#would Danny make a good cat thief?

[nanenna]

Today I remembered that my favorite thing about having so many AUs is to pick up 2 AUs like Barbie dolls and clack their faces together while making smooching noises.

Behold my beloved DCxDP AU amalgamation monster: DeamonTwinAU and PhantomThiefAU (aka: Selina gives Danny a slutty slutty cat suit, good times)

The story vaguely goeth thusly: Danny is a halfa, the Balance, the Bridge Between Worlds, he is....... the Observants' glorified gofer. You see, there are a lot of cursed/enchanted/ghostly artefacts floating around loose in the living Realm and they need Danny to go retrieve them. Danny would rather not, but they just won't leave him alone about it. Can't a guy just live? At least let him poop in peace! Ancients! Fine, he'll do it if it'll get them to shut up. (Spoiler: it does, in fact, not get them to shut up.)

But you see, Danny has a secret: he was raised in an assassin ninja cult (at least for the early years) before getting adopted by the Fentons. Now the killing? Not a fan, no thanks, he's working on not increasing his kill count, thx. But the sneaking? He could use that. Sneaky ninjas are also good thieves, right? So he cobbles together a knock off League of Assassins outfit, buys a cheap portable lock picking set, and decides to make a game of how far can he get without using his powers (much. He's new at this okay?)

Batman is not having fun. There's some (possible?) League assassin running around stealing verified cursed/magical artefacts! Is Talia planning something? Is Ra's planning something? (Isn't he for real dead? Silly reader, no one is ever for real dead in DC.)

Robin is super frustrated. For all the same reasons Batman is but also because he just knows this new rogue is taunting him. Personally. Because he's Damian al Ghul Wayne and the whole world revolves around him, obviously. (And also because he once pointed at Robin and laughed before jumping out a window.)

Selina is intrigued. Who is this kid? How does he know what to go after? How does he keep evading the bats? Luckily she runs into him mid heist (fortunately they had different targets, she's intrigued but not enough to hand over her shinies to him) and oh he's adorable! She has to train him, it would drive Brucie up the wall. But then she sees his face and oh, she knows exactly who he is, even if he seems oblivious.

Because Danny? He's in Gotham for the ecto, for the Thomas Wayne full ride scholarship he managed to snag, and also because for some reason Gotham is full of so many cursed/ghost artefacts. (Lady Gotham is seething, she worked hard to collect all those curses! But this is her beloved dark knight's kid and she kinda wants him home. But she also doesn't want to give up her curses!) Back to the point: Danny doesn't care about ANY of the rich bougie people. The Waynes give out a lot of scholarships? Cool, that's nice and all. They probably also rub elbows with Vlad or Sam's parents. No thanks. Doesn't care. He's got better things to worry about.

Selina has got a plan though! She's gonna teach this boy how to thief properly, starting with better tools (including the slutty, slutty cat burglar outfit). She also knows that she can't let any of the Waynes (in or out of costume) meet Danny (out of costume). So does Lady Gotham. So does the universe apparently (or just Clockwork maybe), because all kinds of unlikely things keep happening to prevent it.

Danny is having so much fun though! He's learning new skills. Selina is giving him an allowance so he's not living off ramen and peanut butter sandwiches, he's doing well in school, he gets to stretch his ghost powers regularly to go above the smog cover and star gaze in peace. Everything's coming up Danny.

Selina decides it's time to flaunt her find in front of Brucie and makes Danny go to a gala as her date, she spends the entire time clinging to his arm and introducing him around to everyone. Including Bruce himself (who just so happens to have Damian in tow). Danny may not recognize Bruce, but he sure recognizes Damian, and Damian recognizes him if his utterly flabbergasted face is anything to go by. But Danny remembers what it was like living in the League. And so far as he knows Damian is still in it, he was the Demon Head's heir after all. Damian made sure of it.

Oh it. Is. ON! Now Danny is on a mission! A sibling rivalry mission! He is going to make Damian's/Robin's a living hell. Selina going on a heist that has no magical artefacts? Danny's there anyway, always have back up. That necklace in the museum has barely any powers and he wasn't even going to bother with it? Too bad, it's back on the list. He has no reason to be out at all but the bats are on patrol? Well so is Danny. Catch him if you can, suckers!

It's good for Danny, it's enrichment!

#dpxdc #dc x dp #dc comics #batman #danny phantom #nenna writes #just having fun playing with my legos #snap these two pieces together and see what we can build

[wandixx]

Ghost of fries and hero of cookies part 6

All work words count: 14 643

Words in this part: 2 686

Summary of whole work: Duke wasn't expecting to wake up from his quick rooftop nap to some meta kid with fries. He also wasn't expecting kid to stay

Or

Danny asked Dani to stay safe while she was in Gotham. Where would she be safer than under the wing of local hero? And he looked like he needed bad day combo anyway

This part summary: Batman wants an explanation. His kids however, wouldn't be themselves if they did add some chaos

Beta read by @audhumla-sailor though English is second language for both of us, so proceed with this in mind. I also know all of the charaters through fics alone, so probably ooc. Stay catious if it's something you don't like

First part, Previous part

“Signal.”

Duke bit back a sigh as his last hope to leave Cave undiscovered disappeared. He shot Steph message of:

Having The Talk. Come as moral support

and turned around to face Bruce.

“Yes?”

B grunted in disapproving and ‘Signal report’ way but Duke decided to buy some time and answer only questions that were actually asked. He slowly sat at the briefing table and looked at the man expectantly.

Lift chimed and moments later Tim and Cass went to Batcomputer and training mats respectively. Duke was, like, 80% sure they were there to eavesdrop. He knew them well enough. He knew them well enough.

“The girl”

“Izzy?” Was Duke annoying on purpose? Yes. He really didn’t want to have this talk. Like, at all. Psychological warfare it was “I mean, I know she is civilian and you don’t approve but at least she isn’t doing anything illegal, right? Like, you know, robbing museums or killing people?”

Bruce looked repulsed and Tim snorted.

“Low blow Narrows, low blow” Jason announced through speakers. He was slightly winded as if he just finished a fight “Good job kid”

“So you’re listening too, great” Duke muttered under his breath before louder he added “Is everyone who wants in on a show, here already?”

“Give me a sec- here Dick you’re going live now”

“Thanks Babs, you’re the best”

“I know. Donuts, you know which one”

“Of course. Glad we’re finally going to talk about Duke’s kid”

“Shut up, she is not my kid!”

“Steph ETA 2 minutes” Cass interrupted.

At least Damian didn’t show up- as if summoned by this thought Damian stomped down the stares, Alfred the Cat curled in his arms. Maybe others had a point, calling him Demon kid and stuff.

“What is an emergency?” he demanded and Duke decided to take what little relief he could from the fact that Bruce seemed equally defeated by sheer number of people around for this talk. 

“It seems like… oh, literally everyone lost an adoption bet” Babs explained. Huh, so Steph didn’t change her stance.

Damian looked genuinely terrified as he muttered “No” eyes darting between everyone present in silent calculation.

“Oh, shut up” Duke whined knowing all too well his stalling had to come to the end. Maybe it was wishful thinking but he almost heard roar of engine of Steph’s motorcycle. Her presence would be double edged sword but she would help him advocate for Dani and that was more important.

“Thomas, what have you done?!” if it was anyone other than Damian, Duke would call sound he made a whine. As it was, he preferred his entrails to stay inside and since the boy showed up, called by thought, the older boy preferred not to take risks.

“Nothing, Babs is overreacting”

“Don’t deny it. She went about it kinda Tim Lite style but it worked”

“I don’t even know her surname, where she stays or really, anything about her life outside of our patrols, how do you expect me to go about adoption?!”

“B knew even less about me when he decided, yes this tire thief is my new son!” Jason chimed in and Duke knew he was grinning despite voice modulator.

“What from my origin story was lost to make Lite version?”

“Identities weren't breached as far as we're aware. Just ‘came one day and refuses to leave’ part and some light stalking. She was smart about it, invisible, keeping out of sight and to the hot spots. Wouldn't find her if I didn't know she was there”

“She could still just not tell, I mean I knew for years before telling anyone…”

“There is no way. Believe me, she has no brain-mouth filter, I swear”

“But-”

“She introduced herself by her first name,” Duke deadpanned ”She told me civilian names of heroes from her hometown, in context that didn't require me to do any actual research to clue me. I did anyway. I don't think she even realized she did it. If she knew our identities we would know already”

There was a moment of silence as everyone digested the thought of just how gigantic breach Dani accidentally caused.

“Well, it's as good of a proof as we can get for now,” Babs bristled. 

“Who let her in on such secrets then?!” Damian sounded genuinely appalled and Duke wasn't too surprised.

Like on a cue, Steph stormed inside on her Spoiler in civies. Bruce looked about ready to get aneurysm. Duke was a bit glad that everyone was doing such good job in distraction department.

“IT’S OKAY, WHY? BECAUSE I AM HERE!” Steph yelled, jumping from before her vehicle fully stopped. She threw something small in general direction of Batcomputer “Timmy plug it in, I made a PowerPoint!”

Duke felt blood leave his face. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know what Steph put together but he probably didn't. Tim opened it anyways.

WHY HOOPOE IS ADORABLE&CHAOTIC BEAN AND SHOULD BE PART OF THE TEAM

The title slide said, one of the clearest photos of Dani from before she started wearing mask in the background. It was close-up of girl smiling, bits of brownie on her cheeks.

“Was this photo taken with a goddamn calculator?” Tim asked with disgust so clear Duke could taste it. Metaphorically of course.

“Nah, just body-cam. Her powers mess with technology a bit”

Tim still looked displeased at the craftsmanship.

“Don't worry, it's not  a bad photo. Baby Bird is just being perfectionist,” Dick placated.

Duke didn't realize that Damian froze until he unfroze and made his way to the screen, stopping less than one foot away from it. His movements were rigid, his face scrunched with distress. Alfred the Cat escaped its master probably due to hoe tense he was. Everyone in Cave quietened as soon as boy took first step and expecting mood had to run through microphones because nobody from the on-line crowd quipped in.

“This is the green of Lazarus” he whispered finally, sounding actually scared. Jason swore. Bruce and Cass visibly stiffened. Tim choked and he wasn't even drinking. Dick did his whinny breezy name saying thing when he wanted explanation and felt lightly betrayed. 

It was Duke's turn to freeze because… it wasn't. Of course he wasn't all that well versed in the Pit, less alone its color but he did bust quite a few trafficking rings with Jason and he saw his eyes afterwards all raging, toxic, neon green glory and it wasn't the same as Dani’s. As much as he liked English and how good he was at it, it failed him at simple task of describing the obvious difference between each other. He'd have more luck describing tastes with set of color samples from IKEA or something. And really, even if he tried he would lose the fight of competence with Damian. Who wouldn't.  But-

“There is no way she has any connection with LOA”

“Why is that?” Damian seemed to misinterpret it as challenge like he always did when emotions were running high. Duke took a deep breath. Well, it was a moment to use all of his diplomatic skills and speak in the language of the demons.

“I've seen her fight. She would be utter disgrace”

“It does not prove-”

“It does” Duke interrupted with the tone and mimic of person who saw too much because he did ”None of you have any say until you watch a tiny and I mean tiny ten year old tackle five Joker goons like it's a joke, by sheer virtue of super strength and intangibility-means-I-can-ignore-bullets-Signal-don’t-be-such-worrywart. She should get shot, like, three times at least. And she kept laughing!” he was low key wheezing at the end because even after all this time (a week) it was fucking horrifying. Bruce made a huff that meant he was laughing and put a hand on his shoulder as a sign of support. Dick's lighthearted laugh sang from the speakers.

“Don't worry Duke, it never gets better” B said with mirth.

He refused to elaborate whether he meant ‘kids keep jumping into danger like there is no tomorrow‘ or ‘it's equally terrifying every time’ and Duke decided to reflect on that sentiment later. It put some things into perspective. A lot of things if he was being honest.

Also, he was not ready for stuff like that to become even semi-normal occurrence. He was ready to give her all of his Alfred cookies if it could change anything. He knew it wouldn't. 

“Do you have any other evidence that your new acquaintance does not just fake being less experienced to make you lower your guard?” Damian asked warily.

“I had to teach her out of putting her thumb in her fist,” he deadpanned. Several people hissed in empathetic pain. Steph coughed to bring attention to where she stood in front of Batcomputer, other slide of her Power Point open. Duke recognised video from his body-cam.

“Exhibit A” she announced. She played a video with Dani’s first mugging attempt he witnessed. Let it be said, it was a disaster.

“Exhibit B '' One of Dani’s most epic fails at side-kick that ended with her falling face first to the ground.

“Exhibit C” Dani fumbled with zip-ties, looking at him utterly at loss.

“Exhibit D” the talk about her prior training.

“What’s was that sound?” Dick obviously on the verge of cooing when girl on video growled. Steph stopped video.

“Very angry kitten” Tim stated with soft smile.

“Honestly, furious girl” Cass corrected “She was really mad at you”

“Yeah, I know but promise of Alfred’s cookies was enough to placate her”

“You gave her Alfred’s cookies?!”

“She started by giving me a lot of food on a really shitty patrol, had to repay somehow”

“Was it from your share or-” Dick asked like it was most important thing in the world.

“Miss Hoopoe was added to my plans after she picked her new name” Alfred explained and shit, Duke really should get used to how man just appeared sometimes. Jumpscare the original.

“Alfred, you knew?” Bruce sounded so utterly betrayed.

“I have yet to meet her but I was informed about her presence about two weeks ago”

“He caught me printing mask for her”

“About that” Steph clapped and skipped her slide show “Look at thi clueless child with such horrible disguises and codename ideas” There was whole list of every name Dani wanted to try out and photo of her bare face.  Duke kinda repressed his memories of it. It was worse than he remembered.

“Did she really tried kenting that?”

“Got it after her cousin. He used his first name as part of his alias for almost half a year” Duke admitted in carefree tone, knowing it would cause a mess.

“Cousin?!” several people yelled in surprise.

“Caped cousin?!”

“Yup. Small time hero from Illinois. As far as I’m aware she’s alone in Gotham but they’re in regular contact and she has strong believe that he can and will help her if she used her panic button”

“Who in their right mind let’s kid alone in Gotham?!” Jason sounded about ready to strangle Phantom.

“He seems to be fifteen himself. And has anti-meta parents if I’m picking things up correctly. She didn’t mention them much. I highly doubt she has present parents at all, so…”

“What the hell Narrows.”

“I don’t know, it’s just a wild guess”

“Does it call for the rescue?” Steph asked eagerly.

“We’re not going to Illinois to rescue Phantom if he doesn’t ask for it. He has means to it” Bruce interrupted with bone deep sigh.

“How do you know I meant Phantom?” Duke perked up because he never mentioned this name.

“He is from Illinois, looks almost the same as far as I can tell from the photos and they share a lot of powers”

“I didn’t know you knew about random kid hero from other state?”

“He dropped by on few Justice League’s mission. There is still dispute whether we should approach him in his city or not. He was very clear on his opinion that we should stay away. I think we really shouldn’t”

“How you haven’t gone or sent anyone there yet?” Tim teased.

Bruce just stared at him then gestured at mountain of cases they were currently working on. Yes, they were printed. Apparently for man it made it easier to work on them like that.

“Can we focus back on untrained child you let join you on patrol, Duke?”

“You act like I could stop her from doing her own thing if I didn’t  let her. Plus, even though she doesn’t have combat training, she can handle herself well enough. And has this damn intangibility that makes her really hard to punch”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t tell anyone other than Alfred and Steph and I wanted to wait a bit before leaving her to the wolfs”

“The bet”

“Shut up Steph”

“When did you plan on letting us know?” Bruce ignored what blonde insinuated. Duke was utterly grateful for that, he knew he would get lecture for that later but he was more than happy to leave it be for now.

“Somewhen next week. I hoped to introduce her gradually but apparently everyone knew already?”

“Kids tell me things. Hoopoe made a good impression on them” Jason explained.

“Hero sightings on Twitter” Dick admitted without a shadow of shame.

“What he said” Tim agreed “This person from crochet dolls made one for your kid too, so in public eyes she’s our already”

“For the last time, she isn’t my kid!” Duke groaned but as always went ignored.

“Nobody expected old man’s tendencies to rub on you so fast, Narrows”

“Shut up and this is half a reason I didn’t let you meet her. All of you”

“With all due respect Duke” Babs started teasingly “You gave us ammo yourself. You improved her diet, you brought her to The Food Track Of Mental Breakdowns, you teach her stuff, you check in on her almost as often as her cousin and their friends do…”

“How did you hack her pho- No, wrong question, why?!”

“We’re all paranoid bastards, I needed to check out the newest bird. She legally doesn’t exist btw so I suspect some shady stuff with her birth but otherwise nothing sus about her. Comms and trackers for her are waiting in drawer C19. You will give it to her tomorrow”

“Aye, aye captain Oracle ma’am” he joked.

“Wait, you showed her The Food Track?”

“She deserved it” he gritted out.

Before this could turn into a fight or something, Alfred demanded:

“Since we are all on the same page now, I would like to extend an invitation for family dinner to miss Hoopoe”

“We’ll eat it down here in full costumes”

“As you wish master Bruce. Master Duke make sure to let her know”

“Of course Alfred”

And he planned to do that but Dani didn’t show up. He hadn’t thought much of it because she was unpredictable like that. She tended to disappear from the face of the Earth for a day or two and return with tales of her “autograph hunting trips”

But then she didn’t show up on the next patrol too. It was unprecedented. And she hadn’t responded to the check in. Three times in the row. He was getting kinda sick from the stress.

He knew Dani well enough, she wouldn’t ghost him like that and in Gotham disappearing meant three things: getting kidnapped, trafficked or six feet under. To their knowledge, Dani didn’t have anyone who would pay ransom for her other than Signal and no demands were made so the first option was out.

Bats launched full fledged search.

Duke himself found and busted two trafficking rings in three weeks which was around how much he did in two months on a daily basis.

Thanks to Oracle, they found Dani’s utterly crashed phone in the dead end in the Narrows. It didn’t look any better.

Duke really hoped they wouldn’t be too late.

With each day it seemed more likely.

********

Bruce: *wants to have private conversation with his son about unknown child he's been working with*

All of the Batfam: Hello there

Duke: I managed to keep Dani secret my family of detectives!

Everyone other than Bruce: I knew for past two weeks, but goood job kid

Random o Twitter: I'm sooo disappointed with Signal for letting Hoopoe fight crime. She is just a little child, she shouldn't have to witness Gotham's worst

Other Random: Have you heard about Robin????? Have you seen teories that Signal is teenager???? With proofs????? Are you mad at child for not taking proper care of the other child????? That's messed up my dude/gal

Yell at Batman

Signal: You act like she isn't personification of feral cat I try to coax home so I can prevent her from getting in trouble. I dare you to try and stop her

Phantom: I do too, 100$ if you manage. It would save me from so much stress

Random: Now, who the f*ck are you?!

(Guess who never touched Twitter with 20 meters stick in her life)

Next part

Tag list: @pickleking8 @mynameisnotlaura

#dpxdc #dcxdp #dp x dc #dc x dp #dani hangs out with duke #signal got new sidekick and he cares about her deeply #it would fit more in part 2 probably but i forgot about it #Signal to Dani: Hydration check! #Dani: What? Why? Other wh words??? #Signal: I care about you so I want to make sure you're taking care of yourself #Signal: Drink something #Dani: Okay cool here's a proof i'm drinking *photo of juice* #Dani to Danny: Hydration check! Drink something so I know you're okay #Danny: 👍 *sends photo of unholy mix of coffee red bull and ectoplasm with trice as much caffeine as it's legal in USA* #Dani: Glad you're being nice to your body #wandixx writes #ghost of fries and hero of cookies #have a nice day dear stranger who got to this part

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[spacedace]

hey in your tags you mentioned a “batfam leverage au” can u explain what that is

Happily! :D

So I'm not sure if you're familiar with the show Leverage, but the quick summary is that it's about a group of "bad guys" (a hacker, a hitter, a grifter, a theif and the mastermind that directs them all) that help people who have been hurt by the rich and powerful by using their skills to pull heists and cons on the bad guy of the episode to ruin them and get back whatever was taken/right whatever was made wrong.

It's an amazing show that I can't recommend enough, very clever, very funny, big found family vibes and an OT3 that's *this close* to being canon (and has been supported by the writers). The heists are amazing and it's all around an AMAZING show.

Anyway, the BatPham Leverage Au is basically just: a collection of DP & BatFam members join together to make a robin hood heist team like in the show Leverage. I have a couple versions of the BatPham Leverage AU rattling around my head, but most fleshed out right now are:

Business of Family - the Uncle Oz AU (Penguin Adopts Jazz & Danny): My plan for this story is for Jazz and Danny to decide to start running heists in Gotham on the people in the city that tend to fly under Batman's radar but who are still very much doing a lot of harm to the city and it's people. The Leverage AU part of this story is going to have Jazz as the Mastermind, Jason as the Hitter, Tim as the Hacker, Danny as the Thief/Maker (basically engineer), and Elle as the Grifter (shapeshifting Elle for the win lol).

Another Leverage AU I've been thinking about for awhile but that I haven't turned into a story yet is one where Team Phantom (Danny, Jazz, Sam, Tucker & Elle) are tasked with finding and returning various Infinite Realm artifacts that have ended up in the mortal world. And for some reason Gotham has just so many Infinite Realm artifacts in it. Like most of the artifacts in the world are in Gotham for some wild reason (it's Gotham there doens't need to be more of a reason).

They're on the run from the GIW/Fentons, so they're trying not to advertise any ghostly/liminal powers if they can help it, so they largely do heists without powers (minus Tucker doing all his hacking and everything from the Ghost Zone and some occasional invisibility/intangibility when it's called for, but they really do try and keep any power use to a minimum).

In this AU, Jazz is the Mastermind (again, because I love that role for her haha), Tucker is the Hacker, but that's when I can't quite decide who should be who.

I love the idea of Sam being a Hitter, but I think she'd be able to play Grifter pretty well knowing the rich as well as she does, Danny would love being a Hitter and being able to fuck some assholes' shit up while being completely feral but he could also still be a good Thief. Elle could go either Grifter again, but I like her as a Theif in this one, maybe running into Damian in the vents while she's trying to get into a vault or something lol. (I think it'd go with Danny: Hitter, Sam: Grifter, Elle: Thief, but I have no idea if that'll stick if/when I ever write this lol)

Whatever the team looks like, because there are so many artifacts in Gotham & because they can't just use their powers willy-nilly to grab them and run, they're going to be in Gotham for a long time, possibly years. Which means they need some kind of side hustle to pay the bills, which leads them to doing more heists, but this time on various rich assholes that deserve to lose a bunch of money.

Eventually they get on the Bats radar, and there'd be some fun cat & mouse back and forth with the BatFam trying to catch the Phantom Crew (Danny shouldn't be allowed to name things, but he already told Red Robin that was their team name before anyone could stop him). Eventually the GIW do show up and things start getting even more complicated (and maybe someone activates an artifact, resulting in a powerful entity being released in Gotham that they all have to team up to fight).

I have no name for this au other than the DP X DC Leverage Au, but I do know that'll have plenty of Anger Management, Brain Dead (or really Brain Dead + Everlasting Trio, don't know what the ship name for that is), Serious Chaos.

It'll also have Batman aggressively trying to adopt them all because he doesn't actually have anything against them stealing from these assholes as long as they don't hurt anyone. They're acting outside of the law yes but they're doing it in order to give justice to those who have been made victims by the system and he's all about that (the real final battle of the story is between Bruce & Selina who both want to adopt the Pham, who would like to know if they get a say in any of this - they don't).

#spaced asks and ace answers #dc x dp #dp x dc #dpxdc #dc x dp prompt #dp x dc leverage au #leverage au #uncle oz au #penguin adopts jazz and danny #danny phantom #batman #danny fenton #jazz fenton #tucker foley #sam manson #danielle fenton #dani fenton #dani phantom #danielle phantom #jason todd #tim drake #damian wayne #anger management #brain dead #everlasting trio #serious chaos #look if I'm in a fandom for longer than five seconds I'm gonna make a leverage au #that's just how it's gonna be #batpham #batfam

[elizabethemerald]

Summoning the Cat: Part 4

Jazz paced idly around Ms. Kyle- Selina’s penthouse. She and Danny were out jumping across the rooftops of Gotham. It was apparently part of Selina’s Cat Burglar 101 course. At least in Gotham the most efficient way to navigate the city was by the rooftops. While Danny could fly without effort there was too large of a risk of his use of his ghost powers attracting the attention of either the Fentons or the GIW. So as part of their desire for him to balance his abilities, Selina is teaching him to traverse the city using as little of his powers as possible, just enough flight to make an extra long jump, just enough intangibility to pass through a hanging wire, just enough invisibility to blink out of sight on the cameras that patrolled the city. 

Honestly she loved the plan the three of them had come up with for Danny’s training in the past week. It was the perfect mix of ghost skills and master thief skills. He would eventually be able to leave just the right amount of a trace that no one would suspect his abilities but never enough to follow back to him. 

With Danny finally having someone in his life who cared about him and wanted him to be happy and succeed in life, Jazz wasn’t sure what to do with herself. She had spent years caring for Danny. Being the only person to care for Danny. She had gone to all of his Parent-Teacher conferences since middle school. She was the one who tried to make sure he ate enough, even going hungry herself to do so. After she found out about his accident she was the one who patched him up after his ghost fights and each time their parents shot at him. With Selina in Danny’s life, he didn’t need her any more. 

She guessed the best option would be to get her diploma from Gotham Academy, then apply to Gotham University. She could probably maintain a high enough grade to qualify for her scholarships and work at the same time, though she wasn’t certain that she would be able to afford even a one bedroom apartment outside of Crime Alley. Hopefully in between learning from Selina and his own classes Danny could visit her, though she wasn’t certain it would be the safest for him. 

Jazz tilted her head, knocked out of her spiraling thoughts by a sound outside the front door of the penthouse. Danny and Selina had left off the balcony only a few minutes ago. There was no reason they would be back already or coming back through the door. Jazz jumped over the kitchen island, grabbed one of Selina’s nice knives from the knife block and tucked into a forward roll. She came up, Fenton Blaster in one hand, knife in the other, just as the door to the Penthouse burst open. 

“Girls Nigh- Oh.” Standing in the doorway, hands in the air still holding a glass bottle in one hand and a bag of groceries in the other. “Ooh. Good reaction time, Jazzy. But it’s just your aunties! Aunt Harley and Aunt Ivy!” 

Jazz didn’t lower her blaster, though she did take a small step back so she was out of range of a potential kick from Harley. 

“Can you both prove you are who you say you are?” Jazz asked, her voice harsh. While Selina had mentioned that the rest of the Sirens would be visiting at some point she didn’t want to trust just anyone who showed up at the door.

Harley lowered her hands and put one finger on her chin as she thought for a moment. Then she bent backwards into a perfect bridge, setting down the groceries as she did so. She lifted her legs into the air, slowly and methodically until she was standing on her hands. Just in case that wasn’t enough she balanced on one hand so she could wave at Jazz. 

Ivy had given her a raised eyebrow at her demand but after Harley’s display she crooked her finger towards one of the plants in the corner making the tendrils grow and wave in the air causing all the cats in the penthouse to go wild trying to chase the vines. 

“Do you know many people who can control plants with a thought?” Ivy asked, her voice low. 

“Actually, yes.” Jazz said, though she still lowered her blaster. “I know a few different people who can control plants. Harley’s was more convincing.” 

“Oh? I’d love to meet these others at some point.” Ivy said with almost a purr in her voice as she and Harley entered the penthouse and made themselves at home on Selina’s furniture. 

“Well, one of them is a ghost who used plants to control people so hopefully we don’t see him any time soon, the other is one of the girl’s he controlled and some of his plant control stayed with her. It shouldn’t be too hard to introduce you to Sam, she’s a big fan of yours.” 

“Lovely.” 

The two women lounged on the furniture while Jazz stood awkwardly nearby, unsure if she should offer them drinks or anything like that. 

“Uh, not to be rude, but why are you here now?”

“Girls Night!” Harley shouted again. “Selina always invites us for girls night and we have fun, drink, bitch about the bat, all the usual things people do during girls nights!”

“Oh. Sorry, you just missed Ms. Kyle and Danny. I’m sure I can give them a call, but I think they had more training they wanted to do today.”

“Nah, we’re not here for them, we’re here for you!” Harley said with a cheer. 

Jazz twisted slightly as she heard the shuffle of plants around her and she was soon lifted off her feet and dropped onto one of Selina’s comfortable couches. When Ivy’s plants withdrew, Jazz glanced over to the balcony a moment before there was a thump of someone landing outside the sliding glass doors. A much quieter thump followed the first. 

She raised her eyebrows as Spoiler and Black Bat opened the sliding door and entered the penthouse, the latter much quieter than the former, but still detectable to the senses of a liminal. The two heroes shed their costumes rapidly, Spoiler pulling a set of comfortable pajamas from… somewhere. 

“You guys didn’t start without us did you?” She asked, Black Bat leaning around her to wave to Jazz. 

“Not at all! We just got here! Go change and get comfortable!” 

Jazz could only watch in confusion as the two of them darted off. 

“Uh, if you’d like to have a party, I think Danny might be upset if he misses out?” 

“Nah, kiddo. We’re here for you.” Harley said with a smile. 

“That’s true, he asked Selina to call us over when he knew he would be having a training session today.” Ivy said. 

“What? Why?” 

“Because Danny’s worried about you.” Stephanie emerged from the back rooms followed by Cassandra who was keeping a close eye on Jazz. The two girls plopped down onto a couch and cuddled up close. 

 “Why is he worried about me? I’m not in any danger?” 

Harley sat forward and gave her a kind smile. 

“I hear you’re big into psychology, is that right?” She asked and when Jazz nodded, Harley continued. “I used to be something of a psychologist myself, I don’t have the license any more but I still remember the things I learned. So tell me, what happens when someone is under a lot of stress for a long time?”

“Your body releases cortisol which can cause numerous problems over time.” Jazz answered immediately. 

“That’s right. And Danny was in a real stressful situation for a really long time.” Jazz nodded, she completely agreed. “And it was probably stressful for you having to watch over your little brother when those things happened, right?”

Jazz hesitated and started running her nails up and down her legs. 

“It’s fine. I’m older than Danny is. I’ll be ok.” She said, not looking at any of them. 

“Come on Jazz. You know that’s not how it works. We’re not here to confront you, this isn’t an intervention. Danny just wants you to have friends and if your friends just happen to be a former criminal clown, an eco terrorist and two themed vigilanties, then that just means you don’t have to explain any of your weirdness. What do you say?” 

Jazz held herself back for a moment longer, but she couldn’t deny their logic. So she nodded and let herself relax. She changed into her own pjs and shared drinks and snacks and stories with the others for hours. 

It felt… good. She had been so afraid for so long. Afraid of losing her brother or having to see him after he was tortured by their parents again. Afraid of someone in their town getting hurt. Afraid more than anything that Danny would hate her for not saving him from the Portal the first time. 

When Danny and Selina eventually landed on the balcony and came in to join the party, Jazz immediately rose and pulled her brother into a tight hug. She held him as tightly as she could and Danny floated the two of them off the ground a little in their hug. 

“I love you so much Danny. Thanks for thinking of me.” She whispered in his ear. “Of course Jazz. You’re the best. I wouldn’t have made it through everything that happened if it weren’t for you.”

“Now that you’ve found a new family, you won’t leave me behind will you?” Jazz asked, hesitantly giving voice to her biggest fear. 

“Never. You’re always going to be my sister. No matter what.” 

She smiled and wiped her tears from her face. When Danny returned her back to the ground she just as hesitantly opened her arms to ask for a hug from Selina. The cat burglar immediately held her tight and pulled Danny into the hug too. Harley took that as an invitation for a group hug and Ivy, Cass and Steph all joined the hug. 

Once they eventually broke apart they all settled onto the couches to enjoy some silly movies, some snacks, some nail painting, and most especially some shitting on Batman for being the biggest party pooper in the world.

#dp x dc #jazz fenton #danny phantom #selina kyle #summon the cat #anxiety jazz

[zaralla1]

Found a fun template online by camille_leto ! I used it to play around with our OC's 😊😊

Man we sure got lots of polished characters up there. Matthew, smoking his cigarette in the upper left corner is our dignified, mysterious man. He's a taskmaster and a type of character that calculates ten steps ahead and rarely lets others know what he's thinking—

⫸ Then next to him, we got Marsia. She needs to carry a manual with her to instruct her on how to act around people, because of her unique circumstances. She is also incredibly strong! so strong that she tends to break the weapons she uses 😅😅😅

⫸  Then, on her right there's Danny! He is doctor Frye's assistant, a former thief and hopefully a future doctor! He and Frye get along like cats and dogs.

⫸ Beneath them is Isidora in the middle, she was an investigator charged with looking into political corruption in Nightsdale. Unfortunately she ends up having to team up with convicts after getting in trouble with a high-ranking foreign official.

⫸ On her right is Ellis. Ellis is so full of spoilers we should just skip him for now :'D (puts him back into a box) ...

⫸ Then there is Koelzer! She's a brilliant scientist, and Frye's former best friend (and spouse). She has her feet planted firmly on the ground and is the type of scientist that survives her experiments, rather than getting eaten by them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Maybe Frye should try learning a thing or two!

⫸ Next row is Richard! ... who is currently undergoing a small redesign. He's considered to be „the Hero of Nightsdale“ but he's got a long way to redemption before he can actually start feeling like one. He likes to spend his life by having fun. He loves martial arts.

⫸ Next to him is... um. Khezis. Hmmm... Khezis is one of the undersea invaders that threatened humanity many centuries ago. But, due to unique circumstances, Khezis was exiled and he sided with humanity. He began to love humans! But then he was exposed to their dark side, and became treated as their slave.

⫸ Then MR FRYE. Or doctor Frye. Or lord Red. Or Primarius. Or just „Boss“ (the man has many names, but „rat“ fits him the most😅). He's a mad scientist who firmly believes everyone is beneath him- but at the same time he ends up in everyone's bed anyway. They say that every red-haired kid in Halley is potentially one of his offspring.

⫸ Then, in the unwashed corner, we start with Nicholas! He's a homeless man, a scientist, a chicken lover, and a gunslinger who never misses. You're lucky he avoids fights because he's constantly out of bullets, and he's too cheap to buy them (and he's a huge coward, but let's keep this a secret for him✌️)

⫸ Beneath him, we have Quirce! They are just a silly little clown that lives in a silly little cave and fights hadal monsters that would make most people's minds twist inside out with madness. It's a good thing that Quirce happens to be a demolitionist, and a „booming optimist“ as well!

⫸ And lastly, an immortal rogue who came back to life with an attitude that she refuses this „bullshit world“ and lives only to enjoy life to the fullest. She thinks most people are annoying as hell.

These are just some of our characters, but there are too many to shove in here ;___; Thank you if you made it this far, and I hope you enjoyed the read! 🙏🙏🙏

#twisted crests #twistedcrests #webcomic

[turtlemagnum]

INTERESTS: writing, music, art in general, anime, games (both video and tabletop), animals, linguistics, mythology/theology, philosophical bullshit, making fun of philosophical bullshit, politics, guns (and other varieties of weapon), tech, vulgarity and misanthropy

writing: i'm a writer!! that's like, what i'm best at at the moment. my Main Project is a fantasy setting that i generally either refer to as Winds of Change (for the whole deal) or Arana (the main continent that i've developed so far). i'm currently developing a game to show it off and make other people as feral about it as i am, so i'm also learning how to make music and draw and such. but, at the moment the only skill i'd consider myself competent in is writing, so i primarily just call myself a writer!!

music: my taste is simultaneously deeply eclectic but also tends towards high amounts of specificity. i would say that my "main" genre is progressive rock and some of its derivatives, but i also love a lot of stuff like funk, soul, a small amount of metal, some IDM, whatever the hell death grips is, some early rap (mostly just NWA since that was what i grew up on), occasional jazz, like 2 indie bands, oldies, and on occasion normal people rock. artists i like include but are not limited to: yes, david bowie, king crimson, jimi hendrix, danny elfman, symphony x, dio, death grips, aphex twin, nwa, nat king cole, marty robbins, lemon demon, tally hall, jethro tull, midas, and masayoshi takanaka. i'm also told i have a nice singing voice, but i'm personally biased against such suppositions.

i like art, if you were to look through my likes (which are NOT VISIBLE ON THE TUMBR) it'd have a good amount of art. what that art is of, i'll leave to your imagination. i'm not great at drawing but i'm getting better!!

i like some varieties of anime and anime adjacent things. i'm not like, one of those anime fans though, y'know. in terms of series i like, i'd say i'm a fan of fist of the north star (i need to pick it up again), cowboy bebop (very controversial, i know(also need to pick it up again)), fullmetal alchemist (good series, one of the few i have finished), jojo (i haven't watched part 6 yet but i read the manga all the way into the end of part 7 just after part 4 had finished airing), early gen pokemon is something i come back to on occasion for mostly nostalgic reasons, i'm getting back into dragon ball (kill me), i liked gunsmith cats (the anime was only 3 episodes, you can watch it on youtube, i need to read the manga though), i somewhat recently read thru the entire original yu-gi-oh manga and was surprised at how good it was, and i read a lot of doujins!

i'm a gamer!!!!!!! i mostly love nintendo shit and PC games, and some series i'm into include zelda (arguably my first game series i was Way Into), fallout (mostly new vegas), elder scrolls (deeply love hate relationship), early pokemon, mario, the first deus ex game, portal, kotor, half life, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., a smattering of indie shit (primarily UTDR stuff), a bit of GTA, thief, pathologic, disco elysium, and MGS. i also like TTRPGs but being Extremely Alone, i'm basically screwed!!

i like animals of basically all varieties. definitely a dog person, though i also love cats.

linguistics is cool but i'm also Fucking Stupid so i haven't really gained much past a fairly surface level knowledge. doesn't stop me from trying!

mythology is cool! philosophy is cool too! to be clear i view the vast majority of it as bullshit and not to be taken seriously, but it's still interesting to think about at least!

like most human beings living in the modern age, i have a lot of very strong political views. however, i don't like to ascribe labels to myself since people generally hear the label and just fill in the blanks of what they already believe and go deaf to everything else you have to say. i feel like my stances should be fairly obvious if you listen to what i have to say, but here's my main deal in regards to this: i like freedom, not in the typical american way that's basically glorified grandstanding with deeply authoritarian tendencies, but in more of a way where i like the idea of people being able to live how they want without a threat of starving and such. i abhor bigotry, though it's very easy to say that i suppose. i try to be open minded and tend towards a live and let live attitude, y'know. i also oppose imperialism and authoritarianism, but i feel as though that should be considered the baseline

huge gun nerd. i've got Gun Autism, babey!!! don't worry, i'm not One Of Those gun people, i mostly just appreciate them from a technical level. i post a lot about guns, so if you don't like that you can either block the tag #turtlegunrant or just not follow!!!!!!!

tech, much like linguistics, is something i like quite a bit but aren't smart enough to Actually Understand. i'm also the variety of tech enthusiast who's a paranoid shithead, so i'm definitely more of a PC guy. i actually fucking hate touch screens, so i hate phones (which i know is rare for somebody born in this century). i love torrenting, piracy, and just generally downloading and archiving shit

[ao3feed-superbat]

Schröedinger's Thief

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/WqA93Gb by LunaRose_MoonFlower Partially inspired by cat's cradle authored by DisillusionedDanny This will have more than one chapter don't worry After running away from home, discovering he has a feline meta gene, and quitting vigilantism, Danny decides a good use of his time would be used stealing things back from museums that were taken from the dead or their homelands Unfortunately a pesky little bird is making his afterlife a lot harder than it needs to be Words: 967, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English Fandoms: Danny Phantom, Batman (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Categories: M/M Characters: Danny Fenton, Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne, Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Selina Kyle Relationships: Danny Fenton/Damian Wayne, Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne Additional Tags: Trans Male Character, Trans Danny Fenton, Ghost King Danny Fenton, Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Lovers, Rating May Change, not complete read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/WqA93Gb

#ao3feed #superbat #world's finest #Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne #Bruce Wayne/Clark Kent

[ao3feed-brucewayne]

Schröedinger's Thief

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/rTno5ND by LunaRose_MoonFlower Partially inspired by cat's cradle authored by DisillusionedDanny This will have more than one chapter don't worry After running away from home, discovering he has a feline meta gene, and quitting vigilantism, Danny decides a good use of his time would be used stealing things back from museums that were taken from the dead or their homelands Unfortunately a pesky little bird is making his afterlife a lot harder than it needs to be Words: 967, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: Danny Phantom, Batman (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Categories: M/M Characters: Danny Fenton, Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne, Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Selina Kyle Relationships: Danny Fenton/Damian Wayne, Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne Additional Tags: Trans Male Character, Trans Danny Fenton, Ghost King Danny Fenton, Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Lovers, Rating May Change, not complete read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/rTno5ND

#IFTTT #bruce wayne #batman #the caped crusader #the dark knight #dcu #ao3 #ao3feed

[twoidiotwriters1]

Copycat: The First Young Avenger —(Marvel Fem!Oc)

A/N: I’m taking the rest of the week to edit the next phase and prepare it so it can be posted, so see you next monday! :) -Danny

Words: 2,269

Warnings: Mentions of torture.

Series’ Masterlist

Previous Chapter // Next Phase

Listen to: ‘Training Wheels’ -by Melanie Martinez

xviii: Lovebug

Strangely as it seemed, her nights with spider-man weren't draining her energy, if anything, they were engaging.

The young hero had told her all he could without giving his identity away in hopes she knew how to help him, she promised to create a proper training routine for him, and so she did, although it wasn't as good as she would've liked since they were lacking a safe space where to practice.

She decided to teach him the basics, this kid was only interested in helping the city, he wasn't looking for glory, nor for a place in the avengers. She taught him how to disarm a person if he was too close to the thief and webs couldn't help him, she taught him where to kick and punch so he could knock them down in seconds. The spider wasn't a fan of violence, so C.C. kept to herself her most aggressive techniques.

"If you're gonna talk during a fight— something I noticed you love doing," She panted, he'd managed to trap her against a wall. "Don't stare at their faces, always watch the hands... or feet."

She kicked her heel and a small detonator fell to the floor, she stepped on it hard and a bright light flashed from the cat paw on her chest, spider-man stumbled away, covering his eyes and whining.

"I don't have that kind of tech, that's not fair!"

"I never said I'd be fair," She laughed.

"I'm blind— literally blind, what did you do?"

"Relax, you'll recover in a moment," C.C. said calmly. "That's a strobe light, it's meant to disorient and hurt for a little while, it's a good way to get a head start if you're trying to get away."

"Yeah cool, couldn't just say that without using it on me?"

"Maybe, but it's not as fun," She grinned. "What did we learn today?"

"That you're an asshole."

The girl gasped. "Webs, you kiss your mother with that mouth? C'mon, what did we learn?"

"That I should watch the hands, and their feet... and that you're the meanest coach I could've gotten."

She scoffed. "Buddy, I'm going soft on you, trust me, if you were training in a real facility they wouldn't be as patient as I am, the guys on the lab I was created—"

"What?"

"The lab," She repeated, deciding to leave out the last part. "Those were real monsters. They would put a collar around your neck, and if you ever decided to do something that didn't match their needs, or that they considered dangerous, or if they'd simply woken up in a bad mood, they would make this thing fry your skin until your shoulders felt numb."

Spider-man waited for her to laugh and claim to be joking, but when she didn't he whispered:

"That sounds terrible, Cat."

"I'm aware," She retorted. "I was young but I knew I wouldn't stand one more second of it. I left and I decided to look for the Avengers, and they ended up finding me instead."

"How old are you?"

"How old are you?"

He stared down at his feet. "Man, I feel really stupid."

"I think you're doing a great job, and you fight way better than the first time..."

"It's not that," He walked towards the ledge of the building and sat down heavily. "I'd always assumed that you'd been with the Avengers your whole life... the way you talk about them makes it sound like it."

"That's cause I don't remember anything from before that time," She shrugged. "I know it sounds like bullshit cause I told you about the shitty collars, but it's like I can remember stuff they would do or faces, yet something inside me split them so I could process it. Maybe the full thought would mess me up too much."

When he didn't reply, C.C. felt embarrassed.

"Don't pity me," She said. "I got out and I took down half of the staff in the process. I got my revenge."

He hummed. "Didn't take you for the kind that would enjoy that."

"What are you talking about? The first night we meet I told you I was a young avenger! What did you think that meant? That I build houses for the poor?"

"Heh, guess you have a point..." He shook his head. "'M sorry, Cat."

"For what?"

"Thinking your life was perfect," He shrugged. "Most superheroes have like super dark origin stories... I should've known better."

"Well, you're only just learning," The girl patted his shoulder. "Lighten up, Spidey, it's time for our last patrol of the night."

He stood up carefully, brushing the dirt from his hands. "Hey, can I ask you a question?"

"Shoot."

"Why do you have a cat paw on your suit if your powers have nothing to do with them?"

"Cause Tony thought it'd be funny."

"It's not that funny."

"Yeah, I know," She chuckled. "It's too late to change it now, though, maybe next time he makes me a new suit I'll tell him to drop it."

C.C. saw MJ and Ned huddled together looking at the girl's phone.

"What are you guys watching?"

"MJ says Spider-man has a sidekick, but in every video that's been posted of him, he's all alone," Ned told her. "Come and see for yourself, so you can tell MJ she's wrong."

"I'm not wrong!" MJ handed the phone to her. "Watch that!"

C.C. grabbed the phone and pressed play:

The scene wasn't clear enough, but the split second that the hero got thrown back by the larger man, something seemed to have hit him on the chin, and not only that, if she really focused on the left corner, she could see a gloved hand grabbing the guy's gun and throwing it out of reach.

"And?"

She handed back the phone.

"To me, it looks like he just tripped," She lied.

"Thank you!" Ned looked back at MJ. "Spider-man doesn't need help, dude, he's like super strong and smart."

"Hey, everyone needs help sometimes," C.C. argued. "And what makes you think he wouldn't be the sidekick anyway? Have you seen his costume?"

"I think his costume's good," Peter spoke from behind her. "No one's seen his face yet, right? That's something."

"It's the work of a newbie," She frowned. "It looks like he's got no clue of what he's doing."

"Not everyone can dress in a million-dollar suit, C.C.," He retorted in annoyance.

"Well, maybe he shouldn't be getting involved in this kind of life if he can't handle it, he could get seriously hurt! No one would be able to help him!"

"If you have the chance to be better you should do it no matter what!" Peter was now on his feet. "And he's not alone!"

"How do you know?"

"Well..." Peter looked back at his friends and then at her. "Well, the New Yorkers really like him. If he gets injured I'm sure he would get help in no time..."

C.C. stared at him. "New York's a selfish city."

"And you would know that," He replied sarcastically. "Being part of the richest family that lives here."

"Er... guys?" Ned spoke timidly. "Guys, there's no need to fight..."

"Yeah, calm down, this is just fun speculation," MJ got up and placed a hand on C.C.'s shoulder. "Let's go to class?"

C.C. turned around without adding a word, Peter did the same.

"What was that about?" MJ whispered. "I'd never seen you talk to Peter that way!"

"He's really gullible sometimes, thinks everyone will be willing to help a hero just cause they're good. It's not like that at all, I've seen it."

"Yeah, your uncle had a tough time a few years back, right?"

"Very," She nodded. "But he wasn't the only one, I know the rest of the Avengers aren't exactly living the dream..."

"Do you know them?"

"I've seen them once or twice," She replied.

"You know what, I think your attitude towards Peter has changed because you've moved forward to the next phase in the crush phenomenon."

"Here we go again..."

"You're quick to anger when he disagrees with you cause it frustrates you that someone you think it's cute is not matching with the idea you built around him. In short, you idealized Peter, and every time he proves to be the opposite of your dream, you get upset."

"Wow, you're really good at this, have you tried to pursue a career in human psychology?"

"No amount of sarcasm is going to change my mind," She grinned. "It's cute, that you caught feelings for the nerdiest boy in school. It's like watching one of those late nineties romcoms."

"The only one I'm catching feelings for is you," She put an arm around her shoulders. "You're the girl of my dreams, and since I love you so much, I'll fight you in the hallway. Starting right now."

MJ snorted, pushing her away playfully.

"Are you going to tell him?"

"Tell who what?"

Her friend stared at her with an eyebrow raised, C.C. rolled her eyes.

"I don't like him that way, Jones..."

"Any time you're uncomfortable you call me Jones, have you noticed that?"

C.C. cursed under her breath. "You're too observant, I hate you."

"Aww, I hate you too," It was MJ's turn to put her arm around C.C.'s shoulders.

"People think you're my sidekick."

"Wrong— People can't see me, they just think they see something. As long as I stay invisible we'll be fine."

"Do you think my suit it's stupid?"

She stopped fixing her utility belt and observed him. "Why?"

"You have all those cool tools and tech, I just have my shooters and a onesie."

"Yeah, but it does the trick, doesn't it?"

"It makes me look like a kid."

"Hate to break it to you, Webs, but we are kids."

"I don't want the bad guys to know that, though."

"They're idiots, they don't know."

"Yeah, maybe... but what if they do?"

"You still can kick their butt better than any person of age," She crouched down in front of him. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, all good," He gave her a thumbs up. "Just had a rough day today, I think I hurt my friend's feelings..."

"I'm sure they'll forgive you, but tonight we should focus on helping the neighborhood, right?"

"Right," He adjusted his shooters. "You're ready?"

"Like always."

She'd been avoiding Peter since their little argument, she wasn't angry at him, but his words had caused her to second guess their relationship, he'd sounded a little too resented at her lifestyle, and it wasn't like she could control that, but if it made him uncomfortable, perhaps it was better to put some distance between them.

"I'm sorry—"

C.C. jumped and slammed the door of her locker a bit too harshly, it bent inwards.

"Oh my god," She blushed. "These lockers are so thin, don't you think? I could sneeze on them and they would snap in half."

She turned on her heels quickly and started to walk away.

"Wait— C.C. I just wanna talk!"

"I'm sure you're sorry about what you said, Pete," She replied without stopping, "but it was honest, you feel intimidated and I respect that, I understand if you no longer want to be my friend—"

"What? No! I never said— C.C. stop walking!"

He quickened his pace and caught her wrist, he turned her around with a force she would've never expected of him. The girl's feet twisted and she stumbled forward, Peter caught her in time, holding her tightly against his chest.

"I don't like physical contact, Parker," She looked away. "Please let go of me."

"I know, sorry," He moved her away gently. "You were falling and I just acted out of instinct."

"You didn't have these reflexes a few months back," She pointed out. "What's going on with you, Peter? You're no longer wearing glasses, you gained weight, you're..."

It clicked. His brief sickness at the start of the winter break, his brand new look... she'd asked spider-man once how he'd gained his powers, and she couldn't believe she'd never connected the dots.

"A spider..." She whispered.

"What?"

Even their voices were alike! It was so painfully obvious she reddened from embarrassment, she wanted to yell 'it's you!' but then she would not only put him on the spot, she would put herself in an awkward position. She wasn't supposed to know spider-man, only Copycat knew him, and as far as Peter knew, C.C. was not Copycat.

"I... I said I..." She made her decision then, nothing was going to ruin her new life. "I said I aspire to have a glow up like yours," She chuckled anxiously. "Anyway, I gotta go to class."

"Wait! Before you go..." He stepped closer, C.C. gulped but remained in place. "We're still friends, right?"

She couldn't walk away from him knowing what she knew, Peter was going to need all her help, he was on his own, no S.H.I.E.L.D to clean after his mess. She had to stay.

"I was just being a little dramatic, I'm sorry, it's in my blood," She joked. "But yeah, we're good."

"Great, that means I don't have to take this from you to force you to talk to me."

He opened his palm and revealed the watch Tony had given her so she could contact them in case of an emergency.

"How..?"

"Always watch the hands," He smirked, winking at her.

He walked away with a satisfied grin on his face, leaving C.C. unable to form a coherent thought.

Things were about to get complicated.

Next Phase —>

Taglist.

@ieatpanicattacksforlunch​​​​​​​​​ @jesuswasnotawhiteman​​​​​​​​​ @23victoria​​​​​​​​​@siriuslysirius1107​​​​​​​​​ @greengarsstuff​​​​​​​ @itsyagirl01​

#twoidiots writing #marvel #marvel fanfiction #marvel fic #Peter Parker x Oc #Spiderman #spider-man xoc

[arashikitten]

“I am Danny Phantom”

Who knew that four words were all it took to turn someone’s entire life on its head? Well, Valerie knew, her father being fired and her subsequently being dropped by the A-listers proved that, but....

Danny Fenton. The small, quiet, funny, space-obsessed, sleep-deprived, nervous guy who slept in class, made puns out of everything, her boyfriend... was Phantom. The ghost who had ruined her life, who was a menace to the town, who had committed several crimes including kidnapping the mayor. They were the same person.

Her suit was on before she could blink, guns powering up and aimed at Phantom- Fenton- Danny.

“One reason. Give me one. Goddamned. Reason why I shouldn’t put a hole in your head.” Everything was red. She felt nothing but the blood in her veins turning into fire, only heard the sound of her heart pounding in her ears. It would be so, so easy to turn this... this monster into a pile of ectoplasm. All it would take was one little blast...

“Because it was an accident.”

Silence. It rang in her ears like a gunshot, quieting the pounding of her heart like the forest before the storm. Where her anger was once fiery red, now it was cold, calm blue, freezing everything in her path.

“What?” Her voice sounded flat, no hint of anger, and yet the ghost shuffled back slightly, wringing it’s... his hands nervously. (Somewhere in the back of her mind, a part of her recognized that was a habit of Fentons, that Danny- no, Fenton has been doing that earlier. Valerie shut that thought down before it reached farther into her head.)

“It was an accident. That ghost dog... Cujo, he- he was, um, looking for his- his toy because he’d been euthanized by Axion labs after they got the, uh, new security systems. He was just loking for his toy.”

“Then why were you there, spook?”

A pause. He was wringing his hands again. It caught her off guard slightly, how... human he looked. If you took away the glow and bright white hair, he could’ve easily passed as a normal highschooler. (That’s because he is human, part of her mind screeched at her. That’s your boyfriend for fucks sake, it said. Again, she shut it out.)

“I can sense them. The ghosts, I mean. Whenever one shows up, there’s this sort of... smoke, kinda, that I breathe. And that’s how I know if one’s around. So that night, when- when Cujo showed up, I sensed him and went to check it out. I never meant to get your father fired, or to- to fuck the place up as bad as I did. I’m sorry.”

Anger bubbled up in her again. He thought- he really fucking thought that a simple damned apology fixed that? Hell no! He’d screwed over her entire life, got her father fired, committed several crimes, and he thought a simple ass ‘I’m sorry’ would fix it?

She took aim, charging up her blasters.

“I don’t care if you’re sorry. You’re a ghost, a crook, and a thief. And I’ll be doing the whole world a favor by getting rid of you.”

Her blasters were charged up. All it would take now was for her to-

“Then do it.”

Valerie almost dropped her blaster. Had- had she heard that right? She stared at Phantom.

He was rooted to the spot, arms down by his sides, eyes scrunched shut. He was still in his ghost form, but he wasn’t levitating.

What in the hell?

“What do you mean ‘then do it’?” You’re not- you’re not even gonna try to fly off?”

“No.”

“Why?”

At that, Danny- no, Phantom opened his eyes. He looked, scared. Sad. Like he had seen a massacre, or a war.

“A couple of weeks ago... when- when we were about to take the CAT... I- well I got the answer key to the test. And... I wasn’t in a great place, mentally, at the time. I mean, I’m still not, but... it was different, in a way. But basically, what, well, what happened was that I was so stressed out, because I was trying to protect the town and my friends from ghosts, and my parents were just getting worse about trying to hunt me down, and my grades are already shit, and Mr. Lancer kept saying that this test would determine my future and I just...” Danny stopped, shaking and hugging himself. He looked.... Valerie didn’t think she’d ever seen him look this distraught, as Phantom or Fenton. It made something in her chest tighten, made her stomach twist.

“I... I had the answers. And I was already so worried about... well, everything, that I decided to cheat. I figured that maybe I could just do it one time, and then that’d be it, you know? But... of course, of course, it couldn’t be that simple.” Now he sounded... tired. Worn, and not in a good way, more like a war veteran disallusioned with the world. (Something in Valerie told her that maybe this was the real Danny, the part of him he refused to show anyone. The tired fighter who wanted nothing more than to be able to go to sleep without worrying if he was going to wake up with a gun pointed at him.. or if he would wake up at all.)

“Essentially what happened was that Sam, Tucker and I got sort of... teleported about ten years into the future, and... apparently me cheating on one stupid test leads to the end of the world, because Mr. Lancer would find out that I had cheated and would call a meeting with my parents at the Nasty Burger, which would then blow up and kill my friends and family.” Danny was shaking now, arms wrapped around himself as though he was trying to protect himself from his own words.

“That, in turn, lead to me tearing the ghost part out of me, which then proceeded to fuse with Vla- the Wisconsin Ghost. When- well, when that happened, it- drove my ghost half.... I-insane. And then he was killing people all over and... and I- I killed people in that timeline! I did the- the one thing I said I would never fucking do, and I killed someone.”

Danny was on his knees now, quietly sobbing. His black hair (when had he turned back?) shone in the sun.

Valerie was rooted to the spot. How in the hell did someone deal with that? Fuck, how in the hell would someone deal with any of this? In the span of about thirty minutes, Valerie had discovered that not only was her boyfriend dead, but was the town’s widely considered hero and had apparently fought an evil version of his future self and had almost seen all of his friends and family die.

And, to top it all off, he’d discovered that not only were his own parents hunting him, but she was too. Valerie felt sick.

Jesus. Just how much shit had she put him through? Fuck- was that why he was so nervous about telling her he was Phantom? Granted she was still pissed at him, but not for the Cujo thing. Not really.

“Danny.” He looked up at her, and she felt something in her chest break at just how scared and sad he looked. Was this the sort of shit he had to deal with every damn day? All that fear, over being hunted, or experimented on, or getting everyone he loved killed- was this how he felt all the time?

Slowly, Valerie stepped towards him and knelt down. Her eyes never left his.

“Danny. I care... so, so much about you. You... you were the first person to really give a shit about me, after the A-listers dropped me.”

Immediately he tensed, and distress filled his eyes.

“I’m-“

“Nope, don’t, stop. You’re not apologizing. Not right now. Maybe later. Not fucking now.”

He fell silent, eyes wide and searching. Still scared, still tense.

“You love space, and puns. Your favorite video game is Doom 4 even though you’ve never won. Your favorite subject is science, you’ve always wanted a dog, and you doodle in the margins of your paper when your bored.” Valerie paused.

Danny seemed to be noticeably more relaxed, as he was no longer gripping his knees so hard that his knuckles (how had she not noticed the scars? They weren’t exactly small.) were white. Good.

“You adore your mom and dad, even if they embarrass you all the time. You look up to your sister more than anyone on the planet, even if you don’t act it. You don’t make friends often, but when you do you stick with them through hell or high water. You’re incredibly smart when it comes to science and math, even if you have bad grades. And above all, you care so much about bathe people around you. You sacrifice everything, your grades, your relationships, your time, to help people who you think need it. And that applies to phantom and Fenton.”

He was crying again. But this time, there was a small, shaky sort of smile there, one that said something like this was looong overdue.

Slowly, Valerie recalled her suit, and wrapped her arms around Danny in a loose hug. He hugged back burying his face into her shoulder as he shook.

They would be okay. They’d figure it out, eventually.

But for now, they just enjoyed the relief in each other.

——————————

Aaaaand that’s a wrap folks! Part three is finally here! Not gonna lie, I wrote this in the span of about two and a half hours on mobile from 9 to about 11:20 pm, so apologies if there are any inconsistencies.

That being said, I would like to do a poll. I have about 120 followers and I was wondering if I should write something special for y’all once I reach 150. So, would you rather I write:

1) a Danny phantom/Rise of the Guardians crossover,

2) a Danny Phantom TUE! Au fic,

Or

3) part 3 of my Glass ghost au?

Comment your choice below and have a happy weekend or whatever.

#danny phantom #valerie gray #gray ghost #gray ghost is my ship and i will go down with it. #seriously #also please get these two some fucking therapy #especially danny #like good god #danny and valerie should’ve been endgame #danny phantom angst #danny phantom fic

[oceanselevenism]

If you're still doing them maybe number 12 with both the ocean's siblings and their partners?

hell yeah!! i’ve put it under the cut :)) it is Very Tangentially holiday-sweater-related but it is too long to not post now! hope you enjoy, and happy holidays :))

It’s the first Christmas they’ve spent together in... nearly a decade and a half, actually. The years had flown by, blurring into a mess of run-ins and arguments and you stay on your side, I’ll stay on mine, but hey, Danny can’t fault his sister for wanting to make up for lost time. No, he can’t fault her (after all, if she had been the one to fake her death, he’d probably have moved into her house for a week, just to make sure she didn’t do it again) but he can make fun of her, so that’s what he does. “Aw, you really did miss me,” he says when she gives him and Rusty perfunctory hugs on her way into his house (Lou just claps them both on the shoulder, and he’s not sure whether to feel snubbed or relieved). “I can’t believe my dear sister actually cares,” he tells her when she brings him a mug of cocoa, ingredients nabbed from some billionaire in Germany. “Pure family bonding for the whole family,” he remarks when she goes off on a drunken, expletive-filled tangent about the Met Gala’s security over a game of poker (they’ve given up on trying to enforce the no-cheating rule, and he’s pretty sure Lou takes the opportunity to peek at Debbie’s cards). But in all honesty, he can’t keep up the ribbing; it really is good to see her, even if she definitely gets along better with Rusty (she’s told him as much, and right to his face, too) and the third day ends in a bitter, wine-fueled not-argument about their mother and their father and they themselves. But on the fourth morning Danny gets up early (it’s five in the goddamn morning, why the fuck has Lou already left a note on the counter saying gone on a run) to make latkes, and when Debbie comes downstairs she scoops out a dollop of his favorite sour cream instead of her usual applesauce, so unless her latke preferences have done a complete 180 since the last time he’s seen her, they’ve forgiven each other.

She and Lou volunteer to go on a grocery run that evening, and Danny’s glad; he hasn’t had the chance to jump Rusty’s bones in, like, five days (turns out cleaning up for houseguests takes up way more time than anticipated) (hey, the only people they’ve had over in years have been the crew from the Benedict job, and he’s heard Reuben threaten to shit on Turk’s feet, they don’t need to clean up for them). And for a minute, as Rusty pins him up next to the to-be-composted bag that is currently overflowing with potato scraps, the only thought in his head is the usual why didn’t we do this sooner. But then Rusty pulls back-- “Rus,” Danny complains-- and he tilts his head in that We Need To Talk manner. Which would be hot, if not for the fact that Rusty probably wants to talk about Debbie.

“You’re good, right?”

“We were never on bad terms.”

“Liar.”

“Well, hostile terms, maybe,” Danny amends. “But never bad.”

Rusty shifts, adjusting his forearms so it’s more like they’re just two good pals having a conversation three inches from each others’ faces instead of two good pals about to do very unsanitary things in a kitchen, and says, “I think you’re putting too much water under the bridge.”

“What am I, a Dutch engineer?”

“You’re very funny.”

“I know I am. Now, are we gonna--”

The door opens. Danny swears. “We were gone for twenty minutes,” Debbie says. “Are you that desperate?” Danny regrets going for the open-concept first floor, and he regrets it even more as Rusty pushes himself off with an air of utmost nonchalance.

“Here,” Lou says, lobbing a ball of fabric at Rusty. Her aim is remarkable, and Danny almost asks if she ever played softball before deciding he likes his well-being more than teasing his sister’s motorcycle-riding, brass-knuckle-owning girlfriend. It’s fine; next to him, Rusty huffs an amused laugh at the unsaid comment anyway. “Happy Christmas Eve.”

Rusty unfolds the fabric to reveal a truly hideous (and possibly offensive) Christmas sweater. It’s got red sleeves, a green torso, and a large, colorful fruitcake emblazoned on the stomach. Above it, in red and yellow, is text that reads FRUIT CAKE. “I love it,” Rusty says, pressing his lips together in that way that says he’s trying his damndest not to laugh. “It’s perfect.”

Lou opens her coat to reveal her own sweater, hers saying Ho Ho Homo. “I thought the theme was appropriate.”

“And for you, dearest brother,” Debbie says, pulling an atrociously-colored wad of wool out of a paper bag and chucking it at him, “you get the best of both worlds.”

With a mounting sense of horror, he recalls the year that he insisted on putting teal and orange streamers across the house, because it’s Hanukkah and Christmas mixed! That was the last year their parents had lived in the same house; Danny used to joke that it had been the final nail in the coffin for their mother. He pinches an edge of the cloth between two fingers and lets the rest fall open. It’s a Miami Dolphins holiday sweater. A teal-and-orange, festively-patterned Miami Dolphins sweater. Oh, his Boston-bred father would be frothing at the mouth. “We’re in Canada,” Danny says, equal parts shocked and awed. “How the hell did you get this here so quick? We were supposed to be meeting in Quebec until three days ago--”

“Danny, please learn what priority shipping is,” Debbie says. “Now c’mon. Wear it.”

There’s no way he can back out of this. If he refuses, she’ll just play the I thought you were dead card. He’s never regretted a decision more.

He puts on the sweater. Rusty-- his partner, his right hand, the love of his life-- wolf-whistles.

“I’m divorcing you,” Danny announces.

“Don’t worry,” Lou says with a grin, and is that her phone oh fuck she’s got a picture-- “Debbie, take off your coat.”

With the air of someone who has suffered the weight of the world, Debbie shrugs off her jacket. She’s wearing a matching sweater, and the dolphin on this one has a lovingly-embroidered smiling mouth stitched into it. Danny tries very, very hard not to laugh. “Shut it,” Debbie warns him.

“Oh, I’m not saying a thing,” Danny replies.

“We actually did get groceries,” Lou says, turning back to the door, “so--”

“Lemme give you a hand,” Rusty says. “Let these two bask in the joy of their new sweaters.”

“Fuck off,” Danny and Debbie say in unison. Rusty grins, cheery as ever, and leaves Danny’s side to follow Lou out the door.

“Great gift,” Danny says. “I’ll be laughed at by Reuben for the rest of my days.”

Debbie snorts, walking into the kitchen and rooting around in his cabinets. “Well, actually he’d-- wait, please tell me you didn’t, like, have gross old people se--”

“Shut up, Deborah,” Danny replies, feeling his neck heat up. “I’m only two years older than you. And no.” He refrains from adding on a “not this time.”

“Thank God,” Debbie says, pulling a glass out of the cupboard. “Anyway. Reuben’s not gonna laugh at you, he’s just gonna talk about your embarrassing baby stories in whatever groupchat you people have.”

Danny wonders how his baby sister got to be cooler than him. It’s very distressing. “That’s worse.”

“Yep,” she says, putting the pitcher down and picking her now-full glass up. She leans on the wall across from him, sipping her water, and narrows her eyes at him. “Are we, y’know... good?”

“Why wouldn’t we be?” Danny says. Besides the thirty years of vaguely pretending the other didn’t exist.

“I’m not gonna answer that,” Debbie says. “But... I’d just like to make sure. ‘Cause you’re the only not-completely-insufferable blood relation I have.”

Neither of them say anything for a moment; Danny picks at a loose teal thread, trying to think of how best to phrase the thoughts rattling around in his head. “I don’t hate you,” he finally says. “And I don’t dislike you, either. You’re a pretty good sister. And a great thief.”

“I know,” she replies. “I’m not gonna say it back, ‘cause then you’re gonna get an inflated ego.”

“Works for me,” Danny says, grinning a little.

“I guess it’s just... I mean, I let all the old resentment get in the way of, y’know. Having a decent relationship, personally or professionally.”

Danny nods. He’s still got the scar from the time they both went after the Ruby of the Isle; he’d won, but just barely, and only because he had Rusty and she hadn’t found Lou. But at the end of the day, neither of them have tried to kill the other, and they still did grow up together, playing in Atlantic City casinos and building sand castles under the boardwalk. “I think we’re too old for that now.”

“You’re the old one here,” Debbie replies, no bite in the remark.

“Only two years,” he reminds her. “But I did the same thing as you, letting petty grudges get in the way of family, and for that I’m sorry.”

“I am, too.”

“Thanks, Debs.” He frowns. “They’re taking a really long time to get the groceries, aren’t they?”

As if summoned, the door opens, and Rusty and Lou, each with a measly two bags in their hands, walk in. And Rusty has his phone in his hands. “Rus, I swear--”

“Too late,” Rusty grins, as the shutter sound rings out through the living room. “That outfit has already been immortalized.”

“Have I already said I’m divorcing you? I’m divorcing you.”

“Does it count as fratricide if he’s your brother-in-law?” Debbie asks.

“Disproportionate reactions,” Rusty accuses. “Besides, I’ve already sent it to Linus.”

Danny’s eyes widen. “Not Linus.”

“You heard me.”

His phone vibrates in his pocket. It’s a text from Linus Caldwell himself, consisting of a single thumbs-up emoji and two grinning cats. “You’re all terrible people. Terrible, terrible people.”

(the sweater rusty is wearing is real) (as is lou’s) (and the ocean siblings’)

#oceans 11 #oceans 8 #danny ocean #debbie ocean #rusty ryan #danny x rusty #debbie x lou #lou miller #my writing

[ecoamerica]

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

#ACLA24 #ACLA24Leaders #youtube #youtube video #climate leaders #climate solutions #climate action #climate and environment #climate #climate change #climate and health #climate blog #climate justice #climate news #weather and climate #environmental news #environment #environmental awareness #environment and health #environmental #environmental issues #environmental justice #environment protection #environmental health #Youtube

[schraubd]

Should I PlagueWatch It?: Series Finale!

In March 2020, I inaugurated on this blog what I said "may but hopefully won't(?) become an ongoing series": Should I PlagueWatch It? Basically, it took the thing Jill and I do best -- watch TV -- and offered our recommendations for what you should watch to get you through the pandemic.

Over a year later, Should I PlagueWatch It? did, indeed, become a series. In addition to the first entry -- HBO's Avenue 5 -- I also did entries on Gentleman Jack, Marvel's Runaways, Alpha House, Never Have I Ever, Jelle's Marble Runs, Making the Cut, and a "roundup" post that covered Billions, Insecure, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Ultimate Tag, Titan Games, and Holey Moley.

But now, it feels we're finally closing the chapter on the pandemic. Jill and I are vaccinated, my parents came to visit this past weekend, we're seeing friends, the CDC says we can go unmasked. It seems, alas, that all good things must come to an end. And while the pandemic itself is certainly not a good thing, some of us may be feeling a bit bittersweet at the prospect of being expected to interact with other humans rather than sit around and watch Netflix all day.

So to wrap up the series, one more omnibus "quick hits" review of all the shows we PlagueWatched that haven't yet gotten their own entry.

* * * Mild spoilers * * *

Blown Away

Reality TV can be wonderful in its formulaicness. Take a random hobby, find ten people who are pretty good at it, dangle $50,000 in front of them, and bang, you've got a competition show. This one's about glass blowing. I know nothing about glass blowing, but the competitors seem pretty talented to me?

I was impressed at how versatile a medium glass is. I worried when I started the show that the challenges would end up being pretty one note (how many vases can one make?). But the competitors actually made a lot of really cool material!

There's a lot of running and swinging and flailing given that they're handling molten-hot material.  It stressed me out. Also, apparently "glory holes" are an essential part of glass blowing, and nobody made a joke about it.

This show is definitely more in the "everyone likes and supports one another" mold of reality TV compared to the "constant cat fights and 'I'm not here to make friends'" mold. No judgment, just letting you know what to expect.

Sexify

A Netflix series about a young college student with no sexual experience who decides she needs to develop an app to optimize the female orgasm. It's not the most innovative concept, but it works well enough.

Of the core trio, my favorite character is Paulina -- the religious Catholic best-friend who is having (bad) sex with her fiancé and feels guilty about even that sin. She does a lot of great expressive work and has some superb character beats (her popcorn addiction -- just casually munching away while watching porn). 

Speaking of Paulina, at the outset I told Jill she looked like someone and Jill's first guess was "a plainer Emily Blunt" (that's not an insult -- who isn't plainer than Emily Blunt?). It wasn't who I was thinking of, and soon I realized the answer was like six women I've known over the years. So maybe "plainer Emily Blunt" is a more common face than I realized?

The show is in Polish (with subtitles), and I'm very proud that I managed to identify the language as Polish right away (I do not speak a word of Polish).

The musical motif for the show combines one of the catchiest guitar riffs I've ever heard with a sample loop of a woman's sex moans. It fits the show perfectly, but it's a bit awkward to listen to on its own.

Wandavision

You shouldn't need me to tell you about this show. It's good, but my hottest take -- and I stand by it -- is that as an exploration of grief Never Have I Ever does it better and it's not close.

Can we concede that Wanda is the unambiguous villain of the show? With only the barest shift in perspective, Wanda could be the nemesis with an admittedly sympathetic motive. To some extent, I think the show was far too forgiving of her. Motives aside, how different is she from Kilgrave on Jessica Jones?

Poor Emma Caulfield. So much build-up for her character, and it's only a head-fake.

Space Force

I liked it. It's not in the most elite of the elite comedies, and maybe that's the standard when Steve Carrell is the lead, but it was quite funny. That said, I keep on almost forgetting that I watched it, and have no substantive commentary to offer. So take from that what you will.

AOC lookalike alert (the character even gets the nickname AYC -- "Angry Young Congresswoman")!

Mythic Quest

I love that Ubisoft is actually involved in the show (which is set at a game studio producing a popular massively multiplayer online RPG).

Surprisingly, given my love affair with Community, Danny Pudi is one of the least interesting characters on the show.

The actress who plays Poppy isn't the very strongest (though she's improving), but Poppy herself may be my favorite character. Of course, everyone knows I'm a sucker for an Australian accent.

The show has some great characters in side parts who don't get enough attention, like Sue the community manager and Carol the HR director. Also, Aparna Nancherla has a small recurring role in the first season and apparently doesn't come back for season two? I don't get why she keeps getting sidelined like this -- she's funnier than the rest of the cast put together.

Ted Lasso

Good, sweet, endearing, fun. British soccer comedies with heart are a winner for me (Bend It Like Beckham, anyone?).

Ted's estranged wife is played by the same actress who plays Linda in Better Off Ted. This was very strange, though admittedly I'm probably the only person who cared enough about Better Off Ted to notice or care.

Lupin

Dashing gentleman thief who's always a step ahead of his adversaries, except maybe the one nemesis who actually can match him step for step in a constant cat-and-mouse game? Look, it's a cliché for a reason. I'm not going to say Lupin breaks the mold, but it certainly is a well-crafted entry into the mold.

If there is anything innovative, it's how Lupin particularly leverages stereotypes about race and class to maneuver more freely in certain spaces (e.g., he can smuggle himself into prison because the guards can't tell him apart from another inmate -- sad commentary, but useful for Lupin!).

It did do something I hate, which is release "half a season" and just leave the audience hanging at the end. Maybe it was the pandemic's fault, but one could really feel its incompleteness.

Kim's Convenience

Of the Canadian shows I've been watching, I'd say Working Moms (not in this post because it is pre-pandemic) is the stronger of the two. But this is fun as well.

It just got cancelled, unfortunately depriving it of the chance to wrap up its single greatest storyline (that's been ongoing since season one). That's a real, real shame.

Simu Liu as Jung is the latest iteration of the Jason Mendoza trend of "dumb male Asian hottie leads". I guess it's a blow against stereotypes?

Pastor Nina also could be an AOC lookalike. I think the show struggled a bit to draw a bead on her character.

Legomasters

I actually mentioned this show in my post about Jelle's Marble Runs, but it is such a joy to watch. I can't wait for season two, which is dropping very soon. For pure, simple, uncomplicated happiness, Legomasters beats out everything on this list.

via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/3yamzYb

#reviews #television

[tammyhybrid21]

Hybrid Screaming about Rats for an HOUR

(Ft. Bonus dog symbolism as well)

I mean, this is going to be about Mummy and Tad(and Jeff). Buuut I am honestly taking it as an excuse to scream about rats. And their symbolism.

I'll also probably have an aside about Jeff as well, but honestly... Since @shields-and-depthgauges-oh-my​ done her wonderful art-- And I am not over how happy Mummy is to see rats, among other little details. Let's get to analysing!

Sooooo--

First off, I'm going to talk about rats. Because here's the thing. I have fancies. And this is my TOPIC to scream about. No but seriously, back when I was writing WHMS/Winds Howl, Mountains Stand, I gathered an honestly ridiculous amount of symbolism and research for ratties. Which has ultimately kind of being left to the wayside, aside a small mention/use for my old Danny Phantom OC's revival.

Which yeah...

We're not here to talk about Snitch though. As much as I do want to talk about them, the only thing they're relevant for right now is "why rats?" Which-- is only turgently connected to this. Because let me talk about the symbolism and how that impacts how I feel about rats, along with why I think that they're telling in terms of how each character reacted to them when first seeing them in the movie. Beyond the obvious of that one comic's view on things-- how you treat the lowest but--

Which, I actually have some things to say about how Tad's less grossed out than one might think and his reaction is more to Tiffany's... but now is NOT the place.

Meanwhile Mummy's reaction-- yeah. "What's wrong with them anyway?". This is something that maybe would be better expanded on later, but-- that's the common associations at play. I'm sure if I just put down the word-- Rat a million negative things would race through your head.

Dirty, diseased, traitor, thief, liar, coward, spineless, bringer of death, disarray, destructive, vermin, pest, opportunistic-- etc.

BUT

Again, I own fancies. And I'm not alone in owning fancy rats. And if there is one truth I know that's probably universal. A rat's home is only as dirty as you let it be. And for a few of those prior descriptors-- they actually couldn't be further from the truth. Sure some are still certainly true-- but those are also not their problem as much as it's the issue of the world around and what it's given.

Rats are--

Some of the greatest little pets I've owned.

They are loving, curious, inquisitive, creative, almost too creative when you're trying to keep them out of something and they keep getting around your obstacles. Loyal-- rats do not abandon those who're family. They come back--

Rats are fertile, and considering their hoarding behaviour-- well, they stock up, they prepare, they can be symbols of wealth, ambition, expansion, intelligence and resourcefulness. The underground world(which how relevant is that one to Mummy)  And yeah-- but then they have some-- rather surprising symbolism that I just... wish I could find the old sites I got this all from. But most of them seem to have vanished into the nether...

But you know one of the big ones I have on my list that I just-- wish I could source back.

Divine Retribution

Which, probably has something to do with the Black Death/Plague-- but I don't know really. Still!

Rats-- NOW--

How does this all relate to Mummy and why did I want to mention that reaction? Circling back a little bit late but-- Misunderstandings.

And how that relates a bit to Autism, being on the spectrum, what we are-- how Mummy presents himself verses what his truth really is... Weeeell-- Rats actually have a lot of symbolism that I personally think is telling when we match Mummy up with them. Like-- he shows a lot of the same things that rats are associated with in terms of creativity, intelligence(although not in the same way that most people recognize, but the dead tongues, languages) And just generally-- there's a lot.

Like, I would also again, like to think about the loyalty Mummy shows and how he is. And there's something in the Sacrifice scene I'd love to grumble about here regarding that, and ever Tiffany there-- with how it looks like they've come closer in the interim-- not just Tad staying and I just--

But that's neither here nor there, because there's another main thing.

Secrets, Underground World, Stealth

Mummy. Also something about hiding in plain sight. I mean-- how often do you even get a glimpse-- of rats even when you know they're there. Or have an idea of it.

I mean, barring a few places... which as an aside, I want to talk back again to another rat role and place that I think we here in the West-English Countries don't appreciate or understand the MAGIC of quite enough-- India's Karni Mata Rat Temple.

Rats are reincarnations. They're part of that, life, death, rebirth. Rats have their own sacredness. And considering in movie 2 we see them as I guess-- guardians in a way of a temple-- well yeah. But all of this stuff is more of an aside really to the main point and reason I am just-- delighted that rats are Mummy's implied favourites. Because yeah-- they're very misunderstood creatures that live such a short time BUT--

Yeah-- impact and there is a lot of symbolism he shares with them when you bother to look at ALL of it and not just full stop at the dirty side of things. Rats are secret keepers and just-- good beans. Also survival.

NOW--

Let's talk another side of things. In terms of all the animal companions for a moment, but more specifically I want to talk a little bit about how Tad and Mummy look to relate to animals verses humans.

Which-- I know personally-- with my Autism-- yeah, animals are much, much easier to deal with than humans in MANY ways. You don't have to try and work out what someone means when they say something, or any of the other puzzles. It's all really straight forwards. And no need to mask yourself at all. Something I'm sure both Tad and Mummy can appreciate--

Even if it does appear that Mummy is an extrovert, I mean, look how eager he is to get out, interact with people. Which that verses masking-- wouldn't blame him for befriending rats in that case since they always come in a group. Large clans/families-- which yeah-- Ratatouille got that RIGHT.

Meanwhile we have... Tad who's... rather more complicated, but at the same time not and really gets me screaming at him-- because he needs to TRAIN THAT DOG!

LIKE HOW EXPENSIVE?!

I have-- a whole other rant on Jeff's poor to none training level. But-- it can actually be summed up in how Tad is with him in general. Which is... in terms of the psychology in his relationship with Jeff. Because listen here. I had dogs. I've had dogs, chickens, my rats. Befriended cats but never gotten the full honor of owning one.

But--

I actually have some things to say about this-- and it's almost a guilty admission really but... When it comes to dogs and training, I can almost kind of get it. Jeff's lack of training is probably twofold.

1) It's damn hard to train dogs when you can barely train yourself. And 2) it's got to do with how Tad seems to be with Jeff, seeing him as part of the family and as someone who gets him. Which as an oxymoron is a bit about respect--

Although, that's... well, also something to do with Autism and projecting and I should probably make a whole proper rant about that in its own time, along with the FULL "Train yer dog" rant. Which yeah... Sooo instead I'll tie this off with our favourite doggy symbolism and talk about that-- re Tadeo himself.

Let's be obvious here-- Dogs are-- very often associated with dumb loyalty. Loyal but stupid. I mean, at least in American media-- which... not entirely wrong sometimes. Dogs are incredibly loyal. But stupid-- NAH--

Dogs are not as stupid as people see to like to portray them as. It's usually the people around them who're stupid and not paying attention or really working with the dog. Which-- I want to talk a little about Tad in regards to that, but it's kind of hard, since I am... not quite as enthused about it as with the rat rant and Mummy.

BUT--

Protection is the key theme here. His promise-- which leads to his assistance, loyalty resourcefulness... but for all the traits that Tad does have-- I feel like arguably his dog relations are in those lessons he has yet to learn from our favourite "man's best friend"

Communication, obedience, community. Stuff that Tad could arguably improve in. Also I do feel like, there's also some of his big heartedness and the empathy that could be improved, but that's less a lack of as much as he's kind of pushing that down-- and well-- a whole other issue.

Which--

Almost circles back to the mess of Jeff's lack of training.

Which-- dogs are boundless and seek things to keep them occupied. And they also seek leadership, which-- interestingly there's how I watch and view Tad-- and his relationships and he's very much a lost puppy when you look at how he follows around Sara-- which I have deeper analysis on that but--

Tad's... not really a leader as much as he tries to fashion himself as one and play the Hero.

AS A QUICK ASIDE--

While I'm on dogs, I just want to quickly give a shout out to Freddy for making me think he really hits their high points in the small meaningful moments and hints to more beyond just "comic relief" ALSO, Shout out in general to these movies for allowing the "comic" to have their moments where you can glimpse more beyond just that.

Loyalty, protection, communication, sensory perception, assistance, resourcefulness--

In any case yeah!

BACK TO MY POINT--

...Animals are... much easier to relate to a lot of times in comparison to people... and we've repeatedly seen that Tadeo has issues with people. Which feels weird really when he's the protagonist. And while Mummy definitely speaks as an Extrovert.

Like-- He's so eager to get out and be himself--

Tad is... a lot more complicated. Like, I am really, really this close to going back into my usual MBTI analysis rant for him, but-- Tad very much doesn't seem to actively ever really go out and talk to people outside their circle unless necessary. Which heeeey--

Again... Dogs are there to help you with communication, talking to people. Which makes me wonder about the pets and movie 3--

Which-- aside possibly nods to some of the deeper lore with Anubis. Which, let's not forget that he(they?!), also tended to the scales where Ammut is but--

DOGS are all about communication. Which is Tad's BIG issue. And it's not just in regards to how I point out the potential of him just taking the promise seriously and not communicating that. But-- Tad's... not good at communicating clearly with anyone. And we're not just talking in terms of people communication, bad listening and not trusting what people say--

And let's be real, still has a bit of lying issues-- but well... who in the modern world doesn't--

BUT

More, I want to return to Jeff and think about how generally one of the rules in Dogs, canine behaviour issues is... Dogs naturally want to have a pecking order/leadership to follow. And if there isn't a clear one they dictate that they are thus the leader.

Which indicates that Tadeo-- isn't really communicating clearly with Jeff and proving himself a leader... Which heeeey-- kind of hope this becomes more of an issue in movie 3, I really, really want something that forces him to come to terms with at least some of his issues.

COMMUNICATE DAMNIT, TRUST YOUR COMPANIONS.

Mummy, Sara, reign in Jeff and see that he needs you to be steady just as much as you seem to need him. And Tad does need Jeff.

FUNNILY ENOUGH

There are three characters who've proven they can gain some of Jeff's "oh leader" vibes.

Belzoni-- who seems to be able to rally, or at least lead him around a bit, and is looked to by Jeff here-- like Jeff sticks by them...

WHERE JEFF IS ON THE TRAIN FEELS TELLING AS WELL.

Like really?! Why is he not by Tad? But instead, he's following Freddy around on the train. And, minutely following scenes, still following and looking to him a bit. Which interesting.

And most interestingly, from the Facebook shorts, teasers... I'd say for this, it's a walk that's starting "strong". Which indicates that Mummy is also slowly gaining ground with Jeff and communicating in terms of leadership(and no wonder, with his experience).

NOT THAT IT SURVIVED THE WHOLE WALK BUT--

Yeah.

Please let movie 3 have Tad coming to confront this. Please. USE THE SYMBOLS YOU HAVE!

#THybrid Jones #Tadeo Jones #Animals #Mummy(Tadeo Jones) #Tad(The Protagonist) #Animal Symbolism #Freddy Marquez #Rats #Dogs #Honestly feels like a long rant of just screaming #That might go in circles-- but eyy #ALSO DON'T WORRY #Sara will get her own symbols rant eventually #Communication #Autism #Speculation

[askbohemiancompany]

Munday Mix Tape Compilation

To those who did submit for this meme, please let me know what you thought of the mixes.

iamyourdoubt asked:Oh my, what does this 🎼 bring to your mind?

Oh boy! This one was easy as hell

Terrible Lie- Nine Inch Nails

Window Licker- Aphex Twin

Battle in Me- Garbage

In My Head- Queens of the Stoneage

Eh- Death Grips

I admit for this I picked mostly tracks that would fit the mood with dealing with Doubt from denial in Terrible Lie, the active fight in Battle in Me and indifference with Eh. Window Licker just feels like you are being choked by a serpent that points out your mistakes.  In My Head is over the bad deal making aspects of Doubt I wanted to at least touch on.

asktheboxghosts asked:🎼

Sick Sick Sick- Queens of the Stoneage

Kids See Ghosts- Kids See Ghosts

Downward Spiral- Danny Brown

Everything She Does Is Magic- Police

Knife Party- Deftones

Ok this one was also pretty fun to come up with. I wanted to make the playlist mostly around Fool. Downward Spiral can represent her on maybe one of her bad episodes and Sick Sick Sick can be the danger around her. Kids See Ghosts is a whole album about and made by people that are bipolar and have depression, so naturally, a song should fit there. Also, it has the chorus Kids See Ghosts which can mean false visions or how one can cope as a child. Everything She Does is Magic could capture that, despite how initially unintimidating she is, there is something unnerving when you pay attention. Knife Party is there because she has a knife.

askinggourgeist asked:🎼🎼👀👀 I’ll do it off askinggourgeist

Garden Shed- Tyler, the Creator

WASTE- BROCKHAMPTON

You’re My Best Friend- Queen

Take Care- Drake ft. Rhianna

The Thief- Minus the Bear

This one I knew immediately I wanted to go with Geist’s on hang ups on his past. Garden Shed and WASTE both deal with the angst he dealt with being alive, both as being a lowly thief and being rejected for being gay. You’re My Best Friend and Take Care are optimistic, regarding how he has come to accept himself better and finding good influences such as Eddy. Thief is more of a mood song, with a title about his old occupation.

transient-birds asked:// I'm too lazy to log into my other blog, so take this for Tobias 🎼

Hurt- Johnny Cash

Way Down- Kaleo

Sitting on the Dock of the Bay- Ottis Redding

Time Flies- Porcupine Trees

Sad and Lonely- DJ Shadow

Okay this playlist is just summarized as “Tired and Warry Music”. So I chose tracks that emphasized regret and being beaten down by life. I chose Time Flies because this blog had one of the most drastic reboots I have seen, one I still actually appreciate to this day.

askthepathfinder asked:🎼

Shock Me- Baroness

The Weapon- Rush

Ashes to Ashes- David Bowie

Trooper- Iron Maiden

Building Steam with a Grain of Salt- DJ Shadow

I admit I had a bit of a hard time making this one. Don’t know why. I went with some quintessential soldier-esque songs. Also DJ Shadow because I will convert people to his brilliance.

askgng asked:🎼this sounds interesting. Think you can do it for my blog?

Robot Rock- Daft Punk

Take a Byte- Janelle Monae

Metal Heart- Garbage

Trash- Death Grips

Harder Than Steel- Megas

Most of the these tracks have to do with robots with Take a Byte for Gardedroid and Harder Than Steel for 107-001 RR respectively. Trash represent Gardebitch looking through the gardevoir tag on tumblr or google.

Sorry Varta

deathbycelosia asked:🎼

Where This Flower Blooms- Tyler, the Creator

Egypt The Chains are On- Dio

Tragic Kingdom- No Doubt

Inchworm- Battles

Pyramids- Frank Ocean Child of the Desert- Circa Survive

I wanted tracks that would get the feeling of going through a desert on your own, with no one else but people you are wary of. Where This Flower Blooms relate to Celosia, just being an elegant song about someone who is not traditionally masculine and owns up to it. Also because Celosia is a grass type. Inchworm is like interacting with Ravenger, at first intimidating but winds up sounding goofy by the end.

NOTE: I did change one of the tracks for this one.

im-crow asked:🎼

My Thoughts on Neo Gaf Dying- JPEG Mafia

Everyday Bro- Jake Paul

What’s New Pussy Cat- Tom Jones

Hotline Bling- Drake

Photograph- Nickleback

Hey. You like memes. Here are some memes you meme. MEMES!

ghost--mod asked:🎼 for DailyArcticVaporeon!

Art Angel- Grimes

Feels Good- Jamiroquai

Gimmie Love- Carly Rae Jepsen

Waterslide- Chon

Ice Cream- Battles

Boy howdy I do not know a lot of bright optimistic music no I don’t. Most of these were mood centric tracks since River seems like an upbeat person. Hope you like the mix bag. One has a video of a dog on a skateboard.

leilani-popplio asked:🎼

Another Day In Paradise- Reel Big Fish

Red Rubberball- Street Light Manifesto

Mr. Bluesky- Electric Lights Orchestra

Circles- Incubus

Step Outside- Screaming Females

This one was interesting because again I tried to pick up beat songs, but each with their own kind of twists in the lyrics especially with Another Day and Red Rubber Ball. Bluesky is meant to be straight optimistic with Leilani being a sweet child. Circles and Step Outside are meant to be more representative of Kass, someone who is antagonist and enjoys a fight.

a-drays-mind asked:I'm on the phone don't mind me :'D music note for the twins' blog?

Bottomless Pit- Death Grips

HEAT- BROCKHAMPTON

TABOO- Denzel Curry

Bad Boyfriend- Garbage

Misfit Love- Queens of the Stoneage

This was one that I had a blast with and one I had in my head for a while. Bottomless Pitt and HEAT both have the energy of what it feels like being in Jake’s presence: it is stress inducing with Jake threatening you in some capacity. TABOO does sort of handle in how the siblings handle all of their sexual relationships with everyone involved. Bad Boyfriend does highlight how really warped and fucked up Sara and Jake’s relationship are. Misfit Love, however, could best describe the whole cast, fucked up but with varying degrees of comradery.

askbookwormflareon asked:🎼For Isis if you're still doing this?

I will also throw one track for Rosie and Honey as well.

Glass House- Screaming Females

Bergschrund- DJ Shadow

Can You Forgive Her- Pet Shop Boys

Don’t Speak- No Doubt

Rattlesnake- St. Vincent

Since this one was for a specific character this was a bit tougher, but I still think I managed to make a decent list. Glass House deals with how Isis was raised by her mom, in an abusive cult-like household. Can You Forgvie Her and Rattlesnake deal with the uncertainty about leaving her mom in terms of learning about what her mom withheld from her. Bergschrund is what I would see as her fight theme, very distorted but sharp. Don’t Speak deals with Rosie and Honey’s romantic relationship deteriorating and how it pains the both of them

occasionalmawile asked:🎼 (if you are still doing those of course!)

Can’t Get You Out of My Head- Kylie Mignoa

Venus Fly- Grimes

D.A.N.C.E- Justice

Heart- Petshop Boys

Making Most of the Night- Carly Rae Jepsen

The only reason this one was hard was because I had to cut a bunch of tracks due to lyrics having a double entendre which would not have jived at all with your blog, but had the word pink in it. I chose some more aesthetic stuff, a lot of happy and upbeat music that seems fitting for Azamu

🎼 i dont suppose you'd do one for askcannelleandfriends?

Step Outside- Screaming Females

Golden Gun Girls- Metric

In Your Honor- Foo Fighters

Bakuretsu Panie San- tricot

You Can Do It- No Doubt

For this one I chose a lot of tracks that convey Cannelle’s spunky attitude and willingness to persevere. You Can Do It, Golden Gun Girls and Step Outside both convey this well. In Your Honor is for Cannelle’s relationship with Lenox and how close they have become. The tricot song was just more of a mood piece because I want to rep tricot.

themeowsticvigilante asked:🎼 (I follow you on my main blog and I want to try this)

My Hero- Foo Fighters

Never the Heroes- Judas Priest

Hero- Nas

Demolition Man- Police

Cabin Killer- Doomtree

I had a theme with these, I’ll give you a hint. This list is a spectrum for a “hero”. My Hero being the most optimistic to Cabin Killer being the most brutal. Despite of the name Demolition Man can be read into as a film about the guy you call in to get a job done.

asktidethegastrodon asked:I’m not sure if you are still doing these but! 🎼

Violet- SavageGarden

Grow Up and Blow Away- Metric

November- Tyler the Creator

Mysterious Traveler- Weather Report

Frozen Creek- Circa Survive

And here is the last one! This one was hard because the cast was so big, but I chose to go with tracks to cover the mood of the blog. The first three meant to each be a mixture of happiness to nostalgia, due to the blog being about a group of friends. But the last two tracks deal with the more sinister stuff lurking in the blog, namely with the giratina.

#munday mix tape #ooc #meme

[phantom-le6]

Episode Reviews - Batman: The Animated Series Season 1 (3 of 10)

We’re now into our third instalment from season 1 of Batman: The Animated Series, and this one begins with the re-invention of a formerly minor character that made that character a major foe of the Batman, albeit a bit infamous in the history of the live-action films.

Episode 14: Heart of Ice

Plot (as given by me):

In the middle of the hottest August in record for the people of Gotham, a series of cold-related crimes that involve the use of a freezing gun are occurring.  The crimes all involve thefts of equipment from facilities owned by GothCorp. Batman deduces that the equipment all fits together to create a larger and more powerful version of the freeze gun, and that the final component is only made by a single GothCorp manufacturing plant.

 That night, the thieves strike and Batman intercepts them, learning that the thieves are led by a man calling himself Mr Freeze, and it is Freeze who uses the cold gun in committing the robberies. Batman’s efforts to stop the theft fail, and when Freeze leaves one of his men behind who was hit by the freeze gun, Batman takes him back to the batcave to thaw him out.  At the same time, the dark knight begins to demonstrate that he has picked up a cold.

 Batman meets with GothCorp CEO Ferris Boyle the following day in his Bruce Wayne identity to try and find out why the company has been targeted.  Boyle claims the only person who would hate GothCorp so much died in an explosion when he was fired over an unauthorised experiment.  Batman suspects a cover-up and returns to GothCorp that night to investigate.  He finds a video tape showing that GothCorp scientist Victor Fries developed a form of cryogenics technology with GothCorp resources to save the life of his ailing wife Nora.  When Boyle tried to end the experiment, Fries fought for his wife’s life, resulting in Boyle kicking Fries into vials of coolant.  At that point Mr Freeze, who is in fact Victor Fries, enters and fires at Batman with his freeze gun.

 Back at Mr Freeze’s hideout, Batman deduces the suit Freeze wears is a result of the coolant altering his biology.  Freeze confirms he is no longer able to live outside of a sub-zero environment, compelling him to lash out at Boyle for the change.  Freeze leaves with his men and the freezing canon, as well as Batman’s utility belt. However, the caped crusader is able to free himself and pursues Freeze to a building where Boyle is being given an award for being the “humanitarian industrialist of the year”.  When Batman attacks and retrieves his utility belt, Freeze opts to enter and confront Boyle directly.

 Inside, Freeze reveals his true identity to Boyle as he freezes him up to his waist, but Batman intervenes before he can complete his revenge.  The suit that keeps Freeze cool also triples his strength, making direct combat useless, but Batman is able to stop him by cracking a thermos of chicken soup (given to him earlier by Alfred) against Freeze’s glass helmet.  Batman gives a tape showing Boyle’s actions to the press and sarcastically bids the half-frozen CEO good night.  Later, Freeze is incarcerated in a specially chilled jail cell.

Review:

This episode is another example of how much of an impact this series had on the Batman’s comic books and other mediums. Before this, Mr Freeze was apparently a minor rogue, simply being a guy with a freezing gun that would have been not much different from the Flash’s long-time enemy Captain Cold.  The tragic backstory and Freeze’s need to remain in a sub-zero environment were created for this episode, and as a result the Mr Freeze the fans of today know and love now exist.  Sadly, Joel Schumacher’s Batman and Robin film never did the whole thing justice, meaning that live-action film audiences who have never seen this episode or read any comics related to Mr Freeze from after this episode have never been given this character as he should be seen.

 The episode also features what was technically the first voice role in the series for Mark Hamill; he provides the voice of Freeze’s target Ferris Boyle, and only gained the role of the Joker later when Tim Curry found he couldn’t do a Joker voice without straining his vocal cords. It’s weird to learn this given that three Joker stories were already produced by this point, and perhaps it was this sort of re-casting and re-recording that at least contributed to the episodes not airing in their intended order.

 It’s a good story, and easily stands up as a fairly flawless example of the show’s quality.  I especially like how Batman empathises with Freeze enough to leave Boyle frozen after exposing him to the press.  A pity more unethical people in power never receive similar comeuppance. Another top scorer, 10 out of 10 for this episode.

Episode 15: The Cat and The Claw (Part 1)

Plot (as given by me):

Batman investigates a cat burglar and discovers it to be a woman; more specifically, Catwoman.  Catwoman uses a trained cat named Isis to assist her in her burglaries, and upon meeting Batman, she battles and attempts to flee him while also flirting with him.  There is a moment where her escape is almost ruined by the near-running over of Isis, but Batman saves the cat before losing both the cat and her owner.

 Later, Bruce Wayne attends a charity auction in aid of an animal charity, where the featured lot is a date with him.  The bidding initially only reaches the low thousands before wealthy animal rights activist Selina Kyle bids $10,000 for the date. Bruce is immediately attracted to Selina and insists on honouring the date, despite Selina’s protestation that she only made the bid to help the animals and has no real interest in a date. Gunfire is then heard from outside, prompting Bruce to leave so he can act as Batman.

 The gunfire turns out to be a group of terrorists trying to steal a truck of US army weaponry, but Batman manages to interfere and foil the theft.  Commissioner Gordon explains that a mysterious terrorist leader known only as Red Claw is in Gotham, and Batman promises to investigate.  The next day, Bruce turns up for his date with Selina, but beforehand Selina confesses to her secretary Maven that she is more interested in Batman.  The date is prematurely spoilt, however, when Selina learns that some land she was trying to acquire for a mountain lion reserve has been nabbed by a business cartel, Multigon International.

 Bruce uses his influence to arrange for Selina to meet Stern, the chairman of Multigon, who claims they’ll be developing the land into a luxury resort.  Selina is unconvinced and tells Stern she will have every environmental group putting Multigon under a microscope.  Unknown to Selina, Stern and Multigon are in league with Red Claw, who orders Selina monitored so she can’t jeopardise their plans.  That night, Batman grills the local mobs for intel on Red Claw, while Selina returns to Multigon in her alternate identity as Catwoman.

 Catwoman and Isis manage to gain information on Multigon’s real plans, unaware that Red Claw and her men are on the premises and planning the theft of a virus from a military transport train.  When Catwoman trips an alarm, Red Claw’s men try to capture her.  She almost makes a clean getaway, but Red Claw foils this by firing explosive ordnance at a ledge she is clinging to.  Batman manages to save Catwoman, only for her to then escape him.  She returns home with Isis and reports her success to Maven, unaware that one of Red Claw’s men has followed her and seen her unmask.

Review:

As the show’s introduction to Catwoman, I’ve often felt this episode and its part 2 follow-up had one major flaw; the inclusion of another villain.  Much as it’s cool to have Kate Mulgrew of Star Trek: Voyager fame voicing the TV show original villainess Red Claw, I think Catwoman should have been a featured solo villain rather just being the top-billed villain out of two.  After all, she doesn’t need an additional antagonist to tip her into villainy like Two-Face did, and she’s certainly the most well-known and high-profile of Batman’s female adversaries to the general public, especially in the early 90’s.  As with this show’s initial version of the Penguin, animated series Catwoman is based on the Michelle Pfieffer Selina Kyle in a grey catsuit.

 The Pfieffer influence on this character is less of an issue than styling the Penguin after the one played by Danny DeVito, since it only boils down to a hair colour and not a physical deformity. However, that’s about where the influence ends, as this version isn’t just a pure cat-burglar, nor is she seeking revenge as I understand the Pfieffer version did.  Instead, we’ve ended up with someone who is to cats, and to a lesser extent other wildlife, what Poison Ivy is to the plant world. In other words, an eco-warrior, albeit one that commits theft to finance activism where Ivy is more about direct eco-terrorism in most cases.  On the one hand it keeps the character unique from past versions of Catwoman, but it also detracts from the simple uniqueness of her being a thief where most of Batman’s other adversaries are either criminally insane or part of organised crime.

 Overall, part 1 is ok, but I feel like they should have been split into different stories so a simpler version of Catowman could have commanded the spotlight in her series intro.  For me, this episode only warrants 7 out of 10.

Episode 16: The Cat and the Claw (part 2)

Plot (as given by me):

The mob boss leaned on by Batman in part 1 informs him of an impending train heist being made by someone outside the local criminal underworld.  With nothing on the public schedules and no last-minute changes communicated to Commissioner Gordon, he and Batman deduce the train must be a classified military one. The train is soon raided by Red Claw and her men; they manage to secure the canister of virus before Batman can intervene, and he is forced to let them go in order to avoid them unleashing the virus.

 The next day, Bruce tries to take Selina out for their re-arranged date, but they are pursued by Red Claw’s men, who try to run the couple off the road.  Bruce manages to defeat the thugs by executing a series of evasive driving manoeuvres and then running them off a bridge by playing chicken.  He urges Selina to let him help, having deduced the men were after her and revealing he truly cares for her.  However, Selina insists she can take care of herself.  Later, back at the Batcave, Batman struggles to work out why Red Claw’s men would target Selina until Alfred finds a cat hair on Bruce Wayne’s suit jacket.  The colour is unique and matches cat hairs left by Catwoman’s cat Isis, causing Batman to realise Selina is Catwoman.

 That night, Batman rescues Maven from one of Red Claw’s men and asks her where Selina is.  Maven reveals that Selina has gone to the Multigon site on the land she’d wanted for the mountain lion refuge.  Maven also reveals to Batman that Selina loves him, but if this has any impact on him, he doesn’t show it.  At the site, Catwoman is caught taking photos of weapons stored in an abandoned military bunker, and has to be saved by Batman, but then both are captured. Red Claw, who is in the process of holding Gotham to ransom with the virus, opts to use it to kill Batman and Catwoman as her forces evacuate, believing a placebo will have the same effect. However, the pair of them manage to escape, and Batman quickly works to set the bunker on fire to destroy the virus while Catwoman gets out.

 Batman’s efforts not only destroy the bunker and the virus, but he heads a fuel truck into the side of the transport helicopter Red Claw’s men meant to use for escape.  Police helicopters then arrive to arrest the men, along with Stern as well. Red Claw, rather than flee, attempts to attack Catwoman, but is instead attacked and pinned by a mountain lion. Catwoman is then able to escape, but back at her apartment, Batman reluctantly arrests her.

Review:

This episode is mostly more of the same as what part 1 gave us, but the pay-off isn’t really any better than the build-up. In fact, if anything it’s a little anti-climactic, and in large part that’s due to everything to do with Red Claw and this version of Catwoman not just being a straight-up thief.  For me, I can’t really say much more and only give this part 6 out of 10.

Episode 17: See No Evil

Plot (as given by me):

A thief with a suit that makes him invisible commits numerous robberies across Gotham, using most of it to provide money for himself, but also giving some of the stolen items to a little girl called Kimmy, who believes her invisible benefactor to be her imaginary friend Mojo. One robbery occurs while Bruce Wayne is out shopping for a new watch, and he promptly intercedes as Batman. However, the invisible thief is able to get the drop on Batman and escape, and Batman begins to investigate further.

 It turns out that the suit is made from a plastic that bends light instead of absorbing it when an electrical current is supplied.  In the process, however, the plastic becomes toxic; the inventor has died and one of his assistants is trying to dispose of it, but some has been stolen by the other assistant, an ex-con named Lloyd Ventrix.  Kimmy is Lloyd’s estranged daughter, and he is using the invisibility suit to circumvent a court order keeping him away from Kimmy and her mother. With Kimmy believing Lloyd to be Mojo, she has informed him that she and her mother will move soon, prompting Lloyd to use Kimmy’s belief to abduct her.

 Batman pursues Ventrix to a nearby empty drive-in movie theatre, where Kimmy is now recoiling from her father after learning who he truly is.  With Ventrix’s head visible following his reveal, Batman is able to knock him aside, enabling Kimmy to flee to her house and her mother nearby.  Batman and Ventrix then engage in a protracted battle which leads them from the drive-in theatre to the Gotham rooftops.  There, Batman is able to make a water tower rain down on Ventrix, rendering him visible long enough for Batman to subdue him for the police.  Later, Kimmy confides in Batman that she and her mother will soon be moving, though her mother believes she has just developed another imaginary friend to replace ‘Mojo’.

Review:

This episode seems to have elements that make it a slight homage to the H.G. Wells’ story The Invisible Man, and fans of the 2020 modernised remake film of the story may be interested to note that the film’s lead actress Elisabeth Moss actually appears in as the voice of Kimmy. Personally, I know her better as Zoe Bartlett from TV drama series the West Wing, but it’s still interesting to note that she’s twice had acting roles relating to stories about invisible men. For me, though, the greater interest lies in getting to see Batman involved in what ultimately boils down to a domestic dispute that goes sideways as badly as a show like this can allow. It’s rare to see Batman, or any superhero, deal with a situation like this, and it’s a refreshing change not just in this show, but in superhero lore as a whole.

 My only real complaint with this episode is that Batman never once tries to employ an alternate mode of vision to see his invisible adversary.  His first confrontation with Ventrix reveals the suit’s current could be increased to produce a heating effect, suggesting the suit would emit a thermal signature. As such, infra-red lenses designed to register thermal energy instead of light energy would have been a clear and obvious solution.  The fact that Batman never even tries this feels like very poor attention to detail on the part of the show’s makers.  Batman is, among other things, a highly skilled tactician, and anyone deducing they’d fought an invisible thief once should surely have gone into their second bout with a better counter-measure than ‘fight across half the city and hope to luck into something like a water tower’.  For me, this episode gets 7 out of 10.

Episode 18: Beware the Gray Ghost

Plot (as given by me):

A series of bombings occur across Gotham City, and Batman finds evidence that suggests the bomber is mimicking the plot of a TV show he watched as a child, ‘The Grey Ghost’.  Unfortunately, the original reels of the shows were apparently destroyed in a fire years ago, so the series has never been committed to video. This prompts Batman to track down the show’s lead actor, a man named Simon Trent.  Trent is out of work because his time spent playing the Grey Ghost type-cast him, and he is forced to sell off the last of his Grey Ghost memorabilia to cover his rent.

 Batman uses his wealth as Bruce Wayne to return Trent’s collection to him and enlists his aid in the case.  At first, Trent is reluctant, but eventually gives Batman a copy of the relevant episode, asking to be left in peace.  Batman watches the episode in his civilian attire back at Wayne Manor, and learns the bombs are being hidden in remote-control toy cars. At the next bombing, the police and Batman have more success preventing major damage, but at one point the bomb cars almost kill Batman, and only Trent’s intervention in his old Grey Ghost costume saves the dark knight.

 After the two costumed crime fighters evade more of the bomb cars, they head back to the Batcave to analyse one decoy car Batman managed to retrieve.  Trent is shocked when he discovers the only evidence on the car leads back to himself, but then realises that Ted, the toy collector he has sold his memorabilia to, is behind the bombings.  Batman confronts Ted, who reveals he is a toy addict that has had to turn to crime in order to finance his collecting.  He tries to trap Batman with some of the bomb cars, but Trent then intervenes as the Gray Ghost.  The ensuing confrontation results in a fire that destroys Ted’s collection, and he is soon taken into police custody.

 In the aftermath, Trent’s popularity soars and his reels of the show are turned into a video release of the old Grey Ghost series.  As he autographs copies of the series, he does one for Bruce Wayne, who reveals his secret identity to Trent through a call-back to something he’d said earlier as Batman.

Review:

This episode literally has one thing going for it; the worst live-action Batman actor of all time having a guest role alongside one of the best Batman actors ever (Jason O’Mara of the DC Animated Movie Universe holds joint-top spot with Kevin Conroy in my estimation at present). While I know many people love and respect West’s version of Batman, I cannot stand it.  Granted, West was forced to play the character as it was at that time, which was a horrible campy parody of what Batman originally was, and later returned to when the comics code that stemmed from 1950’s McCarthyism was relaxed, and then ultimately scrapped in favour of age-based certification similar to the film and TV industry.

 However, that doesn’t change the fact that West’s Batman was simply too light and silly to be a true Batman.  Frankly, I see this episode less as an homage to West’s real-life story (though it does use his struggles with being type-cast as a plot point), and more as the actor’s redemption.  Here, he gets to play a role in a serious version of Batman, and he actually does it very well.  It’s such a shame, however, that in the end they’re just dealing with a toy collector gone mad enough for crime, yet not mad enough to really develop the full supervillain melodrama of costumes, gadgets, etc.  For once, we have an adversary so underwhelming as to prove there’s such a thing as a Batman story being too grounded.  For me, the episode only warrants 5 out of 10.

Episode 19: Prophecy of Doom

Plot (as given by me):

Bruce becomes concerned when fellow businessman Ethan Clark claims that psychic fortune-teller Nostromos has been saving him a fortune by steering him clear of certain disaster.  Ethan’s daughter Lisa is convinced Nostromos is a con-man, and that he makes accidents happen according to his predictions just to prove them true.  Bruce attends an event with Nostromos, who claims an accident will soon befall him. Shortly after he claims this, Bruce’s glass shatters seemingly of its own accord.

 Suspecting the glass was broken by a device emitting high-frequency sound, Batman later identifies Nostromos as former actor and ex-con Carl Fowler.  Fowler’s associate, Lucas, is a special effects man, which suggests how the con is being pulled, but not its ultimate conclusion.  The next day, Lucas tries to kill Bruce Wayne in his personal elevator at Wayne Enterprises, but Bruce manages to escape as Batman.  He is unable to catch Lucas, and feigns falling for the con after the near-death experience to learn the intended conclusion.

 It turns out Nostromos is predicting a massive societal collapse, and is convincing his wealthy followers to stash their funds in a single combined account so it will be unaffected by the collapse.  However, Nostromos can’t touch the funds without Ethan Clark’s written authorisation. Lisa also discovers the con, but is captured by Lucas before she can tell her father.  Bruce realises Nostromos will somehow try to leverage Ethan into signing his consent ahead of the supposed collapse so he and Lucas can walk away with all the money.

 At the observatory where Nostromos has based himself, the fake psychic convinced Ethan to sign the papers, otherwise Lisa will be killed in the giant mechanised model of the solar system suspended from the ceiling.  Batman arrives just after Nostromos and Lucas have tied Ethan up, and he manages to defeat them both and save Lisa in a battle that wrecks the solar system model in the process.  The two con-men are taken to jail, and as Ethan ponders how he was easily misled, Bruce quotes a Shakespearean passage about the fault lying not in the stars, but in ourselves.

Review:

This episode is quite ‘meh’ compared to others in the series.  While seeing Batman bust up a con operation is a bit of something different, the sheer ridiculousness of the whole pretence makes it almost cringeworthy to watch. I’m not quite sure where this episode’s idea came from or what its purpose was, but if it was to teach audiences not to buy into such things, I think they should have toned the con down a bit.  Frankly, if anyone bought into a con as badly acted and generally blatant as this one was in real life, they’d have to be way too gullible to even live, much less accumulate enough wealth to make a worthy mark.  4 out of 10 for this one.

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Schröedinger's Thief

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/oHUDPjg by LunaRose_MoonFlower Partially inspired by cat's cradle authored by DisillusionedDanny This will have more than one chapter don't worry After running away from home, discovering he has a feline meta gene, and quitting vigilantism, Danny decides a good use of his time would be used stealing things back from museums that were taken from the dead or their homelands Unfortunately a pesky little bird is making his afterlife a lot harder than it needs to be Words: 967, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Fandoms: Danny Phantom, Batman (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Categories: M/M Characters: Danny Fenton, Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne, Jason Todd, Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Selina Kyle Relationships: Danny Fenton/Damian Wayne, Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne Additional Tags: Trans Male Character, Trans Danny Fenton, Ghost King Danny Fenton, Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Lovers, Rating May Change, not complete read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/oHUDPjg

#ao3feed #superbat #world's finest #Clark Kent/Bruce Wayne #Bruce Wayne/Clark Kent