NaNoWriMo Day #30
[masterlist] [part one] [part two] [part four]
Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry about that accidental posting everyone (;ŏ﹏ŏ) I was just too excited...
=============‹«⟨·•★•·⟩»›=============
"Don't do anything stupid," Ellie mumbled into his chest, her arms wrapped around him like an octopus. "I just got back to you, so you have to come back to us, got it?"
Danny held his clone just as tightly. "I promise I'll do my best, okay?"
Ellie sniffed and let go of him. "That'll have to do. If you get the chance, could you maybe tell Starling I love her suit? The purple really works for her," she said, discreetly wiping away tears. Danny smirked and ruffled her hair, earning a disgruntled, "Hey!"
"Yeah, I'll tell her if I see her. If not, then I'll ask one of the others to pass along the message." Danny looked over at Sam and Tucker, Jazz behind them with a grounding hand on each of their shoulders. "If everything goes to plan, I'll be back by morning. If not, well, you know what to do." Four resolute nods saw him off as he headed to his chosen shrine of the night. For last night's offering of tithe, he'd picked a more well kept and easily accessible shrine, something anyone could have gotten to and reasonably close to their apartment. Tonight, he was flying to one of the shrines furthest away from their apartment, one that was still visible, still reachable, but not as readily available for the common shrine goer. Danny chose the one closest to Wayne Tower. He wasn't sure what was going to happen when he offered his help tonight, but he wanted to keep as many civilians as possible out of the potential crossfire. He didn't think Batman was the kind of guardian deity that would willingly put his people into harm's way, but you never know, especially if he didn't know they were his in the first place.
As he neared his chosen shrine, Danny let himself become visible. He flew a slow circuit around the rooftop before settling down. He'd announced his location and intention, now all he had to do was wait.
=============‹«⟨·•★•·⟩»›=============
As soon as Phantom appeared near one of the harder to reach rooftop shrines, Dick was on comms. "I've got eyes on Phantom, he just circled a shrine before sitting next to it like he was last night. B, permission to engage?"
"Questions only, keep comms open. This might be today's feeling, it might not, so be careful, understood?" Bruce replied. "He might have some useful information, he might have a question. Either way, trust your instincts, and keep us posted."
"Copy that, B, comms will be wide open." Dick grabbed the hand grips hidden near his utility belt and tugged them to prep the release mechanism. "Engaging now," he said before taking a running leap off Wayne Tower, pulling his arms, and the now fully released wings of his suit, taut in a perfect glide. Circling the rooftop shrine similarly to Phantom, in part to catch his attention and in part to lessen his momentum, Dick chose his landing spot and let go of his retractable wings. He dropped six feet, landing in a roll that left him kneeling in a ready position in front of Phantom and the shrine. Dick took a moment to catch his breath, head cocked to the side in an exaggeratedly curious way. He held his ready stance for a count of eight, then started relaxing parts of his body opposite how one would normally relax their body, starting with his legs and working his way up to his shoulders. He kept his head cocked, though, and just watched Phantom for another count of eight.
Just like the night prior, Phantom was casually sitting about a foot or so above the rooftop, his legs crossed as though to prove there was no trick behind it. He had a faint glow about him that brightened with the growing look of awe on his face. His cape billowed slightly in an unseen, unfelt breeze, blending in with the night near the edges. The crown bobbed up and down above his head ever so slightly, but always stayed perfectly centered whenever Phantom moved.
After another four counts, where Phantom said and did nothing more than stare at him, Dick finally spoke. "Yesssss?" He rasped, thinning out his voice and elongating certain sounds.
Phantom blinked. "Right. So, after last night, I got to thinking, and I talked it out with the rest of my Fright —everyone got in safely today, by the way, but thanks again for the offer—and we, I, can't help but feel kind of... Concerned. Please don't take offense to this, but you all seemed rather... Surprised? By yesterday's proceedings. Coupled with what we know of your species, well. Let me put it this way. Most of you are likely orphans, are you not? So there are things you may not know about your species you would have learned from your biological parents had they been around to teach you, things you likely wouldn't have been able to learn anywhere else due to lack of knowledge about them. Things I know and can teach all of you about, or put you in contact with others who can teach you what you need to know." Phantom shifted positions slightly, floating up a few inches at the same time. "Please believe me, I mean no disrespect. I just couldn't help but feel like you were all going off of instinct during our entire interaction last night, which, if true, is honestly amazing. I only want to give you the opportunity to put words to instinct and take the guess work out of your interactions with yourselves and each other. If I've overstepped, I apologize, I just didn't want to be right and not do anything, only to watch as something I could have possibly helped prevent happened due to my inaction."
Dick thought about that for a moment. Listened to his brothers talk over each other about what Phantom could mean, Steph joining in occasionally with a witty remark. Listened to Bruce discounting the truly outrageous options. Listened to his instincts, like his parents had told him growing up in the circus, like he'd learned the hard way when his parents died, like Bruce constantly reminded him to do ever since he first hit the streets as Robin. And he made a choice.
"Yoou can heelp make ssssensssse of the nnoisssse?" The constant fight between two or more sides within himself, the visible frustration and confusion whenever one of his siblings does something they don't understand, the hurt in Bruce's eyes when one of them is a little too sharp with another, the unease they all felt whenever Bruce had a feeling. If that was what Phantom meant he could help with... "Weeee acccceept."
=============‹«⟨·•★•·⟩»›=============
I can't believe I went the full month and only now wrote Dick's POV! What the heck! (┛◉Д◉)┛彡┻━┻ I should have done something with him much sooner! ┬──┬◡ノ(° -°ノ) Okay, but seriously, I hope this lived up to y'all's expectations, because I had a lot of fun writing Dick character acting and being a drama queen with his epic custom made wingsuit. I kinda wanna see a costume design of his Raven suit, with and without his wings open ⊙.☉ if anyone wants to do some art of his suit, please, do so! I'd love to see it! Heck, if anyone wants to do any fanart of my ficlets, I'd be absolutely honored!
Also, I just wanna point out, I posted part two of this ficlet series on the eve of me hitting 200 followers, and I'm posting part three on the eve of me hitting 300 followers. Like, wth? (((;ꏿ_ꏿ;))) Y'all, I am honored. I'll be posting some more edits from the Batpham Discord server the day I hit 300 as a celebration (^~^;)ゞ
I had a long, stressful day, and I just want to crawl into bed and sleep, so I hope everyone who wanted to read part three of this ficlet series followed me... I, once again, don't have the brain capacity to tag everyone who wants to be tagged...
Have a good morning/day/night!
UPDATE (4/10/23): @davestridernb made some fanart of Dick's Raven costume and it's AMAZING! It looks even better than I ever could have imagined, myself! Please go check it out!
292 notes
·
View notes
It had never seemed necessary for Papyrus and I to nail down an exact meeting place. “At the park” was always enough for the two of us to find each other. And today, we found each other at the top of the white columned stairs. Well. I guess technically I found him.
It really seemed like he’d been waiting in that exact spot, knowing I was going to be walking that way. But he was watching in the wrong direction; his back turned to me as he waited, watching the stairs. Or maybe he was watching the fountain? Cool air wafted away from flowing water, which I could feel even from across this small plaza. He seemed like he was watching something. I slowed my pace, in order to get a good look at him before he could know that I was watching him.
He was sitting on the wall, leaning forward, with one foot propped up in front of him and the other flat on the ground. A half-eaten lime creamsicle was in his hand, his arm lazily draped over his raised knee.
I guess he must not have been waiting long at all, since he still had popsicle left. As if he was aware of my thoughts, he took a big bite right as I considered it. The wind blew more cool air our way, and ruffled the collar of his too-large shirt and the tall grass on the other side of the wall. I considered, just for a moment, that maybe I should stop walking altogether--just long enough to snap a photo of the picturesqueness of it all. He looked so thoughtful and serious, gazing out towards the lake. Juxtaposed with a popsicle full of lopsided bite marks, this scene was a perfect encapsulation of the monster that was Papyrus.
But I couldn’t. I didn’t have the guts. I didn’t even have the guts to disturb what looked like a satisfying reverie by calling out or otherwise making my presence known. Instead I awkwardly shuffled up to his side and moved to place my hand on his shoulder, but then second-guessed myself and thought, maybe I should tap it instead? It didn’t matter, since he startled and swiveled his head around before I could even decide.
“H...HEY!!” It was always fun to watch his face, and the clear progression of emotions that often played out. Right then it was shock at being approached by a stranger, which instantly gave way to shock at being approached by someone you love, which quickly melted into glee at having been tricked (with a hint of sheepishness for having been facing the wrong way).
“HEH, I THOUGHT YOU WERE ON YOUR WAY UP! WANT SOME?” The softened popsicle was extended towards me. Of course I wanted some, so I obliged him with a slurp that took care of a good half of what was left on the stick.
“..........” His disappointment was palpable, and my sudden guilt must have shown on my face too.
“WAIT, IT’S FINE. REALLY. I OFFERED IT TO YOU, SO...”
“Where’d you get that from, anyway? Do they sell those here??”
“THESE? THESE?? YOU KNOW THEY DON’T SELL THESE HERE! I HAD TO BRING IT WITH.” He gives a good slap to a bag I hadn’t noticed sitting next to him.
“.....They’ll melt.”
“THEY WON’T!”
“Hm. I didn’t know you had popsicle-cooling magic... Neat!” I reached down to the bag, eager for a popsicle of my own and curious about the cooling mechanism.
But the bag was swept away from my grasp, and Papyrus was shaking a finger at me. “YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED TO GO DIGGING IN MY MAGIC BAG.” He swung his leg over the wall, landing both feet firmly on the ground and standing up straight with an exaggerated gesture. “BUT I AM!” A bright red creamsicle was soon procured, unwrapped and thrust into my hands. I was suspicious of what sort of “magic” was keeping it cold, since it seemed to be already starting to soften, but couldn’t find the heart to complain about getting a treat.
Once Papyrus had started in on his second popsicle (orange this time), the two of us linked arms and began strolling towards the stairs overlooking the lake. From this vantage point, even more of the lake was visible, as well as the vague outline of paths surrounding it on the opposite side. This lake wasn’t particularly big, but it took almost half an hour to walk around a single lap. The paths were forested, at times so thickly that the lake couldn’t be seen, and that made them seem isolated, and longer than they really were. But all of it seemed so much smaller from up here even though it wasn’t that far away at all.
As we began making our way down the staircase, I bit the popsicle with my lips over my teeth then slurped up the melting ice cream inside. It cooled my face but warmed my heart. “You know, I didn’t even realize they still made these popsicles. I used to eat them a lot as a kid.”
“I, DON’T THINK THEY ACTUALLY DO?? YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE WHAT A PAIN I WENT THROUGH, TRYING TO FIND THEM!”
On the lake there wasn’t much visible from here other than a few small paddle boats, but as we got closer I could make out groups of kayakers who seemed to drift effortlessly by.
“IT COULDN’T HAVE BEEN THAT LONG AGO THEY WERE DISCONTINUED. I REMEMBER EATING THEM TOO, BACK WHEN THE BARRIER WAS FIRST BROKEN.”
In reality, I knew that the riders were having to work hard to propel their boats forward through the water. I’d never been kayaking, but it had always looked like fun to me. Stealing a glance over at Papyrus, who was still going on about the popsicles, I wondered if it could be a good way to work out together with him, fully expecting that he’d be excellent at it.
Suddenly I realized that my popsicle was gone. “Oh hey...can I have a green one now?” I waved my popsicle stick, licked mostly clean, in front of Papyrus and he grimaced. “It’s been so long since I had these, I forgot how much I liked ‘em.”
“YES, I KNEW YOU HAD EXCELLENT TASTE. OF COURSE I WOULD LOVE TO FETCH YOU A GREEN ONE. BUT I’M NOT YOUR TRASH COLLECTOR! AND IF YOU STICK THAT...THAT STICKY THING IN THE BAG YOU MIGHT-- RUIN THE MAGIC OR SOMETHING!” He made a shooing gesture at my stick, which only made me want to wave it in his face even more. “GO FIND A GARBAGE CAN!”
Seeing as there were no garbage cans nearby, I stuck the stick into my jeans pocket, much to Papyrus’s dismay. But he forgave me enough to serve me a green popsicle after all. This popsicle was suspiciously much softer than the last. “Hey.....you’re not using magic at all, are you?” I squinted at him as almost the entirety of the lime popsicle shell sloughed off in my mouth. “.....*gulp*. You just packed a ton of popsicles and counted on being able to finish them off before they melted.”
Papyrus seemed to be watching the boats on the lake quite intently now but surely he was aware of my accusatory stare out of the corner of his eye. His stern expression twitched with a grin. “I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT."
"..........."
"BUT. I'LL ADMIT THAT IT’S A GOOD THING YOU’RE HERE, SO YOU CAN HELP ME EAT THEM ALL.”
“True. It’ll be a lot of work to finish them all before they melt.”
“WELL, DON’T GET ME WRONG! I COULD MANAGE IT.”
The path down the stairs was lined with shady trees, but the lake itself was surrounded by a sunny, open walkway. I had a feeling that no, he could not manage it. These popsicles were not going to last more than 10 minutes, tops. Even through our combined efforts, there would probably be a couple of melted treats. I slurped up most of the ice cream center as we walked across a platformed break in the stairs, eager to do my part either way.
But as we stepped down onto the stairs again, I saw something that made me jump in alarm: a wedding party! And their cameras were pointed straight up the picturesque stairs, right at us! Without even thinking, I pulled Papyrus by our linked arms, running back up to the platform before turning off onto a small dirt path running diagonal to the stairs.
The air was heavy and quiet as I pondered whether or not I had photobombed that bride and groom’s photoshoot. Probably so. Even though I hadn’t noticed it until we were very near, that was only because I hadn’t been paying attention. The pictures probably had us there in the background, though it wouldn’t have been very close to the subject. It was a public park, so I couldn’t really feel guilty for it, but even still, I didn’t want to be in some stranger’s wedding photos.
“.......” I wasn’t exactly sure why but suddenly things felt clumsy and awkward. I didn’t know what to say, or whether to say anything, and the little bit of popsicle I had left was completely forgotten. Slowly I turned my eyes up towards Papyrus only to find him calmly nibbling on a new popsicle (a red one now) while looking back in the direction of the couple.
“........HM. YOU THINK....YOU MIGHT WANT TO DO THAT SOMETIME? ME AND YOU?”
My heart, pounding, leapt straight to my throat, blocking out any words or sounds from coming through, while my grip on the popsicle stick tightened. Was this a joke?
No...he was genuinely asking me for an answer, I realized, as he looked down, smiling at me expectantly. But he looked so laid back about it. Somehow, we must have been thinking of two different things.
“U..uh....I, I mean....um...ho-honestly, I’m, I-I’ve.......you know...it feels embarrassing somehow to b-be...honest...but....” My words got quieter as my face got hotter. I went to take a giant bite of the popsicle to cool down, but what had been left of it had already melted and ran down into my fist.
“HANG ON....OH MY GOD......ARE YOU SCARED OF BEING OUT ON THE WATER???” His suddenly concerned face only confused me even more.
“WAAAAIT, WAIT WAIT WAIT...” Papyrus took a brief look around himself, which at first I took to mean that he was checking to see if anyone was around. But maybe he was looking for a place to hold his popsicle because the next thing he did was quickly suck the whole thing directly off the stick (swallowing it dutifully rather than savoring it, and tossing the stick to the ground), before placing his thick-gloved hands squarely on my shoulders, and leaning in close.
His worried frown was right in front of my face, much closer than it usually happened to be. I tried to listen to him instead of focusing on his features, but it was hard. I hadn’t had this chance to be so close before. His voice wasn’t...quiet... but, it was softer than I expected.
“IT’S OK TO BE SCARED OF THAT. PERFECTLY OK. DON’T....DON’T BE EMBARRASSED. WE DON’T HAVE TO--”
Suddenly everything clicked in my mind. Our eyes met. “To...go kayaking together....?”
“YES. EXACTLY. WE DON’T HAVE TO GO KAYAKING TOGETHER. I’VE NEVER DONE IT MYSELF, BUT....WELL...WHEN I SAW THOSE LITTLE BOATS ON THE BIG LAKE....” He smiled softly, sheepishly even. “I THOUGHT IT LOOKED LIKE FUN.”
Actually, it did sound fun. Really fun. I returned his smile, shyly, even though he didn’t seem to completely understand that look, and grasped his hand, pulling it to my chest confidingly.
“Maybe it wouldn’t be too scary....if we were together.”
Sorrowfully, Papyrus shook his head. “THE KAYAK IS A BOAT THAT ONLY FITS ONE PERSON, I’M AFRAID.”
“I meant. Together, in our own boats. Side by side on the water.”
“OH. SURE. YES! I’LL STICK RIGHT BY YOU!!” His grin was nothing short of triumphant.
Then he noticed my hand, clasping his.
“ ............YECCCK!! WHY ARE YOU SO STICKY?!?!?!”
23 notes
·
View notes