random ficlet i don’t have the energy to pursue but really enjoy:
artemis is a passionate and sometimes reckless ghost hunter who will go into the darkest, rustiest, scariest old haunted places shouting for spirits to show themselves. she has been exorcised several times by her mother, priests of several religions, and witch/ex-girlfriend zatanna. all of them firmly tell her not to antagonize spirits, and she completely ignores them to continue hunting ghosts. she’s controversial whether one believes in ghosts or not, yet everyone agrees it’s pretty fun watching her.
one day dick grayson asks for artemis’ help contacting his parents from beyond the grave. he doesn’t really believe it will work, but whenever this sort of thing comes up, he has a little bit of hope.
artemis points over his shoulder and says, “they’re right there.”
artemis sighs. she starts to describe his mother and father, down to the clothes they were wearing when they died.
dick runs through all sorts of rationalizations in his head. she could have done some research. what happened to his family is fairly well known, and he’s still pretty high profile as the adopted son of bruce wayne. even if he’s caught her by surprise, someone could be feeding her info on a wire. etc.
then she tells him, “every night before you go to sleep, you look at the picture on your bedside table and say good night to your parents. they hear you, by the way.”
this is something he hasn’t even told alfred, let alone bruce, because he always feels a little guilty about missing his parents so much after so long, and he’s also pretty sure they’d both send him to therapy.
“you don’t need me,” artemis says. “go home.”
he’s back the very next day, banging on her door.
