quite so alone."

The portal fizzles out, leaving Jason in solemn silence.

And then the door to his room busts open, causing Jason to instinctively tumble backwards and off the bed to get cover on the other side.

When he peeks over the edge, Bruce is breathing heavily with Alfred right behind him.

"Y-you," Jason has never seen Bruce this flustered, "You pressed the SOS button twenty-eight times."

"Oh." Jason blinks. "Uh. Right."

"What…" Bruce and Alfred come to the bedside, looking warily around the room. "Did something happen, Master Jason?"

"Uh." Jason coughs, before smiling sheepishly as he picks himself back up.

"Would you believe me if I told you it was Ghosts?"

A Christmas Carol AU

Inspired by a prompt found in the @haunting-heroes-creative-games :) (i.e. back on my shit again)

When a 15 year old Jason, pissed at Bruce for taking Robin away from him, finds his birth certificate he realizes Catherine Todd is not his real mother.

Just as he resolves to go out and search for his birth mother, Jason finds himself accosted by three ghosts in his room, talking about A Christmas Carol of all things.

===

"So, what? We're gonna Christmas Carol him?"

Dan scoffs, crossing his bulky arms with an unimpressed look. "We hated that movie."

"I didn't." Dani chirps, disturbingly cheery, "I didn't see it!"

"We hate Christmas," Danny corrects, "But the movie was alright, and the logic is sound."

"I don't hate Christmas," Dani once again interjects cheerily, "I've never participated!"

"Sound my ass," Dan growls over her, throwing his hands up. "We don't even know this guy!"

"Minor detail." Danny insists, "Tuck can look him up."

"He's a fucking Bat, Danny." Dan scrunches up his face, pinching the bridge of his nose just like Vlad does when he's disgruntled with any of Dad's shenanigans.

"He's a Robin, actually." Dani pipes in, "And he's just a kid. How hard is it gonna be to pretend to be this kid's Ghosts?"

"You're a kid," Dan reminds her, crossing his arms, "And you didn't believe me when I told you sticking a fork in the outlet would shock you."

"I believed you," Dani sniffs haughtily, crossing her arms and pointing her nose up with a snooty voice, "The warning simply did not deter me from doing it anyway."

"We don't have to convince him we're his Ghosts, or even that we knew him before," Danny reasons, needling, "We just have to convince him that we're…"

He hums, pointing at Dani. "Past."

He points at himself, "Present."

He points at Dan, "Future."

Dani does a little cheer, arms up and twirling into the air before landing with her legs over Dan's shoulders, hands and head settling atop Dan's fiery, but harmless, hair. It flickers, before going limp into long white strands that Dani messes up by gently scrunching up the strands and running her fingers through them.

Dan lets her, huffing and looking weirdly like a downtrodden, wet cat. "Why am I future?"

"Because." Danny doesn't continue, because he knows it makes Dan annoyed. True to form, his scowl gets worse, like sucking on a lemon. They all know why anyway.

Dani grins, triumphant and knowing, letting her voice go real deep, "The future," she intones into Dan's hair, "is here."

"The future is now," Danny corrects her, but doesn't lose his smile, floating up to tuck a strand of her hair back behind her ear.

"The future is already here," Dan mumbles his correction, or is it a follow-up? "It's just not evenly distributed."

"How about you distribute some of those muscles, Gibson," Danny sighs, shaking his head "Waiting for puberty is such a drag, and we both know you didn't get the mass from Vlad's side of the family."

Dan makes a moue of disgust, but it serves him right. The consequences of his own actions, and whatnot. He looks up at Dani, who simply shrugs. "I think you'll do great." She leans down to give him two pats on the arm.

"So how's acting out A Christmas Carol gonna help us stop this Jason guy from blowing up?" Dani fiddles with Dan's hair, tongue poking out as she attempts a braid, "Will he even see us? Ghosts in this dimension taste funny."

"He'll be able to see us, it's magically rich enough for some ghosts to maintain a semblance of themselves," Danny explains for the third time. Dani and Dan hum at different pitches, and even though Danny is the common denominator he kind of hates that Vlad has more of a lasting impression on them. "The ectoplasm here is scarce and mostly corrupted, though, so it's rare."

"So there's lotsa bad ghosts here?" Dani eyes the messy braid she's made, proud, even as Dan's silky hair immediately causes it to fall apart, "Or 'mentally unsound' or whatever Frostbite called it."

"No," Dan grumbles, annoyed and indulging all at once, "Corruption begets ecto-rot, but the scarcity means they're not strong enough to actually retain their sense of self enough to rot."

"Shades," Danny explains when Dani looks even more confused, "There's lots of shades."

"Is this one of the Olympian dimensions?" Dani groans, flopping over Dan's shoulder as he sits down on the sofa, "I love Pandora and all, but if I see Zeus again I'm gonna lose it."

"It's one of the hero dimensions," Danny hums, taking over braiding Dan's hair the way Jazz made him when they were little, "There's a couple of Amazons walking about, but on the whole no Olympians."

"I don't know why he didn't just dump me in a Norse dimension." Dan leans back and closes his eyes to their ministrations. "Especially with my current occupation."

The three of them are sitting in Dan's apartment, a large loft studio located somewhere in the UK of the aforementioned hero-dimension. Alber-something, Danny can't remember. Doesn't need to, it being a different dimension from his anyway.

Dan doesn't have a lot of things: a sofa and TV, a bed in the corner, a decent but small kitchen. They're still trying to figure out decorations, but Dan on the whole is a minimalist so it's been slow going.

He's working as a bartender these nights, whiling away his odd existence now that his form has stabilized.

And wasn't that a trip? Learning that hey, adult lightning halfas shouldn't really be mixed with teenage ice halfas, actually!

Apparently, ectoplasm can become corrupted if you try to combine incompatible sources.

Apparently, side effects include (but are not limited to) unmitigated violence and a devastating need for vengeance.

Sound familiar?

"This dimension has a lot of time continuity errors," Danny reminds him, "Dropping you here gave the least amount of pushback."

"Yeah, yeah," Dan flaps a lazy hand, "Praise be the speedforce and flashpoints and whatnot."

"Plus," Dani adds softly, absent-minded as she watches Danny finish up the braid, "Lotsa heroes to help out if you relapse."

Dan heaves a slow, controlled sigh. Danny and Dani both pretend they don't notice.

"Is it bad?" Dan doesn't open his eyes, his voice is so low Danny can only hear him by virtue of his ghost powers, "Like me levels bad?"

"No." Danny shakes his head, leaning into his older self, his older brother of sorts, "He decapitated eight crime lords, killed a couple of assassins, maybe an innocent or two depending on your definition of things."

"Past tense?" Dan scrunches his nose. They all hate how confusing Time Shenanigans are.

"He's living as Red Hood, right this very moment."

"Red Hood?" Dani questions, "That his hero name?"

"Crime lord alias." Danny corrects her, "But he's more of a vigilante these days. Has a bat on his chest and everything."

"But it's bad enough to warrant a trip to the past." Dan points out, "Bad enough for us to try and persuade him. Does he relapse?"

"Not…exactly." Danny scrunches his face, not wanting to explain Clockwork's ambiguity.

Dani floats to spread over Danny and Dan's laps, sprawling out and purring like a cat. Self-soothing, though it's more for their benefit than hers.

"Like Dani said, there’re lots of heroes here, and he doesn't have powers." Danny continues, petting at Dani's soft hair, "The world doesn't end. He doesn't have the means to, even with the ecto-rot."

Danny pauses, and chooses his words deliberately and carefully. "And deep down, Jason Todd is a hero through and through. Relapse would be…difficult. His Obsession is similar to yours."

Dan lets that sit for a moment, but nods, Danny moving a little with the motion. The tension slowly bleeds out as they wait like that, enjoying each other's company.

"If the world doesn't end," Dani whispers, "Why is Clockwork sending all of us?"

Danny thinks on that, on his meeting with Clockwork. The Ancient's voice when he explained what would happen.

He thinks about Jason Todd, about Bruce Wayne, and Catherine, and Sheila. He thinks about Batman, and Robin.

He thinks about Dick Grayson and Tim Drake, about Damian Al Ghul, about Cassandra Cain, and all of Jason's Outlaws.

He thinks about a tattered uniform that stays up in a glass case for a long, long time.

Most of all, he thinks about Dan.

He thinks about regrets and one bad day away.

And then he stops thinking about it, because sometimes the past is the past, and other times, it's the future that never happens that haunts you instead.

"You know, Dani." He settles on, "I'm not sure. He probably has his reasons."

Dan leans heavier onto him, and they lean together like that, with Dani in their laps.

Ghosts of decisions made, unmade, and never to be.

Follow the story on AO3 here!

[littlefankingdom]

~ Batman and Robin: Year One

At first, I was a bit scared with where this was going, because the whole "Bruce ignored Dick when he first got him" is not my jam, but I was pleasantly surprised here. Also, I refuse to believe Alfred has never raised his voice at Bruce. We are talking about a man that used to beat up bullies at school and was expelled after trying to kill one because Alfred had enough and told him to find a more efficient way to deal with it. No way Alfred never had to raise his voice at him.

Anyway, Bruce getting so much into his work that he gets in a bubble, he forgets to eat and to sleep, time doesn't exist, he cannot hear you. Really, a neurodivergent icon. BUT, the moment he is out of it and simply hears it's about Dick, he gets so worried, it's adorable.

This is already the second time in this comics that the writer reminds us that it's Bruce that raised Dick, not Alfred. First, with the cps worker, when Bruce reassured her he wasn't going to make Alfred raises the boy instead of him. And here, with Alfred telling Bruce to "fix it", that it is Bruce's responsibility to parent Dick and Alfred will not do it, which Bruce agrees to, he just doesn't know how to do it yet.

This story is going to be about Bruce learning to be a dad, and I'm here for it.

Also, I wanna point out how this is a different take about Dick Grayson's early weeks at the manor from what we get normally. We are used to "I feel lonely and sad" Dick, and here they gave us "no more parental surpervision/you can't dictate me" Dick. I don't know how I feel about it yet.

Very funny how I rant about how Bruce is independent, and then DC published this where Bruce is described as an independent child that didn't need Alfred to tell him what needed to be done.

[tenderleavesbob]

This turned out more bittersweet than originally planned. Still. Merry Christmas!

Warriors called Lana “sweet” and “a friend” and never said a bad word about it, but Legend couldn’t help but be leery of the blue-haired sorceress. Warriors spoke kindly of her, but Legend saw how he didn’t linger near her. He watched how Lana stared after Warriors and how General Impa glared at her every time.

There was also something familiar about her. Something terrifying. Like there was something vast hidden in her slender body. Legend didn’t like it.

He also didn’t like how Lana was watching Warriors now. Legend sat on the stone wall several feet away from her and observed his brothers. Time was stretched out on the grass, resting his weight on his palms with his long legs extended in front of him. Warriors was teasing Wind. He would ruffle his hair and dodge away when Wind tried to retaliate.

“The timeline was broken,” Lana said quietly, breaking the silence between them. She didn’t look away from Warriors. Despite the power Legend felt radiating from her, the longing in her eyes was all too human. “The war was awful, but we were able to use it to bind the timelines together into something whole. The Hero of the Wild comes from the united timeline.”

Legend hummed but said nothing. She waited, as if expecting a response. When none came, she continued.

“It made me think that maybe the Lady Hylia planned it,” Lana said. “Or one of the goddesses had. Maybe more. They don’t talk to me anymore.”

Anymore. Legend filed that away.

In front of them, Wind had successfully tackled Warriors into the grass. Warriors was yelling about his hair while Time sat up to clap. Wind crowed with victory. It made Legend’s heart ache, reminded him of simpler times.

“I think it was more than just that now,” Lana continued softly. She nodded at the trio. “Link… the other heroes from the other timelines helped him, but he could have won on his own. It would have been harder, but he could have done it. I thought for a long time that the other heroes were sent to help him, but now I wonder if it was so Link could help them.”

Legend looked sharply at her. She hunched her slender shoulders. She didn’t look back at him. She continued, her voice quieter than ever, “I think Link was given a different duty during the war. And now. The Hero of Time. The Hero of Wind. He taught them so much during the war. I didn’t see it then, but I see it in the Hero of Time now. I wonder how differently he would have been without Link’s love and guidance. He’s an adult now and will be the father of a great guideline. He was a great warrior as a child, but someone capable of that?” She smiled sadly. Her eyes followed Warriors like she couldn’t bear to look away. “The Hero of Wind is also destined for greatness. I have to wonder how much of that was aided by Link’s teachings and guidance?”

Legend bit the inside of his cheek and looked back at the trio. Warriors was sprawled in the grass, Wind still triumphantly on his torso. Legend knew and he knew Time knew that the only way Wind could have dropped Warriors was with his consent. Based on the pride shining from Wind’s face, he didn’t know, and no one was going to tell him. 

When Time listened to no one else, he listened to Warriors. When he grew tense and angry, Warriors calmed him like Twilight calmed Epona. 

Legend hadn’t thought about it before, but now he wondered.

“I think it was never about them helping him,” Lana said. “I don’t think I’ll ever know for sure. I don’t have the eyes to see anymore.”

“Maybe,” Legend said pointedly, “it’s because you keep staring in the wrong direction.”

Lana flinched and at last looked away from Warriors. Legend couldn’t feel guilty for it. Not when Warriors looked away from Wind and saw Lana there. Not when his brother’s smile faltered and his ears flattened. Wind poked his shoulder and Warriors turned to him with a bright smile, but it didn’t look so genuine anymore.

“Bad things happen when people lose sight of their responsibilities,” Legend said, voice hard with warning. Her power reminded him of the Oracles. He placed it, but it didn’t make him feel any better. It did nothing to soothe the new weight on his shoulders.

“Yes,” Lana said quietly. “They do. Have a good day, Hero of Legend.” She bowed her head at him and got up. Legend tensed when she looked back over her shoulder one more time at his brother, but Warriors didn’t look back. Without a word, Lana walked away.

Legend caught Time’s eye. Time nodded once at him. In silence, they turned back to watch their laughing brothers. There was a horrific story there between the four. Legend didn’t know, and with the memory of the shadows in Warriors’s eyes, he knew he wouldn’t ask.

He would pay more attention, though. It turned out that Warriors held more secrets than he ever could have thought.

[mellowwillowy]

CW: Remy wanting to dub/non con you, lactation, GN Reader, Remy wanting to bend your halo and clip your wings

Remy was a petulant boy raised in endless luxuries that molded his self-entitled nature. Everyone enabled him since he was a child and you being his caretaker since he was 5 didn't help it at all. You never mind the way his hand roughly tugged on your hair, the way he demanded countless things from you and barking unreasonable orders. You shrugged it off as a child's tantrum and went along with his whims. You were his enabler and he still blamed you for it.

Come the time he was no longer home-schooled and had to attend a private high school, he realized his attitude wouldn't bring him anywhere and changed drastically. You were rather surprised and sometimes wondered where he got the bruises. Remy wouldn't say a thing and only shrugged you off, demanding you help him patch up. Just as he matured older and older, he realized he still couldn't live without you by his side. Sure he didn't see you that often anymore but going on days without you was hellish. It felt so empty without you.

Come time he became an adult, he decided to take you with him to another town. You were no longer employed as his caretaker or the family's servant; you were his... attendant or some sort now. Your work consisted of tailing him at all times he asked you to and when he had to handle some shady dealings, he'd rather not have you see it despite knowing how you had probably seen worse. Death was the last thing that could terrify you but Remy did not entertain the idea of showing himself to you like that.

He'd rather have you remember him as the spoiled, self-entitled brat than a crossed man. Something within him was scared that you might no longer tolerate him. Sure you might have tolerated his parents because they paid you for that but what about the kid who grew up in your care? Would you be disappointed by how he was no different as well?

By how he could never match you who were oh so angelic. He knew you were something of an angel, he had seen it once. You were on your knees praying with a halo shining bright on your head and a pair of white angelic wings. Maybe he had seen it more than once when he was still a brat. Maybe he was hallucinating. But whatever it was, he wanted to defile you in the most unthinkable way and clip your wings.

Because he didn't want you to be disgusted by him. Maybe taking all your virginities would work, if anything he regretted giving it away so easily to some faceless girl. But that would make it sting on you even harder, defiled by the devil of a boy you nursed, tearing you feathers by feathers before breaking your wings in half, the thought made him shudder.

"Are you alright, Remy?"

Your face was suddenly in front of his reddened face, gloved hand pressed hard against his panting lip. There was a tent in his trouser and his pupils dilated. He'd love to see your face scrunched in horror beneath his hand, body wrung in pain and pleasure as he bent your halo and wings. Maybe turning you into one of his many docile cattle would be ideal. If anything he'd love to have you lactating and mouth at it, showing him that heaven might really exist when he drags his tongue against you, tasting how thick and sweet they are.

But Remy had exercised patience for the past few years after the humbling experience he had and he'd rather save this for the best occasion. Maybe when he decided to profess his love for you... and if you say yes, he could coax you into it nice and gently, and if you say no... well the harsh inevitable tragedy finally happened to you.

[margindoodles2407]

You know, this isn't even a new phenomenon. The ancient world was full of infanticide and child abuse because the pagan worldview did think of children as less-than-human. And who was it who stepped in and said, no, wait, this is wrong, children deserve to be loved and valued and treated with respect too? Surprise, surprise, it was the Christians. It rocked the ancient world. For the first time, someone was saying that these little beings- they're so little, how are they possibly human??- were people just as much as adults were. And that's why we don't leave female or otherwise undesirable newborns out to be eaten by wolves anymore. That's why child abuse is so abhorrent to us.

That's also why we fight so hard for the right of the unborn to live. It's the same thing, just transposed to a modern setting.

[happycattail]

As children grow up and become adults, you start to realize that Your Parents are not infallible, are not flawless, are not all powerful and knowing. You realize that Your Parents don't have that much power over you anymore and you shed those glasses and they are no longer just Your Parents, they are your parents sure but they are also just themself. Perhaps I'm reaching, but I think that's what Exandria needs to or will realize once Downfall is over and we see what the ending of Aeor will be. The Gods may have created them ages ago but Exandrians have developed and grown up (yes I know this is also some of what Ludinus have said) and while they don't need the Gods anymore just like most people don't really need their parents once they are grown up, they can still acknowledge that having the Gods there may still be helful and good. They just don't really need to be worshipped anymore. They don't need to have that power over Exandrians anymore.

[brionysea]

I'm trying really hard not to just be The Complainer because that's an energy I don't want to bring here when I love (present tense; I rewatch it like 5 times a day) arcane season 1 so much but does anyone remember when powder was taken in by silco and being raised by this very utilitarian merciless 'the ends justify the means' type character made jinx turn out violent and merciless as well. and vi was horrified by her and the lanes were terrified of her and piltover was falling over itself trying to scapegoat her as the one bad apple of the undercity to kid themselves into believing that everyone else was perfectly fine with being treated as less than. and that contrasts vi after vander etc. died because she was raised by him and internalised the idea that no one wins in war and fighting back against systemic oppression isn't worth the damage it causes to your own community which is why she ended up working with cait and the council like vander worked with grayson. the people who raised them shaped them into who they are today but then in season 2 jinx has a daughter and she's suddenly completely normal and well adjusted and her attachment style isn't digging her nails in until she draws blood at all. like What. what happened. didn't things used to mean something

[scoobydoodean]

Continuing in 7.11, Sam assumes it should be Dean's job as Bobby's oldest child to not just call people, but also decide if "they" should call people (when he really seems to just mean, "Dean, you should call all of Bobby's friends and tell them he's dead. Not me though".)

The first week, the brothers spend grieving in Bobby's cabin alone. The second and third week, they've been trying to figure out what the numbers that Bobby wrote on Sam's palm mean. Dean is obsessed with figuring out the numbers, seeing it as his duty to find out what Bobby thought was so important about them. He later says to Frank frantically, "Bobby died for those numbers!" But having come up with nothing after 1-2 weeks, there's no momentum left, and Sam's mind starts wandering back to the grieving process (as they both note at the end of 7.11—they just want to work—but the numbers aren't a suitable distraction for Sam anymore).

SAM: Dean, you know, um... I wonder if – if we... I mean, should we be telling people? I mean, people he knew. DEAN: How long ago did I give Frank these numbers? It's been a few weeks, right? What, is he nuts, or is he just being rude? SAM: Probably both. Dean, I-I asked you a question.

Sam says "we" should be telling people... but he doesn't really mean "we". The way he pushes Dean to decide makes it clear that it's not really "we should call people" it's "you should call people". Dean is still hyper-focused on the numbers, ignores Sam, and starts worrying about Frank.

DEAN: Unless, of course, something happened to him. He can't get to the phone because a Leviathan ate his face. SAM: Yeah, also a possibility. DEAN: We should go check on him. SAM: Dean, do you want to call Bobby's people or not?

Sam pushes harder, trying to make Dean answer, and finally, Dean stops ignoring him, and pushes back, but still continues with the "we" and "our" that they both already know just means "Dean":

DEAN: W-why is – why is that our job? SAM: Because who else is gonna do it?

Oof. "Because who else is going to do it?" Might be the theme of Dean's entire life. There's always an expectation for Dean to do jobs he doesn't feel equipped to do, simply because no one else is there to do it, from caring for Sam most of the time growing up in place of an actual adult, to consoling his own father, to hunting and saving the world every time it starts to self-destruct which he last said only two episodes ago is exhausting him to the point of an emotional breakdown. Only calling people suddenly seems to be very important to Sam, and Sam could absolutely do that on his own (or at least start the process on his own) but he's determined to get Dean to do it instead (otherwise he wouldn't keep asking so insistently) and Dean knows that. So Dean reveals that Sam's "we" isn't really a "we" but a "you" by suggesting Sam do it alone:

DEAN: I'm not calling anybody. If you want to, you go right ahead. SAM: I don't want to call anybody. You kidding me?

Sam's response—dropping the subject the moment it's suggested that he take the lead on calling people instead of Dean? Again—he never meant we.

Not a lot to say about 7.10 "Death's Door" which presents a pretty clear (and I think very touching) narrative. But one thing I want to talk about is Sam and Dean's responses to Bobby being at death's door and Dean filling the assumed role as the oldest, handling most practical matters surrounding their adoptive father's hospitalization and death (and being afforded far less breathing room partly as a consequence). We already know from 3.10 that Dean is Bobby's emergency contact. In that same episode, Dean refers to Bobby as his father for the first time. Dean makes the same claim in 4.01, and of course—in 7.10, Bobby makes it very clear that he sees Sam and Dean as his sons.

The first way we see Dean taking on the practical role as the oldest son is by facing the initial news about Bobby's condition from the doctor alone. Whether it's good or bad, he knows he has to be the one to hear it. Dean stands tall but rigid—bracing himself. In contrast, Sam noticeably hangs in the background. He isn't ready to shoulder any of the information about Bobby's condition yet without his older brother as a buffer.

Sam is looking very little brother shaped when the doctor leaves and Dean turns around to see how Sam is reacting to the news that Bobby is stable.

Notice how Sam stands—as far back against the wall as possible. Dean had been standing right in front of the door to Bobby's room when the doctor emerged. In contrast, Sam's position protected him from having a direct line of sight into Bobby's room when the curtains opened, because he can't look.

Note: I'm not judging Sam for this. It's a reasonable reaction to the fear of losing a loved one. I also think it's in keeping with Sam's previous avoidance of situations that would force him to confront Bobby possibly not making it or in a tenuous emotional state (some examples where I've talked about this here and here and here... or more generally—#sam and bobby).

Sam's feeling more ready to face news about Bobby's condition at Dean's side the next time we see the brothers. They're being told it's possible that Bobby will live, but that he has high swelling, and they can't operate until it goes down. They're also told that most people with this injury die, and "Right now, it all comes down to [Bobby]".

Immediately after the doctor finishes telling them this, with no time to process it, a man comes in asking for Bobby's next of kin, clearly needing to settle some practical matter (Dean initially assumes related to insurance) once again, Dean handles this alone. We see him framed at the very end of the hallway in a separate area, Sam once again noticeably absent.

Dean isn't even being asked about insurance (which he's already not happy about) but about donating Bobby's organs. This guy's timing is absolutely awful. He also assumes Bobby will die, when Dean is focused on just having been told that Bobby could still make it, which makes Dean very upset.

THEN Dean exists the hospital to cool off, and yet again fills the role of the oldest son by inheriting the role of avenger. He sees and confronts Dick Roman alone in the parking lot, swearing to avenge Bobby (which Dean does at the end of the season—as he did John and Mary in 2.22). Dean's actually so confident and scary that—for all his gloating bravado and soulless smiles—Dick appears genuinely threatened for a moment (of course—we already knew from Dick's master plan to get rid of them in 7.06 that he takes The Winchesters seriously as a threat).

While Dean's been gone handling "insurance" (Dean says that's what it was about when Sam asks) and measuring dicks with Dick (which he does mention to Sam), Sam's worked himself up to looking into Bobby's room from a distance.

It's here that Dean asks for an update, and Sam is in the position of being the one to have received news about Bobby that Dean doesn't know yet. Bobby's swelling is going down and he's breathing on his own, which are both good signs. But the doctors aren't sure about surgery yet because it could be risky, and there's dead brain tissue. Bobby's currently stable, but Sam has begun to face the fact that Bobby might not make it. Note that he’s also had time to process alone after hearing the latest news. Dean hasn’t.

Sam then asks to talk to Dean and starts walking out of sight of Bobby again, and here's where he pulls his signature Sam maneuver: Trying to process what he's trying to face through Dean, by trying to make it a problem that Dean hasn't accepted the possibility that Bobby might not make it... when there's not... actually any real reason to push Dean to "accept" that possibility right now. If Bobby had been in intensive care for weeks, that would be one thing... but it hasn't even been 24 hours since he was shot. Whether Bobby has a high probability of making it or not, Dean really hoping he will... isn't actually a problem Dean needs to "deal" with right now for his emotional health or any other reason.

SAM: Can I talk to you? DEAN: What? Talk about what? SAM: You know what. DEAN: No, we're not gonna have that conversation. SAM: Well, we need to. DEAN: He's not gonna die. SAM: He might. DEAN: Sam. SAM: Dean, listen – we need to brace ourselves. DEAN: Why? SAM: Because it's real. DEAN: What do you want to do? You want to hug and – and say we made it through it when Dad died? We've been through enough.

Sam's choice of words here—"because it's real"—isn't an accident. When Dean walks out, Sam sits and immediately presses his thumb into his palm—the action he uses to dispel hallucinations of Lucifer—who is no doubt mocking him and taunting him with hope of Bobby making it being a pipe dream. We know from 6.22 that one of hallucifer's taunts is that Sam never even left The Cage and all of this has been an elaborate hoax to give Sam hope then completely crush his spirit. As a result, Sam feels he needs to go ahead and accept the worst case scenario so that "Lucifer" can't crush him with despair he wasn't ready to feel.

The thing is... this is a problem very specific to Sam. It may be a reality Sam needs to accept on a particularly quick timeline, but it isn't a "we" situation—it's a "me" situation, and what's "good" for Sam isn't necessarily "good" for Dean. There's nothing here that Dean needs to "accept" at this stage. It's not fair to claim he's in denial. Dean's "crime" here is wanting to hope in something he’s been told is possible, and he doesn't appreciate Sam trying to make that a problem and trying to take his hope away prematurely. But Sam finds he needs to "accept", and instead of facing that within himself, tries to make it a problem Dean is having that Sam needs to force him to work through.

[ancha-aus]

RealAgeAU - Breakfast

Okay! So. I know this isn't the one you guys were probably expecting.

BUT I HAD AN IDEA! :D

and because this whole drabble serie is loosely hanging together with just my pure power of will I am adding it! :D

First Drabble here (with special thanks to @spotaus for the original prompt which sparked this all) Prev drabble here Next Drabble

As always we have no beta and zero editing, just me and my fast typing and dyslectic ass trying her best.

Also... Enjoy Crop's thoughts :D

*----------------*

Crop hangs up the phone as he sighs next to the chicken coop. The chickens are still mostly asleep as the sun hasn't risen but with his new guests Crop figured it was best to get his chores out of the way early.

And collect a few fresh eggs.

He slowly moves through the coop to carefully grab the eggs from his very sweet chickens. They always work with him and he is very lucky with all these ladies.

As he goes over his mental list as he collects the eggs. He made sure to call his brother to both warn him and to ask him to get extra supplies. He is going to call the local doctor after breakfast.

Either way, his brother knows they have quests and the most basic of explanations. He is bringing more food and general things for them to use and will tell people in town today as he does their shopping.

Crop just... needs to make sure they are comfortable.

Crop chuckles as he holds the basket with eggs in one arm as he pulls out his phone and finds the picture he took this morning.

So he may have sneaked a look at his guests before he went to do his work. He just wanted to be sure they were comfortable and not bothered by anything. He remembered how souldeep tired all of them had looked and how tense most of them had been. He just wanted to be sure that they were actually comfortable resting.

What he foudn as one pile of skeletons all locked together and sound asleep. Little Nightmare in the middle being held close and protectively by Killer. Dust pretty much plastered to the two of them on Nightmare's other side. Cross had layed on Killer's side, squeezed right between Killer and the wall. Horror had been laying by Dust's side. All of them completely out as the open window let in the fresh summer air.

Crop had silently snapped a picture before leaving again. Oh! That is what he should do! He quickly texts Papyrus to also buy a picture frame and to print the picture for it. After which Crop send the picture and Papyrus replied with a message that he will get it done.

Crop figures they will want to make the attic a bit more theirs.

Crop knows they won't stay forever. He knew that when Horror first visited and he knew that when he and Dust visited together. It is just... the farm gets lonely and it is nice to have friendly faces around!

He walks down the dirt path back towards his farmhouse. It looks peaceful and Crop prays this really is what they needed. Even if it is just for a little while. He makes sure to try and be quiet as he enters the house again but the door still creeks.

Crop waits for a moment but hears nothing from upstairs and closes the door again. He goes to the kitchen and thinks it over as he prepares coffee for himself. As it brews he looks around the kitchen.

What to make. What to make.

Maybe omelettes? those are usually a good go. Eggs themselves are an amazing source of protein and together with some fresh vegatables...

Crop nods and starts taking out the right ingredients. He takes out a few extra eggs as he has quite a few mouths to feed today and he gets to work on cutting up vegatables. Crop is just considering turning on the radio just to get the silence to be less pressing when he sees a shadow out of the corner of his socket.

He turns and freezes. Because that is a very tiny six year old staring at him. Crop manages to keep in the coo as he takes in the sight of Nightmare in an oversized t-shirt.

Crop smiles "Sorry if i woke you."

Nightmare tilts his skull a tiny bit before answering, his voice is soft spoken but it is clear as a bell, "You didn't wake me." his mouth and teeth pitch a little bit up "I am what Killer calls 'one of those cursed morning people'. Usually I get up with Cross and Horror but both were tired."

Crop nods as he turns back to continue his chopping "I see. Well. YOu will be happy to note I am also a monring person." he finishes chopping up a few onions before moving over to the peppers "I am sitll working on breakfast. Do you have any preferences for your breakfast."

A light hum that sounds a bit closer before he answers "Not really. Is it okay if I sit here?"

Crop wants to just lay his face on his counter because he is so wellmannered it is so cute! Crop remains strong however and shoots him a grin, silently noting that Ngihtmare had somehow moved himself into a chair without making a single sound.

Crop nods "of course. Happy to have you keep me company." he takes a sip of his coffee before turning back to Nightmare with a frown "Do you want anything to drink? I have some orange juice."

Nightmare tilts his skull and nods "orange juice is fine..." he does eye the coffee wishfully.

Crop looks at his own mug before grinning "Are you allowed coffee or will that get your four friends all mad at me?"

Ngihtmare blinks before looking a bit happier "It should be fine. It never harmed me before."

Crop nods and grabs another mug, one with little goats on it, and fills it with some coffee. He turns to Nightmare "How do you take it?"

Ngihtmare smiles a bit more sheepish "Lots of milk and sugar..."

Crop chuckles and nods as he prepares it "Much like my brother than. Says if he doesn't add those things it just tastes like regret." he finishes the mug and puts it by Nightmare's arm. Nightmare watches him for a moment longer before taking it and taking a sip.

Crop grins and goes back to preparing the omelettes and just knowing that someone is nearby makes the silence much more bareable.

"Don't I bother you?"

Crop pauses for a moment before snorting "If you being in the kitchen with me while i cooked bothered me i would have requested you go to the living room. It is fine Ngihtmare."

a small sigh before he speaks again "No. I mean me in general."

Crop blinks and looks over "Why would it?"

Nightmare frowns at him before shrugging as he looks back to his coffee.

The silence returns but Nightmare doesn't ask anymore questions. aparently the ltitle thing that Crop said was enough. Crop hopes that he didn't leave a bad first impression.

Crop starts with cooking the first egg and vegetable mixture.

He watches it before he can't help it anymore "Nightmare... I was wondering something... and it is fine to not answer..."

Nightmare hums and waits.

Crop frowns but speaks "Doesn't it bother you to be here?"

Nightmare is silent for a bit longer before humming questioningly.

Crop keeps looking at the eggs "It is just... you don't know me... or any of this place... doesn't it bother you to be here?"

Nightmare is silent for a while before answering "I don't have to be worried. I am not alone."

Crop stops and turns to Nightmare "Huh?"

Ngihtmare looks at him and continues to speak "They won't let anything happen to me. I don't have to worry." he speaks with such a certainty.

and Crop can't help but be curious "really?" he leans on the table "I don't mean this in anyway negatively or to make you doubt yourself... it is just... they left right? Horror said as much, and immediantly said he regretted it!" it feels important to reinforce that! "and well... he showed me... the book of dreamtale...."

Nightmare doesn't blink at the comment of being left alone but he does look bothered with the dreamtale comment. he looks at the coffee with a frown "oh...."

Crop frowns "It is just... how... how are you still able to trust people after that?" he chuckles and rubs his neck "I know that i would have a hard time being willling to trust others if all those things happened to me..."

Horror frowns as he looks at his mug before shrugging.

Crop nods and chuckles "right... sorry... that is a very personal and loaded questions..." he quickly turns back to the safe area which is preparing breakfast.

The silence continues before Nightmare speaks just barely above a whisper "they came back..." more silence before even softer "no one ever did that... that is how i knew they were different...."

Crop feels his soul just break at that... how terrified this poor babybones would ahve been. had still been.

crop froces his voice to speak. He needs to make sure that the young child knows he was heard and understood "I see. that would make them much more trustworthy."

a soft hum of acknowledgement.

Crop can't help but wonder why Nightmare would tell him. Is it just that... Ngihtmare now as a six year old just doesn't have the same mental view on things? That he doesn't see the same boundries for topics as he saw before? Or... is it because there is someone acutlaly listening to him? Crop doesn't know and he doesn't dare to ask. He doesn't want to question his motives and make him question them.

Crop nods and thinks for a moment before speaking again "So... other subject... do you still have to do the whole god of negativity job still? Because that just seems rude and illegal... Do gods have a rule against child labor?" Crop desperately tries to find another subject and figures this would work.

A light giggle and Crop can't help but stare because nightmare giggling to hismelf is adorable. Ngihtmare shakes his skull lightly "No... I don't think I sitll got that job..." he looks thoughtful "Maybe this is part of being fired? I am not sure..." he then shoots him a look, a small eye brow raised and he looks very sassy and smug "Also, I am not a god of negativity, or well I never was."

Crop blinks and tilts his skull "you weren't?"

Ngihtmare shakes his skull "I was a god of balance. I just decided to also be the guardian of negativity. It fit with the powers i had gained and it was needed."

Crop finishes another omelette as he asks "Why negativity? If you had the choice why not pick positivity?"

Nightmare blinks at him with wide sockets before he speaks "Because positivity doesn't need a guardian but negativity does." he rolls his sockets nad mutters softly "don't get why dream did what he did...."

Crop frowns "What do you mean? Why does negativity need a guardian but positivity not?"

Ngihtmare tilts hsi skull and looks amused "Because everyone wants to be happy. Everyone chases the positive things in life... wlel not everyone but most people." he traces the mug "negativity gets pushed aside for positivity... but negativity is needed... i mean... you can't exactly just be happy about the death of someone you care about. you need negativity, that is how you can grieve and move forwards. Anger is needed when you are hurt or see injustice..." he looks down "people will try to chase positivity. but if you just feel positivity.... well... you can't appreciate the good without being aware of the bad."

Crop blinks and speaks "You can't have light without shadows... you cna't have day without night..."

Ngihtmare looks up and nods "So i decided to guard the negativity, helps a lot with mental health and progressing trauma." and he shrugs before snorting "not that it matters anymore. I am not that anymore."

Crop chuckles "how are you so sure about that?" Ngihtmare shrugs again and crop figures that is a question he won't answer for him.

Crop tilts his skull "Was there a favourite feeling for you? Like as god of emotions and stuff? Something you enjoyed to feel form others?" it sounded weird to ask but Nightmare acutally looks thoughtful.

Nightmare nods to himself "I think amazement... it is just... nice... i like how those work and felt for others."

Crop nods and thinks for a moment "I think my favorite is contentment." is that an emotions? Maybe.

Nightmare tilts hsi skull but ends up nodding "Because it is a bit more humble but still what you need?"

Crop blinks but nods "kinda."

Nightmar elooks smug to have figured it out before turning back to his mug "eggs are burning."

Crop blinks before cursing and turning back to safe the food. He manges to do it and pants as it lays a bit darker than it should be on the plate.

Crop freezes and looks over his shoulder "don't tlel them i cursed in front of you please."

Nightmare hums "I won't. Not that it matters as they do it too sometimes. would make them hypocrits."

Crop laughs as he nods-

A smash from upstairs and a panicked voice calls out for nightmare. Nightmare looks unsurprised as he continues to drink his coffee.

Crop raises his voice slightly "he is in the kitchen! We are making breakfast."

Silence before rushed steps and crop laughs as he turns back to the stoof.

It is amazing to have more people in the house again.

*---------------*

First Drabble here Prev drabble here Next Drabble

hihihihihi i like crop. he is so curious and down to earth :3 He is just a sweet guy! :D

[violent138]

Getting an adorable, brightly coloured sunshine child to run around with him was probably the best (and worst) PR move Batman ever made.

[rexcaliburechoes]

does anyone else find it fucked up that moon's friends protect themselves from her with the skyfire at the end of moon rising?

[bnhaobservation]

My personal feeling is that orignally Quirk counseling wasn't meant to be a big deal.

The chapters in which it comes up are: Chap 22 (a random line), chap 165 (not directly mentioned as they merely talk of counseling not of Quirk counseling), chap 226 (2 lines which are cut in the anime), chap 370 (a mention), chap 392 (it's not directly mentioned, we can only speculate the woman is there to give it), chap 430 (where all of sudden it seems the solution to all the problems) and chap 431 (where we're vaguely explained how the program works).

All this to say... Quirk counseling in the story wasn't a big deal until they decided it was the solution to all the problems, and during the Remedial Course Arc it wasn't even directly mentioned.

I think the remedial course arc was set up to help Shouto to deal with his own Villain.

Midoriya and Uraraka took part to the Shie Hassaikai arc. In it Midoriya deals with Eri (who's a child who can't control her powers and is exploited by an adult) and this could have helped him to deal with Tomura, while Uraraka deals with Nighteye's death and this helps her to move from the mindsetting "I want to be a Hero to help my parents" to the "I want to be a Hero to save people as I don't want to see anyone die" which might have helped her to deal with Himiko (who, after Jin's death, will be afraid Heroes are out to kill her).

Shouto wasn't in this arc so he couldn't learn anything to help him to deal with his Villain, so the Remedial Course arc, who comes immediately after the Shie Hassaikai arc seems there exactly for this reason.

I loved this speech from Gang Orca.

It remarks on the importance of creating a connection and it would have been important if Touya and Shouto could connect.

In the past Shouto already had a similiar discussion with Midoriya (in the arc that will see him meeting with Touya for the first time).

Kouta, who hates Hero society, can be viewed as a stand in for Tomura but also for Touya. In this exchange Shouto in the end told Midoriya he shouldn't butt in, as the situation is delicate.

One might see the Remedial course arc as an evolution of all this, the kids in it too have problems with society but Shouto this time is told he has to engage, that he can't just say, it's a delicate topic, I won't butt in because he has to 'save' those kids.

It would stand in parallel with how Shouto understood that Rei snapped and attacked him because she was driven to a corner and ultimately decided to engage with her.

The story seems to want to build up an arc for Shouto in which he'll understand if his brother turned into aVillain was because he snapped because he couldn't take it anymore, and that if he wants to stop him he has to engage and connect his heart with him, not bare his fangs at him and fight him like any other Hero would have done.

And then instead what we have when Shouto faces Touya?

A fight, Shouto being miserable but not connecting with Touya at all...

And why is that? Because the story needed so (I've discussed about it more in details here).

However, since Horikoshi decides Tomura, Touya and Himiko can't be saved, in order for the story to have a positive ending he needed to prove the FUTURE Tomura, Touya and Himiko would be now saved so enter Quirk counseling again, who only needed to be polished a bit by Uraraka and be joined by well meaning people without the slightest preparation to deal with kids with problems to work like a charm and stop what? half of the kids with Quirk problems to turn into Villains? The way they present it as the most essential initiative seems to imply they could be even more than a half.

Awesome how Uraraka could turn a flawed program into a perfect one and save the day. Too bad they hadn't thought at it sooner, isn't it?

Overall, I do get Horikoshi's idea but I this it's a bad one.

If Quirk counseling had to be the secret weapon to save the world... well, it needed to be a more integrant part in the story and a part of Uraraka's story.

So I don't think it's so much that Shouto was cut from it due to Horikoshi needing something for Uraraka to do... but that Shouto ended up cut from it when Horikoshi decided that no, Shouto wouldn't manage to connect his heart with his brother during the battle and Uraraka wouldn't manage to avoid having another person dying in front of her while she's helpless (actually let's give her a bigger trauma and make Himiko die to save her).

But with the Villains dying Horikoshi needed someone to save so what about saving the new generation of future Villains none of his readers cared about because they didn't exist yet?

But Shouto couldn't be involved because he now have enough to deal with due to the fallout of his family drama and Midoriya also has enough to deal with due to losing OFA so let's toss the burden on Uraraka who only lost Himiko.

Really, to me it feels more like Horikoshi went by exclusion than by logic.

Of course it's also possible I'm just being bitter. I don't like the idea to murder the Villains and I don't like the idea to entrust with a pollyannaish optimism the Quirk counseling to people who are well meaning but not trained at all into spotting and helping kids with problems.

People's opinion might differ from mine and love it but well, we can't all feel the same.

‘Remedial course’ arc Vs Uraraka's quirk counseling program in chap 431

So, in my Quirk counseling post I’ve already mentioned how Uraraka's quirk counseling program seemed to recycle the idea of the ‘Remedial course’ arc… which is not so great because the whole thing didn’t mention as involved in the program the people who had been involved in the ‘Remedial course’ arc, especially Shouto who was directly touched by Quirk problems in the family and troublesome Quirk related family situations (so he should/could also be invested in helping kids who have such problems) and the story didn’t even create a scene in which information about what happened in the ‘Remedial course’ arc could be passed to Uraraka as we never see Bakugou and Shouto talk about their lessons. The result is it either happened offscreen (possible but bad because it doesn’t acknowledge their contribute) or Uraraka somehow had the same idea that the guys in the ‘Remedial course’ arc had (possible but not great because it feels unoriginal).

But, okay, let’s put this aside for now.

What I really wanted to do now was a more in deep comparison between the two so let’s start with sum up some things about them, starting with…

THE STORY

‘Remedial course’ arc (RAC for short)

In order to get their Hero license a group of teenagers (Bakugou, Shouto, Inasa and Utsushimi) is taking part to a remedial course. During one of the lessons they’re asked out of the blue to take care of a class of kids from the Masegaki elementary school. The class is apparently composed SOLELY of troublesome kids which their teacher doesn’t know how to handle. The teenagers are expected to ‘transform the class’ by the end of the day, working together to win the class over. After various failed attempts they manage to use their Quirks and the kids Quirks to create a wonderful slide and have all the kids play with it. This impresses and tames the kids who become absolutely obedient and feel understood by them.

Uraraka's quirk counseling program in chap 431 (UQC for short)

A group of Heroes (Togata, Amajiki and Hadō) has volunteered to take part to Uraraka’s Quirk counseling program and, after reading the documents about the kids, they’re about to join them with Uraraka. Uraraka explains them that the most important thing is communication, that kids might seem to be fine but actually have troubles often related to their home environment and are wary of opening up but as they’ll have a time or longer to work with them, they’ll surely notice signs and that they just have to focus on making friends. The result is one of them (Togata) decides to challenge the kids to a game in which they should use their Quirk to hit his ‘peaches’. Uraraka helps with her Quirk a shy kid to do so. All the kids are impressed by his feat and things seem to go on smoothly.

Now that we’ve refreshed everyone’s mind let’s start comparing…

THE STRUCTURE OF THE TWO PROJECTS MORE IN DEEP

Who is aimed at: a class who apparently has only troublesome kids all of whom in need to be helped (RAC), a class of kids which might or might not have kids with Quirk related problems (UQC)

Who is supposed to help: 4 teenagers who’re studying to become Heroes (RAC), 3 adults who are Heroes [actually 5 adults if we count Uraraka and Asui but it’s unclear if they’ll stay to work with the other 3 or are just accompanying them and then will move to another school] (UQC)

How much preparation they have: none (RAC), they were given to read some documents about the kids and, as they walk there, they’re also given an EXTREMELY quick and vague explanation about how the program works [Uraraka and Asui might have more preparation but we don’t really know if they’ll stay] (UQC)

How much practical experience they have: none (RAC), none [again, Uraraka and Asui have experience but we don’t know if they’ll remain to help or move to another school] (UQC)

How much willing they were to help the kids: they had no idea they would have to help the kids and were given it as an assignment to get their Hero license (the fact in this particular case the teenagers involved also decided they wanted to help the kids for the sake of the kids wasn’t factored when their involvement was decided) (RAC), they volunteered (UQC)

How much time they have: a school day (RAC), a month which can be extended if there’s need for it (UQC)

Now… from this quick overview it’s clear while the UQC’s structure isn’t great… well, the structure of the RAC is a mess. Teenagers, in order to get their Hero license, are forced to deal with a class FULL of kid a professional teacher doesn’t know how to handle and are expected to solve their problems IN A DAY without having THE SLIGHTEST PREPARATION to do so. Having willing adults with a minimal preparation deal for a month with a class in which some kids might have problems is definitely a much better plan… at least on papers.

Well… technically even the story wants to claim the UQC is better, as the RAC shows the teenagers making various attempts (and failing more than once) before managing to connect with the kids, while the UQC shows Togata making a single attempt that works like a charm right from the start.

The problem is… Togata’s attempt is quite bad and shouldn’t have worked while the teenagers’ final attempt was good and could have worked, not to magically fix all the kids’ problems but to create a connection and help them.

Now, I’ll give the UQC a pass in the sense I won’t blame it specifically for how Togata’s attempt at making friends is, it’s clear that what Togata does suits his own personal brand of humor and idea on how to make friends (remember when he creeped Midoriya out by showing only his face all of sudden? And how he used the peach joke against Tomura?) and he wasn’t instructed by Uraraka or the Quirk counseling rules to do what he did.

At the same time, this is the UQC MAIN problem, it doesn’t instruct the people involved in how to approach with the kids, same as the RAC, but the RAC is a surprise test that’s more focused on seeing if the teenagers can do it than on helping the kids (I mean, the teenagers could fail, there was no guaranty they would succeed) while the UQC is focused on HELPING THE KIDS. The adults shouldn’t fail, they should be given all the means to succeed, they shouldn’t improvise, they should go there with a plan that should have chances to be effective.

Now… why Togata’s attempt shouldn’t have worked? (or, at least, he had serious chances to fail?)

Number 1 reason:

Togata challenges the kids and even mocks their failed attempts adopting a Villain persona. To him it’s a joke. Practically he would have increased the kids’ frustration or scared them or make them more aggressive or disappointed them because the Number 1 Hero is being so mean. He’s not yet friends with the kids so they wouldn’t know his way to act and how he’s only playing around and they’re young. They aren’t meant to be able to decode his behavior and figure out it’s a joke.

By the way we see Bakugou challenging the kids in the RAC and, guess what, it doesn’t work! Bakugou acting all aggressive doesn’t get him close to the kids, it increases the distance between them! In the end Bakugou will get close by acting mature and giving honest counsel from his own experience, not by acting like a scary and overly competitive guy, so who saw the RAC appreciates even less Togata’s act.

Number 2 reason:

The game Togata proposes is a competitive one, one means to have winners and losers. In short it’ll split the kids in two groups, where the winner group will likely be smaller than the loser group. His game doesn’t promote cooperation or equality. Think if among the kids there had been little Midoriya and little Bakugou. Midoriya would be out of the game where Bakugou would have more likely won. This would have boosted further Bakugou’s ego and made Midoriya feel even less… but no, Uraraka would step in and help Midoriya to win… which would have caused Bakugou to react angrily to the frustration or losing and complain that Midoriya won only because he was helped out… and likely the other kids would feel the same. Now you might argue this would help Togata to see the kids with problems but… this would also give the kids with problems ADDITIONAL problems. And what if no one had won and all the kids were to feel frustrated because they couldn’t win? Or what if that frustration had pushed them to go overboard with the use of their Quirk? Yes, there are Pro Heroes there so if something wrong happens they could theoretically handle it, but it’s only theoretically. A distraction can cause them to act too late. Now, okay, I can give Togata a pass on how his game apparently ignores how some kids could not have a Quirk that’s suitable for this (or be Quirkless), because he had read documents about the kids so he might know all the kids have Quirks that can help them. I can’t give him a pass for how he overlooked the fact that a competition can still make matters worse and doesn’t necessarily promotes troubled kids to open up or make friends with Togata exactly because it can make matters worse.

Compare with the RAC. The teenagers in the end realized they shouldn’t compete with the kids because this makes matter worse, as they aren’t other teenagers who can get friends by competing with them, they’re kids. So they set up a game in which each kid can take part as equal and have fun, a game with no winners and losers, a game that put value in the kids’ Quirks without putting a rank to the kids or their Quirks. All the kids get to have fun and all the kids get to be helped by the teenagers to have fun, all the kids are praised and feel appreciated and understood. This creates a good atmosphere between the kids and the teens. Realistically no, it wouldn’t magically solve the kids’ problems but it could help them to open up, to trust the teens.

Number 3 reason:

Togata’s game doesn’t really encourages Quirk positivity. Yes, the kids are allowed to use their Quirks but none of their Quirk would have allowed them to win (Ooshima did win only because he was helped by Uraraka) so all their kids would have turned out to be useless and not being praised. While yes, the goal here is clearly just to make friends, since this little segment was meant to show us how UQC works, it could have also shows us a game which implemented Quirk positivity but that’s not the case, where the RAC did show Quirk positivity (the material produced by the kids is praised and used to create the slides and Quirks which didn’t produce anything are praised for how helpful they could be in cleaning operations).

Number 4 reason:

After we’ve one winner, Ooshima, the timid, shy kid, is suddenly tossed in the spotlight and involved in Togata’s style of humor. For start this cements the idea we’ve one single winner and the rest are losers, instead than giving to the other kids the chance to win as well and became ‘all equal’ to him… but, what’s more, this is a risky move to use in real life if you don’t know well the kids as the other kids might react badly and, if something were to go wrong, this can also cause harm to Ooshima’s self esteem.

There’s no such risk in the RAC where as there are no winners and losers all the kids are equal and none of them is put under the spotlight.

Conclusion:

All of the above prove no one told Togata which are the best tactics to use to interact with those kids and make friends without risking to make things worse.

Being well meaning isn’t enough.

This should be a program that aims at helping kids so it should prepare people to do so, not just tell them ‘with time you’ll surely notice signs of problems so don’t focus on the papers but on making friends’. Signs of problems can escape PROFESSIONALS. Mistakes can be done by PROFESSIONALS. Yet here we’re expecting well meaning amateurs to fix things just by having them trying their best… when ‘trying their best’ wasn’t enough to save Tomura, Touya or Himiko.

Credits when it’s due, in Japan there’s the belief that with just effort you can surpass people with innate talent, that if you fail is because you hadn’t tried hard enough and that if you try hard you should succeed and there’s also a strong stigma against psychological help… so this should have influenced Horikoshi in creating the UQC, denying people preparation because a psychological approach is ‘bad’ and focusing on effort because it’s the key to do everything.

Plus, although this bit is meant to explain Quirk counseling, it seems Horikoshi planned it merely as a short moment more aimed at lightening the mood of the story than at really showing a good way to help the kids. Things go way too easy at the first try, with no one showing big signs of needing help. Ooshima might as well be just shy and this might not be due to Quirk related problems. Or he has problems but it’s hard to tell in such a short scene because there’s no real focus on the kids and their problems and how hard it could be to help them because the author here wants positivity and smiles and pass the belief that of course the children will be helped and everything will be all right.

In the end this bit is just an infodump, with light moments and focus on how Uraraka is doing such an important job that’s so time consuming but she claims it’s all ‘me time’ because she likes it.

So yeah, what we see is definitely inferior to the RAC which showed a concrete way in which teens and kids could connect and be of some help to kids.

I’ll conclude with something I’ve already said but that I still find worth repeating: it’s annoying the teens involved in the RAC were never said to have inspired or have been involved in the UQC. The teens’ experiences in the RAC ultimately weren’t used at all, when HERE they could have been put to good use. At the same time while it’s possible Uraraka figured the old Quirk counseling program harmed Himiko instead than helping her, Horikoshi gave the whole thing a too weak connection. I mean, the first time it was mentioned Midnight thought Tomura was like that because he didn’t receive Quirk counseling (meaning among Heroes there’s the belief Quirk counseling is good) and now Uraraka thinks Himiko is like that because the Quirk counseling she received wasn’t good enough and needed to be improved? Without Himiko ever mentioning it? It feels random, as if Horikoshi changed his plans all of sudden.

But okay, I guess with this I’ve finished talking about the topic.

All in all it’s a pity things went like that but this is what we have. Thank you for reading so far and sorry if it felt boring to you.

[rosesandthorns44]

My toxic trait is only doing things that are *bad* for me when no one else is looking.

Like, if no one sees it, it didn't count, and I'm perfectly fine. No problems to be seen here, folks.

Mental illness? We don't know her.

[im2tired4usernames]

Ugh I was excited for today until I found out I'd have to spend it with people that actively make me hate being alive hate the future and drain me off all energy physically mentally spiritually like a vampire I can't stand to be around her she is the definition of stupidity and even then that's generous as fuck this bitch has filled her brain with so much garbage I watch her brain cells die at alarming rates every single time she uses her vocal cords her giggles make me want to jam a sewing needle into my ear repeatedly so I can never have to hear it again its a friendly reminder that my parents decisions this time my dad's constantly makes me want to die

[epicfirestormer]

Me: I'm fine

Also me: Six getting his memory erased in "Six Minus Six" and Rex trying to make him remember is meant to parallel just how terrifying it must've been for Six and Holiday when Rex would sometime lose his memories before canon started. We know from what Tuck told Rex that he had lost his memories so many times, he would keep a notebook on him to make sure he would remember. How many times had this happen, for it to be a habit. How many memories did Rex lose when he was in Providence. How much of his own life does Rex actually remember during those years. Did Rex and Six bonded and got close before Rex inevitably blacks out and forgets everything again. How absolutely horrifying is it for Rex, a child in everything but title, to wake up with no idea who he is at a goddamn government facility and treated nothing more than a weapon. How heartbreaking had it been for Holiday, a mother figure who treats Rex like a child- how he should be treated- to see him not recall anything about her. How absolutely soul-crushing had it be for Six, who had taught this kid to survive and how to stay strong, to see that same kid act in fear. Did Providence did something similar to what Rex did, keeping a log of everything about him so he could know right away. How awful is that. How absolutely batshit, fucking insanely immoral it is that a child have to go through. To lose memories and be conditioned about waking up a military base. But in the eyes of Providence, he isn't a child. He's a weapon, an asset at best, and a monster at worst.

[leapinarmadillo]

completely unrelated but a thought i've been having: absolutely insane and very impressive that he was a good father. like a really good, normal father