#i thought that was an interesting thing tucker brought up

[alteredphoenix]

A couple things I want to know:

(1) how the hell Earth technology is compatible with ghost technology (and most people are unaware of the existence of ghosts),

(2) what ghost technology is like in the Ghost World/Zone in such a way that a small fry like Skulker of all people managed to build/acquire armor to suit up in, which Tucker describes as high-tech (or as high-tech as it would appear to people living in the early 2000s, and that’s assuming DP isn’t set on a floating timeline like other Nick shows a’la Hey Arnold), which leads into

(3) if there’s a sort of hierarchy system in the Ghost World if technology exists on a level that is compatible with Earth science (and imagine not only the technological advancements that would be made if people knew) and vice versa that allows said small fry ghost like Skulker, the plankton of the food chain, to climb up from the lowest rung in the ladder to become the most fearsome hunter in the Zone. Which shows even the prey can become the predator with enough wit and ingenuity if they put in the effort.

[aealzx]

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Prologue | AO3

Previous Next

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“So… why did you volunteer yourself?” Stephanie asked once the other three had left, watching Jason move to sit on the floor and lean against the wall next to Jazz while Leslie gave her a check up as well.

“...In case any of the kids were up for ungluing themselves from each other long enough to take a shower,” Jason responded as though it were obvious. He actually still had questions he wanted to ask, but the offer for a shower was still an option.

“Wait, you have a shower here?” Tucker’s interest was immediately piqued, head snapping over to look at Jason.

“Dibs,” Sam spoke quickly, raising her hand halfway once more.

The claim for the first shower caused Tucker to gasp, head snapping over to stare at his friend in utter betrayal. “SAM! How could you!” he gaped.

Sam just met his gaze with a neutral stare, not lowering her hand. “Dibs,” she repeated, earning a snicker from Stephanie. None of them could blame the kids for wanting a proper shower, it wasn’t like there had been running water in the abandoned apartment complex they’d been staying in. The entire plate of burritos Stephanie had brought in was also already gone, so they also knew the kids were ready for actual meals again.

“Okay, let me just get the blinds pulled over the windows outside this room, and then I’ll come back to get you for a shower,” Stephanie agreed, amused, but also looked over to Jazz to double check. “If that’s alright with you. I don’t think you’d all fit in there, and I’d rather not move Danny.”

The idea of them being out of sight made Jazz anxious, but she could also understand their want for a good shower. She wanted one too. Baby wipes and rain water could only do so much for them trying to keep everything clean. Danny may have been in some sort of stasis, but they’d still tried to keep the environment around him clean considering he had open wounds. Everyone that was there was being a lot nicer than she first thought they would be though, the unmet expectations were making it hard for her to react quickly. It wasn’t that they made her think they were trying to get them to let their guard down. Jason and Damian had been way too blunt for her to believe that they were trying to be manipulative. Or if they were, they really sucked at it. It was just too unexpected right then. “...Okay,” Jazz agreed, wincing slightly as Leslie dabbed an alcohol swab on a small cut on her arm.

“Yessss,” Sam cheered, earning a small laugh from Danielle as Stephanie left the room to get the windows covered. This was one safehouse that they could relocate if needed, but would rather not have to do so if they could help it. So anything they could do to keep their guests from knowing where it was located was necessary.

And since they had somewhat brought up the topic of reestablishing rules and boundaries, Jazz looked over to Danielle to make sure she understood what was expected before an incident came up. “Dani, can you stay in your human form unless someone needs protection? And stay visible, don’t phase through anything, and no overshadowing. Don’t give them a reason to kick us out by snooping, okay?”

Danielle hadn’t been expecting to essentially be told she was grounded to her room, but a room other than her own, and let out an annoyed groan. “Uuuuugh, fiiine,” she dragged out, shifting forms again and sagging in theatrics. “Just don’t let me get bored,” she pushed, reminding them that Dick had loosely promised to bring them things, and then also added for good measure, “And I’m only going to behave as long as you guys actually help Danny. Got it?”

It was a fair enough trade, and Cass gave a simple thumbs up at the demand. It was too soon to tell how much help they would be for Danny, but they were still a much better resource than being homeless and broke. The Phantom kids seemed to be willing to at least try to let them help at least.

“I think we have some cards somewhere around here. Maybe a board game or two. If not we’ll bring some with the food,” Jason commented, not wanting the kids to get too bored either. There were all kinds of messes caused simply because a teenager was looking for entertainment. And maybe playing some games with them would help them loosen up. 

“Do you have any comics?” Danielle then asked. The games sounded promising, but comics were always nice too for when she had no one to play with.

“...We’ll see,” Jason half agreed, grinning slightly. At least the youngest knew what she liked.

“I’ll take it,” Danielle hummed, leaning back on both hands and kicking her legs slightly as Stephanie returned to beckon Sam to follow her.

“Don’t steal all the hot water!” Tucker called after them as they left the room, despair saturating his tone.

“That’s why I’m going first. You’re the one that takes forever,” Sam retorted, waving her hand dismissively without turning back. It earned a few more snickers before the group left behind settled into a semi uncertain quiet, both from exhaustion and simply not knowing what to talk about with the particular set of people there. The only one who made comments was Leslie, and it was only simple commands to support her checkups.

Eventually Leslie finished making notes on the tablet she had, and turned to look at Jason and Cass. “Aside from Danny the rest of them don’t look too bad. The showers were definitely a good idea, it’ll help clean all the cuts they have. But otherwise get them a good meal and some rest and they should be fine.”

“Good to hear,” Jason acknowledged, planning on letting Bruce and the rest of the team manage the food planning and check in schedule for Leslie. “Just send everything to Oracle. Do you need an escort?”

“No, I’ll manage,” Leslie dismissed, tapping on the tablet to send all the files to Barbara. “I’ll be back after dinner to check on the boy again. Call me sooner if necessary,” she bid, picking her bag up and leaving the room to head back to address other patients that needed her attention.

A few moments after Leslie was gone, Stephanie and Sam returned with the latter wearing a clean pair of spare clothes that had been stashed there. Stephanie seemed to be quite happy about something too, and when Jason saw the shirt Sam was wearing he understood why immediately. That was an old shirt, being memorabilia from Stephanie and Cass’s shared BatGirl uniform. But it was always fun to see fans. Though he did wonder if that was the case or if there was another reason.

“Cool shirt,” Tucker commented when he saw Sam. “What’s with the bat symbol?”

The question caused the three of Batman’s team to pause, Jason realizing he was about to get one of his questions answered. Did Tucker just not recognize the specific symbol? It wasn’t that obscure, he should at least recognize it as something related to Batman. Right?

“Not sure. It was the only black one, so I grabbed it,” Sam responded, tugging the shirt away from her enough to look down at the emblem again, momentarily forgetting what it looked like exactly.

Jason watched Stephanie and Cass’s expressions fall a little, and almost snorted.

“You don’t… know who that symbol is for?” Stephanie asked, sadness starting to creep into her voice at the revelation that Sam had only picked that shirt because it was black.

“Nope,” Sam confirmed, heading over to the stool she’d left before and sitting back down to dab at her hair with the towel. “Should I?”

It caused Stephanie to pause, and then give a shaky laugh, but Jason didn’t miss how Jazz’s gaze moved to look at the red symbol on his own chest, half hidden by his jacket. “N’no! I guess not. It’s a pretty old shirt anyway. No one has seen BatGirl for a while now anyway.” Stephanie shakily dismissed, tucking her disappointment away for later when she could properly express it.

“BatGirl?” Sam repeated, getting a wry grin. “Is there a BatBoy too?”

Another exchange of looks between Cass and Stephanie. Was that a joke? “No. Just Batman and Batwoman,” she answered, deciding to err on the side of Sam being serious.

“Well, there is, but BatBoy never worked with the other bats,” Jason pointed out, amusement saturating his voice.

“That name was from a baseball bat though, not a bat bat,” Stephanie argued.

Jason shrugged at the distinction, but wasn’t able to comment further before Tucker spoke up again. “Okay. So who’s Batman again?”

The three team members stopped to stare at Tucker, having to take a moment to register if he was putting on an act or not. When it was determined he was either impossibly good at pretending, or actually earnest in his question, Jason barked a laugh while Staphanie’s eye twitched. “You’ve been on Gotham for two months, been to the dark net, and are still asking who Batman is?” Jason asked, incredulous.

“What makes you think I was on the darknet?” Tucker defended quickly.

“Where else do people even hear about Lazarus water?” Jason retorted just as fast.

Tucker’s mouth pursed as his eyes scrunched, realizing he wasn’t going to get his way out of that one. “............ Okay,” he relented. Fair point. Good game. “So are we talking about an actual person, or the folktale boogeyman? Because the internet sources aren’t clear on that.”

Jason wheezed slightly at the comparison, filing that away in his mental box of topics to tease Bruce with.

“He’s the one we’re working with to help Danny,” Cass answered this time, feeling just a little miffed after the mutual disappointment she had suffered with Stephanie. Once again Jazz’s eyes flicked to Jason’s symbol, this time in understanding.

The comment caused another pause as Tucker realized he probably shouldn’t make fun of this guy. “...Alright. Cool cool. That answers a lot,” he rambled, hoping his comments didn’t affect the kind of help they were going to receive. “I think I’ll go take that shower now,” he excused, jerking to his feet and waiting momentarily for Stephanie to escort him out of the room.

“I have to ask now,” Jason started once they were out of sight, using this as a way to get another one of his questions in that he’d stayed around in the first place to try and get answered. “Where are you kids from to think Batman was a fairytale?”

He didn’t think that they would take the question well, considering how secretive they were being about other things. But to his pleasure the other two girls just looked at Jazz, who seemed to have relaxed a little more from the more easy going conversations. “...Amity Park,” she answered, watching to see if Jason, or more specifically Cass since she could see at least part of her face, had any sign of recognition before adding, “It’s in Illinois.”

That was unexpected. “That’s quite a ways away,” Jason commented. He’d never heard of Amity Park, but Illinois was definitely not a ‘took a wrong turn at the gas station’ ways away.

“How did you end up in Gotham?” Cass asked now, concern pinching her brows.

The three girls fell silent, but this time it was easy to tell that it wasn’t out of reluctance to share information. The looks they gave each other were more seeking to see if either of them had an answer rather than if they should say it. And Cass and Jason could also see some painful memories hidden in their expressions.

“Dunno,” Danielle finally admitted with a shrug. “We were fighting, then stuff blew up, and next thing we knew we were here.”

Oh, that didn’t sound good. Jason had been suspecting that the event that had led them to Gotham had been what had put Danny in the state he was, but stuff blowing up and relocating people was never a good thing. That was definitely something that was going to be relayed back to the others, and he really hoped they didn’t have to get people outside of their usual team involved.

“My ID and debit card don’t work here either,” Jazz added, sounding a little bitter and some of the prolonged stress starting to resurface. “Everytime we tried to buy something they told me my card was declined. And when I found a bank that happened to have the same name as the one I’m using, they told me my ID was fake.”

“...So you started stealing to get what you needed,” Jason connected. They were good kids in a bad situation. That was all. Jazz didn’t answer, though it didn’t seem to be because she was reluctant to admit they were stealing. She just seemed concerned about something else. “Don’t worry, we won’t turn you in. We usually deal with people who are much worse,” he assured as a subtle prod to get her to reveal what she was worried about.

Jazz gave a mirthless noise of amusement. “...What are you? Some kind of secret government street sweepers?” she asked. It was phrased as a sarcastic jab, but both Cass and Jason heard the secrets that were being hinted at.

Jason just barked a laugh. “Hardly. We’re independent. Sometimes we work with the police, but most of the time they’re pissed off at us too. Can’t imagine wanting to touch anything government related either. I don’t think they’d like me.”

There was a hesitant release in part of what had the girl’s tense, and Cass couldn’t help resting her hand on Danielle’s shoulder. “You are all safe with us,” she assured shortly. She could see it in the way they behaved during this topic. It wasn’t that they were suspicious of conspiracy theories or something similar. They disliked non-public government organizations because of personal experience. They had been hurt by them before.

The girls didn’t respond verbally, but Cass could see the change in their demeanor. They were a little less wary, and a little more hopeful. But that was enough interrogation for now. She knew her team would have plenty to work with from what they already had, and there was no need to stress the kids out further. So now it was on to a batter topic, and Cass took out her phone. “What foods do you like? We will have them prepared for dinner,” she asked, deliberately making her own demeanor more at ease to facilitate a response.

“Ugh, I could definitely go for some roasted butternut squash,” Sam responded almost immediately, sagging slightly on the stool.

“Oo oo! Can I get fried chicken? How much are we allowed to have? Can I have like five chickens?” Danielle asked, raising her hand high and bouncing on the table slightly.

“High metabolism?” Jason asked, just to double check she wasn’t just exaggerating and would actually eat the food if they brought it.

“Mhmm. I bet I could eat way more than you could,” Danielle nodded with a slight challenge.

“I bet you could,” Jason accepted with a chuckle, not even going to bother taking her up on that challenge.

“And the rest?” Cass prompted, typing a message to Alfred on her phone.

“...I’m okay with most anything,” Jazz answered when they looked her way, her hand straying to Danny’s hand again as she couldn’t help thinking of his favorite sandwich.

“Tucker will eat anything meat,” Sam provided for their remaining friend. She had already stolen the first shower from him, she could be nice and make sure he got something nice to eat.

“Got all that?” Jason asked Cass, glad to have a happier note for the kids to focus on now. After Cass gave a thumbs up, Jason shifted to stand again, raising his hands over his head in a mild stretch. “Good. Then let’s see if I can find those cards,” he announced, heading for the door.

“No poker,” Cass spoke up quickly, narrowing her eyes Jason’s way.

“I’m not going to play poker with a bunch of teenagers,” Jason huffed, mildly offended that was the first thing Cass would think of. There were so many other games to play with face cards anyway. And hopefully it would be enough to keep the kids occupied at least until dinner. And while they were on house arrest duty hopefully the others would figure out where these kids had come from, and how to help them. He could take some time while looking for the cards to send his own report to the others at least. Explosion relocation, anti government organization sentiments, non usable ID and debit card. It was starting to sound like they weren’t actually from the United States at all. But knowing their luck, it wasn’t just a case of country hopping. Hopefully they weren’t from a completely different time period or something. That always made things messy. Hopefully this Amity Park was just a tiny village in Illinois that was out of touch with the world compared to a big city like Gotham, and these kids were just country bumpkins that would be easy to get shipped off back home once they were all better.

There was no cost for hoping for an easy solution, even if Jason knew it wasn’t going to happen.

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This is my first time drawing either of these girls X'D Also I hope I got the right symbol for the shirt. I'm new and there's so many symbols

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Tag list: @galaxy-sharks-and-bottled-ships, @starscreamlover, @nerdynonnativenarnian, @dragongoblet, @zeestarfishalien, @bellathecatastrophe, @cj-ghostemoji-destielpie, @asexual-insomniac, @wolfeyedwitch, @tkiesai, @fanaroff, @raven1508, @nebulainajar, @serasvictoria02, @oliocelottafanfics, @honeysuckletook, @omniithe-deer, @wolf-under-the-stars, @gingernutcalo, @that-random-fangirl

[radiance1]

A random au thought that I barely thunk up before splotching it on here.

So basically, Danny, Sam, and Trucker are doing some bullshit thing and somehow manage to create a whole ass world out of a tabletop game they were playing or something.

Basically DnD I guess.

But anyways, the three create this world so that they can play and do whatever they want. All three of them have legends about themselves from the npc's they's inhabited the world with.

Tucker is the Pharaoh of the night less desert, known as Duulaman. Freeing the citizens from the rule of the Tyrant god Abanoub and brought peace and prosperity to all across the land.

Sam is the Queen of Nature known as Terra, directly on par and sharing interests with Mother Nature. Her legend is that she freed the Forest of Vita and defeated a powerful void entity who sought to use the powers of Gaia to further its own ends for power. Joining forces with Mother Nature who almost fell to its corruption to end the void being once and for all.

Danny, known as Astraeus, unlike the other two, have two different aspects to his legend. Prince of the undead, and the constellation Star Child.

The first one as you should know, is basically Danny being the prince of ghosts, wherein in the world they made the ghosts (and extending too other undead), were disorderly and running rampant among the other races in the continuation of a war that should have longed ended. So, he rounded then all up and took control because the person who was originally supposed to be doing it was... indisposed.

(Cough, real reason is that Pariah Dark somehow got his ghostly hands on the world cords and was like "Hmmm, my son's world is awfully boring time to spice things up" and then shit happened.)

Which in turn, ended the eons long war between ghost kind and the other races.

Constellation Star Child is one he kind of got on accident, his friends made a joke about him being the spawn of death and time itself and being molded from a star. Which the npc's took seriously.

Also doesn't help that he goes out to explore the void and space around their world on numerous occasions to identify any threats that would require his attention (Which is literally just an excuse so he can go and explore space to his hearts content.). And whenever he comes back, it's like a shooting star falling down to earth.

So, after they've done all of their adventures and when it was time for them to just scrap this world and move on. They just, couldn't.

This world grew extremely on them during their time in it (Despite the unexpected inclusion of Pariah Dark), and they just didn't want to destroy it so they just, stayed.

Not like stay stay, more so they come back to it a lot more than they should. Fermenting themselves as these deities or god-like beings who protect and care for their followers or something.

They created a space for the three of them to converse, known simply as the council. A realm sitting on the plane of reality between the world and the void, basically heaven but not really heaven?

Anyways.

So, continuing on with this, the trio splits apart, a feud in reality carrying into their game world that caused Danny to just leave and explore the calmness of the cosmos so he can clear his head.

Sam went to Mother Nature to talk about it and seek aid about the recent crack in three's friendship.

Tucker just went to take care of his kingdom and confide in one of his trusted advisors, much like Sam.

This is when something unexpected happened. Danny never came back to that world, not as if he went back to his reality.

He just never came back.

Something is keeping him from going back, some powerful threat that he's keeping at bay with all of his might while out in the endless nothingness that is the void.

With the absence of his presence, a powerful void creature who managed to slip between the cracks of Danny's notice suddenly sees he's not there anymore for an extended period of time and has its sights on the core of the world, Gaia, and the two goddesses protecting it. Mother Nature and the Queen of Nature.

To distract the one known as the Pharoah, it managed to find what remained of Abanoub and gave him some of its power to combat Duulaman.

Abanoub worked behind the scenes, slowly rising back to his prime state of power and with the added power of the void entity, he managed to corrupt the roots of Duulaman's kingdom and sow discord.

Unfortunately for Abanoub, it couldn't exactly kill Duulaman, so it instead caught him by surprise and put him into eternal slumber.

The void entity who named itself Akasa, just like the previous one. Sought to use Gaia as a power source, but not just the core, but the two goddesses as well.

And with Duulaman and the Star Child of death out of the way, it was free to do so however it wished, though not to say it wasn't extremely careful when it enacted this plan.

Sam didn't know that Tucker was sent into eternal slumber, nor that Danny was never going to come back as soon as she hoped he would. So, when she went to the council and found that she was the only one there, she knew something was wrong.

Mother Nature was attacked while she was on a different plane, with such a coordinated attack on both her and Gaia by Akasa, Abanoub's army, and a recent addition, Chiwa the undead duchess' pawns. She unfortunately fell and became nothing more than power source.

Sam tried, oh she tried. But in the end, after a drawn out battle between her, Akasa, Abanoub, and Chiwa. She fell as well, with the added power Akasa gained from Gaia and Mother Nature, now with the added source of the Queen of nature. He was basically unstoppable.

That didn't mean all hope was lost, with the last bit of her power, she managed to seal all three of them to specific areas.

Abanoub, the Night less Desert. More specifically Tucker's throne.

Akasa, the realm between the world and the void. The council.

Chiwa, the blood lake of the eternal lady.

Their forces were still at large however, with the ghosts under Chiwa's command wishing to continue the war from eons ago. Abanoub's armies spreading across the world to take over their various kingdoms and be forced under his rule.

All two wished to free their master's, who in turn promised to free Akasa when they were free as well.

The rest of the races didn't take this laying down at all, immediately going to war and managing to hold their ground relatively well.

Both sides were at a standstill, with Abanoub, Chiwa and Akasa sealed they lost a signifcant portion of power.

Whereas with the Star Child gone, the Queen of Nature captured, and the Pharaoh of the Night less Desert sleeping, they couldn't push forward no matter how hard they tried.

So, what did they do?

They came together and summoned people from another world of course!

And who did they summon?

The Justice League.

[little-pondhead]

“Hey, Danny.” Sam twisted her upper body as much as she could from the trio’s puppy pile on the floor. It was mid-afternoon on a Saturday, and the trio had nothing to do except comb through old occult books and internet records for more information on the supernatural. Danny was on the bottom of the pile, laying on his stomach with both a laptop and a old red journal splayed out in front of him. Sam and Tucker were piled on top of him with their own reading materials.

Sam couldn’t see his face, but she wasn’t all surprised when Danny solved this issue by simply turning his head around all the way like an owl to look back at her. Perks of being dead. He blinked. “Yeah?”

“You know how your parents have that working theory on ghosts and obsessions?” Sam asked. Tucker peeked over the edge of the laptop, interested.

Danny nodded slowly, which was odd to see when his head was backwards.

She continued, “Well we already know that some of that is true-ghosts do have obsessions but it’s not the sole reason of their existence. Right?”

“Right.”

“So would it make sense for halfas to have an obsession?”

Danny opened his mouth, then closed it as a thought occurred to him. They all thought on it for a moment.

Tucker clicked his laptop a few times. Probably pulling up their old ‘case’ files and notes for reference. “I don’t see why they wouldn’t, but maybe it’s more subdued than a full ghost’s due to their half human nature?”

“That’s a good theory.” Sam agreed. “But what if halfas are the only one with a true obsession-something that would cause them to come back to life because of it?”

“But that defeats the purpose of the ectoplasm research.” Tucker argued. “Danny was exposed to two different elements during the accident. The thing that killed him and the thing that brought him back to life. That’s what caused the halfa evolution. Besides, if a true obsession alone managed to bring someone back to life, there’s be a lot more halfas in the world.”

Sam set down her heavy occult book, dog-earring the page. (Ghost Writer won’t like that.) “Well what about Vlad?” She countered. “That fruit loop obviously has some sort of obsession going on-maybe even more that one!”

“Guys.” Danny interrupted. “I think you’re both right and wrong.” His face was still thoughtful, staring up at the ceiling that held little paper bats on string. Which, again, was a bit unsettling since his head was still turned around. “I think I do have an obsession, maybe even more than one. But it’s not because I’m part ghost.”

“Then what’s if from?” Tucker exclaimed. “What did we miss??”

Danny gave them a tiny, fanged smirk. “You forget, I have ADHD.”

[seramilla]

Also while Carmilla is holding baby Emily Sera has time to meet and get to know her other daughters the girls are probably like 4 and 2 respectively at least physically what this means in actual time I have no idea but she while recovering from both giving birth and falling from heaven is enjoying spending time with them. Now that Sera has fallen they all get to be a family.

From the moment Sera had fallen from Heaven and showed up at Carmilla's door, her body had been focused on only one thing: preparing to bring Emily into the world, and allowing Carmilla to wait on her hand and foot for the entire week-and-some-days that it took to give birth. Almost from the time little Emily came out of her, Carmilla's been holding her. Of course, Emily is bonding with her birth parent; she needs to be fed around the clock. But Carmilla's behavior around her third child is borderline obsessive.

Sera ensures Carmilla that she's fine, that she doesn't need to worry about Emily, but Carmilla insists that Sera needs rest, and lots of it. So other than making sure she does regular feedings, has skin-to-skin bonding time with Emily, and gets her used to being held by both parents, Sera is surprisingly finding herself...almost bored.

There's not much to do besides stay in bed, and recover. Carmilla brought her old rocking chair into their bedroom, as well as a small TV, so they can basically just co-exist out of the same room. Carmilla doesn't even try to go to work; her people can keep things running just fine without her. So for the first time since she arrived, Sera is actually starting to see more of her other children. They've even shown some interest in holding Emily a few times. Particularly Odette, who has already mastered being a big sister like it's an art form.

When Carmilla is holding Emily, and the other girls are looking for something to do, they'll crawl onto the bed with Sera, still curious about this gigantic, angelic figure that's just suddenly come into their lives from out of nowhere. Carmilla keeps calling her their other mommy, and while Clara doesn't quite understand, Odette is starting to. It warms Sera's heart when they start bringing their dolls into Carmilla's bedroom to play with, showing them off to Sera, and mimicking Sera's behavior with Emily. They hold onto their toys and talk to them like they're brand-new mothers themselves. It's so stinking adorable, it nearly makes Sera want to cry.

The girls will even take naps with Sera; they get so tuckered out from playing, they'll just sprawl out across the bed. Carmilla will often fall asleep in the rocking chair, holding Emily in the crook of her arm. Sera is filled with so much warmth and familial affection, it almost scares her at times. She never thought she'd have this for herself. Maybe leaving Heaven was the best thing that could have happened. She'll definitely get over it quickly, at the rate things are going.

[lavernius]

Use this ask as a prompt to talk abt Restoration :3 I always like reading your posts w/ your thoughts

Thank you! Heads up for the usual "I'm super RVB critical" disclaimer but here are my assorted thoughts.

RVB: RESTORATION SPOILERS under cut, very rambly, TLDR at the end.

The premise was interesting! I think I (personally) would've appreciated it way more if it had actually followed RVB13 directly, but that's beyond anyone's control. Tucker becoming the Meta is great, it would've been nice to see a real-time progression into it. Kinda sucked that Tucker himself didn't get as much focus as a character, but they probably didn't have time to squeeze in anything past Sigma mentally torturing him and Tucker's passing comments about not wanting to help him.

The animation was okay. I won't flame it because they were probably on a time crunch/low on crew, but some parts of it looked worse than others. Action sequences looked pretty good though.

They were trying to do a "final encore" thing by bringing back some old characters (even as cameos), which is, like. Fun? But I feel like focusing so much on Freelancer seasons (with Niner, Wash's hallucinations, Tex, the Meta) snubbed Chorus, which is fine, but a little sad to have the final season reflect on people from the past but not show any Chorusan past Grey. It's RVB, though, so the cast is way too huge for that shit to work out smoothly anyway.

Sarge's death sucked. I think I laughed through the whole thing because I was so baffled. It was expected, and while the comedy of it all fit him well, I just don't think it was good as like. His last ride, you know? He didn't die a valiant death, the comedy lead up was an "oh god don't do it like THIS please" moment for me. Subversion is fun but falls flatter in the very last installment of a show that's been going on for two decades. I kinda? liked that Grif was mourning it, but because his death was so lackluster the entire "This is the end for me" speech didn't grab me.

Seeing as she's my favorite Blue, I'm very happy they brought Sheila back, but bringing characters back randomly without…much explanation (did they explain that? Maybe I missed it) felt weird to me. I loooved Sheila's bits in the season but it felt like a forced cameo. Niner was similar, even if people wanted her back, but at least she had Sheila to explain her presence. Making FLISS and Sheila the same person was a crazy move I need to write a dissertation on though.

Speaking of feeling forced, half of Grif and Simmons's conversations felt so ingenuine. Like they were shoehorned in to MAKE them bicker and not natural. I knew (the second the season was announced) that they weren't going to do shit for Grimmons, but for ONCE I didn't really find…ANY of their interactions especially riveting. Simmons letting Grif leave was HILARIOUS from a meta standpoint. Physically splitting them up at the end as one last fuck you to the gay people.

Caboose felt better than he does most seasons. Still an ableist mess in some places but I loved his IDGAF attitude. The big Meta fight was just fun for him. He just wanted to win. He was fucking with Lopez on purpose, speaking Spanish and misunderstanding him. He should've been more of a little shit earlier on. His voice acting sounded good! Inflection is always annoying but it felt less…egregious this time?

Donut got fucking robbed?! Kai too?! What was the point of giving them development. There were so many places where Donut would've been great to have in! Throwing the memory unit at Tex as a parallel to their BGC rivalry, helping Wash through his problems, IDK. Sucks.

When the fuck did Doc die. Why him. (< Rhetorical questions.) Wash mental health stuff is awesome, though, I love psychotic Wash, even if the portrayal was a little predictable (to someone who was paying attention. I was thinking about Lopez) and imperfect. I'm kinda glad his issues were focused on without him being a major character. PISSED Carolina only showed up on his behalf and stuck around for his sake, can't a girl live for herself sometimes…

Ummm. Lopez was there. I want to wring him like a wet towel. He's medicated as fuck and got to talk to someone who speaks Spanish…and his WIFE was there…I'm so glad he was having as best a time he could and SOOOO glad they wrote him out early like I anticipated (just personally because I love-hate him, but it was cheap). Go on an adventure with Sheila gayboy. Run away from all of this.

TLDR: Overall, solid 7/10. I went into it expecting a 5-6, but was pleasantly surprised by it overall. It felt VERY forced in a lot of places, the pacing felt bizarre sometimes, I still don't even know where exactly this is placed in the overall timeline (and I don't care), but they did some fun things. I'm so glad it's over I hope I never have to see official RVB content again.

[rubykgrant]

Okay so I know you brought up an AU with freelancers alive before, like all of them even Niner and the triplets and Florida and Connie, but here's what just interested me: how is Maine with everyone? Reds, Blues,, Freelancers, Locus, etc.

I had a whole post with some different Freelancer thoughts, so I'll copy-past the Maine bits from there, and also add a few more-

-Other people keep taking the “Grifshot” and hiding it somewhere Maine can find find it, and he ALWAYS gives it back to Grif... who is like a timid little bunny rabbit in that situation

-Maine will also just stand around and watch Tucker do stuff. Tucker feels like this is some kind of INTIMIDATION act, but Maine literally just thinks Tucker is cool

-Doc and Maine hung out together for several days before even discussing stuff about O’Malley and the Meta... nobody is entirely sure what was said (which is fine if they want to keep it private), and this seems to have resulted in Doc having absolutely NO fear of Maine (even when other people still get intimidated), and Maine has all these inside-jokes with O’Malley

-Sarge called dibs on Maine, South, and York. He truly feels like they are integral to some kind of grand scheme that makes no sense to anybody else. Maine is fine with it, he likes the Reds. South immediately jumps on the SUCK IT BLUES band-wagon (because guess which side her bro got absorbed into). York hams it up, like woe is me, I am on the opposing side of a feud from my dear friends, knowing full well this does not matter

-When Maine seems to be getting especially “isolated”, it’s actually Locus who knows how to gently approach him and pull the guy into a different train of thought (both having once felt like they were “just weapons”, and learning how to be people again). Maine returns the favor, but with a different method; when Locus is in a self-destructive and depressed mood, Maine will just pick him up, then go pick up somebody else, like Wash or Caboose or whoever might be right for the moment, and they have a Friendship Adventure (which usually involves watching cartoons)

-Church and Maine have this silent shared feeling that... doesn't really have a name. Or at least, not one single name. What Maine went through being the Meta, the Fragments all coming together but still feeling that they were "missing" something... and Church, who forgot he was the Alpha AI, and for a long time, never had the chance to be with everybody he cared about, all together... Church has his Fragments again, and they can also still visit with Maine, but none of them will ever be the Meta again, and it still feels like somebody is lost; there is a lot of regret, but also a sad sort of comfort in knowing they can still live. On a happier note, Church and Maine like to cook together~

-Carolina and Wash are in a similar situation of seeing shared pain in each other's eyes; "I tried to kill you" and "I didn't understand you" playing in the back of their heads when they look at each other. What finally helps them get through it is almost pretending like they are just "regular people" meeting for the first time, learning how to share interests and parts of their lives they haven't been able to experience in a while (Carolina spends time watching movies with him, while Wash will enjoy outside/nature activities with him)

-Caboose intuitively understands what Maine is thinking about/trying to say even when he feels like he can't communicate (Maine has learned how to sign, and has a keypad as well, but sometimes it is difficult to just express thoughts into words at all). Maine wishes he could return the favor, but it is much more difficult to understand Caboose... that doesn't mean he doesn't appreciate the effort~

-Donut and Maine are obnoxious together, they do this good cop/bad cop thing when they want the others to participate in re-decorating the living area (for some reason, Maine is the "good cop", but also the "strong silent type" who just backs up all of Donut's weird demands)

-Kai is happily surprised that Maine is so impressed with how flexible she is, so she teaches him all kinds of crazy stretching techniques (it helps with a lot of his muscle-knots and old injuries)

[raaorqtpbpdy]

Phantom Boy (2)

When the Doctors Fenton lose their son in a lab accident involving a ghost portal, the distraught parents will do anything to get him back. Even if it means breaking the immutable laws of life and death. But that thing? That’s not their boy.

First/Previous Chapter

Chapter 2: First Flight (Read it on AO3)

[Warnings for violence and parental rejection]

There was something off about Danny after that, besides just his vaguely unsettling appearance. All of the sudden, he had trouble paying attention, and he'd gotten clumsy, and absent-minded. Throughout his life, Danny had always been a meticulous, dedicated, intelligent kid, and an excellent student, but since his parents brought him back from the dead, he didn't seem to care much about any of that. He was more interested in goofing off, or playing video games.

Jazz was glad to see him living his life for himself, rather than dedicating all his time and energy to trying to win their parents' love, but it was more than that. He hadn’t just picked up new hobbies. He hardly even seemed like himself at all. Things that used to fascinate him bored him now, and things he was passionate about he had only a casual interest in. His knowledge and memories were all perfectly intact, but his personality hadn’t survived the reanimation process unchanged.

Jack and Maddie tried to home-school him, wanting him to stay close after what happened, but Danny didn't want to cooperate. He was just as smart as before, but lacked any of his old motivation. After the first day of working out of his parents' old science textbooks, he insisted on going back to public school, to be with his friends.

When they relented, he was most excited to see his friends again. As soon as he entered the building, he sought them out, heedless of the wide-eyed shock on his classmates faces as he passed them by. He found his friends standing at Tucker’s locker and called out to them with a wide grin.

"Hey, Sam, Tucker, I'm finally back!"

Their heads turned so quickly he thought they might break their necks. Sam took a step back, and both of their mouths fell open in surprise, which prompted Danny’s smile to go from ecstatic to slightly puzzled. Surely they’d been told that he was out of the hospital, he thought, so why did they look so shocked?

"Danny?" Tucker was the first to speak. "But... how are you... we haven't seen you—"

"In more than a month, I know," Danny finished for him, shaking his head. "It's not like I could help being in a coma, but I'm back now, and it's great to see you guys again!"

"Uh, yeah... good to see you again, too..." Sam said. Surprise was one thing, but shouldn’t they at least be happy he was back instead of vaguely horrified?

Tucker and Sam exchanged confused looks. They hadn't heard anything about a coma. In fact, Jazz had told him that Danny was dead. They’d gone to his funeral, they’d mourned, cried, and spent weeks numb over his death before they finally started to be able to move on. Now he was back… and… they didn’t even know what they were feeling.

How did one categorize the emotion of seeing one’s best friend back from the dead and acting like nothing had even happened? Should they say something about it, or let him keep thinking nothing was wrong? Should they be angry about the hurt they’d felt? Overjoyed? Suspicious? Mostly they just felt confused. Not knowing what else to do, they let themselves be swept along.

As the day progressed, his two friends realized more and more that there was something wrong with him, that he'd changed somehow. He wasn't the same Danny as before.

"Man, this is so boring," Danny leaned over to whisper to Sam during science of all classes.

Sam looked at him as though he'd grown a second head.

"Uh... are you actually talking to me in the middle of a class lecture?" she asked. They were friends and all, but Danny was as straight-laced as they came during school hours.

"Since when do you care about talking during a lecture?" he asked, sounding mildly amused.

"I don't, but you do," she said. "What's going on with you?"

"What do you mean?"

Sam blinked, her face going slack, even more taken aback by the fact that he genuinely didn't seem to realize what the problem was.

"N-never mind," she stammered, unsure how to broach the topic, even if she wanted to. It was a wonder that Danny hadn't already heard the rumors going around school that day.

All the students at Casper High had heard what had happened to him, that he'd been involved in a lab accident at home, that he'd died, that there hadn't even been a body to recover. In the last month and a half since Danny's accident, there had been some ghost attacks, nothing too disastrous, and always quickly taken care of by the Fentons before they retreated back to their lab. There had been a lot of speculation that the ghosts were the result of the same accident that killed Danny.

It was that sort of speculation that fed the rumors that circulated upon Danny's return, whispered in the halls when he wasn’t around to hear them.

"He's a ghost, right? He's gotta be."

"Poor guy hasn't even realized it yet."

"Should... should we tell him?"

"No way! That's just too depressing."

Sam and Tucker didn't want to say it, but they agreed with those rumors more than they really wanted to. Danny had cared about school when he was alive, but if he was a ghost, he had no reason to anymore. Plus, Tucker was pretty sure he saw Danny's hand pass right through his desk in math class, and Sam could swear she'd seen his eyes glow for a moment.

There was really no denying it.

The Danny Fenton who came back was not the same one they'd lost, not even close. Tucker wanted so badly to have his best friend back that he was willing to shove his concerns down and go along with it. He even found a time to talk to Sam in private between third and fourth period, and convinced her not to say anything, although she remained anxious and unsure. She felt as though she was mourning him all over again every time he did or said something that he never would have before.

Despite Tucker’s begging, Sam did eventually cave a few days later, and asked Danny what had happened to him, unable to hold back her curiosity completely.

Danny couldn't really remember anything after going to check out his parents' non-functioning portal. He remembered going inside, and the next thing he remembered was his parents' faces, saying he was finally awake. They had told him he'd been shocked by the portal, and had been in a coma for over a month. They had said they were glad to finally have him back. In all his life, Danny couldn't remember ever seeing his parents so happy.

However, even he knew something was different.

Though he didn't think he was acting differently than usual, it was hard to ignore the stares he got at school, the pitying looks from his sister, and the perpetual confusion on his friends' faces, though they tried to hide it. His parents had been so loving and attentive, and even though he knew in his head that it was exactly what he’d been after his whole life, he only felt stifled and suffocated by their constant attention.

The powers clinched it. Something had definitely changed.

He didn't know how to explain it, or why it was happening, but it was like his body couldn't decide whether it was real or not. One moment, he'd be leaning his head on his hand during a boring lecture, and the next, his elbow would go straight through his desk and he’d face-plant on the wooden surface. It happened once in sixth period English, the only class he had without either Sam or Tucker.

"What the—" Danny pulled his arm out of his desk as his teacher scowled at him, not knowing how everyone could have missed that.

"Mr. Fenton, I know Shakespeare can be boring, but I would appreciate it if you could deign to pay attention anyway," Mr. Lancer said. "I'm sure you can make it through the last" — he glanced at the clock — "twelve minutes left of this period before school is over."

"Sorry Mr. Lancer, I didn't—huh?" Danny cut himself off when a blue mist curled off his lips. "What's...?"

A moment later, a pair of glowing green octopi with angry red eyes flew through the window.

"Ghosts!" somebody yelled, and Mr. Lancer urged everyone to quickly but calmly evacuate the classroom.

Danny wasn't really sure what came over him, but for some reason, he didn't run.

"I swear I sensed a ghost here," one of the octopuses said. "You feel it too, right?"

"Yeah but... why's that kid staring like he can understand us?" the second octopus said, lifting a slimy, translucent tentacle toward Danny.

When it opened its mouth, Danny could see rows of sharp teeth, dripping with greenish saliva. Both of the creatures’ voices had a strange, garbled, echoey quality, but somehow, Danny still understood them perfectly.

"What are you?" he asked, tilting his head and narrowing his eyes.

"Oh, I see," the second octopus said. "Poor kid hasn't realized he's one of us yet."

"Whelp," responded the first, "guess we'd better get him out of here, take him somewhere safe before the humans find him out."

Danny was too distracted wondering why he could understand them to react when it reached out wrapped one of its tentacles around him. That brought him back to his senses pretty quick, though. He shouted in alarm and struggled against the strange creature's cold, gooey grasp as it dragged him out the window, through the window without even opening it, and up.

The higher he went, the harder it was to breathe, but he didn’t think it had anything to do with the altitude. He’d just been nabbed by some sort of sky kraken, and he figured he could be forgiven for freaking out a little.

"Stop struggling, kid!" it told him, but he struggled anyway.

Finally, the tentacle loosened, and he was free. Free-falling.

He screamed as he plummeted toward the school's baseball diamond. His eyes squeezed shut, and he curled up into a ball, waiting for the splat.

It never came.

"Huh?" he opened his eyes and looked around.

He was floating, the ground still some distance below. White hair drifted into his eyes before floating up again, and when he looked at himself, he realized his clothes had changed, too.

"I can fly?" he breathed.

He turned a little, but overcorrected and flipped upside-down. His stomach swooped, but eventually, he managed to get himself upright and gained some altitude. He let out a laugh of astonishment that quickly turned to glee. This was absolutely amazing!

"I can fly!"

The octopi flew down to try to grab him again, but this time he fought back, punching and kicking. Sometimes, seemingly at random, his fists would glow green, and the octopi would flinch away even worse when he swung for them.

"Forget this," one of them said. "This kid's more trouble than he's worth. He's on his own."

"I'm with you!" agreed the other, and they flew off together.

Danny brushed off his hands as a satisfied grin split his face. That had actually gone pretty well. Whatever those things were, he'd gotten rid of them. Although... he did wonder what they had been talking about. He narrowed his eyes as their glowing forms disappeared into the distance, and decided it didn't really matter.

What mattered was that somehow, he had superpowers! He had to tell his family about this. His parents would be amazed. He soared through the sky, circling trees and tall buildings, doing loop-the-loops in the air. Wind roared past his ears and ruffled his hair as he shot through town like a rocket through the atmosphere. It felt incredible.

Almost too soon, he spotted the brightly lit Fenton Works sign. It was a little weird, seeing it from this angle, when he’d only ever looked up at it from below, or glared at it through his bedroom window when he was trying to sleep.

"Mom! Dad! Guess what!"

In his excitement, he flew too fast and couldn't slow himself to avoid slamming into the side of his house. He tensed and braced for the impact, but rather than slamming into the wall, he went right through it before he finally came to a stop in the kitchen.

Passing through the wall had felt like nothing and something all at once. A weird, gooey sensation that passed almost instantaneously. Danny couldn’t help but laugh again. "Cool!"

He slowly lowered himself to the ground. When his feet touched the carpet, a white light passed over his skin and his clothes and body went back to normal.

"I gotta tell mom and dad about this," he said to himself, heading right to the living room, but he stopped when he heard voices.

"You were right, we made a terrible mistake," his mother's voice said.

"We thought he would be the same, that he would be our son," his father's voice continued her sentiment, sounding defeated. "But he's not. He's just a synthesized pseudo-ghost with our son's face."

Danny's eyes widened and he gasped softly, pressing his back against the wall. All his excitement from before drained away, replaced with fear and confusion.

"You have to take responsibility for what you've done," Jazz said severely. "He didn't ask for any of this. Be patient with him."

"No, Jazz, you don't understand!" Maddie snapped. "He was supposed to be... he was supposed to be a perfect copy to... to replace the son we lost. His body was repaired with cloned genetic material, and his brain was perfectly reconstructed, but he's not the same."

"He's not our boy," Jack agreed. "He's just a phantom boy, a painful reminder of what we've lost."

"So you're going to kill him again?" Jazz asked harshly.

Danny held his breath in the loaded pause before either of his parents spoke again.

"No, we couldn't do that," Maddie answered with a sigh. "We... I can't even stand to look at him."

"I can… hardly manage it either," Jack shamefully admitted. "No, we'll capture him and send him to the Ghost Zone with the rest of his kind."

"What?" Danny finally stepped out of the hallway and into the room. "What are you talking about?"

His parents' backs were to him. Their heads lifted and their shoulders tensed, and he could see Jazz looking back and forth between him and the pair of scientists.

"You're not a normal boy, Danny," Maddie told him, still not looking at him.

"I know." He took a few steps closer and tried to take her hand, but she flinched from his touch and stepped away. "I can fly! I can go through walls! I was just coming to tell you!"

"You're an experiment, Danny," his father said, a little more harshly than was strictly necessary, and Danny swallowed tensely. "The real Danny died in our lab, and we tried to bring him back using the breadth of our ectology knowledge, but instead… we just made you."

Danny felt his intestines twist up into knots and his throat tighten. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He didn’t want to believe it. Then again…. His whole body went ice cold with the realization that all this sounded just like something his parents would do. Create a new son with no thought for the consequences or side-effects. And it explained why things were so different now, even though Danny didn’t feel any different.

He was Frankenstein's monster.

And this was the part where he was turned away by his creators.

He took a slow step back, unsure if he was more afraid or disgusted.

"Jazz was right," his mother added. "We should never have tried. It's sick and wrong. It's against nature, what we did. You're not a boy or a ghost. You're just another man-made horror, beyond comprehension."

"Jazz?" Danny turned his gaze to his sister, betrayed and broken-hearted.

"That's not how I meant it," Jazz quickly defended. "There's nothing wrong with you. If anything, there's something wrong with them for spending all that time experimenting on you in secret. Mom, Dad, please, think about this a little more."

"No," Maddie said, reaching for the ecto-gun she always wore on her thigh.

"It's nothing personal, Danny," Jack said, his own hand closing around the Fenton Thermos clipped to his belt.

Danny watched it all, heart sinking into the pit of his stomach, deeper and deeper with every horrible word. He shook his head. This seriously couldn’t be happening.

"It's just... when an experiment fails and you don't want it around anymore," Maddie drew her gun and turned to train it directly at him, the red lenses of her safety goggles cold and emotionless, making her seem almost more inhuman than Danny himself was. "You dispose of it."

Oh God. This was happening.

"No!" Danny scrambled away, but he knew it was useless. His mother was an excellent shot.

The ecto-ray hit him in the back of his calf, knocking him down to his hands and knees. A searing pain tore deep through his leg and he gasped.

He looked desperately over his shoulder to see his father pointing the uncapped Fenton Thermos directly at him. Pale blue light flooded his vision, and his body changed again, on instinct. His fingers sank through the floor and he tried desperately to hold on as the energy from the ghost trap pulled like a tractor beam, sucking everything in him down to his feet as he held on for dear life.

It was useless. A horrible, cramped darkness surrounded him.

He curled up into a tight ball. It was all so much, so painful, to hear his parents say he was a failure, and they didn't want him. That they wanted to dispose of him.

Rejection wasn't a new experience for him, but it had never felt so awful before. He wanted to cry, but the tears wouldn't come, no matter how much his throat tightened and his chest ached.

So he just sat there, feeling utterly, overwhelmingly miserable, and waited for something to change.

Next Chapter

[dominickeating-source]

SYFY Portal - Keating to try directing? by Michael Hinman (2002)

"It's been a long road" might be the opening line to the "Enterprise" theme, but it also could be applied to actor Dominic Keating. From his television bow as Tony in the British comedy series "Desmond's" in the late 1980s, to an unsuccessful attempt at a guest role for "Star Trek: Voyager," and finally as Lt. Malcolm Reed on the latest Star Trek series airing on UPN, Keating has traveled the road that many actors have tried to traverse.

And now that he is attached to one of the most successful franchises in television history, Keating said that now's the time to really achieve some of his dreams, including some that went unrealized until his arrival on the "Enterprise" set.

"'Desmonds' was a half-hour show on Channel Four, and we enjoyed big success," of a TV star in some capacity, but when I came to America [in 1994], I spent a bit of time out in the cold. About two and a half years ago, a bit of momentum started to show through, doing some guest stars and getting regular work, and I could consider myself a working actor again."

Keating said his first run-in with Star Trek wasn't the kind most actors hope for. Two years ago, he was auditioning for a guest role on "Voyager," an audition that may not have given him a chance to work with Kate Mulgrew in company, but one that had future implications.

"The audition went real well, and I thought I was going to get the part," Keating said. "When I didn't get a call back, I was thinking that I'll never audition for them again. I don't like to put words in [co-creator] Rick Berman's mouth, but after he had seen me audition, I think they sort of earmarked me in some capacity. They brought me in for the first audition [for 'Enterprise'], and they went pretty swimmingly. I was the first one cast."

Through the first 10 episodes, Lt. Reed was more of a background character as Enterprise's weapons officer. But Keating said he has no qualms about the focus on Scott Bakula (Capt. Jonathan Archer), Jolene Blalock (Sub-Cmdr. T'Pol) and Connor Trinneer (Cmdr. Trip Tucker), especially since some of the first season's finer moments are expected to come by way of Reed.

"It's really started in the last few episodes, Malcolm Reed has had the light shone on him," Keating said. "Brannon [Braga] did warn me about it that their initial thrust at the start of the series would be on the captain, Trip and the Vulcan. I just turned up every day and did the best I could with what they gave me to do, and trusted with what they told me was true."

And Braga has stayed true to his word, because Keating said he has heard quite a bit of talk about one episode that will air on UPN Feb. 13.

"There's an episode coming up called 'Shuttlepod One,' and it's one of my most exciting and most memorable acting experiences, whether on stage or on the camera," he said. "What a fantastic piece of work we turned.

"It's between me and Trip, the engineer. We think we're marooned alone in space on Shuttlepod One. You could put this on in an off-Broadway venue and have it staged as a one-act. Rick is very pleased, and he just said some very complimentary things about it yesterday. I know that for the directors that work on the show, if you don't get a phone call from Rick, you've done real well."

Not getting that phone call from Berman is something Keating hopes happen if he ever makes his directorial debut on the show. Like Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Rene Auberjonois and Robert Duncan McNeill -- among others -- Keating said he is hoping to one day have a shot sitting in the big chair for an episode.

"I've already embarked on a directing course at an L.A. film school that Roxann Dawson (Lt. B'Elanna Torres, 'Voyager') had given me the number for," he said. "After I took the course in directing, I've noticed that my interest piqued more than ever in how each shot is being mapped out. I never had taken that much of an interest before as an actor, which usually was to just put me on the mark, tell me which way to turn, and I'll act it.

"But I've noticed that in the episodes that rolled by, my interest is a lot keener, and I can see myself definitely directing one of these episodes, and direct other stuff in the future. Of course, I haven't approached Rick or Brannon about this yet. They hired me as an actor, and I'm putting my two peas [ed: "2 p" (pence)] in at the moment."

The Paramount lot is bustling with Star Trek activity right now with not only a hit UPN series, but the tenth motion picture of the franchise as well. Having the cast of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" hanging around has been exciting for Keating, he said, especially in getting his chance to finally meet Patrick Stewart. And with a lot of talk focusing on "Star Trek: Nemesis," Keating said he hopes that his crew of the starship Enterprise might get their shot on the big screen some day.

"I would love to do [a movie]," he said. "I think they are filming 'Nemesis' around the corner from us. And by all accounts, this is the fourth movie for them, and this really might be it. I don't know, maybe Paramount might feel they have another one in them, so it's just a question on when they get us to do it. Will they wait for 'Voyager' to have a shot, or are they going to pass them by?

"If they did do a movie, would we all want to do that? Scott [Bakula] has a young family, and he's keen about spending as much time as possible with them. But it's probably a few years off yet, and maybe after seven years, if we did a movie once every 18 months or two years, that would be fantastic."

But in the here and now, "Enterprise" is just 10 episodes in with UPN beginning new episodes next Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET. Of course, that hasn't stopped some fans from recognizing Keating on the street.

"I was recognized in the post office this morning, and that's the first time a completely random guy has come up to me like that since the show started," he said. "I was posting some fan mail to some guys in Europe, and he came up and was so thrilled to see this guy from 'Enterprise.' I shook the guy's hand and introduced myself, and he introduced himself, I think his name was Jack.

"It was a good experience, but the funny thing was, I was standing in line wearing my scruffy old sweatpants and wasn't looking my best. I thought to myself that there was a pretty girl in front of me, and there will come a time when I wished I would've dolled myself up."

Keating pauses a moment, and laughs a little.

"My girlfriend is going to shout when she reads that. But we all carry a little vanity with us, and the time will eventually come when I can't leave the house a complete mess. But you know, who cares, maybe I can. It's certainly only a TV show, and it's not like we're saving the world . . ."

Jumping into character for just a moment: "Oh wait, captain. We are!"

Source: www.dominickeating.com

[imekitty]

Pink astronaut prompt: Spiderman and mj style kiss.

The sand felt so good, nice and cool squished between her toes. Paulina tilted her head back and closed her eyes, breathing deep and squeezing Danny’s hand as she walked alongside him.

“Coming to the lake was a great idea,” said Paulina. She looked across the water at the setting sun. “It’s so pretty.”

Danny also looked at the sun, large and orange as it neared the water on the horizon. He held Paulina’s high-heeled shoes slung over his shoulder. “It really is.”

Paulina playfully bumped him with her hip. “You’re not gonna say ‘yeah, you are’ this time?”

“Nah. I’m saving all my corny jokes for ghost fighting later tonight.”

Danny was looking straight ahead now. Paulina stared at his face in profile, so handsome, so perfect. She sighed, causing him to turn to her.

“What?” he asked.

“I just can’t believe that I’m really going out with the ghost boy,” said Paulina, lacing her fingers through his. “Danny Phantom is my boyfriend, that’s just so…incredible.”

Danny shook his head. “You’ve got it all wrong. What’s incredible is that I’m dating Paulina Sanchez, the hottest girl in school. The whole town, even.”

“Oh, stop.”

“People are shocked when I tell them you’re my girlfriend. They have no idea how a nerd like me could get a knockout babe like you.”

“You’re not a nerd. You’re way cooler than I am. I mean, what do I have, fashion sense?” Paulina chuckled and rolled her eyes. “You can turn invisible and walk through walls.”

“All ghosts can do that.” Danny shrugged. “It’s nothing special, really.”

“But not all humans can,” said Paulina. “Just you.”

Danny smiled, his cheeks looking rosy in the dimming twilight.

“Well, not just you, I guess,” said Paulina. “Mayor Masters can do it, too. And your female clone you were telling me about.” Paulina chortled. “You’ve actually been cloned. You really have done and seen it all, haven’t you?”

Danny’s smile faded. “Yeah, I’ve… I’ve had a lot of interesting experiences.” He paused. “Not all of them good.”

“Well, your life is definitely a lot more exciting than mine,” said Paulina. “I used to think choosing my outfit each morning was a do-or-die decision. But hearing about your adventures, it just makes me realize how silly my obsession with staying at the top of the social ladder was.”

“And yet, I still wanted to be popular,” said Danny. “More than ever after I got my ghost powers, honestly. I just thought I was a…a freak. But I thought if I could just be accepted by the cool kids, then I’d finally be happy.”

“A freak? Yeah, right,” said Paulina. “Everyone in the A-List thinks Danny Phantom is the coolest kid ever.”

“Well. I sure don’t feel like it,” said Danny, smiling weakly.

“You really don’t think your powers are cool?” Paulina scoffed. “Danny, baby, if I had your powers—oh, the things I would do.”

Danny’s smile turned mischievous. “Oh, yeah? What things?”

Paulina looked up at the darkening sky bejeweled with tiny stars just popping out. “Well, I could go out running in the morning without wearing any makeup at all, like I would just turn invisible and no one would ever know. Then I could sleep in an extra half hour.”

“But you already look stunning without makeup.”

“And I could walk through a big crowd without worrying about some perv pinching my ass. I would just turn intangible and march on through.”

“Okay, yeah, I’ve done that.”

“What? Gone intangible to prevent someone from pinching your ass?”

Danny laughed. “No, I mean I’ve gone intangible to get through a big crowd. Like I one time phased Sam, Tucker, and me to the very front of a big outdoor concert. It was awesome.”

“Sounds like it!” agreed Paulina. She looked up at the sky again and sighed. “And if I could fly, I would glide under the stars every night.”

“You can do that anyway.” Danny squeezed her hand. “With me.”

Paulina brought her gaze back down to find Danny’s eyes pulsating with a soft, otherworldly glow, more dazzling than any night sky as Paulina lost her breath staring into them.

“I do have you,” she murmured.

The glow in Danny’s eyes faded as he lifted her hand clasped in his and kissed her knuckles.

“I’m happy to use my powers to do anything you want,” he said, letting their hands fall again.

“Anything?” asked Paulina impishly.

“I mean, you know…” Danny caught her look and smiled. “As long as it’s legal.”

Paulina hummed. “Well, there is something I’ve always wanted to try ever since we started going out…”

“Oh, yeah? What is it?”

Paulina bit her lip and threaded her fingers through a lock of her hair.

“Come on.” Danny nudged her shoulder with his upper arm. “You can tell me.”

“Well, it’s, ah…kind of like…a fantasy.”

Danny’s eyes flashed with a quick glow again. “Oh, now I have to hear it.”

Paulina’s lashes lowered. “Promise you won’t make fun of me?”

“I would never,” said Danny. “I mean, I’ve told you some of my fantasies, so I’d really love to hear at least one of yours.”

Paulina’s steps slowed until they stopped altogether. Danny also stopped.

“Okay, um…” Paulina pushed her hair behind her ears. “You know Spider-Man, right?”

“Of course.”

“You know the movies? Like not the most recent ones, but the ones with Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst?”

“I sure do,” said Danny, smirking.

Paulina couldn’t stop a grin of her own. “Why do I feel like you already know what I’m going to say?”

“Because there’s a scene I’ve always wanted to recreate with someone, too.”

“Oh, yeah? What scene?”

“No, you first.” Danny kicked at the sand. “I don’t want to get my hopes up.”

“Well, maybe we can do both if we’re thinking of different scenes.”

“Just tell me already. The suspense is killing me.”

Paulina pressed her lips. “The upside-down kiss.” She hoped she didn’t have to say anything more than that.

To her relief, Danny did not laugh. He actually sighed. Dreamily, even.

“I’ve always wanted to try that, too,” he said.

Paulina beamed. “Really?”

“Yeah. Really.”

“I mean, doesn’t it just look so sexy?” Paulina clutched his arm. “So can we try it?”

“Of course,” said Danny, looking around. “We’ll just need to find a tree that you can hang upside down from—”

Paulina shook him. “Danny, not me!”

“Well, why not?”

“Maybe because I’m wearing a dress?”

“That sounds like the perfect reason why you should do it.”

“Danny!” Paulina lightly smacked his shoulder. “You’re the one with the ghost powers, silly.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know how sexy I’d look upside down.”

“You’d look so sexy.”

Danny sighed. “Well, you know I’d have to transform to hang that way, right?”

“I do know that. You can’t engage your antigravity abilities in human form.”

“So you don’t mind kissing me in ghost form?”

“Of course not,” Paulina purred. “I love kissing you in ghost form.”

“I just thought maybe my lips are too cold for you when I’m a ghost.”

“Mmm, they are cold, but I love the sensation.”

Danny scanned the area. “Should we go somewhere more private?”

Paulina also looked around. “I don’t see anyone around here. And a kiss by the lake is always so romantic.”

Danny smiled, looked around once more, and closed his eyes. Two rings of light formed around him, pulling apart and changing him, revealing her beautiful ghost boy with his icy hair and tight jumpsuit that drove Paulina absolutely crazy. He opened his eyes, glowing bright green now.

The sun had almost completely vanished, but Danny’s spectral glow provided plenty of light for them to see each other’s blushing faces, Paulina’s pink and Danny’s green.

“Okay, okay!” Paulina took her high heels out of Danny’s hand and held them between her clasped fingers, bouncing on her toes in the sand. “I’m ready!”

Danny ran his newly freed hand through his hair, the frosted locks pushing back before falling forward again. He then lifted into the air and hovered above the sand.

Paulina chewed her bottom lip in anticipation.

Danny floated a little higher before flipping himself over, aligning his face with Paulina’s.

“Does all the ectoplasm rush to your head when you’re upside down?” asked Paulina.

“No,” said Danny. “I’m in antigravity mode. I could stay like this for hours and hours.”

“Well, that’s good to know,” said Paulina with a coy smile while dropping her heels onto the sand. “Because I could certainly kiss you for hours and hours.”

Danny smiled, then closed his eyes, his lips drawing together. Paulina placed her hands on either side of his face and brought him near, closing her eyes as well.

Static passed between their lips before they met, his ghostly energy misting against her skin, a fluttery sensation that made her think of fluffy clouds in the night sky, clouds that she could actually touch and hold and play with.

Kissing him in ghost form was magical, like nothing that could ever normally exist on Earth.

And in this position, it was an even more peculiar feeling. With his nose out of the way, she was able to angle deeply into his mouth, her fingers tugging on his ears and then moving to his jaw, his neck. Paulina could feel him smiling as she drank him in, enjoying the feel of his top teeth flipped over, the underside of his tongue so easy to tickle.

His hands tangled in her hair, a wonderfully chilled sensation against her scalp.

When they finally released each other, the sun was completely gone. Nothing but milky moonlight and sparkling stars.

Still upside down, Danny pressed his nose to hers.

“Was that everything you hoped it would be?” he whispered.

Paulina hummed and kissed his nose. “So much more.”

She placed her hands over his ears, laying her cheek against his, feeling his cold breath on her neck.

She couldn’t possibly let him go now.

[illustratorintheprocess]

WEEK 15: And on And on It goes

This week was a weird one. I was still tuckered out from the hustle of the weeks before and so I don't remember the details of the Monday group meeting, but I remember already being behind with the Major Project.

The official first brief had been 2 weeks ago and I had missed the Tuesday online classes with Chris because I was frantically writing the dissertation still. Luckily the Tuesday meetings were being recorded so I could catch up to them eventually.

On Monday however we were expected to have thought about possible topics for our big Final Major Project (FMP or MP) already. My brain was still swirling with the old projects. So I started with a simple mindmap of any interesting topics that came to mind:

The big 4 topics that came to mind were the global extinction event, the Ukraine-Russia conflict, the missing person cases of Native Americans and Cryptids.

During a group discussion with my tutor Maisie and 3 other people from my group both, the Ukraine-Russia conflict and the Native American topic turned out to be less promising. By talking through it with the others I realized the Ukraine-Russia topic might be too unpredictable in its development over the next few months to base a 60cred project on that's due in May. Who knows what would happen between the two countries by then and how it might affect my project. The topic of Native Americans I decided to scratch because eventhough I am personally really interested in learning more about the culture, languages and prosecution of Native Americans by settlers as well as in modern day, I am in the learning stages. And I can research a lot but might still run the danger of misrepresenting, misinforming or appropriating something and offending/hurting people with it. I'm white and need to be careful with how I show other people's cultures in my work. Something well meant could turn out to be a catastrophe if not researched properly or out of context and I wasn't ready to take that risk with the FMP.

Now deciding between the Global Extinction Event and Cryptids my tutor suggested I could merge the two topics into one idea. I might not have explained what Cryptids are well enough. (Honestly was super surprised when nobody in the group knew what I was talking about, even when I brought up examples like Nessie and Bigfoot) My tutor had the idea of "what cryptids would come out of a nuclear event/worsening of the climate crisis", which is a decent idea in itself i guess. But I had my even on reimagining cryptids and their place in our society in modern day when they can't hide anymore. The scary legends and folklore would become part of everyday life. So Mothman could be a window cleaner and the Fresno Nightcrawler a postman or something along those lines. The idea is cute but leaves a few open question marks of what roll in modern day society could a cannibalistic, vicious monster like the Wendigo have? I guess they could go vegan and do yoga?

The idea definitely needs work but I was happy to have found a start with the MP at least.

Annoyingly I seem to have lost my student ID. I've been using temporary passes to get in and out of uni but if I don't find it soon I will run out and have to make a new one. Annoying.

On a high note I was accepted into the UAL Creative Hack! It's a sort of competition I have applied to a while ago and completely forgotten about. During week 16, which is a no-teaching week, I will spend 3 days going to another college under the UAL umbrella and compete with other students from all sorts of courses for the prize money of the first place, which is £1500. No small thing. We will have to work in groups on one of 3 topics, which we chose in our application. Mine is social justice and equality. Very fitting considering my dissertation topic haha

For the rest of the week I took it easy, thought a bit deeper about my Cryptid Project idea and prepared for the Creative Hack.

[lookwhatilost]

i wanted to write a while back about the weird right wing funhouse mirror conceptualization of "free speech". specifically the kanye's shitshow of a media tour at the end of last year, and the self-evidently bad idea to run walker. but now i've had more time to think about it. and i have some time to scribble it down. enjoy a take that has been sitting in the freezer for two months.

when jane coaston was still writing for vox, she used to talk a lot about guardrails in a political movement or social institutions. and i think she's dead on with this – it's especially important if you believe in free speech, and if you don't want a sort of heavy-handed set of rules driving your beat, to exert some kind of guardrails and discipline.

kanye west is not a deep thinker on public policy issues. it's not who he is. he was a celebrated recording artist and sometimes fashion entrepreneur. so you have to ask yourself when you're deliberately taking on somebody, "do i want to hold this person up as the representative of my movement? is this somebody who people in my cause should care a lot about with what they have to say?" you have to think about why you want to do that.

the best reason to draw a celebrity entertainer to a political movement is because that person is making a really banal point that has almost no content to it. like, think taylor swift saying she believed in marriage equality, or katy perry endorsing hillary clinton. we want their large fanbases to hear these analytically simple things. the whole kanye thing just kind of reeked of this... desperation to own the libs by finding a black person to say something provocative about race? and with so much interest in that, that you don't pay any attention at all to questions like "does he know what he's talking about?" or "does this person have any information at all?"

something similar happened with herschel walker where he'd say things that conservatives would want to hear, but would shy away from a lot of uncomfortable stuff, like paying his ex girlfriend's abortion tab or holding a gun to his wife's head. and the argument conservatives made when the audio of that was leaked was "herschel is being smeared! there's an interview where she says she's forgive him for that behavior!" i mean, it's a salient fact in his history that this is something he did, which he admitted to, and he has a bit of a history with this violent behavior against women. so if you want to hold up an example of The Libs are Attacking Somebody, maybe you shouldn't pick the guy who had a gun to his wife's head? same with the guy who's spouting antisemitic stuff.

if i were to ask someone like tucker carlson what he thought about affirmative action, he'd probably tell me "well, i'm concerned that we're diluting important meritocratic qualities in pursuit of diversity." but then you look at how the conservative movement structures, well, itself, they wanted walker to run against warnock. they wanted kanye to counter BLM. they're reaching for people who aren't at all informed about public policy. the state of georgia is not at all lacking in regular politicians that don't have the scandals that dogged walker and can speak coherently about issues. even if you set the scandals aside, he's up on a debate saying "people with diabetes just need to eat better". so, no type 1 diabetes exists? it's dumb, and it's sort of a gaffe, but he's also a football star with no background in politics at all in a state that's historically been very republican. why did you pick him?

it's, like, it's getting lost in the weeds with someone's personal draw that no one ever stops to think, "wait, why the fuck are we interviewing this guy?"

it's baffling that alex jones still brought kanye on infowars and elon gave him his twt back after the red wave that never happened. you'd figure that if you were a right winger, this would be a wakeup call that it isn't politically working out for you to have your face of your movements to be Some Guy.

but then again, they might be backed into a corner, because they've leaned so far away from policy in their political strategy. "so what do you guys plan to do about the debt ceiling?" "blue lives matter!" "wtf?"

[callistochan87]

Tonight's CS excerpt

Tumblr didn't cut this one off!!! Apparently 2700 words = Too Much, No, how dare. 2, 170 words = fine and good, okay, do it. ???

I probably won't keep this except, at least not how it is. I'm trying to aim for the concept a sort of collective unconscious group-think (and what if one person in the crowd is not a part of that), so it was more how to get that feeling across from the POV of someone in the group. If you asked any one of them to describe it, they'd say they're just a close-knit family, and they know what the others are thinking because they know them so well, and that's that. But the outsiders? Sure, they can care about them, but they can't quite 'read' them the same way...it's a little unsettling, deep down.

also I call it an except, but this is literally all I wrote tonight so uhh yeah, feeling things out here, i really just want to get to the plot stuff but also need to Establish Things so. yeah.

The Dessler house hadn’t changed much during the 35 years they’d lived there. They lived in a tidy little house that was built around the 1970s, with brightly-coloured siding that was reminiscent of the artistic character of Old Town, and shutters reminiscent of a Cape Cod style house. It didn’t look big enough to hold a couple and three children, but somehow, against all odds, it did.

The inside looked the same as it always did too. There was some godawful wood panelling in the living room, near the wood stove, that was likely original to the house. Shelby had never liked it and thought they ought to rip it out, but to Eric it brought a very familiar comfort—something warm and cozy, like a fire roaring in a little log cabin. It was there that Eric found his father Alexander, trying to teach his grandson Tucker how to play chess, while the smells of roasted chicken and mashed potatoes wafted from the kitchen.

Alexander looked very much like Eric, with greying auburn hair and skin that looked ruddy after a lifetime of flying. Eric assumed he would look similar when he was older, as did Alexander, but neither of them actually said it aloud. Eric didn’t think that far in the future.

By contrast, Tucker had little resemblance, with dark brown hair that stuck out in odd directions and dark eyes. But then again, his father looked like a completely different person. Whereas Eric and Shelby had inherited their parents’ reddish hair and pale skin, something had gone absolutely screwy with Garrett’s genetics—he had Alexander’s brown eyes, and Anne said her father had dark hair like his, but visually he was the odd duck out.

“Now these little fellers, they can only go straight—” Alexander moved the black pawn in a line to demonstrate his point, “—or diagonally.”

A ladle banged hard against metal. Tucker was clearly losing interest fast, judging by the way he fidgeted. He rubbed his eyes, ran a hand through his hair, tried moving the pieces around the board in illegal moves. It was a bit much—Tucker was only two; his father hadn’t even begun to trty and teach him chess until he’d started school. Old enough to sit still and listen. Alexander knew that—but it kept Tucker away from the kitchen for the missus to cook in peace.

“Ah, Chris, love, good to see you!” he said, delight spreading on his face when he spotted Christine. He stood, embraced her as fiercely as he’d embrace his own daughter, and kissed her on the cheek, “Sit down, sit down, I—oh hell, you didn’t need to bring anything.”

Christine had brought a dessert. Not typical of her, they both knew.

“I need to do something,” she said, moving towards the kitchen, “We had this big bag of flour we got from food rescue and it needed to be used up yesterday. There’s only so many biscuits I can make.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say no,” he said, “The kids will like ‘em.”

Inside the kitchen, they found Eric’s mother Anne at the stove top, trying to mash potatoes; Shelby, her red hair thrown into a sloppy bun, was at the kitchen table trying to braid her niece's hair into a French braid. Her eyes were narrowed in concentration.

“Hi Shel.”

“Hey Chris,” she said, “You know how to do a French braid?”

“No.”

“Damn,” she said, “I’m struggling here.”

Garrett’s other child, five year old Kenzie, squirmed.

“Aunt Shel, this is boring,” she said.

“Look kiddo, you wanted your hair braided,” she said, “It means you gotta sit there for a while.”

“No, it’s fine, you don’t have to do that,” she said. Her eyes spotted the container in Chris’ hands and her face lit up, “Aunt Chris brought cookies?!”

“Yeh’ll wait until dessert,” Anne said. Shelby took the container as Kenzie ran off. Eric looked around. The presence of his children usually meant that Garrett was there, but his car wasn’t in the driveway.

“Where’s Garrett?” Eric said.

“Hell if I know,” Shelby said, rolling her eyes, “He showed up this morning, dumped them here, then left. What are we supposed to do?”

They were sharing looks. There was a certain mood wringing itds way around the kitchen, something more than an annoyance. A deep, abiding, persistent dissatisfaction shared among all of them. Garrett knew better. Garrett needed to make an effort. Anne had spent years raising three children and that was exhausting enough without raising her two grandchildren whenever they were at their father’s place.

“Usually he shows up for a free meal,” Eric said, pulling a chair out for Christine. She sat. She looked out of place among the sea of pale, freckly red.

Alexander made a noise, barely heard over the range hood fan and the children screeching in the living room. “Ach, who knows any more?” and he abruptly changed the subject: “How’s your father doing?”

“Fine,” Christine said, “He’s planning a fishing trip in the summertime. I think at Blatchford Lodge.”

“Ah, there’s plenty to do there,” he said, “Are you and Eric going?”

“No,” she said, “Eric works that week, I think. I’m staying here.”

“No father-daughter fishing trip?” Alexander said, his voice light. Half-teasing, but half-serious. The collective mood shifted. They thought it would be nice, even necessary, for Christine and her father to spend some time alone…a couple months more and perhaps the sting would have eased…they’d both spent so much time taking care of Leslie that some time alone to get to know each other again would be good. It was a solid plan.

Certainly, Christine had never expressed much interest in fishing, while everyone who knew Joe Schumacher knew he loved it whenever he could, so it was a bit of a compromise on Christine’s part. Not that it was the first time she’d compromised on things. They found her a little hard to read. Certainly, her mother had been a bit overbearing, but she had never—when her mind was still intact, that is—forced Christine to compromise on anything, so they weren’t really sure where they’d gotten it from. Joe didn’t seem the sort to force his child into some gender-based passivity. Joe didn’t seem the sort to force anything.

They weren’t really sure what Joe was for, to be honest, but he was a nice fellow and being a little hard to figure out wasn’t cause for concern.

Christine blinked slowly, seeming distracted by the smell of food. Her eyes looked distant, as though she were mentally somewhere else.

“Oh, no no. I burned up most of my time off, and I can’t justify the cost. Plus…honestly, I don’t like fishing much. I don’t want to be the buzzkill when I know he’s looking forward to it.”

“Did you ask him?” Eric said. Eric was always one to just voice the thoughts they had, no filter, “Maybe he’s just waiting for you to ask.”

Christine gave him a look, and Shelby matched it. Really.

“If he wanted Chris there, he would’ve asked,” Shelby said, “Really, Eric, think about it for a sec.”

Hurt flashed across his face. “You don’t know—”

“It’s fine,” Christine said, “No, he didn’t ask me to come. He just asked me to check the mail while he was away and maybe mow the lawn if it looks scraggly. …why are you all being so weird about it?”

Christine was looking around at the table. They thought she couldn’t sense the collective mood, but clearly she could see by their expressions that something was off.

“Aye,” Anne interrupted, the oven door creaking as she opened it to remove the chicken, “There ain’t naught but the two of yeh left, we thought he’d like to spend more time with yeh one-on-one.”

Christine laughed humourlessly. “After five years of taking care of Mom together, I don’t know if he wants to see me ever again. It was…draining.”

“He’s your dad,” Shelby said, frowning, “Dad would sooner chew his own arm off than ignore us.”

“He’s not ignoring me, he’s just doing his own thing,” she said, “Not every family is as close as yours.”

“There’s not close and then there’s one step removed from Garrett,” Shelby said.

“Hey, come on, don’t insult Mr. S like that,” Eric said.

“Oy, would yeh stop bickering? One of yeh call the kids an tell ‘em supper’s ready,” Anne said, blowing a strand of wavy hair out of her face. It did nothing.

The table had to be very large these days, with both leaves put in, in order to accommodate Alexander and Anne, Eric and Christine, Shelby, Garrett, and Kenzie and Tucker. Not that long ago, the table would have held David Summers, when he and Shelby came up for visits, but between the cheating, the theft, and the divorce, he was persona non grata. The other chair would have been for Beth, who they held no animosity towards, but her divorce from Garrett meant they were reduced to polite hellos if they crossed paths in the grocery store, and little else. Christine was the only in-law left, and might as well have been family for how long they’d known her.

And yet, there was always a sense she didn’t quite belong. She was welcome with open arms, they loved her, but she was not Them. There was a certain unspoken Otherness about her that none of them could place—certainly Eric and Shelby didn’t want to think of it, for she was his wife and her best friend since childhood. Perhaps it was because they followed certain rhythms and patterns and behaviours that neither she nor her father shared—like how they’d grown completely distant since Leslie’s death. Perhaps it was because they couldn’t figure out what was going on in her head—worse these days, as Eric would’ve readily pointed out. She was quiet. It was odd.

Of course, they always thought that none of this mattered, that she was welcome regardless. And in her better days, she did what she could to play that role, but…never quite hit the mark. It was an unspoken feeling, but it was an aura that permeated the whole house. Eric could ignore it when it was just the two of them in their apartment, and Shelby could think she was overthinking if when they went out for coffee—if they even did that; Christine had really cut down whatever socializing she used to do. But when the whole Dessler clan got together, there was something shared in their little group that no one dared voice. Eric would be upset if they did, of course, and there was no need to be rude. But the feeling was still thick in the air, and perhaps Christine could sense it, even if she likely couldn’t put words on it, either.

Every now and then, their feeling bubbled up into words. It started out innocently; Shelby said, “Did you want to see a movie on Friday night?”

“Oh, no thanks. There isn’t anything I really want to see.”

“Me neither, but it’s a chance to go out. We can grab dinner somewhere and head over. No, Eric, girls’ night out, you can’t come.”

“No, it’s fine,” she said, “I don’t feel like dropping fifteen bucks on something I don’t really want to see.”

But the feeling was there, simmering under the surface—Eric sometimes felt as if he wanted to shake the sad out of Christine, but they all knew he couldn’t do that, so Anne picked up the thread instead: “Lord, are you going to spend the rest of your life staying in your apartment?”

Her tone wasn’t overtly rude, but the feeling saturated every word. Even Christine picked up on it, looking at a loss for words.

Eric and Alexander jumped in at almost the same time, the former with more fury in his voice, “Mom, stop it.”

“Yeh used to go out and do things,” she said, “It’d be good for yeh to get out. Sometimes yeh need to force yourself.”

“Life’s too short to watch so-so movies,” Christine said, apparently trying to laugh it off, but didn’t really laugh.

“Life’s too short and here yeh are mopin’ ‘round the place,” she said, “Yeh’re not helpin the mood here, is all.”

“Anne, that’s enough,” Alexander said sharply. Eric stood so fast that he nearly toppled his chair over; Kenzie and Tucker both jumped.

They could offer verbal protest against the collective thought, but they couldn’t disagree with the sentiment, even if the wording wasn’t how they, individually, would do it. Christine’s face had gone red with embarrassment, and she stood too.

“Well then, I’ll excuse myself,” she said, “Sounds like you’ll be much happier without me—Eric, no. I’m not going to have you get into a row with your mother, let’s just go.”

The feeling lingered in the air, pressing in on all sides. They loved her, but she wasn’t Them.

[five-rivers]

Dating Sim

Sam wouldn’t admit it, but she sometimes liked to watch Danny.  Not in a creepy way!  At least, she didn’t think it was creepy.  It wasn’t like she was a stranger.  It was just interesting.  He didn’t move like other people did.  It definitely wasn’t because she thought he looked good or anything like that.  

(No matter what Tucker said.)

(She watched plenty of people like this.)

(Not that numbers necessarily meant anything.  She guiltily closed the tab open to a google search for polyamory.)

Anyway, Sam was watching Danny as he reentered the computer lab following a ‘bathroom break.’  He had a smear of ectoplasm on the hem of his t-shirt, but no one seemed to notice.  Not that it would be very hard to play off even if everyone did.  At this point, more people at Casper High had had an encounter with the Fenton Foamer than hadn’t.  

This meant that she had a good look at his face when he passed behind Paulina.  His expression rapidly went through expressions of surprise, confusion, horror, fascinated disgust, and intense embarrassment.  A blush started to creep up his neck, making some of his fainter scars (acne, chicken pox, and childhood mishaps, not ghost fights - he rarely got scars from that) stand out.  

Paulina, apparently hearing him behind her, turned around with a scowl.  “What are you looking at, loser?”

“Nothing,” squeaked Danny.  “I’m just…  I’m going, sorry.”

By the time he got to his seat between Sam and Tucker, he was lit up like a neon sign.  It was a good thing the computer lab was well-lit.  Otherwise, other people might have noticed his literally luminescent blush.  

On the other hand, Amity Parkers in general were horribly unobservant.  So, who knew?  

Danny buried his face in his hands and made a sort of strangled noise.  

“Hey,” whispered Tucker, looking over Danny’s hunched back.  “What’s wrong with him?”

“I don’t know.  Paulina wasn’t doing the assignment, I take it?”

“No,” moaned Danny.  “No, she was not.”

“Love letter to Phantom?” asked Tucker, waggling his eyebrows.  

Danny looked up at Tucker.  Although Sam could only see a sliver of his face at that angle, he still managed to look haunted, and not the way he usually did, given that he was a ghost.  

“You don’t know the half of it,” mumbled Danny.  “You have no idea.  I’d be happy with a letter.”

Sam did not let it get to her.  She poked Danny, rather roughly.  “What is it, then?  Is she looking at, I don’t know, body builders or something?”

Danny turned to her.  “No,” he said. He lowered his voice even further and leaned forward into Sam’s personal space.  “It’s a dating sim.”

“Oh… kay?” said Sam, leaning back.  “So?”

“A Phantom dating sim.”

“Oh,” said Sam, baffled.  “What… what would that even… What?”

“Huh,” said Tucker.  “That’d be pretty niche.  Wonder who made it.”

Danny let his head thump down onto the desk.  “I don’t know,” he said.  “I don’t know.”

“Oi!” barked Tetslaff.  “You three!  Less talking, more working!”

Reluctantly, Sam returned to the assignment.  

.

In Sam’s defense, she was curious, and everyone knows what people say about curiosity.  

(Satisfaction probably wasn’t what brought Danny back, though.  All things considered.)

So.  She went ahead and looked up dating sims with Danny Phantom in them.  

There were… more than she expected.  She scrolled down.  He was apparently in at least three dedicated to various cryptids, and those ranged from silly and irreverent to full horror…  Sam wasn’t exactly a dating sim kind of person, but wow.  Mothman was popular, huh.  Wasn’t the Fresno Nightcrawler just a pair of legs or something?  Okay, and that one was for famous ghosts and hauntings… but also set at a high school… okay.  Whatever.  Okay.  That one was Amity Park ghosts only, and it had either been commissioned by Vlad himself or that artist had been really thirsty for the Wisconsin ghost.  She did not want to know which one.  

“This,” mumbled Sam to herself as she kept scrolling through the results, “this feels illegal.  This…  It is illegal, right?  Illegal.  Illegal.”

She didn’t know if she was referring to looking up dating sims about her best friend, or the way these video game people kept using the names and likenesses of dead people to promote their products.  

Both were sort of gross.  

Would Sam be able to look Danny in the eye tomorrow morning?  Who knew!  Either way, she was sure glad they hadn’t scheduled a patrol for tonight.  

“Oh my gosh, this is horrible.”

Danny could never know.  Given how embarrassed he’d been just finding out they existed, he’d combust.  

Sam’s phone rang and she practically threw herself off her computer chair in surprise.  

“Not Danny,” she muttered as she groped for the phone.  “Not Danny, not Danny, not Danny.”  She looked at the caller ID and let out a sigh of relief.  “Tucker!” she said, more loudly than she really should.  “What’s up?”

“You looked it up, didn’t you?”

“No!” said Sam, quickly.  “I, um.  Looked what up?”

“Come on, I looked it up, too.  Phantom dating sims.”

“Maybe,” said Sam.  

Tucker snickered.  “You’re going to admit you like him someday.”

“Shut up.  Why are you calling me?”

“Because I’m pretty sure I’ve found the one Paulina was on.  And it is hilarious.  I’m going to send you the link, but you need to be cool about it, okay?”

“Between the two of us, you think I’m the one who’s going to be uncool?”

“Ouch.  But, anyway, it’s on its way to your inbox.  I need you to play it, because if I don’t have someone to talk about it with, I’m going to lose it.”

“Wait, wait, what do you mean by hilarious, exactly?  Is this, like, a so-bad-it’s-good type of deal?”

“Oh, no.  They put a lot of effort into it.  Did their research.  Tried really hard.  Go ahead, look at it, you’ll see what I mean.  Go ahead and play it, then call me back.”

“Fine, fine,” said Sam, navigating to his link.  “Bye.”

Sam did indeed see what he meant.  

She called Tucker back.  

“Hey,” he said, “what part are you on?”

Sam wheezed in response.  

“I told you it was funny.”

“What era do they think he’s from?  Would that I could but hold thee without stealing thy breath, for thou art of life but I have long been of the grave?  Really?  Really?”

“Ancient Rome, I think?  That’s what the laurels are for in his ‘true form,’ I’m pretty sure.”

“There’s just.  So much going on here,” said Sam.  “What’s with the volunteering at the hospital subplot?  The narration is getting really weird over some of those coma patients.”

“Oh, that’s because there’s a secret ending where you can get Phantom to possess someone who’s brain dead.”

“That’s so unethical.”

“I don’t think dating sims are all that concerned over ethics.  Have you gotten to the part where he invites the main character to a date in some gothic mansion?  I think it might be based off Vlad’s.  Can you imagine Danny breaking into Vlad’s mansion for a date?”

“The worst thing is that I can.”

“Most in-character thing in this whole mess.  Like…  You weren’t wrong, but knowing Danny…”

“Yeah, that whole ‘master of the spiritual arts’ thing.  I’ve seen Danny run into so many walls.  Just.  So many.”

“I know,” whispered Sam into the phone.  “I’m going to have to call out sick tomorrow or something.  I won’t be able to look Danny in the eye without laughing.”

“I know what you mean.  I will never be able to forget sparkly anime chariot enthusiast inverse tuxedo Danny.  Don’t you love that art?”

“Where did the chariot thing even come from?  Is it because they thought he wouldn’t understand cars or…?”

“Wait ‘til you get to the ‘disguised at the theme park’ arc.”

“I shouldn’t,” said Sam.  “I should go to bed.  I should go to bed and never think or speak of this again.”

“Yeah,” said Tucker.  “Same.  But you’re not, are you?  You’re invested.”

“I kind of want to do a bad ending.  Does my soul get eaten?”

“Hey,” said Tucker, “want to know the worst thing?”

“What?”

“They’re making a sequel.”

“Oh, no.  No.  This is already bad enough.  We can’t do that to Danny.  We’re his friends.”

“I think that makes it so we have to do it to Danny.”  Tucker snorted.  “Guess what.”

“What?”

“I sent him the link.”

“Tucker!  No!  You’ll kill him!”

Tucker cackled.  

.

Danny turned off the family computer, then turned to face Jazz.  “We’re never speaking of this again.”

“You know, googling yourself is a completely reasonable thing to do,” said Jazz soothingly.  

“Not speaking of it.”  He picked up the computer.  

“Uh,” said Jazz.  “I need that for my homework.”

“No,” said Danny, carrying it to the portal with a crazed look in his eye.  “It needs to burn.”

“Danny!”

[sapnapsimper420]

Yo could I request some headcannons of them with an reader who is really good with kids? Like they act really parental and generally kids are just calmer around them? Preferably with a male reader-

S/O Who's Good with Kids Headcanons

❥︎ genre // fluff

❥︎ main character(s) // Foolish, Karl, Dream, Sapnap, George, Wilbur, c!Techno, Eret

❥︎ warnings // n/a

❥︎ reader pronouns // he/him

❥︎ note(s) // I love how pretty much every request I've gotten is started with yo

Foolish

Foolish seems like the kind of guy who wants a family

So when he takes you home to meet his family and you immediately gravitate toward his younger family members, he melts

The kids love you, so Foolish brings you to every single family event in the future

One time he asks if the two of you can take the kids to the park nearby and when he gets a yes, you light up

You're helping one of the kids tie their shoes again when both of you hear the other crying

So you rush to them and calm them down just enough so that they show you their hands and knees where they've scraped them after falling

And then they calm down even more when you start soothing them

Overall Foolish is smitten for you, and definitely brings up the idea of having a family with you on more than one occasion

Karl

Karl loves kids so the first thing you two talked about on a date was family

And when he learned this handsome boy who was interested in him wanted a family too? Pure joy

He introduced you to the Mr Beast team first, and Chris brought Tucker (because why would Karl pass up a chance to see Tucker?)

Karl watches you melt before his eyes and just fall in love with Tucker

"Babe. We need one."

Dream

Dream wants a family but not for a little bit

He just doesn't want them to be the target of haters, y'know?

But then he meets your family and sees how you are with younger siblings

One of them asks for help with homework? You're on it. Another wants your help colouring? Suddenly you know everything there is to know about colour wheels

Dream just watches with a goofy little smile on his face

"I changed my mind. Let's have a kid." "Dream, we can't have a kid. Let's adopt one instead."

Sapnap

Sapnap is shy about what he wants but when you bring up the idea of a family he's immediately on board

He considers himself to be okay with kids but you? You're a god with kids

You offer to babysit for your friends and family fairly often and he gets so happy seeing you babysit because it makes him feel like the possibility of having a family with you is right there

He gets so soft anytime someone talks about it (generally in a good way) and is just like "yeah that's my boyfriend, he's so good with kids and we're gonna get our own someday"

George

George has always been on the track of "kids are cool but I don't want one"

And you agree with him, but that doesn't stop you from babysitting your friends kids because you're good at it and you have fun with them

More than once he's been dragged into helping you make cookies with the kids

And while he doesn't want kids seeing the way you are with them makes him a little more hesitant about that thought

Any time you babysit he tells you how much he loves you after, thinking he's being subtle about how soft you made him

He's not

Wilbur

Wilbur would be unsure about having a family

Like he wants to focus on himself first y'know

Then he meets you and here you are, tiny little brother that you have custody over for reasons you dislike talking about

And he's hesitant at first because that is a child and that means a family with you, his new boyfriend that he actually really likes a lot

After talking with you more he decides "y'know what yeah I'll stay with him. I'll give it a shot"

He doesn't regret it

Seeing the way you care for your brother makes him lose his mind in the softest way possible

c!Techno

Techno's track record with kids was... horrible, to say the least

And when you came to his cabin, carrying a small piglin hybrid in your arms? He was terrified

Half of the voices were begging for him to protect the two of you and the other half were asking for blood

So he ran at first

And when he came back a couple of days later he found you crying quietly while cooing to the baby piglin hybrid

The kid was the calmest he's ever seen a piglin hybrid be, just sitting on your lap playing with your fingers while letting out calming huffs and snorts

Techno is hit with the strongest sense of longing and love for you and this child

After a long, long conversation the two of you agreed to parent this piglin

Eret

Both of you want kids and that's always been a well known fact between the two of you

So when you bring up the idea of adoption they're ecstatic

Instant yes

Before you can go through the official process you're asked by one of your mutual friends to babysit their kid for a week while they go on a trip for work

The two of you agree and Eret is just taken aback by how good you are with kids

This chaotic little six year old listens to you without hesitation and he just watches as you act out a little tea party with them, knowing you'll be the best dad any kid could ever ask for

[arcanadreams]

Water Fights with the OM Bros

it’s 90 degrees outside at my place and you know what that means!!! water fight headcanons because I refuse to go outside in the heat in real life asdhgskjdgks

once again i’m only doing the brothers bc i do not trust myself with the dateables just yet lmao

Lucifer:

Literally only agrees to join because you’re so excited about it.

“...If it makes you happy, MC,” are his exact words. Simp.

You did agree to make the game have no points though, to keep things from getting competitive. Both at the advice of Lucifer and because you knew he would not join if there was any chance he could lose. (Also because Satan is a menace but we’ll get to that later.)

When all the brothers are gathered he suggests everyone pairs up into teams. 

“You’re only saying that so you can cozy with M-” Asmo tries to say before being sprayed in the face with water.

“My hair!” “Oh, look at that. I suppose the game has started,” Lucifer hides his water gun behind his legs, but he can’t hide the shit eating grin on his face.

He takes your hand with a “Come along, MC,” and leads you away as everyone splits up.

You two make a surprisingly good team for this sort of thing! He knows the gardens well and also knows where each of his brothers is likely to go. You are quite skilled water water guns and balloons. He’s basically the brains and you’re the brawn. 

He snatches a few kisses now and then when you look back at him excitedly after smacking one of his brothers with a balloon. You’re just so cute!

When everyone is all tuckered out and goes off to shower and whatever, Lucifer hangs back with you to thank you for organizing everything. With a kiss to the back of your hand, he says, “I’ll admit, I was...skeptical, at first. But, as usual, you brought my brothers together in a way I haven’t seen in a long while. Thank you, MC.” 

Mammon:

“I’m MC’s first man, so I get to team with them!” “You’re also literally my boyfriend, but okay hun.” Cue Mammon blushing beet red at the nickname and muttering at you not to call him that in front of his brothers. (He doesn’t mean it; he loves that they know you’re his and vice versa.)

Strategically, the two of you are the absolute worst. But that’s because you’re both just there to have fun!

And have fun you do! You actually get in quite a few fun chases with Levi! He’s probably the most into the water fight out of everyone, the three of you are just running around the gardens pelting each other with balloons. It’s super cute.

Mammon is absolutely the type to yell “I’ll avenge you, MC!” every single time you get sprayed. 

Eventually, you and Mammon follow Levi’s advice and start hiding in places to catch some of the other brothers by surprise. Which would be fine if Mammon didn’t blush super hard and start grumbling because of how close together you were when kneeling behind the garden wall.

You roll your eyes and surge forward to kiss him. He’s so shocked he has no idea what to do with his hands at first. But, after a second of pause, his water gun falls to the ground with a clatter and he wraps his arms around you.

“Get a room,” Is all the two of you hear before Belphie dumps a whole ass bucket of water on your heads. Mammon growls and jumps up to get the youngest before Beel can scoop him up, but you grab his hand and stop him. 

You’re laughing super hard, and the sun is shining on your hair. You almost look like you have a halo...Mammon gives up the chase before it even starts because his MC is simply ethereal. 

“Mammon!” You smile brilliantly at him when you finally stop laughing. “I kissed you to keep you quiet! And then you managed to make even more noise!” 

He just hugs you then so you can’t see his blushing face. Stupid lovely human making fun of him. (He likes it, though.)

Leviathan:

This boy is literally the MOST excited when you tell him your idea. He was in on it from the very start.

He actually helped you get all the supplies! He opens his Akuzon account right away and starts showing you what water guns would be best and picking out huge packs of balloons made specifically for being water grenades. (Definitely had looked all this stuff up before in case he found a LARPing buddy.)

You ask him how much Grimm all this stuff will cost and he tells you not to worry. “I’ll cover it!” “But, Levi-” He interrupts you with big blush on his face. 

“L-Listen MC. You’re m-my Henry! And I know this will be fun, s-so...I’ll cover it.” You leap forward and give him a hug, triggering a surprised but equally happy screech.

Honestly he is so excited you proposed an idea like that of your own volition. Like...it just makes him feel like all the games and stuff he finds fun truly don’t bother you. You haven’t been lying; you genuinely are interested in the same things as him. It makes him feel so warm.

When everyone is still arriving, you grab one of your water guns and do that cool spinny thing. You know the thing. The cowboy gun spin. You’re like, “Hey Levi! Check this out!” 

BAM. Boy is OUT. So red his face is steaming. That’s the hottest thing he has ever seen in his entire damn life. What the fuck, MC. He is basically frozen on the spot out of sheer overwhelmed-ness as how hot that was. You have to drag him away when the water fight starts. Totally worth staying up all night figuring out how to do the spin trick with a water gun.

Once the action gets going, you two are unstoppable. No one escapes the fight unscathed thanks to y’all. All those late night Call of Duty sessions trained you for this!!

Your favorite tactic is definitely camping, though. You and Levi would pick a spot and hide there, waiting for one of his brothers to come by, and then...ATTACK!

If it actually were a competition, you two would’ve won by a landslide. But honestly, Levi didn’t really keep track. He was having too much fun watching you. You were so mesmerizing when you were in the zone and so gorgeous when laughing as you gave him victory high fives after a successful ambush. 

You let him take a picture of you posing all tough with your water gun and he makes it his DDD background immediately. And his lockscreen so you can protect his DDD from intruders.

Satan:

THIS ASSHOLE. THIS MAN IS THE REASON YOU MADE SURE THERE WAS NO COMPETITION.

If there was any sense of competition, Satan would’ve gone absolutely out of his mind to beat Lucifer. He would make sure to destroy that man’s dignity as thoroughly as possible.

So, for the sake of both him and the eldest brother, no points. No contest. He grumbles about it, but, much like said eldest brother, he still joins because he sees how happy the idea of a family water fight makes you.

 Satan treats is almost as seriously as Levi does. EVEN THOUGH YOU MADE SURE IT WASN’T A COMPETITION, HE DAMN SURE STILL ACTS LIKE IT IS. UGH.

Literally pulls a map of the House of Lamentation’s gardens out of his back pocket??? And puts it on the side of the fountain?? And starts planning maneuvers on it with you??? He pulls a pen out of his SWIM TRUNK POCKETS to use to point with and emphasize his points. You just blink at him. This is your mans. Good lord.

Considering his expert knowledge of the layout of the entire surrounding area of HoL from that map, he actually knows of some secret passages the other brothers don’t even consider. He takes you to them so you can use them to spy on what Lucifer’s the other brothers’ strategies are.

It’s only once you’re creeping around the tunnels that he realizes something: none of his brothers know where you are. They can’t bother you...time to make out.

Grabs your attention with a quiet, “MC” and gives you a smooch. Soon enough he is backing you up against the wall. A water balloon you have tied to your belt pops against the rough brick, interrupting the two of you.

Satan disregards it and move to kiss you again, but you let out a gasp. He’s worried for you for a moment: did you scrape yourself? But when you turn to look at him, there’s a mischievous glint in your eye that he loves to see. 

“My water broke!” You whisper-exclaim dramatically, covering your mouth in fake shock. Satan has to nuzzle his face in your neck to avoid laughing and filling the tunnel with the echo that would alert his brothers. The two of you basically just canoodle in the passages until the water fight is over LMAO

Asmodeus:

Pretty much just to show off how good he looks in a bathing suit to you and anyone else who happens to be lucky enough to witness his glory.

He’s not the best at water fights and ends up using you as a human shield sometimes adjgfkjshf

“Asmo! Stop hiding behind me!” “I am not letting Lucifer mess up my hair twice in one day, darling!”

He comments quite often on how hot you look. Both in your bathing suit and also when in the zone looking for victims to douse in watery fury. You look like an action hero, MC! Have you ever thought about becoming the next Bond? Asmo could definitely pull some hypnotic strings.~

Every time you successfully pull him out of the way of an oncoming water balloon or block a blast of water from hitting, he totally melts. He presses his back to your chest, swooning against you and batting his eyelashes.

“Oh, MC, my hero! My dashing knight in shining armor!” You scoff, but think it’s super cute. You even play into it sometimes and pick him up bridal style.

“The king is looking for you, my prince,” you say once as you lift him, and he actually blushes. Asmodeus, avatar of lust, blushes at a silly pet name. He was not expecting you to get so into the role!!! He loves it, though.

For the rest of the water fight the two of you are basically roleplaying a royal and his knight bodyguard. It is stupidly fun and the both of you have an absolute blast.

“Oh, MC, my darling knight! I have amazing news!” Asmo says after the fight ends. You’re drying his hair off with a towel. “Yes, my liege?” 

“In exchange for your wonderful and dutiful protection, you have been given permission by the crown to court me! Isn’t that wonderful?” He smiles and you throw your head back in a laugh. You lean down and give him a nice, long kiss on the lips before pulling away. “That is absolutely splendid, your highness.”

Beelzebub:

He loves the idea because it’ll get his whole family together and he knows it. He has to carry Belphie out there but that’s normal.

He helped you and Levi plan!! Excited boy. You filled him in when he joined you and Levi for a game night. He totally volunteered to go get some extra supplies from some nearby stores for y’all. So cute.

Once everyone is actually fighting, this boy WILL NOT STOP BEING A HUMAN (demon?) SHIELD FOR YOU. LIKE NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU TELL HIM IT’S FINE, YOU’RE FINE, HE WILL NOT STOP.

“Babycakes, it’s okay. It’s water. It can’t hurt me.” “But I love you. I want you safe.” O H. O K A Y.

Someone call a doctor Beel just shot MC through the heart!!! He’s so genuine you just bright red and kiss his cheek because he deserve it.

“Well, I guess that’s settled then, huh?” He gives you a big Beel smile and nods, ruffling your hair affectionately.

Y’all get sprayed with water A LOT because your hungry boy is very big and hard to hide. Er, I should say HE gets sprayed a lot because he is a fantastic meat shield and you’re practically dry by the time the fight is over. He, on the other hand, is soaked to the bone.

He still insists on drying you off with a towel, though. The two of you dry each other off back in the twins’ room while Belphie dozes nearby in his bed.

You’re in the middle of drying his shoulders when he just starts talking. “That was really fun, MC. I’m really grateful for you. Ever since you’ve been here, things are always more fun. And you bring all my brother together. Thank you.” 

You damn near burst into tears!!! Ahhhh!!! You sniffle and jump into his nap, wrapping your arms around him. “But MC, I’m still wet.” “I don’t care!! I’m giving you snuggles!!”

Belphegor:

Literally does not give a single fuck about a water fight until he realizes it lets him throw shit at Lucifer with absolutely zero consequences. Then he is all in.

Beel doesn’t even have to carry him around during the fight! Once he is outside and realizes all the shenanigans he can pull, he is perfectly content to grab you by the hand and be the one dragging you around, for once!

You two will probably team up with Satan and Beel at various points. Beel because he’s Beel, and Satan because he and Belphie absolutely set water balloon filled booby traps for Lucifer.

That’s his preferred strategy: set up a trap and wait in the bushes, watching for the target to approach.

He’s definitely the type to yell “Every man for himself!” if someone catches you guys hiding. Unlike his twin, he lets you get totally soaked while he runs away laughing. Dickweed.

You guys have a lot of fun, though!! Seeing Belphie excited is always a treat for you. And, though he doesn’t say anything about it, Belphie also thinks it’s a treat whenever you scheme with him. You don’t join in on his mischief often, so he always cherishes the times you do.

Eventually, after soaking Lucifer thoroughly, Belphie eventually gets a bit tired. You, however, want to keep the fun going. So, just as he begins to dose off in your hiding spot...you spray him. Right in the face. 

He opens his eyes and sees you raising an eyebrow at him challengingly, giggling to yourself. He growls playfully and grabs his own water gun, quickly giving chase as you bolt. 

Being a demon, he’s much quicker than you. But he lets you think you can escape for a few minutes before catching up to you and wrapping his arms around you from behind. 

As you squirm and laugh in his embrace, he feels thankful he joined in on the fight, even if he was hesitant at first. After all, it led to this moment, where he can turn you around in his arms and give you a nice kiss as you melt against his chest.