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Danny’s soulmate goose appears as soon as his family’s vehicle crosses over the bridge into Gotham. Danny is sitting in the backseat, surrounded by boxes of his stuff, so the goose appears in the only open space available: right on top of Danny’s lap.
It cranes its neck backward–which is uncanny, Ancients help him–to look at Danny with one dark, beady eye. Then the goose lets out a loud HONK of warning before settling in to take a nap.
“Don’t. Say. A. Word,” Danny begs his parents, both of whom he can see beaming back toward him in the rearview mirror.
Mercifully, they do not say anything... at least, not to Danny. Instead, his dad turns up the radio before beginning to whisper back and forth with his mom, their delighted giggles interspersing their conversation in a way that Danny (perhaps uncharitably) feels is particularly childish.
Jason’s soulmate goose appears in a burst of feathers and honks while he’s in the middle of a debrief with one of his lieutenants. Instinctively, Jason pulls out his handgun and shoots at it. The goose-shaped entity simply absorbs the bullet, remaining utterly unharmed, and then spits the bullet back out onto the ground. With that taken care of, it turns to stare the Red Hood down with murder in its gaze.
Jason can relate to that expression; he can respect it even. He dips his chin in a nod of acknowledgment. “I’ve gotta take care of some business, and then you can lead me wherever I gotta go. Fair?”
Soulmate geese were not known for being particularly reasonable; mostly, they were widely regarded as pushy assholes. But maybe one pushy asshole can recognize another, because the goose stares at Jason for a few long moments and then honks once as if in agreement. That assumption is reinforced by the way the goose immediately settles down to wait.
Jason returns his attention to his lieutenant. Jason does not apologize for the interruption. He expects his crew to adapt and roll with things as they come; it’s an essential skill to surviving Gotham’s madness. “So, you were saying?”
They clear their throat, glancing only one more time at the goose, and then get back to filling Jason in on their intel from one of Black Mask’s guys.
Danny does not want to be hassled out of his brand new dorm room by an annoying goose, but after the third time it knocks something over in a fit of pique, Danny relents to the goose’s demands. “Fine! Alright! Lead the way!”
Thankfully, his mom and dad have already left the city–after all, it’s a long drive back to Illinois. Now it’s just Danny, the goose, and whichever random students of Gotham State University they pass as it leads him on a meandering path deeper into the city proper.
Gotham is known for being dangerous on the whole, but Danny can still tell as they enter a less safe area of town. He isn’t particularly worried about it–there isn’t much a mugger or even minor rogue can do to him if he goes ghost–but he is curious about what this means for his soulmate. Did they choose to live here? Did they grow up here? Maybe they moved here for some reason?
A figure emerges from an alley a little ahead but lingers at the mouth of it, eyes trained on Danny. His hair is dark, but there’s a shock of white at the front of it that makes him stand out. Even more noticeable is the goose that begins flapping its wings from down by his ankles.
Danny’s own goose runs forward to meet the strangers’. Danny doesn’t change his pace–he’s not in any rush–but he finally draws up in front of the guy that his goose had been trying to lead him all day. “Was your goose as much of a dick as mine?” he asks conversationally.
The guy’s mouth curves up in a grin. “No. We got on alright actually.”
Danny huffs in mostly exaggerated dismay. “Lucky you. I’m Danny, by the way.”
“Jason,” he returns. “Wanna go grab a bite somewhere and talk for a bit so that these geese will eventually leave us alone? Wouldn’t want you to be stuck with such a menacing creature.”
Danny rolls his eyes at the teasing while he ponders the offer. It’s true that they have to spend some time getting to know one another before the geese will feel like their jobs have been adequately done, allowing them to vanish again to wherever soulmate geese go in their downtime. But, well… Danny had been kind of certain he didn’t have a soulmate. How could he, after everything that had happened to him when he became Phantom and everything that has happened since?
But there is something about Jason that calls to Danny, something that feels familiar, even similar, to Danny himself. Whether it’s just the soulmate bond pulling them toward each other or something deeper commonality, though, only time will tell.
“Yeah,” he decides. “I’d like that. I’m new in town, though, so you’ll have to pick the place.”
“Deal,” Jason agrees. “Follow me.” Rather than follow, Danny falls in step beside Jason, and he feels something unfurl inside of him–a kernel of hope that’s not just for life in a new city, for a new beginning, but also for whatever this connection might bring. It could end up being nothing at all, but maybe… maybe it could be something magical instead.