The potential for angst with this is off the charts, but what I’m really thinking of is the potential for friendship and understanding between Jason and Mary Dahl, aka Babydoll. Both of them trapped in a body they should have outgrown, never fitting quite right in their own skin, adults (or teen/young adult in Jason’s case) that still have the appearance of children.
There’s just so much potential for a deep talk about the realities of an unaging, childlike appearance, understanding coming from an unexpected source, and eventual friendship, even a sort of rehabilitation or at least acceptance for Mary, with a new support system and friends.
Honestly, Babydoll being sympathetic and giving advice, while finding a friend in turn, is way underutilized in Batman and Batman adjacent fics where a character is eternally young in Peter Pan fashion.
DC PROMPT
Jason Todd doesn't grow old. Not because he dies. Well, technically, because he did die. When he was 14. And the Lazarus pit stopped him from aging. Forever.
When he becomes Red Hood, he's not seen as a threat at first. Some scrawny, 4'7, barely weighs 60 pounds soaking wet kid with a dumbass mask? Pssh, Crime Alley deals with Batman on the daily, that kid ain't nothing.
Until said kid begins beating their asses. Horrifically. So now, Red Hood is known as the first ever child crime lord.
And the angst? Oh, there's angst. Because rather than dealing with the knowledge that Jason grew up when he was gone, they have to deal with the fact that Jason looks the exact same as the night he died.
Jason is still that scrawny, malnourished 14-year-old, with a smile that could light up the room despite him never showing it now.
Jason can still fit in his old robin costume. He could still. Fit. In. His. Robin. Costume.
That mere realization startled Bruce so badly.
Betcha the ghost-beeswax candles let you see spirits within their range of illumination. Very handy for a seance.
Ooookay, Danny has moved to Gotham for <insert reason here> and is faced with a problem. Yes, Gotham has higher levels of ambient ectoplasm than your average city, but it's nowhere near those of Amity Park who has a goddamn artificial hell mouth smack in the center of it. Also, the ectoplasm which IS there is contaminated with some nasty shit that makes Danny feel ill when he takes too much of it in. Having his friends back in Amity Park ship him flasks of pure ecto on the sly is difficult to say the least, so he starts thinking about ways to both concentrate and purify Gotham's ecto so he's not one shipment interruption from being in really bad shape.
He get's his solution from Sam. On his bi-weekly video call with her and Tucker, she gets to ranting about bee conservation. Tucker makes a joking comment about honey being basically bee vomit, and Sam tears into him saying "That is a gross oversimplification at best and outright bee-slander at worst!" This perks Danny's curiosity, so he looks up the biological process by which bees turn nectar into honey...and he's found his answer. Blob ghosts are basically the filter feeders of the Ghost Zone/Infinite Realms. If he can get a bunch of them to behave kinda like honey bees, his ecto supply should be assured.
It works...a bit too well...
Now Danny has a swarm of glowing green honey bees that are roughly the size of carpenter bees buzzing happily about him. Their queen is roughly the size of a large hummingbird. He heaves a weary sigh and starts looking up how to ACTUALLY keep bees and making skips out of ghost-friendly material for them to build their hive in on top of his apartment building.
But, won't Danny get complaints from his neighbors? Here's the kicker. Unless you are a 1) ghost, 2) halfa, 3) wearing specialized Fenton Ecto-Visual Goggles or 4) a mage, you cannot see, hear or feel the bees! They're buzzing around Gotham happily, slurping up the ecto to take back to the hive for processing. And they slurp it up from EVERYWHERE...including certain people.
Jason Todd is slightly confused but not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Over the last few months, the Pit Rage has been decreasing gradually. He doesn't think much about it until he shows up at the BatCave for an all hands meeting that has been called because John Constantine needed to brief them on something...only for Con-job to take one look at Red Hood and shout that he's "COVERED IN FUCKING BEES!!!"
I really wish there were more good fics, especially long ones, about Klarion, or at least where he’s more than a throwaway character/villain.
Riddler is such an OCDiva.
Petition for a Batman movie but it’s in the style of an old noir detective film with Bruce narrating his inner thoughts. Preferably with slight vibes like the sixties tv show, and mega vibes like BTAS.
Give us detective Bruce who cares about the people behind the rogues while brooding in the rain! Forensics! Trauma! Broody inner monologue!
Riddler who uses a question mark cane not for aesthetic but because of an old injury (though that won’t stop Ed from making it aesthetic anyway).
Ed has a lot of different canes and he sometimes wonders if he ought to pare down his collection. Oswald with his million umbrellas says not to.
“It’s perfectly normal to collect various styles and weaponized varieties of functional style elements, Edward.”
“Not when it’s that many, Ozzy.”
Ed has a slight limp and can’t run well or for long distances. This is part of the reason for his complicated traps and tendency to be at a separate location, as his getaways need a little time.
He doesn’t let his leg stop him from doing crime, or anything he wants, really, and will absolutely use his cane to wallop Batman or anyone else who says different or tries to stop him. Or shoot them, if it’s a gun cane, slice them if it’s a sword cane…
Gun cane, sword cane, taser cane, grapple cane, sleeping gas cane… Ed is beginning to really think he should do something about his collection at some point.
A ghost’s trauma tends to stick around in one form or another, and reminders are never pleasant.
TL;DR:
Regardless of her physical appearance, current health, and stability, Dani/Ellie’s shadow always appears to be slightly dripping or melting, and more so in ghost form. It’s not overly obvious in human form, and people who notice tend to dismiss it as a trick of the eye.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ellie can’t escape her shadow. It catches the corner of her eye when she’s least expecting it, and her smile wavers. The dripping edges, that half melted arm… Dani looks away. She was never meant to survive.
Danny asks if she’s alright when she doesn’t respond as he’s telling her about his latest scuffle with Skulker, and Dani pastes on a grin, laughing and giving some inane excuse. Of course she’s alright. She’s fine, just fine.
Danielle Dani Ellie it’s Ellie, she’s her own person isn’t she? cracks a joke about the sequel being better than the original, and she’s more than just a failed copy, right? She doesn’t even have her own name.
Danny smiles and laughs, but if his eyes are concerned as he meets hers, carefully avoiding looking at her shadow, neither of them says anything.
He’s just a kid, he doesn’t know how to handle any of this, let alone raise the clone/cousin/sister/daughter he never asked for, and she won’t make him.
She leaves again, and she enjoys traveling, really, she does, but… does she really want to do it alone?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ellie eventually gains confidence in herself, both as her own person, and as Danny’s clone. Just like any kid taking after their parent, sharing his DNA doesn’t change the fact that she’s still her own unique person.
Eventually even the clone jokes are less of a nervous traumatic response and more because she finds them genuinely funny. (Her sense of humor and coping mechanisms definitely take after Danny. Death jokes anyone?)
One day, the dripping, melting form of her shadow will no longer haunt her, but for now… she’s taking it one day at a time.
What is the purpose of a mouth if not to scream?
During her travels, Dani becomes a spirit guide to the afterlife for the ghosts and/or souls of lost, abandoned, and homeless children.
Feel free to write your own takes on this prompt or to continue from my take here!
~~~~~~~~~~~
Dani had seen and experienced a lot of things in her travels. Some were fun and interesting, like visiting the world’s largest corn maze, exploring New York, or learning from that one street performer in Reno. Others… not so much.
There were plenty of periods of monotonous travel, doing/acquiring the basic requirements for human life, and general interaction with people who’ll forget you the moment you’re out of sight. Ellie had done some busking, even some stealing— but, hey, a girl’s got to eat, and ghost powers meant she didn’t get caught.
She didn’t tell Template everything. Dani didn’t want him to lecture her, or worse, to worry. She didn’t want to be a burden. He worried enough when it was just about her being homeless or about her dubious health, and that was without everything else on his plate.
So… when she escaped another kidnapping, didn’t get enough food for the week, survived her first gang shootout, she just… didn’t say anything. It wasn’t like he needed to know. And when Ellie ran into other kids in similar situations… well.
Dani helped them when she could, but sometimes it was just too late. And, well, someone had to make sure they got to the afterlife okay.
Is anyone else just constantly delighted by descriptions of or references to John Constantine as a sad trench coat man?