#if I were to do a sequel (not) it would be about Val trying to offer an intervention to get Phantom to confess so he could move on

[half-deadmagicperson]

Blame Part 2

Behold a random self indulgent sequel to my DannyMay Day 25!

Art by the amazing @duchi-nesten

This was made partially cause of Pham shenanigans, but also cause of @duchi-nesten giving me GrayGhost brain rot and also for agreeing to draw any smooches we write sooooo

Words: 737

Pairings: Danny Fenton-Phantom/ Valerie Gray

Warnings: none unless you don't like kissing

"Why do they always blame me?"

   The words through Val for a loop. Here was the normally goofy, charismatic, and sometimes annoying ghost boy sobbing. She never knew how much the bad press or the Fentons' words got to him. 

   His ghostly sobs echoed into the night, but to Valerie at that moment they sounded almost human. Phantom's face was tinted green and raw from his tears. He must've been crying for a while then.

   At that moment the Huntress sighed and sat herself down next to him. Hesitantly, she pulled him into a hug. Even through her suit, he felt cold to the touch.

   "Are you okay?" She asked simply. Her words only caused Phantom to choke up more. He struggled to try to bring words to his mouth before finally slowing his breath.

   "I'm a monster, Val," the words came out as barely a whisper. If this were a few months ago, Valerie would have wholeheartedly agreed. But now, here she was sitting on a roof comforting her former enemy.

   "Phantom, you aren't a monster-"

   "But I am. It's my fault Amity's in this mess!" He cried.

   "It's not your fault that most of the ghosts have been evil. That's their fault. They chose to be evil."

   "It's my fault there's property damage! People got hurt, Val. I might not be evil, but I'm responsible. Plus the Fentons would say different."

   "It's not your fault they're here. It's not like you have control over the portal!" Valerie countered. Phantom's expression sobered.

   "But it is my fault. I turned the portal on." 

   Valerie looked at him in mild shock. What did he mean by that? There wasn't a way to turn the portal on from the GZ right? Phantom turned his gaze back to the ground and pulled away.

   "It was before freshman year. My- er the Fentons had just finished the portal. I took my friends to show them the lab, and Sam wanted a picture. We were stupid. Stupid teenagers left unsupervised. I put my HAZMAT on while Sam grabbed her camera."

    Valerie stared at him. No he couldn't be. Similar hair style. Similar face. No, that's impossible.

   "I went inside. I tripped over a stupid wire. I died. Turns out the 'on' button is on the inside."

   A gasp escaped the Huntress. Phantom died in the portal. Danny had a lab accident before the beginning of freshman year. Phantom's cousin Dani was a halfa. Why couldn't Danny be? Millions of thoughts and words flowed through her head, the main one being.

   "I could've hurt you!" Valerie's eyes started to grow wet, "I could've killed you so many times."

   Phantom, no, Danny looked at her in confusion. Val's tears turned into a fit of laughter.

   "What's so funny?"

   "It's..just…so ironic!"

   "What's ironic?" The clueless boy responded.

   "That I've been shooting at you for like a year and been crushing on you at the same time," her laughter consumed her while Danny processed what she just said.

   "You…liked me?"

    "Um, yeah? I mean we did date for a bit!"

    "Ummm I think you're confusing me for that Danny Fenton kid. Also didn't you break up with him?"

    "Yeah I did, to protect him from you!" Valerie's smile grew brighter.

    "So you still like m-Fenton?"

    "Of course I still like you!"

    "Um, that's good to hear. I think FENTON really likes you as well. But, uh, I think you're wrong about me being him. Cause why would the son of ghost hunters be a ghost. Haha…"

   "Ya know I've had a lot of opinions about you Ghost Boy, most of which have been incorrect," she places a hand on his cheek, wiping his tear away, "but I think for once, I've got the right one."

    Valerie leaned in closer to Danny. His toxic green eyes gazed into her hazel ones as he moved to meet her. Their lips joined in a union of a year of longing. A cool feeling spread through Valerie, tears streaming down her cheeks. A bright light flashed and the cold turned into heat. Once their breath ran out, the pair temporarily split. Valerie gazed down into the beautiful blue eyes of one Danny Fenton. Yeah, this was right.

   The two spent the rest of their patrol time snuggling on the roof and taking in the view.

"Ya know it's kinda funny how you broke up with me to protect me from me!"

[toa-arania]

Valerie Wester's Adventures In Necromancy

She's back, and she's been forced to take a small step of character development (sort of)

For those of you who haven't seen my posts about her before, Valerie Wester is a character of mine that I play in a game called Monsterhearts. I've made many fun posts about her before, such as attempts at revenge, the Psychic Doublebird Reacharound, the Birth of Claudius (who will be getting another post eventually), and that fucking Clown. She is the only one of my ocs to inspire a truly feral energy in me. I adore her with my entire ass. My beloved hot mess express.

This story is sort of a sequel to the PDR, in that it relates to something we call the Murder Basement, a location found underneath the school's library by resident ghost, Mei. No one knew about this location previously, but due to some cryptic messages and the fact that padlocks don't stop ghosts, we were able to get in and learn that someone down here has been investigating a series of muders. Val has of course been intrigued by this, as someone with a pathological need to know things, and has been trying to figure out what its deal is.

One of Val's "friends" is Darcy, who used to have a connection to something called the Dark Power. During the Psychic Doublebird Reacharound, we learnt that the Murder Basement is absolutely linked somehow to the Dark Power. That's why they're all blue. It is also why Darcy was not allowed in the Murder Basement. This is going to be a very blue post. One of the first things we learnt about the Murder Basement is that the person who was investigating things there was Darcy's Dead Sister (Mallory). We know this because she was investigating Something before her death, and because Darcy was able to identify wrappers from her favourite snacks in pictures that Mei took for her. Those of you who know about Val's antics may be able to guess the general direction this is about to go.

After a little while of being distracted, we were able to return our attention to the Murder Basement, and Val had an idea: since Darcy's Dead Sister is - well, Dead - she can't be properly contacted with the spell Watching (a scrying spell). Therefore, perhaps attempting to use it via one of Mallory's snack wrappers will instead show a different kind of psychic impression, perhaps a memory to do with this place. The logic was a little shaky, but it could work. Val collected some of the wrappers for use, and attempted the spell. She got a psychic impression of the way Mallory became Darcy's Dead Sister. However, Val's magic can be a little screwy. Sometimes (often) the spells go a little bit wild, and there are weird side effects.

Darcy was, at this moment, in a car with some other people: Levi (Werewolf), Mei (Ghost), and Aluber (Clown). Now an important thing to note about Darcy is that her soul is missing, due to fuckery with the Dark Power. Therefore, there was a vacancy. One that was filled when, in her attempt to contact Darcy's Dead Sister, Val accidentally pulled her soul to earth, where it magnetised into the vessel that held the most personal significance to it: Darcy. For abour an hour, Mallory was possessing Darcy, and incredibly confused by this. After a brief discussion Mallory was very clear: Do Not Allow Darcy Into The Murder Basement. Darcy was rather upset to hear this.

Now at this point, Val had no idea that this had happened. She had just assumed that her spell worked as intended but she didn't get the event she wanted, so she gathered up the remaining snack wrappers and left. It was only later that Val learnt Darcy had been possessed, and she put together pretty quickly that she'd done that. A sane person would say that happened and apologise profusely. A sane person probably wouldn't have tried this on their own without telling anyone in the first place. Val is not a sane person. And now she knew that she could pull a departed soul into a vessel.

She did a little research, and had a go at a seance to see if she could contact Mallory. It didn't work, and she couldn't tell why. She tried again. It didn't work. Next theory: she needs something of emotional significance to Mallory. Let's bring Darcy into the seance. This is when Darcy (and the others iirc) learnt that Val was the one that caused Mallory to possess her, and not even because Val intentionally said anything - she just let it slip by accident when trying to explain something. Darcy was understandably furious, but was so compelled by being allowed to go into the Murder Basement for this and the possibility of seeing her sister that she put that aside.

It still didn't work, and we have no idea why. Originally, I was going to end this post with some of Val's ideas for things to try next. However, there has been a different development. Because of Other Fuckery, Val and of all people Aluber ended up having a conversation where Val tried to explain herself, utterly convinced that she was doing the objectively correct thing, even admitting that the whole point of it was so that Darcy and Mallory could talk (and casually leaving out that if she can interrogate Mallory about the Murder Basement then that's a great bonus). Somehow, Aluber managed to convince her to apologise to Darcy.

Now I'd like to be clear: Aluber thinks he convinced Val to genuinely apologise. Mei thinks he convinced her to genuinely apologise (and has video evidence of Val apologising because it's so monumental). What he actually convinced her, and what I think Darcy suspects he convinced her, is that an apology will get Darcy to be way more cooperative with things in future. So she made Val promise (in front of Aluber, a fae who can mystically bind promises) not to try more of this without her permission. Val tried to wriggle out of it but Darcy's player is a law student so I knew there was no way I was loopholing myself.

Val's take-away from this is of course "I can try whatever the hell I want so long as I can convince Darcy it's a good idea". (With a side of "never admit anything again because these idiots keep trying to restrict what I can do"). Whether she'll get the chance to try and drag the soul into another vessel I do not yet know, because with this restriction in place, Darcy's Dead Sister is no longer the priority, and the Murder Basement won't be until Mei gets more notes. Right now her priority is Levi (trying to get him un-possessed and maybe a little bit trying to get dicked down) but that's a story for another time.

[weclassybouquetfun]

THE FLASH has arrived after being a tad delayed.

But what's 5 years and 3 months amongst friends.

Congrats to Andrés "Andy" Muschietti

for getting this film across the finishing line. A s though there's reportedly a sequel script in play and Muschietti said that he would dream of replacing Ezra Miller in a subsequent film his assurance may be moot as THE FLASH signals the end of the DCEU while BLUE BEETLE will usher in the DC Universe under James Gunn.

But good news for Muschietti; he had been tapped to direct BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD.

No, not this cartoon beauty

The live-action adaptation of the Grant Morrison run.

For me, THE FLASH is the perfect swan song for the DCEU. Go out in style, Barry!

SPOILERS FOR THE FLASH (despite everyone and their grandmas posting spoilers all across social media to either trash the F/X or to spite an Ezra Miller fronted project). Yes, I have made hating spoilers a large part of my personality.

THE GOOD

-Ezra Miller was a delight. I loved the dual iterations of Barry. As current day Bruce says their scars (maybe he said traumas) are what made them. Of course a Barry who was raised by his parents ends up with a different personality than a Barry who was scarred by his mother's murder and father's incarceration. He had to grow up fast yet remained socially stunted as he was consumed with getting justice for his father. I think it would get tiresome real quick if the film were just quirky/awkward Barry. We got grounded Barry and that other side.

-It was a nice touch when he does the messaging to the nurse that she should seek professional help after such a jarring event but the JL themselves haven't figured that out for themselves yet.

-I don't believe I have ever read a Flash standalone so maybe all of these themes were covered in his issues but there were certainly strains of Booster Gold Vol. 2 and Flashpoint in this. Alt!Barry repeatedly turning back time to try to save Supergirl and Batman and failing was exactly like Booster Gold trying to save Barbara Gordon from being shot and paralyzed by the Joker. Each time she would still get shot and Booster himself would be pulverized by the Joker Gang until Rip Hunter stopped him and let him know that event was a fixed point that couldn't be changed. It had to happen.

And Flashpoint where Barry wakes up to a new universe and tries to get back to the standard timeline but instead ends up and remains in a new universe similar but different from his own.

Which leads to -

-Batmans!!! I still don't know what makes a good Batman, but I do know what makes a good Bruce Wayne and Val Kilmer and Ben Affleck is that for me so I delighted in seeing him again. So fantastic that all these years later Michael Keaton gets his swan song.

As Barry tells Bruce things change across multiverses but there are constants such as Bruce having a Alfred as it is fated. But there is also, seemingly, the constant that Bruce is defined by being Batman. In THE DARK KNIGHT RISES he doesn't return to Bruce Wayne but instead ducks out of society until Gotham is truly threatened and only bows out when he is assured that Gotham is in good hands. In THE FLASH Bruce cleans up Gotham and retreats to a hermetic existence until Barry coaxes him out. He dies happily in battle as Batman, a better death than just dying as the pedestrian Bruce Wayne.

And as I love reaching back to the past and closing circles seeing George Clooney as Bruce was amazing.

Talk about reaching back-

-I LOVED THE REIMAGING OF CHRISTOPHER REEVES' SUPERMAN! I bow down to poorly rendered CGI G.O.A.T Superman.

This is the man who said, "I think I was the right actor for the part at the time I played it, but I think the role is larger than any particular actor and should be reinterpreted from generation to generation."

How fitting that so many reinterpretations were presented, including the payoff of the Eric Stoltz BACK TO THE FUTURE jokes.

Just as Stoltz was the Marty McFly that never really was, we got Nic Cage's near Superman reference!!

He exists in the multiverse!

and yeah, we saw other Flashes but who cares when there is Supermen...and Helen Slater's Supergirl!

Another trip through the multiverse was done courtesy of TITANS where Gar

-The humour wasn't overkill. Loved how they did the slow reveal of Bruce being tied to the Lasso of Truth. It seemed OOC for him to be bashful around Diana but I went with it, but no need; he was just lassoed. I hope people caught him chastising himself for not donating his wealth to help the poor.

-Loved Sasha Calle's Kara. Would have loved to see more of her.

-Barry's stakes only work if the audience cares and how much did I love Maribel Verdú as Nora Allen. It would not have worked if we couldn't feel the depth of Barry's loss. Verdú was so loving and vibrant that my heart ached that Barry couldn't save her.

Verdú, Temeura Morrison (who appears), Jesse L. Martin of TV's THE FLASH and these hotties are the best parents in the DCEU.

-Nice seeing Muschietti's pal and MAMA lead Nikolaj Coster-Waldau play a rando who has his pizza snagged by Barry and Muschietti himself playing a man who gets his hot dog snatched by Barry.

-Speaking of dogs that end credits with the therapy dog in free fall was a perfect clincher to the prior mad scene with the babies in the forefront. And for those bashing the egregiously fake babies in that scene I think it would have created anxiety for plenty of people if they CGI'd actual babies. The comedic element of such lunacy works because they're so fake looking.

THE BAD

-Kiersey Clemons getting short-shrift.

If there isn't a sequel it's very disappointing how little she has to do. I would have loved to see their friendship flourish.

Also, does this film retcon the deleted scene which was reinstated in the Snyder cut of JUSTICE LEAGUE?

Seemingly, no as she says she feels like she has seen Barry lately and he cagily denies it, but it's not as if Iris had a head injury or was knocked out during that scene. How can you not remember someone saving your life? Unless the implication is that Barry was moving so fast that she only got a glimpse of him, which...doubtful.

-Which brings me to my second issue..

THE REST

-The issue with the Flash as a standalone is that is really serves to showcase Batman and to a lesser extent Supergirl. They Captain America: Civil War'red the film!

But maybe that's just because as a character Barry isn't that compelling. His #1 enemy is just a reverse of himself. Barry is a hero but also an unwitting agent of chaos as his defining trait is not the speed force but upending the universe in a quest to save his mother,

so maybe there isn't enough meat on the bone so to speak character-wise to delve deeper but if they could do it with Aquaman then Barry deserved a deeper exploration.

-I don't think we needed the angle that Barry was at the scene of Zod's attack and he has kicks himself over not being able to save the kid's dad. He has enough of a complex.

-This could very well be because I have an unreasonable dislike of Ron Livingston but what a downgrade from Billy Crudup (who was too busy with AppleTV+'s THE MORNING SHOW to return).

Crudup's scenes in JL were infinitely more effective than anything Livingston eked out in this.

Just as Crudup had a minor role in JUSTICE LEAGUE, but made a big impression, Luke Brandon Field appeared in one ep of AMC+'s wonderful INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE but I clocked him immediately in his small role as a criminal Bruce takes down.

[destinyc1020]

No no Im not trying to say the rumours are true, I just having fun b/c I just think austin would actually be perfect for the role, if those rumours amount to nothing or if they were made up itsbwhatever not the end of the world, I just can actually picture austin play a younger val kilmer, I think he could deliver.

Oh okay, I see what you're saying lol 😅

But yea, I think Austin could deliver as well. I don't know what Val Kilmer's character is like in the film, but I wouldn't mind seeing him cast in Val's role. Austin can be a chameleon.

I like Adam Driver, he's a good actor too. So, if he and Austin were to be put in the same film together, I'd be SAT lol 😅

Looks like I'm def going to have to check out "Heat"! Especially since so many people say that they like it. I kind of worry about remakes/sequels though, because sometimes when an original film is SO good and iconic, the more modern version just can't do the older film justice. 🥴

Maybe since this is supposed to be a prequel (right?) they won't run into that problem. But we'll see.... I just feel like fans of the original are gonna be disappointed.

[eonweheraldodemanwe]

So I'm trying to remain positive about the Jon sequel, so I gotta know. If you could write it how would it go? would you go for the wildling val story? Would you work more political intrigued to bring the pack together? What's the new fantasy element since the night king is dead and dragons and ghost kind of just disappeared?

Since they butchered Jon since the knee bending I would go for a discovering journey of what happened to the man who mercy killed Mance so he didn't suffer burning to dead. The man who exiled Melisandre for burning Shireen. The one who told Daenerys that burning castles and cities made her the same shit as everyone else. How he went from that man to one who made excuses for Daenerys after burning KL and even asked himaelf if he did the right thing. The classic tale of the solitary character who must find himself again.

But the political can still be present. Mance had a host of 100000 free folk. See how many survived. Were do they go from there. What is Sansa doing in a wartorn North where most men died in the wars?

The fantasy element? I would go for another false spring like the one before Robert's Rebellion and winter coming back to ravage Westeros. The prologue campaign of Total War Warhammer 3 was so ASOIAF.

Or maybe a journey to the lands of allways winter where the true reason for the erratic seasons lies. It would do for a journey typical of From Software Games.

[gilbirda]

I posted 16,670 times in 2022

That's 6,991 more posts than 2021!

372 posts created (2%)

16,298 posts reblogged (98%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@mekakido

@deathcomes4u

@high-pot-in-noose

@hopefulbandittrashsoul

@sometimes-me

I tagged 2,530 of my posts in 2022

#danny phantom - 192 posts

#gil answers - 162 posts

#dp x dc - 144 posts

#dpxdc - 122 posts

#anger management ship - 102 posts

#batman dc - 90 posts

#jazz/jason - 78 posts

#jazz x jason - 71 posts

#jason todd - 69 posts

#dc x dp - 69 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#add spain and that time we had 4 presidents in 4 month and some guy had to storm the congress riding a horse and declare some random dude k

I sent 1 gift in 2022

My Top Posts in 2022:

(in a read more bcs is long)

#5

Good Cop! Jason and Bad Cop! Jazz would be super hilarious 😂 Imagine Red Hood just pointing a gun at a criminal and being like, "Look, either you face my bullet or you talk your feelings out, what'll it be?"

And the criminal just scoffs, "How about we talk about my feelings?"

"Alright."

And then, this sweet young lady walks in, with a sweet smile, and says, "Now let's talk about your mommy issues."

"I'd rather face the bullet, ma'am."

AKWJDJCJFJDJJSJDJDJFJ

LMAO THIS WOULD BE THE FUNNIEST THING.

Honestly, power couple. One can make you cry and scream and regret everything.... and the other can do that as well but with a sweet smile and kind words.

Weaponized psychology.

But not like Spectra - nah, she's not into misery or causing problems. She just knows that some people would prefer death before facing their own issues.

I love this so much.

"I'd rather face the bullet, ma'am."

This will live rent free in my head.

794 notes - Posted August 7, 2022

#4

Mondays, am I right?

Or Danny is an Arkham Security Guard, from this post

Forgot to link some AMAZING art for this idea. Inspired the 'sneakers' part.

SOME FANART FOR MY FIC

[Read on AO3][Read on FF.net]

Sequel - Employee of the month >>

The first thing Danny said when Jazz expressed her interest in interning at Arkham was:

“Are you out of your goddamn mind?”

To which she answered:

“It is said that you have to be a bit crazy to work in Arkham, soooo…”

Danny had to agree that her response was quick and true, but still he didn’t like her going to that madhouse and probably die because, I dunno, Joker woke up wrong or she tried to psychoanalyze the Riddler. He said this to her through the phone, hoping that she could imagine him pacing up and down the apartment.

“The security there is top notch, Danny, and the bat-fam is always one call away.”

“You know as well as I do that’s bullshit. The guards are human, some of those crazies are not.”

“That term is very harmful, Daniel,” she used her mom voice.

“Sorry. But you see what I mean, right? If anything happens I won’t be there to save you. Not in time, at least.” He could try and measure how long it would take to fly from his apartment to Arkham, just in case.

There was a long silence. He heard his sister breathe in, breathe out, like she was mentally preparing herself to say something.

“I… I heard, from other interns I talked to, that guard positions are always open. And that it’s super easy to get in.”

“Jazz. Are you-”

“Don’t. I know you. Don’t think I’ll ever forget the ‘visits’ when I started college.”

Danny looked down and stopped pacing. Maybe he was a bit overprotective of his sister. Maybe he freaked out for weeks after she moved to her dorm, complaining about how long it took him to fly there. 

He regretted nothing.

“Gotham is too far from Amity. I prefer cutting the chase and having you with me in Arkham than dealing with a helicopter little brother on the reg.”

He swallowed the knot in his throat. “Is this your sisterly way of telling me that I should get a job?”

“I gave up after you were fired from the Nasty Burger. Nasty Burger, Danny! Not even Val was fired, and she had another job and the Red Huntress business!”

“I know…”

Jazz sighed. “I’m going to nap a bit and then finish packing things up here. I’ll text you the site where you can apply for the guard job.”

“Thanks, Jazzy.”

“Don’t call me that. Love you.”

“Love you.”

***

See the full post

813 notes - Posted February 1, 2022

#3

Time for some BatPham and DPxDC fic recs

I got a comment asking for some recs and I thought it'll be easier to have a masterlist or something in my tumblr and link that

SOOOOO I asked the BatPham server for recs and I'll just slap them here and add some that come to my mind in no particular order because it's 4:20 am (blaze it)(not really, kids, dont smoke) and ill comment some ive read personally

cheers!!!!

Now with Part 2!

Just the Typical Weirdness by Pandemi

The Phantom and the Knight by savya398

The Auction by Lalenja (young justice crossover)

30 Days of Kidnappings by Hyperintrovert

Types of Family by NerdofSpades

Unearthed, Reborn by QueenOfTheQuill

Pearls and Pomegranates by Evandarya (BrainDead (TimxDanny) inspired in Hades&Persephone)

The Fantabulous Emancipation of Danny Fenton by HistoricallyInnacurate

It Matters to Have this Ghost Clan Near (This Family I Never Knew) by SagaDuWyrm

The Captain and the King by Sivan5733 (A series featuring Captain Marvel AND John Constantine)

Change in Management by voidwriting (Love me some Sentient Gotham, I actually have to catch up with this gem of a fic) - with fanart!

Beauty lays behind the hills by Library_of_Cronos

moon's haunted by heybabybird (funny)

Speed Dial by apotheosis_avaritia (funny but short :( I want more)

Concession to Realism by wildimaginingsofhalfbakedideas (danny yeeted to WFA universe. Very cute)

Ghosts Don't go to High School by Evandarya (BrainDead cuteness tbh i love this one)

close enough to be whole again by hailsatanacab (twins Danny and Damian. ANGST. Good shit right here)

Green skies by siren_of_the_ocean

It's Hard to Make Friends When You're Half in the Grave by SagaDuWyrm

Leap Before You Think by TourettesDog

overbearing obsession by Ocearna (good shit right here, Ocearna's writing..... good)

Shrodinger’s Bat by Michaelisunderrated (angst! I have to catch up but it's really good as far as I read!!!)

Afterimage by TorScrawls (THE DESCRIPTIONS HERE! ELDRITCH DANNO..... GOOD)

Robin's Egg by Calix (really good!!!!! Damian is so serious and dangerous and will protect Danny like the "I only had X for a day but I would kill..." meme)

Raising Phantom by Imp_y (good shit!!!! de-aged Danny! Some Anger Management (JazzxJason) hints, batfam dynamics!!!)

See the full post

828 notes - Posted September 18, 2022

#2

Jason headcanon for y'alls consideration:

Jason needs glasses to read.

The boy must have read books in conditions that aren't optimal for reading. Since he was a kid.

Sure, the Pit could heal it all, but he was back it with his old habits after coming back to life, like hiding in dark corners to read. Places where no one would find him and he wouldn't be interrupted.

Sure, he could bring a lamp, but he was perfectly fine reading with whatever little light he got, why bother?

Fast forward some years, he notices that words get blurry and he has to squint more and more.

Roy mocks him. He looks like an old lady. Like a dad reading the newspaper.

He gets sent memes about old people facing small screens and modern technology

(Yes I'm pushing the Old Man Jason agenda as well, as seen in PandaRedd's skits.)

The thing is

He needs glasses to read.

Artists of Tumblr, please, I beg you. Jason with glasses.

1,372 notes - Posted October 20, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

An DC × DP AU wherein the whole of the Batclan is out of Gotham leaving Alfred with an empty mansion while the worst blizzard in decades in smothering out all crime in Gotham and Victor Fries is on a sort of parole with the League to conduct investigations on a Sub-Zero planet at the behest of the locals.

All is quiet until a silent alarm goes off and informs Alfred that one of the patio doors had been opened from the outside despite being locked, Alfred makes his way to the camera room to gaze upon the possible thief if not thieves. Instead he is greeted by a group of six poorly clad teens with two of them showing early signs of frostbite while another looks as if they are on the verge of going into hypothermia. Alfred realizes that the break in was to find shelter rather than ill intent, furthermore after listening in on the teens he is able to detect an Illinois accent among the group and mentions of a "Guys in White" as well as hearing the young woman who could be a twin of a younger Miss Gordon mentioning "waiting out the blizzard and finding Batman".

Rather than waiting or doing what anyone else in his position would do by calling upon Gotham's Finest to removing the group, Alfred maeldebhisvway to the kitchen to whip up a batch of his beloved Hot Cocoa and made his way to the teens unconcerned for his safety as none of the six seemed particularly dangerous especially the three who appeared to be in the most dire of conditions.

An AU in which Six Teens (Danny, Jazz, Sam, Tucker, Valerie, and Dani) from Amity Park are on the run from the Ghost Investigation Ward and they break into Wayne Manor in search of Safety. An Alfred centric idea as the Batclan are all elsewhere and the blizzard making moving about Gotham nearly impossible, with the GIW in search of the Six.

You know what? We need more Alfred-centric fics. Alfred is the best and is the original adopter of the Wayne clan.

I mean he looked at the wet pathetic cat that was Bruce and said "this one, this is my son now".

I can imagine he notices that the kids aren't normal kids... skittish, won't let him touch them, one looks pale but swears he isn't injured, Barbara's doppelgänger is the mom of the group despite not being much older...

He sends a text to Bruce and the others, but messages are not going through with the blizzard. He considers using the Watchtower to pass on the message, but it's not an emergency, is just a hunch.

He makes the decision, then. A secret for a secret - he works for Batman and will ask him the favor to help.

They don't buy it until Alfred proves it, somehow. And then-

Then the kids start talking. Alfred can see that they don't want to reveal a lot, that they don't want to worry him or speak too much without Batman here or are used to not speaking at all.

"Batman has the no kill rule," Alfred says after he got a clearer picture of their situation, "but I don't."

I'd love to read this. Right now I don't have the spoons, so if anybody can and want to, this is up for adoption!!!

(ha!)

1,622 notes - Posted August 8, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[theorderofthetriad]

on the subject of thor 4 with some spoilers and a lot of me just being hopelessly gay

1 starlord and thor definitely made out at some point and you can't convince me that thor didn't leave specifically because he was catching feelings for starlord, and was pulling away while secretly hoping that starlord would reach out to him and ask him to stay. after i'm done with this i'm opening an ao3 tab and i am looking up fics

2 partway through the movie (after the sink scene) i found myself asking "this isn't going to end up with a poly thor/jane/val relationship because i know the world isn't ready for that but by god do i fucking want it." i will also be opening an ao3 for this as soon as i am done writing this post

3 DWAYNE!!!!!!!!! i was legit crying in the theatre at that point and i literally choked out a combination between a sob and a laugh

4 oh my fUCKING GOD THE PLAY!!! I almost cried laughing when Melissa McCarthy popped through the "portal" as hela.

5 i guess people are mad about how they introduced Axl by having Thor deadname him, and like trying to cancel Taika over it. but my trans ass was just fucking hyped to have a transmasc character like me on screen! also of COURSE thor is a dumbass who would deadname someone because he didn't know what the fuck was going on, someone had to pull him aside after the movie and explain it to him i just know it.

6 when the movie releases to streaming i am going to find the clip of korg narrating about loki dying and i am going to watch it on repeat until my eyes rot

7 the after credits scene that is setting up a sequel was great until they revealed Hercules and it's that fucking guy i keep seeing in gifsets of that soccer show (it is soccer right?? i'm pretty sure it's soccer) that seems like he's in a three way relationship with another soccer dude and their mutual girlfriend. I may have laughed.

8 i remember shortly after the avengers movie when there were apparently talks by marvel to replace Chris Hemsworth, they had apparently seen all the actors but RDJ as as replaceable as Edward Norton was. But today he's in the credits as an executive producer on thor 4. i'm glad

9 STOP KILLING THE PEOPLE THOR LOVES!!! like he' got a daughter and I'm happy for him to have someone to love in his life again but i am so sick of pretty much all the other people he loves dying. I was watching Jane dye in his arms like "NOOOOOOOO" because i realized just how horrible this is for thor to be going through. if you're of adult age and thor cares about you you are at risk of dying and that's not cool.

10 jane was going through chemo, she shoulda been bald whenever she wasn't thor and frankly i'm bothered she wasn't

11 i'm going through the tag and someone got a close up of one of thor's back tattoos that's a list of people he's lost and there is literally a question mark after the name loki and i am crying all over again. he's never going to be sure loki is truly gone because he saw loki die and return two times. thor 5 PLEASE bring loki back, not even because i love loki, because i think thor needs his brother.

12 seeing "THOR WILL RETURN" at the end of the movie gave me big marvel phase 1 vibes. miss that

[redrobin-detective]

handknit sweater, never worn

How did Valerie end up in these kinds of situations? Of course there had to be a large scale ghost attack at her school. Val had gotten rid of most of the ghosts, weak mindless things when part of the auditorium collapsed, trapping her inside. Normally she’d blast her way out but the old building was creaking ominously from who know how many fights. Her rockets might collapse the whole south side of the school, meaning she was stuck here while the Fentons cleaned up the rest of the small fry. And to make matters worse, Danny’s dad had had the brilliant idea to put up a portable ghost shield around parts of the school to contain the ghosts. Meaning Phantom and the spooky vampire ghost were stuck with her too.

“Ugh this sucks,” Phantom whined, leaning petulantly against the ghost shield. His arms were crossed and his eyes lidded with annoyance, he almost could have passed for a normal, annoyed high schooler if you ignored his unnatural glow. “They really increased the power on these shields, I hope they’re okay out there by themselves. I think most of the students were evacuated already.” He glanced subtlety over at her which only increased her irritation. It was so aggravating he knew everything about her while she knew nothing about him.

“Madeline’s handiwork no doubt,” The vampire guy, Plasmius, commented flippantly. “I don’t believe Jack could assemble a sandwich without her assistance.” Phantom bristled a bit at the comment but just turned to glare at empty air. While she’d once mistaken them for friends, it was clear there was serious bad blood between Plasmius and Phantom. 

“What are you even doing here, Plasmius?” Phantom hissed, crossing his arms closer to his chest in aggravation. “I’ve told you a million times to stay out of Amity.”

“Or you’ll do what, dear boy?” Plasmius grinned, flashing his fangs, like Phantom had told a particularly funny joke. Val privately considered the ghost boy to be one of the strongest ghosts she’d ever fought so if this guy was treating him like an annoying fly... Valerie kept her weapons up just in case but otherwise stayed away from the two volatile ghosts. She could take them down if she had to but there might be collateral. Right, that’s what she was going to go with.

“Actually,” Plasmius said, his cruel red eyes twinkling with smug glee. “I popped into town to check in on some of my old college friends. See what they’d been up to while I’d been busy with my various projects.”

Phantom kept his casual posture but went rigid, he did a quick glance over at her before moving back over to the ghost. “Now? You’re doing this now?”

“It’s always a good time to hurt you and besides,” another throaty chuckle, “I thought Ms. Grey might be interested.” Ok, was there any ghost that didn’t know her identity?

“Anyway, the wife was out but I found my fat, stupid old friend,” another twitch from Phantom, “back at his old favorite past time of knitting. It looked like he was making a sweater.”

“You’re a real bastard, you know that?” Phantom hissed, his form looking more and more defensive by the minute. Valerie had no idea what they were talking about but it clearly was upsetting the Ghost Kid. Usually she’d be pleased but it was kind of uncomfortable to watch.

“Hmm,” the vampire ghost hummed, still radiating cruel satisfaction. “I’m sure you’ve seen it too considering how often you’re in that house. He was working so hard on it, so furiously. No doubt trying to get it done in time for Christmas. A beautiful, handmade sweater for his wayward son who’s never going to get the chance to wear it.”

Oh shit, Plasmius was talking about Phantom’s dad. She’d assumed the beef between them started once they’d become ghosts but clearly there was history that extended to when they’d both been alive. Imagining Phantom alive, with parents... it was too weird.

“Shut up, I’m going to wear the sweater,” Phantom muttered weakly, curling in on himself. He’d scooted as far away from Plasmius as he could get. 

“Oh but he’s not making it for you, Danny Phantom,” Plasmius lilted with a smirk causing Phantom to wince. “He’s making it for his normal, human son who he doesn’t even have the brains to realize doesn’t exist anymore. Would he bother to spend so much time and energy on a sweater that could only be worn by a ghost? To see proof of his own failure as a father?”

“Hey, it was my fault,” Phantom defended, finally snapping out of his sad and guilty funk. He balled his fists and glared at Plasmius with all he had. “I don’t blame them for what happened, I love them and they love me and nothing you say will ever change that!”

“Then why don’t you tell them, Daniel,” Plasmius asked with a raised eyebrow. “If you’re so confident in their love, then tell them. Tell them the sweater is pointless because you thrive in the cold. Tell them that their mistakes and negligence led to you becoming an unnatural abomination not fit to exist in either world.”

“Only-” Phantom’s voice caught and he cleared his throat and tried again. “Only if you tell them first. You may have been their friend at one point a long time ago but all you’ve done since then is hurt people, hurt me. For all their flaws, I don’t think they’ll ever forgive you for that.”

“Touché, son,” Plasmius scoffed. “Now then, I’m afraid our discussion will have to continue another time. I believe the power on the ghosts shield should be fading right about...” a low whine and the green wall surrounding them disappeared. “Ta ta for now you petulant child. Ms. Grey, a pleasure as always. Be careful with this one, he’s an experienced cheat and a liar.” With those parting words, Plasmius disappeared in a swirl of pink.

Valerie thought Phantom would leave too but instead he let out a long breath and ran his gloved fingers through his hair. After a moment he straightened himself up and looked as cool and confident as he ever did. 

“The Fentons have probably rounded up the rest of the ghost but we might as well check, you check by the cafeteria and I’ll go through the classrooms.”

“Why?” Valerie found herself asking, not sure what she meant. Why did Phantom die? Why was he so afraid to let his apparently still living parents know what happened? Why did he try so hard to help people when everyone, including her, was so against him?

“It’s the right thing I guess,” Phantom shrugged, rubbing at the back of his neck. “My uh my parents raised me that way and if it lost that after everything, well, then the person I was before really will be gone.” He floated over to her, gently phasing them both through the wreckage connecting them to the rest of the school and, for a second Valerie saw a scared, human kid in over his head. Then the illusion was gone and it was just Phantom, annoying as always.

“Check the classrooms and if there’s no ghosts then I’m gunning for you,” Val said instead, activating her hoverboard and speeding off before he could answer. She readied her weapons and didn’t think of childless parents living in ignorance of what they’d lost or lonely sons who were too afraid to ask if their parents would love them even as a monster. 

She just wanted to get the ghost scum out of her school and move on with her life. But still, she couldn’t help but think that, come Christmas time, she’d find Phantom in a handknit sweater intended to ward off a chill he could not longer feel. 

[thesmokingguns]

Mine Part 2

Pairing: Nikki Sixx x Reader

Request:”So i read the nikki sixx one 'mine' and i am absolute sucker for those kinds of stories and i was wondering if you could write a sequel with reader actually having the twins and how he reacts to labour and their birth etc. “

Word Count : 1247

A/N: This very fluffy for me. I hope to be back to breaking hearts tomorrow with some angst

Taglist: @ayablackwood @littlemisscare-all  @thenobodies-inc@dannasixxworld  @val-sixx​ @nikkisqueenofsleaze @rocknrollsoul76@aggressive-slytherin @aligsilva00 @agroupiewhore@leatherandheels @midnightatvegas @samiyaffaslover

You sat on the yoga ball bouncing and rocking, the nerve in your leg acting up from how one of twins was sitting in your belly. You were rubbing your stomach, stretched out and looking exhausted, stressed, and goddamn beautiful.

Any second, any day it would be time.

The hospital bag was packed away in the car, along with two new car seats installed and checked at the local fire station, ready to bring home our two little ones.

Your eyes were on the notebook in front of you, the pregnancy brain had you needing to write down everything you needed to do because things were there one second and gone the next.

A glisten of sweat was on your forehead and I watched the way you breathed, hand on your stomach as you rocked, legs shaking ever so slightly.

“Hey, beautiful, are you okay?” Watching the way your eyes dance to meet mine, I see the pain there and am almost falling over myself as I make my way over to you.

My hand taking one of yours, a hand on your lower back as I squat beside you . Instantly leaning on me, your weight surprises me as I see you gritting your teeth.

“I’ve been timing my contractions for the last few hours. My water hasn’t broken yet but I’m about 8-9 minutes apart-“ You bent forward your hand squeezing mine like it would break fingers, “7-8 minutes apart.” You were trembling.

All the information from the birthing class slipped out of my brain at that point and I just sat there, blankly wondering what to do.

What do I do?

“Nikki, I need you to help me stand up. I don’t think I can walk by myself to the car.” Your voice was so calm. How were you calm?

But I was following your directions watching the way you grimaced, my heart in my throat as we made our way to the car.

The way you shot me this little smile through your pain, you were so sure that it was going to be all right. The fear was leaving me as I saw that smile. You made me feel like we were doing this and we were just a. Step away from happiness.

Everything felt like a blur. The drive. The hospital. Even your labor.

Though I can see the pain on your face. The wash your teeth pressed together, hand making a fist around my fingers, sweat pouring as a nurse dabbed your forehead with a wet cloth.

You were so strong. I was so in awe of your strength. At the sound of the first cry, the way you did a smile, so slight watching the little girl be carried to be weighed and her eyes washed.

But you were focused on bringing the little man into the world. And two minutes later you were having two small beans laid on your chests like trophies as the doctor stitched you and cleaned you.

And that was the moment, our two babies in your arms, the hair that escaped your braid stuck to your forehead, eyes free of any makeup, and just in this post birth exhaustion that I realized how lucky I was. How absolutely fucking amazing my life was.

And you looked up at me, so happy and full of joy. It was everything I ever wanted.

“Do you want to hold them?” The nurse looked at you like you were crazy. A new mother putting in all that work and offering the babies to the idiot who got her pregnant. “Sit down and they’ll hand them to you.” You commanded the room and everyone listened.

They were so small in my arms. So tiny, like a doll. Sleeping and probably missing the warmth of your body. And you were taking a picture, capturing this moment forever, wanting me to have this.

How was it that after you just gave birth you could still be so selfless and loving?

The first  four month at home I watched you grow into the role of motherhood. Walking around the house in your overalls and cotton sports bra to breastfeed the babies at a moment's notice. Cleaning the house of diapers and everyday messes. Managing to cook or order chinese. How did you become superwoman?

And it was all so easy for you.

Not easy as in you didn’t struggle but easy in the sense you felt happy with what was happening. There was this bigger purpose that you had been missing.

You hadn’t realized how much you wanted to be a mother until we had the two bundles of joy. And as you got softer I just managed to prickle in fatherhood.

This need to protect and provide settling into my bones. I wanted to the 1950’s TV Dad because you were the perfect June Cleaver. I mean, for Christ Sakes, I came home and there was a Cherry pie cooling in the kitchen.

I looked across the table at you, the softness of your face as you listened for the babies who you had put down for the night. Both of us had given them baths, shoulder to shoulder, working as a team.

Maybe that was my favorite part of being a parent. The teamwork of you and me, doing this together. Maybe I would never be a TV dad because I was always going to roll up my sleeves and be an active participant in the raising of our kids.

As I saw you sip your water, probably wishing it was red wine, I thought about our life. Our partnership. And in that moment I had everything. I had everything I had ever wanted in my life.

“Are you okay?” your voice was so soft and I realized my eyes had welled with tears. You were moving over to me, wrapping me in your arms. You smelled like baby detergent and lavender. So calming and relaxing. You slid onto my knee holding me as I sobbed, feeling insane as I did so.

“I’m sorry.” I got out trying to laugh it off. Your hands held my cheeks, thumbs brushing away tears and lips catching any that were still trying to fall out. “I’m just so happy. I never thought that I would have this. And it’s everything to me. I just feel.” I stopped feeling selfish with my next comment but you gave me a smirk.

“You are loved, NIkki. We love you. All four of us.” you grabbed my hand placing it on your stomach, “You remember when we thought breastfeeding meant I couldn't get pregnant? We were very wrong.” The way you were beaming, absolutely glowing. Another baby.

We hadn’t had sex more than a handful of time. Sleep having been so important to us and you needed time to heal.

But we had talked about having more kids the first night home. After we had gotten the twins down we had curled up in bed, whispering about our family, our dreams. What we wanted to teach them and what we wanted them to believe in.

And we were making our dreams come true. You and me and now three babies.

“We’re going to need to buy a tour bus.” You laughed so loudly at this, letting me kiss you, hand on your stomach as I thought about how I did it again and how you were mine but also how glad I was that I was yours

[sarcasticace]

In that sort of mood, so here’s a text dump of all my totally factual Choices opinions that are by no means subjective and personal from over 5 years of knowing the app

- Abbie and Tyler were bad friends and a bad couple. They get progressively worse after TFM.

 - Professor Vasquez is what Professor Hunt could have been before they realized how many people were attracted to the rude professor/mentor figure types. It’s been down hill from there.

- Kaitlyn, although not perfect, has the better storyline across all the TFM books that is consistent with her character. Everyone else either gets sabotaged or they’re Abbie+Tyler.

 - The writers of TFM started to lose what the series was about with The Sophomore aka the book immediately after Vasquez dies and FULLY lost it with The Junior. TFM should’ve ended with book 4 aka the summer road trip. 

- The Junior is fucking awful. It proves the writers did not know what to do with the series once Vasquez died. 

 - Sebastian did not need to be redeemed and they certainly did not need to retcon B2 to make him sympathetic. The fact that they make him more likable than Abbie and Tyler was a terrible sign. There were plenty of other side characters they should’ve expanded upon instead. *cough* Madison Eckhart *cough*

 - A Most Wanted sequel would have not only completely gutted the point system, but implemented a forced and cliche romance between Sam and Dave that didn’t need to be there.

- Dom x Kenna is bad. And the insistence the writers had on their relationship sabotages Dom’s character and the multiple LI mechanic Choices has going on. 

- Speaking of which. It’s hypocritical for a game called Choices, which promotes player choice on how they want to play to, insists that one love interest/romance route is superior/canon and focus most of the attention on that. Dom x Kenna, Chris Powell, Mark Collins, handsome strange (ame), the list goes on.

- Having said that... Val x Kenna is canon.

 - Diavolos isn’t a bad character. In fact, including a Nevrakos ally was a good addition. The concept is very interesting. But the last book of the series was not the right place to introduce and develop a new LI. 

 - RoE isn’t that bad. I spent a lot of time making fun of this book and criticizing it. In truth, there have been worse books in the Choices library. The problem isn’t even so much that the writing was terrible, there’s just a frustrating amount of laziness. I don’t care if it was supposed to be like a soap opera, intentionally awful and over the top or whatever. That doesn’t mean they can’t give the writing more thought.

 - Party!twin is the best playable character of the bunch.

 - The grandmother is the true villain of RoE. Sure, she had her reasons and everything worked out in the end, but honestly... wtf.

 - I don’t give a shit about The Royal Heir, TRR should’ve let us customize our MC and romance the prince as a guy. Honestly, if they’re really trying to rewrite the series or make a retelling using the PoV of the prince then I think they should ALSO write a new TRR with a fully customizable MC. If they did this, I might actually come back. 

 - Hana Lee is super pretty. 

- The prince storyline is the only time the whole forced LI thing that PB is obsessed with has ever really work. And i know... duh, right? That’s the whole premise of the book: compete for the prince’s heart, maybe fall in love with someone else along the way. BUT LISTEN... the prince is so patient and kind towards you. He’s interested, but never forcefully. You look at other LIs in the early books and it’s by no means like that. Chris, Mark, even Drake in this book. There is an insistence, either from the character themselves or the writers, that you/your character is in love with them.

 - Olivia should’ve been added as a LI. If Maxwell was added, she could’ve been added too. Especially if they were gonna add a whole sequel series. 

 - The Savannah plot line is bad, but more than anything I dislike how it casts Bertrand entirely as the bad guy. The guy made mistakes and definately not blameless, but the book treats it as if Savannah did nothing wrong and... oh boy... running away and living off the Beauomont’s money for years (?) in the city of paris with no job. That’s incredible. 

 - The LIs for Lovehacks should have been the friends group. Leah and Ben should’ve been recycled for a different series while Mark gets cut entirely and thrown in the trash. There were way too many characters in that book. 

 - I think more people need to accept that Mark and Chris were creeps in their first books. Chris gets a slight pass since he was a product of early choices focusing on one LI (that they never learned from), but Mark is a fucking creep. He first meets the MC while he was streaking in her lecture hall. Then he spots her and decides to chat up this hot college girl. Red flag. But somehow they’ve become close friends.

- The cast of HSS is great, I wouldn’t change it for anything, but I cannot explain how much it pained me, as someone who played the original HSS game, to see that original friend group walk away and leave me behind. 

- Also I don’t like that they started pairing the original characters off with no context beyond existing in previous media. Sakura x Nishan or the Wes/Autumn/Julian love triangle, regardless of how good or bad they are, is kinda hollow if it’s just... there in the background.  

- I dislike what they did with Mia/Katherine. Bad call to not only have them get together and break up off screen, but also make it a rough break up and have Katherine... idk, graduate or move schools so you default take Mia’s side. Not a fan.

- HSS b1 is one of the few books in the choices library to actually implement choice in a creative way through the three different school activities. It’s not perfect, but it was fun. Not only does it change the type of activities your character participates in, but also some of the characters you’ll interact. For example.. sure, Aiden is still a main character, but he’s much more prominent if you choose band while you get to interact with Mia and Sydney more in cheerleading. So even though Aiden feels less important than, say, Maria who is more involved in the main plot, it feels like you have a slightly different social group depending on what route to take. Again, not perfect, but I think that was neat.

- Then b2 went and ruined it by giving you a primary friend group. Can you imagine the power book 2 would’ve had if they gave the MC a different friend group based on what activity you were involved with in 1? And that affects who is involved in the main plot of 2? PB would never, but it would’ve been so cool. Imagine one play-through Ezra and Myra are apart of the your group to take down Isa, but in another it’s Payton, Sydney, and Mia.

- Talia and Tariq al-Assam were the student body president (either or both, doesn’t matter) before Maria Flores. It’s canon. 

 - Having Isa revealed to be a con-artist who is only mean and doing bad things because she is a criminal was a VERY LAZY way to take the story in B2. It would’ve been a lot more interesting to have her be mean. Just make her a regular principal who’s not good at her job aka doesn’t care for the students. Then you have MC speak up for the rights of the students. But instead MC finds out she’s a criminal, exposes her crimes, and everything goes back to normal. 

 - Adding Hunt (and dropping Addison) as an additional LI for RCD was a BAD move. Not only was it unfair (I’ll get to that), but RCD was already having trouble balancing four LIs. The last thing it needed was to add a fifth.

 - Also, his romance ruins the story B2 was trying to tell. You can’t have a story about how an older producer assaults the main character then have a different producer meet the main character alone (at night) under a bridge so soon after the assault happens and incorporate a new romance route with said producer. 

- And not only should they have NOT included him in B2, Hunt shouldn’t have been in the book AT ALL. His storyline should’ve went to Teja and Seth who were already making their own movie. MC could’ve joined them instead. Then the story remains unchanged, same plot just different movie, BUT you get to include Seth and Teja more who were SORELY in need of more screentime and proper development. 

- AND NOW the reason why it’s unfair for Hunt to have been added as a new LI. This motherfucker was already a date option back in Hollywood U. He had TEN dates. Other characters were lucky to get 2 or 3. And there was an entire personal storyline involved too while everyone else (for the most part) got standalone stories with minor conflict. Only one character (Chris Winters) got the same treatment. The fucking disrespect of bringing Hunt back like this. 

- Addison feels OOC to me. She was never, you know, passive or timid, but her personality in RCD feels closer to Lisa or Aria. Also, her design is worse. Downgrade. 

 - BSC is good, but I think it would’ve been better if one of the LIs was from the city like MC. Have them relate to MC more personally. Common ground, you know. 

- Though I wouldn’t change the LIs for Class Act for anything, I think it would’ve been really clever had they pulled a Tom from ILB and incorporated Brooklynne as a character and/or LI for Class Act. Expand upon her in a school setting with her peers, incorporating her growth from BSC and develop her further. And I don’t think that JUST Brooklynne should benefit from this, but ANY side character that was fairly popular with fans or have the potential to be explored more in a different setting. For example, Fatima from AME in something fashion related. 

- Speaking of Fatima. Fucking... they had her cameo in Queen B only for it to come after them copy&pasting her model as a student they called her ‘Begonia Thotte’. Clown behavior.

- Also, Fatima is descended from Kenna Rys. IDK how, but I stand by this headcanon.

- Skye is the best character in Class Act. I’m sorry. I don’t make the rules. Her conflict with her parents is so emotional and engaging. And it’s consistent throughout the trilogy. Including Brian as her brother was also brilliant. Her brother could’ve easily been a random nobody. A copy&paste minor character. But making him somebody we knew from the previous trilogy not only connects us to that series, but it adds a new dimension to the whole Crandall situation and helps us understand her little bit where she’s coming from early.

- Rory is nonbinary. 

- Not a single character who accuses MC of sabotage in order to get the starring role apologized. I’m specifically looking at Ajay. They’re all bad friends except Rory, Skye, and Erin. 

- Natalie and Clint’s crush on Rory gets REALLY creepy really fast. It starts off as bad comic relief, but then it quickly becomes obvious that their purpose is to help push the MCxRory plotline. But it’s weird, you know? Because there’s a turning point in how creepy they are where you have to wonder WHY Rory wants to be anywhere near them let alone consider them friends. In B2-3 they cool down, but... wow.

- Katherine should’ve been apart of Class Act somehow. There should’ve been a place for her. Plus, Class Act needed that connection to HSS. Most of the original characters are gone, graduated, so the only one left is Mia. And she’s graduating in this trilogy. Having Katherine return not only would’ve helped connect to HSS more, but also give a bit of closure to Mia/Katherine. 

- No shut up. Stop right there. I don’t want to hear “we don’t talk about Mia/Katherine” drama. I’m right. 

- It’s hilarious that in b2 they give Clint a love interest thinking players will be invested and pay money for someone who was BARELY a character. It’s even funnier because Graham, despite being introduced as a LI for a side character, becomes even MORE of a real character than Clint, Natalie, and Trevor. I mean, Natalie almost gets there. But definitely not Trevor. 

- It’s amazing how the plot of Class Act b2 is based on Rory and twin getting into a fight and becoming enemies during the presidential elections and despite this being the major conflict of the book, they don’t show the turning point where they start becoming enemies. The scene is reduced to a montage where one second, it’s a friendly competition and the next they’re practically at each other’s throats. The book would be SO much better if they wrote the scene in full.

 - AME b1 had it’s flaws, but it was a good book. It adapted ES’s friendship system well enough. The other contestants were interesting. This series had a lot of potential to be a great, continuous series, but instead, B2 sabotaged any chance of that and B3 killed it.

 - Ivy could’ve been A LOT more interesting, but PB reduced her to a one-dimensional rival character for players to hate. And then for the next two books they flop between being a complex character to being a generic rival character. 

 - Bianca is underused in the series. IDK why they even bothered giving her a RP twitter account tbh. They passed up on SO MANY moments that could’ve easily been tweaked to be romantic. 

 - Even though she isn’t a LI, the sheer POWER of a romance involving Aurora could easily beat any of the official LIs. And before you ask, yes, she’s better than Ethan. By a lot.

 - The fact that Ethan calls us (the MC) stupid for not buying a diamond scene should be a red flag. Both for Ethan as a character and Pixelberry. Like... please take that in... Ethan, upon facing rejection, immediately lashes out, insults and degrades a possible romantic partner. That reveals severe emotional immaturity. Just for starters. Then there’s Pixelberry using a LI to call their players stupid for not giving up a few bucks to read a romantic scene with a fictional character that’ll last maybe less than ten minutes. Big yikes whichever way you look at it whether it was accidental or not. 

 - Ethan Ramsey is not a good character, but he’s popular. And that’s why Open Heart fell apart. Because PB was too concerned with making money than telling a coherent story. Everything goes back to Ethan. The other LIs cycle appearances while Ethan is in almost every chapter. They just couldn’t stop themselves from putting as much Ethan content into each book as they could. And it’s not even like they cared about his character. Apparently, they resorted to copy&pasting scenes from previous chapters/books just to put more content for him which is kinda funny if you think about it. 

 - Bryce and Jackie are meh. Still deserved better though.

 - P2R is a cute book, but the writers did not know what they wanted to do with the plot or various conflicts. The dialogue is really bad too.

 - Having said that, Marisa and Ahmed stand out. Marisa especially. They both could’ve been really good LIs, but I feel like they got left behind because of P2R’s bad writing. 

 - Ending the It Lives series at book 2 was disappointing, but I guess you either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a shitty romance dominant book.

 - Having said that.... Perfect Match deserved a book 3. They set up several different interesting storyline ideas. Easily enough content for a third book. But again who knows how they would’ve handled that. Maybe best it ended on a relatively high note. 

 - Alana’s romance route is one of the best in the entirety of choices. MC’s cringe-y and horny dialogue aside, the fact that you can chose to be emotional or casual when pursuing her which leads to different outcomes really embodies what Choices should be about.

 - I know PB would never make it and MotY wouldn’t work with gender customization, but I think a single father MC storyline would’ve been cool.

 - Bucket Harringtoad isn’t interesting enough on his own for the writers to focus so much of their time on him. 

 - TE would’ve been so much better if the MC was blood magic attuned. The magic quiz that determines your attunement is a gimmick that doesn’t really mean anything to the story. And the story kinda ignores it to take a Twitches angle anyway. They should’ve gone with blood magic instead. 

- The whole friendship bracelet thing still doesn’t make sense. IDK if they fixed it, but like... the only thing Atlas, your twin, sees is that bracelet. Meaning one of your friends has betrayed you. But to see that bracelet, they also must have seen their wrist. All of MC’s friends have different skin tones. Atlas would have seen that bracelet attached to Beckett’s white wrist. And this could’ve easily been fixed! Just have Beckett drop his bracelet, but replace it with MAGIC!!! And don’t tell me that’s not how magic in The Elementalist works because this book is fucking fictional, they can make it so it works like that. 

 - AtV is the only book I can remember off the top of my head that was so badly written and boring that it made me put it down.

 - Pax and Eos are bad characters and bad siblings. You can’t even claim their bad relationship is part of the story. It’s just awful, they’re truly terrible people, but ATV passes it off as if there’s some sort of disagreement between the three or something. Pax is a brat and Eos is an arrogant shit. Neither grow as people, we’re just forced to deal with them and we’re made to feel bad when they annoy us. 

- The alien designs for AtV were terrible. If they were just gonna make them all look human and not develop any of the alien races, they should’ve just made most of the cast human. Who cares at that point! They even reuse one of the aliens and pass her off as a ‘bejeweled pop star’ in Platinum. 

-  If PB were so worried their paying players wouldn’t want to romance aliens then, again, they should’ve just made the main cast all humans with maybe one actual alien-looking LI. As such, PB and those players are cowards and have no taste. You know who you are. 

- And no, don’t tell me they’re pulling a Star Trek. This wasn’t live action, this wasn’t the 1960s, and AtV does NOT say or do anything meaningful about.... anything, really, but certainly not their alien species. 

 - An ES spin-off based on the bad Rourke ending would be amazing, but in the current day... the writers would fuck it up and make Rourke a LI.

- They should totally make a what-if, low stakes college drama featuring the Endless Summer characters. 

- It’s actually kinda amazing how large the cast was in ES and how every character, even the non-LIs, get their own story and decent development. Now compare that to some other Choices books with less main characters. 

- The whole good girl/bad girl thing in Queen B is bullshit. It doesn’t really change much beyond dialogue, but mostly the story acts as if you’re following the bad girl route regardless. Zoey gets mad at you even if you prioritize her, people still think you’re the new Poppy. If they weren’t gonna commit then why bother. 

 - Veronica, Chloe, and Carter should’ve had bigger roles in Queen B as free posse members (requiring skills instead of money/diamonds to recruit). All three, but especially Chloe, are really interesting and could offer more to the story than Kinglsey ever could. 

 - Oh and poor Chloe. They demote her to dumb blonde sidekick after b1. It’s like they saw players found her stupidity charming and decided that was THE ONLY THING people liked about her, so they made that her one defining character trait in b2 instead of expanding upon her complicated relationship with Poppy. 

 - Veronica looks better on the cover art than her character model. Honest downgrade, she deserved better which brings me to my next point. 

- Choices needs to update their art style... at least fix up their anatomy/posses and body types. There are too many characters that look stiff and a little uncanny. I know they can do it. They’ve released some very nice cutscene art. At the very least, they should put as much effort into the character models as they do the art for the same characters that appear on the cover. 

- While i’m at it, they HAVE to stop reusing character assets like they do in books like Queen B. Just pull an early RWBY and make generic faceless background characters. If they really can’t spare the resources/time to make individual background characters then they should just sit down, make a batch of basic, faceless stock characters and they’ll be good for however many years choices has left. Introducing new characters and have them be the secret villian or something, like X/Selene, is ruined when ALL of the characters are copy&paste.

 - Professor Kingsley being a LI with most of the focus on them actively conflicts with the story Queen B is trying to tell. It’s like they’re telling two different stories, honestly. Queen B would’ve been so much better if Professor Kingsley’s role was similar to Professor Vasquez, but younger. Sure, sprinkle in some romantic diamond scenes maybe. But it should be extra. That or save them for a one-LI only book. 

- I will never understand why My Two First Loves has 100 chapters. Haven’t played it and never never will, but... why?

[ashtheshortstack]

Truth be Told

Rating: G Fandom: Danny Phantom

Sequel to dwelling on deceit

Tags: Valerie POV, Post-PP

Read on ao3

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny Phantom saving the world with his genius plan was something Valerie had to give him kudos for. Especially after he confirmed her suspicions and transformed back into Danny Fenton right before her eyes. She was a bit stunned to see it happen to say the least, but she knew. And was glad she was right.

The Danny she knew was just a dorky, awkward kid that she had ended up crushing on. It was… sudden. And she didn’t quite know how it happened. Little did she know she’d been fraternizing with the enemy. Danny did though. He knew she was hunting him. And yet… still pursued her. Still wanted to feel like a normal kid and date the girl he liked. She couldn’t imagine how hard it’d been for him. How hard she’d made it on him to constantly fight her knowing full and well he didn’t want to.

Dating Danny had been an uphill battle. As much as she liked him, she knew in her heart that he liked someone else more. Valerie wasn’t stupid. She could see the way he looked at Sam. It was selfish of her to confront the goth girl on the issue, but she wanted to hope that Sam would back off. She remembered when she overheard Sam saying that they’d give her a chance for Danny’s sake, but they knew. They knew this wouldn’t work out.

Jeez, Valerie owed Sam an apology. But… that would come later.

When she suited up, she hadn’t expected to find Danny so quickly. And surprisingly… alone? He and Sam had been attached at the hip since the Disasteroid. Valerie had noticed a small class ring on Sam’s finger every day at school when the two walked down the hallway with their fingers intertwined. Which was super lame and definitely not Sam’s color, but was fitting for Danny. She hated to admit that they were cute. As much as it made her want to gag.

He sat upon the town billboard. The one with the dumb “Amity Park: A Nice Place to Live!” slogan. Yeah, Amity Park was a great place to live if you enjoyed the constant ghost attacks. She was sure their town was going to become a tourist attraction not too long after the famous Danny Phantom saved the world.

“Do ghosts normally haunt billboards at night, Phantom?” she teased as she retracted her hoverboard beneath her feet.

“Night is the best time to haunt, Red, makes things spookier,” he replied, not turning to face her yet. His ever charming sarcasm oozed from his voice, but she could place a bit of hesitance in his tone as well.

Poor guy. Danny probably thought the worst of her. She hadn’t spoken to him since they had returned to school. He had spared her a few glances and nervous smiles between classes, but she hadn’t said anything. She hadn’t dared to pop open that can of worms. And yet, there she was… somehow finally finding her courage to speak to him. The boy she had hunted… the boy she had dated.

Her face softened as she smiled. “Hey, Danny.”

He looked at her then, those green eyes piercing and glowing. “Hey, Val,” he smiled. A genuine Danny smile that she had come to appreciate so much.

Valerie took a seat next to him, not sure where to even begin. But Danny took the lead, of course.

“So, how long is this truce thing going to last? I kind of miss you chasing me around with blasters,” he joked with a half hearted shrug.

Valerie chuckled, leaning back on her palms. “I didn’t know you enjoyed fighting so much..”

“Oh, yeah. Screaming in pain, getting caught in nets, even Skulker constantly telling me he wants my pelt on his wall: love it.”

“That’s a little TMI, Danny. I didn’t need to know that you were a masochist.”

Danny gaped at her. “That is not what I--”

Valerie cut him off with a burst of laughter. He pursed his lips, giving her a glare for teasing him but seemed to relax and join in the fit of giggles with her.

When the chuckles died down, Danny finally leaned back on his palms as she was. “You knew, didn’t you?”

She didn’t have to ask him to elaborate. Valerie already knew what he was asking. She looked up, gazing at the stars with a hesitant smile etching at the corner of her lips. “I had a suspicion. That was my fault, though, I shouldn’t have been so nosy and pried.”

Sighing, he shook his head. “No, if anything I was glad you knew. It’s hard explaining why I didn’t like Vlad Masters without a reason. Especially as a ghost.”

“If it’s any consolation, I don’t like him either.”

Danny snorted at that. “Pretty sure no one likes him anymore, Val. He tried to conquer the world by force and promised safety he couldn’t follow through on. Even my dad hates his old pal Vladdy.”

“Well, I didn’t like him anymore before that. And I tried so hard to play nice so he’d give me information. I think he tried to hint at your identity a few times too.”

Humming, he nodded. “Sounds right. Vlad always had a weird obsession with me.”

“What a freak.”

“A crazed up fruitloop.”

Valerie snorted at that. “I just--I want you to know that I’m happy for you. You’ve never seemed happier and I’m glad. You deserve it, Danny.”

He looked at her, those green eyes seeming to pierce her soul. He really was too kind. Too good, ablet a bit devious at times she knew. He always wanted what was best for everyone. Willingly sacrificed himself for the greater good so many times. And somehow, he was still the dorky unpopular kid at her school. The one she was mean to for so long because she thought that’s what she was supposed to do. Dating Danny had really opened her eyes to the person he could be. It didn’t surprise her one bit that he was Danny Phantom: the ghost hero of Amity Park.

“Thank you.”

The response was so genuine… it made her heart ache. There was a look on his face, however… something that told her there was more he wanted to say. Something in his eyes that didn’t sit well in the pit of her stomach.

“What is it?” she asked.

Danny swallowed, seeming tense. “I have to ask… how do you not hate me? I lied to you--a lot. You were dating me. You were dating Danny Phantom, the literal ghost you wanted to blast to bits and had no idea. Why didn’t you come here screaming at me?”

Sighing, she felt her shoulders sag. “After that stuff with Vlad… and after I figured you out, I had a lot of time to think about it. I was a little angry at first, I guess. But then I thought about how it must’ve been for you. You just wanted to be normal for once. It’d be lame of me to blame you for that. You knew I was literally trying to destroy your other half and yet you still wanted to be with me. I can’t hate you for that.”

He considered her, seeming to soak in her words. When he nodded with a smile, Valerie felt some relief. It wasn’t even a worry she realized she had. She hadn’t thought about Danny fearing how she’d react to him being Phantom. She was glad she could clear that up for him, at least.

Clearing her throat, Valerie quickly realized that sincere conversation was no longer for her. “Sooo, is Tucker seeing anyone?”

He blinked. “Aside from his PDA? No, not that I know of,” Danny paused and grinned. “Why? You interested?”

“I dunno. Dating Amity Park’s youngest mayor in history sounds enticing..”

“What? And dating Amity Park’s ghost superhero isn’t?”

She cocked a brow. “Yeah, but I heard he’s taken.”

“Again, that’s not what I meant.”

“Duh, I know what you meant.” Valerie paused, letting silence wash over her a minute before she sighed and glanced away from him. “We were never going to work, you know that, right?”

He cocked his head in a curious gesture. “What?”

“Danny, you’ve always loved her. Even when you didn’t know it. It was so obvious to everyone else. I just--I just thought I’d take my chances.”

Danny’s cheeks tinged pink (with a little bit of green mixed in, oddly enough.) “Valerie, I liked you. A lot. My feelings for you were real too.”

“‘Liked’ being the operative word. Danny, it’s okay. You don’t have to validate your feelings to me. I know you liked me. I just know you have had stronger feelings for Sam.”

He opened his mouth as if he were going to argue, but snapped his jaw shut quickly. Pursing his lips, he glanced away. “I do. I love her.”

“Have you told her?”

“No…?”

Valerie smacked him on the arm.

“Hey!”

“Why are you telling me, Fenton!? You should be telling Sam that!”

“I will!”

“When?”

“When it feels right!”

Valerie groaned, flopping her head back. “Ughh, you’re such a hopeless romantic. It’s almost gross.”

“Hey! You liked it when I tried to woo you!”

“Maybe so.”

He gave her a knowing look before turning away. “I don’t know how to tell her. I’ll get there, okay?”

Raising her hands in surrender, Valerie caved. “Okay, fine. But do it quick, someone may snatch her up.”

“Are you trying to steal my girlfriend, Valerie?”

“Hey, maybe I just want to homie hop. I’ll date Tucker next then steal Sam from right under your nose.”

Snorting, Danny shoved her gently. “As if. Pretty sure she loves me.”

“Uh huh. Maybe she’d say it if you say it first.”

There was a beat of silence, and Valerie worried she had pushed the conversation too far. But Danny surprised her instead.

He smiled at her.

“Can we be like this all the time,” he asked.

“Me threatening to steal your girlfriend?”

He barked a laugh. “No! Just--Just being friends.”

Valerie smiled in return, holding out a hand to him. “Permanent friends truce, then?”

Nodding, he took her hand. “Permanent friends truce.”

When she let go, Valerie turned to look over the streets. As stressful as it could be to live in Amity Park, there’s nowhere else she’d want to go. This was home. These were her people. And she loved her life. It took her a long time to see it. But Amity Park meant so much to her. It was terrifying to know her life was a risk. Her home was at risk. But Danny saved them. Saved her. Just like he always did.

“You want to be a member of Team Phantom?”

“Oh, God,” she made a gagging sound. “You guys have a team name?”

“Hey! We’re cool enough to have a team name.”

“Sure, keep telling yourself that, Fenton.”

[transmasc-wizard]

Year In Review: 2021

Instead of doing a December update, because December was disappointing, I'm going to do a "this was my year" update. 2021 was also disappointing, but not writing-wise, so I'll mostly focus on that!

What Did I Do in 2021?

I finished the first draft of GFW1/Moonlit Blood! This was all the way back in January, and I can still barely believe it.

I began multiple "2nd drafts" of MB, before realizing about a month ago that the reason none of them were working was because I had to treat it like another 1st draft; my real 1st draft is basically just bones.

I did Camp Nano in April, won (55k in one month!), and then continued on with my project (Moonlit Blood's sequel), finishing the first draft in forty-eight days. The total draft was 91k, and I'm still fried from that.

I did Camp Nano July! 33k. I also switched the genre of my project (Moonlit Blood, which I was trying to 2nd draft). It turned into an epic fantasy. We don't talk about July.

I did NaNoWriMo, hitting 37k words.

I joined tumblr! It is still debatable whether that was a good thing

I had a Day Of Birth. you don't get to know when or which one but rest assured it made me marginally wiser

I came out to myself as a nonbinary trans guy.

i came out to myself as oriented aroace.

I read about 93 books, and I'm proud of myself for that!

Writing Stuff

words written: ah fuck *does math* 200598. This doesn't include my outlines, "future scenes" doc, at least one version of MB that i started drafting, or any of the 3 short stories i wrote, but it's A Number.

projects worked on: Moonlit Blood, it's sequel gfw2, nt21 (the intriguing death), some short stories, Man Up (i haven't talked about that), Val Saintly (outlining, of course).

projects started: NT21, Man Up, gfw2.

biggest accomplishment(s): it's a tie between finishing the draft of MB (because that took me over 3 years) and writing the first draft of MB's sequel in just 48 days.

Goals for 2022:

read more! not necessarily a higher amount of books; just make an effort to have more reading in my life.

write less. Well, not exactly; more like "don't pressure myself to write more than 200 thousand words". Writing this year was serious; in 2022, it will be more focused on fun.

That being said, I would like to finish NT21's first draft, draft Val Saintly, and either re-outline gfw2 or outline gfw3.

Read 55 books. This is a more specific reading goal, and one I think I can hit without stressing.

draw more! I want to make good use of my new tablet.

actually chill out for once. I'm gonna keep putting this on the list until it happens.

Overall, 2021 was a productive writing year and a fun reading year. 2022 will kind of be the opposite; I want to specifically read more often, and let writing be fun. I'll still post on writblr the same amount, too be clear! It's all just about the way I approach it.

Here's to a good 2022, and I hope everyone has a happy new year!

[camels-pen]

Classic Fenton Luck

DannyMay Day 25 - Hallway

Summary: Danny's worried, Tucker tries to help, and Technus is a simple ghost.

(sequel to Let It Glow & 2nd part of the Glowy Winter Wonders series)

Ao3 Link

~

Danny didn’t even make it two steps past the front doors before he bumped into Valerie. Literally.

“Oh shoot, sorry about that.” Danny squinted through the sunglasses and felt himself pale at the sight of his friend slash constant assailant bending down to pick up a fallen poster board. Sam and Tucker subtly put themselves further in front of Danny.

She waved a hand as she stood, tucking the board under one arm. “It’s fine. Project wasn’t ruined and at this point that’s all I care about.” He took stock of the exhaustion that slipped into her tone and looked her up and down. Her hair was a lot more puffed up than normal and she was lacking her usual orange headband, replaced instead with a scarf that looked like it might slip off at any moment. There were slides on her feet where flats should be and with how wrinkled her clothes were, Danny’s pretty sure she slept in them.

Valerie jumped when she finally gave him a proper glance. “Danny, is that you?” He nodded. “I can barely recognize you under all those layers. Didn’t know you hated the cold so much.” He gave a stiff shrug and shrunk into the collar of Sam’s jacket.

She nodded to his friends. “Sam, Tucker.”

“Valerie.” They said in unison, nodding back.

“So Danny hates the cold and you two love it? Tucker I could see, but Sam?”

“It’s a newer development,” the goth said, shrugging. She waved a hand at a nearby clock. “Would you look at the time? We better get going if we don't want to be late for P.E.” Sam grabbed Valerie by the shoulders, turning her around and pushing her towards the gym. The fact that Val was allowing herself to be pushed along at all gave Danny a better estimate as to how tired she really was. It was concerning, but at the same time it would be pretty dang helpful today, he mused as he and Tucker followed them and walked past the locker rooms.

He blinked. Would it be helpful? Does he really want a tired-out-of-her-mind, no-fucks-given Valerie throwing around ghost hunting equipment? She would probably miss more shots, but she’d also probably hurt herself too. And that’s without thinking about her trying to steer her hoverboard safely while fighting off sleep. Danny frowned.

“Hey, let’s keep an eye on Val today,” he whispered to Tucker as they slipped into the bathroom. Danny closed the door to the bathroom stall, pulling out a wad of red and white clothing from his bag while his friend sputtered as he changed on the other side.

“Less than ten minutes ago, you were worried about avoiding her and now you want to seek her out??” Danny shimmied out of the many layers suffocating him and threw Tucker’s hoodie over the door.

“Only if she’s using her ghost hunting stuff.” He pulled on his long sleeved gym shirt and a pair of track pants. “I’m worried not stupid.”

“Mmm debatable, but okay.” Danny put a hand through the door and flicked Tucker’s beret. “Dude!”

“I just don’t want her to get hurt,” he said, ignoring Tucker as he readjusted the sunglasses on his face and unlocked the door.

Tucker shook his head as Danny came out of the stall. “You know, a normal person would be happy that the girl always shooting at them is too tired to do anything.” Danny snorted.

“A normal person wouldn’t be half-ghost.” Tucker shrugged as he helped him fix the scarf back into place.

“At least this kinda solves the glowing problem.” The halfa raised an eyebrow at him as they exited into the gym hallway. “You can blame it on her eyes being wonky.”

“That won’t work if her ghost sensor goes off.” His friend twirled his stylus in his hand.

“Already got it covered.” He tapped his PDA and a few seconds later they heard a loud siren coming from the girl’s locker room. A huge crowd of girls burst from the heavy blue doors, screaming about a ghost attack. Danny’s eyes narrowed and he turned to his friend.

“What did you do?”

His friend smirked. “Technus was around so I sent him a message saying Val got a new upgrade in her suit.” Danny frowned and Tucker held up his hands. “She’ll be fine; the dude will probably just take her gear for a while. It’s no biggie.” Danny crossed his arms.

“Yes biggie, Tuck; what if he decides to take her suit and then take over the town?” Tucker held up a finger and opened his mouth to protest. “Don’t say he wouldn’t—you literally just inspired him.” He closed his mouth and fiddled with his PDA, averting his eyes.

“I’m sure it won’t be that bad. He’s mellowed out since we started playing Doomed with him, right?”

Loud maniacal laughter echoed down the hallway from the open door. Tucker let out a nervous chuckle. Danny put his head in his hands.

[omegangrins]

Universal took Tremors from its creators after 30 years of work.

TL;DR After 25-30 years making the series, Brent Maddock, Michael Gross, Nancy Roberts, Ron Underwood and S.S. Wilson were kicked out so Universal Studios could make more money off the merchandising before the Tremors copyright expires in 2025.

*****MAJOR SPOILERS**** This will make you sad, angry and frustrated. But there is hope. #StampedeTremors

Soooooo, ever since I blew up and sidetracked a post about David Fincher's Queen Biopic with Sacha Baron Cohen as Freddie Mercury discussing the Tremors 7 ending, I've done some more research on the whole thing. The Graboid hole for this goes deep.

Michael Gross didn't want it.

“There’s a part of me that feels that Universal Home Entertainment might’ve had enough of Tremors. The suggestions that were made in the course of this [movie] made me think maybe they’ve had enough. They came to me and said, ‘What if we ended it at 7?’ and I said, ‘Whatever you choose to do, I’m good with that.'” “That being said, The door is still open for an eighth Tremors. It may seem unlikely by what people see on the screen, but it is possible. There could be an eighth. And if there were, and if it were an interesting story, I would be up for it because Burt is always a great deal of fun. It would depend on his physicality. How much they want me to do. If it’s in another two years, I’ll be 75 years old. So I will continue to hope and pray that I stay in shape, to do what is asked of me – if it is asked of me.”

AND Universal even killed off any ambiguity that he fought for.

"We shot it both ways, where everybody's mourning Burt, and he climbs up over the cliff and looks at all of them in mourning and goes, 'Jesus, God, I'm not dead. And he's really pissed off at them. It's like, 'How would you possibly think...?' But he's bloodied, just he's a mess. He looks like he's been through an earthquake, crushed by a house, but he's alive. And he says, 'You idiots. Of course, I'm alive.'" "They decided it just had this punch. Frankly, I thought to myself -- I didn't express it to them, but I thought to myself -- 'Maybe Universal's getting a little tired of this franchise.' Because this wasn't my idea." "I said, 'I can live with this. Because they came to me. They said, 'Look, you've been doing this so long. What do you think?' And I said, 'Well, as long as we kind of leave the door open.' I mean, I can kind of see an eighth film where it opens with Burt in a hospital bed, in a full body cast and saying, 'I survived.' He could hardly move a muscle. And maybe eight is...if I had a concept for eight, it would be Burt horribly injured, but in a motorized, weaponized wheelchair that has rocket mounts on the side and can leave an oil slick behind like James Bond's car. So nobody can chase him." "I always said, if Kevin Bacon or Fred [Ward] or Reba [McIntire] or anybody [wanted to return], I'd be there in a minute. Just because one, I love Burt, but I always thought of him as this guy kind of on the fringes, and I just came to the fore because everybody else walked away."

https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3637682/michael-gross-says-door-still-open-potential-eighth-tremors-movie/

https://comicbook.com/movies/news/tremors-shrieker-island-michael-gross-on-burt-gummer-death/

While Universal ignored how Michael Gross was setting up his son Travis Welker to pick up his torch (Which I'm give or take on Jamie Kennedy yet he brought a Grady-like optimism to the shittier of the series.)

"My reaction was disappointment, as I had planned an entire storyline around his participation."

Even Jamie Kennedy tried to but they wouldn't let him.

"Lot of people have been asking me, so I might as well spill it. I will NOT be in the upcoming TREMORS 7. I had a great time making the last two. But no TRAVIS this time around. But hey you neva’ know what can happen in the future.... have a great time boys! Tdawg out!!!"

https://mobile.twitter.com/JamieKennedy/status/1188981479973347329

After 7 movies and a TV show, nothing more than a spit in the face for the man who carried a franchise. Then when they do the montage at the end, we get clips of Hiram Gummer but NOTHING of Burt Gummer from the TV show. It's 13 episodes of Burt in Tremors that's longer than all the movies combined but yet they don't even include it in the ending montage while including his dead grandpa.

Same with the original creators. Did you know Stampede Entertainment (Brent Maddock, Nancy Roberts, Ron Underwood, and S.S. Wilson) were working on Tremors for 25 years and even had the 5th one written, "Thunder/Gummer Down Under".

Then were told to sit on it for 10 years before Universal eventually told them to eat dirt? That's gotta hurt. It hurts me and I'm not even connected to these movies. All that work down the drain just because of someone's say so. And for no reason. Well not exactly....

Universal knows fans want Tremors merch. I mean, look at how they took #BurtGummerDay from @BabyFarkMcGeeZax. And they want ALLLLLL of that merchandising money. With none of it going to Stampede because it would give them leverage. Not to mention they don't want anyone else getting the idea to make cute monster toys before they can roll out their own line.

Don't believe me? See Universal pull some Hollywood Accounting with Tremors already.

http://imgur.com/gallery/mFNIHV3

Half a billion dollars... completely untraceable. I've tried. Emailed the numbers people and they can't tell me anything unless you pay $50 a film to see the numbers. Which makes me ask, who paid for the numbers on 1,5, 6, & 7? And why only what they made? Not their cost. Same for the numbers on 2, 3, & 4. Why numbers on the cost, but nothing on what it made? It seems weirdly targeted to make it look like the Stampede Entertainment ones only cost money but made nothing.

Then when you find out that the copyright to Tremors will revert to its creators after the 35 year mark, which makes that date 2024-2025 since Tremors was filmed in '88-'89 but released in '90.....

Wellllllll some things start to add up. Especially when you consider it's Universal. They already know about owning copyrights for things long out of due. Ask Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolfman. Or Nintendo when Universal tried to sue them because Donkey Kong was too similar to King Kong.

Ask Stampede (S.S. Wilson) yourself. They have a Question and Answer page right on their site.

Like did you know you can't find ANY official Tremors merch? But you CAN find tons of fan-made creations. Give it a Google. They don't even list Tremors on the Universal website. Go ahead. Ask them. I try weekly. No responses ever.

https://www.universalpictures.com/about

Even with a longer history, more money made, and amount of sequel potential in comparison to their other films?

http://imgur.com/gallery/ZnXEsI3

Fans are clamoring for more but Universal says no?

Hell, you can watch the TV show for free on the NBC site.

But before my investigating, the episodes were so jumbled and missing it would ruin people's enjoyment.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Tremors/comments/m0wvwu/tremors_episode_9_graboid_rights_is_back_on_nbc/

What about how they made a Tremors series pilot with Kevin Bacon? The only bad thing about it is that they need to pull a Sonic redo on the Graboid at the end but who knows, I suspect it's like that for plot reasons after reading the unaired script.

https://youtu.be/hWU3GpKmIvw

That Universal/NBC/SyFy has proceeded to hide deeper than a Graboid burrows. https://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/tremors-star-kevin-bacon-confused-sequel-series-picked/

Despite no one knowing why. http://imgur.com/gallery/w7rbUvZ

Read the script for yourself if you don't believe me. They've already hidden it for two years. Andrew Miller worked too hard for it to be hidden. And it plays. It works and plays with what's already there while being new and old. Quite good.

Have you seen the Kevin Bacon/Michael Gross commercial featuring them in Perfection Valley? The whole commercial is a sly way to use Tremors WITHOUT actually saying anything Universal would have claim to call copyright on. "Sandworms" "My old co-star" "Trevors". It's a great big middle finger to Universal.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E_O0K9hmlrw

How about the original script for Tremors 2: Aftershocks. The creators have wanted it seen for 20 years but it took a crazy Larry like me to get it out there. It's got Val, Earl, Burt and Heather in it too. Pretty good too. So good they reused the ending in the TV show episode "Shriek and Destroy".

All these things swirl together and make me wonder more and more. For the plethora of Tremors fandom goes deeper than even me... Like Imgur user @BabyFarkMcGeeZax. They created Burt Gummer Day five years ago through sweat and love alone.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Tremors/comments/mb2rtz/babyfarkmcgeezax_created_burt_gummer_day_and/

Yet what does Universal do? Take the day, plaster it over the end of their hero's death, and not even give a line credit or thank you to @BabyFarkMcGeeZax or a mention on Twitter as they blurb it everywhere.

Ever seen the gif battles about Tremors at r/HighQualityGifs?

https://www.reddit.com/r/GifTournament/comments/luvt39/giftournament_battle_13_round_3/

https://www.reddit.com/r/HighQualityGifs/comments/dtz11k/battle_178_tremors/

How about The Everything Sequel podcast where they discuss how amazing all of The Tremors Saga is after discovering it for the first time. Even going so far as to pitch their own sequels.

https://share.transistor.fm/s/e24901de https://share.transistor.fm/s/bdea7b5e https://share.transistor.fm/s/cf79bbc1 https://share.transistor.fm/s/fac66438 https://share.transistor.fm/s/a90415cd https://share.transistor.fm/s/c0e8153e https://share.transistor.fm/s/6b6572f9

There's so much fan content and people screaming for more Tremors! Like "Perfection, NV", a fan film.

Or this collection of alt Tremors posters.

http://imgur.com/gallery/MgkhnfE

Including the thousands of pieces of fanart.

http://imgur.com/gallery/6f7Txh0

http://imgur.com/gallery/nXG1ph1

The story behind Tremors comics. http://www.enemyofpeanuts.com/2013/03/09/the-short-story-behind-tremors-comics/

Even the new Tremors game. OR games.

https://youtu.be/G6PX1QY2oIc

https://stefanocagnani90.itch.io/tremors-thegame

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tremors:_The_Game

https://www.playfg.com/dirt-dragons-game.html

Look at all this love.

And this isn't even an officially licensed game.

"A fortune", you say? Interesting....

So let's make Tremors 8 Ouroboros with the OG creators back on board.

https://imgur.com/gallery/o2kCFLu

We restart the TV show and end the movies for a while. Just like The Librarians. If Marvel can switch between movies and TV, Tremors can too.

If you think I'm crazy too, just see and know how I've been in this position before. I'm well aware of how this "story" plays out.

I mean, Tremors *does* foreshadows its ending with a sleeping bag. https://imgur.com/gallery/5HexQ

Notice too how you can find little Behind the Scenes for Tremors 5-7 despite a smorgasbord of material for 1-4 and both TV shows.

http://imgur.com/gallery/b4STAkl http://imgur.com/gallery/gSlZ1fC http://imgur.com/gallery/fnFt9MD http://imgur.com/gallery/6mDHTtg http://imgur.com/gallery/4M28quW http://imgur.com/gallery/w7rbUvZ http://imgur.com/gallery/6l0Dogl

And it's not like Universal isn't known for shady business practices. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Pictures

What about how they own the rights to damn near every monster except for Godzilla. And not just the classics like Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolfman, Mummy and Invisible Man. They have Kong, Hulk, Jaws, Michael Myers, The Thing, all the Jurassic Park dinos, all the Romero zombies, Chucky, Casper, Riddick beasts, Hellboy, and Jaegers/Kaiju. These dudes know merchandising rights and they're looking to score the next Poke'Mon franchise.

https://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2011/10/24/how-universal-re-copyrighted-frankensteins-monster/

Take a gander at all these articles gushing with love for Tremors:

Why the 'Tremors' Franchise Is Better Than the 'Alien' Movies https://collider.com/why-the-tremors-franchise-is-better-than-the-alien-movies/

As Kevin Bacon's Tremors returns to TV, we explain the entire franchise ​It's way more complicated than you think. https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a807140/tremors-franchise-series-guide-kevin-bacon/

20 Fun Facts About Tremors https://ew.com/article/1990/07/13/tremors/

Thirty Years After Tremors, Reba McEntire Tells Us Why She's Absolutely Down to Return For a Reboot https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a30457996/tremors-30-anniversary-reba-mcentire-interview/

30 years ago, Tremors became perhaps the most perfect bad movie https://www.thv11.com/mobile/article/entertainment/movies/film-on-11/getting-reel/30-years-ago-tremors-became-perhaps-the-most-perfect-bad-movie/91-8f6854df-9dcc-4870-ab3a-4f91a658ac3f

How Tremors 7 Succeeds Where Other Horror Movie Franchises Failhttps://screenrant.com/tremors-7-movie-succeeds-better-horror-movie-franchises-reason/

A Complete Rundown of the Entire Tremors Saga https://www.dreadcentral.com/editorials/363290/beneath-perfection-thoughts-on-the-entire-tremors-franchise/

Kevin Bacon Wants to Revisit His Only Film He Ever Re-Watched https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/kevin-bacon-tremors-1234956657/

Look at all this #BurtGummerDay love. That adds up to thousands of people watching Tremors for the first or fiftieth time. And this is only the first "official" year. It'll only grow.

http://imgur.com/t/burt_gummer_day

https://m.facebook.com/groups/2215552755347508/permalink/3124638257772282/?ref=m_notif¬if_t=group_comment

https://m.facebook.com/groups/2215552755347508/permalink/3124638397772268/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Tremors/about

Can you see the Tremors? Can you feel them? Fans want Tremors and they want it from Stampede. http://imgur.com/gallery/ZaVL7Mc http://imgur.com/gallery/f37bEV7 http://imgur.com/gallery/De6DlqQ

After all this time, and all this love, and all this greed, it's time we break Hollywood tradition and give power back to the people. When people can #RestoreTheSnyderVerse or #SaveTheVentureBros, we can #StampedeTremors for #BurtGummerDay.

Take this hope and fly!

#StampedeTremors

BTS, gifs, and videos of The Tremors Saga. Tremors: The Lost Tapes from S.S. Wilson's personal collection https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1EA9246EF966DDA2

Monster Makers https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/tmm-tremors/ https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/tmm-tremors2/

ADI's creation documentaries https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR9WUo3tIVnb4CyMR1SLVsxPyBwz1Met_ BTS gallery of Tremors http://imgur.com/gallery/b4STAkl

The making of Tremors https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=m-HUUt21tRA

Inside the Graboid workshop https://youtu.be/YgPuC2tNBpM

Stampede Entertainment's video archive for Tremors https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/category/videos/tremors/

Tremors opening https://youtu.be/gnqPYTOzc38

BTS gallery of Tremors 2: Aftershocks http://imgur.com/gallery/gSlZ1fC

Stampede Entertainment's behind the scenes of Tremors 2 https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/tremors2/

The making of Tremors 2 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fAlqzM0CyPI

Tremors 2 original script with Val, Earl, Burt and Heather. http://imgur.com/gallery/8QaHPRy

Tremors 2: Aftershocks opening https://youtu.be/pVi24Gc0KdQ)

BTS gallery of Tremors 3: Back to Perfection http://imgur.com/gallery/fnFt9MD Stampede Entertainment's behind the scenes of Tremors 3 https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/tremors3/

On the set of Tremors 3 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZhrvkB5nKs

Stampede Entertainment's video archive of Tremors 3 https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/category/videos/tremors3/

Tremors 3: Back to Perfection opening https://youtu.be/UXjdZitldB4

BTS gallery of Tremors the Series http://imgur.com/gallery/6mDHTtg

Stamede Entertainment's https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/tremors-series/

Behind the scenes of Tremors the Series lost monsters. https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/tremors-series-lost/

Cold opens for Tremors the Series https://youtu.be/srB6rZgv_Po https://youtu.be/v3ZkC08rKtg

BTS gallery of Tremors 4: The Legend Begins http://imgur.com/gallery/4M28quW Stampede Entertainment's behind the scenes of Tremors 4 https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/tremors4-2/

On the set of Tremors 4 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bppXVxldTqU The weapons of Tremors 4 https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/photos/weapons-of-tremors-4/

Tremors 4: The Legend Begins opening https://youtu.be/3gDlAEUBesg

BTS gallery of Tremors 5: Bloodlines http://imgur.com/gallery/6l0Dogl

Tremors 5: Bloodlines opening https://youtu.be/t8jrCVI676Y

BTS gallery of the unaired Kevin Bacon Tremors pilot http://imgur.com/gallery/w7rbUvZ

Script for the unaired Tremors pilot http://imgur.com/gallery/UbtTvyf

Trailer for the unreleased Tremors pilot https://youtu.be/hWU3GpKmIvw

Kevin Bacon talks Tremors. https://youtu.be/TAGOlEIR7mA

Interviews with Alec Gillis, Brent Maddock, Nancy Roberts, and Ron Underwood https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjmUAAK3guQ8t6dKzwH9V0RzerkdLr0d1

S.S. Wilson talks his Tremors career. https://youtu.be/ZJhZmty_dKs Making Perfection https://youtu.be/hpCSCQJEmnk

Have a question about Tremors? Find it here and if you can't find it, ask S.S. Wilson yourself! https://stampede-entertainment.com/site/fan-extras/tremors-faq/?include_category=general

And if you love Tremors enough to have made it this far, enjoy a collection of gifs for you to use at your pleasure.

Tremors http://imgur.com/gallery/kPiEe3d http://imgur.com/gallery/5Sb4Vpg http://imgur.com/gallery/1uZxiue http://imgur.com/gallery/NX5r2

Tremors 2 Aftershocks http://imgur.com/gallery/i1IZZf8 http://imgur.com/gallery/krcmrgQ http://imgur.com/gallery/GjTxAg1 http://imgur.com/gallery/DabFZTt http://imgur.com/gallery/QLTStyx http://imgur.com/gallery/P92e1ri http://imgur.com/gallery/IUAvd http://imgur.com/gallery/h8BZ0qN http://imgur.com/gallery/ZQi2KOb http://imgur.com/gallery/WDZdM

Tremors 3 Back to Perfection http://imgur.com/gallery/5ebddmR http://imgur.com/gallery/Rj9fqIy http://imgur.com/gallery/ikzXFbd

Tremors the Series http://imgur.com/gallery/cqSMk40

Tremors 4 The Legend Begins

http://imgur.com/gallery/ufV3of1 http://imgur.com/gallery/zPGBOW3 http://imgur.com/gallery/ri5jLRd http://imgur.com/gallery/y7A3l5D

Tremors 5 Bloodlines

http://imgur.com/gallery/Pmunxjo http://imgur.com/gallery/0yazNVG

Tremors 6 A Cold Day In Hell http://imgur.com/gallery/S4qlPCI http://imgur.com/gallery/Xa2mUsS

Tremors Pilot http://imgur.com/gallery/RXXjbKr http://imgur.com/gallery/kCErQyF

Tremors 7 Shrieker Island

http://imgur.com/gallery/FzpJllb http://imgur.com/gallery/JGweZjH

[superwho-am-i-kidding]

Burn, Baby Burn

Aziraphale’s corporation is left behind when he is recalled to Heaven. Crowley finds it within the burning bookshop.

For @asparklethatisblue 💙

Based on artwork from Val’s Twitter. Their artwork is always stunning, and they’ve given me permission to write a little something. Be forewarned: it’s all angst, baby!

Let me know if anyone would like a happier sequel! I also take requests for stories. :)

Likes/reblogs/comments are always appreciated!

Thunder crashed as the front door to A. Z. Fell and Co. slammed shut. A single candle toppled over and rolled towards a theatre program for A Sound of Music that was carelessly left on the ground. The flame immediately took hold and flourished amongst the stacks of yellowed paper. Fire had reached the top shelves in moments as the phone began ringing.

The sirens of the firetrucks mingled in with the screeching of tires and the blasting of Queen. A thin redheaded man stepped from a vintage Bentley and immediately headed towards the front doors. “Are you the owner of this establishment?” a firefighter hollered at the man.

“Do I look like I run a bookshop?” the man demon, Crowley, sneered, not stopping. He raised his arm and the doors swung open as firefighters called after him. He snapped his fingers again and the doors closed behind him. The flames and smoke were thick, and Crowley only sent a momentary glance towards the burning gramophone that was playing a distorted tune. The warped music only worsened the atmosphere of dread. “Aziraphale!” The demon ran through the shop, trying his best to avoid the pillars of flame. “Aziraphale, where the Heaven are you, you idiot? I can’t find you!”

Crowley looked up towards the bannister of the apartment that rest above the shop, hoping to catch any glimpse of the angel. “Aziraphale, for God’s– for Satan’s– aaahhh!” he screamed in frustration and dread. “For somebody’s sake, where are you?!”

A jet of water shattered one of the front windows and knocked the demon down. He landed hard on his back as his glasses were thrown from his face. He rolled over to pick them up and caught a glimpse of familiar shoes. His sunglasses were immediately forgotten as he crawled towards the shoes. “Aziraphale, get up, you idiot! We’ve got to go. You can’t save the books.”

Crowley gripped one of the angel’s ankles and hauled himself closer. “Aziraphale, get up.” He groaned as he pulled himself to his knees. “Aziraphale, come on.” He pushed on the angel’s chest and the body moved freely against his hand. Crowley grabbed the angel by the shoulders and hauled him into his lap. The blond head hung backwards limply, his throat outlined with the yellow and orange flames. “Aziraphale?” Crowley’s voice cracked as he gently lifted the angel’s head.

Aziraphale’s eyes remained closed and his arms hung limply at his sides. Crowley wrapped one arm across the angel’s chest as the other cradled his face. Crowley’s eyes burned yellow as he hugged Aziraphale close. “You’ve gone,” he whimpered. “Somebody killed my best friend! Bastards!” he screamed. “All of you!” His throat closed as he rocked their bodies together. “Don’t leave me,” he begged. “Angel, please don’t leave me… don’t leave me.”

He clung to the body of his only friend as time stopped around him. For a fraction of a second, he let the grief overcome him. Crowley took a deep breath to hold back his tears as he let his emotions take over. He pressed a brief kiss to the damp hairline of the angel in his arms. He pulled back as time continued and gently set the angel’s body back on the ground. He looked around for something to send the angel off with, when his eyes landed on the green-bound tome by Agnes Nutter.

His shaky hands scooped up the book and placed it gingerly on Aziraphale’s chest. Crowley folded the angel’s arms across his chest and the book before he stood, his face slack and his posture lacking any of its usual swagger. He stepped over the body of his friend and made his way back to the entrance of the bookshop. He turned back only once as the flames closed in on the body that remained. He swallowed thickly and turned away. As he left, he contemplated his options for the future. ‘Let the whole planet burn,’ he thought. ‘What do I care?’

He thought about all the time that lay ahead of him, all the years that would be spent alone. And once the Earth burned, so too would all the Holy Water burn with it. So he needed to work fast. But he would have to work up his courage first. And there was only one way to do it:

Drink.

[gilbirda]

Mondays, am I right?

Or Danny is an Arkham Security Guard, from this post

Forgot to link some AMAZING art for this idea. Inspired the 'sneakers' part.

SOME FANART FOR MY FIC

[Read on AO3][Read on FF.net]

Sequel - Employee of the month >>

The first thing Danny said when Jazz expressed her interest in interning at Arkham was:

“Are you out of your goddamn mind?”

To which she answered:

“It is said that you have to be a bit crazy to work in Arkham, soooo…”

Danny had to agree that her response was quick and true, but still he didn’t like her going to that madhouse and probably die because, I dunno, Joker woke up wrong or she tried to psychoanalyze the Riddler. He said this to her through the phone, hoping that she could imagine him pacing up and down the apartment.

“The security there is top notch, Danny, and the bat-fam is always one call away.”

“You know as well as I do that’s bullshit. The guards are human, some of those crazies are not.”

“That term is very harmful, Daniel,” she used her mom voice.

“Sorry. But you see what I mean, right? If anything happens I won’t be there to save you. Not in time, at least.” He could try and measure how long it would take to fly from his apartment to Arkham, just in case.

There was a long silence. He heard his sister breathe in, breathe out, like she was mentally preparing herself to say something.

“I… I heard, from other interns I talked to, that guard positions are always open. And that it’s super easy to get in.”

“Jazz. Are you-”

“Don’t. I know you. Don’t think I’ll ever forget the ‘visits’ when I started college.”

Danny looked down and stopped pacing. Maybe he was a bit overprotective of his sister. Maybe he freaked out for weeks after she moved to her dorm, complaining about how long it took him to fly there. 

He regretted nothing.

“Gotham is too far from Amity. I prefer cutting the chase and having you with me in Arkham than dealing with a helicopter little brother on the reg.”

He swallowed the knot in his throat. “Is this your sisterly way of telling me that I should get a job?”

“I gave up after you were fired from the Nasty Burger. Nasty Burger, Danny! Not even Val was fired, and she had another job and the Red Huntress business!”

“I know…”

Jazz sighed. “I’m going to nap a bit and then finish packing things up here. I’ll text you the site where you can apply for the guard job.”

“Thanks, Jazzy.”

“Don’t call me that. Love you.”

“Love you.”

***

Applying for the guard job at Arkham was surprisingly easy. They didn’t ask for good grades, only a highschool diploma. They asked if you could solve problems quickly and efficiently - easy peasy, he was Phantom and he had been in the hero business long enough. Also they required no criminal records or whatsoever.

Fortunately for him, Daniel Fenton was as clean as he could be.

He passed the initial online interviews and finally was asked to do a physical ability test on site. Once upon a time he would have considered enhancing his human side cheating (and he did not cheat); but after moving out from his parents’ house and being adopted under Sam and Tucker’s wings, he felt more and more comfortable with his ghost side bleeding into the human side. What was Phantom, if not an identity he used to justify a duality that wasn’t there? Daniel Fenton died in the portal and became something else, but it never was about two sides or two faces - he wasn’t human or ghost, he was both.

Somewhere along the way he stopped even changing to his ghost form to fight low level ghosts. He could access enough of his abilities with his human body; and it helped when he mastered The glare (Sam trademarked it) and the ability to project an aura of fear to scare troublemakers back into the Ghost Zone.

“You got the job, kid,” the giant of a man sitting before him said with a slightly confused frown.

“I’m not a kid. I’ll be 24 next month.”

The other man looked up from his papers, probably the physical test results, and looked up and down the scrawny form of Danny. Instead of feeling insulted, he just laughed.

“I’m tougher than I look, uh, um, sir.” 

The other man looked like he wanted to say something else, but gave up and shrugged. Danny guessed that he was probably expecting him to last very little.

“You start on monday.”

***

A few months into his new job Danny got the feeling that he found his calling. It was stimulating enough that he didn’t feel like dying all over again from boredom, and believe me, breaking fights between inmates was very entertaining; but also serious enough that he could satiate his obsession even so far from Amity. 

He had been worried a bit about this issue, promising himself that he would fly back on weekends and give a hand to his B-team (a name they didn’t like but he still referred to them like that); but with time the inmates of Arkham, weird enough, became part of his ‘people’ per say. 

It was a little bit like with ghosts - encounter, banter, beat up, return to the cell. The familiarity of the motions made the adaptation smooth and soon he felt comfortable enough to stop pretending to be human in the prison.

Jazz always told him to be careful with that around non-amity parkers. People from their hometown were used to seeing weird stuff and brushing it off as a ‘ghost thing’, but here, in Gotham, shining green eyes and sharp fangs was not going to be overlooked. And if people noticed, they would talk. And eventually reach the Bat’s ears.

Not good.

“And then I told that guy to mind his own business and he hit me! Can you believe it?” Danny came back to reality, nodding along. “Red defended my honor, because she’s amazing like that, but still we ended up here anyway.”

“Totally uncool.” He said.

“I know right?”

Danny sighed and checked his watch, knowing he had to move on with his patrol. “Hey, Harley, good talk. Do you mind if we continue after I finish my rounds?”

“Sure thing sweetcheeks,” she blew a kiss. “I will be here waiting.”

“You better.” His glare wasn’t The glare, but she still stuck her tongue at him and jumped down from the perch she had been swinging from.

He smiled from the other side of the bars, knowing that the other guard watching him from the reinforced door was one heartbeat away from a panic attack. No other guard dared approach Harley, with a good reason. The CAUTION tape on the floor indicating the minimum safe distance was also because of a good reason. 

But Danny? Danny could go wherever he wanted.

Weird enough he felt at home in Arkham. Which shouldn’t be something positive, he was aware, but the inmates reminded him so much of his usual ghost villains that he inevitably formed a bond with them. He also guesses that the fact that he was already dead deleted the fear factor - these mortals didn’t even know that ghosts were a thing and couldn’t dream of harming him in a way that matters.

Also, maybe, because he soon found out he was higher in the food chain than any of these people. So far no one emitted a predatory aura stronger than his, and he checked. Not even Killer Croc, not even Bane. The clown dude, Joker, he still hasn't met (he had been told it was a matter of time, if he survived until then), but as far as he knew, that dude was only human and in theory he couldn’t harm him.

(Anyway, he hated clowns. After Freakshow he hoped to never meet one, but the Joker was, like, the main villain in this place so yay, his bad luck strikes again!)

“Good night, Mr Fenton,” a voice called for him. He turned, finding Edward Nygma in his prison clothes cross legged on the bed. He looked bored. “I heard funny things from behind the walls today.”

“Yeah? Like what?” He walked closer. The other guard he was doing rounds with stepped away from the cell, one hand on the radio, ready to call for backup. Danny rolled his eyes. 

“No information is free, Mr Fenton.”

“What would be the price, then?”

“Give me a riddle.”

Danny’s eyebrows went up. “But don’t you know a ton of those? What could I offer that you don’t have?”

Riddler stood from his bed and walked towards the bars. “You are odd. That makes you interesting. Some new, something different.” He pointed at Danny’s feet. “For starters, I think sneakers aren’t part of the regulated guard uniform.”

Danny also looked down. “I love my shoes. What’s the problem?”

He left out that the shoes were ghost proof and wore them in case he had to fight a ghost (unlikely, but paranoia so far kept him, well, not alive, but on top of the game).

“Odd.” Riddle said the word like it was a compliment. “I’m still waiting.”

“Hmmm…” He thought for a moment. “I have no life but I can die. What am I?”

Nygma rolled his eyes. “A battery. You really suck–”

“Nope! A ghost!”

Riddler blinked. Danny blinked. The answer was a battery but he didn’t know any good riddles. He was more of a puny guy. 

“Did you hear about the Italian chef that died?”

“I don’t know if that-”

“He pastaway!”

Nygma breathed in. Breathed out. 

“You are cute. I’ll let you pass only because the death puns are funny.” He sighed. “Okay, I heard there was a break out planned for tonight.”

That erased Danny’s smirk from his face. His eyes glowed for a moment with a green tint, but Edward thought it was a trick from the fluorescents. 

“Is that so?” He tilted his head.

“The North block, I heard.”

“When?”

Before the Riddler could answer, the lights went down. The guard behind Danny shouted something about the radio not working. An EMP? The man’s heartbeat started picking up as he reached for the flashlight, turning it on and blinding Danny for a moment there.

“Huh? Your eyes…” The guard shook his head. “I’ll go to the Central room, stay put.”

Danny waited a few minutes, letting the darkness wash over him and the other inmates, who noticed what was going on and started cheering.

“So?” Nygma said. Danny turned, and could see perfectly well how the man tried to look towards his eyes, but was missing the spot by a mile. “Are you going to do something?”

The halfa smiled despite knowing that the inmate couldn’t see him. “Of course. I’d recommend you stay right in your cell, mister.”

“And if I try to escape in the confusion?” The bravery was only for show, Danny could hear Riddler’s heartbeat picking up under the soft glow of his eyes. Sam had told him it was creepy finding him in the kitchen at three in the morning, sitting in the dark, eyes reflecting light like an overgrown cat.

“You have the choice. But that would be a bad choice for you.”

***

He didn’t bother changing forms, not that he could actually hide anywhere secluded enough and not alert anyone with the shiny rings of light. Daniel Fenton in his guard uniform walked the hallways of the Asylum quietly recommending the agitated inmates to keep quiet.

They listened.

Maybe it was how no one heard or saw him come until he touched them on the shoulder.

Now in the North Block he focused for a moment, noticing where the quickest heartbeats were located. Shouts from guards and some gunshots broke the murmur of the nervous darkness around him.

Someone had died. He knew.

But at least he found where they were - the hunt was on.

Gravity could barely hold him as he ran towards where the soul left this realm, his sneakers not making any noise as they hit the concrete, brain working with all the extra information from his heightened senses in the dark. 

He found them.

They were four, the usual thugs, big broad men with guns and laughing and cackling at their last kill and what they would do after they got out of Arkham.

Down the hallway he could see the body of one of his colleagues - dead. His name was Carlos. He had a daughter. His husband was preparing a birthday party for him but it was supposed to be a secret. Carlos was dead.

“Where do you think you are going?” He said, letting his aura expand, eyes fixed on who looked to be the leader. “I suggest you go back to your cells.”

“Wha-”

“It’s the kid!”

“When did he-?”

“Go back to your cells.” Danny said again, not blinking even when they pointed their flashlights at him. His breathing was controlled, not letting rage consume him and do what he really wanted to do - which was pummel these criminals until they couldn’t eat solid food for months. It would be unprofessional.

“Or what, kiddo?” The leader said mockingly.

Danny hummed. “Or I’ll have to escort you back by force.”

He widened his stance, his mouth curving slightly up when the henchman at the back flinched. 

“Fat chance, shortie, we are getting out of this place tonight.”

“You can do that. But I will find you and I will drag you back.”

The leader laughed and pointed his gun at the guard. “We don’t fear the Bat. Why the hell would we fear you?”

He opened fire, his henchmen took that as a signal and opened fire as well, not caring about if they hit the other cells or another person. They fired until the clips were emptied, and then they waited for the smoke and debris to settle and check that the guard was dead.

Danny clicked his tongue from behind them.

They turned, for a moment noticing the glowing green eyes on the guard’s face. Weren’t they blue a moment ago?

Danny's smile was predatory, from ear to ear, teeth unnaturally white and suspiciously sharp. “That was a bad choice.” He tilted his head, but the rest of his body was eerily still. “You should have gone back to your cell.”

The would-be-escapees screamed, throwing their guns away and turning to run. Danny was there again, green eyes looking down at them with barely reigned in fury.

“No running in the hallways.” Was the last thing they heard before everything went black.

***

Danny blinked when the lights came back on, ignoring the uncomfortable switch from night vision to his normal human eyes. 

“Rowdy night?” Harley looked up from her book with a knowing smile. She probably knew by now what had happened, it took ages to calm down everyone and restore order in the whole prison.

Danny sighed deeply, letting his body slide down the bars of his new friend’s cell. She reminded him so much of Ember, or at least, the Ember he got to know after she stopped trying to take over the world.

“Mondays, am I right?”

The inmate snickered, approaching him to sneak a hand through the bars and pat his head. “There, there.” 

“Is it always so tiring around here?” Danny tilted his head, angling it to see Harley’s face when she smiled.

“Sometimes it is funnier. Sometimes the Joker is here and everyone is tense.” Her mouth curved down a little when she said his name. “But something tells me with you around here things are going to change.”

Danny hummed in response, letting the pats calm him down a little. A colleague had died and he thought, because that’s how he was, that it was his fault. He could have prevented that if he had been more aware, if he had heard about the escape sooner. He had let his guard down, relaxed, thinking that Phantom wasn’t needed anymore.

He couldn’t have that in his new haunt. Things were going to change, and maybe this time Danny Fenton could make a difference.

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