#Pandora..... uh she certainly does | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

cephydeluxe · 5 months ago

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Ohhh I got some asks for the v/mc/rika polycule!! 🤓

1. Do you have any songs/music you like to associate with them? A playlist maybe? 👀 Or just a couple of songs or something, I'm a music nerd, hehe

2. How would you describe their affection towards one another? Are they rough with each other? Gentle? Or do they differ in how they give their affection to each other? I guess case and point is: who's the one coming out covered in bite marks, pfft

3. Are there any feelings of jealousy involved between them? It'll probably be easy to imagine v getting the short end of the stick, but, uh.... he's kind of canonically a freak. So it's highly debatable if he would even get hurt or upset by anything, really. Man's a weird one, and we love him for it. But what about Rika or MC? Do either of them have to deal with feelings of envy or insecurity? Rika's a highly anxious and insecure individual, while MC will have to deal with V's and Rika's mutual obsession with one another. It's an interesting dynamic! I wanna read up on how you see it for them, for better and for worse <3

OMGOMGOMG ‼️‼️‼️ tytyty for asking, I love their dynamic sm,,,, this will be very, extremely, audaciously long lol (u have opened the autism pandora box) it’s all under the read more

TW: unhealthy relationship dynamics, mentions of trauma and mental illness, physical, emotional, and mental abuse (the unholy triforce 😭), also sexual themes too (you know a ships good when you gotta bring out the long ass list of triggers JHASGJDS)

1. MUSIC

I have like a hundred playlists for these freaks and they’re all have a thousand songs in them that VAGUELY remind me of them, so, I’ll give you my top 5 :)

This song is THE QUINTESSENTIAL Rika song, 100%, no doubt. Rika’s jealousy and envy of V’s “light” compared to her “darkness” is at the heart of what killed their relationship and plays a huge role in the creation of the mint eye. V certainly isn’t nowhere near as vain as Julius Caesar, but Rika couldn’t fit the role of Brutus here any better than she already does🥺🥺🥺.

“That the people would see me too as a poet, and not just the muse” is such a good line for rika’s thoughts and feelings on their relationship augh, she sees v’s ability to love her, to “save” her, and constantly compares it to her hatred of everyone in her past who mistreated and abused her, and wonders “why can’t I have the ability to love others? why am I in agony even now in this relationship? why can’t I be the savior and not just v’s muse?”

Totally encapsulates Rika’s slow mental decline as V keeps enabling her, it stoked her “devil” and it starts to create a vicious cycle of “heap on the love, get jealous of v’s light, become resentful and aggressive as an unhealthy coping mechanism, “test v’s love” (hurt him), remorse, hate herself, resolve to be “cured” by the light, repeat”. She has no idea what romantic love actually looks like, so she gets it confused with obsessive hatred.

^^^this is totally the scene where she stabs him LMAOSDHSJJHD

“I don’t want what you have, I want to be you” it’s such a good line, it’s Rika 100%,,,,, augh 🥺🥺🥺

This song makes me froth at the mouth soooo bad thinking about V/MC affair hijinks (I’m delusional), but I think the general vibe fits with Rika feeling scorned and cheated at the end of V route. Like instead of fabricating a woman up, she lured MC to mint eye which set up the events that led V and MC to fall in love (kinda), smh she set herself up 😒

Casual/Deep story V vibes at their finest,,,,, imagining V wandering alone through his old, and frighteningly chilly, house, the one he built with Rika to be the foundation for their new happy life,,,, trying to remember her face after finally losing his vision completely and having spent so long apart from her,,, while questioning the nature of their relationship for it to end like this,,,, calling out her name in hope she’ll come back and the past 2 years will have been a dream,,,,, hell yeagh (hooked up 2 life support)

All of kikuo’s songs remind me of mint eye, but hole dwelling is Rika/MC vibes 100%.(could also be ray tbh BUT THIS AINT ABOUT HIM ‼️) Rika tries to convince MC to stay with her by appealing to the hurt, scared, and confused childlike side of her similar to the way the song does. “The outside world just wants to hurt people like us anyway, but don’t worry, I’m always here for you, I understand you. There’s no need to change, it’s uncomfortable and scary, just stay in this place I built for you and me.” MC fuckin HATES this shit, but being in a place like mint eye wears down on you, so mc will occasionally (and very begrudgingly) lean on Rika for support. It’s very sweet (delusional).

Ok this oldie sticks out jahshj (I’m a fnv freakazoid) but it’s totally MC singing about V 🥹💕. I wouldn’t say it was “love at first sight”,,,,, but it was totally “attraction at first sight” lmao (big difference). Their attraction was really quick to spark, they had a lot of things in common and similar views (not so much in other things LOL) like their love for art in all forms, their introverted nature, their mutual appreciation for all things romantic (aka, their both in love with falling in love), and their similar martyr complex lolololol. MC singing this while spending a sleepless night tending to a sickly drugged V, while lamenting her newfound budding feelings for him,,,(cephy stop obsessing over romance as a tragedy challenge: impossible)

Some honorable mentions

(^^^ V would never describe his relationship with Rika so cruelly, EVER,,,,, but the vibe of love performed as art for others instead of something to build with someone you care about,,, it’s immaculate)

11. AFFECTION

Their dynamic can be confusing, but don’t worry, you can’t possibly be more confused than they are, and they’re IN IT lol. Generally their dynamic is, the “ring leader” (Rika) and her two adoring affectionate “lovers” (V and MC) (more like playthings tbh). They have a whole web of dynamics though, ray made a chart to keep track of it all so when inevitably Rika has a meltdown over a perceived slight and needs him to vent to, he can keep track of what’s what (kinda)(poor guy).

Rika/MC affection: USUALLY MC does NOT want anything to do with Rika,,, but V can be super suffocating,,,, and Rika is extremely persistent with getting MC’s attention, and the line between hate and love can be extremely thin (especially in their case). MC tends to relent when rika’s upset though, she doesn’t like seeing her cry (she tries to convince herself lol) and will comfort Rika when she does. MC generally follows Rika’s led in moments like this (overstepping her bounds, even accidentally, is a recipe for disaster). Rika knows this, and will take full advantage, cue 7 hour cuddling session that takes up MC’s whole day, even if she had something planned with V 🤭🤭🤭 Rika is also wayyyy more happily (and sexually) affectionate with MC than with V lol (cause she’s closeted lesbian- wHO SAID THAT) Mutual biting, but the one biting is usually Rika.

V/MC affection: my sweet lovers,,,,, they are much too sweet to each other considering the circumstances,,, V (despite his relationship with Rika) has never felt so genuinely attracted to another person before, it’s always been a conscious choice he’s made for the sake of his art, his love, his obsession, his guilt, his light. So when his feelings for MC spring up outta nowhere, he has a kinda catholic reaction to them ahdghshgd. “Good heavens, what is this feeling??? For a woman I met a week ago, no less….. What a sad excuse for a man I am, how could I love anyone else besides Rika….i should stop…(proceeds to call MC for the 50th time that day just to hear her voice)” and MC,,,, MC has never had a more embarrassing crush on a guy, ever HEHEHE she doesn’t know how to cope with his flustering when she reaches for his hand, his old timey romantic gestures (getting her flowers and walking with her on the side farthest from the road)(throwing his coat on a puddle for her to walk on HSHSDJ). He can be a lil too much at times, (which sometimes frustrates her, she feels smothered at times, and it’s her first relationship (good lord) and she’s not a well adjusted person either) but they both have this really cute, almost innocent, puppy love thing going on, it’s cute 🥰, it’s also the only kind of real affection v gets lol (poor guy). MC has a bad case of “cute-aggression” that gets exasperated by V’s smothering, so it’s usually her giving out the bites hjajhd V takes anything she gives him, he’s so touch starved. Rika usually butts in on their time together, but more on that later.

V/Rika affection(or lack thereof) : these two,,,, the apocalyptic disaster couple themselves,,,,, well for starters Rika keeps him at a looooong distance, in most cases. The reason (at least she believes) they broke up in the first place is because rika’s devil was being burned by V’s love, BUT she admits herself that she “needs” v’s light to fuel her darkness. V also feels an obligation to shine his light on her, the initial obsession and intrigue long dead by now, but he still genuinely cares about Rika’s wellbeing, very much so. They “love” and “need” each other like a sick person needs their meds, but the sick person doesn’t feel affectionate towards their medication, right? No real heart-warming connection towards their pill bottle, it’s just something they need to live. In fact, wouldn’t they feel resentful of their medicine?? Having to constantly depend on it for survival, all the while dealing with side effects when they would rather do anything else?? Yeah that’s their relationship lol,,,,,(somebody get a therapist on speed dial) There’s Biting here too, but it’s all Rika, and not at all playful as her bites with MC, and her bites are nowhere near as passionate like the ones MC gives him.

111. JEALOUSY AND INSECURITY

Oooh lord 😭😭😭 Rika’s practically made of it, V unfortunately enables it, and MC cannot stomach it (except when she gets jealous too). Most of their fights (that practically rival ancient Chinese civil wars in casualties) stem from someone (usually Rika, never V) feeling jealous or insecure. It’s a miracle this poly trio even happened. It’s a complete scientific mystery as to how the poly trio is still going.

Rika’s jealousy and insecurity: I could write a detailed analysis on rika’s insecurity that would rival the Lord of the Rings in length and it still wouldn’t convey just how bad she’s got it, so I’ll try and give the cliff notes instead. She feels she “needs” to be loved in order to be validated as a living being, worthy of living happily. So when she feels “left out” (not the center of attention for 2 seconds) she spirals, thinking she’s being left alone just like so many times before in childhood, just like a defective doll her adopted parents didn’t want, and that maybe they were right, she couldn’t possibly deserve love. Panicking, she usually interrupts whatever V and MC have going on, and insists on reassurance of their love for her, and if she feels she’s being slighted, she’ll fly into a rage, handing out punishments and tests of love, but you can tell she’s biased cause MC’s “punishment” is being confined to Rika’s comfy bedroom for a week and V’s punishment is being locked in the dungeon for 3 weeks 😭😭😭😒😒😒 Usually best case scenario is

V/MC enjoying a moment together alone cuddling

Rika immediately being alerted via her sixth sense

Rika barging in like “make room bitches”

Rika settling smack dab between them lol

MC’s jealous and insecurity: She HATES Rika’s jealous fits so fuckin much lmaoooo 🤭. She convinces herself she would never get jealous ever…… which is an outright LIE it just manifests differently and less often. She hates V’s tendency to distance himself from her to appease Rika, it makes her insecurity flare badly, cue her starting a spat with Rika, and hoping V will take her side. It’s stupid, petty, and downright goofy behavior honestly, but it’s her first relationship (good lord) and she’s got the worst fucking partners ever 🫠🫠🫠 how else is a sheltered neurodivergent girl in her early 20s to cope.

V’s (non existent) jealousy and insecurity: As you have correctly guessed,,,,,, V is definitely not a jealous man HJDDSJSJSF 😂😂😂😂 He is weirdly secure in the relationship, due to Rika’s dependence on his “light” and though his relationship with MC is very new, he feels the tight bond (trauma bond lol) they have and doesn’t worry about whether or not she’ll leave him, also due in part to the fact he doesn’t worry about them not returning his affections, he’s more worried about whether or not he deserves to love or be loved in the first place. If he found out one of them saw someone else outside the trio, he wouldn’t be upset besides somehow twisting the event into somehow being his fault like “if my light was strong enough they wouldn’t have had to go somewhere else for it, was I neglecting them??? 😢😢😢”(poor guy) This trait of his tends to set the other two off, as they mistake his laidback “I’m cool with everything” security as aloofness, and spiral into their insecurity 😑😑😑 it also has the hilarious (debatable) effect of usually ending spats between Rika and MC.

*Rika and MC arguing over something* “V!! What do you think?? Whose side are you on!?”

V:*deep breath* I think you’re both right. 😇😇😇

“Are you fucking kidding me-“ “SEE I TOLD YOU, isn’t he infuriating????” “V just pick a side!!!” “THATS WHAT IM SAYING!!” “Ugh you’re so right-“

(queue lesbianism, hilarity ensues)

They’re a complete disaster together, but you’d have to have the strength of fucking Zeus to separate them, it’s ludicrous.

#cephy talks #mystic messenger #jihyun kim #mysme v #rika kim #mc mystic messenger #this took #too much fucking time to write #tumblr conked out like 2 times writing this and I lost my fuckin progress TWICE #but I had to get this out this ask was killer #it’s funny as fuck cause I was currently into another fixation #then I got this ask #and I like #manually switched gears in my brain like driving a car LMAOSKDHKDSJHH #jihyun x mc #v x mc x rika #rika x v #rika x mc #ask answered

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pandorafallz · 1 year ago

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Vampire AU | To the Forests

Jake kept his gaze on different people as he ate. Mostly the avatar group to see which ones actually were eating. Again, the usual two weren’t. A third wasn’t but that was because he looked near asleep and inhaled the vapours of his coffee with reverence. Not a morning person.

He was still warming up a few ideas in mind but he had no access to proper data he wanted to see possible location. He was sure that…even if Reza said no to coming herself, she’d give him her Samson and claim ignorance than risk him going and stealing someone else’s and possibly getting hurt. He’d certainly needed supplies to go. He had seen vending machines about; he was sure he could get some emergency food and supplies via there or directly at the store cupboards once he knew where those were.

Still, he’d give himself a week to properly get everything gathered.

His attention turned from the table as a shadow moved into the corner of his eye, turning to see a pilot but not the one he knew.

“Hey, you Sully?”

“Uh-hum” he confirmed slowly.

The woman nodded away towards the door “The Coronel wants to see you in the amour bay. Come on.” She patted him in passing as she led the way.

Jake dropped his cutlery and rolled after her.

“I’m Trudy.” She offered as they went, though he felt a mild prickly sensation that… Augustine was watching him but he forced that from the forefront of his mind. Not his problem.

He let Trudy do most of the talking as they went, informing him about her job here, like moving the science ‘sorties’ around Pandora, passing through to the large bay where there were a ton of metal AMP Suits were lined up. Some being repaired or replaced or basic maintenance. Overly large weapons were being moved around and Jake almost got hit by a selection of Samson missiles on wheels.

“There’s your man,” Trudy gutted her chin out to a makeshift gym that was covered mostly by metal cage walls.

He fist bumped the pilot as she left then wheeled onwards to see the Coronel was bench pressing a series of weights. Almost impressive before the reminder that Pandora didn’t have the same gravity; humans would press more to get the same effect of a lesser amount. Otherwise, their bodies would get too used to Pandora and struggle when back to Earth Gravity.

Still, he had a feeling this display was for a show.

“This low gravity makes you soft,” Quaritch spoke, pushing up the last rep. “You get soft, Pandora will shit you out dead with zero warning.” Quaritch racks the bar and sits up, sweating but not winded. “I pulled your record, Corporal. Venezuela -- that was some mean bush. Nothing like this here, though. You got heart kid.” He rose to his feet calmly.

Jake considers what to say for a moment, before shrugging. “I figured -- just another hellhole.” Playing ball would certainly keep off anything on him; no one was expecting him to bail but he wasn’t going to raise any flags if he could help it.

Quaritch chuckled with some level of respect though looked past him out to the suits and made forwards. Jake rolled back to allow the Coronel to pass.

“I was in First Recon a few years ahead of you. More than a few. Three tours in Nigeria, not a scratch. I come out here; day one“ He pointed to his scarred face. “Think I felt like a shavetail louie? Yeah, well they could fix this if I rotated back. Make me look pretty again, but you know what? I kinda like it. Reminds me every day what’s out there.”

Jake chuckled humourlessly, though he could respect the man wearing his trauma how he wanted to. He rolled along towards the lift platform as the Coronel made to climb up the AMP suit’s leg.

“The avatar program is a bad joke –buncha limpdick scientist majors. However, this does present an opportunity both timely and unique. Clear!” The Coronel continued, adding the last to the mechanic to back off from the back exhaust vents.

It make Jake’s eye twitch a little at the insult towards his brother’s job and…another reminder that he was a tool. Sure, he was no scientist and would be in a different sector but this was far different to what he expected; a guard if best if he had any plans to stay.

Quaritch continued as he fit on the AMP suits gloves.

��A recon gyrene in an avatar body. That’s a potent mix. Give me the goosebumps. Such a marine could get me the intel I need on the ground, right in the hostiles’ camp.” Quaritch turned his focus fully onto Jake as he continued, “Look, Sully, I need you to learn about these savages from the inside, and gain their trust. Find out how I can force their cooperation, or hammer ‘em hard if they don’t. Maybe you can keep some of my boys from going home bagged and tagged.”

Jake dropped his gaze down for a moment, his hands tightening on his wheel bars for a moment to consider. A mole. A smart move not going for one of the scientists, they weren’t trained for it and could certainly cave to any pressure Augustine put on them if she suspected them of answering to other people.

But, being around soldiers would interfere with his bail plans.

“I still with Augustine?” Of course, being around a vampire was even harder but there weren’t as many of those around so he thought he had better chances.

“On paper. You walk like one of her science pukes, you quack like one, but you report to me. Can you do that for me, son?”

Jake nodded softly, composing himself to look convinced. “I can try, Sir.”

Quaritch moved, the huge suit shifting as he stepped out from his line. The massive suit mimicked the man’s actions as he tested out the range of motion “Look, son – I take care of my own. Get me what I need, I’ll see you get your legs back when you rotate home. Your real legs.”

Jake smiled, “That sounds real good, sir.”

“Well, alright then.” Quaritch nodded, swinging his arm down to bring down the canopy of the suit and walked off with heavy KLUNKs.

Jake’s smile vanished immediately, his eyes dropping down to his failed legs. A mole for legs. If he wasn’t committed to bailing, it may well have been a tempting offer. But that was committing a lot of time and emotional input into the Na’vi people and any failure on his part would lead to the fact the operation for his back would be taken away. They may not like humans but to get into their clan…to be trusted and to stab them in the back…. He could see that would only end poorly. For the Na’vi, they’d lose all trust in humans. Him, he’d lose his avatar. His brother’s avatar.

No, thank you.

He could live with his disability in peace at the cost of nothing. He had his avatar now, after all. He could live through that.

Jake had noticed Augustine’s colder looks which were somewhat amusing as the day went on, given she hadn’t talked to him despite knowing what transpired between him and Quaritch. She couldn’t, not without questions. He counted two others also in the program, other drivers which set his current count to four vampires.

Jake had since realised that…the vampires were doing their best to remain a secret. Not a total take-over just yet. Hence why Augustine hadn’t addressed anything with him, why they looked to put in the effort to be at the mess and… why they were using clearly forged biomarkers on their link-bed readings.

It presented an opportunity he would capitalise on. Their desire to remain secret would be his gold card to escape. They needed humans to survive, and all the humans here, he doubted would be happy to know they were on the menu. He didn’t know all their weaknesses or what was yet true against what was fictional but he had downloaded a lot more books onto his hard drives from the Hell’s Gate entertainment systems that he had missed out on.

The whiplash with interacting with Augustine in either forms was still a very jarring experience. From someone who was cold (in a few ways now) and critical but in her avatar, she was far warmer and open… looking like she had an enjoyment for life. Was she still a little snide today, yes but it wasn’t nearly so obvious as she worked and showed him about their plants in the avatar compound as they kept building up their avatar’s body.

She also gave him a fuck-ton of data-pad books and told him to get reading. He hadn’t but he kept the data pad anyway because she had given him a ton of useful information. Norm had been suckered to his side, probably on her orders to try and start learning the language but the scientist had been far too interested in the plants and telling him about them to get around to it. Jake didn’t seek him out on it either.

It took three days before things happened.

Jake had been stolen…or more accurately, he had convinced Norm to give him a load of dried seeds from a few of the fruits and vegetables from the Avatar compound garden to ‘study’. His mother’s jewellery box was open and a ton of earth seeds in little baggies were scattered about his desk as he inventoried on what he actually had.

Tom was a genius, Jake had realised when he had first really paid attention to this. Tom had planned to take all of these with him, and possibly for his own benefit as well; fresh seeds were hard to come by on earth. He had spent a lot of money to secure these, Jake had seen the amount he had paid for for a small bag of corn kernels and carrot seeds. Thousands of dollars worth of seeds now lay adorned on his bed from years of collection. Tom was a botanist; he was sure that he had a plan for them to be grown here on Pandora.

Jake hoped they’d germinate and grow here as well; if he had human food for his human body, then all he’d need to worry about is Pandora food for his avatar. Which he now had a handful of seeds for as well, also bagged and labelled so he didn’t get mixed up.

All he had to hope for now was…that this planet could actually support Earth plants. He could try a few seeds out and hope to god it worked. He made sure to download the manuals on gardening from seeds.

Jake was just putting them back into his mother’s box before there was a knock at the door.

“Come in.”

Reza stepped in, poking her head in first. “Sup. I’ve got—is that a cocoa bean?” Her sentence diverted instantaneously, coming in and immediately picking up the bag with a single white bean inside. “Oh my god, this is a beautiful sight!”

Jake twitched a little, holding his hand out for it. “If it’s possible to grow them, but I’d rather not just yet.”

“This must have been so…expensive!” She gaped, “Did he sell a kidney to get this?”

Jake gave her a tired look. “No….”

Reza looked away from the bag with a raised eyebrow. “You’re not sounding certain, Jake.” Nonetheless, she handed it back with reverence. “What else does he have?”

Jake slipped the precious bean back into the box, collecting up the remaining packets though didn’t entertain the question. “I take it you’re here for a talk, Nadine?”

She pouted a little but brought her leg up onto the side of his bed and tugged up her pant leg until her metallic leg was exposed. From her pocket, she pulled out a thin piece of metal and shoved it into the side panel and…lifted away a small section of it.

“Contraband, my dear.” She pulled out a thumb drive from the small space inside the mechanics “One stick of weed.” She winked, holding out a thumb drive.

“You keep weed in your leg?” Jake laughed because she did look to have a very small joint on the inside of the panel. “Neat.”

“A girl has to be creative with her severed limbs.” Reza sighed, “Why not for the short thrills?”

“I could do with this, thank you.” He abandoned his remaining baggies and reached for his tablet and held it out for her.

[What’s on it?] He typed.

[A virus. It’ll freeze SecOps external cameras for five minutes before the system detects it and removes it. For when we leave.] She grinned down at him as he looked at her sharply, brightening up.

Reza was going to leave with him. It made his heart skip in relief and excitement. He had better chances and company. He could relax a little bit as well. As much as he hated his limits, he could live with them and there was certainly a benefit with someone a little more able. And…well who was going to suspect a double amputee and a paraplegic escaping.

He just needed to get his avatar away first, lie through his teeth to not only security but to a vampire who would certainly know he was lying—he needed half-truths to support himself there when the questions with her present came up and blackmail to keep her off his ass. He may not have video proof nor was he looking for it but he could install some doubt and have Quaritch look into her or let them see what the group were doing to cover their asses.

Quaritch may be a hard ass but he was head of security; he’d find it a good project if he thought another department head might be ‘corrupt’ or hiding something. Jake could respect the man’s resolve to see it done.

[I’ll try and get my avatar lost once we have a location in mind. I’m planning to go to get more intel tonight.] He typed. [Get packed and ready. Get your Samson stripped of trackers and the black box ready to discard. Try and get it with extra supplies in advance.]

[Can do. But the longer we wait, we have higher chances of getting caught decking out my ship] she reminded, [a link shack isn’t easy to carry either.]

[We’ll make it work, Nadine.] He assured, reaching forwards to pat her arm.

Reza eyed him for a moment, then nodded.

Jake pondered his next move as he pushed his way from the mess one morning before he opted to find Quaritch and talk to Selfridge about his options. If it wasn’t for the fact there were people with super hearing, Jake could have suggested to Quaritch that they set up an ‘accident’ that winds up separating him from Augustine to give him a chance to run and be ‘found’ without it being suspicious on her part that there might be another alternative.

But there were people with super hearing so he had to be careful still on what he said to him. Augustine didn’t have super hearing through her avatar so he’d take advantage of the avatar’s limits on her to make something happen more naturally when they were out taking samples.

“Ah, Sully.” Quaritch’s voice echoed as he entered the control hub. “Just the guy I was hoping to see. You’re with Augustine tomorrow, aren’t you?”

Jake wheeled towards him, “Yes. First day out of the compound and into the jungle. It’ll be nice to see what the fuss of nature is all about given how much the plant nerds keep jumping about when they peek through the microscopes.” He remarked dryly. “I was hoping for a…better debrief of what’s expected of me if and when the Na’vi approach?”

Quaritch looked more interested and then nodded him along towards the holographic table though Selfridge was there, all too happy to see him getting into gear.

“That’s what I like to hear.” Selfridge grinned, “An action man. To put it straight, our mine close to Hell’s Gate is running low on ore deposits, to keep Hell's Gate running and for Earth’s needs, we need a new one. Our next best option, unfortunately, is in Omatikaya territory.” Selfridge spoke, adjusting the image to a huge tree, the 3D scans underneath showing huge veins running underneath. “Now… the best case we can do is get them to move and then no one gets hurt which is where you come in.”

Jake stared at the image for a moment, taken aback by the grand nature of the size. By the structures on the holograph, it was easy to see…it housed a huge village of Na’vi. For a tree to be this big and this big and this well established meant that the Na’vi clan that lived here had been here for generations and generations…thousands of years no doubt.

They were not going to move, short of death. No amount of convincing will even get far and even if he did follow Quaritch’s plan, they’d kill him first and give the RDA plausible reason for burning down this tree.

“That’s one…big tree. Must be thousands of years old,” He whistled, “and a lot of people.” He added, sparing a glance to Selfridge. “It’d take…a lot to even get them to move.”

“You need to figure out what we can do or offer to get them to move. We know Augustine plans for Spellman to be the next go-between given he’s a new face and fits her ideals of communication between the RDA and the Omatikaya but you’re also new and should…also be of interest should you see that opportunity arise.” Quaritch spoke, “We have dozers set to move in, an estimate of three months so you’ll have that much time once you’ve got in to gain their trust and give us a nugget.”

“I see…” He hummed thoughtfully. Three months…not a long amount of time. He knew not to cross them but…if he could help a little, then maybe that might give him and Nadine some breathing room in their territory.

“It’s either….you go in and get them to move or we forced them to move with a lot more heat. I know it looks bad killing the ingenious but there are worse things than bad press and that’s a bad quarterly statement. I don’t make up the rules here.” Selfridge waved off casually as if he wasn’t suggesting the worst possible option that would ruin and kill so many innocent people.

“We have the firepower,” Quaritch added.

“Alright,” Jake agreed, his heart twisting anxiously. “Less amount of bodies, the better. But…if I do this, I need to have a map of the areas, the dozer route, the clans and try and come up with a solution that I can offer them when I get them to go.” He asked though Quaritch looked a little less certain than Selfridge, “Sure, there’s a fuckton of trees but it needs to be as suitable as the old one, or better than the old one. It’d be better to have one not in the way of the dozers either. I don’t know shit about this planet.” He reminded.

Quaritch turned his gaze to Selfridge. “Think it’ll help that much?” but the hesitation was easy to see in his posture.

“Would you rather know your best alternative options than some new guy telling you to leave with nothing else to pull out his ass, sir?” Jake asked, adding the last to be more polite.

Selfridge hummed in agreement, “Alright but I want the tablet back by tomorrow morning before you leave. I can’t let you keep it all.”

“Oh, fair enough.” Jake agreed wholeheartedly with them. He’d see if Nadine could copy it all onto her tablet instead. He didn’t need the original, just a version.

After accepting the tablet, he wheeled off back to his bunk to study.

From the tablet, he looked through to find the abandoned link shacks and their locations first and only focused on shacks that had link beds. From there, the general locations in which they could end up at; a river or lake would be ideal. The flux vortex was a must to cover his ass. He found a viable location and memorised the coordinates.

It seemed that Selfridge in all his occupied glory had forgotten to even log out or secure the rest of the files on his data pad. The RDA Mining plans for the tree, the Bulldozer’s records and schematics and, by gods grace alone, more RDA secrets.

Also, another thing he had Nadine save as well when she had popped in briefly before he gave her his plan of action.

He had a location, he had means to leave and he had a link shack to steal as well. All he needed now was the escape. Twice.

ISV Destiny was dark.

It still thundered on with the velocity of its trajectory outside towards Pandora despite the near-empty fuel tank. The Vault pods of people remained unbothered and only one of the two Valkyrie ships remained where it was. The other was gone and signs of damage were not unnoticed but the ship was surprisingly stable.

“So, to put it bluntly….we have three months before we…crash into Pandora.” The first of the four medical technicians and engineers spoke as they eyed the monitor of the craft and mathematical model of working and compromised systems.

“We can’t stop?”

“We’re two years off course, there’s barely enough fuel to start deceleration nor power for the system to access the emergency fuel supplies or equipment.” The engineer pointed out. “We should send out a distress warning if we’re able to get an ISV to catch up and resupply in motion…we could have a chance. Or give the RDA a chance to stop us before we crash.”

“You mean to kill us?” The fourth medic piped up nervously. “We have a hundred people in cryo! And two avatars!”

“We’d all still die if the RDA did nothing, Teresa. We’re on a collision course with a huge fucking moon.”

“Shut up, Elroy.” Teresa hissed.

The second technician remained quiet as the three continued. Looking over the reports the computer system had pinged up. “We can stop in time.” She announced after a moment. “Cryo vaults are sealed so if we go back into a cryo stasis had have the backup AI aid us. We can turn off life support from the rest of the ship and redundant systems, that’ll give us enough power to access the emergency supplies and keep the AI System running on emergency systems. We’ll stop in time… but the RDA will have to send a ship for more power to activate life support and awaken us and the crew.”

“That’s very risky. We have to help monitor the avatars still.”

“No, we don’t. They’re not been on growth hormones for months; only life support that runs on the same operating system as the cryo vaults, not the ship’s life support. They’ll be fine if you change out the drug systems for a cryo drugs to reduce their metabolism intake and use effectively use the amniotic tank as its own cryo pod.” The second one spoke, typing out their method and idea for the others to check over.

The engineer spoke. “We lost a ton of fuel... We’re still at risk of over and underfiring here…”

“I know,” the second spoke, handing off the data pad to be verified by the others first. “But you’re assuming we’ll be pumping the breaks all the way and the fact we’re still a month behind than a typical deceleration pattern and timings but you’ve not accounted for the fact we were still knocked off course. We start the deceleration as typical and run a slightly tweaked variation to account for being off course and for plenty of warning of the RDA ships that may be in orbit. We’ll avoid the resupply groups.”

“The math looks right,” Elroy spoke out, as he sim red it “It could work. Our chances would be far better.”

They all looked to the first. “Teresa, you deal with the avatars. I’ll get our pods sorted. Elroy, reprogram the greeting chime to inform greeting parties when they attempt to make contact and shut down the pilot’s cryo pods from auto-activation when the manual drive is important. We don’t need them to suffocate by accident.”

“I’ll get our pods sorted,” the third spoke, pushing off down the long corridor.

“Elena, double-check that supplies are secured and run a last check over each vault before we get in. I’ll get the AI systems active on minimum power and see to deceleration has started. Each of us, packs an Exo-mask in case we’re ejected out without life support active. We can’t help each other if we’re dead.”

“Yes, sir.”

As the crew began to power down areas of the ship, the few lights they had started to go off. Areas. The engines started to kick into life as the first vault of two closed before the latter two joined them asleep.

All was quiet. All remained asleep.

Jake had half expected Augustine on his ass the moment he stepped into the bio lab, though instead she was busy and so, he didn’t seek to open the option either as he packed his Avatar’s bag pack; adding his personal tablet into it as well as and subtly adding an extra canteen of water and snacks into it before putting it on the rack to be taken off to the longhouse.

“Okay, we’re on the flight line in ten minutes, let’s get going,” Augustine called as Max jogged ahead to the link room..Her eyes turned to him for a moment, her gaze surprisingly sharp. “However, a word, Marine.”

Norm was quick to finish up his last bag and scurried ahead with a final look back.

Jake swallowed his discomforts, setting his jaw though it did occur to him that Augustine’s lips and cheeks looked far pinker than the day before; it made him queasy thinking about it so he thanked the poor bastard internally for keeping her too occupied to overhear his talking with the bosses.

“As an avatar driver, you’re in my world. Okay. I know what we’re dealing with.” She spoke intently, “We’re about to enter Omatikaya territory. I get you’ve never been in a forest so I’ll cut you some slack but I expect you to behave with a gun. No shooting everything that moves because the chances are, you’ll piss something off.”

Jake twitched a little, feeling very patronised but it certainly coloured how the woman saw him. A jarhead following orders. He’d be offended about that later. “I have common sense, Dr Augustine. I’m not as dumb as you think I am.”

“Did you read anything that I sent you?” She clipped her fingers, gesturing him towards the lab.

Jake forced himself to roll after her, irritated. “I glanced at it.” He answered snidely. “I’m not a scientist, remember. Don’t expect me to be a replacement for my brother. I’m not him.”

Her head turned, her face schooled carefully though she looked more annoyed than anything. “Clearly, but ignorance will get you and your avatar killed. If you get lost or separated, the Omatikaya will kill intruders that aren’t in a travelling group.” She warned. “Avatars and their drivers have died before.”

For a second, he thought she was hinting at him that she knew his plan, his heart lurching for a second but the words were also hardly a comfort if it was true; he was dancing with death with his avatar so he’d have to be quick to make sure to get his avatar safe. She wasn’t even looking at him as she shrugged off her lab coat and handed it straight off to the other vampire technician who didn’t bat an eye.

“Wait, died?” This was Norm, peeking above his link lid in alarm. “Who died?”

“Three years ago, two avatar drivers went missing in the Tipani territory after a clash between the Tipani and the RDA, their avatars as well. A jawbone and rib were the only human remains returned to us that indicated their deaths. Another human went missing but no remains were recovered.” Augustine spoke, her nose wrinkling a little. “René also died in the conflict as well.”

“Who?” Jake asked, pushing himself to sit in the link.

“Dr René Harper. He was…the head of the Avatar Program before Dr Augustine. Clearly, after his death, she got his position.” Norm spoke, “I…did some catch-up reading…and people gossip.” He added, noting both Jake and Augustine’s quizzical look.

“He was a good man,” Augustine spoke though this time she actually sounded genuine. “Tipani were…unwelcoming, yet he was the only one who could talk to them….be friendly with them even. I only met the clan twice. The first time, I was refused.” She shook her head, almost sad but also amused. “One day, maybe we’ll actually start talking to the clans.” Her head turned to Norm. “At least with the Omatikaya, they’ll be less likely to kill you once a dialect is established.”

Norm swallowed thickly though nodded nervously and just got into his link.

Jake remained uneasy, even as they landed in the forest, though he couldn’t deny the forest wasn’t overwhelming… the smell of soil…the plants were one thing. But…the sounds of bugs, and the chittering of animals were equally distracting. His grip on the gun was tight, but he tried not to raise it too much as they walked.

He had heard of the school; the building was run down and decaying and so he stood back to let the two collect shit for their work. He could see the effort put into the place, the books and toys even… the blackboard that still had writing on…that had bullet holes in. Behind the board, the entire blind was gone. It wasn’t until he saw Augustine lean more forwards that he noticed the scar on her back that became visible as the fabric lifted, watching for a moment how she straightened up it was near level with the bullets in the board.

“What happened here?�� He asked, after a moment.

Her jaw tightened, yellow eyes narrowing intently. “You gonna help us with this equipment or not? We got a lot to do.”

Fair enough.

Delicate subject.

Jake followed along as Augustine led them through a particular route, pausing briefly to gather slice the trunk of a tree and collected it’s sap then rubbed it into her blue arms and face until it was absorbed and encouraged them to do the same to get rid of the insects and to smell like a predator; to avoid viperwolves. He made note of the tree type as he lotioned himself up.

He stood back as they worked, though it was tediously dull, Jake wondered for a moment how far he could get naturally before he was lost or found a way to make his escape. He could probably blame getting lost after wandering too far…

Jake eyed the treeline around him for a moment, though idly followed his impulse to at least explore a little. He smiled a little, still…amazed at how much life there was around him. He watched for a moment as a jelly-fish like plant seemed to float towards him. Dancing on the wind.

Curiously, Jake followed it, passing quietly through the foliage. Its body was...kinda cute, though he wondered what it’d feel like to touch. He dropped his gun as it stopped, forgetting it wasn’t strapped around him and reached his hands out, palms up for it. It drifted down coming to settle in his hands and its touches feeling like little kisses even, before he realised one thing;

Two huge fucking eyes were staring up at him through the foliage right in front of him. Hungry eyes.

[X]

#avatar #avatar au #avatar james cameron #avatar the way of water #grace augustine #jake sully #norm spellman #avatar rda #max patel #vampire au #vampire grace #vampire #trudy chacon

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little-watcher · 4 months ago

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ellery grins at those words. the grin doesn’t last very long. “i don’t- no, i- i wanted lindy to meet marc. marc’s my dad. was- was my dad. it’s complicated now. but i wanted lindy to see that he wasn’t so bad. well. that certainly backfired. it was fine at the beginning. i mean, it was awkward, but it was fine. but then marc left the table. he was getting antsy, went to get some ‘air.’ and then me and rosalind talked some. about him. which he heard, of course, because when has anything ever gone right in my life? and he came back, so that we stopped talking about him, i think. and then he asked about camp. because of course he did. and we.. she told him. some. i wasn’t being helpful, because i knew what he wanted to do. he was gonna go there, he was gonna hurt people, and it wouldn’t be the right ones, because it never is. it never is. i- i was just warning him about the staff, the kids, the- the staff are kids, lindy was staff, the- the staff don’t know what they’re doing, you know? they don’t. and marc would have hurt them. and he- he was being a liar. i told him not to do anything stupid, and he said he didn’t hurt kids. he does hurt kids, he hurt laertes, he hurt orion, he hurt his students he hurt his kids and he thinks i don’t know, but how could i not Know when he didn’t want me to so badly and he hurt- he hurt me. and i didn’t tell him that yet. but i did tell him it was a bad idea. and that he would get hurt. and he said that- he said that it would be worth it if he died if nobody else’s baby got hurt. and that if he hurt them then he’d- he’d ‘take care of himself like any other monster.’ i told him that was stupid, that he didn’t do shit when he hurt me’n lae, and that he certainly wouldn’t do shit if he hurt those kids. i also told him that those kids aren’t anyone’s babies. and that he couldn’t possibly understand what those kids are going through. what i went through. he said he’d find them a home. i told him that they’d end up in foster care, and that that’s infinitely fucking worse. i got mad. madder than i ever been mad before. i told him he can’t help them. that he doesn’t get it and never will. he didnt like that. said it didnt matter that it wasnt gonna fix anything. said he didnt care. said i didn’t care. he was mad. i was mad. told him of course i think it matters. told him he wasnt listening to me. told him to get used to it. he- god, he fucking- fucked it up. he- you know what he said? he said ‘get out. and take your bitch with you. you weren’t wanted here in the first place.’ i got angry. not- not like i was before, deeper angry. really fucking angry. i- i said a lot of shit. i said he was a bad person. i said that i couldn’t believe i ever thought he was a good father. he got- he got Hunt-y. i- lindy wanted me to leave. he wanted me to leave. but i couldn’t leave. i was just- i was so fucking stubborn. i couldn’t leave. marc started to throw shit. plates and shit on the wall, not at me or lindy, but he was mad and he was taking it out on everything. the web- She was influencing me. She wanted me to push marc to the edge. and i let Her. i let Her use me as a puppet. She made me say horrible things. and then he lunged. and he bit and he clawed and i managed to get away but then there was a chase and i was prey again. She wanted me to be free from my hunt mark. She wanted the hunt to be finished. the hunt doesn’t like unfinished meals. but marc didn’t chase me. lindy did. i think ran into pandora? it was a blur, it was all running and running until i stopped. realized lindy wasn’t my enemy. the web didn’t like that. the hunt mark was still there, and She didn’t like that. so then my memories were gone, She hid ‘em away. i’m sure you don’t need to hear how that went. uh, but they’re back now! i remember everything. fears, i forgot how much my life sucked. but uh, yeah! that’s all i’ve got.”

ellery stands at the entrance to the magnus institute, looking nervous. something (someone?) pulls him closer. ben said it should come here, but it just isn’t sure. it shakes its head, takes a deep breath, and walks through the doors.

#tma rp #statement begins #ellery's statement #rp chain

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trinoxtrinox · 2 years ago

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A party to be remembered through the ages (part 3)

Ectoberhaunt 2022, Side Chaos. Prompt: Costume Party

Summary: Danny invites Pandora to the party as his third plus one.

Author's note: this is escaping my hands, it's out of control I swear to god there's no way for me to properly guess how long it'll be XD I say there'll be only 1 more but maybe they'll be 2 more parts? who knows? certainly not me XD

Edit: First - Previous - Next

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The Acropolis of Athens was within sight, and once again Danny flew with the Specter Speeder in the direction of his objective with a plan in mind, or well, it was more of an idea in mind, Danny’s not the best when it comes to making and following plans after all.

“Ok, so I’ll just park the Speeder nearby, travel through the maze once more, maybe say hi to the gorgons and minotaurs if I see them, reach the end of it, say hi to Pandora, invite her to the party, and return to see how the guys are doing with the beginning of my costume.” Muttering to himself Danny did the first part of the plan, and put the vehicle in a safe place before exiting it, closing the doors with lock, and floating towards the entrance of the maze. Upon coming to the entrance however, Danny found himselfs with a Minotaur that simply pointed him upwards, and Danny, thinking that meant he could fly above the maze, simply followed that instruction, and found himself glad with finding out his suspicions were true for nothing happened when he skipped the whole thing and managed to reach the entrance to Pandora’s Palace.

“Pandora, are you there?” Danny asked as he waited at the umbral of her palace, not wanting to intrude by entering without permission.

“Who dares visit my abode?” Pandora’s voice could be heard reverberating from inside as her shadow was slowly being noticeable from the outside

“Uh, it’s me, Phantom.”

“Danny!” Her voice gained warmth in an instant as she rushed from within the insides of her palace to stand in front of the halfa, “oh it’s a pleasure to see you, how are you doing young man?”

“I’m fine Pandora, how’s everything going on here? Boxy’s still doing his punishments from last time?”

“Oh no, I let him go after a few months of punishment. I could only take so many turns overseeing his punishment before he became grating to my ears.”

“Yeah, I get it, Boxy can be very obnoxious and bothersome if you spend more than a few minutes with him at a time without something to distract you.”

“I blasted him each time he began to articulate the word beware, but that soon became tiring and I just gave up soon after that.”

“I swear he has an obsession with the word beware as well as boxes.”

“Well, enough about that, I’m sure you came here for more than a simple conversation. Would you like some snacks to have our conversation with?”

“Oh absolutely, your snacks are always delicious.”

“I’m so glad you think so, now come on inside, I’ll ask one of my shade servants to bring us some food while we begin our conversation. Come take a seat.” Pandora offered Danny a seat in one of the chairs made of marble chairs, decorated with lines of copper all over them giving them an intrinsic design, and the seats covered in enough yarn blankets to make one sink a little when sitting down, as shown by Danny doing exactly that as he let himself lay on top of said chair; Pandora laughing softly as she sat in her own bigger chair, maintaining her composure all the while.

“Oh shut it Pandora.” The teenager countered the laugh with a smirk of his own as he said so playfully while righting himself.

“Well, what would you like to talk about dear Phantom?”

“Well there’s this party that Johnny 13 is hosting, and he invited me.”

“Oh, does that mean that you can bring a friend with you? I suppose so since you’re telling me about it at least.”

“I can bring 3 actually, though they can only be ghosts so I couldn’t invite any of my human friends, hence-oh thanks,” Danny was interrupted by one of Pandora’s servants brought over a plate with some grapes, apples and slices of meat on top of bread slices, cheese slices and a little of ghost wine which could be considered ambrosia in it’s own right. “As I was saying, I can bring 3 ghost friends, and you’re the third one I want to invite.”

“Oh, I would love to come with you to the party Danny, when will it be? I want to clear my schedule as much as possible for the day to come.”

“Oh, it’s in a week, also it’s a costume party as well.”

“Oh really? Well, I guess I won’t be able to go as myself then,” a soft laugh left her mouth as she grabbed some of the food available and gave it a munch.

“Yeah, that would be cheating.” Another laugh left Danny’s mouth, this time more calm and honest than before when he laughed at his own hyperbolized mystery, “the theme is ‘historical figures of the Infinite Realms’, so in theory you could go as yourself, but again, that would be cheating.”

“Yes, I can certainly see how that would be considered as such, but there won’t be need for such worries, little one, I’ve certainly met my fair share of important ghosts through my long afterlife, I can think of many of them to go as.”

“That’s great then, you won’t have any problem doing that then. I’ll come when it’s time to go to the party in the Specter Speeder, though I’m not sure if you’ll be able to fit in anyways, unless you happen to have some minor shapeshifting powers?”

“Oh yes I have some of that, I can shrink myself if you need me to. I’d be a horrible guest if I couldn’t do anything about that.” And to proof her point, Pandora shrunk herself, armor and clothes included, until she was about two heads taller than Danny, “would this be enough to fit inside your vehicle?”

“Oh yeah, you can fit perfectly fine now. Though something tells me you can still make yourself smaller.”

“Of course I can, but I still have some pride in me, I can’t have me be smaller than you, now can I?”

“Well, I can’t say anything against that, I also have my own pride as well.” A smirk was present now in the faces of both ghosts, but finally Danny had to lift up and leave the place soon enough. “I have to leave now, I still have to complete my costume after all.”

“I’ll see you next week then little Phantom.”

“See ya next week Pandora.” And waving her, the halfa left the grounds of the Acropolis of Athens and got into the Specter Speeder, no finally going back home to begin working on his own costume of Clockwork for the party.

#Ectoberhaunt22 #EH Chaos #Day 14 #Costume Party #Danny Phantom #Danny Fenton #Pandora

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five-rivers · 4 years ago

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Adoption (part 2)

A gift for @a-flower-lover! This wound up being more along the lines of vignettes... Little snapshots into Danny’s life after being adopted by Clockwork. I hope that’s ok! (PART 1)

Mr. Lancer had met Charles Worth before, albeit briefly. The man had fostered a number of Casper High students and with that responsibility came parent-teacher conferences. He had struck Mr. Lancer as being steady and reliable, if, perhaps, impersonal, despite his predilection for clocks and ominous announcements. A decent foster parent, if not... ideal.

Mr. Worth just didn't seem to connect with his fosters, although he certainly didn't neglect them. Then, too, were the persistent rumors that his home was haunted.

Alright. So, Mr. Lancer didn't think Charles Worth was really a children person. Oh, he was a good person! It took one to do well as a foster parent, but... yeah.

Which was why the scene in front of him surprised him so much. Not the who of it, but the what.

The who was Daniel Fenton and Charles Worth waiting outside the office. The what was smiling and having a conversation. True, Mr. Fenton's smile looked like it was pasted on over several layers of anxiety, but it was genuine.

"Mr. Worth, Mr. Fenton?" he said, tamping down his surprise. "Come on in."

"Hi," said Mr. Fenton, his voice hoarse.

Mr. Worth smiled and nodded, pushing him up with his cane.

But Mr. Fenton must have noticed the curious look Mr. Lancer was giving him. "I knew Cl- Uh. Mr. Worth before this." He winced and smiled widely to cover it up. "So, uh, make up work? Since I missed the past week?"

"Yes, well, circumstances being what they are," aka his parents trying to murder him in public, in broad daylight (and didn't that give Mr. Lancer a chill?), "your teachers have put together a few packets for you to look over this weekend. They should get you more or less up to speed with where your classes are. I'm also willing to stay after school, to help you with anything you've missed in my classes."

Jazz knocked on the door of the Worth house. She had been made aware, via various supernatural (she did not particularly appreciate writing suddenly appearing on her fogged-up bathroom mirror) and mundane (Danny did have her phone number) means, that the man known as Charles Worth was actually the ghost known as Clockwork.

How this had occurred was not entirely clear to her. She assumed ghost powers, specifically time travel, were involved somehow.

But, to be honest, that didn't really matter to her. It was secondary, less than.

What was important here was that she hadn't been legally allowed to see her little brother in over a month. To keep her parents from contacting him. To keep her from letting her parents near him. Because they were legally barred from seeing him.

Because they had tried to kill him.

Jazz planned on never seeing her parents again, as soon as she got all of her and Danny's things from their house.

But now that prohibition had been lifted, because Clockwork had forced through what had to be the speediest adoption in the history of adoptions, and Danny was now legally his son. In the eyes of both humans and ghosts. Which was... Well. Danny seemed to be excited about it, anyway. He'd looked up to Clockwork for a while, from what he told Jazz.

Internally, Jazz had more than a bit of trepidation. She didn't know what adoption meant to ghosts, didn't have any context for it. And ghosts, even the good ones, even Danny, tended to be... obsessive. Extreme. She wasn't sure how that would translate when it came to interpersonal relationships.

The door creaked open, ever so slowly, the squeak it made grating on her eardrums. At first, it appeared to have opened on its own, then a hand gripped the edge of the door, and Clockwork, in human guise, leaned out from behind it.

Jazz raised an eyebrow.

Clockwork raised one right back. "This house is haunted, you know," he said.

Okay, never mind. The only thing she had to worry about was the fact that her brother and his mentor both had terrible senses of humor.

"Hi, Jazz!"

Being used to having a half-ghost brother, Jazz only yelped a little bit at his unexpected appearance behind her. Then she sighed and ruffled his hair. He hugged her and then bounced over the lintel into the house.

"Come on! I want to show you my room! It's so cool!" His voice became fainter as he went farther into the house, until his last exclamation was an eerie whisper.

Jazz looked at Clockwork as she stepped inside. "Is he doing that on purpose?"

Clockwork smiled blandly. "I am very fond of the acoustics in this house."

She looked at her surroundings with a skeptical eye. "It seems... dark in here."

"We are ghosts," said Clockwork. "Daniel is very excited to show you his room, by the way."

"He's human, too, don't forget," said Jazz.

"I won't."

The house was creepy.

Really creepy.

This was coming from someone who had spent most of her life living under the same roof as two ghost-obsessed mad scientists.

But Danny seemed to enjoy it, and he was the one living here. It wasn't like there was anything wrong with the house. Or anything in the house. It was just... off.

Danny was half-ghost, however, so maybe this was something he needed. Perhaps not all of his peppiness could be attributed to being the heck away from his murderous former parents.

Even so. Jazz had a duty, both as a big sister and an aspiring psychologist.

"I already read it," said Clockwork, setting a cup of tea down in front of her.

"What?"

"The book you were about to give me. I've already read it. And a number of others. I am not the kind of person who goes into things unprepared."

Danny rolled into the kitchen on the ceiling. This was easy to ignore. After her life, an Exorcist reference made by her over-excited younger brother, was, well. Underwhelming.

(Okay, she was a little distracted, but only by his glee.)

"Well," she said. "That's good."

"I know this house is out of the way," said Clockwork, craning his neck to look up at his coworker, "but you are rather conspicuous."

"Hm. Am I?" asked Pandora, craning her neck down to look at her comparatively tiny colleague.

"Yes. At that size, humans with average eyesight will be able to see you from town."

Pandora looked out over the trees. "Interesting," she said, mildly. "Do you think the ghost hunters will come?"

"You've spoken to Daniel."

"Yes. He stopped by earlier today, on his way to visit Mattingly. Although, I suppose you knew that already."

"Indeed I did. May I ask, is it your intention to lure the ghost hunters here, fight them, defeat them, and then leave them just close enough to here to constitute a breach of their terms of bail and the restraining order against them?"

"I am not terribly well-versed in human law," said Pandora, "but, why, yes. That is exactly what I'm doing. Best to get it done while Daniel is visiting friends, isn't it?"

"Yes. If you had done this while he was here, I would be significantly more annoyed." Clockwork smiled the sanguine smile of a parental figure who would commit murder if their child was upset.

Pandora returned a matching grin, one that promised retribution against persons who had harmed said child in the past. "Please, Clockwork. You know me better than that. I wouldn't subject him to being in the presence of those fools."

"Good," said Clockwork, eyes glinting.

"Hey, Clockwork? Do you know why there were police cars driving down the- Oh. Hello?" He stopped at the sight of an unfamiliar woman sitting at the dinning room table, next to Clockwork. He blinked and tilted his head to the side. "Wait. Pandora?"

"Perceptive," said the superficially human olive-skinned woman. "You seemed so happy when you stopped by, earlier. I thought I would come check in on you."

"You didn't have to," said Danny, beaming.

"Pandora has been trying to convince me to set her up as one of my relatives," said Clockwork, rolling his eyes. "Would you care for a cup of tea, Daniel?"

"Umm," said Danny, dubiously. "I'll try one, I guess. Does that mean you'll be my aunt?"

Pandora smiled. "Why, yes, it does."

Clockwork groaned theatrically.

"Ah," said Mr. Lancer, at the next parent-teacher conference. "Are you Mr. Worth's wife?"

"No," said Pandora, grinning. "I'm his sister."

Mr. Lancer looked back and forth between the two very different-looking entities. "I... see."

"We're adopted," said Clockwork.

"Oh! Alright then. Now, about Daniel..."

It was a bit strange to see Danny with so much energy, Sam reflected. Strange, but good.

It just went to show how drained he had become over time, how much the constant ghost attacks and worry, all the lies and stress and impossible expectations had worn away at him over time. She hadn't seen her friend this happy since freshman year. If that.

On the other hand...

"Dude," said Tucker. "Your house is spooky. And this is coming from someone who's been inside a literal mad science lab."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Mad science labs are campy, not spooky. Besides, you knew coming in that this house was haunted." He draped himself over the back of the couch, rolling until he was 'sitting' upside-down. "Anyway, what kind of movie do you want to watch? We've got a bunch, because Clockwork apparently collects media from doomed timelines."

"He's got a hobby?" asked Sam.

"Yeah, three," said Danny. "Gardening- you should talk to him about that, by the way, I think he'd like it- baking, and alternate timeline movies. And some books, too, I think. He's got a huge library back in Long Now. I've read like. Two books from it."

Clockwork's voice floated in from the other room. "You've read significantly more than that, Daniel."

"I guess," said Danny, doubtfully. He flopped off the couch, picked himself up, and started prodding at a shelf of movies. "This is from a timeline where the Earth got beaned by a massive asteroid. It's, like, a romcom, but it was made when everyone knew the asteroid was coming. This one is, uh, this is actually a dramatization of real events, apparently, but their timeline split from ours in like the fifties, so the events are pretty wild." He waved the DVD at them. "It's surreal?"

"How'd they die?" asked Tucker.

"Wacky superscience. No, really. Irradiated the entire planet."

"How do you know?" asked Sam.

"Oh, Clockwork puts notes on the boxes. He thinks it's interesting. And there does seem to be some correlation between how cursed the movies are and how bad the timeline was. Which maybe shouldn't surprise me? I mean, if they were bad timelines..." He shrugged. "Oh, this is a CGI Lion King. I can tell you: very cursed. Absolutely soulless. And this is from a timeline where copyright laws weren't changed, so Mickey Mouse and a bunch of other stuff was in the public domain."

"Isn't that a good timeline?" joked Sam.

"You'd think so," agreed Danny. "But apartheid in South Africa apparently never stopped, and they got a nuclear bomb, and, well... World War Three."

"Is that like, a domino effect, or...?"

"I'm not sure... Anyway. Uh. Genre?" He clapped his hands together.

Tucker leaned forward. "I want the wildest version of the Matrix you have."

"Ooh, good choice. There are, like, six with Will Smith. I haven't watched them all yet, but I think the one where they've got another sequel and Zion is also a- Wait, I shouldn't spoil it."

"After that, can you see if there's a non-crappy version of Dracula?" asked Sam.

"Sure. I haven't seen one yet, but I will look."

"I have popcorn," said Clockwork, entering the room, "and various baked goods. No dairy."

"You're the best."

Clockwork selected a thick blanket from the chest, then teleported himself to the living room to drape it over the three teenagers passed out on the couch. Overall, he found pretending to be human oddly enjoyable, but it could be trying at times. Tedious. All the finicky little motions humans had to go through to do the simplest of things added up over the day.

So, Clockwork tended to ease off of them when no one was watching. It made life easier.

Heh. Life.

(He would say that Daniel's puns were rubbing off on him, but in truth Clockwork's sense of humor had been like that for, well. Eons.)

He put the kitchen in order with an absent wave of his hand, and double-checked the stove out of habit. It wasn't nearly as good as his actual oven, back in Long Now, but it was serviceable.

One of Daniel's friends mumbled in their sleep, and Clockwork looked in on them. Still peaceful. It was good for Daniel to have them here. Beneficial for both his human and ghost halves.

He hummed to himself and patted Daniel's head as he thought about their plans for the weekend. He had arranged for some truly aggravating evangelical missionaries to darken their doorstep. It would do Daniel good to inspire a touch of terror. In an entirely controlled and risk-free way, of course. No matter how unpleasant the people coming were, Clockwork had no intention of harming them, or suggesting anything of the sort.

But, well. They were ghosts. Being feared was soothing.

(Clockwork knew this wasn't what Jasmine meant when she suggested Clockwork engage in family bonding activities with Daniel. But what she didn't know...)

"I think my teeth are getting sharper," said Danny, pulling a face at the mirror. "Is that normal?" The last was shouted, to get Clockwork's attention. Intellectually, Danny knew he didn't need to do that, but a lifetime of habit was hard to shake.

"It is difficult to say what is normal for someone like you, but many ghosts do have fangs," said Clockwork. "Including myself."

"Hm," said Danny. "This isn't, like, a ghost puberty thing, is it? Because I already used up most of my evil puberty jokes."

"Oh, only most?" Clockwork slid behind him and started rubbing the tension out of his shoulders.

Danny shrugged. "Eh, give or take. But, seriously."

"No, it isn't a ghost puberty thing."

"Oh, good. Because dealing with one puberty is more than enough."

Clockwork was silent. Danny looked up and met troubled eyes in the mirror.

"Clockwork?"

"Daniel," started Clockwork, before giving Danny an uneasy smile. "Speaking of puberty..."

Danny blanched. "No."

"What?"

"No. Nope. Not doing the talk today, no sir. I got that at school."

"Daniel, as strange as Casper High may be at times, I highly doubt they taught you anything about immortality."

"What."

"It's why ghosts put so much forethought into relationships like this," explained Clockwork, careful not to look directly at Daniel's hiding place. "They might last forever. I certainly hope this one does."

"But I don't want to be a teenager forever!" wailed Danny. He had mastered the art of making his voice sound like it was coming from a completely different direction than it actually was.

Clockwork was older than human civilization and had been worshiped as a god by several civilizations. He did not wince at the heartbreak in his child's voice.

"Your shapeshifting abilities should come in after a few years," said Clockwork. "You'll be able to pass as older."

Daniel answered with a moan.

"I must confess, I'm not sure why you are so upset about this. I can see that you are, but could you explain why for me?"

"I don't knoooooowww..."

"I don't want everyone to die and leave me alone," admitted Danny, hunched over a carton of ice cream. "I don't want to see my- my people die." He sniffled.

"We don't have to stay in Amity Park if you don't want to," said Clockwork.

Danny shook his head. "No! That's worse," he said, hating how his voice tilted into a whine. "That's- I can't abandon them! I can't- can't miss their time. I just..." He let out a huff of air. "It's hard."

Clockwork wrapped an arm around Daniel's shoulders. "It may not help much," he said, "but people in Amity Park have a much higher chance of becoming ghosts. It's the ectoplasm in the air."

"Promise?" asked Danny.

"Promise. Although, who, exactly, becomes a ghost is outside of my control. All I can tell you is that the people here have a better chance."

Danny leaned against Clockwork. "Thanks," he mumbled. "Clockwork?"

"Yes?"

"You don't think I'm a freak, do you?"

"Of course not."

Mr. Lancer squinted down at Daniel Fenton's latest assignment with a mix of appreciation, disbelief, and shame. This was easily the best work he had ever received from Daniel. In fact, it rivaled papers he had received from Jasmine.

It made him wonder- How long had Daniel been suffering? What had Daniel been suffering? He was no expert when it came to abuse, but all teachers had some training, and he knew that abusers tended to escalate, starting with something relatively innocuous and ending with a travesty. For things to progress to attempted murder... What had it started as? When had it begun?

(Could Mr. Lancer have stopped it?)

(That question would haunt him more than any ghost.)

Well, there was a silver lining to this, Mr. Lancer supposed. He had rarely seen two people who got along as well as Daniel and Charles Worth. It was good, he thought, for the man to have someone in his life on a more permanent basis, rather than the revolving door of temporary foster children.

How rapidly the adoption went through was a little odd, but... Mr. Lancer shrugged. Undoubtedly, Mr. Worth had taken the time over his years as a foster parent to familiarize himself with the system, and with Daniel's former parents unfit to be anywhere near children...

He shrugged again and stamped Daniel's paper with an A+.

#danny phantom #gift #prize #winner #fic #phanfiction

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mimicutie · 4 years ago

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Pit is Autistic - A “Brief” Analysis

Kid Icarus: Uprising is my favorite game of all time, and one thing I love about it is the characterization of Pit. Specifically, I see him as autistic. Of course, this is just a headcanon of mine, but I wanted to write out a little discussion explaining why I see him as such as well as show some of the autistic traits he demonstrates in Uprising (and the occasional reference to the Guidance conversations from Smash).

(fair warning, this is not very brief)

Difficulty Understanding Words and Jokes

It’s made abundantly clear that Pit isn’t the best at picking up sarcasm or jokes. At times, he struggles with understanding words, phrases, and context. Here’s an excerpt from Chapter 11.

Pit: Good! There are survivors! Palutena: They’re a stubborn bunch hanging on like that. [...] Pit: Uh… stubborn? Palutena: Oh, I didn’t mean it like that.

Here, Pit doesn’t understand what Palutena means by “stubborn.” It’s pretty common for autistic people to struggle understanding parts of speech, such as words being used in different contexts than what they’re used to.

Medusa: Hmm… Now this is a little… bizarre. Pit: I know right? The mouth on that guy! I’d never talk like that! Medusa: That’s not what I meant. Palutena: Sorry. He can be a little… thick.

Once again, Pit is misinterpreting the situation. He doesn’t understand what Medusa is alluding to, thinking that she is talking about Dark Pit’s brash behavior. Palutena’s last comment hints that it’s very common for Pit to misunderstand people like this.

Pit: I’m Pit, servant of the goddess Palutena. I’m here to defeat Dark Lord Gaol. Magnus: So you’re here for a slice of the pie too? Pit: Huh? Pie? Where?

Chapter 2 has several examples of Pit not picking up on obvious jokes or idioms, and here’s one. Pit takes the idiom literally, not understanding what Magnus really means at first.

Viridi: Pit certainly is devoted to you, Palutena. Hades: Only because she squeezes his head wreath when he doesn’t follow orders. Palutena: You mean like… THIS?! Pit: No no no no no! You’ll squeeze my brains out! … (sigh) Why do I always fall for that?

In this example from Chapter 15, Palutena is clearly messing with Pit, but as he stated, he always falls for her jokes. Even though it’s clear she is just teasing, Pit can’t pick up on the fact that she isn’t being serious. He consistently struggles with understanding tone.

Pit: This is so annoying. Lady Palutena, help me out here! Palutena: Deploying the Palutena Super Sensor… Pit: I didn’t know you had a super sensor! Palutena: Hee hee. I don’t. You know I like to make stuff up. Pit: I can’t believe you’re messing with me at a time like this!

This dialogue from Chapter 13 is just another example of Palutena clearly joking while Pit does not pick up on it. Even though Palutena has done this time and time again, Pit still struggles to tell when someone, even a person he is incredibly close to like Palutena, is just messing with him. These are just a few examples. Pit commonly struggles with understanding language and tone throughout the game.

Using Words Differently

We can see that Pit has his own unique vocabulary with his own creative phrases like, “Calamaried!” “Re-defeated!” “Pulverazed!” and so on. Pit also makes LOTS of noises throughout the game, all of his “woohoo”s and “woah”s and whatnot. It’s just how he communicates, even if it's a bit particular or different.

Expressiveness

Pit is excitable. Like, really excitable. Sure, he’s a fun video game protagonist, but he’s always very happy-go-lucky and upbeat in a way that reads to me as autistic. Just look at how he jumps in excitement!

And when he gets the Three Sacred Treasure?! Gifs can’t really do the excitement in this scene justice. (link in case tumblr embed isn’t working)

youtube

Additionally, while Uprising doesn’t have a lot of cutscenes with Pit just standing around talking, in the ones where he does he is usually very expressive, using his hands to talk and whatnot. Added with his excitability, I feel that this shows us that Pit is so expressive and emotional because he’s autistic!

Extra Help

Pit needs more help with understanding things in comparison to others. Palutena often goes out of her way to guide Pit, whether it be giving him directions or explaining how to defeat an enemy. While Palutena’s advice does work as a guide for the player, it’s clear that Pit needs the help more than someone else his situation might. The clearest proof we have of this comes from Chapter 22.

Palutena: Watch out for that heart-shaped crystal barrier! You see, it’s— Dark Pit: Reflecting my shots back at me, right? Palutena: Well… yes. Dark Pit: I got it, so stop telling me what to do!

Palutena is expecting Dark Pit to be like Pit, where she needs to explain to him what’s going on and offer her guidance. However, Dark Pit was able to figure out a strategy to defeat Pandora all on his own. Palutena is very aware that Pit needs a bit more help and prepares accordingly for him.

Accidental Rudeness

Many times throughout Uprising, Pit is shown speaking “rudely” towards gods or characters who have authority over him.

Pit: Oh, great! You’re the guy I’m looking for. Listen, I have a favor to ask you. Would you mind if I borrow your chariot for just a little while? Chariot Master: Your foolishness is matched only by your rudeness. How dare you charge in here, flinging unreasonable requests at me? [...] Viridi: You can’t really blame him for being upset. That was kind of rude.

Here, Pit is talking to the Chariot Master very casually, treating him like a friend despite the fact he is breaking into the Chariot Master’s tower and asking him for a precious artifact. Pit doesn’t see it as rude but Viridi and the Chariot Master clearly do. He is breaking an unwritten social norm by talking so casually to someone of high authority. Autistic people often misinterpret social situations or don’t act appropriately, sometimes resulting in “rude” behavior. There are several examples of this throughout the game, such as in Chapter 24…

Pit: You know, the Three Sacred Treasures weren’t exactly durable. Can you please make sure that this new weapon won’t just fall apart? Dyntos: Palutena, you’d be wise to put a muzzle on your chicken. Palutena: I apologize for him. Again. Pit: I… I’m sorry too. I didn’t mean to be rude.

To Pit, he is just stating a fact. However, it comes off to Dyntos as Pit being rude or even insulting his work. This is something that autistic people often do; they are blunt or honest about something, which is again mistaken as being rude.

Pit is also seen being more blunt when under emotional stress, such as in Chapter 20.

Pit: I trusted you because I knew you were on the side of justice, and… and light! But something is blocking that light now. This isn’t the real you. Viridi: Someone cue the strings… Pit: Would you mind holding the commentary for two seconds, Viridi? Phosphora: There are goddesses you’re talking to here, Pit. Watch your tone. Pit: Butt out, Phosphora! The goddess of light has turned dark. Skyworld is destroyed! Everything is wrong, and it’s up to me to make things right! Palutena: Oh, Pit. You’re just as naive as ever. Pit: I’m not naive!

Phew. This scene is pretty noteworthy to me because throughout the game, Pit is never really that angry or upset. He does show hostility, but he never really snaps at anyone, much less gods, like this. But when his home is destroyed and Lady Palutena is not herself, his emotions get the better of him. He doesn’t even seem to care that he is being “rude” to Viridi. I definitely see this moment as Pit having an outburst because of the stressful situation he is under.

Scripts / Scripting

The most obvious example of Pit using a script is with his “rally cries” that he prepares before fighting enemies. Look at the idol description for this AR Card.

He practices his rally cries a lot in order to be prepared for battles with bosses. Pit even mentions practicing his rally cries in a later chapter.

Pit: Cells of Hades, hear my words! And, um… see my actions! Uh… something, something… I’m going to rain death on you! I can’t remember all the words, but that’s the general gist. Hades: My innards have so longed to hear your battle cry. How could you forget the words? Pit: I didn’t have time to rehearse. I’ve been busy fighting evil, okay?!

While some may see the rally cries as meaningless fun, I think it could be seen as Pit having a script that he likes to fall back to when facing enemies.

His many references and quotes to video games could be seen as scripting, too. There are lots of instances in Uprising, and especially in Palutena’s Guidance, where Pit quotes famous video game phrases or imitates sounds. Which leads me to…

Special Interest

Pit’s special interest is video games. While Pit’s very vast knowledge of video games could just be because of Uprising’s fourth-wall breaking style of humor, I think it could also be seen as Pit having an intense interest in games. He references various video games such as Metroid, Nintendogs, and Super Smash Bros. in-game. He seems to enjoy bringing up video games or referencing video game mechanics whenever he can, which is very similar to how autistic people enjoy bringing up their special interests in conversations whenever possible. Additionally, while the Palutena’s Guidance conversations aren’t 100% accurate to canon, Pit constantly references and alludes to various video games in them, such as quoting Reyn in Shulk’s conversation or Peppy and General Pepper in Fox’s (which ties back to him scripting). It’s clear that he loves video games and talking about video games!

Pit: Those Aurum troops are doing their best Game and Watch impression! Viridi: Check out the gaming IQ on this guy! You’re a regular video game historian!

See, even Viridi is impressed with his video game knowledge! :D

Sensory Issues

Throughout the game, Pit seems to have an obsession with hot springs. It is never outright explained why he loves them so much, but I’m led to believe it is because of sensory reasons. Many autistic people use extreme temperatures to help soothe or calm themselves, such as cold showers or hot baths. It can often help with sensory overload. Hot springs, similarly to hot baths, may be a way to help soothe Pit and keep his sensory issues to a minimum.

Pit’s habits with his tunic seem to hint towards sensory issues, too. He doesn’t like to be without his robes, stating that he keeps them on even when he’s in the hot spring. When his clothes seemingly get messed up in Chapter 21, he gets upset, exclaiming that it’s his only tunic. Wearing the same clothes or same types of clothes/fabric is pretty typical for autistic people, and Pit wearing the same tunic everyday is similar to that.

Additionally, Pit’s habits with food could be because of sensory differences. He very well could be hyposensitive to food and tastes, which is why he eats a lot and doesn’t seem to care about what he eats (as long as it isn’t vegetables, according to the Revolting Dinner short ;D ) .

Small Social Circle

Pit doesn’t have a whole lot of people he can rely on. Before Uprising, the only person he seems to have any affinity for is Palutena. Other than that, he doesn’t seem to talk to anyone else. We don’t have a clear picture on what his relationship with the Centurions is like, but based off of the Revolting Dinner short and Chapter 17, he only really talks to them when he’s working as the Captain of the Army and not as a friend.

While yes, Pit is the only angel left in Skyworld, I still think it’s important to bring up that Pit only really has Palutena to rely on. By the end of Uprising, he has Viridi and Dark Pit as well, but his only clear and completely positive relationship is his mother-son bond with Palutena. I see this as Pit struggling to really befriend others. He’s had over two decades between the original game and Uprising to befriend the Centurions, but again, he only really has Palutena. It’s pretty typical for autistic people to have very small social circles, consisting of just one or two friends. Palutena seems to fit the role of mother and best friend for Pit, and she even remarks that he should make more friends in Chapter 4.

Working Alone

This is a small one, but still something that I think is worth pointing out. Pit seems very adamant on accomplishing his missions on his own, telling Dark Pit on two separate occasions (Chapter 9 and Chapter 21) that he can handle the situation by himself. Similarly, it’s common for autistic people to prefer working by themselves rather than with others. Paired with the previous point about having a small social circle, this just reads to me as Pit not feeling too comfortable in situations with others.

Conclusion

There’s a few other points that I feel I could bring up but overall I think these are my main points summed up (and yes, I said summed up. this used to be over 2500 words) ! Thanks so much for reading! If you have any other traits that you think Pit has that I didn’t mention, feel free to share them, I’d be more than happy to hear! ^_^

#kid icarus #kid icarus uprising #pit #kiu #autism headcanon #autistic headcanon #LOL idk what else to tag this as #thank u to anyone who reads ; __ ; this is .... a Lot

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darks-ink · 5 years ago

Text

Parental Woes

Humans form families of flesh and blood, while ghosts form theirs based on connections in their cores. But what does that mean for a half-ghost?

Prompt: Clockwork and Pandora, despite Danny’s protests, start acting as ghostly parental figures. Including showing up to Casper High's parent teacher conference. Prompt by: @going-dead Word count: 5,258

[AO3] [FFN] [more Phic Phight fics]

---

A knock sounded on the door, and Danny let himself slump down even further into the seat. He’d been hoping that his parents wouldn’t have shown up despite Lancer’s call, but alas. Should’ve figured that he wouldn’t be that lucky.

“Ah, there they are. Come in, folks, the door’s open,” Lancer called. He continued talking as the door clicked open. “I apologize for calling you two, but Danny has been…”

He trailed off, fell silent, and Danny looked up confused. And up and… up.

“Oh my god,” he groaned, resisting the urge to slam his head into Lancer’s desk. Belatedly, his core stirred in his chest, setting off his ghost sense.

“Um.” Lancer shot a quick look at Danny, but seemed reluctant to take his eyes off of the two ghosts that had entered their classroom. “I apologize, I thought you were Danny’s parents. They’ll be here soon, I expect, so it would be best if you two… left, before then.”

“They won’t be coming,” the larger of the two ghosts said, her voice low and threatening. She crossed one pair of her arms, the other hanging closely by her sides. “We are here in their stead.”

Lancer’s expression grew more panicked.

“Pandora, you can’t say it like that. You make it sound like you killed them. Why are you two here?” Danny shot the both of them an exasperated look. “This is a parent-teacher conference, and you’re not parents.”

She snorted dismissively. “We might as well be.”

“Yet I called the Fentons,” Lancer said, his voice shaky but determined. “I’m— I’m sure of that.”

“A call easily intercepted,” Clockwork dismissed, waving a hand. “We are here now, and not them. Now, shall we continue?”

“No!” Danny shoved the chair back so he could stand up. “No, you can’t just do this! Stop acting like you’re my parents just because you think you’d do a better job!”

Pandora’s blue fingers tightened on her spear. Clockwork’s eyes narrowed. Lancer shot him a look that was both baffled and worried.

“Mr. Fenton…” Lancer started, cautiously. “Perhaps it would be wise to…”

“No! If they think they can go against my wishes like this, I’m gonna yell at them! In fact…” Danny stepped closer to the both of them, crossing his arms. Angled his head so that Lancer couldn’t see his eyes, and then flashed them green. “You two think you’re so much better than my actual parents, but you don’t listen to me at all! That’s kind of a vital part of being a good parent, you know!”

The two ghosts shuffled uncertainly, shooting glances at each other.

“Danny…” Pandora started, but he shushed her.

“No! You don’t get to just— butt in whenever you want! Stop messing with my life whenever you want! I have actual parents, you know, and I don’t want you two trying to replace them!”

Pandora opened her mouth again, but Clockwork gently placed a hand on her arm. “We understand, Danny. We’ll leave. Our apologies.”

“I… Yes.” Her shoulders sunk down, and her crossed arms dropped. “Sorry, Danny. It’s just…” She made an aborted sort of noise. “We’ll talk to you later.”

Danny hummed, and the two ghosts turned around. Walked out of the door like nothing weird had just happened.

He waited for a moment longer, but it seemed like they had, in fact, left. Then he sighed, heavy and gustily, and turned back to Lancer.

“So, uh. Any chance we could ignore that that just happened?”

“Daniel, are those ghosts…” Lancer paused, seeming to reconsider what he’d been about to say. “Why are they so insistent on replacing your parents? Are your parents… aware of them?”

Danny groaned, dropping back into his chair. “No, they don’t know. Well, they’ve met Pandora before, but they don’t know about—” He gestured vaguely. “This.”

“And acting like your parents?” Lancer prodded. “That doesn’t seem like normal ghost behavior.”

“You’d be shocked.” Danny shook his head. “Ghosts are actually pretty prone to adopting people, or making their own adoptive families. It’s just…” He shrugged. “They usually stick to forming families with other ghosts, so people don’t really notice it, y’know?”

Lancer quirked an eyebrow. Danny sighed. No getting out of it, then. “They’re… trying to do the same with me. They think my parents aren’t doing a good enough job, so Pandora and Clockwork have been trying to replace them. But I don’t want them to!”

“How… have your parents not noticed this?” Lancer frowned. “Even disregarding the fact that you’re spending time with strangers without them knowing, those two are also ghosts.”

Danny snorted. “Yeah, they’re… not the most observant. A ghost could live under their roof and they wouldn’t notice.” He paused. “I… I love them, though. They’re my parents. Even if Pandora and Clockwork would be better, which I doubt they are, it’s… they’re my parents, you know?”

“Have you tried… informing those ghosts about this?” Lancer shifted, a hesitance to him that Danny wasn’t used to. “Now, normally I would recommend my students to stay away from potentially violent ghosts, but…”

“They’re not violent,” Danny snapped, immediately, before ducking back into his seat. “Sorry, it’s just— I know what my parents say about ghosts, but they’re not right. They decided what ghosts were like before they ever met one, and now every single interaction, they twist to fit their bias. And it’s… It’s unfair. To ghosts who aren’t like that.”

“Ghosts like these… Pandora, and Clockwork, and perhaps Phantom as well?” Lancer nodded, thoughtfully. “Their behavior certainly didn’t match up to my… expectations.”

“Yeah, it’s just…” He huffed. “They’re nice, you know, and they’re really helpful and stuff. But I don’t want them to butt into my life whenever they want, and I definitely don’t want them to try and replace my parents.”

Lancer hummed. “Have you considered telling that to them?”

“Well, no, but…” He paused, groaned. “Clockwork probably knows now, anyway.”

“Disregarding that unnerving and cryptic bit of information… Danny, how long has this been going on?” Lancer wove his fingers together, staring patiently at Danny. “Between your parents’… subpar parenting, and those ghosts attempting to adopt you instead… Is this why you’ve been struggling with school?”

“Uh…” He shrugged. “Sort of, I guess? A little, at least.”

Lancer sighed, nodded. “Well, I… Normally, this is where I would offer you advice and pointed help, but I’m… not too sure what to do about this. At the very least, I can offer you an ear, but I’m not too sure…”

“It’s fine, Mr. Lancer,” Danny interrupted him. “It’s… I’m working on it. Thanks, though.”

“I will give your… problematic behavior a pass for now, considering the… circumstances.” Lancer frowned, slightly, catching Danny’s eye. “But, Mr. Fenton, I won’t be so lenient again. If something happens, please tell us. Tell me, at least, and I’ll see what I can do for you. Yes?”

“Yeah, I gotcha.” Danny ran a hand through his hair. “Sorry, it’s just… kind of a mess. I don’t want word to get out about… well, this. You know?”

“Yes, I understand fully.” Lancer rolled his chair backwards, standing up. “You’re free to leave. Thank you for talking to me, Danny, even if it wasn’t easy.” He made a face. “Or voluntary.”

---

Danny ducked around a floating island, barely twisting around it. The ectoplasm in the Ghost Zone fueled him, pushed him to fly faster than usual.

Clockwork’s tower came into view before he knew it, and Danny slowed down to land in front of the door. Hesitantly he knocked, paused, then opened the door anyway. Clockwork would’ve known he was heading here.

And indeed, it seemed that he’d been expecting him, as Pandora was present too. Good.

“Danny,” Pandora greeted him, perking up. Her hair flickered, twisting into a larger flame. “It’s good to see you.”

“Yeah, I… Sorry about yelling, earlier.” He shuffled his feet, looking at her, then Clockwork. “You guys mean well, I know, it’s just… I don’t want you two to replace my parents, you know?”

“We were, perhaps… a little too forward,” Clockwork admitted, cautiously. “I… We both apologize for that, Danny. For interfering when you didn’t want us to.”

Well, now came the hard part. “I know where you’re coming from, though.” Danny sighed, ran a hand through his hair. “My parents are far from perfect, and they’re… well, human. I’m not… I wouldn’t be opposed to having you two as my ghost parents, but not as a replacement of my human parents. I… If that makes sense?”

Clockwork smiled, the expression turning his face surprisingly soft as he flew closer to Danny. “I can only speak for myself, of course, but that sounds… understandable. You are not just a ghost, after all. You need to acknowledge your human side, too. Pandora?”

“Yes, I understand completely.” She kneeled, gently patting him on the head with a finger. “We did not want to deny you your human side, Danny, but I can see how it might’ve come across as such.”

“Just… you guys pushing your way into my human life is… not great.” He pushed open Pandora’s other hand so he could sit down on it. “I’m trying so hard to keep my human and ghost sides separate, at least for the public, you know? Even if Mr. Lancer was the only one who saw, it could’ve gone so wrong. And I know you two don’t like my parents, that you think that they’re not good enough for me, that they’re dangerous… but doing stuff like that could’ve endangered me, too!”

“It was, perhaps, a little rash,” Clockwork allowed, his mouth tight. “I was worried about your parents responding badly to the news, but I see now how this could’ve gone wrong, too.”

Pandora raised her hand a little, putting Danny at the same height as Clockwork. She sighed. “I thought we would be able to protect you no matter what, but… of course, it would’ve been best if no protection was necessary. I’m sorry, Danny. We did not think.”

“It’s… well, not fine, but I get it.” He huffed, fidgeting with the hem of one of his gloves. “You were worried, and trying to help. And I get that! I like it! I want you two to help, to… to teach me and to, well. Act as my parents, I guess? But I don’t want to lose my human parents, my original parents, along the way. And if you two just push your way in, I could lose even more than just them.”

“You’re right,” she admitted. “We should have listened to you. We had no right to take this decision from you.”

“Pandora is right,” Clockwork agreed. “It was wrong of us to insist in doing it our way. We’re ghosts, used to handling this stuff the ghost way, but that doesn’t apply to you. Not completely.”

“Well, I’m glad we can all agree on that, then.” He let himself fall backwards, lying flat on Pandora’s hand. “How about a compromise, then? About when you can come interfere, and that sorta stuff?”

Clockwork landed next to him on Pandora’s hand, his tail curling loosely around her finger. “That would be excellent, Danny.”

“What’s this, Clockwork? Physical contact?” She laughed, surprised. “Here I was, thinking that you don’t care about me.”

“Nonsense,” Clockwork denied with a wave of his arm. “I have no interest in you in that way, but we both care deeply about Danny, don’t we? That alone is a clear sign of your worth.”

“Wait, wait, wait. Hold on.” Danny held up his hands, interrupting the conversation. “Are you telling me that you two don’t actually know each other? I thought— Well, you know! You’ve been trying to replace my parents!”

“Well, yes.” Pandora twisted her head, narrowing her red eyes. “We have both been trying to make you part of our families. It only made sense, then, that we work together to achieve your optimal safety and happiness. No?”

“I… I guess?” He blinked, stunned. Tried to process the revelation. “Are you telling me that you just both went ‘this is my son’ about me and that’s why you two formed a team?”

“It was either this, or a fight to decide who got guardianship,” Clockwork said, a smile on his face and laughter in this voice. “We both figured we would try it the more peaceful way, first.”

Pandora nodded. “For your benefit, mostly. Normally, ghosts would compete, unless they feel a connection between each other. But we figured that you wouldn’t want us to, and that you would be upset if you heard about us fighting over you, so…”

“You two are unbelievable.” He dropped his head into his hands and groaned. “Were you two ever gonna tell me that you didn’t actually know each other? How did you two imagine a family unit working out if you two barely knew each other?”

“I… well.” Pandora hesitated, turning to look at Clockwork, who seemed equally thrown off. “It is not usually an issue among ghosts. I hadn’t… thought about it. You, Clockwork?”

“I must admit that it slipped my mind as well.” Clockwork’s hands drifted over the staff, almost fidgety in nature. “We hadn’t really… ran into any issues so far. Regarding the shared guardianship, at least.”

Danny snorted. “Right. Well, how about this. Why don’t we add shared family time into the compromise as well? Like, a set evening or whatever where we spent time together doing some sort of family activity. That way we all spent time together, and you two can get closer as well, and we’ll be doing family stuff. Sound good?”

“Sounds very good to me,” Clockwork agreed, smiling at him once more. “I would enjoy that greatly. Pandora?”

“Yes, the same for me.” She raised one of her free hands to ruffle his hair again, the oversized fingers gentle and careful. “Now, as for the rest of the compromise…”

---

“It just makes no sense!” Jack complained, loudly, over dinner. Danny rolled his eyes, only half listening. “Those two ghosts keep being spotted with Phantom, but they don’t seem malevolent in the slightest!”

“Neither does Phantom,” Jazz pointed out, reaching past their dad to dump another spoonful of mashed potato on Danny’s plate. Rude. “The only destruction he has caused was while fighting other ghosts.”

Maddie huffed. “That’s just what he wants us to think.”

“How can you know?” Danny asked, despite himself. In his moment of distraction, Jazz dumped another spoonful of food on his plate. He glared at her, before remember what he was talking about. “I mean, if you don’t think either of the big ghosts are malevolent, what makes you think that Phantom must be?”

“He has to have some kind of ulterior motive.” Maddie clicked her tongue. “Those other ghosts are clearly trying to exercise some kind of control over him. They only come here for him. Phantom, on the other hand, is here constantly. There has to be a reason for that.”

Jazz tapped her fork on the edge of her plate, frowning in thought. “And Phantom coming here to fight ghosts doesn’t count, then?”

“There must be more to it,” Jack denied. “Either way, those two larger ghosts… That’s what really confuses me. They appear as adults, usually, contrasted by Phantom seemingly being a teenager. But their interactions… I can’t make sense of it.”

Maddie hummed. “They’re almost like parents, if not by blood. Trying to teach him, trying to guide him into doing what they think is the right thing. Lashing out towards people who appear to hurt Phantom, whether vocally or with weaponry.”

“I thought ghosts didn’t do families?” Jazz asked, shooting Danny a look. She knew about Pandora and Clockwork, of course. Had been rather excited about the prospect of him embracing his ghostly side like that, but without dismissing the human part of him. “Wasn’t that something you two said? Besides, they look way different from Phantom, don’t they?”

“Ghosts don’t have families like us, but…” Maddie halted, suddenly caught up in her thoughts.

“We’re considering the possibility that ghosts have makeshift families,” Jack finished for her, gesturing with his cutlery. “They don’t retain memories from their life, so even if multiple people from the same family became ghosts, they wouldn’t know. So instead ghosts form some kind of adoptive families. Or so it seems!”

“I… Yes, like Jack said.” Maddie nodded, scooping up a bite of potato on her fork. “Why they do so, however, is more of a mystery. We think that they might have some kind of instinctual desire for them. Or some ghosts do, at least. A hunkering carried over from their former human lives.”

Ha, well. Danny kind of doubted that Clockwork had ever been human, quite honestly. But his parents were actually kind of close, so he was willing to give them the benefit of doubt.

He cleared his throat. “But why? I thought ghosts didn’t do emotions? Why would they want families, then? On what ground would they make them?”

“Well, that’s the question, isn’t it?” Jack grinned, seemingly excited about Danny participating in the ghost discussion. “Why do ghosts make families of their own?”

“It definitely requires further research,” Maddie agreed. “There are all kinds of factors to consider, too. Do animal ghosts carry these kind of desires too? Some other kind of instincts, carried over from their former lives? Do the human ghosts have more instinctual desires, too, that they pursue?”

Jazz hummed, looking at Danny. “Yeah, I wonder too. How human are ghosts, really?”

He grinned back. “Who knows?”

---

“Danny,” Clockwork said, disappointment in his voice. “You can’t let kids run all over you, no matter how bad you would feel about fighting back.”

Next to him, Pandora nodded vigorously, both pairs of arms crossed. “We didn’t train you for nothing! Letting him get away without a fight will just encourage him to try it more!”

“But fighting back will just make him target someone else!” Danny protested, throwing out his hands. “I would rather have him hit me than go for— for Mikey or Nathan or Tucker!”

“This isn’t the best way to help, Danny.” Clockwork drifted closer, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I understand that it is not in your nature. That it’s upsetting. But you’re not helping them by letting other kids bully you.”

“I… I guess.” Danny sighed, rolling his shoulder to dislodge Clockwork’s hand. “I’ll… keep it in mind. Thanks, Clockwork, Pandora.”

“Of course, Danny.” Clockwork took the sign and drifted further away again, a small smile on his face. “I— Ah.”

Danny only had a moment to process Clockwork’s pause when the bushes next to their clearing rustled. He took a step away from the noise, mentally reaching for his core—but his ghost sense hadn’t gone off?

The bushes parted, two familiar humans striding through. Dressed in their usual jumpsuits, teal and orange, guns clenched in their hands but not raised.

“Uh. Hi Mom, Dad.” Danny’s eyes followed their gazes to Clockwork and Pandora, who had withdrawn as well. “Um. This isn’t what it looks like?”

Maddie set a flat and incredulous gaze on him. “Daniel, we were listening to you three talk.”

He grimaced. Paused. Turned to Clockwork. “Why didn’t you warn us they were coming?”

“I…” Clockwork fiddled with his staff, running his black-gloved hands over it. “It is possible that I might have been… distracted.”

“You were too distracted by our conversation to pay attention to your future sight,” Danny realized. Finally he placed Clockwork’s expression, too. It was sheepish. He was sheepish. “The Lord of Time, everybody!”

Pandora snorted, flicking Clockwork’s shoulder lightly. “Not as omnipotent as you like to pretend you are, hm?”

“I will not have this from you, Pandora ‘I will keep all the world’s evils in a box which even the Box Ghost can steal’ of Athens.” Clockwork pushed her hand away from him with one hand, his other gripping the staff more tightly. “Now, let us leave.”

“No, wait!” Jack stepped forward, the movement so sudden that Danny flinched and Clockwork actually paused in raising his staff. “We don’t… We just want to, uh. To talk.” All Jack’s bluster seemed to disappear over the last sentence as he, too, grew uncertain. “We… were listening. Remember?”

“I don’t… get it…” Until, suddenly, it clicked.

They had been listening to Clockwork and Pandora parent him. Parent human him, regular old Danny Fenton.

“Wait. How did you even find us?” he blurted out, like that was suddenly the most important thing happening here.

His parents blinked at him, and even Clockwork and Pandora shot him incredulous looks.

“We… used a ghost scanner?” Maddie raised a hand with the device in it. Ah, of course. A modified version of the Fenton Finder with a mute function. Should’ve figured. “These two,” she gestured at Clockwork and Pandora, “have powerful and clearly defined ecto-signatures, which were easily tracked. Although we were originally tracking a third too—Phantom’s.”

Hm. Well, that added another layer of complication to this situation. He was pretty sure that the Finder still picked him up in human form, too.

The silence that fell was strained and awkward.

“So, now what?” Pandora asked, her voice tight and forceful, shattering the quiet. She turned her red eyes to Danny’s parents. “What will you do now?”

“What will we do?” Maddie repeated incredulously. “You have been— been trying to replace us! Have been toying with our son’s feelings! Doing— Doing something to him!”

Did they… Were they blaming Clockwork and Pandora for him being Phantom? Really?

“Mom,” he said, before she could continue ranting. “I… They haven’t done anything but help.”

“But you— and Phantom!” She looked frustrated beyond words, but— if she just listened instead of assuming, he could actually explain all this! “That’s—”

“Not their fault!” Danny interrupted her. “If anyone’s to blame for it, it’s me. Or maybe even you, but definitely not the two of them.” He watched his parents open their mouths and cut them off again. “It was the Portal. When it didn’t work I went to check it out. I was inside it when I accidentally turned it on.”

“But that— that would’ve killed you!” Her eyes grew wide, and next to her, so did Jack’s. “Danny…”

“I’m not dead! Just… half-ghost.” He laughed, uncertainly, awkwardly. “It, um. I know you don’t really believe that that’s possible, but, I mean. You guys were wrong about more ghost stuff, too.”

He gestured over at Clockwork and Pandora, paused, then himself as well. “With, you know, emotions and stuff. Ghost society.”

“Ghost employers,” Pandora added, grinning down at Clockwork. “Isn’t that right, Clockwork?”

The time ghost huffed, crossing his arms, looking like he was rolling his empty eyes. “Must we really talk about those ectoplasmic pests? This is about Danny.”

“We did have a lot of sightings of Phantom without those two,” Jack pointed out, softly. Almost gently. “But it… why didn’t you tell us, Danny?”

“I was planning to, originally,” he admitted, lowering his eyes. “Back when you first made the Ghost Finder. I was about to tell you, but then Jazz interrupted us, and then later the Lunch Lady attacked and I fought her off. But you’d seen the ghosts, and you guys got all rabid and ‘ghosts need to be studied and torn apart molecule by molecule’ and— and—”

His breath caught in his throat. He felt like he was choking.

“And I know you wouldn’t do that to me, if you knew, because you’re my parents and family comes first, always, but— But I was just—”

“Scared,” his mom finished for him, when he couldn’t. “You were scared of us. Oh, honey, I…”

She stepped forward, then hesitated. Like she wasn’t sure she was allowed to come near him.

Danny crossed the rest of the distance, wrapping his arms around her. Buried his face in the crook of her neck. “And I know I don’t have to be, that it’s irrational, that you’re not like that, but…”

Another pair of arms wrapped around the two of them, massive and warm. Danny looked up to see his Dad, expression sad and solemn. “Danny-boy, I… We never wanted to make you feel like you had to fear us. We… Oh, no wonder that you had to seek out the support of ghosts!”

“It’s not like that,” Pandora corrected, surprisingly gently. “Danny wasn’t the one to seek us out. Quite the opposite, in fact. No matter how much Clockwork and I pushed, to adopt him like us ghosts do, Danny refused. He wanted us, but he didn’t want us as replacements. He wanted you, too.”

“Daniel struggled immensely,” Clockwork tagged on, voice quiet and stoic. “Half-ghosts are rare beyond belief, and they are all… unique. They all face their own struggles, stuck between two worlds, never quite fitting in. Danny had some support from his human side—his friends, his sister, and, to some extent, even you. But his support from the ghostly side was… lackluster. There was the occasional alliance, but none of those lasted very long.”

Danny hummed, slowly removing himself from the hug so he could look at his parents properly. “I… Clockwork was the first ghost to go out of his way to help me. And Pandora, later, did the same. It’s… It’s normal for ghosts, I guess, to form makeshift little families like that. To grow close to someone and decide that the other is your family; your sibling, your parent, your kid.”

“That’s what Clockwork and I had,” Pandora added. “The both of us had looked at Danny, struggling but trying so hard to help, to be the best version of himself. And we both knew, in our core, that this young ghost was ours. A son. To help, to protect, to train.”

Clockwork nodded, slowly. His fingers were clenched tight around the staff. He was nervous, Danny realized. “Young Danny is… extraordinary. Ghosts are not good or bad, just like humans are not strictly good or bad. But Danny… Danny is grand. He is not perfect, no, but always strives for improvement. His desire to help, even at tremendous costs to himself…”

The corner of Clockwork’s mouth twisted into a wry smile. “It is not a feeling you can really describe, in terms a human can understand. It is something deep inside your core.” Clockwork placed a gloved hand on his own cloaked chest. “It’s a click, a connection. When I first aided Danny, I helped him unwind the possible futures that laid in front of him. Helped him prune off the worst ones. That’s when I knew that I would break the rules a thousand times for him.”

“He came to me, to my kingdom deep in the Ghost Zone,” Pandora started, when Clockwork finished talking. “The Box Ghost had stolen an artifact of incredible value from me. And rather than destroy it, like Danny surely could, he came to me. Asked me to help him stop the Box Ghost, so he could return the artifact to its rightful owner. To me. And I knew, then, that I would fight anything—and anyone—for the right to call him my son.”

“They didn’t even know each other, back then,” Danny elaborated, grinning uncertainly. “And normally, ghosts would fight over that sort of thing, you know? If they don’t know each other, they won’t want to share guardianship. And that makes sense, I guess. If it’s your kid, you wouldn’t want a complete stranger to have their hands on him, too.”

His mom frowned, turning to look at Clockwork and Pandora. “They seem plenty close to me, though.”

“We knew Danny wouldn’t want us to fight.” Pandora pressed the fingertips of one pair of hands together, dropping the other pair loosely by her sides. “And we figured, if the both of us felt such a connection with someone as good as Danny… then the other must be alright, too. And Danny…”

“Danny deserved the best he could get,” Clockwork finished for her. “If the world thought it fit for him to have two ghostly guardians of incredible strength by his side, well. We figured it was a just replacement for the human parents that hunted him.”

Jack and Maddie stiffened visibly.

“I didn’t want that, though.” Danny sighed, ran a hand through his hair. “I wanted them, yes, but I wanted you two too. Pandora and Clockwork are my… my ghostly guardians. My ghost parents, to use their terms. But you two are my real parents, my human parents. I want…” He sniffled, suddenly, and wondered when he’d started tearing up.

“I want both,” he admitted, wiping a hand past his eyes. “Because I’m half human, and half ghost, right? So I can have parents for both sides. Right?”

“I… oh, honey.” Maddie’s voice was soft, teary. “We… We didn’t realize… We didn’t even notice any of this happening, Jack!”

Jack wrapped an arm around Maddie, the two of them visibly itching to come closer, to comfort him. “Danny, I… We messed up. We could’ve lost you—we almost did lose you—and we didn’t even notice. Oh, kiddo.”

“And we would’ve deserved it,” Maddie tacked on, pressed against Jack. “For everything we’ve said, everything we’ve done—and not done. We didn’t even notice we were losing you.”

“I didn’t want to lose you two, either,” Danny admitted, creeping in closer. “Can I…”

They drew him into the hug before he could even finish the question. In his chest, his core chirped and churned and purred, whirring a tone of pleased-sad-upset-family.

“We love you, honey,” his mom told him, quietly. “And we’re so, so, sorry.”

“I know,” he whispered back. “I love you too, with all my heart, with all my core.”

But it churned, also, upset over the fact that two more parents were lingering far away. “But I… Clockwork and Pandora are mine, too. I can’t… I can’t pick.”

“You won’t have to,” Jack promised him, one massive hand ruffling his hair—although not nearly as massive as Pandora’s. “You were right. You’re human, and ghost, and you shouldn’t repress one side in favor of the other.”

“Besides…” Maddie drew back a little, looking at the two ghosts. “Having proper ghost experts around would be… good. Should you ever run into ghost-related issues, well… Clearly our research isn’t good enough.”

Danny grinned, cheerfully. “Can they—”

Jack nodded, gesturing over at Clockwork and Pandora. And, hesitantly, the two ghosts came closer.

“Come on!” Jack encouraged, his tone cheerful and just a tad forced. “We’re connected by our love for Danny, aren’t we?”

“That, we are,” Clockwork agreed, slowly. He floated up next to Danny, just shy of touching anyone. ��It would be my pleasure to help you however possible, for Danny’s benefit.”

“Prude,” Pandora scolded lightheartedly, wrapping her four massive arms around their entire group. Forcibly drew Clockwork against the rest. “But he’s right. I, too, will do whatever I can to help Danny.”

“Good.” Maddie untangled one hand, softly ruffling Danny’s hair. “I never want to hurt Danny ever again, even on accident.”

“Amen,” the other three echoed, their voices almost synchronous.

And this? This, Danny could get used to.

Even if it wasn’t perfect yet, his human parents clearly wary of his ghostly parents, this was… this was leagues better than anything he could’ve ever predicted.

Laughter bubbled up from deep inside him, and he let it.

Next parent-teacher conference with Mr. Lancer was going to be a riot.

#phic phight #phic phight 20 #phic phight 2020 #danny phantom #dp fanfic #phanfic #phanfiction #dp fanfiction #danny fenton #aaaan a ton of other characters ok bye #dark writes #i spent a solid 30+ minutes trying to think of a title for this one rip #almost up to 50k now!

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shyrose57 · 3 years ago

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I see that you're one of the most active blog in the tags and I like...have no idea about anything dream SMP or lore or what they do, I just keep up with certain stiff because my friend really loved them and she's really shy to talk to people she doesn't already know and thus doesn't have anyone to talk about her fandom with so I talk to her about it but here's the thing...I am confused. She keeps saying I'm a lot like Ranboo, and from what I know from my friend he's the half Enderman with memory issues? I'm so confused 😭😭 what does being like Ranboo even mean 😭😭 I mean I am really glad my friend thinks I resemble someone she appreciates so much but what does it meaaaan.

Also I've been super confused about like?? The actual progression of the lore and stuff? My friend always talks so excitedly about it so I never want to stop her and question just...what the fuck is going on because wow, all of the things I heard are just..wild.

I've done all I can to help my understanding, but the part of the lore I still don't understand is the egg cult? The Red Banquet? The rail road skirmish? What's happening there is completely beyond my understanding 😭 I'm so sorry if I'm sounding weird or just being annoying k just want to understand the lore better so that my friend and I can talk about it without her feeling like she's being annoying(which she never is but she thinks she is because I get so confused ;-;)

I'm one of the most active? Really? Neat. I'll happily help out where I can, though I'm not sure how much I'll be?

Being like Ranboo means many things, some of which include: Loyal, a good friend, a little forgetful, funny, and helpful. And also tall. There's plenty more as well, but all good things!

So, lore-wise, there's like, a huge amount to cover. I'll give you the basic rundown of some recent events, but here are a few links I think will also be helpful!

Dream SMP Timeline: A link to the timeline of things on the Wiki-which is very useful for info! Covers everything to Las Nevadas so far!

Dream SMP Thing: I found this post awhile ago! It has the majority of the plot-relevant videos on there, in order too! Very helpful!

Now, some recent events! You're right to think it's pretty wild, but it's just all the more interesting for it!

Ranboo seems to be a character your friend likes, so I'll start there.

Ranboo's recent lore, as far as I know, seems to be revolving more around his Enderwalk state, and learning more about it. For this, he has built a lab to study in! Also, the Enderwalk ARG, though I don't really know what's going on with that. He's also platonically(???) married to Tubbo, and they've adopted a son together named Michael-that last bit was awhile ago, but it's adorable.

Red Banquet was a plot by the Eggpire(a group of people who fell under the thrall of the Egg, a mysterious entity that may possibly be a Dreamon(possibly, I'm not sure it was ever confirmed or what) to sacrifice people to said Egg under the guise of a party! The guests were lured there by Hannahxxrose, who had been effected by the Egg, but pretended not to be so she could betray them! Once the guise was up, they attempted to sacrifice Eret, but Foolish took his place, dying instead, and losing a canon life. Puffy, his father, killed Antfrost in return with a sword(axe?) Quackity tossed her when he burst in with Technoblade and Purpled to rescue the group.

Las Nevadas is also a new thing cropping up. It's a casino-kinda place built by Quackity-originally for his fiances, I believe? So far he's recruited Sam, Foolish, Purpled, Fundy, and Slime to it, using some, uh, very aggressive tactics. Las Nevadas hasn't done anything huge yet as far as I know, but they're certainly gearing up for it. They've already gotten into a confrontation with Tubbo and Ranboo over a...cookie shop, I believe it was?

Revivedbur now! Wilbur Soot, formerly deceased president of L'manberg was recently revived when Dream got ahold of his ghostly counterpart, Ghostbur, and dragged him back to life! According to him, he's been in limbo for years, as time passes differently there than in the realm of the living. Most unfortunately, it seems like he's up to no good.

And finally, Technoblade is now stuck in Pandora's Vault, after going to visit Dream, who was imprisoned there a bit back-not actually sure why he was visiting him, but when he entered the cell, Sam, the Warden, trapped him there under Quackity's orders. So now they're both stuck there! I think the Syndicate may be planning to bust them out? That or Techno's planning something himself, lots of theories. The two also summoned god(DreamXD, who's a whole 'nother can of worms) and Techno wished for a bell, so that also happened!

I hope this is helpful, and you can understand a bit more of the lore better! If anyone has anything to add to help out, feel free to toss it in!

#dream smp

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for-the-ninth · 3 years ago

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Thank you for the tags @oxygenforthewicked and @noire-pandora!! Noire already tagged literally everyone I was going to, so if you don’t see your name in their tags lmk and I’ll bring ya in!

I’m gonna say this interview is being given by a new (and rather nosy) resident of Skyhold, who mostly came to watch all the action rather than help the Inquisition. He intends to do a write up and spread the word across Thedas. Josephine thought it might be good for publicity of course, so she allowed the interviewer a meeting with Shielan, who reluctantly accepted.

Interviewer: So, Inquisitor, tell us a little bit about — Shielan: Gods damn it all, did Josephine tell you to call me that? Interviewer: I, erm... *sweats* Well yes, that is how the Lady Ambassador referred to you. Shielan: I’ve not yet accepted the title. Call me Shielan.

I: Right, of course. *clears throat* So, Thedosians everywhere are wondering, who is the Inquis—I mean Shielan, getting cozy with these days. S: *narrows eyes* Really? That’s what you're leading with? I: I only ask what the people of Thedas want to know! Surely, a strong woman such as yourself must find comfort in the warm embrace of a man, yes? S: What makes you so sure it’d be a man? I: Oh my! Then is there a lucky lady in your life? S: I sleep alone. Next question. I: Getting right to it then, eh? *checks notes* Tell me, when and where were you born? S: I’ve lived for 28 years. My first memories are of being fed by my Keeper. I’m not sure where exactly I was born. I: The Keeper of the Lavellan clan, correct? S: Yes. I: I’ve heard the Dalish are nomads. Whereabouts does your clan roam? S: Wherever they please, I assume. I: You erm... you don’t know? S: If I did I certainly wouldn’t tell you. We are a private people for a reason. Let’s get a move on, I have duties to tend to. I: You certainly live up to your charismatic reputation. S: *rolls eyes* And your sense of humor is unparalleled. I: Why, thank you! Let’s talk about your combat style. Those who have seen you in battle say you bend nature to your will. S: Nature is not so easy to break. People, on the other hand, are quite fragile. I: So, are you saying you don’t use nature magic? S: I call on Nature for assistance, and most of the time, she answers. I’ve neither the desire nor need to use her creations as slaves for my own enjoyment. I: I’m not entirely sure I understand. S: You don’t need to. Are there more questions? I: I’m afraid so. *wipes sweat from brow* Many of us are curious about the Dalish family structure. Is it at all similar to the marriage & child-rearing traditions of Ferelden or Orlais? What are your familial relationships like? S: Every clan has different expectations, but in general, our clanmates are our family, whether by blood or otherwise. I: You mentioned earlier that your first memories are of your Keeper taking care of you. Does that mean you’ve never met your mother and father? S: I’d prefer we move on. I: I suppose it’s futile to ask if you hope to marry and have children, isn’t it? S: Your perceptiveness is daunting. I: I, erm. Well, certainly. Have you ever run away from home? S: Home is a feeling, not a place. Sometimes I am there, sometimes I am not. I: Do you miss living with your clan? S: At times, yes. But I’ve walked the earth alone for many years now. Dwelling on such feelings has yet to change my circumstance, so I don’t. I: I am guessing you’d like to move on now. S: Getting smarter by the minute, are you? I: What about your companions here, in the Inquisition? S: Companions... I: Those who fight alongside you — your confidantes, comrades, whatever you’d like to call them. S: Confidantes? *chuckles* I prefer not to confide at all if I can help it. I: Sounds like you have some issues with trust. Where does that stem from? S: Centuries of my people being enslaved, tortured, and imprisoned by cult leaders might have something to do with it. I: Oh, Maker... I uh, well I don’t quite know what to say to that. S: Good. Move on. I: Right, then. So your fans — S: Oh, for fuck’s sake. I: I’ve compiled a list of questions from them. S: Fine. I: Can you read and write? Where did you go to school? S: Do you ask everyone if they’re literate, or just the savage Dalish? I: I, um... oh, Maker. Perhaps we should try another question. What’s the eeriest prediction you’ve made that later came true? S: That’s a better question for Cole. I: Who? S: The boy beside you. He’s been there for the whole interview. I: *looks over each shoulder* I haven’t seen anyone come by... S: Next. Question.

*The interviewer rattles off the next section of questions as fast as humanly possible, sweating all the while* I: What is something you realized too late? S: That this interview is a waste of my time. I: Do you have any mental or physical problems? S: No, but you might if you continue plaguing me with such asinine questions. I: What’s your main goal right now? S: Defeating Corypheus. And perhaps wringing Lady Montilyet’s neck in the mean time. I: Okay then, just 8 more questions left. What did— S: This is the last one I’m answering. I: *checks notes* Cats or dogs? S: *sighs* I don’t need another thing to take care of. Are we done here? I: Indeed, we are. Thank you so much for your time, Lady Inquisitor—

*he leans forward to shake her hand, but she’s already stood up and walked off, cursing Josephine under her breath*

#shielan lavellan #if you think she's rude you are correct #she has no time for bullshit #my oc #fanfic #dragon age inquisition

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raziroo · 4 years ago

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Karma | The Marauders

[Chapter 3] The Mudblood Hate Organisation

Karma was nervous, and extremely so. Her visit to Diagon Alley, in which she'd been accompanied with some creepy bloke who she was supposed to call Professor Fisher, had gone surprisingly well. She'd bought books and robes and cauldrons and gloves and whatnot, and although they were all second hand, Karma was satisfied – she was going to school, and she would at least have a sense of ownership over her belongings, because she certainly didn't have any idea on how to use more than half of them. She'd also bought a wand – holding it was one of the best experiences she'd ever have, she knew of it.

Professor Fisher, in all his light ginger-haired and musty cinnamon-scented glory, lead the way to a narrow shop just down the street. It was old, Karma could tell – there was nothing on display in the windows, through which Karma saw that the shop was quite not as big as all the others she'd been to. Over the door was written,

Ollivanders: Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC.

As Fisher pushed the door open, Karma peered inside, not paying any attention to the tinkling bell that had rung somewhere overhead. This shop, Karma thought, this shop is the most expectedly magical thing I've seen.

And true her thoughts were, for the shop's each and every content – be it the awry chair that stood in a corner, the thousands of narrow and thin wand boxes that lay messily stacked in shelves, the dust that covered them, the very air - it gave an old, witch-like feeling that Karma had been expecting all along.

A man – old, wrinkly, and with a wistful look in his moon-like eyes – emerged from the shadows. He said in a soft voice, 'Good evening, Karma, I've been expecting you. Took quite long, long enough...' he trailed off, staring at Karma with those silvery eyes. It might have felt weird to some, but Karma couldn't help but stare back, right into the man's eyes. It seemed as if he had seen entire eras pass, and noting his appearance, he might as well have.

He spoke up once again. 'Your wand arm?'

'Uh... I'm not quite sure I- '

'What hand do you write with?' said Fisher, in an exasperated sort of voice. Karma didn't like it.

Mr. Ollivander, Karma assumed, just now seemed to notice Fisher's presence. He exclaimed, still in a quiet tone, 'Oh, Maurice, no? Maurice Fisher, Ash wood, 11 inches, unicorn hair... I expect it has served you wondrously, yes?'

Fisher nodded, still seeming tired of the very fact that he would have to use his voice. 'Yes, Mr. Ollivander.'

'Hm... well, Karma, time is precious, not to be wasted...' and he whipped out a measuring tape with silver markings, seemingly out of nowhere.

'Wand arm?' he asked again.

'Right.'

And so Karma was measured – not by Ollivander, just by his tape, mind you - shoulder to finger, wrist to elbow, shoulder to floor, knee to armpit, and round her head. He asked the wand to stop, and so it crumpled up and fell to the floor. Karma watched it vanish just before it touched the ground.

Ollivander piped up. 'Now, now, Karma, here, take this. Ash wood, dragon heartstring core, 12 ¾ inches. Give it a wave, go on...' Karma sort of jerked the wand, but it was abruptly snatched back by Ollivander.

'No no, that won't do, certainly not...' Another box was pulled out. 'Here – beech wood, unicorn hair, 13 inches, swishy and bendy...' Karma waved the wand around. It felt... not right, even when it made the spindly chair's legs break. It was promptly taken back.

After a bit of searching, now for a longer period of time, Ollivander pulled out a sleek cherry shaded box, which was so dusty its true colour was hard to decipher.

He pulled out the wand, a roughish looking affair with little to no design – there was an engraved loop around it, a little way off from its rear, and twine was encircled around this rear. As soon as her slender fingers gripped the wand, Karma felt a tingly kind of shockwave go through her body, and as she waved the wand in a roundabout motion, the chair's legs repaired themselves.

Ollivander had a smile on his face, but his eyes seemed so far away, Karma was almost sure he hadn't even seen her enormous grin, or the satisfied-but-still-exasperated huff of air Fisher had produced.

'M- Mr. Ollivander...? Are you alright...?' The man blinked his moon-like eyes twice, and said in an even softer voice, so that it was just above a whisper, 'This wand... this particular wand – alder wood, unicorn hair, 14 ½ inches – this wand has been in the shop since the beginning, the very beginning...' The man's wistful voice had a slightly grim tone to it; so slight, in fact, that Karma failed to notice it, but Fisher didn't.

'This wand, Karma, its existence... quite curious, quite peculiar, yes...' Karma seemed inclined to stay silent. She was scared that Ollivander would stop his words and lose his train of thought if she broke the silence. 'This wand... its core, as you know, is of unicorn hair... a core that is prone to melancholy... it might "die", you see; if mishandled, it will need replacing. It doesn't make for the most powerful wand. But what's curious, Karma, is that even though alder does not- should not, rather, compensate for that weakness, your wand is still a quite powerful one. The reason is what is so curious...'

Ollivander trailed off once more. After a bit, he said, 'The reason Karma, is that the tree your wand's wood was taken from... it was not normal... certainly not usual...'

'How so?' Karma's curiousness became too much to bear.

'That... my dear girl, that, is something better left untold...' and the man had once again retreated into the shadows.

All Karma could do was share a look with Fisher, who, for the first time since she'd seen him, didn't look exasperated.

That encounter had been quite nerve-wracking, but not this much; standing amongst a crowd of small people such as herself in the centre of the Great Hall, Karma felt nauseous. The queasy feeling in her belly wouldn't go away, and as she watched all the other children talk among themselves, she felt oddly singled out. The fact that about a hundred other people were watching wasn't helping. Even in the Hogwarts Express, she was sat with a third year Ravenclaw called Pandora who, apparently, no one wished to sit with. All through the journey, there was an awkward energy in the compartment, and multiple attempts by Karma to diffuse the awkwardness had been in vain, because Pandora seemed to speak only in riddles, that too in a voice dreamier than even Ollivander's. Karma suddenly knew why Pandora was a reject.

Although all the first years had been briefed about the Sorting Ceremony and the four Hogwarts houses, Karma was still feeling immensely overwhelmed. She had read absolutely nothing in her magic books; she'd been too busy sharing her excitement and sadness and disappointment with Jade and Morgan.

Her wand-

'Abbott, Hailey!' a voice said loudly. Karma's gaze focused back on the scene in front of her eyes; she hadn't really been paying attention to the Hat's song. As everyone watched McGonagall and the teachers all patiently waiting, a little girl, certainly undergrown for her age, briskly walked up the stairs and placed herself on the stool. McGonagall put the Hat on her head, and Karma was sure that before it even quite touched her head, a screech of 'HUFFLEPUFF!' echoed through the hallway. The table to their left, whose students were all clad in yellow and black, gave an enormous round of applause, and "Hailey" ran to her house table, smiling with glee. Next, a slim, pale boy with dirty blond hair, called "Geoffrey Bailey" made his way up the stairs. He was quite frail-looking. He quietly walked to the stool placed there, and took a seat. The Hat was sat atop his head, and after only a few quiet moments, it bellowed, 'SLYTHERIN!'

The table to the extreme right gave a quite unenthusiastic round of applause.

Karma wondered what surname Professor McGonagall would use for her; or if she would use none at all. Deep down, deep, deep down, so deep down she wasn't sure if it was there, Karma knew the answer. Although she hoped she was wrong, prayed that by some miracle she would be proven wrong. She was given the unwanted answer pretty soon.

'Beauregarde, Karma!' Said girl made a thoroughly disgusted face at the fact that she would now be known as "Beauregarde" by the school. Couldn't the teachers have picked a better name? Harrison as a surname had always sounded pretty cool to Karma, and Montgomery was a quite intriguing one, too. But no, due to stupid rules and regulations and laws, Karma would have to go around being called "Beauregarde", because that's what kids do, right? They don't ever address you as the person you're supposed to be, you'll mostly be called by your last name.

These vicious thoughts were swirling through Karma's mind when she sat on the stool, and it was only when the Sorting Hat was perched on her head did she stop complaining about rules and Beauregarde and who-knows-what.

'Eh,' a small-ish voice sounded, 'a bit tricky, but not to worry. Hmm... got a multitude of traits in you, have you? Impulsive, even a bit reckless, I'll go as far to say... not very chivalrous though, not very brave either, but quite outspoken, no unfair behaviour accepted... clever too, huh? But not bookishly, no... you'd rather read about ghosts than do your homework... self-preserving, definitely, borderline selfish... definitely not too kind, but you are loyal... bit of a surprise, honestly... not very ambitious, but still... you'd do good in... SLYTHERIN!'

The hat was taken off, the girl opened her eyes; Karma was speechless, because holy cow, the ruddy thing could talk!

But even though Karma tried to focus her thoughts on that personality-deducing, talking, tattered hat, she couldn't shake the feeling of dread off when she looked at the Slytherin table – its occupants all gave off a particularly vicious aura, even more so when she looked at them. They were all dressed primly, except a select few, and all looked like they would curse her into oblivion and shred her to ribbons, if only they could lay their hands on her. All, but not that frail boy – what was his name, Geoffrey? He looked just as confused as Karma, and actually shot her a sympathetic look. Karma was grateful, and she was hell-bent on making that boy her friend.

She took a seat on the very edge, as far as she possibly could without falling. She was in front of Geoffrey, who was now trying to ignore her, most probably because he didn't have a death wish; the other students were all glaring at the both of them with gazes so sharp they, Geoffrey and Karma, should have been split in half. And Karma was thankful that looks couldn't kill, because if they could, she'd have been six feet under.

After the Sorting, Slytherin had five new pupils under his wing – Karma (not Beauregarde), Geoffrey Bailey, Alec Hartley, Arabella Lestrange, and Adrian Pucey.

Karma knew she was scre- sorry, messed, because 1) her house members already seemed to detest her more than she detested Gertrude Beauregarde, or as Karma liked to call her, Beelzebub, which she hadn't thought was possible, and 2) the first thing Adrian had said after seeing Karma was, 'Ey, Lestrange! This scum here is a mudblood, no?' and Arabella (who was, by the way, too pretty to be just eleven) had responded in jest. 'Yes, yes, Adrian, she is... I'd consider her decent-looking, if only she hadn't been filth. And I would rather you call me Arabella, seei-'

Adrian hadn't let her finish. 'You know what, we should form a society against mudbloods. Call it, uh, We Do Not Support Filth, Scum, Or Mudbloo-'

'You fool, that's what you're gon' to call it? You purebloods, honestly, thinking you're better than the world-,' This was Alec Hartley, the kid who was so pale he could've been a vampire and it wouldn't've been a surprise, spoke at the speed of light, Karma was sure, and had donned a gray beanie hat for some reason.

'I never said-'

'-The name you've chosen would make it W-D-N-S-F-S-O-M. So dumb. Might as well just name it "We're Bullies Troubling A Fellow Pupil, But Will Most Probably Get Away With It Because Our Parents Are Cousins And We're Results Of Incest – W.B.T.A.F.P.B.W.M.P.G.A.W.I.B.O.P.A.C.A.W.R.O.I.'

Adrian flared up. 'Oh, is that so? Well, why don't you-'

'Yes, you dingbat, I already have a name, because I am not as stupid as you are, honestly, call yourself filth instead of the mudblood, such painful stupidity-'

'Shut up, you scrawny little-'

'Oh wow, resort to name-calling, wow, stupendous really, what pureblood values you have, Pucey, Slytherin would be embarassed-'

'Do not utter a word against my famil-'

'I never did, and you would've known that if you weren't so thick, but you know what, I'll just tell you the name, because knowledge is power, and knowledge conquers all, but pity really, that on one hand I have such an amazing mind, and on the other hand are people such as you, without brains; truthfully, I think your brainpower's also been given to me-'

'You-'

'Geez, calm down, will you, no need to wave fists around like that, the name will be "Mudblood Hate Organisation".'

Adrian had resumed a sitting position, having stood up to try and punch Alec; Geoffrey had been straining to prevent him from doing so. Arabella had barely even batted an eye, content with filing her nails using a nail filer which had diamonds on the handle; Karma had been watching the scene unfold with equal parts curiosity for the meaning of mudblood, amusement at Alec's way of speaking and Geoffrey's lack of physical strength, earnest awe at Alec's ability to find acronyms so easily. and fear for her life.

Adrian nodded. 'Well, that is a better option-'

'See, dumb; you could call it a better alternative, but no-'

'Hartley-'

'Ok, sor-'

'SHUT UP!' screeched Arabella, throwing her nail filer across the floor. Karma, and quite a few others, including but not limited to, Geoffrey, Adrian and the boy sitting next to Arabella. Alec hadn't moved an inch; he was too busy sketching cat portraits in a leather journal. 'Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut...up,' Arabella's voice lowered as she took quite loud deep breaths.

Karma asked in a tentative voice, 'Are you oka-?'

'Don't talk to me,' Arabella replied, her voice back to that calm, collected tone. 'I apologise for screaming, it's just that I was filing my nails, and misdid it because of all the disturbance. I have slight temper issues. And yes, "Mudblood Hate Organisation" is a nice name. Simple and to the point.'

'No one's looking out for us. Not for the Slytherins.'

#karma | the marauders #sirius black #peter pettigrew #slytherin #james potter #Remus Lupin #hogwarts #character x oc #raziroo #arabella lestrange #alec hartley #adrian pucey #geoffrey bailey

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enby-crisis · 4 years ago

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Me Before You (Draco Malfoy x Reader) Pt. 2

Me Before You (Draco Malfoy x reader) pt 1. Masterlist

More Time

"And where have you been?" Bellatrix bombards me the second I reappear in the Manors grand fireplace, billowing in green flames and smoke.

"Does it matter?" I said in a snarky tone as I try to head up the stairs.

"Yes it does. I had to deal with the Dark Lord when I returned home without you." She was so afraid of disappointing him I laughed a little stopping to turn around and face her properly.

"And why does this concern me? I believe you were the one to leave me on my own." I keep asking questions knowing she'll get upset.

"Because it- it just does!" I could tell she was running out of things to say to pin this on me.

"Does it now?" I smile sweetly and batting my eyes innocently more then selling my status to the Dark Lord.

"Stop doing that! And -and go wash up for supper. Tell Draco to do the same!" She demands glancing up to the balcony.

"Why should I ever listen to a disgrace like you? Isn't your niece marrying a werewolf?" I actually liked Lupin when he was a teacher at Hogwarts but I cross my arms to glare at her anyways. A true Slytherin.

"Aren't you a halfblood?" She sputters out before a look of regret hits.

"Excuse me? Do you not know who my father and mother are? I am more pureblood then the entire lineage of your family. I am the great descendant of Salazar Slytherin. I'm similar to that of a princess! You should know your superiors. Must I tell the Dark Lord about your disrespect for me?"

"No! No, please!" She begged as I took a step down, "Don't tell him. I'm sorry!"

"(Y/n), come here. I have something to show you." Draco interrupts. An effort to stop me from pulling my wand out.

"Ooh lucky that your nephew stepped in. Huh Trixie?" I said coldly as I turned to join him on the balcony at the top of the stairs. I got the honor of seeing her roll her eyes as she walked off to the dining hall.

"Picking a fight Princess?" Draco said as I met up with him, leaning on the rail to kiss my cheek. He must've overheard the conversation.

"I've had a long day." I say sounding more irritating then I want to come off. "And so have you. Let's just go to your room. Please?" I pout as he continues to kiss my cheek. He's holding onto the strap of my messenger bag, trying to take it off. Once I let him he takes my hand to walk off down the hall.

"Dont we normally go to your room Princess?" I can hear the smug in his voice as he speaks.

"Which ever will do honestly. Are you okay? Does it still hurt? I haven't seen you in hours. I apologise for being late." I say just as I reach my door.

Voldemort wanted me to have my own room in the mansion, letting me pick any of the rooms in the house. He was quite disappointed when I picked the one closest to Draco's and not the master.

"And who's fault is that?" He counter argues.

"I was buying school supplies for both of us Draco. You could be a little more kind."

I open my door and try to pull my bag off of Draco's shoulder.

"Can I have this back by any chance?"

He goes to take it off but as I try to grab it from him he takes steps to kiss me and closes the door behind him. He drops the bag soon after the door shuts walking me backwards until my legs hit the edge of the bed and I fall over pulling Draco on top of me by his tie. I giggle as his kisses trail down my throat. His smile is growing at the sound of my laughter.

"What? Is that how we ask for things?" He smirked and a shiver ran through my skin.

"We should go. If he dosen't see me he'll send Bell to go looking for me." I let him stand as he knows I'm right. "Besides you were supposed to show me something?" Curious spiking its way into my intense eye color.

"Uh, yeah I did actually." Draco mumbled as he pulled out a small black box from one of the many pockets in his suit. He hands it to me shyly.

"What's this?" I ask a bit concerned about the box that was handed to me. It opened like a ring box does. Connected on one side by a hatch. This one was bigger and had more depth then a mere ring box. Looked like it was built for a necklace.

"Open it." He said taking a step back.

"Certainly not!" I exclaimed, "You open it. I don't want any Pandora's box on my hands!"

"It's nothing like that (Y/n), I swear. It's a birthday present. Well a late one seeing as how I haven't seen you much this summer and we are at school for most of the year. I got it at Borgin and Burkes but don't worry it was something your mother recommended. I though that it might give us more time together. It has this story to it and I though you'd like it- if the Deathly Hollows is still your favorite children's tale." He blushes after his half babbling.

I open it at that. I look up at him confused as the pocket watch lays in the box looking almost untouched.

"When did you see Miranda?" I ask as I examine the watch carefully.

Neither my mother nor my father liked to be called by their respective titles. When asked for a reason I get a shoulder shrug and some outlandish excuse.

The watch was a pale gold color. The Deathly Hallows were on the watches face in their classic manor. Where there wasn't any lines or shapes I could make out the yellowed background and blackened Roman Numerals 1-12 marked like a normal watch.

"She came by looking for you after my uh- The Dark Lord talked to me. Wanted to see you off. And to give you this" He put his hand in his pocket and turned around before resurfacing with a vanilla scented envelope. "Let's go then."

I take the letter when he offers it and study it over the box the watch came in.

"Oh, okay. Yes, my love."

I closed the box and threw it and the letter on the bed before getting up to take Draco's arm. We head down to the dining hall just as Bellitrix opens the door.

"I've been calling you." She says as we walk through.

"I still don't care Trixie." I sass back. She marches in behind us.

"Well, you should. The Dark Lord has a task for you at Hogwarts and wants to discuss it with you both before you leave." She speaks as if she is that important. We continue to walk behind Bellatrix.

I glance at Draco to see if he knows anything on this and he just looks away from me, letting my arm go and sitting next to his mother. She smiles at the two of us and I take my seat next to my parents who are also death eaters. Surprise.

"How's my girl?" My father asks.

"I've been fine Evan." I say without looking at him.

He just nods and looks to the head of the table where Voldemort sits. Nagine slithers over the edge of the table to the middle, curling into herself as her master spoke.

"(Y/n) my dear, I assume you found your school supplies without any problems?" He asks and the attention of the table shifts to me.

"Yes! Of course we did! Right (Y/n)?" Bellatrix answered for me. I glared at her as his voice rang though the air.

"Bellitrix I did not ask you! Now please let (Y/n) answer for herself. She is nearly of age and clearly capable of doing so. (Y/n)?" He asks again. I was surprised that The Dark Lord let her finish her statement before yelling at her.

"Yes, My Lord. Both Draco and I have all we need for our next miserable year at that bloody school." I said while hiding my thoughts of fondness towards the school.

"Well, my dear, maybe I can make your year a bit more... interesting for you?" He spoke on.

"How do you suppose we do that, My Lord?" I ask.

"You need to befriend the Harry Potter boy and his friends by the end of the year. Make him trust you. Can you do that?" He basically demands the task just as he always does.

"Of course, My Lord. We are already acquainted from past years. I am, after all, related to you. No task is impossible with your blood running through me." I smile at him as he smiles back. Now might not be the time to tell him I already know Hermione and have since the end of my third year when she tutored me in muggle studies.

Voldemort smiles evilly. He loves when I use our similarities and blood relations in front of his followers. He thinks it makes them fear more at the thought of two of us in the same room. Dinner proceeds as planned. Draco is granted the task of fixing the Vanishing Cabinet before the end of the year.

#draco x reader #harry potter #draco malfoy #voldamort #hogwarts #slytherin #me before you #the dark lord #halfblood prince

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cruddyborderlandstheories · 5 years ago

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“So Happy Together” Analysis

i don’t sleep

tl;dr: tbh not much to go off on about. i think we see a new skin for Iron Bear, one with some stripes. amara smiles, i do talk a little bit about little sisters in bioshock but tbh i think this was all just a stylistic choice lol. oh and handsome jack’s masks- probably Mount Jackmore. i don’t want to get to freaked out over jack returning, but damn gearbox lol u had me there for a second. im pretty sure it’s just a reused cut quest from bl2 that they never got to implement.

EDIT: here’s all the cut content in bl2 (plus all the non-cut content as well for funsies). you can go to the cut quests and see the audio files for claptrap’s jackmore quest

holy shit can i just vomit all my emotions rn, they’re all good so imma do that so im rational when i start analyzing stuff okay? okay!

holy shit that was fucking great and im really glad i tempered my expectations to something smaller than i thought because i feel bad for people expecting something huge, i was under the assumption we’d be getting a new mechanic that was like ��choose ur +1 and they’ll be able to play the game with you if you’re both online even if they don’t have the game’ which was what someone said on reddit. altho im sure the poor company is gonna get spammed now with hate like ‘WTF YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE BUILT THIS UP AAAA’. not to lie, i was slightly disappointed it wasn’t a longer stream, but i mean if they’ve got nothing to announce, they’ve got nothing to announce and HEY! new trailer!!! gonna be combing thru on the assumption this has some easter eggs like the MoM trailer did, just in case. i thought it was a cute trailer, gearbox never explicitly said what it was gonna be, a lot people all just assumed what was gonna happen was a demo/beta which sucks so i hope this doesn’t negatively impact people’s perspective of the game. im staying off reddit for now bc when i first checked it people were pretty pissed and i dun need that negativity lmao

okay! emotions are LOCKED behind closed doors. i am shifting into study mode. here we go boys/girls/those of us who know better. haven’t done one of these in a while, let’s see if im rusty at all.

claptrap! and the skull on the chair which reminds me of tyreen’s “favorite skull”.

tv says “we are under attack, please stand by”

and afaik claptrap is near the beginning of the game, you can see part of the recruitment center behind him when the camera pans.

im thinking there might be something in the roses, specifically the hand-drawn roses later on in the trailer. will be keeping an eye open for that.

this is specifically a jakobs brand chest. i really like the see-through aesthetic of it

intro area of the game again. possible hint to the opening cutscene? tbh i was worried that’s what we were about to get because i haven’t finished the roughs of my mock up lol

so what i didn’t notice my first time through is that you can then see claptrap, also being shown in the chest

waving up at the camera. that’s not trippy at all or anything lol

this car in the foreground (with no one driving it, mind you)

randomly combusts, looking quite like elpis in that one shot of the claptrap presents pandora trailer. wonder if that means it’s gonna ‘splode.

ohhh it spins. please no spin imma get motion sick blech

shot of some cultists. one appears to have a jetpack near the bottom right there

another explosion to the beat

the shock wave!!!! that’s awesome

shock nomads cultists are back. f in chat for our shields

another cultist seconds before he gets blown to bits

it cuts to black for a secco as it moves thru said explosion

another cultist, i assume a psycho

finally some good fucking angles

heh.

idk what i expected from someone who’s first action skill line i ever heard was them shouting MAGIC WALL!!! TAAAADAAAAAAAAH

as a side note

who is shooting those lasers

we see them coming from behind the VHs, but

there’s nothing there

SPOOKY~

they’re coming from... the wall???

tfw u shot urself in the foot on accident

amara is not amused

`is this some human custom i don’t understand yet`

also i hate that i’ve done this exact dance before when i took dance classes as a kid

with less style of course, i was like 7

moze is into it, hell yeah

this reminds me a lot of Kingsman. where all the blood is like fireworks and stuff. i wonder if that has anything to do with the psycho brainwashing. like little sisters in bioshock. they see roses instead of blood, right? maybe there’s something like that going on with the psychos

i’d certainly hope our vault hunters aren’t brainwashed, anyway.

this dude looking SHOCKED to see that tho, lmfao

i relate to this man on a spiritual level i stg

man he looks pissed

omfg lol

“um”

“i guess this is okay”

the body language in this is gold i am just having the time of my life

adsfdgfhgjhgfk

this is so cute

also in retrospect, i think this is one of the turrets we see on promethea. i wonder what it’s doing here!

moze u ok?

oh nvm she’s into it, look at her! she’s dancing! She’s Dancin’!

oooo one of the robots from the we are mayhem trailer! okay you can totally see why i think they’re jakobs, RIGHT???

iirc this is a maliwan soldier

man this is a crossover event, isn’t it?

i get it now. togetherness. i gotchu gearbox.

some maliwan ships in the sky. possibly sanc-iii on the right? or a ship of the same model as sanc-iii!

this is a magitek dropship, change my mind

eh, they both start with M, fuck it.

no idea what fl4k is doing here

mayyyybe shielding themselves from the ‘firework’/confetti shower

i like that the confetti explosions are backed up by purple, you know like eridium/slag/siren powers. seriously, maybe this is just how to cultists see us Vault Hunters and the mass murder.

at the very least, the psychos.

fl4k’s into it. i wish we knew the name of their skag, if it has one. i hope it does.

well now the lasers are coming from the other side! what the hell

moving on

i think this is the HBC from the speakers, plus im pretty sure that skull and the stained glass are the entrance to mouthpiece’s arena

we also get a different colored explosion. im paranoid jack is somehow making a return (please god no), so i’ll just note it’s the same color as his eyes.

AND the chests are vomiting out gold guns, which i think, gold-plated gear, is the cult’s way of signifying standing. which im sure is a tongue-in-cheek commentary as gearbox gives out a gold weapon pack as a pre-order bonus. no, like, it even shows up as an ad on the video

smh gearbox lmao

oh, also, the cultists are doing fuckin flying impressions

im not saying its a reference to the cultist with rakk wings on the cover, buuuut

bitch it might be lol

it’s an upside-down vault symbol! ive been trying to figure out what that is in those screens for the longest time!

back on promethea and we get to see fl4k’s spiderant in action

their skag, too, of course

the jabbermon in the back there, too! i wonder if they’re going to be shock or cryo. i would imagine shock given how they’re glowing

also i love the way the flowers look in contrast to the character models

moze is so happy aw

i love the way fl4k’s skag comes flying in and slides to a stop. such a good doggo ;-;

this is beautiful, i want it as a wallpaper

moze skipping? holy shit

100% verified the best thing i’ve ever seen

i lied. this is.

is this the fast travel station effect?

also! IB is looking a bit different

i wonder if this is a redesign or if IB is wearing a new skin moze picked out

pan over to zane who clearly doesn’t notice the being of darkness and horror in the doorway

oh also, we’re on eden-6 now. which would explain the fast travel effect

psychos dancing on the rooftops lol

oh god my eyes

nothing to really say here, i just like this screenshot

pink shields booyah

this is so fucking cute

we also get a better look at that one facility on eden-6

is that... red i see? >w> i won’t say it i won’t i won’t say it i swear i just- ATLAS

fuck

i like that zane’s clone spawns with his melee attachment

not AS excited as the real life version though

GB pls let this be a zane emote

is that a varkid? on eden-6?

wtf is a varkid doing on eden-6???

more shots of the facility btw. reminds me a lot of sanc-iii so maybe this actually is the supamax mfg construction facility like i originally thought. hmmmmmmm

ah yes, of course

holy shit what is this a reference to?

im told it’s the sex pistols

the back of the bullet turns into Athenas

pans in

amara!

enemy with a top hat on. some variation of/upgraded gravedigger? it’s like a psycho but recolored with blue pants and a top hat. you can see it fall off when amara shoots him

y’know, these guys

some rakk in the background

i am hoping bc this is a celebration of togetherness we’re seeing all enemies everywhere, not that the planets don’t have their own unique fauna.

she’s so happy omfg

oh, you want some?

Uhhh then there’s THIS sequence

they’re doing the flying thing again lmao

there’s also whatever that black blob is on the left. a spaceship maybe?

car wheel

all their eyes started glowing red. uh oh gamers

also another fast travel effect

hmmmm... zarpedon is that you??

back on pandora.

“super 87 racetrack”, maybe this is near that motorcade fast travel we saw?

huzzah! rainbows!

i do believe that’s sanctuary-iii

another ship. drop ship?

elpis is looking nice this time of year. definitely not explode-y. yet.

pret-ty sure that’s iron bear. moze is standing atop the tower lmao

also! back to it’s old paint scheme. looks like moze was using a skin or smth

we also have this. are my eyes failing me or is that a big cross on the left? could be where jack was buried.

also i know there was cut content in bl2 about Mount Jackmore! and this looks like a Mount Jackmore to me. it’s a cut quest where claptrap asks you to basically ruin the thing. but since the quest was cut, it’s still here in bl3. maybe they’ll reintegrate the quest lol

i can’t imagine it being roland’s gravesite. because it looks like the below.

i do know we’re going to roland’s grave in bl3, but the statues don’t really match up. maybe it is and the statues were broken, or ruined or something and replaced by a cross. could be then that the gravesite was defaced with, well, the guy that killed him.

im really hoping jack doesn’t make a return. im fine with dealing with what he set in motion, and his influence, and probably even some ECHO logs and movie trailers, but please, for the love of god, don’t actually bring him back, AI or otherwise. im really excited for the calypso twins, i’d really hate to see the focus shift back to that guy. he’s had his fingers in every borderlands game. it’s time to let him go.

idk what this is exactly. it looks like maybe that weird eye bot troy stands next to in the intro for the behind closed doors panel?

goodbye mr magical jakobs chest, it’s been real

the RC now has red drapes going down it. have those always been there? i don’t remember those

hmmmmmmmmm maybe we’re looking at it from the back 🤔

anyway, that’s all she wrote. i haven’t see any hidden morse code messages or anything yet, but if something surfaces, i’ll be sure to add it here.

#borderlands #bl3 #borderlands 3 #so happy together trailer #oof #tumblr fought me on posting this like 7 times

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queen-of-the-willows · 6 years ago

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“Oi, I’m back!”

Pandora opens an eye at the familiar voice, gripping her staff as footsteps draw close. She doesn’t move, but the boy stops when he’s in her view. Perhaps he thinks she’ll strike him at a moment’s notice, and he’s wary of her now. Normally, that’d be a good thing, for any passersby to fear her. But, for some reason, that still doesn’t keep him from pestering her. “You look lonely over there,” he calls out, “need a friend?”

She breathes in deep, making the loudest groan she can muster. “For fuck’s sake,” she says,” it’s you again.” That doesn’t shake him. If anything, he takes his chances and steps closer. “Didn’t I tell you,” Pandora continues, “that I’d boil you alive the next time you stepped foot in this forest, Knight?” He thinks for a moment, then shakes his head. “No. You said you’d skin me alive. ‘Boiling’ was the threat before that.”

She blinks at that, with half a mind to throw her staff at him. Is he mocking her? Doesn’t matter. What does, though, is making him leave.

“Regardless… I thought you knew better, Knight. The fact that you’ve come here once again proves that you’re either very brave or very, very stupid. And I’m becoming convinced that it’s the latter.” She stands, readying her staff. “Leave this forest. Before I make good on at least five of my many promises.” She gestures to the forest, throwing a wicked smirk his way. “Or maybe I’ll let my forest itself take care of you, since you seem so keen on trespassing.” Claiming the forest as hers is a stretch, but he doesn’t need to know that. The more she scares him, the better.

But “Knight” only puts his hands up, a sincere smile growing out of his grin. “No need to be so defensive, miss. I didn’t come here to fight.” He laughs through his words. “Or to harm your precious forest. You two are more threatening than I could ever be.” She drops her smirk, raising a brow and eyeing his waist. He follows her gaze, smacking his teeth at the dagger on his belt. “Well,” he grumbles, “I still need something when I’m out here, don’t I?”

"If you didn’t come out here, you wouldn’t need anything at all.”

He shrugs and grabs the dagger, inching closer before placing it on the ground. “See?” He says. “No harm.”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“Well, does it?”

Spirits save her. Only they know why she’s entertaining this fool, and only they can tell the reasoning behind what she does next.

With a sigh, she lowers her staff, pinching the bridge of her nose with her free hand. “Okay,” she mumbles before looking back to Knight. “Then what are you here for? Don’t tell me a knight, of all people, wishes to buy something from a witch.” Knight shakes his head, his hands behind his back. His kind smile turned cheeky, almost smug as she relented. It makes her want to curse him on the spot.

“I am here because of a purchase, though,” he says. “A deal between you and some villagers.” She steps back, bracing to bring her staff back up. “And what does this ‘purchase’ have to do with you, boy? Specifically, with you being here?” No way this can end well. He already knows her identity as a witch. Information on any interactions with regular civilians always leads to some sort of confrontation. Perhaps he’s a vigilante, out to hunt sorceresses on his own, and she just so happens to be his next target. That would most certainly explain why he lacks a uniform. Or any organization whatsoever.

“I just want to talk,” Knight responds. “Say thank you.”

What? She shakes her head. “Thank-… thank you?”

He nods. “Well, the villagers I’m talking about—I know them, you see. We’ve been helping each other out since I was little. But I heard one of them got sick while I was travelling, came down with the wither illness. There… wasn’t much I could do.” He rubs the back of his head, casting it down. She remembers, almost instantly, the man with his entire family at his bedside, paler than the rest of their worried faces. He looked on the edge of death. Hell, he was halfway there by the time she completely brewed the medicine he needed.

“I tried to get back to them as soon as possible,” Knight continues. “With a sickness like that, there’s no telling how long you have. But by the time I got there, he was already on the verge of recovering, said a medicine lady passing through town helped him. ‘Said she barely even charged them anything.” By the time he finishes, it’s her turn to look away. She gazes at the tree lines surrounding them, not knowing what she’ll show if she faces him. Thank you. He came all this way to her, faced down whatever the forest threw at him, just for that?

“It’s just that, uh,” Knight stammers, searching the air for the right words, “protecting people, it’s something I think of as ‘my thing,’ you know? Traveling around, helping whoever I see, whoever I can-“

“There are guilds for that,” Pandora cuts in. He nods in agreement.

“Yeah, well, I don’t think I have what it takes to join one of those. Not yet, anyway.” She can’t quite say, but it’s almost like he’s getting quieter. Even so, something in his voice compels her to listen, if only for a moment longer.

“Anyway, when I heard about my… about the villagers, about how you helped them, I just… I felt indebted. And when I put together that you were a witch, well I just had to see you for myself.” Their eyes meet, his filled to the brim with too many things to count. Joy, gratitude, awe. They all freeze her in place, hold her tongue so she can’t retort them.

“You hear so much about witches, about sorceresses. So many terrible things from villages, from guilds, from the Sect…” Their name alone makes her mouth go sour. She grimaces, perhaps without meaning to, at the boy. He seems to notice when he quickly adds, “but you, you saved someone. You saved a family. Without that man, who knows what the rest of them would’ve done. You did exactly what I’ve been trying to do for so long. You’re a protector in their eyes, a…” He chuckles, almost nervous from what he says next. “Well, you’re kind of our hero.”

Just like that, she has to tear herself away from those eyes, casting her own to the ground. Solitude, she’s heard, is a good way to close parts of oneself. Seal off thoughts, feelings, anything that clouds the mind, prevents it from being its most effective. It appears she hasn’t been alone long enough; by the time Knight’s finished, her staff shakes in her hands, her jaw clenched tighter than the fingers wrapped around it.

“Hey,” Knight calls out. “You okay? I didn’t mean to-“

“You’re fine, boy,” she cuts him off again. “Come in.”

“What?”

“Come in,” she repeats. At her words, the shoppe’s door opens behind her. “We’ve been standing out here long enough.” Such a trek, just for a simple “thank you.” Surely, such bravery—albeit slight stupidity—is to be rewarded. Sending him on his way wouldn’t be enough. The poor fool might get himself hurt walking back, make the family worry for their own yet again. And after she just helped them, for Spirit’s sake. That’s why she does this, that’s why she shows him this kindness. Her only reason.

“Besides, talking so much must’ve exhausted you,” she adds. “I know it has to me. Oh-” She stops before going inside, turning back to a bewildered Knight. “And bring your cute little blade with you. You need to bring something with you out here, don’t you?”

Credit for the idea goes to this prompt by @corvidprompts , thank you for the inspiration!

@araniladin @spaceinvaydr @procrastinatorprocrastinating

#The Willow Writes #not sure how well-received the present-tense style will be #but i really like it #i think i'm gonna keep writing that way

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 6 years ago

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Michael After Midnight: Avatar

Hyperbole is a real bitch. No matter what direction it goes in, it can seriously hamper a movie’s reputation. It’s the reason why I always just give a broad recommendation at the end of my reviews rather than a score; I find saying “Hey if you like this genre/subject matter/actor/etc, you might like this film” is a lot better than saying “This is a 10/10 five star masterpiece that all humans who ever shall exist need to see.” All too often the latter is what you get from mainstream publications when they praise a film.

Look what happened to Frozen; it was called one of the better Disney movies in recent memories and was praised to the heavens and back, which led to a bunch of people on the internet vocally disagreeing with said opinion, which then led to an entire anti-fandom of obnoxious basement dwellers who felt the need to constantly remind everyone Frozen sucked on any animation post they could find. All of this for a movie that, in hindsight, is just a solid, standard Disney princess flick.

Tonight we’re talking about a similar case, a film that when it came out was hyped up as a groundbreaking masterpiece of visual effects and a box office smash that grossed insane amounts of money… and was then derided as forgettable and a ripoff of Pocahontas or FernGully or what have you in the years to come. Yes, tonight we are talking about James Cameron’s smash hit, Avatar, and honestly? It’s probably the second best thing named Avatar out there, after Nickelodeon’s series about the last Airbender. After spending years being an obnoxious hipster douchebag and not watching it because it was popular followed by several more years of being an obnoxious douchebag who bashed whatever it was that was popular to bash, I finally sat down and watched James Cameron’s silly blue alien environmental movie… and frankly, it’s a pretty damn good movie. And I don’t just mean “oh it’s better than I expected but not great,” I mean “I can genuinely see to an extent where people were coming from when they were praising this.”

The story goes like this: In the far future, Earth is a polluted pile of fuck, so humans have taken to looking for resources elsewhere. One elsewhere? The moon of the planet Polyphemus, known as Pandora, which is home to a rare mineral that humans ironically dubbed “Unobtanium,” as it is rather hard to obtain due to the richest source being located amongst the native population: the ten-foot-tall blue alien beings known as the Na’vi. Jake Sully, a paraplegic former marine, is selected to utilize a remote-controlled artificial Na’vi body called an “avatar” so he can gain the native’s trust and maybe convince them to move, though there are tons of problems he has to overcome, not the least being that he starts crushing hard on Neytiri, the daughter of the chief (and seeing how she’s a hot blue alien played by Zoe Saldana, can you really blame him?). Can Sully help the humans and Na’vi reach a peaceful conclusion, or is the warmongering Colonel Miles Quaritch gonna get his way and start routing the natives out by force?

Interestingly, a lot of the movies that people claims this ripped off came out after this movie had been written; Cameron’s been working on this movie since 1994, when he wrote up an 80-page treatment for the film. He wanted to start working on this after Titanic, but the technology of the time just wasn’t right to fulfill his vision. Frankly, it’s a good thing he waited, because as I’m sure you know from all the praise it got, the visuals in this film are simply stunning. The Na’vi, the creatures of Pandora, the forests, all the glorious details of this alien planet and its inhabitants are just incredibly well done. If this had been done earlier, there is no way the Na’vi would have avoided the uncanny valley as well as they did; as it stands, they’re probably one of my favorite alien races in fiction, just from the visual standpoint alone. How good this movie looks compared to the story - which by comparison to the groundbreaking effects is rather basic - would almost make you think this film is just style over substance…

...But I’d argue that’s not exactly the case. While it’s glaringly obvious that the effects are the biggest draw, the story is still enjoyable and solid. It may seem rather derivative, but that’s mostly because in the span of time the film took to get made everyone and their mother cranked out environmental films or films about aboriginal people being joined by an outsider who learns from them and then fights back against people encroaching on their way of life, especially during the 90s. This movie quite frankly has an edge over all of those films; for one, this film looks way better than any of them, even Pocahontas (which is undeniably a beautiful film to look at). It also helps this film avoids the, uh… unfortunate implications that often come with these kinds of stories. I’m not here to get to into this aspect of those kinds of movies, but in the hands of less talented writers and directors there tends to be really nasty undertones. While Jake Sully does help lead this foreign culture to victory over their technologically advanced foes, it’s more due to him having knowledge of how humans work combined with the skills the Na’vi themselves have. Neither would have won without the other’s help. So yeah, the story is pretty simple, but pretty good. Not truly groundbreaking or original, but it really doesn’t have to be.

While I will say the story is the weak point, it IS carried by some truly great characters… just not Sully. While he’s a decent protagonist and all, he’s quite frankly overshadowed by just about everyone around him, with three enormous shadows being cast by Grace, Neytiri, and Quaritch. Grace is played by Sigourney Weaver. That is literally all you need to know to understand why she utterly steals every single scene she’s in, but for the sake of this review, let me explain in a bit more detail: her establishing character moment has her awakening from her avatar pod asking where her cigarette is, she openly is suspicious of Sully being added to the avatar program, she is the most honestly sympathetic and noble character in the entire movie, and her avatar is a stunning work of CGI. There’s really not a bad thing I can say about her; she’s basically Ellen Ripley with a more positive attitude towards aliens. She takes no shit and she does all she can to keep these people from being exploited by the greasy corporate shitweasels, no matter what she has to do. What a fucking hero. Can you see why Sully just seems kinda weak in comparison?

Then we have Neytiri, played by Zoe Saldana. She’s gorgeous, she’s badass, and she has quite the likable personality. She almost singlehandedly gives Sully a basic rundown on how not to die and spends most of her early screentime saving his ass. This was one of Saldana’s big roles in 2009 alongside playing Uhura in the Star Trek reboot series, and it brought her tons of praise, fame, and helped get her typecast as “Badass space babe with colorful skin.” Without this, Gamora might have gone to a less impressive actor who wouldn’t have been able to showcase the emotional range required, so at the very least I’m thankful to this movie for that.

And now finally, and perhaps most importantly, we come to Colonel Miles Quaritch, played by Stephen “You wished he was Cable until they cast Josh Brolin” Lang. Quaritch is what seems like such a simple villain: a military man with some serious bloodlust, a guy who just seems to be itching to go to war. But really, there’s a lot more to him than that. One really gets the sense Quaritch really does believe what he’s doing is for the betterment of humanity, and he doesn’t go right to gunning down the Na’vi even when he’s given the word to remove them by force. There are a lot of ways to interpret him, but frankly, no matter what way you cut it he’s at the very least genuinely concerned with the safety of his subordinates (outlined in his establishing scene); this leads him to becoming probably one of the single most badass anti-villains ever conceived. The man frequently steps out into the hostile atmosphere of the moon, holding his breath, to take shots at foes before putting on a breathing apparatus. He jumps out of an exploding plane in a mini-mech, which he uses to get into a knife fight with Sully. And every heinous and violent action he takes is one he takes to protect men from dying, something he has seen far too much of. And while this makes him sympathetic to a degree, his utter disdain of the Na’vi and his bloodthirsty attitude also makes sure you want to see him gets what’s coming to him.

There’s some side characters here and there that are good, but it’s mainly these three carrying the story when it starts seeming a bit too basic for this lofty world Cameron has built. And really, this is a fantastic world he’s created. This is truly a stunning film visually, with some flavorful characters to ensure that the vision doesn’t wear on you throughout the running time. For the most part, it really does work; guess that’s just the magic of James Cameron.

This is a very good film. Not the greatest film of all time, but definitely an enjoyable, ambitious, and groundbreaking one. If I ever make a list of the best sci-fi films (and you know I will eventually), this will most certainly be on there… somewhere. It’s at least top 25 material. While Aliens and the first two Terminator films are definitely the best stuff Cameron has done, this is still quite an impressive piece of pop sci-fi he created; if you like environmental movies, science fiction, creative worldbuilding, awesome visuals, or James Cameron movies, this film is worth a watch. Hell, it’s worth a watch if you’re a fan of Weaver, Lang, or Saldana too, because their performances really drive this film. It’s a good movie, plain and simple.

...Though I don’t think it’s good enough to warrant four sequels. Fuck off, Cameron.

#Michael After Midnight #Review #Movie review #Avatar #James Cameron's Avatar #James Cameron #Sci-fi #Na'vi #Pandora #Neytiri #Zoe Saldana #Sigourney Weaver #Stephen Lang

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