#also i might add art for this fic eventually but we'll see

[hestzhyen]

Chapter 61 Deadbeat Posting

Hello, kind void. Let's get into it, shall we?

Bad TL of editor's notes:

First page: 交差する思惑-!! [kouki suru omowaku-!!] Intersecting motives-!! Last page: 座村の娘, 一般社会に紛れて... [Samura no musume, ippan shakai ni magirete...] Samura's daughter, blending in with the general public...

What is Going On?!

So, uh... is there a Maury or Dr. Phil in the Kagurabachi universe? Wait, no, let's start with the best part of the chapter:

lmao

THANK YOU for this little breather. It's still not enough but seeing Chihiro get babied by his new ninja maids is fucking hilarious. They really do just swoop in and take care of whoever their charge is- no wonder Samura put his foot down early on with them. Would have been the perfect time to learn their names too, but Hokazono-sensei must have a deadly allergy to names in text boxes.

If we're gonna be spending quality time with these guys, shouldn't we know who they are though? This isn't a Bandana or Ice Lady scenario; they're sticking around for at least the rest of this Samura-specific mini arc and interacting with Chihiro directly. If it's commentary on how they see themselves as tools, that's one thing. But I think this is just more of the same stinginess from the author considering we got a different name drop at the end of the chapter. I guess we shouldn't expect to keep seeing them after a certain point? I swear, if we have to wait for more volume extras to get these guys' names despite spending a good chunk of an arc with them...

Prep those zombie AU fics/fan arts

Welp, there's no doubt about it now- Uruha's actual status is yet another dangling thread that will be followed up on eventually. Let's toss it on the pile with all the rest.

Got some interesting lore implications about how the Lifelong Contract with the bearer of the blade might affect their body too thanks to this. I'm honestly more interested in that bit of information than anything else from this scenario, since we are still lacking on a lot of particulars about the nature of entering a contract with these swords.

I'm not really mentally prepared for whatever's happening to Uruha himself; if he's alive, I will be mad that I got jebaited and call hax like the petty baby I am. If his corpse is being used in unethical experiments... I do love me some horror but I will be Very Sad and Upset that it happened to Uruha. He deserves some dignity after what Samura did to him. No matter what though, the Kamunabi are doing some dastardly shit in secret right now, so... hooray one more thing we have to sit tight and wait to learn about.

So... is the general public OK with giant owl eyes darkening the skies 24/7 all across Japan? Maybe we're not meant to think too hard about this and just accept that it's happening because it looks cool. It's fun to imagine Samura brooding on some rooftop, waiting to use Crow to teleport to the first Enchanted Blade signal he detects though. Just like a ping! ZOOP! murder time! kinda thing.

Questions about Chihiro's contract to Enten aside for now (like so many others), if he can't even draw the sword without summoning a raid boss then how is he going to fight? Not something I think we'll have to wait too long to see so I'm actually looking forward to the next set of action scenes to see how Chihiro defends himself (with the Masumi's help). I hope it comes with some lore about how the contract works too but that could also come from whatever's going on with Uruha so I won't be pinning all my hopes on Chihiro here. He's got enough burdens already- and is about to add one more by acting as a bodyguard to an unassuming high school girl.

Infinite Aura Loss

"Call up one of those trashy daytime talk shows ASAP."

So... rather than deal with the Samura problem with all the stuff we've got set up already, we get yet more complications by revealing that not only did Samura have a daughter, he had straight sex at least once. And was even married before becoming a divorcee deadbeat dad who "killed" his daughter instead of trying to work things out. Damn this guy has issues.

Three years ago is when the Kamunabi rounded up all the Bearers into the Shame Boxes (sanso) after Kunishige's death- maybe this was the turning point for Samura. Based on the wording it's not like Samura's the only one who had loved ones to consider; he just chose the nuclear option and asked his ninja maids to set his daughter free from him for some reason. Useless to speculate until we hear it from the man himself but damn. Cutting your child out of your life so completely that she forgets you exist (and vice-versa!) is a bit harsh isn't it? She's going to have some serious bullshit to deal with very soon. Way to do all the wrong things out of guilt buddy. Did you at least keep up with the child support payments?

Mutton Chops not having any qualms about using an innocent girl as a pawn to get to Samura speaks volumes about why Samura didn't want her involved though. This org is not getting any praise for doing the right thing when we finally learn about them.

I'm not sure I like this development but it gets put into the "wait and see" category like so many other things have at this point. Hokazono's delivered pretty consistently so far so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that there will be good payoffs for complicating things even further. Honestly? As long as this mini arc ends with more questions answered than asked, I'll be content.

Look, typical shounen fanservice! Kind of!

But of course we got a shitton of new questions about how this masking sorcery works, how they're gonna find her if no one can recognise her as Samura's child, what else the Kamunabi might have done with these powers at their disposal, if the Masumi did this on the down-low or if the Kamunabi also knew, and why the heck does Ms. Masumi have so many different types of sorcery she can do anyway? Transport, technique recovery, now hiding identities! I gotta learn why these ninjas can do so many things that seem to contradict the established rule of "one sorcery per person unless you're special enough to have two". Are the Masumi our gateway into learning about sorcery applications beyond one's innate abilities, such as channeling spirit energy into special objects designed for a purpose like the barriers Shiba configured to protect the Rokuhiras? Or is Ms. Masumi's ability something along the lines of being able to manipulate ink/inscriptions to invoke different effects? I'm going crazy...

I think I'll have an easier time if I just sit back and accept that a lot of things are going to happen because of the cool factor instead of any deep logic. It's not fair to the author, I know, but it's the only way I can keep my sanity right now. I'll be really happy if the doubts get shoved back in my face though.

War Orphan Society?

We didn't need to meet you guys yet either!

Hiruhiko's recovering offscreen so we get different folks collected by John for the Hishaku's PoV this time. Wonder how long they'll stick around before they get murked.

Kuguri (久々李) is the only name we got this chapter. 久 (ku) means ancient, a long time, or to remain unchanged. The intentions could be conveying a long and happy life, patience/perseverance, or just a name that will never sound out-of-date. 李 (ri) means plum tree, judge, official, or jailer for resilience/strength or justice and fairness (々 is just a kanji repetition marker). I'll go with [ancient plum tree] because it's cool! But obviously I'm not at all trustworthy on this so it's best to be sceptical.

We don't know the girl's name yet, but she's definitely a tomboy of some kind since she uses the male personal pronoun 僕 [boku]. I think she's actually the first one to use it in the whole series since most of the guys use 俺 (ore)- even Mr. Inazuma. The only exception I caught skimming through to check was Kyora (he used 私 [watashi], the polite pronoun for all genders). At any rate, hooray two more Hishaku members... we only have one or two left to reveal from the core group now. John Hiruhiko Kuguri Hatshaku Jane Samurai Worst Jeanist Tomboy (maybe) shadowy guy in the crazy subspace from ch. 7 ???

Another week of new Hishaku info, another week of waiting for the big Seitei War lore drops. I jokingly referred to this section with war orphans, but what if they really are? The Hishaku have deep resentment of some kind towards the Kamunabi -the government itself- and seem to be on hard times based on the state of their hideout. A lot of the members we've met seem young and disaffected too. Seems like more evidence they were on the side that lost the war to me.

Wonder how Kuguri knew Sojo and what exactly he admired about the greaseball. ...And which Bearer's blade he's got one-sided love for. My bets are on the Girl bearer but it could well be Sushi Chef or Samura too because this series loves to have men profess their deep love for other men.

I consider meeting Sushi Chef and Girl Bearer to be resolutions to a question instead of further complications because we've been waiting for information about them since they were teased in chapter 18. At the very least I want to know their names so I don't have to keep calling them Sushi Chef and Girl, y'know? Sushi Chef is probably the one we will meet next since he was conspicuously brought up last chapter... we'll see! Again! Hopefully soon.

Oh but speaking of Hiruhiko:

Look at this unhappy frog man.

Just keeping an eye out if he gets his Hishaku tattoo back or not for now...

One chapter left before the end-of-the-year magazine break, dear void; hopefully it won't leave us on a massive cliffhanger. I'm staying in it but man I would like more answers to come soon. I'm going numb from all the over-stimulation now. May this arc answer a bunch of questions before introducing many more, please and thank you, amen.

[mistressdragonflame]

Progress so far in bookbinding

So I've never bookbound before, but I decided to give it an ADHD go with greenTeacup's Lionheart series, a Harry Potter Rewrite focusing on Draco, wherein he is in Gryffindor and will eventually end up with Hermione (as it should be).

Had to make an account to ask her a question regarding imagry, so might as well use this Tumblr thing.

XXXX

I have made Vol. I and II and II (sic) into typesets on Google Docs. The 2nd Vol. II is incomplete at this moment, but I worked what I had thus far. Total between the three Volumes is about 700k words, so they are not small, lol.

I've also started gathering material to make the books. 11x17 paper painstakingly chopped to 8 1/2x11, because I live in Hawaii and you can't get shit here without costing an arm and leg, and because every bookbinder firstly raved about ensuring the short grain for your paper.

I also couldn't find any endpaper I liked, except a single sheet from a Michaels' booklet that wouldn't ship here without an absurd shipping cost for a small item. So I made my own.

Made this in Procreate, then had OfficeDepot print and mail like 8 double sided copies to me... still with an absurd shipping cost for what they were, because Hawaii. I'm really happy with how this came out, and I ensured that the Draco constellation was included.

Then, I tried my hand at the cover arts. I have plans to make them from Heat Transfer Vinyl (DTV not HTV, for color choice), then slap it to the covers as it'd be the best option I have IMO. I made them also in Procreate, and will send it to some Esty sketchy seller to print and send to me. Plan to use Leather to bind the books, because I'm extra like that.

This one is Vol. I, gold because it'll be on red leather. I initally tried to mimic the ones provided within fic.... but then I got extra. I did keep to the image and stamp of original. Couldn't find OG script type, so something that fit IMO. I am happy with this one. The fligree is a different style per volume.

This one is the first Vol. II, so designed to be black on yellow. I might swap out the cup to something that matches the sketch style of the other images, and would likely print better. IDK. I did add some color to the filigree, as it seemed dull to be 100% black.

Lastly, thus far, is the 2nd Vol. II. I'm acting under the assumption it's supposed to be Vol. III, but we'll see. This is designed to be on top of blue, so tried to use a bronze color. I might make the owl intentionally white internal, with brown on the back, to show it's Hermione's owl. But might just leave it outline.

Each DTV would be cut to apply in the correct area, and applied. So they don't need to be 100% aligned to print. I'm debating waiting to print these until after the books are printed, so I can get an understanding of how thick the books'll be to size appropriately, but eh. I am deep in my ADHD hyperfixation, so I don't know if I can resist buying the shinies.

XXXX

And that's it so far. I'll be test printing the signatures next, then validating the typeset before printing the lot. I'll try to remember to post progress pics as needed.

[dirthbanalras]

an autoimmune diagnosis, going back to physical therapy, the deaths of my grandfather and my dog, adopting a new cat, making the dean's list for the first time, my sister's breakup with her long-term boyfriend, and 800 hours in baldur's gate 3 later,

and i'm finally writing and interacting with fan spaces again.

going back through four's a crowd and editing some things that were bothering me has been really rewarding. i'll even update it, eventually. maybe (we'll learn to heal) might get completely scrapped, but i've a big cullepavellan project planned that i'd love to start on eventually. i'm also planning a bloodweave fic for baldur's gate 3, which will hopefully be on the shorter side.

i might start taking commissions again, too. my illustrative art has improved quite a bit since the last time i did. i'm currently over $2,000 in debt and the extra income would be extremely gratifying -- starting up my freelance graphic design career has been slower than expected, since my illnesses have been kicking me in the ass. (i'm fairly sure i'm struggling from long COVID, too, but there's no point in throwing a fit when it's just another chronic condition to add to my long list.)

anyway. long time no see, everyone.

[clearbun]

look at that, I'm capable of making a half decent pinned post!

artist, writer, and crafter (with too little time in the day for anything)

we absolutely love getting asks and dms, we don't bite! we just have extreme anxiety that makes replying a little harder than it is for most people <3 patience means a lot

main fandoms: Fullmetal Alchemist, Persona 5, Danganronpa (especially SDR2), Ace Attorney, One Piece (still watching pre-timeskip I'll catch up one day 🙏), and lots of other things that I don't want to spam space with, if you've seen us rb stuff related to it we're probably brainrotting over it at some point!

Links:

@and-im-fine writing blog! I post bits of wips here, and eventually links to finished fics too <3

@living-avarice other writing blog specifically for my Greed Lives AU longfic

Greed Character Playlist: YouTube Music / Spotify I add to it every so often and have lots of fun with it so you should go listen <3

we use the tag #dol-talks for most of our general talky posts, "#my art" for our art, and #vent-ish for vents and complaining

system related info under cut:

We're The Aerie, a fictive-heavy DID system! chances are if we've shown that we're into something, we've probably split an alter from it at some point (aka the "I know we joke about having the entire cast of fullmetal alchemist in here, but we really don't need to keep splitting guys from there whenever we're stressed it's ok" system)

some of the alters you might see around:

🪙 Greed (he/him, old because. homunculus. but maturity wise around my 30s probably): the host with the most, that's me! <333 I love talking to people so much and need attention to survive pretty please send me things it makes me so happy <3 I'm the one who runs the writing blogs! I love making content about my source so much <3 oh you can also call me Dol, it's both a "normal" alt name for me and our general name right now (but if you don't specify you're talking to me I'll assume you're talking to us as a whole)

🦾 Ed (he/him, late teens): co-host! bit of a mixed source because I fused with a fragment from the last host at some point (Greed note: he wasn't fronting at all before I started typing his thing, he didn't trust me to do it LMAO)

🤍 Kim (he/she, 34): ex-persecutor, part time gatekeeper, full time diseased

🃏 Ren (he/him, 19): caretaker for our littles and teens, he has a hard time using words and normally talks with emojis and pictures! he absolutely loves people

🖍️ (little): not including her name for now, but we reblog things with #🖍️ when they're meant for her! if you send us things you think she might like you'd win gold stars in so many peoples books

...and more! we'll at least use emoji signoffs if not names too if it's someone specific talking and they want to identify themself <3 feel free to send asks for anyone you see unless they specifically say they don't want it!

[cae-ruleam]

thirty-odd days of chasing an enigma

chapter 1 of a multichap dp x dc fic, ao3 link here

rating: T for swearing and some heavier topics. it’s crack treated seriously, but will have angst

chapter word count: 3011

Danny is sixteen, on the run, injured, and shit outta luck. He does not need the Flying Furry Brigade meddling with his issues, thank you very much. Meanwhile, almost every member of the BatFam has encountered a different teen in need the past month, none of which are willing to accept any form of help. They’re at their wit’s end. Maybe they should start cutting Bruce’s adoption tendencies some slack, too. - Or: Danny and the BatFam play hide and seek and tag, all on Danny’s palm, while he tries to gain some much needed balance after a reveal gone bad.

Alarms blared as Danny dove straight ahead for the imminently closing portal. Salty tears obscured his vision, and just as his right arm started passing through the swirling green of the Infinite Realms’ leak, he heard a deafening blast, and a distant plop. The pain came after the fact.

The last thing he heard from the other side, was a unanimous: “Just you wait, ecto-scum! You can’t hide from the Fentons, we’ll get you and continue ripping you apart molecule by molecule!” that his pa-, no, Jack and Maddie, yelled into the vast nothingness before the portal permanently closed.

Danny flew, he flew and flew and flew and-. He flew until his sights went blurry, and not from dried up tears this time. He didn’t pay any mind to the stinging, yet numbing pain at his shoulder. He ignored his surroundings. Ignored how the green and its purple doors seemed to close in on him, trying to trap him in the Infinite Realms, to keep him safe, most likely.

He couldn’t stay here.

The Ghost Zone and with all its sulfur and ozone smelling glory felt suffocating. Danny wasn’t even sure for how long he could still fly in this cursed dimension before it all got to him and he’d pass out.

But wouldn’t that be nice? To pass out, to finally get a break from the past barely a day that felt like multiple lifetimes.

Danny’s chest throbbed, and it almost felt like his unbeating heart was about to start pumping blood just to keep him going in spite of his injuries and exhaustion. Maybe that was indeed the case – in which case that would be an entire different can of worms. A can of worms Danny would be ignoring for as long as possible, thank you very much.

In his panic, Danny did not know in which directions he’d been flying. After all, what use would that be when he didn’t know where he wanted to go, anyways?

Far away, that’s the only thing he knew.

And certainly, he’d flown far away already, right?

Fat chance.

As long as he emerged in the same dimension and timeline, he was certain the Fentons would find him. How long it’d take would depend on how far away he got, and whether they enlisted the aide of the GIW or not. But they would, that was all that mattered. Yet, he prayed he’d indeed end up on the right side of the veil once left.

After another eternity, or perhaps another few minutes, Danny’s form finally began to stagger.

He reached his right hand forward, a reflex, a habit, seeing as there was nothing for him to grab onto in the swirling masses of ectoplasm around him.

He fell, and fell. He kept falling.

He didn’t land into a laying position, staying afloat in the sea of the Ghost Zone, no.

Danny fell and he felt a cold autumn night breeze encapsulate his skin. The chill of the wind almost masked the one of his transformation back into human.

He fell and fell, until he did not anymore. He came to a halt.

A loud bang sounded in the abandoned alleyway and it took Danny a few moments before he finally managed to take in and establish his surroundings.

Alright, so he landed into a full dumpster. Amazing. Just as his luck would have it.

Then again, the bags of garbage managed to cushion his fall from Ancients knows what height, resulting in a kinder impact to his injuries. So perhaps it was indeed his luck. ‘I should stop looking a gift horse in the mouth,’ he figured.

Danny sat up straighter, still staying in the dumpster, because, why not, at this point.

He propped his right arm onto his right knee, and ‘Huh, she really did blast off my left arm - good to know,’ started to take in his environment.

Aside from his convenient land into a garbage dumpster, thank you very much fate (he wasn’t sure whether that was sarcastic or not anymore), his surroundings were rather sophisticated.

Looking up at the sky, it seemed to be around twilight, however, with the amount of clouds and smog in the air it was a bit tough to tell. It almost seemed as if it was nearing midnight instead.

Turning around, Danny confirmed that he had indeed fallen into a secluded alleyway. Just a bit away, he could see a small path connecting into a larger main street further down, and once again the halfa felt like he should maybe thank Lady Luck indeed. He would’ve been in an even tougher situation had he appeared into a clear area with passerby around.

There were loads of buildings around himself, many several stories tall and a few of shorter construction. Danny found himself in a city then, he figured. The buildings all looked rather old, a few centuries so at the least. There were a few streetlights placed around with similar distances between them, casting every street in an eerie and mysterious yellow glow, adding to the city’s apparent age.

Once more did Danny cast his eyes skyward, but this time he stopped a little bit short of that.

‘Huh, gargoyles. How goth. Sam would love it here.’

And speaking of Sam – he really should check if he was still in the same dimension at least.

He grabbed his phone out of his pant pocket and checked the lock screen – just that.

Provider, check. Connection, check. At least he definitely made it back to the same dimension – and not just that, he supposed. October 23rd – 20xx – 7:28pm, he ended up barely a few days after the last time he was able to check the date. Whether he was knocked out in the lab for days, or if he jumped a few days through time, he wasn’t sure, but that wasn’t that important was it?

Really, luck must’ve taken pity on him or something.

Danny sighed and let his head fall, hanging right above his bended knees and one arm draped over them. He breathed, inhaling the cold, not so fresh, city air. He repeated this numerous times before letting go with one great exhale, louder and heavier than any of the previous ones he let out the past few minutes in this alley.

He looked at his phone again, this time with its screen off, and decided, fuck it.

He bit into it.

He heard the screen and some of its metals crack under his canines, fangs, and took it out. There was a metal, tingly and limey aftertaste.

He spit the shards of glass out and held the now deformed and destroyed phone in his hand once more. Then he promptly crushed it with said hand. Thoroughly destroying and bricking it. And to finish it off, he lit the faintest of ecto-flames to melt the device down to its core.

Could he have skipped biting into the phone entirely? Of course. But Danny was quite delirious and couldn’t care less. The slight shock kickstarted his system a bit again, even. He’d call that a win.

He quickly reached inside his right leg to get out a burner phone, grateful and delighted that it turned on immediately once he pressed the “on” button.

It was an old prepaid Nokia phone, a hand-me-down one of Jazz’s friends received from their brother in their childhood. Somehow Jazz had pried it from their hands and made Danny carry it with him just in case.

After the first few... dozen times he forgot to do so, he decided to just stuff it inside of him. Then he’d always be carrying it anyways.

Danny quickly typed in three phone numbers that he’d memorized like the constellations in late autumn, and sent them all the same message: code omega. After which he put the phone back into his leg.

Now, it was time to get out of this container, probably.

Danny was injured and just tired to the bone. He needed to rest somewhere. Where? He had no clue – he’ll figure something out. If anything, he could probably sneak into some place or another intangibly and invisibly.

“Huhp,” he huffed as he pushed himself upright with his one arm.

Once he wobbly stood at the edge of the dumpster, he carefully jumped down, not used to this new balance with the lack of an entire arm just yet.

And if this wasn’t a new balance to get used to.

Sure, he’d lost a hand, half an arm, before, a leg, too. But in the cases of a hand or his lower arm, the balance wasn’t this different. And when he lost his leg, he just chilled out with a ghost tail until it fully reformed. Yeah, that was not really an option at the moment.

He tried his footing by hopping a little left then right before standing still again, once he was satisfied with the feeling.

When he did so, he felt a more peculiar breeze pass him than the natural ones that had been blowing the past however long he’d been chilling out in the dumpster for. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up straight. And if Danny had been a bit more awake, a little less tired, he probably would’ve noticed how the wind embraced him, and how it carried a whisper.

Before stepping out of the alley, he made himself intangible once, shedding any garbage he might’ve gotten onto him, and with it some of the stank.

He also made sure to tone down his aura, as any attention was surely unneeded at the moment. He also thoroughly covered his torso and arm with his jacket, while he put his left jacket sleeve into corresponding pocket, before mimicking the same look with his actually currently existing arm, to create the illusion that he didn’t lack any.

Yeah it wouldn’t fool anyone as soon as they’d look at him for longer, but he’d make sure that wouldn’t happen. Danny Fenton had no reason to attract any attention.

Though, once he stepped out onto the main street, he did have to marvel at his surroundings once more.

The architecture was much more grand and intimidating once you viewed them from their actual fronts, with their gargoyles seemingly protecting their vicinity from evil or even unintended eyes and hands.

There were still quite a few people on the streets, which wasn’t very surprising considering it was barely 8 in the evening still. The buzz of the nightlife had been registered in the back of Danny’s mind since a while ago, but he was now fully met with it.

Several cars were on the road in front of him, not nearly enough that it an be jammed, but enough that the many pedestrians Danny was amongst would definitely need to exert caution.

Danny started walking and he came across several houses, apartment complexes and shops. Some shops had already closed for the day, others seemed like they’d run business far into the night, while a select few were just starting to prepare to close up shop for the day. He might have to check around them in more detail one of these days, if he was going to be staying here for at least a little while.

Speaking of which, where is here?

Maybe he should’ve tried to figure out where the Infinite Realms spit him out earlier, but he was quite literally fucked up and out of it, still is – sue him.

But, once he started paying attention, it was easy enough to see where here was.

AURELIA – Gotham based family boutique since 1886

GOTHAM GAZETTE Headlines of October 21st

The Gotham Special of the day, a full fledged meal

Riddler running free

And in the distance he could hear a radio going through the happenings of prior in the city today.

Gotham, that’s it.

And now the entire ambience also made much more sense – he probably should’ve been able to figure it out sooner if he’d just mulled it over, huh?

Well, this might complicate his situation just a teensy bit.

While Danny bet both Sam and Tuck would know much more of this Gothic Victorian city, what with Sam’s interest in anything goth and Tucker’s obsession with tech, he was familiar enough to know that the Batman was not all that fond of metas on his turf.

Now, Danny wasn’t a meta, not in the slightest definition of that word. After all, being dead is a medical condition, not some sort of enhanced state, are you kidding?

But the Bat wouldn’t know that. And people aren’t very easily convinced that ghosts exist, and others aren’t prepared to accept that some people, in a sense, live, to remember their gruesome, violent and traumatic deaths.

This was a pickle indeed. But it was a pickle for the Danny of tomorrow, or maybe even later than that. Right now, Danny really needed to just knock the fuck out somewhere. Please.

Danny turned on his heels and continued to walk wherever his feet carried him. A few times he’d found an empty and abandoned building already. A few were vacant homes, one was an old closed off restaurant. None of them felt quite right to occupy right now, however. They were a little too out in the open still. The halfa needed to be able to hide.

He wandered around a little longer before he felt a slight pull to the right, and perhaps against his better judgment, decided to follow it.

Danny followed the pull into a part of the city that was older yet, made up of many historic buildings, including ones that were starting to decay from the lack of care for them. It was a little upsetting to see, for the history would vanish with them, if they were to be destroyed.

But, wouldn’t you look at that, there was an entire abandoned warehouse at this side of the city. It was definitely a much quieter part.

Looking around, Danny had a hunch why he’d been pulled here. Faintly, he could see multiple small wisps floating up and around, many starting to approach him specifically, alarmed but excited by his entrance.

It seemed that quite some beings had suffered at this location... and what kind of King would Danny be if he couldn’t help his subjects get some closure, closure that he can offer just by being near them for long enough?

Danny sighed, and this time a faint smile managed to paint his lips.

He stepped forward and tried the doorhandle. It gave easy enough and he entered the building silent as a ghost, with the dead following him. Closing the door, he coated the handle with a thin but sturdy layer of his ghost ice. It would suffice as a lock for now.

Once inside, Danny conjured a little bit of ecto-energy in his right palm. It lit up the warehouse in an eerie neon green glow, and several of the wisps started to huddle together around it as well, providing an even brighter light all around once they were able to tap into some of Danny’s energy.

All in all, the warehouse was quite sad. In other words, it was exactly what Danny expected from an abandoned warehouse, no more, no less.

There were a few boxes scattered all around, some of them empty, others filled with whatever they may hold.

There were two stories to this building, and seeing as the lower half was still filled up with some wares, Danny could only assume more was upstairs, but that the administrative offices were also located there. Which is why he spared no time before floating upward, to check his suspicions.

And indeed, there they were. The offices with some desks and chairs, cupboards with expired, boxed and canned foods. While he wasn’t coming to the desperation for their necessity just yet, it was good to know they were there.

He sat down on one of the many shitty chairs and pulled something out from his abdomen area – a first aid kit. Another thing his friends and sister insisted he keep on him at all times, and was he glad that he listened indeed.

Covering up his injuries with just one arm on his own might end up being a nigh impossible task, but he could at least try.

He took off his jacket and opened up the kit. First, he grabbed the gauze, some cotton wipes and disinfectant.

He checked the wound at his shoulder – it wasn’t pretty. But thankfully it was already healing, well, reforming.

He sighed and put some disinfectant on the wipes before lightly dabbing them on his skin, holding back hisses but still having a few managing to escape.

Afterwards he unrolled the gauze and started to wrap the stump at his shoulder with it, tearing off the cloth from the roll with his teeth once he had enough.

The wrapping job wasn’t very clean at all, bits and pieces of the gauze was sticking out at the edges and if he moved too much, it’d probably loosen. But it was good enough, good enough for now.

Well, that was the easy part – now for the hard part.

He pulled up his shirt, which had gotten stained slightly red, brown and green through the hour or two that he’s been de-transformed. With a vacant look, he stared at the mark on his chest.

It was a clean Y-incision. Danny doesn’t think that Jack or Maddie had ever handled him with as much care as they did when vivisecting “Phantom”. The skin had already mostly stitched itself back together, leaving Danny with little that he technically still had to do to patch it up.

It was red and large and ugly. He had no doubt that it would scar.

He sighed and pulled down his shirt before putting his arm over his eyes, hard enough for stars to form, and sighing.

That was the position he fell asleep in that night.