#Danny watches Black Mountain Side

[spockvarietyhour]

Black Mountain Side (2014)

[hypewinter]

Dick stared out at the snowy landscape past the window before turning back to his new baby brother. Danny was sitting in his high chair, happily munching away at some Cheerios. Looking at him now Dick thought back to how he had come to Wayne Manor just a few months prior.

Bruce had stormed into the Manor after coming back from a Justice League mission with a bundle in his hands. Dick who had stopped by the manor to steal food catch up with Alfred had been thoroughly thrown off by his father's open animosity. He could hardly recall the last time he'd seen Bruce this outwardly furious. The man's glare alone could rival Darkseid's omega beams. As Bruce sat down at the table, the two men finally got a good look at just what he was carrying. It was an infant. An infant who was fast asleep, his soft black hair falling over his eyes. Bruce quietly asked Alfred to prepare a room as well as all necessities needed for a baby. The old butler had immediately set off to just that.

Meanwhile Dick was quick to ask what had happened but Bruce didn't say. Even when the others gradually found what was happening and asked their own questions, he still refused to answer. Not even Alfred had been told where the baby had come from. The only information Bruce had offered up was that the baby's name was Danny and he would be staying at the Manor from now on. As for the rest of the details, he claimed he would tell them in due time. But Batman's "due time" was often too late to actually do anything about it so desperate for answers, the family had turned to their own investigations only to come up with nothing.

All files related to Danny were locked behind a mountain of firewalls and Oracle had apparently already been sworn to secrecy by the big man himself. Whatever it was, Bruce wanted absolutely zero interference, so for now, the family was forced to sit in their hands.

That led till now, 5 months later. It was mid-January and Dick was on babysitting duty. Everyone else was either out running errands or on a mission. Not that Dick minded though. Danny was incredibly cute and he loved taking care of him. Besides, it gave him the perfect opportunity to get Danny to see him as the favorite brother. Still, Dick couldn't help but feel couped up today. Maybe it was because it had been snowing the last few days leaving both boys alone in the giant manor all day long.

Dick stared wistfully out the window once again before an idea dawned on him. He turned back to Danny who had stuffed the last of the Cheerios into his mouth along with his entire hand.

"Hey Danny. Wanna have a snow day?" he asked cheerily. The boy cocked his head at Dick, hand still in mouth. Dick smiled wider. "I'll take that as a yes!"

Dick hoisted Danny out of his high chair and carried him upstairs to his room. After he set Danny down in his crib, he grabbed all the gear he needed. He picked out a long sleeve shirt with a cartoon star and big bold letters reading "You're a Star!" He also grabbed long socks, some elastic pants as well as jeans, a scarf, a blue beanie, and a pair of cute little mittens.

It didn't take long for Danny to be fully dressed for the outside elements. Though after Dick finished putting his shoes on, he squirmed a little and made a face.

"I know I know," Dick cooed. "But I'm pretty sure B. would make an exception to his 'no killing rule' if you got sick on my watch."

Dick admired his handy work for a minute (taking dozens of pictures as he did so) before picking his brother up and heading downstairs. After a quick pitstop at the door to grab his own jacket and gloves from the coat rack, he opened the door and greeted the chilly air outside.

Danny giggled as he reached up at the snow while Dick circled around to the side of the manor.

"Bitey! Bitey!" he squealed.

"Yep, Bitey," Dick replied with mild confusion.

Danny would say random things like that sometimes, forcing the world's greatest detectives to put their minds together in order to figure out what he was talking about. One time he just wouldn't stop saying "Em". It took everyone a whole day to realize he was referring to music. And an extra two days to figure out he was specifically referring to pop music.

Oftentimes he would call Barbara "Jazzy" and Duke "Tuck". On occasion he would even call Cass "Sammy". Every time he called something a new name, it was a race to figure out what he meant. Each time they figured out a new word, Bruce's face would darken and he'd disappear off to the Watchtower for the day. Something that was really starting to drag on Dick's nerves. It was like it was physically impossible for that man to share information.

Dick was startled out of his thoughts by a tug at his jacket and looked down to see Danny staring at him.

"Sorry sorry," he said with a smile. "Lost in my thoughts. Forgive me?"

Danny put on a pout but Dick knew by now that it was fake. One could tell by the mischievous look in the boy's eyes that he just couldn't hide. "So be it then!" Dick declared before pulling Danny close and snuggling into him. The boy shrieked as cold nose touched warm neck. "Fo-give! Fo-give!" he cried.

"Aw thanks," Dick said as he pulled away. Danny giggled again, his bright blue eyes crinkling with laughter.

The pair walked around in the snow for a bit longer before Danny started making grabby hands towards the ground. "You want down?" Dick asked. Danny nodded energetically.

"Alright."

Dick carefully set Danny down in the snow. The boy excitedly wriggled before putting his hands down to the snow. As Dick watched, there was a burst of light and suddenly there was a semi circle of ice, radiating out from their position. Dick stared at the ice in shock. Danny turned and blinked up at Dick, almost as if he were in shock too. But he very quickly went back to playing in the snow. Dick swallowed. Sure they all knew Danny had powers. It was pretty obvious when the third day there, he floated up to the ceiling. Still though, he highly doubted ice powers was up there on anyone's list of "abilities our new baby brother might manifest next."

Dick was so shocked all he could manage to utter was, "Huh. That's new."

[avayarising]

DPxDC prompt: Here is the News

“You’re watching CDTV Now, and I’m Ace Atchinson with a special feature. Last week, the nation was shocked when a team of junior heroes affiliated with the Justice League apparently vandalised one of America’s most beloved national monuments.”

A short, jerky video plays, showing an explosion on a large stone face – one of four carved out of the side of a mountain. The smoke clears to reveal a large hole where the nose used to be. Several figures fly out of the stone and are caught by some sort of flying vehicle. It swoops across the mountain and away.

“With me live in the studio this afternoon are some of the members of Young Justice, here to tell us their side of the story. Superboy, Wonder Girl, Impulse – did you destroy Mount Rushmore?”

“Yeah, we did,” says the boy with black curly hair and a leather jacket over his brightly coloured hero suit. A bar appears across the bottom of the screen. Superboy, it says. Member of Young Justice. “On purpose, too.”

The girl, with stiff black hair and large square glasses, scowls in his direction. “We weren’t trying to destroy it,” she says as the camera closes in on her. The bar across the bottom of the screen now reads Wonder Girl and Member of Young Justice. “We were rescuing our friend.”

“She’s a ghost you see and the apes captured her and held her in this secret base –” The brown-haired boy in goggles stops when he is nudged by the girl beside him. The bar flickers for a moment to say Impulse before returning to Wonder Girl.

“OK, so, we need to go back, like, five steps here. There was a secret government base inside Mount Rushmore where they were conducting inhumane experiments on ghosts.”

The host laughs in a strained, nervous way. “Ghosts?” he asks.

They nod. “I’d like to introduce you to another member of our team,” says Wonder Girl. A mist forms behind her as she speaks, and swiftly coalesces into the form of a pale, slight girl, hovering behind the sofa. “Um,” she says nervously. “My name is – I mean, I go by – Secret, and… I’m a ghost.”

-––––

“Danny! Turn on CDTV now!”

“What? Why?”

“Just do it!”

–––––

“–torture and imprisonment, and she hadn’t even done anything! They’re just prejudiced against ghosts because they think they’re dangerous!”

“She is dangerous,’ says the black-haired boy proudly. The label Superboy appears on the screen again, in case anyone had forgotten. “She can shape-shift and go through walls and even possess people –”

“K– Superboy!” hisses Wonder Girl. “Not helping!”

“I’m right here,” says the ghost girl. The people who do the labels have obviously been hard at work, because she now has one too, saying Secret and Alleged ghost. “And I can do those things, but that doesn’t mean I want to hurt people or –”

There’s yelling from off camera, and a crash. A bolt of blue-white energy flies past the camera and the image whites out. There’s a scream, and a burst of static. The image returns, fuzzy and striated. Another bolt of energy. A large man wearing white rushes into view. Someone in green boots and a yellow and black cape lands on his head and knocks him down. A bang, and the image turns sideways as the camera crashes to the floor. The sound cuts out. There’s smoke, and running feet, and suddenly the side of the studio sofa, before another flash of blue-white light and the screen goes dead.

Nothing happens for almost a minute, and then the TV starts playing a rerun of the highlights of last week’s sports game.

––––––––

“Well, shit,” says Danny.

Superboy here is not in fact Kon but Match pretending to be Kon and trying to sabotage the team. Robin was hiding in the ceiling behind a lighting rig because Batman is going through one of his ‘we are cryptids’ phases and wouldn’t allow him to appear on screen. Anita hasn’t joined the team yet, which is good because her dad is one of the agents and it would have been awkward.

[sailor-toni]

Danny Fenton Football Captain and the East Coast Vampire Ch 2

You can also read it on A03, FF.NET, and on Wattpad

The inside of the house was worse than the outside; the walls were black and flaked off in small burnt bites whenever a breeze looked at it the wrong way. The wooden floors were in a similar state, they cracked and creaked under with every step they took. The wood itself looked and smelled rotted through, well what was left of it. Some parts felt as thin as paper. And all around them was the thick scent of mold mixed with animal feces. Paulina used the walls to keep her balance on a thin piece of flooring and found her hands coated in black soot and mold. She made a gagging sound and tried to wipe it all away on her skinny jeans, spreading the darkness all over her. 

“Nobody touch the walls. There is some stuff on it, and it’s getting everywhere,” Paulina said. 

“Stuff? What kind of stuff?” Danny snickered.

“Yeah, is it white stuff Paulina?” Dash said. 

“You guys are gross! I’m not talking about that!”

CRACK! 

“AH!” Something large, fuzzy, and small ran past Dash’s leg. 

“What was it?” 

“Where did it go?”

“It touched me! EW!” Star cried. 

The creature ran through the house till it tumbled until a patch of dying sunlight. Revealing it to be a large squirrel. It stared at the kids as it rubbed his little black head before running off into another part of the house. The group took a breath of relief. 

“I don’t know what everyone was so scared about? It was just a dam rat,” Dash said.  

 “Hey! I heard you were the first to scream!” Danny said. 

“I was just doing this to spook the rest of you. I knew it just some dumb animall. And look! You all fell for it.”

Everyone groaned and said some version of “Shut up Dash” while Danny and Valerie said “Fuck off Dash.” But Dash just laughed as he led them further into the darkness. The smell became stronger as they went in. When they passed what must have once been a grand staircase with a broken chandler frozen in decay and dust below it in a deep hole. The ceiling had small holes burned into it allowing the sunset to high up what remained of the broken crystal trapped in the floor. The smell of decay was freshest at this hole. Star pretended to gag while Paulina held her crop top over nose, tears welled up in her eyes. 

“Are we there yet?” Valerie coughed, trying not to let the stench into her body. 

“Almost! We need to get to the sitting room. That is where everyone says the ghost is,” Dash pointed ahead into darkness. The sun was now below the horizon and the path before them was only lit by phone flashlights. When they passed through the sitting room doorway, Danny’s nerves lit up like fireworks. Goosebumps spread like the plague all over his body. 

“Hey Danny,” Kwan whispered. “Are you okay bro?”

“Yeah I’m fine,” Danny replied. 

The sitting room was lighter than the other rooms of the house but that was only because of the large broken windows around the smashed fireplace. The fireplace’s iron gate had twisted and melted into a solid form of water; the black bars twisted away from the fireplace and towards the shattered windows. Above the fireplace was what Danny thought was a cross. The top two arms and head were still there with the silver peeking out from mountains of soot, but the bottom had melted down into a stream of soot covered sliver that led down to the metal twisted maw of the fireplace. 

“Okay so we all have to sit in a circle around the board,” Dash began. “And everyone has to have one hand on the planchette, and nobody can remove their hand, or move from the table until we tell the ghost goodbye and let it go,” Dash sat in front of the doorway and watched as everyone took their spot in the semicircular room. Danny sat to the side and examined the Ouija board. It had a strange energy emitting from the old wood. The letters had been hand painted and showed their old age in the small cracks along the paint. And the planchette. Someone had painted a portrait of Jesus Christ that looked like it came from a medieval bible on it. His right hand extended towards the point. A small black dot on his palm represented a hole and the three thin red lines must have been blood. When his fingers brushed the planchet a painful spark hit his hand. He flinched but moved forward, small sparks hit his fingers as if the board resisted his very being. 

“Is everyone ready?” Dash asked. 

“Yeah as long as you don’t scream like a child again,” Valerie said. 

“Pff I won’t, but nobody can leave until I call the ghost off. Okay, or else the ghost will follow us home!” 

“We get it Dash. Don’t let go and don’t leave the circle. Anything else?” Kwan said.

“There are a few other rules. We have to ask questions one at a time, and the ceremony starts when the candles are lit,” Dash pulled a pale yellow candle from his jacket and placed it near him. 

One by one everyone placed their hand on the planchette, Paulina was shaking a bit while Kwan and Valerie both had a mix of doubt and uncertainty painted on their faces. Star elbowed Danny with her free arm. 

“Don’t worry Danny, if you're scared, just know I can fight any ghost who shows their ugly face around here.” 

“Thanks, but I’m not scared.” Danny replied. Star mouth okay and looked back to the board. 

Dash lit the candle, the flame went from a small bud to a large flame. “Oh spirits,” Dash spoke. “We come to you with questions that only the dead can answer. If you are here please show us a sign.” Nothing happened. “Oh great spirit I call you here to answer our pressing questions.” Nothing happened. 

“Oh no, it looks like nobody is home. Let’s go to Nasty Burger,” As if it had agreed with Danny, the planchette slowly moved to the word yes . 

“It moved?” Kwan cried.

“Dash, you're moving it,” Paulina said. 

“No, Star is moving it,” Dash said.

‘What? I can’t move it, everyone else has their hands on it. You guys would like to be able to tell if it was me.” Star said. 

“Then Danny did it, it moved after he talked about leaving,” Paulina said. 

“It wasn’t me!” 

“It had to be you, it wasn’t us,” 

“If it wasn’t Danny, or Dash, or Star….then it had to be the ghost? Ghost, what is it like, your name?” The board responded to Kwan’s question.

“ M-A-S-T-E-R-S ” the board spelled out. 

“Masters? Who names their kid Masters?” 

“Maybe it's a last name? Ghost is Masters, your last name or first?” The board moved to yes .

“What is your first name?” 

“ M-A-R-I-A ” 

“Maria Masters? I Think I heard that name before.” Valerie said. 

“Mrs. Maria, how did you die?” Sash asked the next question

“F-I-R-E”

“Whoa, was that like, painful?” The board moved to yes

“Dash!”

“What?”

“Was that painful? It's a fire, of course it's painful!” Valerie shook her head

The board began to move again

“G-E-T-O-U-T”

“Wait what?” The planchette moved over the board spelling out get out over and over again until everyone's hands were shaken off the board. A new message began to build itself now 

“H-E-I-S-C-O-M-I-N-G”

“Who is coming?” Danny asked

“P-L-A-S-M-I-U-S ” The board shot itself into the fireplace with a loud clang! Dash ran over to grab the board, but his fingers were burned as the room lit itself on fire. 

“No, that's my grandma’s!”

“Dash, there are more important things right now!”

“Get to the ground and crawl out!” Valerie shoved Star and Kwan to the floor

“But it's gross!”

“PAULINA!”

“Okay okay!” Paulina dropped to the floor and began to army crawl her way out of the room, Star and Kwan were quick to follow her. Danny turned his head to see Dash throwing himself into the fire, pulling the board from the pit. 

“DASH WHAT ARE YOU DOING!” 

“MY GRANDMA WILL KILL ME IF THIS THING GETS BURN!” 

“DASH YOU DUMBASS!” Valerie screamed, running to the blond and throwing him back away from the flames. The board edges were black and flaking but besides that it looked okay from a distance. The half of the paint on the planchette had chipped off, and now Jesus was missing part of his face. But it was fine. Very fine.   

“Oh Thank God,” Dash breathed. 

“You can thank God later, now move!”  

Ahead of them they could see Kwan pulling and pushing against the front door. Smoke was filling the hallway and obscured their vision and caused any vermin to fly out of the woodwork and run in every direction, scampering over the teenager’s feet.

“Fuck it!” Kwan yelled before launching himself at full force at the front door, His head and shoulders crashed through the door before the rest of his body fumbled through the broken door. Star and Paulina watched as Kwan's body hit each and every step on the way down. 

The smoke followed behind him, its black plumes soared into the night along with the ghost’s ear-drum searing screams. The two girls took no time in addressing their friend’s health, and instead each one grabbed one of Kwan’s legs and dragged him down the front path and back towards their bikes. Rag-dolling his body along the dirt and stone. 

Back in the house the ghostly woman’s screams shook the walls around the remaining three. Dash pushed the Ouija board and planchette closer to his chest while small whimpers escaped his shaking lips. The building began to splinter around them releasing soot, dust, and black mold into the flames, fuelling them until they had engulfed the back of the house. A wooden beam cracked and flew past Valerie’s head, a loose nail ripping out strands of her hair. A second rumbling sent the beam’s latter half crashing down below it. Danny threw her aside and prayed the darkness would be enough to trick her eyes. The wooden beam felt like loose jelly as it phased through his back and lodged itself into the floor behind him. 

“Fenton! Oh god are you okay!” Dash screamed. 

“Yeah! I’m fine! Now keep going!” Danny pulled Valerie back to her feet and pushed her before him, keeping her in between him and Dash, who true to his name, was dashing to the front door.

Flashes of white and pink flew past his vision, destroying chunks of wood around his body. Even in the heat Danny’s breath was as visible an October fog. The ghost was unaffected by the flames and was shooting hot bolts of ectoplasm at them. Whatever she was saying was cut off by the roar of the flames consuming her translucent form. Danny began to fire back, sending small bolts of green energy her way. Each time a faint glow of green circled his palm before firing through the flames and struck the ghost. The silent battle raged on as Dash and Valerie lunged and jumped out of the house and took to the ground running. They ran towards their bikes fleeing the heat behind them. 

The brief moment without his friends was enough to allow him to build up more energy in his sweaty and stained palms. His eyes turned a sickening neon green as white streaks began to show in his black hair. “Hey didn’t you listen to the rules! When we say goodbye you have to leave!” Danny said, his hands engulfed in a large orb of neon green. “So, bye!” A neon green beam blasted through his palms into a spear of light, striking her in the stomach. She flew backwards crashing through several black burning walls. Quick on his heels, he turned and leaped out of the front door, crashing on the ground and rolling down the path. 

Outside was ablaze in orange light as the fire spread from tree to tree evaporating the leaves and sending ash into the air. Sirens could be heard approaching the inferno. 

“Danny!” Valerie called him. “We need to go!” He didn’t need to be told twice. Running to his old bike, Dash dropped the dam board into Danny’s basket. 

“Are you fucking serious Dash?” 

“I didn’t bring a bike! Are you seriously going to leave me behind?” Dash said. Danny thought about it. His eyes stuck in a hard stare at Dash, until a ghostly scream from the house spooked the thoughts out of his head. 

“Fine but next time bring your own damn bike” Dash hopped on the back and the two rode away from the house and flew down the hill speeding away from the attention of the neighbors. 

Several blocks away, the group of soot stained teenagers crashed against the edge of the McDonald’s parking lot. The golden arches and fluorescent street lamps lit their heaving bodies. Paulina rubbed Star’s back as she used her inhaler, while Valerie was shining her phone flashlight into Kwan’s eyes.

“According to google it doesn't look like you have a concussion.” Valerie said, putting her phone back into her pockets. 

“Thank god. I can’t afford to get a concussion at the start of football season,” said Kwan. 

“Kwan,”

“Yes, Valerie?”

“We almost died,” 

“Don’t remind me. I can’t afford to die at the start of football season,” At Kwan’s words the girls paused, and just stared at their friend. A moment of silence followed before they dropped the topic. The creaks and groans of wheels announced the arrival of the last two members. Danny has sweat pouring down his face as he peddled Dash into the parking lot. 

“Are you guys okay?” Star asked. 

“Yeah we’re fine,” Dash said. 

“Speak for yourself Dash. God, how do you weigh so much?” Danny said in between heavy breaths. 

“I’m not fat, you just need to get more muscle,” Dash said as he hopped off the bike. 

Danny let the bike fall to the ground with a clunk and a clang. Then, he crumpled to the asphalt next to his friends. “Never again, you guys can go to the next haunted house by yourself,” He said. 

“Yeah, I think I’m done with haunted houses for now,” Paulina said. 

“I second that. God what the hell was that?’ Star said. 

“A ghost?” Kwan said.

“Well duh, but… It wasn’t like the other ghost in town. Like before you start there was that gross meat ghost and the fat one obsessed with boxes or something, but those guys didn’t act like that ,” Star said. 

“Maybe this one was on her period?” Dash chuckled, but it slowly died down as the three girls glared at him. 

“Danny, are you okay? You have something stuck in your hair?” Valerie said. 

“I do? What is it?” 

“It’s some white stuff, here let me-” She tugged at his hair. 

“Oh! OW! Uh thank you but I can get it later. Hopefully it will come out of the shower,”

“Uh sure,”

“What do we do now?” Kwan spoke up.

“I guess we go home, and hope nobody saw us at the house,” Paulina was the first to peel herself up from the ground. Holding his hands up Danny was helped up by the others, and one by one they disappeared into the night. 

[echoghost1]

The Mountain King - Chapter 2

Summary: Sam had a feeling today’s field trip to the museum would be eventful but she certainly didn’t imagine it would be anything like this.

Chapter Word Count: 1,137

Prompt: Vlad was starting to regret stealing his current artifact.

For @briarlovesu

You can read on AO3 or down below the cut

Chapter 1

Sam woke up and for a moment she didn’t know where she was or how she got there.

A second later she remembered.

Magic horn. Mountain-side cottage. Her friends were animals.

She looked over and saw Tucker was still sleeping soundly in his little dog bed by the fireplace. His back leg kicked occasionally as he dreamt.

The foot of her bed was where Danny had ended up. He was such a small little sheep, more fluff than anything. She let him on the bed because she felt bad that he had nowhere else to sleep that wasn't the floor.

Judging by the light coming in from the window, it was morning.

She sighed and stared at the ceiling. What was she supposed to do now?

She had no reception and there was no other phone so she couldn’t call anyone.

Leaving seemed pointless because how far could she really get with no money, no identification, and also two animals?

Plus she didn’t ever find Vlad.

“Oh no!”

She sat up and startled Danny.

“We never found Vlad.”

He just bleated at her and seemed irritated.

Was he mad because she woke him up or did he know something she didn’t?

She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and tried to think.

She didn’t want to just sit around doing nothing, but she couldn’t leave.

“What the heck am I supposed to do all day?”

Danny stood up and hopped off the bed and his little hoofs clicked all the way to the front door.

He turned to her and eyed the door.

“Alright, alright.” She got up and opened the door for him, “Just don’t wander off too far, okay?”

He started off towards the garden and she quickly ran after him, “Oh no you don’t!” she picked him up and turned him away from her garden. “That is not for you mister! There is plenty of lovely grass right over here.”

He huffed but did trot off a few paces to nibble on the nearby blades.

“That’s better.” She said with a contented nod.

Then she realized she just scolded her friend for wanting to eat vegetables and forced him to eat grass instead.

This place was so weird.

She shrugged it off and went to get something for breakfast.



================================================



A few hours later she was sitting under a tree watching the sheep.

Tucker was laying beside her after tiring himself out herding the sheep to and fro.

She found it interesting that Danny was the only black sheep in the entire flock. He was also the smallest and fluffiest of the group.

“I’m starting to think he has too much wool.”

Tucker looked up at her but, of course, said nothing.

“I mean look at him. He’s like a little cloud. You can barely see his little hooves.”

For some reason, Tucker jumped up and brought Danny over.

Sam stood up and stretched. She was pretty sure she knew where the sheers were.

“Come on you need a haircut.”

There was a little shop behind the cottage that had space to both sheer a sheep and prep wool for making it into yarn.

It took a good chunk of time to get the job done, but by nightfall, Danny was much more energetic without his extra fleece weighing him down. Sam was happy to see she had enough yarn for at least one project.

“Alright, I think that’s enough work for one day. Let’s get dinner.”

She pet the top of Danny’s head, “and you can have a treat for being so good today.”

He wiggled his little tail so hard his whole back end was shaking.

Sam laughed and walked around to the front. The boys happily followed after.

She hardly noticed how quickly the time flew by until she was getting ready for bed.

It wasn’t until she was almost asleep that it occurred to her just how easy it was to get used to living here.

She was much too tired for that thought to scare her.



================================================



The next day it rained.

Sam spent the day inside with her dog and the little black lamb and knitted herself a pair of black socks with his wool.

She wasn’t worried about the rest of the flock, they were used to the weather and it was only a little rain.

================================================

It was a few days since the last rain and she decided to explore the hillside a bit.

Her dog liked to run ahead but always circled back if he went too far. He was such an energetic boy. That’s why she called him Tucker because he would always tucker himself out by the end of the day.

The little black sheep, whose wool was already starting to grow back in again, liked to follow her everywhere. She felt like Mary in that nursery rhyme.

And everywhere that Mary went the lamb was sure to go.

The trio crested a few hills, passing sheep along the way until they reached a steep cliff face.

There was no way she was climbing that. Maybe if she had some proper gear, but she wasn’t really that into rock climbing anyway.

Then something moved above them.

She took a few steps back and could just make out the silhouette of a goat.

Sam scanned the rest of the rockface but couldn’t see any other goats.

Was it all by itself up there?

It skillfully hopped down closer to them but didn’t leave the rocks.

Its coat had almost a bluish tint and he had one horn that was pitch black and curved straight up from the side of his head.

The other horn looked like it had been broken off.

Something about that goat seemed familiar, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

The way the goat looked at her was a little unnerving. There was an intelligence in his eyes.

Sometimes she’d catch a similar look in her dog’s eye.

Her little lamb too.

None of the other sheep had it.

The mountain goat blinked.

She remembered.

She turned to her friends. How had she forgotten that these were her friends?

She knelt down and hugged them. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what happened.”

Tucker whined and nuzzled into her left shoulder while Danny tucked himself into her right side.

She looked back at the goat, at Vlad, and realized she had no idea how long they had been trapped here.

Were they just going to be stuck here forever?

Was no one coming?

“I hope you’re happy you jerk!” She yelled at Vlad’s stupid goat face.

She scooped Danny up and ran back to the cottage. There had to be a way to fix this. There had to be.

She just had to figure it out before she forgot again.

[danderoisen]

➽ lux et veritas! welcome to yale, ( DANIEL ‘DANNY’ PARK ). you’re a ( STUDENT ), aren’t you? your form says you’re ( TWENTY-THREE ), go by ( HE/HIM ), and excel in ( ANTHROPOLOGY ). but looking back at your college essay, i’d describe you as ( GETTING CAUGHT DAYDREAMING OF ADVENTURE DURING CLASSES; CRUSHED ENERGY DRINK AND BEER CANS IN OVERFLOWING TRASH CAN; LAUGHING AT 2AM UNTIL YOUR STOMACH HURTS ). keep out of the shadows!  [fc: jeon jungkook]

danny park, just your average twenty-three year old friendly neighborhood spiderman nobody. a kid who you spot at the grocery store, trailing after his extremely loud but good-natured korean mother, sullenly adding things into the cart as she shouts them out. a kid who you might have known in high school for making that one winning shot for the basketball team, but then missing every game afterwards because he broke his ankle skateboarding. a kid who just left for yale university, way over his head amongst all the wealthy, well-educated elite students who made it here based on their own merits, not their uncanny ability to somehow manipulate elements (completely by accident, most times). danny shuffles behind the crowd in his baggy t-shirts and black cargo pants, wishing he could erase smell of despair and impending student debt.

his story? well, it began when his parents immigrated from south korea to los angeles, full of big dreams and empty pockets. his father was a bellman at a luxury hotel near koreatown, and his broken english was no hinderance when his enthusiasm took center stage. he guided those tourists to the best routes, found them discount tickets, booked them taxis to grand restaurants, showed them all the facets of LA his little family could never afford. his mom found work in a korean restaurant, and that’s where danny remembers most of his childhood, kicking the back of his brother’s seat as he ignored homework in favor of stealing slices of meat from the kitchen.

his, um, talents developed sometime around his tenth birthday, when the pool party he was hosting turned into some sort of tsunami. a neighborhood kid had been picking on him, making fun of the banchan his mom had set out beside the chips and dip, threatening to push him in the pool. danny’s anger exploded, and somehow the pool did too, the water churning dangerously and wiping out the lawn chairs with enormous waves. the kid got knocked into the pool, and the fear in danny’s gut had somehow ended the waves. the kid was okay, and ran from danny for months.  

( danny spent the next year thinking he’d get a hogwarts letter. it never came. ) 

after that fateful day, danny felt like he couldn’t escape his newfound powers. they came unexpectedly - one day, he’d forgotten to start the oven for his mom, and terrified of getting yelled at, he pleaded with the oven to heat up quickly. it shot to 500 degrees in a minute, and danny almost burned his hand checking. or the time he was hiking with friends in high school and rocks slid down the side of the mountain, almost knocking them off the ledge, until danny’s fear became so overwhelming that the rocks bounced over the small group, as if they were under a bowl of air. 

there was no rhyme or reason, and it happened so infrequently that danny could uneasily write it off as coincidence. until his third year at community college, when he decided to join the soccer team - and the wind would shift every time he got near the goal, sending the ball soaring through the air straight into the corner of the goal. everyone lauded him as the next big thing, and reps from universities came to watch him play. it felt ridiculous, danny knew he was mediocre at best at sports, but this? out of nowhere, he made every single goal? this was insane. 

and then one day, he was visited by a representative, and took an exam that made absolutely no sense, and two weeks later he got an offer for a full ride to freaking yale university. he was twenty-three, only one year from finishing an associates degree and maybe finding an admin job somewhere, and now yale wanted him to attend their prestigious school, sit next to prestigious future lawyers and businessmen and senators? and play soccer, but that part didn’t really matter - it was almost like an afterthought. 

his parents were thrilled (if not bemused), and danny couldn’t really decline such an incredible offer. they also said he could choose any major, so he went with his imagination and chose anthropology. all those Indiana Jones movies he binged as a kid endlessly were finally making good use. so he packed his bags that summer and moved into the dorms two weeks before the semester started - only to be met by the Admissions Director, Madeline Gaines, and told that he had magical abilities and would need to protect the country from a portal to hell. 

so it’s been a weird two weeks, to say the least. his emotions are all over the place - at one moment, he’s happy he’s not alone in his magical abilities, but then he’s also scared shitless as the prospect of learning to control it, and then intimidated by all the other members who somehow have their shit together and understand their magic. and yale is enormous, and he gets lost ALL THE TIME. 

he’s glad he’s got his roommate (WANTED CONNECTION) to help him along the way. 

personality wise, danny is just a goddamn sweetie pie, head filled with more fluff and laughter than actual serious thought. he enjoys being a watcher rather than a participant in activities, and when you think he’s just in the corner dozing off or glancing into space, he’s usually taking in everything and storing it away for later. but you can trust him (unless he’s one too many drinks down, and then you can never know what’ll come out of his mouth).

[decomarc]

"There's nothing wrong with Ellen. It's just that she loves too much." I'll always remember this quotation from the film Leave Her To Heaven. The quotation is delivered by Mary Phillips responding to a question from her son-in-law (Cornel Wilde). What's wrong with Ellen (his wife)? Ellen Berent seems normal but as the film proceeds you realize that all is not right with Ellen. Gene Tierney was one of the most underrated actresses of the Golden Era – Tierney was certainly much more than a pretty face and was never afraid to show a dark, off-putting and arrogant side in her characters. And the words ‘more than a pretty face’ not only refer to her talents as an actress but also to the fact that the word ‘pretty’ doesn’t even begin to describe her riveting and transcendent beauty which sometimes made it hard for her to get the credit as an actress she so richly deserved. As the old adage goes, "Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder" there's been various kinds of beautiful actresses that have lite up movie screens over the years – there's the unique and sometimes sharp beauty of actresses like Katharine Hepburn or Bette Davis, the exotic and mysterious beauty of Greta Garbo or Marlene Dietrich, the sex-filled but also innocence looks of Marilyn Monroe, the elfin beauty of Audrey Hepburn or the timeless elegance and flawless looks of Grace Kelly. Most of all, Gene Tierney seems to fit into the category of Grace Kelly, a flawless and elegant beauty but Tierney also possessed this exotic combination of allure and intrigue that made her an almost surreal presence in her films. After the war when film noir was gaining in popularity most were filmed in black-and-white and to see one done in full glorious Technicolor was unusual to say the least. Scenes are filled with warm, natural (or natural-looking) light, evenly diffused and softened with vague leafy shadows or watery reflections. Much of the film was shot outdoors, far from dark alleys and cheap apartments, in the spectacular scenery of Arizona and the Sierra Nevada Mountains (standing in for Jacinto, New Mexico and Bar Harbor, Maine). The color palette though luminous and rich is tastefully subdued: beige and sandstone and terra cotta, dark pine-greens, silvery blues, and peachy skin tones are used. For instance, the film lives largely in the daytime and sunlight as opposed to the night and rain we are accustomed to in the black-and-white noir films. Also, the film takes advantage of its color photography by setting the action in beautiful non-urban environments of cottages and lakes. Leave Her To Heaven was made in an era when the cost of processing Technicolor was typically reserved for musicals and historical epics since it added much to the budget of the film. The one scene that shocked 1945 audiences to their core that still packs a pretty good punch today. The scene shows Ellen in a row boat as she watches her husband’s crippled younger brother Danny swimming in a very cold mountain lake as he begins having cramps he begs for Ellen's help. It’s the wonder of Gene Tierney’s beauty that she is able to look so completely off-putting in this scene you can actually see the hatred on her face without ever losing her classic elegant beauty. Tierney becomes an object she is as cold, impassive, and frozen as a marbled statue. It’s impossible not to notice the smooth marble planes of Tierney’s face and the clothes she wears, but its the absence of background music and the natural sounds of the outdoors make the sequence feel even more realistic and creepy at the same time. Ellen’s deviance is monstrously frightening, because she commits murder by taking an active inaction rather than engaging in an act of violent killing. Her blank expression and statue-like posture are underlined by her heart-shaped sunglasses, which conceal not only her eyes but also her soul. Tierney's costumes, by Kay Nelson, perfectly characterize Ellen with a feminine yet oddly antiseptic wardrobe of quilted satin pajamas, fitted lace peignoirs, a monogrammed white pantsuit ensemble, sumptuous fur coats, sheath dresses and wide shouldered blouses, to wide-bottomed trousers and checked shirts that embody the idea of 1940’s high fashion. In black and white, Gene Tierney could glow and shine even in the darkest settings, in Technicolor she looks like a painting. Whenever she is given one of Leave her to Heaven’s long, wordless close-up, the strong, rich colors of the film make her appear like a creature out of a fairy-tale she's unreal, she has this ethereal quality about her, but Gene Tierney’s face could also show a certain hardness and bitterness that helped her to always show the danger and rage hiding behind her eyes. Her beauty, despite its elegance and style, never appears innocent or soft – instead, she could explore various shades and layers in her characters, turning her face more than once into a window to her inner feelings and this way extend the women she played beyond her own beauty. As just mentioned, she could portray women who were charming and graceful but also spoiled, mean-spirited, arrogant and self-righteous. This was never displayed better than in The Razor’s Edge (1946, 20th Century-Fox) in which she constantly pushed her childhood friend Sophie McDonald (well play by Anne Baxter) who's become an alcoholic to the edge of her own mental and physical stability to regain her influence over the man she loved (Tyrone Power) her whole life but rejected too many times. It’s a realistic portrayal in which Gene Tierney was willing to create a strongly petulant and utterly detestable, but still intriguing character. This unlikable, loathsome quality was often visible in the women she played onscreen, which gives Tierney the feeling of constant superiority that helped her immensely in her creation of Ellen Berent, a woman who slowly, step by step, reveals her obsessive nature and her feeling to have the right to sacrifice the existence of others for her own happiness. Gene Tierney was certainly the right choice for the role as her unique, fascinating beauty and ability to be so completely engaging from the first moment we see her in the observation car on a train which helps to make their sudden romance between Ellen and Richard believable. But, it helps in creating the tone in which Ellen more and more showed her true nature but still possessed enough appeal and charm to keep Richard close to her. Most of all, her Ellen is not a psychopathic mastermind – rather she crafts her as a women who doesn’t know when to stop, who is unable to see the world beyond her obsessive love and is therefore mostly a pitiful creation, dangerous as she may be. She never seems to be truly satisfied about her deeds but doesn’t regret them either. This way, she perfectly manages to make the viewer wonder and shiver at the same time. But instead of turning Ellen into a symbol of evil, Gene Tierney more than once finds the child-like innocence in Ellen again, making it visible how desperate, lost and lonely she feels and that she cannot find an escape from her own obsessions. Gene Tierney thankfully doesn’t use these moments to try to evoke sympathy for Ellen or her actions but instead tries to give reason to unreasonable deeds. She even seems to regret her own doings before she started them, trying to convince Richard’s brother to leave them alone and almost showing a feeling of regret when she does not succeed – regret not for herself but even more for him. In the following scenes, Gene Tierney again underlines the child-like nature of Ellen as she is unable to connect to Richard again after what happened – nor can she stop her ever increasing jealously from further alienating herself from everyone around her. Gene Tierney never turns Ellen into the kind of stereotypical villain that deserves the audiences’ hate but rather creates her as a victim of her own obsessions, unable to exert control over herself, acting more out of fear than anything else. Even in her child like innocence, Gene Tierney also finds an almost shocking amount of truth when she lets Ellen speak so malevolently about her unborn child. Gene Tierney intensifies both Ellen’s desperation for her own situation and open disdain for everything that is not Richard and constantly lets these emotions clash within each other to further and further destroy the balance in Ellen’s life and mind. The look on her face when she is stands at the top of the staircase is a perfect combination of determination, doubt, hatred, seclusion – and madness. Overall, Gene Tierney gave a chilling and noteworthy performance that perfectly fulfilled all the tasks at hand and showed Tierney's ability to show Ellen’s slow descent into the darkness of her own mind, her inability to stop her actions to be completely alone with the man she loves and her way of beautifully underplaying all the madness and demons that haunt her results in various unforgettable scenes for which she receives her due.I The title of the novel (the author of the novel was Ben Ames Williams) and film Leave Her To Heaven was from quote Shakespeare's Hamlet. In Act I, Scene V, the Ghost urges Hamlet not to seek vengeance against Queen Gertrude, but rather to "leave her to heaven, and to those thorns that in her bosom lodge to prick and sting her." Leave Her To Heaven was Gene Tierney's Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in 1945 losing to Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce. Leave Her To Heaven was the second most successful film that year, the film that came in first was The Bells Of St. Marys.

If you’d lived in Salem a hundred years ago, they’d have burned you.

Gene Tierney as Ellen Leave Her to Heaven (1945)

[weshney]

Inspired by another PhantasyPhest2022 post by @echobogg

Ao3 link

It was just an average morning for Danny, really. In that it was frickin' seven o' clock on a Saturday and he was up chasing ghosts. His Sense had gone off just ten minutes ago, rousing him from a dream that pulled at his mind like warm honey, promising sweet delight should he just close his eyes and drift back off. Groaning, he'd let the cool tingle of his ghost form chase away the alluring heat of the covers and shot out of bed, zipping through his bedroom window to follow the elusive pull in his chest.

As he'd passed the city center the sky had lightened from soft black to grizzle grey, the sun unable to penetrate a thick cloud cover that promised snow.

A blip of increased ecto-energy steered his flight left and Danny's eyes narrowed, frustration bubbling in his core.

The mall?

"Goddamnit!" Danny tipped forward in a nosedive. "Just because the stores have fancy boxes right now doesn't mean—!" The wind stole the rest of his words and pulled at messy, white hair, dragging it back from his face as he plummeted through the roof of the multiplex.

Slowing on the other side, Danny scanned his surroundings, color fading from his vision as unearthly eyes adjusted to the gloom of an empty store.

Silent as the grave, he let what little light there was pass through him, invisibility leeching his soft glow as he floated down a short aisle toward the center walkway. Passing a collection of thumbstick drives suspended on metal pegs, he neared an end cap covered in fluffy cotton balls and reindeer figurines.

He could tell the ghost was close, but his Sense wasn't perfect.

Letting his eyes defocus as he stuck his head out over the main floor, he watched for movement over detail.

There. A green shadow flashed in Danny's periphery, and the ghost boy shot forward.

Green? Not blue?

Danny's brows furrowed even as he took a hard left. Contorting around a floor stand, he was just in time to watch a spectral tail disappear into a gaming display, a muted "Nyah-hah-hah-ha-ha!" emanating from the now-glowing Xbox 360.

"An X-box?" Danny whispered, rubbing at an eyebrow with the heel of his palm. "Well that's just great. Right theme. Wrong ghost."

He needed to get Technus out of there before the geriatric computer scientist turned the whole Best Buy into a crappy version of Sharknado meets Transformers.

Engaging intangibility, Danny darted forward, shoulder leading a charge through a "Pre-Order Now!" sign as he beelined for the console.

Green gloves shot out, encircling the teen's waist in the blink of an eye.

Managing only a single, weak yelp as black crept into his vision, Danny felt himself go limp.

Sky-blue eyes opened to a sea of blurry color.

Large, jagged shapes of black and green fought against a pale blue backdrop, sending a wave of nausea climbing up Danny's throat even as an evocative aroma tried to nag him into lucidity.

Uuuugh.

What hit him?

"...ey, you…" A burst of cold shocked his system and he abruptly understood that the crisp, aromatic scent was pine and the looming silhouettes of color belonged to the landscape of a mountain pass. Even birdsong filtered in, accompanied by a string instrument's faint, haunting melody.

Where—?

"...ou're finally awake." Danny's head lolled forward and his mind went from a fish in a whirlpool to a hermit crab in an aquarium, the chaotic dizziness vanishing like it'd never been.

Back stiff, he shifted in place, wood creaking beneath him as he appraised a pair of stinging wrists. Human ones.

Wait. Why was he tied up?!

Danny pulled at his hands, trying to will them into intangibility; then, with some panic, himself into invisibility.

Nothing happened.

"You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush, same as us and that thief over there."

Hold up. What?!

[idk-maddie]

In The Rockies

jake kiszka x fem!reader

just pure fluff 🖤

A/N: first fic i’ve ever written in my whole life so tell me nice things pls. 🥲

Since the day you and Jake met, the two of you knew you were made for each other. You two weren’t the only ones who noticed either, the rest of the boys and both of your families could sense it as well. Which is why no one was shocked when you two finally made it official. After years of hopelessly pining after each other in what you both assumed was secret, unknown to anyone except yourselves, the two of you finally admitted your feelings for each other. All because of a drunken kiss at a halloween party. Life from that point on was a literal fairytale.

In the four years of your official relationship, you two had grown alongside each other and you both loved every minute of it. The band had taken off, you were right by Jake’s side for the whole tour, you moved into an apartment together in Nashville, and you had even adopted a puppy together from the animal shelter. The adventures you’d been on and places you’d visited on tour made for some of the best moments of your lives. The two of you were absolutely enamoured with each other.

On this particular day you, Jake, and the other boys were in Colorado. The five of you decided to take an impromptu trip to celebrate the new album, and the beginning of a new tour, or at least that’s what you thought. Since the day before the trip Jake had been acting a little strange, nothing too major but he seemed a little more reserved than he usually was. It was almost like he was hiding something, it wasn’t like Jake to keep anything from you so you pushed those thoughts away, and just chalked it up to you overthinking things.

Early that morning Sam suggested you all go on a hike and check out the Maroon Bells, one of the most beautiful places in Colorado. It was a place you had always dreamed of seeing in person so you jumped at the chance to go. You all got dressed, you decided on wearing a pair of ripped black jeans, a graphic tee with an eagle on it that you had thrifted, a brown Patagonia jacket, and a pair of cream colored slip on boots. You did some light makeup, and decided to leave your dark hair in the same curls from last night, tying a tan bandanna around it to keep it out of your face.

Jake kept his hand on your thigh the entire car ride, swiping his thumb back and forth against your knee. The three boys were in the backseat bickering about who had the better taste in music. “It’s obviously me, my playlist has everything you could ever want to hear. I spent hours making it, just ask Jake he’ll tell you,” Josh said, offering Jake an invitation to chime in with his opinion, but all he received in return was a simple “mhm” from his twin. “See even Jake thinks your music is shit, it’s obvious who the real winner is here,” Sam stated, a sense of pride in his tone. You looked over to Jake who had barely said anything the entire drive, he seemed nervous and you wondered why, “Babe, are you okay? You seem a little anxious, is something wrong?” You questioned. He turned to look at you for a moment, then turned back to look at the road before answering, “Yes, I'm fine Y/N just focused on driving is all.” The answer he gave you wasn’t one you entirely believed, but you assumed he’d tell you once he was ready.

When the five of you arrived at the destination of your hike, the view in front of you took your breath away. You gazed up towards the beautiful snow capped mountains in awe. Jake watched your expression from beside you as your face lit up, a smile curling onto his lips due to how happy you looked. You all started your trek up the mountain, stopping once you reached a beautiful clearing that had the most perfect view of the cascading mountains, and the lake below them. Josh, Sam, and Danny decide to venture off for a little bit, leaving you and Jake to take in the sight before you. He wrapped his arms around your waist, your back pressed to his chest, and his head leaned down to rest on top of yours. “Thank you for taking me here, you know I’ve always wanted to see this.” you say snuggling into him a little more. “Of course baby, I would do anything to see you this happy,” you spun around placing a sweet kiss on his lips. “Jake nothing in this whole world makes me happier than you do,” you say looking into his chocolate brown eyes. He leans down to kiss you again, this time there’s more passion to it, like the two of you could burst from the amount of love you share for each other. When you finally break apart you turn back around to look up to the mountains, taking note of how beautiful they look against the evening sky. “Jakey have you ever seen anything more beautiful than this?” You had meant it as more of a rhetorical question, but you hear Jake speak up, “I sure have,” your eyebrows raise curiously, still facing away from him as you wonder what could possibly be more stunning than this. “Oh really, like what?” He utters a simple answer in response, “You.” You turn around ready to pull him into another kiss, but instead you’re met with him down on one knee. Tears begin to fill your eyes as you notice a small red box in his hand opened to show the most beautiful ring you had ever seen. “I have spent every day since the moment I met you knowing that you would be the one I make my wife. The past four years with you are what I want forever to look like. Life with you is always an adventure, and it’s one I never want to end. Y/N Y/L/N will you marry me?” All you can do is nod your head yes, still in too much shock to form words, hot tears are streaming down your face. He stands up and places the ring on your finger and you practically tackle him holding onto him so tightly you’re sure he can’t breathe.

After a couple of minutes just holding each other, you hear cheers coming from the woods behind the two of you. Josh, Sam, and Danny are squealing and dancing around, giddy with excitement. “I told you I could keep a secret she had no idea!” Josh practically screams. You giggle, glancing at the curly haired boy “He’s right, I knew something was up but I never expected this.” you beam, looking at Jake. “Looks like we got ourselves a new sister, boys.” Sam excitedly says to Josh and Danny. Jake looks down at you, his smile stretching across his entire face. “And I’ve got myself the most beautiful wife in the world.”

[decomarc]

"There's nothing wrong with Ellen." "It's just that she loves too much." I'll always remember this quotation from the film Leave Her To Heaven. The quotation is delivered by Mary Phillips responding to a question from her son-in-law (Cornel Wilde). What's wrong with Ellen (his wife)? Ellen Berent seems normal but as the film proceeds you realize that all is not right with Ellen. Gene Tierney was one of the most underrated actresses of the Golden Era – Tierney was certainly much more than a pretty face and was never afraid to show a dark, off-putting and arrogant side in her characters. And the words ‘more than a pretty face’ not only refer to her talents as an actress but also to the fact that the word ‘pretty’ doesn’t even begin to describe her riveting and transcendent beauty which sometimes made it hard for her to get the credit as an actress she so richly deserved. As the old adage goes, "Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder" there's been various kinds of beautiful actresses that have lite up movie screens over the years – there's the unique and sometimes sharp beauty of actresses like Katharine Hepburn or Bette Davis, the exotic and mysterious beauty of Greta Garbo or Marlene Dietrich, the sex-filled but also innocence looks of Marilyn Monroe, the elfin beauty of Audrey Hepburn or the timeless elegance and flawless looks of Grace Kelly. Most of all, Gene Tierney seems to fit into the category of Grace Kelly, a flawless and elegant beauty but Tierney also possessed this exotic combination of allure and intrigue that made her an almost surreal presence in her films. After the war when film noir was gaining in popularity most were filmed in black-and-white and to see one done in full glorious Technicolor was unusual to say the least. Scenes are filled with warm, natural (or natural-looking) light, evenly diffused and softened with vague leafy shadows or watery reflections. Much of the film was shot outdoors, far from dark alleys and cheap apartments, in the spectacular scenery of Arizona and the Sierra Nevada Mountains (standing in for Jacinto, New Mexico and Bar Harbor, Maine). The color palette though luminous and rich is tastefully subdued: beige and sandstone and terra cotta, dark pine-greens, silvery blues, and peachy skin tones are used. For instance, the film lives largely in the daytime and sunlight as opposed to the night and rain we are accustomed to in the black-and-white noir films. Also, the film takes advantage of its color photography by setting the action in beautiful non-urban environments of cottages and lakes. Leave Her To Heaven was made in an era when the cost of processing Technicolor was typically reserved for musicals and historical epics since it added much to the budget of the film. The one scene that shocked 1945 audiences to their core that still packs a pretty good punch today. The scene shows Ellen in a row boat as she watches her husband’s crippled younger brother Danny swimming in a very cold mountain lake as he begins having cramps he begs for Ellen's help. It’s the wonder of Gene Tierney’s beauty that she is able to look so completely off-putting in this scene you can actually see the hatred on her face without ever losing her classic elegant beauty. Tierney becomes an object she is as cold, impassive, and frozen as a marbled statue. It’s impossible not to notice the smooth marble planes of Tierney’s face and the clothes she wears, but its the absence of background music and the natural sounds of the outdoors make the sequence feel even more realistic and creepy at the same time. Ellen’s deviance is monstrously frightening, because she commits murder by taking an active inaction rather than engaging in an act of violent killing. Her blank expression and statue-like posture are underlined by her heart-shaped sunglasses, which conceal not only her eyes but also her soul. Tierney's costumes, by Kay Nelson, perfectly characterize Ellen with a feminine yet oddly antiseptic wardrobe of quilted satin pajamas, fitted lace peignoirs, a monogrammed white pantsuit ensemble, sumptuous fur coats, sheath dresses and wide shouldered blouses, to wide-bottomed trousers and checked shirts that embody the idea of 1940’s high fashion. In black and white, Gene Tierney could glow and shine even in the darkest settings, in Technicolor she looks like a painting. Whenever she is given one of Leave her to Heaven’s long, wordless close-up, the strong, rich colors of the film make her appear like a creature out of a fairy-tale she's unreal, she has this ethereal quality about her, but Gene Tierney’s face could also show a certain hardness and bitterness that helped her to always show the danger and rage hiding behind her eyes. Her beauty, despite its elegance and style, never appears innocent or soft – instead, she could explore various shades and layers in her characters, turning her face more than once into a window to her inner feelings and this way extend the women she played beyond her own beauty. As just mentioned, she could portray women who were charming and graceful but also spoiled, mean-spirited, arrogant and self-righteous. This was never displayed better than in The Razor’s Edge (1946, 20th Century-Fox) in which she constantly pushed her childhood friend Sophie McDonald (well play by Anne Baxter) who's become an alcoholic to the edge of her own mental and physical stability to regain her influence over the man she loved (Tyrone Power) her whole life but rejected too many times. It’s a realistic portrayal in which Gene Tierney was willing to create a strongly petulant and utterly detestable, but still intriguing character. This unlikable, loathsome quality was often visible in the women she played onscreen, which gives Tierney the feeling of constant superiority that helped her immensely in her creation of Ellen Berenta woman who slowly, step by step, reveals her obsessive nature and her feeling to have the right to sacrifice the existence of others for her own happiness. Gene Tierney was certainly the right choice for the role as her unique, fascinating beauty and ability to be so completely engaging from the first moment we see her in the observation car on a train which helps to make their sudden romance between Ellen and Richard believable. But, it helps in creating the tone in which Ellen more and more showed her true nature but still possessed enough appeal and charm to keep Richard close to her. Most of all, her Ellen is not a psychopathic mastermind – rather she crafts her as a women who doesn’t know when to stop, who is unable to see the world beyond her obsessive love and is therefore mostly a pitiful creation, dangerous as she may be. She never seems to be truly satisfied about her deeds but doesn’t regret them either. This way, she perfectly manages to make the viewer wonder and shiver at the same time. But instead of turning Ellen into a symbol of evil, Gene Tierney more than once finds the child-like innocence in Ellen again, making it visible how desperate, lost and lonely she feels and that she cannot find an escape from her own obsessions. Gene Tierney thankfully doesn’t use these moments to try to evoke sympathy for Ellen or her actions but instead tries to give reason to unreasonable deeds. She even seems to regret her own doings before she started them, trying to convince Richard’s brother to leave them alone and almost showing a feeling of regret when she does not succeed – regret not for herself but even more for him. In the following scenes, Gene Tierney again underlines the child-like nature of Ellen as she is unable to connect to Richard again after what happened – nor can she stop her ever increasing jealously from further alienating herself from everyone around her. Gene Tierney never turns Ellen into the kind of stereotypical villain that deserves the audiences’ hate but rather creates her as a victim of her own obsessions, unable to exert control over herself, acting more out of fear than anything else. Even in her child like innocence, Gene Tierney also finds an almost shocking amount of truth when she lets Ellen speak so malevolently about her unborn child. Gene Tierney intensifies both Ellen’s desperation for her own situation and open disdain for everything that is not Richard and constantly lets these emotions clash within each other to further and further destroy the balance in Ellen’s life and mind. The look on her face when she is stands at the top of the staircase is a perfect combination of determination, doubt, hatred, seclusion – and madness. Overall, Gene Tierney gave a chilling and noteworthy performance that perfectly fulfilled all the tasks at hand and showed Tierney's ability to show Ellen’s slow descent into the darkness of her own mind, her inability to stop her actions to be completely alone with the man she loves and her way of beautifully underplaying all the madness and demons that haunt her results in various unforgettable scenes for which she receives her due.I The title of the novel (the author of the novel was Ben Ames Williams) and film Leave Her To Heaven was from quote Shakespeare's Hamlet. In Act I, Scene V, the Ghost urges Hamlet not to seek vengeance against Queen Gertrude, but rather to "leave her to heaven, and to those thorns that in her bosom lodge to prick and sting her." Leave Her To Heaven was Gene Tierney's Academy Award nomination for Best Actress in 1945 losing to Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce. Leave Her To Heaven was the second most successful film that year, the film that came in first was The Bells Of St. Marys.

Gene Tierney as Ellen Berent in "Leave Her to Heaven" (1945) Dir. John M. Stahl Costumes designed by Kay Nelson

[spockvarietyhour]

Today's movie

[elenamiria]

Danny Torrance x Reader - Kinktober Day 30

Temperature Play | Sixty-Nine | Dub-Con | Xenophilia

Word Count:  4.5k (🤡 oops) Warnings: Dub-con! Possessed!Danny, fem reader,  violence against reader, choking (in a non sexual way), brief oral (f receiving), Biting and marking, unprotected p in v sex, creampie, rough sex, slight daddy kink, feelings (fluff and slight angst)

Kinktober Day 29 «  Kinktober Masterlist »  Kinktober Day 31

Main Masterlist & Taggies: @legally-a-bastard​ , @katrynec​ , @mistermiraclee​ , @obitwo​ , @justanotherblonde23​

When Danny had come home distraught you heard him heading up the stairs to his room, yours being below his, and thought maybe you should go check on him. You hadn't at first, not wanting to disturb him, he was closer to Billy than he was to you so you worried it might be odd just showing up.  Billy had introduced the two of you and you all had dinner together a few times a week when Danny was off. You had a soft spot for Danny, the way he always seemed to know when something was bothering you, his kind eyes and smile, and his soft, caring nature all drew you towards him. Not that you would ever admit your little crush to him, he never seemed to look your way twice. But, when you heard a smashing noise and glass skittering across the ceiling you decided that maybe you should in fact go see if he was alright. 

The door was ajar and you slowly entered the room. He was against the black wall, hands pressing firmly into it, and you called out his name softly. As you got closer you could hear him speaking but it wasn't to you. Unsure of what to do you stood there until he jolted towards the wall with a gasp - like he was waking up from a trance. You called out to him again and he spun to you eyes wide. You stepped back for a second at the wild look on his face and then quickly approached when you noticed the blood on his upper lip. Reaching up you gently trailed your fingers down his cheek as you whispered, "Are you hurt?"

He shook his head, still breathing heavily and he replied, "No, I'm fine but Abra. I have to go get her, they took her."

A million questions ran through your head but he had a desperate look about him and so you simply said, "How can I help?"

You could hardly believe the tale Danny told you on the way to pick up Abra but you knew he was telling the truth, the way he looked at you as if begging for you to trust him only confirmed that. It was a good thing you agreed to come along Danny was exhausted and when you offered to take over driving so he could rest he happily accepted. 

Now the three of you were on your way to the Overlook Hotel and an uncomfortable feeling was sitting heavily in your stomach. You couldn't shake the feeling despite the determination that your two companions seemed to have and you knew Danny could tell something was going on by the way he kept glancing at you. When you stopped at the gas station at the bottom of the mountain you were tense you couldn't tell if your body wanted to scream or cry or both but something in you was telling you to run far far away from the hotel you were heading towards and never look back. Dan laid a warm hand on your knee and your gaze snapped from the mountain to him. He offered you and then Abra a small smile before he lowly stated, "Not too much further, up the mountain." 

When his hand left you to return to the steering wheel you wanted nothing more than to chase after it and interlace your fingers together but you shook the feeling off as just your nerves besides now was not exactly the time for romance.

As you gazed into the gaping maw of the hotel you could feel your whole body trembling and you knew it wasn't due to the snow falling around you. As Danny explained that he wanted Abra to wait in the car you stood patiently waiting to see what your role would be in all of this. Danny finally turned to you as Abra retreated into the car, "I want you to wait with her. When we're in there you stay with her the whole time, that way if something happens to me she'll have you."

You blinked up at him, shivering slightly as you replied - "If it's dangerous for you shouldn't you have someone come with you. I'm not like you two, right? So maybe I could help you."

Danny smiled at you, "You are like us, you just don't know. Billy was like us too, he could always sense people, he could tell who they were before he'd even say hello. You, right now you're shaking and it's because you can sense things too."

His arms grasped your elbows, your arms tightly wrapping around yourself, "So you'll stay with Abra, I'll go in alone. I'll be alright"

You hesitantly nodded, sharing a long look at each other as if trying to communicate words unspoken before you retreated to the car and watched Dan Torrance walk into the overlook hotel. 

It wasn't long before Abra was calling Dan back out to you and the three of you were heading into the hotel together this time, Abra clutching onto both you and Danny. From there everything happened so quickly you barely had time to process it all. One second everything seemed to be going according to plan and the next everything went to hell. Danny had ordered you and Abra to run and so you did, holding the young girl's hand tightly terrified of losing her to this place.    You could hear Danny's screams as they echoed through the abandoned halls and you had to stop yourself from going back for him. When you and Abra ran into the the twins you knew something had happened to Danny and you wrapped a protective arm around Abra. Slowly you tugged her backwards away from the twins and turned to go back down the hall, freezing once you saw Danny. Abra spoke but you couldn't focus what she was saying as blood rushed through your ears, every atom of your being screaming at you to run. You found yourself whispering the word 'run' aloud as Danny lifted his head and pure terror rushed through you. Abra sprinted ahead of you, still holding onto your hand as the two of you fled. You let her take the lead as she seemed sure in her path, though there was nothing to assure you that it wasn't the hotel leading you to certain doom. 

Ducking into room 237 you pushed her behind you as Danny's deranged shouts of your name and then hers filled the air, growing closer and closer. She clung to your back, small hands gripping your sides, and you bit back tears as the two of you backed further into the room. You held your breath as you watched Danny's shadow pass by the door and exhaled shakily when he seemed to pass by, you took long deep breaths - all you had to do was get to the car and you'd be fine.  You turned to Abra who was staring into the bathroom but you gently shook her, she jumped slightly before focusing on you. You were certain Dan would return and when he did you were going to distract him so Abra could escape, she tried to argue but as you positioned her next to the door you reassured her with fake smile and, “It’s alright, I’ll be right behind you.”

The door sprung open far sooner than you hoped and your heart pounded in your chest as Danny advanced. His gaze intense, his white eye staring through you as his blue eye darkened. He stalked towards you calling out your name in a low growl, “You’ve been very very bad.”

You froze as the axe came dangerously close to your face, the blunt end trailing just along the edge of your body as Danny questioned, “Where is she?”

Trembling you felt tears gather in your eyes as the cold metal of the axe slid up your cheek and you choked out, “I don’t know we went separately.”

You could see Abra in your peripheral vision slowly sneaking out of the room and you wanted to sigh in relief but your attention was quickly brought back to Dan’s face as his eyes narrowed at you, “Naughty girl, I told you to stay with her and now you don’t know where she is is that right??”

You met Abra’s hesitant eyes over Danny's shoulder as you nodded and she took off. Danny started to turn at the noise but you did your best to distract him, attempting to wrestle the axe away. 

He snarled, his voice distorted and echoing with other voices that didn't belong to him and he grabbed you by the throat lifting you effortlessly before throwing you. You slammed into the wall with a scream, falling to the floor and you let out a small whine as you tried to rise, gripping the side table next to you tightly. Dan approached you laughing as your head swam, you looked up at him tears in your eyes and he froze. His head tilted slightly as he watched you shakily fight back your sobs, his eyes narrowed - "How interesting." 

You were hauled to your feet by a firm hand grasping your hair and wrenching your head to the side, Danny buried his face into your neck. Inhaling deeply there was another harsh laugh and then, "You smell so so delicious."

He bit harshly into the junction between your neck and shoulder causing you to cry out in pain that quickly morphed into a whimper as he suckled and lapped at the spot. 

"W-what are you doing, Danny?" You knew the question was pointless as this wasn't your Danny. However you received a response though it didn't answer anything, "We're going to do what he was too afraid to."

Danny had dropped the axe at some point and his hand slid up your body to grope at your breasts before gripping your throat tightly. You gasped for air before Dan's mouth enveloped yours in a hot and needy kiss, his tongue slipping easily into your parted mouth. Your eyes slid shut as you tried to pretend that this was actually Danny kissing you and not whatever was currently possessing his body, when you didn't respond he tightened his hand cutting off your air supply. Your hands shot to his arm, scraping at his jacket desperately to pull him off, and your eyes flew open again. He pulled back, breathing heavily, as his eyes trailed you up and down. A half smirk covered his face as he spoke, this time sounding more like himself just low and gravelly, "Don't act like you don't like this dove. I can sense your arousal. Just let us in, let us feast on you."

His hand finally relaxed just as your vision had started to go blurry and you gasped harshly for air, barely able to get any before once again his lips were devouring yours. You moaned into his mouth when Danny slipped his hands under your shirt, sliding up to your tits and he grabbed at them with an appreciative moan of his own. He played with your nipples, pinching and pulling just hard enough that there was a slight sting and enough to make you cry out in pleasure. His lips pulled apart from yours after swallowing down every little noise you made while he played with you and trailed to your neck. 

Danny looked up at you, his milky eye seeming to pierce your soul, before he bit once again though this time higher up. He seemed to delight in the cry that flew from your mouth. He continued his treatment as his hands made quick work of your clothing, tearing it away when it wasn't easy to take off. You called out his name in alarm as he ripped your shirt in half but he simply grinned as he once again teased your breasts. He continued marking you down your neck and collarbone until he reached your chest. Whispering 'mine.' before biting harshly at the tops of your tits and sucking marks into them. 

You grasped at the back of his head, running your fingers through his hair and tugging slightly as he bit at you. His eyes snapped up to your face and your breath hitched at the feral look in his eyes. He stood up to his full height locking eyes with you while his hands trailed down your body to your waist, gripping hard enough you knew there were going to be bruises. He spun you around, pushing you hard into the wall, hands tugging your pants and underwear down your legs. You trembled as your face pressed against the cold plaster, shivering as your body was exposed to the cold air. 

Danny knelt on the ground as he pulled your legs free of their clothing, warm palms grasping at your ass before spreading you apart and baring your wet cunt to him. You heard him inhale deeply and you yelped as once again Danny bit you, this time your sensitive inner thigh. He whispered 'mine' again before his tongue licked up your thigh up to your pussy. He licked three long lines up the entire length of your slit, groaning each time he tasted your sweet juices, his tongue pressing flat and wide against you. The fourth time he trailed his tongue through your lips, down your thigh, over your ass cheek and all the way up your spine until he rose behind you and pressed his body into yours. 

Dan's clothing dug into your soft skin as he repositioned you, yanking your hips backwards but pressing your face harder into the wall. You couldn't help the garbled moan that flew past your lips when you felt his hard length pressing into you from behind. Your body, seemingly moving of it's own accord, ground into his cock pleading for him. 

"Patience, dove. We have all the time we need." He growled out, his hands fumbling with his jeans. He undid them just enough to pull out his cock, hard and throbbing, as you tried to glance behind you to look at him. His hands returned to your body, one burying itself in your hair to keep you still and his other arm wrapping around your hips to pull you back towards him and then without warning he was inside you. 

You screamed, startled at the harsh intrusion, as his length filled you. He stretched your tight little cunt out but you were so soaked he was able to slip inside without a problem. You heard a deep moan from him as his hips starting to pull back and forth, pumping his hard cock in and out of you. His pace started slow, with powerful thrusts burying him to the hilt on each forward movement, but that didn't last for long as he growled out your name and his hands flew to your waist. His grip was hard and his rhythm animalistic as he pounded into you, pulling you harshly into him with his firm grip on you. Your whole body was jerking in time with the power of his thrusts, your hands bracing on the wall to keep from slamming your face into it over and over again as you cried out on every thrust. Your vision blurred with tears as he fucked you, pleasure overwhelming your body. 

Loud grunts echoed off the wall from behind you as he muttered out incomprehensible words mixed with light moans of your name. You begged him - "More, Danny harder! Please touch me, please!!" - as you felt your orgasm fast approaching, needing touch and stimulation elsewhere on your body. Suddenly everything was ripped away from you leaving you to pant against the wall until you were spun around. Your leg was hitched up around his hips as he plunged his rock hard cock into you once again, tearing a hoarse moan from you. His pace was brutal and one of his hands grasped your jaw harshly as he hissed, nostrils flaring, "You look at me when you cum dove. You hear me, are you gonna be a good girl for daddy?"

You cried out as his other hand circled your clit alternating between teasing touches and then pressing hard enough on the little bundle of nerves that you saw stars while he pounded away into you. Your walls clenched around him, squeezing hard, as a scream ripped from your throat when he pinched at your clit, pulling your orgasm from you. The tears that had been filling your eyes spilled over and Danny laughed before it broke off into a deep moan as your hot walls clung to him. You had stared into his eyes as he ordered when your orgasm hit but as it overwhelmed you your eyes slid shut of their own accord. You were gasping for breath as you came down and you didn't notice the way Danny's hands softened around you and how his hips slowed. 

A weak call of your name met your ears and your eyes flew open desperately. Your eyes met Danny's confused and dazed blue orbs and you gasped. Your hands flew to his face as a soft smile covered your face, "Danny, I knew you were there."

He looked down at where your bodies became one and immediately jerked back, whimpering slightly as his length pulled from your warm body. You whined, trying your best to catch your breath. Danny’s face contorted in concentration as he gripped his head, “Fuck, I can’t hold them back for much longer. You have to go!”

“No, not without you Danny.” You cried as you inched towards him, freezing when you noticed for the first time his leg. Putting your danger aside you immediately walked to him and pulled his belt from his pants, ignoring his length bobbing next to your hand, pausing only to nudge his legs apart. He called out your name again, an edge to his voice that wasn't there a moment ago, “Go now! I can’t-” 

He cut himself off with a cry as you wrapped the belt around his upper thigh and tightened it with all your strength, quickly tying it off. There was an inhuman roar and then you were once again being slammed up against the wall, both of his hands at your throat and face contorted in a snarl. Your feet lifted off the ground and for the first time in this encounter you truly feared for your life, hands scrabbling trying to pull his away. Having to fight your instincts you lifted one of your hands away to softly brush your fingertips against his face as you weakly croaked his name. Your gentle touch allowed him to gain control again as he let go of your neck, hands flying to your shoulders to support you. 

Clinging to him you coughed and sputtered as you inhaled deep gulps of air after a few moments finally listening to what Danny was saying."You have to go, I can't hold them back and I can't stop them from taking you again. Please, you need to go."

Looking at him you shook your head despite wanting to crack at his pleading eyes. You swallowed deeply as you stood straight again, "No Danny, let them take what they need from me. I'm not leaving without you."

You cupped his face softly and pressed your lips to him, kissing him tenderly. Danny hesitated for a moment before he responded with a passion that took your breath away. As he parted he looked at you with a softness that you had only dreamed about before he whispered, "If I do this they won't be gone forever, I'm not strong enough to lock them all away right now."

You nodded as you stared up with the same affection that you saw in his eyes mirrored on your face, "I know, but I'll be with you through it all. If this is what we need to do to get you out of here alive, then we'll do it. Will you take me now, before they take control again? I want to know what it's like to be loved by you."

Danny leaned down to press a soft kiss to your lips, though it quickly deepened as his hand slid to your back tugging you close to him. You raised your leg and he was quick to catch it with his spare hand, angling it so it was most comfortable for you. One of your hands cupped his neck and your other trailed down his chest and stomach to grasp his cock loosely. You hadn't had time to appreciate just how big he was when you first were getting fucked but as you gently stroked his length a few times you couldn't hold back the appreciative moan as you felt his size. Lining him up with your cunt you swirled his tip through your drenched folds. Danny broke apart from you, forehead gently pressing to yours and connecting you as he asked, "Are you sure about this?"

Your answer was to press your hips forward, sinking his head into your cunt as you whimpered out a soft 'yes'. Danny pressed forward slowly easing his cock into you and even though he had been in you mere moments ago he still stretched you out deliciously. Where he had been fast and rough before he was now gentle and slow, wanting to savor every moment he had with you. His pace was slow as he pulled out only to fill you up again and again. You called out his name and he swore, face burying in your neck. Danny's hips sped up and you whimpered, his hands slid to your waist both to hold you up and to pull you as close to him as he could. He had noticed the blooming bruises on your neck and now he laved them with attention, pressing soft tender kisses to the areas and nuzzling into you. 

You could tell he was starting to lose control again as his body jerked slightly when he pulled back and his grip on your waist tightened again to the point of slight pain. His breathy moans turned into deep grunts as he sped up suddenly pounding into you like he had earlier. Clinging to him his pace practically lifted you off your feet and you squeaked as he rammed into your cervix, legs buckling. Danny's face stayed buried in your neck, though now he was focused on marking up your collarbone with sucking and biting, while he destroyed you - fucking you so well you knew you would never be able to think of anyone but him. 

He suddenly jerked away from your neck as one hand came down to rub tight circles on your clit, your walls fluttering in pleasure at the stimulation, and you thought he must be close with the way he fucked into you. Your mouth fell open in pleasure as he quickly brought you to another peak, the crown of your head hitting against the wall as your head lolled backwards, his other hand grasped your chin again to pull you up - forcing you to look at him as you came. Body trembling you spasmed against him, pussy clenching and flexing as he slid against your tight walls, it was only moments later when he was tipping over the edge as the two of you locked eyes. 

For just a second his eyes flashed to their normal brilliant blue as he cried out your name before they darkened and a sheen covered his eye once again. His hips bucked deep, filling you to the brim, as his seed shot deep into your core. The feeling sent another wave of spasms through you as he painted your walls with him, claiming you in the most primal sense. As he finished his hips stilled as his head dropped to your shoulder and you stroked the back of his head and his hair softly. 

There was a pregnant pause before Danny was pulling away from you, both eyes blue once more, and tucking himself away into his pants. You quickly found your clothing and tugged it on not wanting to risk him losing control again and you figured you only had a short period of time while he had full control to get out of the hotel. Pausing you realized your shirt was torn clean in half and was unsalvageable. Danny stared, face pink with embarrassment, he quickly shucked his coat and pulled the flannel he was wearing over his head offering it to you. Gratefully you accepted it, pulling it over your head, with your dilemma solved you turned towards Danny and tugged his arm over your shoulder once he put his jacket back on. You knew his leg would make it harder for him to walk now that there wasn't supernatural support pushing him along and you also knew your time was limited considering the boiler room situation. Glancing at Danny you couldn't help the soft smile covering your face as you simply stated, "Let's get the fuck out of here."

Your eyes blinked open blinded slightly by the bright lights shining down on you. A groan left your lips as you sat up straight, having almost slid all the way off your chair at some point during your sleep. Wearily you sat up as you remembered your surroundings, the hospital. Shooting forward your eyes shot to the bed and your face heated when you met Danny's sweet gaze.

"G'morning." He softly said, you smiled and rose to come close to his bedside, your hand resting on his lightly. Smiling you replied with a gentle, "Good morning to you too. How are you feeling?"

"Well I'm on some pain medication so it's not too bad. How is..." He trailed off, face dropping in guilt as he motioned to your neck area. Reassuringly you squeezed his hand, "It's fine, not bad at all. Honestly the ache in my...." 

Your face heated at your thoughtless words before you muttered, "My soreness elsewhere is uhm distracting me."

Danny couldn't hold back a gentle laugh at your words as a blush rose to his cheeks another beautiful smile breaking out across his face. Your spare hand rose to stroke his face fondly before you paused and pulled your hand away, unsure of where your relationship stood with him. Dan's smile dropped slightly as his head tilted, he seemed to sense the problem as he whispered, "Darling I'm yours if you'll have me, I promise as soon as I get out of here I'll take you on a date and we can go from there."

For some reason his words overwhelmed you and tears pricked at your eyes, whether from relief or happiness you couldn't quite tell. Danny's eyes grew before he cooed out your name, hand tugging you forward so he could press soft kisses to your cheek whispering pleas not to cry into your skin. You nuzzled into his cheek before cupping his face once again as you pulled back finally ready to admit what you'd known all along, "Danny I'd love nothing more than for you to be mine, I think it's pretty clear by now. I love you Dan Torrance."

[dannys-phantoms]

Two Rings on her Finger

Everlasting Trio (Sam X Danny X Tucker) fic wherein Sam remembers how she got her promise rings. Also available here on ao3.

The first ring on her finger was thin and black, with a row of three small, understated purple gems. Danny had never specified what kind they were, so she was almost certain they were just glass. It didn’t matter to her, not in the slightest – she’d had enough money thrown at her already to last a lifetime, and it had never meant as much to her as this ring did.

He’d given her it right after they graduated Casper High. She’d still been looking at the sky, a stupid grin on her face (that totally messed with her goth girl image) watching the graduation caps tangle in the air and fall down. She’d followed her own along with her eyes until it crashed back into her arms, to see Danny kneeling down on one knee in front of her.

It wasn’t a proposal or anything like that, but the ring was a promise that just because high school had ended didn’t mean they had to. Tucker had noticed before she had, and was screaming through the two hands over his mouth, eyes wider than ever and feet tapping gleefully on the floor, like a crow tempting up worms. She was nodding her head yes before Danny even had to ask anything, then she pulled him up by the front of his gown and kissed him in a way that she’d have rathered her parents hadn’t seen.

She got Danny a ring to match a few days later, not one too much like her own but instead a band of white-gold, one blue diamond inlaid in it that matched the icy cool of his eyes and, she insisted, wasn’t too girly at all. It was from a thrift store, rather than a real jewellers; found and paid for with love rather than riches. Her mother had just rolled her eyes when she found out, but her next visit to the Fenton’s had found her in a bone crushing hug with not only Jack and Maddie, but Jazz too. They’d always been more like her family than the Manson’s, and this was just one step closer to making it official.

Not much changed after that, not really. They had mountains of work to do between job applications and ghost hunting, the former of which found her, Danny and Tucker sprawled on one of their bedroom floors and the latter meaning they were chasing each other through the streets, bad guys on all sides. There wasn’t much time for a proper date, not really, until a few months later when she and Danny had decided to finally try that new pop-up vegan restaurant before it was gone for good.

She let Danny order, because she already knew she’d love everything on the menu, and she liked to see him confused about something normal for a change. He ordered her a meat-free bolognaise and wound up with something spicy and chickpea-based for himself, which she could tell he was surprised to actually enjoy.

He’d entwined their ankles under the table, sending a ripple of goosepimples up her shin, but even so her mind began to wander. She was thinking about Tucker, at home on his own, and what he would make of this place. He’d probably be hating how good this ‘fake food’ actually was, and using all of his willpower not to admit it. Danny had a faraway look in his eye too. She knew they were both feeling the same. That’s why, after they’d paid and thanked the staff, they’d guiltily made their way over to the Foley residence to play a few rounds of Doomed. Tucker’s face lit up when he was talking about video games, and despite how much she rolled her eyes and snarked back at him when the things he was saying were so, so wrong, it was the first time all day when she’d truly felt comfortable enough to relax.

Danny’s unnatural chill seeped through her left side and Tucker’s burning fire warmed up her right, and wedged between the two she felt the perfect temperature. When the sun went down and the computer had entered rest mode, they stayed where they were, laying on each others limbs in a clump on the floor. Her boyfriend was whispering constellations in her ear, and their best friend was running his hands through their hair, until eventually it was morning and they realised they’d all fallen asleep.

Sam’s second ring came a few months later, when the facts had become just too obvious to run from any further. There was no relationship, no living or loving, without Tucker there. He was the light to her darkness, the jokes and laughter to Danny’s doom and gloom. The three of them would walk down the street all hand in hand, crossing over if someone was coming the other way rather than breaking apart to make room. Time apart from Tucker felt like being locked out of her own house, knowing that the keys were just inside the porch but stuck anyway in the biting wind.

She told Danny first, fully prepared for him to say the relationship was over. He’d sat on her bed, teeth worrying his lip, as she wore down her carpet walking circles in her room, even more nervous than she’d been before her first ever slam poetry recital. She couldn’t bear the thought of Danny being hurt, but she hated to think of hurting Tucker either, so she just had to come out and say it.

“I think I’m a little bit in love with Tuck.”

Danny blinked twice, three times, as though he’d just discovered the meaning of life written in the pattern of the carpet. “Huh. You know what? Me too.”

They cuddled in close, laughing at how they could have possibly been so stupid not to have seen it. He kissed each of her knuckles one by one, and when she asked what it all meant for them, he had a simple answer. They’d have to ask Tucker.

Predictably, Tuck was a mess. Yes, maybe they should have waited until morning before knocking on his front door, and yes, maybe they could have confessed to him with a little more grace, but standing in the Foley’s kitchen at 2am seemed like as good a time and place as any.

Her hands were shaking, but so were Danny’s, and knowing they were both scared made it easier to speak.

“Tucker, when me and Danny are together, we...”

Danny squeezed her hand. “We miss you, Tuck.”

“Oh,” Tucker said, scratching the back of his head, dressed in robot-print pyjamas but still looking naked without his hat. “Well, you know where I am.”

Sam sighed. “That’s not the point.”

She cupped his face in her hands and planted a kiss on his cheek, the skin burning up beneath her touch.

Tucker glanced between his friends, his mouth opening and closing as he considered what to say, until Danny stepped forward and kissed him too.

The tips of Tucker’s ears were red and Danny’s knees were shaking, and Sam quickly grabbed the back of his pants when they became intangible and started to fall down. She could tell he’d been wanting to do this for a long time, and so had Tucker, who was pulling him back in for a proper kiss on the lips.

“As I was saying,” Sam smiled, “we’ve missed you, Tuck.”

After another few minutes of talking it out, and a heck of a lot more kissing, Tucker ran up the stairs and came back down with two silver-looking springs.

“They’re from my ruined PDA’s,” he explained, and Sam pulled one onto her finger above the ring from Danny.

It was perfect. Danny followed suit, and now they both had two rings, from the ones they loved the most, but Tucker had none. They each grabbed one of his hands and kissed a cheek, like a Tucker sandwich.

As soon as the shops opened again they would go out and find him something, but it was still the middle of the night and they were practically swaying on their feet.

If Angela Foley was surprised to find her son and his two best friends all piled into the same single bed the next morning, she never let on.

[lakesandquarries]

Tangled Up - Chapter Two

oh, i’m gonna mess this up

Benrey’s spent 26 years living in a tower - 27, tomorrow. When a thief breaks into his tower, he finds his chance to escape and takes it.

Alternatively: Tangled, but the AI is self aware.

(featuring art by @kenas-artstuff​ )

Notes: check ao3 for warnings and tags! “kane radio” is just gordon using a fake name. fic title from “tangled up” by caro emerald, chapter title from “shots” by imagine dragons.

AO3 Link

It’s nice to be back at Black Mesa. Well, mostly nice. Gordon shuts the door behind Benrey only to immediately spot a wanted poster, the only thing making it unrecognizable a bizarre mullet. Do people seriously think he looks like that??

“Hey, Mr. Radio!” a voice calls from behind the counter. Kane rips the paper off the door, rushing across the room. 

“Hi Darnold it’s great to see you shut the fuck up please -”

And that’s when he gets grabbed from behind. He barely sees Darnold’s eyes widen before he’s spun around, now facing an absolute mountain of a man. Behind him, he hears Darnold slap something - his forehead, probably - and mutter a quiet. “oh, right.”

He loves Darnold, he really does. Being friends with someone since you were kids will do that. Right now, though, he kind of wants to throttle him.

“Kane Radio, hm?” the main holding him says, ripping the wanted poster out of his hands. The thief glances around awkwardly, his eyes finally falling onto Benrey struggling to pull his hair back into his possession. 

"H-hey, he'd appreciate his hair not being touched, guys!", Kane exclaimed, to help his partner as well as pull away from his attention. It works for a moment, as Benrey tugs the last strands of hair away and marches up to the guy holding Kane, unintimidated despite the height difference.

“Hey,” Benrey says quietly as he walks up next to the man. “Put him down? Please and thank you?”

Mountain man snorts. “Not likely. I need the reward money. Hey, you! Go get the guards!”

One of the other men nods, slipping out of the tavern as an argument breaks out. Kane is pushed and pulled, various thugs grabbing him and insisting they need the money, they deserve it most, as the bar descends into chaos.

A loud, meaty thwack! breaks up the argument. Kane’s dropped on his ass, and when he looks up, Benrey has his crowbar against Mountain man’s arm. “I said put him down.”

Kane rolls off to the side, dodging another man’s grabbing hands, and stands up so he can dart back over to Benrey and push him out of the way. “Hey, appreciate that, don’t get me wrong, but - Benrey, what the fuck?”

Behind the counter Darnold is glaring, grabbing a cup and a spoon to try and get everyone’s attention. Black Mesa housed a fighting ring once upon a time, but that got stopped when Darnold took over. It doesn’t matter now - even with Darnold yelling, everyone’s too riled up. Kane has to duck down to avoid a punch, only to immediately get kicked in the face. A hand grabs his arm and he swings instinctively, stopping at the last second when he realizes it’s just Benrey, pulling him off to the side.

“What the fuck,” Kane repeats.

“Being polite didn’t work,” is Benrey’s only explanation.

Darnold is still yelling, trying desperately to get some sense of calm as the crowd beats the shit out of each other. And then - just as quick as it started, it’s over. Screams dissolve into laughter as the assembled patrons dust themselves off, seemingly satisfied with the amount of violence they've had. 

"It's been too long since we've had a fight like that," Mountain man says. "Nice job."

Benrey blinks up at him. "Whuh?"

Gordon agrees with him. Wiping blood from his nose, he mutters a quiet “What?” as well.

“Should’ve been longer,” Darnold complains. “You know I hate this kind of behavior! I have half a mind to throw you all out.”

"We'll clean it up, Danny, don't worry,” another, very skinny guy cheerfully responds, followed by a roar of laughter.

“Darnold,” the bartender corrects sharply as he sets to cleaning the place up, picking up overturned chairs and mopping up spills and sweeping up broken glass. 

Turning back to Mountain man, Kane asks, "Just to be clear. Does this mean you won't tear me and my friend apart anymore?"

“Are you kidding? That’s the most fun I’ve had in years! Darnold never lets us do stuff like that. Real shame, considering how this place st -“

He’s cut off by someone slamming the door open. “I brought the guards!”

Apparently ten seconds of peace is the max he’s allowed. “Shit shit shit,” Kane wheezes, grabbing Benrey’s arm as Darnold directs them behind the door. The massive dog from earlier, the one who had chased him through the forest and up Benrey’s tower, is here. And it’s pissed. Kane’s heart drops as he watches it sniff around, following the trail of his footsteps.

Darnold pulls on a lever, revealing a ramp down into a stone tunnel. “You’re lucky you’re my friend,” he says as he ushers them through it. Benrey hesitates, but Kane pulls him through anyway, into some kind of cave system. The walls are dark stone, rough and natural. This is something old, and hopefully, it’ll cover them. 

He exhales slowly, adrenaline still rushing through him. “Shit,” he mutters again. “That was close.”

“Who were those guys?” Benrey asks. The raccoon on his shoulder chirps.

“Guards. Royal guards. They, uh….they don’t like me much.”

“You stole something?” 

“Big something.”

Benrey nods, apparently satisfied with the answer. The raccoon chirps again, and Benrey mumbles something in response to it. Because his day is just going so normally, he needs to listen to his weird...escort mission talk to his fucking raccoon as they run from guards.

Metal clanks behind them, and Kane picks up the pace, until he’s running down the tunnel. It opens into a cliffside, with no way down. “Fuck!”

“There’s a guy down there,” Benrey points out, and Kane bites back another string of curses when he realizes it’s fucking Forzen. He’d abandoned him after stealing the royal helmet. Betrayal’s nothing new between them, but this is recent enough that Forzen’s probably still pissed.

“That’s Forzen. He doesn’t like me much either.”

It’s then that the guards burst out of the tunnel and several things happen all at once. Benrey shoves his crowbar at Kane, and before he can question why Benrey is giving him his only weapon, he’s tossing his hair across the canyon like a grappling hook and running off the ledge.

Before he can even ask why Benrey would possibly give him his only weapon, he watches in horror as his partner takes flight. He doesn’t have time to check if Benrey’s alright - the guards are on his ass. The crowbar makes a satisfying thwack! as he swings it, taking down the guards in barely an instant. “Fuck, this is handy. Need to get me one of these!” Kane comments to himself, looking to see who’s left. One opponent remains - the dog, who is now holding a sword.

Because his day just cannot get any fucking weirder.

“You should know this is the weirdest thing I have ever fucking done!” Kane yells to Benrey, as he battles the dog, sword to crowbar, until the dog knocks it right out of his hands and down the cliff. “Two out of three?”

A lock of black hair wraps around his hand. Kane grins, giving the dog a salute as he’s pulled into a free fall. “Ha! Get fuc - hhhh.” His words dissolve into a wheeze, as his trajectory slams him into an exposed beam, knocking the wind out of him.

Kane, struggling to get a grip of himself, only just manages to hold on to Benrey while he swings down with his support. His feet connect with the water pipes, sliding down unsteadily as they collapse underneath him, and then the entire dam breaks. It happens in a flash, an enormous amount of water - it feels like the whole ocean when Kane glances back - pouring down into the valley. Rocks fall, the last of the wooden constructions collapsing. With a couple of leaps, Kane reaches an already running Benrey, and scoops up the last bit of his hair flailing behind him. "Benrey! Benrey, into the cave!" he shouts, hoping the other would get understand the general direction they have to run.

---

Benrey grabs the crowbar as he darts after Kane, barely avoiding getting crushed by the massive rock that comes crashing down and seals them into the cave. The walls are stone, not like the bricks of his tower but a random arrangement of rocks and boulders forming a lumpy wall. There’s a puddle of water on the floor, only as he looks it starts to grow, up over Benrey’s feet, his legs, creeping higher and higher. He looks around the cave frantically, spotting the trickles of water coming in past the rock that sealed them in. The only obvious opening, but the water is like another force behind it, pressing it shut like Benrey used to try and hold his door shut. The rock is stronger than him. No matter how hard he slams with his crowbar, there’s not even a dent. He turns his attention to the rest of the cave, alternately smashing and prying at the walls, but they hold firm. There’s nothing. Not a single loose rock, nothing resembling a weak point, not even a crack he can widen into an exit. 

The water’s at his waist now. His breathing sharpens, small panicked inhales as he realizes there’s no way out. They’re trapped, with water climbing higher and higher. The water is murky, making the already dim space feel smaller and darker with each second. 

Zeki was right. Kane’s gonna die here with him in this stupid fucking cave, all because Benrey wanted to see some lights.

“This is all my fault,” he mumbles, tugging on a strand of hair. “I never should’ve - she was right, this whole time, I just -“ 

Kane’s hands grip his shoulders, firm but gentle, forcing him to look at the thief’s face. "Benrey, don't blame yourself. Sometimes things go bad...that's how life works. It's - it's gonna be ok." In a different context it might be comforting. Right now, they’re about to die, and Kane’s voice is shaking.

Benrey’s voice is choked when he responds. “I’m sorry, Kane.”

"Gordon.” Benrey tilts his head, and Kane drops his hands from his shoulders with a sigh. “It's - my real name is Gordon Freeman. I made up Kane. You might as well know it now."

“Feetman?” Benrey asks with a shaky smile.

“If we weren’t trapped in a cave I’d hit you with your crowbar,” Kane - Gordon? - Gordon says. For the briefest of seconds, he smiles at Benrey. 

“I, uh. I have magic hair that glows when I sing,” he says. Keeping a secret doesn’t matter when they’re both about to die. Gordon furrows his brows, looking questioningly at Benrey, and a sudden burst of inspiration hits as he repeats himself. “I have - oh shit!” He starts singing, voice shakier than normal as he races through the song. “Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine -“ The water is still rising, and maybe it’s his imagination but it feels even faster. “Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine -”

The last line gets cut off as the water fills the cave completely. He’s never tried singing underwater before, and for a moment he’s terrified it won’t work - and then his hair lights up, a bright neon teal, illuminating the cave. Gordon swims down to the bottom, pushing aside rocks desperately. He finds one that’s loose enough, dislodging it, and the rest follow suit. The wall starts to crumble before collapsing completely, launching the two of them into a river, the current quickly sweeping them downstream and onto a grassy bank. 

Benrey drags himself out, flopping limply onto the grass, taking deep breaths as he stares up at the sky. “We’re alive,” he breathes, looking over at Gordon. He likes that name better, now that he has a spare moment to think about it. Laughter bubbles up out of him, along with bright yellow-green. Olive means I’m glad to be alive.

Beside him, Gordon is less chill, elbows on the grass and hands in his hair. “His hair glows,” he’s mumbling. “He - hhh - his hair? Glowing - glowy shit - people don’t glow!” From there his words just get more and more incoherent as he stares at the ground.

With a huff, Benrey stands up, starting to squeeze the water out of his hair. Jefferem shakes himself dry, splashing water onto Gordon. “You good?” Benrey asks.

“Am I - are you good?? What the fuck was that? How long have you been - ow, fuck -” He pulls his right hand close to himself, and when he holds it out again Benrey sees blood, bright red against the brown skin. He must’ve cut himself on a rock or something. 

Benrey offers a hand to help Gordon get up, so he doesn’t put pressure on the injured one. “Lets, uh. Find somewhere to dry off first and then we can play 20 questions?” Or, maybe, if he stalls long enough, Gordon will forget whatever he wants to ask and Benrey can keep pretending like he’s a person.

[maxineswritingcenter]

You Saved Me - Derek Hale x fem!reader part 17

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

That night, Scott and I were meeting with Derek to discuss what our next plan of action was. Scott had said that he had found Jackson walking around downtown where there was an old abandoned warehouse that was primarily used for raves. The only problem was tickets were sold out and way out of Scott’s high school budget. 

“What’d you get from your dad?” I asked Stiles over the phone. 

“We figured out that all of the victims knew each other in some way, Harris’ class.”

“What about Isaac’s dad?” 

“We think maybe it has to do with Isaac’s older brother.” 

“Camden right?” 

“Right, he was killed in active duty but he would be the same age as all of the victims.” 

“What does that have to do with Jackson though?” I asked, parking outside at the same time that Derek had pulled up with Isaac in tow. 

“Not sure yet, but I’ll keep looking.”

“Alright, keep me posted.” I hung up, getting out of the car and walking with Derek and Isaac to the front door. Scott finished unlocking it, staring directly at Isaac. 

“What’s he doing here?” Scott asked suspiciously. 

“I need him.” Derek said. 

“I don't trust him.” 

Isaac scoffed, “Yeah, well, he doesn't trust you, either.”

“(Y/N) is indifferent.” I said, rolling my eyes. 

“You know what? Derek doesn’t doesn’t really care.” Derek said sarcastically. We made our way inside the lobby. Isaac sat down in a rolling chair in the corner of the room. I was happy just leaning against the front desk while Derek was content with staying annoyed.

 “Now, where’s the vet? Is he going to help us or not?” Derek asked. 

“That depends...” The veterinarian came around the corner, crossing his arms over his chest, “Your friend, Jackson... Are we planning to kill him, or save him?”

“Save him.” Scott and I said while Derek said: “Kill him.” 

Scott stared Derek down, “Save him.” He looked back at his boss, “Save him.” Happy with that answer, we were brought back into the operating room. He placed small bottles in front of us on the operating table. Being back here reminded me of the day Derek almost died. Sensing my distress, Derek pulled me closer to his side. 

Ever curious, Isaac reached out to touch one of the bottles. Instinctively, I reached out and grabbed his wrist before he made contact. Both alphas stared him down. 

“Watch what you touch.” Derek warned. Isaac backed away, turning his attention to Deaton. 

 He leaned against the table, “So, what are you, some kind of witch?”

“No.” Deaton said drolly, “I'm a veterinarian.” He went back to searching the cabinets for more vials. 

“Unfortunately, I don't see anything here that's going to be an effective defense against a paralytic toxin.” He said. 

“We're open to suggestions.” Derek sighed. 

“What about an effective offense?” Isaac asked. 

“We already tried. I nearly took its head off, and Argent emptied an entire clip into it. The thing just gets back up.”

“Has it shown any weaknesses?” Deaton asked. Derek and I shared a glance. 

“Well, one: it can't swim.” He said. 

“He acted like the water burned.” I added. 

“Does that go for Jackson as well?”

“No. He's the captain of the swim team.” Scott said, leaning back against the wall. 

Deaton looked over all of us, “Essentially, you're trying to catch two people: a puppet, and a puppeteer.” He pulled a metal medallion from a drawer, holding up and flipping the sides. He placed the medallion on the table, “One killed the husband, but the other had to take care of the wife. Do we know why?” Deaton was referring to the latest victims. A married couple, pregnant with their first child. While the husband had been killed on the scene, the wife had been killed in the hospital.

“I don't think Jackson could do it.” Scott said, “His mother died pregnant too, and she was maybe murdered. I think he couldn't let the same thing happen to someone else.”

“How do you know it's not part of the rules?” Isaac asked from the corner of the room, “The Kanima kills murderers. If Jackson kills the wife, then the baby dies, too.”

“Does that mean your father was a murderer?” 

“Wouldn't surprise me if he was.” Isaac said grimly.

“Hold on-” Deaton interrupted, “The book says they're bonded, right?” Derek nodded Deaton grabbed a glass bottle of black powder, the label read Mountain Ash, “What if the fear of water isn't coming from Jackson, but from the person controlling him? What if something that affects the Kanima” He opened the vial, making a circle around the coin with it, “Also affects its master?”

“Meaning what?” Isaac asked. 

“Meaning we can catch them.” Scott looked back, mostly at Derek, “Both of them.”

-

Walking through the halls after lacrosse practice, I didn’t think I would see anyone. But when I heard the sound of an angry individual, I wanted to check it out. I turned the corner, seeing Coach Lahey with a young kid backed against the wall near the boys bathroom. 

“You didn’t say anything, did you? Huh, you little punk.” He said through his teeth. 

“No...” The kid whimpered. This wasn’t right. Why the hell was Coach Lahey getting in this kids business. 

I rushed up to them, “There you are.” I grinned. Coach Lahey and the kid looked at me, “C’mon, mom’s waiting for us in the car.” I held a hand out of the kid. He looked between Coach Lahey, then me before quickly taking my hand. 

“Thanks for finding him, Coach Lahey.” I smiled, tilting my head to the side, “My mom’s been really worried.” Coach Lahey stood up straight. 

“Well, you’re welcome.” He mumbled, turning on his heels and walking towards the pool. I held the kid’s hand tightly, walking him through the school. 

“You okay?” I asked, looking down at him. He nodded, keeping his eyes towards the ground. He was practically trembling. 

“Lahey’s pretty scary, huh?” I asked. 

“Yeah.” I leaned over to look him in his eyes, they were pale blue.

“Well, if he ever corners you like that again, just tell him that your big sister is waiting for you with Coach Finstock. Lahey might be mean, but Finstock is crazy.” I smiled, “What’s your name, kid?”

“Matthew.”

-

The next morning, Stiles drove Scott and I to the high school seeing as my car was still in the shop. We looked over and saw Matt locking his bike to the bike rack. Matt for sure had tickets. We got out of the car, walking towards the building.

“There's got to be some other way to get tickets, right?” Scott asked.

“It's a secret show, there's only one way, and it's a secret.” Stiles said, gripping the shoulder of his backpack. 

“Even if it wasn’t a secret, we couldn’t afford them anyway. I would get them but my parent’s estate isn’t settled yet. If it was, do you think I would be working as an assistant coach?” I said. Working with Coach was a blessing and curse. 

Matt walked up to us, “Hey... Either of you guys know why no one's getting suspended after what happened the other day at school?” I had completely forgotten that Matt had been there for the attack too, but he seemed to miss  seeing Jackson as a lizard man.

“Just forget about it. Nobody got hurt.” Stiles said evasively. 

Matt narrowed his eyes, “I-I had a concussion...”

“Well, no one got seriously hurt.”

“I was in the ER for six hours!”

“Hey, do you want to know the truth, Matt?” Stiles snapped irritably, “Your little bump on the head is about this high on our list of problems right now.” He bent over, holding his hand above the ground. I rolled my eyes, grabbing him back the strap of his bag and pulled him back up. 

“Are you okay?” Scott asked sincerely. 

“Yeah, I'm fine now. So, you didn't get any tickets last night either?” Matt asked. 

“Are they still selling?”

“Uh, no, but I managed to find two online. You should keep trying. Sounds like everyone's gonna be there.” He started to walk away. 

“I’ll tell coach to take it easy on you at practice!” I called, he held up a hand, continuing his walk inside. 

“I don't like him.” Stiles grumbled, staring daggers into the back of Matt’s head.

-

It was time for afternoon practice, which meant explaining a few things to Coach. 

“Where in the hell did you go last game, (Y/N)? You just disappeared.” His eyes were somehow even wilder. I should probably tell him to look into an endocrinologist. We hadn’t gotten a chance to talk this morning since morning practice was about drilling new plays and him asking where Jackson was every fifteen minutes.

I rubbed the back of my neck, “I’m sorry, Coach. It’s just a little hard to explain.” 

“No, having to explain to your wife that you lost her favorite testicle is hard, explaining where you went during the semi-finales? not hard.” At this point I think Coach was just a little too comfortable telling people things. 

After processing and hopefully blacking out what he just said, I came up with a lie that would definitely make him drop the topic. 

“I uh started my period.” I lied. Finstock closed his mouth and nodded. 

“Say no more.” I gave him an awkward smile, putting on the eye mask and heading out into the locker room. It was easier to find Scott and Stiles than it was before since I could pick out their scents. 

“Hey, are you sure about this?” Stiles asked. 

“Last time, whoever's controlling Jackson had to kill somebody because he didn't finish the job. So, what do you think he's going to do this time?”

“Be there to make sure it happens.”

“Can anyone tell me where the hell Jackson is and why he missed morning practice?” Coach Finstock’s door flew open, slamming against the wall. 

“I thought I told you to keep an eye on him!” Stiles leaned in to Scott. 

“Stilinski!” Coach shouted, “Jackson?” Was he not aware of the restraining orders?

“Sorry, Coach... I haven't seen him since the last time I saw him...” He said nervously, causing me to elbow him in the side. 

“Oh, and when was that?”

“Last time I saw him... was definitely the time I saw him last...” He said evasively.

 “Yeah. Again, Danny, tell Jackson no missing practice this close to the championships, okay?”

“Sure, Coach.” Danny was near, maybe a couple feet. I hadn’t really “seen” him since he was attacked at the nightclub. He was another victim that didn’t make any sense. Danny hadn’t seen anyone get murdered by Jackson, while I had definitely watched Jackson attack people.

“That goes for all of you.” Coach’s shoes squeaked against the floor as he turned back to his office, “I should be coaching college.” He mumbled under his breath, slamming his door shut.

“Sooo Danny.” Stiles said in his smooth voice, or at least I think he meant for it to be smooth, “Got any extra tickets for the secret party this weekend?”

“Sorry, but I only got two myself.”

“What-- do you even have a date yet?” I smacked Stiles’ in the back of the head blindly. Still accurate. 

“I'm working on it.” He said, clearly offended. 

“Okay, okay... Hear me out. You give us the tickets, and you devote your life to abstinence, and just-” Danny walked off. 

“How do you two losers even survive?” Isaac’s voice appeared.

“What are we supposed to do? No one's even selling.” Scott said. Two players were walking by, talking about the tickets they scored. 

“Isaac,” I grinned, “Be a dear, would you?” I motioned my head towards the players’ general direction. 

“...Wait here, boys.” Isaac walked off.

“What is he gonna-” Scott said before being cut off by the sounds of scuffling and shouting.

“Ow. Oh, my-” Stiles commented, ”Yup, that's excessive....That'll bruise.”

“Ow.” Scott winced.

“Wow, okay...” Stiles said grimly. I heard the sound of paper against their jerseys when Isaac came back.

“Enjoy the show.” Isaac said, walking back to his locker. 

-

After practice, we made a stop by the vet office. We were inside the operating room, watching Deaton grab a vial of clear liquid from a cabinet and a syringe.

“Ketamine?” Scott asked. 

“It's the same stuff we use on the dogs, just a higher dosage. If you can get close enough to Jackson, it should slow him down enough to buy you some time.” He set the syringe and vial on the operating table, turning back to get the familiar bottle that held the dark mountain ash. 

“This is some of what you'll use to create the barrier. This part is for you, Stiles-- only you.” He set the bottle on the table in front of Stiles

“Uh, that sounds like a lot of pressure... Can we maybe find a slightly less pressure-filled task for me?” Stiles looked at me. 

“Don’t look at me, I can’t do this.” I held my hands up. 

“Why can’t she do this?”

“It's from the Mountain Ash tree, which is believed by many cultures to protect against the supernatural. This office is lined with ashwood, making it difficult for someone like Scott or (Y/N) to cause me any trouble...”

“Okay, so, then, what?” Stiles asked, “I just spread this around the whole building, and then either Jackson or whoever's controlling him can't cross it?”

Deaton nodded, “They'll be trapped.”

“Doesn't sound too hard.” Scott shrugged. I leveled him a look. Wasn’t he the one to say don’t say something was too easy?

“Not all there is...Think of it like gunpowder-- it's just powder until a spark ignites it. You need to be that spark, Stiles.”

Stiles started at the vet in bewilderment, “...If you mean light myself on fire, I don't think I'm up for that.”

“Let me try a different analogy. I used to golf. I learned that the best golfers never swing before first imagining where they want the ball to go. They see it in their mind, and their mind takes over. It can be pretty extraordinary what the force of your own will can accomplish.”

“Force of will...” Stiles whispered. 

“If-if this is going to work, Stiles, you have to believe it.” Stiles hummed and exhaled loudly. 

-

After getting a few more things ready at the house, Stiles and I were about to get into Roscoe when Uncle Noah pulled up in the driveway. I paused, watching him get out. He seemed down and lost. The other thing I noticed was that his sheriff badge was missing. 

"Hey! Can't talk gotta run." Stiles said without looking. I grabbed the back of Stiles’ shirt, causing him to be jerked back. He looked at his father, taking him in.

“Hey, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait-- what's wrong?” Stiles’ voice stopped Uncle Noah from going further up the driveway. 

“Nothing.” Uncle Noah said evasively, not meeting either of our eyes. 

“Oh...Where's your gun?”

“I left it at the station... along with my badge...” He breathed out. My mouth dropped open, then closed quickly. 

“What?” We asked in unison.

“It's all right. You know what? We'll talk about this later. You both seem like you’re going somewhere.”

“Dad-”

“Don't worry about it.” He started walking towards the house again. 

“Dad!” Stiles shouted. Uncle Noah stopped and turned back towards us. 

He sighed, “It was decided that the son of a police chief stealing police property and having a restraining order filed against him by one of the town's most respected attorneys did not reflect well on the county...”

“They fired you?” Stiles asked, stunned. I looked down at my feet, I couldn’t look at either of them. Stiles was going to blame himself for everything and that wasn’t a Stiles that I ever wanted to see again. But what were we supposed to think? This whole situation with Scott was starting to affect home life. He shouldn’t have asked Stiles to steal that van. 

“Nah. Look, it's-it's just a leave of absence. It's-it's temporary.”

“Did they say it was temporary, or...?”

“Actually, no.” He sighed, “You know, I- It's fine. Don't worry about it, though.” He started walking back towards the door when I looked back up at him, “Hey. We're going to be fine.”

“Dad, I don't get it... “ Stiles was beginning to feel overwhelmed, “Why-why aren't you angry at me?”

“I don't know. Maybe I just don't want to feel any worse than I already do by having to yell at my son in front of my daughter who I’m sure is tired of any violence...” He didn’t yell, but his words still stung. Not intentionally though. We watched him walk into the house, a broken man.

“Oh, shoot.” Stiles mumbled. 

- 

After picking up Scott, we parked outside the warehouse of the party. There were a bunch of people outside waiting to get in, oblivious to the events that were going to take place. Stiles opened the back of the Jeep, pulling out huge sacks of mountain ash that were given to him by Deaton. He didn’t look okay, he had been tense our whole drive over here. 

“You okay?” Scott asked.

“Yeah, why?” He avoided the question. 

“You just didn't say anything the whole way here...”

“No, I'm fine. Just grab the other bag.” Scott and I shared a glance. 

“I can't.” Scott said sheepishly, “Remember, Deaton said you have to do it alone...”

“Okay, this plan is really starting to suck!”

“No. Not here. Not now!” Scott groaned. 

“What?” Stiles asked as Scott ran towards the main entrance. I followed close behind. 

Scott and I went our separate ways once inside, apparently Allison was here which completely ruined the plan because she really wasn’t supposed to be. While he was talking with Allison, I kept Matt distracted.

“Hey.” He smiled, “You got tickets.” 

“I did! Took some convincing but I’m pretty good at getting what I want.” I smirked. 

“Really?” He said, narrowing his eyes in a playful way. I inhaled deeply, getting the familiar scent of spearmint gum.

“Yeah. Like I can get a stick of your gum.” I held out my hand. He dug in his pocket and produced a stick of gum.

“Not bad, not bad at all.” I took the gum from his hand and started chewing it. I looked around him, seeing Allison coming back. She seemed a little upset, so I decided to bail. 

“I’ll see you around.” I waved and walked back into the crowd. I walked around the best I could, pushing through sweaty bodies, grabbing a water bottle while I was walking through. I hadn’t seen Jackson yet so that was both good and bad. We needed a visual of him. Soon enough Isaac and Erica were supposed to be here, Derek probably wouldn’t though. 

“Derek definitely isn’t a party person.” I took a long swig out of the bottle. 

“But I was.” I froze, looking over my shoulder. Michael... but how?

“Don’t you remember?” He stepped forward, “Hm? My parties lasted well into the early morning and we always had a good time, didn’t we?” 

“Am I? You wouldn’t know, would you? Because after your little mutt boyfriend clawed my jugular and left me to die, burying me under the dirt, you didn’t check, did you? DID YOU?!” I decided now was the time to run. I don’t know if I was drugged or if he was really there but I wasn’t waiting to find out. My heart felt like it was going a million miles a hour and my eyes burned with tears. This wasn’t like Michael’s apartment, Derek wasn’t outside in the parking lot to save me. Even when I was supposed to be so powerful, why did I still feel so helpless? I found a corner of the warehouse and pressed my back against the cool bricks. Trying to regulate my breathing. I squeezed my eyes shut trying to calm down. 

“You’re dead...” My voice trembled, the water dropping from my hand. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I shook my head, “Just thought I saw someone.” As a group, we found Scott, going into a secluded area where he showed us the syringe filled with ketamine. Since Scott had to keep the hunter’s at bay, it was Isaac’s job to stick Jackson. 

“(Y/N)?” A soft voice asked. My eyes shot open, seeing Isaac and Erica staring at me.

“Are you okay?” She asked. Letting out a shaky breath, I nodded.  

“Why me?” He asked. 

Scott sighed, “Because I've got to make sure that Argent doesn't completely ruin the plan.” Isaac didn’t look completely convinced, “Okay, look-- you better do it intravenously, which means in the vein. When you find him, you pull back on this plunger right here. In the neck is probably going to be the easiest. So, you find a vein, you jam it in there, and pull back on the trigger. Be careful.” He added intently.

Isaac scoffed, “Oh, I doubt it'll even slightly hurt him.”

“No, I mean you. I don't want you to get hurt.” Scott took off through the crowd to find the Argents. I sent Isaac and Erica off to find Jackson, keeping behind them at a safe distance. I made sure to check all the surroundings as I walked, making sure that Michael didn’t show up again. No, he wouldn’t. He’s dead. Very dead. 

Pain in my side made me wince, squeezing my eyes shut. 

Derek slammed his body into the side of a concrete beam outside the warehouse, keeping Boyd close to him. Hunter’s gunfire ricocheting off the concrete. 

 Gasping, I opened my eyes, looking over in the direction that Isaac and Erica had gone. They had found him. Erica was using her looks and her body, grinding against Jackson’s front. Isaac came up behind her, dancing with the two. 

“Keep your eyes on Isaac and Erica.” Derek’s voice echoed through my head. 

“What about you and Boyd?” 

“We’ll be fine.” I guess that answered that question. As I began walking towards the group, I tensed up. The familiar pain of electricity shocked through my system. But it wasn't’ me who was getting the zap, it was Derek. When I opened my eyes again, Isaac and Erica were on the ground. Jackson still stood there, staring at me with eyes that were solid like stone. 

“You won’t stop me.” He growled in a disembodied voice. Jackson took off quickly. I rushed forward to Erica first, who was breathing erratically. She had this reaction before to Jackson’s venom, it seemed that it triggered her epilepsy. I kneeled down beside her, turning her on her side. 

“Erica.” I said, trying to get her to look at me, “Erica, you need to breathe. Look at me.” Isaac reached out, trying to make a grab for the syringe that had been dropped, but it got kicked away. Isaac struggled through the crowd, trying to grab the syringe. Once Erica’s breathing regulated, I helped her to her feet. 

“Come on, you’re okay.” I said, reassuring her and myself. I watched Isaac finally inject the ketamine into Jackson’s system. In the chaos of the party, no one saw Jackson drop and get dragged away. We followed Isaac into a small room of the main. 

“You get out to Stiles, I need to help Derek.” I ran out the back door, seeing a hunter taking aim at Derek. I roared, knocking the weapon out of his hand and shoving him to the ground. I looked back to see Chris and Gerard staring. I was breathing heavily, fangs poking from my lips. Chris was holding a gun on me, one of my father’s guns. We seemed to have a silent agreement as I ran to reach Derek and Boyd. 

“Why didn’t you shoot?” Gerard glared. 

“It jammed.” Chris said, his voice hardened. 

I found Derek and Boyd’s cover, seeing the blood on their clothes. In the distance, I picked up a voice, one I didn’t recognize. 

"They're going to think it was an accident. Like you had an asthma attack and couldn't get to your inhaler in time. Your school records shows that you have a very severe case." Scott was in trouble, Derek and I shared a look. 

"I think I stopped healing." Boyd swallowed thickly, holding a bleeding wound on his side. 

“The bullets. They're laced with wolfsbane. You gotta go. Take the car.” He handed me the keys to the Camaro. 

“What about you?”

“I have to find Scott. Go. Go!” He shouted, I helped Boyd to his feet, helping him across the parking lot away from the hunters and out of sight. I helped him get inside the backseat and got into the driver’s seat. As I was about to start the engine my blood went cold. 

"Jackson, is that you?" Stiles’ voice. I looked back at Boyd in the rear view mirror. He was in rough shape and needed to get back to the depot. But Stiles.... Goddamit, I hate stupid trolley cart problems. I would hate myself forever if something happened to him but Boyd needed help now. I started the engine and sped out of the parking lot. 

“Boyd? Talk to me, buddy.” I glanced at him. He seemed drowsy, his eyes fluttering shut. 

“Come on, stay with me!” I pressed my foot down on the gas, going well over the speed limit. 

I screeched to a halt outside Deaton’s clinic, the vet was already outside, ushering us both inside. 

“I think you got more wounded on the way.” I huffed, laying Boyd down on the operating table. 

“That’s why I’m always prepared.” He said, grabbing a pair of long pliers and a bottle used for flushing out wounds. 

-

After listening to Boyd scream out for a while, he was finally free of all the mountain ash so he was able to heal himself. I sent him back out to the car to sleep. I decided that in between the chaos, I could ask Deaton about the bottle. 

“That is definitely the spell and it was meant to stick.” He pointed to the lock of my hair inside the bottle, “By adding your hair, it made this spell specific to you in a powerful way.” He handed the bottle back to me, “It’s probably why you haven’t gotten your memories back.” He rolled up his sleeves and started washing his hands. 

I sighed, “Great.” I leaned back against the brick wall, “So there isn’t anything I can do but live like this.”

Deaton looked back over his shoulder and sighed. He turned off the sink and turned around, wiping his hands on a paper towel. 

“The supernatural world works in mysterious ways. You never know, they may come back slowly or all at once.” 

“I’ve gotten bits and pieces. The name of Derek’s mother and a girl I was friends with but that’s not enough. And it’s not just me who’s suffering because of it. I can’t imagine how Derek feels.” 

He for thought a moment, “Maybe he can share some of his memories with you. Werewolves are able to do that, you know. With just the simplest touch.” The door to the clinic brought both of our attention towards the lobby, “We’ll talk later.” We both rushed out to help Derek who was carrying a very unconscious Scott. 

“Wolfsbane gas.” Derek said, laying him down on the operating table. Deaton worked hurriedly, grabbing a gas mask hooked up to an oxygen tank. Eventually, he started breathing again. I let out a smile of relief and brushed his curls off his forehead. 

“Thank you.” Derek said to Deaton. 

“You’re gonna give me a heart attack.” I sat back in a chair beside Derek. Deaton excused himself from the room. Derek was tense and rigid, his emotions running high. I rested my head on his shoulder, hoping my touch would make him breathe a little easier. 

“Erica and Isaac okay?” I asked, looking up at him through my lashes. 

“They’re okay.” 

“And Stiles?” He nodded. 

“I told him to go back home.” He glanced down at me, “I know it was hard for you to leave him there. But I’m sure Boyd is grateful to be alive right now.” He paused, “It was Victoria Argent who attacked Scott.”

“Allison’s mom?”

“I bit her.” The confusion on my face made him elaborate, “She lived through the bite.” For a hunter, the bite was always a death sentence. Whether it killed them, or their group did. 

“I know you did it to save Scott... But something tells me you did it on purpose, as a battle strategy.” 

A small smile pulled at his lips, “That wasn’t my intent. But I would be lying if I said it wasn’t good for our side.” 

“Good? Derek, Chris was the only person who was holding back. Now that they have to kill his wife... I don’t think he will follow the code either.” 

He turned to look at me, “Then it’s time we teach you how to fight. Unleash the beast.” 

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

Read part 18 here!

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Ducktales Treasure of the Golden Sun: Three Ducks of the Condor or Now with More Racism!

Hello all you happy people! And welcome back to my look at Ducktales: Treasure of the Golden Suns!, the pilot episodes that started it all. This look was one of my patreon stretch goals. To explain them in case some of you aren’t familiar with patreon it’s essentially like a kickstarter stretch goal: every milestone I reach in my monthly earnings means a crop of reviews for you guys, with this being 10 and my review of the movie, and the goofy movies in two weeks and September respectively, being the 15 dollar one. So if you want reviews of the OTHER Ducktales mini series Time Is Money and Super DuckTales, then hop on aboard and help me reach my 20 dollar goal so I can keep making these reviews for a living and give you all more. Said goal also includes a Darkwing Duck review eveyr month AND a review of teh Danny Phantom special The ULtimate Enemy so hop on board HERE AT MY PATREON.  Patrons also get exclusive reviews, access to my discord server (Though if anyone would be more intrersted in me making that public let me know), and to pick a short each time I do a birthday special for a character from Looney Tunes, Disney and Beyond. And next month is my boy Donald’s so since you all already sat out goofy NOW is the time. 

So now my very necessary plug is out of the way, i’m very poor, we can get to the review proper:

When last we left off Scrooge and the Boys went on their first proper adventure together, heading to Central America to follow the map from the first episode and running into Dr.Claw  El Capitan and his new best buddy Glomgold. Mild racisim, moonsoons and much better pacing ensued. 

So join me under the cut as my boy Donald returns, some iconic characters are introduced in Webby, Launchpad and Beakly, though this series only made one of them iconic to be fair, and we get some more mild racisim because fuck my life. Onward to the cut! 

So yeah as I’ve mentioned a few times now this episode had a content warning.. which was fair as there is some pretty cringy stuff in here but it had the side effect of me holding my breath until the racisim came up and whapped me in the face. So i’m keeping that tension up for you guys so I don’t have to suffer alone. 

We open at the Mansion. Scrooge is trying to find a governess for the boys, but they keep scaring off all the clients because they don’t like the idea. And for once.. i’m on Scrooge’s side here. Yes I know there’s a sterotype of rich people hiring a nanny to not have to parent. and it’s sadly often true and it’d SEEM like Scrooge is doing that.. but really he just wants the boys to be safe. He’s fully grown to care for them and just wants someone cheap and responsible to look after them while he’s busy and clearly still makes time for them. As someone who is a former nanny, albeit for someone working class, I get that as much as you WANT to spend every moment with your kid you often can’t. I say all this because SO MANY kids movies and shows villianize parents for not spending time with their kid when their clearly just working to support them. There are nuanced exceptions to this and refreshingly Craig of the Creek has outright avoided this: JP’s mom is gone almost all the time due to working as an airline pilot, but while he clearly misses her he never resents her or guilts her over it, he understands sh’es supporting him and goes out of his way to make sure his friends can meet her. It’s really swee.t And while again I get it, this guys a billionare, most examples aren’t, Scrooge still really CAN’T stop working: He has more money than god and like most bilionares REALLY should give most of it to charity or to help with programs instead of hoarding it in a massive bin.. but he’s also got tons of companies, factories, investments... people COUNTING on him to make sure these are working correctly and keep their jobs. So yeah i’ts nice that the show isn’t demonizing scrooge for this or dosen’t even consider it: he’s getting help beacuse he needs it, that’s what’s important. 

So while the boys widdle down the nannies, Scrooge talks to a renowned coin collector. He does show off his collection to the guy, but his main goal is naturally to show him the coin from last time. Turns out that naturally for a five part episode the treasure they lost last time was just a fraction of the real thing and the real titular treasure is a mythical horde even Scrooge, who normally has proved something out of myth is very real 5 times before breakfast, didn’t think existed. 

Something I do love about this five parter is how every treasure hunt has ended up being important each piece of the puzzle leading to the next like any good treasure hunt. As for where this one leads the collector HAS heard of only one other coin like it, up in the Andes Mountains in a mysterious fortress whose mountain habitat and being a fortress makes it hard to get to and the owner is apparently a real piece of work.. but Scrooge isn’t afraid of a little hard work and is ready to go after it.. he just has to find a Nanny first. 

And he does as there’s only one left: Mrs. Beakley, who we FINALLY meet after two episodes. Yeah for some weird reasont his episode choose to cram the rest of the major main and supporting cast into one episode.. it still works, they all still get great introductions it’s just weird to me when you have five episodes to not say introduce Launchpad last time. 

But regardless as I said it’s a good intro.. despite the boys wilding a lasso and a snake.

 Beakly is unphased and even dosen’t remotely fall for them trying to say she got the wrong name. And while Scrooge is a little impressed, he’s even more when she states she’ll work for free... with one condition: Free room and board for her and her grandaughter, Webby, who has been there the whole time and looking cute as a button. Scrooge is unsure but one minute of Webby being adorable later and he’s agreed. She can’t eat much right? He also hopes she’ll help the boys not be douchebags, unaware that their inherent poorly written sexisim means that was never going to work. And why yes I will call it out eveyr time it happens because it happens every time they have an episode together and only gets worse. 

He goes to Gyro for help and Classic Gyro.. is utterly delightful. While I clearly have issues with Classic Scrooge, whose a greedy poorly aged asshat and the boys, who are sterotypes of male children, Gyro? He’s nice, friendlya nd eccentric, using a delightfully wakcky pogo hat thing to think and takes only a mintue to figure out how to solve a seemingly unsolvable problem and only needs a few hours to build his cool looking bird ship, using bird legs to offset the hard to sort out landing conditions. But since it’s a fancy bitch, it needs a pilot and i’m sure we all know where this is going...but since Carol Danver sis busy he has to go with Launchpad. 

Launchpad’s intro is great, cheerful as he does a job testing a plane and naturally crashes it, and when thought dead walks out seconds later unharmed and jolly as ever. Scrooge is naturally terrified of the prospect of flying with him but dosen’t really have another choice “I hope my insurance is paid up.” Scrooge it’s you.. of course it isn't. 

So with that our hero bids a farewell to the boys and ends up unteitonally coming off MASSIVELY unlikeable. No really he leaves them behind for their saftey despite needing help... and then upon finding out Donald is going to be on leave soon in the andes, and just assumes that YOU KNOW, he’d LIKE to go on a dangerous exausting adventure instead of actually get some rest after working in the goddamn navy and STILL dosen’t take the kids along despite having a very tearjerking farewell IN FRONT OF HIM that happened at most a month ago. Granted i’m suprised Donald is getting leave this soon.. but since I genuinely like to look into this sort of thing and the last time I didn’t I was correctly reminded Gulliver’s Travels was a satire.. and found out someone HAD actually watched the Jack Black movie. I only vaugely remember a trailer.. I thinkn it was a trailer? Maybe it was the middle part of a juinor novelzation where htey have all the photos? I really don’t know. I know almost every pokemon on sight but not where I saw pictures of a forgetable jack black movie, what a shock. 

So long story short I DID google it. Here’s what I got

So given clealry more time has passed than we’ve seen on screen, enough time COULD have passed for Donald’s three day pass to kick in. So credit to the crew for actually thinking that out. They still get all the blame though for not only not seeing how bad not taking the kids to see the uncle whose like a father to them a month after he left when he CLEARLY can is bad, but how worse it is that the first break donald gets ina  month.. is spent helping scrooge against his will on a life or death treasure hunt. 

And I get WHY they wanted to try out having Donald on an adventure: he was in most of the carl barks material.... but I also dont’ get it as Launchpad was deisgned entirely to fill in for Donald when needed, we’re only three episodes into the series and this gives the wrong impression Donald will guest star a lot more. In practice while he still did get a meaty 8 episodes on the show including this one, 2 of which were cameos and the pilot only dosne’t count because of the exnteded slapstick sequence, and dosen’t appear at all after season 1, likely because Fenton’s introduction made him reduntant as he was an even more blatant Donald stand-in. It just feels weird to shove him into the pilot movie when we should be focusing on our main cast, epsecially with so many getting intorduced this episode. It woudl’ve made more sense for Gyro to be the third man instead and it woud’ve elmaited Scrooge’s uttelry horrible actions here of depriving his nephews of their surrogate father. 

So Uncle Dickstick leaves with Launchpad to go abduct donald.... and tha’ts not me being funny, that’s what actually happens. Donald is singing out on leave.. with his superior... weirdly doing paper work outside on the flight deck. 

And is angry at Donald because of him taking pictures and stuff and threatens him if he’s not back exactly in time... because look he’s on a boat with a bunch of sweaty men but as the most superior officer he can’t enjoy that so he has to get off SOMEHOW and ruining donald’s life just happens ot be a thing for him. 

So yeah Scrooge straight up naps Donald via claw and Donald is angry, wondering, as you’d expect “What’s the big idea”.. and once Scrooge clairfies he did it.. still asks that because what the fuck. And the episode treats this as comical, as it does Launchpad not understanding Donald.. and don’t get me wrong you CAN make a good “I can’t understand Donald Duck” joke, the 2017 series made PLENTY. But said series also spoiled me as they did it with far more effort, while also still showing just how much it would suck to have everyone around you struggle to hear what you say and never listen to you. They actually cared abotu Donald’s well being where as this one thinks “Gee you knwo what would go great iwth a hard month’s naval work? MORE WORK HELPING YOUR UNCLE GET RICHER FOR NO PERSONAL BENIFIT AFTER HE KIDNAPS YOU”. 

So our heroes.. and scrooge, head to Andes and find the temple and it’s here “Sigh” we met our antagonist. A Conquestador Douche who DOES have a name and it is on the wiki.. but is so generic and unlikeble I’m just going to keep calling him conquestador douche, whose introduced waving his sun coin around while the natives all bow to him because of the coin.

Welcome to the racisim! Admitely it’s not as bad as Treasure of the Lost Lamp, that’s a high bar to clear, but ti’s still not great to have the racist cliche of “character conquers a civilization because of they belivie he’s a messenger for their “silly” god”. And the saddest part is not that I didn’t notice this trope and how bad it was as a kid watching shows like this... but that as an ADULT about 4 years ago when I watched this episode how racist it and this trope in general was didn’t register to me at all. That.. really bothers me that it took me this long to pick up on things like this and i’m sorry for it. 

That’s honestly WHY we need these warnings and WHY i’m so hard on this racisim: it wasn’t necessary, it could’ve been removed and you clearly just didn’t care or didn’t realize it was racist. And even acceptable for the time dosen’t work for anymore: I learned recently that the creators of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, both white, hired black writers..and actually LISTENED, looking to them for personal stories and to check them if one of the white staff wrote something that wasn’t true to the black experience. I know that sounds like the bare minimum but this was the early 90′s, that kind of thinking wasn’t hte norm like it is in most writer’s rooms now.. and sadly not ALL writer’s rooms. Not only that but just today I ran into a MST3K skit that lampooned this kind of bullshit from not long after this episode. People clearly knew better, the writers of this episode just didn’t’t care

 So yeah, I get this was a kids show in the 80′s, I get the writing staff being almost all white.. but they still coudl’ve avoided cliche sterotypes and done something diffrent. It was was still wiithin white people like myselves power to actually think about something other htan themselves and we did not. So i’m never going to stop holding my own people accountable for just how BADLY we’ve fucked up in ways great and small because it still hasn’t stopped , likely never will so I won’t. 

But yeah.... the tribe here are portrayed as ignorant, mindless dumbasses who blindly follow tradition and a clearly corrupt leader. It’s patronizingly stupid to assume just because a belief system is diffrent than yours a person will belieive anything. Religion CAN make people act stupid, the fact many people are homophobic simply because the bible, a centuries old document written and distrbuted by humans that could of been altered by people with a clear homophobic agenda, says they should be. But there’s the very clear very gross implication here that any god but the christian god is invalid and simplifies wonderful and well thought out myths and beliviefs from various cultures into “well they belivie in da sun god because of the shiny coin”. It’s gross, i’m glad it’s stopped and it’s VERY telling that the closest Ducktales 2017 came to this was the most dangerous game night which while a tad cringe inducing at least showed the tribe it used was clever, disposed the person they mistook for a god after it was clear he wasn’t one , and were wholly sympathetic. 

Naturally Conquistadouche orders the tribe to attack Scrooge and it works briefly , though Scrogoe prepares to take on the ENTIRE villiage.. and given this is Scrooge and on this blog we’ve seen him take on an entire town before, and that was a more inexpericed less bastardly scrooge yeah their fucked, and only escape death because the coin falls out of scrooge’s coat when he tries to help donald who naturally injures himself trying to help. 

And since as per white dumbass racist logic, the villiagers thought Conquistadipshit was a messenger of the gods because of his coin, they think the same of Scrooge, this causes them to stop and bow instead and protect scrooge when Conquistadumbass tries to attack our heroes. Their given a room for the night naturally. 

Conquistadick demands they give him the coin and leave, but Scrooge has none of that: he has no reason to leave and has all the leverage so he instead demands to know wha’ts going on. 

Turns out Conquisineart is the decdendant of one of the crew from the ship Scrooge found: their captain rain off with it, leaving two of his men behind, though both had the map to the rest of the treasure and split it: one left for the Arctic, the other stayed and did the whole racist god bit. And somehow despite all the time passing Conquistadoodoohead still has his half and Scrooge aranges a trade for the coin. And why yes their is the obvious problem of “what if Conquistascoobydoo say tells them he’s the true god and attacks scrooge like he ends up doing in the climax”. And Scrooge’s plan.. is to have the plane ready and to run to it, despite Launchpad not being a mechanic and saying as much. Instead of you know... stealing the guy’s coin while he’s asleep or something or just having launchpad, whose bigger and stronger and donald whose not bigger but is also stronger hold the guy while Scrooge steals his sun coin, then simply walks to the plane with the map, the coins and all the leverage. at worst the guy tries to do the same scheme without any coins and as the end of the episode shows, that wouldn’t have worked. He was stupid. Oh and the cherry on  top of this shit sundae is scrooge objects to the guys tyranical rule.. but is okay with letting it keep going if he gets his coin and DOnlad, whose there for the deal, never call shim on it. 

We then get a bit of Launchpad being forced off a cliff to ride a giant Condor...

Look this episode is filled with racisit sterotypes, a generic villian and Scrogoe being awful. I’ll take a fun sequence of Launchpad riding a condor, with Donald providing an assit with his camera  by blinding the beast so Launchpad can ride him properly giving them more leverage now Launchpad is popular. And a deadline to fix things by tommorow. 

The next day Launchapd and Donald have defied logic and their own tendency to screw up and fixed the bird, while Scrooge makes the deal.. and naturally it goes EXACTLY how you’d expect and Scrooge runs, though our real heroes get thigns running. 

That’s when the people arrive on condors to persue, a fight insues yoru standard hero stuff.. not bad but given the racist context I can’t really enjoy it like Launchpad flying a condor.. which had some mild racisim in them making him do that as a ritual clearly deisgned to kill him but i’llt ake mild over pretty damn obvious. Eventually douchebag looses his coins, his ctizens abndon him. Happy end. 

So with the map Scrooge decides to do the logical thing.... have launchpad drop him in the middle of the ocean in a raft and steer there

Launchpad takes Donald home in time and his superior is mad he dosen’t give him a proper salute.. even though he CLEARLY just got home and is diisorented from a crash. Launchpad makes a quip and this episode mercifully ends. 

Final Thoughts:

This episode starts out okay.. but quickly goes downhill fast and steep. There are massive bits of racisim, massive leaps in logic, and massive amoutns of scrooge being a dick.. not his WORST in this series but it’s still bad. It’s just not very good. It’s the second worst episode of Ducktales i’ve seen, only held up by my boys Donald and Launchpad. This was miserable.

Next Time on Treasure of the Golden Suns: Our heroes head to the arctic for another offensive episode to rescue scrooge from his own stupidity.  Next Time on this Blog: We return to Green Eggs and Ham and hop on a train as our raging bitchcanoe mother and daughter duo meat our ambigiouslyg ay duo at last. 

See you at the next rainbow.