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[shadowthrone-ammanas]

Hi there ! Can I request for an angst fic with Snatcher sad while Hat Kid comforts him? Thanks !

'Life' as a Ghost Drabbles: You Okay?

“I don’t wanna talk right now so uh… buzz off,” Snatcher said, making a halfhearted shooing gesture with his hand at Hat Kid as she floated through the wall into his reading hovel.

Him being grumpy and/or too busy reading making him not in the mood to chat wasn’t terribly uncommon. Normally she just left, there were times when she didn’t want to be bothered either and when on the rare occasion she had cause to voice them to him, he respected it. But his tone was far too soft to for him to be grumpy and he wasn’t reading, instead apparently just staring at the wall. If she didn’t know better she’d say he looked sad. He didn’t have any cause to be sad though, right? It was summer, no ice or snow in sight. Maybe something else had happened though.

So instead of leaving, she floated closer. “You okay?”

His gaze followed her, not turning into a scowl despite her not heeding his request. Proof that he wasn’t grumpy. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know. Just… normally you don’t sit in your hovel unless you’re reading and you’re not reading. People doing things that are abnormal usually mean they’re not okay.”

“Yeah, guess that’s true.”

“So… that’s a ‘no’ on you being okay then?”

“Look kid, it ain’t your job to… comfort me or whatever you’re trying to do. Just leave. I’ll get over it.”

“I want to help though… if I can. What’s wrong?”

He stared at her in silence for several long seconds before sighing. “I borrowed some of your Time Piece thingies and used them to time travel.”

“That’s bad! You saw what happened with Mu. What’d you change?” Nothing too big considering everything was still the same but as was proper protocol she had to go and fix it anyway. One small change could sometimes become a bunch of big changes that lead to the world destabilizing anyway.

“Nothing. I just watched.”

“Oh, that’s okay then. You’re allowed to do that even if it’s not recommend because of how tempting it is to mess with stuff. You should’ve asked to borrow them first though because I should’ve gone with you to make sure you didn’t change anything. And uh… you better be telling the truth about not messing with the timeline.”

“No worries, kiddo, I promise, it’d be very obvious if I changed anything.”

Oh! He was talking about the whole thing with Vanessa, huh? She should’ve guessed that immediately, huh? But… “Why would you go back and watch that?”

“Watch… oh, you think… nah, I didn’t go back to that. I tried to go back to before I was born and uh… didn’t quite succeed. It was a mistake. One I will not be repeating. So now you know why I’m feeling miserable, please leave.” He lifted a hand to repeat his shooing motion. “Go check and make sure I’m not lying or accidentally changed something anyway.”

She should. That’s what protocol called for. But also that was why he’d told her, huh? To give her a reason to leave him alone. A good reason but alas for him, she believed he didn’t change anything. He would’ve been invisible the whole time, making him the perfect observer.

“Nah, I’m good. I wanna stay here.” She floated over to the small bookshelf in the corner and pulled one of the fiction titles off of it. She then floated up to sit on said shelf, putting her about on eye level with him as she opened the book. “I’ll be quiet though, promise.” Quiet company had to be better than sitting in lonely silence, thinking too much about wanting to have changed things but knowing he couldn’t have.

He sighed again but relaxed back into his chair. “Whatever. I don’t care.” He did reach over to the the little table – little by comparison to him – and pull his book off it though, opening it as he pulled it close. Good, reading should help him feel better.

[shadowthrone-ammanas]

I Hate Xmas Too

Summary: Neither Grooves nor Conductor feel particularly happy during the winter season.

~

The Xmas party was bustling and lively as it was every year. Even prior to the alliance both sides of Dead Bird Studios had always held the party together. This year with the alliance, everyone was mingling even more with each other and seemingly having a better time as a result. It was great to see. They’d all come quite far towards uniting the studio and making it a better place.

But despite that having been something Grooves had been wanting for a while now, he still felt distant from the party. Like it was happening around him instead of being something he was a part of. That had always been the case with the Xmas party but given all the changes to everything, he’d thought it maybe wouldn’t happen this year. Turns out he’d been wrong, how disappointing.

As always, he put on a smile anyway and mingled at the edges by the food and drink table, pretending to drink more than he actually was. If anyone noticed he wasn’t as into the party as he was most other parties, as always, they didn’t say anything, leading him to believe that they didn’t. Which was just fine with him, explaining his despondency around winter and the winter holidays wasn’t easy as he didn’t fully understand it himself. So it was just easier to pretend that everything was fine.

“I hate Xmas too.”

Grooves jumped a little before turning his head to see Conductor had come up to stand next to him. In his hand was a bottle in a paper bag, indicating he was drinking something much stronger than what was in the spiked punch. He took a long drink from it before holding the bottle towards Grooves.

Normally Grooves would’ve declined but normally Conductor wouldn’t have offered. Even now that they were no longer enemies and maybe even friends instead, he hadn’t ever offered to share his alcohol before. Given that, it couldn’t hurt much to accept the offer.

With a shrug he grabbed the bottle by the neck and lifted it to his beak. It burned his throat almost enough to make him cough and certainly enough to make him regret upending it like that. He quickly lowered it and handed it back. “What do you mean ‘too’?” He tried and failed to keep the strain of holding back a cough from his voice.

If Conductor noticed he didn’t given indication of it. “I mean you obviously aren’t enjoying it. You’re always less… you this time of year, especially during the Xmas party. We’re allies now or whatever so I figured I’d come over and say I hate it too. It sucks.”

“I wouldn’t say I hate Xmas. I just…” He trailed off because how as he supposed to describe that he liked the decorations and the themes of family and gift giving of the holiday but that it also made him feel tired and lonely?

“It makes you feel isolated even though there are lots of happy folk around, right? And maybe it’s harder to get out of bed in the morning ‘cause what’s the point? Or have I been reading you wrong for years?”

Not the words Grooves would’ve used if forced to describe it but it was close to how he felt. “Uh, actually no, you’ve been reading me quite well. My question is how?”

Conductor shrugged. “I feel that way too and like I said you always act different this time of year, especially during this pecking party.” He gestured towards the party before lifting his bottle for another long drink.

“And here I was thinking you were emotionally unobservant. Guess I was wrong about that.” Just like he’d also been wrong in the assumption that it was only him with this problem. Which didn’t mean there wasn’t something defective with him, just that he wasn’t alone in having such a defect. That somehow made it easier to bear. “Thanks darling for coming to talk to me about it.”

“Eh, sure, whatever. Want another drink?” Conductor held the bottle towards Grooves again.

“No, thanks. I think I will stick to the punch.”

“Suit yourself.” Conductor took another drink as he leaned back against the wall. Seems he wasn’t even going to walk away either. How kind of him. It was good to not be alone.

[shadowthrone-ammanas]

Happy 28th day of Halloween!

[shadowthrone-ammanas]

Happy 4th day of Halloween!

Also, new icon, as always.

[shadowthrone-ammanas]

'Life as a Ghost Drabbles - Game

Summary: I feel like this could become a comedy bit where the Mafia boss keeps trying to trap her and she just keeps floating away.

~

It was another trap, even more obviously so than the first. If they wanted to trick her, they’d have a better shot if they at held the ‘Super Secret Alien Meetup Convention’ anywhere other than in Mafia Town. It was literally a few doors down from being directly across the street from first building they’d tried to lure her too.

Floating around invisible, it took Hat Kid almost no time to find the Mafia goons set as lookouts to watch for her arrival. Fun as it would be to spook them, she had bigger prey in mind that she didn’t want to risk giving up her game for. So she floated past them and into the building.

At first glance the living room was empty but some more invisible snooping revealed the Mafia goons hidden behind furniture, watching the entrance. Did they really think she’d just float in fully visible? They knew she could become invisible now, right? That was a thing ghosts were known for so what were they thinking?

Barely resisting the urge to poke any of their shoulders, she continued deeper in. The invitation had said to go to the basement so that’s where she went, phasing straight through the floor.

Bingo! The Mafia Boss in his was here, placed on a table against wall furthest from the stair. Several goons stood at the edges of the room. They all seemed to be holding something behind their backs, Hat Kid couldn’t see what though. But it didn’t matter, they couldn’t catch her… probably. She wasn’t going to properly show herself to them anyway but instead have some fun scaring them.

As she lowered herself a bit further a box on the table next to the Mafia Boss’ jar started beeping as a light flashed on it.

“She’s here!” the Mafia Boss shouted. “Catch her!”

The box could sense her somehow. Lame! There went her fun surprise. But well… the goons scrambled around, looking for her. They couldn’t see her floating above them so at least the box couldn’t reveal her exact location, only that she was nearby.

“Where Boss?” one of them asked.

“I don’t know. She’s invisible. Just wave you vacuums around until you suck her up.”

Turns out what the goons had been holding behind their backs were little hand vacuums. They brought them out now, turning them on to wave around blindly in the air.

Could she actually get sucked up into one of them? Surely if so, she could just phase back out. She had no intention of finding out regardless. She was more than capable of having some spooky themed fun with them without needing to be seen or getting within range of being sucked up. Them being so intent on catching her was just going to make this more fun.

[shadowthrone-ammanas]

'Life' as a Ghost 'Drabbles': Hat Kid at Dead Bird Studios

Summary: What would happen if DJ Grooves and The Conductor babysat Hat Kid for a day?

[shadowthrone-ammanas]

'Life' as a Ghost Drabbles - I Like This Place

Summary: Hat Kid takes Bow Kid to Nyakuza Metro because she loves cats.

~

Hat Kid’s hand in Bow’s was cold but far more solid than she’d thought a ghost’s hand would be as she led her carefully along. Around Bow were the sounds of people bustling about their business, occasionally the not quite whispered murmur about why was a ghost kid leading another blindfolded kid through the Metro. Weird stuff reportedly happened frequently on this planet though, enough that no one actually asked or intervened.

The air smelled of greasy food overlaying each other in a way that was kind of unpleasant. It did still make Bow a bit hungry though. She’d have to ask Hat Kid if it was okay she if she stopped for something once she was done showing Bow whatever it was that was so important that it simply just had to be a surprise.

Soon Hat Kid pulled her to a halt. A few moments later the rumble of a train approached, stopping right in front of them.

“Okay,” Hat Kid said as she let go of Bow’s hand, “you can take the blindfold off now.”

Bow reached up to untie it and pull it off. Underground the light was dim but she still had to wince and blink a few times before her vision adjusted enough to let her see. Once it did, she looked up and… gasped.

A giant calico cat stood before her. How it was possible for a kind of cat to exist on this planet too was a mystery but she didn’t care because… “Oh my gosh, this is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!”

“See? I told you it’d be worth it,” Hat Kid replied.

“Can I pet them?”

“You’re not supposed to but…”

Bow didn’t let her finish before rushing forward to pet the cat’s leg. Their fur was soft and clean and oh so nice to touch. The cat looked down at her and meowed. She could’ve just about fallen over with joy.

“Hey now, stop distracting Millie, she’s got a job to do, people got places to be. I promise she gets plenty of love and care when she’s off duty.”

Bow looked over at the source of the shout; the train which the giant cat – Millie presumably – was attached via harness to. Another smaller black cat was poking their head out the window to frown at her. A cat person?!

She looked around some more as she stepped back. Almost everyone here was a cat person. Hat Kid had somehow managed to find a planet inhabited in part by giant cats and cat people, a miracle for sure.

It would be rude to stare and gawk though so Bow took a deep breath as she stepped even further back. “Sorry,” she said to what was presumably the train conductor.

They grunted an acknowledgment before pulling back in. A few moments later the train’s doors closed, a beep played and Millie was taking off down the tracks. She started slow but quickly built up speed and was thus soon going around a bend in the tunnel and out of sight. Bow missed her already.

Bow looked back at Hat Kid floating beside her. “I like this place.”

“I knew you would. Come on, let’s walk around a bit and then we can find a place to sit and watch the trains go by.”

[shadowthrone-ammanas]

'Life' as a Ghost 'Drabbles' - Bonding

Summary: how about some Hat Kid and Snatcher bonding?

[shadowthrone-ammanas]

'Life' as a Ghost Drabbles: Planning

Summary: I have a request of hat and bow kid planning something dastardly with the subconites. (They will dogpile snatcher)

~

“You sure we should be using party poppers?” Bow asked. “I know I don’t know Snatcher as well as you do and all but… he seems the type to not like that kind of thing.” And angering him didn’t seem like a good idea to her. Though, what did she know?

“Oh, he’ll hate them,” Hat Kid replied. “But he’ll get over it.”

“As long as we promise to clean up all the confetti and whatever other mess we make once the party’s done,” Isaac, one of the Subconites Hat Kid had invited into her ship to help plan the party added.

“Can’t have a surprise party without party poppers,” another Subconite – Bow hadn’t caught their name yet and they all looked so alike they were hard to keep track of anyway, how Hat Kid, Snatcher, and the Subconties did it, she’d probably never know – said, earning a chorus of agreement from the rest of the group, including Hat Kid.

Bow could only shrug. “Okay. He’s your mentor and leader and stuff.” If they all thought it’d be fine, it probably would be.

The conversation drifted to other stuff they could do for the party. It was meant to be about how much they all appreciated Snatcher. Which he was supposedly not going to like because he liked to pretend to be an evil bad guy – and he was just not to his followers – but was deserved anyway. Why Bow had been invited to the party planning was probably entirely because it had been primarily Hat Kid’s idea. She tried not to contribute too many ideas because of that but it was nice to be included anyway.

[shadowthrone-ammanas]

'Life' as a Ghost Drabbles: Rough Patch

Summary: Rough patch (also known as bush cat) is a cut enemy form the main game, bur one can be found wandering around some trees in an area out of reach form what I’ve heard- regardless they seem like adorable little guys, could probably be fun to see Hat kid interact with one and maybe carry one in her arms to snatcher all pleading like trying to convince him to keep it, he probably won’t agree but could be a cute attempt

~

“Snatcher!”

Hat Kid’s cry wasn’t one of distress but it did sound urgent. Which didn’t mean it was anything actually important, only that it was important to her. And well, somehow that was enough to convince Snatcher to put his book down and float out of his hollow to investigate. “What?”

She was floating just outside, waiting for him. “Look!” She held up the bush cat in her arms. “I found him by the well. Isn’t he cute? Can I keep him?”

“No. That’s…”

“Please, please, please! I’ll take good care of him, I promise!”

“Let me finish before interrupting. You can’t keep him because he already belongs to the Subconites.” Sort of Snatcher too but that was an unspoken thing between him and the Subconites. “His name is Rough Patch. How hell did you convince him to let you pick him up like that?” Normally he hated being handled.

“I stole some fish from Mafia Town and gave it to him.” The Subconites did that too fairly often to little avail. “But if he’s like the town pet or whatever, why did I only just now see him for the first time a few days ago? Did he run away?”

“No. He hides from strangers. So I guess, congrats, kiddo, you’ve been here long enough that you’re no longer a stranger.”

Hat Kid gasped, her face widening into a smile. “Really?”

“Yep.” If even Rough Patch accepted her now, this was her home. Not that that was really in doubt before but the approval of a cat always made it more so. “Now is there anything else you need or can I go back reading?”

“Am I allowed to play with him and stuff whenever? Can I be in charge of feeding him? Does he like to go for walks? If so can I take him for walks? Does he have any toys? Where are they?”

Snatcher sighed. “Yes, you can play with him whenever and you can feed him if he lets you and take him for walks. He has toys but he always loses them in the swamp.” Seemingly intentionally as if he knew how much trouble the Subconites went to to get him things and he wanted to spite them for it. “There, all your questions are answered, I’m going back to reading.”

“Okay! Thank you!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, kiddo.”

[shadowthrone-ammanas]

For the summer event, is the ukulele supposed to not make any sound? It feels like it should and would be the point of it, right? But if so, it's bugged/broken because it is utterly silent. Which was disappointing because I had a 'oh, I get to play a ukulele, that's cool' before trying it and having my dreams crushed.

Also, maybe this is a hot take, but Hatle Royale kinda sucks. Like, the PvP works in Vanessa's Curse cause all you gotta do is touch another player to get them. But hitting someone else with the umbrella when they're trying to hit you feels kinda clunky, which the occasional lag does the opposite of help. Maybe that's just me though.

These events are cool even if there's not much to them (and some of the quests suck, namely the ukulele one this time) but it does make me wish there was something more substantial. Like another DLC or a sequel would be real neat. Not sure what they would do with a sequel but more cute characters and platforming would be nice.

[shadowthrone-ammanas]

'Life' as a Ghost Drabbles: Invite

Summary: has the mafia boss even seen Hat kid since her death? As absolutely petty of a man he is he’d probably be glad about it and say it’s justified an all that, since now they’re both without bodies, would probably piss snatcher dafuq of if he upsets Hat kid like that bur ye.

~

Hat Kid glanced down at invitation and then back up at the building. Yep, this was the place. Why would someone hold a party in a seemingly abandoned building at the edge of Mafia Town? And more importantly why would they invite her?

This was trap, wasn’t it? Damn it! … She probably should’ve figured out that the moment the invite showed up in her ship’s mailbox though, huh? But she was already here so she might as well go in and see who was trying to trap her and what exactly they wanted. Curiosity killed the cat and all that but she was already dead so it would probably be fine.

She folded the paper up and put it in the pocket of her ghostly cape before floating through the door. On the other side was barren room that had perhaps once been a living room. Now though the only piece of furniture still standing within it was a single table. On which was a jar, not just any jar though but the one that the Mafia Boss now resided within.

“Ha ha,” he said at the sight of her. “I had heard you were a ghost. I didn’t quite believe it until I saw it for myself.”

In hindsight, given the location, Hat Kid wasn’t surprised. “Yep. I’m a ghost now. Speaking of that though, are you a kind of ghost too or… or what? Because you should be dead, right?” Such had occurred to her before but it had seemed like a really rude thing to ask about. Now that she was dead though, it was okay for her talk about such things, right?

“Well, uh… hmm… good point. I’m not sure what I am anymore. Nor does it matter because you are without your proper body now too. You deserve nothing less. I am only disappointed it wasn’t me who orchestrated your demise.”

Hat Kid held back a flinch. She didn’t deserve any such thing. “I don’t need a body. I don’t even want one anymore.” Not entirely the truth but he didn’t need to know that. “Being a ghost is cool. So you’re just jealous you’re stuck in a jar while I get to float around freely doing whatever I want whenever I want.” She stuck out her ghostly tongue to blow a raspberry at him.

He gasped, offended. “Such insolence! Your days of freely floating are done! Get her boys!”

Hat Kid jerked upward just in time to avoid the pair of Mafia goons jumping in from behind where she’d just been floating. They both had empty jars in their hands, the lids to which they held in their other hand. Had they been trying to capture her in one? How rude! It wouldn’t have worked anyway… probably.

Unless like Vanessa’s ice, the jars were magical. Which they might not be, they were just Mafia goons after all, where would they get magic ghost catching jars from? But now the the thought had occurred to her, it was probably best she leave before she find out the hard way again. She’d satisfied her curiosity about what this whole thing was about anyway.

***

The Mafia Boss could only frown as he watched Hat Kid’s ghost phase up through the ceiling. Damn it! He’d been so close.

“You know, Boss,” one of the goons said, “considering the fact she’s a ghost, we probably should’ve guessed she could float through the ceiling to escape.”

“We could’ve had another waiting on the second floor for her,” the other added.

They were both right of course. Mafia Boss should’ve thought this plan through better but… “Shut up!” He didn’t want to talk about it. He’d have to get his vengeance later, some other way.

[shadowthrone-ammanas]

'Life' as a Ghost Drabbles: Frozen

Summary: Hat Kid is in some kind of danger. Angry Protective Dadcher.

~

In hindsight perhaps messing around in Vanessa’s manner had been a bad idea. But how was Hat Kid supposed to have known she’d sense her even while she’d tried to hide in the shadows? And how was she supposed to know Vanessa could freeze her in a block of ice? She was a ghost, she should be able to phrase through it but couldn’t! Though that likely had to due with the fact the ice was magical in nature. Which she’d known going in and thus could’ve perhaps predicated if she’d thought about it a bit more.

The ice was cold, almost painfully so. On one hand she hadn’t felt such intense physical sensations since her death. On the other though, the longer she stayed trapped within it, the more that ‘almost’ inched into being an actuality.

It was cloudy and warped too, making it difficult to see through. Of what little she could make out of the world around her she could only really determine that it was dark and that she was probably still inside the house. She’d been in the foyer when she’d been frozen but… was she still there or had Vanessa moved her? As a ghost and thus no need for a sense of balance, would she feel it if it got moved?

If she screamed would anyone hear her? Could she scream? She couldn’t open her mouth but as a ghost she shouldn’t need to in order to make sounds. But what if she was frozen so tight she couldn’t even…

Something moved outside of her prison of ice. What it was was impossible to tell other than that it was a big. Probably a good sign though, right? Because Snatcher was big and thus it might be him coming to save her! … Or, it was Vanessa because she was big too.

Hat Kid tried again to do something, anything; move, use magic to melt the ice or even just levitate it or something else. All to no avail. She was trapped.

A few minutes of nothing happened before the large shape outside returned. What little of the outside world she could see past it changed, going from dark interior of a house to purple. Snatcher’s pocket dimension? She was saved?

The ice cracked around her, loud enough to make her flinch. Something she could do again as its cracking had loosened enough to allow her to move again at long, long last. She wriggled and squirmed pushing at it until, finally, it fell away, freeing her.

She shot out of it as soon as she could, putting space between her and it until she felt safe. The cold was gone but, the remembrance of it was enough to have her pulling her arms in she hugged herself as she looked up at Snatcher. He had indeed pulled her into his pocket dimension.

“What the heck were you thinking, kid?” he said as as he glared down at her. “Why would you think going into Vanessa’s manor was a good idea? I’d ask if you have a death wish but you’re already dead so you were clearly just being an idiot.”

Normally when he scolded her she put up a defense. Even when it was deserved she always had proper justification that should’ve eased the scolding a bit. This time though, even if she had justification, she had to admit it hadn’t been enough. As soon as it had occurred to her, she hadn’t given the move any thought whatsoever, just blindly assuming it’d be fine. A very idiot thing to do for sure.

“I’m sorry. Thank you for saving me.”

Snatcher opened his mouth as if to reply but stopped as he squinted down at her suspiciously. “Are you seriously hurt and traumatized or are you just finally admitting I’m right about something without trying to justify yourself for once?”

“Um… the second one.” It had been a bad experience and if left in such a state for long, it would’ve quickly grown far worse, but she was all right now. “You’re right. It was a dumb thing to do and I shouldn’t have.”

“All right, good. Don’t do it again.”

“I won’t.” Not until she was powerful enough to fight back properly. How long would that take though?

“What were you even trying to do?”

“I was gonna pull a prank on her and annoy her for being so horrible. I thought because I was a ghost she wouldn’t be able to see me or do anything to me so I could mess with her as much as I wanted and she’d never be able to do anything about it.”

“Nah, kid, that’s not how these things work. It’s only physical things that can’t hurt us, magic still can.”

“That is obvious in hindsight, huh? Thanks for saving me.”

“Yeah, sure. Don’t make a habit out of getting in trouble just because I came to save you this once.” Trying to imply he wouldn’t come to save her again was futile, they both knew he would. Though, she did intend not to get in such trouble again if she could help it, she’d rather be able to save herself.

[shadowthrone-ammanas]

'Life' as a Ghost Drabbles - Visit

Subcon Forest was exactly as Conductor had thought it’d be; dark with a spooky air. A stereotypical haunted forest, though it reportedly being the world’s most haunted forest meant it basically made the blueprint for that stereotype. Even so, that made it not very scary… to the Conductor anyway.

He glanced back at Grooves, walking a short distance behind him, sticking to the middle of the path. He dragged his feet as he glanced around, fidgeting nervously with one of the buttons on his jacket. His reluctance to enter hadn’t faded upon seeing the forest properly counter to Conductor’s expectations.

“What are you so afraid of?” Conductor finally had to ask, keeping he mocking in his tone light as despite his obvious fear, Grooves hadn’t complained much. For that he deserved some credit at least.

“We’re in the middle of haunted forest that very few folk come out of alive. So I feel I’m justified in my fear that something might pop out and kill us.”

“Yes but we’re friends with the kid and she’s got sway over the Snatcher fellow so we’re safe. And if anything does come for us, I’ll fight it off.”

“How, pray tell, do you intend to do that? Last I heard, ghosts don’t fear knives or whatever other kinda weapon you might be carrying.”

“Who said I’d use a knife? I’d use me fists and…”

“Conductor, DJ Grooves,” Hat Kid said as she came flying out of the darkness. “Why are you guys here? Not that it’s not great to see you but… you know.”

“We came to visit,” Grooves replied, “and to make sure you’re adjusting well to… this.” He made an awkward gesture her, clearly referring to the fact that she was a ghost but not having the guts to actually say it out loud.

“And, to ask if we could shoot part of our next movie here in the forest,” Conductor added. That was their primary reason for coming instead of just sending a letter or something. As long as they had leverage to shoot in cool places, they should take the opportunity to do so. Movie sets were great but real locations would always be better, its why Conductor ran a real train and Grooves had a real DJ set up. Despite his fear of the place, it had been Grooves’ idea; he was quite useful at times.

“Ooh, would I get to be part of it?”

“If you would like to be.” Conductor was also secretly hoping Snatcher might too. Though that was a long shot by far.

Hat Kid’s ghostly smile widened. “Awesome! And some of the Subconites would probably love to help too. Snatcher might not let us though, he’s kinda grumpy and a killjoy sometimes. Let’s go ask him! Oh, and, I’m adjusting perfectly well, thank you.”

She turned and started down the path, clearly expecting Grooves and Conductor to keep up. Grooves hesitated for a moment but increased his pace anyway. If this plan of their did turn out to work, he was going have to get used to being here.

[shadowthrone-ammanas]

'Life' as a Ghost Drabbles - Bow Meets Mu

Summary: How about checking on Mu? Maybe even Bow meeting her

+

But have Bow and Mu officially met yet? Like obviously not in Subcon, that ain’t happening, bur like :0 it might be something

~

“Wow, you really do have a mustache,” was the first thing out Bow’s mouth upon seeing Mu even though it was probably quite the rude thing to say. But she hadn’t quite believed Hat Kid when she’d said ‘Mu’ was short of Mustache Girl. Or she had but she’d assumed the ‘mustache’ part of that wouldn’t be a seemingly real mustache. She’d been here long enough to know children didn’t typically have mustaches.

Mu looked up from the sign she was either painting or graffitiing on to give Bow a probably well earned glare. “What of it, huh? Some people have mustaches, it’s none of your business. And why are you here?” This last bit was directed at Hat Kid, floating beside Bow.

“Bow here wanted to meet you so I figured I’d introduce you guys. Bow, this Mu, my ex-friend who got me killed. And Mu, this is Bow, my best friend.”

“It was an accident. I didn’t mean to and I wouldn’t have if I’d known that would happen.”

Hat Kid’s only response was a shrug. Bow couldn’t blame her, she wouldn’t be very happy with her killer, even if it was an accident. And Bow wasn’t particularly happy or fond of Mu for having gotten Hat Kid killed but she had wanted to meet her in part because… “I heard you almost destroyed the world too.”

Mu seemed to almost flinch at that before her scowl returned. “Also on accident and I stopped it from getting worse and brought the Time Pieces back. So as far as the timeline’s concerned it never pecking happened. Now don’t you guys got anything better to do instead of bothering me? I got work I gotta get back to.”

“Graffitiing again?” Hat Kid asked, floating over to look at the side of the sign Mu was spray painting.

“No, work. They’re paying me to redesign their sign to make it look better because I did the sign for the Doctor’s office and they liked it. I’m an artist now.” She puffed out her chest, clearly quite proud of that.

Bow walked around to look at it too. Unsurprisingly given its location, the sign was for the restaurant to their now right. Mu hadn’t gotten far in her work yet, only painting the place’s name in fancy but still legible graffiti letters and the start of what was likely a logo.

“Well, good luck with this I guess then,” Hat Kid said. “Come on Bow, let’s go find something more fun to do.”

“Good luck,” Bow said before turning and following Hat Kid away. Her curiosity about Mu’s side of the tale about almost ending the world wasn’t quite satisfied but it was good enough for now. Maybe she’d seek her out later when she wasn’t busy to try to get the full thing.

[shadowthrone-ammanas]

'Life' as a Ghost Drabbles: Dumb Idea

Summary: Due to time travel shenanigans, Snatcher finds himself in a strangely familiar position- Kid Lukas: “Are you the monster under my bed? I just want someone to talk to.”

~

Hat Kid had stressed quite stringently the dangers of changing the past so maybe this was a bad idea. But ever since their trip to the past thanks to Mu and Moonjumper, Snatcher hadn’t quite been able to get it out of his mind. He wasn’t going to touch or talk to anyone though, in fact he was going to stay invisible the whole time because he just wanted to see the forest and the town prior to the Big Freeze.

To avoid temptation he’d even done his best to land in a time period before he’d been born. How accurate he’d come to that was hard to say but upon floating invisibly into town and checking a news stand he found mention of Queen Marsi, Vanessa's mother if he recalled correctly, being in charge so he was probably in good shape. He was free to explore a little.

The town was… well, the town. Once he’d thought it nothing special and by modern standards it certainly wasn’t but now it felt weird to float through. Like it was a fictional place instead of a real one. All the people wondering through – far less than most modern towns housed – felt fake too, like actors walking through a movie set.

Perhaps coming here had been a mistakes for more reasons than he’d originally thought. And yet, he kept going, deftly avoiding folk, hiding in the shadows. He just needed to get this out of his system. He’d go the castle, poke around a bit and then…

That house across the street… he knew it and the houses surrounding it. His childhood home. Wow, he hadn’t thought about it in so long he wouldn’t have been able to describe it or say with any accuracy where it had been located if someone had asked him to. But that was it for sure.

He quickly looked both ways, ensuring no horse drawn carriages would be coming through, before crossing over. A quick poke around here and then to the castle would surely be fine.

Inside, the living room was uncomfortably familiar. Worse than that though was the even more uncomfortably familiar humming coming from the kitchen. This was a dumb idea! What the peck was he thinking? He should leave. … He didn’t though.

Instead, to get away from the humming, he phased through the nearest interior wall. Landing him in… his old room. Seems he’d been a bit off in his attempt to land in a time before he’d been born because this was his room. A younger version of himself sat in the middle of the bed, playing with a couple stuffed animals.

“Hello?” Kid Lukas said, looking up. His eyes slid over but didn’t quite catch on where Snatcher hung frozen in the air invisible. “Someone there?”

Seems Snatcher had always had a connection to the supernatural. Not that being able to sense the presence of a ghost was particularly uncommon especially with how powerful he was. A very good reason to leave immediately though. But… he didn’t.

The temptation to warn this kid about Vanessa was stronger than he’d thought it’d be. So much pain and suffering could’ve been avoided if he’d just kept his ambition in check and hadn’t decided to start courting her in hopes of being king one day. Technically he’d gotten what he’d wanted of course but… the cost, not just to himself but to the kingdom as a whole, was a lot to say the least. And it could all be avoided with just a little bit of advice given to a child.

“Are you the monster under my bed? I wanted someone to talk to which is why I summoned you. It took you a while to show up but that’s okay. I get lost sometimes too.”

Right, yeah, now that he thought about it, Snatcher did have vague memories of trying to summon a monster to live under his bed. Hadn’t he also at some point been convinced he’d succeeded? If that was the case then maybe playing along a bit and giving just a little bit of advice to try to mitigate how bad the whole Vanessa thing was wouldn’t cause too many disastrous consequences?

No, no, no. He shouldn’t risk it. Unless… no. Being here where he was so tempted was stupid but he wasn’t a complete idiot. He fled, floating up through the ceiling to avoid any more unpleasant surprises. Instead of all this, he would just float around in the forest for a bit before heading back to his own time. … Maybe he would explore the castle a little bit too as he’d originally been planning.

[shadowthrone-ammanas]