#like there aren't at least fifteen of those in EVERY library?

[lorddeathofmurdermountain]

Barely relevant but I constantly think about this book series I borrowed from the library some 10 years ago where the only scene that has since stuck with me is the main character killing a dragon and the blood burning his skin and turning part of his hair white, nearly killing him. And I know that sounds anime as fuck but it was a legit book that I remember reading in the middle of the night with a flashlight under my bed covers bc my mom foolishly thought bedtime was more important than reading my books.

Anyway I wish I remembered what it was called. But also if I went to the library to ask I think I would die.

Seriously. I'm starting to block y'all on sight it has been quite long enough of a campaign to get you weaned off this terf's books and shows (and now games!)

[mavigator]

A CALAMITY IS COMING.

PHANTOM PAINS is a paranormal graphic novel based off of a nightmare I had when I was fifteen and a short story I never finished as a kid. Before judging the actions of a seventeen year-old dealing with phantom infestations in their home, mind, and body, ask yourself this: what the hell would you do?

In 1899, a stray forest fire took out the entire bottom half of Bywick, a small, forgettable town too far west of the railroad tracks to draw visitors. Hundreds of people died burning, and they took the life of the area with them. This tragedy spliced the town in two: the north side, where the laws of the universe proceed as normal, and the south side, where phantoms coast the city blocks.

By the time seventeen-year-old Jasminder moves in, it's over a century later, the south side of Bywick has been rebuilt, and stories of the haunted half of town are almost as common as the haunts themselves. Jas couldn't care less about ghost stories. They've got better things to worry about, like the collaborative English project, or finding a place that'll still develop film, and stuff like, 'hey, was that noise real, or?'––at least until a turn of events leads them to ->

PHANTOM ALLEY Nicknamed such by those that are capable of utilizing it, Phantom Alley is the threshold between the world of the living and the world of the dead. To the unseeing eye, it's just an alley located right in the middle of town. To those that are special––and what makes someone special is none of your goddamn business, not quite yet––it's a doorway. When a regular person crosses through Phantom Alley, they see nothing unusual. When someone less than regular walks through, the normal world falls away. All of the people fade from view, and the sky goes black. The air is always hollow and warm, like summer nights. Nearly every building is a phantom. Nearly every object contains a phantom.

Phantoms cannot cross through the Alley. They're locked in the south side of town.

HOW DO PHANTOMS EVEN WORK?

Anything can become a phantom––people can, of course, but so can animals, objects, and places.

Phantoms are merely impressions of what they were before they died. They don't retain memories or personality, though some retain unique knowledge.

PLACES: Say a library is closed down and demolished; this library, because it's so full of knowledge and history and experience, dies. Because it dies, it becomes a phantom. The building isn't haunted, it is the haunting. Many locations in the south side of Bywick are haunted by the places that came before them. This gives them odd properties when visited after crossing through Phantom Alley (these properties are NOT NOTICEABLE BY DEFAULT for those that aren't aware of the hauntings). For example, the bowling alley gives people three shadows, and the shopping center induces dizziness and chills. The entire south side of Bywick is extremely haunted because nearly every house was burnt to the ground.

ANIMALS: Not too complicated. When a living thing dies, it has a chance of becoming a phantom. The more haunted of an area something dies in, the bigger a chance it has at persisting after death. There's a dog park in Bywick that's occupied by tons of doggie ghosts. Not relevant to the plot at all. I just wanted you to know that.

HUMANS: Phantoms of humans are unique. They aren't able to hold their humanoid forms for long, and usually occupy an object with some kind of significance to them; could be a book, weapon, piece of jewelry, etc. They can also turn parts of themselves corporeal for very short amounts of time. They are the only types of phantoms capable of possession.

POSSESSION

Possession, contrary to popular belief, is a mutual agreement. Phantoms must have agreement from their hosts before taking over the body, and can be forced out of the body by pure will of the vessel. Possessions, overall, are not healthy for the phantom or their vessel, so they only occur when necessary and for short periods of time. When a person is possessed, they gain physical aspects unique to the phantom, such as a triple shadow or face/body markings. When possessing someone, phantoms are able to channel their spirit through their vessel to ward off harm from other phantoms. They can also talk through their vessel, which they can't do otherwise.

WRANGLERS

The wranglers are a group of people that are able to cross through Phantom Alley and see the haunted copy of the south side of town. Their jobs are best described as zookeepers; Bywick doesn't need ghost hunters. It needs people that can communicate with phantoms and keep them entertained, keep them happy, and offer companionship. When a hostile or otherwise dangerous phantom appears, the wranglers work together as a group to take care of it. Each wrangler has a patron phantom that they work with.

OKAY MAVERICK THANK YOU. WHAT'S THE STORY EVEN ABOUT?

The plot kicks off when Jasminder stumbles through Phantom Alley and into the haunted half of town. They encounter some phantoms, maybe freak out a bit before realizing none of them mean any harm, and meet a few of the wranglers. Ecstatic that they have the ability to see ghosts, Jasminder asks to join them. You know, as an after-school activity.

They meet a phantom named Crasher, a... very self-confident phantom with an eye for world domination that's convinced it's evil. Much to both Jas' and Crasher's dismay, Crasher has to be Jas' patron phantom.

During a routine phantom wrangling, Crasher possesses Jasminder to protect them. Everything goes flawlessly, and they're feeling pretty good about being a team, and then Crasher realizes it has no idea how to... un-possess Jas. This is no good–-by which I mean potentially life-threatening––for the both of them.

And then they learn that in order to see phantoms, you have to have caused a death.

Jas certainly doesn't recall killing anybody.

There are bugs crawling in the corner of Jasminder's vision. Something's growing beneath the pipes. There's a ghost hunter in town. Something's gotta break. Something's gotta bend.

A calamity is coming.

OTHER INFO

Wranglers

Jas + Crasher (wip)

Extra phantom info (wip)

Haunted locations (wip)

The Inspectre