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astrronomemes · 10 months

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CLASSIC LITERATURE: ASKS

a collection of questions to send a mun about their muse based on classic literature books. change & alter as needed.

A Christmas Carol: Has your muse ever rejected or pushed away the well-intentioned invitations of another? Why?

A Little Princess: Has your muse ever experienced “good karma” — a good deed or kind action, performed with no expectation of reward or repayment, that came back to help them in the end? Tell us about it.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Has your muse ever felt torn between what their society / culture expects from them and their moral values? What did they decide to do about it?

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: Has your muse ever experienced something unexplainably bizarre? What was it? Did they ever tell anybody about it?

Anne of Green Gables: Does your muse have a good imagination? What do they tend to daydream about?

The Brothers Karamazov: Does your muse hold any religious beliefs? Why do they hold these beliefs? Have they ever faced a trial or hardship wherein these beliefs were tested?

The Catcher in the Rye: Has your muse ever misjudged someone? Did they ever realize they had done so? What did they do to make amends?

Crime and Punishment: Has your muse ever committed a serious crime? Have they ever done something they regret to this day? What was it? Why did they do it?

Dracula: What is your muse’s opinion on the morbid and the macabre? Do they feel a fascination / connection to these things, or an aversion? Tell us why.

Emma: Has your muse ever attempted a matchmaking scheme? Why? How did it turn out in the end?

Fahrenheit 451: Has your muse ever faced censorship or backlash for a speech they’ve made, or a creative work they’ve produced? How did they respond?

Frankenstein: Has your muse ever allowed their ambition to lead them down the wrong path? What happened?

The Great Gatsby: Would you say your muse is a greedy or materialistic person? Why or why not? Tell us about a life experience they’ve faced that shaped this attitude.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Has your muse ever faced any kind of discrimination or oppression for an aspect of themselves that they cannot change? How has this experience shaped their attitude toward that aspect of themselves? Have they ever perpetuated any kind of discrimination or oppression against others, whether unintentionally or deliberately?

Jane Eyre: Has your muse ever experienced rejection, abuse, or abandonment at the hands of a loved one? How did they cope with the betrayal?

The Little Prince: Describe your muse’s childhood. What did their home look like? What were their parents like? How have they changed as a person in the intervening years?

Lord of the Rings: Would your muse prefer to literally live on forever, or achieve immortality through the stories their loved ones share after they have gone? What sort of stories do you think your muse’s loved ones would tell about them?

Moby Dick: Has your muse ever desired revenge? Has your muse ever taken a quest for vengeance too far? How did it turn out in the end?

North and South: Does your muse have somewhere they call “home” that isn’t the house they physically live in? Where is it, and why do they regard it as such? Why do they not view their literal home in the same way as this special location?

One Hundred Years of Solitude: Has your muse ever experienced isolation from others, whether physically or emotionally? Why were they subjected to this? Did they inflict the seclusion upon themselves, or did external circumstances force it upon them? How has it affected them?

Peter Pan: Did your muse ever face a challenge or hardship in their childhood that their parents could not or did not protect them from? Did your muse always have to handle their problems all on their own? If so, how has this shaped them as an adult?

Pride and Prejudice: Has your muse ever allowed their pride to get in their way? Have they ever been too proud to accept or pursue something they secretly wanted?

The Scarlet Letter: Has your muse struggled to shape their identity apart from harmful societal labels? Did they ever choose to “go with the flow” and conform to these labels, or did they fight back?

The Secret Garden: Does your muse enjoy the outdoors? Do they experience a connection or fascination with nature?

Sense and Sensibility: Does your muse tend to be a more practical or a more fanciful person? Why? Has this trait ever landed them in trouble, or saved them from it?

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Has your muse ever been forced to conceal or suppress a part of themselves because society would not accept it? Have they ever had the freedom to be their true self? What would they do if they knew they would face no consequences or judgment for their actions?

Treasure Island: Has your muse ever been on an adventure? Where did they go? What lessons did they learn from the experience? What sorts of people did they encounter?

Wuthering Heights: Has your muse ever found themself in a toxic or destructive relationship? Who was the other party? How did it end?

#ask meme #rp ask meme #roleplay ask meme #rp meme #roleplay meme #question meme #question prompt #headcanon meme #rp memes #roleplay memes #rp prompts #roleplay prompts #question memes #question prompts #ask memes #rp ask memes #roleplay ask memes

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seaside-writings · 5 months

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Prompt #1,215

"Why mess with perfection?"

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daisychainsandbowties · 5 months

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not exactly a question but talk about something cool you learned recently! i wanna learn too 🥰

🥹🥹 okay well recently i’ve been learning more about binary star systems to make more gay metaphors about binary star systems and apparently!!! in astronomy there are such things as Spider systems!! 😳😳 and it has to do with pulsars!!!

so yeah something something having a friend can make the pulsars spin really really fast 🥰🥰 (gay) and then they’re also cannibalistic (gay) and spiderlike (really really gay 😳😳)

#anon #question prompt #does anyone want to stand near me & be slowly consumer by my bright rotation? (it HAS to be weird 🥰)#ty dren for sending me the article i did promise to make it my entire personality today 😌😌

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straightfacedstrangeness · 11 months

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Tell me your deep Chaozu/Ten headcanon lore. They're off screen so much now, what do you think they've been up to?

Same with Oolong if you're feeling up to it

I’m ALWAYS up for Oolong

Tien & Chiaotzu:

Basically every time they’re offscreen during the original series, Tien and Chiaotzu are on a My Name Is Earl-style quest to right all their wrongs, catching all the assassins the Crane School turned out (except the Crane Master, who’s smart enough to stay out of their way, plus they have mixed feelings towards him as a father figure and never tried too hard to find him) and doing community service for towns they ripped off with their anime filler protection racket. This involves a lot of farming, which gives them the idea to start a farm around the time of Buu/Super. They do this after they get married, to give themselves a place to privately settle down. Tien is really fixated on righting their karmic balance though, which is why he founds the dojo he has in Super. He insisted on including math in the curriculum this time XD And pretends he’s just “supervising” when he and Chiaotzu sit on the lessons with the teacher he hired.

Launch bonus:

Apparently it’s Toriyama Interview Canon that Launch was chasing after Tien during the whole series without ever really catching up to him. This put her on a classic American adventure Tv show path of drifting from town to town and getting caught up in helping people with their problems. After spending so much time with Goku & Krillin, Blonde Launch became less of a bank robber and more of a vigilante (though hilarity still ensues when she gets recognized in a place she crimed), so she gets into a lot of fights For Justice. Launch also gained stability in her transformations so that her memories carry over between forms and only her demeanor changes, and she can induce herself to sneeze when she decides she needs to either be more diplomatic or more ruthless. Eventually (again per Toriyama canon) she catches up with Tien and Chiaotzu at their farm and moves in with them. She flirts outrageously with Tien and is puzzled that he gets flustered but never reciprocates or explicitly rejects her, until she walks in on Tien & Chiaotzu having a romantic moment. She just smiles and says “Well, why didn’t you SAY so?” having lost most of her interest anyway over the course of all those years (she’d actually given up the search and found the farm by accident, but at that point was like “I mean…I HAVE been looking for him…”), and they all part as friends.

Oolong:

Oolong graduated high school between Dragon Ball and Z, but he doesn’t really have specific interests outside of ~girls~, plus constant fear of the world ending makes it hard to motivate yourself to plan for the future, so he basically just bummed around Capsule Corp house for most of the series relying on Bulma’s parents (he calls them “Doc” and “Ma”) for pocket money. They never expect anything from him except occasionally showing up to family dinners, but every so often Bulma will catch him and make him do odd jobs around the company to earn his keep. Once Vegeta starts living there full-time between the Cell and Buu Sagas, Oolong is too scared to stay there anymore (justifiably, Vegeta tried to cook and eat him once) and tries to ask Doc & Ma to buy him his own place, but Ma just frowns and fusses over him saying she’d be so lonely without her “special li’l guy,” and the deal goes nowhere. He tries looking for jobs, but not very hard (the pinup magazines and strip clubs turn him down), and is halfway towards crashing Yamcha and Puar’s bachelor pad when Roshi swoops in and invites him over to live on whatever Roshi’s been living on all this time (selling old treasures or doing odd jobs on the mainland like he had Krillin & Goku do in Dragon Ball). It’s an unhealthy relationship that brings out the worst habits in both of them and sometimes Krillin (including Oolong not having any incentive to try again for a real job), but they’re kept in check by their fear of 18 once she starts hanging around. Oolong at least makes a good babysitter for Marron when Krillin and 18 are out (she LOVES his shapeshifting tricks) and dutifully guards her innocence against the sin minefield that is Kame house.

#question prompt #dragon ball #headcanon #chiaotzu #tien shinhan #oolong #launch #kawaiibunny3

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plots-and-prompts · 11 months

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Will You Press The Button? #17

You have the ability to stop time

BUT

You continue to age while time is frozen

✧･ﾟ: ✧･ﾟ: 　Word of The Day　 :･ﾟ✧:･ﾟ✧

Fulsome (adj. Middle English, unknown): 1) Complimentary or flattering to an excessive degree. 2) Of large size or quantity; generous or abundant.

#Will You Press The Button #question #Questions #question prompt #question prompts #prompts #prompt #writing prompt #writing #write #writers #creative writing #inspiration #writing inspiration #writers block #Word of the day

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katiewrites · 2 years

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Writing prompt:

P1: we work hard and what?

P2: we don’t stop.

P1: that’s right, now give me a hand and let’s get out of here

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jinnorei · 1 year

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Did Jinno work with others sometimes when she was still a vigilante, or was she strictly a solo act? And in villain verse?

Jinno would work with other vigilantes when the opportunity showed itself — but she was usually worked alone. It really depends on the situation — but she was never a part of an established group like Koichi.

In her villain verse, she is a part of a duo with Twice. Through his connections, they worked with others as needed. However, due to their success as a duo, Twice never needed to work with the League of Villains, so they're more casual acquaintances.

#question prompt

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todreioki · 1 year

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Do you still want Touya to come home, after everything he’s done?

" Yes. He needs to atone for all the death and destruction he's caused — but at the end of the day, he's my son and he will always have a place in my home. I believe in reformation. He can change, if he wants to. " Plus, she believes this is partly her fault.

#question prompt

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i-reblog-prompts · 6 months

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Introduction

Hello! I'd like to start off immediately by saying that I do not mean any harm to people in the writing prompts community on Tumblr, I love writing prompt accounts! Writing prompt accounts give me cool ass ideas, but sometimes as I scroll through I realize most of them I would never use. So I'm mainly going to reblog some cool ones I see and I hope it's useful for you!

And if you like a prompt I reblog, you have to follow the blog that made the prompt, that's the rules, sorry!

If you ever come up with a super awesome prompt but don't wanna make a whole side blog, shoot me an ask if you want! I will only post it if I would use it though so uhh

I might post my own prompt once in a blue moon if I ever get an idea but the quality of it may not be as crisp as the ones I reblog

Also here is a key for tags I will use:

#prompt reblog - this is obviously a prompt that is not mine and that I reblogged! Will mostly be using this

#my personal prompt - my own prompt, will probably never use this

#situation prompt - the type of prompt that describes an idea for a general plot or story beat

#quotation prompt - the type of prompt that has a character saying something or an opening line, leaving much to the imagination

#question prompt - creative exercise where you answer questions about your character(s)/world(s)

#character prompt - the first stepping stone to start creating (a) character(s)

#romance prompt - things are getting spicy!!!

#mysterorror prompt - a mystery and/or horror prompt, really just a dark one I like

#non prompt - I might reblog or post something that isn't a prompt but rather just something related to writing in general!

Any other tag is just a general tag for reach and not organization, also I'm tagging all of these in this post just for shits and giggles

My pronouns are he/him by the way oops

#reblog account #writing prompts #writing prompt #writing #introduction #introductory post #prompt reblog #my personal prompt #situation prompt #quotation prompt #non prompt #romance prompt #mysterorror prompt #question prompt #character prompt

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nerdpoe · 4 days

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It's Danny's first time doing his taxes, and he's reaching out to an online friend to help him. This is how he discovers that as far as the rest of the world is concerned, Amity Park is a barely contained zombie outbreak.

He'd made an online friend, Bart, and they played video games a lot.

Danny's fulltime job is inventing alongside his parents, and as that makes him self-employed (he doesn't work for his parents just next to them), this makes his taxes a little...scary. And it's his first tax season.

He reaches out to Bart, and asks if he knows anyone who files as self employed and if they'd be able to give him some guidance.

He can't ask his parents because, apparently, they've just been throwing random numbers on the papers and have no interest in actually doing them. Danny would like to do this properly.

Also he would like to know how his parents haven't been arrested? Questions for later.

So he shoots a message to Bart, who's apparently in the middle of some sort of sleepover with all of his old friends. Bart assures him that it's fine, and they'll all pitch in to help.

They just need to know his city and state so that the nerd of the group, some guy named Tim, can look up local state and city tax law.

When he tells them he's from Amity Park, there's no response for a good ten minutes.

What follows is a barely legible request for a phone number to call, and a group of people on the other side shouting and asking how he's avoided dying in the hellscape zombie apocalypse that is Amity Park.

Danny has no idea what the other shit means, but he's not about to dodge a chance to make a dead joke when he has one.

"I mean. If you wanna get technical, I didn't. Is...that something that'll effect my taxes?"

OR: The GIW has been lying to keep the Justice League and Justice League Dark out of Amity Park by declaring it a Disaster Zone, stating that not only is there massive pollutants in the air and soil, but that the undead run rampant and are barely contained. The wording they use, however, is a little weird upon closer inspection. It never specifies zombie, and it never says what pollutants. Danny's not super interested about that, though; he just wants to pay his taxes so that the IRS doesn't kill him in his sleep.

#dpxdc #dcxdp #dp x dc #dc x dp #phanfic #story prompt #tim absolutely digs into whether or not being dead effects his taxes #kon starts questioning whether he should be paying them?#is he even a legal resident of the usa?#tim should he get naturalized?#bart wants to go to amity #because talking and sentient zombies are cool as fuck #cassie is not super on board with going to amity park #she has a few more questions before agreeing to a field trip to go there #and there will be a field trip to amity park #a city of technically undead due to ecto contamination functioning perfectly normal?#fuck yeah they wanna see this twilight zone bullshit

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luxaofhesperides · 2 months

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Soulmark AU + Sleeping Beauty ; requested by @candeartist422!

For the last few years, Duke’s been waiting for his soulmate to die.

It sounds cruel to say it that way. But the waiting is more painful, he thinks, than just mourning a lost love. It’s not like most people ever meet their soulmates anyways; his parents weren’t meant to be, but they still loved each other and had a life together. He wishes he could turn his focus away from his soulmate, but Duke is a romantic at heart and has always wanted to find the other half of his soul.

But since he was fourteen, his soulmark has dulled, fading in and out of color. What was once a vibrant blue crystal star, with eight points and a swirl of watercolor hues around it, dimmed more and more until Duke was sure he was watching his soulmate die slowly.

His soulmate didn’t die then. Whoever they are got better, his soulmark gaining color, but it never went back to the way it was. For years after, Duke would check at the beginning and end of each day, keeping track of when it faded and when it regained its color.

He thought his soulmate was sick. In and out of hospitals, fighting to stay alive.

And then it went nearly colorless.

Duke doesn’t remember much about that day. He knows he woke up, brushed his teeth, the lifted up his shirt to check his soulmark in the mirror. The blue was almost completely gone, the star on his left hipbone nearly gray with how colorless it was. He started at it for a moment, shocked, and reality slid away from him as he retreated into the safety of his mind, fully dissociating.

Bruce had found him when Duke didn’t show up for breakfast. He held him and offered quiet words of comfort that Duke couldn’t understand, but just having someone with him lessened the hurt of losing his soulmate.

Seeing the color come back the next day, faint as it was, hurt even more.

A year later, Duke still can’t break the habit of checking his soulmark twice a day. It hasn’t changed at all, still faint and dim, but carrying just enough color to show that his soulmate was still alive. At the very least, they were still breathing, but his chance of ever meeting them is basically zero. Still, he can’t help but hope, wishing that he could meet them even once before they die and leave him forever.

“Same as ever,” he murmurs to himself as he brushes his thumb against his soulmark. He’s terrified that he’s forgotten how beautiful the blue of it was when his soulmate was healthy.

Duke doesn’t let himself think on it too much anymore. Though his thoughts often turn to his soulmate during quiet moments like these, the busy nature of Gotham is usually more than enough to pull his attention back to the here and now. There’s no use in obsessing over his soulmate anyways; they’re just going to die, sooner or later, and Duke knows he’ll never get to meet them. They’ll just be another empty space in his life, right next to his parents.

“Come on, Thomas, focus,” he tells himself firmly, then gets dressed and heads down to the kitchen for breakfast.

The manor is quiet. It usually is in the mornings, with everyone from the night shift dead asleep and trying to get as much rest as they can before they have to start their day. Not that many of them stay in the manor these days; Duke and Damian are the only permanent residents at the moment, but Steph usually stays half with her mom and half in the manor during the summers when she’s home from college, and the others drop in whenever they feel like it.

Bruce lives more in the Batcave than the manor, so he doesn’t really count. It’s also why Duke is surprised to see Bruce awake and dressed like a normal person, drinking coffee in the kitchen as if this is a normal occurrence.

“Morning,” Duke offers.

“Good morning, Duke,” Bruce replies. “Sleep well?”

“Well enough. Alfred out or something?”

“He may have kicked me out of the Batcave to clean it up a bit,” Bruce answers tiredly. “Want me to make breakfast?”

Duke has heard the horror stories of Bruce’s attempts to make edible food in a kitchen. In the interest of not dealing with food poisoning, Duke shakes his head quickly and says, “Nah, it’s fine. I was kinda wanting to eat out for breakfast. Get out there as me, and not a mask, you know?”

“Mind if I join you? Alfred may forgive me for not sleeping if I willingly go outside.”

Duke laughs. “Sure man, as long as you pay.”

“I’ll drive, too.”

“What, don’t trust me behind a wheel?”

Bruce gives him a tired look, eyes dead and dull. “I have taught all my children how to drive. The day I willingly let them take the wheel when I am not actively dying is the day I’ve been replaced by a robot clone of myself who doesn’t know better yet.”

“That is… very specific. Is that a thing you usually worry about?”

“I’m Batman. I have to worry about everything.”

Yeah, that tracks. Duke wouldn’t be surprised if he has at least five contingency plans for that scenario, should it ever happen. “Well,” he says, “Right now, all you need to worry about is having your wallet and driving us down to The Foodie Nook. I’ve been craving their breakfast plates for ages.”

Bruce doesn’t object to his choice of restaurant and follows Duke down to the garage, grabbing a random set of keys and pointing it out to the many cars he owns. One near the front blinks its lights as it unlocks and Duke cheerfully tosses himself into the passenger seat as Bruce opens the garage door.

The drive into Gotham is smooth. They don’t hit traffic until they reach the bridge that leads into the city proper, taking them away from the quiet of Bristol. The morning is busy, but not enough that Duke worries about being out as the Signal to help keep the peace. It’s a normal type of busy, one borne from people going about their lives, feeling safe enough to go out.

The Foodie Nook is entirely local and very popular, so the parking lot is nearly full. But they expanded their space last year, which means he and Bruce don’t have to sit outside while they wait to grab a table. Bruce keeps conversation light and casual, well aware of the many listening ears around them, and it’s nice, feeling normal for once.

Well, as normal as life can be with Bruce Wayne™. The server who comes to lead them to a table realizes who she’s talking to after she gets a proper look at them while holding open the door and promptly stutters over her words.

“No need for any special treatment,” Bruce laughs lightly, “We’re just here for breakfast. Nothing special.”

“Of course,” she replies, cheeks red. “Um, right this way! We’ve got a table by the windows for you. Just two, yeah?”

“Yup! Just two. Thought this was a good day to spend some time with Duke. He’s a great kid, you know, I’m glad I was given the opportunity to foster him.”

The sunny, cheerful Bruce Wayne persona is so different from the usual Bruce he works with that it feels like he’s standing next to a stranger. But his words are sincere and warm his heart, filling up the gaps that his soulmate has left.

“Here you are!” their server announces, showing them to their table. “I’ll be right back with some menus.” She’s gone in a rush, and other customers glance over before quickly averting their gaze.

It’s one of the unspoken rules of Gotham: give the Waynes their privacy while they’re out in public. Questions and conversation are for public events only, but if they see a Wayne out and about during a normal day, everyone leaves them be unless spoken to first. Duke used to follow those rules as well when he was just another Gothamite. It’s strange being on the other side of that now that he’s in with the Waynes.

Duke barely has to look through the menu when it’s handed to him. The breakfast plates are his favorites and he gets one every single time he comes to The Foodie Nook; stacked full with breakfast foods from around the world. As a kid, he loved the Mexico Plate, but these days he’s craving either the Brazilian Plate or the Vietnamese Plate.

He can’t decide on which one and thinks about tossing a coin to decide, but seeing how that’s Two Face’s whole thing, he decides to hold off and settle the matter with eenie-meenie-minnie-mo.

He gets the Vietnamese Plate.

Bruce, on the other hand, reads through the entire menu like it’s a novel, then leans over and says rather loudly, “Duke, what’s a tort-illa.”

The pain he feels hearing that is only worsened by the amusement in Bruce’s eyes. He’s doing it on purpose, playing up the Brucie act for the public so he can psychologically torment Duke. A few nearby customers choke back laughter, turning away to hide their smiles.

Duke shakes his head and says, “Don’t worry about it. It’s just food. Don’t ask any more questions, I just want a peaceful breakfast.”

“Well then,” Bruce replies, “I suppose I know what to order now.”

As if she was summoned, their server reappears before them, cheeks still looking a little flushed. “Hi! Ready to order?”

She writes down their orders quickly, valiantly keeping a straight face at Bruce’s mispronunciation of tortilla, then heads off to deliver their orders to the kitchen.

Rather than draw out a conversation with Brucie Wayne, Duke settles for playing a few idle games on his phone; his current favorite is one quiet cat cafe game where he directs cats into fulfilling cafe orders.

Bruce, despite being out in his civilian identity, is working. He’s on his Batman phone, which looks the same as his other cell phones except this one has a bat symbol sticker just barely hiding a Superman sticker on the phone case. His brow is slightly furrowed as he reads whatever file he’s accessing from the Batcomputer. It’s a little worrying but it could be anything. Bruce makes the same expression when he reads one of Tim’s snarky comments getting quoted in the news.

But that’s not Duke’s problem! He’s here to enjoy his breakfast and it will take the end of the world itself to remove him from his seat before he’s done eating.

The game takes most of his attention until their food comes out, and by then Bruce has tucked away the smallest of his Batman mannerisms. They enjoy a normal, peaceful breakfast. Bruce ends it by asking their server if she has any debt that’s weighing her down, then giving her a tip that’s at least five thousand dollars above that.

She does cry and Bruce hugs her. It’s very sweet.

As soon as they get back into the car, his easy going smile drops and Duke knows some superhero nonsense is about to take over his day.

“Duke,” Bruce starts, seriously, “I received a message from Zatanna.”

“Don’t drag this out,” Duke says, “Just give it to me straight. What terrible thing is about to happen to us?”

“It’s nothing too big. They just recently defeated a magical being who had been tearing apart secret government facilities in Illinois. He had both magic and a high tech weapon, which they confiscated and are delivering to me. The government agency he was fighting was suspiciously interested in the weapon, and based on their behaviors and newly revealed work, Zatanna made the decision to turn the weapon over to us so it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.”

Bruce smoothly merges into traffic as he speaks, getting them onto the road back to the manor. There’s a look in his eyes that means he’s keeping a lot unsaid, and Duke knows without a doubt that whatever this government agency was doing is bad if Zatanna needs Batman to act as extra security.

He’s not sure about her decision to trust the weapon to be safe in Gotham, either. Sure, Batman will keep it as safe as he can, but with their luck, it’ll end up in the hands of a Rogue and lead to a lot of death and destruction.

As soon as they cross the bridge and return to Bristol, Bruce steps on the gas and the car tears down the road. Without any other cars to worry about (or traffic laws), it takes barely two minutes to reach the manor, when the gates open for them and let them into the garage.

Alfred waits for them by the door, looking them over with a critical eye. “I see you have managed to go outside, Master Bruce. What’s the special occasion?”

“Just breakfast,” Bruce answers. “I’m heading back down to the Batcave. Zatanna will be here soon to deliver a weapon.” He’s gone before Alfred can say anything more, hurrying down the hall and turning the corner, disappearing from sight as he heads towards his office.

“I see we have yet to break that bad habit of his. Did you enjoy your morning out, Master Duke?”

“Sure did, Alfred. I’m, uh, also going down to the Batcave. He’s definitely not telling me a lot about what’s going on, so I’m just going to read about it over his shoulder. I’ll be back up for lunch, though!”

“And perhaps you’ll be able to drag Master Bruce away from that cave of his,” Alfred comments wryly as he walks with Duke towards the office. He gives Duke a nod, then splits away from him, returning to the kitchen where Duke can hear Damian speaking to someone, probably Tim by the annoyed tone of his voice, and mentally wishes Alfred luck in handling them.

Duke sets the correct time on the clock in Bruce’s office and heads down to the Batcave, taking the steps two at a time.

Bruce is already at the Batcomputer, shoulders tensed, when he arrives.

“More bad news?” he asks as he makes his way over.

Bruce doesn’t bother looking away from the screen as he says, “More details about the fight. It seems the magical being called himself a ghost and was going on a rampage due to a betrayal. He says they nearly killed his son.”

“Oh, yikes.”

“And two of the scientists working with the government agency said that he stole their son and is keeping them from saving him.”

“Yikes,” Duke says with more feeling.

He doesn’t get to hear anymore details about JLD’s fight with this ghost when he catches a flicker in the corner of his eye. Duke turns and stares at the empty space in the Batcave near the medbay and watches as colorful magic gathers and swirls in dizzing circles. The portal opens a moment later and Zatanna steps out, looking exhausted and lightly singed.

“Batman,” she greets, holding a white gun that looks like it belongs in an early sci-fi movie from the 60s. “The GIW is trying to arrest us. Constantine keeps burning their badges and documents so it shouldn’t be a problem, but they are determined to get this back. I wouldn’t be surprised if they came after you next. They’ve got some way of tracking things, but I didn’t have time to get any details before I had to leave.”

Bruce takes the gun from her hands carefully, looking it over with a sharp gaze. “Why would a ghost want to use a gun?”

“I don’t know. He had a variety of powers, too.”

“What does this do?”

“Shoots ice. He never let it go and nearly burned me alive for taking it before we subdued him.”

“We’ll keep it locked up,” Bruce promises.

Zatanna sighs. It looks as though a physical weight fell off her shoulders. “Thanks. I’m going to head back to stop Constantine from getting into a fistfight with the GIW agents.”

She opens another portal with a waved hand and a muttered spell. Bruce is already walking away to set the gun down on a work station, so Duke is the one to wave Zatanna goodbye.

By the time he reaches Bruce’s side, the gun is already dismantled, all pieces neatly set aside. Sticky notes denote which pieces go together and in what order. It looks the same as most guns, save for the aesthetic, but the heart of it is a glowing blue orb, large enough to cover the entirety of Bruce’s palm, and it brings a chill to the air.

Duke stares at it and feels his soulmark burn ice cold.

“Duke?”

It’s in his hands. He doesn’t remember reaching out to take it, but it’s in his hands. He can’t take his eyes off of it, cradling it gently and bringing it closer to his chest.

It’s the same blue his soulmark once was. Before his soulmate began to fade, before every day became a waiting game to see how long his soulmate will last before they die.

This has something to do with his soulmate. He’s sure of it.

He won’t let anyone take it from him.

“Duke. Give that to me.”

He doesn’t feel like he’s in his body. He’s detached, floating somewhere outside his body, puppeteering his limbs, making them move without feeling the motion. Shadows condense around his feet and Bruce takes a step back, wary.

“Duke,” he says again, but Duke can’t find any words, can’t draw on his voice, can’t even look away from the bright, bright blue of the orb. It pulses lightly in his hand like a heartbeat.

Bruce reaches a hand out.

He’s pulled back by shadows before he can get close, and Duke holds the orb against his chest, right against his heart, and feels the cold seep into him.

“Duke. I need you to look at me.” This time, Bruce’s voice has Batman’s growl in it, a heavy command that he can’t help but instinctively follow. He looks up and meets Bruce’s eyes, but he can’t focus. All his awareness is in his hands and the heartbeat of the glowing orb.

“I have to protect this,” Duke manages to whisper. “I… I think it’s alive.”

“Okay. Let’s get you to the medbay so you can sit down. We’ll figure this out, Duke.”

Bruce slowly, carefully, sets his hand on Duke’s shoulder. He keeps his attention away from the orb, so Duke allows it and lets Bruce guide him to the medbay and onto one of the medical cots. Bruce leaves him after a minute of quiet fussing, muttering about calling Zatanna.

Whatever. None of that matters when the heartbeat of the orb grows stronger, steadier, and Duke feels it match the beat of his own heart.

Time slips away from him. Distantly, he hears people move around the cave, speaking in low tones. A hand presses against his shoulder, warm, then moves away.

The orb in his hand moves.

Duke blinks slowly, then claws his way back to awareness, pushing past the haze that’s fallen over his mind. The orb turns over in his hand, then cracks right down the middle. The glow grows stronger, washing the medbay in blue light and a symbol appears on the orb.

It’s his soulmark.

Later, he won’t be able to say why he did it. There were no thoughts, no reasonings, no explanations. Duke simply moved on instinct and lifted the orb up to his face and pressed a soft kiss against it.

One moment, the orb was still.

The next, it had burst in a flash of light that blinded everyone in the Batcave, and then a thin, injured teenager had fallen into Duke’s lap.

Hands immediately grab him, pulling him away from Duke. The teenager puts up no fight, eyes barely open, but he reaches for Duke weakly. On his wrist is the bright blue snowflake, the color strong and vivid.

“That’s me soulmate,” Duke whispers as he watches Bruce and Tim set the boy down on another medical cot.

“What?” Tim says, turning to face Duke, concern clear on his face.

“That’s my soulmate,” he repeats, louder. Then, panicked, he pulls up his shirt enough to see his own soulmark; the color is still dull, weak, barely there, but it’s more blue that it has been in a while. He doesn’t need to say anything. Tim sees the dullness of his soulmark, looks at the boy, and puts the pieces together on his own.

“I’ll call Doc Thompkins,” he says, already moving to fix everything. Bruce remains where he is, making sure the boy is tucked in and breathing steadily before he returns to Duke.

“Are you alright?”

Duke swallows roughly, unable to tear his eyes away from the boy. He’s pale and thin, as if he’d been starved, and there’s frost beginning to spread on the bedsheet from his fingers. “He’s my soulmate,” Duke manages to say. “He’s been dying for two years.”

Bruce’s eyes a hard, a determined light in them. “We’ll save him,” he promises.

If anyone can, it’s Batman.

If anyone can, it’s them, Batman and the Signal, and their entire network of family and friends.

Duke’s been waiting for his soulmate to die all this time. Now, he’s going to save him.

#ghostlights #dc x dp #dp x dc #dcxdp #dpxdc #prompt fill #my writing #i dont really know much abt jld so they are not really in here #just duke trying to live his life and have a nice day with bruce #when his soul mate gets thrown at him in the form of an ORB #(ghost core but they dont know that yet)#dannys gonna have to answer so many questions once hes awake bc not many know abt realms beings #its gonna be rough for him bc he's been asleep for 2 years in his core bc he was never safe enough to recover #until duke gave him a boost (plus the power of soulmates really helped him) and he woke up #in a cave with his soulmate and a whole crew of superheroes #what a thing to open ur eyes to. rip danny lol #thanks for the prompt!

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