#it’s okay though it’s spooky month best time to play it

[margareit]

the fact it took me so long to finally buy and play through the quarry and it’s literally become one of my favourite games ever 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹

[navybrat817]

See Through You

Pairing: Dark!Nick Fowler x Female Reader Summary: You head to a carnival with your best friend and get more than you bargained for when your handsome neighbor bumps into you. Word Count: Almost 4.8k Warnings: Explicit sexual content, NONCON/DUBCON, unprotected vaginal sex, semi-public sex, choking, mirror sex, possessive behavior, mentions of stalking, breaking and entering, threat of violence and implied violence (not against the reader), Nick Fowler (he's a warning, okay?). A/N: Fix #8 Navy's Trick or Treat Nonsense! Special thanks to @maskedmistress87 who suggested dark!Nick with mirror and choking and @sgt-seabass and @tumblin-theworldaway for spitballing. ❤️ Beta read by the wonderful @buckets-and-trees ​(thanks for the feedback and help!), but any and all mistakes are my own. Divider by the talented @firefly-graphics. Please follow @navybrat817-sideblog for new fics and notifications. Comments, reblogs, feedback are loved and appreciated!

It was your best friend's idea to wear costumes to the carnival. Though it wasn't Halloween just yet, it was a good way to get into the spooky holiday spirit. You weren't sure why you decided on a Red Riding Hood costume, but the cape would keep you somewhat warm if it got too cold. So would the stockings. You even got a basket purse so you could carry your things around and keep in theme with the outfit.

If you were lucky, you'd find yourself a big, bad wolf to play with.

After adjusting the cape around your neck, you spritzed yourself with your favorite perfume and carefully set the bottle on your vanity. You always set it to the right of your jewelry box. Strangely, it wasn't in its usual spot the last few days. Just like your robe wasn't yesterday. You swore you set it on the left hook, but when you got out of the shower it was on the right.

It would’ve been easy to write it off as a roommate messing with you, but you lived alone.

“I really need to stop watching scary movies before bed,” you mumbled as you went to your dresser and shut your underwear drawer. It was ajar a few days ago. Had you left your place in such a hurry that you forgot to close it?

The ding of your phone pulled you from your thoughts, giving yourself one more look in your vanity mirror before you went to get the device.

“Two minutes away!” Kiki messaged you.

There was a slight chill in the air as you went outside to wait, but that wasn't why you shivered. Every once in a while, you had the feeling someone was watching you. Like a pair of eyes following your every move. It didn't make sense. There was nothing about you worth watching.

It didn't stop a chill from sliding down your spine as you looked over your shoulder every time you left your home. Or when you thought about the random things that moved around your place. As far as you knew, no one knew where your spare key was. You lost sleep wondering if some creep snuck in. If someone did break in, they didn’t take anything.

But if someone went into your place and didn't steal anything, what did they want?

“Nice costume.”

You jumped at the sound of a familiar voice, almost dropping your phone as you turned toward it. “Nick, you scared me.”

“Sorry,” he smiled, but didn't sound sorry at all.

“Sure you are,” you smiled back, your heart slowing to a steady beat again as you wondered how he managed to sneak up on you.

Nick Fowler moved into your neighborhood a few months ago. He usually kept to himself, but made it a point to give you a nod when he was going to or from work. While you wouldn't say you were friends, he was friendly enough with you and didn't bother anyone. He even helped you fix your cable when it went out some time back. As far as neighbors went, he was a good one.

And a handsome one.

The man turned quite a few heads when he unloaded boxes from the moving truck and you didn’t blame anyone for looking his way. With his athletic build, he carried the heavy items with ease. He had the bluest eyes you’d ever seen and his short, dark hair only helped to make them stand out more. The scruff surrounding his lips and along his chin looked long enough to leave a delicious burn if it ever touched your skin. You hardly ever saw him smile at anyone, except you. And he smirked at you on more than one occasion.

Like he had a secret he was itching to tell you.

“You okay?” He asked, taking a step closer. “You seem a little jumpier than usual.”

“Just a little tired. Haven't slept well the last few nights.”

“Is everything okay?”

You debated telling him what was going on since he sounded concerned, but decided against it. You didn't need to burden him with that. Besides, nothing was wrong. Just the spooky season getting under your skin. “Oh, yeah. Everything's fine. I’ll probably end up crashing when I get back.”

“Well, I'm here if you need anything,” he said after a moment. Those blue eyes of his meticulously looked over your costume. “So, you have a fun night planned?”

You almost tightened your cape around your body to hide from his gaze. Not that his attention wasn't flattering. It was kind of nice. Plus he was single as far as you knew and you never noticed him bringing anyone around. “Yeah. Going out with a friend."

Nick frowned a little. “He isn't wearing a wolf costume, is he?”

You swore there was a hint of jealousy in his tone, but you were probably imagining it. “No, she isn't,” you said, smiling as his shoulders relaxed.

“Well, it’s a great costume. You honestly look good enough to eat,” he said, chuckling a bit when heat crawled up your neck. “Sorry. I hope that didn’t sound bad.”

“No, don’t be sorry. I appreciate the compliment,” you said, both of you smiling as the warmth continued to move up to your face. “Do you have any plans?”

“I may watch a movie,” he said, running his fingers through his short hair. You tried not to stare at the veins in his hands or the way his sweater hugged his muscular frame. “It's too bad you can't join me.”

Your eyebrows shot up, not expecting his offer. Was it an actual offer? He hadn't invited you over to his place before. “Is it a scary movie? I like them, but sometimes they…”

“Scare you?” he guessed, his smile sympathetic as you nodded. “Well, you don't have to worry about any bad guys with me around. I can keep you safe.”

You smiled softly before Kiki pulled up to the curb. “Maybe another time?”

“Yeah, maybe,” he said, seemingly disappointed as he nodded toward the car. “Have fun at the carnival.”

Your smile slipped a little as he walked toward his place. “Thanks,” you called out, quickly getting into the car.

“Hey! Isn't that your super hot neighbor?” Kiki asked as you buckled yourself in.

“Yeah,” you replied, looking in the mirror as she drove off. Nick had stopped before he went inside and watched as the two of you drove away. It made you shiver. “He kind of invited me over to his place.”

“What?! And you're in here with me?” she asked, lightly smacking your arm. “You should've gone with him or invited him to come with us. You could’ve gotten laid tonight.”

At the reminder of your recent lack of sex life, you sighed. There was nothing wrong with having fun, but you wanted a bit more than that. Not like anyone had shown interest in you as of late. There was the guy who lived across the street who flirted with you weeks back, but he pretty much avoided contact with you the next day.

You wondered if he moved out since you hadn’t seen him since.

“You were already on your way and I didn’t want to just invite him,” you said, loosening your grip on your purse when your fingers began to ache. “It's weird though. He told me to have fun at the carnival, but I don't remember ever telling him I was going.”

How did he know?

“Maybe he guessed. Or maybe you mentioned it and forgot. I mean, you did say you haven't been sleeping well lately.”

“That's my own fault,” you said.

“Well, lack of sleep could be messing with your memory. And may I remind you that I told you to stop watching scary movies? They always make you jumpy,” she said, glancing over at you as her smile faded. Nick even noticed your jumpiness. “Look, we can skip this and go tomorrow. I don't mind.”

You shook your head and brushed the strange feeling off. She was right. Those films made you paranoid and she didn't need to deal with that. “No, it's okay. We deserve some fun.”

“You want some real fun, go visit your neighbor when you get back. He looks like he knows how to fuck.”

“I'm sure he does,” you giggled. You had no doubt about that. “But I'm not going to find out tonight.”

“You might. Who knows? He may even show up at the carnival to hunt you down.”

You both laughed, your smile bright and happy again. No one was going to hunt you down. No one was watching you. Your life wasn't some creepy movie. You just needed to relax and have a good time.

The carnival was in full swing, booming with cheerful music and shouts from people on the brightly lit rides. As you followed Kiki though, you kind of regretted not taking Nick up on his offer to hang out. Not even thirty minutes after you arrived, your best friend bumped into a hot guy. Literally bumped into him and almost spilled her drink on his shirt. Both of them had hearts in their eyes and they had been attached at the hip since. While you were glad she was having a good time, you were starting to feel a bit like a third wheel.

You also had that impression that someone was watching you again. Your skin prickled as you looked to the left and right, wishing the feeling would go away. It was silly. No one was looking at you. Everything was fine.

“Hey,” you said, tapping Kiki on her arm as she laughed at some corny joke. “I think I may explore on my own a bit.”

Her face fell as she looked between you and her new beau. “You sure? We can-”

“I'm sure. Really,” you assured her. She deserved to have a good time and would've encouraged you to do the same if you bumped into a guy. “I'll text you in a bit so we can meet back up?”

“Or I can give you a ride home.”

Surprise was written all over your face as you spun around. That was the second time Nick made you jump today, an amused smile on his face as you held your chest. He was in the same outfit you saw him in earlier, but he now had a sticker on the left side of his chest that stated, “Hi! My name is NICK”.

“What are you doing here?” You asked, his smile immediately fading as you took a breath. Your tone was a lot sharper than you intended. “I'm sorry. You just scared me again.”

Nick peered at you before he sighed. “Didn't mean to scare you or eavesdrop. I got bored watching the movie and decided to check this place out,” he said, glancing down at his feet for a moment. “I tried waving a minute ago, but I guess you didn't see me.”

You felt like a bitch. Maybe that was why you thought someone was watching you. It really was all in your head. “Sorry, I didn't see you.”

“Sorry I scared you again,” he said.

“It's okay. Really.”

“Well, neighbor, since you're here, you two should hang out,” Kiki suggested, giving you an encouraging smile.

What did you have to lose? “Would you like to join me?”

Your neighbor's smile was back on his handsome face. “Yeah, I'd like that.”

Kiki nudged you forward, moving you closer to Nick as your stomach flipped. “Text me when you leave or if you still need a ride.”

“Don't worry. I'll take care of her," Nick promised as she walked off with her new guy on her arm, leaving the two of you alone. “Lead the way."

“Okay," you said, maintaining a bit of distance as you walked beside him. You had no clue if you wanted to play games or go on a ride. “Anything in particular you want to do?”

“You.”

Your head twisted in his direction so quickly you almost hurt yourself. “What?”

“I said ‘boo’,” he said, pointing in front of him. The two-story, brightly lit funhouse had a bunch of random words on the panels, including “boo”. Why did you think he said “you”? God, you needed to get a grip. “Should we do that? It could be fun.”

With a small laugh, you nodded. “Fun in a funhouse,” you said, stopping when the carnival worker at the entrance held up his hand.

“I’m about to go on my break. Come back in thirty minutes.”

“Oh. Okay,” you said, shrugging a little at Nick. Maybe you could find something else to do.

Nick, however, didn’t budge. “That’s quite a break. Tell you what,” he said, taking out his wallet and pulling out a bill. The worker’s eyes lit up when he saw the amount. “Why don’t you take your break and let us go in anyway? We won’t cause any trouble.”

“Stay the whole time for all I care,” the guy said, taking the money with a toothy grin and letting both of you go past to walk up the steps. “Enjoy!” he added, roping it off with a “closed” sign before he walked away.

“Go ahead,” Nick urged, waiting for you to finish going up the stairs first.

The normally whimsical music sounded strange to your ears. Maybe it felt spooky since you knew you were the only two that would be inside. Or maybe it was because the movie you watched a couple of nights ago took place in a funhouse. A group of teens went in. Nobody made it out. No, this wouldn't be anything like that.

“We really could’ve just come back,” you said, holding onto the railing as the stairs shifted back and forth. You didn’t hear Nick follow right away. Glancing back, you swore you saw him check out your ass. Not that he could see much thanks to the cape.

“You might have decided to leave before we made it back this way,” he said as you came across a spinning barrel. Just staring at it made you slightly dizzy. “Not that it would’ve been a bad thing if we left since Kiki ditched you so quickly.”

“She didn’t ditch me,” you argued as you stepped into the barrel. The sound of a laughing clown filled your ears as you did your best to walk in a straight line. “She deserves some fun,” you added, regaining your balance once you stepped onto a normal floor again.

Nick followed you so silently that you didn’t realize he was right behind you until his lips touched your ear. “So do you.”

Hot air shot out of the ceiling above your head with a piercing whistle, giving you an excuse to jump away as your heart pounded. His eyes sparkled in amusement at your reaction. “Like I said, fun in the funhouse,” you teased, putting your hands along the walls as the hallway grew narrow. It was still large enough for you to squeeze through.

“Especially since we have the place to ourselves,” he reminded you.

A shiver rolled down your spine. You wondered exactly what kind of fun he wanted to have and if you should’ve chosen your words more carefully. “You know,” you began as you stumbled into a Hall of Mirrors, frowning as you realized there wasn’t an open door or space to move through. Which mirror did you have to push to get to the next room? “You didn’t say why you were wearing a nametag.”

“It's my costume," he said, tilting his head like the answer was obvious.

You glanced around to see if any of the mirrors had any smudges, anything to give away which direction to go. They were all clean. “And what exactly are you supposed to be?"”

He smirked as he met your reflection in one of the mirrors. “I’m dressed as your neighbour who’s gonna fuck you until you can’t remember anything but my name."

You nearly fell into the mirror and he quickly caught your arm to keep you upright, the grip a bit tighter than you expected. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me," he shrugged a little as he stepped closer. “Almost wore a wolf costume so I could chase you down. The subtle hints I've dropped aren’t working, so I might as well spell it out for you.”

You tried to figure out if he was joking or not. Your reaction was to giggle. A nervous, soft laugh that seemed to wipe his smirk away. “Is that why you came here tonight? You were hoping you'd fuck me?” you asked, remembering your earlier talk with Kiki. “I don’t even remember telling you I was coming here.”

He tapped his ear. “I heard you on the phone with your friend.”

“I was in my bedroom when we made those plans. There’s no way you could've…” you trailed off, a sense of dread pooling in your stomach as he stared at you. Did his eyes always have a dangerous glint to them? “Nick, how did you hear that phone call?”

“Take a wild guess, sweetheart.”

You swallowed a little. “It’s you, isn’t it? You’ve been messing with me.”

It sounded crazy to your ears and you didn’t want to believe it because blaming it on irrational fear was easier. But the single, unashamed nod he gave you almost made you crumble. “I never told you what I do for work, but I’m good with setting up bugs and cameras. And such a sweet thing like you living so close, I couldn't help myself,” he explained casually, like he wasn’t admitting to something completely messed up. “You make such pretty noises when you touch yourself.”

“You watched me,” you whispered, your head spinning when he smirked. He watched you in your intimate, private moments. What else did he do?

“Knocking out your cable gave me the perfect excuse to get inside your place without raising suspicion. You never would've invited me over otherwise. Though you really should be more careful where you keep your spare key. Made it way too easy for me to make a copy.”

You held your stomach to keep from getting sick. So many thoughts raced through your mind as he advanced on you. Why had you ignored your instincts? Did your attraction to him partially blind you? “Why?”

“Because I wanted to. Because you’re mine. Take you pick,” he said, wrapping a hand around your neck before you could move back. “You have no idea how tempted I was to break down your door and fuck you after watching the footage. Or every time I snuck into your place. I even moved things around in the hope you’d turn to me and let me 'help you' figure out what was happening, but you didn’t. You kept your distance. Your little ‘hard to get’ act was cute, but a man can only take so much.”

Each word he spoke added a new layer of dread and alarm. He squeezed a little when you tried to pry his hand away, tears blurring your vision. Shouting wouldn’t do you any good, but it didn’t stop the screams in your mind. “I wasn't playing hard to get. I liked you,” you managed to say.

“And you weren't trying to lead that flirty neighbor on either, but you're too sweet for your own good. Don't worry. I took care of him. He'll never bother you again,” he smirked as your blood ran cold. What did he do? “Or anyone else for that matter.”

The man was insane. “Nick, you-”

He cut you off when he pressed his soft and warm lips against your mouth. You were two seconds away from biting into his bottom lip when he spun you around and shoved your front against the closest, normal mirror. It didn’t budge. “I’m tired of waiting for you to come around,” he said, yanking your cape off. “Tired of just watching when I know you belong to me.”

You froze, unable to fight or yell when he shoved your costume up. No one would hear you over the sounds of the carnival and the worker running the attraction wasn't close by. Why weren’t you fighting? Why couldn’t you do anything to stop him?

“Nick, let’s talk,” you tried to reason. “Please, you don’t have to do this.”

The sound of him tearing your underwear away made the first tear fall. “We're past the talking stage,” he snarled, kicking your legs apart before you whimpered. You weren’t sure if it was the sound that softened his gaze or the sight of your tears. “I’m not going to hurt you, sweetheart. That’s the last thing I want to do.”

His words did nothing to soothe you when he undid his pants. “You are hurting me,” you whispered. He hurt you by bringing fear into your life when he could've just asked you out.

“Am I?” he asked, parting your opening with his fingers. He chuckled darkly as he pushed a digit in with no warning. “Then why are you so wet?”

You whined in denial, but he was right. Arousal trickled along your thighs, your hole aching with the need for him to fill you with something larger than his finger. What was wrong with you? “No,” you moaned.

“Don’t deny me,” he growled, nosing along your neck before he bit down. You yelped, the sharp pain making you tighten around his finger. “Oh, sweetheart, we’re going to have so much fun together.”

Your body betrayed your will as he played with you and you were thankful momentarily when he pulled out. The relief was short-lived when you looked over your shoulder, just in time to watch him unzip his pants and take his hard cock out of his underwear. He’d break you with his size. “You can’t, please.”

“Yes, I can,” he said as he pressed the head of his cock against your sopping wet entrance. “Now be good and take what I give you.”

“Don't-”

“The only thing I want to hear you say is my name. Let’s let your pussy tell me how much you want me.”

You screamed as he pushed inside, your walls burning as you tried to accommodate for the size of him. He hadn’t prepped you nearly enough, though your arousal took some of the pain away. He didn’t pause to give you a chance to adjust either, as if the wet sound of you sucking his cock in gave him permission to take what he believed belonged to him.

“Fuck, your pussy feels better than I imagined,” he groaned, your resolve cracking as you opened your eyes. He forced you to meet his gaze in the mirror and you watched in horrid fascination as he took you. The surrounding glass showed every angle of his claim, your reality becoming more and more distorted. He surrounded you. Consumed you. “And it’s all mine.”

You made a small sound as you braced your hands on the glass, forced to feel every drag of his cock. The more he moved, the more you tried to grind your hips back against his. It was shameful for you to like it, humiliating that you wanted to get off because of him. It was as if your body no longer belonged to you and maybe it never did. Otherwise, why would you want this?

“When I get you home, I’ll take my time. Get you addicted to my cock,” he grunted, smiling at the glazed look in your eyes. “I’ll record it. Make you see how much you love it.”

“Nick,” you gasped when he put his hand around your throat again, a silent command not to close your eyes or look away. You moved a hand to his wrist when it became harder to breathe. He loosened his grip enough for you to inhale and slid his hand down to your chest, squeezing one of your breasts with a moan. You moaned, too.

“That’s it, sweetheart. Look at you. Look at us,” he groaned as he thrust faster. The hand on your chest moved back to your throat when he reached under your skirt. “See how perfect we are together? How well you take my cock? You know you belong to me.”

The sloppy sounds of your cunt got louder as he found your clit and rubbed it quickly. It was almost too much, but you craved more. What was the point of denying him when your pussy kept trying to pull him back in? Why fight the inevitable pleasure when your body surrendered to him?

You weren’t sure how much time had passed and it didn’t matter. You were lucky to remember your own name. He was fucking you dumb and you wondered why the fear faded. You knew it would return when he finished, but you felt ecstasy for now.

“My fucking slut. Never letting you go,” he said, pinching the bundle of nerves with a smirk as you breathed his name. The familiar twist of pleasure grew and his name was the only word you said as dark indulgence flooded your veins. You were going to come and there was nothing you could do to stop it. “So come for me. Right. Fucking. Now.”

The rough demand made your fluttering hole squeeze around him almost painfully. You struggled to hold back, but the release washed over you like a tidal wave. All you could do was helplessly pant as you trembled, his soaked cock thrusting still so he could join you in sweet bliss. And you wanted it. You wanted him to come inside you.

You could hate yourself later for wanting it so badly.

“You. Are. Mine,” he growled, his name falling from your lips as he tipped over the edge. You spasmed around him still as he finished, your cunt filled to the brim. “Mine.”

You gasped for air as he buried his face in your neck, your body shaking as you pressed your forehead against the glass. Your mouth opened, but no words came out. Maybe once you had the strength you'd run. Scream. Cry.

“Look at me,” Nick breathed, his lips touching your pulse. You blinked some of the haze from your eyes as you lifted your head, your heart still racing out of control. Minus the darkened tint in his cheeks, he looked normal. Not a hair out of place. Like he hadn't forced himself on you. “Didn't have to be like this, but it would've happened no matter what."

You nodded, believing him. He took you in the middle of the funhouse without a care of getting caught. He got what he wanted.

“And don't even think about running away from me or I'll chase you down,” he added.

Feeling his spend slide out of you as he pulled out helped the reality of the situation sink in. He took you and you didn't stop him. “I won't,” you answered in a small voice you didn't recognize as he tucked himself away and fixed his pants.

“Good,” he smiled, retrieving your cape from the ground and wrapping it back around you. “Because I'd hate for anything to happen to Kiki. Such a nice coincidence that some guy bumped into her, isn't it?”

You shook your head quickly, tears forming in your eyes again. “No, don't hurt her,” you begged. If what he said about your neighbor was true…

Nick cooed as he framed your face and gently kissed your lips. It was so tender and you almost believed he was capable of being good. Almost. “Be mine and I won't.”

He said it casually, but his eyes told you not to defy him. “I'm yours,” you whispered.

“Good girl,” he said, pulling a hand away to check his watch. “Time's almost up. Let's go.”

You had a hard time moving your feet, but he put an arm around you to help. It was like you were drunk, unable to see or think straight as he quickly found which mirror to exit through. You just wanted to go home, but he took your safe haven away.

Was Nick Fowler your villain or was he an antihero for doing whatever it took to get you?

“Don't worry. We'll let Kiki know you got home safely. You can even tell her I asked you out tonight,” he said, flashing a smile at you that made him look like he'd take a bite out of you. “And when we get back to my place, I'll get you addicted to my cock like I promised.”

So, what do we think? Love and thanks for reading! 🧡

Masterlist ⚓ Nick Fowler Masterlist ⚓ Ko-Fi

[konata-izumi-kinny-writes]

Sfw Headcanons of Dating Jack Skellington

This man is so sweet fr fr, he needs a hug 🖤

[WARNING: mentions of horror movies]

HAPPY SPOOKY MONTH, YAAAALL!!!!

🖤 boi where do i start lel

🦴 Mans is a big cuddler

🧡 like for real, hes so sweet

🦴 Lots of kisses from this big boi

🖤 Like, for real, hes the most affectionate thing out there

🦴 king of the pumpkin patch, AND romance

🧡 Will scare anyone who makes you sad or angry. And he won't scare you unless you tell him you're okay with it.

🦴 hes a huge flirt. Like, the BIGGEST flirt out there

🖤 make things for him, HE'LL LOVE IT

🦴 hell, he loves you

🧡 Jack makes the best Cider and Hot Cocoa

🦴 His favorite thing to do for a date, is getting caramel corn and going for a walk with you under all of the trees.

🖤 the sun shining through the orange, yellow, and red leaves makes for a beautiful atmosphere

🦴 yall play fetch with Zero too :3

🧡 Wear a skeleton costume :)

🦴 He will either, 1: find it funny, 2: be confused, or 3: be flustered

🖤 I have no idea why, but i headcanon that Jack can play the piano and cello. I have no idea why but it just fits imo

🦴 Sing with him :D

🧡 wait- you expect me to not headcanon a disney character to be musical??... you're insane LMFAO

🦴 Pumpkin bread with chocolate chips is one of Jack's favorite things, if you like baking, make this for him lol

🖤 If you don't live with him and in a seperate house he will walk you home every single time, doesn't matter if you live next door or not.

🦴 HE👏 WANTS👏 YOU👏 SAFE👏 AND👏 IN👏 ONE👏 PIECE👏

🧡 Speaking of which, he's pretty protective of you, but not to the point where its suffocating

🦴 So its basically canon that he knows how to sew right, thats straight up.

🖤 BUT HEAR ME OUT!!!!

🦴 he makes monster plushies with it AND NOBODY CAN CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE

🧡 Like c'mon now, how can you own a sewing machine and NOT make plushies?!?! Its UNHEARD of /j

🦴 Have autism? Or anything similar to it?? HE STIMS WITH YOU!!! (Its because he thinks its fun :3)

🦴 Annoy Jack with bone puns, his reactions are priceless 🤣

🖤 His pet names for you are, Dear, Darling, and Pumpkin

🧡 He likes horror movies, if they're too much for you to handle, thats okay. Jack can always settle for less scary movies.

🦴 His favorites are The Descent, the Saw movies, Trick r' Treat (He thinks Sam is adorable), Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark (because of the nostalgia from the books), and the Fear Street movies

🖤 If you can't handle those scary movies he'll watch mellow ones with you. Like Hocus Pocus, Spooky Buddies, Halloween Is Grinch Night, etc.

🦴 He loves animals... spooky ones.

🧡 This boi wants a Bat, Frog, Tarantula, Snake, Black Cat, or maybe another ghost dog :)

🦴 As long as its not venomous

🖤 It'd be nice for Zero to have another playmate :D

🦴 okay so, while this talks about snuggling in bed and body anatomy, this isn't in a nsfw way so bear with me here lol

🧡 While yall are snugglin, you can flick his ribs to make them sound like a xylophone. You can totally play a song 🤣

🦴 Hes totally interested in your muscles, fat, and skin

🖤 like ???? How tf are you so squishy?!

🦴 He's not complainin though, he loves you how you are <3

🧡 He has cute lil monster outfits for you, Jack lets you pick out your clothes but he just has them for you just in case :)

🦴 Okay so... lets get one thing straight (unlike me LMFAO)

🖤 As a monster, Jack doesn't need to sleep, but he does.

🦴 But this means sometimes he doesn't sleep at all and just wanders around the house at 3 A.M.

🧡 and its actually lowkey scary when you run into him at those times

🦴 He just looks way scarier than usual without even trying. And oh my gosh.

🖤 There have been MULTIPLE times where Jack accidentally scared you half to death while you were looking for a snack 🤣

🦴 When all is said and done, Jack Skellington is a really sweet dude who means well. A very loving person :)))

Thanks for Reading,

HAPP SPOOP MONTH

[gaybananabread]

TickleTober Day 1 - Anticipation

Welcome to October! I’m really excited to have these posting, and I’m hyped to see how everyone that requested likes their fics! They’ll be posting day-by-day, so if you requested #29, it’ll be posted on October 29th! Figured I’d start out with something i haven’t done yet, so here’s some Steven Universe Future! (definitely not projecting on steven whaaaat)  I hope you all have an amazing spooky season, Enjoy!!

Lee: Future!Steven

Ler: Amethyst 

Summary: Steven hasn’t been doing the best mentally, especially on the bad days. Amethyst has the perfect way to help, but being herself, adds a playful edge to it.

Warnings: Possible SUF spoilers maybe? A spot angsty at the start. This is a tickle fic, so if you don’t like that, scroll away!

The past few months had been…they’d been interesting. Steven finally started getting the help he needed, and the gems had been supporting him however they could. The therapist was nice, she helped him through some of his most traumatic moments. Topics on his mom…they were still touchy, but he was getting there. He had a name for one of his problems now. “Abandonment Issues…” 

There’s still days where he feels lousy. He couldn’t remember the official term, but he liked to call them “spew days.” Days where his emotions just got the better of him. Days like today.

Steven was sprawled out on the couch, staring blankly up at the ceiling. He…he felt like poop. Not as bad as he did with Connie’s “not yet,” but definitely crummy. The teen didn’t even notice when Amethyst came through the door until she flopped down next to him. 

“Hey dude! Oh…Steven, what’s wrong?” He grunted, shrugging. It wasn’t a lie either, at least not completely. A combination of things was wrong, though he couldn’t pinpoint what they all were. He just…wasn’t okay.

“Steven, c’mon. Remember the whole “we talk about our feelings” deal we made?” The purple-hued gem’s expression softened, giving him a little nudge. They had all agreed that whenever something was wrong, they would do their best to communicate the problem. Steven sighed, knowing it would probably help. 

“I just…feel crummy. It’s a bunch of things. Sorry…” Amethyst immediately shut that down. “Hey, hey. No. You’ve got nothing to be sorry about. Your feelings are valid, no matter how confusing they are. If you can’t say it, that’s okay.” Gosh, why are his friends so awesome? He held out his arms, silently asking for a hug. His friend was more than happy to oblige.

“C’mere bud.” She wrapped her arms around the 16 year old, hugging him tight. He felt a bit of the gross feeling go away, melting into the touch. He needed this. Ever since the monster incident…hugs have been his everything. “Thanks Amethyst…”

His voice was a bit too deep and airy for her liking. He needed a cheer up session, pronto. Lucky for him, she had the perfect idea. “Ya know Steven… you could use some fun. How about we play some Steven Tag, with a twist?” 

A twist? Why was she smiling like tha-…oh. Oh. He pulled away from the hug, a smile tugging at his lips. “Amehe- Amethyst no!” The purple gem crossed her arms, smirking. Amethyst shifted into the present version of Steven, snickering. “You got ten seconds. You get tagged, you get tickled…better run.” 

Crap…crap! He got up off the couch, backing away from his friend. She couldn’t be serious, right? “Amethyst, c’mon! You- you’re joking right? Right?” She just smirked, holding up ten fingers. She was not joking. She slowly lowered one finger, then another, then another, dragging out each word with a teasing tone. “Ten, nine, eight…”

Time to run! He took off in the opposite direction, running into the warp area. The door opened for him, his pink and cloudy room offering a nice place to hide. Steven zipped inside, trying to ignore the butterflies in his stomach. The room, sensing his needs, quickly made a few hiding spaces. Cabinets, closets, doors, tables with cloths, a bunch of hiding spot’s any kid would think of. All of which are horrible for actual hiding. It would have to do… He ducked into the most boring closet he saw, finding a pile of blankets inside. He burrowed under them, tried his best to make sure nothing was poking out, and hid. 

Amethyst finished her countdown, chuckling as she walked over to the door. It opened to her room, but that was just a minor inconvenience. She knew her way around those rooms like the back of her gem. Running over to her stack of couch cushions and rubber ducks, she shoved them out of the way, revealing the secret path to Steven’s room. Can never be too prepared for mischief. She jumped through the hole, feeling gravity shift as she landed on the soft, pillowy clouds of Steven’s room. Time for some fun…

“Oh Steven~! Where are ya, bud? I just wanna play~!” When she saw the silly hiding spots, she snickered. Just like old times… Amethyst began opening the cabinets, trying to find the teen. “You know you can’t hide from me, man. I’m gonna find ya, and when I do, you’re gonna get it~” 

Steven clamped a hand over his mouth, trying to muffle his anticipatory giggles. He had forgotten how evil Amethyst was when it came to these games… The butterflies in his stomach were going wild, swarming and sending a blush to his cheeks. He hadn’t been tickled in a good while. That somehow made the fluttery, bubbling feeling worse. 

Turns out he sucked at being quiet. Amethyst easily heard his poorly muffled giggles, the cloudy walls of the closet almost paper-thin. Guess some things never change. “Steven, Steven, Steven. Still a gigglebug through and through.”

She slowly walked towards the closet, stomping her feet to make as much noise as possible. She wanted him to know how screwed he was. Knowing he was already caught, he removed his hand from his mouth, letting the giggles fly free as he leaned against the door. No way was he gonna go down without a small fight.

Amethyst jiggled the doorknob, pushing against it. You’d think that it would be easy, it being made of clouds and all. But no. The manifestations were linked to Steven’s conscious and subconscious thoughts, and right then, they wanted that door solid and stable. He only forgot one thing; a towel for under the door. Shape-shifting to an ant, the crystal gem easily slipped under the door. She scurried behind Steven before shifting back, growing to a purple-hued version of him. “Peek-a-boo~” 

Now, he handled his surprise very maturely. He definitely didn’t shriek and run into the door. Definitely not. His best friend snorted, snatching him up in her arms. “Tag! Ya know what that means…” Shifting back to her regular form, the gem wiggled her fingers into his sides, not releasing him from the reverse hug. He yelped, squirming around and digging his heels into the carpeted floor. 

“Amehethyst! Qu-quihihihit it!” Even though he was currently taller than the other gem, he couldn’t escape the ticklish hold. The closet was small, not allowing much room for squirming or thrashing. Lucky for him, Steven’s subconscious threw him a bone. The closet poofed out of existence, momentarily startling Amethyst. She pulled him closer, hugging him tightly before she realized what happened. 

“Ooooh, I get it. Someone’s a bit too ticklish for their own good, huh?” The wiggling fingers quickly resumed their tickly pattern on his sides, pulling sweet giggles from the teen. He gripped her wrists, trying to pry her hands off. That did next to nothing; the crystal gem was having way too much fun. She had completely forgotten about her Steven Tag excuse, just wanting to tickle her friend. He needed a good laugh anyways.

She knew exactly where to go to get him really laughing, his younger years giving her plenty of time to learn his best spots. Amethyst moved her tickling to his belly, slowly getting closer to his gem. Steven knew what she was doing; it was the same pattern as when he was young. Sides, belly, gem, and if he was still breathing, underarms. Normally, he’d be embarrassed of the tickling. But right now? It was actually a fun distraction from his thoughts. “Nohoho! Dohon’t you dahare!”

A little teasing wouldn’t hurt. She slowly circled her fingers around the edge of his gem, sending ticklish little shocks to his belly. Frantic giggles bubble out of him, his anticipation building as she toyed with the edge of his gem. “A-Ahamethyst! Thihis is mehehean!”

“Uh, no duy. That’s why I’m doin’ it!” She chuckled and scritched a little faster, trying to get a squeak or two out of him. And, as expected, his giggles turned squeakier than a rusty door hinge. The feeling of her fingers so close to his worst spot was killer. No amount of squirming or wiggling was helping, the butterflies in his stomach going nuts. 

He caved within thirty seconds, patting her arm and speaking with a whiny tone. “Ahamethyhyst! Juhust- just dohoho ihit ahahalreheady!” That almost got her. Almost. Rolling her eyes, the teasing ended, making way for the main event.

Following her pattern, Amethyst’s playful scribbling moved to his gem, sending the crazy ticklish sensations across his whole midsection. He was constantly changing and growing, but his sensitivity didn’t seem to get the message. He squealed, kicking as his knees gave out. “COHOHOME OHON! NOHOT FAHAIR, LEHEMME GOHOHO!” 

It was kinda adorable, in a dorky way. Steven had always liked being tickled, even if he never voiced that opinion. It was pretty obvious when he was younger. Recently, however, he had been drifting away, closing up, avoiding anything “childish” or “immature” to him. They now knew why, and were working towards improving his self-image and communication skills. Still, progress was slow. Seeing him laugh again…it was nice. 

Amethyst was so engrossed in her thoughts that she barely noticed when Steven was tiring out. He hadn’t had much energy to start the day, and quickly wore out from the tickling. He slumped against his best friend, leaning into her as the tickling wore him down. 

“AHAHA-AHAHAMETHYHYST! IHIHI- AHAHAHA!” Her smile softened when she regained focus. The scribbles on his gem slowly came to an end, her hands switching to rub the ticklish areas. He practically melted into her touch. The soft happiness from the tickling paired with her gentle attention had him on cloud nine. “Thahahanks…”

Okay, that warmed her gem. She shifted to a bear, carrying him up to his bed. It wasn’t the first time she’d done it, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. The contented drowsiness was a major improvement from his earlier gloom. Lumbering up the stairs, she laid him down, shifting back to her regular form. It wasn’t late, but one little nap wouldn't hurt his sleep schedule. Right as she turned to leave, a soft hand tugged her back. “Hey…stay?” 

The warm smile on her face somehow got even softer, pitchy chuckles shaking her shoulders. “‘Course, bud. Gimme a sec.” She shifted shape once again, now a fluffy, lavender cat. Pawing at the blankets, she curled up beside Steven, pressing her soft fur against the star on his shirt. The bouncy-haired teen draped an arm over his now-feline friend. He was completely spent and ready for a nap. 

A low purr rumbled in her chest at the soft gesture. Steven always found new ways to surprise them, either with kindness or some new ideal. The other gems would have likely been home soon, but she didn’t really care. Garnet and Pearl could tease all they want if it meant she could spend some quality time with Steven. 

Amethyst didn’t need sleep, but it was always nice to get some; especially in moments like those. The teen was out in seconds, his friend soon joining. The day had taken a turn for the better, all thanks to a bit of playful mischief and care. Moments like those are what makes being a crystal gem all the more worth it…

[sailoryooons]

Filled Requests

All filled requests from milestone events, Hali's Happy Agust or otherwise are listed here. These cannot be found on my main masterlist.

Note: Requests are only open for special events. Please check my nav to see if requests are open before sending a request.

JIN

The Store | Request Fill | Enemies to ?

For as long as you’ve worked at the upscale grocery store in the northern part of the city, you’ve hated Seokjin. He’s charming and smooth and you’re always fighting for employee of the month. It isn’t until you both show up at a house in the middle of the night that you realize how much you have in common. 

YOONGI

Coffee Mates | Request Fill | Fluff

Summary: Every day, Yoongi works at the coffee shop in his little corner of the world. Every day, you come in and order the same thing, sitting in the same booth. The only problem is, Yoongi is pretty sure you don’t know that you’re one of the few humans in a faerie coffee shop. 

Dandelions | Request Fill | Fluff

Summary: Sometimes it feels like the world freezes, capturing a single memory that you know you’ll keep forever. Since dating Yoongi, your life is full of them. Yoongi just happens to create more core memories on a simple road trip.  

Evening Rain | Request Fill | Fluff

Summary: These types of evenings are your favorite: night in, rain against the window, and your boyfriend curled over a book, glasses sliding down his nose and hair mused.  

Fallen | Request Fill | Angels and Demons | Angst | Enemies to Something

Summary: Injured and separated from the rest of your scouting group, you find yourself in the unlikely hands of a demon. After spending time with him though, you decide he’s not so bad after all. 

Fang F*cker | Request Fill | Vampires | Crack | PWP | Yoongi x Jungkook |

Summary: Jungkook loves reading his smutty vampire comic and so what if he fashions himself a little bit after the main character. Yoongi finds it wildly offensive. Every day he has to watch Jungkook play at being ominous and spooky - and okay, maybe it’s a little cute. But it’s mostly offensive, and Yoongi would know. He’s a vampire, after all. 

Fireside | Request Fill | Fluff | Smut

Summary: A cozy trip to the woods is exactly what you and Yoongi need to manage your stress. You especially love the moments when Yoongi gets to enjoy you right by the fireside. 

Getaway | Request Fill | Smut

Summary: Your tropical honeymoon is planned down to the very minute to get the most out of your trip but it seems that Yoongi has plans of throwing off your itinerary every time his hands touch you. 

Heartache | Request Fill | Angst | Smut

Summary: Unresolved feelings lead to nothing but heartache when you run into Yoongi at a wedding five years after breaking up. Especially when you realize that despite Yoongi have feelings for you, there is still another woman on his arm. 

Hunt | Request Fill | Werewolves AU | a/b/o | PWP

Summary: Your alpha wants to go on a hunt through the woods. Who are you to deny him?

In the Morning | Request Fill | a/b/o | Smut

Summary: It doesn’t get much better than waking up every morning next to your mate. Especially when he decides to make you breakfast.

Let Me | Request Fill | Friends to Lovers | PWP

Summary: Yoongi admits he’s never had a blowjob in his life. You want to rectify that.

Off My Face | Request Fill | Angst

Summary: Yoongi has been in love with you for as long as he can remember. He has followed you down every curve in the road, over every mountain, and through every river for you. But you’re his best friend, and your love was always meant for someone else.

Paper Rings | Request Fill | Established Relationship | Fluff

Summary: Yoongi cheers you up in the kitchen after a bad day, reminding you of just how much you love him.   

Quite for Me, Yeah? | Request Fill | Established Relationship | PWP

Summary: Yoongi wakes you up early in the morning in the best way possible. Only rule: don’t wake up Namjoon who sleeps just a few feet away from you.

Right Here | Request Full | Friends to Lovers | Comfort

Summary: You’re tired of the revolving door of boys in your life. Yoongi is tired of watching you nurse feelings in the quiet of your apartment.

Samsara | Request Fill | Angst | Urban Fantasy | Lovers to Enemies | Yoongi x Jimin

Summary: samsara [sɘm-sӓr-ɘ](noun) : the indefinitely repeated cycles of birth, misery, and death caused by karma. OR: Yoongi has made a terrible mistake that has bound Jimin to a life of endless grief. 

Small Bites | Request Fill | Smut | Fluff | Established Relationship | Vampires

Yoongi is none too pleased about the movie that Seokjin has selected for the weekly movie night. You know just how to cheer him up. 

Sunday Chores | Request Fill | Established Relationship | Dom/Sub Dynamics

Summary: Sunday is chores day in your house. It’s been that way since before your marriage to Yoongi. Except this Sunday, he surprises you with a little twist in your routine.

Sunder | Request Fill | Fated Lovers | Angst | Smut

Sunder (sun·​der) transitive verb : to break apart or in two : to separate by or as if by violence or by intervening time or space

Track 11 | Request Fill | Established Relationship | PWP

Summary: Yoongi has been lacking inspiration in the studio. When one of his coworkers suggests using some out-of-the-box background effects for his music, Yoongi realizes that you’re the perfect person to help him.   

Twelve | Request Fill | Magic | Enemies to Something Crack

Summary: When the red string of fate appears around your ankle, you have twelve days to find your fated partner or die. That’s how the spell works - that’s how fate has always run Her business. There is one, very inconvenient witch who keeps getting in your way, though, and you might just kill each other before your mark does. 

Witch | Request Fill | Enemies to Lovers | Urban Fantasy | Smut

Summary: For years, you and Yoongi have played cat and mouse. It’s his duty to rid the world of witches, but he always finds a new excuse to let you slip through his fingers. When you find yourself at his mercy, you wonder if the great witch hunter will finally end your game of chase, or if there’s something that will stay his hand. 

NAMJOON

Just This | Established Relationship | Domestic Fluff

Summary: After a stressful day at work, you go home brimming with tears and frustration. Thankfully, Namjoon is always willing to help and soothe you with open arms.

JIMIN

Samsara | Request Fill | Angst | Urban Fantasy | Lovers to Enemies | Yoongi x Jimin

Summary: samsara [sɘm-sӓr-ɘ](noun) : the indefinitely repeated cycles of birth, misery, and death caused by karma. OR: Yoongi has made a terrible mistake that has bound Jimin to a life of endless grief. 

TAEHYUNG

Midnight | Request Fill | Fluff | Established Relationship | Taehyung x reader

Summary: Taehyung loves being your prince charming, even if it means trying to find where you’ve wandered off to in the middle of a Halloween party without your shoes. 

JUNGKOOK

Fang F*cker | Request Fill | Vampires | Crack | PWP | Yoongi x Jungkook |

Summary: Jungkook loves reading his smutty vampire comic and so what if he fashions himself a little bit after the main character. Yoongi finds it wildly offensive. Every day he has to watch Jungkook play at being ominous and spooky - and okay, maybe it’s a little cute. But it’s mostly offensive, and Yoongi would know. He’s a vampire, after all. 

[wheelie-butch]

tell me about what ships you have for your monprom ocs :)

sorry to leave you waiting like a month but I have finally got some things to share!! Uh I guess I'll go through them one by one, some have more than others!

Mikey

Mikey I don't have any proper ships for, I think they've got so much to adapt to that figuring out dating is low on the list, but I felt like I could imagine them in a poly situation somehow though I'm not sure who with 🤔 When I first created them I considered shipping with the wolfpack but I think they're just friends and wouldnt really see each other in that way.

Mallory

Mallory I also don't have any proper ships for, though I find it funny to think they have a crush on Miranda. They see the good in everyone a lot and probably would be somewhat taken in by her cutesy exterior. They're too focused on all their extracirriculars to spend much time trying to date, but they actually do hook up with other characters on occasion, I'm thinking Polly and I'm not sure who else. Everyone is mostly confused how they have time in their busy schedule.

And they do actually have some admirers! Scott and the Wolfpack both have "crushes" on Mallory, and occasionally will ask them out. Mallory always gently turns them down though, as they feel the werewolves are only interested in them because they are getting confused by their love of bones (mostly correct). I'm sure the boys would treat them well though if they ever did say yes and I did a self-indulgent little doodle of it once :)

Lupa

So Lupa is well known as a serial heartbreaker and she has slept with and later ghosted pretty much every female character in the series. Vera is one definite exception, mostly because after years of knowing the Wolfpack she took one look at Lupa and went 'oh god another one' and is immune to her 'charms'.

The one person Lupa has serious feelings for is Dahlia! (Their shipname is DahLupa) The story so far is basically Lupa early on when she joined Spooky High did her usual thing of hooking up with Dahlia, then ghosting her, and she thought that would be the end of it. However, she soon found out that Dahlia is close friends with the Wolfpack and Scott, so often came over to visit or joined them for activities. She tried to keep her distance, feeling awkward because of how she'd behaved before, but to her surprise Dahlia was extremely chill and basically happy to try and continue with a clean slate as friends. Dahlia's enthusiasm and constancy as a new friend eventually won Lupa over and she became her first (and only real) friend at Spooky High. Over time Lupa started to catch real feelings for Dahlia, but now feels too awkward about her previous bad behaviour and afraid of losing her new friend to act on it. So basically there's a lot of pining and Dahlia being obvlious and homoerotic butch bro stuff going on. I'm not sure how they get together just yet but I do think they'll be good together once they manage it!

(art by @ corantus )

Georgie

Okay so Georgie I have 2 kind of ships involving her. First isn't exactly a ship but basically her and Vera hate each other but they keep hooking up for hate-sex at parties far more often than either of them would like to admit hehe... Gorgon + Gargoyle it just kind of makes sense...

But her actual ship is for Martin my revenant oc! They've been best friends for a few years, and she has a secret crush on him for much of that, but it takes a while for them to get together. It's probably best I explain this in Martin's section though...

Martin

hehehe Martin... so my main ships for Martin are the Wolfpack Alpha and Georgie, and I recently decided they fit into the same timeline! I'll explain Martin + Alpha (ship name deadwolf) first!

Okay so Martin has like a longtime crush on kind of the whole wolfpack but mostly Alpha basically since he started at Spooky High a few years ago. His friends tease him a lot about his terrible taste and he mostly plays it up for them but the feeling is genuine as well. His feelings come from a couple of places. He's sexually attracted to Alpha because he's hot, but there's also a kind of complicated gender envy/affirmation thing going on too. Martin's trans and so the envy element comes from like he sees the Wolfpack as super confident and masculine. They've also (completely unknowingly) actually given him gender euphoria on several occasions too. The Wolfpack barely know who Martin is 99.99% of the time, he's not sporty so he's off their radar in that respect, and his crutches mean hes off-limits in terms of picking on people, so they mostly just forget who he is despite being classmates for a long time. But there's been a few times when they've been nice to him and forgotten about it immediately but it meant a lot to Martin - like they caught him checking out his facial hair in the bathroom mirror and told him it looks awesome, or given him the 'guy nod' in the corridor, or been impressed by his top surgery scars while getting changed for gym (they believed his joke about it being from a bear attack.) So yeah Martin does have reason to feel well towards them too.

Unfortunately for him, since they have basically no memory of who he is, all his attempts to bond or flirt have always fallen flat. The poetry incident was probably a low point -- for Valentine's day he wrote Alpha an anonymous love poem and left it in his locker. He failed to account for the fact that Alpha is an idiot unable to understand poetry though. Alpha, confused by the message and vaguely remembering Martin as 'that guy in our class who likes writing books maybe??' asks Martin to help him read it. So Martin has to spend lunchtime in the library with his crush, explaining what his anonymous love poem meant, while the whole time Alpha is being like 'man poetry is weird huh lol. wonder who sent it? I hope it's [classmate] they're hot haha'. RIP Martin.

Where this goes I'm going to screenshot the notes from my phone for the next bit:

Though if I'm honest I'm not sure if Deadwolf ever are on proper speaking terms again... lol.

And I've started writing out some scenes of the deadwolf -> morgie saga I'll screenshot here:

I don't have much content for morgie yet but I'm planning on adding to it in the future :)

UH so yeah I think that's all my monprom oc ships for the moment! Thank you for asking lol I hope it's fun to read about

[pdalicedraws]

I have both ‘significant time skip’ and ‘character redesigns’ on my bingo sheet, and realized that with the new ep coming out on Saturday it’s my last chance to take my own swing at what those designs could be! So here’s a shot at the gang, six months later, and some headcanons. 

(Yes, I know there’s a trailer and promo images out, and this might all already have been jossed, but don’t tell me so. I’m a liveblogger so I’ve been avoiding spoilers like the plague; I did briefly see the poster but all I saw was “spooky graveyard vibes and Luz is wearing a beanie”.)

Gus is not coping well and is trying to hide it. He knows about Grimwalkers and hasn’t told Hunter he knows— he’s not even sure Hunter knows— so he’s been holding that in, he’s the youngest, and he misses his dad, plus he feels guilty about everything from ‘I always wanted to go to the human realm so it’s somehow my fault we’re stuck here’ to ‘I cast the illusion that let Luz sneak out to the Head’. He’s had another growth spurt and become an absolute beanpole, and he also has a bunch of patchy facial hair starting to come in but he hides it with an illusion because he does not want to learn to shave from anyone but his dad. 

Hunter also had a massive growth spurt, but instead of regular Witch Puberty it’s just because he can actually digest the food here. He shot up and filled out and dyed a red streak into his hair with Amity’s semi-grudging help. He still cuts the underside short but has let the top grow out a bit, and wears it in a little topknot; he won’t admit why but everybody knows. He insisted on getting a part-time job, but he can’t have Flapjack with him on the clock so he wears one of their shed feathers. He likes wearing tight clothes, which is mostly genuine and because the pressure helps keep his scars from aching, but there’s also a little bit of the fact that he and Gus both had growth spurts and Camila doesn’t have a ton of money for new clothes. On the outside, it seems like he’s coping the best out of the group, but it’s pretty much just because his big brother instinct and guard training kicked in at the same time and he’s suppressing his own emotions for the sake of looking after everybody else. Eventually he’s going to crash. 

Luz is… a disaster. Girl already blames herself for everything, and at this point? Hell. She feels like she’s failing the only friends she has because they’re having trouble acclimating to the human realm, she’s terrified that Eda and King might be dead, that the whole isles might be destroyed, and because she’s her she’s pretty sure it’s all her fault. Her glyphs don’t work here, she’s remembering just how out of place she was at home, she’s watching her basilisk baby sister get along with humans better than she ever did, and it’s… rough. She’s putting all her energy into trying to find a way home. Well, the one other constructive thing she’s doing is that she’s picked up the clarinet again, which she used to play in sixth grade— she’s determined to be able to play something for Raine when they meet again. Which they definitely will. Eventually.  She’s the only one of the group who hasn’t let her hair grow out longer, which wasn’t planned, I just gave everyone else longer hair bc I’m salty about the omnipresence of ‘cut off a characters hair to show she’s Matured’

Amity is handling it. She’s okay. Well, she’s okay as could be expected, which isn’t really okay. She’s worried about Luz, she’s trying to make a good impression on Camila (she’s not really aware that she made a fantastic impression on the first day— not with her careful, heels-together, carefully rehearsed introduction in Spanish, though that was adorable, but with the moment she doesn’t know Camila saw when she was sitting with Luz, holding her hands in hers, whispering to her that she did everything right and they’d make it in the end). She’s studying up on all the human realm trivia she can find— they recognize her at the library— helping Camila with the house, being there for Luz, trying to be helpful in every way she possibly can. She’s been carefully maintaining her lilac hair with her natural brown underlayer, and she’s been helping Hunter and Willow with their streaks too. It makes her feel like she’s succeeding at something. 

Willow is being crushed on by every wlw in the greater Gravesfield area who doesn’t already have a partner, and she has no idea. That’s not relevant, though. She’s trying to be the strategizer and team leader, she’s trying to be mom friend, she’s trying to grow enough produce out behind the house to relieve Camila’s grocery bill, she’s trying to let Gus stop pretending he’s fine, she’s trying to keep it together. Hunter still calls her Captain, and it’s wonderful because it’s a sign of how much faith he has in her but it’s also a lot of pressure. She quickly learnt how to play human soccer and drags the others out for a kickabout every weekend in order to keep them all active, and because she remembers something Viney said once about endorphins. She’s been keeping a meticulous journal for the sake of telling her dads everything that’s happened, when she eventually sees them again. 

Vee is conflicted and feels bad about being conflicted. She genuinely adores Luz, she knows she’s such a good person, she’s so grateful for all her help, but she also fears that her return means that her space in the world is disappearing again. She’s changed her human appearance up a little— made her skin a touch darker, closer to Camila’s, given herself her spots back, made her hair the same blue as her ear frills in her true form. She’s also getting steadily femme-r as she differentiates herself from Luz, and has been watching a lot of 90s horror and getting style cues from the final girls. She spun a convoluted yarn to her friends about having been Parent Trapped as a wee child, raised by her and Luz’s crazy great-uncle, and taking her place at camp when she ran away to hang out with a friend out of state; they don’t believe a word of it but they don’t suspect the truth either, and if it turns out their friend is actually named Valentina, not Luz? They’re cool with that. Her sister’s fun too, but Vee is cooler. 

[living-d3ad-gh0ul]

Tuesday 17th October 2023, 02:45am

I really should be asleep right now. But I can't seem to get comfortable and when I do, my brain just won't shut up. So here I am, writing to you. I've been thinking about you a lot lately. I don't know why. I think I've been missing you a bit. Is it strange to miss you? I don't know. I'm sorry if it is.

I really hope your blood tests came back okay and everything is all well with your health. Do you know when you'll have surgery yet? I was thinking about that the other day and hoping I hadn't missed it, so I could wish you good luck for it. I'm really glad to hear that you've found a job you can do that will turn into a career too and that you can get the training for it. Has that happened yet? Or are you still waiting?

I knew you were thinking of leaving the band, and that's okay. If it's ran it's course for you, then I'm sure your bandmates will be understanding, especially if they're your friends. I really hope the last two shows went well and that you enjoyed playing them at least and I hope the last show you do next month is good too. Will it be near your birthday? Because I know that's coming up really soon too. It's the week after I get back from another comic con, I go away on 17th November and come home on the 19th, so I'm just gone for the weekend. This time it's in Wales, I've only been there once when I was a kid.

Aw no poor Chonky :( I really really hope she's okay now. It sucks when our pets get sick, because they don't have a voice to tell you exactly what's wrong, so it can be pretty worrying. It's a good job that owners can usually tell though when something's wrong and what it could be, because they know their pet well. But it sounds like you did the right thing for her and I hope she's feeling much better now. I'm sure she loved having you look after her and care for her and make sure she was all okay.

Don't worry about streaming and stuff, you can come back to it whenever you feel like it, whenever you have the time. I look forward to the next time you do, I've missed chilling in your chat and just.. hanging out. I liked it before. I actually was playing some of the Cyberpunk DLC myself the other week, it was quite fun haha. But I definitely think I need to start upgrading my PC soon. Definitely a new fan and CPU and maybe a secondary SSD. I would upgrade my GPU but those are so expensive and my 1080 still serves me well at the moment.

I'm sorry it's been a little bit since I last wrote, I've just been busy with work mostly. I haven't had much going on or much exciting happening. Apart from going over to Belfast to surprise my best friend, that was quite cool. We went to another convention, I just booked a flight and a hotel and turned up. She had no clue I was coming and was really surprised when I got there haha. I literally just went over for like.. 24 hours. I'd felt bad cause I had to cancel a trip to go see her at the end of this month just due to work and not being able to get the holidays and stuff. So I was pretty upset and just wanted to do something kinda.. fun and spontaneous? Idk

Ian Somerhalder walked by me too and didn't even notice it, it wasn't until my best friend pointed him out and I was like "oh shit" hahaha. But I was more excited about Peter Facinelli and Jackson Rathbone from Twilight, I used to love that when I was like.. 14. I would have met Ian and Paul too, but it was far too expensive for me. Maybe some day I will. I recently started watching The Vampire Diaries again, since it's spooky season and all and I haven't watched it for years. So I've went right back to the start, I'm at the end of season 1 right now where Isobel is in it (I hate Isobel. And I fucking hate John Gilbert too)

It was also my dad's birthday on 8th October. That was a pretty hard day. I was quite sad and upset all day, but I watched a lot of my dad's favourite programs and stuff and tried to distract myself. Red Dwarf, Monty Python, The Mighty Boosh (which me and my dad actually started watching together) and some Billy Connolly. I also listened to some of his favourite music too. And I got a clootie dumpling from a local bakery (it's like a Christmas pudding kind of but not as rich), coincidentally it was the same bakery me and my dad and grandma and grandpa would go to, it was just down the street from my grandma's house. My grandma used to make him one for his birthday every year when he was a kid, instead of a birthday cake because it was cheaper. And he loved it. It was one of his favourite things. He'd always ask me to bring him some down when I'd go down and visit him in Nottingham, because you can't really get it anywhere in England and to make a proper one yourself, it's a bit of a pain and really easy to mess up if you don't do certain things right lol. When he was in the nursing home, I remember one day the chef had came to talk to him and asked him about food he liked and stuff. He was telling me that they'd asked him what kind of birthday cake he wanted and my dad immediately asked if he could have a dumpling. The chef agreed and said they absolutely could do that and I remember my dad being so so happy. His face was just.. completely lit up, big wide smiles, all excited. I think that's what made me extra sad, because he had been so excited for his birthday and his dumpling. He really liked the simple things in life, honestly.

So even though he wasn't here, he got his dumpling. I went out early on the Saturday morning and picked it up, had a chat with the guy who owns the bakery (who actually weirdly recognised me and asked me who my family were, so I told him and he immediately remembered me from when I was a kid, telling me about how he remembered I'd come in with my grandma to get the rolls and the papers, how I'd come in with my dad for a yum yum or a strawberry tart lol. I unfortunately had to break the news of my dad's passing to him, he didn't know. And he was quite sympathetic. He was a nice guy, just as friendly as I remembered when I was a kid. I'll attach a picture of the dumpling to this so you can see. I stuck a candle in it and everything for him. Sang him happy birthday and cried while doing so. But I knew he'd be nearby. I knew he'd be standing right behind me hugging me while I did. God just writing this is making me tear up a little bit.

I've started some grief counselling too. I think they are really helping me. I'm getting it through the hospice who helped with dad's end of life care, even though the were only involved for.. well a few days.. they've given me more support that some family have (my mother included. I'm still at odds with her. She's done more horrible and nasty shit since we last spoke and.. honestly I'm just seeing her for her true colours now, realising that I've been gaslit, emotionally neglected and manipulated by her for a very long time). My boss has been more than happy to allow me to attend these sessions, because they know in the long run it's going to help me and isn't going to affect my performance at work or anything. I'm actually doing really well at work at the moment, even considering that it is incredibly stressful and emotionally/mentally taxing at times, but I've had nothing but good reports in my weekly catch ups with my manager so far. So I think it's safe to say they can see that I am more than capable of doing the job. I just wanna try get through my probation and then move to a different department. Something that doesn't involve talking to customers lol.

Gran also got out of hospital, which is a good thing. She's back home and still resting and stuff, trying to get her strength back. She was in there for like.. just over a month. Unfortunately we don't think shes gonna be able to get any more chemo though, which sucks. But we're hoping her oncologist will still be able to do surgery for her, we just have to keep trying to get her strength up and make sure she's eating well and we're getting her walking and stuff. Even if it's just to the kitchen and back or around the garden. Small steps. It hopefully will make a big difference. I've been making sure to go see her at least once a week, even just for a couple hours at the very least.

I don't have much else going on right now. It's just work and looking forward to next month when I go to Wales. I don't think I have anything incredibly exciting planned for Halloween, which sucks, but I'll be working this year unfortunately. Maybe I can just relax and watch some spooky movies after work, eat some terrible sweets and enjoy myself a little. Oh and I'm on some new medication too actually, I'm not sure if it's working yet, I don't feel anything different. This is for a physical thing, not a mental thing. But it's nothing too serious, just something I need to like.. manage symptoms of.

I really hope you're doing well, E. I hope everything's going good and that your health is good and Chonky is good and work is starting and surgery is getting scheduled and all the good things. I know it must be getting warmer there too, because it's definitely getting fucking colder here haha. I've been absolutely frozen in the mornings for a couple days now, until I turn the heat on again and warm up. I think it's gonna be a reaaaaally cold winter this year which is unfortunate.

I really hope to hear from you soon. And I hope I've got more exciting things to tell you next time.

N x

"I saw you in a dream then it came to an end, I wonder if you'll come visit me again"

(the selfie was me at the con in Northern Ireland. It was SO fucking hot, I was boiling all day. But I still looked cute I think.. maybe haha)

[leechaeyyeon]

BEST KPOP RELEASES - 2022

yes, i know, i'm late to this trend-thingy. but hey, it's been a month so it could've been worse. also…if your fave isn't on here, i don't know what to tell you…! probably that they make terrible music?

25. flip that — loona

even though I disliked the song at first, it has grown on me well and for that it deserves a spot on this list. and fawk bbc for leaving those girls out in the cold, they could have been so much more than they were if it wasn't for that company

24. sparkling — chungha

after bicycle and killing me this song is the best way to come back. she looked so gorgeous here, the song made me feel like a princess. now that bvndit and chungha both left that terrible company i'm hoping it goes bankrupt 🙏

23. loveable — joyuri

people keep calling this song boring left and right and i'm like?? it's fun and catchy, you all just hate cute songs 😒

22. undo — heize

retro done right, we love you heize!

21. trouble? travel! — adora

need chuu to debut solo with a concept like this

20. higher — fifty fifty

everyone hating on this song hates ggs it's true. please support my sisters when they come back this month

19. sunflower — yoojung

this song is so yoojung in the best way possible

18. last sequence — wjsn

wjsn still holding onto the elegant concept when theyre on the verge of disbandment #consistency

17. 28 reasons — seulgi

need more red velvet spooky songs ASAP

16. loveade — viviz

this song is so viviz/gfriend in the best way possible. like this is the most them thing they ever did

15. stay this way — fromis_9

needed a day or two to let this song grow on me but ever since this song has been on repeat. not to mention the amazing bsides, they always serve

14. _world — seventeen

disliked almost every boy group release this year, but seventeen really blew me away, will definitely tune in for that bss release

13. hush rush — lee chaeyeon

this song was so different than I had expected her to debut solo with, but I don't mind! need her to do a barbie like concept next



12. hype boy — newjeans

this song is too good. you just HAVE to like it.

11. sneakers — itzy

i honestly don't get the hate around this song, it was pretty good actually! also, there are people who like nmixx's music…focus on that first

10. feel my rhythm — red velvet

everytime I hear this song I ASCEND. their vocals are no joke, and those outfits?? 😩

9. smartphone — yena

this song is too good. you just HAVE to like it.

8. antifragile — lesserafim

this song is too good. still upset this song didn't get nominated for soty

7. after like — ive

sampling I will survive and then make out this masterpiece, starship finally made a right decision for once. the whole era outfitwise and stage wise do this song justice. might learn the dance just because

6. beautiful monster — stayc

this song has been dragged through the mud for no reason. okay, it wasn't that up in your face like other releases this year, but I think that's completely fine! it's calmer for stayc, and that's what I like about it. also, I like it having a stage made up for it, since that song was one of my most played songs last summer

5. patbingsu — billlie

this song is so kpop in the best way possible: 7 girls singing about a silly little dessert. like?? it's almost ironic how much effort that company put in to release a song dedicated to patbingsu just to make the worst punk release ever known to humanity. hoping for more quirky songs soon

4. loveticon — csr

this song??? you guys don't get it like I do. it's so genius. from the great rap with an awesome word play, to just being one of the best nugu releases this year.

3. selfish — yooa

okay, i know we all hate yooa but HEAR ME OUT... it's not that bad actually…like?? I actually felt something else than being weirded out when listening to it. need her to release more of these songs. other than her looking bored af on the stage most of the time I have no complaints

2. dance on — alice

and when the world needed alice the most, they finally came back! this song is so simple yet so impactful. should've gotten a music show win, tho. need them to feed onto this newfound fame and release more songs like this

run — h1-key

alright, i know what you're thinking: who the hell is h1-key? and that's what's wrong with kpop stans! like, how could you NOT know h1-key? sure, their debut was (very) disappointing, but they perfectly picked themselves up again with run. I was very surprised when I heard this song, since it was so simple yet so fun. rose blossom did kinda disappoint me, since I had hoped they would feed into the cute sporty concept, but they put it down just as quickly as they had picked it up. don't get me wrong, rose blossom is fine, but it wasn't the route I was expecting them to take.

some honorable mentions:

talk that talk — twice // seoul — bol4 // last dance — youha // pop?pop! — csr

[ixcaliber]

Games I Played November

I started the month fully intending to be like ‘it’s Halloween 2. Nobody can tell me when to stop playing spooky games’ but I think I only played one.

1. Signalis

Signalis is a game very much in the style of a classic survival horror. Early Resident Evil and Silent Hill and it isn’t making any attempt at hiding these inspirations. After a brief introduction the first thing you find yourself doing is staring into a bathroom mirror in an unfamiliar place, looking for your wife. One of the safe rooms plays the Moonlight Sonata. Heck the game opens with the disclaimer that parts of this game may be considered violent or cruel, a disclaimer I’m familiar with because I’m still making my way through Silent Hill 3. Fingers crossed I can convince my brain to get back to that for the December list.

But, anyway, Signalis. It borrows imagery, it borrows some mechanics, and it uses that retro ps1 aesthetic but it’s not as though it doesn’t have its own ideas. It’s a game that’s dense with motifs and recurring symbology, with its own intricately built world for you to piece together. There’s a whole arg in there, just like in there if you’re willing to look for it and it got beyond me at a certain point but I do respect the construction of this world and this game.

I’m a little reluctant to talk too much about the game. I don’t know how much is a spoiler to say, and I feel like learning about the world as you play is a big part of the experience. What I will say is that despite its aesthetics and its clear reference points it plays very well and responsive.

And its gay.

Admittedly it doesn’t take a lot to bring me to tears (fyi me and forgie are watching an anime about cute girls doing diy and i legitimately tear up every time in the op because i am weak) but yeah this game did it. (checking ahead maybe like nearly half of my list made me cry so thats maybe more on me but w/e)

2. The Entropy Centre

The Entropy Centre is a recently released first person puzzle game in the style of Portal. It has the weird gun that serves a puzzle function, it has the cubes and the buttons and even has the lasers and jump pads and light bridges once you get deeper into the game.

The central mechanic of this game is to be able to rewind an object through 30 seconds of movement. Its a versatile mechanic and well explored, there was only really once or twice in the game when I was really stumped and it took me a good while to work out how to solve the puzzle I was stuck on.

The best thing about this game is that it has probably the best context for a puzzle game mechanic I’ve seen in any of these portal-likes. Some very early game spoilers here, feel free to skip ahead if you’d rather. So, really early in the game you discover that the facility you wake up in is on the moon and the earth is exploding. The Entropy Centre, the organization, is designed to protect the world from cataclysms like this by gathering the entropy energy created by solving a puzzle and use all that collected energy to rewind the Earth and then send back the information to help avoid the same catastrophe happening again.

I love this premise. I love the worldbuilding that the game does through computer logs that really delve into the implications of the Entropy Centre and its work. I love the idea that okay yeah we have this chipper helpful AI assistant but of course they can’t tell us how to solve the puzzle because the energy is generated from the act of solving. I mean obviously it’s a justification but it’s the best one I’ve seen so far.

The only negative things I’d say about this game are 1) i wish you could use the entropy device on more environmental objects (like use a vending machine and then rewind it so all the cans go back inside), it’s absolutely not necessary to solving the puzzles or anything other than messing around but it’d help me to imagine it as a real device rather than just a puzzle solving tool.

2) after a certain point in the game there is combat and it’s the most uninteresting part of the game, this awkward chore to push through before you can get back to solving puzzles.

3) there’s a moment at the end that I feel overdoes it a little bit. I had a moment about half way through when I realized what was coming and that moment was great. I love that the game gave me enough information to piece together what was coming and it felt really impactful when I made this conclusion naturally. The actual moment of revelation beats you around the head with the concept just to make sure you get the idea and it feels a bit overdone, especially coming after playing Signalis.

Otherwise really good game.

3. Metroid Dread

ugh

i kind of hated this one gang

i played this in the rookie mode that was added earlier this year. calling this an easier difficulty may be technically accurate but good god.

In Rookie Mode damage dealt by bosses is reduced and you get more energy whenever you get energy. That does sound easier. The bosses are the worst part of this video game. Every now and then a loading screen tip would pop up and tell me that every attack in the game is dodgable and I’d fucking laugh to myself. Lowering the damage of the bosses means I can survive getting hit by their attacks a couple more times. It doesn’t make it any fucking easier to get out of the way of those attacks. If that’s hard for you you’re going to struggle no matter which of the difficulties you pick.

I don’t think I’ve got anyone reading my tumblr who is going to reply to me that I should have just gotten good. I’m not bad at video games in general. I’ve gotten through some difficult games without tearing my hair out. The bosses in this game felt more unfair than I guess I have a tolerance for. It’s the most actually pissed off I’ve been at a video game in a good while. I really hated them. I hated when a boss fight that I’d struggled with and managed to get past because a recurring miniboss encounter in the very next area.

If the game expects a lot of you in the boss encounters it’s because it expects so little of you in the rest of the game. This is probably the worst metroidvania style game I’ve played in terms of exploration. Everywhere you go you’re passing though little points of no return, forcing you to keep going ahead to the next objective. It’s not constant. There are times when you do have the freedom to retrace your steps if you want, but I could feel the game bristling against my desire to explore. It gets to the point where you just have to go ok and take any teleporter that is put in your path. Where are you going? Fuck knows. Fuck knows where your next objective is at any given time just keep following the trail laid out for you. No thinking only following.

Also I hate the secret breakable bits of terrain. I hate that there are breakable blocks that are just part of the wall that you just have to intuit that there is progression past there if you shoot it with a missile. I got so lost early on when I was first railroaded to Dairon because I thought myself ‘oh there doesn’t appear to be any obvious way forward best go back and find the upgrade I need in the previous area’ only to find that the door had closed behind me god knows when ago and I for a while thought I had somehow softlocked myself.

Metroid Dread does a terrible job of communicating which way you need to be heading but hates it if you’re trying to go anywhere other than the exact next spot for the next upgrade or boss encounter. I fucking hated playing this game. Sorry.

4. Alba - A Wildlife Adventure

This is a cute little game where you’re a small child visiting their grandparents on the island where they live. You decide to start trying to help the environment and to take photos to catalog the local species.

I love this game.

I met little squirrels and a foxie.

You have seven days to try to gather enough signatures for a petition to stop the construction of a hotel which is being built in a run down nature preserve. Each day you have a set little story to play through, but the game is very freeform. You can explore at your leisure, certain abilities or areas only open up through main story progression but it’s overall extremely chill about letting you set your own pace and your own goals.

It’s good and wholesome and I cried.

5. Resident Evil VIII: Shadows of Rose

The one thing I was excited about this DLC was the idea of the duke as a villain. I loved the thought that he was helping Ethan in Village because he saw an opportunity to create a power vaccum and then take over. Without like going into spoilers or anything, that’s not a thing that happened in this game.

The first half is a low effort retread of Castle Dimetrescu, without the key components that made that interesting the first time around (i.e. Lady Dimetrescu and her daughters). The second half has more ideas. It takes place, at least to begin with, in the Bienviento House and essentially combat (as it is experienced in the first half of the game) is more or less over once you reach this point. I sort of liked some of this half of the game, but even the bits that I did like were ruined by the context.

The story of Shadows of Rose is that Rose has grown up and been raised by Chris Redfield as a corporate asset I guess. There certainly didn’t seem to be any fondness between them when Rose talks or thinks about him. She has sort of mold powers and has some difficulty controlling them. One of the guys who works with Chris tells her about the existence of a magic crystal that can seal her powers. It seems at the time as though he’s saying he needs information on how to find it from within the memories contained in a sample of the megamycyte but that’s absolutely not what the game thinks is happening. In this game you’ve gone into a magic mushroom to look for a physical crystal that can stop your powers.

And its like okay yeah Resident Evil has always had zombies and sure they have vampires and werewolves now in Village, but like I’m almost certain that if I found the right text log it would explain that they’re not really vampires and werewolves but something with a scientific origin in some oblique way. Searching for the magic crystal in this feels like the step too far and for the longest time I was pretty sure it would turn out there was no magic crystal that that was just a lie to get her into the mushroom space. But there is a magic crystal. This DLC is stupid.

The best I can say for it is that it isn’t nearly as bad as either of the DLC for Revelations 2.

6. Ghost Song

Ghost Song is a metroidvania game with an incredible artstyle and ambience. The atmosphere of this game is so strong. Everyone you encounter, everywhere you go has this vibe. There’s a sort of contemplatativeness to it. The first objective you have leads to you meeting the crew of a crashed ship and from that point onwards whenever you complete an objective you can come back and have a discussion with them. I love these talks. They’re sort of sad, everyone has a sort of sadness to them, but the game never feels bleak. It’s a sort of optimistic sadness if such a thing exists.

It was playing Ghost Song that finally made me click just how much I had hated the exploration of Metroid Dread. I got to the crashed ship and was given five objective points on my map showing the general location of the things I needed and it was like ‘oh yeah! some direction! freedom to accomplish my goals in the order i choose! that’s right i do like metroidvanias’.

The one thing I’d say against the game is that, each of the items you’re sent to collect, when you pick them up they disable fast travel and you have to make your way back to the ship. There is a reason for this as having them on you does have an effect on the world. I just wish the game gave you the option to put them back. The first time I picked one up I was so low on health with no more heals left and it was sort of painstaking for me to carefully make my way back to the last save point.

But overall this is such a good time, such an interesting world to explore.

7. Nobody Saves The World

Nobody Saves The World is a sort of top down diablo like dungeon crawler game made by the developers of Guacamelee.

You are a featureless nobody called Nobody and you get your hands on the wand of a powerful wizard after he goes missing. It allows you to take on a whole range of different forms such as a little rattie, necromancer, ranger, egg, robot, monk etc. Each of them with their own movesets and abilities which as you progress through the game can have their abilities and passive buffs mixed and matched for powerful synergies. It’s really neat. Each of the forms have different form quests that require you to make good use of that forms strengths in order to make that form stronger and unlock more customization options.

It’s a really good game for giving you lots of objectives and letting you go and do what you like. There’s a decent amount of sidequests and a couple of different adventuring guilds to join which have their own little side questline. It’s a good game with a fun sense of humour and if I’m a little vague I’ve been playing it on and off since like the start of the year rather than in one intense burst. It’s still been a good time though.

8. Nobody Saves The World: The Frozen Hearth

Should have done this before finishing the game. It gives you a little new area to explore and then essentially a series of optimization challenges, which are just a little too finnicky for me to really delve into. It also gives you two new forms, the mechanic and the killer bee. The only problem is that like, if you’ve done a full completionist playthrough like me and then come to this DLC afterwards instead of at the point at which it becomes available in the story, then you don’t really have anything left to do with these new forms to unlock all their functionality. I ended up doing laps in one of the areas just killing enemies and resetting them by leaving the area and returning just to level up these forms.

If you’re really into optimizing your abilities in really specific ways you’ll get more out of this DLC than I did, but it is nice to just have a couple of new forms to play with.

9. Psychonauts 2

I was really hyped for Psychonauts 2 when it first came out. I played like two or three hours of it and then paused and oops now my ADHD has decided its time to do other stuff for a year and a bit.

Psychonauts 2 is great. It has a great cast of characters, fun worlds to explore and some interesting new powers to play with. It’s pretty much everything I wanted in a Psychonauts sequel and it does all this stuff with a more considerate view of mental health and desire to get consent from everyone involved than the first game did.

In terms of its plot, its kind of even more ambitious than I would have even asked for in terms of like... in this game you put Ford Cruller’s mind back together. Its the kind of thing that I didn’t think would even be on the table.

The only thing that I’d say against the game is that it didn’t have a single world that stood out amongst the rest. You know like the Milkman Conspiracy in Psychonauts 1. I’d make an argument for the Sensatorium but thats more an incredibly strong visual aesthetic than like a perfectly executed gameplay mechanic. None of the worlds were bad, they were all of a good quality, and like, I don’t think it’s even possible to intentionally recreate the success of the Milkman Conspiracy. Not sure what I even want here. Lets say that Connie’s level was the new Milkman Conspiracy because I saw a figment of a foxie in there.

10. Citizen Sleeper

Citizen Sleeper is um like sort of a single player ttrpg. If there’s a specific genre that this fits into then I’m not familiar with it. I mean I know that rpg is a genre but it’s such a broad genre that it doesn’t really evoke the dice rolls and advancing clocks nature of this game.

You play as a sleeper, the consciousness of a human installed into a synthetic frame. Sleepers are essentially corporate property, designed to skirt laws against true artificial intelligences. And you are on the run, you’ve made it to a ruined space station and your goal is essentially to survive. To maintain yourself until you can find a way to elude the corporation seeking to reclaim you and to find yourself a place to belong.

Every day you roll a number of six sided dice which can then be assigned to any tasks you want to attempt, the higher the number the better the odds of success, whilst low numbers can be used to interface with electronic systems. Its actually a really neat system.

My only issues with the game are largely sort of self imposed. There’s a ticking clock that starts early and it seems to be a hard deadline to accomplish one of your tasks. It turns out eventually that it isn’t as hard a deadline as you might imagine, and the task you’ve been trying to accomplish is more of a long term goal. It did make me a bit more tense than I would have liked as I was approaching this event but that’s not too bad I suppose. 

The other thing is that I triggered the sequence toward the conclusion quicker than I would have wanted. I was still finding and trying desperately to complete new stories as the final clock was ticking down to my ending. Once again that was on me, and perhaps on me not taking the time to explore each of the locations available at the beginning of the game until right at the end.

Overall it was a good experience and yes I did cry a little bit in this one.

11. A Memoir Blue

A Memoir Blue is a short mostly abstract game with some interesting visuals and implied narrative. It’s about a woman who is a famous swimmer and an examination of her history and relationship with her mother and I just have a thing against narratives that are like ‘the love of a family member is super special and its fine if a parent was neglectful because they have this special love and you should definitely forgive them etc etc’.

Maybe there’s something to be said about this one being like ‘okay yeah her mother wasn’t there for her but she was working hard to support her and as an adult she can see how much her mother was trying in ways she couldn’t appreciate at the time etc etc’ but like the game’s much too simple and abstract for that to really come across.

Some nice imagery but overall I really didn’t vibe with the percieved sentiment.

12. Genshin Impact - Fabulous Fungus Frenzy Event

The biggest problem that I have with Genshin Impact is that if you’re tired of whatever is happening in the story at the moment and you’ve got the idea and you don’t really need to listen to them discuss the matter back and forth, you can’t really skip through the dialogue. You can sort of. You can hit the next button and it will go to the next bit of dialogue, unless that bit of dialogue has an animation associated with it. If it does you have to sit and watch the animation before you can continue onwards. It means I can’t read the dialogue at my own pace. It’s always just a touch too slow and it makes the long winded dialogue feel more arduous than it would have to if I could just rapid fire skip through.

That’s not really the problem with this event. This event was mostly fine. I was engaged with the little storyline about catching fungi and using them as pokemon. This time it was the gameplay that felt tedious. I was only here to do enough to get the free character from the event so I gave up on the fungi battles as soon as I had the currency I wanted, but god were they tedious. Maybe it would have been less so if I’d been prepared to commit to memory the attacks and abilities of my little fungus guys but they gave me like twelve. I do not have the capacity to store that kind of information. As it was it was a fight where you stand there and every twenty seconds or so run and pick up a ball of light and then press a single button to trigger an attack, going on for like three to five minutes at a time.

And at the end it turned out I already had the character I did the whole thing for, I’d just forgot that I’d pulled for her.

13. West of Loathing

West of Loathing is a comedy western rpg. You do have stats and stuff, but a lot of the things you’re doing is solving puzzles or just experiencing odd little encounters.

It’s very freeform in its storyline. Like if you just follow the main story all you’re doing is solving two or three problems to help move the railroad across the west, but each of those allows a couple of different ways to reach your solution and most of the enjoyment of the game comes from the bizarre side storylines and the strange encounters you can have along the way.

There is turn based combat and it’s fine. Once again I have turned myself into a glass cannon and I can do so much damage I can destroy most enemies in a single hit but oops if I’m fighting against more than one enemy I’m having a Major Difficulty. I don’t know if that’s a fault of the game or just of the builds of characters that I tend to make. Surprisingly often there are ways to get around combat sections, either through skill checks or just through inventive use of your items and surroundings.

The humour is actually really good in this game. There’s one recurring bit where you can search for items in any spittoons you come across and the narrator will react in horror and desperately try to convince you not to go fishing around in there.

I had a lot of fun with this one, especially the DLC Reckonin’ At Gun Manor which I’m not going to give it’s own seperate number because it doesn’t feel distinct enough from the main game to warrant it. It does however have one of the best running jokes and payoffs in the game. It’s a fun time.

14. Alveole

Alveole is a puzzle game where you are a man running on a treadmill, occasionally there is a spike that you can jump over. Your goal is to fulfil arbitrary conditions hinted at through iconography on the screen. It kinda does a pretty bad job at communicating this though.

I played this on playstation. I had it on my wishlist, was notified that it was now about a pound and thought sure why not. Downloaded and tried it without rereading the store description and it was really unclear what I was supposed to be doing. I got an achievement just for trying all the buttons (i think?).

Once I’d sussed out what the goal was it was more engaging, but like even then each instance of the game is like two to three minutes of running and that’s an irritating length of time to try testing different theories. There are definitely some of them that I got just by messing around, with no idea of what I’d actually done to accomplish the task.

It’s not a terrible concept but its definitely not a great execution of the idea imo.

[disneydarlin]

Top 8 Halloween Disney Movies

One thing people of all ages can look forward to during the spooky month of October is those must-watch Halloween movies. Some films are a little on the scary side while others are plain Halloween fun. To celebrate this time of the year, this article will present the best movies to watch each Halloween night.

1. Hocus Pocus

This film has been labeled as the best guilty pleasure flick for many people who love the classic, but dark, Halloween fun. The story is a bit on the dark side for adults to enjoy. Meanwhile, it’s full of whacky comedy for everyone’s amusement. Dani and Max have a wholesome sibling chemistry on screen. Additionally, Thackery Binx is remembered by all who watch the movie. But most of all, the three Sanderson Sisters steal the show with their jokes whenever they interact with each other.

2. The Haunted Mansion

Okay, some people may not like this film, but others consider it a Halloween classic. The characters, though seemingly one-noted, are doing their best to put emotion in their performances. This is especially the case with the ghosts. Despite this, the story around the plot is messed-up and dark. In addition, the best thing about the movie is all the special effects put into the sets and hauntings. It’s quite fun to watch for this reason alone.

3. The Nightmare Before Christmas

Because this movie literally represents two holidays into one, it’s lower on the list. The story and characters are on the simpler side as well. Yet, although Jack takes center stage, Sally and Zero are the two best characters in the movie. Plus, the atmosphere and artistry is dripping with Halloween in many scenes. Everything is visually fun to watch as the film utilizes stop-motion animation to create a creative and unique aesthetic for the sets and creatures.

4. The Muppets Haunted Mansion

For some people, this is a more authentic telling of the Haunted Mansion ride at Disneyland folks were looking for from the original. Gonzo is one of the main characters in this short movie. He’s also the most entertaining with his fascination for visiting the mansion compared to most people’s opposing reactions. Regardless, while the Muppets version has more jokes and features typical songs, it certainly won’t replace Eddie Murphy’s version in other viewers hearts.

5. The Adventure’s of Ichabod & Mr. Toad

The adventures of Mr. Toad don’t offer much for the Halloween season. It’s simply another Disney animated classic. However, Ichabod’s adventures is another story from Sleepy Hollow. Now, although none of the characters are particularly likable in this cartoon, the audience should still stay for the classic animation style and the eventual ghost story. This sets the creepy atmosphere for the film into an exciting ride for viewers.

6. Frankenweenie

Unlike the other movies featured on this list, this Tim Burton film is all in black and white. However, it does utilize the stop-motion animation like The Nightmare Before Christmas. This is because the movie is trying to capture the feel of those classic horror B flicks; specifically Frankenstein’s Monster. All together, it creates an interesting style for the film. Beyond this, there are some interesting creatures to keep some entertained along with Victor and Sparky’s wholesome owner and pet relationship.

7. Edward Scissorhands

Although this isn’t technically a Disney movie, Disney bought the rights to 20th Century Fox for this film, along with many others; to be on Disney+. This movie sits on the adult side regarding themes and intimate content. Regardless, the Tim Burton film is still quite creative in its storytelling. There are also many bright and colorful sets to contrast the creepy crooked aesthetics of the movie too. In the film, Johnny Depp stars as Edward. Meanwhile, Winona Ryder plays as Kim Boggs. They're characters, alongside Dianne Wiest as Peg Boggs and Alan Arkin is Bill Boggs, are joys to watch on screen for their loving characters.

8. Tower of Terror

What do you think? Do you agree with the list? If not, why? Please share with me!

[eyndr-stories]

The Stranger The Better (FNAF SB fanfic) C4 - It's NOT An Addiction

Read the intro to Chapter 1 (Enter A Sleepy Bitchard) for more details! I'd start reading there anyways else things won't make a whole lot of sense lol

In Summary: Reader is a forever exhausted young adult who has social difficulties doing their best to pay the bills, so when they get hired at the well-paying, almost entirely automated Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizza-Plex, they don't really hesitate to think things through before stumbling headfirst into a horror mystery surrounding this company and its crew of quirky (and surprisingly kind) animatronics.

Things To Know (lmk if I should add anything, also check the tags for more stuff):

There are some horror elements in several chapters! This particular chapter isn't too spooky, though there is a brief description of a violent nightmare at the very start of the chapter.

Eventual romance, minorly important to the plot.

Reader has paranoia.

There is much swearing.

Reader is also addicted to energy drinks, and not fantastic at self care.

Reader is nonbinary (and also trans masc) though it's not vital to the plot and only comes up once or twice.

Reader is from the south, is protective of their friends, and if you threaten their friends then I'm afraid you've yee'd your last haw and yes that is important to the plot

Previous Chapter | Chapter 4 | Next Chapter

C4 - It's NOT An Addiction

     Too soon. Not enough sleep. You had to go to work regardless. You never got enough rest for how brutal your job at the deli was. It didn’t help that your sleep had been less than restful, full of evil anthropomorphic rabbits tearing you limb from limb. You were sick of the rabbit, you’d been dreaming about the stupid evil rabbit every now and then for months now. Come up with some new shit already, brain. Or just let you sleep for once. Wishful thinking.

     But that’s where the energy drinks came in. You downed one before work and powered through your shift, working hard and doing your best and trying to stay on top of things so you could close in time for your shift at the pizza-plex. You downed another energy drink on the drive there, the first one having worn off by then.

     You waved at the security bots you passed on your way to clock in. You made a note in your phone to get some coffee stuff on your next shopping trip. The mini-fridge was still working, so you also noted to stock some energy drinks in there in case you forgot a second one or needed a boost in the middle of your shift one of these nights. You had to keep this exhaustion at bay. You had far too much to do and you couldn’t afford to be slacking off.

     You started your rounds as you usually did. You had the place memorized by now, though you still kept that map in your back pocket. This time as you walked around, you made notes on the map of places to check, entry points or good hiding spots or suspiciously darkened areas. You passed by the daycare, opting to come back around later once you’d finished mapping out any trouble spots.

     That bird bot was out wandering around, and gave you a friendly wave when you spotted her. You waved back. “Hows it hanging?” you called from the other end of the cafeteria.

     “It’s okay! Had a really fun day today, the show went great!” the bird bot replied, making her way to you.

     “Oh yeah?” You glanced towards the massive stage at the far end of the room as you walked to meet the bird bot. “What kind of… show was it? Did yall put on a play or something?”

     “No.” The bird bot laughed. “We’re a band! We play awesome music together.”

     “Ohhh okay. I see.” A few things clicked into place for you. “That’s cool. What instrument do you play?”

     “I play guitar,” the bird bot said with no small amount of pride.

     “Sick! My main thing is piano, only thing I've ever been able to play with strings was a ukulele, and not very well. Any more than four strings is too much for me. So that’s really admirable, that you play guitar and perform and stuff!”

     The bird bot beamed, pleased with this praise. “Thanks! You play piano? How long have you been practicing?”

     “Several years, on and off. I can read music okay and play a few songs but I’m by no means an expert or anything. I’m actually pretty rusty as of late, I should really practice more…”

     “You should! Maybe sometime we could jam out together!”

     You smiled. “Yeah, that sounds like fun!”

     You and the bird bot chatted about music for a little while, and you even learned the bird bot’s name- Chica. The conversation ended on a cheery tone, and you got back to your rounds as Chica headed back to her room.

     Once you’d covered the whole building (quickly powering through the big arcade with the giant spider guy), you felt satisfied enough to head back to the daycare and greet your ‘new friend’ Sun.

     You knocked on the door as you stepped inside. The lights were on tonight. “Hellooo, Sun?”

     “Y/N!!” Sun’s head popped up from behind one of those little plastic kid houses. Sun came bounding over, doing a little skip and a twirl as he ran. They swooped you up and spun you around in a big hug. “I’m so glad you came back!!”

     “Of course, I said I would, didn’t I?” You laughed and pat Sun’s arm once you’d been set back down.

     “Yes, but… I was worried, after your meeting with Moon…” Sun looked away, his shoulders hunched and fingers fidgeting.

     “Yeah, I was pretty freaked out at first, but it’s all good. I got them back for spooking me.” You smiled, recalling the delightful profanities you’d yelled at Moon from just outside the daycare last night. “He put me in time out for like, an hour.” You scowled.

     “Did you at least learn your lesson?” Sun asked. They seemed much more relaxed now.

     “I’ll do my darnedest not to swear in the daycare.” You rolled your eyes.

     “Good!” Sun smiled. “I’m so glad you aren’t mad at Moon, or me. When you walked by earlier without saying hi I thought maybe you were upset with me for not telling you about Moon…”

     “Naw, Sunny. I just wanted to do my rounds first and mark out some spots on my map to check over each night, kinda like a little checklist. I promise I’m not mad at you. I don’t really… get mad, anyways.” You rubbed the back of your neck.

     Sun tilted his head, in the opposite direction from how Moon had tilted his head last night. “Everyone gets mad, silly.”

     “I mean, I feel angry sometimes, rarely, but when I do I just kinda… ignore it.” You waved a hand nonchalantly.

     Sun looked like they were about to say something else, but their gaze zeroed in on your hand.

     “Oh dear! You’ve got some scrapes on your hand. That wont do, not at all! I’ll have those fixed up right away.” Sun already had the first aid kit out.

     “Oh, that’s okay. You don’t have to.” You tried to wave Sun off, but Sun just caught your hand and dutifully cleaned each little cut. “I get lots of nicks and scrapes and bruises all day every day, you really don’t have to worry.”

     Sun glanced up at you as he applied small band-aids of different colors to your hand. “What in the world are you doing to get all these scrapes and bumps??”

     “Working. Plus I’m just a klutz.” You shrugged. “Mainly I’m just a klutz, though. I could work a job where I literally just sit in a chair all day and I’d end up with at least a bruise by the end of the shift.”

     Sun took your other hand and studied it, done with the first. They started cleaning that hand next. “You should try to be more careful.”

     “Bahhh.” You looked away, feeling awkward. You ran your thumb over one of the band-aids on your hand. “…Thanks.”

     “Of course, sunshine!” Sun applied the final band-aid. Satisfied, he packed up the little first aid kit and stowed it away.

     “I've got the whole rainbow at my fingertips!” you said with a smile, holding up your hands. Each band-aid was a different color of the rainbow.

     “Shall I start calling you leprechaun?” Sun asked playfully.

     “I ain't that short, Sunny.” You rolled your eyes.

     Sun laughed.

     You checked your watch. Everything looked alright on the cameras. “Well, I’ve got a little bit of time on my hands. You sick of me yet or you wanna hang out?”

     “I’d never get sick of you!” Sun frowned. “Oh, I would love to hang out! Fun times with my new friend!!” Sun bounced and danced happily. “What should we do?? Do you want to play a game?”

     “Did you have anything in mind?” you asked.

     “We could play hide and seek, or i-spy, or we could do arts and crafts! We could play hot potato, build a fort…” Sun rambled, looking all around the room.

     “Whats your favorite thing to do?” you asked.

     “My favorite thing to do?” Sun paused and looked at you. “My favorite game…”

     “Doesn’t even have to be a game if you don’t want. Just like, whats something you really enjoy doing?”

     “Hmm…” Sun pondered this for a moment, tapping their chin and raising a quizzical brow. “Well… sometimes I like to sit under the window and look up through the skylight in the hall. Whether its stars or clouds or rain, the sky is so lovely,” Sun mused, almost dreamily. “Oh, I also love to read! Moon won’t tell you this but he loves to read as well, especially for story-time. Moon does the most delightful voices for the kids.”

     “Aw.” You smiled. Totally not gonna use that to tease Moon later.

     “I’ve collected a few more mature books as well, those are in my room,” Sun said.

     “Oh yeah? What kind of books?”

     “Stories about adventure and quests and magic, they’re so fun! Do you like to read?”

     “I do actually yeah. I like to write too, whenever I have a moment of free time.” You smiled.

     Sun gasped. “Ooh you write stories?? That’s amazing!! Can I read something of yours?”

     “Oh, I dunno, I-I mostly just write like, for me. For fun. No plans on publishing or letting anyone lay eyes on these stories. So they can get kinda… personal? I guess is the right word? So they’re not exactly like the average story you’d read that’s got like. Actual plot structures and whatnot. They’re very character driven,” you rambled.

     “I’m sure they’re wonderful, sunshine. If they come from the heart, then they’re lovely and I’d be honored to read them,” Sun said gently.

     Your face felt warm. “Aw, well.” You cleared your throat and looked away. “I mean. Thanks. Uh.” You considered something for a moment. “Actually, you know, if you like adventures… anytime I take a little solo trip or adventure somewhere I keep a little journal of stuff I see and do and even a little bit of my thoughts. I think that’d be okay for you to read, if you want.”

     Sun nodded excitedly. “Yes, yes! That would be wonderful!!”

     “Alright.” You smiled at Sun’s enthusiasm. You pulled out your phone and opened the app you wrote all your stories on. You navigated through several well organized tabs and notebooks until you found your travel log. “Okay, this is a trip I took to a beach a few states up several years ago.” You held out the phone.

     “Would you read it aloud for me??” Sun asked, clasping their hands together.

     “What? Oh, I dunno, I’m not the best at reading stuff aloud… or talking in general…”

     “Pleeease? It’ll be like story-time!” Sun hit you with some very convincing puppy dog eyes.

     “Quit looking at me like that! Ugh, alright fine.” You sighed and relented.

     “Yay! Thank you!” Sun smiled happily and sat down cross legged, swaying excitedly.

     “Alright.” You grabbed a nearby plastic kiddie chair and got as comfortable as you could. “Okay.”

     ‘Arrived at the Inn at around 1:30. The bed fills half the room and the bathroom… has a toilet that works. The room is dark and the window is a weird corner window that looks out to the parking lot, and I don’t want strangers looking in here. But the room is just for sleeping! It’s time at last to go to the beach!!’

     You censored many swears as you went, recounting your descriptions of the beach and the sand and making Sun giggle when you recited that you’d called the ocean a ‘frosty babe’. You told Sun about the food you’d eaten, and the plant store you’d explored, and your meeting with a cute grey cat named ‘Squeaks’. You paused your reading to briefly explain your long held tradition of going to see the sunrise over the waves at least once per trip to the beach.

     ‘Hit snooze twice but made it to the beach just in time to settle in and watch the sunrise. It was cold, of course, but I came prepared. It was lovely. Anxiety is a distant ex I’ve grown past. My soul feels whole and healed. The beach is what I was made for, and the ocean is who I belong to. This trip was the best decision of my life.’

     You paused to sheepishly explain that being at the beach made you very happy and calm, which you normally were not. Sun looked upset by that, but you continued before he could say anything.

     You briefly went over more food, and a freaky dream you’d had. Finally, you read the last paragraph of the entry.

     ‘I need to stop writing. I’m putting off the long drive, haha. I’m going to miss the beach. This was nice.’

     With shaky hands, you put away your phone and cleared your throat. “So, that’s it. Uh. My first little solo adventure. What’d you think?”

     “It was lovely,” Sun said earnestly. “Do you have any more adventures written down??”

     “Oh yeah, lots! But I think that’s enough for now.” You laughed.

     Sun pouted.

     “Maybe I’ll read you another one next time. We’ll see.” You smiled at Sun, taking in the positive feedback and enthusiasm like a starving person to a five star meal.

     “Can you tell me more about the beach and the ocean?” Sun asked.

     “Oh, yeah! You’ve never been to the beach, right?” You inquired, pulling your phone back out.

     Sun shook their head, almost sadly.

     “Here, I took lots of pictures. Luckily I keep these adventures organized into their own folders…” You tapped at your phone for a moment before standing up from the kiddie chair to take a seat on the ground next to Sun, who eagerly leaned his face in to see the screen, nearly poking you in the eye with one of his rays.

     You spoke excitedly as you swiped through the pictures, fumbling with the words but relaxing as Sun continued to let you talk without interruption.

     “And the sand is usually somewhat soft, its just countless tiny particles of shells and stuff that the waves have pulverized over time. It’s looser than dirt, and hard to walk in. And the water… I dunno, the ocean is just so massive in person, its like how looking at the stars makes you feel small, but so much closer. You can stand in it and stare out at just an obscene amount of water, all of it so beautiful, crashing towards you in soothing waves, containing depths and multitudes, bringing you shells. Its beautiful and calming and awe inspiring,” you rambled.

     Sun let you ramble, enraptured by every word. When you finally stopped rambling about the beach, Sun excitedly flailed their legs and let out a happy squeal.

     “The beach sounds so magical!! And the ocean is so impressive… maybe its just your passion wearing off on me. Oh, it just sounds so lovely!” Sun cried.

     “You should go sometime!” you suggested. “I think you’d like it. I’m not sure about Moon, but I think he’d probably enjoy the calm of the waves crashing,” you speculated.

     “Leave the daycare? Leave the pizza-plex?? Absolutely not.” Sun shot to their feet and began pacing around.

     “Common, yall deserve a vacation! Surely the daycare isn’t open all the time forever. Even if you can’t ask for days off, you must still have some days free to do as you like,” you tempted.

     “My programming does not allow for me to leave the daycare, unless I’m being escorted to parts and service.” Sun folded his arms.

     “…What about Moon?”

     Sun hesitated, looking away. “He… is allowed to leave the daycare, yes.”

     “Perfect! Then make a nighttime getaway, yoink a car, and go to the beach!”

     “Moon is not allowed to leave the complex,” Sun said.

     “Oh. Why?” You turned awkwardly in your chair to face Sun.

     “He is… malfunctioning.” Sun looked upset, hands fidgeting as they swayed slowly.

     “How exactly is he malfunctioning?” you pressed.

     Sun hesitated. Then they spun on their heel and was back to their normal bouncy self, smiling down at you. “Don’t you worry, Moon will get his systems fixed up lickity-split! No need to worry, sunshine.” Sun lightly booped your nose.

     You smiled and stuck your tongue out. You opened your mouth to ask again, but… Sun probably didn’t want to talk about it, for some reason. This made you even more curious than before, but whatever.

     “Okay,” you relented. “You wanna play a game or something?”

     Sun seemed to visibly relax. “I sure would!!”

     During hide and seek, you resolved to question Moon instead tomorrow night. You were a very good hider, but Sun was a suspiciously good seeker. You suspected cheating, but had no proof.

     After waving goodbye to Sun and promising to come back in another two nights, you left the daycare to finish out their rounds. You were now pretty good with the cameras, able to tell which ones were where in the building and flip through to the one they wanted with ease. There were several cameras you hadn’t quite figured out yet, in terms of where exactly they were in the building. You didn’t think much of it, there were lots of cameras and you were still pretty new at this.

~~~

     The thing about working in the deli’s kitchen was that it was bittersweet. Sweet, because you didn’t see a single customer all day. Bitter because it was hot and messy and clean up was a bitch. However, the kitchen closed earlier than the rest of the deli, so if you worked hard and got everything done quickly, you might even be able to eat between jobs.

     Unfortunately for you, fate was not kind to you today. Order after order came in, and the longer you had to keep the kitchen open to cook all the orders, the longer you had to put off cleaning up. Long story short, you jammed a melted granola bar between your car’s AC and the phone holder, an action that was quite natural to you at this point. Your stash of granola bars in the glove compartment was running low. Another thing to add to the list.

     You finished the un-melted granola bar just as you pulled into the spot you usually parked at, near the far end of the pizza-plex. You clocked in just in time and breathed a sigh of relief.

     After storing a small supply of energy drinks in the mini fridge, you took one and cracked it open as you started your rounds.

     You referenced your map a few times, making sure to check every spot you’d marked as you quickly flipped through the cameras. The infrared was on for the daycare’s camera, so the lights were off. You wondered for a moment if Moon would even want to see you. Sun seemed to like you, but your first meeting with Moon had gone rather poorly.

     You ran into Chica, who winked secretively at you. You winked back. You did not envy whoever was responsible for cleaning up after Chica’s late night feasts. Or was Chica clean about it?? Maybe she was helping to keep things tidy around the building. Maybe she simply liked eating garbage. You couldn’t be sure.

     After an otherwise uneventful sweep of the whole building, you made your way to the daycare. You checked through the cameras once more before seeing yourself in through the already open door.

     “Howdy, Moon! It’s me, Y/N. I’m back to bother you some more,” you called out, sweeping your flashlight around.

     “What do you want, troublemaker?” Moon’s voice came from above.

     You peered upwards, eyes lingering on the soft LED stars on the ceiling. “Just came to say hi, maybe ask you some questions. If you want me to leave I can, no hard feelings.”

     There was a long stretch of silence. You turned all around. You couldn’t see Moon anywhere.

     “You want to play a game with me?” Moon asked quietly. “We could take turns asking questions, maybe.”

     “Sure, that sounds like fun!” You felt relieved at not being kicked out of the daycare. “Uh… are you gonna come out, or…?”

     “Nope.”

     “Alright.” You shrugged. You took a seat in one of the little plastic kid chairs, finding it just as uncomfortable as before. You set your flashlight and energy drink down on the circular table next to you. “Why don’t you go first?”

     “How gracious.” Moon chuckled.

     You glanced around, but still could not see the animatronic. He sounded like he was above you, but you still couldn’t see anything upwards besides the ceiling. You settled your gaze loosely on the shape of the nearest play structure’s edge, where a twisty red slide ended.

     “Why did you get a job here?” Moon asked.

     “Need the money. Nowhere else will hire me. The hours work out so it doesn’t interfere with my other job, too.” You shrugged. You asked the first question on your mind. “What kind of malfunctions have you been having?”

     Moon sighed. “Nosy. Since you seem so intent on finding out… Briefly, I will loose control of my body. Sun is unaware of things when this happens, and while I can remember what happens, I cannot control what I do.”

     The embarrassment you felt for being annoying rapidly melted into concern. “Oh, man. That sounds horrible. Are you doing okay??”

     “It is not your turn.”

     “Oh. Sorry.”

     Moon asked their next question. “What do you require all the money for?”

     “Uh… it’s kinda complicated. I have to support myself on my own. Gotta pay the bills. In this economy, I gotta work hard to stay afloat on my own.” You picked at a small scab on your hand. You cleared your throat. “Are you doing alright? With the whole malfunction thing?”

     “No,” was all Moon said in response. “Why are you alone?”

     “Man, what a question.” You let out a low sigh. “…Pass.”

     “Pass??”

     “That’s right. I pass. Ask me a different question.” You folded your arms.

     “I didn’t realize ‘pass’ was an option,” Moon grumbled. “…Why are you drinking that?”

     You glanced at your nearly empty energy drink. “I can’t be falling asleep in the middle of my shift. I get too drowsy otherwise.”

     “You should sleep.”

     You rolled your eyes. “I don’t have time for sleep. I work two jobs, dude. Sometimes three, but it's a slow season for pet sitting at the moment.”

     “Quit your other jobs.”

     You laughed. “Yeah, right. I’ll just live in my car, then.”

     “Take a nap.”

     “Why do you care?” You asked suddenly. You paused, almost wishing you could take the question back.

     “…Because Sun cares about you.”

     “What about you?”

     “Not your turn. Follow the rules.”

     “Shoot, sorry.” You sighed.

     “How much rest do you get a night?” Moon asked.

     “Uhh, four, maybe five hours? Its not particularly restful sleep either.” You took a long sip of your energy drink. You checked through the cameras before settling on your next question. “Okay… how do you feel about me, Moon?”

     Moon was silent for a long moment. “Pass,” he finally said.

     “Aw man,” you muttered, frowning. “Okay, uh… would you tell me if I was bothering you or if you didn’t like my company?”

     “I would not hesitate to.”

     “Right.” You snorted.

     “Why is your pitiful amount of sleep not restful?” Moon asked.

     “Well, I believe its because of my uneasy dreams, if I do ever get any dreams. I’ve had only nightmares since I was a kid. Well, that’s not a hundred percent true. I've had a handful of calmer dreams. Lately though it’s just nightmares again.” You shrugged. “I’m really used to it at this point, it doesn’t bother me much.”

     “It should bother you. You require nine hours of restful slumber at the same time each day,” Moon chided.

     “Nahhh I’m fine. Why are you staying out of sight?”

     “I like having the upper-hand. I don’t trust you.”

     You nodded and crossed your arms. “Fair enough.”

     “Why are you filthy?”

     You looked down at your pants and work boots. Your apron, which was currently laying crumpled in the passenger seat of your car, had suffered the worst of it but you still had all sorts of gunk and breading and stains on your pants. “Oh. I just came from my other job, didn’t have time to clean up. I was on kitchen duty tonight. Cleaning the breading cart is a pain in the ass,” you complained.

     “Language,” Moon hissed.

     “Oh, sorry.” You silently cursed in your head.

     “Bad, naughty… troublemaker. Rule breaker.” Moon sounded angry and strained.

     “Aw man, don’t put me in time out again.” You tried a light laugh.

     Moon just muttered to themself, making you slightly concerned.

     “Do you have any hobbies?” you asked.

     “…Hobbies.” Moon sounded surprised, as if the question had startled him.

     “Yeah, hobbies. I know Sun likes to read,” you offered. You neglected to tease Moon about their similar affinity for reading, for now.

     Moon considered this seemingly simple question for a long time. “I used to… sing. To put the kids to sleep.” There was a pause, then Moon quietly added, “also sometimes just for fun.”

     “Aw!” You smiled.

     “Hush.”

     “No, that’s great! I like singing too. I actually write my own little songs sometimes… I’m no good at the melody though, just the lyrics. I cant seem to match the music with the feeling when I play it out on the piano.”

     “Sing me a song?” Moon asked.

     “Oh, I dunno, I haven’t warmed up or anything…” You sheepishly turned your attention to the table next to you, picking at a thin seam in the plastic running along the edge.

     “You read Sun a story.” Moon sounded sad.

     You rolled your eyes. “Well if you’re gonna whine about it.” You took a deep breath to steel your nerves.

     Without allowing enough time to overthink, you dove into the first song that came to mind.

     ‘There’s no sunshine… this impossible year. Only black days and sky grey, and clouds full of fear… And storms full of sorrow, that won’t disappear. Just typhoons and monsoons, this impossible year…’

     You leaned into it, closing your eyes and pretending you were in your car singing along to your playlist, the comfort and ease following. You relished in the sound of your voice, low and deep and smooth now that you’d been on testosterone for a year.

     ‘There’s no you and me, this impossible year, only heartache and heartbreak, and gin made of tears…’

     You built up to the climax, projecting as you sang.

     ‘There’s never air to breathe, there's never in-betweens, these nightmares always hang on past the dreams…’ You let ‘dreams’ hang on a little longer than it should have. You took a deep breath to steady yourself before softly singing the final verse.

     ‘There’s no sunshine, there’s no you and me… there's no good times, this impossible year.’

     You felt a little awkward when the song was over. You opened your eyes and were startled to see Moon, standing a few paces away, watching you quietly.

     “You have a lovely singing voice,” Moon said softly.

     Your face felt warm. “Ahh… thanks.”

     “Not as nice as mine, of course. But still. For a human… not bad.” Moon gave you a cheeky smile.

     You snorted and rolled your eyes. “Why don’t you sing a song then?”

     “Hmm… maybe next time.” Moon flicked the end of his nightcap over his shoulder and folded his arms.

     “Figures.” You stuck your tongue out at Moon. You checked the cameras on your watch. Everything looked fine.

     “You’ll have to come back again if you really want to hear me sing,” Moon said.

     “Oh? So you’re giving me reasons to keep coming back and hanging out with you, huh?” you teased. You stood up and stretched, then gathered your stuff from the table while Moon huffed and turned their back.

     “Its no fair if you only hang out with Sun,” Moon muttered.

     “Relax, dream boy. I’ll visit you both. I’ll admit, I… don’t have a lot of friends, outside of work. So it’s… it’s nice. Talking to you guys. You know?” You awkwardly fiddled with your watch, avoiding looking directly at Moon.

     Moon leaned in very close, faceplate tilted as a wide grin grew over his face. “Does this mean we’re friiiends?”

     “Shut up!” You huffed and turned away, though you were smiling. “If you wanna be friends. Sure. You and Sun.”

     “Sun is delighted to be friends.”

     Your smile widened. “And you?” You glanced back over your shoulder at Moon.

     “I suppose… I can learn to tolerate a rule-breaker.” Moon waved, as if the whole situation was boring him.

     You grinned. “Cool. I’ll see you in two nights then. And I’ll see Sun tomorrow.” You waved as you made your way back to the daycare’s doors.

     “Good night. Go to sleep,” Moon said.

     “We’ll see,” you said, stepping outside.

[darthfrodophantom]

Ectoberhaunt Day 5: Ouija Board

Summary: To get into the spooky season spirit, Tucker and Sam convince Danny to play a video game late at night, and Danny isn’t pleased about the subject of the video game.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/34303123 

Too Close to Home

“Let me get this straight,” Danny interrupted. “I fight ghosts - real ghosts - on a nightly basis. And now that I actually have a free night you want to take up the time that I should be sleeping to fight fake ghosts?”

He shook his head as he looked at his computer screen, the only light in his entire bedroom aside from the digital clock that showed the hour: 11:45. From the first-person view of the computer game on his screen, he watched the avatars of both of his friends attempt to throw basketballs into a hoop.

“But this is way more fun,” Tucker’s voice said over Danny’s headset. “And it hurts a lot less! Ah! Dang it Sam - you messed up my throw!”

Sam cackled triumphantly. “Better pay more attention to your timing then.”

Tucker groaned as his avatar abandoned the basketball for spray paint cans, which he chucked at Sam. “Besides Danny, we’re not fighting ghosts: we’re hunting them.”

“Fine, fight, hunt, whatever. I still do both of them,” Danny argued.

“Not like this you don’t,” Tucker grinned. “God he’s gonna get creamed.”

“You know Danny, maybe we should let you go to bed. You’re gonna ruin my perfect streak,” Sam teased.

Danny rolled his eyes. “Or maybe you’ll actually do better because you have a true ghost hunting professional on the team,” he defended. He had no idea why he was bragging - he’d just been given an out and given the late hour he should take it, but now it felt like he needed to defend his pride as a ghost hunter. …That thought sounded a little too similar to something his parents would say and he quickly dismissed it. “Besides, I played the tutorial, I know what I’m doing. I’m just trying to figure out why we’re doing this.”

“Because it’s spooky season,” Tucker replied with a hint of sarcasm.

“We are only five days into October, Tucker, and if you’re gonna keep doing this all month I am going to hit you with the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick,” Sam threatened.

“I dunno, it might be worth it,” Tucker teased. “What do you think Danny?”

Danny shook his head, even though none of them could see it. “As the only person in this group who has actually been hit by the Fenton Anti-Creep Stick, I would back off,” he advised.

“Listen to Danny Tucker,” Sam chuckled as her avatar walked over to the white board to set up the hunt. “He’s actually speaking wisdom for once. Now come over here and pick out your gear.”

The playful teasing between best friends stopped as they actually got serious and picked out the gear they would need for their mission. Since Danny had no money, he couldn’t really participate in the conversation, but it seemed like Tucker and Sam had played this enough to know what they needed to bring. Sam started the mission, and their avatars found themselves inside the trailer looking at another whiteboard.

“Alright, looks like our ghost is named Thomas Clark and he responds to all of us,” Sam informed the group while Tucker’s avatar walked over to the shelves to equip supplies.

“Well that’s a dumb name for a ghost,” Danny complained as he looked at the bulletin board next to the computer. He had to squint at his screen to read them, but the articles were fairly legible and contained ghost stories he remembered hearing his parents talk about. It also had a recent article that he actually remembered running in USA Today proclaiming Amity Park as the most haunted city in the world - he didn’t know whether to feel proud or annoyed.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Sam agreed, though her voice was laced with sarcasm. “He should have gone with Thomas Phantom instead.”

Danny rolled his eyes as Tucker burst out laughing. “Oh yeah, now that sounds like a proper ghost,” Tucker added between laughs.

“I knew I was going to hate this,” Danny groaned under his breath. “Can we just get this over with?”

Sam’s avatar turned to face the new whiteboard. “Alright, fine. Objective one: find out what kind of ghost we’re dealing with - standard. Objective two: witness a ghost event.”

“I am a ghost event,” Danny smirked, causing Tucker to burst out laughing again.

“Objective three,” Sam snapped, “capture a photo of the ghost.”

Tucker’s avatar grabbed a camera and snapped a picture of Danny’s avatar. “Got one!” he proclaimed, which drove both boys into laughter.

“Objective four,” Sam said louder, “get a ghost to walk through salt.”

“What? That’s dumb. Everyone knows that’s an old wive’s tale,” Danny complained as he shook his head. Did the creators of this game actually do any real research before they made this game?

“Are you regretting this yet Sam?” Tucker asked as he finally stopped laughing.

“Let’s just get in the house,” she groaned. Danny smirked in triumph, and he could tell Tucker was sharing a similar smirk on his end.

They divided up equipment between the three of them, but not before Danny could comment on the inaccuracies of each of the pieces of equipment and how useless they’d be in an actual ghost fight. From faulty science to just being plain incorrect, Danny made sure to have pithy comments about all the equipment. He didn’t know why it bothered him so much that it had to be accurate - he was not his parents - but as a ghost and a ghost hunter, it just felt a little more personal than he wanted to admit.

Because he was the newest one, Danny got stuck with the Spirit Book (“What? Are they trying to imply all ghosts can’t write? That’s alivist!”) and the EMF Reader (“...Okay that one’s actually accurate”) because they were apparently the easiest to use. Laden down with their gear they walked up to the small house. Sam’s avatar unlocked the door and they headed inside. Danny noticed the tonal shift immediately. Outside he could hear wind and crickets chirping, but once he stepped inside the doorway, an oppressive silence covered his headphones. It reminded him of the sensation on a pressurised airplane and it unnerved and unsettled him...a lot more than he planned to admit to his friends.

“Alright, spread out,” Sam instructed. “See if you can find the ghost room.”

Ghost room, right. He remembered that from the tutorial. It had been the garage in the tutorial, so he figured he should start there. He walked back through the dark house, turning lights on as he went. It wasn’t because he was scared - absolutely not, he was a real ghost hunter! - it was just much easier to see. He pulled out the EMF reader and walked into the garage. It had an eerie quality to it, and he couldn’t tell if it was because he remembered seeing the ghost there last time (a mean looking (and inaccurate) ghost covered in blood and holding an axe) or if it was because he was alone and the room was so large, but he did not like being in here.

“You know, in the tutorial, the ghost was a bloody axe-man,” Danny remarked over the walkie talkie.

“Yeah, I think he’s standard in the tutorial,” Sam remarked offhand. He did not want to admit how good it felt to hear her voice in the oppressive silence of the house. They were clearly focused on their tasks, and that was a good thing, but it felt a lot better hearing their voices.

“Red blood,” he continued, simply to trigger more conversation. He didn’t get any EMF readings, so he gratefully left the garage. “Not ectoplasm. It’s like they didn’t even try.”

“Ugh, Danny, they’re going for a horror aesthetic, not something real,” Sam sighed.

“What? Ectoplasm-stains are horrifying,” he countered as he walked through the rest of the first story. Still no EMF readings.

“Only when it’s yours,” Sam said, and the weight of those words echoed in the silence of the house that made him stop moving for a moment. “No cold spots upstairs,” Sam informed them to break the silence.

“Yeah, no EMF downstairs,” Danny added. “I’m gonna check out the basement.” That’s where they loved to hang out in the real world, so it seemed the next best choice.

“Oh hang on, if you’re going down there I’ll go with you,” Tucker spoke up.

Danny stopped halfway down the stairs. “It’s fine, I’m pretty used to basements,” he joked weaky.

“Yeah, well the last time you went into a basement alone with untested ghost equipment you died.” Tucker said it light-heartedly as a joke, and it was one they’d said a bunch of times before, but somehow it just didn’t feel the same in this tense environment. It felt too...personal.

He waited for Tucker’s avatar to appear before they walked down the stairs together into the basement. Unlike Sam’s basement or his own, this basement had a much creepier feel to it, with the foreboding worn brick walls and discolored cement flooring. Honestly he was glad Tucker went down there with him because it just felt better having another person there.

“Sam, maybe you should get down here with the thermometer,” Tucker mentioned as they both walked through the basement. “Because we’re not--”

Danny whirled around as he heard something thud hard against the ground behind him while he jumped in his chair. The EMF reader in his hand jumped up to three dots and blared at them while he stared at a box of tools now on the ground. The ghost was clearly in the room. Danny half-expected his ghost sense to go off, but he had to remind himself it was just a video game. There wasn’t actually a ghost here.

“What happened?” Sam’s urgent voice said over the walkies.

“Ghost knocked something off the shelf down here,” Tucker said as his avatar walked over to the toolbox. “Ooh! We’ve got fingerprints!” he cheered as his avatar shined a light on a glowing handprint.

“Oh that’s so not how that works,” Danny complained, just to help lighten the mood. Honestly he felt a bit jumpy knowing that the ghost was in the room...and he couldn’t sense him. He’d dealt with invisible ghosts before, but his ghost sense always gave him a vague idea of where they were...except for now. He turned in his chair to check the room behind him. No ghosts, no ghost sense. It’s just in the computer game.

“Figures that the ghost would be in the basement,” Sam remarked as her avatar walked down the stairs and opened her journal. Right! Journal. Danny opened his and placed their one piece of evidence inside. The sooner they got all of those the sooner they could leave, and he really liked that idea.

“I’m not seeing freezing temperatures, but it is a little cooler than the rest of the house,” she continued. “So let’s start setting stuff up in here. Tucker get the DOTS up and I’ll place the camera. Danny place the spirit book.”

Okay, this wasn’t so bad with the three of them in the room. He could hear them moving around and he could see them, so it made him feel a bit better. And there was still no sign of the ghost. He put the spirit book down near the toolbox and looked away from it. Maybe the ghost wouldn’t write in it while he was watching? He didn’t know.

“Ooh!” Tucker cried excitedly.

“Did you see it in the DOTS?” Sam asked.

“No - Ouija board! Oh yeah!” Tucker cheered. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”

“Oh I love these,” Sam agreed. Danny’s brow furrowed as he looked at the screen. Why were they acting so happy - didn’t they forget there was a ghost in this room with them?

“Hang on, let Danny try the Ouija board,” Tucker suggested. “You know, because he’s never seen it before.”

“Ooh good idea,” Sam agreed. Danny walked over to where they were and saw Sam’s avatar set down a light brown board.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sus about your motives right now,” Danny said. He had a bad feeling about this...

“No Danny, it’s fine. These are actually pretty cool in this game,” Sam assured him. She quickly explained how the Ouija boards worked in the game and what questions to ask, and against his better judgment, he walked over and activated the board. The numbers and letters glowed orange against the light color of the wood.

He decided to start with something easy, so he swallowed and forced his voice to come out clear. “How old are you?” He jumped in his chair and his avatar backed up quickly as the planchette moved across the letters.

“Y - O - U - N - G,” Tucker read. “A young ghost.”

“Oh God, I hope that doesn’t mean it’s the crawling baby ghost,” Sam sighed. “I really hate that one.”

“Ask it something else,” Tucker encouraged.

“I don’t know,” Danny hedged. For some reason the Ouija board set him on edge. Something deep in his gut did not like this. Even if it wasn’t real and he kept telling himself it wasn’t real, he didn’t like it.

“No dude, it’s okay,” he assured him. “You can ask two questions before a significant sanity drop. Just ask it one more and you can go back to the truck.”

He very much wanted to go back to the truck. He just needed a chance to regroup. He was a ghost and fought ghosts for a living and he could not understand why this game unnerved him so much. But Danny Phantom wasn’t scared of ghosts, any kind of ghosts, and he wasn’t about to show it on a video game. “Fine,” he groaned as he picked up the board again. “Who died?”

This time he knew what to expect, and didn’t jump as much as the planchette started moving. First to the D, then to the A. Over to the N, then looping back to the N. It ended on a Y.

All three of them stopped moving. The silence became even more deafening around them. Danny dropped the Ouija board and backed up as far as the game would let him. He felt a cold sweat drip down his back. Danny. It spelled Danny. How did it know his name?

“...That has got to be a coincidence,” Sam finally said after the silence that seemed to stretch on forever.

“The ghost’s name must be Danny,” Tucker suggested, voice full of forced bravado.

“...No it’s Thomas,” Sam said slowly. “It must just be reading your username to scare you,” she decided.

“No my...my username is GhostBoy,” Danny reminded them, finally feeling like he could speak.

“Is this game actually haunted? Danny, what did you do?” Tucker accused, voice bordering on hysterics.

“What? I didn’t do anything!” Danny yelled back. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He put a hand up to feel his breath - still normal temperature. He looked around his room. There wasn’t a ghost here. But how did it know his name? And that he did almost die in a basement? “You’re the one that told me to use it!”

“Okay, let’s just calm down,” Sam interrupted. “It’s gotta be a coincidence. Let me try it and see if it says the same thing or gives me my name. It could be a new update that checks the name on the Steam account or something.”

Sam moved closer to the board, but before she could touch it all their flashlights flickered.

“Shit!” Tucker yelled.

“Run!” Sam cried in a panic.

Danny followed them up the stairs to the main level. The idea of running from a ghost, not fighting it, was so foreign to him, but he had no choice. He was powerless here. No ghost powers, no weapons, no thermos. He was completely helpless against this ghost.

He bolted for the garage, the one other room he knew how to get to. Sam’s avatar was running next to him. He could hear footsteps behind him and he swore as he ran towards the garage. Sam diverted into another room, but he continued into the garage. He found a locker he’d opened before and rushed into it. He barely remembered to turn off his flashlight and he waited. Seconds passed and he realized he was holding his breath. No...not holding his breath. Not breathing. He looked down at his hands and saw the glowing white gloves. When...when did he change into his ghost form?

Sam’s voice over the walkie startled him. “What the--? Oh my G--” The walkie feed cut to static and then nothing.

“I...I think it got Sam,” Tucker’s voice said over the walkie. Danny turned on his flashlight and saw that it was no longer blinking. He threw his head back in relief. The hunt was over. He climbed back out of his locker, keeping the door open again just in case.

“Dude, she was running right next to me. It must have followed her instead of me,” Danny told him. “Ugh, well what are we going to do now? She’s the only one who knew what she was doing!”

“Wait, I thought you would be a pro because you’re a ‘professional ghost hunter’ - isn’t that what you kept saying?” Tucker teased.

“Yeah, well I lied! This is nothing like ghost hunting!” he argued as he walked out of the garage. He was going back to the trailer. “Real ghost hunters would bring some kind of weapon and wouldn’t just run around helpless! We should just call it.”

“What? No! We’ve got two more pieces of evidence to collect. And we haven’t done any of the objectives! Tucker retorted.

“Fine!” he snapped as he walked down the main hallway. “if you want to keep looking for clues you can, but I’m going back to the trailer to check--”

The front door slammed shut. His flashlight blinked again.

“Shit!” Tucker cried.

Danny could hear the footsteps behind him. He could feel a heart thumping in his headset. He started running off to a room but stopped. No, he was not running again. He was going to stare this ghost down and prove that Danny Phantom was not scared of some ghost. His image struck fear in the hearts of ghosts and his name carried respect in the Ghost Zone. He was not going to let some video game ghost get the better of him and spook him with some Ouija board trick.

He turned around to face it, camera at the ready. If he was going down, he was getting a picture of it. The ghost blinked in the hallway and Danny saw the cause of his anxiety for the first time. The ghost floated down the hallway, with white hair and a black and white jumpsuit. It...it was him. The ghost was Phantom.

He completely forgot to take a picture as his own image rushed at him. He saw two gloved hands cover over the screen and then everything went dark. He heard the crash of breaking glass, saw a strange underground cavern for a second, and then he was back in a foggy blue version of the house.

The ghost of Sam’s avatar approached him, and he heard her laughing over the headset. It sounded like she’d been laughing for awhile. “Oh my god Danny, did you see the ghost?” she asked between laughs.

“It...that was...oh my God,” he groaned. It all made sense. Spelling Danny was likely an Easter egg, a cute nod to his name of Danny Phantom. The fact that it happened in the basement was just a coincidence, because it’s a creepy spot and a commonly haunted area. He hadn’t summoned anything. He wasn’t being targeted by some ghost in the computer. It was just an Easter egg paying homage to him.

Suddenly all the stress left him and he laughed. God, it felt so good to laugh after all that panic. This game had gotten him so worked up and over what? Over a ghost that looked like himself? Suddenly it all seemed so silly that it scared him that much. He had felt actual dread and fear, enough to trigger an unconscious transformation out of a need to protect himself, but there weren’t actually any real consequences. Now he just got to walk around unhindered in this ghostly version of the house, but nothing else actually happened.

Sam laughed along with Danny. “So you did see it then?”

“It was...oh my god Sam it was me! It looked just like me!”

“I know!” she exclaimed. “As soon as I saw it I forgot to keep running and stared. So of course it killed me. I did get a picture though,” she bragged.

“Oh man. I meant to, but I was just too stunned.” Now that he felt much better, he decided to wander around the house following Tucker who, for some reason, was still trying to finish the level on his own.

Sam suspiciously stopped her laughing. “Wait...Danny, your voice sounds weird. Are you...are you in your ghost form?”

Danny bit his lip as a slight blush graced his cheeks. “I don’t want to hear it.” But the telltale whoosh of the glowing rings turning him back to his human form seemed to be all the confirmation she needed. Except, he didn’t hear her laugh.

“...Danny, I wanted to apologize,” she said, and that made Danny stop moving and look quizzically at the screen.

“What? Apologize for what?” he asked.

“For goading you into playing this game,” she clarified, her voice surprisingly serious. “While I’ve been hanging out here in the spirit world, I realized why this game set you off so much.”

“What do you mean? I never said it set me off,” Danny defended. How could she possibly know that? He thought he was playing it pretty cool.

“Oh please,” she scoffed. “You’re in your ghost form and you were panicking after the Ouija board thing.”

“Hey you would panic too if--”

“Danny I’m trying to say that I get it,” she interrupted. “Being near a ghost without your powers? Without any weapons? Being powerless? It’s one of your biggest nightmares, that your powers will fail when you need them. And this game, it’s too close to home.”

Danny stopped moving and stared at the screen, because she was absolutely right. This was too close to home. How many times did he have to check to make sure his ghost sense wasn’t actually going off? How many times did he keep thinking about how similar everything felt to his own experiences? How unnerved he was about a ghost in the basement? It was too similar to his real life...except he had the tools he needed in his real life. Not a flashlight and some dumb spirit book, but actual real tools and powers and weapons, but here they were all taken away from him. Everything he relied on to fight ghosts had been stripped from him in the game and trapped him helpless in a house with his friends. Of course that bothered him. It was, as Sam said, one of his more recurring nightmares.

“...Yeah I think I’m good never playing this game again,” Danny admitted, the closest he planned to get to acknowledging everything she said was true.

“Honestly? I don’t blame you,” Sam agreed softly. “I think it’s easier for us because we’re used to this role: when there’s a ghost in the area, we help figure out what’s going on and support you. It’s not all that different from this game,” she explained. Her ghostly avatar followed Tucker out of the house and he followed after them. “But when you’re used to doing the fighting and defending and can’t...I guess it’s probably harder to separate yourself from the game.”

He reached behind him and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeah,” he sighed. As much as he hated to admit it, she was right. It was too similar to his daily life, and as he tried to argue at the beginning, he didn’t need to hunt fake ghosts poorly when he knew how to fight real ghosts well. “You know you sound like Jazz,” he pointed out, trying to lighten the mood and change the subject.

“Wow, you’re going to insult me after I tried to help you?” Sam scoffed. “See if I ever help you again!”

Danny smiled at the screen, glad to be back to the teasing. He definitely felt more relaxed and more like himself. “Oh look, Tucker’s finally calling it quits,” Danny observed as Tucker closed the door to the trailer.

“God, I can’t wait to find out if he saw you.” He could hear her grinning through the headset and honestly he felt the same. Out of all of them, Tucker would be the most excited about this addition.

The screen changed over to the menu screen, showing all their accomplished objectives. It also meant that all three party members could talk to each other again. “I can’t believe you left me!” Tucker complained. “It’s even worse when you’re in there on your own! Do you know how much more evidence we needed to collect? Um, a ton!”

Sam laughed, and Danny had to join in. “Okay so we are sorry about that, but Tucker did you ever see the ghost?”

“No, which is probably why I’m the only one that survived!” he complained.

“Oh my god Sam, he didn’t see it,” Danny groaned.

“Oh my god.”

“No wait, didn’t see what?” Tucker asked. His voice had calmed down a bit and was colored with curiosity.

“Tucker...the ghost was Danny,” Sam told him.

“Uh no, we clarified his name was Thomas,” Tucker corrected.

Sam and Danny both groaned. “No Tucker, the ghost was Danny Phantom. It was skinned to look like Phantom,” she clarified.

Tucker’s line sat silent for a long time before he finally exploded in a shower of shock, excitement, and regret. “NO WAY! No! That is so cool! I mean I knew the developers were fans, but this is so cool! Like literally the best tribute ever. Oh my god I can’t believe I missed it! No!” he cried. He was so loud into the microphone that Danny had a hard time believing Tucker didn’t wake his parents.

“It’s why both of us died,” Danny explained. “We were just too shocked seeing it.”

“We’re going back in. I need to see this,” Tucker demanded.

Danny bit his lip. He was not going back in. He meant it when he said he was done. He almost had his explanation on his lips before Sam spoke up first. “I doubt it’ll show up two times in a row. I Googled it and the skin will be here for the whole month of Halloween as a random draw, so you’ve got time to see it. But if you want to try again tonight, I’ll keep playing if you want. Danny...he needs to get some sleep.”

“What? No, it's so much easier with three people. Come on Danny,” Tucker pleaded.

“Nah, Sam’s right, I should go to bed. Gotta be rested for those real ghosts tomorrow,” Danny chuckled. “Besides, being killed by my own image was a little weird.” And also a little too close to home, considering some of his memories of Dan.

“Yeah, this game isn’t Danny’s jam,” Sam explained simply. He had a feeling Sam would talk to Tucker more about what they discussed while their avatars were dead, and honestly he didn’t mind. He didn’t want to keep secrets from Tucker, he just really didn’t want to talk about it any more tonight.

Tucker sighed. “Alright, fine, you’re off the hook. At least you gave it a try though.”

“I did, and you’re both gonna owe me one for doing it too,” Danny reminded them.

“Dude, pretty sure you’re in the negatives when it comes to IOUs from us,” Tucker pointed out with a good-natured laugh. “Testing out inventions, excuses at school, doing your homework, remembering the thermos when you forget it, distracting your parents…”

“Okay okay, I get it,” Danny groaned as he left the screen and exited out of the game. “Well fine, then I’m less in the negative now. And on that happy subject, I’m going to bed. Good night guys.”

“Good night Danny,” Sam replied. “We’ll see you tomorrow.”

Danny almost hung up on their private Discord server when he heard Tucker speak up. “Hey Danny, wait.”

“What?” he asked curiously, his mouse still hovering over the disconnect sign.

“The type of ghost...was a Phantom.”

I’ve never cross-posted on tumblr before, so this will be a first! I hope you enjoy!

[datawyrms]

Ghostly Mystery Tour

For Phic Fight 2021! dey’s lovely prompt c:

On Ao3

Maddie and Jack had fully prepared for their adventure into the Ghost Zone—or so they thought. The fuel on Specter Speeder had fizzled out about a mile in. They're stuck. At least, until Phantom comes by, offering help.

“I just don’t understand it Maddie, I swear I charged it just this morning!” Jack’s voice managed to be louder than his frantic jabbing at the fuel gauge in the enclosed space, the sickly green glow outside making him look ill instead of agitated.

“I’m sure you did honey, but we need to think of a plan.” Maddie was already trying to think of what they could use. They weren’t too far away from the portal home, with how quickly the Speeder ran out of power. They had plenty of gear and weaponry packed in for their research trip, but the Specter Speeder wasn’t powered with something they could just toss in a gas can and bring along. “Maybe we can hook some of the ropes to the floating land masses and tow it?”

“Oh! Great idea!” Jack brightened, shoving the previous problem aside, hands now occupied with measuring the distance of the nearby rocks. “The sooner we get moving, the sooner we can get back to work!”

The problem about how safe it actually was to breathe in the air when in the realm of the dead had been accounted for, but if they had to waste the air tanks just to get back- well they wouldn’t get to have nearly the amount of time to actually explore on foot, let alone gathering samples. They could learn so much about the ectoplasmic terrors from the world they clawed out of, weaknesses they didn’t need to fear on Earth even! So to have their expedition, a trip that had been months in the making derailed like this in mere moments hurt. At least Jack could keep his eyes forward, his positive attitude the only thing keeping her from screaming from the absolute unfairness of it all. “Just run the best options past me before you open the hatch, okay darling?”

“You betcha!”

She was still going to enable the Fenton Child Safety Lock as a precaution, he could get a little over eager when he saw an opportunity. It was just a matter of what tools could be repurposed into a makeshift claw or skewer to actually keep hold of the rocks. What would be the smallest loss?

The sound of something hitting the roof of the speeder halted her thoughts, turning to look out of the windows, drawing up her hood in case they’d be fighting so soon. Even Jack had stopped with his mental calculations, pulling a weapon from under the seat. “Company already? Guess we’ll show em what for, eh honey?”

“Well it is the Ghost Zone, they’re probably braver here. Not that it’ll be any problem.” A little boasting could help keep morale up, even if the situation was less than ideal. Stranded with a ghost already trying to take advantage, typical.

“Well one little zap with this baby and it’ll scoot right on back!”

If the ghost could hear them, maybe it would be frightened off just by their voices. Whatever had hit them hadn’t shown itself near the window, or hit their vehicle again. It didn’t feel right. There might be no evidence for whatever it was lurking around, but sometimes you had to follow your intuition. Jack was inquisitive, but didn’t ask out loud as his wife stood to knock the ceiling herself.

“Sooo are we doing knock knock jokes, or do you need a tow?”

She should have known. Of all the ghosts, it would have to be the one that always managed to get her hackles up, pretending to be helpful so people trusted him. A ghost that even tried to have a human name to fit in, not that she’d ever call this thing ‘Danny’. It was an insult to her baby boy, quite frankly. “What are you up to now?”

“Asking you if you need this thing moved. Duh,” the ghost snorted, the metal clanking as he knocked it again. “Talking at you from the roof feels dumb, you gonna shoot if I go to the front?”

“Depends on what you do, ghost scum!” Jack had looked pensive for a moment, but spoke up quickly on spotting Maddie reaching for a notebook. He just had to give her time to think it over, and he was great at distractions.

“Is scum what you call all people who help you out, or am I just your favourite?” A white haired head appeared at the top of their window, looking down with an amused smirk at the pair. Still playing innocent when they were at a disadvantage.

“You’re a ghost ‘claiming’ to want to help.”

That earned a frown, though the ghost stopped half hiding to float in front of their stranded speeder. “Riiiight. Put it that way, whatever,” he paused, as if studying their faces. His green eyes lingered on the weapon, notably so even as he went back to jabbering. “I’ve got some stuff to do, but I can drag the s-that thing back to the portal. So?”

The hunters shared a glance, unsure how to handle it. Phantom liked to claim he liked humans and protecting them, but he was a ghost. There had to be something he wanted out of them in return. Or might get violent if refused in the wrong way. At least he shouldn’t be able to see the quickly scrawled message to Jack. ‘You play the doubtful one, I’ll pretend to trust him- it’ll underestimate us’

“As if, spooky! Jack Fenton doesn’t need any ghost’s help!”

The ghost bought the open hostility without a second thought, eyes rolling to a sky that wasn’t here. “Really? I heard tow trucks were expensive out of state! Can’t imagine the out of dimension costs.”

It was going to be difficult to stay civil when it would be so much easier to just demand the ghost stop playing around. “We’re listening. So what do you want?”

“Awwww Mads, we don’t need this punk’s help! He doesn’t even have toes!”

The passion Jack had put into his moping managed to baffle the ghost. “Wait, what? Of course I do! No, stop, why does that matter? I know tows and toes are different things! I’m not that bad of a student, sheesh.” He seemed quite thrown, which was good. If the ghost forgot what the plan had been he might just get lost.

“Yeah, and you don’t have either Phantom!” Her husband managed to keep from laughing, but the shake in his shoulders showed it was a near thing.

Phantom glanced down at the black wispy tail that made up his legs, muttering something. “Well okay I don’t right now, but I normally do!”

It was a bit fascinating that Jack had distracted the ghost from his goal so completely. They’d have to think about an invention that could replicate the effect. “Can we focus please? I already said I’d listen to what you wanted.”

“Oh! Right, sorry,” he coughed, a strangely human expression of embarrassment. “I don’t actually need anything? I just have some stuff to do so you’d need to wait a bit.”

Oh right. Sure, the most dangerous ghost in town wanted to help the ghost hunters that wanted to destroy him ‘just because’. Just wait here while he goes to get some friends to attack them! Honestly, did ghosts think they were stupid? “Then why not tell us when you’re done? We’re not moving very quickly.”

“Cus he wants to make us think we’re safe before WHAM! Outnumbered by cowardly ghosts!” Jack expressed her true feelings effortlessly. “Not that it’d help em!”

“No way, you think I’d leave you guys here where anyone can try something?” The ghost still seemed confused, eyebrows raised and arms crossed. “You guys are here to study or whatever anyway, right? So you can look around while I get my errands done. And you know, you don’t get attacked. Most of the little guys leave me alone.”

As if that was a surprise! A ghost of Phantom’s strength could destroy smaller and weaker entities without effort. Perhaps it was a subtle threat slipping through his mask of ‘helpful child’. The idea of going deeper into the Ghost Zone, completely at his mercy was...well absolutely idiotic. Even if they could probably overcome him...being able to still get some studies done would make it not a complete waste of a trip. “So you think it’s likely we’ll be attacked here, so close to the portal?”

“Yeah, by him!” Jack looked tempted to grab his weapon, but refrained. “So what if we say no, huh?”

“Then I guess you can float here? Up to you, I guess.”

It was strange, to see the cocky ghost a bit hesitant. Even if there was an obvious threat he wasn’t mentioning. “Well if you could pull the Speeder, you could take it even if we don’t want you to.”

“I think that’s called kidnapping.” Phantom’s cocky smirk returned “Which is weird, you’re not kids! Adultnapping? Nah, that sounds dumb.”

“Ah cut the innocent act, we’re not falling for it!”

“Hey, I said it’s up to you! Either you agree to come along and I get you back home, or I just leave you guys to do whatever you plan to do. Even if yes, I could totally just drag the ship anyway. I’m not, because I’m trying to help, remember?” A hint of frustration slid past the confidence at ‘remember’, but the ghost folding his arms behind his head as if kicking back to relax did defang most of the threat. “I don’t have all day here.”

“We don’t have all day either Phantom. We have family to get back to, and no idea how long you plan to be ‘on errands’.” Maddie pointed out, still unsure what they should do. Trusting him was stupid, but he had showed his hand. Refusal might be met with the same result anyway, but ‘agreeing’ might trick the ghost into thinking they fell for his ‘trustworthy’ act.

“Like an hour or two? Not too long.”

“Well I’d use my Fenton Stopwatch! So don’t think you can pretend it’s a shorter time than it is, ghost!”

“Yeah yeah, you do that D-Jack,” he stumbled over the ghost hunter’s name, but otherwise didn’t move from relaxing. “It’s not gonna kill you to trust me for a bit.”

Even though it very much could kill them. He really was a smug bit of ectoplasm, thinking he blended in with humans well enough to be considered one. “So only a few hours, and you won’t stop us from researching or taking samples? Or lead us to a trap?”

“If I wanted people to get threatened by ghosts, I could just take some days off. No trouble, cross my heart. I’d swear to die but I got the jump on that bit,” he snorted at his own joke, but otherwise left the family to consider.

It was just safer to say ‘yes’ so the ghost thought they were fools. It had nothing to do with wanting to salvage something out of this disaster of an expedition. “Yes. We’ll accept your help, this time.”

“And you aren’t getting any thanks until we’re home, got it?” Good, ghost hunter, bad ghost hunter. An easy enough trick. Even if she wished Jack was the ‘trusting’ one. Yelling would feel nice.

“Yeeeah, kinda expected that too. Rude.” The ghost only shrugged before flying up and out of sight. She half expected to hear the ghost grab the Speeder, but they only really noticed when they started moving. Moving very, very quickly.

She couldn’t help it, her curiosity tamped down some of the fear she should be feeling, pointing out interesting landmasses as they passed, Jack just as enthusiastic to discuss what caused them, if the ghost built them or they were simply generated when a ghost squirmed into existence. A great castle that seemed familiar, an island with some sort of skull as a decoration and thousands of doors. Most ghosts they only could get sparing glimpses at, even when carrying an entire vehicle the ghost boy was fast. Ridiculously so. She thought it was his small figure that contributed to how quickly the pest could move- how the ghost could just vanish out of range in moments. That most of the power behind his physical attacks came from the speed they were delivered with instead of raw strength. Clearly that was an incorrect hypothesis, moving this quickly and carrying so much extra weight without any real difficulty. They slowed near what seemed to be another castle, though it was much less foreboding looking then the other one.

That sinking dread returned after they landed. She had some landmarks, but this much distance would be a big ask to get back. That, and this castle seemed more...occupied, judging by some humanoid ghosts loitering near the gates. One even waved. To them, or the ghost carrying them?

“Okayyy so. Ground rules? Don’t shoot anyone. None of these guys even go through the portal, they’re not the fighting type. Other than that? Have fun, I guess?” He’d stopped floating, standing on the ground beside their stalled craft. He didn’t look as if preparing to fight, which is what she’d assumed the ghost meant by ‘errands’. So what was he up to?

“We won’t do anything if they don’t.” A lie, honestly, but the ghost nodded.

“Wait, what’s that stuff for?” White gloves pointed at the masks the ghost hunters were pulling from under the seats. “Like you can hear me, there’s air out here.”

“It might be safe for ghosts, but we aren’t ghosts.”

Phantom opened his mouth as if to protest before shutting it with a frown. Strange, it was hard to get him to shut up most of the time.

“Nice try, we’re not gonna choke on ghost air today, Phantom!” Jack chuckled, adjusting his mask before popping open the hatch.

“I wasn’t expecting you to- oh whatever. Just don’t embarrass me,” he sounded like a sulking kid, only glancing at them for a moment before kicking off the ground to fly closer to the castle. Off to fight whoever ‘owned’ this area, perhaps?

“Well look at that! Regular plants!” Jack shook her from her pondering, crouched over what looked like a tended to flower bed near the walls. “Well, ghost plants that aren’t trying to attack. Think we should sketch em for the kids?”

“Well Jazz has been more interested in ghosts lately, I suppose.” It was interesting, but she was more curious about the ghost meandering past the walls. They seemed docile, almost like people just walking and apparently talking with one another. Not attempting to fight for territory or resources. Perhaps they were just repeating the memories of their lives over and over? Yet none of them had reacted badly to Phantom zipping past either. A different breed of ghost, perhaps? Or ghosts often had ‘kings’ that kept the lesser ones from squabbling. The large brute of a ghost that stole the town had claimed to be a king of sorts, and this was another castle...but she didn’t want to test anything by getting their attention. They might only act savagely towards humans, being jealous of those still alive after all.

“Yeah, she has! Danno might not like em, but that goth chick he’s eyeing might like em too!” He was already sketching away, quickly getting the basics. He’d fill in the details from memory back home. “You want to try seeing if those ones talk? Not sure how the ghost kid thinks we could embarrass him, ha!”

“Oh he was probably just trying to insult us. He likes to pretend to be a teenager,” she waved that question away, double checking her weapon was easy to reach in case of an emergency. No reason to make their predicament worse by being unprepared. While still considering to go near those ghosts instead of safely observing from a distance. Jack’s enthusiasm was too infectious, really, but that’s how they made so many discoveries!

The ghosts didn’t object to her moving closer, but she kept off the busier paths to be safe. So many stalls of what seemed to be goods, clothing and paintings, rugs and nick knacks. Well, the ghosts didn’t need anything to live, so it would make sense for them to prioritize other items first, but the art was strange. What did the dead know of creativity? Were these all recreations of something found in life? No, some of the paintings had the green skies of the Ghost Zone, implying at least some ‘new’ thought. They were strange, very unlike the wild animals that often attacked the town, or the showy inhuman mimics that tried to claim world domination. They just looked like greener, more transparent people. Barely any of them even floated much. They’d need new categories, they broke too many rules that stayed true on Earth.

“Oh that’s a lovely shade of blue! I wish I could make something like it.” The voice echoed, but it wasn’t growling or mocking. In fact, the ghost woman who had paused beside the hunter was smiling warmly, despite the dead red eyes. “Are you just visiting for a bit?”

“We’re mostly stuck going wherever the ghost boy is taking us, our ship broke down,” Maddie struggled not to frown, her natural inclination to get away from the still potentially dangerous ghost strong with so many fights. She could tell it the truth, in a sense. Phantom was far more likely to be dangerous then this waif of a woman. How she could move in so many ruffles was baffling.

“Oh dear! Well if he’s any trouble you can let Dorthea know, she’s a caring ruler. A human helped her get her rightful throne back, so I’m sure she’d be happy to help!” The ghost tittered a little, as if expecting that to be obvious.

So the ghost did know she was human? Far more alarming was the idea some other human had been dragged this far from home, possibly trapped. Maybe this would turn into a rescue mission. Unless it was too late for them, a distinct possibility. “Oh really? How did that happen?”

“Oh I don’t really know the details, but it was a human that inspired our good Queen that she didn’t need to fear that tyrant and she could fight back. I wish I’d seen it!”

It was disquieting how human the ghost sounded, a friendly sort of gossip. If only she had a way to record it. “The human got back home after helping, right?”

“Well I assume so, she had no intentions of staying here very long, that’s for sure!” She laughed easily, apparently blind to Maddie’s confusion and apprehension, or just unable to see it past the mask and goggles. “I’m fairly sure Sir Phantom took her back, you could ask him.”

Sir? That town terrorizing scoundrel was respected around here? And had been taking humans out of the ghost zone? Probably because he made whoever it was get here in the first place, just to rescue them. Was that why he was here? To stage some new act with this ghost queen? “Right, I might do that.” Would she? This morning she hadn’t expected to talk to ghosts, let alone multiple.

“Oh! If you see any of those angry blobs you can just run back towards the guards and they’ll deal with it. It’s their job, and they’re quite good at it. I actually considered doing that job for a bit, but I like looking after the plants more. Maybe I’ll switch in a decade or two!” The ghost kept talking, apparently taking Maddie’s lack of further questions as permission to keep chattering.

“Can’t you deal with them yourself?” Attacking ghost blobs was something she knew about, and if this ghost was strong enough to mimic humans, shouldn’t it be able to deal with the much less sophisticated tactics of blobs?

“Me? Oh no, I’m not not trained. Do you still have lions on the other side? It would be like trying to fight one of those with a stick!” She laughed, but not unkindly.

“You’re both ghosts though, aren’t you?” Perhaps they differentiated themselves by name in the Ghost Zone? It would lend some evidence to the ‘different breeds’ of ghost hypothesis she was rapidly stringing together.

She tapped at her chin for a moment at the question. “I suppose we are, but they’re more like animals. They might have always been animals, or never alive at all! It’s perfectly safe here though, they usually fight more among themselves.”

Well that was fascinating. Some ghosts didn’t instinctively know how to fight and had to be taught? Yet didn’t consider themselves completely separated from the more animalistic ectoplasmic terrors. Perhaps the more ‘domestic’ setting here made the ghosts less feral and more reliant on their previous memories. Well, the ghost could be lying, but she couldn’t see the benefit she’d gain from deception here. “So you’re kind of stuck here then? We saw a lot of those outside of this place.”

“No no, we’ve got safer ways to travel than just flying around! Not all of us are that brave, dear. Though I don’t think I’d want to stay somewhere else very long anyway. Here it’s safe, all my friends are here and we have one of the largest markets in the whole Ghost Zone. Other ghosts come to us!” There was a hint of pride as she spoke about her ‘home’, gesturing over to some of the stalls Maddie hadn't had time to look at before getting interrupted. “I was really hoping to get something from the seven armed bloke over there, but he’s not very interested in my clothing. Maybe next time.”

Said ‘bloke’ had far too many eyes to go with the arms, and a collection of honestly terrifying little statues with strange designs that made her head hurt if she looked at it too long. A clear outsider to the more human ones, but not causing a stir. So much for constantly fighting out groups, but they barely had anything in common either! Not to mention engaging in some kind of simplistic trading. “So this happens often?”

“Pretty much. It’s fun to make new things, but you get bored of just your own stuff after a few centuries you know? So we swap and find new things.”

Well of course, it’s not like the ghosts needed to trade for something vital to existence. Swapping ‘things’ made more sense in that context. So why weren’t any trying to trade strength or favours? Or simply taking what they wanted? Was it related to having a queen? She had so many questions that knowing what ones needed to be asked was next to impossible. “I suppose you would. How can you tell if a ghost that comes is peaceful?”

“Asking!” She laughed again, apparently finding the question funny. So they didn’t deal with constant attacks from spectres like Phantom trying to ‘take over?’ Why?

“Oh geeze, I’m so sorry if she said anything about trying to-” Phantom’s voice interrupted her thoughts, the ghost suddenly floating beside the other ghost and sputtering.

“Sorry? She’s been perfectly lovely! Haven’t you- oh I’m so rude, I didn’t even get your name!” the ghost tisked at herself, once again strangely apologetic.

“Wait, she has?” His doubtful tone made the ghost hunter scowl. As if he had any room to judge them.

“We’re scientists, not uncontrollable monsters.” Like him. She was fairly sure he caught the implication when the boy muttered something she couldn’t hear.

“Cool. Anyway, got another stop, then I’ll get you two back home.” He still hovered, glancing between the two of them a few times. “Oh. Maddie, that’s her name.”

“Lovely speaking with you Maddie! Had a good trip back, I’m Guenivier if you’re ever in the area again,” she smiled and gave another wave before somehow drifting back into the crowd without displacing even a bit of that dress.

“Who said you can give out my name?” Maddie hissed, once certain the other ghost was out of earshot.

He leaned back on teenager mannerisms, scoffing and heading away. “Because she wanted to know and thinks you aren’t a total ghost hater? It’s not gonna hurt anything.”

“How can I know you don’t have a way to locate people by name?”

He was rolling his eyes again as if she was being ridiculous. “You live in a house with a giant glowing sign. Not exactly subtle.”

“That isn’t in the ghost zone.”

“It’s attached to the ghost zone, it totally counts.”

It really was like arguing with a teenager when he bantered on like this. “Just don’t do it again.”

“Yes ma’am. Sheesh.” He hopped on top of the speeder, kicking his heels against the side. “Hey Jack, you coming?”

“Coming!” he bellowed back, jogging over from the patch of plants she’d left him at. However, he wasn’t just carrying his notebook, but a folded glowing bit of cloth. Some sort of tapestry judging by all the stitching? “Just wanted to get a few more lines done-” he broke off after spotting his wife, apparently reminded that he shouldn’t be so chummy with the ghost. “I mean I leave when I want to, you can’t boss Fentons around!”

“Oh come onnn, can you pretend you don’t hate me for like five minutes? I’m not even doing anything!” Phantom complained, flopping backwards onto the Speeder. “You were totally having a good time”.

“How did you get that, dear?” Maddie chose to ignore their sulking captor and instead look at what Jack managed to gather besides sketches.

“Oh, one of the ghosties liked my pictures and asked to trade for one! So I gave em a page for this! We can study how they made it back home, neat huh?”

Apparently he hadn’t been too worried about it being a trap, but a picture he’d just sketched wasn’t a big ask for something that could teach them a lot about the ghosts in here, so it was a good trade nonetheless. “You did great sweetie. Just make sure to store it safely, just in case.”

“Already on it sweet cheeks!” He was indeed, already pulling out a large sample bag to store their find before opening the hatch again.

“Ew. I changed my mind, go back to threatening me. Sappy is worse.”

Well, at least the ghost regretted his actions a bit. He’d be more sorry if he tried anything, but this did just seem to be something to sooth that hero complex it had. So far, anyway. She was tempted to ask the ghost what it had been up to at the castle, but it didn’t really matter. He’d just lie anyway, he clearly wasn’t the same sort of ghost as the weaker ones back there.

“Ha, he crumples in the face of our love Madds!” Jack laughed, hugging his wife and they got comfortable back in the speeder. “You think he’d take us back home if I said how much I love ya?”

“I so don’t need to hear this.” He was muffled, apparently still flopped on the speeder. He didn’t add anything before the Speeder lifted from the ground and resumed speeding through the strange green expanse.

“Clearly he buys his own teenager delusion.” Maddie mused, content to rest against Jack and look through his sketches. “Did they seem strangely lifelike to you too?”

“Oh sure! They just talked and didn’t even seem interested in going to the human world! Even though one was very jealous of how bright my jumpsuit is.” He leaned a bit to flick a few pages forward. “I sketched a couple and got their names, so we can see if we can look em up. See if they’re similar to their old selves according to history and all.”

“That’s a good idea. I didn’t get a complete name, but apparently they have jobs? Not like the wilder ghosts, and they do have a queen…” she paused, remembering the ‘human’ Phantom apparently ‘helped home. “Hey! You did help someone home from the ghost zone before, did you?”

“Huh? Oh! Yeah, she’s back safe. Wasn’t even a whole day.” He sounded distracted, or at least surprised by the question.

It could be a valuable lead. That, and the human might need help after such an experience. Who knew how ecto contaminated they might be! “Who was it?”

“How should I know? Just because I’m in town a lot doesn’t mean I know everyone’s name.”

She frowned, glancing at Jack who only shrugged. So he hadn’t heard that story, only her. “You know ours.”

“Because you shout them at me and shoot at me a lot? Pretty easy to remember!”

“Ghost kid’s got a point.” Jack admitted, patting her on the shoulder. “We’ll just find who it is ourselves! Just an extra project.”

“What, and just make their life weird again by bringing up ghost stuff? Leave em alone.”

Well now they absolutely had to look into it, if Phantom wasn’t keen on the idea. Better to let him think they agreed though. “True, it could just lead you back to them.”

“Hey! This is all you, not me!”

Jack chuckled. “You’re really good at riling him up. Almost sounds like our Danny like that, getting all touchy about fun family activities!”

“Well he probably copies behaviour from local teenagers,” she didn't like that comparison though. Their children were nothing like life destroying ghosts. It was better to turn her attention to the passing green and how the amount of doors seemed to dwindle as masses of ice started to become the most prominent detail. That made more sense, actually. Phantom had started using ice in addition to ectoblasts, if he came from somewhere with this sort of climate it seemed less out of place with his other abilities. Even if he was otherwise ill suited to snow and ice with how he insisted on looking like a kid.

The next stop felt more like a mistake, with only hills of untouched white powder and ice to see, but the crunch of snow below confirmed they were no longer moving. Good thing they came prepared with heated coats!

“Not a whole lot around here! If it wasn’t for all the green we could pretend we were in Alaska.” Jack chattered as he shrugged a coat on, still apparently too excited to look around to keep his suspicion up. “They don’t all like castles, or maybe it’s a hidden one!”

He better not be thinking Santa had an ice castle. That was probably what he was thinking of, but she didn’t really want to bring up their annual argument at the moment. He could be wrong today, there were more important things to do. “You do realize it’s a frozen wasteland you’ve stranded us on?”

“It’s not that cold.” Phantom objected, circling the Speeder idly.

“Easy for a ghost to say, you’re always cold ghost kid!”

He stopped at that, glancing back at Jack. “It's not that bad, is it?”

“Only because we brought warm clothing. Jumpsuits aren’t enough for the living.” Maddie huffed, looking at the snowfields to find anything worth looking at. The structures of ice were somewhat interesting, but not inherently ghostly.

“Well you guys can stay here, I guess.” The ghost bit at his lip, playing up the concern now that they pointed out a frozen wasteland was cold. Honestly, how did anyone fall for Phantom’s act if he made mistakes like this? “I don’t think Frostbite’s people come out this far…”

“Oh, are they dangerous? We can take any of your little ghostly pals!”

Phantom looked as if Jack suggested exploding a building. “No! Don’t fight any of them! They just look scary, okay? Just ignore them, if any show up.” He didn’t wait for a response before flying off this time, apparently in much more of a hurry this time.

“Sounds like he’s worried about what we can do to his little pals, huh?” Jack elbowed his wife with a grin. “Well, maybe we can find something weird about the ice here!”

It was better to try getting some of the ghost ice instead of doing nothing, though she doubted it would be very different from regular ice, beyond the ectocontamination. Now what would a ghost think is ‘scary looking’? He hadn’t given such a warning when close to all of the other ghosts, after all. It was a bit of a mystery, and none of the ice here had any identifying marks or hints of another odd little ghost ‘civilization’. ‘Frostbite’ wasn’t much of a name either, perhaps they were more like the wild sort that came to Amity?

“Oh hoh! Look at this!” Jack yelled out, pointing to something below him as he waved her over.

A large, clawed footprint left in the snow, and fairly deep. So something monstrous after all, as expected. “Maybe we can get a cast of it?” They had supplies for it, but she wasn’t certain if it would work in the ice correctly. The tracks didn’t go for long, but following them wasn’t a very tantalizing idea. Better to keep a distance and be well armed if they wanted to tangle with whatever left this. It wasn’t as distracting as the previous stop, but the sound of crunches increasing in volume had the couple back on edge and wary.

“Seriously, we should just go-”

It sounded like the ghost boy was near wherever the crunches were coming from, which didn’t improve her mood one iota.

“Nonsense! I have been asking to meet them for how long?” A deep, growling and carrying voice came in response as Maddie readied a weapon.

“Yeah, that’s the problem. You don’t want to, trust me.”

“Seems he doesn’t have a very high opinion of ghost hunters, eh Mads?” Jack was less noticeably readied, still half crouched near the footprint, but his hand hovered where a weapon was concealed. She focused on her breathing as the sound grew louder, eyes narrowed as she spotted a large figure cresting the nearby hill. With the little white haired ghost boy completely at ease near it. Nothing like his regular behaviour, let alone the talking. Why would this huge beast know of them?

“What did I say about not shooting people?” Phantom actually seemed to blush on seeing her holding the weapon, smacking his face. “Okay, you saw them, bye now!”

The large furred creature ignored how the smaller ghost pushed at their shoulder, instead waving with a horrific ice claw, bones gleaming from within as it seemed to rip at the very air. “Well our first meeting was hardly perfect either, I can manage.”

“Yeah but I can’t just pull a ‘won’t shoot a big yeti’ icicle out of their jumpsuits!”

For a human loving ghost, Phantom was certainly very concerned about this giant horned monster being harmed by ‘mere humans’. More proof of his act, at least. Though the large creature did have a cloak of some sort and clothing. He spoke well, if you ignored the fanged mouth and growls. A strange contradiction of appearance and intent. That wasn’t a normal thing for ghosts either, you could gather a decent amount about one by how they looked. So why was this one chatting and apparently interested in seeing two humans? “So, you’re the ‘Frostbite’ he mentioned?” She hazarded a guess, but wasn’t going to put the gun away.

It showed its fangs, maw wide and unnerving. “Yes, I am! It is an honour to meet you” The furry head bowed slightly, as if trying a sort of nod of respect. “Your work assisted the Great One in vanquishing Pariah Dark, we all owe you a debt of gratitude.”

“Please don’t call me that. Especially in front of them!” the green eyed ghost practically squawked, somehow flushing even harder when he didn’t even have blood.

Maddie’s mind almost flipped over from the sheer confusion of what this terrifying ghost said. They had ‘helped’ vanquish something? More likely, Phantom had stolen something. So why did this ghost still give them credit? That wasn’t even starting to touch why the ghost boy would be considered great in any aspect. “Assisted him? Do you mean with that ghost who took our town into the Ghost Zone?” She wasn’t sure if that was what the ‘king’ ghost was called, but it made more sense than anything else she could think of.

“Indeed. The King of All Ghosts would have sent the infinite realms into chaos and conflict. Of course we are grateful for your help in preventing that.”

“That’s when you stole the Ecto Skeleton!” Jack spoke up, no longer tense. “You never brought it back.”

“That’s not my fault, that thing almost wasted me! It was gone once I woke up!” The boy objected, but seemed to settle down when the larger ghost ruffled his hair. “I wanted to bring it back.”

“I’m sure now they understand how vitally important that technology was, for your world and ours.” The ghost’s yellow eyes watched them expectantly, the unnerving void of pointed daggers thankfully closed now.

“Well it did get Amity back where it belonged.” Losing the Ecto Skeleton had been a blow, but an acceptable one to get back to normal. The fact that more ghosts seemed to know and care about their part of it was somewhat unnerving. She very much doubted Phantom just ‘lost’ it either. Jack suffered from the demands of the suit, but the ghost was just ectoplasm and electricity. Quite unlikely he could be drained that much, it wasn’t meant for ghosts to use in the first place.

“Your world? Doesn’t the kid live here?” Jack asked, making his wife blink. She hadn’t noticed that odd phrasing.

“No, no. The Great One prefers the human world and his friends. How are they doing?”

He froze up, eyes flicking to the hunters and back to the yeti. “Fine. They’re great.” He darted closer to the two hunters, gesturing at them to move. “Okay let’s go.”

How much interacting was this ghost doing with humans to have ‘friends’ it told other ghosts about? They could be in danger, or used as targets! “No no, we’d love to hear about your friends.”

“Nope, you don’t, gotta get home right? Big hurry, don’t trust me, remember?” He was practically pleading with them.

Frostbite’s ears twitched as he tilted his head. “Don’t trust you? Surely they’re the ones who taught your friends how to drive that craft of yours?”

Phantom had the gall to turn invisible.

“We were unaware anyone other than us was using it, actually.” Maddie didn’t bother to keep the frost from her voice.

“Ah, well at least the good news is I already knew how to make a replacement battery for it when the Great One came asking for help.” His tail twitched, as one of the great claws scratched at his furry chest. “It should be good as new once you can install it.”

So not only was this ghost stealing technology and bringing humans to the ghost zone, it was teaching other ghosts how it worked! The second that ghost was in their grasp, he’d have some serious answering to do. “Do all of you call him that?” It was the only question she could ask without wishing to spit acid, quite frankly.

“All of the Far Frozen recognize him as such, but not all ghosts are the same. He should be proud of the title, a savour of two worlds.”

“Frostbite I’m begging you, stop! It’s embarrassing!” The ghost dropped his invisibility, still looking more like a flustered kid instead of the heroics seeking fame junkie he was.

“Well if it helps your relationship with these ghost hunters, I think it is important that they know.”

“Yeah no. Let’s not.”

It felt like there was something the two ghosts weren’t saying. That, and the fact Phantom didn’t seem to like being hailed as a hero here in the Ghost Zone didn’t make sense. Why all the grandstanding in Amity then?

“Well we’ll be glad for the lift home. You shouldn’t steal from us, kid.” Jack tried a stern approach, and the ghost actually flinched from the rebuke.

“You’re not the only ones who want to map this place out, that’s all,” he didn’t really seem to be answering them, more talking to himself before launching himself at the Speeder again. “You can shoot at me about it back home or whatever.”

“Travel safely! Do try and explore your other half more often, Great one. You’re always welcome here.” His great furry head watched them all easily, seeking out the ghost hunters eyes as well. "I understand you are less interested, but you are welcome to see the realities of my home as well. It may surprise you, in a good way."

She desperately wanted to ask what that monster of a ghost meant by that, but managed to hold her tongue. If all the ghosts here saw Phantom as some sort of godlike hero, chewing him out here wasn’t safe. Jack’s small nod of agreement and warm hug helped, but it couldn’t stop her mind churning. They’d seen and hurt so much, and none of it made any sense! This Frostbite just threw in several more wrenches in the works with only a few sentences, but with how agitated Phantom was getting now wasn’t the time to push their luck. Perhaps when the shoe was on the other foot, and the boy needed their assistance.

He didn’t speak up or grumble this time as they left the frozen land behind. Though that might be them as well,m sitting close together and considering the notes and samples they had taken. That and the huge list of questions Jack had scrawled down in the margins of a sketch of Frostbite. How could a ghost like Phantom truly manage to stay in the human world most of the time? Did it have to do with this ‘other half’ that ghost had mentioned? Would knowing what it was reveal a weakness in the ghost? So many questions, but no answers. Why had Phantom even let them speak to any ghosts, considering how badly he’d reacted to some of the information given? He couldn’t genuinely be wanting to help.

The inviting glow of the portal appeared sooner than either of them could expect, the ghost dropping the ship on the lab floor with a loud clunk.

“See? Home. No ‘evil plan’” he floated into view, and she was fairly sure he only did so to make those air quotes with his hands.

“So you say, ghost kid. Don’t think we won’t be checking for tricks!”

“Yeah sure,” he shrugged, grinning after a moment. “Oh hey, by the way, you do know what the Speeder is powered with, right?”

Maddie didn’t actually know how to take that question. “Of course we do, we built it!”

“Uh huh.” His grin widened as he kicked back, legs vanishing into that strange tail. “All you had to do was take the cover off. It’s the Ghost Zone! There’s ectoplasm everywhere! I just had Frostbite make a backup.”

...Had they really- They had. They’d been dragged around by a ghost for no reason at all! “Why you little-”

He kept laughing before turning and getting out of the way. “Thanks for flying with Phantom Zone Tours! I’m out.” A jaunty wave and he was gone, leaving two baffled ghost hunters behind.

“I think some fudge is in order after that!”

She couldn’t say he was wrong. Maybe fudge could make sense of that whole affair. All that for a prank? It didn’t add up. They’d have a lot of work to do.

[itsbenedict]

Earlier I started posting about the games I played this year, and now here's the rest of them!

Rogue Legacy 2

This one's still in early access, but I've seen most of what it has to offer so far. If you played the first Rogue Legacy, it's more of that- bigger, with more classes and spells and locations, and a new Relics system that gives a little bit of upgrade progression-type stuff to each run. I like it!

If you haven't played the first Rogue Legacy- it's a roguelite platformer! You go through a spooky castle fighting enemies and also smashing every single piece of furniture you see just in case gold coins are hiding inside. When you die, your descendant picks up where you left off, and can use your inherited gold coins to buy upgrades and unlock more stuff. Also, this time it appears to have a story! The ending's not in yet, but it's reasonably interesting so far.

Psycholonials

Jegus fucking christ. What a thing this was! It sure... was a thing!

If you don't know, Psycholonials is a visual novel created by Andrew Hussie, creator of Homestuck- the first properly non-Homestuck thing he's done in ages. I was excited to find out what he'd been sitting on for so long, and...

Uh. How do I describe Psycholonials? It's... it escalates. It does the thing Homestuck and Problem Sleuth do where it starts out simple, and then sort of unfolds fractally into this insane clusterfuck that's constantly upping the stakes and getting increasingly deranged in a way that technically follows entirely logically from what came before.

Where Psycholonials is interesting is in that it... doesn't use game mechanics or space magic or whatever to drive that escalation, for the most part. It is... I would not in a million years call it realistic, because the events of the story are a psychotic doomer fever dream with a tenuous grasp on human reality, but it at least purports to take place on Earth, with events driven by human action in our modern world. There's some weird plausibly-deniable meta space magic stuff in there, but it could be plausibly written off as a delusion.

I don't think I, like, agree with most of what it's saying, but it sure is saying some stuff! In a really unique way! It's worth experiencing, at least.

(soundtrack's kinda weak though. lot of very pretty piano compositions but the very pretty piano compositions really do not work as emotional backdrop for most of these moments. idk if the inappropriate musical accompaniment was supposed to be making a statement or what, but i don't think it worked.)

Monster Train

Eesh. Okay, so- it's a roguelike deckbuilder, all the rage these days. Very pretty art. Very fun, mostly very well-balanced except the DLC goes the "okay now pump the difficulty up insanely so that only one strategy actually works and fuck you if you want to have fun" route. Polished and enjoyable and...

...and I got seriously addicted and wasted way way way too much time on it. Like a month of my life doing nothing else with my free time. I don't know exactly what the special sauce is that makes it do that, but I had to uninstall- this one's dangerous.

The Witch & The 66 Mushrooms

A short and sweet retro-styled metroidvania platformer. Not too much to say about it- it's cute, it's fun, there's a handful of really annoying challenges you have to do for 100% completion and the good ending- but overall, a pretty breezy experience. Took me about 3 hours to beat 95% of and another 3 hours to beat the last 5% of.

Deltarune (chapter 2)

If you've been holding off on Deltarune because it's not complete: that's valid, but each chapter is a mostly contained story so far- they're more like individual short games, at least for the two chapters that are out. Chapter 2 is hysterical, featuring a new main antagonist who is an evil cyborg queen that learned about humanity Lightners from the internet, and who is just the best. There's also a second [𝙴𝚇𝙲𝙻𝚄𝚂𝙸𝚅𝙴! $𝟷𝟿.𝟿𝟿 𝚟𝚊𝚕𝚞𝚎] antagonist who is apparently [𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐏𝐨𝐩𝐮𝐥𝐚𝐫] lately, but he's not as good as the main attraction and very best cyber-tyrant.

-

That's everything I finished in 2021, but there's a few things I've sunk a lot of time into that are worthy of a mention, even though I'm not quite done with them yet.

Eastward

Holy damn, this game is gorgeous. It's like... every inch of this world is custom pixelart, made by someone who clearly loves doing pixelart, because there's no other reason there'd be this damn much of it. Every background NPC has a name and a character design, no reused generic townsfolk assets. Every building in every area- even if it's just there for decoration and the door is locked- is a custom piece packed with little details. You only see, like, tilesets and reused art in wilderness or dungeon areas where the terrain needs to be legible for combat and puzzle-solving- otherwise the whole game is just a work of art.

(the gameplay is very simplistic and the movement controls seem a little awkward considering how polished the rest of it is- it recommends a gamepad but the way aiming works I suspect it works better with mouse and keyboard. combat is serviceable but the art and story are the real draw.)

I'm only about halfway through it right now, so I don't know where the story is going exactly, but there sure is a lot of it- it's a very story-focused thing, following an old man and his surrogate daughter as they're forced to flee their lives in a Jiha Village-esque subterranean mining colony and adventure throughout a colorful world being menaced by some sort of ancient apocalyptic threat. I'm excited to see where it goes!

Trails to Azure

Trails from Zero and Trails to Azure (Zero no Kiseki and Ao no Kiseki) are a couple JRPGs in the Trails series that were never localized in the west- they skipped right from Trails in the Sky to Trails of Cold Steel. A fan organization called Geofront took it upon themselves to do full translation projects for the games, so I finally got to fill in that gap. (The fan translations have actually recently been taken down, though- because the Geofront actually got approached by NIS to partner in officially localizing the games, with the bulk of the work already being done- the fan translation patch is now going to be the official release, whenever that comes out.)

Anyway, the duology takes place in Crossbell this time- unlike the other Trails games, which have you journeying across a whole nation, Crossbell is a single city (plus a couple outlying villages), brought to life in exquisite detail. The Trails series is hard to localize because there's so much dialogue- every NPC in these games is a character with a name and face and little story arc of their own, developing over the course of a long story where each NPC has new dialogue every time the plot advances fractionally. Crossbell feels real- it makes me feel disappointed that I can't like, actually buy a plane ticket to go visit it. I can't ever visit Morges Bakery in real life! That feels so unjust!

I've finished Zero and I'm on the final chapter of Azure right now- and man, Azure is definitely the best of the second-entry Trails games. Usually the first game in a pair introduces a setting and characters, and then in the second game you stay in the same setting with the same characters while Mysterious Badguy Organization "Ouroboros" does an evil supermagic JRPG plot that makes no sense. Azure does keep the same setting and characters, but this time the plot feels properly foreshadowed and the big twists earned. (A lot of the weaker stuff in Cold Steel feels in retrospect like it was blindly aping a lot of the stuff that succeeded in the Crossbell games.)

Anyway, the fun combat, good writing, and great soundtrack mean it'll be a solid rec when it gets officially rereleased in, uh, 2023 apparently. Glad I got in early!

Raft

It's a survival-crafting game like so many others, except instead of a big empty asset flip wilderness, you're on a raft drifting through the wreckage of an apocalyptic flood that destroyed civilization. The basic loop of "reel in trash" -> "expand raft" is pretty satisfying, and the islands you can visit to progress the story have some pretty fun things going on. I'm waiting to play it in a group with some friends before I finish it.

Inscryption

It's a roguelike deckbuilder! ...At first. It's a horror game, too, where you're playing across a table from some sort of shadowy horror that has a sort of obsession with hunting and survivalism and kill-or-be-killed. If that were all it was, it'd be pretty good- the card game itself is strategically compelling and has a lot of fun synergies and unique challenges.

But it's by the same guy who made Pony Island and The Hex, so you know shit is gonna get weird and meta. I'm only like a third of the way through the game (I've reached "act 2", which is- like, cool for what it's doing, but less fun so far) and I don't know entirely where it's going, but it's definitely doing a lot of fun creepypasta shit. Zero is constantly on my ass to finish it already so he can talk spoilers with me, so I know it's good.

The Outer Wilds

You are a space alien who lives on a tiny planet. You have a spaceship that lets you fly around your solar system. The fucking sun keeps exploding and you have to timeloop back to 20 minutes before the sun explodes, to figure out why the sun keeps exploding and how to stop it from exploding so much.

It's a really unique experience- it's a spaceflight exploration game where you have to hunt down secrets and hints across an open world of planets with different gravity and exotic properties, many of which will kill you stone dead and send you back to the beginning. Your progress is measured in information gained, as you traverse the world and uncover ancient ruins and mysterious facilities and precursor aliens and quantum magic and all kinds of mind-blowing stuff.

I'm currently kind of stuck, having exhausted most of my leads and my best remaining lead probably being somewhere deep inside a horrifying MC Escher-ass nest of jumpscare space anglerfish, but I'm sure I'll work up the courage to go back in there and finish the game someday.

[yespleasetommyshelby]

Should've just asked - Oscar "spooky" Diaz Imagine

Requested? Yes - @too-oldtobeafangirl

"Hey mamas, got any plans today?" Spooky asked as his eyes landed on his girlfriend of six months y/n, sitting on the couch with her phone in her hand ignoring whatever show she had put on just minutes ago.

"Uh yeah, I think I do, why? What's up?" She asked, eyes flicking up to him briefly before the ping of her phone drew her back in.

"I was thinking we could Uh, I dunno, go get some food or something later?" He spoke unsurely, frowning as she continued to type as though she'd never heard him.

"Well," she muttered locking her phone and placing it down on the arm of the sofa face down, a detail which failed to escape Oscar's notice. "I've got plans up until 3 then I'm all yours." She winked up at him before yet again her phone became more important.

"Okay, I was think we could-" He had started to say before y/n jumping up from the sofa, phone in hand and smile on her face stopped his words from coming out.

"I gotta go meet Lindsey, but I'll text you later baby." She smiled picking up her bag from the side of the door, swinging it on her shoulder and placing a small kiss on his cheek before opening the front door. "Love you!" She called.

"I love you.." he started before the door slammed shut, preventing her from hearing his words. "Too." He sighed.

Shaking his head he decided to roll a joint and grab a beer, y/n's actions from this morning running through his mind, he's seen all the tricks done before, the secret messages, hushed phone calls, leaving the phone face down so nobody could see what message comes through, or rather who's message. The only thing different is that it's normally Spooky who's hiding something, in previous relationships of course, the thought of someone who isn't y/n doing nothing but churning his stomach, she was the only one who stuck around and dealt with his Santos business without kicking up a fuss.

But now, now he was worried. He knew that she loved him, well, she told him everyday, but how she was acting recently had his mind running a million miles per hour, thinking about her with someone else made him feel sick, physically and mentally sick. Sighing to himself he threw his joint into the ashtray and made his way to his car, if she thinks she can go around with whatever man she wants then she clearly didn't know Oscar as well as she thought she did.

Meanwhile at the mall y/n and Sad eyes were having a great time, both unaware of the storm that was currently brewing in Oscar, well, he was far closer to being Spooky than Oscar at this moment in time. The two friends were laughing with arms full of bags as they made their way towards the food court, lost in a world of their own they never heard y/n's phone ringing.

Oscar stood round the corner from the food court, watching as sad eyes and his girl walked towards the taco stand with smiles on their faces, her cheeks glowing red slightly as she laughed at something sad eyes had said. Even now when the worst thoughts were going through his head he couldn't deny how beautiful she looked, her hair shining in the artificial lights and her smile brighter than a million stars. Pulling out his phone he watched as neither one of them made an effort to check their phones, both too caught up in their own world to even notice the brooding gang leader in the corner.

"So, you think Oscars gunna like it?" Y/n asked as they sat down at a table, dropping the bags at the side of their chairs before flopping down.

"The guys crazy about you, pretty sure you could just throw him a card and he'll be talking about it for days." Sad eyes chuckled as he thought about his love struck best friend.

"What can I say? He's a real sweetie pie when you guys aren't around." I laughed picking up my drink and squealing when a drop of coffee slipped down the top of my shirt. "Oh wow, that's hot." I muttered pulling my top out slightly to stop it from running in the coffee.

"Thank you." She muttered as Sad eyes handed her a napkin and she began to dab the top of her chest, careful to make sure that nobody got an eyeful while she did so.

"So this is where you've been sneaking off to huh, with Lindsey." A gruff voice from behind them made the two jump, looking round to see Oscar stood there with his usual smirk set in a hard line, his eyes narrowed at the two of them as they sat there like two deers in headlights.

"Oscar? What are you doing here?" Y/n asked standing up to face him with confusion on her face.

"What? Didn't want me to find out aye mami?" Oscar growled, his attention focused on the girl in front of him, frowning and looking up at him with sparkling eyes.

"Well no, not really, kind of beats the whole idea." Sad eyes chuckled as he stood up and turned to face his life long friend.

"I'm gunna beat your ass into the fucking ground." Oscar growled before stepping forward and landing a punch straight to sad eyes' jaw.

"What the hell Oscar?!" Y/n yelled as she bent down to help Sad eyes up from the floor, his hand on his jaw and a trickle of blood falling from his lip.

"What? You think I'm gunna let you walk around acting all cosy with this putá while I sit at home waiting for you? You think I'm some kind a bitch aye?!" He yelled looking down at the two with disgust, his fists clenched to his sides. He could see the rest of the mall were watching them, but he didn't care, he knew they wouldn't try and stop him or get him escorted out, he was Spooky Diaz, he ran the streets and there was nobody that could tell him different.

"What the hell are you going on about?" Y/n asked as she stood in front of him, looking up at him in nothing but confusion.

"Don't play dumb hyna, I know about you and him, did you really think I was stupid?" He seethed, knowing that calling her a 'hyna' was one way to really piss her off, and it seemed to work as in the next second his cheek was stinging like crazy, the echoed sound of a slap confirming what he already knew, she had slapped him.

"Yeah, I do think you're dumb, I think you're the most stupid person I have ever met if you really think that lowly of me." Y/n started, her voice low as she stared daggers into Oscars eyes, ignoring the stinging in her palm from the force of the slap. "I don't give a shit who you are, big bad Spooky Diaz thinking that everyone's afraid of him because he's got a shitty tattoo on his face, Spooky Diaz who runs the streets with his big bad gang, well guess what, you're no more than little Oscar Diaz, too far up his own ass to see when someone is trying to do something nice for you, Ya know, like your girlfriend and best friend who was doing nothing more than planning your birthday, you moron!" She finished with a yell, watching as the anger in his eyes suddenly faded and turned to guilt, his eyes flicking over to Sad eyes who did nothing but shrug, he should've know lying to Spooky was gunna end up this way.

"Y/n I-"

"Y/n I - Nothing Oscar! If you thought that something was wrong why not ask me? It could've been a simple question but instead you decide to go start shit in the middle of the mall, punching Sad eyes and for what? To make yourself look like a fool." She muttered, tears building up as she shook her head and turned to Sad Eyes. "Let's go." She muttered sadly, holding on to his arm and leading him away from Oscar, their food and bags forgotten about as they left the Santos leader standing in his own bubble of guilt and stupidity.

He should've just asked...

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

It's kinda short and I left it at a terrible place but this has been in my ask for ages now and I just wanted to get it out, if anyone wants it I've been thinking up a part 2 🥰