A Leprechaun Walks Into a Bar by Domoviye

Boston,
March, 2016

We open at a small Irish pub, a rundown place that has seen better days.

He was Darby O'Gill, leprechaun, mage, and as far as he was concerned, the most important person at the bar.

Oh no, is he a Faerie or Fae? Even has his own stool that he has used for years. A young man named Tom Pierce shows up and wishes to speak to Darby. There to learn about him, this will be a tale.

Grand Rapids, Michigan
April, 1974

Kimberly O'Connor rode her bike to her best friend's home, Amber Moore. Boy, Mrs. Moore is prepared. Clover green iris that seems to glow, don't tell me this is a female-to-male changeling story, rare. Oh boy, she doesn't know why her eyes changed color, back before information could be looked up online and knowledge of mutant manifestations was a lot less common.

A guy named Mitch she likes, I hope he doesn't freak out. New tape by the Bee Gees at the mall, dang, how the times have changed.

A tiny figure dressed in green with a bulbous nose was digging through the clothes like a rat.

A pervert tiny folk, oh boy. Mrs. Moore comes in due to the screaming, but the tiny man is gone and she thinks Kimberly just needs some rest. Off to a bad start for Kimberly, I hope she can get her parents to believe her in the future.

Ashley, Kim's older sister, doesn't believe what Kim tells her about the leprechaun thinking she has head trauma. Med student, this is going to be harder than expected to get them to believe. Kim hates doctors and would even hate having her big sister as her doctor, ouch. David, the 16-year-old older brother, shows up with a book and thinks he knows why Kim's eyes changed.

A comic book based on superheroes, cool.

“These are Bantam and Scratch-The-Cat, they used to be members of the St. Louis hero team, The Gateway Guardians,”

Good names. Oh boy, her thoughts on mutants due to the media. Having to explain to Kim the wide variety of powers that mutants can have. Mephisto the Mentalist, Dr. Amazing, and Madame Mystique, have magic powers and says she isn't a mutant for the last one, I would hide it back then as well. Opening a portal to a faerie realm by opening her door, makes sense. Who is this Lisa who is so interested in fantasy and magic, is she David's girlfriend?

Modern Sorcery and Spells, oh boy. A dancing light spell, nice start but why is she so physically drained from it? Why is the leprechaun yelling curses at them?

August, 1974

Tiny men keep popping up near her and she squashes them, don't tell me these are her hobgoblins. Red hair that stops halfway down her neck, uh oh. Puffy checks, thicker jawbone, and cheekbones, growing facial hair, darn, I was right. Becoming the opposite gender when you aren't trans is rough. Changes in her hands and her doctor is not used to dealing with mutants so she is stuck in the dark about why she is changing, ouch.

A spell to show what she will look like in the future, noooo. She is going to be in shock if that works. A spell that requires blood, crud, this is bad. I knew it, seeing herself like that, the fake smile hits a lot harder. In tears and saying that can't be her, she is going to be a lot of help.

November 1974

Staying home sick and suffering internal changes now, it gets worse before it gets any better for her. She knows the changes coming and is running away from home, leaving only a note behind. They shouldn't have left her alone in this emotional state. A bus out of town because she thinks she is becoming a freak.

Boston,
March, 2016

Back to the present, and Darby is at the bar again when Tom shows up wishing to hear more of his tale. A superhero for a short time, I wonder why he quit. More of a lover than a fighter, good reason.

Greenwich Village,
New York,
November, 1980

Liam now sounds like he is working as a male escort to men.

He was known as the Leprechaun by most of his clients and friends. He liked the nickname, it helped put everything at a distance.

Having to slip into a persona just to smile, hurts to see. Drinking, dancing, and losing himself, it is broken by gunshots ringing out.

People running out and a man with a machine gun, shouting and taking aim at fleeing patrons, who is this scum? Nice prepared spell saved in Liam's watch, that is the perfect way to stop a gunman cold. 10 minutes with no ability to move, impressive. A sleep spell and Liam releases the unconscious gunman. Taking any weapons from the creep and all his money, after what he did is the least he should pay.

Two are wounded and Liam uses healing spells to patch them up, and blood to make a pentagram, whoa. The worse of the wounded is stabilized at least so he can go to the hospital to be checked out. Another guy was shot in the leg but will survive without help so Liam got his coat and left, moving to another city again.

Packed up and was ready to leave with his few possessions, but a knock at the door and the Guard, a new local superhero is there to talk to Liam about last night. Heh, there to shake his hand and thank Liam for saving a lot of people last night. The Guard has been watching Liam for a while now, Liam's use of magic to protect him didn't go unnoticed and those criminals caught talked.

Oh, good, a person who knows a little of what Liam has been going through and is going through now. Talk of training, how Liam can become a true hero, but he doesn't believe he can because of how he lived his life since running away. Taken on as a partner, works as a personal assistant, and tutors to help him get a diploma, plus a proper ID, take the offer, Liam.

“Because I nearly ran away from home when I was fourteen. My parents weren't keen on my being a mutant or gay. When they caught me packing up to run away, they had a change of heart. They still aren't thrilled, but they accept it and let me live my life with their support. So when I was following you, saw how you were living, and your potential it made me think how easily I could have ended up in the same situation.

You had parents who realized they didn't wish to lose their kid over things he had no control over, back then even more astonishing. A day trader and superhero, yikes. Eric when not in costume, oh boy, don't tell me they became more than friends.

He started to cry. He couldn't help it, he wanted them to stop, he hated crying, but his eyes refused to obey his brain. “Thank you,” he sobbed.

6 years of holding it in, you need to let it out.

New York,
March, 1982

Leprechaun as a codename, eh, people are going to call him that anyways so why fight it. Lookout to hopefully stop a gang war from breaking, it is dull but when it pays off it is worth it. His lover, so Liam and Eric did become a couple. Anti-rain spell, if you could enchant those into small, easy-to-carry objects they would sell like hotcakes.

Shooting up a bar and not caring who they hit, ugh, and people wonder why some people are called monsters. Prepared spells, a wall of force to protect the bar and everyone inside, and marble with a spell to produce a thick, green fog, awesome. Guard goes into the cloud of smoke and when it cleared all the gang members are restrained and battered, they make a good team.

Even healing the attackers of any bad injuries, now there is a hero who takes his job seriously. File a report with the police and report to the MCO, I hope they aren't as nearly as bad as in 2006 or 2016. Shot near the spine with a nasty welt, yikes, Guard needs to tell his partner about such things. Didn't feel it at the time, what kind of powers does he have? A day of bed 'rest', hehe.

On patrol, but it is a casual date, aww. Liam has his GED, studying medicine as an adult student, not a bad idea, it could help with his healing spells. Talks about his family, and his siblings, for the first time since knowing Eric. And even about how Liam used to be Kimberly and was afraid of them seeing what she was becoming.

“What you expect me to go, eww, you have girl cooties!?” Guard asked, wrapping him up in a hug. “I've met people who have turned into metal, a fish girl, and a rat man. My own eyes turned into actual gemstones, which still have the doctors scratching their heads over how I can see. You at least are still one hundred percent organic and human.”

Gem stone eyes, now that is a rare one.

Eric is the perfect man for Liam. He also says the hard truth, Liam needs to send a letter to his family and explain what happened to him. Eric says all the right things, easing into this in case they don't react well is smart and safe. Liam, if they hate you for who and what you have become then Eric is right, leave them in the past. Oh, good, Liam is going to do it.

Hours to write a letter, and it is hard to reconnect after so long. And ready to send off, please let this go well. Go dancing and get drinks in the Village, sounds like a fun night out if nothing ruins it. So glad about the help of Eric that Liam isn't an alcoholic. Crud, the Iron Warlord fighting the superhero Red Rocket outside a bank near their place. Why am I getting a bad feeling about them going there?

IW can slash through a car with his sword, I know Eric wants to help, but this sounds like he could die fighting this villain. Having Liam help him and Red Rocket to slow IW for the big shots to show up, no, no, no, if I think what is about to happen does this could break Liam. Sponsors, contracts, interviews, no, Eric, don't do it for the glory or need to prove yourself, that is a sure way to an early grave.

10 minutes later and the police are keeping civilians from getting hurt, IW needs anti-tank weapons to harm him with his armour, yikes. Red Rocket is a fighter and has an interesting power, almost like a ground-based Cannonball from Marvel. Illusions to draw Warlord's attention, not sure that is a good idea, this villain seems like the type to just fire all over the place when frustrated.

A good plan overall, but they don't know the full extent of what IW's power armor can do. Very good illusion, if nothing else it will confuse IW like everyone else. Magical fireworks to blind IW, fires back, and mostly miss the illusions, so far, so good. Guard and Red Rocket are in an alley behind IW and talking, I hope they have a good plan.

A marble with a prepared spell that makes anyone with 25 feet affected as if they are seriously drunk, at least it is only for vision and balance, if it actually got IW drunk I would be scared of the damage he would do. Red Rocket slams into IW again, while Guard comes down from the sky to hammer IW into the concrete, good teamwork. Keeping on the move to avoid being hit by weapons, just how fast does Guard fly?

Starts to get back up only to be slammed to the ground and on his face by Red Rocket. With great teamwork, they have IW on the ropes, told to surrender he pulls out a large ball and throws it towards Guard. And it explodes into a ball of plasma, a shield from Leprechaun in front of Guard, and Leprechaun is hit with enough to set his costume on fire and burn his flesh. Red Rocket's suit is badly singed and is putting Leprechaun out, but what about Guard?

Told Guard is going to be okay and to stay down until the paramedics arrive, please let Red Rocket not be lying to Leprechaun about Guard to spare him. He lied, Guard was reduced to charcoal and crumbled before Liam's eyes, losing his lover to being a superhero, I would quit too. Red Rocket tried to comfort Liam, not knowing they were in a relationship, but knowing it was closer than friendship.

Told they would go after IW after Leprechaun was patched up by the paramedics. Liam is broken and uses spells to run away, thinking without Eric he is nothing.

If he got far enough away maybe the pain would stop.

No, not after all they had been through, not after he was finally going to reconnect with his family, it can't end with his family thinking he left them again.

Boston,
March, 2016

Back in the present and Darby chats with Tom again. Retire and take things easy eventually, I wish it hadn't been because of such heartbreak.

Boston,
January, 2016

A pile of bills, too much time at the pub, and all those things to pay. Calling his occasional employer to see if he has a job for him, Darby changed his identity again and has been drinking to forget for 34 years.

A not-nice day to be out and Darby has to be as sober as he can for the job, eep. A building where they need a lot of magic to do what they do there, I don't like the sounds of that. Greeted by Noah and offered tea, Nancy brings it in and she was in some kind of rough fight or something. 3 burly men at first and for the last 3 years it has been Nancy, just why do they need to guard Noah so well?

10 years of visiting every month or 2, and still doesn't know if Noah has a family, nor why they need his essence so much. Yeah, this feels very bad to me.

Lifting the lid up, Noah carefully removed a clay jar. It was painted in patterns that made no sense, and if Darby tried to look at it for too long his eyes watered and ached. It looked ancient, the red, yellow and blue paint had faded and was scratched in places, but there were no cracks or chips in the clay.

*eyes bug out widely* I would run as fast as possible away from that. Darby gets a sense of how ancient this thing is, it sounds like Great Old One magic to me to have seen eons pass. Or Faerie or Fae in nature.

It takes only what is freely given, okay, not quite as scary as I first thought. Many have given essence to it over the ages, whoa. $6k for draining a lot of his essence, why does that feel a bit low to me with what he is feeding? Use his essence to protect people, and know spells, but doesn't have the essence for them.

With what you gave us today, we can set up wards of protection, fight the monsters that hide in the darkness, and heal people who need it.”

Why does this sound like they are a branch of the Helsing family to me? At least it does if Noah isn't lying to Darby.

Boston,
March 2016

Once again Darby is at his stool and Tim is by his side in the bar. And now the tale of how Darby took down a supervillain and got in the news.

February, 2016

Sloshed at the bar, trying to forget the past once more thanks to dreams last night. Great, thanks to IW Darby has disgust toward powered armor. Finley going to cut off his drinks, but the building is hit and shakes. Great, the skull man TV crashes in and says they are all his hostages now. Darby is pissed and skull man fires a laser at him, getting absorbed by a magic shield.

Ah crap, so drunk he summons forth hobgoblins in the form of leprechauns, which drink the beer, eat the food, and run riot over the supervillain. A net comes down over skull man and shocks him, Boston Knight shows up and tells Darby his distraction allowing BK to take down Black Skull and Darby is the hero of the hour. Sometimes hobgoblins work out fine for the magic wielder.

Boston,
March, 2016

Aww, Tom shows up with a pretty woman on his arm, dampening Darby's spirit. Oh, the woman is blind and wearing rose-tinted glasses. Dr. Katherine Chance...no, don't tell me, she is the daughter of one of his siblings. Looking right at him and like looking into his soul, is she a mutant whose manifestation made her blind? She brings up Kimberly, David, and Ashley Moore, after all these years.

Ah, she sees auras and can't shut it off.

“I can tell how someone is feeling, if they're lying or telling the truth. I'm your niece, Ashley's daughter.”

Darby still tries to lie to her, saying he is an only child.

“Ashley and David have spent a long time looking for you. When they saw pictures of your hobgoblins, they thought it might be you. They miss you. You don't have to visit, just a phone call to let them know you're OK will help. Please. David misses his little twerp and mom wants her family back together.” Her voice was gentle, not angry or condemning, just sad.

Got me tearing up here.

Darby still tries to lie, but it is no good. They know some about his life thanks to Eric's parents contacting them after his death, showing the letter, and telling about him. Darby, listen to your niece, you've lived alone long enough, you need to enjoy what life you have left with your family. Too tired to run again and not knowing what to do, and hugged by Katherine, Darby cries again after so holding it in for so long. Thank you, I hoped he would reconnect with his family.

Whateley
Evening,
September, 15th

Shisa walked through the forest, not sure what she wanted to do, just needing to get away from the crowd of students, obligations and rules.

I lost count of the number of times I wished I could do that when I was in school. Darby sitting under a large tree and singing, that would draw your attention.

Goes to talk to Shisa thinking she is just a cat, big, but a normal cat. Katerine is a teacher at Whateley and lets Darby live with her while he gets things sorted. Ah, he heard about Shisa and Shisa confirms it's her with a head nod.

“Ah well then, any student of Katherine's is a friend o' mine. Come on over and sit. If you like you can have a sip o' my cider. It's the soft kind, I've sworn off anything hard, except a cup o' Guinness before bed and on special occasions. And Darby O'Gill always keeps his promises.”

Ah, happy for him. Telling a story of his youth and Shisa listens with half an ear.

A friendly person, nice grass, and a cool breeze, what more could she want?

The simple pleasures in life are the best.

Starting off the story with Darby at a bar and telling Tom about his past, once we were introduced to Kimberly I knew she would become him someday. It is a rough fate for non-trans to become changelings and it showed with how she reacted to her transformation by running away. It was hard to read parts of this story, and it was heartbreaking to figure things out before the scene came up where Eric died. But it shows being a superhero is dangerous work and not everyone survives. The heartbreak of losing him, and seeing Liam run away after years of them being together, hit hard.

I'm glad that this had a happy ending despite the life Darby had lived up until meeting Katerine and being reunited with his family. No matter how broken you think you are, no matter what you have done, a true family will always love you. And the last part with Shisa was perfect, someone she can simply relax with. I hope we see more of Darby and his niece Katerine around Whateley in future stories.

We open at a small Irish pub, a rundown place that has seen better days.

He was Darby O'Gill, leprechaun, mage, and as far as he was concerned, the most important person at the bar.

Oh no, is he a Faerie or Fae? Even has his own stool that he has used for years. A young man named Tom Pierce shows up and wishes to speak to Darby. There to learn about him, this will be a tale.

A couple of weeks ago for some reason I was thinking of St. Patrick's Day and had the image of a leprechaun sitting in a dingy Irish bar, drunk and telling his story. The idea slowly coalesced into this, and I figured out a way to have it affect Whateley proper, in fall 2016, so I went with it.

Kimberly O'Connor rode her bike to her best friend's home, Amber Moore. Boy, Mrs. Moore is prepared. Clover green iris that seems to glow, don't tell me this is a female-to-male changeling story, rare. Oh boy, she doesn't know why her eyes changed color, back before information could be looked up online and knowledge of mutant manifestations was a lot less common.

There aren't enough FtM stories, so I decided to do my part in increasing them.
Trying to figure out the right year to make sure everything fit together nicely was a pain. And I had to do a quick check of 1970's bands, because that's a bit before my time. I'm more of an 80's hair band guy.

A comic book based on superheroes, cool.

“These are Bantam and Scratch-The-Cat, they used to be members of the St. Louis hero team, The Gateway Guardians,”

Good names. Oh boy, her thoughts on mutants due to the media. Having to explain to Kim the wide variety of powers that mutants can have. Mephisto the Mentalist, Dr. Amazing, and Madame Mystique, have magic powers and says she isn't a mutant for the last one, I would hide it back then as well.

The book is a superhero book, showing actual groups from the 60's and 70's. The Gateway Guardians show up in Keeping Cool Part 1 and 2, with Madame Mystique having an important POV role, and she isn't a mutant.
www.whateley.academy/index.php/read/story/keeping-cool-part-1

Modern Sorcery and Spells, oh boy. A dancing light spell, nice start but why is she so physically drained from it? Why is the leprechaun yelling curses at them?

It wore her out because she's brute forcing the spell, throwing tons of essence at it to make sure it works. And the leprechaun is her typical hobgoblin. Hobgoblins are annoying little things, and what's more annoying than a drunk, perverted, cursing leprechaun?

Staying home sick and suffering internal changes now, it gets worse before it gets any better for her. She knows the changes coming and is running away from home, leaving only a note behind. They shouldn't have left her alone in this emotional state.

She was hiding her feelings, and back then mental health was not as well known or understood as it is today. I didn't show it due to time, but they were trying to help, which included giving her space.

Having to slip into a persona just to smile, hurts to see. Drinking, dancing, and losing himself, it is broken by gunshots ringing out.

People running out and a man with a machine gun, shouting and taking aim at fleeing patrons, who is this scum? Nice prepared spell saved in Liam's watch, that is the perfect way to stop a gunman cold. 10 minutes with no ability to move, impressive. A sleep spell and Liam releases the unconscious gunman. Taking any weapons from the creep and all his money, after what he did is the least he should pay.

I didn't name it, but I used a mass shooting that happened in reality, which left 2 dead and 11 injured. Darby stopped it right at the start.
I wanted to show that he's learned some good tricks and wasn't afraid to use his magic to protect himself and others. He's also enough of a survivor that he's not above stealing from people who deserve it. But is not the type to actually want to hurt anyone, even if they really deserve it.
Looking at it now, I put a lot into this scene.

Oh, good, a person who knows a little of what Liam has been going through and is going through now. Talk of training, how Liam can become a true hero, but he doesn't believe he can because of how he lived his life since running away. Taken on as a partner, works as a personal assistant, and tutors to help him get a diploma, plus a proper ID, take the offer, Liam.

I didn't want all of Darby's memories to be bad, or to have him just spiral into a drunken mess because he ran away. There had to be some light in his past that was crushed to completely break him.
It also made the story more interesting to show Darby being happy, helping people, and seeing that the world while far from perfect isn't all soul crushing and hateful.

Leprechaun as a codename, eh, people are going to call him that anyways so why fight it.

That was my thought. It also fits his style.

Prepared spells, a wall of force to protect the bar and everyone inside, and marble with a spell to produce a thick, green fog, awesome. Guard goes into the cloud of smoke and when it cleared all the gang members are restrained and battered, they make a good team.

I tried to think of how Darby could help out, being support and healing, to Guards up front and physical style was the best fit, and matched my idea of Darby to a T.

Even healing the attackers of any bad injuries, now there is a hero who takes his job seriously. File a report with the police and report to the MCO, I hope they aren't as nearly as bad as in 2006 or 2016.

Overall Darby is a nice, caring individual. I had to show it in the story.
And my thoughts with the MCO in the early 1980's was that for known heroes at least, they were less of a problem. File some paperwork, let them know what was up, and they generally left you alone, publicly at least. Supervillains, and mutants less in the public eye, well that's different.

Eric is the perfect man for Liam. He also says the hard truth, Liam needs to send a letter to his family and explain what happened to him. Eric says all the right things, easing into this in case they don't react well is smart and safe. Liam, if they hate you for who and what you have become then Eric is right, leave them in the past. Oh, good, Liam is going to do it.

I like to have at least one really good person in my stories. Not a perfect person, as is shown later, Eric is a glory hound, but just someone who is genuinely caring. And the line about 'girl cooties', made me laugh when I thought of it.

Crud, the Iron Warlord fighting the superhero Red Rocket outside a bank near their place. Why am I getting a bad feeling about them going there?

Iron Warlord is mentioned in several She-Beast stories, having kidnapped Jadis and her brother in an attempt to blackmail Dr. Diabolik. It went badly for him, and he was last seen by Jadis serving drinks at a party in Karadonia wearing a French maid outfit.
He seemed like a good character to show, a big threat but not overwhelming at the beginning of his career.

Red Rocket is a fighter and has an interesting power, almost like a ground-based Cannonball from Marvel.

That was exactly what I was thinking of when I made him. The name Red Rocket popped up in my head and I instantly knew what I wanted to do with him.
I was lucky that while there is a Red Rocket in real life comics, he's a public domain character from the 1940's, with VERY different powers.

A marble with a prepared spell that makes anyone with 25 feet affected as if they are seriously drunk, at least it is only for vision and balance, if it actually got IW drunk I would be scared of the damage he would do. Red Rocket slams into IW again, while Guard comes down from the sky to hammer IW into the concrete, good teamwork. Keeping on the move to avoid being hit by weapons, just how fast does Guard fly?

Glad you like it, I put a lot of thought into how they could work together with a quick plan. And while Guard isn't as fast as Red Rocket, he was pretty fast. If only he could have been a little faster.

Liam is broken and uses spells to run away, thinking without Eric he is nothing.

If he got far enough away maybe the pain would stop.

No, not after all they had been through, not after he was finally going to reconnect with his family, it can't end with his family thinking he left them again.

And now we see why Darby is the broken shell he is in the present day.

10 years of visiting every month or 2, and still doesn't know if Noah has a family, nor why they need his essence so much. Yeah, this feels very bad to me.

Lifting the lid up, Noah carefully removed a clay jar. It was painted in patterns that made no sense, and if Darby tried to look at it for too long his eyes watered and ached. It looked ancient, the red, yellow and blue paint had faded and was scratched in places, but there were no cracks or chips in the clay.

*eyes bug out widely* I would run as fast as possible away from that. Darby gets a sense of how ancient this thing is, it sounds like Great Old One magic to me to have seen eons pass. Or Faerie or Fae in nature.

Noah doesn't need the protection, the artifact does.
And it's from Atlantis, made by the fae and acquired by the Helsing's at some point in the last 300 years or so.

It takes only what is freely given, okay, not quite as scary as I first thought. Many have given essence to it over the ages, whoa. $6k for draining a lot of his essence, why does that feel a bit low to me with what he is feeding? Use his essence to protect people, and know spells, but doesn't have the essence for them.

With what you gave us today, we can set up wards of protection, fight the monsters that hide in the darkness, and heal people who need it.”

Why does this sound like they are a branch of the Helsing family to me? At least it does if Noah isn't lying to Darby.

6K is actually low, but it's enough for Darby, he just wants enough to survive and stay drunk on.
And this is the Boston Helsing branch of the family. I was thinking of showing Abigail out front, but figured it would be a bit much.
Noah is Abigails father, and Nancy is Ms. Nancy who taught Abigail how to fight.
I'd been thinking of ways the Helsing's would power their wards and some spells. Then I was thinking of how Darby would get money to survive. And well, the two ideas meshed together so well, and they were both in Boston already, so it was a match made in heaven.

Ah crap, so drunk he summons forth hobgoblins in the form of leprechauns, which drink the beer, eat the food, and run riot over the supervillain. A net comes down over skull man and shocks him, Boston Knight shows up and tells Darby his distraction allowing BK to take down Black Skull and Darby is the hero of the hour. Sometimes hobgoblins work out fine for the magic wielder.

Take your pick, 'the luck of the Irish,' or 'God protects drunks, fools, and children'.

Aww, Tom shows up with a pretty woman on his arm, dampening Darby's spirit. Oh, the woman is blind and wearing rose-tinted glasses. Dr. Katherine Chance...no, don't tell me, she is the daughter of one of his siblings. Looking right at him and like looking into his soul, is she a mutant whose manifestation made her blind? She brings up Kimberly, David, and Ashley Moore, after all these years.

And it all comes together.
Katherine Chance, formerly 2 fanfic characters, I melded a powerful blind psychic with her baseline psychic mentor, to create a new Whateley psychic arts teacher.
I wasn't going to write this story, I have enough one shots that will take a long time to become part of the main Whateley storyline, but then I realized I could bring Darby to Whateley as a minor character, and introduce Dr. Chance at the same time.

Got me tearing up here.

I did to.

Too tired to run again and not knowing what to do, and hugged by Katherine, Darby cries again after so holding it in for so long. Thank you, I hoped he would reconnect with his family.

I was particularly happy with this part.
Darby isn't hit by a need to change his life around. He hasn't had any big revelation. He's just a tired, broken old man, who is tired of running and doesn't know what to do. It just seems more realistic to me.

Goes to talk to Shisa thinking she is just a cat, big, but a normal cat. Katerine is a teacher at Whateley and lets Darby live with her while he gets things sorted. Ah, he heard about Shisa and Shisa confirms it's her with a head nod.

“Ah well then, any student of Katherine's is a friend o' mine. Come on over and sit. If you like you can have a sip o' my cider. It's the soft kind, I've sworn off anything hard, except a cup o' Guinness before bed and on special occasions. And Darby O'Gill always keeps his promises.”

Ah, happy for him. Telling a story of his youth and Shisa listens with half an ear.

A friendly person, nice grass, and a cool breeze, what more could she want?

The simple pleasures in life are the best.

A chance to bring in one of my POV characters, set things up for the future, and end on a happy note, perfection.

It was hard to read parts of this story, and it was heartbreaking to figure things out before the scene came up where Eric died. But it shows being a superhero is dangerous work and not everyone survives. The heartbreak of losing him, and seeing Liam run away after years of them being together, hit hard.

I do like getting into the gritty reality sometimes.
OK, a lot of the time.
This story let me revel in it a bit.

I'm glad that this had a happy ending despite the life Darby had lived up until meeting Katerine and being reunited with his family. No matter how broken you think you are, no matter what you have done, a true family will always love you. And the last part with Shisa was perfect, someone she can simply relax with. I hope we see more of Darby and his niece Katerine around Whateley in future stories.

I do like to say that as long as there's life there's hope.
Darby has had a tough life, but I'll have him pop up from time to time, just to be a source of calm, with maybe some good advice thrown in every once in a while.
And Katherine will have a larger role in my Shisa stories and some other stories that deal with psychic classes. Not main character worthy, but a good supporting role.