#now shes getting into that kind of thing and admittedly its kind of scary to watch and allow her to find out the stuff she likes but hey

[definitelynotwinter]

My niece has gotten really into warrior cats and is mid process of building a makeshift fursuit for herself for our upcoming anime cons this summer. I swore to her up and down I'd take her, but she'd have to handle her outfits herself and let me tell you she is DETERMINED to get this suit together by herself. It genuinely makes me so happy to see her finding herself and putting her effort into creating her art and self-expression .

[newkatzkafe2023]

I would *love* to see the genderbent version of the Baby Fever / "Impregnate me now!" post. Depending on the Monkey, it could be the Queen herself rather than the S/O asking for a baby

Ohhhhhhhhhh I agree on the queen part, yes indeed😁😁😁

(Lmk Wukong) You have been giving her baby fever for a long time, for years you had tended to no only the baby monkeys FFM but also to Mk, Mei and for some reason Redson. Your like another father to them, a scary one but well not as scary as pigsy but your Definitely much stricter then him as you push Mk a bit to do better things Mostly for her own good. One day she and Mk lost you at that Mall, and the found you comforting a crying girl who got lost from her mother. She cried and hid her face in your chest, and you wrapped you jacket around her she was immediately comforted as she called you baba feeling safe with you while you spoke with mall security. Yup that was the final straw..........

(Wukong) Mk their's something I need to tell My husband

Back At FFM

(Wukong) IMPREGNATE ME AT ONCE!!!!!!

(Male Y/n)HUUUUHHHH?!?!?!?!?😳😳😳🥵🥵🥵

(NR Wukong) I doubt she would get baby fever on the fly, but you do things that may build up to it. Like it's one thing for you to take Care of Li as you treat her like a daughter and treating Her boyfriend Stu like a son. What stranger is that you do the same for Their friends as well, even spoiled rich girl Ao bing wasn't safe from your fathering. Wukong finally asked what has gotten into you lately, that's when you told her that you wanted a baby cub. You told her, when a lost boy had mistaken you as his father and even when you found his real father, he still wouldn't stop calling you baba and you felt strange ever since😣. Wukong jaw dropped her husband got baby fever and he doesn't even know, well then...........

(Wukong) F*CK ME!!!!!!🤤🥵

(Male y/n)...........................Now I normally would but I feel like it's different this time😳😦

(HIB Wukong) Ohhhhhhhhhh boi you make her ovaries explode every second of every day. I mean, they did that when she first met you, and you kept doing that now. You take care of silly boy the most making sure he stays out of trouble, and make sure to groom Luier and take care of her hair. When Wukong saw that she was down for the count, then you delt the final blow when you were called baba by both the kids and some other children in the village who saw you as a father figure. Wukong couldn't take it anymore

(Wukong) cubs, cubs, Cubs CUBS!!!!! I WANT MORE CUBS🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵🥵

(Male y/n) WUKONG PLEASE WE'RE IN PUBLIC!!!!!😣😳

(MKR Wukong) She would never know she had baby fever until its to late for her, like it's was one thing for fruity to address you as baba and you don't have an opinion on it. Then she sees it everywhere you guys go together, whether it be a small boy who needs his ball back from a tree, or a little girl who sad that her plushie ripped and you sat there and sew it back to together. Then what shocked Wukong was how you got lots of rebellious teenagers to open up and vent alot easier then the monk and even their own parents did. Wukong was admittedly impressed with your quirks, but the blow was a mother struggling with her baby and you took the baby boy from her and he immediately stopped crying as you spoke sofly to him.

(Wukong) I.....I think I wanna baby😳😳😳

(Male Y/n) Yeah, I'll do that in a minute hun🙄😒😑

(Netflix Wukong) Now I see her baby fever being caused by her lack their of a family growing up😥 She was all alone for most of her youth until you made it better. Well then she met dragon king, and Lin and finally you, the village weirdo although you were completely unorthodox you were kind, patient and supportive. You never judged her and for that she fell in love with you, but lately she's been feeling a bit hollow like something is missing until she saw what it was. You were playing with the village children, from making up games, and drawing and making snacks for them. Wukong eyes Widened at the care you give to them, and so it clicked she knew what was missing.

(Wukong) Y/n...I want a baby🥺

(Male y/n) ABOUT TIME I wasn't doing all the fatherly stuff for NO reason😑😠

(BMW Wukong) You were always quite rough around the edges and that's what she like about you, but what she didn't know what about your baby fever. It was a bit before she met you and you were hired to watch over a celestials child for a few days, and you turned out to be more of a father then the girls really that which broke your heart then you met your wife. You never brought it up to her in fear of you would come off as pressuring her, but your wife was smarter and more aware then you thought.

(Wukong) Ohhhhhhhhhh Y/n, how do you feel about cubs

(Male Y/n) I would like that, but I hope you know their might be more than one at the first try😐😐😐

(Wukong)..........what do you mean by that😳😳😳😳😳

(Destined one) Ok, so you were acting strange lately. She's been noticing how you like to lay on her stomach at all times while slightly whimpering. She felt your hollow feelings and mild depression and it's been going on for a while. When the destined one asked what was wrong, you just told her that something was missing. That when you and your wife had separate experiences, she had saved a young child from another demon who wanted to eat her, and the little clung on to her for safety while in the village you had tended to a crying little girl who scraped her knees and you put a Bandage on it making her smile and you both figured out what was missing.

(Destined one) IMPREGNATE ME AT ONCE!!!😫😫😫

(Male Y/n) I WANNA A BABY MONKEY CUB!!!!!!🤩🤩🤩

(Both) WAIT REALLY?!?!?!?😳😳😳

FEEL FREE TO REBLOG

[gregorio-loves-art]

My thoughts on ninjago ships!

Just finished dragons rising and wanted to give my thoughts on the ships cuz that��s what holds my attention the most lol. I have both canon ships and fanon ships that i see a lot.

Nya/Jay

I literally love them with all my heart! They work so well together! All of their little interactions just make my heart happy. Their dancing in prime empire, their fist date in season 1, Jay’s proposal, and every other little thing. They are the the best ninjago ship in my opinion, but they are not perfect. I fucking hate the love triangle in season 3! It is so stupid. It comes out of nowhere! I, in general, hate love triangles but this is the worst. Not only was it entirely unnecessary, but it makes all three characters look bad. It makes Nya look indecisive, jay look hella whiny, and Cole look like a jack ass who only wants Nya so that Jay can’t have her. Back to the positives tho. I think the shows writing is at its best when their ship is a focal point. For a long time, sky bound was my favorite season( I know I know). It often gets a lot of flack for the ending, but that is one of my favorite parts. The idea that after all is said and done, only the two of them get to remember this massive Journey makes it all the more special. It’s about them, for them, and only they get to remember it. Seabound quickly took the top spot as soon as I started it(I honestly don’t know if this is a hot take or not, but Nya’s character arc was just so good!). The finale made me sob so uncontrollably, it was a little scary. Jay not getting a real goodbye was so heartbreaking. Seeing how content Jay was after they saved her despite the fact that he was actively being sent to prison is the kind of love I want!

Zane/Pixal

What can I say other than the fact that they are perfect. I mean they literally share a heart for Christ’s sake! If anything, they are to perfect and can be a bit boring, but that is barely a complaint. I will say that I didn’t like how long Pixal was trapped in Zane’s head, but other than that I love them. That scene in Compatible was so unnecessary but so fucking good!

Kai/Skylor

I really like them together. They don’t have enough screen time together which makes it heard for their relationship to develop. Honestly, Skylor in general is underdeveloped. She should have just joined the main cast after season 4. They have good chemistry, have cute little interactions, and are adorable to watch. I just wish she was around more. I was hoping that something more would happen with them by the end of crystallized but nothing really happened. I hope she comes back for dragons rising and has a good storyline, and hopefully some resolution with Kai.

Lloyd/Harumi

No. Fucking no. I hate Harumi. This ship is so dumb in the context of the show. Let me stop now before this turns into a whole rant ( a Harumi rant is for another day).

Lloyd/Akita

I’m actually very fond of these two. I will admit that they don’t get to spend enough time together, but it is still really cute! I hope they find each other again in dragons rising.

Cole/Vania

While I think Cole is definitely queer coded, still find these two cute. Maybe Cole is bi? I also like the idea that Vania is non-binary. Very cute together and I hope that they are endgame

Misako/Garmadon

What can I say? I’m a sucker for these two. They are cute old people who admittedly have a LOT of issues to work through.

Misako/Wu

No. Just no. I honestly hate wu and the idea of him and Misako being a thing is weird. It is wrong on both parts. Just all around stop.

Non/Questionably Canon

Any combo of Kai/Jay/Zane/Cole/Lloyd

While there is nothing inherently wrong with shipping these characters, it just gives me the ick. The fact that they all call each other brothers makes it weird. And it’s different with Nya cuz it’s not like Jay calls her his sister. And shipping any of them with Lloyd is icky for the obvious age reasons, I mean they literally knew him as a 10 year old. But while I don’t like any of these ships, Cole/Kai is the least upsetting.

Pythor/Aspheera

They are funny I guess, but pythor is def gay.

Pythor/Skales

Skales is an honest man and a loving husband who would never cheat on Selma thank you very much!

Wu/Faith

I can 100% see it. There is obviously an age difference. But maybe if faith comes back as an older women after some weird time thing related to the merge or something, then it could definitely work.

Dareth/Gayle Gossip

They are cute I guess, but they are beyond an afterthought

Ronin/Nya

Gross. Just stop

Dareth/Ronin

I can’t explain it, but I love them so much! It’s just hilarious and makes me laugh. It’s cute too.

Kruncha/Nuckal

They have been a married couple for 1000 years. They know each other so we’ll and complete each other. Perfect. 100%

That’s all I have. If you have any other ships that I didn’t mention or a ship you would like me to expand on them let me no.

[lampmanliveblogs]

Happy Halloween! I hope you’ve had a spectacularly spooky time! Me? Oh, you better believe I had the most frightening of days! I went to work. I know, I was terrified the entire time.

Nah, but Halloween has never been anything I really celebrate. The closest I got this year was watching that Soul Eater AMV and listening to some ”spooky” music on my way home from work today. If I feel like it, I might watch the Nelly Rapp movie. I’ve got it on DVD, but I’ve yet to watch it. And what better time to watch a movie about everyone’s favorite Monsteragent than on Halloween?

I’ve had a rough couple of days, I won’t lie. I wasn’t kidding when I said work was scary, cause bloody hell’s bells, it’s been A LOT to deal with. I work in this really big department store, an absolute unit of a store, a real superstore. And school’s out for the autumn holidays AND people got their pays recently. You can imagine the chaos, we had checkout lines going on for several meters.

This is all to say that I’ve been super tired and in a bad mood the last few days, so I haven’t had the energy to do much of anything. I did manage to do a rewrite of the story I posted a few days ago and it’ll be below the cut. I feel it’s fitting since it’s Halloween and it takes place on Halloween.

I don’t think I’m gonna publish it officially yet, I might want to take another look at it first… and I’ve given some thought to a potential second and even third chapter. We’ll see.

I still haven’t settled on a title yet.

Comparing this version with the first draft, you’ll notice that this one has been expanded a bit. I don’t often remove things between the first draft and the rewrite, I usually expand on stuff, which is what I did here. I’ll leave a few more notes at the end.

Enjoy!

Lamp Entertainment presents…

[Title]

Vee watched Luz and Camila disappear into the light of the portal. Off to save the Demon Realm from the evils Belos was bound to unleash with his return. The portal closed mere seconds after they crossed the threshold. 

Vee could still feel the scent of the spent magic lingering in the air. It was potent and powerful, but not unpleasantly so. The Titan’s own magic, such a primal, primordial force of nature that Vee doubted she could feed on it if she tried. It’d be a bit like a human trying to eat grass, if grass could also spontaneously explode. A bad idea.

She turned around to begin her walk back to civilization. A small smile played on her lips. Despite the difficulties they were bound to face in that realm, a realm Vee herself was not ready to return back to, she couldn’t help but feel optimistic. If any two people could handle Belos and The Collector, it’d be Luz and Camila, two of the coolest people Vee knew.

Well… they were at the very least in the top three of the list Vee kept of cool people she knew (admittedly, a pretty short one). One person in particular was very high up on that list. They were a stranger that Vee knew very well, a clueless fortune teller. Pretty as a picture, dancing the night away.

Vee felt her cheeks heat up, and she quickly shook her head to try and clear it. She could think about those feelings some other time. Maybe when Luz got back she could give her some advice. For now, she had to focus on getting mom’s car back ho-

Her eyes widened and she shoved her hands into her pocket. She had her phone and… that was it.

”Sho-ot!” she yelled at the sky. The moon looked down on her, it’s cold light coloring every shadow blue. ”Camila still has the car keys!”

Well. That was her good mood ruined. Vee grumbled curses under her breath the entire way back to the town square. The festivities had died down by now, only a few organizers left trying to clean up the worst mess before giving up and going home. She threw the car a dirty look, as if it was its fault that Camila had brought her car keys with her like some kind of responsible adult. Now she’d have to walk all the way home, get the spare, walk back here, and then finally drive the car home.

She stifled a yawn. Maybe she could wait until tomorrow?

Whatever. She had a lot of time to think about what she’d do next.

She walked along the streets of Gravesfield. By now, most trick-or-treaters had trick-or-retreated back home with their bounty. A few jack-o’-lanterns still spread some light onto the streets, alongside the streetlamps and other decorations. The buzz of the last few organizers cleaning up after the festivities at the town square disappeared fast behind buildings as Vee navigated around them.

Her nose was a lot sharper than her ears though and if she took a few deep breaths she could still make out some faint scents in the air. Pumpkin and spice, candy and exhaust fumes from the Haunted Hayride tractor.

In a somewhat ironic twist, because she was so focused on trying to discern those quickly fading smells, she missed the one in front of her. Once she did notice it, she stopped dead in her tracks.

”It’s you!” A voice that was unfortunately familiar to her called out in the night. It was Jacob Hopkins, the man from the Gravesfield Historical Society, standing there, right in front of her.

Vee froze in place. Of course. Of course she had been too optimistic in thinking she wouldn’t have to deal with that man again. When she burst through the doors at the GHS and realized he was gone, she had felt so relieved. Like he couldn’t hurt her anymore. It was foolish, because he was still around. Did she really think he’d move towns because he got kicked out of the history club?

Before she had time to run, Jacob marched up to her.

”It really is you!” he said again. ”I’d recognize those evil eyes anywhere! You’re my demon!” He grabbed her wrist.

”I-I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said and struggled to free her hand. She saw his eyes go wide and realized her mistake. ”Let go of me!” she said, this time imitating Willow’s voice, but it was too late.

”Don’t even bother trying to distort you voice, demon!” Jacob spat. ”I see right through your tricks! Where is the poor woman you had enchanted as your thrall? Did you eat her, you vile creature!?”

”No!” Vee cried. Hot tears threatened to flood her eyes, but behind that lied something else deep within her.

All her life she had been a prisoner, fettered, locked up and sealed away. Then she escaped and was on the run, always running. When she came to the Human Realm she was hiding, always terrified of slipping up and exposing herself. She was always ready, should the day come, to run again. Run, flee, hide, survive.

Not anymore. She has a great life here with a family and friends! Not just surviving, she’s living for something now! Who is Jacob to think he could take that from her? Did he really think he had just cornered the only wild animal that wouldn’t bite?

”Let go of me!” Vee repeated, this time with a hiss as she bore her teeth. Her teeth, which now looked less like the relatively dull incisors and vestigial canines of a human, and more like sharp fangs. The skin on her hands and wrists began to change too, hardening into tough scales while her fingernails turned into claws.

Jacob did look a bit worried when he spotted the teeth. But, be it because of bravery or stupidity (though Vee knew what she’d bet on), he didn’t relent. He held steadfast her wrist, intent on not letting his prize catch escape again.

”As if!” he said, while trying to make himself look bigger than he was. ”I’ll never let you go, monster!”

”Hey!” A third voice joined the growing chaos. Both human and demon turned their heads towards the voice, a voice that was familiar to them both, though more so to Vee. Despite the situation she found herself in, the basilisk felt a wave of relief wash over her. Suddenly, she knew things were going to be okay. Because who would come to her rescue other than Reality Check Camps very own Cabin 7?

Marco, dressed as a Frankensteiner, with his distinctive bangs covering his eyes. It was a wonder he saw anything at all, especially on this dim evening.

Samuel, dressed as a werwolf, albeit a werwolf with glasses. Apparently even lycanthropes are subject to bad eyesight.

And finally Masha, dressed as a witch. They were the spearhead of the trio, just as they were at summer camp. Always the first one to get them into trouble, only occasionally the one to get them out of it. This time, they arrived to help Vee out of trouble. It seemed that even though they were now strangers, Cabin 7 still had her back.

”What’s going on here?” Masha shouted, making Jacob flinch. ”Let go of her, you pervert!”

”Wha-no!” Jacob explained. He might’ve been some flavor of crazy, but even Jacob realized how bad things must look from an outsider’s perspective. And even he realized the consequences of that was not something he wanted to deal with. ”Y-you’ve got it around your back foot! This is not what it looks like!”

”Really? How about we call the police and ask them what they think it looks like!?” Masha yelled back. Marco and Sam stood by their sides, ready to back them up if things got ugly… well, uglier.

”I-it’s not like that at all!” Jacob said quickly, very keen on not getting the police involved. He looked around, as if the fuzz were hiding behind the corners, ready to jump him. ”Listen, uh… Sasha? No, no, was it… Vasha…? W-whatever, it doesn’t matter.” He yanked on Vee’s wrist, making her stumble forward.

”This is no mere girl!” he exclaimed. ”This is a demon! She has come from another world and has been living among us humans for months! And now her allies, the witches have come too! I’ve seen them perform their wicked magics! They’re not here right now, they must’ve gone back to their own world, but who knows when they’ll be back? You must help me contain this creature so we can warn the president! We’ll share the fame and fortune! I’ll even let you collab with me on Mewtube once my account gets restored!”

He smiled manically.

”If you don’t believe me, just look at her teeth! Look at her claws!” He held up Vee’s hand in the light of a streetlamp for the three teens to see.

It was a completely normal human hand with the soft nails so typical of humans. Vee smiled nervously, showing off a set of very normal human teeth.

At some point during his little monologue, Vee had realized that the best way out of this situation was to just let Jacob keep talking, so she had retracted her claws and dulled her teeth.

Masha, Samuel, and Marco shared a few glances with each other. Vee knew them well enough to follow along.

”This guy’s a loon,” Marco’s gaze said.

”I know you said he was a nutcase, but I didn’t realize it was this bad,” Samuel’s look said.

”Yeah, even I didn’t think it was this bad,” Masha said with one stare.

Samuel stepped forward.

”You’re crazy,” he said simply. Then he punched Jacob in the stomach.

Jacob made a funny sound as all the air was forcibly evicted from his lungs. He fell to the ground, holding his tummy, letting go of Vee in the process.

”Come on, let’s get away from this creep,” Masha said, taking Vee’s hand. They gently coaxed her into following then, not that Vee needed much convincing. They led her away from the gasping and writhing Jacob while Marco and Samuel stayed behind to make sure he did’t try to follow.

”Hey, I don’t think I got your name before?” Masha asked in what was an obvious attempt to distract Vee from what had just happened. ” We met at the GHS yesterday, remember? I’m Masha. I offered you a tour of the town.”

”Y-yeah, I remember,” Vee said. In the moment, she hadn’t realized just how fast and hard her heart was beating, or how ragged her breath had become. She took a few deep breaths to try and calm down, force her body to stop shaking. The danger was gone, no need for flight or fight right now. ”I’m Vee,” she said, finally remembering that she had to reintroduce herself to the friend that didn’t know her. ”And, uh… as much as I would like that tour, I think I just wanna go home at the moment,” she said in a feeble attempt at levity.

A small smile flashed on Masha’s lips.

”I saw your friends at the Haunted Hayride,” they said. ”I didn’t see you though. Too scary for ya?”

”I was staying home with mom,” Vee said, so focused on trying to stay calm that she let her mouth go on autopilot. It took her a moment to realize the slip-up and try backpedalling. ”Or, uh, I mean… aw, geez, I misspoke, I didn’t mean to say-”

”Hey, hey, calm down, it’s fine,” Masahs interrupted the panicking basilisk. They had reached a car parked in front of some small store. They opened the door to the passenger seat and made Vee sit down. ”Just take it easy. That creep didn’t hit you, did he?”

Vee shook her head and massaged her wrist. She could feel where he had squeezed her, though that wasn’t too bad. She had spent the better part of her first decade and half alive in chains, a little pain in her hands was no biggie. No, the thing that bothered her was that she could feel the smell of him on her. It was like a brand. She couldn’t wait to get home and wash it off her.

”I’m fine,” she said after a while.

”Are you sure?” Masha asked, sounding a bit skeptical. Not unwarranted, most normal people would probably be a bit more shaken than Vee was appearing. They probably thought she was in shock.

”Yeah, I’m sure, I promise.” Vee gave Masha  reassuring smile, but not too reassuring. ”He didn’t even grab me that hard. I was just a bit shocked. I mean, this was a lot, even for him.”

”Mmmm…” Masha hummed, their thoughts trailing off. ”I knew the guy was unbalanced, but not that he was this unhinged… what was he even talking about, demons and witches?”

”Haha, yeah, I know.” Vee’s laugh was stilted. ”What a nutcase.”

Marco and Samuel came walking back to the car.

”What a wimp,” Marco said. ”After you left he started crying. I think he’s stilly lying there on the ground.”

”Serves him right!” Samuel spat. ”He should be lucky to get off so lightly.”

”I tied his shoestrings together and threw his wallet up on the closest roof,” Marco added. The two boys hopped into the backseat of the car while Masha made it over to the driver’s seat. ”So he’ll have fun with that for a while.”

Vee couldn’t help but smile, the mental image of Jacob trying to scale a wall and falling down too funny not to laugh at.

”Should we call the police?” Samuel asked.

”N-no,” Vee said quickly. While the police might be interested in finding out that a man tried to abduct a girl, they would also be interested in finding out that said girl seemingly did not exist. ”I don’t think its necessary.”

Vee didn’t know it at the time, but she ended up being right. While trying to get his wallet back, Jacob woke and nearly scared the life out of the poor people living in the house. He ended up getting arrested for trespassing. It remains to be seen if he learned his lesson from that.

”Alright, if you’re absolute sure,” Masha said. ”Let me drive you home at least. Or do you have a ride?”

”I’d appreciate it,” Vee said. ”I, ah… missed my ride home.”

The ride back to the Noceda residence was spent mostly in silence, broken by Vee giving Masha directions when needed. Marco and Samuel also formally introduced themselves, unaware that Vee already knew them very well.

Vee had some time to think during the car ride. When Luz returned from the Demon Realm and reclaimed her life, Vee had stopped hanging out with her old cabin mates. With all the new friends in the house, she hadn’t really had the time to stop and think about how much she missed them. But, now they were together again, yet still separated by this new face and voice… it hit her, all at once. How much she missed them and how much she wanted to spend time with them. But she couldn’t, or… maybe…

”There you go, back home, safe and sound,” Masha said as she pulled up the driveway.

”Wait…” Marco said slowly, scratching his head. ”Isn’t this where Luz lives?”

”Yeah, I live here too,” Vee replied. ”I’m uh… well, you see… it’s complicated, but, ah.. Camila lets me live here.”

Out of the corner of her eye she could spot Masha looking at her. They were clearly remembering the comment Vee made before about her mom. They didn’t say anything.

Vee took a deep breath, gathering up all the courage she had. ”Grow a spine,” was the human saying. Vee was a snake, she had plenty of spine.

”Why don’t you guys come inside?” she said quickly, not giving herself enough time to chicken out. She was going to commit to this now.  ”I’d like to give you all a proper ’thank you’ for helping me out.”

There was some hesitation.

”It is getting pretty late and we were supposed to sleep at my parent’s house,” Masha said. ”But I’m sure they’d let us sleep at Mrs. Noceda’s house, right?”

”It should be fine, Samuel said, grabbing his phone to send his parents a text.

Marco shrugged and said ”I don’t care.”

”Sounds like it’s decided!” Ve said, a little too chipper and eager to get them inside. ”Come along!”

She lead them inside the mostly dark house and gestured for them to sit down on the sofa.

”Sit down, sit down, I’ll get snacks,” she said and hurried off to the kitchen. Her friends were left in the dust, looking around the messy living room. It looked like a whirlwind had swept through the house, with boxes of costumes strewn about.

In the kitchen, Vee was washing her hands while trying to work up the courage to go through with this crazy idea.

”Come on, you can do this,” she said while washing the stench of Jacob off her hands. She dried her hands off before gathering the snacks she had promised. This was going to take a while, she might as well give her guests something to chew on while she told them… what she was going to tell them. ”You escaped the emperor’s dungeons and evaded his scouts. You helped fight him tonights for Titan’s sake! You can tell your best friends a secret. It’s not hard. They won’t hate you… yeah! Us weirdos stick together, that’s the Cabin 7 way!”

”Hey, Vee?” Masha interrupted the disguised demon’s personal pep talk and nearly made her shed her skin at record speeds.

”Yes!” Vee almost yelled and spun around. ”Wh-what’s on your heart?”

”Is Luz home?” Masha asked. ”Cause we haven’t talked to her in ages…”

Masha’s usually confident eyes flickered down for a few seconds. It hurt Vee to see them without that characteristic confidence that she admired so much. They must be thinking that their friend Luz had abandoned them, left them for some new, cooler friends.

That sealed it in Vee’s mind. She was going to do this. She might come to regret this immediately afterwards, her friends might hate her, she might have to run and hide again… but she was going to do it. She couldn’t stand lying to them anymore, to cause them any amount of suffering. Not after all the kindness they had done to her.

”Yes… or, no,” Vee said, having taken just a little too long to answer. She grabbed the snacks and lead Masha out the kitchen. ”No, Luz is not home right now. She and Camila are away, it… it was a very sudden thing. Kind of an emergency.”

”…okay?” Masha replied, confusion on their face. They shared another few looks with Marco and Samuel. Vee realized that all things considered, she was acting very suspicious. It was Halloween after all. Someone acting this odd on an evening like this… watching horror films the night before, debating witches and folklore… it’s only natural that the unknown would trouble on a human’s mind.

”I’ll explain, I swear,” Vee assured them, not that it did a whole lot to ease their worried minds. If anything, it just made them more confused as to what was going on. ”But it’s a long story, so you might wanna sit down,” Vee continued and gestured to the sofa. The Cabin 7 Crew collectively hesitated before finally sitting down. Vee dumped the snacks on the coffee table and grabbed a chair for herself.

She felt around in her second stomach. She had absorbed a fair bit of magic from Belos during the fight. Amity and Willow had left plenty of abomination slime and enchanted plants behind. So she had a lot of leftover magic to scarf down on if need be. She could afford to show off a little.

”Have you guys noticed something… off with Luz lately?” she asked. ”In the last two months or so… almost like she became a different person overnight?”

Of course they had noticed, and Vee could tell based on their expressions when she asked that question. She also suspected that they had talked about it with each other. Not only had Luz more or less ghosted them and started hanging out with a bunch of strangers that no one knew, her personality had completely shifted. The Luz they knew from camp was gone… almost as if she had become a different person overnight.

”What I’m about to say next might sound insane, but I can guarantee you it’s the truth,” Vee said. ”All I’m asking is that you listen to me… and maybe don’t be too angry with me… okay?”

More glances were exchanged, glances of confusion and worry.

”Vee… what’s going on?” Samuel was the first one to speak up. ”Is… something wrong with Luz? What happened to her?”

Vee took a few quick, sharp breaths. She was about to go against every instinct in her basilisk brain, instincts ingrained into her very core by countless generations before her. Here goes nothing.

”Luz did become a different person overnight.” Vee was having to force herself not to speak too fast. She enunciated every word, trying to make sure there was no room for misinterpretation. ”Or rather, she became herself. You see, the Luz you met at summer camp wasn’t the real one. It was me. I was disguised as her and took her place. It was an accident, I didn’t mean to, but… well, I think is worked out for the better for both of us.”

Silence. The three Cabin 7 members sat opposed to her stared at her. Confused, bewildered, positively befuddled. Indeed, was this not an incredibly odd thing to be said by someone who wasn’t insane? 

”I… don’t get it.” Marco was the first one to speak. ”What do you mean you ’took Luz’ place?’”

”I know it’s probably a bit hard to believe, I mean, me and Luz don’t exactly look or sound alike,” Vee said, a small smile on her lips. ”But what about now?” she said, speaking with the voice of Luz.

The Cabin 7 Crew sat still as rocks while their brains tried to process what was going on.

Vee giggled.

”S-sorry, but you guys look so funny,” she said, sounding exactly like Luz from camp. She stood up from her chair and spun around in place, transforming into a spitting image of Luz. No, not a splitting image, the original image. Because that was Luz from camp. ”How about now? Do you believe me now?”

Masha gripped the armrest of the sofa so hard their nails threatened to rip the fabric.

”Explain,” they demanded. ”Right now.”

”Sure thing, though it’s a long story, which is why I brought snacks,” Vee said, shifting back to her regular human form, but with a slight adjustment to make her ears more obvious. She decided against reverting back to her true basilisk form just yet. It was probably for the better if she eased her friends into it.

She cleared her throat.

”What Jacob said before was true. Well, kinda…’even a broken clock is right twice a day,’ I think the saying goes. There is a world beyond this one. A world of magic, and witches, and demons. Demons like me. I’m a basilisk.”

Masha raised their hand.

”No, you won’t die if you look at my true form,” Vee said.

Masha lowered their hand.

”That was a rumor started by witches because… well, you see, we basilisks eat magic, that’s how I can transform.” Vee paused to think for a second. Her captivated audience waited with bated breaths. ”You know what, this probably isn’t the best order to take things. Let’s start with Luz, on that fateful day while she was waiting for the bus to take her the horrible summer camp. As she stood waiting, she spotted a strange owl which she followed into an abandoned house in the woods…”

The End… or is it?

xxXXxx

Author’s Notes

…even more of them

The Lampman tries not to worldbuild in one of his fanfics challenge. Level: impossible.

Probably my favorite line in this was ”Did he really think he had just cornered the only wild animal that wouldn’t bite?” though the ”trick-or-retreated” line is a close second, I thought I was really clever there.

You might’ve noticed I changed ”Marco” and ”Samuel’s” costumes around. I have a reason for this, but I won’t explain it. You might wonder about the term ”Frankensteiner.” It’s from the books about Nelly Rapp by Martin Widmark (illustrations by Christina Alvner). Nelly Rapp is a monster agent, a person who deals with monsters and other supernatural beings. Her first mission has her take on the cold-hearted debt collector Robert Steen, a Frankensteiner.

A Frankensteiner is basically a Frankenstein’s monster, a human made up from separate parts  (it’s a kids book, so they never explain exactly where the separate parts come from). They are often kept isolated from humanity and thus don’t develop a connection between their hearts and minds.

After spying on Robert, Nelly finds out that he has two left feet, and that he must be in constant pain from walking. So she manages to trick him into getting a foot massage. With his pain alleviated, he becomes a better person, even getting engaged with the masseuse.

In the next book, Nelly (with some help from her loyal dog London) cures two werewolves from their lycanthropy with vegetarian sausage, the power of laughter, and a strong lamp.

ANYWAY, one of the things I was very conscious about with this story was trying to make sure every member of the Cabin 7 Crew got to do something. It’d be very easy to have Masha be the only one doing stuff since, you know… they’re the only one with a name. Or personality. Also a ship, and fanfic writers love their ships almost as much as they love putting A Guy in a Situation (did i use this meme right?).

I sometimes steal take inspiration from song lyrics while writing. Usually, this is because I happen to be listening to that song while writing. Living in America by The Sounds doesn’t really have anything to do with anything, but it was on while I was editing, so Masha gets to be ”pretty as a picture, dancing the night away.”

A more obvious example is a few lines I stole borrowed from Fear of the Dark by Iron Maiden. ”Watching horror films the night before, debating witches and folklore, the unknown troubles on your mind.” Great song for driving home from work on a dark autumn evening.

So yeah, I would say this story shaped up pretty well. Let me know what you guys think. until next time, take care of the planet Earth, and remember that anything can happen in space!

[arthropod-concoctions]

Uprooted: chapter 9

(ch 1 - ch 8 - ch 10)

Jimmy walked with a steady pace, and reached the cow pen of the Red Desert sooner than he'd expected. A bit sooner than he hoped to, actually. He assessed the cows; like Scar said, there were only a few of them, grazing or sleeping. The enclosure was smaller than the one they'd had at home, but the fence was thicker and sturdier, seemingly designed to keep something out more so than keep the cows in.

But the cows weren't Jimmy's main concern at the moment. On the other end of the enclosure, he saw the silhouette of the man he'd come to talk to. He felt something he hadn't felt often lately: a chill going down his spine.

Come on, Jim. Just get it over with, he thought, and began approaching Joel. He was halfway past the cow pen when he heard a strange yelp from Joel's direction. He saw the man's head shoot up and look at him; at this point he also noticed a white-furred creature next to him. The wolf was baring its teeth at Jimmy.

Jimmy froze. He'd almost forgotten about the other reason Joel was scary; the wolves. Fortunately, the wolf stayed where it was while Joel approached Jimmy. He walked towards him slowly, but with no sign of stopping when he got close. Instinctively, Jimmy took a step backwards, at which point Joel stopped walking.

Then he said: “Hello, lad.”

That caught Jimmy off guard. “...Hi.”

After an uncomfortably long moment of silence, Joel said: “What's up?”

“Well... I talked to Scar, and he said I should take care of the cows from now on. So...” Jimmy replied, gesturing at the cows.

“Oh,” Joel said. “Okay. I don't really care about the cows.”

“Great. I mean- okay. Cool.” Jimmy responded. This conversation was a lot more awkward than he anticipated. Admittedly, that's to be expected when talking to someone that left human society over a decade ago.

Speaking of things that happened over a decade ago...

“Joel, do you remember... what happened thirteen years ago?”

Joel, who had been staring directly at Jimmy for this entire conversation, tilted his head slightly.

“Well, a lot happened thirteen years ago. You'll have to be more specific.”

Jimmy exhaled, and continued talking. “I wandered into the forest. Came across some wolves, and they howled, and then... you showed up. And you picked me up...” he noticed his hand begin to shake.

“I thought for sure you were gonna kill me. But you didn't. You just... lifted me off the floor and carried me across the forest, and eventually put me down again. Then my mum found me.”

Joel hummed. “I do remember seeing a child once... that was you?” he tilted his head again.

Jimmy nodded. “Yeah. So I guess... thank you, for not killing me then.” He took some more deep breaths, but his shaking hands steadied again.

Joel nodded too; the movement was sharp, a bit clunky-looking. “That was kind of a weird day,” he said.

“See, usually I just kill any human that enters our territory. The pack has a special howl for that, so they call me over and then I either tell the human to leave or we hunt them.

“So I went over there and I saw you, and you ran away, not out of our territory, but further in. Usually that's the point where I attack them, but then I thought... this kid is like eight years old. Am I really going to kill a child like that?”

“I was twelve,” Jimmy whispered, but Joel didn't hear him. He kept talking:

“So instead I decided to just pick you up and drop you off outside. Well, as I was walking, I suddenly saw a woman show up. And at first I thought 'oh, I have no problems killing an adult', but then I realised she was probably your mother. And if I killed her, I'd be ruining this child's life anyways, and then there'd be no point to me not killing you. Then I just... put you on the ground again, and told the woman to scram. She did, and I never saw her again.”

Jimmy was speechless after Joel concluded his story. He wasn't entirely sure whether it was meant to make him feel better or worse, but he was leaning towards feeling worse.

But then Joel added: “And now you're Red too, and we can be friends!” Then he smiled; it was an odd, unpracticed smile, yet it seemed genuine.

Jimmy swallowed. “Yeah, maybe.” Seems like Joel wasn't trying to intimidate him, but was trying to start a friendship with an interesting story. About nearly murdering two people.

“Have you killed anybody yet?” Joel asked.

“No.”

“Unlucky. I can help you with that, if you want.”

“Nah, I... I'm good. Thanks for the offer though.”

“It's easier if they don't expect you,” Joel continued, despite Jimmy's declination. “I reckon you could get that husband of yours pretty easily.”

“What- I am not going to kill Scott!” Jimmy said, his shyness about the conversation replaced by anger.

“Why not?” Joel asked.

“Because I love him!”

Joel stayed silent for a few seconds again.

“...Does he love you too?”

“Yes! At least, I'm pretty sure.”

“Huh.” Joel looked away from Jimmy for the first time in this encounter, to look at the ground. “A green-lived, still loving their partner who's Red. Imagine that.” It was hard to read any emotions in Joel's voice, but he seemed upset.

“Did you-”

Jimmy was interrupted by Joel making a sound like a snarl. Then he turned around and began to walk towards his wolf friend.

“Right. Well, see you around... friend.”

Joel didn't respond anymore, so Jimmy turned around as well, and began walking back to the spot where he'd separated from Scott and Scar. He thought about Joel's offer for them to be friends. The man still seemed dangerous to him, but maybe it would be nice to have a dangerous red-lived as a friend.

After all, it seemed like he himself wasn't much of one.

[sucker-for-shifters]

what would ur ocs look like as animals? :3 either furry or feral

Thank you so much for the ask!

I’ll only be doing concepts for now (since life’s been keeping me extremely busy, and I’m not great at drawing furries), but I’ll still label the ones I will be doing art for soon. (College is kicking my ass, and these concepts have taken long enough.) The others will just remain concepts unless I have any specific drive to make their furry versions.

[OCs with Art]

Wynn - He most definitely has dog energy, though specifically what kind was a little bit difficult to get down. I wanted to choose a breed that's perceived as loyal and gentle despite its size, but also can be perceived as threatening from appearance alone. (Mainly adding that last detail because of what Wynn did before he forfeited his first life.)

Hence, I thought that I'd go with a Doberman for him. Looks scary if you don’t know him, but is actually very loving to people he trusts most. Admittedly, due to his undead nature (being a revenant and all), I jokingly thought of him as one of those skeleton animas from Minecraft, though that wouldn't be entirely accurate to his original design. (He still has human-like features from the shoulders up, despite the hole rotted in his cheek.)

~~~

Cen - Frankly, he was a little tougher to nail down. I felt like he had cat-like energy, but at the same time, it didn't seem to fit for him. Since he's a fae/fairy, I wanted to keep the trend of him not being able to use his wings unless absolutely necessary. (So he's less of a cat and more like a bird, but even then, it's hard to pin what kind he'd be.)

After a lot of research, I finally decided on making him a raven, due to being Wynn's source of information in the modern world, not to mention his sharp wit and him being rather blunt at times.

~~~

Spruce - I've gotta thank past research (and an RP) for this idea, because I thought of making him a rabbit. Due to their unique behaviors (especially concerning their habit of humming, squeaking, and growling instead of speaking), I thought that having them as a rabbit would fit best. I wasn’t sure what kind of rabbit I’d make him, but I grew attached to him being a Dutch rabbit.

~~~

Anita - I wanted to slide her in here because she was the first created out of these OCs. She was tricky to do, since I wanted to lean into her survivalist nature and stealth, but I didn’t just want to make her a cat.

It took a while, but I eventually decided on her being a collared lizard. Not only are they mainly carnivores (hunter aspects), but they can also run pretty fast. (Top speeds of 16mph/26kph!) Plus, I thought it’d be cute to have a cold-blooded furry that loves soft fabrics and like items.

~~~

I'll continue onto the ones without art below the cut. Didn't want to leave anyone out!

[OCs without Art]

Fionn - Wolf. No doubt. (I mean, with his kinship/closeness to his companion, I thought of it as one Snow Hound protecting another.) However, in comparison to his companion, I think that Fionn would look a little less threatening, having a bit of a fluffier silver coat with patches of white to simulate his original form's vitiligo. No doubt that his tail would wag like crazy when he gets excited, especially when meeting people like Wynn and Cen.

Aspen - Due to being Fionn's brother, I'm making Aspen some form of wolf as well, though he would appear more tamed in comparison. Not to say that Fionn is wild, but due to being the crown prince, Aspen has to make himself look presentable, which means toning down aspects of himself. His coat would look a bit sleeker, but still have the same silver color with patches of white scattered throughout.

Selene - For Selene, I actually wanted to make her some form of cat, since I though that having her as a cat fit best compared to the other characters I originally thought of as cats. (Also for the fact that despite having dog-like energy in her openness towards others, she tends to do things on her own.)

Hydrangea - Honestly, it was about as tricky to nail down what Hydrangea would be like as it was to nail Cen's down, if not trickier. Due to original Hydrangea being a homunculus, as well as being part-flower due to contamination and almost completely mute, I wanted to come up with something that would simultaneously make it fit in with the other furries in this post and make it stand out. In the end, I decided to make Hydrangea a mouse in order to fit in with the laboratory theme, since “lab mouse/rat”. However, instead of normal fur, each strand is a small flower petal, like its usual form’s hair. It also fits in with its mute nature.

Arden - Although he and Anita are rather similar, I wanted to make them different kinds of furries due to their different personalities and skills. With him being the tinkerer that he is and with his fluffy, cloud-like hair, I kind of thought of him as some kind of squirrel or chipmunk. I would’ve thought of a beaver, but that may be a bit much for him.

[dnangelic]

' eh ... ? ' was diamont's father some kind of important person , then ? after so much time , the niwa only now realizes that neither himself nor dark seemed to truly know anything about diamont's circumstances . there was the magic , and the hermit-like , self-admittedly unsocialized behavior , but the shocked , oblivious way the boy blinks up at the other could have confessed to the idea that he had always imagined someone , or something like diamont having simply been born , created , crafted and manifested right into adulthood and completeness before being shuttled off to work on whatever it was they were meant , or hoping to do .

with his own father having only recently returned home , and memories of the man himself being far more absent than present in his childhood , it lulls the niwa into a far more pensive silence than he'd like at first . then he nods , further impressed and finally digesting just how fantastically different their lives were --- unfamiliar , questionable concepts such as cranium preservers included .

' well , where i'm from ... everyone is supposed to go . we start with kindergarten , and move up in grades and learn a little about everything while we try to figure out what we really want to do as adults . but that's only half of it ... ' and his face twists a little , puzzling over how to possibly describe it --- the enormity , his own history , the various things that had happened and awoken within him over the span of just a single year or two .

' school ... has its own ecosystem . even if it's supposed to be about learning , it'd be unnatural if people didn't make friends and try to fit in with the people they saw every day , right ? but , i was never really any good at that . it wasn't like i was bullied ... and before i turned fourteen , everything was kind of okay . i mean , i had some friends , and i still couldn't do anything back then , and even though everyone already knew i was a total loser with no luck or even a good head , it wasn't like they ever shoved me into a locker or scrawled onto my desk or anything . it was only after i got rejected by my very first crush too that --- dark actually woke up within me . '

as if in response , the soft obsidian of his wings shifts again ; cloaks him gently , wherein he idly tugs at the feathers , drawing them closer to timidly cover his face without tearing any coarse looking quill out . ' i can't ... control it . and things like transforming , or having wings --- isn't normal where i'm from . everyone is the same , and only human , so the first time that i started to transform , i really thought my life was over . saehara , one of my classmates and my friend , he's a reporter , and the son of an inspector that's trying to catch me --- i mean , dark . the only thing that saehara wants to do is find out dark's true identity , so there have been times where i've been chased around , even at school . and then --- harada-san fell in love with dark even though she was the one who rejected me , and hiwatari-kun , the smartest guy in the class , turned out to be with the police , too . '

what a terrifying place . how had he managed to last this long surrounded by people that should have been his private nemeses on all sides ? when he reflected on it , not even he had any clue . everyone simply didn't believe that the niwa could have ever been anything but his usual : clumsy and always troubled , not particularly noteworthy and likewise not particularly worth any legitimate , extensive interest , or even as much as faithful respect .

' a-anyways , that's not all . there's saga-kun , the son of a famous film-maker , who's always chasing me around and asking me about dark , too . the thing about everything is ... everyone at school , everyone in the province , everyone in the country --- is always looking at me , and it gets scary . ' to be so cursed and hated and worshiped and loved despite the way that nobody , not a single soul truly knew who the great phantom thief was .

' school is supposed to be a place where you transform yourself , right ? err , i mean , that's just what i hear from others , but in the first place , i only go because my parents think it's right for me to have some basic knowledge as --- a thief . ' he winces ; grimaces . ' but i ... i don't know how to say it . i hated it at first , but then i started to like stealing a little , but i don't want it to be my entire life , either . and i definitely can't tell anyone anything , so it's been like this --- for so long . ' wasn't he just rambling by now ? would even half of it make any sense to someone like diamont ?

' um --- ' any flush reddens . ' sorry . what i meant to say was , it's like --- everyone's convinced that dark can do anything , and that i can't do anything . and i ... worry , that everyone might be right . i don't know if i can't change anyone's minds , or convince them --- ' and then there were the artworks themselves too , granted their own souls and feelings and lives , who always seemed to both torment yet ultimately turn out grateful towards him when he tried his hardest for their sakes .

' it would be nice to be proud ... of myself . but even when i can't be , i think what i want most is to be surrounded by people that can still make me happy , and that i'm able to trust . i just don't understand how --- how i'm supposed to get there . ' his glance darts over to the other , the thought fairly clear : understanding beyond being picked up by the ankle and shaken out , quite literally , of all his secrets was not a method he would have preferred for his every encounter .

Diamont nods, allowing Daisuke to keep talking. Not like he would have stopped the young man. On the contrary: he is not one who contributes much to conversations that he does not know much about (or those that do not interest him), so he is glad whenever somebody can fill in the silence.

"I have not. My education was given by the Servants of my Father. Etiquette, magic, economics, history, diplomacy. The fundamentals that one needs to know to integrate into polite society. Anything you can imagine. Sometimes my Father would give me special lessons in magic." Dia reminisces about it, but does not seem fond or spiteful of such memories. They are just there. They just happened. "Not always. The result was always the same: he found me lacking, but I still could be polished further. He only bothered to teach me about magic, the rest was... the responsibility of the other instructors."

A short pause. "I have been to an educational institution, but it was already devoid of students and any life. Or anything that were not simply memories that insisted on remaining shackled to a place." And he slams his fist against his hand, remembering something. "There was also the Cranium Preserver. But that is not important." He moves on from that subject quickly, not deeming it relevant to the conversation.

"I want to know of the schools that you know and what kind of people are there. Or anything that you would want to share with me."

[lacrimosathedark]

This comment was left on my post on Judd Winick’s Jason:

#i still dunno how i feel about jay showing up in star city to ~recruit mia (for lack of a better word)

by @natasharomanovofficial​ and I don’t really think he was trying to “recruit” Mia. But it’s a whole thing on its own, so, separate post!

This is going a bit into meta and character analysis, specifically around Green Arrow Vol 3 69-72.

While it’s not uncommon for heroes and villains to have team-ups and appear in each other’s books, aside from the fact that GA was written by Judd Winick at the time and he was one of the few writers at the time who actually liked Jason (why did everyone hate him so much? Just for replacing Dick who had kind of outgrown Robin? Jeez), on the surface, it might be confusing why Jason would bother fucking around in Star City with Brick and Ollie. Especially since, while very world-traveled, he has always been very Gotham-centered. And if he was just, y’know, doing weapons deals with Brick as was what was initially displayed (and apparently a cover) it could have been mentioned in passing in Batman or GA, no need for a whole story.

But while Jason is supposed to get weapons from Brick and teams up with him against Ollie and Bruce, (which I will now show you because it’s fucking hilarious)

the key, his goal, is Mia Dearden.

Now I am admittedly relatively new to my interest in the Arrowfam (and my interest has mostly centered around Roy and Lian with Dinah sprinkled in for flavor), so I am unfortunately no expert on Mia just yet. Doesn’t help that there’s been no hide nor hair of her since the reboot of the New 52. Come on, Rebirth era, bring her back!

However, I am capable of reading wikis lol. Also, context clues.

So, what makes Mia so special that Jason would take a crew and leave home just to talk to her? (which, in the end, is pretty much all he does)

Let’s break down the confrontation!

Jason is a dramatic bitch, but also in general inherently intimidating. He’s a big strong crime lord from Gotham’s worst neighborhood (which says something because it’s fucking Gotham) who has Bat-training, world-wide Talia-approved assassin training, and of course, was beaten and blown up by the Joker, revived through no known means(in-canon, but it was SB Prime because he punched the universe), and tossed into a Lazarus Pit. He’s scary.

But he doesn’t expect Mia will be scared. He knows she’s tough and brave and been through very familiar hell. He’s not locking her down and keeping her helpless either. She’s tied up and knocked out so she is forced to confront him alone, but as soon as she’s conscious, he lets her go and gives her her own weapon. Plus, she has home field advantage--not only is it her city, but her school gym. She’s in a familiar environment while he’s not.

This is partly a test and partly proving the point he’s always trying to prove: sometimes, lethal force is necessary.

He’s not even really trying to hurt her while making his point. When he manages to successfully break her weapon, he gives her his own swords. And he gives him her two blades while he keeps just his one flamberge-type dagger (which is so fucking cool btw why doesn’t he have that anymore? It’s so pretty!). And he takes off his protective helmet. He’s giving her advantage after advantage.

And then we get to his point.

“We’re not so different, you and I.” Really, Jay? That’s incredibly cliche even for you, you over-dramatic crumpet.

Except Jason is a detective by trade and he does his research. He does know about her.

So, obvious parallels out of the way first. Jason and Mia are both abused children forced to live on big city streets, surviving by any means necessary, and eventually being adopted by a wealthy playboy vigilante to escape from another abusive situation. They were also about the same age when they were left on their own. While Jason’s father was arrested or killed before that, he was on his own when Catherine died by the time he was 12. While I have no idea about her mother, Mia ran from her abusive father and was on the streets at age 11.

There’s also the drug history. Mia apparently “shot drugs” (which I honestly am not sure means she was an addict or a seller but either way) while Jason watched his addict mom die, and is now a dealer himself (with an explicit rule against dealing to children).

Another important thing to note: this conversation is part of the reason--well, most of the reason, honestly--that people think Jason might have been a child prostitute.

(one other entirely irrelevant similarity is, apparently, both of them like to read! neat little tidbit there.)

But there’s also a meta-textual similarity here.

Did You Know? Jason Todd was initially intended--sort of--to die from AIDS instead of explodified by Mistah J!

This is only because of Jim Starlin, known Robin-hater and writer for Death in the Family.

“Well, I always thought that the whole idea of a kid side-kick was sheer insanity. So when I started writing Batman, I immediately started lobbying to kill off Robin. At one point DC had this AIDS book they wanted to do. They sent around memos to everybody saying “What character do you think we should, you know, have him get AIDS and do this dramatic thing” and they never ended up doing this project. I kept sending them things saying “Oh, do Robin! Do Robin!” And Denny O’Neill said “We can’t kill Robin off”. Then Denny one night got this flash that “Hey, if we get this number where people call in and they can vote on it, they can decide whether Robin lives or dies.” So that’s how it started. I wrote up two endings and the readers came in and voted and I think it was 93 or something, it was this negliable amount, the difference for him to be put to death. And the death won out of course.”

Okay, first of all, fuck that guy. No “let’s have Jason retire” or “let’s make Jason grow up” or “let’s ship him off to boarding school” or something, just jumping straight to child murder. Coolcoolcoolcoolcool.

But also, here’s what Judd Winick had to say about that idea.

"I think it was a stunning, unbelievable thing. In the time of fears and epidemic, to have had a superhero have it, I was stunned and proud to hear about that. But they were not able to do it. I always forget to ask Denny [O'Neil] about that, about what happened.”

Which, fair. This is what he’d said just before that, when asked, actually, about Mia!

"The way that came about was actually a lot like how I ended up bringing Jason Todd back. [...] ...when it was my turn, I said 'I think she should be Speedy, and I think she should test positive, and one should be about the other'. In the face of a potentially shortened lifespan, it wasn't 'I'm gonna die real soon', it was 'every little bit of it matters, should go towards something'. It was that she could give something, not about when she was gonna die. That was always my point. It made sense."

So Judd Winick knew about the idea of Jason dying of AIDS when he decided Mia would be positive for HIV, and subsequently writing this Red Hood vs Speedy story.

Now a small science interlude because I too am a huge nerd who must know everything.

In the off chance you don’t know, HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), if not treated, can lead to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). They are, as the name suggests, viruses that attack the immune system of the host, weakening it and causing a whole host of problems.

Jason’s demise and the plotting thereof was in the 1980s. This was early in the epidemic, and there were certain perceptions regarding the disease. HIV and AIDS are transmitted through body fluids mostly. If Jason had got it, technically it could have been something as simple as accidentally getting a positive person’s blood on him in a fight. But the most well-documented means of transmission were injections and sexual contact. Now, there’s also the chance that Jason could have gotten it from a bad transfusion. A story also could have been made of him dealing with drugs, which I find less likely--though possible I suppose--considering his mom. Though he could have gotten it from her while caring for her. So many ways it could have gone. But it’s worth noting, it was especially common among not-straight men, hence the increased stigma against gay men. This is also a big and dumb part of why people have to not have had same-sex sexual contact for months prior to donating blood. I hate this fucking country.

Educational rant and theorizing over lol.

TL;DR for that part, Jason could have been given AIDS which is a metatextual parallel to Mia having HIV that was not purely accidental since the writer knew about the idea.

MOVING ON!

Getting to Jason’s point.

Jason has her on the ropes. He has her pinned down and immobile. He has her disarmed and his hands on her throat.

And then he backs away.

He connects with her. They have a common history. He knows first-hand that Bruce could never kill anyone no matter how vile, and Ollie has similar values (if not the same because, well...Ollie has killed people. But y’know.).

In my personal opinion, he sees Mia as potential for how things could have been. Robin is the light to Batman’s dark, but Jason is also the down-to-earth and wordly-aware from a harsh life compared to Bruce’s sheer privilege. Mia has the opportunity to be both for Ollie, and to make the hard choices he can’t.

But Jason doesn’t force her to do anything.

He lets her go.

(with a little explosion for flavor because he’s a dramatic bitch like that)

He just wanted to “teach her a lesson”. This was literally an educational venture. He extremely literally took her to school.

He schooled her oh my god I’m just getting that now holy shit.

Jason Todd, you absolute literary nerd, you are the fucking worst and I hate you and I love you.

This, to my knowledge, is the last we hear about it.

But Mia’s still thinking about it. Jason’s words got to her on some level. She knows he’s right about some things--they are very similar, and yeah, maybe some people deserve to die.

But Jason is so frequently used as a cautionary tale--the Robin that screwed up--that she is not going to become him.

But maybe that was also part his plan.

Don’t be me. Be better.

But I guess that’s just a theory.

A Comic Theory thanks for--

[floraflow]

On This Week’s Episode of Bogwick Kids Are Literally Insane...

Turns out James had the same idea as me, cuz he made me a mixtape too!!! That is pretty stinkin’ cute, you must admit. His mixtape had The Smiths, Fallout Boy (!!!!!), and some David Bowie songs. My favorite David Bowie song he included was “Heroes” cuz it’s just so romantic (teehee) I wonder if he meant it that way... (´ω｀*)  “Cat People” is also awesome and badass! He also put on “The Man Who Sold The World” by Nirvana. It’s crazy to me that I haven’t gotten into David Bowie or Nirvana until now! I was majorly missing out!! I told James I loved his mixtape and I could tell he was really pleased (I think he even blushed!), however I did neglect to mention that I have literally been listening to it on repeat since he gave me it. Just thought withholding that fact may be for the best lolzzz ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) 

Bummed to report that not only do I have Choir with Gen, but I also hav History class with her! That’s a lot of Gen for me in a day, especially cuz she insists on sitting next to me in History, plus I have to sit with her at lunch (well, I mean, I don’t HAVE to, but you kno what i mean).

I spend most of the school day wishing I was in my Bible Study class so I can sit next to James (ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ)♡ It doesn’t help that it’s the last class of the day! The longing whizzes in my brain and opens like a pit in my stomach all the day long. I want to sit with him at lunch too (imagine us sharing earbuds and listening to “Heroes” on his iPod !!!!!! my heart might burst just thinking about it *sigh of yearning*). I would sit with him (especially cuz Gen kind of just talks about herself all lunch period), but girls and boys mixing during free periods is frowned upon SMH.

Speaking of Gen talking about herself, she was really going off on a tirade this week. I guess Gen and Bradley broke up at the New Year’s party and it was a WHOLE THING. Literally everyday during lunch AND history, she spilled the nitty-gritty details of everything that “went down” at Bradley’s New Year’s Eve party. God, that girl’s egotism gives me a headache.

I’ll recount what happened cuz, as stupid as it all is, it does make for some saucy drama:

So kinda early on in the night, Gen caught Bradley flirting with some “freshman nobody” (her words, not mine) in the hottub which led Gen to confront them both on the spot, humiliating the freshman girl who climbed out of the hottub, crying (Gen was proud of this). She said Bradley was pissed and claimed that they were “just talking,” which, admittedly, does sound like BS cuz I’ve never been in a hottub, but their ~sensual~ connotation is a pretty well-known fact, I’d say. Anyway, to get back at Bradley, Gen started flirting with Oliver Goodrich (Bradley’s best friend), sitting on his lap, touching his arms and such. Bradley, of course, witnessed this and started throwing a tantrum like a baby, yelling, throwing things. (Though, I would hardly describe someone of Bradley’s proportions as a BABY--he’s stocky and all muscle! Him throwing a tantrum sounds SCARY! Again, reinforcing my decision NOT to go to parties.) Anyway, all this hullabaloo reached its epic conclusion with Bradley basically challenging Oliver to a duel ??? CRAZY! They played chicken on their snowmobiles and Bradley won. Not sure WHAT exactly he won, cuz Gen still broke up with him in front of everyone. Which led Bradley to pushing Oliver’s snowmobile off the cliff. Of course, Oliver was not pleased about this and the two got into a proper fist fight. ESCANDALO!

Yeah, so Bradley’s been pouting and fuming all week, Oliver and James have been sitting at their own table to avoid him, meanwhile Gen has been talking everyone’s ears off about the downright Shakespearean shenanigans at the party. In fact, Gen KEEPS bringing it up in history class when we’re supposed to be working and the teacher keeps shushing us, as tho I’m the problem somehow? Idk how to let him know I SHARE HIS SENTIMENTS!

Ana was practically giddy hearing me recount all of this. I swear, she treats my Bogwick life like a soap opera *eye roll*. 

How can I blame her, tho? It basically IS（ ￣￣ー￣￣）

Anyway, Christa told me on the low that Gen and Brad will probably get back together within the month, if not the week. These dramatic blow-outs are pretty standard for them, I guess. Soooo... stay tuned, as they say in show biz lol.

[asterizmz]

23 and 43 :-)

 haiiii stella ^__^ thank u for the questions

---

23. Introduce OC that has changed from your first idea concerning what the character would be like?

pretty much all of my main blorbos have changed pretty significantly since i made em actually but i think the biggest and funniest transition out of all of them has to be Zeal. my first idea for her was like this tiny middle of nowhere bounty hunter like DEAD SET on tracking hydra and rainier down (notably for a totally different reason than the royal family wanting to drag hydra back to be queen) just to chew them out for knocking a big monster she was hunting off a cliff as kind of like. a one-arc antagonist that ends up tagging along with them and then getting with hydra.

now she’s way more mellow of a character but i kind of like that better considering that a. the stakes against hydra running away are way higher now and beta-zeal would NOT fit tonally at all and b. public bounty hunting as a job is just... way less exciting now lol. like yes there CAN be big exciting monster hunting quests she gets assigned to go after that she is admittedly scary proficient at dealing with but shes also just the pest control and mobile slaughter lady with cool meat symbolism. yknow.

43. Do you have any certain type when you create your OCs? Do you tend to favour some certain traits or looks? It’s time to confess

REALLY tough one hrmmmmmm.....  i think if i do have a type of character to Write i’m not really aware of it as i’m doing it i just tend to design a character and build their personality from there. i have very much noticed that i tend to always subconsciously want to backpedal into something more lighthearted when writing villains that are objectively horrible people and purposefully tragic characters even when i’m set on it so i guess there’s that. writing silly guys definitely comes easier to me <3

as for Designs... i have two answers. serious answer is that... i think other than skewing a bit towards beefy/muscular ladies with lots of body hair for both personal butch gender reasons and also because Its Hot i experiment with new fun designs and shapes more often than i don’t. i think Rainier, Pixel and not-corpse Collette are the only three that really... fit that bill actually and even then they’re all VERY different designs.

as for the not-serious answer...

i think you’d have to actually kill me to get me to stop putting even just the tiniest happy trails on every character i make ESPECIALLY on hot ladies it’s totally a subconscious thing at this point. this is ALSO falls into gender self-projection territory a little bit but for the most part its because its just objectively sexy as hell lol.

[slasherhaven]

The Slashers helping their S/O get rid of a bug:

Thomas Hewitt

Thomas isn’t bothered by bugs.

He thinks it’s a kind of cute that bugs scare you. They’re harmless, they can’t hurt you, but he gets it...they’re kinda creepy looking.

He’ll handle it for you without even having to be asked.

He’ll pick it up and place it outside.

When he gets your thanks in the form of praise and multiple kisses to the face, he knows that he would definitely do it again. 

Cut to him getting rid of bugs just to make you more comfortable and earn some kisses, even though he doesn’t need to work for those.

Michael Myers

Michael will do one of two things.

Firstly he’ll give you an unapproving look. Really...you’re scared of a bug?

But no worries, he’s to the rescue. He’ll pick it up in his hand, completely unfazed.

If he’s in a playful mood, he’ll walk right up to you, holding his hand out. Under the mask is an amused smirk when you squeal and hurry away from him. 

But he won’t torture you too much, heading outside and just...throwing the bug away. Well, it won’t bother you now.

Jason Voorhees

You better get used to the bugs when you’re living in a cabin in the middle of the woods...

But if you tell Jason that you don’t like bugs, he’ll do what he can to bug proof the cabin.

Jason would never tease you for asking him to deal with a bug that managed to invade the cabin.

He’ll pick it up, walk out side, place it down, and return to you. Simple but effective.

Plus...he’s a fan of all the thanks and praise you give him once he returns.

Brahms Heelshire

Despite living in the walls, Brahms isn’t a fan of bugs either.

Preferably, he wouldn’t be the one getting rid of the creepy-crawlies that appear around the house.

But since you really don’t seem to like them, he’ll handle it! Even he knows that you do more for him than he does for you, so he can deal with the bugs.

...even if reluctantly...

Will just squish it. Doesn’t have the courage to attempt to pick it up and risk it running at him.

Now...come and give your protector a kiss!!!

Bo Sinclair 

Oh...Bo is going to tease you so much about this.

Really? You’re afraid of bugs? And he just chuckles when you blush and pout.

But he gives in, getting rid of the bug in one way or another.

Might threaten to leave the bug be or even bring it towards you, just chuckling and shaking his head when you plead with him to just get rid of it.

When you huff at him, he’ll just kiss your forehead. Still laughing to himself as he walks away.

Vincent Sinclair 

Vincent won’t tease you. While bugs don’t scare him, he doesn’t like them. He kind of gets it.

So, he’ll get rid of them for you without a fuss. 

Just nodding when you thank him. 

He does think it’s kind of cute that something so small can freak you out like that but he doesn’t like seeing you uncomfortable for any reason, so he’ll happily dispose of the bug for you.

Lester Sinclair 

Well, bugs don’t bother Lester at all! So he’ll handle it, don’t you worry!

He’ll scoop it up, likely just using his hands, and carry it outside. Placing it down and telling it to hurry away before returning to you.

Come give your hero a kiss!

Bubba Sawyer 

The house gets its fair share of bugs, one will show up every now and again.

When Bubba sees you distressed, he gets distressed. What?! What is it?!

Oh...a bug?...okay! No worries, he’ll handle it!

It’s a 50/50 chance that he’ll bother to carry it outside or he’ll just squish it. All done! Have no fear, Y/n!

Billy Lenz

Bugs don’t bother him too much. He’s not fond of them but he can deal with them if you really don’t like them.

He’ll kill it for you. Even if you ask him to just take it outside, he’ll still probably just kill it.

And once he’s done, he’s wrapping his arms around you and kissing your cheek. Does he get a kiss as a reward? Maybe a cuddle for protecting you?

Asa Emory (The Collector) 

...you don’t like bugs?

Well...he wishes you had said something sooner.

Seriously though, he doesn’t understand why bugs bother you all that much but he’ll deal with them for you.

He’ll just take them outside or place them out of the window. No big deal.

Might tease you about it just because it’s so trivial to him and he likes getting you flustering or winding you up.

Jesse Cromeans (Chromeskull)

Consider it dead.

Bugs don’t bother him but if they bother you, he’ll handle it. Plus, he doesn’t want any bugs in his home, duh.

He’ll handle it for you without complaint. He might playfully tease you about it.

Of all the things you’ve seen being with him...a single bug bothers you?

You’re adorable.

Otis Driftwood 

Otis just raises an eyebrow at you when you ask him to get rid of a bug for you.

“You’re fucking kidding me, right?”

When you just nod, giving him those puppy dogs eyes, he huffs but gets up to help you out. 

You just watch as he crushes the bug, not caring about letting it outside. There, it’s gone.

He’s not really annoyed but pretends to be since it was such a silly little thing to him, but he can’t keep the act up when you wrap your arms round him and kiss his cheek, thanking him.

Baby Firefly

Admittedly, Baby is a little amused by your reaction to such a little thing.

“You don’t like bugs? Alright, Doll!” 

She thinks bugs are gross too. They just don’t bother her too much. So, she can definitely be the partner in the relationship that gets rid of the bugs.

She’ll get up and squish it before dropping back down to sit beside you. 

See, you have nothing to worry about!

Yautja (Predator) 

That...that’s what’s scaring you?

He doesn’t get it. It’s not dangerous. It’s tiny. It’s no threat. 

Look at him! You’re dating a big scary alien and you’re scared of a little bug? You are fascinating...

But, he is a good mate! So, he will exterminate the little pest for you! He’ll just kill it, won’t bother on moving it outside unless you request it of him.

Then he will, even if he still doesn’t understand that.

[yoyosandoreos]

Giovanna's still cheeks softly blushed at the mention of her almost knocking Bridget into a river after her defeat, briefly swerving her eyes away from her and tightening her grip on her dainty hand before she let out a long sigh and gave the bounty hunter a single floppy shake of their arms. Giovanna then pulled her arm toward herself and leaned onto the railing alongside Bridget, her breasts hanging over it as she looked at her with an arm on her palm.

"So that was you, huh? Then I'm also sorry for almost knocking you into a river. Maybe it was one of those fights where I wasn't keeping the strength of my legs in check."

Giovanna let out another sigh and turned her eyes away from Bridget once again, this time with her cheeks flaring up into a brighter shade of red as she let out a quiet, irritated groan. Her fingers sequentially tapped her cheek in a wave as her other arm swung up to her shoulder to massage it, ruffling its unkempt cloth before she finally looked at the other's face.

"Uh... Do you try to be as cute as you are? I didn't get the time to focus on it when we fought last week but... It's getting kind of distracting now."

She flinched a bit when the grip had tightened, thinking she'd said something wrong. When the retaliation didn't come, she let out a heavy sigh of relief and turned to lean back over the railing.

"Well, I guess i can't fault you. Most of the people coming through here like us do like to take their fighting seriously. Its almost scary how dedicated some of them really are."

At the other remark, she couldn't hide her cheeks flushing a deep red. She twirled a bit of her hair in her fingers and went silent for a bit, trying to find the right words to say in this situation.

"W-well...u-uhm...I guess now I do try a little...! I...well, I used to be a boy, but some things happened and I ended up wearing girl clothes a lot. Now, well...I've kinda just, had a revelation I guess...and so I'm putting more effort into it. Though, the chubby part I didn't plan on, admittedly...eheh..."

[didnt-want-to-be-a-halfblood]

Kitten Me This

Heyyyy, so I know some people that have weak wifi connection and can’t access Ao3 so I decided to post my fic here, too.

Summary: "No, no, you don't understand. Lou..." Will took a deep breath, petting the cat gingerly as if afraid it would suddenly shatter in his hands. "This is Nico."

"Nico... di Angelo? Your boyfriend, Nico? Son of Hades? That Nico?"

"Yes! That Nico! He's been turned into a cat!"

***

"Lou! LOUUU!" Shouted Will as he practically broke down the door to the Hecate cabin.

"What??" Lou Ellen opened the door, irritation evident on her face. Her dark hair was rumpled, and her winged eyeliner was slightly smudged on one side as if she'd just woken up from a mid-afternoon nap. "You do realize that this cabin is built with magical stones? If you dislodged one with all your yelling and banging-"

"Yes, I could explode or turn into a tree- That's not important!" He moved past her and collapsed dramatically onto the nearest bed. "This is an emergency! Look!" He lifted up a small bundle of black fur.

"What's that?" Lou Ellen stepped closer to examine the bundle. The fur twitched and two brown eyes looked back at her. "A kitten? Did you bother me during meditation-"

"You weren't meditating, you were sleeping-"

"-To try and get me to take care of this scruffy thing? Will, my cabin is too dangerous to house an animal like this. It'd be getting into potions, ruining spells, and my younger siblings will try and do transformation experiments on it. Leave it here and it'll be a piglet by tomorrow."

"No, no, you don't understand. Lou..." Will took a deep breath, petting the cat gingerly as if afraid it would suddenly shatter in his hands. "This is Nico."

"Nico... di Angelo? Your boyfriend, Nico? Son of Hades? That Nico?"

"Yes! That Nico! He's been turned into a cat!" Will set the kitten on the bed, and the little guy stretched before laying down, curling up into a perfect little fuzzy black circle. It was admittedly a super cute cat.

"Are you sure that's Nico?" Lou Ellen hesitantly reached out to pet the kitten. Immediately, the cat perked its head up and hissed at her. It wasn't particularly scary, but she got the message: No touching.

"It's okay, Nico." Will cooed. "This is Lou Ellen? Remember her? She's our friend." He gently ran his fingers through its fur and cat-Nico began to purr softly.

"Okay, maybe he is Nico." She admitted. "What happened, exactly?"

Will shrugged, "We were sitting by the campfire, just talking! And I was like 'Oh, by the way I was thinking instead of going to normal lunch today maybe we could go someplace special to celebrate our anniversary.' And I searched through my bag to find my coupons for 'Benedetta's Pasta' which is this Italian pasta place in New York, and okay yeah it's not the fanciest pasta place in the world, but they do have a guy who knows how to play Taylor Swift songs on accordion and-"

"William. Focus." Lou Ellen snapped her fingers. "The longer this takes the harder it could be to transform him back."

"RIght! Uh, and when I looked up Nico was gone! And this little guy was sitting on the log, just staring at me!"

"You didn't see anything else?"

"No, I was looking for coupons."

"No magic sparks or incantations or flashes of light?"

"No, I was busy looking for coupons!!"

"Will, there's only so much I can do if I don't know how he turned into a cat. He needs the same kind of magic used to transform him into this to transform him back."

"Oh gods." Will put his head in his hands. "You're the most powerful, talented sorcerer we have at camp. If you can't do it then it's hopeless." Will sniffed as if beginning to cry.

Lou Ellen sighed. "You really think I'm the most powerful?"

"And smart, too." Will pouted up at her, hitting her with puppy-dog eyes. "If anyone can figure out how to save Nico, it's you."

"Ugh, fine. Alright. Let's talk to the satyrs and nymphs. They can talk to animals. Maybe Nico himself can tell us what happened."

So, the daughter of Hecate and the son of Apollo walked through the forest until they wound up by the riverbank. All things considered, it was a beautiful day. Hopefully the day was perfect enough that all the nymphs would be in a good mood and willing to help. Will stepped forward and cleared his throat.

"Hi! Hello! Um, I was wondering if someone could help us? We're trying to communicate with this cat." Will lifted the black kitten above his head like baby Simba in the Lion King movie.

No response.

"Please?" Will tried again. "He's actually my boyfriend and I'd really like him to not be a cat anymore by the end of the day, y'know? Isn't there anyone here who knows what it's like to be in love? To have that love taken away from you?"

No response. No movement. The trees and bushes and plant life didn't say a word.

Lou Ellen put a comforting hand on his shoulder and smiled sweetly. "Why don't you let me try?"

"Sure."

"Hey!" Lou Ellen shouted harshly. "Listen up! This here is a child of Apollo! If someone doesn't give us five minutes of their time then he's going to start reciting some of his dad's greatest poems of the 20th century! And Apollo wrote a lot of haikus in the 80s." It was definitely spoken as a threat.

The trees and bushes began to rustle as if talking with one another. Will nodded to Lou Ellen in approval. They waited for about two minutes before she spoke again.

"Okay, Will! That's it! From the top, the poetry reading begins now! Don't say I didn't warn you all-"

"Wait!" Juniper hastily walked toward them. "I'm here! It's okay, everyone. I'm here now!"

"Hey, Juniper!" Will smiled, happy to see a friendly face. "What's up?"

"Will." She smiled back. "I was just out talking to Rosemary. She needed relationship advice." Then her voice dropped to a whisper. "A lot of shrubs are envious of my stable relationship with Grover. They find most satyrs to be... unreliable in showing consistent affection. Grover and I? We're the satyr-nymph power couple. I'm kind of like the local marriage counselor nowadays."

"And I'm sure you're wonderful at it." Will said sincerely. "Can you talk to cats?"

"Hmm, well, my feline might be a little rusty. We mostly get squirrels and birds out here, but I'll see what I can do!"

"That's all I ask." Will leaned down and carefully set cat-Nico on the ground. The kitten curiously sniffed at the grass.

"Cute little guy." Juniper grinned. "Tell me little one, what's your name? How did you come to be like this?" The cat gave a little meow-squeak in response. "I see..."

"What?" Will looked back and forth between Juniper and his feline boyfriend. "Does he not remember who he is?"

"They go by the title 'The Ruler of All Darkness.' Claims to have come to the mortal realm to 'incite fear into my enemies.'"

"Nico is always so dramatic..."

"You're one to talk." Lou Ellen rolled her eyes.

"Juniper, can you ask him if he remembers me?"

Juniper asked.

"'Yes, the one who smells of sunshine. Indeed, he is tolerable.' And... something about being worried you're going to abandon it?"

"What, just because he's a cat now? Nico, I would never!" Will leaned down and let the kitten nuzzle his hand. "Neeks, we're going to change you back. And- and if for some reason we can't, that's... that's okay. Alright? You'll stay with me, you'll be the most pampered and taken care of cat in the whole world. You..." Will got choked up at this point. "So what if the love of my life is a cat now? So what if... if... We can't do any of the things we planned to do together? So what if at the most you'll only live to be another twenty years?" Will started actively sobbing. "I won't abandon you. Ever. I'm sorry, Neeks. I should've payed attention. I should've stopped this from happening. I should've-"

"It's okay, WIll." Lou Ellen hugged him. "Shh, it's okay. Maybe we still don't know how to change him back yet, but we will. I promise."

Will leaned into her and cried. "This is all my fault."

Juniper joined in on the hug. "I can ask around and see if any of the nymphs saw what happened. We have eyes and ears everywhere, surely someone saw something..."

And who knows how long Will would've kept crying when suddenly they all froze at the sound of a familiar voice.

"There you are!" Nico's voice rang out from behind them. "Will, I've been looking everywhere for you!"

They turned slowly to face a very human, very not-a-cat Nico di Angelo. He was dressed in a nicely tailored suit and his hair had been neatly brushed. He was holding a bouquet of flowers, but they were beginning to wilt as Nico's anxiousness caused them to decay.

"Why... why is everyone crying?" Nico awkwardly tugged on his suit. "Why are you guys looking at me like that?"

"Nico! You're- you're human!" Will stood up, glancing down at the kitten.

"How nice of you to notice." Nico said sarcastically, raising an eyebrow.

"No, I mean..." Will frantically looked to Juniper. "But he said 'Ruler of All Darkness.'"

"Hmm... To be fair, most cats talk that way."

"She said." Lou Ellen corrected, examining the cat, much to the kitten's displeasure.

"What?" Will asked.

"She. This cat is female. Animal transformations can sometimes change the sex of the person in question, but not usually. That's, like, basic shapeshifting 101."

"I..."

"Can someone explain to me what's going on?" Nico crossed his arms. "Will, I thought you wanted to go out for lunch? We're going to be late."

"Uhh." Will took the cat from Lou Ellen. "I got us this cat for our anniversary!" The black kitten stared at Nico and gave a pitiful meow.

"You what?" Nico sighed. "I tell you 'Hey, babe, give me five minutes and I'll shadow-travel to Italy to find us a real Italian restaurant for lunch.' And I come back to find this?"

"Ohh, is that what you said? I didn't hear you exactly because I was... busy looking for coupons." Will sheepishly avoided eye-contact with Lou Ellen. Still, he could feel her death glare.

"Will, I love you, but you are not using coupons at a restaurant for our anniversary. I'm rich. Just let me pay." Nico walked up to Will and traded him the flowers for the kitten. "Where did you even find this thing?"

"Uhh..."

The kitten reached out a paw and booped Nico on the nose. It gave another soft meow.

"Oh,' Juniper giggled. "She said, 'You smell like death. Perhaps we shall form an alliance, bathe in the blood of our enemies. Together, we can destroy them all.'"

"You got us a homicidal kitten?" Nico laughed. Gods Will loves it when Nico laughs.

"Only the best for you, babe." Will casually winked, ignoring his eyes were slightly swollen from crying.

Lou Ellen huffed. "I'm going back to bed. Will, you useless homosexual, you owe me." She marched away. Juniper politely nodded to Will and Nico before following suit. She probably had more couples counseling to do.

"C'mon, Solace. Let's get you dressed. We can go shopping for our newest little family member after lunch." Nico cooed at the kitten and she snuggled up against him. "Or maybe we can sneak her into the restaurant. Would you like that, piccolina?" Nico proceeded to call her a series of cutesy names that Will didn't understand.

"Nico?"

"Hmm?"

"I love you."

"Interesting. You know what, Will?"

"What?"

"I love you, too." Nico gave him a peck on the cheek. "C'mon, let's go..." They walked together in silence for a moment. "So, you thought I turned into a cat, huh?"

"Okay, in my defense, weirder things have happened!! It was a perfectly reasonable conclusion to come to, alright!! You absolutely would've done the same thing-"

"Ha! Yeah, right-"

"You totally would have! Look, I'm just saying-"

The End.

[wickedpact]

You can't just drop that "I read Forces Multiplied" bomb on us and not give a ten page written reaction.

[cracks knuckles] if u insist

nicky cant drive hc: destroyed. rip. also i loved how andy and nile stole those sports cars and were being badass and driving off the bridge & meanwhile joe and nicky were just absolutely vibing in the van

'heres the thing about power: people who have it think they deserve it' [shot of police car] i see u greg

5 whole panels being dedicated to booker not being able to unlock his door. booker not even seeing noriko sitting RIGHT THERE in the window at first. incredible

noriko being 24/7 horny was surprising. like wow all of the stuff i saw she did out of context was 100% equally horny in context as it was out of context. love that for her

i didnt think the 'andy + slavery' thing was handled as badly as everyone made it out to be when telling me about it. tho from the way it was talked about i had kind of figured the conflict between andy and nile re: slavery would be really racially charged (esp considering nile is a black american and would obvs have Thoughts on the subject in that regard) but like,, done in a cringey 'a-white-guy-obviously-wrote-it' kind of way? but it wasnt that. i mean. it makes sense that andy would be implicit in slavery through the years

i mean, like she says, is that not what people just did to each other in the aftermath of battles for thousands of years? and i really like how its pointed out that it was what she was raised with (in the beginning when you see her put shackles on that guy after the battle) but she also accepts responsibility for it and acknowledges that it was wrong and not just 'what people did'.

i like how from her expressions you can kind of tell baby andy knew it was off but she sets those feelings aside bc she felt angry. it explains how she felt but didnt make her out to be blameless in it. plus i mean. i dont know, the fact that andy was involved in a lot of morally shady stuff for 7000 years is not that wild for me. if you live that long youre just Going to be involved in some shit, and she didnt even have other immortals with her as positive community influences, she literally just did whatever the fuck she wanted for thousands of years

'i was worshipped as a god once' i mean, yeah no shit she wouldve been involved in some seriously fucked up stuff, gods were fucking scary back in the day

tldr it could use some polish but it wasnt that bad

tho everything people said about moose being boring was unfortunately a little true. sorry king i tried to be interested in you

joe and nicky writing verbal fanfiction about nile and moose was iconic. 'you seeing that?' 'i am definitely seeing that'

it was also extremely funny bc that was like 60% of their contribution to the whole comic, besides kidnapping copley. they came, they wrote some fanfic, they left. kings. at least in tog1 they had an excuse to be useless bc they got kidnapped

joe just found out his old friend who he thought was dead is alive (and also probably wants to murder them) and instead of investigating with andy he stopped to help nile up. champ.

nicky shooting noriko through andy was cool. rip to the concept since it wont happen in tog2

wanna see mr ejiofor deliver this line

on that note imo copley was. weirdly enough, more interesting in fm than in tog1. to me at least. the fact that andy let him live and he was so haunted by what had happened that he came back and sought them out despite knowing they would likely kill him for it bc he wanted to not only make up for what hed done but also to tell them what theyd done for the world was admittedly more interesting than andy just kind of drafting him to the cause and him going 'okie'

i like how nicky was drawn in this one. in opening fire he looks like a blob man but in fm he looks more like a very nice grampa with a very good dye job

'theres no pain like a broken heart' andy 🥺

noriko implying andy's never drowned. .. .idk about that one, she musta drowned sometime

joe and nicky came, they waxed poetic about nile's love life, they waxed poetic about grog, and then they left.

sports bras being a reason humanity is good. i mean..... okay, yeah.

i mean. wild but you cant exactly tell her shes wrong

i liked how noriko telling andy that their purpose is to make people suffer coincides with joe and nicky finding out that they actually did good all those years

joenicky in opening fire: jail for booker jail for booker for 100 years

joenicky when copley tells them he knows where booker is: WE'LL KILL YOU WHERE IS HE

joenicky when copley comes back: if your vibes come off as even remotely rancid we Will destroy you

joenicky 2 minutes later when copley helped them find booker: he made up some ground :)))) <3 lov you j cops

theyre forgiving af

moose: how old are you?? a hundred??? a thousand???

nile [vine voice]: I M 2 7 ?

alright andy you got me there

joe texts like my aunt

i dont know why noriko drowning andy in that car tickled me. Bad And Naughty Andromaches Get Put In The Pear Wiggler To Atone For Their Crimes.

the drowning sequence was cool

copley trying to talk to andy while she was like o_o at him was great

ive hit the picture limit but id seen that panel where nicky goes 'forgive me' as he kills a guy out of context and it was HILARIOUSLY anticlimactic for me to discover that there was literally no context to it. nicky just apologizes to random people he kills. i thought that guy was someone he knew or something. nope its just Some Guy that nicky didnt know from adam

nile's complaint that andy was especially brutal to the guys on the boat... i mean. . , how exactly does one kill a man with an axe and not be brutal about it?

it was funny how noriko kissed andy and the only people who seemed surprised by that were nile and also andy

nicky and joe's complete non-reaction to finding out noriko is alive And Evil Now is endlesly funny. they just left her on that boat and neither cared. i get book and nile not caring but joe and nicky knew her, and they just have 0 input on the subject of what to do with her

pinstripe suit guy!

joe and nicky and booker packing up and leaving with nile

andy blowing up at nile was A Moment tho

i dont know, i get why people didnt like the ending but its. .. . it makes more sense in the comicverse. bc the squad doesnt really. .. interact outside of jobs? i mean, think of the moon landing story in ttt. that was booker and joe and nicky doing a job and andy only showed up a for a couple minutes after it was done. or the brunch in the first issue of opening fire. the squad arent as tight in the comic, and andy often seems to do her own thing outside of work, so andy saying 'i dont want to do work anymore' and the squad being like 'alright bye then' makes more sense in this universe than the movie one

also i feel like greg was Trying to set up a thing where nile becomes the Leader of The Squad after andy dies but like. its not very well done since. . . i mean, nile hasnt spoken to booker since opening fire, (and she only knew him A Day). and shes known joe and nicky all that time, but there isnt really anything that indicates that they have any relationship at all, much less one that's grown. in all the comicverse the only time nile and nicky speak is in FM, and in that scene nicky tells nile about noriko. nile goes from someone who needs to be set aside to have background knowledge explained to her to being the Leader of the group with nothing in between. it kind of... comes out of nowhere.

on the other hand tho... i felt really bad for andy thru the whole thing. well, i always felt bad for andy, but in this one she seemed so miserable, especially since it really felt like none of the others actually.... cared about her. when noriko came back no one asked andy how she was doing (big question ik, but it wouldve showed they cared at least), nobody ever expressed any concern for her, no one even really seemed to want to be around her. in opening fire everyone was more distant than in the movie of course, but there were little moments where she would joke with joe, or nicky would try and comfort her, or stuff like that, but in FM it really felt like they just didnt really care about her. & in opening fire it felt a lot like andy's relationship with nile breathed some new life into her, but in FM it felt like all they did was argue. i get theyre not *as* close in the comics but it really felt like the only person who cared about andy at all was noriko (which was probably also how andy felt) but it just seemed to come out of nowhere. honestly i was reading and i was honestly agreeing with andy that she might just be better off if she did just die. opening fire, on the other hand, never make me feel that way

tho everyone made it sound like when the squad split up it was one of those cursed 'the found family leaves each other at the end of the journey' tropes. but guys i mean,,, this is the second installment out of three. that isnt the End. theyll come back in the third one and Dramatically Reunite to fight some baddies (probably those 'others' noriko mentioned). im guessing yitzhak fits into that too somehow.

anyways it wasnt That Bad but it made me kind of sad and the only Sweet Found Family vibes in it were when they saved booker. also they shouldve beefed up that nilemoose romance, it underwhelmed me. 6.5/10

i also ABSOLUTELY understand all of greg's comments about how you couldnt make FM directly into a movie, he always said that it had no plot and. i get it now. it really didnt have a plot sdfghjkl

[blake-belladonna-defence-force]

Since its national coming out day, I thought that I’d share my journey to where I am now in terms of my orientations.

To start with... I spent a long time thinking that I was alone. I didn’t experience crushes on boys (hell, if you made the suggestion that I did, I’d start crying!) and I didn’t experience crushes on girls (though I freaked out less about being teased about girls. I was way more chill about that.) and I remember feeling very confused and alone, even pretending to like boys in my class and one time, I pretended to have a crush on my best girl friend.

To be fair... it wasn’t entirely a lie because I had the BIGGEST squish on her.

People constantly made up an imaginary boyfriend for me and teased me about it to the point that, as a young child, I would start crying and sobbing because it made me THAT uncomfortable and distressed. It got to the point where my parents had to ban people from making those kinds of jokes because they didn’t like seeing their child so distraught.

Funnily enough... the one time my sister made an imaginary girlfriend for me, I just shrugged it off. The idea of having a girlfriend didn’t distress me, I was just... not interested in it. Guess we should have known just by that that I wasn’t straight.

Cut to years later in high school and everyone is talking about dating and sex and I’m just sitting there like “... um... I like dragons and chocolate?” while they were making plans to seduce their partners or talking about how hot someone was.

Honestly, I remember saying that a girl in our year was absolutely gorgeous. That she was hot. Almost immediately, my group (full of straight people, mind you) turned to me and started asking me if I was gay and making jokes about it. I tried to explain to them that I didn’t want to date her or do anything else with her other than be friends but I didn’t have the tools to explain that I was only aesthetically and platonically attracted to her. Honestly, I don’t think they would have believed me if I did. In the end, I just let it drop and so did they but I never felt comfortable voicing what minimal attraction to women I do experience because they just wouldn’t get it.

Plus... it’s kind of not the best thing to do to question somebody’s sexuality like that in a public setting. You might just be accidentally outing them before they’re ready.

A year or so later, this group’s talking about crushes and they turn to me expectantly and at this point, I’m tired. I’m tired of pretending to know what a crush. I’m tired of pretending to be something I’m not so I tell that I’ve never had a crush. That I don’t even really know what a crush is.

*heavy sigh* y’all, let me tell you the looks they gave me hurt like a mother fucker. “That’s weird.” They said, as they looked at me like I was an alien. “Do you have hormone problem?” They asked before scoffing at me, as though I were a naive child, and turning back to each other...

Turning back to their “normal friends” instead of the weirdo incapable of attraction.

As a 16-17 year old, who had spent their whole life struggling to connect to their peers, that hurt. I wasn’t one of them. I was other and I was weird. So... I never talked about it again. I didnt talk about my experiences and I fell into silence and listened to them talking about a world I didn’t understand.

And honestly? I didn’t want to! I was okay with not having crushes. I didn’t want them and I sure as fuck wasn’t going to try to date just because everyone else did.

But... that doesn’t change the fact that because of their reactions, I felt alone. Like my experiences didn’t matter. Like I was broken or a freak of nature.

So... a year later comes and I’m like 17-18 years old and scrolling through tumblr. I pause when I see a post called “How to know if you’re Asexual and/or Aromantic.”

Heh.

That was the day that it started to fall into the place. That was the day I discovered that I’m not alone or broken or a freak. I discovered that I was okay!

I read the post and rush to my feet. My parents are watching tv in their room and suddenly, their child storms in like a herd of elephants after her, rambling at 20 mp/h about how she found her people.

That’s not a joke. I literally burst into their room yelling “MOTHER! FATHER! I HAVE FOUND MY PEOPLE!” and came out to them straight away because I was just so excited and happy.

I had to explain it to them. That I’m not straight. That I’m queer. What being acearo means.

They were confused but happy to see that I was happy. It took them some time to get it but they understand a little better now.

I came out to my (admittedly cishet) sisters a year later. My oldest sister got my coming out in a “Ah, shit. Even my car’s straighter than me!” and my middle sister got my coming out when I looked her dead in eyes after she was asking me about cute boys and I said “I’m too queer for your heteronormative bullshit, Barb.”

I still don’t know how to explain that I do experience platonic, queer platonic and aesthetic attraction to women. That I’m sapphic orientated. It’s hard to explain the split attraction module to people that don’t use it or have never heard of it so I don’t know how it’ll go.

I still haven’t fully come out as nonbinary/demigirl. They all think I’m just a butch, masculine queer woman. I don’t know if I ever will and that’s okay too.

And it’s worth mentioning that I’ve met people who respect my identity. Who let me talk about my experiences and the attraction I do feel without making me feel like I’m broken or a liar. They’re my comfy crew and honestly... I’d gladly fight anyone for these people 💛

Coming out is scary and I was fortunate enough to be born into a very supportive family that accepts my queerness. But there are so many people that have very different circumstances so let me say this;

You deserve love. You deserve support and acceptance. You deserve to feel safe and comfortable. You are so fucking worthy of all of these things and so much more, no matter what anyone says. It’s hard and scary but it does get better.

Stay safe 💛

[sylph-feather]

Summary: Danny had known the rules— that being beaten would lead to transfer of the crown, instructed to him by their ominous guardians— but he hadn’t exactly considered all the implications of that.

For: @ghost-strawberry

Prompt: (Danny is ghost king hc) Danny loses a fight with Sam and the title of ghost king is transferred to her, despite Sam not being a ghost.

Words: 3,344

“Haha!” Sam barked triumphantly, standing over her defeated enemy in a display of dominance while stomping a scary combat boot, “I won.” 

Danny let out nothing but a low keening sound, slumping on the Nasty Burger table and leaving his arm in its defeated position. 

“Darn,” Tucker chimed in, “I thought that with all the ghost fighting and workouts you’ve been doing, Sam finally would stop being the reigning arm wrestling champ.” He paused, melodramatically draping a hand over his forehead and intoning, “alas.” 

Danny only repeated the same mournful noise, all the sentiment of my arm is going to bruise and Sam will never let this go packed into a drawn out moan. 

Before Danny could construct his complaints into something that took the form of language, there was a great burst of green fire that ensconced their cheap, plastic table. In the time it took to flinch, the ghostly flames had already washed over the group— and… done… nothing? 

No, that wasn’t right— it hadn’t hurt them, to be more accurate. Their table, and the tile around it, looked like someone had carved a circle into the floor, taken everything within that circle (read: the trio, several overly greasy foodstuffs, and three shakes) and dropped it right into the Ghost Zone, if the swirling green abyss was anything to go by. 

(Back in the human realm, the patrons of the Nasty Burger were left with their own overly greasy foodstuffs visible in their mouths held ajar as they stared at the smoldering circle that once held three teens and cheap fast food chain restaurant seating— horribly cheap plastic booths on a table that maybe had the suggestion of meeting bare-minimum sanitary requirements. A lone green flame died out, and acrid smoke wafted away. Same shit every day, a tired cashier thought). 

Before them: the Coroners. Dark-colored ghosts with a litany of dark colors with glowing green antlers that twisted into the suggestion of the shape of a crown, and gnarled hands that all had the same mark of a skull on each knuckle. Between the name and the appearance, they were very ominous, to say the least. 

Danny recognized them from the last time he met them: his own coronation. 

Sam and Tucker, who were not there for that ritual because it occured after the fight with Pariah, were just as confused and scared as Danny was the first time. “It’s ok!” he yelped at his friends who were readying their on-hand Fenton weaponry. “I know them. They’re the Coroners.”

Sam shot him a look that said that is anything but encouraging, and Danny winced. 

“They… do… the coron-ing,” Danny said slowly, because he didn’t know how else to phrase it. “Like, the monarchy ruler stuff.” 

“Down with the monarchy,” Sam intoned almost instinctively, but still pocketed the lipstick laser once again, settling down and taking a more casual sip of her strawberry shake. 

Tucker, meanwhile, just kept his shaky hands locked around the box of fries, determinedly not looking at the wraith-like creatures that had deer skulls sticking out of dark garb. 

Sam paused in her slurping, considering the Coroner’s job in her mind more thoroughly. “I guess it makes sense, ‘cuz the Ghost Zone doesn’t have a pope to do it,” she admitted. 

Tucker relaxed, and snorted. “Ghost pope.” The idea (mixed with the special breed of hysterical comedy that comes with  stress) elicited great humor. 

Fear abandoned, now they just looked confused. Danny was too— because, “why are you here?” He frowned down at himself. “Are you, uh, rebelling? Or do you have an important message? Or…?”

That was one-third of the Coroner’s jobs: rebellion. Or, more accurately, inciting rebellion. To understand, one must understand two-thirds of their job: the second third was that someone had to pass down the Ring of Rage and Crown of Fire. After the defeat of Parkah, the ancient ghosts were very grateful that Danny had taken it from Pariah Dark after his reign of tyranny, given that he had destroyed them… because of the first third of their job. See, the Coroners were also supposed to act as some representative electoral body of ghost-kind in deciding who passed a somewhat okay-ish ruler, and if that didn’t work out, they usually incited rebellion against said tyrant, or inevitably did so when a once kind ruler became glutted with greed and violence. 

So Pariah trapped them, which (admittedly) was a rather sensible plan, and (also admittedly) a major design flaw in the ring and the crown. After all, given the requirement for the initial rights to ring and crown were to battle and defeat its previous user to gain access (it could be peacefully passed, but that option had never happened), and really, nothing of the Coroner’s judgement would make an impact outside of someone saying no— that is to say, the ring and crown wouldn’t just poof. Thus, it seemed reasonable to assume that the battler would continue, well, battling for that power. 

The last third of their job is significantly less exciting— as Danny put it: messaging. It simply was to act as ghostly servants; knights, mailmen, whatever the King and the ghosts that needed the King may require. Danny largely told them to use their own discretion in solving conflicts, because he was just one teen barely keeping his grades above Cs, and then left them to it. 

So yes, Danny was kind of worried that somehow, such a dramatic summons would be some kind of ominous warning on the way he was being a king— which, to be fair, he was barely being a king at all— due to the aforementioned second-third of their job.

The largest one with the most elaborately twisted antlers pointed a long, bony finger at Sam. Its voice, which sounded both grand and incredibly spooky, boomed thusly: “this human has bested you in battle. Thusly, according to the sacred laws of the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire, she shall be bequeathed the title of ghostly monarch. Ye, Danny Phantom, halfa, who have bested Pariah Dark, have lost to Sam Manson, human, and cede your title as ruler.” 

In a circle, the thirteen wraiths whispered, “and the cycle continues.” It was murmured slightly out of sync, but it gave less of an impression of untidiness or lack of professionalism, and more of an ominous feeling, like there were many more voices than just thirteen. 

Danny was slightly less freaked out than Sam and Tucker by it, given they had said a similar thing when he was coronated, but with far less spooky fanfare, and more normal, excited fanfare. Mostly, Danng was spooked more by the suddenness of the thing, and the prospect of it. 

In the hands of the largest one that was clearly the leader, the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire appeared in a dramatic swooshing of green flame. 

Danny’s eyes widened. “She.” He paused, because he couldn’t really argue with that. It was— technically, sort of— a battle. And in the Ghost Zone, might made right and all that. Still. 

Sam and Tucker stared, jaws agape. Between all the new info and now this revelation, their brains essentially bluescreened. 

Danny, even though he was previously initiated, wasn’t in a much better state— all he managed to get out aloud was an incredulous, “it was arm wrestling?”  

One of the smaller wraiths, its crown of horns barely nubs, drifted forwards to their Nasty Burger island that was adrift in the Ghost Zone, and asked in its voice of crackling dead leaves, “is this the manner in which you were beaten?” 

Sam, herself, recovered from the mental “404” page, and her first reaction was to release a huge guffaw of laughter. 

Danny slid forwards onto the table, thoroughly spent between embarrassment and confusion. All he articulated was a very, very long groan. 

“May we, uh,” Danny said slowly, turning towards the head wraith and looking at the glowing points set in the skull’s sockets, “have a moment to discuss?” 

Tucker made a vague noise between worry and agreement. 

“So long as the queen wishes,” it bowed to her, deeply reverent. 

“Wait,” Sam ordered, smile growing on her face. “If I were queen,” she said slowly, “would I be able to get rid of this monarchy?” 

“Tis not a monarchy, my lady,” one of the thirteen said, antler crown bobbing. 

The whole table of teens processed this for a moment. 

Tucker burst into incredulity first: “you literally called her a monarch just a few seconds ago!” 

“A title, nothing more,” a Coroner corrected. “Nay, you do not hold much sway over them, rather, it is they who hold sway over you, sending message to help resolve conflicts, be they fullscale fights or quarrels.” 

Danny groaned, suppressed memories bubbling up: the many times the Coroners had come to him with arguments regarding ghost territories, many attempting to use Danny as a weapon or a diplomat or bodyguard or— so on. 

Thus far, a handful of months into his kinghood, Danny had stopped one “fullscale fight” that bordered on a war. (...This was also related to territory, however). 

Either way, that was a long way to say: the statement that it was just a title held up. The ring and crown didn’t actually really get him any political leeway with the ghosts— it was more of an… intimidation tactic that some ghosts fled from, because the ring and the crown were no more than power boosters. 

Asides from that, all he got were updates on all the troubles in the Zone that supposedly needed him (most of which actually didn’t). The Ghost Zone was a lawless place, so a title of king was not worth much outside of sheer power display. 

For the most part, the things had just served to place a target on his back, specifically, because any lost battle would mean they were his no more, and that the power would be passed to the victor. 

Sam, seemingly on the same line of thought as he, hummed, “would ghosts know I was the… Ghost Queen?” At declaring herself monarch (even if it was apparently in name only), her face did a bit of an involuntary, complicated twisting motion. 

Danny picked himself up from his pathetic slump, and aimed an intrigued-but-confused look at Sam. 

Tucker caught on a bit faster— “so if the ghosts think Danny’s still the king, they fight him— but there’s no risk involved in him losing.” 

Sam nodded, smiling a little sappily. 

Danny just made a mushy “aw,” sound, seeming to consider it. 

It was hard to read the expressions of the ghosts that surrounded the trio’s private, floating chunk of the Nasty Burger establishment, because said ghosts wore skulls… but they seemed baffled, though reluctantly accepting. It was all in the tilt of their heads and the pause of their voice as they said, “great Queen, whatever thou shall ask of us.” 

Sam nodded again, then paused. Her face cracked into an eager grin— a dangerous grin. “Do I get cool powers from this?” 

After receiving the crown, Danny had gotten a boost in his own powers; nothing new, just everything that was there was doubled. Double the size, the intensity, the spookiness, the everything. Needless to say, being goth and being active in fights as she was, Sam was excited for ghost powers. She was momentarily lost in visions of a sweeping gothic outfit, one of pure black with smokey edges, decked out in spikes, etcetera— in other words, “edgy.” 

Tuck, meanwhile, had a far more practical askance: “hold on. She’s a human, right?” 

Of course, it wouldn’t be the first instance of humans vaguely receiving or being influenced by ghost powers in some way; Undergrowth had done it, there had been that time with ghost mosquitos, and the one with that Egyptian staff, and the whole incident with the dragon-rage amulet… not to mention the halfas themselves, obviously. Still, it was not all that hope-inspiring to consider that all of them save for the halfas were essentially some degree of possession (or, at the least, something infectious and negative). 

Aloud, Tucker continued to contemplate. “It’s not exactly reassuring to call them ghost powers, with uh, death. Involved.” It was a choppy sentence, but it got the point across; Danny was a special case, but even a half death wasn’t exactly desirable. 

The glowing eyes of the coroners seemed to wink in amusement, insomuch as points of light could display emotion. “Ghost powers , says the queen.” 

“Ghost powers,” the others echo— not ominous this time, because they are chortling, seeming to be one step away from elbowing one another. 

Sam flushes a bit. “What’s so funny about that?” she grunts, offended. 

The coroners all bow deeply. “We meant no offense,” speaks one from the crowd, and it is followed by a wave of nodding before any of the trio can tell which one was even talking. “We simply find hilarity on your naivete.” 

“Elaborate,” she ordered with extremely thin patience.

“We were hasty in calling you the monarch yet,” the largest explained in its ancient, crackling voice, slow and thoughtful— annoyingly so. 

Sam pinches her nose, understanding with perfect clarity why Danny had complained dealing with these pretentious, cryptic weirdos. “Elaborate,” she commanded once again. 

“You are not the monarch yet, because you have not died,” it informed with great solemnity. 

The Nasty Burger chunk floated in stunned silence as the trio absorbed that. 

“Die?!” Tucker yelled, banging the table, upsetting both the fries and the silence. 

“You have a fascinating and naive way of phrasing it, but perhaps ghost powers is not so far from the truth,” one of the antlered creatures mused, not really addressing the obvious tension or concern. “For indeed, the ring and the crown do power the spiritual energy—“ 

“They’re just ghost batteries!” Danny interrupted, baffled and surprised. 

Sam herself then interrupted the interruption with a scoff, creating a horrible stack of domino-ing interruptions. “All this pizazz over just a power source that I can’t even use?” 

“You are incapable of using it as you are now,” a coroner pointed out. Something in all their eyes glinted ominously, and their antlers seemed to shine with ethereal light. “You are disconnected while living,” one said. As a group, they began encircling the private bit of Nasty Burger, wraith-like cloaks brushing against disgusting tile that was glossy with grease of burgers long past. “But we will fix that,” the coroners intoned as one. 

Danny finally took some initiative, fluidly erupting from his seat and transforming into Phantom in a singular motion. It felt just a tad ridiculous to he hovering over a Nasty Burger table that was ridiculously out of place in the abyssal green of the Ghost Zone, but that only graced his mind for a moment. Instead, the primary thought was one he voiced aloud: “are you going to kill her?” Danny may have been a C student, but regarding threats he was not slow on the uptake— he’d been in enough fights to get a good instinct. For their part, Tuck and Sam took it too— partially cowering behind Danny while brandishing their own Fenton brand lasers. 

The dark spirits jolted to a stop, and tilting their many skull-heads quizzically— a nonverbal askance of why fight? All their minds were whirring, and the first theory from the group of coroners was this: “are you hungry for this power once again?” The group around chortled, a veritable cacophony like many dead leaves being kicked around by whistling wind. It was a taunt, clearly. “This is the natural order of things, halfa. You cannot deny it. You have lost. She has won, won spiritual power, power we take from you.” An enormous pressure of dread emanated from the threatening beings, seeming to push at Danny’s chest— it threw him off kilter in the emotional sense, but also the literal given that he was midair. “If you desire it returned to you, then beat her as she did you, as is the rites of the Ring and the Crown.” 

“I’m more upset she’s gonna die!” Danny barked, a little sarcastic and a lot tense, gesticulating wildly as though that could free his limbs from the lead of supernatural fear. As he did so, his hands became enveloped in his own charging ectoplasm— like a snowball dragged through snow to gather more icy slush to its mass, so too did Danny draw the pure ectoplasm from his surroundings. 

“I would like not to die,” Sam agreed quickly. 

“If it counts, I’m thirding that motion,” Tucker put in as well. 

The coroners pulled back, seemingly startled. “You… do not want this power. But you do not get to choose. ” Their antlers still held an ominous and powerful glow, which spoke to the fact that they had already made their choice in regards to the whole death thing. 

Sam drew in a breath, preparing her “hell no” tirade— when Danny exploded into motion, wrapping a gloved hand around Sam’s hand that didn’t have a lipstick laser in it, and propped them sloppily on the Nasty Burger table. He held his elbow on the table and their chained hands up. Before she could process what on earth he was doing, he painfully but desperately slammed their linked hands down against the table. 

Everyone was staring at Danny, ghosts and humans alike. Silence reigned— utterly baffled, confused silence. It was though a massive, unspoken huh? has slammed down onto the area. 

“There,” he said, reedy desperation coloring his voice. “I won the arm wrestle match.” 

Sam cottoned on pretty quickly— “oh no,” she groaned, “Danny, you beat me. You won .” 

Tucker shot her a look— the emphasis was a bit hammy— but said nothing, only watched hopefully as the coroners seemed to enter something of a loading state as they processed the turn of events. 

Then, startlingly, they quickly and fluidly bowed simultaneously. “Long live our shortest reigning queen,” they said with great solemnity, “and welcome back, our halfa King. Long may he reign.” 

Needless to say, the trio’s sigh of relief was about unparalleled. 

“If I am to reign,” Danny said slowly, recovering but still trying to sound poncy and official (rather than yell at them as he desired), “may we, in the future… discredit joking competitions?” It was delicately phrased, awkward pauses as he deliberately chose fancy phrasing, but it at least got the point across (even if Danny could swear that despite having skull faces and only pinpricks of light for eyes, the coroners were making faces at him). 

The coroners stares at each other, cloaks rustling but no sound passing between them. 

“Yes,” the largest said suddenly, “such a request is reasonable, for a half-human teenager.” With exasperation, it added: “you already were an exceptional case in your ruling.” 

“And in general,” a smaller one piped up snarkily from the back, to be shushed by what was likely a superior. 

“Right,” Danny clapped his hands together and huffed, relieved but still tense. 

“Now, how do we get out of here…?” Tucker questioned, trailing off and looking at the abyss. He traced his fingers on the table, then his face lit up— “uh, can I keep this? It’s authentic Nasty Burger merch, technically, and it’s nor like they’re really gonna need it when it’s been diverged from this reality, let alone their store—“

Before he could continue, there was a snap from one of the coroner’s gnarled hands, and a great bout of green flames engulfed said hunk of Nasty Burger— for the second time that day. 

When a very stunned Danny Fenton, Sam Manson, Tucker Foley, and smoldering, partially aflame  with emerald Nasty Burger chunk snapped back into place within the mortal realm, a certain cashier stared balefully at the fused tiles and remnant ghost flame, thought same shit every day once again, and promptly asked: “do you want more to order?” 

And thus, the status quo was restored, for better or for worse.