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kurara-black-blog · 2 years
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Who remembers, 22/07/21, when Tumblr tried to make post+ a thing and we all came together in rage and disbelief?
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blondiefun699 · 2 months
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Wanna play 😛
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ghostespresso · 9 months
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staff logging on to tumblr dot com today
#staff sweetie i Promise you an algorithm would kill this webbed site#changing the way reblogs look/work would Absolutely kill this webbed site too#this is a Blogging Platform i dont want it to be like tiktok or twitter jesus#if you NEED to change something literally listen to the the Tumblr Users you pretend you cant hear#if money is what you need make your userbase Happy and you should be fine#the shop is fine blaze posts are fine ad free subscriptions are fine but dont get rid of shit that Works For You in favor of making money#someone really laced up their clown boots today im. so tired staff please dont#tumblr staff#EDIT: staff updated their original post to say we were all misunderstanding but#that doesnt stop the post from being stupid#the whole post was worded for Investors and then presented to the userbase#if you say 'we have big changes planned!' and dont put in the 'as options' its Your Fault that people read it as 'were changing everything'#staff isnt stupid. they know how they Should have worded it better than what they did#so yeah. someone Did lace up their clown boots before they hit post#edit pt 2 lol for the record i dont think tumblr would actually go through with all their changes in that post#they know how the userbase is and there are A Lot of us#i just dont like how? idk. condescending? the post sounded#and out of every place on the internet being being burned alive in the name of money#tumblr is the one place i know enough about to be Actually mad at lol#ive really liked some stuff staff has done in recent years#but talking to your userbase that way wasnt one
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y'all. do you even know what you're missing if you don't watch play it by ear on dropout tv. they've got it all. nerds improvising musical theatre in a 30-40 minute format?? about everything and anything you could imagine??? polyamorous 90's teenagers spending a night at the mall. fun facts about platypuses. a noir detective that has an invisible vape. insanely horny ren faire shenanigans. a gay song about unicycles that will make you forget it's all improvised because it's just so fucking good. gay bear wedding. I could go on but I don't have to, because you can just go to dropout tv right now and check it out for yourself
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greetings-inferiors · 2 months
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0 is a natural number
I think they should stick the heads of people who say 0 is a natural number on pikes outside of the maths department at the local university.
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gayvampyr · 4 months
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it should be illegal to not say how much your app or product costs up front
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one of my favorite things about zedaph is that on a server full of people that find strange and oft-overlooked minecraft mechanics or rare events and then see just how far they can push them in the name of spectacle or efficiency or world-breaking, zed is over here finding these mechanics in order to do the weirdest things he can think of in as entertaining a manner as possible
like i 100% have faith in zedaph's theoretical ability to be just as efficient or spectacular or world-breaking. if he wanted to do that stuff, i trust that he absolutely could. but thats so far from being his priority. instead, hes going to spend around a week of irl time focused entirely on eventually having the good luck to spawn in something insanely rare so that he can convert it into something even rarer, the result of which being something that 99% of the server reacts with complete and utter shock that it even exists in the first place, just because its zany and funny and he wanted to. and i love that
#zedaph#hermitcraft#genuinely i adore the clucky few project im not even done watching the episode and i had to pause and make this post#i saw impulses video first and went ''that HAS to be some sort of datapack or something-''#only to immediately go ''no. no it cant be. because this is zed#and its practically a trademark of his to push the limits of the game as far as possible in the direction least expected#not for the purpose of efficiency or spectacle or intimidation or whatever like some players who push limits#but purely for the purpose of making something so funny you cant help but laugh at whats going on#and maybe being a bit impressed that he ever thought of it in the first place''#at which point i went ''holy shit. since its zed doing this. somehow he ACTUALLY got a villager on a chicken. with no cheats. thats INSANE'#i was relieved when i checked my subscriptions to see what the next video i had to watch was and saw he would be next in line#bc if i had to sit through 19 other hermits videos before i could watch his and find out what the fuck he was doing i would have been so sa#sidenote but i feel like a zed video where he interacts with this many other people all in the same video is so rare#idk i didnt watch season 9 and i know he started collabing a lot more w/ other hermits then#so maybe its not nearly as rare these days#but like the last one that *i* saw where he interacted with this many people at once was towards the end of season 8#when all the people he experimented on earlier in the season came back to experiment on him#and like i would like zeds videos with or without the collabs. but its a lot of fun to see him interact with people#so its very cool to me when he does it with a lot of people all in the same video
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Bring Me Home Subscription Post
Story Summary: Tim and Danny are both neglected by parents who care more about their work than their families. They deal with this by spending too much time online and find each other playing MMORPGs. They keep up their friendship as Tim becomes Robin and Danny becomes Phantom and don't bother keeping secrets from each other.
How To Use a Subscription Post
Original Prompt and Fill
Alternative Fill Option from Ask Game
Friend Request (Arc 1): AO3; Tumblr - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Silver and Gold (Arc 2): AO3; Tumblr - Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20
Arc 3: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4
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katy-l-wood · 1 year
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deviantART, Twitter, and the Death of the Social Media Subscription (And why tumblr might be getting it right.)
Okay, so I've been thinking about making this post for the last couple weeks since Twitter started melting down, and now deviantART is melting down as well which adds an interesting new twist. This post isn't going to discuss AI art directly, but I will touch on userbase feedback/administrative response in relation to what happened with dA.
Firstly, a little background on me: I grew up on dA. It was my first social media site and for a long time my only one. I started using it without an account when I was around 10/11 and made my first account when I was 12 in 2007 (which, of course, involved lying about my age). From then on I LIVED there. I uploaded art, I joined and ran contests, I became a volunteer for the forums in my mid teens, I alpha and beta tested new features, I wrote detailed write-ups of new feature launches, I watched the site launch multiple new versions of itself, I filled out feedback surveys, and I paid for years of subscriptions before I got seniority from being a former volunteer. Hell, they even offered me a job once, but I was 18 and no amount of money in the world would make me willingly move to Hollywood where they were based.
Point is, I was tuned in. Immensely. So what I'm talking about here? It's from that point of view.
dA has had subscriptions the entire time I was a member. They were always relatively affordable and offered you features that made the site better, but if you didn't have them the site was still perfectly usable. The subscriptions originally got you stuff like using journal skins, putting custom CSS on your page, access to private subscriber forums and chats, more storage room, etc.. Perks, but nothing you couldn't function without. Over the years other things were added, like being able to schedule uploads or change your username, but, again, these were PERKS. The site was still totally usable without those features. Your art still got seen, people could still find your content in the search, people could still leave comments.
But here's where Twitter and it's current nonsense comes in: as part of a dA subscription you got a special symbol in front of your name. These symbols changed over the years and originally were just standard keyboard symbols. For example, as a senior, before the symbols changed to what they are now, my username looked like this:
^Katy-L-Wood (which was affectionately referred to as the senior hat.)
If I was staff, my username would have looked like this:
$Katy-L-Wood
There were other symbols as well for things like volunteers, deactivated/banned users, and regular users. Everyone had their symbol and it worked so well. It let you know at a glance if a member was a trusted staff member that would give you real information about something, or a volunteer that could help you with harassment in the forums, or a senior member that likely knew all the ins and outs of the website.
To me, it feels like that's more in line with what Musk should have done with Twitter. He should have left verification as it was, and then introduced a new symbol to denote subscribed users. A blue plus sign or something. If you were verified AND subscribed you'd get, IDK, a blue check with a white outline around the blue. (And, even then, an additional symbol wouldn't have really been necessary, but everyone just likes neat little badges. They're like stickers. Everyone loves stickers.)
Then give the subscribed users special features that ENHANCE the site, but don't serve as a detriment if you don't have them. Give them a more robust inbuilt scheduling system. Give them security features like inbuilt auto-deleting of older tweets. Give them larger upload limits for images and videos. Give them more profile customization. Give them a longer bio with multiple links. Give them the newsletter feature. Give them the monetization features.
Because you know what? It is totally valid for a website to offer subscriptions, to try and monetize themselves. It costs money to run a big social media site, and advertising as we know it is dying. Websites need to figure out other ways to bring in money, and a good subscription model can do that.
But Twitter did not choose a good subscription model. They chose one that caused chaos to the tune of billions of dollars across multiple major industries. They choose one that would have made the site totally unusable without the subscription, due to how it was supposed to push subscribed users tweets onto the main feed.
Then we circle back to deviantART. I could talk about the downfall and now death of deviantART for HOURS. But we'll focus on subscriptions here. Because their subscriptions are no longer worth it. The majority of the fun perks are gone. There's levels to the subscriptions now, and those of us like myself who were supposed to have lifetime subscriptions as a thank you for helping moderate the site are not at the topmost level, which feels like a kick in the teeth.
And the limited features the subscriptions do have now? Many aren't perks. They are major functionality aspects. You want to get any sort of analytics for your page? Pay for them. You want to be able to take commissions via the website for more than $100? Pay for it. You want to customize your page to suit you and your work like you used to be able to do with a subscription? Well, you only get a couple choices now, and no custom CSS.
Then there's Fragments. IDK why, but deviantART seems obsessed with coming up with weird little currencies that cause a ton of harm. Their first one, Points, tanked the art market EVERYWHERE, even outside the website, in a way that still has an effect well over a decade later. Now they've gone and added a second one on top of the Points, which are still there as well. This new one is called Fragments. Fragments can be used to purchase little badges that you can award to deviations you like, comments you enjoy, etc.. There's three levels and the third one, the diamond badge, is the issue here.
See. As a senior member I get gifted 300 of these Fragments every week by dA, and I get to use them to purchase the badges. A diamond badge, specifically, costs 300 Fragments, and if I give someone a diamond badge (and they're not subscribed yet), it ALSO gives them a free month of the lowest level subscription. So every month I can, essentially, hand out a free month of subscription to anyone on the site.
I just checked my account and, as I've never used Fragments, they've just built up in my account. I have over 18,000 of them right now, which is enough to award 61 months of membership. A month normally costs $3.95, so all told that's about $250 worth of memberships that I can hand out using just over a year's worth of fragments.
Clearly, dA is banking on people getting a taste of subscription and then paying to continue it. But they're still essentially handing every subscribed user a $250 check every year. 10 users and that's $2,500 they're not getting. 100 users and it's $25,000. For a company hemorrhaging money and struggling to hold on to its userbase, there are a lot better ways to keep users around that don't involve trying to coerce them into paying using underhanded marketing techniques.
It doesn't matter, though, because ever since dA launched their new "Eclipse" version of the site, and now this fiasco with AI, there are no recovery options left. They're done. They have exhausted all goodwill anyone had for them. They took away tons of subscription features, they took away tons of site features overall, and time and time again since Eclipse launched they have 100% ignored user feedback. AI is not the first time they asked "hey, how do you feel about this?" a few months before launching a new feature, and then completely ignored every single thing the userbase said and launched the feature anyway. Then, this time with the AI, they not only did that, they were outright rude towards those who rightfully called them out. During the live meeting with the CEO and concerned artists the CEO repeatedly talked over those who were present, dismissed concerns, and just outright acted like. Well. An asshole CEO.
All of this is to say: a subscription model CAN be a great way to keep a website alive, to not be beholden to a world of dying advertisers, but you've gotta do it right and you've gotta do it consistently. Twitter did it wrong, and it'll kill them. deviantART started out doing right, did a 180, and now it's going to help kill them.
But tumblr. Ah tumblr. Our little blue hellsite. They've dipped their toes in the water of subscriptions and, so far, haven't really gotten those toes chewed off for doing it wrong. And why? Because they've made it fun to give them money in support of the website. It's fun to get crabs or a shitty horse on your dash (or inflict them on others), it's fun to mock the Twitter downfall with the special double blue checks, but the site is still totally usable without these things. (Er, well, as usable as tumblr ever is, lol.)
I, personally, would like to see tumblr build a more robust subscription/monetization system, because I think it could be what saves this site we love so much. But they have to keep it fun. They have to keep it optional. They have to keep the site usable without it. They have to make people want to subscribe, not force us to because there's no other way to use the site, or because we've been tricked into it.
(Putting the words "Long Post" here so they'll stay attached even in reblogs.)
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cl0ckworkpuppet · 3 months
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time for my monthly mp3 player propaganda post!
yall. don't fucking stream music off of youtube or spotify. they pay their creators shit. the most generous estimate i could find was artists being paid $1 for every 200 streams (0.5¢ per stream), and unless you're listening to songs on an album thousands times in total, it helps tremendously more to just. buy their albums or subscribe to a patreon-like service for them
mp3 players are laughably inexpensive (you can get a decent one with bluetooth for like $40-50 and you can get away with even less if you forego some features), many of them are drag-and-drop, no ads, decent enough sound quality for the average person, unlimited skips, track selection, regular play and shuffle, playlists, being able to shut off your screen, and more importantly, ALL OF THIS IS AVAILABLE WITHOUT A SUBSCRIPTION. i've always been an avid hater of subscription models. there are some things where it's understandable, but you shouldn't lose access to basic QOL features just because you can't or won't fork over $10-15 a month.
"b-b-but $50 is so expensive!" WRONG. $50 (which is more than i've EVER spend on a single mp3 player) is the equivalent to 5 months on spotify premium without discounts. if you can afford that, it's worth investing into a device that can last you literal years if you get a good one and take good care of it
"but i don't wanna carry around another device!" fair enough, but these things are small enough to fit in tiny pockets (mine fits snugly in the watch pocket of my jeans) and are typically light enough to not be burdensome. if you can carry around your phone, you can carry around an mp3 player
"what if people think i'm weird for having outdated technology" let them. it's worth it in my opinion if it means i get to listen to music ad-free. the most I've ever gotten was "wooooah bro's got the dinosaur tech" and i just thought that was funny personally
"but what if the artist collapses without a constant stream of money!!! i'm not supporting the artist!!!!!" companies try to pay as little as they can get away with to artists. most of that money goes to the CEO and other higher-ups.
"but piracy is bad!" Piracy is a Crime. However, downloading youtube videos/audio for your own PERSONAL, NON-COMMERCIAL USE and NOT REDISTRIBUTING THEM is legal (generally, in the US, check your laws, i am not a lawyer, not legal advice, blah blah blah). besides, i never said you had to pirate your music. in fact, i encourage you to buy the albums of and support your favourite artists in other ways. some artists might even provide links for people to download their songs for free in high quality anyway
not gonna link products just in case someone thinks i'm a shill. but literally just look up "mp3 player" on your search engine or shopping site of choice and find something that doesn't look like it'll fall apart if you breathe on it too hard
seriously guys. if you listen to music more than like a few hours a week, and you don't get all of your music from livestreams or radios (although mine can connect to AM/FM radio), consider investing in an mp3 player. i tried out using one regularly in fall of 2021, and I haven't looked back. don't let companies drain subscription money from you
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too-much-tma-stuff · 8 months
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Settling in
Part 4 of my Demon Twins AU, a simple shopping trip between Danyal and Bruce, One of the Demon Head’s heirs try being childish. Previous First
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When they entered the high-end department store Bruce has selected Danny froze, there were so many colours, so much movement, so many people and music. He breathed through the anxiety, deep and slow, starting slightly when a large, warm hand landed on his shoulder. “Are you alright?” Bruce asked with a worried expression.
“Yes I’m fine,” Danny said automatically, before pausing for a moment and repeating more sincerely; “I’ll be fine, I just haven’t been in a store like this before. There’s a lot going on, and a lot of people. It’s an adjustment to be somewhere so… brightly lit.” He said, his lip curling slightly
“Alright, maybe I should have brought you somewhere smaller to start, but I didn’t know what style you would like so I wanted to bring you somewhere with a lot of options. We can leave and go somewhere quieter if you want?” Bruce offered.
“I’m grateful for the offer but no, I really will be alright,” Danny assured. “I don’t even know what styles I like. I intended to ask Tim to help me look up some inspiration, but I didn’t get the chance, so I guess I’ll find out what I like as I go. And you’ll have to tell me if something is entirely unacceptable. With as many children as you have you must know something about youth style,” He told Bruce who grimaced a little at the suggestion.
“If I turn out looking ridiculous I’m going to hold you personally responsible,” Danny teased his father with a cheeky smile, and Bruce huffed something that might have been a laugh.
“Well alright, I’ll do my best to help,” Bruce assured, shooing Danny deeper into the store who, reassured that Bruce would tell him if something was unacceptable, took off into the store. He found a bunch of different things, styled and cuts that he wanted to try on, just to see how they felt and looked.
“There’s a limit to how many things you can take into the changing room,” Bruce said when he saw how many thing Danny had grabbed. “Maybe you should go try these on for now and pick out more after?”
“Oh sure!” Danny said looking towards the changing room and then hesitated. “I’ll come out to show you the clothes?” He asked, looking back at his father.
“Of course, I’ll come wait just outside and anything you’re not sure of you can come show me. If you’re sure you don’t like it, or if you’re sure that you do you don’t have to ask me. I know you’re worried, but I really doubt anything you pick out will be totally terrible. This is a pretty high-end store, all the stuff they sell here is fashionable. It doesn’t all match but if you don’t clash colours I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Bruce assured as he lead the way over to the changing room.
He sat down on a bench outside the changing rooms while an attendant showed Danny to a room and he tried on the clothes. He rejected the tighter pants he’d picked out himself, they were too restrictive, the looser jeans were good, and so were the pants. Some of the shirts were good, he found he liked lighter colours on himself and he found some textures that felt good against his skin. He went out to show his father the two outfits that he liked, and with Bruce’s approval he went and picked out more clothes that he now knew would suit his taste. It ended up looking… well not unlike Tim’s style, though with lighter colours, which he sort of knew that it would honestly. He liked the way Tim dressed, he just hoped that Tim wouldn’t mind.
With enough clothes picked out for a decent wardrobe they went to check out, a few people were noticeably staring at them and Danny gave them an impassive but polite smile. He hoped that even though people had clearly recognized it wouldn’t cause problems. They had no such luck though, and were just finishing checking out when someone started taking photos. Bruce quickly hurried them out of the store, staying between Danny and the stranger as much as he could so the only photos would be blurry or obscured. It didn’t matter, they both knew that article would be in the paper by tomorrow morning.
They didn’t talk about it, instead Bruce just told him next they’d be going to was another, more private store where they would be getting him a couple of nice suits for events. Of course, that made sense, Bruce were suits all the time. For all casual clothes seemed to be the norm for Bruce’s children they all had to clean up for various press conferences and galas, Danny has seen the pictures.
The store they went to was really nice! It was quiet, the music they played was peaceful, it smelled like sandalwood, and the clothes were horribly uncomfortable. Danny found he Hated suits, they were scratchy, and warm and constrictive, but he knew they were necessary. He bore with it and said nothing, mostly letting father make the choices because he wouldn’t like any of them anyway. He put up with being touched, and measures, and cooed over by the staff with as much grace as he could, but he was glad when it was done.
“Alright, they’ll make necessary changes so they fit correctly and send them to us, probably just in time for them to have to be let out again when you have a growth spurt,” Bruce chuckled to Danny as they left. Danny smiled politely and tried to pretend his skin wasn’t still crawling from the feeling of the wool against it. Not well apparently because Bruce’s expression immediately softened. “You alright Chum?” He asked, and when Danny didn’t answer he added; “Why don’t we go get some lunch? We can just go through the Batburger drive thru and park somewhere quiet to just eat in the car?”
“That sounds good,” Danny agreed, he didn’t know what Batburger was of course but quiet, food and a little break from the errands sounded nice.
It turned out what Batburger was, was really fucking good! The food was really greasy and flavourful, and Damian would hate it no doubt, but Danny thought it was great! He ate carefully, trying not to get any grease or sauce on his new shirt, and mostly succeeded. “Thank you,” He murmured when Bruce passed him a napkin and pointed to bit of sauce that had fallen on his shirt. Danny scowled a little as he wiped it up sauce carefully.
Bruce cleared his throat awkwardly and Danny looked up, his brow furrowing a little. Bruce wasn’t looking at him, fidgeting with his fries, Danny bit back the urge to tell him not to play with his food. “I know you don’t fully trust me or feel comfortable here, and I want you to know that that’s okay,” He said without looking at Danny. Well that was random, did he think that Danny’s discomfort with the wool suit had been something deeper? Danny blinked owlishly at his father.
“The way you’ve been raised… Even seeing through some of it like you did, or maybe because you did, you’re remarkably self reliant, but you don’t have to be.” Bruce forged ahead despite Danny’s blank stare. “I’ll do what I can to earn your trust, and I want you to know that you can always come to me with anything you need.”
Danny looked down and took another bite of his burger, turning Bruce’s words over in his head. They were reassuring honestly, it was good that Bruce didn’t immediately demand loyalty and trust, that he was willing to earn it as all was a good sign. “I appreciate that,” Danny said hesitantly, he wasn’t sure what else to say. He put down his burger and cleaned his hands as he considered it. “You’re right, there wasn’t really anyone I trusted at the league. Obviously not Grandfather, mother… was maybe the closest. I know she loved us deeply, but not as much as she loved the league, she was very clear that there were certain things I thought and knew that I couldn’t tell her as to not divide her loyalty. And Dami means more to me then anyone, but he idolizes grandfather so there was really no one I could talk about my doubts with.
“It took a lot of careful work to get out of there, and I’m good at it, but it would nice not to have to be. More then anything I want Damian to see the truth about all this so I don’t have to hold him at arms length anymore. That was always their plan though, to separate us. There were things about the league he couldn’t tell me so I couldn’t tell you when I left, and I knew things about you and the outside world at large I wasn’t supposed to tell him. By the time they decided to send us both here the damage was done really, and we were used to keeping secrets from each other too.”
He sighed and wrapped what was left up his burger up and put it back in the bag, he wasn’t hungry anymore. When he glanced over Bruce was giving him a pitying look that put Danny’s teeth on edge. He couldn’t help the bit of green that crept into his vision as he bared his teeth. “Don’t look at me like that, we did what we had to to survive.”
“I know,” Bruce said calmly, resting a reassuring hand on Danny’s shoulder. “And you did well, I just wish I had known about you and Damian sooner so that you wouldn’t have had to. If I had known that you two existed nothing could have kept me from getting you from that place.”
Danny took a deep shuddering breath, trying to imagine what their lives would have been like if Bruce had come for them, what sort of people they could have been. But trying just made him sad, he sighed and shook his head. “Thanks,” He murmured, and things were silent for a long minute while Bruce ate a few more fries and then packed away his food as well.
“So, it’s up to you what we do next. I intended to get some decorations for your room, maybe glow in the dark stars for your ceiling, and then I was going to take you to the planetarium, I already have it reserved for us. But if you’re too tired that’s alright, I should have expected this might be overwhelming,” he said with a sigh. ”I guess I was a little overexcited,” he admitted ruefully.
Bruce didn’t have to worry, Danny perked up immediately at the mention of going to the planetarium, suddenly finding he was no where near as tired as he thought he was! “No I want to go!” He said quickly, sitting up properly in his seat and folding his hands in his lap. “Please! I can handle a little more shopping if we’re going to the planetarium after,” He assured with a seriousness that had Bruce stifling a smile.
“Alright wonderful, let’s get going then,” Bruce agreed, finally starting the car again and pulling out of the secluded parking lot they’d settled in. He was just glad no one had tried to break into the car while they were sitting there! After all this was Gotham.
Danny rallied himself well for the last bout of shopping, getting some personal touches for his room including a bedspread he liked, glow in the dark stars, and a few other nick-knacks to personalize the space. It was clear Danny was impatient though, rushing them through the store so that they could get to the main event, the reward for getting all these errands done. Good thing too because it seemed after they’d been spotted earlier the press was on high alert and they barely managed to hustle back to the car before cameras started flashing.
Danny couldn’t sit still in his seat on the final leg of the drive to the observatory and when they got out of the car he ended up grabbing Bruce’s hand to haul him along when he went to slow. Bruce had to laugh as his son’s eagerness, speeding up but not too much so Danny wouldn’t end up running, and maybe to see more of the rather adorable exasperation on his youngest son’s face. They were a little early for their reserved hours but the staff didn’t seem to mind and let them start their tour.
Bruce watched as Danny absolutely lit up as the tour guide told them about the stars, and Nasa, and the known species of aliens. It was so good to see Danny so happy of course, but it also gave Bruce some important information, all of his previous smiles had been some level of fake. Some more then others he was sure, but now having seen Danny truly happy he would know better when the boy was faking, even though he faked very well. Bruce had already had an idea that Danny was, especially when it was a little more strained like when Dick had been fussing over the twins, but it was good to have it confirmed nonetheless.
Bruce had been to the planetarium before, but more for fancy mixers, not with one of his children and it was fun! He paid more attention to the tour and learned a few small facts even though he knew most of info, and it was a little annoying to have to play dumb as Brucie Wayne. After the tour the last stop was the gift shop, where he waited by the counter while Danny rushed around to look at everything.
Honestly they could have skipped the interior design store and just come here to decorate Danny’s room. He picked out far more here. Including a soft blanket with star patterns, a light that would project the Milky Way on his ceiling, a few books, and, after hesitation, a plush version of a made up alien. The sort with grey skin and large heads.
“Is this alright?” He asked when he brought his picks up to the counter. “I can put some of it back,” He added looking up at Bruce with an unsure expression, he seemed to be trying not to pout and not fully succeeding, he clearly didn’t want to put any of it back. Good thing money didn’t really matter in this.
“No that’s alright,” Bruce promised as he pulled out his wallet. “It’ll help make your room feel more like yours, I want you to be comfortable here,” He assured. Danny grinned up and him and piled the items on the counter. The woman behind the counter smiled at him as she scanned the items, Danny smiled back, genuine but shy, an unusual smile for him.
Bruce was tired by the time they left, and Danny was energized beyond belief, practically dancing around Bruce, carrying the bags as he chattered at Bruce about the stuff he’d just learned. Bruce listened with a little smile, humming and nodding along as Danny switched to talking about how excited he was to read the books. He stowed most of his stuff in the back seat, keeping the plush as he climbed into the passenger seat, repeatedly running his fingers over the soft fabric of the alien, finally falling silent.
“You did well today Danny, I’m glad you had fun at the planetarium,” Bruce said without looking away from the road.
“I did,” Danny murmured in agreement, when Bruce glanced over Danny was frowning slightly down at the plushy. “They took pictures of us, there’ll be an article by tomorrow about your new charge. We’ll have to do an interview within the week. I can do it, but I’m worried about Damian being out in the public eye so soon, I’d offer to do it for both of us, but I don’t think he’d accept being left out.” Danny said.
Ah, back to being far too serious for his age and worrying about his brother. “I can speak for both of you for now, make an announcement about how I have two new sons but you need time to adjust so you won’t be in the public eye,” Bruce suggested and Danny nodded thoughtfully.
“Damian won’t accept it unless you specify we’re your biological sons,” He said with a wry smile and Bruce chuckled.
“Alright, with my play-boy reputation I don’t think it’ll surprise anyone,” Bruce agreed, and Danny nodded again.
“That will do, you should call a meeting with the two of us tomorrow to discuss it, so he won’t feel left out,” Danny murmured.
“You look out for him a lot, don’t you?” Bruce asked thoughtfully.
“We look out for each other, I know your rule against killing, but it was necessary in the LoA and more then once he finished off a target that was supposed to be mine. I could rarely follow through. My skills are less obviously useful then his skills with a blade and willingness to draw blood. I expect if you asked him, he would say he looks out for me more.”
“And you let him believe that?” Bruce asked, without judgment, whether or not it was true he wanted to know what Danyal thought.
“He’s very stubborn, I would prefer not to fight with him. We look after each other according to our skills, that’s always been enough for me,” Danny mused, running his fingers over the plush again.
“You’re a good kid Danny,” Bruce said, reaching over to ruffle Danny’s hair. “Why don’t you pick something to listen to on the radio?” That was enough serious talk for tonight. Danny nodded and started messing with the dials, finding some music and turning it up a bit.
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When they got home the other had already eaten but Alfred had set them aside meals. He shooed Bruce and Danny into the kitchen to eat, assuring Danny he would bring the bags from the car up to his bedroom to unpack later. Damian came to sit with them and quiz Danny about what the outing was like as he ate. Between bites Danny told Damian as much about the day as he could, as honestly as he could to prepare Damian for his own trip tomorrow. Bruce mostly stayed quiet through the meal, he seemed to be off in his world but both the twins knew he was listening to them intently.
“Do you want to come see the stuff that I got today?” Danny asked, tilting his head to the side a little.
“Why would I want that?” Damian asked with a sniff, a beat of silence following as Danny stared hard at a brother. “But alright,” he relented.
“Great! Come on,” Danny said, getting up from his chair, bringing his dishes over to the sink. “Thank you again Father,” Danny said politely before rushing off with Damian on his heels, chiding him for childish behaviour.
“Damian, we are children,” Danyal told his brother once they were in Danny’s room with the door closed, giving Damian a little smile. “Father will not mind if we act our age, at appropriate times of course. I know that because I tried it today, I was excited when he took me to the planetarium and I didn’t try to hide it. If anything, he found my childish behaviour charming,” He pulled the stuffed animal out of one of the bags and tossed it to Damian.
“Neither of us have ever had a stuffed animal have we? We witnessed other children beyond the League of Shadows having them, but we were ‘to old for them’ the moment we were old enough to want one. But Father didn’t blink at buying me one today, he doesn’t mind if we let loose a little. I promise,” Danyal said, giving Damian a reassuring smile.
Damian harrumphed, examined the stuffed alien and then tossed it back onto Danny’s bed. It was a better reaction then Danyal had feared, he’d half expected Damian to try and destroy the plushy. Danny started to unpack his clothes as Damian thought that over. The occasional snide comments about Danny’s choices were absentminded and didn’t take away from his thoughts, Danny ignored them.
“We don’t know how to be children,” Damian said, sulkily, he didn’t cross his arms and pout, but Danny could tell by the way his hands twitched that he sort of wanted to.
“No we don’t, I don’t think we even really know how to be ourselves. But I think we can try, do some slightly silly things, ask for some things that Grandfather and Mother would never let us have or do. What’s the worst thing that he could do to us Dami? Punish us? We’ve been hurt plenty, we’ve been trained not to fear pain. Throw us out? We can return to the league if he does. The worst thing he can do is be disappointed, and we can learn from that. We have much to learn, and we won’t if we don’t try.”
Damian hummed, unconvinced but without argument. Danny shrugged, he couldn’t make his brother do anything, just try to nudge him in the right direction… or what he really hoped was the right direction.
Letting the serious conversation drop Danny unpacked the rest of his trinkets and set them up around the room, leaving the stars to put up later and laying out his on the bed. “I think the constellations we can see from this part of the world are different from the ones at home,” He said as he flipped to one of the pages showing the night sky. “Maybe some day he’ll take us on a mission, somewhere with a clearer sky. I want to know all the constellations we might see before then.”
Damian gave a long-suffering sigh but sat down next to Danny so they could look at the book together.
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