#<- mental headcanon note. we'll see if that sticks

[awildcardisactive]

Phone app is actually magical look I'm sketching out my lifers concepts. Have a Scott

[becauseplot]

Hi hello yes more thoughts about this hgduo pre-canon, hunger games/wars au(??) because my brain is rotating them at incredible speeds. (Obligatory cannibalism tw because yeah the lore do be like that.)

Bad originally finds Cellbit while the kid is trying to use a dagger to carve up a body to eat---key word trying. Bad stands back and watches him struggle for about thirty seconds before speaking up: "You're holding that wrong." (The kid jumps about two feet in the air. "WhhUH---") "Also you're not supposed to carve with a dagger, silly. You should really be using a knife. Here." And Bad passes him one of his hunting knives.

Bad mentally dubs Cellbit "Dagger-Kid" because he doesn't know Cellbit's name. When Cellbit later admits he doesn't know his name either, Bad officially dubs him "Dagger-Kid" or "Dagger" for short. ((For the rest of this I'll be calling Cellbit "Dagger")) ((Also I'm not 100% on this name yet but we'll see.))

I should note that I also think it would be funny that every time Dagger does something notable or reveals a new quality about himself, Bad tries to give him a new name. Like, they scavenge a piece of chocolate off one of their victims and Dagger loves it, so Bad tries to suggest, "Oh oh! What if we called you 'Sweets'! Or 'Chocolate'? 'Coco,' maybe?" all of which Dagger (playfully) rolls his eyes at. Bad rotates through nicknames regularly, but Dagger personally sticks with the first name Bad gave him.

Dagger was on his own for two months before he met Bad. He is injured and half-starved and utterly exhausted. The first time they make camp together, Dagger promises he'll take the first watch, but he nods off before even Bad can fall asleep. It's the first time Dagger has felt safe enough to truly relax, so his body just crashes. He sleeps for twelve hours.

This one's honestly more of a general qsmp headcanon I have but it goes here too: Bad teaches Dagger how to throw knives (for combat) and how to do knife tricks (for fun). Current-day Cellbit still remembers how to do the tricks, and he'll often use them as a way of fidgeting when he's thinking---with a pen or pencil instead, though.

One of Dagger's natural talents is stealth. He's not as quiet as Bad, but he's definitely good at it; his cat-hybrid traits definitely lend him a hand here, too. It's the main way Dagger survived before meeting Bad, stealing supplies out of camps while people were sleeping.

Bad, being a demon, doesn't need to eat, drink, or sleep as much as mortals do, and certainly not as much as a teenage boy. To him, it only seems practical that he gives himself smaller portions of their rations, or takes longer nightwatch shifts. But Dagger (who can scarcely imagine ever being not hungry or not tired, much less at the same time) is still grateful and feels somewhat indebted to Bad, even after Bad explains.

Dagger (a cat hybrid and a little more than a bit messed up) bites to show affection. Usually Bad's arm. Any normal guy would be injured by the force of Dagger's bite---Dagger doesn't really seem to understand that not-biting-hard is an option---but Bad doesn't really mind it.

(The truth is that deep down Dagger really wants to hug Bad, but he knows Bad isn't a very cuddly person, and yeah Bad might give him a hug if he asked but he's too afraid to ask so all that affection stays bottled up until it rises rises rises and he just doesn't know what to do with it anymore and it needs OUT---)

Bad thwacks Dagger upside the head with his tail whenever Dagger is being a "little rapscallion" and eventually Dagger starts retaliating. His tail isn't as long or flexible as Bad's but he definitely does try.

Bad has a lot of stories to tell. Some true, some made up on the fly. He's always liked telling stories, and Dagger is a captive audience. He learns Dagger loves mysteries, and suddenly, all of his campfire stories are about spies, and detectives, and red-string cork boards and espionage.

The thing Dagger fears the most is that one morning he'll wake up and Bad won't be there because Bad decided Dagger slowed him down and thus abandoned him. He thinks about this near-constantly. (The thing Bad fears the most is that one morning he'll wake up and look at Dagger and start caring like he used to a long, long time ago. He does not think about this at all.)

[asexualenjolras]

* GHOSTBUSTERS AFTERLIFE SPOILERS *

I am refusing, point blank, to accept that Egon Spengler and Ray Stantz weren't still friends/partners. Refusing. They were the two Ghostbusters that were always really close. They were our neurodivergent, autistic duo that could finish the other's sentences and thoughts. There is no way you can convince me that Ray would not believe Egon about something like this. He believed him about the goddamn twinkie when it made no sense at all.

I truly believe that Ray was in on the plan. I can understand Winston moving onto "better" things because he was never a scientist, and I can see Peter giving up on Ghostbusters as soon as it suited him. But Ray? No way.

It is either really sloppy writing in Afterlife or it is a clever plot device setting up for a possible sequel.

Picture this:

Egon and Ray are the last two Ghostbusters - bearing in mind that these are the two that were consistently flying the flag for the paranormal in both of the original movies - and they are doing their research in their (canon - Winston says so in Ghostbusters II) shared flat.

In this research, they come across the prophecy the returns each decade and what it could mean. Egon tells Ray that he's going to have to move out to the dirt farm in order to settle things. Ray tries to fight it but they agree that it's for the greater good.

Now, Ray still owns the Occult in the movie, but it is stated by Winston that Ray has no means of paying his bills. Maybe that's because he's sending all the money he does get across to Egon, who is canonically bankrupt. Where else would Egon be getting the money for his equipment? He doesn't work. But Ray does.

So, Egon moves to the dirt farm as we see in the movie. And Ray tells the other Ghostbusters that Egon left with all of the equipment. He stays in contact with Callie's mum on behalf of his partner and sends Egon the images of Callie through the post - or he takes them to him himself.

(side note: I believe that Egon and Callie's mum were both scientists and Egon was doing her a favour by donating his sperm - I won't change my mind on this - but he found himself becoming attached to the idea of having a daughter and asked to be part of her life at a distance but didn't want to complicate her life because he didn't think he'd be a good dad).

It simply makes no sense that Egon would leave Ray - the person that he was seen smiling and joking around with, theorising with and living with - but let Janine know. It makes no sense at all in my mind.

Ray promised that - should anyone call and mention Egon's name to them - he would tell them to "go away" and would stick to the narrative about Egon stealing everything from the Ghostbusters. But when Phoebe calls and informs him that Egon has passed away, his heart sinks.

Janine didn't tell him because she wasn't aware that Egon and Ray were partners. Why would she? So Ray merely went about his life thinking he'd be hearing from Egon again soon. And he just ... didn't.

And when he saw Egon again in spirit form, he has to pretend to keep up this ploy they had going on.

They're setting up for a sequel, and if the sequel goes ahead then I'm really hopeful that we'll see Ray know more than what meets the eye and Phoebe will need to confront him to find out exactly what he does know and - along the way - she'll discover why, above everyone else, Egon trusted Ray most (aka. they were in LOVE).

You CANNOT tell me that that "sorry for not believing you" line wasn't suspicious. Egon NODDED with a SMILE?! Nope, this is all canon in my mind. That was their "I love you" and "I'll be with you soon". I won't hear any other argument.

So, I'm choosing to believe that Ray and Egon were still friendly. I'm choosing to believe it for my own mental sanity. Please don't take away my Stantzler headcanon.