#please consider how good at fighting Danny is already in the first episode

[ganymedesclock]

My enjoyment of Danny Phantom as a series has been enriched significantly with the realization that “ghost hunter” as it’s established as a career here is basically ‘occult researcher’ and this is a setting that does have basically wizards (Freakshow) and magical artifacts.

If we pair this with the fact that the Fenton parents are uncommonly combat-ready people who are armed at odd occasions (Maddie just... has a machete in Maternal Instinct) this leads me to the conclusion that Danny’s sense of normality is probably kind of shot.

Tucker, concerned “Why do you know how to knife fight?”

Danny, “What do you mean why? My mom taught me?”

Sam, torn between judgment and envy “Your mom taught you how to knife fight?”

Danny “YES? Because people need to know these things?”

(and, if you like a side garnish of dark with your comedy, think about that in DP canon it’s pretty much a given that any part of the world is haunted with often powerful ghosts, many of which are hostile, random lake monsters, magical artifacts that can cause great deals of trouble, and the Fentons know it’s dangerous out there considering one of their old college buddies got hospitalized at great length over a lab accident, so they’d have a KEENLY vested interest in making sure their kids have survival and combat skills)

[mca-attack21]

Shape Shifted - part 1

Hi guys! This is the next part of the Stiles Sis Fic series based loosely (and even that is generous) off of season two episode two. It can be read as a stand-alone. For the rest of this series and more of my writing, click here. I will be updating at least once a week until the series is finished. Enjoy!

Now that Lydia was home and safe, you allowed your thoughts to drift back to Isaac. You laid on your back and stared aimlessly at the ceiling, wondering what it was that he was about to do, or what he already did. You knew that for him not to be straight forward with you that it must’ve been something that he didn’t think you would approve of. And for him to even be considering it, things must’ve been getting worse for him at home again. 

Your heart pained to think how his father could… anyways. You wished that you could talk him into reporting it, but every time you brought it up he got so defensive. At some point, you decided that if he was going to go through it you would make sure that he didn’t have to go through it alone. Thinking over the past two months, you felt bad for not trying harder to be there for Isaac. No matter how hectic things had been with Scott and Stiles, it wasn’t an excuse. 

You pulled out your phone to text Isaac but were interrupted by a frantic knock at your window. 

Speak of the devil

You opened the window and ushered him inside, “Isaac what happened? Are you okay?”

“I-I think that my father’s dead,” he admitted as his breathing sped up. 

No amount of anything could have prepared you for those words out of his mouth under these circumstances.

“It’s okay Isaac, just breath, tell me what happened,” you said calmly as you led him over to your bed. It took a few minutes to calm down enough to collect his thoughts, but even then you could see the fear in his eyes.

“You won’t believe me,” he decides, pulling away from you and taking a step towards the window.

“Isaac, you know that there is nothing you could say that I wouldn’t believe. Now please, start from the beginning,” you invite him to sit beside you.

He reluctantly begins, “That night in the graveyard, after I was attacked, there was this man. He saved my life and then started talking about these crazy things. He knew about my dad, and told me that there was a way I could protect myself, a way to make sure that I could never be hurt again. And he explained that it wasn’t going to be easy, but that it would be worth it. I didn’t believe him, not at first, but then he showed me. He gave me a choice, and I accepted his offer,” Isaac explained.

“I’m confused, what was it that he gave you?” you asked.

“He - I -,” he paused for a moment trying to decide the best way to explain this to you, “okay, what I am about to tell you, it’s dangerous and you have to swear not to tell anyone,” Isaac looked up for confirmation but decided it wasn’t enough, “Y/n, I want to hear you say it, I want you to swear to me.”

“I swear, whatever you tell me will stay between us. But god Isaac, you’re starting to scare me.”

Instead of telling you with words, Isaac allowed his eyes to show yellow. He was surprised to see that you didn’t shrink back in fear or hate. Before he could explain further, you caught him off-guard, “You’re a werewolf.”

“How do you know about this?” he asked taken aback.

But you ignored him, “You are a werewolf, which makes the man you met Derek Hale, and if your dad is dead, the hunters are going to think you did it. And even if they don’t tomorrow is a full moon,” you realized.

Isaac stared at you in shock, out of all of the reactions he had played through in his mind, this most definitely was not one of them. 

“Isaac,” you said pulling him out of his thoughts, “what happened tonight?” 

“It started out how it always starts, my dad and I were eating dinner and then things escalated until he was throwing things at me. He threw this glass right above my head and it shattered leaving a shard in my cheek, just below my eye. I was just going to leave, but my dad saw me heal, so I ran. He followed me and I managed to ditch him, but then I heard his screams. I circled back, and I could smell his blood, too much blood. So I freaked and came here, I didn’t know what else to do,” he explained as his breathing became more frantic again.

“It’s okay Isaac. Everything is going to be okay, I promise. We just need to go see Derek, he’ll know how to handle this. Come on,” you said as you pulled him up and towards the door. You had him wait in the hall as you snuck into your brother’s room and stole the keys to Roscoe. 

As the two of you backed out of the driveway, Isaac asked, “How do you know about all of this? Werewolves, Derek, hunters? Did he offer you the bite too? Are you one of us?” 

“Not me, Scott. And it is a long and complicated story, but I promise that I will be here to help you through all of this. It might seem overwhelming now, but it’ll all work out, I promise.”

So, the two of you went to Derek’s loft and explained the situation. Derek ordered that Isaac act like normal and lay low until he could figure it out. But outside of that, his curiosity as to what had actually happened was trumping his need to protect Isaac. 

A little annoyed at the alpha, you took Isaac back out to the jeep and decided that you were both going to stay the night at your house. After sticking Stiles’ keys back in his room, you went back to Isaac.

“Okay, so let’s get this straight. Because the police are going to question you once they find your father, so it’s better to prepare now. Your dad and you got into a small argument and you left and rode your bike here. You’ve been here all night and tomorrow morning you will come down and eat breakfast with us so that my father can see that with his own eyes. If they ask about anything else, you don’t speak until you have a lawyer present. They can’t hold you unless there is a witness or you admit to doing something. So after they question you, you come back here and we will figure out how to get you through your first full moon.”

“Okay, I can do that,” he agreed, “How are you so good at this? You’re so calm, while I’m over here completely freaking out.” 

“This isn’t my first rodeo,” you joked. 

“I’m glad that you are here, I don’t even want to think about what I would do without you.”

“Well fortunately, you don’t have to worry about it. Now get some rest,” you said motioning for him to climb in your bed next to you.

The next morning went to plan. You paraded Isaac in front of your dad. Once you got to school, you stayed in Isaac’s general vicinity offering reassuring smiles every so often. When you weren’t with Isaac, you were with Lydia who was trying to adjust to her first day back after being naked in the woods for three days. She didn’t remember anything, which was probably a good thing, but that didn’t help the fact that everyone was staring at her like she was crazy. 

To say that you were relieved when the school day was over was an understatement. If you could get Isaac to stay with Derek past the full moon before the police brought him in for questioning it would definitely be ideal. Now, you just had to make it through practice.

Even as you had that thought though, everything started to go wrong.  First, Scott had been able to sense a werewolf and went through the team one by one until he discovered that it was Isaac. Though before any sort of confrontation could occur, the police showed up and took Isaac away for questioning.

You made your way out to Roscoe where Scott and Stiles were and Scott turned to you, “they took Isaac in for questioning, his dad was found brutally murdered earlier this morning.” After seeing your lack of reaction he added, “but it seems like you already knew that.”

“Did you also know that he was a werewolf?” Stiles spoke before you had a chance to say anything. 

“He is innocent. And possibly in danger, because in case you haven’t noticed tonight is a full moon. So maybe you should be thinking about what we are going to do if they decide to try to hold him overnight.” 

“He’s Derek’s problem,” Scott replied trying to hide the betrayal he was feeling.

“You don’t mean that,” you reply, trying to remember that the full moon was affecting your friend.

“Why not? Maybe this is what it takes for Derek to understand that he can’t just turn innocent teenagers to fuel his power trip” Scott tried to justify, raising his voice.

“Whatever Scott,” you dismissed before turning to Stiles, “take me to the station, I’ll figure this out myself.”

However your brother hesitated not wanting to pick between you and Scott. Having enough of both of them you rolled your eyes, “Fine, I’ll find my own ride,” you said before storming back towards the school. 

“Y/n-” Stiles called after you. 

“Let her go, we don’t need her,” Scott growled. 

“Hey, what is your problem?” Stiles asked defensively.

“If Y/n wants to choose Derek and Isaac over us then we don’t need her, do we?” 

“Careful Scott, you are starting to sound jealous,” Stiles said as he threw his bag in the back seat. 

“I just think it’s stupid that she is defending them and that she lied to us for god knows how long.”

Stiles decided to just keep his mouth shut as he drove the pair to Scott’s house. Meanwhile, you got a ride to the police station from Danny and were sitting in a chair outside his office. You noticed that there was an officer milling around that you had never noticed before which was saying something considering the fact that your dad was the Sheriff. 

You noticed that he ducked into one of the empty offices as your dad came out of the interrogation room, clearly surprised to see you. 

“What do you think you are doing here?” he asked as he let you into his office.

“I’m here for Isaac, how are things going?”

“To be honest with you kiddo, not good.”

“Why what happened?”

“We have a witness that the two of them were fighting last night and then his bike was found at the scene of the crime.”

“And if you looked at it, you would’ve noticed that it had a flat tire, which is why Isaac had to walk to our house,” you explained thankful that you had thought to have Derek take care of the tire earlier. 

“I know he’s your friend, did you have any idea that his father was abusing him?”

Your face fell, if your dad knew that, it meant that he either had a witness or was able to search Isaac’s house. 

“You should have told me,” your father sighed looking disappointed.

“He didn’t want me too,” you tried but you already knew it was hardly an excuse, “but if you know about that, then you should also know that one of the ways his dad punished him was by locking him in a freezer which causes him to become claustrophobic. And locking him in a holding cell would be traumatizing,” you tried to reason. 

“So then what would you propose?”

“Find a way to delay the process until tomorrow. Isaac can stay the night at our house so you can keep an on him, take him into your custody or something I don’t know. He just lost his dad, and while their relationship was … complicated, he was still his dad. This is the last thing he needs right now.”

“Y/n…”

“Please Dad, he’s my friend and he’s innocent.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” he concedes. 

“Can I see him?” you ask as your dad is exiting his office.

“He’s in the first interrogation room.”

“Thank you.”

You let out a breath that you didn’t know you had been holding, and turned the doorknob to enter the room where Isaac had been left alone. 

“How are you holding up?” you asked taking a seat across from him and tossing him a reese's from the vending machine.

“Better now that you are here. I heard you talking to your dad, do you really think that I’ll be able to walk out of here tonight?”

“I hope so, but don’t worry if not I have a back-up plan. Just try to stay calm, I know you are going through a lot today.”

“I can’t believe everything could go wrong so fast, I never wanted this. I just didn’t want to be afraid anymore.”

“You don’t deserve this, and I’m sorry that you are here right now. But I promise you that we will figure this out.” 

“I hope so.”

“Let’s try to get your mind on something else,” you said before engaging him in conversation until there was a soft knock on the door and your dad came in. 

“Well, Isaac, if you agree to staying in my custody, we are going to let you go for the night. We might need you to come back in tomorrow and answer a few more questions,” your dad explained. 

“Thank you so much Sheriff Stilinski,” Isaac said graciously.

“Don’t thank me, thank Y/n she’s practically your lawyer,” you dad joked, before adding “I have to finish up some paperwork, but then we can all go back to the house.”

“Sounds good, in the meantime can we wait in your office?” you asked wanting to get Isaac into a different environment.

“That’s fine.”

As soon as you and Isaac were alone in his office, you pulled out your phone and text Derek to update him on the entire situation. You then turned to Isaac, “How are you feeling?” you said referring to the full moon. 

“I got it under control for the time being, I think that it’ll be better once we get out of here though.”

“I don’t know if Derek told you, but your first one is always the hardest. You have to find something or someone that keeps you human. An anchor. Otherwise you’ll lose control. Stiles has chains and stuff that he used for Scott, and I’ll be there every step of the way. If it starts to get bad, I’ll call Derek.”

“I’m glad one of us has a plan,” Isaac said before resting his head in his hands feeling exhausted with everything that had happened.

You took a seat next to him and pulled him in your arms, not saying a word. It was about fifteen minutes later when your dad came in and escorted the two of you out to his car. When you arrived home he mentioned something about ordering pizza, you agreed and then rushed Isaac, who you could tell was beginning to struggle, upstairs. You got the stuff you needed out of Stiles’ room and noticed headlights across the street. Hunters. 

Realizing how much harder this would make things, you called Derek and told him to stay away. This could actually be a good thing, as long as you could keep Isaac under control, then maybe they wouldn’t suspect him of being a werewolf. That was definitely going to be easier said than done. Especially when you were alone and having to hide everything from your dad. 

You re-entered your room and set up the chains, hoping that by some miracle you wouldn’t need them. Your dad brought up the pizza and you accepted it gratefully before quickly closing the door behind you. This was going to be a long night.

[neondrawsthethings]

Uhm... Hey everyone lol. And welcome to my Danny Phantom & Flynn Fenton story.

I am alive, I’ve just been so busy with personal stuff and college. I mostly wanted to post this because I am an avid fan of Danny Phantom and I absolutely wanted to talk about the video Butch put out a few days ago with Danny having a “mysterious older brother.”

This has actually inspired me to write for the first time in a millennia and while I’m a bit late to the party and very nervous, I really wanted to make my own version of the story on top of expressing my opinions. So here we go!

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

I don’t like Butch like most people in the Phandom but I just want to preface this by saying that I think that his idea for a mysterious older sibling for Danny isn't a bad one, but the execution of it was very poor. The issues I mostly have of it is that it messes up some consistencies with the show, it has plot holes and instead of making Jack and Maddie slightly incompetent with people's safety, it makes them out to be negligible criminals.

A Summary Of The Original Story:

The original story went that they had 3 kids, Flynn Fenton (who's age was not disclosed but he might have been about 10), Jazz Fenton who was 4 at the time and Danny who was 2. Jack and Maddie had created a uncompleted Ghost Portal that Flynn had turned on, wandered too close to when it somehow started working and was subsequently grabbed by a mysterious ghost from the other end. The portal suddenly stopped working afterwards. Jack and Maddie found out about this after reviewing security footage in the lab, which they coincidentally didn't have when Danny had turned into a ghost.

After the whole incident, they hid the fact that Jazz and Danny had an older brother for years and take their time getting the portal to work again so they could save their son. Years pass and Jazz suddenly has a dream about Flynn and eventually confronts their parents over what happened and they tell their kids everything.

As for Flynn, Butch goes off in a tangent about a ghost who was responsible for the uprising and rebellion against Pariah Dark. I forget her name, but it was edgy and she honestly looks like a cartoon concept design for Thor's sister in Ragnarok, but if she had a Spiderman appeal to her.

Anyway, once Pariah was sealed away in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep, she wanted to rule the ghost zone fairly and with justice. Or something. However chaos ensued now that the ghosts were free to do as they please without Pariah's wrath hanging over their heads. Over time, trying to keep balance in the Ghost Zone took a toll on “Thor’s sister” and she one day stumbled across and open portal and saw Flynn on the other side. She essentially kidnapped him and raised him to be her soldier for justice. Like the Winter Soldier.

The logic for this was that humans have ghost powers in the Ghost Zone. I mean, yeah they can fly and phase through things, but it was never actually mentioned whether or not humans had super strength in it. But go off Butch. Then he goes on to explain that in some reference to the Ant Man movie, over time Flynn just sort of gained powers as he became "one with the Ghost Zone" and became a powerful protector called "Exodus." Then Fartman went on to mention it was a reference for a machine in the Halloween episode.

So yeah, eventually Danny finds him and they've kind of got that dynamic of "I think you're the bad guy in this situation" when they aren't and duke it out until Danny eventually convinces this dude they're related. Oh yeah and Flynn had no memories of his human life.

Gonna be honest, I might have misremembered a few things but it’s honestly close enough.

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

The issues I have with this concept are as follows:

⦁ Jack and Maddie have essentially been the direct cause for 3 people being harmed (and sorta killed) in some way by their Ghost Portal experiments. This doesn't even border on negligible at this point. It basically is, especially considering they should have learned not to let Danny near their experiments after losing their first son.

⦁ They come off as criminals considering they hid all traces and knowledge of Flynn from Danny, Jazz and most likely all family members and didn't even report his disappearance. They even had cameras in their lab and that honestly puts across the idea that they disabled them in case one of their other kids gets hurt.

⦁ There's already a ghost who considers himself to be the law of the Ghost Zone and it would appear that Butch forgot he created Walker for that exact purpose.

⦁ The female character who was responsible for putting away Pariah Dark honestly isn't well fleshed out. She can imprison the most powerful ghost in existence but is essentially useless at stopping lesser ghosts from causing chaos? Even if she did have help, how exactly was she capable of such a feat to begin with?

⦁ This messes with the cannon a bit considering there are some plot holes that can't really mix well with the established story.

I saw some of these concerns were also mentioned by the Phandom. Giving Butch the benefit of the doubt here, I don't hate the concept but I think it needs to be worked on more. I've read about what some people's opinions were and at least the ones that gave real critiques had some good ideas. Like maybe making the sibling either Jack's or Maddie's and it would have helped with their obsession of ghosts.

I have my own plot hole filled ideas with how this could maybe be told better. I'm not a storywriter and this might come off a little edgy, but man I love coming up with ideas. So here's mine:

-------------------- 

My Story:

After the incident with Vlad, Maddie and Jack decide that their ghost hunting days are over and resolve to live a normal family life. They have their first son Flynn, who had solidified their decision to quit ghost hunting and settle. After a few years, Jazz and Danny were eventually born and it seemed they had the perfect life.

One day while vacationing in a wooded area (location can change), Flynn had wandered not too far from the camp. Then a flash of light suddenly burst in front of him and he could see a whole other world. Jack and Maddie were alerted to the sound and ran towards where it came from. They gasped at what they saw and knew exactly what Flynn was staring into; a ghost portal. 

Before they could yell for him to stay away, a hand suddenly reached out and pulled Flynn in, the portal immediately closing as soon as he entered. Maddie and Jack were devastated. No one believed them when they explained what happened to their son, and this incident became the catalyst for them to start their ghost hunting careers again.

They worked tirelessly for years to get the portal to work again. Jazz had eventually chalked up their obsession to being a coping mechanism because they couldn't handle the guilt of losing Flynn and were in denial that he was gone. Danny was more of a social outcast than ever because people assumed his parents had something to do with Flynn's disappearance.

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

Now with regards to why Flynn was pulled into the Ghost Zone, I would actually like to think Clockwork played a hand in it. I watched the Blood of Zeus recently and I kind of wanted to play around with an idea that inspired this next part.

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

Clockwork knows that Dark Dan was never going to stay imprisoned forever. The fact that he still exists, even outside of time, was an omen he needed to heed. So maybe he meddled with a few future possibilities. Maybe he tried to get Maddie and Jack to realise Ghost Hunting was something they shouldn't mess with after hurting Vlad, which led to their decision to settle for a family. Maybe... He wanted Flynn to exist for a purpose.

He was the one who pulled Flynn into the Ghost Zone. Clockwork told Flynn that he would be the key to saving the future from Dark Dan, but withheld information on who he really was until he was old enough. He taught him everything he needed to know on how to defeat Dark Dan and trained him over the years in combat.

Going off the idea that Danny is kind of really average in comparison to the rest of his family, Flynn is a technological prodigy. He created weapons that Vlad could only dream of creating and can utilise technology that puts Tucker to shame. Once he was old enough, Clockwork finally revealed who Dark Dan was and how he came to be.

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

As for the fighting portion of everything, I'm honestly not too sure how I could go about writing it. Obviously they team up to destroy Dan for good and Flynn gets reunited with everyone. He might actually prefer to stay in the Ghost Zone and be Clockwork's assistant. Idk.

This is as far as I can go with regards to the story and it was super fun to write. Hope you guys enjoyed reading it too!

[ashintheairlikesnow]

WIP Wednesday: Whumptober Previews, Take 2

I still have a few more to go, but I am in the final stretch for writing my @whumptober2020​ pieces! I already posted one preview of what I have so far (you can see Days 1-12 here), so here are previews for the rest of what I have written - and sneak peeks at what’s planned out but not written yet! 

Whumptober starts tomorrow - we’ll see how you feel about my work this go-round! Last year, Whumptober Day 1 introduced Daniel Michaelson. This year... it starts with Danny, too.

Day 13:

“Vanni, they thought he was you.”

“I know, Ridley!” Rossi never snapped at Ridley, but here it was, and Connor forced in a hitching, shaky inhale around the tremendous, inescapable weight pressing down on him, determined to keep breathing long enough to understand. “I know they did.”

“And they fucking poisoned him and then dumped him to fucking die-”

“I know!” The two men went silent for a second, Ridley staring with shock at Rossi and Rossi glaring furious towards the window without looking back. Connor’s breath, rattling in his struggling lungs, was the only sound in the room.

Day 14:

Peter glanced over his shoulder, back towards the house. The thermometer had climbed a little more, reading 98.5 degrees Farenheit now, and Peter blinked as he shivered again, swallowing without any saliva. His mouth felt dry, and strange. Why was he shivering - how did he have goosebumps - if it was almost one hundred degrees?

As if he’d heard Peter’s thoughts, the side door opened and Micheal came out, wearing his weekend outfit of slim black slacks and a pale heathered gray t-shirt, what Madam allowed him to wear. He was carrying a glass of water with ice and a little striped straw stuck in the top. The black shock collar he was never allowed to remove - not yet, Madam said, not until Micheal learned how to be silent without needing encouragement, to her satisfaction - cut a wide band across his neck, the black box small and nearly perfectly blended in at the back. 

“Peter,” He said in a low voice - not quite a whisper, but just as quiet. “I brought you a drink, I-” He looked up, squinting towards the sky. “It’s hot. Should you be out here?”

Day 15:

He drops back to the ground, groaning, eyes fluttering open and shut, before he reaches out to grip onto Ora’s arm again. He turns to look at them, and his eyes are glowing so brightly he can see the reflected light on Ora’s face, the flicker of yellow against their irises. There are things that move beneath the light in Ryan Michaelson’s eyes, and he no longer feels them pushed back under the surface of his skin. 

“I’m so fucking hungry,” He whispers, and his fingernails dig into Ora’s arm until they begin to bleed and whimper, but they don’t - can’t - pull away. Not until he lets them.

They will be lost in his eyes until he decides to let them go.

Day 16:

Count to ten, Tris! One… two...

Her voice is so loud he jumps, but when he looks to the left, nothing’s there. Just the white walls, plain and featureless, white tiles that were smooth under his fingertips back when he was allowed to touch them. 

Everything is cold, and the boy has been shivering for so long that his muscles ache from the constant tense-and-release, tense-and-release, struggling to keep him warm.

Day 17:

She giggles a little, then glances over her shoulder, mouths something at the cameraman. Oliver can guess what. Edit that out.

Kelly Donahue doesn’t want the episode to be aired with her giggling like a schoolgirl at a bit of idle flattery. Well. Everyone has their things they like to hide, don’t they?

She has her giggle. Oliver has a teenage boy locked in his bedroom.

Day 18:

“Your mother,” Patrick interrupted, with gentle violence, “believes that you are squandering an opportunity.”

“An-... a what-”

“We respect your decision - and your brother’s - to refuse interviews, especially at his early date.” Patrick sounded like he’d rehearsed this answer, delivered with the same smooth cadence he had during his speeches before the Board of Directors. “But, considering the effort it took us to find you-”

“The effort it took Nate to find us,” Ryan corrected, ice growing along his veins at the same time it took over his voice. “Nate. It was Nate who watched the videos, it was Nate who talked Abraham into showing him the yard, it was Nate who spent fucking night after fucking night trolling fucking satellite photos to try and find us. Don’t act like the effort came from you. It came from my brother’s goddamn fiance.”

Day 19:

“If this is a trap, I’m going to owe Gavin fifty bucks.” Vera checked and rechecked her handgun, as though it would suddenly be less loaded than it was just a few minutes before. Her jaw was set in a grim line, eyes flashing a kind of damped-down fire, embers ready to spark. Her thick black hair, showing growing hints of gray, was pulled into a tight bun at the nape of her neck, and she wore a pair of black pants and a tucked-in t-shirt, ready for the fight she was definitely expecting. “I don’t want to owe Gavin money, Isaac.”

“It’s not a trap,” Isaac replied, making his own nervous check and recheck of the table and chairs. “I don’t think it is, anyway. My instincts are saying it isn’t.”

“Your instincts-”

“My instincts have been spot-on for a decade, Vera. Just trust me on this. She let us pick the day, the time, the location… she let us give her the location with less than four hours’ notice, even. If this is a trap, she’s piss-poor at setting it.”

Day 20:

He’d been flying, and the fall had been worse than the arrow, at first.

The sudden burst of white-hot pain had stunned him, caught him mid-spin enjoying an early-morning chill, and sent him tumbling to the ground below.

He’d heard his own frantic keens of panic and fear as if from a distance, and then they’d been drowned out when he slammed into the trees, feathers flying all around him as they were ripped free by the branches he smacked into one after another on the way down.

Day 21:

"Mmhmmm. Christopher. Stanton." Nat listens for a long time, then says quietly, "No known health problems. Autistic."

Jake looks up, and Nat calmly looks back at him, while speaking into the phone. "Yes. Yes, I'm confident. He is sensitive to fluorescent lights, scared of needles, and terrified of sedation. Yeah, I realize that I just described the exact environment we’re sending him into.” Chris whimpered, and Nat’s voice went ragged, her eyes closed tightly against the sight of his face pale, sweaty, twisted with pain. “Listen. Just-... just put on the fucking papers that Christopher Stanton is fucking autistic, because that's what my goddamn rescue is - I'll sell someone else's firstborn to fucking Satan if he isn't, mark my fucking words - and we're wasting time while he gets worse!"

Day 22:

Rossi picks the glass up and just as he tilts it up to his lips, Connor rears back and up on his knees and swings one of his hands, the black leather ‘paw’ smacking into the rim of the glass and spilling it in an arc across Rossi’s suit, onto the table, soaking his cards and hitting the next person at the table right in the eyes.

“Connor, what the fuck?!” Rossi’s voice isn’t furious, not yet - he’s too shocked to get beyond the simple surprise.

Day 23:

The drugs in his system weigh him down, he is too exhausted to understand what’s happening or how to begin to fight it. His eyes keep trying to close and stay closed, and he whimpers, forcing them back open.

“Pozhaluysta…” He groans, collapsing forward against the heavy solidity of the man, the soft tailored fabric of his expensive suitjacket, the scent of clove cigarettes that clings to him like a woman’s fingers clutching tightly. “Pozhaluysta, otpusti menya…”

Day 24:

“My name is Melody,” The girl said, nearly extending her hand, but then she realized the creature’s right hand was nothing but wickedly sharp talons, and it was bound in front of him to his left. “Oh, I’m sorry. What’s your name?”

The creature blinked once, twice. Watched her, tense and maybe suspicious, and then shook his head. “No… no name.” He spoke slowly, as though words came only with difficulty but a soft little trill sounded under one voice, layered it with another. “Pet.”

Day 25:

“Wh, where, where, where-where, where am, am I-”

“Sssshhhh.” The person in the dark blue uniform presses a plastic-gloved hand to his shoulder as he tries to sit up, pushing him back down. “Hey no, you gotta stay steady, there. Don’t move.”

“Please-... please, sir, h-hurts-”

“Not sir,” The person says, gently, a bit of auburn hair falling over their forehead. “Can you see?”

“K-Kind... kind of... hurts-”

“Sssshhhh. I know. I know it does. Just hang on. Tori’s going to help me get you some paperwork going. Don’t worry, kiddo.” The person pats him, lightly, and then looks up, brown eyes scanning the hallway outside. “You’re not the first we’ve pulled through this.”

Day 26:

Calon Nie hummed to himself, tapping talons on the floor, watching the boy sit so still, as though stillness could protect him from the dangers of the world. “Good. Failed, you, to keep new eyes. Costs a life, to give something new. Killan Josta, human boy, he fail Calon Nie. He fail the life given, when eyes don’t work. Did not respect sacrifice.”

“I’m… I’m sorry,” The boy said hoarsely, curling in on himself even more, his wings instinctively curling protectively around him. “I… I don’t want anyone to d-die for me. I didn’t mean to-... I didn’t mean to fail. I, I tried to p-pray for them, to stars, to-”

“Paugh! Mysteries do not hear you.”

Day 27:

Jake answers, and on the other side of the door, the old woman stands holding a large cardboard box in her arms, her grandson present, as nearly always, at her side. He holds a large box, too - so big, in fact, that only the top half of his face is visible.

“They’re sayin’ it could be a week before we get power back,” Ruth says, with a world-weary sigh. “A full-on week. We figured we’d bring you some supplies.” 

Day 28:

Ora Collins is hungry.

Day 29:

Jake is a tall man, but the emergency room always made him feel so small. Even now, part of him rehearses the scripted stories. I fell while climbing a tree. I crashed my bike. I tripped going down the stairs.

He has lies to tell today, just like he always has, but today the lies are for Chris, not himself.

He’s my brother. No, different dads, that’s all. His mom lives a few states away, I handle all his medical stuff. 

Day 30:

(AKA Possession, Part 2)

Ryan and Nate take down Abraham Denner.

Day 31:

Danny is left for dead.

[dani-halfa]

Danny phantom season 3 rant

So i have been thinking about writing and explaining why season 3 felt so weirdly paced and why i think it's writing is mixed bag.

I'm aware this has been covered hundred of times. Despite this i would like to share some of my thoughts.

Firstly, i thought about what people like when they talk about this series. The conclusion i came up with it's:

Characters and character development

The worldbuilding

Episodes about mature and dark themes (Think about The ultimate enemy)

Good and funny antagonists

Ghosts and ghost dimension

Then i thought what made season 3 fail and the reason why it didn't work.

So for starters:

Characters

One of the main highlights of Danny phantom is strong characterization and character arcs. They may be not perfect.. Nevertheless,the characters are well defined and each one feels unique.

What went wrong in season 3?

The answer to this, I believe, it's the lack of internal conflict. In all of the 13 episodes which this season has maybe only 2 of them the characters really change.

I'm talking about D-stabilized (Valerie and Dani) and Forever phantom (About popularity and how gaining too much attention can be dangerous)

The rest of them is main conflict it's beating the bad guy of the week. Not too much else.

This is when i talk about Danny and Sam.

I have nothing against this pairing. They have decent chemistry together. My issue is that in season 3 is the only relationship that seems to develop and many episodes which focus on Danny are about this.

It would be fine if it was a subplot or there were other things happening in the same episode.. but when it's your only arc.. it felts empty.

Antagonists

Other thing that i like about danny phatom is the villans. Every villain has their own personality, design, motives, likes and dislikes. No one it's like the other.

Some of them have backstories and actual explanations of why the choose to attack Danny. Like Ember, Vlad, Valerie...

Then season 3 came and the main antagonists became forgettable.

Their designs are really cool. The problem was that they lack motivation beyond destroying the world. The were more like big monsters which existed for Danny to show his powers for rule of cool.

I don't remember too much about them except for design and powers.

The only new antagonist i liked was Amorfo. He was someone who didn't have his own identity so he copied others to gain attention.

Mature themes

Now what lessons did season 3 have?

Because if you leave D-stabilized and Forever phantom.. you have nothing worth of analyzing here. Maybe.. Eye for an Eye, about how we can get carried out with pranks.

Still the lessons and themes weren't as interesting as season 1 and season 2.

Think about Danny learning to overcome his insecurities. Think about Valerie falling for Danny. Tucker and his phobia of hospitals.. Season 3 didn't have these things.

Worldbuilding and ghosts

The worldbuilding in this season it's actually not that bad. There are few new cool interesting concepts that were introduced. First, the ghost core and second, the infinity map.

In "Boxed up fury" we get to know about the pandora box. It's a shame it only was for one episode.. i found it's lore very mysterious. They could have written an arc with this.

I wasn't very fond of Danny being "the chosen one". He is great because he fights without having a destiny. He knows he can use his powers to stop evil ghosts from hurting innocent lives.

I forgot to mention the detail that some ghosts consider Danny as a hero for freeing them from the Ghost King. That's nice continuity.

Vlad's characterization

One of the main reasons i really like Vlad is for his motivations. He isn't your generic villain that wants to conquer the world or power.. he has already all those things and more.

His wants Maddie and Danny to be his family. He wants to get revenge on Jack. Even if revenge it's a little cliche.. i prefer this over "generic bad guy".

For him, it's very personal. He thinks Jack ruined his life with the ghost portal accident. He was his friend and Jack "betrayed" him in his mind.

And in season 3... he's nothing of these things.

Like, his motivations are changed. Suddenly he's a different character who only cares about power and money.He becomes a dull typical saturday cartoon villan

Some fans believe he snapped after "Kindred Spirits". I think it's a good explanation for this change. The problem is that is never justified in the series.

First he makes pranks on Danny, then he wants the infinity map, after that gaining popularity and then he wants to create more Danny clones...

Not saying it's bad he has more than one goal.. but make up your mind,please!

Conclusion

So there you have it, i explained my points of why this season is a bit weak in comparision to Season 1 and 2. I didn't hate Season 3. It's decent at least. It just is not as well written as the previous seasons.

[five-wow]

considering what we now know, one of the last of these i might ever get to do: i watched 10.18! thoughts under the cut.

the previously on reminds us of adam’s yakuza problems, so i was braced for that, and then we get an establishing shot of the mcgarrett house instead! and suddenly steve is ironing a shirt on a towel in his kitchen again, and for a moment i was extremely confused because this is very clearly not the same shot as in the valentine’s episode but it’s also... the same thing?

BUT THEN, of course, we get steve raising a finger and going “don’t” just before we’re shown that danny is SITTING ON THE KITCHEN COUNTER WATCHING HIM, again i might add, and danny hasn’t even said anything yet but steve is already defensive and claiming that he likes ironing (which i love, that is a wonderful headcanon) and as far as déjà vus go, this is one i do not mind in the slightest. this is, in fact, the exact content i come here for.

okay wait, EVEN BETTER, danny seems to be sitting on the counter... reading a book? he is... in the kitchen, reading (writing in? idk) a book (in a room where there are zero chairs, which is usually where people locate their asses when they read books), while steve is also in the kitchen, ironing a shirt? dear lord. danny moved in and suddenly eddie wasn’t the only guy following steve from room to room in his own house anymore, i guess.

waiiit, steve is going on a date with emma. that is. not bad, just, so very confusing. (potentially very much a lie, omfg. that kind of confusing.)

HAH. i’m not the only one who went “?”, because danny doesn’t believe steve either.

fdjkfd steve asks alexa for his schedule to prove he’s telling the truth but what this really proves is that if it’s a lie, steve had the foresight and intention to put a fake appointment in his calendar, which i would in no way put past him. that’s the easiest thing in the world.

also, danny casually dropping in that he bought alexa for steve? i??? danny is just “casually” hanging out in rooms steve is hanging out in while it makes no sense for danny to be there, buying steve presents, pulling steve’s pigtails by questioning everything he does when he gets the chance, and that’s? that’s normal now?

junior!!! junior pops into the kitchen!

and he’s GOT A DATE TOO, which is a) WONDERFUL and b) a reason for danny to start describing tani which is fascinating and c) a reason for steve to say “well you know what, i think it’s great that you and tani are giving it a go, bud”, which is super cute and it’s A+ to know they have steve’s official stamp of approval (i mean, he’s their boss, that could’ve somehow gotten awkward), but also leads to a shot we get of danny pulling a face that’s kind of “ugh” and “yeah right” mixed into one and just. you know where i’m going with this. if you’re on this blog and you’ve read this post all the way to this point you definitely know where i’m going with this, but yes, this is absolutely danny mentally yelling that it sure is great THEY’RE giving it a go, steve, and doesn’t that potentially inspire you to ruminate on something going on in your own life, like, say, how you feel about your best friend and partner who also works on the taskforce with you and has a big mouth and whose name is oddly close to tani, actually, for that matter?

steve gets a call about shots fired at adam’s building and i’m just now realizing i’m only two minutes into this episode. i’ve spent at least ten times the amount of time rambling that i have watching anything. gonna need to shake that up a little bit.

fdjkfd lou and hpd enter adam’s apartment and they find at least three guys in actual gear, all dead, and adam curled up on the floor in what looks like sleep clothes, with blood all over him, and a) is adam literally superman now? but also b) even if i do accept that it’s possible he killed all of those guys before they managed to hit him anywhere vital even once, then how did he get smeared in blood that evenly all over? did he roll around on the floor before he curled up in the corner? i’m not an expert, but i feel like that’s not how a person would look after fighting off three attackers and presumably shooting most of them.

oh BOY. adam, with a crazy glint in his eyes: “i’ve been trying to dismantle kenji’s operation for months now. and i finally have the evidence to do it.” i both unexpectedly like this, and already low key hate it for how it’s probably going to be used as the show’s way of clearing adam from all the completely bonkers things he’s been doing all on his own with zero authorization or backup and bringing him back into the fold of five-0 as a somehow still trusted team member.

oh dang. opening credits do their thing, and then there’s no pause to check whether there’s even actually any actual evidence on that thumb drive adam was holding, but we just jump to swat, adam, lou and junior rolling up to kenji’s house and engaging in a huge shootout.

adam is now the lone dude pursuing kenji through the dark woods, who is also alone, of course. they brawl, adam gets the upper hand, and he gets a chance to shoot kenji which he doesn’t take, and then he calls for emts (good! this is good!) and extremely dramatically tells kenji “you were right not to trust me. i was working for five-0 the whole time”, and it just sounds like such a weird brag at this point. so i guess adam never went to the bad side again, suddenly? he just... keeps pretending he does over and over, and the criminals on this very small island keep being stupid enough to trust him, which honestly, is on them.

adam keeps bragging and oh gosh, tell me there’s a twist here and this is not just his victory lap. there’s so much of the episode left that something has to go very wrong about adam’s nice plan to wrap it all up neatly.

aha! it’s implied that letting kenji live might go badly for adam because kenji has information about adam that is bad for him. they did not completley forget that adam did crime stuff!

noelani seems to be at a funeral and we meet her parents and they don’t exactly seem super proud of her achievements, which i think we were told in the past, but now we’re shown, and it hurts my heart.

oh noooo. noelani gets to the open casket and immediately finds marks on the body that she clearly thinks are suspicious. that’s! not going to go well, gosh.

fdjkfdjkf adam and steve are in steve’s office and steve basically just went “so your plan to fight the yakuza was to join the yakuza” and adam very seriously goes “yes.”

steve is very not happy and adam doesn’t truly seem to grasp why and then steve’s phone rings and there’s a case, which is very nice timing for adam. saved by the bell.

so five-0 is on a ship that got robbed by pirates but it’s all very mysterious, and then they realize there might still be a pirate on board and they split into search parties and it’s junior and tani as one (who start talking about their missed date), and steve and danny as the other (who are not shown talking about dates, but who knows), and just. i love watching both of those duos work together, and the junior-tani vs steve-danny parallel is once again very in your face, hah.

tani gets locked in a kitchen with the pirate and junior is outside freaking out and that’s angsty but then junior and steve finally break through the door in a combined effort and they and danny rush in, only to find tani has already solved the problem without their help. YES. GOOD CONTENT.

jkfdfjdk over on the island, quinn is now helping noelani intimidate the coroner who wrote a bad report on noelani’s uncle’s death and that is ALSO very good content.

dfjdk lou welcomes most of the team back to hq and asks “anybody left pining”, which he follows up with the rest of a sentence about the high seas, but UH. YES. i know some people who might be pining.

lots of plot stuff happens and it’s genuinely interesting to watch, but also, oh my god, quinn and noelani are making me cry.

fjdkfd tani goes to meet one of the guys from the magnum pi crossover and he says he’s still waiting to hear back from quinn about the dinner he was hoping to have with her, and i like that because my lesbian quinn headcanon is still going strong.

quinn and noelani encounter a teen trying to get out of gang life who might be on a wealthy person’s hitlist, and my first thought is just. put the kid in the mcgarrett house. not only will he be instantly adopted by steve (and thereby gain a complicated network of siblings), but he’ll also be living in a place where he’s protected by not one, not two, but three members of five-0, two of whom are former seals. just. aside from the dire lack of beds, it would be so good.

jfkdslf, steve, danny and junior find the pirates and a room full of bags of powder that looks like drugs but probably isn’t, seeing as it killed the pirates, and then a small army rolls up outside and starts shooting at them, forcing them to take cover in the room with the powder, which starts dusting the air as the bags get shot. i love how the writers made the circumstances work here, omg.

I LOVE THE WAY THAT PLAYED OUT EVEN MORE, because it made a) for a very interesting shootout with clear stakes, and b) for a somehow both hilarious and potentially super angsty moment when danny is fairly affected by the powder, which has to bring up some bad sarin gas memories for him, and then steve shoots one last bad guy right over danny’s head and danny’s ears are ringing and he yells something and steve doesn’t understand him and just kind of pats his back in comfort, which in turn gives me strong driving-a-nuclear-bomb-through-the-woods, name-your-restaurant-Steve’s-please flashbacks, oh my gosh.

tani makes a REALLY LAME PIRATE JOKE and i LOVE HER.

quinn got the whole team together at a bar so noelani wouldn’t be sitting at home alone!!! the type of supportive female friendship i want to see!!!

and then quinn wants noelani to come dancing with her, but the magnum pi guy shows up and noelani tells him that maybe he could take her place. GAY QUINN IS SOARING. also, poor woman. this has strong vibes of danny setting steve up half against his will.

tani and junior watch quinn and the guy dance and decide to join and/or dance fight them in the best conversation ever, and it looks they’re all having SO MUCH FUN and it makes my heart happy.

what ALSO makes my heart happy is how much i enjoyed this episode, because i thought there would be a lot of yakuza stuff after that “previously on” and the beginning, but adam just kind of disappeared after his talk with steve, and suddenly there were two entirely unrelated plots which were both very neat and gave me so, so many character interactions i adored, ahh, how wonderful. i love season 10 so much.

[ladylynse]

Okay, so I haven’t seen a lot of Dude, That’s My Ghost!, but I do know Danny Phantom, and @wolfsongroar​ was more than happy to get a crossover as a thank you for their donation to my ko-fi. (Thank you again!) Set sometime after Danny gets his ice powers and in season one of Dude, That’s My Ghost! since I’ve only seen episodes from that season. This is longer than I’d expected it to be, but I doubt you think that’s a bad thing.

Danny is sick of falling through portals to places unknown. Billy, on the other hand, is delighted that he has another fan who can see him--even if said fan isn’t as adoring as he should be.  [FF | AO3]

The impact knocked the breath from his body. Danny barely had time to get his wits together and look up before the portal he’d fallen through (been thrown through) closed above him. He groaned and lay his head back down in the crater he’d made in the asphalt.

Sometimes, he really hated natural portals.

At least he was resilient. Nothing broken. He probably wouldn’t even be bruised when he changed back.

…which, considering this wasn’t Amity Park and ghosts weren’t the norm, he should do sooner rather than later. He didn’t want to accidentally terrify anyone while he tried to find out where he was. Besides, if he managed to get a message to Wulf or call Cujo to him so he could get back home through the Ghost Zone, they’d come to him whether he was Phantom or Fenton.

“I need to get out of here,” Danny muttered, getting to his feet with a wince. He was going to be sore for a while, but he was used to that now.

He’d crashed into the middle of the street (of course), but he didn’t have to look far to know his instinct had been right. Wherever he was, it wasn’t Amity Park. Amity Park didn’t have palm trees. Or buildings so fancy they had to be surrounded by a tall stone fence. (Okay, so Vlad’s mansion had had one once, but he hadn’t rebuilt it after the first time Danny had destroyed it.) On the upside, it looked like the right dimension and the right season, judging by the green grass and sunny skies, so at least the portal hadn’t spit him out into a different realm or time. Probably.

First things first. He needed to figure out where he was. Then, he could figure out the best way to get home. The coast was clear, so he changed back and flicked intangible to get off the last of the asphalt dust. He’d probably still stand out like a sore thumb in jeans and a t-shirt in a neighbourhood as rich as this one obviously was, but normal clothes were still less conspicuous than HAZMAT suits.

Danny started walking down the street, trying not to look around too much or otherwise draw attention to himself if anyone walked by. He had to pass a town sign at some point.

XXXXX

Spencer was glad when his phone started to ring. He was trying to come up with a new idea for a movie, and all Billy kept pitching was something that inevitably starred him. “C’mon, bro-man! I’ll play the invisible man and rescue all the ladies!”

“Just…hold that thought.” Spencer grabbed his cell phone and glanced at the display before answering. “What’s up, Rajeev?”

“Dude, was that you and Billy just now? I thought you weren’t going to start without me!”

“Was…what? What are you talking about?”

“The thing that fell from the sky! You shooting an alien horror movie this time?”

“The what? What thing?”

“By the school! Was that seriously not you?”

“Uh, no.” Alien horror movie sounded good, though. He could work with that. “Let’s go check it out. I’ll just—”

“Already on my way, dude. You and Billy should get a move on. I think that’s the news truck pulling up.”

Spencer blinked, but Rajeev had hung up before he could ask for any more details. “Something weird’s going down at the school,” he said.

Billy’s form twisted. When it settled, he was wearing a deerstalker and holding a giant magnifying glass. “I love a good mystery!”

Spencer rolled his eyes and grabbed his video camera, not willing to miss this opportunity if there was a good story to be captured. “Let’s just see what’s going on first.”

XXXXX

Danny ducked into an alley, trying to figure out what to do. People had noticed. Quickly. More quickly than he was used to, but then again, everyone in Amity Park was used to this being a near-daily occurrence. Besides road closure announcements, the scene of a ghost fight didn’t make the news after the ghosts were gone unless people were trying to rally to make Ghost Insurance a thing. (It would never be a thing. Nobody who needed it would be able to afford the premiums. Even he knew that.)

Considering how his day was going, if he showed up at the scene of the crime, he’d be accused of causing it. They wouldn’t be wrong about that, since he had, but it would definitely be inconvenient, even if he’d have no trouble phasing out of whatever holding cell they stuck him in until they could contact his parents. Of course, walking away from the place everyone seemed to be flocking to would raise major flags, too.

He could go invisible for now.

He couldn’t stay invisible until he got back home.

Danny stuck his head around the corner, looking back the way he’d come and trying to figure out what the best option was. Stay invisible for an hour and then pretend to be an out-of-town visitor? Give up and try to fly to the next town over, even though he didn’t know which was the best direction to go? Try to find whatever passed as the tourist centre for this place and steal a map? (He’d pay for it, but he didn’t actually have any money on him. It’s not like he’d expected to wind up in the middle of nowhere—or, rather, the middle of somewhere that wasn’t home. Or somehow connected to Vlad.)

“Hey, Spencer, what’s up with the dye job? Your mom force you to try out all her second-rate hair products?”

What? Danny turned, and the tittering group of girls fell silent. “Uh….”

The blonde girl in the middle sniffed. “Who are you?” She was the one who’d spoken before. He had a feeling she’d wanted to add an insult to her words now, but he knew that look. She wasn’t sure she could afford to, not until she knew it wouldn’t be a mistake.

Which begged the question of who she thought he might really be. It’s not like he was remotely intimidating as Fenton. (He wasn’t particularly intimidating as Phantom, either, but his reputation spoke for itself.)

The girl rolled her eyes when he didn’t answer right away and waved a dismissive hand in his direction. “Oh, whatever, you’re not going to be important if you’re skulking in an alley.” She turned and swept off down the street, toward the gathering crowd, her entourage trailing behind her.

An older man in some wannabe secret service getup watched Danny for a moment longer before following. Danny hadn’t even noticed him until he’d moved, too busy staring after the girls and trying to figure out if he needed to worry about them. But bodyguard guy? He’d probably just committed Danny’s face to memory. The girls might forget about him, but this guy wouldn’t. Especially when it came to the search for the perpetrator.

He’d been in an alley.

That screamed suspicious person.

What had he been thinking?

“I better make sure I don’t need to do some damage control,” Danny muttered. He didn’t bother going ghost before turning invisible; he didn’t plan to stick around for long. He just wanted to get close enough to see if he needed to deal with anything before he split.

XXXXXX

Billy kept up a running commentary all the way to the school (it was his job to keep Spencer entertained and act as his muse, since all his best movie ideas came from Billy) and dropped him off around the corner so no one would get suspicious. Spencer ran to catch up to his friends—Rajeev and Shanilla were already there—and Billy waved to them before zipping over to see what all the fuss was about.

The fuss was about a hole in the road.

That was boring.

Why were they here?

The police were trying to push the crowd back so they could cordon off the area, but still. Boring. It was a crater. No big deal. He could make plenty of craters.

“Nothing interesting here,” he announced as he floated down to join Spencer and the others. “It’s just a hole.”

“A crater,” corrected Shanilla. “Caused by an object falling from the sky that they haven’t located.”

“So someone ran off with it. Who cares?”

“Or it broke apart on impact into a million little pieces that we’re breathing in and the alien dust is going to kill us all!” Rajeev chimed in.

Shanilla sighed and kept filling Spencer in. “There’s no telling when they’ll release an official statement, but the police chief did say we shouldn’t worry about this becoming a regular occurrence. Most space debris burns up before it ever reaches the surface.”

Spencer blinked. “You really think something fell from space?”

Rajeev grinned. “Where else would it fall from?”

Spencer glanced at Billy. “What?” he said indignantly. “This isn’t me! Not everything that happens is because of me! Only the good stuff.”

“And all the ecto-contamination,” Spencer muttered, but he couldn’t properly respond to Billy anymore than the others could, not when they were in a crowd like this where everyone was straining to hear—

Wait.

Billy squinted, peering across to the edge of the crowd on the other side of the street.

That kid was definitely looking at him.

Well, maybe just at Spencer, Shanilla, and Rajeev. Billy grinned and waved just in case. The boy paled but raised his hand in return. Ha! Awesome! The new kid was a Cobra fan! And properly intimidated by the idea of meeting his idol. Well, of course he’d be a fan, he had style like Spencer did, and only the stylish had something of the Cobra’s.

Billy did the natural thing: he flew over to introduce himself. Not that he needed the introduction, but he’d do anything for his fans. They liked all the introductions and hand shaking and signed paraphernalia. Billy grabbed the kid’s hand and shook it vigorously. “Billy Joe Cobra! Please to meet you, my adoring fan. Don’t feel you need to hold back on the adoring. I can take it. I’m even better than everything you’ve ever heard about me!”

The boy blinked. “Uh…hi?”

Billy looked him up and down, but he couldn’t recognize anything the kid was wearing. “Where’s your Cobra gear?” He dropped to his knees and pulled up the kid’s jeans. “Those aren’t my socks, are they?”

The boy jerked back. “No!”

“My underwear?” The boy gagged, so clearly not. “Maybe a guitar pick in your pocket?”

“I didn’t steal any of your stuff!” the boy hissed, retreating farther.

“Billy, what are you doing?”

Billy turned, not realizing the others had followed him. He lengthened his arm and wrapped it around the new kid before the boy got the wrong idea and thought he needed to hide the truth from Spencer and the others. “Meeting my newest fan! Spencer, Rajeev, Shanilla, this is—” He broke off and looked expectantly at the boy.

The boy kept his mouth shut and glared.

“Seriously, stop goofing off,” Spencer said. “Every time you run off like that, I think Hoover got you.”

“How is meeting my adoring fans goofing off?”

Spencer raised his eyebrows. “Really? We’re doing this now? There’s no one here who can see you besides us.” He gestured towards Rajeev and Shanilla.

“Yeah, and my new fan,” Billy said, using his free hand to point to the boy who was currently sulking in his embrace and otherwise not acting like the adoring fan he should.

Spencer, Shanilla, and Rajeev exchanged glances. “Dude,” Rajeev said quietly, “you get hit by some of that alien dust? It’s just us.”

Billy looked at the boy.

The boy scowled back.

“You can’t…see him?”

Shanilla frowned. “Is there another ghost?”

The boy wasn’t offering up any information, but his feet were planted firmly on the ground, and what kind of ghost chose to stay landlocked when they could pull some sick moves in the air? Besides, he looked human. Although clearly if the others couldn’t see him, something was up.

Maybe a little ecto would fix it.

Sure, that hadn’t gone super great with Spencer by the end of the day, but most of it had been beyond chill. And, okay, so there were plenty of times that ecto had made things worse. But if the dude was already invisible to them, this wouldn’t make him more invisible, and—

“Just give us something of his if there is,” Spencer said, holding out his hand.

The boy ducked out of Billy’s grip at that, turning and running up the street. Back to Plan A, then. Ignoring the others, Billy spit a wad of ectoplasm into his hand, rolled it into a slightly more solid gel form, and conjured a bat.

He promptly dropped the bat in favour of flying to keep up with the ball, ready with some more ectoplasm just in case, while Spencer, Rajeev, and Shanilla ran after him. After them.

The boy ducked, and Billy’s ectoplasm sailed high and hit a parked car. The kid skidded to a halt and stared as the car began to glow blue. “Oh, crud,” he said.

Billy took advantage of his distraction to throw a glob of ectoplasm at the back of his head. Then, as the boy reached to wipe it off, Billy sneezed and covered him with more ectoplasm. Just to be on the safe side.

The boy blinked as ectoplasm dripped off the end of his nose. His eyes changed from blue to a bright, glowing green. Not the standard reaction to ectoplasm, but, well, there wasn’t really a standard reaction to it. “I fixed you!” Billy said. “Now they’ll be able to see you. Probably. I think.” He turned, catching sight of the incredulous faces of his friends, their disbelief visible even from half a block away. Grinning, he turned back to the boy. “Yeah, they can see you now! It’s all good!”

The boy pointed at the car, which had started revving its engine and flashing its lights at them. “You call that all good?”

“There might be a teensy bit of room for improvement,” allowed Billy.

“Billy! What did you do?” Spencer gasped.

He was staring at the car, which had turned so that it was now facing all of them. He could hear its tires spinning and could smell burning rubber. Not that that mattered to him.

“I, uh, made my friend visible?” Billy said, pointing at the boy.

He glanced over, blinked, and looked again.

Correction: he was pointing at where the boy had been.

His ectoplasm lay in a puddle on the ground, but the boy was gone.

That was a new reaction to ecto. Well. Maybe. Maybe it wasn’t. “Um….”

“Just clean that up!” Spencer yelled, pushing Shanilla out of the way when she didn’t react fast enough to the oncoming car. “We need to fix this before everyone notices!”

Party poopers. Billy stuck his finger in the ectoplasm and sucked it back up. Rajeev was currently trying to lure the car away from the crowd below, but he wasn’t exactly the fastest runner in the group. That’s okay. Billy could play matador with the car until they got this sorted out. And then he could find his new friend.

XXXXX

“I hate possessed technology,” Danny muttered. He’d phased down into the sewers to transform before shooting up the skies to figure out the best way to take out the newest threat without causing more damage than necessary. Ideally, he’d get help from Tucker or another technogeek, but Danny kinda doubted any of the ghost’s friends were technogeeks. The one boy, Spencer, had had a camera with him, but he just didn’t have a technogeek vibe. Maybe because he wasn’t joined at the hip with a PDA or phone or something that could hack into something else.

Danny sighed. He should’ve known something would go wrong even before his ghost sense went off. And he should’ve done something about the ghost the minute he’d realized he wasn’t the only one in town. But the ghost—Billy Joe Cobra, apparently, whoever that was—had seemed friendly enough. He hadn’t caused property damage (at least not that property damage), possessed people, or stolen things or anything like that.

Until he’d infused a car with his ectoplasm.

And…whatever he’d been trying to do to Danny.

At least his ecto-snot wasn’t phase proof like the Fenton Foam. It hadn’t been as gunky, either; more like getting drooled on by Cujo than anything else. Really, Danny had been through worse.

Billy seemed a bit like Klemper, actually. Friendly and more destructive than he realized since his good intentions didn’t pan out the way he expected. Clearly. Except Billy was way more egotistical than Klemper, on par with Vlad, and acted more like Youngblood than Ember. Not that Ember didn’t cater to her fans, but she drew power from them. Danny wasn’t sure this guy did.

And then there was the whole fact that he could see Danny despite Danny being invisible, and no one besides the three kids had been able to see the other ghost.

Danny knew he hadn’t encountered every possible variety of ghost, but the differences were starting to give him a headache. Why couldn’t things be normal for once?

Oh, right, he was a Fenton. Normal was never going to happen. Not even the Fenton version of normal, which had all kinds of allowances for the supernatural.

Below him, Billy was waving around a red cape at the car and trying to lead it away from the crowd. Good. The three teens— There. Following at a cautious distance. One of them, the girl, broke off and headed into a building. The boys must have discussed something, since only one of them waited for her while the other peeled off to help Billy.

Okay. So. No Tucker. Possessed vehicle. And the ghost who had caused said possession was willing to fix it. That had to be good, right? He could go down there and try to drive the car (not that he knew how to drive), try to fry everything important with an ectoblast, or attempt to ice it in place. Or, y’know, pick it up and throw it in the ocean. Except the last one wasn’t likely to solve the problem in the long term, even though the other three should buy him enough time to deal with it.

Why did these things always happen when he didn’t have a thermos on him?

XXXXXX

“Shanilla’s buying nails!” Spencer yelled as he chased after the car. “But that might not work. You need to get me inside!”

“No problemo, bro!” Billy said, dropping the cape he’d been using to taunt the car. It vanished before hitting the street.

Spencer tried not to think about how many things could go wrong as Billy picked up him and transformed into a slingshot.

This was a terrible idea. Like, a really, really, really bad one. But it was too late for regrets because Billy had released him and he was flying towards the car and flying had been a lot more fun when he’d been a ghost and—

The car was closing its windows so he couldn’t get in.

Spencer threw his arms up in front of him and expected the worse.

Instead, he felt someone catch him. And then he felt the hot leather of the car’s seat beneath him. He blinked. “Wha—?”

“Can you drive?”

Spencer turned his head and stared. There was a kid floating above the passenger seat. A ghost with white hair and green eyes and some kind of black jumpsuit thing and— Why could he see this guy if he didn’t have any of his stuff?

“Look,” the ghost said, “just…brake, okay? That’s the left pedal. Or middle if there’s three. I’m going to try to freeze the car.”

Spencer frowned. “That’ll just make it skid into something.”

“Not if I manage to get it stuck first.” The ghost boy hesitated. “Um, you might wanna buckle up, though. Just in case.”

Wordlessly, Spencer reached over and did up the seat belt. The ghost boy flew out of the car, or at least stopped moving with it and let it move through him. And then it started to get cold, colder than it ever did in Beverly Heights in the winter, and—

Spencer stomped on the brakes.

The wheels locked.

The car started to slide.

Billy made a big show of trying to stop it, and the car passed right through him.

Spencer was turning the wheel, but it did next to nothing to correct his course. Maybe because he didn’t dare take his foot off the brake. It might help, but it might also let the possessed car take control of itself again, and he was whipping around wildly enough as it was on the newly-formed ghost ice.

The car didn’t slow until it had done a full twelve-sixty, and then it lurched to a stop. When his head stopped spinning, Spencer realized Rajeev and Shalina were running towards them—Shanilla with a pack of nails and Rajeev with his video camera. He sucked in a steadying breath and tried to keep his lunch down.

“Bro! That was super chill! You’ve gotta show me how you did that.”

“Deal with the car you possessed first!”

Spencer raised his eyes and saw Billy talking to the new ghost. “I, uh, don’t know how,” Billy admitted.

The other boy rolled his eyes as the car shuddered beneath Spencer, trying to break free. “It’s your ectoplasm. Call it back to you. You can obviously contort your body. It’s…kinda like that. Probably more like shapeshifting. I don’t know. Just…unpossess it.”

The ghost boy walked over to the car, muttering to himself, and shot some more ice out of his hands towards the wheels. Spencer shivered.

The ghost tapped on the window. “Are you okay?”

“I…guess?” He was alive. That counted. But he was shaking too much to undo the seat belt. “I just, uh….”

“Here.” The boy reached through the car door, grabbed his hand, and then pulled Spencer out. Through the door. And then he took him about ten feet away and held him steady on his feet and—

“Wh…why—? I mean, how—? You…you’re…but you’re a….”

“Ghost?” The boy was smirking. “Yeah. You can call me Phantom.”

Original.

Spencer turned his gaze to Billy, who was hovering above the car and poking its hood with one finger like he thought it might try to bite him.

“I’m, ah, a different kind of ghost,” Phantom said. “I don’t have the same powers as your friend. Ghosts are all different, but everyone can do the basics, like intangibility and flying, even the less advanced ghosts.”

“The what?”

“Never mind. If you don’t know about them by now, you don’t need to worry about them. There can’t be too many portals that open here anyway. The one I fell through was probably a fluke or a once-every-hundred-years thing. I mean, that is just my luck.”

What? “Portal?”

“Spencer!” Shanilla and Rajeev were suddenly there, hugging him, and the ghost boy had stepped away and left him sagging in his friends’ arms. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, just….” He couldn’t see Phantom anymore. Had he dropped something and not realized it? Had Phantom pulled something out of his pocket? Maybe he’d given something to Spencer when he’d caught him and then taken it back?

“Who’s the new guy?” Shanilla whispered.

Spencer followed her gaze and saw Phantom again. “He calls himself Phantom.”

“Stage name?” Rajeev asked.

Spencer shook his head. “I don’t think he’s a dead celeb.” He was too…normal. “He said he came here through a portal.”

“What portal?” asked Shanilla.

“No clue.”

Phantom had popped the hood of the car, and Billy was floating in the middle of it, neatly cut in half. Spencer had seen Billy pass through things before, no question. He was a ghost; that didn’t take any effort at all. He’d also seen Billy grasp normal objects before, and sometimes move them with his mind, and that seemed to take a bit more concentration on his part.

Phantom seemed more comfortable interacting with the physical world than not. He pointed at the glowing blue engine, and Billy tapped it. The car’s glow swelled for a moment before dimming to nothing, and the engine finally quieted and shut off completely.

“Looks safe now,” Rajeev said, pulling them along towards the ghosts.

“Spencer! You’re safe!” Billy wrapped his arms around him before stepping back and grabbing Phantom, pushing him forward. “You guys need to meet my new fan!”

“Your what?” Judging by Phantom’s expression, he hadn’t expected to hear that coming out of Billy’s mouth, either.

“The one you couldn’t see until I doused him in ectoplasm!” Billy enthused. “I mean, it reacted to him differently than it did you, Spencer, but it still gave him ghost powers!”

“Wait,” Phantom said, “you—?” He looked Spencer up and down. “You have ghost powers?”

“Not anymore. Just when his ecto was in my stomach.”

Phantom made a face. “You ate his ectoplasm?”

“He threw it down my throat!”

“It was a good shot,” Billy agreed. “I don’t know when the rest of my ecto is going to come out of you, but we can have a lot of fun in the meantime!”

“Huh?”

“That’s why they can see you now,” Billy said. “Because they can see me, and you’re wearing my ectoplasm. Most of it, anyway. You’re picking this ghost thing up really fast. Even faster than my main bro over here did.”

Phantom was shaking his head. “No, I’m not, uh, I mean, this isn’t because of you. I mean, the car is, that’s on you, but me…isn’t.”

“Aw, c’mon, bro-man, you don’t need to be shy. I never forget a fan.”

Phantom stared at him. “They can see me because I’m not invisible.”

“And you’re not invisible to them because of my ectoplasm.”

“No,” Phantom said slowly, “this really has nothing to do with you.”

“I saw your eyes change colour and everything,” Billy said. “You just got a colour scheme makeover like Spencer did. Except his clothes didn’t change like yours did. And you got my rockin’ ghost powers. Including that ice thing, which is new. I didn’t know I could do that. How, exactly, did you do that?”

“I thought you said he wasn’t from around here,” Shanilla said, just loudly enough for Phantom and Billy to hear. “Or did I misunderstand what you meant by portal?”

“You didn’t. I don’t even know where here is.”

“It’s the home of the Cobra! Which you know because you’re a fan. I’m the reason you came, isn’t it? Go on, you can admit it. I know how my presence can draw—”

“I don’t even who you are!” Phantom burst out.

Billy pouted. “You don’t need to pretend you’re not the same person for their sake. They’re my bros, man. They’re cool.”

Phantom groaned. He turned to Rajeev and pointed at Spencer’s video camera. “That’s not still on, is it?”

Rajeev handed it to Spencer, who checked it over just to be safe. “No, I never had a chance to turn it on.”

“Good. Keep it off.” Phantom sighed, and a bright ring of light appeared. It split apart and travelled over him in a flash, leaving behind a black-haired boy about their age.

Billy glanced at them. “You can still see him now that the ecto wore off, right?”

“I don’t think it was your ecto,” Spencer whispered. “There’s nothing left behind.”

Billy frowned. “Are you sure?” He started picking through Phantom’s hair, and Phantom just looked resigned.

Shanilla was staring at him. “You do look a lot like Spencer. Not just the haircut, but your clothes—!”

“Of course a girl would notice that,” Rajeev muttered, and Shanilla elbowed him in the gut.

Phantom gave them an uneasy smile. “Yeah, someone else already mistook me for him. Look, this is hard to explain, but, uh, let’s just say I got ghost powers like Spencer did, except they haven’t gone away, and I can control them more now. And I, uh, was travelling, and I got ambushed, sorta, or maybe just attacked, I’m not sure, and then I got thrown through a portal and wound up here. Any chance you can tell me where I am?”

“Beverly Heights,” said Spencer.

“California,” Shanilla added.

“U. S. A.” That earned Rajeev another elbow, this time in the side, and he frowned. “What? He might not know!”

“He speaks English with the same accent, doesn’t he?” Shanilla hissed.

“Oh. Right.”

“It’s fine. I’m, ah, from Amity Park. It’s in Illinois. I just need to figure out how to get back there—”

“I’ll take you!” Billy volunteered. “And you can show me your ice trick and tell me how we can hook Spencer up with some awesome ghost powers and—”

“No, you do not want to go through what I did to get these. Trust me. Especially when it may not work.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I won’t turn down the ride, though.”

Spencer stared at them. “If you’re actually going to do this, Phantom—”

“Danny.”

“Danny. Okay. But if this is going to happen, we need maps first. I’m not sure Billy can navigate—”

“That’s what Otto’s for,” Billy said, waving off Spencer’s concerns.

“You broke your auto-pilot!”

“Pfft, that was in my jet, not my good plane. It’ll be fine.”

“It was barely fine last time!”

“Wait, you have a jet? And a plane?”

“We didn’t have my birthday party on your good plane?” Rajeev looked between him and Billy. “You threw my party on your bad plane?”

“I threw your party on Billy’s jet,” Spencer corrected, “because he didn’t tell me he had a good plane, which is just as well because we basically destroyed the jet.”

“Mmm. Fair enough. So just a small, private party to break in this new plane, right?”

“It’s the good plane, not the new plane,” Billy snapped, “and I am the only one allowed to throw parties on it.”

“We don’t need to throw any parties!” Danny interjected. “I just need to get home. Sooner rather than later. My parents are going to freak. Not to mention my sister and my friends. My cell phone got iced up in the Far Frozen, and I don’t want to try turning it back on yet.”

“What’s the—?”

“It’s a long story. Um, how long do you think it’ll take to get there?”

“The usual flight time is probably about four hours,” Shanilla said.

“And the Cobra’s gonna get you there in half that time! Less! C’mon, ghost-bro, let’s get you at cruising altitude.”

Danny shot a wild look at Spencer. “Do I want to get there in less than half that time?”

“Probably not. But we’ll come with you in case something goes wrong.” At the doubtful look on Danny’s face, Spencer added, “It’s summer. No one’s going to miss us. And then maybe we can hear your story? We’ll tell you ours.”

“And you can show me your ice trick!”

“Not while we’re in the air!” Shanilla shrieked. “One near death experience from flying is enough!”

Billy laughed and grabbed them, whisking them towards the airport before anyone could say anything else.

It was going to be an interesting flight.

[cookieswriting]

So I’ve done it again...you can thank my dad for introducing me to Blue Bloods and my boy Jamie Reagan.  Naturally, I’ve gotta show him some love in the form of beating up on him a *little* bit.  I am only on Season 3, but I’ve seen enough on Tumblr to love me some Jamko already.  This is set before they get together, but after they acknowledge their feelings for one another.  Since I haven’t seen the later seasons yet, throw this somewhere in between there for me and call it good? Haven’t decided yet how long it’s gonna be, but at least a 2-parter.  

Also...for anyone waiting for the next part of Make This Right (SEAL Team), please please please don’t hurt me! I’m trying, I really am...I think the whole fear of not getting renewed and then the events of the latest episode have me somewhat shooketh, soo I’m trying. I promise.

Prompt: Take Me Instead Fandom: Blue Bloods Characters: Jamie Reagan, Eddie Janko, Danny Reagan, Frank Reagan

The call for an alarm at a jewelry store a block away from where Jamie and Eddie had taken their break set the partners into motion immediately.  Jamie slid behind the steering wheel while Eddie grabbed the radio.  “Central, show 12-David responding to the alarm at Taylor’s Jewelry.”

As soon as they arrived on scene, the pair could see figures inside looting the store.  Without a word, they slid out of the car and approached the shattered door, guns drawn.  “NYPD! Come out with your hands raised and we can all get out of this in one piece!”

Jamie’s command garnered no response, so he gestured for Eddie to follow him in carefully.  He registered four perps dressed in black, no visible weapons - until one was swung around in their direction, stalling in Eddie’s direction.  Without hesitation Jamie shouldered her back, and was not surprised by the sharp crack of a gunshot.  The impact of the bullet twisted him into Eddie’s stunned arms, but it still took a moment for the pain to hit.  She supported his weight as his knees buckled, softening his collapse while redirecting her eyes desperately around them.  

“Get back! Drop the gun or I will shoot!”  With her left hand Eddie fumbled with her pocket to pull out a pressure bandage, blindly feeling around her partner’s chest for the point of impact.  Jamie did his best to guide her hand towards the source of his blinding pain, glad that she was keeping her focus on the thieves.  Once he found the wound, he tapped once on her wrist, and sucked in a hiss when she pressed down firmly.  

“10-13 at...Taylor’s Jewelry...shots fired...at police,” Jamie reported into his radio breathlessly, dropping his head back against Eddie’s thigh.  His partner continued to shout orders, firing a warning shot when one of the unarmed thieves tried to dart past her.  He tried to lift his gun as well, but knew that his aim would be too shaky to be effective.

“Mind telling them to roll a bus while you’re at it, Boy Scout? I’d do it myself but between keeping the blood inside you and these idiots from taking any more shots, my hands are a little full,” Eddie bit out, desperation thinly veiled behind her anger.

Before he could, though, sirens echoed and the faint red and blue of police lights flickered in the distance, and the demeanor of the room changed.  The thief with the gun tensed, which had Jamie tensing as well.  “Son of a bitch! There’s no way we’re getting out the front now...and I’m sure they’ll try to cover the back too.”

“Let’s take them with us, some leverage to get us clear.”  Eddie turned her gun on him when he leaned their direction, and Jamie’s mind went into overdrive.

“You don’t need both of us,” the blonde man growled, forcing himself to sit up despite Eddie’s attempts to push him back down.  “Let her walk...just take me.  I’m all the leverage you need.”

He winced when she pressed harder against his now-bandaged wound.  “If you don’t shut up, Jamison, I will shoot you myself.”  

“And what makes you so special, cop?”

“Jamie!” Eddie hissed, panic clear as he held her gaze.  Tears filled her eyes despite what he knew was a colossal effort on her part.  He held her stare as he responded, silently asking for her forgiveness.

“I’m the youngest son...of the Police Commissioner of New York City. I’ll go quietly...if you let her go.”  He finally turned to look back at the perps expectantly.

The ringleader lowered his weapon and canted his head, seriously considering the offer.  Eddie pressed her forehead against the base of Jamie’s skull, and he could feel her trembling.  It killed him to put her in this position, but he’d rather her hate him for this than put her at even greater risk.  “Please don’t do this, Reagan…” she begged, voice finally breaking.

“When have you ever let me down, Janko? You and Danny will have this handled in no time,” he murmured quietly before returning his attention to the man now looming over the partners.  “Do we have a deal?”

“Go on, sweetheart, run off and tell your bossman that we have his kid and will be in touch.”  The man reached down and jerked Jamie to his feet, ignoring the uncontrollable yelp of pain.  Eddie scrambled up as well, gun aimed at the man holding her partner.  Warm steel pressed against Jamie’s temple, but he refused to flinch away.

“It’s okay, Janko...please, go,” Jamie insisted gently.  He could read the despair in her eyes, and knew how difficult it was for her to take each step backwards, away from the perps and towards the safety of the NYPD cars screeching to a halt by the front doors.  With any luck, his brother, also working the graveyard shift, would pick up on the situation and be one of the first responders.  Eddie would need family there to back her up.

Edit Janko could not remember a time that she’d felt so terrified and helpless as she backed away from her partner, barely upright in the arms of a damned jewelry thief, watching her with all of the confidence and trust and reassurance she’d ever seen in his eyes.  Part of her hated him for playing the hero...but then he wouldn’t be her favorite boyscout if he’d done any different.  “Officer coming out,” she called over her shoulder, eyes not leaving Jamie’s until the perp jerked Jamie around to the back door.

“Make sure they give us clearance, lady cop, or your partner is dead!”  

As she backed out through the doorway, a hand settled on her shoulder and startled her.  “Easy, Eddie, I’ve got you...where’s Jamie?” Danny’s voice was both soothing and nauseating; how could she tell him to call off the rescue of his injured baby brother? She turned to face the detective, and smothered a sob.

“T-they took him...we have to let them go or they’ll kill him.  H-he said he would ‘be in touch’ with your father…”  Danny, suddenly pale and tense, glanced over to Baez who immediately began calling for the rest of the responders to stand down before returning his attention to Eddie and gently tugging her gun from her shaking hands.  

That was when he apparently noticed the blood. “Eddie, are you hurt?”

Eddie finally looked down, and nearly threw up at the deep glistening red staining both hands.  “It’s...it’s not mine.  It’s not mine, Danny...he took a bullet for me, and then surrendered himself for leverage to protect me...Goddamn boy scout…” This time, she failed to hold back her sob.  Danny grasped both shoulders, and ducked his head until she met his gaze.

“Hey, hey, Eddie, look at me.  This is not on you, do you hear me?  This is who Jamie has always been...hero is ingrained in his brain.  Let’s get you back to the precinct, get your formal statement and get you cleaned up while we wait to hear from the PC.”  She heard his words, but could not help but to blame herself for her partner being taken hostage.  Baez guided her to their sedan, and eased her into the backseat, careful to steer clear of her hands.  

The ride to the precinct was a blur; memories of the pain lining Jamie’s face flashed across her mind repeatedly, along with other things she could’ve done to prevent...this.  It wasn’t until the door was opened for her that she realized they’d arrived, and Baez’s sympathetic face brought her from her thoughts. Get it together, Janko...his family must be going through so much worse right now.  Despite the attempts to shake herself from her thoughts, Eddie didn’t even notice when she was led to a chair.  

All she could see was the red, suddenly back in her line of vision as her hands draped between her knees.  A morbid sense of awe seemed to settle onto her shoulders as she lifted her hands, numbly observing how it had pooled into the lines of her palms.  Jamie’s blood...her best friend’s blood...and she’d just abandoned him to be taken by jewelry thieves willing to shoot their way through a couple of cops.  

“What did I say about blaming yourself, hm, Officer Janko?”

Tears burned at the backs of Eddie’s eyes when Danny knelt before her, a gentleness to his voice that she’d never heard before.  “How can you be so comforting to-to the person responsible for the abduction of your brother?”

“Jamie always says you’re too stubborn for your own good.  I haven’t been quite where you’re at, but I’ve been close...and I know how much that wrecked me.  I didn’t have to fight to keep my partner alive only to be forced to walk away from them anyway.”  He glanced down at her hands, and steely resolve tightened his features.  “I’ll have my time to freak out once we get him back.  Right now, I know that there are two things that Jamie would expect me to do: make sure you’re okay, and bring him home.  Since I can’t do the second part until those assholes make contact, I’ll take advantage of the time to focus on the first part.  He’ll kick my ass if I let anything happen to you.”

Eddie gave a wet laugh, and scrubbed at her cheek with the back of her hand, belatedly realizing that it would streak blood on her face, which seemed to be her tipping point, and a sob wrenched from her chest.  “God, Danny...I just walked away from him...I just left him bleeding, couldn’t do anything to stop the perp when he pulled Jamie out of my arms. I...what if we don’t get to him in time? What-”

“Come here, c’mere,” Danny insisted, shifting to his chair beside her and drawing her against his side.  “There is nothing that you can do to change Jamie’s mind once he’s made it up.  Why don’t you walk me through what happened?”

She sighed heavily, desperately trying to calm her breathing and process what was going on in her mind.  “We responded to an alarm at the store, Jamie ordered them to exit.  W-when they failed to comply, we approached.  One of the men turned a weapon on us, which is when Jamie knocked me back and took the bullet.  I trained my gun on the perps while also trying to apply pressure bandages to the wound, which Jamie was able to help me with.  When they saw the lights coming they panicked, and when one of them mentioned taking us, Jamie told them he’d go quietly if they let me go...because he’s the commissioner’s son.”

“That sounds like my youngest,” a deep voice intoned from behind them.  Eddie’s head snapped around to see the commissioner, and before she could even make the move Danny could feel her prepare for, Frank stepped forward and waved his oldest son away and smoothly took his place in the chair beside her.  

“Sir...I can’t say how sorry I am for letting this happen...Jamie-”  The blonde was stunned into silence when her partner’s father pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and took one hand gently, wiping his son’s blood clean the best that he could.  The tender gesture felt like forgiveness that she didn’t deserve, and brought on a whole new round of tears.

“Jamie made a judgement call in the middle of a dangerous situation to eliminate the threat to his partner.  You are not to blame for this...we will find the men responsible and bring my son home, and you will be right there beside Danny when we do.”  He cleaned her other hand with just as much care.

“Sir, we need you to take a look at this.”  Danny, Frank and Eddie all turned in unison as the Captain stepped into the room, gesturing towards his office.  Dread settled into the pit of Eddie’s stomach, and she rose alongside the Commissioner, steeling herself to see whatever was waiting for her boss; Jamie deserved that much at the very least.

[parmesangirl]

on the new Iron Fist series

So after binge watching a ton of Marvel’s new Iron Fist series, I went onto tumblr, wondering what the fandom was up to now, what with all these new gifs and stuff to make. ‘Maybe I would find some fan art or something’ I thought innocently to myself,

BUT BOY WAS I WRONG

instead, I was greeted with SO MUCH DISCOURSE on how Iron Fist ‘needs a chinese-american actor’ or ‘has terrible dialogue and is slow’.

the best part is when I found out that some of y’all are trying to get this show boycotted like ‘????’

Now as a Chinese-speaking Asian female, living in Asia, with an Asian background and a good know-how of Chinese history, as well as a decent knowledge of comic books, (although I confess I got into the animated series first) I’m here to end the discussion before y’all get your full rage on and start fighting fans of the show like it’s Lord of the Flies up in here

So keep reading if you want to be educated or if you just want to fight me before you know what you’re even talking about

“THE SHOW INSULTS CHINESE CULTURE”

Uhhhh…no? I’ve seen a few episodes and I mean so far there isn’t really anything that screams ‘insult’ or even offensive in the slightest. Besides maybe the fact that they take the beliefs and twist them a little bit but honestly even that ain’t that bad as to what I’ve seen elsewhere.

I’ve read the boycott post and let me say that yea, they dressed him with an eye for Asian elements, but maybe that’s because it’s supposed to be resembling Asian clothing? I mean how is that offensive? Is it the part that it looks Asian? Or that you simply feel that white people that direct these shows should not be using Asian stuff for entertainment? Because I hate to break it to you but it’s still not offensive. Even the dragon tattoo is totally fine because it’s supposed to resemble Asian elements yea but also have y’all read the comics? Because he punched through a dragon and basically took it’s heart. So I mean a dragon tattoo kinda matches the theme.

I mean in the first episode they speak almost flawless Chinese for Pete’s sake! Hell, I was surprised that they even had it in them to have a non-Google translated line. Sure the accent was a little overdoing it cuz not even I have that thick a Chinese accent but I’ll excuse it since he was apparently learning and speaking 15 years. (I speak it maybe a few times a day for like the last 14 years or so only)

So no, the show doesn’t really insult Chinese culture, sure they might be ignorant, but you must understand that after generations of stereotypes and misconceptions that that can’t just go away with one show

“Danny Rand should be played by an Asian guy/be a Chinese-American”

I can’t even begin to tell you my frustration about this.

Y’all do know this show is based on the comics right?

You know, the one with the white guy.

I know Marvel is infamous for not including enough representation in their shows but seriously? This is like the Harry Potter thing all over again with Hermione being black, it’s not that we don’t want representation or anything, but it’s the fact that this hero that us comic fans have come to already love has been replaced. Or at least it feels like it. Like when a movie is made from a book and people go crazy because character XYZ suddenly has different traits or isn’t quite what was described as compared to the book.

Frankly, it sucks.

So even though yes, Marvel should have more Asians in their shows, don’t expect them to completely give the main character a makeover, even if the makeover was supposed to provide representation. And honestly? I don’t want them to change him because I really freaking love Iron Fist, just as he is.

“This show just villainizes Asians”

So you tell me that my race is being made villains because Marvel decided that most of their Asians on their shows are evil ninjas (aka the Hand) and at most there are like 3 sorta good Asians. Oh and I’m sorry, you want more Asian men that are good guys? You want a balance of Asian heroes?

Well I guess that would be kind of hard to fit into the story since, oh, I don’t know, everything happens in the USA?

If you want more Asian characters well then look no further because you do have them. Daisy Johnson from Agents of Shield? What about her extremely brave mom? Or maybe Colleen in Iron Fist? Everyone seems to be blatantly ignoring her badassery and only seeing the part where she’s a sorta love interest.

Facts are, there are Asian characters, you’re really just looking hard enough. I agree wholeheartedly when you say that more Asian men need to be in the Marvel universe that aren’t part of the bad guy team but you gotta say that they are still awesome.

Does anyone even remember the Japanese ninja yakuza guy from Daredevil? Dude got set on fire and STILL came back to kick ass. That’s a plus in my book because even though he’s considered bad, he’s been proven to be cunning, smart, and overall awesome.

“The show has terrible stunts/acting/dialogue/fight scenes”

From here on out it’s mostly just me trying to explain why the directors and writers of the show made decisions in the show to make it what it is, so let’s dive right into it.

STUNTS

Actually the stunts weren’t half-bad. If you’ve seen other shows or movies that are heavily reliant on stunts and action, and compare it to this show, they really aren’t that much different. Sure it might seem a little unbelievable sometimes like they’re breaking physics or something, but he already has a glowing fist. I think we’ve crossed the line of believable long ago.

ACTING

I have nothing to say about this except that go and take some acting or drama classes before coming and criticizing these awesome men and women who did indeed try their best

DIALOGUE

Now I get the dialogue might be a little weird at times and what not, but you must understand that this show was partially written with the Defenders series in mind. So almost everything that was said in the show is meant to lead to something more. Thus, you must take it as a bigger picture. Sorta like how everyone said that Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them wasn’t as good as they thought it would be, that movie was also meant to lead on to a bigger story so you might want to excuse the weird speech and cryptic lines at times.

FIGHT SCENES & ACTION

Okay seriously people, please read the comics. Danny Rand is supposed to be an accidental hero, one that doesn’t want to fight unless he really has zero choice in the matter. So yea, the fight scenes won’t be that interesting, but only because the character in question is more interested in ending the fight than anything.

~

So there you have it, my whole slightly angry info-dump on Iron Fist and Marvel’s representation problem in general. If you want to correct me or scold me even then by all means message me or shoot me an ask. But just keep in mind that Marvel can’t make all your problems go away in one show, and please for the love of all that is good read the comics before coming to rant okay?

[lizthefangirl]

Danny Rand: An opinion.

Disclaimer: I did not watch The Iron Fist, nor do I know of his lore beyond what is presented in The Defenders; so mind my ignorance on that front. I wanted to go in seeing him somewhat developed and as part of a unit. The following input is simply my expression of what I gathered from my viewing of Defenders, in hopes to contribute to a larger discussion—it’s just discourse about a fictional character in a fictional show on my blog. Genuinely not a huge deal. Please be respectful in response. Spoilers for The Defenders, ahoy! (Highly recommend it, by the way).

When the first Iron Fist reviews started hitting the web, it was so disappointing. I fully intended to see the origins of the final member of the team seamlessly slide into place, and like a lot of people, was confounded at how Marvel could only execute 3/4 of the protagonists to such a high standard—and fall flat on the one who turns out to be particularly integral to The Defenders’ plot.

First and foremost: Finn Jones is not the issue. I don’t think he’s ever been the principal issue when issues were present. He is a very talented actor; he was excellent on Game of Thrones (which is so unerringly good that I consider it to be one of the ultimate tests of a performer), and plays a similarly caddish character here—though that’s where the resemblance ends. So Finn Jones is fine. Solid American accent, great stunt work; anyone who has to train to play a superhuman is already pretty cool. He can’t help defective writing and politics, poor guy. I don’t blame him for any former shortcomings (including his original haircut).

Now for an analysis of Danny Rand, as played in The Defenders:

. . . I gather that he’s had a rough time. I also suspect that he has evolved in a dramatic way; I saw someone say he was ‘100x more likable in this series’ and found myself baffled at how he might have been portrayed in his own to earn that statement. I think that his primary saving grace in both Iron Fist and Defenders is Colleen Wing, plain and simple. I’m not the first person to say that, but it’s a fact. She fought and vouched for him when I didn’t immediately, and it made me look him closer and ask, What else is here?

I think there are a lot of positive aspects of his character—in this new environment, at least. Like most, I do think his treatment by the others is particularly funny, just because they have no idea how to handle this person and his weird stories, combined with his flippant attitude and high profile. I love that the writers allowed Luke to address Danny’s privilege outright (in addition to showing them both in the odd position of getting their behinds kicked by one another). I like that he’s portrayed as having PTSD early on and that you can see tears in his eyes on multiple occasions; emotional vulnerability in “strong” male characters is something I have longed to see more of in film. He also does end up having some good conversations, especially with Luke and Matt, that really do challenge him.

I also like that he initiated the “team” mindset; he doesn’t see an issue with it at all. It’s like a group project for him; he hasn’t always simmered in solidarity quite like most of the others have. And despite how irking his blind confidence can be at moments, I think it’s kind of great that he just walked into that boardroom and went all “I am the special immortal metal hand” on those folks, and expected to just kind of. . . deal with it. Like that’s cute, sweetie. Good for you, honey.

Here is why I respect him more than I thought I would: He really does try, in the end—and not just for himself and Colleen. You get the sense in his conversation with Elektra (or I did) that at one point in time, he would have 110% given in and opened that door, based on verbal persuasion alone. You also see Guo trying to twist him around, and he tells her she cannot manipulate him anymore. That’s solid development. Also, he offers to use his resources to help the others, and seems almost sheepish about his status. It’s endearing. 

Within their debut seasons, his teammates all managed to: a) come to terms with their abilities, b) defeat at least one [branch] of a big bad, and c) ultimately come out as more of a victor than the opposite—despite losing people they cared about (or in Jessica’s case, really kind of losing all sense of self, security, or control, which is just as awful).

I don’t think Danny completed this arc, though. He lost. Like he straight up did not win his first boss battle. We picked up with him following a vague lead on the Hand (because Bakuto got away). A whole city that he was meant to command died on his watch (which we learn was Elektra’s doing, a person who he couldn’t consider killing because of Matt). He never seemed to find real closure about his parents (Guo slipped out of his reach at the last moment). And above all? We hear frequently that he is nowhere near his full potential mentally or physically. So here’s my big question that I am grappling with, as a writer and a fan: Why should this be such a problem for me? 

I have always believed that characters should be allowed to screw up and be messy—to fail. I find that manner of explicit humanity far more interesting. . . and yet I approached this series discrediting this character. He really is not in the same boat as the rest of them; he has been directly handed (no pun intended) a legacy, a duty, a title. He had an ancient army at his feet. He was trained his whole life to be more than human.

Look at the others: Matt is the most similar (by a long shot); though his abilities were the result of the chemicals that blinded him, he received formal training via Stick. We know little of Jessica’s past besides her accident and corresponding PTSD; she had no training of her powers. If anything, she does her best to mar them. Luke grew up in a city where violence and injustice were prevalent, given his abilities deliberately and without his consent during his adult life. Again, no formal training, just brute strength and a good heart. Now here comes Danny Rand! Twenty-something Caucasian bajillionaire! Batman-like fortune and parental demises! He’s homeless with a side of memory-loss (cough Oliver Queen cough)! Who is he! Teach him kung fu with a pretty, determined Asian lady! He is still rich! Have some Asian culture! A blatant chest tattoo! A glowing fist he can only summon in very selective circumstances! . . . It’s easy to mock, in context.

It’s different, because it’s a riches to rags story. And now more than ever, that’s not a conventional formula people seem interested in, especially with a white guy at the helm (and directly following not only the 2016 presidential election, but progressive stories like Jessica Jones and especially Luke Cage). A lot of people didn’t want to like him. I didn’t think I would like him.

Look. What ends up redeeming this dude for me is the fact that he is still actively developing after nearly twenty episodes he’s been featured in—all within a five month window. Matt is the only one who has had subsequent seasons released yet! Danny’s unusually compact timeframe is the reason I am okay with his sluggish development—because I’m starting to suspect it is at least partially intentional; the pace of his progression is to counteract the abrupt amount of his story unveiled. 

Here is my verdict on Danny Rand and his arc within this new installment: I am tentatively leaning in, reluctantly intrigued. Kind of like Luke prior to his rescue (“I owe him that much”). I almost—almost—empathized with him in his final scene, when he said he felt like he had found a home. . . Then again, Colleen was there, too  I’m mostly kidding.

I can’t say for certain if I’ll go back and watch season one of Iron Fist. I almost like it better having him introduced now—as if this was his pilot. Either way, I hope by the time the second chapter of Defenders debuts (probably around 2045), I’ll actually watch for his individual arc, too, rather than tagging along with his story to see how the others’ got on.

P. S. – The shot when he legit throws thirty people meters away with a punch and triggers one of the coolest fight sequences I’ve ever seen. . . Points for that.

[dannyphannypack]

Hey I've always enjoyed danny phantom (i even bought the complete series) but i was never in the fandom on tumblr. Do you think you could explain a few things for me? (If you have the time) can you explain the hate butch gets, trans danny, why everyone hates lost planet, and this war people talk about (i think it was within the fandom and a few years back, people talk about how it was the worst thing). I started getting into the fandom and I'm hella lost and maybe you can clear this up for me.

hoy boy, my friend, i had to pull out my laptop for this one. let’s see if i can help ease your confusion without typing ten pages of text.

- the phandom war/the hate butch getsbutch hartman has always had a hard time leaving his fans alone to discuss their headcanons and ships in peace. he’s a conservative christian, and therefore makes a lot of people angry when he invalidates/discredits their gay ships or trans headcanons. he’s very “this is my show and i’d like it if you didn’t stain it with your LGBT+ bullshit,” though he’d never say that out loud. so anyways, a little while ago (i don’t know the exact year) butch started talking to the phandom, discrediting their headcanons and ships, etc etc. it created a sort of rift in the phandom, with one side believing that whatever the creator says goes and the other side just really angry that butch stuck his foot out and tried to maneuver the phandom where he wanted them to go. fighting pursued. not sure how it ended, though. i do know, however, that a large reason why danny phantom fanfiction is largely angst/torture is because it was a nice inbetween for those that didn’t want to get involved with the fighting or for those who had their fluffy ship invalidated. fortunately, i wasn’t there for that whole escapade. recently, channelfrederator on youtube posted this video, and in it he goes out of his way to state that danny is the only boy wearing a tanktop in the pool scene in one episode because he burns easily, even though his shoulders and a bit of his chest are still showing, once again invalidating the trans danny headcanon (many of the people who consider trans danny as almost canon use that specific scene as proof, so you can understand the frustration that followed). everyone is just kinda generally mad at butch for a) supporting trump, b) discrediting headcanons, and c) not being a very good creator. the episodes that butch worked on for the show (namely season three) weren’t that good, and frankly, people think that danny phantom would be better off without butch. i kinda agree with them.

- trans dannyi kinda covered it in the above paragraph, but i’ll offer some more explanation here. basically, there’s many scenes that could be envisioned as proof of danny fenton being transgender. in the pool scene that i mentioned above, where he’s the only one wearing a tanktop, and in the same episode when he accidentally runs into the girl’s room, and in THE SAME EPISODE when paulina says “i’d tell you to go to the boy’s room, but i don’t think you’d qualify.” there’s another scene that sticks out specifically to me (and that i see floating around tumblr a lot) where danny tells desiree to get lost and she says something along the lines of “are you sure there is nothing you desire?” and reaches for his chest. immediately following that, danny gets suPer defensive, shouts “hey, get away!” and discovers he can shoot ectoplasmic blasts from his hands. there’s more proof, but i don’t think i need to get into it more. you’ll see tons of it here and there.

- phantom planetpoorly made. that’s all i can say about it. the show had so much more potential and the ending was, admittedly, a huge letdown. here’s a few things that i, personally, don’t like about the finale.

- when it starts, vlad’s ship or whatever blows up. and there’s fire. in space. there can’t be fire without oxygen that is not how science works oh no.

- hOW DANNY BECOMES HUMAN AGAIN MAKES NO SENSE WHATSOEVER ??? HE SHOULD BE FULL DEAD ??? also why did he give up so fast like “o shoot no one likes me let me just gET RID OF MY SUPER AWESOME GHOST POWERS!!! ok.

- why does vlad need more money he’s already the richest person in the world and like ,,, third world countries don’t have that much money to give calm down vladdy

- i can’t believe vlad liTERALLY launched himself off of a podium like “henlo i’m a ghost follow me” and people just went with it. what.

- hOW DANNY BECAME HALF GHOST AGAIN ALSO MAKES NO SENSE ??? also where’d his suit come from. was he wearing that under his clothes what. what.

there’s so much more, and for the full run-down on the disappointments of phantom planet, i’m going to point you toward my friend’s powerpoint. abby did a really good job explaining my frustrations.

- ship namesyou didn’t ask for this to be cleared up, but when i first joined the phandom, i was confused about the ship names. i’m going to list a few of the more popular ones below, but just ask if you have any confusions or would like to know a specific one ^.^- amethyst ocean // danny and sam- gray ghost // valerie and danny- pitch pearl // danny fenton and danny phantom- pompous pep // vlad and danny- savant par // tucker and danny

yeah, this kinda became an essay. it’s a large task, explaining the ins and outs of the phandom. if you have any more questions or would like to know more about any of the things i answered above, please feel free to ask (or message me, whichever you prefer)! i’m going to head off to bed now, but i hope i helped clear some things up for you. the phandom is, quite frankly, a confusing place.

(unedited)

[agentharrisonofshield-a]

▲▲▲▲▲ (at least one has to be about Spooks and one has to be about the MCU :P)

Send me a ▲ for an unpopular opinion@soldierwithoutaname

HOW DARE YOU TURN MY PROMPT AROUND ON ME!  ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU FINISHED FIRST AND TOOK ALL THE GOOD UNPOPULAR OPINIONS!

1. On Spooks.  So I have over 3000 words of meta on this subject waiting to be published but... Adam and Ros were a terrible couple.  They met at the wrong time, in the wrong way, and they were just 150% wrong.  Like I said, I’ve written what amounts to a rambling essay on this topic, so I’m not going to rehash it all here.  But the truest thing Ros ever said to Adam is that the two of them were broken from day one, and even if they could be fixed, she wouldn’t be her and he wouldn’t be him so what would be the point and jfc I just wrote that all out from memory and I’m pretty sure it’s word-perfect someone please take this ship away from me.

2. On the MCU.  *deep breath, prepares bullet-proof shield* I am sick and fucking tired of Tony Stark being in every gods damned MCU film, and not only being in them, but having to have the most screen time and the most character development in every ensemble movie.  Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes were cheated of the characterization and character development they deserved while Tony got completely useless scenes in CA:CW.  CAPTAIN AMERICA’S OWN MOVIE GAVE TONY STARK MORE ATTENTION THAN IT DID CAPTAIN AMERICA.  He was the center of attention in both Avengers movies, too.  The character’s already gotten his own three stand alone movies, has dominated two ensemble films, taken over someone else’s stand alone movie, and now I’m expected to jump for joy that he’s in the new Spider-Man?  GIVE THE OTHER CHARACTERS HALF THE ATTENTION YOU GIVE STARK, MCU.

(I’m still waiting for my stand-alone Black Widow movie.  And my Hawkeye origins movie.  AND FOR CAPTAIN GODS DAMNED MARVEL (to be done properly).  And for a movie about the new generation of Avengers except wait that was smashed by CA:CW.  I’m not bitter or anything.  But I am bitter.  Very bitter.  And the worst part is I like Tony Stark as a character until I start feeling like he’s being shoved down my godsdamned throat.)

(Also Vivian is a very influencing factor because she really can’t stand Stark for entire in-universe reasons and every time I get annoyed about Stark on screen I have her ranting a litany in my ear of why Stark is The Worst Ever.)

3. Idk if this is really unpopular or not but - I’ll never do a follow forever.  Not just because it indicates a level of commitment I’m unwilling to make, given how tenuous the nature of some RP relationships can be (I’ve already had one person who I thought I’d follow anyway go very sour on me very quickly) but also because I’m terrified as fuck of forgetting someone I do consider important and hurting their feelings.

4. Salt and vinegar potato chips are gods’ gift to mankind

5. I’m not feeling Iron Fist?  Like I love Colleen and Claire and Madame Gao but they’ve done a shit job at making me care about Danny?  Like the first several episodes are ‘let me get my billions of dollars and majority share in a company that bears my name back because it’s my right’ and I’m just “.....that is not gonna make me empathize with you.”  Even the way he’s pitted as the sole voice of goodness and virtue against a harsh corporate world that doesn’t care about people, only profits, is so fucking ham-handed.  “I am enlightened therefore I am the true good path” like excuse me while I puke.  

I don’t actually hate Danny?  Just... the writing isn’t making me care about him, the way I was heavily invested in Jessica within 15 minutes, or the way I was aloof about Daredevil but became invested over time, or the way I was feeling Luke’s pain over losing Pops.  Okay, yeah, he lost his parents and sometimes showcases PTSD-like symptoms over that but over all the guy has it all and is just fighting because....   Yeah.  That’s my problem.  

Plus I wanted an Asian Danny Rand so again, I’m biased.

[recentanimenews]

THE GREAT CRUNCHYROLL RE:ZERO REWATCH Prepares for Battle In Episodes 16-20

Hello again, and welcome to the penultimate installment of the GREAT CRUNCHYROLL RE:ZERO REWATCH hosted by me, David Lynn! Last time on Re:Zero, everything fell apart in spectacular fashion for Subaru, and he hasn't taken it well. This week we venture further into Subaru's self-destructive tendencies that last week established, but end up moving toward a resolution every party may be happy with. Most satisfylingly, the issues with Subaru that commenters Pure6Evil and Heavenspiercing brought up last week come to the forefront with the developments here. But how does our panel feel about it? Let's find out!

    Let’s start with the biggest moment, the entirety of episode 18. Subaru’s self-destructive arc ever since the royal selection began comes to a head, and both he and Rem are forced to face their issues. Was this a satisfying payoff for you?

Kara: Yes… and no? From a purely fictional standpoint I really love the scene. The voice actors did an amazing job, Rem’s description of a happy life with Subaru got me in the heart, and it really did seem to be cathartic. If these were two of my real-world friends, I would probably bop Subaru in the head for asking Rem to be his #1 cheerleader right after the bait-and-switch he pulled on her, then take Rem out for margaritas and teach her how to be a good friend to him that still calls him out on his BS.

Paul: I'm glad that Subaru is finally addressing his personality problems, which he admits stems from a deep-seated sense of self-loathing. I'm less satisfied with Rem being there to prop him up. Social support is great when you're dealing with these kind of issues, but it felt like Rem was going beyond that, to the point where she was almost volunteering to annihilate her own self-hood for Subaru's sake, and that's not ideal. At least she shot down the idea of them running away together.

Noelle: I’m mixed on this. On one hand, Subaru being honest with himself, that he’s not a hero, that he is well aware of his flaws and how deeply rooted they are, that’s pretty good! A lot of this segment was him lashing out at things not going the way he ideally wanted, and being able to admit his own flaws was satisfying. Acknowledging faults is the best way to start working past them! Rem talking about how happy Subaru makes her is very sweet, letting herself have some personal happiness. But that Subaru instantly gets better and more charismatic after a girl gives him her love… that’s not really such a good look. Subaru’s problems run deep, and having a heroine in his life that loves him shouldn’t instantly change things around. And it doesn’t! Subaru still feels like the same person, self-hate or no! Give him more confidence, sure, but the way things were handled didn’t leave me too pleased.

Kevin: In short, that conversation is fighting for my favorite moment in the entire show. It does go a bit too over the top with Rem’s later parts, both in terms of animation (why so many birds? Where did they come from?!) and her actual confession, but any time that two characters have a conversation for 15 minutes and it’s engaging almost the entire time, clearly the show’s doing something right.

Joshua: This moment really was a long time coming for Subaru. After shouldering so much pain and trauma from the time loops, it was inevitable that the emotional pot was going to boil over, and spill out. While it’s easy for us and other characters to criticise him, Subaru’s admission that he hates himself was painful to watch. He’s made monumental mistakes like at the royal selection, but he’s also shouldering a lot of blame he can’t even tell anyone about. Having to watch loved ones die over and over, struggling to save them only to fail again at the next stage… I don’t blame him for wanting out. As Rem said though, that wouldn’t be the Subaru she loves. Rem countering Subaru’s self-loathing by pointing out what she loves about him was so sweet and moving. That whole scene was beautiful and a definite highlight of the series for me, although the “I love Emilia” line that sent the fanbase into a rage, sure did end it on a bum note. I just wish Rem could find someone who will reciprocate the love she deserves, because while she may be a demon, she’s an absolute angel.

Jared: I think for me, I don’t know that he’s actually done anything to improve himself. Having a big vent session like that can be cathartic when you’re bottling up all kinds of emotions like he clearly is, but trying to justify all the crappy things he did by saying he hates himself doesn’t do a whole lot for me. The fact that he has an idea where this all comes from is good. He just now has to actually learn from what he did and that’s where I don’t know that he’s actually come to that conclusion or even had it cross his mind. Considering by the end of it he’s back to thinking he’s the only one that can be the hero and save everything. It all just seems like an excuse for him to show why he’s been a complete turd and then have him do nothing to show that he’s going to improve in any sort of way.

Carolyn: I hated it at first. Rem was being super sweet and supportive and Subaru was being extremely self-centered even in his admission that he hates himself. She was telling him how she sees him and he kept turning it around to his own feelings. I loved it when she called him out a little bit… and then absolutely hated it again when she decided to cheer him on when he completely stomped on her heart.

Danni: I’m real glad this little character arc is over for Subaru. I’m not going to lie, it hit real close to home when he came around and admitted he had just been overcompensating for his own self-loathing. Self-loathing is a real vicious cycle. When you spend all your time stuck in your own head you become acutely aware of your own flaws and become paranoid that everyone else is just as aware of them. It’s tough to admit your own flaws and even tougher to own up to them, which Subaru finally did. Real maturity means being able to see things outside of your own point-of-view, and that means trusting in the things the people around you see in yourself that you cannot. I think Subaru took an important step towards maturity by accepting Rem’s love for him, and he showed even more maturity by being honest with her about his own feelings. The worst thing he could have done for her is avoided her feelings or lied about his own.

Austin: Personally, yes. I’ve seen this scene a few times now since I always end up rewatching it when I go to grab screenshots from it and every single time it’s made me cry. I love their putting everything out on the table, I love their monologues and how they paint a crystal clear picture as to what’s going on in each of their heads, and I love the conclusion as the laugh about their future. I was never (and likely never will be) frustrated that he rejected Rem, since it’s clear that he was doing it out of desperation and Rem could easily tell.

  The two sides of this arc—the royal selection and the Witch’s Cult—seemed like completely unrelated events up to this point. Do you like how the show managed to pull them together at the last minute?

Kara: I kind of suspected they’d be tied together because I get very Occam’s Razor about shorter anime (I know this comes from a long-running light novel, but I’ve not read it and we only just learned about a new season). That said, I do like where this is going. I’m always interested in world-building, and this is finally getting us into the meat of a lot of things I’ve been curious about.

Paul: Are they pulled together? I still don't know why the Witch Cult is targeting Emilia specifically, or what stake—if any—they have in the royal selection. With only 5 episodes left in this season, I fear we won't see a satisfying resolution to this story-line, because there's been a whole lot of “mystery box” style set-up and not a lot of pay-off.

Noelle: I’m with Paul on this one, that it doesn’t really feel that cohesive. Several times I found myself wondering what exactly the cult wanted. While I could certainly guess, there’s nothing really concrete to confirm things so far. They’re interesting plot points separately, but it doesn’t feel like they’ve managed to mesh very much.

Kevin: I like it on a conceptual level, because it helps make the world feel more interconnected by having different factions play off of each other. On a practical level, I feel like the Cult got revealed a bit too soon, and without enough gravity. When Subaru is having multiple mental breakdowns and we learn that Felt is the last candidate to lead the country, we don’t care nearly as much about a bunch hooded guys that appeared out of nowhere.

Joshua: The curse of enjoying an adaptation of an ongoing series, is having questions but no ETA on the answers. I think given Emilia’s similarities to Satella, and the Witch Cult’s obsession with the Jealous Witch, a collision course was inevitable. I think Re:ZERO’s biggest issue right now, is a lack of focus. Why was so much time spent building up Betelguese, if the attention was going to shift to the White Whale? His only appearance in this chunk felt too throwaway given how shocking his introduction was... It still feels like early days for the royal selection though, with most of the other candidates only having brief appearances so far. Hopefully as the series goes on, things become more naturally intertwined as these plotlines grow.

Jared: It does sort of feel like they’re trying to patch it together last minute since like some of the others, I’m still not entirely sure why they’re targeting Emilia specifically. I just figured it was due to the backlash in general she’s already faced, but yeah, probably one of those things that can be boiled down to an adaptation of a long series. Sometimes these kinds of aspects get jumbled when trying to squeeze a lot into a certain set of episodes.

Carolyn: Yeah, I’m also with Paul. I’m at a loss as to how it all actually ties together. I feel like there are so many loose ends to this story! But I love it, anyway.

Danni: I’m with the others in that I don’t quite understand why she’s being targeted or what it has to do with the royal selection. I’m guessing it has something to do with her looking like the witch, therefore being guilty in their eyes of impersonation? Which begs the question of why are they only just now attacking? Was she not already well known? I always assumed she was a prominent figure already before the Royal Selection and am now realizing we don’t actually know anything about her backstory at all.

Austin: Echoing everyone else’s thoughts on it not really feeling tied together. I think with the announced second season it’ll get a chance to wrap everything together nicely, but as of now there’s plenty shrouded in mystery.

  A surprise favorite for me is Wilhelm, the knight whose wife was the strongest swordsman and was tragically killed by the White Whale. What did you think about the sudden focus he gets, and largely the shift in tone (and genre?) that the whale hunt brings?

Kara: I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about the whole White Whale thing, but seeing it evolve into what it is has been fantastic. I love Wilhelm (and all those other people) stepping forward for the hunt, and just this sheer wave of emotion people are getting. Wilhelm is the only one with a flashback, but even with the minor characters coming in, it’s clear how many people this has affected. I’ve enjoyed this a lot.

Paul: I'm still waiting for the White Whale thing to come full circle in some sense, in order to complete the Moby Dick reference. I enjoyed the flashbacks to young Wilhelm and Theresia, specifically to how her prowess completely, effortlessly overshadowed his own, and it was fun to see modern-day Wilhelm carving chunks out of his hated nemesis, but I admit all of the literary allusions gave me pause. Moby Dick is a story of self-destructive obsession, and I had no idea how an army armed with swords and spears could possibly prevail over the Re:ZERO equivalent of the Tarrasque from Dungeons & Dragons. I still don't know how they're going to salvage victory from the jaws of defeat after the conclusion of Episode 20.

Noelle: Wilhelm is straight up awesome. An old guy going absolutely ham on a gigantic monster was so, so great to watch. As for his backstory, I think I would have been fine without seeing it, because what they showed more annoyed me than endeared me. It was framed more as Wilhelm wanting his wife not to wield a sword because, what exactly? She seemed to be perfectly capable of doing so and not against it. Having her being dead and him wanting revenge was good enough without those details. Cut the flashback, and I think I would’ve been perfectly fine. The old man is taking this whale to town though, and that’s fantastic. 

Kevin: As a first time viewer, it was really cool seeing someone actually competent at fighting getting to show off. I think the last time we saw an actual fight like that was Reinhard versus Elsa in the first arc, and Reinhard only really attacked once. As a repeat viewer, it somehow got even better, because I know Wilhelm’s backstory going in, so every blow he deals has a lot more cathartic weight behind it.

  Joshua: I’ve been a huge fan of Wilhelm since the series first simulcast, but I totally forgot just how kinetic this old man is! I mean, did you see how cool he looked when he was younger? He totally puts me and my out-of-shape younger body to shame. You gotta think, his body may be grey and wrinkled now, but that badass is still inside. Wilhelm is a very noble, chivalrous spirit. Him thanking Subaru for the opportunity to avenge his wife was a brief moment, but it carried the gravitas of what that meant to him. I’d like to see more of Theresia and what brought them together though. The White Whale Hunt has added a new layer of world-building emotional death to the series that I think it really needed.

Jared: Oh man, Wilhelm ruled. I was really feeling down on the three episodes prior to the White Whale battle and that really turned things around for me. Although, I’m a sucker for big battle sequences. Plus, he made his fight sequences seem like some of the boss fights out of Metal Gear Rising and Shadow of the Colossus. What happens to him seemed kind of inevitable as he was getting all the death flags you could imagine, but I enjoyed his role and his backstory for the most part. Although the weird sexism he throws in when he learns his future wife is the swordmaster wasn’t great.

Carolyn: I love Wilhelm for sure. But I’m a little bit nervous about this big fantasy shift. We’ve had this dark, mysterious story so far and now it’s big and epic and there’s a huge battle and it’s just very different. I’m sure the next week’s episodes will make this all make sense to me. The show has been fantastic so far.

Danni: I said this at some point during the Naruto rewatch and I’ll say it again: I live for stories about old men carrying lifetimes of regret finally returning to the source of that regret for closure. I could say more, but I feel the rest is best summed up in this tweet.

Austin: I really like the focus he gets since it makes the world seem a bit more “alive” by giving the spotlight to characters who have a history in the world everyone else knows. As for the whale hunt, I love the band of everyone coming together under a common cause and my gut tells me the whale is going to end up being important later in the story.

  As we approach the final week, are there any developments you are hoping the story hits upon before it wraps up (for now)?

Kara: Like I said, we know there’s a season 2 coming. And there’s something like ten volumes of light novel? So I’m bracing myself to not get a full payoff. If there’s one thing I could wish for (and probably won’t get) it’s more information on Roswaal’s entire situation. I have so many questions.

Paul: I'd like to know, at the very least, who's responsible for siccing the Witch Cult on Emilia in the first place. That would provide a clear antagonist and a clear goal in opposing them for the second season.

Noelle: I want to know what the cult’s deal is. There are so many unanswered questions of what is the witch and why do they want to do what they do that leave me wondering. I don’t need everything to be mapped out, but the cult doesn’t really have a motive besides kill people, and I need more than that to feel the gravity of an antagonist. I don’t think everything will wrap up neatly, the royal selection in particular, but that’s okay because season 2 is incoming.

Kevin: I’m not sure there’s anything I can say that wouldn’t be spoiler-y in one way or another, so I’ll leave my thoughts about the last arc of the show for next week. I promise, I have thoughts.

Joshua: Having already seen the series, I’m hoping that I pick up on any new hints I missed the first time round that could give me an idea of what to expect in season 2.

Jared: I’d be happy with a decent cliffhanger and getting a better view of a singular antagonist than what we currently have. Stuff like Roswell, the whole royal selection process, the other candidates true intentions, and even Subaru’s goal of trying to save Emilia will probably be left on the table because of time constraints.

Carolyn: Definitely want to know what’s up with Roswaal. I have loved and been suspicious of him from his first episode. And just more of an explanation on the White Whale situation. There are three?! What is going on?

Danni: I just want to see more Beatrice. That’s all. At this rate my Betty reserves will never last me through the winter.

Austin: Back when I watched this for the first time I wanted a meaningful scene where Emilia and Subaru get a chance to talk. Like I said before, I’m hoping the second season ties everything together, so I’m pretty fine with it being this open as of now.

  And of course, what were your highs and lows this week?

Kara: High point was Wilhelm going absolutely HAM on the White Whale. I could watch that for hours. Low point was Subaru managing to convince one perfectly lovely girl who deserves better to help him in his pursuit of a completely different perfectly lovely girl who deserves better and her being like “sure.” I’ve finally realized why people are so protective of her.

Paul: My high point was Subaru admitting that he's been royally screwing up this entire time and then working up the courage to face his problems, to make amends, and to finally start using his head when confronting the obstacles before him instead of trying to brute force his way through every situation. My low point was the sinking feeling I got when I realized there's not very much screen time left for the writers to resolve all of these plot points that they've been juggling. I hope they don't just introduce a bunch of new mysteries and leave us with a cliffhanger conclusion.

Noelle: I have a few highs, one being the negotiation scenes with Subaru and the candidates. That people are not willing to help if there’s no benefit to them, that begging is often nonconductive because that relies on people’s goodwill even if helping would hurt them more than help them—those are some points I don’t see addressed very much. Also, Subaru putting together all the information he got from the candidates during his failed route to make a great negotiation. Naturally, I have to mention everyone coming together to beat up that whale. Low point: the Rem confession scene. That could’ve played out so much better. Rem, you deserve better.

Kevin: High - Dear God it’s hard to choose this week. Pretty much the entirety of episode 18 for Subaru and Rem was amazing (I cite my first answer for the week), but episode 20 for Wilhelm (and a little bit into next week’s first or second episode, if I remember correctly) balanced action and character development spectacularly while also being great on rewatch because of the extra knowledge going in. Low - “I love Emilia.” God DAMN IT, Subaru! As I put in the Rewatch chat “Episode 18, timestamp 23:23. The moment when half of the Re:Zero fanbase decided that Subaru deserves every single thing the plot throws at him.”

Joshua: This batch had so many high points. Subaru’s breakdown and Rem’s heartfelt confession is a big tentpole moment for the entire show, but smaller events like Beatrice’s pained face as she reluctantly sent Subaru to his death left a huge impression too. I also loved the use of an annoying chiptune ringtone against shots of a tense, nervous army awaiting the arrival of the White Whale. It sounds ridiculous on paper, but was so chilling in practice. Also, Crusch. Every time she was on screen was a high point. For a low point, I have to ask: where did Subaru get the authority to negotiate Roswaal’s mining rights? He’s just a house guest and Rem’s a maid, so will Roswaal return home, see the contracts and be “Argh! Not again!”, or does he pay wages with land deeds or something?

While I loved it, I also think the confession scene could have ended better. Subaru, you don’t just ask a girl to elope with you, then say you love someone else. I wish Rem had reacted to it more. Her devotion for Subaru is leading to her taking it all in stride, but she shouldn’t have to. She deserves to find someone who truly appreciates her.

Jared: High point would definitely be the White Whale battle episodes. Wilhelm being real cool during that fight was great, as was everyone else doing their best to try and that big whale down. Also, during the meeting when Subaru produces his phone and everyone looks at it and are very perplexed was a good little bit of comedy. Low points would be Subaru being a dummy. Reducing Rem to only being a character that exists because she has to love Subaru.

Carolyn: I liked the scenes where everyone just flat refused to help Subaru for their own selfish reasons while simultaneously telling him how very selfish he is. Everything involving Wilhelm was fantastic. Prequel please. For once I have a legitimate low point and not one I have to stretch for and like everyone else it’s the way Subaru promised to run away with Rem and was then like, “Yo, help me out with this other girl I actually like.” Rude.

Danni: My high point was easily watching buff Captain Ahab tearing apart his flying magic Moby Dick. My low point is Rem devoting herself entirely to Subaru. Like, I get it! You’re 17! Of course you want to devote your entire life to the dude you have a crush on! One day you’ll grow up and how to compartmentalize attraction away from love and attraction and look back on all your bold declarations of love for Subaru and think, “Oh geez. That was embarrassing huh.”

Austin: As for highs, this may sound bad but the loops of suffering Subaru goes through that lead up to the scene in episode 18 are done really well in my eyes. Between last week’s scene with Subaru and Emilia and Subaru seeing everything he cared about in this world destroyed time and time again this week, it broke him down in a way that made his request and rant to Rem really hit hard and easily one of the most unforgettable batch of episodes in any anime for me. As for lows I didn’t really notably dislike anything in this batch so I will instead complain that my favourite voice actress’ characters didn’t get more screen time (please give Anastasia more time to shine, I am definitely not biased at all).

    Counters: Weekly: Barusu - 7 Subaru Deaths - 1 Methods of Death - Freezing

Overall: Barusu - 31 Subaru Deaths - 10 How Subaru Died - Disembowelment, Disembowelment, Stabbing, Curse, Combination (Curse+Dismemberment), Slit Throat / Torture, Suicide, Freezing, Beheading, Freezing

Just one more week left in this whirlwind of a show! Next week will be episodes 21-25, so if you're not already caught up, be sure to finish Re:Zero by next Friday!

Here's our upcoming schedule!

- Danni will finish off the Rewatch on October 18th with episodes 21-25

  CATCH UP ON THE REWATCH:

Episodes 11-15: Enduring Heartbreak

Episodes 6-10: From Apples To Demons

Episodes 1-5: Starting Life in Another Rewatch

Re:ZERO Introduction Questions

  What are your answers to the above questions? Do you agree with Subaru's choice to pursue Emilia over Rem? Let us know in the comments!

  -----

David is on Twitter @navycherub. Ask him about whatever sports anime is airing right now.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[ladylynse]

Hello, I apologize if you have already answered what I am about to ask. When you write a story how do you develop the plot? And do you ever think about plot holes? If so how do you prevent those?

Hi, Anon. Thanks for asking!

I start with my idea. Sometimes it’s as simple as “it would be hilarious if Maddie saw Phantom get hit with the Booo-merang when she knows it reacts to her son”. Sometimes it’s a paragraph or two or ten of random ideas smushed together(technical term)--this is more or less the stage my DPxML fic is at. There’s a lot of me going, “Oooh, this would be fun” or “ooh, or I could do this”, and I’ll actually talk to myself like that in my notes. It’s long, ramble-y, grammatically incorrect, and basically the equivalent of me brainstorming some sort of initial idea, the root of the story. (I’m already rambling, so the rest of the answer will be under a read more.)

I then start doing a bit of research on stuff I’ll need to write the story. Depending on how long I’ve been in a fandom, this can be very basic stuff (people’s names) to more specific things (what day does Adrien have fencing?) and will always include some sort of cheat sheet for myself if the characters use slang (like Randy. And Jake.). If I come up with any ideas--or potential ideas--while doing that, I jot them down. Even if it’s a couple lines of dialogue or a way to end a scene, at some point, if I can write that scene into the story (eg Gwaine saw Merlin’s eyes glow gold.) All of this starts in my initial fic document and eventually gets moved to a scrap file associated with that fic. Do not delete ideas/scenes/dialogue/anything even if you aren’t currently using it. You might be able to recycle them into a different fic or later in the current story.

Then I start writing. To see if it’ll work. Even if I don’t have a very clear idea of where things are going yet, and certainly no idea of the end. Sometimes I need to try a few different ways to start a story (Reflections went through various iterations. Mockingbird and my DPxML fic are still in that stage) before I find one that seems to flow. That’s when I look at the situation the characters are in (or about to be in) and try to figure out their actions and reactions to the stuff I’m putting them through. And then I try to let that drive the plot. It’s something I’ve gotten better at over time--making it less obvious that the characters are doing that because that’s the way I want the story to go--but my best plots tend to be character-driven. (This may or may not help you avoid some plot holes. Depends on what the plot hole is. It’ll hopefully help you cut down on the “well, why didn’t they do that like they always do?” sort.)

If you need a character to do something that’s not in character for your plot to go the way you want, you need to give them a reason to act out of character (eg Danny not telling Jake his secret because there’s a paranormal studies/ghost hunters convention in town--and because Jazz keeps ragging on him). If you can’t give them that reason, then you need to find another way to achieve what you want to happen without them doing that--or change your initial idea for the plot. Even if you start with a plan in mind, you will probably have to tweak it at some point. This is normal. You’re just adapting to your story. Sometimes, a story will get away on you--it’ll write itself in a direction you weren’t expecting or past the point where you’d initially figured it would end (hello, Treachery)--but, at least in my experience, if it’s the characters driving the story that way, and you let them, it can actually turn out to be a better story than what you’d initially planned. (Again: Treachery. The unplanned part ie second half is much better than the planned part.) It’s just a matter of keeping them reasonably in character so that things don’t get too out of hand. 

I only think about plot holes once I notice them. Honestly, I’ve gotten good at patching. If something doesn’t occur to me, I can’t prevent writing it in. It’s not so much plot hole prevention for me as adaptation of the story to make it more acceptable once I realize it’s there.

Sometimes, when I’m editing a chapter or rereading something to remind myself of the story thus far/what’s happened, I’ll see something that doesn’t work that I’d missed before. (Random note on the ‘remembering what’s happened’ bit: if you plan a long fic taking place over multiple days, do yourself a favour and make a timeline for yourself in your scrap file. So much easier. That’ll allow you to make accurate references like “last week” and “three days ago”. I did this with Shattered and regretted nothing.) Once I notice a plot hole, I consider the damage. Have I posted something where it’s already stated? If I haven’t, repairing it typically isn’t that hard, though of course it depends on what it is--you just need to give it some justification, shaky or otherwise, or do a bit of rewriting to patch it up. Once it’s firmly written in and you don’t notice it until chapters later, your best bet is writing in justification for it later. In some cases, this involves you turning your plot hole into a plot point. It may be a small plot point or it might be a significant one that will actually shift your intended story a little bit. I did this a lot with my earlier Doctor Who crossovers. I got quite good at retroactive patching there, and my plot hole turned into foreshadowing, although in all fairness all of those involved time travel to one degree or another so that made things a bit easier; I didn’t have to stick to the rules of the actual universe. 

So here’s a plot hole of mine that’s recent that you might have noticed if you’ve read Down the Rabbit Hole: the note on Toby’s bed. Why...why are they communicating that way? Why go to the trouble of sending a note to him that way? Why not just phone or text or email? I missed that initially. And now I see it. And now I have justification (that hasn’t yet appeared in-fic) for not communicating by normal 21-century means. Depending on how things go, it might be hinting at something bigger, or it might just be a small one-off thing.

Now, in case you’re interested in my disaster of a ‘planning paragraph’, this was how Masks began--and please bear in mind I’d seen ten episodes, subbed, at this point and wasn’t entirely sure on what stuff was called:

Blademaster. Fights with knives. Unless it’s someone fromAdrien’s fencing class; the transformation could make that thing deadly sharp.That’s better, actually. Go with that. Marinette actually beats Adrien to thetransformation because she was skulking around waiting for him to come outafter class/lesson/club/whatever it is is over (to just ‘happen to be there’and try to ask him to catch a movie or something in casual conversation) andheard the commotion, while he got caught up in the fleeing people beforemanaging to sidestep and transform. Ladybug hasn’t managed to get the swordaway from Blademaster in the meantime and nearly gets the cord of her luckycharm thing cut for her trouble. Chat Noir shows up and pretty much fences withhis quarterstaff thing until Blademaster starts to cheat, at which point hevaults over him and tags him from behind, hoping the distraction is enough forLadybug to free herself from whatever she ended up in. Evil moth guy isdemanding the gems, so Blademaster starts trying to take a slice out of ChatNoir, who evades rather than parries, trying to draw Blademaster awayfrom…something…and Ladybug takes over when he’s backed into a corner and needsto turn to scale the wall. She yells at him to get the something away if he’sfigured out what Blademaster is after—she hasn’t, yet; just that the blade isprobably what the akuma is in—and Adrien, being there for the transformation,knows exactly what happened and can oblige. But he isn’t long out the door whenhe hears Ladybug scream; Blademaster had either grabbed another blade orsomehow acquired something sharp—I’ve never fenced; I’m not entirely sure howsharp those things are—and while avoiding one blow, she jolted off the courseof the other and got her earlobe sliced off/the gem ripped out. Blademaster hasa gem—moth guy is rejoicing and demanding he now get the other one—andMarinette, with one hand clamped to her ear, has to get out of there despitethe pain because as much as she needs to get Tikki (?) back, she doesn’t wantto risk her identity and—more importantly—she’s not sure how much longer shecan remain upright. She hits the change room or office or something, aiming fora first aid kit or at least a wad of toilet paper, and Chat Noir is shocked theLadybug is gone. He manages to defeat Blademaster and retrieve her gem, but itis inactive, and while he manages to catch the dark butterfly in a fencingmask, he doesn’t have the means to banish its evil OR to erase the ill that hashappened here; that’s Ladybug’s turf. But how is he supposed to return hergem—return her—when he doesn’t knowwho she is, and his own transformation is wearing off? (Marinette will bepulling a new hairstyle or modelling a hat or just plain skipping school—ifthere IS school; what day was fencing class again?—and getting Alya to coverfor her with her parents on the pretence that she’s trying to work up thecourage to do something with Adrien, perhaps, and she really doesn’t want tohave that conversation with her mom,when in reality she’s just trying to find Tikki. Not sure what happened withTikki, exactly. Needs to regain energy, which Plagg (?) would know and informChat Noir accordingly, but with them trying to keep secrets from each other….)

and that will give way to notes like this:

Tikki, PlaggMiracle Stones/MiraculousHawkmoth

Ladybug – lucky charm at end, always ends up with somethingshe doesn’t know what to do with at first and then figures it out; yo-yocompact; BOTH EARRINGS for the miracle stones…but maybe ripping one out woulddeactivate the other. She is the ONLY ONE who can cleanse the akumas. Chat Noir – (allergic to feathers), ancient destruction/cataclysm; batonYeah, if that ring comes off, the Kwami is forced out and the detransformationis right awayPlagg is SUCH a glutton, he’ll even chase after stuff he thinks is food

----

Okay. Adrien picks up Tikki and Miracle Stone, so Marinettefinds nothing and tries to track down Chat Noir, but Tikki, once recovered, canjust tell Adrien who Marinette is. Problem solved. That’s not fun. Unless Tikkidecides to respect Marinette’s wishes?

Or maybe they each find one earring, and Tikki isn’t wellbecause they’re divided?

Adrien and Marinette can both find nothing—Marinette because she hasn’t achance to look, Adrien because he doesn’t know TO look—but unless Tikki’strapped there, she gotta be able to get out.

Wait, Adrien’s chivalrous. He’ll respect Ladybug’s wishes.Even if he hates it

----

If Plagg can’t see, when they transform, Adrien won’t beable to see, either.

“What do you mean, I can’t transform?”“If we transform, this thing would get sucked in, too, and you won’t be able to do anything.” [lines from the Rogercop episode]

Statue set on green stone (granite?) with the top edgejutting out about chin height for Adrien

-------------------------Nope, gonna have to go back and change Blademaster’s restoration to Phillipebecause that DOES seem to be after Ladybug’s restoration. [turns out I was right the first time with this, but I’d checked with someone else and they’d thought no one changed back until after the Miraculous Ladybug bit, so I’d changed my initial plans here, and a few months later we got an episode that confirmed that, no, the magic link just needs to be broken, things don’t need to be fixed yet.]