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melchinafan · 2 years ago

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Ehehe this is excellent. No worries on using readmore or not, I...well tumblr is certainly a Webbed Site, but I'm on desktop and don't have personally have a problem? I think it's mobile where it can be troublesome for some folks (which is I think why the "long post" tag exists? I don't know the reasoning, only that it is a thing). I'll use 'em just in case/also to minimize bare spoilers, but you do what works for you!

(Oh wow tumblr started lagging near the end of this post pffahahaha BUT I DIDN'T HIT THE CHARACTER LIMIT SO IT'S PERMITTED)

Ah, I'm glad to have gotten you more info you hadn't yet seen! And yeah, Jacob is just...so sad, but also after reading his backstory so much became clear. He is just a giant cat, and if you know how to read cats, it is so much easier to figure him out. (Is he also notorious for having a quiet walk/being the best with the cloaking tech? Not because the cat parallel, it's just a thing that can happen with that sort of childhood trauma. Maybe also seems to have "good hearing," but it's not that his ears are better, it's just the learned hyper-vigilance figuring out how to hear subtle differences between sounds.)

I feel like I've gotten a grave lock or two that hinted about how the magic is used/accessed/etc...brb gonna go launch the game to look through the ones I have so far, haha. (Man I wish I could set it to just show the transcripts of all of them at once, so I can just take a couple screenshots for easy reference instead of...50+...I don't wanna...) Oh, looking through them, there's an early one where she says "there was more of us," and then lists family members. Was that what you meant when you indicated there are others with magic out there, or is there something else later that hints at more "gateways"? In the context of that quote, the "us" was "family besides her and Auntie," who ended up dying to a blood-borne disease. But she and her Auntie survived, and it was seen as miraculous, and that's how they figured out she had magic blood. (So far I've been getting the vibe that she was the only "gateway," and with the other religious stuff here and there in the game, it's been giving a sense of "science found the Second Coming and then selfishly tore her apart." I'd find it way more interesting if she is one of many potential "gateways" instead.)

There's another grave lock that indicates that the folks who came to her to get her magic blood had to keep coming back, because "it didn't last." It might be different in Redfall, since she's uh...I dunno exactly how they took her magic yet yet, but whatever they did was more thorough than her prior tiny transfusions. Later...a couple seem to sum up that she used to refer to her magic as a "bond" (because even with her little bit of bleeding, it would make it possible for her to temporarily hear the thoughts of the folks she healed, as whispers), and the vampires instead call it the "trance." (This is a half-guess, because she just keeps saying "it" real vague-like. "It's in the blood. It moves through every heart, every vein. They breathe it. They think it.") Aha, here's the one where she indicates where the magic sits (and thus why staking is key): "It rests in the heart. That's where they can hurt. The last place they have left. It beats slow." And immediately after one about the Nests: "They make their own worlds, in their head. They take all the pieces they want, and push out all the pieces they don't." Hgslkdjf oh I just realized why in one of these she mentioned being "close to shore" to Chuck, I've got a reeeal solid feeling that I know exactly who, what, and where he is right now, I'm pretty certain he showed up in a a single-frame flash in a trailer and was SUPER GNARLY LOOKING

...None of that answered whether the heroes would also have direct/ambient access to the Trance/bond, hm. I guess maybe not directly via blood, but they're empowered by a combination of using Remnants and also collecting "psychic residue." Which specifically refers to the little glowing blue balls that are left after killing a vampire, and are apparently also something that can be harvested and put into bottles to give to cultists (which they can then drop). It's what you have to collect in order to empower (and thus use) each of the heroes' ultimate abilities (summon Jason, magic sniper rifle, pulsing UV invention, and area healing). You can argue it's purely game mechanics, but they did seem to try to have it at least somewhat thematic/sensible, given all the other psychic shenanigans going on. (How/why it works for Jacob and Layla is more direct, but I could see it being able to let Remi "project" her compassion in an area, and work as a magic battery/boost to Dev's tech.) That does leave the question of Dev's stuff working on Redfall...the Javelin description does specify his "monster-hunting gadgets never worked as reliably as he'd hoped" until Redfall. So...maybe it's that there was ambient magic energy in some (but not all) of the places he's been, which is why they only worked sometimes. And it's stronger in Redfall (because Shenanigans), and is a critical component to his supernaturally-based tech/theories.

Oh yeah the nuke one is...yeah, definitely a much larger scale "fuck this town (and its shitty food)" than most of the comments. They largely just uh...don't care for the place, or the people in it, AT ALL. (And yep, I had a similar reaction, there's military folks on Solomon Island in SWL and there's hints about a plan they call E.X.O.D.U.S. which is just "firebomb/nuke the island if we can't fix it" which would make the problem SO MUCH WORSE THEY HAVE NO IDEA. So when I heard that line I said aloud "NO DON'T EXODUS THIS PLACE EITHER")

Right yes, I also double-checked the tutorials for the different vamp/minion types! I was mentally slotting Watchers in as vamps 'cause they have fangs where Bloodbags don't. But the tutorial info does call them "useful creatures" instead of "special/powerful vampires," so you're correct! Two minion types, three special vamps. (Plus the Rook, for special occasions.)

Absolutely yes hello you should check out Secret World Legends, it is free to play and my favorite game. The setting is modern, and the byline is "everything is true"—myths, legends, even some things in modern/pop culture actually exist, kept hidden from the world at large. Maybe a little different than the stories say, both because things can change in the retelling, and due to deliberately misleading misinfo to keep the secrets (and people) safe. (Not literally everything is in the game, of course, but there is a LOT and you visit multiple locations across the world!) It's also set up so that it's like...the setting is like a huge bowl, perfectly suited to pour nearly any other setting into and have it fit. Some pour themselves in, like Redfall. Even things that aren't modern, because (spoilers? I forget exactly when you learn about this part) the universe has reset a few times, and previous Ages were like different setting types, because a little bit gets "lost" when the reset happens. (Like the previous one, the Third Age, being kinda steampunk-aesthetic magi-tech, and the Age before that having much more prevalent magic.)

The character you play swallows a magic biomechanical bee in their sleep, has a fucked-up ominous dream, and wakes up with magic powers. :D (And hears an hive-like otherworldly entity in their head, with the text presented to the player via floating in-game honeycomb-icons called Legends though they used to be called Lore before the game relaunched, it used to be called The Secret World. Which is how you get extra in-game lore (like codexes in other games). And I ADORE the writing style, it's funky in fantastic ways. Several lines have permanently carved themselves into my brain, including the frequent "our wisdom flows so sweet, taste and see.") And the world is uh...things are kinda going to shit, so there are a lot more magic bees going around than usual (because they are the world's defense mechanism, like an immune response). Which is an in-universe explanation for it to be an MMO with a bunch of other Bees running around, rather than you being a singular Chosen One (which gets kinda awkward when there's...a whole bunch of those).

(Also, to swing back around to there maybe being multiple "gateways"—SWL has similar folks who are sorta like fonts of magic(/Anima, as it's called in that game), so my reaction is just a casual "oh yeah I've met two or three of them, I get what's going on, the magic here is just blue instead of yellow like honey. Except Charles' projections, he looks right and proper." XD Also also, to swing back around to some of the Remnants being something other than vials, it feels a lot like the gear in SWL (called "trinkets"). Most of them are generally mundane objects, like necklaces and belts and dice, but it's implied they've been deliberately/passively imbued with magic. Along the lines of objects gaining "memories," or becoming alive after long enough/being present for significant events. It's such a neat little feature, to make mechanics make sense! And gets referenced in a later cutscene! One of the trinket types is coins, and an NPC directs someone over the phone to "put all your clinky change in your right pants pocket." If you overlay the trinket slots on a person, that's where the coin trinkets would go! IT'S SO NEAT)

Ah, unfortunate that the 100-grave-lock video doesn't play them all, though I can understand why. That one's probably intended as a guide, so it'd be most efficient to just show the locations, since there are SO MANY. And for folks who just want the lore, it'd be better to have a separate video with just the audio of them...it just sucks that there doesn't seem to be one yet. :< I'm not used to playing games right at launch, it feels so weird not to be able to find thorough guides...

And yeah Addison's was...certainly enraging. (Another quick tangent, his kid was voiced by Fryda Wolff, who is a voice magician being able to sound like a literal child?? She's been in a ton of things including as a Bellwether soldier, she does soldiers fairly often I think, but I ran into her in the SWL side-game The Park and she is just. SO GOOD, magic at sounding whatever age, and fantastic at expressing emotions and just. I love her, and kinda almost wish she was the grave lock voice too, just so I could hear her more. >.>)

Oh dang you just reminded me that before she did the eclipse, the Black Sun got burned by sunlight, and I haven't found any reasoning for why yet. Oh what a fascinating (current) mystery. Also um. Further worrying for Jacob, yeah. I suppose he was fine...before she did that...since he had the eye in the beginning of the game? Maybe his hood was preventing direct sunlight exposure? (But then also, I don't think his eye gets frozen in UV lights, so is that. Is that just for player convenience? Or is it too...mixed with his human blood to be fully "vampiric"? Or does it get actually get funky or AAAA GOSH I HAVE SO MANY QUESTIONS. I wish I had an in-game button to boop Dev to get him rambling his own questions and theories, there is SO MUCH I WANNA KNOW)

So for Nests being connected to the Trance, one of the comments Dev can make on entering them is that it's where the vampires go after feeding. And paired with the vampire comment that I think goes "I can feel the Trance is fading...only one cure for that" (implying they need to feed again)...it suggests that not only are Nests psychic pocket dimensions formed by the collective consciousness of the vampires, it's also possibly somewhere that the Trance is stronger/can be felt by others. There's also the red-crystallized people in them ("unfortunate victims," I think?), which suggests that humans are sometimes deliberately brought in, not just the heroes barging in to break them. I don't know if that's how the vampires let human cultists feel the Trance, but it's within the realm of possibility, based on what I know. (Oh right there's also the always-present buff that I think is literally called Blood Trance, among the otherwise-randomized two or three things that can change how the Nest manifests.) ...Or just. As it just occurred to me. The um. Area of influence that Nests create. Give a buff the vampires and human cultists within the area. So that's...another way the vamps might "let" cultists feel the Blood Trance. >_>' Though I do get the vibe that it's more of a personal, individually "gifted" sort of thing, either by blood or by invitation into the Nest.

And yes, WE know Dev's clever enough to invent teleportation, given his gadgets and accessing magic. But when vampires teleport, it's pure magic and hard to explain, so he feels like his version (being Scientific, and something he can explain just fine) has to be called something else. I just love he rattles off some techno-babble (which makes decent enough sense when you break down the prefixes and suffixes), and then shows that he can also simplify it for the layman to understand. It's a good skill to have, to be able to explain science in a way most folks can comprehend!

I think there is an emergency healing when you hit really low health, because I've had Remnants say they speed it up or increase it or something, but uh...generally if I get low, I die shortly after, so I don't know how much it heals or when it activates. XD So there is some minor recovery that can happen, but that could either be literal healing or just...taking a breath/being hit by adrenaline/getting a second wind in an emergency situation, and being able to push on/not limp with pain(/that sort of thing?), as a more mundane sort of recovery (which can then be magically boosted). But that could also just be game mechanics as an attempt to give folks a chance to regroup and stand a chance re-engaging in a fight, even if they're out of medpacks? (Though the medpacks also get boosted by some of the Remnants, hmm...shrug, healing vague, hard to explain in-universe in games that don't have explicit healing spells or the like.)

Oh yeah, more overt info on Bloodbags, the tutorial entry for them gives the best context: "Some cultists who serve the vampires in hopes of eventually becoming one, are instead transformed into a Bloodbag - a grotesque creature blistered with enormous blood sacs that serve as a rarefied food source for the vampires. With their new warped perspective, they see themselves as having attained a beautiful and lofty status, precious to the vampires." The one for Sin Eaters say they are "tortured" by the memories and guilt they're forced to contain.

Ah, yeah, Jacob's line indicates that folks generally had to bring in (or personally kill) someone as a sacrifice to get into the cult in the first place. And to bring in people to "earn" becoming a vampire...but I don't think it's a magically-required step in the transformation. Just something the cult enforces, as far as I can tell. Vampire mlm, indeed. XD And even vampires seem to bring in people to earn clout, there's a line that's...the beginning is muddy in my brain, but something like "next time, I'll bring in someone special. Someone...beloved." (Ah, and just realizing they sometimes call the heroes "beloved," ahaha...I was thinking they only meant "beloved to me before I turned," but uh. Guess not! We're fair game.) Also I snort-laughed at "bloodsucker (derogatory)" because there are certainly vampires that are delightful and could be called "bloodsucker (affectionate)" hehehe.

Oh wait hang on speaking of Jason and the questions I have about him, I hadn't even really thought to wonder about him until I heard one of the little bonus comments Dev can make in the interactive adventure they put out, have you seen those? (One of those comments is also the only time I've heard Dev sing so far and I will be SO SAD if they don't have something in-game to take advantage of the fact that his voice actor can sing! He's got videos on his youtube, he's really good! Remi's backstory says she can but he also definitely can and I! Want! A! Morale! Boosting! Performance! All the heroes have something musical they're good at what is Layla's though WHAT IS HERS, I want a performance in a safehouse with harmonizing and the instruments they're all good at and AAAAAUGH I WOULD W E E P)

Hold on, brain thoughts regarding the timeline, the game takes place in October and Aevum posters on the bus stops mention signups for the blood drive starting on March 31st. At Woodson's Lobster Pound, which is RIGHT across the street from Green Man Books, where Dev ended up doing his book signing. And GMB is also next to the Overton Theater. And across the street from a rooftop-bonfire signal-boosting cult setup. This man was TRIANGULATED So probably at LEAST that long, I would guess, as far as the cult undercurrent starting. The Firehouse note No Way Out indicates that the cultists were doing stuff like gathering around bonfires and harassing people for months (eventually even "pulling them out of their homes" and suchlike). And Captain Bellamy's Journal (right at the very start of the game) indicates that the vampires have been around for a few weeks. (”Creatures out of bad dreams biting into people begging them for it.“ And mentioning the Hollow Man already on the TVs/radios.) So I'm inclined to guess the alpha-vamps maybe transformed around/before March, found out they needed blood real bad to maintain their powers, set up the blood drive, and then started up the subtle cult undercurrent to ensure they could keep getting blood as well as...well, start the vampire mlm deal. I think the vampires stayed hidden for a while as they bolstered their numbers, and then eventually became bold enough to wreak havoc in public.

...Also, funny you mention "bound to test on mice," there's an Aevum whiteboard in their facility (and I think maybe Addison's mansion? pretty sure it was in at least one other place). Which has an illustration of two mice, and some info talking about the "parabiosis" that Addison was researching. (Which is probably one of the reasons why one of the books next to Dev's bed in the Firehouse is "The Mechanics of Blood Vessel Formation." The other is "Fluid Path Analysis in Medical Devices," but I'm less clear on the relevance of that one. Both are also reused in a TON of other places, as with all the books, but the ones by his bed feel Specific.)

And speaking of the animal waste, besides the DOZENS of cows left out in the fields...there was apparently some fuckin' cultist who put a gallon of milk in front of the stomach of a rotting cow, under the bridge in Winslow Fields. WHO'S THE WISE GUY WITH THE VISUAL PUNS, HUH. Like the rest of the situation was definitely to fuck over the townies, but. The cultists didn't even take any meat for themselves, there's only maybe a tiny bit from the ribs and stomach they might have taken, most of the meat is still there. YOU ABSOLUTE NUMPTIES. I swear the only (enemy) person that seems like they might know how to think ahead is the Black Sun, based on her comment in the beginning, about how "they want you dead, but I can use you." Or something to that effect, and assuming "they" are the other (alpha-)vamps. (She's been doin' me a concern since the trailers, I was able to spot the cult symbols for the other three and mistook the Twintree logo as maybe hers oops, but she remained the most mysterious which indicated Significance because too much would be pre-launch spoilers.)

Hrrrghgkgkh the recovery situation in Redfall is gonna be. So much. In so many ways. The people, the businesses (there's both closing and grand opening signs EVERYWHERE), the environment...aaaaugh it's a mess. (And all the poor students asking stuff like "do you think this counts as 'extenuating circumstances'?" Absolutely the fuck yes it does.) Oh shit...oh hell I know that cultists were witnessed pouring sand into the gas tanks of cars to fuck them up, but I haven't heard whether they've gone so far as to salt fields. Like so long as they didn't salt where they killed the cows, that...that pasture area will probably be able to serve as field? But asdlfkajaaaaah the more you consider the more this is a nightmare. x_x

Wait wait there was more in the grave locks about how the vampires are processing (or not) what they're doing, lemme see. (Not sure whether there's an influence or change of psychology after they become vamps? I think the removal of emotions and rationality is something that happens in the cult process itself, 'cause that can be REAL fucked up just on its own. And there's a couple different notes that mention peoples' personalities changing—becoming distant or cruel or suchlike—as an indication that they've been swayed by the cult, but clearly while they are still human. I don't think the Trance itself causes a psychological change.) The specific quote is ”They forget who they were. Or, they want to forget. They pull out their own rememberings and leave them to rot.“ The surrounding grave locks also talk about the vampires who were already monstrous before turning, and are fine with (or even eager to) kill. I think the Trance is a neutral connection, and if there's any sinister influence...it's simply an extension of how cults are. Maybe strengthened somewhat by the literal psychic connection, but mostly rooted in the cult environment.

Huh, I suppose the nests are probably formed by packs, be they semi-permanent or temporary groups of vamps who hang out together. There's always a whole bunch of them in there, and I imagine lower-level ones can't individually create and support a Nest. Likely a group effort, built by their thoughts and desires, where they go to dream...(And then wake up if you run into their glowy sensory tendrils that show up while you're in there.)

Thankee for keeping an eye out for any Mothman mentions! And yeah I've got a couple different options to look at for inspiration, including but not limited to the statue with the notorious butt and torn moth-like wings, haha. (Although the shape of its wings is closer to butterflies with its positioning. Moths are typically angled horizontally and somewhat more triangular. Though that statue's wings could also be interpreted as either leathery OR feathery, if one argues that the scales on real moth wings are akin to very tiny feathers, hm...)

@melchinafan Sorry for the late ish response I feel kinda sick so it took me a while longer to organize my thoughts. Also here we fucking go apologies for no read more sins I am on mobile

And no I haven't seen those ign articles! More canon info to add to my hordes! And Jacob :( sad baby girl. I'll probably post those (The screenshots of the new info) later for easy access for others

Your point on all 4 of heros being effected makes me wonder if Grave lock girls magic has sort of an area of effect or if the alpha vampires magic is a double edged sword in positively affecting the heros

And ooooo I didn't know there were other blood remnants that came in dif forms makes me wonder if they are somewhat similar to the alpha vamp remnants bc I think i remember it being mentioned somewhere the vial also had psychic residue?? Could not be I'm just losing it but eh. And the psychic residue perhaps being in the blood/body? And that's why it alters you?

And yeah I agree! I think that we don't carry them into the fight just to crack open the door and sort of wave a red flag at a bull sort of way

And then when the alpha vampire dies we get the remnant imbued with a bit of that vamps specific magic

And yeah perhaps using the skulls almost a psychic lockpick if those chosen had been imbued with some of the alphas powers (referring to the trickle down effect you noticed, Vampire mlm is a concept that will be lodged in my brain now)

The biggest one for Bellwether not giving a shit I believe was a piece of dialog that said like "once we get out of here do you think they'll drop a nuke on this place" which made me laugh bc I audibly went just like resident evil grqt2h3 which despite some of the negative reviews comparisons to other games the lack of resident evil with vampires is making me laugh (I mean it in a positive way I'm very attached to RE)

Plus I don't think a privately funded not so small military/mercanary group is gonna lose sleep over a "few" civilian casualties (especially not when you can write em off as vampire deaths when it comes down to it)

Yeah I agree! One of my main grievances was I wish that side quest/mini bosses got more diversity and watchers idk if those are miniboss types as I think they go down p easy (but like I said can't/haven't played the game so I could be wrong) they seem closer to the mutated cultists than "true" vampires

And totally get you on lore one of my other favorite games is destiny 2 and holy shit the amount of environmental storytelling/lore is so strong they have a fan run website to compile it all so I totally get you.

And ooo I'm always looking for new games to watch/obsess over so I'll have to check it out

And yeah unfortunately the people I watched wernt too into grave lock collecting and the only 100 locations video I've found doesn't play em in full

And yeah with Addison I won't spoil it but holy shit he was the worst one too me I wrote out/expanded on the house of Echos mission so I was rewatching and it ended up being 4k words but also it was woof. I almost wish they swapped the order of the map start out in the second way with the other 2 then work into the 1st area for the hollow man

Yeah my sort of interpretation (both in how I'm writing and general fun) is that his Ravens outlines + his guns lock on are from that eye but a fun thing I had was giving them all like the way things are highlighted blue for you to grab some of the psychic residue as most of the psychic energy we see (barring layla) tend to be a pale blue - teal(?) Ish color and it was just funny to me that the highlights for important objects were similar

I agree with vampires probably having night vision as they are supposed to be a sort of apex predator so night vision fits with the whole can't go in the sun. It does make me wonder if Jacob would run into issues in direct sunlight with that eye time to invest in sunglasses my guy

And yeah I hadn't considered the psychic spaces as like stronger spaces where the trance is louder, bc in my thoughts I think the trance is a seperate but adjacent magic thing to what turned them into vampires

It definitely seems like the magic sort of got them all or bolstered abilities in some way and come on we both know that devs def smart enough to crack teleportation lmaooo necessity is the mother of invention and all that. But I do think that magic and science go hand in hand (destiny 2 is so great for that reason aswell because so much of what looks like magic can be kinda turned into science)

I think Remis ult is pure video game but healing it would make sense if it gave out a sort of opposite end of the spectrum vampire healing and helped you regenerate by like tapping into that magic that's settled in you or the vials/remnants

yeah we don't know how the healing actually works as you don't regen health unless you find medpacks which leads me to believe you do have to needle and thread it up instead of magic video game heal as explained in dishonored or prey

And yeah I'm assuming vamp regen at best at worst, you should uhhhh probably got get that looked at bud and yeah blood as fuel is a good idea even if it was connected or disconnected

And yeah the tissues, I'd imagine a wash cloth would be slightly more useful than tissues but eh and yeah sort of a gunk goop dripping thing (ie Eris Morn from destiny with her hive eyes)

And yeah! I think to be a bloodbag/sin eater it also I think is slightly voluntary(?) As the sin eaters are like that. And the blood bags seem pretty eager so maybe the most devoted cultists get turned into em

And yeah I'm uncertain bc I remember for one of the missions Jacob has a line like "but slitting the throat of your neighbor to get in." Or smth like that it's been awhile

And yeah vampire mlm, and yeah definitely maybe the more sacrifices brought in = higher chance of getting turned

I think it's a bit of both as we see with the alphas they were all real shitty people beforehand and yknow being willing to kill others to further your own gain definitely fits under "bloodsucker" (derogatory) in my mind lmao

And I think that's why Jason got away was bc hes not a bad person and was rather selfless hence but still also perhaps shaped by the intent of the person giving you magic (jacobs raven, laylas telekinesis which is something other higher up vampires can do as weve seen with the sea) But also made to shape you're own natural abilities remis healing, devs gadgets :) especially in those latter two cases where they wernt forced really to have the powers

The slow boil is soooo intresting to me bc like where were they? Like in the nests psychic spaces and just coming out to feed plus with the size of the alphas I think that'd kick up a fuss

I think probably a but of both, as drug trials/medical research like aevum was doing was bound to test on mice at least and upon observing the effects may have worked there way up to humans but huge fucking claw marks are probably vampires especially from what we've seen they are extraordinarily wasteful with animals perhaps both as food and ensuring surviving humans can't get it

And birds + animals disappearing evokes a similar feeling of when animals tend to dip before natural disasters because there senses and instincts are so much stronger than ours but also vampires killing them because they couldn't go after people yet

also lmao yeah like idk where tf they were going with that like was the plan to eventually move out of redfall or use it like a home base or smth bc you kill the animals and the people you're gonna have to start eating each other

And yeah I have to imagine at least one cultist was wincing and didn't voice it but was very much like aw come on guys

And yeah! Idk if it's ever explained if vampires exclusively have to eat blood/meat or can eat other things aswell

And oh my God don't get me started on the impacts of introducing a fuck ton of apex predators into your ecosystem and food chain not to mention if other animals mutated and are breeding. Like just removing Wolves from Yellowstone was enough to fuck over the ecosystem I can imagine something on this scale plus the probably intense growth from the decomp rates of bodies.. anyone in an environmental science field would be tearing their hair out (specifically my own redfall oc whose a park ranger is not having a great time with that)

You would have to build ground up essentially as trying a top down approach would fuck up the few remaining secondary and primary consumers (obligatory environmental science rant over)

They all def do the trance def is giving hive mind vibes aswell as a removal of emotional/rational thinking makes me wonder if the blood trance heightens base instincts/hunting drive or aggression like with animals being aggressive and shit being fucked

And oh def, bc each of the bosses has there own space but the nests aswell which makes me wonder if vampires have their own allegiances or a nest is like a pack

And yeah hindsights 20/20 and yeah fears a hell of a motivator and cults pray on scared lonely people with no other options and yeah in too deep

I haven't! Unfortunately I haven't watched a dev playthrough and there's not too many multiplaythroughs on YouTube but I'll inform you if I come across any! And as for rough speculation on mothman physique(?) I think leathery makes sense from someone as logical as dev since it glides so it being similar to a bat or moth it almost makes me think of point pleasants.. intresting... statue of the mothman to say the least...

And yeah woof the scientists sure as hell are doing some malpractice although I'd admire arkanes commitment to fuck the rich with them being consistent enemies. And yeah sorry this got Hella long

#redfall #redfall theorizing #long post #technically also secret world legends #but I tried to keep that tangent...“short”#and three paragraphs or so IS short...relative to the rest #so I won't tag it proper-like #hyperfocus rambling go brrrrRRRRR #I usually take the time to go back through my posts and edit two or three times #but I don't even remember how long I just took to write this the first time asldkfjsa #hopefully this mostly makes sense aaaaahahaha

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starry-bi-sky · 6 months ago

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#battinson with chronically ill half dead teenager yesssssssss#I'm imagining that first night he brings danny to the cave and hes just internally panicking#like what do i do with this kid. where do i put him. i cant just leave him in the cave. im DEFINITELY not leaving him alone

FRRRR. Like @/that1badassbitch mentioned in the comments, Bruce's thoughts that entire time was just varying pitches of internal screaming. Which I am still wheezing at because yeah, preach. Bruce's pov from the moment Danny accosts him in the alley to him bringing Danny into the cave ranges from awkward panicking, genuine desperation to get this kid some help, a lot of heartbreak on the boy's behalf, and also just pure anger at his godfather.

Cuz like, who the fuck does this?? How dare he. This boy is a child. If it weren't for Danny's genuine terrified pleading, Bruce would've probably had a confrontation with Vlad. He would've lost, considering Vlad's power set and Bruce's lack of and Vlad would have gotten away with Danny. But he would've tried it. (Could've resulted in a spin-off au where Bruce, after losing to Vlad, proceeds to hunt the bastard down to save Danny.)

But yeah, I absolutely, delightfully agree that Battinson is just. internally panicking the entire time. From the rooftops, to the car, to the driving all the way to the cave -- which, after a quick google search, is apparently in an abandoned train depot in Batman (2022). Which is fascinating to me, but I digress. His internal monologue consists of cussing out Danny's godfather, trying to figure out what the poison is, a repetitive use of the word "FUCK", and him going "keep him awake keep him awake keep him aWAKE--"

But like, in a more Bruce Wayne fashion.

Danny is curled up in the passenger seat beside him and Bruce keeps intermittently checking on him every few seconds. Danny just looks like shit, man. Poor kid has a seemingly unending bloody nose, he's coughed a few times already and each time sounds like its shaking through his lungs and taking a piece out. His breathing is hollow, quietly raspy, and Danny sounds like he's gasping each time he breathes in. He's pale, clammy and sweating, but trembling, and his eyes are glazed over, unfocused, and half-lidded.

Dealer's choice here but I'm very amused but also fond of the idea that Bruce, in an attempt to do anything to soothe this kid, panic-clips off his cape and kinda just. throws it at him. Cringes, then awkwardly tries to adjust it so it's laying over him like a blanket.

It works though! Danny, through his haze, cracks a smile at him before grabbing the cape and practically curling around it. He seems to visibly relax, and Bruce silently slumps with relief that his idea worked. I also think he tries to painfully make some sort of small talk but frankly the only valid form of "small talk" he knows is interrogation. Danny's too out of it to mind though.

Bruce asks him if he knows what his godfather used to poison him.

("Blood Bl'ssom.") ("What is that?") ("A k'nda plant. Issa type o' rose.") ("Where can I find one?") ("Y'can't.") (And hear Bruce's blood chills for a moment. "What do you mean?") ("Blossoms went extinct in th- in the 1600s.") ("What? How is that possible? How'd your godfather get his hands on one?") ("Science.")

He also learns that the poison is, horrifyingly, cannibalistic, and Danny reassures him that he kinda stopped feeling the pain a few hours ago. Then he gags on nothing and spirals into an ugly coughing fit. "...Mostly." He adds on.

I have this very vivid mental image of Battinson screeching to a stop in the cave, Alfred's off to the side messing with some prototype gadgets. Bruce's side door swings open and Alfred's in the middle of snarkily asking if he's decided to get a reasonable amount of sleep tonight, only to immediately eat his tongue when Bruce beelines to the other side of the car and frantically pulls a waifish victorian kid with the tuberculosis blood cough to match out of the passenger's side.

("Dear god, what happened!?") ("His godfather poisoned him. I need towels and every medical device we have in here.")

The few photos I could find of the Battinson Cave did not imply there was a gurney in there, so Bruce uses on of the metal tables. He uses one arm to swipe off all the stuff on there onto the floor before laying Danny down.

It's. a very stressful time! That's for sure. Bruce is stuck between trying to get some form of antidote or at the very least a neutralizer to the blood blossom extract made, and also reassuring Danny that he's going to be fine. He's out of his depth.

They do get Danny stabilized though! How? Uh, I hadn't actually been able to think of how up until now, and this is just me trying to throw together an idea up on the fly. But Bruce like, manages to make some kind of 'antidote' that doesn't completely kill the blood blossom extract, but it makes the poison at least forcibly slow down.

[Forced to put a read more because this got SO LONG. oops]

"like what do i do with this kid. where do i put him. i cant just leave him in the cave. im DEFINITELY not leaving him alone" <<< is his sudden internal crisis after Danny's stabilized and passed out on the table. Giving him back to his godfather is completely off the fucking table, and Bruce can't give him up to CPS because there's a risk that he'll also return to his godfather.

He ends up, unsurprisingly to all of us, on deciding to keep Danny with him for the time being. At least until they can get his godfather behind bars. And you're right! Danny can't stay in the cave -- it's a half-furnished, rundown train depot. There's a tetanus shot waiting around each corner. It's Bruce's (reluctant) idea to take him up to the manor.

So Danny wakes up in an incredibly gothic guest bedroom, not feeling 100%, but also not feeling like total death like he did yesterday. He can still feel the blood blossom in him -- it leaves a joint and muscle soreness throughout his whole body, and when he breathes there's a weight there.

His confusion over where he woke up -- because it's very much not Vlad's place -- is overshadowed by his frank awe. You can't tell me he hasn't developed an appreciation and fondness of gothness due to his friendship with Sam. He might not be into it like Sam is, but he can appreciate the beauty when it's right in front of him.

#and hes got that awkward silent staring thing going on. Danny's trying not to die and vlads not there anymore#so hes unbothered by it really

Bruce pulled up a chair next to Danny's bed in the manor and didn't move a single inch the entire time. Just. sat there and stared to make sure the kid didn't stop breathing in the middle of the night. Probably has some facial recognition scanner going to try and figure out Danny's last name -- whether that works or not is dealer's choice frankly.

Either way, Danny turns his head to the left and nearly jumps three feet into the air when he sees Bruce and his 'stares into your soul' blue eyes. Sends him into a minor coughing fit by accident. Battinson very awkwardly and quietly apologizes. danny kinda just waves him off.

That's a whole conversation I'm not gonna go into, but to sum it up Bruce asks how Danny's feeling, and Danny tells him that he feels better, but he can still feel the blood blossom poison. So whatever he did, didn't get rid of all of it. (He's still incredibly fucking grateful nonetheless)

cue that "getting to know you" interrogation stuff.

(Danny can probably keep the full extent of his halfa status a secret from Bruce at first, but he is forced to tell Bruce about the ectoplasm running through him since it's the only reason the blood blossom toxin even works on him. Which results in him telling him a.. slightly omitted version of why he even has that in there in the first place.)

(Maybe he reveals that he was a hero in order to convince Bruce to let him out on the field rather than being just support? I've got ideas and fortunately your tags will help me delve into them)

#alfred pretends to be exasperated that bruce kidnapped a kid but honestly hes relieved#maybe being responsible for someone else will make bruce more responsible for his own health

no notes. just know that i'm wheezing at this. my friend @kingcrow01 had Alfred essentially reacting the same fucking way.

#the media would eat it up are you kidding??? the reclusive prince of gotham seen with a mysterious child???#and theyve both got that sickly pathetic wet cat look to them what with bruce constantly being injured and danny being chronically poisoned

FR! I love social media shenanigans and I love seeing it in fic (Lex Luthor's Ascent From Supervillainy To Fatherhood is a really good example of it imo), although i'm not too good at making it myself. Imagining how twitter in-universe might react to photo evidence of Danny with Bruce is going to fuel my desire for seeing people's reactions to things for ages. I am delighted to imagine that dumpster fire. The in-universe memes, guys.

Nobody has any clue what this mysterious Wayne child looks like for the longest time because Danny follows Bruce's lead and dresses in Anti-Paparazzi Recluse Fits. Mostly because he's the godchild of an equally reclusive and influential billionaire figure, and I imagine Vlad would pitch a media fit trying to find his poor, beloved godson.

Can you imagine the fucking SCANDAL if people found out that Vlad Masters' godson ran off and was currently living with recluse Gotham Prince Bruce Wayne? The tabloids would eat this shit up. It's a three-course meal that's paying their rent for the next three months. That's not even to say what Vlad might do upon finding out Danny's whereabouts.

So yeah, photo evidence of Danny only has shots of him wearing a large hoodie, one of Bruce's jackets, and a medical face mask and a hat. It doesn't hide any of the Sickly Pathetic Wet Cat look, if anything it enhances it. But you can see his bright 'staring into your soul like the oracle of delphi' blue eyes, and the black curls plastering his face, and his pale skin.

In some photos, as blurry as they are, Danny appears to be leaning into Bruce's side, seemingly using him as a support. The "antidote" (medicine?) Bruce created that first night was effective, but it wears off eventually. Before they make his medical bracelets, the both of them agree to use the antidote Bruce made to stave off the worst of the poison.

These photos are taken around the times the antidote was wearing off or had worn off, and the toxin was taking itself out of the backseat and shifting back into high gear. Despite that, Danny managed to convince Bruce to let him tag along on whatever shopping run he was on.

Someone took one of these photos and captioned it "Pathetic Wet Cat and his Sickly Pathetic Wet Kitten" and posted it on SMS. It got numbers.

Oh my god, I just thought of this but when Battinson is finally cornered by reporters asking him about Danny he does this:

he internally panics, and then with a straight face says "i don't know what you're talking about. i don't have a son." and then he Flees.

(this blows up in his face because the reporter he responded to never asked him if Danny was his son, they asked him who the boy seen with him was. Bruce is trending on twitter before he even makes it home. He's mortified. There's potential here for a scene between Bruce and Danny where they have that long-awaited 'are we family?' conversation.)

#i know everyone's focusing on danny working as a hero with batman and his relationships with dick and jason and everyone as the older siblin#but im still stuck on early days batman with a teenager to care for and how that dynamic is going to be SO DIFFERENT#than that same bruce with a 9 year old Dick. like the circumstances are so different and hes never bat-dopted a kid before this

NO BECAUSE YOU GET IT. YOU GET IIIIT! I fucking love older brother danny, however the biggest appeal of the "eldest son danny" idea is in fact how he and bruce's relationship would have to play out in order for that to happen. You could argue that Danny could be an 'older brother figure' to the Robins and still not have any familial affiliation with Batman, but the fact of the matter is, simply? I want that familial affiliation with Bruce. I want to see how that would play out, and how it would develop.

I am. a scientist prodding a little glass stirring rod at the potential family dynamic of Bruce Wayne and Danny Fenton and going, in complete wonderment and awe, "wow. fascinating. how does that work? how did you happen? what made you? how can i do it again?"

I also think there could be something fascinating over the fact that Bruce Wayne watched his parents die in front of him, while Danny's parents don't even know Danny died at all. A (once) child with dead parents, and a dead child with living parents. I think there's something to be explored there, I just haven't yet figured out what.

And yeah! a teen is completely different than an 8 year old. They're in very different developmental stages in their life, and that's not even addressing their lifestyle differences. When I made this prompt I mentally kinda just placed the death of danny's parents as having happened a few months ago. To me, it feels like enough time for Vlad's temperament to escalate from bad to worse, and for him to actually cook up that blood blossom toxin.

Danny's at a different mourning period compared to Dick, who was brought in while it wasn't even a day old. Maybe Danny hasn't had much time to mourn his family as much as he's wanted because he's been stuck in survival mode living with Vlad, and once he feels secure with Bruce he can finally tap into that grief he's been keeping on the backburner.

Lots of things to explore that can adjusted and changed as needed! Very flexible.

All in all though, I am a sucker for found family and in order for Danny to have family in Dick and the others, he needs to find it with Bruce.

#and this one has a crazy demon murder godfather and poison blood and a history of punching otherworldly apocalypse-creatures#into another dimension. no parenting book will help.

no notes here other than yeah, agreed, wheeze. The good news is that he doesn't need to be completely afraid that those otherworldly potential-apocalypse kickstarters will show up at any random point, Because, imo, Danny shut down and destroyed the portal before he could be shipped off in order to prevent anyway (cough-the GIW-cough) from accessing it. Vlad's the only one with a working portal currently and he's not as careless as the fentons are as to keep it open willy-nilly.

now the only thing he needs to worry about is the crazy demon godfather and the flora-boros blood toxin in his son's veins! whoo.

#and like yeah danny will want to help gotham and save people#but honestly? with his new limitations and no expectations from a previous robin do you think he would do it the same way?

I love this question! because honestly when I was initially expanding on this idea on my own, my initial answer was "no" due to the toxin's limitations. I had the same idea as you where Danny takes on a more 'oracle' role where he's not out in the field, but he's still helping behind the scenes. I was torn between "logically would this happen" as well as "chronically ill people aren't delicate flowers, they can do things" and a little dash of "okay but i really want nightingale out in the field"

In the end I decided that I liked the idea of Danny actually out with Bruce, and that as a result there would need to appropriate consequences and drawbacks for this decision.

#idk guys he fights ghosts because no one else can#i think he'd probably play a much more supportive role. at least at first. << you're totally right, too. And Danny's motivations for wanting to help in Gotham would have to be different than in Amity Park. Oooo this has good character growth potential.

Danny helps Amity Park out of a sense of obligation right? Like obviously it's also because he's a good person, but ultimately it kinda comes across as an obligation. He's the only one who can, so he's the one to do it, despite the fact that throughout the show he's shown to want that normal life. There's guilt there if he doesn't do anything; he has the power to stop this, so why shouldn't he?

(Oo, doesn't that sound kinda familiar? Guilt over something he ultimately has no control over, but thinks he could have?)

So! For him to choose to decide to rejoin the hero life, and not just from behind the curtain, feels like a pretty big character decision to me. Especially because now, he doesn't really have the power to help. Not like he did before.

He's sickly, essentially powerless because using his powers speeds up the toxin, and equipped only with his wits, his creativity, and whatever fighting skills he may have acquired during his time as Phantom -- and whatever martial arts prowess the author decides to have Maddie pass down to Danny.

He's not doing this because he feels like he has to, but because he wants to. I think that's pretty cool.

You reminded me that ideas can be combined too! It's dealers choice for anyone who wants to throw their hat into the ring in how Danny decides to join the frontline fight.

I'm going to kinda contradict myself here but one of my ideas for Danny going from behind-the-scenes to in-your-face-scenes is just. Batman needing backup for a fight. I'm not going to go into specifics for who he's facing, because frankly i'm not sure myself, but he needs backup.

And Danny, who likes to sit in the cave more often than not, waiting for Bruce to come back, sees this through whatever cameras are available. He's stressed out, worried for Batman's safety. This could be a good catalyst for the overarching subplot of him rejoining the hero scene as well as hey, maybe realizing that he doesn't need his powers to help people.

Danny's warring with himself about what to do. Trying to soothe his anxieties by reminding himself that Bruce is an incredible fighter and good at getting out of tight spots, telling himself it would be fine. Rebuffing the little voice in his mind saying he should help by telling it that he might make things worse. And when his subconscious tries to tell him that he can help, he rebuffs it by saying does he need to?

And there, right there, is what's been playing on repeat for however long it takes for him to become nightingale. Every night: "I can help, but do I need to?" and during this night is when he has an epiphany; "No, but I want to."

it's like the sun peaking through the clouds after weeks of gray skies. He wants to help. He can help, but not because he should or because he's able to, although that is important, but because he wants to.

So he finds where Bruce hides the face paint, smears what he think is an adequate amount on his face -- it looks almost mask like. And hunts down one of the spare utility belts -- he ends up having to wrap it around his shoulder and torso like a bandolier due to how tall Bruce is and how willowy Danny is. he already has a hoodie on, and pulls it up over his head. And fuck it, i'm calling down the Rule of Cool Law. Danny finds one of Bruce's spare capes and tears it up to make a makeshift scarf to better hide his face. He gets some other tools he needs that he knows Bruce uses, and then he's off.

(Bruce is both very shocked and very upset when Danny comes crashing through the ceiling with a faux-confident; "Hiyo, B! You're looking pretty bat-tered, so I thought I'd come in and give a helping claw!")

(Results in what I think is a very funny post-fight conversation where they have something of a hissed argument in front of the half-conscious criminals. "what are you doing here?!" "i wanted to help!" "where'd you learn to fight like this?" "mom taught me" -> which causes a fucking BUZZ in the criminal underground when word gets out.)

there's conflict. argument over bruce not wanting danny to come out to help him. Until danny eventually wins out in the end by pulling up footage of phantom on the batcomputer, revealing his previous hero status, and pure damn stubbornness. Bruce agrees but only after he updates Danny's self-defense and gets him a proper suit.

#alfred cant handle TWO wet rats getting beat up every night lol

singling this out because it's funny and you're rIGHT.

#danny innovating new and better bat gadgets. making good humanitarian use of the wayne money in ways that would make sam proud. #making sure alfred isnt the only thing standing between bruce and bruce's death at the hands of the city he loves

Danny's bambi eyes are lethal work, and Alfred's favorite employ whenever Bruce is being stubborn. Even after rejoining the active hero scene, Danny will still team up with Alfred to drag Bruce to bed or rest. Excuse you, don't make the same mistakes he did! He's the elder hero here!

Danny churns out so many anti-ghost gadgets for Bruce for the inevitable confrontation with Vlad, along with non-ecto gadgets just because he wants him safe. It becomes an unusual bonding experience for the both of them to come up with gadget ideas together and then figuring out how to make it work, and then building them together.

Vigilante equivalent of helping dad in the garage except you're both fixing the car and telling the other to grab them the 3/5th quarter-inch flathead screwdriver from the toolbox.

Danny is delighted to have someone to bounce ideas off of with, as does Bruce.

For the good old "fights are one of the ways ghosts socialize" trope: They have regular training sessions, but it's Danny who asks if they could sometimes just have some for-fun sparring sessions. Then has to very embarrassedly explain to Bruce that it's just something ghosts do with each other to socialize sometimes.

Bruce reads between the lines and sees it for what it is: play fighting. Danny's asking to play fight. There are no parenting books on taking care of a half-ghost teen, but he immediately thinks on a documentary on lions he saw a while ago and agrees.

These play fights more often than not result in Danny being tossed around like a ragdoll and loving it -- he's light as feathers and being thrown up into the air feels like he's flying again. Something he can't do anymore for obvious reasons. Plus the ghostly bonding thing.

I don't have much to add about the humanitarian use of wayne money thing, i agree. It also makes Bruce proud and could help inspire him to start getting more involved with Wayne Industries so he can start using his parents' company for humanitarian use as well.

#MAN imagine the fluff of danny learning to decipher bat grunts#if anyone has experience seeing past the crazy obsessive seemingly single minded focus of a parental figure and to the real love and care#that exists so deeply and truly under and throughout it all it'll be danny

aaaaaa, man you're so right. i was talking to crow about this but, for context, the idea was that Nightingale has a tendency to sometimes bite his opponents. And it's become something almost like a signature surprise move because he has Ghost Fangs, but the first time this happens its during some kind of gang fight between B, Gale, and a handful of goons.

However, the fight halts to surprised stop when one of the guys shrieks out; "OW, HE BIT ME!" and like a spell, everyone turns, flabbergasted, towards the guy who said it. Because what the fuck did you mean he bit you, wHY IS HE BITING.

And there, hanging off the guy's arm with all the smug self-satisfaction of a cat, is Nightingale, with his fangs still chomped down onto the guy's arm. There's a few seconds of silence, long enough for everyone to see what's going on, before Gale reorients his momentum and kicks the guy square in the jaw; knocking him out cold.

The thing that catches everyone's attention is that Nightingale drew blood. They watch, half-terrified, half-baffled, as the kid scrunches his nose up, wipes at his mouth, and makes a noise of disgust. He turns to look at Batman, who has also stopped what he's doing to stare as well.

Nightingale asks him; "Am I gonna have to get checked for this?"

Rather than deign him with a response, Batman remains silent. They stare at each other for three whole seconds, before Nightingale clicks his tongue like Batman had said something he didn't like, but expected.

"Aw, okay." Then without missing a beat, he turns and launches himself like a feral cat at the closest person next to him, and the room descends back into chaos once more.

Man, I'm just imagining them working next to each other on their own personal project, and Danny will quietly ask for Bruce's opinion on something. Bruce gives him a single grunt, and Danny's silent for a moment, contemplative, before muttering something like "huh, i guess you're right" or "oh, good idea."

Danny eventually adopts Bruce's little "hrm" quirk himself, and it slowly goes from: "hey, what do you think about this?" "hrm" "that's what I thought too" to: "..hmn?" "hm."

The ever consistent urge to make Your Blorbo The Most Specialist Character On The Block Ever is forever a plague of mine, and I'm very tempted to say that Danny is the only other kid except Cass who can do the "hm?" "hn" thing back to back with Bruce. Don't get me wrong, the other batkids can do the "Hey X thing" "hm" "okay" thing, and on some level can do the "hm" "hm" thing too, but they can't do it quite to the same extent as Danny can, and its from those years where it was just the two of them.

but yess!! I agree! Danny's got experience with that kind of obsessiveness, Bruce reminds him a lot of his parents that way and he understands it the best out of all his siblings as a result. It also means, however, that he willingly goes in to drag Bruce out of whatever obsessive rabbit hole he's fallen into, if he feels that Bruce has been too hyperfocused on something. He saw it with his parents, and it ended up killing them. He's not losing another dad because of his foolish tunnel vision.

#bruce is so much quieter than his parents but man if danny doesnt understand him. and maybe bruce comes to learn what dannys used to as well#comes to learn to speak his affection and open up so much more. to make danny feel more comfortable and welcome

AGAIN, NO NOTES. This is perfect and yes. I've got nothing to add.. okay I lied, i just needed a moment to think. Bruce isn't the most physically affectionate person, but he starts to be thanks to Danny, who is very tactile. Same thing with verbal praise, Danny hardly got any of it in school or, regretfully, at home since Jazz tended to get all the praise.

Bruce tells him "good eye" once after Danny spotted something before Bruce did, and Danny preened so brightly Bruce genuinely wondered if stars were going to appear over his head. He'd gotten his hands on video footage about Phantom that had shown him doing that exact same thing.

(oh which reminds me. The moment Danny tells Bruce about his previous hero experience as Phantom, Bruce goes on a research helldive to get his hands on everything about it. He's watched every single video showing Phantom. There were very few videos of Phantom that weren't videos of his fights, which were horrifying to watch on multiple levels.

Including but not limited to the fact that ghosts could apparently survive the most lethal of injuries, and he was never going to get the image of Phantom yanking a steel pipe out of his chest out of his head, or him pulling out a broken chunk of glass from his throat.)

(It was even worse seeing videos of Danny's parents shooting at him. That was a long, uncomfortable conversation.)

Another time Bruce is asking Danny about being a ghost, and Danny wistfully tells him that the thing he misses most is flying. Grappling through the city is the closest thing to it, but it's still fundamentally different -- and in some ways more exciting -- than flying. The closest comparison he could give is an indoor skydiving ring.

Bruce, a week later, rents out an indoor skydiving ring for the day and Danny spends hours inside the wind tunnel. He tells Bruce all about the similarities and differences in the car on the drive home, and then tells him that next time Bruce should try it too.

Just, all-in-all, seeing how these two interact and impact each other is what makes this so appealing to me. Especially with early years Batman. And I had so much fun typing all this out, thanks for the opportunity to infodump haha.

#UGH OP THIS POST TT-TT

AH YOUR TAGS <33

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.

#fr tho. anyone reading this should look up the Battinson Wayne Manor if they don't know what it looks like. It is SO goth and i love it #its gorgeous imo #i was looking up battinson movie clip compilations last night and my favorite fucking line from him is and will always be #[“we just got you on assaulting an officer!”] “you got me on assaulting three" LIKE YOU SASSY MFER. THATS HILARIOUS DUDE #batman being a troll is my favorite thing ever and ever and eVER. im adding these tags as i go along can you tell #found family doesn't need labels but in this case im putting them on there.#flora-boros is a play on of the word 'flora' and 'ouroboros'. eyy. get it? flora because. well. the blood blossom is a flower and ouroboros #cuz the ouroboros is the self-regenerating snake eating its own tail for all of eternity. ectoplasm is the tail and the flower is the head #personally i really like the idea that danny's got some proficient martial arts skills thanks to his mom. skill may vary.#but if i were to apply it to BB. danny can hold his own pretty well but he's not anywhere near batman's level. he's creative tho.#wow this took me a long time to reply to. somehow?? danny gets a scarf because that's the design i gave nightingale and i think it fucks #this reminds me. danny purrs and has other minor ghostly stuff he does instinctively in his human form. that kinda fucks him over because #it activates or disturbs the ectoplasm in his blood. which in turn disturbs the toxin. it won't make him severely sick. things like #coughing fits are common. but so is nausea. hot flashes. fatigue. chronic pain. sometimes vomiting. the whole ugly nine yards.#smth smth there's an appeal to the tragedy between the man who never fully grew up cause of his parents' death. and the kid who #never got the chance to after his parents caused his death.#throwaway idea: after bruce is told about Danny's accident and subsequent death he later goes out and silently makes Danny a grave #he doesnt think it's fair that danny never got one. its simple and subtle bc he doesn't really wanna bring it up with danny.#im trying to think of what it would look like and. throwaway design but it's a stone tree stump where instead of just plain rings there's a #star chart carved into the flat part. it looks like just a kinda dramatic statue but behind it Bruce has a small plaque and Danny's epitaph #on it. its in the only part of the garden that's not overgrown and bruce plants flowers around it. he thinks it could work as an adequate #substitute until Danny can get a proper headstone. It's danny's favorite spot in the whole garden and he doesn't get why. he thinks its #the star chart. bruce has found danny fast asleep beside the stone tree; using the flat part as a head rest; more times than he can count #mmmm i think thats everything i've got in my head for now.

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