#it's fun to see your thoughts :)

[inkskinned]

sometimes being spiteful is actually so fucking fun and the problem is you can't talk about it on the internet without sound like a stupidhead. like it's cringe to be like - oh never piss off the gentle ones. or like the alpha wolf shit - once i see red, once i go quiet... it's over! like ew growss no....

but also!! sometimes you get bit by the dragon and you end up being like - you know what???? YEAH. truly!! you're RIGHT. fuck it! hell hath no fury like a little bitch called me!!

[egophiliac]

I loved your drawing(and I love your style in general) with Leia in your recent post! If/when you have time can we see more of her in your style? I get so happy whenever I actually see people mention/talk about her and she’s not just forgotten because we didn’t get to see much of her. 😭

thank you! 💙💙💙 Leia/Leah/Lea/whatever is fascinating to me. she is the ultimate unknown. what was she like? how involved (or even aware of any details of the invasion) was she? Silver's basically a physical carbon copy of his biodad, so what did he get from her? like, I understand why the two of them kind of have to stay as these super vague and mysterious figures -- the whole point of them is that their story ended 400+ years ago and they're not really relevant anymore (and. well. the more that gets explained about them, the less that can just kinda be handwaved as "oh the politics were Very Messy") (we can sit here and theorize all day but let us acknowledge that, ultimately, canon gave us almost nothing about them post-Meleanor and we'd just be making things up). I do still wonder about her though! RIP Lea, we never knew you and we probably never will.

actually you know what, as long as we're here, I think I WILL go ahead and just make some stuff up about what Silver might've inherited from her instead.

[lucabyte]

monologue

[heartorbit]

happy halloween! 🎃🐈‍⬛👻🐇

[coffebits]

ALTTS Chapter 25 illustrations! ✨ interesting discoveries are taking place under Gerudo town… 🏜️

[umblrspectrum]

tessa, being the edgy little freak she is, obviously took the original darkxwolf username

[cozypxls]

fairy council

glimma (my gameplay fairy) keeping notes of important things before she moves to innisgreen

I spend wayyy too much time prepping my save files, but I also enjoy it at the same time

fairy treehouse - for anyone who wants this beautiful build

[honehonn3honey]

A protection that becomes more creepy

Azul in my heart. You can see the original art here and read the monster list here @lustlovehart

[Alt under the cut]

My first concept, since my style could not simulate the texture of slime in its purest state

It is quite thick so water can not enter or wet. Only small puddles where you can accumulate

It is a monster and that, magic, but I can imagine that it can only reach a height by the pressure, it can come out expelled sometimes

[ivelte]

I love SO MUCH @kianamaiartmaiart "i don't want to be a magical girl" concept and characters and i needed to draw them with my own magical girls ! >w<

[bishicat]

You believe me like a god I'll destroy you like I am

:-).

[clumsypuppy]

my attempt at making a fursona

[creekfiend]

on a more emotional note, my personal total exclusion from society is much more based on my disability than it is on my sexuality or gender (or lack thereof) and when I read people's escapist queernorm fantasies wherein there are no disabled people present, all I feel is a flat gray knowledge that a majority of queer people really don't mind the fact that I am effectively locked out of society. this is a fact that I already knew but seeing it reflected in something that people are touting as cozy and escapist just hurts a little bit more, you know?

[rhiangalaxy]

The baby is here \o/ (Origins pt.6 ((final)) First/Prev/Masterpost) ((A technical "next" part is here lmao)

[ID: A Scum Villain Comic. Panel one is captioned "A few days later..." It has SJ!Shen Qingqiu standing in front of the spiritual tree, which is now glowing with a more green glow along with gold. Only the bottom half of his robes are visible. The blood on the tree has long faded completely, absorbed into it. Chibi!SQQ kneels down and places a hand on the tree's core to feed it qi with a tired closed eye expression. A caption pointing to him says "Came here early before a peak lord meeting."

Panel two has Chibi!SQQ flinching away as a bright light comes from the tree, both hands reflexively coming up to shield his eyes as he lets out an "Ah-!" Chibi!SQQ then looks at the tree in shock. The tree's core has expanded outwards, countless peach blossoms spilling out, and in the center Baby!Shen Yuan sleeps peacefully.

Panel three shows SQQ quickly reaching into the tree's core as the light starts to dim. Chibi!SQQ quickly wraps SY in his other robe with a concerned expression. Some peach blossoms sticking to it.

Panel four shows SY looking up at SQQ from his new swaddle with a bright expression, his eyes finally open showing how they're identical to SQQ's but with an innocent shine to them. Chibi!SQQ stares down at SY with a loving :< expression.

Panel five has SQQ bringing SY closer to his face, resting his head against his. Holding him gently, as he closes his eyes with a smile and whispers "Hello, A'Yuan..." to which SY smiles. End ID]

[majosullivan]

The face of a man who is going to contemplate drowning himself just a tad for the rest of the night

[littleyellowtangerine]

More on this Steddie Soulmate AU thing.

After that encounter Eddie doesn't know what to make of it. He honestly thinks it was like a weird glitch in the matrix and tomorrow he is going to wake up and find out it was all a dream. Steve Harrington isn't his soulmate and didn't ask him how to change just because Eddie told him he was an asshole.

But lo and behold, a week after, everyone at school is murmuring and gossiping about something. Eddie usually couldn't care less; he had never been one to be all about what is in the mainstream of school talk. But oh, this time he is sure something important happened, because yesterday he had felt something very akin to a punch on his face when he was at rehearsal. So, when he hears the words Steve, fight and Hagan thrown around in the hallways, he just needs to know.

It appears as the wonder boys had a huge fallout the day before when Steve tried to make them clean the spray paints they did about one Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers all around town after Steve and Nancy broke up some months ago. Words were said and punches were thrown and now Steve is sporting a black eye and Hagan a broken nose. Carol is just looking pissier than any other day, what changed is she is directing the awful looks towards Steve and not a poor girl.

Eddie doesn't want to think Steve did it for him, or more like, because of what he told him. He honestly thought Steve was just saying things in the air, he never fathomed the possibility of him going through with them.

"I think you broke him" Gareth said at his side as they hear all of the story and Eddie is regretting telling his best friend about the soulmate thing but it was too much for a person to hold in.

The rest of the day is normal. The story dies down by the last period and everyone else has moved onto something else.

Steve hasn't made any attempts to get close to Eddie, which he kind of is grateful for, but also kind of irks him a bit.

A week goes by, then a whole month and by the time he realizes, the freaking semester is over, it's the summer break and Steve hasn't acknowledge Eddie at all.

Which, what the fuck?

First, he is all up in his business and now he doesn’t even look his way? He won’t come to tell him what happened with his dumbass friends that apparently, he ditched as Eddie told him to.

It’s infuriating in a way Eddie can’t put into words, no wait, if someone can, is him.

Eddie can admit that it hurts that Steve robbed HIM the opportunity of finding his soulmate. It kind of was his only hope of finding love in these bigoted times, a safe bet that there was someone out there for him and only him, even against his instincts and thoughts on the whole soulmate thing. He thought it would be the way the universe finally repaid him but no, he just had to have the luck of being soulmates with the straightest guy on earth.

He would love to gloat on his bad luck and give a big fuck you to the universe for finding the way to mess up with him again. But he kind of knew there wouldn’t be hope for him in any way.

At the end, he leaves the issue alone, maybe that's for the best.

He doesn’t want to know why he is suddenly feeling pain in the middle of the night over the summer break. If his freaking soulmate can’t care enough to tell Eddie himself, to actually share the pain, then Eddie doesn’t give a shit.

It doesn't hurt him that Steve appears the following semester as if nothing happened and with a new chick attached to his hip.

It doesn't at all, he doesn't think that Robin Buckley is the luckiest girl on earth or something like that. He doesn’t care that Steve, according to Garreth, looks over to their lunch table all the time. When Eddie looks over, he is never watching so, Eddie can’t care because it not true.

It also doesn't hurt that Steve is being like a supper swell dude, somehow renewed, now that Robin was around him. Not like Eddie was the first to tell him he had to change at all, he doesn't want the credit, seriously. All it's peachy.

But he draws his line, he has to, when the next semester Steve appears, even though he already graduated, unlike Eddie, hanging and driving around his new sheep. Especially the thing he has going on with his favorite one (don't tell him he said that) Dustin, who doesn't say any other thing to Eddie other than how badass his friend Steve is.

And it doesn’t help that the pain still appears sometimes, at odd hours, driving him crazy.

Occasionally Eddie finds out why the next day or couple of days, like the time the newbie in town, Hargrove prided himself on beating Steve all over school. If Eddie hid his clothes after gym or put food coloring on his shampoo for that, no one has to know.

Or during the summer break, when he saw Steve in a godawful sailor’s outfit in the mall and latter heard about the same freaking mall burning to dust. Eddie didn’t have a freaking panic attack over the fact that his soulmate had been there, not at all.

Eddie is cool with it, honestly, he doesn’t care if Steve tells him about it or not, he just wants to call him on his bullshit and he'd die a happy man.

Eddie should be careful with his words though, because apparently there are people out there who actually want him dead after his friend Chrissy gets attacked by this super natural being that the kids in Hellfire dare to name after one of his D&D monsters.

Most people didn't know he and Chrissy were friends, and it figures, they met back in middle school after the talent show.

Chrissy commented on his guitar skills and Eddie made fun of his cheerleading routine. They clicked in a weird way. He liked her, he really did, they actually tried to date back then; there was a spark of something but it didn’t last long.

Eddie had never been a real fan of the concept of soulmates; his parents were soulmates and things didn’t work out well. His uncle had never really found or looked for his soulmate, he once shared with Eddie that he thought they might have died early, because it had been decades since he last felt something. It was sad but he assured Eddie that he was perfectly fine.

So, it’s not like Eddie was holding out for his soulmate in any way, Chrissy too, had said it could be fun while it lasted. But they figured out they might not have been the correct match either. They stayed friends though, then high school came and Eddie told her it would be safer to keep their friendship lowkey, worried that the popular crowd would shut Chrissy out for being friends with him. Chrissy, bless her soul, insisted they still hanged out sometimes.

It wasn’t rare for them to go to Indy together and get into a sketchy bar to drink a little or talk in the picnic table at the woods where he dealed when any of them needed a pep. So, Eddie didn’t think any of it when Chrissy asked him to talk, saying she hadn’t felt well lately.

He immediately saw she was in a bad place, having known her like he did, her sad smile and watery eyes. He thought he could comfort her better in a private place, taking her to his trailer.

It broke Eddie in a million pieces to even understand what was happening when they got there and how little he could do to help her once it began. He felt powerless, nauseous. So, he ran.

Eddie didn’t think any of his actions, he was acting on fear alone. But he didn’t count that due to the paranormal nature of this attack, people would turn to the strangest person around Chrissy at the moment and without the previous information of their relationship, it would turn out to be him.

Eddie was scared and angry at everyone, at the freaking system for setting him up yet again, at the school jocks who were hunting him like a stupid sport and most of all himself, because he felt alone, because he was alone.

Who would actually look at him and believe him? Even hear him out.

He had his friends sure, but what if he was next? What if what attacked Chrissy was now coming for him? He couldn’t bring that danger to them. They were all he got, he protected them from high school nightmares, the least he could do was to protect them from actual nightmares.

Therefore, he hid, far away, hoping to not be found, to be forgotten like he had at school, but at the same time wishing that there was someone out there thinking of him, looking for him, someone who were worried, who cared about him.

And he was found, by the least expected people.

His new sheepies and freaking Steve Harrington. His soulmate.

[brainmuncher]

Visiting an old friend

The whole way to Bludhaven Danny kept on telling himself that surely he’d made a mistake. He knew he could be impulsive sometimes but flying to Bludhaven on a rumor? He felt like he was a teenager all over again.

It’d been some dumb article he’d found while trying to focus on editing the design of a Fenton battery. It was a Bludhaven paper he’d forgotten to unsubscribe to that sent him a breaking news email. He used to eat up those papers, glad to have any way to see how his old friend was doing, but now it just felt suffocating to remember. He’d almost deleted it without even opening it, but some nagging feeling told him he should open it. He never would've expected to open it to a new blurry photo of a figure in blue, soaring above on the rooftops.

He barely got a couple of sentences into the article claiming that Nightwing could be back before he shot out of his apartment. Ever since that day when he watched invisibly as his coffin was laid in the ground he searched for Dick’s ghost. But no ghost this new could control their appearance that well. Colors were some of the hardest to control after all. So Dick could be… he really could be…

After that, the rest of the flight was much more nerve-wracking. He hadn’t ever met the other bats, but he knew that they could have some interesting rouges. Some kind of convoluted plan might have been behind all of this. Maybe someone was impersonating him? Or maybe some other blue vigilante has taken up Bludhaven… Was one of Dicks siblings taking over the Nightwing name? That last one was quickly shot down though. He saw how distraught the group was, he doubted if they would’ve even been able to touch the suit without breaking inside.

So all that led him to now, standing outside Dicks apartment building. Before they lost touch this was the place Dick told him he could go if he ever needed help. And seeing the lit-up rooms from the outside, Danny knew that at least someone had to have been there.

For the sake of normality, Danny decided to take the stairs within the building to Dicks floor. It definitely wasn’t because he was nervous or anything… it had nothing to do with that at all. Although the stairs seemed to reach the top quicker than he expected. 

He walked up to the apartment number that he was told about. A snarky ‘This house has gone 0 days without a pun’ welcome mat sat outside the door. The joke actually helped Danny calm down a bit, breathing in a deep breath of the slightly dusty hallway air before letting it out again. Without further ado, he rapped his knuckles on the hardwood door. Internally he winced at the loud noise. It was much later at night than any normal person would be awake. If someone was here and had a good sleep schedule then Danny probably just woke them up.

A few minutes passed by before his hearing picked up movement in the apartment. One part of him jumped in excitement, while the other sank with anxiety. Was that Dick? Or was it one of his siblings? Damn, Danny should have gone through with this invisibly, that way if it is one of the siblings he won’t have to face them. But it was much too late for that now, he knew that there had to be at least one camera facing him right now. Maybe he can just pretend to be lost? But then why would he climb up so many floors just to ask for directions? He really should’ve thought this through…

Before he could sink any lower into his panic the door let out a click of a lock. Momentarily frozen, he watched as the door slithered open without so much as a creak. To his amazement, the Dick Grayson stood staring back. He looked tired and was dressed in comfortable civilian clothes, but it was Dick. Before anything could be said Dicks eyes went down to look into Danny’s. His eyebrows creased in confusion, no doubt surprised by the random visit.

“Danny?” Dick questioned, his voice sounding a bit rough around the edges.

Danny couldn’t help the disbelieving smile from creeping up on his face.

“Hey Dick,” He spoke, his grin never leaving his face. “I’ve really missed you.”

A small breathy laugh of shock left Dicks lips as he looked down at Danny. He loosened his stance at the door, seeming to relax now that he knew who was there. Danny couldn’t help but feel bad at the scare he must have given the other. 

“I hadn’t thought we’d be seeing each other again. It’s been…” 

Years, Danny finished in his head. We haven’t seen each other in years.

They initially met on the streets funnily enough. Danny had been on the run from the GIW and Dick had been freshly fired from Robin and kicked out of the manor. Not that either one knew that much of each other at first. Danny had been hiding in a warm corner of a building when Dick bumped into him trying to find a warm place to stay as well. Danny offered for him to stay, not seeing any danger in letting someone around his age stay with him. After that things got revealed slowly, like Dick realizing that Danny wasn’t just homeless, he was hiding. And Danny noticing the odd skills that Dick had and the way the other held himself back in other situations. Slowly their secrets were shared with each other… and they found that they didn’t mind.

Eventually, they drifted apart though. Jazz and his friends finally found a way to create him a safe identity and eventually, he enrolled himself in college, deciding to take a break from Phantom for a while. Dick ventured out and created the Titans, even forging a new hero identity for himself as Nightwing. They slowly just stopped talking to one another after that. Not out of malice or anything, but just because they got busy. Life took over. It was only when a life was taken away, that Danny frantically tried to find out what happened to his friend.

But now that he’s here in front of him… He’s noticing the same things he’d seen from when they were on the streets. Dick had bags under his eyes like he was watching the candle burn at both ends and doing nothing to stop it. His clothes weren’t just baggy, they were unwashed. There was a faint toothpaste drop on his shirt that had been attempted to be rubbed off… but to no avail. His hair was shiny with unwashed grease and grime. And his face… He didn’t look like he was eating enough.

Like a truck had hit him, Danny suddenly found himself much less happy than he was before. Something was wrong with his friend. And if the crystae around the grave that Nightwing was supposedly buried were any indication… then… 

Danny straightened his stance subconsciously. It seems like he was due a serious conversation with the other.

“Can I come in? I’d rather not have this kind of conversation in the hall,” Danny asked awkwardly, looking around himself as if there was another person that he could see.

To Danny's concern, Dick’s body tensed up at the prospect of letting him in. He swore he saw Dick grimace at that for a split moment before a plastered-on smile was on his face. Nonetheless, Dick opened the door with much less bravado than he would’ve years ago and waved him in.

“Welcome to my abode,” he tried to joke, but the tone felt forced.

Danny didn’t understand why the other had looked that way until he walked through the doorway. While he may be no Kryptonian with insane super everything, he did have enhanced senses. And every single one of those senses went off like a bomb when he walked into the apartment. There were dirty dishes and clothes haphazardly left around collecting mold and mildew. He could see a portion of the Nightwing suit stuffed into a corner like Dick had tried to hide it from his sight. There were more than a few bottles of soda and coffee mugs spread across the room, some carrying a scent that Danny could live without. Then there was a shattered photo face down on the side of the room, glass still spread around the frame like a horrific halo. 

But the worst was probably the energy of liminal surrounding the whole place. The emotional energy within it was heavy, grief and desperation covering every inch. Everything just screamed pain pain PAIN PAIN-

Danny had to close his eyes, steeling himself against immediately answering the cry. It went against his very core to go against the cry for help but he knew he’d only make things worse if he dived straight in. Dick wasn’t one to accept help easily. He’d shown that multiple times in his various rants about Bruce’s attempts to help as Robin. Instead, he had to go about this differently.

“Man, you almost outrank me in the messy department,” Danny tried to joke instead.

He turned to look at Dick who finished locking his apartment back up against intruders. Hopefully, his eyes weren’t glowing from the intense cries his core was trying to fight against. Dick seemed to attempt to go with the jab, his smile not looking all there.

“I doubt that. I'm not the one who lost his phone and found it in his shin,” Dick replied, settling himself further into the apartment. 

Danny scoffed, waving his hand in the air like he could physically wipe away the comment. Slowly they started to migrate to where the couch was. There were blankets and pillows at the end like Dick would fall asleep there. Judging by the open case files on the table in front of it, he didn't sleep on purpose. 

“I actually keep it in my arm now. Much more convenient,” Danny winked, hopping on the couch and letting himself bounce on the spring underneath. “Although I do keep everything else in my haunt. I can make little portals now!”

Without further notice, Danny opened one of the said portals with his hands. As he hoped, although in any other circumstance, he normally wouldn't, a group of blob ghosts were near his things. A couple of them filed through the gap, chirping up at him. However, that sense of play quickly left them as they felt the energy around the place. Silently they flew away, off to do what they do best. 

Danny saw a twitch of a real smile for a second on Dicks face. Although it was quickly shut down like a sour memory. Like he was trying to escape it, Dick joined him on the couch, sitting a whole cushion away. 

“Should I be worried about them?” Dick motioned his chin towards the silent blobs making their way into his things.

Danny waved them off, still playing into his old impulsivity. He wasn't nearly as bad as he was as a teenager, but Dick didn't have to know that yet. Dick gave a skeptical look at him, watching as one of the blob ghosts swallowed one of the dirty cups whole.

“They're like bottom feeders in a fish tank. At most, you'll just find less dirt around. At the least… you might gain a cuddle buddy,” Danny hummed, watching the same blob from before sneeze and drop a perfectly polished cup back out.

At that, Danny could see Dick turn to look at him in his peripheral vision. Turning to join him in looking right at one another he could see Dick staring at him. Dick held a look on his face that Danny couldn’t uncover. His eyes wandered over Danny’s face like he was searching for something. But the rest remained perfectly blank. It reminded Danny of when they were still teens, trying to see if they could trust one another. Dick had given a similar look then before he'd nodded and sat down to talk. Hopefully this time it'll be no different. 

Although, Danny doesn't know how to feel when Dicks face shuts down a little. He can feel the exhaustion in the air. Somehow he feels like he just failed whatever Dick was searching for.

“Danny, why are you really here?” Dick asked finally.

The question was so out of the blue, and the answer so obvious. Danny couldn’t help the way his head tilted in confusion, not understanding why such a thing had to be asked. This wasn’t at all how he had planned for their conversation to go. He had wanted to keep things light so that the emotions wouldn’t make Dick clam up… or lash out. His next words need to be chosen carefully…

“Because I was concerned. One of my good friends just came back from death and I needed to make sure you were ok. Dying isn't an easy thing to process,” Danny spoke carefully, his own experience trickling into his mind.

The words seemed to make Dick even more defensive. It was exactly the thing Danny had been trying to avoid. But despite everything his efforts still led him to this moment. Dick had his guard up, his eyes glaring into Danny’s core.

“Well I'm alive,” Dick spoke with terseness, “so why are you still here?”

“Because I care about you,” Danny reiterated, his confusion turning over into concern. “Dick, you died. That type of thing sticks with you. I'm not about to leave you to deal with that alone.”

Dick scoffed. He readjusted himself on the couch, sliding a bit farther from Danny. At this point, he was almost leaning on the edge. The physical representation of the distance between them hurt more than Danny was willing to admit. He hadn’t had Dick run from him before.

“Ignoring me for years is one hell of a way to show it,” Dick bit back.

A wave of annoyance hit Danny from the comment, but he instead closed his eyes and ignored it. Dick used to do this constantly when they were young. He'd use a healing mental wound to pick at to bring the other person away from his own hurt. Except Dick made the mistake of using it too many times on Danny in the past. He was old enough now to stop and learn from what he was trying.

Letting out a breath of air, Danny looked up into Dicks eyes. He could feel the pain all around him. The wails of someone touched by death echo all around. This wasn't something he could let go. No matter how much Dick tries to push him away, he isn’t going to go anywhere.

“Dick, I'm not asking you to tell me what happened… or even how you came back. I would know more than anyone how painful it can be to relive those memories. I'm just asking for you to let me stay and help you. You're not okay.”

If Danny's words made an impact on Dick, he sure as hell didn't show it. He looked away from Danny’s eyes, instead staring at something far off. His movements seemed almost robotic. Like there was some kind of memory playing in his head that Danny couldn’t see.

“Whoever said I died? I went undercover Danny. Nothing happened. Nothing to talk about.” Dick spoke with a scarily devoid tone of voice, almost like he was reciting someone else.

Danny couldn’t stop the scoff from coming out of his mouth. Dick looked his way again, seeming to be surprised at the action. As if he could simply lie his way out of death. Danny tried the denial shtick. You can only tell yourself it was nothing for so long before you realize that not breathing in your sleep is probably a sign. 

“Dick I saw your grave. I don't know the details because I wasn't exactly invited, but I saw the crystae flowers blooming around the dirt. Those only bloom around memorials for the dead,” Danny explained carefully, watching as Dick looked more and more like he'd panic. “Even now I can feel death's touch on you. Your place is soaked in liminal energy… I can feel that you're in pain.”

Danny was a little hesitant to reveal that last bit but knew that Dick would pick up on it eventually. Especially with Danny sticking around, that liminality would only get stronger. That's just how ectoplasm is. It won't stick onto a healthy person unless they've already been exposed to it. Depending on how long Dick had been dead, it might be more attracted to him.

Although now Danny couldn’t help but feel awful about it as he saw Dick flounder. He at least took his time in coming to terms with his death, he should've known an emotionally repressed bat wouldn't be able to handle it all at once. Danny tried to reach out a hand, as something for Dick to physically hold onto to stay in the present. But in a moment of fear, Dick slapped it away. He jumped up from his spot on the couch, never looking at the same spot for more than a couple of seconds. 

“Dick I'm sor-” Danny tried to apologize but Dick started to do a panicked angry rambling right over him. 

“No! It doesn't count. I didn’t die. My heart only stopped for a couple of minutes. I was fine. Everything is fine!” He tried to reason to himself, his pacing taking a hysterical turn.

Danny winced at that. It doesn't matter how long you die. Ectoplasm doesn't care about that, only that you have some kind of exposure to it. Even in the first seconds of death you already create the energy for ectoplasm in the body. How much was created, and how much was in the air already, is what determines if you become a ghost. It's a natural part of life.

“Dick please,” Danny began again, but was stopped by Dicks piercing stare.

“I didn't die, Danny. I didn't die because that would mean he was right and I can't-” 

Dick let out a noise somewhere between a gasp for air and a dry sob. It tore at Danny's core to hear but considering how Dicks reaction to the last time he tried to reach out went, he stayed in place. One of the blob ghosts must have felt his pain, rushing over and chirping into Dicks chest. It caught the other off guard long enough to stop and take a few ragged breaths of air. The blob continued its chirping assault of cuddling into Dicks chest while the other refused to look at Danny. But in that moment Danny couldn’t have felt any more thankful for the blobs and didn't mind if Dick needed a moment. So they sat there for a moment, Dick sitting in his emotions and Danny waiting for him to calm down. 

The air was charged with a tone of sorrow. It was the kind that Danny was all too familiar with. It was the kind that left you feeling that there was no chance for your life to be happy again. The kind where everything felt like it had fallen apart all around you with no hope of it being repaired. It tore at Danny’s heart that Dick of all people was left to feel this way. Where were all the people that should be here supporting him? Where was his family in all of this? Surely Danny can’t be the only one to see the pain Dick is in.

“How…”

Danny looked up at Dick who seemed to be at a loss of what to say. He wasn’t looking up at him at all, only absentmindedly playing with the blob curled against his chest. 

“How did you get over it?” Dick spoke again, now looking up at Danny with an unsure gaze. “How can you just go on with your life without it constantly playing in the back of your head?”

Danny pursed his lips, knowing that his answer wasn’t one that Dick would like. Just at the action alone, he could see the little hope in the other's eyes die out. He once again turned his head to the blob ghost. With a gentle hand, Dick pets the back of the ghost's body.

“I’ve never gotten over my death. With help from my friends and sisters, I was able to accept it and heal from it… but I can never forget it,” Danny spoke solemnly.

He couldn’t help but notice the way Dicks petting movements momentarily paused at the mention of his support. It sent an alarm of concern through Danny. While he was here he couldn't believe that things could get so bad around here. There was just too much time in the layers of sadness and grime for this to be new. So why hasn't anyone tried to stop it and help? There was a disturbing painting being made before his eyes. For the sake of the heroes on this planet, he sure hopes his suspicion is wrong.

“But I promise you, Dick, that this is not the end. It might not seem like it, but things will get better,” Danny promised, something he didn’t take lightly. “I will be here to do everything I can to help you heal.”

Dick didn’t say anything back for a long time. He simply played with the blob on his chest, flicking its tail side to side in between his fingers. The blob certainly didn’t seem to mind, blubbering little chirps to itself. Neither did Danny, who could see that this was a bit too much at once for Dick. 

“Are you still retired?” Dick asked eventually, looking up at Danny with a begging look.

It was one that Danny could recognize. One that was asking for them to try and pretend that nothing was wrong. To give him time to break away from reality and think things over with himself. So Danny let the conversation lead off. It would just be more damaging than helpful to continue on this path. So, conceding to Dicks wordless pleas, Danny let it go.

“Technically. But I wouldn’t mind going back out again if it means I can work with the great Nightwing,” Danny smiled, hoping to bring back the light atmosphere of before.

It seemed to work if the small smile that Dick gave was any indication. Danny hadn’t realized how happy he would be to see a real, albeit small, smile from the other again. Giving a last pat on the blob ghost's head, Dick walked over to where half of the Nightwing suit was discarded.

“Then I hope you still have your spirit,” Dick quipped back, stepping away towards a hallway. “Cause I won’t be going easy on you old man.”

Danny scoffed at the old nickname, jumping off the couch in fake offense. Although it was much too late to say anything about it before Dick scampered down the hall. He could hear a door open and close, signaling Dick is putting his suit on. Danny doesn’t envy the suit that Dick has to put on. Who would’ve thought that putting on a skin-tight suit might take someone a bit?

Luckily Danny didn’t have to even lift a finger. Letting out a breath he let the cold of his core take over, feeling a rush of weightlessness hit him. Knowing that he still had plenty of time to wait for Dick, Danny turned and opened another temporary portal. This time he had opened it directly to his keep, spotting Fright Knight in the distance.

“Frighty,” Danny called into the portal, half laughing to himself as the said knight nearly jumped. “I need a favor from you.”

After years of beating up multiple ghosts, quite a few of the citizens of the realms held respect for Danny. Honestly, it was refreshing to be able to just talk with half of the ghosts he used to fight. While he still held fights with them, cause it’s a form of affection apparently, things had cooled off for the most part. 

Which means it allowed Danny to get to know a lot of them better. This is how he found out that Fright Knight was cursed to serve the king. Thankfully with a little help from Jazz studying the books in Ghost Writers library and a surprisingly life-or-death adventure, Danny freed the ghost. This led to Fright Knight giving his servitude to Danny… which kinda undermines the whole point of the adventure in the first place but it wasn’t Danny’s place to judge.

“What can I do you for, Sir Phantom?” Fright Knight asked, getting closer to the portal and standing guard right outside it.

Oh yeah, and had he forgotten to mention the nickname? Yeah, it bothered Danny too. Although he’s learned that there's not much he can do to change it.

“There are some mortals I’d like to keep an eye on. They are the vigilantes of Gotham,” Danny proposed, making it a suggestion even though he knows Fright Knight will just do anything he says anyway. “Could you look over them for me?”

Fright Knight gave a deep bow before stepping through the portal. His extremely tall frame still absolutely dwarfed Danny in size. Which means it was kinda funny to watch him step through a portal that was sized for Danny's height. He's just so used to making a portal no bigger than that that he hadn’t even considered it.

“I would be honored,” The ghost replied, to which Danny nodded with a thankful smile.

“Thank you Frighty. I’ll check in with you every once in a while,”

And with those last words, Fright Knight nodded and disappeared. He tended to be less on the wordy side anyway.

Was it smart to send someone to spy on the bats? Probably not. But chances are, Dick isn’t going to say anything. Unfortunately, Dick had a mentality that he had to deal with things that are hurting him on his own. Whether from a sense of guilt or fear of not being enough, Dick would rather lead himself into the deep end than call for help. So to figure out why he’s been left so hauntingly alone, Danny is going to have to investigate. Thankfully just him going ghost had already scrambled Dicks security cameras, so the entire conversation wouldn’t be noticed.

The sound of a door closing took Danny out of his thoughts. He turned to the opening of the hallway, feeling himself smile at Dick. It’s been a very long time since he’s seen Dick in costume. The last time he saw the Nightwing suit in person it had honest-to-god tassels. He’s honestly really glad that Dick had changed the costume since then. This new suit in front of him was much more sleek. 

As he nodded to himself he could see Dick raising an eyebrow at him. He stood much more relaxed than before, a smile that didn't look entirely fake on his face.

“At least you’ve gained some sense of style after all this time,” Danny hummed, finding delight in Dicks scandalized gasp.

“I thought you loved the old costume!” Dick said, trying and failing to smother his amusement with an upset face.

Danny shrugged and folded his legs underneath him. It felt so easy to use his powers like this again. While he wasn’t exactly shy to use his powers normally, his range of them was muted in human form. As he hovered in place, he tilted his head teasingly at the other.

“Sorry, I was so busy staring at your chest that I missed what you were wearing,”

Dicks off guard laughter was the best thing Danny had heard in years.