I Need To Share This Because My Pets Being Dramatic Again.

I need to share this because my pet´s being dramatic again.

My gecko when people are visiting: I hate everyone and everything. life was a mistake. I shall never see the light again. BEGONE FOUL PESTS.

My gecko when I´m the only person present: LET. ME. OUT. Freedom! Light! Fresh air! Let me leech off the warmth off your skin! You should feel honoured for my presence!

Also my gecko, just in general: Judgement unto everything.

Istg he has a vendetta against any- and everything. My friends have started calling him 'His Judgyness'. Mighty title for a leopard gecko younger than two years xD

Good news people! I finally figured out how to hyperlink! I also figured out that I´m literally blind because I just did NOT see the hyperlink option in the right click menu lmao Now back to figuring out how tf I center something in posts

Fanfiction commentary and recommendations: The why´s and how´s and Part I of 'Lex Luthor´s ascend from supervillainy to fatherhood'

Okay, so. I know it may be weird, but bear with me for a moment: i love to comment on fics or stories like some people would a youtube video - with all the comments and snark and further ideas that entails. (though that works best in a chapter-for-chapter basis) And all the random tangents my brain will go off of. Which is why I thought: why not share my thoughts? (also thanks to the comment from @norapretzel) Since I have about 300 fics of the Phandom in my 'Please update I need more' tab folder, I wanna share just why I put them there and what makes them worth reading. (Seriously, tab groups or tab lists are the best thing ever. They have made my life so much easier. And stopped my laptop from regularly fighting for it´s life.) I don´t know how regular this will be or even if, because work and life in general. But anyways: it´s just for fun and to put something out there.

I will begin with the fanfic I am currently reading: 'Lex Luthor´s ascend from supervillainy to fatherhood' by halfagone (milkywxy) [@halfagone]

The other parts can be found here:

Part II

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Part VI

Part VII

My most recently read chapter is chapter 35 which means: the first mini-arc as well as a few important plotpoints have been mentioned if not completely finished. I have binged those first 35 chapters sometime between late afternoon yesterday and evening today so it will not be as detailed as it would be if i only mentioned one chapter - I do apologize for that.

Anyways, here the actual commentary instead of my usual ramblings:

As for the first point. The most important point. The reason you should read this? It´s a story about family and the difference between the people who raised you and those you actually view as family. It´s about trust and that sometimes you can´t trust those you want to trust the most and that that´s okay. It´s about family by choice and that it may sometimes look or feel weird (especially if viewed from the outside). It´s also about burdens and how one handles them - how it can become unhealthy under circumstances. It´s a story about many themes and plot points and details that play together to become something more. I do hope it doesn´t sound too philosophical to be honest. But to just put it in a nutshell: 'Lex Luthor´s Ascend from supervillainy to fatherhood' is a story about family and how to overcome obstacles together.

The story begins at a gala. Or, more precisely, at a gala where Brucie Wayne (and oh, he holds onto that persona with an iron grip) and Lex Luthor (who has SOME kind of respect for the guy, even though he has his own son run the company instead of himself) are having a talk. And while we all know and love Bruce for this persona it does mean it paints him in a rather incompetent light for other people in this circle. This does not stop him from being a worried parent though. Oh no.

This man has the audacity to tell Luthor IN HIS FACE (though not in those words) that he fears him to be an (more or less accidentally) incompetent father figure. Which Danny predictably finds hilarious when Lex later tells him.

So here we see a first glimpse of the relationship between these two - a relationship that seems to have already been developing for quite some time already. It´s also here that we find out that Danny is stranded in this dimension - i do not want to say 'trapped' but in a sense it is the correct word. (all his friends, his family, everything he knows - they are are not here. He is the only one in this dimension. And even if some things are similar enough - I doubt it´s the same.)

While sad to think about, i do believe that he is making the best of his situation and he already seems to have found himself a parent figure. A parent figure that seems to actually care even. Who wants his best and won´t put their own work before the wellbeing of their child. Though we´ll only get there a little later in the story.

And personally I must say that it´s just damned funny to see the 'showdown' between Lex and Bruce go down. It´s such a stark contrast to the conversation Lex and Danny have later in the chapter that i did have to laugh quite a bit at all of the reactions both them tried to hide xD

I don´t want to sell the story short, but I also don´t want to spoil all too much, because honestly? That just takes the fun out of a story. So I´ll just summarize the next bit for a bit:

What follows are some serious and some funny conversations between Danny and several Heroes and Danny, as well as our favourite halfa and his new father figure about the nature of their relationship, his life before all of this, the nature of cloning and clones and no one has asked to be born and should not be treated any less for their parentage. Also about people being superweapons and how well (or bad) that can turn out. (And also the question: Are Lex Luthor and Superman bitter Exes? An important question I must admit. It would honestly explain so MUCH about their relationship. And even if it´s not true: i kinda want Danny asking it out loud at a press conference with Clark Kent and Lex Luthor present. That would be just hilarious xD)

And honestly? After the heartwarming talk about clones I kinda want Danny ripping Superman a new one about his behaviour with Kon. It would 1) be a very amusing thing to watch and 2) Our boy deserves a brother who will defend him from the people who have hurt him the most.

After that we get to Cass and Danny meeting and my god, those are such frankly adorable scenes that i DO NOT WANT TO SPOILER. So I´ll just ignore that whole comment in my head and just say: it´s the most adorable thing ever and i think i have diabetes after reading it. Also: I think my neighbours were about to knock on my door to ask where all that squealing came from and if i needed help because of all the running around they heard. I may or may not have run around my flat squealing like a little kid. Maybe.

What we also get to is Lex´ reaction to their meeting and it did not disappoint. He´s just such a tired dad now. Before long he´ll have talks about their children and their relationship with bruce. And both will probably be absolutely suffering during it lmao. As well as the batfamily as a whole. They don´t know what to think yet but they are already preparing the shovel talk xD

We also get to see one of the many abilities and strenghths Danny has and how he constantly holds himself as small as possible - our boy has a low self esteem and such a low opinion of his own intellect that it just physically hurts me :')

Okay so it´s quite late now - those were the first 5 chapters. Those are part commentary and part speculations and i hope it was entertaining. I did expect to get out a bit more, but my brain wants to go to sleep and and who am I to deny my brain it´s rest? Will try to at least do another 5 chapters tomorrow but I can´t promise anything ;p

Yes. Yes I do need that today.

Perhaps the power went out for a little while at the Manor…

Perhaps it’s snowing real bad and they got stuck there for a while…

Perhaps Alfred’s making hot coco…

Who’s to say…

Me: Finishing a good story

Also me: *staring into the distance* What the hell should I do with my life now??

Next story of the same author: I am here to absolve you of that problem

After finishing all of the author´s stories: *having a slight existential crisis*... Okay. Now what???

Fanfiction commentary and recommendations: Lex Luthor´s ascend from supervillainy to fatherhood Part II (chapters 6 to 10)

For the (probably nonexistent) person who wants to know where to find the other parts:

Part I

Part III

Part IV

Part V

Part VI

Part VII

What follows is the commentary for the next few chapters. For the simple reason that i have not yet named it as part of why this fanfiction is so good: It has a pretty decent (read: for a normal person a quite long) chapter lenghth - perfect for just cuddling up somewhere with a mug of tea or any other hot beverage of choice and keep on reading. As the full lenghth of this fic has as of this day reached around 500k words and there are still 59 to go you, there is still quite a bit to discuss!

I do hope I don´t just regurgitate the story itself, but we´ll see how it goes.

I want to try to include some things that may count as spoilers. I´ll put the spoilers in using this:

So if you see this - there may or may not be a spoiler here but at least you can ignore the text if it important to you?

○○○••○○•••○○••○○○

Okay so there´s been a time jump between the fifth and sixth chapters. And what do we see? Danny as well as Lex struggling with a few important revelations.

The first one being Danny even realizing that: yes, he actually IS smart. Who would ever question that with the number of languagges Danny even speaks? And with all the knowledge he has about astrophysics? Or even how he is able to tinker with his parent´s weapons and actually understanding them? But no.

Our boy has been told he was the dumb one in the family for long enough, that is was an actual surprise for him to realize how well he has placed in his placement tests. And it does break my heart a little to know what must have gone down to behave like that …

But that´s only just really scratching the surface, isn´t it? Because what follows is Lex being a worried parent and realizing that his son has been left reeling with a realization.

Because Danny, now that school is about to start again, knows that he can´t just leave soon anymore. He has built somewhat of a life in this dimension. He as people he cares about. He´s about to continue his schooling here. And our boy? Has not wanted to think about the repercussions.

So here he sits. In his room. Devastated after months in this dimension because … he´s happy here. He´s happy and he doesn´t want to be happy. Doesn´t want to be safe because this? This isn´t home. And how my heart hurts when I read this.

A child should feel save at home. They shouldn´t be forced to literally fight for this sense of safety. But he was. And now all of this tension is just gone and it feels good and in a way he feels as if he´s betraying his family and friends. Which I completely understand. But - he should get to feel save too.

What I do find a funny kind of satisfaction in is just how Lex continues to bash Danny´s parents. Because as bad as it sounds: it´s all the truth. And that it is probably just makes it a much harder pill to swallow. Poor boy, but he´ll understand. Someday. Probably?

All in all: this chapter is just such a wholehearted conversation that I´m a bit sad to see it go. But it just gets better from there because it continues with a mind controlled superman and Danny deciding he´s got to do something about it. Which he does. By absolutely beating the living daylights out of him. Lex gets a very satisfying video out of it and by god, is the fight scene nicely written. Another wonderful little thing to point out is how lex explains to Danny how 'Superman´s been mind controlled again' and then just does not stop bashing him xD Wonderful scene tbh, i need more of snarky Lex!

After the fight? The Justice League gets CURIOUS. And a curious justice league? I don´t know if that would do Danny all too much good, not that they care at this point. He could be a danger after all.

And to be honest? I fear for the day they may try and interrogate Danny as Phantom. Though I have not yet decided if I fear more for Danny or the League. He´s slightly (very) unhinged after all.

Also: Danny lands on the news! And on Twitter! And oh my god, does Twitter have THINGS to say about the whole thing.

And boy oh boy - Twitter loves Danny! From his looks to his smarts and his relationship with Lex or his sassiness: everything gets discussed and it´s just so funny to see this happening from an outside point of view xD

What also follows is the funniest Twitter discourse i have seen in a while. It does include Danny non-stop snarking at Lex so it is an absolute win for me xD

Also: people find out about his and Cass´relationship and they are very enthusiastic about it. Or at least, that´s one way to put it xD

Even though it´s only friendship. For now. I swear to god they´re not gonna stay friends for long before they´re in a committed relationship with each other.

Which Bruce apparently also knows. He´s already plotting the shovel talk. Is it bad that i want to see that discussion go down?

Alfred just being the absolute sweetheart that he is being like 'Cassandra can can take care of herself silly son'. It´s just so wholesome?

And with that Arc I ENDS. And it was such a sweet arc :3 Full of heart for sure and the fun also did not get the short end of stick - superman got it instead xD

It´s not the end however as we get to the first interlude, which shows us how Jazz is dealing with the whole situation. 'Not good' may be an understatement to be honest.

She has to accomodate so many things: what her parents did to Danny, what they did (and also did not) do while they were 'raising' them, how to deal with the negelct and sometimes borderline abuse, how to deal with college and how to search for her brother without losing either herself or her connection to her friends and family…

What probably does not help is that his disappearance has created a rift between Tucker and Sam that seems to get worse as time goes on.

And Jazz? She seems lost. A classic case of older sibling syndrome, not furthered by her study into psychology. She´s spreading herself thin trying to help. Has been doing so for years at this point and to be honest? It feels as if she´s about to snap.

What she does feel for sure is lost. And i can relate. I really, really do. I mean i may not have been in such a dire situation yet (knock on wood), but … i can kind of feel her despair and sadness over these circumstances: She wanted to do more. To help more, but also to finally be free of this burden. She feels as if it´s her fault Danny died. That it´s her fault she couldn´t bring him back. And doesn´t that just mirror Danny´s whole 'I must save the town because i turned on the portal' sacrificial mindset?

The surely are much more similar to each other than they probably think. And if they are gonna see each other again? There are many tears and conversations to be had…