Danny wasn't sure what he expected, but it certainly wasn't being woken up by an overly enthusiastic Yeti and Dick screaming in fear right next to him. Apparently the chieftain had found it necessary to come in person and assess Danny's health for himself. His health could have done without being scared awake but as per usual in this household, it already happened so not much he can do about it.
He most definitely could have done without the disapproving glances Frostbite kept sending his way as he went through the introductions with the rest of the inhabitants. They were all taking it surprisingly well considering a 15 foot tall undead Yeti was roaming the halls. Here and there he resorted to Esperanto when talking to the others, not really used to communicating with the living. It reminded Danny of Wulf so he didn't mind it too much. At least Frostbite knew English enough for the casual chatter.
Much to his surprise, he didn't have to translate every word as apparently Dick had been trying to learn the language himself after hearing Danny mumble to Cujo during patrols. He didn't mind it perse, if anything it was rather heartwarming that his brother was trying to learn the common tongue of the dead. A small heads up would have been appreciated however. It would have been something they could do together after all.
Frostbite was absolutely delighted to meet a fully living being who knew the common tongue and even offered to give Dick simple reading material that his tribe used to teach others. Equally delighted to learn about ghosts, Dick happily accepted the offer after making sure there would be stuff for Danny as well.
Eventually they had all migrated down to the Batcave, one of the few places Frostbite could stand to his full height instead of crouching down to not scratch the ceiling with his horns.
Danny's checkup had been…eventful, to say the least.
Frostbite had quite a pleasant chat with Alfred about Danny's nutrition. The yeti had been very pleased with how well it was going and what improvements Alfred had managed to chart over only such a short time. The two had gone into great depths discussing what changes would have to be made to keep up with an increase in activity that missions would require. Here and there Selina chimed in as well, noting what foods Danny seemed to prefer over others as she had been keeping track of that.
To nobody's surprise, Bruce had asked about training regimen. While Frostbite wanted to wait with any details until he was able to do a full check of Danny's health, it didn't stop the elder ghost from discussing the various skills there are to learn with both the base powers and any Danny already had and could still develop as he grows older and regains his strength. Of course, Bruce had been most interested in ecto-manipulation as well as the possibility of using ectoplasm to power certain devices so they would be better suited for Danny to use.
Once it was finally time for Danny to get his checkup and switch to his ghost form, it went downhill fast.
Gone were the comfortable vibes from before. It took all of 2 seconds for Frostbite to look at Danny before the disappointment rang clear in his voice, even if the words were increasingly not in English anymore. Frostbite had immediately demanded to know what had happened. Danny didn't even need to think to know he meant the failed training.
Danny had tried to explain it as casually as possible, but of course Cujo directed his unamused huff at him for once. Frostbite stared Danny down, arms crossed as he waited for the halfa to fess up. Danny wasn't going to, until Dick decided to speak up on his behalf, innocently assuming Danny was just not wanting to talk about what happened to avoid the flashbacks.
Frostbite thanked him kindly before ushering everybody out of the medbay.
Almost immediately after they were left alone, Dick could hear an argument break out between the two. It started out rather tame, only able to tell they raised their voices and their tone wasn't particularly the nicest. Though Frostbite sounded more concerned and somewhat disappointed, Danny was very dismissive and aloof at first.
That was until Frostbite mentioned some kind of injury Cujo spotted that had worried the pup a lot. Something about how it 'did more than just set back his recovery'. Dick wasn't quite sure what that was supposed to mean, nor did he provide a translation for the others, but he'd rather not think of all the possibilities and implications.
It would do nobody any good if they tried to interrogate Danny about it after all of this. He was sure he could trust Frostbite to knock whatever sense into Danny's head that his brother needed. Beyond that, though it got a whole lot louder, Dick was struggling to understand the words. At least now he knew that if the Yeti wanted, his voice could boom across the entire Cave with Danny's a close match.
It kind of reminded him of when they used to argue as kids. Either one of them would easily start yelling, though most of the time it was Dick who started it. Danny had better arguments and, as a child, Dick figured being louder meant he was more right. Of course now he knows that isn't how disagreements work but clearly it was still a bit of a habit.
After what seemed like ages of incoherent arguing and yelling, Frostbite finally let them back inside. Danny pouted at the head of his cot, sitting curled around Cujo while occasionally sending a small glare Frostbite's way. It was a bit odd, seeing Danny so openly annoyed but after all the yelling from earlier he was somewhat surprised he didn't just leave.
Frostbite didn't seem to care much about his grumpy patient as he beamed up at the adults. Once again slipping into the lovable but professional mask of a doctor, he addressed Bruce. "You wished to know about his health in relation to battle, yes?" He asked, making sure to only disclose what would be needed without breaking the ghostly equivalent of doctor-patient confidentiality.
When Danny didn't seem to object, Frostbite began his explanation. "It would be my advice that the young one does return to battle alongside his other half for the health of his, ah, ķ̵͖͓̠͇͐ͅę̴̢͚͈̦̼̘̜͙͍̇ŗ̵̗̳̲̘͇̱̜̟̑̉͊͂͗͑̈̈́̏̕͜n̶̩̳͔͒͗͊͛̂ͅò̴̤͇̅̓̎́̀͆͠͝. Frostbite looked over to Dick to see if the boy knew the word but he was just as clueless.
"Core," Danny provided begrudgingly.
"Ah, yes, for the health of his core." Frostbite beamed a bit too happily. He was about to continue when Dick raised his hand in question.
"Sorry to interrupt, but what is a core?"
Frostbite glanced over to Danny, who just shrugged dismissively. "What? It's not like there was a moment where I could just sit everybody down for Ghost 101."
With a fond roll of his eyes, Frostbite addressed the humans in the room. "A core is, in simple terms, a ghost's heart and soul. It is the source of our power as well as what determines elemental affinities should a ghost be powerful enough to have one." He demonstrated by creating an ice-miniature of Danny, much to the boy's grumbling discontent.
Chuckling at the grumpy response, Frostbite continued. "A core is also much more than that. It is what makes us exist. It is what allows us to connect and communicate with others and it is what holds our bodies together." He made the miniature of Danny slightly bigger, the ice forming his body thinner and paler so the core in his chest would be more visible.
"But," his tone darked a bit, "should a core be damaged, there aren't many cures. It greatly depends on the cause of the damage but that is not something I will worry you with." Danny snorted, rolling his eyes slightly as he let his head fall on Cujo's. Frostbite, like he had practice with the pouty teen, simply continued. "A core also determines an obsession. It cannot exist without one as obsessions are what causes a ghost to be born. If obsessions are not indulged, it can have severe repercussions for one's core health." Frostbite's tone dipped a bit too far into a subtle call out for Danny to ignore.
"I was satisfying my obsession just fine keeping the prison safe, not that you think it was." Danny grumbled loud enough to make sure Frostbite would hear.
Frostbite raised an eyebrow at him. "As I have explained before, considering the severe deterioration of your core, it was not enough."
Danny gritted his teeth as his hands balled up in frustration, a slight green glow illuminating his fists. "It's fine. Nothing that won't buff out after punching a few criminals."
The yeti simply smiled at the boy, completely unfazed. "That is not what your core tells me."
Danny sat up straighter and pointed an accusatory finger right at the elder ghost, ready to start their argument all over again. "Well can my core also tell you to fu-"
"Danny!" Selina scolded before he could finish his sentence. Danny looked at her incredulously, arms flailing around as he tried to wordlessly defend himself. Eventually he gave up, leaning back again and shoving the bottom half of his face in Cujo's fur.
Frostbite belly-laughed at the whole interaction. "Do not worry, ma'am. I am plenty used to his antics. He's quite a feisty one. This is rather mild compared to his first training sessions with my tribe." Sensing he was about to delve into that embarrassing mess, Danny quickly tried to shut him up. Though nobody could quite understand exactly what he was saying, they all had a feeling it weren't any words Alfred would approve of. Frostbite, still enjoying getting Danny all riled up, simply laughed. "See, is all bark."
"If it's bite you want, I don't mind a demonstration." Danny was already halfway getting up when Dick gently pushed him to sit back down.
"Danny, we don't bite people." Dick softly scolded, echoing an all too familiar sentence Bruce used to tell him when he just started out as Robin. He wasn't able to stop himself from smirking as Danny stared at him with a deadpan look in his eyes.
"Dick, respectfully yeah, speak for yourself."
"See," Frostbite boomed, "is just harmless fun. Fighting is good for the soul! Very normal for ghosts to have friendly spars. Is no actual danger, see!" The yeti proudly held out his iced over arm for the others to inspect. Much to their surprise, there were teeth marks in his forearm. Completely missing the looks of moderate concern, Frostbite continued to chuckle to himself as Danny gritted his teeth.
Sobering up after a while, the yeti finally continued with his assessment. "Where were we?" He asked to himself before finding his lost thread again. "Ah, yes. Due to the lack of indulging in his obsessions, he will need to participate in something that satiates it. Something more than keeping guard of strangers." He added pointedly at Danny.
"Something like missions?" Bruce asked, fully intrigued by all the information about ghosts Danny had neglected to share with them before. He had half a mind to ask if they had any materials he could study for himself to learn more from less biased perspectives than Zatara's. Perhaps that would better wait until after they sorted Danny's health checkup.
"These missions involve both fighting and protecting people with his other half, correct?" All of their resident humans nodded in confirmation, collectively ignoring Danny's muffled groan. "Then it would be the perfect activity for recovery indeed. Very healthy for mind and core." Frostbite hummed along in thought. "In that case, I will require to fetch some supplies to aid in his physical recovery for such activities. Then we may discuss further details regarding his training and diet."
"Are our current supplies not sufficient for his care?" Alfred piped up, concerned for their lack of ghost approved medical equipment. He had a whole list of questions he wanted to ask in regards to medical care considering they already had quite the struggle with his diet and as it turned out, not even speedster doses lasted particularly long in his system.
Frostbite beckoned him over go assess all their current medical equipment, making note of what other supplies he should bring. "Do not worry, I will be sure to bring along enough to last you through emergencies. My people have been preparing for the day he would decide to return so we have some supplies at the ready to be tested. Before I will allow him to battle, he will simply require i̴̢̢̒̔̆͛̽ǹ̴̮̽t̷̛̹̤̋̉͛͒̓̽̓r̷̪̘̆̒a̸͔̒̉̄̐̚v̴̨͉̼͖̂̓e̷͇̯̳͋̀j̶̦͓̰͓̝̹̳̳́̈́̒̌ṉ̸͚̹͓̩̓̾a̴̮͗̉̓͆̂̊ ̵̡̥̭̗͍̦̇t̸̡͉̭̳̠̎́͠ḛ̵͔͇̭͈̞̘̬̓̈̃̆͑͘r̸̺͐̊͐̕͝͝ä̶̠̏͝p̷̡͎̥̿̊i̶̢̜̜̹͇͔͕̒̓̉͠o̸̱̯͖̘͙̓̇̎ before his body is healed enough to handle such activities."
Danny immediately groaned, letting his head fall back against the headboard with an audible bonk. "IV, he means IV. Probably pure ecto to speed things up more than the pills, because it works faster and of course more needles." He let his head fall down to the side in dejection. As if getting one IV in a single day wasn't bad enough, now he'll get a second.
Frostbite wasn't gone for long, giving them just enough time to catch up on the lunch they had apparently missed on accident. Danny was stuck in a rollable chair, his ecto-IV attached to it so he could move about without it getting ripped out again. And so he would be for the next 3 or so more days until he had enough ecto-infusions, at least until Frostbite's concern for his core was quelled. Danny didn't care much either way. So what if he could have died after their fake-deaths in the simulation? He didn't, so all is fine in his books.
As he waited for the drip to finish, he could feel the energy course through his veins and collect in his chest. There was an uncomfortable pressure again, much unlike the comfortable pressure Cujo provided. This pressure felt more like a big bite of food that refused to go down smoothly. Cujo tried to make it better, claiming Danny's lap as his resting spot as Shiro curled around his neck.
Though he didn't like how they were literally babysitting him so he wouldn't rip his IV out, he couldn't deny that it did feel nice to be taken care of so…He didn't quite know how to word it but it made that ever present pain in his chest dull just that bit more. Feeling rather comfortable surrounded by so many people who cared about him, he slowly drifted off to a peaceful slumber.