Curate, connect, and discover
Vlad knew three things about Bruce Wayne; he was a playboy, a philanthropist and loved kids. Oh and he was utterly ditzy, kind but dumb. As his kids would say a “himbo”. Vlad relaxed as he scuttled about the kitchen and platted them both up some lasagna.
He briefly wondered where Red, Jack he should get use to calling him Jack, had gone as he walked into the living room and saw the Wayne stare at the television. He had been in the middle of his latest k-drama when the door rang. The drunk looked inthralled with the show, turning to Vlad with a dopey smile. Vlad past him the plate of food before explaining where they were in the plot.
A part of him felt his scars itch as if to remind him of his mistakes. Don’t trust humans, don’t get too close. But as hard as it was to admit, he was lonely and even if they had hurt him he missed them.
Vlad wrapped his robe around him tight.
This was fine, Bruce Wayne was harmless anyways.
—- —- —-
Jack will admit to this not being his best idea, but the blob ghost had informed him that Violet was sick. Nothing major but … still. Jack wanted no needed to help.
He helped the family move in, using his speed as discreetly as possible. He hid in the kitchen and tested the Masters neighbors cookies for poison. There wasn’t any. He went to help but Violet wasn’t there.
But now he could help, there were vampires in Gotham. If he followed the direction to Bludhaven right he should come across a patch of flowers. A fever reducing potion should be easy to make from there.
There were vampires in Gotham so Jack really couldn’t be blamed for assuming he’d never run into a were wolf here.
- Aqualad patrolled Bludhaven as he waited for Nightwing, they had a case to work on. Nightwing is late but that isn’t anything new. He’s texting the acrobat about it when he spots her. It’s hard not to look, especially in a place a dreary as Bludhaven.
She has fine red hair cascading down her back. Her outfit is entirely pink. Like really pink, right down to the platform shoes. The mysterious girl is deathly pale clutching a bedazzled phone for dear life. It’s almost as if she is looking for something. Kaldur feels bad chances are she’s lost. The Atlantian turns around and heads off to meet the Nightwing anyway.
—- —- —-
Boston left Zatanna and John to their bickering, he already knew where they would go to get information. A seedy pub, or illegal trading ring maybe they’d even go some fancy library but Boston knew where the real action was at.
He flew off to Fawcett City.
The door chimed as he walked into the store, the door reading “Mystic Hannas Hair Salon: We’ll change your look like Magic!” Ah it was good to be home.
—- —- —-
Harley is delivering Ivys latest stash of drugs to Penguin when she feels a shadow come from an alley. Which can’t be right. The bats know better than to get that close to a target. She bends down to scratch her new pets ear. (Pan had been getting creative lately.) Taking advantage of her spot on the ground she looked at the alley until something came out. Oh a girl. A girl with violet eyes… fuck what was a meta kid doing out here by herself? Looking closer she was covered in something too. Gross.
Violet stared at the blond woman from across the street. She had a cute little celery dog, it reminded the demon of Auntie Sam. It oozed the magic of the green, so that was probably a good sign right?
“Hey what are you waiting for an invitation get over here!”
Violet smiled, it would seem that she had passed whatever this lady’s test was. She had been stared at and not found lacking, that was a first. It felt nice.
Harley could not believe someone would just let their meta kid run around Gotham. Especially near the Ice Berge Lounge. Her little celery dog seemed to like her tho tugging on their leash to get closer, wagging its tail in glee as the girl trotted across the street like a new born foal. And that was concerning, a good sign that celery dog liked her, she was actually coming over here? Just because she’d asked? What the fuck? Did the kid want to get murdered? Because that’s how you get murdered in Gotham!
Harley squared her shoulders and opened the door to the empty pub, “Come on in, let me charge my phone so you can call someone to pick you up okay?” God Harley hoped she wasn’t a runaway. Well then looks like it was up to Auntie Harley to teach the new kid the rules of Gotham, it could be her good deed of the year she thought.
Celery Dog rubbed itself against the girls legs, “Well hello little one, aren’t you just marvelous.” Her voice was small and quiet. Celery Dog sprouted little flowers at the compliment, which wtf? Did celery even come from flowers? She was so going to have to tell Pammy about this. This kid was interesting.
—- —- —-
Dandelion “Dandy” Masters was pissed. What was meant to be a short trip to pick up his sister was slowly but surely becoming a disaster. They missed several turns, blew two tires, somehow ran out of gas and now, now they were lost!
Charles got out of the car and held his cellphone out looking for bars, “Oh snickerdoodles I got like no reception.”
Dandy sighed, “Hand me your mirror.” None of the clones, aside from Alcor, had shown any affinity for magic. Dandy hated using mirror phones the most, he considered it a waste of magic crystals.
Charles leaned over his brothers shoulder, “Dandy… why the fuck are we in Rhode Island?”
Dandelion zoomed out into the distance of the mirror, “Welcome to Happy Harbor”, he wasn’t entirely sure how but he knew this was all Klarions fault.
—- —- —-
Bruce sat him self on the man’s couch being served his own butlers pasta on a paper plate.
Paper plates, plastic forks, no cameras.
He scans the room as the TV plays a sappy romance show.
Pictures, pillows, art projects litter the area.
Vlad rewinds the show to read the subtitles, again. “The subtitles are wrong, what he actually said was ‘I won’t leave you’.”
The man’s eyes positively lit up at him, “You know Korean!”
“Yes I know multiple languages actually.”
Something about the way he said it must have come out wrong because shorter man shuffles back from him.
“Sorry I didn’t mean it like that, I’m just really tired of that being so surprising to people.” And it wasn’t a lie exactly he knew how important his Brucie person was but sometimes…
“Oh. Does that happen a lot?”
“Does it matter?”
Vlad shuffled away from him again. Bruce feels like an idiot.
“It does, did did that happen today? Butter biscuits is that why you came over drunk?”
Drunk ? He wasn’t, oh right. Bruce Wayne is a notorious party animal. A notorious party animal that just invited himself in to the man’s home. A man that is three inches shorter than him and probably weighs a hundred pounds less. Bruce feels like an absolute asshole.
Think! Bruce think! Say something!
“So tell me about your kids?”
Vlad’s responding smile takes the weight off the bats shoulders.
—- —- —-
Aqualad and Kightwing are investigating a potential Vampire Fog death when they hear a howl. The heroes looked at each other, wolves aren’t native to the area?
They are outside of the building as quick as possible immediately spotting a blur of pink. Dick almost assumed it had to be a speedster before it stopped suddenly. Her eyes connected to Aqualads, arm scratched bleeding red pupils blown wide. Kaldur saw their fangs last, bracing himself as the creature rushed forward!!
… and hid behind him, “Sanctuary! Please sanctuary!” A not so girlish voice rang out at the same time a mammoth creature of hair and claws rounded the corner braking the edge of the building.
Jack closed his eyes, he knew the stories of the King of Atlantis. That he deeply cared for all his subjects, if any of them got hurt on land there would be hell to pay. On top of that all Atlantians were warriors, Jack was a home maker.
Jack wanted to see Violet again more than he cared to keep his pride. He kneeled behind the dark skinned, handsome ocean native and plead.
“Please Atlantian help me.”
Notes
In this Vlad is 6’ and 170lbs
Batman is 6’ 4 and 250 (internet said 210 I looked my self in the mirror and laughed so 🤷♀️ 259 it is)
Violet = Konstelacio
Red = Jack, yes he is a vampire.
Jack is a tall boy, he dresses very Kawaii and loves to cook and clean and take care of people. He can make potions and tinkers in mechanics.
Aqualad doesn’t mean to misgender Jack- to be fair he is wearing a dress. 🤷
Ghost helpline part 13 Neutral Ground
Diana and Clark had fought for more information. Boston needed more time to convince Jason Blood to help and Dick was still talking Raven out of retirement.
They needed more information, it was late, everyone was tired, and frankly this had grown into a bigger problem than Batman’s paranoia over a child demon. If shit hit the fan, a war between the magic community and humans could start. They need to know if a human group had made disease and they needed proof. The league needed to know the political landscape before doing anything more than cure administration. Which would take days.
Diana and Clark are reasonable good friends. They would later force Bruce to leave with his children and lock the zeta tube to the tower behind them.
—- —- —-
Jack had been born on the fourth day of the fourth month at the tail end of the Qin Dynasty in a bustling prefecture of China.
Jack had been born already dead. Skin white as snow, ruby eyes wide open, sunlight causing him pain. His mother attempted to love him, she did. She would braid his faded ginger hair away from his face and buy him small sweets when he behaved correctly. She tried.
At the age of six he had been given to his grandmother. He was moved away from the city to a backwater town in the midst of nowhere.
At seven his grandmother spent money they didn’t have for a doctor. He called them an albino. The town called him demon.
At age eight war came and he never saw his mother again. He didn’t have the courage to ask grandmother if it was done on purpose or not.
At nine grandmother introduces him to a man that will change his fate.
The first time Jack meets Violet, he’s ten hiding from bullies in the forest. She stands heads taller than him, drenched in blood, dark claws growing from her finger tips holding someone’s entrails.
She’s the most beautiful thing the little Chinese boy has ever seen.
The second time they meet, Jack is eleven eating alone. She sits at his table without horns and nobody notices.
The third time they meet, Jack is twelve and lost. She explains to him that his self pity is unattractive and that he is wasting his life.
The fourth time they meet, Jack is fourteen and his grandmother has died. She tells him that his existence is natural. He notices that he is finally taller than her, she hasn’t aged a day.
At fifteen he can no longer bare the cruel words and actions of the village. He runs away and decides to give Violet his name the next time he sees her.
At sixteen he is freezing to death too tired to move, then the man corners him.
He never makes it to seventeen.
—- —- —-
Boston had a knack for information gathering but this job was going to be difficult. Rumors so many rumors. But Boston at least knew these main things about magic society that everyone knew:
1 - Vampires and Werewolves hate each other to the point of fighting on site
2- You never ask a ghost why they died
3- Any Atlantean on land is considered neutral ground NO fighting
4- Every species has their own royals
Boston finished writing it all down and left the watchtower last with John and Zatanna. He hoped it would help.
—- —- —-
Violet lands on her ass in alley way in Gotham. It’s cold, dark and she has no energy left to teleport again. Her skin stings as she shifts slow and stuttered. Her hair grows and flattens straight down like a pin. Her eyes water as they go from gold to purple. Her scars tuck themselves away from prying eyes. Her horns imply vanish she’s not sure at all about where they go when she does this.
She’s still in her dress from days ago. Her front is dripping in a wet viscous fluid. It’s a disgusting orange color chin is of something falling to the floor. She smells rancid.
This is fine. She’s fine. Now that she’s properly awake all she needs to do is find a phone. Hers having gotten smashed before the move, multiple times. She had already destroyed three this month.
Alright, she picked her self up. She has a plan. Find a phone.
Across the street lights blare.
The Ice Berg Lounge.
—- —- —-
Bruce stubbles out of the zeta tube dead on his feet. Maybe just maybe he had been too harsh on Konstelacio. She had helped them a lot, and while her ‘price’ was worrisome Bruce knew it could have been a lot worse. It left a bitter feeling in his mouth. An unknown having any control over a leaguer, even a non powered individual, didn’t sit right with him.
He needed contingencies against her.
He needed contingencies for her too. She had looked sick, he had noticed Barry running to get a trash can.
Bruce and his kids began to strip off their clothing changing into civilian clothes. Bruce got as far as his pants when his kids conversation caught up with him.
“I know Dami I’m just worried! How could our new neighbor just let his kids wander Gotham! And apparently now the man is alone at his house! He’s so going to get robbed.”
“Tt- the two that we meet shall still be there.”
“I dunno Dami if I was that age and all my siblings were out I’d leave too.”
Neighbors? No they couldn’t possibly have new neighbors the closet house to them was the Drake Manor…. Oh. He probably owed Tim an apology but how could his son decide something like that with out him!
And he apparently had sold it to someone who let their kids run around Gotham to boot! Was the Drake house cursed to have neglected kids within its walls. Neglected kids like Tim. Not again! Not On His Watch!
The car ride only served to make him more upset. Masters? Seriously? That pompous asshole. The man was aggravating, Bruce considered it a blessing they hadn’t crossed each other often in galas. It was a bit of a mystery where he had fucked off to all these years, tho Bruce took the new kids as a simple explanation. His new found lack of villainess behavior could also be attributed to his new found fatherhood. Which made him better than most sadly. Still tho! Batman didn’t trust him not at all.
The millionaire made his way to the front door, a pan lasagna in his hand, and survived the area…. Not a single camera. He knocked. Twice.
After a few minutes the door opened and the vigilante dredged up the most innocent Brucie smile he had. The door opened and he almost dropped the pasta.
The man who opened the door was bleary-eyed, yawning softly. He was wearing a “today is paw-fect” shirt. Baby pink, two sizes too short exposing his muffin top. His pants were fuzzy and matched his open robe.
Bruce gulped at the sight of him. His long platinum hair tangled and frizzed. Cornflower blue eyes looked up at him filled with mirth.
“Well then I’m going to assume your partying had you losing track of time neighbor mine. It’s a bit late but if you’d like to come inside, that pan looks heavy…. Hello?”
The way the man had said ‘mine’ had Bruce feeling warm and … oh oh no. He was in trouble.