#traumatic reveal

[somnoir]

Prodigal son beyond time - Part 1

Ra's Al Ghul had a son. No, it's not Dusan we spoke of right now. Ra's Al Ghul's first born child was a peculiar boy that was forged by the Lazarus Pits—or so what he says.

Talia has never met her brother.

Her brother, it has been years since she's found out about him yet her father never gives them a name—he thinks them unworthy of it. Even if he was not present, her brother continues to be the favorite, to be the child their father praised most. His absence is a glaring hole in her father's heart (though she is not sure if he has one).

It is no secret amongst the league that Ra's nameless son was unofficially the heir, even when Damian was born.

Talia has doubted her brother's distance many times, and yet she finds evidence of him over and over again.

Her father writes letters, strange ones that vary in language, dialect, grammar, writing styles. She did not mean to read one when she was young, but she couldn't help herself when she had seen it.

My dearest, son of mine,

It has been an age since last I beheld your presence. I find it most disquieting that you have not seen fit to visit, though I am not ignorant of how poorly time aligns itself with your affairs. Yet still, I dare to hope that you might bestow upon me a portion of your time, if but briefly.

Your siblings have inquired after you once more. Yet I am acutely aware that it would be unwise to bind you to this mortal realm for too great a span. Their hearts, tender and unfortified, lack the endurance I possess to weather the long absences your path necessitates. Nevertheless, I am not blind to the hope you carry—to one day stand before them, whether that moment lies near or far in the veiled expanse of time.

She could not finish the lengthy letter before the letter vanished from her hand, a burst of green and strange liquid slipping from her fingers. Talia had been startled, too young, assuming that this was Lazarus water that has stolen her father's letter.

And she found her father looming behind her, his expression stern get there was amusement in his eyes.

"Your brother is a curious person." Her father hummed, "He's powerful."

"We are not... Allowed to meet him?"

"Not yet. Until you steel your hearts." Ra's nodded, "Your brother does not stay in one place for long. But he is soft hearted and loyal to the family. You give him reason to stay and he will stay."

His hand, firm and guidind, pressed against her shoulder in a tight grip. "And I will not let any of you weaken him."

On that day, Talia realized that her father truly did love her brother. In his own strange way.

The next time she reads a letter, Damian was but a babe of one, cradled in her arms as a letter written on green paper rested in her father's hand. It was open, the wax seal carefully sliced from the envelope.

"Father."

"Talia." He replied nonchalantly, eyes flicking to Damian, his eyes softening momentarily as a longing look slipped to the letter.

Talia's heart tightened, resentful that her father was beginning to see his favorite child on her own son. She could not allow that...

"Your brother has written to me. It has been... Almost a year... Since the last." Ra's hummed, turning to Talia, then Damian, before flicking yet another letter to her. It startled her.

"From your brother." Ra's sighed, "I made the mistake of writing about Damian and now he wishes to meet you first. Not Nyssa, not Dusan—you."

"My brother?" Talia hesitantly accepted the letter. "I do not even know his name..."

Ra's clicked his tongue, "He signed it in his name. You will know from that letter." He paused, glancing back at her. "You have yet to prove yourself worthy, Talia, but... Damian's birth will surely being your brother back home."

Talia's heart palpitated in her chest.

The prospect of her baby, her son, her child—the mere thought that her baby would be the thing that successfully brings her brother home was... Outstanding.

"Read it in your own time... After that, seek me out."

Talia does not know... What to particularly do...

But she takes Damian, watches as her father leaves, and hurries along to her own quarters.

Talia tucks her son into the crib, narrowing her eyes at the nursemaids that were hired to nurture her son. She dismissed them immediately, watching as they silently leave the room. It is only when silence reigns does she takes a seat on her bed as Damian slumbers in his crib.

(Her hands tremble as the letter rested in her hands. It was light, not heavy, her her hands tremble as if she could not handle the weight.)

She takes in a deep breath, takes a dagger and carefully slices it away from envelope. It's intricately made.

The letter is written in the same green paper that her father received.

The letter read as thus:

My Dearest Talia, It would seem that I am now to be regarded as your brother, for Ra's has deemed me his son. Admittedly, this turn of events is of my own doing, as I endeared myself to him centuries past and found solace in his companionship, coming to view him as a father in truth. Yet you, his daughter by blood, remain a stranger to me, as do Nyssa and Dusan. How peculiar it is that Father should act in such a manner, withholding such introductions with his customary inscrutability.

She takes in a deep breath, awes by her brother's penmaniship... And then suddenly the writing style changes. Morphing from the olden age, the formality of a noble, to...

Anyways! Since you're my sister, I don't think I have to keep writing to you the same way Ra's does. It feels awkward to me, y'know?

She was not expecting that change but...

I've always wanted to meet you all. But my duties to my realm are hard. I can't freelt leave. It's especially worse since my world's time doesn't correlate to yours.

You might find the change of writing styles weird, but in all honesty, I'm from the 21st century. It's just that time never did agree with me. Had to comply with the old man on writing like that since he likes it. Weird, right?

But anyways! I heard you had a son! Congrats by the way. I'd like to meet him too, actually. Aside from that, I heard from Ra's you don't know my name.

Well, he's decided to call my Danyal as it's the Arabic version of my original name "Daniel". Though I often go by my nickname Danny. But it has been a delight to write to you, Talia. Hopefully, I'll be able to meet you and your son in the future.

Since you have my name now, you can write me letters too! It'll find me eventually.

Your brother,

Danny

Her brother's name was Danyal... Her brother went by Danny.

Talia blinked.

Her strange brother was a being that traversed through time, a person who was born in the 21st century... Her brother could be somewhere in the world in that moment and in another time the next.

She pressed the letter to her lips, unable to hold back her smile.

She had quite the silly brother...

And amongst her siblings, Talia was the first to know her brother's name. That bit about being able to write letters to him made her finally understand why her father was so possessive of a name.

(In the Infinite realms, High King Phantom received a letter from his estranged younger sister. He really didn't mean to find family in the Demon's head, but he found it anyways.)

Part 2 | Masterlist

[egophiliac]

*shaky thumbs up* I just finished ch5...... y-you were not kidding about it being a heavy one.....

:)

(how's that going so far, Mal)

[starry-bi-sky]

do yall ever think about bruce/batman!clone danny standing in front of his bathroom mirror after finding out he was a clone and silently tracing his face. The slope of his jaw and point of his chin. The high angle of his cheekbones and the shape of his eyes, the curve of his brow bones and the shape of his nose. The volume of his hair and the way it curls and gets fluffy when it gets too long.

His hair is black the same way a crow's wing is black. His dad's hair is black the same way a black bear's fur is black. His dad's eyes are blue like the ocean is blue. Danny's eyes are blue the same way a glacier is blue.

His dad has a square jaw and straight flat hair, and he tans and gets a face full of freckles when he's out in the sun for too long. Danny burns like a lobster and his face remains untouched. Danny has a sharp jaw and tall cheekbones, and Sam says when he's not smiling there's almost something regal about him. You would never call Jack Fenton "regal" when he's not smiling.

Sam says when he's not smiling he looks scary the same way a stone statue is. Jack Fenton when he's not smiling looks scary the same way that german shepherd staring at you across the street is.

Do you ever think he grew up wondering if he was adopted. Because of course, he has black hair and blue eyes like his dad. But having the same color doesn't make you someone's child.

Or, worse, things he's heard from the other kids and the other parents and even some of his teachers growing up; that he was the product of an affair. And that his dad was just too stupid to notice. And Danny would defend his parents until the day he died, because Jack Fenton wasn't an idiot and Maddie Fenton wasn't a cheater.

But doubt comes in with fickle tongue. his parents swear up and down that he is their child when he asks about either. That Danny just had his grandparents' features, but he was their son and they loved him.

But Danny doesn't look like either of his parents. His mom's eyes are blue like an aquamarine and Jazz's too. And they burn like lobsters in the sun too, but Jazz gets freckles on her face and so does Maddie. And as Danny grows up he doesn't bulk up or get stocky like his dad did, and when he hits puberty he doesn't shoot up like a tree like Jack Fenton did.

He stays small, and they say he's a late bloomer (and he is), or that he just has his mom's height. But he's fast and has good stamina, and some days it feels like he's built entirely different from his family. That the things they went through growing up just didn't apply to him. Jack and Maddie Fenton both had acne and breakouts when they hit puberty, and Jazz inherits it and he's seen the amount of skincare products she keeps on her side of the bathroom.

And then he hits puberty and breaks out maybe once or twice, but his skin stays clear for the most part and the problems and changes his dad went through just don't happen to him.

And the truth is worse than all of the lies.

How horrifying.

[racke7]

De-aged and injured Danny

Danny is found out by his parents. They don't take it well.

Clockwork is very upset about this, because he'd gambled on almost-certain odds of them being chill about it. So now he has to run damage-control before this very unlikely time-line goes even further off the deep end.

Unfortunately, Danny needs to be in the living world, not the Infinite Realms. Which means that Clockwork needs to put Danny somewhere safe. Somewhere where nobody will find him.

And double-unfortunately, the only place that remotely fits this bill is to contact Lady Gotham.

City-spirits aren't... super-reliable. They're Neverborns who very very rarely consider "humanoid shapes" worth figuring out. So they just kind of... exist. An ectoplasmic presence that's undeniable, but also extremely difficult to have a conversation with.

Thankfully, Lady Gotham is (for all of her... quirks) generally very hero-aligned. Which is why she's the best one to ask for sanctuary for Danny.

Danny who Clockwork de-aged as a way to "limit his injuries" of being vivisected.

Lady Gotham agrees, but she only has one "safe place" to put him. And her Knight is a little bit too paranoid for her to just dump an injured child in his lair, without causing more trouble than it's worth.

But it's hardly a difficult thing, to arrange a few things, and place Danny in a spot where his injuries will cause her Knight to hurry to his aid.

Such as... in a room filled with medical equipment, right next door to where Joker has just lost a fight with Batman.

Things escalate somewhat when Batman finds him and makes some assumptions about what Joker has been up to. Tempers run a bit high, someone loses a few extra teeth, someone else has to physically drag Bruce off Joker's body before he beats him to death, and the Joker considers the whole thing a grand old laugh (he has no idea what's going on, but it sure pissed off Batty, and that's always a treat).

Of course, the Batfam has to actually investigate the scene, evacuate Danny, give Danny medical aid, and then also ask Danny about what happened.

Danny wakes up and is very confused about a lot of things.

He's no longer being vivisected. Great. Love that part.

He's somewhere he doesn't recognize (the Batcave). Could be good, could be bad. At least the bed is pretty nice?

He's very small. This feels like a personal attack. He might not have gotten a good growth-spurt yet, but taking away what he had is cruel and unusual.

And there's a weirdo in an... armored bat-costume? Who isn't setting off his ghost-sense? What the hell kind of "normal" person wears something like that?

Still, Danny does answer the questions that Batman asks him, because... well, there's a green post-it-note in his pocket that says he shouldn't lie.

So Danny tells Batman about his parents cutting him up "for science". And Batman hears that the Joker somehow managed to hire two mad scientists who (upon the tiniest bit of suggestion from the Joker, who'd definitely seen the similarities between Danny and Jason and thought it would be a "funny prank") had leapt at the opportunity to vivisect their own son.

This is definitely worrying, because from the phrasing, they'd been "wanting to do it for a long time". And considering Danny's slow heartbeat and low body-temperature? They'd been wanting to do it because he was a meta.

So, somewhere out there (the Bats had found no trace of the two) were two deranged lunatics who wanted to cut open metas to "see how they worked".

Batman does the very reasonable thing and actually contacts the rest of the Justice League with their descriptions, just in case they'd managed to leave Gotham before the Bats had tracked them down.

[wandixx]

Relationship reveal with side of mind-control (or, really, the other way around)

to that one anon who asked for relationship reveal M'gann/Danny one-shot, here is another take I mentioned

Trigger warnings: mind control ofc

M’gann just needed to get closer. It’ll be alright if she just got a little closer.

“Are you trying to kill us dude?”

Answer was apparently yes as Robin barely jumped out of the way of an ectoblast. M’gann knew true answer was no, she knew Phantom well enough, after long calm nights under starry sky and comfort after breakdowns in the closets and heart-to-heart over battlefields and kisses stolen in the quiet moments of in-between. But for some reason, now he was acting against everything he was and stood for. Red eyes were probably point towards an explanation.

“What even is your beef with us?!” Artemis yelled, shooting one of her special arrows at him.

Right, Team didn’t know Danny. She was going to introduce him soon, when the time was right, gods, she even convinced him to join the Team and was just waiting for Batman’s approval. And now Phantom got worst possible introduction.

M’gann just needed to get close enough to snap him out of it. She could of course just use her psychic powers from where she was but it was a nuclear option. It was better if she handled it the ‘normal way’.

For all he was great fighter, Phantom stood no chance against the whole Team, even when he was in his right mind. As it was, however had in their clutches didn’t know full extent of his abilities and were absolutely pathetic at using what they did know about. Though intangibility made it a bit tricky-

Oh, wait, Kaldur’s water attacks countered it, Danny plain and simple hadn’t had a shadow of the chance.

“Don’t knock him out” she demanded over the Mindlink, right when Kaldur scooped Danny out of the sky, pinning his hands so he couldn’t fight anymore and Conner jumped at the ghost, fuming with anger.

“Don’t lapidate this one M’gann, they are not a robot”

“Excuse me, what?!”

“It was one time Robin, one time. And I know he is not a robot, I can read his thoughts”

“I sooo need to hear this story”

“As you wish Artemis, as you wish”

“Could you all just shut up and focus?!”

“Thank you Superboy”

“So, what’s the plan?” Wally asked while pacing, trying to work off excess energy after battle finished too soon.

“Oh, I’m going to talk to him”

“They tried to burn our heads off, I kinda doubt you can talk them out of anything”

“He is mind-controlled. And he is my friend, I taught him how to fight it. He just needs a little help, it seems”

“Get to it then Miss Martian, he is trying to slip”

She nodded and kicked off to fly, stopping at Danny’s eye level, just slightly breaching his personal space.

“Hey Phantom,” she started softly “I need you so use what I taught you o-?”

“Shut up” Danny’s mouth spat in distinctly not-Danny way.

“I’m not talking to you. I’m talking to Phantom and if you don’t leave I’ll make sure he kicks you out or do it myself” she didn’t bother with niceties, she didn’t bother with putting an inflection in her voice.

Danny’s body snorted.

“I won with psychics stronger than you. I just also know Phantom well enough, he’d prefer to do it himself and he can do it. If you don’t leave now, you’ll learn how much worse is it to be kicked out instead of leaving peacefully”

Slowly, so painfully slowly she reached out to put hand on Danny’s cheek. Touch always helped ground him and there was a chance it would distract whoever controlled him at the moment. Red in his eyes dimmed for a second or five. She smiled gently “Yes, just like that Phantom, you’ve got it. Just how we trained, alright?”

She got a little closer but not enough to lose view of his eyes. She could tell whether he was back in control just by using his powers, even without breaching the boundaries Danny was comfortable with. But she simply wanted to see his whole face and for him to see her whole face, like he did during hours upon hours of their practice.

She could feel his muscles twitching between expressions, as his eyes changed colors like police lights if they were red-green instead of red-blue. M’gann kept steady stream of assurances, slowly brushing thumbs against his cheeks. If situation wasn’t so dire it would probably feel pretty nice. She’d need to bookmark this idea for later.

At last, the whole spectacle ended, with Danny’s eyes turning back to their soft green his face pressing into her hands like it was his only salvation. M’gann grinned enthusiastically barely containing relieved laugh.

“You did it Da- Phantom! You did it!” she yelled before giving him a quick kiss and engulfing him in the hug, despite the water still holding him in place, few feet above the ground “I knew you could do it” she whispered to his ear. Kaldur asked if it was safe to approach so she waved them forward. As soon as Atlantean freed Danny (also getting water out of her cloths, which was nice) she lowered them both to the ground.

Danny’s hands hesitantly reached to hug her back, squeezed like his life depended on it and then he started shaking apart in her arms. She slowly lead him to sit on the ground when it was clear he could hold his own weight at the moment.

“I’m sorry” he whispered, as if he struggled to even make a sound “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry”

M’gann ignored growing wet patch on her shoulder, clinging to him just as strongly as he did.

“You did so well. There is nothing to be sorry for, you did so well”

“I’m sorry I- You- I should’ve- I’m”

“She is right,” Kaldur stated calmly “You are not to blame for being mind-controlled, especially since you broke it at first give chance”

“But I- I attacked you”

“Comes with the job, really” Robin said with almost imperceptible strain in his voice characteristic to the hand stand.

“I could’ve hurt you”

“Ha! You wish,”Artemis snorted.

“I really don’t”

Everyone snickered lightheartedly and Danny relaxed at clear lack of hostility.

“What about a collateral damage?”

“We’re in the middle of nowhere there is no collateral to be damaged”

“This is not what collateral means on it’s own-”

“This is not the point. Phantom, are you looking for things we should hate you for?”

“I have hard time believing you don’t”

“Danny, I love you but you’re an idiot right now. I told you they won’t hate you”

“Superboy still looks like he considers which of my bones he should break first”

“Not yours but whoever’s mind-controlled you. He has a bit of a history with that”

“Exactly”

“Huh. And you could probably do it too if it’s a guy I think it is” Danny whispered with some sort of amazement in his voice “That’s relieving. I’d hat if you hated me. Miss Martian told me a lot about y’all”

“Can’t say the same about you, sorry”

“That’s fine, I asked for it. I’m Phantom, I’m from Amity Park and usually I fight other menaces who try to stir some shit and worry about collateral damage and not the other way around. Pleased to meet you, sorry it happened like this”

“So like… you’re a small town hero, right?”

“Now, that might be a bit over-”

“Definitely a hero,” M’gann interrupted “With personal arch nemesis, regular rogue gallery and all that”

“Miss Martian also called you her friend,” Kaldur said, clearly trying to learn how that happened without outright asking the question, but he would get anything but, judging by Danny’s sudden grin, that could be called sly if he still wasn’t clearly shaken by the whole mind-control ordeal.

“Oh c’mon M. That’s not what you called me last week when we made up in the broom closet”

She loved that boy but she should’ve let Conner knock him out when she still had a chance.

[whump-or-whatever]

Ways To Reveal a Character’s Traumatic Past

Dream sequence/nightmare

Flashback/resurfaced memories

Revealed by psychic reading Whumpee’s mind

Found footage/pictures

Someone finally asks and they explain

As the reason behind a thought process/assumption/belief

Whumper shows up and taunts them

Scars

Through conditioned behaviour

Finding an old journal

Hints dropped in conversation

Have someone who knows tell someone who doesn’t

• • •

Feel free to add others!

[clearlydusty]

SPOILERS FOR CHIMERA ANT ARC HUNTER X HUNTER

Heres my contribution to the Hunter x Hunter fandom finally hope you guys like it

[millportisntreal]

GOD if I was funny I would write a stand up comedy au where Jeremy is a crowd work comedian and Jean is an audience member who does NOT want to be interacted with and Jeremy is so intrigued and keeps trying to get Jean to break and just CAN’T idk I think it’d be fun

[ang3licmizery]

Nikola Orsinov | The Stranger :)

Bonus: nikola dancing to Hot To Go!

[bvnnyl0v3r]

I may have drawn me and all my moots :>

@thurio-edau @mildlybizarrecorvid @niredsw @aredeemantagonist

@sn0w-o @exy-mybeloved @my-mom-named-me-duck

@erklen11 @piigeonss @kalcium-yippee

[attractthecrows]

yeah yeah trick weekes says whatever about it not making sense that solas couldnt sneak off THEY FAILED TO CONSIDER that maybe he just is ass at it when he gets invested. much like. the whole fucking rest of the romance where he COMPLETELY fails to resist until the breakup.

anyway.

im personally of the opinion that he's more liable to slip up - fail at sneaking, accidentally reveal details, contradict himself - when he actually makes bonds with people. which is why after trespasser he goes and lives alone in the lighthouse for ten years but i digress.

and i think "that", the bonds tripping him up, should be reflected in his exit from the Inquisition. you're enemies or neutral, yeah he just vanishes. there's nothing to keep him there, nothing to interfere with his plans and intentions. you're (ex)lovers? i think he still would pull back purposefully and probably vanish, but there would be definite hesitation. he would have to force himself to do so, because fuck, he wants to stay. he wants to be close to you. but he also, crucially, knows that you have a dangerous sway over him, so he MUST disengage. if you're friends, it takes him some effort. because he does like you, he doesn't want to do what he has to, it's been so long since he had people who were friends to him, and he doesn't have to force himself away because he's in too deep. he knows you would worry about him. he might not be willing to give anyone the truth - but he would owe you a goodbye, at the very least. especially if you weren't the type to try to convince him to stay.

[vodkacheesefries]

really need the da devs to stop dropping "lore" on social media when it should have been in the game because if there is nothing in the game to point to that lore its not good representation

[katerinaaqu]

EPIC THE MUSICAL ODYSSEUS: Yelling his name to Polyphemus because he grieves his friend and out of spite when Athena triggers him with an order while grieving

ODYSSEY ODYSSEUS: Yelling his name to Polyphemus after having spent almost a week in a cave with a few of his comrades, trapped like rats, probably without food or water and without any gods for help or support, having witnessed half a dozen of his friends being smashed to the ground and eaten by a giant monster who didn't wish to give them a warm bed for the night and the customary Xenia gifts, grieving for the friends he lost in a traumatizing way and being triggered when that said giant monster who could destroy them with a flick of hand calls him a coward for not fighting head on

[angelsdean]

DEAN IS TWELVE ! DEAN IS TWELVE ! DEAN IS TWELVE !

[spiralwanderer]

I feel like they’d slay as a duo idk

[Arc 3] Roxanne Sunshard ft. @stormy-sierra ‘s OC Vigilance Drake

[bisexualmultifandommess]

Laura’s expression after Ryan says “Maybe Neither” about Dylan and Kaitlyn looks like such a “yeah that’s bullshit” expression to me lmao