L.A Seems Fun (Part 2)
Part 1
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"Early one morning, just as the sun was rising
I heard a maid sing in the valley below
Oh don't deceive me, Oh never leave me,
How could you use, a poor maiden so?
Remember the vows that you made to me truly
Remember how tenderly you nestled close to me
Gay is the garland, fresh are the roses
I've culled from the garden to bind over thee."
It had been a lifetime or three since Angel had heard that song, especially coming from someone who refused to sing if anyone was within hearing range. Well, he had with Drusilla at times, but they were rare enough to never draw much attention from Angelus or Darla.
Yet here Spike was, singing without a care even though Angel and Cordelia were only a few feet away, to the little bundle in his arms. Connor was cooing as he listened to the vampire, one little hand waving up and down when Spike grinned and poked his nose.
"He's been singing for the last half hour," Cordelia whispered into Angel's ear, the older vampire having finally woken from his first decent bout of sleep in months in her arms. "Wish I had his skill."
"Connor's okay?" Angel only held back from jumping out of bed and snatching his child from Spike's hands because Cordelia was not worried in any way. One of her hands idly ran through his hair while she read a book in the other, clearly having joined him at some point after he passed out with Connor in his arms.
"Safe as houses." She replied with a soft hum, kissing Angel's forehead. "Spike is a friend, and he loves Connor."
"What?" Angel blinked, wondering just how long he'd been asleep. "Friends?"
"And roomies." Spike waggled his eyebrows, trailing off to hold Connor up by his cheek with a smile. Angel is concerned to see the younger man covered in bruises from what looks like a vicious beating. "Got me a nice room upstairs, little tyke 'ere loves it."
"You're staying?" Angel sat up with a slight wince, the other trailing across the room to slip the happy infant into his arms before he could speak.
"Reckon I can use the vacation from Sunnyhell." Connor squealed slightly as he got comfortable in his father's arms, Angel raising an eyebrow at Spike, who pointedly avoided his look. "Speakin' of, 'm gonna score myself a bit o' violence before bed, so 'ave fun children."
"Have fun?" Cordy questioned as the other vampire swept out of the room, waving his hand before he disappeared around the corner with a whistle. "He is so weird."
"No, he's just Spike." Angel shrugged as he gently poked his son's nose, donning his demonic face to hear the peals of laughter the baby let out moments later.
"I will never get over how cute that is." Cordelia smiled from her lounging spot on the bed, earning herself a genuine smile from Angel, showing off all of his vampiric teeth in the process. "Adorable."
"You're just being nice," Connor cooed as he was bounced a little. The little being in his arms soon yawned and dozed off when Angel shuffled back on the bed to sit beside Cordelia. They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, the vampire just watching his son sleep as Cordelia watched Angel.
"Spike and I had a chat after you fell asleep." Angel glanced over as she hummed under her breath, flipping a page in her book. "I know you both have history, but you're going to play nice with Spike while he's here."
"Um...I am?" He doesn't have to look over to see the look on Cordy's face, her tone of "don't mess with me buster because I just adopted another loser off the street" was enough to be an answer.
"It took half the liquor cabinet after we got back, but he opened up with some of what is going on in Sunnydale, and it's bad." Cordelia had to shake her head at the memory of the drunken confession she'd bore witness to after the fourth bar they'd gone to, closing her book with a quiet sigh and setting it aside. "He had to convince me not to go down there myself to raise figurative hell, and ended up using your son to do so, cheeky ass."
"Connor has that effect huh?" Angel chuckled, the sleeping baby making a noise as if he heard them. "Spike can stay as long as he wants, I can tell he's attached already."
"Considering you've seen him for about five minutes, that's impressive."
"William has never been able to hide caring about something from me, this is one example." Angel shrugged. "It'll also be nice to have an extra fighter on hand."
"Good." Cordelia hugged Angel's side with a soft noise, looking down at Connor with a smile. "Another Sunnydale stray finding their way with us, huh? I can't believe we ended up being the responsible ones...well, most of the time."
"I blame L.A." Angel shrugged, Cordelia's laugh nearly echoing throughout the entire hotel.
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lead balloon (the tumblr post that saved me)
if this comic resonated with you, it would mean the world to me if you donated to this palestinian family's escape fund.
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no creative notes because this isn't that kind of comic.
I know I don’t owe any of you anything but I still felt compelled to write about my long term absence. And I feel far enough away from the dangerous spot I was in to be able to make this comic. I have a therapist now, and she agreed that making this could be a very cathartic gesture, and the start of properly leaving these thoughts behind me. I am still, at seemingly random times, blindsided by fleeting desires to kill myself. They’re always passing urges, but it’s disarming, and uncomfortable. I worry sometimes that my brain’s spent so long thinking only about suicide that it’s forgotten how to think about anything else. Like, now that I've opened that door for myself, I'll never be able to fully shut it again. But I’m trying my best to encourage my mind in other directions. We'll see how that goes.
I am still donating all proceeds from my store to Palestinian causes. So far, I've donated over $15K, not including donations coming from my own pocket or the fundraising streams which jointly raised around $10K. In the time since I made my initial post about where this money would be going, the focus has shifted from aid organisations to directly donating to escape funds.
If you'd like to do the same, you can look at Operation Olive Branch, which hosts hundreds of Palestinian escape funds or donate to Safebow, which has helped facilitate the safe crossing and securing of important medical procedures for over 150 at-risk palestinians since the beginning of the genocide.
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The batfam trauma candy salad would go absolutely insane.
Dick: Hi. I'm Dick Grayson and when I was 8 I watched my parents fall to their death in front of me, then I had to move away from everything I love and spend the rest of my life in some weird American city. And I brought the sour gummy worms.
Jason: This is so stupid- my mother used to kick me out when he drug dealer would come over so I didn't see her spending our very small amount of money on drugs.
Steph *off screen*: what did you bring?
Jason: nerds.
Cass: I was raised to be a weapon, a murderer. I brought peach rings.
Steph: I'm Steph and My dad was an alcoholic who thought he could go head to head with batman and outdo the riddler. And I brought Reese's pieces.
Tim: I'm Timothy Drake Wayne and I had left the house to try and find some guy before he killed my dad, just for him to kill my dad when I was gone. I brought sour rainbow strips.
Duke: My parents are in a mental ward, high on joker toxin. No one knows if they'll ever get better. And I got m&m's.
Damian: I am a highly trained assassin and-
Steph: cut. Cut. Damian. Civilian identities. Ok. Restart.
Damian: My mother randomly dropped me on some weird man's doorstep when I was ten. I brought rock candy.
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I am loudly pushing the batdad agenda i am loudly pushing the— DPxDC Prompt
“Woah. You look like shit."
Granted, that’s probably not the first thing Danny should be saying to the guy that just bit the curb, but in his defense; he’s not running on 100% right now either.
The man -- tall, towering, and broader than Danny is tall -- whips around on his heel, black frayed cape flaring out impressively. Danny would've whistled in appreciation, but he takes the time instead to wipe the back of his hand across his mouth, smearing the blood running from his nose across his cheek.
"Sorry." He blinks widely, not even flinching as the man with the horns zeroes in on him. "That was rude of me. I have a really bad brain-to-mouth filter; Sam says its what always gets me into trouble."
And she's not wrong either, per say. His smart mouth is what landed him in this situation -- with blood blossom extract running through his veins and cannibalizing the ectoplasm in his bloodstream. Thanks Vlad.
The man grunts at him; a short, curt "hm" that shouldn't make Danny smile, but he does because he's somewhat delirious and probably concussed. The man keeps some kind of distance, sinking towards the shadows of Gotham's alleyway like he dares to melt right into it.
If it's supposed to scare Danny, it doesn't work. Danny's never been afraid of the dark; he's always been able to hide himself in it. He blinks slowly at the mass of shadows.
"You look hurt." The shadows says, blurring together around the edges. Danny squints, and licks his lips to get the blood dripping down his chin off. Ugh, he hates the taste of blood.
"I am." He says, "My godfather poisoned me. M'dying." The agony of the blood blossom eating him from the inside out looped back around to numbing a while ago, so all he feels is half-awake and dazed.
"Hey," Danny stumbles forward towards the man, a bloodied hand reaching out to him. "You-- you're a hero, right? You're not attacking me; which is more than I can say for most costumed people I've met." Maybe it's a poor bar to judge someone at, but he's already established that Danny's not in his right mind.
The man makes no change in expression, but Danny realizes blearily that it's hard to tell with the shadows on his face. He stays still long enough for Danny to latch onto the cape -- stretchy, but almost soft under his fingers.
He looks up blearily into the whites of the man's eyes. "Can you help me? I don't-- I don't wanna die." Again. He doesn't wanna die again. He blinks slow and lizard-like. "I mean- I'll probably get to see mom and dad again, but I told them I'd at least try and make it to adulthood."
There's a clatter down the street, and Danny's ghost sense chills up his spine and leaves a bitter, ashy taste in his mouth. He immediately knows who it belongs to even before the deceptively gentle; "Daniel?" echoes down the way.
"Daniel? Quit your games, badger, Gotham is dangerous for children."
Danny's mouth pulls back, and blood spills against his tongue. "Please." He rasps, and grabs onto the shadow's cape with both hands. "Please. He's going to kill me. Please--"
"Daniel? Is that you?"
His lips part, dragging in air to plead with the darkness again. He doesn't need to, the whites of his eyes narrow, and the cape whirls around him before Danny can blink. Soon swaddled in shadows, the Night lifts him up, and steals him away.
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