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#Do not ever ask me to take canon Vlad seriously
kuzann · 10 months
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Reasons I have a hard time taking canon Vlad 100% seriously:
His nemesis is a freaking 14 year old this is self-explanatory
Keeps getting beaten/outsmarted by a gaggle of teens
Blew up his own house because he couldn't be bothered to do general maintenance on a piece of very valuable and potentially explosive lab equipment
Got bodied by Jack that one time and decided to never fight him again, Jack is canonically 1-0 in a direct 1v1 fight against Plasmius and that is too funny
Gets bodied by his own idiot schemes
Somehow couldn't figure out how to hire a hitman to take out the guy he's hated for years and sends the one thing Jack is supposed to be good at fighting to do the job instead. Are you trying to fail, Vlad?
Got eaten by a monster that one time. Embarrassing.
Did not do his homework when it came to how strong a ghost was at least twice and endangered the entire world and Ghost Zone because of this
In the bad timeline he caused the apocalypse because he is that bad at parenting and somehow didn't think to just send the kid to therapy and grief counseling instead of jumping straight to the mad scientist shit
There's probably more but these are the ones I can think of at the moment. Like he's absolutely done horrible things, no question about it, but then I remember the above and I'm just. All I can do is laugh.
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fondofcowboys · 10 months
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here's my very all over the place feelings on certain aspects of baldur's gate 3 as a romani immigrant. warnings for spoilers of course. mind you i have not finished the game yet!
1. i really can't believe there aren't more people talking about the very blatant racism in astarion's questline. im quite sure it's because the game already touches on it, even giving you the choice to call astarion a racist, and also because everytime we roma talk about anything that makes us uncomfortable we're immediately shunned and "well actually!"'d.
the problem is that it feels Extra icky because the man who was the inspiration for the original dracula, Vlad the Impaler, kept romani slaves. this is the ONLY part of vampire history that, no matter how different the media, will always stay relevant for some reason.
castlevania has the seekers, a nomadic group of magic users who pass their history down orally. while they are *mostly* treated well, the first arc of the show literally shows them being hunted out of town for the simple act of existing.
vampire the masquerade... well.. that's an entire other can of racism worms.
curse of strahd has the "vistani", a nomadic group of people who are treated like third class citizens everywhere they go, and are of course, most known for being tarot readers and drunkards.
the vampire diaries have the "travellers", who get called "gypsies" explicitly as a derogatory word by other vampires.
i want you to take any vampire media you enjoy and ask yourself, "is there anti-roma racism in this?". i guarantee you, if you look for it, you're going to find it. for SOME reason, the only thing that stays consistent with all these different vampire IPs, is that romani people are hated and scrutinized at every moment of their lives.
i MORE than understand that astarion's racial insensitivity is part of him. it's part of what makes him malleable by the player. you can help him understand why he's wrong, or you can lead him down a worse path.
i still reserve the right to feel some sort of way about astarion sacrificing fantasy-romani children for power, willingly. don't get me wrong, he's my favourite character, right up there with halsin. which is why i obviously have so many feelings about this.
(yes, the Gur were written inspired by romani people, if you were not aware)
2. the anti-immigrant sentiment is such an inherent part of the story that i did not think was going to stick around for SO long. i dont really have much to say about this, i think i should've expected it. as a fan of dragon age (i know, tragic) i'm quite used to unnecessary fantasy racism everywhere i go, i just hoped it wouldn't be part of the main crucial story.
3. larian studios i am so so so thankful for the halsin romance. eternally. forever and ever. he's my pookie bear and i'm so grateful some extra time was made to create a romance for him.
can i ask you why the hell does halsin want to LEAVE. At The End. i've noticed how much he contradicts himself throughout his questline and i just... I don't know. i've seen some other people complaining about how non-chalantly he talks about being a sex slave and i understand too, but i think it's part of his character to not take the horrible things that happened to him seriously like he does with others. that, or someone at larian took an unknown substance that led them to make halsin Very inconsistent.
with the poly situation, some people are strictly polyamorous! some people are strictly non-monogamous and do not feel comfortable being in a monogamous relationship. i understand the frustration everyone, but that's how halsin is. i dont know if that was the writers' intention, but that's certainly what he comes across as to me; strictly non-monogamous.
what i DONT understand is why he says he only wants you, calls you "my heart", is so fondly and lovingly attached to you, and then he just.... Dips? Whatever. I'm ignoring that part forever. it's not canon to ME!
anyways. yeah. feel free to Engage in some Friendly conversation. emphasis on friendly, for the love of g-d
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ectokelpeigh · 2 years
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Danny Phantom x Dæmons
I don't have the time to write a proper fic with all this but the world always needs more dæmon headcanons so I'm dumping mine here.
I'll lay out my hc's for halfas here and put character profiles and misc. world-building under the cut.
Halfa Dæmons:
A Halfa still has a dæmon in ghost form. This helps to ease one's fears about being truly dead, but there are a lot of unsettling (hah!) quirks.
They're not the most... stable. I don't mean they're destabilized in the usual sense, more like they're all staticky to the human eye. Their silhouettes blur around the edges, and the way their eyes glow has a constant lens flare effect that doesn't make it any easier to make out the details.
This is actually super helpful for maintaining a secret identity. When a halfa goes ghost, their dæmon doesn't shapeshift any more than their person. You get some inverted colors and misc. ghostly features, but they don't become a whole new animal.
In their living form, a halfa is as connected to their dæmon as any other person.
Like a witch's dæmon in HDM, a halfa and their dæmon aren’t bound to any radius of physical proximity. Note (and HDM spoiler): Will and Lyra could do also this after entering the world of the dead, so this just makes sense if you look at the act of becoming a halfa as Intercision Lite™.
HDM canon is a bit spotty re: empathy, telepathy, and proprioception in human-dæmon pairs. I always hc'd both are more or less universal. But when a halfa goes ghost, they lose those connections to their dæmon. The dæmon is essentially their own entity at this point.
That loss of connection is incredibly disorienting and frightening. So even though they can leave each other's vicinity, it's 'in case of emergency' only because they have no way of knowing each other's location and well-being. In fact if this ever becomes a fic, Danny will find this out by accident and it’ll be Big Drama
Like seriously it would be a huge tactical advantage to be able to send your dæmon ahead to scout or spy or attack from another position but it's just TOO SPOOPY.
I'm not borrowing a whole lot from HDM but I do love Dust. In a few ways Dust:dæmons::ectoplasm:ghosts (at least ectoplasm in phanon) so I am COMBINING them and it looks like GLITTER GLUE and no one can stop me. Anyway a halfa's dæmon's eyes look like snowglobes with said glitter glue (no distinguishable sclera/iris/pupil).
If injured in their ghostly form, the halfa person will bleed this ectoDust/Dustplasm(?? GLITTER GLUE!!!!)
Gen. HCs:
Full ghosts do not have dæmons. Dæmon goes 'poof' when their person dies. Them's the rules. So sad. Alexa, play Despacito.
Something something "a ghost forms when the Dust that made up a person's dæmon imprints on ectoplasm" something
Asking a ghost about their dæmon is as big a no-no as any other aspect of their life, if not moreso. I'm undecided if the GZ is analogous to HDM's land of the dead in that anyone who enters the GZ loses the physical proximity rule. It would be a good excuse for Danny if he gets caught without her as Fenton (but he doesn’t know that because no one else has been to the Zone? Unless Vlad’s dæmon isn’t tethered either).
The GIW give me Gobblers vibes. Do with this what you will.
Dæmons: Cast
DANNY
Name: Synova (nickname is Nova ayyyyyy)
- Settled as a capuchin (astronaut vibes) when Danny was around 11 years old.
- After the accident she takes a new animal form, and boy if that doesn't add to the “I’m a freak” angst. Re-settling is unheard of. He shrugs it off like “guess she wasn’t actually settled the first time!” It’s a lame excuse because dæmons know when they’re done changing.
Here's my logic for Danny's dæmon changing: 1. It is true that dæmons forms are a representation of one's fundamental values and are faithful representations of their personality. Danny's got a lot of changes coming, and this has got to make him wonder if he's changed.
2. Personality is not the only determining factor for someone's dæmon form. Certain forms are prominent in different cultures, locales, etc. What doesn't get a lot of attention is how utility factors in. Here's a snippet from the HDM wiki:
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There's a little bit of a chicken-egg problem of "does someone's circumstances shape their dæmon, or does their dæmon shape their lifestyle?" (because I'm sure there's a ton of dæmon discrimination in the candidate selection process in any given company/discipline. Dæmons settle when their people are so young!! Drastic career changes must be a nightmare!!)
...This means Danny's dæmon changing form not only calls his internal state into question, but it doubles as an omen of a drastic change in circumstances.
- After the accident she's a vulture:
Vultures are spooky misunderstood badass dorks. I could probably leave it at that but NOPE
Scavengers' digestive/immune systems of steel : Danny deals with a ton of trauma of all kinds and always gets back up
Scavengers in general : dealing with dead things in a much greater capacity than most
Himalayan vulture specifically because Himalayas…,,,,, ice… ice core…. Nice
Jk it's not just the ice thing. Himalayan vulture are non-migratory and build nests as high as 4,245 m (13,927 ft) : Danny has no choice in Amity Park's but it's appropriately ridiculous
Wingspan between 8 and 10 ft : Danny's got this larger-than-life side of his personality, and his it doesn't take him too long to become confident and even a little show-boaty as Phantom. But that big a bird with Danny Fenton makes him even more of a self-conscious mess.
-Dæmons rarely settle in a form they didn't already use frequently, so just the fact that Synova never took this form before is rather distressing. It also means he's not very familiar with the symbolism of vultures/what it says about him.
He asks Jazz about because she's smart and surely this is something psychologists are well-versed in but she goes on a rant about how studies show symbolic forensic dæmonology is flawed at best in practice and he shouldn't let this bias his sense of self
-In ghost form her colors are inverted so she’s mostly black. AND any black parts are a void-like window to space like Nocturne because I’m Cool and Fun and Original, you know
Synova being so big gets Danny teased because teenagers are terrible: Dash: “How did Fentoenail end up with something so cool, huh? Are you so desperate you let your freak parents experiment on your dæmon?”
- For a while the civilians assume Phantom doesn't have a dæmon. Why would they? Ghosts don’t have dæmons. But when it becomes obvious that Phantom has a little partner in crime, most people decide it's a similar situation to Youngblood & his 'assistant' or Spectra and Bertrand. Only those who pay enough attention to Phantom to notice how human-like he is in general notice how dæmon-like his little buddy is. This includes Jack and Maddie, who swear up and down that Phantom manifested a faux dæmon to trick everyone into sympathizing with him, lulling them into a false sense of familiarity.
- Synova gets a superhero name too!
Someone asks Synova her name while she's in ghost form at the same time Danny’s ghost sense goes off and he spots “Spectra!” in the distance Person: 'Spectra?' You have the same name as that ghost?? Synova: No, it’s… Specter. Specter Danny later: Really? You heard “Spectra”, changed two letters, and called it a day? Synova: ‘Fenton’. ‘Phantom’. Danny: What’s your point? Synova: [attacks the cheeky idiot]
She has the basic ghost powers (flight, intangibility, invisibility) and some bonus. I... haven't thought of them yet oops i'm tired
SAM - Hyena
Name: Mohrsom
Striped, Brown, or Spotted??
Striped: hyenas are very recognizable as hyenadae but less ~mainstream~ than the spotted.The unrivaled, uh… big dick energy of the species’ females is fitting. They’re extremely solitary though and Sam is selective but she’s TIGHT with her chosen friends
Brown: Hyena but make it even more goth-looking! Independent/self-reliant, compassionate, reserved, selective and cliquish, still value alone time. Not easily stressed, stubborn. But they’re not very confrontational like Sam
Spotted: ~mainstream~ for a hyena, but that’s not saying much. They live in very large packs but they’re still individualistic, not pushovers by any means.
She first started altering her diet before he settled, so her dæmon stopped shifting to hunters. Strictly herbivores and scavengers. She likes having a scavenger because it’s nature’s recycling crew
TUCKER - Silver-Haired Bat
- Name: Danunsi
- This cute little fuzzball hangs off his clothes (mostly his beret) and girls seems to swoon over her but still roll their eyes at Tucker’s pickup lines
- She talks a lot less than Tucker and generally pipes up just to apologize on his behalf
- Personality in a nutshell: [Running gag] Danunsi: “Tucker no” Tucker: “Tucker YES”
- Tucker gets teased for needing glasses and having a bat dæmon but you know what he loves her
- If I do a No One Knows AU it’s gonna get weird when Danny meets Tucker and Sam because Danunsi’s nickname is already Danny
JAZZ - New Caledonian Crow
Name: Rexmoor
- Corvids are SMART and incredibly popular in psychology research
- Dissimilar enough to common crows with their cute little beaks that you could maybe possibly pass it for a bird from another family (heh), but she still has this spooky black bird. She wants to be proud of it, what a corvid says about her intellect and emotional intelligence. But it’s a symbol reminiscent of the spooky shit that has so destabilized her family. The fact that he settled that way reflects how she doesn’t feel truly free of all the superstition.
JACK - Badger
Name: Suntrilis
European vs american ambiguous on purpose
Coyotes (Maddie!) and badgers work together. Jack’s smart and all but he really is a brute. He’s the “smash” to Maddie’s “grab” when they hunt.
Honey badger don’t give a fuck about the outside world, just does his thing.
Funny because Vlad calls Danny “badger” even though he hates Jack.
I'll update or reblog this another time with more characters and such another time, I think I just need to yeet this into the void for now.
Please feel free to reply/reblog/message with your own HCs/suggestions!
MADDIE - Coyote
Name: Heskel
Maddie isn’t much of a trickster but she’s smart, she’s underestimated, and she’s a pack personality. And they often cooperate with badgers to hunt!
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thesoulspulse · 3 years
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Good Vlad AU (Befriending A Fruitloop)
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This post is dedicated to @whittacre​ because their tags were just so enthusiastic I had to address them! Besides I’m going to get into talking about this stuff soon anyway since I plan to go over all the episodes that relate to Vlad in some way to see which events I can still fit into my Good Vlad AU and which ones I can’t. But for now I can give a basic overview of some of the headcanons some friends from the other Danny Phantom artist server I’m in helped me come up with!
So first of all, there’s something about my Good Vlad you should know. He may not be a straight up villain like the canon version, but he’s still Vlad where it counts. For example, he’s still a cunning businessman no one wants to mess with in the business world. And he still has the regal charm to him I admired when we first saw him in Bitter Reunions but also a bit of a childish side, the only thing that’s different is that Vlad’s teasing doesn’t have that cruel edge to it when it comes to Jack and Danny. You’d better believe he’ll troll his enemies like there’s no tomorrow though! And sometimes Vlad still does things just because he can since he didn’t have anyone there to tell him it’s wrong or he does it purely out of habit like using his powers freely behind closed doors for the most mundane things. As a result, it’s actually Danny that has to help reign him in before he goes a bit too far...
But that doesn’t stop Vlad from being overprotective of his little badger. Translation, Vlad’s not above smiling in a sickeningly sweet way while making calm threats to anyone who insults Danny in front of him with the silent promise of making their lives/afterlives a living hell. And if they seriously injure Danny, Vlad will show no mercy. This stems from his fear of losing the few important people he has left in his life, Danny being the most important to him now since he’s basically adopted him as his own and no one can tell him otherwise.
To put it simply, Good Vlad is like this:
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Now then, onto the next tag! Basically, if you’ve read my headcanon so far for this au in my other posts “Regarding My Good Vlad AU” part 1 & 2 then you already know this version of Vlad made Valerie a ghost hunter to help Danny instead of spy on him (though it’s entirely possible he probably still does like to keep tabs on him just in case something comes along he can’t handle alone.) And Vlad’s the one who freed Danny from Freakshow’s mind control since Sam and Tucker didn’t make it onto the train in time and he had to rescue them from the fall first.
So on that note, let’s start with how Danny’s friends react to Good Vlad shall we...?
Obviously Sam and Tucker would be weirded out by this guy they barely know that seems a bit possessive and overprotective Danny even though they’ve only met once regardless of the fact he did rush to their rescue all the way from Wisconsin. And they’d probably be annoyed with Danny for trusting him so easily since they think there's something sketchy about Vlad at first, but eventually they warm up to him. Especially after Vlad shares more about himself like how he’s an avid supporter of animal rescue and things like that. Not to mention he’s prepared to supply them with top of the line ghost hunting technology should they ever need it as a show of support.
Unlike canon Vlad, this version for the most part is a pretty friendly person and isn’t against winning Danny’s friends over with expensive gifts or extra charitable acts to show them he’s a good guy. To tell you the truth, I’m surprised he never tried to do that in the show. As in giving Danny tons of NASA stuff and not making it so obvious he’s behind certain schemes to gradually manipulate him into getting to a point where he HAS to ask for help with his ghost problems. I know that’s a bit off topic but at least Good Vlad does this kind of thing because he wants Danny’s friends and family to like him too or at least have no reason to turn Danny against him.
It takes a while, but eventually Sam and Tucker get over their initial reaction and finally admit to themselves that Danny really does need Vlad’s support because there’s only so much they can do to help him since they’re human and just teenagers too. And as much as Danny loves his parents, they’re not exactly the most supportive people in his life thanks to how busy they are with their inventions and ghost research. In fact, while Danny’s out of ear shot maybe Tucker gathers the courage to ask Vlad if maybe he could do something about that too, about Danny’s parents so they’ll stop putting as much pressure on him and ease up on making so many nasty weapons that could really hurt Danny. Vlad agrees since he’s planning to move to Amity Park anyway, but that will take time so the most he can do for Danny now is offer emotional support or in an emergency he can offer Danny backup by teleporting here like he did when Freakshow almost successfully abducted and brainwashed Danny with a ghost controlling relic.
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Alright, next up we’re going to talk about Jazz because whittacre has a point since technically Jazz didn’t learn Danny’s secret until AFTER the reunion so that gives me a lot to think about. My guess is that maybe Jazz gets fed up with their parents making Danny’s sudden depression worst once Spectra gets her claws in him and calls “Uncle Vlad” to ask him for some advice about it since he’s probably the only person that can related to Danny since they both had an accident with a ghost portal. Strangely enough, it occurs to Vlad that out of all the people in Danny’s life his sister seems like the most trustworthy as well so he gives her the advice she asks for and then begins to seriously consider telling her Danny’s half-ghost with his permission because at least with her around Danny would have someone to support him at home since Vlad can’t be with him 24/7.
However, sadly Vlad doesn’t find out until after the fact that Spectra was the supernatural cause of Danny’s sudden depression so he only ends up helping him through his sister which results in her finding out his secret just like in My Brother’s Keeper after being a bit too pushy about Danny opening up about his feelings. She’s still oblivious about Vlad's secret at this point, but they start talking pretty regularly as part of a team effort to help Danny thrive and gain more confidence. They’ll probably tell her about Vlad’s secret too before long but until then it’s kind of a running gag that they still have to hide his ghost powers from her too whenever he drops by to visit Danny or their parents and forgets to use the door like a normal person.
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Onto our next point, there’s Valerie which I’ll keep short and sweet for now. Vlad discovered her potential as a hunter while checking in on Danny and steps in to make sure she doesn’t misplace the blame on him for all of the things that Cujo did. In fact, he does some digging and provides her with proof that Cujo was once a security dog at Axion Labs where her dad works that was put down which puts things in perspective for her early on. Valerie still thinks ghosts are dangerous, but when she starts hunting them it’s not all about her personal vendetta, it’s about making sure ghosts won’t be able to ruin anyone else’s lives like Cujo did since her dad still had to get a new job and move despite Vlad’s intervention. Again, Vlad cares more about what she can do for him and Danny than about fixing her personal problems which is a bit cold but like I said as good as this Vlad is he’s no saint...
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Lastly, there’s the cloning tags. Oh boy that’s a tough one! Honestly I don’t think this version of Vlad would ever feel the need to resort to cloning since he already has Danny on his side so to speak which removes those feelings of desperation he had when the original Vlad did it. Even if this Vlad still wants a family of his own and is sad whenever he realizes Danny can never completely be his, he would never risk alienating Danny by breaking his trust like to steal his DNA to make an entirely new halfa. I suppose Vlad could try cloning himself instead, but that would also be way too over the top for my Good Vlad AU. And so, sadly, I can’t think of a believable way to bring Danielle into this au.
Truthfully it would be more realistic for this version of Vlad to consider adopting someone into the Master’s family instead (either a ghost or human since he’s not about to recreate the accident just to have a son or daughter with powers.) Or OOO, what if my Good Vlad has a special ‘episode’ where Danny has to go save HIM this time from a ghost who cast a spell on Vlad to make him believe they’re his only child in order to gain access to his vast wealth, power, and/or his collection of rare magical/ghostly artifacts? And since they have some control over Vlad, this ghost child convinces him attack Danny which results in a very emotionally-loaded fight where he really has to use every trick Vlad’s taught him since they started training together against him to snap that fruitloop out of it. Just a thought to close things off!
Hope that gives you an idea about some of the changes in this au! Some of these ideas might change later if I come up with better ones though, just warning you in advance since this au is still a work in progress!
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When I saw 'Romanians' mentioned in your last post I had a wtf moment cause I have only watched the movies and I don't think I've ever noticed their existence. Regardless, I just had to read the wiki page and it is hillarious to me cause coincidence or not they seem to be named after the psychopathic ruler 'Vlad the impaler' and his cousin 'Stefan the great'(he might have murdered more people than his cousin known as the impaler, but you know he is great). Also, what do you think of them? Sorry for the rant...
You have no idea what you’ve unleashed.
I love the Romanians because they are, hands down, the trashiest, weirdest, lamest, loser vampires in Twilight canon. 
Just, these two are so hilariously beautiful.
First off, while Meyer undoubtedly named them with Vlad Tepish and Stefan the Great in mind, the Romanians are actually much older. We don’t have exact dates, but we know the Romanians (then presumably the Dacians), held great power over their territory for a thousand years before the Volturi had truly established themselves. After the Volturi took on and won against Amun’s coven in Egypt (and took the grateful Demetri off Amun’s hands making Amun still bitter thousands of years later) they waged war against the Romanians and won. (Vlad and Stefan are still very bitter but give us the silver lining of “oh yeah, well, we’re only partly petrified. SO TAKE THAT STUPID VOLTURI!”)
Vlad, Stefan, and Vlad’s wife were the only survivors. The Romanians, being one of the most evil and trashy covens in Twilight, decided to take on Volterra by amassing an army of 100 vampires. Hilariously, they had poor timing, this is a decade after Aro acquired Jane and Alec. The entire army is defeated in a second, Vlad’s wife is murdered, and by 810 AD, it’s just Vlad and Stefan.
They’ve remained losers the Volturi don’t take seriously ever since. Every decade, Demetri pays them a visit to remind them that yes, the Volturi does remember them and can find them any time they want to. Even more hilariously, Vlad and Stefan take this very seriously, and are constantly on the run from the Volturi, never aware that the Volturi actually don’t care. At all. 
Point being, given these guys, first it’s entirely likely their original names are not Vlad and Stefan. We see many of the vampires of the ancient world periodically change their name. We have Chelsea and Demetri, who are canonically acknowledged as having done this. Given when and where they were born, we can assume Marcus and Caius were not originally Marcus and Caius. Similarly, we can assume Aro’s name was originally far longer as well.
None the less, it would be just like these two to name themselves after these Romanian human warlords, one of whom serves and the inspiration for the modern vampire myth in Europe. And then, insist, of course, that the human rulers were actually named after Vlad and Stefan, because the humans still worship them, you know.
They’re going to be back on top any day now, you’ll see. 
That’s another thing worth getting into. The Romanians are evil. I’m not exaggerating this, of all the vampires in Twilight, they are the most appalling (and this is including James, Maria and the southern war lords, Joham... well not Joham, he’s a special brand of evil). These guys had a thousand year reign of terror in Dacia. Humans were butchered seemingly by entire villages, they made humans their slaves and demanded worship and sacrifice. When the humans periodically tried to overthrow them, they slaughtered them all, presumably placed their heads on spikes, and used them to taunt those few surviving humans.
When they lost power, they made an army a hundred vampires strong, which given what we see of the newborns in Seattle (who were only around twenty and still far too large to control), probably wiped out several large settlements in eastern Europe. Didn’t matter, just as long as they got rid of the Volturi.
And they miss those glory days dearly.
They actively reminisce about in Breaking Dawn to an oblivious Bella, who is just so happy these very important and impressive Europeans are here to help her beautiful daughter and so impressed they they’ve been fighting the corrupt Volturi for thousands of years (which is another bit of hilarity we’ll get into). You know, when/if the Volturi fall, the Romanians will be the first in line to rape the women and enslave us all. Good times, good times.
But back to them being trash people.
Vlad and Stefan are utterly destitute, their entire coven is destroyed, and yet they still insist they’re a Big Fucking Deal. Not only that, but just their every action is beyond weird. They talk in unison like Fred and George Weasley, they’re these ridiculously tiny men dressed as stereotypical vampires, and they show up out of nowhere on your doorstep saying, “So, hear you’re starting an insurrection against Volterra, Carlisle, we want in” (While Carlisle, I’m sure, just dies a thousand times inside). 
They then talk to Bella all about how they fight the corruption of the Volturi. What is the corruption, you ask? Well, the Volturi drove them out of their kingdom and liberated the human slaves. Then they imposed this stupid law where you couldn’t eat humans in broad daylight. Then when the Romanians tried to invade Italy they killed them all.
The Romanians will expose the Volturi’s crimes here and now. They stand for justice, peace, and Renezel--Renpunz--Renesmee. (The Romanians decidedly do not come for Renesmee, they hear about Carlisle’s army through the vampire European rumor mill, which just shows how out of hand it all got because now Carlisle’s amassing an army to protect the immortal child his son made. They show 0 interest in Renesmee.)
They give me serious McPoyle vibes.
More, beautifully, everything they touch becomes tainted.
Laurent, another beautiful loser character, starts life as a French courtier in Versailles. When he’s turned into a vampire, he assumes the vampire world works like Versailles. It works nothing like Versailles.
He seeks out those vampires with the greatest power.
Well, vampires in general are cannibalistic homeless nomads who care nothing for power.
This brings him, beautifully, to the Romanians. They insist to Laurent they’re super cool and powerful, Laurent believes them, but either Laurent eventually clues in or realizes something’s not right here. So, he goes to seek out the real power, the Volturi.
Unfortunately, Laurent is a loser, the Volturi is not court, and Aro has no need for some lackey trying to get in his good graces. Plus, Laurent hung out willingly with Vlad and Stefan. And anyone who does that...
So, Aro goes, “Ew, no, leave.”
Laurent is convinced, even when canon rolls around and he’s sunk so low as to hang out with James and Victoria (also loser vampires), that Aro will call him back any day now.
Aro never does. Laurent is eaten by untrained sixteen-year-old shape shifters.
But yes, point being, I imagine that in this modern era the Romanians would have a Go Fund Me for purchasing the blow torches they’ll use to destroy the Volturi once and for all. They also have a YouTube channel which is unintentionally dungeon porn, in which they cover their heads in bags so as not to be recognized, and talk about the good old days in thick Romanian accents. It’s a very popular YouTube channel, nobody understands why they wear so much body glitter.
Oh, right, Bella.
Bella is so beautiful with these guys. So, in Breaking Dawn, Bella actually takes the Romanians seriously. They’re all I describe above and more, they’re not hiding it, they’re full McPoyle (including the taking over the world built). Jake even tells Bella he finds them weird as hell. Bella thinks they’re great.
No, really, she thinks they’re great.
They tell her how they enslaved all the people in their territory, demanded tithes, and would eagerly do so again as soon as they get the chance and she stares at them with wide eyes and thinks about how cool all these vampires who came for precious Renesmee are. (Which, funnily, they actually all came either for Carlisle, because he has a billion friends everywhere, or else as a power grab like the Romanians, or both in Amun’s case. It’s the weirdest, most beautiful, mixture of people.)
Bella has her moments, but loving the Romanians has got to be a top ten for her. My explanation is that she’s so high on vampirism and Renesmee that this is all just great for her. LIFE IS WONDERFUL!
EDIT: I could no longer abide my spelling mistakes, I also edited a bit for cleanliness.
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ganymedesclock · 4 years
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So... What do you think about revisiting Danny phantom in general? Revisiting the fandom I've noticed a lot of fanfic that have Danny's parents finding out his deal rather violently, or generally having more violence/angst than the original show..
I’m assuming you’re sending me this ask because of my recent burst of Danny Phantom art, so, it’s probably not a surprise to say I’m doing a certain amount of revisiting myself, and certainly not about to shame anyone else for it. It was a very dear cartoon to me in many ways and left some enduring hallmarks on my own writing, and I can absolutely understand people feeling the same way.
That said, as someone who’s been in this fandom for a while, albeit quietly- there certainly is a thread of macabre interest in fandom spaces, one I don’t always know that I agree with, especially when it comes to the Fentons.
My personal verdict on the Fenton parents specifically is I think they are not handled fairly by canon. This is a problem that Danny Phantom as a show shares with Fairly Odd Parents, though I would argue the Turner parents in FOP are quite a bit worse at this.
Roughly, I think how the Fenton parents are canonically depicted suffers from a phenomenon that affects many parts of the show: DP, as a series, has a bit of a sense of confused priorities between comedy and drama, and as a result, what’s 'real’ in-universe and what’s “just supposed to be a joke”. The kind of humor that DP tends to spring for is exaggerated or shocking behavior- it also tends to be a humor that hinges on the idea that other people are generally inconvenient to the main character. So humor-characterization is inconsistent here- Jack is negligent until it’s more inconvenient to depict him as overbearing (see: Girl’s Night Out and other cases he desperately wants to bond with Danny) he’s a recluse only loved by his wife until it’s more inconvenient to depict him as having an active social life (Masters Of All Time and that he and Maddie are going to a themed party so they’re dressed ‘weirdly’ in public)
A big victim of this is Jack’s sense that ghosts aren’t people and his desire to dissect them. Because here is the thing: it’s all talk, in the worst way. It hinges on the idea Jack- someone who knows enough of what he’s doing that along with Maddie and, in the past, Vlad- ripped two different holes in reality hard enough to permanently alter someone’s relation to undeath- has never seen a ghost before the series as he says in Mystery Meat.
The series has a big problem where it hinges on the Fentons’ inventions and expertise but also wants to treat them like idiots constantly. And if you notice how much I’m talking exclusively about Jack- that’s part of the problem. Maddie, in many ways, outside of episodes that throw her a bone, despite constantly being told by people she’s too good for Jack, is really treated as an extension of Jack. Masters Of All Time even suggests that her choosing Jack in the first place was just a path of least resistance between her two college friends, and she’d have married whichever one stuck around. 
The Fentons are not respected as experts, so Jack is given his ignorant line about dissecting a ghost. The Fentons need to remain exaggerated, ridiculous, an inconvenience to Danny- so they threaten his alter ego and point guns at him, but this is funny and not serious and not a reason to be worried about them as parents, because they are not on Danny’s level. Nobody is ever on Danny’s level. There is literally an episode called The Ultimate Enemy. The antagonist is an evil future Danny. The only person who could ever be Danny’s ultimate nemesis is Danny himself. 
And when the series stops milking the Fentons for jokes about how they’re so stupid and how Jack is an idiot and Maddie married that idiot but even she doesn’t respect him even though she loves him and dutifully follows him everywhere and god how can these people care about ghosts they’re so ignorant and out of their league- 
-then it kinda shuffles its feet awkwardly and goes, yeah. the Fentons love each other, and love their kids.
Yeah, Jack has framed photographs of Maddie, Jazz, and Danny on his personal workstation.
Yeah, in Mystery Meat Jack was seriously debating walking away from his lifework because it upset one of his kids. 
Yeah, every time in canon the Fentons find out Danny’s secret they’re immediately all in supporting him.
Yeah, even not knowing it’s Danny, Jack has an amiable conversation with him in Million Dollar Ghost and the ghost containment units designed by the Fentons get some jokes about that they’re a little cramped but they aren’t horrifying prisons of inhumanity- and as soon as Danny Phantom the ghost boy has a good point, Jack lets him go on purpose. 
Yeah, Jack is a competent ghost hunter who can take on Skulker and win as well as beat down the giant lake monster Skulker brought with him in Girls’ Night Out and would do this in a heartbeat, no jokes and no sidetracks, because that monster just chewed on his baby boy and nobody does that to his baby boy.
Yeah, Maternal Instinct is an entire episode of Maddie throwing hands with (or deceiving and manipulating) literally anything she thinks was responsible for getting Danny in this dangerous situation.
...And then the series says “but that’s not funny! Here, have jokes about the Fenton Stockades, that exist and have spikes and Jack wants to put his kids in them for time out, when the spikes apparently don’t hurt given Jack is not injured for being put in there. Here, have a joke about Jack attacking Jazz with a vacuum cleaner because he gets hellbent on the idea she’s possessed for no good reason. Here, have an uncomfortable joke about how badly Jack Fenton wants to vivisect a ghost while it screams. Funny funny funny. Why- why are you flinching?”
It basically creates a comedic situation where the show is constantly winding up like it’s gonna punch you- with the idea that the Fentons are bad parents and this has consequences for Danny and Jazz personally- and then laughs in your face if you flinch. It’ll never actually punch you- but it will sure keep swinging its hand really close to your face and laughing at your reactions.
This is, I’m just gonna say- one of the worst elements of the series, this weird relationship it has with “hahaha are we depicting an abusive family or not? ;)” where its actual point is that Jack Fenton is a person who should be shamed for being overzealous, for caring about this niche field, because nobody cares about ghosts! (unless the entire premise of the show does) Nobody wants to think about ghost science! That’s LAME! (unless Vlad does it)
So I think ultimately this creates a polarizing experience in the fandom. What part of this information do you take?
Do you take, say, my personal approach, which is: 
“Hey, so it’s pretty clear and consistent that the Fentons love their kids and wouldn’t hurt them. The Fentons are nice people. They can be obsessive or headstrong but there’s nuanced and salient ways to examine this in the basic framework that they care, both about their family specifically, and in general- and while I think they can have flaws or conflicts with their kids, and with ambient ghosts in the world, I really don’t think they’re in danger of torturing a sapient entity in their basement and it frustrates and annoys me that canon ‘makes a joke’ of them doing these things because it thinks they’re so incompetent that these things are not really malicious actions, when- whether or not you successfully shoot them, it takes a certain kind of person to point a weapon you know is dangerous at something that looks, and talks, like a fourteen-year-old, especially when you’re a parent who has probably at least once in your life worried about something happening to your kids, and the ghost of a teenager means something happened to someone’s kid, in a general sense.
So my end conclusion on the Fentons is I think they are being depicted in a kind of metatextual bad faith, that they are not cruel or malicious people, and in my personal take or understanding on the series, I’d massively dial down those elements, and if any remain, take them seriously as problems they have in their relationships with other people.”
Or do you take an approach more rooted in,
“If the Fentons are shown to be negligent parents they are negligent parents, I’m going to examine and depict them as that, and I find this very hard to forgive, so it’s going to have real and nasty consequences.”
Both are basically valid. The place where I tend to get a little uncomfortable is twofold:
First, I think sometimes people just really want some fictional tragedy to either create or consume, and to that end, you aren’t going to get much juicy drama out of the Fentons being reasonable people. This isn’t evil or unforgivable, but for me, it’s definitely my least favorite fannish content to create or consume. I’m no fan of angst for angst’s sake, and I feel like there’s enough misery and heartbreak in the world that I’m not interested in wallowing in it unless it’s got something interesting to say.
Second- and this is a point I’m gonna be saltier: A lot of abusive Fenton fics that refuse to forgive them for the poorer-taste jokes the series makes, simultaneously give Vlad a blank check, when he has done targetedly malicious things to Danny. 
Now- do I also have a more sympathetic read on Vlad, and feel like canon also gives him a bad rap? Yeah! But you can’t have it both ways. You can’t say, “I can’t forgive the Fentons for stuff that was tagged onto them because canon thought it was funny, but I’m gonna editorialize Vlad’s depiction to lionize him as the ideal parent figure for Danny to run into the arms of.”
And the main reason I get so worked up in this, is I feel like Jack in particular (when Maddie is characterized as subordinate to Jack, following his cues, etc., and that’s its own demon) is... characterized as kind of a mocking caricature of traits that I personally recognize as an autistic and ADHD person.
Because the reality is? In many practical ways, I am Jack Fenton.
I like a bunch of weird stuff people find unacceptable or gross, like bugs
I’m hyperlexic (that means I talk, a lot)
Scatterbrained, forget words or where I left something or, sometimes, to do something important
Passionate and excitable including and especially in situations where it’s not normal, or expected, to have this much energy
I absolutely can forget birthdays, even for people I love dearly that mean the world to me! It’s horrible! There’s almost nothing I can do about it! My brain refuses to hold onto this information reliably and no amount of caring fixes it.
And being this way, living like this? My worst nightmare has always been that people think I either don’t care or that I’m just too much of a stupid, flippant buffoon to get right.
The thing about Jack is he’s “a person like me” and he’s “a person like me” who was designed to be a joke. We’re clearly expected to view him as untrustworthy, stupid, just like a big dumb dog of a man who barks in the wrong directions, who sometimes, when it counts, fetches a stick like he’s supposed to. Good job, Lassie. You got little Timmy out of the well.
And I am going to say with certainty and confidence that feeling like this is how people see me is the most unbelievably crushing feeling I have ever experienced in my life. That my excitement and passion means I’m unprofessional, stupid, don’t know what I’m talking about. It’s nearly painful for me, as an adult, to watch Danny Phantom because the show can never get off Jack’s case. And the few times it does, he hauls overtime arduously to make a difference, to help, to build something that will protect others, to put his own life on the line to stop hostile ghosts.
And immediately, then he goes back to being stupid stupid dog man. ha ha. why does his wife love him? no wonder his kids don’t ever want to be seen with him. no wonder his best friend is trying to kill him and he doesn’t even know, the big idiot.
(never mind that we see a scenario where he does know. and admits he would’ve forgiven Vlad anyway. but he can’t forgive Vlad hurting Danny.)
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So to rein in this wild tangent: I’m not saying all must love Jack Fenton and despair. I’m not even telling people to hide their angst. If I have a sincere request, it’s this:
If you’re inclined to thinking of Vlad as a cool, troubled, complex person (as I do!) and are haunted by the implications of The Ultimate Enemy specifically for Vlad, that when Danny lost everyone else in his life that Vlad really genuinely tried to help, and was not gloating and happy and victorious to have Danny as his protege, and when that went badly, he was haunted to the end of his days by not having been able to help-
-but immediately turn around and think Jack is just a rotten awful person who’d absolutely hurt his own kid in spite of canon to the contrary (when there’s just as much, if not more, canon of Vlad being willfully hostile)
It might be good to examine why you’re feeling this way, and if this might not come down to the fact that even when canon has people call Vlad a desperately lonely fruit loop, it has a lot more respect for him than it does for Jack, and this isn’t because it’s actually taking a stance against any of the qualities it gave Jack that someone might find disagreeable- it’s because Jack’s just “a big old fat idiot nobody likes, right?”
and that’s... not something comfy to buy into.
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blackevermore · 3 years
Text
x Secrets of The Lake: The Company of Misery and Pain
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{ Chapter 12 }
Summary: Vladimir Masters’ family tree has always been tainted by secrets swept under the rug. From generation to generation there have been countless reasons the Masters’ family had seemed to keep private from the public. Even to this day, Vladimir was no exception. But what was one to do when a restless spirit from the settlement years finally breaks free from restraints and demands you answer for your ancestor’s crimes? Vladimir doesn’t know. However, Clockworks does.
Notes: We just having fun, rewriting some of the canon, new adventure new characters. I will apologize now for any grammar, spelling, weird sentence structuring in advance. My brain writes faster than my fingers and even when I go back through to reread it I still miss things. Sorry about that!
Word Count: 3992
P.s: This chapter was...something to say the least. Maybe a bit out of place but I promise I'll make up for it.
He didn’t know how long he stared into his computer screen, watching the cursor blink impatiently for the rest of the email. There were only three lines worth reading and the first two were introductions of having a good day and hoping to be found in good health. After that, he couldn’t remember his mind fading away until he heard the sound of his office phone ringing. Blinking a few times and determining the email could wait till later. He closed the laptop and turned towards the phone to check the small caller ID screen. It was another business call that the secretary pushed through and Vlad didn’t really feel up to answering it. He pressed the wait button then switched the lines to call to the secretary desk.
“Yes, Sir?” The chipper voice answered and Vlad winced, she was always too happy for his liking.
“Hold all my calls.” Vlad loosen his bowtie from around his neck and shrugged off his suit jacket.
“Of course, Sir.” Vlad hung up the call and leaned back in his chair taking a deep breath and letting it out. Ever since he left the house he could feel a small throbbing pain in his core. He did his best to ignore it, waving it off as nothing more than a phantom pain from a few days ago. But as he tried to go about his day he found himself wincing and clinching his chest every so often. The amount of ‘are you okay’ and ‘do you need a moment’ were getting rather annoying, and thus an hour ago Vlad locked himself inside his office. A slow hand made its way up to his chest once more and Vlad held it there. Tayonna must have really tied herself to him during their first meeting for pain like this to continue. As another faint throb did its course, Vlad felt himself being somewhat paranoid and worried. For who or for what he didn’t know, but the emotions were there and he didn’t know what to do with them. And then, like a snap of a finger, the emotions and the pain in his core were all gone, leaving him breathing heavy.
He sat up and rubbed his temple trying to figure out what was happening. He couldn’t continue like this until the end of the day. Making up his mind he grabbed his jacket and headed towards the door.
“Sir?” the secretary jumped as Vlad stormed past her.
“I’m ending my day early, any messages or papers that I need to review I will do so tomorrow. Good day Mrs Andrews.” Vlad didn’t care that he was yelling halfway across the office space as he headed towards the elevator. When he hit the button for the elevator he quickly grew anxious as he watched the floors ding one by one. Cursing the world he turned on his heels and walked over to the stairwell. When the door closed behind him and he peeked over the railing to make sure he was actually alone, he turned ghost and zoomed down to the last floor. Turning human again he quickly walked out the emergency exit towards the parking lot. It was when Vlad finally made it to his car and into the driver's seat that he realized he didn’t want to go home. Naturally, he would be on autopilot after work to get in and drive home. But right now, in the newfound free time he has given himself, he didn’t want to go there. Empty or not. Starting the car Vlad chose not to make any real decisions and drove any which way he felt like turning the wheel.
For three hours Vlad mindlessly drove around Amity enjoying the scenery. Even in places he visited constantly he found new hidden beauties. Has the town always been this lovely? Vlad couldn’t recall nor really remember how often he was able to go out and actually look. Of course, Vlad made sure to do his mayoral duties while in office which consisted of many community projects. But he never truly got to see the outcomes of them, this was amazing, more so than he imagined. He made a mental note that he would have to put time aside for himself to go out in nature. By boy scout honour Vlad swore it that he and nature would once again connect in dear time. As Vlad continued to drive around somewhere on the lower east side of the town a call came through his car’s display. 
“Masters speaking,” Vlad answered.
“I called your office and Almeria said you ended your day early?” Kate sounded a bit breathless on the other end, she was most likely walking somewhere. Vlad huffed quietly.
“Today doesn’t seem like my day either.” He grumbled.
“Water pipes still busted?”
“Hmm...yes and it cost so much to get them repaired.” Vlad had nearly forgotten the lie he had told everyone. Between the morning meetings, the concerned employees, and the pain in his core, Vlad didn't really hold that lie up as important to remember since no one had asked.
“You’re rich, you should be fine. I called to tell you I finished meeting with one of the historians at the Virginia State Library.” Kate pulled away from the phone to give a quick ‘pardon me’ then continued. “There weren’t any recorded documents of any members of your family settling nor doing business in central Virginia during the 17th century. As you know the records the state library has ranges across the whole state. However, there is another library that I’ve contacted that has another set of records that covers small businesses and land that also date back as far. I’ve already set up an appointment to meet with them tomorrow.” Kate pulled away from the phone once more to order a small coffee and a cookie and Vlad felt his sweet tooth spring to life.
“Well good news to you, Miss Way, I have a name that will narrow your search. Vladan Masters, or at the time Masters would have been spelt M, the A and the E would have been mashed together, G I S T E R. Look closer to the end of the 1600s as that’s when he would have been of age or so.” Vlad felt a weird shiver crawl up his back as he spoke the name. Almost like hands latching onto his shoulders and shaking him a bit. He quickly rolled his shoulders and tried to shake it off but it still lingered.
“Right, thank you, Sir, I’ll let you know what I find.” Vlad hung up the call and before he could actually figure out where he was during his little drive. He was parking his car right outside his home. Vlad didn’t want to go in, but he couldn’t sit in the car the rest of the day. ‘You seriously can’t allow some ghost to kick you out of your own house’ Vlad thought to himself taking another look out the side of the passenger window up towards his mansion. 
“Of course not,” Vlad scoffed and got out of the car and headed up the stone steps to his front door. Looking around for any nosy neighbors to make sure the coast was clear. Vlad ghosted through the door and hung up his jacket on the coat hanger. He couldn’t feel any form of energy on the main floor, the house felt almost as cold as it did a few years ago. Vlad hated to remember how empty and alone he was during his darker years of self isolation. He could remember how sad he actually was when the only person waiting for him was Maddie the cat. But when she passed the home grew cold till Dani was brought back and welcomed Vlad’s offer. Vlad teleported into the kitchen in a poof and looked around, nothing, he poofed to one of the living rooms and still no one, he did this all over the first floor until he confirmed the ghost wasn’t around. He floated upstairs and towards the guest room and looked inside and that’s when a feeling of calm settled through his body. Tayonna sat on the bed looking out the windows down towards the garden.
“Evening Miss Tayonna,” Vlad cleared his throat and walked inside but stayed close to the door. The ghost turned around from the window and Vlad could have stumbled over himself at the sight of her. The sun was high in the sky and hung over her like a halo and made her seem to glow. Specks of the sun peeked through her curls warming her skin into a soft brown with red undertones, and her eyes seemed to glow a soft green. She has always taken my breath away. She still wore her stoic expression of wariness and yet it made her seem untouchable. Vlad didn’t know he was holding his breath until his lungs began to scream for air. He tried to not make it obvious as he exhaled and nodded towards her.
“Masters.” Tayonna nodded back towards the man then turned back towards the garden. Vlad felt his heart sting in pain at how cold his name came from her lips. Had he wished for her to call him the wrong name again? Or maybe just not as bitter? He was used to others calling him Masters in an aggressive manner but with this ghost, Vlad knew he didn’t like it.
“I would like to talk to you about this problem you are facing and see if I will be able to aid you.” Vlad didn’t move from his spot, he knew moving closer wouldn’t be a smart move, and the last thing he needed was a blast to the face. One less fight was best for the both of them. 
“Help me? How can you help me when you-...when he isn’t here to be held accountable for his crimes.” Tayonna’s words were bitter and came as more of an attack on Vlad even when she corrected herself. She pulled her knees closer to herself and tucked her head into the space between her body.
“Well for starters you could begin with telling me where you’re from and how you became a part of my family.” Vlad tested the water by taking a few steps closer towards her but quickly stopped when he saw her jerk up and narrow her eyes at him. He held up his hands and raised his eyebrows to show he meant no harm and Tayonna seemed to let her guard down. “May I?” Vlad pointed to the edge of the bed and Tayonna pulled her feet in so there was more space between them. Vlad took that as a yes and sat down comfortably on the edge. He crossed his legs and waited for the other to respond to him. He hoped it would be soon because his tolerance was low and he wouldn’t be doing this all night if he didn’t have to.
“I was brought from the coast, stolen from my people and bought by yours.” Vlad wanted to correct her, his family hadn’t done it, but he knew she meant more so the colour of his skin. “Luther picked me like a friend and his parents were against it.” Vlad wanted to cheer for the fact he had been right. “But he begged them and eventually I was brought to their home. I was ordered to stay by Luther’s side and aid him.” Vlad was surprised by how much he was getting from her. He was sure all day yesterday it would have been hard to get her to talk. But he supposed it was better than having to build up trust over the course of days then finally getting somewhere.
“Do you remember where the family lived?” Vlad turned more towards the girl in hopes he could read her expression. He could tell it pained her to talk about it. Before Vlad could register what he was doing he stuck out a hand and took hers, flipping it over so her palm faces upward and used his thumb to rub circles in the middle. Tayonna gasped softly and she looked between him and what he was doing before yanking her hand back towards her. “I-I’m sorry, I have no idea why I did that.” Vlad held his head and quickly turned away from her. At that moment he had a strong thought that he knew how to calm her down. He knew exactly how to use his thumb to draw small circles and how it would make her feel a bit better. When he touched her, he even felt calmer, relaxed and dare say remorseful.
“No, I don’t,” Tayonna answered and turned back towards the window. Vlad nodded and shot to his feet to leave. He didn’t turn back as he strolled towards his bedroom and slammed the door behind him. Vlad quickly kicked off his shoes and fell into his armchair. His mind was now a scattered mess as he scolded himself for doing something inappropriate, if he kept feeling this pulling feeling towards her he was going to get nowhere. Every time he got too close, Vlad’s mind would draw a blank and he would feel and think things that weren’t true. He felt dangerous emotions he would consider private and untouched that would muddy and mix. Vlad grumbled a fruit and snapped his fingers. A ghost maid was quick to manifest beside him and he told her to bring him a drink. Within seconds the maid was back with a tray of not only a full glass but also the whole bottle. Vlad smirked and silently thanked her for being so generous. 
He slowly took sips as he thought of something else to distract him. Work, no, the drive home, not enough, how annoyed he was, that was never a good one. Then finally he found it, though he had told himself he had moved on slightly he still couldn't help himself to think of Madeline. The way her beautiful blue eyes shined as bright as the moon, or the way her now short fiery hair framed her much more mature face. The way she laughed, the way she carried herself with so much power and confidence, the way she could be so serious and yet so caring. Surely it had to be from having children that made her softer but underneath she was hellfire and Vlad could only dream of having her. Dream of what it would have been if he had had the chance to truly woo her.
I have to say sorry, she has to understand. There it was, the little voice in his head that he couldn’t make vanish. Understand what? Vlad shook his head and took another sip of his drink trying to get back to his little fantasy. ‘Maybe two drinks would be better than one’ Vlad thought to himself and finished off the rest before pouring more. I was scared, we both were scared. ‘Scared of what?’ Vlad didn’t want to acknowledge the voice, he didn’t care, he wanted nothing more than to forget about it. He tried to down his second glass but the burn in the back of his throat made it a bit impossible. Vlad was never a heavy drinker unless time called for it, but he always had to drink slowly even then. ‘What were you scared of?’ Vlad grumbled and tried his best to ward off the voice and his lingering questions. She has to know why I did it. Vlad quickly figured out the voice in his head spoke of something else. But of what was still a mystery.
“Shut up,” Vlad grumbled but that only made the voice get louder and louder. It had started as a whisper yards away, but now it was as loud as someone speaking right into his ear. “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” Vlad covered his ears as the voice started to ramble on and on about forgiveness and how sorry it was. Then like an ice shower, the voice in his head changed and sounded just like him. I love her. Vlad felt something standing behind him and jumped from his seat and turned around to shoot off an ectoblast. He manically looked around and soon landed on the red mist floating down towards the ground and slipping out of the door.
“Get away from me!” Vlad's ears rang in slight pain as Tayonna’s voice rose to a dangerous scream. He stumbled over his feet to get out of his room, the red mist was slowly making its way towards the guest room and Vlad heard Tayonna scream again. I had to protect her. Vlad knew these weren’t his thoughts but he felt the pull of energy flowing through him to aid Tayonna. He turned into Plasmius and shot through the walls until he arrived in the room. Vlad gasped as the room was filled to the ceiling in the red mist swirling around like angry thunder clouds. Tayonna was no longer on the bed but the floor on her knees holding herself. Vlad flew down and tried to touch her but a force threw him back against the wall. 
Vlad groaned and got back onto his feet, in front of him the mist pulled together like a thick wall between him and Tayonna. Tayonna was beginning to cry and Vlad felt his body act on its own as he tried to shoot down the wall with an ectoray. But like jelly, the mist gobbled up his shots and swallowed them. As he continued his attacks the mist twisted inwards forming into a face. Vlad’s face but in a way he was unfamiliar with, pure anger and laced linings of betrayal. The mist then began to shrink into a silhouette of Vlad and slowly stocked its way towards him. Vlad gritted his teeth and clenched his fists as he activated his electric powers. He could only faintly remember Tayonna doing this so it had to work. As the mist got closer Vlad shot at it, stunning it a few times but never stopping it fully. The closer it got the angrier Vlad was and a bit worried about what was going to happen. Tayonna was still too choked up on the ground to do anything, not that she could with the collar on. 
“Blasted!” Vlad yelled cursing himself for putting that thing on her. She would have been so helpful right now. “You’re nothing but memories of the past! You’ve done nothing but make her restless and cause trouble for everyone.” Vlad didn’t know why he spoke to the mist as if could hear. But somehow he knew it understood him by the way it would stop a few times. He watched as the mist’s face would halt then twist back into anger, his anger, his rage, Vlad felt it. “Memories can be destroyed, forgotten, and even replaced! You are nothing!” Vlad yelled out once more but that seemed to only make it worse. Within a few quick like static steps, the mist took hold of Vlad by the neck in a vice grip. 
Vlad’s eyes widened as the red mist started to turn human, starting from the fingertips the mist vanished and a tan hand gripped tighter. Like water being sucked out of a stream the mist finally reached the face and Vlad’s heart stopped beating and his core ran cold. He was staring a variant of himself right in the eyes, like an angry lion who had finally had enough of its prey. The doppelganger was every bit of Vlad had he never been shot by Jack’s prototype. Tan skin that saw the softer days of being outside, vibrant cold blue eyes, and dark raven hair that fell a bit beyond the shoulders. But this Vlad seemed so out of place by the clothes he wore. Like a puzzle solving itself Vlad knew now. This was Vladan. This was the person Tayonna was looking for. 
“Then we must help her forgive.” Vlad felt the chills run down his back as he heard his own voice but with a thick German accent. As he tried to pull away and attack once more his doppelganger pulled him closer and squeezed his neck. Vlad gasps and he wishes he hadn’t as he felt the mist starting to fill his body. Vladan began to fade away but the grip on Vlad’s neck stayed as all the mist was sucked into his body like smoke. It burned the back of his throat as the fire in his body became sporadic. He felt a clench on both his heart and his core as mist filled his lungs and seeped into his bloodstream. Every muscle in his body began to clench causing him to fall to the floor only being able to catch himself with his hands. Vlad’s vision began to blur in pure red and he was blind to everything around him. Vlad felt himself fighting and losing control over his body as the pain shot up and down, finally nesting into his chest. He couldn’t scream, the only sound to leave his body were broken breathless grunts and pants. His airways were beginning to collapse.
“Let go of him,” Vlad could faintly hear Tayonna’s voice getting close to him. “Get away from him or I’ll take all of us down.” Tayonna crawled towards Vlad and shakenly placed her hand on his back. She said something in a language Vlad couldn’t understand before a wave of pressure shot Vlad down completely to the ground. The hold on his body released as Vlad heard himself scream above him. The mist lifted halfway out of Vlad’s body with a painful scream then dove back in. Tayonna said the same words over and Vlad felt the weight of the world push him down again. He didn’t feel any pain anymore from his chest but whatever Tayonna was doing did start to hurt. Vlad tried to push himself up to stop Tayonna but she pushed him back down with the same line of words. 
“Tayonna wait,” Vlad said breathlessly and weakly as he once again tried to get out of her hold. “Tayonna stop.”
“Get out of him!” Vlad had somehow managed to roll away before Tayonna could mumble her words again and send him slamming into the floor. Vlad felt his powers cave and he turned human. His hair had managed to fall out of its ponytail and pool in front of his face. Vlad didn’t have the strength to push it out of his way as he felt Tayonna move closer to him. He felt her hand inch closer and he quickly spun around to grab her wrist and pull her down. He rolled them on the floor so he was now on top of her with a tight grip on both of her wrists. He panted hard, he felt so tired but yet he had to keep her down. Inside his body he could still feel the mist travelling through him and then settled into the middle of his core. With a deep gasp, Vlad felt the mist absorbed itself into him. Still breathless and near the brink of passing out, Vlad let go of one of her wrists and brought his hand to her cheek.
“Meine Geliebte,” Vlad knew it wasn’t he who whispered it but he felt the power behind it as he finally felt his body give out and roll off of Tayonna. Tayonna was frozen to the ground as she replayed the words over and over in her ears. Through the same colour eyes, Tayonna saw the man she had once loved. A single tear rolled down her cheek as her eyes stayed wide and her body became numb.
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makeste · 5 years
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BnHA Chapter 204: Chintetsu
Previously on BnHA: Shouto left Endeavor on read. Team TodoIidaShoujiRo attacked Team TetsuHonePonySen head-on, hitting them with a wave of ice and freezing them all in place. But it turns out Honenuki’s quicksand quirk is actually a “softening” quirk which can soften anything he touches. He used that to melt the ice to allow his teammates to escape. It also turns out that he had pre-treated some of the surrounding area with his quirk, and Ojiro and Iida came crashing down from their hiding spots shortly after as the softened ground gave way beneath them. Sen attacked Ojiro with his drill quirk while Pony took on Shouji. Meanwhile Tetsu went for Shouto, realizing a direct attack was his best bet. And Honenuki trapped Iida under a layer of the softened ice, but then made the mistake of rehardening it, intending to keep him stuck in place. Instead, Iida blasted free with his Recipro, revealing that he’s built up his endurance to the special move. So now we’ll see if he can take Honenuki down.
Today on BnHA: We get a wholesome Iida flashback to when Tensei explained how to upgrade his Recipro by -- wait, what? Mutilating his own fucking leg?! Holy shit. That’s not wholesome at all. What the fuck. But anyway, it worked I guess because back in the present day Iida is zipping along at speeds faster than Gran fucking Torino, and he’s able to maintain this speed for up to ten whole minutes. The only downside is that he can’t fully control himself because he’s so goddamn fast and so he keeps skidding around. Anyway, so Honenuki is like “nope” and gets the fuck out of there. Meanwhile Sen continues to whoop Ojiro’s ass, but then Iida shows up to save him so yay. Elsewhere the Tetsuroki fight has heated up, quite literally, as Todoroki activates his left side to create a wall of fire, and Tetsutetsu proceeds to walk right through it and attack Shouto as a red hot steel man. Shouto thinks back to his dad’s training and decides that the solution to this is clearly to make shit even hotter, so he starts up with that, and the chapter ends.
(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my mostly-unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’m caught up with the manga now at chapter 223, so any ETAs will reflect that.)
ohhh my god
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IIDA FAM FLASHBACKS!??!
AHHHHH
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EXCUSE ME IS THIS THE FUCKING FUTURE OR NOT?? CAN WE GET IIDA TENSEI A FUCKING HOVERCHAIR HERE PEOPLE? IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK. IF ONLY HORIKOSHI WAS AT ALL FAMILIAR WITH MARVEL COMICS -- OH, WAIT
but seriously though. also he’s supposed to be rich too isn’t he? c’mon
also! Iidamom looks exactly like I expected her to. welcome to our canon full of other awesome moms, Iidamom! a few more moms and I’ll be ready to do a top ten moms post. spoiler alert, the winner is not who you’d expect (unless you’re expecting Aizawa, because then you’re absolutely right)
anyways so I got SUPER distracted just now but apparently Tensei is talking about “tuning up” Iida’s engine!
wow can they do that?? fucking quirks, though. wild
oh my fucking god
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just yank that fucking muffler right the fuck out. and a new one will grow in!! fucking QUIRKS, though. WILD
dsfalkhsd
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just yank that fucking muffler right the fuck out without anesthesia. what are you, a pussy!?
gee thanks Horikoshi for this graphic image of Iida biting down on something while he uses his bare hands to yank what are essentially bones -- or organs, or whatever! the point is they’re part of him! -- right out of his fucking body. might wanna add some vodka to that OJ tonight Iida
OH SHIT, THAT PAYOFF THOUGH
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IN TEN MINUTES YOU COULD TAKE OVER THE FUCKING WORLD, IIDA!
okay maybe I got a little overexcited. but damn though!
so he’s DRRNing over to Honenuki and
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oh my god
loool at the thought of Iida zooming around wildly for the next ten minutes while he tries to figure out how to stop this thing, and meanwhile Honenuki can’t land a hit on him though
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GET HIM IIDA!!
oh fuck
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can he breathe under there? you know, depending on how long they still have until time runs out, he could just hide for the next ten minutes and then emerge and drag the paralyzed Iida to Rat Principal Jail
(ETA: actually that was a stupid thought. obviously Iida doesn’t have to keep Recipro activated the whole time if there’s no need to.)
but no, he’s swimming back to Tetsu and the others for now
meanwhile Iida’s still up top and trying to figure out what he’s up to
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maybe you should do the same
holy shit we’re cutting back to the kids outside and Deku says Iida’s even faster than Gran Torino
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“by a long shot.” that’s fucking fast. and I love it
by the way, with the way Mina was pointing, I thought, “oh, maybe Ojiro’s finally getting the upper hand!”
but no
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Horikoshi why do you hate poor Ojiro
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it’s probably the pain of this guy kicking you in the chest with his rotating fucking foot
so he’s trying to figure out what to do because he can’t really attack, and he keeps getting hurt whenever he tries to guard
oh hey there
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trying to decide if I’m disappointed that Ojiro will never get to do anything cool, or ecstatic that Iida fucking Tenya just pulled off a badass save of this caliber
leaning more toward ecstatic, honestly. sorry Ojiro
oh, Iida
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nice use of the word “forthwith”, Iida
(ETA: and nice use of the word “slammer”!!)
and now he’s telling Ojiro to go help Todoroki and that he’ll be right back
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well I guess class 1-A will need some sidekicks too
meanwhile we’re sticking with Iida, which means I’m going to keep right on posting all of his panels, because his dialogue honestly deserves a fucking pulitzer prize
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never, Sen!
Sen’s trying to reason his way out of this and telling Iida that he shouldn’t let Honenuki get away because he’s more of a threat
and he’s also grumping about Iida interrupting his and Ojiro’s fight. “you shouldn’t interrupt a one-on-one fistfight like that”
um, says who? fuck that. we’re trying to win here, we can make friends after
Iida says if he allows his will to be bent here, it will be bent in the real world as well
basically he’s treating this seriously. well, good
meanwhile! we’re cutting back to two minutes prior!
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I guess Tetsu’s best option is to somehow knock him out. but the problem is that Shouto’s reflexes are too good and he can create an ice barrier in an instant
I think Tetsu’s steel would allow him to withstand Shouto’s fire long enough to punch him on his left side, though, so that would be my personal strategy if it were me
heh
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A+ attack name. Shouto I’m sorry, I love you, but if I’m being honest I’m rooting for this guy here
heh
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so you think he should try the fire instead? I’m not so sure that’s the best play in this case though. at least with the ice he has better control and he can hold him at bay. I just don’t think the fire would be that effective against Tetsu, but I’m sure we’ll find out shortly
because Tetsu’s bragging about how easily he can break through Shouto’s ice defense
ah here we go
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for some reason Bakugou actually wanted to go up against this. still don’t quite understand it. my baby boy got a death wish
lol Pony’s running off. honestly a miracle she wasn’t incinerated just now
Shouto’s yelling at Shouji to go after her and Shouji’s all “got it”
yeah I’m thinking my initial assessment was right and this was indeed a mistake
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fucking great. now you’ve got a molten steel man after your ass, Shouto
LOL
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holy fucking shit. just in case anyone isn’t aware, “chinchin” means “penis” usually. so yeah
and I fucking love that here he’s using it to mean “hot”, but it could also be a throwback to the whole “five peepee man” thing, which he doesn’t actually know about but I do, and so to me this is the funniest thing ever okay
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I have no further comment
oh fuck
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no but as you can plainly see he is no stranger to burns, so please try not to maim him too badly...!?
lol Vlad has started narrating again. no doubt elated that his team is somehow eking out a win in what initially appeared to be the most one-sided matchup we were going to see today
uh oh but now it looks like Tetsu may have accidentally triggered the quirk development that Endeavor was trying to trigger but couldn’t because Shouto won’t return his damn texts
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before I continue to the next and presumably final page of this chapter, I’m just gonna take a moment here to appreciate the irony of Endeavor accidentally conditioning Shouto to never listen to him ever, even on the occasions where it turns out he’s right. he spent years trying to get Shouto to use his flame side, but failed utterly, and then in the span of one fight Deku did what Endeavor had spent Shouto’s whole life trying to get him to do
and now it’s happening again here, where we see that Endeavor was once again trying to teach him something, but Shouto just ignored him until a random kid from the class next door just happened to say something similar. and then it clicked
like, it’s a major burn on Endeavor (no pun intended), but it’s also really unfortunate for Shouto, because his dad has been such a prick until recently that he’s missed out on absorbing the few worthwhile things he actually had to teach him. lot of lost time to make up for here, on both sides
anyways, let’s watch as Shouto slowly processes all this
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well I assume (a) because of the “surpassing my limits” thing, and (b) because he’s been texting you nonstop and it was probably on your mind even though you were stubbornly trying to pretend it wasn’t
lol what kind of cliffhanger is this??
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he’s not even doing anything! come on Shouto what are you doing to us. this isn’t fair
also, what happened to your hand? why is it all smooth. I assume because of some fire bullshit you’re about to do, but that’s still just weird looking
oh and on the last page there’s a long translator note explaining what I mentioned before about “chinchin” meaning penis. sometimes on select occasions I’m down with Horikoshi perpetually having the mind of a 12-year-old. if he wants to make this a recurring thing I won’t complain, lol
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aerislei · 6 years
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Theories: UA Traitor
So, so far post season three I have done the main wrap up for the season, Todoroki Shouto (and a post about his scar), Dabi (as well as my take on Dabi is Touya all in one post), and I’ve done Katsuki Bakugo, and Midoriya Izuku.
Is there anyone in particular that you guys want to see me cover? Lemme know if there is! (asking again because I got no responses last time >>;)
Still to come on the headcanon front: I want to talk about  All for One/One for All, and The Doctor.
So, as I skim the tag I have seen a load of different theories as to who the traitor might be, everywhere from “there is no traitor” to “it’s Nezu”
I personally am (and was) left drawing a lot of blanks. I first considered who the traitor might be around when Present Mic mentioned he thought that there was some kind of leak, and I realized he was right, there almost had to be.
But man the show (and frankly the Manga) has done a great job of leaving us in the dark as to who it might be.
My current top contenders are: Hagakure Toru, Uraraka Ochako,  Kan Sekijiro (Vlad King), and Nezu. Yep that’s two potential students and two potential adults.
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I’m going to start with the one I was considering most strongly originally, and that is Kan Sekijiro. Don’t crucify me here, because I know we know basically not a damn thing about him but that’s kind of one of my points. We know nothing about this guy except he has a blood quirk and his hero name is Vlad King and he’s 1-B’s homeroom teacher.
Quick Points: I was going to break this up between ‘yes’ and ‘no’ but like many of them can be read multiple ways so.
- He’s one of very few people who knew where the summer training camp was. Even the students didn’t know the exact location, which makes it being one of them much less likely. It is what got him put on the list to begin with. Doubly so when you consider how little threat he faced compared to even Aizawa against Dabi.
- His Hero name is ‘Vlad King’ which, is not a tell on it’s own, except it seems to be a reference to, you know, Count Dracula and Vlad the Impaler. Neither are great figures. It definitely makes me second guess his motives to an extent.
- He’s not actually all that close to our protagonist(s) and that makes it slightly less likely because trouble always shows up around them. But also, he’s not close to our protagonist in the sense that he has no reason to care what happens to him.
- On the other hand Class 1-B consistently over all takes less damage in everything, which makes some sense if he’s protecting them. The “it’s our turn” could be a sham, or it might be an indication of his intent to sabotage 1A in some way.
- He has/had access to absolutely all the knowledge necessary to set up the USJ attack and the training camp attack.
Gotta admit, he’s still my best guess at it.
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So next is Nezu
-- Canon dislike of humans. this literally goes both ways because why would he work with a group of evil humans to sabotage good ones, but also he’s shown to be reasonably callous towards student safety.
-- More than intelligent enough to manage to both be the leak and pretend to look for the leak
-- Would also, obviously, have all the information necessary to set up the USJ and training camp attacks. Also had impeccable timing for slowing down All Might going to the USJ. Could have been innocent, could have been trying to make sure someone got hurt before he arrived, since the original plan was already ruined.
-- Nezu DID know the original plan had been ruined by All Might not going to the USJ after his hitting his limit, if it was him though, and he didn’t pass off that information. It’s technically possible that he decided at the last second to let the LoV into a trap they weren’t expecting. Maybe to see how they handled it, maybe because he hates humans in general.
-- Has used the issues with with LoV to close off his students from the outside world, to an extent. They all now live on campus under his authority and presumably he’s keeping tabs on them, trying to “figure out” who the leak is. This means he could easily set up further attacks on specific ones because he knows, essentially, where they are at all times.
So next, the student pair. Now, both students have one mark against them out of the starting gate: they shouldn’t have had the teacher schedule to know about the USJ, that was a surprise, and the training camp location was also changed abruptly so they didn’t know where it was.
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Hagakure Toru
-- So admittedly my stance on it being her is shaky. We don’t really know enough about her to say much about her personality factoring in
-- There is also a sharp mark against her because she was pretty seriously injured during the Training Camp attack
-- On the other hand, her quirk would have allowed her to make up for not being “supposed” to know about who was going to be at the USJ with them, because she can be totally invisible if she undresses, which we’ve seen her do when “things get serious”. That would allow her to invisibly sneak around and find information that she couldn’t get normally - like a teacher schedule, or overhearing a conversation she should never have been present for.
-- That’s the biggest support for her honestly, that we know little about her, and the fact that her quirk could allow her to be absolutely anywhere completely undetected unless someone physically touched her on accident.
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Uraraka Ochako
-- So I am personally very on the fence about her being the traitor. I don’t think I want to see it, she’s a sweet character and I’d be kind of sad to see her tarnished by such a thing. On the other hand, played off right that unveiling could be absolutely amazingly well written, and it’s not uncommon, as I recall, for a friend to be a traitor in this sort of anime.
-- So we know she’s basically the sweetest thing, but she’s got a very real determined streak to do well because her family is poor. This tells us a few things, one she’ll do almost anything to support her family, and two, uh, her family means a shitton to her.
-- My favorite theory for her, I think, is that she’s being blackmailed in some way, and they offered her money to do it, and then told her if she backed out (after she had already agreed or tentatively listened to their proposal) they would hurt her family. This satisfies two points about her personality - one she wants money to support her family and make their lives easier, and also, a threat to her family would make her take action. ... When we start the series her combat skill isn’t all that great, either. She’d stand no chance against whoever’s trying to use her.
-- She’s extremely close to Midoriya and has generalized access to a lot of information that could seriously hurt the class overall.
-- How she would have gotten access to the teacher’s schedule is unknown to me. But the training camp might have been as simple as using gps on her phone to locate them and then sending it to the LoV.
Overall I’m not really convinced on any specific one of them. These are my top contenders and the best points for/against them that I can think of. No matter who it is I think the reveal is going to be pretty dramatic, if we ever find out, because regardless of who it is, they’re someone everyone has trusted for all this time.
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Your Words On My Skin - Chapter 6
Bonjour, mes chers! I just wanted to clear up a few questions I've received about the time placement of this story. One person (on anon so I couldn't PM back) asked why I didn't just have Danny use the Infi-map. Well, that is for two reasons. One, most of season three is dead to me and the infi-map is the stupidest plot device I have ever seen. And two, when this story starts it's taking place after the events of The Ultimate Enemy, hence why he's never met Ghostwriter before. The Fright Before Christmas was canonically the first episode after TUE. With that out of the way, enjoy!
AO3 FFN
Don’t forget I’m doing more cool things on my Patreon all the time! I also have a Ko-Fi so consider buying me a coffee if you can’t pledge!
Summary: Danny Fenton was born with writing on his arms that proved he had a soulmate out there for him that was much, much older than his parents were comfortable with. The result was his skin being covered as much as possible and Danny warned that he shouldn’t look at the words or write any back. Danny has always been a little bit curious as to who his soulmate was, but he never thought on how curious his soulmate was about him.
<<First Chapter>><<Last Chapter>><<Next Chapter>>
Chapter Six
::
“You know, maybe he’s just searching for the right words.” Seeing Tucker ready to open his mouth, Danny quickly shook his head. “No, you’re right, he should have found the right words by now. Okay, then maybe he’s just trying to figure out how to let me down gently?” This time Sam gave a quiet sigh, Danny nodding. “Yeah, no, you’re right, Sammy, I need to have more faith in myself. Maybe-”
Blinking at the hands now covering his mouth, Danny looked to Sam and tried to look as annoyed as possible. Sam didn’t even flinch, the traitor. “You were rambling to yourself, again. It had to stop.” He hadn’t been- Danny really wouldn’t have called it- Ugh, god, he had been rambling to himself. “How long has it been since he last wrote to you?”
“Four days.” And again with his traitor best friends sharing looks that he wasn’t a part of. Seriously, why hadn’t they confessed they were each other’s soulmates, yet? He was absolutely certain Tucker knew, at this point. “He should have given me an answer by now, right? But, I mean- I haven’t even seen a ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’”
“How would you know if you saw one?” That… Good point. Danny may have gone a little overboard in trying to get Andrew to answer. He was pretty sure he was more ink than skin at this point. “Maybe he just needs more time, Danny. Time without his soulmate hounding after him for the answer.”
“I…” Yeah, okay, time- Danny could understand needing time, especially after meeting Clockwork and everything, but they had been writing back and forth for months, now. It- Danny didn’t like looking down at his arm and seeing nothing but his own writing. Jeez, was that how Andrew always felt? “I’m worried.”
“Hey, it’d be weird if you weren’t worried about this.” Tucker lightly nudged him under the lunch table, giving a bit of a smile. “It’ll work out. I mean, soulmates are soulmates for a reason, right?”
“Yeah- Yeah. I mean, something good has to come out of all of this, right?” Otherwise what would have been the point? “I’m sure he just needs a bit more time to think it all out.”
“That’s the spirit!” Wait. Staring at Sam and her grin, Danny slowly narrowed his eyes and she didn’t. She did. “Someone has to pick up the slack, here.”
“Alright, alright, you two are adorable. You know what we should be focusing on, though.” Watching as Tucker picked up his lunch meat with bare hands, Danny made a face as he heard Sam gag beside him. “This is our last lunch before Christmas break tomorrow.”
“And that means you’re trying to gross us out?” Danny shook his head as Tucker rolled the meat into a little ball and oh- Oh, no. “Tucker- Tucker, remember our last detention-”
Tucker, brave and stupid soul that he was, stood up, pulled back his arm, and launched the ball of meat right at the back of Dash’s head. Danny wasn’t sure whether to cheer or be horrified as silence fell over the room in that awkward way it did when spreading out from the epicenter of a disaster.
“You know,” Sam whispered quietly, “I’m kind of impressed by how much better his aim is.” Dash slowly stood up and Danny and Sam ducked under the table at once just as the cafeteria exploded into chaos. “Think I can get some of that lunch meat down Paulina’s shirt?”
“I think we won’t know until you try.” Danny watched as Sam beamed at him before scrambling into the fight, Danny content to stay under the table and sit this one out. He couldn’t believe it was already almost Christmas, though. It seemed like just the other day he had been starting high school and now he had been half-ghost for over a year and was turning sixteen in a few months.
The thoughts of just how much had changed were on his mind for the rest of the day and all his way home, Danny finally washing all the ink off his skin and writing the question a single time where it would be seen easily. He then may have gotten a bit impatient after a few hours because he asked the question again on the other arm - just to be sure.
That’s how he spent the next few days, filling up his skin with question after question and all of it was the same and why wouldn’t Andrew just tell him? It wasn’t- It wasn’t like he would turn Andrew away if he found out the truth. Did Andrew think that? Did Andrew think Danny would turn him away?
Like- Like yeah, okay, things might be a little awkward and complicated for a while, but they could figure it out, couldn’t they? Every one of their conversations and stories and exchanges had shown them both that they- That there was something there. They could work this out and still get along and figure it out, they just… They just needed somewhere to work from before it could be figured out.
Silence had damned them both and Danny was sick of it, now, and, come on. Fate wouldn’t be so cruel as to distance them like this and make them ill-suited together, right? Andrew was decades older than him and in France, but they… They had to be able to make it work to overcome stuff like that… Right?
Groaning and collapsing onto his bed, Danny had the overwhelming urge to scream into his pillow before he pushed himself back up. “Alright, Fenton. Just- Start small.” Right. Small steps. He could… He could wipe all these questions off and write an apology. That would get Andrew to at least say something to him, right?
Because it was Christmas and this… He didn’t want them to spend their Christmas angry and ignoring each other. Danny’s Christmases were shitty enough and he didn’t want to add a fight with his soulmate onto the list. So, he could go take a shower, wipe all these questions off, and explain to Andrew why he was so upset before apologizing. Even if Andrew was still upset, at least Danny would know that the other was okay.
Depending on the answer, this Christmas could actually be a good one! So, he would just- Thoughts halting as a shudder wracked his body and a wisp of cold slipped past his lips, Danny paused, blinked, and then groaned.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Of all the times for this to happen it was right as he was about to apologize to his soulmate? That was just… That was mean. Okay. Okay. He could be blowing this out of proportion. Maybe it was just Box Ghost or something and he could get rid of him quickly. “Alright, come on out! I don’t have time for this, today!”
“Funny. I was about to say the same thing.” Startling at seeing Skulker in his room, Danny snorted and let the change take over him, already feeling better. At least he could get out some aggression. “Let’s end this now, whelp.”
“Well, well, if it isn’t the Ghost Zone’s lamest hunter. Haven’t you learned your lesson, yet-” An overheated blast of energy was shot at him and Danny just barely dodged, hissing as the blast clipped his shoulder and both burned his shoulder and his suit and that… What had that been? “Okay, guess you got an upgrade.”
“I’m not here for your pelt, whelp.” Oh? Something else, then. Okay. Danny was game. He could do with some plea for help or threat on his life. “Plasmius didn’t appreciate that stunt of yours a few months ago.”
“Stunt- Oh.” The password. The password that had ended up leading him to Andrew and that he had stolen to get into Vlad’s server and then he and Tucker had deleted just about everything they could. “Let me guess, he lost a few plans to kill my dad and marry my mom?”
“According to him he lost millions in business deals.” Oh- Oh, jeez. Danny wasn’t dealing with a pissed off Plasmius. He was dealing with a pissed off Masters. “It seems he wants to talk to you.”
“Ha- Aha! Right! Great! Why don’t we schedule an appointment for never going to happen and I’ll show up in his dreams. Sound good?” Danny was moving the second he heard the whining noise of guns charging up and ooh, his bed was pretty thoroughly destroyed, wasn’t it? Okay, okay, not important, he had an angry Skulker working for Masters after him and Jesus, Vlad’s revenge was always worse than any of Skulker’s hunts could ever be.
Wincing as he pulled on his shoulder, Danny phased down to the basement and started up the portal. He could at least hide in the Ghost Zone for a while, and, right. So much for having a decent Christmas.
::
“There has to be a right answer to this. Everything has a right answer.”  For once, Vidya was silent in his head and that was very much not helping matters. That was doing the opposite of helping matters! “If you’d like to chime in with some advice, now would be a brilliant moment to do so.”
Nothing. Absolutely nothing. “See if I get you anything for Christmas.” A book narrowly missed his head from where it had been thrown and Andrew glared in the direction it had come from. “You had best put that back where you got it!” This time, the book did hit his head.
“Well excuse me for panicking!” Was he panicking? He felt like he might have been slightly panicking- Okay. It was okay. He could work through this. He just needed to think about this problem logically. He could tell Danny he was twenty-two, which he was, but that had the problem of not explaining why his writing had been so advanced when Danny was first born.
He could… What else could he do? He could always tell Danny his chronological age. Of course, that had the very severe backlash of making Danny run away from him all while calling the police- God, he didn’t even know how old he was some days. Perhaps in his late forties- Nope, no, thinking about it tended to make it worse. Okay.
Calmly and rationally. He needed to think this through calmly and rationally. Danny hadn’t pushed him away yet and he was already aware that Andrew’s age was… advanced. He wasn’t going to run if Andrew told him his actual age. That was good.
There was also the option, however, that he could tell Danny he was a ghost. Danny seemed rather open minded, so if Andrew gave proof then perhaps Danny wouldn’t think he was lying or just plain crazy. Great. Two choices, then.
Would he rather have Danny think he was certifiably insane or would he rather have Danny think that he was his parent’s age?
Groaning, Andrew collapsed on the nearest soft surface and contemplated using a book to render himself unconscious. “None of my books prepared me for this.” Because there hadn’t- There- Yes, alright, there had been a few cases of romantic soulmates with an age gap, but nothing with one of them being dead and having an age gap.
There was just… There had to be some way to fix this without hurting either of them. There had to be something out there to fix this mess, right? Nn… Maybe Randy would have some good advice.
It was a sad day when Andrew went to Randy for life advice, but, well. Randy screwed his life up daily, but he was careful to never screw up Andrew’s. At least, not too badly, which was about the best Andrew could ask for.
“Is he in the kitchen?” Vidya gave a little affirmative and the very strong feeling that he should just tell the truth, but Andrew easily brushed that last part off. “Randy! I need you to resist whatever foolish urges my next few words are about to instill in you!”
“Is this an urge in where I get my guns or one in where I resist the urge to tuck you away in your room and keep you from getting your heart broken?” Randy was stress baking again. Great. Andrew’s stress was so great it was getting to Randy.
“Neither. I need your advice.” Insultingly enough, Randy only raised an eyebrow at him. “Advice I plan on taking.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep,” Randy ‘scolded,’ sticking something chocolate in Andrew’s mouth and honestly, how dare- Oh, this was good. “Yes, you should tell your mate the truth.”
“I didn’t even ask my question yet.” Andrew avoided Randy’s judgmental looks and instead moved to collapse into one of the kitchen chairs. “I just… There has to be a right answer to all of this.”
“Oh, Andy.” Randy gave him such a sad smile as he shook his head. “Love never has a right answer, frérot.” It certainly seemed- Wait.
“Did you just quote Heart’s Desire at me?” At the suspicious silence, Andrew scoffed and looked around for the nearest heavy object to throw at him. “You did. I can’t believe you just quoted my own book to me!”
“Okay, okay, there’s no need to throw things! I’m trying to make a soufflé, right now, and I need a calm environment.”
“I thought you couldn’t make-”
“Well I can, so shut the fuck up.” Ah, still a touchy subject. “Want some crème brûlée?”
“Are you just making every French desert you know of?” Andrew was already grabbing a spoon and squirming his way between Randy and the counter, happily digging into the desert. The sugar was perfectly crystalized to where it didn’t taste burnt, either.
“Right. You want some life advice?” Yes- No. Maybe. Quite possibly a maybe, on that one. “Start small.”
“Start small?” That… Hadn’t he already been doing that the whole time he had been writing to Danny?
“Start small,” Randy laughed, stealing Andrew’s spoon and next bite. “Explain that you’re too scared to explain. He’ll understand if you’re scared to tell the truth, Andy. He’s been understanding of everything else, hasn’t he?”
“I… I suppose.” Taking the spoon back, Andrew chewed on the next bites slowly before swallowing and sighing. “Do you really think he’ll understand?”
“Andy, the kid didn’t even try to push you when you said that you didn’t believe in technology. If that’s not true love, then I don’t know what it is.” Hiding a laugh, Andrew bumped his shoulder against Randy’s, Randy bumping right back. “You just… You need to admit you’re scared. Do you think you can do that?”
“For him I can.” Andrew had always been the type to hide his fear, but for Danny? He… He could admit that he was scared. If just to him, then Andrew could admit that he was afraid. “Right, then. What’s with today’s baking spree?”
“It’s a nice way to distract you from your fears and stress.” Well… That was true. “I also wanted to try and make a Christmas soufflé right for once.”
“You really need to-” Wait. “Christmas?” It wasn’t already Christmas, was it? He still had another week at least.
“Mhm. Happy Christmas Eve.” Shit. “Soo, what’d you get me for Christmas, then?” Aha, right, Christmas presents. Andrew could so do something. Maybe.
“It’s a surprise for a reason, Randall.” Andrew stole a few more snacks, easily dodging Randy’s swipes.
“You really are going to get fat if you keep this up!” Andrew only ducked back in to give Randy a quick, one-armed hug before fleeing with his treats. “I’m still upset with you!”
“I love you, too!” Right, right. Christmas presents. He could find Randy something in the library to give him, most likely, but Danny… Maybe for Danny he could finally explain why he had been avoiding him.
A Christmas spent talking with his mate sounded like the best Christmas he could think of, honestly. He just hoped he had the courage to start the conversation.
::
Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. Danny had thought going into the Ghost Zone would buy him some time to at least give Skulker the run around, but the ghost hadn’t even paused before following him in and now Danny was pushing himself to go as fast as he could because Jesus. He knew Skulker was powerful and all with that suit of his, but he had never- He had never really been afraid of Skulker.
He was- He was Skulker! He was like a step up from the Box Ghost, but Danny had never seen him this serious. The only time he had ever been scared of Skulker before this was the last time he had captured him for Vlad. It- Skulker was all about the hunt, yeah, but was he really this powerful when he was being serious about it?
Danny was already scratched up to hell and back from the blasts he had just barely been dodging - no doubt he’d need to find a new suit because no amount of sewing was going to fix this - and no matter how fast he went he could only just keep himself out of range of the more dangerous attacks.
Fuck- Fuck. He was going to be fucking skinned alive at this rate if he didn’t manage to find somewhere to hide- “The hunt is over, whelp.” For a moment it felt like he had been toppled over by something ramming into his back, and then Danny screamed as the pain in his back set in. It was like- Jesus, fuck, Jesus it was like his entire back was on fire.
He felt himself roughly land on something - rock? - before he was scrambling to his feet and bad- Bad idea, bad idea, that had been a very bad idea to move. Seeing Skulker come back into view, Danny tried to keep calm as he took a few steps back and okay. Breathe. It was Skulker. He could deal with Skulker.
“Get away from me, Skulker. We both know I would win no matter what you do.” Even Danny could tell that was his weakest lie yet. Skulker seemed to know it, too.
“I always wondered what you’d be like backed into a corner. Shame I have to drag you to Plasmius, first.” Aha, right, shame- Except no. Good. That meant Skulker would keep him alive- Jesus, what would an angry Vlad Masters do to him, though? This was so frustrating. He felt ready to just scream and charge and- Scream. He could-
“One last time, Skulker. Get back.” Could he still do that attack? That Ghostly Wail? He had managed twice when running around time to stop everything, but he hadn’t managed to pull it off since he got back. If there was ever a time to find out, then it was looking like now was it- Except that power took up all of his energy and Danny would be left defenseless if Skulker managed to survive it.
His best bet would be to push himself as fast as he could and find a place to hide until Vlad calmed down and called Skulker off, but that didn’t give him any ideas as to what he could do right now. Fuck. At least he knew that his Christmases were still cursed, he guessed. Fuck, okay, focus- Just focus. Focus, focus, focus-
Dodging the attack that came for him, Danny scrambled to hide behind- A library? Since when was there a library in the Ghost Zone- Ah, no time to think, didn’t care, hiding behind one of the pillars. “Get out here before I drag you out here, whelp! I’m sure Plasmius won’t mind a bit of you missing here and there!”
“Yeah, no thanks!” Ducking down to avoid the next hit, Danny swore under his breath and okay, think. “C’mon, Fenton, focus.” Library. He was hiding near a library- Could he get into the library and hide? He assumed a ghost lived here, but he didn’t know any ghosts that would live in a library- Well, Poindexter, maybe, if he had the choice. “Welp. Guess it’s the best I got.”
Making a break for the door, Danny dodged a rocket rather impressively, if he did say so himself, but he didn’t manage to dodge the fucking net. Hitting the ground and at least thankful it wasn’t one of those damn ones that shocked him, Danny squirmed and- Bad. That was bad movement. Everything hurt.
“It looks like I’ve finally caught you, whelp.” This… This couldn’t be it. He couldn’t have really lost to Skulker, right? That- That was insane. That- “I suggest you close those doors. This is none of your business.” ...What?
Twisting himself as gently as he could, Danny caught a glimpse of two new ghosts standing in the doorway of the weird library and oh, great. More ghosts that probably didn’t like him. One of them laughed- Ghosts had guns? Since when did ghosts besides Skulker have guns?
“Considering this is our territory, I think it is our business. I thought you didn’t like to break the Warden’s rules, Skulker.” Dangerous. That one was definitely dangerous. Kind of reminded Danny of Wulf when he was overly upset over something. “Hunting down children now, Skulker?”
“Hey! I’ll be sixteen soon!” As usual, he seemed to be completely ignored, the other ghost sighing and bending down with a knife and oh, great, he really was about to be skinned.
“Try not to move. I’m going to cut you free, now.” The voice was stupidly deep, but something about the tone told Danny that he wasn’t about to be hurt with the knife. Forcing himself to stay still, Danny looked back to where Skulker was arguing with the other ghost.
“I’m on a job for Plasmius. You know how that is, Mercenary.” Whoa, wait, what? Ghosts could be mercenaries? That was so cool! “Get out of my way.”
“Our laws are stronger than the word of some parasite.” Oh, hell yeah. Danny didn’t know what the hell any of that meant, but he was already starting to like these two.
“Just about have it,” the ghost cutting him free said quietly, sounding frustrated. “Did he start using steel nets?”
“Yeah, some of them he uses to shock me.” Danny was gratified to see this ghost looked horrified and, huh. Maybe these ghosts were sane. That was cool. He was pretty sure the only sane ghost he had meant before now was Clockwork. “How’s that other one when it comes to fighting?”
“Mm, let’s just say you don’t have to worry about us holding our own.” A few more ropes cut, and Danny was shooting out of the net at once, deciding to worry about the startled gasp from the ghost later.
“Hey, tin can! Can’t you even leave me alone on Christmas!” Seeing Skulker bring out a new weapon, Danny growled. He was so sick of these goddamn weapons. “That’s it.” Dropping down to the stairs, Danny glanced to the ghosts that had come out to help him. “Stay behind me.”
“And just what are you going to do on your own, whelp!” Sucking in a breath, Danny pulled on every scrap of power he had and screamed. It was like- Jesus, he never knew how to explain this power. Like being in the middle of a thunderstorm? It was like standing in the middle of a field with a crazy thunderstorm and knowing that none of the lightning would ever hit.
He made it about ten seconds before he felt his change snap around him and force him to the ground, Danny gasping for breath and so, so thankful that the Ghost Zone had oxygen. Slowly looking up, Danny felt himself pale as he saw Skulker heading back towards him and looking pissed. His suit looked like it was barely being held together, but it seemed like there were enough weapons left to still make his life about to be over.
Scrambling back and instead just falling over, Danny tried to push himself up before he paused at seeing a white ghost shield form in front of him and easily deflect Skulker’s attack. “Mercenary!”
Looking around, Danny almost jumped at seeing the ghost that had cut him free was kneeling beside him and looking at him with wide green eyes that looked as shocked as he felt.
::
Staring down at the teen in front of him, Andrew silently admitted to himself that he had no words to describe the situation he was now in. It was odd enough to hear Vidya warning him of ghosts fighting on her steps, but to come out and see Skulker and the infamous Danny Phantom curled up in a net and looking like he had taken one hit too many? That he hadn’t quite expected.
It was true that today was officially the start of the truce and Andrew was content to send Randy after Skulker as a warning, but cutting the teen out of that god-awful steel net to see words written across his skin that matched his own? That…
And now here the teen was, looking utterly and completely human, and staring at him with frightened blue eyes and a frown that looked two seconds away from becoming a snarl. “I can take care of my own fights.”
Oh, Danny. A precocious little thing with too much fight in him and bristling even when he had no power, was bleeding, and looked a few steps away from fainting. A quick glance down showed that he was wearing his coat, which, good. His skin was covered. No need to throw the teen into even more of a panic attack - which was what Andrew was quickly heading towards- Ah.
Skulker had been hurting his mate. His mate was Danny Phantom and was bleeding in front of him and looking more and more afraid as the seconds ticked by. Right.
“Look, just let me go, I’ll get out of your hair, we can let bygones be bygones, and call this a day and-”
“It’s alright,” Andrew said quietly, slowly making telegraphed moves before helping the teen up and supporting him as he almost fell. “We’re some of the saner ghosts, I’m afraid. No over the top fighting from us.”
“Thank god.” Danny slumped and lost near all tension in his body, Andrew easily keeping him propped up and staring at the words that coated his arms and peeked past his shirt. Words that asked the same question over and over and now… Now he could give Danny an answer, right? This was-
“Riters!” Ah, but first, they had some trash to take care of, it seemed. Feeling Danny flinch against his side as Randy’s shield vanished, Andrew quickly tucked him closer.
“Oh, Randy.” Andrew drawled, looking to Skulker and grinning as that suit of his floated back. “Refresh my memory. What day is today?”
“Well, last I checked it was Christmas Eve.” Randy was by his side in a second, guns already in hand and wicked smile on his face. How nice to see White Fang still loved a good fight. “Interesting, isn’t it?”
“Very. You see, I thought there was- Now, keep in mind, I could be wrong, but I thought there was a certain truce that all ghosts followed.” Andrew noticed that Danny was watching them curiously, relaxed a bit more now that Randy was in front of him. He probably wasn’t used to having people on his side. “Remind me of the truce, grand frère?”
“Of course, frérot. The Christmas Truce dictates that ghosts aren’t allowed to fight with other ghosts from the first seconds of Christmas Eve to the last seconds of Christmas. I do believe that includes half-ghosts, as well.”
“There’s a truce?” Aw. Danny muttered under his breath when he was confused, it seemed. “Sure would have been great to know that last year.”
“Randy, why don’t you teach Skulker a lesson on why ghosts shouldn’t fight during this time of year?” Andrew kept his tone light and pleasant as he turned to Danny to quickly check him over again. It didn’t seem anything was broken, and it looked like he could walk. That was good. “Make it hurt.”
“With pleasure.” A flash of pure white and a scream from Skulker and the two were already half a mile away, Andrew rolling his eyes. Honestly, Randy was far too much of a showoff.
“Would you like to come in? I don’t know much about half-ghosts, granted, but after that last attack it seems like you could use a bit of time to recover without worrying about what crazy ghost will show up next.”
“So instead I walk into the home of a crazy ghost I don’t know?” He knew Danny had fast responses, but Andrew had never seen his words when he was defensive and distrustful. It was fascinating.
“So better the enemy you know than the stranger you don’t know, yes?” Andrew had to hold back a laugh when Danny scrunched up his nose. Hardly a few minutes with his mate and already Andrew was falling more in love with him. “You’re tired, bleeding, and can’t shift back. At least stay until you can fly home without dropping out of the air.”
“I can change just fine!” Danny flashed a smug smile before it slowly dropped, and he cleared his throat. “Not, uh- Not that it’s any of your business. Why do you even care, anyways? This isn’t your problem.”
“Mm, would it make you feel better that the offer is only there so you stop bleeding on my front steps?” Andrew watched the teen almost jump before looking down and around at the pristine marble before he was huffing and glaring at Andrew.
“I am not bleeding all over your steps, man.” Right- Right. Okay. Just- Act calm and collected- This was his mate. And they were already getting along so well- Well… They were bantering? That counted in a way. “Look, it’ll only take me ten or fifteen minutes to get home. I’ll just wait out here for another five until I can change back. There you go. Problem solved.”
“Danny, you’re bleeding.” The stubborn little teen didn’t have anything to say about that-
“How do you know my name?” Ah. Okay. Right. Andrew was a storyteller. He could come up with a lie easily enough. Hopefully.
“You expect me to not know your name?” Andrew watched as Danny shifted, wincing as he jarred something. It took more effort than it should have to not reach out and help. “I believe everyone in our world knows of the half-ghost Danny Phantom.”
“Yeah- Yep. That’s me. Public Enemy Number One and all that. Walker start spreading my wanted  poster around, then?”
“You’re- No,” Andrew laughed, shaking his head and this precious, precious teen. “You’re the one who went through something horrible and still chose to be good. That’s more rare than you might think.”
“Oh.” Danny didn’t seem to be glaring anymore, but he was nervously looking over his shoulder now that it seemed Andrew wasn’t considered a threat. “So, uh, right. Okay. That offer to stay here still open?”
“It really is no trouble.” Besides, now he had an excuse to skip that awful party Randy had been trying to drag him to. “I can even help bandage some of the wounds you might have trouble reaching, if you want.”
“I… Right.” Danny gave him a look that could only be called calculating. “You know my name, but I don’t know yours, you know. Seems kind of unfair.” Oh- Oh! Right. Andrew had his skin mostly covered, so Danny didn’t…
“I’m…” Andrew stared at this shaking and scared teenager that was his soulmate and finally gave a warm smile. “Ghostwriter. My name is Ghostwriter.”
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monotype-on-phantom · 7 years
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i didnt want to say this before but man.. Danny kind of.. sucks, at least in the heart of canon. i get that he's young and learns "Those Valuable Lessons" and but people dont acknowledge most of this douchebag's shitty antics cause he's a cute boy or whatever. although Danny has a very excellent premise for a character, he is sincere sometimes, but overall its not executed well. he falls into too many awful high school tropes
i guess im glad people are making use of his character premise by reading too closely than the show intended, or by making content of their own interpretations. but we cant ignore that he is quite a goddamned piece of hell shit who i fucking hate in the real show sometimes. i feel there’s just too much emphasis on a character and show that wasn’t well crafted and well managed to begin with. its kinda sad when all the hate is somehow directed towards other characters like Sam.
it feels like most people are praising him and the overall show for what they imagine it to be instead of what it actually is. srsly this awful goddamned fuckboy sells stuff garage lab items he aint supposed to just to buy some fucking clothes??? uses ghost powers to spy girls in their locker room?? he fuckin destroys ghost writer’s writing and then doesnt feel sorry about it just cause it’s christmas-related and he’s so pissy about it.
so.. yeah. i dont get why people think he’s literal kid Jesus and always wants to protect this little fucker. he puts himself in alot of mess. the “D” on his suit stands for “dick”, bc that’s what he is.  i want to beat him up sometimes
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Okay.
Normally, I delete all character hate on sight, because the point of my blog is to focus on the show’s strengths and how the weaknesses could’ve been done better. I get critical sometimes, but I like focusing on a characters’ strengths rather than their poor writing and garbage like that.
This was so long, detailed, and harsh that it’s really hard to ignore. Maybe I should. Stick to my guns and not let some anonymous rant change how I work. You came to me, though, so if you want to debate this, then alright. I’ll bite.
First off, who in the fandom is portraying Danny as a kid Jesus? Maybe it’s just the circles I’m familiar with, but one of the most reblogged posts that pops up in my notifications is one with a ton of additions arguing why Danny totally deserves to suffer. The majority of the fandom loves tormenting this kid. Even those that do say he needs to be protected never claim he has no flaws. Far from it. They just acknowledge he has it hard for a kid and he deserves a break sometimes.
Second, have you ever…met a 14 year old? As someone who spent most of his career life working with kids and who is the oldest of 5 (with one brother who’s turning 14 this November), lemme tell you that the main trio are saints for their age.
People talk about the terrible twos, but 14 year olds are so much worse. I’m not slamming them, because it makes sense. They’re in a tough transition period between childhood and adulthood. Adults tell them to act more mature, but refuse to acknowledge their voices in serious situations. Middle school and high school are cutthroat places, and one mistake can ruin the entirety of the four-six years you spend there. They’re pressured to get good grades or they’ll fail, they have to be part of the cool crowd or they’ll fail, and people are more likely to blame them for whatever goes wrong in their lives than anything that goes on around them.
Doesn’t change the fact that they can be little demons sometimes. With all the hormones and drama, young teenagers can be really emotional and make problems bigger than they seem. They can be harsh and judgmental, because that’s the environment they’re being exposed to. They need guidance, but they don’t want it. They argue with adults and to some, it seems like they want to make their own lives miserable. They can be tough to work with unless you’re willing to take them as seriously as they take themselves, and most people don’t want to bother.
There are shitty things Danny does in canon, but that’s true for literally every fourteen year old. And heck, are you telling me you didn’t do some ridiculously stupid stuff at that age? I actually stole money from my folks to buy something I wanted. My group of friends frequently set stuff on fire in their backyards. And fuck, nobody can prove Danny was spying on girls in the locker room. While I think the scene is shit and refuse to accept it as canon, all we see is Danny coming out of the locker room. He could’ve been just looking to see what it was like in there. Nothing says there were actually girls in there. But I’m so sick of talking about that shit scene, so I’m gonna leave it at that.
Danny has flaws. He can be selfish and petty and inconsiderate. But really? You wanna beat him up for that?
Are you forgetting that he canonically already does get beaten up every single episode? Whether it’s by ghosts, bullies, his own goddam parents, or whatever, getting beat up is something he’s familiar with.
The reason some fans cut him some slack is because, hey, yeah. He is a kid, and you know what? He’s entitled to be a dick sometimes. He loses sleep every night, almost dies on a daily basis, has his dreams ripped away from him often, and is picked on at school. Despite all of that, he still fights ghosts to keep his town safe, and he’s under no obligation to do that. He saves lives, even when people hate him for it. He puts himself in danger, even for those who are cruel to him. He tries to use his powers for the right reason more often than not, and he’ll take the high road against his bully because he feels like he shouldn’t stoop to his level.
We acknowledge that canon can be shit. We acknowledge that sometimes, Danny’s writing makes him out to be a dick. At the “heart of canon,” though, as you so eloquently put it, he’s the kid who risked his life for a little girl he barely knew that nobody else would miss. He’s the one who saves the lives of his own bully, the teacher who used to be so hard on him, and the parents he fully believes would cut him open if they knew what he was. He’s the one who could so easily be Vlad, but instead he tries his best to be a hero.
You’re under no obligation to like him, and you don’t have to ignore the shitty parts of canon like some of us do. I do it just because I enjoy thinking about what the show could’ve been, not what it was. You don’t have to do that, though.
But really, are you going to march into your nearest high school and beat the shit out of the first kid you see messing up? Seriously? You honestly think that the mistakes Danny makes outweigh the good he’s constantly trying to do enough that he deserves that? Even when he already gets beat up in every single episode already?
Well, fine. That’s your pessimistic opinion. It’s not fact, though. How many cartoons do you watch? You gonna beat up Timmy Turner and Jimmy Neutron, too? They can be right assholes. What about Jake Long? He’s a shallow, obnoxious, irresponsible kid a lot of the time. Sure, he’s just 13, but why should we show mercy to kids who mess up? Serena/Usagi from Sailor Moon? Yeah, let’s ignore all the people defending her and just focus on the fact that the show makes her a dumb kid who doesn’t have enough backbone to immediately become the savior of the galaxy. Come to think of it, where’s your rant about Dash Baxter? Or is he not popular enough for you to rag on?
Perfect characters aren’t the ones who are the most upstanding. They’re the ones who are realistic and flawed. So Danny sells his parents stuff. So he sneaked into the girls’ locker room. So he took out his anger on an innocent person.
I’m not saying any of those things weren’t wrong, what I’m saying is that kids make fucking mistakes. And sometimes, they’re huge ones. Sometimes, kids get curious and break into a house. Sometimes they get hungry at the store and shoplift. Sometimes they lie and cheat and make fun of each other. Sometimes they can be perverted little leaches.
So fucking what? We’ve all been there. We all need to learn and grow.
And seriously, if you’re going to be one of those people who gives Sam a break, don’t turn around and start criticizing Danny for the same shitty writing he sometimes gets. That hypocrisy is exactly why I so adamantly defend Sam.
I don’t know what you wanted to accomplish with these asks. Maybe you just wanted to vent. Maybe you were looking to stir up drama. Maybe you don’t know what you wanted and you just sent these asks randomly without any real reason.
Regardless of what you think, I’m still gonna enjoy my fucking fictional character, even if I don’t always agree with how he’s written. I relate to him, his struggles, and even his mistakes. You have fun ripping on characters people like because you don’t think they should be allowed to make mistakes, but let the rest of us have our fun, too. You’re not helping anyone with this, so maybe just fuck off, m’kay?
Being stupidly nice is kind of my thing, but I’m tired of putting up with this self righteous crap. Let characters fuck up. Let fans rewrite things they don’t like. Let people enjoy their fucking cartoon, because they aren’t hurting anyone. I’ve yet to find a single phan who considers the DP cartoon to be completely canon anyway. They enjoy it for the fan content or the few really spot on episodes. We’re already aware that there’s shitty stuff in there, and we don’t need you to tell us.
If I ever get any asks like this that rip on characters for stupid, petty reasons again, I’m deleting them on sight. That was my initial plan anyway, but I really needed to say my piece here.
Tumblr, maybe stop being such judgmental pieces of fucking shit, okay? You’ll accomplish nothing good by being so harsh toward anything that doesn’t fit your standard of “perfect.”
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blackevermore · 3 years
Text
x Secrets of The Lake: The Company of Misery and Pain
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{ Chapter 11 }
Summary: Vladimir Masters’ family tree has always been tainted by secrets swept under the rug. From generation to generation there have been countless reasons the Masters’ family had seemed to keep private from the public. Even to this day, Vladimir was no exception. But what was one to do when a restless spirit from the settlement years finally breaks free from restraints and demands you answer for your ancestor’s crimes? Vladimir doesn’t know. However, Clockworks does.
Notes: We just having fun, rewriting some of the canon, new adventure new characters. I will apologize now for any grammar, spelling, weird sentence structuring in advance. My brain writes faster than my fingers and even when I go back through to reread it I still miss things. Sorry about that!
Word Count: 3399
P.s: I’m lowkey in love with Kate....
Vlad should have known Miss Way would have a way with words as he held the phone between his cheek and shoulder. She was currently stuck at the airport as her flight had been delayed twice to Virginia but somehow her luggage was already heading there.
“With all due respect Kate, why did you feel the need to call and inform me of this?” Vlad took hold of the phone and smirked, not like he minded the call but honestly it was pointless.
“I felt the need to tell the man who was paying for this. I didn’t want you calling me and asking me how things were going if I was still stuck here.” Vlad could have sworn he heard a snicker through her monotone voice. “This could have been avoided if you allowed me the ride on your jet. Or are assistants not allowed there?”
“Actually the jet was due for a recall repair, that’s why I booked you a first class ticket.”
“Whoa is me, billionaires are liars, very well, but I did think it was best to call and tell you, Sir.” Kate huffed on the other side of the phone and Vlad could hear her pulling the phone away to talk to someone else. Then she pulled the phone back sounding a bit happier but still emotionless. “Oh well, I guess calling you did the trick. I should have told them I was your daughter or something earlier. My flight is in 30 minutes so I will be arriving in Virginia at 9 pm, our time.” Vlad turned to the clock in his office amazed at how fast time had flown by today. It was nearly seven in the evening and Vlad had yet to actually talk to Tayonna.
Speaking of the ghost he looked over to her and she still sat quietly in the chair gripping the fabric of her dress. She looked lost in thought staring towards the ground and Vlad felt the tug at his heart. He quickly turned away and realized Kate was still talking to him.
“Did you hear a word I said?” Kate asked.
“I’m afraid not, I’m currently working on loose emails and documents. You wouldn’t mind repeating yourself?” Vlad cleared his throat and looked down at the real documents he left unfinished days before. He groaned as the lie became reality and picked up his red pin to actually start working.
“I said I will report back to you after I visit the state records office.” Kate sighed and Vlad could only imagine she was rolling her eyes and slowly tapping her foot.
“Very well, thank you once again, Miss Way, Good night.” Vlad hung up the phone with a click and sighed, he undid the first two buttons on his shirt and fixed his hair before settling back into his chair. In due time he had gotten lost in his work rereading due days and trade off agreements with typos a young intern had made. How could anyone actually have these documents looked over twice before being handed to their boss and not caught certain mistakes? 
Vlad finished up marking down a document and putting it back in a folder to be sent back to the office to be rewritten. Tomorrow he was going to have to sit down with the writing team and remind them that business had no room for typos. Especially for ones that make it to his desk and he catches them. He wasn’t an overly strict boss with no sense of morality, not anymore at least, but he took the presentation of business very seriously. 
“You always work so hard Vladan, you’ll always be so stressed.” Tayonna spoke and it made Vlad look up in confusion. First off, his name was not Vladan and he wasn’t sure how many times he would have to tell her that. And second, working himself hard was the only way things ever got done.
“Miss Tayonna I’ve told you countless times I am not Vladan.” Vlad deadpanned her and shook his head before looking back down. Tayonna's face twisted in confusion then dropped as she turned away once more. Vlad noticed and it piqued his curiosity, did he look so much like the man she called him? Every time they locked eyes or she looked at him she always saw someone else before it melted away. Every sour interaction they had was due to the red mist showing up and Tayonna wasn’t truly attacking Vlad but whatever that thing was. Even back at the pond, he understood now the red mist was her target and had tried to find safety in him.
“You look so much like him...so much like him,” Tayonna whispered in sadness, she brought a leg up to rest her head against and that’s when Vlad noticed she was barefoot. He wanted to tell her off for sitting inappropriately in a very expensive chair like some child. But it was best for him to bite his tongue and swallow it, hopefully, if she was going to be sticking around he could teach her to sit properly. Vlad put down his pen and crossed his fingers in front of his face.
“My name is Vladimir but I much rather you call me Vlad.” Vlad told himself he couldn’t really need to be on a first name basis with the ghost if he was going to get rid of her quickly. What would it matter when this was all over and he could get back to his normal life? When he put her to rest would she just go back into the Ghost Zone or would her core fizzle out and she finally passes on? Vlad wasn’t sure, maybe that’s why he told her his corrected name, just in case she was to be another core floating around at least she knew who he was.
“Vlad?” Tayonna finally looked back up to him with disheartening eyes. “He would have been so upset if someone called him that.” Vlad could see she almost wanted to laugh but she held it back through a broken weak smile.
“Well I get upset when someone says my full name spitefully. I am not him so please try to correct yourself from now on.” Vlad gave her a coy smile, then rose from his chair with a crack in his back. It was well into the night and he could feel the need for a shower and sleep nagging at him. Checking the clock again it was only 8:30 and he grumbled as he could hear the children mocking him from miles away of being an old man. He wasn’t old, maybe not physically, he could stay up if he wanted to, but the way his sheets felt after a long day told him it was best to just be old mentally. If he wanted his beauty sleep he very much was going to have it.
“I think it’s best we try and talk in the morning, for now let's head to bed.” Vlad said calmly and held out his hand for her due to habit. Tayonna didn’t take it and stood up to follow him. Ghost didn’t actually need sleep, Vlad of course knew that, to a degree nor did he if he stayed in his ghost form. He had done so many times while studying the Ghost Zone on endless night trips. He found that as a ghost he could do a lot more with himself than being a human. That also includes eating, though ghosts did have their own form of eating. They fed off energy and raw forms of ectomatter. Out of curiosity Vlad had tried it and actually liked it, it did help him feel a lot more energized but he much rather preferred his home cooked meals that awaited him.
“Pray tell, would you be hungry by chance?” Vlad looked over his shoulder at Tayonna and the girl shook her head no. Vlad Hummed and continued out the office and towards the grand stairs. He led the way to the guest room Tayonna had been in and the girl became hesitant to go in. Vlad sighed and rubbed his temple and shook his head. “I’m not locking you in here, this is just where you will be staying for the time being. Unless you wish to go back to your little pond.”
“No!” Tayonna snapped back and lowered her head quickly before moving past Vlad and into the room. Vlad knew that everything around her seemed so weird. She was from the past and had no idea what the 21st century was like. She could be curious but he doubts she would go snooping around. Vlad let out a yawn and that seemed to be contagious as Tayonna did the same. The girl then rubbed her eyes and blinked a couple of times. Vlad felt his core grow hot for a moment then die down as he looked upon her. Tayonna walked over to the bed and sat on the edge, she felt the comforter and then the sheets and that seemed to surprise her. Guess she never thought she would ever sleep on silk.
“You are more than free to roam around the house if you don’t find yourself tired. Though I would advise you didn’t and stayed soundly in your room. Goodnight.” Vlad grabbed the door handle and began to close the door. However, he only got it half way as he felt the need to hear her say it back. He never allowed anyone to finish their farewells unless it was Dani or even Maddie. He would normally say his and be on his way like hell was hot on his heels. But holding the door handle and standing so still he almost longed to hear it from Tayonna. 
When he realized she wasn’t going to say it he lifted his hand and left, leaving the door still half open. Once he made it to his room and slid through the giant doors. He ran his fingers through his hair knocking out his ponytail. His white locks fell to his shoulders and the few stands of black fell right in front of his eyes. He took hold of it and twirled it around before pushing it back and heading to the shower. At least tonight he hoped he wouldn’t have any more of those dreams or memories or whatever they have been. Vlad was certain he would rather dream of taking Maddie out on a lovely romantic date, than being dragged along for whatever Tayonna was doing.
  Vladan held his breath as he watched Luther and Tayonna in the garden harvesting vegetables. The summer had finally begun and the crops his family grew were already growing with pride. So much so his father became worried it was too good to be true. Of course his mother assured him that he had bought a good patch of land and should be happy. Vladan however knew the truth. The truth was 5 feet tall and 6 inches long and never wore the shoes given to her even when she walked through the house. Vladan wanted to tell someone what he found out, or even confront his brother about allowing a witch into the house. Surely he was mad! Being from the German empire meant their parents were very religious and held the name of god in good faith. Unlike Vladan, Luther tended to do the same, haven’t reached the age of understanding his own faith in the world. Maybe this was his silent rebellion?
“He has grown close to her,” the gentle voice of his mother pulled Vladan away from the window hastily. He dropped the curtain and the woman only giggled before pulling it back and tying it to the wall. She looked out and glazed upon her youngest and the servant then hummed. “But it is best if he doesn’t become too attached to her, that is not acceptable neither here or at home.” Vladan looked back through the window trying to see what his mother saw but all he could focus on was Tayonna.
“How did she end up here?” Vladan asked. Tayonna told him but he preferred to hear it from someone else. Maybe the girl had been lying and used her magic to trick them.
“We were passing through the town square when we noticed an auction. Your father told us to ignore it as he was almost done and we would be heading back home. But your brother, as sick as he was, snuck off and got closer to the platform and held up his hand to bid. I tried to stop him but he had this look in his eyes that told me to trust him. We already have two servants at home I told him but he shook his head and said we needed another. Within a few minutes, your brother pointed out towards that girl and bought her. Luckily she already knew English so there was no trouble in getting her along and she came with a name.” Vladan’s mother wrapped her shawl around herself tighter with a worried expression.
“I thought we do not fair in that business like the English?” Vladan whispered beside his mother as he continued to watch the girl outside hard at work. She would occasionally hand Luther her basket and the boy would hurry off to empty it. Vladan finally broke away from the window and looked down at his mother. Over the years he wasn’t sure if he had gotten taller or she had become smaller.
“We don’t, Luther knows that but still, he insisted he buy her. Your father was confused but allowed it. I will say having her around almost feels magical, she is very obedient and polite. And my garden is always in full bloom even after a storm.” Vladan’s mother smiled as she continued to speak about her flowers and how much she loved them. Vladan drowned her out as he turned back towards the window and continued looking at Tayonna. Just then the girl straightened her back and held her basket in hand and her bright green eyes stared right back at him. He felt his breath slip away once more.
  Vlad wasn’t too sure if allowing a ghost to stay at his home while he was gone was a good idea. Let alone a ghost he couldn’t be too sure would even want to stay. Sipping his coffee he hadn’t the slightest idea where she was. When he went to the guest room she wasn’t there, he checked around elsewhere but still no sign of her. Before long Vlad found himself in the kitchen. He should have been on high alert considering she could be breaking something. But oddly enough he was calm and told himself after he had his coffee he would call for her. As his cup started to run low he lowered his eyes and hummed, it was rather quiet with Dani being away. 
He was ready to hear some outrageous comment about how impatient she was for the summer to get here or about some crazy dream she had. Or he could have asked her why she missed her 4th period class yesterday as he was informed with a phone call. Vlad smirked and thought of all the excuses she could come up with within five seconds. His thoughts came to a close as he peered up to the clock to check the time and saw he only had 20 minutes to spare before having to hustle out the door. 
He supposed now was a good time to go look for Tayonna and give her the rundown he still wasn’t too sure about. He could call Skulker to come to watch her but Vlad knew the way the tech ghost ran off from the lip would cause a fight. Vlad was about to walk out of the kitchen until something caught his attention in the corner of his eye. He turned around to look out the bay windows and that's where he found Tayonna sitting in his garden. 
She had her knees pulled up to her chest as she held a few flowers in her hand. She still wore that sad expression on her face that seemed to never go away. Vlad walked over to the window and tapped it and signalled for her to come in. Next to the windows were sliding doors which must have been the way she got out. Vlad opened the door as she got closer and moved out the way when she stepped inside. He looked down and saw that her feet weren’t dirty.
“Miss Tayonna I have to go out for a while and as much as I wouldn’t like to leave you here, I have to. I would prefer if you stayed in your room until then but if you wish to venture outside you can keep yourself busy. Or if you wish you may go to the Ghost Zone.” Vlad fixed his bowtie and straightened out his shirt as he spoke making sure he looked ready to conquer the day.
“I can’t go back there,” Tayonna said and looked down at her hands as if they were still something so abnormal to her. “I’ll stay here.” Tayonna then reached a hand up to her neck towards the collar and huffed as she was reminded of its existence.
“Very well, but please refrain from being too curious while I’m gone. When I return we shall work on whatever it is that keeps you restless.” Vlad nodded his head towards her then began to walk out of the kitchen. He grabbed his suit jacket and double checked himself in the full length mirror before grabbing his keys and ghosting out the door. This time there was no goodbye or see you later. Tayonna slowly walked out the kitchen and stared at the door. 
Vlad had no idea that she already tried to leave during the night while he slept. But the pain in her core felt like it started to burn every time she walked further away from the house. She then noticed when the moon was high in the sky above her, her skin started to crack and break away like ashes. In a panic she stumbled back to the mansion. She had managed to make it back to his property before the moon fell back behind the horizon and the sun began to wake. She fainted in the garden and when she finally woke up she was laying in a bed of roses.
Tayonna felt completely at the mercy of a man who shared the face of someone long ago. If this damn collar wasn’t around her neck she would feel a bit safer. But for now all she could do was whatever he asked for and hope another tragedy didn’t await her. Tayonna started towards the stairs to go back to the room given to her. As she climbed the stairs she felt a hand touch her back and it scared her. She turned around and stumbled up the stairs as she saw the red mist and a hand reaching for her again. Without her powers she was completely helpless and that made the pit in her stomach fill with terror. The mist started to swirl into itself then shape into a person. Tayonna’s eyes grew wide and she shook her head.
“Get away from me! Go away!” Tayonna yelled through tears and stumbled up the stairs a bit more before finally finding her footing and making it the rest of the way. She finally found the hallway and ran inside the room. She pulled back the blankets on the bed and dove under them.
“Go away....please go away...stop touching me.” She cried and hoped the mist didn’t follow her. She felt like a child while hiding but there was something comforting about being completely hidden. She wouldn’t dare stick her head out to see if the mist was above her or if she got away from it. For now, she would stay here the whole time. A few blocks away Vlad sat at a red light and felt the tug on his core that something was wrong. He passed it off as heartburn as the light turned green and drove to work.
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blackevermore · 3 years
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x Secrets of The Lake: Company of Misery and Pain
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{ Chapter 1 }
Summary: Vladimir Masters' family tree has always been tainted by secrets swept under the rug. From generation to generation there have been countless reasons the Masters' family had seemed to keep private from the public. Even to this day, Vladimir was no exception. But what was one to do when a restless spirit from the settlement years finally breaks free from restraints and demands you answer for your ancestor's crimes? Vladimir doesn't know. However, Clockworks does.
Notes: We just having fun, rewriting some of the canon, new adventure new characters. I will apologize now for any grammar, spelling, weird sentence structuring in advance. My brain writes faster than my fingers and even when I go back through to reread it I still miss things. Sorry about that!
Word Count: 1693
Usually, there would be an inkling of life that swirled around the Ghost Zone that informed others of each other. Like an unspoken energy communication that told you the mood of the day or even when to stay away. Ghosts of all kinds upheld this unspoken rule since the changing times of Danny’s arrival and the lack of the ghost king. However, as Danny flew around doing a monthly check-up it seemed deader than ever. Danny could feel the energy of others around him but the energy felt timid. Danny knotted his brows and flew lower towards locations he knew certain ghosts to be at. 
He rounded Skulker's island and didn’t see the tech-head anywhere, figure, he must have been out. Maybe with Ember. He then flew by the warehouse but all the lights were cut off which was very unlike BoxGhost and Lunch Lady. Danny looked through the high windows but there was nothing but stillness. Danny hummed in concern and flew off, he wasn’t planning on going too deep into the ghost zone today, but with how awkward it felt, it might be necessary to find out what was going on. As he scanned around him for any sign of a familiar face he finally found one. Youngblood’s ship floated idly in the middle of the zone, Danny really didn't want to be bothered with the little kid but maybe it was his only chance of an answer. So Danny brought himself to the deck of the ship and looked for any sign of the rambunctious kid.
“Youngblood?” Danny called out but received nothing, not even a snicker from a hiding place. Danny called out again in hopes the young ghost would give away his hiding spot but Danny was left in silence. A quick thought crossed Danny’s mind that as soon as he lowered his guard he would be pulled into a game. And that made Danny roll his eyes in annoyance. “God I don’t have time for any of his tricks. This was a bad idea.” Danny was about to fly away until he heard the squawk of a bird.
“He’s hiding inside, he isn’t coming out until the screaming stops.” Youngblood's assistant flew around Danny then perched on the ship’s wheel.
“Screaming? What screaming?” Danny hadn’t heard any screaming coming from the Ghost Zone the last time he visited.
“Recently there have been obnoxious waves of screaming rippling through the Ghost Zone. Everyone has been staying away from venturing outside because of it.” The bird squawked and used a bonny wing to rub its face.
Danny’s brows knotted and he thought for a moment, “Where has it been coming from?” It was best if Danny quickly found out who the ghost was causing trouble and why. Danny wouldn’t say the Ghost Zone has finally found peace in a settling sense. But there was peace in a way that everyone respected one another to a degree without too much hassle. If this new ghost had a problem with said peace, Danny wanted to handle it before it caused a bigger issue. The last thing he needed right now was ghosts leaking out of the portals and staying on Earth longer than normal. The vultures were enough now that Vlad allowed them to do as they pleased.
“If we knew where it was coming from, it would have been dealt with long before you arrived.” The bird rolled its eyes then flew down to float in front of Danny’s face. “I will say some think it comes from beyond the endless paths of the ghost zone. Maybe farther depending on how far you go. Maybe you could find it before it makes everyone’s ear bleed and put a stop to it.” The bird flew away from Danny’s face and let out a few more squawks. Danny rubbed the bridge of his nose, great, he already had a lot to deal with back home and now this. With the little information he got from Youngblood's assistant, Danny started to float up and plan out what he was going to do.
But before he could get far he heard Youngblood's assistant call out to him again.
“As much as the child can be a bit much, he is still my master and I would prefer not to have to see him cry. The screaming reminds him of his mother.” With that, the bird flew back into the small peephole of the ship. Danny took the words into consideration and flew off. Well, this check-up was a mess and now Danny had to sit down and figure out what to do. With his head already swimming with what-ifs and what-nots, Danny made his way back to the Fenton portal. Maybe he could run this by Jazz if she wasn’t busy and get her opinion on it before he ventures out. As he was about to step through the portal the zone started to shake violently. Danny could hear what was coming before it was close to him and he quickly covered his ears. The scream was ungodly and knocked Danny out of balance, he had to hold on to the edge of the portal just so he wouldn’t be knocked in the other direction.
In retrospect, the scream only lasted a few seconds but for the unwilling listener, it felt like stretched out minutes. Danny knew what pain felt like, so many years of dealing with it left permanent scarring in his brain, and this scream was every bit of pain. A sudden wave of sadness peaked in Danny’s heart and tears began to form in the corners of his eyes.
“What the-” Danny quickly whipped his face, looking down at his fingers to see the wetness then back up into the void of the zone. “This isn’t good.” Danny turned around quickly and shot through the portal and closed it. Once he was back home, he changed into his human self and leaned against the lab table and sighed.
“Skulker give you a run around again?” Danny snapped his neck towards the stairs and smiled. His older sister came down the stairs looking over a stack of papers shoved into a thick book.
“What are you doing home, don’t you have some big time exam to be studying for?” Danny made quotations around ‘big time’ and smirked at his sister. Jazz had been away from home for the past 3 years at her top ivy league university in Chicago. But every so often she’d make the trip back up to visit or just to get away from the stresses of being the far smarter person, as she put it.
“I opted to take it early so I could have a long weekend.” Jazz placed her book down on the table beside Danny and crossed her arms with a smirk. “So Skulker?”
“No, something worse.”
“Worse?”
“All the ghosts are hiding from something, there is this ear killer scream rippling through the zone and no one knows where it's coming from.” Danny rubbed the back of his neck and looked towards the closed portal with worry. Although he spent far more time on Earth, the Ghost Zone was a second home to him, he couldn’t help but be sympathetic to everyone in there dealing with that.
“Could it be Pandora?” Jazz asked, Danny quickly shook his head.
“I spoke with her last month and as always she keeps her promise. It’s not Ember, she’s shacked up with Skulker and they’re fine.” Danny thought through all the possible ghosts who could cause a loud enough scream like that but they all cancelled out. Last month's check-up had everyone in the Ghost Zone perfectly okay wherever they were.
“You’re not thinking of going too far to find where it's coming from are you?” Jazz quickly became worried for her brother. He was older, smarter, wiser, and a lot quicker than three years ago. Even at 17, Danny was still her reckless 14 year old brother who chose to save the world. Danny hadn’t gone too far into the zone in all these years. Sure he had been to almost every corner but never too far where their communication broke. With the Ghost Zone being as massive as space there was no telling how far he could go or how long it would take for him to come back.
“I don't wanna think about it but I’m guessing I might have to. I got hit with one of the waves when I was coming out and I can tell by the velocity that it’s not far from the main area but still farther back.”
Jazz snickered, “The velocity? I thought you sucked at physics?” Danny knew she was trying to lighten the mood a bit from all the seriousness. He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms in a matter of factly manner.
“I’ll have you know staying up late and falling asleep watching space documentaries does teach you things. There’s a Planet X just outside our solar system that is too far to reflect the sun's light so it’s likely we’ll never find it because Nasa refuses to tell us about it.” Danny felt an air of power being able to flaunt his knowledge of space.
“And Pluto is a planet,” Jazz waved her hand in the air to shoo away Danny’s self-righteousness.
“Well duh, he is small but mighty and has a very big heart. Pluto is a planet to me.” Danny chuckled and Jazz shook her head before wrapping an arm around her brother to usher him back upstairs. Danny didn’t protest, he could deal with the Ghost Zone issue when he wasn’t freaking out about a new threat. It was better to figure things out when you weren’t ready to fall over and die a second time.
“Not since 2006, little bro.” Jazz smiled and allowed him to go up first. When Jazz closed the basement door behind her either of the siblings heard the dripping coming from the portal doors. Slowly but surely a puddle of water formed at the foot of the entrance.
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