#like ghost king stuff

[the-witchhunter]

Question for the DPxDC crowd

what do you guys actually consider liminal? Like, I genuinely don't know anymore

because early on it was pretty much just Jazz having grown up with ectoplasm in the house for years and in her food, which makes sense, and it was an extremely rare thing

then it got expanded to Sam and Tucker

Then members of the Bat crew that got resurrected by a Lazarus pit(and Dick for some reason? He's never canonically died guys...)

Now it seems to be the entirety of Amity Parkers, All the Bat clan, half of Gotham, Half the Justice Leage, the entirety of the League of Assassins

is it just having come into contact with ectoplasm/Lazarus Pits? Prolonged exposure? Because it's starting to feel like everyone is liminal besides the guys in white for some reason

Like you guys have started using Liminal to basically replace the word "Ecto-contaminated" There is a canon word for the thing you guys have started using liminal to describe

[fauvester]

something something seeing things through different eyes

[starry-bi-sky]

bruce and danny being fuckign nerds together,,,, they are being the BIGGEST nerds. geeks. if you will

these losers are color-coding the most inane bullshit. they are making diagrams for things you've never even thought of. they are having the time of their lives

"what are you two doing?"

Danny, sitting criss-cross on a table, hunched over a spread of papers and a bunch of different jello cups, his back is gonna hurt SO much: color-coding jello

Bruce, sitting in a nearby chair, also criss-cross, scribbling on a graph paper: hm [agreeing]

Alfred, already exasperated and SO fond: may i ask why? and on what parameters?

Danny: we're basing it off which flavors are the most mentally stimulating and for which subjects :}

Alfred, SO fond: ah. i see.

Danny, snapping his head over to Bruce and leaning over: wh- no-- no. Buzz, I told you: lemon-flavored jello stays strictly in the 'smelling salts' category--

Bruce, still writing on the graph paper: mn. no.

Danny, nearly sprawled across his back, faux-outraged: strawberry is NOT good for math-- you fucken HEATHEN--! Give me that pen!

Bruce, did that solely to rile up Danny, now trying not to smile: hnm.

[chaos-bringer-13]

I've seen a lot of people writing Danny as a space ancient and Dan and Dani as ghosts with moon and sun cores, being sort of parts, versions of Danny and therefore weaker. Now, consider: Dan and Dani are both powerful ghosts with really cool cores and stuff but Danny is just some guy™

Dan, who came from an alternate timeline and is kind of from the future but also not, is Clockwork's apprentice and will eventually become an ancient of time. He probably only agreed to have some lessons with Clockwork to understand better what happened to him, but he enjoys his apprenticeship now.

Dani, with her love of travelling, loves seeing all the different places the world offers to her, and that includes space and different planets and maybe even parallel universes, and she accidentally ends up being an apprentice of the space ancient. For now she's probably a baby ancient of freedom or something like that, but she might become an ancient of space in the future.

We can also have something like Dan having a core of destruction or Dani being the Speed Force if you want it to be dcxdp, or any headcanon of yours about their cool powers.

And then there's Danny. And yeah, everyone knows that he's super powerful, but also he's just some guy.

It can go different routes. Does everyone know that Danny is just Danny? Or do they think that with siblings (well, technically a clone and an alternate version, but whatever) so powerful, he must be even stronger? Is Danny actually something terrifyingly eldritch and ancient and strong, almost a god, but he just doesn't know himself? Or is he just really some guy?

Now, because it's obvious that I have a dcxdp brainrot, have a regular "JL summons/meets a powerful ghost" but its Dan and Dani, and they keep mentioning their original/brother who won a fight against them at some point. The JL is very concerned about Dan and Dani's godlike powers, and they can't imagine what Danny is like. And then they meet him (in his human form), and it's just a young adult in casual clothes, very friendly and helpful, with no evident powers. Imagine the confusion. Imagine Dan and Dani, radiating power, in their eldritch ghost forms, admitting that fighting Danny for real is the dumbest thing to do and not even they would succeed... And then there's Danny is jeans and silly t-shirt, waving shyly.

[sleepy-writes-stuff]

DP X DC PROMPT #27

(Time for something a little more lighthearted/found family. Could probably also make this a crack prompt instead.)

(#) = Notes at the end of post

(*) = Just me building off of other ideas.

✦

Visitation Rights

When Danny went to list Dani/Ellie as his heir after she'd come back from her years of traveling the world, he was quickly informed that he already had one in line for the thrown.

"What? Since when?!"

The pretentious, floating eyeball looked like he wanted to be anywhere else other than here, providing information to King Phantom, but explained anyway.

"The day you officially achieved royal status, you permanently linked your being to the Infinite Realms. When this happened, however, a child was in the process of being created with the assistance of ectoplasmic runoff that's been leaking into the mortal world for centuries. As a result of your power being incorporated into the Realms at such a time, this human child retained an imprint of your core signature. The Infinite Realms itself has recognized this child as your offspring. Your... other offspring has yet to be recognized in such a way and would therefore be considered your second heir once claimed."

Danny stared at the Observant with wide, blank eyes that were slowly filling with dread and panic.

"Why are you just telling me this now?? My coronation was over a decade ago!" He held his face in his hands and gave a horrified groan at what he just learned.

"If you really wanted that clone as your heir, I'm afraid it's too late to change it-"

Danny's head shot back up with a snarl and furious green eyes.

"That's not what I'm upset about you walking cataracts! Eleven years! I've missed eleven years of this kid's life!! How could you think I-"

At a loss for words, he growled deep in his chest. Deep enough that it echoed throughout the halls and rattled the floors.

"Who is this kid, and where can I find them?"

Once given the information and learning of the child's other parental figures, he gets to work. A few weeks later, he appears in the home office of a well-known billionaire with a stack of papers that he promptly slams onto the desk in front of the startled man. (1)

"I demand visitation rights to our son, Damian Wayne."

✦

(1) Danny actually visited Talia first to get visitation rights. Needless to say, that didn't go very well. He's still got a couple knives floating around in his chest cavity because of it.

(*) ALSO! I'm not sure how this lines up with the DC/Batman timeline. All I figured out is that if Danny waited to be crowned until after he graduated college as an astrophysicist, which take 5 to 7 years, he'd be about 36 years old when he finds out about Damian. Bruce would be about 41, so the age gap is only 5 years. If y'all wanna make this Danny/Bruce, go ahead!

[little-pondhead]

DP x DC Prompt

…

There are no more heroes.

Well, okay. Rewind a bit.

Danny has been doing the hero thing for a while now. He’s had a big reveal; everyone has accepted him (including his parents), the GIW disbanded, the Anti-Ecto acts repealed, and generally, everything is going great. Some of the A-Listers are even training as junior ghost hunters to help give him a break from his rogues! (Being Ghost King makes things hectic sometimes, and he just needs the extra help. Sue him!)

The point is, literally nothing is wrong with Danny Phantom’s afterlife.

And then Valerie Gray, the Red Huntress, disappears in front of his eyes.

Danny is baffled! She’s just…gone! Valerie just popped out of existence, like she was never there. But no matter how hard he searches in the Ghost Zone, he can’t find her soul anywhere. His core isn't broken in grief. So she’s not dead. Which is good. So then, where is she?

Some of the others come forward with ideas on how to find her. A few ghosts volunteer to go out into the mortal realm, an area Danny had declared off-limits, to see if she was out there. Danny approves it. He rounds up some of the friendlier (i.e., discreet) ghosts and Amity Parkers and demolishes the outside travel ban.

So everyone spreads out, looking for their dear frenemy and teammate. But it becomes apparent very quickly that something is wrong with the rest of the world.

There are no more heroes.

Every single living superhero on the face of the Earth has just…vanished. Villains are running amok; the countries are in chaos! Some aliens are invading Earth, mythical deities are trying to take over, and society is crumbling to the ground. Everything is on the brink of collapse.

Well, Danny was still there. And so were his people. They were pretty spread out, so could they just…take up the mantles? He also knew where to find the souls of dead heroes in the Zone; surely they wouldn't mind coming out of retirement for a little bit, especially if they couldn't die again. Oh! And that skeleton army leftover from Pariah Dark's reign might be useful in repelling those invading forces.

Honestly, there were more than enough hands to go around! And with the heroes gone, Danny didn't mind letting everyone out for a little break, as long as they followed his rules. They wouldn't stop the search for the other heroes, but hopefully, when they found them, the heroes wouldn't mind Danny's intervention too much. :)

In other words:

Someone fucks up, and all of Earth's living heroes are either wished out of existence or are whisked away to some far-off realm where Danny hasn't checked yet. In the attempt to figure out what's going on, Danny lets the dead run amok over the Earth as they search for clues. The skeleton army repels the invading armies, the souls of dead heroes deal with the world leaders, and his rogues and other Amity Parkers set up shop in place of famous heroes, trying to get the cities under control again.

Basically, they just do their best to keep everything from imploding until the Justice League and others are back.

(And why is it that Danny hasn't disappeared? Well, whatever caused everyone to go poof! only affected living heroes. Anyone heroes that were dead in the first place, or even just half-dead, stayed behind.)

[radiance1]

Based on the wonderful designs made by @puppetmaster13u specifically the Blob King Danny ones!

Danny stared down small child before him, scowling and pointing a sword at him, ready to stab him Danny bets. Danny slowly crossed his arms, letting out a slight hum.

This was not what he expected when his little ones wanted to lead him somewhere.

He turned his head slightly, staring at the pit that held glowing green water and, slightly. Ever so slightly.

Shivered.

The amount of life in that thing made his skin crawl, and he hasn't felt that in a while.

He then turned his gaze back down to the child, who, outwardly, looked no different. But he could see the curiosity hidden behind the pure hostility at the slightest shift to attention towards one of his little ones.

So, Danny made a decision.

Faster than the kid could react, he picked him up in a way that would let him not be stabbed immediately and left.

---

Henry fidgeted with his glasses, eyes determined not to find their way to the kid held by the King Class entity standing before him or, Danny, as he would be preferred to be called.

"Who is this...?" He looked at the ghost in question, silent hope in his heart that this isn't what he thinks it was.

"Your newest little brother!" Danny ruthlessly crushed said hope, albeit unknowingly. "Found him, liked him, didn't see any guardians around so I adopted him!"

Henry knew there was a lot of differences between ghosts and humans. But never had he been so dismayed over such a difference in culture.

"Um, Danny...?" He began, placing his glasses on his face as he sweat dropped.

"You can call me dad too, of course!" Danny flashed a beaming smile full of teeth his way, and Henry was touched by the sentiment, really, he was.

"You can't just kidnap a random child just because he seemingly," Henry stressed the word, to signify its importance and to hopefully drive home the point. "Had no guardians around."

"Well that's good!" Danny said, smile not dropping one bit and in fact, growing wider as his tail wagged. "Cause I adopted! Not kidnapped!"

"Danny-"

The ex-scientist was cut off by the sound of a blade piercing flesh, and he slowly looked down to find the child stabbing a knife through Danny's stomach.

Oh dear.

---

Damian smirked, finally having been able to injure his kidnapper. The man was a fool, daring to drop his guard around him and easing his grip. It worked out for Damian, of course.

He twisted knife in the man's stomach, utterly disregarding the other one entirely. He seemed weak, so he was a non-issue.

When a moment passed and Damian wasn't dropped, his brows furrowed a bit in confusion as he twisted the knife again.

A beat.

He slowly looked up the sound of a giggle, finding a wide, fanged smile staring down at him with curved, pleased eyes containing a touch of pleased surprise, a hint of pride and a glint that Damian could only describe as manic.

"Knew I picked up a good one." The man purred, voice sounding a slight bit inhuman in his excitement. "We're going to get along well, you and I."

The man giggled and Damian, shamefully, found himself wanting to step back as something felt off about the man. Foreign.

Other.

"Welcome to the family, little champion."

[bluerosefox]

New Title Idea

...........................

........................

Why haven't we DP fans of Ghost King Danny thought of this title to give him?! Like I stopped in my tracks and almost slapped my forehead when the idea came to me.

Guys

Ghost King is a wonderful, wonderful title for Danny. Very spooky.

but

like

the Infinite King.

DUDE

NOW THAT.

Like we can spin it into Ghost King is like the known everyone knows it title.

BUT Infinite King is like the root. Like Infinite King is like a serious 'I am no longer kidding or playing around' title. Like its such a legendary title its very rare to hear about kind of thing.

( •̀ ω •́ )

[escelia]

DP x DC PROMPT/FIC

Gotham Portal

(If you get the notif for this post like 2 days ago, no you didn't! I wasn't done yet! You were imagining things!)

Where the story takes place in Gotham instead of Amity Park, the Fentons having moved before the construction and testing of the Ghost portal due to the high saturation of ectoplasm in Gotham. So, Danny's accident ALSO happens in Gotham, except he has no support system at all.

Enter the Bats stage left!

Danny couldn't believe he'd been so stupid. His parents had uprooted their whole life to move to Gotham. They said they'd need all the ambient ectoplasm there for when they built their portal. Jazz had been thrilled! After all, Arkham was a shining beacon of mentally ill people, and Jazz was like a psychology moth to a flame; it would be the perfect place for her internship after college.

His parents had wasted no time assembling the portal from their blueprints in the basement of the run-down apartment building they'd bought outright just on the edge of Crime Alley, complete with the Ops Center parked right on top. They'd gutted the place and completely redone it before they moved in. (Danny had no idea when they accomplished that. Maybe they'd been planning it for a while and only thought to tell their children two weeks before moving day.) He was genuinely surprised the local vigilantes hadn't stopped by yet to ask questions.

But anyway, back to how he was royally screwed! He'd just wanted a cool picture for Sam and Tucker now that he'd moved away. His parents weren't home (they'd gone back to the hardware store after their last test), Jazz had stayed after school to try and butter up her new teachers by running a study group, and he'd been alone. He'd even followed all the safety precautions his parents had told him about! He'd put on the hazmat suit and tried not to touch anything. But he'd tripped.

Through the whirling of green and the static buzzing in his ears, he remembered screaming, though he hadn't recognized it as his own. Every nerve in his body was on fire, and he just wanted it to stop. Stop, please stop, why won't someone save me, please!

He woke up to the smell of burning flesh, but he woke up. He was okay! Disoriented, a little disgusted by the smell and throat a little raw, but okay!

At least he'd thought so at first.

He'd begun to... change colors? And float, he floated sometimes, too. But the most irritating of all was that he would go through things. Forks and glasses slipping, quite literally, right through his fingers.

He hadn't told his parents. He'd been fine, after all. A little shaken up, but they'd been so excited he'd gotten the portal to work, who was he to put a damper on the mood when he was fine?

That brought him to now, staring at the mirror in the school bathroom in horror. He'd fought his first real ghost that morning around breakfast. He'd kept it together fairly well, in his opinion. Got through three whole classes before making an excuse to the teacher, slipping off into the blessedly empty restroom.

He'd been getting better and better at controlling his form, and he transformed in front of the mirror, taking stock of his appearance.

Odd colored hair: check.

Bright glowing eyes: check.

Floaty hair: check.

Could walk through walls, disappear, and fly: check.

He raised his finger to his pulse point and felt... nothing.

"I died," he whispered to himself in shock. "I... died," he repeated, this time in despair.

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

Damian Wayne was not usually one to keep tabs on his classmates. They weren't his friends, therefore he saw no point. However, the new kid, Daniel Fenton, had begun to act strange.

When Daniel Fenton enrolled in Gotham Academy it hadn't been anything special. He'd started the year a little last due to his family moving, but families moved for all sorts of reasons. He hadn't tried to immediately make friends with Damian like so many others had, much to his relief. But he hadn't tried to make friends with anyone else, either. Maybe he liked to be alone? It really wasn't his business.

But then the boy started getting skittish and clumsy. Clumsier than he had been when he started school. He'd developed a miniscule tremor in his left hand, so he'd probably sustained an injury. He began dropping things in Chemistry. So often, in fact, that he'd been banned from doing practical labs and was instead assigned extra book work.

If Damian had been anyone else, if he hadn't been raised by assassins or had his night work as Robin, he wouldn't have noticed. He wouldn't have followed Fenton to the bathroom under the guise of needing to see the school nurse for a headache. Perhaps if he were anyone else, Fenton might have noticed him following.

There was an alarming flash of light as Damian peered carefully around the corner. Fenton had changed forms. Something had happened to him.

"I died," he heard him say. Damian thought he was being dramatic until he watched him raise his fingers to his pulse point. His glowing eyes dilated in panic, and he repeated himself. He watched as his classmate, looking fragile and lost, curled in on himself floating in the air, and sobbed.

Damian didn't confront him that day. He watched, waited, and researched. He found the research of Dr's Fenton on ghosts and ectoplasm, most of which he was skeptical of up until actual ghosts started to torment them during patrols.

Ghosts were real, it appeared.

He also concluded that their findings on ectoplasmic entities being non-sentient and inherently malevolent was incorrect, having met the ghost of a little girl caught up in a rouge attack that killed her and her family.

Damian watched Daniel Fenton for about a week while he ditched class in a poorly hidden effort to fight and contain the ghosts that he and his family were having such a hard time dealing with. His father was even nearly considering contacting John Constantine, which was never his ideal solution. Damian had been rolling an idea around in his head for a while and he decided now would be the time to bring it up.

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

Dinner at the manor was more of a full table than Damian had expected. Not everyone was there, Jason's relationship with them was still a bit strained, so he was not in attendance, and neither was Stephanie. But Duke was home, and Dick was actually there early for patrol later. Tim was there, and so was Cass, so almost everyone.

"Ahem," he cleared his throat politely. "Father, I wish to recruit a new member."

The chatter around the room came to a halt, the clatter of silverware ceasing.

"What exactly do you mean, chum?" Bruce asked carefully.

"I have a classmate I believe would be a valuable asset in light of our trouble with ghosts recently. However, he has no training or support, so I'm asking for your assistance."

"Did... demon brat make a friend?" Tim asked bewildered and a little bit terrified.

"Tt. No, I've never even spoken to him." Damian rolled his eyes. "My classmate, Daniel Fenton, transferred to Gotham Academy about a month ago and started acting strange soon after. He came to school with a tremor and a Lichtenberg figure you can just barely see starting on his left hand and traveling up his arm. I believed he'd been in an accident, and my suspicions were proven when I saw him use meta abilities to ditch class and fight a ghost in the courtyard of the school. From my observations, they are newly acquired, but he has decent instincts and an inclination toward heroism. I believe it would be safer for everyone involved if we approached him first."

"What?" Tim muttered. Dick was smiling gently at him, though, as if he were doing something he was proud of.

"Do his parents know?" Duke asked. Damian scoffed.

"I highly doubt it."

"Wait, Fenton as in the ectobiologists?" Bruce asked. The ex-assassin nodded.

"And considering their research is not reflected in our own interactions with ghosts thus far, I do not believe we should tell them."

"Not safe?" Cass signed. Her brother shook his head.

"The abilities I've observed resemble that of a ghost. He even has an alternate ghostly form."

The implication that they'd be endangering him hung heavy in the air. They'd all seen the Fentons' research. It mostly consisted of theoretical analysis and blatant biases with a long list of proposed experiments they'd run if they ever caught one. They'd all agreed that the Fenton ghost hunters were not a viable option for their ghost problem, especially after seeing how they drove, which in itself nearly put them on the Bat's rogue list.

"We've been meaning to investigate the Fentons properly anyways," Dick pointed out.

Bruce attempted to massage a headache out of his temples. The stuff his kids stumbled into, really. But Damian was right. If his classmate was a new meta with no support, it was only a matter of time before the rogues zeroed in on him, and since his family lived there, he couldn't tell the kid to leave.

"I'm not saying yes just yet, but talk to him. Find out any more that you can."

"Of course, Father."

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

Danny finally felt like he was getting the hang of his ghost powers. He was pleasantly surprised, and also mildly horrified, that his parents' inventions actually worked on the ghosts he was now beginning to fight regularly. His favorite was by far the thermos, which did no ghost mutilating whatsoever.

He discovered he had a ghost sense and enhanced hearing and vision, which was cool and all, but now he could hear all the shitty things his classmates said about him behind his back. Which, rude! He didn't even talk to them, what did they have to be shitty about?

He also noticed that one of them, Damian Wayne, had been watching him. From what Danny had heard, Damian was the richest kid in school, a Wayne. Son of billionaire Bruce Wayne, to be exact. And his attitude reflected that. His standoffish, holier than thou rich guy attitude made Dash and Paulina look like they lived below the poverty line. Apparently, he generally didn't talk to anyone at school unless it pertained to class, so Danny saw no point in introducing himself.

That made it extra weird that Damian was following him.

It was right after lunch when a hiccup had a cold breath tumbling from his lips. He raised his hand and asked his teacher if he could use the restroom. He made his way to the bathroom on the other side of the building this time, hoping it would be too out of the way for Damian to follow. But soft rustling of his classmate's school uniform gave him away, no matter how imperceptible his footsteps were.

When he entered the restroom, he made his way to the sink instead, splashing some cold water on his face as Damian walked in behind him loudly as if announcing his presence.

"I know what you've been doing," he said confidently, crossing his arms and standing in front of the door so Danny couldn't leave.

"Oh, hey! Damian, right? I'm in most of your classes, but I don't think I've ever introduced myself. I'm-"

"Daniel Fenton, I know. You've been fighting ghosts." Damian had to give him at least a little credit; he'd become a great actor over the last week. Though, that probably had a lot to do with the fact that he probably didn't feel safe at home anymore.

"My parents are ghost hunters, but I don't think shooting a ghost in the face with a lipstick laser then running for my life counts as 'fighting ghosts'."

"Tt. You are lying."

"Dude, what are-?" Danny cut himself off when his words came with another misty breath. Crap! He'd taken too long!

The ghost of the day, an ugly, mutated, bird looking thing with claws at the ends of its wings and a full set of dangerous, pointed teeth, phased through the door behind Damian, poised to strike.

Without warning, Danny grabbed Damian's wrist and whipped him out of the way, throwing himself between the two. A green shield formed in front of him just as the bird slashed at them with one of its wings.

"Well, that's new," he said startled as the bird geared up for another attack.

Danny groaned at his miserable luck before throwing caution to the wind and transforming. He'd just have to force friendship upon one Damian Wayne in an attempt to keep him from telling anyone about his whole magical girl transformation. He tried to activate his shield again, but when nothing happened, he was flung across the room into the wall. God, this was embarrassing.

The next time the ghost tried to attack him, Damian yanked him aside in a dodge and bolted out of the bathroom with Danny in tow. He was dragged through the winding halls to one of the side exits of the school. In costume or not, Damian's priority was luring the ghost away from the other students.

"Hey, so uh, you won't say anything about this," he gestured wildly to himself, "will you?"

"Tt. Of course not, but I believe you have more important concerns at the moment."

“Right!” Danny patted at the sides of his hazmat suit. “Crap, I left my thermos in my locker!” He dodged another attack and retaliated with an ectoblast, trying to keep the ghost's attention off of Damian as much as possible.

"Your lunch? Really?" Damian shouted. Dang, Danny must have been doing a decent job if Damian had the spare time and attention to be exasperated with him.

"No! It's a containment device! Besides, ghosts are basically soup anyway!"

"Distract it," Damian instructed, "I'll retrieve the device." The boy took off. Danny had to wonder how he even knew where his locker was. The ghost tried to follow him, but Danny shot another blast at it.

"Hey ugly, auditioning to be one of Gotham's Birds? Sorry, but you don't really look the part." He had no idea if the creature could even understand him, but the way it turned to him and lunged again suggested it had done the trick. This time, his shield did work!

Danny could have cried tears of joy at finally having some consistency with it. The next few minutes of the fight felt like an eternity while he dodged and shot ectoblasts at it. The creature wasn't really that strong, and it didn't seem to have super dangerous abilities like some of the other ghosts he'd fought like Skulker or Technus. It ended up being a great opportunity to practice his new shield ability, actually. But he knew the longer he took, the more danger his classmates would be in.

The bird ghost slammed into his shield with a particularly vicious strike, slamming him into the ground and creating a small crater.

"Note to self, remember intangibility," Danny groaned.

In that moment he noticed a door opening on the school building. It was Damian! He was finally back with thermos in hand! Unfortunately, the other ghost noticed too.

"Oh no you don't!" Danny yelled, latching onto one of its feet as it tried to fly toward his classmate. He dug his fingers in hard and sunk into the ground partway to anchor himself.

"Big green button by the lid then the button immediately below it!"

Damian wasted no time popping the lid open and sucking the ghost into the device, the lid closing with a quiet pop. He had to admit, though the design was questionable, it was sturdy, light, and very clearly effective. He wondered if he could get away with sneaking off with this one to have drake examine later.

"That was some incredible timing, thanks." The ghostly form of his classmate floated over to him, taking the thermos from his hand. Damian did not pout.

"We should probably get out of here before the Fenton's show up." He could already hear the screech of tires and his dad's voice over the megaphone tearing through the air.

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

"Don't worry honey, we'll catch that nasty ghost boy next time," Jack Fenton comforted his wife. True to form, the Fenton's had arrived to the scene late, and most of the damage to the school yard had been from their vehicle crashing into things upon their arrival. Parents had been called and classes ended for the day, which was how one Bruce Wayne found himself at Gotham Academy trying to help the teachers talk the two down from storming and searching the school.

His son was standing off to the side with one of his classmates. Dark hair, bright blue eyes, lanky frame; Bruce could have mistaken the child for one of his own, but looking between the hulking man in front of him and the kid standing next to Damian, the resemblance was obvious. That had to be Daniel Fenton, the meta his son had told him about. Which meant he'd been the one to deal with the ghost before anyone else had gotten there. The classmate Damian had suggested they recruit for his safety.

"Danno, did you see where that spook went? When I get my hands on him, I'll rip him apart molecule by molecule for even thinking of attacking your school!" Bruce saw Daniel's breath hitch with fear.

"Sorry, no. I was coming back from the bathroom when I saw him fighting another ghost through the window. I was scared so I hid," he lied, gripping his left wrist while he spoke.

Bruce was impressed. The boy's fear was real, and he used that to his advantage to really sell the lie to his parents. His heart ached for him. He couldn't imagine seeing any of his boys looking at him like that, with such fear and distrust.

"That's okay sweetie, we'll get him next time. We're just happy you're alright. Let's get you home," his mother comforted, though Bruce knew it wasn't very comforting at all.

"Yeah, we'll teach you to use the Fenton Bazooka," well that was horrifying, "that way next time you can just blast him!" Danny wanted literally anything else.

"Actually," Damian interrupted politely. "We were assigned a project in class earlier on the history of Gotham. As Daniel is relatively new to town, I offered to assist him with the assignment. Father, would it be acceptable for him to join us for dinner?"

Bruce would have been incredibly surprised his son was inviting someone over for dinner if he didn't see exactly what he was doing. Daniel wasn't safe at home. And he clearly wasn't comfortable with the way his parents spoke of the 'ghost boy'. If his defeated expression was anything to go by, it hadn't been the first time they'd said something like that, nor would it be the last.

"What do you think, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton? We'd love if Daniel could join us for dinner."

"Please, call us Maddie and Jack. That sounds wonderful Mr..."

"Wayne. Bruce Wayne, I'm Damian's father," he introduced. If the two recognized the name, they didn't show it. It worked out rather well in his favor.

"Mr. Wayne. If its not too much trouble, that would be wonderful. It's about time he made a new friend, he's been sulking since the move. Now, we have a ghost to catch!" Maddie planted a kiss on Danny's forehead, leaning her blaster on her shoulder as her and her husband made their way back to the homemade assault vehicle parked haphazardly on the lawn of the school.

"Be sure to call us if you plan on staying the night! We'll let Jazz know she doesn't have to worry about dinner for you! We love you, have fun sweetie!"

"Are they always like that?" Damian asked after the two had pulled away. How had those two even gotten their driver's license? It was truly abysmal, he dreaded the thought of anyone getting into a vehicle with them. And then there was the speed in which they'd dumped their son into their laps, even suggesting they'd be okay with him not coming home that night.

"They mean well, but yeah," Danny replied, heaving a sad and defeated sigh. "Thank you, by the way. For inviting me over, even if you didn't mean it. They can be a bit much."

"Clearly," Damian mused back.

Bruce watched the two interact and felt pride well up in his chest. Meeting the Fenton parents just once was enough to convince him that their son needed help, maybe even their daughter too. That Damian had taken the initiative to bring this to his attention, that he had stood up for Danny and offered his home as a sanctuary for him, made him so incredibly proud as a father. He wasn't as prickly with Danny the way he was with other people, even his own siblings. That was a very good thing indeed, considering it was looking more and more likely this would end with another adoption.

Maybe Clark was right, he did have an adoption problem.

[levemetal]

I got Procreate and gave it a test run with some silly AU sketches of course

So have Calamity SJ adopting Hong‘er! Ft. my silly calamity MNQ AU and it’s inevitable conclusion of atticwife Jun Wu in the second pic because I am no longer in control here.

SY tried to be the cool uncle, unfortunately YQY is the cooler uncle so he got the Feng Xin treatment. Binghe about to start beef with a child lmfao.

Ling Wen is new heavenly emperor and I ensure you she is as overworked as ever, but she does not care about heavenly officials marrying calamities anymore. First was YQY, and then Jun Wu. Xie Lian and Shi Qingxuan are really not trendstarters here.

[not-the-living-ghost]

i’m so excited to see all the cameos and hear the new season 2 concepts but at the same time i’m like “AHHHHH no don’t tell us 😭” because i’ve been hanging on to the possibility of a season 2 and that can’t happen if the plot is already out

[starry-bi-sky]

don't you want to be a cult leader? - danyal al ghul au

this is mostly a joke post but i thought it was funny and had to share so--

his first mistake was, obviously, inheriting his father's inability to see an injustice and stand still. -- actually, danyal's first mistake was his lair being so big. a mountainous island with a large temple in the center resembling his old home in Nanda Parbat? With sprawling foliage and rivers and streams and waterfalls galore? What was he going to do with all that space? Let it go to waste? He had plants there! Native trees of the ghost zone growing from the soil! He couldn't let it all be left unchecked!

So naturally after helping a fellow teenage assassin ghost -- who he later learns is named Akihiko, -- from Walker of all people, he sent them over to hang low at his lair until it was safe enough for them to wander around the Zone. Walker couldn't get through Danyal's astrofield if his life depended on it, and trust him -- he's tried. Danny was clearing out debris from his stupid transport vans for weeks.

Honestly it wasn't so bad, he and Aki really quickly became fast friends and Danny loves having a sparring partner close to his level again -- he hasn't had this much fun fighting since he left the League. Aki was very dedicated and levelheaded, the both of them clicked really well because of it.

Nonono, the real trouble began after Danyal met some long-passed League members and allowed them to come join his island as well. Apparently they had made a few enemies of the zone, and maybe Danyal still felt some loyalty to the League. He couldn't just let them be left to rot. Their zealotry could be overlooked so long as they kept it contained and helped him take care of his island.

And it.. snowballs from there? He meets a teen squire aptly calling himself Ambroise -- whether that was his living name or not is yet to be seen -- who died during feudal france, who is just about as dramatic and passionate as every french stereotype makes them out to be. He calls Danyal "my moon and great muse" -- which is both flattering and little uncomfortable, but Danyal's grown up in the League as the Grandson of the Demon Head, he is used to mild worship. he passes it off as nothing more, nothing less. -- and while his energy is overwhelming on the worst of days, he helps Danny draw out of his shell more in ways that Sam and Tucker still struggle with.

Him and Aki butt heads a lot, but the two seem to hold the other in at least some positive regard, so Danny doesn't worry too much about them fighting while he's gone. It only becomes a mild issue when Aki also begins calling Danny "my moon". It's a little sweet, so Danyal brushes it off.

Then he takes in a troupe of ghosts some time after he defeats Pariah Dark and they begin calling him "great one" just as the yetis do in the far frozen. This is where he meets the twins -- a pair of sibling ghosts who call themselves Trixie and Missy (short for Trick and Mislead) -- who aren't quite as passionate as Ambroise but more energetic than Aki. Eventually they also start calling Danyal "my moon" and attach themselves to his hip, even within the living. They like to hide in his shadow and cause trouble for the rest of the students. He makes sure they don't hurt anyone.

He's pretty sure Aki is jealous, same with Ambroise, but he can't be too certain other than the fact that they become much more lingering (re: clingy) whenever he visits the island.. Something he's trying to do much more often these days due to the increasing amount of people living there now. Since when did he become so popular?

Then there's Pēnelópeia from the Greater Athens, who ran away from home and joined his Island after he ran into her while she was being chased by Skulker -- and he's pretty sure the reason was because of her chimeric appearance. Her strange eyes and mismatched wings and lion's tail and talons. She assimilates into his friend group very easily, she gets along well with Ambroise and Trixie and Danny usually finds the three of them climbing the trees to pluck the most fruit from the top. They can fly and he knows it, but they prefer to climb.

Then finally there's silent poet Akkara who comes from ancient mesopotamia, who gets along most with Aki -- which is no surprise there considering their similar personality dispositions. he watches Aki and Danyal fight each other and leaves comments on this or that that he notices. He writes Danyal poems on clay tablets and leaves them by his room.

They're one big mismatched group of outcasts, and Danny's got the other ghosts on his island to tend to, because they're living on his island and he wants to be hospitable even if he struggles with that. But he spends the most of his time with them.

Sam and Tucker are making fun of him. Tucker jokingly tells him 'careful Danny, at this rate you're gonna start a cult'. Danny really wishes he had taken that joke more seriously.

He just. keeps. collecting people. Wayward souls lost in the zone, looking for shelter or refuge from something or other -- whether that be another hostile ghost, or a past afterlife, or just a purpose. Danyal finds them, he takes them in, offers them a place on his island until they are ready to leave. Many seldom do. He's not complaining -- he has the space, and it feels like it's only ever growing.

His close friends, his "inner circle" as he's heard the others call them, keep insistently calling him "my moon". He starts calling them his stars, because then it only feels fair. They're his stars, this is his constellation. It becomes a thing; little star halos begin forming behind their heads, picking them out from the rest. He loves them so much, it's hard to place. Sam and Tucker are also his stars, but they reside in the living realm, they're his tie to Life. Meanwhile, his friends here know what it's like to be dead, and sometimes its nice to relate.

Those living on his island keep calling him "Great One" and he's beginning to notice zealotry in their care for his island. He really, deeply appreciates it. His close friends gain nicknames -- as his stars, it's only natural for him to pick them out from the cluster in the skies. Akihiko, his Sirius and bright star. Trix and Missy, Castor and Pollux, the twins and troublemakers. Ambroise, his zealous Antares and close friend. Penelopeia, chimeric and loyal Vega. And Akkara, his Arcturus and strength.

It's ridiculous how long it takes for him to notice; he is, of course, a deadly trained assassin. He is meant to be observant -- and normally he is! But somehow this becomes a blind spot. One that becomes too big to be dealt with by the time he realizes it.

He should've noticed when Aki, his Sirius, stood beside him one day while Danyal looked over his island and saw the sprawling spirits carrying on about their afterlife and bowing to him as they saw him, and said: "I looked down into the depths when I met you; I couldn't measure it." They aren't one for flowing prose, it took him so off guard he was silent for over a minute before he finally spoke.

Danyal should've recognized devotion for what it is, and yet he didn't. He should've recognized it when Antares began spouting praises about him, crowing about his radiance and resplendence to the heavens. He just brushed it off as Ambroise being Ambroise. He should've recognized it when Trix and Missy nearly broke Dash's leg after he knocked Danyal's books out of his hands, he excused it as them being protective. Of them coming from times where such violence may have been customary -- after all, that's what he used to be like. What he was still like, sometimes, when his emotions nearly got the better of him.

He should've noticed it when the people living on his island followed his word like gospel, looked at him like he hung the stars in the sky. When his friends gifted him a shawl with the moon phases delicately embroidered into it, with silver, shimmering thread and moving stars lovingly stitched into it. Their constellations seen clear as day in the dark fabric. When he found small shrines dedicated to him -- but they lacked any image of him beyond stones carved to look like moons, so he ignored it. When the religious imagery began popping up.

He really, really should've noticed it when a bunch of cultists accidentally summoned Antares, and Antares had turned to him when he arrived and called them heretics. But he was so centered on the fact that they had kidnapped one of his stars, that he hadn't paid much attention to what Ambroise had said.

Sages say that faith is blind, they should also say faith in you is even blinder.

It really only hits him one afternoon while he's sitting in Sam's room studying with Tucker, Missy and Trixie lounging at his feet, Aki sat on his right, Penelopeia braiding his hair, Ambroise draped against him, and Akkara lurking over him. Its one of the rare few times they're all in one room together.

It hits him like a bolt of lightning. He looks up from his textbook. "Oh Ancients," he says in no amounting shock. Everyone looks up to him.

"I've become my grandfather."

[skyward-floored]

Whumptober Day 21 - spirit possession

Does this fit the prompt? ehhhh

I love making up monsters for these, especially since I can then potentially reuse them for some of my various zelda AUs. Wahoo!

Warnings: just some ghosty stuff, nothing severe.

ao3 link

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a quiet night, cold and clear, stars so bright it looked like you could reach out and touch them.

Sky was whittling as he kept watch, adding details to a small bird he was about finished with. The general shape was done, the wings and tail carefully shaped, and Sky was adding small curves for feathers when he suddenly heard a noise.

He paused, lowering his hands as he listened. He wasn’t quite sure what it had been, but he felt suddenly uneasy, goosebumps raising on his arms, the air colder than before. The hair on his neck rose, and Sky straightened and looked around camp, counting the others as they slept.

It was cold enough that they were all closer together then they sometimes were, Legend curled up close to Four, the smithy between him and Twilight. Time softly snored beside Warriors, and Wild and Hyrule were tangled up in a heap of blankets and stray limbs. That just left Wind, who...

Who was sitting up in his bedroll, staring wide-eyed at something to his left.

Sky immediately looked in that direction as well, but he didn’t see or hear anything out of the ordinary. But Wind kept staring, motionless, and the unease in his chest grew.

“Wind? What is it?” Sky whispered.

Wind didn’t look at him and continued to stare off into the distance.

Sky frowned and got off his log, carefully tiptoeing to Wind, and put a hesitant hand on his shoulder. Wind didn’t react.

“Sailor? What’s there?” Sky asked again.

Wind slowly turned his head and looked at him, an odd light in his eyes.

“There’s something... out there,” he murmured. “I think...” he stood up almost dazedly. “...I think I should check it out.”

Sky didn’t release his shoulder. “What kind of thing, Wind?”

The sailor slowly blinked, but the dazed look didn’t leave his eyes. “Some kind of light... kinda blue..? It looks like...” his voice lowered. “...like a spirit or something.”

He took a step forward, and Sky frowned, catching his arm.

“I’ll come with you,” he said, but Wind didn’t reply. Just kept walking forward, easily pulling Sky’s hand off his arm.

Sky hesitated, not wanting to leave the camp unguarded, but also unsure he could wake someone up before Wind disappeared from his view. His movement was a little wobbly, but he was starting to walk faster now.

“Wind, wait a second,” Sky said, stepping forward and grabbing his arm again. “What exactly are you seeing?”

“I... I dunno,” Wind said, his steps faltering a little. “There’s... singing, I think, I... Sky... I think something’s wrong.”

Wind suddenly dug his heels into the ground, his eyes still slightly dazed, but shining with alarm now as well. But somehow despite his legs being planted firmly in the ground, Wind was being pulled forward, his eyes wide and shining bright blue.

“Sky!”

Sky lunged forward and grabbed Wind’s arm, Wind scrambling to hold onto him even as he was tugged further forward.

“Wind, what’s going on?” Sky grunted as he tried to pull Wind back.

“I-I don’t know, Sky I can’t stop!” Wind cried out, his feet scrabbling against the dry leaves on the forest floor. “Th-that light is still there, I...”

Wind breathed in shakily, and the force pulling him increased further, Sky nearly falling over as he tried to hold on.

“What’s going on?” someone asked in a groggy voice.

Sky glanced behind him, seeing Hyrule sitting up and wiping the sleep out of his eyes, and Sky grunted as Wind stumbled forward a few more steps.

“Something’s got Wind, I don’t know what!” Sky yelped, trying to plant his own feet but failing. It was like Wind was being pulled away by an invisible rope, and trying to pull him back was like yanking on a brick wall. “Help?!”

Hyrule immediately stood and rushed over as the others started to wake up, and he grabbed Wind’s other arm, eyes widening as he felt the resistance they were pulling against.

“What the—”

“Sailor!” Warriors exclaimed, and he and Legend both rushed over, standing in front of Wind and trying to stop him from that direction.

With four people pulling him back, whatever was forcing Wind forward seemed to be a little less extreme, though still plenty tough. Despite all of them pulling, Wind was still sliding forward.

“Wind, what are you seeing?” Time demanded as he ran to their sides, grabbing Wind in one of the few places he wasn’t being held yet.

“Just light, blue light, i-it’s on me, it’s pulling me,” Wind stuttered, sounding unusually alarmed. He was gripping Sky’s arm tight enough to bruise, but Sky kept holding on, his grip never faltering. “It’s cold, it feels... I don’t know—”

Wind’s eyes flashed and he suddenly cried out, scrabbling at Sky’s arm with a scared expression.

“Time! Sky it’s—” Wind gasped, his face pale and eyes glowing even bluer. “I can’t— no!”

The force pulling on Wind abruptly increased, and several of them lost their grips, falling to the ground. Sky and a few of the others who hung on were practically being dragged along by Wind, and Sky grunted, trying to hold onto him more tightly.

The fire was far enough behind them now that the only real light in the woods was the strange glow of Wind’s eyes. Leaves crunched as the Links that had tripped caught back up, and everyone piled on Wind, trying to hold him back with sheer force of numbers.

Even with eight heroes clinging to him, a few with strength-enhancing items, Wind was still stumbling forward, no matter how he fought against it.

“Any ideas as to what’s going on?” Twilight grunted, pushing at Wind from the front. “Sky?”

“Nothing, he just woke up and was acting weird,” Sky replied, out of breath. “Said he heard singing and saw a light, but I didn’t see or hear anything.”

Wind whimpered, his eyes still glowing, and Sky felt him clutch tighter at his sleeve.

“...I might have something that could help, but I’ll have to go get it,” Time spoke up in a strained voice.

“If it’ll help it’s worth it,” Warriors bit out, expression tightening when Wind let out a sound that was a mix of scared and frustrated. “Go.”

Time nodded and ran off, and Sky felt the pull get worse without his help. Everyone stumbled, and Wind was yanked forward, crying out as he stumbled forward through the leaves. Sky was the only one who really kept his grip, and he and Wind went skidding across the ground, towards where the trees thinned.

The other Links hurriedly caught back up and grabbed Wind again, barely making a difference in slowing him down. Sky looked around at where Wind was being dragged, and his blood ran cold.

Wind was being pulled directly towards a cliff.

“Pull harder!” Legend shouted as he noticed, and everyone planted their feet and tugged, trying to keep Wind back from the steep drop as much as possible.

Wind clung to them all like a remlit with its claws out, and Sky watched helplessly as they all edged closer and closer to the cliff. They were barely making a difference, and Sky practically held Wind in a chokehold, trying to slow him.

Time suddenly came crashing back through the woods behind them, something clutched in his hands. He skidded to a stop in front of the clump of people, and held up a purple-colored lens, angling it so he wasn’t the only one who could see through it.

Sky wasn’t the only one who gasped.

A huge ghostly bird loomed in front of them, glowing blueish except for its piercing yellow eyes. It had a long feathery plume stretching out from its tail, and Time followed it down with the lens, seeing where it was wrapped right around Wind’s middle.

The monstrous bird screeched as they looked at it, and Wind cried out, his pupils blown wide with fear.

“What is that?” Hyrule exclaimed, and Sky shook his head helplessly, staring at the ghostly bird. It looked a little like a furnix, with the curved point on its head, and long elegant tail.

A ghost furnix?

The bird abruptly flapped its wings forward, and a huge gust of wind threw everyone backwards, tumbling across the grass. Everyone except for Sky, something about the way he was holding to Wind granting him a little extra stability.

Sky couldn’t see the furnix anymore without the lens, but Wind obviously could, and he cried out again as he was pulled right to the edge of the cliff.

“Sky!” Wind nearly shrieked, and Sky held onto him as tightly as possible, tugging him back with everything he had.

Wind just kept moving forward though, his feet scrabbling wildly, whimpering as he clutched at Sky, and Sky fully expected the both of them to go over the edge.

Until Hyrule leapt forward with his sword, slashing at the invisible line.

All of them heard a bloodcurdling shriek as Wind and Sky were flung backwards, and everyone else ran forwards to attack the strange furnix now that Wind was free.

Sky knew the seven of them had it handled, and focused all his attention on Wind, who was gasping for breath in his arms, face pale and eyes finally back to their normal color. Wind’s grip hadn’t lessened in the slightest, and Sky didn’t pull him loose, even though he was sure his nails had scratched him deep enough to bleed.

“I got you, I got you,” Sky wheezed, clinging to Wind just as tightly as the Sailor was to him. “It’s okay. I got you.”

Wind shuddered violently, burying his head in Sky’s neck, and as the others took down the monstrous bird, Sky held him tight, carding a careful hand through his hair.

[niko-sasaki-dbd]

Queue Interview with the Dead Boy Detectives Cast 👻🔎

This is going to be a long post! (These are my favourite parts from the interview!)

George Rexstrew as Edwin Payne

Acting Inspiration

Oh, gosh. Well there are so many. Meryl Streep, obviously. Viola Davis, obviously. More recently, I was blown away by Enzo Vogrincic in Society of the Snow. And Eden Dambrine in Close.

Cast Camaraderie

I loved working with all my co-stars. I’m practically related to Jayden [Revri] and Kassius [Nelson] at this point. Yuyu [Kitamura] is a dream. Jenn [Lyon] is mother hen. Bri[ana Cuoco] is the cool older sister. Josh[ua Colley] is the cheeky cousin. Ruth [Connell] is the godmother who gives you a card and £20 for your birthday. It really is one big happy dysfunctional family. I’m grateful for all of them, on and off camera.

Jayden Revri as Charles Rowland

Dressing The Part

These heads of departments, and Monique and Kelli, [they’re] unbelievable. They were so collaborative. We went through different hairstyles and different things we could do with the makeup. We added a bit of eyeliner for [Charles] just to make it feel more 80s. And then Kelli, I mean, it was like she did her research on me. She added badges to the jacket which kind of represented me as Jayden, before I even got there. It wasn’t until I got the haircut, put the makeup on, put the costume on, and I was like, Okay, this is Charles.

Cast Camaraderie.

The vibe was just incredible. Me and George, we really wanted to set the tone for the series and make sure that everyone’s having fun and it’s an environment where we could all talk about how we’re feeling. We were just such a big support blanket for each other. If there was ever a time that somebody needed space, or they wanted to prep themselves for a certain scene they were going to film, we all respected that and we were each other’s cheerleaders the whole entire time. And it’s still the same to this day now. I think it really shows when you watch the series that we all knew what we were making and we wanted to make something that we would want to watch, which we’ve all done. I cannot shout out my castmates enough. Forever grateful.

Kassius Nelson as Crystal Palace

Acting Inspiration

I watched a lot of animation. I used to watch the Addams Family, the black-and-white one, because I didn’t have Disney Channel or anything. Monk, Murder She Wrote, I was watching those things, so maybe I was actually destined to play a detective, now that I’m thinking about it. I watched a lot of cartoons and animations. I just liked the idea that I could be engrossed in another world. And I always wanted to know what happened next, or when the film finished, I would be like, “Okay, but then what? What happens after that?” And now I get to be part of that question or that answer (...).

Dressing the Part

We have a fantastic costume designer, Kelli Dunsmore. I always say that she literally wove the story into the fabric of the clothes, because there are things that she foreshadowed in the clothing that happened episodes later. Or, if characters start to get in some sort of relationship with each other, that will be reflected in the clothes that they wear or the colors that they have. Or, if they’re feeling any type of emotion, (...)l. Crystal wears these massive platform boots that must be about four or five inches. They’re huge, very heavy, but it’s funny because they change the way that you walk. (...) She’s not very light, which makes sense with the things that she’s going through and the experiences that she’s having. Practically, it helped, because Jayden and George are like six-foot-something. So, if I film a scene and I’m at the bottom of the lens and they’re up there, that helped. I’ve got a good couple inches on my feet.

Yuyu Kitamura as Niko Sasaki

Acting Inspiration

Sandra Oh is a woman that I will forever be indebted to because who she was on Grey’s Anatomy was so formative for me. The most interesting thing about her character was not that she was Asian, but that she was such a fully fleshed person with flaws and amazing qualities. And her work ever since I think has been iconic, so she’s a woman that I deeply look up to.

Landing the role in Dead Boy Detectives

I auditioned from Hong Kong and my dad was my reader because all of my acting friends were in New York. My dad was able to carve out time and be an amazing reader. And in that audition side, it’s the scene where Niko gets to see the “Dead Boys” for the first time, and there’s a line in there that was something along the lines of me talking to Edwin and asking, “Do you two make out with each other?” And my dad stopped the tape and he was like, “What are you reading for?” And I was like, “Don’t give me notes, it’s fine!” And so that was the audition process! I think within a month I found out I got the part and it’s been an absolute dream ever since.

Dressing the Part

(...) I think on paper Niko can seem like a certain type of character, but even in the choice of every costume we did, every color that she wears, every meticulous little piece about everything from her nails to her room, it’s so well curated and thought out. Through her journey, we also find that she’s a woman that wears what she feels. On the surface, she might seem like the most joyful, young, optimistic girl, but it’s the inner confidence and bravery where we find that she’s layered, and she is very much a young woman coming of age.

SOURCE: MEET THE REAL DEAD BOY DETECTIVES (AND FRIENDS)

[rhymaes]

another genius element of mxtx protagonists is how one of the love interest always toes the line of potential victimhood Just enough to make you concerned while reading & then you see their interactions with the other love interest & it's like! oh! they're both fucking freaks! i get it now

[sellyourshadownotyoursoul]

Halfa reproduction

Dp world building idea

Human souls do not make for very powerful ghosts. The worlds they live in are simply too far removed from the realms to be exposed to the right amounts of Ectoplasm, their lifespans too short to build up any sort of ecto signature that might let them live on after death. More often than not they do not form ghosts at all. Their deaths are the equivalent of a tiny displacement of air. Even the most liminal of people do not become much more than blobs, only the very core of their identity imprinted unto the Ectoplasm that clings to them; the vague notion of humanity, sometimes a particularly strong emotion, very rarely accompanied by an instinct to accomplish some goal. A distant echo of what might have been an Obsession.

It's a good thing, in most respects, because otherwise the realms would be absolutely flooded with them. They breed young and breed quickly, their sapience causing their timelines to split and intermingle near-constantly, exponentially increasing their number with every minute decision. Their lack of ectoplasmic aptitude is counterbalanced by their emotional intensity, their ability to cooperate and the fact that their multitudes allow every single facet of a problem to be examined simultaneously. Indeed if they did regularly show up in the realms it would no doubt be absolute carnage.

Thankfully, as numerous as they are, the worlds they inhabit are incredibly rare.

Humans are exclusively the denizens of what has been dubbed ‘congenital realms’, they are creatures of the cosmos that exists inside the core of a very particular species of ghost.

A halfa. The rarest type of ghost in existence and one that, by all accounts, can only be formed from the body of a human.

It's a strange survival strategy, even amongst the denizens of the infinite realms, akin to cloning or asexual reproduction in contrast to the twining of cores that is typical in the creation of neverborn.

At any one point a halfa might be incubating any number of its kind, keeping them safe until they are strong enough to enter the realms on their own or even just to let them live out their entire existence inside the core of their parent. That might be a factor in the species’ low numbers; the fact that they do not always show their face in the realms at all.

Clockwork has, throughout the eons, met more halfas than perhaps anyone else. The very first being he met upon his death had been what some might consider an ancestor to the modern halfa. A cat-like creature in the way a shadow might resemble anything in the dark. Its body sleek and cloaked in shadow, it guided the newly born concept of time into its core and kept him warm amongst the primordial waters of what might have been the very first earth.

In the now, Clockwork has even molded his appearance from that of a human. He finds the form pleasing to the eye, and the hands are practical. The variety of human presentation is a joy to cycle through. The Fear that such a shape strikes into the core of a ghost is quite pleasing as well.

The thing about halfas, in contrast to the beings in their core, is that they do make terrifyingly powerful ghosts. They are ghosts who are not held back by their obsessions; they are able to mold themselves, able to evolve and change and grow. They are not beholden to a single obsession, nor are they chained to one once it is formed.

They do not start out that way of course, not at all, they start out clumsy and starving in what is typically a very ectoplasm-poor environment, the atmosphere of the realms filtered through their parent and broken down into the building blocks of their world. But if they manage to survive and break through to the realms? There is no ceiling to their ability.

Most denizens of the realms are stagnant, they are frozen at the point of their creation in temperament and power.

Halfas are not.

The last, and perhaps most crucial, fact that is known of halfas is that they cannot be Ended. A halfa has died once and will never die again. They are as infinite as the realms and even if their cores are smashed or melted or eaten and digested - they will reform. It might be in pieces and it might be with wounds that never heal, but their existence cannot be wiped out.

Even for a world of immortal beings, such a fate is difficult to comprehend.

Most halfas choose to sleep, once they have existed for sufficiently long. They find a place they deem safe, somewhere they will be undisturbed, and they retreat into their cores, never to return. There has been much speculation on what this behaviour means, on what actually happens, when a halfa goes to sleep.

Even Clockwork doesn't know, but he likes the idea that they are living alongside their fellow humans, perhaps as gods. Or perhaps they let themselves be born over and over again, to experience life in a million different ways. No one knows.

Clockwork is the keeper of a small handful of such sleeping cores. Each of them was once a dear friend, their contributions to the history of the realms a thing of legends and their impact on Clockwork himself no less impressive. He keeps them in his personal chambers at the very top of his haunt, made comfortable on silk pillows with emotionally charged items scattered artfully around them.

It is impossible to describe the horror that grips him when he finds one of them injured. A deep-seated nausea pulsating throughout his current form, exacerbated the longer he stares at the little trickle of ectoplasm that rolls down over the bright red fabric. The shell of the core has cracked, like an egg hatching, like something is trying to get out.