#The Tale of a Girl and a Ghost

[numbugwritingblog]

The Miracle Mind of Serene: the Tale of a Girl and a Ghost (Chapter 3)

Previous Chapter

Index

---

26/01/2018

The Delicious Den.

A restaurant that had been founded by a small family 50 years ago, and which had been going strong ever since. It has seen its glory days come and go, but the restaurant is still going strong, with even some high class elites choosing it as their restaurant of choice.

But Terra didn’t care about any of that. He just worked here because his mother, the restaurant owner, demanded him to. Not like he had much of a choice, given he didn’t have the money to move out, nor will he on this income.

So here he was today, handing in the last lunch receipt before his scheduled break, the swan lady at the table looking at it with fury. “Forty five dollars?! For this?!”

“Yeah we’re not a charity,” Terra, the small little bunny with eyes devoid of any life in them, answered back without missing a beat. “Forty five bucks.”

“This meal isn’t worth anywhere near that, I’m paying thirty and not a cent more!”

“Miss, that’s theft.”

“You dare accuse me of stealing?! How could you-”

“Duh,” Terra flat out interrupted her while rolling his eyes. This tight waiter’s outfit was a bigger issue than she was, at this rate. “You already ate, so you pay up.”

“I’d like to speak to your manager.”

A small smile creeped onto Terra’s face. Not only could he end this silly argument early, but he also knew this woman was not ready for the hell on Earth she was about to conjure. “Sure.”

---

---

Terra was seated at the table upstairs, though by now the screaming had ceased to be cathartic, and was just annoying background noise. Why did he think it was a good idea? He couldn’t even focus on the news he was reading - albeit hearing that another rich person - this Cirillo lady - wasn’t charged with the crimes she clearly committed wasn’t particularly compelling to him.

Finally the screaming had subsided, and he watched the lady practically bolt out of the manager’s office, a bitter looking older bunny glaring at the lady in the process. “AND DON’T COME BACK, YOU THIEF!”

The bunny, Amanda, then let out a sigh as she pulled out a hand mirror and checked her reflection, bits of hair adjusted so as to not look like she was just screaming for 20 minutes.

She then turned to Terra, scowling. “What did you do?”

What? Terra let out a huff as he hopped to his feet. “What do you mean? She was the one who didn’t want to pay.”

“Don’t you get like that with me, son,” she snapped back, glaring Terra in the eyes. “Every time it’s something you do.”

Well maybe he didn’t want to get stuck in this crappy, dead-end job. But there’s no point wasting breath on what has already been said. “I didn’t do anything. This time.”

She continued glaring, her expression unchanging. “You’re on in 10.”

“What?!” Terra grumbled, glaring at her in the eyes. “Breaks last for an hour-”

“Your break lasts half an hour, we’re understaffed as-is! Understood?”

Terra continued glaring at her in the eyes. She could probably end the understaffing issue whenever she wanted, for all he knew. But they both knew how this would go. “Loud and clear, mother.”

Amanda knew that tone, and so she continued to stare at him. Little ungrateful shit having an attitude with her. But she didn’t want another argument if she could help it, not while her throat was sore. “No excuses for being late.” She then walked back to her office and slammed the door shut.

Terra let out a heavy sigh, guzzling down the rest of his coffee. Back to work…

---

Serene was standing in front of a mirror, looking at her reflection - no, more like staring at it.

This sparkling, dark blue dress was an absolutely gorgeous dress, and it certainly paired well with the black high heels and matching socks she had on - and that’s not to mention the silver domino mask with a moon motif that adorned her face. She certainly looked pretty.

But did it really suit her?

“Mortis, what do you think?”

“Just choose.” He was no help even at the beginning, but especially not now - Serene only needed to hear his voice through the phone’s audio to know that he was absolutely bored out of his mind. “Something. Anything. Just pick, we need to go.”

She’d glare at her phone, before looking back to her reflection. “You don’t understand how tough it is to hide my identity while still looking good.”

“No, I just don’t care for any of this formality. You won’t even need to do anything besides show up and keep an eye out.”

“Exactly! I’ve never gone to a fancy restaurant on my own.”

“You don’t need anything but a mask!”

“I know, but-...” Serene paused, failing to find the next words. But what? This was clearly important to her. But the moment she’d stop to explain why, it failed to reach her mind. She looked back to the reflection, letting out a sigh. She was just going out to a restaurant, disguised as some rich stranger.

What was she missing…?

“Come ooooon!”

“Alright, alright!” Serene snapped out, psychically bringing her phone, purse, and hairbrush to herself. She brushed her hair to get the nerves out before setting it back down, psychic powers taking it back to where it rests. “I’m done.”

“Thank fuck, finally.”

Serene let out a sigh, making her way to the front door. “Remind me to never invite you to dinner.”

“I can’t even eat without a body, and I doubt you want me borrowing yours.”

Serene’s phone then hovered up next to her ear, so that she could pretend she was talking to someone.

Already, Mortis reminded her. “Remember, normal girls don’t have psychic powers.”

“I know, I know,” Serene huffed, putting her hand on her phone. She then reached out to grab and open the front door. It wasn’t difficult by any means, but it felt so… strange, doing it manually. And it was going to feel stranger, with one hand occupied to keep chatting with Mortis, leaving just one to handle everything else.

It was more distracting than she ever imagined it would be, having to hold off on using this gift she’s had all her life. By the time she had gotten onto the bus it really made her feel like she WAS another person, not just pretending to be one.

It felt like she was missing something.

“Remember, you just go in and keep a lookout for Richard. I’ll check where the customers aren’t allowed to go.”

“I know,” Serene said with a nod. “If he shows up, I’ll be sure to greet him for you.”

“No? I’ll be right there? Just keep him from leaving.”

Serene let out a sigh. “No, you won’t be at the restaurant in time, that’s why I’ll let you know. Via the phone.”

“Serene, I-” There was a brief silence. “Ah.”

Serene let out a small giggle in response, despite Mortis’s protests. “I’ll let you know, okay?”

Mortis let out a digitised huff. “I’ll find something to do while we wait.”

“Alright, just… Don’t look at anything I don’t want to see later. Okay, bye, have a good time!” Serene sighed, tucking the phone away into her purse. It felt a bit clumsy, and definitely slower than just using her gift. Is this really what everyone else had to do? No wonder people sometimes get annoyed.

Or maybe it just felt wrong to her…

---

Furiously scrubbing away at the dishes, Terra’s still absolutely fuming at his break being cut off short.

“Okay, what did you do this time?”

Terra glared at one of the only other people in the room, a bunny that was slightly taller than he was, gloves, apron, and hairnet designating her as the cook. “Nothing. She’s a psycho.”

“You both are,” the other bunny answered, dumping soup ingredients into the pot with water before flicking the stove right on. “Whatever she did, you did something too.”

“Shut up, Aura.” Terra rolled his eyes and turned away, scrubbing harder.

“What? A sister should never lie to her big brother.” Aura would stick out her tongue at him right after, even though she knew he couldn’t see it. “So what did you do?”

“I told you, nothing!” Terra’s voice got heated at that, shoving the now thoroughly scrubbed dish onto the rack, making the rest of the kitchen quiet down. He noticed the sudden silence, but he didn’t care.

Aura, however, did, so she rolled her eyes and continued cooking. “Fine, I’ll believe you… for now.”

Terra huffed, scrubbing the dishes once more. That just meant she didn’t believe him.

It was then that a large, bulky armadillo busted into the kitchen, dumping a large sack of food on the table for the other employees to get to. “Terra, Aura, there you two are!”

“Hey dad.”

“Hey dad.”

Neither sibling was particularly enthusiastic about his presence, instead continuing with their jobs.

Their father, Damion, let out a sigh, shaking his head. “What was it about?”

“What?” Terra immediately piqued up.

“You fought with Amanda, I can tell. What was it about?”

“I don’t fucking know!” Terra called out, shoving another dish onto the rack. “I just sent some idiot that refused to pay to her and then she’s acting like that’s somehow my fault! Then she cut my break in half on top of that.”

Damion would nod, letting out a hum as he put a hand to his chin. “Just like that, huh? I’ll go talk with her. Do you want to go back to waiter duties?”

“Oh, yeah suuure,” Terra called out as he rolled his eyes. “I just love to talk with stupid idiots that think the world revolves around them.”

“Great!” Damion called out, seemingly oblivious to his sarcasm. “Go get out there, and I’ll finish these dishes.”

“No, I-”

“I insist.”

… Terra could do nothing but roll his eyes again, drying his hands off before marching off. The only reason he didn’t argue further is because his dad won’t budge when he thinks he’s helping, no matter how well you explain it to him.

Should’ve kept his mouth shut.

---

Finally, they were here. The Delicious Den. Serene was going to help this ghost find peace, and then… they’ll find out what happens to him after. He was certainly lucky to find her for this, wasn’t he?

Serene made sure her mask was on properly before making her way in. Awkwardly opening the door (with her hand…) and taking a deep breath. Nobody recognised her, nobody recognised her, nobody recognised her, nobody recognised her…

…

Terra immediately recognised her. Great, another celebrity who thinks they can waltz in with a mask and expect everyone to be none the wiser. He couldn’t think much more than that as he suddenly felt something tiny grabbing his back. “Hey!” He flicked his arm against whatever it was, getting the grip off of himself.

He then turned to the offender, seeing a child fascinated with his fluff. “Bunny!”

“Back off!” he’d snap, a small instinctual hop to get away from the grabby hands.

“Bunny!” The child cried out again, arms outstretched as tears started to form in their eyes.

The child’s father turned to Terra upon his child starting to cry, glaring. “Hey, apologise to my son right now!”

“Well teach him to keep his little grubby hands off!” Terra turned away.

The father then stood up, clearly ticked off. It was clear just how much taller this man was compared to Terra, and yet the bunny looked more annoyed than anything resembling fear. “Don’t you dare talk about my son that way.”

Terra maintained direct eye contact, glaring at him. “I’m not a petting zoo for every toddler that walks in!”

“Well he absolutely loves bunnies!”

“Excuse me.”

Both Terra and the man looked over to the girl Terra had recognised. Though the man seems to have not put it together.

Serene took a small breath in now that eyes were on her, why did she just jump in? “I’m sorry, but this is a public restaurant, if your kid really can’t control himself then you should make sure he doesn’t get into trouble.”

“But-”

“I know, the bunny was rude.”

“Just saying it like it is,” Terra huffed, glaring at Serene.

Serene took another breath in, nodding. “But you wouldn’t like being grabbed out of the blue either, would you?”

The man let out a sigh, slowly shaking his head. “... Right, I’ll keep my son in line.”

“Bunny!”

“Listen, if you really want a bunny, we’ll visit a pet store tomorrow…”

As the situation seemingly resolved itself, Serene made her way over to the front counter, pulling out her phone and tapping on it, before putting it on her ear. “Okay, we’re good to go…” She then saw Mortis leave the phone and immediately fly off to the employee section.

Terra, meanwhile, let out a sigh of relief, silently yet quickly backing away from the kid. “I don’t like other people butting in,” Terra began.

“Oh!” Serene put a hand to her face. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking…!”

Terra let out a sigh. “Buuut you probably saved my job, so uh…” He paused for a bit. “... Thank you… Serene.”

Serene stammered, awkwardly pointing to the mask. “What- no, I’m not Serene, just-”

Terra looked at her with the most deadpan expression. “You’re a celebrity. You really think people will forget who you are just ‘cause you got a mask on?”

Serene went silent in response, awkwardly fiddling with said mask.

“... I’ll keep quiet, just make an order and I’ll put it on.”

Serene nodded. “Yes! I would like… boeuf bourguignon, and some water, please.”

“Is that all, ma’am?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Terra nodded, backing up slightly. “If you could wait at table #3.”

Serene nodded, taking a seat at the table as she waited, pulling out her phone in the meanwhile.

---

Mortis had slipped into the backrooms, unseen and unnoticed by the employees, and he intended to keep it that way. Phasing through walls, appliances, and even people, possessing none of them as he surveyed the area.

From the looks of things the first floor was mainly about the restaurant itself, with the front area for customers to eat at, a kitchen for the food to be cooked and dishes cleaned, a storage for all of the food, and the bathrooms - if absolutely necessary, he noted that location as a possible spot to possess someone. The real area of interest, past the break room, was the office - complete with a computer and all sorts of documents organised into neat piles.

So of course Mortis started his search here.

The computer was a bust unless he could get someone to search through it for him, and the stack of papers would take far too long to sort through, not to mention that his presence was absolutely going to be noticed early if he tried that. But he could at least look at the piles, see if any of them potentially involved customers.

…

Nothing besides a moderately sized list of banned customers on the wall, which obviously didn’t feature Richard in any of them. So he needed to possess someone. Pretty simple, he just needed the prime opportunity.

---

Terra approached table #3 with Serene’s boeuf bourguignon, placing the bowl down in front of her, before swiftly yet carefully placing the glass full of fresh, clear water. “Dinner is served.”

Serene smiled, tucking out some cash. “Thank you so much, mister…?”

“Terra,” he would answer back, accepting the tip without hesitation, counting it out quickly.

… $200?!

What the hell, that’s the most generous tip he’s ever got! She hasn’t even started eating it yet. He would immediately pocket that tip away, grinning wide at the nice score.

Serene smiled. “Terra’s a cute name.”

“Yeah I didn’t choose it,” he answered back, his grin slowly fading away.

Serene let out a small giggle in response, holding a hand near her mouth.

Terra’s grin returned at her giggle.“Yeah, you can thank my ma for that, and not much else.”

“Hm? Why’s that?” Serene asked softly, tilting her head.

“Ehhhh,” Terra backed up slightly, brushing off the question without a single word. “I should be going back to work.”

“Oh, okay,” Serene said. “If you get a moment, you’re always free to chat with me!” She paused slightly, before quickly adding “I mean- if you want to, of course.”

Terra looked back to the front desk. Nobody was in line yet. Everybody was busy eating, so he didn’t need to bring out any checks yet. Then he looked back to Serene. “... I guess I do have a moment right now.”

Serene smiled in response, offering up a chair for him to sit on. “So what do you like to do for fun?”

Terra let out a hum, smirking. He didn’t take the chair, instead continuing to stand. “I usually like swinging by the park, doing a bit of exercise and just taking in nature. Though I’d really love to go on vacation to somewhere I’ve never been before…”

“Oh? Like where?”

Terra’s eyes lit up, something resembling a genuine smile finally appearing on his lips. “Beautiful looking beaches and sweet volcanoes, that giant rock that looks different as the sun hits in different angles, hell even the snowy hilltops are cool I guess. That’s not even mentioning the new people to meet and cultures to soak in!”

Serene listened intently as Terra would explain all of the places he wanted to visit, nodding her head slowly. “That’s pretty interesting! Where have you been so far?”

“... Nowhere, but I’ve been saving up,” Terra admitted, ears flopping back. “Hoping I can get going by uh… Was it 9 years or 10…?” He would shake his head, puffing up. “Doesn’t matter, I’ll get out there someday!”

Serene let out a small giggle, smiling wide.

“Hey!”

“No no,” Serene quickly defended herself, smiling wide. “It’s cute is all, I hope you get to go out soon.”

Terra let out a small sigh, letting his annoyance flow away. “Well what about you?”

“Hm?” Serene blinked, tilting her head.

“Your hobbies, I mean.”

“Oh!’ Serene hesitated to answer, clearing her throat at first. “Well I… uh… I like dressing up pretty?” Her questioning tone made her even more unsure. “I guess I like puzzles too…”

Terra raised an eyebrow. “... You don’t know your own hobbies?” He would quickly shake it off. “Sorry, it’s not my place to judge.”

“Well, I never had any friends to discover hobbies with,” Serene admitted.

“You don’t need friends to- wait, you’ve never had friends?”

Serene shook her head.

“... How?” It probably wasn’t his place to ask either, but he just needed to know.

Serene let out a small sigh, clenching her glass. “Well… Everyone knew about my gift growing up. They were afraid of…”

“... You blowing up their minds in a fit of spite?” Terra finished the thought for her, to which Serene nodded. “... Have you?”

“What? No! Of course not!” Serene’s voice got loud as the catgirl was now defensive, her eyes gaining a very faint white shimmer.

“Then they were a bunch of assholes,” Terra snapped back, seeing the faint white shine fading away. “I mean how long was-”

“Hey is everything alri-” Aura would approach after the yelling, stopping to look at Serene. “... Is that the psychic?”

Serene gulped a little to think of how to answer. “Well-”

“This is my friend Selena,” Terra answered super casually. “She’s always getting mistaken for Serene, she’s absolutely sick of it.”

“Uh… Yes! That’s right,” Serene answered. What would “Selena” say…? “I’m thinking of getting my name changed, even.” … Maybe it wasn’t something that was missing that was making her feel so off…

Aura raised an eyebrow suspiciously, turning to Terra. “And how come I never met this suspiciously similar stranger?”

“You got no room to argue, you didn’t even know about Tim until I broke up with him!” Terra snapped back, to which Aura immediately went red in embarrassment.

“Y-you were barely with him!” Aura called out.

“Only if you think a whole fucking year is “barely”, is it?” Terra answered back with a smug grin.

Aura let out a frustrated huff, marching off.

Terra then turned back to Serene, with a smug smirk on his face. “That’s my sis, Aura.”

Serene was silent at first, looking back to Terra for a moment. “... Thank you, you didn’t have to do that…”

“Pssh,” Terra huffed dismissively, waving a hand away. “I love messing with her when I get the chance.”

Serene looked at him strangely, hesitating to speak. “I… see.”

Terra let out a small chuckle. “It’s fun, trust me. In fact…”

---

Amanda was busy with paperwork as Damion made his way in. Looking up to him, Amanda immediately let out a sigh, smiling softly as she let her exhaustion show. “My Darling Damion, it’s so good to see your face.”

“My Astonishing Amanda,” Damion would answer back, continuing the alliteration as he closed the office door behind himself. “It’s so good to be back with my family.” He moved the spare chair over to the back so that he could sit with his wife, kissing her on the cheek with a big hug.

She leaned back against his chest, smiling. “Oh they’re not grateful at all,” she sighed, resting her hand atop his. “Aura barely talks to me, and Terra keeps getting into trouble on purpose. It’s exhausting with those two.”

Damion let out a small hum, his breathing slow to let her relax. “They’re not kids anymore. Hell they’re not even teens. You didn’t think you were going to be in charge forever, did you?”

She let out a sigh, leaning back to look him in the face. “No, but they’re going to inherit the restaurant once we retire, they need to be prepared for that.”

“That doesn’t mean you can’t give them a break, does it? Like earlier today, you got in some fight with Terra-”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Amanda sighed as she turned away.

Damion nodded. “I know. All I wanted to ask is if you even know what Terra did.”

Amanda let out a huff, her exhaustion seemingly vanishing in an instant. “He got a customer mad enough that she refused to pay.”

“And how did he do that?”

“He-!” She paused, trying to think of what exactly happened. Then she slumped back down, a long sigh coming out. “I don’t know… But it must have been something.”

Damion let out a soft, reassuring sigh. “Maybe, but you remember your younger days when you had customers that you just wanted to grind into a soft dough, right?”

“... Yeah…”

Damion then leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Some customers are still like that today. Just now Terra has to deal with them instead of you.”

She sighed, nodding slowly. “Alright, alright! I’ll give him a day off tomorrow.”

“And that’s why you’re my Astonishing Amanda,” Damion said with a smile, kissing her once again.

Then there was knocking on the office door. Immediately Damion stood up, placing the chair back where it was. At the same time, Amanda’s exhaustion vanished instantly as she sat formal and proper once more. “Come in.”

It was Aura, but immediately they could both tell she was walking strange, something behind her back as she closed the door behind herself.

But Aura’s their daughter, being strange probably meant she was having an off day.

Amanda stood up with a warm smile. “Aura, what is it you-”

She didn’t get to finish as Aura suddenly grabbed her, keeping her in a grip around the throat. She then revealed the chef’s knife that was hidden behind her as she held it close to Amanda’s throat. “Make any sudden noises and she dies.”

Both Amanda and Damion were in utter shock at what their daughter was doing, but they kept quiet for Amanda’s life.

“What do you want?” Damion asked in a clearly hostile tone of voice. Even if it was his daughter, nobody dares threatens his wife!

“Tell me where Richard is.”

---

Next Chapter

[bethanydelleman]

I had tears pouring down my cheeks while I was driving home this morning because I listened to a podcast about the Radium Girls and how hard they fought to hold their employer to account for poisoning them, even though they knew they would die regardless, because they wanted to protect the workers who came after them. Even though their community called them liars and they were in horrible pain, they fought. And then the host started talking about how the Manhattan Project used knowledge gained from the Radium Girls to protect their workers and how the ghosts of those girls and women protected people going forward...

And it made me think of all the ghosts, unnamed and unknown, who in their death protect us: the ghosts of the Titanic, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the Quebec Bridge, and so many others. Disasters that made us change laws and protect people, not just because they were horrific but because survivors and survivors families demanded that we change; kept screaming and fighting and pushing until someone listened and something was fixed.

What a debt we owe.

[starry-bi-sky]

tales of the passerine - danny fenton being bruce wayne's first kid

okay okay. so this is like a continuation/elaboration of my oneshot/prompt i wrote about the idea that Danny was the first batkid. We have a lot of aus where he joins the family after the rest of the bats do, right? So hey! Lets shake things up a bit. Danny is the first to be adopted by Bruce Wayne.

Danny's parents and unfortunately Jazz die shortly after the events of TUE -- how so? I was gonna say an ecto-filter explosion, that would call back to the TUE explosion and trauma behind that. But lets do something new! Carbon-monoxide poisoning.

It's not too unexpected for something to break in the Fenton house, especially with the Fenton parents' questionable understanding of proper weapon handling and lab safety. The water heater broke from a stray shot by one of the weapons, and was promptly MacGyver'd incorrectly. Danny went to stay with Tucker for a guys' night, and came back to a dead silent house.

(Danny's neighbors got a very unfortunate shock when he ran to the next house over in hysterics.)

There was a lot of shuffling around with CPS, the police. People had to be called in to handle the equipment in the lab, and the GIW was rumoring to show up in aid to clearing the scene. When Danny heard of that, he immediately went and dismantled the ghost portal to the best of his abilities. He burned the physical blueprints of all his parents' inventions, their blueprints on the ghost portal, and their most dangerous weapons were destroyed beyond recognition. Anything to prevent the GIW from getting their hands on his parents' tech.

It opened up another investigation, but he was not under the list of suspects. He was placed in the care of Vlad Masters, where they then went back to the rebuilt castle mansion in Wisconsin. Danny, terrified of the future that has once passed and may do so again, shuts down in his grief. Inadvertently, he ends up somewhat repressing his ghost half. Something Vlad, who is grieving Madeline but relishing in Jack's demise and his custody of Daniel, is not very happy with.

Vlad's... gone into a bit of a mental health spiral. He's becoming increasingly possessive over Daniel, the final remnants of his friends and a liminal being like him. He doesn't like that Danny's repressing his ghost half -- both out of genuine concern as a ghost, but also because of his desire to control Danny and groom him into the perfect son. If you ever had a phase where you read Dark SBI found family fics, first off; me too bro, and second off; those are the vibes I'm thinking of.

Danny's mentally shut down from grief! And fear. He's dropped into a bad depressive state -- paralyzed with grief and the terror of the inevitable. Clockwork saved his parents because he believes in second chances, but what's the point of that when his family ended up dead anyways? Danny doesn't wanna believe that he's destined to become evil, and he's holding out onto that hope, but it's a thin line, and he feels utterly hopeless and trapped. He hasn't used his powers or ghost form since he trashed the lab, and Vlad has alarms set up to prevent him from trying to escape.

He's also unintentionally cut off Sam and Tucker -- both of whom are so scared and concerned for Danny too, and are trying their damndest to reach out to him. He keeps ignoring their texts. Danny basically haunts Vlad's manor. He goes out to eat if he has to, attends parties Vlad drags him to, and stays in his room all day if he can.

At parties, Vlad doesn't allow Danny to leave his side, or really talk to anyone -- not that Danny wants to. A product of Vlad's increasing possessiveness. Well, he almost doesn't let Danny leave his side. Danny has a habit of slipping off to hide somewhere for the parties whenever he can, and Vlad reluctantly allows it so long as he stays alone.

This becomes an advantage when eventually, Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham after missing for years, and holds a bright charity ball to celebrate the return. Vlad has been chomping at the bits to get his hands on Wayne Industries, and with the return of its owner there is no better opportunity to wipe out his rival. He goes, and he as normal, brings Daniel with him.

Vlad thinks Wayne will bleed his little heart out for Daniel's poor orphan sob story -- he's a fellow orphan himself, after all. He's not wrong; Wayne's little heart will bleed, just not in the way that benefits him.

Bruce sees Vlad and Danny approaching before they're even close enough to introduce themselves - and like with many of the children he will soon come to care for, it's like someone set a mirror into the past right in front of him.

Danny Fenton's suit is tailor-made for him, and despite the fact that it's his perfect size, the sag in his shoulders, the ducked down head, and the way he hunches into himself all pictures the image of a child in shoes too big for him. There's a far away, glazed over look in his eyes and grief marble-cut into the lines of his face. There's not enough makeup in the world that will hide the dark circles under his eyes.

("My nephew, Daniel Fenton." Vlad's hands are possessive on Danny's shoulders. Bruce immediately notices the way the boy tenses under his touch. "His parents passed recently, and as his godfather I was designated his guardian.") ("I'm so sorry, the loss must've been terrible.") ("Yes, carbon-monoxide poisoning caused it. Daniel was out with friends, when he came home... they had already passed.") (Bruce immediately dislikes that Vlad shared the details of their death unprompted -- he likes it even less when Danny flinches at the reminder and hunches into himself.)

Danny runs off at some point earlier into the charity. At this point, parties are still being held at Wayne Manor (because iirc google search mentioned that was a thing at first before it was changed), so he disappears and hides in one of the empty rooms nearby. It just so happens to be the same room Bruce Wayne hides in when he needs a break from all of the socialization.

Thus begins a long, long process of trust. Bruce can't reveal his hand as being smarter than he looks, but he can be compassionate. Kindness needs no measure of intelligence. He keeps Danny company for as long as he can before he runs the risk of being found.

Rinse and repeat. Vlad insistently wants Wayne Industries, and he'll go to as many Wayne parties as he can to get his hooks into the man. The problem is that Bruce Wayne is never alone, and getting him alone is impossible. Finding him too. It's like the man never stops moving. Always talking to someone, always circling somewhere. He orbits around the room as if he isn't the sun of the Gotham Elite's solar system.

Danny's had such repetitive behavior that Vlad never thinks to believe that Bruce Wayne is disappearing to go talk to him. That "Vlad's" son is even interacting with him at all. Danny never gives him a reason to think so, and neither does Bruce.

Danny doesn't actually acknowledge Bruce until a handful of parties in, where he hands Bruce a small slip of paper he smuggled in that says; "don't trust Vlad". Danny's face stays carefully blank, but he's so tense that his hands are trembling, and he's purposely looking away from him. Bruce plasters a smile onto his face, slips the paper into his pocket, and tells him "okay".

(he's been busy with his own goals with the mafia, but he sets aside time to investigate Vlad Masters. He was holding off. Until now.)

Danny does eventually start speaking to Bruce, he's starting to really like the guy. He's starting to see a little hope, even as Vlad is starting to get more and more agitated with him the more he refuses to use his powers.

He reaches out to Sam and Tucker again, and starts trying to reconnect with them. Vlad has spyware on his phone, and he limits the amount of times he can talk to them. A weird parental control lock of some sort that leaves a time limit on how long he can talk to them for. 30 minutes. Danny doesn't tell them anything about Mr. Wayne.

Danny, slowly, wants out of here, and he's slowly gathering the motivation to do it. Vlad is genuinely scaring him -- and Danny wonders just how truthful the past-future Vlad was when he told him that Danny wanted his ghost half separate. He starts trying to come up with an escape plan.

Vlad has anti-ghost wards everywhere around the mansion, and while they're always on, they boost to full power at sunset. The doors and windows are always locked, all main exits have alarms set on them. The only reason it's not super extensive is because Danny hasn't tried leaving at all yet, so Vlad hasn't had to tighten anything.

At night, Vlad locks the door to his room and puts up an anti-ghost ward around the room. The mansion is on the outside westward side of Madison, more entrenched in rural Wisconsin. The closest town is a four-way stop sign with one house on three corners, and an open bar on the fourth. Not much to go.

He refuses to go to Sam and Tucker; Vlad would look there first. It's too dangerous. Vlad would sound alarm bells and have a manhunt looking for him, Danny can't risk going just anywhere. Too much risk of being found, sold out, or caught. There's really nowhere for him to hide.

Until there is. Bruce is telling Danny about the history of Wayne Manor, and says, as casually as saying the weather; "The manor has dozens of empty rooms, I'm sure Alfred wouldn't mind filling another one if he could." And quietly, hesitantly, Bruce places a careful hand on Danny's shoulder, unrestrictive and gentle; "He wouldn't mind getting one ready for you if you need one."

And there it is. There's his out.

Danny, just as quietly, replies; "I'll keep that in mind."

The ball starts rolling.

Now I've been trying to summarize this au as much as possible for length convenience, but Vlad has been steadily growing more and more controlling. More emotionally manipulative. More agitated at Danny for not using his powers.

He wants Wayne Industries under his thumb but he's been steadily growing more and more concerned with Danny. He's started grabbing him, yanking him around, shaking him; trying to goad him into using his powers. He gets angry when Danny doesn't react, or tells him he doesn't want to use his powers. He hasn't outright attacked him, but he's getting there. This has been happening over the time it takes for Bruce to indirectly offer Danny sanctuary at his home.

It all comes to a head when Vlad stops going to parties at all -- something Danny has to pretend he isn't upset about -- because Vlad doesn't want him around other people anymore. Vlad rarely goes now without him, and only leaves to go to a Wayne function or to handle something at VladCo.

Danny can't wait for Vlad to leave long enough to escape. So he leaves during the night of a big storm. Vlad's locked him in his room, but Danny doesn't bother trying to go for it; he goes to the alarmed window instead. Danny's been repressing his ghost half so long that he can't access his powers immediately anymore -- he can feel it, he knows its there, but he can't quite reach it.

He breaks the lock by hand.

Immediately the alarm goes off through the entire castle, filling the room with red, and he scrambles for the rope the Wisconsin Ghost left for him a few months back. Danny's already out and climbing down the side of the castle before Vlad even reaches his door -- the only good thing about the entire room being ghost-proof is that Vlad can't get in that way.

The rope ends before it reaches the bottom, and he's still twenty feet in the air. It won't kill him if he lands it right. Danny takes his chances, and drops. He breaks his ankle, but he survives.

And he fucking books it to the back garden. He hears Vlad shrieking over the thunder and rain.

I'll save the full experience for a future oneshot, but Danny makes it out into the nearby woods and forcibly experiences what it's like to be in a horror game, trying to hide from the thing that's hunting you. There's only one thing going through his mind; "i'm going to die"

I have this mental image for this scene. Very stereotypical horror imo. Where Danny is hiding behind a tree, with a hand over his mouth, and Vlad is a few feet away from him, glowing ominously red through the trees, trying to search for him.

Danny doesn't get away from this unscathed, but he does get away alive. That's all he could ask for. He gets away by getting his ghost half awakened long enough to transform into Phantom and fly to Gotham.

But he gets to Wayne Manor, he gets to Bruce. Or, at least, Alfred answers the door from his insistent pounding. Danny's just in tears and Alfred gets him in the living room, wrapped in a towel, with ice on his swollen leg before he has to step out and alert Bruce.

Bruce already breaks multiple traffic laws on a nightly basis. And that's just with the sheer existence of the batmobile itself, not including the speeding and military artillery attached. He breaks double the amount trying to speed back to the cave and get out of the suit.

Right off the bat: Bruce will know, at least before Dick enters the picture, about danny's powers. He'll figure out something considering the fact that Danny traveled from Wisconsin to New York in a single night. That'll be a bit of complicated affair, but I've already got something in mind.

Actually it'll probably be very soon after Danny joins the family, because Bruce tries to offer to fight for custody for Danny - the state Danny was in at arrival is clear enough evidence for a trial. But Danny immediately shuts it down, says it's not going to work and then Vlad will know Danny's with him and he won't be safe. He tells him that Vlad cannot know Danny was with Bruce.

Danny's biggest regret was not telling his parents he was a halfa, and while he doesn't want to tell mister wayne (yet), he does tell him about Vlad being one. He needs to know why Danny can't be seen with Bruce. So he tells him, and Danny's current plan is to just hide out from Vlad until he turns 18. That way, he has no more legal jurisdiction over him. After that? He's not sure.

And to wrap this up, since this has already gotten very long and I can make more posts about this au later; I've thought about it, and I'm going to say that Danny does become a vigilante before Dick enters the scene. He goes by, as you probably guessed; Nightingale. "Gale" for short.

[autisticrosewilson]

Thinking about Trans masc Jason. Jason who has only just started to figure out who he is at the manor but everyone still thinks of him as a girl because he hasn't found the courage to correct them, and they use the wrong name because he hasn't found the right one yet. And the only time he feels like himself is when he puts on the Robin uniform because Robin is a boy and that's how he wants to feel all the time. But theres s difference between being Batman's Robin and being Bruce Wayne's son, and he still thinks Jason is his daughter.

Jason who dies a boy, as Robin, but is buried as a girl. Who comes back more dead than alive and is little more than an object to everyone but Talia. The pit that heals his body and brain, but also his soul. And so he wakes up in the body of a man and he doesn't know what to do with it but he feels like he can breathe again.

[milandas-law]

These five pairs of Disney Cuties & what happened during and after their respective School Dance episodes.

[sirfowlman]

Ghost Tale: an official Sonic: Night of the Werehog sequel!

To celebrate Halloween & the 15th anniversary of Sonic Unleashed, Sega's Marza Animation Planet has released a sequel to their Sonic Unleashed short. Su and Uh are still fighting over Lah's affection, but now they're not only trying to appease her but her baby ghosts as well!

Prior to the short's release, Marza's official Twitter shared some cute artwork & concept art.

There's plenty more art of them on Marza's Twitter. They posted so much art of them, such as them celebrating various different holidays and one piece showing them reuniting with Sonic.

[strijkdesign]

A set of ghostly woman wandering the garden at night for this month's Bad Apple auction :) I wanted all of them to fit with the night garden theme but make them 2 sets of twins so I could experiment a bit with different colour schemes.

Each artwork is 2.5 x 3.5 inches on 290g/m Hahnemuhle cold-pressed watercolour paper. They will be available at our online Bad Apple Artist Collective auction this February 26th, 22u GMT till February 29th! All pieces in this auction will start at $25 with no BINs.

Don't miss the auction!

[widowshill]

the locket, motherhood, & marriage.

139 / 139 / 136 / 136 / 191 / 191 / 191 / 142 / 134 / 143 / 143 / 144 / 144 / 139 script / 144 / 280 / 144 / 144 / 192 / 279 / 279 / 279 / 279 / 143

[pinceauarcenciel]

Untangled characters sheets Share Campaign*!

Let's start with Rapunzel, the protagonist of the eponym tale rewritten by Archita Mittra and I for the Respun Threads comic anthology 🌺✂️

*Each time the post hits the number of notes shown on the locks, more designs will be revealed! Any sort of notes count (except mine), but reblogs will help the number grow the most (since more people will be able to see it, like it, and so on)

📘✨ You can still preorder the pdf and discover the full story, or get exclusive merch like a print of the cover until December 30th! 📘✨

※ Original creation

▼Spoilers designs are hidden under the cut below! ▼ (so you can choose to keep them a surprise for when you'll read the comic or not)

[natalieina]

The mystery of the lake surface, which in the echoes of the July thunderstorm discolor with silver...

Model - Tanya Latypova.

Crown - Narnia Dress.

Natalie Ina Photography.

July 2023.

Instagram

Facebook

Boosty

Behance

VK

[disneytva]

Disney Networks Programming Highlights - Disney Channel 40th Anniversary Edition

The Ghost And Molly McGee

TBA SEASON PREMIERE 4/1

TBA;TBA 4/8

TBA;TBA 4/15

TBA;TBA 4/22

TBA;TBA 4/29

Kiff

Halfway There Day ; Be Still My Harp 4/1

Friendiversary ;Totally Table Town 4/8

Hat ; Lost And Found 4/15

Principal Dance Socks 4/22

Two Truths And A Barry ; Nicknames 29/4

Moon Girl And Devil Dinosaur

Like Mother, Like Moon Girl - NOW AVALIBLE ON DISNEY+ USA 4/1

Today, I Am A Woman 4/8

Devil On Her Shoulder 4/15

Coney Island, Baby! 4/22

Omg Issue #1 4/29

The Owl House

Watching And Dreaming Part I 4/8

Watching And Dreaming Part II SERIES FINALE 4/8

Chibi Tiny Tales

Happy Birthday Disney Channel 4/18

SuperKitties

Hole Lot Of Trouble ; Roboctopus 4/28

Firebuds

All That Jazzy ; Iguana Hold Your Hand 4/7

Mickey Mouse Funhouse

No Thrills, Please! ; Space Doggies 4/21

Spidey And His Amazing Friends

The Maltese Kitten ; A Day With Black Panther 4/14

The New Villian In Town; Spidey Cat 4/28

[numbugwritingblog]

The Miracle Mind of Serene: the Tale of a Girl and a Ghost (Chapter 2)

Previous Chapter

Index

---

18/01/2018

Serene swung back in her chair as she turned to face her phone, her telekinesis typing away at the computer without her even looking. “So! First of all, Mortis, I’m going to need you to gather up all of the information you can think of about Richard.”

“Well,” the phone blared out in that deep, distorted voice that it had whenever Mortis was talking through it. “He’s a bitch.”

Serene shook her head. “No, no, I mean anything that can help identify him. Stuff like surname, species, address, age at the time you, er… died.”

“Well…” Mortis paused for a moment, the only sound being that of Serene’s keyboard going clickety clackety on its own. “He was around 20, 30 years old, and… well I don’t know what his address was, but the people he brought into the United Federation arrived by boat on the South-East coast, and he’s a rat - that’s both literal and an insult.”

“Mortis, you can’t just call someone a rat like that.”

“... He’s a bitch. Is that there.”

“That’s… I suppose…” Serene turned back to the screen as the keyboard finished typing, her initial search starting. “Say, when did you die again?”

“1967.”

Serene stopped entirely, slowly turning in her seat to look at the phone. “... The 60s? Do-... Do you know how old he’d be then?”

“Yeah, yeah, he’d be like 50 or something.”

“No, he’s going to be 70 at the very least, maybe even 80.”

“... Fuck me.”

“He’ll be an old man who’s lived through most of his life by now,” Serene explained. “You sure you still want to find him? And not, I don’t know, find something else to do?”

“No. Finding him and drinking milk are the only two things I want now.”

“But-” Serene blinked in surprise at that last statement. “Wait, milk? I-”

“Milk is fucking delicious.”

She shrugged. “Alright, fair enough… But, well, what are you really going to do once you’ve found him and you’ve given him a piece of your mind?”

Mortis was quiet for a moment, before speaking up. “I assume I’d just fade away on the spot, like this is that unfinished business kind of deal.”

“You assume?” Serene asked aloud, staring at Mortis for longer. “Don’t you know what being a ghost even means? Maybe from other ghosts or-”

“Nah,” Mortis interrupted her outright. “I’m the only one I’ve ever known of, so I have to guess at what’s going on.’

That was when the doorbell suddenly rang, Serene flicking her head over to the approximate entrance.

“Eugh,” Serene grunted out as she rolled her eyes. “Just a moment, Mortis.”

“Why? What is it?”

“Oh, probably just a fan wanting to meet me,” she explained. “I always get some from time to time. Hard not to be famous when you’re the only psychic in the world.”

Mortis let out a huff, dropping out of the phone and following along behind Serene.

Serene immediately put on a smile moments before opening up the front door.

What she wasn’t expecting to see was a male buffalo in a suit, his I.D. labelling him as a government agent. “Serene Cirillo, you’re under arrest.”

Serene paused, her eyes slowly going wide as her smile faded very quickly. “Wh… Under what charges?” she mumbled out. Already her body was getting tense, hand clenching the door handle tightly.

“You violated your official agreement and went off surveillance”. The officer moved aside to escort Serene out.

Serene cleared her throat, holding out her hand. “Let me get my lawyer, because there’s clearly been a mistake-”

“At 9:01 PM last night you went off surveillance without approval.”

Serene glared at him, her eyes starting to have a faint white glow. “... I got approval. You can check the voice logs at 6:13 PM yesterday, the 17th.” She didn’t question how she knew the exact time down to the minute, right at this moment she knew something was wrong. Afterall, how could they forget? They never forgot.

The officer didn’t react beyond speaking further. “It likely is a misunderstanding, then, but until it’s cleared up you’re coming with us.” He then moved aside to give Serene the chance to walk out peacefully.

Serene hesitated, before seeing Mortis pass by and possess the agent right in front of her. “Mortis, no!” She held him in place, Mortis unable to even check the agent for any weapons. “Get out of him, now!”

“You know it’s bullshit,” Mortis hissed out in the officer’s voice. “There’s no way that they just-”

“Just stop,” Serene cut him off without pausing. “This is just going to make things worse. I’ll just get this misunderstanding sorted out, it won’t be long at all. Please.”

There was a long pause. Before finally Serene could see Mortis leave.

Serene then let the agent go, watching him drop to his knees as he hacked and coughed.

“I am following you now,” she explained immediately. “I am exercising my right to remain silent.”

The officer glared at her, but said nothing else as he let her lock the front door before cuffing her and bringing her along.

---

“Name?”

“Serene Cirillo.” God, even in interrogations Serene was still being asked the same routine.

“Age?”

“21.” Not a single thing had changed, despite the fact that it was a police officer instead of a neuroscientist.

“Occupation?”

“Can we just skip to the actual interrogations please?” Serene complained, getting to her feet. “It’s me, the psychic girl, and I can prove I’m the psychic girl real quick by using my psychic powers.”

With that she lifted herself off the ground, hovering for a few seconds before she landed back down. “Is that good? Do you believe that I’m the psychic girl now?”

The officer looked to Serene with a raised brow, but sat down in his chair all the same. “My apologies, miss Cirillo, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

Serene dropped back down onto the chair, putting her hand on her forehead. “Thank you, it’s just… It’s been stressful. Today and yesterday.”

The officer nodded. “I understand why it’s so stressful, but hopefully we can resolve this swiftly. It says here that you’re under supervision due to your unique psychic powers.”

Serene didn’t say a word, instead nodding.

“And it says here you’re under arrest for endangering others via illegally interrupting that supervision-”

“6:03 PM yesterday, I rang up to organise my given week of no surveillance,” Serene repeated. “It’s in the logs.”

“I’m sorry, miss Cirillo,” the officer said with what seemed to be a genuine look of disappointment. “But the logs have already been provided, and there was no call from you yesterday.”

Serene’s eyes began glowing white again, silent as she processed this information. “... It must have been tampered with, then. I can provide evidence, too.”

The officer raised his brow again, looking back to Serene. “And what evidence is that?”

“Oh, it’s-” she paused, cogs turning in her head. They couldn’t have forgotten. And… And Mortis had to turn the surveillance off on her end… Why is she only realising now? They’re doing this on purpose. “... Actually, can I speak with Mortis first, please? He’s the ghost that’s been following around.”

The officer was very clearly trying to hold back a laugh, every fibre in his being telling him that laughter was a very poor action to take. Despite all of that, he still failed, a quick chuckle escaping his lips. “R-right,” he said, trying to regain composure - but it was already too late.

Serene blinked, looking over to the ball of fire that only she could see. “Mortis, can you hear me?”

Mortis obliged and flew into the officer, his posture abruptly changing. “Yeah, yeah, the sooner you’re done with this the sooner we can get back to business.”

Serene gave a nod. “Right. Before you even answer me, just ASAP, can you fly back home and into my phone, please? Guard it, just in case-”

She saw Mortis leave the officer’s body as he flew directly up.

At that same moment, the officer was hacking and coughing intensely, almost falling off of his seat. He slowly sat back up, eyes wide in realisation that he was just possessed for nothing more than a brief conversation. “You- the ghost- I-”

Serene nodded. “I haven’t been lying at any point in this interrogation, I promise.”

The officer let out a heavy sigh, getting to his feet. “Well for your sake, I hope you’re right. Don’t worry about Mortis, we’ll make sure the phone stays locked up in evidence until it’s time for the court case.”

With that, the officer turned and left the interrogation room, leaving Serene sitting there alone.

He turned to an officer that was waiting just outside, whispering into his ear. “There’s evidence in her phone, wipe it immediately. Don’t bring any weapons, and stick to a group of three or larger at all times. We don’t know what this ghost is willing to do, but he is real.”

---

Mortis had made his way back to Serene’s home (knowing full well in the back of his head that Serene’s bleeding heart was going to make him make it up for the unfortunate driver he used to get here).

The door was still locked, but that was no trouble, as he just phased through the door to get to the other side.

Guarding the phone… was going to be boring. As Mortis prepared himself for the dull task, he noticed something.

Serene’s computer was still on. And it was on a webpage. He slowly moved into the computer monitor right away, looking to see what he could.

…

He couldn’t scroll.

After a few awkward moments of moving between the monitor and the mouse, he managed to see what was on this webpage. Information on Richard. It looked like he founded a restaurant called the Delicious Den.

He could just go there, and linger until he found the little rat and-

Oh, he loved it so much.

… But they knew he’d be searching for Richard now, surely. Now it’s only a matter of Richard changing restaurants and he’d be back at square one. He couldn’t have that.

At least now he was getting help from that naive little girl, at least now he had a back-up if things went back to square one. So when he left the monitor, he made his way into the phone. He then lifted the phone up all the way to the roof. Might as well make it impossible to spot while he waited.

…

He might be able to make the machine do whatever he wanted, but that didn’t mean he knew how to navigate the web. Maybe now was the time to practice, while he’s stuck inside.

He tried to use this fancy schmancy search bar to find something to watch.

a… c… t… i… o… n… space… m… o… v… i… e… s…

…

Enter?

Ahah, that worked!

… What is all of this rubbish? Why does it look so fake? And why’s this one called volume 2? Guess they just can’t make movies anymore…

---

25/01/2018

Serene was confident that she’d come out of this court case with a success. Her lawyer was unusually incompetent, and the prosecutor was a clear expert, expertly weaving his words into compelling nothings. By all accounts, anyone would think this was a complete disaster.

But thanks to Mortis, she knew that her phone was safe.

And right she was, as when it came time to present that phone to court, the evidence that she had made the call was right in there, time and everything. Even despite the prosecutor trying to argue that the audio was faked, there was nothing he could say to throw it away as evidence.

So she was rather pleased with herself as she walked out of court as they pronounced her innocent, even managing to successfully argue for a full month of no surveillance. It was while she was walking out that a grizzly bear stepped out, wearing a government suit. It was the person in charge of her experimentation, General Thomas.

“Congratulations on the court case,” he spoke warmly, extending a hand. “I hope there’s no hard feelings, miss Cirillo.”

Oh, there were plenty of hard feelings. But Serene didn’t share any of them as she shook his hand. His grip was unusually fierce, her hand even hurting a little from it. “It’s okay, General. But I will be making sure the surveillance is actually off from now on. Hope you understand.”

He looked her right in the eyes with his good eye as he ended the handshake. Behind the smile Serene could see something focused, calculating.

“Of course, you can never be too careful. I’ll likewise be making sure that this embarrassment doesn’t happen again.”

Serene nodded, stepping to the side. “Well then, I’ll be seeing you for your next scheduled experiment in a month. Might even ask for two hours in exchange. Bye bye~” As she continued walking, she briefly twirled around in order to wave at him, smiling wide. Now it was a simple case of making her way to the bus stop.

An ear piercing, high pitched screech rang out from her phone, immediately followed by an annoyed huff from Mortis’s hellish voice.

“Wait for me, why don’t you?”

Serene let out a small giggle, turning the voice speaker off before putting the phone to her ear, as if she was making a phone call rather than talking with her ghost friend. “I did, I was talking with the man who was probably behind all of that. The big grizzly bear.”

“Oh him? He was angry as fuck, definitely trying not to swear in public.”

Serene let out a sigh, slowly shaking his head. “I really can’t believe they’d do this. I spent my whole life trusting them, and… eugh. I’m so glad I can trust you to help me out when I need it, I don’t know what I would’ve done with somebody.”

There was a small silence before Mortis answered. “Of course you can trust me.”

Serene smiled wide. She knew she could trust him, she had made the right call. It was then that the bus arrived. “Just a sec,” she said before lowering the phone.

Once she was on and seated, she brought the phone back to her ear. “And back.”

“Thank god, I was dying of boredom.”

Serene rolled her eyes. “Now that that’s dealt with, we’re going to continue looking into your reunion, aren’t we?”

“Sure am, while nobody was at your house I quickly checked what you left open on your computer. Richard was apparently the founder of some Delicious Den place.”

“Right, but…” Serene briefly pauses to look around, noting that around half of the bus has noticed her, some giving occasional looks, some trying to avoid eye contact entirely, and the few kids that are on the bus staring at her in awe. “... I can’t go as Serene. And besides, I’ve just gotten a big success, I really want to spend the night celebrating.”

She heard the long, drawn out groan from Mortis. “Fine, fine. But we’re going there tomorrow, no matter what.”

---

General Thomas was slumped in his office chair, his grip on his mug unusually tight. He was glaring at the files, just knowing what the week’s papers were going to say.

Psychic Girl Found Innocent Thanks to Supernatural Intervention!

All of his plans with experimentation on this psychic girl, ruined because of this stupid little ghost! This was going to set him back years if he can’t find a way to control the situation! Where did he even come from?!

No, no, he couldn’t let failure distract him, no matter how much it humiliated him. He had to figure out why Serene had searched up information about this ‘Richard’ individual, and why this ghost is helping her. Hopefully his employees have already-

“Sir.” He didn’t move, but his eyes glancing up to the agent that entered his office told that he was paying attention. “We’re in touch with Mr. Richard, and he’s asking for our protection in exchange for his information.”

At this, Thomas looked up to the agent, a brow raising. “Protection? From what?”

“From Mortis, sir. Claims that they knew each other.”

General Thomas paused, his frown slowly fading away. This could be the key to solving this little setback. “Very well. Let’s hear him out.”

---

Next Chapter

[t1rkb]

Alright I'll list all the Fandoms I can be involved in

Go-To Fandoms (Shows or Movies I generally will go back too because I love them)

Gravity Falls - Isn't It Obvious?

Amphibia - Same as Gravity Falls

The Owl House - Got me back into cartoons

HTTYD - Race to the Edge is the Best

Tales Of Arcadia - The Movie may have killed off the franchise but it HASNT KILLED MY LOVE FOR THE SHOWS YET

Tmnt 2012 - I mean there's not much to explain here

Smg4/Glitch Productions - Yeah sure they ain't as good as they used to be but they're still pumping out stuff

BFDI - OSC in general, First fandom I truly joined

Other Fandoms (Shows and Movies I like but not enough to dedicate most of my time online to)

Big City Greens - Fun and Episodic

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur - Definetly Great and recommend

Bluey - Stiiiill getting through season 1 and MY DISNEY PLUS IS EXPIRING THIS MONTH AAAH

Tangled the Series - Same with Bluey

The Pokémon Anime - I can't really play many pokemon games with what I have

Boss Baby - I despise the fact I love this franchise

Wish - Same with Boss Baby

Rise of the Guardians - Underrated Gem

Rise of the TMNT - I miss this show so much

Ducktales 1987/2017 - Still getting through 1987 but Love 2017

The Ghost and Molly Mcgee - WHY did they revoke s3?

Captain Underpants - Just the show and movie... sorry never read the books and comics

Total Drama - yes

Hazbin Hotel - Fucking Yes

Kipo and The Age of Wonderbeasts - 30 EPS!??!? WHY IS THIS 30 EPS

Saw - I'm more... On Off with this one but I come back to it sometimes

She Ra and The Princess of Power - Yep its that good

Hilda - Oops forgot about this

[vaguely-annoyed]

i don't know how to write ghost stories!! (gets hit by blunt object)

[byeeizzy]

Ghostly tales a comic about a magical maid who has to clean the city of ghosts, soon for early access on my Patreon and next year (no date yet) for free on Webtoon only 🩷🌺

[kiraprismart]

I gave you yaoi now I gave yuri