Work Text:
Three years ago
Bat Child uses exactly one social media website.
She knows there are a lot of different ones that exist, but most of them don’t really work for her. Some are too focused on people’s real lives, or too visual, or too fleeting, or too dead, or Twitter. Her sweet spot is a site that lets her write about her life as a half-human, half-bat superhero, but without the risk of too many people seeing her posts. Or figuring out that she’s not actually pretending to be a superhero. Or pointing Nancy Danderhoof at her account. Which means that basically her only option is using Tumblr.
(The fact that she can block tags related to zoology and people sharing cool and interesting information about animals she’ll never get to work with is definitely not important. At all.)
Usually, this is fine. Vesper posts mostly-vague rambles about her and Darkness Man’s crimefighting exploits, along with the occasional screaming into the metaphorical void about all the frustrations that come with not being a normal human anymore. She follows a couple people but nobody follows her back, and her likes and notes and reblogs barely ever break single digits. Once in a while, though, someone comes across her blog and decides they want to pick a fight with her for existing, in a way where she can’t even get a good meal out of it.
The latest asshole has assumed that Bat Child is a fake character Vesper made up and only pretends to be, and they’ve decided to insult her on that basis. So far her actual existence has been called “too tropey” and “overdone” and “objectively bad,” and that’s only the ones from their first paragraph. She’s been trying to ignore the rest.
Her latest message has been a direct mention in the same post chain, which means Vesper will probably have to block nightangel94 as well as the original hate-mailer. That’s her assumption, at least, up until the point she actually clicks on the new message and starts reading.
hey dipshit, it begins, how about you stop complaining about somebody being unoriginal when you cant even have an original thought.
Whoever nightangel94 is, she’s going to have to send them a thank-you message.
Cody’s phone buzzes as he’s leaving the subway station. He ignores it until he’s out of the crush of people, because none of his important contacts are set to vibrate. Fishing the device (cracked in one corner, screen protector long gone) out of his pocket, he sees there’s a notification from the tumblr account he dusted off a few months ago, after the whole thing with Null and Nod and all his own bullshit exploding in his face and forcing him to become a better person. He’s mostly just been sending people apologies for being a self-absorbed idiot, but occasionally he finds someone to follow who does cool stuff.
As it turns out, someone DMed him after he roasted a random troll. Not actually the troll in question, thank God - or thank Kugrash, probably, since the rat guy is chill and not in direct opposition to Cody’s satanic technical boss. User B4t-Ch1ld is one of those people who has a dedicated roleplay account where they stay in character for pretty much everything, which is both impressive and good cover for people like Cody, who want to be able to talk about actual magic stuff without revealing the truth to literally everyone.
B4T-Ch1ld
Hi! Just wanted to say thx 4 stepping in with that guy who was being such a jerk. U didn’t have 2 do that, it was really nice :D
nightangel94
dw your good, some people jsut dont know what theyre talking about
seriously, heros working in the dark to protect the light are classic for a reason. cant believe they even forgot about batman lmao
B4t-Ch1ld
LOL!
Seriously, tho. Thank u for saying it, it was nice 2 kno someone else gets it
People can have dark powers and use it 2 protect some1, it’s not like being evil is the only option
nightangel94
yeah
evil is the boring choice, cool people can have dark power and still protect the inocent and stuff
Cody pauses to actually follow this girl who knows how to be dark without being edgy, and who also texts like she’s from the 90s for some reason. He’s only a little surprised when she follows him back.
Two years ago
nightangel
hey
Bat Child
Hi!!
nightangel
so you finally got discord to work?
Bat Child
Yeah! It didn’t like my computer 4 some reason but I have a tablet now :)
nightangel
sick
yuor security gig sounds like it pays pretty good if u have tablet money
Bat Child
I mean, we’re working 4 a guy who’s stupidly rich
He said the tablet was a work expense
nightangel
this is why i said u should get ur new swords from somwhere in san francisco
u have sword money
get ur boss to pay for ur gear and support a local business
Bat Child
He might actually pay 4 my swords, lol
nightangel
i would straight up make you a sword if you wer on the east coast
wait seruously? your boss is the kind of crazy rich that pays his security for katanas?
dude thats sick
Bat Child
Haha yeah! Definitely only for doing security work
nightangel
yeah, it was pretty cool
ofc i didnt keep it because im not living in jersey anymore
but i did get to be the jersey devil for a little bit
Bat Child
Wow, your guys’ LARP group sounds like a lot of fun!
I wish I had something like that, it’s just me and my partner :(
nightangel
idk it sounds like you guys haev a pretty cool thing too
crimefighting and being superheros and stuff
is there more people doing that kind of thing in san francisco now?
u said there wasnt anybody in nebraska
Bat Child
Not really, IDK
There r other people, but none of them care about being superheroes
nightangel
fuck that sounds rough
good luck finding people to be freinds with
Bat Child
Ugh, we’re trying
Everyone around us is more focused on themselves
Nobody wants 2 help people!! >:(
nightangel
ok im gonna go, were getting close to our stop
Bat Child
Good luck fighting the monsters!
One year ago
Bat Child
I look like a character from Tokyo Ghoul right now
nightangel
wait srsly?
u got a picture of that?
nightangel
ok i know we dont usually share pictures. if i overstepped u can ignore that
or i can share one were i have my fighting gear and stuff too
Bat Child
No don’t worry, it’s fine!
I just keep getting blurry pictures, ugh
nightangel
smthing wrong with your phone camera?
Bat Child
Nah, this happens to me a lot
Me and Darkness Man r so bad at selfies
I don’t know if I’ve had a good pic of me in years
nightangel
h u h
do you
uh
did you get good pictures in omaha?
Bat Child
IDK, I wasn’t really thinking about taking pictures of myself back then
Nobody else got good pictures of us fighting crime, though!
nightangel
yea i guess that would maek sense
Vesper has to try several more angles before she finds one that her phone won’t turn into a blurry mess. Her superhero costume never looks as good in the picture as it does to her own eyes, and something about her face is still off, though thankfully the photo manages to make her look more human. She deletes the bad pictures and makes sure to save a backup of the decent one.
In the photo, her hair is a shock of white in the dim lighting of her room. Her clothes are shades of dark gray and black, adding to the contrast, and her eyes look red in her corpse-pale face. She doesn’t look exactly like a character from the anime she mentioned to Night Angel, but she thinks she’s close enough.
Bat Child
I got it 2 work!!
image.jpg
nightangel
dude nice
lmao the only way youd be more Tokyo ghoul is if you had a face mask
Bat Child
OMG ur so right!
I don’t use one when I’m superheroing, but I bet Darkness Man has an extra somewhere
nightangel
u should totally wear a mask when your doing hero stuff
domino masks arent super good at hiding faces, its like wearing sunglasses
also youd match with your partner
Bat Child
I think if I wore a face mask I’d just look like a weird goth anime nerd
nightangel
bat child i have some news for you
Bat Child
I know, we’re both weird goth anime nerds :P
nightangel
yeah that
tbh with a mask youd probably just look more like yourself
a weird goth anime nerd
Bat Child
I
You know what, I’ll think about it
You’re right, it might look cool
nightangel
fuck yeah
u still want to see a picture of me w my sword and stuff?
Bat Child
Sure!
Three weeks ago
nightangel
so i think i got a new job
Bat Child
Congratulations!!
Where r u working?
nightangel
its a long story
i know soem people who work doing cool research stuff
a couple of them have a work thing theyre gonna do outside of new york
i got asked to come with to help out with some stuff
Bat Child
You’re doing research now?
That sounds pretty different from ur job at the forge
Nightangel
nah, im there for backup
the town is basically gravity falls, im there if my wizard friends need to smite something
and the forge job is fun but i still want to work at fairyland once its running again
Bat Child
So you’re there 2 fight monsters? Sounds like fun
Do u also have normal work they’re paying u 4?
When you’re not dealing with monsters
nightangel
i think im there to lift heavy things
wizards are pretty strong but not like in a muscles way
more like ‘im gonna cast a spell and flip ur house upside down’ or smthing
Bat Child
:O Have you ever seen a wizard flip somebody’s house?
nightangel
no but i bet they could
rn were just going to a town called purple thats full of weird magic
i think they want to set up a magic thing like what big cities have
so magic people can do their thing in peace
and liek cryptids and stuff too
Bat Child
Wow, so you’re getting to help set up a magic privacy veil?
That sounds amazing :O
I’m jealous
nightangel
i can send u cryptid pics
theyll jsut look like normal animals but thats bc of the magic
or maybe ill see like. fuckin bigfoot
Bat Child
It would be so cool if u saw Bigfoot
U don’t have to send me pictures of cryptids, tho
Or regular animals
nightangel
no im gonna
ur a zoology nerd
ill send u animal photos and u can tell me facts about them
Bat Child
You really don’t have to.
nightangel
you let me infodump about swords all the time
and history
i’m going to send you animal pictures and you’re going to tell me cool animal facts about them.
its gonna be fucking awesome, trust me
Bat Child
Aww, thank you Cody! <3
nightangel
np vesper
youre a really cool friend, im just returning the favor
One week ago
Bat Child
We’ve got a really big event coming up and I’m so nervous 0_0'
nightangel
rip
also good luck ig
is it a vampire thing or is ur boss doing a big party?
Bat Child
Both, I guess?
It’s happening next Friday
There r going to be a lot of vampires there, but also some really famous celebrities
Like, I’m not allowed 2 talk about the guest list at all
nightangel
oh shit yeah thats pretty big
Bat Child
Also I’m still not a vampire
nightangel
vampire bat /hj
do u have to work security?
Bat Child
Yep!
That’s part of y I’m nervous, me and Darkness Man r good at our jobs but some of the guests like 2 make trouble
I think I’d rather b doing magic research where u r
How’s that going, btw?
nightangel
oh u know, its pretty normal
theres guys covered in angry ghosts and exactly one horse
my tech wizard friend says bigfoots not alowed in town for some reason? idk, its a weird radio thing
fury grandma says things might be gettig weirder soon but we dont know why
a seer she knows said its super important that we got the magic veil running already
and its october, so well have to deal with halloween weirdness soon
Bat Child
That sounds like it’s also pretty stressful o_o
Good luck 2 you also!
nightangel
yeah
i bet were both gonna kick ass
Bat Child
Definitely!!
Saturday morning, technically
Bat Child
AAAAAAAHH the party was a MESS!!
Like I can’t even tell u how bad, 4 privacy reasons
There were so many streamers and stuff, one of the VIP guests went crazy, I think there was a fire or something???
I ate a missile to save everybody from a helicopter, that part was awesome
Also there was a whole performance art piece that nobody knew about and that’s part of what was so weird
Definitely just performance art
It was really chaotic tho :C
We got in trouble even though me and Darkness Man were just trying 2 do our jobs
One of the elder vampires was threatening everyone (including me even tho I’m not actually a vampire)
I think we got a second chance, tho! So everything should be fine
Oh shoot, I forgot it’s like 6am for you right now
Sorry!!! I’ll stop sending you messages rn
nightangel
lol were in the same time zone rn
u doing ok? it sounds bad there
Bat Child
Oh right, I keep forgetting you’re actually in the pacific northwest now
I’m worried about the party making the news, there were so many people filming
nightangel
ur probably fine i think
san francisco has its own magic veil, none of the magic stuff shows up on camera
wait u ate a missile? thats cool as fuck
Bat Child
I did!!
The vampire hunter people were shooting at the party, so I jumped in the air and sent it 2 the abyss
nightangel
right, u have that cool mouth portal thing
that sounds so fucking awesome
Bat Child
Thank you!
I’m not sure what’s happening next but I think they’re letting us throw another party?
Like a second chance type of thing
I know your LARP has the magic veil thing 2 help u but I’m scared we’ll have bad consequences here, our rules r different
nightangel
good luck, bat child
hope ur next party has less ppl fucking up
Bat Child
Thanks, Night Angel
Good luck with your magic stuff too
Saturday evening, right now
Vesper’s head is still spinning with everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours.
Zaeth’s sire is the only reason they’re not all dead, but the vampires and Bat Child are still stuck here in a nowhere town in Oregon, currently crammed around a table at the only bar that’s still open this late on a Saturday. None of them are happy to be here.
The group has just about finished sharing the information they’ve collected about Purpee. Currently, they’re trying to figure out what to do next. The plan right now seems to be checking out the spirit Bat Child sensed downtown.
“Uh, ‘scuse me?” The conversation is interrupted when they’re approached by one of the bar patrons. “I have kind of a weird question.”
“Hi there.” LaVonte flashes the man a fanged grin. “How can we help you out tonight?”
“Uh, yeah.” The man has pale skin - especially for a mortal - and dark hair, with a single streak of blue dyed into it. He’s wearing a long leather coat and combat boots, with a long tube slung across his back. His eyes flicker over the rest of the coterie, before settling on Vesper. He gestures in her direction and says, “Like I said, it’s kinda weird - are you Bat Child?”
The rest of the group immediately erupts into whispers behind her. “Shit,” HJ hisses, “do you think this guy knows them from Omaha?”
"Is he a college student here? Or did somebody follow them from fuckin' Nebraska -"
Vesper’s jaw drops about halfway down her chest. She recognizes this guy, from three years of conversations and photos sent over tumblr and discord. He’s just a regular mortal, but besides Darkness Man he’s probably her only close friend.
“Night Angel?!”