#period dumps | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

thosetrollkids · 15 days ago

Text

MONSTOBER: DESIGNS

Part 1: Teen Cast!

HELLOOOOO everybody! Welcome to my project, Monstober! A series of several posts with large, in depth looks at different aspects of my AU, Monster Kids, that I wrote during October this year. Special thanks to @eurazba for listening to me ramble over all this and helping with the AU over the years <3

This post will be going over the general monster designs for notable teen characters, as well as some thoughts as to why I chose said designs :D

There will be a second post for the main adult cast, and once posted, you can find it linked here :)

Jim / Toby / Claire

Jim Lake Jr (Sphinx): It's him! The poster boy! Wahoo! Honestly, I don't have many notes for his design process, because his design has stayed relatively similar since the early drafts. His was the very first design, and other than being a typical lion/eagle sphinx for like. two drawings, and then a panther/blackbird for two more, once the snow leopard/blue jay combo was struck, he's only really changed in small ways. I chose a blue jay, because they're one of my favorite birds, they're blue, and I'd used them to be an accent to Jim in a previous drawing. Snow leopards are also my favorite big cat! So similar reasoning for that particular aspect. If I were to design him today, blank slate, I miiiight have changed his cat species, but I still am way too attached to the leopard/jay combo.

Toby Domzalski (Gargoyle): Toby's design also hasn't changed much! The main trio haven't, other than minor adjustments. He originally had yellow eyes, but they're back to standard green. He also used to have larger wings, and while I liked the idea of the main three being able to fly together, I decided to go with a different route as I leaned into his design looking more aquatic, and he instead has wing shaped back fins! They fold down and sit under his clothes, as he only really can use them while swimming.

Claire Nuñez (Harpy) Also another design I haven't changed since conception! Harpies were always something cool to me, and I was inspired by an illustration of harpies in a mythology book I had bought at the time. Her design was originally just 'bird' until I tired to find a more specific species that fit. I landed on barn owls, and coincidentally, they are also associated with brujeria/witchcraft in Mexico! Win-win. With her stronger connection to magic overall, she's also the only member of Team Trollhunter that can fly reliably; her magic feeds her energy enough to keep in the air (Jim's wings are too small for anything besides light gliding and cushioning falls).

Steve / Eli / Krel / Aja

Steve Palchuk (Faun): Steve's design was always pretty formed in my head. For the guy that tries so very hard to be an all-American boy, an icon of that is the whitetail deer buck, and it very quickly fell into place! His design is fairly simple, which is why it works so well for him, IMO. Fun fact, he has a set of scars on his cheek from the equivalent of the fight he had with Jim in S1. More to expand on in a later comic, >:3c

Eli Pepperjack (Bat Humanoid): Eli was actually also a sphinx originally, but I wanted Jim to stay fairly unique among the main teens, so my follow up design was something more batlike! I did do plenty of research for monster bats, or hybrid bat monsters, but what research I could do didn't produce much (then again, could always be wrong!), so I went with 'attributes'. He's based on a Little Brown Bat. He little >:) His wings are also not capable of flight, they're basically large hands, all the better to hunt down creepers with, my dear.

Krel & Aja Tarron (Amphibious humanoids): WAHOOOOO!!!! I'm very proud of these, because you have NO IDEA how many months I struggled to find a design I liked for them. They have been (checks notes) spidertaurs, a few other passes of various insectoid tries, I was going to attempt something more seal like, because I knew the main group's designs were already mammal-heavy, and something aquatic or insectoid was what I wanted to balance the group out. Then my beloved @eurazba, listening to me ramble one night, helped me come to the idea of their 'human' transductions looking closer to old monster movies! Creature from Black Lagoon was an easy pick, I did some research about CFBL and Shape of Water (thanks Del Toro), and bada bing, bada boom! My fishy twins! Also Krel is the only one wearing shoes. Just realized this...

Mary / Darci / Shannon

Mary Wang (Dryad): Mary has also gone through a lot of changes (turns out, I was very indecisive outside of the main trio, AJDJSBSJFHB). She was actually a -taur alongside Darci! Specifically a unitaur (saw a lot of alternate Monster Falls art of Mabel Pines as one, and I really liked the idea. The overall AU was inspired by the Gravity Falls AU, now you know!) She stayed that for a while, then also went through some bug-like redesigns, and then a couple months back, I decided on a dryad! Before that point, I was trying to stay strictly to animalistic monster designs, but it became a little too confining, so she exploded into my sketchbook and became real. Her tree is a california redbud, and her 'antlers' are like the branches of the tree, and leaves/flowers bloom in time with the season on them. The hooves were based on a Zelda design from an artist I liked a lot (truffe.art on IG!)

Darci Scott (Praying Mantis-taur): HERE COMES THE BUG PAYOFF. Some of you may remember my design for Darci hasn't changed for quite some time, and while I liked the look of the cervitaur (a centaur, but deer), it didn't feel... as unique as I wanted? And I was still missing my BUG. So, debating over this, I did a few passes of her mixed with a bee, spider, etc etc... and then once again, @eurazba was like "hey! praying mantis." and I fell in LOVE with the concept. (Very quickly sketched her up as I was doing these sheets, actually NDJSNJKJD)

Shannon Longhannon (Gorgon): Last design of the group, another that has hardly changed since conception. Nagas, gorgons, lamias- whatever they're called, I love the visual of a reptilian character slinking around gracefully, and she helped balance out all the mammalian designs as well. She was originally a typical green/yellow snake, but when I inevitably color her, I picture something more ruddy, reddish brown, to match her hair :) She indeed is able to turn someone to stone, but as she was not born a gorgon, this ability is dulled, and only lasts for a few hours, working only if she focuses completely on doing so to someone. She's taken to wearing shades more often to not scare people who don't know this.

69 notes · View notes

wandixx · 16 days ago

Text

You'll never find the aswers ch.1

Words in this part: 5 842

Story summary: M'gann was having an amazing day. She met with her civilian friends, drank an amazing smoothie, saw a cute dog. For a few hours, she didn't have to think about problems that took more than 20 minutes to solve. For a few hours, she could just be Megan.

And then there was a scream of a woman, mother, who thought too loud and faded too fast and M'gann wasn't enough to save her and it made her whole world come crashing down

And then Danny found her, with a soft smile and patient voice. He kneeled beside her to pick up the pieces.

And shards cut them both in the process.

This part summary: It was a good day. And then The Accident happened

Trigger warning: brief mention of self image issues and dysphoria, brief mention of eating disorder, blink and you miss it mention of tranphobia, Character Death (quite graphic I think), dissociation

“So, Megan, sweetheart~” Penny started with genuine glee, throwing her arm (and herself) on Megan’s shoulder with enough fervor to somehow smack her friend with her chocolate brown hair, despite being significantly shorter. “I’m sure you have your preferences, and I and Ha-Yun’s wallet respect that, but you can’t leave ‘The Cosmos’ without eating The Universe! The best desert in Detroit.”

“It’s the ultimate pavlova,” Janine chimed in to explain, excitement clear in their emotional projection. It mixed well with overall happiness that was present in this place enough to permanently soak into the walls. It was thanks to that that the whole place was warm and welcoming even on a psychic level, which was unexpected. “After you eat it, you’ll hate every other pavlova for not being even half as good! You can only get it here, the cooks have to sign an NDA before they even see the kitchen. Some people say that magic is involved and that's why nobody has said anything yet, can you believe it?!” they squealed. She could, in fact, believe it, it was hard not to after fighting Klarion every other week and that time with Doctor Fate. Jay squeezed Megan’s arm just a bit too much. According to their thoughts, Universe was a ridiculously expensive cake, so even with Ha-Yun’s funds at their disposal, they weren’t buying it outside of very special occasions. Megan liked the idea that her visit counted as such.

“And it looks like a tiny universe too,” Ha-Yun added, delighted. “It has almond powder for stars and berries for colors and taste. Look!”

It really looked mouth-watering and it seemed like something Danny would love. Frankly, he would love this whole place with its dark wooden furniture, old looking sky maps and golden tools she couldn’t name but recognized from trips to museums. They had been used by humans to observe stars. The ceiling was painted to look like space too and the whole place was nicely quiet despite being almost full. It was all really relaxing. And judging by the thoughts of people around, The Universe had to be really good. Unfortunately…

“I can't,” Megan confessed with an apologetic smile- and all hell broke loose.

“What do you mean, you can’t?!” Penny shrieked with disbelief, grasping her hand so hard it would leave marks on a normal human.

Jay looked like she had just insulted their dog (an adorable ten year old labrador, which was apparently pretty old for a dog) and Ha-Yun just looked confused.

“I’ll pay for it though?”

The people around glanced at them a bit weirdly, but they weren’t too annoyed yet.

“I still can’t. I have a pretty hardcore egg allergy, it wouldn’t end up pretty.” Megan grimaced- she had been sure she would die at the time she learned it, and Conner still broke every law of physics when her heartbeat or breathing got weird in the kitchen.

“I learned I had a nut allergy because of this cake. I needed an ambulance straight to ER,” Ha-Yun confessed with a solemn look on her face and then shrugged “Still worth it,” she added with a lopsided grin that made her dark eyes narrow a bit. Penny put on a thoughtful expression that Megan had learned to fear during the last few hours of face-to-face interactions.

“Since then you always have an Epi-pen on you, don’t you?”

“Penny, no!”

It took M’gann a moment before she understood what the shorter girl had even suggested.

“I’m not going to eat a potentially lethal poison just because it’s tasty!” she yelled, appalled. She wasn’t Wally .

Jay tensed and their emotional projection soured. It was out of place in the otherwise cheery shop. M’gann had to fix it.

“Alright, you share a vegan menu with me,” they suggested nervously, before she could say anything. They were suddenly standing straighter, with their hands intertwined behind their back.

“Sounds great. What would you suggest?” she agreed easily because she wanted to just be happy and not fight over some reckless choice of words.

In the end, she got something called The Sunlight Jello, a refreshing, glimmering(?) lemon and orange dessert with minty cream in it that looked like little clouds. It was a great choice.

Penny got The Universe- it looked like colored photos of the Ring Nebula (Danny talked about NASA photos enough times that Megan could recognize it on the spot)- and tried really hard to make her try at least a small bite.

“Come one, it’s not enough to trigger an allergy, is it?” she said, while waving and accidentally smearing at least ten times the lethal amount on her pale cheeks. Martians really didn’t need much. After some tests her other friends were told it affected her cyanide- whatever that was.

But Megan did get to try Ha-Yun’s dark chocolate cake that had black hole in the name. In her opinion it was too heavy and dense, but black haired girl was stuffing herself with it like there was no tomorrow. It had some modified cherry juice in it.

It was actually a whole slice because Ha-Yun bought five of it and a coconut and something Neptune themed a la lollipop (that was, like, three inches in diameter, was it more like an apple in syrup?) just to share with them.

Penny dug into her lollipop with a vengeance, muttering something about her scale being mad at her and her having nothing to its opinion, not even respect. Then she said something along the lines of ‘plus size, fun size’ a bit nervously. She was trying to make them believe she thought that as much as she wanted to convince herself. Megan had trouble understanding that. Yes, she knew Penny was chubbier than average but still. She was beautiful.

Jay got two slices and rolled their eyes about it.

“I’m not underweight anymore, stop with the smothering,” they grumbled.

“Your BMI is 16, which still counts as underweight, darling, it’s much better than it was a year ago but you’re still just skin and bones. Eat more. I’ll get you a binder when you’re back to healthy weight but not sooner. I know dysphoria is a bitch but I want you to be safe,” Ha-Yun explained, somewhat apologetic.

Megan got one slice but was assured it didn’t mean less love, just that she was one of the two among them who was normal about their appearance. Then Penny said “gym in May and June,” looking at Ha-Yun pointedly. Apparently, Megan was only one normal about her appearance after that.

She hadn’t seen her White Martian form since she revealed it to the Team. She wasn’t normal about it either.

Speaking of Jay, they picked ice cream, a three scoop dessert inspired by Mars and its two moons (she couldn’t remember their Earth names). The Mars flavor was a blend of two kinds of cherries while the moons were coconut. M’gann had to come up with an excuse when she burst out laughing hearing her choice- unfortunately the truth being ‘I’m Martian, it’s hilarious to see my home as ice cream’ was off the table. Jay let all of them try a bit too, but they kept a firm hold of the spoon, grumbling something about Ha-Yun eating half of it if left to her own devices.

All of them had frozen chocolate drinks, dyed dark blue like the night sky. Penny’s base chocolate was white because she had a very mild cocoa allergy. It just made her throat a bit scratchy and caused some acne so she sneaked chocolate sweets sometimes anyway.

Wasn’t that making Megan jealous?

Not really, she was there to have a good time and not fight over something she had no control over. She was just ecstatic to finally meet her friends face-to-face.

She would be vibrating from excitement if she wasn’t trying so hard to keep it cool.

It was the first time she was meeting them, after all. She had been in constant contact with them since her second week on Earth, but it was hard to organize a meeting since they lived in different states. Plus, the Team had a pretty intense reaction to the idea of meeting internet buddies… People lied in on-line chats all the time, apparently. When she first mentioned it, Wally started yelling, while Artemis almost tackled her, before stealing her phone to “politely” decline the offer. Later, all of the non-human Team members had been forced to listen to two hours worth of cybersafety lectures conducted by Robin, Black Canary, Red Tornado(!) and Batman(!!!). Danny only escaped by pointing out that he was raised in human society and knew ‘his internet.’

It turned out that Red Tornado had used dating apps to learn more about human interactions. If gossip and Conner’s ears were to be believed, he got his own lecture afterwards.

Anyway, after The Talk™ everyone got banned from meeting anyone from the internet and sharing any personal or otherwise potentially identifiable info until further notice. Megan didn’t mention how upon her face reveal her friends just laughed and said that she could just say she didn’t want to share instead of sending a screenshot from the series they all saw. Megan could take a hint.

The ban against meeting almost escalated to no-contact-at-all, but the Team was good at annoying the Justice League until they understood it was not worth it, so that idea got quickly dismissed. Also, ‘until further notice’ turned out to mean ‘until Robin and Batman learned everything there was to learn about every internet buddy any Team member had, including birth certificates, social security numbers and other important sounding documents.’ She suspected they had also stalked everyone for a week or so, because the whole process took weeks and Robin needed a maximum of five minutes to hack all of Watchtower’s speakers to play We Are the Champions after a successful but unauthorized mission. It wasn’t important. Two soothed paranoia’s, one decent cover story on why she was in Michigan if she lived in Rhode Island, and a three day long explosion on the ‘All-hail-Megan-Wheeler’ group chat which included prolonged brainstorming of what they could do while having Megan for just-over-just-over-just five hours, and there she was! Sitting in an exclusive booth at a cute cafe with her friends, who all shared her love of Hello Megan! and were mourning the lack of more seasons with her!

Could this day be any better?

Apparently yes, because while they shared their desserts the conversation moved smoothly, like always and like never before. It wasn’t awkward or stilted like she had feared, but flowing like a quick water current in the sea, dragging them away from all the negativity, leaving only light enjoyment.

She felt a bit odd with her hair brushing and curling around her jaw, which had a much rounder shape than usual. She didn’t have a problem with looking like someone else, but these minor differences when she was supposed to be herself made her skin crawl if she thought about it for too long.

So she didn’t. At least her human skin freckled instead of getting sunburnt, like Penny’s.

Though it got a bit weird when she mentioned that she had to invite Danny here because he would love the place. Penny actually squealed so high it could probably break some thinner glass and jumped at her with a grin worthy of a mad woman. Jay spat out their chocolate and looked at her with falsified hurt written all over their face. They asked if she couldn’t wait until after they had swallowed before she dropped a bomb like that, and then they smiled this one sided way of theirs that got people swaying. At least from what she was told- and what she saw when Jay started talking with the cashier who got beetroot red. He seemed a few years older than them and after the initial shock started flirting, but quickly thought better of it when he saw Ha-Yun in all her if-Wonder-Woman-was-teenage-and-Korean glory. And had shoulder length hair. But all that was really unimportant when she was radiating the vibes of a protective, angry, mother bear so hard that something got reflected in her projection as literal image. She was formidable with her almost six foot athletic build and stormy expression. It was enough to send shivers down the spine of anyone who didn’t interact with Batman on a semi regular basis.

She looked the same way now, with her phone open on some weird browser.

“Name and alias on all socials you know about,” she demanded.

“Why?” Megan asked, projecting confusion out of habit.

Penny almost fell out of chair from the booming laughter. Jay leaned forward a bit with a more serious expression. Megan still thought the whole ordeal made no sense.

“Ha-Yun, sweetheart” they started in a low, comforting tone “I know you worry, but it’s not the moment. You can find his social media at home, you’ll have better security. Even if I think you can’t stalk everyone we talk to. I mean, I know you can, but you shouldn’t. Megan trusts this Danny guy, so he is probably a good person. But if you have to, please do it at home. If you do, then you can reference everything you find with what Megan has told us about him. Now is not a time for your protective streak.”

“Damn Jay Jay, that was more masculine than my brother gets!”

“Your brother is thirteen, Penny,” they deadpanned, keeping their voice low. Their emotional projection indicated that they were far more bashful than they let themself show.

“He’s started mutation though, and he sounds distinctly boyish now, when his voice doesn’t crack, at least. Take the compliment, Jay.”

They openly beamed.

“Thanks, I’ve practiced a lot lately!” Despite artificially lowering their voice, they managed to emote with it quite well. Or maybe she just could tell how proud they were from their emotional projection and assumed it was clear.

“That’s so cool,” she whispered anyway, because it was. Even with her shapeshifting, which allowed her to literally change her biology (having round pupils instead of horizontal was definitely a learning curve), she had yet to pull off a boy voice convincingly… or at all, to be honest. It just felt so weird in her throat. “How did you do that?”

“You’ve doomed us for hours. They won’t shut up about it,” Penny whispered with exaggerated despair. She smiled right after, there was no need to be an empath to know she was faking it. Ha-Yun looked every bit like a mother whose child just did something amazing.

Jay whipped to look at Megan so fast it was a bit concerning, with a somewhat unsettling gleam in their eyes. Megan always thought this sort of look was reserved to ghosts Danny, when stars were brought up.

“You see…”

As Penny predicted, they were stuck for the next hour listening to Jay’s lecture on voice deepening techniques, which included a lot of sources they promised to send links to later. Then they moved to flattening the chest with clothes and posturing and how they made their hair almost twice shorter without cutting it. Apparently their mom couldn’t stand the idea of her “daughter” having short hair, so they used tons of pins and beanies. Though it kept heat too well to be practical on hot days, and pins looked natural only on curly or coily hair, like theirs.

Megan was sure they could go for much longer if not for the alarm Ha-Yun had set up. The three of them needed to leave for their cheer practice before the finals of some volleyball tournament at a local youth center. It took place every summer, ending just before school started.

That’s right, Megan had befriended not one, but two cheerleaders and an ex-baseball player. Jay had had to stop playing when their anorexia made them too weak. They were getting better though, which meant they could potentially return next season. How cool was that, as Danny often liked to put it.

They bid their farewells right out of the door, after they got used to the absolute boiling heat of late August reflected by Detroit architecture. Penny seemed a bit uncomfortable with the idea of letting Megan go back to her ‘motel’ alone, which was equally adorable and troublesome. She had a plan for that but it would be really awkward to explain and she couldn’t just lead them to Zeta Tube. She managed to get out of that relatively easily though.

She was walking down some crowded street that looked way worse than the places her friends had shown her, doing her best to see everything while also checking her map often enough to not get lost. She didn’t really get a chance to just sightsee often.

She turned the corner and onto a street with far less people around. It was beautiful in the same way Gotham was.

Some part of her brain started playing the intro to Hello Megan! and she had to say, the upbeat melody was the perfect soundtrack for the moment. She really felt like she was just a girl, whose biggest problems were relationship troubles and school drama.

The owner of a really fluffy, really small dog let her pet it.

She just felt light. Like she would start flying if she didn’t focus on staying on the ground.

She even considered outright singing- when the screech of tyres and a scream brought her back to reality.

***

Heels were horrible shoes. They weren’t new to her, she had over twenty years of practice under her belt, but there was a reason she did her best to avoid them. But it was an important day and that called for important shoes. The only thing she could do now was curse herself for not bringing another, more comfortable pair to work so she could put the heels on much later.

Her feet were in agony as she shoved her way quickly through the crowded, uneven pavement, trying not to break her ankles or tear her skirt. Fucking heels. Fucking tight fitting, “elegant” clothes. Fucking rush hour business. Fuck her boss, who held her past her normal working hours, as usual, even though she had warned him at least thrice today that she needed to leave on time, if not fifteen minutes earlier.

Her hands were flexing, as if it was a way to work out her seething anger. Fucking once she didn’t want to open her fucking arteries for this godawful company. The polish on her nails still felt weird, and she wanted to wash it away but, again. It was an important day.

Eric had finally gotten a role in the ballet performance his troupe was staging this quarter. It was minor thing, since he wasn’t dancing all that long, but his proud smile had made something warm burst in her chest when he announced it; and again, later, when he delivered the invitation for the premiere night, made with yellow paper (“your favorite color, mom”), various blue and green crayons (“like your gray eyes, they’re really pretty!” well, there wasn’t much to be done about her son’s colorblindness) and lots of enthusiasm. She had it in the pocket of her suit skirt, ready to present it at the entrance if they wanted to play security. It was her best suit, and she hadn’t dusted off the dress she wore at her best friend’s wedding only because she couldn’t go to work in *that*, and there was not enough time to change, even if she had left on time.

Which she hadn’t, because fucking Brian and his last-fucking-minute it-has-to-be-done-today tasks that he wouldn’t pay her for if she had any less bite and self respect.

Fucking Brian. Fucking heels.

She checked the time on her phone and clenched her teeth, consciously loosening her grip on the device before she could accidentally break it. She wasn’t in the position to buy a new one at the moment, even if it was a used one. She pocketed it, using the movement to brush her fingers over the beautiful, flowery, expensive brooch hidden there. It was her family heirloom, worth more than the majority of things she owned. She put it on only on special, good occasions. Like a lucky charm. Weddings, high school or university graduations, the first time meeting a new family member, newborn or to be married in. Her sister’s divorce party. But never truly bad ones. Never funerals.

Eric had asked her if his first performance was “a brooch worthy occasion.” She hadn’t even thought about that, but since he asked, it couldn’t not be.

She had five minutes until the performance began and was seven minutes away, if she ran. She couldn’t run since she was wearing heels that she couldn’t safely walk in, and she couldn’t run with them in her hands unless she wanted her feet to be a bloody mess after a jog on layers of broken glass. Detroit was a truly beautiful place.

She sped up as much as she could, trying to focus on something other than cursing Brian and the inventor of heels and both of their families, four generations each way. With cousins, aunts and those thrice removed randoms that you only ever met at funerals included. There was no point though. It would do her no good if she arrived at the performance already pissed. She would rather not snap at Eric again, it always came too easily when she got like that.

She had gotten like that a lot lately. She had a lot to make up for.

She took out her phone again, to check ice cream vendors near the community center. Her son was never too keen on walking, and she doubted it would get any better after the exhausting performance. Normally she could carry him if he got too tired, but again, heels. She would prefer not to break her ankle, especially not while holding her baby, thank you very much. So close by they went.

The screen got a bit hard to focus on, too dark and blurry for a good moment. She rubbed her eyes with a sigh. She was exhausted. Absolutely and utterly wrung out, ready to collapse and not get up for the next two days. But she couldn't because she was an adult and had a little son to take care of. A son who hadn’t gotten as much of her attention as he should have in the past few we… some time, and she had to fix it fast. After a moment of consideration and a quick budget count, she added a visit to McDonald's to her mental list for activities after the performance. Her boy would sell his soul for three Happy Meals if he could.

Her phone pinged.

Eric had sent photo of his ballet group, everyone in full costume for the fairytale they were playing (she felt horrible about it, but for the life of her, she couldn't remember which one it was) with following messages of:

Hey mom Where u sit?

She frowned, her anger renewed. It wasn't quite directed at anything anymore, just bone deep frustration at circumstances.

Still, fuck you Brian.

She barely threw a quick, unnecessary look at the empty road before crossing it where she was, fully focused on going as fast as possible and writing back to her son, both without breaking her ankles.

Running a bit late sweetheart but not even dragon could stop m—

Sudden light, a car horn, the noise of tires squealing on the asphalt in an attempt to stop.

Only some of the pain registered at first, when her body hit the ground. She couldn't quite move, but it wasn't too bad. Sure it sucked and she could kiss goodbye to any idea of hugging her baby for a few weeks at least but it wasn't too bad. Maybe she could even escape the absolute capitalistic nightmare of the hospital bill.

She couldn't not move, her son was waiting for her. She tried to get up, even if determination was the only thing to keep her going, but her chest exploded. Her chest exploded and she was in sudden and utter agony.

She couldn't breathe, her whole rib cage feeling like a cracked eggshell.

She couldn't breathe.

There was chaos of noises around her, but she couldn't breathe.

She couldn't breathe and there was a crying maroon headed girl. She couldn't breathe and the girl brushed her hair out of her eyes. The girl said something in a calming tone but she couldn't breathe, let alone listen.

She couldn't breathe and her whole body was in agony.

She couldn't breathe and– she was dying, wasn't she? She got hit by a car.

She was dying and the last time she hugged her son was that morning before school, but it felt like too long. She was dying and her baby would sit behind the scene, waiting for her to show up, maybe even delay the performance, and then think she abandoned him before he got the news.

She was dying. She did abandon her son.

***

When Megan turned around, the woman was already lying on the ground, a yard or two from the pistachio green van. One of her shining, black heels was lying discarded, the other was nowhere to be found. Her foot was at a weird angle. The girl wished that it was the worst of the injuries that would come from an accident.

Before M’gann fully registered it, her legs were taking her to the side of the victim. Her body was desperate to help, whatever said help would mean.

The woman twitched as if she had tried to get up, but lost all strength a few inches off the ground. Maybe she had pulled some muscle?

Miss Martian used her telekinesis to help her assess the damage. It was tricky, sensing different parts of living organism, but she wasn’t going to move it, just che-

She stumbled as projection of utter agony hit her, as if she was hit by a van and not-

She was close enough to hear wheezing and rattling coming from the woman, or if she was guessing correctly, her chest.

Her telekinetic hand ran across the ribs, broken like measly matches. Two were at a weird ang-

No, no, no no nonononono…

My baby

Miss Martian was already on her knees, ready to help however she could when she heard that and her heart stopped.

“Second commandment: Read not the dying minds unless they ask.”

“On Earth it’s a great violation to read someone’s mind.”

My beautiful lovely baby. He’ll think I left him, I ignored him. He was so proud. My baby, my sweetheart

Tears dulled Miss Martian’s vision. She racked her brain for anything useful in this situation. She felt the woman's torso with her hands to learn what was wrong, while her brain was swamped with images of a sad little boy with coily hair and a cute tooth gap, thinking his mom left him. She was doing her best to ignore it, without cutting the woman off completely. She needed to know her thoughts if they turned more towards what was wrong with her body.

She couldn’t cut off the dying person when they were already talking.

The woman’s rib cage felt so wrong that the girl was sure she remembered the first aid course backwards. It couldn’t be this bad. Of course it wasn’t this bad.

I can’t breathe-

Alright, it seemed to be that bad. What could she do? What could she do?

WHAT COULD SHE DO?!!!

Tilting her head backwards a bit helped, right? Eased air flow in the throat. Could she do it if the victim most likely had spinal damage?

Could it help if the ribs had punctured the lung?

M’gann brushed the stray hair that probably was in a tidy updo not even five minutes ago, out of the woman's eyes. Her irises were so dark that unequally blown pupils were almost lost. She had a bit of glitter make-up that nicely contrasted with her skin, a little lighter than Kaldur’s, slightly darker than Jay. She was a beautiful woman.

She was dying and all her thoughts were focused on her son or her inability to breathe.

Miss Martian gently put two fingers under her chin, the other hand on the woman's forehead and carefully tilted her head to ease at least the second reason for the woman's panic.

It did nothing to help.

Unconsciously M’gann’s fingers moved towards the pulsepoint on the neck.

My little angel, my little dancer, my little artist, my little collector, my baby, my baby, my baby. He’ll think I abandoned him.

M’gann’s mouth was speaking, spewing lies that everything would be alright, that the mother would see her son soon and she’d be able to hug him and cuddle him and do everything she wanted to, that she just needed to stay awake, as the woman’s breathing slowed down. M’gann had never understood the phrase “the light leaving their eyes” but she understood now, knew the exact moment when mother stopped seeing her, stopped seeing the sky above them, stopped hearing all of the commotion, stopped feeling heat from asphalt, stopped hurting.

I did abandon my son.

And then there was a weak heartbeat and a shaky exhale.

And then everything stopped.

Her mind was silent but in a different way than human minds were when they were simply unconscious, when it was never fully soundless with wordless buzz of lower brain functions that made their heart beat, stomachs digest, and lungs breathe. It wasn’t something she could even hear the same way she heard thoughts, but she could always sense it because there was always something and she was a powerful psychic so of course she sensed it. But she couldn’t hear or sense anything and it couldn’t end like this so she kept babbling, begging the woman to wake up because she couldn’t just die there.

She couldn’t, she couldn’t, she couldn’t.

She had to survive, had to go see her son, she had to applaud his first public dance and take him for ice cream and, and, and…

Miss Martian tried to use her power to restart the woman’s brain function. She knew humans didn’t consider it possible and had decided that death of the brain meant death of the person but there were many things humans didn’t consider possible that she found trivial.

It didn’t work.

The whole world went quiet for a moment, as if it knew that a wonderful, meaningful life had been lost.

M’gann stayed frozen.

She couldn’t be dead, she couldn’t be dead, she couldn’t be dead.

M’gann was right there. She was a powerful hero. She should be able to help. She should be able to prevent it. She had fought against so many terrifying people, with incredible powers and unbelievably advanced technology; for Goddess’ sake, there were tanks in Bialya that one time. Preventing a car accident should be a piece of cake.

And yet, she had a dead body almost in her arms, a thin trail of blood seeping out of its mouth, its grayed cheek to the small puddle on the almost boiling asphalt.

Later she would feel bad about how little she felt at the moment. Soon after the woman’s thoughts had quietened for forever, emotions were raging inside like a storm, pushing tears to her eyes and a tremble to her limbs so that the body slipped out of her grasp and she hid behind the mental wall. She could still feel it a bit, in the beginning, in a disconnected way similar to looking at her feelings out of the window, witnessing but separated. Soon she lost even that, clear window turning into impenetrable stone. She was completely numb.

She just stared at the pair of unseeing, brown eyes and couldn’t even pray for them to twitch, proving her wrong. She wasn’t even sure if she’d realize if they actually did. She wished so deeply she was wrong.

Would her prayer save the woman? Would the prayer to M’gann’s gods help a human? Did Martians and humans even share an afterlife?

There was something freezing cold in her hands, and this weird heating foil on her back. A paramedic, who had showed up at some point she didn’t know, was talking to her, one hand on her shoulder. It was warm and big, comforting when paired with their gentle, compassionate smile.

Why did the ambulance arrive too late?

The paramedic kept talking, but she couldn’t force herself to even understand English at the moment.

They stopped talking and waved their hands at someone behind M’gann with a frustrated look on their face. It wasn’t aimed at her, so she just focused on the ice pack in her hands, moving her fingers along it to keep them from freezing in place.

The paramedic smiled again and spoke. She understood them this time.

“Are you back with me?” their voice was warm and deep in this truly effortless way that Jay couldn’t emulate yet. M’gann nodded, still fidgeting with the ice pack.

“That’s great. Could you- Shit, wait here for a moment, I need to help someone real quick. Then I need to check if you’re alright and call your parents to pick you up, okay?”

They got up and ran off as soon as she moved her head to nod. M’gann squeezed the ice pack and took a deep breath. She realized just then how loud it had gotten. There were at least two vehicles with sirens that were still blaring like there was no tomorrow, someone was yelling, the hot asphalt was smelling in its characteristic, suffocating way, she was getting all hot and sweaty and a bit of blood had gotten on her shoes and skirt and the light was suddenly too bright and it all was way too much and someone came too close to her and she needed to be out and she needed to be out now.

She was sure on her mad dash to the Zeta Tube she caught some corners with her shoulder and maybe tripped some people and almost got hit by a car herself, but it all didn’t matter because the world was too much and she wanted to puke and she needed to be alone and safe and, and, and…

Her brain got hazy again.

She curled up somewhere, breathing in cool, Mountain air. She was in shapeshifted clothes and some stolen hoodie. She couldn’t control it, the fabric worn soft separate from her, unchanging, indifferent to her manipulative powers. It was comforting. She carefully didn't think how the little bit of blood that got on her clothes disappeared when she changed.

She was safe.

The woman was still dead.

*************

It took me some time but, here is the first chapter of the fic. People have spoken so here it is hah

AO3 link

next chapter

#dpxdc #dc x dp #dp x dc #dcxdp #g&g24 #dpxdcbang2024 #unlike the “ghost of fries and hero of cookies” this fic won't have jokes in tags #it's not the vibes #but I can do some lore dumps if you want #idk period cramps hit hard I don't know what to write here #sorry #anyway #danny fenton & m'gann m'orzz #wandixx writes #have a nice day dear stranger who got to this part

23 notes · View notes