#tell me how with no episodic continuity phineas and ferb and candace still have a more well rounded sibling relationship

[pftones3482]

A list of ways they could have ended the Hamster and Gretel season finale that would have been better than whatever the hell that was:

Gretel reveals herself to Hiromi to help explain to her why Kevin constantly has to dip (Hiromi has proven herself trustworthy several times at this point there is literally no risk to telling her)

Kevin and Gretel have an actual heart to heart where they talk out why they're frustrated with each other

Gretel reads Kevin the speech she literally wrote for him

Some kind of flash back to the twins where we see Lauren starting to doubt the whole "supervillain" thing

I get it's a "kids show" but kids shows still deserve actually good writing and plot and this just. Wasn't it. The open ending was TOO open ended. Leaving the failed date for next season? Sure. Leaving the potential redemption arc for the villain next season? Yeah okay.

Wiping away the brother and sister tension with a throwaway scene and no follow up? Come on. And ending with the stupid aliens teasing next season, then crushing Kevin further with how he wasn't supposed to get powers, and finishing out the whole season with what literally is just a, "That's rough buddy?"

Yeesh.

[experiment-000]

My Top 10 Ships of 2020

It's been a weird year but I've seen other people doing this. Plus this year I've been way more into gen fics (love a bit of found family especially in clone wars and marvel) than anything shippy. So I genuinely don't know what imma put on here aside from two ships for sure. Sorry this post is super long idk how to do the below the cut thing and I've had this app for 5 years...

10) Viktor Nikiforov and Yuuri Katsuki - Yuri!!! On Ice

It was a real toss up between this, supercorp, kanera and wolfstar cos they're all very integral ships to my fan heart but this son because of the Yuri on Ice fandom's rebirth this year. I've never stopped shipping this, never stopped reading fanfic of them for any extended period of time, they're still my most bookmarked ship on ao3 (although I think now star wars - all media types may have overtaken them for fandom). They were one of the first things I watched where the queer ship I loved became canon and I can't wait for the film (and hopefully someday a season 2). Heck I even made my mum watch Yuri on Ice with me so I think that says it all.

9) Edelgard Von Hresvelg and female Byleth - Fire Emblem: Three Houses

My first fire emblem game was fates when I was like 14 (and finally gay awake lol). I was so disappointed that I had to be with a guy character because the only female option was kinda creepy and also I wouldn't get the character of kana. So when three houses came out I was so happy because finally there were beautiful incredible female characters my female byleth could romance (I'm so sorry mlm you deserved so much more than you got). I got the game as soon as it came out (had to search a lot of shops let me tell you) and started on black eagles. I was actually kinda disappointed back in 2019. I didn't like the explore the monastery bit (still find it kinda tedious) and the battle mechanics weren't quite the same as fates (no pairing up?! Aka my main battle technique for protecting the weaker units). So I got like 20 hours in and put it down. Came back to it in lockdown and finally finished it! I'm so proud of myself I virtually never finish games. And I fully fell in love with the useless lesbian edelgard in the process. When I started back playing in 2020 I was like eh I wish I'd picked a different character to romance (like shes an emperor that's morally very shady) but then the romance stuff started with edelgard and I fell the heck in love.

8) Cory Matthews and Shawn Hunter (and Topanga Lawrence) - Boy Meets World

Disney+ was released in the UK this year and I finally got the opportunity to watch boy meets world in its best quality (aka not on YouTube). I watched it back when I was like 12 or 13 and it's such a nostalgic show for me. Watching it again I still absolutely adore it (and my bi ass was low-key crushing on Shawn especially in chick like me - I'm 18 btw and I got so scared for a sec but rider strong was 18 when chick like me came out so it's fine woah). And of course now I see the possibilities of the beautiful Cory and Shawn relationship like they were so bromance it was basically romance and throw in topanga it's the perfect ot3 (but I'm also fine with just Cory and Shawn or just Cory and Topanga). Read some good fanfic for them this year. My favourite was one about Shawn stealing makeup and stuff and exploring gender (need more fics like this I'm biiii).

7) Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes - Marvel Cinematic Universe

I rewatched all the MCU films this year too. And got really into Peter parker whump and irondad. Plus my eternal obsession with identity and relationship reveals of course led me from Spiderman identity reveals (and found family cuteness) to stucky coming out. Especially when it involves the internet and social media. Not my favourite ship but it's been significant to my year due to the sheer amount of marvel stuff I've read.

6) Satine Kryze and Obi Wan Kenobi - Star Wars

I rewatched clone wars in prep for season 7 and wow Satine's death was sad and sudden. She first appeared in S2 E13 I think and just the sheer sexual tension of their bickering. "The sarcasm of a soldier. The delusion of a dreamer." Just ugnnhhh my bi ass can't take much more of this. And Anakin just sipping his wine in the background grinning. And I fully believe korkie is a Kenobi.

5) Commander Cody and Obi Wan Kenobi - Star Wars

I am very much an Obi wan multishipper. I don't really have a favourite but I fully believe he was with satine and Quinlan in his life. I don't think be would've actually done anything with Cody because of the whole superior officer thing. And this probably isn't even my favourite Obi wan ship - that honour probably goes to quinobi or obitine. However the most popular ships in the fandom are codywan, quiobi and obikin. No offence to anyone who ships these they're just personally not to my taste, but I can't stand quiobi, and obikin I find only slightly more tolerable and I think that's just because there's so much obikin content so if I like the concept of a fic that happens to be obikin I'll read it. I'm just not a fan of the mentor/student relationships. So I generally favoured the codywan fics when there was shipping involved meaning I read a lot of them this year. Needed that nice fix it content post season 7.

4) Zuko and Katara - Avatar: the Last Airbender

Again I am a multishipper I have nothing against zukka it's cute. But I'm a zutara shipper first and foremost because when I first watched avatar I was like 13 and denying my gayness and gayness in general so I shipped the straight things and the straight things only. Most of these ships I stopped shipping - dramione, spuffy, some my little pony ones which we don't talk about. Zutara stayed. (I have nothing against any of the things I used to ship I just stopped shipping them so much/shipped new things more). I've continuously shipped zutara since I first watched avatar even if I didn't necessarily spend that much time on it it has always been here as one of my favourite ships. It has such good fanfic I swear including my favourite ever fanfic from any fandom - love thy enemy. Plus like the black games (reread this for the millionth time this year), a delicate subterfuge (which I read for the first time this year and damn it's so good) and so many more. With the avatar resurgence this year I haven't actually rewatched avatar aside from my normal random episode every now and then when I feel like it. But there's been a lot of avatar on my dash from people I follow getting into it and people I followed for avatar returning so naturally I returned to the fandom and read quite a lot of fanfic. I also read just a lot of avatar gen fics which were great at the whole found family thing I've been so obsessed with this year.

3) Catra and Adora - She Ra and the Princesses of Power

Catradora is canon! They kissed! What more is there to say. Arguably they should've been top but I never shipped them that much since I was always very much a multishipper when it came to she ra so yes I was very happy it became canon because we actually won for once but also I've never read much fanfic for them etc. But they are very much a dynamic I love and watching she ra all again in prep for season 5 I really enjoyed the build up of their relationship. The other two only go above because Buffy is my favourite show ever and damn there's some good fuffy fanfic and Aphra and Tolvan is both fresh in my mind and star wars owns me. Would love some catradora fic recs btw if anyone has them tho.

2) Buffy Summers and Faith Lehane - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I didn't realise it was last year that I got super into them but according to my ao3 bookmarks it was lol. 2020 I swear it's lasted an eternity. I got into them about a month before lockdown (which feels like another lifetime). I've loved Buffy since I first watched it when I was 13. It's arguably still my favourite TV show. I've been through a lot of ships for Buffy - bangel to spuffy and now fuffy. I still think angel and her were a beautiful ship back in season 2 and especially in the angel episode I will remember you. But faith and Buffy had so much chemistry in season 3 - she would've been a fresh start for Buffy and the amount of fix it fics I read I swear. My favourite has to be one where they met in LA during Anne and how that changed everything feat Buffy's internal homophobia.

1) Cheili Lona Aphra and Magna Tolvan - Star Wars

I read Darth Vader (2015) and Doctor Aphra (2016) for the first time at the end of 2020 (got a comic subscription which has served me very well already I've nearly finished the star wars canon comics). Just to see canon queer ladies in star wars was so magical for me as a queer lady. I didn't think star wars would be so overt yet as to have a queer kiss in canon (even if it's in the comics) and especially not with the main character of arguably their main comic series. Now we just gotta hope that we'll get it in live action someday soon. They weren't the ship I consumed the most content of in 2020 but they were the highlight of my 2020 because star wars did that and I finally found out about it

Honourable mentions: Vivian and Elle - Legally Blonde, Candace and Vanessa - Phineas and Ferb, Stevie and Alex - Wizards of Waverly Place, Xander and Spike - Buffy the Vampire Slayer (I actually don't ship this but damn some authors are good - this was the ship that made me realise I don't need to like a ship if the author is good enough to write it well), Eli Vanto and Mitth'raw'nuruodo - Star Wars (started reading the books last year but finished this year and only started with fanfic this year), Villanelle and Eve - Killing Eve, Kanan and Hera - Star Wars, Barriss and Ahsoka - Star Wars, Remus and Sirius - Harry Potter, Kara and Lena - Supergirl (let's hope this becomes canon next year!) (Those last four are ones I've shipped forever some of my og ships but nothing particularly big has happened for me this year with them so)

I got Disney+ this year so rewatched a fair few things from my youth and though hey my obsession with that character may have been a little gay.

[erbferbatinlerb]

sorry for the long post, i'm on mobile and cant put a read more but.... drumroll please.... due to popular demand here it is! Phineas Has ADHD: The Essay.

Hyperfixation on building/inventing things: Even more specifically amusement park rides ("Rollercoaster", "Rollercoaster The Musical", "One Good Scare", "Leave The Busting To Us", "Don't Even Blink", "Cheer Up Candace", "Delivery Of Destiny", etc.) Now, you can argue that he's a kid, and rides are fun, so of course he likes them, but if you look at it from a building standpoint, from an engineering standpoint? Phineas' interest lies in fun, of course, but he also must have an extreme interest in the engineering aspect of a ride in order to be skilled and knowledgeable enough to build them, and to be able to focus on the task so wholly.

He also gets incredibly attached to very specific things that some people often find strange, which seems like evidence of hyperfixation to me. (E.g.: aglets in "Tip of the Day", dental hygiene in "Bully Bust", Bulgarian folk dancing in "The Beak", detective movies in "Finding Mary McGuffin") hot tubs in "Bully Bromance Breakup", "Lotsa Latkes", "Swiss Family Phineas")

HYPERFOCUS: He and Ferb will dedicate their whole day to just one idea that they have. Phineas is able to weaponize his hyperfocusing talent incredibly well and stick to one task, but only if it is something he is extremely interested in — for example: In "Bully Bromance Breakup", he becomes almost unable to function without the stimulation of inventing, to the point where climbing a mountain with his friends—something he, by all accounts, should enjoy—becomes a difficult task for him.

He displays forgetfulness: In "Mom's Birthday", Phineas forgets it is his mom's birthday until he hears Candace mention it, and then he feels extremely guilty. We then see a montage of him, during various situations from the previous episodes (on the rollercoaster, etc.) telling Ferb: "We can't forget mom's birthday." Even though this was of course, a bit, if you take this as being canon (which there's no real reason not to), it means Phineas was constantly talking about their mom's birthday for weeks leading up to the event because he really didn't want to forget it and he was worried that he would (and in the end, he did), implying he may have a consistent tendency to be forgetful.

Phineas has an intense love of summer, and is implied to have a dislike for school—  which is natural for any kid his age, but it's not hard to imagine that he might feel cooped up and creatively stifled during school. Especially if we put his attitude towards school next to that of Baljeet, with whom he shares a love of learning and knowledge, it's hard to ignore the difference. Being as we've seen Phineas get agitated when he's not able to build and invent freely and on his own terms ("Bully Bromance Breakup", "Summer Belongs To You"), it's easy to imagine he may struggle in a public school environment.

He has impulsive and thrill-seeking tendencies, which are evident in many of the big ideas. ("Escape From Phineas Tower", "Rollercoaster", "Ain't No Kiddie Ride", "The Beak", "One Good Scare", "Phineas and Ferb-Busters", "Leave The Busting To Us", ETC.) Adrenaline-seeking behaviour is common in individuals with ADHD and goes hand-in-hand with a low tolerance for boredom which Phineas explicitly states himself to possess in the very first episode of the show. ("Rollercoaster")

However, on the flip side to his aversion to boredom, he can also spend literally hours just standing in the backyard, not even talking, if that's just what he feels like doing that day. ("Best Lazy Day Ever")

He is highly energetic and is the most talkative one of his friends. He has also suggested having an awareness and perhaps an insecurity that he talks too much in some situations. ("Misperceived Monotreme")

He sometimes has trouble with listening, and interrupts people, especially when he's excited: in "Ready For The Bettys", when they stumble upon Perry's lair, Phineas assumes Ferb built everything and doesn't listen, constantly interrupting when Ferb tries to protest; in "Hail Doofania", he assumes that he knows what Isabella is talking about (not having seen a rainbow before) and makes it his mission for the day to do what he thinks she means, and doesn't take the time to hear her out when she tries to explain otherwise because he's too invested in/excited about the project he has in mind.

Obliviousness / missing of social cues: The most obvious example is Isabella's crush on him, which he consistently fails to notice. ("Chronicles of Meap", "Meapless in Seattle", "That Sinking Feeling", "Happy New Year", "Summer Belongs To You", "Happy Birthday Isabella", "Doofapus", "It's No Picnic") He also seems not to understand that Candace wants to get them in trouble, nor that he actually probably would get in trouble if his mom knew what he and Ferb were doing. In fact, he gets excited about sharing their endeavors with Linda, clearly oblivious to the potential repercussions. ("Traffic Cam Caper", "What'd I Miss", "Suddenly Suzy")

Highlighted Episodic Evidence

Chronicles of Meap/Meapless in Seattle

Phineas's dismissal of Isabella's "cuteness" comments shows again his difficulty picking up on social cues, especially when distracted by a mission. He does not seem to understand, or at least does not acknowledge, Isabella's clear frustration with him. He does not understand that he is dismissing Isabella's feelings, because to him it feels obvious that she is cute and he doesn't think he needs to say it. Followed up in "Meapless in Seattle" with the "You think I'm cute?" "It's a scientific fact!" interaction—Phineas is not understanding that this isn't really how to give a compliment; he does not seem to realize that by not acknowledging Isabella's cuteness he could be hurting her feelings/nurturing her insecurities.

That Sinking Feeling

Once again, he misses cues from Isabella about her feelings for him, or if he understands them, he does not outwardly acknowledge them. He also tries to create romance for Mishti and Baljeet by taking "scientifically" romantic things, based upon his research (mostly the movie Titanic): candles, live music, the situation of a sinking ship... He over-does these things in a calculated way to try and curate the most scientifically romantic situation possible. This also mirrors Candace's opinion about his cold, calculated methods in "Perry Lays an Egg".

Cheer Up Candace

Phineas cares about Candace and when he sees her upset, he wants to help her, and he makes it his goal to do so. He hears the first step from Isabella's magazine is a makeover and he immediately thinks of a clown. He sets off to execute his plan without consulting anyone (except Ferb) and after it goes, as you can expect, not well, he realizes in hindsight that his impulsive idea was built on flawed logic. However, rather than dwell on this, he decides to dive right into the next step and he continues to do wildly over the top, fantastical versions of the magazine suggestions. I think this demonstrates a lack of understanding for social cues as well as impulsivity and impatience. Furthermore, he doesn't even wait to hear step two before setting out to achieve step one, and he doesn't ask Isabella her opinion or even listen to her suggestions once he has entered his own Idea Zone. Also, the Mix 'n' Mingle Machine is a great example of his unconventional and greatly efficiency-focused thought processes—  

he thinks of it as the most efficient way to meet as many people as possible in a short time, demonstrating a clear misunderstanding of what the actual intent of "meeting someone" was in the magazine. He is also basing this idea on his personal notions of what he finds fun, not what Candace would necessarily want.

Summer Belongs To You

When stranded on the island, Phineas shows an intense frustration when he's unable to put an optimistic spin on things. He also has a clear discomfort when he is without any tools to build with. Again, we see his hyperfocus on inventing (in this case: fixing the plane) get in the way of Isabella trying to have a romantic moment with him, and in the way of relaxing in general. She sees the sights of Paris, alone time with him, and chances to enjoy themselves, whereas Phineas sees things he could use as airplane parts, single-mindedly focused on his mission. And again he misses or does not acknowledge Isabella's frustration with him in the "It seemed like romance was a foregone conclusion" scene. This is strong evidence for Phineas' hyperfixation because he gets so caught up in his own world when it comes to inventing/building/working that he doesn't even notice what's going on around him, then he fails to see the irony of him identifying Candace&Jeremy and Ferb&Vanessa as romantic interests while entirely missing the fact that Isabella & him are also "a boy and a girl, alone in the city of love."

Also of note is his complete focus on completing the Summer Solstice goal. Because, despite the fact that they made it back to Danville safely after being in a pretty perilous situation—which should have become their main concern being as they were just stranded on an island with no food or way to call for help—he cannot be satisfied with that. Needing to get home before the sun sets for the sake of winning his bet and symbolically representing his worldview, he yells at candace when she doesn't want to get on the trike, because he's determined to still get there on time, intensely focused on both proving a point and upholding his personal values.

Happy Birthday Isabella

Isabella does not want an over-the-top surprise party, all she wants is to spend time alone with Phineas, but Phineas is so focused on his idea of her perfect birthday party that he does not seem to realize what her wishes are. He sends her away from him so that she won't know about the surprise, and does not even do so very gently (getting Buford to carry her away in a sack) instead of even asking her what she wants.

Bully Bromance Breakup

In this episode, Phineas is shown to get extremely distressed when he has to go even a short period of time without building/inventing anything. This is representative of a need for constant stimulation (which would explain why he is so adamant that he cannot put up with boredom). This also evidences his hyperfixation on building/inventing. The whole time that they're climbing the mountain with Baljeet, Phineas is completely preoccupied by his ideas for inventions, and after Baljeet rejects his ideas a few times, he gets increasingly agitated, eventually gets to a point where he is unable to climb anymore and has to get pulled up by the others, and he is shown rambling to himself about all of the invention ideas he has.

This is by no means a definitive list, and I'm sure there are many more moments in the show that provide evidence of these ideas, but this is the ones that stood out to me. Anyway, in conclusion, Phineas has ADHD. If you're still reading this incredibly long post by this point: uhh, thank you, I guess! Have a nice day. 💖

[anotherbeingsworld]

Our Do Nothing Day

Pairing: Bryce x F!MC (Casey Valentine)

Characters: Bryce Lahela, Casey Valentine, Louis Lahela(OC), Keiki Lahela, Sienna Trinh, Jackie Varma, Elijah Greene.

Rating/Warnings: G/FLUFFY AT ITS FINEST.

A/N: Hi! I am back with a new one, and this is inspired by the legendary show ‘Phineas and Ferb!’ I loved that show so much, and I decide to use one of the songs from the show as an inspo! (I am actually binging P&F songs at the moment lol). I had a pretty rough day with everything that is happening in my life, and...writing really helps a lot and.. writing Bryce especially made a girl happy :) . I hope all of you enjoy it! 

PS- Link to the inspo song, Do Nothing Day  from Phineas and Ferb! Also, the gif is somehow not from the inspo episode , since the real one can’t be found! I apologize for any grammar mistakes and all! Enjoy! 

Tags:  @bitchloveskcbaseball​​ , @storyofmychoices​​ , @jaxsmutsuo​​ , @mvalentine​​ , @princess-geek​​ , @lahellacute​​​ , @kacie-0156​​​ , @simp-for-villains​​​ , @annekebbphotography​​​ , @brycelahel​​​ , @mrsbhandari​​​ , @dcbbw​​​ , @choicessa​​​ , @choices-confessions​ , @aylamwrites​​ , @fantasyoverreality98​

LINK TO MY MASTERLIST 

 A day off is rare for both of the doctors since they aren’t used to a free day without emergencies surrounding them. They decide to have the day for the two of them since, with Louis being born and their hectic shifts, they haven’t gotten to chance to have much alone time with one another. 

The day was early, as the knock on the door was heard. Casey happily opened the door to be greeted with her friends, and a smiling Keiki waiting outside their door. All of her friends made their way inside to the apartment, as they settled in. 

‘All of them agreed on watching Louis, as Keiki wanting to spend more time with her nephew. Louis is growing every day, and Keiki had vowed on not wanting to miss a thing after he was born. 

Bryce walks into the living room, with 2-year-old Louis fresh out of the bath. He is smiling happily at the sight of the company, especially when Keiki holds her arms out to hold him. Louis accepted her arms happily, as the two of them bond away. 

Casey smiles at the sight of them, as her friends are trying to entertain Louis with the help of Keiki. Bryce took a cup of coffee that was made, as his eyes follow her direction.

‘We are really lucky to have them.’ 

Casey nods, as she took a sip of the coffee once more before she placed it in the dishwasher. 

‘We do. Your sister is something else, Bryce.’ 

A smile appears on his face, as his eyes followed Keiki who is singing along to the nursery rhymes on the television with Louis happily clapping his hands. Sienna and Elijah were singing in harmony whilst Jackie just let out a sigh followed by a laugh at the commotion in front of her. 

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

Bryce and Casey said goodbye to Louis and the others, as they started their date for the day. Casey pulls out her phone, as she examined each plan she had for the day while he shook her head at her.

‘They say if you plan. Life tends to end up pretty badly y’ know.’ Bryce stated as he placed an arm around his wife.

Casey shook her head, as she leaned into his touch.

‘Nope, not true! I have lived my life to plan everything, and… it went by perfectly.’ Casey stutters a bit as she walks faster with Bryce besides her who just nodded at her argument.

They made their way to a local theme park she found on the web. She did a few research as she wanted to make this day perfect, for both herself and Bryce. Casey felt herself being optimistic, as she scatters on forward only to be stopped by the long line in front of them. 

‘Wha-? How?! I saw the posts, they said people won’t be coming today!’ Casey lets out a sigh as the line in front of them was very very long.

‘Hey, it’s okay. We can do something else, as long as we are together okay?’ Bryce reassures her, as Casey felt a bit better. They left the theme park, as Casey pulled up the list once more to their next destination. The theatre, and unfortunately. All the tickets were sold out as well. She is still standing tall, as Bryce giving her thumbs up in a supporting manner. Moving on to the next destination, the city aquarium. As they said, third time’s a charm, right? But… little did they know, the aquarium was closed for renovations as they arrived at the entrance. 

Casey smiles falter as the sign says, ‘Closed for renovations.’ Bryce stopped in his tracks at the sign, as he glances at Casey who is looking disappointed. Casey felt given up, as she sat on the sidewalk. Bryce followed suit, as he sat beside her. 

‘You are right as always, ugh!’ Casey lets out a groan and she buried her face in her hands. 

Bryce rubs her back slowly before he could say anything. Both of their phones beep in unison, as they took it out at the same time. 

Both of them receive a message from their friend’s group chat and Keiki, with various pics of Louis playing with his toys and happily smiling from the pics. One of the pics that stood out to them is the one with Keiki holding Louis in her arms, as he is smiling widely. There was a video attached to the group chat, as Casey played it.

Sienna’s voice could be heard, as she is holding the phone.

‘Hi, Louis, smile for the camera honey!’ Sienna called out to him, as he jumps happily in Keiki’s arms.

Louis was facing the camera, as he jumped happily. Keiki is holding his arm, as a small attempt to wave at the camera. 

‘Louis said, have fun to mommy and daddy!’ She said as Louis moves his little arms slowly as an attempt of waving to the camera before the screen fades. 

Casey felt a smile appear on her face, as she played the video once more. Bryce did the same, as he pulled her into his arms as they stood silently on the pavement. 

‘It’s not your fault Cas, you didn’t know.’ He rubbed her back as she leaned her head on his shoulders.

‘I know… I wanted today to be perfect for us.’ Casey’s voice is small as she lets out a sigh.

‘It’s already perfect with you here okay?’ He reassures her once more as her smiles appear once more.

Bryce’s face lit up as an idea dawned on him. He stood up, as she followed suit. 

‘I have an idea, let’s go.’ 

They drive for half an hour, as they finally arrived at the spot. It was already evening, as they reached the destination. There were parents and kids are having fun, vendors were selling food, and they even had a stage set for performing along with a projector where the kids were watching Phineas and Ferb happily. The place has its charms as Casey’s eyes went wide at the beauty of the whole place.

‘How did you find this place?’ 

Bryce shrugs as they started to walk towards the entrance. The places weren’t as packed as the theme park, but… the sight of it had made her smile as her eyes traveled through the whole landscape of the place. 

Casey was mesmerized by the whole place that she left Bryce behind, as she stopped as smelled the flowers. There was a variety of them, as she took a couple of photos for future-keeping. She turns around, as she felt a tap on her shoulder.

Her head turns, to be meet with Bryce who was holding a picnic basket and a bundle of flowers in his hands. Casey felt her eyes widen at it all.

‘How did this get here?!’ Casey asked in disbelief gesturing to the basket and the flowers. He passed the flowers towards Casey, as she accept it happily. 

‘I magically appear it on my own.’ Bryce replies happily as Casey groans at him. He shakes his head, as he walks forward leaving her behind. She immediately runs towards his direction, as he leads them to an empty spot a few feet away from the projector area where the kids were happily watching the show.

The spot was empty, as Bryce pulls out a blanket from the basket. He places it down the grass, as they sat down happily. The sight of it all made Casey happy. The kids running around, as bubbles were floating into the sky. It somehow felt like it was taken from a movie.

Bryce lays out the food, as Casey glances at him with gentleness in her eyes. 

‘You are amazing, you know that?’ Casey said as she took a bite from the deliciousness in front of her.

‘Hey, I did what I can. We deserved this, and it feels amazing to just… settled down for a while.’ Bryce said happily as they sat continue eating. After the food is done, Casey lays her head on his shoulders as they watched Phineas and Ferb as the park was doing a marathon of old episodes. She smiled at the sight of the classic show, which is one of her favorites growing up.

‘I remember every detail about this episode!’ Casey said as she is reminiscing her whole childhood through that one episode.

‘Is that so? Tell me what happens next.’ Bryce challenges her, like the scene where the dinosaur slide that Candace is building starts to fly away. 

‘Alright, the dinosaur would land at the town’s fair where Candace’s boyfriend, Jeremy, and his band are performing there.’ Casey said with full confidence as she observes the scene closely and, lets out a whoop as she nailed it.

‘Fine, fine. Never underestimate the one and only Casey Lahela.’ He said as he kissed her cheek. 

They sat in silence as the song started to play from the episode, which is one of Casey’s favorite song from the whole series. Honestly, all of the songs from the show are amazing, like… good. But, this one stood out to her today somehow, as she is having a good and relaxing day-off with the love of her life as Jeremy sings the lyrics that describe their day perfectly.

Slow down and look around you (all around)

Throw your to-do list away

The clouds look like sheep and vice versa

On a do-nothing day (on a do-nothing day) 

On a do-nothing day.

The episode ends with the credits, as the song was played once more. Casey sang along to the lyrics as she reminisces the day they had today… she would learn a thing a two of living in the moment with Bryce. She didn’t worry much as they have a whole lifetime together to enjoy the ride. But, right now. 

She took a glance at him, as the world around them fades. 

‘This is the best day ever.’ She whispered to him, as he lets out a small laugh at the statement.

‘Are you sure? What about our wedding day? Or… the day Louis is born?’ He raised an eyebrow as an attempt to play with her.

‘It’s in the top-five list alright!’ She lays her foot down with that statement as they are finally ready to call it a day.

The sun is setting, as they made their way back home. It wasn’t the perfect date she had planned out instead, its something entirely different. It was their do-nothing-day and, Casey looks forward to more days like this with her family in the future. 

THE END

A/N #2: I hope all of you enjoy it! Thank you so much for reading it! - A

[takaraphoenix]

Hey just curious about how far you are in Phineas and Ferb cuz I just found a nice little thread on why it would be totally not weird about Perry and Heinz dating because there are stranger pairing Canon in the creator's universe of connected shows. Mainly inanimate objects, albeit for comedy. of course I would have to reveal myself when send it to you directly but just curious whether or not too early.

I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT POST YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT. I thought I had reblogged that?? But I can’t find it on my blog, so either I didn’t, oder tumblr is unhelpfully glitching again, but I know the post!

Also, on the matter of spoilers with this show: I operate the opposite to how I usually operate. GIVE ME ALL OF THE SPOILERS. They only make this experience wilder - I mean, that is how all of this started. By people telling me wildly outlandish things about this show and me decreasingly going this can’t be real just for it to then turn out real. Also like... literally no spoiler so far has actually ruined anything.

Heinz dating a chick who leaves him for a whale? Bonkers in theory. Still completely inexplicably bonkers when I actually watched it. Zero shock-value was lost due to having known that. Same for the boys’ mom telling Heinz to take over the tri-state area. Or there being an evil bunny agent who deflected. Or Isabella’s dog turning out to be an agent too.

Everything someone tells me about this show just has me go this can’t be in it and then it is in it and I am the Pikachu meme. I love this show, it is out of this world.

But to answer your question! I just watched the 40 minute special long episode where they make the longest day of the year even longer by flying around the world in a plane, chasing the sun.

Which, actually, I meant to make a post about that? But I kinda forgot?

Because honestly, this episode was a bit disappointing for me...? I don’t know, but ALL of their inventions... work. Always. And they are very dutiful in their craft. So this whole thing of “the wing of the plane already breaks off during the opening song and then we have the singers duct-tape it back on“ already felt... weird, compared to how well-made all their other things are? And then the whole thing just falls apart during the journey and... they... fix it... with rubber bands to turn it into a bouncing ball? It just kind of felt off, compared to the usual formula of impeccable work-ethic and masterful craftsmanship that, against all odds, works.

I did like that Candace got her boyfriend though! THE B-WORD. That is not the usual b-word. xD

Very disappointing in Phineas’ continuous obliviousness though. PARIS. C’mon, dude. You can apply forced heteronormativity on not just your sister and her boyfriend, which I WILL give you, but also on Ferb and Vanessa, but you didn’t put one and one together about being all alone, in Paris, with Isabella? My girl really deserved like... at least five minutes of your attention. She was so looking forward to this and I was so looking forward to this too because those two are adorable and she REALLY WOULDA DESERVED A DATE. ;-;

(Also the Caramel Dansen sequence permanently traumatized me.)

[joons]

The Evolution of Heinz Doofenshmirtz; or Why Perryshmirtz Angst Makes the World Go ‘Round

4,398 words of meta, spoilers through S2E6 “Sick Day” of Milo Murphy’s Law

“Well, I don't even need you anymore! Yeah, I've got an even better best friend. He's a really good listener; he even put up with me going on about how great you were! Ha! It's clear to me now that my real best friend is Perry the Platypus.”

“The Chronicles of Meap,” Phineas and Ferb

When we first meet Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, he is a lonely, frustrated, bitter divorcee and evil scientist whose primary social interaction comes through daily fights with a secret agent who is trying to prevent him from fulfilling his dream of ruling the tri-state area. Perry the Platypus is OWCA’s best agent, relegated to thwarting Doofenshmirtz’s petty schemes and preventing any harm from coming to himself, Doofenshmirtz, or the city at large when Doofenshmirtz’s inventions inevitably backfire. At times throughout the series, Perry is temporarily reassigned to more high-level threats (The Regurgitator, “Oh, There You Are Perry,” Phineas and Ferb), but a combination of Doofenshmirtz’s creativity and the volatile tragedy of his past makes him a big question mark for OWCA, and so Perry is tasked with keeping up the status quo and making sure Doofenshmirtz continues to fail, on the off-chance he could do real harm.

OWCA’s fears are justified, as we see in multiple alternate timelines and alternate dimensions. When Candace messes with the timeline in “Phineas and Ferb’s Quantum Boogaloo,” one of Doofenshmirtz’s inventions puts Perry in a full body cast on the first day of summer, creating a new future where Doofenshmirtz has turned the tri-state area into a dystopian hellscape. In “Across the 2nd Dimension,” a crueler version of Doofenshmirtz has enacted a similar plan and managed to neutralize Perry as a threat by converting him to his cause. The equilibrium of Danville is very, very delicate, and it seems that the safest way to protect it is to keep Doofenshmirtz “busy” with minor problems that give him an outlet for his frustrations that are still easy for Perry to “reset” by the end of the day. Perry breaks Doofenshmirtz’s machines, or Doofenshmirtz breaks them himself, and they start over again the next day, no better or worse.

Phineas and Ferb takes on the challenge of creating interesting character development within its very fixed, episodic structure, and the relationship between Doofenshmirtz and Perry is the best, most dramatic example of how, even with the status quo of their battles carefully maintained, the personal changes in their relationship have huge, lasting consequences on the universe--and, of course, on each other. In broad strokes, Doofenshmirtz flourishes under anyone’s daily attention, starved as he has been for affection of any kind, but Perry in particular provides a patient, steady presence that won’t disappear--after all, it’s literally his job to listen. On the other hand, Perry is used to keeping a tight rein on his emotions; he values professionalism above all and has to be able to maintain his composure around his family, his boss, and his nemesis. But Doofenshmirtz gives so much emotion that it’s hard to keep a cool distance, and Perry learns to open up a bit and does more to assure Doofenshmirtz of his fondness for him than simply showing up every day. 

But even within that broad development, we still get major hitches in their relationship that tell us a lot about them as characters and the flaws they bring to any friendship or relationship they could develop. These flaws bring real stakes and heartaches to their rivalry, and I want to quickly go through their major fights and how those echoes have kept reverberating through Dan and Swampy’s newest show, Milo Murphy’s Law, which moves multiple characters out of the insular episodes of Phineas and Ferb and forces them into a world with more lasting consequences.

“It’s About Time,” Phineas and Ferb 

In this early episode, Doofenshmirtz steps out on Perry and starts fighting someone new (Peter the Panda). (This also happens to be the first episode where the time machine, which figures heavily in the lore of Milo Murphy’s Law, appears, which is a great little parallel.) This is also likely the first time that Perry realizes how much he values his time with Doofenshmirtz. When Perry finds out that Doofenshmirtz is not only swapping out nemeses but trying to hide it from Perry, he’s devastated. In this case, Perry has done nothing wrong, and it blindsides him to think that there is anything about their relationship that Doofenshmirtz isn’t satisfied with. Perry spends most of the episode wandering around in a teary-eyed stupor and quits his job rather than contemplate the idea of fighting someone else. Doofenshmirtz backtracks a bit and implies that it was all part of an elaborate plan to trap Perry, and that he didn’t realize the long con would hurt Perry in the wrong way. Doofenshmirtz recommits to Perry, and it’s the first time the two of them have been open about how much fighting each other really means to them. They both made the mistake of taking it for granted, and the sudden chasm of emotion that opens up between them when that routine gets upset is shocking to them both.

“Road to Danville,” Phineas and Ferb

I could unpack “Road to Danville” all day (and have), but this episode draws out a couple of key points in the dynamic of their relationship. 

1.) Perry’s lack of communication bugs Doofenshmirtz, who is needy enough to really want constant reassurance and is unnerved when Perry prefers to shut down instead of really expressing what’s bothering him. By now, Doofenshmirtz is excellent at reading Perry’s silences and can tell when he’s actually getting the cold shoulder as opposed to Perry’s usual quiet snark. Their relationship is big enough now that Doofenshmirtz wants to hear it, and when Perry withdraws further than usual into silence, it’s a sign that something is very, very wrong. It no longer feels like enough to know that Perry will never fail to show up for him; Doofenshmirtz wants to know that Perry wants to be there, and if he has a hard time getting that from Perry, he turns on his frustration and makes it personal in a way their fights usually aren’t.

2.) Doofenshmirtz’s recklessness and tendency to let his emotions drive him bugs Perry, especially when Doofenshmirtz doesn’t take responsibility for the mistakes he stumbles into. The episode kicks off with Doofenshmirtz ignoring Perry’s warnings and accidentally transporting them into the middle of nowhere, without an easy way home. It’s Perry’s job to prevent this kind of stuff from happening, and it reinforces the idea to Perry that things only go well when he’s in control. Perry has a hard time relinquishing his perfectionism when it comes to just about every aspect of his life, and it’s usually because he’s learned that any misstep could have really horrible consequences (his host family learning about his secret identity, thus forcing him to leave them forever), and Doofenshmirtz’s panicky, shoot-from-the-hip style of problem-solving absolutely freaks Perry out when he’s not in a position to manage and control it. 

Their fundamental differences become sharper and more stressful when they’re not running on a script, comfortable in their routine, and all their pent-up frustrations with each other come out. This leads to Doofenshmirtz explicitly blaming Perry for things going wrong for him. He says Perry is the only thing that’s been holding him back for years, that if Perry would just leave him alone and let him try, then he’d be a lot better off. Perry points the finger back at him, making it clear that Doofenshmirtz is responsible for his own troubles and that he needs someone like Perry just to be there to clean up the mess, something Perry is clearly sick of doing at the moment. Another big theme in “Road to Danville” is that Perry’s distance makes Doofenshmirtz feel isolated--he wants Perry to trust him to go it alone, but he also wants Perry to help. Doofenshmirtz is the one who comes up with ideas, and Perry just shoots them down. It’s an untenable dynamic, and Perry is the first to realize that he has been too hard on Doofenshmirtz and immediately goes to get him some water, but by then, Doofenshmirtz has picked up his wounded pride and gone on without him.

In this episode, Doofenshmirtz clearly wants to stand on his own two feet, if only to prove to Perry that he can. It’s his inferiority complex coming out in full force, an acknowledgement that everything he does is an attempt to be recognized as someone competent and important. But Doofenshmirtz’s brilliance and stubbornness never seems to turn into success for him. He can’t even manage to get a bus ticket on his own, which leads into the episode’s most gut-wrenching moment, when Doofenshmirtz breaks down, sobbing out “I’m a failure! I’m a failure!” over and over, as if the weight of every backstory is crashing down on him all at once. Nothing has ever gone right for him, and he seems incapable of even fixing his own mistakes (i.e., returning to the status quo is impossible for him to achieve on his own; it feels instead as if he just ends up digging himself into a deeper hole). If he cannot achieve anything, then why should Perry like him at all? 

And, of course, it’s at that very moment that Perry swoops in, bus tickets in hand, extending an apology. No matter what we do, no matter how we fight, I’m here.

“Oh, Perry the Platypus, you're a mensch! I know I can be testy and unpleasant. I know I tend to ramble on and on--to be fair, the burden of conversation is kinda all on me in our relationship. And I know that I haven't always given you the respect you deserve. Anyway. I want you to know that you are appreciated, Perry the Platypus. You. Are. Appreciated.”

When they get back to Danville, the episode ends on a note of almost-perfect balance. Both have hurt each other; both have apologized; both have taken concrete actions to make the other feel valued and understood. Even the whole pointing fingers at each other has come back around--instead of “this is your fault” it means “I trust you” or “you can do this.” I may be tearing up right now, but that’s the power of this episode. It says just about everything you need to know about not only why these two care for each other, but how they express it.

But how they express themselves without the other one around is also important. Without Doofenshmirtz right next to him, Perry breaks and is moved to do something kind, because Doofenshmirtz has shown him that wearing his heart on his sleeve isn’t always a bad thing. Without Perry there, Doofenshmirtz breaks down and admits he feels like a failure. And what’s great about this scene is that he’s right. He wouldn’t admit failure for most of the episode because, as we see, it’s hard for him to accept failure without it becoming really, really personal. If he fails at one thing, he’s ruined. With Perry, he is better able to accept that his self-worth isn’t directly tied into his success/failure rate because at least Perry will stick with him.

This is what we call foreshadowing.

“Meapless in Seattle” / “Sidetracked” / “Lost in Danville”

They hit another rocky patch when it turns out Doofenshmirtz developed more feelings for Peter than he really let on and is continuing their dalliance months later. Perry has a more muted response this time. He’s much more secure in their relationship now and isn’t devastated -- he’s just angry and disappointed. But Perry’s protectiveness when it comes to Doofenshmirtz overrides any rejection he feels, and he and Peter work together to save Doofenshmirtz from a bigger threat. Peter and Perry patch things up, and that seems to be the end of it. When Peter shows up again, Doofenshmirtz either ignores him or takes the time to make sure Peter’s spending quality time with his nemesis, because now Doofenshmirtz is in a stable enough place where he can advise Peter and Mystery on the importance of communication. Again, when Mystery kidnaps Doofenshmirtz to get back at him for “stealing” Peter, Perry is mostly worried about making sure Doofenshmirtz is okay and enlists Peter’s help without much of a second thought.

On a separate occasion (“Sidetracked”), Perry is forced to team up with another agent, which makes Doofenshmirtz very slightly jealous. Doofenshmirtz idly comments, 

“This is why I'd rather not make friends, they find someone else, and bam! You're alone.”

So while the immediate danger of the love quadrangle is muted, Doofenshmirtz, more than Perry, still worries about being abandoned. He often acts on his most deep-seated fear before he can get hurt by someone else. He’ll��leave, he’ll find someone else, or he’ll choose to be alone rather than live with the uncertainty that Perry might wise up and leave him first. Perry can reassure him, but the anxiety is still there.

In spite of that glimpse into Doofenshmirtz’s still-unresolved fears, the episode ends with Peter showing up, and Doofenshmirtz and Perry’s relationship seems like it couldn’t be in a better place. They exchange the most pure, wordless endearments possible, and they are just so comfortable and settled, I’m going to die.

“Father’s Day”

This isn’t a fight, but I just want to mention it. Doofenshmirtz calls Perry “his rock” and “the one relationship in my life that has worked out.” With Perry behind him, Doofenshmirtz can do anything, even confront his abusive, emotionally withholding father. 

“The OWCA Files”

“The OWCA Files,” a special that came out after Phineas and Ferb officially ended, falls into a “soft canon” label. It’s not clear exactly when it takes place, and due to time travel shenanigans, it could be merely a possible future for the characters. The “future” episodes of Phineas and Ferb are all in a state of semi-flux, as the events of Milo Murphy’s Law have made at least slight alterations to any futures we’ve already seen. Regardless, “The OWCA Files” tells us a lot about how the differences between Doofenshmirtz and Perry are perennial, and no matter how committed they are to one another, they will still run into major conflict. 

“The OWCA Files” is another example of what happens when Perry is forcibly taken out of his comfort zone and asked to control an uncontrollable situation, and also how Doofenshmirtz reacts when he has to rely on someone besides Perry. It’s rough for both of them, but Perry has a much harder time adjusting to the new normal. He’s not a team player at the best of times, and we’ve already seen him butt heads with just about every agent he’s teamed up with--Lyla, Peter, Agent Double O-O. So when he’s forced to work with Doofenshmirtz, not against him, on a professional basis, it really throws their personal dynamic out of whack. With Doofenshmirtz constantly stepping into volatile situations without thinking, it’s too much for Perry. It’s the same reason he lashed out at Doofenshmirtz in “Road to Danville,” only this time, there’s no easy way to back out or let Doofenshmirtz do his own thing. Doofenshmirtz has to listen to him, and he won’t, and he’s bad at this, and Perry’s the only responsible one of the whole team, and it hits his absolute last nerve. He basically tells Doofenshmirtz to just sit on the sidelines. This feeds into Doofenshmirtz’s greatest fear, that he’s really, truly not good enough and that Perry only tolerates him because he has to, or because he’s just too polite to say no. But in the episode, Doofenshmirtz doesn’t dwell on it too much--there’s enough professional distance here that he realizes he’s trying to master in one day what Perry has spent his life perfecting. And it’s not just Doofenshmirtz--the whole team is straining Perry’s abilities, but they come together in a way that utilizes all their strengths and shows Perry that he really doesn’t always know best. Getting Perry to let go of that perfectionism in his actual job is a herculean task, and it shows that, like Doofenshmirtz, Perry puts a lot of his self-worth into how well he can perform. A lot of his sense of self is tied up in being the protector; he values the people he’s fighting for so much that he won’t let them make mistakes or take on anything on their own, not when he can do a better job at keeping them safe. Without knowing it, Perry can be stifling. 

More foreshadowing!

“Sick Day”

In Milo Murphy’s Law, Doofenshmirtz turns out to be the future inventor of time travel (the timeline suggests he would have invented it two years after “Act Your Age” without interference). For plot reasons, the Milo crew have to find Doofenshmirtz 12 years before he invents time travel to try to get the technology jumpstarted, so they can unstrand themselves and fix the future. In the process, Doofenshmirtz loses his penthouse lair and ends up staying with the Murphys while waiting on himself to invent time travel. Throughout season 2, Doofenshmirtz makes a concentrated effort to become a better person. Of course, he seemed to swear off evil in the finale of Phineas and Ferb, but now, for the first time, he’s having to imagine what comes next and what it will take to become this legendary inventor. It’s a lot, and Doofenshmirtz doesn’t have many tools at his disposal that can boost his confidence. But he tries. With the help of Milo’s bruisingly optimistic philosophy, Doofenshmirtz slowly learns that he can do good with his inventions, even when he’s as klutzy and prone to disaster as Milo. It’s a revelation that has taken him a long, long time to believe, and it’s still a fragile kind of self-esteem that’s pushing him along.

In “Sick Day,” and in “The Ticking Clock,” we learn that OWCA has no idea how to deal with Doofenshmirtz’s new stated goal. He’s far too accident-prone and far too brilliant to let loose, so Perry is officially tasked with keeping an eye on him and making sure he doesn’t inadvertently hurt anyone. As Perry agrees with this assessment, he accepts.

In “Sick Day,” Perry goes around sabotaging Doofenshmirtz’s machines as he tries to superhero his way around the city, hiding his efforts from Doofenshmirtz. It’s the first time Perry has hidden something from him, but because they’re both technically on the same “team” now, it’s a lot harder to justify working against him.

When Doofenshmirtz finds out, he’s crushed.

“Wait a minute, Perry the Platypus, are you working right now? But we were saving the city together, one good deed at a time, we were pals, we were ... I thought ... I thought you were my friend, Perry the Platypus, but you’re not. You’re ... you’re my babysitter. That’s it, Perry the Platypus, we are through! I mean, I know we’ve had our rough patches before, and everyone does, but this time ... you hurt me, Perry the Platypus! You hurt me!”

And it really is the first time that Doofenshmirtz didn’t share at least some of the blame for causing pain in their relationship. But here, all of his worst fears, which have come up again and again in the series, seem absolutely confirmed. Perry is now literally holding him back, sabotaging Doofenshmirtz’s good faith efforts to try to do something good for the world. Arguably this is the only time in Doofenshmirtz’s life that he hasn’t subconsciously self-sabotaged, baking failure into the overall plan. He wants it to work. He’s addressed some of the personal problems that have always come up: the fact that he has a “Heinz’ Law” in effect, the fact that he doesn’t tend to think things through very well, the fact that he’s scared about living up to a frighteningly competent future self. Doofenshmirtz has taken off his training wheels, and he wants to take these steps on his own. It’s his direction, not following Perry’s orders or shielding himself from pain. He’s made himself very, very vulnerable as he tries new things, and the one person that he thought would support him, the one person he thought wanted this for him all along, is undermining him. Perry doesn’t trust him. And there’s another sneaking fear buried under that. Doofenshmirtz thought they were simply hanging out, enjoying being together. To know that his greatest dream of working with Perry is also something Perry sees as an obligation? No. Unthinkable.

Perry would never, never do this to purposefully hurt Doofenshmirtz. He just wants to keep him safe. He wants to be there to support him, but not if it means Doofenshmirtz’s enthusiasm gets him killed. It’s always been Perry’s job to mitigate the potential harm to Doofenshmirtz and others, but it takes on wildly different dimensions when the end goal is something good. And it seems that no one, not even the people Doofenshmirtz thought he could count on for support, trusts that he can do this. And when he’s starting to take these first steps toward genuinely becoming a better person, that lack of confidence he feels from his best friend is shattering. The fact that he has enough backbone to tell Perry how deeply he’s been hurt and how he can’t afford to be around someone who doesn’t believe in him speaks volumes about how far Doofenshmirtz has come. When he has broken up with Perry before, it was always a defensive maneuver, pulling the plug before Perry had a chance to hurt him. Perry has always been the one who fought to stay with him, to remind him of how much he admires him. But right now, Doofenshmirtz can’t even trust that side of Perry. Doofenshmirtz won’t dull his dreams for Perry. He won’t settle for less. He won’t be pitied. He’s here to matter. For the first time in his life, he feels that’s within reach. And Perry wasn’t there for him in the way he needed.

Perry knows how much this hurts. He’s been there, feeling like he’s not enough for the person who matters most to him. Only, he didn’t know how much Doofenshmirtz wanted this, how much of an identity crisis Doofenshmirtz is going through. But Perry has made a mistake, for once, that he doesn’t know how to fix, or how to put back together. It’s heartbreaking from both ends. 

But this arc shows how Phineas and Ferb and Milo Murphy’s Law have both used their structures to push their characters; the shows actively put pressure on them simply by forcing the characters to operate in a new environment. In Milo Murphy’s Law, unlike in Phineas and Ferb, there’s no longer a safe routine to fall back on. Doofenshmirtz’s home is in ruins, he’s no longer directly opposed to OWCA, so there’s no reason for Perry to see him every day, which led to Doofenshmirtz thinking he must only be there out of friendship. Doofenshmirtz doesn’t even want to be evil anymore, so the old outlets for his frustration aren’t here. So where does that leave him? What do two nemeses do when they’re no longer allowed to be nemeses?

Where Phineas and Ferb emphasizes creation, construction, making the most out of every day, Milo Murphy’s Law explicitly divorces positivity and optimism from productivity and success. Doing things or doing things right is not the precursor to a happy life; instead, it’s about how to respond well to failure. Milo Murphy’s Law asks, “Say you do fail and can’t fix it -- what next?” With a show structure that doesn’t reset at the end of every episode, Milo Murphy’s Law forces us to linger in unresolved tension and experience the world the way Milo does (it’s my world, and we’re all living in it), something that’s a whole lot messier and less stable than the even-keel balance of Phineas and Ferb’s world. The second show is about picking yourself up again and again after you’ve fallen on your face a dozen, a hundred, a thousand times, It’s reckoning with the certainty that the baggage of your failures will keep piling up every time, but that you, somehow, can’t let that affect you. 

If anyone, anywhere, needs to hear that lesson, it’s Heinz Doofenshmirtz. His job in inventing time travel is to make the kind of successful, world-warping invention that falls into place for Phineas and Ferb in an environment that hasn’t been graced with their luck-defying gravity. It’s impossible, potentially soul-crushing, and “just a lot of pressure,” but he’s going to do it. He’s got to. The prospect of doing that without any of the support systems he’s used to must be terrifying, but how else can he prove to himself that he is strong enough on his own to decide who he will be? Perry cannot put it all back together for him, and more importantly, Doofenshmirtz doesn’t want him to, not when it’s something this important and personal to him, not when it really, really matters. Going all the way back to “Road to Danville,” Doofenshmirtz is pleading to Perry: “Just let me try.” Doofenshmirtz needs to finally start believing in himself, and when he does, Perry will believe in him, too (he does already, just not in the way Doofenshmirtz needed at that moment). If we break the Phineas and Ferb characters out of their hermetically sealed universe, in which all consequences seem to balance each other out, does their optimism still hold? It does! But Doofenshmirtz is finding a way to exist in both worlds, to take his own halting, dangerous steps into an unknown world without a safety net, and the strategies he uncovers to help him fail and live through it, to see himself failing without being a failure, is going to make him stronger. And those steps are enough to draw Perry further out of his shell, too, to rely not on comfortable routines but to go with someone else on a brand-new adventure. To experience something instead of controlling it. To build instead of destroy. To move forward instead of staying stuck. It’s absolutely beautiful to see, and these two are going to keep making each other better people forever. Bet! On! It!

[themurphyzone]

Episode 42: Meap Me in St. Louis Ch 2

WE NOW RETURN TO: THE CHRONICLES OF MEAP: EPISODE 42: MEAP ME IN ST. LOUIS

WE DEEPLY APOLOGIZE FOR THE HIATUS BUT HEY THAT’S JUST THE NORM THESE DAYS AIN’T IT? 

PART 2: THE MEAP FACTOR

“OKAY! THAT’S ENOUGH! YOU’RE GONNA BURST ALL OUR SEAMS AT THIS RATE!” Frawg screeched over Candace’s continued scream. 

And great giant toy shop in the sky did she have a large lung capacity. 

Candace’s voice faded away, and she coughed to clear her throat. “Sorry, I was expecting my kidnapper to be-” 

“Human?” Frawg supplied. 

She shook her head. “Less ugly.” 

Frawg glared at her as he dragged himself onto the table. Then he stomped over to Candace and jabbed a plush, stumpy arm in her face. Candace wondered if she was supposed to take that as a threatening gesture. 

“You created me, then threw me away. Was it because I’m not as stupidly lovable as your beloved Ducky Momo? Or Mr. Miggins, who’s in worse shape than even me?” 

Candace scooted her chair out of range, wrinkling her nose in disgust. “Hey, for your information, I’ve had Mr. Miggins since I was a toddler. It’s only natural that he’s a little beaten up. Besides, he was good for kissing practice.” 

The seams across Frawg’s face stretched into a hideous frown. “I’m going to pretend that last statement didn’t hurt my self-esteem. But let’s get back to business. I’m sure you have a lot of questions.” 

Candace shrugged. “Nope. Got nothing.” 

“Really? Nothing at all?” Frawg pressed. “Not even to ask how I’m alive or anything?” 

“Okay, maybe that one,” Candace said. She just needed to delay him long enough so she could hightail it out of this weird place and find some cell service. What kind of sick creature didn’t put wifi into his own building anyway? 

“It started when you ordered me for ten dollars off the Internet,” Frawg said. “I was produced and stuffed on my home planet, then shipped to your house. Then you threw me away and replaced me with him.” He gestured angrily to Meap, who guarded the door with a vacant expression on his face. “On that day, I swore to get my revenge.” 

Candace stood up and walked away while he poured out his heart in a frankly not-so-dramatic backstory. Meap made no move to stop her from unlatching the safety gate. Just her luck that his office was on the top floor. 

She turned into a right corridor that she hoped would lead her to an elevator. Strangely, someone had taped a router to the wall with a large red arrow pointing directly to the switch. 

Candace stared up at the huge sign above her. “’Free wifi. Totally not a trap,’” she sighed, then flipped the switch. “Curse them for appealing to my nature as a teenage girl.” 

A loud siren blared through the building, and she yelped and covered her ears. A swarm of Bango-Rus surrounded her, some looking as if they’d stepped out of their catchy infomercial while others appeared to be missing seams, eyes, and limbs. 

Frawg laughed, pushing his way through the crowd. Meap followed behind him, vacantly staring ahead. Frawg said something that Candace couldn’t make out. She cupped her hand over her ear. 

Frawg turned to the elephant-bee next to him, pointing up at the switch. One of his eyes bulged out a little more when the elephant-bee didn’t seem to understand his order. Frawg shook one of his stumps at the elephant-bee in what was either supposed to be a threat or a hug request. 

Candace couldn’t really tell the difference. 

The elephant-bee quickly nodded, then gestured for several more Bango-Rus to form a stuffed animal ladder. He climbed up and hit the switch. 

“Ah man, I was so close,” she lamented as the bars were quickly replaced by a no service icon. 

“That could’ve ended in disaster!” Frawg declared. “But you’re within my clutches, and you cannot escape your fate now! Mwahahahaha! And I see you’ve met my entire Bango-Ru army! They’re all loyal to me! You stand no chance!” 

“What about Bunny-Bear?” the elephant-bee asked. “She never showed up.” 

Frawg coughed. “Ah, yes. I’m sure she had prior engagements. Don’t move, I haven’t explained my plan for you yet. I’m just going to make a quick call. Everyone quiet!” 

Candace wondered if all small creatures had pocket dimensions behind their backs to store items. It was definitely more convenient than a purse. 

“Wait, why do you get reception?” one of the Bango-Rus shouted. 

“Because I was smart enough to pay for the universal plan before I set foot on this miserable rock!” Frawg yelled back. “Now shut up!” 

“St. Louis?” Stacy glanced at Bunny-Bear’s phone in confusion.

Bunny-Bear groaned. “I think I like, have some idea of which lame-o it is. Fork it here.” 

Stacy handed the phone to Bunny-Bear, though she wasn’t sure how the alien/stuffed toy/valley girl managed to hold it without fingers. 

“Yo Frogface, how many times do I like, have to tell you to quit ruining my vibes?” Bunny-Bear complained. “Fine, waste your time on like, your lame-o evil plan. Just leave me alone. Toodles.” 

She dropped the phone on the bed, flopping into a pillow. “This is exactly why Lizzie broke up with him,” Bunny-Bear sighed. “Like, where was I in the story again?” 

“You were on the part about being originally produced to conquer the Earth with the power of cuteness,” Stacy supplied. 

“Oh right,” Bunny-Bear said. “So like I was saying, we’re stuffed in a factory after a computer processes an earthling’s order. And like, I think Frogface’s stuffing got scrambled somewhere on the assembly line.....” 

“Okay, so she’s a little headstrong,” Frawg shrugged. “No matter, I’m still going to marry and dispose of you.” 

“What?” Candace yelped. “You can’t do that! I was going to date Jeremy throughout high school and college and then we’d get married and have two kids, Xavier and Amanda.”

Frawg pointed to Meap. “This Jeremy could pose a threat. Keep an eye out for him and make sure none of those other children interfere. The rest of you, begin the preparations at once!” 

Meap saluted and left, his dazed expression never wavering. 

Candace was dragged away by several Bango-Rus as Frawg laughed. 

They led her to an empty room, locking the door once she was settled at the single mirror. “So we have an off white patchwork or a gray patchwork dress,” a fox-zebra hybrid said. “Take your pick.” 

“C’mon guys, where are you?” Candace muttered. “Hope Phineas and Ferb will leave the actual saving part to Jeremy. More romantic that way.”

“Any sign of Candace yet?” Phineas shouted up to Buford, who was strapped to a glider above their speedboat. 

“I’ve spotted five hot dog stands and a fudge shop, but other than that, I got nothing!” Buford yelled back. “This is what you get for not letting me finish my birthday cake!. Now I can’t focus at all.” 

Baljeet dodged a rock that jutted out of the water, narrowly avoiding getting one of his skis knocked off. “Pay attention up there!” he shouted. “I promise I will buy you any food of your choosing if you can just focus!” 

Buford tapped his chin in thought. “My weaknesses are monetary and food bribes. You got me.” 

The cuteness tracker beeped several times, and everyone on the boat crowded around it. 

“I thought you said it wouldn’t go off around the girls,” Jeremy said, quickly grabbing Suzy’s life jacket before she toppled overboard from leaning out too far. 

“That signal’s not coming from anyone on the boat,” Isabella noted. “I think something’s above us.” 

“Guys, there’s something weird on the arch! It’s like a pink toy with creepy blue eyes. Ugh. Those eyes don’t look proportionate to its head at all,” Buford grimaced. 

“That’s not a toy!” Phineas exclaimed. “That’s Meap! Hey, Meap! Down here!” 

In response, Meap shot a concentrated rainbow beam at them, sending a geyser of water sky high. 

[signor-signor]

Greetings! After seeing my name in the description, you might recognize me on Twitter and Facebook. So, let me give you readers the rundown of the (Walt) Disney TV Animation resurgence:

Animated series that first aired on Disney Channel…

Phineas and Ferb, 
4 Seasons, 
222 Episodes, 
Loose ends tied: Yes - We know how the titular stepbrothers came to be, when they adopted Perry the Platypus, and what made Dr. Doofenshmirtz tick before abandoning the life of evil and becoming a member of OWCA. We also got to learn more about the commonly seen characters and watch Candace go from trying to bust her brothers to having a friendly chat with them and their friends at the end of the last day of summer.

Fish Hooks, 
3 Seasons, 
110 Episodes, 
Loose ends tied: Pretty much - It’s about small aquatic creatures during high school years at a pet shop, so it makes sense to start with picture day and end with a graduation. Plus, the connection between Bea and Oscar that we’ve looked into in the beginning becomes romantic at the very end. No cliffhanger to be seen, so there’s no turning back. Besides, it wasn’t really popular enough to have merchandise.

Gravity Falls, 
2 Seasons (That’s exactly what was planned.), 
40 Episodes (No plans to continue it - what more do they want?!), 
Loose ends tied: Yes - I cannot emphasize the answer enough. The origin story of the two Stans’ involvement in the mystery of the titular town is revealed, Dipper and Mabel go from preteens to teens and experience some life-changing moments, Bill Cipher, the true main antagonist of the show, is eradicated, Soos goes from repairman to manager of the Mystery Shack, and Stanley (Grunkle Stan) and Stanford (Grunkle Ford) make amends before going on adventures together. And did I mention the whole show takes place during summer vacation? What’s more, it has a beginning, a middle, AND an end.

Wander Over Yonder (first aired on Disney Channel before being moved to Disney XD after first few episodes of S1), 
2 Seasons (so far), 
79 Episodes (plus 11 1-minute shorts between S1 and S2), 
Loose ends tied: N, O, no. For the life of me, I cannot understand why most Disney XD viewers, especially GF fans, would avoid watching it - it’s created by Craig McCracken, the same genius who brought up two hit shows on Cartoon Network. Sure, Lord Hater stopped Lord Dominator and saved the galaxy so he could conquer it just as it’s being restored, but the animatic in the S2 finale heavily implies that Craig and his crew were not done telling the whole story. Although we do know why Wander seeks to help, how he and Sylvia met, and what motivated Lord Hater to get into villainy, there are other things that have not been covered as of today. Where did Hater come from? When did Commander Peepers and the Watchdogs start working for him? What’s in store for the extraterrestrial formerly known as Lord Dominator? What’s worse than galactic destruction? Who put the bounty on Wander before Sylvia went from bad to good? And although we know Stella Starbella, Ripov, and Major Threat have ships, the ships’ whereabouts remain unclear, so we can’t expect the galaxy’s inhabitants to remain stuck on the (formerly) secret planet, right?
The bottom line: Wander’s mission of befriending Lord Hater is not yet accomplished.

What else? There are other cartoons exclusive to Disney XD I thought I’d mention. They were around before I got word of the bad news about WOY.

The 7D - Although it supposedly takes place in an alternate universe, it’s still very enjoyable. You can’t go wrong with a cartoon with references to fairy tales and nursery rhymes. No particular story arc to be had, though.

Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero - This amazingly animated show has a pretty cool concept of filling in for heroes and villains in different dimensions. Like WOY, it doesn’t get the same amount of respect GF gets. Fortunately for the fans, it got a much needed satisfactory ending.

Star vs. the Forces of Evil - Nowadays, I think of it as the new Phineas and Ferb (with its slated total of 4 seasons) or the new Gravity Falls (since it’s being treated as Disney XD’s flagship show). This, P&F, and GF are considered more profitable than many other shows (yes, that includes the creative, clever, funny ones, like WOY), which is why you’ll see them every week.

Pickle and Peanut - I wasn’t sure how it would fit in with the entire Disney library when I first watched an episode or two, and it already has two seasons. I got word that all will be said and done after the second season, so I’m sure a lot of people will be none the sadder and neither will those who do like it, since the definite ending was put into effect.

Truth be told, unless you’re Dan Povenmire, (P&F, Milo Murphy’s Law), Jeff (Swampy) Marsh (also P&F, MML), Alex Hirsch (GF), Daron Nefcy (SvtFoE), or some other creator of an animated series that Disney seems to like best, you might not stand a chance in the business of Disney TV Animation (or Disney TV in general). As a Cast Member of Disneyland, however, I make it my mission to make The Walt Disney Company much more enjoyable and respectable. If it weren’t for Wander Over Yonder’s influence on me, I wouldn’t have gotten into the Disney College Program.

I have an account on Tumblr because my contribution to the SaveWOY campaign needs to be bigger. Also, there are still many other people who have absolutely no knowledge of Wander Over Yonder, and even if they did, most of them wouldn’t do a thing to save it. Thankfully, we have a petition nearing 50,000 signatures to get Disney executives to change their minds. For the past 18 months, I’ve put up with that one cliffhanger, so I’ll do what I can to motivate other Wander fans (and non-fans) to try even harder to persuade Disney to give WOY one more season. You won’t be getting clips, screenshots, or GIFs from me, but I’m always here to provide analysis, logic, and fan material whenever necessary.

I am well aware of @crackmccraigen’s status with Disney - he’s worked on a pilot for his fourth show, which is said to be inspired by Peanuts, Dennis the Menace, and Tintin, but there’s no telling if it’ll be picked up. And with some of the other folks involved in WOY still working on Disney-related material, namely @suspendersofdisbelief, @owner-of-wendys, @atalkingmagpie, and @noveltymusicservices, everyone associated with SaveWOY will do whatever it takes to succeed. Even if we end up getting half-hour/4 quarters/half-hour/4 quarters/half-hour/4 quarters/hour, we’ll be happy, just as long as the show gets closure Craig’s way and not Disney’s way.

Count me in, @peepsqueak!

[ickaimp]

Hello! Sorry for ask this and reminding you of a series you wrote nearly 5 years ago, but I had recently been rewatching Phineas and Ferb and had stumbled in your sieze the summer series (which is probably my favorite pnf fics I've found). At this point I'm not asking you to continue it because I know that interest changes and you're into rotg now. I was just wondering what you had planned for it, if you did have any? I'll leave my ask as public just in case you wanted to answer privately :D

Glad to hear someone enjoyed the series! Always meant to write more for it, but didn’t getting a lot of feed back on it, and then RotG stole our brain. We had a lot planned. So… Highlights:- Ferb and Phineas end up getting a platypus army as their support unit, like how the Fireside Girls were. There’s also an Echidna, who thinks they’re a Platypus. They’re Ferb’s main assistant. - Phineas is Asexual Extrovert, Ferb is a Pansexual Introvert (inspiration) and at one point goes steady with an alien. - They have multiple bases world wide, in outer space, and the moon. Due to their inventions being stolen one too many times, their main headquarters is Atlantis - off the coast of Danville. It’s accessible through the warehouse via tubes that the tides twist and turn into a unique roller coaster ride every time you go through. Irving is in charge of security.- They have multiple businesses, depending on what they’re doing. The main company is ‘Endless Summer’. - They have amusement parks with ever shifting events, rides, and concerts everywhere they are. Admission is frequently free. One of them is the castle by Grandpa Reginald and Grandma Winnie’s place.- Isabella is their Pepper Potts, she takes care of the running of the company so that they can focus on inventing. Stacy eventually becomes the head of the legal department. - Perry continues to hide his secret agent persona from Phineas and Ferb, but mostly because he thinks it’s funny and he’s secretly a troll.- Doofenshmirtz is a part time substitute teacher. He gets along best with the weird kids and encourages them. - Fred from the future episode is actually Vanessa and Monty’s kid (he looks like a young Roger Doofenshmirtz) Was still trying to figure out how/why Candace eventually adopted him, think it came down to Vanessa being a double agent. -Vanessa is the Johnson kids’ cool Aunt Vanessa and is a large part of their lives.- At some point 20 years down the line have an accident resulting in mixing their dna together and creating twins which aren’t technically clones, royally confused the media, moral groups, and the scientific community. They didn’t care, loved their kids, and platypi are great nannies when it comes to curious toddlers around lasers. (I don’t know, the logistics of this makes me laugh)And they have one limitation they can’t cross. This was originally written for the Spook-Me Ficathon, but we couldn’t quite figure out the beginning or the end. Based off of ‘The Solider and Death’, the idea was that Isabella works with those ‘Make a Wish’ type of things, 2,450 words, mentions of death. 

“Anyway, thanks Phineas.” Isabella watched the redhead collapse against the wall in the hallway, and slide down until he was sitting on the ground, spindly knees sticking up in the air. She’d known that they had been reluctant to come to the hospital, but they’d done it to help Kenny. And the holographic system they’d rigged for the kid to ‘visit’ outer space had been beyond comparison.

“I’m just sorry we couldn’t do more.” Phineas said tiredly, tilting his head back against the wall.

“You did all you could do.” She said soothingly. Seriously, the guys did more than twelve people put together sometimes. She gave a small laugh. “I mean, not even you can stop death.”

Phineas flinched.

Isabella stared. That wasn’t a normal flinch, that was a ‘Phineas is guilty of something and bad at hiding it’ flinch.

Her question died as Ferb stepped out of the ward, Phineas automatically turning to face his brother with an expression she couldn’t quite pin down. Guilt and relief, mostly.

“Never.” Ferb said with a tone that was both firm and profoundly sad at the same time as he approached them, pocket watch in his hand. “Ask that of us again.”

With that, he sat down on the floor next to Phineas, taking his brother’s hand in his, their fingers twined together as if they were anchoring each other against an incoming storm.

“But…” Isabella glanced between them and the room they had just left. Phineas had seemed so cheerful, excited to share the galaxy with the kid. Ferb didn’t tend to be quite as expressive, but he hadn’t seemed put out to be there either.

“Three.” Phineas said softly, looking at the pocket watch in Ferb’s hand. “Two… One… Zero.”

They lapsed into silence, staring resolutely at the floor. “Wha-” Isabella started to say, when from down the hall she heard an alarm go off. Code blue was called and people started to run in the direction of the room they’d just left. Someone began wailing in the background.

Kenny was dead.

She turned and stared at them with wide eyes. Her friends had pulled off some amazing marvels in their time, but to be able to predict the moment of a child’s death-?

“You knew when he was going to die.” She whispered, the realisation sinking in.

“Yeah.” Phineas agreed softly, his eyes half-lidded and shadowy.

“But… If you knew, why didn’t you do something?” Isabella asked. Time after time, she’d seen them do impossible things, pulling miracles out of thin air at the last second. And yet they’d played with the boy instead of even attempting to save his life. “You guys! You guys can do anything together! Why didn’t you-”

“We CAN’T!” Phineas snapped, his voice cracking as he turned and glared at her. “You think… You think we like knowing that we could probably be able to do something and not being allowed to? You think it’s easy to just… what? Sit here and do nothing? I, We hate it! But we can’t!”

“Why. Not?!” She demanded. All those outings, all that time that Kenny could have had. The years his parents, that she, could have spent with him. Gone. He was never going to grow up, ever actually go into outer space, never even date or have his first kiss. All that, gone.

Phineas glared down at the floor, a stubborn look on his face. Ferb turned towards his brother, squeezing Phineas’ hand. Phineas sighed, tilting sideways until he was leaning against Ferb, his head resting on Ferb’s broad shoulder.

“Remember when we 16 and Grandpa Reginald passed away?” Phineas asked, looking away from her, his eyes half-lidded again. “Ferb and I built a box that could hold anything. And we caught Death, and put Death in the box.”

“You… caught Death?” Isabella echoed, feeling like it was the start to a bad joke.

“Well, the metaphysical manifestation of Death anyway.” Phineas clarified with a small half-shrug of one shoulder. “Same thing, really. With Death trapped in the box, nothing could die. And Grandpa Reg wouldn’t die.”

He trailed off, his eyes drifting shut. Ferb merely rested his head on Phineas’, offering silent comfort. Isabella remembered Ferb had been close to his grandfather, the only other grandparent who shared Ferb’s dare-devilish ways, his need for constant physical challenges.

“Grandma Winifred figured out what was going on and made us release Death from the box.” Phineas continued. “Not dying hurt Grandpa Reg more than the thought of leaving, his body ached and he was ready for the next adventure. But you can’t trap a metaphysical manifestation of a major cosmic force and expect to escape unscathed.”

Ferb pulled out the crystal glass he’d been holding earlier up for her to see. “We made a deal, and got this glass in exchange for the box.” Phineas lifted his head to look up at her. “We look through the glass when it’s full of water. If Death is at the foot of the person, we can do something. If Death is at their head, Death wants a new friend, and all we can do is ease their way. I never see it, but sometimes Ferb gets a glimpse of Death’s timer and we know how long they have.”

“-Like today.” Isabella murmured, remembering Ferb setting the timer after looking through the strange glass.

Phineas nodded. “If we break the deal, Death takes one of us away.” Their fingers clenched tight around each other, as if afraid the other would be torn from their grasp. “And never comes for the other. We’d never see each other again. Ever.”

Isabella had read enough Greek Mythology to know that ‘Eternal Life’ didn’t mean 'Eternal Youth’. Their body growing frailer and frailer, yet never being able to pass on.

But to have one brother left without the other, that would be an endless Hell on Earth.

“If we don’t, when Death comes for us, we go together.” Phineas turned and faced Ferb with a slight smile. “Neither is left behind.”

Ferb smiled back, leaning forward to press their foreheads together. For all the simplicity, it was a personal, intimate gesture.

The strength of their bond sometimes frightened Isabella, even as she craved it. She sometimes wished she had that she could have that sort of connection with someone, that closeness. But to be that much a part of someone, and have someone so a part of herself, it was a daunting prospect. It seemed like she’d lose a lot of who she was in the process and she wasn’t sure she was willing to give that up yet.

Their story seemed a little bit too fantastical too, like it was some sort of fairy tale or mythology. They’d done some pretty amazing things together, but trapping Death? That was stretching the limits, and she’d ridden in a space ship before.

Ferb made some sort of gesture and Phineas nodded, the two of them pulling their heads back. “Good idea, Ferb.”

“What?” She asked. Ferb held the crystal glass out to her.

“Fill the glass with water, any water will do, then stand the foot of someone’s bed and look.” Phineas instructed. “Then tell us what you see. We’ll be right here. Remember, head of the bed and foot of the bed.”

“I… Okay.” Isabella nodded. It couldn’t hurt to verify. She took the glass and with a small nod, walked down the hall to a side corridor where she knew a drinking fountain was, filling the glass with water. It sparkled prettily in the lights, throwing off rainbows, much like a diamond would. With a small smile, she walked back the other way, to a quiet wing she knew the critical patients were in.

Knowing that the nurses would probably want to know why she was there, she stopped at the foot of the first bed she saw, an elderly man with paper fine skin. She lifted the glass, peering through it.

At first, she saw nothing. Then she noticed a kind of shadow next to the bed, and shifted so she could look there.

Through the glass, she could see a pale thin woman with a head of hair that looked like messily spilt ink, dressed in a black tanktop and jeans sitting next to the man, watching him with a small smile on her face. The oddest things about the woman was a little spiral under one of her eyes, a large silver ankh necklace, and an umbrella in her hand. Isabella shook her head and moved her head to look at the spot without the glass.

Nothing.

She looked through the glass again. Even with all the black, the woman looked nice, like a friendly neighbour, or long forgotten friend. The woman seemed to notice Isabella and raised a hand, placing her finger in front of her lips in a gesture for silence. Isabella nodded and the woman winked before turning her attention back to the man, who seemed to be turning his head towards the woman, reaching one weak hand towards her.

Isabella lowered the glass and quickly walked away.

When she found Phineas and Ferb, they were leaning against each other, Phineas’ head tucked under Ferb’s chin, Phineas whispering softly and Ferb responding in his strange silent way. They pulled away when they saw her coming, their hands still locked together between them.

“Death is a woman.” Isabella reported, handing Ferb the glass.

“Sometimes.” Phineas agreed as Ferb made the glass disappear into a pocket, water and all. “Sometimes he’s a huge skeleton with booming voice and a white horse named 'Binky’. Other times, he’s an annoyed skeleton with a Jamaican accent. A few times, he’s looked kind of like a child wrapped in black. Death’s kind of a personal thing, it’s different for everybody.”

“Oh.” Isabella leaned against the wall, pressing a hand to her chest. She had just seen Death. And lived.

Phineas gave a small chuckle at her reaction, lifting his free hand and wrapping it around the wrist of the her arm closest to him. She turned her wrist, capturing his hand and holding on, their hands pressed palm to palm. His hand was warm and dry and she could feel his heartbeat against her skin.

“It seemed like the most amazing thing when we first got the glass.” Phineas said, his voice hushed. “We’d sneak into the hospital and check everyone we could. The ones Death wasn’t coming for yet, we did what we could. Those that we couldn’t… Well, this isn’t the first time we’ve set up the holographic projectors in a hospital.”

“The problem was when other people got an inkling as to what we were doing.” Phineas’ expression turned hunted. “And the shouting started, why would we save some people, but not others? Parents, siblings, close friends would offer their lives in exchange for a loved ones and there was nothing we could do. And we tried to explain it, but no one would listen.”

“Even worse was when they put our appearance together with someone dying, and started accusing us of killing people.” Phineas’ tone turned annoyed, the words picking up speed as he got more agitated about it.. “Like it was our fault that someone died when all we were trying to do was make them happy, even if it was just for a little while! People who were lonely, or scared, and even if we could help them, suddenly we weren’t allowed to do so and-”

“Oh, Phineas…” Isabella stopped him, kneeling down and putting a hand on his shoulder. He cut off with a hiccup, his face twisted up with emotion. She pulled him towards her, tucking her shoulder under his chin, then reaching out and doing the same to Ferb. Just because it didn’t show on the quiet man’s face, didn’t mean he didn’t feel it. “Ferb. I’m so sorry.” She whispered.

“Not your fault.” Phineas murmured back. Except it kind of was, she was the one to ask him here again, re-opening old wounds. The one who had started accusing of not caring enough, to save Kenny instead of making his last memories happy ones.

“The hard part is that we really can do anything.” Phineas whispered. “We’ve come up with thousands of cures, everything from the common cold to cancer, but we don’t know if that would inadvertently break the deal.” And Death would come for one of them.

“Is that why you won’t do anything with the bio-sciences?” She asked, pulling away to give them some space.

“Partly.” Phineas agreed. “That and we’re afraid someone would turn them into bio-weapons. Or limit the cures, which amounts to the same thing. Prosthetics have the same problem. Too simple, it doesn’t look right, too much and it’s the basis for super-powered exo-armour.”

She nodded. They’d had a problem a while back, someone attempting to break into the warehouse to steal blueprints for the Beak’s armour.

Balancing was the hardest part of her job. Not enough help and nothing changed. Too much assistance and it was like being a bully, forcing them to take it. People had to want the help, to accept and use it for it to actually work.

“Anyway.” Phineas leaned back against the wall, Ferb following. “We hid the glass away in our room for a while, I think it held change-” Ferb raised an eyebrow and Phineas nodded, accepting the correction as if it had been spoken out-loud. “Right, miscellaneous bolts and screws. We found it when we moved into the warehouse, but haven’t pulled it out for use until now.”

Because she’d asked them to come, to save Kenny if they could.

People always felt helpless in the face of Death, but how much worse would it be, to know that you had the ability to change things, but couldn’t without risking the person closest to you? How often had they broken their hearts over it? Because Phineas was incapable of not caring, and Ferb was right there with him.

“We can do anything, build anything, but there are some lines that we can’t cross.” Phineas murmured. “Even if we want to.”

Isabella nodded. “I’ll take care of anything else like this in the future.” She promised, making a few mental notes. Best to remove the temptation entirely.

Ferb had a silent communication with Phineas for a moment. “We don’t have any problems with the holographic projections being used to grant wishes like this.” Phineas said, obviously echoing Ferb’s thoughts. “Install them in every children’s hospital you want. Even bringing kids to the warehouse to build with us for a day is fine. Just no more hospitals.”

“Okay.” Isabella nodded. They could do that.They could do almost anything. It was going to take a while to wrap her brain around the idea that there was something they couldn’t do. “Thanks.” Phineas said, tilting his head back, resting it against the wall, the sounds of the hospital suddenly seeming to rush back in. Isabella moved to stand over them and guard them until they were ready to move. —-(Deaths mentioned are from Sandman, Diskworld, and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, it being personal is from Beetlejuice, and Kenny is from South Park )