#HAVE I MENTIONED I LOVE MOON BEING A DAD ALSO COOL AS JAZZ??? i love that concept so mcuh

[socksandbuttons]

unironically always thinking of several dad aus with killcode

hes JUST...

SIGHS

[1tsjusty0u]

I need to ask questions before i forget

ok so: ofc i could not forget this question. what does link think of sheikah tech

also impressions/interactions with purah and robbie Perhaps

AH!! honestly i dont think he really thinks much about it unless he needs it (ex robbie stuff), or zelda/purah/robbie/even impa mention things about it (like snippets of how it works or the history of it). usually the only thing that matters is “dangerous = avoid” or “helpful = get”. the only exception to this being the shrine of resurrection, which at first he didnt question at all, but once he learned of What It Was, then he was like “OH. oh i Dont like that”. the few times hes gone back in there he’ll sometimes just. sit in there. and try to discern more about it (and also more about his past self by proxy, despite not really being awake when he was put into it). the divine beasts creep him severely out at first, Especially vah naboris at first. it just walks so unnaturally…. and it walks in circles and gets closer to the mountains but then it turns away. however after he frees the champions he just. sits by them. once again either just to have a Moment or to talk to the champions. i really like this idea because it both means link can share food with them and also it can get more character revelations (maybe mipha can finally talk to sidon and her dad. WHICH BY THE WAY ITS SO SAD YUNOBO SAW DARUK BUT SIDON DIDNT SEE MIPHA. like im sure mipha did that on purpose as well as daruk but D: ). the guardians probably scared him really badly at first, and hed avoid them at all costs. i think the only time he found out you could fight them And Win would be if/when he got the guardian sheild from cherry, where it autoblocks their beams. thats how he learned he could parry them and now fighting them is Tense but also pretty easy. he doesnt like the flying ones he cant parry them. he just uses ancient arrows on them or avoids them. speaking of when doing miphas guardian fight its kind of the first time he realizes that the guardians Werent Meant to do all of this. the ones mipha fought were Designed to fight, and you could tell as they glowed orange not pink. doing the kakariko shrine also cemented this and i think he would miss that specific guardian (i dont know if it respawns on blood moons. i know the strength trial ones do but this one might not). i think he would like cores though just on the account of being rare and looking very cool. he also uses guardian weapons sometimes both on the basis of being cool and being respawnable weapons (shrine strength trials and all that jazz). speaking of the shrines he either loves them (shrines that require outside challenges like the skull lake one) or does Not like them (ones that can kill him like the spike balloon one). he saved some shrines for zelda to do (including the one in the memory, half out of spite and half out of she Did want to see. she might actually use this to get better at defending herself if it comes to that (and also studying how the guardians move and their attacks. once defeating it taking its parts and deconstructing it). this also does put into question how im making death work here (i like to think that save reloads or those little link falling off . animations? cutscenes? are like previews of what happens and then he just comes back to himself. they do Actually happen and he can Feel It but he always ends up in the position he was just before he did that (like getting off the ground after those cutscenes). those are jarring for him and he doesnt like the feeling.

i think how he sees ganon by proxy would also be interesting. ganon uses sheikah tech a Lot (the blights and his own mini shrine of resurrection). hed probably think the blights are just kind of. proxies of the divine beasts? like not questioning it at all because the aesthetic fits and all that jazz. but once he got to the castle he Would question ganons own SoR thing (and the decayed guardian attached to it). and also ganons form before he turns into the dark beast would be. Very Weird to him. he wouldnt ask zelda but hed ask impa or purah how thatd work or how he can do that and they go “he can do fucking What?”.

impressions of purah and robbie pre cal are: pretty cool but doesnt know well, and cool and weirdly nice. robbie would slightly scare him until he works with him more, and purah wouldnt scare him but hed be awkward around her as if they worked together itd probably be in silence, unless something would happen in which case link would have no idea whats happening so he’d just. go with it. minor deadpan “yay!” or “ah sorry”s. i like to think that at some point he’d have to scavenge guardian parts for purah as a debt for something (if she built the hateno lab pre cal and he told his sister about it i think purah and aryll would meet, but also purah would not want strangers really knowing about all of this. though it does bring into question how the lab would be “hidden” in the first place? post cal has the excuse of its been 100 years and people forgor but pre cal the ancient tech is super relevant. i imagine purah would simply lie to the kids to spread rumors and keep people out. but also in creating a champion and robbies diary its mentioned that the labs were built After the calamity so. shrugs. on one hand im keeping it because it gives me an excuse to have the champions visit hateno, but yeah. was the hateno lab also a lighthouse before…?). purah and link would make a slightly distant but friendly duo. its like purah would lead it but is also more self conscious at the time so if link questions something she would have trouble answering (especially if its about herself ((ex. isat loop reacting to siffrin telling them that theyre awkward and taking it personally). however getting guardian parts between the two of them would be easy and also scarily effective. neither of them care about dirt or grime and parts collecting is fun for link and simply looking inside guardians both decayed and not is fun for both of them. and once link knows How to take apart guardians/search for parts without damaging anything else hed be extremely meticulous about it. what i mean by that is that hed get extra things he didnt have to and sort it out depending on the factors. this is great for purah, because it means more data on how some parts were damaged to begin with and how she can restore them. other than that though i dont think theyd work much together. theyre just in their own little corners + purah is more friends with zelda than link. unless he collected parts for her however they would less “work together” and more “ah item collection time” and mailing it to her/just. handing it in. however robbie and link would be less distant but still in their own little corners. its the prime example of . sorry i just violently remembered pansexual introvert asexual extrovert show while typing i need a better explanation for this. guy who is the most energetic person you will ever meet vs guy who is the chillest person you will ever meet. actually while typing this i was about to say robbie would drag him into things and while thats Probably true for like. small experiments i think if link was already there purah would drag him into more dangerous ones (unless link explicitly stated he didnt want to). she Did do the anti aging rune while robbie just sat there. basically robbie would initiate a partnership and purah would deepen it through increasingly mad scientist experiments. though i think she’d test the waters in how far she could actually go with it if that makes sense. i mentioned the self consciousness but from aocs cutscenes she seems more nervous in general but that could be me. but yeah she would hesitate. and also test certain ones on herself with proper safety. robbie would basically just make link bring certain items over (“pass the wrench” type of deal) and really just talk to him. also getting distracted in the middle of talking when something Happens but talking when he can. in the senario of link collecting parts i think hed go to robbie to restore some rusted over parts because he really doesnt know who else could do that. and also robbie would know purah so itd probably be cool. and yeah things go well

long paragraph. but!! yeah they could theoretically be friends they just arent into the same things. hypothetical tumblr mutuals. otherwise theyre nice to each other and would play board games

post cal!!! suspicious until he learnt she was the actual director. then he thought she was a fun person but mostly focused on fixing the runes at the time and memory collection. he was also slightly miffed about the having to bring parts but he couldnt complain because well. Yeah Fair Enough. he likes snapping with her and would probably ask about divine beasts the most with her. at some points he both asks about the little divine beast on the ceiling. otherwise i think hed like to hang out with her he just doesnt a lot, as theres nothing really to update on with the shekiah tech or anything. he might? tell her about the forgotten temple considering the sheer amount of guardians there but i think hed have. Weird feelings about that place in general

robbie!! old cronk. he lights up the furnace first so he doesnt come to an empty lighthouse before. hes still nice and his weapons are Very Useful however he laments the rupees leaving his pocket. he does read his diary and actually feels kinda bad for robbie and purah + the tech in general. like no one knew that was going to happen and they Still felt guilty. would probably ask robbie about the lomei laybrinth guardians but also doesnt visit him a lot. he Would play uno with him though. other things: hed use both of their telescopes, ask for recipes and when he stops by he’ll make food for each of them, keeps bringing new glasses or hats for the frog statues (or makes more tiny statues), ask purah more things (can i build a mini divine beast too. whats up with the cores. how do the divine beasts work. ..do you think the champions could still be alright in there. and she can only really say that well. she really doesnt know. its possible ((but its a slim possibility))). he also goes to them for slate fixings! purah would, on one hand, want to try out wind bombing so bad, but also it looks So Dangerous. robbie would also love it and keep making bomb designs to help wind bombing (of which they explode in his face.) purah would probably just make a seperate rune for it entirely (and also make it Not hurt).

this is not part of the ask but if totk was canon he would miss everything so badly. the divine beasts would hit like a fucking Truck man. and nobody mentions it!!!!! not even purah!!! he doesnt bring it up either but it still hurts. miphas statue being moved and not realizing where it is at first hurts Even More. he feels a bit betrayed by that. he even misses the guardians. not one exists. the only one being on purahs lab. he’d go back to the castle just to find Anything on the sheikah tech. his friends are gone and barely anything remains. he’d search robbies old lab. he’d search Everywhere for them. he might even ask some constructs if theyve seen more tech like the ancient arrow tips. he cant even wind bomb he has to Build a machine that goes Slower like a Pleb . sorry just the ludonarrative dissonance in totk. the shrine of resurrection being gone would hurt so so So badly. its like none of it even happened. he never got hurt his friends never existed any memories he had didnt exist any pain or happiness never existed. once he saved zelda he would either go insane or go to robbie and ask to make a sheikah device. or ask where everything is. i think even robbie and purah would be surprised at the SoR being gone and thatd only make the feelings of hurt worse. majoras mask but termina is a mirror world of hyrule and instead of helping link cope through greif it makes everything worse on socmany levels.

[five-rivers]

Face Your Dreams

Almost forgot to post this here as well!  @anthropwashere 

Phic Phight 2021

Prompt from Anthrop: Any flavor of the Reverse AUs that strike your fancy. Who gets the ghost powers? Who becomes the ghost hunter? Who gets ghost magick'd into the villain of the week?

 Danny’s phone was dead.  Which was just typical, really.  His parents were brilliant, wealthy inventors that played with the fabric of reality on a daily basis and had managed to turn, not one, but two of Danny’s best friends into half ghosts, but they couldn’t be bothered to get Danny a phone that was actually reliable.  Although they hadn’t intended to do the half ghost thing and didn’t know about it.  

Probably.  

Maybe.  

(Honestly, Danny didn’t know.  His parents were weird.  And Danny suspected they were keeping secrets.)

Back on topic.  Phone.  Not working. Which was a problem because Danny was something like ninety-percent sure a ghost had been following him for the last block or so and he couldn’t call for help.  

Correction, he could call for help all he wanted, he just wouldn’t get any that would be any good against a ghost.  If he got any at all.  It was the middle of the night.  

He should have taken up Sam’s offer of a flight home. Or Tucker’s.  But, no, he had to be sulky about how both of them were developing yet more really, incredibly cool powers and Danny was still just…

Himself.  

Faceless, boring Fenton.  Only notable for the number of bullies he attracted and the people he was related to.  No special skillset, no dreams he had any hope of achieving, no triumphs.  Nothing to contribute.  Not in and of himself.  Only useful to enemies that wanted a hostage.

He was about to be murdered by a ghost and he was still sulking.  God, he was pathetic.  

(Not all ghosts were evil – Sam and Tucker’s stories had taught him that much, on an intellectual basis.  Was it too much to hope that he could reach home without the ghost attacking?  Too much to hope that it was just watching?)

White noise tugged at Danny’s ears.  It reminded him of the sleep CD Jazz played when Mom and Dad were being loud.  

… and, also, oddly, of a video he’d once watched about what stars might sound like, based on how they vibrated.  

Danny shuddered, his heartbeat redoubling as he picked up speed, reaching a run.  If he could get home, he could turn on the ghost shield and call Sam and Tucker from his home phone.  They’d be annoyed that he was bothering about a ghost so long after a patrol, but he was freaked out enough to not really care about their teasing.  

(He’d been freaked out enough for the past two blocks.)

His breath began to catch in his lungs, his side burning. He splashed through a puddle, dark, oily liquid sticking to his right sneaker and pant leg.  It glittered in the light of the waning crescent moon.  

Wait –

It hadn’t rained for weeks.

He slipped and fell, skinning hands, knees, and chin on the sidewalk.  Something wet, sticky, and smooth as silk spread over the pavement beneath him.  It bubbled like a tar pit, and captive stars shone from within.  

Danny tried to push himself up, but the liquid held on to him, pulled him back down.  

He was sinking.  

He flailed for the sidewalk, reaching, trying to stay afloat.  It didn’t work.  His elbows were below the level of the sidewalk, and inky, glittery black dripped from his front.  It seemed to be eating through his clothes.  

Forget useful help.  He’d take any help.  He screamed.  

And he fell.  

.

“You have such lovely dreams,” said the masked man, his horns curling into galaxies.  “Impossible dreams.”

Danny couldn’t breathe.  He was in freefall.  A vacuum.  No ground in sight, only the cold, heartless stars, perfect in their beauty.  

(And his eyes.  Oh, god, was this really a ghost?)

It was his dream, to be an astronaut.  With this little twist, it became a nightmare, and yet—

Yet.  

“You feel faceless,” continued the masked man.  “But there’s freedom in that, is there not?”  

Danny shouldn’t be able to hear him.  There shouldn’t be any sound in space, and there wasn’t.  Not except for his voice.  

“Freedom,” said the man, “to follow your wildest dreams, unshackled from responsibility, from reality, from reasonability.  No longer dependent on those that call themselves your friends, who claim to be your family, who walk over your dreams for the sake of theirs.”

Suddenly, Danny hit the sidewalk, and he could breathe again.  Something thick dripped from his nose, his mouth, his eyes.  He pushed himself to his hands and knees.  His clothing was gone.  His limbs were painted with the night sky in all its glory.  He froze, staring.  

From Danny’s shadow, the masked man rose, towering over Danny until he felt like little more than a shadow.  “Don’t you want to have the chance to see your dreams come true, child?”

Danny blinked.  It was hard to force his eyes back open.  They seemed to want to stick closed.  

“Who are you?” Danny asked, words garbled by the dripping stars trying to force their way past his lips.  

“I am Nocturne,” the ghost said, leaning closer.

“You’re like,” Danny choked, “like Desiree.  I don’t want—”

Nocturne scoffed.  “Desiree.  A creature of wishes, of momentary things.  I do not care for what you wish for.  What matters is that you dream.”  

There was something in Nocturne’s hand, round and white and moonlike.  It looked small, held between two of his fingers, but it had to be the size of Danny’s face.  

“Don’t you dream of flying?” purred Nocturne.  “Of being among the stars?  Don’t you dream of a peaceful world, where your friends are safe, and the accident never happened?  Where you’re a friend, not a weapon supply, a sidekick, or a damsel in distress?”

Danny had been thinking something so close just minutes ago and he couldn’t—

“There, there, my child.  No need to cry.”  He brought the round thing closer.  

Danny could see, now, that it was a mask.  Just his size.  

“Close your eyes,” said Nocturne, gently, cupping Danny’s trembling shoulders with his other hand.  “Close your eyes and dream.  Let your face go, for a little while.”

(Danny did as he was told.)

.

“Hi, Sam,” said Mrs. Fenton, her voice crackling slightly through the phone speaker.  “Have you seen Danny today?”

“I haven’t seen him since last n—Since yesterday,” said Sam, correcting herself halfway though.  Mrs. Fenton didn’t know about their nightly escapades, and for good reason.  “Is something wrong?”

“I don’t know yet,” said Maddie.  “He just…  I haven’t seen him either.  He usually says goodbye before he leaves.”

He didn’t, but Maddie didn’t need to know that.  

“Have you checked with Tucker yet?  Sometimes they hang out without me.  Guy things.”  This… was also not entirely true.  Danny and Tucker hadn’t had a ‘guy thing’ for ages.  They’d been smoothly replaced with ‘ghost things’ like most everything else in their lives.  

Sam… might have felt a little bad about that.  All of their normal friend activities being replaced by ghost things, that is.  Often ghost things that Danny couldn’t really participate in, because Danny couldn’t fly or shoot lasers from his hands.  

He did do a good job of setting up obstacle courses and covering for her and Tucker’s—

Wait, no, not the point.

“He hasn’t seen him, either.  Jazz doesn’t know where he is.  I don’t—”  She broke off, sighing.  “Call me if you see him.  Or tell him to call me.”

“I will,” said Sam, opening the window and preparing to take off.  

“Thank you,” said Maddie.  She hung up.  

Sam went ghost with a burst of green fire.  She floated up and out of the window, fading out of visibility as she dialed Tucker’s number.  

“Starboy’s missing,” she said.  

“Yeah, I’m already searching for him,” said Tucker, the microphone crackling with static but otherwise clear.  Tucker’s powers both did and didn’t mesh well with technology.

“Any luck?”

“No,” said Tucker.  “This is one of those times when I wish he did have friends other than us.  Then we could ask them about where he is.”

“Do you think he’s been taken by a ghost?” asked Sam.

“I mean, maybe?  There was that whole thing with Desiree…”

“And the second thing with Desiree,” added Sam.  

“And Skulker.”

“And the second thing with Skulker.”

“And Spectra.”

“And the second thing with Spectra.”

“Not to mention Vlad.”

“What a freak,” said Sam.

“Are you picking up a pattern here?”

“Yeah, maybe.  Who’s only kidnapped Danny once?”

“I’m not sure…  Maybe it’s a new guy?  We do get new guys now and again.”

Sam sighed.  “Never mind that,” she said.  “Where have you looked so far?”

“Not too many places.  Do you want to meet up, or…?”

“No, we’ll have more luck going separately.  I’ll check in with you in a bit.”

.

A whole day passed without any sign of Danny. They did, however, find a lot of ghosts with stitched-shut eyes, which they decided was probably related and also incredibly creepy.  

By that time, the police got involved.  Danny was officially a missing person.  

But they were distracted.  Didn’t have the manpower to search for just one missing person.

Why?

The sudden surge in coma patients.  

“I don’t get it,” said Tucker.  “Is that more of a, you know,” he lowered his voice, “doctor thing?  Like, if it’s a bunch of people, don’t you think it’s a disease or something?”

“The police think that someone poisoned ‘em,” said Sam.  

“How do you know that?”

“How do you think I know that?”

“Dude.  You have to stop eavesdropping on the police.  I’m, like, ninety percent sure that’s illegal.”

“Not for ghosts, it isn’t.”

“Okay, I’m one hundred percent sure it is.  You’ve read the anti-ecto acts, haven’t you? I’m not the only one who did that, right?”

“It was, like, fifty pages thick.  And stupid.  The only reason I’d read it would be if I wanted to break the laws more efficiently.”

“Seriously?”

.

An alien world spread out below Danny, a place to explore to his heart’s content, the sky twinkling above him.  He couldn’t see it, but he knew it was there, in the nameless, infinite way you knew things when you were dreaming.  

He was an astronaut.  An adventurer.  An explorer.

He was doing everything he had ever dreamed of.

The only thing missing were the people.  His friends.  His family.

But… He could bring them here.  He knew that, too, in the same way.  

He just had to reach out and touch them.  Feel them.  Take them.  

(A bit of black and starlight in their eyes, a touch of the gift given to him.)

(Nocturne whispered in his ears.  A song only for him.)

.

They found the ghost responsible for the comas.  And maybe they should have realized a ghost was causing them, but Danny was the one who usually put the pieces together, and he wasn’t there.  Which was the problem.  

(What Sam wouldn’t give for some kind of reliable ghost-detecting power.  Or even technology.)

(No, the Fenton Finder didn’t count.)

It was small, human proportions, human skin tone, where it wasn’t covered with some kind of ghostly paint that mimicked the night sky. Its hair was colored the same way, and a blank mask covered its face.  Seemed to be directing the green stitched-eye ghosts somehow, despite not saying a word. So.  All in all, typical ghost, if somewhat more annoying due to his lack of witty banter.

Then he shrugged off the thermos beam like it was nothing.  Almost like he was human.  

Then Tucker froze.  

The ghost was carried away from the fight by its minions, faster than Sam or Tucker could go.  

“Tucker!  What was that?”

“Birthmark,” gasped Tucker.  

“What?” asked Sam.  

“That was Danny’s birthmark.”

“Oh my god,” said Sam.  “Did he really get himself transformed into a ghost again?”

“This seems different than Desiree,” said Tucker. “I don’t…  Were we really fighting him?”

Sam rolled her eyes.  “Let’s go get the Ghost Catcher.”

.

The Ghost Catcher was not in evidence in the Fenton basement.  

“What now?” asked Tucker.  

“Beat it out of him?” suggested Sam.  

“That is a terrible plan.  No, I can’t even call it a plan.  It’s just bad.”

“Do you have anything better?”

(Tucker did not have anything better.)

.

(And Danny still couldn’t find his friends, to show them this dream come true.)

.

When about one in ten people in Amity Park was in a coma, things managed to get even worse.  The people who were asleep began to sleepwalk.  And sleep attack people.  

Sam and Tucker were used to fighting ghosts.  Not humans.  They didn’t want to hurt anyone.  

Especially Danny who was especially vicious. And also seemed to be targeting them.

.

Danny was so close.  So close he could almost touch them.  He could feel them, electricity and green things and dreams of power and justice.  He could feel them, feel them, feel them, and he was so, so close to inviting them into the dream and he needed it, needed them.  Wanted them.  

His dream, the dream, his dream, it just wouldn’t be complete without them at his side, wouldn’t be right.  

He reached for them, reached for Sam, brushed her sleeve and—

A meteor shower threw them apart.

.

Tucker dragged Sam away from Danny’s hand and the sleep-inducing liquid it was coated in.  

“We have to go,” he gasped, looking out at the veritable horde of ghosts and sleepwalking humans.  

“Yeah,” said Sam.  “Yeah, we have to – Have to regroup.”

They retreated to the Ghost Zone, and, predictably, were separated.  

.

The ghost’s name was Undergrowth, and he was interested in Sam.  Interested enough to offer to teach her.  

His power was the same as hers.  Nature.  Plants.

His rage against humans was… much greater. Overwhelming.  Too much, too far, to extreme.  She was glad he didn’t see her as human, didn’t seem to know that she wanted to protect humans.  

(That she wanted to save Danny.)

.

Tucker already knew Technus.  Had met him, fought him, beat him.  More than once, even.  

So, he had to ask why Technus was suddenly helping him.

The ghost fixed Tucker with a look that managed to be both incredulous and flat.  

“Ghost child,” warbled Technus, “I, Technus, Master of All Things Electronic and Beeping, know what being electrocuted feels like!  By the very power we both now wield!”

“Oh,” said Tucker.  “Yeah, that makes sense.  You were saying?”

.

Sam and Tucker stood in front of the portal, side by side.  

“Ready to be a wake-up call?” asked Tucker.  

“You’d better believe it,” said Sam.  

.

Danny was caught, trapped in Sam’s vines.  

“This isn’t working,” said Tucker, lightly shocking Danny once again.  The ectoblast didn’t help, either.  “Usually, this’d zap the ghost out of him, but…”

“Maybe we could try to overshadow him?” asked Sam, dubiously.  

“Ugh,” said Tucker.  “My least favorite power.”

“It could be the only way to find the ghost actually responsible.”

“Let’s do this.”

.

Danny was thrilled!  He’d finally found his friends.  True, he couldn’t move, but—

The stars shuddered.  Shifted.  Blinked.

Nocturne was angry.

.

Sam was knocked out of the sky at full speed, making a crater in the dark ground.  People were gathered nearby.  Amity Park people.  

This couldn’t just be the inside of Danny’s mind (overshadowing had never worked this way before, but, well, it wasn’t like they experimented with it a whole lot), it had to be some kind of shared dream.  A special power of the ghost, perhaps?

Sam fired up her powers, reaching for the nearby plants. They didn’t respond.  

Crud.  

This was a dream.  They just looked like plants.  

Then Tucker lit up the sky like a dying star, electrocuting everyone in range.  

.

Danny woke up, throwing Sam and Tucker out of his body, something metallic clanging against sidewalk pavement.  Out of his mind, out of his dream.  Out of that dream, the one Nocturne had made for him.

Oh, god.  He’d just spent the last week—Had it been a week, or longer? —out of his mind, in that dream, reality at one remove, if that.  He’d been blind and—

He reached up to his face, to that mask and he pulled.  It stuck. He pulled harder, and felt the goo sticking it on give, the mask coming away while dripping thick strands of ooze. He gasped.  And it felt like the first breath he’d taken in—

How long had it been?

He opened his eyes just in time to see Nocturne rise out of his shadow.  

.

Both Sam and Tucker had more of an advantage out here in the real world, without having to worry about hurting people.  Well, without having to worry about hurting people more than usual.  Wrecking buildings and missing with ectoblasts were still concerns.  

“Draw him towards the park?” called Tucker, once they got close enough to confer with each other.  

“You grab Danny?”

“I don’t—” started Tucker.  He dodged a swipe from the large, starry ghost.  “He might be safer, if—”

A column of blue light strobed into the sky, and Nocturne was pulled into the Fenton Thermos.  The Fenton Thermos held by Danny Fenton.  He coughed, black liquid dripping down his chin.  

“Hey,” said Danny.  “Thanks.”

“I’ve got to stop losing that thing,” groaned Tucker.

“I think the more important thing here is getting Danny some clothes,” said Sam, shielding her eyes.  

“Yes, please,” said Danny.  

“Glad to have you back, man,” said Danny, landing next to Danny and transforming.  “Honestly, without you, we kind of suck at the whole investigation angle.”

“What?” asked Danny, taking the sweater Tucker offered him.  

“We missed you,” clarified Sam.  “A lot.  We kind of… don’t do to well at anything about ghost fighting.  Or life.”

“Yeah, our social life sucked even more than usual.”

“Oh,” said Danny, wrapping the sweater around his waist. “That’s cool.”  He spit some of the black liquid out onto the sidewalk. “I need a shower.”

“Yep.  Hugs are going to be deferred until then.”

“I’m okay with that,” said Danny.  “I kind of… don’t want to be touched, for a while.”

“Ah,” said Tucker.  “Well.  I’m depressed again.”

“Just.  Until the shower,” said Danny.  

Sam reached out as if to pat Danny on the shoulder, then drew back.  “Do you want a flight back home?  Or to, uh, Tucker’s house?  To shower. And get some clothes.”

“How is that different from a hug?  You’ll still have to carry me.”

“It just is,” said Sam.  

“It really is,” said Tucker.  

There was a long pause.  

“I lied, I want a hug so bad,” said Danny.  

His friends practically flung themselves at him.

[dustedmagazine]

Dust Volume 4, Number 3

Dark Blue covers the Anti-Nowhere League in this edition

Another few weeks of accumulated dust spans genres from classic jazz to no wave skronk to guitar-centric country blues. Dusted writers including Isaac Olson, Bill Meyer, Jennifer Kelly, Justin Cober-Lake, Patrick Masterson, Ian Mathers and Jonathan Shaw write about the near-famous and the purposefully obscure. We hope you’ll find something to intrigue you in this mid-March collection.

Advertisement — This Is Advertisement (Self Released)

This is Advertisement by Advertisement

Successful revolutions enable freedom, including the freedom of salvaging what is worthwhile from what was overturned. There’s been a smattering of punk bands recently who, thanks to the death of rock as a driving force in global pop culture and the enabling of increasingly omnivorous tastes by the internet, are doing away with old tribal notions of taste and proudly tracing their lineage to both Sticky Fingers and Damaged. Seattle’s Advertisement, on their debut tape, This Is Advertisement, follow in the footsteps of fellow travelers Milk Music in stripping Thin Lizzy and Crazy Horse for parts and wiring what they’ve found to a lean, hardcore-influenced sound. This day-drunk, punks-on-a-road-trip sound is increasingly fashionable, and at this point, Advertisement isn’t doing anything that, say, Sheer Mag hasn't done before, but the two best songs here, opener “Past is Alive” and closer “Cryin’ Wild” fuse the joy of the unironic guitar solo with the joy of the mosh pit successfully enough to be optimistic for what they’ll do next.

Isaac Olson

 Jaap Blonk & Terrie Ex — Thirsty Ears (Terp)

“Are you listening?” Those are the first words you hear from Jaap Blonk on Thirsty Ears, and he poses the question with full knowledge that the question will be definitively answered before the track is done. He goes on to describe the process of listening, catalogs sounds quite like the ones you will hear throughout this record and then describes the vanity of trying not to hear him. “You block your hearing but it won’t work,” he crows. Rest assured, you will either give this record your full attention or turn it off; there is no middle ground. Blonk is a master sound poet, his voice an elastic instrument that can groan, croon, gargle, or articulate so flexibly that he could have voiced every machine and critter in contemporary non-live-action Hollywood if he would only consent to being told what to do. But he is a free man, abetted here by another man just as free. Terrie Ex is equally unwilling to be boxed in, even by his own extensive history of free, punk and African-derived music making. He matches Blonk’s utterances and ultra-theatrical speech with detuning adventures that make his guitar sound like a time-lapse documentation of a the sounds of a suspension bridge’s slow deterioration in the centuries after the humans clear out.

Bill Meyer

 Boneshaker — Thinking Out Loud CD/LP (Trost)

Thinking Out Loud by BONESHAKER

Boneshaker does not want to keep you in the dark. The trio includes Chicago free jazz veterans Mars Williams and Kent Kessler plus citizen of the world Paal Nilssen-Love. The band’s name tells you what they aim to do, and album’s title tells you how they do it. Their collective cv includes work with Peter Brötzmann, Ken Vandermark, Otomo Yoshihide and Hal Russell; these guys have learned from the best about how to shiver timbers, and given they longevity of their involvement with high energy improvisation (the Americans are in their 60s, Nilssen-Love is in his 40s), they’re teachers too. The ability to blow as hard as Albert Ayler, to launch a percussive barrage that’ll stop a bus and to propel the whole affair with resonant bass patterns is necessary, but not sufficient. You also have to think while you’re doing it, so that soul and exhilaration come together with coherence and logic. Listen and learn.

Bill Meyer

 Dark Blue — Fight to Love b/w For You (12XU)

Fight To Love by Dark Blue

“Warning: This song is going to be rubbish.”  That’s the first thing you hear on John Sharkey III’s latest single, a young boy managing expectations for, most likely, his dad. But no need for that, because the a-side is a grand and gothy guitar fest, with giant arc’ing chords and fizzing smoke-pot riffs that sound more like 1970s radio metal than anything punk. Sharkey sings, as always, in a hollowed out baritone that’s somehow snide and doomedly romantic. The second side is a cover of the Anti-Nowhere League’s 1982 single “For You.” Even the original was far less scatological than the band’s big hit “So What” but Sharkey has turned it into an existential anthem, slower, more echo-ridden and full of frustrated longing.  No rubbish here, just a reminder of how good Dark Blue can be.

Jennifer Kelly

 Ravyn Lenae — Crush (Three Twenty Three)

Totally unhinged and memorable ululations herald the arrival of many great songs, and Ravyn Lenae's at the beginning of "Sticky" ranks among them. Not just that, but syrupy organ and snappy guitar capture the total abandon and carnal pleasure in getting sticky, however you might please. Inventiveness, especially experimenting with texture, is de rigueur in R&B lately, and Lenae and producer Steve Lacy explore their own sound through layered vocals, punchy but smooth production and unexpected key changes. Lenae attempts to sustain the magic of the EP's opening number throughout, but both of Lacy's vocal turns are distractingly blasé, and the unique pose of first sound never surfaces again as assured. There are enough creative risks here to suggest that 18-year-old Lenae could further develop this sound into something that can be better sustained. For now the abandon of "Sticky" and the music that follows is like diving into an ice-cream on a hot day: It feels great to let loose and let the sugar drip all over, but after that there's nothing much special about having sticky hands.  

Bryan Daly

   The Lovely Eggs — This Is Eggland (Egg Records)

“Wiggy Giggy” is maybe the most exuberantly silly song you’ll hear all year, from its chanted backbone of “wiggy, wiggy, giggy,” repeated ad infinitum, to its giant  clanging guitar riffs, to its sweetly demented vocals, courtesy of Lovely Eggs diva Holly Ross, who is married to David Blackwell, the band’s other half. The song is so much fun, and so ridiculous, that it could only have come from a band completely unconcerned with public reception – a band, perhaps, the records and releases its material completely on its own. And this, in fact, is what we have here, a band that has completely immunized itself to popular opinion and can consequently do what they like. What do they like? Think of the Breeders joyful riffery, crossed with Imperial Teen’s way with a hook, with a bit of Flaming Lips spliced in, and you’ll be close. The Lovely Eggs don’t care if you like their music, but if you have any fondness for psychedelically tinged pop rock, you will. Marc Riley does, and think how many DIY bands he has to wade through on an average work day.

Jennifer Kelly

 Nick Millevoi’s Desertion Trio w. Jamie Saft — Midtown Tilt (Shhpuma)

Midtown Tilt by Desertion Trio with Jamie Saft

Desertion? Hey, why not? Anyone playing western-themed music in Philadelphia probably has some kind of evacuation in mind. But even the desert’s likely to be left behind when this combo gets cooking. Guitarist Nick Millevoi kicks off Midtown Tilt with a skirling line bold enough to light up a dune-studded horizon. His lead, however, is more of an anchor than a spotlight. Drummer Kevin Shea’s pummeling attack seems bent on blowing the music off course, and guest organist Jamie Saft’s references are more storefront church than arid vista. And that’s just the first tune.  

Lucky for Millevoi, bassist Johnny De Blasé has a healthy respect for the pulse, because he’s often the guy holding the center. Sometimes he can lure Shea into the pocket, but Saft takes full advantage of his guest soloist role to detour around and redirect the guitarist’s stark melodies at every opportunity.

Bill Meyer

 Meshell Ndegeocello—Ventriloquism

If someone told you that bad-ass bassist Meshell Ndegeocello was covering Prince on her next album, the last track you’d expect her to revisit would be “Sometimes It Snows in April,” a strummy, acoustic ballad from Under the Cherry Moon that sounds, for the Purple one, downright folky. Yet her soft-focus cover of the Artist Formerly Known As’ least funky cut is just a taste of the chilled out vibe Ndegeocello brings to formerly nasty grooves including TLC’s megahit “Waterfalls” and George Clinton’s “Atomic Dog.” The covers on Ventriloquism share a bleached out vibe that comes partly from Ndegeocello’s soothing voice, but also from cool temperature arrangements that favor pastel tone-washes over slap and pop. Maybe that’s why Ndegeocello sounds the most comfortable in reservedly powerful “Private Dancer” or, once the silly spoken word is over, Sade’s quiet storm classic “Smooth Operator.”  Yeah, maybe a little too smooth.

Jennifer Kelly

 Overmono — Rinse FM, Boiler Room live sets

What is it about Overmono’s sublime blend of junglist memories, lead foot techno and airy ambient that puts them a cut above their contemporaries? The latest answer to that question comes in the form of these two live sets just days apart, the former in support of Derrick Carter in Moscow (ably assisted by Irish up-and-comer Or:la, also worthy of mention here) and the latter on Hessle Audio’s usual Rinse slot. Starting with “U-Plastics” from the mammoth #savefabric comp, I can say with confidence that there’s nothing I’ve enjoyed more consistently over the last year and a half than London-based brothers of a single mother Ed and Tom Russell, aliases Tessela and Truss, who have been reliably plying their trades in the orbit of R&S, Poly Kicks and Perc Trax for years now. As the Arla triptych on XL and Water the Planets giveaway mix demonstrated, Overmono is a collaborative leap from the marginalia of heady British rave investigations into the wild blue yonder of open-ended rhythm, noise and melody —  a less seamless but altogether more fascinating affair on every level. It’s a poor dancing experience but a great listening one, in other words, as they guiltlessly ransack genre and era alike with equal fervor. It’s also without equal in this sphere right now.   

Patrick Masterson

 Parasight — At Leve Som Hvis der Var et Håb (Indisciplinarian)

This first full-length release from Danish d-beat band Parasight sends a number of provocatively mixed signals. Not musically — Parasight plays straightforward metallic punk, driven by the signature rhythm Discharge canonized in the early 1980s. Occasionally the band experiments with a breakdown, as in “Grådigheden Selv,”or a more mid-tempo intro, as on “Håbløst.” On the whole, the songs are well structured, passionately executed and compelling. The more interesting stuff operates at the level of suggestion. Unlike a lot of European bands that play heavy music, Parasight insists on composing lyrics in their native language; they up the ante by not offering translations on inserts or on Bandcamp. In interviews they’ve suggested a desire to position themselves in the tradition of Danish heroic poetry. All that sounds pretty nationalist, which isn’t great news if one is looking for the leftist stance that has always dominated d-beat and crust. But the album art references the tragic drowning of a Syrian Kurdish boy, Alan Kurdi, rendered internationally infamous through a series of photos of the recovery of his tiny body on the Turkish shoreline. The title of the record translates, “To live as if there is still hope.” All of that begs the question: what forces have eradicated hope? Where can we find the resources to continue living? What does Alan Kurdi have to do with it? It’s the sort of conundrum that our instant, digitized and indiscriminate access to art and information makes painfully evident. The way the pun in the band’s name focuses those issues — am I seeing clearly? — in its English presentation only increases the provocation.

Jonathan Shaw

 Preening — Greasetrap Frisbee (Ever/Never)

Greasetrap Frisbee by Preening

Erratic rhythms jitter manically, bass and drums punching out dance figures for odd numbers of flailing, electro-shocked limbs. Free jazz sax splatters in skronky blotches during the intervals between inscrutable chants. Preening, trio out of Oakland, churns a no wave noise just playful and rhythmic enough to incite a St. Vitus dance. (Members go by single names, but a little googling reveals that they are music critic Sam Lefebvre on drums, Max Nordile on saxophone and Alejandra Alcala on bass.)  On a limb, I’d call “Associated Press” the catchy single, its off-tempo drum and bass racket punctuated by frantic reed abuse and chanted madness. See-sawing “Face On” serves as the crowd pleasing hit, as it teeters on tipsy bass, skitters to speed in double-time nervous attacks and earns a round of live applause. “P.O. Box,” which is literally about a band member’s mail receptacle, channels Preening’s unruly energy most effectively, but things are always apt to fall apart, never more so than on the title track, a collection of bleats, drum crashes, spoken asides and inchoate noises pieced together out of studio outtakes.

Jennifer Kelly

Sonny Rollins — Way Out West (Craft)

Sixty years after Way Out West’s release, the cover still makes it look like a gimmick (and it's still hard to tell if it's best read as camp, kitsch or subversion). When drummer Shelly Manne opens the album with a hoof beat rhythm, the strangeness continues, but as soon as Sonny Rollins' saxophone begins, it's clear that there's no joke here. The album marks the first jazz album of a sax-bass-drums trio (ditching the piano and its chords), a startling shift away from the work Rollins had just done on Thelonious Monk's Brilliant Corners and a forerunner of his later unaccompanied experiments. 

If the album marks a pivotal moment, it should also be remembered on its own terms, hence the 60th anniversary two LP reissue. Rollins remains amazing, and the record catches him in peak form. Bassist Ray Brown, unfortunately too low in the mix, keeps up, but this set is Newk's show, his tone rich and his melodies — whether in the playfulness of “I'm an Old Cowhand” or the increasing heat of “There Is No Greater Love” — surprising. The bonus record, among other tracks, includes a couple unreleased takes, and the extra-hip extended version of “Way Out West” feels most necessary of this material, all of which makes for as inspiring a current listen as it does a historical study. Cowboy hats are optional, but beneficial.

Justin Cober-Lake

 Chris Smither — Call Me Lucky (Signature Sounds)

It's a little strange that a songwriter's album would be most notable for a cover and for reworkings, but not necessarily a bad thing. In Call Me Lucky. Smither reworks Chuck Berry's “Maybellene” as a deep blues number, changing the song from a teenage bit of hilarity into something truly dark and sad, recasting the entire narrative. The performance is less a gimmick and more an insight. Smither follows it with “Down to the Sound,” a complex number full of realism, hurt, and a taste of unlikely optimism. Even the upbeat country-blues of “Nobody Home” reveals the loss of human connection in our culture, whether in a neighborhood, a church, or the public square.  

Smither's tight songwriting drives the album, but Call Me Lucky comes with an unusual second disc that includes one Beatles cover (“She Said She Said”) and five new versions of originals from the first disc. It feels a bit like a bonus disc, but these versions are fully fleshed out. In the context of Smither's songwriting and his covers, the new performances provide a look into the way small decisions (or large ones in the case of “Everything on Top”) can shape the experience of a song, and helping to differentiate between terms like “song,” “track,” and “performance.” It doesn't need to be a heady experience, though. After all, they're just good songs well-executed, sometimes twice.

Justin Cober-Lake

Tangents — Stents + Arteries EP (Temporary Residence)

As the title suggests, this release from Australian group Tangents is concerned with matters of the heart a little more literally than most, the pulse and thrum of that muscle inside all of our chests whether it’s racing or soothingly steady. Comprised of two new tracks plus an extended version of soon-to-be-album track “Arteries”, the EP blends together varies threads of jazz, electronic and post-rock music so effortlessly and compellingly that it might take a couple of listens for the boldness of their approach to really sink in. You can catch hints of influences, everything from the Necks to Can to IDM, but what makes this EP such a joy to listen to is how Tangents make their sound simply their sound, and how natural it feels. More than anything else, the 20 minutes here indicates that June’s New Bodies is going to be worth waiting for.

 Ian Mathers

[sanfranciscoyoginigypsy]

im living the dream, the climax of my life 7/25/17

today was amazing. so liz slept over and it was the best. we vibe so well together and she is super pure and influential and real and just in my eyes a perfect human being to be around with. she likes jazz she plays instruments she paints- she’s very in tune with herself and everything around her. she painted me a beautiful portrait and love on a canvas i gave her. it is amazing. she wanted me to share my stories about my spiritual interactions with carlo so she can record it and she remembered i mentioned that there is a song i imagine playing when i see him in a field of grass, and she added the notes to it in the painting . she is just so great and influential and we experience and think much of the same things. i like being around her. lots of good music and laughing. she liked the songs i showed her. then i went home and was feeling poopy until i went outside and decided to write how i was feeling. i put anxiety and lack of confidence and just negativity then just didnt feel any better  so i decided to meditate and i did for like 20 /30 min. i went from lotus to just hanging my headd down while i sat. it helped tremendously . i felt three billion times better. i felt like my parents were the sun and moon. creation of all creation. they are the creators of every single thing in my life. they created me thus creating everything around and within me. my mom also symbolized the sun for me, and just recently i felt my father as the moon. i shared that with them and shared a lot with my mother. just after meditating i was so high on life. i thought about who this is it this is now i am experiencing this now and everything is good and life is good and this is real this is what I'm seeing now this is real life this where I'm at just realizing this is where i am right now everything here makes sense and is normal it was like i was reborned actually in a way bc everything seemed brand new and i was confused to what i was seeing!! it makes so much sense tho bc i was just in my head and i cleared it and now I'm seeing everything as it is and realizing I'm ever so grateful for this consciousness. sundown. sunset. i shared with my dad the day i missed my flight that i like sunsets, i feel my brother the most during them.and he shared it with my mom. he invited me to go inside and see a movie with them but i shared to him i like the nature and stuff more and it helps me feel better and that sunset just has a huge impact for me and my soul feels the need to be outside during its energy of the sun passing. and today when i was in my tummy mood or not a clear head i went outside and was just writing down how i felt and he saw and asked if i wanted to spend time with them inside and i was upset so i gave a little sass and said i cant the tv makes me depressed and it just drains my energy and i feel unproductive but I'm glad everything happened bc it happened for a reason and i feel great now and after that time to myself i was the best i can be with my parents i watched tv with them and cracked jokes and just had a lot of fun and t was all pure and sam sent me a song and it was amazing i felt the singers emotion and i just felt every emotion i felt throughout the song. everything just how it was. i was fast with my thoughts and feelings.and i helped my mom with cleaning and it was great- we shared alot and she said she was thinking of me today and is aid oo like what and she said what kind of advice to give me before i leave and said that she just wanted to tell me to keep doing what I'm doing with handling my emotions and being smart and spiritual and she tied that together bc she said she was thinking about all my growth and everything and also gave me the advice to do research in everything i want to do and to do it like she noticed i had a hard time sticking to being vegan and so she said to do research and find some motivation for it and to do that everything i wanna do she is just the best and sweetest i love her so much i love us literally i felt so pure with her after meditating like when i sat next to her on the couch i was kissing all over her face her cheeks her nose and her forehead a bunch of times it wa amazing I'm going to miss her so much but we shared how people become closer to their siblings after carlos funeral like gabe and koen and liz and manuel she opened that up to me but it was good after meditating i felt exactly aligned and myself and it was just enlightening and awakening moment then i told them about how i felt good bc i was not confident in most things especially planning things bc I'm anxious about not ppl having a good time bc it would b my fault but i finally did it and all my freidsn are going to pinballz and i picked up brendon and showed him so many cool songs like the mosquito by the doors and a lot of other cool ones and he said u know so many cool songs and how do u know so many and i told him that when i find an artist and song i like i just listen to their other albums and it grows and we got to pinball and it was just fun for me and him we got quarters and did the quarter machines bc the electronics were too expensive and it was so so so fun we played like 9 rounds and i lost each one but it was so fun and i felt so great playing an old 80s arcade machines game it was so simple there was ike 3 buttons i defiantly want to go back and play on those old pinball and 90s machine games t was so fun and then john kiersten sam and brennon showed up and sam looked so damn good god damn i couldn't take it in he wore khakis and a black shirt and vans and his hair looked good and his face looked beautiful as always and i tried not to express or show any of that in person so i kept my distance but overall it wa so funny with everyone and we went to kerbey lane a 24 hour diner and nit was so fun jorge was there too it was a grand ol time and when i was saying by to everyone it was so beautiful john picked me up two times and we hugged like four times and in front of his girlfriend it is so cool he can do that and brennon gave me a nice one and jorge smacked my ass after which i totally hated and took in account that he did that and to realize it made me uncomfortable and omg me and sams good bye will always be my favorite we hugged and he just said to let him know when I'm in town again and that we have dos ee each other again and it wa sa nice hug and i got in my car and he was getting in the seat and we looked at each other and i did the like post up pose like square lets fight and he got out of his seat in the car and opened my car door and i said okay lets do this and slapped his arm and he grabbed my head and gave me a long noogie and it made me laugh so much and when he was done i gave him a huge giant wedgie it was so funny he didnt seem too uncomfortable but god damn i pulled that underwear so high-up literally like half way up his torso and he texted me later saying he lost his watch trying to untuck the wedgie haha i love sam i just hope one day our time will come and we can be intimate together and i can wake up in a bed we slept together in and wake up to him playing piano and I'm naked in his bed like i just want to be so sweet and lovey to him he makes my legs when he looks at me and he just creates and turns something on in me and i like it i like his being he is a beautiful creation i want to treat him so well i want to paint for him i want to shower him in kisses and gifts and loves and songs i want to inspire him like he inspires me all these love songs i sing for him . i want to be able to share one day all the love songs i sing to him- they're so important , each one. they all bring me back to him. driving back i go to jaremys with brendon and we see élena and kevin aka my favorite ppl ever and elena opens the door and i see kevin and run to him and give him a big hug then elena sees us and i give her one but its unusual i went to him like out of my way to hug him but i hope he feels that like my love for him bc its so special and pure and just love like i love them so much and we all sat around the wooden floored apartment and sat on these psychedelic 70s couches and started tossing out of the air dumb jokes and elena looks at kevin and says you're just a totally different person with mary and laughs and says she's the same way bc we spent a few days togeth then she hung out with her friend and kept saying dumb jokes and they just didnt get it and she had to explain that she was with me and i got that too literally being with them i  feel more intone and grounded to myself bc I'm just my dumb self which makes me the same to other people i literally love my life and everyone here and now i have a flight in like 8 hours to colorado to see alea and road trip to san francisco and get dropped off and continue my life at the ashram and as a yogi and a farmer and pure and back to mediating and yoga and I'm going to practice so much music and have a kick ass job being ana astronomy tutor i am ever so grateful for this summer its been the best and i really hope i can feel this way again when i get back with the same exact people