#danny: i am being hospitable

[starry-bi-sky]

don't you want to be a cult leader? - danyal al ghul au

this is mostly a joke post but i thought it was funny and had to share so--

his first mistake was, obviously, inheriting his father's inability to see an injustice and stand still. -- actually, danyal's first mistake was his lair being so big. a mountainous island with a large temple in the center resembling his old home in Nanda Parbat? With sprawling foliage and rivers and streams and waterfalls galore? What was he going to do with all that space? Let it go to waste? He had plants there! Native trees of the ghost zone growing from the soil! He couldn't let it all be left unchecked!

So naturally after helping a fellow teenage assassin ghost -- who he later learns is named Akihiko, -- from Walker of all people, he sent them over to hang low at his lair until it was safe enough for them to wander around the Zone. Walker couldn't get through Danyal's astrofield if his life depended on it, and trust him -- he's tried. Danny was clearing out debris from his stupid transport vans for weeks.

Honestly it wasn't so bad, he and Aki really quickly became fast friends and Danny loves having a sparring partner close to his level again -- he hasn't had this much fun fighting since he left the League. Aki was very dedicated and levelheaded, the both of them clicked really well because of it.

Nonono, the real trouble began after Danyal met some long-passed League members and allowed them to come join his island as well. Apparently they had made a few enemies of the zone, and maybe Danyal still felt some loyalty to the League. He couldn't just let them be left to rot. Their zealotry could be overlooked so long as they kept it contained and helped him take care of his island.

And it.. snowballs from there? He meets a teen squire aptly calling himself Ambroise -- whether that was his living name or not is yet to be seen -- who died during feudal france, who is just about as dramatic and passionate as every french stereotype makes them out to be. He calls Danyal "my moon and great muse" -- which is both flattering and little uncomfortable, but Danyal's grown up in the League as the Grandson of the Demon Head, he is used to mild worship. he passes it off as nothing more, nothing less. -- and while his energy is overwhelming on the worst of days, he helps Danny draw out of his shell more in ways that Sam and Tucker still struggle with.

Him and Aki butt heads a lot, but the two seem to hold the other in at least some positive regard, so Danny doesn't worry too much about them fighting while he's gone. It only becomes a mild issue when Aki also begins calling Danny "my moon". It's a little sweet, so Danyal brushes it off.

Then he takes in a troupe of ghosts some time after he defeats Pariah Dark and they begin calling him "great one" just as the yetis do in the far frozen. This is where he meets the twins -- a pair of sibling ghosts who call themselves Trixie and Missy (short for Trick and Mislead) -- who aren't quite as passionate as Ambroise but more energetic than Aki. Eventually they also start calling Danyal "my moon" and attach themselves to his hip, even within the living. They like to hide in his shadow and cause trouble for the rest of the students. He makes sure they don't hurt anyone.

He's pretty sure Aki is jealous, same with Ambroise, but he can't be too certain other than the fact that they become much more lingering (re: clingy) whenever he visits the island.. Something he's trying to do much more often these days due to the increasing amount of people living there now. Since when did he become so popular?

Then there's Pēnelópeia from the Greater Athens, who ran away from home and joined his Island after he ran into her while she was being chased by Skulker -- and he's pretty sure the reason was because of her chimeric appearance. Her strange eyes and mismatched wings and lion's tail and talons. She assimilates into his friend group very easily, she gets along well with Ambroise and Trixie and Danny usually finds the three of them climbing the trees to pluck the most fruit from the top. They can fly and he knows it, but they prefer to climb.

Then finally there's silent poet Akkara who comes from ancient mesopotamia, who gets along most with Aki -- which is no surprise there considering their similar personality dispositions. he watches Aki and Danyal fight each other and leaves comments on this or that that he notices. He writes Danyal poems on clay tablets and leaves them by his room.

They're one big mismatched group of outcasts, and Danny's got the other ghosts on his island to tend to, because they're living on his island and he wants to be hospitable even if he struggles with that. But he spends the most of his time with them.

Sam and Tucker are making fun of him. Tucker jokingly tells him 'careful Danny, at this rate you're gonna start a cult'. Danny really wishes he had taken that joke more seriously.

He just. keeps. collecting people. Wayward souls lost in the zone, looking for shelter or refuge from something or other -- whether that be another hostile ghost, or a past afterlife, or just a purpose. Danyal finds them, he takes them in, offers them a place on his island until they are ready to leave. Many seldom do. He's not complaining -- he has the space, and it feels like it's only ever growing.

His close friends, his "inner circle" as he's heard the others call them, keep insistently calling him "my moon". He starts calling them his stars, because then it only feels fair. They're his stars, this is his constellation. It becomes a thing; little star halos begin forming behind their heads, picking them out from the rest. He loves them so much, it's hard to place. Sam and Tucker are also his stars, but they reside in the living realm, they're his tie to Life. Meanwhile, his friends here know what it's like to be dead, and sometimes its nice to relate.

Those living on his island keep calling him "Great One" and he's beginning to notice zealotry in their care for his island. He really, deeply appreciates it. His close friends gain nicknames -- as his stars, it's only natural for him to pick them out from the cluster in the skies. Akihiko, his Sirius and bright star. Trix and Missy, Castor and Pollux, the twins and troublemakers. Ambroise, his zealous Antares and close friend. Penelopeia, chimeric and loyal Vega. And Akkara, his Arcturus and strength.

It's ridiculous how long it takes for him to notice; he is, of course, a deadly trained assassin. He is meant to be observant -- and normally he is! But somehow this becomes a blind spot. One that becomes too big to be dealt with by the time he realizes it.

He should've noticed when Aki, his Sirius, stood beside him one day while Danyal looked over his island and saw the sprawling spirits carrying on about their afterlife and bowing to him as they saw him, and said: "I looked down into the depths when I met you; I couldn't measure it." They aren't one for flowing prose, it took him so off guard he was silent for over a minute before he finally spoke.

Danyal should've recognized devotion for what it is, and yet he didn't. He should've recognized it when Antares began spouting praises about him, crowing about his radiance and resplendence to the heavens. He just brushed it off as Ambroise being Ambroise. He should've recognized it when Trix and Missy nearly broke Dash's leg after he knocked Danyal's books out of his hands, he excused it as them being protective. Of them coming from times where such violence may have been customary -- after all, that's what he used to be like. What he was still like, sometimes, when his emotions nearly got the better of him.

He should've noticed it when the people living on his island followed his word like gospel, looked at him like he hung the stars in the sky. When his friends gifted him a shawl with the moon phases delicately embroidered into it, with silver, shimmering thread and moving stars lovingly stitched into it. Their constellations seen clear as day in the dark fabric. When he found small shrines dedicated to him -- but they lacked any image of him beyond stones carved to look like moons, so he ignored it. When the religious imagery began popping up.

He really, really should've noticed it when a bunch of cultists accidentally summoned Antares, and Antares had turned to him when he arrived and called them heretics. But he was so centered on the fact that they had kidnapped one of his stars, that he hadn't paid much attention to what Ambroise had said.

Sages say that faith is blind, they should also say faith in you is even blinder.

It really only hits him one afternoon while he's sitting in Sam's room studying with Tucker, Missy and Trixie lounging at his feet, Aki sat on his right, Penelopeia braiding his hair, Ambroise draped against him, and Akkara lurking over him. Its one of the rare few times they're all in one room together.

It hits him like a bolt of lightning. He looks up from his textbook. "Oh Ancients," he says in no amounting shock. Everyone looks up to him.

"I've become my grandfather."

[five-rivers]

*breaks down the door* May i offer you the prompt of Sam finally establishing Danny's Eldritch cult/Clockwork's cult rolling into town looking for 'the son of their lord'

This is pulling double duty as Loved 9 and Dannymay 2021 Day 24: Power.

.

Sam sat by Danny’s bedside at the hospital. He had, despite everyone’s best efforts, failed to wake up the last two days. The doctors said he was just sleeping, like the other recent coma patients, but… Well. They didn’t know what Sam knew.

She was worried.

(Danny’s teeth were flat. No sign of his venom. She would have liked to see a silver lining on the cloud.)

Tucker had come by earlier, but then he’d left. His family didn’t understand the importance of Danny, not like hers did. Now. After Sam had opened them to what the world could be.

(And what a world it could be. Danny could lead them into an era of peace and tolerance, where everyone loved their neighbors. If only he were here.)

(One apple tree only went so far.)

Sam jumped at a small, polite knock on the door. An older man in a suit stood in the doorway. He held a briefcase in one hand and wore a fedora.

“Hello, miss. Are you Sam Manson?”

“Yeah,” said Sam. “Are you with the hospital?”

“No,” said the man, moving into the room and taking the other free chair. “But I do think we have something in common.”

“Oh?” said Sam. Without taking her eyes off the man, she sought out the nurse call button on Danny’s bed. “Do we?”

“Yes. You see, I represent a certain entity.”

“An entity.”

“Indeed. He is known to us, his followers, by a number of names, but the one we know to be most true is Clockwork.”

“Alright,” said Sam, “you have my attention. Who are you, and what do you want?”

The man smiled. “My name is Hortatio Gayne, and I only wish to share my knowledge regarding the… natures of our respective patrons. And perhaps offer some advice and support for a young leader only now gathering her flock.”

“You make it sound so creepy,” said Sam. She hadn’t relinquished her grip on the call button.

Horatio shrugged. “It is what it is. We do, on occasion, have to protect ourselves from unfriendly listeners.”

“Unfriendly listeners.”

“Unfortunately, not everyone is ready to embrace what we know to be the truth.”

“And what is that truth.”

Horatio leaned forward. “That what we call reality is the merest shadow of a far greater existence, filled with glorious and perfect beings of the spirit we can barely comprehend.” He sighed, as if longing, yearning for that world. “A world in which we may earn our place. A world we can someday hope to see realized, here. If, if, we work carefully.”

“And that means… what? I let you run things for me?”

“Of course not! One cannot serve two masters well, after all. Your patron must have followers dedicated solely to him, of course. Given the closeness of your patron and mine, however, does it not behoove us to cooperate, to better serve them both?”

Sam leaned forward. “Okay, first off, I’m not serving anyone. Danny is my friend. We’re friends. Secondly, before I agree to anything, I want to know exactly what it is you’re trying to work towards or whatever.”

“That will be a lengthy discussion.”

“I’ve got time.”

Horatio pulled back his sleeve, revealing not one or two but three watches on his arm. “Very well.” He looked back at Sam. “Then I shall speak frankly. Through the powers of our patrons and their kin, who are also called the Others, it is possible to create a world without suffering. But only if everyoneopens themselves to them and their power. Not an easy proposition.”

This had been Sam’s conclusion as well, except…

“Other than Danny, the rest of them don’t seem all that friendly.”

Horatio grimaced. “That is true, I’m afraid. But they do not act from malice, but a desire to understand us. We are so very different from them. Which is why it’s important to handle them carefully.”

“Meaning what?”

“’For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.’ You’ve heard this before, yes?”

“Sure.”

“It is the same with the Others. Only, compared to them, we are so incredibly small.”

“Please don’t do the ant comparison. It’s so cliched.”

“I am speaking more of physics than biology.” He closed his eyes. “Compared to them, we are tiny. Even so, as much as they influence us, we influence them. The effect is difficult to see. A single human would have trouble pushing a train car. But several working in concert…” He trailed off, suggestively. “But it is important to work together. Hence the existence of ritual and rite.” He put his briefcase on his lap and opened it, revealing a number of labeled manilla folders. “I have some items you may wish to build upon or take inspiration from. I have found them efficacious.”

“You’re talking about, what, mind control?”

“They enjoy it, by all accounts,” said Horatio, shrugging. “Their range of emotions are much greater than ours. Their ability to love is…” His eyes glossed over. “Exquisite. Far beyond our own. And they express it with things like this.”

That did seem to line up with what Danny had told her.

“What’s the catch?”

“Catch?”

“What do you want out of this?”

“You mean, beyond the swifter realization of my dearest dream? I will likely be long dead by the time everyone reaches the enlightenment we have been so generously given, my soul commended to the eternal service of my patron, in whatever manner he wills it. But I intend to do everything I can to speed the arrival of that happy day and reduce the suffering of my fellow human beings.” He held Sam’s gaze, steadily.

She didn’t believe it. Danny was one thing, but few people were genuinely altruistic. That’s why they needed Danny so much.

“And, perhaps, I hope to gain the favor of my patron by aiding the one he considers a son.”

There it was.

“Okay,” said Sam. “And are rituals all you’ve got in there?”

“Oh, goodness, no. I have some recruiting ideas that might appeal to a young lady of your particular and peculiar means as well.”

Sam sighed. This was still all kinds of sketchy, but the opportunity to build Danny’s support network before he woke up was too tempting.

“Let’s see them, then.”