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mokulule · 1 year

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The Number You Have Called Cannot Be Reached 7

Ship: Dead on Main (Danny/Jason) Warnings: angst/depression and canon typical violence

I had wanted to do some tag appreciation for the previous part before uploading this but well stuff happened and I need to leave for work soon, so priorities and all that, and I bet ya'll rather want the update than my chatter XD But know that I really appreciate the comments and tags you guys leave me <3

Damian sat in a corner of the library, knees drawn up to his chest. The crumbled up piece of paper burned in his left hand. It shouldn’t. He’d had a hunch and he’d followed it. He’d been right! This was pertinent information. He should have informed Father immediately and yet… He breathed slowly out his nose. He turned his hand around palm up so he could glare at the offending ball of paper resting there.

He was right, but then why was he so uncertain? Why was he hesitating? He was Damian Wayne! Son of the Batman! He should not dawdle, that is not how he was trained!

No matter how much his so called siblings would tease him for his height, there were advantages. Like how when Todd had pulled the dazed Ghost to his feet, the short man had never really looked up which meant that Damian who was shorter had seen the way his eyes glowed green, unlike his father. Because a short while later, when he pushed away from Todd his eyes had been blue. Father would assume the ghost’s eyes were blue, because he hadn’t seen the green. Father would have no idea to look into what Damian had, because he’d missed a vital clue. A clue Damian had been withholding. Damian let his head fall down onto the arm holding the paper and sighed. He was withholding far worse than a clue now:

There were traces of Lazarus Water in the blood sample. Damian felt the childish urge to scream, but he would not give in, he hadn’t fallen that far. It always came back to this, always; like a curse on Damian’s family, one thing after another and it always ended up back there - by the sickly green glow of the pits.

Father wasn’t always exactly rational when it came to the Lazarus Pits or the League of Assassins or Todd.

And maybe Damian had gotten a little bit used to Father looking at him like his son. Maybe he just wasn’t all that excited for Father to look at him like Ra’s Al Ghul’s grandson again…

Alfred, the cat, slinked around the door left open a crack, instantly drawing Damian’s eyes. The tuxedo cat padded silently over to him and stopped. He looked expectantly at Damian with the same unimpressed gaze of his namesake. Damian cracked a fragile smile, and uncurled into a crosslegged position.Satisfied Alfred jumped into his lap. He started batting at the paper ball and Damian quickly stuffed it into a pocket and acquiesced to the demand for pets. It was barely a moment before Damian’s effort was rewarded and the purring started. Slowly, Damian relaxed back against the wall and his shoulders gradually came down from their tensed position. Animals were so much easier to understand than people.

The Ghost had purred…

The sound had been just at the edge of his hearing, but it definitely had sounded like purring. Father hadn’t heard it. Damian had asked him if he’d heard the cat, but he’d dismissed him as if he thought Damian had heard a real cat. There was no way he would have done that if he’d actually heard. The sound… it had been something else; there had been this inherent happiness to it.

Damian would admit he’d been startled. He’d never heard a human purr before. Not even Catwoman, his father’s illicit paramour, actually purred, not really. She did something with her voice at times, probably the closest a human could come to a purr, but not like the almost continuous sound of a real cat. Humans just weren’t built for it.

Which pondered the question, what exactly was the Ghost? He had reacted very oddly to Todd (Damian would admit in the privacy of his mind that he’d been alarmed to see the man nuzzle into Todd’s chest as if he was actually an overgrown cat in disguise). There was Lazarus in his blood, so maybe the reaction to Todd wasn’t so strange. He hadn’t reacted in any way special to Damian, but that wasn’t so odd either. Damian knew Todd was different. There was a reason Grandfather feared him. The Pits hadn’t revived him, they may have brought his mind back online and brought some lasting effects, but Todd had crawled out of his grave months before that; Todd was something else.

Maybe Todd and the Ghost were something similar?

Todd had definitely heard the purring. He had been completely unlike himself, there had been a complete lack of the usual hostility from him afterwards. Todd must have also seen the eyes, he had to have made the Lazarus connection. He hadn’t reported anything about it either. But again this was Todd, he wouldn’t share information with Father unless he thought someone’s life depended on it.

Whatever DNA had been in the blood sample was useless for analysis, it had been too damaged, so that didn’t bring them any closer to figuring out what he was.

Then there were the powers, Todd didn’t have those. Invisibility and intangibility… No, the Ghost couldn’t actually be a ghost, could he?

Alfred nudged the hand that had stopped the petting and Damian dutifully started back up again.

Richard often acted like he didn’t have two brain cells to rub together, something that fooled even Damian in the beginning, but he was surprisingly astute if he let you see if. Damian had presumed the Ghost codename had been merely a ploy to annoy Drake and Gordon, but Richard was not beneath hiding a theory as a joke. If he was correct, he would have all the power, if it wasn’t it was after all just a joke - it was a good strategy.

As if summoned, Richard stuck his head into the library and glanced around. He seemed just about leave when he caught sight of Damian’s nook.“There you are Dames-“ he strolled inside, “I wanted to say bye before heading home, so I’m glad I found you.” He crouched down next to him and smiled widely eyes crinkling with it. It was so effortless for him.

Damian frowned.

“Hey, you okay?”

Damian glanced up briefly. It wasn’t something he wanted to talk about, but maybe Richard could answer something else.

“Do you think the Ghost could actually be a ghost?”

And there was that sharpness behind the kindness, that moment of calculation of what might have brought this on, whether Damian knew something, before it was hidden behind a smile again.

“Dami-“ he started and lovingly ruffled Damian’s hair. Damian quickly batted his hands away, before he got the misconception that he liked it; because he didn’t! Blue eyes crinkled further and then he continued, “we’ve seen stranger, haven’t we?”

And that brought Damian to a stop, hands still raised protectively over his head. Alfred looked between the two of them and gave an affronted mrauwp.

“So sorry Alfred, old boy, didn’t mean to disturb you.”

While Richard appeased Alfred, Damian slowly lowered his arms. Richard was right of course, but there was something else too, the assurance in the flippancy. Whatever the Ghost was, it didn’t really matter, they would deal with it, like they did everything; everything had some sort of weakness. And the Ghost hadn’t actually been hostile.

The core of the issue was the Lazarus Water. Lazarus Water didn’t enter people’s blood on their own and Grandfather kept a sharp watch on all the pools. There was a very big risk the Ghost was affiliated with the League. Coerced? Created? Murdered?

Damian narrowed his eyes, it was useless to ponder without more information, but the League at least was something Damian could look into discreetly. If there was increased activity in Gotham he would find it. He didn’t have to tell anyone yet.

“You work out what was bothering you?”“Tt.” He quickly looked away from Richard’s knowing eyes. Unfortunately that left him open for another hair ruffle. Richard laughed and jumped away and back to a standing position in one smooth motion, before Damian could retaliate somehow. Damian glared and only got a soft smile and wave in return.

“See you in some days, baby bat.”

Damian pressed his lips together and waved dismissively. “Go, before I decide revenge is worth removing Alfred.”

Richard’s laughter followed him out the door and down the hall. Damian finally allowed the small smile to form. Whatever happened, whatever Father may think of him keeping secrets, he could at least count on his big brother to stay the same. Oo o oO

Tim had been reviewing the new proposals from R&D when Bruce had stopped by.

The spectral calibrator team had obviously been disappointed to learn they would be reassigned and that the larger project to tune into electromagnetic signals from other dimensions had been put on indefinite hold without the calibrator, but they were a professional bunch and they had quickly come up with some fresh ideas.

Tim really didn’t want to consider what use the thief would have had with the calibrator, but it was kinda his job. It was meant to help hone into the (for lack of better term) frequency of a given dimension and remove the noise from the various other planes of reality - he just really hoped they weren’t dealing with a science portal to Hell scenario. Magical portals were at least usually temporary in nature but most importantly they were the JLD’s problem, not Tim’s.

Maybe the thief just really wanted to listen to some alternate universe rock?

Yeah, fat chance.

Tim had not found signs of the stolen items being resold, which pointed towards the thief having specific buyers or he was building something himself. At least the spectral calibrator was safe in the Cave.

A small beep notified Tim that the decryption program had a match on the passcode for the phone Bruce had dropped off, and he rolled over to have a look. The phone was not a brand Tim recognized, it was from the pre-smartphone era and didn’t even have a camera. It had been easier for Tim to just take it apart and hook it to power to get it up and running - it was then he noticed that someone had modded the receiver and transmitter, it also didn’t have a sim card.

Despite the lack of sim-card, when Tim looked at the now open phone it claimed to have a full signal from the most prominent telecompany in the larger bay area. Tim raised an eyebrow - curious. The text messages were empty, and a root around in the settings found that read messages were automatically deleted after 24 hours - the thief were really keen on keeping his secrets.

In the “phone book” which was a rather quaint old school term for the contact list, Tim finally found something that alluded to a normal life. Something that could maybe give them some information: Dad, Jazz, Mom, Sam, Tuck, Val - pretty sparse contact list. All the numbers had the same area code, which put them somewhere in the Midwest, if Tim was remembering correctly.

Tim considered for a moment then pressed the up button until he reached “Mom” again and pressed enter. Butt calls had been a real problem with this phone type if people forgot to lock them, it wouldn’t be so strange if Tim didn’t say anything. With any luck they’d get confirmation on the name Danny.

There was a single dial tone then a feminine voice announced:

“The number you have called cannot be reached.”

Woohooo yay, I think we're done with "the detectives detective-ing" for now which was the extend of my notes before writing the last two parts (parts 6 and 7 are going to be a single chapter once they go on Ao3). Hope you enjoyed, I got a serious case of Damian feels while rewriting chapter 1 for Ao3 (here's a link if you missed it), so that's the explanation for why Damian decided we needed his pov Next

Masterpost for subscription

#dp x dc #dead on main #Yeah sorry no Jason here this time either #Damian decided he wanted a turn #and well poor Jason isn't doing anything interesting right now #he's just panicking over the gaps in his memory #and not daring to leave his apartment before he has the pits more under control #he's afraid he might kill someone if he's Red Hood right now #maybe I do need to write a small bit of his pov #oh well #detectives doing detective-ing #Jason is catnip to Danny #Missed Connections

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clans-of-the-sea · 7 years

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Tomorrow Comes Today

A small black kitten padded along the alleyway, the round stones under paw making him wince. Tiny claws clicked against the ground, and it was a bit reassuring. He could always defend himself. Ears flattened as he tried to see if there was any movement around here though, a crow nearby or even other abandoned unfortunate souls. So far, he saw nothing…. though he wasn’t dumb enough to think he was ever alone.

Ears perked as he heard a small clicking noise. Eyes caught lamp light, a bright emerald green and a curious baby blue turned and looked up at the small No-Fur sitting on a box and moving their paw awkwardly. Slowly, the small kit bumbled forward. This was what he had been waiting for! He let out a tiny cry and walked around the giant hind paws of the No-Fur, looking up as a gentle brown hand leaned down and ran down his back. It was…. comforting.

There was a garble of words, and he perked his ears to focus.

“…. Murdoc…..” That was a word he didn’t recognize. But he knew it, it was his name….!

——+——

Awkward long legs chased after the Cloud before him, the smaller tom trying to speed up whenever Marley hopped over a branch or log that littered their forest. “Marley…! Wait up…!” He huffed, losing his breath.

“You’re going to need to get faster Murdoc. Your brothers and sisters are training just as hard, and your Royal isn’t that far away. You’re still smaller then them!” Marley slowed though, waiting until the Shadow caught up to him before nuzzling the top of his head. “…. You can’t afford to take it easy Murdoc. Not if you want to make it past drawing First Blood.”

Murdoc was catching his breath, looking at awkwardly large paws and licking his maw. “…. It’s just because I was the Easy Blood.”

“There’s no ‘was’ about it. You’re still the smallest one…” Marley shook his head as he flicked the smaller with his tail. “…. You’ll have to keep working harder then the others, you know that, don’t you? You’re smart, but that wont be enough.”

Murdoc scrunched his nose, mismatched eyes looking up at Marley. “…. Can’t we just take a small break? We can go back out later….”

“…. Okay.” Marley sighed and started back towards the camp. He looked sad, like he was seeing something bad far far away…. Murdocs tail twitching, and he tried to think about the Royal he would be in. Danny wasn’t much bigger then him, she would probably go down really easy. Cassy wasn’t a big fan of Dommer, she would probably go for their longer brother first and he’d let her. …. Hannibal was the biggest of them all though.

The tom padded into camp with his tail trailing behind him. A large dark molly pushed his way past Murdoc to head out for hunting and he jumped aside. Stormy grunted on her way to hunt, ignoring her kit completely. Which shouldn’t have been surprising, she had never really doted on any of them but… there was something about it that felt wrong.

“Don’t worry 'bout it Murdoc. Go get some rest.” Marley purred as he nudged his little Shadow, pointing to a good shaded spot. He curled up tight, feeling some glances his way but ignored them until he drifted to sleep. He was sure he’d get chance to rest for awhile, but woke with hardly any time passed to two large figured in front of him.

“Get out of my spot!” Murdoc bristled, hissing as one of the offender swiped a massive paw at him. He was knocked back, pinned between the two toms and the wall behind him.

“I was here first!”

“Well I was born first!” The second figure, hardly any smaller then the first, jumped forward and scrabbled with the smaller black cat, hind legs kicking into his lower belly and knocking any remaining air out of him when he dragged Murdoc from the nest.

“Enough!” A she-cats voice called out, a fluffy dappled coat and small ears ran forward, Sally grabbing Hannibals scruff and pulling him off his smaller brother. “That’s enough! Shadows still in training are not to fight! Not until the Royal!”

Hannibal growled at the Night Consort, turning and looking to the tom who had egged him on. Sally knocked her shoulder into the Shadow though, snapping at him to find another place to rest. “Murdoc, go see Lana. No need get an infection this close to your Royal.”

The dark tom glared at the large tabby brute who was Hannibal’s Cloud before bounding across the camp. Lana was there waiting for him, small ears perked and short tail twitching. “….. Pay no mind to Salem, Murdoc.”

“It’s not fair! He shouldn’t be training Hannibal!”

“Anyone is allowed to choose a Shadow.”

“He shouldn’t! He’s spiteful and cruel!”

“…. That’s why he had first pick.” Lana shook her head, sighing as she looked the scratches down his side over. “… You’ll leave. Keep them clean and you’ll be fine.”

——+——

“Murdoc, you’re late.” Marley was sitting in the woods near one of the beaches, ears perked as his Shadow padded towards him. “Where have you-….” He frowned, growing silent as he saw who was walking with the lanky black tom.

Jitterbug was escorting the small tom, grumbling. Marley knew that Murdoc was supposed to be training with the Moon Court this morning, to prove he was ready for his Royal tomorrow and shouldn’t just be chased out now. However the weird angle the young black toms nose pointed made him shiver.

“Your Shadow…” The Half Moon was clearly trying to restrain his anger. “Was truant, tried pulling a prank on Archer, and has the behavior of a Forgotten Blood! He was trying to mock animal noises, scared them away, and has a pointless, malicious humor.” He reported, claws digging into the ground. “He’s an appalling Shadow, and a stupid imbecile who hardly paid any attention!”

“He… has wonderful charisma. He’s bright - he’ll make a good liar!” Marley attempted to stand up for his Shadow. A good liar had a good poker face, could make good bets!

“Sounds more like skills for the Forgotten.” Jitterbug threatened, fur fluffed as he walked away from the two.

Marley turned on the young tom, eyes closed. “…. What happened?”

“It was all Curly!” He was quick to snap, fur bristled. “He called me useless, and a waste of space! Said I’d be better off in the No-Fur place!” He was talking funny, and the Cloud looked over his muzzle closely.

“Did Lana see this?” Murdoc snorted.

“She said it looked funny, and to keep it out of everyone else’s business….”

Marley did seem upset by this, but only shook his head. “…. Lets see what we can do…”

Murdoc followed the tom closely. “One day I’m doing to be the Moon Father, and I’m not gonna let my kits run a muck like Jack does!”

“You’ll be lucky to live past your Royal at this rate. No doubt by now Salems caught word. He’all be training Hannibal with extra hard. And Curly will make sure Dommer is going to handle you.” It wasn’t malicious, it was a warning to be on guard. Even still, Murdoc did not seem swayed.

“Well I’m not going to die! If anything I’ll get off this island and be free of all these dumb rules and the dumb Moon Court.”

——+——

He had been lucky. That’s what everyone was saying anyway. Lucky. Lucky that he had taken injured Cassys leg so she’d be weak the rest of the match. Lucky Danny took Cassy out. Lucky Danny saw him as a force to team up with. Lucky the two of them killed Dommer. Lucky Hannibal went to finish Danny off. Lucky Hannibal had been too tired from fighting Dommer and Danny to kill Murdoc right away. Lucky.

Seemed like an awful lot of luck for coincidences. Marley even looked proud as he brushed his muzzle a last time. The boat was taking off, and he had to be on it. The Waxing Moon Peanut had given him his mission; to meet with the older Forgotten Bloods and check in on the mainland Skies, or nicknamed “Storm Clouds”.

The ride across the water was soothing. He had lived. He had healed….. sort of. During the fight against Hannibal his nose had gotten messed up again - and after he and his littermate regained consciousness Salem had made it worse by batting him across his snout. It still stung but the fact it could sting - the fact he was alive - was amazing…..!

Billy Boy, a much older Forgotten, met him when the boat docked and led Murdoc into the town they’d be residing in. He seemed to be ‘in charge’, and even invited Murdoc to watch a fight sometime. It seemed rather boring, following and listening to Billy Boy; it was hardly a change from the island…

So Murdoc invested in other ways. The young tom moved among the crowds on nights of the fights, making bets and showing a move or two that was meant to kill quick and efficiently. Apparently these mainland Storm Clouds didn’t get training, they were merely recruited…. So his offers were taken with a grain of salt. Some even spat at him for acting better than them. Which he was. He knew a good many ways to kill them and they’d just bat at his face!

Even still, he managed to find a group he did like. Tiny, Crunch, Rocky, and Munch seemed to know the best way to enjoy freedom. Fight, find pretty she-cats in fancy fenced yards, make smaller cats catch your food for you, and find the places that had that really good smelling plant!

All good things had to come to an end though, and Murdoc wasn’t any happy when one morning some broad Watchman dragged him to the island. He wasn’t sure what to expect; he was sure he was supposed to make some sort of plea to Jack and Sally, but he didn’t think he wanted to come back…

He froze when he padded into camp and spotted Hannibal, the big dark cat dragging Jack out of camp. Dead. His eyes turned to spot a small molly, belly a little bigger to show how well fed she was, clean and looking pleased with herself as she looked around the camp.

He remembered her as a kit. Her litter had had a Royal before his. Normally Stars did not have Royals but Sally’s last litter had a lot of stigma of not being Jacks, and a point had to be made.

Binx was that point.

She had been an Easy Blood like him; runt of the litter and all three of Sally’s kits had been tormented by the Moon Court, Jack included, leading up to their Royal. It appeared the molly had ended Jacks reign over her…. in a way he that as almost proud. Good for her.

Mismatched eyes followed to where Lana, Curly, Archer, Jitterbug and Peanut stood. Sally was nowhere to be seen….

“Murdoc.” The dark tom turned and looked to where Binx was, spotting the ghostly white figure next to her. Casper. “Murdoc, I hear Billy Boy is dead.”

“Word travels fast for you.” He snorted. “He only passed last night. Old fugger.”

She didn’t seem amused. “…. We’re sending a young tom named Titus with you back to the mainland. You’ll be leading the Storm Clouds.”

Well this ceremony was certainly short. Wasn’t he supposed to greet the new Moon Bitsh by name and see who she chose as her Court? Though looking at how relaxed her older ‘siblings’ looked they would probably remain as her Court for now….

“Don’t worry Murdoc. We’ll invite you back when the court is properly filled.” Binds smirk made him roll his eyes. He crossed the camp and spotted the fluffy tom who would be joining him on the ferry. At least he could get out of here.

#murdoc #September contest #writings #stories #rogues #black skies #submission

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thenightling · 7 years

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Get to know me!

I was tagged by @mai-own-worst-enemy

Rules: Tag 20 of your followers you wanna get to know better!

@thesaramonster @mrgoldsshopofhorrors @unnecessaryhorns @lovesthedarkerone @pinchtheprincess @0ceanofdarkness @woobierumple @rumplegasm @thesocialjusticecourier @kaimaciel @robertmarch82

Nickname: Mandy, Pike, Pikester (Both of those are things my late stepfather used to call me as terms of endearment. My grandfather hates them. He didn’t realize they were said in affection). and on IMVU some people call me Drac because of my CountVladDracula account. Gender: Female Starsign: Scorpio Height: 5'1 Sexual Orientation: Pan / demi. I am sapiosexual, attracted to a person's mind before the body. Favorite Character: Frankenstein's Monster (Mary Shelley's novel and the Hallmark mini-series of Frankenstein starring Luke Goss), Count Dracula (Particularly the version in Fred Saberhagen's Dracula novels and Frank Wldhorn's Dracula: The Musical / Dracula das Musical), Rumplestiltskin (Once Upon a Time), Jack Skellington and Sally (Nightmare before Christmas), Puck AKA Robin Goodfellow (A Midsummer Night’s Dream / Disney’s Gargoyles), Loki (Norse Mythology / Marvel comics), Peter Vincent (1985 Fright Night). Hogwarts House: Defense against The Dark Arts Teacher. :-P Favorite Color: Crimson Favorite Animal: Wolves, bats (particularly flying foxes), barn owls, ravens and red foxes. Average Hours of Sleep: 7 hours realistically. Cat or Dog Person: Both. Cat leanings.

Nationality | American. favorite fruit | Cara Cara oranges, strawberries and Macintosh apples. favorite season | Autumn favorite book | The Dracula Tape by Fred Saberhagen, An old Friend of the family by Fred Saberhagen, A Matter of Taste by Fred Saberhagen, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Beauty and The Beast by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, Dracula by Bram Stoker, Faust Parts 1 and 2 by Goethe, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare, The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, The Canterville Ghost by Oscar Wilde, Something Wicked this way Comes by Ray Bradbury. favorite flower | Jasmine, roses, White Gardenia. favorite scent | Jasmine coffee, tea, or hot cocoa | Tea

Number of Blankets I sleep with: One comfortor that's black with pink lining, A sheet, and then a black throw blanket with Jack Skellington's face in the bottom left corner. Sheet in the summer. Favorite Singer/Band: Deceased: David Bowie and Freddie Mercury / Queen with Freddie Mercury. Alive: Danny Elfman, Oingo Boingo, Idina Menzel and Pat Benatar. Yes, I'm an 80s child. Dream Trip: UK or Germany . And may I never return. When Was Your Blog Created: Two years ago when I was getting into Once Upon a Time. Current Number of Followers: 933. Apparently I lost two tonight. Not sure who I offended this time. What Made You Join Tumblr: Seeking contact with fans and IMDB's Once Upon a Time message board was too hostile.

#Survey

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