#ghosthood

[beesbiteandwillowrites]

"The Beating Heart"

The thing about scars is that they reveal a story to the observant onlooker. And this one tells the most fascinating tale. Between the location and the amount of scar tissue, it’s not hard to figure out that this wound was meant to be lethal. And Khoa knows of only one weapon that can leave such distinct markings. This kid had his throat slit by a batarang. Khoa wants to know who got Batman to finally try and break his number one rule.

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Characters: Jason Todd, Minhkhoa Khan, Bruce Wayne

Relationships: Jason Todd/Minhkhoa Khan

Additional Tags: Jason Todd is Red Hood, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Developing Relationship, Friends With Benefits, Alcohol, Human Trafficking, Torture, Murder, Temporary Character Death, Serious Injuries, Identity Reveal, Secret Identity, some descriptions of a rotting corpse (it's minor, but still)

[regretfulpentimento]

i just watched the new ghostbusters movie and. phoebe and melody were so gay

[beforus-for-real-justice]

??? How do youn lose a ghost??? Come onu.

You forget to care about him and cherish her.

[eruhamster]

this is why i dont touch that fandom though bc i swear theres been too many occasions where i just rant about what the text itself says and then someone on tumblr gets irrationally angry about it and "the curtain is just blue"'s me. what the hell do you even mean that it's an AU. what else do you think it means that it's made abundantly clear in explicit detail that shi wudu switched sqx and he xuan's fates? what do you think that means? it fucking means that the fates they ended up with belonged to the other person. it isn't just that he xuan was meant to be a god. that's only one half of the switch.

[clockwayswrites]

Birds and wings and hope Part 13

Masterpost

Danny had thought hat if he finished with Frostbite early that he would spend a few days in the zone to catch up with some of the other ghosts. He hadn’t wanted to with the wings. It wasn’t that Danny was ashamed of the wings, not from the fact of having different features, but Frostbite had seemed certain that Danny was in a heavily mutable state right then. The more people that knew Phantom with wings, the more likely they were to stick as they cemented in consciousness and identity.

Or something like that.

Danny had a whole stack of reading tucked away in his chest to go through later.

Just wanting time alone, Danny had given himself somewhere between an hour and a day (time was hard to tell in the zone) to sulk among the sparks and dust that were long dead stars before forced himself to get a grip and go home. He was an adult for, well, him sake he guessed. He could deal with this.

The reading set on the left side of the coffee table with a fresh notebook next to it. It wouldn’t do to mix up this work with his actual work, so Danny was sure to pick out one with a green cover from the stash that he kept on hand of his favorite dot patterned paper notebooks. He’d draw a blob ghost or something on it later. A few color pens and a highlighter joined the little pile, set in a battered and chipped Amity Park tourist trap mug.

Sam had gotten it for Danny as a present due to the so hideous it was funny caricature of Phantom on it.

On the right side of the coffee table went a box of protein bars, electrolyte drinks, suck’em candies, and Danny’s well stocked pill container. He moved the coffee table a little closer to the couch, turned the TV on to a playlist of Mythbuster episodes, and made sure he had his favorite blanket in hand before he transformed back.

And fuck that hurt. Pain shot up Danny’s back, radiating up through his shoulders, and shooting along his Lichtenberg scars so intensely that they burned. Danny collapsed inelegantly onto the couch with a defeated whimper.

Maybe it was the wings? Did having a different set of limbs as a ghost cause transfered muscle aches to his human form? He didn’t even have muscles as a ghost, not really, but the mind was a very powerful thing and not even Frostbite was entirely sure of how exactly the two parts of a halfa effected each other.

After the worst of the pain had dulled slightly, Danny managed to toss back his medication (missing doses while Phantom never did him any good) and pulled the candies close enough that he could use them as a distraction for his senses. Slowly the muscle relaxant worked its magic and Danny became a boneless lump. The episodes of Mythbusters idly distracted him as he just let his thoughts drift over what Frostbite had said.

Frostbite was sure that there had to be a reason— or several— that Danny’s form had shifted into a bird and after retained the wings still. Frostbite felt the first step to this all, if Danny was determined to either control or to get an understanding of where this all was going, was to understand the subconscious or symbolic particulars of the change.

The why Frostbite felt was clear: Danny had been without a haunt for too long now. Yes, he accepted, the pollen may have certain accelerated matters (hence the full bird then and only the wings now), but Frostbite was admit that the change wouldn’t have been occurring at this stage if Phantom had still been the protector of Amity Park.

Phantom had a purpose in Amity Park. Phantom was a protector and guardian. That guardianship extended to a very limited range. Now that Amity Park was many, many years behind him and Danny was living in a place already full of its own protectors, the Phantom part of Danny was left adrift which allowed for this new stage of ghosthood.

Why couldn’t his ghost half just be happy with a nice long nap?

“Fuck you, Phantom,” Danny grumbled as he watched a car be vaporized upon impact on the screen. Idly Danny wondered if he could get an object up to that speed if he flew fast enough.

Several hours and several protein bars later, Danny was managing to sit up enough to start going through some of the reading Frostbite had sent and make notes. Two more episodes and delivered Indian food later, Danny scrawled on the top of a fresh page ‘The Subconscious & Symbolic Particulars of Wings’.

Why on earth and beyond did he have wings?

‘Flying’, Danny wrote first and then as many reasons he could think of why he loved flying from the freedom of it to space to the way that it felt to move through a cloud. ‘Freedom’ branched off into movement and escape and getting to become his own person without the weight of Amity. ‘Gravity’ and ‘Identity’ sprawled into transformation and his death and the million of ways that it had changed everything about his life.

It was hard to think about.

Danny turned the page.

‘Wings’. Wings and feathers. Birds. Pigeons and crows and ducks and robins. And Robins. Biblically accurate angels who created the cosmos. Hope. And always hope.

“‘Hope’ is the thing with feathers — ”

Hope and Robins and Bats.

And always hope.

Was Gotham his haunt?

Was he the thing with feathers?

---

AN: shhhhh I've been writing as my wind down before sleep. Also special prize for @stoiczee. I promise we'll see more batfam next part. Danny just needed some time to react!

[spookberry]

Something that I find really amusing is the headcanon that Danny's considered an infant ghost due to how new he is. It suddenly makes it extremely comical to see him kicking other (presumably grown adult) ghosts' butts at barely a month old when he first starts out. Even better if it's a Ghost King AU because "what do you mean we have to start taking orders from a toddler?"

See I also kinda like the idea of ghosts recognizing new spirits differently in some way, but I dont like the idea of them viewing them as the equivalent of Babies. Besides I think most the ghosts Danny knows are more likely to have a survival of the fittest perspective on ghosthood. Experience only matters in terms of how you can use it against someone!

I still like seeing other people play with the whole "baby ghosts" concept but it doesn't fit very well within my own understanding of the dp universe lol.

I think the ghosts can have a "thats literally a toddler" type response to Danny even without the ghost baby concept. Hes literally 14 and tiny.

[roanofarcc]

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

pairing. sasappis x ghost!reader

summary. (requested) as the two youngest ghosts at woodstone, you and sasappis understood each other and your laundry lists of unfinished business. at the top of the list for both of you? falling in love

warnings. dead!reader, fem!reader, mentions of death, sad sasappis, happy ending!!

masterlist

“Good morning!” you greeted cheerfully as you entered the living room where the rest of the ghosts were hanging out, lounging and waiting for today’s adventure to spring to life. Usually, when you awoke, you could gauge how the day would go from the looks on their faces. More often than not, they were a little bored as they awaited to see what Sam and Jay had on the agenda for the day, but today was slightly different. When you greeted them, the looks on their faces were a mix of boredom, worry, and confusion. 

“There you are,” Hetty said, standing up with a small huff. “Is Sasappis with you?” 

You furrowed your brows. “No, why?” 

“We not know where he is. We thought he with you,” Thorfinn said, looking slightly distressed at his seemingly missing friend. 

It wasn’t possible though for Sasappis to be missing. If he had been sucked off, or passed on to whatever awaited you after ghosthood, someone would have seen it. And it wasn’t like ghosts could wander off the property. You thought for a moment, longer than it should have taken you to realize just where Sass had run off too. 

“I’ll get him,” you said, starting toward the back door. The other ghosts began following you, but you paused and turned to look at them. “Um, maybe I should talk to him first.” 

You hadn't known Sass the longest, not by a couple hundred years, but the two of you had bonded as the youngest ghosts to haunt Woodstone. All of them had unfinished business, that’s why you all were stuck in the mansion, but you and especially Sass had so much unfinished business that it felt overwhelming at times. That was when you’d each need to get away from everything to mull it over. But as you quickly learned, mulling it over alone was even more isolating. Then, one day you stumbled upon Sass sitting alone by the large pond on the property. From that point on, whenever the two of you felt extra jaded about your untimely deaths, you’d find yourself by the lake with each other, slightly soothed by each other's company. 

There were protests from the other ghosts, except Thor. He knew Sass the best since they had been dead together the longest. He stepped forward and placed a heavy hand on your shoulder, offering you a nod before he turned around and did his best to explain to the others why it was best that you go speak to Sass first. While he did that, you slipped outside and headed toward the lake. 

You found Sass in his usual spot, with his feet pulled up to his chest and his chin resting on his knees. 

“Hey,” you greeted quietly, as to not scare him, before you sat down beside him on the slightly overgrown grass. 

He offered you a weak smile in return before his gaze returned to the rippling water. The rising sun glittered across the surface and it bathed everything in a warm orange glow. 

“Everyone was worried about where you ran off too,” you said. “I think they thought you got sucked off or something.” 

Sass shook his head. “Like that’ll happen.” The edge in his voice made you frown. “I’m never leaving this place.” 

“You don’t know that,” you said, gently. 

He laughed bitterly. “I’ve been here 500 years and still have unfinished business. I don’t think I’ll ever finish it all. It's not like it was one thing I wanted to do; I had everything left to do.” And it wasn’t fair. All of the ghosts at Woodstone had potential in their lives, lots of it, but died before they reached it. But Sass, one of the youngest at the mansion, had his whole life ahead of him. He had hardly started it before he passed, and after five hundred years it was probably hard to see a point of even trying to continue completing any unfinished business in a world so different than the one you’d been alive in. 

There was little you could say to make him feel better. Instead, you scooted closer to him and placed an arm around his shoulder. Like second nature, he shifted his head from his knees onto your shoulder, melting into your side as you both kept your gaze on the lake. You stayed like that together for a while, until the sun had risen, and the sky was a brilliant, cloudless blue. Only after that did he lift his head and turn towards you with a small, sheepish smile on his lips as he rubbed his eyes. 

“Sorry,” he muttered. “I didn't mean to dump that all on you. I just…” he trailed off with a sigh. “It’s just nice having someone who understands.” 

You brushed a couple of rouge pieces of hair from his forehead and smiled. “Don’t apologize. That’s what I’m here for. We both have unfinished business, a lot of it, but at least we died on the same property. I think that makes up for some of it, us getting to be…friends.” Friends didn’t quite feel like the right word. What you and Sass had was more than just friendship, it was a connection that no one else really understood. You were still practically just kids who had died on the verge of their lives starting and you were trying to figure it out.

Sass’s expression became unreadable for a moment before it turned into a small smile. “Yeah. Friends.” He stood up and offered you his hand before pulling you to his feet. Together, you walked back to the mansion, where Sass was swept up in whatever daily plan the other ghosts had to keep their boredom at bay. You, however, broke off from the group and found yourself in front of the series of photographs that Sam had put up along the upstairs hallway. She said it was a little homage to the ghosts of Woodstone, some of them anyway. She had found old photographs abandoned in the basement from the many lifetimes of Woodstone. There was a family portrait of Hetty that Sam had smartly cropped in the frame not to include Elias. There was a photo of Alberta on stage and a hand-drawn photo of Isaac and his regiment that Jay found for a couple bunks on something called E-Bay. It was sweet, you thought. There was even a photograph of you when you were a little girl at your aunt's wedding that took place at Woodstone ages ago. In the picture, you stared up at the bride with a stary gaze full of admiration and hope that one day you’d fall in love and have a wedding of your own. 

The list of your unfinished business was long, but near the top of the list was to fall in love. You’d come close in your lifetime, a couple of times, but you had died before anyone became serious enough to plan a wedding. As a ghost, you still sometimes felt like the little girl in the photograph, captured by the idea of love with a dream to feel it yourself. As foolish as it was, you still held out hope that it would still happen to you. How, you weren’t sure. But the large and bleeding heart of the little girl you had once been still existed inside of you, underneath cobwebs. 

“There you are,” a voice came from behind you. “We’re about to play charades.” 

You threw a glance over your shoulder as Sasappis approached you, seemingly in better spirits than earlier. “I might pass today,” you replied. 

He stepped in line beside you, nervously playing with the beads on his clothing out of habit. “I didn’t bum you out earlier, did I? Because I’m sorry if I did-” 

You cut him off with a shake of his head. “Stop apologizing for how you feel, Sass” 

“Sorry-” You shot him a look and he sighed, hanging his head. “What I mean is, I didn’t want my bad mood to rub off on you.” 

“There was a lot on both of our lists,” you said, earning a slightly confused look from him. “Our list of unfinished business. There was a lot we both wanted to do. I really wanted to fall in love like my aunt in this picture. Look how happy she looks.” Your aunt was practically glowing beside her partner, dressed in white with a look of pure admiration and love that one could feel radiating off of the framed photo. 

He gazed at the photo for a moment. “You looked happy too.” 

“I was. I remember that the whole day here felt like a dream. That’s why I came back a couple of years later. I didn’t know I’d end up dying here. though.” 

After a beat of silence, Sass said, “It was on my list too, falling in love. Well, technically I was but I was too scared to tell her. Then I died and that was that.”

“Looks like we both fell short there, huh,” you said, laughing breathily in an attempt to lighten the mood. 

Sass’s brows furrowed and he pressed his lips together in a thin line as he stared at a spot on the floor for a prolonged moment. “Maybe…Or…” He snapped his gaze upwards, falling onto you. “Can I say something that might be, uh, a little crazy?” 

You smiled. “We’re ghosts living in a haunted house, Sass. There isn’t much you can say that could be crazier than that.” 

“I wouldn’t say that yet,” he muttered under his breath, but you still heard it. He turned his body toward you and rolled his shoulders back. “I missed my chance when I was alive to tell someone I liked them. I was scared and a little bit of a coward. But, you know, I’ve had five hundred years to think about what I would have done differently if I ever liked someone again. But I never thought it would actually happen.” He spoke quickly like he was trying to push out his thoughts before they got too jumbled inside his head. Even as he took a quick breath, there wasn’t enough time for you to say anything before he started again. “And maybe this isn’t…I don’t know. Maybe it’s a long shot and a stupid one. Maybe you just see me as a friend and that’s fine. But I,” his breath caught in his throat for a moment as his gaze fell off of you. “I like you.” 

Your eyes widened at his admission; speechless and breathless. You body moved without help from your brain as you stepped right in front of Sass and placed on hand on the side of his face, getting him to look at you. His eyes were swarmed with unease and nervousness, like the young kid he was and not a five-hundred-year-old ghost. 

“Really?” you asked, voice just above a whisper. He nodded. Your lips curled up in a smile. “I like you too.” 

He let out a breath in relief and matched your smile for only a moment before his arms encircled your waist and pulled you in closer before he pressed his lips for you. You hugged your arm around his neck and kissed him back like you had silently wanted to do for years. 

The kiss was short but sweet, as it was interrupted by a hardy laugh that startled both of you. “Thor knew it!” You both spun around to see all of the ghosts as they made their way to the usual room for charades. 

“About time,” Hetty scoffed. 

You gazed back at your photograph and smiled brightly at the little girl. You had been wrong. Not all of your unfinished business had to stay unfinished. Perhaps there were things you weren’t to accomplish in death just as the things you had accomplished in life. 

[africanotaku92]

A Little bit of Ghost Zone worldbuilding/DP AU yapping

Long post incoming, kept under a Read More for your convenience!

Ok, so i imagine that, as the Highest ranking Monarchical authority in the ghost zone, ranking second only to the Zone itself, The Ghost King is allowed to have a Harem. Actually, it's encouraged for them to have a harem with as many members from as many nations within the ghost zone as possible, as it would ensure political security between the Ghost King and the other lands within the Infinite Realms.

Now the Harem is tiered and divided into different sections based on their importance as well as favourability too the King. The first tier are his Queens. These are the spouses that are the most near and dear to his heart, his life mates if you will. They are the King's truest romantic interest, his equals and his true spouses.

The next tier are the Consorts. These are the official spouses of the king. They are usually beings of great political and societal importance or are just super powerful entities. They don't necessarily marry the king out of love, although it's possible for them to do so.

The last significant tier are the Concubines. These are basically the official side chicks of the King that have been approved to enter the harem by any of the King's official spouses. They can be of minor political or none at all, social standing doesn't matter. They enter the harem for a multitude of reasons, anything from being given to the King as collateral for a debt to being protected by the King or his spouses from any danger they deem a significant threat. They don't have even have to belong to the king, and can belong to one of his Queens or Consorts. Of course there are other roles in the harem, such as servants or guards but these three are the only significant tiers of the Harem. Harem members may also still retain roles and titles separate from their identities in the harem, but it is still considered polite and respectful to refer them to their harem titles unless instructed otherwise.

Now how the King claims his Harem members differs from monarch to monarch, but they all commonly leave something significant; a permanent mark. Typically this would be an imprint of the Ghost King's ectosignature left on the ghosts core, with more pronounced intensity the more significant they are to the ghost king, but in the rare occasions that the King takes in a still living spouse the mark may manifest physically, resembling a tattoo or birth mark.

Becoming part of any of the three most important tiers of the Ghost King's Harem obviously comes with it's perks. Apart from being subject to a life of luxury, opulence and opportunities one would never have had, they also come with guaranteed ghosthood (for those still alive members), personal protection from one of the most powerful beings across the known multiverse, and significant power boosts and life exstentions, pertaining to ghost, non-human, and liminal members.

Which brings me to my next topic of discussion; Liminality!

Liminality is often referred to as the quality of something being in between two stages or states, and in this context, the stages between being a non-ectoplasmic and a fully ectoplasmic being.

With this definition stated, I can safely subscribe to the whole 'Liminality is a spectrum' theory, With one extreme end being a non-ectoplasmic being ( Using humans as an example here) and the other extreme end being pure ghosts.

Normal humans tend to fall in between the ranges of 0 to 9%, where ectoplasmic contamination is considered negligible compared to their main biological makeup, and this has little to no effect on them.

Humans that live in areas of low and/or mainly impure ectoplasmic densities, such as Gothomites, are typically within the 10-18% range of liminality. At this range, people have started to exhibit visible signs, such as increased strength above the norm and increased resilience to substances and actions that would harm the a typically normal person. Of course Gotham in itself is a slight exception because you have liminals harming other liminals within the same or even lower range, so it functions on a level comparatively  like that of a normal city.

Adults that have been exposed to larger and/or purer densities of ectoplasm for long amounts of time typically fall into the 19-29% range. At this range they experience significant boosts in natural abilities, develop better resistances on a much larger scale, and develop slight physical changes, such as eyesight better than 20/20 vision and bigger and better physiques, and longer lifespans of up to 500 years. The changes are slight as they happen with individuals that are farther past their developmental years. This is also when people start to give off detectable traces of an ectoplasmic signature.

Individuals ranging from child aged to young adulthood in areas of high density and/or increasingly pure ectoplasm will typically fall within 30-45% liminality, with the younger and longer the exposure of the more pure and intense ectoplasm the higher the percentage would be. They begin to have significantly defined ghost abilities at this stage and have developed significant non human features at this stage, such as slited eyes, claws, fangs, non human physiques and features, etc. They also have incredibly long lifespans at this range, with the potential to live up to 3000 years in the mortal world. Jazz, Sam and Tucker are the three most liminal beings in Amity Park, due to their close proximity to purer sources of ectoplasm. Jazz has 44% ectoplasmic make up, while Sam and Tucker have about 46% ectoplasmic make up. They have strongly defined ectosignatures at this range, and are almost guaranteed ghosthood.

Next up are halfas, incredibly rare occurrences as most people cannot handle further levels of ectoplasmic exposure and just straight up die. They are beings that permanently have one foot in death and the other foot in life. Vlad is an Imperfect halfa at 48% liminality, Danny is a Perfect halfa, evenly split at 50%. Dani (Ellie or Danielle for future references) is slightly more ghost at 52%, and Dan (short for Dante) is more ghost than human at 63% (still has a human form though.) For future references, Ellie and Dan have been adopted by Danny's parents, both ghost and human, so when i refer to Danny's siblings i'm talking about all three of them.

Liminality may also occur in other non human species, though it might be more common or rare and the percentages may vary depending on the species and how ectoplasim affects their biological makeup.

But Jay, you might be asking, while this is fun and all, why bring up ghost harems and liminality? Well, my dear readers, if you have lasted this long into my rant you know exactly where i'm going with this!

Or you don't. But not to worry, i'll explain either way.

I present to you the dumb AU idea that had to have a stupidly long post to get to; Ghost King Danny AU with his entire class as his Harem.

So this is a Town-wide reveal gone right AU. After Danny defeats Pariah Dark, everyone in town knows who he is and accepts him, his parents stop trying to hunt ghosts and focus on researching about them instead. Danny goes back to his school life and hashes out any beef he had with anyone, settles any unrequited feelings and basically becomes friends with everyone. Even the A-listers are on good terms with him, any resulting violence between them the unserious kind with no bite to it that happens between friends. His rouges are at peace (or what counts as peaceful between a culturally violent race such as ghosts) and are practically part of the town. Clockwork informs him of the rules by conquest and as recognized both by the Zone and by law he is now Heir Apparent to the Throne of the Infinite Realms. It's hard at first, dealing with school and Realm matters/education, but with the support from his family and friends, he makes due.

As time goes on, Danny grows closer and closer to people. Sam and Tucker are the first and he falls in love with them hard. They fit into the empty slot of his core that he didn't know he had like snug, warm gloves on his hands on a cold winters day.

Paulina, Valerie, and Dash are next, basically becoming his queer platonic soulmates. He also holds the other former A-listers in high esteem, but not as much as those three.

Wes has become Danny's bestfriend and rival, taking up the previous spots Sam and Tucker had when they were still 14. They have video game wars and egg each other on in the best ways possible.

The rest of Danny's class are also good friends of his. He holds them all close to his heart as his most trusted confidants, and so shows them as such.

He looks through Pariah Dark's castle--now his through his conquest inheritance-- and finds what he's looking for; gems that represent all who he loves and how much they mean to him. With the help of some ghost craftsmen, he makes all of their gifts with their own personal touch, and infuses them with shards of the pure essence of his ectoplasm.

He gifts Sam and Tucker first; they each get a necklace, and later rings that he uses to propose to them. Valerie, Dash and Paulina are next, each of them getting a kick out of their matching earrings. Wes get's a choker with the centerpiece shaped like a spade, which to Danny's confusion and slight fear he cackles madly at, but never takes it off. The rest of his class all get various other crafted jewellery or trinkets that would best define them. Life is good.

Until it becomes a lot more complicated.

Shortly after he had given the last of his classmates their gifts, while he was enjoying breakfast with his beloveds, Danny was suddenly bombarded with the several angry yelling voices of the Observants invading his kitchen, accompanied by a wary looking Clockwork, demanding to know why he would overlook them on the most basic of procedures; that they were offended that he didn't even consult them before he made his decisions!

"What decisions?" Danny asked, confused and a little annoyed that his peaceful morning was interrupted by the giant eyeballs.

"The decision on your spouses!" One of them frustratedly yelled at him. Danny's face instantly darkened; he did not like the implications of those words. He rose from his seat, anger rising.

"Now listen here, you wannabe Jonathan Sims! Sam and Tucker are literally the best thing that happened to me! I'd never need your approval to marry them! And even if i did i--"

"Not those two, Phantom! Your heart and your Core ring true even as you say their names. The Daughter of The Wilds and The Pharaoh are the perfect matches to be your Queens, no one is denying you that." Another one of them interrupts Danny's rant. He immediately stops, relief washing over him at the observant's words.

"No, we are here to demand explanation on your other spouses. Your Consorts and your Concubines. Honestly, it's all just one big mess! We know nothing of whomst you have chosen, not their social standing nor their power levels, we do not even know which is which amongst the whole lot! How did you even get Concubines with no Consorts to approve of them!?!?" The former one demanded, and the others made noises of approval. The trio at the table looked at the Observants with varying degrees of confusion. Tucker was the first one to speak up.

"Erm, sorry, but what other spouses?"

It was at this point that Clockwork had decided to intervene. He managed to get the Observants to back down and retreat back into the Ghost Zone, then he sat the trio down, along with his siblings and parents, and explained the situation to them. All those gifts Danny gave his friends? They were engagement gifts. Not regular gifts, not even courting gifts. As they were personally crafted by the King himself and literally contain a part of him, no matter the intent given to them they were sacred and special enough to be considered him basically asking for their hands in marriage. And all of them accepted. The engagements can't be annulled, as they were all approved of by the Zone itself and so are binding in all planes of existence. All that's left now is to sort out who's who, gain approval from their various guardians, and plan the ceremonies in tandem with his coronation.

Danny is, understandably, freaking out. Not only because he literally accidentally got engaged to his entire class but that he has to explain it to them. Clockwork could only comfort him and reassure him that the sooner he told everyone the better for all of them in all time lines. He could only sigh.

So, he called everyone and planned a class-wide hangout at a nearby park. Everyone came, all of them laughing, talking, having a good time, and wearing the gifts that Danny had given him. It pained him to see that something they would have cherished so deeply would cause them grief. But with reassuring squeezes from his fiances, he took a deep breath and explained the situation to them.

Their reactions were...far better than he expected them to be. Sure, some of them were upset, they were either dating outside of the class or would have a hard time finding romance once they learned that they had been unknowingly engaged. But after the initial shock wore off, several people were ok with it, as they were either dating within the class and were at least assured that they could stay together this way, or they weren't really hopeful on finding love outside the town due to their liminality, and this ensured their future. Dash pulled him into a hug, reassuring him that he wasn't the worst person to be married too, and that they would be fine. Danny sobbed into his shoulders in relief. Things were going to be OK.

Until they weren't.

See, the GIW were absolutely furious with the Fentons sudden lack of cooperation at first, then outright baffled when they changed from ghost hunters to ecto-entity researchers. They were very suspicious indeed, and kept a closer eye on the town. Then they noticed things. First, it was the new influx of ghostlly inhabitants in the town. Then, they noticed that it took a long time for anyone to age. Almost 50 years of observation had passed, and all the middle aged adults had barely grown in one wrinkle. They also noticed that all the children that grew up would practically stop aging once they reached their 20s, and the kicker was when they started to develop powers and inhumane features. Clockwork had warned Danny about the impending attack and gave him the best solution; move the entirety of Amity Park to the Ghost Zone. It was no easy feat, but Danny with the collective efforts of his parents and several other powerful ghost entities successfully moved Amity Park to the Ghost Zone and destroyed the portals in that dimension. Once they were moved, things progressed really quickly. Several people grew into their liminality in the ectoplasmic dense environment and many things were discovered and moves made.

Danny, Sam and Tucker all began training to take up their full duties once they come of age. Paulina became a dragonoid, and trained her dragon powers with Dora. Dash turned out to be a Changling, and caught the attention of the Fae King Obridon, who adopted him and made him a member of their court. It was discovered that Kwan was a rare male Kumiho, with his grandmother being an especially powerful spirit amongst the East Asian spirits, and was acknowledged and taken into his household as a proper member. Wes had loudly proclaimed himself to be Danny's Kismesis (YES I SAID IT), much to the confusion of many ghosts and the embarrassment of a few others. Once it was explained exactly what a kismesis was, Fright Knight was so delighted by the proclamation that he immediately took him under his wing. After all no rival and right hand of the King could be as lacking in fighting ability as he. Valerie also received training under Fright Knight as one of his commanders. Amity was firmly established as pert of the King's personal Haunt and lair, and became a noble land. Engagements were all documented, finalized and sealed.

Once they all came of age, Danny was crowned King of the Infinite Realms. His wedding ceremony was held soon after, and all his spouses had their positions secure and established. His Court had been formed, consisting of his Family, his Harem, his Haunt and his most trusted allies.

Harem members:

Queens: Sam and Tucker (yay everlasting trio!)

Consorts: Paulina, Dash, Valerie, Kwan, Star, Wes

Concubines: All his other classmates

Now this was supposed to be a DC x DP au specifically, but unfortunately i don't know enough about DC to write something extensively regarding it. However, here are some fun prompts i thought of;

His Consorts (i like to think Paulina and Dash) Visit the DC universe for diplomatic ties and the meeting happens in Gotham

One of Batman's children catches the eye of one of his consorts (or other court member!) and they want his permission to bring them into the Harem/Marry them into the court

Child adoption bcs that's always fun

Incredibly powerful members of the Harem/Court visit their earth and cause chaos unknowingly, etc, etc.

Alternatively you can make it it's own thing with other characters/fandom crossovers! If you decide to take this and write or make something with it, please tag me! I want to read it all!

[edwin-paynes-bowtie]

It's intriguing to me that unlike the others in the core four, Crystal has never been a normal person without any supernatural properties. She always at least knew about ghosts and magical denizens even if she was once too young to hone her psychic powers.

Edwin and Charles were totally normal people until they died, uprooted immediately into Hell and into ghosthood and magical cases respectively. Niko knew nothing about magic until she was actively being ripped apart by dandelion sprites. But Crystal had none of that.

I wonder what it was like for little Crystal, walking around and being able to see ghosts and read objects. To be a magic user who was never blindsided by its existence.

What did her negligent parents think when she talked about ghosts and ghouls? Did her mom roll her eyes and say she was crazy like her grandmother, who was unbeknownst to her ALSO a psychic? Crystal's early life is conceptually fascinating and I would have loved a flashback or two.

[absolutelynotsanebaby]

Headcanon that morro has sharp canine teeth from cursed realm ghosthood

[eruhamster]

I was thinking about the bodies of supremes.

Hua Cheng has perfect skins. Xie Lian was able to find no faults with his appearance, which was relevant to proving his ghosthood because at the very least typically ghosts aren't able to perfectly recreate the amount of hair on a normal human head or the insides of a body, because they need to be able to visualize it and typically a person can't visualize the full components of a person's insides or just how much hair is on a human scalp.

I assumed and I think others do too, that Hua Cheng is purely so perfect because he's a supreme.

But Xie Lian hasn't ever inspected He Xuan well enough to know how perfect his skin is, and his Ming Yi skin was imperfect and had unusually pale hands, though Xie Lian did not clock that as suspicious at the time he noticed.

Meanwhile Hua Cheng has a full, perfect head of hair, he can eat and drink and breathe, and he has a heartbeat.

Hua Cheng was part of the nursing staff during the Xianle face disease plague. And he for sure has photographic memory; outside of the butterflies, he is and had been able to perfectly recall full conversations from when he was only 10 and recite them back to an oblivious Xie Lian, and perfectly recreate Xie Lian's every outfit down to the finest details to the point Mu Qing finds it disturbing.

I wonder if his skins are so perfect not because he's a supreme, but because his photographic memory and anatomical, medicinal knowledge from his time as a human has allowed him to create the skins with such perfect accuracy.

I feel like that'd be nice if that were the case. Like proof that the little things he tried as a human were not worthless and did help him become who he did. Proof he was always special, and not just in the cursed way he thought.

[puppireg]

𐔌 🪦 𓏵 ghost regressor𓈒

   ♯ — a flag for nonhuman regressors who are ghosts .ᐟ whether it is    due to trauma , psychosis , kinning , therianthropy , or simply a deep       connection to ghosts any nonhuman regressor may use𓈒 for those who    feel invisible or went ignored as children𓈒 for those who are undead with    unfinished business or whose regression ties to their ghosthood or vice    versa𓈒 for those who are trapped in the past and use regression as a    tool to connect with the child they were𓈒 for those who are feared by    others or who have been deemed offputting𓈒 perhaps it is due to   neurodivergence , mental illness , disability , queerness , or another aspect    of one 's identity although in other cases the regressor may scare off    others on purpose and prefer their own company𓈒 can be a reclamation    of one 's ghosthood , a creature who regresses due to one 's ghostlike    treatment or a regressor coming to terms with their status as a ghost𓈒    although this flag is made with trauma regression in mind it does not    have to be ― it may be used by regressors who are content with or    proud of being a ghost as well𓈒

    please credit if using and do not repost or claim as your own𓈒 if using feel free to tag — i would love to see your creations .ᐟ     liking and reblogging is much appreciated regardless of use𓈒 please     note that this flag is exclusive to nonhuman regressors , dreamers ,     and pets .ᐟ

   @bunnelbaby

[tunemyart]

there's a lot of discussion about agatha's "calculated risk" in choosing to die, and specifically to die the way she did, and then turning up as a ghost

but can we also talk about the rio factor here, because aside from rio having been successfully distracted by agatha to enable the escape into ghosthood there's two other possibilities

one: it was rio's failure to act that didn't just allow agatha to become a ghost but forced her to become one, and now agatha's just like "yeah I was in control the entire time - you know, like I always am!" about it - e.g., rio was so heartsick over agatha's extremely recent and cruel "I don't want to see your face when the time comes" jab that was technically part of the terms of the deal rio's upholding in letting billy go

two: rio realized there was more agatha shenaniganery afoot and said you know what, absolutely not, I'm taking a break from you, enjoy being a ghost or whatever, see you in a couple decades when I can stand to see your face again (btw hope you don't regret not availing yourself of my services before then!)

[fear-is-truth]

Time sensitive question, please respond: Do Tate and JPM TECHNICALLY cum ectoplasm? Or do they just... not think about it like that?

great question. let’s just focus on tate for now. technically speaking, in AHS logic means tate is a physical manifestation of his former self rather than a typical spectral entity. ghosts in murder house can touch, bleed, and (unfortunately) impregnate people, meaning their bodies function almost like they did in life.

now, if tate were to produce anything, would it be ectoplasm? probably not in the traditional supernatural sense—ectoplasm is usually depicted as a thick, glowing, otherworldly substance. tate’s… output seems to be indistinguishable from that of a living person, given that he was able to conceive a child with vivien. this suggests that whatever “bodily fluids” he produces function the same way they did when he was alive, or at least appear to.

that being said, does tate think about it like that? i doubt it. he’s not the type to sit and ponder the metaphysical logistics of his own ghosthood, at least not in that way. he’s in denial about being dead for a long time, so he likely wouldn’t question whether his bodily functions had changed. if anything, if you brought it up, he’d probably give you a confused look and say something like, “why the fuck would you ask me that?”

[roanofarcc]

ROUGH SEAS

pairing: sasappis x ghost pirate!reader

summary: you and sass had a long history, having known each other before your deaths. you had thought there were decades of underlying feelings between the two of you, but when a new ghost starts hanging around woodstone and catches sass’s eye, you wonder if it had all been in your head. 

warnings: probably an inaccurate depiction of 1700s pirates. jealous!reader & clueless!sasappis. mentions of death & drowning but nothing too graphic. thor’s dating advice.

word count. 2k || masterlist

There was a constant chill that enshrouded you. A shiver often coursed through your body, despite the layers of hand-dyed fabrics you had sewn together yourself and the fact that you were dead. It was a side-effect of your death, having fallen through a sheet of thin ice on a pond during an attempt to save a young Lenape girl who had raced out on the frozen water during a children’s game. You had successfully shooed the young girl to a thicker patch of ice before it started to crack under your feet. Before you could react, your body was submerged in the freezing water. 

As a pirate, venturing across the seas, you had only ever set your sights on living life to the fullest. Your only concern, since you were little being raised on a ship with your father whose crew you inherited after his passing, was adventuring and learning. You had your sights set on the next place you’d encounter, but never on what waited for you in the afterlife. Of course, your lifestyle wasn’t the safest, and you often believed you would eventually parish with your sword drawn in defense of your ship, as your father had. The only people you had ever cared about were your crew, but when you landed in North America in need of a break from the seas after an especially horrible storm that left your supplies at the bottom of the ocean, you found refuge with the Lenape tribe.

They had been especially kind to you. You bonded with the younger adults, including one sweet man named Sasappis who you bonded with the closest during your short time there. Your care extended to the tribe. So, the moment you saw the little girl race onto the patchy ice, you didn’t hesitate to chase after her in fear of her getting hurt.  She had been saved, but you disappeared under the icy water in a cruel twist of fate. When you found yourself lying on the ice, you realized your life had left you and ghosthood had claimed you. 

Loneliness didn’t claim you, however. 

You had quickly met another ghost who greeted you with excitement, a Viking with endless stories of the sea he was thrilled to share with you. You were grateful for Thor. He had made your unexpected transition into the afterlife less terrifying, despite his loud voice and large Viking build. 

Not too long after your death, Sasappis followed. While you were heartbroken at his loss of life, you had missed speaking to him. The two of you quickly fell back into your old ways, joined by Thor in a new adventure of the afterlife. 

As more ghosts joined your circle of friends, you were never as close with any of them as you were with Sass. Each ghost had their own relationship with you, whether it was swapping swashbuckling stories or gossiping about the livings, but the relationship you and Sass had was different. When you were alive, you had pondered the idea of the two of you being more than friends. But you came from two very different lives and you feared it was too much of a long shot to ever push the bounds of your friendship. Then you both were dead, and your afterlives were seemingly tied together since you couldn’t leave the property. 

You weren’t scared of sailing rough seas or fighting off other pirate crews who threatened to rob you. You weren’t scared of the endless darkness that accompanied the ocean or gambling with fate. But the prospect of a relationship with someone you considered your best friend was terrifying. So, you skated around it, allowing you and Sass to linger on the line of more than friends but never cross it. That was all fine and dandy because no one else had ever come around to threaten the delicate relationship you two shared until Sam and Jay hired their first employee at the Woodstone Bed and Breakfast, and he came with a cute ghost's soul attached to his car. 

A bitter shiver ran down your spine as you glared out the living room window, watching Sass laugh and flirt with Jessica, the car ghost. She was beautiful, even with a shard of glass poking out of her forehead. You knew it was childish to be jealous, but you couldn’t help it. 

“Ah! Friend, you missed cod-talk again,” Thor said, entering the living room. “What are you looking at?” 

You sighed, gesturing to Jessica and Sass outside. “The new ghost and Sass,” you replied. “They’ve been awfully friendly with each other.” 

Thor hummed as he peered outside, his hands perched on his hips. “Landship ghost. She is new friend of Sass, yes?” 

“Seems so,” you huffed. 

“You look angry.” 

You forced your gaze away from the window and shook your head. “I’m not angry. I’m just…just concerned, that’s all. We don’t even know this ghost. She could be bad news. Or…” You realized you sounded insane, speaking about someone you didn’t know with such malice. It was in your nature to be intense and skeptical of everyone you met because you never knew who was there to be your friend and who wanted to stick their sword through your gut. But life had progressed well past the days of pirates of your kind. 

“Want Thor’s advice?” Thor asked, his hands perched on his hips. 

A part of you wanted to say no and shoo the Viking away so you could mope around in peace, but Thor had always been a nice shoulder to lean on when you needed it. 

“What kind of advice?” 

“Landship ghost is pretty, yes. But Sass like you. Tell him you like him too.” 

Heat instantly rose to your cheeks at Thor’s words. You sputtered for a response, but something caught Thor’s attention from the kitchen. He left you standing at the window in a pit of your feelings. When you returned your gaze to the window, Jessica was inside the car, alone and Sass was nowhere to be seen. 

“What’re you doing?” His voice sounded, startling you as you spun around to face him. He wore an amused smile on his lips. 

Clearing your throat, you quickly replied, “Watching the birds.” 

“Watching the birds?” 

“Y-Yes. I have to entertain myself with something. What have you been doing?” 

Sass shrugged, looking a bit sheepish. “Keeping Jessica company. I imagine it gets lonely being a car ghost.” 

You hummed in response, feeling that awful pit of jealousy rage like the sea in your stomach. “She seems nice.” 

“Yeah….” Sass trailed off, looking anywhere but at you. 

The conversation felt odd. For decades, centuries even, the two of you never felt uncomfortable in each other presence. You were practically two halves of a whole. But suddenly there was a great divide, a chasm neither one of you were sure how to cross. 

You couldn’t handle it, so you made up some excuse about a promise you made Hetty and left. 

Days later, news came from Thor that Sass and the car ghost were dating. You felt like you were back underwater, submerged in the pond. It wasn’t fair of you to feel that way; you had never voiced your feelings for Sass aloud to him, so how was he supposed to know? Yet, you had always thought he had the same inkling of likeness towards you, too. You had waited and waited for a confirmation of that to show itself, but you had received the opposite. 

Pirates didn’t run away from their problems; they met them with swords drawn and teeth bared. But when you thought about your problem was Sass, all you had the will to do was cower. You could almost hear the disappointment of your father in the air, and the confusion of your long-lost crew. It wasn’t like you; time had changed a lot about you. 

Sass had never been one to run face-first into confrontation either, which was why you were so surprised when he entered your bedroom one night just as the mansion was settling for the night. He looked nervous, a little sorry, and a little angry. 

You looked up from the book Sam had opened for you, gazing at old paintings of ships at sea that were reminiscent of your old adventures. 

“Hello?” you greeted, confused. 

Sass twisted his hands together in front of him, a mix of emotions stormy on his face. “Did I do something wrong?” 

You sat up on your bed, smoothing out the age-old wrinkles on your clothes. “What’re you talking about?” 

He huffed in disbelief. “You’ve been ignoring me for almost a week. Every time I try to talk to you, you run away. You didn’t even show up for Love Island this week! I had to watch it alone. What’s the deal?” 

Another thing about pirates that you were familiar with, they did not like being cornered, but they often found themselves in that unfortunate position. 

“I don’t have a deal,” you said a little defensively. “I figured you’d be spending time with your new girlfriend; that’s why I didn’t show.” 

“I wouldn’t miss Love Island night,” he countered before casting his gaze to the ground. “And Jessica’s gone.” 

Your eyes widened against your will, shocked. “What do you mean?” 

“It’s a long story, but Sam and Jay have to find a new employee.” 

You wanted to act sympathetic, but you couldn’t find it. In fact, you were relieved. “Oh.” 

Sass was quiet for a moment before his face twisted into even more confusion. “Wait, is that why you’ve been avoiding me? Because of Jessica?” 

“You seemed busy. I didn’t want to bother you,” you admitted, trying to look like you hadn’t cared as much as you had. 

He scoffed in response. “Just because I got a girlfriend doesn’t mean I didn’t want to hang out with you. Why would you think that?” 

“I don’t know,” you shrugged. 

He studied you with inquisitive eyes; it felt like he was looking through you, which usually wouldn’t have bothered you due to your ghosthood, but with Sass it was different. He saw you differently than anyone else you had ever known, alive or dead. 

“You’re lying.” 

“I’m not!” 

“You are! What’s really going on? Did I say something or do something?” 

You stood up from your bed, knowing the conversation was completely unavoidable now. If a pirate is backed into a corner, the only thing they knew how to do was fight their way out, protect their ship or go down trying. 

“No,” you sighed. “It’s me, okay? I was…” Trailing off, you internally cringed at yourself, not wanting the next words to leave your mouth, but you feared you had no choice. “I was jealous.” 

The admission hung in the air for a moment, a tense cloud that swirled between you two. Sass opened his mouth and then closed it. You let out a shaky breath and added, “It’s been you and I for…forever, it feels like. I got in my head, okay? I thought after all of this time, maybe, you felt different about me. Maybe you felt like how I feel. But you don’t and I-” 

Sass cut you off with a swift shake of his head. “How you feel? How do you feel?” 

It was all coming out, after so many years, lifetimes even. 

“I like you, Sass,” you whispered. “I really like you. But I didn’t realize just how much until you were with someone else.” 

He was quiet for another moment, and you feared the worst. You feared he’d tell you your feelings weren’t reciprocated. But he surprised you by crossing the space between the two of you, grasping your shoulders, and before you could even comprehend what was happening, he was kissing you. 

It took your breath away, surprising you more than death itself. His lips were warm on yours and his hands held onto you like he was scared you’d disappear under the ice again. It was decades worth of feelings bubbling to the surface at once, spoken through an intense kiss that took the air that wasn't even there right out of your lungs.

When you pulled apart, a smiled painted your lips as a sheepish look graced his face. “I like you too,” he said. 

You laughed in disbelief, grasping the sides of his face and bringing him in for another kiss. 

[instantpansies]

guys please the autism is too strong i need rules and regulations. i want more media exploring the social consequences of being trapped in a child's body but living lifetimes. how does maturity work? can the trapped person be a true adult despite not physically having a brain developed to its fullest extent? (i mean, brains are always developing, but ykwim) what would their interpersonal relationships look like? wouldn't it be damaging, hurtful, alienating to be treated like a child when you're not? to be expected to be innocent and naive or whatever when you've lived longer than some of the people who are talking to you?

if you think about it this isn't as specific as it sounds. if a teenager is caught in a timeloop, and spends years of their time learning and growing as a person, would they still be a teenager when they escape the loop? they might still look like one, but aren't they a different person now? older? what if they've gone to college, gotten a degree or several? would they be considered worthy of that? ready for that?

if a child becomes a ghost, and then spends years befriending a living child, watching them grow up, could they act like two adult friends when the living one is older? would the ghost child still be childish? would the relationship be strained by the ghost's appearance, or would the ghost be stuck acting like a child forever?

and that begs the question, what the hell are these kid ghosts in media doing with themselves??? i mean if they've had dozens of years with nothing to do, wouldn't they change over time?? i'm tired of ghost kids who act like they're the same age they were when they died. they might look like it and sound like it but if you give a six year old endless time and resources they will eventually learn shit, right? could a six year old, given years to grow in nurture if not in nature, act like a teenager after eight or ten years of ghosthood?

i want answers. i want examples. i want to be able to speculate on these things without being asked if i support shipping ghost kids with living adults or whatever. i AM intrigued by the implications of relationships of all types between immortal children and mortals of all ages. i want to be able to actually explore what that would mean, and idk im kind of frustrated that it's difficult to explain myself. drop your hottest takes in the comments below or whatever.