#Taking Flight

[phantoms-lair]

"Okay, I can see why your astrology loving self likes it here," Tim elbowed Danny.

"It's astronomy and you know it." Danny said, fake offended.

"Yeah, I will admit I'm surprised by how good the internet is here. I wasn't expecting that out of rural Kansas."

"Well, think of who they have to keep in contact with, and how far away." Danny pointed out. "Honestly, pretty sure Bruce is responsible."

"Wouldn't be surprised."

"Hey Danny!" Elle hovered over the two of them. "Let's go flying!"

"We've got a guest you know." Danny gestured at Tim with his thumb. "Be kind of a jerk move to fly off without him."

"Can't he fly?" Elle asked. "His hero name is Robin, right?"

Elle looked like she was ten, but Tim had to remind himself she was less than half a year old and often surrounded by metahumans. "No flight. All my powers are up here." he said, tapping the side of his head.

"You're psychic?" she asked.

Danny laughed and Tim rolled his eyes. "No powers, just smart." he clarified. Then he looked back at the stars. "It would be interesting to see what it would be like to have powers, but like most of the family, I'm a normal human."

"No one who can lie to Batman with a straight face is normal." Danny pointed out.

"If he wants to know what it's like to have powers, why don't you show him?" Elle asked.

"It's rude." Danny said, sticking his tongue.

"Not with consent."

"Not with permission." Danny pleaded. "You are too young for me to want to hear you use the phrase 'consent'."

"Missing something." Tim pointed out.

"Overshadowing. If I take control of you I can channel my powers through your body. But like I said, it's kind of rude."

Tim wasn't sure 'rude' was the word for stealing someone's bodily autonomy. But Elle did have a point of her own. There was a world of difference between doing something with or without consent. "Okay, how would that work?"

"How would what work?" Danny asked.

"The overshadowing thing."

"Oh, it's er," Danny was fiddling with his fingers, suddenly nervous. "It's kinda creepy."

Tim gave him a flat look. They'd covered Danny referring to himself as 'creepy' enough in Gotham that he wasn't amused.

"It's basically possession. I would seize control of your body and channel my powers through it. Normally the person getting possessed is sort of put to sleep and only has vague impressions of the time they were controlled. But a person with strong enough willpower can resist and be aware." Unsaid was that pretty much everyone in Tim's family would be able to hold onto their awareness.

"Could you cede control once you had it though? Possess someone but not control them?"

"I honestly don't know. I've never tried it." Danny admitted.

"Then lets try it," Tim suggested.

Danny looked at him like he was crazy. "Why?"

"Two reason. The first is it will see how well I do if a ghost tries controlling me. The second," he shrugged, "I'm not a metahuman and will probably never be one. And I'm okay with that, but it's been interesting to see what it feels like to be one, you know?"

Danny pursed his lips and Tim wondered if he was crossing a line. Being a metahuman hadn't exactly been a fun experience for Danny, after all.

"Okay." Danny said reluctantly. "But you don't get to blame me if you don't like it."

Or he could just still have issues with the thought of people rejecting him for his powers. "Fair. We've got Elle as our witness that this was my idea. I could talk to the Kents beforehand too-"

"Not necessary!" Danny shuddered.

Tim felt his heart droop. Deep down Danny still didn't trust they'd keep caring for him. He hated what the Fentons had done to Danny's self esteem. "You don't have to if you don't want to." Tim softly reminded him. "I don't want you to be uncomfortable either. But I trust you, you know?"

Danny swallowed heavily. "Okay. If you're sure."

It felt cold, at first, like a chill up his spine. Then Tim felt his mouth move and vocal chords activate independently of of him. "Okay, so this is overshadowing." His own voice said. "So I guess, try to do something and I'll try not to stop it?"

"Do you have to talk out loud?" Tim asked. "It's going to look like I'm talking to myself."

"I guess that works. And yes, no psychic connection for this. Sorry."

"Weird," Elle observed. "I've seen some recordings of overshadowing and usually the person has the eyes glowing the ghosts color when control, but the glow fades when they resist control. But the eye glow didn't go away when Tim spoke."

"He's not resisting me, I'm letting him have control, it's different." Danny insisted.

"Maybe I should start resisting you. Just to see if I can." Tim suggested.

Elle giggled. It really did look funny with him talking to himself.

"Okay," Danny raised Tim's arm and clenched his fist. "You try to open your hand and I'll try to keep it shut."

Tim had to admit just feeling his arm move like that was mildly panic inducing. He'd managed not to be carded by Hatter but imagined this was what it felt like. He struggled to move his hand only to have it firmly stay in place. He struggled more, eventually sending his arm into erratic fits, punching himself in the face. "Owww" he moaned as

Elle doubled over in laughter.

"Healing factor should take care of it in a few minutes. Unless you want to stop now." Danny rubbed their injured nose.

"No, I mean, I think I want muscle control back, we can work on resisting stuff more later. But I want to see what having powers feels like!"

"Which one do you want to-"

"Flying!" Elle interrupted gleefully.

"I think you might have an ulterior motive." Danny said dryly. "You up for flying, Tim?"

"Yes please," Tim answered, trying to hide how excited he was to try.

He's seen others fly, several times, but it wasn't something he's ever thought he could do except on a hang glider or something.

"We're going for invisibility first." Danny warned. "Since we don't want to be seen."

If getting possessed had been a shiver up his spine, becoming invisible was like being dunked in cool water. Not frigid, but a definite chill ran across his skin as it vanished from sight. Then Tim felt gravity lose it's hold on him. Without any form of propulsion he lifted up about a foot in the air.

"We're going to start low and slow." Danny assured him. "So if anything goes wrong you aren't going to fall too far." Gently he leaned forward and glided effortlessly through the air.

"Do you think I could do this myself?" Tim asked.

"No clue, let's try!" Danny seemed to be warming up to the idea of testing with Tim's lack of a bad reaction to being overshadowed.

The floated in place and Tim tried to move their shared body. But while he could mover his limbs with ease, Danny's power couldn't be interacted with. "Doesn't look like it, sorry."

Elle looped back around. "This is low and slow is kiddy stuff." She groaned.

Danny gave her a mild glare. "You are three months old. You have no right to complain of kiddy stuff."

"If anything I can more." Elle countered. "Come on, can we at least do tag or something?" Tim shrugged. "Sure, tag sounds good."

~

"Does she normally smoke you this bad at tag?"

"No." Danny grumped.

Tim sighed. "Sorry. Having to plan out our strategies is letting her hear us. If you took full control-" "Then you wouldn't be in the game, I'd just be using you as a meat suit for no reason." Danny pointed out.

Tim thought for a moment. "Danny, can you put your shield in a bubble around us, so Elle can't hear us planning?"

"Sure, but it's going to be obvious."

"That's fine, we're just planning the planning." Tim assured. Danny raised the shield "We're planning to plan? Seems redundant."

"We're planning the things that will let us plan in plain sigh without your sister knowing." Tim corrected. "So our main issue here is we've got two minds that need to collaborate. Even if we split the division of labor of you powers me body, we each need to use both. You can take control of my body if an opportunity needs it, but I can't take control of your powers, so that what we need more communication for."

"Elle hasn't developed much beyond the standard, so we can keep to those. So, intangibility," Tim tapped the ring finger of his left hand twice. "If I make that motion, it means I'm asking you to use intangibility, if you do it it's warning me you're using it and I don't have to flinch away. Blinking twice will work the same for invisibility and..." Tim thought a moment more. "Tongue for flying." "Okay, I get eyes for invisibility and hands for intangibility, why tongue for flying?" Danny asked.

"Because it can't be seen. So tongue on the roof of my mouth acts as the taps or blinking, but can also be used to indicate direction in three dimensions." Tim demonstrated by holding his tongue to the roof of his mouth, then pressing it to the left side of his cheek."

Any more discussion was interrupted by Elle knocking on the shield. Danny dropped it to reveal his younger sister looking annoyed. "Are we playing or what?" Dany smirk and cracked their shared knuckles. "Round two begins now."

~

Alfred stood on the porch with the Kents while Martha rang the bell to call the children in. It had been a lovely visit catching up with them while Tim spent some time with Danny and Elle. It warmed his heart that despite moving to Smallville and possibly adding Kent to his name instead of Wayne, Danny and Tim were still very much brothers.

(One of the contingencies, if the Kents hadn't felt able to take in the boy, was for him to be officially adopted by Tim as a Drake, allowing him to still be a part of the family without feeling an unwanted connection to Master Bruce. But that plan was scrapped when Danny became publicly known during the Seige of Gotham. It was for the best, Danny truly needed more adults he trusted.)

It wasn't unexpected to see the children approach from the air. What was unexpected was there was only two of them and Master Tim seemed to be flying of his own volition. A raised eyebrow was all it took to remind the children that this wasn't an ordinary situation either.

Tim felt his shoulders hunch and his cheek flush as Danny's self-consciousness expressed itself in his body. Danny separated from him and opened his mouth, probably to apologize, but Tim wasn't going to let him. "I wanted to know what it was like to fly." he said, cutting off any apologies for his existence his brother might make.

"Indeed." Alfred said simply. "And how did that work out?"

"Quite well. I can better coordinate flying members of the team now, as well as Danny and I worked out a simple non-verbal code in order to plan around Elle while she could hear everything we said to each other. It was a productive endeavor."

"More importantly, Master Tim." Alfred's eyes crinkled into a smile. "Did you have fun?"

Tim felt himself becoming bashful now, ducking his head. "Yeah." He answered. "I did."

Good. Just as Danny needed the occasional reminder they were cared for, Tim needed the reminder that he was more than his use.

"That's something." Pa rubbed his chin. "Don't suppose you'd be willing too take me up there too. "I'd love to be able to go flying with Clark."

Danny's face turned red, and he half hid behind Tim's shoulder.

"It's okay if you're not comfortable with us for that yet." Ma said kindly. "We know you haven't know us as long as Tim."

"S'Okay." Danny muttered.

"You can take Pa and I'll take Ma. We can all go flying!" Elle cheered.

"When your brother's ready," Ma gently admonished.

"With that we must be off." Alfred apologized. "While I treasure these times, it's not fair to Miss Gordon to have to run herd on our family all evening without backup."

"Give Bruce our best." Ma patted Tim on the head while Pa and Alfred shook hands.

"I will. See you soon Danny."

"Yeah." Danny smiled at his brother. "See you soon."

It would be sooner than either of the two thought

#Ghost Writing #Taking Flight #DCxDP #Any guesses what they forgot to take into account? #That's going to lead to needing to share a body in the near future?

[yridenergyridenergy]

#Dir en grey #prince #Toshiya #gif #A knot 25th anniversary #Phalaris #tour23 Phalaris vol II #veil #taking flight

[ponysongbracket]

Brony Song Tournament

Please listen to both songs before voting

Faster Than You Know

Taking Flight

#mlp #my little pony #my little pony friendship is magic #mlp fim #mlp g4 #brony #brony music #polls #polls on tumblr #tournament polls #Brony Bracket B #Brony Bracket B Round 1 #BlackGryph0n #Baasik #d.notive #Faster Than You Know #Taking Flight #0xbv0xf4 #Youtube

[its-maemain]

Taking Flight Memes - Spoilers (only if you haven't read)

#my propaganda to read my fic #taking flight #maribat #maribat memes

[athenepromachos]

BTS of Man of Steel. I think this is the shot where Supes emerges from the Fortress of Solitude for his first flight ❤

#henry cavill #superman #kal el #man of steel #taking flight #first flight #red cloak #Zac Snyder #Is it a bird #Is it a plane #going to miss this #❤❤🌹

[glitch07deity]

~Taking Flight~

Elder Gala taking little Guritchi for a flight in the clouds. Gotta stay on guard though, just in case.

#Galacta Knight #Guritchi #Baby Guri #Kirby #Ocs #Taking Flight #HideakiArchives

[yelmor-boots]

pidge is the fuckin best man, she’s just constant entertainment in the background

#pidge #beezer #vld #voltron #voltron legendary defender #taking flight #season one #green paladin

[zephyrionschattenflug]

Be not afraid

there will be light

spread your wings

and take flight.

#gay love #be not afraid #taking flight #lgbtq poetry #rainbow #creative writing #fiction writing #novel writing #romance novels #novel in progress #i am writing #lgbtq #lgbt #lgbtqia+ #love is scary #love is love #coming out

[aud-chron-images]

Duck!

#Duck #Taking Off #Taking Flight #Airbourne #Morning Flight #Photography

[mae-dwrites]

Taking Flight - Chapter 18 - Gamer

| Masterlist | Frist | Previous | Next |

| Ao3 | Wattpad |

October 10

-

“This is a disaster,” Marinette spoke quietly.

Marinette sat on the bench in the locker room. She’d said goodbyes to most of her friends and not many people were still in school so she didn’t have to worry about people hearing her.

Marinette groaned; as it was most of her friends did not include Max at the moment. Numerous times between lessons she tried to talk to him but he just dismissed her or flat out ignored her. Despair had settled on her as she sat there holding her head from her chin.

“Oh Marinette don’t say that. You didn’t know,” Tikki tried to comfort the girl. “You don’t need to dwell on it. Besides you get to hang out with Adrien!” Tikki unintentionally flew in a circle in front of Marinette. The Kwami was determined to cheer up the girl she cared deeply for.

Marinette, for all she had at the moment, simply sighed. She cast her gaze to the floor before closing her eyes and taking a breath. She faced Tikki and put on a smile, “Of course, I should get home and get the rest of the Kwami situated before Adrien comes to my house.”

“Exactly,” Tikki beamed and zipped into Marinette’s purse; they made their way home. Marinette smelt the bakery before she even crossed the street, her home practically inviting people to come and buy something.

Marinette went around the bakery and entered through the residence door, but she couldn’t help but pop her head in. Her Maman and Papa must have been in the kitchen due to the smell of more pastries being made and Bridget at the cash register.

“Psst, Āyí,” Marinette said to the young woman.

Bridget turned, “Oh Marinette you’re home!”

“Uh, yeah. Can you give me a chasan?”

“Of course. Will only speak to me for food,” Bridget said sarcastically as she put the requested food on a napkin for the girl. Bridget squinted at the food and then put her eyes back on her niece, “Need anything else? Any help?”

“I’m good, see you,” Marinette waved and exited up the stairs. Hurrying to get to her room, she knew Adrien was going to arrive soon and the quicker she got the Kwami set the smoother practice would go.

Marinette almost tripped up the steps to her room but caught herself. She pushed her trapdoor open, “Hey guys I’m home, let’s get your tray and coloring books set up.”

“Guardian,” many cried zipping around her and her room grabbing items. Marinette giggled as some of the fluffy affectionate Kwami nuzzled her cheeks. Ziggy rammed into her bicept making Marinette snort at the Kwami’s goat quality.

“Okay guys, let's focus on getting you all situated.” The Kwami dispersed allowing her to set her backpack down next to her desk.

Marinette found the tray half filled with the Kwami’s various snacks, Barkk and Daizzi were struggling to lift the container of strawberries out of the small fridge. Marinette grabbed it allowing them to grab some other lighter snacks. Marinette placed five strawberries down and put the container back.

Marinette filled the rest of the tray up with the help of Barkk, Daizzi, and Trixx. Many Kwami would come up to her asking if the drawing utensil they had was okay to use; to which she would say yes.

Marinette brought the tray up to her bed and set it right in front of her pillow. Kwami were zipping in and out of the green book organizing their drawing utensils. Marinette opened the coloring books and set them on the bed next to the tray of food, and hung a sheet from the ceiling on the side facing the rest of her room.

Marinette smiled at her handy work as the Kwami got settled and calmed down. There were plenty of colors so they wouldn’t fight over who used what color when they colored.

“Wonderful work Marinette,” Tikki said, phasing in and out of the sheet seeing how it looked.

“Thanks Tikki. Now let’s-”

“Marinette,” her mother called slowly opening her trapdoor. “Adrien’s here for training.”

Marinette turned too fast and her grip slipped on her latter and fell, she broke her fall with her forearms.

“Marinette are you okay?” Sabine asked letting herself into the room. Marinette smoothed her overcoat while giving a reassuring smile to her mother, “Yes Maman. Just slipped.”

Sabine huffed while she looked over her daughter, “And this is why we learn how to fall properly. You could have seriously injured yourself.”

“It’s not that bad,” Marinette started. Sabine frowned and opened her mouth to continue when Adrien popped his head up, “Is Marinette okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” Marinette said rushed, with a small smile.

“That’s what she claims,” Sabine stared hard at her daughter before turning back to the hatch.

Adrien smiled, “Well I would hope she is. Wouldn’t want my partner out of commission.”

Marinette’s smile became strained as she laughed, “Right. Of course, because I’m now your partner for the tournament.” She clapped her hands together, “And nothing else, well there is nothing else because we don’t partner up for anything else really.”

“Yeah,” Adrien said awkwardly, holding his smile. Sabine raised her eyebrows at her daughter in question. Marinette gave an affiliative-like smile in response along with raising her shoulders a little.

Sabine nodded to herself, she took in a breath as she turned to Adrien, “Well have fun and work hard?” The woman laughed, “Never thought I say that about video games.” Sabine started down the steps, “But really, have fun and if need anything just ask Marinette or one of us. Okay?”

She looked between her daughter and the model, who smiled,” Of course Mme Cheng.”

Sabine grabbed the trap door and squinted at the boy in a playful scolding, “Haven’t I told you to call me Sabine.”

“Right,” Adrien said sheepishly. Sabine nodded with an amused expression as she shut the door.

Marinette dropped onto her chaise took a deep breath and gave a wide smile to the blond standing next to her chest seat, “So I read up on the Ultra Mega Strike Three Tournament last night, we fight as a duo, as you know, but how well do you do partnered battles? And what’s the fastest you’ve gone through the Champion Chapters on randomize mode?”

“I don’t have experience playing partnered battles other than the one time Nino played with me,” he explained eventually avoiding eye contact with her. “And I’ve only done randomize twice, both I struggled, even with the second time having the computer partner.”

Marinette’s brows came down as she asked, “You never did the online battles?”

Adrien shook his head, “Father never permitted me to, and even before then my parents didn’t like the idea of playing online for the second game.”

Marinette nodded before giving a smile, “Well luckily for us I have online access, we can start with battling the computer before moving on to battling actual players.” Marinette got up and took her regular chair, leaving the spinnable office chair for Adrien to use. Marinette, while she had told them they didn’t need to do things for her, was thankful the Kwami had put the controllers and turned her computer on for her.

Her screen saver was no longer a collage of Adrien but all her friends and family, she’d kept the heart but made them change colors but was mainly still pink. After the news incident before school let out for the summer she had been mortified and had been quick to make a few adjustments to her room setup. She was glad though that Adrien wasn’t the only person on her wall, but he did take up the majority of the space along with her desktop screen saver.

Adrien frowned at the desktop noticing the change, he swallowed the frown away as Marinette pulled up the game to practice. Adrien briefly wondered if he’d done something wrong.

No, he couldn’t have. Every interaction had been positive from what he remembered, or at least he thought so. Marinette smiled at him as he sat down, it turned out one of the controller's batteries were dead. Adrien watched in awe as Marinette pulled a floorboard open to reveal dividers, Marinette pulled out a box and a different controller.

Below them, Sabine made her way back down to the bakery where her sister bombarded her.

“So that’s the boy,” Bridget grinned upon her rounding on the kitchen. Her words were a statement not a question to the older woman.

“Yes, that was Adrien,” Sabine confirmed as she rejoined her husband. Bridget hung at the door clearly not satisfied and wanted to poke her sister more, “The Adrien you’ve spent multiple conversations telling me about?"

Sabine loved her sister, she truly did; and even with years spent apart mainly due to their mother, Sabine knew her sister was only so invasive because of the lack of time together. Unfortunately, that bled into her treatment of Marinette as well.

Tom struggled to stifle a laugh, his wife shot a glare at him that said to stop laughing at her predicament. Sabine received a look practically stating she did this to herself.

Sabine sighed before speaking, “Yes that’s the one I told you about.”

Sabine swore she heard her sister’s head coming up with ideas, so she added sternly, “Baihu you leave those two alone.” She turned to see her sister had just stopped herself from leaving; Sabine gave a narrowed-eyed look to her little sister, “Adrien is a sweet boy who doesn’t ever get out of the house other than for his father’s company. He was homeschooled his entire life and his only friends were his cousin and the mayor’s daughter.”

Sabine’s face softened as she continued, “I know he wouldn’t do anything, there’s nothing to worry about. Compared to you at that age he is just experiencing the world, think about that.”

Bridget had lowered her limps to more natural positions taking in the information, to say she wasn’t worried about her niece was an understatement. She thought about how she didn’t have friends till the end of elementary school when she lived in California, and how not soon after did she lose them to moving to another state. Then again after middle school, she lost her friends for moving to another state unexpectedly.

Being isolated to just two people and whoever was brought to your precinct sounded much lonelier.

Bridget leaned against the doorframe, “Okay I won’t go up, but if they come down it’s open season.” Her smile nearing mischievous, despite this Sabine seemed to relax as she said thank you and resumed her work.

-

Most of the billboards throughout Paris were plastered with Adrien’s face, but when special events were happening it seemed as though Gabriel Agreste graced those people's usage of said billboards.

A good 45.7% of the boards were promoting the Ultra Meta Strike Three Gaming Tournament rather than the blond's face. His mother had asked about the tournament only to meet with Max’s scowling face while he stated he would not be participating in the tournament. This left Claudie worried as she asked him why, her son appeared to be struggling with whether or not to tell her.

When she tried to gently get his attention to not lose him, she was met with him brushing her off before storming off to his room.

Claudie sighed and leaned against her countertop. Max usually talked to her when something was bothering him or of any alterations to his plans, but he hadn’t this time only leaving her to find out now. She wasn’t used to him acting like this, especially when he was a very forward person. Even as a boy once he’d found his voice, he wasn’t one to beat around the bush or allow time to dwindle.

Her hand brushed against a slip of paper.

“Markov must have printed this,” she murmured to herself. She straightened herself, Max was a smart boy and could very well handle himself for a few hours.

She picked up her purse and knocked on her son’s door, “I’m heading to the store. I’ll be back soon, message me if you can think of anything Markov didn’t put on the list.”

She made out a heavily muffled, “Okay Mom.”

Claudie held a light frown on her face, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Max made his voice louder so his mother could hear him. He could just make out her footsteps as she walked away and the front door shut.

Markov’s heating fan and rotor blades whizzed between Max and the door. Markov’s screen showed his concern as he flew over to his friend.

“Max I understand you’re upset. What if we focused on another activity to take your mind off the tournament,” Markov swayed to get the boy’s attention as he spoke. Markov’s digital eyes drooped as Max turned over on his bed and mumbled something unintelligible. Markov moved so that he hovered just six centimeters from Max.

“Max I believe it would be better for you to busy yourself with something else you enjoy as a distraction until you leave for the New York Trip on Saturday.”

Markov observed Max as he lowered himself to the bed, allowing his claw to sit on the bed. Markov did not like seeing his friend like this, it was very rare that he saw Max so demoralized with discomfit. The living machine lightly tapped Max’s arm with his claw, trying to get his attention.

Max glanced at him, his frown still ever-present. Markov looked hopeful on his screen, sometimes it even amazed Max of what he had made to be so animated. Right now was not one of those moments.

“Markov go through blueprints,” it was more of a command than a request. Markov’s screen held lines to showcase he was doing just that. Max pushed himself off his bed and pulled on a hoodie, this made Markov stop.

“What are you doing?” A question mark on the screen.

“Out for a walk,” Max said, trying to sound unbothered.

“Then I will come with you,” Markov propelled himself up with confidence.

“I would like more solitude,” Max opened his door to walk out, but Markov was right behind him.

“But Max, your emotional state could–”

Max cut him off, “I want to walk alone; that includes you not coming with me.” Max grabbed Markov, “And I know will keep pushing, for now, have a system break.”

“No Max–” Markov was cut off by Max shutting down the intelligent creation. He gently set down his friend on his resting spot.

Max was soon on the streets. He truly was hoping that a walk and some fresh air could help him center himself. But at every turn, there was Adrien’s face, there was a promotion for the Tournament.

His watch indicated a slightly higher blood pressure than usual. And dang it he knew that, he didn't need to be told, or reminded every five minutes.

Where did he program the settings for that! He just needed to turn it off, and could calm down more. He stared downward, hard at his watch. Tapping and swiping, if he could just find where he put the settings for it.

He ran into something hard, he fell back with a grunt rubbing the frontal region of his head. He looked up and there he was again!

Adrien.

But behind, up on the roof of some poor fool's house was promotion for the tournament. And he looked to the right and there was Adrien, and as Max got up he spun around there was Adrien and the tournament.

Max didn't hear his breathing become harsher, the people around him panicking, running, groaning as the flaps of a beautiful glowing Lepidoptera came for him. He didn't see the people dissipate from his area, nor some getting their phones out. No, all he saw was Gabriel and Tournament promotions.

Suddenly everything was a hazy lilac purple, a cloud blocked everything, but Max could still see the promotions clearly. Everything became muffled, and his mind felt as though something slowly cradled his consciousness. A hand gentle but firm, Max while his anger and betrayal turn up the nth degree had relaxed. The soothing hands on his mind were a comfort as they went through the file folders of his mind.

But that was done in milliseconds before his voice sounded in his mind.

“Hello Gamer, I am Hawkmoth, you have had a chance taken from you. A chance that you so rightfully deserve, and all because of some crush?”

He tsked in his head sending vibrations through his nerves. Marinette had taken his place, and all cause she wanted Adrien. But she won, fair and everything. He can't blame her for the talent that came with hard work. But she wouldn't have joined if she wasn't after Adrien.

“Now that won't do will it? You can take your place back, I’ll get you it and you can prove how much better you are. You just need to get me Ladybug and Chat Noir’s Miraculous, so simple.”

Yes, it was a simple request, wasn't it?

“Do you accept my offer,” his voice was so comforting, full of promise. It almost calmed his anger, but it was still blaring just as loud as his voice.

“Yes Hawkmoth,” Max smiled with glee.

-

“See that time was faster,” Marinette exclaimed.

“It was mostly you again,” Adrien laughed.

“You got the last hit,” Marinette pointed at him, a light glare cast his way too.

Adrien covered his face and dragged his hands down muffling his response.

“You’re still great at the game, just need more practice,” Marinette tried to reassure him.

“Marinette you could probably beat them without my help,” he said very seriously.

“Psst, no,” Marinette laughed. “I’m lucky but not that lucky.”

“Well you are the everyday Ladybug,” Adrien grinned at her. Marinette rolled her eyes and stage whispered, “You want to know my real secret? This is my secret weapon.”

She pulled out a red string with big beads from children's sets and a single clay one. Marinette grinned while Adrien raised an eyebrow, “You’re messing with me.”

“Nope,” Marinette popped the word. “I made this in cours élémentaire 2, and ever since I win every round.”

“You did not have that on you yesterday,” Adrien looked back at her.

“Did I?” a grin still on her face.

The door slapped open making the two jump, and a loud voice boomed, “How about some fresh chocolate croissants with spinach and sourdough bread.”

“Dad,” Marinette whined. Adrien just laughed, “Maybe now would be a good time for a break.”

Marinette slumped against her seat but agreed, her father enthusiastically stretched to give Adrien the tray. Marinette stretched realizing how sore she felt from staying in mostly the same position.

“Why don’t we go down the park? Stretch our legs a bit,” Marinette suggested. Adrien was quick to agree, being glad not to be just confined to her room, but he knew the Dupain-Chengs wouldn’t force him to.

Marinette stopped him for a moment, “Hey you don’t mind if I invite Makzenie, do you?” Marinette pointed to the door of the apartment the girl and her aunt were using. “It’s just that she doesn’t get to hang out with many others, most of the girls’ hangouts are out around the city and she isn’t comfortable going all around.” Marinette smiled a little more nervous, “And we’re only going across the street, and not to mention you’re a very comfortable person to be around. Well, not that it isn’t a mentionable quality it’s just that it seems kinda obvious.”

Marinette trailed off with a laugh.

Adrien had been staring at her a little wide-eyed and if he was being honest hadn’t expected that. He knew Makzenie had gone to the bakery, to finally have a safe place to be but he hadn’t actually seen her. He couldn’t ask to see her because that would be weird of Adrien to do, and he hadn’t dropped by as Chat Noir to see her specifically because that could come off as creepy and he did not want Makzenie nor any of the Dupain-Chengs to think badly of his hero side. That was already rocky with M. Dupain, and he did not want to expand to the rest of the family.

Oh Kwami he’s been quiet and staring for too long, hasn’t he? And Marinette was now rambling about how it was completely okay if he wasn’t comfortable with it.

“She can join,” Adrien interrupted a little too loudly. He cleared his throat, and he could feel the embarrassment of trying to choke him, “It’s a great idea, you’re very considerate Marinette. I’m sure this will help her, also it would be great to meet her myself after you and everyone talking about her.”

It was mainly the girls as they hung out with Marinette the most, but Nino, Max, and Ivan had met her. So that’s all he had to go off as Adrien.

A smile blossomed on her face and she clapped her hands together, “Awesome, let me just see if she wants to join.”

Adrien leaned against the railing, holding the tray of food Tom had brought up, while Marinette knocked and spoke quietly to the girl on the other side. The door opened a little wider and the brunette peaked to squint at him. Adrien had experience with that look plenty as Chat Noir, but without his mask, it made him almost squirm. Adrien gave a small wave to the girl, Makzenie only nodded and said something to Marinette and appeared to leave the door open.

She reappeared in seconds pulling her ponytail through a cap and had a jacket half on, it hung off one arm, but she pulled it on as she pulled the door shut with her elbow.

“Ready,” the girl stated firmly to Marinette. She then faced Adrien and put a handout, “Makzenie.”

Adrien smiled and shook her hand, “Adrien, nice to meet you.”

“I know, you’re everywhere.”

Ah, there’s the ever-blunt attitude he missed during patrol.

“Well let’s get going. Adrien and I are just taking a break, but you join us if you want when we come back to practice more,” Marinette said trying to take the tray from Adrien. Adrien grinned and lifted the tray in the air, “I’m carrying it.”

“You’re a guest,” Marinette glared up at him.

“I thought I was your partner? That means equals, doesn’t it?” Adrien stated smug and lifted the tray higher.

Marinette’s face rippled for a moment and she looked back and forth between his eyes. It made Adrien raise his eyebrows at her in question. Marinette’s eyebrows knitted together, her face was set in a look of confusion at the blond. A strange look of concern he wasn’t used to.

“Are we going or what,” Makzenie asked as she walked between the two. “I was promised snacks and sunlight. I’d enjoy them at a level that I can reach.”

“Right, fine you carry it,” Marinette surrendered following the younger girl.

The trio made their way down the stairs and decided to pass through the bakery. Tom had already arrived back downstairs. Marinette and Makzenie freely snagged some extra treats from the display cases, the former more confidently in the pastrynapping. Marinette kissed Bridget on the cheek as she passed with a, “Love you Āyí.”

Bridget watched the teens make their way out of the bakery. She saw them go to the crosswalk from through the windows, she just needed to follow them. The girls might end up needing her, or they may need help getting away from his crazy fans. She knew about the mob mentality that the boy’s fans tended to have.

Though Bridget’s current theory about that was it was from the effects of mind control Akumas.

“Bridget,” Sabine’s voice spoke out warningly.

“I said it was open season, and your help will be here in,” the woman glanced at the clock, “three minutes.” Bridget started taking off her apron, which she didn’t need but her sister insisted she wear it.

She heard Sabine sigh as she hung up the apron and removed her tag.

“Just be respectful,” her sister said with resignation.

“Of course,” Bridget waved her off. Bridget was mildly self-aware of her tendencies, but it wasn’t anything unusual in the family. The bell dinged and she turned to see Huang with a cup of coffee in one hand and a cup of tea in the other, and a bag hanging off his end fingers on one hand. “And there’s my insurance Xia,” Bridget grinned to her.

“What did I say about magic,” Sabine hissed at Bridget. Bridget rushed across the bakery grabbing their brother by his arm, “That you love and appreciate that we practice.”

Bridget pulled Huang out with her before Sabine decided decking her was an attractive option.

“Hey these are hot,” Huang glared at her.

“Oh please you can cool them,” Bridget said as she tugged the bag from his fingers. She went to open it but glanced up at him, “Which one is mine?”

“Neither,” he frowned. “You’re annoying and lack respect.”

“I have plenty of respect,” Bridget's nostrils flared while she frowned back.

“Say that to my arm,” Huang grumbled. “What did you want them for anyway,” he nodded to the small bag before they crossed the street.

“Oh we’re gonna follow Marinette,” Bridget chirped as she opened the bag and grabbed a silver ring out.

“Excuse me,” Huang stopped in his tracks. His face was pure bewilderment, “Bridge.”

“Yeah,” she looked up from inspecting the piece.

“That’s, uh, it’s unethical,” Huang said with hard enunciation.

“Yeah,” shrugged at him. “Oh don’t worry we’re gonna use these to follow the heroes during fights. Observe them better, and find places they frequent. It’s hard following them, they have heightened senses and stuff. Besides we’re gonna be in contact with them soon and we need to be prepared. Marinette’s friends aren’t gonna be perfect sources.”

Huang just stared at her but Bridget wasn’t having it, “Come on. Track them.”

Huang would not answer her summoning again. Ever even, he will take the spell back at the end of this.

As they made their way into the park, invisible rings on, a thudding could be heard coming toward the area. Several phones went off making Huang’s stomach drop. Just a few yards away stood a giant robot of sorts, he slowly looked down to see it was looming over the three teens his sister wanted to stalk.

Great.

He was just close enough to hear Marinette with only annoyance in her voice, “Tell me this isn't some kind of publicity stunt for the tournament.”

“Well, well, if it isn’t the lovesick nincompoop. How about we see who is victorious now Marinette,” the Akuma cried, its amplified voice making a person or two just hide in a bush to overhear.

Huang stood there slack-jawed at the giant machine, he thought the Miraculous the villain was using transformed people. Not give them entire vehicles, unless it was connected to him? Yeah, he didn’t want to go down that train of thought, but he might end up regardless later.

“Lovesick,” he saw Marinette cringe as she repeated the word while at the same time Bridget went, “Really? Nincompoop? Jeez, might as well say zoinks while he’s at it.”

Huang faced his sister with utter horror, “He’s threatening our niece and that’s your only reaction?”

She shrugged, “She’ll be fine.”

“She’s fifteen,” he stressed.

“She’s Xia and Tom’s,” she countered.

He couldn’t believe they were having this conversation now, “She just got shot at with lasers!”

“Yeah, let’s go,” Bridget said running ahead. The teens had already started running, with lasers to follow. He ran joining his sister, watching in horror as Adrien got separated from the girls. Huang went to follow him but Bridget grabbed his arm, “Marinette is more important, besides the Akuma is after her. We’ll have a better chance at observing the heroes if we stick to her.”

They ran after the girls instead, and damn, these girls were fast. At least Bridget didn’t have a problem keeping pace behind them. Marinette yelled something to Makzenie that Huang couldn’t hear. Makzenie and Marinette went back and forth for a few seconds, while running.

Seriously where did these kids get their lung capacity from?

Mackenzie ran off from Marinette; Marinette turned around running backwards without losing speed, and oh Celestials help him, yelling at the Akuma. He doesn’t know how Sabine hasn’t succumbed to her stubborn need to be a bulwark.

A cry sounded as a black blob came down on the machine of the veicheal, the momentum the…cat hero brought knocked the machine into the building. Sounds of rubble falling, glass shattering, and metal snapping from the pressure could be heard as the building collapsed from the large machine.

“Dang,” he heard his sister say, her voice soft but disconnected. Her detachment was very telling that she heard some of the screams that made their way to their ears.

“Hello Purincess,” the Cheng sibling's heads whipped to Chat Noir as he bowed to their niece, “May I ask why someone Akumatized into an avatar from one of the popular games on the continent is after you?”

“I may have accidentally taken his place in the upcoming gaming tournament,” Marinette’s voice came out strained and her face showed shame.

“How did you accidentally take someone’s place in a tournament,” the feline hero frowned as he glanced between the Akuma and the girl.

“I just wanted a play a round and I beat him and then they said I’m playing then and no one would listen to me when I tried to say I didn’t want to participate and he’s been mad at me since yesterday,” Marinette said fast-paced as she looked to the Akuma and took a step closer to the hero.

“Can you get me out of here real quick?”

“How about I get you out of here real quick?”

They said at the same time.

Huang was very close to yelling in frustration, he did not have the necessary materials on hand to follow them. A heavy sigh that morphed into a groan sounded beside him, he saw his sister glaring at the direction the cat hero had taken their niece. He was thankful that looks did, in fact, not kill.

“It’s fine,” she hissed. He knew for a fact that it was not fine, but they also had bigger problems. “We can just follow the Akuma and observe the heroes,” Bridget said as the giant machine got up and began to shoot lasers and get…plus symbols. Guess Huang could give credit where it was due, the guy knew how to be on theme.

Chasing the machine and trying to help citizens had made Huang send his drinks away long ago. At least the heroes were here now, including a new turtle-themed one. The turtle hero did not seem to be as familiar with the game as the main duo.

Now Bridget and Huang watched from the top of a building as the turtle hero put a dome around the stadium. It wasn’t a great place to be but they got a general gist of what was happening. Their goal had come to minimize his level-ups and disturbance to the rest of the city.

“It’s so hard to see,” Bridget complained, she squinted hard at the structure, “at least I could follow Grater.”

“What a kid get cut trying to help mom with the cheese,” Huang said as he resummoned his drinks, offering Bridget the tea.

Bridget murmured thanks before shaking her head, eyes still glued to the dome, “Akuma not even half a day being here, she was giant.”

“Bigger than the robot,” he asked curiously.

“Taller than the school,” she said still squinting. Suddenly she faced him, shoving her reading glasses in his face, “Enchant them.”

“Excuse me,” Huang leaned away from the excited woman.

“You heard me.”

“Yes I did, figure of speech,” Huang frowned. “I can’t just cast spells willy nilly Bridge. It’s dangerous to do it so carelessly.”

“Just make them act as binoculars temporally.”

Huang really wished he could say she was convincing. She wasn’t, but he couldn’t say no to her. He held the glasses for a second, pushing energy into them, making a limited pocket of magic on the item.

“There,” he said turning to his now cold coffee. “Ten minutes, you can see through the stadium better than I can and closely if you concentrate.”

Huang rested his chin sipping his drink, it’d take more energy from him to reheat it than to summon a new one. A bright pink light shined through the barrier, making him raise his eyebrows at the structure.

“Spray paint,” Bridget said beside him in question.

“They lucky thing?”

“Yeah,” Bridget said, “And it’s lucky charm.”

Huang sucked in a breath to retort but it died down when the barrier around the stadium had fallen. Seconds after he sees the turtle hero jump to the top of the stadium and throw something large. And seconds after that, red bugs flew through the sky, undoing the damage from the Akuma.

Huang watched mouth agape. The magic made his insides warm and spin, he felt as awake as he had before the Akuma, everything around him felt notched to 100th degree, like everything was on blast. He looked at his cup and reheated it without feeling any sort of drain.

He grabbed Bridget’s reading glasses, “Hey!”

Like an eager child for some candy made a thicker braid of magic on the item. It was so easy. Huang laughed in a partially crazed state, this city was practically a hub of magic at every level of being.

“It’s permanent,” he said, handing the glasses back.

“What?” Bridget put the glasses on, she gasped after putting them on and she faced her brother, “I thought you couldn't do magic all willy-nilly?”

“Not on my own,” Huang said standing up, he took a deep breath. “Not without worrying about using up my magical resources or reserves. This city is rebuilt and destroyed by magic almost daily, sometimes right?”

“Yeah,” Bridget nodded, thinking over the back-to-back Akuma’s she’d read on.

“Every single time,” he moved his hand with each enucleation that came from his mouth, “she cases that spell it didn't just rebuild and bring back the dead.” His words were almost breathless and made Bridget move so she sat on the ledge of the building watching her older brother pace.

“It made the very buildings imbued with it, the people probably have natural reserves inside of them that they don't even realize they have,” he ran his hands down his face. “It’s in the very air we breathe, the soil we walk on, the plants we pass, it's everywhere.”

He laughed again, this time giddier in sound, he looked almost as if he was gonna dance around on his tiptoes.

“I can’t believe I didn't realize this soon,” he continued pacing. He paced a moment to face Bridget again, “I mean I did, just not at this caliber.” His feet were soft despite the urgency they had taken. “But I feel it now,” he stopped and looked at the city and the stadium.

The heroes were long gone at this point, but the residue of their magic was still lasting. Huang didn't even need to try to see the remnants of Ladybug’s magic flitting through the air.

“Don’t you see it,” Huang said, “It’s still there.”

Bridget turned around confused, she never understood her brother when he got like this. He’d long stopped but when it came to magic he slipped into that same crazed wonder he’d use to talk about the world around them. It made her feel like a little girl again, looking over a field to see, to understand, what it was her brother saw.

For once she saw exactly what he had been talking about.

Speckles of green that were just barely visible surrounded the stadium and from there spread out strips of red.

“You mean the,” Huang interrupted Bridget with clear certainty, “Yes.”

After standing there for what was certainly too long Bridget spoke up, “I think we should go back.”

Huang still stared out, “Yeah, yeah. Go.”

And on the way back to the bakery Huang was much more aware of the city around them.

-

“And then Marinette tripped, face in the carpet,” the young woman laughed, “but she didn’t spill a single drop of the soup.”

“I find that highly doubtful,” Damian frowned at her. “The amount of skill and experience needed not to spill any of the soup would have also kept her from tripping in the first place.”

“You’d think,” Fei laughed before taking a bit from her plate. “Her mom has trained her in self-defense and stuff but she does not have a sense of balance.”

Cass silently giggled next to her while Stephanie smiled with as much amusement over the story. Bruce watched as his daughter’s friend interacted with his son. Tim was “staying late at the office” so he could not join them this evening with Miss Fei Wu.

Bruce kept a pleased smile as he ate, a good part of it was out of being polite but he was happy his daughter had found a friend during her temporary mission in Hong Kong. Though she had met the young woman when she went to investigate Shanghai as he had requested.

Fei was to fly back to Shanghai within the next week, and Bruce had yet to try and prod any information out of her about what she’d experienced during that night in the city. But it seemed his daughter could tell every time when he was going to ask about it, which didn’t surprise him, he should have expected, she seemed to be against him asking her about it.

“Mr. Cheng is one of the best chefs in the world, but I couldn’t tell you who is better,” Fei said deflecting Stephanie’s targetted question.

“I would rather like to have a competition between Pennyworth and Cheng,” Damian spoke up, and he raised his chin as he declared, “but Pennyworth would certainly win. His skills in the kitchen are unmatched.”

“You and your competitions,” Cass signed with a playful roll of her eyes.

“They are the only proper way to measure someone’s competence in such a manner,” Damian frowned defiantly.

“Sure Dami,” Stephanie said dryly, “Like the cart race in the Blüdhaven Target, you thought all of you were extremely competent.”

“I do not appreciate your sarcasm or that eye roll at the end Brown,” Damian squinted at Stephanie before continuing his meal. Stephanie snickered before doing the same. Fei had followed suit in snickering and turned back to Cass.

“We should do that with my friends in Shanghai,” Fei’s face was mischievous and was soon matched by Cass who grinned back.

Oh, Bruce did not like the sound of that. But he would preserve through.

After dinner Cass, Stephanie, and Fei went to the family sitting room while Bruce and Damian went to “rest” for the rest of the night. For as much as Bruce wanted to stay behind to try and get information out of Fei, he knew by this point that it wasn’t going to happen. That and he wasn’t very sure about leaving just Tim, Jason, and Damian on the field, even with Barabra and Alfred.

Stephanie snickered for a moment before bursting out laughing after Bruce had bid the three girls goodnight. She looked between Fei and Cass giddy.

“I still can’t believe you snuck in a magic-using hero,” Steph whispered.

“Not exactly what I am, but,” Fei tilted her head as she extended the word, “It kinda counts.”

“B would freak out regardless,” Steph said crisscrossed. She leaned back and forth, “So while you tell me about the night Bruce really wants the dets to, have you ever played Yahtzee?”

Fei shook her head making Steph light up, “Perfect!”

Stephanie got up and ran to get the game out, Fei’s phone buzzed. Fei looked and smiled, she tried not to sigh.

“Marinette,” Cass questioned with amusement.

“Yep,” Fei laughed. It was what? One in the morning over there? The girl needed sleep, regardless of her and Adrien’s nightly duties. “Wish I could strap her to a bed and take over for her.”

Cass hummed as Steph got back, “Did I hear Marinette?”

“Yeah,” Fei waved her phone. “Probably doing one of her many projects.”

“You said she designs and sews right?” Steph looked up at her as she pulled out the game from the box. Fei responded as she replied to the younger teen, “Yeah, she knits and crochets too. Makes her own clothes.”

“That’s so awesome, wish I had the time to do that,” Steph passed Cass sheets for both her and Fei.

“She doesn’t have the time, but she makes it.”

“Really?” Steph looked at her again.

“She’s a miracle worker,” Fei said, she fought to not laugh at her pun. She took one last look at her phone before turning it off. She smiled with her full attention on the blond, “So how do we play this?”

Marinette:

Hey this next week I’m going to be in New York, you said you were in Gotham right?

Could we call at some point? It would be great to call while in the same timezone!

Me:

Sure thing Marinette! Can’t wait!

#taking flight #maribat #maribat fic #maribat fanfic #maribat marinette dupain cheng #maribat adrien agreste #maribat bridget cheng #maribat sabine cheng #maribat bruce wayne #maribat chat noir #maribat damian wayne #maribat fei wu #maribat cass #maribat stephanie brown

[phantoms-lair]

58

Batfam AU Go!

Existing AU: Taking Flight!

"I thought of calling it something like my parents would, like the Ectoplasm Metaosmosis Circulatory Purification Vat, but without the name Fenton attached because I'm not a Fenton anymore and that would show it. Then I decided that was still allowing them to influence what I do, even out of spite. So I'm calling it the Zombie Spa."

Jason looked at the retrofitted jacuzzi filled with bubbling green fluid that looked far too close to the Lazarus pit for his liking. "You want to run me through this?"

"So what you guys call the Lazarus Pits are kind of like...cesspool runoff from the Infinite Realms." Danny began.

Jason felt immediately torn between amusement at the thought of Ra’s's precious Pits being interdimensional cesspools and disgust at the thought that he'd been dropped in one.

"And ectoplasm is metaphysically sticky. Once it's in something, even if it's not enough to have much of an effect, it does not let go. So when you absorbed all that corrupted ectoplasm when the pits did whatever it did to you, well, it's still there."

And disgust it was. Jason had the strong urge to go shower under scalding hot water, and not go for a dip in a hot tub filled with what looked like the exact same stuff.

"So getting the ectoplasm out of your system is one thing, and would likely have horrific side effects, but purifying it is a whole lot easier. This works through osmosis -which is not mitosis and I did not almost name this incorrectly because I confused the two terms- basically the contamination would diffuse through the ectoplasm in the Zombie Spa until it reached equilibrium with the contamination inside you. However, the ectofiltrators will be filtering it out, so the tub will quickly return to being corruption free, until there’s no more corruption in you.” Danny looked proud. Jason was still unsure though. “Just to err on the side of informed consent, what kind of horrific consequences are we talking about?” “Well, ectoplasm is a bit unpredictable,” Danny hedged. “But the two most likely scenarios are either parts of your personality and psyche get ripped out too, or it undoes what the pit did in the first place, which if I understand everything correctly, would leave you as a broken corpse.”

Yep, that qualified as horrific. “And how do you know this will work as intended?” Danny brightened and pulled out a plastic baggy with a green tinged sponge in it. “I got some of those ‘real sea sponge’ loofahs from the fancy bathroom place because absorbent organic material. Which is really kind of morbid? Scrub yourself clean with this animal’s corpse?”

“Most of those are from the cucumber gourd.” Jason explained. “Not at this place. Anyhow, I soaked some of the ‘natural sea sponge’ in the runoff that creates the Lazarus pits. Thankfully it didn’t come back to life because to tell you the truth, I have no idea how I would have dealt with that. If there’s one thing the ocean doesn’t need, it’s more ghosts.” Jason had several questions, none of them he was inclined to ask. Danny upended the bag into the Zombie Spa. Though the ectoplasm clinging to the sponge was initially the same color, upon contact with the purified ectoplasm it turned a much darker shade of green. The darkness spread in a tiny ring around it and the little devices on the outside of the spa clicked on. “Thankfully Ecto Filtrators are one of my parents' inventions I know inside and out.” Danny commented. “I mean, I don’t really understand the science of it, but I know the mechanics.” “You’re trusting one of your parent’s inventions?” Jason raised an eyebrow. Danny shrugged. ”This one, yeah. So for most ectoplasmic beings, ectoplasm is basically water. Our bodies are made up of it. It’s rarely in pure dihydrogen monoxide form, there’s at least minerals and stuff mixed in. Sure there’s nasty contamination you don’t want to touch, but for the most part it doesn’t matter if it’s not ‘pure’. For the portal, it matters. A lot. Like, any impurities whatsoever and it WILL explode. Absolutely take out the building, most of the block, at worst a few miles radius.”

Jason starred. “And when I started slacking on my chores due to superheroing, they put me in charge of changing the ecto-filtrator, so I got real familiar with it.”

“Back up.” Green seeped into Jason’s eyes. “They decided the best way to teach you responsibility was to put you in a situation where if you made one mistake, untold destruction and people's lives would be on your shoulders?”

Danny shrunk a little. “It’s not like they were the only ones.”

Right. Clockwork. But Jason couldn’t shoot Clockwork. And very few people in Gotham would blame him for shooting the Fentons.

“Anyways, see how the color’s equalized.” Danny drew Jason’s attention back to the Zombie Spa in a blatant attempt to change the topic. “The corruption's been drawn out and all contaminants in the filters. And no damage to the sponge, see?” He reached in and pulled out the sea sponge, which looked cleaner but showed no signs of damage. “We tested it a bunch of times too. Not just with sea sponges, I even tried it myself.” Danny was giving him a  look and it puzzled Jason a bit. If it looked like he was trying to be reassuring, or pleading with Jason to trust his work that would have made sense. But it looked more like Danny was hoping for approval. Why would he…

Oh he was definitely going to shoot Jack and Maddie Fenton. Danny was desperate for Jason to see that he had tested it, that he’d made sure it would be safe for Jason, in short that he was nothing like his parents, who’d been more than willing to gamble with Danny’s life rather than do any kind of small scale test run.

“Looks good kid.” Jason didn’t know if this would remove the Pit’s influence from him, but at this point he was willing to take the plunge if only to reassure the kid he trusted him. Undead bros had to stick together, after all.

#Ghost Writing #Taking Flight #Batfam AU #Batman #Danny Phantom

[vapidlyfleeting]

I want to start enjoying life, and part of that involves not dwindling away my time worrying about what others might think of me. I can't keep letting other's opinions hold me back, tie me down, or keep me down. I'm ready to let my fairy wings spread and take flight 🧚🏻‍♀️🩷

#Fairycore #ramblings #taking flight

[thmgau]

CHAPTER 21 - TAKING FLIGHT [wattpad link]

---

“Nora. Nora, wake up.”

Something was shaking at Nora, rudely interrupting her awesome dream about applying to become a chair.

Opening her eyes & rubbing them, she could kind of see now: it was Sorrel awakening her.

“What do you want?” she yawned, stretching her arms. “There’s kids in our living room.” “Huh..? What are you-”

As she sat up in bed, Nora remembered what had happened the day before. She had let Spring & Storm stay at her apartment for the night. Nora guessed she had completely forgotten to tell Sorrel before she went to bed.

“Oh! You mean Spring & Storm?” Nora asked, shoving the blanket off of her. “I offered to let them stay the night here before we got their parents back together. Don’t worry ‘bout it.” “I thought you were a magical hero, not a marriage counselor.” “It's a long story.” “I’ve got time. Not like either of us have a job anyway.”

Hopping out of bed, Nora made her way to the kitchen as Sorrel followed. She made breakfast (pancakes!) while explaining yesterday’s events to them.

“So.. they’re like, gods or something?” “I guess so, yeah.” “& they want you to.. get their parents back together?” “Pretty much.” “I hope you’re gettin’ paid for this. Rent’s due soon, yea?” “Yea, but Cherry’s mom usually handles our rent for us.” “That’s.. nice of her.” “Yup. Not sure how much longer that’ll last, though.” Nora chuckled, flipping the last of the pancakes onto the plate. “Do you know if Spring & Storm are awake yet?” “When I walked in, they were fast asleep on the couch. Probably still are.” “Alright. You think you could carry a few of these plates for me?” “Sure.”

Nora & Sorrel each grabbed 2 plates each as they walked over to the couch, where Spring & Storm were. She had given them pillows & blankets to sleep with, along with some old clothes Nora had lying around for pajamas. She didn’t want them sleeping in jeans, after all. Spring was still asleep, but Nora could see Storm was waking up a bit.

“Hey, Storm.” “..g’mornin.” “I made breakfast,” Nora smiled, sitting the two plates of pancakes on the coffee table. “Thought you might be hungry.” “Oh, um.. thanks.”

Storm sat up & took one of the plates off of the coffee table. She grabbed the fork & cut off a small bite out of the pancake, eating it.

“Mm.. this is good.” “Thank you! I’m glad you like them so much!”

Taking another bite out of her pancakes, Storm took a glance at her sister, who was still sleeping soundly.

“Classic Spring. She always sleeps in at the Castle.” “I tend to sleep in a lot as well,” Nora chuckled, taking one of the plates from Sorrel’s hands & sitting down in the recliner. “I’ve missed a lot of classes this semester because of it.”

Sorrel, not wanting to attract the attention of Spring & Storm, went to go eat their pancakes in a separate room.

“Anyways..” Nora hummed. “We’re supposed to get your parents together again today, yea?” “Yup.” Storm nodded. “We’ll have to go up into space to go it. I suppose you haven’t been there yet, yea?” “Yea, no. We’ve never been to space. I’m not even sure how we’re supposed to get there.” “Well, you have the book. I’m sure there’s definitely something in there about it. I haven’t read most of it myself, but.. y’know.” “You haven’t read the book?” “No. Only Fate & Betty were allowed to read it before sending it down to Earth.” “Ah.. I see. Well, Kalani has the book, so I’ll have to text him about bringing it over here.”

Setting her pancakes aside, Nora took out her phone & sent a text to the group chat.

Nora: yo can u all meet up at my apartment Nora: bring the book while ur at it kalani

“There we go!” Nora grinned. “It’s only 8 AM, they should be waking up soon anyway.”

The moment the words fell out of Nora’s mouth, she spotted Spring waking up.

“Good morning!” she yawned, stretching her arms out. “Yo.” “Good morning, Spring! I’ve made breakfast if you’re hungry.” “Ooh,” Spring said, sitting up. “Those look good.” “They are.”

The next 5 to 10 minutes consisted of the girls eating their breakfast & waiting for the others to show up. As Nora finished her pancakes, there was a knock at her door. She got up & answered it, & lo & behold: it was the rest of the group.

“G’mornin, y’all!” Nora smiled as her friends entered her apartment. “Good morning!” “Yea, good morning. Do we have to do this at 8 in the morning?” “Hey, nobody said we were leaving right now.” “..fair.”

As everyone got settled in, Kalani set the book down on the coffee table.

“One magical book, as per your request, madam.” Kalani said, winking at Nora. “It’s an absolute pleasure,” Nora said, opening the book up. “Now let’s see.. what page are we supposed to go to?” “I dunno. Just flip around until you find something relevant.” “Alrighty.”

Nora flipped through some of the pages until she landed on a page titled “Flight”.

“This seems on-topic, I think.” Juniper hummed. “Yea, let’s see what this says..” Nora said, leaning in to read what was written. “‘As heroes, you will need a way to get around quickly without hassle. This is why we have granted you with the power of flight.’” “Ok, first of all, that’s sick as hell. Second of all, since when was flight considered not a hassle?” “Flying would definitely help us get to class faster..” “‘In order to fly, you will need to enter Hero Mode-’ Of course. ‘-& simply lift yourself up into the air.’” “Sounds easy enough. Let’s try it.”

Pulling on their necklaces, the group transformed into Hero Mode.

“This’ll be fun to watch.” Storm chuckled.

“Alrighty!” Leslie grinned. “It says we just have to lift ourselves off of the ground, right?” “Yup. That’s what it says.” “So we’re supposed to jump?” “Maybe? Are we allowed to jump in here?” “I don’t think anyone lives below me. I’m sure it’s fine.”

Kalani jumped up. She landed right back onto the ground.

“It didn’t work.” “Maybe I should have kept that pull-up bar my dad gave me when I was 9. That would be pretty helpful right about now.” “Have you tried double-jumping?” “Double-jumping isn’t real.” “Yea, you’d be the one to know double-jumping isn’t real, wouldn’t you, Cherry?” “Oh, whatever. It wasn’t that bad.” “You literally tried to double-jump onto the school roof & ended up banging your face against the wall.” “So? It could have ended worse.” “How do you even attempt a double-jump in the first place?” “I don’t know, but it’s not whatever Cherry did, that’s for sure.” “Remember that one video of those dudes fighting & there was the one guy who jumped & hung there in the air for a solid 2 seconds?” “How could I forget? That was fucking cool.” “What if we tried to do that?” “But how?” “Maybe we just have to think about it! Like with the weapons!” “Surely that’s not gonna-”

Leslie hopped up into the air. As a surprise to everyone (including Spring & Storm), it managed to stay in the air.

“Woah! I’m doing it!” “Well. I stand corrected.” “Nice job!” Spring grinned. “Thank you!”

Leslie floated down to the ground, landing with a little trip in their step, but mostly calm. “Maybe we shouldn’t be flying in the apartment, though. Might be safer to try it outside.”

“Well, thankfully, outside is where we need to go next. So let’s do it.”

#thmgau #taking flight

[draconic-anomaly]

A Dragon Name

re: the dragon name post from 2 days ago

I want to preface this with a brief overview of my understanding of my own flavor of draconic culture. My noemata contradicts itself here, because I have strong sensations of:

being a solitary hunter, similar to a tiger

living and hunting as a pack, like wolves do

living in settlements made up of multiple families/packs with established social structure and human-like intelligence

All of three of which can't really co-exist, at least by Earth logic? But they all feel like dragon and they all feel like me. That's a mystery for another day; for now let's stay focused on the topic at hand.

In all three variants of draconic life/culture, names are based off traits or behaviors that the dragon in question exhibits. In the 3rd variant, in which language is the most developed and robust, personal pronouns are as well. In all variants, dragons have three sexes and no concept of gender! Instead, pronouns are based off the role that dragon fills, such as the leader role, hunter role, or caretaker role. But elaborating on that could be its own post, I bring it up to demonstrate how draconic culture and language handles the concept of referring to individuals.

Names are similar, but based on attributes more personal than one's role, such as scale color, abilities, or reputation. A dragon is given a name upon hatching that is typically representative of a noteworthy physical feature, but may also represent a unique event that happened around the time of their laying/hatching, or the the feelings of the parent(s) at the time.

I believe this name would be added onto over time to better reflect the individual, while keeping the hatching-name intact, similar to the naming conventions of Warrior cats.

For example, a dragon born with striking blue scales might be named Blue at hatching. Later in life, Blue turns out to be an extraordinarily fast flyer, and earns the name Blue-quick. As an older dragon, Blue-quick amasses an impressive hoard and becomes Blue-quick-plenty. Between Blue-quick-plenty's hoard and skill in the air, Blue-quick-plenty is elected leader of the community and is now referred to as Blue-quick-plenty-guide.

Of course, that's a rough simplification, if not bastardization, of the method considering I'm only piecing this together from mere flickers of knowledge. But the general idea is there!

Additionally, it's a crude translation of what would be draconic words, but I'm very hesitant to use specific draconic words as I have little to no noemata regarding them and would feel like I'm just making them up. However, at the same time I can also sense that there are words in draconic that English simply lacks. For example, just while writing this, I discovered that draconic has a specific word for "wild boar hunter", but I don't actually know what it is.

With all that in mind, coming up with a draconic name is as simple as taking an attribute I had at hatching and applying a couple additional attributes. Whether I choose to base my name off my human life or dragonself is up to me. I'll keep you all posted if I end up finding a suitable name with this method!

#otherkin #dragonkin #alterhuman #noemata #kin memories #taking flight #lumi original #lumi thoughts

[theseimmortalcoils]

Taking flight. Source unknown.

#white wings #wings #taking flight #black & white photography #beauty

[ophelia-network]

“What is it to discover you have wings? What is it to be afraid of your wings? What is it to discover at the end of your life that you had wings and never flew? What is it to find out that you were hidden from yourself? What is it to be forgotten? Each day we are forgotten by ourselves through ourselves, For we do not believe, in who we are.” ― Mimi Novic, The Silence Between the Sighs

DRAGONQUEST (1978) by Michael Whelan, Cover illustration for the book by Anne McCaffrey (Del Rey)

#dragonquest #michael whelan #mimi novic #dragons #verse #sky #fantasy art #taking flight #ophelia net #inspirational quotes #wings #self discovery #inner journey #inner healing #inner self #self healing #self love #belief #faith #realisation #encouraging quotes #fly #authenticity #inner power #awakening #conscious #consciousawakening #inner experience