#clone^2

The Connection and History:

So one thing is for certain the connections the characters have with each other but also the reader's connection to the characters! That's what really makes it hit, and original pieces that harder to do than with fanfiction in most cases.

(great example why we read and write so much of it)

Original pieces need more layers to bring the readers to the level where you will affect them, while with fanfiction we already care, that's why we’re there. (and for the dopamine that floods us when reading)

Being able to convey that history without explaining it as an info dump is important, and not just for angst, that's just for any type of story!

Attention to Details:

Now this one is heavily a “my opinion” one. The attention to details and how that attention is brought.

Now details when making a story can be anything, from a theme to symbolism. Or sometimes it’s just that one character remembered something that's so small about them but jesus christ you remembered that one thing I have to remind everyone else or no one has ever seemed to notice.

One great example that has made me emotional 😒 is @starry-bi-sky Clone^2 AU, she has talked about it a lot, but the significance of Danny’s hands, the scars on them. (Spoilers, I suppose I should mention)

What they mean, yeah in the moment, in every moment, it’s Danny kinda being a dumbass and catching this tiny Dami’s blade in his hands. But down the line, it shows how he didn't give up, how he wasn't fighting the small child but fighting for him. Fighting for his future.

There’s plenty of posts written by Starry about the hands and other moments between them. The significance of the hands is already emotional, now add in connection and history.

For that AU the Damian and Danny we follow are clones of Damian Wayne and Bruce Wayne (DC), so we have that, but Danny is still Danny Fenton (Danny Phantom).

There are layers to the connections the reader has to these characters, Bruce and Damian being characters that have thousands of hours worth of content for you to somehow grow connected. Damian has been cloned before in Cannon and killed by that clone, so the drama of that is enough to make you want to hold your breath.

Now Danny Phantom has history with clones, Dani Phantom. You already have Danny’s experience with them and the idea of them. But then Starry makes Danny a clone of B, and he has to come to terms with that, and soon following that is a clone of the guy’s kid??

There's a quite a bit going here, and it works. We have established care for the characters, now we add a few layers of cannon fuckery, then something to focus on: Danny’s dilemma of taking in his reality (which I didn't get into), and Danny’s hands representing his immediate dedication to Damian.

Another example of his dedication is him learning Arabic and teaching Damian English, lord I love them helpp😭

So conclusion,

It doesn't matter what you choose to do, it's how you focus on it. How is it significant to the story or characters? What are the possible lasting effects? And of course, does this make sense?

Just ask how it fits with the characters or story, whether its a one-shot or multi-chapter.

The boy calls himself Damian. It takes very little time and a google search to realize that Damian Wayne of Gotham isn't missing. The only logical conclusion is a clone.

Danny makes a split second decision, and decides to keep him for the time being. It's not like there's much else he can do; Damian knows no english, and Danny has no way of sending him back to where he came from. And he doesn't think he would anyways; what kind of madman teaches a child how to wield a sword with the intent to kill?

(There's always sending him away. Letting the police handle it. Maybe contact the Template (somehow) to let him know of his son's clone. Let blood family deal with it.)

(But the idea makes him ill. Again; nothing against the Waynes. Danny's just always had a bleeding heart problem, and he doesn't know how the little Damian might react to being transported so suddenly across the country. Damian is small, and scared, and confused, Danny wants to help first.)

(And... being cloned is a horribly violating experience. All the love to Dani; Danny still burned everything he could find that had his DNA on it in the family incinerator to prevent it from happening again. Damian Wayne may not be a young child anymore, but he's still a teenager-- having a clone of himself thrust onto him right now would be a horrible shock. You know what they say about ignorance.)

So, little Damian stays.

And oh is it so hard. It's so hard. The apartment is too small, and Danny needs to go on an emergency shopping spree to get everything he could that Damian might need -- dipping into what savings he has for it -- and then he can't leave Damian home alone all day, but he has classes and work, and the ghost-fighting--

Then of course there's getting his hands on official documentation for Damian -- Danny's positive he doesn't even exist in any official government sphere, period. Being a clone and all -- but that part's a teensy bit easier because they had to do that with Dani. And it's harder too because Damian is Damian Wayne's clone, and social media isn't like the way it was when Danny was a kid--

Then there's Damian himself. Who doesn't want to stay. Who wants to go back home -- and Danny feels like such a scumbag for it, but he can't in good conscience allow him to. Not when Damian knows all these skills that no child should, and clones don't typically hold good track records for the reasons behind their existence -- and is insistent on fighting Danny every step of the way. Who doesn't speak english and doesn't like Danny and who keeps trying to sneak out -- Danny put child locks on all the windows and it did nothing.

(There's Danny himself too. He can't stand looking at Damian some days, he keeps finding little bits of himself in his face and it renders him ill. Damian is Damian Wayne's clone, Damian Wayne is the son of His Template, and Danny never got over being a clone. He can't stand his own reflection most days. It doesn't matter how long his hair grows or what piercings he gives himself, that face is still not his own. And he thought he got over throwing up in the bathroom at the sight of himself. He did not.)

And its so hard. Danny calls Sam and Tucker one night and cries; he never cries.

It starts getting a little easier. He starts teaching himself arabic and Damian starts learning english, and Damian starts warming up to him, and Danny gets a good schedule under control. He's looking for a bigger apartment and a better job with better pay and better hours, and he's on top of his classes despite things. And Damian blooms.

He gets happier, he starts to relax, to warm up to his surroundings. It happens only after he realizes that nobody is coming for him-- and that's an episode in and of itself --and he steps out of the shadow of Damian Wayne and starts becoming Damian.

(The first time Damian laughs, Danny commits the sound to memory and promises himself to get it to happen again and again.)

And I'm just. Sitting here. Picturing Danny and Damian in the apartment. It's early morning -- the sun is barely up and there's still fog coating the city -- and Danny is blasting music out of his phone speaker while making breakfast. Damian is in fuzzy pajama pants and one of Danny's stolen (old) band shirts, with his hair grown out and sticking out in a bad case of bedhead. Sitting at the table with a blanket cocooned around his shoulders and his knees pulled up on the chair.

Danny's in a similar state, sweatpants low on his hips and his pajama shirt hanging off his shoulder. His hair, much longer than Damian's and has been since he found out he was a clone, is unbrushed and tangled and pulled back only so he can see while making food. He still has residual eye makeup smeared over his eyes -- because in this universe, he has no ghost form, just a mask and some gadgets he made himself -- from last night's patrol. His mask is laying haphazardly on the counter nearby, and his boots are kicked off by the fire escape in a pile. His thermos in the sink and his grappling hook on the floor.

Danny sits down at the table, pulling his chair next to Damian, and Damian turns and flops face-first into the side of his arm with a grunt, eyes kitten-squinting with sleep. Danny's heart is SO fond, and despite himself he loops his arm around Damian's shoulders and tugs him into his ribs, and then hunches over to rest his chin on his head.

"Damiaaaan," he murmurs low in a sing-song voice, unable to keep the joy out. He can feel the way Damian's nose scrunches against his side. "Wakey-wakey bud, s'time to eat."

And he gets an noncommital grunt. He can't do anything but press a helpless and hopelessly in love smile into his boy's hair, and shake him gently, "Dames, m'boy," he tries again, "up and at 'em."