blog names are hard

Just when he felt all hope was lost and he was sinking, a large hand enveloped his entire body and hefted him back into the open air. Shivering and coughing out water he didn't catch whatever the man had said. He continued shivering violently as the guy wrung out Dannys fur.

The mans hands were warm despite the brown leather gloves covering them. They made Danny feel comforted and energized almost as if the man had...oh gods! He did! The man had ecto inside of him! Thank the ancients! Now he just had to stick with glove guy and he could recharge! It would be slow but still!

"Here we are little guy." The man said and Danny noticed all at once that the man had been walking the whole time Danny had been stuck in his head. He looked around and noticed the Animal Shelter sign in front of them.

No. No! Danny needed to stick to this guy if he ever hoped to become a human again. But despite how he dug his claws into the flesh of the mans exposed arm and yowled the man in the red mask managed to get him lose and left him in the care of an animal social worker.

Danny was checked out and placed in the tiny jail cell alongside other kittens and cats, many who were scared, miserable or just desperate for love and attention. This of course meant he needed to plot a jail break. Fortunately, he could still used most of his powers but without any ecto around he would have no way to recharge them outside of food or indulging in his obsession.

Needless to say Jason was a little startled when he woke up the next day to not one, but five little kittens meowing at him for food. He swears the one sitting smugly on his chest is the same one he dropped off at the animal shelter yesterday, but that couldn't be right...

One call confirmed it. All of thier animals had escaped last night and there was a suspiciously animal sized arch taken out of the wall with an unknown tool. Demon brat would be delighted at the news.

Unfortunately for Hood the smug little black cat he rescued yesterday had decided that his shoulder was the perfect perch and stayed there more often than not. Little guy got into food often but refused to eat kibble and any attempt to get the kitten away from the mashed potatoes resulted in violence or density shifting to get back to the food.

"Come on Mischief. I gotta go stop bad guys. Run a crime empire! You gotta stay home and be safe!"

Well that wasn't going to happen. Oh no. Danny was going to protect his human. He howled at the stupid man, and clung on to his shoulder. He felt more than heard his sigh of resignation. Good. He should be resigned. This was happening .

Robin was. To put not to find a point on it. Flummoxed when he saw Red Hood later in the evening.

"Why do you have a kitten on your shoulder? During patrol?"

Jason groaned. If course it would be demon brat. And he could hear everyone asking over coms. Fucking dammit!

" You know what. If you can get mischief to go home. I'll owe you a favour. "

Damian tilted his head, confused by that statement.

"It is a kitten, not a recalcitrant child."

Then he saw Hood's posture. He seemed defeated by a kitten? Truly?

" Robin. The kitten can density shift. The kitten can bite through steel. I honestly would pay to see mischief vs Superman at this point. I've given up. Mischief fucking wins. "

Damian scowled while thinking.

"I suppose that does make it more difficult yes. How did you find them?"

Jason scowled at the menace on his shoulder.

" last night I saved mischief from a puddle. Took him to a shelter. Woke up this morning to 5 kittens on the floor, and mischief sitting on my chest smugly. "

Damian quickly flicked his com silent. Their family apparently found that amusing, and were being loud about it.

"The kitten staged an escape. Fascinating. Well done indeed. They must have enhanced intelligence as well!"

Jason hadn't even thought of that. But given the look of smugness on Mischief's face. Well. Demon Brat was right .

"You're gonna be a nightmare ain't ya mischief?"

Damian is entirely salty about not being the kittens chosen. But also respects that the kitten has chosen. And knows cats well enough to know it will not change.

Gotham news went crazy over the tiny kitten taking down Bane. 'Batcat' might be their favourite hero. A fact that has Jason's tiny kitten far too proud of himself.

Jason had laughed so hard when B tried to intimidate Mischief. Mischief stared at him. Flicked his tail. And turned around to show his back. He was so glad his helmet recorded the encounter.

The most convenient tool for doing this, coincidentally, is the cheap ouija board Jason picked up somewhere, so Mischief can slap letters with his little paws to respond.

Danny, half ghost menace that he is, finds the irony of this so funny that he’s too busy laughing to give Jason any straight answers, and ends up being super cryptic and decidedly unhelpful.

Danny *aggressively* Mash!

Jason: Alright! Jesus fine. Fuck! And currently? Do you weren't born a cat? The Fuck happened?

Danny : Food!

Jason: Nuh uh you little shit!

Danny *clearly sulking* shape shift practise. Got stuck.

Jason: Huh. Fair enough. Dinner time then. Also stop laughing. The fuck is so funny?

The first time he did that in patrol? The thugs have up instantly. And he was very very smug about it. The cops were scared as shit too. Which Hood have him pets for. He quite likes this animal sidekick thing. Much more fun than school!

Danny is happy to play with his new friends… within the bounds of his human’s reasonable restrictions… mostly. It was only a few. No, he shan’t clarify what he means by a few. No, not even on the Ouija Board… maybe for some mashed potatoes? *Big pleading eyes*

Jason has to check on the news... At least it was all Luthor's? And it was outside of work hours? So uh, that should give big blue a break for a bit. FINE you can have your mash. Why do you even want mash??? I can do steak you know?

BIG kitty eyes. STEAK!!!! Please? Pretty kitty please?

Klarion absolutely messaged Luthor like “Dropping by soon! Don’t worry. Bringing a friend!” So, Luthor had prepared for Klarion and whatever chaos would happen. Just not Klarion, Teekl, and a supernatural, powerful cat of sorts to “play” with each other… using his buildings like toys. Superman gets a pretty nice break from

Danny gets so excited when he realizes the steak is on the table as an option for meal. Now he asks for steak AND mash.

Rules are rules and, even if Klarion doesn’t like rules, he gets that Danny wants to ensure Jason’s safety. Danny basically gets to play at day and terrorize anyone who bothers Jason at night.

Superman is highly confused. But greatful for the break. Luthor is too busy calling construction companies and getting his building rebuilt to be a problem. Also... Isn't that Hood's cat? He may need to call Batman.

Batman when called? Has to share the knowledge that he can do nothing about the cat. Constantine can do nothing about the cat. It chose Hood and that's all there is to it. Even Hood can't control the damn thing!

Klarion likes his new bestie! Mischief is great! They can get up to do much trouble! And the only thing Mischief wants for it is to not attack Gotham? That's fine! That's Mischief's turf now. He gets it!

Jason is learning how to deal with entities of great power. And that bribery works. Deals work. Nothing else does. He gets why Connie drinks now. He really really does.

Diana turns up at Jason's. Scruggs the kitten and looks at him sternly.

Diana: Hello Uncle. Why did you not visit me hmm?

Danny bats his big eyes surely at her. And meows. And yes. Ok. Fine. You don't have a voice box right now.

Honestly I feel like if Danny ever got to visit home when this is all said and done, his rouges will be filled with regret at the new heaps of mischief he can inflict on them.

He and Klarion have an unofficial deal that is forged and upheld only through play, and considering Klarion probably doesn’t get many chances like this in his existence he’d definitely not step out of line cause he enjoys the chaos they inflict

What did you name him?

“Pendejo. Todd assures me it is an affectionate way to refer to you.”

Bruce does that bridge of the nose pinch that he does when he feels a Jason sized headache coming on. When Damian decided on a name, he refused to change it. “You may keep the cat only if you do not call it that. At least abbreviate it to Penn? I’m afraid your brother was being a bad influence again.”

Damian considers this for a moment before agreeing, because father’s logic is sound plus it means he gets to keep the cat. If he argues, father might change his mind.

He insists on home visits to determine if his classmates are suitable residences for the kittens, with the exception of one that has long black fur and blue eyes- that one he gives to Jon as a birthday present. What gift could possibly be better than a creature who will love you and protect you. It can even be taught to chase mice from the barn!

Meanwhile, when Joker gets out, he hears tales about the Batcat, who travels on the shoulder of Red Hood. Well, can’t ignore the newest member of the bat family can he?

He is preparing to break into one of Jason’s safe house/ apartments when he hears the low angry mrrrowww of an angry kitten. He turns with his crowbar raised viciously, expecting to see the teeny little black kitten he’s heard about, only to be met by an oversized black panther with death flashing in his eyes.

By the time the Bat arrives to take Joker back to Arkham, Joker is babbling frantically about the rabid hellcat that mauled him. Bat looks around frantically for the megafauna grade panther, but all he can find is a cute little black kitten, sitting on Jason’s welcome mat and cleaning the Joker’s blood off his coat and paws.

The CCTV came in the hallway glitched during the attack, so they have no proof one way or the other.

Great, Batman mentally grumbles, Now I have to worry about Hood’s odd kitten plus an unknown oversized cat that cut Joker to shreds.

Meanwhile? Hood is already planning a party to celebrate. He needs a clown piñata, several good cuts of steak, plenty of mashed potatoes, and cake. Time to look up what kind of cake would be suitable for a cat, because his darling boy is absolutely getting his own cake as a reward for the gift he left on Jason’s doorstep. Joker cut to ribbons and unconscious. How did he know? That gift was absolutely the right size!

Meanwhile, Tim had brought over some R&D projects, and there was one for a device that would put the James Webb pictures to shame. Jason remembered how Mischief had hovered when that document was out, and as a final surprise, got a telescope attached to a simple keyboard and monitor.

That way, the monitor would show what the telescope saw, and with the simplified keyboard intended for small or handicapped users Mischief could decide where he wanted to see.

Danny just lounges with intent and licks the side of his face.

Jason: Oh gross! C'mon! I have a bust tonight! I'll make you steak and cheesy mash!!

Danny grumbles at the lost opportunity for cheesy mash but refused to move. Very pointedly puts a tiny bit of weight onto the broken rib and chuffs.

He will argue until the day he dies that the sound that came out of him seeing a giant black panther sleeping on his little brother was both reasonable and dignified.

Once he finally got his breath back from laughing himself into a second grave Jason waved at his older brother. Who was currently being treated to the indignity of being squashed for his actions. Mischief had NOT like the escrima sticks. And had batted them away, before knocking Dick on his back and flopping onto his chest. Grumbling the whole time. Dick had at least stopped screaming once it was clear he wasn't going to be eaten.

Jason: Dick! Meet Mischief! Isn't he adorable!

Dick:.. THIS IS MISCHIEF!!!! I thought he was a KITTEN!!!!

Jason: Yeah? He is? Most of the time anyways. I'm not allowed out on patrol. Got a broken rib. Mischief figured being panther sized would stop me.

Dick: Mischief was the one that fucked up Joker? Holy SHIT!!! Why didn't you WARN us the kitten was a meta?????

Jason: Cause he's not. Also, not technically a cat. Just stuck as one right now. Damian knows. Not my fault that didn't get passed back to the rest of you.

Dick:... Baby bat betrayed me??

Jason: Yeah. He met Mischief when he came to collect the kittens he is fostering. Plus, Superboy is a snitch.

Dick: The fuck has Superboy got to do with this???

Jason: Mischief is besties with Klarion. But supernatural entities have Rules. So Klarion isn't allowed to fuck about on Mischief's turf. So they tear up Metropolis instead.

Dick:... Why the fuck is Klarion's bestie living with you??

Jason: Saved his life by accident. Now he's my problem. And he's decided to do that by sitting on me when he thinks I shouldn't be patrolling.

Danny took his chance to butt into the conversation by pushing off Dick's chest, causing him to exhale sharply, and wandered off to get Jason's next dose of painkillers. And a bottle of water. Since Jason wasn't supposed to be moving too much. Dick watched as the panther then sat and stared at his little brother until he took the painkillers, and drank some of the water. Dick began to grin gleefully. He was going to be able to tease Jason about this for AGES!!

On one hand it might be quicker than using the ouji board but on the other Danny's favorite button is of course the MASH button. Jason hears that button so much the demanding of MASH is in his dreams. Or Danny is just spamming it at ungodly hours of the night.

Tim: . . . Why are you teaching your kitten aerodynamics?

Jason: Because we finished King Lear and the little shit already knows everything under the sun about astrophysics.

Tim: Oh...kay?

*Later, back at the cave.*

Tim: I'm telling you guys, he's snapped. He's trying to teach the cat literature and advanced physics.

Damian: Education is important Drake. Though clearly you were unaware of that since you dropped out.

Tim: Fuck off, Demon Brat, it's a kitten! They don't even have the cerebral development to learn that shit. And Jason said it already knew astrophysics! That's not possible.

Dick: As long as Jason isn't teaching him how to eat people, I think it's fine.

Tim: How would a kitten eat people, Dick? It's literally a kitten!

Steph, just trying to through fuel on the fire: I don't know Tim. Isn't this the same kitten that staged a break out for himself and the other kittens? Seems he might be a little smarter than your average cat.

Bruce: Have you been getting enough sleep lately chum?

Tim passes out lulled to sleep by the soft and warm allure of kitty cuddles. Later that night he wakes up in a haze to see a fully grown Fuck Off Panther finish assembling whatever device he’d been working on before turning into a kitten and phasing through the roof presumably to go cause mischief.

Tim thinks he’s dreaming or hallucinating and goes back to bed. When he wakes up he finds the device fully assembled, Jason still asleep, and a large black panther standing over him alternating between spamming buttons that loudly exclaimed MASH and PANCAKE.

Jason groans awake. “Alright Mischief I get it! You want pancakes and also mash! I’m starting to think I should just be flattered you like my cooking so much,” he grumbled, shuffling over to the kitchen, ignoring Tim having a crisis in the living room.

As he cooks Mischief phases through a wall, shifts back into a kitten, and hops onto Tim’s shoulder. Tim stares at the cat with wide eyes and the kitten looks pointedly at him and then the kitchen, indicating Tim should go there. Not knowing what else to do Tim heads to the kitchen and takes a seat at the table watching Jason cook. He just sits there for a while processing everything. Then Jason sets two stacks of pancakes in front of him. One for him and a smaller cat-sized stack for Mischief.

Finally, he takes a breath. He turns to the cat wolfing down pancakes on the table and says,

Tim: Diana? Why?

Years in the ghost court has changed Wes enough for him to act as a warlock patron. Unbeknownst to him, a marriage certificate does act as a warlock pack. Steph finds out when she accidentally eldritch blast the villain of the week.

(Lmfaoooo)

Spoiler happily ran across the roofs of Gotham City, completely ready to end the patrol and see her husband again.

Husband. Her husband, Wesley Weston! She was elated to have finally married him after so much happening. All around her, there were couples that formed with the residents of that other universe (cough, a certain trigger happy crime lord and his Princess), and she was happy to be one of them!

Yes, they were a bunch of weird, powered up, mutated humans from another dimension, but Spoiler wouldn't trade them for the world.

Red Robin followed after her and cleared his throat. "Earth to Spoiler? You're on patrol, remember?"

Spoiler blinked and realized that she had almost missed the thief that was slinking away with a flatscreen TV from a nearby electronics store in his arms.

"Oops," she muttered, before dropping off the roof in front of the thief. "I don't think you've paid for that."

The man jumped at the sound of her and cursed. "Damn Bats!" He hissed, immediately holding out a gun to her face. "Back off, or I'll shoot!"

"Over a 40 inch TV?" Spoiler snarked. She knew that Red Robin was behind her and she was confident in her own prowess.

Wes always loved complimenting her about her skills and her talents, as if determined to wear down on her insecurities. Now that they were married, it somehow gave her a strange sense of comfort.

"It's not just about the TV! This is about freedom! This is about justice!" The man screamed. Both she and Red Robin shared a look of exasperation.

"Get on with it. We have things to get back to," Red Robin said. Spoiler knew that he had his own outer dimensional partner to get to and she silently agreed wholeheartedly.

The man bared his teeth. "But thankfully, I'm not alone either, Bats."

And just like that, he threw the TV at their faces, which they dodged. But unfortunately, that was when they saw an entire gang of people with guns pointed at them.

Ever since the citizens of that other dimension had crossed into theirs, it had been chaos. But as time went, those same residents, Wes included, calmed down the situation and were often helping the heroes in slowing down crime.

As such, Spoiler could admit that she got a little bit careless after so many days of minor crimes.

Spoiler cursed as she was cornered against a wall. A group of three people were aiming at her and she could see Red Robin struggling against a group of six. The barrel of the guns were cold as they pointed at her and suddenly, Spoiler regretted being so carefree.

What would Wes think if she came home with gunshot wounds?

The guns cocked. Spoiler raised her hands without thinking and suddenly, a bright purple flash came from her hands, shooting out and striking the three men perfectly.

They all fell down with cut off shouts. Spoiler froze as Red Robin and the other gang members stared at her in shock.

"So you've had powers this whole time—?!" He was cut off by a punch to the jaw.

Later that patrol, as Spoiler was unable to replicate what she just did with that magical blast, she told Wes about it.

"— and then I couldn’t do it again! I told Tim not to tell B, but I’m really worried. Is this some sort of mutation? Or did I somehow unlock my meta genes like Duke? Wes, what do you…” her voice cut off.

Her husband was staring into the distance, his eyebrows furrowed as a faraway look entered his eyes, one of deep contemplation and a dawning realization.

Stephanie suddenly realized something. “… you know what caused it, don’t you?”

Wes coughed. “Well… err, I think I forgot to mention that when we get married, it— well….”

When Batman dies he comes back as a ghost nearly immediately. He soon finds a stable portal to cross through, intending to find Gotham as soon as possible.

Is clearly terrified for his family and city but REFUSES to "abandon" Danny! D:> Stop being everything Danny's been praying for! This feels like a TRAAAAAP! He's gonna get attached then something BAD WILL HAPPEN!

*awkward BatHug deployed* its going to be Okay, Danny.

Obviously Bruce has been dead for a bit so Jason is sus until the kid says one of the batcodes

Cue the justice league having to summon or fight someone from the GZ/Infinte realms. They take one look at Batman and just start parenting/baby talking/treating him like a child.

And Batman doesn’t do anything about it! His core is humming happily because he is a baby ghost despite being a adult human.

Danny: Why is Lady Pandora here?

Batman: Realms issue came up. As Earth's resident Realms wrangler? I thought it time to introduce you to JLD. As they didn't even explain that it was a Realms issue until they summoned Lady Pandora.

Zatanna: How do you even know about the Infinite Realms?!

Danny: Cause he's Batman. Duh.

Batman: This is Phantom. The hero of Amity Park. He babysits a permanent portal between the Realms and Earth.

Danny: Urgh. Babysits is right. So! Who are we fighting this time!

Zatanna: Batman? Are you sure? The being running around isn't an everyday spirit! The Ancient of Dreams isn't something for a teen to fight!

Danny: Wait! Nocturn got out again!?! Urgh! What's he doing this time?!

Batman: Phantom has previously fought Nocturn, Undergrowth, Fright Knight, Pariah Dark and Plasmius.

Eldritch being: *gasp* A BABY!! Coochie coo! Coochie Coochie coo! Hello little one!! 😍

The Batman, slightly tilting his head back so the eldritch being can gently tickle his chin with their huge fuckin claws: *deadpan* Hello. It is very nice to meet you. I know that I am a very cute baby, but my associates have summoned you for assistance. Please focus.

📷📸📷📸📷📸

You’re doing amazing sweeties!!

Bruce: I died six months ago. As is protocol it wasn't announced. Since many of us return, one way of another. This time I came back as a ghost. Phantom is the protector of Amity Park's permanent portal. I stayed for a while to mentor him. But had him contact my children. They turned up to help. And likely to ensure I was still myself.

Marvel: Uh, question Mr Batman. How did you damper your aura like that?!?

Bruce: Phantom created the device. It users electromagnetic fields manipulation to scramble and hide Ecto signatures.

Zatanna: Wait! The kid?!?! How?!

Bruce: He is incredibly intelligent. And the son of mad scientists. He used their work on reading Ecto signatures to work it out.

Clark: Why did you hide it from us?

On the other hand, you know who would have been in real distress? His kids, for those two months or so between his death and Danny’s phone call.

Bruce died as Batman, from an injury in the field. He was still alive when he was brought back to the Cave and died in the presence of his family. Though he didn’t regain consciousness and they didn’t get to say goodbye, there was no chance for the body to be swapped; there is no doubt that Bruce is dead.

They all get very drunk for a night or two. Even Jarro, who, as a telepath, is basically getting drunk by proxy.

They had a drawn-out knock-down fight over what to do about Bruce. Tim and Damian were in favour of attempting a resurrection (Pit or Apokalips). Dick and Jason and Cass were very much not. They’ve reached a compromise; they are not actively working on it but the body is in frozen storage with a lot of alarms on it.

Jason, who’s doing a lot better these days, took the cowl. Cass will take over eventually, but for the moment Jason is the best at maintaining the illusion of continuity. They have a cover story ready to go for Bruce Wayne’s death.

And then Jason receives the phone call, to his Oracle-secured batphone from an unknown number.

That usually means one of the other Bats on a burner, which usually means trouble, so he answers.

“Um, hi?” Not a voice he recognises, at all. “Is this Jason?”

Young. Male. Midwestern. Asking for Jason on the Batphone. Could be real trouble. “No, this is Mark,” he says. “You’ve got the wrong number.”

“He said you’d say that. Um, Jason? I have a message from your dad.”

Jason gets angry and breaks code. “My dad is dead.”

“I know,” says the voice. “He says, recognition code bee zero one, whisky delta india hotel mike… no, sorry, hotel sierra mike kilo, circumference, um… flange, uh… requirement? Requirement.”

Jason can’t say a word. Can’t breathe. It’s B’s code all right, no coercion, not compromised, and he felt the need to specify no time travel. But what he really can’t get over is the way it sounds like the kid is listening to someone prompting and correcting him, someone who’s standing there with him.

“And he says, contingency four two seven gee and… three one five? Yeah, three one five bee.”

Jason doesn’t know these from the top of his head. He rouses enough to drop Tim a quick text. Tim knows all the contingencies, the little freak.

Jason: contingencies 427g and 315b

Tim: !!!!!!!!!

Jason: what are they?

Tim: holy shit

Tim: moving to group chat

Jason swipes over to the batchat group.

Tim: jason just texted

Tim: b’s come back as a ghost

Tim: and he’s adopted again

Jason: Yeah, yeah I'm still here. So, B's a ghost huh? How'd you meet him?

Danny: Oh, um, there's a portal? To the Infinite Realms in my city. It's um, it's in my basement? My, my parents built it. I accidentally turned it on. So, so it's my job to keep everyone safe. Batman heard about it. He wanted to get back to Gotham. Um, but he um, he felt I needed help. But, I'm not, not always there. So...

Jason: Its ok kid. Take your time. Sounds like B has his hands full over there. He asking for Justice League backup?

Jason heard the muttering start again. Why wasn't B using the phone? Maybe it was a ghost thing? Something to ask the kid.

Or maybe a neon green suit with the eye-searingly pink symbol/belt. Which would obviously be irritating for him in the human world. Neon green and pink are very attention grabbing. But then in the realms he would retain his nature and ability to slip into the "shadows". The shadows here more or less just being the ambient environment which Ghost Batman still blends in to.

In a way, it would be like the Universe itself telling Batman, "No, you don't belong to this world any more. Batman belongs to the Infinite Realms now. Go back to the new shadows you fit into." Not that Bruce is going to heed that message.

Which generally leads to Bruce’s body getting “weekend at Bernie’s”-ed by his children.

anyway i wanted a memento of my first pride, you know, and this one vendor was selling keyrings, and i liked it, so i bought one. do you remember those italian charm bracelets that were all the rage like 10-15 years ago? it was a keychain like that, and it had a rainbow rooster, a rainbow cat, and then just a rainbow, and so I bought it.

i run into my mom a couple of vendors over and she goes oh you bought something? what’d you get? so i showed her, and i was like, “I’m not sure why it’s a rooster and a cat. Seems kind of random. But I liked the rainbows.”

and my mom, who was some form of minister’s wife for most of my childhood and teenagerhood, stares at me like she thinks i’m joking.

“What?” i say.

…relic…

If you are unfamiliar with Tofu, please read this post or watch this playlist about the snake who hates Markiplier. tl;dr- under the Markiplier gif.

From the videos you can see she tries to figure out what is upsetting Tofu, and found that it's not just streamers, or just his voice, or the stream. This specific snake very much does not like Markiplier, and appears to recognize him visually and from his voice.

He does not like Markiplier specifically which is demonstrated by him squaring up with Mark, striking, and tail buzzing at him. He recognizes Mark specifically as a scary threat.

Animals have been shown to recognize human faces, and Tofu's reaction to Markiplier's face (and only his face as shown by the printout) is strong evidence that he recognizes Mark's face and differentiates him from other faces. With crows, they've been shown to hold grudges and have that grudge extend to other crows.

So Tofu has a negative association with Mark, and specifically Mark. The question is why? My theory is: perceived threat after a perceived dangerous situation. Some have theorized Tofu was mistreated by someone who looked like Mark- if they were while in his keeper's care she'd know. If it was his breeder, he'd more likely be afraid of all humans and need to first get over this negative perception (basing this on how Sakura reacted with massive trauma that took years for her to overcome, and to this day she's still jumpy. A breeder doesn't socialize their snakes so they'd only know humans to be abusive before being adopted, and his current keeper would very much notice that terrified trauma behavior to herself.)

One thing important to know about snakes is they are not only capable of learning from each other, but are protective of each other. I've seen this with my girls interacting with each other (yes snakes have friends and remember their family), learning from watching the other and copying her actions, as well as behavior I've observed on the Rattlecam with wild snakes. Adult snakes teach younger snakes, as well as are protective of them- even if they aren't their own babies. A female was shown on the rattlecam watching over a group of slitherlings that were obviously not her offspring as she was heavily pregnant. IIRC that same female ushered babies to safety after a hawk attack before worrying about her own safety. I've seen it in person as well with my girls, who have shielded each other from perceived danger, and scoria also squared up to something scary in the hall as though she were protecting me. And when it left she immediately went back to being relaxed and cuddly and happy. Snakes have friends that are snakes. It's an outdated belief snakes cannot bond with their keepers, as many do and seek them out for attention. These observations of snake behavior are part of what play into my theory basis.

So what could Mark himself have done? If you watch streamers you'll know Markiplier is known for playing jumpscare games with his FNAF let's plays being some of his most well known. Tofu's owner knows Markiplier, and is actively watching Markiplier with Tofu. More than likely she regularly watches Mark, has watched jumpscare videos, and had Tofu around while doing this.

It's a reasonable assumption. And if Tofu's keeper reacts to Mark's jump scare videos by flinching, looking frightened, or making frightened sounds, it's quite likely Tofu's sees Markiplier is involved every time... and blames Mark. Seeing his keeper get startled, Tofu doesn't understand it's a fun video or that humans enjoy being jumpscared (honestly I don't think I could explain it to him either) so he's learning from his human that Markiplier is a scary threat.

And from Tofu's point of view? He's right! Markiplier is a regular threat that not only (probably) scared his human, but regularly appears to stare him down and even went after him in his own home! And when his keeper scolds him? It's likely the same misunderstanding that dogs have when their owners yell at them to be quiet- they think the human has joined in! Clearly his keeper is joining him in being upset at Mark!