Moonycat

short form writers look at people writing 100k+ fics as though this is some sort of talent given as part of a fae bargain, that the commitment required shows some sort of ungodly mental fortitude.

Part 1

(Omg yes)

“You know, I never knew that Red Hood told Little D bedtime stories at the League,” Nightwing said to Batman. “I need to visit home more often. I keep missing out.”

Phantom slightly turned his head towards them, interested in gossip. He had heard of the Red Hood before, but hadn’t ever met the guy, since he seemed antisocial and volatile from Batman’s words.

“Oh, you’re going to visit the Manor?” Batman asked, extremely casually, even though everyone and their mothers could see that he was standing at attention at Nightwing’s words, like a dog hearing the word “walk”.

Nightwing rolled his head in a physical imitation of rolling his eyes. “Sure, B. I’ll visit this week.”

“Hnn,” was Batman’s extremely overjoyed, jumping-in-glee answer. There was a pause before he asked, “What do you think of his stories?”

“Of the Ghost Princess and her Robin? I think it’s super cute, but I’m curious as to how he makes up stories with characters like Phantom or Wraith. Seems rather detailed, no?”

Phantom stood up then and everyone turned in his direction at the sound of his chair scraping against the floor.

If there was one thing that Phantom loved most in the world, it was his sister. And if there was one thing that she liked and mourned the most, then it was Robin, one of her most dearest and best friends while she was Queen Regent. However, he had been taken away by her by unseen forces that resurrected him in another world, rendering him unable to be found.

Phantom turned to the two standing in the corner and floated over. “Did you mention a Ghost Princess? I want to hear this.”

Nightwing and Batman shared a look and the former said, “Hmm. You and the character Phantom share the same name, huh?”

“I’m also a ghost, y’know?” Phantom said, his hands behind his back in an innocent pose. He looked at them with big, sparkly green eyes, already able to tell that both of them were softening. He wasn’t much older than Red Robin and he loved taking advantage of that. “Can I hear about the Ghost Princsss?”

“It’s a bedtime story that my son created in order to soothe my youngest to sleep,” Batman replied. “It’s a story about a ghost queen and her loyal subject, Robin, as they handle and take care of things in their kingdom.”

“Robin?” Phantom asked, pretending to be confused. “Like your Robin?”

Nightwing shrugged. “I asked our Robin and he thinks that “Robin” was more like a literal bird creature than an actual person like us, since Red Hood would mention golden wings.”

Phantom’s mind flashed back to the Robin he knew, whose yellow wings covered him like a cape as he protected Jazz. It was sounding more and more like this Red Hood was telling the story of Robin and Jazz together.

“Huh,” Phantom said. “That sounds interesting. What about the Ghost Princess and the character Phantom?”

Batman replied, “The Ghost Princess seemed to be queen regent, but preferred to be called princess, while this “Phantom” character was her crown prince. The two were a pair of siblings with two others, Wraith and Spirit.”

Phantom’s eyes widened.

Spirit was a name that Dani had chosen for herself when she was still figuring out her identity. However, what made it special was that she had never revealed her name to the public population in the Ghost Zone, meaning that only a few individuals knew her name. A few individuals that included Robin.

Phantom smiled. “That sounds interesting! I love ghost stories, I’d love to hear this story in person!”

2025 Day 1: Ghost Culture is Weird | Bones | Jason meets Danny as a ghost | "Wait, you can see me?"

In which after Jason dies, he meets a Danny who was fully killed by the GIW. Following his resurrection, Jason sets out to recover Danny's dumped body rather than taunt Batman in Gotham.

ches

1. Port Elizabeth (South Africa)

2. Unknown

3. Nairobi (Kenya)

4. Pretoria (South Africa)

5. Aburi Botanical Gardens (Ghana)

6. Cape Town (South Africa)

7. Pretoria (South Africa)

8. Harare (Zimbabwe)

9. Windhoek (Namibia)

10. Windhoek (Namibia)

To @kushandwizdom this is a rather unfair portrayal of Africa as a whole since half of these are literally just South Africa.  So Instead to add to this post and better dispel the myth of Africa as the vast wasteland of poverty most people think, I found a much more mixed collection of pics from various countries.

Luanda, Angola

Agadir, Morocco

Lagos, Nigeria

Cairo, Egypt

Port Louis, Mauritius

Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire

Algiers, Algeria

Tripoli, Libya

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Tunis, Tunisia

A redneck neighbor once asked my mom (in the 80s) if they had cars in Peru. Sigh.

Hartford, Connecticut

New Orleans, Louisiana

Camden, New Jersey

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

McDowell County, West Virginia

Flint, Michigan

Washington, D.C.

Of course traditional African homes look different from homes in the US or Europe- they’ve started from different climates and resources. It’s such racist hubris to assume different means lesser-than.

Jason exhausted and stuck babysitting: Oi demon brat bed time

Damian still in his Robin costume typing away at the bat computer: Tt

Jason sighed: what needs to happen for you to go to bed

Damian: tell me a story of Ghost Princess and Dead Robin

Jason: if you brush your teeth and are in bed in five minutes I'll consider it

(Ooh, wait, I LOVE this HC!!)

“You’re reading him a story?” Tim asked curiously. “You’ve never done this before.”

Jason hummed. “I’m not “reading” him a story. I’m telling him one.”

Tim snorted, “Like I said, you’ve never done this before.”

“I did when we were in the League,” Jason replied and Tim fell silent. Jason ignored him and finally entered Damian’s room, where Titus and Alfred the cat were already staying. Damian stared at him in his bed, clearly trying not to look too eager but still bright with attention.

“Todd, you promised! The Ghost Princess and her Robin!” Damian said.

Jason’s lips quirked. He wasn’t sure if Damian knew that the so called stories he told were actually his broken memories of when he was dead.

His precious, fragmented memories of his Princess. He could still faintly recall her bright smiles and cheerful laughter, the way her hair shone a bright crimson, and her tall, black crown.

He had been her Robin, her loyal bodyguard and assistant.

“Well? Start,” Damian demanded.

Jason gave him a lighthearted glare. “Brat,” he muttered before he cleared his throat. Behind him, he could hear the door open and Tim, Bruce, and Cass poked their heads in. In Cass’ hand was her phone, where Jason could faintly hear Dick on the other line.

Jason rolled his eyes but as he looked at Damian’s wide, anticipating eyes, he just sighed and began.

“It was a cold day as always in the Ghost Zone where the Princess and her Robin were staying. As usual, she slept in her bed while her Robin watched over her. It was her brother, Wraith, who had woken her up and brought her to breakfast. That day, she faced a particular dilemma.” Jason paused for dramatic effect.

“Don’t tell me it’s breakfast choices again,” Damian sneered. “That was only funny when I was 7.”

“Shut up and listen,” Jason said sweetly. “The Princess had to travel to the southern regions of the Ghost Zone in order to mediate between two minor vassal kingdoms. The dilemma was that she also had to attend a social gathering that night where she had to convince the officials to allow her to build a library. Do you remember her siblings? Why do you think this was a problem?”

It had been years since Jason had ever told stories of his days down under in the realm of the dead. He hadn’t even been sure if Damian had remembered those bedtime stories until today.

Damian answered, “She has Wraith, the oldest and the wisest.” Jason snorted at the thought of Dan being the most wise. “Phantom, the crown prince and the strongest. And Spirit, the brightest and youngest.”

“What’s the name of the Princess? And why is she in charge if there’s a crown prince?” Tim asked from the door.

Jason glared at him. “First of all, you’re supposed to be pretending like you don’t exist. Secondly, she was the Queen Regent, I just call her the Princess because she didn’t enjoy the title.”

“And her name?” Cass asked.

Jason ignored her. After all, he had long since forgotten the name of his princess. He continued, “The problem was that the Ghostwriter was attending the social gathering and he had a nasty feud with Phantom. Meanwhile, Wraith wasn’t the right person to either negotiate deals or mediate between people, and Spirit was too young to know how to navigate ghostly society. Only twelve, like you.”

Jason thought about the memory fondly. “So the Princess was torn between two choices. This was her only chance to gain the support of the nobility that could help her build a library or build two alliances between two kingdoms that could help stabilize her rule. She was already distrusted and looked down upon by her citizens, so this was her only chance.”

Damian’s eyes lit up. “She called on Robin.”

From behind him, he could hear Dick’s soft call of “Robin?”

Jason smiled. “Yes. She called upon Robin, her most trusted. She entrusted him to attend the social gathering with her little sister and gain the support of the officials. So he and Spirit went to the event while the Princess went to the south with Phantom. Robin was a protector spirit, like Phantom, so he was respected and powerful. He was able to easily schmooze the poor suckers and they all agreed to give money to the Princess’ project. Meanwhile, the Princess’s mind was eased from her worried and she was able to break the fight between the two kingdoms. They all worked together and were able to accomplish both goals. The moral of the story? Always try to depend on the people around you because you can do amazing things if you’re together. The end.”

Cass snorted softly. “Hypocrite.”

Jason graciously ignored her again. He stood up but stopped when Damian got out of bed to grab his hand with a light glare. “Another! I want to hear another! That was too short!”

Jason just sighed and ruffled his hair. “I only promised one story. That’s all for today, Dami. Go to bed now.”

Damian pouted but still got back under his covers. Cass darted over to tuck him in and Jason walked past her and the gazes of both Tim and Bruce, who were staring at him with narrowed eyes.

Memories of that beautiful, kind, gentle girl entered his mind, but all of it felt like smoke through his fingers.

He wished he could’ve had more to tell, more to say about his time down under, but it was impossible.

It's almost impossible to write about something problematic nowadays without immediately being accused of having done said problematic thing.