#Feature Writing Creative Writing

[erieautumnskies]

I recently got featured by Nepenthe Literary Magazine in their Aspiring Stars series! You can find the post that my writing and I are featured in here. If you're interested in applying to be featured, I advise you to through the link in their profile!

[canisalbus]

My absolute favorite thing about your blog, even more favorite that Vachete, is the care and interest you put into each response. Be it an ask or an art piece, you always eloquently break down each individual aspect and comment on them. It always makes me smile.

.

[franki-lew-yo]

An alt-universe's version of The Owl House's final season

"Thanks to Them" - Luz, Amity, Willow, Gus, Hunter and the Palismans get stuck in the human realm after King's heroic sacrifice. Luz properly meets Vee and reconciles with her mother.

"HalfWay House Noceda" - The Demon Realm kids attempt to make themselves 'useful' to Luz and Camilla by doing chores around the house even though their magic/skills are a bit more of a detriment. Meanwhile Luz shows Camilla some videos she took of Eda to prepare her for meeting the Owllady and King and Camilla is unnerved but also thrilled.

"Abduction of the Innocents" - Vee and Hunter have a heart to heart while everyone else pretends to like Camilla's and Luz’s favorite movies, except of course for Gus, who is inspired by the images on screen to really explore his illusion powers for Camilla. 

"Next to Nowhere" - Luz begins school again and ruminates over accidentally helping Philip, but her friend's determination help's her to keep going. Also Amity and Luz bond over Azura with Amity being able to tell Luz that she doesn’t like the Azura movies. 

"Kids of Gravesfield" - The other Palisman have been noticing Flapjack pacing around and both hiding something from the kids while also looking for someone. Luz and Hunter investigate a certain feeling they have around town while the rest of the gang heads to the Gravesfield Historical Society to get answers. Unbeknownst to everyone, Belos is amassing power and does something to Jacob Hopkins. 

"Season's Feedings" - On Halloween Night the kids learn the story of brothers’ Wittebane. Through this Luz regains some of her glyph magic by finding the portal Evelyn and Caleb originally used. Hunter gets possessed by Belos who kills Flapjack, but Hunter gets unpossessed. With just enough Titanblood to take them to the Demon Realm, Camilla joins the kids after Belos while Vee stays home to cover for them being missing.

"For the Future" - A look as to what our Demon Realm friends have been doing all this time; King keeps the Collector entertained, Lilith and Eda try and reach the immobilized citizens, and Hexside becomes a safe haven for the unconverted kids of the Boiling Isles. 

"Outside, Over Here" - The Collector, King and the Clawthorne sisters begin actually knowing Collector and bonding over his past - but things get interrupted by the Owl Beast and further interrupted by Lilith being puppet-ized for 'bad behavior'. Or, is it? Lilith, Hooty and the Owl Beast begin their own psyche-plotting within their inner mind and find a way to communicate with Eda and King despite still being puppets.

"Revenge of the Bad Girl Coven" - Just as it looks like Matholomule is coming into his own, Boscha decides she's taking over the remains of Hexside after her Grugby Team are turned into Puppets and two new students appear on campus.

"Watching and Dreaming" - Luz, Camilla and the crew return to the Boiling Isles and discover what's left of the Owl House and Hexside. They aren't alone, however, as Belos has also returned. 

"After All" - Amidst Boscha's reign of terror, Luz heads to the basement to recount her memories of Philip's shortcut to the head of the titan. The kids ultimately thwart Kikimora's takeover with the help of the Bat Queen though not before Willow finally looses her cool. Luz on the other hand finally meets her palisman, Stringbean. 

"The Brothers Wittebane" - Flashback episode that shows the complicated life of farmhand-turned Witch-husband Caleb Clawthorne and the brother he didn't mean to leave behind."

"Collector Says" - In an attempt to get more information on the archivists and what happened to the Titans, King and the Collector travel once again to the Titan Trappers, who listen to whatever the Collector says. Luz and Stringbean get separated from Camilla.

"How it shouldn't have Ended" - Luz, King and Eda all get reunited in an unconventional way while befriending Collector, while Belos makes a break for the Heart of the Titan to amas his final body.

"Inbetweens" - Belos' uses various hosts to get to the Titan's body which he takes over and starts destroying the Boiling Isles in his wake, but also leaving behind the now-mobilized hosts (Covenheads, Raine, harpy-Lilith) who each help Eda, Luz, King and Collector get to Belos from the inside out. Luz jumps in the way of the Collector being killed and appears to die herself, setting off Eda and King.

"Now Eat this SUCKAAH" - The puppet-ized kids regain their consciousness and begin fighting back and freeing the others under the Collector's spell. Luz wakes up in the in between realm and is helped out by King's dad in finding a way to get out and defeat Belos using the magic of the Titan. In the end Belos melts in the boiling rain and the Collector thanks everyone and goes to confront his family.

"Gone Bygones" - Peek into a bright, Belos-less future for all the characters.

Upside of this alt reality = proper Gus and Willow development, resolution to the Batqueen, actually seeing Caleb and Evelyn andbeebybaby Belos, an answer as to who really made the original portal door, more Stringbean, Lilith having her moment of bonding/actualization with the Owl Beast, resolution on the Titan Trappers, and just a final season overall to really close out the series and send off the characters we all love.

Downside to this alt reality = because Disney's no longer funding it the animation had to be finished by Dingo Pictures and all the voice acting is done by Chris Pratt. Also a nuke went off and we're in the middle of WWIII officially.

[aurae-rori]

“DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH”

— this is written in the same universe that my fic 'a heart, embark, a beautiful star' is written in - except this is diamond's backstory.

— involves character exploration as well as kind of explaining how diamond came to be the person that he is today

— mm character study

— diamond's relationship with the devil that he's contracted to and how it came to that point :)

— i might post a second chapter to this after i finish the csm au in its entirety as to not spoil some things that will be mentioned as diamond climbs the ranks. but for now, just one chapter and 6.2k words!

featuring artworks done by my friends of diamond's canon design!!

done by the wonderful @nicoarts69

and!!

done by @cococosplay113 !!

thank you guys sm <33

[maybeitsalivescribbles]

TTD - Bonus scene

(It's a small thing, but I thought you'd like some fluff in these trying times.)

*

“Witness, if you will, a creature destroyed the agonies of illness. Alas, once a powerful monster threatening all humanity, now they stand here helpless, struck by the hand of fate, slowly dying of congestion, with no flowers at their feet but a bunch of used handkerchiefs.”

Hero, who walked through the living room, carrying a warm bowl, gave their expert roommate opinion:

“Bullshit. You have a cold. Your nose is barely red.”

Villain didn’t even give them a look. Clenching their dark robe, their hand pressed on their heart, they kept on:

“Truly a miserable fate for someone who was destined to rule the world. Darkness is closing in-”

“That’s literally your power. You control your shadow...oh, why am I debating with you.”

It had been two days that Villain had that fateful cold, but if you’d asked Hero, it seemed like an eternity and a half. Not only Villain had to nest into the living room’s couch because their own room was full of scraps of metal and wood for their current invention – whatever that was – but they were bored.

That meant incessant monologues. Long, convoluted monologues. Never ending monologues on their couch that was losing its shape slowly but surely.

When Hero was going back home, after a long day of helping citizens and affronting their boss, they had to hear about the agonies of having a common cold and oh, how the mighty had fallen. Hero had never felt specially mighty themself, but sometimes they wondered if murder in these circumstances was not regarded as legitimate defense.

Was a voice extinction too much to ask?

They bit their lip and held out the bowl to their roommate. Two skinny hands held it and a yelp was heard:

“It’s hot!”

Hero collapsed on a chair, unfolding a blanket nearby:

“As hot as the fiery flames of hell. Or something.”

An audible growl emerged from the black mist that clouded their roommate, but in Hero’s book, that was a win.

They fell asleep, the blanket on their lap. No monologue woke them.

*

Check the These Two Dorks Masterlist or Tag for more snippets with this Hero and Villain. This is how they met and now they’re roommates.

Or back to Hero x Villain Masterlist.

[leahnardo-da-veggie]

Russian Roulette Club

"Velcome, velcome!" Saya clapped her hands gleefully, eyeing the only other person in the room. "Vat brings you to ze Russian Roulette Club?"

The girl opposite her had dead eyes. Not flat or depressed, just dead. Her entire irises were black holes, and no light reflected across them. Her mouth was set in a grim line, with a dribble of blood trickling out the side, and her brows were trying to get a gold in the knitting Olympics. "I want to feel alive again," the dead girl said, tasting the words, unsure if she approved of them.

"Vell, you've come to ze right place, zen! Here, take zis. It vill stabilise your nerves. Ha ha," Saya threw a can of beer at the girl. Her hand flickered up in a blur of speed, cracked it open, and she took a sip. Saya raised an eyebrow. "Zat vas pretty good! Vat is your name?" 

"Raya." The dead girl was no talker, it seemed. Not that Saya minded, of course. It was good to have company, even if that company was a reticent zombie.

"Haha! You vill be Raya, and I vill be Saya, and vi vill have Papaya!" Saya waited to see if the dead girl got the pun.

If Raya did, she did not comment on it. "Will you help me feel alive?" She locked gazes with Saya, who felt the room grow colder instantly. 

"Of course! It is ze goal of zis club, after all! Even zough vi are dead, vi vill still have fun!" Saya exclaimed with a flourish of her cape. For a long while, it had seemed to her that nobody became undead because they loved life. For a few moments, she had feared that she would be trapped between the workaholic revenants and the dramatic vampires for all of eternity. "Come! I have many events planned! No time to waste!"

She grabbed Raya's limp wrist and pulled her into the room. Flyers were plastered across every wall, a maniac's obsession with advertisements for amusement parks and escape rooms. They had begun desiccating, scraps of paper littered about the floor haphazardly. The bin was filled with empty blood bags and beer cans, with a side of mouldy chip-remains.  "Vat shall vi do today?!" Gesturing wildly around the room, she waited for a spark to appear in the zombie's eyes.

Raya stared reticently at the walls, contemplating her existence. Then a grey hand shot up to jab at a faded advert. "This," she pronounced with all the dramatics of a corpse.

"An excellent choice!" Saya peered at the faded paper, trying to decipher it. “Ze vaterpark?” 

Raya nodded. “I like water parks.”

Peering at the small text on the pamphlet, Saya saw a problem with their plan. “Oh, but zis is all ze way over in Lozaras! Vi cannot simply hop over there. Zey do not like our kind, now do zey?” 

Raya nodded. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but she seemed almost… Sad? “I understand. Sorry for bothering you,” she said, turning towards the door.

“Vait, no!” Saya darted between the zombie and the door. “Vat kind of club vould vi be, if vi let every little trouble stop us like zat? I vill get you into that vaterpark, rules be damned!”

Taglist:

@coffeeangelinabox, @dorky-pals, @calliecwrites, @kaylinalexanderbooks, @shukei-jiwa

@thewingedbaron, @pluppsauthor, @cowboybrunch, @wylloblr, @possiblyeldritch

@tragedycoded, @finickyfelix, @urnumber1star, @ratedn, @ramwritblr

@vampirelover890, @possiblylisle, @illarian-rambling, @the-ellia-west, @differentnighttale

@evilgabe29, @glitched-dawn, @rivenantiqnerd, @dragonhoardesfandoms, @xenascribbles

@drchenquill, @everythingismadeofchaos, @owldwagitoutofyou, @dimitrakies, @beloveddawn-blog

@riveriafalll, @the-golden-comet, @rascaronii, @trippingpossum, @real-fragments

@unrepentantcheeseaddict, @the-inkwell-variable

(Anyone else who wants to get added can tell me in the comments, pm me, or send me an ask about it!)

[world-of-iridensia]

So I decided to test out @ellipsus-writes new Snippet feature... I think I may use this a lot going forward.

This is a little piece of Chapter 25 which is still in progress.

[saturdaynightghostclub]

Guys I miss Tiktok. I’m ready to be hurt again

[captainkurosolaire]

I Blade - Choose

Sandal-clogs dashed inside a corridor hidden-away from an Eastern Estate, sweat secreting from a wrinkled forehead, fear written in the visage of a monger, a wielder who manufactured beings-as-weapons, shaped them with causes, purposes, a believed-martyr for those abandoned to darkness.

Blood-pressure accelerating, chest-heaved, padded-black boots now stained red, drew inward... Shriveling plead came, "...Now Rozan; Hoku... We can talk about this. You're unaware the ramifications you'll spill, how deep our cause goes. We're good-guys, our obligation is to carry out-the-will for those incapable to wield." The ploy was to sow further manipulation. Byproduct of damages were written in an almost soulless set of eyes. Seeker vocalized, "I'm not directionless. I'll fight for peace for The Far-East until victory-roars throughout Ruby City-State." Another step came, "But I'm of choice where I'm wielded. You attempted to extinguish that little-bit of light peeking through the crevices; it revealing chain's of deceit were on my hilt." Truth-peered intensely from those glowing-orbs. Star's collapsing on their victims, before certain annihilation. Don of Black Miracle's back-peddled, thoughts of scheme forming in desperation. Word's surely could disarm his renegade-weapon until reaching his trap-room. "I tried to rescue you by sending Hydo after the girl. She'll rust steel; relation's serve corrosive. Haven't I been the perfect-handler for you? What's-she possibly able to offer, I'm unable?!" Expressively trying to instill reason. The Assassin paused, grasping blade-hilt, almost at range. He contemplated from aroma of the contract-flower in-between his coat; sworn to protect, memory's rebooting of tongue tasting that divine liquid of tea that carried weary-travelers heaven, revitalizing senses, subtle movements the Shaman offered in mending. "Soft-Hands. Brightness... Importantly, discovery of my peace." Words conveyed like poetry. Sensations should've been exterminated, tempered from wrathful flames, torture inflicted to soul-crushed discipline. Angered-teeth grated his Manufacturer shouted furiously "Soft-Hands?! Kidding me?! ...That's all!? We could've thrown koban towards any Red-Light District shameless harlot for that. They'd provided all-that aforementioned, gobbling ravenously!" Taking a larger-gap step with a dark motive. Black-maned Lion cornering this bossing rodent squealing, unknowingly didn't desire fleeting reprieve. He slew in that manner. He yearned, more... Wait, when did his identity reveal? A luster-string internally showing a path. ...To Existence of a Heart. Sudden-shifts came as Don Honzo took a leap behind into a room where a detected motion-sensor sealed-up gate of wards offered salvation. The trap-room revealed itself, an insurmountable set of paper scrolls for an inferno spell revealed, all primed upon Hoku's approach soon inevitable detonation. Gloating with maniacal cackling, "Be incinerated you traitorous-tool! Know her weakness; caused your death!" Hand's on hip, proudly. The cowardice-demeanor was just a front of mastered shadow-orchestration. With peerless-composure, Rozan the Star withdrew sword, in instant a magnificent-strike slash of skilled. The preach of weakness foiled wrong, in that desperation moment, he grew stronger... considering that flower needed preservation; life greater than thought. Momentarily becoming weightless... His Don's expression engraved to dumbfounded. Almost worth-tearing to admirable beauty, genuine-fear creeping... The trap scrolls fused-sparks were left blown out like a series of candles, the protective barrier between them; sliced apart. Right as Hoku exhaled, utilizing that perfect technique; his back was unexpectedly smashed from a swinging-secondary trap of a wrecking-ball. He disarmed to instant, hand's in his fall reached out, cradling something from confines; to shield something fragile, collapsing directly in a heap before his Maker. The Don viciously kicked and stomped, "I TOLD YOU, Rust! Reason I'm in-charge, you disobedient, Trash! Ingrate! Vermin!" Kicking continuously, dirt piling amongst garb to slaved-belonging, rib's were being heard rattling cracks, air and spit chucking out of lungs. The twist unseen... seems he needed a miracle.

[Prev:Chapter]: Burned ~ ♪"Renegades"♪

[dannyphannypack]

Happy Holiday Truce @ghozteevee !

I'm so sorry about the wait! I'd say the holidays got away from me, but I think procrastination is pretty true-to-form for me. Something I'll definitely work on in the New Year. I really hope it's still January 3rd for you!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this little story <3 I took some inspo from two of your prompts: post identity reveal family outing and sibling bonding. The sibling bonding is in the first quarter or so, the parental bonding is in the last bit. Also, the conclusion definitely ran away from me! Very Brother Bear vibes up in here. I hope that's okay!

Enjoy! :3

Word Count: 3280

Danny gasped awake with a shiver, barely catching the green of his eyes as it caught on the shiny, canvassed ceiling of their tent. His breath fogged in front of him, visible in the quickly dimming glow. It served as a warning of what he already knew had awoken him, but it was nice to get the confirmation anyway: there was a ghost nearby.

He rubbed the crust from his eyes as he allowed his brain time to wake up the rest of the way. The good news was that it didn’t feel like anything overly powerful. The bad news was that if it tripped his Ghost Sense, then it was powerful enough—and more than likely causing havoc, because it was clearly feeling some big emotions and those emotions usually amounted to some brand of anger. It also felt distinctly feral, and given their locale, it was safe to bet it was an animal spirit of some kind. Those could be especially unpredictable, and he wasn’t in the mood.

Danny looked over at the sleeping bag where his sister slept—seeing in the dark hadn’t been a problem for a long time, with or without the aid of glowing eyes—and he watched the slow rise and fall of her chest as she quietly snored. Now, whether or not to wake her was the question. The Ghost Assault Vehicle would be the safest place for her if things went haywire, but undoubtedly she’d be worried and clingy and want to help, which he also wasn’t in the mood for.

Ultimately, though, safety overruled whatever annoying sibling feelings she might stir up. Danny dislodged himself from his own sleeping bag and crawled across the floor to her, the waterproof fabric beneath him making rustling noises all the way.

“Psst,” he whispered, setting a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Jazz.”

“Whazzat?” she asked, jerking. “Danny?”

“Hey. There’s a ghost.”

Her eyes blew open. “Like, here? Now?”

Yeah, maybe he could’ve handled that better. “Not yet,” he amended. “But I’m heading out. You should probably get in the Gav, just in case.”

“The G-A-V, Danny, not the ‘Gav.’” It was an old argument, one they hadn’t really argued over in years. Danny figured that Jazz probably found it endearing now that she was out of the house and missing him for most of the year. She sighed as she sat up and reached for the ground, hands fumbling towards her glasses. “You’re going alone? At least tell Mom and Dad first. And help me with a light, please.”

Danny summoned a ball of ectoplasm and sent it floating up towards the domed ceiling, where it lit the whole tent in a dim, soft blue. He grimaced. “I was kind of hoping you’d do that.”

Danny’s parents had been informed of his little secret only a week ago, and all-in-all it had gone down pretty well. The timing had been strategic, of course; Danny was going off to college at the end of the summer, and his parents needed to know why their newest ghostly ally would be disappearing from Amity for the entire school year (barring holidays and emergencies, if all went well). Going to college was a failsafe he knew he hadn’t needed, but wanted anyway—seeing alternate timelines where his parents were accepting of his after-school activities was very different from actually experiencing it in his own, after all. They’d reacted much as expected, though. Surprised. Excited. Sad. Guilt-stricken.

Jazz looked at him with something that bordered on pity, and it made him squirm. “I can if that’s what you really want, Danny,” she allowed. “But you know why I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Okay, no need to get all mopey about it,” Danny deflected, clambering up to his knees (the tent wasn’t tall enough to stand, which kind of put a damper on his whole ‘stoic’ front. Not that he’d admit that). “It just…still feels weird. But I can do it!”

Jazz raised her hands in fake surrender and fought a smile. “Yeah, yeah, you’re a big boy now, I got it.” She unzipped her sleeping bag and cast the cover aside. “I’ll go hide. Though…if it’s big enough that you needed to wake us up, maybe you should do more than just let them know.”

“Like?” Danny asked, just to be obstinate. He knew what Jazz was hinting at.

Jazz rolled her eyes. “Like ask for help, you big dummy.”

Danny sighed. It’d be the first time working with them since…“I don’t know if we’re at that level yet, Jazz.”

“You were before you told them,” Jazz pointed out with a raised brow.

“It’s different,” he stressed.

“Okay, well, different or not, you need to tell them you’re leaving, at the very least.” Jazz crawled over her sleeping bag towards the door and unzipped it with a practiced, fluid motion. “After you,” she said with a dramatic gesture towards the dark campfire and forest beyond.

Danny grumbled as he passed, and once out of the threshold he let the ectoplasmic ball lighting the inside of the tent wink out, just to hear Jazz’s indignant “Hey!” from behind him. Seconds later he heard (and saw) her flashlight click on behind him; ectoplasm-powered and too big for its own good, Danny was sure that thing created its own light pollution. He refused to use it on principle.

Danny walked the short trek to his parents’ tent and crouched to get the zipper, deciding against intangibility just in case one of his parents was awake enough to notice a shadowy silhouette phase through the wall. On the other side, Jack snored with the force of a train engine; Danny could swear it was rattling the zipper out of his hands as he fumbled with it.

The inside was dark, but Jazz’s flashlight outside cast long shadows across the floor. Danny moved out of the way so that the light could hit his parent’s faces; Danny knew his mother would have in ear plugs, so this was really the only safe way of waking her beyond shaking, which Danny knew from experience could be…startling, sometimes.

He watched her brows furrow before her eyes squinted open. She rubbed at her eyes with one hand and took an ear plug out with the other. “Danny? What happened?”

“Um, there’s a ghost,” Danny said (muttered, more like). “I was gonna go—”

“Hold on, I can’t hear you,” Maddie said, turning to shake her husband. “Jack, wake up. Danny needs something.”

“Whazzat?” Jack yelled, in much the same way as Jazz. Like father, like daughter. “What happened?”

“Uh,” Danny said, feeling tenser now with both their attentions on him. “There’s a ghost.” He pointed north. “Half a mile that way, maybe. Getting closer. I was gonna go deal with it, but I told Jazz to get in the RV just in case.”

Maddie frowned. “You were gonna go deal with it? By yourself?”

Danny glanced behind him, where Jazz was giving him a thumbs up from across the campsite. “Um, no,” he lied, turning back around. “You guys can come. If you want. You don’t have to.”

“Of course we want to, Danno!” Jack shouted. He had positively lit up, like grogginess wasn’t and had never been an issue for him. “I’ll go get the Fenton Grappler!”

“Do you know what kind of ghost it is, sweetie?” Maddie asked, still watching him. “What equipment do we need to bring?”

Danny hadn’t thought that far ahead. “It’s an animal, I think. It feels pretty feral. It’s not that strong, either, but—”

“Animal spirits can be unpredictable,” Maddie said, echoing Danny’s earlier considerations. “Alright, we’ll bring the capturing gear.” She paused. “If…that’s okay?”

Danny almost laughed; he’d never heard his mom sound so unsure when it came to ghost hunting. “That sounds good, Mom,” he said. “I’ll go get my boots on.”

— — —

Danny led the way through the timber with his parents, feeling a little silly in human form but unwilling to change nonetheless. It was nice to walk, sometimes, even when flying would be quicker and less taxing. And he could pass his feet intangibly through those pesky fallen branches and thorny bushes, so really it wasn’t all that worse than strolling down an Amity sidewalk. There was, he told himself, no other reason he might want to stay human in this scenario. He certainly wouldn’t feel uncomfortable otherwise.

“Are we getting close, honey?” Maddie asked after helping Jack over a rotted trunk.

The irony wasn’t lost on Danny; he’d asked the same question on the RV ride there. He felt around in his chest, feeling for the speed at which his core buzzed it’s steady warning, the strength of the tug. “Nearly there,” he promised.

“That’s a real neat trick, Danny-boy,” Jack praised. Danny could hear the smile in his voice. “You know, I always wondered how Phantom heard wind of a ghost faster than we did. Didn’t I, Mads?”

Danny kicked at some dead leaves and sticks at the ground, embarrassed. “That ghost alarm you guys developed works similarly. It maybe doesn’t have quite the range, though.”

Maddie hummed, contemplating. “And that’s what woke you up tonight?”

“Yeah.”

Maddie reached out to set her hand on his shoulder, stopping him. He closed his eyes before he turned to face her, bracing. If he hadn’t caught on to the concern in her voice before, he was definitely feeling it now. “How often do ghosts wake you up?” she asked, quiet.

Danny opened his mouth to lie and then thought better of it. That was a habit he was determined to break with his family, whether they’d like the answer or not. “Once or twice a night,” he admitted, slowly. When Maddie made a pained noise, he quickly added, “Usually it’s nothing to worry about, though, so I just go back to sleep. Like, at least half the time.”

She bit her lip. Guilty. “You shouldn’t have had to deal with that, hun.”

“Can we not do this?” Danny pleaded. These were the kind of conversations he’d been trying to avoid for the past week. “It’s my fault for not telling you guys, not your fault for not noticing.”

“We know that’s how you feel, Danny,” his mom allowed. She shared a glance with Jack from over her shoulder. “But we can’t help but feel like some of that lies on us, too. For noticing the clues but not acting on them in the ways we should have.”

“We want to know now, though,” Jack said, coming up behind his wife. “Warts and all.”

“Is this an intervention?” Danny asked, nervous. It felt like his core was constricting in his chest. “Because I get enough of that from Jazz.”

“It’s not an intervention,” his mom denied, pinching the bridge of her nose. “It’s just…Why haven’t you turned into Phantom yet, Danny?”

Danny wasn’t sure if he heard that right. It felt like the conversation had spun 180. “What?” he asked.

“This isn’t exactly an easy hike, sweetie,” she said. “Mostly uphill, through brambles and across fallen trees.”

“It’s been fine,” he argued. “I’ve been phasing through most of it.”

“If we were Tucker or Sam, you would have flown us there,” Maddie finished, and, well, he couldn’t deny that logic. “So why haven’t you?”

Danny frowned. “I didn’t think we were at that stage yet.”

“We’re not on a date, Danny; we’re your parents,” she sighed, shaking her head. “There is nothing you could do that would make me stop loving you. I changed your diapers; I should know.”

Danny frowned. If she had said that two weeks ago, before they’d known, he might not have believed her. He did believe her this time, but it was marred by something else—this aching, squeezing feeling in his chest, riddling his core with fear and anxiety and confusion and—

Oh. That wasn’t from him.

“Look out!” Danny yelled, grabbing hold of his parents and shoving them to the ground. His shield came up just in time: a glowing black bear, absolutely massive for its species, came barreling down upon it, scratching and growling and baring sharp, sharp teeth with saber-toothed tiger levels of length. He flinched against its strength but held steady, keeping his hands in front of him to feed ectoplasm into the bubble that surrounded them.

Perhaps realizing that its efforts were futile, the bear backed away, roared once in warning, and then took off running in the opposite direction, taking a moment to pause awkwardly at a hollowed tree stump before disappearing over the hill.

“Okay,” Danny breathed, allowing the shield to dissipate. There was that conversation out the window. He was almost grateful for it; he’d always been better at fighting than he was at talking, and staying human during this battle was quickly becoming a moot point, anyhow. “Alright, here’s the plan: you guys follow from back here, and I’ll fly up and cut it off from the front. Sound good?”

He was about to run off then, but Maddie grabbed his chin and twisted him to face her. Her eyes scanned over him faster than Danny could even blink, checking for injuries at a near-inhuman speed. 

Once he got over his shock at being grabbed, he started to squirm. “Mom, stop. I’m fine,” he murmured, trying to turn away to hide the way embarrassment was quickly flooding his cheeks with red.

Once satisfied, Maddie nodded and placed a chaste kiss to his forehead. “Be safe,” she commanded in a no-nonsense voice, like he’d be grounded for a week if he came back injured. Then, she finally let him go.

“You too,” he said, turning away. Squeezing his eyes shut, he transformed—focusing on the way his core bloomed outward instead of the stares on his back—and took off into the air.

Going on a bear hunt. He was sure there was a kid’s song about that.

Danny followed the tug in his gut from the sky; it was even stronger now that he’d transformed and they’d gotten…acquainted, for lack of a better word. He couldn’t shake that weird anxious worry in his gut—the one that seemed to be emanating from the bear in waves—but he could fight through it, and that’s what mattered.

Animal spirits were all instinct and emotion, wrapped up into something tight and cohesive that ectoplasm wouldn’t have trouble latching onto. Usually that something was governed by anger, which, as far as Danny knew, was the strongest emotion in a living animal’s arsenal. Human spirits could end up governed by that too, but there was more nuance to the reasoning behind anger with a person: jealousy, revenge, even loneliness could rearrange into different flavors of the same base emotion. It was easier to assuage because of its complicatedness; when there was a direct physical link to someone’s anger, there was something to solve.

It was more difficult to get angry animal spirits to move on. They were angry at everything and nothing all at once. The whole world fueled their anger, and so there was little that could calm them down.

Fear, though…He’d never met an animal spirit governed by fear, or worry, or whatever anxious instinct this bear’s ectoplasm was releasing. Maybe he could turn this into a happy ending, for both him and the bear. He hoped he could, anyway.

Danny dived down in front of it, and from the way it twisted backwards and picked up its pace in the direction opposite of him (the direction towards his parents), it seemed the bear could sense him, too. He went intangible and picked up the pace, letting trees and leaves fly through him at a dizzying pace. Finally, the forest opened into a little clearing, and Danny threw up a green wall at the end of it, where the bear was trying to escape. It skid to a halt so fast it left deep gashes in the dirt, dropped something fuzzy and black from its mouth, and turned to face him.

Danny froze. There, curled beneath the ghost bear’s legs, was a single cub. It peered out from behind her, oblivious to the danger and curious as to the reason for their night’s interruption. More importantly, it did not glow like it’s mother. It was still alive.

Mother Bear growled a warning at the same time Danny’s parents started crashing through the brush nearest her. “Stop!” he shouted out, holding out a hand despite his parents not being able to see him. “Uh, stand down!”

“Danny?” His dad called. “What’s going on?”

Mother Bear was looking increasingly frantic. Panicking a little himself—whether from the emotions that he was accidentally leaching off her or the situation, he wasn’t sure—Danny made a split-second decision and thrust a dome over the top of her and her cub. It would shield them from any sudden bear attacks, true, but it also served as makeshift protection from any Fenton weaponry.

He trusted his parents not to shoot him. He wasn’t sure if he trusted them not to shoot Mother Bear.

“It’s safe now!” Danny called to his parents. “Um, leave your guns outside the clearing! And walk slowly!”

Danny was almost surprised to hear them listening. He didn’t know why. He had to stop doubting them.

“Oh,” Maddie said when she breached the tree line. Mother Bear rotated to face her and Jack as they stepped out, gnashing her too-long teeth and backing further over her cub to put it safely beneath her belly. It peeked out from beneath her paws. “It’s…a mother.”

She sounded shocked. Danny concurred.

“Come over here,” Danny told his parents. “Behind me. I’m gonna try something.”

He stepped forward as his parents came around the dome. Mother Bear watched them walk until they’d settled behind Danny, and already he could feel that fear worry stress easing, just from having all potential predators in-sight instead of surrounding her.

“Danny,” Maddie warned when he took another step forward. “Bears are extremely protective of their young.”

“I know,” Danny murmured, keeping his voice low. He inched forward, getting lower to the ground as he walked. “I’m not going to hurt you.”

Mother Bear snarled statically, touching on Ghost Speak but unable to form full coherence. Worry, is what Danny was able to read from it. Worry. Baby. Danger.

Danny switched tactics, changing to Ghost Speak as he set his hands gently against the wall of the dome, emanating as many calming emotions as he could summon. Calm. Safe.

She flinched, but her teeth were shortening, growing less sharp. Baby Bear yawned beneath her, a kind of squeaking hum. Almost like a puppy. Like Cujo, maybe.

Calm. Safe. Danny promised, at the same time voicing sentences in English above the Ghost Speak’s static: “It’s okay. You’re safe. I won’t hurt you. I won’t hurt him. You can let go. I’ll protect him. It’s alright.”

Mother Bear swayed, grew smaller. Promise. She growled. Staticked. No-nonsense voice. 

Promise. Danny responded.

Baby Bear nuzzled into Mother Bear, and she licked at his cheek as her body grew brighter and began dissipating, moving on. Baby Bear purred and purred.

She looked at Danny. Looked behind him, where his parents stood. Mother? she asked. With the emotions clogging her speech finally gone, he could actually understand her.

Danny nodded. “Yeah. That’s my Mom.”

Good. Mother Bear hummed, closing her eyes. Safe.

She disappeared, her glowing green fragments scattering on the wind.

Danny turned around to face his parents, and for the first time noticed that they were both crying. That was okay. He was crying, too.

He cleared his throat. “So. Anyway. Where’s the nearest Animal Sanctuary?”

[sacredwilderness]

The little blackbird

who had decided

on his own terms

one day

to show me his nest,

that I

may appreciate

his beauty

and watch him feed

his young

fat, juicy grubs

Is outside my door

I can hear him

calling for me,

soft little churps

he makes

as he hops on my back step

When I answer

and he sees me,

he struts

opening his little wings

I tell him:

I see you,

My darling

you are so beautiful

and then

with one last look

he flies off

Love really, is a thing of feathers

[rrylies]

writing summaries is so difficult how am i supposed to summarize it all when i just sat down and barfed all of these words up semi-coherently

[scratchandplaster]

FEBUWHUMP DAY 19 - "Please don't"

CW: bad Caretaker?

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

The sunny morning that greets Caretaker today promises success.

Slipping into their bathrobe and quickly running down the stairs, Caretaker simply can't wait for breakfast with Whumpee. Finally, after all the struggle, Whumpee is home again! A new start for them both, to make it like it used to be.

With a silent greeting, Caretaker joins Whumpee at the table and places a cup of hot coffee next to their crouched form. Two sugars, no milk.

"You always liked it this way, right?"

Their short hum breaks the tension. Whumpee just has to settle in a bit more, that's all. Even if it will be difficult at the beginning. Caretaker takes a good look through the garden behind the windows glass: a sunny day - perfect for yardwork.

A warm smile twitches at the corners of Caretaker's mouth: "Remember when we used to-"

"Please stop," Whumpee mutters bluntly, dull eyes begging them to let the past go, "I'm not this person anymore."

・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・・

Thanks for reading 🤍 [Febuwhump 2024 Masterlist]

@febuwhump

[agentravensong]

would tumblr be interested in the sad four page short story i wrote from a stuffed animal's pov

(edit: reblogged with the story, read it here!)

[theoffingmag]

For as long as I’ve been writing, I’ve been talking back to writers. [...] I love communing with Elizabeth Bishop and Emily Dickinson. This is as close as I get to making love with their poems. We’re all wearing silk.

Kimiko Hahn on Craft

[carnivalls]

"cannibalism is so mainstream now" yeah well that sure didn't help me when i told an offline coursemate that i was thinking about exploring it for my dissertation