Dani's To-Do List

- play with Danny

- eat good food

- find out Damian used to be an assassin (wild)

- ask Damian her question

"It's hunting!" Tucker exclaims, the sound of mashing buttons filtering over the headset.

"Waitwaitwait where is it, where do I hide?" Dani shouts, moving her character to run towards the back of the room. She jerks her mouse around, trying to find a hiding place, but the ghost's footsteps get louder. Dani shrieks as the ghost rounds the corner, beelines for her, and the familiar animation of fingers crawling over her skin takes her character to the afterlife.

Dani groans, sitting back. She spawns back on top of her body, which is flailed out at odd angles. Dani glares at her character, grumpy at yet another death.

One of the other characters (she can't really tell them apart yet) walks over, squats down, and takes a picture of her body.

"That's five bucks," Sam says, and steals Dani's dropped thermometer. "Oh look, freezing temps."

Dani sighs and opens up her log book, circling the evidence. A few more ghost types fade out, leaving her with only a few options left. They'd gotten ghost orbs in the camera earlier. Dani messes around with the evidence, trying to see what evidence they still need to collect.

This is her seventh run of Phasmophobia, and she'd died first every single time. Danny and Tucker are usually the next to die, if at all, and Sam had yet to get smoked. She's a master gamer, apparently.

Alfred the cat leaps up onto her lap and Dani pets him idly. She trails after the other characters, watching them collect evidence, able to hear them but not be heard.

There's a knock on the doorframe, and Dani shoves one headphone aside while spinning around in her chair to see her visitor. It's Tim, who's looking at the game in curiosity. "What's that?" he asks.

"Phasmophobia," Dani replies, gesturing him in. Tim approaches her desk and Dani points to her screen. "You go into a house and collect evidence about what kind of ghost is haunting it."

"Why is your screen so white?" Tim asks. "Is it the graphics?"

"It's like that cuz I'm dead," Dani explains. She walks her character back to look at her dead body. "That's me."

Tim grins at the awkward positioning. In the game, the lights start flashing and Dani runs over to where she can hear Danny and the gang shouting at each other. The ghost spawns in its room, quickly running out and throwing objects as it glitches in and out. Tucker's screeching draws its attention, but he manages to duck into the garage and hide. The ghost keeps wandering around, moaning in the headset as it searches for her teammates.

"How do you get the evidence?" Tim asks, leaning in.

Dani flips open her book and shows him the evidence page. She briefly explains how to collect the evidences and that ghosts have three different ones.

"Apparently you can guess what kind of ghost it is without evidence at all," Dani says. "I can't even tell what kind of ghost it is when I have almost all the evidence."

"Hm, let me see?" Tim pulls up one of her extra chairs and slides in next to her, taking the mouse when she offers it over. He opens the book and starts flipping through the entries. "This is cool," he says after reading each of the pages. He closes out of it and moves Dani's ghost over to where the team is, huddling in different corners of the ghost room trying to catch DOTS. "What's going on in here?"

"They're trying to figure out if the ghost shows up on DOTS," Dani explains. "It'll make an outline when it passes through– LIKE THAT!" Dani jerks up in the chair, pointing at where a sliver of a body passed through the DOTS beam. "Did you see that? That was DOTS!" She takes back the keyboard and opens it up, flipping back to the evidence page and selecting the DOTS option. The only ghost type left after that is Yurei, and Dani clicks on it proudly. "It's a yurei!"

The team in game comes to the same conclusion. "Our sad dead friend, it's a yurei," comes Tucker's voice.

"Get it marked!" Sam adds. They shuffle back into the truck and end the mission. The points screen ends the short loading sequence, and Dani scrolls through to see her haul. Correct ghost type, photo bonuses, extra tasks completed… and a 50% point reduction for her untimely death. Even with the penalty, though, Dani manages to level up, unlocking the incense.

"I got the smudge!" Dani crows, only for her hopes to be crushed when she realizes she can't upgrade it without

"Can I play?" Tim asks, leaning forward eagerly.

"Who's that?" Danny asks, now that they're back in the lobby and Dani's mic works again.

Dani considers for a moment, then answers, "One of my brothers. Here, I'm going to switch to my speakers."

She can hear Danny splutter in surprise, Tucker making an exclamation of excitement, and Sam feigns disinterest by picking up one of the in-game clipboards and pretending to read it (they'd already completed the daily tasks, she wasn't fooling anyone).

Dani struggles to find the commands for the speakers, so Tim leans over and makes a few expert keystrokes and switches to the speakers. Once the noises of her brother and his friends start filtering through the speakers, Dani pulls off her headphones and sets them aside.

"Do you mind if…" Dani pauses, looking over at Tim. "Do you have a gamer name?"

Tim's eyes are doing the brain-demon-dance again. "CyberCipher. Who are you playing with?"

"This is my brother and his friends," Dani introduces. "My brother's gamer name is Wraith, then there's Chaos and Hextech."

"What's yours?" Tim asks.

"I haven't really decided yet," Dani admits.

"Banshee," Danny cuts in.

"I do not scream that loud," Dani argues.

"Well, that is why I came up here," Tim says with a shrug. "I thought the cat was messing with you again."

"He is," Dani grouses, flicking Alfred's ear from where he's snuggled on her lap. "Look at him, he's sitting on me."

"Kick him off, then," Tim calls her bluff, smirking.

Dani glares at the cat. She's comfy.

"Anyway," Dani says, "I'm not sure yet. Banshee is not the answer, so if you suggest it one more time, I swear…"

Danny laughs at her hostility.

"Can we move on," Sam drawls. "Phasma is a four player, so whether you can play depends on if Hex and Wraith are going to take a break."

"I'll take a break," Dani offers. "I want to see.." Dani hesitates, glancing at Tim. "Cyber?" He shrugs with a nod, clearly uninterested in the shortened name. "Die in my place."

Tim grins wickedly. "Sure. That's what will happen."

Dani glares in challenge before Tim pushes her chair away so he can scoot closer. "Alright. Give me a basic rundown."

Sam introduces herself as her gamer name – Chaos – and gives Tim the same crash course in ghost investigating that she game Dani a couple hours ago. Tim asks a couple of clarifying questions, practices the controls, and then readies up.

Dani scratches Alfred's ears as the game starts, watching as Tim peruses the equipment before deciding on a flashlight, a spirit box, and a camera. At Sam's prompting, he also grabs a headset and the lighter. In addition to one flashlight each, Sam grabs a ghost book and video camera, Tucker grabs the thermometer and DOTS projector, and Danny takes the EMF reader and ultraviolet.

Tim follows the others in, flipping between the different items and checking their controls. They've chosen the Bleasdale Farmhouse, which is a spooky three-story house made of wood with dim lighting. The team splits up, Danny and Sam running upstairs while Tucker starts sweeping the first floor, EMF detector out.

Tim shadows Tucker, asking a question here and there about the different objects.

"Are these hiding spots?" Tim asks, maneuvering his character into the space behind the clock and under the stairs.

"Yep," Tucker confirms, his character crouched as he waves the EMF reader around. "But you have to break the ghost's line of sight twice before you hide, or they'll just follow you."

Dani didn't know that. "Why didn't you tell me that?!"

"Uh, cuz it wouldn't have made a difference," Tucker snarks.

Dani gasps in offense, then looks at Tim. "Will you kill him for me?"

"Is there friendly fire?" Tim asks without looking away from the screen.

"No," Tucker says, sounding very smug about that fact.

Oh, but wait. Dani actually has an idea. There is no friendly fire, but there are cursed objects. Dani settles back, lying in wait for her plan. At Dani's sudden silence, Tim glances away from the screen to look at her, where she grins, maniacally. He smirks in response and turns back to the game.

It's going alright. Danny and Sam find the ghost room up in the attic, and Tucker takes Tim up there, chatting about the game the whole way.

When they get up to the attic, Sam points out where the crucifix is and tells Tim to set down the spirit box. "The cursed object is downstairs," she says. "I'm thinking either the mirror or music box."

"I was kind of hoping for the tarot deck," Tucker groans. "I want to finish that weekly quest."

"Go get the cursed object," Dani suggests. "You take a picture of it to get money."

Sam tells them where to check and Tim goes off in search of it while Tucker sets up his stuff in the attic, Danny and Sam running back out to the truck for more stuff. Once Tim's character is out of range of any other mic, Dani tells him her plan.

And even better… the cursed object is the mirror! "Okay, grab the mirror," Dani instructs. Tim had dropped the spirit box upstairs and has the inventory space to pick it up. "Okay, now go back into the room with the generator." Tim follows her instructions. She points out the best hiding spots, and Tim crouches into one. "Now use the mirror."

"What does it do?" Tim asks, finger hovering over the button.

"It drains your sanity to zero," Dani explains. This happened to her the second game she played. She didn't really know what would happen, and had watched the mirror until it broke. The ghost then found her and killed her… though that was mostly because the ghost room was near where the mirror spawned. "When it reaches zero, it will break and trigger a hunt. It'll start in the ghost room, usually, and Hex is in there."

Tim lets out a huff of laughter and uses the object, which shows the ghost room – complete with Tucker's crouched character, checking spirit box.

Not long after Tim starts watching, the mirror shatters and drops from his hands. Dani giggles in delight as the nearby door slams shut, her hands clapping together rapidly. "That'll teach him!"

Tim is grinning. Eventually, the radio starts working again, and Danny's voice filters over the speakers. "Everyone alive?"

"Yep," Tim says into the radio, then uncrouches and wanders back to the main room. Danny and Sam had taken shelter behind the stairs, and Sam was already climbing the first flight back up to the attic.

"Hex is dead," Sam announces a moment later. Dani flaps her hands in excitement and Tim follows Danny, finding Tucker's splayed body on the attic stairs, limbs at odd angles.

Danny hums in consideration. "Sanity was high, maybe it's a demon?"

"Nah, we have orbs."

"Right."

Tim opens his evidence book and marks orbs down. He also marks ghost writing, which Dani didn't notice before, but once he exits the book, she notices the red writing on the open book.

"Writing," Danny comments. "Myling, shade, or spirit. Spirit?"

"Maybe," Sam allows, sounding unsure. "Here, Cyber, take a picture of the book and Hex's body."

Tim does as directed, checking the photos in the book for three stars. Danny places down salt. "Let's go back out to the truck and get some smudge sticks. Chaos can see if there's a spirit box response while we're gone."

Tim follows Danny out to the truck. Tim grabs one of the remaining three smudges, and turns around to see Danny looking at the sanity screen.

"Why is your sanity at zero?" Danny wonders. "Did you use the cursed object?"

"The mirror?" Tim echoes, his confusion sounding absolutely convincing. "Yeah. It broke."

"They're called cursed objects for a reason," Danny lectures. "They drain your sanity. Once they break, it triggers a cursed hunt."

"Okay," Tim says. "Should I stay in the truck?"

"Nah, just take some sanity pills and let's go back up. We only need one more evidence."

The rest of the game continues peacefully. Dani is very impressed the Tim manages not to die, even though there are three more hunts while the team tries to get the final objectives cleared. The three of them determine it's a myling and then leave the house, ending the round in the truck.

As soon as Tucker comes back online, he starts screeching. "You did that on purpose!"

"He's new at the game, how was he supposed to know not to use the mirror?" Sam says, sounding completely uninterested.

"Dani knows!"

Dani doesn't bother trying to hold back her giggles anymore.

"Listen to the gremlin's laughter! Listen to it! She orchestrated the whole thing!"

"Suffer!" Dani crows. "That'll teach you!"

Tim is nonchalantly trying out the in-game ring toss, pretending he's not finding the whole thing hilarious.

"Cyber, we just met. How could you betray me like this…?"

"She just said to use the mirror, man, I dunno," Tim answers, his lies once again convincing. He leans over to Dani, who's about to blow up at his betrayal, and whispers, "Let him believe I'm innocent, and we can pull another trick later."

Dani grins, nodding.

"All my brothers are gullible," Dani agrees, and Danny lets out an offended, "hey!".

"You are not one to talk," Tim scoffs, though Dani can tell he's mentally clocking Danny's voice.

"Yep, you inherited all those clueless genes," Sam says wisely.

"Hey!"

Dani giggles at Danny's offense. "Play another!"

"So you can kill me again?" Tucker accuses, absolutely correct.

"I'd be down," Tim says, landing all three rings on the center peg.

There's another knock at Dani's door, and both black-haired teens look over to see Dick leaning against the doorframe. "What are you guys doing?" Danny and his friends fall silent, listening to the new conversation with what Dani knows is curiosity.

"Ghost investigating," Tim informs him. Dani nods in agreement.

"Well, you might want to pause the game. Dinner's ready, and Alfred made your favorite," Dick teases, looking at Dani.

Dani doesn't even know what her favorite is. "What's that?" she asks, suspicious.

Dick grins. "Something new."

"Oh, that is my favorite." Dani shuffles Tim out of her way by shoving her chair into his, taking over the keyboard. "Okay, I'm out."

Danny lets out a dramatic sigh. "Ah, it's probably for the best. I do have to go to work."

What… oh. The monarch job. "Enjoy yourself," Dani snarks, then ends the discord call.

"Who was that?"

"Dani's brother," Tim says, leaning out of the chair in Dick's direction like it's some kind of secret.

Dani rolls her eyes. She can feel the almost desperate need-to-know rise in both of them and suppresses a smile. She may not reveal a single secret to either side about the other, but she is adamantly encouraging their curiosity until they snap, and agree to meet with each other.

Actually, she's pretty sure the Waynes would be more than willing. It's Danny she's trying to hook… and she may not be able to feel his emotions from halfway across the states, but she can certainly hear it in his voice when she mentions one of them.

"You're playing with your brother?" Dick asks, tilting his head all innocently.

Dani nods, a sly grin on her face. "I have a computer now, don't I?" She waves vaguely in its direction. "He's been wanting to show me his favorite games for a while now."

"Are we going to get a name for this mysterious older brother?" Dick wonders.

"Nope!" Listen, Dani may not be good at being a detective or solving mysteries but she has absolutely no such restrictions when it comes to being the mystery unsolved. Also, Danny and Dani? She's just asking for them to figure it out, world-famous detectives or no. "So, Tim, what do you think of the game?" Dani leaves the room and starts for the dining room, both men trailing behind her.

"I like it a lot," he says. "It might get a bit too easy after a few rounds, but if there's harder difficulties…"

"There are! You can reduce the evidence and make the ghosts stronger and there are some huge maps. Sam was telling me about her hardest run for something called the apocalypse challenge, with no evidence or cursed objects in the asylum, which I haven't even tried yet…"

Dani keeps rambling on about what she knows so far, Tim paying rapt attention. When she pauses, waiting for his judgement, Tim nods and says, "Sounds like we're gaming after dinner."

"Can I join?" Dick asks. "Oh, and we can ask Barbara!"

"Barbara?" Dani echoes, interest piqued. In her almost three month stay at Wayne Manor, Dani had yet to meet Barbara. Dick had told her she was ridiculously busy. She'd been doing some kind of internship overseas until the end of September, and when she returned, she had to catch up on all the work she'd missed while she was gone. "Is she done being busy?"

Dick laughs heartily, eyes sparkling. "Not a chance! Barbara is as much a workaholic as Tim!"

Tim seems neutral to this comparison. Dani takes deep concern with this. "But you think she'll have time to play with us?"

"Even the workaholics have to take a break sometime," Dick says, as if it's some wise proverb.

Tim rolls his eyes. "Babs is very good at multitasking. I wouldn't be surprised if she plays with eight monitors, all running a different program."

"What on earth is she doing?" Dani wonders.

Tim and Dick exchange a glance, a bit surprised, and then Dick chuckles. "Oh, I completely forgot. Barbara is a vigilante too. She goes by Oracle, and she's our computer gal. You'll never meet a better researcher or hacker than her."

"I thought Tim was the hacker," Dani says, sliding a glance over to him.

"Oh, I'm in the world's top ten," Tim assures her, "but make no mistake, Babs is on top."

"Are all of you the best?" Dani wonders aloud. "Dick says he's the best acrobat, and Batman is supposedly the world's greatest detective…"

"Well, Bruce and Tim are tied for that one," Dick interupts. They've finally reached the dining room, and Dick's comment draws the family's attention.

"Tied for what?" Bruce asks.

"Caffeine dependence," Dani says without missing a beat.

Dick grins and says, "Least amount of sleep yearly."

They giggle at each other, drawing a long-suffering sigh from Bruce.

"Don't be ridiculous," Tim sighs, taking his seat and leaning his head on his hand. "I win both of those by a landslide."

"That's true," Dani agrees easily, sliding into the seat next to him. Dick takes the seat across from her and next to Damian. "You sleep less than I do, and I don't even need that much!"

"That's new information," Tim says, his head jerking up out of his palm. "How much do you need?"

Surprisingly, Dani doesn't mind answering this one. Her reduced need of sleep is something she's never considered a secret, not really. Honestly, until she spent time at the Keep recovering and was actually around humans enough (ironically, given she was in the realms), she thought everyone slept five or less hours a night. Sam, Tucker, and Jazz were always the first to fall asleep during their sleepovers, leaving Dani and Danny to battle it out on their own.

"Like five hours," Dani says.

"Jason needs less too," Tim muses. "Why is that, do you think?"

Dani shrugs. "I dunno. Something to do with energy levels, probably. I do know that we can sleep indefinitely, though. Well, actually, maybe I can't, but ghosts can. You can sleep when you're dead and all that."

"Good, that's my life's motto," Tim says, putting his head back down.

"Tim, no." Dick is shaking his head at his little brother, concerned and exasperated at his antics. "You need sleep or you will be dead."

"I would not be so opposed to that outcome," Damian interjects.

"Damian," Bruce scolds.

"I'll come back as a ghost and haunt you, demon brat."

Dani nods sagely. "I have never met a human more likely to become a ghost."

Tim squints at her. "Is there set criteria?" The mind demons have started a slow waltz in his brain, picking up speed as he considers the possibilities.

"I was mostly referring to your obsessive nature," Dani points out. "Ooooh, what is this?" Dani's attention snaps to Alfred, who is bringing in a tray of food, the smell of fried bread and spices wafting in from the kitchen. Cass follows behind, dutifully carrying a basket covered in a cloth.

"Tonight's meal is from Norway," he begins, setting covered dishes down in front of each of them. "The entree is lapskaus stew, made with beef, leeks, potatoes, swede, and carrots. Yours, Master Damian, is of course, vegetarian." Damian nods in approval. "The appetizer are raspeballer, a type of potato dumpling."

Cass takes off the basket cloth to unveil soft round balls sprinkled in white and green spice.

"Please enjoy."

With that, Alfred takes his leave, a chorus of gratitude following after him that he accepts with a nod and a warm smile.

Alfred's food is, as always, phenomenal. The soup is rich and warm, heavy in Dani's stomach. "So, who's managed to open their gifts too early?" she asks, swirling her spoon in the soup and grinning at them.

Immediately, death glares are thrown around the table.

"Tim's stupid trap gave me a second degree burn," Dick accuses.

"You almost broke my arm!" Tim shouts back.

"Boys," Bruce tries.

Cass nods sagely, signing, "Traps hurt."

Dani is a little betrayed. "Even you, Cass? Why does no one in this household respect the magic of Christmas?"

Cass doesn't look the least apologetic. "Curious."

"You are all the worst."

"I have upheld your request," Damian brags, glaring at his siblings. "Are your wills so easily swayed by curiosity? Danishara wishes for the gifts to be a surprise." None of them look particularly cowed. Dani's a little shocked that of everyone, Damian is the one insisting on keeping her gifts a secret. "I am surprised Father did not teach you integrity."

"You're one to talk, assassin baby."

"Assassin?" Dani asks, tilting her head. "You're an assassin?"

"I was," Damian allows, voice tight. Dani can feel the vestiges of bone-crushing guilt and sorrow, eclipsed with a determination to make things right again. And… nervousness, as he waits for her response.

Dani isn't sure she has one for him. The loss of life is terrible and sad, but Dani has never felt malice in him. She can sense the darkness in souls – knew the pitch black of men and women alike that hid behind plastic smiles and honeyed words. Damian may have been the cause of those deaths, but Dani doesn't believe he's entirely to blame.

Maybe she's biased.

All she can manage to say is, "Wild." Then she shoves a potato dumpling in her mouth.

"Does it not bother you?" Damian demands, abandoning his fork on his plate and leaning forward to bore his eyes into hers. "That these hands have shed the blood of hundreds, of innocents, indiscriminately and without cause?"

Dani can feel the pain behind those words. The sorrow from each member of the family that stay silent, understanding the need for this conversation, despite how abruptly it came about. She knows that her response here is crucial, and she doesn't know what she should say. What does someone say, when confronted with a child killer? Can she really say not really and mean it?

Eventually, she decides on, "I don't know the circumstances behind whatever happened. And even if I did, what right do I have to judge?"

Abruptly, Damian pushes back from the table and storms off. Dani is quick to stand, ready to follow.

"Maybe give him some space," Dick suggests, not unkindly.

"No," Dani says. "He needs this. Save me a dumpling."

She hurries after him. He tries to evade her with what Dani now knows are assassin skills, but she has an unfair advantage of super-hearing.

She catches up to him when he reaches the barn, thinking he'd lost her, sitting on a patio chair with Titus's head on his lap. His expression is blank, but she can feel the emotions roiling underneath. When he senses her approach, he snaps, "Not now, Danishara."

Dani doesn't listen. She sits in the opposite patio chair, quickly joined by Alfred the cat, who had been following her as usual. "I'm sorry I upset you."

"You did not," Damian says.

"I did," Dani insists. "But I don't know how." The cat sneaks his way onto her lap, and Dani allows it with a sigh, stroking his little head.

"People died at my hand."

"Okay."

"Why does it not bother you?!" he rages, slamming his fist down on the chair armrest, the wicker beneath creaking with the force.

Dani is silent. She doesn't want to dance around the truth, not now, not with Damian. "Things are different when you're dead," Dani says at last. "Life and death are much… clearer. Death isn't an end, only a new beginning that the living can't see. The living grieve, but the dead don't. They see the bigger picture."

"And what is the bigger picture?" he snaps. "Do not tell me that their sacrificed lives were not a great evil. Do not try and convince me that it wasn't wrong. They died, and I was their killer. I do not even…" his voice breaks a little, and Titus shifts, burrowing his head deeper in Damian's hold. "I do not even remember all of them."

"The bigger picture," Dani stresses, "is the guilt in your heart. The sorrow. The trail of bodies that haunt you, that reinforce your will to protect the innocent. It's the redemption you've fought for, the ideals you've forged in blood. It's what who you were shaping who you've become." Dani shrugs. "I don't have the answers, Damian. I don't know who you killed, or why, or even if their ghosts resent you for it. I just know that you are kind, and honorable, and loyal, and brave. I know you have one of the best hearts and purest souls I've ever met. I know that whatever darkness you lived in is not a part of you."

Damian's voice is fragile. "How do you know this? How can you be sure?"

"Well, I'd prefer if you didn't tell the others, but…" Dani hesitates for only a moment before deciding, yes, Damian is worth this secret. "I have some slight empathy powers. I can see a bit of people's souls. And I knew you had a trail of bodies the first time we met." Dani weaves Alfred's ear through her fingers over and over again. "I see a lot. I haven't always been the best at interpreting what I see, but I know I'm not wrong. Not about you."

Damian is silent.

"Can I ask my question now?"

Damian is quiet for a long moment. "You may." She can feel the apprehension in him. The fear. But Dani's question has nothing to do with his past.

"What am I to you?"

Damian is not a brother. Not… not quite. He is more special to her than she could ever hope to describe, a kindred soul nestled in the center of her core she doesn't think she could exist without, not now that she's known it. But it doesn't quite feel the same as what Dani feels for Dick or Jason or Tim.

There's a long silence. Damian considers the question, mulling over it in the careful, considerate way she knows he treats things of great importance. Several long moments pass. It feels like hours, but Dani doesn't rush him.

"Ya rouhi," he says at last.

"What does that mean?"

"It means…" He trails off, thinking. "I suppose it could be translated to mean 'my soul'. You are my katana, an extension of myself. You are my animals, a being worthy of complete trust. You are… a piece of me, that I am not sure I could live without."

Oh.

Dani doesn't know how to respond to that, so she sits there, hand still on Alfred's head. They're silent, in the darkness, for what could be minutes or hours.

Eventually, Damian -tt-s and stands, grabbing a folded blanket from a nearby chest. He shakes it out, then throws it over Dani. "It's the middle of December," he scolds, as though he wasn't also sitting outside in the middle of December. The barn's fairly insulated, so ignoring the chill hadn't been so difficult until he brought it up.

Dani recognizes the gesture for what it is – affection – and wraps the blanket around her shoulders. Damian hesitates, watching her, before steeling himself and sitting on the empty spot beside her. Alfred is delighted at his presence and eagerly snuggles between where their two legs meet. Damian tugs on the blanket and Dani relinquishes part of it so they can share it together.

"I am merely cold as well," he tells her firmly, though he can't really be thinking she's fooled by that. There are more blankets in the chest. There are animals on them. There's a literal mansion behind them that is always warm.

Dani doesn't call him out on it. They just sit together and enjoy each other's company.

It's around eleven when Dani makes it back inside. Damian left for patrol (and honestly, Dani has got to explore that BatCave, she's been too distracted with the upcoming holidays, but day after Christmas, she's infiltrating), though Dani suspects he just needed a bit of a break from all the emotions.

Dani's not quite ready to go to bed yet, so she goes off in search of Tim and Dick. She focuses on hearing, expanding her senses to look for the occupants in the house. She pinpoints them in the general direction of the family room which…

Le gasp! The presents!

Dani takes off, sprinting up the stairs and down the halls. With zero hesitation, Dani draws back her foot and kicks open the double doors, which are (thankfully, or Alfred would kill her) slightly cracked open.

She is… not quite ready for what she sees.

Jason has Dick in a headlock with his legs, the elder twisting around at impossible angles to trap the younger's head as well. Between them, grappling for freedom with his forehead in Jason's hand and Dick's elbow in his side, is Tim, snarling and gnashing his teeth as he tries to bite… something. One of them, maybe?

They all pause their fighting when she kicks the doors in, staring at her a bit like a kid caught stealing out of the cookie jar, eyes wide.

Dani checks the booby-trapped presents. They all seem undisturbed.

She looks back at her brothers. Who, she has to remind herself, are all legal adults.

"So Jason, were you joining us for Phasmaphobia?"

Welcome back, it's the phasmaphobia scene 3 If you guys haven't played it, it's just a ghost investigation game. I like it, it's pretty fun, but it's ghosts and detective work. This game is made for this fam. Anyway, notes for this chapter:

- Ectoplasm energy levels: the tissues and organs actually don't need as much sleep simply because they are more resistant to needing to slow down and chill like human organs do. The sleep is mostly for mental recovery, but the body itself could probably go without sleep for a while.

- Norway usually has fish... but Alfred remembered that Dani doesn't super love plain fish. Just a small detail, but I think it's cute 3

- I had NO idea the chapter was going to go this direction when I started it. Where did the Dami angst come from? No clue. I swear this story has a mind of its own

- Next chapter: Christmas! All fluff! So much fluff! Y'all are gonna be drownin' in it!

And then plot. And angst. So enjoy the fluff, cuz there's gonna be some angst comin your way

- I HATE names. I hate gamer names. I hate them :( Why can I never come up with good ones? Anyway, Danny was absolutely NOT going to be named "ghost boy". That would make it way too easy for the bats. Also Tim? No idea. Asked ChatGPT for a hundred, decided on CyberCipher. So... any suggestions for Dani's? I'd appreciate it...