#lazarus myth

[long-live-astronerd-ghost-king]

DPxDC prompt: Danny is Chronos' first child.

Well, not his first child biologically, to be completely honest.

It just so happened that the Phantom very often helped/helps/will help Clockwork at different times and his presence next to the titan required an explanation.

And the opportunity to call Zeus a little brother is worth a lot, right? So when the Ancient came up with this idea Phantom did not resist just to have such a pleasant bonus from their cooperation.

However, in the time of the gods and heroes, such a solution was not a problem. But in modern times, when Phantom tries to attract as little attention as possible in order to graduate from university, such relatives are more likely to cause a lot of problems.

~~~~~

Wonder Woman: Uncle Danny?

Superman, who wanted to chase away a teenager serenely strolling through still smoking battlefield, turns to Wonder Woman, who is waving affably at excactly this guy.

Well, Fenton honestly happened to be in Fawcett City by accident, and it just so happened that by chance it was on this sunny and cloudless day that the villains decided to cause riots worthy of the attention of the founders of the Justice League.

Danny: Diana! My dear, it seems like we really haven't seen each other not for a long time! In what century was it? Ah, I honestly, I barely remember it... The speed at which children grow up defies the laws of time. I mean, look at you! Your mother must be so proud. How's Dad? Still not paying child support, arrogant bastard?

Wonder Woman: Oh, uncle, please. I'm all grown up now, don't worry about me.

Danny: Hm, well, let's get back to this question later. I didn't want to embarrass you in front of your friends. Anyway, would you like to introduce them, little princess?

Wonder Woman: Of course, meet Kal El, Batman, and Shazam. The rest of the guys have already returned to our base. Would you like to...

Danny: Ooh, you're talking about, um... What do you young people call it? The Justice League, right? During my youth, the heroes rarely united and mostly performed all the feats alone. It's good that you help each other, kids.

Danny flies up a little to pat Superman and Batman on the head.

Under the Diana's gaze full of hope that they will get along with her uncle, the men do not move.

In the background:

Red Hood and Robin who used to hang out with Danny near the Lazarus pits: *sounds of seagulls dying of laughter*

~~~~~

Flash: So you're Diana's uncle?

Danny: Yes, call me Danny.

Flash: Cool, cool...

Danny: What does the temperature have to do with it? Do you need ice? Let me make some for you.

Flash: No, it's like,um, I didn't know that Zeus has a younger brother with that name. So, it's good to know?

Danny: Hmm, thanks. Many people tell me that I look quite young, hah. But actually I'm his older brother, so...

Flash: Older? Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to disrespect.

Danny: No, it's all right. It's "cool". I rarely appear on the pages of your human myths and legends, I know it. After all this business about Chronos devours his own children, my father punished me for a long time. So, yeah...It's a funny story.

Flash: Punished for what? How?

Danny: Uh, sitting in a room at a time when there is no Internet or electricity is not fun at all. You see, I just didn't want a younger brother or sister because I was afraid that my parents would pay less attention to me. So, I made up this stupid prophecy and persuaded Gaea to tell it in order to remain the only child in the family. My father would never have thought that I would decide to kill him, that's why...Phah, it's just a bad family story. In 10 thousand years, we'll all laugh about it.

Flash: Yeah, that's... funny.

~~~~

Danny *is woken up by an emergency call from the League at three in the morning, although he fell asleep at two o'clock* (he gave his contact so as not to upset his niece): I knew this would happen! I knew it!

~~~~

Billy Batson *stands in his human form in front of the Justice League and doesn't know what to say*,*sweating nervous*.

Danny *enters the hall*: What's up, mortals, Diana and...Batman? My father said that there is something that I have to be here for. Oh! Well, at least someone in this family is also a shapeshifter. Have you decided to make a younger form so that your uncle doesn't feel lonely? What a good boy! Usually everyone is so afraid to seem like children, once they turn a couple of centuries old. Ah, youth~

Billy: Yeah, I decided to..experiment? and it seems I got stuck by accident.

Danny: It's okay, Uncle Danny will help you. Come on, let's go...

~~~~

Danny *teleports them to the Fawcett City*.

Billy: ....

Danny:

Billy: Hey, I'm still stuck!

A new portal opens and a man in a purple cape hands Billy a note. "Go to Constantine. P.S., my son always completes all assignments only by half, sorry." written on it.

Billy: Oh... OoOhHh!!!

~~~~

Meanwhile, Constantine, who is forced to do additional work: Son of a bi... beloved and respected Master of Time.

Danny: Yeap, that's me.

Constantine: Damn it. Couldn't you just let Batman adopt him like in other timelines?

Danny: And where's the fun in that?

[bet-on-me-13]

The Hades and Persephone AU

So! It had been a coincidence. One of the Rouges Cass had been chasing down had dropped a stray Bullet Casing, and she had managed to miss it as she ran after them. All they could hear through the Comms was her startled yelp as she tumbled 3 Stories, directly onto her Back.

Batman had rushed to the scene, hoping that his daughter was still alive, but when he got there he came across a very different sight. A Tall, shadow covered Knight Carrying Cass in his Arms. Before he could do anything, the Shadow Knight turned away and walked deeper into the Alleyway, were a Lazarus Green Portal stood waiting.

Batman could only watch as his critically injured daughter was kidnapped by some sort of Dark Armored Demon. And into a Portal glowing with the same light as a Lazarus Pit no less.

When he returned to the Cave, Bruce immediately contacted Constantine. Within the Hour, Constantine had arrived and had been lead to the scene where Cass had been taken.

"Well, I don't know what you did to catch their ire but it seems like Orphan was kidnapped by a Realms Being." He explained, "And by the looks of it, by the Right Hand of the Ghost King himself. How did you manage this?"

"Where can we find her?" Asked Batman in a Hard Tone. This was his Daughter, and she had just been kidnapped by Royalty from another Realm. He didn't know why, but they were going to pay.

"Well, the Ghost Zone is a treacherous Realm. Ordinarily I would advise against even considering going there, but I know you will either way."

Constantine gave them Directions to a small town in Illinois, where supposedly a pair of Techno-Mages had managed to open a Permanent Portal the the Ghost Zone. They would have all the Weapons, Armor, and Transportation he would need to venture into the Zone.

Finding the Tecno-Mages was easy (though they preferred the term Ecto-Biologists), and surprisingly convincing them that they needed their help was even easier. Once Batman explained that his Daughter had been kidnapped by a Being from the Zone, they offered their help immediately.

"We understand, if it had been one of our own Kids who had been kidnapped, we would be doing the exact same. If only we could get into contact with our Son, he has connections in the Zone that may be have been useful, but he's been busy for the past few days."

After a day of preparing, the Team was ready to delve into this alternate dimension to save their Missing Family Member.

...

Meanwhile Cass is living out her Mythologically Accurate Romantic Fantasy (I have a headcanon that Cass adores myths). She was basically Kidnapped like Persephone, except it was under very different circumstances.

Basically, David Cain had made a deal with the Previous Ghost King. David would be given access to Fresh Lazarus Pits for the League, and in return the Ghost King would be given his daughters hand in marriage upon her Death. And while Cass was technically still alive, her Near-Death Experience had drawn enough Ecto to her that it pushed her Liminality past the point of Human Limits. She was no longer technically Alive, so the Contract had activated.

Thankfully, when Fright Knight noticed his new Queen-To-Be's condition, he had rushed her to the Far Frozen to be healed. Then he brought her to the Castle and had informed Danny of the development.

Now, Neither of them was really ready to be married, but a Contract like that needed to be canceled by the one who made it. And Pariah was still locked in his Box. So, they had delved into the Ghost Writers Library to see if they could find a Loophole.

And Study Dates have never been so fun.

Even though she isn't ready to be married yet, Cass still thinks that Danny is kind of cute. And she likes his goofy little smile, and his slightly glowing eyes, and his smooth white hair, and-

Oh, that Persephone comparison might have been a little more accurate than she thought...

[artbribery]

Following the trend of the Lazarus Pit being part of Ghost Zone or ectoplasm-adjacent, what if the Pit Madness was just a connection to the Ghost King?

As in, whatever the voices and the intent in the pits are just a leftover of the king’s emotions. So long as the king was Pariah Dark and he stayed that way in stasis, the waters remained in anger and madness.

So when the ruler changes, suddenly the madness is gone and instead it’s Danny’s feelings in Jason’s head like some sort of soulmate au (except only one of them is in on it).

Maybe general intent:

Danny feeling happy and content and loving his sister (and all those feelings are sent through the Force)

Jason: ‘Positive feelings? Positive feelings in my Pit Madness? It’s more likely than I thought apparently?’

Jason suddenly wondering why he likes the stars so much when he can’t even see them in Gotham. He responds to this by reading about the myths.

He knows he loves his sisters but suddenly he feels an acute appreciation for them.

Weirdly strong feelings about clones that make him wonder if he has clone, or is one himself, and he’s only known about it subconsciously and recently.

The occasional badgers-suck-and-fruitloops-too sentiment

If voices are a thing:

Jason is chilling on a rooftop at four am and out of nowhere:

‘Is green cheese made out of ghost milk?’ ‘Would that be considered vegan because the cow is already dead?’ ‘No, wait, that’s not right...’ ’do ghosts dream of electrical sheep?’

Danny being sleep deprived, accessing the ghostly radio satellite and Jason asking himself Why, Mulaney style, Why is this Tim-like monologue plaguing my Pit Madness?

Plus? (on the topic of radio?)

Free mental podcast w/ our host Danny and his audience of one: Jason (who maybe figures out how to make calls live; it’s not like it broadcasts anywhere else, right?)

(cue a certain demographic of the ghost zone, as well as select members of the League of Shadows, tuning in to this soap-opera)

Alternative to this: Danny uses this as a help-line for the ones affected by the pit and heckles them until they agree to get treatment. 

“It’s the one place you can’t escape.”

Potential for angst though: 

It had been a while since the Pit changed and Jason had gotten used to it sometimes being cranky/irritated/annoyed and happy/mischievous/light and so on in the wheel of emotions

So he is worried about the increasing feelings of hope/trust/love mixed with paranoia/wariness/anxiety coming in the last few weeks

The crawling dread and nervousness seeping through that starts mid morning and rises steadily, like anticipation or pulling teeth slowly 

But suddenly fear spikes and it is PANIC and DESPERATION, BREAKING DOWN---

H E L P

[justheretodump]

this is going to be dc x danny phantom x miraculous ladybug x spiderman

pt 1, 2, 3

for those who aren't familiar with every show, here's a lore explanation

---

jazz fenton and constantine had met, of course, on a dreary december night, when rain had poured ominously. with thundering clouds above, constantine had blinked awake from a coma-like nap to the sound of knocking on his apartment door.

a wet and scowling jazz had stood on the other side, orange hair stuck to her skin and shaking hands gripping a leather tome to her chest. despite her shaky appearance, she spoke clearly, southern drawl shaping the vowels uniquely, "john constantine? my name's jazz fenton, may i come in?"

"no."

trying to slam the door shut had no affect, as she had simply shoved the book in the way.

"i really need your help."

"fuck off."

constantine blocked the open slit with his body as she shimmied her knee in for more leverage.

"i'm a history student at gotham u." another mini scuffle as both pushed against the door. "i'm looking for information on an old myth." constantine tried using his hip to push the tome out of the way. "do you know about lazarus pits?"

constantine rebooted his brain to shake away the shock. clearing his throat, he backed away, the door squeaking on its hinges to show the smirking girl. "may i come in?"

the australian man scoffed and drifted away to the kitchen table. the student surveyed the crappy apartment as she followed, sitting down across from him with a relieved grunt. she put the book on the table.

he eyed the girl warily, "what's this about lazarus pits? where'd you hear it?"

she cleared her throat, back straight and hands crossed on her lap. if it wasn't for her sorry state, she would be the image of professional.

"i'm not in a position to discuss my sources. however, from what i've heard, there's one underneath this city." her eyes glinted a steely aquamarine. "i need to see it."

constantine barked a gruff laugh. "you're crazy. there isn't a chance in hell ranga." he jerked his head at the book on the table. "what's with that then?"

her hands flipped its pages, stopping at a detailed drawing of a bubbling pit. upside down, it was hard for constantine to decipher. "it says in here that long ago, bubbling pits of green water were used by witches to speak with the dead. they could only be found in places with a strong lack of godly devotion, invoking satan's forces." she huffed, a sad smile lifting her face. "if i can confirm gotham's lazarus pit and what it consists of, i can further argue the existence of gotham's own witch coven in the 1600s before the salem trials. for my thesis, of course."

"for your thesis," constantine echoed, a bit mockingly.

"of course." repeated jazz pleasantly. "if you're so unwilling to come along, a few directions would suffice."

the man snarled, "no dice kiddo, scram."

jazz seemed unfazed, gathering herself up with the grace of a dancer. sweeping the book back into her hands, she walked towards the doorway. under the frame, she turned to tutt at him, "i'd spray some air freshner in here. cigarrette smoke attracts unfavorable forces."

---

jazz fenton did not disappear nor fade into obscurity. constantine had the pleasure of her company the following wednesday, where both had escaped certain death at the hands of a cursed portrait pulling unassuming tourists into its french landscape.

sat in the ruins of a crumbling mansion, constantine lit his cigarrette and studied the girl across from him. "so, how did your research lead you here?"

jazz snorted, decorative mace still in hand even after the fight had ended, "property records were transferred to the gotham government after the trials. just had to figure out what victim it was connected to and, voila, witch mansion."

---

after much persuasion and conversation, constantine decided that this girl, with the smarts for battle and a deep intuision for the magical, would be his prodigy. and if her company included good banter, fatherly worries and emotional attachment, that was neither here nor there.

---

two years later, jazz fenton was a doctor in historical studies of gotham folklore, a museum consultator and a justice league dark probationary member.

batman and zatanna, both well aware of the orphan constantine had taken under his wing, had not been surprised to greet her at the door of the australian's apartment.

"sorry for the mess guys, we've been drawing all night." they shimmied across the paper covered floor into the kitchen where the blonde was eating a bowl of cereal. "we've narrowed down the source of the problem somewhat. last thursday, what you saw on that hill, we think it might be an old gaelic deity, cailleach."

zatanna frowned at the idea, "a gaelic deity? deities don't leave their countries."

constantine spoke through a garble of cheerios, "yes but what if they weren't this earth's deity?"

batman remained silent and jazz spoke to him, "when a deity is borne from worship or belief, they tend to only exist there."

"something only exists if it is observed." the bat mused.

jazz brightened, "yes! deities only exist in the countries that they're observed in. however, we believe this cailleach is not our scotland's deity but rather doesn't exist tied to a reality at all."

"but a deity can't exist without a belief well," zatanna replied.

"well, yes," constantine stood up and dragged over a vintage drawing of an old woman in a cloak, her hand wielding a hammer, "but what if someone could die and leave their reality's vibrations? go neither to their hell or heaven or hades' underworld or valhalla or whatever else, and take their beliefs with them?"

"you're talking about the infinite realms."

"the infinite realms?" intoned batman.

jazz showed the caped man a note, this time a depiction of a vast land with floating islands and starry skies. "the infinite realms is a different dimension. it exists on another plane, like icthultu's realm. when we talk about the afterlife, bad or good, every reality has their own. however, the infinite realms can sometimes bleed into every reality. because of this, souls touched by its essence can slip the afterlife and go on to exist in the infinite realms."

"if you were to die bats," constantine leaned back, "there would only be one batman wherever we go after death. but in the infinite realms, you could have 2 or 5 or 10, all dead and from different worlds."

zatanna hummed at all this and looked closer at the runes they'd compiled, "so if a hardcore cailleach believer passed on to the infinite realms, cailleach could come to life there."

constantine snapped his finger, "exactly! that's the theory, but really, it only works if the ghost monster that attacked the park next to the hill is the belief well. not really human-like but a possibiliy. the infinite realms has a bad habit of creating weird shit."

"can we expect more creatures to come from the infinite realms?" asked batman.

"no." "maybe."

jazz and constantine whipped their heads to exchange irritated stares. the australian man got up roughly, chair scraping the floor, and took his bowl to the sink, the faucet water breaking the silence.

jazz sat down, gesturing for their two guests to finally sit. she reached underneath the table towards a purple backbag, and pulled out her old book tome. flipping it open, she showed the pit drawing to the other two heroes.

"what if the lazarus pits were connected to the infinite realms?"

zatanna leaned in, intrigued, batman remained stone faced, and constantine scoffed loudly. the blonde began muttering but jazz continued on. "i believe ra's tried to erase all records of the pits, but mentions of reviving waters can be found all across cult scripts and witch coven writings. waters that could bring back the dead, that whispered with human voices, that sometimes held goulish creatures underneath its waters. a material thick and glowing green penetrating the soil around it. the only evidence of the infinite realms is a page from doctor fate, and he mentioned a green, jelly-like substance!"

constantine huffed again, like an angry boar, and turned, hands covered in soap suds. "i swear to god, you're making connections where they don't exist! if the pits had anything to do with the infinite realms, that would've been the first thing doctor fate told us!"

jazz stood, hands planted on the table, "if you would just trust me, we could go check and rule it out, but ancients forbid i'm right! you're just scared about wha-"

constantine got close to her and pointed in her face, "you've been obsessed with those pits since you stepped into my goddamn apartment two years ago, let it go jazz or i swear i'll pull you off this case."

a thousand emotions flickered across jazz's face before, with teary eyes and a thunderous scowl, she stomped away, figure disappearing into the living room. faintly, the sound of the balcony doors sliding open echoed before a soft click followed.

zatanna, who had witnissed many of jazz and constantine's fights before, and knew how deeply the man cared for the girl, heaved a sigh. both were stubborn and it would take a bit before things settled. she decided to keep quiet, reaching for jazz's tome to keep occupied. as she reached across, a soapy hand impeded her. looking at constantine, he wore a frown, "she doesn't like others touching it. go look at the runes, see if you recognize anything."

zatanna smiled a small thing at the man she was so fond of, and got up to do so.

batman, who had watched everything with mixed feelings, watched the australian go back to the sink. faced with his back, he spoke lowly, "the pit's too far away from the park."

constantine sighed, shoulders drooping, "no, it wouldn't work like that. if it did, anyone revived by the pit would have to stay close to it. and if you destroy some of them, the undead might go back to being dead."

batman mulled this over in silence. he was undecided on the matter, too concerned about what it meant that the pits might be doors to another dimension. he conveyed his worries then, "if the pits are connected to the realms, how were we able to destroy them before?"

"if, and that's a big fucking if, they are connected to the realms, the essence can't be destroyed. it's all around us, all the time. the important bit is stacking it in one place to create a way through. like a stone bridge. when you destroy the pits, all you're doing is breaking up the stone, but the stone crumbles to the bottom, and you could, hypothetically, pick up each stone and put it together again. i guess the only things that works as a glue for it in our world is water."

"you're pretty calm discussing it now."

"one of these days that girl's gonna end up digging a hole she'll die in."

"kids are like that."

---

later on, when the apartment meeting had ended with no new leads and batman had debriefed the other bats, it was decided, unknown to constantine, that red robin and batman would look into the current state of the gotham lazarus pit. zatanna and martian manhunter would visit arabia to check the other naturally formed pit.

constantine and jazz were still on the fritz, but one evening, to constantine's concern, the girl had called to say she would be in illinois for a few days, "visiting the orphanage". the redhead had never done so before, but who was the australian to interrogate her? he wished her a good trip and that was that.

---

jazz had been missing for two weeks, calls unanswered, phone untrackable. gotham had witnessed two more ghost-like monster attacks, and all three of them had been untouchable, disappearing on their own in 30 minutes. the bats were too concerned with uncovering the source, justice league dark had been put on the case and too was scrambling for clues, and constantine was ready to rip his hair out in concern for his prodigy.

on his way to the airport, in the backseat of a taxi, ready to fly to springfield, his phone rang, lighting up with a smiling graduation picture of jazz fenton.

he rushed to answer it, "hello?! ranga?! jazz!"

crackling came through, the mic rustling before a breathless voice called back, "cons---tine! we ne--- help! i'm outs--- f amity park, th--- a sig---al blo---. you n---d to come! the hou--- a portal! --- stantine?! hello?!"

the line cut off. constantine told the taxi driver to floor it.

[ghost-bxrd]

I saw the Wendigo!Bruce post, and I raise you Wendigo!Jason.

Some of the wendigo myths have the curse of the wendigo passing from one person to another like a contagion.

Imagine Sheila got the curse. She leaves Gotham, heads out to a place where nasty deaths and disappearances are too common to get much investigation (even less than in Gotham)

When Sheila dies, Jason is the closest.

That could be how his revival works – and the Wendigo symptoms can be mistaken for Lazarus rage or PTSD…

The natural drive for revenge or natural emotions like anger and hurt magnified to self destructive levels, turning against family…

Horror scenario of heads in duffle bags made worse because heads are the only parts left…

G A S P

let’s spin that story further tho!

Maybe it’s a universe where Sheila kept Jason, so by the time he gets infected he’s still a kid. And when Bruce takes him in he’s skinny and sickly and always hungry and obviously it must be due to abuse and malnutrition, but Jay is eating so much now he’s sure going to get better soon!

Maybe it even does get better for a while. Jason can eat however much he likes. And the familial warmth and comfort is making the aching cold in his stomach dull from all consuming hunger into mild hunger pangs. sure, it’s not human flesh he’s getting at the manor, but maybe… maybe he can learn to live with this. The sheer amount of food he’s getting there might be able to keep him going. ❄️

[two-sibyls-tall]

two-sibyls-tall official (dc) fic rec list:

OFFICIAL WARNING: FOR THE LOVE OF EVERYTHING GOOD IN THIS WORLD, READ THE TAGS BEFORE YOU READ THE FIC

these fics are all ones I have reread many times- therefore each fic rec has a short summary afterwards that I wrote based on which scenes I randomly remember and want to reread so future me can find it easier.

miss me? - Jason came back to Gotham and attempted to torment his old family with his presence. Three of them have been mourning him so much that they don't even realize he's not a hallucination.

successor - Tim finds out who the Red Hood is early, and accidentally solves the whole problem.

Obedience - When captured by the Mad Hatter, Tim is chipped and forced to comply with any order that he's given. The batfamily doesn't notice for over a month.

The Waynes, Damsels in Distress - Oh no. The Waynes keep getting kidnapped. Hopefully the Justice League will help, since Batman is an urban myth and all.

problem solver - Tim's been stuck in a time loop that resets at 1 am, so he's not particularly worried when he kills Damian at 12:59. Then the clock hits 1:01.

one step forward - Jason has slowly been reintegrating himself with the Bats. Unfortunately, Dick doesn't seem eager to forgive OR forget. Dick thinks that maybe his hallucinations of Jason are getting out of control.

In This or Any Other Universe - Dick Grayson travels to the Batman (2022) universe with just enough time to pull Bruce's reputation out of the dirt and catch a circus performance.

Baby Birds and Bat Caves - Tim Drake has found a way to the Batcave! The other tunnels that he passes with lazarus pits, forgotten gods, and concerning mushrooms are a fantastic backdrop for his new haunted radio show.

Call and Response - The Bird Call is a series of identifying whistles used by the Batfamily to check in without needing comms. The Bird Call is later used to bring a wayward Robin home.

Asimov’s Integral - Robot!Tim is NOT family- he’s only allowed in the Manor for as long as he helps fix Robot!Jason. Bruce keeps forgetting to tell him that’s no longer the case.

The Second Son - All the Waynes have been kidnapped in civvies. Oracle contacts the only vigilante in the city, Red Hood, to help them.

!! Shameless Self-Promotion Time !!

i've watched you so long, screamed your name - Timothy Jackson Drake was shot and killed at 8 years old. Six years later, he becomes Robin.

^^ This fic is one I wrote! From this fic you can go down two roads: The series 'my mind turns your life into folklore' focuses on Young Justice (yj98 from the comics, to be clear) and how they find family with a few supernatural perks. The series 'can't turn back now, i'm haunted' focuses on the Batfamily and their path to discovering that Tim is a ghost.

[ddarker-dreams]

☾ book recommendations: *✲⋆.

my all time favorites:

the brothers karamazov by fyodor dostoevsky

notes from underground by fyodor dostoevsky

the picture of dorian gray by oscar wilde

frankenstein by mary shelly

the plague by albert camus

we have always lived in the castle by shirley jackson

the seven who were hanged by leonid andreyev

blackshirts & reds by michael parenti

others that i'd recommend:

break the body, haunt the bones by micah dean hicks

tomie by junji ito

uzumaki by junji ito

berserk by kento miura

the haunting of hill house by shirley jackson

i have no mouth, and i must scream by harlan ellison

the tell-tale heart by edgar allen poe

the cask of amontillado by edgar allen poe

rebecca by daphne du maurier

wuthering heights by emily brontë

dune by frank herbert

a shadow over innsmouth by h. p. lovecraft

the color out of space by h. p. lovecraft

the dunwich horror by h. p. lovecraft

crime and punishment by fyodor dostoevsky

demons by fyodor dostoevsky

the idiot by fyodor dostoevsky

jane eyre by charlotte brontë

do androids dream of electric sheep? by philip k. dick

a long fatal love chase by louisa may alcott

the stranger by albert camus

the metamorphosis by franz kafka

the trial by franz kafka

dragonwyck by anya seton

discipline and punish by michel foucalt

the castle of otranto by horace walpole

faust by johann wolfgang von goethe

the fall by albert camus

the myth of sisyphus by albert camus

the strange case of dr jekyll and mr hyde by robert louis stevenson

blood meridian by cormac mccarthy (do look into the content warnings though, there's heavy violence/depictions of 1840s-1850s racism)

the death of ivan ilyich by leo tolstoy

the dead by james joyce

the overcoat by nikolai gogol

dead souls by nikolai gogol

hiroshima by john hersey

useful fictions: evolution, anxiety, and the origins of literature by michael austin

no exit by jean paule satre

candide by voltaire

white nights by fyodor dostoevsky

notes from a dead house by fyodor dostoevsky

the shock doctrine by naomi klein

the 100 year war on palestine by rashid khalidi

killing hope by william blum

the karamazov case: dostoevsky’s argument for his vision by terrence w. tilley

stiff: the curious life of human cadavers by mary roach

lazarus by leonid andreyev

imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism by vladmir lenin

[morverenmaybewrites]

Imagine Dark Fantasy!Gotham

Inspired by this post.

Imagine dark fantasy!Gotham. A Gotham City that sits between the border of magic and the mundane. A Gotham City that may or not may not be there, depending on the day. And the person searching for it. 

A city made of both magic and the cold iron that once nearly brought it to extinction, nearly splitting at the seams at the weight of its own existence.

The only city left where you are never quite sure if the person you pass on the street is human or the personification of a myth so ancient that the outside world had all but forgotten its name. 

Glamour is woven and worn like a second skin; it is said that the most powerful ones can bend even the hardest of wills to the wearer’s whims. Politicians drink charisma from gleaming silver cups just before they make their speeches to the adoring public. 

Laughter is sold in bright green bottles and sold in dark corners–to a twisted clown who leaves grinning bodies in his wake. 

A scientist, half-mad with his own discoveries, learns how to brew fear. And conjures hallucinations so real that his victims would carve furrows into their own skin, screaming about the things that haunt them.

Imagine the Lazarus Pits and the stories they would inspire. It is said that they were once a phenomenon seen around the world: the strange, glowing pools that hold the power over life and death. But that was before the iron, and the rise of man, and before the magic had been all but bled from the world.

Now, the only place where a Lazarus Pit could exist in was Gotham City. 

If it even exists at all. 

No books mention it, no maps lead to it.

And yet, the rumors persist. Whispered in dark corners, in quiet bars where the alcohol served gleams as if distilled from moonlight.

A friend of a friend had been brought back to life, a lover suffering grievous injuries stepping out of a pool, gleaming with health, a small group of humans who have somehow lived for centuries.

Imagine Bruce Wayne, half-mad with grief and hollowed out by loss. A despair so great that it threatened to blot out the stars. 

If it had been another time, another place, perhaps death would have been the end of it. Perhaps the small frame he held in his arms would have been buried underneath the rich dark earth of Wayne gardens, beside Bruce’s parents. Perhaps the boy and his father would have found some measure of peace.

But this was Gotham City, the last place on earth where one could find magic. 

And, perhaps just this once, death was not the end. 

Imagine Jason Todd, dead. 

Then, alive. A heart silent and still, begins to beat, faster and faster as if it means to break, screaming from his ribcage. 

A miracle, but not without price. Never without price.

Imagine Jason Todd, silent and still and dead, until he is not. Until the cave that contains those famed pools echoes with his screams. Whatever memory of heaven or hell or the Afterlife blasted out of him by the pain of a soul being slammed, forcefully, back into its body. 

Oh how living hurts. 

How death hounds his every step. 

It is there, in the way, he feels he does not belong anymore. After all, he was brought back to the world of the living, and he is no longer supposed to be alive. It is there, in the way his skin runs a little too cold, in the way he would sometimes forget to feel the warmth. 

Once, Alfred walked in on him, holding his hand over an open fire, face utterly devoid of expression. 

It is there, in the way human food feels ever so slightly bland. As if something unnameable, something crucial had been stripped from it. 

It is there, in the color of his eyes. Once blue, they are the same shade of green as the smoke of the pools. They glow preternaturally bright, even in complete darkness. 

Imagine his hate and resentment, growing day by day, at being forced to live in a world that now rejects him. 

And so Jason leaves. 

Leaves his father, leaves Gotham. Immerses himself in the mundanity of the modern world, and hopes that it’s enough to make him forget.

But every time he takes a bite of food that he can barely taste, every time he looks up at the sky to realize that he doesn’t feel the cold, every time he catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror. 

Jason remembers.

He is not supposed to be here.  

I'll be writing this as either a one shot or a two-part story. But tell me if anyone wants a part 2 where I'll discuss the plot and Jason's relationship with a changeling!reader!

[justkeeptrekkin]

Resurrection and The Second Coming

There is a recurring motif in season 2, and that is the image of resurrection and being raised from the dead. I think this all points to what will happen in season 3 and tie into the Second Coming plot that was mentioned by Metatron. I’m not sure what exactly it’s indicating, obviously, but here are the clues:

1) 25 Lazuri miracle

I enjoyed the reference to Lazarus, and I found it quite striking! It IS interesting, isn’t it Crowley, that Heaven measure miracles by how many times it could have brought someone back from the dead?

And isn’t it interesting that Aziraphale and Crowley, combined, could bring back 25 human lives with a single, half-arsed miracle?

I’m getting the impression that bringing people back to life and the power to resurrect is going to be a bigggggg deal in the future plot.

2) The opening credits

The opening credits have been said to hold a few clues for season 3. One of the things I've noticed is that there’s plenty of apocalypse and hell imagery, none of which we see in season 2. For example, above, we see A and C moving underground, like they’re navigating some route to the underworld. Then we see them leading a growing crowd of people through a very traditional portrayal of hell, with fire and giant spiders etc., through the blitz, through a SPACE (?) and a very modern perspective of the apocalypse, with scrapheaps and riots. 

There’s a LOT to unpack in that, but what I want to focus on here is the concept of the afterlife. We’re presented with an almost Dante-esque, Ancient Greek view of Hell: A and C are walking through dim tunnels to a fiery, wretched view of the underworld. Where is this??? In the show, I mean??? We’ve never seen this version of hell. as far as we know, it has always been the bureaucratic landscape that we’ve seen in S1 and S2. We can assume it’s always looked like this because Heaven has always had the office-style setting since even Job’s time. 

So what are we seeing here? A and C leading people to Hell? Then... walking out of it!? It is very reminiscent of the ancient myths of Greek heroes attempting to bring the souls of their loved ones back to Earth. 

And, notably, we do not see either of them walk through heaven in the opening credits. 

Who are they leading through this opening credits scene and why?

3) Give me Coffee or Give me Death

I don’t actually have a lot to say about this other than there was a lot of emphasis on the name of the shop. Possibly just because it’s a fuckin’ cool name for a cafe... but even Metatron makes a pointed remark about it. 

Call me a tin-hat bitch, but I actually have a feeling that Nina, who is sooooo hyperaware of all the bizarre events going on around her-- to the point that she’s lucid at Aziraphale’s party-- is an angel. I think she was removed from the Book of Life, so no one knows she ever existed as an angel. She seems to have some connection with the supernatural, with Sight, and perhaps, given the name of her shop, the afterlife. 

4) The Resurrectionist and Mr Dalrymple

The whole minisode of The Resurrectionist was bizarre-- I really enjoyed it, but it does make 100% sense that it’s referred to as a minisode. Because it feels oddly separate from the plot (until of course we find out the connection with Beelzebub and Gabriel). Even then, though, it’s a little jarring. 

WHY this particular flashback in history? 

And WHY do B and G meet there in the first place? Out of all the places for them to meet in the universe? 

This is another rather heavyhanded hint towards the concept of resurrection and being raised from the dead. Mr Dalrymple, ethics aside, is using the dead to bring life to others. He’s giving the dead a new lease on life. 

And, listen, I’m a fan of the classics, so the connections to Shelley’s Frankenstein is VERY blatant-- bringing in the question of morality and playing god and the creation of life and modern prometheus and responsibility and resurrection etc. AND Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. (The latter especially in the sense that Stevenson was a doctor from Edinburgh.) 

I just think the minisode is another example of a thread left untied in season 2. 

5) Gabriel’s prophecy

“I remember when the morning stars sang together and all the angels of god shouted for joy.” (A reference to Job, see below)

“There will come a tempest and darkness and great storms. And the dead will leave their graves and walk the earth once more. And there will be great lamentations. Everyday is getting closer.” 

I mean, what else is there to say here? This is explicitly a prophecy about what will happen later in the story-- the dead returning and walking the earth. This HAS to be a reference to the Second Coming, which I talk about more in point 9. 

What if this is hinting at a giant rehaul of heaven and hell? The living and the dead facing true judgement?

6) Zombies in the blitz

Have any of you noticed that we’ve seen plenty of Heaven and Hell, but the only time we’ve ever seen any signs of human beings in said afterlife is with the Nazis? It only occurred to me while piecing this post together, but we’ve never seen anyone in heaven aside from angels. No saints, no good people who went to the good place. In hell we’ve seen lots of shuffling people, but honestly I’ve always thought they were demons. Now, we’re seeing the check-in process in Hell, which I thoroughly enjoyed, but... it’s just occurred to me that it’s the only time we’ve explicitly seen any human afterlife in hell rather than just demons.

What does it mean? Not sure. Perhaps it’s hinting at what will occur in season 3. Perhaps it’s suggesting that there is a major fault in how heaven and hell actually organise human afterlife. Maybe the system is broken beyond the institutional abuse we’ve seen among the angels and demons...

ANYWAY.  

Zombies are undead. Life resurrected. Lazarus kinda. Right? Obvious connection. But what *is* interesting is that these Nazis specifically were resurrected as a part of the plot to survey A and C. Out of all the people to bring to life... they are a pretty depressing and unsettling choice. Even if they’re like, comedically terrible/evil. Eek. 

Lazarus, after all, was supposed to be a good guy. (I think. Jesus brought him back to life after all.)

7) Job’s children

The various versions of this story I’ve looked at have been fantastically vague about what Job heard and what happened to him at the end-- which is, I gather, the whole point. The message appears to be about having faith in God. It’s a test of faith and love for the Almighty. 

But like, even the idea of the children being returned to life is vague. In some versions it looks like he gets his original kids back plus more, in others, it’s not specified. In this version, we see Crowley’s kindness in saving them in the form of metamorphosis (at least temporarily). Job’s children aren’t brought back to life as such, then, but they are returned to Job. In a way, the whole of this series is bringing stories back to life by retelling them on the screen. (Stop it, I know it’s a stretch...)

8) Magic tricks

Ok, so the most famous magic tricks in the book are the idea of DEATH EVADING ESCAPADES! Such as sawing a body in half. Or, in Aziraphale’s case, the bullet catch. 

I dunno where I'm going with this, but it feels relevant. Especially given that there’s the whole scare of ‘oh no we can’t use miracles! I could be discorporated! Then there’s all the paperwork... for RESURRECTION...’

9) The Second Coming

So, I am not all too familiar with the Second Coming. It appears across various religions and interpretations of the scripture. 

My understanding of it is LIMITED even after research, so I would appreciate others chipping in if they can clarify for me and for others. 

- It involves Jesus returning to Earth (often during a time of war and destruction among humans, though not in every religion).

- Jesus’ second coming to Earth will trigger Judgement Day. The living and the dead will be judged on whether they go to heaven or to hell. 

- Some Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that the second coming of Jesus occurs after Armageddon and brings the ‘conclusion of the system of things’. A giant rehaul, I think.  

- For Catholics, the second coming will cause ‘the fullness of the reign of God and the consummation of the universe and mankind.’ What this essentially means is that mankind and the universe get to share in Jesus’ resurrection, so the dead will walk again. Just as God manifested himself through Jesus once, now, God will appear through the whole of mankind and the universe. Personally, I've always appreciated this interpretation of God-- that the Holy Spirit is everywhere and in everything, rather than a person in the sky.

- Catholics also believe that “at the moment of Jesus' arrival, three events will happen all at once in an instant, in the blink of an eye: the living will die, the universe will be transfigured, and the dead will be resurrected, judged, and recompensed. After this single instant or moment, the church does not know what will happen for the rest of eternity - only that the damned will continue to be in hell and the saved will continue to experience the beatific vision.” (thank you Wikipedia)

- Most religions see it is as the final true judgement of God over mankind. 

Conclusions

I don’t know what it all means, but I think it all boils down to the Second Coming, the final judgement, and perhaps a big reshuffle of heaven and hell. 

In my opinion, Heaven and Hell as we know it in the show will be completely deconstructed and reconstructed. I think perhaps Metatron has been the ‘man behind the curtain’, an imposter meddling with mankind, their prophecies, and even the Book of Life. 

Perhaps, all of these little hints are an example of Metatron’s ‘Second Coming’ plan bleeding through whatever reality we’re in. 

[hanahaki-disease]

Ocean's gift - that's his name. And it's a beautiful one.

Talia Al Ghul grabs the shoulders of a child who practically bumped into her and her heart stopped beating for a few moments. The boy had delicate caramel skin, his curls the shade of sweet licorice caressed cute cheeks, big eyes, green-blue like the Mediterranean sea. He smiled at her and it was bright and sharp full of charm, like her and her mother's smile if Ras Al Ghul's words were true. This boy looked like her as a child. The child curls his lips a little guiltily, like rose petals, and pronounces in his voice like a nightingale singing 'Sorry Miss' and runs away from her like five years ago. She turns around looking after him - she sees the door of one of the pastry shops open and a young woman in a red and blue uniform gently lifts him in her arms, her previously tired face brightens with happiness.

The Lazarus pit sharpens the senses, and especially since Talia was standing quite close, she hears the child enthusiastically shouting: "Mama, I was able to read the whole sentence today!" and the woman lovingly replies to him: "This event is worthy of a celebration, My Doris, how about a blue chocolate cake for dessert tonight?". "Doris" Talia presses her hand to her chest, for some reason it is painfully warm and heavy, it is pleasant and painful at the same time "His name is Doris, the gift of the ocean... the perfect name of the perfect little boy."

Talia Al Ghul pulls the hood of her cashmere coat over her face, which looks so much like this boy's little face, and leaves. It's the best and most unforgivable thing to just walk away on your heels and do nothing, as if nothing had happened. It's easier and better this way. Her father does not find out about the boy, who is happy, innocent and charming, his mother did more than well and Talia is happy about this, even if her pit in the stomach is deep.Mist is doing a great job - Talia Al Ghul forgets about this child, just as forget that the rains before spring were cold and burning, but the ghostly warmth at the sound of the name "Doris" remains.

Ingratitude. [And Envy, it's not white].

Damian Khorshid Al Ghul knows from an early age that he exists and is the main heir of his grandfather, only due to the fact that his mother's brother mysteriously disappeared after his birth. He is never allowed to forget about it, only his perception of this simple truth changes.Until the age of five, he takes it as a legend and a myth that he takes too seriously - his mother never mentioned her brother, and his grandfather loved him and besides, Ras Al Ghul would never allow himself such behavior - it was said that the head of the demon killed a whole staff of servants including maids, nannies and one wet nurse when his son just disappeared.

Until the age of five, he took it as a legend and a myth that was taken too seriously - his mother never mentioned her brother, and his grandfather loved him, and besides, Ras Al Ghul would never allow himself such behavior - it was said that the Demon's Head killed an entire staff of servants, including maids, babysitters and one wet nurse when his son disappeared. Damian did not believe that such a thing was possible.His now obviously fragile illusions born of fear turn out to be true and Damian is thrown in the face. It's just that one day during the weekly family tea party, his grandfather sits with his shoulders slightly hunched and his hands gently squeeze the green silk fabric. It is a tradition to swaddle all newborn Al Ghuls with a green silk cloth... His mother gracefully and carefully approaches his grandfather and gently, with rare tenderness, touches her father's shoulder. She lets a thin haze of sadness cloud her gaze a little as she says: "I also feel the loss of Ardeshir".

Damian's heart freezes with fear, he clenches his fists and tries to accept this reality: It's the truth, the very real truth that he foolishly chose to ignore. His mother had a brother, his grandfather had a son, he, Ardeshir, disappeared and Damian is his replacement, which basically exists only because he is no more. After a couple of weeks, his mother takes him to the underground laboratory of the semi-secret section - it is clean and tidy, everything is new, shiny, as if it is still in use, although Damian now knows that Ras Al Ghul has forbidden almost everyone to come here. It was the place of conception, gestation and birth of Ardeshir Al Ghul.

His Mother tenderly touches the ice-clear glass of the tube and sadly begins to say: "He was only my blood and flesh... You could have a closeblooded brother. Your grandfather named him Ardeshir, I gave him the middle name Bulbul." His mother loves his brother, his grandfather loves his son, Damian is his replacement. And he desperately wants to be an original.

please please plEASE PLEASE

please make this into a full fic!!

I BEG.

This is so good. The mist messing with Talia’s mind? Damian both knowing and not knowing about Ardeshir? UGH I want—no need a full length fic of this like yesterday, even if it’s just a one shot.

[sailormoonsub]

Naturally there's a vast well of potential metaphors that apply here, superimposed on each other and difficult to isolate, but I've been enjoying the interpretation that Mirror Sheriff posed last episode: MT is not a main character and therefore does not get an arc or growth.

Through that lens, this book is a story about stories. The traditional narrative structure would have us believe ALL obstacles are there for conflict, ALL characters exist for a reason, and the story ends when something is learned or changed.

within this framework, MT is the Very Special Episode Guest Character, who exists to act out a marginalized story for the sake of the characters who get their names in the credits, leaving behind nothing but William Shatner idly speculating "but what of Lazarus?" as we pan to an exterior shot and the credits roll.

MT rejects that role. Obstacles and foils aren't there FOR you. Narrative utility is a useful myth. Stories don't end when a comfortable status quo is attained; they continue with a different lead.

[yeetus-feetus]

tangled au (WIP)

Inspired by this ↓ post

Created by this ↓ account

@dragonpyre (I hope this is okay, you just really inspired me is all)

So here:

Jason, second heir to the throne of Gotham, was a happy little boy with a very loud personality. A former street kid, he was adopted into royalty at the age of 3 following his mother’s death, much like his older brother Richard, by the current King of Darkness. Make no mistake by the title he holds, Bruce Wayne is a very Just king though he cloaks himself in the fine fabrics of midnight and gold emblems that glitter like the stars.

But the young prince Jason was a ball of energy with a smart mouth and a baby as he were, often got on the wrong people's nerves. There was one man in particular, the Jester of the court– who was perhaps something more than a simple Jester to the King, maybe even a friend– had joined the Royal staff after a terrible accident that disfigured him many moons before Jason himself was even born.

On this day, Jason was only five when he trod on the odd man’s toes. He can’t remember what he’s said to the man, but it was something with loud youthful ignorance behind it, maybe something about his permanent smile and moon-pale skin. It wasn’t anything nice, to say the least, but who can blame a child of such brutal, unthinking honesty without the better knowledge on how such things were hurtful.

Maybe a man with a soft heart, and the belief he could give everyone in his Kingdom a better life and a second chance, should be blamed on keeping criminals and the insane in his company. Maybe a toddler in bright mocking colours shouldn’t have been left unattended to in the palace halls after a silly disagreement regarding his mother.

The wicked Jester did not return to the King’s court after that night.

Nor did the young Prince Jason. The boy was found in a puddle of his own bastard blood in a storeroom downstairs by the cellar, in teeny tiny shackles with his small bones shattered, tear streaks still wet on his cheeks as he lay limp on the cold cement floor.

The King had wept, cradling his broken body close to him, wailed and begged for the boy to come back to him, pleading for forgiveness from a child who was no more. The King of Darkness caressed the soft face of a lifeless shell, and that was when the shadows spoke.

A deep eerie voice had filled his ears from all directions, reminding him of a tale he had believed to be only myth. The story of the moon when she wept for her own son once very long ago …

A single tear of moonlight had fallen from the heavens, and from this small drop of sorrow bloomed a magic, glowing flower. It had the ability to heal the sick and injured– and in extremely rare cases, even raise the dead if the moon wished it so.

“However, the Flower of Lazarus is protected by a Demon whom hoards it for its youth restoring power”, the low voice warned. “And you have only until the fourth day, beginning when the sun breaks over your Kingdom at dawn, to retrieve it. For when the sun sets on that day, the boy will remain in a tomb forever.”

Bruce, because he is no King down here with a dead son in his arms, remains speechless and confused. Before he could gather his thoughts and interrogate the validity of this supernatural voice, a flock of bats screeched and swarmed and then the voice was gone.

And a man was left in a cold empty room with his beaten bloody son, fear and determination filling his heavy heart. A hope that in four days time, his son will be returned to the earth and fill the Palace with his laughter once more.

⧫

The quest carried out by the King’s Guard had proved successful, and the magic of the Lazarus Flower, brewed into a glowing green liquid potion heals the dead Prince’s body on the morning of the fourth day. A new tale of rebirth bringing the kingdom together as the King launched a floating lantern into the darkness of the night sky, a symbol of prevailing hope and new life, to celebrate the return of his beloved young son.

For that one moment, everything was perfect.

And then that moment ended.

A cloaked woman had entered young Jason’s room that very night by way of the balcony, silently creeping towards the boy’s bed where he slept soundly, unknowing to the threat of her presence. The woman pulls back her hood and strokes a deadly gentle hand up over his face until she reaches his soft baby curls as she sings in hushed tones.

“Flower gleam and glow”

And glow the child’s hair did, a bright green hue filling the room. She pulled a long lock of the glowing hair taught between calloused fingers, reaching into the deep green of her garments for the jewelled hilt of a small sharp knife as she continued.

“Let your powers shine”

The blade glinted in the unnatural light as the woman’s tan hand brought the sharpened knife up…

“Make the clock re–”

But as the knife sliced through the strands of hair it turned lifeless and lost its colour, turning moon-white and powerless. The shock and confusion was clear on the woman’s face, a frown carving its way into her beautiful features as she realised what she must do in order to fulfil her father’s wishes.

Just like that, Jason was stolen. Gone.

The Kingdom searched and searched, but their attempts at recovering the small boy proved nothing but futile and the King lost all his hope. They could not find the Prince of Gotham.

For deep within the forest, in a tall hidden tower, far away from his home, the woman– Talia Al Ghul– raised the child as her own.

[mutable-manifestation]

Family at the Core

So I decided to continue the rogues-as-family-with-Danny once they realize he's a baby & flee to the DC universe/Gotham fic.

Parts 1 & 2

Info: AU where you gotta fight ecto with ecto - it’s the only thing that has any effect on them, and it’s part of the reason why the ghosts love Amity so much - aside from the whole “thinking danny was old ghost pretending at being human and openly challenging pretty much everyone by claiming a Living Realm haunt and then opening a stable portal in it” (from their perspective pre-’holy shit he’s baby’ realization) - Danny? Sam & Tucker with ecto weapons? Humans who can and will put up a challenge but won’t try to seriously harm them ala bastards like Pariah & the Guys In White? It’s practically the ideal ghostly vacation spot. 

The Fenton fam are the first to discover how to fight ghosts in their dimension, but DC didn’t have blood blossoms and made the deal w/Pariah before they figured out the ecto v ecto option

This is pre-ID reveals among the JL because it’s funnier. 

Disclaimer: idk how the police work I’m just rolling with what sounds probably like it’d be right.

***

Kitty and Johnny disappear before they can discuss a time for the police sweep, but Kitty <i>had</i> asked for Bruce’s number earlier in the conversation - “To set up that playdate once we’re more settled in” - after Bruce had mentioned the benefits of peer contact for children.

(The complete and utter disconnect from information about humans certainly lent credence to their claim of being ghosts - or at least not humans)  

She’d promised to give him a call once they got their phones set up. Hopefully that would be soon - they really needed to talk about the Lazarus Pit in the building before the kid fell in and died - assuming they truly weren’t aware of it prior to selecting the location. 

Perhaps Bruce could convince them to block it off? If they truly weren’t after the pit, he could ask about setting them up with a better place; make up some excuse about wanting the building for the company.

He makes contact with them and is left with more questions than answers; at least they know where they are now, despite the in-costume team's inability to track them as they left.

Constantine and Deadman arrive together <i>less</i> than an hour later, managing to arrive at the Batcave at the same time as Bruce’s group.

Constantine twirls an unlit cigarette between his fingers as the footage of the Joker incident plays.

It stops twirling when the lunch lady appears on the screen.

His lips form a grim line as he watches.

“Anyone ever told you you’re the unluckiest bastard this side ‘a the pond?” Constantine asks, turning to Batman once the first video concludes.

“No.” Is Batman’s humorless reply.

“Don’t leave us in suspense here, Conny,” Nightwing slides closer to lightly elbow him in the side. “Is Damian Wayne’s doppelganger the most haunted kid in America or what?”

Robin, for his part, crossed his arms and continued sulking - as he had been since Batman had read them in on the existence of JL Dark and verified that ghosts were indeed real.

“Most haunted kid this damn dimension, Bird boy,” Constantine answered, stowing his cigarette. “Those-” he gestures to the now-blank screen “-are Infinite Realms Ghosts. They aren’t like Deadman here, they’re about a million times worse.”

“Hey!” Deadman protests.

“They come from a place they call ‘The Infinite Realms’ - big shock there. Their kind haven’t been seen in this dimension for tens of thousands of years now; most people just think they’re myths by this point. I only even know about it because my thrice-damned house wouldn’t stop throwing a book on the subject at me until I read it a few years back.”

He puts the cigarette away in favor of crossing his arms.

“The Realms are said to be connected to every dimension there is, and legend has it that way back when we got a lot of visitors from their side. Had a lot of names - the era of chaos, the age of disaster, whatever you wanna call it. They treated this dimension like a plaything, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop them. 

Nothing worked - salt, holy symbols, the magics of the time, etc. Supposedly, someone even tried summoning a demon and watched the thing get hunted. Realms ghosts were leagues more powerful than any of the other known beings at the time and no one could find a way to fight them. The only reason they left was because some group made a deal with their king - no details on what the deal involved other than getting them to get lost.”

“So we are simply supposed to hope that their king isn’t too busy dealing with the infinitely many other dimensions they are apparently hooked up to to come get a few strays out of ours?” Robin questions icily.

“It means you’re simply supposed to give me a chance to do some more research - I only skimmed the one book to get the house off my back. What I read wasn’t promising, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t more useful information buried somewhere.” Constantine replies with an eyeroll. “For now, if they want to play house with some poor bastard? Wayne’s got enough kids to know how to give good enough advice they don’t accidentally kill him in the meantime. Infiltrate their playdates if you’re that worried. And look on the bright side! They took care of your clown problem. Now, you said you had two videos?”

“Yes,” Batman answers tightly, bringing up said second video. “We managed to get footage of their meeting with the Waynes.”

The second watching was far less eventful.

Until the very end, when Kitty and Bruce shake hands and Constantine lets loose a stream of curses.

“What? What’s wrong?” Red Robin demands.

“What’s wrong is that Brucie Wayne is dumber than a sack of damn bricks.” 

The batclan members make various coughing/strangled noises at this, save for Batman, who remains stoic. 

“Who the fuck meets a self-declared non-human entity and shakes on a deal.” Constantine drags an exasperated hand down his face. “Make sure Wayne knows his ass needs to buy them that building asap or Ghost Girl gets to make him dance to whatever tune she wants; break a deal with a dealmaker and they get controlling shares in your soul.”

“I see,” Batman says, “We’ll get in touch with him again after this; we need to discuss the police sweep of the Yuyan building anyway. If direct observation will help, he should be willing to bring you along as a civilian friend.”

Constantine looked at him like he had three heads.

“Not a chance in hell, Bats.”

He backs away from the table toward the cave’s Zeta tube.

“Oh! Oh, me! Pick me! I wanna meet the new ghosts!” Deadman shook his arms wildly, doing loops in the air.

“The visibility spell won’t last that long and we don’t know if their kind of ghost can see you without it. Also, we were in the middle of something. We already detoured. Let’s finish the job and then we can come back and play ghost party 2: yet another pain in my ass edition, yeah?” 

“Awwwwww,” Deadman slouched sadly before zipping into the tube with him.

“Great. Have fun, try to get along with the new neighbors, don’t shake any hands, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, yadda yadda, aaaaaand bye.”

And with that, they were gone. 

“Well that’s not ideal,” Nightwing mutters.

The meeting had at least answered one question.

Now for the other two dozen.

---------------------

Kitty wants to get this cop sweep over with as soon as possible.

The others are hesitant at first - or territorial, in Walker’s case - but a little fast-talking has him all for the idea. 

The chronic rule-follower had only taken to making his own rules because of the zone’s inherent chaos and lack of real, broader government. In Gotham there are rules pre-made to follow, to enforce. He eats it up.

He’ll be obsessed with being law-abiding once he’s done studying up, but Kitty had been headed towards a future in law before her own death. She was well aware that it would take him - even with the aid of an eidetic memory - a minimum of months to read enough to actually start enforcing anything. 

And until he’d read it all? Kitty was free to make him paranoid about missing a later subsection to create her own Walker-loopholes.

Once he’s on-side, he practically carries the argument for her. She only pipes up again to mention how “the baby would probably be a lot more comfortable with a stable, uncontested home.”

Walker does his own sweep of the building, opening cabinets and hidden passages and drawing attention to weapons and other hints of crimes-past and Kitty hovers over Technus’ shoulder as they hash out the details of how best to lure in the police.

The Box Ghost leads the others - except Ember, who ‘s on baby-watch at the pool - in packaging up everything they want to keep to be phased into the ground under the building.

Arguing took most of the time and it’s only the work of another two hours to have the entire building ready for the cops to peruse. 

In the end, they decide setting off a small bomb by the entrance is the easiest way to draw police attention - they’ll come investigate, when no one responds they’ll have to check it out, they’ll find the weapons and cult-like documents and murder records Walker had located sitting out in the open, et voila: wanted owners and building up for grabs.

They, of course, will be invisibly watching the whole thing.

Danny hasn’t left the pool since their arrival and they don’t want him to, so he stays there with Johnny on watch to make them both invisible if and when anyone enters that room.

It goes off without a hitch, and by 11 o’clock Kitty is flying to a nearby roof to call Bruce and remind him of his end of the bargain.

***

@yjfk @fisticuffsatapplebees @little-pondhead @avery-isastupid-name @queenofdiscord @samgirl98 @inkyunicorn @mimilikey @aconitewolfsbane @miraculousandmore @someonebored0100 @wildbacon-blog @fleshybeing @vala-dreams @ironicvixen @blurblurbblurrrr @ectoplasmic-knife

[hyperfixatinator]

I like the DC x DP AUs where the Justice League and Amity Park (and Elmerton by proxy) never noticed each other due to an information blackout. I also find it neat when the idea's taken a step further.

For example, what if the government built Amity Park on insanely haunted land on purpose? Let's say, years ago, the whole LoA and Ra's Al Ghul situation made the U.S government curious about Lazarus water. They wished to find it's source in order to harvest it themselves.

The U.S preferred to avoid Lazarus pools that already existed to prevent conflict with the LoA. Instead, they decided to seek out the perfect location to "dig a well" of their own.

GIW scientists established that Lazarus water, a heavily condensed version of ectoplasm, was linked to ghosts and other ectoplasmic entities. They also observed that these entities are highly attracted to human populated areas.

This gave them the idea to settle a whole population of people on a liminal hotspot to lure ecto entities into the human realm. With the Anti Ecto Acts in place, the GIW were be free to capture ghosts and other creatures for their ectoplasm. The end goal was for the Fenton portal to be used as a well to harvest mass quantities of ectoplasm directly from the Infinite Realms.

How might this work for Amity Park and it's place in the world?

The information blackout is heavier outside the Amity-Elmerton territory than inside. Amity residents are only cut off from info that could threaten the government project (EX: the existence of real life superheroes, the Meta Protection Acts, certain major events, etc.).

All devices that enter the Amity-Elmerton territory are unable to send or receive video/pics of the above "blocked" topics. In fact, it's difficult for social media users within that territory to connect with any posts or profiles from outside unless they look hard enough.

Amity residents are still allowed to travel, but airline ticket prices are jacked ridiculously high, especially for specific destinations (i.e: common superhero locations) to deter those residents from going there. GPS devices and maps bought in Amity or Elmerton are also set to misdirect users away from these same locations if they opt for a road trip.

Most Amity-Elmerton residents hardly bother leaving at all since there's a hefty fee for crossing beyond a set perimeter. They've all been lead to believe this is a normal part of traveling in the Midwest.

To everyone outside the Amity-Elmerton area, that area is virtually non-existent. It's not listed on any map, globe, or basically any public geolocation tool outside those provided in Amity (not even Google Maps). The only hints of it existing are in certain forms of documentation, such as birth certificates and tax forms. Even then, these people are hard to come by.

At most, Amity Park is a little known myth where people occasionally debate on it's existence.

In general, the government limiting Amity-Elmerton residents access to outside info while giving them just enough to stave off suspicion.

[laurelwen]

The Battle of Forbie

As you may have noticed, I am not a proponent of any portmanteau names for Alex and Nigel. Call me weird, but none of them please me, so I will continue to abstain from using them.

HOWEVER

In a spirit of generosity, I have come here today to feed the Forbie enjoyers. I give you:

The actual Battle of Forbie

The Battle of Forbie, also known as the Battle of La Forbie or the Battle of Hiribya, was fought October 17, 1244 – October 18, 1244 between the allied armies (drawn from the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the crusading orders, the breakaway Ayyubids of Damascus, Homs, and Kerak) and the Egyptian army of the Ayyubid Sultan as-Salih Ayyub, reinforced with Khwarezmian mercenaries. The resulting Ayyubid victory led to the call for the Seventh Crusade and marked the collapse of Christian power in the Holy Land.

The capture of Jerusalem by the Khwarezmians in August had caused great alarm among both the Christian and the Muslim states. Al-Mansur, the Emir of Homs and an-Nasir Dawud, ruling Kerak, joined the Templars, the Hospitallers, the Teutonic Knights, the Order of Saint Lazarus, and the remaining forces of the Kingdom of Jerusalem to take the field against the Egyptian Sultanate.

The two armies met near Forbie, a small village northeast of Gaza. Over 5,000 Crusaders died. 800 prisoners were taken. Of the troops of the knightly orders, only 36 of 348 Templars, 26 of 351 Hospitallers, and 3 of 400 Teutonic Knights survived.

Hiribya (Forbie) - not appearing on this map. I highlighted Ascalon, as Forbie was nearby.

I have also taken the opportunity to highlight Sidon and Maraclea for those who aren't already familiar with the locations. It's worth reiterating that despite the way the movie uses Maraclea as a personal name to refer to the person involved, the story itself is about a lady OF Maraclea and a Templar knight or lord of Sidon.

Ever since @currentlyonstandbi speculated about it, I have solidly embraced the head canon that perhaps the original story was actually about two men, past lives of Alex and Nigel, but the story was later changed to a man and a woman due to homophobic pressure. After all, the skull symbolism of this story is reportedly part of the accusations made against the Templars for "head worship"-- the veneration of skulls as idols in violation of the precepts of the Church. The other major charges laid against the Templars? Homosexuality and sodomy.

Was any of this intended by Greg? Of course not. That man blindly stumbled through this script running on fumes from half-remembered random articles and vague conceptions gleaned from the shallow pop culture portrayals of occult societies that were plentiful at the time. But it fits together well in a way that feels satisfying and with reasonable internal consistency.

Imagine two Templar knights who fall in forbidden love while fighting in the Holy Land. The tragic death of his lover drives the other mad with grief and leads him into dark acts of desperation. Their story gives rise to a potent myth that Nigel reads 700 years later. The myth calls to them with familiarity, directs their fate, and leads them to the same tragic outcome.

(Excuse me while I sob on the floor for the next 5 hours.)

A Few Key Dates for Context:

1209 - Massacre of the Cathars at Beziers (Kill them all; God will recognize his own.)

1244 - Battle of Forbie

1307 - Downfall of the Templars, under accusations of heresy and homosexuality/sodomy.

1300s - Playing cards arrive in Europe. There is speculation that the cards were adopted from the Egyptian Mamluks by the Crusaders in the Holy Land who then brought them home to Europe.

That concludes today's unhinged lesson in the power of random Google searches and paying close attention to the history of certain tags on Tumblr. I'm still not gonna use #forbie, but I can at least enjoy the strange coincidence here.

Like Minds Masterpost

[ac-liveblogs]

you know i think the only recent development with jason i've actually liked is the hint that, kidding or not, the joker considers jason his son in some way, like he's just as responsible for the 'birth' of the red hood as batman is.

and like. it's true! he is! joker taking pride in creating a weapon (loose cannon it may be) that psychologically shatters batman makes sense! and it's absolutely horrifying in a way that i wish was used to fuck with jason, and scare bruce, more!

jason is a meticulous and logical planner with a large skillset, like batman. jason is also a manipulative sadist, like the joker. having him weave in and out as ally, rival and enemy, embodying both of them at different points in the narrative, is a goldmine that DC unfortunately passed up by making him an angsty anti-hero in the New52.

(i didn't care for the way grant morrison wrote jason, but he did seem aware of this possibility. morrison's jason horrendously unfashionable ensemble merged design elements of the joker and batman far more obviously (the commitment to the original pill helmet + a more traditional 'superhero' suit with batman's boots, logo and cape but an inverted mostly white colour scheme).

additionally, sasha as scarlet brings both robin and harley quinn to mind - a younger student and sidekick, as well as a severely mentally ill young girl who has been manipulated by a predatory man and then styled herself after her partner (right down to her name; scarlet riffs on the red hood the same way harley quinn is themed after the joker, where robin was purely of dick's creation and drew on his own heritage).

jason and sasha were an intentional foil to dick and damian - 'alternate heroes' making use of social media and soaking in as much attention as possible in contrast to batman and robin sticking to the shadows. where nightwing named himself after kryptonian myth, a symbol of hope (connecting him not just to batman, but to superman), jason names himself for the man that dragged him into the muck. it's great! these two as enemies is fantastic! (and also probably set a precedent that makes deciding tim's new superhero identity extremely difficult)

this may also be what inspired lobdell to give red hood the red bat on his chest in the new52, but given the way jason got that suit i don't think that was the intention necessarily - though the idea of jason as the joker's intentional successor in some way was definitely on his mind given the events of jason's zero year chapter, so i guess we can thank him for that.)

i think it's one of the reasons i like jason's white streak so much. it's an interesting and unique design element that sets him aside from the other bats, but personally it reminds me of joker falling into the vat of acid at ACE chemicals. just as the joker was reborn as a new person, physically changed forever, so too was jason todd in the waters of the lazarus pit.

(my favourite design element in gotham knights is the addition of a glasgow smile to jason todd, the implication being that the joker carved it there. rather than the 'J' on his face from arkham knight that marks him as property, the smile makes it seem like the joker was in some way trying to make jason 'like him'.)

obviously, its nicer if jason manages to avoid becoming a raving lunatic like the joker and doesn't conform to batman's ideology - straddling the line is probably the ideal for his character design, but an eventual awareness of the fact he's doing that would be so goddamn interesting.

all this to say: i miss batman reborn :( i wish it had more time to cook :( please make jason an antagonist again he's more fun that way :(