#like yes of course this is amity's favorite place to go

[amity-png]

luz would take amity on dates to cat cafes send post

[evilminji]

Thinking About Ghost Writer's Library ( o.o)

Yeah, that's right folks! It's ya girl! Back on her bullshit, with PONDERING TIME. But like? GW? Is AT BEST? Somewhere around Victorian or Edwardian, given his aesthetic, right? And? Granted! It COULD be, he just vibes SUPER HARD with this Hot New Look(tm).

But like?

He is Baby.

They basically ALL are Baby. It's the... no, A(!) Baby area of the Zone. A place where sentient life is JUST sort of beginning to happen. On the COSMIC, INTERDIMENSIONAL, scale of things. What, after all, is a MERE few millenia? When the average is counting things by Eons? And even WORSE? When your ENTIRE COUNTRY and HISTORY is? What... CENTURIES?

Zygote. You are not but an infant. Back to daycare with you.

Which of course, leads the baby sitters. Even the occasional Adult. SOMEONES got to watch them. But it's not like THEY want to volunteer their eternity. They have Obsessions to follow. And there are A LOT of Baby Zone's to watch! More forming every day! The great dance of Life And Death etc etc, Yada yada!

Who's being punished? Make them do it! *Clockworks in long term plan*

But! Not the point here! Though fascinating to consider! The POINT? GW->Baby. His Library? Larger then then any Earth libraries, yes. But! Still SMALL. A BABY'S collection of books! Still growing. And for all his bragging and posturing? FAR from the Zone's BEST Library.

It likely doesn't even get to make the LONG FORM list.

Which Danny? Who is STILL banned? Quickly figures out. Because? Amity Library is... DECENT. It's working with the funding It's gotten dispite the damage ghost fights have done. Danny loves that library. He does. But... he also? Kinda has run out of things to READ.

And like HELL is he gonna BEG to enter GHOST WRITER'S Lair. Mister "Love Christmas or I'll torture you with it" can SUCK [REDACTED] and shove it up his [REDACTED BUT WITH VIOLENCE THIS TIME]. So? He asks, vaguely of course, Mr. Ho the librarian what he should do.

The man practically froths at the mouth at the thought that there is some BASTARD denying children books over PETTY PERSONAL BULLSHIT. Wants to meet this guy out back. "Talk books". Mr. Ho is like a bazillion years old and a tiny grandpa, he's amazing and Danny STILL kinda wants to be him when he grows up.

But since Danny won't let him deck Ghost Writer. He shows him how too look up other libraries in the area. Which... sparks An Idea(tm). He thanks his favorite librarian and races home. Makes a Bee Line for the Far Frozen.

Can he LOOK at the Infinity Map, Frostbite? He knows taking it is only for Important Events, but... why, you ask? Well...*explains*

Which is how he ends up, with a pen and paper, watching Trained Yeti Map Makers(tm) quickly sprawling out Map after Map, as Frostbite (who is apparently the only one AUTHORIZED to do this, who knew?) formally asks the Map in? Weirdly specific and oddly phrased ways, for the best libraries? Huh?

Ooooh! Frostbite is authorized because he's the only one TRAINED in the exact workings of the Map. Yeah, that makes a lot more sense. When Danny was using it, it dragged him at like Mach bajillion all over the place and he had to keep rephrasing things.

So? He can go now, right? Since he has the directions?

What do you mean "not quite"?

Danny finds out he needs an "Adult Escort". Because he is Baby. And much like children can not fly to Peru alone from halfway across the globe, so too, they can not LEAVE the baby zones to travel through Adult Territories where they could get Ended by accident, WITHOUT Adult supervision. Safety first!

D:< He just wants BOOKS!

Fine! Clockwork is old as BALLS! Older probably! He's LITERALLY TIME! How's THAT for OLD, huh?! Can he GO NOW!? He just wants to check out their ghostly sci-fi section! He's curious AF! He bets they have ALIEN Sci-fi! Come oooooooon!

Clockwork, of course, let's himself be dragged along. Because this is hilarious. AND going to terrify so, SO many assholes. Which is Funny :)

Danny gets his library card to *Unpronouncable without several neck bones humans do not have*, which is the size of Jupiter's BIGGER BROTHER. It isn't even the "Best" library. Just the closest. Danny has a manic... everything, the Fenton blood is strong with this one. So Many Booooooooks~!

And yeah, school books or whatever, probably a great learning resource.

BUT THE SCI-FI AND COMICS SECTION! It goes on for MILES! LITERAL MILES! *incoherent noises of joy*

Needless to say, the Librarians think he's ADORABLE. Such an eager reader! And so SMALL! A BABY! Look at his lil hands~! Be careful with the books, okay sweetie? Oh heck yeah! He WILL be!

And obviously? He gaurds those books with his LIFE. That's his Premium VIP Celebrity Gucci Bespoke Comics of The Multiverse Access! You'll have to pry it from his multi-dead, still smoking, Ended 5Ever hands!

The problem with THIS is?

Even with careful book covers? Those are CLEARLY glowing books. Like... day glow. Unnaturally glowing. The OTHER problem, is UNLIKE that baby GW? Adults can make their books multilingual. OMNILINGUAL. Is this book in French? Or Ainu? Yes. If it's YOUR language, then that's what you're reading in. Is it a bit clunky at times? With things that don't translate well, having to be explained in side notes? Yes. But better then not being able to read them at all!

And of course, comfort and repetition breed mistakes. You get too used to doing something. Forget you're supposed to be HIDING it. Maybe you go to college. Maybe the world moves on. You bring down a government agency with your friends. Become an infant king, much to the unspeakable alarm of the adults who SHOULD have been watching and protecting you. Maybe you have WORDS with them. Who's to say.

You're tired. It's been a long month.

You just want your coffee and a snacky lil treat. Something yummy for the you. Surely you've earned it, right? You've been good. So you take your sweet new alien sci-fi epic, your scrunkly feral Racoon lookin self, and you crawl like the half dying man you are. Towards the sweet relief of sugar and caffeine. Pride? You don't know her. Gib the coffee or you bite.

Unfortunately! There is some shitty "the Youth Today blah blah blah, let try and catch them of gaurd with loaded questions to prove my point and make a whole generation look dumb" reporter on campus. You see them out of the corner of your eye. They clearly think you are the weak link.

They are making their way towards you, mic raised.

Ah. Tragic, they have chosen death.

Before they can reach you, you raise your voice and not so much throw them under a bus, as drive the bus over THEM. Because THIS Coffee shop is the Punk hangout spot. And you've made casual friendly acquaintances with the six foot something, Sam clone from Scotland, whose life goal seems to be "Fight God".

And THESE fine folk DEFINITELY want an interview :) Have Fun, Thorn!

Needless to say, the clips go viral. With Danny sitting in the background, coffee and muffin achieved. Minding his business. Reading his glowing book. Which everyone ignores, on campus. Because EVERYONE knows Danny can make things glow! It's his weird minor power. Some lab accident in his teen years. NBD

But like... no body ELSE "knows" that. So it attracts attention.

Which would be FINE.... if he was reading an EARTH book.

But he's NOT.

And someone recognizes it.

Maybe it's Martian. Kryptonian. Could be Asgardian. Depends on the crossover you want! Because it could be ANY crossover! Lost books. Not just the Great Classics(tm) that people like to save. But the silly ones. The small ones. The equivalent of dime store novels and cheap drug store comics. Children's books. Banned books. The things Powerful People tried to erase from history itself. The things TIME tried to erase, with the fall of nations and the coming of war.

The destruction of worlds.

All of it there.

Imagine it. Standing on a planet, far from the world that was once your home, KNOWING in your heart that everything is gone. Everyone. That NOTHING but what you carry with you remains. And looking up one day to see, in the background of some average and silly video? Not "War and Peace" or "Great Expectations" or some other likely exported peice... but? Some youth reading that overly dramatic trashy sci-fi book that your cousins wouldn't stop raving about. The ones all the adults were SICK of hearing about.

It would NEVER have passed the bar for export.

It was silly and embarrassing but culturally significant.

It's... it's right there.

How?

Wouldn't the desperation that fills you be suffocating? Are there others? Is that an original? How is it here? How can he READ it? Who taught him? Who IS he? Is he one of us? Where? How? HOW?! Please. PLEASE!

And Danny? Would have no idea! :)c it's great~

@hdgnj @hypewinter @the-witchhunter @ailithnight @mutable-manifestation @nerdpoe

[yardsards]

Forever mourning that we would’ve had a scene in the finale where the protagonists apparently reach a resolution with Odalia on some level??? It got cut so Camila could take her place and hell yeah more for Camila, never gonna apologize for that. But man it’d have been nice to have both. The Odalia-Collector storyline set up in CotH was evidently going somewhere there but in the end the finale was already extended ten minutes past the usual mark.

Also yes plsss on the twins! Emira my dearrrrr you were molded into the new Odalia into the next showman matriarch while your sister was meant to become the next Alador the next moneymaker!!! What are your thoughts what if we had a storyline about you being your own person!!! I have to acknowledge that there’s always someone who’s going to have to take the fall for another character to shine at this point in the story but man.

i'm actually mostly happy with how things ended with odalia. i really like that amity never forgives her and continues to go no-contact with her. far too often, media does a "but they're your PARENT, it would be wrong to cut them out of your life" message, and having that be the dominant cultural narrative can be really harmful to victims of parental abuse. so it was VERY refreshing to see a story that said "this character going no contact with her abusive parent was the right choice"

that said, i think there could have been a way to give odalia's storyline more of a resolution without tossing that down message down the drain.

see, you know how i've complained before about how making odalia a full-on villain really undercut her storyline as just an abusive mother. how it accidentally kiiinda had the implication of like "the abuse on its own wasn't enough to cut her off. she had to be willing to kill literally her entire race in order to earn that." which i don't think was intentional.

i think it would have been cool if the resolution to her arc was like. she's no longer a full on villain. she helps our protagonists and makes up for her involvement in the big plot. she's technically on our side now... but that still doesn't make up for the abuse, and amity still is better off without her in her life.

i'm imagining a scene of like, after odalia helps the gang with the collector in some way, she talks to amity. says something like "i will admit that you were right, for once. helping with the day of unity was a poor business decision on my part." and maybe even a "these months with the collector have shown me you weren't such a bad daughter" perhaps followed by a pompous "so i will forgive your little outburst at the factory and accept you as a member of my family again" (despite, y'know, being the one who got cut off)

so amity goes off on her. says it wasn't about the day of unity. or, at least, wasn't JUST about the day of unity. that it was about the years of being treated like a puppet rather than a person (cue some kind of clever shot of the collector's puppets). she says that he friends have shown her what real love is supposed to look like, and her time with camila has shown her how mothers are supposed to treat children, and that none of odalia's actions have matched that. so she says that no, she will not be allowing odalia to be her family anymore.

and odalia doesn't understand, just keeps arguing that she only did these things because she wanted what was best for her family. and so amity leaves.

-

AND YESSS THE TWINS. like. i get it. the show had a lot going on and not a lot of time, of course the protagonist's girlfriend's siblings aren't gonna get that much time dedicated to them. but man. i love me a fucked up family and i want to know more about those two so bad. emira especially. like her twin brother (who, up to that point, had exactly as much relevance as her) got his own episode subplot and she got nothing! and like she interests me for all the reasons you said AND like. she seems to be odalia's favorite (perhaps tied with edric, perhaps even above him) but she seems even more cynical about BOTH of their parents than amity does. AND LIKE she's got eldest daughter syndrome despite being a TWIN! she seems to feel responsibility for looking after her brother who is the exact same age as her! i need to know what's the deal with that dynamic! god the fic ideas and headcanons i have about her that i never got around to writing/finishing

[mooncaps]

Watching and Crying

I don’t know how this show can top the impact of everything it’s already done and I’m sure there will be a lot more I wish they could’ve done, but let’s go!

Okay, just straight in, picking up immediately where it left off. Kind of jarring.

Okay, I guess this is the Titan from the in between.

Ooh, the heart. I was wondering if there was something more to be done with that.

Um, what? Is she the Emperor? The Golden Guard? To quote Hooty from last episode: What’s happening?!

That’s different stained glass, right? I feel like they’re trying to tell me something significant, but it’s not clicking.

Thanks, I hate it.

Ominous vibes from Amity. I don’t think I’m ready for this.

I’m definitely not ready for this!

Okay, so it’s everyone’s worst nightmare. I’m catching up.

Eyyy, callbacks. It’s like an inversion of Covention.

Okay, they keep knocking that hat off and putting it back on. I feel like they’re trying to set up something, but I’m not quite sure what.

Let’s go, Amity!

Yes! More of the certified bop that is The Collector’s Theme. ♫ ♪

Okay, more callbacks.

I can dig it.

Well, uh, mad respect for the attempt, little dude, but I will be shocked if that works.

That’s probably not good.

And there goes the hat again. Tell me your secrets, hat!

Now we’re doing callbacks to Agony of a Witch. I see you.

Okay, but like, they’re not actually killing off the main character at the end of a Disney Channel show. I’m sad for the characters presumably thinking it, but I can’t pull myself out of the meta perspective.

Oh, whoa, it’s a Hooty eye. I didn’t even spot that before.

Oh, that is a look!

Yes! This is a callback I was fully expecting and I’m thrilled to see it.

Bookends in finales are one of my favorite tropes.

Yooo! Titan Luz looks sick!

Loving the new remix of the theme. ♪ ♫

Ooh! Okay, that rings a bell.

Y’all know I’ve been thinking about the hat. Ever since Camila picked it up in 3x01 it’s been on my mind. And when I was passing the time between 3x02 and 3x03, I watched reactors do 1x01 and the thought occurred to me that if the writers wanted to do a full circle moment, then maybe they’d throw back to...

And so this isn’t exactly what I was thinking and doesn’t really involve the hat like I thought it would, but I’m noticing the visual similarity.

(Hang on, let me from the next morning grab a better screencap and...)

Bookending with Titans getting their crowns. What they deserve.

Eeeee! These baby gays always give me life.

Awww, Hooty, you’re adorable!

Her.

Oh my heart’s not ready for this.

Of course she chose all of them. Oh, and she’s wearing Amity’s necklace!

Ooh, new door. Finally accomplished what Luz wanted when she tried to find The Collector in the first place.

Ahhhh! There he is carving palismen! I’m so happy for him!

And Dell gets to teach the trade to someone new. Oh, and Hunter’s got a new palisman.

Whoa. Alright, Amity. Get it, queen.

Eyyyy, Harpy Lilith. I was wondering if we’d ever get to see this.

Rainestorm looking fabulous.

Am I sensing chemistry? (And I’m not just talking about abominations.)

This looks neat, but it’s hard to get a good screenshot with the credits going.

Eda, also looking fabulous.

That’s a good shot. Even Boscha showed up. And I’m glad to see Tiny Nose survived the thorny situation she was in when Belos was taking over.

Also...

Same energy.

Oh, I’m just noticing Bat Queen’s kids growing up. Such precious little monsters.

Ooh, a new glyph.

Woop, Youtube shrunk the final image off to the corner. Me from the next morning has to step in again with a better screencap.

And there we have it.

So, yeah, I’ve watched this twice now. Remind me not to stay up til after midnight waiting for an episode of a show in the future. The second time hit way better when I was well-rested. Er, well, rested anyway.

There were definitely some spots where it felt kind of rushed, and I understand why they had to pack as much as they could into a short space of time, but it still leaves me wishing for more. The nightmares alone could’ve been an episode or two if we’d had a full season 3. But I suppose we can’t dwell too much on what could’ve been.

They did a lot with what they had and made something very meaningful and impactful in my life and I’m sure in the lives of many others. There’s also definitely plenty of room for them to expand into comics or spinoffs, should those opportunities ever arise.

I kind of wish The Collector hadn’t left. For one thing, that last screenshot will always be lacking one character that I would want in a full group shot. And I guess it’s implied that they helped build the new portal door at some point, but I would’ve like too see more of The Collector helping out with the rebuilding efforts. And now I’m quite curious about the Archivists and whatever else is going on in the stars. More potential left open for the future, I suppose.

Gotta say I’m surprised they killed Belos. Not that I’m mourning for him, but I was thinking Luz would probably use the last of her Titan power to imprison him between the realms. I figured that would be a fitting punishment, but maybe killing him was more merciful. And dead to rights, he’d already lived way past his natural lifespan by stealing the lives of others. I’m a little bit surprised that he even could be killed, stubbornly as he clung to life. And I would’ve been afraid to touch that goop for fear of getting possessed, but I guess maybe Luz was still exuding enough Titan power to prevent him from doing that. Anyway, I’m rambling on a tangent now.

Definitely quite a ride. I’m sure I’ll always wish there could’ve been more, but I’m equally sure I’ll always love what we got. And we got so much. Even if we never get anything else, I know this show will continue to spark fond memories in me.

[mimiwritcs]

FIGHT FOR YOU (2/?)

FANDOM: Divergent

PAIRING: Eric Coulter x Fem!Reader

SUMMARY: this is after four+eric's initiation and before tris'. this will be the build up of the characters as we got introduced to them as well as maybe the society. not just a love story but we aim for characters' growth and storytelling.

WORDS: 2.8K

A/N: again, letting the story build itself. in this chapter are we surprised there's a lot more rambling and slow building of the world that we know, getting to know our new characters and just building up for the big action to come. Hopefully once we pass our basic well-known start to the story we can start letting it flow and move on from the usual narrative. btw tysm for losing any time of your day to read this if you do, truly every interaction makes my day, i'm really enjoying this process, hope you too<3

As the other people began to jump one by one, you couldn't help but join in on the conversation that was taking place in the group. A Dauntless born was explaining how he tried to help someone from Amity to get into the wagon, but they didn't arrive on time and fell down the rails.

After everyone had safely jumped off the roof, there was an absolute uproar. Many of the curious onlookers started to leave as the last one rolled out of the net. Some were family members, others could be senior officials and others simply curious onlookers, perhaps dreaming of the day that it will be their turn to begin their initiation into their faction.

The two who had been assisting the newcomers the entire time, Lauren and Four, introduced themselves as your couches.

"I can see that we are one less than expected" Four comments, since he was helping newcomers to get off the net all the time, he didn't have time to catch up. "Yes, Anderson has told us how he tried to help a boy from Amity get on the train, but he couldn't" Lauren explained to Four and to the possible companions who hadn't heard. "Yeah, I thought I didn't see Cristian anywhere." Winter whispered to you, "And what will happen to him then?" she asked out loud. "He will be with the factionless, of course." Four quickly replied coldly.

You could feel how Winter's body tensed next to you. And you did too, knowing how easy and for something so simple they lost a potential good member. But nor Laura or Four allowed you to keep still with that thought as they started guiding you inside the compound. "I'd much rather to die with dignity than be with the factionless" a Dauntless born whispered as you agreed with him silently.

"Alright, from this point on. We're going to separate you into groups. Those of you born in Dauntless, please come with me" Lauren informed, pointing to the right for all the black clad to group together. "This is going to be quick" she whispered to her partner who smiled back at her. "See you at dinner." She waved goodbye to the smaller group of transferees and began leading the group towards a tunnel opposite them.

"Okay, you transferees stay with me, come on, we've got places to go before dinner," he ordered as he led the way into a tunnel opposite the one her Dauntless-born companions took.

"Why the division? Have we already started with favorites?" Rose made an accusation, stopping Four in his way and consequently the whole group. "Sorry?" His cold disapproving and disgust face said it all. "Your name?" He demands slowly. "Rose" she replied, holding his gaze. "Well, Rose, I don't know what they teach you in Candor, but you would like to know that we don't waste time here, we have more important things to do. Those born in Dauntless know the way to these passages like the back of their hand" He commented with clear contempt in his voice. Rose stood her ground, but you could see how her gaze had shrunk. "In fact, if you have any problem with us separating you, you won't like to know that you will be trained separately, and you will even sleep in separate rooms. But don't worry, I invite you to run towards there, maybe you'll still catch them, and they might share a few tips with you, let's see how long you last there." Four suggest.

Everyone remained in silence, not knowing where to look. Rose remained still looking confused, not knowing what to do, "What are you still doing here stuck up? Go" he yelled at her. You could feel her frustration, grasping her own fist but knew better to reply. She couldn't hide the death glare given to Four before turning back, trying to find her way out to the start point and to the other group.

And just like that, fear had settled in everyone presence, you could smell tension in the environment in contrast to the euphoria that everyone felt at having jumped down the hole. How soon things could go wrong here.

Four pushed open a set of double doors, and we entered the place he calls "The Pit," a massive underground cavern filled with supplies. People are everywhere, all in black, screaming and talking, children playing. It truly was Dauntless' heart.

"This way" Four announces after allowing a few minutes for them to immerse in what would be their new normal. He leads us to the right side of the Moat, which is much darker, and as we get closer I think I hear water. The road shakes with each step and when I realize it, several floors below there is a river.

"The abyss reminds us that there is a fine line between bravery and stupidity. A daredevil who jumps from this ledge will end his life. It has happened before, and it will happen again." he warned us. "Right this way it's the cafeteria and the tattoo parlor, but let's go the other way to your room first"

When we got to our room, there was a stack of bags waiting for them. "The transferees will all sleep here together till further notice, so get in a line, grab your new clothes from me, and enter. Pick a bed, then get comfortable. When you leave, gather all the clothing you're wearing now and leave it by the door, so we can burn it. There is no room for rags from other factions now that you are Dauntless." he commented as he passed one by one a bag with the same standard black and red clothes for each.

After Winter, you stepped in line and slowly moved forward to pick up your stuff and enter what would be your temporary accommodation. You were astonished when you first walked in, since there were so many mattresses packed into a little living area. How were you expected to have privacy? Winter was waving to you in the room as you searched for her, alerting you that a bed was free next to her, so you hastily made your way there. It was the first time you had slept in a room with so many people, so you preferred to have acquaintances nearby. "Those in the back say that there are no walls in the bathrooms, not even for the showers" Winter gasped.

As soon as the last one entered you watched how Four followed them, looking around scanning the room "Alright, this bag stays here for your partner's extra clothes that didn't make it to the compound, so feel free to get whatever you need and this will be for our friend Rose, we'll leave it... there, let her keep the bed in the back next to the bathroom" he commented while approaching the bed and looking at one boy who had selected that bed.

"Oh don't mind me, this is the worst spot, I'm doing you a favor, I think there's a free one there," he said before the boy could even speak, pointing to the bed in front of the room. "She won't be with those born here?" Asked a companion. "Oh no, it wouldn't be fair. Trust me when we say we want you to have your best shot, tomorrow when the initiation is explained, you'll understand. Today is the day of the ceremony, don't take it as the threats won't be real starting tomorrow. Today I think the message has been made clear, and for all of you too." He concluded as he walked around the room to the entrance. "I'll let you settle in, we'll have dinner in half an hour, be punctual."

When Four left, everyone was silent, processing everything that had happened to them in such a short time. Four could certainly be very harsh, but he had also shown empathy and created enough respect on your end. "So we'll all have to change and live here together?" Winter asked. "It seems so" you added shockingly as you sat on the bed. Hard mattress, you sighed. "They're just bodies, in two days the nonsense will have passed to all of us" Corinne commented as she approached the group.

"Well, we have half an hour… let's see what they've given us" you added as you didn't want to think about the fact of everyone being able to look at your naked body. You opened your bags to see the clothes to which you will survive these weeks: training clothes, street clothes, some more comfortable, some pajamas all black and red, your new faction colors. You looked around you, most of them in groups, some from the same faction, others from different ones chatting or just simply by themselves as they began to change.

"Who would have thought, Y/M a voyeur" Milan teased you and quickly blushed and looked at your accuser. "What? No!" You exclaimed. "I'm glad to see you Milan, you've been very brave today to jump first" you smiled at your former Erudite colleague, even though you didn't hang out with the same group of friends, you both knew who you were, and you two never had any problems. "Thanks, I was quite terrified, but I thought they weren't crazy enough to kill us all on the first day, were they?" he joked. "Yeah, I realized that when one of Dauntless jumped smiling after you, as if he had been wanting it all his life, nothing bad could have been there… oh girls, I present to you Milan the first jumper, these are Winter and Corinne" you introduced while they were getting dressed.

The four of you talked for a short while as Winter just got changed without a hitch, and you were surprised at how Milan kept his composure. Quickly some colleagues called him to go together to the cafeteria, he said goodbye advising you to change quickly because with all the talking you had not even started yet, and you saw how he picked up his clothes and left them in the colorful pile at the entrance just as Four had requested.

All through today, you've used people's clothing to identify them and learn more about them, but now you wouldn't be able to do so. Despite the fact that you were all Dauntless, you were not all the same even in if in the core you were, and that was a thought you never had before. The burning of the clothing that had been a part of you for so long and served as a reminder of your former home made you feel a little sad. Even though we had to throw it all away, you chose to save a small brooch that you always wore and kept it in the first drawer, so you could always claim that it was familiar and hope that it managed to slip through. Winter tried to reassure you, "They are literally just clothes, it's not like you're burning all your memories with them too," and you nodded because you knew she was correct. As the room became increasingly empty, you rapidly changed, taking care to ensure that no one could see more than they should, and the three of you went to the dining room.

You were taken aback by the commotion of people talking together as if they were one big group, even though you had not yet entered the cafeteria. You weren't used to a cafeteria other than the one at school, but you soon realized it didn't make much of a difference. With all the adrenaline, you hadn't eaten much all day, but those fragrances had revived your appetite. There weren't many options, but they all seemed excellent to you.

With your tray in hand, you mingled with the crowd in search of a table, but everyone appeared to have taken a seat, few people looking at you, you totally felt like you had a 'newbie' tag on your back. You scanned the first floor and smiled at the see what you were looking for. "This way" you indicated to the other two. You approached the table where Milan and other colleagues were. "Hey, do you have three free seats?" Asked. "Only two, I'm afraid" Milan replied with a half smile. "There's a spot here" you heard someone say to you from the table behind, it was Alvin. "Sit down Y/M" he offered.

Winter was staring at you as Corinne was already seated at the other table with Milan. You would have to ask one of the two at some point what happened that they seemed to dislike each other so much, "Sure," you said smiling at Winter indicating that nothing was wrong. "Thanks Alvin, I'm Y/M" you said, introducing yourself to the group. "Anderson" "Ember" added those around you who were listening to you. "You're also a transfer, right? From where?" Anderson asked. "Erudite and you?" you responded. "We're both from here, what do you think of the compound?" Ember replied "Well, I don't know what I was expecting, but this is great" you replied while you started to eat. "God I was so hungry, how delicious" you gasped, making everyone laugh.

As you were chit-chatting with the Dauntless born learning more about their lives in here, people began to bang their feet hard on the ground, the atmosphere was livened up, people hit the metal cups with their spoons. "He's coming," cheered Ember. "Who?" You and Alvin asked at the same time. "Max, our highest ranking leader." Anderson explained "Shh, he's here." he requested pointing at the second floor, so you fixed your gaze to find Max leaning into it ready to speak out.

"Initiates, stand up." Max paused as you all rise. "You have chosen to join the warrior faction, with the assignment to protect the city and its citizens. We believe in the simple acts of bravery and courage that drive one person to stand up for another. Respect that. Make us proud." he concluded, people started to cheer on as he left. You look at your fellow initiative acquaintances and smiled. You felt part of something important. Everything was so novel and dissimilar to your previous experience, it made you so excited to see what the future held for you.

All the initiatives returned to their respective rooms in a group. You hurried to the restroom to freshen yourself a bit and change into some more cozy pajamas for bed. And despite the fact that you were all brimming with enthusiasm for what lay ahead, you all silently agreed that it would be wise to attempt to get a good night's sleep. Your first day of training was tomorrow, so you needed to get plenty of rest. Your mind was racing as you laid there in the silent with all the lights off. It seemed like a lifetime had passed since the Choosing Ceremony this afternoon.

All of these individuals, who in the past would not have ever crossed paths, were now getting along and feeling like a part of something greater than themselves. Not everything, however, had been lovely since today; in just one day, you had experienced so many bizarre things, such as getting on and off a train multiple times, plunging into the abyss, losing your only possessions and privacy, and the icy manner in which Four revealed that Amity's weak initiative would cause Factionless status since she lacked the necessary bravery. What if the ability to be emotionally strong and emotionally detached came at the expense of not feeling pain when catastrophes like these occurred?

You understood that this was just the beginning of your new life. This was only a preview of what lay ahead. And now, you could see it. Dauntless was incredibly well-organized and accustomed to taking risks: listening to instructions, putting mutual trust in one another to lead you securely, and acting without giving it any thought. They had to be tough to withstand not only the physical pressure, but also the emotional pressure of losing everything they have because of it. They forced you to perform all of these tasks today for that reason. You weren't sure if you were simply interpreting things too literally. Your mind was trained to think logically and rationally and gather all the information you could. Was it your overthinking alone, or was there something else at play?

Although it would take you some time to get to it and forget your old patterns, you were certain that you would figure it out, or else you wouldn't have been selected as Dauntless. But you had never thought so much about them in that way to realize the sacrifices that had to be made, and you felt stupid for not realizing before, that just like in Erudite, that was much more than intelligence, here it was not just about being brave and fighting.

And with that thought you began to close your eyes unconsciously and fell into a deep sleep as tomorrow impatiently arrived.

[aquaticptato]

Hey taters n' skaters! You can call me Tato (online alias for safety :P) and my pronouns are she/her!

This blog will be more for lurking than for posts, but if you want to occasionally see some random content that follows my hyperactive brain, feel free to stick around! I'm in lots of fandoms, but at the same time it feels like none at all, lmao.

Intro and Navigation! ✨

🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙

Lil bit about me 🥔

🩵Tato

💙17

🩵She/Her

💙Biromantic, Asexual

🩵AuDHD

💙Roman Catholic ✝️(don't worry, not the kind who hates everyone and tries to force conversion. That's actually entirely what Jesus is against.)

🩵Favorite color: Any variation of blue!

💙Favorite food: Potatoes in their many forms (though some require bacon and cheese to be worthy)

🩵Favorite pastimes: Drawing, reading, writing random music that pop into my head, petting animals, playing Minecraft, watching shows

💙Music Taste: All over the place lol. Some of my favorite artists include:

Alan Walker

mididuck

Set It Off

Stessie

Sasha Alex Sloan

Hatsune Miku

Being Me The Horizon

{The Hazbin Hotel soundtrack}

LongestSoloEver

Lolirock

I Prevail

Motionless In White

Magnolia Park

Shawn Mendes

DJVI

Waterflame

Duolingo

C418

TheFatRat

💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵

🥔Fandom Masterlist🥔

🍟Artwork Masterlist🍟

Tags for navigating my blog:

#tato shut yo bitch ass up - random thoughts and rambles

#tato reblogs art - reblogged art and fics (writing is a form of art that's why fics are included)

#whoa tato made something - my original work!!

#tahahato- memes/shitposts/humor I reblog

#tato dispenses knowledge- answering asks

#serious topic- serious things.

And of course, there will be fandom tags.

HOWEVER- I am too lazy BUSY to go edit the tags in all the stuff I've already posted/reblogged (cause it's a LOT). So anytime I edit my tag system, womp womp. Anything I posted before is still the same tags or lack thereof. Sorry, yes, confusing.

And for posts that date back to before I changed my alias to Tato, the tags are:

#aqua shut yo bitch ass up

#aqua reblogs art

#whoa aqua made something

#hahaqua

(no ask tag)

Next, VERY IMPORTANT thing:

💥⚠️DNI LIST⚠️💥

DO NOT under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES interact with my blog if any of the following applies to you.

🚫 You support the Israeli government (and the complicit countries such as U.S. of Ass) in the genocide of Palestine (NOTE: THIS DOES NOT MEAN NO JEWS OR ISRAELIS ARE ALLOWED. BUT IF YOU TRULY BELIEVE THAT THE GOVERNMENT IS DOING THE RIGHT THING BY MASSACRING THE INNOCENT, FUCK OFF.)

🚫You support Russia in the invasion and massacres of Ukraine

🚫 You are homophobic

🚫You are transphobic

🚫You are biphobic

🚫You are aphobic

🚫You support J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter fans welcome, we can separate art from artist.)

🚫You are antisemitic

🚫You are anti-Muslim

🚫You discriminate based on any other religion or lack thereof

🚫You believe that your religion gives you the right to abuse others in the name of "preaching the truth"

🚫You are racist/xenophobic

🚫 You're a Trump supporter

🚫You are a ped*ph*le (M.A.P. IS NOT A VALID QUEER IDENTITY AND NEVER WILL BE, YOU CREEPS)

🚫You are a proshipper (INC*ST, PED*PH*LIA, AND R*PE ARE NOT OKAY, EVEN IN FICTION. THEIR REPRESENTATION IN FICTION SHOULD ONLY BE PORTRAYED AS NEGATIVE AND BE FOR THE PURPOSE OF EDUCATION ON SURVIVORS' STRUGGLES)

🚫You ship things that erase hard-earned canon representation (i.e. shipping Amity Blight with Hunter when Amity is a canon lesbian and Dana Terrace fought hard to include that rep)

🚫You are a zooph*le

🚫You DISCRIMINATE AGAINST ALL FURRIES AND THERIANS BECAUSE YOU ASSUME THEY ARE ALL ZOOPH*LES (THEY ARE NOT)

🚫You think abortion is not necessary healthcare or a human right

🚫You think gun reform is a stupid idea (SAY IT TO MY FACE, I FUCKING DARE YOU. BECAUSE I BET ANYONE WHO THINKS THIS HAS NEVER LIVED THROUGH THE TERROR OF A SHOOTING OR BOMB THREAT. LIKE I HAVE. SO SAY IT, YOU BITCH.)

(now, saying it's gonna be nearly impossible and be hard and take a long time, that's fine. But saying it's not important enough to even be worth trying gets you blocked here.)

🚫You support Autism Speaks

🚫 You discriminate against people with physical disabilities

🚫You discriminate against people with mental disabilities (THIS INCLUDES USING THE R WORD)

🚫You are over 30 (EXCEPTION: If I already knew you before you turned old [/j], you can stay)

Yes, the list is long, because UNFORTUNATELY there's a lot of different kinds of people who aren't welcome here.

🩷💜🩵🩷💜🩵🩷💜🩵🩷💜🩵

Aight, that's it! If you think you like the vibes, feel free to stay!

Sea you later!!

-🌊🥔

[lifeseffort]

"Wait-- Amity. Amity! Don't--"

The warning falls on deaf ears as the girl in question bursts through the door of the bookshop and up to the counter, bouncing up on tiptoe to grin at the young owner.

"Hello, Miss Hermione!" she chirps, auburn curls in disarray from her exertion and brown eyes sparkling.

A few moments later, her discombobulated young father appears, golden haired toddler securely attached to his hip, as per usual. He smiles at @bccksmarts as well, an apology clear in blue eyes, before turning his attention to his daughter, laying a hand on her shoulder.

"I know you're excited," he murmurs, tone gentle, "but you mustn't take off running like that, all right? It's very busy today, Mitten, I don't want you getting hurt."

"Yes Daddy."

"Thank you." He leans down, kissing the top of her head. Taking advantage of his position, he lets Alexander down as well. He places his other hand on his son's shoulder and looks between both of them. "Now, on you go, have a look round. And, Duckling, remember what we said last time?"

"Miss Hermione's stairs are not for sliding," the little boy recites, a small frown appearing as he did so. Morse's eyes crinkle at the corners and he presses another kiss to the top of his head.

"That's right." With that, the children eagerly go off in search of books, and Endeavour stands, his attention fully on Hermione.

"You'll have to forgive their enthusiasm. It seems as though you've overtaken the park as their new favorite place. Not that I blame them, of course." His smile grows a little more playful, his freckled cheeks dusting with pink. // starter call!

[mistyfoxxy]

Based on @snoozu possessed Willow art! This is a very angsty oneshot!

-

.

.

Willow leaned down and placed a quick kiss on Hunter’s lips. It was spontaneous. Rambunctious. Risky. It just kind of happened. It had shocked both of them to the point of standing there in shock. Staring into each others eyes. Silently asking if that was ok. If they could do that again. 

So they did.

What they didn’t know, was Belos was hating every second of this. From the moment this grimwalker‘s galderstone picked up pace at the sight of that good for nothing witch, he felt the pain all over again. Caleb was helping this witch. Smiling at this witch. Working on some wired artifact to fix her clothes up when she should be wearing garbage. And then what? She kissed him! She-

Oh. Oh? He had a plan. Different from what he originally had in mind. But this would be better. He’d just have to show Caleb just how despicable witches truly are.

.

Willow scratches the back of her neck irritably. She had tried to readjust the collar. Cut out the tag. Move her hair. Nothing. She didn’t see any marks or anything on her neck. She frowned in the mirror. She shook her head and replaced it with a smile. Well at least she looked good. 

Ok Willow. It’s Halloween. Tonight’s the night we tell Luz about the scroll. We get to experience probably our last human culture thing before going home. Get to take more pictures. And… hang out with Hunter. 

“Ah!” Willow grasped the side of her head in pain and nearly tumbled into the door. She grabbed the handle just in time to stop the fall but the pain still pierced. 

No Hunter! A voice seemed to yell at her. A familiar, very eerie voice. She glanced back up at the mirror, her blood turned cold. What in titans name?She saw herself. Which was fine. What wasn’t was the figure of the monster they had fought all those months ago, the one they thought was gone. He growled. “No!” 

She quickly whipped around to face him, Clover forming out of hyperspace and took her stance. Only to be faced with nothing but the feel of goop along her hand. 

“Alright kids, it’s time to go!” Camila called.

Willow turned back towards the mirror and noticed nothing there. She gulped and quickly washed her hands, grateful the figure was gone. Is this what Luz meant about spirits and stuff on Halloween? She hasn’t expected that. Even if it was some kind of human plane figment or illusion of the old emperor. 

She walked out the bathroom and trotted up next to her favorite blonde. They entered the car and took their places. 

The kids chatted about the human delicacy and pranks and stuff they’d like to get or do. Luz seemed only a little off. Amity was happy. Gus excited. Hunter… he was there too.

And Willow was very tempted to take his hand, subtly of course, didn’t need the rest of them saying or teasing them tonight. But something was stopping her and she didn’t know what. Nerves maybe?

Hunter turned ever so subtly towards her and smiled softly. Eyes crinkled at the edge and his face slowly turned redder. 

She wanted to smile back. She felt herself try. But. Something- she felt herself heating up. Burning almost I’m her arm and hands. “Titan is it just me or is it hot in here?” 

“Oh sorry baby, I can turn the AC up if you want?”

”Please.”

”Are you ok?” Hunter asked, concern layered thick in his voice.

Willow turned away from Hunter and nodded. She didn’t know how or why but she knew he was the reason she was feeling this way. Something practically screamed at her that he was off limits. Clover buzzed uncomfortably, noting her owners stress. 

Flapjack seemed to pick up on it too. Chirping worriedly. “What is it, Flap?” The grimwalker asked.

Grimwalker? Grimwalker?? What the- 

“Alright. I’ll be back to pick y’all up at 9 ok?” 

“Yes mama. Please help Vee with the trick or treaters, they can get a bit out of hand.”

”Of course. Love y’all.”

.

Willow felt like her head was going to explode. The whole time this person talked about the “Wittebane” brothers all she could think about was Hunter. But as… Caleb? Something wasn’t right. Something wasn’t adding up. And why the heck is she putting two and two together?? She glanced over at the blonde and frowned. He looked fearful, confused, hurt even? Serves him right. 

“Sounds to me big bro got a hot witch girlfriend and lil bro got upset.” They shrugged. 

“Not true!” She hollered. She immediately clamped her hands over her mouth and flushed. Oh my titan. “I mean. Maybe he really was trying to… help him?” 

She looked at the others, who all knew Belos was far from ‘helping’ someone, they looked confused. She was confused by the outburst. 

“Hmm maybe. Who knows. Everyone has their own perspective of what’s right or wrong, doesn’t necessarily make it true though” They stated nonchalantly. 

“Yeah.” 

Willow shook her head and rubbed her eyes. She then exited the ride behind the others. Gus stopped her. “Hey Willow? Is everything ok? You’ve been acting… strange today.” 

“Strange? Huh. I didn’t notice. I’m too distracted by that corny outfit of yours.” 

Gus gasped and frowned. He narrowed his eyes and looked at her as if trying to read her. “Well whatever it is, you might want to pay attention to. Cause this isn’t the Willow I know.” 

Willow then watching the boy walk away. Unaware of… really anything. Her only thoughts were of Cale- Hunter. He’s Hunter.

”Don’t call him that!” 

Willow jerked her head towards the woods and met blue glowing eyes. Oh titan. Was that… 

She quickly looked towards their makeshift group of friends and spotted the human. Perfect! She’d helped before- right? 

She ran up and grabbed her by the shoulder, “Sorry Amity, I promise I’ll give her right back, I just need for for ooone second.” 

Amity gave a confused look but nodded. 

Willow dragged the human off and out of hearing distance. “Ok this is gonna sound crazy but. I think Belos is here!” She whispered shouted. 

Luzs eyes widened and she looked around. “Hunter said the same thing last night. Are you sure? I thought he was just. Well dealing with things but if you saw Belos too-“

”Exactly! He’s here. Oh titan. But what would he want? The titan blood? Oh. Yes! That must be it!”

”Titan blood? In Connecticut? I don’t think so.”

”What no! It’s true. Flapjack found an old map of sorts of old gravesfield! And it leads to titan blood. We just need to get that rebus. Clover.” Clover came out of Willows hood and buzzed uncomfortably. Willow narrowed her eyes. “Get. The . Rebus!” She growled.

”Woah now. That was a bit much don’t you think?” Luz stated. 

“I- I know. I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. Titan let’s just get this-“

”This wayyyy” Belos taunted. 

“You!” Willow then took off after the villain. She could hear his taunting as if he were right next to her. But she knew that wasn’t the case. She jumped onto her staff as soon as she felt was far away enough no one saw and flew after him. Carefully watching where she was going while looking at the map. And soon enough, she was there. It was… a graveside. But full of water. One Little isle on the middle with a great tomb on it and a large archway. The fog made it even harder to see but she flew over to the small piece of land. 

She kept her battle stance up as she hollered out. “I know you’re there! And you’re crazy if you think we’ll let you just hurt anyone. You’re not getting your hands on that blood either. What are you doing here?”

”You really wanna know?” He purred sardonically. 

She gasped as she was then face to face with the killer. 

“Finishing you witches off, starting with you.”

.

.

”Willow! Oh. There you are! You had me worried for a second running off like that.” Luz laughed in relief. She then crossed a frozen bridge she had made and walked towards the girl. 

She stood there in silence. Hidden behind the shadows and fog Luz could barely make her out. “Did.. you find anything?” Something felt wrong. 

“Oh. Nothing yet. Just keep looking I suppose.” 

“Ok. Good idea. I think it’s close you know. The glyphs are stronger over here.” 

A shadow then fell in front of Luz. Something eerie told the human to run. But she couldn’t. She was frozen in place. Luz slowly turned around, her heart dropped in fear when she met the glowing turquoise eyes of her friend. 

But it wasnt her friend. 

Where the girl had once wore fake little devil horns, thick real green ones were in their stead. Dark green goop like substance stretched down between her eyes and across her cheeks. Down her neck. Her hands. Only her hands were claws now. Gripping her lifeless staff. The cute little ‘W’ Hunter had seen in the night before was torn and hanging now. “Hello Luzara!” The familiar voice greeted excitedly. 

“Be-Belos?” 

“Hehe always the smart one! You’re glyphs are working aren’t they? Which means it’s here somewhere. Looks like I have no need for you though!” The possessed witch then flung a clawed hand at her, giving the human only seconds to dodge it before cries of ‘Willow’ and ‘Luz’ was heard from a distance. 

The human then grabbed some glyphs and attacked the assailant. Willow was strong. She knew she wouldn’t hurt her. But how the heck do you fight someone that possessed without fighting the victim? 

Belos could easily see that. Cunning bastard. 

“Oh Luz. Not even trynna hurt me? You must care about this witch.” He seethed as of the very word was offensive to him. “Always wanting to help people aren’t you? Just like you helped me meet the collector!” He laughed maniacally. 

“No! I didn’t know!” 

“No no don’t worry! You did a good job! I’m gonna save a lot of people this way. This particular witch has a strong connection to the titan and the isles itself! I can finish them all easily now!” 

“No!” A voice cried. Hunter stood to the side. Eyes wide in disbelief at the sight of his crush. Belos stood where she should’ve been standing. “You bastard!” 

Belos frowned. “So ungrateful.” 

Hunter pulled out his staff and teleported in front of Luz. Gaining a battle stance. So many mixed emotions. So much pain. Fear, hurt, guilt, for the girl. Anger, confusion, and having enough of the old emperor. 

“Let her go!” He cried. 

“Don’t you get it, Caleb? The power that this witch holds should be enough! She’s no god! She should be dead!”

”You should be dead!” The cotton candy haired girl called out as she went in for an attack. 

Belos was quick to dodge it before other attacks were blown off. Vines erupted the ground and grabbed Hunter in particular, pinning him against the grave. Gus then flew around. 

Eyes glowing blue in anger. “Let her go!” His own strategy was different from the others. Get in her mind. Free her. Don’t hurt her. 

Amity created a large mud abomination to try and hold the witch down. Luz drew a bunch of glyphs. 

Vee stepped up. “I’m sorry Willow, please hang in there!” Before using her own powers to try to suck his magic out of her.  Willow had been there for her. Vee wanted to do the same, even if it meant facing her old torturer. 

“Enough!” Belos growled, throwing them all away with a single burst of energy. He then scooped his hand through the ground and pulled out a small tube. Titans blood.

Flapjack flew to Luz quickly, not able to free her own witch. She  tweeted in panic. Luz grabbed the staff and teleported behind the witch. “Willow this isn’t you! Please snap out of it!” 

“Willow please!” Hunter cried out. Struggling against the vines.

The girl froze for a mere second before growling and throwing the human off her. “No!” Sending the main flying towards the lake and the tube rolling over next to Hunter.

’tweet tweet tweet tweet!’ Flapjack. Poor precious little flapjack tweeted mercilessly against against Hunters vines. Trying to free him as Belos made his way up to him. 

Belos smirked gleefully. Snatching the bird out of thin air. “Let me prove to you how wicked witches truly are!” 

Belos clamped his claws shut around the palisman. Letting the vines fall from Hunter. Flap let out a painful chirp.

Hunter stared up and pure shock. Tears pouring out his eyes now. He squeaked out a weak heart wrenching, “Flapjack?” 

“No!” The possessed witch then grabbed her face angrily and turned away. Grabbing her arm and releasing the small red bird. “No!” She screamed out again. Eyes reverting to a green again as she met the magenta eyes of the boy she loved. They then started glowing green, a deep green as she walked towards the lake. “You bastard.” She seethed. 

“No he doesn’t want you! Don’t you get that!” She cried as she grabbed the sides of her head. “Stop trying to ruin his life and let him be happy!” 

Everyone watching could see her internal struggle. Hunter fell to his knees and scooped the heavily breathing bird in his hands. “She’s right. Belos.” He whispered. 

The possessed girl went still. Slightly looking over her shoulder at the boy. At Caleb. 

“You know what I do want?” He said louder. Scooping the container of titan blood into his hand, holding flapjack to his chest in the other. “I want to never step foot in that throne room again. Quit working for the emperor. I want to learn how to carve palismen and go to school and learn magic. I want to play flyer derby with my friends and do whatever the heck makes ME happy! But most of all…” he trailed off. Walking past the witch towards the lake. “I want to make sure you never hurt anyone again!” 

The golden headed boy then threw the only thing keeping Belos rooted to gravity in the deep water. Green eyes turned blue. “Noo!” She then jumped in. 

Hunter gasped. Ready to take off after her before Camila jumped in head first. 

They ran to the edge of the bridge where Camila pulled the girl out of the water. Hunter was the first to get there, pulling willow into his lap. 

All of a sudden the goop left her in a frenzy and Belos took form again. “How could you stab me in the back for them Caleb!”

“You did it first!” Luz snapped back.

Belos then grabbed to tube and ran towards the cemetery. Smashing it against the archway. A portal then formed and Belos last words before he went through was, “I’ll save you.” 

Camila freaked over the fact that that was who they had been fighting while Hunter shook the lifeless girl in his hands. “Guys…”

They looked towards him. Noting the girls new scars and pale face. Clover then woke up and immediately buzzed furiously. She kept budding the sides of her owners face. Clearly distraught.

“She isn’t moving.” Hunter cried.

Amity and Gus gasped, tears forming the brim of their eyes. Gus collapsed to the ground beside them. Hunter shook his head, tears falling now. 

“Vee call a doctor!” Camila called.

”Do they know about possession?” Hunter whimpered out.

”I-“

Flapjack emerged now. Slowly but surely. Nuzzling his owners face quickly, softly. She tweeted something only Hunter understood. ‘I save her. I save both of us. Then you never be alone again’ 

“What?” His voice broke. Confusion thick in his voice. 

The red bird then layed down on the girls chest. The bird smiled up at her owner one last time. ‘I’ll always be here. Right here my boy.’ 

Hunter nodded, still confused as the bird then layed down. Then she started glowing. Breaking apart into bundles of light. 

“Flapjack!”

Everyone looked on in awe. The beautiful light surrounding them. Before settling to nothing. 

Willow stirred. When her eyes opened up, one was golden brown, one was her same green. She looked up at the faces of the ones surrounding her before tilting her head back to meet Hunters magenta eyes. 

She quickly jerked up and tumbled over, Camila caught her and steadied her. “Baby no! Careful!” 

Willow met the boys eyes and shook her head. Tears falling down her face. “I’m so sorry.” She croaked out. 

Hunter lunched forward and pulled the girl to his chest. “No. It’s ok. I promise.” 

“I’m so- so sorry!” She cried out now. Loud sobs pierced the night. Gus quickly joined the hug and cried too. 

“It’s ok. I promise Willow. It’s ok. It’s ok.” 

[redrobin-detective]

The late Daniel Fenton

It was shaping up to be a beautiful if chilly December day and Casper High, as always, was bustling. It was 7:49 and class was about to start. The teacher watched the last few kids stumbling in at various levels of wakefulness. He already knew who would be the ones to rush in after the bell but that was alright. Life was too short to stress about being a few minutes late to class, especially in Amity Park of all places.

He looked up to see Madison, one of his shyer students walk in before making a beeline for his desk. She was biting her lip and nervously rubbing her hand down her skirt. “Hey,” she began quietly.

“Good morning. What’s up, Mads?” He asked casually. She looked upset, he could probably put on a video for the class if she needed to talk. They really needed a permanent counselor but the constant ghost attacks ran off most of them so he’d taken up the unofficial mantle. It felt good to help his students like that, make up for past wrongs.

“Are we um, expecting any new students?” She asked, her eyes darting over to the door she’d just come through. “Any transfers, exchange students or anything like that?”

“No,” the teacher frowned. “Amity isn’t the kind of place people transfer into. Why?”

“There’s a kid in the hallway,” she mumbled. “I don’t recognize him, he’s got a backpack and everything but he’s... I don’t know he doesn’t feel right.”

“Oh you’re talking about that weird dark haired kid,” Kyle said as he entered and sat down with a slouch. But even the class slacker looked unusually tense. “Dude’s creepy, can’t put my finger on why but he definitely doesn’t belong.”

“Oh,” was all the teacher had to say. Suddenly he realized how cold the classroom had become, the uncomfortable feeling that was pressing ever so slightly down on them. “I suppose it makes sense, the ghosts have been quiet lately with the Truce and all. He probably got bored.”

“Sir?” Madison said.

“Shannon,” he said instead, looking over at the frizzy haired girl hunched over her sketchbook furiously at work. “Would you do me a favor and move to the vacant seat in the second row? Just for today.”

“What? Why?” the girl whined even as she gathered up her various arts supplies and got ready to move.

“That’s Mr. Fenton’s seat,” he said taking in a deep breath and closing his eyes in preparation for what he was about to see. Danny would come here, of course he would. This was Lancer’s old classroom and Danny had him for first period English Lit. He and Dash both did.

“Mr. Baxter? What’s going on, is it a ghost?” Malik asked from the back row while Shannon shuffled to her new temporary seat.

“Yes but you don’t need to be scared,” he said softly, evenly. “He won’t hurt you.” The bell rang but Dash didn’t start the lesson. Instead, he waited. Danny had never been on time to class the entire time Dash had known him, of course death wouldn’t change that.

“Sorry, I’m late Mr. Lancer,” Dash gripped his desk so he didn’t jump when Danny Fenton simply appeared in front of his desk instead of walking through the door like any other student. “My folks couldn’t drive me, they’re still working on their stupid ghost portal.” A quick glance over at this class showed varying levels of fear, shock and curiosity but they were Amity kids through and through. The cold, powerful energy radiating off Fenton told them it was best to play along with whatever the ghost wanted.

“Perfectly alright Mr. Fenton,” Dash said softly, searching the 14 year old’s perpetually young face. He hadn’t changed a bit since Dash last saw him their second week of freshman year. It seemed unreal seeing how the years had taken their toll on Casper’s favorite son, Dash Baxter. God had they really been that young once? “Take a seat and we’ll get started.”

Danny shrugged and walked over to the seat Shannon had just vacated. He sat just the same, one leg stretched out and the other propped up against the leg of the desk. As soon as he took off the backpack and put it around the chair, it disappeared. He didn’t say anything else, just sat as stared at Dash with piercing blue eyes like he could see right through him.

“We had been talking about the lead up to the Civil War but let’s table that for today,” Dash said, proud his voice only wavered a little. He knew other people had seen Fenton around town. Lina saw him standing outside the Nasty Burger maybe five or so years ago. Dale, who used to live near Fenton Works swore he sometimes saw someone moving through the windows of the long abandoned house. He’d always secretly dreaded the thought of seeing Danny Fenton again, afraid he’d finally get was coming to him.

“Instead, we’re going to talk about local history,” he continued, not daring to take his eyes off the undead teen. Every other living student was tense, afraid. He wished he could assure them that the ghost wouldn’t lay a hand on them. In the event Fenton decided to ditch the hero schtick, it would be Dash and Dash alone he’d come after. “Amity Park has long had rumors of being haunted dating all the way back to the 1600s. It wasn’t until the last century that scientists determined that Amity Park is located on top of a thin spot between our world and the ghost realm. Natural portals form here all the time allowing spirits to pass through.”

No one spoke and barely anyone breathed except for Danny would wasn’t breathing at all. He just sat and stared at Dash with steady, unblinking eyes.

“Jack and Maddie Fenton were the scientists who discovered the weak point in reality in Amity. They devoted their entire life to the study of ghosts and made remarkable advancements in our knowledge of ectobiology and culture, the first being,” he paused as Danny cocked his head in confusion, squinting his eyes suspiciously at Dash. “The first being their manmade portal to the ghost zone. The portal remained active for almost two decades for research purposes but was shut down following their deaths.”

“You’re not Mr. Lancer,” Danny said suddenly, his eyes shifting from baby blue to an ectoplasmic green. Marty, who was sitting to the left of Danny, swallowed a squeak of fear and squeezed his eyes shut.

“No,” Dash sighed, “Lancer died almost thirty years ago now. Best teacher I ever had, he gave me his blessing when he passed on the job to me.”

“I,” the ghost ran his hand through his hair which was starting to lose its color. Seeing Fenton looking so scared and confused made him ache. It reminded him of old times. Dash had spent most of his life making sure he helped hurt kids if only to make up for the one he’d never been able to make it up to. “I don’t understand.”

“It’s okay, Danny,” he soothed. “I know it’s a lot to take in.”

“The portal, it wasn’t working at first,” Danny justified, his aura glowing a little more. “Sam and Tuck, they were curious. They wanted to look but I told them it wasn’t allowed, Sam, Sam she dared me to go in. I put on the hazmat suit and went inside and found the on button inside. I accidentally hit it and-” he paused midsentence and looked down at his hands. They weren’t pale flesh anymore but covered in white gloves. The black was completely bleached from his hair. A few of the students gasped as they saw the strange would be student melt into Phantom, the ghostly hero who’d been protecting their town since their parents were young. “I died.”

So much time had gone by. People were born and people were buried and the truth became distorted until it was just a legend passed jokingly around cafeteria lunch tables. Amity’s youth had forgotten their town’s history until it was sitting in a desk, trying once more to be one of them.

“You did,” Dash said sadly. He remembered hearing the news of Fenton's death. An assembly had been called the morning after the accident. Lancer had cried at the podium, Manson and Foley hadn’t returned to school for a week and had never been the same again. Dash hadn’t known what to think at the time, only that the kid he’d beat up for the crime of being different would never show up to school again. Or so he’d thought. “It was a tragedy, you were mourned by a lot of people.”

“I know you, don’t I?” Danny said quietly before he sat up straighter. “Dash?”

“In the flesh,” Dash grinned shakily.

“But you’re so old,” Danny said, once more distressed. “Your hair is grey and there’s wrinkles on your face and-and you’re a teacher now?” The last line was said with incredulity, his eyes flaring again. “You used to push me down the stone steps of the school and shove me into my locker and call me names.”

“Yeah, I did,” he sighed, feeling every one of his years. He was pushing 70 but he didn’t think he’d ever stop feeling like a stupid 14 year old who took out his frustrations on the ones who didn’t deserve it. “But you were the last; I never touched another kid again. I’m married now, four kids. I’m vice principal now, teach History and coach the school’s football team. It’s,” his voice caught again, still unable to process how young and stupid Fenton looked sitting there like no time had passed at all. It made Dash feel like all his accomplishments and attempts to be better would never amount to anything so long as his last victim roamed the earth unable to find peace. “It doesn’t fix what I did back then but I make damn sure that there won’t be any bullying at Casper so long as I’m here.”

“Huh,” Danny said, slouching once more in his seat but it looked less like his earlier teenage laziness and more weary. He and Dash were the same age after all, just because only one of them got old doesn’t mean time didn’t still affect them. “You did change, a lot of things did.” Danny looked down at the desk, “how long has it been?”

“Almost 50 years,” Dash sighed. “My wife wants me to retire but I guess I always find more things to do.” He paused then decided it was now or never. “I’m sorry Danny, for hurting you back then. I wish I'd gotten to know you better.”

For just a moment, Danny was perfectly clear. Even half floating out of his chair and looking like the local celebrity, his eyes were so painfully human. A boy killed before he ever got a chance to get started. Who’s will to protect was so strong it lasted half a century. It haunted him late at night to think of the glory and power of Phantom overshadowing just how incredible Danny Fenton had been. Not that anyone had seen it at the time. Soon there wouldn’t be anyone left to remember that quiet, kind teenager and then Danny Fenton really would be dead. Kill him just as thoroughly as that portal had.

The moment was broken by a breath of cold leaking out of the ghost’s lips and, just like that, his highschool classmate was gone and Phantom was left in his stead. He looked curiously around the classroom as if he didn’t know how he’d gotten there.

“There’s a ghost, stay here and don’t leave unless the fighting gets too close. I’ll get it though, don’t worry. No kids are dying today.” Maybe it was Dash’s imagination but he thought he saw Phantom’s eyes linger on him for an extra moment, trying to place where he knew the teacher from. Dash just smiled.

“Our lives are in your hands. Good luck, Phantom,” the ghost teen saluted before fading away entirely. Dash let out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, suddenly exhausted but also lighter at the same time. It wasn’t every day you got to look your mistakes in the face and apologize. “Shannon, you can move back now.”

“No, I’m okay here,” Shannon said as she flipped to a new page in her sketchbook and looked intently at the spot where Fenton had once sat. “It’s like you said, that’s Danny’s seat.”

“I had no idea, Phantom’s been around for like, ever,” Freddie mumbled, pushing up his glasses. “But he used to be just like us.” And still was, Dash thought sadly. Danny would never grow old, never go to space like he’d always dreamed or marry Manson like he’d probably intended to. He was stuck, in more ways than one for who knows how long.

“Yes, that’s why it’s important to know your history. The Civil War and my other lessons are important but we can’t forget these smaller, more intimate histories. If we lose these lessons to time then we risk repeating the same mistakes over again.” He looked his students in the eyes, holding their attention.

“So we’ll continue today with the local history. Before he was ghost butt kicking superhero, Phantom was Danny Fenton, son of the local ghost hunters and a bit of an outcast in town. The Daniel Fenton Foundation was founded about a year after his death and was-”

[smokestarrules]

What are you're theories for this weeks toh episode?

Reaching Out is going to BREAK me. I know it is. I've accepted that.

I've written a bit about this week's episode here https://smokestarrules.tumblr.com/post/680579116024643584/reaching-out-promos

But to sum it all up, basically my perception of Reaching Out right now is:

Amity wants to prove herself to her father, Luz wants to help her with that, and I'm sure there'll come many shenanigans due to Amity (and Luz?) rising the ranks of the tournament, perhaps, or maybe that not being the first thing she tries to get her father's attention.

(also, more of Amity fighting!!! the world can always use more of Amity fighting.)

This can end one of a few ways, of course; Amity could fail at whatever she's trying to do, or Alador could just rebuff her attempts altogether. There's even the possibility that the two will end the episode in a better place than before, which is obviously the best-case scenario, and the one I'm personally hoping for, despite it kind of being a far-fetched idea as of now. Alador certainly has the grounds set for either being a terrifying mini-villain (yes, even moreso than Odalia) or being legitimately good and helpful, and though I don't trust him... I do hope he can lean to the latter.

For a sidenote, I wonder if we'll get any info on Luz's dad in this episode, as he could be a contributing factor as to why Luz is trying to help fix Amity and Alador's relationship, other than just being a good and supportive gf.

I also think Eda and King will be handling the B plot, if there is one (which is likely). It may have something to do with Raine, which is why they're threatening Warden Wrath in that one shot? Maybe they're asking if he knows what happened to Raine, or something else along those lines. The reason I think Raine will be involved in some way is because that'd give us a good lead into the next episode, which is going to be involving flashbacks of young Eda, Lilith, and presumably Raine as well.

That's about it for my own thoughts, though - I am... very curious in what direction the show is going to take Alador. From what we've seen of him up until now, it's been very negative, so it'll take a lot to change my mind on him, but I am open to that change if it's done well (and if that's the direction TOH heads in, it'll be done well, I have no doubt).

Either way, this episode's already shaping up to be one of my favorites. I'm not biased, though. No way. /j

[turtlee-rockin]

weee hiii i saw requests were open and i just wanna say I LOVE YOUR WRITINGGG and i was hoping maybe you could do a lumity fic with lee amity? maybe luz could notice amity had a crappy day at school and invites her over to the owl house to spend some time together reading good witch azura and decides to cheer her up with some tickles! <3

A/N: HOORAY my first ask!! Tysm to @twordyfluffytrash for sending this prompt in, I had a great time writing it.

Prompts are still open!

The Shades of Amity Blight (Lumity)

Ship: Lumity (lee Amity, ler Luz)

Words: 1100

Summary: see above!

_______________________________________________

Today was not Amity Blight’s day.

She was late to school because of Ed and Em, spilled food on herself during lunch, and to top it all off, she tripped over her own feet in the middle of the hallway, spilling her books everywhere.

In fact, the only positive thing that came about all day was Luz.

Luz, who had given her the notes she missed during their first class.

Luz, who came running with napkins clenched in her hand.

Luz, who didn’t hesitate to drop to her knees and offer a kind smile when others simply stepped over them.

And Luz, who had caught Amity by the arm after school.

“Hey Amity! Wanna come over and read some Azura? Eda is taking King out shopping after she brings us back, so the house’ll be empty. Except for Hooty, of course. I guess you’re never really alone when your house is alive.”

Amity’s heart leapt at the invitation. Usually after a day like this she couldn’t wait to get home, but spending time with Luz and their favorite book series sounded like exactly what she needed.

“I would love to.”

Amity smiled, but Luz noticed that her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes.

-

At the Owl House, the two sat huddled on the couch. Luz held the book for both of them to see, and Amity rested her head on Luz’s shoulder.

They read in comfortable silence for a while, but the human could tell that her friend was tense. She began to brainstorm ways to cheer her up.

“Hey Amity, can I read this next chapter out loud? I want to practice my voices.”

“Huh? Oh, sure, go ahead.” Not one to question Luz’s actions, Amity complied.

For the next couple of pages, Luz put on what can only be described as a performance. She created different voices for each of the characters, and tried to make them especially goofy.

However, when she didn’t get more than a small chuckle from Amity, Luz frowned.

Time for plan B.

“And so, the good witch Azura was forced to face her most dastardly opponent yet… theeeee” -Luz stretched out the syllable- “TICKLE MONSTER!!”

Amity sat up and looked at Luz. “Luz, that’s not what the book sa-“

She was cut off mid sentence by Luz tackling her onto her back.

As she settled on Amity’s thighs, Luz spoke. “Now Miss Amity, I couldn’t help but notice that you are in dire need of some cheering up.”

Amity’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink at the realization of Luz’s intentions.

Stage 1: blushing

“Luz it’s r-really okay, you don’t have to do anything! I’m fine! See?” Amity stretched her face out into an exaggerated smile as she babbled, possibly to hide the real one creeping its way onto her lips.

“I don’t believe you~” came the singsong response. With that, Luz shot her hands down, making the witch beneath her shriek, and started squeezing her sides.

“NOhohohooo!! Luhuhuz!” Amity grabbed Luz’s wrists, tugging at them, but she was weakened by the nonstop tickling. Her heels dug into the soft couch, not providing her much traction. She was effectively trapped.

“Ah, there’s that smile! I missed it, you know.” At Luz’s words, Amity felt her face heating up even more and let go of Luz’s wrists to cover it.

“Oh no, ‘Mity, don’t hide it from me now!” Luz momentarily stopped her tickling to pull Amity’s hands down from her face, which was now an entirely different color than when she had covered it.

Stage 2: rosy

Luz held Amity’s hands out and away from her face for a few seconds, before letting go and quickly darting her own hands underneath Amity’s outstretched arms.

They didn’t stay outstretched for long. Amity slammed them down, hugging herself. Her head was thrown back, eyes tightly shut with laughter.

“GEHEHT OUTTA THEHEHERE!” She all but screamed.

Luz laughed alongside her at the reaction she gave.

“I’m trying!” Luz said playfully, wiggling her fingers harder. “You’re trapping my fingers!”

“YOU’RE THEHE WORHOHORST!” Amity cackled.

Amity thrashed and kicked, all to no avail. After a minute or two, she was out of breath.

Luz smirked and removed her hands, deciding to give Amity a breather. From the looks of it, she was in need of one.

“Thahahat was sohoho meahehean,” Amity said, panting and giggling even though Luz was no longer tickling her.

“Maybe, but you know you love me~” Luz teased.

“Yeah, right,” Amity scoffed. It seemed that she had regained some of her sass.

Unfortunately, Luz was still sitting on top of her, and still looking for any reason to make her laugh more.

The brunette gasped in mock offense. “How dare you? You shall pay for your snark!”

“Wait! Luz, don’t! I’m sorehehe!” Luz was now lightly scribbling all over Amity’s neck and pointed ears.

Her ears.

Unfortunately, her ears were one of Amity’s worst spots, and Luz knew this all too well.

Speaking of ears, hers were now a bright red as well as her face.

Stage 3: scarlet

Instead of the heavy belly laughter she had been emitting earlier, squeaky, high pitched giggles now left Amity’s mouth.

“Ehehehe! Luhuhuz!”

“Hmm?”

“I- wahahaha!”

“What was that?”

“I’m gohohoing to wihihipe thahat smirk off ohof your fahahace!”

Luz raised her eyebrows. How Amity could be so feisty while giggling her head off, she would never understand.

What she did know was that Amity’s remark couldn’t go unpunished.

“Alright, that’s it!” Luz bent down, took a deep breath, and blew an enormous raspberry on Amity’s neck right beneath her ear.

At this, Amity’s laughter fell silent. She flailed so hard that Luz fell off of her sideways.

However, on her journey to the floor, she grabbed one of Amity’s arms and dragged her down with her.

*thunk*

Both girls landed and rolled, laughing all the while. They ended up lying on their sides facing each other, and it was a while before they stopped giggling.

“You know…” Luz’s dreaded smirk was back again.

“What now?”

“You never told me to stop.”

Stage 4: tomato

“Yes I- you know what- shut up!”

Poor Amity couldn’t even get a sentence out.

Luz giggled. “Are you at least feeling better?”

In all the goofiness, Amity had forgotten about her not-so-good day.

“Yeah, I am. Thank you, Luz.”

-

Later on, Eda and King came home to the sight of the pair asleep on the floor with content expressions on their faces.

Eda just sighed with a smile and gently placed a blanket over them.

[person-with-multiple-interests]

Tomorrow Hill chapter 2 part two

They arrived at the mall’s parking lot, time to do what they came here for, back to school shopping. Hunter was afraid of this, afraid of doing his tics in public and just genuinely anxious about the whole thing as well.

The two of them walked into the mall looking for school supplies. Hunter is hoping that his foster parent will allow him to get more art supplies and a new sketchbook. Then he saw something that stole his breath almost instantly.

It was a guy hazel eyes and hair dyed emerald green and a beauty mark under his left eye. Standing next him were two girls one who looked like she could be his twin, maybe they were identical twins and one with lavender hair she probably dyed it as well. Either way that guy was really eye catching Hunter couldn’t stop looking at the other boy maybe it was better for them not to know each other. Hunter felt a blush creeping on his face when the other boy laughed, that laugh was just ear candy to Hunter.

Bump took notice that he didn’t have Hunter’s attention anymore he was about to ask Hunter if found something he until he saw who he was looking at. Edric Blight, one of the three Blight siblings. Bump saw the look in Hunter’s eyes it was basically love at first sight so he decided to throw this love struck child a bone.

“You like him?”

“Huh, like who?”

“Him right there, do you want to talk to him?”

He nodded. But he was confused guys are supposed to like girls……right?

“Then do it you need practice for when you get to school anyways.”

Hunter took a few deep breath’s and started making his way towards the boy he was already feeling like he’s going to have an anxiety attack.

Edric was just scrolling through his phone when he looked to the right and saw someone standing next to him. Bleach blonde hair and an undercut extending to the back of his head leaving the bit of hair at the top left, ruby red eyes that were so beautiful that Edric had to do a double take, pale skin he did have a bit of color but other than that he was mostly pale, and a scar that went from his jawline to a bit of his cheek Edric wondered what could’ve happened to have the boy standing next to him receive that scar.

Hunter’s body suddenly lunged forward, he felt like he was going to fall over had it not been for the emerald haired boy catching him.

“You okay?”

“I’m pop just fine. I’m used to it click actually.”

That made no sense to Edric but then again he could ask Amity about this interaction she was planning on becoming a neurologist.

“Ok.”

Edric walked away leaving to ask his little sister about the interaction but Edric had admit in his mind that boy was kinda cute not the body jerking, to Edric it looked kinda painful but Edric did know that the blonde couldn’t control it, aside from that he was cute.

Hunter was standing there frozen in place then walked back to his foster dad.

“How’d it go?”

“I messed up, I think he hates me.”

“Hey no worries you’ll have another chance.”

“Yeah maybe, anyways do I have art classes on my schedule?”

“Uhh hold on let me check. You do have art on there, do you want to pick up some art supplies and a sketchbook for that next?”

“Yes I do want to do that.”

“Alright that’s our next stop.”

Edric finally caught up with Emira and Amity in the clothing section when Amity’s eyes caught something. A purple hoodie with cat ears on the hood. Amity gasped.

“This is perfect for Luz, favorite color, cat ears, hold on is it soft?”

She felt the texture of the hoodie seeing if it was soft like Luz liked it knowing that her girlfriend had issues with certain textures on some clothes especially hoodies.

“It is. I’m getting this for her and giving it to her tomorrow, she’s going to love it.”

Emira chimed in.

“Oh yeah, I’m sure she’s going to love it mittens.”

Emira saw Edric making his way towards them.

“There you are! What took you so long?”

“Sorry Em, just met someone.”

Amity’s interest was peaked.

“Oh ho and who was this someone?”

“I didn’t catch his name but actually I wanted to ask you about him mittens.”

“Okay go for it what’s the question.”

“Actually never mind.”

Amity just shrugged as she headed towards the register to pay for the stuff they got.

“So you’re just going to leave us hanging?”

“Yes I am.”

“Dude that is such a dick move.”

“I know Em.”

“Well I’ve already payed for the stuff we need.”

“Nice one mittens.”

Hunter saw that boy was about to leave, and knew he didn’t want to lose him so without even a second thought he started speed walking towards the boy clearly on auto drive.

Edric was five inches from the exit when he suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder. It was that boy.

Hunter extended his hand (maybe if you suppress your tics then he’ll be your friend at least) surprisingly the other boy took his hand and shook it.

“Hey.”

“H-hi.”

Hunter was already nervous about this he didn’t even know what to say.

“I wanted to ask you something.”

“Alright what is it?”

“Back there your body just kinda pushed you forward and it looked like you couldn’t control it what did you mean by you were used to it?”

This is what Hunter was afraid of.

“Yeah sorry about that. That was just….one of my tics.”

“Tics?”

“Y-yeah I have click Tourette’s.”

Edric had seen Amity doing research on it so he had a basic understanding of it. Hunter felt like he had to continue the silence was deafening.

“It’s a neurological condition that causes-”

“I know what it is it’s just I’ve never met someone that has it.”

“O-oh your pop okay with that.”

“Why would I not be.”

“R-right.”

“Give me your phone for a bit.”

“Why?”

“You’ll see. Oh yeah what’s your name?”

“H-hunter, and yours?”

“Edric nice to meet you Hunter.”

“Nice to throat clear meet you too hiccup Edric.”

Edric began to type his number into Hunter’s contacts, then Hunter spoke pretty quickly.

“I mean if you want to hang out tomorrow that’s fine but I’d understand if you didn’t wa-”

“I’d like that. So tomorrow it is?”

Hunter was at a loss of words this drop dead gorgeous guy was accepting his proposal to hang out. He didn’t even know what to do.

“Yes pop tomorrow it is.”

“Cool see ya.”

Edric gave Hunter his phone back then winked at him as he walked away which caused Hunter’s face to turn bright pink. Hunter was new to this the only other friend he had was his foster sibling Skara other than her he didn’t have any other friends.

Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.

Now was the difficult part asking his foster father if he could hang out with him. Hunter was still shell shocked over the interaction that he forgot about why he was there in the first place.

“There you are kid. You ready to go home.”

“I want to tch ask you something?”

“What is it.”

“Remember that guy from the mall?”

“Yes I do.”

“Well grunt he and I have made pop plans to hang out cough tomorrow, is it ok if I go to his place?”

“Of course it’s okay.”

“Thank you.”

“Anytime kid, now then let’s head back home.”

[owlhousefansblog]

The new girl

So it took 3 years later, all was well. Boiling Isles was saved, Luz has Eda and King with her and Vee and her mother of course and Amity Willow and Gus visited her 2 or 3 times a week. Hunter had stayed with Luz in the human realm to learn more about his past, but because he was theoretically related to Philip, he usually had to leave for his duties as the official Governor Hunter with Eda and Lilith as helpers. Boiling Isles was changing more and more it was a peaceful place and yes the symbols had been removed now everyone could control what they wanted. Gus Amity and Luz were still in high school, you wonder how they saw each other so rarely? well..luz had done one semester each year, one semester on earth and one semester in the Boiling Isles. It wasn't that practical but still she only had a year left and quite a lot to recover her luck is that she had Vee and Hunter helping her with math and astrology and a little arithmetic. And on the magic side, Luz trained for that every day, occasionally having an adventure with her favorite gang.One day when Luz was returning from high school, she passed by that old and shabby house. Every time she looked at it, she remembered all the adventures she had spent in that dreamland and her desire to become a witch only grew over the years, there was nothing that would hold her back. While staring at the door she saw a light, she went to see what it was but when she opened the door she didn'tsee anything unusual so she closed it and continued on her way.

When she got home it was crazy, she could hear screams and there was coke everywhere, Luz was just petrified but she was able to whistle and the noise stopped instantly.

Hunter's blond hair peeked out from behind the kitchen door and a chef's hat at the window.

o h-hey Luz...you um went out earlier huh? *Hunter appears from behind the door, dirty with coke and with a grim face of guilt hidden behind a smile and sweat

Gosh what did you two do again? if mom sees this she will faint!

well we wanted to actually try to cook something, you know, for tonight? *Vee stands up, just as full of energy*

ok fine let me put on an apron and help you *said Luz*

Thanks Luz we are a disaster *Hunter said*

more him *said Vee laughing*

*Later*

I'm out I can't do this anywhere *said Luz*

me too*said Hunter*

I will never cook again in my entire life *said Vee*

All 3 were passed out on the couch,they were dirty and tired

Luz?

what's up now vee

what do we do with guests?

OH SHIT I TOTALLY FORGET ABOUT THEM *Luz instantly gets up from the couch *

that's bad, we look horrible and I need to finish some papers from the castle until tomorrow *Hunter gets up instantly*

ok um.. I'm going to wash myself so that when they come I'll hang out with them until you get settled and after they leave we'll help you with the documents, okay? come on come on we don't have much time

they complied and the evening turned out perfectly. No matter how tired they were, none of them had let anything show. After they left, as promised, Luz and Vee helped Hunter with the documents and all 3 fell dead from exhaustion, the bad part was that Luz had to finish some homework for you tomorrow and Luz was at the last deviation. Luz had a big problem with waking up in the morning and how tired she had been in the afternoon, she had forgotten her homework. Luz and Vee were not at the same school and as usual Luz was eager to adapt sometimes the first bullying but she doesn't care because she finally had what she wanted a real family that really understood her. He only cared about Amity, Gus and Willow and the good friendship they had.

Oh it was her, the baddest girl in the whole school, not as bad as Belos by any means but quite bad and intimidating, she liked to make fun of Luz, and when Luz ignored her then the real fun started. She usually liked to torture her even beating her a few times. But that doesn't mean she doesn't fight, and even though they fought so many times and she and Luz got hurt quite badly, she was the director's daughter and Luz couldn't really do anything about it. Yes, she had protested a few times, but it wasn't enough. Today was one of those days where she had to put her pretty face on, Katlin had challenged her to a match ofc she doesn't want to go but she was threatened that her mother would lose her job so she had to do But she will do it without magic, no help, it's just between them, not even Vee or Hunter or her mother knew what she was doing and why she was late for dinner in that evening. But she had managed to beat her so badly that she had managed to put fear into her, of course she didn't escape without a broken nose, a cut lip and a few bruises. He had bruises all over his body but she could stand. All the way she didn't know how to tell them what happened because they would be alarmed, but if she didn't come they would be more alarmed. Outside, she was covered in mud and her face was covered in blood, but at least she had managed to save her mother and to fight 1 on 1 without magic, it seems that all the training with Hunter had paid off.

when she opened the door she saw Hunter Vee Camila Willow Gus and Amity waiting for her. When Luz saw them, she froze, and when they saw her, they looked scared.

G-Guys...what are you doing here? *said Luz still standing in the door*

LUZ! OMG WHAT'S HAPPENED WITH YOU?!*Amity comes towards her and hugs her*

oh hey Sweet Potato *Luz mutters*

Mija, what's happening?! who did this to you??

it's not important, mother, I'm fine *said Luz*

everyone was stirring around her, only Hunter was sitting in a thoughtful and suspicious corner of the crowd

Guys look I'm Happy You are here but I need to rest and make a shawore *said Luz getting up from the middle of the crowd and crawling to the stairs*

let me help you *says Willow*

No, I'm fine, thanks*she had gone upstairs*

That evening none of them went back and they waited to see how Luz felt. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't sleep, the bruises hurt her, but she had peace in her heart.

Lost in thought, looking out the window, she hadn't heard the knock on the door, so when the door opened, she got scared

It was her, wasn't she? *Hunter's voice came from the darkness of her room

Part 1

[k7l4d4]

A New Perspective: Owl House AU Story Part 2

Hello all, this is the second part of the collaboration between myself and the talented Flamestar50, give em a hand folks!! To note, I’ve cleaned up and proofread the work they provided, but this is definitely the result of Flame’s hard work and skill. Everybody Clap Your Hands!!!

Eda and Luz stood stunned at the group of people that had managed to crush Lilith.

“Stay back Luz,” Eda warned, but as Luz continued to approach the group, Eda rolled her eyes at the brush-off to her warning.

“Oh god what the hell happened.” One of the people groaned.

“Are you guys okay?” Luz said, leaning closer to the group. As she took in the appearance of them, her eyes widened. “Gus, Willow, Amity? What are you guys doing here? And who are these other people? She asked, gazing at the unfamiliar faces. Suddenly, another face in the pile caught her attention. Wait, that couldn’t be, i-it was-

“IMPOSTOR!!!” Luz yelled, pointing a finger at, well, herself.

“Who are you!?” The impostor Luz yelled back.

“I’m you! Wait, no, I’m me, and you’re PRETENDING to be me. What are you doing, pretending to be me with my friends you, you POSER!” Luz spat.

“I’m not the poser, you are!!” The “impostor” spat back.

“Um, someone better explain what’s going on here, and soon,” Eda asked, completely ignoring Lilith’s muffled protests and complaints over being sat on.

“Alright, there’s only one way to see who the real Luz is!” King announced from the floor. “What is Luz’s favorite... BOOK SERIES!”

“The Good Witch Azura.” Both Luz’s answered confidently, and in perfect sync to boot.

“Okay, this is gonna be tougher than I thought.” King sighed.

“Um, hello.” A soft voice called from the door. All faces turned to it, and saw Amity entering the house, Gus and Willow following closely behind.

“Hi Luz, I came over hear for the study session, and- Oh my Titan...” Amity gasped as she saw a group of familiar and unfamiliar faces sprawled across the floor, and two Luz’s aggressively pointing at one another.

“OH MY GOD THERE’S AN IMPOSTOR AMITY TOO!?” Luz gasped. “How will I know who the real Amity is?”

“What are you doing to my Luz?” Amity glared at her second self.

“I didn’t do anything! It was your Luz who brought us here!” The other Amity shot back.

“*GASP*! Luz! Are you trying to make clones of me!?” Amity whirled towards Luz, a blush blooming across her face.

“What? NO, of course not, at least, I don’t think so... Wait, did I just clone everyone!?” Luz gasped.

“I’M A CLONE!?” “Impostor” Gus shrieked.

“Wait, if you all are clones, than who are you?” Luz asked, pointing to the scary older girl glowering at them beneath her beanie, a metal bat slung over her shoulder.

“What do you mean, that’s my, I mean your, actually our older sister, Victoria.” Alter Luz said, sidling up closer to Luz, a look of slight confusion on her face.

But, I don’t have a sister.” Luz stated.

“Yes you do, you have two.” Alter Luz countered.

“No, I’m an only child.” The two stared in blatant bewilderment at each other, before they started screaming in confusion, provoking a commotion of panicked yelling among the groups.

“Um, shouldn’t you do something?” King asked, looking up towards Eda, who was currently sipping her Apple Blood, snickering at the scene before her.

“Nah, this is kinda entertaining.” She snorted.

“EDALYN!” Lilith managed to shout over the ruckus.

Eda wryly blinked in her sister’s direction. “Oh, I forgot you were there. Alright, calm down kids, could you all get off my sister, you’re currently squishing her to death.” The group awkwardly shuffled away as Eda helped her sister to her feet. Lilith quietly mumbled out a thanks before muttering to herself as she fixed her messed-up hair.

Putting her hands on her chin, with a sly grin, Eda continued. “Okay, let’s start over. What exactly happened here?”

------------------------------------------------

Vela sat hunched on the couch, fidgeting nervously. After this world’s Luz explained about the Potion, and the shard, and her group explained about the portal that appeared and sucked them in, Lilith had retreated, muttering about needing to research, before excusing herself to find some books and do just that. In the mean time, everybody had split up into their individual groups.

Both Luz’s were currently talking to Victoria, who was smugly showing off her glyph inscribed metal bat. Both Willows and Guses were having a pleasant chat, while Sallix, their Willow’s older sister, was... asleep. Yeah, only Sallix Park could be the type of person capable of falling asleep while being sucked into a portal leading to another dimension.

Vela’s little sister, Amity, was having a conversation with her counterpart as well. Vela honestly couldn’t understand her younger sister could stay so calm in a situation like this. Speaking of calm, Amaryllis, Vela’s older sister, was currently chatting pleasantly with the Owl Lady. It was strange to see her smiling, as she usually had this cold demeanor that stopped anyone from approaching her.

But, back in their world, Amaryllis admired the Owl Lady, A LOT. Perhaps it was the same here? Most likely. Other than that, all that was left was Luz’s other older sister, Mari, who was... wait a minute, where was Mari!? Vela began frantically scanning the room in a panic. Mari was nowhere in sight.

“Oh no.” Vela whispered. Mari was a great person at heart, she really was. But, she was also insanely curious, to the point that she would gladly break into people’s lockers and sneak into their houses. Leaving her alone was probably the worst thing you could do. Vela quickly got to her feet, scampering over to Amaryllis, who was standing alone while Eda went to get some more drinks.

“Amaryllis, do you know where Mari is?” Vela whimpered.

“Why do you care?” The older girl responded with an annoyed glance, as though Vela was wasting her time.

“I-I just n-need to find her.” She stuttered. Amaryllis rolled her eyes.

“I think she went upstairs,” She said, jerking a thumb in the direction of the stairs, before turning and walking away. Vela breathed out shakily. She felt kind of dumb being scared of her own sister, but how could she not be? The only reason she asked Amaryllis is because she is ALWAYS watching her surroundings. She knows everything. Vela hurriedly padded up the stairs.

“Mari?” Vela called quietly. There was a slight shuffling coming from one of the rooms. Vela quietly cracked one of the doors open, only to find Mari going through the Owl Lady’s Nest!!

“Mari! What are you Doing!?” Vela exclaimed quietly.

“Huh?” Mari turned, spotting Vela. “Oh, Hi Vela. I’m looking through the Owl Lady’s stuff to see how different she is from the one back home.”

“Mari, we just talked about this last night, you can’t just do stuff like that.” Vela whimpered, grabbing the other girl’s arm and pulling her away.

“But Vela, it’s for the sake of research.” Mari pouted. As Vela and Mari exited the room, a figure before them made them both freeze.

“Hey, what are you guys doing up here?” Luz asked. As she didn’t appear to be mad, it was probably Counter Luz.

“We, um, were looking for the... bathroom.” Vela said quickly.

“Oh, it’s at the end of the hall.” Luz smiled, pointing towards the bathroom.

“Okay, thank you,” Vela said, pulling Mari with her, who was waving goodbye.

“No problem!” Luz said happily. Finally, once the two were inside, Vela locked the door.

“Mari!” Vela said, whirling towards the girl. “Are you crazy?”

“Vela, your overreacting. It was a simple scanning, nothing bad.”

“You broke into the room of a woman from another dimension!”

“Vela, calm down.”

“Calm down!? How can I stay calm at a time like this? We’re in a new world with your sisters, my sisters, Willow and her sister, not to mention Gus, and we don’t know how, or even if we can get back home!! Oh Titan, this is going to be horrible for my studies!” Vela started pacing, her breath growing more frantic. “ I CANNOT get another low grade. If I get just one more, Mom is going to kill me! She’s already so...”

“Vela!” Mari exclaimed, taking the girl’s shaking hand. “I need you to breathe, just breathe. Listen, we’re going to be okay! We have each other, and together, we’ll make it through!” Vela nodded, her breathing having evened out, as Mari placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

“Hey, I know, let’s go talk to Lilith. I’m sure she’ll have found something in her research that’ll make you feel less worried!” Vela smiled.

“Alright, but you have to promise you won’t go snooping around the house.”

“Fine. I’ll try.” Mari sighed. Vela nodded in content.

“Ready?” Mari asked, taking her hand.

“Ready.” Vela nodded as they stepped out of the bathroom.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Victoria lay sprawled on the couch, watching as her youngest sister and her counterpart chatted away about magic, and Azura Book Clubs. It was honestly amazing how those two could fawn over a fictional book series, despite being from different dimensions. Even Amaryllis was making the most of the situation, chatting away with the Owl Lady. God, she is such a fangirl.

Victoria, on the other hand, couldn’t wait to get back home. As much fun as this unexpected visit turned out to be, she had her own life to get back to. Suddenly, Lilith, followed by Mari and Vela, walked into the room. At the sight of Lilith’s uncertain expression, all Victoria could think was,

“Oh no, what’s the bad news?”

“Ahem, if I may have everyone’s attention?” The whole room turned to look at Lilith.

“What’s up sis?” Eda asked.

“Well, after carefully studying the potion, along with a bit of research, I believe I have figured out how the portal occurred. You see, Luz’s Potion was designed to generate a portal between two points depending upon where the bottle was thrown. The door used to travel between the Demon Realm and the Human Realm contained a material known as Titan’s Blood, which opens rifts between worlds. The two interacting resulted in the portal opening to alternate worlds manifesting. The problem is, I have no idea what occurred to bring the children’s alternates and their alternate’s siblings here.” Lilith finished, looking slightly concerned.

“And what does that mean for us?” Victoria spoke up.

“Until I figure out exactly what occurred to bring you all here, I’m afraid I cannot guarantee you all a way home.” There it was, the news they had all been dreading. Vela let out a little hiss, while Amity and Willow exchanged concerned glances.

“So, what’s gonna happen now,” Luz asked.

“Well, you kids are gonna need a place to crash,” Eda stated. ”And I think its best if you kids split up.”

“Split up!” Mari exclaimed.

“Look kid, I like all of you, I really do, but there’s no way in hell I’m having everyone plus some total strangers crash at my place, and even if I wanted to, I don’t have enough space for everyone!” She said, throwing up her arms.

“I believe the most logical option is for everyone to take their counterparts and others home with them.” Lilith added.

“But, what about our parents?” Willow asked.

“Don’t you worry, I’ll help talk to them.” Eda assured her. After a bit more arranging, it was time for everyone to leave. Mr. and Mrs. Blight were out of town on business, which came as a relief to everyone. Eda and Lilith went to escort Willow and Gus home, giving them a chance to work things out with their parents.

“Alright Luz, take care of our guests, and don’t break anything while I’m gone. I’m trusting you!” Eda called from the door.

“Don’t worry Eda, you can count on me!” Luz yelled back.

“See ya in a bit kid,” Eda waved, before slamming the door shut, ignoring Hooty’s muffled shout.

“Well, it’s just us now.” Luz said, feeling awkward. She had been left with her counterpart Luz, along with her two sisters, Mari and Victoria. There was an uncomfortable silence between the group.

“Sorry about this whole mess, guys.” She said quietly, kicking her feet.

“Yeah, you should be.” Victoria snapped gruffly.

“Victoria!” Counter Luz scolded.

“What? It’s her fault we’re stuck in this mess. You think I wanted to spend my day like this!?” Victoria spat back. Luz’s expression fell, and Victoria instantly felt guilty.

“I’m gonna go downstairs,” She sighed, excusing herself. Once she was out of sight, Luz let out a small whimper.

“Hey, don’t worry about her. She just gets a bit snappy when she’s stressed.” Mari reassured, gently rubbing Luz’s back.

“I know, I just feel so guilty for dragging you all into this mess!”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Counter Luz chided. “We’re just going to have to make the most of this.”

“Yeah, we can do this, Lilith will find a way back for you guys soon, I’m sure of it!” Luz nodded. Now, if only she could convince herself she was right.

[nicolasnelson]

I love all your ships!!! You have excellent taste! As for favorite platonic ships I’m a big sucker for familial relationships and so obviously Eda/Luz/King but also Amity and the twins relationship has has really grown on me (wasn’t a huge fan of that first episode with them but I feel like in the other ones they’ve been in it has felt like a genuine sibling relationship) I’m dying to hear some of your faves as well! I also what would be your ideal owl house crossover? I feel like Andi Mack would be a cute one, but I’d also love to see a descendants one because I know it’d be chaotic - 🎄

thank you so much! sorry my list of ships was mostly descendants lol. i ship a lot of different combinations of those characters.

ooh yes i agree that the eda/luz/king familial relationship is fantastic! also love to see the sibling rivalry between eda & lilith and how they care for each other deep down. i like that the twins were both supportive of amity's crush on luz (and edric going on a date with someone nonbinary, hell yeah!). i also really like the original friend trio of luz/willow/guz and i hope we get to see more of them interacting!!

putting the rest under the cut since this got long:

i definitely think andi mack would be really fun. i can just imagine the kids like accidentally stumbling into the boiling isles. andi and luz seem like they would get along really well. it would be nice for luz to have more human friends, and gus would be fascinated with all of them. willow would have fun showing them her plant magic. and andi would definitely want to learn some of the glyph spells. i think cyrus would just be really fascinated to see witches exist and perhaps be taking notes for a film script he will write when he gets home. buffy would be great at grudgby, could definitely see a rivalry between her and boscha. could see marty playing grudgby too! jonah, amber, and tj would probably just want to go back to the real world. and of course all of them would just adore king because look at his cute little face!! so for descendants, i think i'd prefer it to be with the owl house characters in the descendants universe in auradon. amity would be a princess and probably best friends with audrey, jane, and lonnie. luz can be a vk, maybe the daughter of the horned king (and king could be her half brother awww) and she comes to auradon with the core four. she wants to rescue her mom from the isle because her father is cruel to her. eda and lilith would be split up, eda on the isle and lilith in auradon as a high ranking official in king ben's court. willow and gus would be aks and both very welcoming to the new kids. gus is fascinated with vks and wants to learn everything about them. same sort of character journey where willow learns she doesn't have to do what her parents expect of her. honestly, there's just so much that could be done with this crossover! i also feel like wizards of waverly place would work very well. alex, justin, and max could have slightly pointed ears and their mom would be fully human. the wizard world would just be the boiling isles, and they would go back and forth between them. there would be no competition for family wizard, but the kids would constantly have coven leaders trying to recruit them. and ooh if they were at hexside, justin could be in the beast keeper track, would fit well with his monster hunting arc. i could see max in the abomination track, and he just uses his abominations to do his chores and bring him snacks lol. of course alex would be the one who wanted to do all the kinds of magic and not join a coven at all. she and eda would get along really well. i can totally see her like grafitiing hexside and going to train with eda and luz lol dang. that was a really good question. had a lot of fun with that one, thanks! oh, and i do have a question for you too! who are your favorite characters and/or ships from andi mack? (or maybe just favorite friend dynamics!)

[anthropwashere]

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.