#lets see if i can stick to it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

cae-ruleam · 2 years

Text

the progression of succession

multichap fic, AO3 link (the format is a bit better there)

rating: T for swearing. later chapters might get heavy

word count: 1788

“One day, Phantom changed, or did he, really?”

Or, Danny is taking a test he isn't aware of ever having signed up for.

When Danny woke up, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. That should’ve been a sign of something amiss.

The previous night, he had been, rudely, awoken by Johnny and Kitty when they decided Amity had to be their dating spot again, at 2am in the morning. Whoever ever uttered that the dead sleep forever were clearly wrong.

It hadn’t been much of a fight, luckily. The couple genuinely just wanted to have some harmless fun riding and sitting around. Shadow even smiled at him. Johnny’s familiar was never able to lie about their emotions or intentions, which were, by extent, Johnny’s.

By then, already feeling guilty for impeding on their date, Phantom left them to it and drifted back home slowly. While there was no fight, regularly sleeping just four hours a night was bound to have some side effects. Unfortunately espresso shots only did so much.

So, color Danny surprised when he woke up fine. Better than fine, actually. He felt energized in a way he hadn’t felt in months, since Christmas Truce. Again, that should’ve tipped him off, but Danny was not one to look a gifted horse in the mouth.

The halfa shot a quick look at his bedside alarm – 7am – he could work with that. If he had to use some ghost perks to speed up the process, no one would be any the wiser.

He quickly pulled on some casual clothes, you can never go wrong with a NASA hoodie and black trousers, before he sped for the bathroom. He was in and out and down to the kitchen like lightning.

‘Thank god mom and dad are only ever down the labs or in their room.’ He thought as he grabbed a quick bite.

The house felt empty.

It has for the past year or so, ever since Jazz left for college some states over.

Soon – Danny thought. In just one more year, he will be able to leave this house behind as well.

He quickly scarfed down the rest of his breakfast and left silently like the wind.

Once outside, he stepped into a familiar alleyway and let his transformation wash over him. He flew high up into the sky.

His itinerary towards Casper high was practically second nature, and he let his body take the lead as he looked around, down at Amity.

Ghost attacks have become less frequent, but visits were becoming more common. It would still take some time before the citizens actually understood that, though. So Phantom was still as busy as ever. Just thankfully, less beat up.

At a distance, down below, a student running late felt a shift in the air. She looked up at the sky and saw... an anomaly.

She pulled her phone out of her pocket and hastily tried to take a picture. Once shot, the entity was glitchy as fuck.

She pulled up Twitter and put out a quick tweet before hurrying on.

-----

illegally blonde @.royallyhigh

alright this is creeping me the fuck out. has any ghost capture ever been this disturbed???

[Image ID: A vague, long and slender figure zipping across the sky. They’re incredibly distorted as if the image had already been compressed a thousand times over and shown on a twenty year old monitor, instead of having been taken two minutes ago.]

- reply to @.royallyhigh

in denial hush @.creamcherrypie

what the fuck. if i didnt know you suck ass at editing id say this is fake

- reply to @.royallyhigh

ember's new single out now! @.rosesformystar

no... don’t they look familiar...? i'm not going crazy, am i?

- reply to @.royallyhigh, @.rosesformystar

its halloween month idgaf @.starsformyrose

are you thinking what i'm thinking?

- reply to @.royallyhigh, @.rosesformystar, @.starsformyrose

Hopeless Writer @.mydailyfoodblog

You’re all crazy. It can’t be. They SCREAM bad news

-----

Danny slipped into his seat at the back of Lancer’s class with two minutes to spare. Most of the class was already present.

Lancer walked in and proclaimed it, “Too early to deal with this,” and started the class without marking attendances. The last few students came in a few minutes after without much fuss from them or their teacher, and class went on as normal. If the students seated near Daniel Fenton felt chills on their back, no one made a sound.

‘It can’t be coming from him. Not from that whimp.’ were their collective thoughts.

Puberty may have stretched him out and he may be quite fit, but his baggy clothing made sure no one would be aware of it. Sometime when he was fifteen Danny realized how badly his identity was hidden. He made an effort starting then, and it has been working well. No one suspected a thing, no one but Wes, of course.

Classes came and went. Students got increasingly creeped out near Danny Fenton of all people, for whatever reason.

Lunch came around.

It was just the second week since the start of the school year and Danny was already tired of it. Lunch breaks and free periods they shared being his only salvation. Such as right now.

The universe still seemed against Danny, for some reason. When they received their timetables for the first semester Team Phantom was thoroughly pissed. They barely had any classes together, the ones which they did share, were the only classes they took where there was only one class. They must’ve caught on that Sam and Tucker were covering for Danny’s ‘extracurricular activities’, and, fair. But it sucks.

While walking through the halls towards the cafeteria, he couldn’t help but notice the other students all stepped away a bit more than usual. Couldn’t help but overhear some whispers.

Do you think it could be because of some creepy shit his parents have been pulling? They have a PORTAL in their basement, don’t they?

Maybe you’re right... God, he may be a loser but I kind of feel bad... Shit! He’s near, shh.

If Danny didn’t know any better, he would’ve thought he was back in his freshman year. Actually, that might be the case. He wouldn’t put it past Clockwork to send him back in the past without warning. But their comments do not add up, at all.

Making his way past the rows of lockers a bit faster, he quickly arrived at the cafeteria. He went up, got some food and sat down at their usual table. The other two were already there.

“Do I have something weird on my face or something? Do I have ectoplasm scarring I missed?” was his greeting.

Sam and Tucker looked up from their food and stared at him with unreadable expressions. Eventually Sam scrunched her brows in confusion when that emotion won the inner battle.

“No... but if people have been avoiding you I can understand why. No offense, but you feel insanely unapproachable. Any idea what could’ve caused it?” The goth spoke with little emotion in her voice. It might’ve been a subconscious effort to not set off this anomaly- no, her friend, she had to remind herself. Why?

Tucker wanted to join in on the conversation, but his throat was locked. Why? This is his best friend! He could only settle for nodding with an identical quizzical expression on his face.

Danny sighed, and sat down frustrated. They continued their lunch, ignoring the elephant in the room. They tried to chat normally. They talked about the upcomming DOOMED game and the co op session they had been planning for ages, since its reveal. Lunch proceeded normally. If Sam and Tucker still felt on edge, they did not let Danny know. They shouldn’t.

-----

Danny was at P.E. His last period of the day and light at the end of the tunnel. Aside from the avoidances all around, his day had gone smoothly. Of course, that’s when everything went wrong.

As he reached the end of the obstacle course, alarms blared. The ones signaling a ghost attack, yeah, those.

After three years of ghost attacks, everyone had become used to the procedure and thankfully quickly left the gymnasium, to the safety zones, belongings forgotten. Danny was with them, until he wasn’t.

While walking, running, with the crowd, he silently left them and slipped into the bathroom invisibly and intangibly. He transformed, and left in the same state.

He took the malevolent ghost – a new one, huh – by surprise and tackled the both of them to the outside, somewhere safer and less destructable.

The ghost sneered, something about not expecting the ghost child to show up so quick. It was rare to meet a ghost out here who was unaware of the fact Phantom attended Casper high as a human.

Below, some people ran. Other passerby stopped in their tracks instead, gawking up at the two ghosts. Was that Phantom?

The teenaged ghost looked familiar, yet so different, so distant, hazy, unapproachable. If people claimed this is the one ghost you could always trust to help you, people would not have believed it. Few people’s hands subconsciously headed for their phones.

In the air, the ghost got ready to launch an attack, until they looked up and tilted their head.

“You are the ghost child, right?”

“Phantom? Yeah, who else? Now come on, let’s do this dance quick so I can head back. Some of us actually have something to do with their afterlife.”

The other ghost was still clearly thrown off, they shook their head and readied themselves again. Whatever was going on was weird, Danny had decided that hours ago, but it just became even crazier, if ghosts were affected too.

His solution was to ignore the issue. If he did not pay it any mind, it would go away on its own, and hopefully not bite him back in the ass.

He took advantage of the ghost’s confusion. He shot a quick ectoblast at their chest and sucked them into the thermos. After sealing them, he darted back towards the school.

Once inside, he noticed the students packing their bags and leaving. When he got near them invisibly, someone less attentive wouldn’t have noticed anything odd. Danny saw that they became tense and rigid.

He ignored the ever-growing enigma and ran the facts through his mind. Right, it was last period. The area must’ve been declared safe and they’d been dismissed early.

No one noticed, or cared about, his absence as usual.

Danny did a quick one over of the entire school building before heading towards the gymnasium. Thankfully there were no damages inflicted in between the ghost’s arrival and the time he took to transform and push them out.

He gathered his things and sped back home, ignoring the dread gnawing at the back of his mind.

Meanwhile, Amity’s filtered side of social media was ablaze.

#danny phantom #danny fenton #dp #fanfic #phan phic #ghost king danny #sam manson #tucker foley #cae's writing #i came back from the writing grave after about a year oops #i have an actual plan for this!#lets see if i can stick to it #unreliable narrator and you will be left with as much knowledge as danny... </3

76 notes · View notes

lerrryyyyy · 4 months

Text

My resolution for 2024 is to draw other characters in my other fandoms for practice 😂

So here's a lil Kenma 😊

°°°

Do not edit or repost my art.

#haikyuu #hq #kozume kenma #nekoma #hq fanart #lets see if i can stick with this resolution lol #i just need to draw other characters jsjdjdjf

364 notes · View notes

thelassoway · 7 months

Text

Jason Sudeikis as Ted Lasso Seasons 1-3 » T-shirts

#Ted Lasso #Theodore Lasso #Jason Sudeikis #*mine: gif #tedlassoedit #ugh you idiot with that face #stop staring at me swan #I think I got all the T-shirt moments for Ted. Can you guess the two scenes I forgot and had to go back and add???#I've also kept these in order of season/episode appearance and it feels kind of telling #not quite sure how I'm feeling about these and how they turned out #these are all from 2160p video files (I've only worked with 2160 one other time) and the timing of these frames looks off #I did my best to fix and readjust them #to the 5 to 8 people that read these tags let me know if I should keep trying/working with 2160p or just stick with 1080p #can we see a major difference in the image quality? I'm using all my same edit settings here #@chainofclovers I saw your tags about the black Joe Arthur shirt I was/have been thinking the same thing #I'm glad I got my o.g. laptop to power up to finish this gifset (definitely a power button issue)#will I ever make that mirror gifset idea??? probably not but I got a couple of mirror moments here #I almost used the other mirror moment from episode 7 but I wanted a different angle/view #this gifset could've been a lot more of Ted in bed wearing T-shirts tbh #¯\_(ツ)_/¯

426 notes · View notes

shaxza · 7 months

Text

#dahlia hawthorne #ace attorney #phoenix wright #dahlia x phoenix #alexa play dark red by steve lacy #my art #since i dont want to make a dedicated post let me use my notes to vent about how much i love dahlia conceptually and how much i wish AA +#writers weren't sexist #dahlia was given the shittiest set of cards when she was a kid and she was a victim of grooming by that terry loser #she is CONSTANTLY objectified and sexualised and i think her design as a skinny young looking individual makes it even more distasteful #but i think it works if the writers could have done something with that #what i love about dahlia and phoenix's relationship is the contrast - phoenix needs to see people as innocent before jumping to help them v #dahlia who has if you think about it is innocent to a degree given how fucked up her childhood was #dahlia could have been a great case study into compassion for phoenix as she has hurt him directly but in his role as a lawyer he has to se #past certain flaws so justice can be served #and it can PUSH his understanding of what is “guilty”#yes dahlia killed people but also i choose to believe her worldview was severely warped by her enviornment and she's a product of it #or if they wanted to make her a villain and stick with it i think as a rival ro phoenix she should have been a cautionary tale #of what happens when you never learn to move beyond the shitty hand youve been dealt with and live non judgementally #anyways ^_^

289 notes · View notes

incorrect-fnaf-quotes · 5 months

Text

Gregory: Sometimes I hear the voice of a British man telling me to set the Pizza Plex on fire. I think he said his name was Michael.

#submission #Incorrect Five Night’s At Freddy’s Quotes #Source: Unknown #Gregory #Michael Afton #I love the image of Michael sticking around but not possessing Glam Fred or anything #But he just sticks by Gregory’s side (who is the only one who can see him)#And he gives the kid advice but just keeps going ‘Let’s just get this over with Gregory’#‘Let’s just set this place ablaze I’ve been apart of two moments like this before’#Security Breach #FNaF: Security Breach

124 notes · View notes

mylittleredgirl · 9 days

Text

decided it’s time to cut myself a break when i “overreact” to something, because there’s basically always an impressive number of things in front of it that i’m not reacting to. which is probably true for everyone on earth actually.

#i have Clinical Wild Mood Swing Disorder and can't get my meds refilled #and am trying to maintain a professional reputation of being super stable and positive and non-reactive #so you can imagine the kind of stress that i am under #like please let me get upset about something for five minutes without it redefining my whole personality #i was going to say stick a fork in me i’m done but actually maybe remove a fork or two and see how i do

55 notes · View notes

designernishiki · 9 months

Text

it’s kinda funny to me how that dumb scene in kiwami 1 of majima getting shot and left for dead in the harbor was basically just added as a half-assed way to explain majima not being around for a bit of the plot, but they accidentally(?) just made it seem like start of a chain reaction where majima ended up feeling slighted and heartbroken after being abandoned like that and then lashed out about it via smashing a big truck into the building kiryu was in. and yeah that isn’t inherently a romantic thing as-is but then they go and add the part where majima grabs a hostess and performatively hits on her as in-kiryu’s-face as possible, she says she’s already in love with someone, and majima lets her go immediately, no questions asked, making a big fucking point of it just to say see THAT kiryu? I appreciate when people are HONEST about their FEELINGS. people who won’t just BACKSTAB someone who CARES about them to save themselves. is that so crazy kiryu?? huh??? anyway make it up to me get down here and fight me right fucking now

#I think on another level he was sorta saying like ‘hey kiryu. you’re making it extremely clear that you don’t trust me and my intentions #and I’ve been trying to show you- over and over again- that I’d do just about anything for you and your safety #but I can’t just let my mask fall off in front of everyone- I need to keep up the unpredictable morally grey wildcard act for both my sake #AND yours. because disguising my helping you as crazy random violent outbursts and weird stalker behavior #is the only way I CAN help you. do you think it would go over well with shimano or literally anyone else if I was outright helping you out #of the kindness of my heart and fondness for you? stop being so fucking dense and look past the crazy wacky nonsense for a second and #maybe you’ll realize that all I do at the end of the day- really- is help you and put my own life and reputation on the line for you.#I am an honest guy when it comes to my real values and when I told you I wouldn’t let anyone kill you unelss it was myself- I meant it.#I’ve taken a knife and a bullet for you now. can you REALLY not see through the act yet? am I REALLY that unpredictable when you think about #it?’#that was a longer explanation than i intended but. it was difficult to put into words #I basically feel like it could be read as him implying kiryu shouldn’t backstab the people who put themselves on the line to help him #and/or pointing out that he’s never actually done kiryu dirty and has stuck to his word protecting him in the ways he can #trying to say yeah all this is a crazy act and all but when it comes down to it you Can trust me #it really makes sense when you think about it that he’d have to help kiryu/show affection towards kiryu in unpredictable convoluted ways #at that point in time because. I mean. there’s a reason he was the only person who showed up to welcome kiryu when he got out of prison #and that’s because A) he sticks to his word and his loyalty to people he cares about and B) no one else had the balls or the batshit insane #mask to wear to ward off anyone asking real questions like majima did. because ANYONE associating themselves with the supposed #patriarch-killer was a HUGE NO-NO at the time. someone important showing up for kiryu and welcoming him back outright could’ve caused #all-out warfare probably. except majima. because majima was dedicated and smart enough to use his widely-feared wildcard persona #(that everyone tended to view as incapable of having any Real agenda to worry about) to his And kiryu’s advantage #does that make sense??? I feel like it makes a lot of sense if you get it to click in your head #kazumaji #majima #kiryu #yakuza #kiwami 1 #yk1 #rambling

190 notes · View notes

observerkaine · 8 months

Text

It Spreads is a lovely comic created by the legendary @foxxology and in celebration of its 1 year anniversary they did a dtiys that I absolutely had to participate in!

Go check out the comic if you haven’t! Seriously, it’s a really good read with great art, go read it! (I linked it twice for further emphasis!!)

#ItSpreadsiversary #it spreads fanart #grian fanart #rendog fanart #kaine’s creative oddities #seriously. this comic and the lore Foxx put into it is amazing. The building tension is amazing and the details that you can find when #rereading the comic are great. I know it’s a joke that I’ve been predicting a lot of what happens but it’s because of Foxx’s storytelling #that I even was able to find or notice things. go give Foxx the love and recognition they deserves and not only stick around for the comic #but for the rest of their amazing art as well! they’re extremely talented and I cannot wait to see the awesome stuff they have next in store #Love ya Foxx. You deserve the best! Keep being LEGENDARY as Mr. Mythical himself declared!#yes I will not let you forget that. he said it not me. I’m just here to remind you of that and Ren calling you amazing.

163 notes · View notes

teddy-bear-d · 7 months

Text

Some more of New Life Martyn living his best life in the snow! Vaguely based off hanfu as I really enjoyed the last time I studied the fashion.

#martyn inthelittlewood #itlw #itlwart #new life martyn #new life smp #nlsmp fanart #I finally think I’ve beat the art block #last post I had to beat with a stick till I got it done lol #this one I started at the base for for about a month #and then it finally just went #so happy #I managed to finish it in one day after trying for so long to get started #now let’s see if I can get that Pirates SMP one started lol #oh btw #I tried to look up exactly the time period the clothing reference was from #but I discovered it was actually from a Chinese historical drama #and they provided no date #so thus why it’s vaguely inspired haha

99 notes · View notes

perpetualexistence · 1 month

Text

Through a Funhouse Mirror

Alenoah Week 2024 Day 6: Amusement Park / Laser Tag

Noah and Alejandro are on an end of year class field trip to the local amusement park. Normally, Alejandro only hangs out with his girlfriend Heather in the popular clique. However, recently Alejandro has integrated himself into Noah's friend group. He's even taken charge as their leader.

He acts the gentleman, but by now Noah knows better. He doesn't have any concrete proof, but he can tell Alejandro despises most of the group. There has to be some reason he's sticking around, but he doesn't quite know what.

He would confront Alejandro, but the eel is always too preoccupied with schmoozing the rest of his friends, and people outside of his immediate friend group. Now is a good of a chance as any.

Alejandro's the one who convinces the group to split off. He insists that it's so everyone can do what they prefer, but Noah can tell it's because he wants to get away from the others. Noah volunteers himself to go with Alejandro since nobody is allowed to be by themselves, and Alejandro obliges. There are benefits to being the only other sane one in the group.

Noah looks for somewhere private to confront Alejandro, and lucks out with the house of mirrors. He tells Alejandro he wants to go in and Alejandro, ever the 'gentleman' agrees.

Noah waits until they're deeper into the maze before he starts being direct with Alejandro about his nature. Alejandro tries denying it. Noah provides rebuttal after rebuttal. The argument keeps getting more and more heated.

Noah's back is to one of the mirrors. He's trying to keep his ground, but he takes another step backward as Alejandro takes one forward. His back is pressed against one of the mirrors.

Without warning, the solid surface begins to shudder. He feels something like a liquid on his back. Nothing seems to be supporting his weight anymore, and he begins to fall backwards. In his desperate attempt to stop his descent, he grabs onto the closest thing in sight: Alejandro.

In his own shock at seeing the mirror ripple, Alejandro is unable to react in time to stop their fall. He passes through the mirror with Noah, and falls on top of the smaller boy.

Noah groans in pain at the fall and at being crushed.

Alejandro quickly stood up to recover from this temporary set back. He's the first to notice that the tacky mirrors from before now loom over the both of them like imposing walls. The floor is much, much too close.

They both hear a chuckle coming from behind him, and turn to see a man the size of an eight-story building looking down at both of them.

After a quick screaming session, they learn that this is a trickster spirit who calls himself Chris. He likes to mess around with mortals from time to time for his own amusement. And man, they just handed themselves on a silver platter.

He offers them a deal. He'll tell them how to return them to their normal size if they can find him again. He'll give them a riddle, then once they figure out where he's talking about, they have to race towards it at their new size to get to him.

Alejandro shows no fear as he does his best to assuage Chris and assure him they can absolutely finish this task for Chris. Noah, however, is pretty peeved about this situation. And oh, does he let Chris know it.

Alejandro tries to get him to stop talking, but one doesn't stop Noah from going off on someone once he's started. Noah has successfully angered Chris, though Alejandro's able to convince Chris NOT to kill them. Chris still wants some punishment though, so he magics their phones away so they can't call or text for help. And he's going to give them the hardest riddle he knows.

Alejandro covers Noah's mouth and agrees to the new terms. Chris gives them the riddle, and leaves in a puff of smoke. It takes everything in Alejandro not to strangle Noah as they get to solving the riddle.

Between their IQ, and Chris not being as smart as he thinks he is, they solve it pretty quickly. It’s the Ferris wheel. They can remember seeing it on the way in. It's in the middle of the park. Full of crowded people. Who can step on them without even trying.

They start making their way over, doing their best to be as stealthy and quick as possible. They'd rather not let anyone else know about this because who knows how any stranger would take it?

Fortunately, they do come across someone that isn't a complete stranger! It's hard to miss Owen in a crowd with how his voice carries. He's getting an absolutely obscene amount of cotton candy.

Noah immediately starts making his way towards his chubby buddy, only for Alejandro to stop him. Noah wants to know what Alejandro's doing, and Alejandro points out that Owen might not be the best person to help them out in their current predicament. He doesn't know how to keep secrets, and isn't aware of his own strength. That is a VERY dangerous combination with both of them being this small.

Noah turns on Alejandro in an instant. Owen's not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he's not a complete idiot. He can stop when you ask him to stop something. And not spreading gossip is a different type of secret than one that'd put their lives at risk.

There's no way of knowing if they'd find any of their other classmates who is more 'responsible' and who might, might be willing to help. Owen could be their one chance.

Also. It's Owen. Of course he's going to help them! Plus, the big guy can charge through a crowd if he's highly motivated. Noah's pretty sure saving the lives of two of his friends is high enough motivation. They'd get to that ferris wheel in an instant!

Noah's not going to have Alejandro ruin their best chance of getting back to normal because of some stupid one-sided rivalry with Owen!

"He may squeeze me within an inch of my life, but you know what I'll be? Alive!"

Alejandro still fights to keep Noah from going out to get Owen's attention. He doesn't want anyone to see him like this, especially not that oafish buffoon no matter what Noah says.

Noah tries to wriggle out of Alejandro's grasp, but he loses. Alejandro only lets go after Owen has passed them by. He sighs in relief when he can no longer see Owen, and finally lets Noah go.

Noah starts going off on another tirade against Alejandro when the wind starts to pick up. Nobody else seems to notice, but for them the wind is threatening to buffet them away.

Alejandro crouches down to cling to the boardwalk underneath him for something to hold on. Noah is blown away a couple of feet (relative to his new size) before he's stopped.

Because a stray bit of cotton candy has been blown his way and is now trapping him against the ground.

Alejandro rushes for Noah once the wind has died down. He might be annoyed at Noah for making this more difficult that it needs to be, but that doesn't mean he wishes Noah dead.

He tries digging some of the cotton candy around Noah's face free so Noah can breathe better. Which does work, but it also leads Alejandro to getting cotton candy on him. He's lucky he's strong enough to have pulled his own arms out rather than get stuck himself.

He knows any type of liquid should dissolve this, but how to get some? He looks around to spot a large cup of soda littered on the ground. He runs for it and sighs in relief as he notices that it has a bit remaining. It won't be the most elegant solution, but it will do.

He drags the soda to Noah and jumps onto the cup. Soda sprays out of the straw to douse Noah, freeing him. Noah is coughing and snorting out cotton candy and soda, but he's breathing.

Noah reluctantly thanks Alejandro for the whole, you know, saving his life thing. Alejandro was going to tease Noah about it to get some semblance of familiarity back when he hears an extremely loud bark coming from behind.

He turns to see a large dog behind him.

This is fine. Animals love Alejandro! He has a commanding presence that they admire. They fawn over him. He can tame this beast and convince it they're not chew toys.

Turns out his commanding presence doesn't work when he's smaller than the thing he's trying to command.

The dog reaches down and bites onto the back of Alejandro's shirt. He's shaken about, grasping for anything to free himself, when he hears a familiar voice in a strange tone.

"Here boy!" coos Noah in a cutesty tone Alejandro didn't think was possible. "Drop the disgusting eel and come to me! I've got treats!"

To Alejandro's shock, the dog immediately drops him. He falls to the ground in a heap. The dog eagerly bounds towards Noah and begins to sniff him. The dog licks Noah, mostly for the soda and cotton candy he's drenched in.

"¿Quién eres y qué has hecho con Noah?" Alejandro asks himself as he hears Noah giggle at being licked.

Noah digs into one of the many pockets in his khakis that Alejandro had assumed were just to show off his poor taste in fashion. He digs his hand out with a small plastic bag filled with dog treats.

"Come on boy, let's get you a treat that won't kill you in the long run."

He gets the dog to sit, then lay down. Then begins to climb on top of the dog.

"...You tell no one what just happened, and I'll let you get on Shadow. I don't know if I can get him to go fast, but I can at least get him going in the right direction."

Alejandro knows better to look a gift horse in the mouth, so he puts all thoughts about how cute that was away as he gets atop of the newly dubbed Shadow.

It turns out that Shadow has two speeds: none and all. They both have to cling onto the dog as he bolts through the crowd towards the ferris wheel. They can only hope everyone is so focused on the dog that no one notices the two small humans desperately clinging to its fur.

Shadow takes them a good distance towards the wheel. However, he is a dog. He notices a seagull within his line of sight and begins to chase after it in a different direction. The two of them let go before Shadow can steer them too far off course, and land behind one of the prize booths.

With them being in the back of the booths, they can see a path of relatively safety so long as none of the workers make their way back here. The ferris wheel isn't much farther off. So they begin walking. And talking.

"May I at least ask how you made a dog much larger than us eat out of the palm of your hand?"

"I trained my dog when he was a puppy. I figured it might be the same with another dog no matter the size difference."

"Still, I will admit. That was impressive."

"Huh, so you can give a genuine compliment. Didn't think you had it in you."

"I absolutely do give genuine compliments!"

"If you want to prove you're genuine, tell me the real reason you started befriending Team E-scope."

Alejandro sighs. Because at this point, he's tired, and he already has a piece of blackmail over Noah. If they don't survive this, he might as well get this off his chest.

Alejandro admits that the real reason he wants Noah and his friends at his side is because he needs them to get revenge on Heather for him. He's done his best to keep this out of the gossip circle, but she actually dumped him rather recently. He didn't quite listen to the reason why because she did the dumping instead of him. He can't just let that stand.

He knows 'Team E-scope' and Owen is because he knows they're the most chaotic group among them. He planned to trick them into pranking Heather for him so that he didn't have to get his own hands dirty, and no one would find out the reason he wanted revenge on the first place.

Noah can't help but laugh at Alejandro.

"You seriously went through all of that trouble so we could get back at your ex for you?"

"It's a very elaborate plan!"

"That's why I'm laughing! You did all of that for nothing!"

"Getting back at Heather is not nothing."

"No. That's not what I mean. We would have done it if you just asked."

"...What?"

"Eva hates Heather's guts, Owen's always down for a good prank, Izzy's Izzy, and I love to watch shitty people get their just desserts. You didn't even need to give us a reason. All you had to do was ask us to help you pull a prank on Heather. We'd do it because it'd be funny."

Alejandro has to re-evaluate a lot of assumptions and life decisions that he's made recently.

As they get close to the ferris wheel, they spot Chris walking into one of the carts. They immediately make a run for the cart before the attendant can close the door. They both land on the sticky, popcorn riddled floor at the same time.

Despite this, they each find themselves alone with Chris.

He spends the first few minutes laughing at them, confessing to having watched them the entire time. Then he says to each that he can tell them how to get back to normal, but there’s no guarantee it’ll work and they’re almost out of time. He can un shrink one of them right now, guaranteed. …But in return, they have to give up the other to Chris as an entertainment piece. The other will be fine! Mostly. They’ll be big again at least.

Once he gets the consent he can take the other away to do whatever. It’s an exclusive offer, so they better act fast.

Neither believes this is exclusive. They’re both pretty sure the other is being offered the same deal. It’s the classic prisoner’s dilemma. If they give each other up, they’ll probably both be subject to Chris’s whims for the rest of their lives.

Logically speaking, the right thing to do is to try to betray each other. But it requires a considerable amount of trust in the other. Noah would have to trust Alejandro not to be a selfish bastard. Alejandro would have to trust Noah not to be paranoid.

...Noah doesn't think he can trust Alejandro. He has seen Alejandro put himself first time and again. He refused to get help that they clearly needed because of his stupid pride. He's been more honest with Noah, but now Alejandro is by himself, being offered a deal almost impossible to resist. If he's going to take Noah down, then Noah might as well take Alejandro with him.

And yet. Alejandro's first instinct had been to save Noah when he was trapped, despite proving that he'd be difficult to work with. There was something good there in that shriveled, dark heart. Taking Alejandro down would give him a sense of vindication, but he doubted that would last long with whatever punishment Chris had in store. At least with Alejandro free, someone would know what had happened to Noah.

Besides, there is a part of Noah that does want to believe that Alejandro has some standards. It's a small part. It's a stupid part.

But Noah would rather be a fool than be cruel senselessly.

So he denies Chris's deal.

…To his surprise, Alejandro thinks he can trust Noah. With how loyal Noah is to Owen, he doubts Noah would choose to subject someone else to Chris. Alejandro could easily take advantage of this. It won’t be his problem afterwards. People would ask questions about Noah, but he could lie his way around them. Alejandro could finally rid himself of an annoyance set on ruining his good name.

And yet. Noah's not just an annoyance. He can be useful when he wants to be. He saved Alejandro from his own overconfidence. Noah has potential to be more. Not just to Alejandro, but to others as well. He's a fool not to see it in himself, but Alejandro could guide him along the right way. With their minds combined, they could conquer any challenge. Including Chris'.

Besides, the world would be a worse place without Noah in it.

So he denies Chris's deal.

The two are suddenly besides each other in the cart staring up at a petulant Chris. He whines that he's disappointed in the both of them. Where's the drama in neither of them taking the deal?!

Unfortunately, he's bound by his own rules, so he does tell them that the only way to get back to their normal size is to go through the same mirror that shrunk them in the first place. (All of Chris's game was pretty much a distraction to trick them into giving themselves up to him or else be small forever, either way being entertaining for Chris.)

They have until sunset, which if he had to guess is about thirty minutes. With a huff, he vanishes.

The two just look at each other for a moment as they comprehend what just happened.

"...You didn't give me up." Noah spoke aloud.

"No. I didn't."

"Why?"

"I don't know," Alejandro admitted. Which was the truth. He knew he told himself it was to keep Noah around as a benefit, but there was a part of him that also just liked having Noah around. And he wasn't sure which was more true. "I can't believe you trusted me."

"I didn't."

"Why wouldn't you give me up when you thought I would?"

"I don't know," Noah confessed. His heart and his brain were too battle-torn to give a more truthful answer. His heart was winning when he spoke again, "I'm sorry. For doubting you."

"No. No, you were absolutely right to. I didn't refuse to betray you out of the goodness of my heart."

"But you did."

"...Sí. I did.

"So take the apology. You're not getting another one."

"No."

"Are you seriously arguing this right now? Why?!"

"Because you still chose to spare me anyways!" Alejandro snapped. "You know me better than anyone else. You know I'm not 'a good person deep down'! There was no reward in this for you! I would punish your loyalty for myself. And you'd still show me mercy! I can't-No entiendo-"

Alejandro pinched at the bridge of his nose as he desperately attempted to calm his thoughts before he spoke again. "...Thank you."

After a pause of his own, Noah replied. "You're welcome."

The sun got in their eyes as they both remembered Chris's new thirty minute deadline. The ferris wheel is currently stopped at the top. Even if they could scale down it quickly, it would take far longer than 30 minutes to get back to the house of mirrors by themselves.

Fortunately for them, they're crafty, and they're high enough to where they're at the height of seagulls flying about. They manage to get a seagull's attention by throwing popcorn out of the cart. When it comes to investigate, Alejandro remains pressed against the wall of the cart while Noah is in the middle, egging the bird closer.

The bird goes in to attack Noah, and Alejandro leaps onto the bird from behind. The bird attempts to fly away and shake Alejandro off. Alejandro holds it in place long enough for Noah to get on.

The two wrangle the bird into a dive bomb for the house of mirrors. All three of them are screaming as they crash land. The two quickly scamper inside before the bird is aware enough to get revenge on them.

They split off to cover more ground since neither one quite remembers where the mirror that shrank them is. Alejandro is the one who manages to find it first as he goes through it to become his regular size. He went in one mirror, though out another, and can only guess he's on the side of the maze that Noah went down.

He immediately speedwalks to find Noah. He can't run or he'd risk stepping on him. When he hears Noah shout his name, he immediately runs, grabs Noah, and races back towards where he believes the entrance to be.

Noah guides him back to the entrance, and he races towards the mirror once he recognizes where he is. He shoves Noah through the mirror, though his own hand meets a solid surface.

He runs back towards the other side, only to meet a regular sized Noah in the middle, panting. The two immediately hug and laugh in pure shock and disbelief that they're finally back to normal.

Chris is nowhere to be found or heard, though they do wish they'd be able to get some form of revenge on him.

For now, they're both content with leaving the park and never setting foot in it again.

They finally catch up with the rest of their friend group who ask where they've been the whole time.

Neither of them has a response prepared, so Izzy provides them with one: They were clearly making out the whole time.

The two try to beat back the allegations, but to no avail. It's still better than having to explain what ACTUALLY happened.

It does mean they'd have to be together more if they're going to lean into this lie.

Neither one minds it as much as they pretend to.

#Why does no one else at the park notice them?#Shhhhh I need the plot to happen so I need you to have suspension of disbelief #Also I've intentionally decided not to have them end on a big kiss or romantic confession for two reasons #One: because all of this happens in a day in their perspective and they're going to need like at least a week to process this #Two: I just think it'd be neat to see a platonic/aromantic relationship between them for once #So you can take however their relationship develops afterwards as you see fit!#Personally I'm sticking with they're both oblivious aros because I think more rep is needed #Note: I'm not aro so if I'm fucking this up somehow pleae let me know #Now for actual tags #total drama #td noah #total drama noah #td alejandro #total drama alejandro #total drama au #alenoahweek2024 #alenoah week #alenoah week 2024 #alenoahweek 2024 #giant/tiny #sfw giant/tiny #g/t #perp fanfic #total drama fanfiction

36 notes · View notes

markantonys · 9 months

Text

the single best thing the show could do for the polycule is a very simple change: make it happen on purpose. make all four members work together from the beginning to set up a poly relationship intentionally, rather than stumbling into one due to a mix of miscommunication and Fate Said So.

in the books, rand thinks he's having a series of unconnected romantic encounters with three different women and has no idea a polycule is developing until the women come to him to propose the final product. it is documented that the reason rj wrote it this way is because it's inspired by a similar situation he was once in, so i can't exactly blame him for writing based off personal experience, but it does cause several problems in the story.

Problems:

a) rand has little to no input on his own relationship(s) and spends the whole series being extremely passive in his love life. this makes him come across as at best a victim to the whims of his partners who is not allowed to express what HE wants out of the relationship, and at worst an asshole who doesn't really care about any of them as people and doesn't care what arrangements the three of them work out so long as he gets to fuck SOMEONE. it also means that the romances don't have as much of an emotional impact on him/his character development as they should (and as they do on the women) because he's just kinda floating along going "oh whatever you guys want, makes no difference to me."

b) elayne and aviendha get a bad fandom rap as being bad partners to rand because they confuse him on purpose and play games with him. like most of elayne's (in particular) bad fandom raps, this is an unfair exaggeration, but it's rooted in the fact that rj wanted rand to wind up in a polycule by accident rather than helping arrange a polycule on purpose, which means that rand has to hook up with 3 different women in a row without realizing that a polycule is brewing, without having discussed the idea of additional partner(s) with his prior partner(s) and gotten their permission to hook up with other people, AND without coming across as a cheater. which means that rand has to believe himself sufficiently broken up with the prior woman before he can hook up with the next one, which means that elayne has to send him conflicting letters so that he can get away with hooking up with aviendha and aviendha has to freeze him out so that he can get away with hooking up with min.

("they're just greedy/indecisive/cheaters" is probably the biggest harmful stereotype against poly people, and the above approach from the books flirts with that far too much, so the show definitely needs to change that. the majority of people have a very very difficult time understanding polyamory (just look at tumblr, where even the ~wokest~ WOT fans are saying the polycule should be split up into 2 monogamous pairings bc they think the poly aspect is "weird" and they insist that elayne Actually loves aviendha the most or rand Actually loves min the most and that they can't possibly REALLY mean it when they say they love multiple people equally), which is why it's especially important that the show portray it in a way where it's abundantly clear that it's not cheating or rand being greedy/indecisive/stringing a bunch of women along.)

c) the problem for the other 3's approach to the polycule is miscommunication. the problem for min's is Fate Said So. she is rammed into the polycule by prophecy rather than by spending enough time with the other parties to come to want it on her own, and so she coasts along on "you have to let me join your relationship because it's fated to happen no matter what" rather than needing to put in the same work elayne and aviendha do of bonding with each other, making an effort to learn about aiel polyamory practices (in elayne's case), and growing to genuinely want to share their partner with each other and to genuinely enjoy seeing the other happy with him.

the result is min feeling out of place in the relationship: elayne constantly thinks about how she loves rand and aviendha equally, then sometimes hastily adds min as an afterthought; aviendha is very firm that she can't share rand with elayne until they're first-sisters, but shrugs and makes an exception for min for no reason (but then proceeds to think how she wishes she didn't have to share her partner with a near-stranger); min barely cares about the other two and frequently thinks how she wishes she could just have rand to herself and it's unfair that she has to share him. it's a very glaring contrast how elayne and aviendha come to feel genuine joy and compersion at rand's love for the other, while the most positive thought min ever has is "if i HAVE to share (which i'd rather not), then elayne isn't the worst option for a co-partner."

on this last point, monogamous people forcing themselves to try out polyamory for their poly partner's sake (which is absolutely how book!min comes across) is something that happens and gets people hurt irl, and contributes to the societal misconception that polyamory never works out long term and that a choice will inevitably have to be made (again, see tumblr deciding that the endgame will have to be elayne & aviendha happily monogamous in caemlyn and reddit that it will have to be rand & min happily monogamous traveling the world). so if the show is going to portray polyamory, imo it has a responsibility to show that it is a viable long-term relationship type that people can be genuinely happy in. thus, all 4 parties need to choose this type of relationship because they want it, not because fate said they had to, and especially min since she's the one who is the most explicitly in the "only doing this bc fate" camp in the books (whereas rand, elayne, and aviendha all come across as genuinely polyamorous people who likely would have settled on this arrangement even without prophecy foreknowledge).

Solutions:

i made a post recently-ish with a hypothetical timeline for 8 seasons of the show, so if i make any unexplained assumptions in this section about what seasons various characters will be spending time together during, that's where they came from.

i feel pretty confident that rand/aviendha will be the first romance we see in the show, since he's still getting over his much-more-serious-than-the-book-version relationship with egwene and it would make sense to give him season 2 to finish that up and to hold off on new romance for him until season 3. i'm predicting he and aviendha will also meet elayne at falme in 2x08, but i also expect the characters will set off on their TSR roadtrips by the end of 3x01 at the latest, which gives rand and elayne no more than 1-2 episodes together - enough to establish Crush Vibes, but not enough to actually have anything happen between them. so, the show will go out of order and start with rand/aviendha.

which is a perfect way of changing the polycule from accidental to intentional! having rand's first romance be with the partner who is from a poly-aware culture means that the entire set of relationships is now being built off a poly-aware base. from the get-go, aviendha can explain the concept of polyamory to rand and make it clear to him that she is comfortable with that sort of relationship, which means that they can get together and stay together rather than needing to backslide so that rand has an excuse to go off and fuck other people. he doesn't need excuses if he instead has permission! also, rand/elayne not having happened yet would mean aviendha has no reason to feel guilty and pull away from rand after sleeping with him.

so, rand and aviendha are solidly together and poly-curious by the time they reunite with elayne in s4. aviendha can see that rand and elayne like each other, so she encourages them to get together, and rand/elayne can indeed get together without rand/aviendha needing to be tanked first since rand and aviendha are both on the same pro-poly page. elayne knows a little about polyamory from meeting bain and chiad at falme (and maybe from meeting alanna or other greens at the tower), and she has feelings for rand but also likes aviendha and doesn't want to interfere with their relationship, so she is happy to agree to the arrangement. but she still has plenty to learn about aiel ways and about aviendha, and aviendha wants to become first-sisters as is proper, so even without aviendha having toh to elayne for banging rand, the two of them still have a reason to want to bond and grow closer (and for the show, this arc will result in them falling in love instead of or in addition to becoming first-sisters).

so we've fixed the narrative relying on miscommunication to get rand, elayne, and aviendha into the polycule. now to fix the reliance on Fate Said So for min. we can safely say that she's already had her 3-women viewing judging by that line in s1, so she already knows the polycule is fated. this in itself is fine - wrestling with knowing you're fated to love someone is an interesting character arc if done well and done sparingly [sideeyes rj on both counts]. what needs to be changed is how min USES this foreknowledge.

don't have her share it with elayne, aviendha, or rand until after the four of them have gotten together naturally. have her discuss the viewing with her aunts in s2 (or, hell, even with mat, could be a good way to contribute to the friendship they're supposed to have at the end of the series) instead of with elayne, and have her say she knows who 2/3 of the other people are but would never want to tell them about this viewing because it sucks to know you're fated to love someone before it's happened and she'd hate to burden anyone else with that knowledge. have her keep the viewing to herself because she wants rand and elayne (and aviendha, tho min doesn't yet know who she is) to have the freedom to fall in love by choice, even though she herself can't have that freedom. (shit, now that i write it out i actually LOVE the idea of mat being the one she's having this convo with since he too will soon be struggling with a Fated Romance.)

in the books, by telling elayne soon after meeting her that she'll have to share her boyfriend with 2 others and then in salidar going "one of them is me btw so you'd better give me permission to fuck your boyfriend when i see him soon," it feels like min is using her viewing to bully elayne (and later aviendha) into letting her join the relationship. min telling rand in eotw that he shouldn't bother with egwene because they won't end up together also contributes to this vibe, and the show has thankfully already cut out that moment, so i have high hopes that they're attempting to make min more..........empathetic, i guess, in terms of how she uses her viewings. book!min is understandably afraid of being left out in the cold since she doesn't know which if any of them rand will love back, so she uses her viewings to prime the other parties to be willing to Let Her In when the time comes, basically, but it's still kind of a shitty thing to do. however, so far, due to being older and much more mature and much more reluctant to share viewings, show!min gives me the vibes that she would rather quietly resign herself to unrequited love than have to burden other people with the knowledge that their love is Foretold (particularly once she comes to view elayne as a friend in s2).

so, if min doesn't share the viewing with elayne and aviendha in advance, then she will have to join the relationship naturally, by spending time with and getting to know all 3 parties, rather than by telling them they have to let her in because Fate Said So. i see space for all 4 of them to be in the same place together during season 4, while avirandlayne is brewing but min is still just a friend, so that would be a great time for min to bond with them all prior to getting with rand (and maybe as a result, rand develops a crush on her and confesses it to elayne and aviendha, who are happy to give him permission because they already know and like min; alternately, rand has an obvious crush on min but is totally oblivious about it, so elayne and aviendha tease him like "if there is...............anyone else you're interested in.............maybe a certain bartender............you can totally go for it" and rand is adorably baffled as to why they believe he has a crush on min, and then in season 5 he finally Realizes).

and like, wouldn't it be so cute if after the four of them are in a committed polycule, min finally says "hey, i actually had a viewing ages ago that this would happen, but i didn't want to tell you guys and make you feel pressured to love each other" and they all have a good laugh about it together? that would be SO cute!

so, overall, the seeds of a wonderful polycule are there in the books, and the show doesn't have to make a TON of tweaks to help it live up to its best potential! i'm really excited to see what they do with it because it's such a unique romance storyline and one of my favorite aspects of the series, it just needs the Updating For 2020s touch (and the Updating To Reflect The Way Real Human Adults Behave And Communicate With Each Other touch) that the show has so far excelled at applying.

#if you're going to come on here and say 'or they could just split it into rand/min and elayne/avi that'd be even better': DO NOT #rand is poly. this is canon. he loves in a way that his & our society deems atypical and that is canon.#so removing that aspect of his character to stick him in a ~more palatable~ monogamous relationship feels akin to queer erasure to me #i want to see elayne and avi date as much as anyone but NOT at the expense of erasing rand's poly nature (or theirs)#and like..........we can easily just have both at the same time! they go great together!#sorry that you personally don't want a man involved in your f/f ship but you've got other canon man-free f/f ships out there to enjoy #*i* do not have other canon bi poly relationships out there to enjoy so let me fucking have this okay?#wot #wot book spoilers

92 notes · View notes