#coule

[coulsart]

imperfect

[sakuravalelp]

Don't eat anything else - Part 2 - DP X DC

Previous part

Masterpost

This is the only chapter where I'll tag people. Please, if you want to follow the story from this point on, follow the master post :).

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

"You both should stop eating the food." Came Babs voice through the comms. "Danny asked Tim to not eat anything else. We suspect the food may content poison."

Bruce subtly shared a look with Cass before returning to nodding at Masters' proud rambling about his latest contract. They had both stopped eating long ago. The soup was good; Masters’ words about Danny being a good cook weren’t a lie. However, Bruce couldn’t identify the chunks of meat in the soup.

He initially thought it was pork, though the texture seemed somewhat similar to veal. By the fourth piece of meat he ate, he could confidently say he didn't recognize it. When he looked at Cass, he saw her using her spoon to play with one of the pieces of meat on the edge of the plate, a frown hidden behind her polite smile. He was sure then that the meat couldn't be one they had tasted before.

Bruce has tasted every kind of meat that should be available to Masters. He has even tasted exotic meats that Masters would probably never encounter, having represented humanity in intergalactic meetings as Batman. Not being able to identify the meat discouraged Bruce from eating more, and it seemed to have had the same effect on Cass. They had kept their food mostly untouched, using the excuse of waiting for Tim and Danny to return before eating. It was a good call; the meat being poisoned could be the reason it was unrecognizable.

"If any of you feel any symptoms, turn off your comm." None of them made a move to do so, and after a couple of minutes Babs continued, "I'll call Bruce in 10 minutes to create an excuse for you guys to leave."

Bruce would have liked to think that they had not yet consumed enough poison for it to affect them, but there's always the possibility of it being a delayed-effect poison. If Masters' plan with the poison was to kill them, then a delayed-effect poison would allow Masters to avoid being immediately connected to their deaths.

However, Masters shouldn’t have a reason to kill Bruce Wayne and his wards. Unless the man had discovered that they were investigating his contracts, which Bruce doubted. It was more likely that the poison was some sort of chemical restraint or chemical submissive, which would explain why Masters' contracts always seemed to end ridiculously in his favor. It would be easy to make such deals with someone who was drugged to be more agreeable with you.

Not that Bruce would be willing to take the risk to find out, especially with Cass having also ingested the tainted meat. He was glad he had brought the poison antidote kit with him. Despite this, Bruce wasn't sure about cutting the visit short, at least not for all of them. Tim had been gone with Danny for a while now, and if Danny had informed Tim about the food, they were probably exchanging information at the moment. Maybe Tim was in the process of offering Danny help, and Bruce didn't want to interrupt that.

"Renovations will be starting next week, and I'm sure the place will end up being quite popular," Masters finally finished his rambling.

"It sure sounds like it will. You certainly got yourself a great deal with Kensington, Mr. Masters. I'm curious, what is your negotiation method?" Bruce asked, hoping to gather more information.

Masters had been surprisingly adept at avoiding any conversation about the negotiations themselves, always sidetracking the discussion or giving half-answers. Drugs in the food was a good hypothesis and would be the best outcome for them, as such substances usually shouldn’t take too long to get out of their system.

Yet, it didn't explain how Masters' business partners seemed to stay committed to their contracts long after they were made. The furthest they had gotten from them was confusion about how they had reached the point where they accepted the contract's conditions. However, they all seemed convinced they had gotten the best outcome possible, despite obviously getting the short end of the stick.

It pointed to something besides drug usage. Maybe Masters got blackmail material from them while they were drugged? It would be easier to draw conclusions if Masters had even the smallest slip about it.

Masters smiled, taking a sip from his wine. "Ah, it takes years of practice, Wayne. It isn't something one can learn in a day, and only those with the capacity can master it," he said. Then, before Bruce could ask any follow-up questions, he continued, "Now, Daniel and young Mr. Drake sure seem to be taking their time."

"Oh, that doesn't surprise me," Bruce said, shaking his head with a fond smile, playing farther into his "Brucie" persona while lamenting the lost opportunities to get more leads on what Masters was doing. "They're around the same age. Surely they got distracted talking about whatever is of interest to kids their age these days."

"I would be glad if my godson got along so well with your son, Mr. Wayne," Masters said with a practiced smile, though a hint of calculation flickered in his eyes. He gestured vaguely with his wine glass, his tone deceptively sympathetic. "The loss of his family hasn't been easy for him, and building a connection with someone like Mr. Drake could be beneficial. However, it is quite rude to leave the guests waiting. As his guardian, I must address this. I’ll go search for them." Masters stated, standing up from his seat.

Luckily, Bruce didn't need to interject to stop Masters from interrupting his son's conversation with Danny, since the two boys appeared by the door as if summoned by Masters' comment. Danny visibly tensed the moment he spotted Masters standing in his place.

"Daniel, it's good you're finally back. I was about to go search for you," Masters said, throwing Danny a stern look.

Danny opened his mouth, probably about to apologize for the wait, but Tim beat him to it.

"So sorry, Mr. Masters. I had to take a shower before changing clothes."

"Oh, don't worry about it, Mr. Drake," Masters said as he looked Tim up and down, evaluating if what Tim was saying was true. His eyes lingered on Tim's wet hair for a moment, and the tension in his eyes relaxed a bit. "It is Daniel's fault for throwing the soup on you. Now, shall we continue with the dinner?" Masters sat once more on his chair.

"Should—" Danny started, slightly stuttering when Masters' eyes returned to him. "Should I serve new portions? Since the ones on the table are probably cold by now?" the intensity of Masters gaze increased with every word Danny said. In response, Danny lowered his gaze to the floor, and shifted nervously.

Danny's voice was way too small by the end of his sentence, but Bruce could sense some hidden urgency in his tone. Remembering that Danny was the one who had warned them about the food, Bruce could infer that he was trying to further prevent them from eating it. It gave Bruce the impression that Masters had also caught onto that fact, given how tense the man was.

He was grateful for the kid doing their best to protect them, but lamented putting them in a position where they had to risk confronting their abuser. Bruce really hoped Tim had convinced Danny to leave with them. It shouldn't be difficult to create a reasonable invitation for Danny after Masters' comment about how he was isolating himself.

"Good idea," Cass said with a gentle smile directed at Danny before Masters could make any move.

Masters' eyes narrowed slightly, but then he nodded. "Very well. Daniel, go ahead."

As Danny hurried to the kitchen, Bruce shared a subtle glance with Tim, who was retaking his seat beside Cass. Unfortunately, instead of the nod indicating that they could get Danny to leave with them if they created the opportunity, Tim just shrugged. It wasn't the sign for Danny refusing help, but the one for things being more complicated than they seemed. Bruce sighed, and before Danny returned from the kitchen, his phone rang. He excused himself to answer Babs' call, lamenting not being able to take Danny with them.

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Bruce came back from his brief call with Babs with a worried face that Cass knew wasn't the one he made when actual "family emergencies" happened. It was exagerated and dramatic, it screamed "something terrible had happened," and was perfect for this kind of situations. Bruce quickly ushered Cass and Tim out, apologizing to Masters for the hasty departure. They barely had time to say goodbye to Danny, who had hurried back from the kitchen after Masters had shouted about seeing off the guests.

Cass noticed a subtle shift in Danny’s demeanor as they prepared to leave. His shoulders dropped slightly, and there was a fleeting look of relief in his eyes. However, that relief was overshadowed by the palpable fear that clung to him; his tense posture betrayed the anxiety he was trying to hide. It was hard to leave him behind, and Cass almost ran back when she caught sight of Vlad’s possessive hand on Danny’s shoulder and his venomous, angry eyes as she was walking out the door.

As soon as they were in the car, Tim immediately began checking the vehicle and himself for hidden microphones, with Bruce and Cass following his lead with little more than a raised eyebrow. Tim’s decision to search for bugs made sense once he explained that Danny’s room had been bugged,

"Honestly, Danny's so careful with his actions and words everywhere, I wouldn't be surprised if the whole property is bugged."

The drive back to the house they had rented was tense, the atmosphere in the car thick with unspoken concerns. Tim decided to use the ride home to update them on what he had seen. In turn, Bruce spoke about the dinner with Masters, detailing their regrettable failure to extract any additional information from the man. The evening ultimately boiled down to the suspicion that the food had been poisoned. Cass remained silent, not feeling up to talking.

She had her doubts about the food being poisoned; even if the poison hadn't shown any symptoms, her past training should have allowed her to identify it if she had consumed it. It seemed unlikely that Masters possessed a poison so sophisticated that she couldn’t detect it, and the thought only deepened her unease. She though back to how their hosts acted at the start of the dinner.

Danny looked like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. His eyes darted nervously between them and Masters, his hands trembling slightly as he served the food. The guilt and fear radiating from him were almost palpable, as if he believed he was committing an unforgivable sin by offering them the meal.

Masters, however, didn’t seem like he was planning to poison them. He behaved more like Damian’s classmates had when they once tried to trick him into eating non-vegan food at a gala. His smile was too easy, his gestures too casual, like someone who thought they were pulling off a harmless but cruel prank. It felt like he was purposely feeding them something he knew was outside their comfort zone and ethical beliefs, testing their reactions with a detached amusement.

From the very beginning, Cass had felt a deep discomfort about the food. The way Masters and Danny acted around it had set off her internal alarms. When she took the first bite of the meat, something immediately felt off. The texture was unfamiliar, and the taste was oddly unsettling—not in a way that clearly indicated poison, but in a manner that was subtly disturbing, she didn't know what she was eating. It made her skin crawl, and she couldn’t bring herself to take another bite.

The car coming to a stop in the house’s garage jolted Cass out of her thoughts. They all exited the vehicle, and Jason’s motorcycle was parked beside them as he opened the door. tightly clenched jaw. Like the rest of them, he was frustrated by their inability to take Danny with them, but he wasn’t vocalizing it because he was also worried about what they had eaten.

Once the door was opened, Bruce was ready to rush into his bedroom to get the poison antidote kit, but Jason stopped him,

"Hold on old man, I want to know what the note the kid gave Tim says. It may even say what poison was used; save us time."

"Mnn" Bruce said with a slight nod, and Tim started unfolding the paper in response.

The folded paper was as small as a pinky, but once unfolded, it revealed a full letter-sized sheet, and the text filled at least half of it. Tim skimmed the text as he usually did before reading aloud, but his face quickly drained of color. His eyes widened in horror and disgust. Instead of reading aloud, he kept running his eyes over the first line repeatedly, his gaze darting between Bruce and Cass. His jaw was clenched tightly, and he struggled to keep his composure, fighting against the bile rising in his throat. Cass couldn’t help but frown deeply, a growing sense of dread settling in as she wondered what the paper could possibly contain.

"Forgot how to read, replacement?" Jason said, his tone lacking its usual edge. He stood beside Tim, his expression a mix of uncertainty and concern, unsure whether to reach for the paper or not.

Tim takes a shudering breath, and Cass herself can't help but shift in her place, her anxiety growing, as they all wait for Tim to gain back his voice and finally read what Danny's note says.

"The meat on the food is human meat." Tim finally says with a strained voice.

There's a moment of silence in the room. Cass keeps her eyes on Tim, hoping, pleading, to find any signs that what she heard is wrong, but Tim only repeats the sentence. Her stomach churns violently as bile rises in her throat. Without effort, she sinks to the ground, her legs giving out as she begins to vomit. The pounding of her heart fills her ears, as black dots fill her sight and her hands tremble uncontrollably. She is dimly aware of Bruce doubling over beside her, and the sound of Jason hitting the wall.

She ate human meat. It may have just been a bite, but she ate human meat. The dinner had been made from human meat. Her mind recoiled at the abhorrent thought. The thought of the soup they were served makes her vomit once more. She gasps for air, her body shaking as she fights against the rising tide of revulsion, desperately trying to rid herself of the lingering taste and the horrifying realization of what they ingested. She feels Tims hand doing smalls circles in her back and realizes that tears had been falling from her face.

/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

Danny's hands trembled as he injected himself with another dose of ectoplasm. The shaking made the syringe jab painfully as he withdrew it, causing drops of blood and ectoplasm to fall to the floor while the injury quickly healed. Ten minutes of continuous electrical shocks wasn’t the worst punishment he had received from Vlad, but it had the most severe drawbacks. His body had a harder time recovering from electrical damage than from any other kind of harm, and Vlad often exploited this weakness.

He took a deep breath as the last of the Lichenberg marks disappeared from his legs and arms, leaving only the ones he’d gotten from his death. He sat on the bathroom floor, staring at the ceiling, his legs and arms still trembling. He wasn’t sure if the tremors were from the electrical aftershocks or his own anxiety. Vlad had been furious about his little stunt with the soup and had once again reminded him that they weren't eating Danny’s friends because he was such a "compassionate guardian."

The reminder had thrown Danny into a couple of panic attacks once he was allowed to return to his room. He thanks he's advanced dissociative abilities for not having those panics attacks in front of Vlad. He doesn't wan't to know how the man would try to exploit that.

But even as his whole body trembles and aches, he doesn’t regret his decisions. This is his only chance for things to change. The Waynes are a powerful family with connections to the Justice League. While the League has not interfered with what has happened in Amity Park up till now, they might get involved if the Waynes reach out to them. It’s wishful thinking, and he’s risking a lot, but this gut-wrenching dinner has become the first glimmer of hope he’s had since his family’s death, and he’ll hold onto it with his half-life.

Once he's body stops trembling and he's head feels a bit clearer, he needs to text Sam and Tucker. He'll depend on them for this to not backfire on all denizens.

[sexy-sapphic-sorcerer]

Holmes and Watson / Tristan and Isolde

BBC Radio 4's Sherlock Holmes, The Devil's Foot (radio drama transcript) /// Granada's The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, The Red Circle /// Metafictional Monday: Tristan und Isolde, @teaformrholmes /// Brayton Polka, LIEBESTOD: On Love and Death in Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde", p. 248 /// The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Vincent Starrett /// BBC Radio 4's Sherlock Holmes, The Devil's Foot (radio drama transcript)

[angryducktimemachine]

[ID: a digital drawing of Holmes and Watson. Holmes is lounging in a chair with Watson standing behind it. Holmes is passing a letter to Watson. /End ID]

"In this establishment, Dr. Watson reads the letters."

[mioakem]

just thinking abt how ctommy never truly lost his spark no matter how many times cdream tried to take it away. he always stayed the same hyperactive, argumentative kid he’s always been. he never lost his love for the world and the people in it. he never tried to cut his attachments like others did in fear of dream, but rather kept them in spite of him. no matter how many times cdream tried to break him, tommy was still tommy at the end of the day, and cdream could never take that away

[ryuusei-niu]

I think I found the phrase that perfectly sums up one of my favorite ships:

[discipleofcringe]

I think the way Wade and Logan perceive killing is really interesting.

I mean Wade has always been killing people, it's his job and obviously he enjoys it and he is good at it (if the person deserves to die). That's what gets him kicked out of X-men and that's probably why he can't get into the Avengers. But still, he is not ashamed to kill.

On the other hand, Logan has been used as a weapon and has killed tons of innocent people. And once he joins the X-men there's the whole: we don't kill people, we're better than that talk. The thing is, he enjoys killing people (cue to the moment where he puts his mask on "you Keep that for the good stuff" "killing mostly"), he's a beast. And for years he's been ashamed of himself because of that.

Now, he meets Wade and at first he hates him. Also he judges him really hard when someone dies because of him (rip chris), he's mad at him. For him, that's what bad guys do. But after spending some time with Wade he realises he's not a bad guy. He's not good either, but it's okay.

And finally in the end he goes back on a killing spree against all the deadpoools, embracing his nature. Because for the first Time in forever he knows it's the right thing to do. And he embraces his instinct.

I dont really know if I have a point other than: Wade helps him accept himself in three days when the X-men failed at doing so during decades because they tried to impose their beliefs on him and they didnt try to understand him.

[classical-bluess]

The MHA Spider-verse AU I couldn't stop thinking about featuring grumpy sweatpants All Might trapped in Izuku's dimension

This version of All Might wasn't planning on having a successor so he never met Izuku but now he's stuck in a dimension with a student without his teacher I've thought about this 🤚

[agoddamneddelight]

how reliable is the london northwestern. spent way too long on this :)

[milquetoast27]

Did you know that Holmes has a very long and extensive history on radio? As much as I can name you a TV Holmes actor for each decade, there's one to correspond on radio.

William Gillette was one of the first to play Holmes on radio, followed by Arthur Wontner. Since then, Holmes has been played by many actors in many countries on the "theatre in air"!

Basil Rathbone and Carleton Hobbs are some of the biggest names besides of course, Clive Merrison. Did you know that Edward Hardwicke's father even played Holmes in a radio episode of The Speckled Band?

There's John Gielgud and Tom Conway. There's a short series with Edward Petherbridge (one of my personal favourites), the list goes on 🥰

We have more a recent series with John Patrick Lowrie, and many others outside of anglophone radio, such as the Maritim Hoerspiel series with Christian Rode, a French series with several Holmeses, or this Russian HOUN adaptation.

I have some useful places for finding many Holmes radio series - including very niche ones! Youtube and the Internet Archive is also your friend.

I just wanted to set the record straight. "Radio!Holmes" will never be one singular Holmes, to me. There are too many to point to just one! Holmes's trip through radio is a fascinating one and I highly recommend having a look!

[muxas-world]

Are we sure back letters bezz was real or it was just the friends we make in the way ...

[coulsart]

It’s an honest mistake!

[julienbakerstreet]

Do you know where to stream sherlock holmes movies? (Not youtube)

I know there is a master list somewhere but cannot find it 😭

Just to preface this, I think the master list you might be thinking of is The Giant List of Sherlock Holmes Adaptations by @beekeaper- it has links for tons of adaptations, although a lot of them are on YouTube so that may not work for you.

It depends on which movies you want to watch, but Internet Archive has a lot of Holmes movies for free:

Rathbone Holmes movies

Granada Holmes

The Seven Percent Solution

Howard Holmes

Wilmer Holmes

The Great Mouse Detective

Sherlock Hound

Internet Archive also has some amazing Sherlock Holmes radio dramas, including:

Rathbone Radio

Conway Radio (continuation of Rathbone with a new actor for Holmes)

Bert Coules/Clive Merrisson Radio

The Unopened Casebook of Sherlock Holmes

Outside of Internet Archive for Holmes movies/series, Amazon has The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes available for free with ads.

Tubi and PlutoTV also have a lot of Holmes movies for free with ads, including:

Sherlock Holmes in the 22nd Century

Sherlock Holmes 2010 (The one with the dinosaurs)

Incident at Victoria Falls

Sherlock Bones: Undercover Dog

Sherlock Gnomes

+ a bunch more that I've already listed elsewhere and a few made-for-TV movies no one's ever heard of that weren't funny enough to make the list.

I also highly recommend checking out @spiritcc's blog for a comprehensive list of where to watch various Russian Sherlock Holmes movies/series with English subtitles! This is by no means a comprehensive list because there's always more Holmes adaptations out there, but if you want to watch some of the best Holmes performances (or some of the really silly ones) for free, this list is a good place to start! If anyone knows where to stream other Holmes-related media for free, feel free to reblog and add to the list!

[sexy-sapphic-sorcerer]

jesus fuck the BBC4 Sherlock Holmes radio dramas are gay

I mean, I heard Mary accuse Watson of marrying her "under false pretence" while his heart belongs to Holmes

I heard Holmes and Watson reciting Tristan and Isolde to each other about "existing only in each other, wrapped in love"

but Watson being so scared to tell Holmes that someone wrote a play about him where he's straight! "you're not angry? it's hardly in character"

insane. hilarious. iconic.

[angryducktimemachine]

Drawings of mine that make you turn up the brightness of ones screen.

Anyway. I uh. Listened to Radio Holmes Hounds of the Baskervilles again and what can I say. 20/20. What a way to portray the ending.

[ID: a digital drawing of a scene from The Hound of the Baskervilles. Holmes and Watson are standing close to each other on the moor, Watson is holding Holmes by the shoulders while Holmes, one hand on Watsons arm looks after Stapleton who's a tiny dot of light in the distance. Holmes trouser legs and the rim of his coat are coated in dirt. A lantern on Watsons arm is eliminating the two. /End ID]

[eerna]

wait what happened in the new percy book???? Percy's a teenager forever???

In 2020 RR made a tearful farewell to Percy, sending him off to college. He said he would no longer write books in the PJOverse, aside maybe short one-offs that aren't about the core characters. Percy grew up and went to college and an era ended.

In 2022 RR wrote a post that can only be described as "stock statement every Disney sellout makes to try and convince you they are not beating a dead horse because the Mouse paid them a ton of money to keep that poor animal continuously kicked" announcing a whole 3 new books in the PJO series (which famously ended in 2009 and is the most successful thing he's ever written). He claims this has been planned since 2019 and he was the one whose idea it was and it is NOT just a nostalgia bait cashgrab. Book 2 of 3 just came out and I pirated it and am making my painful way through the cashgrab betrayal of everything PJO stood for, which coincidentially begins with a dedication to Disney. Percy is never growing up. Percy is going to stay 17 as long as Disney needs to milk more adventures from him. It doesn't matter that it is all lore breaking and inconsistent, Disney demands him to perform like a toothless inoffensive circus clown, and RR will do everything his overlords tell him to. We live in a society