#danny: I AM the fabric of the universe!

[confessedlyfannish]

DC x DP Writing Prompt 4?? 45?? 2,321?? HUT!!!

"So you eat ectoplasm," Flash says hands clasped and index fingers pressed against his mouth.

"Ayup," Phantom says, punctuating with an obnoxious slurp of his goopy ectoplasm. "Does a not body good."

"But the place you come from is made of ectoplasm."

"Ayup."

"So you are literally eating the fabric of your universe?" Flash says, voice rising in pitch.

"No, the fabric of the Infinite Realms is space-time, same as Earth, well not the same," Phantom says, scrunching up his nose. "Earth is more cotton, The Zone is kinda stretchy...huh, like spandex. Neat!"

"But you're eating up the matter that makes you you--" Flash says, hands waving.

"Dude, everything you are was once a star," Phantom says, waving a hand at all of him. "Every last bit of you and everything around you. Star. Now replace it with ectoplasm, and we just cut out all the middlemen."

Flash watches him guzzle up the last bit looking faintly green himself. "That still kind of sounds like a justification for cannibalism."

"I promise to never eat you," Phantom says with uncomfortable emphasis, suddenly solemn. He stares at Flash without blinking until Flash, deeply unnerved, backs out of the room.

"Not funny," Batman says, flipping a page in his newspaper. "He was supposed to be on Watch Duty."

"Now Batman," Phantom drapes his tail across the man's shoulders and lets his fangs elongate and multiply.

"W̵̢̛͓͉̼͔͉͖̖̥͍̪̲̥̯̞̝͎͔̩̹̙͌̽̐͜ͅh̵̨̠̳̖͔̬̭̟̗̠̹͕̟̮̬͓̺͙̊͛͒ͅo̶̧̢̡̨̨̦͚̼̞̫͈͚̤̜͉̰̱̭͙̣̼͙̱͚͓͐͌̒̋̇ͅ ̵̡̡̰͙̠̦͙̼̘̪͈̻̟̙̳͚̤̮̖̱̎̐̀̇̾͛͊͛͊̈̋̈̋̿̍͑̔̏̎͑̒͗̚͘͝͠͝ͅs̵̡̹̣̗̼̙͓͖͉̒̃͋̂̄̄̈́͋̾̈́̀̎̉̓̒̇͐̎͊̚͝͝a̵̡̧͔͍͍͙͔͖̮̦͚͍̖̲͖͖̻̍͊͆̊̿́̿̅́̈͠͠͠i̴͙͙̾̌͊̓̂̌̒͒d̶̨͚̳̟̲̻̤͇͖̞͙̹̯͙̟͓͙͇͖̺̺̎͊͐̏͌̌̅̄́̏̽̓̃͂̓͜͜͝ͅͅ ̵̧̢͎͔̜̮̼̻̫̗̼͙͍͔̺͎͐̍̈́͜͜͜I̵̢̢̛̙̤̳͈̮̜̩͇͕̠̻̫̳̟̤̭͙͖̓̾̓̇̈́̂͒͂͌̍̎̅̑̇̔̇́͌͜͝ ̵̛̣̮̩̩̞̯̻̱̻̳͍̞͙̗̤̗̥͔̭̥͒͒̌͗̿͐̓̇̈̔̌͒̋̑̽̇͜͝ͅẁ̷̧̮̳̗̗͍̠̦̃a̸̡̧̛̛̺͈͍̟̣̫̺̟̗̥̲̻̥͔͔̲̱̣̩̠̖̰̿̋̄͆̀͋́̐̈́́̈́͌͆̅͂́̈́̓͗́̇ş̵̨̨̨̛̛͔̦͚̦̝̺̯̗͓̼̟͙̼̩̣̺̠̭̘͂̏̓̋̓̋̇̏͊̃͊͊͋̊̑̀͌̂͋͐͘̚͜͝ ̶̢̧͍͓̹̘͍̱̬̜̙̮̖̒̃͊̀̀̓̈́̆̀͐̇̿̀̇̿̆̔̂̈́͘͠ͅͅj̵̯̱̇̈́̌̈͌͆̋̑̇̋̎̐̈̇̓͘͘̚͝o̷̢̙͎̹̰̟̳̼̠̖͉̦̘̺̙͑͂͑̌̉͗̑͑̉͌͜͜͠͝͠ͅk̶̡͇̈́͋̈̈́̐̀̂̈́̽̾͌̂̾̊̑͘͠ḯ̸̢̢̢̞̱̦͙͖̱̙͕̞̮̫̱̣̤̥͍͍̫̗͔͙̞̘̓̂̄͂̿̉͒̈̍̅̍̅̍̏̋̕͘͝͠͝ͅņ̴̛͉̲̮̫̩̙̠̯̤͚̠̥̳͈̝͇́̂͑g̶̛͎̻̟͍̯̪̺̬͍̲̱͇̪̩̰͆̓͊̃̅͗̆̈́̊̈́͘?"

Batman lifts his head from the newspaper silently.

"Ugh, fine!" Phantom says, throwing his hands up. "I'll take next watch."

"Hn."

#danny phantom #dp x dc au #dpxdc #dp x dc crossover #flash #batman #dp x dc prompt #dp x dc #this is inspired by a previous tag of mine #bonus points if you find it #space nerd danny #but bad at science me #these were the ingredients chosen to create #a lying dumbass #danny: lol i don't eat the fabric of the universe #danny: I AM the fabric of the universe! #danny: I am the embodiment of all space bab-ee *finger guns* #bruce disappointed-dad-stare wayne

[hearts-hunger]

with your head on my shoulder || danny wagner x reader

Read on AO3 | Masterlist

Summary: You have a bad dream, and Danny's there to take care of you. | Standalone fic in the Four Weddings universe

Pairings: Danny Wagner x Reader | Genres: fluff, hurt/comfort, slight angst | Word Count: 1.7k | Warnings: none! | Title song: “Strawberry Wine” by Noah Kahan

A/N: Of course Danny and Sunny are what gets me out of this writing dry spell! This is just pure fluff with no plot to speak of, but I hope you like it ♡

You woke with a start, heart pounding, your breath catching in your chest. You sat up in bed and tried to find anything familiar in the darkness of your room, needing to ground yourself on something other than the horrible images racing through your mind.

You made yourself take a deep breath. It was only a nightmare. You were safe in your own bed; despite the storm that sent heavy rain against your window, everything was quiet and peaceful. You were home, and you knew Danny was close by. You were safe.

Those realizations, as comforting as they were, didn’t erase the fear of the nightmare. Your heart was still racing, adrenaline making you ill; you wished you weren’t alone in your bedroom. But Danny was sleeping on the couch, driven out of your bedroom by a fight you’d started.

You felt awful now for what you’d said. It had been so stupid, so needlessly unkind; you’d been tired and frayed from a long, frustrating day at work, and you’d taken it out on him. Instead of being sweet to him when he came home, you’d started in on him for how late he was, and it had quickly escalated from there.

You’d stormed off to bed, and he hadn’t joined you. Now, when you wanted to go to him for comfort, you didn’t know if he’d even want to talk to you.

You walked quietly out to the living room and saw Danny asleep on the couch, as comfortable as he could get with his lanky limbs either scrunched close or hanging off the edge. You felt a pang of guilt as you looked at him; you should have been the one to sleep on the couch, since you’d started the fight in the first place. You bit your lip and debated just going back to your bedroom, wondering if he’d be even more upset with you if you woke him.

Lightning flashed outside, and all thought of going back to your bedroom alone went right out the window. You fairly flew to Danny’s side, unsettled and frightened and needing comfort.

“Danny,” you said softly, standing by the couch and nervously twisting the fabric of his t-shirt you were wearing.

He turned his head towards you. “Wassa matter?” he mumbled. 

“Danny,” you said again, a little desperately.

His eyes fluttered open, and worry and surprise colored his sleepy expression when he saw you.

“Sunny?” he said, his voice gravelly with sleep. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m — ” All of a sudden, seeing him look up at you with such care and concern, you felt terrible for waking him over something so silly. You wrestled with regret and wanted to be close to him so badly you ached with it.

“I — I’m fine,” you managed. “It’s stupid. I’m sorry, Danny. I shouldn’t have bothered you.”

You turned to go, but he took your wrist in a gentle grip to make you stay.

“Hey, hold on,” he said. He tugged you towards him, and you knelt beside the couch. 

“You’re not bothering me,” he said gently. “Tell me what’s wrong.”

You felt a rush of tears, and you rested your head against his chest to hide them.

“Bad dream,” you said in a small voice. “And the storm.”

“Oh, honey.” He stroked a hand over your hair. “I’m sorry. Come here.”

He moved over to make room for you on the couch, and when you raised your head to look at him, your vision was blurred with tears.

“Are you sure?” you asked.

He looked a little stricken. “What do you mean, am I sure?” He brushed a few tears from your cheek, and you leaned into his touch.

“Because of our fight,” you said, and your voice was watery and tight. “I… I understand if you’re still mad at me, Danny.”

He didn’t say anything for a moment, just looked over your face with all the tenderness in the world as he brushed your hair back from your face.

“Come here,” he said again, and you did as he said. You cuddled as close to him as you could get, burying your face in the crook of his neck as he wrapped an arm snugly around you. 

“My sweet sunshine,” he said gently, and it was comforting to hear the soft rumble of his voice in his chest.

“I’m not angry any more,” he said. “And even if I had been, you can always, always come to me when you’re scared or need my help. No matter what. Okay?”

You nodded, feeling more tears come. “Okay.” You pressed closer to him. “I love you.”

He ran a soothing hand over your back. “I love you too, sweetheart.” He pulled the blanket up over you and tucked you in next to him. “Try and get some rest, sunny. I’m right here.”

You didn’t say that you didn’t think you could get back to sleep; you knew he was tired, and you were content to snuggle close to him and rest in the love he gave you so generously. You played with his hair, twirling his soft curls around your fingers, and felt yourself relax by degrees.

You were almost dozing when a roll of thunder broke the quiet, and you jumped and pressed closer to Danny.

“Hey, hey,” he soothed, startled out of sleep by your sudden movement. “It’s okay, sunny. ‘S just thunder.”

“Sorry,” you said pitifully.

“That’s okay, baby,” he said softly. He kissed your forehead. “Did you sleep at all?”

You shook your head. He propped himself up on his arm, looking down at you; his curls were a little frizzy around his head like a halo, and his eyes were tired.

“Hi,” you said.

He gave you a crooked smile. “Hi, sunny.” He brushed his thumb over your cheek. “I’m sorry you can’t sleep.”

“I’m sorry I’m keeping you up,” you said.

He shook his head. “I don’t mind.” He carefully untangled himself from you and the blankets as he got up from the couch.

“Where are you going?” you asked, hesitant.

“Bathroom,” he said. “And then I thought I’d make you some tea.” He stretched and gave a little groan. “We ought to get a more comfortable couch.”

“Maybe I just shouldn’t start fights with you before bed,” you said in a meek voice.

He chuckled and leaned to give you a quick kiss. “Maybe.”

You huddled into the blankets and pillows still warm with Danny’s body heat, listening to the loud patter of rain on the roof and the occasional peal of thunder. They didn’t bother you so much now that Danny was up; even though you were grateful for the way he’d taken care of you already, it made you feel better to not be the only one awake.

“You want to watch a movie?” he asked. You heard the soft clink of mugs being taken down from the cabinet, and you sat up to watch him over the back of the couch. He’d found one of his comfy sweaters and tied his hair back in a messy bun, and you liked how the kitchen looked even more homey with him in it.

He looked over his shoulder. “Sunny?”

“Hm? Oh, sorry.” You propped your chin in your hand. “Sure. What do you want to watch?”

He poured two mugs of tea and stirred a little bit of honey into each of them. “We could watch Planet Earth,” he said. “That’s a good one to fall asleep to.”

You smiled. “Yeah, but which one? We can never agree on which episode is the best.”

He gave a soft laugh. “Let’s put on your favorite one, sunny. The forest episode, right?”

You hummed in agreement, and you followed him with your gaze as he carefully brought your tea over. He set the mugs on the coffee table and got comfortable beside you, searching through Netflix for the episode you wanted.

“Hey, Danny?”

“Hm?”

When you didn’t say anything, he looked over at you. “What is it, sunny?”

You reached a hesitant, apologetic hand out to him; you touched your fingers to the worn shoulder seam of his sweater.

“I’m sorry I fought with you when you got home,” you said in a quiet voice. “I shouldn’t have taken my frustration out on you.” You met his eyes. “I’m sorry, Danny.”

He leaned close and pressed a kiss to your forehead. “Thank you. I’m sorry too, for arguing when I could have tried to help. Forgive me?”

You rested your head against his shoulder. “Of course.”

The two of you drank your tea — Sleepytime Honey, Danny’s favorite for late nights — and listened to David Attenborough narrate the wonders of forested tundras. 

“Sunny,” Danny ventured after a while. “Do you want to try and sleep in the bedroom?”

You didn’t answer right away, knowing you wouldn’t give the answer he wanted to hear and feeling guilty for it. He read your hesitation and gave you a tired smile.

“You’d rather stay out here, wouldn’t you?” he asked.

“You don’t have to stay,” you said. You didn’t want to go back into your bedroom tonight, worried it would remind you of your nightmare, but you knew he wanted to. “Why don’t you go lay down, honey?”

“I don’t want you to be alone,” he said. He tucked the blankets more closely around you. “So if you want to stay, I do too.”

You gave him a wobbly smile. “Thanks.”

He gave you a gentle kiss. “You’re welcome, sweetheart.”

You watched the episode in companionable silence for a while as the storm continued outside. Danny started to doze with his tea in hand, and you gently took his mug from him and set it next to yours on the coffee table.

“Thanks,” he mumbled, half-asleep. “You okay?”

“Yes,” you said softly, giving him a gentle kiss on the cheek. You snuggled against him and leaned your head on his shoulder, tucking your hands under his arm.

“Wake me up if you need anything,” Danny said after a moment, his voice heavy with sleep. “You promise?”

Your throat felt a little tight. You were so thankful for the way he cared for you; tomorrow, he’d have gotten a night of broken sleep and be sore from sleeping on the couch, but he loved you enough to stay with you when you needed him, even when it was less than comfortable.

You cuddled close and let yourself rest against him. “Yeah, I promise.”

danny taglist:@tearsofbri@busybeingtrash@myway-late@gotavansleep@gretavanbri@stardustchxrds@pxppylove @mariegvf @bajabule69 @radmads-gvf

gvf taglist:@malany-gvf@spark-my-nature@eearevee@madneedshelp@demonrat444@josh-iamyour-mama @honeyandsweettae @mydarlingdanny@gretavandann@sacredjake@myleftsock@joshskittytickler21@hellowgoodbye@watchingovergvf2@fearfulspirit@mywaysoon@carbondancingthroughtime@caprisunsister @eraofstardustchords @sacredthefran@shesawomaninadream @serendipiti @demonrat444@wildflowerxx-x

@gvfrry@ohhey1293@the-chaotic-cow@mountain-in-springtime@xserenax-13@stardustjtk @brooke-gvf@weightofdreams-gvf@jakeydoesit@gretasmokerising@hayley1623@doodle417@finestoflines@brokenbellz@bowievanfleet@s0livagant@strugglingtodoshit@s-u-t@kay-jordan@gretavanfleas@jakeyboiiiiiii@gretavansteph@gretavanbitches@myownparadise96@luverleaver@weightofdreamz@greatervanfleet@maedesculpaeusoubi@jakekiszkasbestie@pineapple-photographer@baguettejuliette@alexxavicry@levi-wants-ur-bones@carlybubs@cowboysamkiszka@dannyandthekiszkas@jordierama@slutforsteve@starshine-wagner@quartzzzzzzz@edgeofdreams@writingcold @lostoverseer @catharu77 @mackalah @jaketlove @haileygvf @blacksoul-27 @ur-m0ms-blog

sorry if tumblr didn’t tag you — it’s stupid sometimes. but i’m real thankful for you, sweet peaches! and if you’re a new bestie and would like to be added to my taglist, check out the form right here!

#hi here's some danny and sunny fluff for your evening muah <3 #danny wagner x reader #danny wagner fluff #greta van fleet fanfiction #gvf fanfiction #danny wagner #danny x sunny #four weddings and a funeral fics #maddie writes stuff!

[the-fiction-witch]

Life

Media Doctor Who

Character The Doctor (Eleventh)

Couple Doctor X Reader (Prior Companion)

Rating Sweet Af

This is a lil trial so if you like it! let me know!

I scrubbed the bottles and cups with my sponge and hummed to myself when I perked up as I heard the unmistakable sound. I set down my dishes and headed out of my little house to see the familiar blue box on my garden grass. The door opened and he stepped out looking almost exactly as I last saw him but there was more gravity to his eyes, more darkness there than I had last seen. He wore the same suit his hair the same and he smiled at me.

I chuckled as I put my hands in my pockets, "Been a while since I saw you doctor,"

"Did I inspire you?" He smirked as he looked at my outfit,

I looked down at my outfit, my little white sneakers, my black leggings, long sleeve white t-shirt, blue pinafore and white headband in my hair, "Somewhat." I shrugged putting my hands in my pockets, "How long has it been for you? Since we saw each other last?"

"...I don't know," he sighed, "I'm fairly convinced... a few months, a few years, It's hard to keep track of these things."

"Six years."

"Six?"

"Six years since you left."

"...God I've wasted time." He sighed running a hand over his face,

"It's alright, I know it passes quick for you,"

"It never gets any easier. To see how people change when I come back." He explained,

"What are you doing here?"

"... a bit of a farewell tour, I had to come visit one of my favourite humans."

"Quiet the compliment, Tea?" I offered,

"Pop the kettle on Y/n." He smiled so I led him into the house, "quiet the place,"

"Well I had time," I laughed, "You still take Three sugars?" I asked as I went to the kitchen and began to make two cups of tea the basic reflex of it all coming back to me even after six years to make the two teas as perfectly desired,

"You still remember? Still, care?"

"Hard not to care about a man you spent so long of your life flying around space and time with," I laughed handing him his tea and taking my own having a seat on the sofa,

He had a sip and sat down beside me and we chatted between the sips of tea, "what have you been up to then? the last six years."

"Living I suppose, It's a little strange to just come back and settle into a normal life after everything... I mean... You took me to the edge of the universe. To the beginning and the end of time. To sights and sounds, I'd never even imagined... And then I come back and ... get a mortgage"

"Ugh normality," he grimaced,

"It's not all bad, I've built a decent if... dull life by comparison."

"You miss it? Travelling?"

"I miss it. But... life goes on. I'm happy."

"I'm glad to hear it." He smiled, "That you're enjoying it,"

"I am." I nodded,

"Do you ever think of about going back?" he asked,

"I don't know," I answered, "So much has changed,"

"You like living here then? No more living out of suitcases and the tardis' wardrobes exploring the ends of the universe."

I giggled, "No, no more of that. I like living here. Built a career, a life, filled my house with trinkets from adventures."

"quiet the life, all that's left is a wedding and a baby,"

I did my best to save face but, "I uhh yeah... divorced so."

"Oh... sorry. I-"

"It's alright, don't worry over it,"

"I am sorry, really I am sorry," he said as he took my hand, "I don't mean to bring up bad memories,"

"It's fine. really." I nodded squeezing his hand,

"Anything else I should know I missed?"

I smiled and squeezed his hand tugging him with me as I set down my mug, I led him upstairs to the bedroom I let him go and headed inside to the room filled with stary wallpaper, sweet blue fabrics, the shadow of the star lamp on the ceiling, and the little crib to the side, I leant on the side of the crib and he came over to have a look too.

He smiled and leant on the crib with me too, he laughed and looked down at him.

"This is Danny,"

"Danny." he smiled, "I love it, perfect name, brilliant name," He smiled, "May I?"

"So long as you don't wake him, doctor," I laughed picking Danny up and handing him over,

"Ohhh Hello," he smiled as he held Danny in his arms, "You're my new best friend aren't you Danny,"

"Ohh I bet he will be," I smiled, "He loves stories about you,"

"He does?"

"Of course, he loves them. there his favourite stories for bedtime," I smiled, "Ohh almost forgot, he'll get grumpy without his favourite toy." I laughed as I took Danny's little crotchet sonic screwdriver from the crib and let Danny hold it in his little hand,

"You made it for him?"

"Yeah, I figured he'd like it."

"Maybe, he always waves it at the light switch when he wants them turned on,"

"Like his own little sonic screwdriver," he chuckled, "He'll be ready to head off through time and space pretty soon,"

"I think so," I laughed,

"You're a very good mother to him Y/n,"

"I do my best," I laughed,

"You must be, he loves your stories, loves his toys gets his beautiful eyes from you,"

"I kinda hope he didn't get much from his father,"

"Was his father that bad?"

"He was a jackass. some men are."

"Some men are." He chuckled before he pulled out his screwdriver pointing it to the starlight and after a few seconds, the cheap white star and moon-shaped shadows turned into vibrant colours and views of the stars of planets, stars, and galaxies full of colour and life, moving gently with a spin and sweep across the white ceiling.

"You-"

"My little gift. for Danny," He smiled, "so he can look up at the stars,"

"Thank you," I smiled,

he set Danny back in his crib to sleep, and we headed back to the sofa,

"Why are you here doctor?" I asked,

"Visiting." He smiled,

"You haven't visited once in six years, why not?"

"Because I missed you, I miss everyone but... I missed you most."

"Thank you, I missed you too."

"did you ever think that you'd be a mother back when we were travelling? Or did you ever think about it when travelling the universes, settling down and having a child?" He asked,

"Admit it very rarely entered my mind. So much else going on." I explained holding my mug in hand and stroking it between my fingers, "But it had always been there the desire to settle down and have a child."

"You deserve to finally rest and raise a child, life is hard and it's nice to have a little bit of hope and peace in your life. I just hope that you are truly happy that you are finally able to settle down somewhere and be content,"

"I am happy," I nodded, "But... can I tell you a secret?"

"I won't tell a soul,"

I blushed running my hands along the curve of the mug, "I always thought It would be with you... Settling down I mean. Crossed my mind more than once over all those years to imagine a room in the Tardis with a crib and a universe's worth of toys, and a baby... with you,"

He blushed a little, "Really?" He asked, "We went through so much together and now you're telling me you were really thinking about settling down with me,"

"I did. Guess I was a stupid little girl then..."

His smile widened, "You weren't stupid,"

"No?"

"No, and if it means anything. I was thinking about it too."

"What?"

"I did,"

"why didn't you ever tell me?"

"All of time and space... I never found the time," He said, "but I did always wonder about what would have happened if we did just settle down and have a nice quiet little life together,"

"it would have been nice... It must have been hard then ... To just leave me here?"

"I wanted you to stay with me... that's the thing, that was the hardest for me, it was extremely difficult leaving you. I wanted to stay and stay with you forever,"

I finally met his eyes, "Wanted? or still want?"

he didn't answer leaving us in silence for a moment before his hand gently took my cheek and his lips pressed gently against my own, I blushed hard and softly kissed back, until he pulled away his nose against my own,

"Do you really need me to answer that?"

"...More than anything,"

"Yes, it's always been yes. always will be yes." He smiled as he happily kissed me again, I kissed back excitedly until we pulled away.

"If it is still what you want," I whispered, "It's here waiting for you,"  

#mattsmith #matt smith #doctor who #doctor who eleven #eleventh doctor #eleventhdoctor #doctor x reader

[gatzilksis-2]

The Unbreakable Smell Spell, Pt. 5

Part 5: Another

(Pt1 Pt2 Pt3 Pt4)

"Are you excited?" The Brad shoved a pile of clothes into his favorite green gym bag.

Danny packed, too, though far more organized. His stuff was actually folded. Danny stared at the clothes; he'd almost gotten sick on laundry day. He had carried a sweaty pair of Brad briefs with him to combat the "good" smells of detergent and fabric softener. "No."

Danny gave a short answer so as not to piss Brad off. The giant man zipped his bag shut and stepped backwards to Danny. He pressed his big ass in shorts to Danny's back. PHWRRRR-BRRRRT!

Numerous farts already hung in the air, and this one was added to it. It left a warm spot on Danny's back. The student couldn't help breathing it in; it was so much better than his clean clothes. "Do we have to go to my place?"

"You're the one who said your mom would kill you for missing Thanksgiving dinner." Brad turned Danny's head towards him and leaned close to belch. It smelled like old food and meat, but Danny let the stench in.

"She would, but how am I supposed to eat normally around them?' Danny zipped his suitcase and sat beside it. "Obviously, the food is gonna smell horrible, and--"

"And we'll be right there to keep your air bad." Brad turned his ass to Danny again. BWRRRRrrrrrr-PRRRrrrrr!

Danny whiffed it. He hated it was getting to be a habit. He forgot how gross it was supposed to be. It was all he needed; the world had too many fragrances for his liking. The only thing that could keep him from them was the Brad.

"You said we..." Danny had barely noticed the change in pronoun. The smell around him was the one he needed most, the horrific nightmarish odor of beef and eggs and death churned out by the digestion of a mischievous near-giant.

"Oh, did I not tell you?" The Brad turned with his usual dark smirk. Sweat glistened on his face. "I extended the smell to another dude."

Danny gasped, the fart gas and natural body odor in the room entering his mouth. "You cast the spell on another guy like me?"

"No." Brad's smile widened. He was so proud of himself at whatever he'd done. "I widened the spell so there's someone else you can smell."

"What?" Danny had heard his roommate perfectly fine, but he didn't want to sniff another guy, too. One gross alpha-male was more than enough to be forced to sniff. "Who?"

"That's a surprise." Brad bent over in front of him. A used dryer sheet was thrown into Danny's face. The smaller boy swatted his hand to get it away from him.

The lavender left its mark in the air. Danny leaned closer to Brad's ass. He sniffed the jock's musky ass, remnants of past blasts of flatulence around it.

Brad chuckled. BWRRRRP! PHLRRRRrrrr...

It descended into silence. Danny took deep breaths of the putrid air. The lavender smell was gone right away, but Danny continued to sniff between the two big ass cheeks. He pulled his head away and blushed.

Brad jiggled his ass in the same spot. He smiled over one buff shoulder. "You seemed a little eager for that one."

Danny didn't argue. There was no point. If he did, it would only end up in more brutal farts. They might smell better than anything else right now, but Danny was far from actually liking them.

The two young men took their bags down and out of their dorm building. A stretch of sidewalk led to the student parking lot. The university was quiet, most people already having returned home for the break.

A tan, blond man almost the height of Brad leaned against a gray car. He was bulkier and his eyes were wider and green instead of blue. Danny had seen this guy in passing, but he didn't know who he was.

He looked like he could rip some nasty farts, and Danny realized that was the point.

"Sniffle, this is our companion and your new fragrance, James." Brad presented James as if he was a new car on a game show. He clapped a hand on James's shoulder as they both chuckled the laugh of meatheads.

Danny wanted to run. He could get a bus or hitchhike his way home for Thanksgiving.

It wouldn't work. Even if Danny could get away, he would inevitably become exposed to the smells the word labeled as good. He would get sick to the point of possible death without Brad (or apparently James now). For now, riding with these men was Danny's only option.

"Can we test it?" James asked eagerly. He pushed himself off the driver's door, green eyes appraising Danny's small form. "I can't believe it's real until we do."

"Okay." Brad leaned past Danny to open one of the back doors. He leaned close to the small man's face with a demanding stare. "Get in, Sniffy."

Danny sat down in the car. Brad shut the door behind him like a limo driver. Danny took a breath, and his stomach immediately started rolling. James's car smelled purely like new car.

Danny had once loved the smell, but definitely not now. It smelled too clean, too fresh for him to accept. He leaned between the front seats, trying desperately to reach the driver's seat and pick up the James farts pushed into it.

The back door he'd entered through opened again. Danny leaned back. A tan hand caught his shirt and forced him against the seat. Danny was about to be sick, the new car smell too potent even with an opened door.

The tan shorts of James appeared over his head. BWORP-BWRrrrrrrRRRR-RRRR!

Danny was relieved almost instantaneously. James's farts smelled different than Brad's. The Brad took the award for smelliest, but James's gas was more sickly, warmer and a little spicy. The blast was long and powerful enough to save Danny from the new car scent.

James stood outside the back door. He turned to laugh at Danny, just as the victim was taking an elongated sniff. "Oh my god! The Brad was right! This spell is real."

"No shit." Danny sat up to catch his breath. The "good" smell was starting to come back a little. "Can we go?"

"Aw, he loves it." Brad laughed and walked around to the passenger side. He opened the door and flopped onto the front seat. "If you're that eager for the rolling Dutch oven..."

The driver's side door opened for James. "Ironically, I have to get gas first."

James settled into his seat and started the engine. Danny felt sick, not from new car but from the necessity of smelling farts. He needed them, and he hated it.

Brad swiveled in his seat with a new smirk. "Hey, don't you like the smell of gasoline?"

Danny sighed. "I used to..."

#eproctophilia #farts #eprocto #fart kink #gatzilksis #flatulence #fart fiction #fart stories #male fart fiction #male fart stories

[twoidiotwriters1]

Copycat: Genesis —(Marvel Fem!Oc)

A/N: Parker didn’t like how the turn tables -Danny

Words: 1,676

Phase Six Masterlist

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter

Listen to: ‘Labyrinth’ -by Taylor Swift

vi: The Amazing Copycat

Cat woke up feeling happy. She stretched on the bed and opened her eyes a little, finding Parker face down and drooling on his pillow. "Ugh, men," she groaned. "Way to ruin the view..."

The mutant pushed the blankets off and dragged her feet until she reached the bathroom, making a beeline to the mirror. Of her injuries and bruises now there were only small and dispersed scars across the skin.

Behind her, hanging from the shower curtain, was her brand-new suit. She examined it intently: the old logo was there in red above the blue fabric, Parker had added his own style to it, now the claw marks were on the sides, making it look like a spider with thin, hairy legs.

She heard the young man stirring on the bed and Cat ran towards it, jumping over to make him bounce. He groaned in response. "Get up, sleepy head!" She tickled his ear with a lock of her hair. "You promised your aunt we'd have breakfast at her place!"

"What time is it?" He mumbled against the pillow.

"Eight? Maybe seven?" She looked at the clock on his nightstand. "Ah, six in the morning."

He whined, blinking away his sleepiness and trying to focus on her face. "You're not a morning person, why are you awake?"

"I can be a morning person if I want to."

"No. You've been sleeping till noon for weeks."

"I was depressed."

He buried his face in the pillow. "It's Sunday, C.C..."

"C.C?" She teased him. "Not Janie?"

"You're C.C. when you annoy me."

"C'moooon! You promised May!" She shook him.

Parker's grumble turned into a loud groan as he pushed himself up and threw a pillow at her, which she pushed away in disgust since it was the one he'd drooled all over. "If there is no coffee waiting for me once I get out of the shower," he warned her. "I'm turning your suit into swimming trunks."

Cat walked into the woman's home holding a box of doughnuts. "I hope you didn't cook a lot, 'cause we're eating the whole dozen today!"

"Hi, kiddos!" May welcomed her with a hug, her attention moved to the tall young man behind her. "Peter, you look exhausted!"

"I am tired. Jane woke me up by jumping on the bed like a kid on Christmas— two hours before it was even dawn!" He said grumpily.

"That is not true!" She laughed. "It wasn't dark outside, I swear!"

Cat was quick to take a seat while Parker and May cooked breakfast. Witnessing their interactions reminded her of Happy and her when she was in high school. Morgan was bound to have the same experience with her tutors.

"Jane?"

She gave a start. "Yes?"

"I asked if you wanted milk," Parker said with an inquisitive look.

"Milk. Yeah, thank you."

He nodded, brows still furrowed.

"Can't believe in all the years you've lived in New York, you've never been to the library!"

"Why would I? I don't go to school since I was a teen," she snorted. "Besides, Mouse always..." she wondered if Kate was still in possession of her A.I. and if they'd found Russo after she vanished. If Kurt was even alive...

Parker's face came into view, he waved a hand across her line of vision with a taunting smile. "You okay?"

Cat stared at him. "Yeah... sorry, I just... lost my train of thought."

Worry made itself present on the young man's face, and this time he didn't try to hide it. "We don't know what might happen if a person stays out of their universe for too long..."

"Hey," she said with a tremor in her voice. "You're not helping."

"Right. Sorry." He pulled her along. "Library. I'm showing you the erotica section, you'll love it."

Cat laughed, though it was weak.

"And that makes five!" Copycat stuck the pickpocketer to the brick wall proudly, she looked at the streetlight above. "Saw that? I didn't even have to touch him!"

"Police is coming," Spidey pointed ahead. "Time to go!"

"See you!" She waved at the stranger before teleporting.

Parker was swinging from one building to the other when Cat shouted "On your left!", the spider faced down, watching her appear out of thin air in a cloud of brimstone. He offered his hand to her and Cat took it without a second thought. Spidey pulled her up and wrapped one arm around her waist. Copycat put her arms around him and let out a joyful exclamation as they swung across the city.

"Hold tight!" Cat teleported the both of them to the top of the Empire State.

"Wooo!" The young man leaned against the tower. "Look at that..!"

"Looks so cool when it's snowing..." she said absently.

"Yeah, Christmas is getting close..."

"The last Christmas I celebrated was..." Cat tilted her head. "Was it last year? Oh, wow, I was fully expecting it to be years ago... dates are a little cluttered..."

"Been a long year, huh?"

Cat sighed. "Every year's a long year since Thanos snapped his chubby fingers."

"How long since that happened?"

"Eight years," she replied right away. "Most of my friends have been dead for three years."

He hummed. "How are ya holding up?"

"I miss them, I always will... I still can't say everything was worth it, I made mistakes, but at least some things were worth the trouble."

"Is this moment in your life worth the trouble?" He crouched, holding himself with one hand to avoid slipping.

"Yeah, because I have my friends," she looked at him. "Harley, Kate, and Kurt— and Peter and Happy—"

"And Matthew?"

"Oh... that's... that's someone."

"Uh-huh," he tilted his head. "That means..?"

"He's around."

"So are you going to look for him once you're back?"

"I know what you're doing, Parker."

"I'm asking a question."

Her mind drifted again to Kraven, he was out there with a personal vendetta against Nightcrawler and her. Why did he think Kurt was the one responsible for Dmitri's death? She'd been the one that slit his throat...

"You saw me kill those guys."

Parker tensed. "I won't tell you how to live your life, not knowing all you've been through."

"I just wanted them out of the way," she answered bluntly.

"They were shooting, I saw them."

"I could've just knocked them out..."

"What's your point?" He pressed. "That you're not a good person? That I should keep my distance?"

"I'm saying I have things to do and you're not on the list," she snapped. "So don't think you have a shot."

He got to his feet and got closer, towering over her by a few inches. "I don't believe you."

"Get it in your head," she felt cornered, "you'll never be the Peter I fell in love with."

She teleported back to Parker's apartment.

She heard him sneak into the bathroom more quietly than at other times, he was trying not to wake her. Cat froze, listening intently to all of his movements. Parker left the bathroom to find his home in complete darkness, like that one time she'd argued with Matthew. But this time she was going to speak her mind whether this man wanted to hear it or not.

She sat up abruptly, startling Parker when he was on his way to the couch. "You're the only friend I have here," she said in a shaky, hurt voice. "I don't want that to change," Cat looked for his face in the darkness, "I'm sorry for what I said. It was out of line."

"It's okay—"

"No, it's not okay," she insisted. "I've done this countless times before. To Matthew, Kate, Peter, and everyone else. I say cruel things so they leave me alone, and then I spent the rest of my time regretting them." She grabbed fistfuls of her hair. "And I don't know if they're alive, I just dropped everything on their shoulders— Kate had her next step all planned and I stomped all over it—"

"Jane—"

"And Kurt," her voice quivered. "For years I've done nothing but disappoint him—"

"Jane."

"And he almost died!" She was hyperventilating. "Because I was dropping names left and right thinking no one was paying attention... I almost got my best friend killed—"

"You're right, it's not okay," he interrupted her, making no attempts to approach. "You were a jerk and you made us hate you. And that's what really hurts, that you'd rather not have us around," he moved a little and a beam of moonlight landed on his face, he looked miserable. "You don't know the half of it."

"What do you mean?" Cat slowed down in confusion.

"I didn't go back to your universe just so I could prove a point," he replied with a tone of exasperation. "You were my only motivation to get better. You and Peter proved to me that I wasn't alone..." he gave a step forward. "I had to see you again."

Cat's attention was thoroughly on him. She'd met a god once, and Peter Parker's face under the moonlight looked a lot like one.

"I created an absurd machine just to spend a few minutes in your presence, and then I accidentally brought you here and I knew at some point you'd say things that would hurt, and that's the worse thing I've felt in years. Just knowing at some point you'd break my heart, not knowing exactly when. I don't want to feel that way about you, 'cause that's how Gwen..."

His voice broke, and he couldn't keep going. Cat moved out of the bed and found her way into the dark without trouble, Parker pulled her close.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, her body relaxed at his touch. "I've endured so much pain, and even provoked it... but I've had enough. I have my memories back, I know who I can be, and this is not who I want to be."

"That makes two of us," his hand moved to the back of her head and kept her in place. "You're coming with me to the tunnels tomorrow. You think you can't help but I have faith in you, I know you have the answer."

She thought it was selfish, but at the same time, she didn't care. Being her was exhausting. Cat knew deep down she hadn't tried to participate in his research because she was enjoying her freedom too much to leave it behind.

"No more setbacks. You're going home."

"Okay," she said, not knowing what home even meant for her.

Next Chapter—>

Taglist.

@mikaelsonwhxrebae​​​​ @ieatpanicattacksforlunch​​​​​​​ @jesuswasnotawhiteman​​​​​​​ @siriuslysirius1107​​​​​​​ @greengarsstuff​​​​​​​ @itsyagirl01 @23victoria​​​​​​​ @espressopatronum454​​​​​​​​ @jkthinkstoomuch

#twoidiots writing #marvel #marvel fic #marvel fanfic #marvel fanfiction #marvel original character #copycat fic

[aeonchangeling]

“So, what time is lights out?” Luz asked as they set their plates onto a cart. Said cart was being pushed by one of the floating bronze robots, collecting dishes, glasses, utensils and the fabric napkins to be taken back and cleaned.

“Eh, ten to midnight usually,” Danny shrugged, “Breakfast starts getting served at around seven for the little kids and eight for us teenagers.”

Hunter gagged on the last bite of a dinner roll.

“Wait… what time are we supposed to be up?”

“Yeah, don’t most classes start at eight AM or earlier?” Luz was now confused herself.

“Yo, at a normal school maybe,” Jake interjected, “But in case you haven’t noticed, nothing about this place is normal. The teachers ain’t gonna force a bunch of cranky teenagers, most of them with crazy weird powers, to wake up before sunrise.”

Hunter seemed to be staring in stunned silence and muttered something about six AM and his palisman chirped at him.

“I… guess it makes sense,” Luz put a hand to her chin, “Then what time do classes start?”

“Get this!” Randy had a semi-wild grin as he began to answer, “Nine o’clock! Crazy am I right?”

“That’s… late,” she didn’t know how else to phrase it. She’d never gone to a school that started later than eight in the morning, not even Hexside! “Well, it’s also in case anyone has a night terror and wakes other people up,” Danny shrugged. “Night terrors? What do you mean?”

Danny paused and stared at her for a moment, as if the answer was obvious.

“...Luz, most of the kids here have saved entire worlds, been in fights where the stakes were life and death, saw things that shouldn’t physically exist, met gods, and went through horrifying stuff… Post-traumatic stress disorder kinda runs rampant around here.”

“...oh… when you put it like that…” “Heck, I’m pretty sure I count as being dead already.” “Que?!” “Yeah, you saw my powers earlier right? They’re ghost powers!” “He literally said “Going Ghost” and “I’ll use my ghostly wail” when we were fighting the goblins,” Jake smirked as he leaned back, “Didn’t you figure it out from all that?” “It happened so fast I didn't process either of them!” Luz slammed her hands on the table and leaned in closer to Danny, “Ghost powers! Explain! Now please!” He blinked, staring in surprise… and then laughed. “Damn, I think my parents would like you. They’re always trying to learn more about ghosts!” “They are?” “Yeah, but not in a good way,” Randy butted in. “What do you mean by “good way” exactly?” Hunter finally decided to join the conversation. His palisman was now trying to get him to take half of a cherry it had pecked in two. He took it without looking away from the others. The boys looked at each other with the same exasperated expression, Danny sighed and explained, “They’re ghost researchers/ghost hunters. They want nothing more than to catch a ghost to dissect, vivisect or…” “Tear it apart molecule by molecule.” All three of them recited it in such perfect unison it reminded Luz of an old horror movie. She wondered if it was a case of them practicing, or they just genuinely heard it often enough.

“...wait… your parents are ghost researchers… but you’re a ghost? How does that…?” “Lab accident,” Danny shrugged like it was the most casual thing in the universe, “They actually made a portal to another world, but it didn’t work right away. When I checked it out later, it turned on while I was inside and ZAP! Next thing I know, I’m stumbling out, phasing through my best friends’ hands when they tried to catch me, and there’s a swirling green portal behind me!” It was now Luz’s turn to stare, her eyes the size of their dinner plates and jaw hanging wide open. “Your parents… made a doorway… to another world?” “Yup,” he nodded, “It’s called the Ghost Zone, Ford classifies it as an “Underworld” and apparently, it has more doors leading in and out of it than most other ones he’s come across.” “Really?” “Yeah, but they open and close at random, so unless you build one yourself, it’s next to impossible to know where one’ll be. And apparently it’s one of the places people actually go when they die, but it isn’t the only one.” Something slammed on the breaks in Luz’s brain, the wheels screeched loudly and crashed into a concrete wall. “Wait hold on! Did you… did you just say… it’s one of the places… implying there’s more than… oh man… are you saying there’s more than one afterlife?” “That’s what we’ve found so far, yeah, but Ford’s only done a little bit of research into it so we don’t know a whole lot yet. Let alone how someone ends up in one place over another after they die.” Luz could feel her head spinning, overwhelmed by such reality changing information in what had to be, at most, a minute and a half of conversation. “...is that a big deal here?” Hunter’s voice pulled her out of her head and back to reality. By all things good, sane and reasonable… he had no idea how loaded his question was.

“Hunter… humans have been fighting and debating over what happens to us when we die since before recorded history… it’s… saying it’s a huge thing doesn’t even come close to how big it is. The idea of there being more than one afterlife is earth shattering! Entirely new  religions could spring up from this fact alone! Wars could-”

“What do you mean spring up? What, do you have multiple belief systems or something?”

She was a little annoyed that her tangent about potential conflict had been cut short, but her brain was still spinning inside her skull. She decided to focus on the conversation in front of her and remain grounded, rather than try to go further down the rabbit hole. She took a long, deep inhale through her nose, folded her hands together and exhaled her answer.

“Yes, actually.”

At this, his eyes visibly grew bigger. In an instant she realized that such an idea had never occurred to him before.

“Wait… what? But… don’t you know what made you? Who made you?”

“Not… exactly? Some religions believe a god or multiple gods made us, but scientifically speaking, we probably evolved from some basic life form over the course of millions and millions of years… it’s… it’s not like it is with the Titan.”

There was an uncomfortable silence hanging in the air between the two of them.

“…but… Danny-that’s your name right?”

The boy in question nodded.

“Danny said the others have met gods, so those beliefs have to be right.”

“That’s where it gets complicated.”

Their conversation was interrupted by a familiar redhead.

“Theodora!” Luz exclaimed, happy to see the pink girl again.

“Hey guys, glad to see you made it here safely,” she tossed her hair with a small giggle, “Sorry but I just couldn’t help overhearing what you were talking about.”

“Sure you couldn’t,” Danny frowned, “Just like you don't intend to brag about all the places and things you’ve seen.”

“Oh Danny, you hurt me! Honestly, Strickler told me their tour was interrupted because of you boys-he’s looking for you by the way, Jake- and asked if I could finish showing them around! I was just coming to get them when I caught what you were talking about. And as a globe trotting heroine, I think I can offer some uniq-“

“Oh for the love of cheese just get to the point already!” Randy exclaimed as he threw his arms out over the table.

“Hmph! Fine. Long story short, I’ve come across all sorts of creatures from different parts of the world, from very different religions and whose stories have something to do with that area’s beliefs. You know the story of Medusa right?”

“Well, yeah,” Luz nodded.

“I don’t,” Hunter looked frustrated at the question.

“Okay, well, she was once this beautiful woman who was a priestess in the temple of Athena, the virgin goddess of war and battle strategy. As one of her priestesses, Medusa was expected to stay a virgin as well, but being Ancient Greece, one of the gods couldn’t-“

“Don’t finish that sentence!” Luz yelled, covering King’s ears.

“Hey!” the tiny demon flailed, “I wanna hear the story!”

“Trust me buddy, you don’t wanna hear this!”

Hunter went noticeably pale as he slowly began to realize what was about to happen in the story.

“Ahem… anyway,” Teodora sat down to continue, “She was… “attacked” by Poseidon, god of the sea, and because of the fucked up way the ancient Greeks viewed stuff like this, Medusa was the one blamed for the assault. As punishment, Athena cursed her, turning her into a horrifying monster with snakes for hair, and if you gazed upon her, you would turn to stone.”

“…and what does this have to do with our conversation exactly?” Luz questioned, holding a squirming King in her lap.

“Don’t you remember what I said when we were at your house? My friends and I met her.”

“…what?!”

“Well, okay, it was her ghost but still. Point is, us running into her proves at least two Greek gods exist, or used to anyway. Where it gets interesting is why we were in Greece in the first place.”

“Which is…!”

“We were on a trip around the world to stop Quetzalcoatl.”

Her arms suddenly went slack and King squirmed free, before glancing back at her in concern.

“…Luz?”

“I… I’m sorry… did… did you just say… Quetzalcoatl?”

“Yup!”

“…the Aztec god… that Quetzalcoatl?”

“The one and only!”

“…I… should I be worried about the lack of human sacrifices or-“

Hunter and King both leaned back in unsettled confusion.

“Nah, things are cool with him now, don’t worry, but it does prove that multiple gods from more than one religion do exist. Oh! And we also met Fenrir, ya know, the giant wolf chained up under Yggdrasil, AKA the World Tree? So you can throw the Norse gods in there too for good measure!” “...that’s three pantheons of gods… how does that even work?” “Well, best we can figure is each pantheon has a limited area of reach, and not every god that we have stories about actually exists. For example, the earth isn’t trying to eat us all so Cipactli probably isn’t real.” “...what’s a Cipat- Cipact- Ci- whatever you just said, what is it?” Hunter asked in noticeable frustration. “In the Aztec creation myth, Cipactli was a primordial monster that the earliest gods had to kill, otherwise it would eat anything they created. They then turned its body into the land but since it kept trying to come back to life, the gods made blood sacrifices to keep it from destroying their creations. It’s something the Aztec people later did as well… including cutting out people’s hearts.” “...human… I have a feeling she’s lying but you-” “She isn’t,” Luz squeaked, “I… I’m not an expert on all the details of the Aztec people but… yeah that’s all pretty much right.”

“…oh Titan I think I’m going to be sick.”

King laughed a little, but it sounded half-hearted. After a moment, Hunter piped back up.

“Wait… if you have multiple belief systems-“

“Religions,” Teodora corrected.

“Whatever-if you have more than one, then why aren’t there fights about them? About which one is correct or-“

“There are and have been. Even full on wars have been fought over it.”

Hunter looked like someone had smacked him in the face.

“…how do you humans survive?”

“Sheer numbers and being very hard to kill in general,” Jake shrugged, “Either way, no one really knows the answers to any of those questions so we just do what we can to survive and enjoy it.” “...that’s one way of phrasing it,” Luz groaned, supporting her head in her hands. “Hey, all I know is that yokai like tengu are real and I’m leaving it at that,” Randy put his hands up, “My suit is made from the feathers of one.” “Tengu?” Hunter questioned. “One second, I know this one,” Luz put a finger to her forehead, digging through what she remembered of her favorite series, “Tengu, tengu… a Japanese demon, or yokai,  associated with birds of prey like crows, they’re also associated with mountain tops and the wind. Theatrical masks depict them as having long noses, um…” “...how do you know that?” Randy asked in surprise. “...I…uh… like anime… and it isn’t always accurate… so I did my own research.”

“Damn… you’re good at it then.”

“You think so?” “Yeah, you got it pretty much right, though uh, the tengu connected to the suit seems to be the only one of its kind, we haven’t found any others like it.”

“Anyway!” Teodora was examining her nails as she interrupted, “We should probably get going if we’re gonna finish that tour. You boys wanna join?”

“Sorry, I got English tutoring in a bit,” Danny groaned, “I hate English.”

“I still gotta talk to Strickler and I’m supposed to be on playground duty so I’ll have to jump to that right after, sorry dude,” Jake shrugged.

“Ninja practice,” Randy rounded it out.

Teodora groaned, “Fine, I’ll show them around, on my own. C’mon guys.”

She hopped up from her seat and gestured for them to follow. They hesitated for a second before hurrying after her. “So, how are you guys liking the place so far?” Teodora questioned, boots clicking on the floor. It was the same question they had been asked in the doctor’s office. “It’s… definitely something,” Luz stated, “I kinda love it, dragons and all that, but it’s kinda crazy.” “Oh yeah, I heard about the goblin attack. How’s your leg?” “Well it doesn’t hurt anymore, Dr. Lake did a great job.”

“She gave us candy!” King chimed in excitedly.

Teodora chuckled warmly, “Yeah, she may be a doctor, but she’s a total mom first. Woman’s an angel on Earth, I tell ya.” Luz smiled at this. “Is she the only member of medical staff here or are there others?” “Well… kinda,” she did the so-so gesture with her hand, “There’s at least one other guy here, but he’s not an actual doctor.” Luz’s mind instantly went to an anime she liked, one of the characters was a back alley doctor who did several illegal medical procedures for a pharmaceutical company as well as the mob… oh and how he was in love with a Dullahan who rode a motorcycle! “...Teo… is there an unlicensed doctor working here?”

“Psh! What? No, nothing like that! One of the guys just has healing powers is all! Not a perfect cure all for every medical thingy out there, but it’s good to have it on hand if there’s ever an emergency.” “...there’s someone here who can use healing magic?” Hunter asked, seemingly intrigued. “Yep, he’s a total sweetheart too, but he can only heal injuries and that’s it. Things like infections and viruses are completely outside his ability to do anything about. That’s usually why we go to Dr. Lake first before asking him for help. Like, if someone has a blood clot or something, his powers would risk making it worse.” Luz’s eyes widened, she had never considered that. When you hear “healing abilities” you think of cuts and broken bones, not nuanced medical issues. “What’s a blood clot?” They both stopped and stared at Hunter, she mentally noted this was starting to become a pattern. “...you seriously don’t know?” Luz asked, looking mildly concerned. “No… why, should I?” “...I guess it makes sense you don’t know, the Boiling Isles didn’t exactly have the right tech to start understanding clots or how they’d work. I think I remember my mom saying something about doctors only starting to get an understanding of them in the 1920’s-” “And she’d be right,” Teodora had pulled out her phone and was quickly scrolling through what was probably a medical history article, “But to grossly over simplify for you Blondie, blood clots are how our bodies stop bleeding, close wounds and basically start the healing process.” “Doesn’t that take a long time though? Why not just use healing mag-” He stopped himself when he remembered where he was. His cheeks and ears went bright red for the second time that day. “Uh, nevermind.” “Okay, now there’s something I gotta ask!” King raised his arms up high, “How the heck do you guys deal with boo boos here? If you don’t have healing magic, how do you make them go away?” “...we just put bandages on them and wait,” Teodora answered. “...but band aids come from the Healing Coven, don’t they?” “Not ones in the human realm buddy,” Luz scooped him up, “They just go over the boo boo and our bodies heal on their own with time. The band aids are meant to stop the bleeding and keep it clean so it doesn’t get infected, which would be even worse.” She noticed Hunter lightly touch the scar on his cheek.

“Okay, so, enough medical stuff, we’re here on a tour aren’t we?” Teodora announced, “C’mon, I’ll show you to the playground, I bet this little cutie would just love it!” She booped King on his little skull nose, making him giggle. “That actually sounds like a great idea,” Luz smiled, “Are there a lot of other little kids here?” “There’s some, most of them are here with an older sibling but there’s a few exceptions.” She looked at King… yeah… yeah, that tracked.

“Just be nice to the other kids when you play with them,” she told him as Teodora led them through the mansion and to the backdoor. Luz didn’t know what to expect when they walked out, but it certainly wasn’t this. The backyard was truly massive, and like the front of the mansion was surrounded by the towering wall fence. However, it was not nearly as impressive as what was in the center, like some prominent gem in a crown. The entire playground was new, in a way she had never seen before. She had seen new equipment be added to parks and playgrounds at the schools she attended, but she had never seen one where absolutely everything was new. There were no signs of rust, age, wear or tear, the paint was still strong, saturated and vibrant, nothing sagged, it had barely been touched. It had everything you’d expect from a playground, swings, a slide, a seesaw, monkey bars, and a single large structure in the middle that was perfect for games of tag or hide and seek. There were fewer than twenty little kids running around, ranging from early elementary school to middle schooler age. A good number of older students meandered around, keeping an eye on the children. She could feel King get excited as he tried to squirm from her grasp. “Yes… YES! This will make for an excellent kingdom to rule over!” “Later King, we still need to get the layout of the rest of the school first,” she cooed, “We can play tomorrow though!” “Hmph!” he crossed his tiny arms in a pout and squinted his eyes, which allowed him to notice something between the gaps in the playground equipment, “Hey, what’s that? Behind the playground.” He pointed a claw in the general direction of whatever it was that he saw. “Oh, that, c’mon, over here,” Teodora said, walking a few dozen paces to the right. From this new angle, they could see something… unexpected. A hole. There was a massive, crumbling hole in the back of the wall fence, debris and rubble was scattered on the ground from whatever had caused it. “...you… are aware that’s a massive security breach… right?” Hunter asked slowly, physically feeling his brain struggle to process what he was seeing, “Not to mention a general safety hazard.” “Well, yeah, technically, but nobody’s stupid enough to try and attack us. Besides, it makes it so much easier to get in and out of the forest this way. As for the safety thing, we just avoid the rubble, there’s a clear enough path in the middle.” “Is it that big a deal or something? The forest I mean,” Luz asked. She kind of liked the hole, having such easy access to the forest reminded her of the Owl House and eased some inner part of her that she couldn’t name. “Well the school may be weird, but the forest has all sorts of crazy stuff! Oh, and right past the wall, there’s a downward incline, and at the base, there’s a small clearing, so you don’t hit the treeline right away. We use that spot for target practice, projectile attacks, weapons, and our more… dangerous stuff. There’s more room there than the sparring ring, so it’s less dangerous for potential bystanders.” “Dangerous?” King questioned, suddenly very interested, “How dangerous?” “Well, if you got lucky, the worst you’d deal with from some of those attacks is broken bones, tinnitus, lost limbs, disembowelment, just to name a few.” “And that’s more than enough details for us to hear!” Luz interrupted, “Sorry to keep circling back to this, but you said that stuff in the forest was crazy, right? What kind of crazy?” “Ah right, sorry, got sidetracked. Well there’s a colony of gnomes, fairies, size-changing crystals, the “Jurassic Sap Hole” as Stan puts it, manotaurs-” “You mean minotaurs?” “Nope! There’s also an enchanted meadow you can summon that has unicorns-” “UNICORNS?!” She grabbed Teodora by the lapels and pulled her in way too close. “THERE ARE UNICORNS OUT THERE?!” “...okay one, chill, two, back up, and three, yes. Yes there are.” The squeal that followed was almost high-pitched enough to shatter glass. “Don’t get your hopes up though,” Teodora tacked on, “The unicorns that live around here are grade A jerks!” “JUST KNOWING THAT THEY’RE REAL IS ENOUGH!” Luz had seemingly lost all control of her volume and was even bouncing on her toes and flapping her hands. “...you’re really into this kind of stuff, aren’t you?” “Well uh, yeah! Sorry, is that weird, I-” “No no, it’s just… Most new arrivals don’t get this excited about all this stuff. They’re usually too overwhelmed by everything.” “Oh uh… well… I kinda always wanted something like this to be real, and after what happened on the Boiling Isles… I didn’t know if I’d get any of it back at all, let alone… all this!” She turned and gestured to the school. “...ya know what? Fair enough,” Teodora had a sauve smile, “You’re definitely more lively than most of our new arrivals, especially for one who was attacked by goblins not even three hours ago, but I like it! We always need a little more weird around here.” Something in Luz’s chest fluttered like a small bird. “That’s… really close to something my mentor told me once,” she rubbed her arm awkwardly, “She said… “We weirdos need to stick together” and… it resonated with me, ya know?” “Oh man, I like her already! And I’m pretty sure everyone else here would agree with her on that too!” Luz smiled and she felt King hug her. “Anyway, there’s still more to see, c’mon!” Teodora next led them to a heavily reinforced room, simply called “The Rage Room.” It had been made as a place for the students to vent their frustrations and trauma in a destructively cathartic way that was safe for all involved. She explained that sometimes the best way to deal with internal strife was to get violent, and rather than get into an actual fight, destroying a bunch of the robots that did the chores around the mansion was the best alternative the staff could come up with. The room was heavily padded, white cushions covered every inch of the floor, walls and even the ceiling! Two panels were left unprotected, one was in the upper right corner, the robots would apparently fly in through. The other held a large window for supportive loved ones to watch through, and to wait out the storm. She also explained that when someone’s trauma was triggered and those around were able to recognize it in time, it was common curetsy for them to guide the person to the room as quickly and as safely as possible… And then she showed them the construction grade noise canceling headphones. Apparently, screaming was common during some of these sessions and despite the room being heavily padded, it wasn’t enough to muffle the screams of some particularly powerful and/or heavily  traumatized students. Luz had originally thought they had been overkill, until Teodora mentioned one of the students was able to scream so loud it cracked stone… It was also that same student had punched the hole in the wall fence… However, the part that disturbed her the most was the fact he had apparently been holding back on that particular incident. Luz was curious but also very scared of this individual. The next room they were shown was the communal TV room, where a single, massive, wall mounted screen kept company with a couch, a love seat, a coffee table and more pillows, blankets and bean bags than they could keep track of. Apparently, the students had regular movie nights, which regularly turned into sleepovers as they fell asleep huddled together and covered in snacks. It was currently occupied by two little girls playing video games, one in a pink dress with a yellow flower on it, shiny black shoes that matched her headband, and with blonde hair that curled up into a horn-like shape. The other had purple hair in a bob style that curled to frame the edges of her face, eyelashes so thick none of them could see her eyes, she wore a dull blue t-shirt with an 8-bit video game character, a pleated gray skirt, dark gray leggings and boots. This duo of Mandy and Gaz, as Teodora so helpfully named them, shot surprisingly terrifying glares at the intruders, as if warning them to leave. They wisely chose to comply. The room after that was locked up tight, because apparently, new students needed to prove they were responsible enough to be let into the Armory. King scratching at the door at the promise of weapons for his “new army” made Luz agree that rule was probably a good idea.

The next room Teodora wanted to show them was one she was clearly excited about, even running ahead a few times. This room was high up, requiring them to go to the top floor and into a hallway that was otherwise unimpressive. The only thing of note was a small door in the ceiling, the kind that led up to an attic. The pink girl astral projected herself up to the ceiling to open it and pulled down a ladder before swiftly returning to her body.

“This way~” she sang before climbing up quickly. The trio looked at each other before following her lead, Luz being curious, King excited and Hunter skeptical. What should have been a dusty old room full of boxes and forgotten possessions was instead incredibly clean… and held perhaps the coziest structure Luz had ever seen. It was a massive blanket fort.

There was no other way to put it, what stood before them was simply the biggest blanket fort any of them had ever seen, with the room being lit by fairy lights that hung from the walls. The fort took up a massive amount of space, the main body of it vaguely reminded Luz of a circus tent, with the whole structure seemingly supported by something within, and had seemingly grown outwards from there. “This is our personal project. Everyone loves this thing and sleepovers are pretty common in there,” Teodora explained. “It’s… huge!” Luz exclaimed, spreading her arms wide, “How did you-” “Some trial and error, iron willed stubbornness to make it work, and just finding the whole thing fun!” “Can we sleep in it?” “Probably not tonight, there’s still a little more for you guys to see, not to mention showing you your actual rooms.” Luz had honestly forgotten about them having dorm rooms. In her paperwork, she had confirmed she didn’t mind the idea of having a roommate, but now she wondered if she’d actually get one, if there was one even available, and what they’d be like. King would obviously be rooming with her, she wouldn’t bunk somewhere and leave him alone for anything in the world at this point! She also worried about Hunter, he had made his desires of a single room painfully clear, saying he had to focus on finding a way home over chatting with an unwanted bunkmate. He sometimes added that he was the Emperor’s right hand man and therefore was used to sleeping alone, even going so far as to sleep on the couch back in Connecticut when King and Vee had been more than happy to share her room.

“Now c’mon, there’s a few more rooms left for you to see.” Teodora’s voice pulled her back to reality and as much as she wanted to crawl into the blanket fort, she made herself follow. Exploring it could wait until she had a full lay of the land as it were. She led them to a door on the first floor and opened it, smiling brightly as she said, “This here’s the library.” The smell of old books filled the air and Luz smiled brightly. The library was on the large side, not as big as the one back in Bonesborough, not by a long shot, but it easily dwarfed the ones in her old schools. The room radiated with warmth, helped in no small part due to a fireplace with a stone hearth with a small fire flickering away. Bookcases filled the room, all carefully organized and sorted, with signs making it clear what each section was. There were the typical “Fiction,” “History,” and “Manga” genres, but the inclusion of “Magical Studies” and “Supernatural Phenomena” were far more eye-catching. It was all so cozy one could easily doze off and she loved it!

“...this is… quaint,” Hunter frowned, “Not nearly as impressive as the library back at the castle but-” “Sh, let me have this moment,” she shushed, “This is better than most human schools ever get.” “Ugh, books,” King groaned, “Boring. Nice place for a nap though.” “You say that as if we didn’t write a bestseller together,” she smirked down at him. “Writing is one thing, actually reading is another.” “Buenas noches!”

A Mexican woman stepped out from behind one of the bookcases and she was a vision of beauty! She wore a light green blouse and pink skirt with frills at the end with bright red high heel shoes that matched her lipstick perfectly. Long dark curly hair cascaded down her back like shining obsidian and her brown eyes sparkled like diamonds! Freckles danced across her rosy cheeks and gold hoop earrings complimented her face. Luz wondered for a second if she might be some sort of nature goddess in human form, she was just that beautiful. She instead settled on the idea she was just the kind of person who was naturally that stunning… and more than likely a favorite teacher to elementary school students, she just had a feeling about that one. “Buenas noches Maria,” Teodora smiled, “Don’t have a lot of time to talk tonight, I got wrapped into showing the new kids around and we still have a few more places to go before we’re done.” “Oh, that’s a shame,” the woman, Maria, said with a hint of disappointment, before looking at them with a smile as warm as freshly baked cookies, “Good evening children! My name is Maria Rivera, I’m the head librarian here at the school, but please, just call me Maria. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Luz fumbled with her words for a brief second before physically shaking her head to get it screwed back on right before saying, “Buenas noches! I’m Luz Noceda, i-it’s very nice to meet you ma’am!” Her laughter was bright, like the jingle of bells. “No need to be so formal, cariño. I know the school is a lot to process, but you can relax here. It’s very calm and grounded here, it’s an important part of settling in after all.” She would have chuckled nervously if King hadn’t decided to climb up onto her shoulder to introduce himself. “I’m King Clawthorne! Question: Is it alright if I take naps in here?” Maria chuckled at the forwardness of the question. “Only if you don’t snore too loudly.” “Yes! Perfect napping spot acquired!” Hunter rolled his eyes at the display before calmly approaching. This woman was the furthest thing from a threat that there could possibly be. Plus, he respected librarians, and he had no doubt he’d spend a lot of time here, reading whatever material he could get on the matter of returning to the Boiling Isles. Might as well ingratiate himself to her while he had the chance. “Good evening ma’am, my name is Hunter,” he held out his hand politely, “Golden Guard and right hand to Emperor Belos, it’s very nice to meet you.” “It’s very nice to meet you too,” she smiled at him and shook his hand. She opened her mouth to say something else, but was interrupted by a very boisterous and theatrical voice. “Maria, my good woman, have you seen my copy of a Brief Reconfigulation of Troll Lore, I swear I had it here just a moment ag-”

The trio froze when they saw the owner of the voice emerge from behind the bookcases. It belonged to a creature that was in no way, shape, or form, human. It was big, very big, roughly seven feet tall, with light blue skin, long ears, dark blue sideburns but no hair on the top of its head, instead having a pair of horns, and a flat orange nose that went up and down the center of its face. This did nothing to distract from the fact this thing had six eyes, all of which were a matching soft red-brown color with yellow sycra! It also had a slight underbite, causing its lower canines to stick out of its mouth. It had four stubby arms, equally stubby legs, old brown suspenders with a pack on each hip, and its body seemed to be covered in strange carvings. It was almost cartoonish looking but at the same time intimidating.

There was just a brief second of surprised silence from the creature before it smiled, opened that massive mouth and spoke. “Ah, hello! You must be our newest students! Welcome! I am Blinky, and I will be your Magical History teacher!” “...you’re a teacher?” Luz managed to squeak out. “Indeed! And what might your names be?” They were too stunned to answer, this Blinky creature had caught them so off guard that while trying to process what they were seeing, they briefly forgot their names. Their guide seemed to be snickering at their stunned reactions. Maria, quickly catching on to what was wrong, answered for them. “Blinky, this is Luz, King and Hunter,” she gestured to each one as she spoke their name, “Teodora here was just showing them around the school!” “Ah, excellent! Exploring the halls of academia! We always need more eager young minds! Never enough of them I say!” King, the first to snap out of his shock, pointed a claw and demanded, “Okay, what in the hecking name of the Titan are you!?”

A human might have found this question exceedingly rude, and taken offense, but Blinky, being anything but human, merely laughed jovially! “Oh I like you! As for what I am, I, my good creature, am a troll!”

“Wait… a troll?! As in the kind of fairy tales and stuff?” Luz asked, her brain finally catching up to the situation.

“To an extent, though, some of your human stories aren’t always accurate. Pleasure to meet you all!” “It’s nice to meet you too Mr Blinky sir!” she reached out and eagerly shook three of his hands before gasping, “Is your skin stone!?” “Indeed it is! All trolls of my kind have skin as such, though some other variations have flesh just a little less squishy than your own! Much like… oh what do you call them again? Calluses?”

“Whoa…! Wait, going back to what you said before… you’re going to be teaching us about magical history?” “Indeed, there are many major events that have taken place around the world that were kept hidden from as much of the world as possible, including the very fact that we exist at all! Not out of malice mind you, but for our own safety, and for humanity’s as well.” The way he spoke held an incredible weight that Luz couldn’t properly describe, but it was clear that whatever reason these creatures had to go into hiding was a good one. “...I’m assuming this is all stuff you’re gonna go over in class?” “Why yes, of course! Do not worry now, I’ll be more than happy to get you caught up with your new classmates!”

“Yes, even more jabber from him! My brother does love to hear himself talk.” A new voice joined the conversation, and another troll lumbered out from behind another bookshelf. He was shockingly similar to Blinky, being green instead of blue, with hair on his scalp, including a single shock that was snow white. However, the major point of notice was his six eyes were milky and unseeing. He was reaching his arms out to find his way, his head turning left and right. “Been that way ever since we were whelps, you could not ever get him to stop! Even Mother struggled to reign in that tongue of his!” “Ha! You’re one to talk, Dictacious!” Blinky growled, “You were worse than I could ever hope to be. And watch your tongue in front of my new students! Why if I were not so kind, you’d be exiled, out on your own a long time ago, don’t think I’ve forgiven you for your treasonous ways!” “Oh, you wouldn’t! We are family!” “Try me!”

The light blue troll threw himself at his mint-colored counterpart, knocking him flat on his back and began to wildly smack at him. Dictacious desperately tried to hold him back with his lower pair of arms, and fight back with the upper set. However, as it was clear neither of them were warriors, any attempts of hand to hand combat were reduced to the most basic attack possible! It was a nerd troll slap fight, and it was a hilarious sight to witness. “Oooooo~ the girls are fighting!” Teodora exclaimed in giggling delight as she took pictures, “New reaction images abound~!” “I thought this was a library,” Hunter stated as they rolled into a bookcase, “Are they supposed to make this much noise in here?” “Oh Dios mío,” Maria sighed, “No, but with trolls it’s hard for them to do anything quietly. You children should continue with your tour, I’ll break these two up.” “Aye aye Mama Rivera!” Teodora saluted before taking a few more pictures, grabbing the others and leaving, slamming the door behind them. “...are those going to be okay?” Luz questioned. “Yeah, they just have some bad blood between them. I never got the full story but their fights are always fun to watch!” To get to the next room, she led them to a massive bookshelf in the hallway, and she chose to make a point of how big and heavy it looked… Before swinging it open like a door on a well greased hinge, revealing an antiquated elevator behind.

“The last few places for you to see are down below,” she smirked, and Luz felt herself getting excited again!

Once they were all inside, Teodora pulled on the lever and they went down, down past the ground level, past where a normal basement should be, and kept going. As they continued downward, they noticed there was a small panel with about half a dozen buttons on it, going up and down in a single line. The bottom button stood out, due to the large number of notes stuck around it, all shouting warnings of “Do not press!” “Under construction!” “Incomplete!” “You will probably die if you press this button!” They finally stopped at an odd room, it was poorly lit, coming in shades of black, gray-purple and largely lit by computer monitors. The only brightly lit spot in the room was a large work table, but it was far too similar to a surgical table one might see in a hospital for Luz to find it comfortable. “First, we have the lab of our very own mad scientist, Jack Spicer-” Teodora began, only to be loudly interrupted. “That’s “evil boy genius” to you missy!” The red-haired boy from the sparring matches leaned out from behind a large console, looking miffed at the description of himself. In one hand he held the head of one of the school’s robots, in the other was a blow torch that was still very brightly lit and Luz tried not to look directly at it. “Oh c’mon Jacky, “boy genius” isn’t quite as grandiose as “mad scientist” now is it? Plus, I’m pretty sure your eighteenth birthday is due soon, if not already passed.” “What do you want, Teodora?” the boy, Jack, sounded like he was extending his patience already, “I have a lot of work to do and don’t have time for your dumbass games!”

“I’m just showing the new kids around is all,” she said in a teasing voice that was knowingly faking innocence.

“Yeah right,” he finally turned off the blow torch before turning to the newcomers, “Did she tell you I made the robots who do all the crappy chores around here?” “...no,” King admitted bluntly before Luz could even think to stop him. “Well I do, they’re mine, my own design and everything. If you break them, I’ll send a bunch of them after you and disable the killswitch.” “...what about the ones in the rage room?” Luz questioned, brow slowly raising. “Those are bought and paid for by the school. Once they pay me, it’s out of my hands. If they get smashed, they get smashed. Just means I have to build more so I keep making a profit.”

“...I guess that makes sense,” she said, “So… you’re really a mad-I mean-evil boy genius?” “You got it! Remember this face kid, because one day, IT’LL BE RULING THE WORLD!” Jack then cut loose with a shriek-y, high-pitched laugh, that made it very hard to take him seriously. “HA! You think that’s impressive?!” King pointed at the young genius before raising his arms over his head, “I’ll have you know that one day I, King Clawthorne, will be the king of all demons! I will be a great and powerful despot, my enemies will cower before me and my armies shall ravage the land in a wave of fire and brimstone! You can have this world though, it doesn’t have any demons.” “Oh, is that a fact, Fluffy?” Jack slammed his hands down on the table and leaned over the tiny demon in what should have been an intimidating manner. “Yeah!” “Oh yeah?!” “Yeah!” They glared at each other, leaning in dangerously close and squinting as they got closer until Jack broke the silence.

“...I think I like you.” “I think I like you too! Wanna be friends?” “Oh absolutely!” The two shook hands, leaving the teenage onlookers very confused. “...what just happened?” Luz asked after a moment. “Nonsense in its purest form,” Teodora sighed and placed a hand to her forehead. “Shouldn’t we be worried about him proclaiming he’s going to take over the world?” “Nope. He is exceptionally bad at it, he can come up with schemes or whatever but they always fail in the end. So we kind of just let him do his thing and then karma stops him for us. Despite that, Jack’s one of our super geniuses around here, when it comes to fixing things like cars, TV’s, consoles and computers, he’s the one we go to. However, he doesn’t do anything for free. You need to pay a price.” “And what price is that?” Hunter asked, his hand instinctively shielding his palisman. “Favors usually, get him some supplies he needs, some positive reinforcement if he’s down, maybe help him bribe someone… or just give him a few pudding cups, that always works.” “Hey I like pudding,” Jack meekly defended.

“We know Jackie, we know. Anyway, we have to get going, we have two more sub-levels before the tour’s over.” “Then can we finally retire to our quarters?” Hunter sounded a bit grumpy. “Yes Blondie, I’ll take you to your rooms once we’re done, don’t worry.” “C’mon King,” Luz sighed as she scooped the demon up, “Oh, and Jack? My name’s Luz, it’s nice to meet you.” She held out her hand to shake. He looked surprised for a second before smirking in a malicious way and shaking her hand. “Likewise.” She had a feeling he was going to be chaotically fun! They returned to the elevator and went down to the next level. This room looked like it came from another planet! There were strange computers and consoles in various shades of blue, with strange lights that seemed to be more decorative and aesthetic in nature than having any function. The monitors for the machines seemed to be panes of glass with unfamiliar programs on them, and odd, angular symbols floated in the air. The room resonated with loud rave music, making Hunter cover his ears as a strange orb that seemed to be omitting the music flashed in different colors as it floated past. At the main console was a latino boy, with curly brown hair that stopped at his shoulders, and he seemed to be dancing to the music as he worked. He wore a bluet-shirt with a soundwave on it, black sweatpants and white sneakers, a surprisingly mundane outfit compared to what they had seen so far.

Teodora was smiling as she tapped the multi-color ball, suddenly stopping the music and surprising the boy enough to make him notice them.

“Hey!”

“Hey to you too Krel,” she smirked, “I just needed your attention since we have some new kids that I’m showing around.”

“Aye aye aye, you had to mess with my music to do that?” he had a lovely hispanic accent, in Luz’s opinion anyway, “A simple hello would do!”

“You’d be too caught up in your music to hear me. It’s happened before and you know it,” she poked him in the chest for emphasis. “Ugh, can we just make this quick? I have a lot of work to do and three new songs to finish for my next DJ gig.” “Yeah yeah, relax, we’ll be out of your hair in a minute,” she then turned to the others, “Introducing his royal pain in the ass, Prince Krel Tarron.” “King-in-Waiting! King-in-Waiting! You know what I am! Get it right!” At this introduction, the trio has very different reactions “He’s royalty?!” Luz exclaimed.

Hunter fell to one knee in a genuflex, followed by saying, “Your majesty.” As for King, he scampered up onto Luz’s shoulder and excitedly exclaimed, “Yes! A fellow monarch! We can be tyrant buddies!”

Without missing a beat, Krel pointed a finger right in the tiny demon’s face.

“I do not know who you are or what you are but I will have you know that I am no tyrant! I had to save my people from a coup and my sister and I will never subject our people to the horrors General Morando made them suffer!”

“Chill your royal britches there buddy,” Teodora stepped forward, spreading her arms to separate them, “He’s only a little kid, Krel, he’s just playing a game or… something.” “No I’m not!” King protested as Luz put a hand over his mouth. The King-in-Waiting raised a brow at this. “Look, we just got off on the wrong foot,” she said before pulling the young demon off her shoulder before extending her hand out, “Can we start over? My name’s Luz, this is King and… uh… that’s Hunter,” she looked down at the witch in question, who was still on one knee. Krel looked them over, silently, before allowing a small smile to grace his features and took her hand, “Krel Tarron. King-in-Waiting of Akiridion-5.” “Oh cool! ...I… have no idea what that is.” “It’s another planet.” Luz stared blankly for a second. Three seconds. Five seconds. Fifteen seconds. Repeating the process she had done back in the dining room, she folded her hands together, pointing her index and middle fingers up as she took in a very long, very deep breath through her nose. “You’ve been to other planets.” “Yes.” “...and you’re the… King-in-Waiting of one?” “That is correct.” “...you went to another planet… not another realm.” “HA! Earth is the other planet to me! Akiridion-5 is where I’m from!” “...so you’re an alien…” “Yes.” “...I’m storing that information away to process later… but at the same time-” “Oh no!” King covered his ears, it was the only warning they got before Luz squealed in delight, though this time she had the forethought to cover her mouth with her hands. “...well isn’t she exciting,” Krel groaned, wincing at the muffled, high-pitched noise.

“Huh, she’s gonna lose her voice if she keeps this up,” Teodora stated, hands over her ears.

The excited latina took another deep breath, and with her voice shaking said, “Okay… Okay I’m good… but I’m going to have a bunch of questions for you later!” “Just make sure they’re intelligent ones, please! I get a lot of really stupid ones when you humans find out I’m from another planet!” “I make no promises! Such as… wait… this school has more than one super genius?” “More than one…? Ha! If you mean that hack, Jack Spicer, he’s barely a genius at all! I could outsmart that gloober at anything any day of the week!” “Okay… but why do you guys need your own labs? Wouldn’t it make sense for you both to share one?” “Again, HA! Double HA! Never in a million years would I ever share a lab space with that bumbling buffoon! He’s a threat to himself and everyone around him!” “That and super geniuses don’t like sharing~” Teodora half-sang, “It makes them cranky and they argue over who’s turn it is to use the wrench!” “THAT IS NOT IT AND YOU KNOW IT!” Krel shouted as she shot him the most smug grin she could possibly manage. “Not to mention their stuff is totally incompatible. Ever seen what happens when alien tech from another planet is haphazardly slapped onto magitech because two super genius idiots can’t keep track of their own projects? It makes space fold over on itself, the school ends up in a pocket dimension, and the teachers need to fix it so we can return to regular reality… oh and they both end up in detention for three weeks.”

There was a long, heavy pause. “...did that actually happen or is that just a hypothetical?” Luz squeaked. “You understood all that?!” King exclaimed, “Those weren’t even words!” “Of course I understood it! I’m a nerd of all colors, including sci-fi!” “Huh… I knew there was a reason I liked you,” Teodora smiled, “But to answer your question, it came close to happening. Ford realized what was going on and shut it down but it was a close call.” “Once! It only happened once!” Krel protested. “Yeah yeah, whatever,” she waved her hand dismissively, “Anyway, we had to add on a second lab before the two of them accidentally got us all killed. Now, we have one last stop before I can take you to your rooms, so let’s move it people!” She grabbed Hunter by the back of his shirt and with a hard jerk, began to drag him along the floor. She pulled him towards the elevator door despite his yells of surprise and protest at the indignity of it all! Luz watched the sight for a moment before turning back to Krel and offering a meek wave. “It was nice meeting you!” She scampered off after the others, and caught a glimpse of the young royal waving back before the elevator doors closed. Their final destination was the second to last button on the elevator’s panel, and was even further underground than the two labs. It came to a stop with a cheery ping as to a room that was different from anything they’d seen in the entire school. Large consoles lined the walls, many of them with bright glowing screens that showed some form of data being analyzed and processed. Others showed strange locations that were unlike any they had ever seen before, slowing all of them to a stop and making them stare. Among them were strange futuristic cities, a cave of fire, rolling fields of saturated colors, a black realm of swirling green energy and floating islands, an endless wood with strange lights and a world made entirely of chalk drawings. “Whoa…” “Those are just some of the worlds we’ve found,” Teodora smiled at their reactions, “Which brings me to why we’re here.” She walked to a doorway that had another, much larger console, covered in buttons and levers. It was connected to a massive black screen, indicating that whatever machine they were connected to was clearly turned off. Nearby was a window, looking into a massive chamber, but they only had a second to glance inside before Teodora led them into the chamber itself, which was seemingly made from an underground cave. Rock and dirt made up most of the walls, ceiling and flooring, but it was the machines that caught their attention. A few more consoles lined the walls, wires stuck out of them, connecting from one to another, pipes crawled up the walls and disappeared into holes drilled into the stone ceiling.

In the center of the room, a pole stood out, a single, bright red button stood atop it. Beyond it was a series of steps, leading up to a strange, upside down metal triangle, with a large hole in the center, that was ringed by strange symbols and markings. The strange machine was horrifyingly massive, almost the height of a two story house, a cable was hanging from the top of it, and a familiar figure was strapped into it, using a soldering iron on some internal wiring. “Hey Ford! You guys missed dinner again!” Teodora called up, pulling the man away from what he was doing. “Oh, good evening Teo! Sorry I completely got lost in my work and I-” He looked down and spotted the trio. “Oh-Oh my! You three! You’re here! Lemme just-” he banged on the machine with his fist, “Fiddleford, get out here! Our new students are here!” A panel suddenly swung open, and a wild-looking man peered out, releasing an equally wild laugh. He was wearing an old brown pair of overalls, a cast that covered most of his left arm from the elbow down with only his fingers poking out, a large brown, and brimmed hat sat upon his head. He also had a long white beard, almost as long as he was tall! “Hoo-wee!” he exclaimed in a southern accent, “Nice ta meet’cha kiddos!”

“Children, this is my partner, Fiddleford McGucket, he owns this building! We couldn’t have the school without his cooperation!” McGucket climbed out of the hole in the machine, crawling across it like some sort of strange gecko, and revealing he also wore no shoes. He made his way over to Ford and grabbed onto the cable that supported him. They lowered themselves down to the floor and quickly walked over to the students. “Our deepest apologies, we got caught up with our work and completely lost track of time! How long have you been here fo-” “Hours. They’ve been here for hours,” Teodora interrupted, “They already had a run-in with goblins, they’ve had the usual tour, met some of the others, and all that’s left is to show them to their dorms.” “Ah, gracias, Teodora,” Ford stated awkwardly. “We also saw your brother,” Luz added, “At the sparring ring!” “Ah, so you’ve already met Stanley!” “Well, no, we didn’t talk to him, we were watching and didn’t get the chance to actually speak to him, but we did think he was you at first.” “You two look way too similar!” King snapped, pointing at him. “Heh, well, we are twins, it runs in the family,” Ford smiled with a shrug, “Anyway, it’s thanks to his efforts that I was able to return to this dimension after being gone for twenty years. So if you see his less… pleasant side, please, just remember that he does mean well.” “Less pleasant side? What do you mean by that?” Hunter asked, suspicion dripping off his voice like venom. “That’s sibling talk for annoying habits,” Luz smirked. “We should know!” King proclaimed as the two of them fist bumped. “That and uh… he does have a bit of a criminal record,” Ford scratched his cheek awkwardly. “Pft, c’mon man, what did he do?” Luz smirked, “Speeding tickets? Loitering? Maybe a drunken brawl or two?” Ford looked very uncomfortable, McGcuket and Teodora however cackled with wild laughter. “...I’m nowhere near right am I? My mentor set a uniquely high bar for me.” “T-Try regular tax fraud,” their guide choked on her laughter, “Counterfeiting, shoplifting, voter fraud, reckless driving, resisting arrest, escaping police custody, trespassing, stealing from government property-” “WAIT WHAT?!” “And that’s just some of the stuff he did last summer!”

“Oh he would definitely get along with Eda!” King’s tail became an excited, wagging blur. “So he’s a menace to society!?” Hunter exclaimed in disbelief, “How can you let a man like that near your students?! He should be locked away to be reformed!” “Now now children,” Ford put out his hands to calm them, “Yes my brother has a checkered past but these days he focuses his efforts on the school and our students. If there’s anyone I’d trust your safety with, it’s him. Now then,” he clapped his hands together, “Enough about that, I’m sure you’re wondering what this is.” He gestured to the large machine he and McGucket had been working on, and a sense of great importance seemed to radiate from it. “This is the portal. It’s an improved version of the original one that sent me away all those years ago. This model is made with newer tech, and a better understanding of how the worlds work! Twenty years makes so much difference, but with the information we’ve learned from your fellow students, we’ve made progress faster than I ever could have predicted!” “Wait… this… this is it… this is the thing that’s gonna get us back to the Boiling Isles?” Luz asked, pointing quietly at it. “Yes, it is. It's the culmination of a lifetime of work and research, and once we can locate your world, you’ll be able to use it to return.” “It… It does work… doesn’t it?” Hunter asked, his voice choking. “Yes, it does, it just needs time to power up first. Obviously we have to turn it off when making repairs or improvements, and those take time, but it does work.” “...where did you get the Titan’s blood to make it work?” “Titan’s blood? I don’t know what you’re referring to, young man, but we use toxic waste to power it.” “TOXIC WASTE?!” Luz exclaimed in disbelief, “Isn’t that dangerous?!” “Well the kind we need is largely inert. You’re alright so long as you don't have prolonged and unprotected exposure to it. It’s like taking an X-ray, a single exposure won’t hurt you, but doing it twenty times a day for forty years will definitely destroy your cells and give you cancer.” She stared in disbelief at his analogy. “Spending too much time with Rick Sanchez there Fordsy,” Theodora said with a disgusted look, “Could have left out that last bit.” “Ah yes, sorry, the company I kept during my time in other dimensions wasn’t anywhere close to what you would call normal.” “Apparently not.” “Either way, once we have our current modifications to the portal done, we’ll fire it up and start looking for the isles. However-” Of course, there was always a catch. “We need as much information the three of you can give us about the world as possible.” …okay that wasn’t nearly as bad as the trio had been expecting. “Didn’t you go there?” King piped up, “You should know what it’s like.” “I only saw a small part of a singular town,” he explained, “And that was years ago, things can change very fast in a very short amount of time. If we opened the portal to that world but it showed us a location none of you were familiar with, we might not realize it’s your world and we’d continue the search elsewhere.” All of their stomachs dropped at that implication. “That’s why we need as much information as you can offer, any tiny bit of extra information might be the key to helping us recognize it.” “I… what do you need to know?” Luz asked, only to muffle a yawn as soon as the words left her mouth. “Oh, nothin’ right now youngin’,” McGucket piped up, “We ain’t even got the thing up an’ runnin’ yet! And ya’ll still need ta see yer rooms! Ya can tell us what ya’ll know later! Fer now, why don’t cha all head on topside to get some rest? It’s been a long day for ya and yer probably dern near ready ta collapse!” Luz had to admit he was probably right. They had been up early that morning, rode a plane across the country, had the worst car ride of their lives, went on a tour, gotten attack by goblins, met dragons, ghosts, ninjas, saw a fight, had an amazing dinner, and were only just now finishing the aforementioned tour. She was probably going to fall asleep the moment she laid down and the adrenalin had the chance to leave her system. “Teo dear, could ya-” “I’m on it!” She grabbed the trio again and pushed them towards the door. “Let’s get you guys to your dorms and then some sleep huh?” “I don’t need sleep!” Hunter protested, “I need to learn about getting back home!” “Trust me buddy, it isn’t going anywhere, and tackling the problem with a clear mind will be a lot better than doing it when you’re half asleep!” “...Luz…” King tugged on her legging as they walked, “Is that thing really gonna get us home?” There was a twinge of painful hope in his tiny voice. “...of course it will,” she had tears stinging her eyes as she said that, and a lump forming in her throat. She hoped it would. Teodora took them up to the second floor and to the hallways with the dorm rooms. They could hear others talking and laughing beyond some of the doors, some early to bed early to risers maybe? “This is your room Hunter,” she gestured to a thick brown door, “A single, just like you asked.” “Thank you, Teodora,” he said stiffly but politely before entering, “Goodnight.” He closed the door with an audible click, soft enough to not be disturbing to others on the floor but loud enough that the three left in the hallway could hear some force in it. “Hmph, Mr. Personality right there,” she frowned. Luz’s room was in the other hallway. The door was the same as all the rest, but just standing there, staring at it… it felt heavier somehow, without her ever touching it. She took a deep, shaky breath, before reaching out and opening the door. It wasn’t quite as simple as she had been expecting it to be. To the left was a queen sized bed with pale blue sheets and a matching comforter, decorated with at least six pillows and drawers for clothes underneath. A small bookcase sat at the foot of the bed, waiting to be filled, and the wall beside it was also bare, ready to be decorated and personalized. Her bags were sitting next to the bed, as if they had been waiting for her this whole time. On the right hand side was a loft bed, with a small desk under it, books and clothes were scattered haphazardly around that half of the room. A short string of fairy lights hung around a small cork board that hung on the wall that the desk was pressed against, a small lamp stood on it, illuminating a small collection of books. They seemed to primarily be on coding, but there were also a few textbooks on advanced math Luz couldn’t quite recognize. “Oh, hey, you’re here.” From the top of the loft bed, a smiling face looked down at them before heading to the ladder and hurriedly climbing down. It was a girl, maybe a little younger than Luz but she couldn’t be sure due to her height. She had autumn red hair tied back into a ponytail, black framed glasses, was wearing a red and tan letterman jacket over a burgundy hoodie and blue jeans. “You must be my new roommate!” “Uh, yeah, I’m Luz Noceda, and this is King Clawthorne.” “Hiya!” the little demon waved. “Whoa, talking stuffed animal!” “I’m a demon!” he corrected. “Ah, demon, got it, sorry. I’m Tulip Olsen, nice to meet you both,” she smiled, holding her hand out, Luz was happy to shake it. “I’ll leave you guys to settle in and bond,” Teodora smiled as she headed for the door, “Get along guys!” She closed the door behind her and they were alone.

“So…” Tulip looked at them awkwardly. “Um… before we talk or anything, is it alright if I call my mom first? I promised her I would and it’s getting late back home, she’s probably worried by now.” “Oh yeah sure, go ahead.” “Thanks…” Luz opened up her bag and pulled out her phone. She quickly opened up her contacts on FaceTime and tapped the one for her mom. It rang only twice before it was answered. “Hello?”

“Ola Mamá!” “Luz! How are you mija? Are you alright? Are you settling in?” “Mom, Mom, I’m okay, really! I just got a bit caught up with some things and only just now got to my dorm room.” “Only now? Haven’t you been there for a while? Was your flight late? I checked online but everything left on time.” “No nothing like that Mom, we actually had a private jet pick us up, don’t ask me how that got arranged, I have no idea. As for why I’m so late, we had to get the grand tour of the school, find out where everything is, meet a few of the other students, had dinner… had a small run-in with some local pests but it was alright in the end!” “Local pests?”

“Don’t worry about it, I’m alright, we’re all alright. Oh! This is my roommate, Tulip!”

She turned her phone so the redhead could be seen on screen.

“Hello,” she greeted politely.

“Ola,” her mom said with a small wave, “It’s very nice to meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you too ma’am.”

“Anyways Mom,” she turned her phone back to show her, and let out a yawn, “I… I kinda wanted to apologize. For the whole fireworks and snakes thing back at school. I… was so caught up in my own head with how it would look that I didn’t realize how dangerous it was. I kinda got a wake up call when I got here and just… I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for that.”

“Luz… oh mija, you look so tired, do you need to go to bed?”

“Not yet, I still need to unpack my stuff. I probably will as soon as I’m done though.”

“Alright, you can tell me more in the morning love, I’ll… I’ll leave you to settle in.”

“Alright Mamá… I love you.”

“I love you too mija.”

It took a moment for her to work up the ability to hang up, but when she did, she began to feel choked up. King hugged her tightly as she did.

“Here.”

She hadn’t heard Tulip walking over towards her, but now she was standing by her bed and holding out a box of tissues.

“Gracias…” Luz took a handful and wiped her eyes.

“So… your mom knows the truth about this place?” the redhead asked softly but awkwardly.

“Y-Yeah… w-why wouldn’t she?”

“It’s just… well… Not all of the parents who send kids here do.”

“They… they don’t?”

“Nope, if they don’t know about the whole other worlds thing, or if they don’t believe it, Ford portrays the school as some specialized therapy school for kids with trauma or behavioral issues or something like that. My parents certainly don’t know.”

“Really…?”

“Yeah, they think I just ran away… which I kinda did, I just wanted to go to Computer Camp, ending up on the Train wasn’t part of the plan.”

“Train?”

“I’ll tell ya later, c’mon, I’ll help you unpack.”

“...thanks Tulip.”

For the next half hour, the two girls and the tiny demon put away most of Luz’s more vital belongings; decorative and personalized belongings could wait until tomorrow when she was more awake. King only a few minutes before the long day finally caught up to him and he fell asleep on one of the pillows. Luz sat down on the bed a few minutes after they finished, rubbing his back and humming Spanish lullabies to him. The exhaustion caught up to her all at once and before Tulip even realized it, both of her new roommates had fallen asleep within five minutes of each other.

#Wayward Strays #The Owl House #American Dragon: Jake Long #Danny Phantom #randy cunningham: 9th grade ninja #tales of arcadia #legend quest #xiaolin showdown #gravity falls #infinity train #crossover #fanfic

[sakuraswordly]

Punch: My country was like a dictatorship. Being pressured both in life and mentally He wanted his people to be mindless robots. But after my father found us and helped me and my mother. Everyone from another country gives us happiness and takes care of us like one big family. That's why I was jealous of Sonic a lot. I want to be like him, not a human. He's not human that's what I like and love about him.

Danny: But in the end, Punch saved your country and completely changed the regime. You still do for people even if you hate your homeland.

Punch: I just do it because I hate it. It's just pain in my sight that's all.

Danny: You and golden king are totally the same. Hehe. Enkidu told me that you guys' mouth does not match his heart.

Punch:.............(Make a grumpy face with red cheeks)

Punch: But because Sonic didn't have a human vessel anymore so he's in very danger. I...we thought taking him to seal dimension was a great idea but in the end. That bad God found him. It is our fault for letting this happen.

Owlbert: Hoo....Hoo...[Are you still feeling bad for your brother and yourself?]

Punch: We've both been rejected by the world. We both feel the same threat and yet here we were killing each other in the end. I nearly lost him because of that at that time when we try to recuse Chester. Shadow and Tails didn't mad at me at all. They said they understand me because I and Sonic are similar.

Punch: Sonic's wish is just simple. "Freedom". This wish for the world and universe is also the desire of Mr Gilgamesh and me too. Our childhood dream.

Homura: I understand and I knew that feeling. When you choose something more than the world and people. But you still do for people and lives. I am too....and here I am. But your real hate is gone. Your real sadness is gone.

Punch: Actually, I'm not that weak to let that emotion control me in my life. I've experienced hate and sympathy. I'm a freak. I know that from the very beginning. I'm tired and hated this cruel world and everything around me. Even though I know it's not their fault, I just can't forgive them. But guess what? My brother Sonic. He's a child, an innocent child so basically he should hate me. My brother still accepts me. He still forgives me. Because of him, I make it this far.

Punch: But I'll become his sword and continue this wish. I thought I go alone. I walked a path like the leader, the king. I will watch this world to the very end. But because Syaoran and Peter...they taught me what love, family and friendship means. Why humans can't be alone? Why is "love" as humans I know different from "Love" as other species? I gain more humans because of them. That's why Homura...my real hate and real sadness were gone.

Homura: I know what you mean Punch...but I still don't know what my love is so good for you then.

Danny: Homura. Don't worry. I will be the one to teach you about that. After all, I am not human anymore! I am a ghost so...!!

Homura: But your friends, family and Sam...what about them? I came to find you to bring you back to normal remember?! Also, you forgot the promise with Sonic and Punch?!

Danny: I know Homura. I still do not forget those. But both Sonic and Punch taught me to live a life every minute to the fullest. They taught me how to be happy. That's why I won't forget that friendship pact we made.

Punch: Me too Danny.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gilgamesh: Mystic eyes of death perception what we had. When I saw with my eyes around me. It's just like "The fabric of the universe".

Source: dailymail

Merlin: That dark matter could be a complex entity that acts as the ending point for an intelligent race, allowing them to escape from all dangers. 

Gilgamesh: That's how our power works. Gate of Babylon, Speed of Sound, Hologram Computer and Magic. Those are the power of the god of nothingness.

Peter: Also, power creates lives and the fabric of time. This power has nothing to do with the curse of Vaten Hörmulegt. But Gil.....your curse...

Gilgamesh: Don’t say anything.

Peter:..................

Merlin: So you going to tell me that this power can be able to rip the world and create the world again? 

Gilgamesh: Just like that time when Sonic and Punch fought. No one saw their power only two of them can see what's the true power of Mystic eyes. Enuma Elish or Enūma Eliš is just the name I gave so it kinda not do anything about my magic. I have power but never used it until I met Punch again in Babylon. I always use the Gate of Babylon and the Sword of Ea. To avoid the danger coming to me. My Gate of Babylon just similar like science fiction is "the portal"--an extraordinary opening in space or time that connects travellers to distant realms. A good portal is a shortcut, a guide, a door into the unknown. If only they existed....

Merlin: But why are you giving this information to us?

Gilgamesh: There was once a stupid brother who told me how powerful friendship is. That's why I need someone to protect my Vimana. So you should know about me a bit.

Peter: As I know from Punch. Vimana is the structure over the garbhagriha or inner sanctum in the Hindu temples of South India and Odisha in East India. In typical temples of Odisha using the Kalinga style of architecture, the vimana is the tallest structure of the temple, as it is in the shikhara towers of temples in West and North India.

Picture Appearance: Fate/Zero

Gilgamesh: Not that flying palaces! I mean this one! This airship can change its shape to a flying palaces too! It totally advances more than that garbage.

Peter: So basically you stole it.

Gilgamesh: Shut up.

*Bonk*

Peter: Ouch!

Gilgamesh: Enuma Elish is a creation story that narrates the beginnings of the cosmos and the gods, in contrast to the Epic of Gilgamesh, which is a tale about a king's search for immortality. While both books provide us with knowledge of Mesopotamian civilization, they do so from various angles. The myth tells the story of the great god Marduk's victory over the forces of chaos and his establishment of order at the creation of the world.

Peter: But because they are similar so you name your sword anyway.

Gilgamesh: Want to be hurt, dog?

Peter: Okay. I'm out.

Merlin: You really love books, don't you?

Gilgamesh: I'm not against that. But of course, without Mokona to translate different languages. Mystic eyes can translate different languages too. Those lines are like a logic computer or code you say.

Merlin: (He changes the topic too fast.)

Peter: (Just leave him.)

Gilgamesh: Eyes that can perceive "death" as visual information. The “death” that these eyes read and see is not the “end of life activities” but the “concept” of “the end that will come someday” death, the limit of existence. In addition, although it is called "magic eye", it is officially a kind of supernatural power. The supernatural power of direct death functions only when the eyeballs that can visualize death and the brain that can recognize and understand it is aligned. There is no point in transplanting it to another person like a general mystic eye, and conversely, even if the eyeball is crushed, it is possible to visualize death. "Death" is visible in lines and dots and has no intensity. The "line of death" represents the mortal line of existence, and if the line is traced, it will cut through the subject, no matter how tough it may be. As long as it exists with an "end that will come someday", it can kill anything (sometimes even concepts are no exception). As an accompanying effect, you will be able to see supernatural things that are invisible to ordinary people, such as spirits, supernatural powers, and magic. It is impossible to "kill" uncertain things such as the "future", but the "future" that is determined by looking into the future is different. It is also possible to poke only lines and points related to a limited part in the object. For example, it can be applied as a treatment because it can be used as a treatment because it can be eliminated without harming others by killing only poisonous substances and diseased internal organs in the body. It should be noted that it is possible to kill anything just by touching it, but the result is just "death", so it is not included in " magic ".

Picture Source from The Garden of Sinners: Future Gospel

Peter: So then this power can see the real future right? Both me and Punch turn back time but can't change the future. 

Gilgamesh: That's right. The real future can't change but not nothing at the end of time has a future so we can change it. That's my plan. What the Mother of Mifune and old lady Fortune Telling whom Watanuki met told, I also have the same as them, Clairvoyance see the future. But Punch had Clairvoyance and saw both past, present and future. But her power is not strong enough yet.

Peter: Gil...you seem hiding something. About Punch....

Gilgamesh: I'm sorry but this information only Me and Punch knew. Me and Punch....we're the same...

Peter: Okay......

Gilgamesh: Okay, let's get back to work, mongrel.

Merlin: So how's Syaoran?

Peter: He's okay but he did worry about Gil so he beg me to keep an eye on him.

Peter: I'll keep his promise...both Arthur and Syaoran....You and Queen gwenaelle too.

Merlin: I see. I'm glad. Don't forget this too. We're best friends.

Punch: You don't have your real destiny or even the horoscope of death. No matter how many gods want to change your fate or kill you. They can't like the spoon no matter what wants to bend in front of you now it bends but the truth is it didn't bend. If they want to change you they need to know your true identity first. 

Announce9

※※ Read from left to right, top to bottom

言語：日本語(Pixiv)(以下のコンテンツは Pixiv で Google 翻訳を使用しており、情報はありません。)

(Fra nå av skal jeg slutte å oversette norsk fordi jeg tror du allerede har hatt noen til å oversette Tsubasa of Phantasia for meg nå. Har jeg rett?)

(Héðan í frá ætla ég að hætta að þýða íslensku því ég held að þú hafir nú þegar fengið einhvern til að þýða Tsubasa of Phantasia fyrir mig. Hef ég rétt fyrir mér?)

If you mistake Sonic and King Gilgamesh's personality, that means you never understand Punch's personality.

Search: #hint

#sakuraswordly #announce #tsubasa of phantasia concept #tsofph season 11 #punch whalen #character analysis #mystic eyes of death perception #tsofph peter pan #[These contents will be put into Special episodes as Comic in the future.] #Note: Gilgamesh and Peter's relationship similar to Arthur and Merlin friendship #Note: That first picture is parallel with Prologue(Sonic). #Note: Relationship between Gilgamesh and Punch similar to Relationship between Gilgamesh and Hakuno chan #the shining stars who give hope. #I like bringing this up every so often. #Still Punch and Gilgamesh are not the same as Shiki and SHIKI but they are hard to describe in words so stop here for now.

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Character Origins: Grigori Rasputin

Now I’m not saying I myself am the creator of Rasputin. As we all know, there lived a certain man in Russia long ago; he was big and strong, and in his eyes a flaming glow. We know the song. But I came up with this version of Rasputin, this fictionalized take on him, so I’m gonna talk about him and the numerous headaches he has caused me.

Rasputin was always planned to be in the book from the start. In the earliest planning notes he was in the last Order of the Black Orchard before Eve got turned into a snake, and this was the case in the Pokemon RP, where he debuted as a Zoroark… and as a woman. That version of Rasputin could regenerate his body into whatever he wanted, and he wanted to be a girl named Anastasia. Bisexual trans Rasputin? Sure.

Personality-wise, I decided he’d stay mostly the same and remain a free-spirited, fun wizard. Unfortunately, this was before I bothered doing research into historical characters I wanted to use, which led to several problems. The first was his age. As it turned out, Rasputin was a bit young during the time frame of Dracula’s school leading up to his death, too young to be friends with the nearly 30 year old Marianna. Because of this, I eventually decided Rasputin’s historical origins were fabricated in-universe so he could work for the tsar. He was actually born early in the 19th century and his father earlier than that.

The second issue is his power as described in the prologue. This was made before I’d really established vampire lore or decided Sebastian Darke was going to be the overarching villain of the series, which leads to Rasputin’s power sticking out as exceptionally strange. It doesn’t even make sense an immortal being would have an ability that only activate on death! Expect that to be altered in the next draft, though Rasputin is still likely to have some sort of possession ability; perhaps I’ll make it more like what Danny Phantom does?

The third issue is just the whole prologue in general. I hate how it turned out. It’s a terrible debut for everyone involved, it’s written extremely awkwardly (mostly because I write for every character in it and I have trouble if I don’t have one of my wife’s characters to bounce off of), it uses way too much early draft characterization, and worst of all there were glaring errors such as a bad typo IN THE FIRST PARAGRAPH as well as Rasputin referring to Eve as a demon despite it already being decided she was an angel in this draft. Even after touching up a few glaring errors, I still really hate the prologue. You bet your ass it’s getting a major overhaul in the third draft.

My original idea for the original trilogy was that Rasputin would appear in the prologue and epilogue of each book with his POV as a sort of running gag. I’ve come to realize this won’t exactly work, but he’ll at least get the POV in the first book’s epilogue. And really, I think that’s how it should be. Rasputin is a minor character, and I never expected him to be more than that. He’ll have an expanded role in book 2 supporting a major character, but he’s just not someone I can see carrying scenes or storylines.

On a fun little note, I decided that this Rasputin rescued Anastasia from her fate and adopted her, and that she is currently a vampire working for a hunter organization in Russia. Will she ever appear? Probably. I just wanted to have a funny little subversion of the movie that most of us know an immortal wizard Rasputin from.

#the vampirino story #Rhine city

[liang-rexy]

I drew my alternate universe Danny. I posted the drawings to Lofter earlier. 🤔

DON'T repost.

I imitated @krossan 's art style again, and this time I tried to use her design for humans (/humaniods), but didn't really imitate every way of simplification or shading/ colouring (I also kind of changed the proportion of the character). My lines look different from Krossan's art , and it's pretty obvious.

I spent lots of time working on the lineart. I used some ink painting methods, and the lines look pretty nice. 😂 Designing the action/ pose wasn't a very big problem for me, but I am not familiar with human anatomy, so it did take me quite some time to figure out the construction and how to design a fine proportion. I spent some more time on designing the clothes. I gave Danny some really baggy clothes (basically my clothes but with different colours) (and perhaps the clothes are too big for him) so that I could draw interesting folds. At first the fabric was drawn too complicated, so I simplified the design several times (I redrew and redrew … 😅). I can draw some even simpler clothes (just take a look at my other posts), but it was not my purpose of drawing this. Anyway, I can talk a lot more about creating lineart, but not this time. (I am not sure if I know how to explain some theories in English) 🤔

The lineart here was not really meant for a coloured drawing and I didn't thought much about colouring when I drew the lineart. I don't actually enjoy shading or colouring, and apparently I am better at creating lineart. If I want to colour something, I prefer to design a simpler line drawing, and sometimes won't have to draw some very nice lines (yeah theoretically I can draw sketchier lines in that case, but I don't usually draw "rough" lines since I'm probably not good at that) (or I can just try something that's more like acrylic/ oil painting). The coloured one took me about 3 hours and 20 minutes to colour. 😓The coloured drawing is not as good as my line drawing, and it has something to do with the proportion of elements (such as lines, light and shade, colours, textures, etc.). 😂

After carefully drawing the lineart and colouring the character, I added some simple shade very quickly. The shade is really really rough, since I just wanted to see how to deal with colours. The drawing with simple shade here looks a bit better than the coloured one mentioned above. When I want to draw light and shade as well as colours, I often design environments that are a bit more complicated than the light background of the shaded one here in order to see how the colours affect each other, how the coloured light affect the environment, and to try to achieve colour harmony, which is basically what I do when I paint some particular kinds of paintings. In this case, I created some buildings (in fact, abstract textures would be alright as well) around Danny. I also needed to tell what Danny was feeling, so the environment was pretty important. (The light and shade in the drawings don't make much sense, but it doesn't matter because the drawings look fine) I like the red one, so it's more detailed and carefully drawn than the blue one. Honestly I can draw better light and shade and use a variety of greys to create a better drawing (or painting?), but this time I didn't want to focus on colours and light, so these two drawings are supposed to be rougher than my lineart. 😂

I planned to draw blood but I was too tired to study blood or find some references. In the end there's no blood in the drawing.

My posts on Lofter:

无厘头羽王龙嘅第124篇原创文章。

于2021年5月16日发布。

#this danny looks like that #i wrote a long post again #长文章 #danny phantom #danny phantom au #alternate universe #渡鸦之翼 #wings of the ravens #character design #lineart #danny fenton #this danny is basically an alternate version of dark danny so i tagged the names #dark danny #dan phantom #i wanted to draw danny bleeding or sth but it would be too difficult for me to draw well #danny sees something and he does not feel well #i have been writing stories about the alternate universe but i don't have much time to create little comics #i am also working on my original things #i should get some rest

[daisybeewrites]

The Best Medecine

word count: 2.7k

warnings: fluffflufffluff

requested? no i just needed to see daisy take care of daniel

ship: dousy/daniel sousa x daisy johnson

PART 2!! idr have an authors note today, just enjoy :)

(gif not mine)

Daniel felt like crap. 

He had caught Daisy’s cold, and the effects were hitting him harder than a ton of bricks. 

Daisy had recovered fairly quickly after he smoothly convinced her to take the proper medicine and rest. They had a great few days where both of them felt alive and normal, not like zombie versions of themselves. Going grocery shopping (avoiding the soup aisle, they already had a freezer full), taking a day trip to hike the Eaton Canyon trail and picnic, testing out a new prosthetic Fitz designed, and pulling an all-nighter to binge-watch Grey’s Anatomy completed the week wonderfully.

Things were going great! Almost too great. Things never go this great in their universe. Which is why neither of them were surprised when Daniel shot up in bed at 4am sneezing, waking Daisy and, she joked, the rest of the street. He tried to go back to sleep, only to wake up with a loud achoo! ten minutes later. Daniel rubbed his forehead, the pressure centered between his eyebrows insisting that he was not going to get any sort of true rest that day. 

He told a sleepy Daisy that he felt fine, that he just needed a hot bath. It was probably just the spring allergies, right? Nothing to worry about, Daniel told himself as he swung his leg over the side of the bed, grabbing his crutches and lumbering to the bathroom. He splashed his face with warm then cold water before quickly checking that Daisy was asleep again, her silhouette rising with deep breaths, outlined in diffused blue light from the stars on the ceiling. Maybe he could shake this before it got too bad? Surely, it wouldn’t disrupt his routine too much?

Daniel quietly crutched to the soft couch, grabbing a blanket from the pile on the armchair. The flannel of the blankets and the comfortable give of the couch lulled Daniel into a restless sleep. 

Early morning turned to late morning turned to afternoon, Daniel only waking up from tossing and turning when Daisy shook him and offered a sinus pill, which he gulped down with an entire cup of cool water. Three ice cubes shaped like half moons knocked into each other as he tipped the cup back, letting the smooth liquid drown out the scratchiness in his throat.

A glance at the clock alarmed him, mentally calculating how long he slept. He noticed the second quilt that had been laid on top of him, the fleecy textile one Daisy frequently curled up with when she had a bad day. He could faintly smell her coconut and lavender conditioner. It tickled his nose.

“Sweetheart?” Daniel called weakly.

“Mmm?” Daisy hummed.

“I slept for fourteen hours?” Though he asked a question, his tone was almost a statement.

Daisy nodded, slightly smiling. “I think you caught my cold. Maybe cuddling so much wasn’t a good idea.”

Daniel chuckled a little, but stopped when he saw the flicker of worry in her eyes. He reached over to her and grabbed her hand. “I don’t regret any time spent helping you feel better, Daisy.”

She smiled, mirroring his expression. Their eyes both crinkled at the sides, happy gazes taking in the other. Daisy’s eyes still furrowed though, and Daniel cleared his throat, trying to get rid of the frog there before speaking. The action only scratched his throat, a string of coughs interrupting the couple’s staring contest. 

“Hey, could you bring me som—” Daniel was cut off by more crackling coughs. Daisy threw him a concerned glance. He could hardly keep his eyes open, hands clammy and forehead burning, body shaking with hacks. He could feel the dip in the cushion as Daisy moved to sit down beside him, resting her hand on his forehead. Her cool skin felt incredible on his. He understood why she liked it so much when he had done the same. 

He slowly opened his eyes, ignoring the dry, itchy feeling and opting to focus on Daisy above him. She looked beautiful, like an angel, with airy morning light surrounding her and two messy braids running down her back. She was his angel. His angel was smirking at the way he leaned into her touch. 

“These?” she asked, as she held up a small, blue box of tissues. He nodded, swallowing thickly before sitting up and scooting back to lean against the rounded arm of the tan couch. Daisy laughed quietly. 

“What?”

She continued giggling, her small laugh growing a little.

“What’s funny?”

Daisy leaned forward and rested a hand on his thigh for balance. 

“You’re wearing those pajama pants I got you for Christmas,” she explained. He glanced down, recognizing the tiny planets of their solar system dyed into the plush fabric. “They’re cute on you.”

He smiled, gazing at Daisy. Then he sneezed. Luckily, he picked up a tissue and covered his face in time to not sneeze in Daisy’s face. Daisy leaned back, laughing. Daniel started to, too, a low rumble in his chest diffusing the nerves he had felt. This was the first time Daisy had ever seen him sick. There was that one time in space when he had almost gotten (unintentionally) poisoned by alien coffee, but that was an unpleasant memory he didn’t want to dwell on. Other than that, not a single sniffle had popped up. 

Daisy suddenly stood up and slid to the kitchen in sock feet, a large grin on her face.

“Dais, where’re you going?” he wondered out loud. 

“The kitchen, duh,” she replied as she slid to the soapstone countertops, grabbing a red and white box out of the counter. 

Daniel recognized it as Daisy’s favourite tea, she had bought it on a mission in South Africa and became enamoured with it. Sometimes Daniel would catch her up at odd hours of the night, when she couldn’t sleep, out on the back patio drinking a steaming mug of Rooibos. He knew it was her favourite, and it had slowly become his, too. Lately, they have made a habit out of winding down from long days at work with mugs in their hands, on the couch or in the backyard, red-amber liquid relaxing their minds and limbs. Those were some of his favourite times with Daisy, spent talking and drinking their tea and laughing at reruns of sitcoms.

The sound of hot water trickling into a mug pulled him out of his thoughts. The mug in question was one he had made for Daisy—large and hand painted, artsy flicks of white and yellow and blue serving as reminders of their time in space. That was a modern invention he was particularly fond of (paint your own pottery, not space). It was mesmerizing to watch the colored, chalky paint glide onto the ceramic surface. He often went to this local hole-in-the-wall café that let you paint one of their mugs and bring it home, for an extra charge. Their coffee and ‘old-fashioned southern’ biscuits were delicious.

Daniel stared as Daisy danced around the kitchen, her fishtails swishing and hips swaying. There was no music, just her. She dunked the tea bag in a couple times and let it steep. When the tea was ready, she poured in a squeeze of honey and grabbed a shiny green bottle of cough syrup, carefully walking over to the couch. Daniel gently took the mug from her, using the corner of the blanket as a barrier so as not to burn his hands. Daisy sat on the coffee table across from him, smiling as Daniel took a sip. 

“Hot!” he exclaimed.

“I know I am, you don’t have to tell me,” Daisy teased. “Do you want some ice cubes?”

“Jemma would disapprove,” Daniel shot back.

Daisy rolled her eyes and sighed. “Jemma has put up with my odd tea-drinking since 2013. I already made the tea wrong, might as well make it so that you won’t burn yourself trying to drink it.” 

Daniel watched Daisy laugh. As ill as he felt, Daisy just being there helped tremendously. The tea soothed his scratchy throat and her laugh sped up his heart. He knew the pink dust on his cheeks couldn’t be attributed to fever alone. 

The pair sat in silence for a while as Daniel finished the tea, thankful for the warm beverage. His headache was slightly dissipating, due to the tea or Daisy’s light aura he wasn’t sure. He sat the mug down on the table and leaned up to peck Daisy’s lips. She leaned in a bit putting her hand on his chest to pull away.

“How about that bath?”

“Only if you come, too,” Daniel whispered.

Daisy chuckled. “You, lover boy, are sick. If we keep this up, one of us is always going to be sick. And plus, I need you distracted while I make a surprise!”

Daniel perked up, his slight pout disappearing. “A surprise…?”

“Yes, Danny-boy, a surprise. Which means I can’t tell you, so sit here and I’ll go fill the tub and then you can feel the full effects of that chill pill.”

Daniel leaned towards Daisy, confused. “What chill pill?”

“This chill pill,” Daisy said, leaning forward until her nose almost touched his. Daniel’s head swam with the scent of her silky blonde hair and vanilla lotion. She gently rubbed her hands up and down his arms and over his shoulders. He took a moment to watch the twinkle in her eye, the warmth resonating through him. He felt the tension from staying on the couch all day slowly release, his arms coming to wrap loosely around Daisy’s back in an attempt to keep her there. She shook her head with a grin and sat up, easing off the couch.

Daisy kissed Daniel’s forehead before walking down the hall to the bathroom. Daniel watched her leave, conflicted. Shouldn’t he be able to take care of himself? He had for years, why stop now? It isn’t like he couldn’t fill up the tub, or cook or grab tissues, no matter how light headed he got. Why did she want to help him? ‘Because I love you, you stubborn square!’ Daisy would say. He could practically hear her protest, ‘Just let me take care of you! It won’t hurt!’

 If he was honest with himself, that’s all he wanted. 

So, he did.

Daisy came back into the living room, the faint sound of water rushing creating a comforting ambience. He didn’t have his leg on, as laying around all day didn’t require it and he was more comfortable without the prosthetic cramming against the back of the couch. He reached back and grabbed the pair of crutches that were leaned against the arm of the sofa. Daisy walked with him back to the bathroom, making sure he didn’t lose his balance due to dizziness from dehydration. Apparently, that was one reason Daisy had felt so horrible after her mission, she had been so busy taking down bad guys that she almost took herself down, too. Even knowing that dehydration isn’t contagious, neither of them wanted him falling into décor à la Daisy. 

They reached the bathroom, Daisy running to their room to grab an extra set of sweats for Daniel to put on once he was done. 

While she was rummaging through drawers, Daniel carefully undressed and got into the deep tub.

The bath felt incredible. He could smell the lavender from the fancy epsom salt that Daisy had gotten him wafting up from small waves he created. The water was warm, but not so hot that it burned and not so lukewarm that it would go cold in a few minutes. 

“Dais, this is first-class,” Daniel called. 

Daisy giggled a bit before responding. “First-class?”

“I know you’re poking fun, but thank you. It feels amazing.”

Daisy peeked her head around the corner, nodding. 

“I'm glad you like it. Now I'm gonna go fix that surprise. Yell if you need anything, k?”

Daniel nodded and relaxed his head back, muscles slowly easing their tension and his eyes softly closing. 

“Oh, shit!!”

Daniel startled, bath water dripping over onto the towels lining the tub. Daisy’s exclamation didn’t seem pained, but he couldn’t help his brow from creasing. He felt fairly rested, he wasn’t sure how long he had been napping in the water. It had gone from pleasantly warm to tepid, he guessed around thirty minutes at the most. 

“Dais, everything alright?”

Daisy paused before responding, “Yep! Got it all under control!”

Daniel smiled and shook his head, figuring it was probably time to get out and troop back to the living room, anyway.

He grabbed the grip-bar beside the tub and eased up, sitting on the edge before swinging his good leg around and stepping onto the floor. He grabbed a towel off his hook on the wall and started to dry off. Daisy had set a pair of comfy pants and a shirt on the counter, which he pulled on before grabbing his crutches and making his way to the kitchen. Something smelled… burnt. 

He rounded the corner, stopping in his tracks. 

“Uh, Dais?”

“It’s burned, I know,” Daisy said, disconcertedly.

“Are you okay?”

Daisy was staring disappointedly at two bowls of seemingly okay soup. She gestured loosely to the sink, Daniel’s eye following. 

“Oh, okay, yeah, I see.”

There was a large pot sitting in the sink, filled with greyish water, black bits glued to the bottom. 

“I’m sorry. I know cooking isn’t exactly my thing.”

Sousa smiled, running a hand through his wet hair. Daisy’s hands fidgeted, rubbing at her neck.

“Is the soup in the bowls good?”

Daisy looked him up and down, a twinkle of mirth in her eye, like she knew something he didn’t. She shrugged, “The char adds flavour.”

At that, Daniel grinned and stepped forward a little, leaning against the counter next to her. “I’m up for some extra flavour.”

Daisy looked over at him with an odd expression. “Even sick, never fails.”

Daniel responded immediately, “Through sickness and health.”

Daisy’s eyes went wide. 

“Relax, I’m kidding. Mostly.”

Daisy’s posture slumped a little as she hit his bicep. “Funny. You’re a funny, funny man.”

He nodded and felt a deep laugh in his chest. “I am very funny, yes.”

Daisy squinted her eyes at him, turning and picking up their bowls of soup to set on the kitchen island. She slid onto one of the backless bar stools that served as seats for when she didn’t feel like being fancy and eating at a table. Sousa took a moment before following, leaning his crutches against the cabinet after sliding onto the stool across from Daisy. He picked up a spoon and tasted the soup, swallowing down a grimace and giving her a thumbs up. 

“It's great!” Daniel exclaimed.

Daisy pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows at him, tasting a spoonful. She was not as great at acting as Daniel was, and could barely keep herself from spitting it out.

“Oh, god, that’s awful!” Despite her wry expression, she was giggling as she picked her cell out of her pajama short’s pocket. Daniel eyed her, perplexed as Daisy hit a button in her .

“Yes, hi... Thank you. Can we get six egg rolls, a small veggie fried rice, a plate of crab wontons, and a small shrimp lo-mein?... Yes! Thank you!... Alright, we’ll be there in ten. Have a good evening!” Daniel watched as Daisy hung up, a bright grin slowly spreading across her face.

Daniel mirrored her, smiling wide. “Chinese food?”

“Yep,” Daisy nodded, popping the 'p'. 

Daisy slid lithely off the seat, grabbing the bowls of blackened soup and trashing them. She felt bad, throwing away food. She never got rid of food unless she absolutely had to. Old habits die hard. 

She turned around and gave Daniel a smile. She noticed that he wasn’t as pale, his face wasn’t as flushed and he wasn’t swaying like his head was full of air. Maybe she had helped more than she thought. They walked out to Daisy’s car, a metallic dark grey crossover with slightly tinted windows. Daisy got in on the drivers side, Daniel climbing into the passenger. She cranked the car and turned up the radio, checking that Daniel was okay. It was a slightly chilly evening, and the windows were rolled down just enough to let the air in. 

The evening felt great, the cool air and orange-pink sky refreshing their senses. Daniel’s eyes were soft as he gazed at Daisy. Even though he caught her cold, he had the feeling that Daisy was the best medicine. Lucky him.

Maybe things do go this great in our universe.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

awwwwwww, cuuuuuuute! as always, feel free to drop a request in my ask box (linked in the bio) or comment any thoughts!! thanks for reading!!

#dousy #sickfic #daisy johnson x daniel sousa #major fluff #daisysous #quakersquares #timequake #fanfic #post-canon #ashby writes #danny-boy #jemma simmons #agents of shield #aos

[calumrose]

"I would've had breakfast ready, but you were sleeping on my arm and I didn't want to disturb you" with best friend!Ash pls Leah 🥺🥺🥺😴🙏

I feel like these requests are taking me a lot longer than what they should, so I’m sorry! I really wanted to make this romantic and had to remind myself that it was best friend!ash and not boyfriend!ash lmfao! Anyway, I hope I did enough and you enjoy it!

Prompt –   “I would’ve had breakfast ready, but you were sleeping on my arm and I didn’t want to disturb you.”

You could hear the rain pattering against your bedroom window as you lay awake in the hours of the early morning, your eyes remaining closed as you basked for a few extra minutes in the peaceful ambience that engulfed your bedroom. 

It was Sunday from what you could recall, the memories of the night before being almost ignored, the late hour and long-lasting laughter carrying out into the night blurring the events as they remained as the only memories you were able to pull to mind. 

It wasn’t your usual way to spend a Saturday night, but what better way to spend it than tucked up on the sofa, blankets spread over you, snacks on the table, with a bad movie marathon filling up the empty hours of a quiet night. You spent endless hours, smirking and giggling at the cheesy romantic lines of Danny Zuko as he flirted with Sandy Olsson, making poor attempts at imitating the deep voice of Bruce Wayne, and even starting a semi-heated argument over whether you were team Edward or team Jacob. Let’s just say that you called it a night after that one…

But even throughout the laughter-filled movie marathon and the endless number of snacks you ate; you had probably the best company you could have asked for that night. He didn’t even have to be there, he had other plans – you knew he did, and yet, he still came when you called him. The intention had been for him to come over and hang out, to meet up and spend a few hours together since it had been a while since you spent the night just hanging out alone, but before you knew it, the clock shifted from eleven to three and the last thing you remembered was hearing the clatter of the remote connecting with the coffee table before feeling someone lift you up, strong arms holding you close to a warm chest as they carried you through the house.

You were still in the sweatpants and t-shirt from yesterday, the fabric still soft and warm against your skin, protecting you from the cold that threatened to coat the air from the outside of your window. Your cheek was pressed against the skin of his arm as you lay in bed, your fingers having slipped between him some time throughout the night, lacing together like the fitting pieces of a puzzle, your eyes settling on the dull sky that you could see through the glass, the patter of the rain reminding you of little light clicking of a keyboard as you’d type away on your laptop, the small, rapid raindrops subtly reminding you that you had a few things that you needed to get done, a few emails that needed answers, a few projects that needed to be sent off.

It’s too early to think about that, you told yourself. There would be time for that later.

And you weren’t the only one who thought so.

“Next time you suggest we watch all of the Twilight movies in one go, I’m leaving you to have your movie night alone,” The voice grumbled from next to you, causing you to turn your head in his direction so you faced him, the rough, gravelly nature that laced his voice reminding you of a deep bass riff, the sound vibrating through you almost beautifully. “You have absolutely no taste in movies.”

“That’s the point in a bad movie night, Ashton,” You couldn’t hold back the playful eye roll, an amused laugh escaping your slightly chapped lips at his remark, “We’re supposed to watch the bad movies and hate every second of it – it’s what makes it fun.”

“I have a feeling your idea of fun is very different to mine,”

“Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, you still don’t say no when I suggest it every time, and we always have this exact same conversation the morning after,” You pursed your lips, turning onto your side, your cheek still resting on his arm that was outstretched beneath you, the warm tattooed skin was soft beneath your own, your eyes catching a glimpse of the red and black moon tattoos that travelled along his forearms, your finger coming up and lightly tracing the circumference of each individual moon before prodding the largest one and blowing a raspberry in Ashton’s direction.

Your morning boredom was beginning to set in, the lack of stimulation starting to take effect as you lay in the quiet of your room, both not quite fully awake yet as the sheets lay half across your bodies and half on the floor.

“I don’t want to move,” You spoke into the room, not necessarily towards Ashton, but instead more out into the general universe, announcing your tired disapproval towards the act of getting out of bed. Although your stomach was not a fan of your statement, the low grumble feeling like a small balloon had just burst inside of your stomach as the sound made itself heard. Maybe breakfast wasn’t such a bad idea…

You flickered your eyes up towards Ashton, a friendly yet coy smile curling at your lips as you shuffled forward a little, moving your head slightly further up his arm, your cheek now resting in the crook of his elbow, nose merely inches away his bicep. Your eyes met as you lay there, the golden hazel of the black-haired man swirling around like a hypnotic tide had you mustering up the best doe eyes you could, silently sending the request you always made when he stayed over.

Will you go and make some breakfast please?

“Bat your eyelashes all of you want, I’m not getting up yet,” Ashton could read your mind, you were sure of it, knowing the silent request that was being fired towards him through the shine in your eyes, lashes fluttering lovingly towards your best friend as you tried to be as painfully sweet as possible. You were both unbearably sweet on one another, having the kind of relationship that burned like a gentle fire, the warm flames kindling from years before and continuing to burn comfortably as you grew closer and remained friends throughout the trials and tribulations you each faced throughout your life. 

“What do you mean ‘you’re not getting up yet’? Ash, you always make breakfast when you stay, it’s routine!” You couldn’t hold back the giggle that fell from your lips, fingertips playfully jabbing into his ribs, smiling at his reaction, his body naturally and sharply jolting away from you, attempting to get out of your reach although the weight of your head on his arm didn’t allow for him to move very far. 

“You see, I would’ve had breakfast ready, but you were sleeping on my arm and I didn’t want to disturb you,” Ashton spoke through a yawn, his eyes bunching closed as his nose scrunched up as his chest gently shook with the intensity of his yawn, his free arm tensing as he reached out, muscles bulging slightly as the limb was freed from the corner of the duvet. “You looked too peaceful to wake up.”

“Oh, so it’s my fault?”

“I didn’t actually say that,” Ashton smirked, arm coming to rest between you, index finger pointing towards you, “You’re putting words in my mouth and you’re trying to start a fight you know you can’t win.”

“Uh huh, big man, we both know who wins the games out of the two of us,” Your eyes rolled, palm wrapping around his large index finger as you waved it around a little, smirking at the childish nature that slowly creeping into the atmosphere between the two of you. 

You both caught each other’s eyes from across the sheets, smirks twitching at one another’s lips, legs itching to move as you debated freeing yourself from the confinements of the falling duvet and racing downstairs like a child would do on Christmas morning. 

“Tell you what, I’ll make you a deal,” Ashton spoke up into the momentary silence, the smirk still threatening to spill from his lips, “I’ll race you downstairs and whoever loses has to make breakfast – or even better; loser gets the worst plate.”

“Oh god, you were one of those kids who looked between two plates and gave the smallest one to the other person, weren’t you?” 

Ashton looked at you with mock offence, hand coming to rest against his chest, jaw dropping slightly as he let out a dramatic gasp as he responded, “Am I really that predictable?”

“Just a bit.”

---

Send me a soft/blush prompt & I’ll write a blurb for it! :)

#thank you for the request kara!! #i hope you like it! #5sos #5 seconds of summer #5sos blurbs #5sos blurb #5sos imagines #5sos imagine #5sos one shot #5sos fanfiction #5sos fanfic #5sos fic #ashton irwin #ashton irwin one shot #ashton irwin blurbs #ashton irwin blurb #ashton irwin imagines #ashton irwin imagine #ashton irwin fanfiction #ashton irwin fanfic #ashton irwin fic #best friend!ashton #requested #karajaynetoday

[appiomofchoice]

38 and 43 for the christmas otp prompts with bryce x mc pls! 😍😍😍😍😍

Thank you for the request!!!! <3 (And for always being the purest sweetest soul on this entire site. <3) I hope it’s okay that I modified some of these situations a tiny bit. 

Also this got kind of long and a little sad, I’m sorry 😭 It takes place during the time skip in Book 2. 

38: ACCIDENTALLY WEARING MATCHING NAUGHTY/NICE JUMPERS IN PUBLIC AND THEN BUMPING INTO EACH OTHER.

43: Crawling into their roommate’s (S/O’s) bed because it is too cold in their own and they want cuddles.

From this list

I hope you like it!!! <3

~

The apartment had been decked out for the holidays: a plug-in Christmas tree gleamed in the corner, red and green lights blinked across the ceiling, stockings dangled on each of the bedroom doors, and all of the roommates were looking merry and bright for the party, with the exception of...

"I know you have something more festive," said Sienna, rummaging through Darcy’s closet. The ornaments on her pine green sweater dress jingled as she jumped for a pile of sweaters on the top shelf, making Darcy look positively Grinch-y in her long-sleeved red shirt and dark green jeans (”black,” insisted every single one of her colorblind roommates).

She understood the need for holiday cheer, especially this year. She’d almost died. Rafael had almost died. Bobby and Danny had died. They were all losing their jobs and working themselves to the bone until then. And who knew if they’d even find new ones in the new year, or if this was the end of all of the friendships they’d made since coming here? It hurt her heart to think about it. 

And it hurt a little less when she was looking at Elijah’s Darth Vader Christmas sweater.

"Aha!” exclaimed Sienna. “What about this?"

Darcy caught the sweater that flew out of her closet, frowning as she unfurled it. In the center of the polka-dotted green fabric was the image of a red stocking labeled "Naughty" and filled with coal. 

"This isn't mine,” she said. She had a vague memory of being baffled by its appearance in her laundry one day.

“It’s a Christmas miracle! Put it on!”

Darcy laughed and tugged the sweater on over her head. A little big for her, but warm and comforting all the same. "I think I stole this from someone at the laundromat," she mused.

“It’s a good thing you got a naughty one, then,” laughed Sienna.

She beamed at Darcy for a moment before pulling her into a sudden hug. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she said, squeezing her tight.

Darcy squeezed her back. “Better here than arguing with my family,” she answered, knowing that that wasn’t what Sienna meant by “here.”

~

As Sienna left to check on her thirty-eighth batch of cookies, Darcy's phone buzzed with a message from Bryce.

Bryce: mrrfr to ntomh smuyjomh

And still, still, she felt her lips quirk into a stupid smile. Just at his name. She tapped out a response.

Darcy: 🙂 what?

Bryce: sorry sent that with my eyes closed 😂 need me to bring anything?

Darcy: just yourself!

Darcy: also nobody would blame you if you bailed

Bryce: but would i if i debrided you of my pressure of my pleasantries

Bryce: devided. pleasure of my

And then, after about five minutes of "Bryce is typing...":

Bryce: deprived you of the pleasure of my presence

He’d scrubbed in on a seventeen-hour surgery approximately eighteen hours ago. It was a career-making surgery, he said, just the thing to guarantee his spot in a residency program at any hospital he wanted. 

(Except for Edenbrook, of course, which is what they all really wanted.)

Darcy: please don't drive

Bryce: worried about me? 😘

Darcy began tapping out a response: "just worried that I might get called into work again to patch up a dumbass who drove on no sleep and got into a..."

But the mental images she was concocting were actually terrifying. So she deleted it. She was not putting that energy out into the universe. Not with the year they were having.

Darcy: yes dummy

Darcy: i am requesting that you arrive in one piece

Darcy: and! if you want to leave that way you will also arrive in holiday attire! sienna's orders

Bryce: urdssm

~

Turnout was better than expected, and when the doorbell rang around midnight, too many people were engrossed in the beer pong battle (Ethan and Sienna against Zaid and Ines) to notice. Not Darcy, who was filling a mug with coffee in the kitchen, vehemently denying that she was waiting for anyone in particular.

She almost dropped the coffee when she answered the door and realized exactly where she’d picked up her mysterious sweater. The realization was triggered by the sight of its twin: coal replaced with toys, “naughty” replaced with “nice,” and Darcy’s bony frame replaced with Bryce’s broad chest.

“Oh, hey, my sweater," he said, smirking slightly as he leaned against the door frame. "I’ve been looking for it for like a year. You must really miss me when I'm not around."

"It's my sweater now," she teased. She'd stolen it fair and square off his floor a year ago, she was certain, in the early stages of their...whatever this was.

Was that really how long they'd been doing this? It felt like they’d met much longer ago...and it felt like their time was running out too quickly now.

But she pushed the thoughts away. "You don't think you're getting this back, do you?"

"Nah, naughty looks good on you,” said Bryce, taking a step forward, making her breath catch slightly.

And this would have been the part where he whispered something suggestive in her ear, she knew, but she saw his eyes flick towards her coffee mug, the aroma distracting his poor sleep-deprived brain.

She passed him the mug. “If you’re insisting on staying awake for this... Here.”

His smirk morphed into a surprised smile, almost shy as he took the mug from her hands. She couldn’t name the expression in his eyes as he looked at her, but it was like being wrapped in a blanket.

A mix of cheers and boos broke out by the beer pong table, drawing their attention away from each other.

“Wow, Sienna’s really taking this seriously,” observed Bryce.

“I think it helps,” said Darcy. “I think she’s taking it kind of hard. This being our last holiday all together.” She didn’t dare look at him. Sienna wasn’t the only one taking it hard. “How long have you been awake, anyway?” she asked.

"Twenty hours,” he said, a little proudly. “I went forty hours multiple times in med school. This is nothing. I feel rejuvenated! Alive! Who needs sleep?” 

But he took a long gulp of coffee to punctuate the sentiment. 

“Okay, energizer bunny,” she laughed. “But my bed’s empty if you need to crash.”

He grinned at her, and she swore she could hear his brain chugging away at a suggestive quip: Something like Sounds like you’re trying to get me into your bed. Or, Only if you’re there, too. Or, You know better than anyone that I could go all night. 

She was surprised when he settled on something sincere: "I'm here to spend time with you. I'm not wasting a minute of it asleep."

But before she could react, there came another mix of cheers and boos from the crowd. 

And in a moment, Sienna jingled cheerfully over to them, a triumphant look on her face.

“You’re next!” she said, taking their hands and dragging them to the table without waiting for a response. And then, with a sly grin at Darcy, she added, “I didn’t know you two went to the same laundromat.”

~

Despite his best intentions, Bryce was out in an hour, stretched across the couch with his arms folded over his chest. ("I'm not tired." "Okay, Bryce." "We're getting a rematch." "Okay, Bryce." "I'm just gonna...close my eyes for a second." "Okay, Bryce.") Most of the party had evaporated, leaving just the roommates and Rafael settled around the couch, watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

“I think Bryce has the right idea,” yawned Rafael as the credits rolled, standing up. “Great party.

“Yeah, I’m partied out,” agreed Aurora.

Slowly, the other roommates murmured their agreement, Rudolph was shut off, and...

“No, you guys,” said Sienna, scrambling after them. “We don’t have much time left together! We can’t spend it asleep.”

Darcy pulled her into a hug. (She was the sappy drunk, after all.) “Aw, Sienna. It’s not about the quality of time, it’s the quantity of time.” She blinked. “Wait, no. It’s the...”

“Well, the quality sucks,” complained Elijah, gesturing to the sad-looking “party.” “It’s not even one-thirty. Is this what getting old feels like?”

“You know what?” said Jackie, pulling on her Santa hat resolutely. “No. Come on.” She snatched a marker off the coffee table, tossed another to Elijah, and made her way draw on Bryce’s face.

He didn’t even stir.

Darcy laughed and couldn’t help adding a heart. (Which drew some knowing glances from her friends. But in her somewhat tipsy state, she didn’t really care.)

“That’s not in the spirit of the season,” chastised Sienna, looking aghast. 

She collected each of the markers, jingling softly...before uncapping a red one and drawing a large red circle on his nose. 

“Now that’s in the spirit of the season,” she said, grinning.

They gathered into a group hug, and Darcy looked around, thankful for the time she had with each person in that apartment.

~

Darcy woke up a few hours later when she felt a dip in her mattress, followed quickly by Bryce’s voice: "It's me, don't scream." 

She smiled sleepily as his arms wound around her and his breath tickled her neck.

"I got cold," he whispered.

She laughed quietly. "You're such a wimp."

"But you love me anyway.” There was an awkward silence during which they both must have realized what he’d said, and Bryce continued, quickly, "Sorry I slept through the party."

"It's okay,” she answered. She wasn’t going to touch that first sentiment. “I know you needed it. Thanks for trying.” 

“It was for me more than you,” he said, hugging her a little tighter. "I wish..." 

“Me too,” she whispered. “You all warmed up?”

It took him so long to answer that she thought he might have fallen asleep.

"Honestly," he finally murmured into her hair, “I wasn’t really cold.” And then, so softly that she couldn't be sure he even meant for her to hear, "I just sleep better like this... When I know you're safe."

She swallowed hard, tears pricking the corners of her eyes. How was she supposed to go to a different hospital? How was she supposed to complete her residency without him? 

How was she supposed to say goodbye? 

It was that one little word that scared away the three others perpetually in the back of her throat...and which she could feel in the back of his, too, in everything he did and said.

Can’t you tell?

I care about you. Probably more than you know.

But you love me anyway. 

"While we're being honest...” she whispered.

Darcy turned in his arms to face him---and then stifled a laugh. She’d almost forgotten. “We drew on you,” she confessed instead, tracing the heart she’d drawn with her index finger.

She was answered with gentle snores. Probably better that way. She'd help him wash it off in the morning. 

And as long as he couldn’t hear her... "I love you,” she added.

#mc x bryce #bryce lahela #open heart

[snailg0th]

Anger Management

A TMA Fanfiction by me, @snailg0th! I used to write fanfiction in middle school for other fandoms, so I do have experience in writing, but it’s been a few years so we’ll see how I do! Likes and reblogs are VERY appreciated!

Words: 1,113 (yeah it’s short... what about it?)

CW’s: Loss of a loved one (mentioned), Grief

------------

Sasha James was 14 when she first got truly angry. The kind of angry makes your bones shake and your stomach feel hot. The kind of angry that feels like the heat of a humid summer. The kind of angry that makes you want to break things. And so she did. She punched and she kicked and she yelled until her throat went raw. But it was ok, she reasoned with herself. It wouldn’t happen again. But it did. And by the time Sasha managed to send her ceiling fan crashing to the ground, her grandmother decided it was time for her to control her anger.

Sasha didn’t want to control her anger.

They went to psychiatrists, counselors, therapeutic art classes, and every relaxing retreat that they could afford, but none of it ever worked for her. Until kickboxing. Sasha fell in love with kickboxing. From the moment she walked into the gym, she knew it was hers. Her secret little passion to love and care for. And god, did Sasha throw herself into it. She trained and she trained and she trained. When she wasn’t studying, she was training. Sasha’s days consisted of ideas - ideas of literature and history and science. Sasha’s nights consisted of fighting - fighting against the chill that bit into her skin as she boxed in the dark street below her window. Sasha kickboxed her way through sixth form. She kickboxed her way through university. She kickboxed her way through job applications. She kickboxed her way through life. She took all of her anger and all of her stress and she kickboxed it out of herself.

Sasha didn’t expect much when she acquired a job at the Magnus Institute. Sure, she was excited to study the uncommon literature they stored there - that which was unavailable to her just days previously - but she didn’t expect to find someone like Tim. As she walked into the research department, she was greeted by a tall man with a crooked smile and a shock of black hair.

“So, you’re the new hire, huh?”

“That’s me.” Sasha wrinkled her nose in thought, trying to determine what she thought of the man who stood before her.

“Oh c’mon, the cologne isn’t THAT much. Rosie insisted I was ‘light-handed’ with it in the future... It’s DEFINITELY been reduced by at least 60 percent.”

“I was just thinking!” She insisted with a smile.

“What, about how devilishly handsome I am?”

“You wish.”

“Say, I haven’t even gotten your name yet.” The man said. “I’m Tim. Tim Stoker.”

“Sasha.” She said fondly.

And so began the friendship of Timothy Stoker and Sasha James. They would eat their lunches together and spend whatever free time they managed to get discussing the other people in the office - Who stole Sasha’s pen this week? Who had gotten pregnant? Was that guy bi, or was it just Tim projecting? But they never went beyond that for the first few months of Sasha’s employment at the Institute. But after a holiday party and a bit too much to drink, Sasha found herself in Tim’s bed, staring up at a ceiling fan that reminded her a bit too much of her own.

“What do you think happens when you die?” She uttered softly, lost in her own thoughts.

“I hope it’s warm.” Tim replied, with a voice that seemed far too small to fit him. A few moments of silence passed. “My brother always hated the cold.”

“My parents did, too.” The quiet that settled between them felt thick - yet it wasn’t uncomfortable. It felt comforting, like a hug.

“Danny.”

“Huh?”

“His name was Danny.” Sasha let the name settle in the air before rolling it around her tongue like a smooth marble.

“Danny’s a nice name.”

“Yeah, It is.” Tim agreed. “Sometimes I just get so angry, knowing that I could have done more to prevent it. It’s not the sadness that gets to me. It’s the anger and shame.”

“I think I have a place for you.”

------------

Tim wasn’t sure what to expect when Sasha told him she knew a way to help. Therapy? Interpretive dance? An animal shelter?

However, he certainly wasn’t expecting to be led to a kickboxing studio.

“Kickboxing? Are you serious?” He asked with an incredulous smile.

“Dead.” She replied. “Now, get on that gear and get over here so I can smoke you!”

“In your dreams, James!” He hollered back as he finished wrapping his hands. Tim made his way over to the row of punching bags that hung from the vaulted ceiling above, practically begging for him to throw punches into the dark red fabric.

“Okay, so are you right or left handed?”

“Why does this matter, exactly?”

“Answer the damn question, Stoker.”

“Right.”

“Okay, so you’re gonna want to keep your right side back. Your power side should support you.” As she spoke, she let her hands adjust Tim’s waist so that his body mass became centered. “Like that.”

“Thanks, Sash.” Tim grinned at her. Her eyes glittered as she smiled back.

“You’re on thin ice with that ‘Sash’, Stoker.” She walked him through a basic combination - jab, cross, hook, kick. Jab, cross, hook, kick. They repeated the movements until Tim was practically itching to fully release his anger onto the figure of the bag before him.

“You wanna give it full out, Tim?”

“Hell yeah.” Tim took a deep breath as he ran the motions through his head. Jab, cross, hook, kick. He thought about Danny and what happened to him - If he had just tried to convince him to not pick up urban exploration, he would still be here. He wouldn’t have gotten murdered by whatever clown creature got to him. That damn creature. He hated that thing. He hated the way it had looked at him and smiled. He hated the way it kept appearing in his dreams. Tim was mad at himself, of course. But more than anything, he was mad at the thing that took Danny away from him. As his anger solidified into will, he took another breath. He jabbed. He crossed. He hooked. And he kicked as hard as his body allowed him to, sending the bag swinging. He turned to Sasha, face lit up with joy.

“You did it!” Sasha squealed, running over to hug him. “You knocked it out of the park!”

“Well, I had the best teacher in the world.”

“You absolutely did, and don’t forget it!” Tim chuckled at her reply. “But did it help at all?”

“It really did, Sash. It really, really did.” She flashed him a satisfied smile.

“Wanna go another round?”

------------

I hope everyone enjoyed this!!!! I think it turned out pretty good :)

#tma #the magnus archives #magpod #fanfiction #tma fanfiction #tim stoker #sasha james #the magnus archives fanfiction

[phantomphangphucker]

Legless On Maim Chap. 8: Crime And Time Makes Me Fine. NOT.

Danny messes with a cop, Lewis messes with a ghost, Vee messes with a Eddie, ClockWork messes with EVERYBODY. And while Danny loves ClockWork, he also thinks they’re an absolute bastard.

Danny gets awoken almost violently and promptly slips off the branch he had climbed up onto. Deciding to just stay laying on the ground groaning rather than deal with his friends; especially hearing them laughing at him.

“Now that’s some quality blackmail material”.

“Dude! Wow you were not kidding!”.

Danny just groans again as Tucker tosses a pair of pants over his face. Fine, he appreciates actually having pants now -even if they weren’t on him, at least not in the way he’d like them to be- but knowing his friends they were probably patterned embarrassingly. Blinking open his eyes and blowing air strong enough at them to make them float up into the air, effectively confirming a stupid pattern; fucking pink with hearts, motherfuckers. “Jerks”.

Sam smirks and puts a hand on her hip as Danny pushes himself to sit up, “courtesy of my folks' refusal to accept that I’m not their personal dress-up doll”.

Danny snorts, “you’d think they'd give you more heartfelt gifts for a change, instead of using the opportunity to try and make you have a fashionable change of heart”. Earning matching groans and making him smirk. Getting up and flipping them off while hopping to get the (very hideous)pj’s on.

Tucker points at him, “least your legs clearly work”.

“Tuck pal, I think I’d be having a fair few fucking crises if they didn’t”, patting the pants off before straightening up and gesturing exaggeratedly at his legs, “I’m having a crisis as it is. The fuck am I supposed to do with this? How the fuck am I supposed to explain this guys?!?”, gesturing even more wildly, “I. Have. Legs. Again. They were cut off, and now. They. Are. Back. Is there any section of the endless expanse of the Zone where I am not fucked”.

Tucker shrugs, “body paint? Sam is rich enough for an endless supply”. Sam glares at him, crosses her arms, and then uncrosses them just to smack him over the head, “I am not a walking wallet!”.

Danny points aggressively at Tucker, “my folks are not utterly blind, Tuck”, shrugging, “sure it’s a close thing, but still”, glaring, “and that will immediately fall apart as soon as they want to do a systems check or something. Heck! They haven’t even gotten the CyberSteps working yet. Meaning I still got to test prototypes, which is literally impossible to do with having freaking legs again!”.

Sam and Tucker share a look, Sam shaking her head, “you could just be honest? They were chill with a bloody ghost Core, Danny, I think they can handle legs”.

Danny glares, “Cores and ghostly tails are solid ecto-energy, not flesh and blood and bone. It’s not the same. That shit can, apparently, just be explained away by me having a somewhat awakened ghost. Legs, fleshy human legs, are not a ghost thing”.

Tucker shrugs, “could just pitch it as ghostly healing? Though yeah, you almost might as well just tell them everything at this point”.

Danny huffs, he had a point. Considering the sheer amount of ghostly weirdness his folks have just accepted at this point. But still, the whole ��I’m half ghost! Surprise!’ was more than just being half ghost. It also meant admitting he was Phantom and had been hiding and lying for two whole years. It meant his parents facing the fact that their life's work was effectively responsible for killing their son. That they had spent years telling him to his face how much they really badly and painfully wanted to dissect and destroy him. That they actually had tortured him once and injured him on nearly a weekly bases. Then there was the fact that they saw him get tossed around, impaled, stabbed, lit on fire, gutted, decapitated, cut in half, electrocuted, maimed, shot, and other things he’s probably forgetting, pretty much every day; and they just watched and did nothing to help.

Sure he didn’t resent them for all of that, how could he? they didn’t know. But they would be crushed and hurt, that mattered. And that’s without even mentioning that he would effectively disprove most of their work. And yeah, they had made some headway recently and were finally recognising that created ghosts at least could be a thing. Maybe, just maybe, born ghosts too. Ancients, they were only just now starting to listen to him. Willing to face and accept that ghosts might not be the evil emotionless monsters they always thought they were. Is it so terrible that he'd like them to not hate ghosts before finding out that he was one???

Apparently the universe thought so.

But no, fuck it. He will take this secret fully to the grave before the universes crap -which the Observants probably played a role in because they hate him and want him to suffer- forces this secret to light. Fuck the universe and it’s bullshit. Groaning at the sky anyway, “you know, I always imagined it would be something crazy, utterly impossible, undeniably ghostly; that would bang me up in a life-changing way. Would force secrets to light. Not something so damn simple, so normal, so human; as a car crash”.

Both of them chuckle at him and move to pat at his shoulders. Tucker snorts, “I think it was more car ‘massacre’ than car ‘crash’”. Danny shoves him a little because people fucking died.

Sam shakes her head though, “you’re not going to tell them, are you?”.

Danny snorts and shakes his head a little; happily taking the slight distraction, “naw. Maybe someday, but that someday is not today. Fuck the universes shitty sense of comedic timing”, crossing his arms and glaring down at his legs. He can still feel the whole bandage booty shorts situation, embarrassing but fuck it. He’s going to make Lewis have to witness his shit. Even if it probably won’t make his eyeballs bleed, that guy has seen way too much weird shit to suffer mental ocular trauma from anything. But still.

Tucker and Sam exchange a Look before looking back to Danny and speaking in sync, “spite”.

Danny nods with a slight smirk, “is there ever a better reason?”.

Getting another in synch response, “not dying... further”. Danny waves them off like he couldn’t care less.

Sam shakes her head, “on a slightly serious note, what’s the plan?”.

Danny shrugs, “well should see if I even can still modify my ghostly body on a molecular level to turn solid limbs into a gas”.

Tucker snickers, “and like everything else about you, when you say it technically it sounds like some body horror shit”. Danny just finger-guns at him before going ghost and easily changing to his ghostly tail; promptly doing jazz hands.

Sam and Tucker nod, Tucker pointing at him, “well that solves that, dude”, continuing at Danny’s raised confused eyebrow, “Danny-dude, just do that half transformation thing and leave your lower half in ghost mode”.

Sam smirks and nods, turning to Tucker and talking like this has already been decided as the plan of attack, “then we can just wrap bandaging over his Phantom legs before he switches to a tail, getting the bandaged look”. Tucker hums his agreement.

Danny sticks his arms out to the side and looks almost offended, “do you know how hard half transforming is to maintain? There’s a reason I never do that shit for more than emergencies or quick jokes”.

Sam rolls her eyes at him, “deal with it”. Danny flips her off. Though really, not much of another option. Having a ghost tail in human form was drastically harder to have and maintain than half transforming.

Danny transforms his upper half back human because, eh why not? And he’s been gone for a while. Chuckling down at the black ghostly tail before smirking at his friends, “I’m three halves of a whole now. Half a body, half transformed, and half-ghost in two different ways. I don’t think anyone ever put this much effort into half-assing so many things. All because so much of me just keeps on dying. I’m a real die-hard you could say. Really killed any effort for a fully functioning life. My apparent partial lifelessness isn’t a real tear-jerker apparently, so maybe I should add some flavour and start halving onions”.

Tucker grabs Danny’s head and shoves him into the dirt; even if they’re all laughing a bit.

It takes a while before they all calm down, laying in the grass and staring up at the sky. Tucker being the first to speak up again, “so, hows it feel to be amongst the legged again?”.

Danny changes back fully human and crosses his ankles, “very leggy”, earning a round of snorts. Honestly, it was a bit weird. Especially feeling fabric over leg skin for the first time in days. He also has never been so aware over how much legs weigh. Sure his human form was always heavier than his ghost one, but wow legs weigh a lot. Well technically legs and pelvis. And it was also weird that having legs again felt weird; really it should feel like a return to normalcy, instead the leglessness had become like normalcy, Either it was really easy to get used to or he was one overall adaptable son of a corpse. It was probably the latter.

The three scrunch their faces up and groan in sync as it starts raining, lightly at first before suddenly coming down in a torrential downpour; resulting in them scrambling up. Danny transforming and grabbing them up, intangibly and invisibly flying them back to his house. Returning to the visible spectrum in his room.

Sam takes two steps before stepping in something definitely still wet and grimacing at Danny, “this is why we never take our shoes off”. Danny just shrugs her off while changing back human, feet planting on the ground with a little plop, and flopping face down onto his bed.

His friends following suit on top of him. Tucker muttering, “ow”, after basically smashing his forehead into Danny’s shoulder brace.

Danny snorts, “I’m not paying for your concussion treatment”.

Seconds later Jazz practically slams the door open, “finally, where have you been Danny???”. Managing to actually startle Danny (since his nose was blocked by his bed), who startles everyone else by pushing himself up so fast his braces make concerning cracking sounds and his very human legs suddenly becoming a ghostly tail; which completely off balances him and, combined with his momentum, sends him falling to the floor. Landing on his ass/tail base with a startled ‘oof’, just as Maddie sticks her head in the doorway.

Maddie blinks and looks slightly apologetic, assuming she startled him enough for him to mess up with the floating, “oh sorry sweetie, I came up to let you two, four now I guess, know that supper will be ready in half an hour”, then scrunching up her face and realising something’s not right here. Pointing at his tail, “why is It pink, and covered in hearts?”.

Danny has to physically bite his tongue to avoid gapping as he glances down at his tail. What the fuck. It has never been that easy in human form? And he wasn’t even having to maintain it? The fuck?

Sam comes to his rescue near-instantly though, “uh, we wanted to see what would happen if he tried putting normal clothing over It and It just kinda absorbed it”. Maddie can’t help but smile at that, kids will be kids.

Danny awkwardly adding, “and it’s not like the, uh, bandaging is a forever thing, and, uh, I don’t think It would, like, look very good flesh-coloured?”. He, in fact, knew It wouldn’t. His mom makes a face and nods while his friends snicker at him, the assholes.

Maddie tilts her head, a little curious how his tail even did that. This didn’t happen when he had apparently had a hoodie draped over It when he first came home? Maybe -what she’s just going to assume is a ‘gift’ from Pamela for Sam. She will never see eye to eye with that woman. Sure her and Jack did push the kids to be hunters, but they didn’t try to control their entire lives- the pants were fairly tight around his tail? She’d ask but considering he looks a little startled, she’s not going to press. Shaking her head, “well hopefully you can undo it, in case this happens with any clothing you actually care about”, frowning slightly, “I also hope this doesn’t interfere with Dan’s work”.

Danny blinks, still confused enough by his body to be unphased by the Dan name, “uh, yeah don’t wanna go giving him a heart attack”. Everyone shakes their heads.

Maddie electing to head back to the kitchen, “I’ll call when foods ready”, the door closing behind her.

Sam and Tucker look to Danny’s pink heart-covered tail then to his face, “Danny, what the Hell”.

Danny throws up his hands, “I panicked alright!”.

“Since when does your panic help anything?!?”.

“Since now apparently!”.

Jazz blinks, “I’m going to guess this-”, gesturing at Danny’s tail, “- wasn’t intentional”, putting her hands on her hips, “and Danny, you are lucky mom just waved me off to go check on you and stayed in the lab. You’ve been missing for hours. You know how they get". Her chastising earning some apologetic neck rubbing, before Danny emphatically gestures at his tail which suddenly pops into pj-covered legs. Making her jump a little, “oh! Your legs! They grew back!”, quickly moving to sit down on the floor and grab at one of his bare feet. Then glaring at him for suddenly changing back to his tail; leaving her grasping onto the tip of his tail.

Sam and Tucker both jerk a bit from the sudden change themselves, before falling over laughing loudly, the pink heart-covered look was still not flattering. Danny looking baffled doesn’t help either. Though he does eventually snort and start snickering before flopping to lay on the floor laughing with them; Jazz just shakes her head at the trio's antics.

Danny snickers, “I guess the hearts really felt my hearts deepest desires! Really trying to be lovable! Since I was just being a total bleeding-heart earlier!”.

Jazz audibly scowls and stands up, “on that painful note, I'm going to help mom. I’m assuming this leg issue was why you just up and disappeared”. Shaking her head when Sam adds in, “and he fell asleep. In a tree”.

Danny throws out his hands, still laying on the ground, “it’s comfy!”, while Jazz heads downstairs.

Sam eventually glances at the calmly waving tail before looking back to the ceiling, “guess your body got so used to the tail that it comes easier now?”.

Danny huffs, “no fucking clue”, shrugging, “but probably. I doubt I’d even change back automatically from tiredness or sleeping or injury. So you can have your heart back”, intentionally turning back to legs purely to phase off the pj’s dramatically by flinging them up into the air; easily changing back to a bandage-looking tail. This kinda solved his problem, he still had a tail. Easily and naturally so. And! he had legs too! The best two for one deal ever! Which fine, he was glad to have again. Even though it was straight crazy that he could regrow entire limbs. Half his body pretty much. Sure Lewis has ‘said’ they were regrowing but them actually regrowing was a whole-ass-nother thing.

The three watch the pj’s float down out of the air onto their faces, Danny snickering and speaking mockingly, “ahhhh. Heart attack”. Earning hard hits from his friends.

Tucker rolls his eyes, “you already used that one today, and are you just going to stick with a tail all the time now?”.

Danny shrugs noncommittally. The answer was probably yes, in human form anyway. His friends obviously can tell he’s basically come to that decision since they both hit him again, Sam snapping without much feeling, “you fucking idiot”; everyone falling back into silence after,

Danny contentedly winding his tail around their legs. Which fine, he had become more than a little fond of being able to do that and his tail in general. He has a feeling ClockWork would, and probably is, actively smirking over him just sticking to a ghostly tail; just like them. Which yes, only serves to encourage Danny.

(Off in the far off realm of the Ghost Zone, a couple Observants hand trinkets over to ClockWork; having lost various bets. ClockWork simply smirks, one would think they’d know better by now. But no, most of their egos were a smidge too large. But it was a quite enjoyable way to teach the Observants a lesson about the future not being set in stone... And that Daniel tended to take the uncommon (and thus unviewable to the Observants) route)

Danny eventually grunting and lifts up his thermos with his tail, “so Skulker wants to harass the doc for my scraps”.

Tucker snorts, “poor bastard, only just met you and he’s already got a ghostly pest”.

“Oh I don’t know Tuck, seems more like a fast way to put whether or not the friendly-ish sorta cannibal can eat things past their expiration date to the test”. Danny would kinda like to know if Vee could eat him or not. Sure a human definitely couldn’t, ectoplasm was toxic after all. But again, fucking aliens. And Lewis seemingly thinks Vee can eat fucking everything.

Sam pushes herself up to glare down at him, “I find it seriously hard to believe a cannibal is ‘friendly’”. Tucker snickers, “yeah, probably steal your scraps from doctor dude or Skulker for a snack”.

Danny waves his hand around as much as the braces will let him, “oh he’s clearly a real people person. If they wanted my scraps they coulda just shown up in the amputee ward, they’d have some real meals on wheels then”.

Sam smacks him over the head with a very disgusted scowl, “your mind is a fucking sin and that so-called ‘diet’ is even worse”.

Danny smirks, “well if they feel like repenting via a little taste of religion, I know a few annoying priests that show up every month or so”. Seriously, he could really do without those type thinking ghosts were demons, or that Phantom was the ‘anti-Christ’, or Amity was a displaced section of Hell, or that Phantom was the second coming of Christ. Outside of the mixed messages, it was also supremely annoying.

All three jerk a bit from a very loud yell from Tucker’s pocket, “Jesus fucking Christ no! We are not eating a fucking priest! I’m not that depraved!-hey don’t you-I liked that coffee pot, you fucker and now look at it? It’s on the fucking ground. No I am not going to just ‘go get it’, you’re the one that chucked it out the window-no don’t you fucking-!”, followed by some scratching, clattering sounds, and a loud thump.

The three sit up and Tucker cautiously pulls out his PDA and everyone just stares at it. Danny tilting his head, he’s heard that voice before. Poking the PDA with his tail, “huh, I think Eddie hacked your PDA”.

Tucker gives him a look of deep offence before looking back to the PDA in question at the sound of a very long string of swears, “I’m going to fucking strangle you, I fucking swear. Jesus fucking Christ. Fuck you. I’m going to eat nothing but fucking pickles and salad dressing tonight-bitch don’t tempt me or I’ll set it on fire before I eat it-oh my god you baby”, there’s a bit of stomping and a slamming door, followed by what the three are assuming is the sound of glass jars hitting each other, “see look at these fucking pickles!-oh fucking watch me-oh fuck! Gak. They’re fucking expired. Oh god shit. Why me?-shut up bitch”.

Danny and Tucker both bend over wheezing, PDA falling unceremoniously onto the bed. While Sam raises her eyebrows and asks sounding almost annoyed, “why is eating veggies a threat? What’s so hard about eating vegetables? Seriously, what’s the hardest part of a vegetable to eat?”.

Danny snaps his head to her, grins, and shouts, “the wheelchair!”. Sam shoves him off the bed shouting, “that’s horrible!”. Danny just lets himself land on the floor.

“Oh shit! The phone’s still on. Fuck-WHY WOULD A VEGETABLE HAVE A WHEELCHAIR-different kind of vegetable, Vee. Use fucking Google. Living impaired guy, or whatever, is talking about people-PEOPLE ARE NOT VEGETABLES EDDIE! THEY DO NOT GROW IN DIRT-Jesus, just use fucking google holy shit. And-wait a minute, Dead Guy are you seriously using a fucking PDA? No way you’re not old using a fucking PDA, what is this? the fucking nineties?”.

Tucker straightens up and points aggressively at his PDA, “hey! You take that back! You’re gonna hurt Lisa’s feelings! PDA’s are a gift upon us all!”, snatching his PDA off the bed and rubbing his face on it, “don't listen to him sweetie, a phone could never keep up with all your glorious curves and circuits”.

“What the fuck? Is that what I sound like when I say Vee’s better than humans?-YES. LIKE A DUMBASS-fuck you-MY DUMBASS”. Tucker jerks away from the mic and everyone makes disgusted horrified faces at the strange kinda wet sounds.

Sam grimaces deeper, “should we ask?”.

Danny chuckles slightly, “considering Lewis’s tendril comments. No”. He so doesn’t want to hear about that.

A bunch of coughing sounds through the mic, “why is Dan telling people about my se-”, get cut off by the three teens shrieking or shouting and Danny shoving a pillow over the PDA. “NO!”.

Danny peals back the pillow and growls a little, “dude there are minors here, we don’t wanna hear about that shit. Oh my Zone. And I thought Lewis had a near nonexistent filter”.

“Eh whatever. Wait, how many people am I even talking to?-THREE, EDDIE. THERE’S THREE VOICES-well maybe I would have been paying attention to that if someone hadn’t tossed me out a fucking window-PUSSY-bitch”.

Tucker starts wheezing again, muttering, “how does this guy maintain a conversation with anyone?”. Which yeah, Danny slightly agrees with that sentiment.

“Hey, fuck you. It’s my job to talk to people. I’m pretty fucking good at it-OVER HALF THE PEOPLE YOU TALK TO TRY TO KILL US, EDDIE-bitch I don’t see you complaining about that when you get a snack out of it”.

Tucker wheezes a little more, “how have you not been arrested?”, while Danny and Sam scowl at the PDA in disgust.

Danny points at Tucker, “their city apparently supports their people eating. It’s, like, common knowledge”, Sam turns her disgusted scowl to him.

“Debatable. I think the cops are just scared we’ll eat them-WHICH WE WILL-no! We do not eat cops! How many times have I said that?-STILL GOING TO EAT THEM-no we will not!-EDDIE-no!-WHAT ABOUT CHOCOLATE DIPPED?-Jesus fuck. No”.

Sam mock gags, “could we not talk about eating people with a vegetarian present?”.

Tucker gives her a pouty face, “awww come on, we’ve all got our tastes”.

Danny points at him, “usually not people-flavoured though”.

“Isn’t it just like chicken though?”.

“No. No it’s not-MUCH BETTER!-I don’t think you’re a good judge of that babe-I AM AN EXCELLENT JUDGE. KLYNTAR HAVE MANY MORE TASTE BUDS THAN YOU FLESH BAGS”.

Tucker scoffs and crosses his arms, Danny’s already preparing for him to say something stupid. “I’m the real meat conisure here, I’ll be the judge of that”.

“Kid, did you seriously just ask-WE HAVE A SPARE LIVER IF YOU'RE CURIOUS-where the fuck did that come from!?!? Where even was that?!?! What the fuck Vee!?!!?! How many times have I said we don’t do take-out!-NOT AGAINST THE RULES IF NO ONE NOTICES-oh my god. That is not how rules, or the law for that matter, works”.

Danny shoves Tucker, “Tuck, what did I say about asking for snacks? Zone dude. Now they’re gonna show up with a fucking liver in a suitcase and with my luck someone else is gonna find that and think I murdered someone”.

“Finally got another name, nice. And eh you’d be surprised how easy it is to hide murder and body parts. And how much cops are willing to ignore”.

Sam snorts, “smooth spooky”.

Danny blushes a little, whoops, “you have no idea how bad my luck is”.

“Speaking of spooky, figured that echoey voice crap would sound way more fucked over the phone. You don’t even seem to have an echo. And blame whoever has the PDA, do you just not expect anyone to back-hack you? Sure that was some hard shit and I can’t access shit-”, Tucker beams very smugly at this, “-but you hacked me first. What was even the point of that? Even basic research makes it obvious dead guy is based in Amity Park. And you did that just to tell me I got your age wrong-HE’S MORE PETTY THAN YOU EDDIE-that is not a compliment”.

Danny smirks and transforms purely for his ghostly echoing voice, his friends rolling their eyes knowing exactly what he’s doing. Sam speaks almost dryly, “if anything ever gets spooky over here destroyed, it’ll be his sense of humour”.

Danny chuckles deeply, voice reverberating intentionally creepily, “it’ll be the death of me, seeing as I have killer timing”, waving his hand around, “and us spookies are petty creatures. We wear petty like it’s all that makes us pretty”.

“Huh, so you definitely can change your voice. Congrats Vee, your voice isn’t the only one that sounds ridiculously fucking demonic-APPROVE. FAR MORE THREATENING. LIKE A PREDATOR-I don’t think that counts as a compliment either babe-HE HUNTS HIS OWN! IT IS A COMPLIMENT!-eh, I guess? What’s up with that anyway, dead guy?-HE’S A PREDATOR, PREDATORS FIGHT, EDDIE. OBVIOUSLY-says the big bad predator who’d rather become one with the couch in a sea of chocolate wrappers and watch Alton Brown make people suffer-THEY DESERVE TO WEAR FLIPPERS AND ARM SPREADERS FOR BURNING THE LAMB!”.

Tucker nods his head a little, “yeah, burning lamb should be a crime”, while a little buzzing sound comes through the mic.

Danny rolls his eyes at him, “that’s the guy from Cut Throat Kitchen isn’t it? Doesn’t he buy stuff from BDSM stores for those challenges”. Tucker nods with a smirk, “and that’s kinky”, and gets smacked over the head by Sam.

Danny shakes his head and leans over the PDA, “I’m a protective fellow, I beat up ghosties to protect. Ya know, the typical hero schtick, but with death. It’s a real grim job, but I absolutely reap the rewards”, looking to Sam and Tucker, “one day I’m gonna cash in all these trauma points for a fucking yacht”.

Tucker quirks an eyebrow, “why a yacht?”. Sam adding, “you know I’ve got one. They’re okay”.

“One of you has a fucking yacht?!? Anne warned me I’d be out of my depth but holy fuck-NOT HARD WHEN YOU’RE PUSSY MADE-how the fuck do you know that term?!? And just eat your fucking tater tots”.

Danny snorts, “someone’s a real tater thot”, looking at Tucker, “one, because that’s one thing Frootloop doesn’t own”.

“Fair”.

“Wow you are really petty as shit”.

Danny scowls at the PDA, “dude fucking nearly caused the apocalypse, like, four bloody times”, rolling his hand, “and there’s the whole sorta have a daughter, or cousin, or sister, eh it changes; ‘cause of his cloning stunt-”.

Danny doesn’t get to continue as Vee butts in with, “WE’RE SPAWNING ASWELL-what, fucking what? What the fuck do you mean ‘spawning’? No you so do not get to hide in my body after that shit, get the fuck out here bitch. Oh my fuck, what the fuck. This is what Anne means by fucking communication issues. What the fuck you fuck. Jesus fucking Christ. What the fucking shit. That is not how you tell anyone anything, you fuck. Now I want a yacht to sail away from fucking everything and become a fucking pirate. Your oily ass will love that so much because there will be so many lobsters to shove up everyone's collective assholes but especially yours-SAME ASSHOLE SO GO AHEAD BITCH, THAT WOULD BE DELICIOUS-ha! Tricked you with the old lobster summoning, now the fuck do you mean spawning!-”

Tucker whispers, “Zone these guys have so many issues”. Sam and Danny just nod, not wanting to interrupt this because it is, frankly, hilarious.

“IT IS NATURAL EDDIE-I sure fucking hope so, otherwise we’ve got a fair few fucking problems going on-THEN STOP BEING A PUSSY WET BITCH-where do you learn this shit? Fucking fourchan? And excuse me for being an emotional asshole, asshole. I think I’ve fucking earned it considering-”.

All three teens turn their heads as Valerie flies in through the window and deactivates her board at seeing them sitting around a PDA but giving it a wide berth.

“-I’m apparently fucking pregnant!”.

Valerie blinks as her suit deactivates, “what have I just walked in on”. It sounds more like a cautious statement than a question.

Danny points at her, “technically, you flew”, she glares at him while he continues, “Eddie’s having some... issues, apparently”.

“‘Some’?”.

“Oh fuck the phones still on. You heard all of that didn’t you? Fuck-DUMBASS-fuck you, this is your fault. I need a fucking drink”.

Danny chuckles and smirks a bit meanly, “yes, yes we did”.

Valerie shakes her head and speaks down at the PDA, “are you okay?”.

“No”, Eddie promptly hanging up.

Valerie watching the other teens descend into fits of laughter for a bit before asking, “what did I miss?”.

Tucker wheezes, “probably one of the best random meltdowns ever”, smacking Danny’s arm braces, “you should probably warn doctor dude you gave his friend an accidental crises!”.

Danny just chuckles, he’s pretty sure he’s never heard anyone swear that much that quickly. And considering he’s somewhat friends-ish with Johnny, that’s saying something. Pointing at Tucker, “for the love of all the Ancients, tell me you recorded that. Because, by the Realms, that was glorious”. He also totally wants to show Johnny, and Skulker actually, maybe Ember and Kitty; they’d be fucking impressed honestly. Possibly Pandora too, if only for Eddie just straight up going feral rage mode for a bit there.

Tucker nods eagerly with a wide smirk, instantly being granted a high five; even getting one from Sam.

As his mom calls that supper’s ready, Danny pulls out his phone; because he is not calling Lewis while he might be having special time with the bone saw.

DPain: so stormed Area 51 might being having a mild melt down bout being pregnant

DPain: and it might

DPain: possibly

DPain: maybe

DPain: be my fault

Tucker chokes next to him, “dude, you do realise how that sounds right?”. Making Danny facepalm as the four (not three like Maddie was expecting, but she just sets another plate with a smile and head shake) sit at the table; Danny checking his phone when it goes off.

Tiethief: so you’re why I have 11 new voicemails

DPain: 😇

Danny barely gets through his (very mushy, fuck you Jazz) mashed potatoes before there’s a knock on the door. It’s not a scent Danny recognises so he tears off Tucker’s hoodie to cover his tail up. Rolling his eyes at the guy’s scowl, Danny would just blink his tail out of the visible spectrum if his not-in-the-know parents weren’t around. While one of said parents, his mom who hadn’t even sat down yet, gets the door.

“Hello Mrs. Fenton, I’m officer Jared Walker”, the four teens -and Jazz- all choke at that last name and share ‘seriously? Why is this our lives?’ Looks. “I’m here to conduct a welfare check for Daniel Fenton. May I come in?”.

Danny cringes, this probably wasn’t a good thing. FentonWorks wasn’t exactly... safe. Oh who was he kidding? FentonWorks was a mind field of danger and death; and not just ‘cause his dead ass was here. And what if he wants to check out his room? Oh Ancients he absolutely is going to want to check that out. Fuck.

Sam and Tucker obviously have the same worries as they finish their plates and start to move towards the stairs; probably to make a mad dash to his room to make it not look like a probable biohazard.

While his mom obviously lets the guy in, would arguably be worse not to, “sure thing, Danny’s at the table having lunch, his doctor’s doing a final shift at the hospital right now though. You could come back later to talk to him? Or would you like me to call him?”.

Jared steps in and looks at the two teens starting to head up the stairs and then to Valerie, “I’m sure you’d like to hang out with your friend and make sure he’s well, but I’ll have to ask you to leave”, tilting his head not unkindly, “this is a family matter; you understand”.

The three teens obey, because this is a cop for fucks sake; and they like to at least pretend to be proper law-abiding citizens. Sam and Tucker shooting him apologetic looks and Valerie giving him a little forehead kiss as they leave. Danny makes a damn point to make sure his smile doesn’t look painfully nervous.

Jared looks back to Maddie, “that’s quite alright, I’m sure I could get into contact if I need to”. Jazz offers him tea which he declines, “do you think you could go to your room, Jasmine? I’d like to speak with your parents and brother alone if that’s alright?”.

She nods, ruffling Danny’s hair up as she stands, which he of course scowls at and swats her hand away. Even if that, like usual, only accomplishes making her grin at him. Jazz completely ignores Danny’s bedroom door, knowing Jared would likely notice if she tried to go in.

(Sam and Tucker outside both decide that trying to sneak into at least clean Danny’s room wasn’t the best idea. Seeing as they had Valerie as a tag along and there was another cop sitting out in the police cruiser on the curb. Plus, cleaning Danny’s room would take a goddamn while and would be, frankly, disgusting to do. So they just hope Danny’s got something up under his spooky sleeves)

Jared joins the Fenton parents in sitting at the table, sending a smile to Danny, “you doing well today?”.

Danny gives an awkward nod and knocks his hand brace against his chest brace, “I’ll be better once I’m rid of these stupid things”, making the officer chuckle.

“That’ll hopefully be sooner rather than later”, turning to the parents’, “I'm just here to see how things are going, what sort of accommodations have been made or are being made, the state of the house, how school work’s being handled, and to speak with Daniel privately. Standard procedure”.

Jack beams, ever eager to brag about inventions, “we had a hover cushion built for him before he got home! So he’d have a way to get around right off the bat!”.

Danny grumbles at the cop, “I don’t like being carried or pushed around”, which was something of an understatement; his ghostly pride could only take so much of that. And that ‘so much’ was very little, ah the joys of being powerful. Made being ‘weak’ all the more bloody fucking awful. Maddie adds in with a warm smile at Danny, “we did order a wheelchair though”.

Jared looks pleased at this and notes everything down, “hospital approved? And could I see this... hover cushion?”.

Jack jumps up and gives Danny a curious raised eyebrow, “bedroom, next to the door, dad”, Jack nods curtly and bounds up the steps.

Jared raises an eyebrow at Danny, “any particular reason it’s not down here with you?”.

Danny blinks, oh because he wanted to get around on his freaking tail and doesn’t need no damn help to get around. He can’t tell this random cop that though. The tail is abso-fucking-lutely staying a secret if he can help it, “uh, it’s pretty snug and Doc said I should let things breathe here and there”, that’s utter bullshit, but probably accurate for normal amputation wounds. Realising he should probably explain how the Zone he got downstairs without it, “and there’s a pretty big difference between friends and family carrying me and, uh-”, blushing a bit both genuinely and to sell the lie, “-the girlfriend carrying me”.

Jared grins to himself at that, “ah yes, that is pretty different. She handling this well?”.

Danny nods and smiles, she was handling it about as well as most people would; maybe a little better. Him seemingly giving very little of a damn about his ‘leglessness’ probably helped slightly. After all, she did decide to give the whole ‘them’ thing a shot again. Jack comes back with the hover-cushion before he can even attempt to tell the guy any of that.

Jack shows off the device and powers it up, show that it does, in fact, work. Jared blinks and grins, “I’ll admit, I’m impressed”, and makes some more notes in his book, “it alright if I take pictures? Purely for documentation purposes. And the wheelchair?”.

Maddie nods, giving him the go-ahead, while moving to grab up her copy of the documentation for the ridiculous wheelchair Danny ordered and handing that over. “It’s not hospital approved but Dan said it would be fine, he was here when we ordered it”.

Jared nods acceptingly -obviously aware of who Danny’s doctor was- and tilts his head a little, “expensive, you footing the cost if the hospital can’t cover it? This isn’t a standard type either, athletic wheelchair?”.

Danny nods and grins almost meanly, “have you seen Amity?”, should he be sassing a cop? No, probably not. Jared nods a little, while Maddie speaks up, “we can cover the whole bill if needed. So long as Danny’s happy”. Jared nods and smiles at that.

“Alright, I’d ask if there’s been modifications to the stairs but you’ve found a different suitable workaround. Same with if everything has been moved to be in reach”, nodding at his notebook before looking back to them, “so how about schooling?”.

Danny rubs his neck awkwardly, “I’m working on the catchup and homework, uh, keyword being ‘working’”. Jared chuckles at that, typical teen behaviour.

Maddie pats Danny’s head, “Jazz made sure to talk with all his teachers. She’s friends with most of them. Sam and Tucker brought his work home for him”.

Jared raises an eyebrow at that, “and what about you?”. Jack laughs a bit loudly before rubbing his neck, “ah, the school prefers we don’t come unless we have to. We tend to break things”.

Danny’s pretty sure that’s a mark against his parents’ in the cops' book. So he tries to save face a little, “ghost hunting is a pretty destructive job”, he would know. Jared seems to think on that for a beat before nodding.

From what Jared’s heard and seen, ghost hunters were effectively cops here but for ghosts; which were much more dangerous than the average human criminal. He’s not about to fault them for their career. Schools didn’t particularly like cops showing up either, makes people on edge usually. And considering the school turned out to actually be a hot spot for ghosts, ghost hunters showing up out of the blue would absolutely cause at least a little panic.

Jack laughs a bit more, “plus! Frees us up to work more on the CyberSteps!”. Jared quirks an eyebrow at that so Maddie elaborates, “robotic prosthetic legs. Dan’s been helping as well”. Jack grins wide, “yup! Got to make sure they’re perfect!”.

Jared blinks, “you are... making your own prosthetics?”. Danny immediately blurts out, “walked on a prototype already. Not, um, quite good yet”, adding because holy shit he knows this is probably all kinds of illegal, Lewis kinda said so, “doc was there”. He’s going to get Lewis in trouble at this rate. He should probably shut up. Shutting up wasn’t one of his notable skills though.

Jared nods, “so you were... under certified medical care?”. Danny just nods, his folks nodding too. Jared notes that down as well.

Jared is pretty sure there isn’t much to worry about at this point. Bad or abusive parents wouldn’t go to the lengths of creating break through technology. And they were obviously putting the boy first, making him comfortable and happy. But that still didn’t explain certain things and that didn’t mean the house was suitable. From what he’s seen so far the house was... acceptable. Little messy and... odd. There were certainly some strange stains, burns, damages, and technological bits lying around. Certainly unacceptable for a small child, but Daniel was a teen.

Nodding to himself, “I think that covers that. I’d like to look around now”, with that the Fenton parents’ get up. Jared watches the teen easily manoeuvre into the hover cushion contraption, does a little spin in the air, and sends him an awkward smile. Daniel then squints at him and tilts his head, “Jared Walker... as in J. Walker, like jaywalker”, and starts snickering.

Jared rolls his eyes with a smile, “laugh it up kid”, that just makes the teen smirk.

Most of the first floor is marginally normal, acceptable, when Jack very enthusiastically points out the weapons vault though, “is this secure? And this is just for anti-ghost weapons correct?”.

Maddie nods immediately, she could see how a cop might have a few issues with this, “designed to be secure, from both humans and ghosts. Ecto-Fiber glass and sheets block them from getting in intangibly”. Danny mentally grumbles, because he had found that out the hard way and it had been inconvenient on more than one occasion. Jared just nods as they head down to the lab.

Jared glances around before raising a slightly disbelieving eyebrow at the parents’, the amount of hazards here were, honestly, uncountable. Bits of metal (some being very sharp), wiring, chemicals, samples, weapons, glowing... stuff, and the leg creation things.

Jack laughs, “yeah, it can be a bit of a mess! The kiddos are well versed in lab safety though!”. Danny resists pointing out that he usually cleaned the place. That probably wouldn’t win any brownie points.

Jared blinks and gives a rather disbelievingly, “uh-huh”, before responding in genuine, “is this the normal condition of things? And what about supervision while anyone’s down here? It is more than likely Daniel here will be a bit clumsy for a while”, this was unsafe in so many ways.

Maddie ruffles Danny’s hair as he grumbles incoherently and blushes, “Danny’s rather clumsy normally”.

Danny adding, “school still won’t let me handle fragiles”, even though he was much better, fuck you very much. Jared looks just a little unimpressed, he was probably trying to not show the fact that he was not impressed. Which Danny thinks is fair.

Maddie continues, “but yes this is how things usually are. This is the one place where we have a camera system, so it’s pretty secure and we can see if anything’s going on whether we’re home or not. We didn’t allow the kids down here when they were young, and they had to have one of us with them until they could show they knew what they were doing”. Jack butting eagerly, “a family of inventors invent together!”, shrugging, “or at least are all involved in the process”.

Danny looks around awkwardly, well aware that he at least partly died because of crappy lab safety on everyone's part. Jared notes somethings and glances at Danny but says nothing.

What then follows is Jared basically getting the lab tour, asking about nearly everything and taking notes. Eventually coming to the portal, always the last thing his folks showed off since it was their pride and joy, “and this?”.

Danny gives the blunt answer of, “ghost portal”, because screw him, screwing with people was fun. Jared gives him a Look, which Danny can’t help smirking at, before looking to his parents and raising an eyebrow.

Jack laughs and smacks the frame, “yup! This baby opens up right into the spookies backyard!”. Maddie grins and adds, “we use it mostly for research purposes, to return captured ghosts, and as a warning system in case of invasions”, then speaking a bit sternly, “going inside it is strictly forbidden and it has a genetic lock”. Danny tries to make it look like he wasn’t paying attention, seeing as he went through those doors almost more often than his front doors.

Jared still looks rather disbelieving, “you have a portal to another dimension in your basement?”, shaking his head a little, “I mean, I’m glad it has a strong lock. Do ghosts ever come through?”.

Maddie shakes her head a little, “we have used things to pull ghosts through intentionally. Research you know. But as for them coming through on their own? No”. Danny has to bite his tongue to avoid snorting at that, his folks were insanely oblivious. The portal was literally the main entryway into his home. He’s pretty sure the only ones who don’t almost always use it are Skulker and the Box Ghost. Well, and most animal ghosts.

Jared takes that answer for what it is and wonders how the Hell you're supposed to rate ‘has a portal to the dimension of the dead under his bedroom’ on literally any safety scale. He’d say this is something that should be in a government facility but the G.I.W. approval rate was abysmal. And with good reason based on basic research. But side-eyeing the teen, he seemed to give the portal a look of fondness actually... and annoyance; but fond annoyance. So he does make a point to mark down that the kid seemed to like the thing, for whatever forsaken reason.

Jared taps his pen on his notebook, “alright, is there any other rooms other than bedrooms?”.

Danny does the dumb thing and blurts out, “well, there’s the torture dungeon”, making the guy give a very satisfactory choke.

Maddie shakes her head at Danny fondly before looking to the officer, “something’s down there are on the medieval side”. Jack just chuckles, “the stockades are more for storage and old school equipment”.

Danny mumbling, “you mean like the Iron Maiden and other instruments of extreme pain and suffering?”, which Jared thankfully doesn’t hear.

Maddie smiles, “our family have been hunters for generations, so we’ve inherited older tools of the trade”, shrugging, “some that work, some that definitely don't. Family heirlooms really”. Jared nods at that, anything medieval could come off as ‘torture devices’ and he’s starting to get the feeling this teen has a serious sense of humour and likes startling people. Arguably this seemed on par with people keeping their ancestors' old weapons. Meant for ghosts or not.

“Alright, so just the bedroom now. Don’t worry, I only need to see his”, and smiles, totally missing Danny muttering, “and that’s not a good thing”. Jared continuing, “just one more question, regarding the family profession actually. Does Daniel hunt as well? With you? If not, are you training him to? If so, how are you taking into account his disability and healing?”.

Jack scratches his head, “eh, Danny-boy’s not particularly interested in ghost hunting. He is pretty good with tech though! Like every Fenton!”.

Danny rolls his eyes, “so no, they aren’t having me running, or floating, around with guns, shooting sentient beings for sport or science”, and he’s not going to mention his dad sorta trying to get him into weaponised prosthetics. Danny’s pretty sure effectively -literally really- attaching guns and knives and stuff to your kids robo-legs would be a big no-no. Especially to an out-of-town cop.

Maddie smiles and pats his head, “and if he wants combat training, survival training, or anything else of the kind, he can simply ask. I’m trained in a lot of different areas”.

Jared nods at that, “everyone could benefit from that. Good that you’re not forcing it though”, scribbling down a bit more before closing the notebook and tucking it away, “alright, I think I’ve got a good picture of how things are”, sending the parents a slight smile before looking to Danny, “now you feel up to giving this old man the bedroom tour? I’m certain you, like most teens, know it better than your parents do”. Jared absolutely mentally notes that while everyone laughs at that, Danny’s laugh is a little awkward and nervous; he probably had somethings in there he’d rather his parents not know about. He can’t help smirking slightly at that, ah teens. Danny just glares and gestures towards the steps, everyone heading up.

Jared nods at the parents’ as they sit at the table while he heads up to the bedrooms after Danny.

Maddie sitting down with a sigh. Jack speaking up after the two are out of sight, “think he’ll be okay?”. Maddie rubs her eyes, she’s pretty sure them not getting a call about the visit meant there was something else going on, “I don’t know Jack, I’m just a bit worried what Danny’ll say, what he’ll be asked”, looking to her husband, “our house and family isn’t exactly normal or particularly safe, Jack”, biting her lip slightly, “many people might think any child, especially a... disabled one, would be better off somewhere else”. Because at the end of the day, Danny was disabled now, CyberSteps or not. And he had been through what was arguably a traumatic event, he seemed fine but still; she’s sure Jazz was keeping a very close eye on him for that very reason. Most people would want a disabled possibly traumatised injured kid in a safe, sturdy, structured, adaptable, loving home and family. Her family had the last two in spades, but the rest? She be kidding herself if she even tried to think their household was ‘safe’ or ‘structured’. She forgot to get him supper till one a.m. for peat's sake! Not to mention actively and repeatedly testing out prototypes on him. Sure there wasn’t another option but still. Even ignoring that, things in the house often reacted to him; usually seemed harmless but not always.

But at the same time, what family or house could even understand or attempt to support someone like Danny? With his ectoplasm, ghostly tail, and Core? She’s pretty sure Dan was an extreme outlier in being totally unphased by those things, especially being from out of town. And like Dan, her and Jack were doctors. Sure it was in a different way and different fields, but they were effectively Danny’s doctors for his more... ghostly things. If anything Danny needed to be here, with his family, more than most teens needed to be with theirs.

Jack moves to rub her shoulders, “he’ll be fine, he’s a smart kid, Mads. And I’m sure the officer will see that -while weird and unconventional- he’s good here”.

Meanwhile upstairs Danny is hovering over his bed looking more than a little awkward and Jared is glancing around the room in shock. Jared blinks and scrunches up his nose, “kid, this smells worse than the morgue when the ac breaks”, lifting up his foot and putting it back down cautiously, making a faint squelching sound, “you know I’m gonna need an explanation for this”. There’s no pussyfooting around this, this is worse than literally every crime scene he’s ever been to. And he’s based from New York, so that should be saying something.

Danny chuckles and it’s extremely awkward, “yeah, uh, this probably ain’t gonna win me any points, but I like to joke that my room could make a crime scene investigator cry and the cleanup crew quit outright”, shrugging, “I have been meaning to clean, but uh, it doesn’t really bother me”.

“Kid, that ain’t normal. And that also doesn’t answer how this happened”. Jared is seriously hoping he isn’t dealing with some killer kid situation. Those were awful.

Danny rubs his neck, not entirely sure there’s any way out of this, he pretty actively screwed himself here, “uh, besides me not being very clean being a factor, you’re probably standing in a cesspool of pop, coffee, energy drinks, some cleaning solution stuff from when I actually mildly attempted to clean and just dumped it on the floor and shoved it around with my foot, probably some decomposed food, ectoplasm, and yeah, uh, blood”, then wincing slightly, because yeah, not impressing mr. Cop.

Jared glances to the floor, blinks, and looks back to the teen. Teens were lazy sure, but this was something else. This was beyond unsanitary, this was a downright biohazard and completely unliveable. And he might know the what, but the why? Heck, even the how. For the carpet alone to be this soaked, “whose blood. And the ectoplasm? Kid, for your floor to be this soaked you’d have to have dumped literal bucket loads of liquids on it. Bucket loads”. And watches the teen actively wince, obviously aware of this fact.

Danny looks around, actively avoiding eye contact, “I mean, you’re not wrong. My room’s kinda the ‘hang out’ spot, I guess, for me and my friends. So it’s not strictly my mess”, shrugging, “Tuck’s probably left a fair amount of meat scraps around and I’m pretty sure Sam’s trying to grow a rare fungus in one corner”. Valerie’s probably left a gun or two around too, but he’s not going to mention that.

“Kid, you have got to be kidding me. I know Amity is strange, but this is a little beyond”.

Danny shrugs again, looking back to the guy, “sorry pal, I’m probably certifiably the strangest kid in the entire town. Me and my friends are literally known as the weirdo trio. Sometimes the defect quartet when Val’s with us”, smirking a little to himself and knowing Sam will love him for this, “we are the weirdos mister”, and grinning cheekily.

Jared blinks very slowly, this teen just quoted a movie at him in response to him pointing out this was insane and that this floor was a biohazard. He blinks again and elects to just... ignore that, “still waiting on that ‘why’ for the... floor”.

Danny chuckles a bit meanly at the freaked cop before shaking his head a bit aggressively and looking around awkwardly, “ah, uh, it’s mostly, ah, mine? Which yeah I know is probably, like, super concerning. But it’s fine”, no point even trying to lie here, because a bloody fucking cop absolutely could just sample his floor and test it for, well, everything. And if he could avoid Tucker having to hack the fucking cops any more than he already did, by being just slightly honest. Then that’s what he’s gonna do.

Jared blinks again, arms slack at his side, before walking over and sitting down next to the teen on the bed. Daniel following suit by letting the hover thing float down to ‘sit’ him on the bed; this kid could read people at least a little, “buckets of blood is not ‘fine’, Daniel. And the ectoplasm?”, readjusting slightly, “honesty for honesty?”, something tells him this particular teen was well versed in dishonesty, “the main reason I was sent here is because of some things the first responders and nurses noticed. Namely, that you have a lot of... scarring. Unusual scarring. Does that have anything to do with the state of your floor?”, he’s making a point to try and be gentle here. This officially looked less ‘killer kid’ more ‘battered kid’.

Danny resists muttering ‘ah fuck, Ancients goddamnit’ out loud; talk about suspicious. He knew one day his scars were going to come and bite him in the ass. What is he supposed to say here? Obviously not the truth. Just ‘oh hey random cop dude, I fight ghosts totally not on the down-low but also technically on the down-low because it’s, like, a super-secret. Y’ know, like most superheroes. And ghosts are, like, totally really into maiming me. Also I’m kinda sorta a little bit kinda dead. So there’s that. My parents and girlfriend also shoot me sometimes, but you totally won’t report that to CPS, right?’. Alright, activate secret protection tactic three; sass and annoy ‘till they leave you the Zone alone. Ancients give him strength, “well first, I really do prefer Danny. I’m totally fine, cool as a cucumber or whatever. And welcome to Amity pal, people get hurt here a bloody lot. Couple abductions here and there, the occasional light stabbing; y’ know the usual. I get that you’re from outta town but that near non-existent crime rate means nothing”, shrugging and leaning back on his elbows, “and yeah the ecto’s mine too, so what I’m a little spooky? Not everyone’s full-blooded legged humans you know”.

Jared practically flinches back from the sudden change in behaviour. So that’s a check on him being defensive of his scarring. But there was no mention of his parents anywhere there, not to defend them or even to try and claim it wasn’t their fault. So, it’s probable his parents aren’t at fault here. Obviously something was going on, had to be for him to have more scarring than war vets. ‘Nearly more scars than flesh’ they had said. Though oddly his doctor had said nothing on the matter, even said the kid was fine; and he definitely did not report the state of the kids bedroom, which definitely deserved reporting. Furrowing his eyebrows at the kid, who doesn’t drop the ‘insufferable teen who just wants to be left alone and thinks you can shove it’ act for the previous nervous cautious behaviour. The doctor probably knew whatever was going on, or was very corrupt and seriously didn’t give a damn, “does your doctor know the reason behind the scarring?”, thinking on what Danny said, “and you have ectoplasm?”, that... that was a new one.

Danny huffs and rolls his eyes, his ecto-contamination was at least somewhat public knowledge in Amity. Dude would hear about it sooner or later, “yeah? So what?”, scowling a little at the cop, “don’t be givin’ doc shit, he’s cool. Knows when shit doesn’t need no reporting, shouldn’t be reported or recorded. I’m fine. My ‘situation’ or whatever, is fine. Perfectly peachy. Just stellar. We done here?”. Danny is probably not earning any good karma points here.

Jared blinks, okay, protecting his doctor was definitely not typical abuse victim behaviour. So definitely not the parents’ fault then. He seemed to be blaming Amity itself or the ghost issue instead. Which yes, this town was insanely dangerous and a lot of people -kids included- had scarring; but not to that degree. Maybe he got targeted more because of being related to hunters? Mentally pausing, or maybe he was a hunter and his parents -for some asinine reason- didn’t know? But then again, he said he wasn’t ‘shooting sentient beings for sport’ so maybe there was a conflict in ideals? Maybe he disagreed with his parents so he didn’t want them involved or putting in their two cents? That was fairly common in the force and other departments. But he was also implying that reporting this in any way -not just to his parents- was bad. So maybe something else was going on, or was he referring to having ectoplasm in his body. There were too many variables here, “that depends. Are you in any danger? You need to give me something here kid, Danny. ‘Cause right now your ‘situation’ seems decidedly not fine. Especially since you clearly get hurt a lot yet have an almost impressively sparse medical file”.

Danny huffs some more and rolls his eyes, okay, this wasn’t exactly... working, “I'm fine. I’m just a little ecto and Amity’s just a little dangerous”, sighing, “so no, I’m not in danger. In the past or now”. ‘But I fucking will be if you chase my shit’ being left unsaid.

“And in the future?”.

Danny levels the guy with a serious steely expression and puts just a tiny hint of power into his voice, tail coiling around invisibly, “I will be if you don’t butt out”, maybe warning the dude will get him to fuck off with this?

Jared blinks and nods, not entirely feeling like he’s actually talking to a minor here; which said a lot, “from?”.

Danny scowls, “not my family. Or friends. Or the doc. Or ghosts, for that matter”, Ancients dude, would you just drop it already?

“That doesn’t leave a lot of possibilities”.

Making Danny glare, “not your business”. Jared sighs and shakes his head a little, “it rather is. It’s my call what happens here, doctor turning the cheek or not”.

Danny scowls at him again, growling slightly because he is honestly getting frustrated here, “a little bit ecto, in the eyes of the government, equals a lot bit not deserving of human rights. And thus a very nice easily findable Christmas wrapped subject for some really nasty things I’d rather not experience”.

Jared blinks a few times, that was... not what he was expecting. But that would explain not wanting things reported, never going to hospitals, not wanting people to look into things, the doctor getting him out of the hospital abnormally quick and coming along, etcetera. Thinking of that, didn’t one of the secretary’s mention government agents showing up? Alright, so this kid was being testy for good reasons. Being defensive to literally defend himself... from his own government. Alright, the best thing he can do for the kid was to do nothing. To fudge his notes and report. Leave in the general weirdness but nothing that would encourage further investigating. This situation was officially way beyond his pay grade. Still though, his priority here was the kid's safety and welfare; not whether or not the government? knew he was ‘a little bit ecto’? “Alright then. Legally I should absolutely report this-”. He doesn’t even get to finish as Danny cuts in with an actual snarl, “and doc shoulda absolutely dragged me back to the hospital, your fucking point?”.

“Jesus kid, I’m trying to extend an olive branch here”, Jared shakes his head when all the teen does is huff, “I’m not saying I’m going to. The governments slightly dangerous opinions and interests in ghost stuff ain’t in my salary”.

Danny tilts his head and watches the guy for a beat, he seemed honest enough, “so you’re not going to mention my ecto-contamination, questionably bio-hazardous room, battered body, or being overly self-sufficient?”. Talk about dodging one Hell of fucking bullet. Holy Shit.

Jared blinks, okay this kid knew exactly what was up with his stuff. “I should, but I think I’m going to opt-out of doing that. Seems like that would do more harm than good”, leaning forwards a bit, “but when you say self-sufficient...”.

Danny rolls his eyes but relaxes some and lays back on his bed, he’s keeping his damn tail invisible and whatnot though, “put it this way man, Lewis thinks I’m a better surgeon than his lackies and I make a mean lasagna that doesn’t randomly gain sentience and try to stab people with knives”.

“Alright, I shouldn’t have asked”, his scars were self-treated, that... that is entirely unacceptable. And he’s just not going to ask about the Fenton parents’ apparently questionable cooking skills. Danny just snorts. So Jared speaks back up, “I take it ecto-contamination is the proper term for being ‘a little ecto’? And that it’s different from the general kind that -according to multiple sources- basically everyone in this town has? Even though your parents failed to mention it. I imagine this probably affects health and care”. ‘Contamination’ pretty firmly implied it being a health thing.

Danny sighs, “‘cause I got it from blatantly and aggressively ignoring nearly all forms of lab safety. Which would probably be a mark against them in your little book. But yeah fine, my ecto is little more unique. Common knowledge, though not really your business”.

“Again, it rather is. But I guess that’s understandable. Does it affect your health and care though? I would prefer to attempt to be thorough”. He’s glad he’s not wearing a wire or body-cam.

Danny looks him over and nods a little, yeah dude could probably get fired for not reporting all this crap. Would kinda make him a dick for no real reason to not answer that, “fair enough. It does, but my folks are pretty aware though. And they’re basically the leading ectologists. If they don’t know how to handle me, then no one does”, no one entirely human anyway.

Jared nods, enough information to be an answer, vague enough to tell him practically nothing. Kid’s smart. Grunting, “good enough”, squinting, “wait, would another family even be able to look after you effectively?”.

Danny snorts and actually laughs, “are you kidding? No, of course not”, as much as his parents being his parents resulted in ghostly injuries and being actively hunted and endless amounts of paranoia; it also saved his half-ghostly ass left right and centre. This legless/leg optional situation would be a bajillion times worse if he didn’t have parents that could build legs and get them to work with his spooky ass.

Jared shakes his head disbelievingly, so it didn’t even matter how he was being treated/looked after; he literally couldn’t get suitable treatment anywhere else but here. No wonder the doctor wanted him home, on top of the government trying to do who knows what. The doctor was actually looking out for his patients' best interests. “Well then I guess it’s best you’re home then. On that note, how are you coming along treatment wise? Healing well? And the prosthetics?”.

Danny snorts, “back to normal people questions huh?”, pushing himself up onto his elbows again, “my healings fine. Doctor approved. CyberSteps are getting there. My ecto’s ‘causing issues but also only reason they’ll feasibly work”, looking the cop over and tilting his head, “you're asking me shit, so I’mma ask you shit. You got any dead relatives who were really into white and a real stickler for rules. Maybe was a prison warden or sherif in the nineteen hundreds? Or maybe a mafia member that went to jail? Has a thing for black fedoras?”, he has to ask, ‘cause it would be just his luck to get stuck with a relative of Walker’s. Not to mention a relative of Walker’s that isn’t a dick and doesn’t utterly despise him. Yet at least.

Jared raises both eyebrows a bit disbelievingly, “Cordell Walker was a mafia member that worked up to being a prison warden after serving time there, nineteen hundreds yeah. How did you know that?”. Jared is insanely confused and a bit freaked out. Shaking his head, “that’s... good that the prosthetics might actually work”.

Danny glares at him and mutters, “Ancients seriously? Why me”, tilting his head and laughing, “wait so he actually was a criminal?”, then starts laughing at Jared’s confused nod, “oh my Zone! HAHAHAHA oh man! I am so bugging him about that. Oh he’s not living that down!”, pausing to snort before adding, “literally not living that down”, and flops to lay down on the bed, laughing more. Waving his hand at the confused cop, “don’t worry about it. It’s just- wow haha. It’s just that your great-grandpa, or whatever, locked me in jail a couple times”, continuing at Jared raising his eyebrows almost comically, “he’s the warden of a ghost prison just inside the portal. So, uh, congrats I know your family. He kinda hates me though so. And he’s kinda a dick, no offence”.

Jared blinks, “I... don’t think I have a response for that and I’m pretty sure this almost qualifies as a conflict of interest”. There isn’t any kind of training for ‘subject knows your dead relative and was apparently arrested by them once’. Swallowing, “what did he... arrest you for?”.

Danny blinks and laughs awkwardly, “uh, first time was driving illegally pretty much. Second, possession of illegal... things. And after that there’s been a lot of other things. Something like ten jail breaks slash destruction of prisons. Probably gives me another assaulting an officer and resisting arrest charge every time he sees me. Honestly man? He’d arrest me just for existing”, tilting his head, “I think he actually has arrested me for that”, chuckling, “like I said, he hates me and he’s a dick. Pretty sure he’s got a cattle prod with my name on it, literally. One of my scars is from him attempting to brand me”.

Jared blinks really harshly at that, he had heard Cordell was a sadist but Christ, “Jesus, that is insane in all honesty. I had heard some... less than pleasant horror stories about him but that seems a bit... much. He was the first cop in the family though, and many of us did brag about having mafia roots as kids”, shaking his head, “I certainly still do”. And this teen apparently destroyed prisons, what is up with this kids life?

Danny snorts, “I would too”, ‘cause come on, having roots to the mafia is just plain cool. Shrugging, “I could give you a really wild story to take back and uh, set up a meeting or something? Y’ know, in return for not possibly getting me tortured and killed? Or having to hack your police system stuff?”.

“Are you... bribing an officer?”, Jared is out of his depth with this kid, and he is absolutely positive he has a very mischievous side and very little regard for the legality of things.

Danny snorts, “not even close to the most illegal thing I’ve done. And might please Walker- uh, ghost Walker, some”, shrugging, “technically I’m bribing two officers”, and smirks devilishly.

Jared is pretty sure he shouldn’t be encouraging this, but this was... an opportunity that really was otherwise impossible. Meeting long-dead family that were something of a legend was quite the offer, “you are a rather sneaky teen, aren’t you? I can’t say I’m going to turn that down. But are you really well enough to do something like that?”.

Danny snorts and mutters, “if I’m well enough to get punched in the face, then I think the fuck so”. Jared pretends he didn’t hear that, he’s decided he really just doesn’t want to know. Danny looks to him, “eh, it’ll be fine. Just maybe don’t call him Cordell, dead-naming a ghost is a good way to get stabbed or shot or maimed or a lot of other painful things. He just goes by Walker now”.

Jared nods dutifully, yup he’s officially ‘compromised’ and no longer unbiased with this case. Best he keeps that to himself though, kid’s probably banking on this being a way to ensure he keeps his mouth shut. This kid was bolder than he seems, definitely not as ‘in the background’ or nervous as he acted at first. That was probably just a tactic to avoid people looking into his shit.

Danny smirks, “cool, I’ll coax him into the mortal realm at some point. Gives me an excuse to annoy the heck out of him”.

“You’re more of a trouble maker than I pegged you for. Please avoid breaking the law to do that”.

Danny blinks, “uh, no?”, activating the hover cushion and hovering around his room to adjust somethings, “so, any more questions that are ultimately pointless?”.

Jared quirks an eyebrow, “honestly? No. Since you’re right, there isn’t any point. But I really should ask what kind of punishments you get?”, he’ll get more than just looked at funny if he doesn’t ask the most basic child abuse question out there.

Danny shrugs, “a stern talking to? Maybe them having a meeting with a teacher and scaring them? Another parent/son bonding thing that turns into getting almost eaten by swamp monsters or getting abducted by the mayor and hunted for sport by his personal ghost science experiments? Getting shown more videos about how not doing my chores will blow the house up and kill everyone?”.

Jared glares at the kid who smirks, “do you just want me to have to scrap everything?”, grumbling to himself and jotting down in his little book, “I’ll just write down the first two”, before looking back to the kid, “what are your chores anyway?”.

Danny smirks, no point lying now might as well go all in, “cleaning the lab. Yup, the ecto-contaminated kid that reacts to hunter tech and ecto is the one who cleans the place filled with those things”, why his parents had him clean the lab was beyond him, not that he minded. Was a good excuse to snoop new inventions or drop off a ghost or two in the portal. Speaking of that, what the heck’s he gonna do with Skulker? If he releases the dude he’ll probably chase down the doc. Eh he’ll warn the guy to keep a bone saw on hand or something. Chuckling at the cop, “also vacuum the walls sometimes”.

Jared blinks, “neither... neither of those are normal. You have got to be kidding me. Why?”.

Danny shrugs, “no idea man. Though now I don’t have any chores, well except the chore of healing”, and floats over to the door, gesturing to it, “so we done? Cool to leave the crime scene?”.

Jared stands and lifts his phone, “I actually need to take some photos of your room, so maybe try to make a section not completely nightmarish?”.

What then proceeds is the two moving around a few things and Danny dumping a pile of cloths over a particularly unpleasant looking square of carpet, so Jared can get his photo. He also takes photos of the star-covered ceiling, hand-built rocket models, and his computer video-game set-up. Noting the space flight simulators, “you a fan of space? I have a cousin who’s an astronaut you know”. Danny zips right over into his face, causing him to fall on his ass, Danny stays in his face and follows him though, “what! Oh my Zone! What missions have they been on?!? Wait, have they been on any?!? Did they get to go to any planets?!? Or a satellite?!? What was the recovery like?!? Oh! Oh! What’s wearing an actual spacesuit like?!?...”.

Alright, Jared thinks, this kid was a little freaky and was officially seriously freaking him out. Interrupting Danny’s word vomit, “uh... I don’t know? I think ‘like’ might have been an understatement, you’re a bit... obsessive”.

Danny huffs and glares at the guy, how, no seriously how could he not know? Not ask? “You disappoint me, and shut it. Side-effect of the ecto”, practically hissing, “and I’m interested, not obsessive”. He knows a little echoey ghostliness came out there ‘cause space is not his Obsession.

Jared nods slowly and blinks at the wide-eyed teen that he’s pretty sure hasn’t blinked in a while, “uh sure thing. Could I... maybe get off the floor?”, which now that he’s not focused on the kid going a bit crazy, he’s noticed said floor is a bit more than foul-smelling.

Danny stares a little more and realises he’s effectively pinning the guy without actually touching him, backing off but grumbling, “deserved it, family goes to space maybe and you don’t know shit about it? Ridiculous. At least Lewis would ask”, Lewis was a curious dude, Vee just didn’t know shit.

Jared gets up slowly and makes a point to get out of the kids bedroom, the kid shooting him glares like he’s committed a crime the entire time.

Jasmine sticks her head out of her bedroom too, “everything alright and good now?”, looking from the slightly freaked cop to her slightly wide-eye brother who’s grumbling incoherently, “Danny stop frightening the guests”. Danny grumbles incoherently a bit more but in ghost just to be creepy because let it be known, he was a dumbass.

Jared studiously ignores the... sounds? the kid is making and lifts up the notebook, “we’re good here. My partner’s waiting so I should get going”. Jared heads down the steps, spotting the sister putting her hands on her hips and looking unimpressed at Danny, “what is wrong with you Danny? Are you trying to make him suspicious?”.

“His cousin is an astronaut and he knows nothing, fucking nothing, about that?...”, and looks to start wide-eyed ranting, which Jasmine looks fond? over. This family was... weird.

Nodding his head at the parents, who smile and look relieved. Telling him they were rather... aware, things weren’t really acceptable here. And here he was not reporting that because of a bribe of all things, and honestly? after that performance, he’d rather not see what that kid’s like mad. That’s not mentioning how awkward working with the Fenton’s would be if he did report this. Again, they were basically cops here; their own ecto-department, alongside the Red Huntress.

Maddie jumps up to get the door while Danny and Jazz come down the stairs to see him off, only for Danny’s ghost sense to go off and a (very manly) scream sounding from outside. Everyone rushing to the door to see Ember literally standing on the cop car hood, her stomping on the windshield with one boot and telling the ‘piggy to lick her boots’ and moving to strum her guitar.

Danny’s folks of course run out guns blazing, while he silently slips into the background to transform; and Jared rushes over to his partner, grumbling about Chester being more of a greenhorn than him. Chester, meanwhile, is wide-eyed, back stiff, and clutching his chair seat for dear life.

Danny Phantom flies out -with his ghostly legs being, in fact, legs- to the sight of the cops trying to peel out of here while shooting their standard issue ecto-pistols at the ghost. His parents chasing said ghost, who’s of course mocking them and sticking out her tongue.

Ember shouting, “babypop!”, as soon as she sees Danny and floating straight at him. So he does the smart thing and leads her on a little goose chase. Which, in typical fashion, results in him getting a guitar powered fist-shaped sound wave punch straight into the side of a building.

She shouts at him, “my babypops been missing a while Phantom, know anything ‘bout that?!”. Danny snickers, “you know, you calling us both babypop raises some serious questions”.

“Oh can it”.

Making Danny laugh and shakes his thermos a little, “already canned the tin can. Care to join? Not sure how much makeout room there is though”. Which promptly gets him slammed into the road, “keep this up and I’ll put a cement lock on the thermos!”.

She rolls her eyes and readies her guitar again, “that won’t work, we can phase through cement, dipstick”.

Danny pauses and holds up a finger, “actually, my folks are making a mass-producible ecto-cement”, shrugging, “which I’m sabotaging because oof, imagine slamming into a ghost proof wall mid-battle?”.

Ember chuckles, “yeah, would really ruin the vibes. Speaking of vibes, try these sound waves out”, and turns the nob to something Danny’s pretty sure is new. Great. Watching, and failing to dodge, a pink line of sound slice through the air... and his shoulder.

Danny watches the arm go flying into someone’s garden, “wow, some really cutting edge beats you’ve got there”, and promptly dodges another pink line.

The fight again pausing when the dude who owns the garden throws Danny’s arm back at him, which he just lets it bounce off the side of his head, “way to get dismembered asshole!”.

Danny holds up a finger to Ember, “one second”, looking to the guy as Ember crosses her arms. Danny snatching his arm out of the air and tucking it under his armpit, “okay first off, dismemberment requires multiple limb removal; I only lost one. Two, I’ll admit my arm wouldn’t make very good fertiliser, but was that really necessary? And three-”, smirking, “-thanks for the hand. I’ll make sure to put my act together. Got to stay handsome after all”. Turning to Ember and speaking quiet enough the scowling guy won’t hear; though Ember shooting him a few miles away into a tree helps, “got a girl to impress, ya know. I like to think she prefers the whole over bits and bites”.

That gets Ember to pause and actually smile, if this were a video game a little ‘!’ would have likely appeared over her head, “oh! You’re dating again? The goth? I’d ask if it was the techy but you said girl”.

Danny throws his hand out to the side, “why do you all always think I’m dating them?!?”.

Ember snorts, rolls her eyes, and puts a hand on her hip, “your two humans are attached at the hip to you. How are you not dating them?”.  

Danny pinches the bridge of his nose, “we’re close so what? I’m a protective asshole who likes to keep what’s mine close. Fuck off. I’m dating Red for your information”.

Ember giggles and shakes her head, “silly boy, and nice to see your death wish is still intact”, readying her guitar to restart their battle, “she know you’re one of us yet?”.

Danny chuckles as he stretches out his torso to avoid another fist blast, “naw, that info’s still ghosting her”, earning both another head shake and a pink slicing blast from the ghost.

Meanwhile, Lewis is just now taking his last shift break. Flipping through the Amity news because again, being prepared is nice and Danny’s a verifiable walking time bomb for physical injuries. And surprise surprise Phantom him is currently practically eating a tree with his face fighting some rocker chic. Eddie would probably ask her for a night of fun or something; though she might might be a minor. Maybe? It’s hard to tell. Well whatever, she’s currently smacking Danny over the head with her guitar. Squinting at the screen before sighing, the kid’s arm is definitely not attached to him. So check his arm brace, check his stitch work, make sure his bones are aligned right. Watching him get hit over the head again, maybe he should ask if Danny even can get concussions; he hopes not.

Quirking an eyebrow at his phone ringing, pausing the video, “hello?”.

“Dr. Dan Lewis? This is Jared Walker from the Amity police department”.

Lewis sighs, why does he feel like Danny’s at fault for this, “yes?”. Just the same as Eddie is literally always at fault whenever the San Francisco police call.

“I just finished up with a welfare check on Daniel Fenton, and just wanted to confirm that he’s indeed medically alright and that someone other than the Fenton parents’ are keeping an eye on the kid”.

Lewis grimaces, oh no way that went well, “he’s better than anyone else would be, so he’s quite fine; no need to worry. After this shift I’ll be taking something of a leave to stay at the Fenton household, I do intend to keep a rather close eye on him. That is my job after all. Do you need anything from me for your report?”. Danny must have done something to keep this guy from just outright reporting that the house was ridiculously unsafe.

“No, that’s alright. I think I’d rather not know whatever it is you do know”, alright so Danny definitely did something, something a ‘normal’ person wouldn’t really approve of, “so long as there’s someone more... responsible, watching him I’m not going to concern myself. Try to get him to clean his room, I doubt this’ll be the last time someone raises the alarm about that kid. I doubt ‘I know your dead grandparent’ is something he can pull again. And most less seasoned cops would not have reacted well to nearly being assaulted”.

Lewis sighs, Danny seriously can not keep his nose out of trouble. Though assaulting a cop is something he’d expect from Eddie not Danny. Though in Eddie’s case, the cop wouldn’t be alive to talk about it. “I’ve told him as much. I do hope my patient wasn’t too much of a hassle, he can definitely be a bit odd. Though that’s hardly unusual for the family”.

“Oh I’m aware. That kid is a bit more.... startling though. I don’t envy you. Thanks for taking my call, I imagine you’re a busy man”.

Lewis chuckles, “he hasn’t tried to kill or eat me yet, so he’s a fairly enjoyable patient. Very interesting. Have a good day”.

“Yeah...”, Lewis is pretty sure he hears the guy mutter, “what is up with people today? Everyone’s a goddamn nutcase”, before hanging up. Lewis barely gets the time to chuckle down at his phone before it pings from that private server Phantom chat.

DPain: so

DPain: that spooky from fore might

DPain: might

DPain: be lowkey coming for you for my scrappy bits

DPain: also

DPain: mighto scared a cop

NightShade: made pig squeal

Tiethief: so he told me

Tiethief: should I just give the spooky what he wants?

DPain: put it in a present, throw it at his face screaming bomb!

PDAxpda: not like you need it

NightShade: n tinman might actually stab you or something if you don’t

Tiethief: that is a rather convincing argument

Lewis tosses his phone into the tray, hopefully this ghost doesn’t show up mid-surgery.

And he showed mid-surgery. Very mid-surgery. As in, hands in someone’s intestines kind of mid-surgery with a number eleven scalpel. All his underlings just hug the walls, or slowly move out of the room, effectively leaving him holding a guy together by himself at the table. Cowards. Lewis swallows and is impressed with himself at sounding calm and slightly bored, “do you mind? I am rather busy. The secretary could give you a number if you need something”.

“Where’re the whelps skinnings?”.

Lewis sighs, lifts up the hand holding the scalpel and points it at the ghost, “rude. As I said, I have my hands full. And I imagine the ‘whelp’ wouldn’t appreciate my patient keeling over from your pestering”. Here’s hoping the ghosts are sorta friendly with Danny at least slightly and really are against using someone's Obsession for a cheap shot.

Skulker blinks and internally winces slightly, well aware of the whelps protective Obsession, “fair play to you. I will wait. Here”, and nods curtly.

Lewis raises a very disbelieving judgmental eyebrow, “no you’re not. I somehow doubt you are even close to sterile. And I would rather not have to explain to his wife how he mysteriously got ecto-contamination during surgery”. Lewis is honestly surprised the ghost tilts his head, shrugs, and just... leaves. Ghosts were very interesting. Though he’s not about to hang up his doctor coat for the ghost hunter spandex.

Brittney walks up next to him, shaking slightly and readjusting her glasses, “Dan?”.

Lewis simply gets back to work, gesturing the others over, “yes?”. Thankfully they listen and also thankfully no one passed out on him this time.

Brittney swallows, “what the fuck”. Which just makes Lewis chuckle.

Two hours later Lewis snaps off his gloves into the trash and turns sideways to nearly crash right into the ghost. Sighing, ghosts were incredibly determined bastards. Looking at the ghosts grinning face, “this better not become routine or I’ll have to start removing your organs or something along those lines. You’re already dead, so it wouldn’t count as malpractice”.

“If you make a habit of taking parts of the whelps pelt, then gladly”.

Lewis tilts his head, that was kind of tempting; but he’s pretty sure he’ll pass. “He doesn’t need it so I don’t see why I would”, now to figure out how to deal with this, he didn’t exactly have Danny’s scraps on hand; though he had been effectively given the go-ahead. Eh he’ll just walk out to his car, slowly, and drive home, slowly. Peoples reactions could be interesting and annoying the ghost might discourage him from doing this again. He could do without ghosts showing up in his ER. Walking off and gesturing for him to follow, “follow”.

Skulker raises a metal eyebrow, “very few would dare turn their backs on the mighty Skulker”. Impressed or insulted? The doctor had turned his back on the best hunter in all the Zone at their previous encounter. And the doctor had already threatened him with a weapon. So Skulker’s leaning towards impressed.

Lewis chuckles, “if you hurt me I have one friend who’ll beat you up and another who would eat you; or at least very aggressively try to”, tilting his head as he walks, “and a fiancée who would sue you out of your lair and everything you own”. Glancing at Skulker, who of all things looks impressed.

Skulker nods curtly, “you and the whelp run in fine circles”, explains this new apparent human pet. The little whelply Prince wasn’t one for acquiring new pets.

Lewis chuckles as they pass a few nurses who looking to be trying to point out the hulking metal ghost following him like he somehow hadn’t noticed, speaking towards them, “I’m aware. Just ignore him”, then addressing said ghost while the nurses undoubtedly add this to the gossip mill, “you seem impressed”.

Skulker laughs, “a good prize should be impressive! The boys accomplishments are many, he is strong, and he is rare”, and grins more than a little viciously.

Lewis pauses as they get halfway across the parking lot, turning to Skulker, “so you respect him then. You care”, shrugging, “in a way”.

Skulker huffs and very obviously pretends to not give a damn, “a hunter respects the hunt and fellow hunters, that is all. And it wouldn’t due for him to fail to someone pathetic and unworthy”.

Lewis can’t help but laugh, “a friend of mine is like him, none of their enemies respect them. They just don’t want them to murder them. Mind you, most of their enemies die the first time they meet”. Lewis pulls out his phone as Skulker grunts, “skilled hunter”, which Lewis nods at as he walks.

Tiethief: metal spooky with lots of guns already here and apparently respects you

Tiethief: but is also trying to pretend he doesn’t

Tiethief: he is not a good actor

DPain: eh

DPain: he’s helped me the odd time

PDAxpda: well that was fast

PDAxpda: guy knows what he wants

DPain: he isn’t trying to hurt you is he

Tiethief: no

Tiethief: no need to be overprotective

Tiethief: I’m just taking him to get scraps slowly

Tiethief: very slowly

DPain: *snort* hahahaha food

DPain: *good

NightShade: make him swear not to tell vampireass monochrome’s leggy situation in return

DPain: oh shit

DPain: smart

DPain: why didn’t I think of that

PDAxpda: ‘cause you’re a dumbass

NightShade: our dumbass

DPain: hsiabdajbfje

DPain: rocker just asked if I was dating you assholes and you go and say shit like that

Lewis shakes his head as he hops into his car, sending off a final, Tiethief: you’re young, live a little, before driving off; being followed by a freaking ghost. He knows the punning he probably just encouraged but that only makes him smirk at the other two teens expense. They messed up his patient files and made Eddie practically blow up his phone while getting insanely dangerously drunk and probably killing someone to blow off steam (neither of which was all that uncommon but still; doesn’t mean he wanted that bad habit encouraged), paybacks a bitch; and apparently punny.

By the time he gets to his place he’s pretty sure the ghost is suitably annoyed. Heading in, he’s glad Anne’s still at work, better to not drag her into this. Not that she would likely mind. Would handle it with the controlled grace and power she always did. Glancing at the ghost as he moves to one of the closets, “now this stays between us, no need for Vlad to know. As far as that old friend of mine knows Danny never lost his legs. We are messing with him some”.

Skulker huffs, “I only tell him anything because he pays me”, taking a bag from the doctor guy and glancing inside. Grinning extremely maliciously, “and this outweighs any money or upgrades”.

Lewis nods and puts his hands on his hips, “another form of payment for this little gift could certainly be leaving Danny alone enough to study. He'd make a nice surgical assistant”, smirking, “he’s very good with a knife and stitch work”.

Skulker tilts his head and chuckles, “pestering the whelp is half the point. The potential of him spending his human time cutting people up and taking others scraps is tempting though”. Making the Prince even more of a little hunter was very tempting. He cared not one bit for that space whatever human job he was chasing before. So the boys studying meant nothing.

“Then bite the Eden’s apple. I already offered the kid a job”, shrugging, “granted he makes it through medical school”, glaring at the ghost purely to make a point. Feeling very smug at Skulker seeming annoyed but smiling slightly; not that it’s easy to tell with the metal face.

Lewis chuckles, “also, I appreciate you making him regrow his legs. Now I don’t have to knock him out”.

That gets Skulker to give him an almost concerned seeming look, “you have a ghost knockout device?”, which Lewis just grins at as the ghost promptly leaves. Well, he just successfully intimidated a ghost. Like symbiotes and MRI machines. Looking out the window to the dark sky, it’s about time he checks in on his patient properly; and probably patches him up yet again. That kid needed to just have a doctor shadowing him at all times.

Danny flops his head into Valerie’s lap, tail swishing lazily in the air at random. Sam and Tucker are lobbing chunks of mystery substances at each other. Valerie pats his head, “I still can’t believe you bribed a cop and got away with it”.

Danny chuckles meanly before going slightly wide-eyed, “oh yeah! And get this, Walker’s first name was apparently Cordell. Cop’s his grandson or something”.

Tucker gets hit in the head by something purple and fuzzy, “seriously? Your luck man”. Making everyone laugh just as Maddie sticks her head in, “the next CyberStep prototype is ready, sweetie”, looking around the room, “oh! You kids are still here? You really should head home and let Danny rest”, almost glaring at Valerie, “you especially missy. Danny being... endowed... or not”;

Danny wheezes in laughter while everyone else chokes. Valerie promptly hits him, so he manoeuvres his tail to poke her in the head; she, of course, swats It away. Sam however, surprises him by grabbing It and yanking him to the floor as she goes to stand, Tucker following as they move to leave.

Sam eyeballing Valerie, “well?”. Who sighs and leans down to give Danny another pat and a kiss before getting up to leave herself.

Danny sticks his arms up at her, “lift me, am baby”. Valerie snorts and leans down lifting him up, “yes, big scary baby”. Danny laughs with a high pitched voice very intentionally, “spooky scary skeleton baby”. Valerie groans and drops him on the bed, “you’re awful, you damn fool”, shoving his head into the blankets.

Danny chuckles, “you’re the worst, you stupid fool-lover”. She just snorts while Danny stays there, with his face smushed into the bed as they actually do leave.

His mom coming over after she’s sure his friends have gone. Her sitting on the bed and patting it, giving his shoulder a little rub, “you are okay with testing the CyberSteps right? And the way the house is? It’s setup? You can get to everything fine?”, continuing as he turns his head to her, “I know we haven’t really been treating this like you actually are... disabled. We’ve been treating this like you’ll pretty much go back to normal”, sighing and looking to the ceiling, “I know with the CyberSteps you’ll be able to walk again, have legs again. But it’s... it’s not the same. And I don’t- I don’t know if you want us to teat you like you’re no different. Not give you extra help or do things for you”, looking back to him and ruffling his hair a little, she can tell he’s thinking, “I know you want the general public to treat you the same and not even know anything’s happened. But us? I guess what I’m asking sweetie, is if you like the way we treat you”, trying to lighten the mood a little, make this seem less serious, “and no, by help you out I don’t mean babying you. I know you don’t like that”.

Danny opens and closes his mouth a few times. His mom was obviously worried and was definitely always going to be bothered by his leglessness, but he wasn’t actually legless. But revealing that was more than a little unpleasant sounding. Regardless what his friends say, regrowing human(ish) flesh and bone was not the same as developing a ghostly tail. It wasn’t even in the same realm of same. Literally. Humans do not heal like he does. Not even close. And him revealing he doesn’t heal like a fucking human is absolutely going to make them question if he even is human anymore. If he’s been too changed by his Core and contamination to qualify as human. And his parents deciding the answer was ‘no. Not human’ was nightmare fuel that he simply did not want to face. That, his hybrid status, was getting pried from his cold dead hands, when it came to his folks. And besides, even if he did tell her, then she’d be worried about his weird-ass healing and humanness. Which she would probably be more bothered by than him technically being ‘disabled’. So that’s solved. Kinda. Not really. Something tells him that having legs -real ones- while human was going to be an uncommon thing; too risky to have them often. He has a distinct feeling that is making ClockWork smirk meanly at him.

(ClockWork was, in fact, watching the near future with a smirk; and drumming their fingers over their staff almost in eager anticipation)

Now the other dilemma Danny’s having is this whole ‘do you want us to treat you the same/help you/modify things for you’ question. He means, the answers were obvious to him: yes/no/no. But his mom was obviously having at least a little bit of a hard time with treating him like nothings changed. Obviously she wanted to help him. And that made sense. She was his mom, any mom would want to help their disabled kid. That meant he needed to give her a reason, make her feel good and better about him not wanting that. She needed to feel like she was helping him by not helping him. Huh, talk about an oxymoron. And funnier, doing that would make him feel helpful and his Obsession at least a little content. But the question was, how to go about doing that? Tilting his head -and knowing damn well his mom is just letting him sort through his head- he could just be honest? in a different way. He disliked being babied, them helping him when he didn’t goddamn need it, because of his ghostly pride. Because of that ghostly part of his mind. His ghostly brain. Which his mom had asked about. Had asked how his mind was different, was more ghostly. He could just... tell her? That’s pretty well what she wanted right? and it would keep her from being all weird about this. Maybe anyway. Hopefully. But also how to explain that? He wasn’t kidding that he really seriously didn’t know just how different his mind was. Where did his human pride end and his ghost pride begin? He had never liked being babied, but he definitely hated it much more since the accident. But he’s pretty sure full human Danny wouldn’t mind his folks doing things for him or putting stuff in easier reach. Heck! full human Danny would probably want nothing to do with robo-legs; especially robo-legs made by his explosion prone parents. Full human Danny would probably be fine being pushed around in a wheelchair. Halfa Danny definitely wasn’t.

Swallowing, alright brain, time to be on the ghostly side. Huh, for once he was actively wanting to be ghostly around his family, “okay uh, I think that -me being bothered with being babied so much- is a ghost brain thing. And um, you guys trying to help me unnecessarily -as in I could honestly do it myself just fine- is babying to me. Wounds my pride I guess”, shrugging. It didn’t help that he was a powerful ghost. He was a proud bastard alright? Ghostly proud for sure. Nowhere near as bad as Vlad though. That guy was, like, sixty percent pride or something.

Maddie nods, making a point to not look too curious, she can tell a bit that Danny’s more certain about this than he’s letting on. So he was clearly not comfortable yet talking about how his... Core and ectoplasm affected his mind. Meaning this was probably him testing the waters a bit, him taking a bit of a leap of faith. She could understand that, it made sense, him hide anything about himself he thought was ghostly was what he was used to. He had ghost hunters for parents after all. So she needed to not be bothered by this, just like the tail and Core. But also just like with those, she was bothered, she just had to work on that and not let it show; because upsetting him, making him feel like he still had to hide parts of himself, would bother her much more. Though to get any confirmation that his mind has changed, who he is, his personality; was harder to swallow than his physical body being a bit different. And here, he probably had a point. She thought he had been more self-sufficient, more caring about his looks, and more capable as a teen. She had chalked that up to growing up, but maybe that was his ghostly influence showing. Tilting her own head, “well ghosts are prideful things. So I guess you being more proud, in a ghostly way, would make sense. Do you... have different kinds of pride? Like, human pride and ghostly pride?”. Not ‘ghost pride’ because he’s not a ghost; no matter how close to one he’s become.

Danny rolls onto his back and stares at his ceiling a little, “I think my ghost pride trumped my human one. I’m not sure I have human pride?”, tilting his head, “or maybe my ghost stuff just abducted my human pride and modified it?”. Did he actually know the answer here? No. And it’s not like he’s gonna ask Spectra how his mind worked. How human it was. That would be asking for punishment. Would really confuse her though. Maybe. She was one ghost he didn’t really understand.

Maddie nods and ruffles his hair, “your ecto-circulatory system and Core? That would make sense”, looking up at the ceiling too, “ghosts are impressions of the living, so your ghostly set up cannibalising your human pride and leaving you with the ecto-impression of it seems plausible. Seems logical pride would be something your ectoplasm would latch on to or overpower”, she bites back adding that ghosts were obviously proud since they seemed to think they were better or above the living when they were only the leftovers of the living. Effectively scraps. But that thought makes her squint a little, there wasn’t anything for Danny’s Core to be a ‘scrap’ of... The tail was obvious, but the Core? They had thought those were likely built of leftover emotional imprints or maybe the heart? That clearly couldn’t be right since Danny still had a heart -Dan had pretty well confirmed his heart being there- and, even with his aloofness, she’s still positive he was definitely all there emotionally. So the Core was an addition, not a leftover. Meaning that maybe... they were at least partly wrong. On their basic understanding/finding, of all things. Maybe the majority of a ghost was leftovers, but some were new?

Danny interrupts her thoughts, “‘ecto-circulatory system’? Is that just, like, what you’re calling my, uh, ectoplasm? And I think it’s more likely that ghost pride, or whatever, is stronger and more focused on, or something, and so the human pride is kinda redundant? Would be wasteful to have two, I think”, chuckling, “I guess ‘cannibalising’ is one way to put it. More like taking the old and upgrading it”, then very stupidly adding, “less ‘impression’, more ‘freed from unneeded baggage”, and instantly cringing because calling living, breathing, eating, organs, etcetera, ‘baggage' was probably simultaneously worrying and offensive. Maybe she wouldn’t take it that way? Even if it was... kinda true. Why have organs and bones when you can just be energy? Why be reliant on oxygen and food when you could just... not? But at the same time, why need to absorb ectoplasm, just one thing, instead of diversifying your needs? No ectoplasm equals some pretty fucked and probably fading ghosts. No cheese or beef just equals ‘eat something else you moron’. Still though...

Maddie gives her son a slightly concerned look, did he have that ‘ghosts are better than the living’ mindset? That could.... could explain his tolerance and even seeming fondness of ghosts. But he also clearly didn’t ascribe to humans being lesser; than ghosts or him. Like how some people just found cats better than dogs, better pets than dogs; but didn’t view dogs as some lesser beings. Was this part of his ghostly influences or just the way he would view things regardless? She should ask instead of assuming, assuming has gotten her in a bad way a lot it seems. And she told herself she’d do less of that. But first, his question. His curiosities were more important than hers, especially if he might be genuinely worried about anything, “your ecto-circulatory system is just what your dad rather dubbed your Core and ectoplasm. How it works and flows together. Like blood and a heart”, shifting a bit and biting her lip, “I guess having two kinds of pride would be unnecessary. But... do you? think ghosts are better than humans? Above?”, looking at his face and making a point to come off as gentle, “swapping ‘impression’ for ‘losing baggage’ sounds less like they are our leftovers and more like we’re garbage holding back our ghosts”. When it came to power she could understand, humans simply couldn’t match ghosts when it came to raw power. But they lost so much. Or that’s what research said, what she had thought for so long. But even if they were wrong about ghosts being emotionless and unable to feel pain. And, according to Danny, about being able to reproduce. Ghosts still lost organs. A truly physical existence. They were still bound to Obsession, even if Dan’s idea of them loving their Obsessions had merit. They still existed almost endlessly. They still were trapped in a form, ‘mind’, habit, personality, that could barely change at all. That was horrible. A loss. Not freedom or shedding off baggage. And certainly not better. Maybe it was good and better for the ones that never knew life.

Danny pushes himself to sit up and chuckles awkwardly, he sure loves making his life harder huh? “uh, I wouldn’t say ‘garbage’”, he pointedly ignores her slightly relieved sigh, “better comparison would be prototype to finished product. Prototypes are smaller, weaker, less effective. But more manipulatable, easier to deal with, informative. Prototypes you can practically upgrade or modify like crazy. Finished things go obsolete”, tilting his head and looking a little far off, “‘when things reach their ultimately conclusion, their final stage, they can go no more. But the universe is a thing of endless mores. There will always be a higher goal. A harder day. A stronger fight. A more expensive cost. To stagnate is to someday die out. To cease to exist when the universe requires beyond the final evolutions limits. But life is a thing of endless evolution. Of constant change. Always taking more and more and more. Never to rest’”, nodding his head with a smile, “‘and that, young one, is why I love life’”, chuckling and looking back to his slightly startled looking mom, “I might have made a stupidly wise friend”, shrugging, “sure they also then went on about why they love death. But you get the point I think”.

Maddie blinks, alright so maybe him being more grown-up had something to do with making -what sounds to be- a very smart friend. Likely an adult. Choosing to make light of this because that was a bit heavy and her boy clearly thought highly of this friend; he remembered them word for word!, “and here I thought I’ve met all your friends”, patting his head and getting lightly scowled at in return, “though I would like to know what they think of ghosts”, sighing and looking back to the ceiling, “as for what you said, most people consider prototypes inferior. So that doesn’t really change my question”.

Danny nods a little, fair enough, “well... uh, I think ghosts are better yeah. Kinda. In ways”, shrugging, “the strength. The durability. The powers. The sorta immortality and Obsessions though, heh”, he may love helping and protecting people, and enjoy satisfying that pesky Obsession of his; but it was still annoying pushy bastard. Shaking his head, “and my friend? They’re kinda a loner”, was a bit weird calling ClockWork simply ‘friend’ but he so doesn’t want to get into that. Chuckling, “‘death -in the way it is known for ghosts- is a finality in a way that finality is not. An end unending. Eternity, or at the very least the possibility of it, on a shiny silver plater. A steady star in space. Enhancing and overwhelming everything around it. Never bending for anything. It’s beauty and strength. Chaos and destruction. Pure and raw; leaving room for nothing else. And the universe is nothing without that’”, Danny nods and adds, “pretty sure they also said ‘think of it like this: without death, life is worthless. Death is the core and essence of life. Without it life is just a bled dry husk. And that’s something I care nothing for’ on the same topic”.

Maddie can’t help blinking again, this whoever seemed like they genuinely didn’t prefer one over the other. Reminded her a little of Dan actually. She’s not sure she agrees with the idea that the living are worthless without ghosts. Or maybe Jack’s wild on-the-spot idea of needed ghosts had some serious merit. As in, world would end without them, kind of merit. Then squinting, thinking on the weird emphasis Danny put on ‘Obsessions’; it couldn’t- could he possibly? “Sweetie-”. Only to get cut off by Jack barging in, holding up the CyberSteps.

“I got tired of waiting! So I figured I’d just bring them up! Plus! It might be more convenient to test here! Since if there’s some kind of reaction then Danny can just hop right into bed!”. Maddie tilts her head and nods slightly; he had a point.

Danny looks around his room and rubs his neck, thinking of all the shit he hid fucking everywhere in here, “uh, I’d rather not have anything that, y’ know, might explode or anything, in my room while doing things that would make it maybe explode or something”. His dad actually blushes at that and deflates a little. So Danny adds on, “still cool with testing though dad. Just not here”; earning a wide smile in return.

Maddie nods and sighs slightly, standing up with a smile; storing away her question and worry for later, “might as well do that now then”, smiling almost meanly at Jack, “since someone’s over eager”. Jack just chuckles and grins.

Danny flicks around his tail, feeling how easy it would be to simply have legs yet how not draining the tail still was. Super odd but fuck it, odd is him or whatever. Floating up off his bed and flying his face right up to the legs, more than a little curious what they've changed to account for his Core in a way that actually works in any way. Looking inside the legs, “so, think you’ve fixed the signals miscommunication issue?”, deciding not to add ‘without messing anything else up’.

Jack beams and nods, father and son chatting a little as they head out and down the stairs. Maddie watching from behind and smiling to herself, glad he didn’t seem to be closing himself off or act uncomfortable after their ghost-related talk; like he often did. Probably had something to do with her effectively reintegrating that they were willing and okay to hear him out on his opinions and ghost tolerance. Or maybe from them knowing about his ghostly influence and accepting that as simply part of him. Refocusing and watching his tail flick and swish around; which only makes her smile grow a little. He truly had gotten pretty good with it; not a wobble or falter in sight. He might even be able to give some ghost a run for their money, once he was healed up of course, which Jack would absolutely cheer and brag over.

Danny turns his head towards his mom just as they get into the kitchen -the currently designated blast zone, since doing it in the lab around sensitive anti-ghost stuff really was stupid- tilting his head at her giggling to herself, “what?”, and blushing when she glances to his tail; him coiling It around a little, making her smile crinkle her eyes a little. Guess his folks were finally -thank the Ancients- genuinely getting use to the tail. Turning back to his dad, who sets down the legs and gestures at them a bit ridiculously. Making Danny laugh and shake his head with a smile, “yeah yeah, alright”.

Grabbing the waist and slipping his tail in, instantly wondering what would happen if he went all leggy while wearing the legs. Legs on top of legs. Legs inside of legs. Fucking legception. That’s for another day though, even if he grins like an idiot over the thought. Moving for the thumbprint scanner and pausing, huh, they moved the timer. Nice, way less awkward. Shrugging and attaching the neuroreceptors, “where'd the timer go? Not that I’m complaining”. Considering that thing controlled the drain, he’d rather be able to see it without pulling some inhuman body horror shit.

Maddie walks up and taps on the neuroreceptors between his shoulder blades, “it’s on your back, we think shortening the distance between your brain and Core, and the timer conductor might just do the trick. With a couple other changes of course”, shrugging a little, “even if that increases the distance between it and your tail -the most accessible of your ectoplasm- as well as the main body of the CyberSteps”.

Jack adds in with a laugh, “and just like before! It’s completely protected from bumps and it can be locked so no one can go fiddling with it on you!”, and slaps Dannys back over the strip, then blushing and realising that was probably dumb to do.

Danny tries (and fails) to look over his shoulder at it while his dad turns it to actually start up, “uh, won’t it be kinda hard for me to adjust it there”.

Both parents blink like this hadn’t occurred to them. “Oh”. While Danny glances to his chest and tries to focus on what he’s feeling. Again, the draining is near nothing, which is good though foreboding.

Maddie shakes her head, “well we could add a small chest bar so it could be on your chest”, nodding and thinking to herself a little, “would fall right over his Core then”.

Danny raises an eyebrow before grumbling, “who am I? Tony Stark?”, snorting to himself, “well I am a literal metal ass. Rockin’ robotics”. Then deciding why not try walking, didn’t seem like anything was going horribly awfully wrong.

Lewis had walked in just during Danny’s little dig toward Ironman and had promptly muttered to himself, “considering the super-suit leading a merry band of heroes. Yes. Yes you are”, which he’s pretty sure Danny missed. As he watches the kid go to lift his ‘leg’ -what happened to him regrowing his legs???- only for said leg to practically high kick the air aggressively, sweep Danny clean off his other foot, and flip him onto his back; hard. Eliciting a little ‘oof’ from Danny and making Lewis sigh. What is it with walking in on the hero/vigilante type getting hurt? Especially Danny. Was like the boy felt a moral and physical obligation to get injured at the sight of a doctor. Which actually... does seem like something Danny would get a kick out of.

Maddie and Jack quickly move to help him sit up. Lewis puts his last bag on the floor and walks over. Danny rubs his head and mumbles in ghost, “o̸҉w̧͘͏,̕͡ ͞I’͝v̕ę ̴͝w͘h̵̨a͝c̴͠k̕ed̴͠ m̷̕y ̢͠͡hea̵d ͏͠͠a͝ ̢͢͝sh̷͘i̛t ̵̕t͘o͟n͡ ̨a͝n͞d̸͝ ͞s̶͏͢om͡e͜͡ho͠w ͠t҉̵h͜a̡͜t̡ was͘ ͜͞͝w͜ay҉ ̛mo̕͠r̴͠e͏̸ ͏̡p̡̨ai̴͘nf͟ưl̡͝͡”, and shakes his head. Making his folks blink in surprise and squint at him slightly, many times they’ve thought they heard him muttering in a strange language; never heard it so clearly before though.

Jack chuckles and gives a lopsided awkward smile, “I guess you knowing ghost speak makes sense, son”. Catching Danny off guard, “e͘͜͞h̴̵҉¿”. Realising his fuck up, he goes to stand up only for the legs to overreact again and basically toss him -back first, because of course it does- into the table.

Lewis stands up and shakes his head, hands on his hips, “well I’m glad you’re up and walking, but maybe you should turn that down a little. Before you put a foot through the ceiling or hurt yourself further”. Danny just stands there rubbing his neck awkwardly before glancing cautiously at the legs. Though really? Lewis is damn impressed these things are actually working at all. And that Danny’s braces don’t look destroyed, but that’s another matter.

Jack chuckles, checks over the timer/conductor, and scratches his head, “they’re still on the lowest setting actually”. Maddie sighs, shakes her head, and repositions the table back where it belongs.

Her sitting down and eyeballing the CyberSteps, “I’m really not sure what else we can try. Any lower and it’s not gonna pick up and convert the signals successfully”.

Jack snatches up the little tray of peanut fudge brittle Maddie made earlier and puts it on the table. One’s missing, so he’s guessing Jazz took one before she turned in for the night. Least Dan joins them at the table. Danny looks to attempt to but winds up on the floor again. At least he lands on his butt though! Or the CyberSteps butt really. Oh whatever, all’s the same.

Danny just sits there, ‘legs’ sticking out straight, and vainly attempts to reach over his shoulder to flick the dial. His own normal flexibility surprising him a little at actually being able to reach the thing and turn it. But in typical fashion he turns it the wrong way, taking more from him and watching the legs start smoking concerningly; promptly turning the dial the other way. Everyone watching the smoke while Danny chuckles slightly, “heh”.

Danny decides ‘fuck it, pretty sure these are already busted’ and changes his tail to legs. Promptly reminding himself of the fact that the hooks for his tail are actual hooks via him being actively stabbed. Alright, he really should have seen that coming. Changing back to his tail to hopefully not leak blood everywhere and ecto-burning away any blood that might (definitely) have gotten on the hooks. Using said hooks to use his tail to stand up and get out of the (still smoking)CyberSteps.

Lewis watches him float to sit and grab up some of the brittle, pretty sure there’s some specks of blood on the ‘bandaging’. Which come on really? How does something made entirely of ectoplasm bleed human blood? How? Danny’s body made so little sense. Eddie's made more sense. And Vee was a liquid.

Maddie pats Danny's shoulder, “you alright sweetie?”. Danny of course giving a solid ‘yep’. Which Lewis is calling bullshit on, “I’ll be the judge of that”, earning an eye roll.

Jack nods and rubs his neck, “guess you’d like to check him over right off the bat huh?”, then perking up a bit, “then me and Mads can take the CyberSteps down! Give them a little check over of their own!”.

Making Danny snort, “really splitting the work there. A bio mechanic and tech mechanic. Real two for one. How suiting. Built for me”. Lewis just shoos the pair towards the lab door, Jack scooping up the ‘legs’ and bounding over; Maddie right behind after ruffling Danny’s hair.

Danny mumbles at the table as the lab door closes, “what is with ruffling my hair today?”. Then scowling at Lewis for attempting to ruffle his hair with a small smirk, Danny going intangible to block him.

Lewis rounds on Danny, pointing at his tail, “now, why is that bloody? How’s your back and arm? Can you get concussions? And I thought you said you had legs again?”.

“Twenty-one questions much? Everything’s fine, doc. I discovered the CyberSteps qualify as an iron maiden for legs. If I can get concussions I never have I think. And I’m not legless, I’m leg optional”, changing to legs and crossing them for emphasis and to effectively show off his (still intact)fashion disaster. Feeling slightly cold chair against his bare legs, and possibly the bottoms of his ass cheeks; which he’s studiously ignoring, because Ancients damnit how do girls wear this shit and not feel awkward as Hell.

Lewis blinks, “I’m pretty sure this qualifies as a crime for me to see”, well, no wonder he asked for pants. No guy should be in anything like this against his will; least Danny was rolling with it.

“Fuck the law. Also, I might have encouraged Vee to eat a cop... and a priest”.

Lewis shakes his head and gets up, “again, you’re a bad influence”. Watching Danny as he gets up and walks around his chair, going to head up the stairs. Whelp, guess he can walk. And has the most insane healing factor imaginable. Eddie technically didn’t have any special healing, Vee can just put Eddie back together. Like a jigsaw puzzle that can regrow any lost pieces to boot.

Lewis shakes his head as he closes Danny’s bedroom door, “I am once again in awe of your body”, Danny gives him a really weird look at that and awkwardly slaps his ass. Lewis scowls at him, “no. Eddie can do that, not you”, gesturing for the boy to sit down so he can make sure everything’s as it should be for a healthy person.

Danny raises an eyebrow, giving his arm over, “Eddie slaps his ass at you?”, muttering to the side, “I think Tuck is winning a bet”.

Lewis studiously ignores that, he had more than a few people question if his friendship with Eddie was really ‘just friends’. Sure, he and Anne had talked about that, opening things up. But they were pretty agreed on that being a bad idea. At least currently anyway. Pulling at bandaging, “back to tail, I somehow think that’ll be easier to wrap and less wasteful”, both of them shaking their heads at the flesh-coloured tail. Lewis quirks an eyebrow at his waist coming to a clean smooth flat end before transitioning to the tail. Eh, least he was healed and wrap-able; positives Lewis, positives.

Checking over the braces quickly, only having to change out a cracked back brace surprisingly. And very closely checking Danny’s job of reattaching his arm, the kid was seriously too good at stitching; and bone alignment apparently. Leaning back and nodding at his own work, pointless as it technically was, “guess I don’t have to gas you now”.

Danny grimaces, he’s not going to underestimate Lewis’s seriousness about healing again, “you were seriously going to do that, huh?”. Lewis just smirks at him as Danny floats up off the bed.

Lewis speaks up before Danny turns his doorknob, “speaking of Eddie, what is up with everyone thinking you’re old?”. Danny’s grin is downright malicious, “what? Did you not believe me when I pointed out time travel is a dear friend of mine”, finger-gunning at the doc, “I do have basically the god of time in my corner after all. And a time slash dimension-hopping map”.

Lewis nods acceptingly, “I’m surprised time jumping is even legal. Though ClockWork seems like the type that might not care”.

Danny chuckles, “law means nothing to them. Time loves crime. We’re like twins”, and grins meanly before opening the door and going to head back to the kitchen; Lewis following. Maybe see what ideas his folks have now, inspire them a little; they seemed kinda stuck. Which at this point was fair. For every thing that worked, something else didn’t.

The two enter to the two parents glaring at the table and off-handledly munching on brittle. Danny blinks, looks to Lewis, shrugs, and turns back to his folks. Floating over to the table, “drawing blanks?”. Jack nods and hums; taking another bite. Danny moving to sit, cooking his tail around the seat.

Maddie looks at Danny and squints, “it’s like the timer conductor simply can’t work in proper alignment with itself and you”.

Lewis tilts his head, “well couldn’t you just separate the timer function and conductor function? Sacrifice a little space-saving in the name of functionality?”. This thing working at all is a miracle alone. It also being stylish, and realistic, and compact, and durable, and practically self-sufficient; seems straight-up impossible. “Like a friend likes to say ‘ain’t nothing wrong with the cheap n’ easy option’”, shrugging, “sure, he’s usually talking about food and booze, but I think the mindset applies”.

Jack shakes his head absently, mumbling into his food, “only the best for Danny-boy”. Maddie pats his arm comfortingly. Lewis points at him, “working at all might be the best though”. Jack just grumbles incoherently at that.

Danny shrugs awkwardly, “I’m fine either way. An extra dial is nothing really”. He is not going to school or walking around town without legs, Ancients Damnit!

Maddie sighs and nods, “we’ll see, we’d rather not of course, but we’ll see.  I’m not entirely convinced that would work anyway. Might make it even worse. Since the two need to communicate so closely and heavily. Control how much is taken, how, and stored. Control how much is released and where to at a time”.

Jack nods, joining the conversation more in genuine, “I think the timer isn’t working really. It’s just not strong enough. The conductor can’t take little enough, even with storing excess, for the timer to handle; without taking too little to even activate the conductor properly”.

Maddie nods and gives Danny a soft look, “your ecto’s just too strong. The conductor needs to be strong enough to keep up and handle you, but the timer doesn’t seem able to keep up with that. We’re pretty sure the timer’s maxed out”. Danny cringes and rubs his neck, looking around awkwardly. A more power-hungry ghost would be tickled green to hear that.

Jack nods, “feasibly, we could increase storage space but that would botch the design clear to the Zone. Definitely wouldn’t be able to match your physique. Noticeably so”, and glancing at him. Knowing full well Danny wouldn’t be happy with that.

Danny instantly grimacing, “yeah no. I’ll pass on that option”. Earning a round of nods.

Lewis leans back and taps his chin, “I’m assuming by ‘too strong’ you mean ecto-level right? And could you just... make a different kind of timer? Or a conductor that could compress his energy on top of storing it?”. Hey, sometimes an outside perspective helped.

Maddie raises an eyebrow at Dan, “oh? Danny explained ecto-levels, I take it?”, shaking her head, “this timer is our newest model. I’m not sure we can currently make something stronger. And everything we’ve got for compression right now are capture devices or would likely hurt anything that could actually feel pain”, and winces slightly from Danny’s sudden sharp glare; promptly getting a matching one from Dan. Right, she was supposed to be rethinking that. And she was, honest. It’s just, they had been so sure. Fiddling with her glove a little, “habit sweetie”. Danny rolls his eyes, like he always did when they would ignore or disregard his opinions; which made her cringe. She probably just took at least a small step back with him. Lewis just continues with the glare.

Jack nods, “we haven’t really had a chance to look into reviewing things, son”, chuckling slightly, “give us some wiggle room, would ya?”. Danny rolls his eyes again but this time he has a slight smile.

Danny shrugs, back brace scraping almost loudly against the back of the chair as he leans back, “well I definitely don’t want anything that hurts ghosts being used on me. And honestly? There was never any reason to think ghosts don’t feel pain”. Lewis just nods, this wasn’t really his fight here; he’ll interject if he thinks he needs to though.

Maddie gestures with her hands, “but they don’t have nervous systems, it doesn’t make any sense. There’s no brain to measure or process that stuff”.

Jack nods a furrows his brows, “same reason we didn’t believe they had emotions. Or the ability to love, or really care about anything other than their Obsession and chaos”. Even Lewis has to admit, he’s got no clue how something without a brain experiences things that require brainwaves and nerves to experience. Ghosts or symbiotes. Though he’s got a few ideas regarding Vee.

Danny blinks, in his opinion it was obvious ghost could feel; both emotions and pain. Literally just look at them and it was obvious. But yeah, he guesses from a purely slightly close-minded human-centric scientific eye it would seem illogical or impossible. And he’s never exactly questioned the ‘how’ of ghosts feeling anything. His ghostly self included. Maybe if he could find an answer to that then his folks might really truly genuinely change their tune on ghosts; instead of just pondering it. So how did he feel things a ghost? Okay stupid question, he felt through his ectoplasm of course. But how? Everything had a slight tingle in ghost form, he had figured he was just feeling his own ecto; but maybe that wasn’t the case. Kinda like how if you pressed your finger down on something and really focused or pressed you could feel your pulse. And Cores were often described -even by him- as like a brain and they effectively were ghost hearts. Maybe that was even more literal. His Core would pulse or vibrate harder if it was doing lots of work, but it would also vibrate pretty noticeably when he was happy; he got teased about ‘purring’ over that. And his Core did get colder and even felt harder when he was pissed off. Kinda wet when he was sad. Huh, he probably should have noticed the emotional connection a long ass time ago; though not really feeling his Core consciously was a good excuse for not, background noise after all. Emotions were effectively felt through the Core. And any pain he experienced did seem to be slightly worse around his chest. So It was probably processing, or whatever, that pain. Sure people didn’t feel head pain every time they stabbed their finger with a knife, but humans were less in-tune with their brains than ghosts were with their Cores. Humans can’t ‘feel’ their brains by just focusing after all. Same went for blood verses ectoplasm though. If anything, ghosts felt more than the living.

Danny blinks, staring down at the table before looking back to his folks; who are giving him curious looks. Well damn, ghosts felt everything with their Cores. He officially gets why they were all so damn protective of them; beyond just instinctively feeling protective. Part of why they were sacred. This also explained his parents' confusion too. They admitted to knowing near nothing about Cores, so they wouldn’t know everything Cores did.

Danny sits up straight and puts a hand over his chest brace, over where his Core was, “it’s the Core. How ghosts feel things. They feel it with their Core”, continuing at his parents eyebrows raising and basically matching Lewis’s curiosity; though he can tell his dad’s restraining himself, which Danny appreciates. “Er, not sure if it’s the same for me -doubt it- but It does react to emotion and general pain. Uh, sometimes before I mentally do”, shrugging awkwardly and trying to make the air feel less crushing, “Sam and Tuck like to poke fun at my, um, purring when I’m happy or really content. Heh”, and glancing around.

Lewis smirks meanly, Danny moving his glancing to him and scowling. It was just like whenever anyone -other than Eddie- called Vee’s little snake head thing ‘cute’; which it was cute. They do that cat bleb thing too, so it was their own fault they were cute. Both Venom and Danny being cat-like wasn’t a similarity he ever expected to find.

Jack kinda wants to ask, ask everything actually, but specifically if Danny could show it or let them feel it? his Core feeling things. But he has a feeling his boy wouldn’t appreciate basically show-ponying. And experiencing an emotion, even faked, at the drop of a hat was kinda hard. Plus! He believes his boy! So does he really need to ask? His wife speaks up before he does, which is so uncommon that Danny is probably weirded out by that. Maddie tilts her head a little, “‘before you mentally do’ so your... Core is actually more emotionally sensitive?”, and squints at the air.

Maddie’s not really sure what to do with that information. She could write it off as a side-effect of forming a Core while still having a brain, nervous system, etcetera. But... realistically it made more sense to think that his Core was very similar to practically the same as a regular Core; an ice Core type specifically. And trying to claim his Core could experience emotions and pain but a regular one couldn’t was a serious fundamental difference. Sure she had hoped his ghost would keep the ability to feel emotions when It fully formed, but for his ghost’s Core to already experience emotions and in a completely different way than humans did... It wouldn’t make any sense if the Core hadn’t come in with Its own emotional setup. Especially if It picked up on emotions first. And there was the whole complication of pain, because her job rather required ‘hurting’ ghosts; but ghosts ‘hurt’ each other so she’s not too bothered by that. But thinking on the ice Core thing, maybe she could jump off from that to try and place how maybe normal his was? Ugh, she seriously wishes they knew more about Cores. “Do you maybe feel things icily?”.

Danny gives her a slightly confused look, he's pretty sure that question wasn’t worded very well. “Like if my Core gets icy with emotions?”, he actually needs the clarification here. At her nod he continues, “uh, It’s always cold. But uh, more cold rock when I’m mad and ice water when sad? I’m not really sure how to put it”, rubbing his neck, “I know I drop room temperatures when I’m mad”, tilting his head, “Sam and Tuck say I literally suck the heat out of them if I’m sad or really bummed or whatever”, shrugging, “has to be, like, strong emotion for others to really notice. I think?”; he’s pretty sure people would say something if he chilled rooms every time he was mildly frustrated. Everyone would have to wear sweaters during tests.

Lewis blinks, maybe it was better his Core was all exhausted at the hospital. But hey, it was a step up from eating someones organs in response to annoyance. Or drinking yourself under the table and then the floor, having questionable gang bangs, and getting a tattoo of a horse eating pickles.

Maddie and Jack exchange a Look. Alright, so his Core absolutely could and did process emotions and in Its own way. They absolutely couldn’t deny that ghosts feeling -and thus caring, experience pain, having morals- was not only plausible but likely. And Danny was right, if ghosts had something they could feel with then there really wasn’t a reason to assume they couldn’t feel. Looking back and nodding at Danny. Jack sticking out his arms, “I guess ice Core ghosts are emotionally cold literally”. And grinning at making Danny snort and laugh.

Danny nods at his dad with an amused smile, putting his chin in a palm/hand brace, elbow on the table. Looking to his mom as she speaks up, “I guess Cores are a lot more than a vital energy source. And if this isn’t just a you thing, a modification of your Core due to being human still, then ghosts wouldn’t be emotionless. Wouldn’t be pure chaos and evil”, sighing and leaning back, “so I guess ghosts really can’t be purely evil. But I think we really need to actually encounter a so-called ‘good’ ghost, to see just what kind of good that is”.

Danny can’t resist a wide grin effectively splitting across his face. That grin becoming pinched and very forced, while his folks jump in their seats a little as a portal just opens up, in the middle of the kitchen.

Lewis’s eyebrows get lost in his hairline successfully and he’s wondering just how often do ghosts just pop up when Danny was involved in literally anything. He’s known Eddie for a year and he’s only dropped a criminal on him once, an alien once sorta twice but he never really had anything to do with Riot, and corpses (or on their way to being a corpse) once; Eddie was much better about giving ‘I’m eating out’ heads up now. Danny he’s known less than a month and there’s been what? Three ghosts dropped on him? The metal one, Skulker, twice. The biker, Johnny right? And that time he almost walked in on the ClockWork ghost, that didn’t quite count as an encounter though.

Lewis physically wheezes at the timing of this ghost as they stick their blue hood-covered head through the portal. While Danny feels the need to forcibly restrain himself from smacking ClockWork over the head, as they float fully through the portal in their child form.

Jack and Maddie blink, if they were a little less tired then they would have immediately whipped out pistols from their suits and held the spook at gunpoint; though holding back on firing until this strange ghost seemed hostile, if for anything to appease their (definitely overly ghost friendly)son and try out his ‘ghosts aren’t evil’ mindset.

Jack and Maddie’s sleep deprivation-induced hesitance gives the ghost the chance to smirk mischievously and speak, “you called?”.

Danny blinks and gapes like a fish, clacking his jaw shut to avoid yelling ‘what the fuck ClockWork?!?!?’ because seriously. What the fuck are they thinking? What are they doing? Has his guardian lost their damn mind? Has all their sense of reason and common sense utterly timed out? What’s their malfunction? Does their clock Core need Its batteries changed? The hands tightened? The clock face or case polished? The pendulum realigned? Danny tears his eyes off them and looks to his parents, opening his mouth back up, “uhhhhhhh”.

Lewis sighs into a hand, “and you are?”. Jack and Maddie glance at him quickly with looks of utter disbelief; was the man just utterly unflappable?

Danny just loses it at that, ‘cause take a fucking context clue mr. smart doctor man, “do you not see the clocks everywhere? Whom the fuck DO YOU THINK?!?”.

Lewis levels him with an unimpressed look, “I’m being nice”. This was probably ClockWork, but he wasn’t one for assumptions.

Jazz walks downstairs rubbing her eyes and yawning, “it’s five in the morning? Why are you-”, yawning, “-yelling? Why are you up?”. Then drops her hand, stops walking, and stares.

ClockWork grins, “hello Jasmine”.

“You... know my name?”.

Danny thumps his head on the table, “they know everything”, confirming who this was to her and Lewis really, while Danny bangs his head on the table repeatedly.

#Danny Phantom #phandom #CrossOver #venom #fan fic #danny fenton #maddie fenton #jack fenton #dan lewis #eddie brock #sam manson #tucker foley #valerie gray #legless on maim #skulker #ember #clockwork #major character injury #limb removal #reveal #amputation #mentions of murder and cannibalism #ectobiology #ghost prince danny #character growth #have a fic suck my dick #phantomphangphucker #my writing #injury recovery #eddie is having a... time

[trashyswitch]

Patton, the Cute Little Puppy Baby Bat Fly Fly Baby Dog(s)

Patton LOVES turning himself into Talyn! Why? Because Patton wants to be tiny! And Talyn is tiny!

Roman, Virgil and Logan absolutely appreciate this, and decide to take advantage of it!

Tiny Disclaimer: I will be identifying Talyn as they/them, Patton as him/he, and Palyn as they/them. Though I know that Patton (Thomas) identifies as a man, I wanna make Palyn non-binary, to suit Talyn and to not upset anyone who's incredibly protective and technical about the whole thing. I love, support and respect non-binary folks (I have a couple friends who identify as such), and would hate to accidentally misgender someone.

(Though, I often mix up male and female pronouns as it is...It's a blessing/curse of mine...😂)

Ever since the 'Making Some Changes' video, Patton has loved being able to walk around like Thomas's friends! He loved being Joan and making him laugh, he appreciated being Valerie just for the fun of it, he absolutely LOVED becoming Talyn to become more adorable, and he loved becoming other people he's befriended! Heck, Patton has even become the voices of Steven Universe to make a Steven Universe joke!

After a while, Patton narrowed down which of Thomas's friends were his favorite to become. Soon, he had decided that his favorite person to turn himself into was: Talyn!

Why, you're probably asking? Well you see: It's simple, really: they’re tiny, therefore adorable! Patton is adorable, but missing the short-statured part! So, becoming Talyn made that a lot easier!

Every part of Talyn was very tiny compared to Thomas. Tiny stature, tiny body size, tiny head, tiny voice! The only thing that WASN'T tiny, was their life!

Plus...doing Talyn's Danny Devito impression was ALWAYS fun to make fun of...

Virgil didn't know how he felt about Patton becoming Talyn at first...To be honest, it was a little confusing. If Virgil was looking away and heard Talyn's voice, he'd have to turn around to figure out if Talyn was ACTUALLY there, or if it was just Patton messing around. But eventually, Virgil got used to it and began to have fun with it! He'd treat Talyn Patton like a little child (That was Patton's dream come true!), started making short jokes, and even began putting his sweater on the tiny Patton! Eventually, Virgil would go as far as to ruffle up Patton's different-colored hair!

Sometimes when Patton would turn into Talyn, Patton would show off the many different hairstyles Talyn has sported over the years! The firey red long hair, the bisexual flag-colored hair (plus eyebrows), the green long hair, the yellowish faded short hair, the grey and black short hair, you name it! Patton tried them all out on himself!

Roman absolutely loved it! He loved being able to see Talyn Patton! Roman eventually came up with a name that could describe the tiny Patton: Palyn! Roman would give the tiny Palyn piggyback rides, cuddles, hugs, and even dress them up in adorable outfits and do their make up! The Patton-being-Talyn thing didn't change anything about him! So, it only made their friendship stronger!

Meanwhile, Logan had started out...worried about the idea...What if Patton began to wish he was Talyn, and began associating himself as Talyn forever? Everyone would miss Patton's squared glasses and bigger, more lovable body. But soon, Logan learned that this was more of an appreciation thing, and not an identity thing. So, Logan began appreciating Palyn and treating them the same way he would treat Patton.

One of the days, Patton had turned himself into Talyn and began going through Patton's closet. In the closet, were multiple blue-collared shirts, a single grey shirt for tying around the neck, and Patton's cat hoodie! Palyn decided to grab the hoodie, and put it on their tiny self.

It...is gigantic...It's like wearing a hoodie dress! It fell down to their knees, and the sleeves were SUPER long! Palyn giggled at how silly they looked, and put the hood on with their sleeve-covered hands.

The hood practically drowned their head in grey fabric...

But, Palyn didn't care! They felt happy! They felt drowned in love! Now, Palyn wanted to show it off! So, off they went: running into the living room to where the rest of the sides might've been.

"Hey Palyn!" Roman said before running up the person, picking them up to hug them and spinning around in the hug.

"'Palyn'? You're calling Patton Palyn now?" Virgil asked.

Roman slowed his spinning to a halt and placed them down. "It's a mix of Patton and Talyn! P-a-l-y-n! Palyn!" Roman explained.

"...I approve this name. I believe it suits-" Logan lifted up his glasses to look down at his vocabulary cards. "sssmmooooolll-'smol' Patton, nicely." Logan told them.

Virgil rolled his eyes. "Right context, bad grammar. Good try, though." Virgil corrected.

"Strange...What context would you use this in?" Logan asked, having his vocabulary card ready to take notes.

"To start: 'Smol' is not an adjective. It's a 'noun', meaning: 'something that's tiny, cute and squish-able'. The best way you could use it, is through a nickname: Smol bean, which means the same thing, basically." Virgil explained briefly.

Logan nodded as he finished up his note-taking. "Okay. Thank you, Virgil. Now, I will turn my attention to the 'smol bean' that's right beside me." Logan stated. Palyn had started jumping up and down, and clapping its covered hands excitedly as Roman lightly squeezed his cheeks.

"Aren't they the most adorable hooman being you've ever seen?" Roman asked. Logan's eyes widened as he started going through his vocabulary cards again. Realizing that word was missing from his deck, Logan conjured up a new vocabulary card and a pen to write it down.

"hoo-man...how do you spell that?" Logan asked.

"H-o-o-m-a-n." Palyn told him.

Logan followed Palyn's spelling. "Okay, and what does it mean?" Logan asked.

Virgil gave Logan a 'seriously?' face, but still decided to help him out. "It's a version of the word 'human'. Gen Z's decided to turn it into 'hooman', so that they can describe what us humans are, according to dogs and cats.'" Virgil explained. "Here: Patton, can you demonstrate?" Virgil asked, pulling the hood off their head.

To demonstrate, Palyn curled his wrists in front of his chin like a puppy, and began acting like a talking dog. "Hooman? Hooman give me food? Am I good pupper? Pupper good boy? LUV ME HOOMAN!" Palyn demonstrated before hugging Logan from behind the couch.

Patiently, Palyn waited for Logan to say something. Logan didn't know what to say...Well, he did, but...how? Should he just tell him in his normal, monotone voice? Or should he attempt the messy grammar that Palyn used?

"Uuuh...Yes..." Logan started, before patting their head awkwardly. "Palyn is a good boy." Logan replied in an awkward version of his monotone voice.

Suddenly, Palyn gasped and smiled widely as he let go of Logan! "I'm a good boy! I'm a GOOD BOY! ROMAN! ROMAN! I'M A GOOD BOY!" Palyn shouted, spinning circles around the man excitedly. As he sprinted around Roman, Patton's sweater sleeves would fly outwards behind his back. It was a hilarious little feature that came with Palyn.

"You what I think Wittle ol' pawyn might want?" Roman asked, getting Palyn's attention. Palyn quickly stopped his running right in front of Roman, still filled with endless energy. "I think...Palyn needs some spins!" Roman declared, becoming the ultimate babysitter in the group. Roman picked up Palyn from behind, and began spinning them around. Both of Palyn's eyes and mouth widened in excitement as they got spun around like a really quick-spinning carousel! Virgil, in order to avoid getting a pair of legs to the groin, quickly jumped onto the safe couch, which lie out of bounds from the crazy carousel in the room.

"WHEEEEEEEEEE! FASTER ROMAN! FASTER!" Patton shouted happily.

"NO! DON'T go any faster! This is fast enough!" Virgil warned him, quickly becoming the anxious parent in the family.

Roman continued to spin them for a little longer, before slowing down the chilc. He didn't wanna overdo it.

"What do you wanna do next?" Roman asked.

Palyn's face lit up. "Hide and seek with tickles?" Palyn asked.

Roman gasped, and clapped his hands together. "Great idea!" Roman reacted, excitedly.

"Can I join? I wanna be it." Virgil asked.

"Sure!" Roman replied.

"I'd like to be it as well." Logan piped up.

"Of course! The more, the merrier!" Roman replied, before looking back at Patton. "Okay. You can start hiding, while we start counting." Roman reacted with a smirk.

Palyn stared at his lers for a couple seconds before he quickly sprinted away, over-sized hoodie, tiny legs and all.

Roman started the counting up from zero, while Logan and Virgil counted on their fingers along with him."1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8...9...10! 11...12-" Roman counted.

By this point, Palyn had successfully found their little hiding spot.

"...13...14...15...16...17...18...19...20! Ready or not, here I come!" Roman called.

Roman began looking around for the little adult. He was fully aware of which way they had ran. But, Roman wanted to make this as teasy and fun as possible! So, he started out by looking throughout the living room for them. After taking a minute or so of looking, all 3 lers moved onto the kitchen.

"I wonder...Where would our adorable Palyn be?" Roman asked, checking under the table as he teased.

Virgil tiptoed towards the sink, and quickly whipped the door open. As anticipated, no one was there. "Not under the sink..." Virgil told the captain out loud.

"He's not in the stove...which is good. We wouldn't want Palyn turning into a roast dinner by the time we're done..." Logan stated, purposefully being a little funny to get Palyn giggling.

Next, the three lers moved onto the bedrooms. For this part, Logan, Roman and Virgil all split up to check their rooms.

Logan went to his own room. Checking under the bed, checking the closet, checking under his desk, even checking in the wash basket! but...Palyn was nowhere to be found.

Roman went to his room as well. He checked in the magical closet, checked his mirror door, even double checked under his huge teddy bear! But...he was nowhere to be seen.

Virgil quickly checked his room too. He checked under his bed covers, checked behind the dressers, and even checked his closet of hoodies-

Wait a second...One of these sweaters is not dark like the others...One of them happens to be a light grey, and...is wearing brown-pants? That's GOTTA be Palyn!

So...Virgil turned himself around, and began to leave the room. "He's not in here." Virgil yelled to his fellow lers.

"He's not in my room either." Roman replied.

"Absent in mine." Logan said.

Before Roman could suggest the next place, Virgil put a finger over his mouth and signaled for them to follow him. Virgil led them into his room, and showed them the...obvious color-change in the closet. For now though, all 3 lers stood at the door frame to discuss their 'problem' out loud.

"Well, I gotta say: He is absolutely no where to be found! And I don't believe Patton would hide himself in his own room...would he?" Roman asked loudly.

Suddenly, a little sound could be heard in the distance...an adorable little giggle, bouncing off the walls back to them.

"Wait...Do you hear that? I think Palyn might be giving us hints to where he is." Logan told them.

"I can hear it too. It's a cute little giggle. It sounds a bit like Talyn's, but with a flare of...Thomas in it..." Virgil described.

"Could it be..." Roman asked, drifting off.

"Palyn?" Everyone said at the same time.

It only took a second for Palyn's giggles to grow louder in volume.

"Maybe we should let the giggles lead us to our hider..." Logan suggested.

"Oooh, good idea!" Roman replied.

So, all three of the lers walked around in the hallway, pretending to listen closely for where the giggles might be coming from.

"Hey Virgil! I think they might be in your room!" Roman declared, winking at him.

Virgil smiled and nodded to Roman, before walking up to the door. "Really? But I already checked here! How in the world could they be hiding in a place I already checked?" Virgil asked out loud.

"Well, perhaps you didn't check hard enough?" Logan suggested.

Virgil rolled his eyes, but winked at Roman to go in. "Move over, my grim, royal poet! I, will check the room." Roman declared, opening the door.

Patton's giggles had started coming on strong again. So, Roman decided to pretend to look absolutely everywhere, except for the one place they were in. The longer he looked around, the louder Palyn's giggling became!

After looking absolutely everywhere, Roman turned around with his fingers together in the shape of a handgun!

"Palyn! Put your hands up where I can see 'em!" Roman yelled, pointing the finger gun at the closet.

Palyn immediately put their hands up upon demand. Palyn began to giggle more now.

"You're under arrest!" Roman ordered. "Officer Logan, Officer Virgil, we've got 'em." Roman ordered. Running up to the 'crime scene', was was his back up officers: Virgil with one finger gun and a shield, and Logan with his finger gun and a walkie-talkie in hand. Palyn, in his giggly state, slowly walked out of the closet and knelt down to their knees. "Palyn, you are under arrest for adorableness in the first degree! How do you plead?" Roman asked, pretending to hold a microphone now.

Patton, through his giggles, attempted to answer. "G-Guihihihilty! Ihihi'm guihihihihiltyhyhy!" Patton replied.

"You've heard it here, folks! They are guilty! Therefore:" Roman acted, before pretending to bang a gavel against a wooden striking block. "I sentence you to 15 minutes of tickles!" Roman ordered. Suddenly, Roman ran up to them with finger claws and a growling sound! Palyn squeaked in excitement and practically flopped onto the ground, happy to take the ticklish 'sentence'. Roman began to shove his hands underneath the grey cat sweater, and began to squeeze, claw, and flutter his fingers all over Palyn's upper body.

Palyn bursted out in high-pitched laughter, and began rolling back and forth to cope with the tickles. Next, Virgil joined Roman on the ground, and began fluttering his fingers on Palyn's ticklish, tiny neck. With the bigger fingers on the tinier neck, Virgil was able to cover more ground all at once.

"EEEEEEEK! VIHIHIHIRGAHAHAHAL! EEEEhehehehehahahahaha! Ihihihihit TIHIHihihickles!" Palyn reacted, flailing the long, grey sleeves absolutely everywhere.

Roman gasped in surprise. "ReAllY?! it TiCkLeS?! I had NO CLUE! Virgil, did you know this?" Roman reacted dramatically.

"No, I didn't! I'm quite surprised! What about you, Logan?" Virgil reacted, being a little dramatic as well.

Logan rolled his eyes, but still decided to go along with it. He made a rather empty gasp, and widened his eyes for a split second. "I'm flabbergasted." Logan replied in a monotone voice as he did jazz hands.

"See!? Even LOGAN is going crazy! I simply cannot believe you're ticklish!" Roman reacted.

Logan, wanting to join in as well, knelt down in front of Palyn's feet and began to tickle their socked feet as well.

"HEHEHEHEHEY! NAHAHAHAT MYHYHY FEEHEHEHEHEHETSIHIHIHIES!" Patton yelled through a quickly increasing laughing fit.

Logan placed his hands on his cheeks like Kevin in Home Alone, and gasped again. "Wow. Your little footsies are ticklish too? What a surprise." Logan reacted in an empty voice.

Somehow, Logan's mostly dead reactions seemed to make Palyn laugh even more! Perhaps dramatic irony is Palyn's favorite type of humor? Who knows?

"Who's a tickwish wittle chiwd? YOU are! WHO'S de most ticku-ticku-tickwish chiwd in de whole mind pawace? YOU are! Yes, YOU are!" Roman teased in a baby voice.

"THEHE TEHEHEHEHEHEASIHIHIHING! IHIHIHIT'S KIHIHIHIHILLIHIHING MEHEHEHEHE!" Patton shouted.

"Oh! What's this? the teasing is killing you? My goodness! We have to save them! But, how?" Roman reacted dramatically.

"Wait, you're telling me you DON'T know CPR?" Logan asked, pretending along with him.

"Well, do YOU?" Roman asked right back.

"Um-........well no..." Logan admitted.

"Move over, idiots. I know how to do CPR. It's rather easy, really. All you have to do is liiiiift up the hoodie..." Virgil explained as he began lifting the hoodie up to expose Palyn's tummy. Palyn immediately began to giggle in their sleeves. They knew EXACTLY what was coming next. "And...give them a raspberry! Like this:" Virgil explained, before blowing a great big raspberry into Patton's stomach.

Patton let out a loud, high-pitched squeal, before dissolving into endless laughter once again!

"Now, remember: longer raspberries tend to do more to help. So, the longer, the better! Like this!" Virgil explained before blowing an even BIGGER raspberry! Patton squealed once again, and dissolved into even MORE laughter! Virgil's CPR raspberries seemed to go on for another couple minutes. And you could tell, that Palyn was enjoying every second of it!

"IHIHIHI'M AHAHAHALIHIHIHIHIVE! IHIHI'M AHAHALIHIVE!" Patton shouted through their loud laughter.

"Virgil, look! They're alive! You saved them!" Roman reacted happily as he hugged Virgil. Virgil smiled at Palyn, and picked them up bridal style.

"Hey Palyn, would you like to watch a movie and cuddle?" Virgil asked.

"Yes please!" Palyn replied.

"Alright, let's go." Virgil said before carrying Palyn out of his room. Roman and Logan followed suit, and helped them choose a movie to watch.

Pretty soon, all 4 sides had covered themselves in blankets, and let the movie Bambi play on their TV. The truth was, Palyn felt very comfortable. Patton loved being tiny. He loved being cuddled, tickled, loved, and being silly! That was one of the reasons Patton liked turning himself into Talyn. They were allowed to be adorable AND be tiny at the same time.

However: tiny or not, adorable or not, Patton still felt forever loved by his family. The proof was all there, and Palyn loved it.

Fun fact: Most of the nicknames Thomas and his sides come up with, have backstories and deeper meanings.

Example; Nerdy Wolverine: Wolverine's first name is Logan.

Grim, Royal Poet: Grim = another word for Emo. Royal poet represented the well-documented Roman Poet by the name of Virgil, who wrote a violent, suspenseful poem called Aeneid. The poem was one day published by Caesar Augustus, the ruler of the Roman Empire. Cool, huh?!

Funny thing is, Thomas came across this name by accident! What a coincidence!! 😃

#ticklefic #ler!roman #ler!logan #ler!virgil #lee!patton (palyn) #patton becomes palyn #fluff

[bowieandqueen11]

Underwater / Ben Hanscom Imagine

Request: May I request an Adult Ben Hanscom imagine where the reader, who is married to Ben, is down in the sewer with the Losers and gets pulled under water by Penniwise? Our man Ben needs some reassurance from his wife that she's okay. Fluffyness! 🥰 

@may85 eek thank you darling!! <3

Warning, some swearing!

You wished, with all your heart, that you never had to smell the stench of this place again.

When you all finally arrived into the depths of the sewer, Mike and Bill leading the way as everyone else trailed so slowly, so unsure, behind them, that’s when you finally allowed your heart to sink.

This was real. This was actually happening. You’re no longer thirteen, you no longer have an excuse, a way out, a way to forget this. You either die here, or you die out there. 

The water the gang jumps down into is a turbid brown, the colour of sewage, or as Eddie fondly calls out again,

‘It’s still the same old fucking grey water.’ 

Branches have been blow in by the storm, and you gag a little, pressing your face into your husband’s thick back as he raises his eyebrows, wrapping one arm around your own as the two of you watch a small, glittery pink shoe swirl pass, like a relic from a time long forgotten as it floats by without a ripple.

‘Was that- was that Betty Rip-’

‘Don’t think about it hun’, Ben whispers, his thumb trying to tenderly stroke against the goosebumps that flash painfully against your arm, but his grip is tighter than he realises and he ends up digging in a small welt. The water eddies around them, but not that relaxed way water usually does: harshly, more like mini vortexes. You can hear Richie swear softly in front of you as Eddie bumps into him, loud ‘ah-ah, nope nope nope’s escaping his mouth as a half chewed teddy bear floats by his chest.

‘Come on guys, we need to get out of the water, it’s n-not f-far now.’

‘Is that supposed to reassure us?’, Richie whispers with a sigh, slapping his wet leg up onto the jagged stone mound as Eddie reaches down to help him up, his flashlight bouncing around on his head and illuminating different patches of the water in a shimmering light that reminds you of-

the deadlights.

Cold water is the most efficient thief of heat you know. It takes what it does not need. The water surges around your skin, rising up my leg on one side, making tiny eddies on the other the further you follow your friends. The weight of the water is almost enough to topple you, the temperature a dare, as if you were racing hypothermia with each wade through its murky depths. In front of you, your husband shivered against your arm, the water so cold it stung into his hips and flattened his shirt against him painfully. Every touch stole another part of his heat, leaching away a few more fractions of a degree. It crept up the fabric of his pants, clamping the icy fibres to his already frigid skin. But he kept going, because he knew in doing this, he could save you. And if killing a clown meant your nightmares would end, that you would be safe again, he would take on the universe one monster at a time.

Sensing your hesitation as the two of you finally start approaching the giant wall of rock where Eddie and Richie stand, brushing each other off with grimaced faces, Ben slowly turns around and pulls you slowly to him, wrapping his arms around you. His embrace was warm, and his big, strong arms seemed very protective when wrapped around your shaking body. The world around seemed to melt away as you squeezed him back, not wanting the moment to end. The simple touch sent a wave of butterflies coursing through your veins, their fluttering wings easing the dread that had settled inside you.

‘I can’t do this Ben, not again, not after last time. What I saw-I saw-’

‘You are so brave, sweetheart, but this time, I’m not leaving you alone for a second. Plus,’ he says, elbowing you slightly with the biggest smile he can muster at the moment, ‘if you see the deadlights, I’ll just have to kiss you again to pull you out and back to me.’

‘Ben Hanscom, I swear!’, you mutter with a hoarse laugh, pulling your arms around his neck and burying your head into the curve of his shoulder. You just needed a moment, just one more moment with your husband in your arms, his hands tight against your hips, safe. 

Everything was okay.

Through the darkness behind your head came the glow of two yellow eyes, like sallow lamplight eight feet off the ground, if only Ben’s had been open to see them, and if only Richie and Eddie hadn’t been having a mock fight over who’s married to who’s mother.. They moved with a slight sway, as if the unseen body prowled like a big cat. The monster advanced on them, its physique hardly discernible in the shadowy twilight of the sewer. With each slow movement that belied the speed it was capable of, slime dripped, oozing great globs of phlegm and depositing them with light splashes into the water; it’s skin was gnarled, but crumpled and folded as if in the midst of changing form. Over it's belly lay crusty flaps of concave skin. The beast reeked of raw sewage and rotten fish. A smell that hit your nose with a rancid pang only a few seconds before it had reached the edge of your shoulder, and Ben had drawn himself away from his warm daydreams of you to open his eyes.

In a split second, it had torn you from Ben’s grasp and dragged you down into the depths with it.

Darkness enveloped you. The water closed in around, filling you with a deep dread as you kicked out against it’s knobbly arms and screamed against the claws that dug into your cheek and left bubbling scratches. Red and black splotches danced in front of you as you gave the clown one final desperate kick in the shin, wiggling out of its grasp as a desperate hot wave enveloped you, warming even your frosted toes. Your heart was beating rapidly in panic, the urgency for air was apparent than ever. There weren't red blotches in your field of vision anymore. It was all black. You opened her mouth, gasping for air, fighting until you feel like your head is about to explode. You have to take a breath. So you do. For some reason it doesn’t hurt like you thought it would. You’re not scared anymore, it’s almost peaceful actually. 

You begin to fall, dropping further and further into the darkness until it threatens to swallow you whole.

Ben knows he’s scared when those old fears run through my head, when he hears the taunting laughter of years past, when he was the ‘fat kid’ and punchline of teenage jokes. He knows he’s scared when these bad memories cut loose their chains and invade his confidence, eroding the person he had built since those dark days. 

But this time was so much worse.

The adrenaline flew over his veins like licks of fire, but he couldn’t move a single muscle, not even to scream. The absolute horror completely paralysed him, and the more he thought about losing you, the more he thought each straggling breathe he pulled in as he dipped his head up above the water would be his last. If you died, he was going to die too. He didn’t remember being that scared in his life.

The rest of the group jump in after you with desperate cries, not one of them caring in the smallest bit for their safety as their stomachs and heads hit against the cold with tumultuous crashes and wake Ben from his nightmare, his own head being pulled down by his brain to desperately search for you in the darkness. Even Eddie dipped his legs in, not really swimming to search for you  so much as drowning slowly. Every few strokes he was swallowing the shitty water and within metres he was fully submerged, the light dying out with him.

It took you a few moments to register that there were other shapes, big square blocks floating around in the water with you. Something in the back of your mind seemed to recognise the sandy curls that brushed against your forehead, the callused and raw hands that grabbed at your biceps, every pinprick touch registering a shock to your skin as you allowed yourself to be taken away. You thought, as you see the face of your husband warp in front of you, that angels had finally come to take you away.

As the two of you break out of the water, Ben taking in a massive, gasping breathe, his shouts echo around the cavernous walls as the other’s begin to rise up one by one with shaking cries.

‘She’s here! She’s here, I’ve got her! I’ve got you.’

In that simple moment he wrapped his arms around you and you let your head rest upon his chest. All your thoughts stopped as if your heart took over from your head, your breathe beginning to catch itself as water spluttered up from your lungs and escaped in gasping coughs out of your lips. Next he would squeeze as if he needed to check you were really there with him, really there and really real.

You looked sharply up as he took your hands into his. They felt like sandpaper or perhaps stone, rough and unfinished. It suited him, you thought, looking into his deep eyes, his hands warm in yours as he brought them up to his lips, your nerves tingling at the harsh comfort of contact, your body melting into his hard chest, his heartbeat comforting, if a little rushed for your liking.

‘It’s okay, Ben, I’m okay.’

You pull your head back to look at him, your heart sinking as you reach up with a shaking finger to wipe away the tears that littered down his cheek, his lips twitching as your touch brings more relief than his heart can hold. He is eating you with his eyes, running his hand through your hair, as if he can't quite believe you’re not part of an almost forgotten dream. When he leans down to kiss you, it's sweet, gentle, and it tastes of his salty tears as he laughs against your warm mouth.

‘Hey, what did I say about not leaving you alone ever again? Please, don’t go, don’t go ever again, I couldn’t take it.’

#it 2019 #it chapter two #it chapter 2 #it 2019 imagine #ben hanscom #jay ryan #jeremy ray taylor #ben hanscom imagine #ben hanscom x reader #ben hanscom fluff #ben hanscom angst #jay ryan imagine #jay ryan fluff #jay ryan x reader #it 2019 fluff #it 2019 angst #it 2017 #it chapter 2 imagine #it chapter two imagine #it chapter 2 fluff #it chapter 2 angst #it chapter two fluff #bill hader #richie tozier #eddie kaspbrak #james ransone #james mcavoy #bill denbrough #mike hanlon #isaiah mustafa