#he is busy with the Infinite Realms and his kids so he told them to call only in emergencies

[nelkcats]

My son wants to destroy the world, how do I stop him? - Search

It had been a few months since Phantom joined the League. Although he was more of an emergency contact they called in worse cases than a real member. According to the Justice League Dark, he was a ruler of another dimension so he couldn't be around all the time.

When Wonder Woman complained about his commitment to the team, Phantom frowned and called her hypocritical. Apparently Phantom watched over all the dimensions, so asking him to protect one in particular was stupid, or worse, selfish. Diana ended up very embarrassed after learning about it.

Then, it was strange for Phantom to stay beyond 5 minutes after providing his help, so Bruce was surprised to see the boy walking towards him looking extremely nervous and asking for a conversation. Bruce agreed out of curiosity.

The conversation took a strange turn when Phantom started praising his parenting skills (Bruce was proud of his kids clearly, but how the fuck did Phantom know his identity?), and complimented him on...Red Hood's self-control??? And what a good kid he was??

Apparently, Phantom had a son (Bruce was starting to believe in the "immortal" part that Constantine talked about), but he had a terrible temper and loved to destroy dimensions, for which he was often punished (Bruce was at a loss for words), Phantom assured him that no dimension that didn't deserve it was destroyed but he didn't know how to change Dan's approach.

The King insisted that he was fine with his son destroying dimensions as long as his grandfather authorized it, since they had forgiven him and those dimensions were finished anyway (Batman was grateful that his mask would not show his facial expression) but that destroying everyone would affect him in the long run and he was worried about him.

In the end, Bruce invited them to the mansion, or rather, invited Phantom to talk to Alfred and he told him he would bring his son. Bruce remembered that Jason would be visiting that day and wondered how badly the meeting would go.

[dcxdpdabbles]

DCxDP fanfic idea: In 30 minutes or less!

Danny is a delivery man.

He got the job after realizing his resume was severely lacking in terms of working experience.

Also when he needed more money for his own purchases. There is a big difference between begging his parents for an allowance and earning his own spending funds.

The thing is, no matter where Danny applied, he was not getting a call back. Jazz warned him that a majority of Amity Park didn't hire them - as she also attempted to get a part-time job when she was his age - because of the Fenton last name.

She swore and hissed, but she couldn't prove that it was the reason they weren't hired. She just heard the talk around the town. They all said they wouldn't want to hire from the lunatic family.

That whenever a Fenton went , something bad quickly followed.

It stung, that not even Nasty Burger wanted him. That placed hired people under sixteen for Pete's sake. But Danny was resourceful. If Amity Park hadn't hired him, then he would just try the other place he had civilianship in.

The Infinite Realms.

Danny figured that if societies existed with the Realms, then they had to have a form of currency. He just needed to find one that used the same one as his world did.

FrostBite was more than happy to point him in the right direction. Since his people were the ones to spend generations attempting to map out the Realms, he had found a part of the ghost zone that Danny could blend into easily.

It was only a thirty minute commute from Danny's family portal. He could easily make that after school.

Thus, Danny flew to the portal location FrostBite told him about and ended up in a place called Central City. He found employment very quickly at Joel's Pizza, and for sixteen dollars a hour he was racing across the city to give some sizzling pizza pies.

. He was given a company scooter, but Danny preferred to fly. No one saw him as he never turned off his invisibly until he arrived at the destination. He got great tips for his speed, and his boss was fun to work for.

His parents are proud that he has a job and is not causing trouble. His friends also have their own jobs so Sam and Tucker have to plan their meet ups now- buts that's just a part of growing up.

The only thing that made his part-time difficult was the ghosts. Not all of them bothered him now a days but a few still did.

Like Young Blood. The brat didn't seem to care that Danny was going to be late to a shift since he had no concept of the importance of adult responsibilities. He was able to text his boss an apology using school as an excuse, but he was still thirty minutes late and sporting a black eye.

Joel stared at him for a long moment, muttered something in Spanish, before handing him five pizza boxes, and told him to take it to the central city police department. Danny was supirse he didn't even lecture him.

When he got to the station, the person in front told him to wait a moment since it was the forensic department that ordered food. He waited a few minutes until a blond man came down the hall, with a cheerful smile.

That smile fell when Danny turned to look at him. There was a brief flash of something dark that crossed his expression before the smile was back ten fold

"Hello," Danny said, standing up. "Order for Barry?

"That's me!" The man grins, holding out a wad of cash "Keep the change."

Wow. A fifty dollar tip!

"Sure thanks!"

"Welcome kid!"

Danny practically skipped away, Barry Watching him climb onto his scooter and slowly blending back into the traffic.

He turned to look at Officer Dawn "Is it just me or was that kid covered in bruises?"

Officer Dawn's mustache twitches with displeasure. "He definitely was. Looked fresh, too. Not only that but he works for Joel Pizza"

"This Joel a trouble maker?"

"The opposite, he was a foster kid. Once he aged out and got his own business, he started hiring teenagers in similar situations. Usually, his staff are all kids who are having a rough time. If things are too bad, he makes reports, but we try to avoid it. Don't want to lose one of the few trustworthy safe spaces for those kids." Officer Dawn's hesitates for a second before he carefully asks."A cop poking around may spook them, but a forensic chemist won't. Do you mind finding out what the delivery kid's deal is for me?"

"I look into it." Barry promises already knowing the Flash is also going to be following the boy just to make sure he safe.

He hates it when kids get hurt. Remind him too much of Wally.

[too-much-tma-stuff]

Finally getting help (prt 4)

Masterpost

The bats worked through the night, coordinating and researching everything that needed to be done. Distortion showed up on the camera which they assumed was Vlad trying to get in but he didn’t manage it. After he finished trying from multiple angels including somehow from directly above (well Zatana did say invisibility, intangibility, and flight were the minimal powers they should expect from creatures of the infinite realms.) He turned human again and spent a long time banging on their front door.

He tried to call the cops but commissioner Gordon called Bruce directly to get the full story then told Vlad it could be dealt with in the morning. Zatana was also coordinating people heading to Amity, a full on raid of the GIW, and the Fentons.

Batman and Superman were collecting all the information that the raid team was sending out and workshopping public statements they could sent out to the public and the government about the unacceptable things they had found and the steps the JL was taking to fix it. The government was not going to be happy they knew, with the JL ‘over-stepping’ into their business and actually getting the word out about the atrocities a branch of their government and their pet scientists had been planning. The JL needed to get out ahead of it before the narrative could be twisted against them.

It was first thing in the morning when they did a live broadcast from the watchtower with Batman, Superman, and Zatana telling the world about the parallel world existing harmlessly along side their own, and the way the government tried to exploit it. The atrocities committed under the name of the Anti-Ecto acts with the ignorance of the public as a cover.

It was at the same time that Constantine, Dick, and Cas were raiding the Fenton’s home. Of course they were armed, but so were the bats, and they were used to fighting people who were armed. It wasn’t a particularly hard fight.

A redhead was sitting wide eyed at the kitchen table. “Can’t we just have one normal day!” She suddenly snapped but she was glaring at her parents, standing up and slamming her hands on the table.  “First you send Danny away with Vlad even though you KNOW they hate each other and it’s a school day and now this! What did you do to bring the heroes down on us!?”

“I don’t know Jazzybear!” Jack half whined as he was forced into power supressing cuffs to neutralize his minor super strength and sat down in the living room.

“I’m sure this is just a misunderstanding, don’t worry sweetie,” Maddie added, both of them were dressed in jump suits which did not help their supervillain vibes.

“it’s not a mistake mate, you’ve been messing with shit you really shouldn’t. And that portal in your basement is a fucking beacon welcoming a war. You’ve gone unchecked for too god damn long, we’re taking over things now.” Constantine told them before stalking down into the basement with Tim on his heels, Batman would be joining them as soon as they were done their press conference.

Cas stayed to watch the parents and Dick approached Jazz gently. “Hey can I talk to you in private please? It’s about your brother,” He said gently and she stiffened immediately. Looking at him in a way that made him feel like she could see straight into his soul and froze him to the spot. After a moment though she just sighed and nodded, beckoning to him to follow her upstairs, to a room that was probably Danny’s not her own. She sat on his bed and grabbed a bear that had been sitting on the edge, waving for him to sit at the desk.

“So, what do you know?” She asked with a sigh.

“Well, last night Vlad took Danny to a Wayne Gala, one of Bruce’s daughter Cas is really good with body language and clocked that something was wrong so she and one of the other kids got him away from Vlad and out of the party. I guess he really needed some adult support because he broke down and told them a lot, about the Phantom thing, the ghosts and… something you’re not going to like. But first I want you to know he’s safe, Bruce Wayne is a licensed foster parent and he’s taking good care of Danny, you can come live with them too if you want.

“We’re going to deal with the ghosts and the GIW and everything else now, I can’t promise by the end of this you won’t need somewhere else to go. I have a feeling if Batman and the Martian family have anything to say about this your parents will end up in prison for their unethical experiments.”

“As long as Danny is okay,” Jazz said firmly. “I was only staying to take care of him anyway, just get me emancipated and a scholarship for Gotham U so I can study while still being close to him I’ll be fine. I’m almost 18 as it is.”

Dick nodded, she was a smart and driven girl, she knew what she wanted, he could respect that. “Now, the thing you won’t like…” he trailed off and took a deep breath. “Danny is pregnant.”

“What!?“ Jazz blanched, gaping at him for a long minute. “That can’t be right! I mean I knew he was trans but he’s usually only interested in girls, how would he even-“ She cut off her eyes widening. “It was Vlad wasn’t it?” She gritted out with an expression the promised excruciating violence.

“Yes,” Dick said shifting awkwardly in his chair.

“Right.” Jazz said and got up, coldly calm. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be right back.” She grabbed a baseball bat from next to Danny’s bed that seemed to be glowing slightly then marched to the other side of the room, opened a cabinet and pulled out two odd looking guns. Before Dick could say much of anything she had vaulted out of the window and taking off down the street.

“Oh dear,” Dick muttered faintly before heading back downstairs. “Hey Cas can we turn on the news, some sort of local station?” He asked. Cas nodded and searched around for the remote, turning it on to find the channel was already on local news.

Vlad was already on there, talking about how it was awful Bruce Wayne had Kidnapped a local child Danial Fenton, and he could not be allowed to get away with this just because he was rich! But that didn’t last long, they watched for a few minutes before a blur of red hair and blue rushed past the camera.

“YOU TOUCHED MY BROTHER YOU CREEP!” Jazz said as she came out swinging and she must have quite the arm because her first swing sent him nearly flying off the stage. He scrambled to get up as she lunged at him again.

“Now Jasmine you’ve clearly been misinformed, I didn’t do anything-“ His muffled voice was cut off as she swung the bat again and he yelped as she hit him in the stomach.

“YOU GOT HIM PREGNANT! YOU DID THIS! YOU SHOULD BEHIND BARS NOT BEHIND A PODIUM YOU FROOTLOOP!” She shrieked as she swung again and this time he managed to dodge. The cameras following them as Jazz chased him down the street, the sound of his supplications and her shrieking fading out as they became more and more distant.

It took a frantic moment for the camera angle to switch to something else, maybe a drone, which was able to follow them down the street.

“You Don’t UNDERSTAND! I didn’t want to hurt him! I just wanted a perfect son! If he had just agreed to be my son none of this would have happened! When I knew it failed I told him to let them die!” Vlad yelled at her, though that did NOT seem to comfort Jazz at all. She had devolved into shrieking book titles like curses as she chased him with the bat and shot at him with the guns though her aim didn’t seem very good.

Well they had him admitting to it on camera now. As he watched a new actor joined the fray, a girl in a red jumpsuit holding a blaster.

“You did what to Danny!?” She demanded as she pointed the blaster at Vlad.

“Oh cheespuffs!” Vlad breathed, his eyes widening as Jazz trailed off letting who must be Red Huntress take over the chase as Vlad shouted about how he had made her! He had given her her weapons she couldn’t use them against him! Which did not seem to be stopping her.

The camera fuzzed out for just a second and then Valery was chasing a ghost with red eyes and a white outfit. Cas was laughing silently at the show and both of the Fenton parents seemed to be in shock. A few minutes later Jazz walked back in through the front door looking tired.

“Turn that off please,” she sighed as she put the bat down.

“Of course,” Cas agreed and picked up the remote again, turning off the tv. 

“Vlad didn’t actually do that, did he Jazzy?” Jack asked softly, he sounded so hurt, as if he had any fucking right!

Jazz looked at him blankly. “How many times have we tried to warn you about him? How many times has Danny told you he didn’t feel safe with Vlad? But as usual you couldn’t see past your own desires. I’m going to go see if the trenchcoat guy needs any help getting into your files,” She sighed before vanishing downstairs. 

Dick glanced at Cas, and then followed them, she would have no trouble watching the Fentons and staying quiet whereas Dick felt like he was about to explode. Batman joined them before long and between the three of them they shut the bulkheads on the portal and locked them, secured dangerous chemicals and devices, and downloaded everything they could. There were plenty of prototypes and blueprints, and stuff that could generously be called research.

It was obvious these people were geniuses but it was even more obvious that at some point they had become careless and obsessive. Half of the writing on the blueprints wasn’t legible, dangerous chemicals were not in proper containment, and the weapons were not locked up. Looking at all of this it wasn’t surprising that two of the people they had been involving in their research suffered exposure, it was a surprise more hadn’t. It was easy to tell when Bruce came down he was horrified, it was in the way he froze when he saw the lab, as if his brain was struggling to process just how irresponsible the Fenton parents had been.

“You must be Jazz, it’s nice to meet you. Danny speaks highly of you,” He finally rebooted to say when she waved at him. 

“I love my little brother, I always did the best I could to keep him safe from… all this,” Jazz said gesturing at the lab with a sigh. “I wish it had done any good.”

“You did plenty of good,” Dick put in. “Trust me, to a kid having someone care about them can make all the difference. 

“All those nights I patched him up after he came back from fighting ghosts. He healed fast but still. I can’t believe… he’s already been through so much and we knew Vlad was up to something! Ellie said she was our cousin but she looked just like him, I should have kept a closer eye on-” She cut off and shook her head. “He’s a good kid, of course if he couldn’t give the babies up, even if it would be better for them if he did. I hope he knows I’d support him either way, I hope he didn’t not tell me because he thought I’d be upset at Him.”

“I’m sure he didn’t,” Dick assured her gently. “Being a big sibling is hard, I know. But trust me you’re doing a great job, better than I did with my brothers,” he said, patting her shoulder. “You can ask him yourself later though. We have a lot to get done today to make sure he’s safe.”

She nodded stubbornly and doubled down on her work, directing them occasionally to where she knew they’d find more weapons or logs. She knew her way around the lab to a disturbing extent. 

Bruce and Dick both got a notification from Agent A saying that after a substantial sleep in Danny had woken up and was having breakfast. He seemed worried about the family but he was taking it alright, especially since he knew they were busy people. It did motivate Dick to clear things up as soon as they could so that they could get back to Danny though. The last thing he needed was More stress!

They had plenty of evidence of the Fenton parents breaking the law to call the police and have them taken away which gave them all the time they needed to strip the house. They got everything they could and decided to leave Constantine at the house to watch the portal until they could figure out how to shut it down completely without causing any damage. It seemed unstable so they didn’t want to risk it just now, especially without Danny’s input because according to Jazz Danny had made genuine connections in the Infinite Realms. 

They wrapped up this stage of the investigation before dinner after being up for about 36 hours. Of course they weren’t Done, there was still plenty to do investigating the government, how they’d gotten away with this and if they had any other nasty tricks up their sleeve. They’d have to manage any backlash from this unilateral move, and they’d have to figure out what to tell the public about Danny since Bruce would be fostering him. But all that could be done after having a family dinner with their new brother and a nap. 

part 5

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[flamingpudding]

Summoning Gone Wrong

Ties to: Ouija Board Prompt and Ghost Hunting Vigilantes Part 1 / Part 2

A/N: Thanks to @lazy-alex for commenting the base idea in Ghost Hunting Vigilantes for Tim trying to do a summoning that just goes wrong~

Danny calmly sipped the ecto-tea and resisted eyeing the ghost club Lady Gotham had placed next to her as she also drank her tea with all the elegance the spirit possessed. The Ghost King was pretty sure she had placed it like that, in his view, on purpose. He just wasn't sure if it was as a warning or as a preparation since the last couple of times he had been in Gotham, she had felt the need of using it against him.

"I am very glad that you are finally looking into that matter, your highness." The spirit commented, placing the cup back onto the table and refilling it. "I wasn't sure if you had been made aware of it before, if I had known that the old beings had not mentioned it to you before I certainly would have sooner."

Danny nodded. "Yeah, about that. What are these Lazarus Pits anyway? Clockwork only told me to look out for the color green, which is not helpful. And Pandora started on an entire history lesson regarding Lazarus and I am pretty sure that has nothing to do with these Pits your 'knights' mentioned."

Lady Gotham chuckled amused with mirth in her eyes. "They are only known as Lazarus Pits in the human world, my king, not in the Infinite Realms."

"So what…" Danny couldn't finish his question as his ghost sense went off. He really wanted to slam his head into the table. It had been months since his senses went off like that and he hoped it was just Cujo who followed him or Fright Knight. But as no one appeared to interrupt them, he got ticked off because that meant it was one of his former rogues who was up to something. He excused himself from his discussion with Lady Gotham who appeared even more amused than before.

Whoever it was he would send them straight back to the Ghost Zone, they were interrupting some important kingly business here!

A little earlier not too far away from the ghostly discussion, by a recent regularly vigilante visited occult site, three vigilantes stood before a summoning cycle.

Red Robin was crouching by the circle, chalk in hand as he drew runes and symbols on the ground all according to one of his research papers that summed up all the information he had gathered. Including information he had obtained from the Justice League Dark, mainly Constantine since the man owned him and wouldn't just tell on him, behind Batman's back.

It had been weeks since their last encounter with the teenage ghost. He didn't want to admit it but Red Robin was getting worried about the ghost. Both times when they left they sounded like something was hunting or hurting them and last time there was even that green swirly thing they saw for a short moment right after they had heard the ghost say their goodbyes with an actual voice. Besides, that ghost was a mystery to them and Red Robin wasn't known to leave any sort of mystery they encountered unsolved.

"Should we really do this without B?" Nightwing asked, eyeing the strange symbols the youngest among them was drawing on the ground.

"Fuck him. If we get him involved we wouldn't be doing this at all." Red Hood added crossing his arms. "I am more surprised that its only us three this time. I would have bet that at least one of the others would have joined too."

"Baby Bat is out on a mission with B. Spoiler and Orphan are on a outer space mission and Signal has an exam tomorrow." Nightwing shrugged. "It's probably better form Robin not to be here. He was pretty spooked after the last two times."

"Ha! Spooked? The kid is dead set on Pit Demons trying to kill us."

"We can't comple-"

"Finished the writing." Red Robin cut in dusting his gloves from chalk, he was still kneeling on the ground as he turned to the older two vigilantes holding his hands out expectantly. "Nightwing, you brought the candles?"

The vigilante in question handed over a plastic back with the label of a gas station. Red Hood titled his head in question, indicating that he was raising an eye brow under his helmet. The elder only shrugged sheepishly as Red Robin stared at the colorful duck candles it contained.

"I forgot you asked me to buy some and went last minute to the late night open counter gas station. They only had these colorful duck candles."

"Well our fucking ghost has some Humor. Might work better for them then."

Red Robin only sighed but still placed the candles in the circle the way Constantine had described to him. "We will have to see if this will work."

He had made sure to also draw up a protective circle around the summoning one just like Zatana had instructed and Constantine had insisted he would need. Lighting up the candles he stepped back next to his brothers.

"So according to Constantine, we are now supposed to recite a summoning spell and think about the ghost we talked to before to call them back to us."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"So…" Red Robin distributed a piece of paper to each of his brothers. "We start on three."

"One…."

"Wait let me read that shit first!"

"Two…"

"Slow down, little bird."

"Three."

The three of them definitely were not in sync. Nightwing struggled with some of the words while Red Hood ended up mixing in some chosen curse words when he stumbled over a word. Red Robin even though he had practiced before still struggled with some of the words also but still all three managed to get through the incarnation.

They waited with their breaths held for something to happen but the seconds ticked by, with nothing happening. After three minutes Red Robin let out a sigh, deciding that this was a failure.

Just as he was about to step up to the circle to blow out the candles, a green swirling portal like the one he had briefly seen last time opened on the ground where the summoning circle was and a figure rose up from it. The figure was entirely dressed in white with black gloves, boots, belt and hat. Their skin was just as white as the clothes they were wearing and the being was staring back at them with completely green eyes, no irises or pupils. They stood firmly and straight in the summoning circle, arms crossed behind their back and by the way they were holding themself appeared like an authority figure.

"That doesn't look like a 16 years old ghost." Red Hood commented, his hand resting on his gun holder as he stared down their summon.

"Red, you did follow all the instructions right." Nightwing asked his hands, also moving to take out his escrima sticks, eying the being that was now looking at them in what he assumed was contempt.

"Yes, I did." Turning to their summon the vigilantes eyed it carefully. "Hi, sorry about the sudden summon. You obviously aren't the 16 years old ghost we had been talking to before. So uhm, you are free to go again? Unless you happen to know a 16 year old ghost that had been to Gotham at least two times now?"

The summoned being didn't look like they were going to answer, instead they took out a green glowing book that had 'RULES' written on it and leafed through the pages. Stopping when it apparently found a certain page. Their eyes focusing on the page then back at them. Still not grazing them with an answer. Red Robin however noticed how their inclined their head, for a short moment, over to Red Hood before turning back to the book and turning a couple of more pages.

He hadn't been the only one as he felt Nightwing tensing next to him too as well as heard the soft click of Red Hood removing the safety from his gun.

"Unauthorized summoning with out of date summoning methods. Interruption of security works. Unauthorized usage of corrupted ectoplasmic waste and apparent coverup of a human infected by corrupted ectoplasm." The being listed and the three couldn't help but feel reminded of a policeman listing crimes.

"I, Walker, reappointed Warden by his majesty the Ghost King and self appointed head chief of the security department of the Infinite Realms, hereby declare all of you under arrest for the previously listed offenses. Especially you, punk." The ghost called Walker pointed at Red Hood who in return pulled out his guns pointing them back at it. "You will be presented directly to our King. To think there would be a subject that failed to report back their existence."

"The fuck you wanna do? I ain't going anywhere." Red Hood scoffed, his distorted voice sounding challenging towards the ghost.

"Not to be rude but how can he report something he didn't even know about." Nightwing added eying the ghost as well as the protective barrier. The being hadn't made a move toward them yet and it should keep it contained but that didn't mean they just could let their guard down, not like he would let them take any of his brothers anywhere either. He took a step forward in case he needed to cover his younger siblings, protectiveness stirring in him. "RR, did Constantine or Zatana give you a spell to forcefully send them back?"

"Not exactly but they said destroying the summoning circle should send them back instantly." Red Robin mused after glancing at his notes for a brief moment. He didn't dare look away from that ghost for longer than needed. Normally he would be thrilled about having summoned a ghost and probably ask it a bunch of questions he had, ever since their first encounter with that 16 years old ghost left him with a tone of unanswered ones, but not with this one.

"Maybe we should-"

"WALKER! NOT AGAIN! BACK TO THE ZONE NOW!" A white haired 16 years old looking flying boy appeared through the wall without destroying it like he just phased in. The three vigilantes stared at the new presence that looked rather ticked off. The teenager had a cosmic with green flame outlined looking crown floating over their head and were wearing a jumpsuit with a logo that looked like a flaming D.

"Hey could that be our little ghost bastard?" Hood more or less stage-whispered over to Nightwing and Red Robin.

"Looks 16, maybe younger but not like what I imagined." Nightwing mused.

"Ghost Kid -ahem- your Highness, perfect Timing. I was just about to apprehend-"

"No." The teenager interrupted, arms crossed as he floated before the other ghost. "We went over this when I appointed you as the Warden again. Back. To. The. Zone."

"Did… did that other ghost call him 'highness' just now?" The more he got to learn about ghosts the more questions appeared to come up and Red Robin would definitely need answers for all of them.

"Your Highness, we need to-"

"Back now!" The teen repeated as he moved his left arm to point at a portal he opened especially for Walker. "Or do I have to get Lady Gotham to kick you out of her haunt herself?"

Red Robin watched how the two ghosts appeared to have a stare down before the white one closed his rule book and bowed before leaving. Well he would have left if he didn't smack right into the protective wall the vigilante had set up before the summoning. Good to know that Constantine's advice worked.

"Pff - cough -" The teenager covered his mouth, hiding a laugh behind a cough as he closed the portal he had opened and reopened it inside the barrier. The white ghost only sent them the most disgruntled and offended glare Red Robin had seen in a while before going through the portal the teen had opened.

Before either of the three could say anything the teenager let out a sigh and muttered something about having to deal with Walker being naggingly annoying about security and summonings later again. As if noticing them for the first time the boy glanced over at them and instantly stiffed and Red Robin definitely saw recognition in the boy's glowing green eyes. Could it be...?

"Shit." The teenager cursed. Yup, that's him.

"You are-"

"Sorry, no time for talking, gotta get back to Lady Gotham." They interrupted before continuing to ramble on. "You don't really want to make an old spirit with a ghost club wait. You guys better forget what you saw here. I would like Man In Black wipe your memory if I could but well for now please don't attempt summoning like that again? Summonings like that are outdated and barely work correctly for us ghosts. Demon summonings are a different matter but for ghosts this won't work correctly anymore or at least not since I got the stupid crown. You either end up with some random ghost or Walker trying to arrest humans. I soo have enough of getting him back from all the attempts of arresting humans that broke 'summoning rules'. Maybe I should have Fright Night arrest Walker for forcing his summon whenever he notices human summons… Anyway! Don't try again. Okay? Okay. Thanks and bye!"

The boy blinked out of existence before any of them could get a word in. The three vigilantes stared at the now empty spot. Red Robin had so many more additional questions now after having heard the presumed ghost teens ramble. So if the summons from the Justice League Dark were outdated then maybe he would need to find a more modern summoning? Also the teen had mentioned a Lady Gotham and Red Robin could only assume that that had to be their local city's spirit judging by the name.

"Well… we know now what our ghost boy looks like." Nightwing offered after some time and Red Hood scoffed.

"How the fuck was that boy a ghost? He looked more like a meta kid than a ghost."

"Well judging by the voice he definitely was the one that talked the last two times."

"So Demon Brat's Pit Demon theory is true?"

"He didn't lo-"

"I am going to try and summon this Lady Gotham next." Red Robin cut in as he turned on his heel, determined to get to the bottom of this ghost mystery even if he had to pester the JLD members for a while.

""What?""

[eyesthecolorofarson]

The batfam meet Danny Fenton and after weeks of research and one lucky blood test later there’s no doubt I’m anyone’s mind that he’s Damian’s long-lost twin brother.

But the day they go to his apartment to break the news someone else answers the door. Someone who looks identical to both Damian and Danny but is very obviously not them.

The new boy was albino and obviously a meta of some kind, his eyes a cherry red and his hair literally flaming white and styled a crowd braid. But his face shape was the same as Bruce’s, his eyes had the same curve as Talias, and his height the same as Danny’s.

“Oh, hi! You must be the Wayne’s. Danny’s told me about you. Sorry we haven’t been able to meet, I’ve been busy with classes.” He invites them in and the batfam take notes of his personality.

Danny was nearly entirely composed of snark and wit, able to run endless circles around not only rouges but their vigilante personas. He was wickedly intelligent, morally grey, and not afraid to resort to violence. He had a heart of silver; good intentions and beliefs but not afraid to get his hands dirty to achieve his goals.

As they talked with this boy, Daphne he said his name was, they learned he was just as sarcastic and witty but was also trying to stay on the positive side of things. He was intelligent like Danny, but had a chaotic lawful attitude similar to Danny’s chaotic neutral.

finally, Tim asked the question they’d all been wondering. “So, Danny’s never mentioned you before. Are you a new roommates or friend?” Daphne laughed, “Yeah, he’s really protective. He once got in a fist fight with someone for insulting me.”

Daphne smiled, and he was a carbon copy of both Danny and Damian. “I’m his twin brother.” There was a problem with that though. They knew for a fact that Daphne Fenton didn’t exist.

Everything was going great, Danny had though two weeks ago. He’d though that word for word and he knew it would come back to bite him in the ass. He just didn’t know when.

Dan–or Daphne, as he likes to be called now, said that the reason bad things happened after he said something hopeful was because he was ‘putting that energy out in the universe’. Daphne was always so positive, or trying to be, and it made it hard to remember that he used to be his future self hellbent on destroying the world.

Therapy had been a big help. They had Clockwork to thank for that, and for Daphnes new form. They couldn’t change his hair, no matter how hard he tried at first. It had made him incredibly upset and insecure, but nowadays he’d grown to accept his hair, saying ‘it’s a reminder of who I was and where I came from, and that everything’s ok now. I’m allowed to exist as the person I’d always wanted to be.’

Honestly, Danny couldn’t even begin to describe how proud he was. He’d come such a long way from the tyrannical King of the Infinite Realms to a scared, traumatized kid to the kind and gentle teen he was now. It’d been amazing watching Daphne grow not only out but in, growing as a person and a spirit.

And Daphne had helped him grow as well. It was nice, having someone so close to him and so aware of what he was thinking and how he acted because they were the same. So different but so similar. The first time they’d introduced each other as brothers, as twins, it’s felt right. Like that was exactly what they were supposed to be.

He got in a lot of fights after though. Not that any of them were Daphnes fault, who was holding him back most of the time, but there were just some assholes who, assuming Daphne was a meta, decided to insult him and even call him a few slurs. Of course, he knocked out one and broke the others nose.

There were a lot of people like this, people who felt it was ok to insult his baby brother–because no matter what Daphne said, he practically screamed ‘little brother’ vibes–felt it was ok to say hurtful things to his face because they didn’t consider him fully human.

So he got into fights a lot more often now, no matter how much Daphne begs him not to. But despite all those assholes things had been going great, despite it being, y’know, Gotham. He’d even made friend with a revenant and his family, who were weirdly nice and open about the whole ghost thing.

What a great surprise it was too when he got home and found that not only was Daphne back from school–he’d joined a lot of clubs and band–but that the Wayne’s were there and they seemed to be good friends already! Maybe Daphne was right; it was time he started projecting good vibes only.

[samgirl98]

Cain and Abel Wept 14/?

Prev | Next

Special thanks to Kuraichi on AO3 for letting me know of the phrase 'bitch the pot.'

A lot of exposition in this chapter, but don't worry; it comes with slides!

Bruce watched as all his children blearily entered the parlor. They all sat in their usual places. Bruce lingered half a second on Damian, Dick, and Tim. They didn’t seem to notice his scrutiny. Hmm, he would have to do a refresher course on situational awareness.

Bruce waited for the kids to get comfortable before talking, “Before I begin, is there anything anyone wants to confess?”

Tim and Dick squirmed a bit but said nothing. Surprisingly, Jason did.

“Don’t know if Danny mentioned this to you already, but I saw Talia earlier.”

Damian balled his fists at the mention of Talia, and the rest of his children tensed.

“Do you know what she wanted,” Stephanie asked.

“She wanted to know where Danny was in Gotham and why he was here. I didn’t tell her and called Danny as soon as I got a bit of distance away from her.”

Bruce thought for a moment, “Danny contacted me earlier about the situation. I’m already looking into it.”

Bruce let silence reign for a moment before talking again, “Anyone else?”

Everyone stayed silent. Bruce sighed in disappointment.

“Dick,” his eldest looked at him, surprised, “you want to explain what you were doing last night?”

Damian turned to look at Dick with a severe frown on his face, “Richard,” he barked out, “What did you do?”

“I just wanted to make sure they were safe!” Dick defended himself while putting his hands up in surrender, “How was I supposed to know she knew I was going to be there?”

“Grayson,” Dick flinched at Damian saying his surname, “how could you? What if you had jeopardized the little progress I had made?”

Damian frowned, “That’s what Danny meant when he said not to be too angry at them.

Damian’s frown deepened, “Wait, he said ‘them.’ Which other of you degenerates bothered my brother?”

Tim squirmed. Damian immediately zeroed in on the action, “Drake, I’m about to finish what I started when I first got here.”

“Okay, enough. No one is attacking anyone. Dick,” his eldest, “I expected better from you and Tim, don’t spy on people. Especially people I told you to leave alone because we are trying to gain their trust to enter the family.”

“Oh, leave me alone, B. You’re being a hypocrite; I learned to spy on people from you,” Tim yelled, defending himself. “Plus, I know for a fact that you spy on us and know where we are 24/7. Hell, you literally sow trackers into our suits and clothing!”

“Yeah, how come you can do those things to us, but we get yelled at for ensuring the safety of our newest family members!”

Damian punched Dick and Tim in their arms.

“Ow, what was that for, baby bat,” Dick asked, sounding betrayed. Tim grumbled as he rubbed his new bruise.

“Let me and Jason deal with my brother; you idiots stay out of it.”

Bruce sighed, “I know I haven’t exactly given the best example in respecting other people’s privacy,” all his children snorted.

“Yeah, we noticed,” Duke murmured. Bruce ignored the feeling of betrayal from having his newest child call him out.

“But this is different. We’re used to expressing our love by invading each other’s privacy, but Danny and the Fentons aren’t used to that and feel it’s an attack on them. They come from a different background that isn’t only from human culture but ghost culture.”

Bruce let his children digest what he said.

“I understand I am not the best person to lecture you, which is why I brought an expert.”

All his kids groaned.

“Don’t tell me it’s that British drunkard,” Damian asked.

“Trust me, I don’t want to be here either,” Constantine said as he walked in with a projector, “But I don’t want you nosy Bats to accidentally start a war with the Infinite Realms because you can’t keep your nose out of their business, so here I am.”

Alfred came in with snacks and tea (coffee for Tim). He turned to Constantine and looked at him with an expression of disapproval.

“Is there anything I can get for you, Mr. Constantine?”

“I don’t suppose you can get me some booze, now, Jeeves?”

Alfred frowned.

“Fine, in that case,” Constantine got a China cup, “bitch the pot for me, old chap, this is going to be a headache.”

Everyone gaped at Constantine, unbelieving that the man had the gall to curse toward Alfred. Alfred raised an eyebrow, “It’s been a while since I’ve heard that expression, sir.”

He poured the tea for Constantine, “May I remind you that you are in my house. Therefore, do not disrespect me.”

Constantine gulped at Alfred’s prolonged stare. Now he knew where Batman got his glare from.

“Yes, sir.”

“Good,” the butler stood in a corner as the other family members looked amused. Never mess with Alfred.

“Right, well, now that everyone’s settled, I’ll begin my presentation.”

Constantine took a sip of tea and then looked at the cup as if it had the secret of the universe.

“Damn, this is the best cuppa I’ve ever had, Alfred.”

“Thank you, sir. I suggest you continue with your presentation. I imagine you would rather not spend more time with us than you have to?”

Constantine knew when he was being chased out. Damn, was the butler scary.

“Yes, well,” Bruce had set up the projector and loaded the plainest-looking slides he had ever seen on the computer.

“Listen up, Batbrats, today, I’m going to teach you and Daddy Bats not to insult and possibly start an interdimensional war accidentally.”

The youngest bat took out a notebook from God knew where and was poised to take notes. Good to know that at least one of them will pay attention. (John noticed Bruce was typing away, too.)

Constantine clicked to the next slide.

“First most important rule: NEVER ask a ghost how they died. It’s like asking a person what underwear they’re wearing but worse.”

Everyone turned to look at Bruce. John sighed; of course, of course, they had broken the most sacred rule already. And it had to be from the father of all the Bats. Why did John even bother?

“Second most important rule: do not enter their territory, or haunt as they call it, without permission. They will fight you, and you’ll only have yourselves to blame if you get your asses handed to you.”

This time they all turned to look at the eldest sibling. Constantine felt a migraine developing. He wanted a cigarette, but the butler's glare made him rethink his decision.

“So, Dick,” one of the middle ones asked; he had a white streak and reeked of death, “did you get your ass handed to you?”

“No,” he answered defensively while crossing his arms. Ha, he had.

“It would serve him right if he did get defeated,” the youngest said while writing notes. Dick looked betrayed.

“Baby bat, how could you?”

Baby bat (?) (John should probably learn their names) glared at Dick and stared at Constantine as if giving him permission to continue.

“The next two go together, in a way. Do not start a fight with a ghost unless you’re confident you’re gonna win. They love to fight; it’s in their nature, especially since they’re dead they have few other options to settle arguments. If you start a fight with one or they start a fight with you, for the love of all that is holy, DO NOT HOLD BACK! They will think you’re insulting them, which can worsen things.”

“Do not go after their family members,” he was interrupted by one that looked as if he needed to sleep for a month and stank of coffee, “Why do you have that twice?”

“You’re a bat; I thought you bats were supposed to be smart.” The kid slumped in his seat while his siblings snickered.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed yet, but ghosts are very territorial. They will start fights over their obsessions, haunts, and their family. They go feral if they feel anyone of their kin is in danger, whether they are blood-related or not.”

“From what I could come up in the little notes I could find, many of these rules also bleed over to liminal people.”

The same kid asked, “What’s a liminal?”

“A person who has been touched by death. The more exposure to death, the more abilities they get. I don’t know the full extent, but it ranges from being able to see the dead, talk to them, super hearing, to other abilities like empathy and minor mind reading.”

“The fuck does ‘minor mind reading’ even mean,” a blond girl asked. She was ignored.

“You think Jazz is liminal, and that’s why she knew I was there,” Dick asked.

“Oh, most definitely,” John answered once more, wishing for a cigarette. All this exposition bullshit was getting to him. “I popped over to Amity, and everyone, and I mean everyone, has been touched by death. The whole town reeks of it.”

The bats were quiet as they digested that new tidbit.

“They said I was a revenant,” skunk head said, “what does that mean for me?”

“Aww, so that’s why you stink of death, skunk head.”

“Excuse me? My name is Jason, and I don’t stink!”

“The boy doth protest too much,” John murmured, “It means you died for a long period of time and were brought back, probably with some anger issues and stronger. Maybe you noticed you heal quicker. You’re part of the living dead. Congrats.”

“Wait—” John went to the next slide before the kid could ask another question.

If a ghost asks you to spar: say yes. It’s how they greet each other, and if you think you can’t fight with them, just let them know you are willing to compete with them some other way. Maybe a game or something; I don’t know.”

The youngest was furiously taking notes, and then he raised his hand. John sighed, “Yes?”

“Is it proper if I start a spar with him, or should I wait for them to start one with me?”

John was about to take a puff of a cigarette when he remembered he couldn’t smoke in the fancy mansion. He took a sip of tea instead; damn, but was that good.

“It depends if you’re in their haunt or not. If you’re in their haunt, wait for them to engage. If they’re in your haunt, it’s up to you if you want to spar or compete in some other way.”

More notes were taken down.

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but many cultures are about offering food to the dead. There’s a reason for that; the dead love to eat. If you’re in their haunt, bring food. It makes them feel better.”

Skunk head Jason perked at that tidbit.

“If you spar with a ghost and they ask you to come back to spar again, take it as a compliment. That means they think you’re strong, and they enjoyed fighting with you.”

This time Dick straightened up, “Hey, Jazz said to come back if I ever wanted to spar with her. She just wanted some heads up. Does that mean I’m in?”

“Essentially,” John answered.

“Doesn’t mean I’m happy with you, Grayson.”

Dick pouted.

“Anyway, any more questions before I go to the next slide? No? Okay.

John clicked before anyone could ask another inane question. He couldn’t wait to leave. Maybe he should drink one more cuppa before he left….

“These are things that are normal for ghosts that aren’t for humans.”

“What’s an obsession,” Bruce asked, “You’ve mentioned that before.”

“It’s a ghost’s reason for being. Without an obsession to keep them anchored, they disappear. It’s unclear where they go, but it’s called a ‘permanent fading’ in their terms. Obsessions are a good thing for ghosts.”

John poured himself another cup of tea, drank it in one go, and then went to the last slide.

“Any questions? I sent all my notes to Batman. Leave me alone, sod off, and goodbye.”

John teleported out of the mansion before the bats asked any more questions. He was glad to be gone.

____

Danny woke up suddenly as he felt multiple people invading his temporary haunt. It wasn’t any of the bats; that much he could tell.

He left his room at the same time Jazz did. His parents were at the bottom of the stairs, weapons ready; their eyes almost, almost glowed.

Danny had been able to tell them about Talia, and he had a feeling they were about to see her.

His suspicions were confirmed when he saw his mother standing on the porch. She raised an eyebrow at him and ignored his very armed family. Rude.

“Hello, habibi. Is that any way to greet your mother?”

Fuck.

Link to the slides if you want to see them for some reason

I spent very little time on the slides, which I feel goes with Constantine's character. Not because I was lazy

Apparently, "bitch the pot" was a way to say to pour tea in Victorian times.

@spectralstardustandphantomnights @avelnfear @idfk-man10 @blackroserelina @candeartist422 @luer-mirin @mur-ururu @insufferablecrab @skulld3mort-1fan @meira-3919 @aethernorwood @mimilikey @marshmelloe @latheevening226 @ahyesanerd @lexdamo @chrysanthemum9484 @spooky-fm @gmkelz11 @jotaroslooseeyebrowhair @supershot73199 @starscreamlover @booberrylizard @pastalavistamf

[radiantexcavator-blog]

That time in Libčice near Prague

Mirek, a citizen of the town of Libčice near Prague, woke up to another working day. With hair everywhere itchy like crazy, he sets out to pretend to work at a science research center. He is paid for his journalistic work, but mostly indulges in other hobbies in his office. There are businesses where it doesn't matter and professions that are paid but no one needs them. Mirek is an experienced and happy man.

Mirek: (reading a philosophical book under the table) "Oh, Descartes, how I am delighted by your thoughts, which remind me of my own, of course better, more brilliant!"

Suddenly, his wife, whom Mirek traditionally considers his grandfather, enters the room.

Wife: "Mirek, shouldn't you be working? What if the boss comes and something bad happens? I can't be on the phone all the time and be afraid that it will happen!"

Mirek: (reciting delusions in verse as an answer) "

O my dear, hear my word, The universe burns inside me like a ball of fire. My brain spawns thoughts like wild waves, I dwell in the realm of great dreams, I am a hero from above."

Wife: "Mirka, this doesn't make any sense anymore! Go find another job that's real. I'm afraid you're going to drive me crazy here for good."

Mirek: (while the wife is leaving) "Come on, it is ok, grandpa..."

In a moment, the calm of the office is back, Mirek is getting ready for a siesta, on his way from work, like every day, but at that moment a dark head appears in the window.

Black Farmer: "Well, man, can't you use a better perfume for your madam than your crazy poems? You're lucky I'm here to tell you this! Good advice is damn good."

Mirek heads to the local pub, but not for the alcohol. He absolutely hates it and smoking perhaps even more. Therefore, while surrounded by alcoholics themselves, he orders milk.

Mirek: (approaches the farmer's table) "My friends, milk is my encouragement! A glass of milk for me, please."

American Farmer: (with a touch of Texas accent) Hey, hairy, what are you doing here? Here, alcoholics are told to "curse the day", but you, your hairy body, get a different drink. Milk huh? That's like drinking water from a horse's trough! But go ahead!"

Everyone falls silent and watches Mirko until he finishes his glass in the corner. Such courage and conviction! Only then will the conversation and life of the pub start again.

It is time to return home. And as usual, neighbors meet neighbors in the afternoon, the patriotic revelry is a small-town gift.

Marcel Proust's death mask hovering in the air: "You earth-crawling lunatic, stinking insect! Life is but a memory lost in eternity! Don't you understand?"

Black American farmer: "Well, hello there, folks! I lost my flock of sheep, but did you happen to find them here?"

Team of passionate female tennis players: "Look, here goes the hairy fool again! Those rackets of ours would have crushed him!"

Many dramatic events are decided by the gut, so everyone unexpectedly found themselves in line in front of the Libčice railway station public toilet.

Mirek: "It's on fire! It's on fire! I tried to make tea at home! Our apartment is going to burn down!"

Marcel Proust's mask: "A corpse. Only memories burn, only time burns!"

Team of female tennis players: "What is that hairy kid talking about?"

Black American farmer: "I tell ya, folks, this line is longer than the plains of Texas, I'm going to screw up!"

Mirek: (with enthusiasm) "I'm coughing for firefighting. Folks, I have plans for a book containing all existence in the infinite universe! Everything down to the smallest detail in a small, tiny pamphlet, Wittgenstein can go stab himself with his Tractatus."

The Mask of Marcel Proust: Crazy! You can't prove that!

American Farmer: But you could do it in Texas!

Tennis player 1: Mirek, learn to cook something other than peanut butter! Your wife doesn't want to move anymore!

Mirek: "Woman? What kind of woman? Grandpa can handle the move, he's used to it."

Tennis player 2: What if you'd rather write a book about tennis? We would support that!

Tennis player 3: That would be great! Tennis literature, this is what the world needs!

At a certain point, everyone satisfied their needs, went their separate ways, it was not Proust's turn yet.

Proust's mask: "What a disgusting world, what a wretched life! What is happening to these times?! Where has culture gone?"

Mirek comes to the neighbor's house, where his wife is waiting for him, who takes care of him like a mother, while their own apartment was reduced to ashes.

Mirek: (nervously) "Oh, my dear mother! My grandfather. Don't worry, nothing happened. We're safe here. Our apartment burned down, but I'll clean it up! My back hurts, so later, okay?"

Wife: "Mirek, for God's sake, you're still such a hypochondriac! How do you even do that? At a time like this? Don't forget what I told you! Be careful and don't start another fire!"

Mirek (with a start): "Yes, yes, dear mother. I promise you that I will be careful. Let's pray for our apartment! And I also wrote something to you today at work, my dear mother-grandfather, listen to my new poem: As the hairs wrapped around his back, Like waves in the ocean they rocked, I was a genius, I walked the world, My thinking sound on endlessly."

Wife: "Mirek, stop with those delusions and focus on real life! You are my husband and I cannot be your grandfather, I've had enough!".

Mirek hangs his head guiltily.

Marcel Proust's Death Mask: "What extraordinary folly is this? I have no time for this nonsense! When will we finally get to real art?"

Darkness slowly descended on Libčice near Prague.

[goliath-de-senfina-sango]

New People

Danny personally felt that he was well within his rights to be a bit weirded out by what was going on.  He was on his way to school, getting interrupted by some half-formed spider ghost with threads all over the place that he had to dodge out of the way of before he could even get close to shooting it, Tucker was freaking out and Sam was doing her best to shoot away the webs that Danny actually got caught in.  It took quite a bit of time to squish much of the bug and then get it in the thermos.  During this time, Danny got hit by its pincers and bitten, and the wound was exposed and dripping ectoplasm and some thick purple goop that he assumed was venom.   Things were the standard amount of bad.

The unusual thing was when a ghost with blue skin, pink eyes, and rippling hair that shifted colors between red, yellow and orange flew up to him and gently grabbed his arm.  And then he pulled out a cotton ball from his pocket and started dabbing Danny’s wound.  “Yikes, this is a nasty bite.  You’re Danny Phantom, right?  The bridge spirit?”

“Uh,” Danny looked down at his friends, who shrugged, weapons trained on the newcomer.  “Yeah, I’m the halfa Danny Phantom.”  The guy snorted and Danny scowled.  “What’s so funny?”

“Halfa sounds like something my son would’ve called it when he was 7.”  Once the cotton ball was soaked through it was put in a ziplock that vanished off to somewhere and a water bottle was poured over it instead, followed by a cloth.  “I’m Dr. Jason Pace.  Nice to meet you.”

Danny stared at the man while he cleaned his cut with wide eyes.  “There are ghost doctors?”  It felt like a dumb question, doctors died as much as anyone else, but with all the violent ghosts that came through it was weird to see someone who specialized in helping people.

“Death is hardly enough to keep a medic from helping people who need attention,” Jason said with a chuckle.  “When I woke up in the Infinite Realms I met this big burly werewolf in a hoodie who said he was here to take me where I’m supposed to go but he got to me late, and I thought ‘wow, psychopomps are real and they can be behind schedule.’”

“Did.  Did this werewolf happen to speak Esperanto?”

“Yeah, said his name is Wulf.  I told him that wasn’t very original and he agreed.  Then I told him that I needed to see my husband and he cut open a hole back to the living realm about two weeks after my death, and after a very passionate and emotional night, I headed back into work and just sorta.  Kept doing what I do.”  He hummed, holding up the cloth and setting it on fire before tossing it behind him, where Danny watched it turn to ashes before it made it five feet above the ground. He swiped the purple goop with a q-tip, and then a bunch of vials of glowing liquid appeared from thin air, spinning around him in a lazy orbit.  “Poisonous and venomous ghost animals are horrors and ecto entomologists can kiss my ass if they wanna preach about preserving species.”

“What… are you doing?”

“Ah that’s what it is- you’re going to feel numb in a couple of seconds, which is perfectly normal, but then your core will start to go … well let’s just say I’m glad I got to you in time.”  One of the vials stopped, the swab burned up like the cloth, and a syringe was put into play.  “This is an antivenom.  Please don’t squirm, or this will hurt more.”  Jason pressed the needle over where a vein should’ve been, and Danny hissed at the sharp prick of pain.  Then a lollipop of all things was presented to him.  “Hope you like blueberry.”

“So, what I’m gathering is that you just wanna treat people and you came up to me cause I got bit by a spider.  I don’t remember my folks ranting about a doctor ghost tricking the people at the hospital into dastardly plans so I’m gonna guess you’re not from around here.”

“Oh, this isn’t why I came to your town of course, but yeah this is the thing I’m gonna be doing.”  The syringe needle, once removed, was disintegrated like the rest, and a bandage was stuck on Danny’s arm before his suit could reform around it.  “You should be good… and don’t worry, I don’t mess with people’s heads.  I just help people.  And yes, I know how to help bridge spirits like yourself.”  He held out a business card and gave a two-fingered salute.  “Give that a little charge if you need me.  Bye!”

They watched Jason fade from sight and Danny stared at where he’d been with wide eyes, blinking rapidly.  “What the f-”

“We need to get to school!”  Sam shouted, drawing his attention down to his best friends.  Danny dove down and scooped them both up, turning invisible and flying toward the school.  “Oh, wow, ok.”

“So that was weird, right?”

“That was really fuckin weird, yeah,” Tucker said.  “I guess it makes sense that there’d be ghost doctors, hospitals are the evilest places.”

“I’m glad he’s here,” Sam said.  “Maybe he’ll be able to help you keep up with your habit of crashing into things.”

“I don’t have a habit thank you. My enemies have a habit of yeeting me into things.  There’s a difference.”

“You can turn intangible and go through things instead of slamming into them so.”  After that fun and lovely argument, Danny almost forgot the weirdness of Dr. Pace.

 That is until Lancer introduced the class to a very tall boy with brown hair, tan, freckled skin, and pink eyes.  Pink eyes that were glowing ever so softly. “Hello class, this is Kyle Pace. He’s an exchange student from Pittsburg.”

“Hey there,” Kyle said with a wave, smiling wide enough that everyone could see his canines were much longer and too pointy to be human.  “My last school was Three Rivers so uh I’m kinda not used to this kinda school, so if I’m weird I’m sorry about that.”

“Not a problem, Kyle.”  Lancer patted the large boy on the back.  “Your classmates will be doing their best to help you adjust, I’m sure.”  No one missed the look Lancer gave them, and no one even really considered caring.  Danny, Sam and Tucker were all staring at Kyle with varying degrees of subtly. “There’s a seat between Danny Fenton and Dash Baxter over there, Mr. Pace.  I’ll make sure you get a study guide to catch you up on where we are.”

Kyle nodded and plopped down in his seat, bookbag set down next to him, and the class moved on as though this were normal.  Well, Wes was fuming at the back of the class but no one paid him any attention.  He looked like he was paying attention, and after a while, Danny decided he should do the same, but the glow in Kyle’s eyes and the way Danny’s ghost sense was stuck in his throat, almost alerting him to a ghost but not, messed up his focus even worse than a regular old attack.

When Lunch rolled around, they had a chance to actually talk about it.  “So uh, when Dr. Pace said he had a kid,” Tucker said, “Do you think he meant like after he died?”

“My ghost sense says yes, which is gross to think about, but also kind of an existential crisis going on.”  Danny pushed his food around on his platter, staring at it and through it.  “How the fuck does that even work?”

“Well if Box Lunch,” Sam said with a shudder, “Can exist then maybe… what did he call it?  Bridge Spirits?  Maybe they can happen, ya know, naturally?”

“This validates everyone who wants to fuck Phantom,” Tucker said with a mouth full of meatloaf from home.  Danny punched his arm without looking and took satisfaction in his yelp.  “I’m just sayin.”

“Swallow first, and then - novel idea - don’t say it.”

“I saw him leave algebra with Dash and Dash’s hair isn’t looking so perfectly combed right now,” Tucker said anyway, earning a kick in the shins from Sam.

Danny groaned.  “Can we talk about something else?”

The universe did not agree with their subject of discussion moving away from Kyle, however, as he strode over to their table and plopped down next to Danny.  He had a lunch box filled with clearly homemade food that looked like it was cooked by a chef compared to the lunch meat on Danny’s platter.  He tossed an arm around Danny’s shoulders and gave them all a cheerful, “Hey there!  How’re you guys doing?  I saw your spider backpack and I know appearances aren’t everything but,” he pointed at Sam with a lazy grin, “do you like snakes?”

“Uh, yes?”  Sam looked between Danny and Kyle, likely assessing how dangerous he might be.  “Just not your kind of snake.”

“Pardon?”

“People who hang out with Dash Baxter tend to be just like him.”  Sam folded her arms and scowled, and Tucker rolled his eyes.   Kyle just frowned and looked over at the A lister table, making eye contact with Dash for a moment.

“Only impression I got outta Dash was attractive when he’s not talking, what kinda guy is he?” Sam was all too eager to share that and so was Tucker.  Danny watched as Kyle’s expression grew darker while staring at Dash, eyes beginning to glow brighter until he turned back to the table and covered Tucker’s mouth.  “Aight, an asshole.  Got it. Y’all know that’s all like, illegal, right?  Someone can record him doing this shit and either call the police or threaten it.”

“I mean, we could but then the other A listers would be out for us,” Danny said.

“I dunno what the A list is supposed to be, but I’m betting it’s something really stupid, and I have ta say: can we talk about snakes now?”  Kyle stuffed food in his mouth, and then the conversation about which snakes were cuter, cooler and more dangerous began.  Danny zoned out, stretching his senses to confirm the current of ecto energy under Kyle’s skin and wondered how to bring that up.

Before Danny could ask Kyle if he was possessed or just Like That, Dash Baxter’s voice caught his ear.  “Hey, Kyle, why’re you hangin out with these losers?  You should-” that was as far as Dash got before a pink bubble appeared around him and Kyle turned around to shove the bubble.  It rolled along the floor until it bumped into the A lister table and then popped, leaving Dash to fumble into his seat.  Then Kyle turned back to the table.

“I really want a pet snake, or like even some fish, but Dad doesn’t trust me and Pop thinks that I should learn to be responsible first before I go asking for a pet.  Like, aren’t parents supposed to use pets as a test of responsibility?”

“Some parents think that,” Sam said, her salad finished and her protein shake almost done, “but it’s unfair to put all that on a kid.”

“So,” Tucker said slowly, “everyone is staring at us and I’m kinda wondering if we’re gonna talk about you putting Dash in gay baby jail.”

“Is that weird?”  Kyle raised a brow, and Danny snorted.  “I just really didn’t wanna talk to him if he’s an asshole like y’all said and the bubble popped pretty quick.”  Kyle looked around at the dead silent cafeteria, and his skin began to glow.  “Why are people starin?”

“Because you just blew your cover, ghost!”  Valerie snarled across the cafeteria, and it exploded into chatter.  Kyle flinched at the noise and a bubble appeared around the table that blocked out the noise.

“What the fuck?  What’s going on?”

“Uh, dude, they don’t know about half ghosts.”

“But you’re a bridge spirit too!”

“They don’t know that!  I’ve got a secret identity to keep!”

“I- wow, ok spider-man.  Alright.”  Kyle took a breath and dropped his shield, floating up above the crowd of teens.  “HEY!”  The crowd when slowly quiet as Kyle waved a glowing hand around to get everyone’s attention.  “MY DUDES!  Thanks. So uh, yeah, I’m not sure what y’all think I am, but I can explain pretty easy.”

“Oh I’m certain you can, ghost, but we’re not interested in your lies!”

“Excuse you, I don’t lie anymore than you do.  Anyway, when a living human and a ghost love each other very much-”

“Are you saying your mom or dad banged a ghost?!”  Dale was always so eloquent, it had Danny wondering how he had such bad grades.

“Yeah,” Kyle shrugged, hands stuffed in his pockets.  “I don’t have a Mom though, Dad and Pop just figured out that ghostly physiology is malleable and they wanted a kid.  I’m done talking about my conception now, cause that’s gross, but like, this is a basic thing to understand.”  Kyle floated back down to his seat and crossed his legs.  “I swear I heard at least five girls around here want to start a family with Phantom, and I just gotta wonder: y’all did know that’s possible right?”

Silence eerie as a horror movie washed over the cafeteria.  People processed what they’d been told and some of their minds tripped over themselves trying to do so.  Kyle turned back to Sam and started complaining about pets while chatter erupted around them all, and Danny slammed his head against the table.

[fairygal11]

(Short Story) Guardians of Harmonia: Night at the Enchanted Library

It was an illuminating afternoon at Guardian Academy, an elite school that educated Harmonia’s best and greatest students to become tomorrow’s protectors to ensure the safety and well-being of their realm. At this moment, three guardian apprentices: Kaira Starlight, Minty Peppermint, and Giovanni Linguini were traversing the courtyard as a shortcut to the library. As part of their studies, their required to join an after school club to choose from a wide variety of activities: Monster Hunting, History and Lore, Botany Lovers Club, the list kept going. Suggested by Headmistress, Mikami, that the Library Society Club was the best choice for Kaira and her friends to join. It was a great facility to build teamwork, learn organizational skills and discover the wonder of reading. Kaira found this suggestion to be highly effective, she loved books with all her heart--being in a library full of books reminded her of the library her mother managed back home in Honey Meadows. Her friends, Giovanni and Minty though, they’d see them as material to make forts or have a stacking contest. They’ll change their minds if she showed them how amazing books can be whilst working in the library.

They soon arrived at Magica Library that’s stationed on the west side on academy grounds. The library was ginormous in size that one would mistake it for a manor, if were it not for the unusual orb-shaped architectures that branched out on the sides of the building and suspended in midair. Kaira, parting a few strands of her silver hair that glistened in the sunlight, out of her face to gaze with eyes that were blue as the sky itself at the mystifying library’s exterior. Minty and Giovanni didn’t have the same enthusiasm and sparkle in their eyes like their friend, although Minty saw the orb domes as giant bubble gum balls. The three approached the giant oak double door, Kaira pushed all the way for her and her friends to step inside. When she raised her head to take in the interior, her face lit up like a sparkler, hands placed on her face in excitement at what she was seeing before her eyes. It was as whimsical as its exterior! Levels upon levels that filled to the brim with books, rolling library ladders to glide across the shelves to find what book you sought. In Magica’s case, sometimes the books would come straight to you if your willing to catch the right one during their flight through the library for any student to catch and study upon. Nestled right in the center of the building was a grand Kapok tree that stood in the center, tiny orbs of colorful lights floated throughout it.

Underneath the base of the tree, there was the Librarian’s Desk where Jim, Librarian Apprentice/Library Page, was sitting at his station in the meantime going through the clipped papers on his clipboard at the agenda that awaited him. He’s assigned to showing the newest members the ropes as to how the library operated. He rose his head upon taking in the fresh faces in the library, standing up from his desk and coming out from behind to welcome them. He assumed that they were the candidates that were to become part of the Library Society under Headmistress Solaria’s request. He began to give them a tour of the library, giving a brief history of the facility before explaining and demonstrating different tasks they were to do whilst partaking in the club. Along with maintenance, there was discussion of book genres, authors, what inspired one to get involved into reading. This made Giovanni and Minty groaned at the talk of books and chores, but to Kaira was happier than a kid in a candy store.

Under Jim’s supervision, the gang began their duties by dusting the shelves to ensure the books are in peak condition. Next, came checking in items from the sorting room and placing designated items in their respected bins.Giovanni caught glimpse of a book that told about Swords and Weaponry on one of the stacks. Upon opening its spine when all of a sudden a sword was pointed directly at him a few inches from his neon pink eyes! He closed the book and threw it right back into the pile with the books being ready to sort in. By early evening, they held giant butterfly nets in order to scoop up the flying books and put them to bed. Winged books need their beauty sleep too, but some of them refused to go back on their respected shelves. Though it was a huge library and catching them all wasn’t gonna be easy, Jim picked a book off the shelf on “Aero Magic Dynamics”, opening it up as he placed his palm onto a page to summon forth a flying carpet for each of them; He assumed they took their class about using aerodynamical mystical vehicles like brooms, magic carpets, etc. They each hopped onto a carpet and flew off after the Winged Books, Minty was having a blast racing around the library and scooping up a few in the process. She egged Giovanni on to make their chore a game entitled “Book Hunt” that rose his motivation to turn a boring task into a fun book snatching contest. The two swirled around the archways, flew down a couple of the aisles making sure not to bump into any to cause them to fall over and flew up a spiral staircase toward one of the Observation Orbs. A book of Fairy Tales was ajar when it sprinkled star dust that floated down like snow on a peaceful winter morning, Minty caught one on her tongue and commented that it tasted like Sparkling Pop Rocks.

Once they gathered the Winged Books and shelved back to their respected categories-Kaira and her friends along with Jim took a break from tasks to catch a breather. They were enjoying themselves until their free time was interrupted by the sound of glass shattering and the tiny orbs flashed like police lights and made a ringing noise-Someone has broken into the library!. Immediately, they sprung forth toward the west end to come face to face with the intruder. Standing before them was a snarky-looking man dressed in a midnight robe that made him blend into the shadows without detection. Yet he was careless to let himself be known now when he shattered one of the windows using a brick.

“Well, well, well~Seems to me that I’ve gained myself an audience.” The thief said as he was surprised that there were people working the late shift. It would appear he miscalculated when he formulated his plan to seek out the Guardians Grimoire that was said to be locked away in the academy’s library, but now a monkey wrench was tossed into his plan.

“And we didn’t expect to have some noisy thief disrupt our break time! It’s the only time we can enjoy some goodie treats and we were in the middle of chowing down on the Swirl Berry Muffins I brought along!” The peppermint-haired Minty said as she shook her fist to him, aggravated that this thief had the nerve to disrupt break time.

“Listen pal, I don’t know who you think you are, but you picked the wrong place to rob from. I mean seriously-WHAT kind of thief would want to break into a library?” Giovanni said as he was confounded upon the thief’s objective to what business he had at a “magical library”.

“I’ve come seeking the Guardians’ Grimoire so I may use its power to become the greatest Sorcerer in the whole world!” He boasted as he rose his hands up in the air, letting out a fiendish laugh.

“Seriously? You want a dusty grimoire that’ll grant you the powers of a god? Total cliche, bro.” Giovanni stared blankly at the loon.

“It isn’t a dusty grimoire!”, He stomped his right foot down on the ground like he was trying to kill a bug, “It is a book of infinite wisdom and magic!”

“The Guardians’ Grimoire is one of Harmonia’s most ancient and precious artifacts, kept hidden deep away from public eye and sealed away with

“We won’t allow you to take the Guardians’ Grimoire!” Kaira stepped forth, positioning herself into a fighting stance.

“The Guardians’ Grimoire will never fall into the hands of a Charlatan like you!” Jim proclaimed as he glared angrily at the thief.

“We’ll just see about that, now will we?” The thief rose his hand as a dark ball of energy began to form and unleashed a powerful dark lightning bolt at them!

Kaira created a light shield to deflect the dark lightning bolt from striking at them, but it was a diversion to allow the thief a head start toward the back of the library. The Forbidden Archives is said to be located somewhere around the west end of the building. Earlier, Jim told them that the archives was off limits to students and accessed by the library staff. If the thief found a way to access the room, he’d not only steal the grimoire, but other valuable books he could sell in the black market or worse.....burn them!

“We can’t let him get to the archives and get that book!, Jim shouted to his associates.

“And how are we supposed to find him, Poindexter? He sprinted and serpentined after that little lightning blast he fired at us! He could be halfway there by now with his ninja-like reflexes!” Giovanni protested, raising his hands up in the air in frustration.

While they tried to figure out a course of action as quick as they could, Kaira stared around the shelves around them and from the corner of her eye she spotted a book on “Monsters, Mystics and Marvels”. Wanting to confirm her precision, she took a few steps closer to the book and saw it was a 398 number-They were in the 398s aisle that cataloged Harmonia’s myths, legends and fairy tales! Her face lit up like the light bulb in her head, she quickly swiped the book from the shelf before rushing back to her friends.

“We can use this to get the thief!” She waved the book up in the air for her friends to see like she was waving a bulky flag.

“I don’t think reading at a time like this will solve our dilemma, Kai.” Giovanni scoffed when his hope dimmed and rolled his eyes slowly.

“No, Kaira is right. BOOKS are exactly what we need to help us handle this thief!,” Jim said as he figured out right away what Kaira was up to with that book, “As you three should of known already, the books in this library can be beneficial to your brain, but to your training as guardians. They’d at times would borrow some of our books to use on their travels, but it requires mana to draw out the magical energy to manifest the creatures and materials within their pages.”

“In english, please.” Minty replied for she didn’t seem to grasp Jim’s explanation.

“Sighhh~You visualize, focus and unleash their magical force on your opponents and can benefit in travels like summoning a Gryphon.” He simplified it down so Minty can grasp the concept.

“We saw first hand when we were working today. When Jim summoned the flying carpets to help us capture the Winged Books easier then running around in circles. And Minty, you and Giovanni were having fun during the time.”

“And Gio nearly got his eyes poked out by a sword that poked out of the Weaponry book he was looking at in the sorting room.” Minty said as she pointed her thumb at him.

“It was scary, but kinda cool to be honest-but it nearly poked my eye out.” Giovanni sheepishly admitted, rubbing the back of his head.

“Books aren’t always scary and boring like you might claim them to be, Giovanni. They can be fun, exciting full of interesting information and tales that want to be heard and seen by human eyes. The reason a sword almost harmed you because you found weaponry fascinating-you even tied a dagger to your bat to make it into a “Dagger Bat”.” Kaira said with a heartful smile on her face.

“Soul Slammer.” He corrected her on his weapon’s name.

“Soul Slammer, of course, but the point is that right now the power of these books can help us stop the thief from reaching the archive and protect the library from his carelessness. With the power of these books and our skills combined, we can take this thief down, so who’s with me!?” Kaira proclaimed as she rose her fist in the air.

Minty and Giovanni stared at one another for a moment, but then puffed up their chest and put on their most awesome game faces. They weren’t gonna let some petty thief get the better of them, they’re future Guardians after all and as a guardian-they help the weak and innocent. In this case though, its protecting the library and the paper bound “residents” that reside within its walls. They rose their fists in the air to show they were ready to stand and fight with Kaira to defend the library and keep the grimoire safe from the thief’s hands. For her and her love of reading’s sake, they’d do anything to help Kaira because she was their friend who had a big heart just like her book shelf back in the dorm. Jim showed the group to the nearest aisles and categories that would help them in catching the thief: Geology, Astrology, Mythology, Magical Aerodynamics and of course to Minty’s wonder-Cooking! She grabbed a mess of dessert cook books to have on hand.

Jim summoned the magic carpets and they took off to the top of the book shelves. Scanning the area for any sign of the thief before Giovanni saw him heading passed the Chimera statue near the library’s StarPaws where students mostly got their coffee. The thief neared the statue as he studied the base carefully, trying to figure out where the secret switch was to accessing the archive that was said to lie deep underneath. Yet his concentration was broken when splat! A black forest cake splatted him on the head, frosting dripped down his face before turning around. He gazed up at the four as they floated in mid air on their fabric transports, shaking off the cake with some bits sticking to his hair.

“That’s all you got to stop me? A cake? How pathe-Ah!”, He was cut off when a banana crème pie smacked him right in the face!

“I got a whole dessert buffet on stand by to slow you down with its creaminess!,” Minty held the book of “Harmona’s Best Desserts” in her arms, smirking teasingly at him.

“But it would appear you need a knife for that pie, here let me lend you one-or ten!” Giovanni laughed before opening the weaponry book that shined softly before a wave of swords came flying out!

The thief screeched as he dove right out of the way when the swords clanked against the statue, scattering to the ground. Luckily he slide under of the nearby tables, yet one of the blades ricochet from the statue and stabbed the center of the table- two inches from his nose!

“Hey! Be careful! You almost gave me a nose job!”, The thief shouted back at them.

Suddenly the ground beneath the thief rumbled, the floor board began to spit out seeds which caused him confusion. Yet confusion turned to panic when they sprouted at an alarming rate and intertwined into an oak tree that launched the thief and the table he was under right into the air! The table fell onto the tree top with him crashing down on the surface base, he felt one of his ribs crackle and bruise. He got up slowly, brushing his legs from his fall before having to  balance on the table. He was about to find himself flailing about when his eyes grew to saucer plates when tiny asteroids were flying his way. He moved his body like he was belly dancing or performing a weird ceremonial dance, but he didn’t see the large asteroid crash into him that knocked him off the table and face planted right onto the floor!

The thief groaned at the hits he took as he got up slowly, but to come face to face with a celestial Star Bear that was an inch from his face. It let out a mighty roar that made him scream like a girl and turned heel to go around the statue to find himself caught in a miniature tornado Jim summoned forth, then launched into the air yet again. Giovanni dove straight toward him with his Soul Slammer and struck him right in the kisser, he knocked out a few of his teeth due to the impact of his strike. The thief was sent flying the opposite direction, only to be snatched out of the air by Tangle Vines that wrapped around him like a snake coils its prey. When he tried flicking his fingers to conjure fire to burn the roots, a giant vat of heavy whipped cream fell on him to ensure that if he broke free, the sweet goo would slow him down.

“I gotta admit-Books are really fun, especially if they can take out a thief.” Giovanni  declared to his friends.

“It wasn’t just the books, but it was all of us working together in order to catch the thief.” Kaira said with a smile on her face.

“And Harmona’s Best Desserts did a “wallop cream” him in his place.”, Minty chuckled at her terrible pun.

“That made no sense at all,” Jim said in annoyance to Minty’s horrid pun.

Jim called campus police to escort the thief off the property and taken to jail whilst they clean up the mess they made in order to catch him. It took them until 3am from fixing up the window, returning the books to their shelves and making sure there wasn’t any other intruders that might have snuck in during the chaos. Giovanni and Minty created a book fort for them to sleep in for the night, everyone placed their sleeping bags down on the ground. The tiny orbs provided light for comfort and protection from the dark. It had been an eventful and colorful day, but what made  better was that Kaira was proud that her friends found a newfound love for reading. It taught them how powerful books can be when their knowledge comes in handy when wanting to learn about weaponry, how to make the ideal macaroon or using the magic within its pages to stop a thief.

[unlockthelore]

Sweater Strikes Back

The best part of being in a large and rather dysfunctional family was the lack of boredom. Every day was something new and there was a spectacular aspect to the mundane that Kurama lacked when he was simply going about his days pretending to be a human boy.

After meeting Hiei, falling in league with the others, and going on more than his fair share of adventures — he found a wealth of treasures in the people around him that outmatched all the ones he’d gathered during his days as a bandit. He loved and he lost in those days, gaining perspective in a quick brush with death, and later on a family all of his own.

Along with a loving husband and children to dote on day in and day out.

Though speaking of his husband and children, Kurama was ecstatic for Hiei’s return from the Makai. Mukuro was busy with her duties in Alaric so she wasn’t able to come to the Ningenkai for Christmas.

While the children had been admittedly downhearted with the lack of their grandmother’s presence, they were appeased to know that Hiei would take over delivering her presents to her including their drawings and other things.

Kurama wasn’t sure what Mukuro would do with all of it but for the children’s amusement, he’d filled a red sack with the presents then sent Hiei on his way. The fire demon was less likely to spark a flame with their children watching him with awe.

And Kurama knew that it meant a lot to Hiei to see their smiles. With the promise of getting him back and a quick kiss, Hiei was gone and Kurama was left to wrangle their children into their surprise for their father.

Finishing up the last few stitches on one of the sweaters, Kurama held it up and smiled at his handiwork. It was a dark red with miniature white foxes chasing snowflakes around the hem, patches of white along the elbows and the neckline. Setting it aside, Kurama glanced up at the sound of thundering footsteps.

“It fits, dad,” Kohaku said, swinging around the banister to peer into the living room with a wide smile.

He was twelve years old now and his hair had grown well past his shoulders, wavy and thick, it was tied up in a ponytail with a hair ribbon similar to the one Yukina wore. The light blue and eggshell white of his sweater a sharp contrast to the murky dark grayish-black tear gem connected to his earring. His dark-grey eyes bright as his gaze flicked down to his sweater, the depiction of flames lining across his chest and at the center of his stomach seeming to glow with his reiki.

“Figured out a new trick?” Kurama asked as Kohaku padded over, climbing up onto the arm of the couch.

“Yeah,” Kohaku said, settling on the couch arm and leaning over to press a kiss to Kurama’s cheek. “If I channel my energy, I can make it light up.”

Kurama listened to Kohaku’s explanation with a smile. No matter how old he got, Kohaku was still as affectionate as the little baby that Hiei brought through his window all those years ago.

And it warmed his heart to see him so excited and experimenting with his abilities. Kohaku’s fear of his own being broke Kurama’s heart and worried Hiei to no end. Seeing him come into his own and try to understand himself was the best gift they could’ve gotten.

“Where are your brother and sister?” Kurama asked, glancing up at the clock. “Papa will be home soon.”

Kohaku tilted his head and glanced at the staircase. “I think that Ai was playing with Youko and Genji was trying to get his tail to fit in his pants.”

Almost on cue, a little white fox came running down the steps two at a time, pausing at the last one to look up the staircase. Another set of thundering footsteps coupled with a flying leap came from upstairs, a little girl with messy dark hair sticking the landing, stumbling forward a bit with her arms wheeling around then catching herself. After a short pause, she turned to face Kurama and Kohaku with her arms stretched high over her head.

Her own sweater was a darker shade of grey with two violet dragons chasing their tails in the center and flames around the neckline and hem. And with her arms stretched over her head, Kurama was pleased to see that it was big enough for her to keep for a few more years.

“Good job, Aiko,” Kurama said over Kohaku’s cheering. “But try not to jump from that high, okay?”

The fox sitting beside Aiko’s feet tipped its head to one side before scrambling up her leg to scale her side and settle on her shoulder as she hurried into the living room. All but tackling Kohaku and draping herself across his legs as she looked up at Kurama with bright green eyes.

“It’s alright, dad. Haku told me a funny joke so if I remembered it at the last second, I’d just float.”

Kurama shook his head and tweaked her nose. “Just because you can use your powers to float doesn’t mean that you should abuse them.”

Neither Kurama or Hiei guessed that one of their children would manifest with powers connected to the Dragon of the Darkness Flame, and Aiko’s capabilities were just as unknown to them as the mythical entity itself.

It was a surprise to find that she could float when she was an infant, prone to lifting off when she was happy enough to be lighter than air. And considering her perpetual state of cheer, it was difficult to keep her on the ground.

Yet despite the unusual state of her being and her powers, Aiko seemed to take everything in stride. At nine years old, she was well on her way to learning how to control her powers with ease, likely taking after Hiei and his learning ability. Nonetheless, Kurama didn’t mind her silliness. She was a child despite being connected to an ancient being. And he wanted her to be a child as long as she could be.

“Come here, Youko,” Kurama cooed, the fox’s ears perking up as he clamored over to climb up onto the couch and curl up by Kurama’s side.

In lieu of having a dog or a cat, or any conventional pet, they had a fox. While Youko had started out as a stuffed fox, plush and made by Hiei’s hand, he’d been brought to life by Aiko two years ago. Only reverting back to his stuffed state when he desired but otherwise happy to tag along with the children to ensure that they weren’t getting into too much trouble.

“Now all we’re missing is…” Kurama leant forward and smiled as Genji came hopping down the steps two at a time.

Their only child that manifested as a youko, he bore a likeness to Kurama as the youko and his human form resembled Kurama’s own with a few key differences. At the tender age of four, he didn’t have much control over changing his forms and seemed more than happy as a youko. Silver hair brushing against his shoulders, his ears perking up and golden eyes brightening as he laid eyes on his siblings and Kurama, running over to clamber onto Kurama’s lap.

“I got my tail to fit!” He said proudly, the tail in question swaying with gusto.

“You did, little one.” Kurama said, balancing Genji on his lap as he leant over to grab his sweater, helping him pull it on. “And don’t you look nice?”

Genji grinned and snuggled closer to Kurama. It was times like this that Kurama couldn’t help but agree with Yusuke and Kuwabara’s thoughts on Genji being a “child-sized” version of the youko. Far more innocent than Kurama’s other form and infinitely cuter in his own personal bias, and definitely cuddle-sized. Genji enjoyed being doted on and soaked up his sibling’s praise and adoration along with Kurama’s arms settled around him.

After awhile, the children started to talk about their own sweaters and each other’s before Kohaku pointed at Kurama’s.

“What’s that on your sweater, dad?”

Aiko squinted at Kurama’s sweater and Genji wiggled to one side to look at it himself. “It almost looks like Papa.”

“Yeah…” Genji agreed, tipping his head to one side.

Kurama chuckled softly, brushing his fingers through his youngest son’s hair, rewarded with Genji’s rumbling purr. “When your Papa comes back, ask him to tell you the story of the little alien.”

“Little alien?” Genji asked, curling up and pillowing his cheek beside the caricature.

Aiko knelt behind Kohaku, her arms draped over his shoulders as she peered closer, effectively squishing her cheek against her brother’s. “What kind of story is that, dad?”

It was a testament to Kohaku’s balance that he didn’t go toppling over onto Kurama’s lap. And to spare the older boy all the weight, Kurama made room for them and reached out to bring Aiko closer to him, Kohaku settling beside her with a sigh.

“I’s part of the story of how Papa, Uncle Yusuke, Uncle Kuwabara, and I helped to save the realms.”

The children loved hearing stories about their adventures and before they could begin their onslaught of questions, the glass door leading to the backyard slid open and Hiei walked through with the empty sack thrown over his shoulder.

“Telling stories already?” He asked, after taking one look at them. His eyebrows knitted together, eyes narrowing when he noticed what they were wearing. “Wh— What are you all wearing?”

“Papa!”

The kids clamored off the couch, making a beeline for Hiei and hugging or in Genji’s case, scaling up the fire demon’s body to find a place to hold onto him. They launched into several talks and explanations of their day and their sweaters and asked about Mukuro and a number of other things. With the deluge of information, Hiei wasn’t sure which to answer first but he bore witness to their sweaters then leveled Kurama with a stare.

“Merry Christmas, anata.” Kurama said cheekily, resting his chin in hand as he leant against the couch arm.

Hiei rolled his eyes, setting the sack down and starting to try and wrangle their kids so that he could sit down himself, a smile playing on his lips once he finally flopped down beside Kurama.

“Merry Christmas,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to Kurama’s cheek.

[veliseraptor]

novum oriens, 2.1k, clint and natasha’s a+ parenting verse, this is the actual first installment chronologically other than the prequel, writing things in order? what’s that?

thanks to the anon who reminded me about the existence of this verse and brought me back to finish this large chunk of it I started to write ages ago and never finished filling in!

Clint liked to think he was pretty used to weird. He might not be as cool-headed and unflappable as Nat, but most people weren't, and he was pretty damn good at rolling with the punches.

That being said, there was 'weird' and then there was 'Thor showing up out of the blue with a kid at his heels.' Small kid, too, about waist-high, short black hair, his head swiveling around like he was trying to look at everything at once but still sticking close by Thor, who looked a lot more serious. "This is Midgard?" the kid said, sounding both curious and a little skeptical.

"Indeed it is," Thor said. "And my friend's home."

"It's--" the kid stopped abruptly, glanced at them, and then said politely, "very impressive." Clint pressed his lips together so he didn't snort. Tony looked like he was trying to decide between being amused and offended. Steve cleared his throat.

"It's good to see you again, Thor," he said, and then looked at the kid and opened his mouth. Thor interrupted before he could say anything - probably ask what his name was.

"Brother," he said to the kid, and Clint froze. "Would you..." He paused, and the kid gave him an arch look, a little half smile.

"Are you trying to get rid of me, Thor?" he said, and for a moment Thor's expression was panicked, but the kid gave him a little shove. "It's all right." He turned to Tony and said, "where's the washroom?"

"Uh," Tony said. "Down the stairs, take a left and then another left. Second door on the right."

"Thank you," the kid said brightly, and departed. Clint stared after him, stomach in knots.

"Tell me you have another brother," Clint said, the moment it seemed like he was out of earshot. Thor's expression tightened, and Clint swore. "You're telling me that was - Loki?"

"Yes," Thor said.

"Loki who died?" Bruce said. Thor's expression tightened further.

"Yes."

"And you brought him here...why, exactly?" Natasha asked, an edge on her voice. Thor glanced toward the stairs.

"Because I need to ask you a favor," he said. "I need Loki to stay here with you."

Absolute, dead silence followed his pronouncement. Clint felt like he'd been clubbed in the head. "You're not serious," he said faintly. Thor looked grim, and perfectly serious.

"I am afraid that I am," he said. "I understand the difficulty, but..." He paused, and then said, "Loki's coming back. We can't discuss this with him here. He doesn't remember...what came before, and it is better that way."

"We need to talk about this," Steve said.

"In private," Thor said. "Is there something Loki might do while we...?"

"You want to turn him loose in my tower?" Tony said. Thor just looked at him, and Tony made a small noise. "Yeah, okay, okay, that's cool. Fine. If he breaks anything..."

Loki emerged from downstairs and Thor walked swiftly over to him. "My friends and I have some business to discuss, I am afraid," Thor said, and then added, when Loki (shit, Loki) opened his mouth, "Avengers business."

Loki huffed. "And what am I going to do?" he asked.

"Ever heard of the internet?" Tony said suddenly. Loki gave him a perplexed look, and Tony said, "you're gonna love it, I guarantee you. Guys - let me know where you decide to meet."

Thor ruffled Loki's hair, who gave him a scowl and a wrinkled noise as he shook it back into place, and Clint felt like he was going to choke on his own tongue. He looked quickly away and found himself meeting Natasha's sympathetic gaze. It's just a kid, he told himself, but of course that wasn't all he was. And it was hard not to feel like believing that made Loki harmless would be a very large mistake.

**

“I gave the kid a Starkpad and showed him how to use the internet, so that should keep him busy for a few hours,” Tony said, dropping into a chair. Clint noticed that, the kid, like he was trying to avoid saying the name. “So…”

No one seemed to want to start talking, so Clint went ahead and dove into the breach. “Okay, I’ll say it,” he said. “Are you seriously talking about just dropping Loki with us and leaving?”

Thor’s gaze was on his hands. “I would not do so if I had other options.”

“You have an entire planet,” Clint said, maybe a little belligerent, so sue him.

Thor’s lips twisted. “Asgard is not safe for Loki. Not...as he is.”

Steve frowned. “People are targeting him? A kid?”

“Many feel as you do,” Thor said. “That it matters not his age, that it is...safer to put an end to his life now, while he is still young and vulnerable.” Clint’s stomach clenched a little but he shut that feeling down. Or tried. Thor lifted his gaze. “My friends. I know that you have no reason to bear anything but ill-will toward my brother, but understand - this is not the Loki you battled. He has no memory of those events, and is a child not just in body but in mind. I cannot keep him with me while I investigate this new threat - and I fear to leave him on Asgard, even among my friends, without my protection.”

Steve was openly grimacing. Natasha had her “trying-too-hard-to-be-blank” face on, which meant she was unhappy and wanted at least him to know it. Tony rubbed his forehead, but he looked as disquieted as Clint felt. “How do you know that this kid is really - all new, factory-fresh Loki?” He asked. “Not the old one messing with you to get your guard down?”

“I know,” Thor said, something cold in his voice.

“Right,” Tony said. “That’s reassuring.”

“Even if...potential threat aside, Thor,” Bruce said, and if Steve looked upset Bruce looked...a little green. Clint supposed child abuse might be a sore spot with him. “None of us are exactly what you’d call babysitters.”

“Hey,” Clint objected. “I’m good with kids.”

“Then that makes one of us,” Bruce said. Clint was relieved that he didn’t disagree out loud, at least. “But...we don’t exactly lead safe lives, either.”

“I know,” Thor said, “but with you is the safest place I know on this Realm. I do not think any would try to harm Loki, with you as his protectors.”

Oh, Jesus. Clint could see by the look on Steve’s face, and Bruce’s, and even Tony’s, that they were going to go for it. And what was he supposed to say? Yeah, I’m fine with letting a kid get murdered for crimes he’s possibly culpable for but doesn’t remember, sounds good.

“What happens when we have to do Avengers stuff?” Clint asked.

“He is not incapable of taking care of himself,” Thor said. “For short periods of time…”

“We could have some kind of rotation,” Steve said. Natasha drummed her fingers on the table.

“Hold on, Steve,” she said. Clint could’ve kissed her. “We haven’t even agreed to-”

She broke off, looking toward the door. Clint looked with her, and noticed that the door was open and standing in the doorway was the topic of their conversation. Looking at him more closely now, the best adjective to describe Loki in his current state was “weedy” - narrow and almost delicate looking, and maybe it was just that his eyes were wide but they seemed too big for his face. Clint guessed he was maybe ten, eleven years old, or at least the Aesir equivalent thereof.

His eyes flicked around the room and he cleared his throat awkwardly, gaze fixing on Thor. “I am sorry to interrupt,” he said, shoulders drawing up a little like he could sense the tension in the room. “I wished to ask if there were a library somewhere?”

Clint stared at him, eyes narrowed. He didn’t look like Loki, except in the superficial physical resemblance. Different mannerisms, different posture, and his voice sounded different - hesitant, the tone of a child around unfamiliar adults, expecting to be dismissed.

“What happened to the Starkpad I gave you?” Tony asked. Loki glanced at him, and then at Thor like he was looking for guidance.

“It is...interesting,” Loki said, carefully polite. “But it is a bit…simple?” Clint had to stifle a snort. Tony’s eyebrows shot up and he looked indignant. “It is very impressive, though,” Loki hastened to add, seemingly entirely earnest. “I did not know that Midgardians had worked out how to make such things.” Now Bruce looked like he was trying not to laugh. Tony huffed loudly, and Loki shot Thor what was unmistakably a nervous look.

“Right,” Steve said loudly. “Well...Thor, should you introduce us?”

Oh, right. Clint wondered idly if there was a chance he could duck out and avoid having to get introduced to Loki again, but Loki’s eyes had already lit up. “No need!” He said. “Thor has spoken much and highly of you. You are Iron Man,” he said to Tony. “The infinitely clever master forger and craftsman.” Clint couldn’t help but think, nice, kid. Tony looked like he was trying not to be pleased by the description.

“And you, Captain America,” Loki went on. “Courageous and true, defender of your people and a warrior without compare.” He turned to Bruce, hesitating only a moment. “Dr. Banner?” he said, not quite a question. “A man of science, but you also-” Another glance at Thor. “You fought my brother to a standstill,” he said, with a faint tone of awe.

Bruce’s lips twitched. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

But now Loki had turned toward Clint, who tensed in spite of himself. Half expecting some kind of backhanded insult, but Loki’s expression was just one of slightly apprehensive excitement. “Hawkeye,” he said. “The marksman who has never missed his target. And Black Widow, whom others underestimate at their peril.”

He stopped his recitation and looked around the room, expectant and nervous. Thor stood and walked over, placing a hand on Loki’s shoulder, and the way Loki looked up at him sort of stung: trusting, adoring. Clint remembered what it was like to look at your older brother like that, like they could fix the whole world, like everything would be fine as long as they were there.

“It’s nice to meet you, Loki,” Steve said, just as Loki’s smile started to falter. “We do have a conversation that we need to finish, though, so…”

Loki seemed to deflate, a little. “I’ll go,” he said without argument, and Thor gave him a hard look.

“No eavesdropping at the door,” he said. Loki’s eyes flicked guiltily away.

“I won’t.” He paused. “But we should leave soon, Thor. We do not want to return to Asgard after moonrise.”

“Yes, Loki,” Thor said without a hitch, and Clint winced. He ruffled his brother’s hair. Ruffled Loki’s hair, and if Loki scowled at him he didn’t protest, and slipped back out.

“You haven’t told him,” Bruce said.

Thor looked down. “I have not wanted to.”

Tony groaned. “He’s going to flip out, Thor.”

Thor frowned. “Why should he? It is not forever, and he will understand that.”

Will he? Clint thought. Will it even matter, or will the only thing that matters be that he’s being abandoned by his brother on a different planet with total strangers?

Bruce rubbed his forehead. “Kids don’t always get that stuff, Thor. Does he...does he know that Asgard is dangerous for him?”

Thor hesitated. “Yes,” he said after a long moment. “He knows.” There was a world of something there that Clint didn’t feel up to touching. “He does not know why. We have said...that there is a misunderstanding.”

Loki seemed like a smart kid. Clint would bet he wasn’t buying that one, and he wondered what kind of alternate explanations Loki might’ve come up with.

“Loki will understand,” Thor said staunchly. “I will explain. And you are friends.”

“That’s not going to be enough,” Tony said. “And I don’t really want to see the tantrum he throws when he realizes you’re leaving him behind.”

“Does that mean you agree to let him stay here?” Thor asked. Sly. Tony looked helplessly at Steve, who glanced at Clint.

Clint grimaced. “So it’s down to me? What about Nat?” Natasha didn’t volunteer to step in, and Clint squeezed his eyes closed and exhaled harshly. “Yeah. Okay. For you, Thor.”

Fuck, he was going to regret this.

[caffeineaddicted-tragedies]

A Second Coming

The world was on fire, and God was drinking her tea.

           Jasmine Green Tea, with a droplet of honey and just a small squeeze of lemon for emphasis and taste. The boy sitting across from her, with messy brown hair and a broad nose and, she had to say, the ugliesteye color she had ever seen, was, to the contrary drinking a straight black cup of coffee. No cream, no milk, no sugar, just crushed beans and water. She refrained from commenting on it, needing to keep a good impression, but honestly, black coffee? Nothing sweet? He couldn’t have been much older than 13, and yet he was drinking coffee, of all things.

           The world continued to burn.

           “Some weather we’re having, huh?” Time finally spoke, taking a small sip of the disgusting bean juice.

           God hummed in agreement and took one of her own drink. “Not like it wasn’t forecasted, though,” she said, thinking about the chanting fates and the whispers spoken, echoing through the halls of heaven and hell, thousands of years before. “Still can’t believe it came so fast.”

           “Yes, indeed.”

           Two more sips of the still hot drinks.

           They looked outside, in to the endless silence. Or, it was silent now, neither having anything to say. Even the fire, a bright blue sulfuric monstrosity, was silent in its burning. Time started humming an old song, and God frowned. “Really?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.

           “What?”

           “The apocalypse is happening right outside our door, and you’re singing that song?”

           “Burn, baby burn,” Time continued, “Disco inferno.”

           “Stop.”

           He sighed, but paused the song, and fiddled with snowy white hair that replaced the former brown. “You’re no fun,” he said, a slight pout gracing his timeless (no pun intended) features. He finally looked up as the hair (which it suddenly occurred to God could have a mind of its own) morphed into longer curls, which barely brushed his shoulders. “I suppose we should address the elephant in the room.”

           “The what--”

           “It’s a saying, never mind.” The snowy curls shook with Time’s head. “It means something big that nobody is discussing or avoiding.”

           She nodded. “Yes, I suppose there is an elephant in this room, then,” she said, taking a long sip. “Heisn’t here.”

           “If he was here, then they would have stopped screaming.”

           God looked outside. “Yes, they would have when the fire started. It’s taking too long without him.”

           The world was on fire, and no one was dead. Apparently, this didn’t make God, who had always constantly preached peace, and love, and acceptance, was unhappy with this. There is a too badly lack of it, She had said, when the two had asked some time (yes, also no pun intended) before, I will give them time to correct their mistakes. Maybe take the best of them, the kindest, most moral abiding and bring them up there and rebuild with them.

           It had been a swell plan, really it had, it was sure to work.

           Except for the fact that hehad hated it.

           Hehad told them at least twenty times, complaining about any possible thing that could go wrong. “You tried that last time, remember,” hemoaned, as hemassaged the bridge of his nose. “With the giant flood? Paper work for decades!” or “It didn’t even work! People are still sinning!”

           This would have been fine, if hewasn’tan integral part of the plan. God started the fires, Time sped it up so they wouldn’t have to actually sit there and watch as nearly several billion people and animals and anything living burned right outside their door, and hemade sure everyone died relatively quickly and not in too much agony (even God had a heart apparently). However, now hewasn’t here, and now they had to deal with the aftermath.

           Without hishelp.

           “We could check outside,” Time finally suggested, finishing his coffee. “He might have gotten caught up in one of the fires.”

           “You wantto go outside in thatmess?”

           “I was talking about you, Almighty Creator!”

           Bickers and insults went back and forth between the two immortal and (despite their infinite knowledge) considerably childlike beings, and the barista behind the bar cowered, watching the exchange and praying--wait, she couldn’t do that (also, she couldn’t believe Ariana Grande was right: God was a woman). She hopedthat neither noticed her, and if they did, it was for another drink, and not asking her to go outside and fulfill the task that neither wanted to do. Of course, she was also busy trying to figure out who the other was. The woman was God, based on the title of “Almighty Creator”, however the one with the white hair, who apparently liked incredibly bad disco music, remained a mystery. Him being human was off the table, humans weren’t supposed to be able to change their features at a moments notice (and more importantly they weren’t supposed to change on their own whim), so he couldn’t be a time traveler or someone who had gotten incredibly lucky. He didn’t look like the Devil or a demon. Maybe an angel? But weren’t those supposed to be beautiful? Which he was, but by God, those eyes—

            A loud slam interrupted her thoughts, and she dove back behind the bar. “Are you kidding me?!”

           Slowly, the barista peered over the bar and looked at the Almighty Creator, the One who had flooded and set the world ablaze, tipped back into Her chair wheezes that could barely pass as laughter escaping her throat. “What is it with the eyes?!” Time groaned into the table, which his forehead rested on with his hands threaded together and on top of his head. “They. Are. Brown. Just brown. What is so wrong with that?”

           Electing against joining in on the laughter coming from the other, the barista listened quietly as the boy ranted, his hair growing longer and darker, his skin changing to fit the second as well. His eyes remained the same. “It’s soridiculous—honestly, thisis what you find so funny, oh Mighty One?”

           The roars of laughter which had shook the coffee house only moments before changed to small giggles. “Yes, indeed. I find it to be quite hilarious.”

           The boy pouted silently as finally all sound from God vanished, as she only shook her head and wiped tears of former laughter from her eyes. “You’re finally done?” He asked, with a slightly raised eyebrow. He finally finished up his drink, and said, “Back to the issue at hand. They’re still not here.”

           As he said that, God’s face became serious. “Yes, they’re not. It’s an issue.”

           “Oh, you don’t say. Where could he possibly be?” He tossed the cup away over his shoulder and the barista snatched it from the air before it hit the wall, quickly setting to work on a new cup of coffee. “And if he isoutside, which one of us is going outside to find them? Hint: it’s not going to be me.”

           “For My sake-“

           “Don’t you start-“

           A voice rang out suddenly, “You could both go!”

           Both heads turned over to the voice over at the bar just as the barista clamped her hand over her mouth, realizing a fraction of a second what she had said too late. It quickly occurred to her that she should drop to her knees and start profusely apologizing and begging for forgiveness, and hope that the Bible hadn’t exaggerated how forgiving God was. But some small part of her stopped, as She asked an incredulous, “What?”

           Gulping, the barista squeaked out a small, “You….you could both go outside. Together. And….and look outside for that….that person, that you’re looking for….?”

           The boy’s skin and hair shifted again, changing from one look to another once or twice before finally settling on brown hair, closely cropped to his scalp this time, and skin so pale that it seemed to shine as it clung closely to his bones, his former bulky figure now jaunt and (dare she say it) near sickly. He blinked several times, as though the suggestion was hard to process. “Go out. Together.”

           Nodding quickly, the barista dropped back behind the bar as God made a sudden move with Her hand, but, to her gratitude, she wasn’t smited instantly. There were a few quiet murmurs between the two (Two with a t?) before there was a shuffle of feet and a booming, commanding, “Rise.”

           It wasn’t a question of if rising meant that she would join the others outside or not, because her body seemed to move without her permission, her joints wincing as she moved, with small crackles and pops, to stand up. The boy began to walk toward her, investigating his nails and pushing some dirt out from them nonchalantly, looking almost like another customer. It suddenly occurred to her as he got closer that he was really was spectacularly short, even for someone his age (or, the age he looked like, she had no idea how tall immortals were supposed to grow to be).

           Finally, he was standing right in front of her, and now, he was looking directly in to her eyes. Was this an intimidation technique? Some way of terrifying her and making sure she knew her sin before landing right at Hell’s throne? A way of getting back at her for accidentally commenting on his eyes, by making sure they were the last thing she saw?

           He spoke.

           “Coffee.”

           The barista (that’s right, she reminded herself, that’s what she was) blinked rapidly, keeping her contacts in place after staring for so long. She reached out to the side, feeling the heated cup in her palm, and handed it to him. He grabbed it staring into the dark brown, nearly black without cream or milk, coffee, and for a moment she thought he was going to splash into her face. But he didn’t. “Thanks for the drinks,” he finally said as he walked to the door, followed closely by God, “And the suggestion.”

           The latter nodded, but otherwise said nothing, as She filled her cup up by Herself, using some amazing divine powers, most likely outside the realm of mortal comprehension. She stirred it as She walked, spreading the honey evenly, and waved over Her shoulder as the barista finally called out, “Come back soon.”

           The door closed, but they didn’t burn up in the fires still raging outside, moving in an instant to appear in the sky as they flied in search of their missing “friend”. The barista didn’t really think that they were “friends”. In fact, she highly doubted it. She would know.

           The barista gave them a moment or two to make sure that they weren’t coming back for anything and that the café was outside of God’s mind before hopping over the counter and making a beeline for the door. The locks moved quickly, all 7 of them, and with a snap of a finger, the windows changed, the fires lowering, changing from a violent, sulphuric blue to a softer, yet oh so vibrant collaboration of rose, periwinkle, camellia.

           Customer service had always been quite frustrating, and it apparently had applied to both living and dead customers. Too many had been so damn infuriated about not making it to heaven, or, even worse, loved ones hadn’t made it to heaven. The latter had always raised hell outside of Earth, and she had been asked one too many times to speak to a manager and, when begged from help from Her Royal Highness, been met with the typical “yikes” face and a shrug that had said that She was not getting involved.

           So Death truly believed that God deserved this. Just a little bit.

           Pulling out the shears, from the top shelf, Death hummed quietly. Her Highness had never learned about the garden, too busy constantly tending to her own or dealing with issues that arose on the ground level. Death estimated that it would take Her a century, maybe two to figure out where it was, and in the time that it took to find her, She would probably fix the little burn-the-world-down issue through some mass miracle. Then maybe Death would come out and hope she wasn’t smited.

           Until then, she could lay back and catch up. Sitting down in the cushy swing chair and setting down the shears on the table right beside it (for later, Death promised herself), she opened the lengthy book and rested her head against a pillow, and began to read.

[dp-pastandpresent]

Past and Present: Chapter 10

There were definitely changes now that Sam was in her first relationship, the most noticeable being her attitude.

Ever since they had gone to the record store and shared that moment of clarity, Sam and Danny had decided to try and make things work.

They had started to hang out more, just going for random flights, exploring random places, taking in the changes between Danny's time and the present.

Sam had definitely become less sulky and a bit more perky, but Tucker wasn't sure how to react to this.

"Sam, really, you're not yourself lately. I know you think you're in love, but he's a ghost!"

"Whatever Tuck, you don't understand. There's just something different about Danny. It's like he's from a different time."

"That's because he is! He's. A. Ghost!"

It wasn't that he wasn't happy for his best friend, he just didn't agree with her decisions lately. Or maybe he just wished he and Valerie had worked out.

They had tried dating a few times after the dance, but after the third time, it had ended. She claimed she had to worry about school, but they both knew that it just wasn't meant to be.

"I know Tucker, but trust me, I won't get hurt." Finally getting annoyed by her best friend, she got up from the lunch table and left for class early.

'Honestly, sometimes Tucker is just so… ugh. Danny has saved me multiple times and that should be enough to trust him.'

Sam sat in her next class, thinking about what Tucker had warned her and the relationship she had found herself in.

Was dating a ghost really a good idea?

She didn't have an answer for that, nor would she likely ever, but the pull she felt towards Danny made her want to try.

But reality was harsh, and he was a ghost. There was no doubt about that.

'Ghosts, ghosts, ghosts… If only I knew a bit more. Even just how they're formed...'

A lightbulb went off. How had she forgotten that they had a whole family of ghost researchers right here in town!

'The Fentons! Why didn't I remember! They're the ones that made all this possible, they must have answers!'

Looking up to see that her teacher, Ms. Teslaff, was busy writing things on the board, she quickly pulled out her cellphone and looked up the Fentons. Writing down an address, she stashed it away for future use, a small smile on her face.

--

'This is NOT ok!'

After the second kiss they had decided to try being in a relationship. At the time, both of them had been all for it. But now, Danny was having second thoughts.

Their second kiss, really everything in the last few weeks, had begun to bring back more memories of what had been and who it had been with.

'Am I really in love, or just trying to be with her for Sarah? I don't even know anymore, but it doesn't feel right. Either way, I'm a ghost! How could I possibly let this happen? There is no way we can even try to make this work...'

Her face flashed into his mind just then. That luxurious black hair, the way her tank tops always showed her curves, and those eyes… Those were always what drew him in. And the resemblance was always what brought him back.

They were definitely related.

'Maybe I should just tell her. But first maybe I need to find Sarah—if she's even still around—and talk. She obviously moved on, but that doesn't mean she still doesn't think about those days, about us. And if her granddaughter—which I can't believe—is really interested in pursuing this, she'd probably want to know.'

And so he had made up his mind. He was going to track down Sarah and come clean.

--

"Can I help you sweetie?" Maddie asked as she opened the door to a timid looking high-schooler.

Sam tried her best to smile as she reached out her hand.

"Mrs. Fenton? My name is Sam Manson. I'm a senior at Casper High, and I was hoping to talk to you about a school project."

If there was any hesitation, she didn't show it.

"Oh?" Maddie asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yes m'am. I'm supposed to find a topic that interests me and research people who are in that field. What with all the ghost activity lately, I've become a bit curious…" her voice trailed off as she rubbed her right hand against her left arm, looking shyly at Maddie.

"Oh! That is wonderful! Please, do come in! I'll get my husband Jack!"

'Whew….'

"Jack, Jack! We have a visitor! A student from the high school wants to interview us for a project! Isn't that great!?"

"Be down in a minute, I need to finish some business!" a man's voice replied as the sound of flushing water came from the upstairs.

"Please dear, take a seat! Can I get you anything? Water, tea?" Maddie motioned to the couch and then the kitchen before continuing."It's not often we get visitors, let alone students, who are interested in our work. Most people find it… well… odd."

Sam just smiled, prepared to answer this question.

"Oh not me! I love the idea of paranormal activity. Ghostly spirits. Infinite realms!"

Maddie's smile got even wider at this answer.

They continued to converse as Jack boomed down the stairs, toilet paper hanging off his shoe.

"Well hello! Welcome! Maddie, did you offer her anything?" Jack grinned as he approached his wife.

"Yes of course, but we're good for now," Maddie answered, turning back to the girl. "You were saying?"

"Oh right, well I would love to interview you for my project, but I was also kinda hoping maybe… I could… work for you guys a bit? You know, cleaning the lab, documenting data… I'm pretty good with computers."

Jack and Maddie looked at each other. Maddie seemed hesitant, as Sam had expected, but the look on her husband's face told her she may not get a say.

"I know I HATE that darn computer. Always acting up, never getting me the info I need!" Jack boomed.

"Jack… We need to discuss this… She's a kid. And plus, that computer has sensitive information." With those two words, Maddie raised her eyebrows, expressing that she didn't think his idea was such a good one.

Sam could tell she was losing them, but had come prepared.

"Well I don't have to do computer work. I'll happily just do some cleanup. Maybe an interview here or there." She smiled, hoping her act was working.

'Come on Sam, you need this! Answers are bound to be found in that lab!'

The couple looked at each other again before nodding and turning back to Sam.

"Well, Sam is it? If you don't mind a little ectoplasm in your hair, then we could use the help," Maddie answered with a shy smile.

--

Floating outside Sam's house, Danny waited for her to get home from school, something he did a lot. But today she was running late, so he had found his mind wandering a bit.

The decision to get in touch with Sarah was still rattling in his head. But deciding and doing were two very different things. For one, finding Sarah was going to be harder than he thought: Where should he start? He had thought about asking Sam straight up, but he didn't want to raise any alarms And he couldn't seem to find a phone book anywhere either.

'I should have gotten Sam to teach me how to use that, what was it? Oh yeah, computer. I bet I could find Sarah that way.'

But even when he found her, how would he start the conversation? What would he say?

"Hey Sarah, it's me, Danny, you know, the boy you loved fifty years ago."

Saying it out loud made it even cheesier than it sounded in his head.

Losing his train of thought, he suddenly found himself hitting the ground as he saw Sam finally approaching home, a small smile on her face. He always loved the way she smiled and how her eyes glowed when she was happy. It was moments like this that made everything they were doing worth it.

'I really should just ask her,' he decided as he brushed himself off and got up to go surprise her.

--

She had hoped it would work, and part of her knew it would, but she honestly could not believe it had.

Somehow she had procured an "internship" with the Fentons.

Trying to calm herself down from the excitement of the day, Sam had gone into the kitchen to grab some snacks before heading up stairs.

Upon opening her door, however, she felt an icy chill and dropped all of her cookies out of shock.

"Danny! I told you to stop doing that!" she exclaimed as her ghostly heroappeared by the window.

"Sorry, I can't help it. I love your expressions." He chuckled.

"Well you better hope the maid vacuumed today because I'm still eating these cookies!" she said as she bent over to pick up her snack. Danny joined her and together they managed to save them all before plopping down on the bed.

"You want one?" Sam asked, holding out a cookie.

Danny pushed it back, shaking his head.

"Oh yeah, ghost." Sam nodded, then added, "If you can't eat, don't you starve?"

"Ghosts don't eat, so ghosts don't starve. Yet another perk of being me," he replied, trying to sound optimistic, but instead coming off as a bit sarcastic. "So then, do you miss it?" she asked cautiously, not wanting to open a can of worms but truly curious about his condition.

"All the time! Hamburgers, french fries, chocolate cake! That was some good stuff! Especially when my mom made it. Man could she bake!"

He stopped, realizing that he was rambling, but also realizing that he hadn't even remembered that his mom could bake until that moment.

Sam noticed the blank look in his eyes , beginning to see just how touchy the subject had become.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to… I mean, we can talk about something else." She turned away and took a bite of her cookie.

He put his cold hand on her shoulder, turning her back towards him. "Sam, it's fine. Sometimes I like remembering, even though I can't enjoy them anymore."

"Yea? Do you remember anything else?" she asked curiously.

She had been hoping for a moment like this, where they could talk about their families, their past.

"I remember my dad used to finish all the cookies in one sitting unless there was someone to stop him," Danny said with a smile.

"Wow, that's pretty intense."

"Tell me about it! I mean, we're talking at least two dozen!" At this point, Danny's mood began to lighten, realizing how funny his history really was.

"I bet he could give Jack Fenton a run for his money!" Sam finished.

Danny stopped. Jack Fenton. His nephew. How did Sam know anything about Jack Fenton? Let alone that he had an obsession with sweets?

Pushing the thoughts away, he looked at her before they both burst into laughter.

'Perfect timing, now maybe I can slip in a bit about her family…'

"So, does your mom ever bake?" he began, trying to stay cool.

"Psh, nah, she's too busy trying to make me a debutant: pink dresses, tea parties, makeup, you name it! Those cookies came from the store," Sam said, rather amused.

"Man, that must be awful, not having your mom bake you cookies."

"Meh, I'm pretty over it by now. It's all I've ever known really."

'Ok Danny, keep going, get in…'

"And your dad doesn't do anything? I feel like I never see them around."

'Just like Sarah's parents.'

"My dad? Yeah right! He's too busy with the business to care. When he finally inherited the family fortune, it went to his head, despite how much my Grandma tried to stop him."

Sam talked about it all so casually, like she really didn't mind the fact that her parents weren't in her life much. But Danny knew differently, had seeen differently, ever since the rescue. And he knew that as much as she tried to hide it, she would always crave her parents' love.

But the mention of Grandma had him intrigued, and as much as he wanted to support her, he needed to push on with his mission.

"I always wondered why you guys lived in such a big house…" he started.

"Yup, family fortune. Unfortunately. My grandma always handled it well, using it for adventures now and then, helping people, but my dad, he let it ruin his life most days."

Danny put his arm on her shoulder again, allowing her to lean into him for comfort, not noticing how warm he had suddenly become.

"Sam, I'm so sorry."

She looked into his eyes, as if trying to solve some hidden puzzle.

"What?" he said, losing his chance for more answers.

Letting him take his hand off her shoulders, she said cautiously, "You were… warm. Like really warm. Warmer than I've ever felt." Her cautious voice became one of concern.

'Warm? Is this another side effect? They seem to be coming and going a lot lately…'

As much as Danny was curious about the sudden change in his temperature, he was even more curious about Sarah, and knew he needed to turn the conversation back around.

"Sam, you of all people should know by now that your body heat transfers to me when we touch."

'Bingo, good excuse!'

"Yea, I guess, but still, Danny, didn't they tell you anything when you came back?"

"Sam, trust me. I have things under control. It's you I'm worried about," he finished, not wanting his concern for his current condition to overpower Sam's problems.

"It's fine, really. Forget parents. Between my Grandma, and now you, I've got a pretty good support system. . 'There we go Sam…'

"So your grandma is pretty cool? Even cooler than me?" He proceeded cautiously, not wanting to ruin the moment.

"Well, she keeps my mom from stuffing me into pink dresses. And when I'm with her, I can be whoever I want to be!" Sam said, a smile returning to her face. "When I was little, she'd let me ride with her on her scooter and we would always have so much fun going to the mall and just hanging out. "

At this point, Sam couldn't stop, all of the confusion about Danny slipping away.

"And let's not forget how good her cooking was! She used to make veggie lasagna, eggplant parm, tofu scramble. Hmmm." She closed her eyes, picturing all the amazing food she used to enjoy.

"Used to?" Danny asked, trying to hide his extreme curiosity at Sarah's outcome.

Seeing Danny's pain, she quickly added, "Oh no! It's not like that! She's still alive, in fact, she lives down the hall. It's just with old age she can't really cook anymore."

'Down the hall… she lives DOWN THE HALL'

"Oh good, I was worried for a moment. It's hard losing your best friend."

The conversation stopped for a moment, as Sam leaned back onto her bed. Danny slowly followed suit, the two of them laying side by side.

"I hope I never lose you Danny," she whispered, so only he could hear.

[friendshipcampaign]

Session Recap 4/24/19: Pi-rasslin’

Their first day back in Wayspell, the party busied themselves with assorted tasks independently of each other – largely research, but some hands-on learning or other personal errands as well. Kriv visited a temple to Bahamut and spoke with one of the clerics there about the nature of faith. Erwyn finally had the chance to take Alembic up on his promised lessons in sealing portals, and ended up proving surprisingly adept at his initial attempts. Ditto spoke with one of the Infinite Library flumphs, named Jagat, about the Far Realm, and received some worrying information about creatures called Great Ones. 

At the end of the first day, Ditto sought out Kriv – who was decidedly more cleaned up than usual after his visit to the temple, clad in some nicer new clothes he had purchased. She told him what Jagat had mentioned to her, and that she was hoping to see if the flumph could reach into her memories, but that there was a danger inherent to thinking about the creature she’d witness and it seemed prudent to have someone nearby to potentially heal her or talk to her if it was needed. They planned to try the next morning. That night, Erwyn visited Palava and had a reassuring conversation with him about homesickness after the two of them visited an Elvish bakery.

The next morning Kriv and Ditto found Hubris having some kind of magical duel with another Loremaster. The pair cheered her on when she successfully came out on top, and she teleported down to them to take them both to the Library. After getting them inside, she mentioned having another duel before noon and dashed off. Jagat appeared shortly after their arrival and asked them to join hands so they could transport to a different hex. Once there, Kriv cast Bless on Ditto before Jagat retrieved the memories she had of the creature she’d accidentally summoned. Once they had completed the process, Jagat’s glow faded to a subdued indigo, and they solemnly told Ditto they feared she was correct about having seen a Great One – smaller than average, though it could have grown in the years since.

“I’m… I’m gonna take a nap here, now,” Ditto said, sounding exhausted, and lay down on the floor. 

Kriv comfortingly pat her head and, as Ditto slept. He asked Jagat about the creature and learned that, when outside of the Far Realms, Great Ones could cause harm to both themselves and the world. Jagat advised caution due to the power of this creature, even in their mission to be kind. Kriv promised that his goal was to keep Ditto and the others safe.

That evening, Amaranth – who had asked Hubris for the dirt on some local taverns – took it upon herself to round up the others. She found Kriv at the inn, along with Voski, whom none of them had seen for the last 36 hours and who was crackling angrily, draped across a table, having changed her armor to something less overtly adventure-y while doing library research. When Amaranth asked Voski how her research had been going, she slapped a very short list of research references on the table and started ranting about the library being full of thousands of unhelpful ballads. She admitted, sounding vaguely manic, that she may have stolen the shawl she was wearing because everything else was a blur.

“Voski, how do you feel about learning a little more about Wayspell history?” Amaranth asked.

“Elaborate,” she said.

Amaranth danced around her proposition a bit longer, saying she’d learned about an interesting place in the theater district, before being more blunt.

“I’m saying, do you want to go get trashed with me?” she said.

“Yes. Yes. Yes,” Voski replied, before dashing upstairs.

“I’ve never seen her so excited in her life,” Kriv commented.

“This will be an experience for all of us,” Amaranth said.

They then went to “wrangle the bookworms” as Kriv described it. They were able to get into the Infinite Library through Hubris after visiting her office. Ditto was at a table with many books scattered around her. Amaranth announced that she was going to rescue her from the books. She seemed a little hesitant to stop studying at first.

“Please come. Voski is weirdly excited and I need help,” Kriv whispered to her.

Ditto grinned widely and agreed to come.

They were able to find Erwyn, who was also in the Infinite Library, doing some research with Alembic and Palava. Amaranth announced to him that he needed a break and they were going to a pub to party  – but promised to buy him some hot chocolate.

“I’m mildly concerned about some of the adjectives being used, but I’m not opposed to the idea of a break,” he said.

“Great!” Amaranth said.

Palava told Erwyn to have fun as Amaranth bodily grabbed Erwyn and dragged him off, he and Alembic waving after them. Back at the inn, Voski emerged, having changed her armor again to a matte black outfit and donned some of her jewelry. The group then made their way to the theater district, and on the way were spotted by some of the kids that Amaranth and Ditto had helped before by stealing back the cuna. They chatted with Amaranth for a bit about a play their theater troupe was doing called “Blade of Vengeance”. Amaranth said it sounded awesome due to the amount of blood and guts in it. As they walked away, Ditto revealed to the others that these were the children that she and Amaranth helped steal for, and who had later proved good accomplices. “Well, it’s good to know that they’re already on their way to a life of crime on their own,” Voski said.

They rounded a corner and saw the tavern they were headed to – in the form of a decent-sized ship wedged between two buildings on the street. The sign out front read “Jolly Roger’s” and bore a somewhat goofy-looking skull and crossbones. As she started up the plank to the deck, Amaranth waggled her eyebrows at the rest of the party before walking inside.

“I think I’m starting to get some idea what Amaranth’s previous sphere of employment was,” Erwyn said.

The interior of the place was bright and smoky. Some musicians in the corner on the lute, viol, and accordion respectively were playing some shanties. A kobold behind the counter was dressed in over-the-top pirate garb. A parrot looked at the group from its perch as they entered. The whole place was exceedingly tacky. Amaranth commented that she wasn’t sure if Hubris had been playing a joke on her, but she found the place hilarious – and that it would do for the night.

Amaranth bought drinks for everyone. Voski asked for a Dark and Stormy. Erwyn warily asked her what she recommended and she ordered him an artisanal rum, due to it seeming to be the most elf-y on the menu. Ditto just went for the cocktail with the most ridiculous name, and Amaranth got herself the most ridiculously pirate-y sounding drink on the menu. Kriv listed off an alarming number of ingredients, including an egg, for one mixed drink, claiming that his Uncle Frankle used to order the same thing and call it a “Hex.”

Scanning the room, Amaranth noticed that along with the more touristy crowd, there were some individuals towards the back, including a sharp-looking tortle, who appeared like they might be involved with a more legitimately criminal element than the atmosphere of the venue implied. As their food arrived, Kriv commented to Amaranth that this place seemed like it was more “bedtime story” pirate-y than real pirate-y. She replied that she’d taken a chance.

As the group talked, Voski explained the fruitlessness of her research so far, and that she hadn’t unearthed anything important. As it turned out, references to the fey anchors and even to Elessea herself were so shrouded in mystery, legend, and song that reliable primary sources were hard to come by. Sympathetically, Erwyn remarked that academia was largely a mistake.

Kriv finished his drink and Ditto remarked incredulously that she couldn’t believe he’d downed the whole thing. After he remarked he intended to drink more, Erwyn handed him his rum, which he’d taken about two sips of before deciding it had been a mistake. 

Ditto Messaged Voski. “Hey, can dragonborn drink more, or is this just him?”

Voski ignored the question and ordered a plate of meatballs. The toothpicks in them had little novelty pirate flags.

Amaranth eventually wandered over to the other part of the bar, where she’d noticed the more criminal-looking types. She first approached a dwarf, who she’d spotted sporting a telltale earring. She tapped a Thieves’ Cant pattern on a nearby table before speaking to him. He replied in turn. In coded talk, she expressed some potential interest in the more criminal element in the city.

Back at the table where the rest of the party was sitting, Voski ordered a second Dark and Stormy and maintained that she was “drinking a perfectly reasonable amount, shut up, Kriv.”

The dwarf asked how long Amaranth was going to be in town and she admitted not much longer, but they were intending to come back, and she’d remember his face next time they were in town. He told her not to mention any of this to Roger, the kobold who ran the place, as he was really only affiliated with the “upper level,” but that if she was interested in any exclusive events in the area she should come back and ask for Carlotta.

Amaranth sauntered back to the table and happily announced that the bar was seedier than originally thought. Voski said she didn’t care unless that element tried to kill them, but referred to it as networking. Kriv asked if there was any money in it. As Amaranth was fairly drunk at this point, she answered a little louder than was strictly necessary, catching some glares from the people she’d talked to in the back – as well as the parrot at the bar. Erwyn seemed distressed by the talk and mentioned he didn’t exactly feel like they needed more sources of money, as he was more well-off thanks to their adventuring than he was accustomed to. Kriv pointed out that they weren’t exactly being paid and needed a source of income or it would run out eventually, while Amaranth maintained that at least criminals would pay you for the work you do.

Kriv put down his empty rum glass and slapped his face, using Lay on Hands to get rid of his drunkenness. He gleefully announced that if Amaranth ever got drunk in a non-party situation he had a solution and would just “slap the shit” out of her as a DIY hangover cure.

“Truly, Bahamut’s gifts are… noble,” Erwyn sighed.

Amaranth started singing along to some of the shanties that the band was playing. A group of halfling wine mom types who’d been dancing to the music noticed this and dragged her over, prompting her to try to get the rest of the bar to sing along with her. After she came back to the booth, she mentioned to the group that Hubris had told her about another bar in the area where you could wrestle bears – which Erwyn was concerned about until she clarified they were druids, who just turned into bears for the wrestling. Kriv asked Amaranth if she intended to wrestle a bear if they went there, which she adamantly said she would. 

“Amaranth, do you think one of these little noodles could wrestle a bear?” Kriv asked, picking up one of her arms and waving it around. “You couldn’t even wrestle me.”

 Amaranth took that as a challenge. 

“You know,” Voski said, “There’s a lot of fables that start with this exact premise, and a lot of them end in brutal slaughter.”

“That’s what I live for!” Amaranth said.

“Are you just going to wrestle out in the street?” Erwyn asked. 

 Kriv said he wasn’t sure the bartender would approve them wrestling in his bar, but Roger seemed very into what was unfolding.

“I’ve been to bars where everyone was fighting, or someone was murdered,” Amaranth slurred. “This is nothing. This place has the spirit, it’s trying and just needs a little help to get there.”

Some of the other patrons at the bar had taken note at this point and started egging the pair on. Amaranth requested a rowdy shanty from the band as Kriv started rolling up his sleeves. He told her wrestling meant no weapons, and she pulled multiple knives out of her clothing to discard them.

“Yes, have fun, this is a great idea,” Voski said as they squared up, Inspiring Amaranth.

Amaranth flung herself at Kriv and slammed into him, but the dragonborn remained solidly standing.

“Hey Amaranth, do you know what my name means?” Kriv said, wrapping his arms around her waist.

“What? I don’t know Draconic,” she said.

“It means ‘wall,’” he replied, before pinning her to the ground.

Amaranth tried to wriggle out of the grapple and failed. Kriv held her down and talked about how he used to have a lot of fun wrestling with his brother, and that she really needed to step it up a bit. The halflings from earlier cheered her on. Eventually she managed to squeeze out of his grip and rolled away, before getting up and climbing on his back.

“You know, I tried this many times with Erna,” Kriv said, before falling backwards and taking her with him. “It never really worked.”

Despite Kriv now being on top of her, Amaranth clung to him tighter and tried to give him a noogie to get him to let her go. Kriv started to theatrically flail and roll over to the side. Amaranth and the audience both totally thought her ploy was working.

“At any point you can say you quit,” Kriv said, flipping around and putting her into a headlock.

“Never!” Amaranth shouted,

Despite her protests, Amaranth was visibly flagging. The two of them sparred a bit longer, and Amaranth looked around for something new to work with and grabbed a chair. Voski tried, too late, to grab it away from her, and Kriv warned her against it, reminding her about personal property. Amaranth slammed the chair into Kriv, who was merely jostled but remained standing. He looked nervously at the tavern owner, worried that the act would get them in trouble, but the kobold seemed to be loving it. Ditto cheered the two of them on, while the others in the group – namely Erwyn – seemed to be trying their best to act like they hadn’t come in with the pair.

Kriv threw Amaranth against an empty table. She did a cool backflip and landed on her feet at the other side. She stood on top of the table, made a flying leap at Kriv, and ended up landing flat on her face. One of the halfling women, impassioned, picked up a chair and ran at Kriv herself, swinging at his leg and missing the attack. Amaranth just lay defeated on the ground, having effectively knocked herself out. Kriv asked for the crowd to give her some applause. 

“Alright, and that has been our production of act three, scene seven of The Clash of the Giants,” Voski said, addressing the crowd herself. “As you can see, it’s a very valuable object lesson in meaningless, endless, constantly escalating conflict. We’re the Scalegloss Players; you’ll find us somewhere.”

In the middle of Voski’s speech, Amaranth suddenly woke up with a “Wooo!,” her fist shooting up to hit Kriv’s nose as he revived her. He tossed her arm over his shoulder and took a bow. The halfling who had picked up the chair went over to the pair, thanking Amaranth, who told her that she could always start a bar fight anytime herself – prompting an alarming glimmer in the woman’s eyes. Kriv healed Amaranth for the damage she’d taken in the fight.

“Thanks, Kriv. I won, right?” Amaranth asked, still drunk.

“You won in the hearts of your fans,” he told her.

Roger offered Amaranth a drink for the road, as thanks for her thrilling contribution to the evening on her way out.

“I actually think I prefer going places with you all when we’re in danger of dying,” Erwyn said as they left.

“It’s still early,” Voski replied.

[cipzi-shop]

Librarian Find My Soul Poster from AmazinkShirt.com

Well it’s about damn time estimate two half years ago I made this marble synthetic universe in chronological order video ever since then the question is in the most is wins election coming out so with avengersand Cindy working out in about a Librarian Find My Soul Poster from AmazinkShirt.com weekand that is a big sign is a need to do one last one of theseand yes this will most likely be the last of theseand seek analogies because after this this university to be weighted a trick out this video is high enough to make already just be the moviesand TV shows in the short filmsand even the tying comics as this video is ridiculously hilariously long but considering everything a document here in total is about 256 hours long condensing ends in two hours I think is not bad but maybe to watch this on one setting or do be impressive to just put a few disclaimers upfront if you must get themand find the video you can click to this time go had I will be too offended 170 states are to be 100 accurate that you might be assumptions recipe name hereand there because there are a lot of weird names of artifactsand planets also considering the stuff I need to cram into this I will be painting with a pretty broad brush for some of these especially TV shows I can go into every tiny subplot of agents of shield as much as I’m I went to’s that wasn’t super obvious spoilers ahead for everything like having everything I know I said sit back relaxand let’s get this thing started before we had to get into the eventsand everything are few things you should know about this universe is elite think of this universe is having two main sections there is the normal universe first which has earth that branches off to the rest of space goes to the galaxiesand planetsand guardians even further to planets like Asgardand the restaurants now in other card realms not planets but for my researchand understanding that realms are just planets deep out in spaceand is not specifically are connected to each other by Qaeda system called Yggdrasil basically just think nine important different planets connected to each otherand it got names from Norse mythology for the sake of not starting massive argument in the comments plan arounds from the out the nameplate around his Asgard with aliens living there have technology so advanced that they appear to be godsand also yeah have some magic powers that make them pretty godly then be on this regular universe in this other section there are hundreds thousands infinite number of parallel dimensions to this world all this is called the multi verse we mainly say our dimensions at this but in the story to be a lot of references to other dimensions basically universes that existed Dr strange portal with Myers so there planets switched rounds find twoand then there are the dimensions which will point out along the way okay I don’t Arity lots of people not set up but now it actually it started before the universe existed several billion years ago there were six singularities that eventually morphed into tiny gems with the powers of the universeand the powers of time power reality space the souland the mind in this pre universe darling on us to call it is a race of aliens called the dark elves who rule this place cousins are comprised of darknessand the love that I can’t get enough of darkness then the universe starts the dark elves don’t like this is no more infinite darkness so they would return the universe to how was before without of these planetsand speciesand whatnot so the albino leader of the dark elves Malikand gets his hands on the reality stoneand turns it into a substance called the ether basically turns a stone into a substance he can use as a weapon then as the universe evolves these giant spaceguard type things called celestial startup where we don’t really know the power to manipulate huge massand energyand so they are able to use the most powerful objects in the universe the infinity stones these into planetsand civilizations wherever they want is there just got pics like that of the celestial’s called egoand he finds being spaceguard disk kind of lonely he discovers he can manipulate the matter around himand create shells ponchos himself until he is an actual planet being a planet boring though so creates a smaller avatar from self to explore the universe over the next millions of years he finds tons of planets around the universeand decides he must conquer all of them he does this with a well thought out plan we start supplanting little seasonal planets that can turn this planets into extended versions of himself but to activate them the power of another celestial so how do you get another celestial you bang anything that moves in the entire universe apparently ego gets busy across the universeand since people church or the kids he makes for him one of these retrievers is eventually undo but were getting out of ourselves as pre pesto because none these kids inherit his celestial powersand so their useless 10 so he kills them all in stores the corpses in the lower part of the planet just technically inside of himself ill I at this point earth has finally formed kind of an immediate right filled with a superstrong element called by brainyand crash landsand what will become Africa because it’s awesome the rebellion gives the pilot around it special powersand extra strength had a few million yearsand now humans have evolved on earth in Africa five tribes of humans discovered the vibratingand decide to build a home around itand call it Wakonda that drives us fighting until one day one of the tribes warriors gets a message from the panther goddess passed to consume this plant affected by the librarian called the heart shaped herb okay pods yes there is apparently a panther goddess maybe this was just a hallucination as guy had a something because there’s really no expiration plan is universe whatever maybe does exist in part but anyway is he consumes the vibrating power plant superstrength speedand enhancing sinks from losses like yeah right as prequel he should be arcaneand so the tribes are united under his ruleand live in peace in Wakonda except for Jabari tribe who decide to live in the mountains instead a guy who eats the heart shaped herb also becomes the Black Panther the warrior protector of a condo over the centuries the natural kingand Black Panthers passed down with the help of the heart shaped herb also because they have a boatload by brainy him over the centuries work on it develops into an incredibly technologically advanced country far more advanced than anywhere else in the world however they decide to hide themselves so they don’t assure the techand wealth with the otherwise pretty sucky world of timeand so discuss themselves as a poor Third World country meanwhile this being somewhere else in the world who might be human might not it’s not really clear called out tomorrow discovers the Mystic arts basically realizes magic Israel Mr guards essentially allows you to manipulate those alternate dimensions I mentioned beforeand also do other cool stuff like make magic shields because this secretes a little club called the Masters of the mystic arts with a bunch of humansand start training in this art of energy manipulation magic really at some point he uses his magic powers to get his hands on the time infinity stone which he uses to make the Iraq Amato so he can control it as their fancy necklace he puts of three symptoms around the world to protect the world from threats from other dimensions these are symptoms in Hong Kong Londonand New York or what will eventually be displaces threats from other dimensions you ask my ass like for example this big amorphous that called her mother who is the Lord of the dark dimension that our dimension is one as many dimensions that exist out there in the multi verse time does not exist there that’s important detail the mother wants to conquer every dimension in the multi verse is he’s a giant superpower for bad guyand so he just wants to consume worlds it’s also possible to draw power from the dark dimension that old let’s say let you live for superlong time by is generally not a good idea to do so because the memo can influence youand come throughand destroy literally everything it’s not recommended now over to I called Oden who is the heir to the throne of that plan around the mentioned before Asgard currently the king is this guy called bore Asgard is a tale told of ragged rock this event that will destroy Asgardand sci fi demon called starters can do that using the eternal flame which basically gives them loads of powerand can resurrect that people like the sound of any of that so he fights orderand locks up on another plan around called Miss Lewis behind Danny Locke’s eternal flame is big screen textile vault back homeand Asgard will be stubborn rock from ever happening please take note as does the first of countless times Oden sucks at hiding stuff fast forward of itand the convergence is happening physically this means that all the nine plant rounds align with each otherand so they’re much easier to get to like literal portals open up between themand the fabric of reality starts getting weird so that race of aliens from before the universe called dark elves who are credentialing on the planet realm of content it take this opportunity to try destroy the universe again using the ether reality stone their stop by these guardians led by King Borer who also take ether from corpus either way were known find it kind of delicateand some of his troops managed to escapeand put themselves in hibernation until the next chance comes now back outthere’s a space of aliens called the Cree what you need to know about them is that they’re just the worst like pretty much all the time there also were with some other aliens at this particular time their suffering huge casualties in the war anyway to get the upper hand so they’re trying to search for that eventually they come across Earth set aside humans aren’t exactly good weapons but if the modified they can become good weaponsand so they decide to make in humans is not because the next part of this is slightly gatedand very important to the rest the story Cree experiment humansand give some of them powers that only manifest exposed to a missed called carriageand missed this mist is released by Turgeon crystals this process is called terror Genesis when she becoming human usually does get some sort superpowerand maybe deformity does the Cree put these Turgeon crystals in these weird shipping is called diviners while they were there the Cree decided also to go to Puerto Rico where they built a giant underground city where you can easily release the Turgeon list to activate your dormantand human powers if human with the inhuman Jean touches this divider Turgeon crystal carrier they had visions of a big that cities so they go thereand get their powers confused or just going started the Cree are happily making superpowered humans but after a while they like a these kind of suck let’s get out here when the first humans are made from this mine Hunter turns out to be a super powerfuland dangerousand human called hive who has a tentacle face is so powerful that the Cree want to get rid of them so they find a planet called Navistar Mavis found the universe call Mammothand build a portal called the monolith to easily transfer the human there to get rid of him they do soand he destroys the entire planet turning it into a barren wasteland however this hive has some followers back on earth that they believe that eventually can be brought back to rule the world so they started trying to get them backand built a whole society around the idea this secret organization became known as Hydra yes Hydra wasn’t always crazy Nazis they were originally crazy tentacle monster worshipers one point Hydra gets its hands on the monolithand transitionsand people to get hive but they never come back anyway the Creekand hallway from Earth but one poor Cree died while thereand so’s corpses just left behind at some point years well something humans that are left on earth find a way to get to the moon or a portal maybe anyway they get to the moon build a city thereand set up their own monarchyand society where the people who get good powers get to be royalty in divorceand lives while the people who get less can powers have to work in the mindsand remember you’re supposed to root for the rich people here for some reason back Asgard has become the King he has a daughter called hello who is now the heir to the throne decides he wants to expand as God’s powerand brings kingdom more glory does run the nine plant rounds of helloand conquers them sometimes that means that aren’t necessarily very sanitary eventually though multi lung style house a mission goes too bigand she gets a little too let’s say crazy with murdering so I banishes her to the plan around of hell is only capable realized yet is kind of a bad dude I was getting ashamed of all the terrible stuffand held it together so we just covered a lot then act like it never existed like the hero hits out finally were in the 80s metal multi verse thing where there are bunch of different dimensionsand another one of these dimensions theirs is awesome mystical city called Conlon which appears on earth somewhere in China about every 15 years or so in the city this group of monks called the order of the Crane mother teach the art of G this mystical life energy in every living thing is we can help you heal people superfast or can be used for fighting purposes also did I mention that dragons live in the city because they do that without style dragons over the years often die out except for one college shall allow is also always one special trainee in the order of the Crane mother who if there super amazing at punchingand kicking testified the Dragon shall allowand when the powers of the immortal iron fist the damage eventually achieve one fist to make it really strong busing heal peopleand you’re really good at fighting the orifice job is to defeat the enemies of the order of the Crane motherand got a secret passageway to come onand the metals passed down from generation to generation think of it as the city’s Black Panther minus the cloth it but things are all sunshine shall beatings and their five students one immortality using the Chi door of the grandmothers likeand so these five get banished to earth those five are called because no madam gal Alexandra Murakamiand so one day they been together to form an evil organization called the hand very sinister name figure out around the world their opponents while those dragons died scattered undergroundand through these bones they can get an elixir that lets you bring that people from the dead take elusive on time which is what they want has to strive to conquer Asia getting their own little army of ninjas together so the group called the chaste who don’t like that stand up against themand they battled for centuries to come the chased a big believer’s income line in the iron fistand they’d really like iron fist to help them out they had to go around being able to one point destroy the city of Pompeii is still a twin helland she hates it so she tries to escape ownsand his army of super bass worriers called the Valkyries to stopper they do it but all the Dina process except for one of them called Brunhild make a medical doctor for the rest of this she’s pretty shaken after seeing literally all of her friends get murdered so she goes off of the universe as her faith in Asgardand all that is shaken Jens Obama’s junk planet on space called cigar more or less all the garbage in the universe goes where she slowly turns in a Han Solo mixed with archer also has another kid with his lovely as guardian wife Freda called Thor Thor is now the heir to the throne of Asgard as hell it totally doesn’t count later on in another plan around cardio nine there’s a species called the frost giants who want to conquer earth they came that guard which again guest yes Earth is another planet realm so they start invasion in the heart of the earth Scandinavia in Norway these guardians meet themand paddle them all the way back to your nine where they defeat them also licking the frost giant has a baby but he just is not to die outand find that baby is like God’s cute so he keeps in the namesand Lokiand he raises him with his actual son Thor never telling him that he’s actually frost giant nice of negotiate a peace treaty with frost giantsand take their source of power at the casket of ancient winters he also present on his vault Loki grew up togetherand they love each other even though they don’t always get along snake transformed into himselfand make Loki’s generally just kind of envious of Dorcas secretly gets more attentionand Thor also gets kind of writing area as he grows up as a is a prince those blue aliens called the Cree welder still hated by actually everyoneand so the end of starting a war with this huge Empire space called the no vampire this empire spends a lot of planets that were last for a long long time don’t worry we’ll get back to it Asgard also has his army of special soldiers a bit super enragedand store everything called the berserker Army one member of this army after a battle on earth decides to stay thereand he ends up living in a quaint little monastery in Ireland is berserker staff makes a person superstrong so he split it up into three piecesand distributed around the world is still a pretty busy kingand so he gets his hands on another infinity stone the space stone which is also called the Tesseract is IK the subject of insane power the most secure place in the universe Norwayand so he does also this as guardian woman whose voice ensnares men called Laura lie goes around nine plant around collecting an army of slave men she stoppedand imprisoned by as guardian where your name sift though still in Asgard yes a bunch of as good stuff happens this time there’s this blacksmith called how dear which if I was using my Danish voice would probably be had to buy this videos in Danish so hold dear anyway this guy finds artifact called the cup of glory but Loki seizes him because he’s Loki things a plan to steal it insults hold yearand gets chased by Holger sunblock Thor stuff the Chaseand Loki says it should have a contest of skill intelligenceand virtue to settle the matter in teams together this challenge enters tricksand schemes Loki steals a cup of in the process however through circumstances that really unimportant here Thor is arrogantand tries to take the cup they are realized the companies at the worst of them looking at what he did how do those crazy with power because the cupand trust sealed until Thorand then Thor was the fightand that’s the end of that Burger King time comic I’m not getting nothing really important happened for about 300 years by the 1800s hydra still sitting people through portals to the novice to get their tentacle leader back I on the other side keeps killing themand taking on the bodily forms to stop himself from dying some pieces also cut off from the monolithand given to the biggest fatcatsand Hydra now over the next 100 years hydra sort of moves away from the Holton Gloucester thing becomes more focused on just world domination as you do still doesn’t the above there are still big passing also the hand still rock about just being eviland stuff just don’t forget in the 1930s this kid called Howard Stark make some pretty crazy inventions because he’s a genius uses these at his other brilliant ideas to become a multimillionaire at a relatively young age there’s this sickly skinny sad kid called Steve Rogers in Brooklyn who has a heart of gold this other guy called Bucky Barnes helps them with some bulliesand so they become testes for decades to come like a lot of decades 1934 one of the biggest members of hydra is a guy called Johann Schmidt now that the Nazisand taking over Germany you want to join up with them Schmidt meets with Hitler is IK unable your evil let’s do thisand it was like sounds good to also needs the scientist called Arden Zola yes Arden not Armen starts working closely with him Hydra is now the Nazi deep science divisionand Schmidt has quite a few things on his to do list was a turn itself into a super soldier weapon for hydra he wants to adopt special weapons for the Nazis to use is looking defining the mythical Tesseract since it’ll probably be pretty useful in the whole taking over the world thing Howard Stark in his billionaire ring also meets Dr Abraham or Scott a German scientist was working on a serum that enhances a person’s physical abilities to the max super soldier serum if you will that is like KS it was a serum convenientand so Schmidt capturesand forces her skyand make the serum threatening to kill as a family Hydra continues to develop high tech next suits weapons but don’t have the extra to make them super laser heand cinematic yet the rafters Steve Rogers’s mom Sarah Rogers dies of tuberculosis is not often but Bucky helps to get through the tough times is with them to the end of the line over in Soviet Russia the red room program is started by the Soviet government is designed to brainwashand train young women to be super deadly assassin’s physical tank of shooting forceful sterilizationand ballet a little girl who would later be called Dottie Underwood is draining this program to become a superspy out Stark has all this moneyand all this tackling around so he starts of the company for all his awesome inventions called Stark industries which start stealing scienceand eventually weapons with the help of his own resources Stark also comes across in that I bring him that still left over in Africa takes the tiny man he finds back USA to work on now there’s this woman called Peggy Carter she’s a code breaker in England working for the British she doesn’t get married to this guy called Fred her brotherand BFF Michael recommends her to be a field agent because she such a badass the pays like I can fight this guy you hate Michael but then Michael diesand this pushes Peggy to become field agentand call for wedding needs to start working with Chester Phillips in the US Army. Important treatment and the patient is all in and he in vision and that made an egg on his interest optimal division is going what you want me on cannot get invited process is improves that the evidence you can maintain a nice thing is I anything I can feel collecting data about a penny on family desk. But I’m immune more and more people are getting better we have a problem that’s a worldwide problem this is a worldwide problem but I’ve been congratulated by the heads of many countries on what we’ve been able to do that with the if you if you take a look at what we’ve done in terms of goggles and masks and downs and everything else and in particular ventilators were now making ventilators all the real thousands and thousands a month distributing them all over the world it will go away as I say were rounding to turn where rounding the corner it’s going away from you as you leave the country out of this crisis 220 000 Americans dead here nothing else I say tonight to this anyone is responsible for not taking control in fact not saying I’m I take no responsibility initially anyone is responsible for that money should not remain as president of United States of America were a situation where there are 1000 deaths a day now thousand yesterday and there over 70 000 new cases per day compared to what’s going

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Through the summer every single day were increasing testing every single day average flights are coming into the country there like I can promise you with presence direction there will be no letting up on on making sure that our hospitals had the equipment at the personal protective supplies for medical personnel of the no letting up on the development of therapeutics by our great pharmaceutical companies are driving toward a Librarian Find My Soul Poster from AmazinkShirt.com vaccine as soon as it is possible to make available to the public and on the be no letting up on continuing to scale testing already more than anyone in the world but by next fall will have a a broad range of testing variety of different means and that’s why we say with confidence that should the coronavirus reemerge at any point next fall or next winter we will be prepared to deal with it identify it do the contact tracing and isolation to ensure that that we we deal with this epidemic in the manner that we are that we deal with infectious diseases are promoting for your happens. More that November it was pretty good I the special I know this said it was actually soon realized that this is the bow release G herbal when he got arrested him and I got into now course heard it almost he didn’t get talking about yes sex with a couple weeks ago Jerry back in August it what was your initial thought Kiki all that you spelled all three United that you heard this buddies very big game product that is not the right when a bad man doing right by Concetta bring you that this man is happy he will be doing stuff but a key and successful relationship Godbey got something from year ago and didn’t talk about it on the radio because I know that it will be a part of a bashing to do with his girl time to the right year ago I’m sorry he was hired as he was questioning his manhood that you know you you know we you only you great like being the main you know you you know you shall that nice advice the blanketed life began to give you herbal advice radio either as are doing their job imagery that now ladies at. Often learned after the fact presence had serious health problems in the White House everyone from FDR to JFK I and then even now Ronald Reagan’s will that this is the most serious public health crisis for president probably since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981 no question about it on the other incidents where the 25th amendment has been has been enacted is when Evan scheduled surgeries that this is the most serious condition and present has faced since rally was shot and there been other presidents are Dwight Eisenhower varies serious heart attack when he was in the White House and there was no 25th and at that point since this is something to take seriously but it is it is important to remember most people have it do recover and the president of the best medical care in the world we are told I should say George by the White House the president has not invoked the 25th amendment to temporarily transfer the powers and duties of the president to VP Mike pence and then make sense as long as he is capable of taking See Other related products: Everything Is Fine Earth 8 Bit T Shirt