#but I definitely have some brain weirdness (i can be 'seen thinking' apparently)

[bigthingsforeverintheworks]

I really need to stop going to the explore page (or me_irl)

This isn't really directed at the meme it's more of just a rant/vent

Despite going to a gifted school for like 5 years, I learned that being gifted was a neurodivergency... on tumblr looking at the nd-culture-is blog (love you). As for what it does... no clue? It makes you smarter but that's all I know, something something you make different connectons.

I've thankfully never experienced gifted kid burnout because 1) gifted school 2) anxiety trainwreck but this really does kind of apply. I'm a lot better at violin than i should be for the amount of work i'm putting in and it scares me, but at the same time I yearn to be able to draw better than a stick figure (just saying it's all shapes doesn't help) and it's that sort of admiration/jealousy of the craft that inspires me, and it might be so for other people.

If not... I'm sorry :(

However I do think work ethic is somewhat learn-able at least in theory. I know brains are wacky but like get a friend (who's either learning with you or already knows) and just like tell them 'hey i want to learn this' and then they hold you accountable, but at the same time you develop the intrinsic reward of having worked hard as well as the extrinsic motivation you set yourself up for.

Regardless, this sort of giving up is just bad (shocking!), don't be so pessimistic (I mean this could be misssing the context of "me having acknowledged by weakness and working to overcome it" sequel meme but this feels a lot more like a doomer 'idk guys' meme

[genericpuff]

You should watch Jack vs. Webtoons video on Lore Olympus before it gets wrongfully taken down.

His video pointed out something I wasn’t able to put into words until now. Lore Olympus has a real bad dialect problem. One second the characters are talking like they’re in a Shakespeare play which makes sense, sense they’re gods or what not. The next second you’ll have characters saying shit like “blue balls” “clout chaser” and “you’ve got a young wife with a fat ass”. It probably wouldn’t bother me if certain people talked a certain way like how Hera doesn’t use any slang and how Hermes uses some but all the characters vocabulary are the exact same.

Honestly I can look past the art and it’s inconsistencies but having dialect jump from regal to tiktok facebook slang makes my brain hurt more than glossy lipped Hades and bug eyed Persephone.

I checked it out, it's pretty great haha and yesss this is something that's been discussed before but I haven't really ever made a post about, the dialogue is CONSTANTLY flip-flopping between royal talk and "hello fellow teens" quipping. Sometimes it feels like it's trying to be like Marvel and then other times it feels like it's trying to be Bridgerton. I can think of no better example than all of the "pedigree" talk, it makes me squirm every time I read it because in the modern context of LO, it SCREAMS eugenics. The whole B-grade goddess thing made sense, until they started talking about Persephone like a poodle:

But then you ALSO get INCREDIBLY stiff dialogue that makes it seem like the comic is either being written by AI or Rachel is actually a real life version of Michael Afton post-scoop:

And yes, there is a tinfoil hat theory that LO is being written by bots at this point because I don't know how a single person could write something so tonally confused. That said, I do think the more reasonable explanation is that Rachel is likely copying dialogue from shows and movies she's watching and just tweaking it slightly before slapping it into LO. She's not observing why the dialogue works in the media she likes, she just knows she likes it and slaps it in there without any regard for context, tone of voice, or personality.

And that leads to, as you said, all the characters sounding the exact same, and that metric by which they all sound the same changes all the time. I think at this point the only reason we haven't seen Hera dropping TikTok language is because she hasn't been onscreen long enough for her to get the chance LMAO That said, we've definitely gotten some weird inconsistent dialogue with Hera as well:

(like she's essentially saying the exact same thing across both of these panels but one is being said by an adult and the other is being said by a teenager lmao)

I think the dialogue is definitely one of the most glaring issues with LO, among all of its other problems. It just never feels like it's being written by a human, there are problems with this even as far back as S1 but it's become especially apparent in S2 onwards.

To finish off this ask, here's one of my favorite dialogue mishaps in the entire series, from S1, in which Apollo literally adopts an askew English accent:

[glitteringcrab]

I've seen this technology before (part 2)

think of the implications think of the implications THINK OF THE FREAKING IMPLICATIONS (trigger warning for sexual abuse)

Sigh... Here we go.

First of all, let's get the easy parts out of the way.

Despite people who are being puppeteered sometimes appear to be in a fugue state (that thousand yard stare lol)--

--or, you know, puppeteered. VIOLENTLY sometimes--

--it's clear that they are also both alive and aware:

Would you say this is pretty much the definition of a mind rape?

I mean, we've seen Unity do pretty much the same thing, but the subjects never seem to be aware that they got possessed, are not traumatized nor upset (and hilariously the quality of their lives was greatly improved when Unity had taken over). I don't know if they forget because Unity is actually kind of nice and makes them forget on purpose to avoid trauma, or if it's just how assimilation by hiveminds works. In any case, it is apparent that this is simply how hiveminds live. Ugly, of course, but in the sense of "a predator has to eat" fashion. Not exactly a choice on the hivemind's part. So... technically also a mind rape, but... also not as evil as what Evil Morty has been doing.

Secondly.

Do we all agree that it seems that the receiver is above Evil Rick's eye? We can see its light going on and off, which would likely not be visible if the receiver was at the height of the bottom eyelid (I'm referring to where Evil Morty's cables are sticking out).

Indeed, the Citadel Rick does not have to stick his whole hand inside Evil Rick's face, just the fingers.

In fact, would you say the receiver is... right... about... here:

(and yes, I combined the two frames to achieve the ultimate creepy frame)

So... in the hypothetical scenario that "the reason Evil Morty has cables sticking out of his eye is that he was once puppeteered himself and some remains of the implant are still in his head"...

...would you say that the place where his own receiver must have been would be... somewhere around here:

Which, accounting for the curvature of the giant cartoon eyes (lol) might be the correct distance from the bottom eyelid if one combines the length of the cables Evil Morty already has sticking out of his eyes and the the length of the cables in the eyepatch.

At the same time, it'd be kinda weird for someone to remove the receiver but not the rest of the implant cables and stuff. I mean, if Rick C-137 was trying to remove such an implant from Morty Prime, wouldn't he be thorough about it? Wouldn't he make sure Morty Prime was completely clean?

Unless, of course, you're hastily trying to gouge your own eye out in desperation:

Oops. You too, eh?

Also, it is interesting to note that it appears Evil Rick was trying to stick the shard in his eye (the left eye, btw, where his receiver was) which is... not how one would typically try to commit suicide when you also have a throat available.

So either the mind control kept Evil Rick's hand far away from his throat on purpose, or there are built-in contingencies that ensure unauthorized removal of the receiver is akin to a death sentence...

...which (in the hypothetical case that Evil Morty was at some point in the past also frantically gouging his own eye out) may be negated if you somehow also managed to gain access to some kind of healing equipment (of which we know Ricks have plenty) and set it to turn on automatically (because you're a very smart, careful boy). I'm not gonna add the screenshots because they're too many, but I'm going to list a few:

the one Rick used to jumpstart Pissmaster's brain

the thing Rick injected Morty with after Morty bully-gunned himself

the one Rick used to restore Morty's arm

Rick's freaking garage

(It's possible by the way that the original receiver Evil Morty had did not have a "contain suicide attempt" function. It's possible that the threat of death was deterrent enough that Evil Morty wouldn't try to remove the receiver on his own. It's possible Evil Morty added the "contain suicide attempt" function to Evil Rick's receiver because he knew from experience that this is a price he might be willing to pay. Which would, you know... also explain why he didn't bother downloading the schematics of Rick Prime's auto-healing ability for himself)

IN ANY CASE, you mutilated yourself successfully, pulled the receiver out of your eye's remains, died, your brain healed (physically), the eye reformed, but happened to reform while the cables were sticking out from when you were pulling the receiver. Uh-oh. It's okay, tuck them back in, no one has to know. Better not inform the Citadel nor update your Morty Agency record on your newest implant, either. You wouldn't want other Ricks to know they only need to attach a receiver in your head to exert complete control over you, huh? (like grabbing a... joystick?) Maybe kill your Rick, if you haven't done it already. Run away.

Sigh. Let's go to the hard parts now.

Fans smarter than me have already pointed out that the Rick-Morty dynamic is deliberately built around the idea of grooming, predation of minors and sexual abuse. A lot of the things in the show are either outright instances of grooming, are meant to refer to sexual abuse or are meant to be allegories to sexual abuse, even though canonically Rick is not grooming Morty for sexual reasons. (I strongly suggest you check out all the above links, by the way. I was disturbed.)

Take also into account that Citadel with its Morty Market also has disturbing similarities to a messed up, horrible foster care system, as well as child trafficking.

Although I can't find all the links (message me if you have them), I had also found posts from fans comparing Evil Morty's actions to sexual abuse, against Ricks and Mortys this time.

The "literal" mind rape he has committed is the most blatant example, in my opinion, but far from the only one. The violence of Evil Rick's puppeteering when he was forced to kill Guard Rick was disturbing. Another fan alluded that Evil Morty making Evil Rick drunk before assaulting him was akin to drugging someone before taking sexual advantage of them. Extra disturbing by Evil Rick's exclamation "Get off me!"

Personally, Evil Morty closing the garage door before attacking reminded me of... other scenes in movies etc, where the assaulter turns up the volume on the radio before commencing his attack. I mean... we've seen all sorts of insane stuff happening in that garage (people exploding, redheads flying in, a flying saucer parking) and none of the neighbors even care. Gene actually had the courage to STEAL a rake from this house of madness. It is all treated as comically absurd. Only when Evil Morty attacks are the happenings treated as an actual violent crime that the perpetrator would want to stay hidden.

And sure, Evil Morty needed a large crowd of alive Mortys to hide amongst, and he needed an excuse to keep them alive so he strapped them on the Morty Dome and tortured them, but did they really have to be naked?

Now, I'm in no way an expert of any sort in any of the above, but I've read that when children (and Morty is 14) do physically violent or sexually aggressive acts against others, it's typically because they've been assaulted themselves in a similar fashion. I guess they're either trying to process what happened, are mimicking it, are venting their frustration on someone weaker, or are simply desensitized to it. SOMEONE PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I'M HORRIBLY WRONG.

I'm sure that canonically, no actual rape has taken place, but given the show's general... vibe... I doubt the above mentioned similarities are a coincidence. I'd say that a 14-year-old boy literally losing all body autonomy by becoming an old man's literal puppet for an unspecified amount of time is as close to the concept as possible without actually being the concept. (Edit: sadly, I no longer think this was only metaphorical. There's no way to explain his utter indifference at torturing Mortys, in the particular fashion that he did, unless he concluded that they'd be having a MUCH EASIER time than HE had.)

Of course, this is just a theory. We don't know if anything like this has happened. However, the truth is that while we've seen plenty of miserable Mortys in the Citadel, none of them seem to be as angry, traumatized, nor desperate as Evil Morty. They all managed to smile, or find companionship among each other, or even among Ricks (Cop Rick, I'm looking at you). Evil Morty is the only one who did completely messed up things to an extreme scale without batting an eyelid, just so he could get as far away as possible. He didn't exactly seem to enjoy his journey to freedom, either.

His face here as he finishes the transmitter reads to me as a particularly sad and defeated "...I'm really doing this, then" thought.

And (like actual sexual abuse victims) it's not likely he could have safely unburdened himself by sharing the secret of what happened to him with someone in the Citadel. Another Rick might have taken advantage of him in the same way, once he realized the opportunity was available.

Not to mention that by telling someone he would risk hearing some variation of "you asked for it by being cocky and not doing what you were told" or "being completely controlled by a Rick was the best thing that ever happened to you, you finally stopped doing dumb mistakes". The Rick who puppeteered him could have also framed it as "I'm doing this for your sake, because you keep getting yourself injured in adventures".

And he mustn't let himself react overly emotionally or go into hysterics about it, because then he'll get mind-blown and forget everything that happened (roofied, much?) and be vulnerable to it again. Or, even worse, he may be discarded as "defective" and end up in that Morty slaughterhouse... So he must really tone down his emoting.

He could have theoretically confessed to another Morty, but we've already seen Mortys throwing each other under the bus in their bid to survive. I wouldn't like my chances, personally.

So it seems to me that he be stuck in the Citadel, simming in his own fear, grief and anger with no one to confide to (although gaining a level-up in confidence (cockyness, if you want) given that he successfully orchestrated his own escape attempt). Either living in the lousy conditions of Morty Town, surrounded by clueless Mortys who, if ever discovered that he could get mind-controlled might tip off a Rick in exchange of a better quality of life. Or partnering with a Rick, living every day in fear that his secret might get revealed accidentally and that he'd end up dissected and studied, or simply controlled once again. (It would be even more dangerous if his Rick was wanted by the Citadel, and Evil Morty was in danger of getting executed for assisting him.) And, of course, we know that Citadel Ricks do not form lasting bonds with their Mortys. Even if his secret was never discovered, Evil Morty would find neither peace, nor family in the company of the Rick of the Day who adopted him.

I also think there is a lot of internalized victim blaming among the Mortys in the citadel. At some point he might have been convinced that he really did ask for it by not behaving. And this puts the eyepatch in a... different perspective. It made sense that he used the eyepatch initially, that's pretty much the only place where he could put his transmitter. But after he gained access to aaaaall the Citadel's tech as president, he built a lot of cool things. Couldn't he have built a better interface, one that doesn't require an eyepatch?

I mean... he definitely improved the eyepatch itself. In the beginning he had to connect it with his implanted cables manually:

But after he became president, it appears that it connects automatically. No longer necessary to stick your fingers in your own eye socket (yayyy).

It's unclear if the cables themselves are still there (they might be!) but some part of the original implant definitely remains. However, why still use an eyepatch at all? However he may have started off originally, we can't really say that he incapable of performing surgery to himself by the time season 7 rolls in because we saw him have a plethora of body augmentations, and yet he still wears an eyepatch. Couldn't he have also altered the implant in his brain so that he keeps any potential perks but no longer needs an external eyepatch?

Sure, maybe he enjoys triggering Rick's fear of pirates (even though he wears it when he is alone outside the CFC). Or maybe he thinks he looks cool wearing it. Or maybe he's just an angsty teenager.

Or... Well... if the whole experience is a source of shame and self-blame for him, he may be metaphorically hiding the place of intrusion... or, conversely, a physical reminder that he managed to literally cut himself free might make him feel better. I tend to think it's the latter.

This is all just a theory. Maybe he simply is evil.

Or maybe he's heartbroken by being constantly discarded in the "adoption" program of the Morty Market to the point where he felt he would explode. Ricks scouring the universe for Mortys meant that blowing the CFC was the only way he could be left alone in peace.

...But I'm leaning towards him having one more reason to run away as far as he can without looking back.

(and as of now, I get the feeling that he hasn't run away far enough)

[bowl-of-ramen-and-mushrooms]

Here's my cat being difficult,

And here she is posing,

ANYWAYS- I don't have ideas, pls give me some,

Here's an idea I had for the ai's escape with them but don'thave suitable bodies,

She could see the stars, glittering and bright above them. When had she ever taken the time to really look up at them, see their beauty without smog or lights.

Is that what those are?

What the fuck, oh shit she could swear again, shit, fuck bitch. What was she freaking out about again? Oh yeah, the mysterious voice in her head, that's what she's freaking out about.

I'm, what? In your head? You're in my head.

Was that Gummigoo? Why was he in her head? She brought her hand up to her head, trying to stave off the oncoming headache.

Oh, that's weird, I didn't move that arm.

Yeah, no, this is my body. You can't move it.

Someone touched her arm and she jumped, looking behind her to see. She didn't actually know yet, the person behind her vibed like Ragatha, but she couldn't be too sure.

"Are you okay? I think you're Pomni," the curly red haired woman asked, tilting her head. Definitely Ragatha.

"Fine, just fine. I'm either going insane or something fucked up," she grinned as the swear escaped her, which caused someone in the background to start muttering several curse words in very quick succession.

"Why would you think that?" She ignored Ragatha for the moment as a lanky purple haired man started cursing an invisible someone out. Okay, not just her and Gummigoo then, she does not envy Jax.

Aw, thanks mate.

She pointed at who she heavily assumed to be Jax, "I think I got a similar problem to him,"

Ragatha looked over her shoulder to the grumbling Jax, who was cursing and gesturing at nothing.

Okay, maybe she was a lot better off, or he was actually insane.

Is, is he just an animated talker? Or is, Caine, just able to be seen. Can I be seen?

She shrugged instead of an actual answer, getting a weird look from Ragatha.

"Why'd I have to be coupled up with you huh? It's bullshit- no I'm not going to censor myself!" Jax loudly complained, ruining the silent atmosphere of the still night.

She sent a glare his way, trying to deal with a headache herself and his yelling was not helping.

Oh, sorry Poms, should I be quiet?

No, no, I think it's the whole, here's another consciousness that's going to be shoved into my brain suddenly, she sat down, dangling her legs over the roof edge as she tried to organize her thoughts into what were actually hers, because she knew for a fact that some of these memories weren't hers.

Gummigoo seemed to be having a similar problem to her, and she could feel his presence in certain memories. Rummaging through them with care.

Sorry for the trouble Poms, I know this can't be the most pleasant to deal with.

She looked at Jax, who was still spitting curses and comebacks to a figure none of them could see or hear. It could be a lot worse, she could have Caine in her head, and he would surely give her a bigger headache than she had right now.

Glad to know I'm not the worst case, but I'm still sorry for snooping around in here, even if it's not purposeful.

It could be so much worse, she repeated the thought, looking out over the far away cityscape in front of them, have you ever seen a city like this? Your adventure was more wild west than anything.

A city huh, certainly much bigger than I thought they'd be.

It's so much bigger than it looks right now, she sighed, staring at it wistfully. I had an apartment, friends, family, I wonder how much time has pass-

There was a loud clang and a shout behind her, and she turned around to find that Jax had face planted in the dirt.

"WHAT THE FUCK! How did you even do that!" He yelled, getting up only for his arm to do a weird motion, "STOP IT-"

She laughed softly to herself, and Gummigoo too, apparently, eyeing the commotion with a gleam of humour in her eyes.

Something that was really only diminished slightly by her own fingers twitching against her will.

[hel-phoenyx]

Oli belongs to @thal-ent, Domhildr to @soupedepates, Meili to @azeler, and Kaizarz, Skuld and Valentina to @corneille-but-not-the-author

Some harmless drug shenanigans after the end of the first arc of Kaizarz's campaign

Next time a stranger tries to make me drink something unidentified, remind me to not accept it.

Mom always told me, tho. Never accept drinks from strangers. I guess I let go of that teaching after she died, like many of her lessons. I haven't started drinking heavily for nothing after all, with no mother supervision.

See ? See what I mean ? The simple fact I can think about it without stopping to smile, or even to sing proves I should really have listened to my mother, this time. I'm humming a sea shanty since fifteen fucking minutes, and it's THAT sea shanty. And I'm still. Fucking. Happy.

We sailed from Estnoth yesterday. coincidentialy, yesterday was also the day I shared a last drink with my adversary at the centauric games, Polyphemus the One-Eyed. The drink was ambrosia. And since then I'm litteraly fifty feet high.

At least that's the impression I'm having, since I'm not used to just exist without the intrusive thoughts.

And he told me it was going to last three days. I'm so doomed. Meili is already wondering what the fuck is going through my head. I kinda did went from looking at him weird to saying good morning with a smile.

Worse is that the sea reacts to my mood. So we got the biggest sunlight I have ever seen around the coasts. It's at least twenty degrees outside, and Domhildr dropped some layers. And that apparently had an influence on my mood because the wind stopped the moment I saw her. What the fuck, happy brain.

So since we have little to no wind for a while, we're just taking a break right now. Valentina is still at the helm, trying to catch a wind current or two : Pretty sure Meili is trying to recover his magic to help her, but he's still pretty weak. Fairy alcohol does wonders on people not used to it.

So on the deck there's only me, Oli, Domi and Kaizarz. Skuld is once again in her garden. That's too bad, but I can't exactly barge in and throw her outside, as much as I want to see her. I'll go get her at night.

Right now I have to deal with Oli looking at me weird.

"Someone is unusually smiling today."

The ambrosia can't stop me from sighing.

"Yeah, that's Polyphemus's special. Well. Peleus'. The infamous alcohol that makes you happy for a while. Not taking any drugs from him ever again..."

Domhildr laughs, and her fist come right to my thigh.

"Should have figured, that kind of happy-go-lucky attitude is definitely artificial in you, Tyr."

"Are you insinuating I am never happy ?"

It's true, yes, but still, kinda hurtful right now.

Sadly the answer does not come from Domhildr. Or even Oli. Because the one that decides to deal me the fatal blow is none other than Kaizarz, that dropped the piece of armor he was cleaning with a huge smile on his face.

"No offense, Tyr, but you really kinda are our eternal brooding friend."

Oh, that motherfucker is so gonna regret this.

I snap my fingers. And a fraction of second later all of Kaizarz's hard work on his armor is ruined by a water jet that just hit him right in the face, while I'm throwing at him my best challenging smile.

"You wanna say that to my face again, your Majesty, or one seawater bath is enough for you ?"

"Try me, bro."

Oh I'm not gonna abandon the challenge. Also, I did owe him a bath from our last playfighting.

He lifts his fists, ready to parry the next blast, but he was not ready for the wave, coming right from the ocean to cover him entirely. Oli and Domhildr, the collateral damages, start screeching and running away from me, but they're not my current targets.

It would be stupid, tho, to think Kaizarz the Liberator would be stopped by a simple wave. He jumps outside the water stream with the speed of a rukkorn, and if I avoid his first attempt to catch me, he apparently learned since the last time, because his trick move caught me right off guard. And one second later I'm blocked on the ground with my king, my best friend, on top of me.

Shit, the ambrosia is apparently having another kind of secondary effect.

Please do not notice. Please do not notice.

Luckily for me he does not. And smiles at me again with all teeth out. The cleft lip is making it even bigger. And in my lovestruck mind I find it beautiful.

Damn ambrosia.

I roll my eyes.

"Again, I will fucking bite you if you don't let go."

"I'd rather have you use your teeth to smile, that's better than biting me."

This is making me laugh. Or something assimilated.

"Dude, the girl you promised to marry is a vampire."

"Still don't want to get bitten, thanks !"

Fair enough. Also I'm pretty sure he's the only person I know that won't get damage from me biting them, but it still gotta hurt.

At least that gets him off me. He stands up, then helps me regain a position more flattering than lying on the ground under a wet dumbass. Affectionately. But I'm still a bit... Shaken up let's say by that victory in particular.

Gods that feeling is unusual.

"Hey, where are Oli and Dom ?"

Was I invoking the gods ? Anyway I thank them for that impromptu distraction.

"Probably inside to avoid, I don't know, a big wave that shouldn't have been here ? Smarter than some people, must I say."

"You're really asking for a second defeat, Tyr ?"

I lift my only hand in the air.

"Nope ! I'm beaten."

And certainly do not want the ambrosia secondary effects again, if I do say so myself.

Lucky for me Kaizarz takes me seriously, and instead of attacking me again drops the rest of his armor. Seawater must have gone deep in the chains, he's good to redo all his cleaning work again ; strangely he does not hold any resentment I can see against me.

He just smiles again.

"Feels good to have you in a good mood, you know."

"Sorry to disappoint you, but that's just the ambrosia. Apparently I can't communicate properly with you without alcohol involved. In a few days i'll get back to my, well, brooding self."

A laugh escapes his mouth.

"Guess I'll just have to replace the ambrosia, then."

"Are you saying you want to be the reason I smile every day ?"

He blinks. Then laughs again.

"You know you're saying really weird things sometimes, Tyr."

[sparkymalone]

the sdr2 class pretty much has a game where they try to catch fuyuhiko in casual clothing. hajime and peko were disqualified long ago. peko for obvious reasons and hajime because he claimed that seeing him naked counted as casual clothing. this was in fact, how the class found out they were dating. hajime’s over-competitiveness can outweigh his brain at times.

so far kazuichi is in the lead for the time he barged into the other boys cottage at some ungodly hour, and the door was answered by a very angry fuyuhiko wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants (both of which were hajime’s bc you know that man is a THEIF)

anyway, my brain is always filled with fuyuhiko headcannons ngl

-LB

Hey guys, I have a bunch of asks from February that I'm just now getting to~

I'm so timely~

Anyway, a drabble for LB!

Rating: Not smutty

Word Count: 1884

Class 77-B had been stuck on this deserted island for entirely too long. They had come here for a supposed “school trip,” but they had been here for weeks at this point. No one was sure why, and whenever they tried to question Usami, she always ran away.

Regardless of why they were still here, they were still here. It was frustrating and a bit disheartening, but it presented an interesting opportunity. The students had plenty of time to get to know each other, and to get to know all of the odd little quirks each of them had.

They learned little things about their classmates, like how Sonia collected horror memorabilia, or the very particular way Mahiru sorted clothes. They learned not to use the restroom right after Nekomaru, and not to mention fast food around Teruteru. They learned not to let Chiaki fall asleep in weird places or let Nagito get too deep into his “hope” spiels.

The students quickly realized that there were things they didn't know, also. No one had any idea what Hajime's talent was, or if Akane knew what a bra was, and there was definitely something a little off about Byakuya.

They also realized that no one had seen Fuyuhiko out of formal wear. They all had their regular outfits, of course, provided several times over in their cottages. Over the weeks, though, most of them changed up their look at least once. Even Byakuya had been talked into a swimsuit at one point, and Hiyoko, once Mahiru had agreed to help her get back into her kimono. Everyone got a bit more casual… except Fuyuhiko.

It got to the point that some of the students decided to devise a game.

“Guys!” Ibuki cheered loudly, practically diving into the restaurant. “Ibuki thought of something funny!”

Everyone was assembled except for Fuyuhiko, who had apparently retreated to his cottage to shower. They all turned to Ibuki expectantly. Her ideas weren't always very good, but they certainly were a break in the monotony.

“Sooo, Fuyuhiko never stops wearing suits, right?” the musician prompted, waiting for a response before she continued. “Has anyone actually seen him without one?”

There was a brief pause. Peko hesitantly raised her hand. She and Fuyuhiko had eventually confessed their preexisting relationship, so everyone knew that the two of them grew up together.

Ibuki pointed at the swordswoman. “Besides Peko-Peko! Obviously!”

Peko lowered her hand.

There was another pause, and Ibuki excitedly moved on. “Okay! So, what if we play a little game?”

A murmur ran through the crowd. Mahiru put her hands on her hips. “Just get to the point, Ibuki,” she huffed.

Unbothered, Ibuki continued. “Okay, well, Ibuki thinks we should see who can catch Fuyuhiko in regular clothes first! It would be really funny.” She grinned, proud of her idea.

The others mulled the idea over for a moment before most of them agreed to play. Byakuya wasn't interested, and Peko was obviously disqualified. But pretty much everyone else seemed up for the game.

The group quickly began laying down rules, such as not telling Fuyuhiko about the game, and no one forcing him into different clothes. They also needed to establish what counted as “casual clothes.”

“Does being naked count?” Teruteru asked with a sly look. “It doesn't get more casual than that, right?”

Hajime put a hand to his chin in thought. “Well, if that's the case, I think I already won.” Everyone looked at him in surprise and he blushed, realizing what he had just admitted. “Oh, uh… Fuyuhiko and I are… d-dating…”

“Hajime is disqualified!” Ibuki proclaimed, and everyone agreed.

“What?!” the brunette protested. He had been pretty excited to win, so he was rather disappointed to suddenly find himself disqualified. Still, he supposed that was fair, since Peko was also not allowed to play. Hajime moved to sit next to the swordswoman, sulking, trying not to think about how his boyfriend was going to kill him for telling everyone they were dating.

The class finished laying out the rules and agreed on a prize for the winner: three days off from collecting resources. Hajime was even more upset that he wasn't able to play, but said nothing. He briefly considered telling Fuyuhiko about the game, but decided not to be a spoilsport.

“Game on!” Ibuki cheered. The others agreed, all desperately in need of some fun.

“What game?”

Everyone turned to see Fuyuhiko walking into the restaurant, dressed in his usual pinstripe suit. The yakuza heir looked apprehensive about suddenly having so much attention on him, but he continued moving forward.

“Uh…” Ibuki floundered, caught off-guard.

Luckily, Chiaki cut in. “Seeing how many breadsticks Akane can fit in her mouth.”

Akane perked up immediately. “Hell yeah! I'm ready!”

As the others scrambled to accommodate the lie, Fuyuhiko raised an eyebrow. He clearly didn't buy into the act, and his eyes flicked over to where Peko and Hajime were sitting. Both of them gave him a subtle nod. Fuyuhiko frowned, still suspicious, but he sat down without asking any further questions.

The others breathed an internal sigh of relief. The real game was afoot.

***

Over the following days, the class started trying to catch Fuyuhiko in casual clothes whenever they could. The blonde certainly wasn't making it easy, though.

He refused to go to the beach, like he always did, so catching him in a swimsuit was out.

He generally refused to answer his door at night, so catching him in pajamas was out.

Teruteru fielded the idea of trying to spy on him in the shower, thinking that would count, but everyone else shut that idea down. Hajime had a personal word with the chef about staying away from his boyfriend.

As it was, the class was already running out of ideas. Nagito suggested that Mahiru “lose” Fuyuhiko's laundry, but she argued that that would be wrong. Nagito backed down with his usual self-deprecating talk. “Of course, I should leave the ideas to the Ultimates. Anything I suggest would probably just fail.”

About a week into the competition, Kazuichi had had enough. He decided to just ask Hajime for help, since he probably had a better idea of when Fuyuhiko might let his guard down.

Kazuichi knocked on Hajime's door one night. He figured that would be the best time to catch Hajime while he was alone.

After he knocked, he heard some shuffling from inside before Hajime finally called out, “Who is it?”

“It's me,” Kazuichi called back. “I need your help, man. Can you let me in?”

There was a pause, followed by what sounded like whispering, and then more shuffling. Eventually, the door opened, revealing a flushed Hajime dressed in sweatpants and nothing else. “Uh, hey. Come on in.”

Kazuichi didn't think anything of his friend's appearance. It was a pretty warm night, after all. He walked into Hajime's cottage and turned to him expectantly. “You gotta help me, Haj. I just gotta win this game.”

Hajime immediately frowned. “That's what you need help with? No way.”

“Come on, man!” Kazuichi pleaded, throwing an arm around Hajime's shoulders and lowering his voice conspiratorially. “Think about it. If I win, I can let Miss Sonia have the three days off, and then she'll have to give me a shot!”

The brunette grimaced and was about to explain that Sonia would absolutely not have to give him a shot, she wouldn't owe him anything. Before he could say anything, however, the sound of a toilet flushing could be heard from his bathroom.

Kazuichi’s eyes widened and he carefully removed his arm from Hajime's shoulders. “...You're not alone?”

Cringing harder, Hajime held his hands up. “No, but listen, Kaz-”

“Wait, so it must be-!” Kazuichi exclaimed, feeling overly excited by the prospect.

The bathroom door opened and a startled-looking Fuyuhiko emerged. He glanced back and forth between the other two boys, not expecting to see anyone besides Hajime. “What the hell are you doing here?” he asked.

Kazuichi wasn't listening, though. He was too busy staring at Fuyuhiko's outfit. The yakuza heir was dressed in an oversized t-shirt (which was obviously Hajime's) and a pair of pajama shorts, and Kazuichi couldn't hide his delighted grin.

Fuyuhiko crossed his arms over his chest, face heating up at being stared at for so long. “The fuck are you looking at?!” he snapped self-consciously.

“Nothing!” Kazuichi chirped happily. He turned to Hajime and clapped him on the back. “Thanks for your help, man. I'll see you guys later!” With that, he swiftly exited the room.

Hajime rubbed a hand over his face in exasperation. He turned to his boyfriend, who looked completely bewildered. “I can explain.”

“You fuckin' better,” Fuyuhiko grumbled, moving towards the bed. “Or else you're sleepin’ on the floor.”

“You can't kick me out of my own bed!” Hajime argued.

Fuyuhiko glared at him. “Wanna bet? Just tell me what's going on!”

Sighing, Hajime finally just explained the game to his boyfriend. Once he was finished, Fuyuhiko flushed in embarrassment.

“W-Why the hell was everyone so interested in what I wear?” he asked quietly.

Hajime sat next to him on the bed. “It's just because you always wear your suit. Anyway, it was just a silly game. Don't worry about it too much.”

Fuyuhiko looked unconvinced. “I guess.” He paused. “Wait, how come you didn't win? You see me out of my suit all the time!”

The brunette shrugged. “Me and Peko were disqualified for having an unfair advantage.”

That made sense, Fuyuhiko supposed. He started nodding along, but stopped when he realized something. “Wait… How would the others know you have an advantage?”

Hajime cringed and turned away evasively. “Uh… well…”

Fuyuhiko blushed angrily. “You bastard! Did you tell everyone about us?!”

“It was an accident!” Hajime replied quickly.

The smaller boy grabbed him, trying to turn him back, but Hajime resisted. “I can't fuckin' believe you would just fuckin' tell everybody-”

“I wanted to win,” the brunette argued, voice wavering.

There were a few more choice words thrown his way before Fuyuhiko tried to shove him off the bed. Hajime grabbed his partner's wrists and the two of them grappled for a minute before falling back onto the bed.

Suddenly, Hajime knew exactly how to calm his boyfriend down. His hands slipped under Fuyuhiko's shirt, turning his squeak of surprise into a startled moan. The blonde was clearly still upset with him, but he certainly seemed willing to leave that for the morning.

***

Kazuichi won the competition. He attempted to give his prize to Sonia, who politely declined.

Fuyuhiko was extra grouchy with everyone for a few days, but eventually relaxed. He still wouldn't let anyone see him in casual clothes, if he could help it.

On the rare occasions where someone did catch him in something other than his suit, he would just sigh and tell them that they got a point. It was his own way of playing along.

Whenever anyone asked him who had the most points, he always answered, “Hajime, obviously. Fucker takes my suit off all the time.”

That usually scared whoever was asking off, but if anyone dared to ask who was in second place, Fuyuhiko would just shrug. “I don't know. I'm not keeping track of that shit.”

I hope you liked it! Hopefully I can crank out a few more of these old drabbles soon. Let me know what you think, and feel free to send more requests! It takes me forever to get to them, but I love having them lol.

[philtstone]

22 (kisses on head) Sam Wilson & dealer's choice

its been 84 years & i finally finished writing this .... inspired by life events bc apparently thats how most of my fatws stories seem to work these days. also shoutout to @foolgobi65, my bestie and co-middle aged fictional man. miss u so much, praying that in 1 month i will be a 60 dollar flight away from u, etc etc

It takes Sam a few tries to make the call.

Okay, so maybe that's hypocritical of him. It's okay to reach out to people when you need 'em, Buck. I'm here if you need to talk about anything, B. You know avoiding the world won't make anything easier, man.

Yeah, yeah -- so Sam's sometimes a textbook example of do as I say, not as I do. His sister would be the first to remind him of this, loudly and annoyingly. Recently, Bucky's taken to agreeing with her -- loudly and annoyingly, after he's given Sam a mildly amused eyebrow at the liberal shortening of his already short nickname -- but it's hard to remember that, and the general cross bleeding of their lives over and across like veins, when he hasn't seen Bucky in a month and their texts have been few and far between.

Not for any nefarious reason or anything. Sam's just been busy. Sitting in interminable meetings with assholes. Getting asked inane leading questions about his stance on global politics. Trying to push through the legal work of actually getting clean water to multiple places in literal first world nations. Bull-fuckin’-shit, Sam thinks. There is perpetual grit behind his eyes. The urge to dangle senators by their ankles from the top of multi-story buildings is real. He and Bucky did that a couple times, in the early days, but then Rhodey got in trouble because of it, so they agreed to ease off for a bit. So now Sam hasn’t even got that as an outlet, and it’s on him to figure out this messed up world for everyone else 'cause for every person who seems to care to try it, there are hundreds more who couldn't give a shit. He needs a vacation. Or a reset. Something to remind him what being Captain America is really about.

And Bucky's -- well, he's definitely not retired, but Sam thinks he deserves some peace and quiet, after everything.

The phone rings a fifth time. It's two in the morning. Sam sits in the dark quiet of his hotel room and is about to swipe end call and just content himself with a short text hey man, how's it going? when suddenly the call connects.

Sam squints.

"Why am I looking at a weird corner of your ceiling?" he asks, before his tired brain can catch up to the possibility that maybe something is deeply, horribly wrong, and there are bad guys there, and their mutual worlds are about to end for the twentieth time.

Then Bucky's forehead pops up from behind the kitchen counter.

“Sam, hey,” he says, before Sam can question further. The phone camera shakes like it’s being propped up against something by a hasty hand, “Gimme a sec, I’m in the middle of something.”

The forehead disappears. Not in a normal way, like Bucky walking out of frame, but in a weird way, like Bucky dropping below the counter to the floor.

“C’mon, ya little twerp, slow down a second …”

“Uh …” Sam wets his lips. “Is now a bad time?”

“‘S fine!” calls his friend’s disembodied voice. “Talk, I’m listenin’.” There is a thump, and a small yowl, and a distinctively Bucky-flavoured grunt. 

Sam can see the edge of Bucky's stove behind him and slowly registers the warm kitchen lighting and mess of kitchen implements strewn ... everywhere.

"What ... exactly are you doing?"

"Wrangling," says Bucky. "How've you been?" 

Could be better should be Sam's honest response. Instead he blinks at the obvious noises of scuffle, the muffled thud of metal limb against laminate kitchen island, some plaintive meows, and ...

Squeaking?

Peep peep peep peep peep.

“Fuckin’ – Alpine!”

“I told you that cat’s possessed,” Sam says, for lack of anything else to contribute to the mystifying noises coming from his phone. 

“Aha!” yells Bucky. There is a particularly despondent screech, and the peeping ramps up in intensity. 

Three months ago they’d got caught trying to bust some superpowered underground fight club and spent two days stuck in some underground bunker under threat of fighting in said club. Could make big bucks, taking bets on Captain America and the Winter Soldier. Sam wishes those violence-mongering assholes could see the two of them now.

Bucky’s head reappears.

“She’s not possessed,” he says. Sam can’t exactly agree, when directly to Bucky’s left, the little white housecat he found in the dumpsters behind his apartment last February is doing her best to wage feral holy war against the impervious plates of his left hand, which has got her hovering four feet above the ground by the scruff of her neck. Bucky himself seems unbothered by the crazy feline trying to maul his hand, and in fact unbothered in general, despite his wild case of bedhead, hole-ridden pajama shirt and slightly faded underwear all captured in frame. His other hand, stretched all the way out in the other direction, is held tightly in a fist.

And it’s squeaking.

“Bucky,” Sam says slowly, “I get that you got this whole nonviolence thing goin’ on right now –” It’s been a new thing Bucky keeps bringing up in sardonic therapy speak, always raising his eyebrows to show that he’s the only one allowed in on the joke, as if Sam knows he hasn’t touched a gun in three years – “but is two am really the right time to stop your honest to God housecat from takin’ out a mouse in your kitchen?”

“Mouse?” Bucky says with a frown. Then he grins. “Aw, no, I found him in the elevator today. Dunno how he got there.” Then, with impossible gentleness, he brings his fist up to the blurry camera, so Sam can see the fuzzy yellow crown of a tiny, very squeaky duckling.

Sam stares.

“That’s a duck,” he says.

“Duck-ling,” Bucky corrects. “He’s kind of helpless. Kept falling over on its own ass ‘til I brought him up. I think he was in shock.”

Peep, says the little duckling, as if agreeing. Or maybe as if to say, And then you exposed me to your psycho cat, asshole, you don’t think that was traumatizing? 

Maybe Bucky speaks duck better than Sam does, because he only grins, widely, and then proceeds to press a small kiss to the top of the duckling’s head.

Sam feels like he must be dreaming.

“You adopted a duckling?” he manages.

“Not officially,” Bucky protests.

“You can’t just adopt a duckling in Brooklyn.”

“I got a bathtub!”

“You got a shower cubicle, man.”

“Okay, fine, I got a sink.”

“Dude, you can’t rehome a duck in your tiny ass sink.”

“He hasn’t got anywhere else to go, Sam, he’s just a baby.”

Sam gestures in mild distress to the cat, who is still trying desperately to escape her vibranium bonds. “Is this not considered a barrier to duck adoption?!” he says.

Bucky sighs, the kind that slumps your shoulders up and down. He holds Alpine up to his face, sternly. She is midway through attempting to chew his wrist with her pointy little cat teeth. 

“You got wax in your ears? Knock it off, Sweets. Whaddaya want, more attention? You want a kiss on the forehead, too?”

“I do not get paid enough for this,” Sam says, putting his head in his hands and staring across the room.

Peep peep peep agrees the duckling.

“Look,” Bucky says, gesturing with his duckling hand. “I’ll think of something.”

“Something stupid,” says Sam.

Bucky doesn’t seem bothered, though. “So what’d you wanna talk to me about?” he asks.

Sam pauses. He’s got to think about it now. In fact – the edge of need that had been present just four minutes ago has mostly disappeared. He takes in Bucky’s disheveled appearance again. 

“You still goin’ down next weekend?”

It is a long weekend. Thanksgiving, to be precise. Sam has spent many a Thanksgiving dreaming of his sister’s cooking; he’s not sure he has the mental fortitude to skip out on it this year, when nothing world-ending is happening.

Bucky gives him a weird look. “Sure. Are you?”

“Delacroix’s still doin’ its food drive, right?”

“Sure,” says Bucky again. He scratches an itch behind his ear with the watch strap around his right wrist. The duckling squeaks. “Maybe you should go.”

“Maybe I should,” Sam says. He doesn’t feel relief, exactly, but there is a cousin feeling, somewhere in his chest, that he does not have words for at two a.m., “to make sure you won’t be pullin’ lame moves on my little sister.”

“You wouldn’t know a move if it danced naked in front of you, Sam,” Bucky says, without missing a beat. Alpine, who has been quiet since threatened, makes a sudden, aborted move towards Bucky’s right hand. Smoothly, behind the counter, Bucky takes a couple steps back and opens the empty garbage can with his bare foot before dropping Alpine into it. “Behave,” he tells her muffled protests. 

“I know so many moves. I am super smooth with the ladies. And your pasty ass better not be doing any naked dancing, or we’ll have words.”

Bucky lets out a very long-suffering sigh. “Just because Ms. Gloria next door likes me best …”

“She makes a mean sweet potato pie every Thanksgiving,” Sam agrees sadly. “I used to get that extra piece, you know?”

“I can’t say no when Sarah invites me, Sam, come on.”

“So she inviting you now, is that how this works? She doesn’t invite me.”

“That’s ‘cause you invite yourself. Or she bullies you into coming home.”

Both of these things being true, they are both laughing before Sam knows it. He is decidedly less exhausted than before. Tired, sleepy, sure, but not exhausted. Bucky has now moved on to cleaning up his kitchen one-handedly, which he’s gotten pretty good at recently. Bucky himself counts it as progress, and so does everyone else. 

Sam catches his breath. “Yeah, alright,” he says. “I should get some rest, then.”

He gets subjected to a long look through the camera. “See you next weekend?” Bucky says finally.

And maybe that was the exact question Sam had been itching to ask. It’s been a long while since he’s had a friend that’s basically family. It hits different. Sam’s happy to get used to it again, bit by bit.

“Yeah, I’ll be there. I don’t think I can tell you all the shit I’ve been dealing with unless we’re out in the middle of nowhere.”

Bucky narrows his eyes. “For security reasons or Sam-telling-a-story reasons?”

“Man, I can tell a story over the phone.”

“Yeah, but you like having the ambiance. Brings the best out in you.”

“Fishing and stories just mix right.”

“Whatever you say, Sam.”

“Yeah, yeah. Hey, maybe you can bring that little fluff ball with you. Can you imagine takin’ that thing through airport security?”

Except, oh no. Bucky’s eyes are widening with the sharp glimmer of a new, stupid idea.

“Huh,” he says, aloud. Peep peep, says the duckling. 

“You are not foisting that duckling on me,” Sam says.

“You do have a bird-themed costume. And Sarah’s house has a bathtub.”

But before Sam can open his mouth to argue, there is the loud crash of the garbage can tipping over, and the blurry white figure of Alpine pouncing onto Bucky’s head. 

“Shit! Alpine!”

Sam divines that he’s dropped the duckling.

“You know how long it took me to catch him?!”

Mroooow, howls Alpine, who is now on the counter, blocking most of the frame.

To the renewed sounds of frantic peeping from the kitchen floor, Sam laughs. “Dude,” he says, “you know your neighbors hate your ass right now.”

And it’s maybe fitting, that the last thing he sees before he ends the call is Bucky’s disembodied metal fist, flipping him the bird.

[olderthannetfic]

https://olderthannetfic.tumblr.com/post/738837493190934529/httpsolderthannetfictumblrcompost73871242031#notes Oh it's definitely not. Otherwise I wouldn't be looking for a word for it. That's why I explained what I meant, because I kinda knew that author's voice would probably be wrong.

Interesting to find out more about it though. Heard it thrown around here and there, but was never sure what it actually refers to.

Though I wouldn't even say it's an OOC issue, because it happens in original works too, so technically it could be considered "in character." I have encountered it in both fics and original works, and an additional quirk of that writing is that the character/s will have mindsets that don't match the world they're in, or it will be so over the top that it comes across as an unwanted parody just by the tone of the story.

Weird meme speech, pop culture references, dialogue/monologues that sound like the author just copy-pasted from their twitter/facebook rants, and a lot of that superficial knowledge on topics/issues/problems that is key for all that mouth frothing.

There's also often this weird poorly blended mix between ideas they like and the world, that makes it even more obvious. Like if they write a story where they want to show a the backdrop to be this super oppressive world where everyone has base level education to not have an uprising. Our main lead though, for some reason is the one unique individual with all the knowledge of a modern internet user, and has seen right through everything, but the story never explains why. This is super popular with both further on the edge sides of the political spectrum, and it screams mouth piece to the max and a lack of reflection.

Why does this character know everything when the Government is apparently so effective that no one questions anything? Fuck you, I'm the author and I wanted to show how smart I am and how stupid everyone else is. Here's my facebook/twitter rant!

I know it technically is bad writing, but it's such a specific type of bad writing, and it happens so frequently I would love a simple name for it.

--

Interesting to find out more about it though. Heard it thrown around here and there, but was never sure what it actually refers to.

Re "voice", it's the set of things that make you go "Ah, this sounds like X wrote it", basically. The actual POV might be a specific character, in which case, X is trying to sound like that character, but they still have a particular way of writing that's a little different from other authors trying to write a similar character. It's even more obvious in nonfiction.

Like... on tumblr, I sound like me. Sure, some of it is my actual personality or views, but there's also just the manner in which I write. I could have the same personality but communicate it differently or more poorly. How often do I use big words? How often do I use slang? How many clauses are in my sentences? In my case, I do kind of sound like this out loud too, but that's never a guarantee either. A lot of it is about the writing craft the person has consciously cultivated over time.

I think subject matter can be relevant to voice, like authors who love to describe food in every work or something, but a lot of it has to do with whether the person is funny overall or what kind of sentence structure they tend to go for. It's a broad vibe thing.

(Certainly, horrid PSAs are part of some authors' voices, but you can use the term to describe any general "Sounds like so-and-so" vibe.)

Honestly, the thing where only the protagonist is ~So Special~ that they alone have twitter brain see through the evil government is one of the obnoxious traits readers often brand as a Mary Sue. That's certainly not the term for this whole phenomenon though.

[rjschoicesstuff]

Some fun facts or whatever about Rex (My main Blades mc) cause I'm thinking about her (probably very incoherent cause I've had a long day and my brain is fried and I'm not gonna check this for mistakes)

-I imagine he got orphaned + adopted at around 1,5 year old + he's older than Kade.

-I imagine (or ig it's been confirmed anyway) orc anatomy is different from humans and elves + humans have very little knowledge about orcs cause they live so isolated from the rest, it was just decided to raise her as a boy alongside Kade when they were adopted. As she got older she started experimenting more with more feminine expression, I don't think she would have the words for it, but she's basically bigender. She's very indifferent about it all though, if people ask for clarification about her gender she's just kinda like 'you can't really go wrong with either'. Like as long as people are respectful she's happy. She uses mixed masculine and feminine titles except for that she's just Kade's brother and not his sister and she's her kids' mother and not their father.

-I imagine he was the only orc in Riverbend and all the orcs he'd ever seen there were just people passing through, and so few that he can count them on two hands. If there'd been any he would probably have latched onto them a bit. Like I imagine in Riverbend he was always treated as one of them but that didn't mean that he never felt different + wanted to get to know others like himself u know?

-Due to being the only orc she often landed jobs where strength was important, and would just be people's go-to when they needed a strong person. This was something she definitely prided herself in and it made her happy to feel like she was needed and really had a role in the community. Though I think in a way that also caused her to downplay all her other qualities.

-He really really wants to connect with Orc culture and he's just like really excited when he meets Imtura and is finally surrounded by a lot of other orcs for a bit and doesn't stand out so much in the crowd. Though at the same time it becomes so clear that he's been raised in a human village and he's nothing like them. And I think in a way that makes him feel embarassed? Once they're done Saving The World I imagine Imtura will really properly show him Flotilla and orc culture and he just feels weird being an orc and having to be shown all this stuff, like he's just a human in an orc suit kinda? I imagine he'll live there for a bit and definitely gets more acquainted with the culture and everything and it is very healing in a way. Especially because apparently he still has living biological family members too, whom he gets to know now. But to some degree it also makes him realise that he's always going to feel a little bit like an outsider, no matter where he is. Tbh I think it would just really help him to meet another person like him, but I'm not sure if he ever will.

-She's not very interested in humans romantically + sexually cause they're so small and weak compared to her and she thinks she would Break them lol. I imagine she's definitely had a girlfriend or two in her teens, like it's not like she doesn't ever find them attractive (though she definitely prefers elves and especially orcs) but it just doesn't really Work for her because she's always kinda holding back because she doesn't wanna hurt them. To some degree she feels that with elves too (or I guess just Tyril because he's the only elf she'll ever be with probably) but at least the height difference is less daunting.

-He avoids using magic cause he doesn't want to shorten his lifespan much, he's also more likely to use it for healing than for battle. He worries a lot about losing track of how much he's using too, once he won't have to, he will never use magic ever again. (This one's a headcanon I had before book 2 was out)

[demon-of-the-ancient-world]

Hughhhghhhh ok fine the intrusive thoughts win, I'm just gonna do it. Athelstan headcanons but just the ones that are angst/whump based because some feral part of me needs to Harm Him:

His hands and feet still hurt terribly at times, even years after the wounds there have healed. Cold and damp weather makes it worse.

Sometimes it gets bad enough that he can't hold a pen (or an axe, for that matter) properly, and it becomes hard to walk

But he keeps it to himself, shutting himself away from others if necessary

Tries his best not to look at the scars because if he does even for a short time he starts Remembering Things

He draws to alleviate the stress on his mind, and his drawings - the secret ones he doesn't show to anybody - get quite disturbing

(Ragnar never tells him this, but he does find them one day. And it breaks his heart.)

Ok apparently a common theory about the "sky dragons" that were seen before the Vikings' attack on Lindisfarne was that they were actually northern lights and that made me think ; any time he sees northern lights now, in a climate where they're more common, he has bad dreams. Without fail. He's tried to get over it, and his artist's brain tries to see the beauty in them, but it doesn't help.

Ragnar (and Gyda while they lived on the farm) try to show them to him on winter nights, thinking he'll love it, and he doesn't have the heart to tell them they Freak Him Out

Allergic to bee stings. He finds out when he's watching over the kids one day and Bjorn thinks it would be fun to disturb a wasp nest. He makes a valiant effort to shoo him and Gyda back to the house...and in turn ends up with a very swollen face

A Lot of nightmares. First about the attack at the monastery and later about the crucifixion

And about his family dying. He always *thinks* he's forgotten about that, or that it doesn't affect him anymore, but it always comes back to him and he realizes he was Wrong

(And the fact that he wasn't actually there when it happened almost makes it worse, because it leaves him to just imagine what happened. And he has a very good imagination.)

When he gets one bad enough, he knows he won't be able to sleep at all afterwards, and spends the rest of the night writing, or sketching, or just pacing around. Walking outside helps, but he can only do that when it's not too cold

Gets headaches easily. I headcanon that he's a little nearsighted and doesn't even realize he's straining his eyes (and spending years squinting at tiny print didn't do him any favours)

It's sorta canon that he's somewhat prone to hallucinations, and I like to think it's a thing that happens sometimes when his brain is very very overwhelmed - but he probably keeps it to himself and has it in his head that they're either visions trying to "teach" him something but he can't figure out what, or that there's something Horribly Wrong With Him and he lives in fear of what that might be

Usually it's just weird blobs out of the corner of his eye that won't go away (like migraine aura type stuff) but after the incidents of season 2 he's always on edge of what else he might see

While his wounds were healing in Wessex he spends days slipping in and out of consciousness, not sure if he's dead or alive, with friends or enemies

And he calls out for Ragnar more than once - Ecbert never tells him about this, but definitely keeps it in mind

Dreams about hell, and later Ragnarok. A lot.

Like I've said before he doesn't get sick very often, but when he does it hits him like a truck

It's not uncommon for him to get super high fevers when he's sick, which doesn't help with the already present nightmares At All

Or the potential hallucinations

Had asthma as a little kid and cold weather still irritates his lungs sometimes, prone to chest infections

Hates being seen in any vulnerable state Whatsoever because he's Always Just Chill Always Everything's Fine

But is actually so clingy to a surprising degree once it's out there that he Needs Help & someone's there to help him & he gets to collapse, whoever that person is they are Staying Now

Gets panic attacks after being crucified. Can't stand the sound of things being nailed together (@adhdnightmare This One) it sets his teeth on edge and he wants to run away and hide - he doesn't put two and two together at first until he does and is like oh

Doesn't like to be touched when going through one of these episodes, Ragnar knows he gets them and has learned how to talk him through it without touching him (even though all his instincts are telling him to wrap that lil guy up in the biggest bear hug)

For a short time he can't even look at his own cross necklace without breaking out in a cold sweat, and of course THAT stresses him out big time because what if it's The Devil talking??? What if he's Bad Now??? His religion-based stress is never ending.

Occasionally this anxiety comes back even years down the line, and each time he's like. ah ok this is gonna be a Bad Mental Health Day isn't it.

There's gotta be more somewhere but hm that's all for tonight

@grantairescurls @procrastinatingsoicanreadfanfics @levithestripper @starrose17 hi guys it's Me Again

[phantom-of-the-501st]

Episode 6 Thoughts

(Spoilers for TBB Season 2)

I loved this episode!!! A nice combination of fun and action with some emotional elements as well. I had a great time with it!

So of course, here are my bullet point thoughts.

Echo being put on babysitting duty and promptly losing Omega. She wanders off so often. 🤣

Love how Tech is insulted that they don't trust his forgery skills. How dare you question his ability to do illegal activities.

When I saw those droids electrocuting Gungi I was ready to throw hands. 😤

I love Gungi's character design. He's definitely grown up a bit and I love the pauldron and the wrap as a belt.

Tech automatically assuming that the blaster fire was caused by Omega. 🤣

He wasn't wrong though!

Is this the first time we've seen both Tech and Echo piloting the Marauder this season? It feels weird that we've gone so long without seeing those two in the cockpit.

Gungi looked so sad! I can't deal with this. 😭

HUNTER CAN SPEAK WOOKIE???

I wanna give Gungi a hug so bad. 🥺

Echo actually got some dialogue this episode. Love to see it. 🥰

Kashyyyk looks awesome!

I love how they lean into the fact that Gungi was really young when he went to the Jedi temple, so he isn't familiar with his home planet. He knows that these are his people, but he's still a little unsure.

Lots of webs!

Fun fact about me, I actually hate spider webs more than I hate actual spiders, so I would not be having a fun time. 😬

Weird spider things look very similar to the ice spiders! Nice bit of convergent evolution there. 😊 (And yes, my zoologist brain thinks about these things when watching TBB apparently...)

So. Much. Gungi. Looking. Sad. 😭

OUCH 😭

When I saw the wookie pelt on that trandoshan, I got so angry. 😤

Stop burning his home, you hissy bastards!

Character designs in this episode are great! ✨️

Soundtrack is also amazing, as always.

We only see brief glimpses of them, but I love how we get an insight into the traditions and beliefs of the wookies. I love that touch.

Laser sword

Echo's face the first time he was offered the soup. 🤣

Speaking to the trees!!!

When I heard the line "we'll take all the allies we can get" in the trailer, I did not think they would be talking about trees but here we are.

Weird giant monkey things are awesome!

I don't want to think about what those spider things did to Venomor. 😖

It was probably not fun.

WRECKER SPEAKING WOOKIE

Also, Echo's little cheers with the bowl was adorable. 🥰 Character development right there! 🤣

It's interesting that they talk about the fact that neither Omega nor Gungi can ever truly be children in a world like this. Especially since last episode was a chance for Omega to actually get to act like a kid for once. Last episode was very much a look into what her life should be, while this one is more of a look into what her life really is like.

Omega joining Gungi in listening to the trees. I adore her desire to understand people and their traditions, even if it is just child-like curiosity.

And I love seeing Gungi partaking in the tribe's tradition as well. He's unsure of what he's doing but he understands that it's his culture and he wants to be a part of it. 🥺

This episode is very interesting in the fact that it shows not only the repercussions of the rise of the Empire, but also how the lives of younglings was changed when they were subscribed to the Jedi.

They never really got a chance to grow up understanding their own personal culture and heritage, and that's not necessarily something we always think about.

To summarise this slight messy bullet list, I loved this episode!

Seeing not only the effect that Order 66 had on Gungi, but also his struggle to return to a place that he doesn't truly know because all he ever really remembers is life at the Jedi Temple. Seeing him fit back into the tribe is really sweet to see.

Hunter and Echo are once again the tired parents this episode. 🤣 But it was nice to see Echo being a little more vocal again, and Hunter putting his hand on Echo's shoulder as a supportive thing was nice. They don't alway see eye to eye, but at the end of the day, they are still brothers.

Actually, everyone felt like they had a place in the episode so I'm very happy about that. It's great to have an episode that feels like it's about the Batch again.

It was a solid episode and I really enjoyed it!

Even more exciting is that we get 2 episodes next week!!! 🥳 But it also means we'll be halfway through this season already. 🥲

[kate-apologist]

🔥 For the Masquerade series

so this has....apparently become a hot take in the recent times but

i think that disliking the masquerade series for its tone is something that is perfectly acceptable, even if said person is in love with the locked tomb.

i've seen bits of this debate here and there, and while i understand where the baru defenders are coming from, i sympathize more with the locked tomb people (and not just because i love the locked tomb!)

i baru post a lot. i've answered an ask about baru where the person asked me to give a recommendation for it based on liking the locked tomb. i gave my honest opinion there, and in tags elsewhere: recommending these series next to each other without appropriately warning the reader about the darker tone, themes, and narrative of baru is not only rude, it's negligent.

while i understand that tone does not a book make, it is also vital to a narrative, and i believe that baru and tlt differ greatly in tone, and that should be disclosed from the outset.

i don't have the post saved (and if i did, i wouldn't want to specifically call someone out anyway) but i saw someone sarcastically saying that "of course tone is more important than the similarities on a narrative level" (not a direct quote), as if tlt and baru are really that similar on a narrative level.

these are, of course, my opinions but i don't think they're similar narratively unless you count the most basic premise of "queer protagonist against imperialism". here's the thing (at the risk of being wrong on the internet)

The locked tomb is not focused solely on the Empire at a systemic level until bits of the second book and more dominantly the third book. Are there elements early on? yes. are they in your face, immediately relevant or a key aspect of the narrative, especially on a first read through? no! Baru kicks off with it. tlt's empire is not graphically homophobic. Baru's is, and it is fundamental to both her character and pieces of the narrative.

They're similar in the chivalrous figure dying at the end of the first book, they're similar in the weird brain stuff, in some of the weird bits, but at a fundamental level, Muir and Dickinson are telling stories of empire in different ways at different levels. Baru hates the Empire from the outset, is constantly working against it while she's working for it. Harrow and Gideon are not like this from the outset, and because those are the central characters for the opening two books, not the BoE, not the other Lyctors, it does change the narrative. resistance to the mechanisms of empire in tlt is not the focus from the outset (but definitely becomes more important as the larger story unfolds and we move outside the bubble of the nine houses)!

I understand the urge to defend Baru when people from the locked tomb fandom do read it on recommendation of it being similar to tlt and end up disliking it for how dark it is. i understand wanting the narrative to be spread despite how graphic it is, partially because that is the reality for a lot of people. i wholly acknowledge i'm speaking from a place of privilege in terms of violent homophobia like baru faces and as an american in a world that has been colonized by america and other wealthy nations, so i cannot fully identify with baru as a protagonist or those who associate on a deep level with her. if you do, i'm not saying that's bad or that you shouldn't recommend the book! i do, but i do so always with the caveat that it's dark and graphic and that the narrative is heavily centered in this darkness.

i think the masquerade series is a valuable series, but i think recommending it to locked tomb enjoyers and expecting them to love it because they love the locked tomb (and especially the critique of colonization that muir is building) or hounding on locked tomb enjoyers for not liking baru because of how graphic and violent it is can be uncomfortable and potentially triggering for a lot of people. tone is not everything, but it is key to enjoyment, and questioning why books are lumped together the way they are can be beneficial.

i remember finishing tyrant and reading the author's note dickinson left, where they state they're not sure when they'll finish the fourth book because the series is draining to write. i remember sympathizing to that, because reading it is draining. i mowed through the locked tomb books in a matter of days. each baru book took me months. the depth of the locked tomb is there i'm not saying it isn't, but baru's is like a painfully gaping wound from the outset, where tlt keeps it hidden until near the end of the first book

i'll end here by saying that both of these series are dear to my heart, and both sit in my top five favorite series of all time. i understand the urge to defend baru, who feels like an underdog compared to the largely more popular tlt, i tend to do it all the time. i do think, though, the conversation surrounding these two series and how they relate to each other can be better and more productive, and generally more generative in discussions of current advertising practices of "book similar to x book, so you'll like book!"

[granulesofsand]

Hi! Thanks for taking the time to read my question

TW: mention of wanting suicide, SH (some details), feeling trapped

I have something I've not heard anyone else talk about, and I'm wondering what could cause it. Could it be programming? Are there other possible explanations?

I'm not going to make assumptions one way or the other, or jump to any conclusions! I just want to understand

Firstly, I've tired to SH several times. But when I hold the knife up to my skin it feels like there is literally an invisible force stopping me. I physically can't do it. I have one similar memory as a teenager re breaking rules. I wanted to go somewhere I wasn't allowed, but I physically couldn't cross the threshold. Like there was an invisible wall there. Body just wouldn't do it

I had the opposite experience recently where I didn't want to SH but felt a really strong compulsion to (when fighting to go out and socialise instead). I managed to make a compromise and just scratch instead, but it was a near thing. How come I can do it only when I don't want to?

Secondly, suicidal ideation. Whenever I really want to do it, my body shuts down. Like I'm paralysed. As in: I'll be really thirsty but unable to reach for a drink. I can make small movements with my hands but actually moving is impossible. Thinking slows down and while the thoughts are kind of there it's hard to even think them (or anything)

That might sound like a good thing, to be prevented from doing that! But it's scary and I feel trapped. Like my body & life doesn't belong to me

I've not heard from anyone else with an experience like this

Have you come across anything like it before?

Tapestries

🗝️🏷️ RAMCOA, abuse, self-harm, deprogramming, bright images

This is like that other system who ended up quite probably being programmed. I want to say that this is possible without conditioning, and it would be true. But this is also one symptom, and one strand is not enough to encapsulate a tapestry.

I like that as a metaphor (you can skip down for a more concrete response); while some woven pieces use the same yarn for every warp column or weft row or both, the final product can still be large or complex.

Many tapestries use many yarns, varying in color, texture, and weight. There are lots of ways to fit a few strings together, and the differences might only be noticeable within context.

Possibilities

Basically, it’s very possible for both this forcefield stop and tranced self-harm to have sprung from typical (heavy) dissociation.

Going by your name, it could be an alter influencing external behaviors (consciously or not) or one of the defense mechanisms that your brain took up to survive.

It doesn’t have to look helpful to have been defensive, but you might be able to find an apparent reason for it within non-RAMCOA trauma. This type of bodily override is well-recorded in DID systems, so it needn’t indicate anything further.

Because they can occur naturally, however, they can therefore be installed by abusers. If you already know about a programming history, this doesn’t invalidate anything. It isn’t a definite no, and especially the sh is worth looking into, whether it’s programmed or not.

Perps could use the stop to insure only they control what harm comes to you or to keep you more obedient outside of their gaze. Having a system inflict punishments or follow through rituals without perp intervention suits programmers, and this one is widely seen in survivors.

For the Future

It wouldn’t be weird either way, and progress from this point looks fairly similar; talk to alters, build trust and get them updated on safety and daily life in the present, and working with them and their trauma as you form a relationship.

If these things happen again, maybe try reaching out to see who (if anyone) is doing it and why they feel they have to. You can converse with parts of yourself or the collective without that sentiment belonging to any alter, like a singlet’s inner dialogue.

You’ll be okay, even when it’s scary. Spend some time brushing up on coming skills and self-care if you can, it helps to lessen the blow of any discoveries or problems y or encounter. Good luck, and remember that you’ll see the tapestry in time.

[csleko]

Holy crap, it's The Rake! Or is it? If your first thought on seeing this render was "that's The Rake!" then it's The Rake. If you thought anything else, then it's just another one of my freaky monsters that happens to be heavily *inspired* by The Rake and that one infamous photo in particular.

Yeah, I got in my "make a horrifying monster" mood again, and I've had that good old classic YouTube horror stuff on the brain since Film Theory talked about Vita Carnis, which gave me hope that we might finally be moving past disturbing kids' shows and haunted video games, and onward into terrifying original concepts with equally terrifying imagery to go with them.

Marble Hornets and especially EverymanHYBRID definitely made strong impressions on me. Slender Man was this weird, unsettling, ambiguous entity, but The Rake? Still weird, still unsettling, but unambiguously and VIOLENTLY malevolent, and apparently intelligent enough to lure victims into traps. And don't get me started on the SOUNDS that damn thing made. It has been a LONG time since anything caused me to lose sleep like that.

Deviating from my usual workflow, the first thing I made for this model was the texture. I started out with the same basic setup for the human skin texture I used on that other monster I made a while ago, but I made it more of a nasty gray, and cranked up the bump map so it would look rougher and almost scaly. Then I experimented with some ways to make faint veins that I kept playing with and adjusting pretty much throughout the whole process.

Made basically the whole body with meta balls. Well, I made half the body, then mirrored it. Then I did some sculpting to add detail and made adjustments to the general shape.

And this is where I leaned more toward "just make The Rake," and looked up that original picture to get an idea of what its actual face looked like. Kinda like a human skull, but with eye shine that's definitely not from human eyes. A lot of the fanart I've seen of this creature interpret that eye shine as glowing eyes, but that's just how most eyes look in night vision. Even human eyes do that, but it's just the pupils, and they're wider because it's dark. So I figure in order to have eye shine that pronounced, this creature's gotta have *massive* pupils. So I made the eye sockets enormous, popped a couple of big, dark glass orbs in 'em, and because I couldn't think of a way to do realistic eye shine through Blender's light simulation, I just made two little circles with a glowing shader on them and put them inside the eye balls. So, yes, this one's eyes do *technically* glow.

But I can turn that off when I don't need eye shine.

All that was left was to rig the thing, set up a scene, pose it, light it all spooky-like, render it and throw it into Photoshop to produce the image at the start of this post.

Enjoy, and I'm sorry if I sparked or re-sparked anyone's interest in analog/YouTube horror.

Except I'm not sorry at all. Give the creators your watch time so they can grow and inspire more creators to create more original horror stories, which then themselves grow to inspire even more creators!

[crmsnmth]

September Sky Chapter One, Part 8

"Fine, Midnight Magenta. Either way, it was bugging me that I'd never seen you around. You're kind of noticeable. With the hair and eyeliner."

I laughed and shrugged. To be honest, I had wondered that myself. How I had gone through my time in college without noticing her? And then, the day I leave, I almost take her out.

"Do you ever go out?" She was looking at me, reading me.

"Yeah, I do. I wander around a lot." I said, smiling back.

"That's weird. So close, yet so far."

"Apparently, I had to just ruin your lunch to make it happen," I smirked.

"Very true, but can we not make that a regular thing?"

She was easy to speak to now. I found myself letting my brain do its thing and not worry about my mouth. It seemed we had the native tongue of sarcasm shared as well. I hadn't felt that comfortable around someone that quickly since Chad.

"I will try my absolute hardest to pay attention to my surroundings," I said, hold one hand up with my pointer and middle fingers raised.

"And?" Addison said with a playful grin.

"I'll try to not to go around ruining people's lunches," I said, laughing slightly.

I hadn't even realized it, but Addison was pulling into one of the limited parking spaces on Center Street. There weren't a lot and it was always a pain to find a spot. We got lucky this time.

She turned off the truck and silence took the airwaves. I said nothing. She said nothing. And it felt natural. Like it belonged. There was no desperate desire to start talking again. It was sitting in silence. We both got out of the truck and she met me on the sidewalk. We had about a half a block to walk, which really isn't all that bad.

"So what are you in school far?" I asked, as we walked along. Across the road, a couple were walking an excited and happy chocolate lab. Cars and trucks drove up and down the road, some turning down side streets.

"You're going to think it's weird," she said. Now the question seemed to have gained some substance. From just an easy getting to know someone question, into something with mystery.

"Look at me, " I waved my hands along my body, "I am weird. I like weird. The weirder the better."

"You make a good point."

"So, seriously, what is it?"

"I'm studying to become a mortician."

"Like a funeral director?" I asked, unsure that I had heard her right.

"Yeah," she said. We were now standing outside the door of The Uptowner, as I finished up a cigarette.

I don't know what I had expected, but it definitely wasn't that. Of course, I thought it was one of the coolest things I've seen in a very long time. It only added to this woman's charm.

"You're quiet. You do think it's weird." Addison said.

"Well, duh. Of course I think it's weird. And I also happen to think that it is extremely fucking cool. "

"Really?" She gave me huge smile, and behind her black framed glasses, her blue eyes opened wide.I tossed the cigarette into a small metal bucket filled with sand, right outside the bar's doors. I beat her to the door, and held it open for her. I followed behind.

The Uptowner is definitely a dive bar. There was no way in hell you could refute that fact. Tables scattered along the floor, a match book, or a folded coaster was under the legs of at least half of them. Along the wall were old church pews that had been carved on and chipped that most of the finish was gone. In the far back sat two pinball machines from the nineties that had seen better days. One even carried a crack along it's glass top. A pool table, with felt that had been ripped and repaired far too many times. Stains covered the field, some of which were not just drinks. The actual bar sat about 13 or 14 people. Addison and I took the two stools closest to the door.

[ghostlyhabato]

I haven't posted anything here in well over a hot minute, but putting short unfinished/outdated work here feels easier than putting in on ao3 like its 'official' so. Just tossing old things out to share, but many of them i am NOT still working on so only the start of something or an idea.

This is a BNHA/Danny Phantom crossover ft Pariah for Reasons. i started it impulsively. if i continue on this I'd probably rewrite almost this whole thing.

~10K words, vague discussion or mention of death/possible abuse of a minor (danny's home life, standard Fenton's are Not Great Parents), medical trauma, ect. Everyone except Danny might be a bit OOC, especially the BNHA cast in this. Pariah just had secret character development/backstory.

Danny’s luck had to be the worst in the world. Or, in… both worlds?

If this wasn’t some other-world, he had a lot of questions for Clockwork. Because he was also definitely not anywhere in even the first two decades of the 2000’s. The Japanese news here (that he could somehow understand?) said it was 2148. Currently, he was hiding in a half-built building in a seedy part of what he’d found out was probably Tokyo. That’s what he heard people calling it, and it looked close enough to pictures Dani had sent him, but… well, he was pretty sure his Tokyo wasn’t filled with mutants and superheroes. 

When Danny had seen them all, he’d almost stopped hiding. Not immediately, he was having whiplash too hard, but he thought about it. Nobody really blinked when people looked weird or did weird things, or at least not when the heroes did it. And they were real heroes, and the people liked them. They cheered!

Well, they cheered for the heroes. When Danny tried to help, they seemed more confused. The crowds didn’t know his name, but they did shout encouragement. At least up until the heroes tried to bring him down.

Which was, like, totally stupid! Danny had helped them take down a villain way faster than they could have without his powers. But apparently a ‘kid’, or anyone for that matter, shouldn’t use their ‘quirk’ without a license.

Local ghost menace in one world, common illegal vigilante in another. He just couldn’t get a break.

Danny huffed thinking about it, slurping on his cup of noodles he’d taken from a convenience store. He felt bad about it, but he’d learned enough about capitalism from Sam’s latest social-justice binge to know how to minimize the damage he’d do to anyone actually vulnerable. No mom-and-pop stores, only chains; don’t get caught (obvious); take mass stocked items, and take as little as possible from one place. One missed soup can was a miscount or a minor problem. Five cans and half a dozen other necessities was too obvious.

Speaking of obvious. He had to get moving again. Danny groaned as he stood up, feeling the lack of a good bed in his back. He’d been here almost two weeks already, and he couldn’t find a way back. Didn’t help that they had some scarf ninja guy trying to catch him, apparently.

Danny had passed by the guy a couple times and managed not to get caught. Apparently the guy can turn off quirks by looking at people. Distractions in the form of villains and civilians had let Danny skate by, but he had to be careful. ‘Eraserhead’, as stupid as his name was, was not a joke. Danny had just gotten lucky not to be spotted while invisible- either that, or Eraser’s power didn’t work if he didn’t actually see Danny. Hopefully it was the latter. He had a feeling it was not. His luck wouldn’t last much longer.

He shoved his small amount of supplies in his bag- all stolen or paid for with previously stolen money(Taken from caught pickpockets). Blanket, some food, different clothes, and lots of hats and masks. His ghost form was not quite a good enough disguise here. The people hunting him in Tokyo actually had brain cells, apparently.

He had to move spots in the middle of the night. The last time he hadn’t, someone had almost walked in on his sleeping spot. Danny wasn’t sure if it was Eraser, but…

At least Tokyo was big. Giant, really, compared to tiny little Amity. There were all these different districts- prefectures- but he had no idea what was where yet. Being able to read Japanese somehow did not make the map any less confusing.

Danny tried to pick out the landmarks yet again as he reached altitude. Shrines, certain towers, lights, residential areas- it was still a mess in his head. Getting dumped here by a random portal didn’t help. The panic of that day made it hard to remember where it was, and running from heroes probably took him far from where he started. The place it appeared probably would be the best place to-

Several hundred feet above the city, his ghost sense went off. Danny froze in the air.

There was a ghost nearby.

The usual adrenaline spike was mixed with an intense flood of relief. It’d been a while since he was excited to be interrupted by a ghost. Maybe it was Clockwork to get him, or a portal on its own or- hell, he’d be happy to see Skulker at this point. He’d be happy to see Vlad. That thought almost made him pause, but he was getting kinda tired of being on the run all alone. Anyone would be better than no one.

His ghost sense brought him to an open field behind what looked like giant gymnasiums. In the dead of night, the glow of ectoplasm and an aura was like signal lights. There were already two dummies smoking by the time Danny got close enough to realize… he did recognize the ghost. In the worst way possible. He suddenly wished it had been Vlad.

Danny floated down behind the ghost, then dropped his invisibility at the same time he filled his hands with ectoplasm. “What are you doing here?”

The man in front of him turned around. He looked a little different than Danny remembered- his previously wild hair was tamed into a loose (still large) braid, he was wearing less medieval armor and more… workout clothes? A tank-top and fucking sweatpants. The realization actually made Danny’s brain buffer for a second trying to reconcile the idea of the tyrant Ghost King in sweatpants.

Pariah Dark stared at him almost as much as Danny stared back. “...you…” He said slowly with a frown. “You’re… the boy that bested me.”

“Danny Phantom,” Danny snapped, going back on the defensive. 

“Phantom. Right, sorry I didn’t learn your name in the middle of trying to kill each other.” Pariah didn’t seem all that phased. He kept an eye on Danny as he walked over to a nearby table with a bottle and towels.

Danny followed at a distance. “Answer the question. What the hell are you doing here?! You’re supposed to still be in the sarcophagus!”

“Hm. You must not keep very good tabs on your enemies,” Pariah muttered, before taking a drink from the bottle. He glanced at Danny. “I don’t know how long it has been for you, but I have been here a few years.”

“What?” Danny said.

“So, really, I should be the one asking what you are doing here,” Pariah said, crossing his arms as he faced Danny. “In closed school grounds. Only students and faculty are allowed.”

Danny frowned at him. “Aren’t you a little old to be a student?”

“... you better be joking, child.”

Danny huffed and shook his head, raising his fists again. “Whatever! Were you the one that dragged me here?! Or- or you must know how to get back! You must have been looking-”

“Why would I go looking to return to a place where I am the most hated being in the realms?” Pariah said suddenly. “I have found a place here. There’s… there’s no reason for me to go back.” There was an undercurrent of something to his words, but Danny couldn’t care less.

“You have to!” Danny yelled, throwing his arms down like a spoiled child. “I can’t be stuck here! It’s been two weeks, and I haven’t been able to sleep in an actual bed. I’m a hero, and people like heroes here, but somehow I’m illegal? Still?! I’ve got some guy named after a fucking pencil pun chasing me, I’m exhausted, I haven’t had a decent meal in forever, and I have to go home!”

Pariah sighed, dropping his arms. “I can’t help you return, child, but-”

Danny growled and shot a blast that Pariah easily blocked with a shield. “Shut up! You- you did something, you have to have. Random portals don’t just toss me to other worlds, and if this was just the future, Clockwork would have left me something-” Pariah’s eyes went wide, but Danny didn’t care. “So- so you have to be involved!” 

Danny approached, tears in his eyes now- god, was he really that desperate? He hadn’t talked to anyone seriously since coming here, and now it felt like it wouldn’t stop. “You tried to take over the Zone, you tried to kill me, you- you have to do something about this, or- or-”

Danny took a breath to bite back a sob, and suddenly the tightness in his chest wasn’t tears. He turned human and dropped to the ground. He blacked out before his head hit the ground.

“...Excellent timing as always, Eraser.”

Aizawa hurried out of the treeline, hair floating down as he stopped using Erasure. “What just happened? I only tried to erase his quirk-”

“Well, he’s a half ghost.” Pariah knelt at the boy’s side. “So you only maybe half-killed him.”

“...what.”

When Danny woke up, there was a worrying noise to his side. A regular, very slow beeping. It suddenly got faster as Danny shot up in the hospital bed.

The room was small and white and clean and there was a IV in his arm that he tried to phase out- It didn’t. His arm didn’t go intangible. Now that he looked, he was handcuffed to the bed, too. Why couldn’t he- he couldn’t use his powers, he was caught, no, nonono-

A large hand grabbed his as Danny reached for the IV. “Don’t be stupid, boy. That is there to help you.”

Danny jerked away from Pariah and looked over at the ghost sitting beside him. He wasn’t quite as large as Danny remembered, here- maybe that had just been his memory. He wasn’t wearing sweats, but now had on a more fitting tunic-looking shirt.

“Where am I?” Danny asked immediately. “What did you do to me? Why can’t I use my powers?” He tried to push himself up, but Pariah put a hand on his shoulder and easily made him lie back down.

“Oh, lie down, child. Didn’t you tell me last we spoke how exhausted you are?” He sighed, and it was disconcerting how calm he realized Pariah was. “If you hurt yourself in bed, Recovery Girl will only make you stay here longer.”

“R-Recovery girl…?”

“Ah, he’s awake!” Danny jumped at the new voice. A small old woman with a weird pink visor walked up to his bedside. “You were supposed to come get me when he woke up.”

“It was only moments ago,” Pariah said. “I had to keep him from ripping out the IV first.”

Danny had to guess this was Recovery Girl, although the name didn’t quite fit. She tsked and frowned at Danny now, and pointed at him. “Don’t you go doing that now! When you were brought in, you were badly dehydrated and malnourished! That IV there is your quickest way to get cleared by me to get out of that bed, do you understand?”

“I-I-” Danny stuttered, core fluttering in anxiety. “You- you’re not- you’re not going to take blood or-” He swallowed. “E-experiment?”

Both Recovery Girl and Pariah gave him worried looks. “Why on Earth do you think we’d do something like that?” Recovery Girl said. “I might have to do blood work if you were sick, but you’ve just neglected to take care of yourself recently. Just rest, and eat all the food you’re given, and I think you should be fine in a day or two.” Danny let out a breath he’d been holding, and the heart machine started to slow. She huffed and glanced at the handcuffs. “I can’t say what Eraser’s conditions are, but Pariah at least has put in a good word.”

“He…?” Danny looked at Pariah. “Then that- when I passed out, you didn’t-?”

“That wasn’t me, child,” Pariah said simply. “Eraser must have followed you here, since he is a teacher, and found us while we spoke. I don’t think any of us expected how his power would affect you.”

Danny felt his blood slow. “Does that… not happen to everyone?” The adults shook their heads. “Oh. I- am I…” He pulled at the handcuff. “U-under arrest…?”

“You should be.”

Another new face stood at the door. His long black hair and scarf hid most of his face, except his intense eyes glaring at him. Danny had only really seen him in passing, but he recognized the scarf. Eraserhead.

Danny shrunk back into the bed, accidentally making the chain clink as he tried to pull his hands over his chest.

“You already half-killed the boy, no need to scare him,” Pariah said. He almost sounded like he was being… sarcastic?

The glare turned on Pariah. “You’re the one who keeps saying that- He’s fine. He’s awake, isn’t he?” Eraser stepped up to the end of the bed and crossed his arms. “So. Danny Phantom. You’re the vigilante that’s been giving me the run around the past two weeks.” Something in his glare changed. “Are you really just a child?”

That was enough to have Danny glare back just a bit. “I’m not a child, I’m, like, almost sixteen!”

Pariah huffed and leaned back in his chair. “Really? Hm. How old were you when we fought?”

Danny scowled at him, not holding back. “...Fourteen. You got your ass kicked by a fourteen-year-old, so shut up.”

Pariah just rolled his eyes.

“Why did you fight a fourteen-year-old?” Eraser muttered.

“I think we’ve talked about this before,” Pariah said. “I can explain more later.”

“Great,” Danny muttered. “So. What’s happening now?” His anger died, just a little, as he looked at Eraser. “Am- Am I? Under arrest, I mean.”

“Like I said, you should be.” Eraser frowned, and Danny flinched with each following accusation. “Using your quirk without a license is highly illegal, especially using them to be an untrained vigilante. You could have gotten yourself or others hurt interfering with hero work. Not to mention, I know you’ve been stealing or breaking into various places for supplies and shelter. Maybe you didn’t hurt anyone, but that is still no excuse.”

Pariah cleared his throat. “But.”

“...But.” Eraser sighed heavily and dropped his arms. “Pariah has told me you come from the same place as him. Meaning you have nowhere to go, no support system, and you’re apparently missing the same… special nutrient requirements. You’re also an unaccompanied minor with no idea of the laws surrounding quirks. Given that…” He gave Danny a calculating look. “If you agree not to break the law anymore… you won’t be punished. My contacts with the police have agreed to absolve your crimes as long as you have a responsible guardian. We have some options for you while you are here.”

Danny didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath again, and let it out in one go. “Oh. O- yeah, okay. I can do that. I… didn’t really want to steal or anything. So that- yeah, that works.” he paused. “Uh… ‘we’?”

Eraser nodded at Pariah. “The principal of the school, the police chief, Pariah, and I.”

“Why is Pariah involved?” Danny muttered, shooting the man a glare.

“I told you I work here, boy,” Pariah said. “I am also the only being here even remotely similar to you, and we come from the same world. And I’m not a child. Of course I would be consulted.”

Danny scowled. “But- but you’re-” He looked at Eraser and pointed at Pariah. “Do you even know what he did where I’m from? He’s tried to kill a bunch of people! And take over the- the world! And-”

“Just because we fought once does not mean you know my whole story, Phantom,” Pariah interrupted.

Eraser glanced between them. “I have heard of some of Pariah’s past, yes. But we have come to some agreements. As far as I’ve known him, he has not been as monstrous as you see him. Not perfect, but not awful. I believe in giving people a chance to speak with their actions, and Pariah’s actions have proven trustworthy, so far.”

“‘So far’,” Danny muttered, glaring.

Pariah stood up. “Perhaps we should give him some time. I can understand why you’d hate me as you do, and you were fairly distraught the other night. The main fact for now is that nobody is going to hurt you, but you need rest.”

“If you try to leave, don’t,” Eraser said darkly. “You won’t get far.”

Danny frowned. “What, cuz you’ll be around?”

“Well, yes. But you should probably be more scared of what will happen if Recovery Girl finds you trying to get out of bed rest.”

“...uh.” Danny glanced over to the office door where Recovery Girl had disappeared. “...Okay?”

Pariah gave a small laugh, and once again Danny’s brain short-circuited. “I have no doubt he will learn. If nothing else, you are stubborn.” He nodded to Danny before heading out.

“I’ll be checking in,” Eraser said. “When you feel a little better, we’ll probably have a meeting with everyone about your options moving forward.”

“Okay. Um, thanks… E-Eraserhead?” God, that felt stupid to say out loud. “That’s your name, right?”

Eraser nodded once. “It is. Some teachers and other heroes call me Eraser. In school, though, students call me Aizawa-sensei.” He turned to leave. “There’s a good chance you’re going to be going to school here, too, until we find you a way home. So you can call me that.”

“Uh, okay, Aizawa-sensei,” Danny said hesitantly. He knew like half a thing about Japanese from Sam trying to show them anime. Didn’t ‘sensei’ mean teacher or something? 

Wait. 

“Wait- you’re making me go to school?!”

But Aizawa was already gone.

Danny thought they’d been joking about fearing Recovery Girl’s ire. He quickly was proven wrong. It only took her finding him trying to stand and stretch while still handcuffed to the bed to put him in the red with her. The only other grandmother-ish figure he knew was Ida Manson, but Sam’s bubbie hadn’t ever turned a glare like that on Danny before. Then again, he’d never really given her a reason to.

Safe to say, he was much more hesitant to go against Recovery Girl’s medical orders after that. (Or, he was much more careful not to be noticed. She usually noticed.)

If it wasn’t for being literally handcuffed to the bed, he probably wouldn’t have been cleared by Recovery Girl after only three days.

“Didn’t Aizawa-sensei say I wasn’t under arrest?” Danny grumbled as the handcuff finally came off. “Why didn’t he take this off back then?”

“It was suggested you’d run off alone again if you didn’t.” Recovery Girl harrumphed as he stood up. “Considering how many times I had to force you back in bed even then, I’m not surprised.”

Danny frowned. “Wait, who’d suggest that?”

“Is he ready?”

The two turned to see Pariah waiting in the doorway. The pointed look Recovery girl gave him made him put the pieces together, and he scowled.

“If he doesn’t push himself, he’ll be fine.” She waved a hand as she turned away. “Go on then.”

 Danny didn’t move. “Why are you here?”

Pariah just gave him an unimpressed look. “The principal and the others want to talk, now that Recovery Girl has cleared you from bed rest. I came to get you.”

“Could just give me directions, you know. Or a map.” Danny ducked around him out the door and started down the hall.

“You’re already going the wrong way.”

Danny scowled and turned on his heel. He didn’t look at Pariah as the larger ghost stayed even with him.

“Besides that,” Pariah continued. “Like I said before- I am the only other being from our world here. I will most likely be consulted on most matters regarding how you will be helped.”

“Only 'cuz you lied to them,” Danny muttered.

Pariah rolled his eyes. “I get the feeling there were a lot of untrue stories about me even before I awoke that first time. You do not know the truth of my tale, Phantom, just as I do not know yours.”

Danny snorted. “Oh yeah? What part don’t I know? The part where you terrorized everyone and staged a violent takeover? Or the part where you were literally so shitty, several people had to put you in time out the first time?” He shot him a glare. “Or, I skipped this, the part where you ripped my town off the map and threw it into the Ghost Zone for a day! You sent a skeleton army to attack people!”

Pariah just looked ahead and sighed with a vague frown. “Maybe at another time I could tell you, if you do not choose to try to fight my every word.” He slowed at a door, making Danny double back. “For now, could you try to be civil? The people here do want to assist you if they can. Do not judge them for my actions.”

His hand waited on the door handle, so he was obviously waiting for a reply. Danny huffed and crossed his arms. “I mean… fine, but I can still judge why they want to trust you.”

“...I suppose that is the best we can do for now.” Pariah shook his head before opening the door and waving Danny in.

Inside was a table set up with documents. On one side, two men who looked like they were in law enforcement were sitting. Aizawa sat opposite them, and Pariah took the remaining chair there. There was one chair obviously for Danny, and opposite him was…

A white… bear… rat… dog…. Creature? In a little suit and tie. It smiled as Danny stared.

“Hello!” the creature said in a cheery voice. “You are Danny Phantom, then? I am the principal of UA Academy, Principal Nezu! You’ve met Aizawa-san, and this is detective Tsukauchi and his partner detective Tanua.”

Danny blinked. “Uh…. oh… kay?” He was still processing. Thinking about it, there was a non-zero number of sentient ghosts who were less human looking than Nezu. That was probably what helped him stop staring and finally sit down. (His chair was right next to Pariah. Ew.)

“Er, actually-” He hesitated as everyone looked at him. He swallowed. “Phantom is… is what I go as when I’m a ghost? Like my superhero name- I-I’m not always in ghost mode. My last name is actually Fenton.”

“You chose a hero name?” Tsukauchi asked.

Danny shrugged. “Uh, well, nobody knew I was a ghost back home. And my parents are- well.” He knew his parents being ghost hunters was weird and possibly traumatizing to him. It was also not important right now and he didn’t need these guys trying to get him in therapy or something. “They don’t like ghosts, so I couldn’t exactly go around being called my normal name when I was flying around town fighting other ghosts, ya know?”

The three humans gave him worried looks.

“That actually brings up what we wanted to start with today, Fenton-kun!” Nezu said, seemingly unaffected. “Pariah has told us what he can of where you come from, but as you are probably aware, there are large gaps in his knowledge as well. We’d like to start with asking you basic questions about your life, if that’s alright. Beginning with where you are from, originally.”

Danny gave Pariah a suspicious look. Pariah gave him a look back that practically said, ‘yeah, I talked about you. What are you gonna do about it?’ At least, that’s how Danny read it.

“Sure, I guess,” Danny mumbled. It already felt weird enough to be upfront about not being totally human, but that cat was way out of the bag. And also kind of unimportant in this place? Nezu certainly wasn’t human. Still, Danny found himself fidgeting and rubbing his neck before speaking. “Um, well- I’m not sure what the geography situation is here. I mean, Japan and Tokyo exist back home, so…? Anyway, I’m from Amity Park, Illinois, in the US.” He made a face. “Er, also, it was only 2012 last time I checked.”

Everyone looked a little surprised at that, even Pariah.

“You are aware the year is 2148 here, yes?” Aizawa said.

Danny nodded. “I mean, yeah. I read the news in the two weeks I was hobo-ing around.”

“Your Japanese is very good, for an American teenager,” Tanuma said. “Especially one from over a hundred years ago.”

Danny stopped. “Wait- uh. I’m- okay, this must be some magic nonsense, cuz I have not been speaking, let alone hearing, Japanese this whole time.” He shrugged. “I mean, I think I could tell when I first got here it was weird? And I’m sure if I tried to write in Japanese it wouldn’t work, but, uh-” He frowned and looked at Pariah. “Dude, you’d be farther back in time than I was, you shouldn’t know future-modern Japanese either.”

“I simply took it as part of the transition into this world,” Pariah said. “It just made things easier, so I was not keen on investigating it too closely.”

“So that is not part of your quirk, for sure?” Nezu asked. “Could it be a ghost aspect you were not aware of? Just so we are all clear.”

“No?” Danny said with another heavy shrug. “I dunno, man, I’m still catching up on ghost magic and biology sh- stuff. I know ghosts can speak and understand most dead languages? That’s about it.”

Pariah nodded. “That is the only general rule about languages ghosts have, yes.”

Nezu hummed and put his hands- paws together.

“You-” Tsukauchi cleared his throat awkwardly. “I realize this may be a sensitive subject, so please feel free to turn down this line of questioning. You said you are ‘catching up’ on ghost information- you’re still young then, even in those terms? Can I ask how…?”

“You are right,” Pariah said suddenly. He gave Tsukauchi a hard look. “That is a sensitive topic. One does not just discuss such things with strangers.”

Danny waved a hand. “I mean… I don’t think that’s exactly what he was asking, but, uh, yeah. I’m not gonna talk about, uh, how I died, if that’s what you meant.”

Tsukauchi held up a hand, quickly shaking his head. “No, no, of course not. I completely understand.”

“If you are uncomfortable with any of our questions, please tell us, Fenton-kun,” Nezu said.

“...yeah.” Danny nodded absently. “Er, well, I think what you were asking was how long I’ve been- I mean, I’m still half human but I uh… I’ve been half ghost for almost two and a half years, now.”

The worried looks that passed around the table, even hidden as they were, made Danny’s stomach clench. He slid down in his seat without thinking about it. This much attention, from adults, from adults that weren’t ghosts, was really weird. Especially with how formal it felt.

Pariah was the one exception, but even he gave Danny an inscrutable look. His attention just made Danny annoyed, though. He glared back.

“How long have you been doing hero work back home?” Aizawa asked quietly.

Danny shrugged again. “Almost just as long. The fighting died down sort of recently cuz I set up truces with a lot of ghosts. They used to cause a lot of trouble cuz before that a stable portal between the Ghost Zone and the human world was really rare, so a lot of people just didn’t know how to hold themselves back or something, and I was protecting the town by tossing them back through the portal. Now it’s not so bad. Sometimes people don’t know the rules, but allies or ghosts in on the truce can usually set them straight without me, since they know it’d cause them trouble too. There are some ghosts that come specifically to bother me, though.” He grinned. “But I’m pretty strong.” He shot Pariah a look. “Stronger than when I whooped your ass too, by the way.”

“I would suspect so, from such a young ghost,” Pariah said.

“Wait, you two fought?” Tsukauchi cut in, frowning at Pariah. “You fought a child?! And lost?”

Danny frowned back. “Yeah- I thought you said you told them what you knew?”

“I told Eraser and Nezu-san,” Pariah said.

Tsukauchi looked between them, then at Nezu. “Is it really appropriate-”

“Pariah has informed us of the context around their altercation,” Nezu said easily. “And he also asked for some privacy in the matter. But I assure you, we believe that there is currently no danger posed for anyone in interacting.”

Tsukauchi sat back with some hesitation.

Danny rolled his eyes as obviously as possible. “I’m not scared of him, if that’s what you’re worried about.” He wasn’t going to point out he had the ecto-skeleton last time, because he was totally strong enough to beat Pariah without it now. Totally. Probably. ...Maybe.

His skill at denial was certifiably top-tier at least.

"Anyway," Aizawa said, apparently getting them back on track. "You won't be doing any of that while you're here. For one, the only ghosts here are in this room and for two, you're a minor. Even students have to earn hero permits to work as licensed pro heroes. Vigilantes are illegal."

Danny made a face, but didn't argue. He didn't want to have to deal with whatever Aizawa's power had done to him again.

"I'm sure Eraser has told you," Tanuma said, "but we're going to drop all charges against you up til now because of your… unique situation. However, any future charges will be addressed as usual if it comes up. Understood?"

"Y… yeah," Danny muttered. It didn't sit right, though. Being told he wasn't allowed to help protect people. He stopped himself from saying something with a huff, despite everything.

"Is there a problem, Fenton-kun?" Nezu asked, and he… he did sound genuinely concerned.

Danny shifted uncomfortably. "N- not really. I just uh. Might need reminders." He laughed uneasily. "Ya know, when you get used to running towards the screaming, it's kind of hard to stop." That got him a variety of looks around the table. "I uh. I'm used to helping. Back home, nobody-" He huffed again. "Some people tried to help. But they were either… not great at it, or they thought ghosts were… inhuman. Less than animals. So they-" He smirked, so he didn't break. "They didn't just toss them back home with a kick in the pants, ya know?"

Most of the worried looks were aimed at him, be he saw them glance at Pariah. Not that he would know any of this, the asshole barely gave humans half a thought before, as far as Danny saw.

Pariah seemed to have all his attention on him, though.

Aizawa sighed eventually. "They say the best heroes react on instinct. That you can't train for that kind of thing." He didn't sound very happy about it in this case. "Just… try to remember there are pros taking care of everything here, alright?"

Danny gave a noncommittal humm and shifted in his seat, a hand going to his chest.

"What is your obsession, boy?"

They all looked at Pariah at his sudden question.

"What?" Tsukauchi said.

"What's it to you?" Danny shot back, glaring at him.

"Wait, what are you talking about?"

Danny and Pariah just stared (or glared) at the other.

Nezu cleared his throat. "Pariah?"

Pariah was quiet for a moment. "His obsession." He didn't take his eyes off Danny. "Also known as a focus, or a reason. Every ghost has one. It's the center of their being. So, what is yours, boy?"

Danny snorted. "Didn't tell anyone yours? What is it anyway? Conquest? Domination?"

Pariah sighed.

"Fenton-kun." The boy jumped at Nezu's calm voice. "Is it common to tell others your obsession, as a ghost?"

"It- uh…" Danny shrugged. "I mean, it's not asked a lot. Usually you can kinda get the gist just by meeting them. Or they just tell you- hell, that's how Skulker introduces himself, 'the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter'." He snorted. "He's not, technically I probably am, but that's his thing."

"Do you have 'thing', then?" Aizawa asked. "You did say you're only half ghost."

Danny shrugged again. "I mean, I think so, since without an obsession you don't have a ghost. Even little non sentient blob ghosts have an obsession to, like, eat or something. Frostbite thinks it might just be easier for me to ignore or I like to have more than one I switch between, since humans are really flexible compared to ghosts with that sort of thing."

"Frostbite?" Nezu questioned.

"Oh- right-" Danny sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry, I'm not used to talking about stuff with people who don't already… know. Frostbite is kinda like my ghost doctor. He and his people in the Far Frozen are really good doctors for ghosts and I have an ice core like they do too, so he helped me figure out more about my biology." He paused and smirked. "Especially since they love me after I locked this asshole back up when we first met."

Pariah just sighed again, sitting back to cross his arms.

"Child, please."

"I'll stop when it stops being funny. Or when you stop deserving it. So, never."

Nezu coughed lightly. Danny at least made an effort to tone down his smile. “Well, if you do have one or more than one ‘focus’, what would they be?”

And there went any smile he had. “Oh. Er…” He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling heat rise in his cheeks. Everyone was looking at him, and from Pariah’s expectant look, he’d probably figured it out. “Uh. Well, space and astronomy stuff might be… my secondary one…”

“And your primary focus?” Aizawa said.

Danny sunk down in his chair, not looking at them. His face was definitely red. “Probably… prmbmle….”

“What was that, Fenton-kun?” Nezu said, leaning forward.

He heaved a sigh, and said clearly, “Protecting people…”

The other adults stared, but Pariah huffed what could have been a laugh. “Of course. No wonder.” He shook his head with a smirk as Aizawa rubbed his eyes and Tsukauchi heaved a sigh.

Nezu just smiled. “That’s a very… heroic focus.”

Danny just shrugged. “Not that I can control it. Didn’t know about it when I was, er, forming, so it just sort of… happened.”

Tsukauchi sat forward and nodded at Pariah. “What is- a focus? Obsession? Whatever we want to call it. How does that affect a ghost?”

Pariah looked between him, Danny, and Nezu. “As we both said, a focus is just that- the focus of a ghost’s afterlife. Something their entire nature revolves around. Following one’s focus leads to health and stability, or power if done in excess. Outright avoiding or going against a focus is…” He frowned at Danny. “...ill-advised. At best it can lead to stress and fatigue. At worst, it can lead to frenzy, aggression, and- eventually- a spirit’s end. Especially when a spirit is not in the realms, following your focus is a key part of staying sane and healthy.”

Tsukauchi glanced at Danny and cocked an eyebrow.

“Uh… yeah, that’s about what I know, actually.” Danny shrugged.

Aizawa put his arm on the table and leaned his head against his head. “So what I’m hearing is, we have an untrained, unlicensed teenager with the equivalent to an overpowered quirk who has to be a hero for his own safety?”

Danny grimaced. “Safety is probably… not the best word. I, uh, do get hurt back home pretty often.”

Aizawa waved a finger at him. “And that is not helping your case here, Fenton-kun.”

“I think this is a wonderful opportunity, then!” Everyone turned to look at Nezu, who simply smiled. “There is no reason for young Fenton-kun to fight or get hurt recklessly here, and we are the top hero academia in Japan for a reason. If anyone is equipped to handle his unique needs, I believe it is us. It wouldn’t be the first time students came to the school with some kind of hero experience. Fenton-kun, you said your parents were not aware of your vigilantism at home?”

Danny sat up. “Oh. Er, no. I mean, they taught us how to defend ourselves with their inventions, and my mom’s a black belt- she tried to teach us some basics, it’s probably the only reason I got a full month into fighting before I broke my hand punching Skulker-” He stopped and shook his head. The humans exchanged some looks, but he ignored them. “But- but no, they don’t know.”

“And you worked alone?”

“Y-er.” Danny’s hand found it’s way to the back of his neck again. “Uh. I mean… sort of? I was the only one actually fighting anyone, but my friends Sam and Tucker knew and helped provide cover or distractions sometimes, or carried spare equipment. My sister Jazz found out and tried to help, but…” he shuddered. “She’s not allowed to use the ranged equipment around us anymore. She got my mom’s reflexes, but my dad’s aim- couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, ya know?”

Tsukauchi suddenly covered his face with his hand. Danny just smiled nervously, not sure what he said to make this worse.

“So…” Tanuma said slowly. “Your parents keep weapons in the house? That you have access to?”

“Well… yeah? I don’t-” Danny’s ‘the rest of the world is clueless about ghosts/the Fentons’ brain cell suddenly burst from the grave. “Oh- oh my god, wait, that is not as bad as that sounds!”

“That sounds pretty bad,” Tsukauchi said. “Especially if they haven’t figured out what you’re doing when you borrow equipment, which is what it sounds like.”

“I- well-” He laughed, high and shaky. “Yeah! I guess that would sound pretty bad, and would make them suspicious, if… they knew… we were taking stuff…”

Aizawa just had his head in his hands at this point.

Danny waved his hands wildly. “Look, they- there’s a lot of ghost stuff going on and they- they’re ghost scientists, of course they’re distracted trying to do something! And- listen, I’m going to tell them eventually, I just need the right time and- and okay, I mean that does get harder when they think Phantom is the one stealing equipment.” He dropped his hands a fraction. “Which, I guess they- they don’t really just ‘think’ that if they’re… technically right…”

The table was silent.

“Child.” Pariah sighed. “I was raised in a warrior culture, but even I can tell there are several issues with your family by the day’s standards, if all this is true.”

“Even without quirk laws, I think that’s pretty obvious neglect,” Tsukauchi muttered into his hand. “Not to mention…” he looked at Danny, and Danny’s panic skyrocketed at the clear worry. “You said they’re ghost scientists?”

He swallowed hard, shaking hands suddenly very, very still. “U-um. S- sort of.” His heart jumped to his throat while his core was a heavy block in his gut. Why was he panicking so hard? They already knew his secret. And they couldn’t do anything to his parents, so- so why did them looking so worried suddenly hit him so hard? 

“Sort of?” Tanuma was closest to him on that side, and turned his chair to face Danny better. “Fenton-kun, what exactly do your parents do?”

God, he couldn’t look at them, couldn’t bear what they thought of his parents. That’s all it was, the gut-instinct to years of being bullied for what his parents did, being judged for how they acted, 

Being hunted for what he was-

A hand reached out, and he jerked back, the chair moving with a metallic screech.

Tanuma froze, that too-soft tone to his voice. “Danny-kun. Just breathe. You’re alright, you’re safe. Nobody here is going to hurt you, and nothing we talk about has to leave this room unless you want it to.”

He sucked in a breath through his teeth, holding himself, not quite looking at Tanuma. From the side, he saw a puff of breath come from the detective, and belatedly noticed how cold the room had gotten. A bit of frost even touched the metal arms of his chair. He forced his jaw open and took a gulp of air, held it, and blew out what ended up being a fine frosty mist that settled on the table in front of him.

In, hold, then out. “Good.” Again, little brother.

The next breath didn’t litter the tabletop with ice crystals, and he managed to relax his grip on his arms in the third. Nobody moved while he forced his core to stop freezing everything.

His voice still shook. “They, um. They’re inventors. They make a bunch of ghost-related stuff- blasters, wrist ways, shields, containment…they patent them, and sell them to the town and government for defense. Even after the town accepted ghosts as real, they’re called crazy. The only experts in town, but crazy.” He swallowed again. “But, uh… they like to call themselves ghost hunters.”

There was a muffled swear from Aizawa. Evan Pariah looked a bit surprised.

“Ghost hunters?” Tanuma said. “What- why?”

“Because ghosts are just evil ectoplasmic impressions of post-human consciousness. Obviously.” The smirk and sarcasm he tried for ended up a grimace and squeak. His vision blurred and- “Dammit, sorry…” He wiped at his eyes quickly, trying to turn away. The table was blessedly quiet while Danny got ahold of his tears.

Aizawa was looking at him- they were all looking at him, really- when he seemed to settle. “Is that what they think of Phantom?”

Danny could only shrug, blankly staring at the puddle now on the table. “If it’s not Phantom, then they’re saying it about all the others. They don’t think ghosts are- are people, really. They say ghosts don’t have emotions besides anger, that they can’t feel pain, that they’re worse than animals-”

Pariah interrupted with a scoff. “I’d ask why you bother protecting them if not for your focus. But your efforts sound like they’d be better suited elsewhere.”

“They’re my parents!” Danny snapped, eyes flashing green as he shot Pariah a glare.

“It does not sound that they act like it.”

Danny shot to his feet and was stopped by Tanuma putting his arm between the two ghosts. The rest of the room was tense, save Pariah, calmly staring back.

“I think it would be best for you to withhold any further comments about the Fentons, Pariah.” Nezu also seemed calm, but it was hard for most to read him in the first place.

Regardless, Pariah simply hummed agreement and broke the staring match. 

Nobody pointed out that, technically, both of them were right. From the way Danny glared holes into the table as he sat back down, he knew it too.

Tanuma put a hand on the table, grabbing everyone's attention. "Given that it's only Fenton-kun here, and all the rest of this context, I think we can table the discussion of his home life if or until it becomes relevant. The only other thing I think should be taken from this is, well…" He looked at Danny and gave him a nervous smile, and tried to keep his tone light. "No offense, but you might do well with therapy?"

That got a dark snort of laughter from Danny. "Yeah. Yeah, I know. My sister is going into psychology, and she never shuts up about it. That's not really an option."

"Perhaps not when you were at home," Tsukauchi said with a nod. "But would you consider it while you are here? While we don't know how long that might be, it could be helpful both in the short and long term. We would be able to give necessary context and ensure the utmost confidentiality."

"All staff are going to be at least somewhat aware of your situation," Nezu added. "So if you wish to go to the school counselor-"

"No."

The table went quiet, until Danny realized he was shaking again, and slowly took a breath. "N- I… I tried school counseling once. She… nearly killed half the school." He huffed, not a laugh but he smirked humorless. "Well, probably would have ended up being the whole school, but… anyway, she was a ghost that fed on people's misery. Said mine was the best…" He shook his head. "Anyway, the point is, if I try to go to therapy, or especially a school counselor, I- I'd…"

"We understand," Tsukauchi said gently. "You do not have to go, it was simply something we suggested without context."

Nezu nodded and put his paws together. "I am sure [Name] would also be willing to meet you in a non-office or non-therapy setting, with supervision, if that would help ease any fears. Such a meeting would not have to necessarily lead to treatment afterwards, but simply for your peace of mind."

Danny made a face, but shrugged. "Maybe…"

“I can make a note of it and ask you again later?”

Danny just shrugged again, and Nezu nodded and wrote something down.

“While we’re health-adjacent,” Aizawa said. “Do you know if or how your vitals or health might be different from average, Fenton-kun?”

“Oh- uh, yeah, actually.” He laughed once, slowly relaxing. “Once Jazz found out I had a ghost doctor, she made them run me through the gauntlet and figure that all out. The obvious you probably already noticed? My pulse rests at like, 30? I don’t have to breathe quite as much, especially when I sleep- freaked my friends out the first time we had a sleepover after. Still need air, though!” He rubbed at his throat and winced. “Uh, temperature about 80 degrees-”

“Celsius?” Tanuma gasped.

Danny blinked. “Oh- uh, fahrenheit? That’s like,” -he ran the quick and dirty formula in his head- “Twenty five, twenty six celsius? Yeah, I-” he laughed. “I’m ice, not fire. Eighty celsius anything would probably kill me. Or- well anyone, that’s like over a hundred- no, two hundred fahrenheit?”

He heard Tsukauchi mutter something about ‘Americans’, which Danny agreed with on principle.

“Yeah, so, that. I wear out in the heat but below-freezing temps aren’t that bad, even while I’m human. Uh, for everything else, we couldn’t be exact because there’s only three halfa’s ever- one of them has never been to the Far Frozen despite my best efforts, and the other is a fruitloop that would and should be shot on sight because, as I said, he’s a fruitloop.”

“Meaning?”

“He’s batshit crazy and basically a stereotypical supervillain.” Danny paused. “Wait, stereotypes are probably different here, huh…?”

“So you don’t have answers about any specific health requirements?” Tanuma said.

“Oh- uh, Frostbite made some educated guesses?” Danny grimaced again. “I, uh… was probably a little malnourished even before I got here. Being a teenager mixed with constant activity and adrenaline, and ghost cores burn through energy crazy fast. So, I’m, uh. Always hungry. Never got a calorie count, wasn’t worth it, but more than I was getting. That, and more ‘healthy’ ectoplasm in my diet- he ended up just making me supplements, since it was too much trouble to get and keep ghost food around.”

Most of them seemed to be writing something down, except Pariah. He just looked at Danny. “I’d hope your obsession was at least being fulfilled then?”

Danny couldn’t help but shoot him a glare. “Yeah, that wasn’t an issue.”

“Allergies or reactions?” Tsukauchi prompted.

“Er… no? Not specifically for me, just- you know, general ghost things.” He waved a hand at Pariah, unwilling to admit him being there saved some explanation. “I can withstand some things a little better than normal ghosts, and some things less. Same with human stuff. Like-” He paused, only long enough to remember they couldn’t do anything about it anyway. “Well, probably won’t come up, but I can’t get drunk on normal alcohol. Then ghost alcohol knocks me off my ass.”

Pariah snorted at that, but the other adults sans Nezu gave him looks ranging from shock to concern. “Why do you know that?”

“Nobody told me what was in what at a Saturnalia Truce party, ‘cause different standard drinking ages over time and culture. My friend Dora had to lock me in my room at her castle so I didn’t keep drinking. I’m strictly and publically BYOB for Zone parties now.” He made a face. “Which wouldn't be so bad if everyone stopped making jokes about ‘don’t let the baby drink’ every time anything festive happens.”

Pariah, the bastard, kept laughing. Danny kicked him in the shin. “Shut up!”

“Anything…” Tanuma sighed and put his head in his hand. “Anything that might be more relevant?”

“Uh… I typically need, like, a lot of aspirin for it to work? I’d guess that goes for medicine in general, but I also have a pretty great healing factor most of the time, so.”

“What’s your healing factor like?”

“Eh, healed a broken ulna in like… a week and a half, one time? Stitches heal in a day or two.”

Tsukauchi and Aizawa rubbed their eyes this time, clearly exasperated.

“...what?”

“You’re just like the problem child, aren’t you?” Aizawa muttered, seemingly to himself.

“Er- who’s the problem child?”

The other adults looked confused, but Aizawa just sighed in a way that was kind of familiar to Danny.

“Is advanced hearing one of your abilities, Fenton-kun?” Nezu said casually.

Danny shrugged one shoulder. “Er- kind of a general ghost thing, but yeah.”

“Right,” Aizawa huffed, and gave Danny an exhausted but focused look. “Since we’re on that, tell us about your quirk- or your power, as Americans call them.”

“Yeah, uh- power? Singular?”

He was starting to feel bad for exhausting the man. “Typically, here, people only have one quirk. Sometimes certain individuals can appear to have more than one, but really it’s just a dual-purpose use of a single quirk. For the purposes of registry and school, you will be registered with one quirk.”

Wow. That… “That’s… going to be… kind of impossible?”

“It may just limit what powers you may use publicly,” Pariah said.

“Why don’t you just tell us what you can do, and we can go from there?” Nezua added with a smile.

“Okaaay…” Danny held up his hand and began listing off on his fingers. “So, there’s the basic ghost stuff: flying, intangibility, invisibility, enhanced strength, hearing, and durability… oh and overshadowing but- I- I don’t use that one anymore, really.”

Tsukauchi looked like he really didn’t want to ask. “Overshadowing?”

“I believe he means possession,” Pariah answered instead.

“Right, right, of course…”

“I don’t use it anymore,” Danny said again, not looking at them. “Unless it’s to stop someone else overshadowing someone, but that’s it.” He shook his head and continued. “Then there’s ecto-manipulation- ectoblasts, rays, shields- can’t really make anything complicated with shields, but I never trained for that. Personally, I’m an ice core, so ice creation and control- thank Frostbite I’m not freezing everyone and everything around me anymore. I can sense ghosts, and that usually shows up as seeing my breath because of my core. I can duplicate myself, but not… consistently?”

Pariah raised an eyebrow, but Danny shot him a glare. He just smirked and didn’t say anything.

Danny sucked in a breath. “And, um, my ghostly wail. It’s like a scream, but it’s my most powerful attack- and most destructive. I’ve taken out buildings with it before, and it usually forces me to transform back after, so it’s a last-ditch thing.”

“‘Transform back’?” Nezu said.

“Oh! I, uh, have a separate form- my ghost form? I guess that’d be a power- it’s how nobody in town knew I was Phantom. But I can’t hold it forever- if I run out of energy or pass out or go to sleep, I transform back to my human form. My ecto-signature is weaker in human form, which makes it harder to notice or track me, but I also have a harder time using my powers without transforming.”

“How does this transformation work, exactly?” Nezu asked, leaning forward with his paws together. “Is It destructive or painful?”

“N- no? And, I don’t know? I just sort of-” Danny made a motion to his chest. “Like… pull my core forward? Mentally, I mean- it doesn’t feel bad, and it’s just really bright. And I can like, partially transform?” He let his eyes go green, but he was sure they’d seen that earlier when he was freaking out.

“In that case, would you be willing to show us now?”

“I- uh- sure?” And then suddenly they were all looking at him, and he never felt more self-conscious. Transforming was so normal for him usually, but having an audience like this was different. He pushed himself forward in his chair, but didn’t stand, fidgeting with his shirt. “Uh…”

He didn’t mean to be stalling, but Aizawa and Tsukauchi shared a look, and that just made him pull his shoulders in-

There was a rap on the table. “Phantom.”

Danny’s gaze locked onto Pariah with his challenging tone. When he noticed the unimpressed look Pariah was giving him, it ticked him off.

He transformed almost without thinking, his core already humming in defiance to the challenge he only then heard from Pariah’s core. Pariah smirked again, and the sound from his core shifted to smug satisfaction before quieting.

It took Danny a second of sitting there- facing Pariah, half ready to stand and fight- before he registered what had just happened. He did get up then. “You did that on purpose!”

“You were overthinking it,” Pariah said simply. “I gather that you usually shift to challenge an opponent, so I gave you the appearance of one.”

“I- You- asshole!” It was obvious there wasn’t going to actually be a fight, so he crossed his arms and fell back in his seat. Not pouting over how easily he was played. Obviously.

The other adults in the room were either giving him curious looks or hiding their own amusement. Tsukauchi in particular peered at him before turning to Aizawa. “Do we know if your quick interacts as normal with Fenton-chan’s… ghostliness? Does it react like a transformation quirk, so he’d just transform back?”

Aizawa scowled at him. “...yes, but more than that. Last time, he immediately passed out, and we had to take him straight to Recovery Girl.”

“That was you?!”

Tsukauchi responded like Danny hadn’t spoken. “Are we sure that reaction wasn’t just from malnutrition or exhaustion?”

“Are we suggesting we play with his health to test it?”

“Er.” Tsukauchi sat back. “Right- no, obviously not.”

“Eraser’s quirk forces another quirk to completely deactivate,” Pariah said. “All of Phantom’s powers are tied to his core- since that would be what Eraser’s quick targets, it would temporarily shut down the core itself.”

“Which is … bad,” Tsukauchi said, barely not making it a question.

Pariah huffed. “A ghost’s core is like all human internal organs in one- so since Phantom needs his core to survive as any other would, yes. That’s bad.”

Tanuma looked at Danny. “Er, do you? Need it to survive, I mean.”

Danny swallowed, and the whole room got ten degrees colder. “Yeah. I… Yeah. That’s- That’s not up for debate. Trying to remove it would kill me.” He shuddered. “Just… don’t ask me how I know that.”

Tanuma held up his hands. “Yes, of course! I didn’t mean to come off like that. I just wanted to make sure we all understood.”

The temperature ticked up a couple degrees. Danny nodded, and they moved on.

“Onto more immediate, short-term plans,” Nezu said without missing a beat. “We had discussed options for where and with whom you will be staying while you are here, Fenton-kun.” Danny couldn't help a worried glance in Pariah’s direction. “While you share much common ground, we’ve all agreed it would not be a good idea to have you stay with Pariah-san, so don’t worry about that.”

Danny tried not to make it too obvious how much he relaxed at that.

“Aizawa-san is both qualified as a stand-in guardian for minors in unforeseen circumstances, and an experienced underground pro-hero. He has a spare room kept for situations not unlike these, and has offered to house you until such time as we make other arrangements.” Nezu smiled at him. “That is, if you have no complaints with that arrangement, Fenton-kun.”

“I… don’t think I do?” Danny looked at Aizawa, and felt bad again. “I mean, as long as realizing I’m an absolute disaster hasn’t changed your mind?”

Aizawa stared at him. “...as long as you can figure out how to follow rules, I think we’ll be fine.”

“Uh. I’ll do my best.”

“That’s the spirit!” Nezu said happily. “Which leads us to schooling. We do not know how long you will be here, but we would like to keep you abreast with your peers. Were you in school back home, Fenton-kun?”

Oh great. They had mentioned that, hadn’t they? “Y… yeah? I um… was almost flunking out, but yeah.”

“What grade were you in?”

“Tenth? Er, second year of high school, if- I don’t know how school works in Japan.”

Nezu simply nodded. “Here, high school is three years long, and begins usually when the student is 15 or 16. So then you would be in the same grade as the UA first years. Depending on testing, we would like you to go to school here, given that both Aizawa-san and Pariah-san are staff, and we are the leading heroics academy in Japan.”

Danny had to shake his head. “Wait- hold on- you have superhero school here?! That’s what this is?! That’s-” His mouth went dry as his brain registered what Nezu said. ‘Depending on testing’, ‘We would like-’. He tried not to deflate too much. “That… sounds awesome. I- I don’t think I’ll be able to pass whatever testing you need, though. So what then?”

Nezu tilted his head and gave Danny an odd look, though he still smiled. “In the event you are not capable of attending UA, we will place you in a different high school or home schooling appropriate to your needs. I don’t think that will be necessary, however.”

“Yeah, well…” Danny sighed. “You haven’t seen my grades.”

“You wouldn’t be taking these tests today,” Aizawa said. “That’d just be unfair, given your health and the stress of relocation. If all goes well, you’d come back in two weeks, which would give you time to study if needed.”

“We would also not expect exactly the same standard of scores as usual, given your situation. Namely in history or English, which would be substituted for individual Japanese instruction wherever you are placed.”

Danny couldn’t help slip a bit of a smile at his first thought. “I think if I fail history, I’d be grounded when I get home.”

“Why do you say that?”

He covered his mouth with a hand. “Just- inside joke, sorry.”

While everyone else seemed willing to roll their eyes and let it slide, Pariah shot him a look. Not one that Danny could really even parse before he schooled his features, but he noticed anyway. He still felt hyper-aware of Pariah’s presence, but especially when he had weird reactions like that.

He didn’t get a chance to say anything, though, because now Tsukauchi was looking at him weird.

“Didn’t you say that form takes energy to sustain? You don’t need to hold it just because we didn’t tell you to change back.”

“Oh.” Danny blinked and looked down at his gloved hands. “Er- I guess I just didn’t notice? Sorry.” He changed back quickly, feeling gravity reassert itself on him. “It’s not like I have to spend energy to hold it, it’s more like a light switch? And it’s just as comfortable really. My human form is just… like the power-saver on your phone. I switch back automatically when I’m too far in the red.”

"So you're saying it feels natural to you?" Nezu said.

"I mean… yeah. My powers aren't something I have, it's something I am." He paused, and remembered the phrase Jazz kept repeating. "Human or ghost, I'm always Danny. And that means I'm always both."

Nezu smiled and nodded like he'd just passed some secret test.

Tsukauchi cleared his throat politely. "I think that brings us to the last thing we need to discuss. Namely, trying to find a way to get you back home."

Already, a put was opening in his stomach. Danny nodded and tried to breathe deeply.

"You might be aware, but before this, no effort was made to find a way back to your world." Tsukauchi glanced at Pariah. "Simply efforts to make it possible for a ghost to live here safely. So, while we may be starting from square one in getting you back home, Pariah has done most of the hard work that will keep you safe and healthy here while we explore our options."

"You mentioned a portal earlier," Aizawa said. "A… 'stable portal from the Ghost Zone'?"

Danny nodded. "Oh, yeah- uh, there's always been natural portals, but they are hard to track and dont stay open long. My parents built a big stable portal a couple years ago- it's not the only one, but the guy who built the other two knew to either hide them or built better defenses to keep ghost from just… coming in." He made a face. "And you know, I didn't know anything or anyone back then, so when ghosts started coming through and causing trouble, I didn't know what else to do besides just… toss them back in and try to keep the door closed."

All of them looked like they wanted to say something about it, but Aizawa pushed forward. "So then, it's theoretically possible to build a portal to the ghost realm. If that was done here, there is a nonzero chance of it working, and a nonzero chance that it would open somewhere home-adjacent."

Danny nodded. "Sounds like that'd be the first thing to try, yeah. I could probably help with making that, too. I'm not the inventor my parents are, or a computer fiend like my friend Tucker, but I did grow up around this stuff and use it daily. Not to mention, I'm probably the only one that knows even some of the details of how ectoplasm works as an element or chemical, since Dark-Ages Mcgee here skipped a few hundred years of science class." He grinned as Pariah gave him a tired glare.

"You're a menace."

"Aw, how'd you guess my middle name?"

"Would that be safe?" Aizawa cut in.

Danny blinked back to the table. "What?"

Aizawa was trying hard not to glare at him. "Would it be safe for you to be involved if a portal was to be built? Both physically and mentally."

He opened his mouth to immediately wave it off, but paused as his core tinged at the idea of the portal, dark and dead, a hole in the wall-

"Um-" Danny coughed. "Well. I… get the feeling the safety measures would be a lot more strict with you guys?" No switches inside the portal, he'd make sure of that. "S-so, yeah, all good. Wouldn't even get to that point until all the plans are built and testing was done to make sure physics here isn't too different in some weird tiny way, anyway."

He must have paused too long, because nobody looked convinced.

"Look, if you don't let me help, I'd probably go crazy worrying about it and break in to double check everything anyway."

"If that's your intent, you really shouldn't tell us that," Tsukauchi said with a sigh.

Danny just shrugged. "If it gets you to include me, it won't happen anyway. I don't like to lie and sneak around if I'm not basically forced into it. And you knowing what I'll do in either situation just gives you full accountability for your choice, so you can't really come back and be mad at me for doing what I said I would do if you locked me out."

"That's a fair argument for your intent, I suppose!" Nezu said, which caught Danny off guard by tone alone.

"Oh. Um… thanks? I think?"

"We will have to research and discuss that situation privately with the professionals of the field," Tsukauchi muttered, writing several things down. "For now…" He glanced at the others. "If there's no disagreement, it might be helpful for you to write down anything you remember of the other portals you know about, so that we are able to find engineers and scientists most closely experienced with the necessary areas of research."

"Oh, yeah, totally. If you give me enough paper, I could probably recreate a chunk of the blueprints, honestly."

The detectives looked a bit surprised by that, but the others either expected it or hid the emotion by now.

"It sounds like we have a plan of action!" Nezu said, and clapped his paws together. "Unless there is anything you would like to add, Fenton-kun?" He paused for Danny to shake his head. "Then I think we can wrap up our meeting for today. After all, you and Aizawa-san still need time to gather some basic necessities, and from what I hear, you could use a good night's sleep outside of our infirmary."

Danny gave him a weak smile, and tried not to shudder at the memory-sensation of the IV. "Y-yes, please."

Aizawa took that as a cue to stand. "Let's go, Fenton."

Danny stood, but hesitated as the others stayed put.

"We just need to discuss legal logistics and documents, don't mind us," Tanuma said with a smile.

"Okay…" He gave Pariah a serious look before moving to follow Aizawa. He didn't want to stick around the man, but having everyone else trust him wasn't going to ever make sense.