#it only scares him a little that vlad could have murdered him and no one would have known anything was wrong until months later
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im-totally-not-an-alien-2 · 2 years ago
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"Hello." A dull thwack sound reverberated across the rooftop, leaving the boy who snuck up on Red Robin clutching his head. The boy, a meta if the large animal ears and tail were anything to go by, shook off the pain and pouted up at him, "What was that for?!"
The vigilante was unrepentant, holding his bo staff in a ready position, "You snuck up behind a vigilante at night. In Gotham."
"Okay," the meta conceded, still pouting. "You have a point there. Robin threw ninja stars at me when I tried to approach Batman."
That got Tims attention, "You tried to approach Batman? Was there something you needed?"
The kid suddenly got serious, "My mom went missing. I haven't been able to contact her for almost two weeks now."
Red pulled his arm closer to his face before he began typing on his wrist computer, "Can you tell me her name and date of birth?"
"Um." The other teen fidgetted with his tail a bit, "Okay, so...she's kinda Cheetah."
"...come again?"
"She's Cheetah. The...the supervillian."
Red Robin stared at him, and honestly who could blame him? The bats hadn't even known Cheetah had a son. "So why are you in Gotham? Why not ask Wonder Woman for help? Cheetahs one of her rogues not ours."
The teen shook his head, "She went to meet someone in Gotham before she disappeared. She seemed really agitated before she left, almost scared. I've never seen her like that before." He paused, giving the vigilante time to type before continuing, "I didn't go Wonder Woman since I figured I would wind up needing to talk to a bat anyway since its your turf and all." He said, waving a hand as if gesturing to the city around them.
"I wasn't aware Cheetah had a kid."
The meta grimaced, "she didn't until a year ago."
Red gave him a look, as if urging him to go on.
The meta chuffed, sounding a lot like whatever big cat he was supposed to be, "I'll only tell you my tragic backstory if you promise to help me find my mom."
"I'll find your mom." The bird said without an ounce of hesitation. Tim was a little offended. Did this guy think he was going to leave his mom in danger just because she was a criminal? Appearently so, seeing as the teen looked so relieved at his words.
"Okay, so my bio parents were evil mad scientists. Always a bad start, anyway they were obsessed with the occult and one day they suddenly took me and my sister to Brazil to hunt for some artifact of another. That alone was strange but weirder still was the fact my creepy godfather was paying for it all. He usually only does something like that when he's plotting "
"Plotting?" The detective interjected, "you make it sound like he does that often."
"Yeah. Hes a supervillian." The meta said casually, as if he didn't just leave Tim reeling, but the kid wasn't done yet, "He's had a massive crush on my bio mom since collage and never let it go no matter how many times she rejected him. She even married my dad, his best friend, and this dude just kept simping for 20 years." The teen rolled his eyes, "Hes convinced himself that if he murders my bio dad then my bio mom will fall in love with him and me and jazz will be "his"." He said that last part with fingerqoutes and a disgusted expression.
Tim filed that away for later, "Can I have his name, if nothing else?"
The teen seemed reluctant for a moment, "You're the worlds greatest detectives. You'll find out even if i try to hide it. Besides, I'd probably be better off if you and the Justice League know everything anyway."
Tim was...surprised by that. Most people usually weren't this open with them.
"His name is Vlad Masters, he also goes by Plasmius when he's dressed like a wannabe vampire. He's a ghost who's repossessed his corpse. My parents are Jack and Maddie Fenton, who are obsessed with ghosts and have convinced themselves that all ghosts are evil and must be destroyed, regardless of how much evidence points to them being wrong."
"And your name?"
The meta grinned at him, showing off four very sharp fangs, reminiscent of the large cat he takes after, "You can call me Jaguar. We were exploring a bit when I broke off from my family and got jumped by one of them. Suddenly I was struck by a claw and turned into furry bait. Fluffy stopped trying to make me his lunch and just stared at me before walking away, which was wierd. Then my parents found me, accused me of being a ghost, because thats naturally what someone would assume when thier son sprouts cat ears," he said while rolling his eyes.
"Naturally." Red joked, which had the benefit of making Jaguar smile.
"So my parents chased me through the jungle, shooting all the while, then suddenly a portal opened up in front of me. I'm not stupid, I know there was no way this wasn't a trap. I mean, a portal opening up right after that bizarre series of events and its the same shade of glowing green as the wierd death go my parents are obsessed with? There's no way they weren't related somhow, but I was desperate and jumped through anyway."
"I landed in another jungle, or the same one in a different location, I'm not sure. I tried hunting and foraging but wasn't very successful at either." Danny still remembered the throbbed in his head when he had headbutt that tree after missing his pounce on that pig he had been stalking. "Thats when Cheetah found me. She took me in and taught me to hunt and fight."
-----
Possible plot twists:
1. Danny isnt Phantom in this au
2. Danny is Phantom in this au but is trying to leave that life behind
3. My favorite. Danny has the ability to manipulate and control animals into doing his bidding with the effect of jaguars and other big cats being the most prevalent and he just doesn't realize it.
One of Cheetahs friends/allies realizes cheetah has changed and suspected something and convinced her to leave for a while to see if her care for this kid faded after a while away from his presence. It works and Danny loses another parental figure/possibly attacked by them too.
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autumnmobile12 · 11 months ago
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The League of Morons vs A Summer Camp
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All right, so I love the hell out of this nonsense and I want to talk about the Vanguard's plan and how ridiculous it was.
First, most of the crew showed up a night early and…well, then what?  That first night, Dabi says they’re still waiting on a few more people to arrive.  Okay, so what are you all doing here already?
Did Kurogiri warp them back to the bar after they’d gotten a look at the place?  Scouted the area a bit?  You needed seven people for that? Were they that bored waiting for Twice, Compress, and the Nomu to show up?  What were they doing in the 24 hours between this part and the actual attack?  Standing on that cliff and muttering,  “Heroes…”?
Was Toga all, "Guys, I'm tired. Can we go back to the bar already?"
Spinner: "No, as villain protocol dictates, we must stand here menacingly for a minimum of twelve hours."
Dabi: Fuck you, I'm going to bed.
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Except for being a scare tactic, having Dabi start a fire was mostly unnecessary. Their goal was to further weaken society's faith in heroes by targeting UA students, so you'd think he'd be a little more proactive in...well, actually harming someone. As it happened, the fire really only to served to announce there was an attack happening.
But I’ll throw the Vanguard a bone here and say this was Spinner’s doing.  Like their original plan was to start a massive fire that would consume both classes and all the heroes in a singular tragedy, but then Spinner said,  “Hey, pump the breaks, people.  We’re here to uphold Stain’s ideals about toppling the corrupt Hero culture.  Do we really want mass child murder as part of our brand?” Sure, he wanted to go after Iida, but he was a specific target since he was on Stain's hit list.
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The two copies Twice made of Dabi were virtually useless in a fight since Vlad and Aizawa both took him out so quickly it was embarrassing.  And yet he’s apparently a big enough threat that No. 1 and No 2. can’t handle him.  Go fig.
Endeavor/Hawks:  Oh, no, he’s too strong…
Aizawa/Vlad:  Listen here, you little shit!
...
Muscular goes and reveals their plan even though he didn’t have to.  They all saw the Sports Festival, they knew what Bakugo looked like, and yet here he is asking Deku where he he can find Bakugo as if he was going to answer him.  Yes, he didn’t think there was any harm in telling him since his plan was to kill Deku anyway, but alerting UA to the fact they were looking to kidnap someone is still just hubris.
Going after Bakugo in the first place was a dumb idea.  We can probably credit that one to Shigaraki because only he would look at the violently temperamental teenager raging on national television and think,  “Yes, he seems like a reasonable person to negotiate with.”
...
Gonna drop in some actual light criticism here: Given the inequality issues that arise in the series later, targeting the heteromorph students for recruitment purposes would have been a smarter move for the LoV.  They’re all part of a demographic that has a justified reason for being dissatisfied with society, so there would have been a believable chance of the LoV thinking they could sway some people to their side.
But hey, the League of Villains was on a learning curve. Give 'em a break.
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He totally saw Aoyama here.  Or at least he heard him because he clocked that there was something weird about that bush and he was going to go check it out…and then Twice distracted him and Dabi has an total ADHD moment and forgets what he was doing.
And it's not because Aoyama was the spy. Nobody in the Vanguard knew.
1.) Shigaraki says he tried and couldn't figure out where the camp was, but AFO figured it out relatively quickly. So if even his successor doesn't know who the spy was or called on that resource, then why would AFO tell anyone else in the group?
2.) Moonfish, Muscular, and Mustard were all apprehended, but none of them ratted out Aoyama, as someone with nothing left to lose would. Neither did Kurogiri when he was later apprehended, but that one may have been a loyalty matter. So I think this was a case of AFO saying, "I have a source of info and you don't need to know who it is." Because at the end of the day, AFO is an arrogant narcissist who's definitely not placing all his eggs in one basket. Aoyama wouldn't be an easy spy to replace, so of course AFO would want to limit any chances of him being exposed.
So this was Dabi's screw up.
Speaking of forgetting things, Dabi also straight up forgot they had a Nomu because he thanked Twice for reminding him they had a Nomu.
Sir....how the hell do you forget you have a Nomu?
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Toga was supposed to get blood from at least three people.  She failed.
Twice had a simple job. Create clones. He succeeded, but the only two he made were Dabi and I refer you to the previous point on how useless they were.
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Spinner and Magne’s roles were a diversion. Distract the Wild, Wild Pussycats and give everyone else the opening to find and kidnap Bakugo.
They did pretty well. Up until the point they were almost caught and Kurogiri had to bail them out. Also Spinner lugged the giant, over-the-top blade contraption all the way there only for Deku to destroy it.
However, they do deserve some credit for making probably the best strategic decision of the group that night, and that was taking out Pixie Bob. We saw on the first day of the camp that she was able to hold back a class of twenty students with an army of earth creatures she was simultaneously controlling. That would have been a huge problem, so for the purposes of their team, good on them for removing that obstacle.
Underrated squad members right here.
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Mustard was a legitimate threat for same reasons Dabi and his fire was a threat, plus he brought a firearm into the fight. (I want to know what the other villains thought when they saw that.)
But instead of putting him in the center of the fight where he could do some significant harm, they placed him on the outliers and all he did was knock some students unconscious and everybody made a full physical recovery, showcasing the gas he emitted wasn’t all that lethal and didn't cause any long-term complications. (Again, maybe this was Spinner's idea of Stain's ideology on not indiscriminately massacring children. "Guys, I'm telling you! That's fucked up!")
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The Nomu (effectively brain dead without orders) did more damage than any of them, which makes the previous point that Dabi forgot they had it even funnier.
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And finally, Mr. Compress was missing for half the night and then almost came in clutch by fulfilling their main objective plus extra credit, only to nearly blow it with his showboating. Seriously, they could have gotten away with both Bakugo and Tokoyami had they just booked it while the going was good.
But no, Compress had to make a dramatic production of it. When he first snatched the kids, he could have just left and Deku and company would have had no idea what happened. Had he just kept his mouth shut and left, they wouldn't have known he even existed. Then as the Vanguard members were leaving through the warp gates, he goes and does it again, giving Aoyama enough time to fire at them with his navel laser, something that also could have bee avoided had Dabi just checked the fucking bush!
The Vanguard Action Squad won by sheer dumb luck and their collective incompetence actually succeeding is the most hilarious thing about this arc. In the end, three members of their crew were arrested.  (Although I think everyone was secretly relieved they lost Moonfish.  Even if he was on my side, I’d be actively worried that guy would kill and eat me in my sleep.)
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Yet this self-important twerp is smiling like they actually did something to be proud of here.  All Dabi really accomplished personally was grab a marble (coincidentally the correct marble) before Shouto could, which is borderline more standard older sibling behavior than actual villainy. He literally lost two separate fights in one night and called it a win.
This arc was a five episode Scooby-Doo trap going wrong and succeeding.
Seriously, I hope that after the warp gates closed, they all just looked at each other and immediately started calling each other out on everything. Like Dabi slapped Compress upside the head and asked him what he'd been thinking having 'one last bow' before they got away. Spinner yelling at Dabi about how the clones did nothing. And there's Bakugo all, "I can't believe I've been kidnapped by a gaggle of morons."
Fake it till you make it at its finest.
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leo-sharks-struggles · 9 months ago
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I've invaded your inbox to ask if you'd like to infodump about your WIPs to me! Seriously, go ahead and write an essay if you'd like to 👀 Your WIPs just sound very cool and I'd like to know more!
Hi! Thank you! Sorry for taking forever to answer!
I actually have a few different wips that I'm going to add eventually. But these are the first two I'm worried about.
Anomalous is actually an older wip that I have. It actually started very different and focused on just strange shenanigans in the town with the vampire twins as the main characters. Although, Vlad hasn't changed much except to have more depth beyond horny vampire dating a faery. The village didn't even have a name until I tore the story apart to start anew. I am a huge sucker for stories that center in a town or village that spooky scary things live in. Unfortunately those stories rarely involve anything adult or the kinds of detail stuff I like. So now I just try to write them myself. Anyways, Anomalous is my hope to have my romance and found family and supernatural drama all in one.
Now, Vlad's family isn't necessarily bad, they're not even very terrible in most regards. Vlad just has his own way of thinking and his family doesn't agree with him. They don't resent him either, there isn't any hard feelings. They both just have their own way of living. They literally just visit because the oldest of their children is finally getting married after centuries of dating. Going into the idea once I decided to focus on Vlad and Aerin I didn't want any serious over the top conflict. Drama yes, death murder slaughter no. This is suppose to be a fun while also have Vlad on the seat of his pants scared he'll be single by the time his old fashioned family leaves, if they ever do. I want to play with old fashioned vampires and supernatural town and also some getting married in there too. I also plan to try make like little bios for the characters and the town down the line when I have more time.
Originally in his back story, Vlad was suppose to have been some punk, former pirate guy obsessed with getting his vitamin D. And Aerin was his newest fling. Now I like the idea of Vlad being a punk former pirate that met the love of his life accidently and they decided to finally take the next step for the tax benefits and also that 'gross shit' called love and commitment, you know, a few centuries in. He also founded the town just so his boyfriend could have neighbors that weren't gonna chase him out of town with pitchforks and torches for being a faery.
But if there is specific things yinz are looking for about Anomalous, you know, just send me another ask. :)
The Dragon's Suitors is a much newer wip. I've been struck with the bachelor(ette) sort of tropes for a hot minute and I also love dragons. A lot of the details of this one are still in the works because it is so new. A lot of the wips outside of Anomalous are rather new for me.
Weylan, our mc here, is a cool headed pro at her job. Her father was in charge before her and made sure to teach her everything she would need to know. Now it's her turn to take the lead and keep the village safe. And as any dragon with a treasure, the only thing they could also need is a spouse. So the king himself has sent his best matchmaker as a favor to her father. She's got 5 different people looking for her hand in marriage. Basically it's a love multiple triangles except not really because she has no interest in that shenanigans.
So yeah, with it being rather new I am still going to work on the details so I can get the ideas I'm actually interested in writing. But if anyone has questions in particular go ahead and send me an ask. It'll probably help me work those details out faster!
Thank you for the ask my dear! I appreciate it greatly!
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starry-bi-sky · 9 months ago
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@ghostboidanny
I was thinking pre-Dani, but that's largely because I just don't pay her much mind lmao. I mean this lovingly, but she's a narrative deadweight in my eyes. But you're right, actually, it would be fun for her to show up a few months later and find out what happened to her brother-cousin-template. You didn't specify how late so I'm gonna be a little dramatic and say she shows up in Amity Park, finds the Fenton house missing, and seeks out Sam and Tucker to ask them where Danny is.
When she finds them they fill her in on everything, and she freaks out when they say that they haven't actually heard from Danny in months, not since he went into Vlad's custody. They thought Danny would contact them after news of him missing came out, but they haven't heard anything.
(This wasn't on purpose or anything, Danny's just been preoccupied living with Bruce)
Dani does the reckless thing and goes to sneak into Vlad's manor for clues. She doesn't find anything -- well, she finds where Danny's room is. Vlad obsessively kept it the same way Danny left it (albeit it had very parse few decorations besides the one Vlad put up), and then she sneaks into his lab.
She doesn't find much there either. Except for leftover remains of the blood blossom toxin, she immediately dumps it down the lab sink in there because that just sounds like trouble. She has a run-in with Vlad, has a confrontation with him that clearly reveals he's become increasingly unstable since Danny's disappearance, and books it out of there with only the knowledge that Danny was last seen in Gotham.
Gonna... skip over their reunion because frankly i dont have the brain energy to come up with how she finds him. But just know that she does and its a big ol reunion.
(throwaway idea where danny can't handle being around other ghosts either because their strong ectosignatures subconsciously agitates his own and as a result boosts the toxin)
Danny tells Ella an edited version of how he came into Bruce's care -- which up until they both have that 'are we family' convo, was both considered as a sort of unofficial witness protection. -- because Bruce's secret identity is not his to share, and if he didn't even tell Jazz about being Phantom then he's not telling Ella about Batman.
With this lack of context, Ella has a misconstrued view of Bruce. You're right, she probably wouldn't even if Danny keeps vetting Battinson and insisting that he's a good guy.
Ellie: You don't know if this guy is manipulating you, Danny! He could be evil, like Vlad!
Danny, once watched Bruce trip over his own cape and nearly eat gravel: Ellie, I love you. But you're wrong.
Ellie: he's a fruitloop.
Danny: Elle, "fruitloop" doesn't mean "weirdo rich person". That would make Sam a fruitloop. "Fuitloop" means "murderous, evil rich bastard with delusions of grandeur, and a sense of entitlement so big you couldn't see Jupiter around it."
Danny: honest to all things, look at Bruce and tell me that he has delusions of grandeur.
Ellie, watched Battinson scramble over a fence to get away from reporters:....okay. but i still don't trust him.
idk if she'd get adopted, but it takes her a hot minute to warm up to Bruce and actually trust him with Danny's safety. Which, speaking of, she's heartbroken over his illness and it's incredibly strange to see her once powerful, starbright older brother so... small. He used to be so full of life, and he still is now, there's just... an undercurrent of exhaustion now. In his smile, in his eyes.
The death of his parents, his "illness," living with Vlad, oh, and I just remembered he'd be scared of becoming like Dan too, it's all been weighing down on him. He's had a real shit couple of months, but it's all been getting better with Bruce's help, Ellie watches him brighten up around the guy.
She keeps a more "cousin" role in the family, visiting the manor whenever throughout the years.
Unfortunately I don't really have much to say about the idea of Dani being made after Danny runs away, but I like the idea too. She keeps a backseat role if she joins the family, or just isn't actively in the vigilantism at all. Just aware of it. Maybe she goes by "Harpy", short for the harpy eagle and their excellent eyesight because she's watching their backs. Danny calls her "Harps" for short.
I am loudly pushing the batdad agenda i am loudly pushing the— DPxDC Prompt
“Woah. You look like shit."
Granted, that’s probably not the first thing Danny should be saying to the guy that just bit the curb, but in his defense; he’s not running on 100% right now either.
The man -- tall, towering, and broader than Danny is tall -- whips around on his heel, black frayed cape flaring out impressively. Danny would've whistled in appreciation, but he takes the time instead to wipe the back of his hand across his mouth, smearing the blood running from his nose across his cheek.
"Sorry." He blinks widely, not even flinching as the man with the horns zeroes in on him. "That was rude of me. I have a really bad brain-to-mouth filter; Sam says its what always gets me into trouble."
And she's not wrong either, per say. His smart mouth is what landed him in this situation -- with blood blossom extract running through his veins and cannibalizing the ectoplasm in his bloodstream. Thanks Vlad.
The man grunts at him; a short, curt "hm" that shouldn't make Danny smile, but he does because he's somewhat delirious and probably concussed. The man keeps some kind of distance, sinking towards the shadows of Gotham's alleyway like he dares to melt right into it.
If it's supposed to scare Danny, it doesn't work. Danny's never been afraid of the dark; he's always been able to hide himself in it. He blinks slowly at the mass of shadows.
"You look hurt." The shadows says, blurring together around the edges. Danny squints, and licks his lips to get the blood dripping down his chin off. Ugh, he hates the taste of blood.
"I am." He says, "My godfather poisoned me. M'dying." The agony of the blood blossom eating him from the inside out looped back around to numbing a while ago, so all he feels is half-awake and dazed.
"Hey," Danny stumbles forward towards the man, a bloodied hand reaching out to him. "You-- you're a hero, right? You're not attacking me; which is more than I can say for most costumed people I've met." Maybe it's a poor bar to judge someone at, but he's already established that Danny's not in his right mind.
The man makes no change in expression, but Danny realizes blearily that it's hard to tell with the shadows on his face. He stays still long enough for Danny to latch onto the cape -- stretchy, but almost soft under his fingers.
He looks up blearily into the whites of the man's eyes. "Can you help me? I don't-- I don't wanna die." Again. He doesn't wanna die again. He blinks slow and lizard-like. "I mean- I'll probably get to see mom and dad again, but I told them I'd at least try and make it to adulthood."
There's a clatter down the street, and Danny's ghost sense chills up his spine and leaves a bitter, ashy taste in his mouth. He immediately knows who it belongs to even before the deceptively gentle; "Daniel?" echoes down the way.
"Daniel? Quit your games, badger, Gotham is dangerous for children."
Danny's mouth pulls back, and blood spills against his tongue. "Please." He rasps, and grabs onto the shadow's cape with both hands. "Please. He's going to kill me. Please--"
"Daniel? Is that you?"
His lips part, dragging in air to plead with the darkness again. He doesn't need to, the whites of his eyes narrow, and the cape whirls around him before Danny can blink. Soon swaddled in shadows, the Night lifts him up, and steals him away.
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glebxoc · 1 month ago
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Chapter 3
Matronas POV
"God, how could they, there are a lot of Anastasia's, we believe rumors we would have a hole army, глупый (Stupid) "
I say more to my self than to Anya, still angry
"Who does he think he is in that nice Uniform, in that big Offices "
"Gleb Vaganov" I hear Anya say.
"What kind of name is that unbelievable"
"But what if it's true" Anya whispers
"What ?" I ask confused
"If what is true?" I ask now looking at her.
She stood there looking at the ground. She takes a deep breath and looks up.
"What if am Anastasia" She says with such Pride it makes my heat hurt.
"You can't be Anya, they are dead" I say with a sad smile.
"But what if "
"no what ifs, there are no ifs, I saw the blood in the snow I heard the screams the shots they are dead, it's the only thing me and that Bleb can agree on"
I say now, raising my voice, it hurt to remember that event, it left a stain on my soul that could never be washed away.
"Do you remember When I told you that I remember something just today, it was because of that, I met two men Dimitri and Vlad they are willing to take me to Paris, they believe that I'm here too." she says with light tears in her eyes
"Oh Anya" I say softly, raising my hand to cup her face, but she flinched away. It shocks me, and hurt me at the same time, I lowered my hand on a level where she can take it.
"Come Anya we are going home" I said. But she looked at my hand and then my face with a look I couldn't right 
" No, I'm going to Paris, I am Anastasia Nikolajewna Romanov if you believe it or not" and with that she stormed off,
"Anya !" I screamed after her, but she was gone, she will find her way back, I just hope she doesn't get hurt or anything.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, …
Anya didn't find her way back, and she is nowhere to be found. Now I did it, she is dead too, probably laying in some ally. My hole body shock at that image. This cant be, I really can't take care of anybody can I. It has been two days now, and I don't see another way out, even If it disgusts every cell in my body It's for Anya. I try not to throw up at the thought of seeing him again, but I can't really do something different. I walk by the guards, ignoring the orders to stop. I just walk into the Office and there he stood on the telephone. He just had hung up and looked up.
"Oh look, the murder without name" he said with mockery in his voice. " Why do I own the pleasure ?" He asks.
"Anya is gone, I can't find her so," I posed god I hate this  "I'm asking you to help me, I don't know another way to find her "
"you are asking me after what kind speech you gave last time, really brave of you" He said straighten his Jacked
" I care for Anya, she is like family for me, and I'm worried" the last pared was whispered.
"She is on her way to Paris, with two men one old one young, she really believes to be Anastasia." he said
"Why do you that?" I ask confused why he knows that, then it clicks.
"You're going after her" I 
"I'm coming with you" I said fast
"No" he answered.
" Hell I will, I need to know if she is okay, and I'm not waiting here for you to bring her back" I say
"Also I can't really believe that you would follow somebody just for some small law break" I pause again. "Unless you really think she could be Anastasia "
" Your fast I see" he said
"what are you going to do to her if she is ?" I ask, a little scared about the answer.
"End what my father began" He said. It confused me, what does his father have to do with this then I remember, Vaganov, It was the name of one of the guard, could it be ? No ?"
"Your father were one of them, wasn't he ? " I ask.
"Yes."
"Well then I'm 100% coming with you" I say fast
"I can't have that, sorry, you have to stay here "
" OH, ерунда (Bullshit) you will be sorry if you leave me here, I will make your journey a living hell" I say, and I meant it
He seemed to think, before he said yes
"I can use your knowledge about Anya to find her we will be leaving at 2PM can you do that ?" he asks
"Of course" I say
he stretches out his hand to me
"I'm deputy commissioner Gleb Vaganov"
"Matrona Maorzov" I say shaking his hand but letting go quick after, even tho his hand was … Nope it was his nothing more.
" Then I will see you on the train station, a good day Ma'm" he said, I wanted to correct him, but he was already gone. Хуй тебе! (Fuck you)
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lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks · 3 years ago
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sometimes I think about what I'd do if my high school held a reunion
I'm pretty sure it would be the start of my villain arc
because to be perfectly honest I would love to straight up pull a Vlad and murder a bitch in cold blood
but that's sort of frowned upon legally so I'm forced to consider other alternatives
I think my prime strategy would be to have everyone regret talking to me by making them so wildly uncomfortable with stories from my time in Grippy Socks and hopefully leave them wondering, perhaps forever, if they were partially responsible (spoiler alert, they probably were)
I also definitely absolutely will be wearing my sexiest corset because I want all the asshole guys (and possible lesbian/bi ladies) who treated me like shit to know that they will never have a chance at this, I might have a double chin but I've also overshot double Ds by about 4 cups so I'm pretty sure with the right support I could get some heads to turn
my goal is to be smoking hot and absolutely unhinged to the point where nobody really wants to approach me but they have to out of sheer morbid curiosity, because the me they used to know never wore anything more revealing than a t-shirt and jeans
and if That One Massive Cunt herself even fucking dares to approach me after the shit she put me through, I won't hesitate bitch
I'll be telling her how lucky she is that my therapy is covered by medicare otherwise I'd be sending her the fucking bill, I'll be asking if she's proud of herself for being the cause of my very first suicidal thought AND panic attack, I'll mention that I heard she has a kid now, I heard it's all she posts about on facebook, you better hope to god nobody ever treats that kid the way you treated me
and if they do then maybe you'll feel a shred of empathy, just a taste of the helplessness of being a 14 year old who thought that after an entire childhood of being bullied and socially outcast that she had finally made some friends, only to have them ripped away because you decided that she didn't deserve them
because she was different? because she was weird? because you just didn't like her?
what a fucking crime
I'm not the helpless anxious kid I was when you walked all over me, I'm not scared of you, and guess what? my neurodivergent ass might have learned a thing or two about social etiquette, but I don't give a fucking rats ass if I make a scene in front of all the people whose opinions only you care about
and if you apologise? if you really truly show me that you feel regret for what you did, good, I hope it eats you up inside to know that I won't forgive you, I will never forgive you
too little too fucking late, I am far too damaged for that
and I'd love to throw in her face the fact that her boyfriend left her for me, that he told me about her attempted sabotage when she showed up at his door and climbed right into his lap, it would be so satisfying to inform her that she couldn't have him and I didn't even want him, but I wouldn't stoop that low, I respected him too much for that, he was one of the good ones, he didn't deserve to be pulled into this shitfight
I used to be blunt and honest because I didn't know how to be anything else, now I'm blunt and honest because nobody deserves anything else, I won't play nice for these people, I want my presence to be a cloud over them all, I want them all to walk away from this night knowing that they were complicit in my madness, either directly or by simply standing aside and watching as it happened, laughing at the weird girl as she pulls her own hair out and scratches holes in her skin
I want them to see my scars and wonder which one is theirs
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arsonaetcuh · 4 years ago
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Hetalia Incorrect Quotes part 8/? Soviet Union+Coutries From the Warsaw Pact Edition though mostly just Belarus(long)
Link to part 7
Apologies if any of the characters are OOC. I don't know them that well.
Latvia: I will put my “A” down to make “A.” Belarus: I will add to your “A” to make “AT”. Ukraine: I will add to your “AT” to make “RAT”. Russia: I will add onto your “RAT” to make “BIOSTRATIGRAPHIC”^J^. Latvia: *Flips the board*
Russia: Ah, Raivis, good, I need a minute of your time. Latvia: I’ll give you two because you scare me.
Lithuania: Which movie are we going to see tonight? Russia^J^: Oh, I always go to whichever you guys want. Lithuania: Which one do we want to see? Russia^J^: I haven’t decided yet.
Lithuania: I want all this to be over Estonia: All what? Lithuania: * gestures vaguely*
Belarus: [yelling about something] Ukraine: Wow I didn’t think so much rage could fit into someone so small.
Lithuania: H-have you been seeing anyone recently? Belarus, holding a knife: No, why? Lithuania:  W-well, would you like- Latvia: I just think seeing a therapist would help with the murdering
Bulgaria: Name a way to be nice to others. Belarus: Don’t kill them. Bulgaria: That’s setting the bar a little low but I’ll allow it.
Poland: *looks at Romania and Hungary having a debate* Why were we ever friends with them? Bulgaria: Cheap entertainment.
Romania: Don’t I look good today. Poland:  Ahem Romania: What? Poland: There’s only space for one large ego in this little group, and that’s me
[Moldova, Romania, and Bulgaria are sitting on a bench] Prussia: Why do you three look so sad? Moldova: Sit down with us and we'll tell you. [Prussia sits down] Romania: The bench is freshly painted.
Police: You’re under arrest for trying to carry three people on a single motorcycle Poland: Wait, what do you mean THREE? Police: Yes... three people Poland: Oh my god, what the- Police: Uhhh sir? Poland: RAIVIS FELL OFF
Lithuania: If I die, I want you to carry my coffin. Poland: That’s very kind of y- Lithuania: So you can let me down one more time.
Poland: What’s it like being friends with Tolys? Prussia: We're not friends. Once I asked him for a glass of water, he brought me a glass of ice and said “wait”
Estonia: Everyone synchronise your watches. Latvia: I don’t know how to do that. Poland: I don’t wear a watch. Lithuania: Time is a construct.
Lithuania: You know, I’ve always thought that deep down you’re actually quite a nice- Belarus: *pushes Lithuania up against the wall* Shut it! I’m evil, I’m not nice. I’m never nice. Nice is a four letter word, and I will not- Estonia: Excuse me, sOrRy FoR  iNtErRuPtInG aN iNtImAtE mOmEnT
Ukraine: There is only one thing worse than a rapist *pulls down piece of paper* Boom! Belarus: A child Ukraine: No!
Ukraine: What would you like to eat? Belarus: The souls of the innocent Russia: A bagel Belarus: No Russia: Two bagels
Belarus: It’s kinda cold. Lithuania: Here! Take my jacket! Belarus: I love you. Lithuania: We are such a perfect couple. Romania: Romania: I’m cold too. Hungary: Well, damn, Vlad, I can’t control the weather!
Latvia: I’m not that clumsy. Poland: Lie of the year. Bulgaria: I’m not that smart. Poland: Lie of the decade. Ukraine:  My boobs aren't that big. Poland: Lie of the century. Belarus and Lithuania: I’m not that attracted to Natalya/Tolys. Poland: Lie of the universe.
Bulgaria: imagine if someone handed you a box full of all the items you've lost throughout your lifetime. Romania: My will to live! I haven't seen this in 15 years Prussia: I knew I lost that potential somewhere! Lithuania: Mental stability, my old friend! Moldova: Guys, could you lighten up a little?
Lithuania: So are we fighting or flirting right now? Belarus: I literally have a knife to your throat Lithuania: Okay but that doesn’t answer my question
Lithuania: Aa--aaaaTCHOOO (sniff) Prussia: Shut the fuck up. Lithuania: Excuse me?! Prussia: I meant bless you! Lithuania: Prussia: Slip of the tongue.
Russia: I know you snuck out last night, Vladimir. Romania, internally: Play dumb! Romania: Who’s Vladimir? Romania, internally: NOT THAT DUMB-
Latvia: I sort of did something and I need your advice, but I don't want a lot of judgement and criticism. Lithuania: And you came to me?
Estonia: Your girlfriend is barking mad! Lithuania: Yeah but she's cute.
Moldova: Can we go get ice cream? Bulgaria: What did Vlad say? Moldova: Vlad said no Bulgaria: Then why are you asking me? Moldova: Because Vladimir's not the boss of you Bulgaria, internally: it's a trap it's a trap it's a tra-
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miserabull · 4 years ago
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A very long meta-analysis on P2 Bad Grief
So, I've gone over every dialogue with this guy a few times, and there is some stuff I've never seen addressed before. This is a mix of analyzing and theory that have been in my head for a while, and I’d love to know if it all also makes sense to other people
The thing about Classic and P2 Grief, is that they are very different characters playing the same role. Who is Bad Grief? A thief, a kingpin of the town's criminal underbelly, and a smuggler working for Big Vlad. In P1, he's also a dangerous murderer who kills people for fun, but denies it, even claims that he kicks people out of his gang for daring to take up knives. Dude lies a lot. In fact, he maintains the lie up until the last route, the Changeling's, and then tries that on her too but ends up confessing. This is my very wordy way of saying that while I kinda agree with people who are like "he's not a violent murderer like P1 Grief", P1 Grief also claimed to not be one up to the last minute. I don't think they are making him a sadistic killer this time, yeah, but I'm pretty sure he's a liar, and that there's a darker secret. The game implies Grief keeps his cards close to his chest and there is more to him several times, like here, when you talk with Lara's reflection
Lara's Reflection: You see, she puts her stock in deeds and not in words. So Stakh was always close to her; for he would hear his heart, and act. A trait you share, Burakh.
Haruspex: And the most taciturn of us all, Bad Grief.
Lara's Reflection: He speaks so much yet does so much more.
or when Artemy confronts him at Aspity's Hospice:
Bad Grief: You heard about Rubin? Know why the Kin wants him dead? He's walkin' around all downcast, doesn't sleep. Says not to ask. Says it's safer like that. What's he done, I wonder? I wanted to ask Sahba, but maybe you know?
Haruspex: You're lying. That's not what you wanted to ask. I can tell.
Bad Grief: If I did lie, I wouldn't tell you the truth now anyway, would I? So back off. 
I'm not gonna go over the blowing-the-train tracks quest now, though I have some thoughts on it/what I think might be his plan there. For now it suffices to say that that whole thing is very odd, that his plan doesn't make sense(yeah, blowing up the tracks is a bad idea for his business. kinda meaningless though if the alternative is being hanged). That is to say, I'm pretty sure there's a hidden agenda there that we're probably only finding out in Changeling route.
So, what I mean is, if you think P2 Grief is harmless, or just a clown, or became a gang leader by accident, then, well. I think honey, you got a big storm comin'
A few more notes on Grief's character, and what I think of what we got so far:
-I believe the reflection(I have some thoughts about the nature of those too, actually lmao) is telling the truth, mostly. He is terrified, he doesn't want Artemy to think badly of him, he never wanted violence. P2 Grief is younger, more sympathetic, and very obviously more scared than his P1 counterpart. I don't think he's out there killing for fun. Still, I think he has a lot of blood on his hands anyway.
-I think his loyalty to his friends is sincere. He's kind of really big on companionship and loyalty, which fits, as a gang member. I really think that he wants to belong, to a gang, to a friend group, somewhere. Artemy mentions he's "always been weird" a couple of times, or stuff like "I knew you'd end up like this." and that thing with Lara's reflection... I think Grief was always a little bit on the margins, even in his own friend group, and that's why he made a place for himself as the leader of the misfits, of the people who don't fit what the town considers to be good society. I gotta get on with this because this is gonna be long enough without me rambling about every single thought and feeling I have about this bastard though
-He doesn't give away Stakh's hideout accidentally because he's goofy and dumb. He mentions more or less where it is like, three times. I think it's obvious that he's practically asking Artemy to go check on him, but he doesn't want to be a snitch, so he plays the fool like "Oooh no I gave you a hint, I sure hope you don't go looking for him now, don't ask me because I’d never tell!!". He's playing the clown, he's not that stupid
Okay, now we're getting to the heart of things. In P1, along with the reveal that he's actually a violent murderer who played another violent murderer(Barley) into taking the fall for his crimes, we get something else: he's working under the patronage and protection of Vlad Olgimsky. In P2, they put a lot more emphasis on that, Grief will tell you about it in the first AND second conversation you have. There is even a certain imagery associated with it... actually, allow me a quick digression here, I wanna go over some motifs around Grief. 
Grief is pretty into clockwork and gears, going by his choice of decoration for his Lair. The town itself is compared to a machine several times, by himself, by Big Vlad, and regarding how the Kains view it. I risk to say that the way Grief sees it is rather different from the Kains, at least at first.  For him it seems to be more of a blunt factory machine, while to the Kains...it means something else, more complex. Grief seems to have glimpsed what that is inside the Cathedral, near the end. That reminds me of something else, in the Diurnal End when Grief talks about how he used to be a clocksmith before, and now he's going to be "another kind of clocksmith", I don't think he's necessarily being literal in either case. Curiously, there's also a Clocksmith inside the Cathedral in Marble Nest...but I'm going off topic again
Bad Grief: Not a keeper of stores, but stories. This town, this great machine, the gears don't turn on their own, no, not till they're slick with secrets. 
But so, webs and puppets. We return to Vlad Olgimsky(old), who uses the metaphor of his “web”. There's also an important character in Grief's journey that is strongly associated with (spider)webs and strings, and that's Aglaya. The most notable time Grief himself refers to it though, I think, it's in the Theatre of Death, if you let him die:
“My path was not called 'The Spider'. No, think wider. It was 'The Silkworm'! The end of a railroad, I pulled strings firm; unaware someone more cunning pulled mine upstairs.”
So about that. He’s referring to the PTB right? Probably, but not only. A theme in Patho is like...these layers of manipulation. I’m gonna pass the mic to P1 Clara and Saburov for a second:
Alexander Saburov: Begin with the Olgimskys. That is the most important sin for me, and the least for him, for it is not his fault. So did Olgimsky protect his illicit trade? Did he benefit from it?
Changeling: He didn't just benefit; he presided over it. Grief was his stooge.
Alexander Saburov: Now then, we shall skip the issue of the barber gang, since it's clear now who their true mastermind was... thanks to your courage, my brave girl.
Changeling: Don't skip it just yet. Barley was as much of a puppet in Grief's hands as Grief himself was for Olgimsky. Everyone has their toys.”
Grief is a puppet in Vlad’s hands both in P1 and P2, as there he says he’s Vlads “eyes and ears” in the warehouses. In the Cathedral, he seems to more or less realize the extent of it, and how it goes against what he always wanted in the first place: to not be trapped by anything. 
Bad Grief: I used to be a thief, yet they made me a storekeeper. And what a perfect fit I made! I got my Warehouse kingdom, and with it, the insides of the Town's great machine. I kept Vlad's riches while havin' all I could dream of. Can't imagine a sweeter life.
Funnily enough, by that time he’s trapped in someone else’s web: Aglaya’s. That seems to be his thing, he thought he was in control and playing everyone, knowing all the secrets and pulling strings. In the end, he’s a Silkworm in the web of bigger fish. I mean, spiders.
Bad Grief: ...Yet they, too, are controlled by someone. Insane to think what kind of teeth you need for that.
But okay. Back to the start, I believe Grief has a lot of blood in his hands even before shit breaks loose. The things he seems to be most afraid of are also… interesting. This ties to his connection to Big Vlad, and the Kin.
Grief’s role in the payroll seems to be as a stool pigeon. He knows where everyone goes, what people are talking about, what they don’t want to become public. And he responds to Big Vlad. What I think is, hm, you know, even after Victoria passed it seems like the Kin and the Bull Enterprise never really defied Olgimsky, or had a leader in any way. Grief, too, seems to enjoy a pretty comfortable life for a gang leader. As an important piece to Vlad, he really doesn’t have that much to fear, since the guy “owns everything” and is very explicit to Artemy about how he can destroy anyone who doesn’t obey him. And probably has done that before. My guess is, Grief kept the machine working right by tattling, so no leadership or enemy to Vlad’s Enterprise could rise. I’d speculate that Vlad possibly paid the favor not only financially, but by maintaining Grief in that position. Basically, I think with Grief’s info, Vlad could eliminate any potential problem. That would mean that maybe without even having to shed blood himself there might be a lot of deaths Grief is responsible for, not to speak of the maintenance of that horrible system in the town. I think the route they are going for here is that Grief is a class traitor.
Why do I say that? Well, first let’s look at Grief’s relationship with the Kin: he’s remarkably close to them for a townie. Geographically, obviously, and also in the sense of living on the margins of society, but he also shares many of their superstitions, and seems to hold Aspity’s opinion in high regard(even calls her Sahba). I find it easy to believe that many of his men are part of the community as well, due to not being welcome in the town. At that time we see him in the Hospice though, and talking with the Kin people there, it’s pretty clear that they are planning some sort of uprising. That it’s imminent. Grief seems to know it. Seems to be absolutely terrified of that too, and to feel betrayed by Vlad.
Bad Grief: It's too late for me, Cub. I've only got one road ahead of me now. Perhaps the outbreak is for the best... Plagues are like fires, people forget old scores. And all hell will break loose here soon.
Haruspex: Any dark prophecies to share? You're the criminal mastermind here, after all.
Bad Grief: No need to prophesize. People fear hunger. Even honest workers will turn their hatchets and hammers to crime. Burglin' houses, lootin' corpses, guttin' each other. They will. Oh, they will.
Haruspex: Not all of them, Grief. Not all.
Bad Grief: The turf's so dry, you don't even need a match-a glare would start a fire. And when the Kin bares its teeth, that's when we'll all dance! They're slow on the start, but oh so fast on the draw! The Master likes them mute and obedient, but apathy makes them that way, not stupidity. They're only obedient till the time comes. And here it comes.
And the people who lose their jobs? They won't be too fond of staying home. They'll find new hobbies, like looking for food, or venting their anger. ...And Fat Vlad shut his facilities down the day before yesterday, didn't he? Crafty... Didn't whisper so much as a single word to me. Do you think he knew?
At the same time he seems to think that he deserves this, and it’s inevitable. “We reap what we sow”, paraphrasing him. He talks a few times about how there’s a vile beast inside each person in the town, about how they are all wretched and everything, including him, which I think might just be a way of coping like “yeah, I sold out, but anyone would do the same if they were in my place”. 
So, yeah. What I think is that Grief was a guy that had no power and money, with absolutely no perspective, who due to his very particular skills had an opportunity to climb up and took it(all while still getting to pretend he’s an outlaw, free from the chains of society!). And it’s...very bad. And he knows it’s very bad, and he’s not evil or sadistic, but he’s immature, cowardly, and desperately wants to be in control of his own destiny, and to not be alone, and all that. He’s still Artemy’s childhood buddy, a loyal friend, and someone who never really wanted to cause that much damage. He also knows that what he did is unjustifiable, and that no matter what he truly feels, the damage is done and he’s guilty of horrible shit.
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fanfic-she-wrote · 4 years ago
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Imagine being the reincarnation of Dracula's long lost love: part 10
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9
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Dracula helped you out of the coffin and held you close in his arms, not wanting to ever let you go again.
"Vlad, I was so scared." You told him, pressing your face into his chest.
"Me too." He said, stroking your hair. So he was right after all. You were Maria. You had finally come back to him at last.
You still felt weak and held on to Dracula for support. Not only did you feel weak, but you felt... different. You didn't know what it was, but it was like all your senses were maxed out. It was so overwhelming. There was also this new scent that you discovered. It smelled delicious, but what was it? You wondered looking around trying to find the source.
"What did you mean that you remember everything?" Van Helsing asked, concerned for you.
You faced him, realizing just where that smell was coming from. Your eyes shined bright red, an intense hunger in them...hunger for blood. Normally you would have been repelled by such a thing, but right now you needed it more than ever. Van Helsing watched you nervously as you inched toward him.
"Y/N?" He said nervously backing away, but you did not answer. All you could think about was his blood, the taste of it on your lips. Dracula noticing your odd behavior, grabbed you by your shoulders and held you back. Why? He did not know. He had wanted to kill Van Helsing himself earlier. Perhaps he was trying to prevent you from doing something you would regret.
You squirmed, trying to wriggle free, but Dracula held you firmly in place. "Let me go!" You hissed at him, revealing for the first time your fresh new set of fangs. Van Helsing stared at you wide eyed. What had he done? You were no longer the sweet, brave, and kind Y/N, you were now a monster. He should never have let Dracula turn you. But then you would be dead...looking at you now, maybe it would have been better that way. He just lost it in a moment of grief.
"Calm down, darling." Dracula spoke in a soft voice, trying to soothe you. "You will feed soon, I promise."
Van Helsing glanced up at him. "What do you mean?" 
"She is in a very crucial time right now. She needs to feed." Dracula urgently explained to him.
"So what will you do, go kill another innocent person?" He asked, raising his voice.
"We have no choice."
Van Helsing sighed. "Then she can have some of mine."
"That is not necessary, Doctor Van Helsing." He refused.
"Yes it is. I won't have you or her killing anyone else. I'll run into town and get my supplies. I'll be back soon." He said, buttoning up his coat, turning to leave.
"Henry, take the coach if it's still there and take him home." Dracula ordered. Henry nodded and promptly followed Van Helsing out.
A few minutes later the tapping of horseshoes against the ground could be heard as they disappeared into the night leaving you and Dracula alone. You closed your eyes and let out a long sigh, then looked up at him.
"Is that what it's like for you all the time?" You asked, now realizing how difficult life was for him. How tempting it was to feed on human blood. Even now with no mortals around, you desired it. Dracula simply nodded. "It's horrible...I can't believe I wanted to...to..." You winced at the thought of hurting, maybe even killing Lawrence. He wrapped his arm around your shoulder and held you close.
"Come, let's wait for them upstairs." Dracula said, guiding you from the dungeons and up the stairs. When you reached the entry hall your mouth fell open in shock. This was the first time you had seen the castle in ruins. You felt a very intense anger. How dare the townspeople do this to your home, to Dracula's home!
"What do we do Vlad?" You ask, looking around. He squeezed your shoulder and replied, "We'll find some place else. Anywhere is home as long as I have you."
As you waited for Van Helsing to return, your mind wandered. You thought about how strange fate was. In your previous life you were married to Dracula and Van Helsing was his power hungry step-brother who killed you. In this life you were Van Helsing's friend who ultimately reunited you with your lover.
"What's wrong?" Dracula asked, noticing how quiet you had become.
"I was just thinking. What happened after...after I died all those years ago?" You asked. Dracula knew this question was inevitable now.
"Well, Van Helsing fled and joined the Turks. Soon after, we went to war and I was killed during one of the battles. As I lay there dying from my wounds, the devil appeared to me. I sold my soul and in return I would have my revenge on the Van Helsings." He told you.
"That's when you became one of the living dead?" You asked. He nodded. "But Lawrence doesn't know about any of that. He told me he wanted to get rid of you because he thought you were a threat to humanity."
"He's right. I am." He admitted. "I didn't care how many lives I took. How much blood I spilled. None of them mattered as long as I didn't have you. I was just as ruthless in life as I am in death."
"And now?"
He paused for a moment, thinking. "I don't know..."
Suddenly, from out of the wreckage you heard some rustling followed by a series of painful moans. Dracula pushed you behind him ready to attack whatever it was. From beneath the debris, a man crawled out. He was covered in dirt and blood, the smell instantly flooded your nostrils. "H-help me..." The man pleaded as he slowly pulled himself across the floor. Dracula looked over at you and saw the hunger return in your eyes and how you licked your lips, desperate for just a little taste. He didn't want to admit how turned on he was by this. He smiled and stepped aside, letting you pass. He wasn't about to let you miss out on your first meal.
Your eyes were fixed on the man before you, like a predator staring down it's prey, waiting for the right moment to pounce.
"I'll help you." You lied, your voice sounding menacing.
"Oh, thank you I-" He peered up at you and saw what you had become and let out a blood curdling scream. "Nonnnoo! Please!" He cried, cowering away, but you didn't hear him. You were focused on one thing. You grabbed him by his collar and lifted him off the ground making him eye-level with you. You hesitated for a moment. You knew you shouldnt. That this was bad, but he did try to kill you and your love after all. He deserved it. Your mouth was practically watering as the sound of his pulse pounded against your eardrums. Dracula stood behind you and whispered in your ear, "Do it." Before the man could utter another plea for mercy, you sunk your fangs deep into his neck. His blood dripped down your lips and chin as you sucked every last drop from his body. Dracula wanted you now more than ever. You moaned and threw your head back enjoying the taste of blood as it ran down your throat. Once you were finished, you tossed the corpse back into the rubble he crawled out of.
"How do you feel now?" Dracula asked, eyeing you lustfully. You grinned at him. "Much better, darling." You answered in a husky voice, running your finger under his chin. Unable to resist you a moment longer, he twirled you around and pressed you flush against him. Leaning down he licked some of the blood from your lips, then he roughly pressed his mouth on yours. He could still taste the blood as he slipped his tongue inside. It drove him mad. You couldn't help but let out a moan when he suddenly nipped your bottom lip as he pulled away. You both stared longingly into each other's eyes for what felt like an eternity.
You went to kiss him again, but were interupted when Henry and Van Helsing returned.
"Y/N! What have you done?!" He exclaimed noticing the fresh blood around your lips, running towards you. He looked down at the man's lifeless body, a horrified expression on his face. "You killed him..."
"What of it?" Dracula sneered.
"Don't you understand? She killed an innocent man!" He yelled.
"He wasn't so innocent when he tried to kill us." You quickly pointed out.
"Y/N, why? I thought you were better than this." 
"I guess I'm not who you thought I was." You said coldly. Van Helsing felt his heart break again at how much you changed. He wanted to take you far away from here, far away from Dracula. To try to find a way to get his Y/N back. He'd rather you be dead than live out eternity like this...Van Helsing sighed. He had no other choice. He had to kill you and Dracula before it was too late.
"I guess not." He agreed. "There's nothing more I can do if this is the life you've chosen. I'm leaving for London tomorrow." Dracula eyed him suspiciously. Was he really willing to just leave you alone? To just ignore the fact that you might kill again. Did he really care for you that much?
"Will I ever see you again?" You asked, still wishing to remain friends. Even though his ancestor had murdered you in your past life you didn't hold it against Lawrence. He was different.
"No, I don't think so." He replied, looking away.
"I'm sorry to hear that." You said sadly, but you understood.
"I am as well." Van Helsing said. You pulled away from Dracula and went over to your friend, pulling him into a hug. Why did you have to do that? He thought. It only made things more difficult for him. He knew the real you was still in there somewhere, but the vampire took her place leaving a shell of what you once were. You placed a quick peck on his cheek and backed away.
"Goodbye, Y/N." He said, knowing that this was the last time he was going to see you alive, knowing that when the sun came up it was up to him to end your damned existence. He turned and left without another word.
Dracula felt your distress and wrapped you in his arms in a comforting embrace. It was getting close to dawn now. He needed to find you a coffin before daylight broke. So, after he knew you were alright he left with Henry to the local cemetery to find you a coffin.
You wandered the castle ruins thinking about Lawrence. He had been your only friend in the world till now. No one else had stopped to give you a second thought, but he did. He was there for you when no one else was. At one point before you came to Transylvania, you thought you loved him, but he was too involved in his work. His work was his ultimate passion, and you knew you couldn't compete, so you never did. You sometimes wondered what it would be like if you had chosen a life with Van Helsing. Would you be a silly little domestic couple with a house and kids? It was an amusing thought, but neither of you were the type.
Finally, Dracula and Henry returned a little while later carrying a coffin. It wasnt anything fancy, but it would do. Perhaps later, you could get a better one. Sunlight started peeking in through the windows as they hurriedly carried it into the dungeons, placing your coffin beside Dracula's.
"Too bad they don't make couple's coffins." You joked.
"Maybe we could have one made." He teased, kissing your neck where he had bitten you, making you shudder. "I love you." You said softly running your fingers through his hair.
"I love you too." It was so pleasant to hear him utter those words. You wanted to hear him say it again and again.
"Sleep well, darling." You said with a yawn, as you lay down suddenly feeling tired. You took one last look at him before shutting the lid. This wasn't an ideal lifestyle, but you loved him and that's all that mattered.
The sun rose into the sky and the birds began to sing their morning song. It would have been a beautiful day if it not had been for the task that Van Helsing had set out to do. He crept back inside the castle, bag in hand, being careful not wanting to draw attention to himself. He stood in the doorway to the dungeons, contemplating his next move. His chest was heavy as the thought about driving a stake into your heart. But he had to do it. He slowly opened the door and walked inside, and down the flight of stairs to the room where Dracula's coffin had been earlier. Now he noticed, that there were two coffins lying side by side, one belonging to you.
He reached inside his bag and pulled out a hammer and a couple of stakes. Van Helsing strode over to your coffin and pulled open the lid. Inside, you lay looking peaceful and content, a small smile on your face. If only it didn't have to be this way...
He pressed the stake between your breasts and raised the hammer high into the air, ready to strike. But he couldn't. The longer he stared down into your beautiful face, the harder it became to do it. He closed his eyes. Maybe if he didn't look at you...But he just couldnt. Why was this so difficult?
Suddenly, a voice shouted out behind him startling him. "Hey! What are you doing?!" Henry shouted, running at him, tackling him to the ground.
"Stop!" Lawrence yelled, shoving Henry off of him. Not listening, Henry raised his fist and slammed it into the side of Van Helsing's face, quickly tearing the stake and hammer out of his grasp.
He shook his head, feeling dazed for a moment.
"How could you do that?! I thought you wanted her alive?!" Henry asked throwing away his weapons across the room.
"I did, but after seeing what she has become I couldnt let her live like that...but I can't do it. I can't release her from this curse....It's all my fault." Van Helsing sobbed, his head throbbing. This is why he never let anyone get close to him in the first place. He had only himself to blame for this. There had to be another way and he was going to find it by any means necessary.
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mashiraostail · 4 years ago
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Those can’t sleep heard a noise scenarios were SO cute plz do ones for Fatgum and Gang orca 💕✨ no worries if your too busy or ran out of ideas to make them diff from the others 👌
yeah omg, I’m glad you liked them! I had a separate request in my ask box for gang orca and Vlad king as well so I’m just going to add him here instead of making two separate posts! I hope you enjoy :3
Taishiro Toyomitsu/ Fatgum: Your neighbors were probably just being loud, maybe having a small party, or an argument. You couldn’t remember if they had pets but maybe they did and they were getting into typical late-night pet troubles, and that’s what all the bumps in the night were. Though the shadow of that lamp in the hallway sure did look ominous enough...  Taishiro was a deep sleeper, he usually wasn’t bothered by your tossing and turning...though you figured being a pro hero would give him a sort of sixth sense to these things if there was danger he’d wake up, you just knew he would. You didn’t have anything to be afraid of, or so you told yourself. He was sleeping comfortably beside you still situtatied to hold you where you were once laying.  It was entirely possible that that lamp was not a lamp at all but a very still murder waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike...maybe Tai had a long day and that’s why he hadn’t noticed yet, he was probably exhausted.  You stop yourself before you wake him up, he probably did have a long day, you shouldn’t wake him up from all this much needed rest but- another loud thump. You shake his arm, harder than you intended in the first place. “Taishiro you need to wake up-” He groans and cracks an eye open. “Tha’ts not a very nice way of askin me to cudd-”  “Tai I’m serious.” Your voice lowers, you swear you saw something move.  His other eye opens at your tone, “What’s the matter you?” He sits up beside you, “not feeling good?”  You shake your head, “no I-” You grip his arm and look up at him, “I think I heard something..”  “Think ya heard something?” He glances out into the hallway, “well I’m pretty sure I came here alone.” He chuckles and you shudder at him. “Tai I just- I’m really freaked out-” He grins a little at that, he did think it was cute that you wouldn’t just go check it out on your own. “Alright, well howsabout I go take a look? Make sure alls well?” He offers and you nod vigorously at the idea. “lucky you, I think I can do that.” He stands up, “you just wait here alright?”  You scramble up to stand beside him taking his arm again, “well maybe I should come with you! You know I-in case you run into trouble!”  He’s laughing at that, “Gee you’re right.” He wraps an arm around you, “silly me going in without any backup huh? What would I do without my baby?” He lifts you easily into his side, “you watch my six now, ya hear?”  Unsurprisingly you find nothing. He sets you back in bed, your legs dangling off the edge. “Looks like it’s just the neighbors stomping around up there that gave you such a scare.” He pulls your head forward into his abdomen and scratches the back of your hair.  “You feel a little better now?”  You nod against him as he pulls you back to peer down at you, “let’s get back to bed yeah?”  “Mhm.” You cover his hand on your jaw, “I’m sorry to wake you up over something so silly-”  “Don’t be sorry.” He huffs, settling back into bed and extending an arm to you, “I’d rather you wake me up then be scared all by yourself. I know I’d want you to feel that way if it were me that was scared.” He closes both arms around you as you settle into him, “‘s what I’m here for okay? Well that and cuddlin’ anyways.” 
Kugo Sakamta/Gang Orca: Kugo always scolded you for how easily you were able to work yourself up to practical hysterics, and this time was no different. The rational part of your brain told you it was the wind. A window was open somewhere and the heavy wind was blowing in, knocking things around. The sound of the door just startled you and it overtook any rationality in your brain.  Kugo wasn’t really a light sleeper or anything, you were sure if it was something worrying he’d wake up, but he slept contentedly beside you, an arm still outstretched to accommodate you. You probably had nothing to be worried about. Unless... Maybe you should wake him up to check. It was better to be sure..But he looked so comfortable. He was even snoring a little. He was probably exhausted and-  You hear a louder door close and it makes you jump.  ”Kugo.” You push a hand on his chest, shaking lightly, “Kugo wake up-” One of his hands covers yours to stop the shaking against his chest, “I’m up.” He drops his head to look up at you, “what’s wrong? A nightmare?”  You shake your head, “No I..heard something..”  He sighs and sits up, “you need to get out of your own head love.” He pulls you into his lap. “I just have a bad feeling.” You murmur, bracing yourself against his shoulders. He drops his head and nudges into your neck, his breath is warm on your skin, “you always worry yourself sick over nothing dear.”  “I know..” You murmur, resting your cheek against his head, “well..Isn’t it better to be safe?” He picks his head up at that and takes your face in his hands. “If it’ll help you calm down then yes.” He lets you go and stands as he continues, “now tell me my love, where’d you hear the noise?”  “W-wouldn’t it be better if I went with you?” You look up at him from where you sat and he chuckles a little. “You’re scared to be left alone?” He holds out his hand, “well then come along little one, and stay close.”  You check around the whole house before landing on his office. “The windows were open.” Two of them, just a crack each. He lets you go to close them. “It’s so windy out tonight, a few things must have been knocked over, the first door you heard was probably just the cabinet, and the second was the bigger door. Does that seem right?” He welcomes you to his side as he sets the few things knocked over back in their place.  “It does.” You coil an arm around his rib cage, “I’m sorry to bother you for no reason-”  “Don’t be sorry.” He insists, reaching over to lock the windows, “I don’t scold you because it’s any bother to me, I just don’t like seeing you so worked up. But if I can help I’d rather you wake me up every time.” His hand rests between your shoulder blades, “why don’t we go back to bed now? Do you think you’ve calmed down enough to fall back asleep, or is there anything else I can do for you?”  You shake your head meekly, “I feel better..”  “Don’t be upset with yourself.” His hand moves to hold the back of your hair, “I love you, I’m glad you called on me. It makes me happy that you feel so safe and comfortable with me. Come on now, I’ll carry you to bed.”
Sekijiro Kan/Vlad King: You normally really enjoyed it when Sekijiro insisted on sleeping with you squished into his chest. You would complain and groan about it when he pulled you into bed, settling you directly on top of himself and squeezing you, but you never moved, even when he loosened up his grip, his skin was warm against your cheek and the sound of his heartbeat lulled you to sleep easily, sometimes far before he dozed off. Though tonight it felt restricting, you felt exposed and vulnerable, not by any fault of his but rather by all the strange noises you were hearing.  It was probably the dog, getting into his nightly dog troubles, trying to jump onto the counter and steal left overs despite being just an average sized bulldog, or digging on the couch. The clattering you heard was probably just his fat paws on the hardwood. Soon enough he’d tire himself out and come back in here, either curl up in his dog bed or whine and bark and try desperately to jump up into bed with you until Sekijiro woke up and let you go to pick him up so he could join you at the foot of the bed. Though you weren’t sure you could wait for that. You felt like someone was just standing at your bedroom door, watching you.  Sekijiro was snoring, he always snored, it was the only thing on the planet that somehow didn’t wake you up, despite being actually rather loud. His chest rumbled with it, and it rose and fell with big sleepy breaths, taking you along for each one. Eventually you feel too panicked, the normal grounding sensations weren’t working and before you could stop yourself you were shaking the man below you awake.  “Sek-” You murmur, bouncing against him, “wake up.”  He snuffles up, probably getting a mouthful of your hair. “What’samatter? What-oh.”  He lets you go so you can sit up around him, “bad dream?” He takes your hands and holds them against his chest, “looks like you saw a ghost.”  “I keep hearing stuff. It’s really scaring me.” You murmur, looking down at him, “will you..check around and make sure...everything is okay?” He looks up at you trying and failing to mask his affection. “You’re a little scaredy cat.”  “Shut up!” You roll off of him and he laughs a little, “I’ll look. I’ll look, I’ll check everywhere don’t worry about it.” He peppers a few kisses up your jaw to warm you back up.  “hold on-” You sit up and reach for him, “maybe I should come?”  “I’m pretty sure it’s just the dog, I don’t think I need backup-” It dawns on him, “oh you’re afraid.” He’s grinning, “come on then, stay behind me.” He holds out his hands to you and you take them. Sure enough it is just that pesky little bulldog getting himself into trouble.  “Drac!” Vlad forwns at him, you supposed it was good you’d got up to check. He’d gotten onto the counter somehow, but left himself no way to get down.  “Jeeze you’re the smartest yet dumbest dog I’ve ever met.” He mutters as he picks the bulldog up but despite his scolding is pressing more than a few kisses to the dogs perpetually grumpy face.  The dog mozies along behind you as you go back to bed, and curls up comfortably in his bed on the floor as Sekijiro guides you back to your own bed.  “Looks like it was nothing.” He takes your face in his hands and squeezes, “feel any calmer?” You nod in his grip and he hums before flopping unceremoniously back into bed.  “Come back over here.” He holds an arm out to you and you sigh but roll over to him.  “Sorry for being so paranoid, I just get so-” “Don’t be sorry.” You feel him frown into your hair, “you were nervous, that’s fine. What’s the point in dating a guy that’s 6′4 if you can’t wake him up for stuff like this?” He laughs a little, “wake me up whenever you’re scared. If I can help I want to, okay? I’d want you if it were the other way around so..I get it.” He presses a kiss to your scalp and squeezes you against his chest.  “Now let’s go back to sleep before he starts crying to get up here with us.” 
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immortalonus · 4 years ago
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Where You Belong: Chapter 3
A/N: I hate this chapter so, so much. Unfortunately, I also couldn't find any way around it. If I got anything wrong, chances are I just missed it, so feel free to let me know.
Read on AO3 here.
“...Humans with ghost powers!? Crazy, right?” Valerie snorted, then paused.
“Or humans that turn into ghosts, or ghosts that—stay human when they die or whatever. The important thing is that there was a part of Ellie that was real. And if it hadn't been for Phantom, I'd have just left her there with Plasmius, to do whatever—to hurt—to—”
Valerie took a moment, struggling to admit out loud what she had already begun suspect for herself.
“—kill her. he was gonna murder a little girl, mama, and if Phantom hadn't convinced me she still had some human in her, if I hadn't listened to a ghost, I woulda let him.”
Phantom, if she hadn't listened to Phantom, specifically. It was a detail that still irritated her every time it came up.
The ghost boy had been so persistent, for so long in his charade of being a “good guy,” that most days, she simply tuned him out.
And truly, was that so wrong?
Up to that point, Everything Phantom had said in his own defense had been nothing more than talk. Oh, he said sorry, he said he felt bad about it, but at the end of the day, what had he done?
Ruined her fathers job and her life, then fled the scene like the criminal he was.
Stole for the hell of it and couldn't even be bothered to take the blame when he got caught.
(Valerie still had no idea why the ghost thought an “evil mind controlling clown guy,” was a reasonable excuse, at all, for anything.)
Who was always ready to fight, but never to help.
Never, not once, in all the wretched aftermath of the Grey's financial dissolutionment, had Phantom come to their aid. Not in the immediate events that came after, nor during the process of her father's dismissal, when he could well have stayed his expulsion simply by appearing, proving Damian Grey's assertions of spectral interference months before he would have been otherwise believed.
Not during the move from her childhood home to her current residence down in Elmerton. Too strapped to hire assistance, it had been down to Valerie, her father, and Fenton, who had taken his weekend off to help her move instead.
No haunting the creditors who dogged their every step, even now.
Hell, he couldn't even be bothered to tell the public that it was his fault her life was ruined! In private, yes, where he knew no one could hear. But never where it mattered, to whom it mattered, since that would require Phantom to actually give something up for once and admit what he did was wrong. Which he would never do, because Phantom, like all ghosts, was a fundamentally egotistical creature, right down to his very core.
No, Valerie had good reason to believe that she had Phantom all figured out: A showboating prig, full of hot air and false excuses, distinct from other ghosts only in his capacity to fool the masses into believing he was ever anything more.
Then Elle happened.
The ghost girl's mere existence had managed to throw Valerie's world into a whole new tailspin, leaving her reeling even as events conspired to yank more and more of her footing out from under her, teetering on the edge of her own understanding as all her convictions suffered blow after blow.
Living ghosts.
Ghostly humans.
Friends acting as enemies.
While enemies acted as friends.
“I woulda let him kill her.” She repeated, “Just like I let him kill—end—All those other ghosts I gave him, just handed 'em over for whatever freak experiments he had cooked up.”
Just like she had snuffed out who knew how many other specters during her own patrols.
How many of them were still alive in there, she wondered, underneath the ghost?
Her mother's brows seemed to furrow in response, worried, no doubt, over what exactly her daughter had done.
“I didn't mean it mama, it wasn't my fault! It was all Plasmius, you know Plasmius? That knockoff Nosferatu all the time picking fights with Phantom. He used me and he lied, and—“ Valerie licked her lips futilely seeking moisture from a mouth gone dry.
“He played human to do it.”
Valerie felt a flush of rage and shame wash over her at the words. She had been used all over again, played for a fool and manipulated just like her so-called “friends” had used her before, dangling control and importance in exchange for the very essence of her soul.
To learn that she had struck the same deal with a different kind of devil, that all her power was a tool in someone else's hands had curdled into an ache that rivaled the raw burn of a whole new betrayal.
Because unlike the A-listers she'd run with not too long ago, or even Phantom, who she'd always hated, Vlad Masters had been a man she'd seen fit to trust.
“Plasmius was Masters, and—God, they even share the same first name—My sponsor, the guy who gave me my first suit, trained me up, even kept me and daddy off the streets when things were at their worst. And me stupid enough to think it was 'cause he cared.”
A hard exclamation escaped her throat at the thought, to forceful for a scoff, too sharp for laughter.
No such thing indeed.
“Everyone's out for something. Masters—Plasmius, he was out for Phantom, and I was just the pawn that was supposed to get take him out.”
That's part of what scares me too. Why was Plasmius so dead set on Phantom? Why'd he sink so much money into taking him out? Why does Phantom hate him back?”
And it was peculiar, how much Phantom seemed to hate Plasmius. Valerie had thought for a long time that it was some kind of territory dispute, a conflict over a rare and valuable thin spot between realities. After years of chasing after Phantom, however, it became more and more clear that the ghost boy's resentment of Plasmius went beyond that of simple competition.
The mere mention of the vampiric specter was enough to turn Phantom tense and snippy, as though the mere thought of the other ghost irritated him, somehow. After witnessing the two up close, Valerie's suspicions had cemented into certainty: Phantom hated Plasmius, and he hated him personally.
“There's so much I don't know, and no one to tell me. Plasmius doesn't know that I know, and until I get out from under him, that's how it's gotta stay.”
How Valerie was supposed to get out from under Plasmius was another question entirely. Plasmius, in Vlad Master's guise, was the sole reason the Grey family had managed to keep on top of its debts for as long as they had. To make matters worse, he also provided most of the materials Valerie's suit consumed for its more elaborate systems and weaponry.
Even so, the temptation to throw it all away and smash Plasmius' smug face against her boot was a strong one, stayed only by the fear of what would happen to her father if she tried.
“Phantom went squirrelly on me too,” she said. “I thought maybe I could get something from him, since we never ended that truce. But in the end, he was still just a ghost.”
She hadn't wanted to go to Phantom, in those days between Elle's escape and her decision to plunge into the Zone, had felt too much like would be admitting something, somehow, to do so. Had it not been for the fact that Phantom was her sole and only choice, she was sure she would never have asked at all.
Once she'd made the decision to do it, he'd been easy enough to track down. She found him—where else?—but In the middle of a fight, duking it out at altitude with one of the countless animal ghosts that regularly made their way across the paltry excuse for a veil stretched across Amity Park.
The fight had been easy, the conversation that came after it, much less so.
How could someone be alive and dead at the same time? Were they alive and dead at once? all the time? Did they alternate at will? Were they born? Were they made? How many were there? A lot? How did she spot a human-ghost if she saw it? Was there a way to tell? Or did you have to guess?
Phantom had been the one to tell her that these human-ghost, ghost-human things could exist in the first place, which had lead her to expect, rather despite herself, that perhaps he could explain them, too.
So it was only natural, really, that in that moment precisely, he had chosen to clam up. He knew nothing of these miraculous hybrids, could find out nothing concerning them, and as to finding them, he had no clue at all. Nevermind that it had been he who had first told her such beings were possible in the first place, the ghost was a veritable well of ignorance, utterly unable to aid in her pursuits.
“Ghosts are narrow minded and selfish, they go round everywhere like they've got blinkers on both sides of their head. You stick an idea in front of their nose, and they grab it if they like it, and shove it away if they don't. They don't consider where you got the idea from, they don't think about why its there, they don't even goddamn care why you picked it up in the first place. All that matters is somethings blocking their little slice of the world, theirs, specifically, 'cause they wouldn't never consider any other kind.
That was Phantom's problem, he wanted a truce yeah, but his way, not mine. A truce for beating things up, not a truce for trusting and talking or or anything that might give trouble to him. That wasn't how he wanted it to work.
He was even worse with Elle. She's the only other one I could talk to—not counting you, ma—who could tell me anything about anything about what was going on!
And Elle, I couldn't track her down. When she said she had places to be, I thought she meant like Phantom when there wasn't anything fun for him to hit, not just gone! I tried tracking her, I did, but it didn't work. Either staying human hides her, or she's run too far to track.
Stupid Phantom wouldn't help me with that, neither. It was just 'oh she's fine,' this and 'why do you care' that, like I can't worry about a human girl wondering on her own without nobody to make sure she's even fed!”
Not only had he been absurdly reluctant to answer her questions, but even had the audacity to wonder if they were at all related to her continued association with Plasmius. It was an insult, beyond all doubt, as though he didn't know how little choice she had.
As though he wasn't the one who forced her into making it.
“I guess so far as he figured, if Elle wasn't being kidnapped, then she was fine. It didn't matter that she's a kid, or alone, or was stealing apples just to eat. She was strong enough to survive on her own and not melt, and that was good enough for him. He just sat there when she left, too, watching her scat like any other ghost."
Did he know how far she intended to run, or simply fail to understand why he should care?
"No matter how well he thinks he means, Phantom can't help the human parts of her. Just because she could beat any man that tried to take doesn't mean that she doesn't get—scared, or lonely, or—“ Valerie wriggled uncomfortably in her pallet of dust. “—Or that she doesn't need people. Phantom can't give that, and Plasmius is a sick piece of shit, so that left me. Just me. If I let that go, then Elle'd be alone for real.”
The worry in her mother's gaze didn't lighten, exactly, but it did shift, consternation giving way to curiosity mixed with a hearty topping of concern. It was easy to imagine the question she would have asked, if she could but speak.
“Then what is it do you think you're doing all the way out here, hm?”
Valerie sighed. This, at least, she had a clear answer for.
“I'm on a mission. There's this thing called the infini-map. Don't have all the details, but with a name like that?” She scoffed, “don't need 'em. Whatever it is, its good enough to send Plasmius into a fit just at the idea of laying claws on it.
If I could get something like that, imagine, I could find Elle in a heartbeat. No more lookin', no more running blind and hoping for luck. And when I find her, I could use it get out from under Masters thumb for good. Use it, sell it, whatever, with that thing, it would be easy. Me and daddy could be set for life.”
At the time, the idea had seemed brilliant. With her search for Elle stymied, and rental payments approaching their inevitable due, she had latched onto the idea of a Ghost Zone mission the instant her so-called benefactor had brought it up. It was a chance to bleed “Mister Masters” of a little more of his money, without actually having to tolerate his presence for any length of time. Even better, it presented an opportunity to do right by her father while staying far away from the quiet anger, the soft, dispirited sense of regret that had seemed to overtake him as jobs remained scarce, and Valerie continued to hunt.
Perhaps most selfishly, it was the opportunity for the Red Huntress to become what Valerie had had always wanted her to be: A free agent, no puppet masters, no expectations, just the world, and herself within in it.
It was one thing she truly did not regret, even now, lying in the dirt looking up at the memory of a memory ripped to tatters in her hands. Whatever else happened in this strange, wild place, it was her decision, her choice. She was finally in control.
Thinking of control, there was another reason why she wanted to speed up her search for the ghost girl.
“Elle's a good kid, but she <i>is</i> a kid, with a ghost in her she don't even know to fear. I'm not sure how long she can fight it like that without anyone to tell her what's going on. She needs someone who knows about ghosts,who can show her how to fight back, 'cause if she doesn't, I'm not sure how long she'll last until she ends up Plasmius."
“Or Phantom.”
It was an ugly theory, but explained a great deal. The identical looks, the raw antipathy towards Vlad, in particular, or how a full ghost could see himself as related, somehow, to a being that was something so much more.
All ghosts came from somewhere, and Valerie rather doubted Elle was truly Plasmius' only attempt at capturing a hybrid of his own.
“'Cause I think they're the same kinda thing. It explains why Plasmius wanted her so bad, and they change the same way, too. They go from being a ghost, ectosignitures and all, to being alive. Not some fake, but breathing, heartbeats, everything. There's something in them that's really, truly alive.
Plasmius and Elle, they're both alive," she whispered, "but only Elle's human, and I don't know how long that's gonna last.
I can't stay stupid about all this ghost shit, neither. There's so much they won't tell me, and Elle's my ticket to figuring it out. If I can find her in time, I could fix it. Bring her to the Fentons, maybe, take out the ghost before it gets too big, make cash, move out me and daddy and Elle all together. Either way, this is how I do it, right here, right now. This is my chance.”
No more being lead around like a particularly witless donkey for his carrot wielding master, no more suppressing every violent impulse that threatened to take her over any time she chanced to look “Mister Masters” in his insufferable face, no more long, interminable periods of her nose against a grindstone day after day, scraping her fingers bloody against poverty's wall in the way her father seemed convinced was better, somehow, for all the pain it so obviously caused him.
“I know it's risky, but it's worth it, it's gotta be. If I can get the infinimap, then I can fix everything, all at once. I won't owe nobody nothing, and I can start fixing things again, for everyone.”
And perhaps her mother agreed, as the shadow that had gathered against her brow seemed to ease, relaxing back into something more serene.
Valerie smiled, running her thumb over the place where her face once was, pointedly ignoring the sensation of absence in favor of the smiling visage still shining across her display.
“See, I knew you'd see it my way.” Valerie was pretty sure she'd had to have gotten her sense of adventure from somewhere, after all. “It's hard, but I'm fine. And when this is all done, it'll be more than fine, it'll be better.
Just you wait.”
Overlay image: Session end.
The memory of Theresa Grey vanished slowly, victim of her daughter's own reluctance to see her go. But vanish she did, sunshine grew pale and laughter faded, memory crushed into data and erased of meaning, and Valerie was once again alone.
She sighed, finally allowing herself to lower the photograph as she reached over for her other parcels, which she began collecting into a small bundle atop her chest.
Technically, she could reach over to put her mother with her boots and rations instead of the other way around, but found herself suddenly disinclined to do so. Without the stress of the day to keep her going, she found exhaustion pushing down at her very bones, keeping her pressed against the meager comfort of her body warmed hollow of dirt.
No, lifting herself up as little as possible seemed a very enticing proposition indeed.
She grabbed both her boots, then her gloves, peeled off to reveal the same skintight leather which coated the rest of her, the remains of her wallet, and a single, battered bag, too smooth for leather, too thick for silk: All supplies from her earlier run in with the thieving insect from before, pared down to those goods and supplies she could actually use.
She chose not to dwell on how few of them there were.
Her mother came last, placed gently at the head of the pile, where she could look it over one last time.
She should have done this sooner, she knew, perhaps even the moment she entered the Zone. Keeping the photograph on her physical person was too much of a risk, one born of foolish sentiment and thoughtless desire. She had just wanted so badly to keep one good thing with her, somewhere tangible and real, she'd disregarded the threat she put it in.
Because if there was one thing death was guaranteed to do, it was steal everything and everyone it thought was yours.
Valerie placed her hands over the small collection, reaching once again into the inorganic hum prickling ever at the edges of her mind.
Unit_1 selected (Gen_Storage:)
Report
Status: Stable (20% full)
Contents (See details)
Intake request:
Intake selected? (Y/N)
>Yes
Processing…
A flick of her mental fingers, and it was done. Boots, bag, and all turned into their own kind of mist, dissolving into the small pocket dimension that followed her always, shadows diffusing into the surrounding light, the weight of them dissipating until nothing but the memory of their pressure remained.
Valerie brushed her fingers over the space they left behind, a half smile tugged at the corners of her trembling lips.
“Goodnight, Ma,” She whispered. A grief like seaglass hung heavy on her heart, smoothed over edges cut no longer, though the heft of its sorrow lay leaden even yet.
“Sleep good now, you hear?”
No voice answered in response.
Valerie no longer expected it to.
Deep in the realm of the dead, a figure turned on its side, curled against itself on its small outcropping of stone. Legs up to its chest, arms clenched tight around its shoulders as it heaved, breath by mortal breath, seeking some moment of repose.
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gentrychild · 5 years ago
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God, Danny phantom is SUCH a funny show to me. The premise is that a kid DIES and gets super powers, and is so miserable at school that he feels like being a superhero is the lesser stress in his life (but it’s played off as ‘haha school SUCKS, AMIRITE KIDS??’) the creator is the same guy who made fairly odd parents and is unwilling to take the story seriously, leading to the fans hating him and taking the show into their own hands. A villain wants to cuck Danny’s dad to adopt him. Shit’s WILD.
And he IS hunted by the government! And other ghosts! Danny’s considered a freak and a pariah among ghosts bc he’s only “half ghost”, and because his parents are GHOST HUNTERS he’s too scared to come out and tell them what’s happened to him! He literally says in this KIDS SHOW he’s afraid his parents will DISSECT HIM, that’s not fanon! The only adult figure who could remotely help him is a guy who went through the same thing in college, but who used his powers for crime and wants to kill his dad
Also vlad, the guy who wants to kill/cuck Danny’s dad bc he lusts after his mom, also beats this 14 year old child to a pulp to try and intimidate him into helping him murder his own father. Then holds a grudge and tries to kill HIM as well when he doesn’t! There’s a tv special where Danny’s whole family DIES, (because he CHEATED ON THE SAT???) he has to go live with vlad, the man RIPS OUT THIS KIDS HUMANITY so he wouldn’t have to suffer anymore???(everything is fixed bc Time Travel but????)
And the worst part is that vlad was bffs with Danny’s parents in college and they have NO IDEA what’s going on, so he can menace this poor kid more or less anytime he wants. Vlad at one point tries to clone Danny to make a “perfect son”, but they all end up half sentient monstrosities except for a little girl, who will MELT TO DEATH if she uses her powers too much?? The government hunts vlad and Danny both. I’m sorry for the spam, but it’s all flooding back and I am in AWE of this show lmfao
....one last thing about Danny phantom? He wants to be an astronaut, but because ghost hunting is taking all his time and energy, he’s always on the cusp of flunking his classes and is absolutely MISERABLE bc he’s afraid he’ll have to choose between saving the town and his dream of being an astronaut, and he knows he’ll pick saving the town if he has to. I remember this show being considered more funny than edgy, and as an adult I am flabbergasted at how they got away with SO MUCH
Can someone come here and tell me that OP is gleefully messing with me so I can sleep in peace tonight?
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ushiwakaout · 4 years ago
Text
WARNINGS: age gap, student x teacher (platonic then romantic) SPOILERS FOR MANGA CHAPTERS 280+
probably really bad spelling
Ok bitches, it’s midnight and my mind is ROLLING.
This obviously has to do with bakugo. I’m a bakugo kinny so don’t @ me plz.
I really do be thinking that he’d fall in love with his teacher. But like let me explain.
You’re one of his teachers but you aren’t a hero, 100% a vigilante bc you don’t believe in the Hero morals bc you think they are a little twisted. You’re the only teacher in UA who’s not a “real” hero, personally i think Aizawa is a vigilante bc in the beginning we see that he doesn’t like Toshinori and i think it has to do with his Hero ways.
ANYWAYS, getting out of pocket here.
After the UA festival you have a big soft spot for bakugo and midoriya (especially bkg but don’t tell deku). One day he accidentally fell asleep in class bc he’s been having nightmares and you notice. Ofc you do- he’s basically your kid smh. You don’t even bother to wake him and you threaten the ones who try, especially denki and mineta. Your quirk revolves around blood manipulation but u can make it into a physical form (i guess like elsa but w blood/ u can manipulate not just yours) So when they try to wake up bakugo you just put two scary blood creatures beside them and they threaten them for you. If class is over and he’s still asleep, deku looks a little worried but you pat his shoulders and let him know it’s okay.
not you waking him up with a blood figure bc your scared of him 😔 just a lil
he obviously wakes up startled with the blood beside him, unknown to you, it reminded him of the Sludge villain. you rush to his side and start to apologize, stroking his hair but he just slaps your hand away. He’s not used to this type of affection. “Bakugo.... Are you sleeping alright?” He obviously doesn’t crack under the first attempt and decided to leave, calling you an old hag nun the less. He’s muttering “Why should you care?” and “Mind your business old hag.” Mind you, youre only like 7 years older than he is. (Bakugo is 16, aka the oldest of the class making you 23, one of the youngest teachers too) You only stop him seconds before he’s out the door to let him know that he can talk to you when he wants to. Obviously flips u off bc he doesn’t see you like an elder like Aizawa or All Might.
The fourth time Bakugo is distracted or falls asleep, he slips up. You wake him after Iida complained to you about not waking him up, low key threaten him too- u know that he almost murdered stain 💀 shuts him right up. You stroke his hair this time, trying to be gentle and not startle him like last time. You ask if he’s okay again and that’s when he slips up, “Just nightmares n stuff...” He is NOT fully awake or conscious, so he kinda frazzled up again and we are back to our regular program of Bakugo barking in your face to mind your business. But you don’t expect him to say thank you right before he walks out the door. You’re like ????? that’s new.
It’s probably the last time bakugo falls asleep is when he starts developing a crush on you. You run your hands through his hair again and he kinda rubbed into it like a cat being pet behind the ears. Both of you are like 👁👄👁
He BOLTED. No way he had just developed a crush on his teacher. No fucking way. Try’s to distance himself from you. Doesnt sleep in you class anymore. Doesnt ask you for your help or anything. You don’t mind since it seems like he’s getting by better than he was before.
But when he gets captured by the LOV and youre at camp w aizawa as extra help and you don’t see bakugo back with the rest it’s like a piece of your heart was ripped out. ( BTW in this point in time the feelings you have for bakugo ARE NOT ROMANTIC, it’s kinda like Eri and Aizawa situation, you unintentionally took bakugo under your wing and care for him a little bit more than the rest)
You don’t sleep until you find him. You’re at the press conference and you’re blood begins to boil when they said bakugo would become a villain. You spoke over Aizawa “I can assure you that you can drop those theories and accusations of my student. Bakugo Katsuki is talented and strong willed. What you saw during the festival was a mier fragment of who he really is. He’s a good kid who wants to be the number one hero one day... he wouldn’t give that up to be a villain.”
“And how do you know this fire sure, (hero/name)”
“I know my student better than anyone.”
When you hear that Midoriya, Iida, Momo, Kirishima and Todoroki went on a rescue mission to save Bakugo- you freak out. You paced all night until All might won the battle against AFO. Shota called you in the middle of the night to let you know that Bkg was gonna be in the hospital for the night. You rushed over there and once again your blood began to boil- you overheard the converstantion with him and his mother. Her calling him weak. What kind of mother was she?
you purposely walked in, “Oh sorry... You must be the Bakugos, I’m H/N- his teacher.” Mitsuki shook your hand and so did Masaru. You guys chatted a little before they left. “Your fathers such a sweet guy... how’d he end up with your mom?” Bakugo chuckled, “Old hag basically jumped on him at work.” You two chuckled together.
A very long chat between you too happened. More on how he was feeling and how you worried about him. At this point Bakugo knew that he could confide in you... He looked down at his lap and he began to sniffle. Something you where NOT expecting. “It’s all my fault... All might lost his power because of me... Becahse i was weak.” You heart ached for him UGH. Taking his hand in his, “Bakugo you are not weak... You’re the strongest kid I know. This isn’t your fault. If anything it’s mine... I couldn’t protect you kids fast enough... I’m sorry.” Caressing his cheeks. “It’s getting late. Get some sleep bakugo.” Youre about to let go of his hands but his grip gets tighter. “Don’t make me say it old hag.” He mutters before you chuckle a little and sit back down. You fall asleep you head on the edge of his bed, still in your chair while he finally began to drift to sleep. Your hand now in his.
When he figured out Deku’s secret he has one condition. “We tell L/N”
Deku’s like ??? “You mean H/N??? But kacchan!”
“No buts deku! We tell L/N or i tell everyone.”
“All Might! Do something!”
“I trust her”
“HA! Stupid deku!”
Bakugou’s kinda excited to tell you while y’all have tea and discuss Deku’s quirk but your sipping your tea when they tell you and your like “Oh, yeah i kinda figured that out myself... You guys are really bad at hiding a secret.” Bakugo calls the irresponsible and the rest is history 💀
Also you side intern w a 1-B student Shiozaki bc y’all have manipulation quirks and he gets mad jealous 💀💀 also hates that u intern w Vlad King and hang out w Hawks WAY TOO MUch
If he’s ever around you guys and Hawks starts flirting OH MAN bakugou with start to bark.
Hawks is the first person to notice his crush and he tells you and your like “Pft BAKUGOU?? You’re crazy!” but then you low key begin to notice small things that you didn’t before and your like oh- Oh shit.... this ain’t good
“Bakugo, have lunch with me will you?”
Denki and mineta make dirty jokes and you slap both of them w your shadows before the exit class.
You’re both mid into your bento box as you just blurt it out “Do you fancy me Kacchan?” yes u intentionally call him kacchan bc he chokes on the spici bento u made him. “Oh wow... hawks was right...”
“WHAT DID THAT BIRD BRAIN TELL YOU”
“Just told me you had a crush on me... Didnt believe him until now...” You eat a little more bento and just put it down bc ur don’t like the tension in the room. “Bakugo you know nothings going to happen between us right? You’re my student and i care about you. I obviously favor you but that’s all it’s gonna be.”
“Watch your mouth old hag. I’m 18 in two years, let’s see if i don’t come back and bite you in the ass.”
you burst out laughing and he just barks at you for laughing at him. “You will not my dear bakugo. Unless you graduate top of your class, turn 21 and make an image for yourself, then we’ll talk.”
“Mmm i promise ima gonna follow you till u love me too, L/N.”
“you’re disgusting, eat your bento.”
SPOILERS FOR MANGA CHAPTER 280 and ONGOING
You’re horribly injured. Gashes and blood spilling from your wounds as you watch Midoriya fight a battle alone with Shigaraki. Bakugo is sitting you up between his legs, making sure you don’t pass out. Your blood isn’t regenerating your wounds like it usually would. Your body has its limits and you’ve almost passed them.
But when Aizawa goes out cold, Deku claims Nanas float quirk, it’s up to you and Endevor to keep everyone safe, even if your body is screaming at you to sleep and rest.
There’s a moment when you see bakugo look at you when he sees that his child hood friends is in grave danger. “Don’t... BAKUGO!” He’s already in the air and your blood whips aren’t fast enough to move them. Shigaraki is faster and pieces through his chest and abdomen... It’s like you could feel it. “NO!!BAKUGO!!!” Everyone around you can hear the horror in your voice as you push yourself up in the air w the rest of your energy and catch him in your arms before anyone else does, but your body feels limp, luckily enough Todoroki Shoto is seconds behind you and catches the both of you safely.
At this point you can’t even tell who’s blood is on your hands. “You idiot.... Damn it ... Hey, hey you’re alright, look at me Bakugo. You can’t leave me too kid.” If it weren’t for your regeneration you’d probably be passed out the way he is right now. “We’re gonna get you to safety alright.... You gotta keep your promise... as stupid as it is.”
The second your feet step into a medical, everyone is looking at the both of you in horror. You tears a falling onto him and you just look like a tired mess. “Please take him. No- No not me, him! He needs help not me, please.” The doctors are quick and they try to help you but you keep screaming that it’s bakugo that needs help and when he’s not in your arms anymore and you see him getting the help you need that’s when your body collapses into the arms of a doctor.
Once everything is over and everyone is safe. You’re the last one out of the group who wakes up, which frightens bakugo. He’s in his room and he’s nagging you at his nurse to let him see you (your legit a curtain over) but she keeps saying that you need rest and blah blah. “Let the kid in nurse.” You croak and bakugo almost falls off his bed to get to you.
he regrets his decision. you look pissed. “You could have died.” was the first thing you tell him when you see him. “Do you know how selfish that was Bakugo? You could have died in my arms? Did you even think about that-
“My body moved in it’s own...”
*silence*
“I had to do something...”
You start tearing up, “get over here you stupid pomeranian.”
After that you watch Bakugo from afar, you give up you job in UA. You felt unworthy to have that position especially when you couldn’t save your student for the second time. Sometimes bakugo calls you and ask where you are while he’s on a grocery run. “I’m a lot closer than you think Kacchan, now get home safely, it’s getting dark.” You hang up in him and follows him back to UA, making use he’s fine.
This goes on for two year until he graduates. He’s taking pictures with his friends and aizawa gives him a box. “What is this?” he shrugs. “She just dropped it off.” He walks away leaving bakugo confused.
He opens the box and it’s a picture of you and him that Toshinori may have taken while you laughed together eating your bento. Behind the picture, there’s ink w your hand writing “give it back in 3 years” and inside there’s ring hanging on a necklace, he chuckles while reading the next note “p.s i’m not proposing. i just want something else to look forward to other than your presence”
“stupid hag.” he mutters before pulling the necklace over his head and tucking it into his graduate uniform. his hand is over the necklace and you see his smile from the top of the UA roof. When he looks up, he sees you. You smile softly and disappear when he blinks- he was afaid that would happen.
the next three years go by a lot quicker than he realizes. He’s interning under the agency you created w hawks but your no where to do seen. You’re never. in office.
and when april 20th hits, it’s the first time people see you in the office in three years and you go directly to Bakugos cubicle. You place a white box in front of him and smile “Happy birthday Dynamight.” His eyes widen when he locks eyes with you. Your hair is different, you look more like a woman than you did 5 years ago. he’s speechless and u just chuckle and roll your eyes. “My necklace, Kacchan.”
“I want my birthday present first.”
“What are you talking about, the box is your present now hand over my neck-“
“that’s not what i’m talking about.”
“the what-”
all eyes are on you two when pulls you into a kiss that he’s been holding onto for five years. “This necklace is mine now, just like you are. I promised you didn’t i?”
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five-rivers · 5 years ago
Text
Interview with a Ghost (part 5: Buried)
(PART 1) (PART 2) (PART 3) (PART 4)
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"What?" said Captain Jones, as Collins and Paterson finished explaining their understanding of the situation to him. "What? What?"
"That was my reaction, too," said Paterson. "Just, you know, internally."
Jones waved one hand, the other supporting his forehead.
"Er, sir?" said Collins, leaning forward, trying to catch the captain's eye. "How should we, you know, proceed on this? I don't think there's any precedent."
The captain bit back a groan. "No, there isn't. He was insistent that the Fentons, his parents, didn't do anything to him?"
"Yeah."
"But it still can't be- can't be healthy for a ghost or- or whatever he is to be there," said Jones. This was making his head hurt. "They have weapons, and even if it was an accident, he died and they- No one noticed!"
"That is pretty messed up," agreed Paterson.
"That's got to be child neglect, at least, right? Negligent homicide?"
Collins nodded. "We can't really charge them with that, though, can we? Not without revealing he's a ghost and getting the GIW and whoever stole the body coming down on us."
"That could just be something Phantom's saying, though," said Paterson. "We don't know if it's true or not."
"It felt true," said Collins. "He sounded like he was actually scared."
"But can we just let a kid- two kids, with his sister- be in a situation like that? Even if one of them is dead. Especially if one of them is dead. Or whatever Fenton, Phantom, whatever, is claiming to be."
"He didn't really claim to be anything, really," said Collins.
"Look, I already have a headache as it is. What it comes down to is, I don't want a kid to be living under the same roof as people who regularly and publicly shoot at him."
"So, what do we do?" asked Collins. "He doesn't want to leave, and I don't think we can make him, physically."
"No, we can't. But does he know that?"
"I think he's aware of his laser murder powers," said Paterson.
"He kept coming to talk to you, though," said Jones. He massaged the bridge of his nose. "There's something here..." Suddenly, it all came together. He clapped his hands. "He wants to keep his secret from the public, right? That's our leverage."
"Leverage?" asked Collins, dubiously. "Captain... he is still a teenager."
"I know, I know, but hear me out. We tell him, he has to let his parents know, and his parents, they have to make their house safe for him. If they're reasonable, they'll do it. If not, we can get them for, I don't know, going crazy and thinking their kid is a ghost, or having weapons all over their home. Obviously, he isn't. That's the position we'd maintain." Jones took a deep breath. "No need to expose him publicly, and, as long as he isn't, he'll have to act like he's human, right? If he wants to maintain the illusion?"
"I guess that would work," said Collins. "But... do we have to get child protective services involved? I don't see that going well."
"Not if everyone is reasonable," said Jones, a crazed look in his eyes.
"Hold up," said Paterson. "Doesn't this hinge on getting him to, you know, tell his parents?"
"Weapons. Home. Around children. And- We'll agree to bury the rest. Tear up documents. Hide everything. Cover for him. We already know what killed him. What's the point of bringing it into the light?"
Collins and Paterson both nodded slowly. "I'll call him," said Collins.
There was a knock on the door. The three glanced at each other.
"Come in," said the captain.
One of the officers stuck her head in. "Sir?" she said. "The mayor is here to see you."
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Danny would have been at home, plotting with Jazz about how to get his body back, but, no, Skulker had to show up, again. He should have wrecked his suit instead of just sucking him into the thermos last night.
"Hah! Ghost child!" shouted Skulker. "Today I will have your pelt! I have new-!"
Danny screamed in frustration, the harmonics of his voice almost touching a ghostly wail. "Can you leave off about my pelt for like five seconds?" demanded Danny, attacking more aggressively than was his usual wont. One of Skulker's arms flew off his body, clattering on the tiles of a nearby roof. "Didn't you have enough of that, helping Vlad steal my corpse yesterday?" There, after days of dancing around the word, he had finally said it.
"Wait, your what?" asked Skulker, pirouetting awkwardly to avoid another barrage of ectoblasts.
"My. Corpse!" screamed Danny. "You helped him steal my corpse!"
"You don't have a corpse, you're still alive!"
"Shut up!" It was a good thing they were so far up. Even at the volumes they were speaking, they wouldn't be overheard. "You don't know anything! I'm half dead, so I have half a corpse, and I had to bury it, and then the police found it, and you helped Vlad steal it!" Danny was basically in tears at this point, hands clenching the metal of Skulker's chest so hard it buckled and warped, holding the unfortunate ghost above his head.
A number of complicated emotions passed over Skulker's face. "Uh," he said. "Time out?"
"What?" snarled Danny. He was more than ready to rip Skulker apart.
"Your body, whatever there is of it, did Plasmius really take it?"
"He basically gloated about it to my friends," said Danny.
Skulker's face twisted up, the metal plates it consisted of glinting in the sunlight. "Disturbing the remains of another ghost is... distasteful, at best." He shifted, obviously trying to get out of Danny's grip. Danny held on, tighter. "Let me go," he said. "I'll spread the word. There won't be a ghost in the Zone who'll work for Plasmius after this."
Danny sniffed. "I want it back," he said.
"Of course you do," said Skulker, nervously. "Just- let me go, alright, ghost child?" He paused. "Phantom?"
Danny relaxed his grip. Before Skulker could recover, he whipped out the thermos and sucked the other ghost in.
"I'll let you go," he grumbled. "Right into the Ghost Zone."
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Jones did not like Mayor Masters. A complete outsider, a stranger to Amity Park, the man had somehow wormed his way into the mayor's office. Jones had always suspected bribery, but had no evidence.
This visit of his... it was suspicious. Incredibly suspicious. The timing felt rotten. Masters had barely set foot inside the station before this.
Well, the timing and the questions he was asking. Jones was glad he had told everyone to deflect questions about the body and Phantom beforehand, no matter who was asking.
Jones fixed a grin onto his face. "I'm sorry, Mr. Masters," he said. "We can't discuss ongoing investigations."
"I think," said Masters, "that, as mayor, I am exempt from that rule. I am, after all, your boss."
"That's true," said Jones, "but this case is especially sensitive, and everyone is a suspect."
"I can't possibly be," said Masters. "I didn't even live here two years ago. I believe you are dancing around the subject, sir. Let us not have our personal feelings get in the way of things, hm?"
This bastard- There was no way he should have known that particular detail. Not without suborning the ME or her assistant.
Or stealing the records. The initial reports had gone missing with the body, and the computer system had been hacked.
Jones pressed his teeth together so hard they ached. He could feel them grinding inside his head.
"Why don't I give you an overview of what we know so far?" he asked, voice as sweet as he could stand to make it. "We'll start with Cameron over here. He's the head of our cult division, and a real wizard with computers."
If anyone could drive the man off, it was Cameron.
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"I didn't think babypop even had a corpse," said Ember, crossing his arms. "Are you sure he isn't just delusional?"
"He could be," said Skulker, "but that's not the point. He believes it. Do you really want to be dealing with him as a restless spirit?"
"Oh, god, no. He's already such a spoilsport. Can you imagine?" The blue flame her hair was drawn back into shuddered.
"I don't have to imagine," said Skulker. "He tore my arm off."
"He always tears your arms off," said Ember, dismissively.
"He's only going to get worse though," said Skulker, "if it really is his body. If Plasmius is doing anything to it. That anxiety. A person's body should be taken care of properly, not messed about with."
"Hey!" said Technus, who was on the other side of the room, fixing Skulker's mechanical body. "I donated MY body to SCIENCE! I'm perfectly fine."
"Yeah," said Ember. "Some people would disagree with that, but the thing is you chose to do that. Those're the rites you wanted."
"Do you think I, the great TECHNUS, master of all things technological and-"
"No, actually, I don't think you knew," said Ember.
"Ohhhhh! I'll alter all your auxiliary cables, you little-!"
"Can we get back on topic?" asked Skulker, his high-pitched voice cutting above the argument. "We need to get Phantom's body back! Otherwise he'll be completely unbearable!"
The ghosts looked at each other. "Agreed," they said.
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Danny leaned over Tucker's shoulder. "Are you sure?" he said.
"Positive," said Tucker. "Sorry, man, but Vlad's super secret super villain stuff isn't online. Your body isn't mentioned at all. Nothing is. His internet enabled stuff is all pretty bland, compared to what we know he's doing. I mean, some of it is kind of sketchy, but it just isn't the same level."
"Anything we can blackmail him with?" asked Sam.
"Not really. We can't exactly say how we got it, after all, so he'd have plausible deniability."
Danny groaned. The groan turned into a long plume of blue mist. Danny growled. "Whoever is interrupting this time-"
"Whoa, calm down, man," said Tucker. "This is pretty normal."
Danny's phone began to ring. If this was those detective he was going to-
It was Jazz. "What?" he asked.
"The ecto-exodus alarm is going off," said Jazz. "Where are you?"
"Tucker's," said Danny. "I'm going to check it out."
"Be safe. Mom and Dad are out there with blasters, and they've notified the GIW."
"Noted," said Danny. He hung up, then turned to Sam and Tucker. "This is a big one, apparently. You might want to stay in."
"Good luck with that," said Tucker, pulling a ecto-rifle from beneath his desk. "I've been wanting to try this baby out."
"Please don't name it," said Sam.
"I think I will!" said Tucker.
"Just don't shoot if we're not fighting, okay? They might not be here to cause trouble. Don't give me that look, I'm trying out some optimism."
Before his friends could say anything about that, he flew up through the roof. From there, he had no problem picking out the crowd of ghosts who had just passed by.
Skulker was leading them. Danny scowled, and flew forward to intercept them, too angry to process whether or not confronting a group of ghosts that large was wise.
"Hey!" he shouted. "I thought you said you'd leave!"
"Chill, babypop!" shouted Ember. "You're a cold core, aren't you? We're here to get your body back."
That brought Danny up short. "Wait, really?"
The other ghosts, largely the rabble of the Wastes, the region of the Ghost Zone right outside the Fenton portal, gave a ragged sort of cheer.
"Yeah. And trash Plasmius's crap."
"Oh," said Danny, taken aback. "He has a ghost shield around his mansion, you know. A human shield, too, before you say I can get past that."
Poindexter floated up, over the mass of the crowd. "He can't keep them up all the time, can he?" he asked adjusting his glasses.
"No, I guess he can't. One sec." He pulled out his phone. "Hey, Tucker, can you find out where Vlad is right now?"
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"... and these are the cults that believe ghosts are divine messengers, there's a lot of variety in them, too," Cameron was saying, pointing eagerly at his computer screen.
"Excuse me," said Vlad. "But I don't see how this is relevant. At all. To anything."
"Oh, it's very important," said Collins, nodding sagely. "We got some of our best leads in this case from the cults."
Cameron beamed.
"I am myself quite familiar with the local cults," said Vlad. "If they become relevant, I'm sure I can come back to-"
"No, no, Mr. Mayor," said Paterson, "you won't understand without context."
"I-"
Several dozen ghosts suddenly entered through the roof. Everyone dove for cover.
"Hiya, grave robbers!" shouted a ghost with fiery blue hair. Ember McClain. "Or one grave robber in particular."
Actually, come to think of it, she'd masqueraded as a human for a while, too. Collins was going to have a crisis about how easily ghosts could blend in with humans at some point in the near future. Not today, but before the end of the week. He'd need to talk to a shrink. Preferably one who wasn't a ghost.
Oddly, the ghosts weren't attacking.
The sound of Mayor Masters clearing his throat issued from behind a sizable desk. "What are you here for?" he asked.
"You know, grave robber. We've got a bone to pick with you, until you give back what you took."
A few feet away from Collins, Jones inhaled deeply. He stood up. Collins resisted the urge to drag him back down.
"We don't have Phantom's body," said Jones, "if that's what you're here for."
"We know," said Ember. "That's what this's about. We know who took it, and we don't want to deal with Phantom while he's freaking out over some jerk having his body. So. We're giving an ultimatum-"
"Hey, guys," said Phantom's voice. "I found the shield deactivation button. It was in his car, next to his garage door opener."
"Oh, cool. You trash his car?"
"Nah, I let these little gremlin dudes do it. They looked like they were having fun."
"Whatever, babypop. Let's go get your body!"
As quickly as they came, the ghosts were gone.
Mayor Masters swore, and started for the door.
"Hold up," said Jones, putting a hand on the taller man's shoulder. "Where exactly do you think you're going?"
"To call some competent ghost hunters, since those menaces are clearly after my belongings!"
"Nuh uh," said Jones. "We've got some questions for you."
"Yeah," said Collins, "like why you seem to think that they're going to your house, when they could have been talking about anyone."
"Wow!" said Cameron, smiling. "That was exciting! I'm glad I was livestreaming, like you told me to, Paterson!"
"Well," said Vlad. He paused. "I need to call my lawyer."
"Better make sure they're a competent one," mocked Jones.
.
Collins was surprised when Phantom materialized in the middle of the room with a long, dark plastic body bag in his arms. So were most people. Across the room, next to the coffee machine, one of his more caffeine-addicted coworkers do a spit take, and Jones burst out of his office in an avalanche of paperwork.
"I want a burial," said Phantom, finally. "A real one, this time."
Silence.
"I think I can arrange that," said Captain Jones.
371 notes · View notes
anthropwashere · 5 years ago
Text
Phic Phight: it’s all downhill from here (honey don’t be scared)
Prompt from @aggressivelyclueless: Halfa Valerie AU: Valerie becomes half-ghost. Apart from that being a total nightmare, this also leads her to discover Danny's secret as well. How is she going to handle it?
@currentlylurking @phicphight
Word count: 7,825
=
Mr. Heppenheimer, the latest in a long line of chemistry teachers that have come through Casper High since actual, real life ghosts have begun treating Amity Park like their own personal Las Vegas retreat away from the rigors of whatever normal life is like for ghosts in the Ghost Zone, gives Danny a lingering stink eye. Clearly the last teacher, Mrs. Jamshidi (who barely lasted a month, and submitted her two-week notice while recovering in the hospital after an admittedly memorable encounter with Ember), had left notes behind for her successor. Danny doubted a single word of it was in his favor.
"This practical's worth a quarter of your grade this semester," Mr. Heppenheimer says in his usual droll way. "You're not going to make me regret handing you glassware, are you, Mister Fenton?"
Danny, still a bit sore and off-kilter after another Jack Fenton-approved growth spurt, grins down at him. "No, sir."
Mr. Heppenheimer hums doubtfully. Clearly Mrs. Jamshidi had left extensive notes. "Don't make me regret this."
"Short of a ghost attack, I doubt you will," Danny answers truthfully. He really has gotten a much better control on his powers since the last time any science teacher let him near anything fragile, well over a year ago now. Mrs. Gorman hated him from the start for reasons he never figured out, anyway. He's looking forward to a fresh start.
Of course, worryingly enough Danny’s been sensing a pretty powerful ghost lurking around Casper High for over a week now. Along with the usual big green beasties that like to come sniffing around crowds of humans, which he’s had to dip out to handle three times now. No one’s noticed his on-going ghost sense, though it helps that he’s long-since gotten into the habit of keeping one hand cupped lazily over his mouth—just in case. That’ll be harder to pass off here in a practical lab, but there ought to be a lot of things bubbling and steaming soon. He just has to be careful until he’s got some cover.
Mr. Heppenheimer hums again, more dismissive than doubtful, and lets him approach the counter. His partner in this practical is Star, which is—randomized, definitely. Whatever, also definitely. He and Star have as much in common as him and an actual star, which is to say—nothing. He doesn't even generate heat anymore, not really. He's got a modified Maddie Fenton-approved belt buckle that lets him fake it, but it's not remotely the same thing, and not a
ll that convincing at close quarters anyway. Star, at least, knows him well enough that she's been bringing a mint green cardigan to class ever since they were assigned project partners.
Danny, well-aware he’s only good in the eyes of his peers for a laugh and anti-ghost tech, smiles thinly at Star and gestures at her to take the lead. She sniffs pointedly and does just so, which is fine with him. She's well on her way to valedictorian, whereas he's just trying to graduate. If deferring to whatever she wants gets him a passing grade, sure! He'll do whatever she says and accept whatever belittling comment she tacks on along with it. No skin off his back, right?
About twenty minutes into class there's a magnificent crash of glass that puts Danny 110% on edge; it's only Sam appearing at his left with a reassuring hand on his arm that keeps him from blasting a hole through the wall out of pure reflex. Which, maybe, possibly, likely says something about his state of mind after three straight years of fighting the kind of monsters that don't have any place outside of his very worst nightmares, but—whatever. Point is, thanks to Sam, he doesn't trash the lab or draw any unwanted attention to himself, both of which are good things! Another point in his favor: it’s finally somebody else’s turn to destroy a whole tray of beakers.
"Miss���Gray!" Mr. Heppenheimer shouts after a brief glance at the clipboard Danny hasn't seen him put down in the two weeks since he took the job. "What's the meaning of this?!"
"S-sorry!" Valerie stammers, her eyes firmly on the mess at her feet. Her project partner, Wes, is scowling at Danny. Likely because he believes the mess is entirely his fault. Wes can believe whatever he likes; just because he's the only one not fully in on The Big Secret who figured out The Big Secret out doesn't make him automatically right 100% of the time. Case in point: now. Danny's only touched his notebook, where he's got three pages of dutifully written notes on what Star's tasked him to write as she did all the metaphorical heavy lifting. He could swear on a stack of Bibles that this latest chemistry accident doesn't have a thing to do with him. It’s kind of refreshing, honestly.
Mr. Heppenheimer hums again. It seems to be his default over all the loud swearing he'd obviously prefer to be doing. "Clean it up. And do be careful, Miss Gray. I'd prefer to avoid sending anyone to the nurse's office today if I can help it."
"I—yeah. Yes, sorry." Valerie dashes off to the closet where all the safety-slash-cleaning gear is stashed to fetch cat litter, broom, and dustpan. Star scoffs on Danny's right, while Sam, hand still firmly squeezing Danny's bicep, has a worryingly thoughtful scowl on.
"Valerie has been such a mess since her dad lost his job," Star remarks in the usual scathingly cruel A-lister tone.
"He got his job back." Danny points out as he tries to shrug Sam off without making a big deal of it.
"So?" Star's tone has shifted from scathing to incredulous, which means she somehow didn't know something Danny's known since the tail end of their freshman year. It's admittedly bizarre to find himself able to lord some classmate gossip over an A-lister, but—with a glance at Sam to confirm it is, in fact, cool to lord this gossip over an A-lister—he gives Star a slow, sly grin as he gestures her closer. She leans in without an ounce of self-restraint or disgust, which means Danny's moved higher up the food chain since the last time he bothered to pay any attention.
"Valerie's dad used to be some bigwig in Axion Labs," he says, one eye on Sam and the other on Tucker, both of whom in turn are watching the teacher and the rest of the class. Just in case. "After Vlad—uh. Vladco, I mean—took over the company, Mister Gray got his position back despite Phantom screwing him over, and it's been smooth sailing for him ever since."
The sound of Valerie sweeping up broken glass gets discordantly loud, somehow. Danny doesn't have to look at her to know she's glaring daggers at him. He sets his shoulders and sticks the angle of his nose twenty degrees snootier, mostly to spite whatever murderous and/or weepy glower Valerie might be trying to laser into his soul. Which, whatever. He knows the shape of his own soul by now. He knows it's Phantom, plus or minus some degree of fiery white hair and green-tinged skin.
A bit of the old guilt niggles in the back of his head though. Accident or not, it was Phantom who cost Mr. Gray his job in the first place and Vlad who gave it back. And Vlad only did it at all once he realized his favorite little ghost fighting minion would be a better thorn in Phantom’s side if she didn’t have to work a part-time job at the Nasty Burger. Which—well. Danny’s glad she doesn’t have to deal with that anymore, for all that it does make her a better thorn in his side.
But—guilt. Dumb guilt, but on his plate all the same. He manages to edge the conversation to some other Gossip with a capital G that even Star's not aware of. Oh the things a guy can hear when he can literally turn invisible. It's kind of fun, honestly, to fill her in. The rest of the hour is spent hissing old-as-shit hearsay that still manages to make Star's eyes light up like she's watching Paulina’s favorite cabin burn down again. They do, somehow, manage to get their project pushed along to step three, which will pick up with the rest of all the normal and unobtrusive partnered projects tomorrow. He's not sure which of them is to thank for that, but he is more than a little pleased with how neatly he wrote their notes. It's the most like a regular student he's felt in months. It's honestly pretty great!
"We have a problem," Tucker hisses no less than five seconds and no more than ten after the bell rings. It's that perfect middle ground time of everyone shoving all their shit into their bags so they can bolt out the classroom door as fast as normal-humanly possible, so it's also that perfect middle ground time of nobody paying the three of them the least bit of attention.
"You noticed too?" Sam asks with her usual omniscient scowl. Danny truly and whole-heartedly wishes she'd stop with that, but he's yet to find an opportunity where he can say that to her face without coming across as a total shitheel, including now, so he grits his teeth and raises a pointedly baffled eyebrow at the both of them.
"Noticed what?" He asks with a patience he hasn't actually felt since junior high.
"Valerie's—" Tucker does a casual look around to see if anyone's close enough to eavesdrop, intentionally or no, which means this is a Phantom Thing. And if this is something Phantom and Valerie related? Yeah, no, he's in too good a mood for whatever latest gadget or trick Vlad might be cooking up via Valerie.
He holds up a hand with a sigh he automatically pretends is a yawn to cover up the blue wisp that escapes with it. "Can this wait? Better yet, can we just—not? At least for today? I'm really not up for counter-scheming."
"No need for that," Tucker assures way too quickly. The nervous laugh he follows it up with really doesn't help.
"Right," Danny says wryly, but motions to let them talk. Sam and Tucker share one of those weird non-verbal psychic looks where they have a whole conversation in the span of two seconds that goes right over Danny's head. He wishes they’d stop doing that, but if he called them out on it they’d deny it loudly, and it’d be a whole thing, and—ugh.
"Valerie's acting weird," Tucker says once they've finished. "As in, 'we definitely need to intervene' weird."
"Possessed?"
"No. But this might be worse."
"But this isn't the first time she made a mess in class,” Sam says.
Danny slips his one (1) notebook and one (1) pencil into his bag. He's learned the hard way to pack light and get real good at shorthand, as well as keep all his textbooks down in the Fenton dungeon where they're least likely to get torched in a ghost fight. Again. "Isn't it?"
"Nope," Tucker says as they make their way to the door. Danny's sure to give Mr. Heppenheimer some ever-so-slightly iridescent stink eye of his own to make him flinch, and then doubt himself for flinching. One good turn, and all that. "Seventh actually. Third a teacher noticed, but she's been weirding out a lot of the other students."
Danny grunts, more interested in shouldering other people out of the way to make it easier for Sam and Tucker to squeeze out into the hall. Hey, may as well get some mileage out of being one of the tallest guys in school, right? 
Sam touches his elbow to make sure she's got his attention while they make their way to their next classes. She's got sign language, Tucker's got photography, and Danny's got a free hour to nap in the auditorium ceiling. "She's constantly dropping things, she's always shivering, every lie I've heard her tell a faculty member has been total nonsense, she hasn't gone after a single ghost in almost two weeks—"
"Well, that would explain why there's been an uptick in my fifth period snake-wrangling," Danny remarks dryly, then grins nastily at some girl giving him a serious case of side-eye. She squeaks—actually squeaks!—and ducks behind some broad-shouldered guy in an eye-wateringly neon football jersey.
Tucker wacks his other elbow, scowling up at him. "Dude, this is serious."
"I haven't heard a reason to care yet."
He doesn't have to look to see they're doing another round of psychic Concerned About Our Bestie back-and-forth. Sam's the one who trips him—damn her preference for steel-toed boots—but it's Tucker who shoves him into a nook between two battered banks of lockers. "Danny," they both snap.
He blinks down at them expectantly, staying quiet. Hey, they're the one's worried about the badass ghost fighting black belt who would love nothing more than an opportunity to strap Phantom down to an operating table and go wild with a cattle prod. He's just trying to graduate. Preferably with all his teeth.
"Valerie is acting just like you did freshman year," Sam hisses. "Right after the you-know-what."
Danny barks laughter. "Yeah, right."
Sam and Tucker remain stone-cold serious. Worse, they look worried.
They wouldn't suggest something so crazy without a lot of thought put into it.
Fuck.
It's another two days before Danny gets a good—"good"—opportunity to talk to Valerie one-on-one. During that time he sees first-hand no less than 37 incidents of irrefutable acts of half-ghost-hood. How nobody else—including that ass, Wes!—has caught on yet is nothing short of a miracle. Valerie cut ties with every other person in their graduating class after some disastrous party embarrassment Danny never cared enough to find out the details of secondhand. She's kept her head down and her teeth bared at anybody who’s tried to meet her halfway, and it seems everyone's accepted the fact that Valerie Gray is the second worst delinquent in the entire school.
(The first is him, naturally.)
He corners her three minutes before the bell to end lunch will ring. He's got calculus next—an unexpected good turn in his life that still makes him giggle every time he actually has time to do his homework—and she's got English. They can't afford to skip either class, but hey, you only half-die once, right?
She scowls up at him, twitching her head out of a habit she's not yet broken. She only shaved her head a month ago. He's still reeling over how good she looks, and also how much it makes her look like the awesome older Valerie from the horrible future where he and Vlad ghost-melded and murdered a dismayingly large number of humans. If that future is still somehow lingering out there in the tangled fabric of spacetime like a bad hangnail, he’s pretty sure that Valerie died, fullstop. 
He’d like it if he could do something to help this Valerie not die, fullstop. 
She scowls up at him harder. "What do you want?"
He allows himself another couple seconds to just—bask. Yes, she's hot as hell, and if they were both normal humans she could easily break him over her knee like a fistful of kindling. He's not yet gotten an inch of the Fenton width. He's basically all elbows, and it's now all but impossible to find shoes in his size. It's great, really, just super.
Mostly though, he holds his breath and lets his ghost sense settle in a chilly, wriggly knot in his lungs. How the hell did he not realize she was the cause before now?
He smiles down at her. It becomes immediately apparent that this is the worst possible thing he could have chosen to do. He stops smiling. Somehow that's worse.
"We need to talk," he says, and immediately wants to hit himself. Has daytime television not taught him anything? That's the worst thing he could have said!
"I don't think so," she says, and tries to edge past him. He catches her elbow—
—and she's got him smashed up against a classroom door before he can even blink. 
"Uh," they say at the same time. He feels one of her hands go ice cube cold against his skin. Since it's him and not a normal person, it's far more likely her hand just dropped to some negative three-digit temperature. If he were human, he'd be at risk for frostbite. As he's not, it's more like a refreshing breeze. He swears he even gets a whiff of the Ghost Zone off of her; like a hard shock of static on his tongue in a midnight snowfall. It's... nice. Is that what he smell-feels like? 
Hmm. Distracting himself. Best to stop doing that.
She realizes after too long a beat of awkward silence that one of her arms has gone full-ghostly, and springs back with a half-hysterical yelp. He turns around to look at her again, rolling his shoulder out of a long habit of pretending that Dash trying to rough him up actually feels like anything. She looks—
Well. Kind of like some kind of frazzled toy dog that's had to deal with way too many idiot humans manhandling her, and like she's pissed that all the finger-biting she's tried has only gotten her a bunch of braindead cooing. Danny finds himself sympathizing, and also like maybe he needs to vent to somebody else aside from Cujo on their 3 a.m. Thursday walkies. He considers several facial expressions he could make at her, dismisses all of them, and settles on upping the grimacing and shoulder-rolling. It sort of works? She looks guilty, which is honestly one of the better reactions she could be leveling at him right now.
"We really do need to talk, actually," he says, feigning an apologetic tone while pretending very hard he hasn’t noticed her left arm suddenly stops at the elbow. 
"Pretty sure we don't," she retorts.
He makes a show of rolling his eyes, and then a show of looking pointedly at her invisible arm. She looks down at herself, does a double-take, yelps again, and hides both of her arms behind her back as she makes several stammering attempts at a believable excuse. Danny winces, torn between sympathy and secondhand embarrassment. Sam was right; this is exactly how he stumbled his way through the first six months of figuring out his powers. At least he had the benefit of a couple of friends and eventually Jazz too to help cover his tracks. Valerie's on her own. She's going to get found out at this rate, and accidentally or not she will drag him and Vlad down with her.
"It's okay," he says calmly.
"Everything's fine I don't know what you're talking about!" 
He looks at her, unimpressed, until she looks appropriately embarrassed. "Let's try this again," he says, and puts both hands up to stall when she goes to retort. "Please?"
She purses her lips, huffing through her nose, but nods. Good enough.
"You're not okay," he tells her. "You're freaking out because something crazy happened to you, and you don't have anybody to turn to for answers without risking everything. You think you're a monster, or that you're dead, or you're dying, or some shitty combination of all of the above. You're scared because you can't control what's happening, and you're scared because you know you're gonna get caught at this rate, and you're scared because you know exactly what the GIW does to the ecto-entities it manages to get its hands on, because you're the reason half the ghosts that frequent Amity Park have done time in a GIW containment cell. Right?"
Valerie stares.
She keeps staring. 
Eventually her mouth starts making some feeble attempt at protest.
A while after that she musters up the stamina to stammer out, "W-whahaaat are you talking about? I think you've got—ha! The wrong idea! Yeah! I bet you're thinking I'm, uh. Um. Possessed! Yes! I'm definitely possessed! You caught me, oh fuck, I'm definitely just another one of Walker's goons—nobody important though! No nefarious schemes going on either, honest! I just, uh, wanted to take a human… out for a spin? Yes, that’s what I’m doing. You definitely don't need to say anything to your parents—"
"Valerie," he says.
Her mouth snaps shut so hard her teeth click. She looks terrified, furious, and miserable all at once. She looks like she knows she's cornered, caught red-handed, and like she fully expects Danny to rat her out. Does she really think so little of him?
He winces inwardly. Of course she does. She's kept him at arm's length since freshman year because he never owned up the truth to her. She's been protecting him from himself all this time by staying away. She only knows the front he puts on for everybody else.
The bell rings. In a matter of seconds this hallway is going to be packed with students, and this is not a conversation to risk anyone overhearing. He looks around. Their options are to either continue this wedged in a janitor's closet (she'd probably shoot him), ghost her up to the roof (she'd definitely shoot him) or duck into a classroom. Luck's on his side for once. He'd cornered her just outside the wreckage of the wood shop; it's not going to be fit to teach in until after they graduate, and even the other, regular delinquents know better than to hang out anywhere with that much Fenton ectobiological hazard caution tape. 
He nods toward the door. "Please?"
She looks like she'd much rather go toe-to-tail with Desiree, but the sound of a crowd surging their way decides for her. She bolts for the door, Danny at her heels, and they're in and hidden out of sight before anyone could see them go. He watches through a small hole in a stretch of opaque plastic sheeting, patiently waiting for the rest of the school to disperse into their various classrooms. There're too many holes in the wood shop's walls to risk talking even with all the noise out there. 
Eventually the hall outside quiets. The late bell rings. It's about as safe as it'll ever get to have this talk.
"I can explain," she begins, her voice quiet and shaken. 
"You don't have to," he says, and turns on the scary eyes as he faces her. 
Three years of fighting nightmare monsters hasn't done Valerie the right kind of favors either. A metal cube materializes over her shoulder and flares brightly as it powers up a shot. She in turn steps smoothly into a defensive stance, light humming up and down her as she... doesn't pull her ghost-fighting suit out of the spectral hammerspace it sloughs off to whenever she doesn't need it. He blinks. He looks at the cube properly once it becomes clear she isn't going to shoot him. The light coming off it isn't pink anymore, but the same ghost-green as his own powers.
"Explain," she growls.
Probably not a good time for jokes. He keeps his serious face on, scary eyes and all. "I was in an accident freshman year. My parents couldn't get their ghost portal to work. They got lax about not letting Jazz and I down there unsupervised. I took Sam and Tucker down there one afternoon while they were out. One thing led to another, and I accidentally got their portal to work. While I was standing inside it."
She winces. Not like Jazz or Wes did when he stammered out the story to them just so they'd stop asking. Not in sympathy as they tried to imagine what that would have felt like and falling a thousand miles short (not that he ever said so). She gives him the same look he's seen in the mirror every time a bad dream of that day grabs him by the throat and shocks him awake. She knows.
"Don't shoot," he jokes weakly, and reaches for that cold spark that shares the same illogical, impossible space as his heart. 
Another three cubes appear in a neat arc over her head when he changes, not that he blames her. She's just found out she dated her sworn enemy once upon a time. He's definitely surprised she doesn't shoot. She does go a bit deer in the headlights again, but more like a ghost deer that's just as likely to shoot lasers as it might bolt into traffic. "I," she tries. "You. You're. The whole goddamn time?!"
"Okay," he says. "Point of order. Cujo really wasn't my dog yet when I got your dad fired. That was an accident and I'm still very, very sorry about that."
Her eyes go ghost-red. "You wanna try that again?"
He sucks air in through his teeth, sighs out another blue wisp. She's doing it too. Has been the whole conversation actually, and plenty of other times before. He wonders if she's figured out what it means yet. He adds it to the list he's mentally compiling, keeps his hands up, and starts running his mouth as contritely as he can. 
=
The sun's almost set by the time Danny's really, truly, fully convinced Valerie not to turn him into the half-ghost equivalent of Swiss cheese. He's so hungry he feels like he's nursing a gut wound, but he thinks it's the smart choice to not suggest talking all of this out over dinner. It's not like his allowance (and black hole of an appetite) would pay for more than clearing out the dollar menu at Jack-in-the-Box, and no way is he stupid enough to suggest Valerie pay. So he remains perched on one of the few remaining tables left in the wood shop, still in Phantom mode mostly to watch Valerie grind her teeth. She's sitting cross-legged on another table, cubes and scary eyes gone. She's reached the fun sort of balance between bone-tired exhaustion and impotent frustration with no good outlet that isn't the kind of violence that will draw a lot of unwanted attention. She sits there and stews awhile, turning over everything he's told her.
He pulls out his phone—tossing her a wry grin when she flinches—and lets her stew. He shoots out a "safe, taking longer than a thought it would" into the group chat he's got with Sam, Tucker, and Jazz. Tucker lets him know he's rooting for him, and also they handled the Box Ghost's usual afternoon showing with a game of checkers, and Wulf's in town avoiding Walker again. Sam reminds him to work on his book report if Valerie doesn't skin him alive first. He shoots back a neutral affirmative to them both, then pulls up Bubble Blaster to kill time until Valerie feels like talking—
"It was two weeks ago," she starts.
Danny resists the urge to sigh and pockets his phone again. Well, he mimes pocketing his phone. It sort of phases into that weird imaginary skin between his halves with a buzz of protest. When he changes back it'll be in his back right pocket, fully charged. 
"Mister Masters," she pauses to make this really complicated grimace, like she'd sort of prefer calling Vlad something like Captain Fuckface but she's too polite to do it aloud. Danny makes a mental note to call Vlad exactly that the next time they run into each other. The fruitloop'll make a hilarious noise, he just knows it. "Mister Masters sent me info on another job. He told me some of his employees at Axion Labs had reported some ghost sightings, and my dad had mentioned seeing some weird stuff too, so. So I snuck out and went to go check it out. It didn't sound like anything bad, just. Y'know. Another ghost."
Two weeks ago her tone would have been one of complete, dismissive disgust. Two weeks ago she was still human though. Danny stays quiet, which is probably the smart thing to do.
"There was something on my radar when I got there. I thought it was gonna be you, honestly—" She glares, a flicker of red coloring her eyes. He shrugs and gives her a charming grin that's all, Who, me? She doesn't buy it for a second, not that he expected her too. Two weeks ago Vlad was being a real prick though, setting all sorts of nasty ghoulies he'd Frankenstein'd in his super gross secret lab loose in the downtown area. Danny's honestly not sure if he got any sleep for like, four straight days. There was a lot of doctored coffee involved, by which he means the kind of coffee a regular human couldn't drink without requiring a fairly immediate trip to the ER. 
(Tucker Foley tested.)
"Most of the reports were from some department I've never heard my dad talk about, and it's all three levels underground. If Technus hadn't juiced my suit up again I don't think I could've gotten down there—"
That's an alarm bell Danny super doesn't like the sound of. "Again?"
She waves her hand dismissively that's all, So last year, honey, try and keep up. "Doesn't matter. Point is, I got down there, and it—well. It looked like the Fen—uh. Your parents' lab. Kind of identical, actually. In a kinda creepy way."
Yeah, that's Vlad all over. Kinda creepy and not all that original. Oh well. He raises his eyebrows pointedly.
"Uh. Well, my radar went crazy down there, but I still couldn't get a real bead on anything. So I went poking around and found the framework of this—well, portal. I didn't realize it was a portal though, since it didn't look like the one in your parents' lab. It was standing on its own in the middle of the room, covered in cables—"
"Ours is a mess too," he points out. "You can't tell unless it's off though. I'm not really sure where all those cables and weird hunks of tech go while it's on...."
She gives him a look like she's regretting not shooting him earlier. He does the smart thing by not pointing out that shooting him is still very much on the table, and that if history's anything to go by she's a huge fan of shooting him. He can't help but think that opinion might, just possibly, if he's very lucky, have changed in the last couple of hours. Fingers crossed? Those cube cannon things hurt like a bitch.
"I was looking around that thing because it was freaking my radar out when Plas—Mister Masters showed up."
He reels a bit. She must've expected it, because it's her turn to raise her eyebrows pointedly. "Wait," he says, holding his hands up in a time out T. "Wait a minute. You knew he's Plasmius? The whole goddamn time?!"
"No," she snaps. "Only after Danielle."
"That's nearly the whole goddamn time. What the hell, he's been lording you over me as a reason not to blab the truth for years. For fuck's sake, Valerie—"
"You wanna maybe shut up and let me finish, ghost kid?"
He scowls. She scowls back, plus scary eyes. He's pretty sure she's not doing it intentionally, so the effect's not as impressive as it could be. Red continues to be a great color for her though, not that he's dumb enough to say that.
"Plasmius showed up, blasted me into the portal, and hit the switch before I could do anything," she bites out, hunching in on herself like she's wishing the ground would swallow her whole—aaaand there she goes, sinking through the table. He clears his throat loudly, she realizes what's going on and ends up flailing around like an idiot for a few seconds until her body gets physical enough to stay put. 
"Sam was right," he muses. "This is entertaining."
"Fuck you," she snaps without much venom. Mostly she sounds tired.
He sighs, hating himself a little for reasons he's not gonna explore right now. He's too hungry for introspection. "Did he evil-monologue why he did that to you?"
"A little. I was kinda out of it, after." She grimaces, gesturing at herself. "I didn't catch all of it. Something about being a distraction for you, though I didn't know that he meant you at the time."
"Oh goodie, this evil plot has layers, and ruining your life is apparently a fucking footnote." He scrubs his face with both hands and changes back into his plain Jane self. Valerie twitches badly, eyes flashing red and a fun eye-watering white shimmer shivering up her whole body. Huh. "Hey, have you tried changing back since that asshat zapped you?"
"Of course not," she hisses, looking at him like he just suggested she go streaking through the administration office. "I'm trying to keep a low profile while I figure out a way to fix what he did to me."
Ah, hell.
"I'm sorry," seems the smart thing to start with. He hops off the table, hands up where she can see them as he approaches her. He takes a risk at reaching for her hands. She surprises him again by continuing to not shoot him. "I'm really, really sorry. But there's no fixing this. You just get—better at being this." He squeezes a little when she starts shaking her head and pulling away, amping up the 'I'm sorry for your loss' face he's had to get way too good at. Superhero, he ain't. "I'm serious. Vlad's been like me—like us—since like, '85 or whenever he got zapped by a proto-portal, and he got really sick after."
Her eyes go big and laser pointer red again. "S-sick?"
"Ecto-acne. Ever hear of it?" She shakes her head. "You'll probably be okay, if Axion's portal is based on my parents' portal, or even Vlad's."
"He has a portal?"
"In Wisconsin," he confirms grimly. "He's been trying to build a second one ever since he moved here, but I kept messing with him. I didn't think to check the basements of any of his evil companies."
"Axion Labs isn't evil," she retorts instead of doing the sensible thing and blaming him outright for the shit she’s mired in for keeps. 
He raises an eyebrow. "Sure. And Invis-o-Bill really is hellbent on establishing a ghost-human empire capital in Amity fucking Park."
She winces.
"Wait. You didn't actually believe that, did you?"
She winces harder.
"Ohhhh Valerie," he sighs, dropping her hands to melodramatically sag against another table. "I'm wounded. Honestly, truthfully, hurt that you'd think so highly of fucking Invis-o-Bill. Haven't you been paying attention to the shit the gossip mags shill about me? I'm either a ghost blob with delusions of grandeur in a skinsuit or the ostracized son of Pariah Dark and Desiree. You don't think my evil ghost parents have been around enough to teach me how to be a good evil emperor, do you?"
She's trying—and failing—not to laugh. "Shut up. How was I supposed to know what to believe, huh? None of the ghosts ever say shit about you."
"Yeah, 'cause they're cool with keeping my secret!"
She presses forward to jab a finger in his chest. She's still kind of flicker-y at the edges, like she hasn't quite decided she isn't going to go full ghost hunter on him, so it sort of feels like another hard burst of static. Goosebumps break out all down his skin; it's all he can do not to shiver. "What's with that, anyway? Most of 'em are so hellbent on destroying you for stopping them again and again, but none of them have ever come blabbing your big life-ruining secret to me or your parents!"
He shrugs. "Honestly? I don't think it's ever occurred to any of them. I'm pretty sure Skulker's the only one who knows like, for sure that Vlad's the same as me, and that's only 'cuz he likes to take jobs from Vlad now and then. The others?" Another, more expansive shrug as he slides sideways out of her range. So she makes him uneasy. What about it? She's only shot him point blank like, five hundred times if she's done it once. He'd really like to get out of this whole situation without any new burns to hide.
"Huh," she says. "Seriously?"
"Yeah. It's not—I dunno. I think it'd be like cheating for most of 'em to go blabbing to some humans or even Vlad. They wanna take me down, sure, but they wanna do it on their own steam. I'm definitely not complaining."
"Course you're not, because you are ludicrously overpowered compared to most of the ghosts out there itching for a little world domination."
He grins down at her, big and sloppy. "Hey, give it some time and you'll be OP as fuck too."
She reacts to that little nugget of wisdom just like he expected her to; retreating halfway across the room and shrinking in on herself like she's dearly wishing for a bit of time travel to undo what Vlad did to her on a selfish whim. Well. A conversation with Clockwork is an option still on the table. He'll give her a few more days of adjustment before suggesting a fun little jaunt into the Ghost Zone. He's honestly not sure if Clockwork and her are properly acquainted. That should be good for a laugh if nothing else. 
"Hey," he says companionably. "I mean it. You're gonna be okay."
She scoffs. He pretends not to hear the dampness to it. "Oh, sure. So long as I do exactly what you say, right?"
"This isn't blackmail," he says, injecting as much calm as he can to his voice. "Honest. I mean, I won't lie and pretend I'm not hoping you listen to me. If you get found out it's both of our necks on the chopping block. Sure, I'll make sure Vlad takes the fall too, so that's some nice revenge wrapped with a bow, but it's not like we'd be around to really appreciate it, y'know?"
She makes another, slightly damper noise. He considers the risk of hugging her against the risk of walking away with all his parts where they ought to be, and he decides the smart thing is to stay put and pretend right along with her that she's definitely not crying.
"I want to help you, Valerie. I've been where you're at. I know how much it sucks. And I had Sam and Tucker helping me while I tried to figure it all out. You... you need somebody to help you. Trust me on this much at least, okay? This isn't something you can do alone."
Her various damp noises evolve into an outright sob. "Fuck."
Yeah. That about sums it up.
"Fuck," she hisses out again, pawing roughly at her face. "This. I didn't want—all this time and you never—I coulda killed you but you didn't—and now I'm—!"
Okay. Yeah. Superheroes don't leave anybody to cry so miserably on their own. He's hardy. Even if she shoots him he can hang out, make sure she's okay to get home on her own. And they both skipped their last two classes. He ought to go rummage around their teachers' desks and try to figure out what tonight's homework is. She's got every reason to burn her textbooks and scream fuck it at the moon (Danny's sophomore year was a personal low point), and it's just as likely Skulker will pull some new scheme to try and skin him tonight as any other school night, but it's the principle of the thing. They're both just trying to graduate at this point, and they're so close. 
It might seem so incredibly, completely stupid, to care about graduating with all the other bullshit in their lives. Most days, it is stupid to care. But there are some days that stupid, pointless piece of paper is the only reason Danny chooses to get out of bed. He chooses to remember that he's still human enough for human consequences. He needs that diploma to get into college, and he needs to get into college so he can earn his bachelor's, and he needs to be stable enough to earn his pilot's license, and then somehow net 1,000 hours as pilot-in-command in a fucking jet, and on and on and on, because there's still this stupid, stupid, stupid little voice in his head that won't shut up about how cool it'd be to actually manage to become an astronaut despite—
—everything.
He wants to ask what Valerie wanted to be when she grew up, but that's... not now. That's a conversation for later, if he's lucky enough that she'll trust him with that little, foolish dream every kid clings to even when they're loudly proclaiming how stupid it is. Everybody grows up and realizes how stupid the dream jobs they wanted when they were kids was; it's the real dreamers that grit their teeth and keep working despite—
—everything.
He takes the risk, the leap of faith. He closes the distance between them and plays a pattern across her shoulder to warn her he's coming in for a hug. No cubes or guns or accidental ecto-rays materialize to blast him into next week, so he calls it a win and finishes the deed. She's all hunched shoulders and hard fingers knotted in his shirt, hot tears and probably some snot at war with how neutrally temperature-wise the rest of her feels. Everybody else—everybody human—feels hot as a sunburn if he gets too close. Ghosts are still too cold, though thanks to his handy-dandy ice powers none of them are ever cold enough to hurt like humans do. 
Here and now, hugging Valerie and whispering soft, pointless bullshit into her frizzy hair is the closest to human he's felt in—
—in too long.
"I'm sorry," she says.
"Don't be," he replies, instead of Me too.
"Thank you," she says.
"Nothin' to thank me for," he replies, instead of You should be blaming me for this.
"I'm scared," she says.
"It's going to be okay," he replies, and means it.
=
It's almost nine by the time he makes it to Sam's house, and he's so hungry he tunnel visions twice on the flight over. Lucky him, his friends and secret keepers know how bullshit his anatomy is, and there's a veritable buffet awaiting him when he gets there. Luckier him, his friends and secret keepers know better than to try and hold a Serious Conversation when he's like this, and leave him alone for the better part of 20 minutes before they both start loudly clearing their throats.
He slows his flawless imitation of a combine harvester long enough to muster a, "Hngh?"
Sam and Tucker waste precious moments he could be upping his calorie count with another psychic conversation that they're clearly both enjoying. He scowls, for all the good it'll do him.
"How'd it go?" Sam asks.
"Well," he says, setting his fork down to wipe his mouth with the back of his hand. Manners, schmmaners. "She didn't shoot me."
"Damn it," Tucker says loudly, and pulls out his phone.
"Seriously?" Danny asks.
"He owes Jazz twenty bucks," Same explains as Tucker begins a furiously-typed text. Danny suppresses the urge to shudder. Something about the haptic feedback on cell phones really sets him on edge. He genuinely doesn't know if it's a pet peeve or a ghost thing. Either way he always has to squash the insane urge to pitch Tucker's phone at the nearest brick wall, and right now that is an honest struggle.
"Seriously?" He repeats. "You bet against me?"
Tucker pauses long enough to level an incredulous glare at him. "Dude."
...yeah, okay. That's fair. Danny would've bet against himself too, if he'd known to. 
"Rude," he says anyway, on principle. 
Sam and Tucker both make a huge show of rolling their eyes, but at least Sam pushes another three slices of pizza in his direction. They even ordered in, so there's actual meat and cheese on it. He has the best friends a guy could ask for, even if Tucker is an ass nine times out of ten. Serves him right to lose 20 bucks, voting against him against his sister of all people.
"Details," Sam demands. "How's she doing, what happened, is she gonna stop trying to kill you, et cetera."
"Vlad happened," he manages through half a slice of pizza. Sam and Tucker both wince; Tucker hard enough he actually drops his phone.
"Fuck," Tucker hisses. "Why?"
"Dunno yet. And I dunno about you, but figuring out his latest scheme has definitely become number one on my honey do list."
They both nod. Tucker's the one to ask the important follow up. "And Valerie? How's she doing?"
He makes a seesaw motion with one hand. "Again, gotta stress the whole 'didn't shoot me' thing." He grins real sleazily while Tucker groans. "She's not great though. I foresee the next like, two months helping her out taking priority over all the usual ghost bullshit. Short of like, apocalyptic ghost attacks, of course."
"Fair," Sam and Tucker both say. Sam gives him a pointed capital L Look, going so far as to pull his plate a few inches away so he can better direct his instinctive growl at her. "She's not gonna rat, is she?"
"No," comes out more snarl-y than he means it to, but—pizza. Sam takes him at face value at least, and gives him his plate back, with an extra slice of meat lover's for good behavior. She's his favorite. 
"We're gonna co-op," he adds, and pretends not to notice the Extraordinarily Concerned Psychic Look Sam and Tucker share over that bit of news. Whatever. They can stress over the idea of Valerie being included in their group. Him? He's gonna polish off the rest of this pizza, pull his one (1) notebook and one (1) pencil out of his bag, and he's going to get as much of a headstart on his homework before patrol as he can. If he actually manages to finish his two pages of grammar problems he's going to call it a great day. Anything else? Well, that's gravy so far as he's concerned. 
He grins to himself a little, thinking of Valerie's new phone number burning a hole in his pocket. If anything toothsome decides to show up tonight he got the okay to text her. And honestly? For all that she's in the same bullshit hell as he, Vlad, and Elle are....
Well. It's probably shitty of him, but it's still nice to have an ally and friend in this half-ghost bullshit hell.
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originalcontent · 4 years ago
Text
Well. Forgot to make our final pathologic post, because we did it, we finished the game. We just played all the remaining days at once. Not going to go super hard on the plot details bc if you know them then you know them, all I can say is holy shiiiiiiit this was such a good story/mystery/choice/everything.
First order of business: casualties.
All the children except Grace survived. When we had five panaceas, we chose Sticky, Murky, Khan, Notkin, and Capella, and we weren't able to find any more shmowders until it was too late. Taya was lucky and Grace wasn't. I feel kinda bad but also I don't know what more we could have done. God all of the kids and their final conversations when they all think they're going to die, they're so sad and sweet and I love them all so much.
The thing I'm SUPER bummed about is that Stakh, Lara, and Bad Grief all died. Like we did everything we could for all of them, but I'm still sad about it. One regret from this game is that I think we should have spent more time with them. I should have tried to make things right with them. I was so focused on the kids, and I don't regret that, but also I kept putting other things before them as well and I should have tried harder.
The other casualties were Big Vlad, Maria Kaina, Eva Yan, and Anna Angel, who was apparently a character but I think we literally never spoke with her in our playthrough. And Aglaya, although I don't know how we could have saved her either. Everyone else survived. I don't know the typical death toll for this game, but we did better than I was expecting us to, all things considered.
Oh wait, Nara's also dead. That wasn't an incredibly disturbing scene or anything. Like I'm getting ahead of myself a bit but jesus the kinfolk terrify me sometimes. My sister mentioned that it's probably a very different game if we commit super hard to exploring their plotline, and she's probably right. That whole sequence though... the blood, the hearts... it's a lot. I'm not going into detail bc if you've played the game then you already know what's down there, but hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
I feel like replaying this game knowing everything would put a LOT of earlier conversations into new context.
Still! That was the only place we death spiraled this time! Death spiral escaped! That's probably due in no small part to the presence of the soldiers. Like yes they're terrible and them burning people alive is terrifying, but also we discovered the strategy that every time we were attacked by someone we could just have them chase us past a soldier who would protect us. We still had to sneak around a lot but overall it meant we had a lot fewer fights.
The polyhedron was gorgeous. We probably wasted a lot of time visiting it, but it was wonderful. I wanted to go back when all the kids were there but they didn't let us. Super into the earth/sky dichotomy of Notkin's and Khan's gangs.
Block was sure something. When I first met him he was meeting with my three [living :(] best friends but none of them would talk to me. Anyway. When he arrives everyone's saying they loved him, then later on we accidentally walk into the most obvious coup ever, and then the next day he's back in charge like nothing happened. And then on the last day there's this massive violent internal conflict? Plus the whole thing with him and Aglaya (weren't they working together in the prologue?) and plus they keep giving us heart attacks saying they're going to level the town and then changing their minds. Thank god for Changeling who was apparently the single persuasive voice in saving everyone? I guess? We've had our ups and downs but honestly she was waaaaaaay more reliable than Daniil at the end.
I told her I'd help her cure a patient in the hospital, but I didn't have any panacea or shmowder so in the end I couldn't, but afterwards I was glad I hadn't helped her. I already felt terrible I didn't have enough living blood for all the children when they were all spontaneously infected, and it would have been so much worse if I had been able to help another but I'd wasted it on a random person earlier.
... Is Aglaya in love with Artemy? Or are they just two agents who recognize said agency in one another? Everyone spent all game hyping her up as some sort of monster but she was my friend and she listened to me. And she died trying to save everyone I guess.
The kids...just. All of them. Notkin and Capella both told us to let them die but to make sure Khan was okay. Murky saying she'd loved Artemy since the first time she saw him. God everything they said and did I love them. I can't imagine playing this game as either of the other characters because I can't imagine going through this town and not carrying deeply about all the kids like this.
So I think...I think I made my choice long before I actually made the choice itself, you know? There was only ever going to be one choice.
Day 11 was the first and only day when I knew exactly what I had to do. I mean I guess it was in the stage directions and everything. Thank you dear Fellow Traveler for feeding us the night before--did you know we'd never visited the dead item shop until the last night? Probably would have made finding food and medicine a lot easier. But anyway, when the day began I didn't quite understand the significance of the stage directions because the Haruspex looking for couriers did not sound like the dramatic climax to the story that I knew this day was supposed to be. Still, I looked for the couriers.
I think I visited the three locations in the order I was supposed to. Seeing Daniil like that with his gun and bloody hands, sitting in a room of corpses...hearing him ramble...oh man I was so conflicted, this whole game I'd thought that even though I teased him, I would always ultimately back his plays because I trusted him and I knew that ultimately he wanted to help people too. Hearing him tell me what he wanted me to do then at the end of everything...he honestly scared me a bit.
The Changeling and I seemed much more on the same page at the end of everything. Being in the middle of a field with armed soldiers closing in from all sides was kind of terrifying though. I didn't stay to witness what she did with them. She’s okay though, she’s alive.
Wild goose chase for the final courier eventually took me to the bar where I met an injured bandit and was able to actually perform a surgery for the first time in the entire fucking game. I really enjoyed that because I'm supposed to be a fucking surgeon.
Meeting my understudy fucking killed me. I cannot BELIEVE that the final courier who was carrying the only file that could save the whole town was canonically murdered by the understudy of the protagonist. How the hell is that a real plot point, do you have any idea how much I adore that, that is more meta than literally anything else that has happened in this whole game. I fucking died. I definitely have been playing this game as Artemy rather than as Actor, and I think that made the whole scene even funnier. His whole thing about taking a new direction with the character, the whole "you're getting paid for this??", the fact that Artemy was so offended by literally every aspect of his existence that we didn't even know what to criticize. At the end I was like "yeah I'm definitely going to kill this guy" but we're nice people and we let him surrender. His inventory consisted of a rusty scalpel, a hazelnut, and a single piece of twyre, which was the most incredible parody of Artemy's inventory that I can imagine and killed me all over again.
The kin folk all met with me and begged me not to let them die. Maybe things could have been different, but again, I knew my choice and deep down I always knew what we were going to choose at the end. When you start the game, day one, there are two things that are immediately striking about the town. One, it's full of living folklore, and two, it's full of children, and those are the two things that make the town special and wonderful. When you look back on it all, there was only ever one way this could all end.
The dead courier (murdered by my own fucking understudy rather than an actual character, still dying) was a dramatic sight. It's lucky I had to sleep then or I probably wouldn't have found him.
After I made my choice, the disease tried to murder me. It infected literally every district I moved through, manifesting in every single passageway. I just chugged my tinctures and moved as well as I could, because fuck you disease, you are nothing to me. Obviously at that point nothing really could stop me. I considered saving in the cathedral, but what would be the point?
Day 12 was so bright and peaceful and nice. I could just walk around for once with no fear of getting lost or hungry or running out of time. I'm still really sad my childhood friends weren't alive to share it with me, but I enjoyed talking to everyone. My favorite little end conversations were Taya and Notkin for sheer adorable factor, Yulia so Artemy could say he wanted her to be the one to tell his story and to make it as undramatic as possible (fuck you Mark), Daniil because it was super cute and I’m glad that after it all things are okay between us and I got to make fun of him for trying to talk in my language, and Andrey and Peter because literally nothing made me feel better about my choice to destroy the polyhedron than listening to them complain about it.
And then the theater, where I talked to everyone who'd died and to Mark Immortell. He told me he'd need to try again with a different protagonist (gee I wonder who he could be referring to, such a shame we'll never know) and that I could go into the back and take off my mask now. I considered it for a bit, but it didn't feel right, so I decided that I was Artemy and I went back outside.
This game was wonderful. It was beautiful. It has such a fundamental understanding of what theater is and what makes something theatrical (lose me with your cinematic games, theater and cinema are completely different things and the former is impossibly beautiful but is also almost impossible to recreate when not in person). It's worldbuilding was immaculate, and for all the stress it caused I'm really happy for it.
I say this every time, but I love Artemy so fucking much. Give me a character who is a monster and a healer and who is full of anger but also so much love, and then just have him adopt 7+ children why don't you. He is so wonderful and good and interesting and I am in love with him.
(Edit: And then like a month later, just now, we went back to our last save and threw the documents in the trash so we could play through the other ending. I think the diurnal ending is definitely the better one, although it was nice to see the polyhedron again and to talk to all the game developers. <3 Also the goodbyes to Daniil and Notkin were super sad in that one, I did what Daniil wanted, he won’t even stay? This is so sad.)
Well that's our pathologic playthrough. We know there's a lot we missed and we may return to the game at some point. (Looked up a plot summary afterwards and there’s just so much else. Must save my childhood friends next time.) Game is very good though. It's been wild. Marbles sometime in the next few days. :)
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