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five-rivers · 1 year

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Flowers, the Leaves on the Trees, the Moss Underfoot

AO3

Part of this series.

@13thcat @modordracena

Like anyone else who had just been gifted (cursed, whatever) with the ability to shapeshift, Danny experimented. He didn’t think twice about it, the concept was so natural to him.

Although, to be fair, that might have partially been because of his upbringing. Alchemists and experimentation went hand-in-hand, Fentons and experimentation even moreso.

And there was a bit of a gap between the first realization and the experimentation. He had to be forgiven, given the circumstances.

His first, panicked, shift had been into a forest cat. His second had been into the form he had once called his one and only - human, teenaged, dark haired, blue eyed, short.

(In other circumstances, he might dispute the ‘short’ part, but he could be honest with himself. Here, alone in the trees, he was the only one who could be.)

For a decent chunk of time, that was it. He didn’t want to shift anymore. He cried himself to sleep cradled by the branches of the tree he was hiding in, mourning his humanity.

Then, the next morning, he woke up relatively rested. When he saw that he had stayed human throughout the night, well… If he could do that, maybe he could go home, after all? Maybe he could hide it?

He climbed down, but as soon as he touched the ground, things changed.

There were so very many things that lived on and in the trees, but the trees themselves were stable. They reached down into the earth and up into the sky and across barriers he couldn’t properly comprehend, but they operated on a scale and in a manner he could understand, and when they changed they changed slowly. Even the lichens and mosses on the trees felt more… orderly, for lack of a better word. Calmer. Or maybe more limited. Or maybe he was more limited.

But perhaps it was simply that there were fewer of them, or maybe his issue was something else entirely, something he didn’t know yet, because it was very difficult to know anything when you’d been changed so much, so fast. All he had were his feelings, and the ground was overwhelming.

It teemed with life. Mushrooms, grasses, flowers, seeds, mosses, tiny crawling things… And his awareness of it all spread outwards, along the ground and deep into it, no longer mediated by the trees.

Although, perhaps awareness was too generous a term for a set of impressions that lived in the back of his mind and curled around the edges of his consciousness. In any case, it didn’t agree with the hold he had on his form.

His legs and back twisted, the nails on his feet becoming thick and black, his teeth going alternately sharp and flat. Patterns of alternating dark and light appeared on his skin.

It was painless, the shifting. The sensation was… strange. Not unpleasant, but strange. Like his flesh was water, rippling, pouring from one container to another, borrowing its shape from what contained it.

He breathed in and out through his nose, stunned by the transformation but trying not to panic. He reached, searching for the grip that had let him be human again, at least in appearance, but his mental fingers kept slipping off the presence of the forest as represented by the things that lived on and in the nearby ground.

Eventually, he couldn’t handle it anymore, and he went back up into the tree. His control came back, and he pushed the inhuman features away.

At least he now knew he could do that, still. As long as he was in the trees, anyway.

He looked down at the ground, feeling trepidation. The ground looked back at him. The plants there reached back to him, quite literally. Where he had stood, a place that had been bare, mossy ground, too close to the tree to grow anything significant, had exploded with greenery. A circle of emerald moss surrounded green grass and shockingly pink wildflowers.

That was… alright, he didn’t know how to deal with that at the moment, so he didn’t.

So. He could shapeshift. He could shapeshift and control it, as long as he was in the trees. As long as he was in the trees.

He couldn’t stay in the trees and go home at the same time. He couldn’t go home if he looked like… like that every time he touched the ground.

He curled up on the tree branch again and tried not to think of much of anything.

Before long, though, he finished sulking.

He probably could have continued sulking for days; he felt like he had a lot to sulk about, overall, and he hadn’t felt any of the usual bodily needs, beyond sleep. That should have concerned him, he felt, but honestly he had bigger problems to deal with than not being hungry. No. What had brought him out of his sulk was boredom. Sitting on a tree branch trying not to cry was boring.

He could shapeshift. He could shapeshift. And, thus far, he hadn’t really explored how much he could shapeshift. He hadn’t experimented.

First order of business. Did he really lose control every time he touched the ground? Did he turn into the same thing each time?

He climbed back down.

Danny’s ears became long and floppy, like a rabbit’s. Brown-black feathers poured from his shoulders, pricking their way down his arms, his clothing shifting to accommodate them. Things close to him became sharper, while things further away grew blurry.

He went back up, but only a little ways before touching the ground again.

His nails grew sharp, and his spine extended itself into a fluffy tail. It didn’t seem to match the character of a cat’s tail, but the scales growing over the backs of his hands were more alarming to him.

He went back up and wrestled his appearance back into behaving. Three for three seemed like certainty enough for now. He didn’t want to do that again any time soon.

But there were other things he had to try. He could be human on purpose. He had been a forest cat by instinct. Could he purposefully take the shape of other animals?

The answer, after a few hours of trial and error, seemed to be yes. He’d tested forest cats, house cats, leopards, lynxes, squirrels, chipmunks, rats, mice, polecats, ferrets, and any other mammal he thought could balance on a branch.

He could be them. He could be any of them.

Well. Almost. Lions seemed to be beyond him, as well as a few other creatures from the distant plains and deserts of the east and south. He was unsure if location had something to do with it, or if the limit was more because he’d never seen any of those things before, whereas he’d seen at least dead versions of all the animals he could become.

It was good to know. Not just because the experiments had distracted him from his ongoing crisis, but because he was much more confident about leaping from tree to tree as a forest cat than he was as a human. Staying in one tree forever, afraid of the ground, was unlikely to be good for his sanity, such as it was.

Danny had lots of time to push himself to his limits in other ways, though. For example, how fast could he shapeshift? How many times in a row could he change himself? Would he get tired? Were there sizes he couldn’t take? Could he change himself only partially, like he did reflexively on the ground?

It was fascinating.

It was terrifying.

It was so very, very lonely.

Tucker found him. More accurately, he found Tucker. The order didn’t really matter, though. What mattered was that he wasn't alone anymore.

Although, over the past week or so, he'd come to realize that, perhaps, he wasn’t as alone as he’d initially believed. The woods hummed and pulsed under his senses, alive and intelligent in ways Danny struggled to quantify. But… even if there were people in the woods, the woods was not, precisely, a person. He needed someone. He needed people. He needed friends.

No, Tucker couldn’t live full-time in the woods, even with whatever weird limbo his apprenticeship had been thrown into. Danny didn’t expect that from him. But he was there and he knew Danny was there.

And Sam was coming. Maybe. Somehow. At least, she wanted to come, but Danny couldn’t imagine how that would work. From the perspective of everyone but him and Tucker, last time she’d been in the woods, she’d disappeared, and she was a princess. If Danny were the king and queen, he wouldn’t let her go back any time soon.

But, Sam’s possible house arrest aside, she was sending letters with Tucker.

“How are you still meeting with her, anyway?” asked Danny, flexing his toes on the branch he was perched on. He was mostly human right now, but he thought he might be channelling something into his feet to make them grip better. “The pages have to be recovered by now. No one’s sick for that long unless they’re dying.”

Tucker shrugged. “It’s confusing to me, too. She’s renting me from the guilds, somehow. Something about me saving her life when we vanished, and now I’m like… I don’t know. She cited a lot of old law, but I don’t think there’s actually precedent for a common man being a princess’s boon companion, no matter how many times he saved her life.” He rubbed his hands on his pants. “I think a lot of people are really unhappy about it, actually.”

“Are you… safe?” asked Danny, concerned. “I know you said people were watching you and asking a lot of questions, last time, but they aren’t, like, threatening you, are they?” He’d heard the courts and high society could be cutthroat, although, to be honest, so could the guilds and the little communities that sprung up in churches and neighborhoods.

“No, no,” said Tucker. “I think Sam’s the most likely to commit murder out of anyone there.”

“Tucker, knights are literally professional killers. That’s what they do.”

“Haha. Yeah. But, seriously, I don’t think any of them would risk it. Sam can do histrionic really well, and they can’t kill her.”

“Mm,” hummed Danny. “Well, if you ever need to run away to the woods, I’m here.”

“Speaking of which, where are you,” Tucker hesitated, “living? Because I’m not an outdoors sort of person, most of the time, but I do know that the seasons can change fast.”

Danny didn’t need to eat, as far as he could tell, and so far exposure hadn’t hurt him, but he appreciated Tucker’s point. “Lucky for me,” he said, “I am an outdoors sort of person. At least, my parents wanted me to be.” He’d gotten a lot of ‘Ranger training’ from them, and it hadn’t all been about killing things.

He shuddered. He was one of those things, now, the awareness of that fact an acute ache somewhere under his heart. There was a reason he had not called out to them from where he hid in the trees, and possibly never would.

“I found some ruins that look… acceptable,” he continued. “I haven’t decided how I’m going to make them, um. Not awful. Roofs and doors chinking and all of that.”

Tucker raised an eyebrow. “Livable?”

“Yeah, that,” said Danny.

He’d been reluctant to touch the ground long enough to examine the place closely, at first. Or even to go into it. If the ground did so much to him, what would worked wood and stone do to him?

But he wanted to know, and the only way to find out was to experiment.

It felt different. Not like the trees, not like the ground. Still part of the woods, but in a different way. Not dead, not cut off, still humming with that something that everything that was even a little of the woods had, but… different. Waiting. Abandoned. Bereft. Orbate. But fulfilling a purpose nonetheless.

It was strange to feel so much and know so little.

Walking on a surface worked by human hands didn’t undo him quite so much as the forest floor had, but it didn’t support him like the trees did. The structure welcomed him - To shelter was its purpose. But it needed the labor of an intelligent mind to make it whole. It was easier to be human-like within it, but he still lacked control.

At least… Those were the conclusions he’d come to after thinking about it for a long time.

“Do you think you might be in the market for felt scraps?”

“Huh?”

“I’m technically still an apprentice, so I’ve got room and board at my master’s house. No one likes to waste things, but there’s always scraps from cutting, or wool that’s the wrong grade, or stuff that gets stuck in the fulling mill and torn up, or stuff that, um, doesn’t wash up properly, after scouring. You know. That kind of thing. No one guards the scrap pile.” He shrugged.

“Doesn’t scouring, uh,” started Danny.

“Involve a large amount of human pee? Yes. Yes, it does. Guess which part apprentices have to do, and you’ll know why so many of us jumped at substituting for the pages. I’ll try to pick those bits out, if you want.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine. Alchemy has a lot of that kind of thing, too. I’ve smelled way worse things.” He paused. “Actually, so have you. Do you remember–”

“Don’t. Don’t remind me of the crimes your parents subjected my poor, innocent, baby nose to.”

“Ah,” said Danny, reminiscing, “I remember those powerful odors. The stinks strong enough to grow hair on your chest.”

“You’ve never had hair on your chest,” said Tucker.

Danny thought about that question for a moment, then smiled slyly. He pulled his shirt off, revealing a chest full of thick, curly fur.

“Well, at least I know you aren’t angsting about the shapeshifting part anymore,” said Tucker, who looked a little grossed out. “Hey, what would happen if I cut off part of that? Would it disappear if you changed back or would it stay? Would you be missing something when you turned back?”

“Good questions,” said Danny. “Wanna find out?”

“Sure,” said Tucker, pulling a pair of formidable scissors from his pocket. “Where can I cut it?”

Danny eyed the scissors. “And you made fun of me for my fertilizer.”

“I didn’t,” said Tucker. “Well… maybe a little. But if you get your sleeve caught in the machinery once… Or see it happen to someone.” He shuddered and shook his head. “Man, Nathan was lucky. He only lost a hand. And, you know, after everything that happened, I thought it might be good to carry some kind of defense.”

“That makes sense,” agreed Danny. Those scissors were almost dagger-like. “Let me come down to you.”

He jumped across a few branches and found a fallen log to balance on. It wasn’t the same as the trees, but at this stage of decay, it also wasn’t the same as the ground. He kept a grip on his shape.

“Alright,” said Tucker. “Can I just–?”

“Yeah, that’s fine,” said Danny.

Tucker clipped off a long curl of black… wool? Was it wool, even though it came from Danny?

Danny jumped back into the tree, with only a bit of an assist from cat-like legs, and turned back. “Well?” he asked.

“It’s still here!” said Tucker. “How do you feel?”

Danny rubbed his hands over his chest. “Fine? There’s nothing missing.”

“Weird,” said Tucker.

“Yeah,” agreed Danny. “Where did it come from? Maybe… What do you think would happen if we cut off a whole lot?”

Tucker squinted up at him. “Do you want me to, like, shear you? That’s not a thing I usually do.”

“No,” said Danny. “Maybe. Would that be weird?”

“I’m holding a bit of wool that you grew. This is already weird.”

“Fair.”

“I’d like to have something I could put it all in, though.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I’d hate to waste it. This isn’t bad, whatever it is.”

Danny squinted back at Tucker. “Using it is a bit… I don’t know how I feel about that.”

“It’s not like I’d do anything bad with it. Maybe we could give some to Sam. She’s the one who wants to study magic and stuff.”

“Now that would be weird.”

“Yeah, you’re right… She is a girl.”

“Mhm.” Danny picked at the bark on the tree. There was an irritating worm crawling underneath it.

“You still want me to shave you, don’t you,” said Tucker, intonation a bit flat, as if he were holding back laughter. “What if– What if you turn into a sheep?”

Danny considered that proposal. “Yeah,” he said. “Let’s do it.”

“So,” said Tucker, sitting next to a pile of dark wool. “How do you feel?”

Danny thought about it. “Hungry,” he said, finally.

“Huh. Maybe all this came from your stomach.”

“I mean, technically it has to come from a sheep’s stomach, usually, right?”

“I guess, ultimately, yeah,” said Tucker. “That makes sense.”

“Do you have any food?”

“I do not.”

That was too bad. Danny let his head lay back against the tree. “I think I would like the felt scraps.”

“Cool,” said Tucker. “I’ll figure out how to bring them.”

Danny’s curiosity had overwhelmed his caution on at least one front at the end of the third week.

On occasion, when touching the ground, he got feathers and scales, which would seem to indicate he had the ability to shift into birds and lizards, or perhaps even fish. The idea of flying was tempting. The idea of falling out of the sky upon losing control of his form was less so. Furthermore, he’d stuck to mammals so far.

It was time to, heh, branch out.

He’d have to remember that one when Tucker came by next. He always made such faces at Danny’s jokes.

But, seriously, it was time. He wasn’t writing his findings down (for shame) but he was running out of things to try to shift into. If things kept up like this, he’d have to think about his Situation, and no one wanted that.

Small steps, though. One variable at a time. First, lizards didn’t fly, so…

When he was satisfied that he could be a whole variety of lizards, Danny moved on to the next problem. Birds. He could, it turned out, be them, too, any variety, size, or color he wanted, so long as it was a natural one.

Which left flying.

For this, Danny borrowed the form of a bat.

He’d been a bat only briefly while running through his mental catalog of mammals, and he hadn’t liked it. Some animals had senses that were too far off his baseline to be comfortable to him.

Actually, most of the birds and lizards were like that for him as well, at least a little. Mammals were just… closer, he supposed.

But, anyway, bats. He was a bat, now. Bats could fly. In theory. If he was a bat, he could fly. In theory.

He spread his wings and launched himself off the branch.

He immediately crashed.

Flying would take some practice.

A week later, Danny caught a glimpse of Tucker through the trees, followed by a hooded figure. Suspicious, he let himself shift smoothly into a small cat and followed them through the trees, watching, listening. They weren’t talking to one another, and Danny didn’t know if he should consider that to be a bad sign. Would Tucker be chatty with a kidnapper? Quiet with a friend?

And… was it just him, or did Tucker’s companion smell familiar? But who would smell familiar, except for…

Excited, he bounded ahead of Tucker and jumped down onto a still-living stump that was starting to send up shoots. “Tucker!” he exclaimed, turning human. “Sam!”

Sam pushed her hood back. “Gods above, it’s really you,” she said. “If it wasn’t for Tucker, I’d have thought for sure that you had been killed.”

“Wait, really?” said Danny, lowering his arms. “Why?”

Sam pursed her lips, her whole face going sour with them. “Because everyone seemed so intent on assuring me that the ‘monster’ who had ‘taken’ me was killed. I suspect they found some poor cat that bore a passing resemblance to you.” She shook her head. “But you’re fine?”

Danny nodded. “I’m fine. I’m not hurt or anything, at least.”

Sam’s shoulders slumped. “Well, that’s good. I can’t imagine it’s been easy, though.”

“It… hasn’t been hard.” Except emotionally. But he wasn’t going to say that out loud. “Mostly, I’ve just been hanging out and avoiding people.”

“I’m sorry,” said Sam.

Danny shrugged, uncomfortable. “I don’t blame you, or anything.” Sam still looked like she blamed herself, though, so he decided to change tactics. “Do you want to see my house?”

“Sure,” said Sam.

“Oh,” said Sam, her eyes glittering at the sight of Danny’s ruin. “How did you find this?” She began to trace her fingers over the individual stones.

“I don’t know. I just did.”

“The laying pattern…” She turned and walked a few feet away. “The courtyard placement and pattern suggests a connection to the ancient culture of Aragona. Did you recover any artifacts from the area? Pottery, beads, jewelry, books?”

“Uh,” said Danny, who was still sitting on a nearby branch. He briefly contemplated manifesting a tail so he could swish it in agitation. “No.”

“That’s too bad,” said Sam. “But maybe… Yes. Yes!” She ran back up to him and grabbed his wrist. “Let’s look for– Oh.”

She had pulled him off the branch, and, as always, he had changed as soon as he hit the ground. He reached up to touch his forehead. “It hasn’t given me horns before,” he said.

“Oh,” repeated Sam. “Tucker had told me, but I hadn’t…” She trailed off, fingers pressed to her lips. “Does it hurt?”

“No,” said Danny. “It’s just weird.”

“Can you,” started Sam, briefly reaching towards his face with her free hand. “Would you tell me what it’s like? How it works? Explain it?”

“Yes,” said Danny, “but could I go back up, first? The trees make it easier.”

“So,” said Sam, “you can change into any animal?”

“Almost any animal,” corrected Danny, fiddling with a pine cone. He wasn’t hungry at the moment, but picking out the seeds was something to do. “I tried a few that didn’t work. I think it’s because they’re either too big, or I haven’t seen them before. Maybe both? I don’t know yet.”

“What’s the biggest animal you’ve ever seen?” asked Sam.

“I don’t know,” said Danny. “A cow?”

“Then try turning into a cow.”

“I can’t,” said Danny, “not in a tree.”

“Oh, yeah. How about a bear?”

“I’ve never actually seen a bear.”

“How,” said Tucker, “have you never seen a bear? I’ve seen a bear. I’ve even seen a bear this month while coming to visit you! It was far away, sure, but still…”

“Well, try turning into one anyway,” suggested Sam. “A small one, maybe. A black bear. Maybe a cub.”

“Alright,” said Danny, trying to imagine what a black bear cub would look like. There was an image there, as if seen through the leaves, of a fuzzy, black animal that walked on all fours. Danny knew that this was the same bear Tucker had seen, although he couldn’t say how. It was followed by a smaller bear, and it was this that Danny focused on.

When he opened his eyes, he was a bear.

Being a bear was surprisingly similar to being a human, overall, but he didn’t hold the form for long. After all, bears couldn’t talk. “Huh,” he said. “That was weird.”

“Weirder than any other shapeshifting?” asked Tucker.

“I don’t know,” said Danny. “I think I’ll have to revise my theory. Maybe I can only change into things that live here?”

“I could get you a bestiary,” said Sam. “We can look through it for things you haven’t seen but live in the area.”

Danny nodded slowly. “That sounds nice,” he said.

“Good,” said Sam. “Now, how about plants?”

“What about them?”

“Have you tried to turn into them yet?”

“Uh,” said Danny, “no. It’s just animals.”

“And your clothes.”

“What?”

“Your shapeshifting seems to include your clothing, so it’s not just animals.”

“I… suppose? But a shirt disappearing is different from turning into a plant.”

“So, you haven’t tried it.”

“No,” said Danny.

“How do you know you can’t if you haven’t tried?”

“Uh,” said Tucker, “maybe you shouldn’t. We know what happened last time we poked around with weird magical stuff near a ruin.”

“That’s different.”

“It’s literally the same thing.”

“It’s fine, Tucker,” said Danny. “It’s… not actually a bad idea.”

“Well, if you get stuck as a tree, I’ll be able to say I told you so.”

“I’m not going to do my whole body all at once,” said Danny, offended. “It’s like flying. You have to go a little bit at a time.”

“Wait, back up, you can fly? Since when?”

“Since I can shapeshift into birds?”

“And you managed that by shapeshifting a little at a time?”

“No, I turned into a bat.”

Sam raised a finger to her lip, then pointed it at him. “I think you and I are having two very different conversations, but I can wait to sort that out. Can you do a carnivorous plant? Or maybe black roses?”

“Uh,” said Danny. “Can plants be carnivorous? I thought that was some myth my parents came across.”

“Yeah, let’s not have Danny turn into some legendary evil plant thing.”

“No,” said Sam. “I’ve seen them. There are a few types that grow near the southern border, and they’re fascinating.”

Danny knew exactly what she was talking about. Could almost visualize them, in the same way as the bear. He really would have to look into that.

“I bet. But I think I might start with something more… local.” He looked around and spotted a wildflower that had sprung up in one of his footprints. Not for the first time, he traced his walking path with some bemusement. It was a good thing he kept to the branches for the most part. He’d be very easy to track.

But that was neither here nor there. He leaned forward and plucked the flower. It wasn’t particularly happy about being picked, but the plant it came from wasn’t really upset about it, either. It had enough energy for more.

“I was thinking something like this.”

Sam reached out and touched the soft, white petals. “Alright,” she said. “I’m still trying to imagine what that will look like.”

“Me, too,” admitted Danny. “But I think I have some idea…” He trailed off, focusing. His skin started to turn green. It was still too pale and pink to match the flower’s stem, but it was a close thing. Then, from the green, grew small white ovals. They weren’t quite arranged like petals on his skin, but were spaced out more like hairs.

He stopped and put down the flower.

“Wow,” said Sam. “That’s… I didn’t expect that. Can I…?” She reached out towards him. Danny reached back, putting his palm flat against hers. A couple of leaves grew adventurously from his forearm. “Wow. That does not feel like I expected it to. Is this… comfortable for you? It doesn’t hurt, does it?”

“No,” said Danny, “I don’t know if I’d call it comfortable, though.” He could feel all the changes on his skin, of course, but there were also changes deeper down. Plants did not think like animals did, and even though there was a significant gap between human thought and animal thought, this one was… larger. Much larger.

“Welp!” said Tucker, loudly, “that’s sure a thing you can do! Can we skip the becoming a tree part?”

“Oh, yeah,” said Danny. “I don’t even know if I can do that. I’d have to touch the ground for it, and that doesn’t really… I can’t control it, when I do that.”

“Hm,” said Sam, “You could try becoming a moss, or a mistletoe? They’re both parasitic.”

“Yeah,” said Danny, “that’s a good idea.”

“Or we could not.”

“Where’s your spirit of adventure, Tucker?” asked Sam.

“I’ll have you know, I’ve strongly considered becoming an anchorite, so that should tell you something about my spirit of adventure.”

“Yes,” said Sam, “but you’re here with us, now, aren’t you?”

“I sure am,” said Tucker. “But at what cost?”

“Well,” said Danny, holding up a hand and starting to count off fingers, “your peace of mind, my humanity, your apprenticeship - but you didn’t really care about that–”

“Fine, fine,” said Tucker. “Just, again, note that I objected.”

Danny climbed up into the higher branches of the nearby tree. He usually saw mistletoe higher up, and if he did get stuck as mistletoe, he’d like to be relatively successful, healthy mistletoe, thank you very much.

He closed his eyes and thought mistletoe thoughts.

Alright. Being mistletoe was… calming? Sort of? He was certainly connected more intimately like this, but it was time to stop.

“Oh gods above,” said Sam, “I thought we had lost you.”

Danny blinked up at the sky.

“Is it… darker?” he asked.

“If that’s you asking if the sun is going down, then yes,” said Tucker. “You were a plant for a while there.”

“Oops,” said Danny, still blinking slowly. “I think… I shouldn’t do that again soon.”

“We were thinking about pulling you off and seeing if hitting the ground would help you, but…” Sam shrugged.

“Is that shrug because you guys can’t climb or because you were worried it would hurt me?” asked Danny.

“Mostly because we can’t climb,” admitted Tucker, scratching the side of his neck. “You’re pretty far up there.”

“Right,” said Danny, climbing down. “Sorry.”

“I actually need to go,” said Sam. “Our excuse isn’t going to hold up much longer.”

“If it even held up this long,” said Tucker.

“Right,” said Danny, just slightly more morosely.

“Don’t worry,” said Sam, “we’ll be back. I’ll find a way. Even if I have to make one.” Despite not containing all that much information, the last sentence contained sufficient violence for Danny to nod appreciatively.

“As long as her way doesn’t get me killed, I’ll be back, too.”

Danny smiled. “Thanks,” he said. And… next time, I’ll try to meet you at the edge of the woods. So you aren’t eaten by bears.”

“I see what you’re trying to do, but I think it’s much sadder that you hadn’t ever seen one until you turned yourself into one.”

“He’s right,” said Sam, “even I’ve seen a bear.”

Danny puffed out his cheeks. “Fine. I’m still coming to pick you up, next time.”

It was harder to hide in the trees with the leaves starting to fall. That didn’t stop Danny, though.

“Hey,” he whisper-hissed at Sam and Tucker. He was experimenting with fangs today, and flashed them when they jumped to turn and look at him. “What’s up? Other than me of course.”

“I think… we might need your help,” said Sam.

“Maybe,” said Tucker, “we don’t really know what happened, so…” He shrugged.

Danny blinked and lowered himself to the next branch down, the better to hear them. “I’ll do my best,” he said, “but I don’t know how much I can do stuck here in the woods.”

“It’s because you’re in the woods that you can help. Do you remember the grain tax reform last year?”

“Sure,” said Danny. “It was a big thing.” Lots of people had acted like it was the end of the world, but honestly, storing more of the harvest in case of famine was only wise. “The new royal granaries and all that. My parents actually took me to see the one near here.” There had been something about the land it had been built on.

“It’s been stolen,” said Sam.

“Like… someone’s been skimming? Taking the grain, then reselling it?”

Tucker shook his head. “No. I actually saw it, when Sam and the king went to inspect the Caspera City granary last week. It was full. But then, yesterday…”

“The whole building was gone,” said Sam. “Like it had been scooped out of the ground. And… And in the hole were trees, reaching up.”

“Like the woods,” said Danny.

“Exactly.” Sam walked closer to his tree, and he shifted so as to keep her at a reasonable angle. “We think something from in there might have taken it.”

“Something that we woke up,” said Danny.

“Maybe,” stressed Tucker. Danny waved him off.

“What do you need me to do?”

“Just look for it,” said Sam. “Keep an eye out. I’m not expecting you to bring it back or fight whatever took it. It’d have to be some kind of giant, or worse. But… look. And if you find it, let us know.” She sighed. “We’re keeping it quiet, for now, but it’s going to get out, and we don’t need people panicking and recreating the Great Famine while the crops are still coming in just fine. Mud pies should not be a literal term.”

“And keep an open mind!” cautioned Tucker. “If you see, I don’t know, a giant grain monster, maybe that grain is ours!”

“Giant grain monster?” repeated Danny.

“You don’t know, it could happen.”

“You’re right,” said Danny, crossing his arms and grinning at Tucker. “I don’t know.”

“A giant grain monster is on the same level of weirdness as a tiny flower boy, but you don’t see us complaining about that.”

“Touche. You didn’t have to call me short.”

“But you are.”

“You kind of are.”

“You two are horrible.”

#danny phantom #phic phight #phic phight 2023

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princessfanonanona · 1 year

Text

I posted 8,293 times in 2022

86 posts created (1%)

8,207 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@peachdoxie

@voidgremlinguege

@13thcat

@amabsis

@sheepheadfred

I tagged 3,326 of my posts in 2022

#video - 1,032 posts

#danny phantom - 639 posts

#dc - 172 posts

#long post - 146 posts

#recipe - 75 posts

#food - 66 posts

#crossover - 63 posts

#batfam - 57 posts

#music - 56 posts

#batman - 51 posts

Longest Tag: 124 characters

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My Top Posts in 2022:

My unpopular opinions: positivity only!

I feel like there needs to be more love in the fandom so I'm gonna start a thing!

I absolutely adore the soup time joke in regards to the thermos

The amount of ocs and world building of the phandom is absolutely astounding

How the fuck do we have basically a phandom event every month?? Like yall put out so much content that I am shooketh

Danny being 14 and acting like a little shit is blessed

393 notes - Posted February 18, 2022

DP prompt: Mr. Lancer is formally introduced to Clockwork at parent-teacher night.

Hi berry I love you berry but stop sending me prompts that get away from me I'm dying (affectionate and joking)

---

Mister Lancer heaves the sigh of an underpaid teacher with a long, long night ahead of them.

So far the parents have been…normal. Expected responses to common patterns of students.

He leans back, away from the desk to rub his face. The next pair of parents has him debating the flask he stashed in his bag.

He had sent a notice for young Mister Fenton to attend with his parents, against common practice. The boy had taken it with resignation lining his very soul. His eyes betrayed something else though. It made him wonder; if something else was happening behind the scenes.

Afterall, why would a child show signs of fear?

Sitting up, Lancer looks over the file again, feeling like he was missing something paramount to the situation.

A knock on the door draws his attention up.

A mop of black hair is barely seen at the bottom of the window.

"Come in!" He calls straightening his notes.

The door opens and Danny trudges in with his shoulders bunched near his ears.

Lancer can't help but notice the slight limp in his gait and the way one arm is curled around his torso.

"Are you alright?" He can't help but ask.

Danny flinches, ducking his head lower to hide behind his bangs.

"'M fine," he mumbles, shuffling his feet.

Lancer frowns, and looks back at the open but empty doorway.

"Are your-"

"No, they're not," Danny cuts in. He stands awkwardly beside the chairs in front of the desk. "Can we just get this over with?"

Lancer blinks at the level of aggression in his voice. He takes a moment to reassess, seeing the lines of tension as more than just fear and shame.

"Have a seat, Mister Fenton," Lancer says, keeping his tone even, his posture loose. Danny balks but does as he's told, curling up on the seat.

"I had wanted to go over a few concerns," Lancer says, making a show of pulling some files from the folder. He watches Danny tense further out of the corner of his eye. "However, I have decided that perhaps a…re-evaluation is in order."

He drops the papers into the trash.

Danny frowns, blue eyes flicking between the bin and his face.

Lancer waits, giving the boy time to collect his thoughts.

"Why?" It's small, barely formed without any malice.

"Because I believe I've never had the full picture," he answers, leaning forward on his desk to bend to Danny's eye level. "And I do see so much potential that's being buried away."

Danny scoffs looking away, "No potential here, I'm just the family fuck up."

Oh, and isn't that something.

See the full post

494 notes - Posted August 12, 2022

"Wake up, Mister Fenton."

He flinches, smooshing his face into his arms before lifting his head.

Green.

Danny blinks.

"Oh Great Expectations," Lancer sighs with relief. Knelt beside him in the blue grass, "How do you feel?"

"Uh…" he looks around, sitting up properly.

They're in the Zone, half the class, minus Tucker and Sam. Sprawled out in the grassy field.

"What happened?" He asks instead. He tries to remember, pain lancing through his head at the effort.

"Whereizit?!" Dash shouts sitting up with a jolt.

"Easy, easy," Lancer grabs Danny's shoulder to steady him. "You hit your head pretty hard."

"I did?" Danny blinks the spots from his vision, rubbing his eye with the heel of his hand.

Somewhere further away, Paulina stares up at the drifting purple clouds. Muttered Spanish filling the air.

"What happened?" Danny asks, giving up trying to remember anything. He pushes himself to his feet. "Is everyone else okay?"

"Ah, you should stay sitting," Lancer says, reaching out to grab him. "Your head-"

"'M fine," Danny waves off, taking a step out of reach. He looks over the field.

Everyone is awake, and either getting to their feet to gather closer or staring in open shock at everything.

A brush of cold runs down his spine, making him gasp.

Danny pivots, striking a hard and fast punch to the center of the floating eyeball that had appeared behind him.

"Fenton?" Dash squeaks.

Danny shakes his hand out as he looks down at the bent over Observant.

"Why do I get the feeling this is your fault?" Danny asks them. He can feel the stares of the students, but he doesn't look back.

"Lor-" Danny grabs the front of his cloak to pull them upright.

"Skip the formalities, what did you do?"

"It has been- Ah- discussed that The King's Advisory Court needed to be…addressed." The Observant places wrinkled hands on Danny's and forces him to let go.

Danny hums.

"We have made the executive decision to assign members to-"

Danny punches them again, this time in the stomach. They double over with a wheezing gasp.

"So kidnapping humans to the Realms was your bright idea?"

"They are loyal to Lord Phantom," they gasp, glaring up at him

"You mean overzealous fans," Danny corrects, he leans over the Observant. "Send us home."

See the full post

821 notes - Posted August 21, 2022

Danny rubs his temples, silently begging the building migraine to stop.

Unfortunately, that's not how migraines work.

His parents continue their screaming argument with Mister Lancer.

At this point they're so off from the original topic that he can't even remember what set them off to begin with.

(It was how to properly ensure the students safety.)

More unfortunately, they're in front of the entire school population in the gymnasium.

"You good?" Sam stage whispers from her place on the side of the makeshift stage.

"I'd rather deal with the Observants," he hisses back.

Sam winces.

Danny hiccups on a breath of cold air, as a presence solidifies behind him.

"Good, then maybe we can-" Danny grabs the hand that's placed on his shoulder and flips the Observant over, slamming them bodily between the adults.

The ensuing silence is deafening.

"Ancients, I swear if Johnny is nearby, he's getting souped for a month." Danny mutters walking closer to the ghost.

"Danny?" Maddie asks, a little bit shocked but something like pride in her eyes.

"Nuh-uh," Danny puts his hand up. "You're not touching this one."

Jack frowns, "But it's a-"

"I don't care-"

The Observant groans, trying to sit up. He stomps on their shoulder, pinning them to the stage.

"-and you shut up, I'll deal with you in a second."

The eyeball glares at him, "I will not be treated in such a manner."

Danny pulls out his thermos, "You want to be souped?"

The Observant holds their hands up, palms out.

"That's what I thought, now you two-"

"Did you just negotiate with a ghost?" Maddie asks, a little gobsmacked.

"Yes, now you two are going to pack your weapons up into the GAV and go home."

She frowns. "This is an educational-"

"Yeah no, it stopped being educational 30 minutes ago when you started a screaming match with Mr. Lancer."

"We did not-"

"I do have to agree," Principal Ishiyama says, watching the ghost warily as she steps on stage. "It would be best if you two were to leave, this assembly has officially lost its purpose. Or we can have you forcibly removed."

Maddie glares at her while Jack frowns, gaze bouncing back and forth between the ghost and Danny.

See the full post

1,356 notes - Posted September 7, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Danny stares at the glowing sticky note sitting innocuously on his notebook.

"Mister Fenton," Lancer says, drawing his attention up, "since you seem to be so studiously staring at your notes, perhaps you know the answer to my question."

Danny blinks.

He looks at the note once more before looking up.

"Is it 42?"

The class erupts in giggles as Lancer sighs. "That may be the answer to life but no that doesn't answer my question. Miss Sanchez, perhaps you know."

Danny tunes out to pick up the green sticky. Glowing blue ink glitters as it moves.

A single hand may lift a stone, but many can move the boulder.

Danny flips the note over, and back.

"What's that?" Tucker whispers, leaning forward on his desk to be closer to Danny.

"Bewildering, I need to visit Grandfather I guess."

"The mysterious one that you never mentioned before the C.A.T.S?" Sam asks.

"Mister Fenton," Lancer walks over. "There is no note passing in my class."

"But I wasn't-"

"Wow Fentina, don't know how you didn't expect to get caught with something that bright," Dash laughs.

"Pass it over," Lancer holds his hands out.

Huffing a sigh, Danny passes it to Lancer.

Or tries to.

The note passes through Lancer's hand.

Lancer blinks.

Danny blinks.

Lancer grabs the note again, fingers passing through.

"Wuthering Heights!" Lancer frowns, trying once more. "I'm losing my touch."

Danny flips the note and wiggles it. The sticky note does not make a noise. It does glow brighter however.

Lancer grabs Danny's wrists to move the note around to see it better.

"...Mister Fenton," he stares at the glittery ink, leaning closer.

"...yes Mr. Lancer?"

"This doesn't look like it's English."

"That's 'cause it's not."

"How the fuck-"

See the full post

1,714 notes - Posted August 10, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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