#danny goes supernova

[sleepy-writes-stuff]

DP X DC PROMPT #26

(I'm feeling angsty today.)

(#) = Notes at the end of post

(*) = Just me building off of other ideas.

✦

Going Supernova

The GIW have discovered his identity, and they don't waste time on using this knowledge to their advantage. They spent the last six months creating a weapon that not only hurts ghosts but absolutely obliterates them down to their very cores. After testing it for so long on minor ghosts and then discovering the local ghostly menace's secret, they have the bright idea to make an example out of Danny.

They ambush him as he's fighting the invading ghost of the day. Their first shot misses and hits the ghost they're fighting. As soon as the shot lands, the ghost freezes in place with a look of dread and horror.

They look up at Danny with tears in their eyes and has only a few precious seconds to say, "Run," before their skin cracks and they shatter, the miniscule shards evaporating into nothingness.

Danny is petrified and grief-stricken over what he just witnessed that he doesn't have the time to even twitch before the GIW lock their sights back onto him and shoot him in the back.

Agony consumes him. His chest burns, and his ribs rattle with the effort it takes for him to breathe through the pain. The civilians who were still on the scene gasped in horror as they watched their local hero's chest start to crack and glow from within.

What the GIW didn't know was that Danny had just recently elevated to Ancient status due to helping Clockwork with the timestream. That and with his status as a halfa, what they did will end in nothing but disaster. (1)

Danny spots his parents, sister, and friends in the crowd. His parents watched in awe and excitement while his Jazz, Sam, and Tucker looked at him with horror-stricken disbelief. Knowing what's to come and not having enough time to explain, he gives them a wobbly smile.

"I'm so sorry."

He whips around and rockets straight up into the sky. He breaks through the atmosphere in a matter of seconds and continues to fly at breakneck speed away from the little green-blue planet he calls home. He has to get away. He can't destabilize so close to them. He has to go even further.

His form is steadily breaking off into pieces as his human and ghost half fight and fail to keep him together. He can feel his human half dying and his ghost half barely holding on by a thread. He can't stop, though. If he stops here, the Earth will be destroyed from the backlash.

He had no worry for himself. After all, stars die all the time. That doesn't mean that's the end for them. They just take on a new form or even help breathe new planets and galaxies into life.

'A star's death is not the end!' He comforts himself.

He only makes it a few light-years further before his energy fades out to nothing, and he slows to a halt. It's only then that Danny starts to panic alone in the vacuum of space. The furthest he's even been from home and the comfort of his friends and family.

"No. No, no, no, no." He repeats over and over. "Not far enough. Not far enough! I'm still too close!!" (2)

His stuttering heart rabbits inside his chest along with his crumbling core. He hugs himself tight with the false hope that maybe that would stop himself from falling apart. He cries for his family, his friends, his planet. His life and lives he's about to take through no fault of his own.

Because for a star to give life, they must first destroy. (3)

"I'm sorry. I-I'm so sorry! Please!"

He sobs into his hands as the light of his core pulses one final time.

"Please." He whispers brokenly.

His core shatters, and he screams for the entire cosmos to hear. His form expands with immeasurable force and shakes the very foundations of creation. His desperate attempt to spare the Earth from his self-destruction was in vain as the waves of his shattered core ravaged the solar system and destroyed everything within its path.

The countless people and other creatures on Earth didn't even have time to blink before they were completely eradicated. Quick and painless but nonetheless gone.

It took centuries for everything to settle again.

It wasn't until countless millennium passed that the solar system began to take shape again. However, everything was reshaped and put back together as though with a child's memory of what it used to be from so long ago. Some things were bound to be different, like how Mars gained its own population of intelligent humanoid creatures. How Earth's own population started to develop extraordinary abilities and magic was able to be used more freely outside of supernatural species.

Soon, there were heroes popping up all over the universe of all shapes, sizes, and species. Some people were even reborn. They started remembering a life that, as far as they knew, never actually existed. How could it? None of the people they were before showed up in any records. There were records, of course. They just, unfortunately, no longer existed.

No one knew why, either. At least not until a magic user stumbled upon a tome belonging to what they knew as the Underworld. It told the story of a young boy who died too young and was destroyed from what he became afterward. How his destruction also destroyed the world despite the boy's efforts to save it.

This story was shared with the masses of people experiencing these memories of other lives, including the heroes who took up the mantle of keeping the Earth and other corners of the galaxy safe. They mourned the loss of a life so young, so bright and full of potential. They hoped that wherever the child ended up, that they were at peace.

Little did they know, the child was part of the universe itself, his very being woven into the fabric that makes up the night sky and everything that lays beyond. They can't see or hear him, but that precious child--the Ancient of Space--laid curled around the Milky Way itself with Earth cradled gently in his trembling hands.

✦

(1) Because of his status as the new Ancient of Space and the fact that he is half human/alive is the reason his destabilization took longer than the ghost he was previously fighting. An Ancient has immense power of the aspect of reality they control, and his human half was desperately trying to keep him alive. He can't live without his ghost half, though. It was also the power of his Ancient status that made his destabilization so explosive and damaging. However, him being a halfa is also what saved his existence in the end and allows him to still continue to be the Ancient of Space, as Space itself is always in a state of dying and rebirth. It just took several thousands of years to pull himself back into a semblance of what he previously was, but obviously irrevocably changed.

(2) According to scientists a supernova would have to be within 30-50 light-years to trigger a mass extinction on Earth. To be actually completely safe from one, however, it'd have to be 160 or more light-years away. Danny didn't even make it to 20 light-years before his core self-destructed, which is why he was panicking.

(3) As I'm sure most of you know, supernovae are essential to creating life, but that life is preceded by the death of said star.

(*) I haven't really thought of who would be reborn into which character. I originally thought of Jack Fenton being reborn as Bruce Wayne, but Bruce only disguises himself as a himbo while Jack actually is one. The only reason I thought it would work out it because 1) Jack's paranoia about ghosts and translating into Bruce's own paranoia 2) him regaining his past memories would explain his propensity to collect black-haired, blue eyed children because of his loss of Danny and 3) him and his relationship with Jason after he came back as Red Hood.

Other than that, I can't think of who any of the other characters might be. You can decide!

[luxaofhesperides]

Final hour Ghostlights request! Soulmate AU where when your soul mate dies your soul mark expands. Duke was really heartbroken at first but now his soul mark makes it really difficult to keep his secret identity hidden because he is covered in a map of the cosmos. He has to use his shadow powers almost constantly to keep all the stars hidden! And and maybe they light up like actual stars when he uses his light powers.

He meets Danny at orientation or something at GU and they brush against each other and he just lights up like a supernova, all his stars literally blazing and he's just like "YOU!" Both excited and also OH MY GOD YOU ASSHOLE.

....I rambled a bit here I'm so sorry.

The thing about soulmates is that you don’t really know who they are until they die. And even then, most people never know who their soulmate was, only that they outlived them.

Duke became one of those people when he was thirteen. 

He didn’t even notice until he went to change and saw the watercolor swirl of nebula spill out from over his heart. 

One moment, he was tired and angry, ready to sneak out of his latest foster home to search for his parents and do all the things adults have failed to do. The next, he’s collapsed on his knees, shaking, unable to breathe as he tries to rip his soulmark off of his skin. He couldn’t think past the shock and horror of realizing that his soulmate is dead and Duke didn’t even know until that moment. 

They’ll never get to meet. 

Duke had never felt so alone before. 

He spent the next few days in shock, his mind a mess of static, unable to focus. He hid away in his room, buried under the covers, and his foster parents were understanding when he whispered my soulmate’s dead. They called him out of school and brought him food and water throughout the day, gentle encouraging him to eat something every few hours. 

But disaster waits for no one, and Batman was gone, so Duke pulled himself out of his misery and hit the streets again. 

So his soulmate’s dead. So his parents are gone. So Gotham’s falling apart.

No one’s doing anything about it, so it’s up to Duke to start fixing things. It’s not like he had much to lose.

Soulmates become a bit of a taboo topic to him, after that. He speaks of them to no one, avoids all conversation about them, refuses to stay when people talk about soulmarks. He tries not to look at his soulmark at all.

And then he takes a hit to the chest and patches himself up with shaking hands. For the first time in months he looks at his soulmark again and…

Did it… grow? 

Duke prods it gently, letting out a hiss when his bruised ribs protest at the movement. He remembers the mark being right over his heart. 

But looking at it now, it branches out, swirls of galaxy and constellations reaching out along his ribcage. 

Panicked, Duke grabs for his computer and looks up soulmark growth and webmd soulmark abnormalities.

Neither give him any answers, though WebMD helpfully suggests skin cancer. 

“I’m gonna ignore this,” Duke decides, and pulls on a shirt and goes to sleep. The less he thinks about his dead soulmate, the better. 

Time passes and Duke goes from being a Robin to being the Signal, a legitimate vigilante working with Batman. It’s nice to see Gotham start to settle, things falling into place. For once, nothing is awful; Duke’s found his parents and doctors are looking for a cure for long-term exposure to Joker Gas, Batman’s taking care of Gotham with a number of other Bats, Duke is getting used to his powers and slowly making a good name for himself out on the streets. 

He keeps his focus on protecting people and getting stronger, helping solve cases with the other Bats. No one mentions soulmates, so he keeps his ever expanding soulmark a secret. 

The only problem is that it keeps growing and Duke is concerned that it’ll move to a place he can’t easily hide under his clothes. 

And he does need to hide them. The more his soulmark has grown, the more obvious it is, especially when he uses his powers and the stars on his skin light up like the Fourth of July. He knows it’s abnormal, but it’s also his soulmark and he doesn’t want anyone, least of all Bruce, poking around trying to study it. 

The grief still lingers when he looks at it, but Duke has long since grown used to it. If anything, these days he’s quietly annoyed by how far the galaxies on his skin spread out, forcing him to take tank tops and shorts out of his wardrobe. 

There’s also the tentative hope that maybe his soulmate is immortal and keeps coming back to life after they die. And they must also have terrible luck, because they just keep on dying.

Case in point: his soulmark flares and spills out onto his shoulder and wraps around his bicep. It’s not the first time he’s seen it move, but it still startles him.

“Are you serious,” Duke mutters to himself, pulling at his sleeve to adjust it and hopefully hide his soulmark. The starts are bright against his skin, and while sometimes he likes to trace them with his finger, now is not one of those times.

As pretty as it is, his soulmark is also very obvious and will cause people to realize his identity if they ever catch a glimpse of it while he’s out as Signal. 

He sighs. There’s no choice but to live out the rest of his life in hoodies and sweatshirts. 

As if to spite him, his soulmark grows once more. 

Did his soulmate just die twice in the span of five minutes? That’s concerning. 

He wishes he could meet them just so he can shake some sense into them. Maybe tell them to stop dying since it’s stressing him out so much. Maybe stick by their side to make sure they never have to die again. He’s honestly not sure what he’d do if he ever meets his soulmate, but he has to do something. This has gotten out of hand.

At least seeing his soulmark grow doesn’t hurt as much as it did a few years ago. 

Lazily, he pulls at the light around him to hide the new portions of the soulmark on his arm from sight. It takes some focus, but he can hold it up long enough for him to grab a snack from the kitchen and retreat up to his room without being questioned by anyone. He could probably even keep this shirt on for the college orientation he needs to attend later in the day if the light works well enough to keep his secrets hidden. 

He’s expecting Alfred in the kitchen when he arrives, but is greeted by Dick clapping a hand on his shoulder, right where his soulmark has claimed space. Duke falters and works to keep the light from fracturing as he returns Dick’s grin. 

“Hey man,” he says, “What are you doing here? I thought you were out until Friday.”

“And miss a chance to hang out with you? No way. Besides, I wanted to give you a ride to your orientation.”

“You don’t have to,” Duke starts, only for Dick to cut him off.

“I’m going to,” he says, as if it’s a threat. “It’s been too long since we get to spend time together without a mask on. Are you really going to deprive me of this?”

Duke shakes off Dick’s hand from his shoulder, walking towards the pantry to find a small snack. “I guess not. It’s going to be pretty boring for you, though. I’m just going to listen to people talk about what college is like for a few hours.”

“We could always just walk around campus afterwards. I haven’t seen it since it was rebuilt after the last time Freeze attacked it.”

“Sure, that sounds fun. Thanks for offering to drive me.” Duke pulls out a box of Poptarts hidden behind stacks of pasta boxes and pulls out a pack for himself. He opens it and isn’t at all surprised when Dick steals one right out of his hands. 

“Meet me out front in an hour then.” 

And with that, Dick leaves, his stolen Poptart in hand, and Duke is left to shake his head and shove the Poptart box back into its hiding place. He heads off to eat his own snack, making sure no one is in the hallway as he lets go of his hold on the light. Already he can feel a migraine building with the immense focus he had to use to make sure nothing looked out of place.

At least Dick didn’t notice anything was off. If he can fool Dick, he can fool anyone.

Still, just to be safe, Duke changes into something with longer sleeves before he leaves and hops into the car with Dick. 

The drive goes quickly to the tunes of ABBA, both of them singing along as they head for the GCU campus. Parking is a bit tricky, but they manage to find a spot a street away and walk towards the student union, where tables are laid out for incoming freshmen to sign in and grab a folder filled with papers meant to help them. 

He waves to Dick and heads in once he gets his folder, and grabs a seat in the auditorium that’s close to a fire exit. 

It takes another twenty minutes for the presentations to start. The lights dim and Duke panics for a brief moment before drawing the shadows over himself lightly to hide the soft glow of the star etched onto his skin. 

They start with introductions, bringing in advisors, professors, and student ambassadors. Most of it is basic information that Duke already knows, so he zones out and plays with some shadows at his feet, where no one can see the way he twists shadows together like some dark magic form of finger knitting.

For the next hour, Duke halfheartedly listens to people talk about preparing for classes and keeping on top of schoolwork and learning how to ask for help. He’s saved enough college students that he knows the gist of things, and the orientation really doesn’t give him anything helpful. 

He probably could have skipped, but he wanted a normal college experience. 

He should have known that normal means boring as hell.

As soon as the presentation ends, an advisor encourages everyone to follow the schedule tucked into their folder to give them a half day modeled after a typical student’s schedule. Of course, all the classes are nonsense just to fill up their time, made to help freshmen coming into the college by covering topics such as how to write an email and an introduction to majors and minors.

Duke already declared himself as a Human Services major, his first step into becoming a social worker like his mom was. 

Also he totally knows how to write an email, what are these advisors on about? Do they really think people his age can’t write emails? 

Yeah, he’s ditching. The main presentation is really the only part that matters in the orientation. He’s not walking out on anything he needs.

Duke files out after the rest of the crowd, carefully letting the shadows slip off of him once he’s outside again. Instead of finding the first ‘class’ he’s supposed to go to in the Modern Languages building, he wanders off to find a quiet place he can sit down and wait until Dick finds him. 

Tucked away towards the back half of the campus is a small nook full of trees, bushes, and benches. Judging by the amount of cigarette butts left in the single trash can there, it’s a popular smoking spot. 

No one’s there, so the air is clean and free of smoke, so Duke heads in, hoping to sit down.

Someone else apparently has the same idea. He hops down from one of the concrete planters that’s keeping a bush contained and nearly falls on Duke.

They both shout in surprise, then Duke is moving without thinking, reaching out to steady the startled looking guy who accidentally jumped down in front of him. 

Duke only has time to take note of how blue his eyes are before his hands wrap around the guy’s wrist and Duke feels his soulmark flare with warmth.

In the shade of the trees, the glow of each star on his skin is obvious. It’s visible even through the fabric of his shirt. His soulmark, at this point in his life, stretches across his chest, his ribs, his back, and now his shoulders and upper arms. All the stars in that watercolor galaxy are shining brightly as if the night sky has been draped across his body.

Soulmarks only react like that for one reason.

“You!” Duke shouts at his soulmate, both elated to see that he’s alive and annoyed that he made Duke’s soulmark so large. “Stop dying! Do you have any idea how much stress you’ve caused me?!”

“Oh my god,” the guy says faintly, eyes fixed on Duke’s chest where his soulmark originally rested, shining brighter and bigger than any other star, as if he’s tucked a sun into his heart. “Oh my god,” he says again, with more feeling.

“I’m so happy you’re alive, but please stop dying. It’s bad for my health.”

“I think I need to sit down?”

He does look very pale and faint. Duke tightens his grip on his soulmate’s arms and guides him to a bench, gently sitting him down.

“You’re not about to die, right?” Duke asks. “I don’t think my heart could take it if meeting me killed you somehow.”

“No, no,” his soulmate manages to say, “I’m not going to die. Um. Wow. I didn’t know my soulmark would do that? Sorry.”

“Well, it’s not like you had any way of knowing. It’s all good, man. Just please stop dying.”

His soulmate winces. “Yeah, that’s not gonna be possible. Sorry. Again.”

What does that mean, though? What does it all mean?

“Can I maybe get an explanation as to why you have to die again.”

“Mmmmm no. We just met and it’s kinda personal so. No.”

“Dude.”

Duke’s soulmate shrugs helplessly. “It really is personal! I know your my soulmate and all, so I’ll probably tell you one day, but right now I don’t even know your name.”

Oh shit. He’s right. Introductions completely slipped his mind, too busy reeling over the fact that his soulmate is here and alive. Which, honestly, would be enough to throw anyone off balance.

“Shoot,” Duke says. “Sorry. You just really caught me off guard. Hi, I’m Duke, I promise I’m more put together than that.”

“Hi Duke, I’m Danny, and I’ve apparently been traumatizing you for the past few years by making you think I keep dying.”

“Well. At least we’re thrown head first into the crazy. Best way to know if we’re be a good match.”

“You sure you can handle this? You seemed pretty frazzled a second ago.”

Duke flusters and lightly whacks Danny’s shoulder. “That’s normal! Anyone would do the same when meeting their soulmate for the first time!”

“Fair enough,” Danny laughs. “This is a totally weird request and you can absolutely say no, but… can I see?” He presses a hand against one of the glowing stars beneath this collar bone, looking up at Duke with wide, hopeful blue eyes, and Duke finds it so cute that he’s willing to do anything Danny wants. 

“Here,” he says as an answer, pulling the collar of his shirt down a bit to reveal the nebula spilling onto his shoulder. 

“Oh,” Danny breathes, tracing a light finger against it. “It’s beautiful.”

“I’m guessing you like space?”

“Love it. I wanted to be an astronaut, but uh…. It’s never going to happen. Health problems, you know?”

“Well, I know it’s not the same, but I hope the stars you put on my body will be a good enough replacement.”

Danny cheeks turn red and he turns away, flustered. “Don’t smooth talk me right now, I’m not ready for it,” he mutters, bringing up a hand to try to hide his expression. 

“Sorry, sorry,” Duke laughs, “I’ll try to keep the flirting down to a minimum. It’s just really great to finally meet you. And I’ve been wondering, what’s your soulmark look like?”

“Oh, well…” Danny fiddles with the long sleeve of his shirt. “I had a pretty bad accident years ago that kinda affected how my soulmark looks. So if it looks weird, that’s why, okay?” He takes a deep breath, then pushes up his sleeve, holding his wrist out to Duke. 

The first thing Duke notices is the soft yellow glow, Signal yellow to be precise, running down his arm as if sunlight fills his veins. Then he sees Danny’s soulmark, a sun with rays that wrap around his wrist. And running through his soulmark are Lichtenberg scars, glowing yellow as if stealing the color from his soulmark. 

“Guess we both got super obvious soulmarks, huh? At least we kinda match, that way.”

“That’s one way to look at it,” Danny agrees. 

“Man, what a day.” 

Danny looks more relaxed with him now. It’s much better than the startled, tense version of him that first sat down on the bench. Duke hopes he chooses to stay with him; he doesn’t admit this often, willingly, or to other people, but he’s a romantic at heart and has always wanted to live a happy life with his soulmate. It’s still far off in the future, but he hopes Danny feels the same way.

“So, are you ditching the orientation classes to?” Danny asks.

“Yeah, there’s no way I’m going. I mean, a class on how to send emails? They can’t be serious.”

“I know, right?! I saw that and thought I was being pranked. I mean, we’re going into college. We better know how to send an email by now.”

“Since we’re both free for now, wanna grab lunch with me? It can be our first date, if you want.”

“I’d love to! And you can show me around Gotham a bit. I’m coming here for college, but I haven’t really seen the city yet. It’d be nice to explore it with someone who knows where things are.”

“Are you free for the rest of the day? ‘Cause I wouldn’t mind showing you around, if you want.”

Danny smiles, radiant. “I am. I’m in your hands for the rest of the day.”

“Cool,” Duke says, trying not to think too much on that wording. It’s very suggestive, very flirtatious, and he’s looking forward to getting to know Danny more so he can start properly flirting. “Lemme just let my brother know to not wait up for me.”

He pulls out his phone and sends Dick a text that just reads: met my soulmate. going on a date now. i’ll see u back at the manor!

Then he puts his phone on silent and tucks it back into his pocket. He’ll tell Dick all about this later; for now, all his attention is on Danny. 

Soulmates get priority, even stressful ones that give him the largest soulmark he’s ever seen. 

And right now, he’s on a mission to find the best lunch spot to take his soulmate to for their first date. Everything else can come later; for now, he’s going to enjoy the time he gets to spend with Danny.

He hopes they’ve got a future together as bright as the stars in his soulmark. 

Despite it all, Duke is sure they’re going to be alright.

[hannahmanderr]

Supernova - Prologue

Read on AO3

Summary: The Ghost Zone is tearing itself apart. The instability threatens the future of both Earth and the Infinite Realms. Danny isn't exactly thrilled that for some reason, the responsibility to restore balance falls on him. And he's definitely not thrilled at the prospect of having to use the Ring and the Crown to do so. (Ghost King AU)

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Contrary to popular belief, the Infinite Realms do have a center. Not a physical center, to say, but a center nonetheless.

It is from this center that a shudder rippled across the Realms.

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Of all the ghosts to notice the shudder, Sydney Poindexter was the first.

“Wowza!” He shook out his head and his shoulders. “That meatloaf just goes right through ya, huh?”

He didn’t notice how the ectoplasmic construct of Casper High and its students flickered violently for the briefest of moments.

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Skulker grinned as the pegasus he had his sights set on inched closer to the trap he’d laid out. “That’s it, just a little more,” he said, not daring to speak above a whisper. He’d been hunting this particular pegasus for nearly three weeks now, and each time he’d gotten close, it’d slipped out of his grasp.

Today would be different.

The pegasus’ nose flared as it sniffed the fiery flowers he’d set up as a food bait. He tensed in anticipation. So close now, just a couple feet further…

The shudder tore through the Badlands.

Skulker, caught off-guard, stumbled backwards as it passed through him. The pegasus whinnied in fear and bolted away.

For a moment, he could only sit there in stunned silence, not even caring that he’d just lost his quarry again. “What in blazes…?”

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A yeti barreled into Frostbite’s cave, gasping his name. 

Frostbite was already standing. “Gruefang,” he said. “I take it you felt it as well?”

“Yes, Chief,” Gruefang nodded. “Even the young felt it, and you know their bodies are not as in tune with the environment.”

The look on Frostbite’s face was grave, completely unlike his ironically warm demeanor. “Then it may be worse than I feared.”

In three quick strides, he crossed the cavern and opened a chest to pull out two scrolls. One was small and blank; the other was much larger, much more weathered, and detailed on both sides with drawings of islands, doors, portals, and other landmarks.

“The Infi-Map?” Gruefang asked, peering over Frostbite’s shoulder. “What do you intend to do with it?”

“Summon Fleetfloe,” Frostbite instructed. He unrolled the blank scroll and began to write on it with a claw dipped in ink. “Tell her I need her to carry a message to the Acropolis of Asphodel for me.”

“Of course, Chief. What is the message?”

Frostbite hastily finished scrawling his written message on the scroll, then rolled it back up and fastened it shut with a seal of ice. “This should have the relevant details,” he said, handing both it and the Infi-Map to Gruefang. “She should seek out the Lady Pandora and tell her… tell her I must know if Kilaris grows unstable. If it is as I suspect, then we cannot delay action any longer.”

Gruefang’s beady eyes grew wide. “Kilaris?” he whispered, as though saying the name any louder would cause it to shatter. “Are you certain?”

“... unfortunately so.” If possible, a heavier weight seemed to fall over Frostbite’s shoulders. “Go quickly. There is no time to waste.

“And… pray that I am wrong,” he added quietly as Gruefang sprinted out of the cave.

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Clockwork’s tower was not immune to the shudder, either. The hundreds of clocks spread across Long Now each stumbled over a few misplaced seconds as the shudder washed over them. 

If Clockwork himself felt it pass through him, though, he did not show it. He simply kept his gaze fixed resolutely on the time window in front of him, showing Fleetfloe rapidly approaching the Acropolis. A sigh escaped him and echoed into the chorus of clocks that had resumed their ticking.

Everything was as it should be.

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Vlad massaged his temple as he stormed into his City Hall office. The meeting with the head of the city council had been just as insufferable as he’d predicted - as these meetings always were.

Bureaucracy and its silly complexities. If he could, he’d choose to run Amity Park the same way he ran his businesses, with him as the ultimate decision maker. Things would just be so much simpler. 

He collapsed into his desk chair with a dramatic flourish. Barely 10:30 in the morning and he was already nursing a migraine. Splendid. 

Perhaps a pick-me-up was in order.

He rummaged in his desk - quite literally in his desk, he phased a hand into a hollowed out compartment he’d personally installed - and pulled out a silver flask. He popped off the cap and took a deep inhale of the green vapor that drifted out of the top. Yes, this blend of ectoplasmic supplements would work nicely to stimulate his ghost half’s healing.

He raised the flask in a sardonic toast to no one in particular. “Another day, yet another problem to solve,” he said in his driest voice.

He’d no sooner than put the flask to his lips when the shudder passed through him.

Acidic green liquid stained the rug as the flask fell from his grasp. The feeling that flooded Vlad took him back over twenty years, to before he’d even had his accident, when he and Jack had woken up with strong hangovers after crashing a party. His sudden nausea and the cloudiness in his head so strongly reminded him of that memory that he wondered briefly if he’d consumed too much wine at last night’s dinner party (an inane thought; his hybrid metabolism quite literally burned through alcohol).

The feeling only lasted for a few seconds before disappearing without a trace.

“Mayor Masters!” the secretary cried as she burst into the office. Vlad hurriedly nudged his overcoat off the back of his chair and kicked it into a heap over the stain of ectoplasm on the rug. “I heard a noise, are you alright?”

“Just fine, Marta,” he said through a thin smile. “I only dropped my phone.”

Her forehead crinkled. “I could’ve sworn I heard someone shouting in here.”

“Mm, no? It’s just me in here.”

“Huh.” Marta did not seem completely satisfied with this answer, but she turned to leave anyway. “Alright, well… just let me know before you head out to that lunch interview. I’ll need to give you those files.” She walked away shaking her head muttering to herself.

It wasn’t until the door clicked into place that Vlad relaxed, but only marginally. There was no telling what that feeling had truly been, and he did not like not knowing things.

Well, that wasn’t completely true. There was one thing he knew for certain. 

Whatever it had been, it had most definitely been ghost related, and he suspected he knew exactly what had caused it. Still, there was one person he probably needed to talk to in order to confirm his suspicions.

He pulled his personal cell phone out of his pocket and thumbed through his contacts. It didn’t take long to find the one he was looking for.

“... Ah, Jack! I’m so glad you picked up, I wanted to ask you something…”

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

The epicenter of the shudder and the center of the Infinite Realms, as it turns out, was located within a crumbling castle with nothing around it as far as the eye could see. 

Of course, the force of the shudder shook the castle. Not with any sort of violence, but just enough to knock a few pieces of stone rubble from the walls. One of those pieces of stone fell from the ceiling of the throne chamber. 

It fell and struck a coffin leaning against the throne.

A crack emerged.

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

“You’re so full of it. The Cruiser Gravity Rifle is a million times better at beating Sollix than the Titanium Crossbow.” 

Sam scoffed at Tucker’s claim. “Please. How long have you been playing DOOMED again? The Cruiser Gravity Rifle is so not worth the recharge cycle it goes through. You can get way more consistent damage with the Titanium Crossbow.”

“What do you mean it’s not worth the recharge cycle?” Tucker protested. “At least you can get off more than one shot before you have to reload!”

“You also realize Sollix is, like, the lowest level troll boss in the whole game, right? You don’t even need a heavy-hitter to beat him. I bet there’s even a melee weapon that works well with him.”

“That’s what I did,” Danny chimed in. “The Blood-Forged Silver Shortsword worked pretty well for me.”

“That doesn’t count, ‘cause you phased back into the game to avoid having to deal with the crappy melee mechanics,” Tucker said. He flopped onto the grass unceremoniously. “Say what you want, but at least I’m not a cheater.”

“Hey!” Danny let go of Sam’s sneaker long enough to smack Tucker. “It’s not cheating if it’s a game mechanic.”

“Okay, but is it a game mechanic?” Sam grunted. She couldn’t stand doing crunches and pushups and such. Cardio was definitely more her speed.

Danny shrugged. “It’s not a bug and they haven’t patched it, so I’d call it a game mechanic.”

“Dude, you can’t exactly patch out ghosts overshadowing the game.”

A shrill whistle echoed across the field. “Alright! That’s time!” Coach Tetslaff hollered from her spot on the sideline. “Fill in your sheet and rotate partners.”

Sam rolled off of the mat and laid spread-eagle on the grass. Yeah, she’d be feeling that in the morning. Just like her to try and show off in gym class. “How many, D?”

“83. Showoff.” He set the worksheet down and climbed onto the mat. “C’mon, Tuck, you’re holding for me.”

Tucker groaned dramatically, but got up onto his knees anyway. “Just so you know,” he said, giving Danny a pointed look, “I’m only doing this ‘cause I’m hot and you’re a walking AC unit.”

“Also ‘cause your mom said she’d have your head if your gym grade doesn’t get any better. Not to mention Tetslaff will ream you if you don’t. She’s still mad at you for that stunt you tried to pull last week,” Sam added helpfully, cheeky grin and all.

Tucker’s glare turned to her. “How was I supposed to know she’d actually call the fake number and check?”

Danny folded his arms behind his head. “Probably ‘cause she was suspicious in the first place. I mean, the crutches were a little much for a sprained ankle.”

“Mom’s a nurse, she’s given crutches to plenty of -”

Another short whistle sounded. “Come on, hustle!” Tetslaff called. “You all ready? Then get goin’! Two minutes!”

With a grunt, Danny started doing his crunches. Sam watched with mild interest. Sure, last year’s Presidential Fitness Exam hadn’t gone the best for him, but he could pull through when need be. And there was no denying his ghost powers offered him a bit of an advantage, even if it didn’t totally show while in human form. He’d knocked the self-defense unit out of the park, after all.

“I was saying that Mom’s given crutches to people with sprained ankles before,” Tucker said. 

“Yeah? And how many is that?” Sam figured she didn’t need to know the exact number to know the answer.

His face flushed red. “I don’t - well, you know… she can’t tell me ‘cause of hippo,” he said, finishing with a smug smile. The uncertainty behind his eyes was way too obvious, though.

Sam gave him a look of disbelief. “Are you for real? Your mom is a nurse and you don’t even know it’s called HIPAA?”

“... Hippo, HIPAA, to-may-to, to-mah-to. Besides, I -” he cut off abruptly and looked down with a frown. “Uh, Danny? You okay dude?”

Sam glanced over to see Danny had stopped his crunches and was now sitting up with his hands held tightly over his sternum. All the color had drained from his face, and there was a noticeable drop in the temperature. 

Immediately, her internal alarms started blaring. She bolted upright. “Is it your ghost sense?” she asked, but she again suspected she knew the answer.

His mouth opened and closed a few times. “I don’t… I…” His brows furrowed, and he stared fixedly at Tucker’s chest, though his gaze was unfocused and glassy. “I… think something - something’s…”

Tucker reached for Danny’s water bottle. “Do you need your - oh, what the f-”

Green liquid funneled out of the top of the water bottle and slowly drifted aimlessly around Danny in little tendrils. Sam watched with wide eyes. Sure, she’d seen a lot of weird stuff since Danny had become half-ghost (a lot of weird stuff), but ectoplasm… It had never done this around him before.

Danny didn’t even seem to notice. He just continued to stare at the same spot, even as his eyes began to burn Phantom green. 

Then, just as suddenly as it had escalated, the floating ectoplasm stopped and fell to the ground, splashing all over the mat and the grass.

Before Sam could react, Danny leaned over and promptly threw up.

[sirjuggles]

Worm Reading - Part 5, Arc 5 Hive

Back at it! Taking notes as I go this time, so expect more short reactions to individuals moments/sentences.

Ahhh a good ol’ Bad Guy Council Meeting! We get our first looks at a whole bunch of the other villains in this town. Interesting to see where the Undersiders fall on the power scale: clearly above lowlifes like Skidmark, but otherwise pretty low on the hierarchy. I’d assume our team could mayyyybe go toe-to-toe with Faultline’s crew but it depends on who gets the drop. Would definitely lose to Kaiser’s crew. Coil is very interesting, but I’d assume his hi-tech goons could overpower the Undersiders. Trickster and his team are interesting out-of-towners, but I’d assume if they’re surviving on the road they’re capable of taking care of themselves.

I do feel like I’ve seen the name Faultline crop up in Worm Fandom posts in the past, so I feel like this character may end up being important? I don’t remember in what capacity though. Curious to see what her powers are.

Ok, once again we see Brian being abusive towards Rachel. And I get that he thinks it’s justified. But just from the language he uses you can tell this is something he gets from his dad. I don’t like it. If the only way you can control someone is with violence, does that make it ok?

Hero names “Assault” and “Battery” ugh it’s such a terrible pun. I hate it and it’s perfect.

We haven’t seen Shadow Stalker in action yet but as Grue’s nemesis I am covertly half-rooting for her. I hope she’s cool, I hope she kicks ass.

Lol hell yeah punch Emma in the face! Nothing good will probably come of this but frankly it’s been a long time coming.

Aww good job Danny, your girl needed a hug. I think that’s about as well as he could have handled that.

Oooh ok we’re going into a parent meeting at school about the bullying issue. Predictions: Danny is going to try and stand up for Taylor. He might blow up in a full rage outburst, he’s been holding that in for a long time. I don’t think they’ll actually have any success within the system though, Emma and her dad and their posse are too secure to face consequences here. However, if this goes really bad, I can see Taylor tip past the point of using her powers, which would be a disaster but would be a huge leap forward for the story, forcing her powers into the open and causing all sorts of interesting consequences.

Wow ok that went almost exactly how I expected. I had some hope at the beginning that all the documentation and obvious severity of abuse would tip the scales, but of course not. So we have yet again postponed Taylor going supernova on her bullies with her powers. I am becoming more and more convinced that’s the only way this is going to end.

Ok, we’re in the middle of the team-up raid on the ABB warehouse. Oni Lee is absolutely terrifying, honestly I’m not sure how you pin down someone with that sort of powerset. Hopefully he tires out at some point, but even then I assume he would just escape. The ability to bring items/weapons with him as he teleports and duplicates is super powerful as well. EDIT OH THAT WORKS ON THE BUGS TOO.

Ok Warehouse Raid is still ongoing, but Taylor has just demonstrated to Coil, Faultline, and Trickster’s teams that she can step up and take leadership to salvage a bad situation. I think that will not go unnoticed.

The eyeballs thing is BRUTAL and we are hardcore supporting my previous point!

Great job in the fight, great job on the outcome, top marks all around!

Awww Rachel is making a friend and doesn’t know how to feel about it.

Ok yeah vindication #CutRachelSomeSlack

Interlude 5: Gregor the Snail - Ok, some interesting worldbuilding. I like basically everyone on Faultline’s crew, especially... no yeah pretty much all of them. This definitely seems like the kind of group who can both notice and appreciate how Taylor handled the Warehouse situation.

Most interesting development here is the introduction of a potential person/group creating new parahumans. I had a suspicion this topic would crop up. It is, frankly, very well-tread ground for modern superhero media. I suspect in this case the answer will be not nearly as simple as it first seems. There is almost guaranteed to be some sort of consequence or side effect for handing out powers.

[fullyphantom]

“SU.PER.NO.VA! SU.PER.NO.VA! SU.PER.NO.VA!”

Yes, yes, he knows Betelgeuse’s dimming is probably just a part of its natural cycle, even if it’s a lot dimmer than usual, but let him dream!

[five-rivers]

imagine if at a christmas truce party the ghosts discover that danny has a second obsession of space

Wrote a fic~ *does a little dance*

.

"Here's your invitation to the truce party," said Skulker, dropping the letter by Danny's head, "and here's the duty list. Pick something." He shoved a piece of paper into Danny's face.

"You know," said Danny, testing the rope Skulker had tied him with, "you get a lot better at chasing me when you're doing it for non-murder purposes."

Skulker scowled, but Danny knew better than to take his apparent facial expression as a sign of his true emotions. After all, the face Danny could see wasn't really Skulker's. It was a mask. One the tiny green jellybean inside could manipulate as he pleased.

"What do you mean, 'duty list,' anyway?" Danny blew the paper off his nose.

"It's a list. Of duties. For people who want to attend the party. You can't possibly imagine that one ghost does it all on their own, do you?"

"I don't know. Some living people are really into the holidays. Wouldn't surprise me if there was someone over in the GZ Obsessing."

"There are," said Skulker flatly. "But going to those parties is risky."

"Oh. Yeah. I guess that makes sense. So, is this, like, a potluck deal, or white elephant, or do I have to come set up, or what?"

"Read the list, whelp!"

"I would," said Danny, "if you held it far enough away for me to see what was written on it. "My eyes don't focus that close."

Grumbling, Skulker adjusted his position.

A lot of the things on the list were already checked off. The rest looked dangerous (fighting the Krampus), time consuming (holly acquisition, with a stupidly high number of branches listed next to it), expensive (providing new holiday table settings), confusing (Danny didn't know what a 'consoda' was, or why he would fetch offerings from it), or simply extraordinarily unappealing (after party cleanup). Except for one.

One that caught Danny's eye because of a very specific word that was included.

"Why's the star all by itself?" asked Danny.

"Because the star is important," said Skulker. "Adding the star to the tree is what starts off the real celebration. A star needs to be impressive. Dramatic! Not one of those little dinky tinsel things you can find at human stores."

Part of Danny knew he shouldn't- But when had he ever listened to that part of himself?

Actually, that wasn't really fair. He listened, otherwise he'd be fully dead instead of just half.

Still.

(The idea of making a star made his skin feel sparkly and fuzzy, like his whole body was half an inch from the surface of freshly poured soda, but all over.)

"I'll take it," he said.

"Humf," said Skulker. "Don't screw up, or you'll be in for a beating as soon as the truce is over." He made a mark by the name and started to fly off.

"Hey! Aren't you going to untie me?"

"Nah."

.

"He's late," said Desiree, sharply, glaring at Skulker as if he had any control over what the whelp did or did not do.

She wasn't the only one.

"He's not late yet," defended Skulker.

"You shouldn't have given him the star as a choice," complained Technus, his voice squaking like a poorly connected computer speaker. "You should have just told him what he'd have to do. Something that wouldn't ruin the party. He's a teenager! Teenagers are easily distracted."

"I didn't know you were a teen, techie," drawled Spectra, who really shouldn't have been at the party at all, seeing as she wasn't, and never had been, invited. Skulker was hoping someone would find a way to throw her and her little minion out before midnight.

"It's TECHNUS, MASTER OF TECHNOLOGY, CONTROLLER OF ALL THINGS ELECTRONIC AND BEEPING."

"I am sure Sir Phantom is on his way," said Princess Dora, softly, ignoring Technus's continuing rant with the ease of long practice. She would not be here the whole evening. Her kingdom had its own, separate celebrations, but they wouldn't start for well over half a human day. "He is a very responsible person, and he was speaking to me about stars just earlier this month." She frowned, slightly, swirling the darkly luminous wine in her glass. "That is, I think he was talking about stars. The conversation was somewhat difficult for me to follow."

"Oh, no," said Desiree, putting one hand delicately over a smile.

"What?" growled Skulker.

"It always bothered me a little, you see, but I hadn't realized quite why until just now." She was barely even trying to hide her delight. "The second time I fought him, it was during a meteor shower."

"So?" asked Amorpho.

"He was rather cross with me during the fight. At the time, I thought it was because he was missing that girl's party, or because of the whole memory wiping thing, but in retrospect..."

"Just spit it out already," said Skulker.

"I do believe you gave the task of making the tree star to a ghost Obsessed with outer space."

Inside the suit, Skulker's true hands slip off his controls for just a moment. "Oh, Ancients," he groaned.

"We're not getting a star this year, are we?" asked Ember.

Phantom chose that moment to barrel through the door. "Sorry!" he exclaimed, looking and sounding more like a little kid than Skulker had ever witnessed. "Am I late? No, I'm not. Never mind. I'm not sorry. What do you think?"

He held out the... thing in his hands for the assembled ghosts to view. It was... It was definitely a star. A round blue star. Complete with solar flares and sunspots. Animated flares and sunspots.

"How the hell?" whispered Walker in the background, despite the fact that he and his pink prison really had no room to talk.

"Is it no good?" asked Phantom, managing to shift his weight even though he was floating. "I turned the brightness way down so that everyone could see the details, but I think I could turn it back up again without too much trouble." He blinked up at the other ghosts, and Skulker noticed with some unease that his pupils were currently shaped like crescent moons. "I mean, the other one exploded, but I think I've got it, now."

All of the ghosts slid back, just slightly. Not that they were afraid of explosions, but, well, being cautious didn't hurt.

"Er," said Dora, "what is it, exactly?"

"A star! A blue giant, specifically. Well, a model of one, anyway, but I think it's a good model. I mean, it's a blue giant right now. I've got it set up so that it'll go through the whole life cycle of a massive star. Or, not the whole life cycle, because that would include the nebula, but the life cycle from this point? It'll change color and expand as the night goes on and it uses up its 'hydrogen'- I've scaled the expansion, though, don't worry, it won't take over- and then the core will collapse and the outer layers will be ejected, and- BOOM!- supernova!"

"Ghost child," said Technus, in a more strangled than usual voice, "are you telling us that's a bomb?"

"No, it's a star," said Phantom, blankly. On closer inspection, the crescents in his eyes were not the only modification to Phantom's appearance. He had pale green and silver stars scattered liberally across his nose and cheeks, and similar shapes in the black of his costume.

In the background, Desiree was dying of laughter.

"Don't you think a supernova might be... dangerous?"

"Oh, a real one, sure. But I tested one before I brought this, and all it did to me was singe my eyebrows off, and I was standing really close."

"Whelp," said Skulker, searching for some reason to reject Phantom's 'contribution,' "how is that even supposed to stay on the tree? It's just a ball."

"Oh, it'll float wherever I tell it to, don't worry, I've tested it!"

.

It perhaps said something about ghostly parties that the sudden detonation of the tree topper several hours later, the subsequent glee of the supposed superhero in attendance when the room was filled with star-shaped glitter and confetti, and the attempted homicide on the part of several glitter-unfriendly ghosts was not the most exciting series of events to occur that night.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

ML Akuma ideas

Nino:

Remixer: A DJ themed akuma that has a movable DJ Set up. He looks a lot like DJ Supernova. Able to move the area around him with he record spins. His soundboard has an assortment of features

Reason for akumatization: Nino gets into an argument with his own strict dad about his music. And Nino has a chance at big time gig which gets stopped by his father. Nino wants his dad to understand why he goes so far for his jams. And he will show him by remixing all of Paris.

_____________________________________________________________

Myléne

Sister Nature: An environmental themed akuma that has the power to turn things back into their more natural state. Think Captain Planet, but female and pissed.

Reason: Myléne is at a protest over this corporate company that is dumping waste in Le Seine. She realizes how easily everyone in the protest got bought off by the company and she is super pissed.

_____________________________________________________________

Marc Ancel

Ghost Writer: An akuma that rides on a Pen. Looking like a mix of Danny phantom and Ghost rider. With the ability to write things into being. He can't influence people's minds but can influence things.

Reason: Nathaniel and Marc enter a contest to get their graphic novel published. But one of the contestants cheats and messes with Marc's entry. Marc realizes he was sabotaged and vows revenge.

____________________________________________________________

Max and Markov

Cyboy: A cyborg fusion of the two with super human intelligence and weapon systems much like Cyborg. But with alterations.

Reason: Max and Markov have been studying a way to replicate Markov's AI to create AI friends for the whole class, called Ro-buddies. Lila comments that she knows a thing or two about robotics. Marinette asks to help out since she wanted to keep an eye on Lila. But she ends up messing with the code causing all of the ro-buddies to go nuts. Lila blames Marinette who was trying to undo Lila's mistake. Max and Markov are more disappointed in themselves, believing that it was their fault.

[astridianmayfly]

land among the stars

Summary: Danny’s dreams die with him.

----

And so when Danny ventures into the portal, it is dark and cold and vacuum-like and within, he feels gravity’s burden ease up on his shoulders. He lets himself indulge in the fantasy that this is  a rocket ship of his own design; Sam and Tucker are his fellow astronauts. If he were to crane his neck to give them a shout, he isn’t sure if the sound-waves will quite reach their ears.

But all this is before his hand flips the switch, and the curious light germinates from the portal’s frontmost generator. He stands stupefied. It’s a supernova in his basement, and his chest flares up in happiness at the thought.

So the beam grows and grows and grows as Danny stares dumb, transfixed.

It’s like hydrogen and helium and the elements that concoct those other elements out in the distance;  It’s like fire. Danny is reminded of last year, of when the Columbia crew burned inside their shuttle upon re-entry. All those people, remade into a flaming comet.

He tries to turn, tries to run. It all happens too fast. Before he can let out so much of a “Houston, we have a problem!” to Tucker and Sam, he is ignited and swallowed, hurtling back towards the ground.  

Danny finally accepts he is no longer in space when he hears his own screams bouncing off the cavernous walls.

* * *

“Jazz, will you shut up for one second? I need to focus .”

Jazz gapes at the outburst, then closes her mouth. She’s sitting on the countertop, glancing down at Danny’s pencil, granite tip crumbling into the form. “...I was just asking what you were doing!” She pops off the counter,  looking a bit miffed. Danny almost laughs; her expression is in stark contrast with Jazz’s usual, put-together appearance. Satisfied, Danny turns back to his form.

Jazz walks behind Danny. On her way to the stairs, she hovers over him to see what he’s writing. Danny is considerably annoyed.

“Jazz, take a hint!” Danny puts his hands over the paper, but Jazz is too quick for him. She grabs the corner, effectively snatching it out from under Danny’s nose.

“ 11th grade interest survey… ” she reads--

--Danny grabs the bottom of the page, turning it intangible.  “Ah! Danny!!” Jazz’s hands go through the page.

He smirks in success, page in hand. “Well, you’re being nosy. As usual.”

Jazz huffs. Then, she brightens, assuming the role of a cheery big-sister-role-model once more. “My grade had to do that, too! Don’t worry, I mean, no one is going to read it, it’s intended as a personal brainstorming exercise--”

“Yeah, I get that. But I still need to think.”

“What about--?”

Danny wordlessly shakes his head, interrupting her. “I just….. don’t know. Anymore.”

Jazz cocks her head. “You sure about that?”

Danny keeps shaking his head.

“I got a lot going on,” he finishes lamely. The implication is plenty clear.

Jazz leaves him alone at the kitchen table, after ruffling his hair affectionately. She treks up the stairs.

From the top of the landing, she looks down on him. Danny rolls a pencil back and forth, back and forth. In her mind’s eye, he becomes Little Danny, wishing on a shooting star. It’s so vivid. Must be a memory.

When I grow up, I’m gonna go to space!

A flash of sympathy strikes her chest.

* * *

Phantom comes home later, through the window. In another timeline, one Danny Fenton may have had to fit himself through the crack at the bottom of the windowsill.

This is the universe where Danny can manipulate solid matter. He goes through the window in the most literal sense.

Just another night, chasing the Box Ghost away from the warehouse on the pier, beating Skulker to a pulp. Little nicks dot his chin, there’s probably a few bruises under his hazmat. The big injuries are (thankfully) not as frequent as they were when Danny started the job. He winces, thinking about that first wound: a slash from Skulker’s blade. He remembers crying out when it sliced into his skin, and touching two fingers to the gash revealed his Not-Blood.

No more than an hour later, the cut had completely vanished. It was then that Danny had decided it was better he take the punches than somebody who bled red and whose heartbeat was easier to silence.

Rather aimlessly, Danny floats over to his posters, as if this wasn’t his room and he didn’t wake up next to them every day. He isn’t sure what he hopes to accomplish by studying them intently.

His eyes cast their unearthly glow upon the animated images of astronauts, various model rockets, and NASA logos adorning the walls. The only thing the green light matches is the friendly glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling.

He hovers to his bed. When he arrives, he lays poised over the mattress, still. His throat is hard. Danny closes his eyes and searches for solace beneath his false sky.

* * *

“Guess what I put for my college-interest thing.”

Danny rolls his eyes, shifting so his back presses harder against his locker. “Oh, I dunno. Vegetable major? Vegan specialist?”

Tucker’s eyes find his PDA again, snorting. “That’s literally Sam .”

The sarcasm goes over Sam’s head. “I’m into the poli-sci thing since it’s a pretty general degree with a lot of applications. My goal -goal is becoming a lobbyist, and honestly, I’ve lost all interest in being a lawyer or annoying-ass politician, so…” She pauses. “A lot of people don’t know what they’re gonna be when they grow up.”

“So?” Danny’s a little sharp in his response.

Sam is a little taken aback. “...Well, I just meant that it was pretty cool that we all know what we like.... It’s important to find your interests early.”

Danny knows Sam is trying to be encouraging, motivational even, but her words sting. He goes to open his locker, hoping neither Sam nor Tuck can see his flushed face.

“...Danny?”

He breathes, face stuck inside his locker. “... Yeah?”

She shakes her head. “Uh, never mind. See you in Lancer’s, yeah?”

“See you.”

Danny slams his locker door a little too forcefully as Sam and Tucker walk in the opposite direction. He withdraws the interest form from his notebook.

If you had one choice, what would you like to major in?

The accompanying line does not list anything with the prefix ‘Astro-’, the sort of thing that has always caught Danny’s fancy.

It is left vacant. He feels as hollow as the blank space.

He thinks he is beginning to come to terms with reality. The harsh truth simply is that Danny can’t save the otherwise-hopeless world in the stratosphere.

* * *

It gets easier, eventually. Still, he finds old modeling glue in his rug when the Fenton Thermos rolls under his bed. The family photo album reveals Danny’s pastHalloween costumes, aged six to ten, donning the same Armstrong-inspired spacesuit. His telescope begins to collect dust. One day, when it doesn’t hurt so much, he’s going to pull it out again. Rave on about Cassiopeia, like the good old days on the roof. Maybe Jazz would stop giving him that face, then. Maybe Sam would stop so subtlety prodding him, asking why they didn’t stargaze as a group anymore.

He starts having the dreams he had when he was younger. He’s floating in the void, surrounded by those teeny pinpricks of brightness.

They used to be happier. In blurry memories, in vague dream-like logic, he remembers playing with the colored stars, touching them; he remembers they were fuzzy, he remembers they were warm. They would wink as the moon would wax and he thinks that he had giggled. But it was so very long ago. It was so long ago.

The new dreams, they’re mostly the same. Same inky atmosphere, same lonesome hum. Yet these cold stars, they swirl around him at 299,792 kilometers per second. The white dwarfs pass him by.

Extending outstretched fingers towards them, he can never quite reach.

[littlemisswolfie]

A Midnight Run

AO3

The woods are dark, this late at night. Sam knows the moon above her is full, but its light is hidden behind the leaves of the trees looming over her. Her legs burn from the force of her feet pounding over the grass and dirt, and her lungs ache with all the air they’re pulling in and pushing out as she runs, but she can’t stop running. Not now. Not yet.

A few hundred yards to her left, someone yelps and something else growls. Heart pounding, Sam veers right and pounds her legs harder. She thinks that was Tucker. That means she’s the last one standing. The realization sends a shot of adrenaline through her system.

He wants a chase? she thinks. I’ll give him a chase.

There’s a creek nearby. Maybe she can hide her scent if she runs through it. That’s his primary means of tracking, after all. She has a chance if she can take away his sense of smell. If only she hadn’t left her bag in the truck; she has all sorts of nifty plants in there she could have used.

But there’s no use dwelling on that now. She has to keep moving.

The sound of running water hits her ears. She’s close to the creek. The ground is uneven here, and though all she wants is to sprint to the water, she has to take it slow. Tripping and falling would make too much noise, and then all hopes of escape would be dashed. And she refuses to let him win this time.

Her boots hit the creek with a splash. She bends at the waist to scoop water up and wet her face and arms as well. The water is freezing, but she can deal. In a few minutes, she’ll either be back in the warm truck, or she’ll be caught. Either way, she won’t be cold for long.

She backtracks a little to muddle the scent before taking off again. Sam knows these woods as well as she knows her bedroom by now, and she doesn’t need light to navigate. If she can make it back to the big pine tree they parked the truck by, she’s home free. Getting to the tree means the chase is over. And it’s less than a quarter mile away.

She takes one more deep breath to steel herself before she runs. She runs faster than she’s ever run in her life. Hell, she could outrun Dash Baxter. She’ll run as hard as it takes to get her to that tree. Because the tree means she wins.

She can just see the trunk of the tree when a twig snaps behind her. Her spine goes hot, burning white like a supernova, and that’s all the warning she gets before she’s being tackled to the ground. A hand comes up to keep her head from hitting the ground, but the rest of her body absorbs the shock, and suddenly there’s something heavy and warm over her, and a set of teeth pressing at her throat. Not biting, but the threat is there in the points of the fangs. “Gotcha.”

She groans, irritated, but rolls her head to the side in submission. “Only because you won’t let me use any of my herbs, you ass. Not all of us have night vision and super speed like you do.”

Danny chuckles, the sound much darker than it is during the day. Suddenly, Sam finds herself shivering from something other than the cold. “Are you, Sam Manson, saying you need help to beat me at something?”

“You wish.” She puts her palms against his chest, feeling fur where his shirt is ripped, and nudges, and he sits back without protest, though he’s still straddling her hips. She can’t see much of him in the low light, but she knows he can see her, so she wipes at her face to get some of the dirt off. Sam never used to be so aware of her appearance. In fact, she openly mocked girls like Paulina and Star who were so obsessed with their looks.

But that was before Danny changed.

They’re still not sure how, exactly, the change happened. It wasn’t like he was bitten or anything. It was probably something they messed with in his parents’ lab last September, but they’ll never be sure, now. What matters is that Danny isn’t human anymore. Sam can’t see him now, but she’s seen him often enough in the past few months to know exactly what he looks like. His body is larger, taller, more muscular. Black fur sprouts from his skin. His nails are sharper, more claw-like. His ears have moved to the top of his head, now pointed and fuzzy. And his eyes, usually the color of the sky on a clear day, are like liquid mercury—silver and burning.

“Now that you have me,” Sam says with a quirked eyebrow, “what are you going to do with me?”

Danny growls low in his throat at the obvious provocation and dives in, slanting his lips over Sam’s in a heated kiss. His hands, large and hot, grab her wrists and pin them above her head. She moans into the kiss, and though she very much enjoys his weight on top of her, she wishes she could wrap her legs around him to hold him to her.  But when Danny’s like this, more wolf than man, he has to be in control. He has to have the leverage. “Part of the curse,” he’d grumbled once. “The wolf would rather die than submit.”

Lucky for them, Sam found herself more than happy to submit, if only to Danny.

“Tucker?” Sam asks when Danny pulls back to let her breathe.

Danny leans down to kiss and lick his way down her neck. “He went back to the truck to watch our phones. The woods are all ours.”

Good enough for Sam. She cranes her neck up to kiss Danny again, and he releases her hands so his can nudge her jacket away. “Next run,” he says against her lips, “try shedding some layers. It muddles your scent.”

“Giving me advice now, wolf boy?” Sam asks, trying to pretend he’s not leaving her breathless.

His fingers work their way under her tee shirt and brush against her belly. “Yes. The sooner you get away, the sooner you’ll let me mark you.”

One of Danny’s many new instincts is the drive to claim anything that’s his. In the day to day, he does it in both human and animalistic ways. He writes his name on the tag of all his clothes and scribbles on the covers of all his notebooks and he has a million decals on his cherry red motorcycle. He’s constantly touching Sam and Tucker at school, and he’s scent marked them at least once a day since their first run in with Skulker, a rival alpha who thought Danny would be easy pickings when he first changed. He’s drawn the line at peeing on things, thank god, but the one way Sam hasn’t let him claim her yet is by marking her.

Marking is permanent. Danny marking her would result in a bruise that would basically telegraph “Mate of Danny Fenton” to any supernatural creature in the immediate vicinity. And it’s not that Sam isn’t ready for that commitment—she’s been in love with Danny for years—but she refuses to be a damsel in distress any time some hunter or rival supernatural wants to get one over on Danny. So Sam decided she would refuse his mark until she could get away from him on a full moon on her own merit. If she can outrun a werewolf on his own turf at the time he’s at his strongest, she can do anything.

And Danny, the wonderful guy that he is, respects her decision, and he never holds back.

Just like he doesn’t hold back now.

Forty-five minutes later, they return to the truck. It’s Sam’s truck, a sixteenth birthday gift from her grandmother, and it’s the group’s primary form of transportation aside from Danny’s motorcycle. Tucker’s sitting in the passenger seat, blaring Ember’s new album over the Bluetooth radio, and he gives him an impressive eye roll when he sees their rumpled clothes and tangled hair. “Next month,” he says when they’re situated in the cab, Sam on the hump and Danny behind the wheel, “I’m asking Ember to come, too.”

“She’s gonna be in Mexico on her tour next month,” Danny reminds him.

“Damn.”

Sam leans her head on his shoulder. “Buck up. Maybe I’ll get away next month.”

“You guys will just be even worse if you do.”

Neither of them brings up the option of Tucker simply not coming at all next month. Danny wouldn’t stand for it. He needs them both on full moon nights. No exceptions.

Danny puts the truck into drive.

Tucker gets dropped off first, and Danny, as he always does, waits until he’s safely climbed the fire escape up to his window before driving away. Sam could move over to the passenger seat, but that would mean moving away from Danny, so she stays put until they get to her house.

They climb out of the truck and Danny cups her face with his hands and pulls her up for one last kiss. “Text me when you get home,” she tells him, even though he’s probably the most dangerous thing in Amity Park, at least for the moment.

“I will,” be promises, laying his forehead against hers. “I love you, Sam.”

Butterflies explode in her belly. “Love you, too.”

She feels Danny’s eyes on her as she clambers up the flower trellis leading to her window, and when she’s safely inside, it’s her turn to watch, silent, as he lopes off into the night.

[mrsrcbinscn]

Franny’s 30 Day Cover Challenge

Playlist

Franny’s 30 Day Cover Song Challenge: (categories are mostly from here, and here, with some from here, and a couple I made) in September 2020 one of her musician friends challenged her to do the thing and she was like “It seems like a fun way to show everyone what kind of music has influenced me as a musician, singer, songwriter, and just like, person. So I’m going to do it.”

In reality, she recorded most of them in 1-2 days to distract her from how sad she is because Wilbur hates her and he’s sad lmao

It helped a little.

(If you want me to drop the playlist she mentions in #24 let me know, I have it started I can finish it)

TW: mentions of Franny’s political beliefs so tw: politics, an allusion to suicide though the word isn’t directly used, mention of 9/11 and the subsequent invasions...nothing graphic with any of these triggers but worth a forewarning

Day 01 - A song that makes you happy

Honey Spiders by The Parlotones

“The Parlotones are this fantastic indie rock band out of South Africa. And I actually thought about doing their song, uh, Stars Fall Down for day sixteen, but I’m going with Honey Spiders for day 1. There were lots of Parlotones songs, I mean. Push Me to The Floor, We Call This Dancing, Should We Fight Back...but ah, Honey Spiders always puts me in a good mood.”

Day 02 - A song that helps you clear your head

Light of a Clear Blue Morning by Dolly Parton

“I grew up on Dolly, and it’s funny because for the longest time this song wasn’t really on my radar as much as it is now. But when I was twenty-two I was going through something really difficult, and my then-fiance now husband was abroad for work, so I was alone in our apartment and just. Really, profoundly sad and lonely. So I put on a Dolly Parton record and just laid on the bed and Light Of A Clear Blue Morning played and I had a good long cry and felt so much better after that. When I need to think about how to solve a difficult problem, or I feel overwhelmed, I just listen to that song.”

Day 03 - Song you love from a band/artist you hate

Should’ve Been A Cowboy by Toby Keith

“Honestly, he’s called me a nasty lady to my face and I’ve called him a facist enabling pig to his, so I have no qualms openly saying I hate Toby Keith. That being said, Should’ve Been A Cowboy is one of the best country songs of the 90s, undeniably. I loved that song when it came out when I was thirteen, and I still love it.”

Day 04 - A song about drugs or alcohol

Whiskey Lullaby by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss

“This is probably cheating, because my lovely best friend Daniel and I cover this a lot at Dara & Danny shows. But today look who I have! My friend Max from Seoul Hanoi’d! Max the Korean Scot who can’t hide his accent to save his life, so let’s see how it sounds in a Scottish accent.”

Day 05 - A protest song

Talking Vietnam Blues by Phil Ochs /// and Here’s to The State of Mississippi by Phil Ochs

“This one was hard because I. Fucking. Love. Protest music. I could have done a whole 30 days of protest music - wow, let me know if I should do that and give my husband a heart attack with all the twitter threats I’ll invite. Huh. Right, so I was going to do Your Flag Decal Won’t Get You Into Heaven by John Prine. But I decided to do two Phil Ochs songs because I don’t think Phil Ochs is talked about enough. It’s a shame we lost him so young. Ochs’ sardonic humor and honesty in his writing has influenced me as a songwriter deeply. When I write political songs, I don’t hold back, and it’s because of Phil Ochs’ writing that I have that courage. I’ve been singing Love Me, I’m A Liberal since I was in college with constantly updating lyrics. It was so hard to even choose which songs of his to do because for his fairly short career his songbook is lengthy and full of gems. I’m Going to Say It Now, Draft Dodger Rag, Spanish Civil War Song, I Ain’t Marching Anymore...I couldn’t pick one so I’m cheating and recording two.”

Day 06 - A song you wish you wrote

When I Think About Cheatin’ by Gretchen Wilson

“I will forever be pissed off that I didn’t write this song. I’m absolute trash for my husband, so it’s never -- I’ve never had to be in a situation to ever consider -- but this song gets me every time. It feels like I could have written it. Because we do spend a lot of time apart travelling for our work. And the sentiment expressed in the song is a little too real.”

Day 07 - A song in a language you don’t speak

Khattar by Khine Htoo

“This will either be a charming attempt to sing in Burmese or I’m about to offend a lot of people. Which, being a politically outspoken woman on the internet, I’m used to anyway. So. 1, 2, 3, okay here goes.”

Day 08 - A song by an artist no longer living

Phop Samnang by Sinn Sisamouth (inspiration)

“Haha, you thought I’d see the name of this category and not do a Sinn Sisamouth song? You were wrong.”

Day 09 - A song you want to dance to at your wedding

Devoted To You by The Everly Brothers

“I’m already married, so this was actually our first dance song at our wedding. Day three of our wedding, like the more Westernized wedding ceremony day. We had a three day long traditional Cambodian wedding and I felt like a princess. An-y-way!”

Day 10 - A song that makes you cry

Borrowed Rooms and Old Wood Floor by Emily Scott Robinson

“Unfortunately, Emily Scott Robinson and I aren’t related. Sad, I know, because she’s so talented. Almost her entire album Traveling Mercies is...sad as hell. The record reminded me of early Dolly Parton, and my second solo album. You know, all those sad-ass songs. The Dress is honestly the song that makes me the saddest but I can’t even listen to it without crying so.”

Day 11 - A song that you love hearing live

Prove My Love  by Violent Femmes

“There is nobody I have seen in concert more than Dolly Parton, but Violent Femmes and George Strait come incredibly close. The Cranberries, the amount of times I saw them in the 90s and early 2000s...close fourth. Probably. The very first concert I dragged my husband to was a Violent Femmes concert, he was not prepared for how hard college me went.”

Day 12 - A song from before 1960 

There Ain’t No Sweet Man That’s Worth The Salt of My Tears by Libby Holman

“This song is from 1928. I came across it when I was in grad school and it’s, as the kids say, a bop.”

Day 13 - A song you think everybody should listen to

White Man’s World by Jason Isbell

“I think perspectives of people of color should of course take precedence in these conversations. But I find this song to be a good faith attempt of a white man coming to terms with the institutional racism and sexism in the world around him. And I think this song can be a useful tool to explain certain concepts of racial justice to ignorant but well-meaning folks. As a woman of color I think Jason Isbell did a great job not centering himself even though it was from his perspective. This song is great musically and necessary socially.”

Day 14 - A song from the 1970s

You’re No Good by Linda Ronstadt

“Linda Ronstadt is grossly underrated, that’s all I have to say here.”

 Day 15 - A song people wouldn’t expect you to like

Racists by Anti-flag

“I mean, I’ve talked about how much I like punk in the past, and I remember a video of Seoul Hanoi’d doing Spanish Bombs at a San Antonio show made the rounds, but I don’t think I’ve talked about how much I like Anti-flag. People don’t expect me to like punk for some reason. But I agree with...everything punk music is all about.”

Day 16 - A song that holds a lot of meaning to you

Blue by LeAnn Rimes

“It’s silly, but I won a county fair singing competition with this song in high school and it really fueled my passion for music, that win. It’s also the first song Cornelius heard me go full Georgia on, with the yodels and all, at the little bar in my hometown on his first trip meeting my parents. The song doesn’t cut to my very soul ot anythin’, but it’s special to me.”

Day 17 - A song attached to a memory

Supernova by Liz Phair

“I remember buying Liz Phair’s Whip-smart album when I was eleven. And in college, when I was getting ready for dates with Cornelius in my dorm room, I would dance around to a CD I burned and wrote on it with a sharpie, ‘Pre-date Movie Scene Music.’ God, what was even on there? I’m about to expose myself as the most basic 1999-2001 bitch. I remember Head Over Feet, I mean, Alanis Morisette? I was a young woman in 2000, obviously I loved her. Mm, Dreams by The Cranberries...oh, Kiss Me, Sixpence None The Richer...yeah, anyway, Supernova was on there.”

Day 18 - A song from the year you were born

Call Me by Blondie

“...I can’t believe Call Me is as old as I am.”

Day 19 - A song that reminds you of someone you miss

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (yes, of course she does a cover with banjo)

“This was my late best friend Molly’s favorite hymn. And I sang it at her funeral at her husband’s request. Molly and I grew up together in the small town of Payne Lake, Georgia and Molly was the most devout Christian...but she was also the first person I came out to as bisexual when I was a teenager, and she said that Jesus taught her that love was the greatest commandment and that meant I was automatically twice as good at it as her. Her faith guided her every action but she never talked down on her two best friends - Dan(iel Maitland) and I for not sharing it. Molly was doing the whole emulate Jesus thing beautifully. I miss her every day and it’s been seven years. If you ever think that people won’t miss you...you’re wrong. All right, let’s see if I can get through this without crying.”

Day 20 - A song by an artist you discovered this year

Hello, Anxiety by Phum Viphurit

“I just discovered this quirky Thai-Kiwi singer and not to be dramatic, but he’s my favorite thing in the world right now.”

Day 21 - A song with a city or country in the title

Oh! Phnom Penh (track 20)

“This song was written after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, and after people began to make their way to what was left of their homes, alone, or with what was left of their families. If you want to learn more about what that was like to actually live it, my cousin Reena Boran has a video interviewing her parents and paternal grandfather and uncle about it. Reena is a journalism student currently studying in London but she lives in Cambodia. Her mother is my aunt Malisruot, my mother’s youngest sister. The video is English subtitled on her channel, I’ll link it in the description box below.”

Day 22 - A song from the 1960s

To Sir, With Love by Lulu

“I didn’t actually discover this song until I heard it covered at a 10,000 Maniacs concert in the 90s. My friend Allison was standing next to me and I just started crying and she’s like ‘are you okay?’ and all I just blubbered out ‘My dad!’ For the uninitiated, my dad married my mom, who’d raised me alone until then, when I was six and he adopted me when I was eight. My dad didn’t have to adopt me, he didn’t have to call me his daughter, he could have just been like half of my friends’ stepdads and give me a place to live and nothing else. But my dad was my biggest supporter from day one. He convinced my mom to let me join the dance team and show choir instead of science club, he was the one that talked my mom down from probably killing me when they found out I was only studying music and not music and political science at NYU. I am who I am today because he is my dad. And this song just says everything I’ve always thought about him.”

Day 23 - A song from your childhood

Una Lacrima Sul Viso by Bobby Solo

“But Franny, aren’t you a Cambodian raised in the US? Yes, but you were fooled. My very white father is also an immigrant. He is from Switzerland and while he didn’t teach me to speak Italian and German growing up, he played German, Italian, and French records all the time. My parents often spoke to each other in French and I picked up some French but properly studied it starting in high school, and I didn’t study Italian until college -- and my German is still …. [points to a spot on the screen where she later inserted a card linking to a video on her cousin Köbi Framagucci’s YouTube channel titled ‘Can My American Cousin Speak German?’ where he tests her Standard and Swiss German speaking and comprehension]. But hell if I couldn’t sing every one of the songs from my father’s French, German, and Italian record before I knew what the words even meant.”

Day 24 - A song that gives you chill vibes

Glorify by Ivan & Alyosha

“Dan(iel Maitland) and I actually have an entire playlist on my Spotify accounts of songs to listen to to get us out of writers’ block. And one that I often will put on repeat and just absorb through my headphones with my eyes closed is a song called Glorify by Ivan & Alyosha. I think it touches on a lot of the themes I include in my songwriting. Christian mythology, the darker side of humanity, it often reminds me of what I love about songwriting. If you say please I might drop a link to that playlist.”

Day 25 - A song that’s your signature song

Long Gone Lonesome Blues by Hank Williams“Right, so I chose this instead of a Kitty Wells song or I Get A Kick Out of You (her being

featured on a 2005

recording propelled her career majorly) because if you’re familiar with me you might have seen a video that went around in like….2017? 2016? of Dan(iel Maitland) and I doin’ the song at our hometown bar in 2014. I posted it in response to some tweets because hoes mad when a WOC calls out racism and sexism in the Nashville music industry. ‘Bet she don’t even know Hank’, really? You think I wouldn’t know the history of one of the two music industries I work in? Please. Anyway, she knows Hank and nails the incredibly technical yodel -- the

most difficult

one in Hank’s songbook - in Long Gone Lonesome Blues. Mm...Lovesick Blues though, that also strikes fear into my heart. Anyway stay mad I guess?”

Day 26 - A song by your favorite band

Gun Shy by 10,000 Maniacs

“10,000 Maniacs was one of my favorite bands when I was in like 5th grade through 10th. I listened to them for a little while after Natalie Merchant left for a solo career, but the Natalie Merchant era was really what resonated with me the most. Gun Shy was a bit too advanced for my little 5th, 7th grade ears to really appreciate when I first discovered the album In My Tribe. Merchant’s voice -- because like, I don’t have a very conventional voice either, so her and Dolores O’Riordan really changed my entire perspective on what a woman’s voice can sound like in rock music. Um, yeah, so her voice more than the lyrics just wowed me. And as I got closer to graduating high school and especially in college I actually understood what What’s The Matter Here, Hey Jack Kerouac, and Gun Shy were talking about. Gun Shy...really became a significant song to me because...being born in 1980 I grew up in a relatively peaceful time. The Cold War was all but thawed by my tenth birthday. But I was getting ready to leave my then-boyfriend-now-husband’s apartment for class at NYU on the morning of 9/11. We stood in line for hours to donate blood. And then my government invaded two completely unrelated countries and jingoism and terrifying, fervent nationalism, and xenophobia just smacked me in the face. And friends of mine from high school were convicted to drop out of college and join the Army, and died, for an unjust, imperialist war, and suddenly Phil Ochs, John Prine, and Bob Dylan lyrics hit a lot different, and I understood what Gun Shy was really about.”

Day 27 - A song you hate by an artist you love

Mrs.Robinson by Simon & Garfunkel 

“Paul Simon is one of my favorite songwriters ever, um, and I actually used to like Mrs. Robinson….until I got married and everyone sang it at me. It’s kind of my fault, I did choose to take my husband’s last name. And I leaned into it by making my social media handles all Mrs. Robinson...but still. Only play the song around me if you want to die.”

Day 28 - A song that a younger you would have loved

Mean by Taylor Swift

“I’m so genuinely glad that I am older than Taylor Swift. Middle school Franny did not need Taylor Swift to enable me and fuel my ego. Some of her singles, while not really 35 and 40 year old Franny’s cup of tea, young me would have played until my mother hid the record or cassette from me. Although - fuck if Tim McGraw didn’t immediately give my happily married ass flashbacks to my first love and make me bawl like a baby? Right, so when Speak Now came out and I listened to it, Mean, while not a song that adult me has listened to maybe more like ten times, I immediately thought ‘wow, I needed this song when I was in middle and high school.’ I could literally picture 7th grade me with my little guitar and my little cowboy boots my dad bought for me singing this at the talent show making eye contact with the kids who bullied me as if it was some kind of own when it’s not. I could still, almost thirty years later, name them if I really wanted. So, for 7th grade me, Mean by Taylor Swift.”

Day  29- A song that reminds you of your partner/spouse

ផាត់ជាយបណ្តូលចិត្ / Phat Cheay Bon'dol Chet by Sinn Sisamuth (translation) (female singer covering it) (modern, studio recording of a male and female singer dueting it) (a cool violin cover) (another female singer) (cool guitar cover)

Feat. some members of Seoul Hanoi’d. Andy Chaiyaporn (violin), Max Cho (piano), Jodie Batbayar (cello), Aisulu Niyazova-Li (percussion) and Franny has her guitar

“The song, lyrically, only reminds me of my husband a little bit. But Phat Cheay Bondol Chet has several memories with my husband attached to it. The first time he heard me sing in Khmer was at my mother’s house in Atlanta when I had him visit the first time to meet my parents. My mom had a little dinner party at our house to show him off, like Asian moms do when they think their daughter snags a good one, and I was hand washing the dishes while my mom and the other Cambodian parents were listening to Sinn Sisamuth records. I’ve always loved the song I’ll be showing y’all today, like I’ve always just stopped what I was doing and -- so it came on and I just started singing along without really being aware of it. And then at a different diaspora get together that summer, that song came on and I just kinda. Pulled him aside to the side yard of that person’s house to look at the stars with him and translated the song. It’s one of the Khmer songs he instantly recognizes now, so it’s special.”

Franny did NOT say in the video that college her 100% had him sit in the grass with her outside that person’s house, where nobody could see, so she could makeout with him 

 Day 30- A song by one of your favorite songwriters

Reincarnation by Roger Miller

Feat. Seoul Hanoi’d, done more in the style of the Cake cover 

Also instead of singing the lyric “you’re a girl, I’m a boy” she goes “you’re a girl, so am I” because she doesn’t ever change pronouns, she just makes it gay because she is a bi-con

“Roger Miller, to me, is as important as Dolly Parton, Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, in the American songbook. He’s not as talked about which is a shame because his discography is iconic. Getting to be a part of King of The Road was one of the highlights of my career.”

[phantomphangphucker]

A King For Tonight’s Fentertainment - Chap. 6: This Ones Already Had The Fight Taken Out Of His Bite

Summary:  As expected, the GIW are still idiots. As expected, Vlad was up to shit. And Danny wouldn't be Danny if he didn't get hurt at some point.

Danny snaps his head to the side, his mom whirling around, as a heavily bleeding Vlad Plasmius staggers away from a building. Sam and Tucker both slide off Danny, Sam crossing her arms and Tucker pointing with mock aggression at Plasmius. While Maddie pulls out and points an ectoblaster, Danny tilts his head back and groans. Groans loud enough to make everyone still around look at him, confused. Danny speaks loudly at the sky, “now what the hell? This is just brilliant”.

Tilting his head back down towards Plasmius as Danny forms a shield behind himself, easily deflecting an ectoshot from one of the GIW agents. Danny doesn’t even acknowledge their little attempt before addressing Plasmius. Taking in the older halfas ectoplasm splattered form, “the fucks got you lookin like rats were gnawing at you, like the cheese head you are, for weeks?”.

Plasmius grumbles and glares at Danny, “well let’s see, an entire city was dropped on my head after getting damn well blinded by a portal the size of an absurdist supernova”.

Danny barks out a single laugh before glaring right back, “exaggeration. But better question, why are you here”.

“You say that like it’s an accusation of guilt”.

“With you, it always is”, Danny steps forward, putting himself in front of his friends, while his mom goes and socks agent L in the face for trying to shoot her son. Danny smirks as he overhears her growl, “you were warned”, before Danny snaps at Plasmius, “what were you doing, old man”.

Danny doesn’t even have to wait for a response as agent G gives him what he was asking for, like a complete idiot; which is pretty expected from one of them. Agent G points at Plasmius, slightly surprised, “you! You’re the ectoentity the commander followed to those powder canisters! We destroyed you!”. The agent rubs his face, looking and sounding a bit manic, “you, you tricked us?! So we’re not at fault! We’re not at fault! Hahaha”.

Danny sighs, “figures”, Danny points over his shoulder at the laughing, and potentially brain-damaged, agent, “I think ya broke him Vladdie”.

Plasmius huffs before attempting to fly off, preferring to avoid the young badgers' wrath while being in this weakened state. Though he gets yanked out of his mental mussing about Daniels absurd, yet so often untapped, power. When he gets shot by a high power ectocannon, too injured to really do anything other than flop unceremoniously on the ground.  

Danny facepalmed as soon as Maddie got off the shot, pushing his hand into his face even more aggressively as she snaps, “ghost! So this was your fault! You ectoplasmic waste of human post consciousness!”. While agent L groans on the ground and agent G is still lost to his bout of lunacy.

Sam and Tucker both give Danny glances of pity while he sighs, “and we were starting to get somewhere...”. Both of them cringe and facepalm themselves, as they hear Danny push his hand into his face so hard that he breaks his nose.

Danny blinks as blood drips down his face and off his chin, “well that’s a first. I have officially had a day that has finally heaped on enough bullshit to become worthy of accidental self-harm, that wasn’t caused by some fight shit”.

“Or you forgetting where you’re walking”.

“Or you holding knives wrong”.

“Or you swallowing solid objects”.

“Or you-”.

Danny cuts his friends off, “I get it!”. Whipping his arm across his nose, and hand down his face. Mostly just smearing it around rather than effectively wiping it off. Adjusting his nose bones so it actually heals right, before walking behind Maddie; whose got her gun cannon blaster thing, with some name Danny didn’t bother memorising, pressed into Plasmius chest. “Uh, could you, like, not?”, Danny sighs as he stands behind his mom, looking down at her kneeling form before she aggressively jabs a small ectogun into Plasmius head.

Plasmius, meanwhile, is staring, mouth slightly ajar, at Daniel prancing around in his kings-wear in town with blood streaked on his face.

Danny sighs again, pinching a bit of his moms' suit around her wrist and lifting her arm/hand up. Relieving the ectoguns pressure on Plasmius head. While Maddie just blinks at her son’s hand, thrown off by the show of strength. Danny leans forward to have his face in front of Plasmius’s, frowning, “what’s up Vampy. Now I really don’t doubt you had some hand or bullshit in this, so what the hell could you have to possibly gain by getting those twats to powder-fuck everything to the Ghost Zone. I mean, certainly, the town squashing you under its heel wasn’t the goal”, Danny gives a shit-eating grin, blood tracing over some of his teeth and lips, “you’re not that much of a masochistic glutton for punishment”.

Vlad glares, looking slightly disgusted, “that wasn’t the goal at all Daniel”. Danny and Maddie easily hear him grumble, “only you were meant to be sent off, but those fools probably messed that up”.

Danny straightens up and laughs, exaggeratedly wiping away a fake tear only to accidentally smear blood around his eye, “oh wow! What’d you expect? That’s practically their job!”. Danny leans back down and pats Plasmius mockingly on the cheek, “but naw, shits all on you. You frootloopy fuck”, standing back up and shrugging exaggeratedly, “they explained how the stuff’s supposed to work and really, there’s no way it wouldn’t have sent everything to High Hell. I mean, Ancients, you can’t teleport a lair keeper out of their own lair that way. You’ll just ass fuck off the whole damn place. Like really, this level of stupid isn’t becoming, or whatever, of you, Batshit”.

Plasmius mutters, “I swear he's going out of his way to make up as many insulting names for me as possible”. Plasmius clears his throat while Danny chuckles, “well duh. You are completely deplorable”.

Plasmius forces down a wince as Maddie pushes the gun further into his stomach, “answer my son, you ectoscum”.

Danny walks off slightly to grab a bit of debris while Plasmius responds to her, “now Maddie, I’m sure we can be-”, only to be cut off by Danny dropping a rather large chunk of cement on his head. While both Sam and Tucker fall over laughing, Dash and Kwan both gape.

Kwan stutters, “s-so he c-can fight back, heh”. Dash grumbling mockingly, “what, does ‘his highness’ think I’m not worth the effort”. Both boys jump as Danny snaps his head around, talking with a wide grin, “yup. That about sums it up”.

“Why you little!-Fentax!”.

Danny ignores the two boys as Kwan holds Dash back, “dude, are you insane? Pretty sure he’s about to give a freaking ghost a verbal lashing...not to mention that he’s just ignoring the blood on his face”.

“Soooo”, Danny taps at his chin, “my mom could just shoot you....again. Not really sure why she’s not”. Maddie doesn’t even take her eyes off Plasmius as she responds, “because, I want answers for why the hell some ghost is toying with my boy”. Both Plasmius and Danny blink at her before Danny slowly lifts up a bit of his cape and slowly looks down at it, “uh....I think the why goes without saying at this point”.

Maddie just growls at Plasmius, who gulps faintly.

Danny rolls his eyes, muttering, “and everyone calls me out for being a growly little shit. Eh, whatever”. Danny glances around discreetly, only Sam and Tucker are actually closely watching him at this point; though there’s definitely a good portion of the town watching this little ‘conversation’.

Danny leans down, getting his face up in Plasmius’s; enough so that no one else’s could see Danny’s face and so Plasmius could definitely smell the blood, Danny doesn’t make a habit of assuming everyone else’s senses were as good as his own. Letting his eyes change to green and blaze with threatening energy, his crown also blazing threateningly, as he pats Plasmius chest just below his neck and above the barrel of his moms ectocannon thing. “Now now, no need for all that tension. You’ll throw your back out, old fart. Now what to do about this little transgression against my homely home. I’m sure you are aware that doing such against the whole of someone’s lair is rather, heh, problematic”, Danny grins devilshily, pushing his fingers hard enough to bruise Plasmius collar bone, “especially mine. I am rather...protective. And you are irking that”.

Plasmius pales a bit, getting on the bad side of any ghosts, half-ghost or not, obsession wasn’t really smart. Especially on such large, even if accidental, scale. Not to mention that Daniel has clearly had some secret or another ousted.

Plasmius promptly stiffens and clenches his teeth as Danny condenses ectoplasmic energy around his core and pulses it, disrupting Plasmius’s core just enough to be extremely unpleasant and painful. Maddie backs off slightly, unsure of what’s going on, as Plasmius grits out, “point taken... your majesty”.

Danny closes his eyes and pats Plasmius chest above his core, making the guy wince, “oh now that’s a rare thing, getting you to not sound like a pompous conniving twat”. Danny grabs Plasmius’s arm as he stands up, dragging Plasmius off the ground while opening a portal. Smirking at the barely standing man before tossing Plasmius in, “enjoy the snow tundras! I’m pretty sure Kempler's favourite show just ended! Be a dead dear and cheer him up for me!”.

Danny laughs, closing the portal to the sounds of crying and screaming.

“You just...let him go?”, Danny turns around to his moms disbelievingly comment. While she yelps, “sweetie! Your face!”.

Danny smears his arm under his nose again, flicking off bits of slightly dried blood, before sighing, “it’s fine, I’m fine, we're all fine. Well, Plasmius is not. And I wouldn’t say ‘let him go’. No, in his state he won’t be getting away for a day or two. And frankly”, Danny intentionally shudders for comedic effect, “I’d rather be beaten within an inch of my life than be stuck with Kempler for even an hour”.

Sam and Tucker walk over, grumbling.

“I’d rather watch someone vore a damn spork, again, and still use it to eat a pound of flowers. For two hours. While frequently re-swallowing the spork”.  

“I’d rather eat that pound of flowers”.

Danny taps his chin and grins devilishly, “I’ll keep that in mind next time you steal the game controllers, Tuck”. Now it’s Tucker’s turn to pale, “please don’t”. Sam smirks, “please do”.

Danny puts his hands behind his head, looking at the sky, while Sam and Tucker go off at each other. Until Maddie tugs on his arm sleeve, “hmm?”, tilting his head down, “uh, what is it, mom?”.

Maddie pulls out a handkerchief and starts cleaning Danny’s face off. Danny grimaces, “mooooom!”, but lets her clean him off. Maddie grumbles about shooting whoever hurt her boy, eliciting Sam to chuckle, “you better not shoot Danny”. Maddie squints incredulously at Danny who blushes slightly, “there was just such a level of stupidity and bullshit that my hand just had to face fuck me”. Tucker smirks, “aka, you’re too strong for your body”.

“Shhhhhh”, Danny goes to place a bloody finger over Tucker’s lips but Tucker bats it away disgustedly.

Maddie, meanwhile, fiddles with the ruined square of fabric before glancing at the ground where the ghost had been, “sweetie, all of that was...kind of...threatening. And why’d that creature stiffen like that?”.

“Heh, well I was hurting him. That’s kind of how people, ghost or human, react to pain”, Danny rubs his neck, ignoring his moms surprised expression, “normally I wouldn’t be so harsh but well, that one never learns and is far more of a thorn in my side than most”.

“So you’ve ‘interacted’ a lot then”.

“Yeah and um-”, Danny cuts himself off and whirls around to the two agents trying to sneak off, “oh no, I don’t think so. I’m not about to give y’all lowkey heart attacks but...”, Danny trails off as he runs off after the, now fleeing, men.

Tucker chuckles, “so that’s what he did”. Spotting Maddie looking towards him with a curious expression, he sighs. Sam elbows him, whispering, “that’s what you get for opening your trap”.

“Tucker, what do you mean? Giving someone a heart attack isn’t possible, especially a ghost. Darn things are completely heartless”.

Tucker puts his hands up, “look, Ms. F. We’re all kind of tired of the anti-ghost stuff”. Sam butts in, “especially Danny”, Sam grumbles to herself, “but Danny won’t ring her out too much for it, he’s too kind for that”. Tucker chuckles, “yeah. Though, like really cut it out. But...that is possible, the giving heart attacks thing, for Danny anyway. He can pretty well do anything. But core attack is more accurate here”.

“Core attack?”.

“Yup! Don’t ask me how really. But...he vibrates the ghosts core in a way that messes it up for a beat. We’ve seen him pull that before, pretty well incapacitates ghosts from the pain alone. Though-”, Tucker gets cut off by a snowball to the head.

Danny walks up dragging two unconscious agents, glaring with a slight amount of humour, “Tuck, do you ever know when to shut the fuck up? I could do WITHOUT hunters, even if one is my mom, getting any more funny ideas”. All three of them look down at the men as Danny drops them on the ground. Tucker pointing at them and raising an eyebrow. Danny rubs his neck, “they looked behind them while running, slammed into a wall. Ate dirt, choked on concrete, gargled marble, and last but not least, face fucked stone”. Kicking agent L, “this guy broke his nose”, kicking agent G, “this one managed to both shatter his eye socket and dislocate his jaw”. Looking back up at the three and shrugging, “reformed G’s eye socket but L can live with the nose deformation. All in all, I think they punished themselves”.

“Sooo, what are we going to do with them, dude?”.

“What do you mean by not wanting hunters to have more information? Danny...”.

Danny internally groans at his moms' tone, rubbing his neck, “I’m the king of ghosts mom, having more information out there that could harm them or the Ghost Zone is not something I want. That’s kinda the opposite of good”. Turning to his friends, smirking, “this”.

They’re only confused for a second until a pissed off looking taxi driver pulls up, stopping so that Danny can toss the men into the taxi trunk. Danny chuckles as the taxi speeds off, “that’s gonna be a long and cramped ride, dude pretty well swore to everything that he’d make it the bumpiest ever”.

Sam and Tucker both nod, “good”. Sam turns to Maddie, “so, you’re not going to give Danny a hard time about all of”, gesturing to Danny’s cape and crown, “this? Are you?”. Danny tilts his head to the side and grumbles, “only for, like, the past forever”.

But Danny’d rather not have Sam and his mom go bickering about shit, so he straightens up some, “anyway uh, it’s late and shit so I vote for letting me embrace my bed”.

Tucker snickers, “like you’re actually gonna sleep”.

“I can try can’t I?”.

Sam elbows Tucker, “lucky Mr. Royal bombastic over here hardly needs it”. Danny groans, “tell me about it! I’d be even more dead on my feet!”.

Maddie raises an eyebrow but Danny grabs her wrist, “so home!”. Waving at Sam and Tucker as he practically drags Maddie home. Maddie watching where she steps so as to not trip on Danny’s cape, while Sam and Tucker exchange slightly worried glances.

[cowandcalf]

Ua Hopu - 2.22

This scene - this special scene. I need to talk about it. I’ve always loved this long, heart-warming welcoming scene after Steve’s breakneck version of how to bring in Wo Fat, bloody and beaten up in a stolen helicopter at night, with the Yakuza holding him at gunpoint and Five-0 wrestling their way into the moment to take over. Because this scene was also the very first scene where the task force, Steve’s ohana, was back together after Steve just left to go for a manhunt, leaving a letter on Danny’s desk, without saying goodbye, without informing anyone - Steve just left.

But...(damn, and I never realized this!) but, this is also the very first scene for Alex with his whole team after he was back on the show after he’s returned from rehab. So - where do I go with this? I’ve collected the pieces of the big puzzle that is H50 and Alex and Scott and everyone else on the go. And that’s the reason it never occurred to me that Alex had to leave the show to seek help in a clinic and that everyone was worried sick. And that’s why they created a possibility for Alex to leave.

First, his friends and Scott didn’t know if he’s gonna make it and second, when would he return? Sure, I know there must have been a deadline and everything was covered. But only Alex and Scott, and Peter Lenkov and DDK and Grace knew how bad it was what was really going on. And for sure some other people knew, too. Alex looked gaunt at the end, with his cheek sunken and this haunted look in his eyes. Everyone knew something was off. And damn, I admire his professionalism and his strength and this iron will to get back on track. Gosh, this man, really.

Alex was absent for two episodes (2.20 and 2.21). I missed him something awful and I only realized on my rewatching marathon why Alex/Steve has missed those two episodes.

So, again, this scene. That’s the scene right there and I want to talk about how Steve greets everyone. It’s uncharacteristically sweet, intense, loving and every moment screams at me with how much Alex is relieved to be back, to be together with his friends, to be whole after months of pain and meds and addiction.

And the way Steve and Danny meet shows me how much they are in love. If everyone can remember how it was when you had this epic crush on a guy/girl and you aren’t together yet but you know it’s mutual and you dream about that moment every second of the day and then this person shows up and you are kind of shocked to see this person and your heart goes ‘boom’ under one second flat and your palms are sweaty and you can’t swallow anymore and you’re a nervous wreck. And do you know what I mean? And I talk about Alex and Scott here too.

So that’s why I need to talk about this scene because it freaking shows! Because this is not Steve hugging Kono and Chin and Danny - nope - in this scene, it’s Alex hugging Grace and Daniel and Scott. Especially Alex hugging Scott.

Steve’s first moments together with Danny. They play it cool, both of them. Steve’s look is so questioning, insecure but at the same time, he doesn’t want to show how much he’s afraid of Danny’s speech because he left without informing Danny, without so much as a word, showing trust to let Danny know what’s going on.

And Steve goes: “Book him Danno.” and Danny answers “You just could have said hello. (Not before he shouted ‘I knew it: Cargo pants’) So they banter to disguise their true feelings, playing it down, keeping distance. But Steve can’t do without touching and his hand clamps down on Danny’s shoulder lingers there and slides down only because Danny escorts Wo Fat to the nearest police car before he turns to look at Kono and at Chin.

Kono walks up to Steve after she has shot Adam’s lawyer.

Kono: “You don’t write. You don’t call.”

Steve: “Come here.”

Steve laughs and pulls her in.

(When did Steve close his eyes, hugging Kono after he had returned from a mission?)

Kono: “We missed you.”

Steve:” It’s good to be home.” (I mean look at his face!)

Steve is so overwhelmed, relieved and very needy for contact, to assure himself that everyone is still here, that everyone is doing fine and they are all there, waiting for him, missing him and all of them only feel whole again after Steve’s back in their inner circle, completing their ohana.

Steve even cups Kono’s head! I mean...my heart hurts, okay?

And then there’s Chin and it’s even more special how Steve greets Chin.

Okay, it begins like... come here, nice to be back and let’s not lean in too far. Chin seems hesitant because it’s Chin. Zen and distant and cautious and all this. But Steve just goes for it.

Chin: “It’s good to have you back.”

Tight, tight hug, almost grabby hands, not wanting to let go.

Chin: “You all right?”

Steve: “I’m good.”

And then this uncharacteristic question follows the hug and look at this wide and wild happy grin from Steve:

Steve: “You miss me?” (playful, teasing voice)

(And Chin laughs so freely and a tad surprised.)

Chin: “Ha-ha-ha.”

And Steve’s just so happy and handsy and somehow touch-starved. He cups Chin’s face!! He’s so damn happy to be back, to have all of his friends right there with him. When has Steve EVER asked if Chin is happy to have him back, touching his face? Jesus, so many emotions are exploding like a supernova right before my eyes.

Meanwhile, Danny’s watching how Steve greets Kono and Chin. Jesus. And how he’s watching, how his body language gives him away. Ah, dear God, have mercy.

Danny rubs his hands, repeatedly. He has his eyes on Wo Fat but he also tries to calm his wild hammering heart. And the best detail that gives him away how damn nervous he is, is the way he blows up his cheeks, pursing his lips. He’s a mess and he tries to cover it up. And he always casts his looks over to where Steve stands, knowing he’s next to say hello after all that has happened. He’s angry with Steve, he was worried sick, he’s deeply in love and he tries to steel himself for the moment where Steve’s arms will wrap him in a tight embrace after such a long, damn time.

Okay, first comes this nonsense bro-hug with Danny’s usual back patting. Danny approaches Steve with the sentence: “What a mess.” And Steve goes: “Yeah, yeah.” Those morons, seriously before they hug like this.

But the feelings rush over them like a tide and they can’t hold back and Steve and Danny kind of cling to each other, but they try to cover it up by joking and laughing but there are SO MUCH love and devotion floating around between the guys that I can’t. Honestly. This scene overwhelms me.

So, yeah, I really see Alex in this scene and next to him Scott, Daniel and Grace, and the dialog is almost too perfect. It also relates to the long weeks where Alex was absent and away from the set. This special scene shows a deeper reunion than just the one from the getting back together with the Five-0 task force members.

[hannahmanderr]

2am WIP update bc why not

Supernova is (and has been) fully planned out, it's just a matter of writing it. I'm beginning to plan one-shots or other shorter fics I'd like to include in the same continuity, since I won't get to address everything in the longfic

Plans to write a super secret surprise crossover are still in the works. I'm going to try and make it my second priority (first is Supernova) lest Kad actually blow up from me not writing it. All I'll say is that there are Doodles (TM)

I still have a crap ton of kissie prompts to fill, thanks to a spam session between me, Kad, and Scarlet. I'll continue to chip away at them as time goes on bc they're a lot of fun and I will always take the fluffies

Throwing around ideas for a longer form Dash/Danny fic. Really rn it's nothing more than thoughts, but they are thoughts that continue to plague me (/pos) so why not do something about it

I have tons of other one-shots/short stories I've started or at least done planning for, but most of them will probably get abandoned in all honesty

I know what I'd like to write for Invisobang this next time around. For obvious reasons I will not disclose what that fic will be fjdjsj

Probably forgetting some but those are the important beats. Really it just helps me to think "out loud" and process through it lol

[isagrimorie]

The Doctor’s harshest, worst critic in the world will always be the Doctor themself.

Twelfth Doctor: I know one thing about the Architect. What is it that I know about the Architect? I know one thing. Something that I've known from the very start.

Clara: What?

Twelfth Doctor: I hate him. He's overbearing, he's manipulative, he likes to think that he's very clever. I hate him! Clara, don't you see?

(He strikes a handy gong.)

Twelfth Doctor: I hate the Architect.

- Time Heist

Or better the scene from Amy’s Choice where Eleven tells the Dream Lord how he figured out who the Dream Lord is: “there's only one person in the universe who hates me as much as you do.“

The Dream Lord was a psychic manifestation of the Doctor’s dark side and everything the worse thoughts the Doctor has about themself, manifested:

Eleventh Doctor: Where did you pick up this cheap cabaret act?

Dream Lord: Me? Oh, you're on shaky ground.

Eleventh Doctor: Am I?

Dream Lord: If you had any more tawdry quirks you could open up a Tawdry Quirk Shop. The madcap vehicle, the cockamamie hair, the clothes designed by a first-year fashion student. I'm surprised you haven't got a little purple space dog just to ram home what an intergalactic wag you are.

—-

Eleventh Doctor : I need to find my friends.

Dream Lord: Friends? Is that the right word for the people you acquire? Friends are people you stay in touch with. Your friends never see you again once they've grown up. The old man prefers the company of the young, does he not?

(transcripts from Chakoteya).

Also, one of the other things I love about Twelve is how he has his peers back, not only in age but in maturity and in equal skill and knowledge. I think its one of the reasons why Twelve feels so complete in his journey and kept accountable. He has the Master/Missy to keep reminding him about who he should strive not to be but also to remind the Doctor who they used to be.

There’s Ohila from the Sisterhood of Karn, someone who seems to have known the Doctor back when they were young and who could rightfully tell him about how they messed up: “You have betrayed every code you live by.”

Even Clara stepped up to be Twelve’s equal, especially in series 8 IMO, both their masks were put away and they have their truths right in front of each other — although this becomes a dangerous thing in series 9 where Twelve is aware that this pushing each other, and gambling their lives thing would be deadly in the end but the Doctor doesn’t know how to stop.

But it also makes me wonder if this is precisely why Thirteen is avoiding spending any more time with Graham than she should. The Doctor recognizes their similarities and right now this isn’t something Thirteen is willing to rehash.

The Doctor was just healing from losing River and Missy is a fresh hurt. Bill is a raw wound. Nardole is mixed in their somewhere with all the people Twelve failed to save. She’s running away pretty hard and maybe lying to herself about learning lessons when she’s actually trying to avoid anything that would remind her about anything about her past. Or anything that would explain herself to her friends.

I think, for a breather and recruiting its okay for them to back of from the Doctor a bit but in series 12, I think they need to go back to really delving into the character of the Doctor, especially as Thirteen.

She’s so determined to be good and kind that she’s actively avoiding any situations where she has to be too serious. I think, she would need an episode like ‘Amy’s Choice’ where the Doctor’s character is revealed to her friends.

Clara already knows the Doctor doesn’t like themself, especially post-Trenzalore where the Doctor’s war trauma issues comes back with a vengeance and any unfortunate soldiers the Doctor meets becomes a victim of it. (Poor Journey Blue and Danny Pink, and the unfortunate UNIT Colonel in ‘Dark Water’ - who are all coincidentally people of color).

There is a reason why my favorite moments in ‘The Witchfinder’ is King James calling out Thirteen about hiding behind a title, and then Thirteen making it plain how they’re similar, and then as poor as I think ‘Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos’ was, I also loved the moment Ryan calls the Doctor out about her stance on weapons, and then Thirteen’s very foreshadow-y (IMO) statement: ‘Don’t quote that back to me, I change my rules all the time.’

And then the very next episode Thirteen gets permission to basically toast a Dalek, no matter how dangerous it is. She even goes out of her way to throw it at sun going supernova.

How long is that ‘be kind, be nice’ thing going to hold? I feel like that’s a ticking time bomb waiting to explode on everyone’s faces and I for one can’t wait.

[kynky]

STRICTLY DRUM & BASS. NOVEMBER UPDATE

Tracklisting

1 Bad Bitch (Ten Ven & Ripley Vs. Zebra Katz) - Kove Remix – Ten Ven, Ripley, Zebra Katz, Kove

Anywhere - Macky Gee & Mollie Collins Remix – Sigma, Macky Gee, Mollie Collins

Avalon – Jubei, Tyrone

Babylon – Dkay, Kasra

Badboy Business (feat. Kate Stewart and Mr Williamz) – SHY FX, Kate Stewart, Mr. Williamz

Beat Down – Prolix, DC Breaks

Believe – Matrix & Futurebound

Big Data – Arkaik

Birthright - Biometrix Remix – Celldweller, Biometrix

Bitcoin – Neonlight

Bloody Knuckles – Kanine

Breathe In – High Maintenance, Ayah Marar

Bruises – Fox Stevenson

Champion Sound – Deekline, Fish, Navigator, Blackout JA

City Syndrome – Current Value

Commotion – Friction, Jem Cooke

The Crazy Dragon – Bladerunner

Creator's Flower – k?d

Crunch Time – Merikan

Dawnbreaker – Metrik

Deep Deadly – Lynx , MasterX

Desire – Sub Focus, Dimension

The Drift – Gremlinz, Jesta, Rumbleton

Enforcer – Kid Drama

Entr'acte – Magnetude

Every Minute - InsideInfo Remix – Brookes Brothers, InsideInfo

Feelings – Kanine

Foreign Beggars - Signal Remix – Foreign Beggars, Feed Me, Signal

Frozen Nerves – Lakeway

Get Physical – Culture Shock

God Only Knows – High Contrast

Holy Star – Danny Byrd

Horsepower – Muzzy

I Feel It – Social Misfits

I Walk the Dog - Re-Mastered – Goldie, Rufige Kru

If We Ever - Unglued Remix – High Contrast, Unglued

Keep Rolling – Dj Andy

Keepin It Raw – Break

Kronan – The Upbeats, Halogenix

Leave a Light On - High Contrast Remix – Tom Walker, High Contrast

Let Me Go – Stompz

Like That – Consouls, Kronology

Louder Than Words - Neonlight Remix – Celldweller, Neonlight

Lurkers – Levela

Mindfuck - Donny Remix – Counterstrike, Donny

Mirror Signal – Feint

MOFOS – Deekline, Freestylers

Mr. Saturday Night – NC-17

Music To My Ears (feat. Tory Lanez) - Danny Byrd Remix – Keys N Krates, Tory Lanez, Danny Byrd

Need – Zombie Cats, ABIS

Needle - QZB Remix – Vorso, QZB

Night Dawns – Pola & Bryson, Lauren Archer

Pixelated – Des McMahon

Poison – Bou

Popular – Upgrade

Proud feat. Tiffanie Malvo - Enei Remix – Sam Binga, Rider Shafique, Tiffanie Malvo, Enei

Rave Alarm – Kings Of The Rollers

Reanimator – Mindscape

Rebel Lion – Freestylers, K-OSS

Red Rain – Djinn

Reload – Kiril

Remember Me – Icicle

Retreat2018 – Chase & Status, Cutty Ranks

Round Ere – K-Motionz

Rub a Sub – Redpill

Say a Prayer - Brookes Brothers Remix – TIEKS, Chaka Khan, Popcaan, Brookes Brothers

Scorpion – Dirtyphonics

See For Miles – Krakota

Shibuya Pet Store – The Upbeats, Noisia

Skysteppa – Benny L

Sometimes The Going Gets A Little Tough - High Contrast Remix – Finn

Stargazer - Kove Remix – End of the World, Kove

Start Over - Kove Remix – Ellis, Laura Brehm, Kove

Starting It Over – Danny Byrd, Hannah Symons

Sun - Vocal Mix – DJ Limited

Sun Rising - Toez Remix – MSDOS, Toez

Super Funk – Drumsound & Bassline Smith

Supernova – Hybrid Minds, Catching Cairo

Surge Engine – Black Sun Empire, Nymfo

Sweet Home – Stoner

Takeover (feat. The Qemists) – Zardonic, The Qemists

Tapestry – Hybrid Minds, Emily Jones

Tardis – Matrix & Futurebound

Tension – Levela

Téquila Limonada (The Prototypes Remix feat. A.CHAL & The Prototypes) - The Prototypes Remix – Netsky, A.CHAL, Christopher Garvey (The Prototypes), Nick White (The Prototypes)

Theory – Genic

The Time – Commix

Tonight – Kove

Ultraviolet - High Contrast Remix – Freya Ridings, High Contrast

Unforgiving – Kid Drama, DLR, Ulterior Motive

The Veil - Killbox Remix – Black Sun Empire, Killbox

Warriah - VIP – Moresounds

Way Home – Air.K & Cephei

The Weapon – Raiser

When The Sun Goes Down - Dillinja Mix – Fresh, Adam F, Dillinja

Without You – Lockjaw

Wonder – Ownglow

Words to Say - Hybrid Minds Remix – Urbandawn, Hybrid Minds

Yim Yam - Teddy Killerz Remix – Doctor P, Teddy Killerz

You Must Comply – FuntCase, Teddy Killerz 

SUBSCRIBE > SHARE > HIT SHUFFLE & TURN IT UP

[sciencespies]

NASA ‘LightCube’ Mission To ‘Flash’ Earth Despite Ethics, Light Pollution Concerns

https://sciencespies.com/news/nasa-lightcube-mission-to-flash-earth-despite-ethics-light-pollution-concerns/

NASA ‘LightCube’ Mission To ‘Flash’ Earth Despite Ethics, Light Pollution Concerns

As of 2021, planet Earth is currently experiencing the least pristine night sky in recorded history. Prior to the development of artificial lighting, the naked human eye could see up to 6,000 stars on a clear, moonless night. Today, there are only a few locations left on Earth’s land masses — mostly isolated in a few Dark Sky preserves or where professional observatories are located — where light pollution from the ground doesn’t severely reduce what the human eye can see. The advent of LED lighting and the lack of appropriate fixtures in our global infrastructure continues to worsen this problem, with no relief in sight.

However, the last two years have brought with them another crisis for skywatchers and astronomers alike: worsening light pollution from satellites. As large numbers of bright, close satellites are launched to provide a large-bandwidth, low-latency global data network, viewers of the night sky — including many astronomical research programs — have a new, non-removable obstacle to contend with. However, the latest development is truly a shocker: NASA has approved a CubeSat mission that will deliberately “flash” planet Earth from space, making it the brightest artificial light pollution point source in history.

The flash of the xenon tubes to be used in the LightCube cubesat, as seen during a test of the flash … [+] operations. This signal, when activated in space, will be the brightest artificial light source ever put into orbit by humanity. What appears to be a rising Moon or planet is actually just the flash of this technology, as tested from a significant distance away.

Arizona State University

In astronomy, there are two basic categories of phenomena we can investigate with the observational tools in our arsenal.

Static phenomena. These are the properties of the objects in the night sky you see that don’t change. Objects that are far enough away that they don’t appear to move relative to the other objects in the sky, objects that don’t vary in brightness, and objects that don’t undergo any catastrophic or cataclysmic changes all fall into this category. This is what people most often think of when they think of astronomy: unchanging objects that you can view anytime and see them exactly as they always are.

Transient phenomena. Basically, a transient phenomenon is anything that moves, changes, or comes-and-goes with time. Nearby objects, like the ones in our Solar System, are transient in position. Variable stars aren’t constant in time. And numerous events — particularly on fast timescales, like mergers, explosions, disruptions, and collapse — that cause rapid brightening or dimming fall into the transient category as well.

The problem with satellite pollution is that the presence of these artificial objects severely confound and limit the types of transient phenomena we can detect.

The Variable Star RS Puppis, with its light echoes shining through the interstellar clouds. The … [+] Variable Star RS Puppis, with its light echoes shining through the interstellar clouds. Variable phenomena in the Universe, including time-varying stars, outbursts, flares, tidal disruption events, gamma-ray bursts, supernovae, and yet undiscovered sources, all rely on continuous imaging that looks for brightness variations. Satellite megaconstellations severely threaten this type of science.

NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team

The basic problem is that certain signals can only be extracted from the data if they stand out against the noise. For static signals, it’s not that big of a deal; if you’re looking at an object and a satellite appears in your detector, you can just subtract out the data from when the satellite was present, plus any additional time that your detector is saturated from the trail the satellite left in it. You’ll lose some data, but that can be mitigated with longer observing times.

However, transient phenomena will suffer drastically. The way that we detect transient phenomena — today with observatories like Pan-STARRS and the Zwicky Transient Facility, and in the future with the upcoming Vera Rubin Observatory — is with automated surveys. We take an image of the sky in a certain location, and then a short time later, we take another, identical image, and subtract the two. Anything that’s changed, brightened, appeared, disappeared, or moved will be highlighted and stored in a database.

The enormous problem is that satellites will create new optical transients — noise sources — that outnumber and outshine the natural sources astronomers are attempting to observe and understand. These inherently hardware problems, worst of all, cannot simply be fixed with software.

On November 18, 2019, a constellation of Starlink satellites passed through the observing frame of … [+] the Dark Energy Camera aboard the 4m telescope at CTIO. Any technique that we’d use to subtract out these trails would hinder our ability to detect potentially hazardous asteroids or measure variable objects in the Universe.

CLIFF JOHNSON / CTIO / DECam

Since the launch of the first SpaceX Starlink satellites in 2019 — thus far the worst source of satellite-based light pollution — astronomers have begun organizing in efforts to help mitigate this new type of light pollution. Many of the world’s leading astronomical institutions, including the American Astronomical Society, the National Science Foundation, and the International Astronomical Union, have been working hard to convince satellite providers to reduce the brightness and numbers of their satellites as well as the impact on astronomy.

Simultaneously, they’re working towards global regulation of these satellites, including on an international level with organizations like the United Nations. The impact thus far on astronomy has already been substantial, but with the upcoming Vera Rubin Observatory, and the massive, automated telescope at its heart, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), even the most optimistic scenario will result in a loss of approximately ~20% of the most important objects, disproportionately affecting efforts like potentially hazardous asteroid tracking.

The number of satellites visible during astronomical night from a simulated 10,000 satellite … [+] constellation at both 500 km altitude (orange) and 1,000 km altitude (blue). Note how Earth’s shadow reduces the impact of lower-altitude satellites down to zero for a few hours during the night, even during summer, while the higher-altitude constellation never reaches that mark.

Pat Seitzer, presented at AAS237

In the early days, one could have claimed that these difficulties were unforeseen and unforeseeable, as SpaceX initially did. Over the past two years, however, the astronomical community has put an enormous amount of time and effort into educating the public and the relevant industries about satellite pollution and potential mitigation efforts; at this point, there’s no excuse for not thinking of and reckoning with these issues. In fact, the second workshop on satellite constellations in the United States, SatCon2, was just announced for mid-July, 2021.

And yet, NASA just announced their 12th round of selected candidates for CubeSat space missions, and one of the selections, from Arizona State University, is the LightCube: a satellite explicitly designed to send a bright optical signal to any member of the public on Earth at any time they request it. You might think that there’s no reason for NASA to concern itself with satellite pollution (since it’s in space and not on the ground), but even a telescope as famous as Hubble has been “photobombed” by a Starlink satellite while it was taking data.

While observing targets in the Kuiper belt on November 2, 2020, a Starlink satellite passed across … [+] Hubble’s field of view. Starlink 1619 passed 80 kilometers from Hubble on this date, creating a streak that was 189 pixels wide in this image. Given that the main Starlink fleet cruises just 12 km above Hubble’s operating altitude, many more of these photobombs are anticipated.

NASA/Hubble/Simon Porter

The LightCube itself appears to be a student-run project with a simple, seemingly innocuous goal: to allow amateur radio operators to communicate with the satellite. Anyone with the appropriate amateur radio licensing — and with equipment that costs less that $50 to obtain — will be able to telecommand the LightCube satellite. Through simple tracking with an app, the user will then be able to transmit a signal to the LightCube, and their reward will be a flash of light, created from the spacecraft using xenon tubes, that’s so bright it will be clearly visible from the ground.

According to Dr. Danny Jacobs, the associate director for laboratories at ASU’s Interplanetary Initiative,

“This is an education-based mission. Our goal in building and launching a spacecraft that can be commanded by the public is to inspire everyone to learn about telecommunications, spacecraft design, atmospheric and climate science, and orbital mechanics.”

All of that sounds good, of course, and is a worthy goal in science education. But like all projects, the full suite of effects, including unwanted effects, must be taken into account when evaluating such a proposal.

This dual image shows the emission of GRB 080319B, imaged by Swift’s X-ray Telescope (L) and, later, … [+] followed-up by the Optical/Ultraviolet Telescope (R). This was the brightest gamma-ray burst ever recorded at the time, and was so bright that, for about 30 seconds on March 19, 2008, it was visible to the naked human eye. Optical bursts like this are extremely rare, and a fast optical burst has never been seen naturally, but artificial ones could arrive first if we’re not careful.

NASA/Swift/Stefan Immler, et al.

From the perspective of an astronomical observatory, what they’ll see will be the equivalent of a specific type of transient signal that has been sought, but never before seen, in nature: a fast optical burst. Just as astronomers have serendipitously discovered fast radio bursts, it’s been theorized that a visible-light equivalent or counterpart may be created as well. Astronomers have been searching for them, albeit to no avail, and now there’s going to be a source of noise that will mimic them precisely.

The downsides are extreme. In terms of light pollution:

all large-area surveys will be affected, in that any signal generated by the LightCube while it’s above the horizon for any ground-based observatory can interfere with science observations,

the brightness of the LightCube will be extreme, on par with the light signals from the brightest planets, saturating detectors and rendering them unusable for some time after each “flash” is emitted,

the satellite can be activated by anyone at any time, meaning that it’s not possible to predict when or where these optical bursts will occur,

and that this sets an enormously bad example for all current and prospective satellite providers, as it demonstrates a lack of concern within the community for issues that are vitally important to a sustained enterprise of ground-based astronomy.

The LSST at the Vera C. Rubin observatory, shown here in a 2018 photo, is currently being … [+] constructed and approaching readiness for its first observations. Even if satellite darkening were to take place according to SpaceX’s stated plans, this world-class, first-of-its-kind observatory will be forced to alter its operations to account for Starlink. The addition of NASA’s LightCube is just an insult to the enterprise.

LSST PROJECT/NSF/AURA

The frustrating thing about this project is that the goals of it are completely reasonable, but that the implementation is horrific. Of all the things one could choose to do to alert or communicate success to the user — which other CubeSats, like Foras Promineo from a local school district in Sandusky, Ohio, successfully do — why did the LightCube team choose an incredibly bright, disruptive optical signal? Why are there no measures built in to prevent activation of the satellite when it’s visible from ground-based observatories? And why did the signal have to be in the optical at all?

Moreover, why would a prominent institution like Arizona State University even propose this mission? Where was the faculty oversight of this student-sponsored project? How did NASA wind up selecting this particular project without demanding changes to mitigate the effects on ground-based astronomy?

None of these questions have good answers, and it raises red flags about both satellite brightness and the effects on light pollution, and also on the ethics — or lack thereof — of robbing all the denizens of Earth of the dark night sky that is our multi-billion-year-old heritage.

The design of the LightCube is very simple: a small cube with solar cells, an antenna, a weighted … [+] end, and a xenon flashtube with electronics inside. However, its light pollution effects will be mighty, as well as mightily unnecessary.

Arizona State University

You might argue that the situation would be different if there were an enormous benefit — either scientifically or technologically — to this particular mission, but there is none. There is no science to be gained from this mission at all; it’s sole value lies in education for a specific, small subset of enthusiasts: amateur HAM radio operators. Typically, when such missions are proposed, there must be significant coordination in order to avoid interference. However, in the optical band, there are no regulations in place like there are for the radio.

Billed as an education mission, it’s really just a “fun demonstration” that you can see what you command in space from the ground. However, the downsides are enormous, as this satellite will be the single brightest contributor to artificial light pollution when it’s active. Worst of all, it contributes to a growing problem from the very organizations — NASA and members of the astronomical community — that should be setting the example for how to behave responsibly.

LightCube Principal Investigator Jaime Sanchez de la Vega with an early prototype of LightCube and a … [+] handheld radio and antenna that can be used to communicate with the spacecraft.

Jaime Sanchez de la Vega / Arizona State University

There are all sorts of types of pollution that we create where we don’t consider the ill effects until it’s too late to reverse course. The idea of seeing a signal from space that’s activated explicitly by one human user, but that will affect every ground-based observer who has a clear line-of-sight to that satellite, is unconscionable for an astronomer. We have extremely tight regulations on cities, infrastructure, and ground-based light sources near an observatory, and it’s now apparent that even a student-run project, even one vetted by NASA, can circumvent all of that hard work with one ill-considered decision.

The truth should be more apparent than ever: we need guidelines, regulation, and consistency when it comes to preserving the night sky for all of humanity. Amateurs and professionals alike benefit from dark, clear skies, as do all humans and animals. The true value of dark, pristine skies has never been quantified, but the ill effects of losing our darkness have been measured on the health, sleep, and longevity of humans and other living creatures. We’re all free to live and create exactly as we choose, but not at the expense of the health, wellness, and freedom of others.

You can visit the LightCube website here.

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