#ectoberhaunt day 18: teeth

[five-rivers]

Dentition

Here's what you need to know about ghostly dentition: For the first few years of unlife, the ghosts of humans have teeth of roughly the same size and shape as they did while alive. However, these are the ghostly equivalent of baby teeth. After a ghost has been dead for at least two years, but no more than five, their teeth will begin to change shape. Change shape, not fall out and be replaced. Ghost anatomy is much more plastic than that of a human. This process takes about one month, give or take. Additionally, if the ghost is one of the lucky few to become venomous, their venom sacs grow in at the same time. Once the process of growing the teeth and associated structures is complete, the fangs are retractable.

Here's what you need to know about half ghost dentition: Half ghosts undergo a similar process. Their human halves reflect the changes. However, they do lose their initial set of teeth to make room for their new ones.

Here's what you need to know about Danny Fenton: He is a half ghost. His luck is also incredible.

Not in a good way, of course.

.

Danny's whole mouth felt tender, and he didn't know why. The feeling had been building since yesterday morning, but, by this point, it had become almost unbearable. That, coupled with the growing desire to chew on and bite things, was slowly driving him insane.

"It almost sounds like you're teething," said Sam.

Danny grunted dubiously. He had all his adult teeth.

"I mean, it might be a ghost thing," clarified Sam.

"Or you could have burned your mouth on something without realizing it," offered Tucker. "Or you could be getting some canker sores?"

Danny shook his head. That's what he thought at first, when the pain had been limited to the roof of his mouth and a few places on his gums, but now it was everywhere.

Jazz, who was on spring break from college and driving the three of them home from school, made a face. "I hate to suggest this, but do you think Mom and Dad could have put something anti-ghost in our food?"

Danny groaned and let his head fall against the dashboard. It did him no good. In fact, jostling his face made his mouth ache even more. It would be like his parents to unintentionally and unknowingly poison him in the name of protecting him from ghosts.

"I'll cook tonight," said Jazz.

.

Despite Jazz cooking (and nothing coming to life!), Danny mostly pushed his food around his plate and avoided everyone's eyes. He wasn't sure if the pain killed his appetite, or if the idea of his food being poisoned did it. Either way, he wasn't hungry. He did, however, chew on the collar of his shirt until it was wet and disgusting.

Immediately after dinner, Danny slouched up the stairs and made a beeline for his room. He wanted to sleep this out, if at all possible.

He threw off his normal clothes, threw on his bedclothes, and collapsed, wrapping his covers around him and rolling over instead of climbing under his covers like a normal person. That was fine. He wasn't a normal person.

He went to sleep.

.

A dream about swimming ended when the thought that the water was only wet on his face crossed Danny's mind. Slowly, he pulled his eyes open, and his brain eventually processed the fact that (a) it was still dark out, and (b) his face was pressed into a truly prodigious amount of drool.

He sat up, the fabric of his pillowcase trying to stick to his face. He threw the pillow to the side, and walked to the bathroom to try and clean up a little before going back to sleep. Usually, Danny had pretty good night vision, to the point of being able to see in the dark, but his vision and brain were so fuzzy at the moment that he fumbled for the bathroom lights anyway, and hissed as the bright lights temporarily blinded him.

Finally, his eyes adjusted enough for him to look up, into the mirror, and his heart almost stopped.

He was covered in blood.

His hands flew up to cover his face as he stumbled back against the far wall. Yes, he was half-ghost and had technically died, that didn't make him immune to shock or particularly happy to see blood all over the side of his face. It hadn't been drool sticking him to the pillow. Not just drool, anyway. It had been blood.

Why was he covered in blood? Had he turned into a vampire in the night? Did he hurt someone? Were vampires based on half-ghosts? Considering Vlad's aesthetic...

No, wait. On second glance, the blood had a distinctly sparkly cast to it. He stepped closer to the mirror, and a shiver of relief work its way into his body. That shimmer was ectoplasm. It was his blood.

But why had he been bleeding? Maybe he had bitten himself.

Or, more likely, whatever the heck was going on with his mouth was reaching a new level of bad. His teeth, now that he was thinking about them and not the blood, hurt much worse than they had when he went to bed.

Hesitantly, he probed his front teeth with his fingers. They moved.

THEY MOVED.

.

Danny did not often sneak into his sister's room at night for advice, but 'not often' was a far cry from 'never.' Jazz wasn't surprised when he prodded her awake. Sleepy, yes, possibly just a little annoyed at waking up, though that vanished when she saw Danny's stricken face, but not surprised.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I think I'm losing my teeth," said he little brother, eyes wide and a touch too bright in the dark.

Alright, that was unexpected. "What?"

"I woke up, and my teeth were bleeding, and now they're all loose." His voice wobbled.

"Oh," said Jazz, still trying to kick her brain into gear. "Um. Is it a ghost thing, do you think?"

"I don't know," moaned Danny. "Nobody talks to me about anything." He sniffed. "What am I supposed to do?"

That was a good question. What kinds of options did Danny have?

"Do you have any ghost friends you could talk to?" she asked.

"Maybe," said Danny. "But they're far away, and they don't really have human teeth."

Jazz refrained from asking what kind of teeth they did have. She'd known about Danny's ghost powers for over a year, now, and she still only knew a fraction of what he got up to.

"I know you're not going to like this, but, um, what about Vlad?" Danny gave her a horrified glare. "I mean, he knows more about ghosts and half ghosts than we do, and he won't want anyone, you know, examining you. Which is what is going to happen if your teeth fall out."

Danny wilted, and put his hand to his mouth. "I guess." He shook himself. "I woke up in a puddle of my own blood and drool. Mostly blood."

"Ah," said Jazz.

"I'm going to go now."

"He might not appreciate you waking him up in the middle of the night," warned Jazz.

"Vlad doesn't sleep," said Danny.

"I'm sorry," said Jazz, "is that, like, a real thing, or some kind of joke? I'm too tired to tell."

"He's too evil to sleep."

"Danny, really. Don't antagonize him when you want his help."

Danny put his arms around his knees and looked very small. "Okay," he said. "You're right. But what should I do until then? What if- What if one of my teeth really does fall out?"

That image was more disturbing than it had any right to be. "Just go to sleep, and if your teeth do start falling out... I guess we'll deal with it. I've heard putting them in a cup of milk and spit helps preserve them? So they can be re-implanted?"

"Oh," said Danny. "I guess that's good to know."

"Get some sleep," Jazz said again. "First thing tomorrow, I'll drive you to Vlad's."

"I'll just fly."

.

The conversation with Jazz had been painful. Talking should not be so painful. It sucked. It was the worst. And he was not able to get to sleep again.

As soon as the sun was up, Danny left to harass Vlad. Which was how his brain pronounced 'ask Vlad for help.'

He could hardly believe he was doing this. It was so stupid. Vlad hated him, he wasn't going to help. Maybe he should ask Clockwork, or make the flight to the Far Frozen, even if he wouldn't be able to put up a good fight against a ghost in this state. After all, Vlad would probably try to fight him. At least random ghosts in the Ghost Zone might leave him alone.

Yeah, he didn't believe that either.

He set down right outside Vlad's front gates, invisibly, not sure if he should just phase in, or if he should press the buzzer and wait outside. Usually when he came to Vlad's he was with his parents, Vlad had dragged him there, or they were already in the middle of a fight. He wasn't sure how to... petition Vlad, and that was what he was doing.

Danny pressed the buzzer. Ancients, he hoped Vlad was here and not in Colorado or Wisconsin.

"What?" came the short, clipped, reply. Clearly, Vlad was annoyed at being bothered so early in the morning.

"It's Danny," said Danny. "I need to talk to you about something."

There was a long silence, and Danny wondered if Vlad had chosen to ignore him.

"Daniel." The smoothness of Vlad's tone was broken only by the crackle of the intercom. "What an unexpected surprise. Do come in. I am in my dining room, and I am sure you can find your way."

Given permission, Danny phased through the gates and then the walls of Vlad's mansion. The dining room was, as Vlad had intimated, easy to find, and Danny dropped his invisibility.

Vlad did not look up from his breakfast, which seemed to consist of some kind of complicated omelette. At the smell, Danny's stomach growled. He hadn't a full meal since this time yesterday.

"So," said Vlad. "To what do I owe this pleasure, Daniel?"

Danny looked up at Vlad, then away, then at Vlad again, then away. He glared at Vlad's clean, shiny floor.

"Well, I do hope you haven't come because some cat ghost stole your tongue," said Vlad, sarcastically.

"My teeth are falling out," said Danny. They were certainly looser than yesterday.

Vlad stared at Danny for several heartbeats, then started laughing. He actually slapped the table a few times. Danny glared. If he knew how to do the eye laser thing, Vlad would be on fire.

"Oh, my dear boy," said Vlad, "forgive me. Has no one told you about ghost fangs?" He suppressed a snicker with his hand.

"No," said Danny.

"Well, that's quite an oversight in your education, isn't it? If you had accepted my offer..." he trailed off suggestively, almost purring.

Danny tried to purse his lips, but winced as doing so pushed his front teeth back.

Vlad smirked, and gave him a quick rundown of how teeth developed in the recently dead. "... of course, he finished. Half-ghosts like us are different. We, unlike them, do lose our original teeth. But you'll be glad to know the whole ordeal will be over in a month."

"A month? My teeth won't grow back for a month? Vlad, I have school! I can't hide that I don't have any teeth for a month!"

"Doesn't your spring break start today?" asked Vlad patting his lips with a napkin.

"What does that matter if this will last a month?"

"Calm down, boy. Your most visible teeth should regrow themselves in a week." Vlad pushed his food aside. "Of course, those will include your fangs, and part of why this takes a month is that the last molars and the muscles and bones involved in retracting and extending the fangs are developing. Nevertheless, that shouldn't be an issue so long as you avoid talking and eating around people less oblivious than your father."

"Hey!"

"Or perhaps you could convince people that you are wearing novelty fangs. Your friend Samantha enjoys that kind of thing, correct?"

"It's Sam," grumbled Danny, resenting the fact that Vlad was giving him good advice. "What about before my front teeth grow back in?" he asked. He didn't want to refer to any of his teeth as fangs. He didn't even want to think about having fangs.

(Hair made of fire and eyes as red as fresh blood flickered in his mind's eye.)

"Well, as I said, you're on spring break. Wouldn't this be a wonderful time to take advantage of, say, an internship opportunity with your beloved godfather?"

"I'm sorry, what? My what?"

"Me, Daniel. I'm offering to let you stay with me until your teeth have grown in enough to pass muster."

"Absolutely not," said Danny.

Vlad scoffed, and leaned back in his chair. "Don't mistake me. I'm not doing this out of some misplaced sense of altruism. I don't want anyone looking too closely at your anatomy."

"Gross."

Vlad ignored the comment. "If you are found out, the best defense of my identity, that no one knows half ghosts are possible, vanishes. This is merely enlightened self-interest. Does that make you feel better?"

Oddly enough, it did.

"Good. Now," he made a little shooing motion with his hands, "go home. I will make arrangements with your parents."

.

Danny arrived on Vlad's doorstep, his father in tow, making a valiant but ultimately futile attempt to avoid playing with his now very loose front teeth.

"V-man!" exclaimed Jack, exploding through the door without bothering to knock. "It's been forever!"

"It's been two days, Jack," said Vlad, repressively. He had, wisely, been waiting at the top of the wide stairs that led to the mansion's second floor.

"But it feels like so much longer!"

"I wish," muttered Vlad.

Jack, undeterred ran up the stairs and hugged Vlad.

"Yes, yes," said Vlad, strained, "very good. Now, Jack, Daniel and I have a very busy day ahead of us. I'm afraid we must be off at once."

"Aw, already?"

"My pilot doesn't like waiting."

Danny leveled a baleful glare at Vlad. The man hadn't mentioned anything about leaving Amity Park.

Jack skipped out the door, and the GAV sped off.

"Oh, do stop looking at me like that," said Vlad. "We aren't leaving your precious town, although I'm sure it would survive just fine without you."

"Then why-?"

"Well, we certainly couldn't have your parents dropping in at all hours to check up on you, could we?" Vlad shuddered dramatically. "In any case, I have your room made up. Follow me."

Danny picked up his luggage, no longer pretending he found it heavy now that his father wasn't around to see, and trudged up the stairs after Vlad.

The room was nice. Too nice. A little too space-themed for his peace of mind as well, with the stars on the walls, spangled bed sheets, and planet-shaped lamps on the bedside tables. The game console in the corner had the effect of making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"Please tell me you set up this room in the last two days."

"Don't be ridiculous. I've had this room decorated like this since I moved in. I had hoped you would come to your senses."

"My senses. Right," said Danny, trying to decide if it was too late to hide at Sam's for a week. Sadly, it probably was.

"Well, get your things put away, and meet me downstairs for brunch in half an hour. I doubt you've eaten much since we last spoke." Vlad strode out of the room, not looking back.

Danny stared after him, unsure if he should feel touched or creeped out. Both, maybe.

Finally, he sighed and heaved the suitcase up onto the bed. He had asked for this, he reminded himself. Not the bedroom. But Vlad's help.

If there had been any other friendly ghosts within flying distance...

Okay, he'd still have needed the cover, and Jazz, Sam, and Tucker could only do so much.

Danny finished unpacking in a few minutes. He hadn't brought a whole lot of stuff with him. Just enough clothing to last a week without washing, the thermos, some homework, the Spector Deflector, the collapsible version of the Boo-Staff, some Fenton Sleeping Bag Capsules, in case he had to run and spend the remainder of spring break roughing it in the woods.

Okay, he didn't think he'd have to do that, otherwise he wouldn't be trusting Vlad even this far, but it was better to be safe.

He walked downstairs, slowly, then started to look for the kitchen, vaguely worried about being ambushed. He wasn't. Point for Vlad.

Another point for Vlad - He was actually cooking.

"I doubt you want to eat anything too tough at the moment," said Vlad, "although once your new teeth grow in, you'll be gnawing on things before you know it. So, I'm making eggs. You aren't allergic to anything?"

"Not other than blood blossoms, no."

Vlad sighed and tipped the eggs he was frying onto a plate. "Shall we let bygones be bygones, little badger? At least for the duration of our little truce? For the sake of your problem, if nothing else."

Danny's lips twitched, sending a wave of pain across his face. "Yeah, okay," he said. He reached out for the eggs.

Vlad passed him the plate. "I'd like to do some scans of your teeth, when you're done."

"Why?" asked Danny.

"So suspicious," said Vlad. "Remember, you asked for my help."

"Last time you wanted to do scans of me, you were trying to clone me."

"This is different," said Vlad. "Although, I do wonder if Danielle will be losing her teeth, soon. Something for you to watch out for, hm?"

"What do you want to do the scans for, anyway?" asked Danny, picking up a fork.

"Oh, the usual. Making sure your teeth are growing in properly, checking if you'll be venomous, that kind of thing."

Danny dropped the fork. "That's an option?"

Vlad smirked. "Oh, it isn't very likely, but... You do have very odd luck, Daniel."

And didn't Danny know it.

"I'll pass on the scans."

"Really?"

"Cloning," Danny pointed out.

Vlad sighed. "I suppose you have something of a point. Let's make a deal. If I haven't done anything sinister by the middle of the week, you get those scans. It will, after all, be much harder for me to help you without them."

Danny frowned. "I didn't know that you were going to 'help' me beyond, you know. Hiding me."

"Please, Daniel. I'm trying to convince you to join me. I'm hardly going to deny you medical care while you're here. Besides, if you go back to your parents looking like a trainwreck, I'm the one who will get in trouble. Assuming they notice, of course."

Well... when he put it like that... "You're awful," said Danny.

"And yet, here we are. So, what is your decision?"

Danny sighed. "I'll think about it."

[notoverjoyed]

Ectoberhaunt day 18: Eyes vs. Teeth

Tucker's finally found it. He's found the food he'd been craving.

His teeth grow more treacherously sharp every day, and his lips will forever be stained by the red and green of his feast.

It terrifies him, this change that has overtaken him.

But he's so hungry, and his teeth are so very sharp.

[jackdraw-spwrite]

Funerary Rites, Chapter 5

Words: 3435

Characters: Danny, Clockwork

Warnings: None

For Ectoberhaunt 2023, Day 18 - Unravel

The kitchens were on the ground floor of the house, or the basement depending on how one looked at it; one side emerged from the hillside into a small garden, while the other was buried deep in the earth. The house itself was pale in the early morning light but accented with dark shutters. It sprawled along the hillside, larger by far than the kitchens below.

Read the rest on AO3 or below the readmore:

They entered the little garden together, and then the cool shadows of the kitchen.

Caretaker gestured to a bench near one of the doorways. "Take a seat there."

Danny did.

Like most things in the kitchen, it was made of stone, and cool enough to bring a chill to Danny's arms. Somewhere, Danny could hear water running.

He watched as Caretaker ventured deeper into the shadows and re-emerged with a glass he offered to Danny.

Danny took it. The weight of it played in his hands as though full.

"It's water?" he asked.

"Yes," said Caretaker.

Danny frowned into the glass. Sniffed. The fluid inside was clear.

It smelled cool and sweet, though perhaps that was the kitchen. The room smelled chill and earthy, but sweet air wafted in from outside the open door in a perfect complement that brought to mind fresh streams and warm days.

Unlike his tongue. His tongue felt sticky and stagnant in his mouth, and he remembered that he hadn't brushed his teeth last night. Or this morning.

Ick.

Danny stuck out his tongue a little, and swirled the water in the glass again.

It almost sparkled, clear and sweet and tempting. Suddenly, it was difficult to think of anything but the sweet chill of fresh water on his tongue. 

Danny didn't like sudden urges to indulge in things. He pulled the glass away and looked up.

Caretaker was fiddling with the doors.

"What are you doing?" Danny asked.

"I am opening the kitchen up," said Caretaker.

With a thunk and a rolling noise, an entire part of the wall moved sideways, exposing the archway that was on the outside of the house. Light swept in, though with the early hour the kitchen's furthest corners were scarcely more lit than before.

"Isn't there magic to do that?" Danny asked.

"There is a certain satisfaction," Caretaker said, pausing to repeat the action on another arch, "in working with one's hands. It is why I enjoy baking, and the creation of food."

"Oh," said Danny, looking back down at the glass in his hands. Even in much brighter light, the liquid inside was still clear and colorless.

"And gardening," added Caretaker, more softly.

Danny looked back up, and Caretaker was staring at him.

"Um." said Danny.

"Yes?"

Danny mentally fumbled for a question. Why are you staring at me was too hostile to use if he was going to keep pretending that he wanted to do this. As was is this really water? Did you poison this? and how much poison would need to be in here for you to say it wasn't water?

"Why is everything a mess if you like gardening?"

Caretaker looked as though he'd been slapped.

Internally, Danny winced. 

"That–I," Caretaker said.

It was the first time Danny had ever heard him stumble for words. He almost stumbled physically, too; his shoulders sagged under an invisible weight as Caretaker slumped, steadying himself against a table.

His head bowed.

"I suppose," Caretaker said. "That question is only to be expected. Especially from you."

Caretaker’s eyes were hidden beneath his hood. Even so, Danny felt their weight.

For a breathless moment, he froze.

Whatever Caretaker meant about the question being expected, Danny hadn't expected this reaction when he'd asked it.

He hadn't expected anything, too busy flailing for a question that wasn't as loaded as are you poisoning me that he’d blundered directly into a worse one.

Quietly, carefully, Danny set the glass to the side. At the faint click of it against the stone, Caretaker's head snapped up enough to meet Danny’s eyes.

They didn’t move away.

With the doors open, it was bright enough to see their garnet red. Bright enough to see them burn.

The chill of the stone crept up Danny's spine.

"It has been difficult," said Caretaker, slow, "to manage, alone."

He didn't blink.

Danny broke first. He looked away, to the brightening landscape outside. In the little garden just outside the kitchen, the plants had resolved into distinct shapes and leaves; there was a large mound he thought might be sage, and another that seemed a bit like lavender. There were smaller plants, but his family had always emphasized defensive herbs over the culinary.

"How is your water?" asked Caretaker, drawing Danny's attention back to the kitchen. He’d drawn himself back up, as though the moment had never happened.

"I haven't had any," Danny said, and picked it back up.

"Why not?"

Danny paused. He still didn't know how to ask if it was poisoned. And that was assuming Caretaker really couldn't lie. The glass was cool and inviting in his hand. The light gathered in its depths rippled with the water.

"I got distracted, I guess," he said.

Caretaker had promised not to allow harm to come to Danny while he was here. He couldn't have poisoned it. Equally, he couldn't have given Danny something he hadn't poisoned but knew was dangerous.

The water should be fine.

Danny tilted the glass.

It still made him nervous. Like there was something…

"You said we could make a pie?" he asked.

"I did."

"Not some kind of witch of the woods baking me into a pie, right?"

"No. Child, your water…"

Danny set it to the side again, a new plan forming in his head. "I changed my mind," he said. "I don't want water."

"What do you want?"

To go home, offered the part of him that lacked self preservation instincts. He ignored it.

"Um," said Danny.

"What about tea?"

"Okay," said Danny.

Caretaker nodded.

Shortly afterwards the kitchen was lit by a fire, crackling away beneath a kettle. Caretaker busied himself opening cabinets and pulling things out, wiping off surfaces so industriously that Danny began feeling awkward just sitting there.

Danny pulled at his pant leg. He wanted to get it out of the way, but he also didn't want to take Caretaker's help. After some fiddling, he knotted it into his sash so it at least wouldn't trip him. But with that taken care of, silence descended once more.

…

He was trying to act cooperative.

"Caretaker," Danny asked. "Is there something I can do?"

.

"Just mix until it's  roughly combined," said Caretaker. "No more dry flour left, and no more water.”

Danny had his hands buried in a mass of flour, water, and weird-smelling goo in a large bowl. Bits of it had stuck fast to his hands, and he stuck out his tongue at the sensation.

And the looks. He squished his hands closed and watched things squelch in the bowl. He did it again, and the goo oozed through the gaps in his fingers in neat little streams.

"Ewww," Danny breathed, delighted. He hadn't realized making bread was like this.

He mushed it again.

Soon, the mass was rough, and Caretaker looked over his shoulder before pronouncing that Danny should dump it out onto the counter and knead it properly.

And then demonstrated, when Danny said he didn't know how.

Once Danny got the hang of it he found it was soothing, in a weird way. He could press the dough with his hands and pull at it and roll it together and squish it, over and over again. When, slowly, it started resisting more and sticking to his hands less, it was satisfying. Even if it was still sticky.

There were a bunch of clinks and clatters and other noises from the rest of the kitchen, but it didn't seem too dangerous or important, so Danny let himself be drawn into the rhythm of kneading the dough. With each squish and pull, some of the tension woven through him faded.

He was still trapped. He was still stuck with a dangerous fae he knew far less than he thought he had, and for most of a week, all to save his parents’ lives. He hadn’t forgotten that. It was impossible to forget that.

But…if all he was expected to do was stuff like this…

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

Clink.

Danny looked up. There was a small ceramic cup on the counter. Above it, Caretaker looked at him from where he'd set it down.

"Um," said Danny, and looked down at the dough.

"For when you're done with that. You're getting close."

That didn’t help the knot of dread that had reappeared in his stomach. Thoughts of his earlier plan resurfaced. How did you mess up dough? He didn't know. He knew you could burn bread. His parents were many things but 'distractible' was one of them and 'good at baking' was not.

…throwing it on the ground would probably work.

Splat.

"Oh no," said Danny, failing utterly to sound concerned.

On the floor, the dough lingered flatly for a defeated moment before slowly pulling back in on itself, like an alien creature.

Caretaker was silent.

Danny looked up at him.

His eyes were wide, still pointed at the space where the dough had been. Then he visibly shook himself.

"That should be cleaned up, and another loaf started."

Danny looked after his back in disbelief as Caretaker bustled off in the direction of the flour. That was it? That was all?

It couldn't be.

Danny hadn't even managed to sound convincingly sorry to himself. His Mom or Dad would have sent him to his room. Caretaker had been surprised, sure, but.

But he’d also been calm.

Danny stared down at the dough. It had flattened on impact, but now it was peeling its edges from the floor, drawing itself inwards and back to a rounded shape.

Danny's throat felt drier than before. 

"Come," said Caretaker from behind him.

Danny startled.

Caretaker didn't comment. There was a clunk as he set the bowl back on the work table before speaking again. "The dough will stick to the floor if we leave it there, and it is difficult to clean."

Danny didn’t move.

"I will show you where to dispose of it, if you pick it up."

Still confused, Danny did, and followed Caretaker outside to the compost bins. The sun was well up now, though the little herb garden still lay in shadow. Danny lingered, tracing his eyes over the paths he could see through the untended fields that lay below the house.

Caretaker had said it was hard to do it alone.

Danny could see why. He didn't know much about gardening but that was probably a lot of space to use. But it was confusing, too.

Wasn't Caretaker a lord of some sort? Even if the title was stupid and pretentious and Danny hated it on principle, it was still a title. Why would a lord be gardening alone instead of getting other people to help? Why do it at all, if he had trouble with it?

Was it shameful to get gardening help, or something?

…Was Caretaker even telling the truth about being a lord? Danny hadn't seen any servants around, except maybe the weird fae in the night. Lords were supposed to have plenty, right?

And the weird one had been in the garden, too. Did Caretaker's servants only come out at night? Did he only allow them to?

Something clinked in the kitchens, and Danny headed back in. He didn't want Caretaker coming to check on him.

.

"You didn't have your tea," said Caretaker.

"Oops," said Danny, and reached for it, knocking it over and spilling the tea over the floured table.

"Oops," said Danny again, unconvincingly.

In the ensuing silence, the cup rolled towards the table’s edge. Caretaker stopped it with a touch. He was frowning.

"Child," he asked, "Is something the matter?"

Is something the matter?

Danny’s facade shattered like the cup hadn’t.

"Is something the matter?" Danny repeated, slightly hysterical. "I didn't sleep last night, and the only food or drink I can get is probably drugged. And you're asking me if something is the matter?!? There was a fae in the garden last night and you're asking me if something is the matter?!?"

Danny stared at Caretaker, chest heaving.

Caretaker looked back, eyes widened before narrowing dangerously. "What was in the garden last night?" he asked, voice soft.

"A, um. A fae," Danny said, abruptly concerned for the maybe-servant. What if they were just trying to get some flowers? Danny would look at people, too, if he realized they were watching. Especially if he wasn't supposed to be there. "Don't you have servants? I, um. Maybe it was one of them?"

"I have no servants, child."

Danny's veins turned to ice.

"What was the appearance?" asked Caretaker.

Danny swallowed. "They had a white cloak.” He no longer felt as bad for the servant that wasn't.

"A white–how long?"

"What?"

"How long was it?"

"Really long," said Danny. "Um. They were in the bushes so I couldn't see, like, their feet. But it went out of sight."

Caretaker relaxed. Danny couldn't see why.

And then he pulled down his hood, and Danny could.

"Oh," said Danny.

"Yes, 'oh.'" agreed Caretaker. Without the shadows of the hood, Danny could see the way his eyes were wrinkled in amusement. Danny could also see his long, white hair. "I think, perhaps, I should hang this up," he said, tapping the little gear clip that kept his cloak closed.

He pulled it from his shoulders and moved to the entryway to hang it on a hook.

With his back to him, Danny could see that Caretaker's hair reached to his calves. Unlike the night before, it was tied back instead of loose, held at the nape of Caretaker's neck with a scrunchie. Probably not a scrunchie, Danny amended mentally. He was pretty sure those had plastic, and Caretaker had made his opinion on that abundantly clear.

Danny looked down to the spilled cup of tea. The puddle had spread all the way to the dough, where he could see the pale amber staining it on the bottom. Some of the puddle had gone the other direction, too, and was now dripping onto the floor in a parade of tiny splashes.

Danny felt a twinge of guilt.

"Why do you refuse to drink?" asked Caretaker.

The guilt vanished. "I'm not refusing to drink," said Danny.

"Child," Caretaker warned.

Danny plunged onwards. "If you gave me water, normal water, I'd drink it."

"I did, and you did not."

"You gave me drugged water," said Danny.

"I did no such thing," said Caretaker, and circled the table so he was across from Danny, frowning down at him.

"Fine," said Danny, even though it was nowhere close to fine. "If I had drunk that stuff, what would it have done to me?"

"It would not have bound you to this place."

"That's not answering the question."

Caretaker stiffened. For a moment that felt far longer than it probably was, he stared Danny down with his head back, anger scrabbling for purchase on his face.

Danny drew back, and the anger evaporated from Caretaker's face, replaced again with sorrow.

"You are afraid," he murmured. "I keep forgetting that."

Gently, he worked the dough loose from the countertop, and it was only then that Danny noticed how deeply Caretaker's too-long fingers had sunk into it.

.

When he returned from disposing of the dough, Caretaker picked up a little rectangle of wood and began scraping at the paste left behind. As he did, he spoke.

"The rules of food and drink are complex and many-layered, here. I cannot tell you the precise mechanics of water here, just as you could not tell me the precise mechanics of electricity in your world."

Danny frowned at the reminder of his parents.

"It is a scholar's topic, child. And a topic of debate, at that."

Here, Caretaker paused to look at Danny, considering.

"But I can tell you this much: the waters of this world will not bind you."

But…there was more than just binding, wasn't there? Danny wracked his brain, trying to put a name to his unease. But catching the thought was like grabbing smoke; every time he tried it slipped away, dispersed all the more by the effort.

"I don't know," Danny said, finally.

"What don't you know?"

Danny blinked. He'd forgotten the thread of conversation.

"I don't…" Danny bit his lip. Why hadn't he slept?

But he knew why.

"What were you doing in the garden last night?" he asked.

"Gathering flowers," said Caretaker.

“You weren’t spying on me?”

"No."

"Then why did you look up?"

Caretaker stared at him. "I imagine it is a common reaction to being stared at, even among humans. Would you do differently?"

Danny looked back down at the empty cup, feeling embarrassment flush his face. That was a more than reasonable explanation. He’d even thought of it, earlier.

Caretaker sighed. There was the scuffing of feet on stone, and then Danny heard him kneel beside him.

He looked up.

"Daniel," Caretaker said. "I know that you are fearful. I know that this has been…hard, for you. But please, do not make me force you to drink."

"You would," said Danny, dread pooling in his bones.

"My hand would be forced," said Caretaker. "By the terms of our agreement. Dehydration, severe dehydration, is unambiguously harm."

"You could break it," said Danny.

"Break–" Caretaker hissed. "I would do no such thing."

"But you could," said Danny.

"You don't know what you're suggesting."

"I think I do."

"Then do tell.” Caretaker said. He stood. ”What happens when a fae breaks their word?"

"I–" Danny broke off. His parents had mentioned it once or twice, surely. At some point over the years they must have. They talked about the fae so much.

But Danny had always tuned them out.

"You are lucky that you suggested that to me," said Caretaker. "Almost anyone else would find a way to bestow upon you an equivalent harm to the one you so casually suggested."

"What–"

"Think," and Caretaker’s voice was dark like thunder, "if I could break the bindings of my word so easily, why should you trust our agreement to keep you safe from me? Am I a cruel monster, kept at bay by chains of ink?" Caretaker's snarl crawled up his face. "Or am I going to save you despite them? No matter what it costs me? Do you want me to save you by endangering you, even as you act as though I will keep you safe from myself in doing it? Which am I? Decide."

Danny shook his head angrily. "No, you decide. You're the one who keeps switching between awful and, and–" Danny frowned, reaching for a word that danced beyond his grasp.

“Understanding?”

“No.”

“Kind?”

“No! Stop forcing words on me!”

“Safe?” Caretaker asked, and his voice was deadly soft.

“N–” Danny choked. “No,” he said, quiet, and drew his arms around himself.

Caretaker’s answering silence was louder than words alone could be.

.

Some time later, Danny looked up at the click of ceramic on stone as Caretaker set a cup on the table before him.

He looked back down.

“It is only water,” said Caretaker, voice still soft.

“I don’t want it.”

“By now, that matters little. You need it.”

“I don’t want it,” said Danny again, glaring up.

“Are you a child?”

“You seem to think so.”

Caretaker made a noise of aggravation. “It’s difficult to treat you otherwise when you act like this.”

“You mean, not doing whatever you want?”

“I’m trying to avoid forcing you to drink.”

“It seems pretty forceful to me!”

“Are you so certain that you have a good grasp of the situation? You’re dehydrated and exhausted.”

“It’s good enough to grasp this,” said Danny, and upended the cup on the floor.

“You–” Caretaker visibly calmed himself down. “Daniel–”

The use of his name was like dumping water on him–if he were a grease fire.

"You want me to drink?" Danny exploded. He was furious. "You want me to drink?"

"Yes!"

"Okay!" Danny snarled, and seized the cup. He marched over to the spring of water that trickled down into a basin and shoved his cup beneath the stream just long enough to fill it.

Then, fury still bubbling beneath his skin, he tossed it back into his mouth, and swallowed.

[ovytia-art]

Ectoberhaunt 2022 Day 18: Eyes/Teeth

Biblically accurate Danny?

First combined one, which you will be seeing more of as we near the end of the month and as I run out of steam.

Masterlist

[camels-pen]

the ostrich to your smoothie

Ectoberhaunt day 18 - Eyes & Teeth

Summary:

“Danny, what is that?”

“Rice,” Danny answered in a muffled voice.

Jazz took a deep breath. “I mean, is that real?”

warning: severed jaw

Ao3 Link | part of the In Service of The Realms series

Jazz walked down the stairs, a yawn escaping her, and thinking aloud about what to have for breakfast when she froze. Danny, sitting on the couch and holding a pair of chopsticks, waved at her.

She pressed her palms into her eyes. “Danny, what is that?”

“Rice,” Danny answered in a muffled voice. He swallowed and subtly shuddered.

Jazz took a deep breath. “I mean, is that real?”

“Oh.” There was a long pause and Jazz moved her hands to watch him. Danny was holding up the blue severed jaw he was eating his rice out of and squinting at the bottom of it. After a moment he shrugged, set it back down on the coffee table, and continued eating. “It didn’t have a price sticker on it, so it’s probably real.”

“Okay, great. Fantastic. Follow up question, why are you eating out of that?”

Danny swallowed the rice in his mouth with a grimace and said, “Gift from the eyeballs. They said it was a part of the pre-coronation duties to ‘eat from the severed jaw of a worthy enemy’.” His air quotes were fairly awkward since he didn’t put down the chopsticks.

“Ugh, gross.”

“I know, right?” Danny continued eating, very clearly trying not to gag. “If I didn’t want to become their boss and fuck up their afterlives so badly, I would’ve launched this thing into the lake already.”

Jazz came closer to squint at the jaw herself. “If it’s supposed to be from a worthy enemy, whose is it?”

“Vlad’s.” Jazz paled slightly. Danny huffed, crossing his arms. “Yeah, I know, but it was either him, Dan, or Pariah. And since they’re definitely not letting out those other two, they had to settle for him.”

“Holy cow,”—Jazz sat heavily on the couch—“does that mean Vlad’s just walking around without half of his jaw? And how did they even manage to—? I mean I know he’s half-ghost, but wouldn’t that—?” Jazz cut herself off, her face gaining a green tint to it.

Danny waved a hand. “Oh, nah. Vlad convinced them to take it from a duplicate. They had to do some fancy thing to it so the jaw would stick around even when the duplicate was destroyed, but Vlad himself is fine.”

“How’d you find that out?”

“Because the first thing I did was call him to make fun of him. Then he actually spoke words and I hung up on him. The Observants were still around when I called Vlad so they explained it to me.” 

“Danny!”

“What? It was a golden opportunity!” Danny threw his hands up. “And he would’ve deserved it after all the stupid stuff he’s put me through,” he grumbled.

“True, he would have deserved it,” a third, familiar voice said. 

Jazz blinked and Clockwork in their child form appeared on the other side of the coffee table.

They smiled at Jazz and Danny. “Hello children. As much as I would love to chat with you, I need Daniel’s help.” They turned to Danny. “The Observants were lying to you. This is not a pre-coronation ritual and that is not Vlad’s jaw, they only needed you distracted for a few hours while they—”

“They thought it would take me hours to eat all of that? I finished more than half of it in less than one!”

“Your parents end up returning home right as you have a few bites left in it and cause you to spend the rest of the day finding a plausible excuse to explain why you have a severed human jaw in relatively good shape, why you are eating out of it, and that it has no connection to ghosts.”

Danny sagged his seat. “Ugh, yeah that would do it.”

“You were saying?” Jazz prompted.

Clockwork nodded, shifting to his adult form. “They are attempting to find a poison capable of making you ill enough to lose a fight to one of their other candidates for Ghost King. Unfortunately, the way they are going about it will jeopardize an entire territory of sentient plant ghosts that are integral to the health and stabilization of the Realms.”

“Eyeballs fucking shit up because they can’t see the big picture, got it.” Danny got up and dusted off his pants. “Welp, not the worst thing I could be doing on a Saturday.”

Clockwork’s face softened, giving Danny an apologetic look. “Were I able to oppose them directly—”

Danny gave him a sad smile. “I know, Grandpa.”

Clockwork sighed. He leaned forward and pressed a kiss above Danny’s left eye before floating through the portal. Danny turned back to Jazz as he transformed to Phantom.

“Jazz, could you—?”

“If they ask, you had a sleepover at Tucker’s house last night and haven’t come home yet.” She held up her phone. “I’ll get Tucker to send me a picture of you two hanging out, in case they want proof.”

Danny smiled and his shoulders slumped as he promised to do his best to get home before dinner. Jazz waved goodbye, telling him to be safe as he disappeared through the portal.

She was about to get up and start making breakfast when a thought occurred to her and her eyes were drawn back to the coffee table. “Wait, then who’s fucking jaw is this?!”

End notes:

some unlucky ghost in the ghost zone is trying to reform their jaw and cussing out the Observants in their head

also, inspiration for this fic is thanks to this thing i drew back in high school, which came to me in a dream

[ajitated]

Kitsune au Preview (ch1) by ajility

Ectoberhaunt 2021, Day 18, Spider Lily (treat)

(Originally posted 10 November 2021)

This is an unbeta'd version of the first chapter for a much longer kitsune au fic I'm writing! @13thcat originally came up with kitsune au, though I'll be taking my version in a different direction :3c

Summary: Being from a family that has a history in exorcism mostly meant that he gets laughed at in school and his parents spend too much time building ridiculous weapons to fight things that don't exist. ...And then his parents decided to move to Japan, halfway through Danny's first year of high school, and he quickly learns that spirits do exist, and that finding them is a lot easier than his parents led him to believe.

Keep reading, or check it out on ao3!

Ch01 Sneak-peek:

Danny knows he’s dreaming in the same way that you know something terrible is going to happen to the protagonist in the beginning of a horror movie; it’s a fact, there’s nothing that can be done about it, but you still flinch when it happens, you still hold yourself back from yelling at the screen and telling the characters ‘no! don’t go in there!’

He’s in a forest, the same forest he always sees in his dreams, with trees too tall and wide to really exist and little dancing lights that flicker at the edges of his vision. There are a lot of things like the lights, that lurk and taunt and exist only until he tries to look at them more directly, but the lights are the most prevalent… and the only ones he doesn’t really mind.

At least they don’t make him feel like he’s being watched, like there’s something silently laughing at him and waiting for him to come just a little bit closer so it can pounce.

Leaves rustle and a stick snaps behind him. Danny spins around, already growling and ready to protect himself, but… there’s nothing there. Nothing he can see, at least.

Danny knows that ghosts aren’t real, when he’s awake — or at least, not real in the way his parents think they are. They don’t go around haunting and killing the living. They don’t hide items that are important to people. They aren’t malevolent, they aren’t the source of all living people’s problems, and they most certainly don’t need to be hunted with special weapons.

Maybe things were different in the past, he doesn’t technically have proof that they’re not real… but despite being from a long line of exorcists, his parents don’t have proof that they are real, either. You would think that a family of exorcists would have some sort of proof, if the things they exorcise actually exist.

But things aren’t as clear-cut, when he’s dreaming. Dream-him isn’t bothered by things like reality and science; he takes note of the little lights dancing just out of focus and thinks ‘will-o-wisps’. He sees strange shadowy shapes creeping between trees and thinks ‘bakemono’.

He does things like growl and bear his teeth at potential threats that never actually turn visible.

It’s probably a good thing he hardly ever remembers the dreams upon waking, because there are a lot of invisible potential threats in the forest, and it’d be really bad if Danny picked up a habit and started reacting to things by growling when he’s awake, too.

A gust of wind. More rustling leaves. A low growl builds in the back of his throat. A shadow starts building up just off to his right side, something growls back, and Danny slaps a paper tag in the direction of the shadow before taking off, twisting and weaving between the trees.

Branches almost seem to reach out for him but he’s gone before they can ever make contact, moving so quickly it’s almost like he’s flying, feet never even touching the ground.

He makes it to a stone path and stops for just a second, orienting himself and choosing a direction before continuing to run. He can just make out a splash of bright red through the trees and he grins — a torii gate. He must be near the entrance, if he can just make it through the gate-

A teasing laugh sounds out, directly next to his ear, and Danny lashes out with sharpened claws even as he’s jumping away. How did one get so close-?

A ripped paper tag drifts to the ground.

“Ohh, your reaction time is getting better,” a voice teases, from directly in front of him.

He growls in frustration, because he still can’t see the speaker. How can he deal with a spirit, if he can’t tell what type it is?

“You don’t want to step through that gate, though,” the speaker continues, either ignoring the fact he can’t see them or unaware of it.

“Why not?” Danny demands, “I want to go home.”

“And so did all of us, at one point or another,” the voice agrees, and it’d almost be sympathetic if the sharp edge of amusement wasn’t still present, “but that doesn’t make it a good idea.”

“So, what? You want me to wander around this forest forever?” Danny says sarcastically.

“No, of course not. This world has much more than a single forest, and you have a whole lot to learn.”

There’s a pause. He thinks that maybe they left or just don’t want to give him any real explanation, but then there’s a soft pressure on the back of his neck and the voice is directly by his ear again.

“We’ll see each other soon, but for now… What I want, is for you to wake up, little fox. Before you forget how.”

-

Danny wakes with a start, only to get pulled back by his seatbelt and to find Jazz staring at him with raised eyebrows. He grasps at the remnants of his dream, trying to hold on to anything at all, but it’s already fading.

His fingers feel weirdly blunted and tingly, there’s an uncomfortable pressure in his jaw, and even the way he’s sitting feels wrong, like he shouldn’t be able to lean back in a car like this. He’s felt like this after just waking up before but usually it isn’t quite this vivid.

It’d probably help if he could remember what he dreams about — are they even dreams? Maybe it’s nightmares — but all he can call up is the thought of running, needing to run, and an impression of teasing laughter. He sighs.

“We’re almost there, honey,” Maddie says, “and look! There’s the school you two will be attending now. It looks nice.”

“It looks old,” Danny grumbles, crossing his arms. What a way to start a New Year: another weird dream, and an overly long trip because his parents decided they’re going to move to Japan halfway through a school year. “Why couldn’t we at least wait until summer for this?”

“The shrine won’t sit there forever, Danno! Great grandpa Walker left it to us, and it’s our duty to uphold the Fenton family name and hunt down those ghosts!” Jack says, with way more excitement than the situation warrants.

“Spirits, Jack. We have to be respectful,” Maddie reminds him.

Jack nods and brandishes the ecto-gun he’s been polishing since they got off the plane and started driving. “Right! Maybe your school will be haunted, wouldn’t that be exciting? It could be our first job in Japan!” He points the gun in the direction of the school as they drive past.

Jazz puts a bookmark in the book she hasn’t stopped reading since they left, and snaps it shut. “I’ll pass on that, actually. I plan on getting an education at school, not performing exorcisms.”

“Oh come on kids, quit whining. It’s fun to move to a new place, it’ll be an adventure!” Maddie insists, glancing back at them for a second. This leads to them almost missing a turn, and she dramatically spins the wheel to make up for it with a “Whoops!”

Jazz’s book slides into Danny’s leg, and Jazz probably would’ve slid into him too if it weren’t for their seat-belts. The road gets bumpier, then turns into dirt and starts slanting up. Danny suddenly has a very bad feeling about this.

Jazz does too, if the way it looks like she suddenly swallowed a lemon is anything to go by. “...mom? Why are we heading up the mountain now?”

“We’ve talked about this, sweetie. We’re here to take over the upkeep of a shrine.”

“Yes,” Jazz replies slowly, “but that doesn’t explain why we’re heading up a mountain when we’re supposed to be moving into our new living space today.”

“The shrine is our new living space Jazzypants!” Jack booms, “and everyone knows that shrines have to be on mountains! It’ll be great, what better way to learn more about the gho- er, spirits on this side of the world than to live right in a real shrine?”

Danny is pretty sure that isn’t true, that there’s no requirement that says shrines have to be on mountains, but arguing it is probably a moot point. It wouldn’t change the fact that this shrine seems to be on a mountain, and that his parents have, evidently, decided they’re going to live in it. Are you supposed to live in shrines?

He exchanges a glance with Jazz. At least they’re both annoyed about this, and Jazz hasn’t been able to muster up her ‘look on the bright side of things!’ attitude yet. They’re going to have to walk down a mountain every day to get to school, just because their parents are obsessed with ghosts, despite the fact that they’ve never even seen a real ghost — or spirit, as they’ve started insisting ever since they first learned of the shrine great grandfather left them.

Danny never met his great grandfather. He didn’t even know they still had any family living in Japan, but maybe if he’d known, he would’ve been able to beg the man not to leave a shrine to his parents.

Jazz leans over and whispers, “...maybe it won’t be that bad? People probably don’t send spam mail to shrines, and mom and dad can’t attach any weird giant signs to it, right? It’d be too disrespectful.”

When the shrine comes into view, any potential optimism they’ve dredged up disappears just as quickly as Danny’s memories of his dream did.

It might have been beautiful, once upon a time, but now… well. He’s pretty sure their grandfather hadn’t been doing any upkeep for at least a few years now. The paint is cracked and peeling and it looks entirely abandoned, some plants have even started wrapping around the wood and growing up through cracks.

The inside isn’t any better. Some of the wood is rotting and there are even more spiderwebs. The only upside is that since their grandfather lived there for so long, there are valid living areas, even if they desperately need to be cleaned and fixed up. Upon seeing the outside, Danny had been half worried that there wouldn’t be a kitchen or bathroom or bedrooms.

...actually, maybe it would’ve been better if there hadn’t been a kitchen. Then they would’ve had to find an alternate living situation, and their parents wouldn’t be excitedly discussing how they’re going to fix up the place and what additions they should add on.

Their parent’s enthusiasm hasn’t wavered at all, despite the state the shrine is in — and worse, the fact this is a shrine doesn’t seem to be stopping them from pulling out plans for a lab and workshop space. Now that it’s happening, he isn’t sure why he and Jazz expected otherwise; their parents are nothing if not predictable. At least the living quarters are separate from the main part of the shrine.

Jazz glances at him and offers a weak smile. “At least we’ll get to learn more about the other half of our heritage?”

Danny isn’t sure that’ll make up for everything else, but he nods. At least Jazz can work up some excitement over learning about the culture.

All he’s thinking about is Amity Park and Nasty Burger and everything else they left behind. He’s interested in learning more about Japan too, of course, but… he would’ve preferred to do it through the internet. Or anime. Or anything less extreme than ‘move to the country with roughly 24 hours of warning.’

The moving truck has already dropped off all their stuff, at least. His parents start bringing in all the larger boxes and furniture, while he and Jazz bring in small boxes and suitcases… then start the arduous task of cleaning.

Danny stops and turns around more than once, quite certain something is watching him from the forest that surrounds the shrine, but nothing is ever there.

They work late into the night, getting rid of all the spiderwebs and dirt first. The next day, they start going through cabinets and counters and shelves, dusting and clearing out any of the random stuff they find.

It’s mostly empty, but Danny finds a few old papers with calligraphy he can’t read and a surprisingly nice teapot. It’s heavy and black, probably cast iron, with a gold flower design going around the outside. It feels strangely warm when he picks it up, but he can’t get the lid off, so it must be a decorative piece.

He sets it down on the counter and goes to get Jazz, intending to show her the teapot and see if she can open it… but it’s gone when they walk back over.

“...so?” Jazz asks, glancing around the room with a raised eyebrow. “I thought you found a fancy teapot.”

Danny goes through the cabinets quickly, but those are empty too. “I left it right there, it was black and had gold designs!”

Jazz stares at the counter that very clearly has nothing on it. “...mhm. I think the dust might be getting to your head. Oh!” She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a little rectangular charm. “I picked this up earlier, here. It’s an ‘omamori,’ meant for luck and protection. You can keep it in your pocket or hang it off a bag, and when it gets really dirty or a year passes, you replace it.”

Danny examines the little charm for a second, silk embroidered with gold thread, then puts it in his pocket.

“Shrines usually sell these,” she continues, “so we might end up having a whole bunch here. I have no idea what mom and dad plan on doing besides the exorcism stuff, but… we’ll probably have to start doing some shrine stuff too, right? It’s just a local shrine, but people must still know it’s here, so we might get visitors… I have to research it more.”

Right. The exorcism stuff. Danny wonders if people here will be more open to the idea, or if they’ll get scoffed at and laughed at again — no one in the US ever took them seriously, though they did occasionally get accused of being devil worshipers.

“Thanks for the charm, Jazz,” he replies, instead of addressing any of the other stuff. He has no idea what they’ll end up doing with the shrine, after all, and with how long repairs and fixing everything up is going to take… well. There’s plenty of time for his sister to research.

Jazz smiles and nods. “There’s a bunch of different types, I’ll have to figure out what each is for. For now though, let’s go outside? I think it’s time for some fresh air. We can finish inside once mom and dad decide where they actually want to put everything.”

There’s a loud crash as something is dropped in the other room, quickly followed by Jack shouting, “I’m ok!”

“...yeah, outside sounds like a good plan,” Danny agrees, and they go to sit on the freshly swept steps to the shrine.

Danny takes a moment to actually look at the area surrounding them for the first time. They’re around three fourths of the way up the mountain, and there’s a stone path that splits in two right outside the gate, one side going down the mountain and the other leading farther up, disappearing into the trees. There must be something at the top of the mountain then, right? Besides more trees, since it seems to mostly be forest here.

He turns his attention to the gate, which desperately needs a paint job, and notices a splash of color he hadn’t seen when they first drove up. Spider lilies. Had those been there yesterday?

“Hey Jazz,” he asks, pointing at the flowers, “were the spider lilies there when we drove up yesterday? I didn’t notice them.” Considering they’re the only part of the shrine that’s bright red, what with everything else being so faded, he definitely should’ve noticed them.

“Spider lilies?” Jazz repeats, looking towards the gate. “Oh. Those are red poppies, Danny. I’ll have to get you a book on plants, whenever we find out where the nearest library is… They were there, they just hadn’t been in bloom when we arrived.”

Not being in bloom is a good enough reason for him to miss them, but… Danny is pretty certain those are spider lilies. He might not be great at plants, but even he knows that poppies are small and roundish, and those flowers are large and spindly.

Maybe he’ll get Jazz a book on plants instead.

Whatever.

He stands up and stretches. “I’m gonna go for a walk. Be back soon, ok?”

Jazz sighs and also stands, brushing off her pants. “Ok. I’ll do a little more cleaning, maybe try to convince mom and dad to get our beds set up for tonight. Be careful?”

“Yeah yeah,” Danny replies, already heading towards the forest. “I’ve got the charm you gave me, I’ll be fine!”

As he walks through the gate, he stops for a second to take a closer look at the flowers and determines that yep, they’re definitely spider lilies. He’ll have to make fun of Jazz later, for thinking they’re poppies… Maybe she needs glasses? But for now, he heads up the path. It’s time to find out what’s at the top of the mountain.

-

Check it out on ao3 for notes and more info.

[goodfish-bowl]

EctoberHaunt and Ectober Week 2022 Master Post

Happy Halloween! Here’s my complete collections of prompts for this month. Big thanks to those over at @ectoberhaunt and @ectoberweekofficial for the prompts! All fills should be correctly tagged, fics contain summaries and AO3 links, and please do mind the warnings if they’re there.

All my Ectoberhaunt22 fics can also be found here on AO3

Ectoberhaunt22

Day 3 - Order: Order to Entropy (poem)

Day 3 - Chaos: Refraction Chapter 3: Break to Build (fic)

Day 4 - Box: All Boxed Up (art)

Day 4 - Staff: Spirit of Rock (art)

Day 5 - Wraith: Paved with Good Intentions (fic)

Day 5 - Banshee: The Last One (art)

Day 6 - Burn: Fevour (fic)

Day 6 - Freeze: A Mercy (fic)

Day 7 - Purify & Infect: Detox(ic) (art)

Day 10 - Hunger: Taste Test (fic)

Day 10 - Harvest: Harvest Moon (art)

Day 11 - Drown: A Nap with the Fishes (fic)

Day 11 - Thirst: A Craving to be Sated (fic)

Day 12 - A Way of Life & Cause of Death: A Way of Death (fic)

Day 13 - Restored: Humanity Restored (comic)

Day 13 - Abandoned: The Haunting of Amity Park: Part 1: The Neon District (fic)

Day 14 - Haunted House: The Haunting of Amity Park:Part 2:  FentonWorks (fic)

Day 14 - Costume Party: Double Trouble (art)

Day 18 - Eyes: A Trick of the Light (animation)

Day 18 - Teeth: Teeth Bared (art)

Day 19 - One & One Hundred: Hall of a Hundred Eyes (art)

Day 21 - Coronation: The Dragon Queen (art)

Day 24 - Future: The Price of Knowing (art)

Day 24 - Past: Too Dead for This: Chapter 1: Seven Years is a Long Time (fic)

Ectober Week 2022

Day 26 - Six Feet: I’ll Come Home if You Call (poem and art)

Day 28 - “Psst, you’re dead. Pass it on.“: Two Paths (animation)

Unprompted

Cosmic Perspective (art)

Dead and Gone (transparent art)

Squeaky Toy (animation)

Ectoberhaunt21 Master Post

Commentary Under the Cut

It has been supremely challenging and fun to do all of these prompts! I know I’m not a super prolific author and artist, but I really enjoy events like this. While it’s been hard on me to produce this sheer amount of content, it was engaging and active, giving me something to do and has motivated me to put out more content in a month than I would normally do in a year on my own. I also love seeing the improvement in my content from this year to last year, when I first took part in this event, along as throughout the event itself, I noticed improvement. While I might not have been able to fill all of the prompts I had planned to do, I also did much more than I originally planned as well, shooting to fill all of the prompts, both for each day. But with 29 fills, 3 of which have no prompt at all, instead inspired by other things throughout the event, I’m satisfied.

I’ve had so much fun throughout this entire event, from planning my fills, to the story line made up by the Ectoberhaunt crew, to drawing and writing my fills themselves. But of all of them, I do have some favorites.

I found my trend of horrible angst holds true, with some of my most severe fill, at least in my opinion, being Paved with Good Intentions. Vlad’s perspective of Danny’s grief was definitely something I found fun to write.

I noticed I used a lot of Outside, or limited perspective, especially with The Haunting of Amity Park, where you only get the perspective from the camera, so it ended up being mostly descriptions and dialog. The morticians perspective in A Way of Death was also amusing to write.

I tried out a lot of different art techniques this year as well. I messed with my style, bouncing back and forth between a more semi-realistic style and then a more cartoon-esque style for the more humorous fills, and then the simplistic style for a few other ones. I definitely think I’ve improved over the past month, just due to the sheer amount of art alone. The animations were fun themselves.

My ask box is always open if you want to talk to me about a particular piece.

See ya around!

[megamindsupremacy]

Ectoberhaunt Masterpost

What is Ectoberhaunt?

Day 3: Order/Chaos

Day 4: Box/Staff

Day 5: Banshee/Wraith

Day 6: Freeze/Burn - Fic: "Mom,"

Day 7: Purify/Infect

[no weekend prompts]

Day 10: Harvest/Hunger

Day 11: Thirst/Drown

Day 12: Day of Life/Cause of Death

Day 13: Restored/Abandoned

Day 14: Haunted House/Costume Party

[no weekend prompts]

Day 17: Hope/Despair

Day 18: Eyes/Teeth

Day 19: 1/100

Day 20: Fight/Flight

Day 21: Coronation/Coup

[no weekend prompts]

Day 24: Past/Present

Finishing the month off with Ectoberweek!

I’m bad at math

Finished piece

[misshvariety1307]

Ectoberhaunt 22 Day 18-Teeth

Yeah, when I saw this prompt I knew that Drac had to be in the spotlight for this one. I mean, who else besides him to show off what he's famous for? XD

Also gave me the excuse to finally draw in a wicked pair of glasses I found on a Pinterest crawl XD (Check under the cut for the full detail.)

(This I will line and color at a later date.)

Well, I do hope you all like this so I'll see you next time!

[goliath-de-senfina-sango]

Teeth and Eyes

Ectoberhaunt 2022, Order and Chaos, day 18, ao3

Tucker sat in one of the comfier chairs in his living room, tongue swiping across his teeth and feeling out his larger-than-average canines, trying not to do that too much while he gathered his thoughts.  Pushing his glasses forward a bit, he could see his lightly glowing golden eyes reflected back at him.  Tucker pushed his glasses back up onto his face and focused instead on his parents.  On his mother, whose own sharp teeth were bared in a smile, ears tapered, and nails each an inch long - naturally at that.

“So, we’re werewolves and this is a natural part of puberty?  Cause I don’t remember this in that 6th-grade health class.  How uh, how come I didn’t know about this until now?  This feels like a pretty important bit of family history.”

Mom and Dad both laughed because Tucker was hilarious, and Mom shook her head.

“Tucker, if we had told you about this as a younger child, would you have been able to keep quiet?  I know you would’ve told Danny in a heartbeat.”

Tucker couldn’t exactly deny that, so he shrugged and pointed at his mouth and eyes.

“Any idea why these are changing first and fast?”

“No, actually.  Normally for a werewolf, our senses grow sharper first, and only when the moon is waxing or full.  You’re developing rather quickly compared to my siblings and parents, though I had the glowing eyes by the time I was 15.  I do remember feeling a particularly powerful wave of energy a month or so ago.  Can you think of anything special that might’ve happened around that time?”

Tucker sucked on his teeth, an action that made him yelp at sharp pain and the taste of pennies.  Dad handed him a napkin, all too ready for Tucker to bite his tongue and weirdly unconcerned about bleeding out.

“Perk of lycanthropy: amazing healing process.  You did that because you thought of something.”

Tucker squirmed under his parents’ gaze for a moment, debating internally whether or not he should tell them.  There was, however, nothing about this that would connect back to Danny’s secret, so he didn’t see why not.

“The Fentons’ portal to the ‘Ghost Zone’ finally started working last month.  Guess there’s ectoplasm in the air and it gave me big ol chompers and fantasy book eyes.”

His parents’ eyes grew wide as Tucker flashed them a big toothy grin, and he hoped he hadn’t made a mistake.

[goodfish-bowl]

Teeth Bared

Ectoberhaunt Day 18: Teeth

You need to face the world

with your teeth bared sharp

Becasue it will not treat you kindly.

And never dare show your throat

or it will tear it right out.

@ectoberhaunt