“simon riley’s dead,” ghost chokes out; bitter resentment coating his tongue. “i’m just wearin’ ‘is corpse.”
mactavish doesn’t shy from his venom; sees through his hiss and doesn’t fear his rotten-fanged bite. he reaches out, pressing the flat of his hand to his breast and ghost damns himself for the way his breath catches; for the way his shoulders curl in around it in a silent plea for it to stay.
“that’s no drum in your chest,” he whispers defiantly.
his hand slowly drags over his chest, coming to rest over his sternum and he feels its possession like a brand against his skin.
“it ain’t bellows inflating your lungs,” he dares and he involuntarily inhales; his body longing to rise to his challenge.
mactavish pushes and he rocks back on his heels just to sway in closer; just to beg for the pressure to chase the phantom weight of six feet of dirt from his bones.
“you’re far from rigor mortis, riley,” he promises and there’s air at ghost’s back instead of decaying wood and infested flesh. “i won’t let the earth take you from me yet.”
challenging myself by engaging in the ancient art known as "dynamic poses", but making it harder on myself by ignoring the noble practice of "using references"
something happening on a mission, something personal that has soap spiralling; panic and rage making him reckless, thoughtless, and ghost has to draw the line
“you’re compromised johnny; you know what that means?”
“you’re not pulling me out,” soap immediately snarls. he turns on him and ghost barely recognises him; venomous fear turning his eyes to unyielding ice. "you're not sidelining me; i need to be in this-!"
but ghost has never been afraid of venom; spat or dripped straight from bared fangs.
he snakes out a hand grip the back of his neck, jerking him in a rough shake. "if you can't think, you can't be a soldier," he growls and he flinches like he's been struck.
his lips quiver as they twist in a sneer and he wrenches, trying to free himself of his hold.
ghost doesn't let him.
"it means you give your body to me because your head ain't fucking attached to it anymore."
soap stills, body trembling beneath his hand as he sucks in shaking breaths.
he tightens his grip, pulling him closer and digs his forehead hard into his. “it means you give yourself to me so i can have the weapon that you are and use you the way you're meant to be used."
the ice in soap's eyes fractures.
ghost’s voice drops to a whisper, spoken only to johnny, not this facade of vengeance and pain, and wills it to reach him through the glaciers.
“so i can keep you safe ‘til it’s done and i can bring you back.”
So like...Danny as Ghost King getting to help sort people into the correct/prefered afterlives, and talking with all the Justice League peeps to figure out what they want/where they want to go ahead of time like it's a pension plan or like he's a Travel Agent.
Like he gives tours around various afterlives around the Ghost Zone, offers up different "packages" they can choose from.
"With the Ghost Package you can come back to the living realm, but you will be locked in with an Obsession - it's not as bad as it sounds, but we can go into more detail later on what it entails if you're interested - and you will be bound to a particular Haunt. Also my parents might try to capture and experiment on you."
"Unfortunately you don't qualify for the Revenant package due to how many times you've already died and come back, but I *can* get you set up with one of our Reincarnation representatives if returning to the living world is something you are interested in."
"Guardian Spirit is a popular choice, so there is a bit of a waiting time in terms of getting paperwork processed, but if you sign up for it now while you're still alive all that can be done ahead of time and you can jump right in once you pass on. You will need to make sure you regularly update the list of who you will be watching over considering your propensity for adoption."
Thank the lord for Jawbone for addressing Riz’s bottling up of his emotions. He certainly hasn’t told any of them about his tough financial situation even though Fabian definitely could HELP, and I don’t think he’s even told them about why he made up Baron—about being ace and thus feeling left out when they all were in couples either.