#oh she's wearing the green dress!!! its gonna doom her!!!

[daenystheedreamer]

been going crazy about arsenic green. oh the rich are dressing themselves in something that kills them slowly they sleep in rooms slowly poisoning them. but theyre also human they like shiny things they like pretty colours. anyway im alicent hightower arsenic greenpilled

[queenbirbs]

the way home | Ch. 5 | Edward x MC

Pairing: Edward Mortemer x MC

Word count: 3,705

Warnings: language, some violence

Read from the beginning or continue on

Read on AO3

Tag list: @writinghereandthere | @not-sewell

------

The familiar sight of Port Monarque is a welcome one, despite the awaiting doom.    

Her wrists bound with shackles, Elena sits between two officers as they row into the harbor in a jolly boat. She knows enough of the city to find a decent place to hide and formulate a plan -- if she can manage to escape their clutches. One of the officers makes crude remarks at her, knowing she can’t retaliate with the dirty rag stuffed into her mouth. Elena’s too busy scouring the ships anchored down along the port. She can’t be certain if Edward’s is among them or not, what with her poor vantage point and the endless spider web of rigging lines. If Salacia’s Fortune is here, it’s likely tucked away in a cove to hide from navy patrols.  

The boat glides up beside one of the lower docks, some distance from the main thoroughfare. The officers tie to it before the crude one hoists Elena up and over his shoulder. He slaps her ass for good measure, ignoring her muffled threats as he climbs onto the dock. She hears the harbormaster’s approach. His low, gruff tone is almost familiar. Before she can struggle towards a better view, there’s the metallic cry of blade on blade. 

The officer dumps Elena onto the dock, where she flips onto her back and spots Jonas’s scarred eye underneath the ridiculous hat he wears. 

“Fancy seeing you here,” is what she says, though it comes out in a garbled mess. 

“A little help?” he asks as his blade clangs against the officers’. 

Elena shifts her weight and cocks back her legs, landing a solid kick against the crude one’s ass. He stumbles before falling over the side and into the water. Jonas feints high, then sweeps his boot out and knocks the other officer to his back. Elena follows behind with another kick, shoving him off the dock to join his crew member. 

Yanking her to her feet, Jonas slices through the gag and urges her down the dock and into the busy market. They slip behind an empty stall for him to strip off his coat.

“Cover yer chains with this.” 

Elena takes the coat and folds it over her wrists as best she can, feeling as if every nerve in her body is vibrating at the highest frequency. 

“Jonas, you have no idea how happy I am to see you. Where are the others? Is Edward with--”

“Aye, we’re all here,” he cuts her off, squinting down the port with his good eye as he keeps watch. She sweeps her gaze across the roaming villagers, unsure of what she’s looking for. Before she can ask, Jonas tips his head for them to continue on. She follows him through the market and up onto the serpentine streets that climb along the island. The city center is just as bustling, making it easy for them to dodge in and out of the crowds and down tight alleyways.  Across the tiers of rooflines, Elena catches a glimpse of the sun sinking towards the sea. Her boot clips on a loose cobblestone and she trips, smacking her shoulder into a dress shop’s window to keep from falling onto her face.

“Look alive, now,” Jonas mutters from up ahead, glancing back to make sure she’s keeping up. Even he can see the pale color in her cheeks and the small winces that make her jaw twitch; she’s in no shape to be climbing about like this, but there’s no way around it. “Weren’t my choice to have the rendezvous location all the way up here. I would offer to carry ye, if there weren’t the threat of you handing my arse to me.” 

She shoves down her injured pride and musters up a grin. “Where is this ‘rendezvous,’ anyway?” 

“Right here.”

The answer draws her up short. Ahead of them is a low, bricked building with a sign of two crossed hammers and an anvil. Jonas swings open the door and ushers her inside, before closing and locking it behind them. Three heads turn at the noise of their arrival. 

Robert nods at her from his perch near the fire, his hair and clothes soaked. Tripp grins at her and gives a little wave, beckoning them over. Before they can step farther into the room, though, Elena is bowled over by a blur of brown and blue. 

“Yer a right bastard,” Charlie chokes out as she wraps her arms around Elena and squeezes tight. “Making us search the world over for you, and here you are.”

“I’m-- I’m sorry,” Elena manages to speak around her dwindling air supply. 

Charlie pulls back and tucks her against her side. “Oh, love, I’m only teasin’. We’d’ve sailed to another planet and searched that world over for you, too, if we could.” 

Before Elena can get her hands free from under the coat, Charlie reaches over and wipes at her tears. Swallowing back the elation that clogs her throat, Elena takes another look around the shop. Something tells her that she can’t start jumping for joy just yet. 

“The others -- they’ve been captured, haven’t they?”

“Aye, they have,” Robert growls from his post. “I tried to talk some sense into him, but the boy’s a fool.” 

Elena doesn’t bother asking who the fool is. She lets Charlie guide her towards the fire and sit her down. Tripp approaches and takes the coat from her, guiding a small, hot poker to weaken the chain until the shackles fall away. As if a witch herself, Charlie produces a plate of food and a mug of water, pushing both of them into Elena’s shaking hands. 

“Fuck.” She tightens her grip to the point of pain. “I hoped you all would stay away.”

Jonas reaches down to squeeze her shoulder as he passes by. “And leave ye to deal with those navy dogs yerself? Not a chance.” 

“Robert got word to us yesterday, but we’d already decided to sail into the trap we knew was laid out,” Charlie explains. “We couldn’t be sure if we’d be able to get you out or not, so we split up. We left Ginny and some of the other crew back on Santo Domingo, to have as backup in case they brought you there. Once we got here, Jonas and I escaped in the jolly boat while the navy captured the ship. Edward, Maggie, and Henry are locked down in the dungeon of the governor’s mansion.”

Elena swallows the last of her food and sets the plate aside. Her nails drum against the mug as she vibrates with a newfound energy. She’s so close to having her family back together. 

“Okay,” she drags the word out, glancing between her friends, “so why are we all just sitting here? Let’s go bust them out.”

“Yer in no shape to be--”

“What?” Elena snaps as she straightens up in her seat. “No, I’m fine. Look, I made a happy plate and everything.”

“Lass,” Jonas says with a grimace, “ye barely made it up here. I have to agree with Charlie on this one.”  

From his spot near the fire, Robert chuckles and shakes his head. “Best to conserve yer energy and let her come along. God knows I spent too much time in the beginning of our partnership trying to shake her off. She’ll be a colossal pain in the arse if you leave her behind.”

“Thank you!” Elena exclaims, glad to have someone sticking up for her -- even if it’s hidden behind an insult. “I mean, even if you did leave me here, I’d definitely follow you guys anyway.”

Charlie makes a show of heaving out a reluctant sigh, but nods her head. “Alright, love. Ye’ve won this round.”

“Good. Because I’ve got a plan.”

 ------

 The dress shop is rather easy to break into, all things considered. 

For a stupid, fleeting moment, Elena worries about how she’s going to disarm the security system, before remembering the closest thing to that would be vicious dogs. Which, luckily, the dress shop doesn’t keep around. 

“Help me find the ugliest dress in here,” she instructs as they follow her into the dark shop. Jonas and Robert harumph at each other in that middle-aged man sort of way before wandering around. 

“This one is particularly atrocious if I do say so myself.” 

Near the back, Charlie holds up a garish, silken concoction of ribbons and lace in a searing shade of what would be called neon green in about two-hundred years. Elena crosses the room and runs a hand over the fabric, amazed by its hideousness. 

“It’s like if Tim Gunn told you to sew a traffic light.”

“I’ve no idea who or what that is,” Charlie laughs. “But I think this is our winner.” 

They don’t bat an eye at her stealing the dress. But when she stops them a few blocks from the governor’s mansion and asks them to rough her up, they all suddenly turn into law-abiding citizens. 

“We’re not gonna beat you up, lass.”

“Ye said ye just needed the dress!”

Even Robert -- who once strongly advocated for her to be tossed overboard, fought her in a sword fight, and blew up a cave while she was inside it -- makes an uncomfortable face at the request.  

“Good god,” Elena mutters as she tears at the fabric herself. “You’d think I asked you all to hack me into pieces. A good act only works with a good costume!” 

Satisfied with the dress’s destruction, she runs her hand over the alley’s dusty brick and spreads it across her cheek and neck. Charlie wipes off some of her own lip rouge and draws it over Elena’s lips and across to her left dimple. Without a mirror, Elena can only guess from their expressions that her attempt has worked. 

It certainly seems to work on the guards, who jump from their posts near the mansion’s basement door when she comes careening out of the dark. 

“Please! Please, help me!” she cries, grasping at the tangled tendrils of her hair. “My husband --the… he’s the Viscount Beauchamp! We’ve been attacked by… by these ruffians! They robbed him and left him bleeding in the street. Please, you have to come help!”

“Ma’am, where is--”

“Oh, this way! This way, please, you have to help him!” she begs the two men, dragging one of them by the arm towards the road and past a dark alley. “He’s bleeding! I nearly fainted at the sight of him. He’s got hemophilia, as I’m sure you know!”

“No, ma’am, I’m not sure what that--” 

Jonas springs up from behind a wagon and knocks the first officer out with fist to the jaw. The second officer backpedals and begins to draw his pistol, but Charlie grabs the weapon from him and whips him across the head. He drops to the ground in a heap of red fabric. 

“Hemophilia wasn’t discovered until 1828,” Robert comments as he drags the men into the alley and ties them up. Elena reaches down to tear off two more strips of her dress and offers it to him to use as gags. 

“Sorry, I left my wikipedia entry on genetic disorders back at home.”

“C’mon, you two!” Charlie beckons from the road. 

The four of them hustle back to the mansion, relieved to see the guards’ abandonment hasn’t been noticed yet. Charlie leads the way through the branching service tunnels, ushering them into empty rooms when more guards pass by on their rounds. As they wait for the sound of footsteps to retreat, Elena hears the unmistakable noise of Maggie and Henry arguing about his cooking.

“Some things never change, ay, love?” Charlie turns to wink at her before poking her head back out. “Coast is clear. Let’s go get our crew.”

And then they’re walking down into the dungeon and Henry’s voice is getting louder, until their footsteps start to echo down and the arguing ceases -- probably used to getting reprimanded by the guards, but Elena can’t bear the silence so she pushes past Charlie and snatches a ring of keys from a peg on the wall and races towards the cell where she can see the cloth of someone’s coat pressed against the bars and the keys are rattling in her hand and--

“It’s… Elena, is that ye? Elena!” 

A bucket clangs to the floor as Henry scrambles to his feet, followed quickly by Maggie. The nerves burning inside of her are doused by the realization that Edward isn’t with them. As Elena unlocks the door and throws it open, she tries to keep the disappointment from her face. She was so sure she would find Edward with them, and now the proverbial rug has been pulled out from underneath her once more.  

“We missed ye somethin’ terrible, lass!” Maggie beams as she sweeps Elena into her arms and hugs her tight. 

Guilt gnaws at her stomach; she returns the hug, smothering a laugh when Henry throws his arms around them both. 

“Alright, alright,” Jonas says, “give our gal some breathin’ room.” 

Henry and Maggie step back, though the latter keeps a hand on Elena’s back, rubbing up and down with gentle strokes. “Now, where has our captain run off to?”

“The guards took ‘im away ‘bout an hour ago.”

“Probably to rough ‘im up a bit to make him look good for the mornin’ crowd.” Henry grimaces at Elena’s alarmed expression. “Sorry, lass.” 

Charlie clenches her fists and shakes her head. “None of us are going to the gallows. And that includes our captain.”

“Aye,” Jonas agrees. “And I’ve just the--”

Noise from back down the corridor interrupts his plan. Standing at the end are two guards, each struggling to keep hold of Edward as he thrashes against them. 

“Charlie!” he calls. “Charlie, is she here? Did you find--”

“The pirates’ve gotten free!” one of the guards cries out. “Cut them off before they escape!” 

The crew races down the hall, their swords singing as they wrench them free. Elena pulls the dagger from her boot and chases after them. The other guard drops his hold on Edward and brandishes his sword. Rearing back, Edward headbutts him into the wall and snatches the sword as it falls; he swivels on his heel, knocking the first guard into an empty cell and slamming the door shut. More shouts of alarm filter down from above, calling out for reinforcements.

“Hurry!” Edward yells at his crew as they head for the exit. “There’s a tunnel we can use to…” his words trail off, lost under the pounding of their footsteps. “...Elena.”

Despite the dire situation, Elena can’t help the giddy smile that forms when Edward finally spots her. Every part of her body feels as if it’s going to spontaneously combust as she nears the end. His lips move in the shape of her name again, then again, and then loud enough for her to hear. 

“Elena!” two voices shout.

Confusion cuts through the euphoria when a hand seizes her dress and yanks her back. With an ear-splitting crash, a massive portcullis drops down from the ceiling and buries its sharp spikes into the floor. Right where she would have been. 

Though the crew is only mere feet away, she’s sealed from joining them by eight-thousand pounds of wrought iron. Her heart plummets at the realization. Beside her, Robert turns and fires on the guard who released the latch, hitting him square in the neck. Boots thunder across the floor above. Edward rushes to the gate, trying in vain to push it back up. The crew crowds around him to try and help, but it’s no use. 

“More guards are on their way,” Robert tells them. “If we want any chance at escape, we need to go now.” His glare moves from Elena and over to the crew. “The same goes for you.”

“No!” Edward grits his teeth and rattles the gate, cursing when it doesn’t budge. “No, we’re not leaving! If -- if we can find something to wedge under here, we can--”

The guards’ shouts grow louder as they close in. Elena covers his hands with hers and squeezes, her pulse racing at touching him for the first time in over two years.

“You have to go.”

His face collapses into a look of despair, his eyes wild with panic. “I won’t! You-- you’re here and I just got you back. I won’t leave you behind.”  

Robert barks her name and tugs at her arm. “If we don’t go now, they’ll catch all of us. Go!” 

“He’s right, Captain,” Charlie says.

“I-- we’ll wait for you. We’re anchored off the eastern coast. Meet us there and--”

“Edward, listen to me,” Elena pleads, digging her nails into his skin. “There’s no time. We’ll keep them busy and give you time to sail off.” 

“And leave you here?” he hisses in disbelief, frantically shaking his head. “Never.”

Robert tugs her again, harder this time, and she stumbles back away from the gate. Edward reaches through the bars and tries desperately to grab hold of her once more. Seeing their opportunity, Jonas and Maggie capture him and wrestle him back towards the exit. “No, we’re not leav-- no, Elena!” 

“We’ll meet you back on--” Elena cuts herself off, not wanting to shout out the location. “--where Ginny and the others are! I promise.” 

Racing down the hall after Robert, she watches over her shoulder until the crew disappears from sight. They reach the fallen guard, where Elena tucks her dagger away and steals the man’s sword. It’s not like he would get any use out of it, anyway. Robert guides her down behind a stack of barrels as the guards jog past. 

“I’m sorry,” he mutters, his gaze trained on the stairs. “But if they hadn’t left, it would’ve all been for naught.”

She stifles the urge to cry as frustration and outrage boil over inside of her. This isn’t the time or place for a breakdown, though -- not while trapped within the enemy’s dungeon. She empties out her lungs with a sigh and draws in a calming breath. 

“I understand.” 

“Good. We’re going to play this one just like we did at Edinburgh Castle, and then we’ll be scot-free.”

She wrinkles her nose at the term. “Was that a pun?” 

“Hush, lass. Now, hand me that powder keg they were kind enough to stow down here for us.”

------

AN: Edward’s new ship went through a few names (The Hangman, The Seeker, etc) before I decided that he’d probably go for something similar to his last. Salacia is the Roman goddess of salt water and the open sea.

[taiblogcomics]

Mind Games Over Matter

Hey there, misery porn. Are ya ready, kids?? Coz it's time for the really terrible stuff in Titans to set in~

Where better to start than with this cover~?

Oh boy, this cover. Hang on, friendos. This is gonna be a rant~

Okay, first things first. The Tron look itself is not the problem. In all honesty, I think the Tron look is cool. Spider-Man had a Tron-looking suit for a while, his stealth suit, and it was really cool. The Tron look is not the problem! If they'd just kept it to Superboy, it'd be fine. The problem is that this is a team book. And just look at this team. Practically all of them are wearing black. There's some colour on the right, but let's look at the left for a moment. There's Superboy, whose colour is red. Red Robin, whose colour is red. And Wonder Girl, whose colour... is red. Or maybe two of them are scarlet and crimson.

So, as a team, why does this look not work? Because they all blend together. Take the Fantastic Four, for example. They're a team that all wear blue uniforms. But they all look unique, don't they? Half the time, the Human Torch is bright red. The Thing wears the bottoms of the uniform, but is also still a rocky orange monster. Invisible Woman is usually a transparent white object. The only regularly blue one is Mr. Fantastic. Or let's go the other way: the Teen Titans animated series. Cyborg and Raven both have blue in their design, but they're very different blues. Starfire and Beast Boy both heavily use purple and green in theirs, but Starfire's official colour is orange, at least according to the theme song. Point is, it's not the uniforms themselves, it's the lack of unique looks among the team.

And to top things off, Kid Flash just got a new costume a scant two issues ago. Was that not good enough~? We had to turn him into a human light cycle~?

Anyway, we open on somebody's unfinished Animorphs fanfiction. By which I mean an actual horrific depiction of Tim Drake turning into a bird. This is presented to him as a loss of control, a fear of his. And we turn the page and we see the *next* thing wrong with this issue. Meet Omen. In previous continuity, Omen (AKA Lilith Clay) was one of the earliest members to join the Titans, way back in 1970. She was unnecessarily killed off in the godawful "Graduation Day", and only appeared a couple times after as a zombie or Black Lantern. So anyway, the New 52 brought her back as a villain.

Not just any villain, but now she's blonde with red tips on her fringe haircut, a tattered floor-length black dress, and her eyes stitched shut and bleeding. So in case you didn't yet think the New 52 was backsliding into edgy '90s shlock, here's your proof! And while Omen is tormenting Tim with visions, Cassie is trying to pound her way into their chamber. Bunker tries to pull her back, pointing out that the chamber is full of water and they should come up with an actual plan. Cassie's response is to gut-punch Bunker and tell him to stop telling her what to do. Oh good, what a lovely team dynamic.

After Solstice continues to be the level-headed one and points out that turning against each other is what Harvest wants, we cut back to Tim and Omen. Tim's returned to human, and he defies Omen by insisting she's not really an enemy, just another person Harvest has corrupted. She's annoyed by his fortitude and sends him away, opting to take Cassie to torment instead. And while she's taunting Cassie for her life choices, Tim is brought before Harvest, who also taunts him. Harvest then walks off, content to ignore Tim for now. Tim is then ominously fitted with his Tron armour. It's not even a bodysuit, it's like an actual breastplate.

Back with Omen, she's picking on Skitter now, experimenting with separating Skitter's bestial side with her human half. Human!Skitter gets all "reunite us, or life itself is doomed!", which Omen thinks is hilarious. I think it's hilarious too, because thanks to my foresight of having read the whole series, Skitter is probably the least consequential character in the story. Bunker suggests that it really sucks having your private-most thoughts invaded and turned against you, and Solstice mentions this is what Omen does to prepate those for the Crucible.

We get a brief meanwhile of an investigation of the fight back in issue 5. Amanda Waller--who I actually forgot they turned skinny for the New 52--is leading the investigation, commenting on how metahumans are getting younger and younger. So, being Amanda Waller, she immediately defers leadership of the investigation to someone else, a guy named Agent Lance. Back in the actual story, Cassie and Skitter are being fitted for their Tron armour, and Tim stops by. Apparently he'd rather comment on Cassie's word choices than help her. I'm not sure I even buy his criticism that young people don't say "to boot".

Bunker and Solstice have a one-page conflict, where Bunker is upset that she didn't tell them the full extent of horrors that being Harvest's test subjects amounts to. She apologises, confessing that she was just so scared. See, that's all you need. I'm glad they didn't turn Solstice into their "manufactured conflict" go-to. While that's going on, Omen starts prodding around Kid Flash's mind. The amnesia thing kicks in, and whatever caused him to forget actually becomes a psychic backlash on her, repelling her from him. He dashes off and tries to take Bunker and Solstice to safety, only for both of them to be shot. That's when he wakes up suddenly, clad in his Tron armour, in the same room with Cassie and Skitter.

And while they're in there, Tim is doing his own heroic leader shtick. He infiltrates the other end of the base while Omen is working on Bunker. When she refuses to let him go, Tim lashes out--killing her. Except no. He suddenly wakes up back in the room with the others, still strapped to the table. Harvest himself enters, and reveals that the whole thing was essentially trying to push Tim to the limits where he'd kill someone. Harvest calls up another of his goons, Leash, who uses his powers to drag all the Titans along into the Crucible area, where the Culling will begin. That's a complaint for next time, but yeah. Here we are~

So yeah. If it wasn’t last issue, this is where the series really began its nosedive. For one thing, this is just a whole issue of tormenting our heroes, and that’s not very pleasant to read. Secondly, they reintroduce Omen--who has been dead for a whole nine years, by the way-- and make her a terrible, angsty, asshole villain. She is working for this Harvest goon for no adequately explained reason (a recurring theme, as we’ll soon see), and might as well have been a different character entirely. But no, she’s referred to as both Omen and Lilith in story, and since this is a Titans story, it’s pretty clear she’s the New 52′s interpretation of the real deal. I’ve read a lot of the 1980s New Teen Titans series and I actually really liked Lilith in those books. So this is just personally really disgusting to me.

And all of this isn’t even half as bad as what’s next, my dear readers. Because oh boy, it’s finally time. All this has been leading up to something called “The Culling”, and we’re gonna get into that next week~

[finefeatheredfriend]

Vampire Science!

I just finished Vampire Science (edit: since I couldn’t post this earlier because of my trip it’s actually been a few days lol) and it was amazing. I am so so happy that I’ve had people tell me not to judge all the EDAs by how... awful the Eight Doctors is haha!

I loved this novel a lot. Sam is a delight and Eight is perfect and I just really loved all of it so much. It’s so well written! And there were so many scenes that just made me laugh out loud and grin and at times I was captivated by the action scenes (which rarely happens!) and just read through it quickly while gaping. It was so clever.

The only thing I didn’t like about this one was the absolute lack of naked Eight. It’s unacceptable that he only dressed down to his shirt and didn’t take off more of his clothes.

For some reason I was also 100% convinced Carolyn was going to die. I really liked her though! And I related to Shackle a bit too much for my liking. The UNIT general was cool too! I still haven’t really made my mind up about Joanna. But all these side characters were absolutely brilliantly written!

I did a kind of liveblog thing in my notes so I could come back later and see what exactly I liked about the book - here’s a list of my favourite liveblog bullet points:

- tall? eight? paul mcgann tall? green eyes? what

- ‘the TARDIS was the closest thing he had to a girlfriend now’ uuuh what

- Sam theorising about the Doctor’s name and joking it might be Fred aaaaah the Romana feels

- Eight is just covered in little kittens and then... ‘he shook his head carefully and the kitten on top clung on for dear life’ asdfghjkl

- we need to see Eight in just his shirtsleeves and waistcoat more often. it’s for science. vampire science

- ok no I take that last one back that was a little too much

- oh please, Doctor, do feel free to remove even more of your clothes

- and now the cravat’s gone too

- yes only a few more layers to go, go on

- ‘I was afraid I’d run out of clothing before I got to you’ and I was afraid you’d get there before all your clothes were gone and here we are, and you’re still wearing half your clothes

- ‘Welcome,’ he said, striking a dramatic half lit pose, ‘to the opera... of Doom’ ahsgahs that reminds me of ‘the ambassadors... OF DEATH’

- ‘You expect me to buy that you’re some kind of a mythical creature?’ ‘Joanna... you’re a vampire’ I’m screaming

- Fred the Eternal Snail I’m screaming ‘He was a mascot until someone stepped on him and they had to stake him with a toothpick’ agahdgah

- ‘I want you to take me. Uh, with you.’ in which Carolyn says what we’ve all been thinking all along

- oh my GOD now he’s gently running his hands through her hair to make her go to sleep aaah oh my god oh my g o d

- THE DOCTOR HAS A BUTTERFLY ROOM AAAAAH

- “I could succeed in many things, fail in many more, but as long as I've petted the cat I've done everything that really matters.” same

- ahahaha the Doctor just caught a bat in his bare hands and then talked to it in baby talk I’m screaming “Awww,' said the Doctor, scratching the bat under the chin, 'Did the big mean owd wady fwighten you?”

- love how the doctor just counts the years since his last regeneration as how old he is hahah oh wait so sam and him have been travelling for three years?? cause he met her right after san francisco and he said it’s been three years since his last regeneration OH wait sam also said he goes travelling without her for up to a year when he gets distracted so maybe that’s why

- “Real trust is as rare and precious as having a cat pay attention to you” eight is a cat person confirmed

- oh my GOD Kramer has to explain to the doctor why all the women flock around him aaah he’s such a useless baby I love him

Wow sorry I didn’t expect this to get this long ahahah

Under the cut there’s the whole liveblog/every single reaction i had to the book if you’re interested! (I’m just adding it so I have all my reactions recorded but feel free to read if you want)

I bolded the ones I liked a lot but couldn’t put in my favourites because it would have gotten too long ahaha

- ok right from the very first page I already love the writing at least 100% more than that of the eight doctors

- I somehow thought I’d seen art of Sam that had her have dark hair but she’s always described as a blonde...? Am I mixing things up?

- Sam is ‘unapologetically butch’? love that

- are they at a gay bar? I love this

- wait ok I spoke too soon I mean they might still be at a gay bar but uhh I mean I am aware this book is literally called vampire science but I wanted those two women to just be gay not one of them to kill/eat the other

- tall? eight? paul mcgann tall? green eyes? what

- for god’s sake can people please stop calling eight’s clothes a Jane Austen costume that. is. the. wrong. era!!

- STRING!! the Doctor has a ball of string in his pockets!! this takes me back to Caerdroia

- why do I have a feeling Carolyn is going to die

- it’s because she keeps talking about how she wants to join them in travelling the universe when I don’t remember hearing of any Carolyn travelling with eight

- ‘running off with a tall dark handsome mysterious stranger and a femme fatale? she wasn’t picky, she’d take either’ I love myself a disaster bi

- but she’s gonna die isn’t she

- ok why are we getting so much backstory on her if she’s gonna die anyway

- oh it’s gonna come in handy later that she’s a biochem major isn’t it

- since it’s vampire science

- how convenient they met her

- ok so maybe she won’t die after all...? it’s 20 years later and she probably has a family she doesn’t want to leave and that’s why she won’t travel with the doctor and Sam

- why is it so important to know that her partner is 5 years younger like is that important later I don’t get it

- oooh Sam’s room on the tardis belonged to another teenager before her? who???

- ‘the TARDIS was the closest thing he had to a girlfriend now’ uuuh what

- Sam theorising about the Doctor’s name and joking it might be Fred aaaaah the Romana feels

- ok. earlier I was confused because apparently his eyes are green in this book. now they’re blue? what’s going on

- aaah I can’t believe Sam has to tell the Doctor how to put on his shoes cause he can’t do it on his own ahahaha

- UNIT!!!! am I happy about this or not?

- Sam is 19, but with the right clothes and the right attitude she can sometimes pass for 20. oh Sam, you sweet summer child i love you

- I wasn’t sure about James before but he seems like a nice guy now

- please don’t let him be killed

- I really like Sam

- ‘he didn’t notice the taxi behind him, its driver mildly excited to have been asked to “follow that car!”’ asdfghjkl

- ‘the Doctor couldn’t do anything to stop what was going to happen’ oh no James really is going to die isn’t he

- aaaw when Carolyn and the Doctor meet again and she hugs him while crying... I felt that

- oh yes give me more of Eight in shirtsleeves wearing and apron while cooking breakfast - I’d like to wake up to that hehe

- oh my god and he is singing

- and... beatboxing...?

- and he tucked Carolyn into bed last night oh my heart

- ‘You have cute eyebrows’ I’m screaming

- ‘a manipulative little weirdo’ ... sounds about right but still, don’t talk like that about my baby seven, kramer

- I love Sam

- and nOW EIGHT IS PETTING A KITTEN THAT FELL INTO HIS LAP I CAN’T

- this book is full of little things that just make my heart go !! or make me laugh so much

- this just gets better and better - Eight is just covered in little kittens and then

- ‘he shook his head carefully and the kitten on top clung on for dear life’ asdfghjkl

- and one of the kittens got into his coat pocket!! ugh this scene was too cute, I wasn’t really paying attention to anything but what the kittens and eight were going to do next ahahah

- looove the little remark about Sam going to the gay rights march aaah

- Ahahah sam wanting to high five the Doctor while they’re undercover I’m screaming

- personal vamp scale I can’t

- ahaha that guy was ‘dancing vaguely at her with an angular lack of grace that suggested he’d been dead since the days of the funky chicken’ hahaha

- NO SAM NOOO

- oh Doctor my poor baby it’s not your fault

- Oh please let Sam be alright

- Aaah

- I don’t want her to die

- Out of all the characters i really didn’t think I’d relate to shackle so much

- ‘Sam Jones, the girl who’d climbed on to a roof to spray paint ‘anorexics die for business ££££’ onto a lingerie billboard’ Sam you absolute icon

- they mentioned Ace!!!

- Ahaha those two vampires haha one of them trying to dramatically recruit some young vampires and the other just interrupting him making fun of him ahahahaha

- I loooove how the Doctor just ignores that vampire

- And then he’s just so totally nonchalant when he finally speaks ugh I love him

- Nooo don’t let them turn you into a vampire James!!

- we need to see Eight in just his shirtsleeves and waistcoat more often. it’s for science. vampire science

- ok no I take that last one back that was a little too much

- oh please, Doctor, do feel free to remove even more of your clothes

- and now the cravat’s gone too

- yes only a few more layers to go, go on

- ‘I was afraid I’d run out of clothing before I got to you’ and I was afraid you’d get there before all your clothes were gone and here we are, and you’re still wearing half your clothes

- ‘Welcome,’ he said, striking a dramatic half lit pose, ‘to the opera... of Doom’ ahsgahs that reminds me of ‘the ambassadors... OF DEATH’

- now the Doctor has clear blue-grey eyes - which I suppose is closer to the blue they mentioned before than the green they mentioned before that

- but still

- agree on one eye colour PLEASE

- unless... that’s some weird time lord physiology thing? changing eye colour? could be

- could also just be the light ahah

- ‘You expect me to buy that you’re some kind of a mythical creature?’ ‘Joanna... you’re a vampire’ I’m screaming

- no Doctor don’t put your clothes back on yet

- sigh. yellowish green? his eyes really do change colour don’t they

- I swear to god if the doctor actually turned into a vampire I’m gonna just leave

- this chapter title is hurt/chocolate ,,,,, like hurt/comfort? Ahaha (I’m laughing now because I’m scared i won’t be able to later)

- the Doctor? sleeping??

- oh right. I had a little break between reading so I forgot he was badly hurt oops

- oh I need a visual for this - Kramer just picked up the Doctor and carried him into the house?? I imagined her as a small though stocky woman, but not nearly strong enough to carry a man described as tall (though we all know paul mcgann is not tall lol)

- This blood fasting thing isn’t permanent though is it

- I already love Sam and Eight’s relationship so much - the way he comforts her ugh my heart

- and now he’s hugging her while stirring the soup he prepared for her (or Carolyn?) ugh my heart (I say that a lot ahahah)

- Wait wasn’t there a vampire called spike on buffy as well

- Fred the Eternal Snail I’m screaming

- He was a mascot until someone stepped on him and they had to stake him with a toothpick agahdgah

- Oh god Carolyn asked the doctor if she can go with him... she really is going to die isn’t she

- Or the doctor says no but...

- aaaand his eyes are green again

- ‘I want you to take me. Uh, with you.’ In which Carolyn says what we’ve all been thinking all along

- ‘God, he did have cute eyebrows.’ Carolyn oh my god ahahaha

- oh my GOD now he’s gently running his hands through her hair to make her go to sleep aaah oh my god oh my g o d

- Oh Sam, no the doctor definitely wants you there!!!!

- THE DOCTOR HAS A BUTTERFLY ROOM AAAAAAH

- That room honestly sounds amazing (hills?? Millions of butterflies just flying around??)

- the Doctor just completely enjoying butterflies flying all around

- and then he just talks to sam and Carolyn while a moth is hanging from his nose ahahah

- Joanna don’t you DARE cut the Doctor’s beautiful locks I swear if you hurt one hair on his head and I mean that literally I will come to you when you’re sleeping and stake you right through the heart

- ‘Just so you can have him pass you test tubes and tell you how brilliant you are’ like in terror of the autons!!

- the doctor has a worried-daddy look hahaha

- “I could succeed in many things, fail in many more, but as long as I've petted the cat I've done everything that really matters.” same

- ahahaha the Doctor just caught a bat in his bare hands and then talked to it in baby talk I’m screaming “Awww,' said the Doctor, scratching the bat under the chin, 'Did the big mean owd wady fwighten you?” And they have names hahahaha Stewart and Jasper

- a Susan mention!!

- love how the doctor just counts the years since his last regeneration as how old he is hahah oh wait so sam and him have been travelling for three years?? cause he met her right after san francisco and he said it’s been three years since his last regeneration OH wait sam also said he goes travelling without her for up to a year when he gets distracted so maybe that’s why

- aaaah he sees himself as sam’s parent

- Oh actually her older brother okay

- “Real trust is as rare and precious as having a cat pay attention to you” eight is a cat person confirmed

- oh my GOD Kramer has to explain to the doctor why all the women flock around him aaah he’s such a useless baby I love him

- okaaaay so Joanna made some new human race - like in new earth

- “Get your ass off that car!' 'Whoah,' said the vampire. He got his ass off the car.”

- NOOOO what about the kittens????

- I’m screaming the Doctor has them all in his coat pockets ahahahahah

- We’re so close to the end now and the Doctor hasn’t been naked yet :(

- wait did the doctor drink or inject himself with the vamp-away???? (that’s an iconic name for it btw)

- aaaah the Doctor eating icecream and getting a chocolate moustache ahahahah

- I love how he always ruffles Sam’s hair

[jesterdmc]

The Devil’s adoration, Devil may cry story, Chapter 1

A squeaky sound came from turning on the hot water. The man in there sighed once the warm water hit him, his tense muscles being soothed to the heat. Not long he ran his fingers through his silver white hair with shampoo and began washing.

Steam fogged the shower. Washing off all the week’s filth and smell off his naked body. He scrubbed, washed his body and hair without wasting no time.

He just gotten home an hour ago from a payless and thankless job, covered in so disgusting slime.

After awhile he had to turn it off, followed by the annoying squeak sound.

Hot water dripping off him onto the the floor. His muscles relaxed, a tranquility feeling filled his soul, but that peace was quickly interrupted.

He could hear voices talking down stairs. The man groaned annoyed when he recognized them, so he opened the shower door to grab a towel.

He dried his body off and proceed to dress himself before exiting, to see what was going on.

"Come on Morrison! I must see it before they stop selling the tickets!"  Said a blonde 18 year old girl to the older black man on the couch trying reading the local newspaper.

"Sorry kid, can't help you there. Why don't you ask your mother?" He said lighting another cancer stick. Inhaling it it then back out, like a dragon exhaling smoke from the fire in its belly.

The girl coughed at the smoke backing away, “Why do you use that stuff?” She asked between coughs. Waving her hand at the smoke, trying it get out her face.

"Besides! I can't, she's too busy and don't wanna disturb her. That’s why I'm asking you!" The girl huffed taking a few steps back annoyed. Biting her lip.

"What you two arguing about this early in the morning?" A half naked silver hair man from the shower now wearing red jeans said as he walked in, rubbing his wet head dry with a towel.

He coutied to go his desk and as he sat down just as his phone started to ring, his foot slammed on the desk making the phone come towards to him and catch it.

"Devil may cry." He listened for a moment, then his face turned annoyed. "Sorry, we're on holiday." He throw the phone back making a "geesh!" sound, relaxing back in his chair grabbing a playboy magazine.

" Dante take me to see this!"  The young woman ran over lighting fast, shoving a poster in his face of romantic drama movie.

"Sorry Patty, not interested." He pushed it from his face.

"Then buy me a ticket then!"

"If I had the money I'll be eating pizza right now, how about you start dating a rich guy to take you that kind of stuff. And besides you’re an adult now, can’t you go get yourself a job?"

"You're broke again!? You’re so useless sometimes you know that!"

"That's what you keep telling me" he replied putting the Magazine on his head, hearing the young Patty groan growling loudly at him.

Morrison, the man's liaison had walked over and grabbed the magazine off his head.

"Get up Dante, I got a job for you." The black man said tossing the magazine to the side.

"Oh really...Are you sure it's not the shit kind you give me..." The man replied back bored and less interested.

"I said get up already and get dressed. you have a client waiting to see you, well dressed and eager awaiting to see you. Beside you owe me and get your ass in gear, I paid your water and power now I want you to pay me back."

"Get up you bum and get the money to get the ticket so I can see the movie i want to see!" Patty pushed him yelling, pestering him to go.

He groaned at the both of them, trying to get some shut eye. Only more than eager to take a nap then go anywhere.

"Go already!"

"Alright alright." He replied not very enthusiastic, he grabbed his clothing as he followed Morrison out the shop.

As Dante came outside putting on his clothing, black shirt and red vest while holding his coat.

He heard something as he put them on, he looked down to see a very fluffy black cat yet it had no tail and it had jacked up back legs. It looked at him with big green eyes and meowed again.

He ignored it and walked to Morrison's car while putting on his coat. After lighting his cigarette he started up the car. “This better be good..” grumbled Dante before they were off on the road.

Patty walked out of Devil may cry to see the car drive away with an annoyed face, hands at her hips. She looked away down to the ground when seeing the cat. It meowed as it looked at her with big eyes.

"Hello there little guy, are you lost?" Patty asked and kneeled down to try to met its height, but the kitten started off.

"Hey wait kitty!" Patty yelled trying to follow the feline but lost it in an alley. “Wait! I just wanna-oh where he go?” Patty said to herself looking around for the black cat. She frowned knowing she lost it.  

~

Dante and Morrison enter into very fancy italian restaurant. Fancy decorated with many Italy themed items. The place was pretty empty, it was the early hours before the place scheduled to be opened. Only few workers were around preparing for the day, but Morrison pointed out a man out sitting at a table.

A man with a suit of browns and other dark colors, drinking a fine wine. He had two men in black rain coats and bowler hats, hover next to him as close as possible.

As they tried to approach at the table, the two men in black stopped them.

"Hey now, I'm not into stuff like that." Dante said stopping the two men before them, but before they could say anything the man from the table started laughing. Everyone looked towards him

"Just I heard him to be Morrison, it's alright they're here for me." The man spoke when he stopped laughing, ordering the two men. Before taking another sip of the red liquid.

The two men stood apart, Letting them though like a opened door.

"Dante it's great to see you," the man put his hand for a handshake yet rudely Dante didn't return the gesture. Disappointed, the man frowned but took no mind to it. “My name is Emiel Jones Wilson. I am the one that call you here today.”

Dante didn’t say anything, sitting in silence as he stared at the man.  

“Are you hungry my friend, I have arranged a meal as we discuss business.” Emiel snapped his fingers if showing off his power and a man from inside came over to them.

The gentlemen at the table ordered their meals to the young waiter, who wrote them down right away and not long went back to fulfill the orders. A few moments later in incredible speed, the food was brought out to them.

Not long Dante began eating his pizza as the other men started eating their meals too.  

Once the man was finished, he went straight to business. Picking up his glass again he questioned the legendary demon slayer. "Do you know why you are here Dante?"

"A job I hope." Dante replied leaning back lazily on the leather seats. Taking a few glances around the restaurant and the guards. Looking uninterested about the subject still munching on his pizza.

"Yes of course, but you know why?"

"Nope but I'm guessing you are gonna tell me."

"Recently there been rumors going around about a powerful demon Lord is going to be summoned back from the demon world to the human world. His name is Asura." Morrison filled in with a empty dish before him, patting his mouth with a napkin, stopping to blow some smoke out his mouth from his cigarette.

"This person will be summoning him." Emiel said before tossing some photos on the table.

The pictures were mostly smudged and blurry but they all show the same young woman.

One showed her reading a book on bench in a park also feeding the local birds. The second showed her walking out a shop holding a small shopping bag and the next showed her drinking tea and eating a little cake.

They may been hard to see clearly but Dante could get an idea what she looked like. Her hair was eye catching orange ginger red, but what got his eye the most about her in the photos were her bright green eyes.

Dante reach over and pick up one of the photos, the one where she is walking out a store.

He had no reasons obvious to not help this man, but he felt something was off as stared at the blurred face of the young woman.

"This woman, will summon him and I need you to kill her before she does. She is nothing, but a demon herself! If she is successful, she will doom the world!

You must help me devil hunter! I will pay you all much you want! I done everything in my power to stop her, but s-she's just too powerful! We barely managed to find out she's going,to Gehenna island to an abandoned castle to summon the demon lord! H-here are the directions." Stuttering in fear and heavy sweat. A dramatic change then before. The man handed over Dante a slip of paper, Map of the world with pen markings to where go and how to.

Dante after examining it he glanced over to his client. Arching an eyebrow at the man, feeling something shifty yet he seemed prested and worried over this subject. Anyone would be in this state knowing the world they know it would end. So Dante put it into his pocket then grabbed the last piece of pizza." I'll take it, we don't want the world to be doomed. For all I know there be no more pizza. "

"Thank you.” The man said with a relieved grin like he was holding his breath the whole time. He took out a key to put on the table, passed the key to him. “I have a boat ready for you at the docks, it's called Argo."

Dante looked down to the key on the table seeing a nameplate on the keychain. He took it, circling the key on his finger then put it in his pocket.

“That takes care of that isuss. Come on Dante, I’ll drive you there.” Morrison stood up and putting on his hat and coat. Letting Dante out the booth as he lit his new cigarette.

“Good luck on your journey Demon hunter.” The man  

“Goodbye Tweedledum and Tweedledee."  Dante said with pizza in his mouth to the two men in black while following Morrison back to the car. Giving a lazy backward wave to them.

[roselesliedaily]

Make The Cut

Actress Rose Leslie on life after Game of Thrones and her latest role

You could forgive Rose Leslie for finding it rather trying to have the same 5 words incessantly yelled at her in the street – even if those 5 words are ‘You know nothing, Jon Snow’ and came as a result of her stellar 3-year stint on Game of Thrones. But it turns out that Rose is so very nice as to insist she actually likes it. ‘It’s a lovely thing to be on the receiving end of,’ she says. ‘I feel so lucky, a, to have [a catchphrase] and, b, to be a part of a show that is universally adored.’

Words by Hollie Moat, Photography by Tom Craig, Styling by Poppy Kain

It’s a sunny spring day, but the east London warehouse we’re shooting in is so inexplicably cold that even a person who grew up in a Scottish castle (that would be Rose) is gripped by the chill. Still, she poses gamely around the freezing space to show off SS17’s key deconstructed pieces to their best advantage. From the big fashion hitters to the titans of television, Rose’s ascent to stardom has come via some of the modern era’s most celebrated shows: her breakout role Gwen in the first season of Downton Abbey, then Thrones’ Ygritte, Wildling warrior and doomed love of Jon Snow. Now her flawless record continues with The Good Fight, the much-anticipated The Good Wife spin-off and a newly minted hit. The series follows Christine Baranski’s Diane Lockhart as she moves to a new law firm after her plans to retire fall through (she loses all her money in a Ponzi scheme run by a close friend); Rose plays Maia, Diane’s beloved goddaughter and offspring of the Ponzi schemer. Here, she shares style advice, reminisces about Ygritte’s costumes and tells us about Maia’s ‘pretty good fight of her own’.

Everyone seems to have gone wild for The Good Fight. Do you think that’s down in part to how very current it feels, exploring subjects like fake news and even opening the pilot with Diane Lockhart watching the Trump inauguration?

Rose Leslie: ‘Yes, and I’m certainly incredibly proud of the fact that [showrunners] Robert and Michelle King decided to be bold enough to take on the administration in terms of highlighting what they feel needs to be brought to people’s attention. In the pilot, I think that with nothing being said, you can project whatever your own feelings are to Donald Trump being sworn in. Diane Lockhart’s face is so beautifully blank – you were able to project whatever your own thoughts were onto her face and be like, “Oh my god, this must be what Diane is feeling.” I thought that was very clever.’

The series is set around a law firm and your character Maia has just passed the Bar – did you have to do your legal homework before filming?

‘I kind of took artistic license with Maia being relatively new and green when it came to the world of court. I realised that I could lean a little bit on her in this being her first time as well as my own, so it was okay that I was a bit jittery and nervous about taking somebody down in the witness stand. And I did learn the meaning of some words, words I had an idea of – litigation, arbitration and affidavit, but I had to really cement their meaning into my head for when I was speaking them, because to not know what the hell you’re talking about would be shambolic on my behalf.’

‘The characters that appeal to me most are the women who are thrown out of their comfort zone. Seeing them grapple with their new situation – realising they have backbone to fight against the tide.’ 

You were working with the glorious Christine Baranski and Bernadette Peters – amazing role models for an actress. Did they live up to expectations?

‘They both have the most incredible spirit of generosity [and] hold themselves with such grace. They are so friendly, so welcoming and professional, to the point where they nail it in a couple of takes. You end up being like, “Holy shit, I need to up my game because I’m opposite Bernadette Peters.” And she was such a darling of a lady, and I feel very much the same with Christine, who from the off was incredibly warm towards me. I realised that this was something new that we were embarking on together, it’s an ensemble piece and she wanted me to feel very welcome on this set she knows very well.’

You seem to play very strong characters. Maia is a fighter, Ygritte was a warrior of a woman, even Gwen in Downton Abbey refused to settle for the status quo…

‘I would say certainly the characters that appeal to me most are the women who are thrown out of their comfort zone. Seeing them grapple with their new situation – realising they have backbone and being able to fight against the tide – you could term that as strong. Maia finds herself in this extraordinary, atrocious scenario of no longer trusting her father, with whom she’s had an incredibly close relationship with, realises that he has scammed hundreds of millions out of innocent people, ruining their lives and also jeopardising her career, which she has fought very hard for. I rated her for being someone who wasn’t self-involved with her own desires, and decided to take the approach of showing that she is as good as her peers, despite having an incredible advantage in life with her parents being billionaires.’

The Good Wife was renowned for its style, does The Good Fight follow suit?

‘I would be doing Dan Lawson an incredible disservice if I didn’t praise the ground he works on – he was the costume designer on The Good Wife and he is also with us, so tonally, expressively you’re getting a similar vibe. I feel like it’s fashion-forward in showing the power that one can convey with and through fashion, in complementing what one feels in the scene with what you’re going to wear, and as a result showing the viewer how the character feels in that particular episode – let’s say there aren’t any bold colours or patterns, because actually Maia’s feeling very dour and her low self-esteem is coming through in the clothes and the drab colours that she’s gone for. Dan is a master at pulling that off.’

Of all your roles, whose costumes do you like best?

‘I’m not good in heels! So I would have to say give me the flat boots in [Ygritte’s] battlegear. I loved wearing armour and having a bow and arrow, and just being a bit dirty and grubby. But my god I’ve been given some beautiful pieces in The Good Fight: I had the most beautiful Alexander McQueen two-piece and a Helmut Lang overcoat – the woman [Maia] has the most incredible wardrobe! So I’ve had a lot of fun in being able to wear something I would never have the chance to in real life, because as an actor you’re not really gonna be wearing office attire day-to-day.’

Which character has a style closest to your own?

‘‘If you had asked me when I was 22, I would most certainly have said Ygritte, whereby she was more of a tomboy-esque person. But I’d like to think I’m slowly ebbing towards Maia, and the maturity that she has, now I’m a 30-year-old woman…’

You looked amazing in Christian Dior at the Olivier Awards – do you enjoy getting dressed up for the red carpet or is it a chore?

‘It’s fun, it’s so fun! To be fair you’d be hard-pushed to look someone in the eye and say you don’t enjoy someone faffing around you for 2 hours and making you feel lovely. And I really enjoy getting ready because it’s a team effort – it takes a whole village!’

And finally, which of today’s looks would you most like to take home?

‘I had the most beautiful striped Loewe dress on, with the collar off-kilter and a wraparound on the waist and billowed shoulders. I do think it’s a little more interesting when things are offbeat; I’m drawn to that in what I wear, and also it applies to different aspects of my life. You’re not following the obvious form – I rather enjoy that.’

[vannahfanfics]

Before you read, here’s the previous chapter. New? Start from the beginning!

Rise of the Guardians: Earthsong

Ao3

Chapter 14: Nathalie’s Failsafe

It burned. It burned like the day she had died, when the smoke scratched into her lungs with eager little claws, ripping scores into the vulnerable cells and make her choke. Nathalie could feel the tendrils of writhing purple cells painfully probing around her heart and lungs to squeeze them between sharp teeth, bubbling up bright red blood that was staining the pristine fabric of her dress the dark ruby color. It burned, but she felt cold too; a frosty feeling was creeping up from her toes and fingertips, making her sensations fuzzy and indistinct. It burned, yet she smiled down at Jamie even as a dribble of blood rolled down her chin from her mouth which was flooding with the disgusting taste of iron. He looked so scared and miserable, face pale and tears streaming down his cheeks. She was crying too, but not from the pain. She reached out with a violently shaking hand to gently cup his cheek. Warm, full of plenty of life left to live. She had cried thinking of Jamie’s young life being cut so short, at his valiant effort to come to save them even knowing the danger, at the absolutely terrified look on Jack’s face as the little body plummeted through the air nearing the gaping maw of Pitch’s monster.

“I’ve got you,” she repeated hoarsely.

Her body lurched as the spikes retreated. On unsteady feet, she landed on the vine only to fall to her hands and knees. Her nails scraped into the thick, smooth stem as she forced the last of her power into closing the wound in the center of her chest. She could feel the fine grains of sand pumping through her bloodstream, rapidly absorbing her life-giving energy, but this way she could reverse the effects as long as possible. Nathalie still had an ace up her sleeve after all, one that Pitch had failed to discover.

It would only work if she was about to die, however.

“N-Nat…” Jamie whispered. His voice was trembling as much as his body. His wide eyes watched the blood leaking in thick clumps from her body to paint the jade green body of the vine. Though she closed the flow, she spilled at least a cup of it all over the plant. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I just want to save you!” His voice cracked with a high-pitched sob as he buried his eyes into his fists. “It’s my fault…”

“Jamie,” Nat groaned and went to reach for him, but she hadn’t even the strength to lift her arm. It slapped uselessly into the puddle of blood, smearing the hot, sticky stuff over her skin. Her breath came in ragged pants and she scrunched one of her eyes up as she fought to remain conscious. This is no good… My power is diminishing much faster than I thought it would… I have to get to the Tree!

“Nathalie!” Oh, there was so much heartbreak in her name. Nathalie had only heard Jack’s voice sound like that once before, when she was being carted off by the mob of villagers to her doom, and he was left in the street howling in agony. She looked up weakly to see him charging down from the skies, freezing a rolling wave of Pitch’s black sand in the process. Just as the vine shuddered and wilted beneath Nat, he swooped down to grab her, holding her shaking form against his body with one arm while tucking the still shell-shocked Jamie under his arm. He sprang away as more of Pitch’s spikes sprang forward eager to deliver the winter spirit to his demise. Teeth gritted, he waved his staff in a wide arc and froze them before diving down into the interwoven canopy of the now still rainforest. Gently, he laid Nat in the boughs of one of the sturdy trees, blue eyes raking over her disheveled form in agony. “Nat… You’re gonna be okay… Right?” he asked weakly. Jamie whimpered and curled up in his lap to bury his face into his hoodie.

Before she could answer, the sound of tinkling bells rang through the air.

They both looked up to see North’s sleigh burst in with a cloud of ice and snowflakes. Pitch’s dinosaur had been angrily rooting through the forest in search of his prey, but once the other Guardians charged into the scene, its attention became misdirected. He has likely lost himself in his rage and the thing is acting purely on bloodlust, she reasoned weakly. Pitch would surely know that Nathalie was mortally wounded at this point and there would be no reason to further exhaust himself, but yet he still sheltered within the bestial armor. She heard North holler out in surprise as he wrenched the sleigh away from the monster’s swiping claws.

“Jack,” Nat whispered. It was hard to speak, but she forced herself to. “Jack, I need to go to the Tree of Life.” She hadn’t much time. Life was already beginning to drain from the planet. Around her, the tree leaves were flooding with yellow and orange as they crumpled up into brittle, dry masses. The air temperature was dropping by the second. Below, animals were beginning to root into burrows and hide away in their nests as their instincts screamed that a brutal winter was upon them. As foxes fled into dens, the dry ferns were crushed beneath their frantic paws. Mother birds smothered their hatchlings to keep them warm. Her cold-blooded dragon companion had dropped from the sky to lay on his side on the cold ground, breathing deeply as his warm breath formed clouds of water vapor in his mouth while he slipped into hibernation. The fragile leaves began to fall in droves to the ground, leaving the branches naked and thin. This was the epicenter of disaster; if Nathalie did not hurry, the world would soon be prisoner to the thralls of a centuries-long winter. “Jack,” she pressed as he stared at her with wide, scared eyes.

“I got it,” he acknowledged softly before grabbing Jamie and jumping up the height of the tree. “North! Down here!” he hollered loudly, hand cupped around his mouth. The sleigh jingled as it dove down to meet him.

“Jack! What on Earth is happening?” The burly man asked angrily. “Why did you leave North Pole?!” Jack ignored him and bundled the softly sobbing boy into his tattooed arms.

“Jack! Are we too late?” Toothiana demanded worriedly. Her iridescent feathers were puffed up with anxiety, and she looked down to where Nathalie was nestled within the dry branches of the tree, pale and ragged. “What’s happening to her?” Nathalie looked down at herself; her golden-blonde hair was becoming tainted with black and shearing off at the ends, slowly crawling up, and patches of burned skin were beginning to form on her arms and legs. I’m reverting back to the state in which I died, she thought, wincing at the stinging pain blooming all over her body. She could feel her lungs becoming laden with soot, making her cough weakly.

“Jack, hurry,” she moaned and tried to crawl toward him. She slipped and clumsily landed against the wide bough, legs dangling off the thick branch.

“Take care of him! We can still win this!” Jack ordered before hopping down to pluck her from the tree and spirit her down into the dying forest. She just caught a glimpse of North sending the sleigh surging forward as the dinosaur’s head reared down to devour it. Jack didn’t bother with careful entry; he crashed right through the weakened barrier of vines she had constructed in the hole above the cave. The vines exploded into dust as he blasted them with ice, allowing them to fall right through and spill sunlight back into the spacious room. “Nat, please tell me you have an idea,” he begged her as he skipped around the decaying clumps of thick vines and crystals of his own ice to head for the Tree. It was already much worse for wear than she thought; its bark had turned a dark gray color, its large leaves discarded and dry, crunching under Jack’s nimble feet. The bubbles of biomes were beginning to turn opaque with darkness, just like her hair, which was still falling and now up to her elbows.

“I can save the Earth,” she confirmed. “But…”

“But what?!” he cried and skidded to a halt right before he got to the door of Nathalie’s cabin. His ice-blue eyes pierced into her own as he took deep, frantic breaths. “Don’t say it. Nat, don’t say it.”

“I’ll die.”

Immediately, his expression contorted into one of purest anguish. He looked away and supported her with one arm while he bit down hard on the knuckles of his other hand, drawing blood. She watched the ruby-red river run down his hand before it beaded in a little jewel and splashed down to stain her already stained dress. He sucked in a few breaths through his hand, refusing to look at her. “There’s no other way. This is the only failsafe. Either way, I will perish. If I can, I would like to save this world and its future—Jamie’s future.” He looked at her through the corners of his tear-filled eyes, and she smiled wistfully. “Children can be so cruel. You remember,” she laughed wanly. “I’ve realized now that scary situations make them that way. Children can be so kind, too. Just like you were to me, back then, and just like Jamie is. If Pitch’s plan comes to fruition, all the children of the world will lose that kindness. I can’t allow it.” His hand fell from his mouth to flop loosely down to his side. He looked at her again, blankly; slowly, he smiled at her, a smile full of pride and pain and love.

“You sound like a Guardian, Nat. Let’s do it. For Jamie.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Jack held her like she was made of glass. He could just feel it, the sensation that she could shatter at any moment; her frame was just so thin and light in his arms as he hopped through the branches of the rapidly withering Tree of Life. Her arms were shaking as they wrapped tighter around his neck. On top of the effects of her powers draining from her body, it seems their own little curse was still alive in full-force; he had only been holding her a few minutes, but a thin sprinkle of frost coated her body from head-to-toe, her skin was as pale as the first snow of winter, and her breath was fogging up into clouds as it puffed repeatedly against his neck. The crisp scent of water crystals mingling with the acrid aroma of her singing hair and burning flesh made him nauseous. Where her skin wasn’t bright white, it was a burning pink blackened at the edges were it was literally burning away by the second. Her hair had retreated all the way up to her shoulders, where it had been sheared off four hundred years ago. Jack had no idea what she was planning, but he didn’t know if she could hang on long enough to even enact her designs. She kept whispering for him to hurry, each one more desperate and pained than the last. She was a whimpering, crying mess by the time he finally delivered her to the dense boughs of the gigantic tree.

“We’re here, Nat,” he said softly as he laid her down against one of the branches. Moaning in torturous suffering, she rolled onto her side to wrap her slender arms around the massive branch springing from the tree’s trunk.

“I need… Your help…” she puffed.

“Anything, Nat. Anything.”

“I’m going to… summon… The Earth’s spirit,” she forced out in irregular pants. Jack’s curiosity piqued, but there wasn’t enough time to get the details. “My predecessor… Taught me this. The only way… To save the Tree if we are injured. I’m going to… give the tree my life force. That should save it. The Earth… She’ll hear me calling…” Her words faltered into a high-pitched squeal as she curled up against the grayed wood, tearing at the bust of her dress to paw at her burning lungs. “Unngh! The Tree… Will be vulnerable… For a short time. Use your magic… To protect it… Jack…”

“Don’t worry. I won’t let your—" the word bulged in his throat like he had swallowed a frog. He didn’t want to say it. It hurt like hell to. “I won’t let your sacrifice go to waste,” he continued after a moment of steeling himself. Her beautiful emerald eyes, watery and lidded, peered at him through her frayed ends of blonde hair. She smiled shakily in relief and then reached a trembling hand out to him; it fell immediately, but he caught the frail thing in his own.

“I’m so glad… I got to see you again… One last time,” she uttered, tears spilling over her lashes to fall down her cheeks. Jack squeezed her hand, refusing to retreat even as his began to burn and hers began to freeze. “You won’t forget me… Will you?”

“Never,” he promised. “I’ll love you for the rest of time. That’s a promise.” Her eyes closed as she smiled brightly. She intertwined her fingers with his in a bruising, burning hand-hold, but Jack wouldn’t let go, no matter how much it hurt. He wrapped an arm around the thick circumference of a nearby branch to brace himself as he pressed against the Tree, whispering something under her breath. Above her head, she splayed out her palm against its rough surface, and a golden light began to slowly glow underneath her skin. It then burst forth, traveling in swirling lines through the indentions in the bark, flooding around them in thousands of golden rivers. The gray bark began to darken back to the rich chocolate color; above his head, the crunchy brown leaves were beginning to balloon with moisture, becoming turgid and green once more. The opacity of the fruit-like orbs was reducing to crystal clarity. All the while, he felt Nat’s grip weakening in his own, as the life literally leaked out of her.

“Please. Please help me.”

Jack cried out in alarm as the Tree suddenly heaved. He looked around wildly as the branches began writhing, smacking into the stony surface of the cave and collapsing the ancient stone columns as they thrashed. The wood groaned deafeningly as it shifted. There was a loud splintering, tearing sound, and Jack glanced down to see the trunk of the Tree bulging out of the cabin, effectively collapsing it into rubble and planks that were strewn across the ground as the Tree continued to swell like a balloon.

“What’s happening?!” he cried to Nat.

“Don’t worry,” she smiled reassuringly to him. “The Tree… Is just returning… to its natural form.”

“You mean it’s bigger?!” he shouted as he looked at the snapping branches once more. Indeed, they had grown impossibly larger, bloating to the point that the Tree was becoming cramped in the small cave. They began to twist and curl around one another into disorganized knots. Dust began to rain down from the walls and ceiling as they were pushed to their maximum capacity. “It’s all gonna collapse! Nat!”

“Towards the sun,” she whispered in a garbled, half-conscious command.

Towards the sun the Tree went. Jack was glad that he had found purchase around one of the branches, because the force of the Tree skyrocketing through the hole in the ceiling surely would have sent him plummeting. His head still snapped forward hard enough for his forehead to smack against the hard wood, leaving him reeling for a moment. As his vision swayed before his eyes, he could barely make out large chunks of earth raining through the writhing branches as they literally tore the edges of the hole apart. Whole trees went flying as the Tree burst into the open air, growing taller and taller and spreading out in a sweeping umbrella over the rainforest. The branches untangled as they were allowed free range, unfurling into twisting lines that seemed to stretch onwards for miles. He peered off the edge of the trunk to see the ground a dizzying height below; he turned his head to see that they were higher even than Pitch’s Godzilla-like monstrosity. The Guardians had put up a valiant effort; it was missing one of its small arms and a whole section of its gargantuan head had been blasted away, but it was still roaring and stomping about. As soon as the Tree came into view, it began barreling towards it, jaw wide open to enclose around the trunk.

“Oh, no, you don’t!” Jack shouted. He didn’t know if the Tree would be able to handle it, but there was simply too much surface area for him to protect otherwise; he slammed his hand down against the bark and ice immediately flooded forth. In a crashing wave, it shot down the Tree’s surface to explode in a blooming crystal right as the beast tried to tear out a section of the broad trunk. It released a high-pitched scream as the giant clear crystals tore through the roof of its mouth, and then suddenly, the entire dinosaur began to collapse. Jack stared down at its melting form, thinking surely that it couldn’t have been that easy.

Of course it hadn’t.

It seemed Pitch was ready for Round Two. The black sand exploded into watery streams, spreading out like tentacles with the gaunt, scowling man standing at its epicenter. Jack left the shuddering Nat to her devices as he stood tall in the boughs of the Tree, staff clutched in his hand as he glared down at him from the dizzying height. Pitch howled in anger and the sand surged forward towards the branches, looking to rip the limbs from the massive tree. Jack wasted no time in slamming both his staff and his hand against the wood on either side of him, sending trails of ice blasting up the branches for them to explode like sharp pointed flowers at every point that Pitch’s darkness made contact.

“It’s not fair! I killed her!” Pitch screamed up at him and tore at his hair. “I will win! This world will be mine!”

“I won’t let you!” Jack screamed down at him. More sand; more explosions of icy flowers; glittering sand and ice chips falling like rain around them. He set his jaw and squared his shoulders as he pushed himself to his very limits, charging the Tree up with ice from the tips of the leaves to the very tops of the leaves. The sunlight glistened on the frosted, frozen shield he had conjured around it; a layer thick enough to shield from harm but thin enough not to cause damage. “Together, Nat and I will stop you!”

Two sides of the same coin, now broken to face one another and join forces. Jack didn’t know if he could save Nat, but even if he couldn’t, he was going to prove to the whole world that they weren’t opposing forces. United, spring and winter, cold and warmth, Jack and Nathalie— they would join hands to become an unstoppable force of nature.

To defeat Pitch.

To protect the world.

To live up to the name of Guardian.

Enjoy this story? Here’s the next chapter! Please consider perusing my Table of Contents.

[goliath-de-senfina-sango]

Reapercussions

Sam finds herself enjoying the fruit of her research, Jazz has a minor internal crisis, and Tucker had a bad night.

While Danny had rushed home to explain to his parents, Tucker and Sam walked first to her house and then Tucker was on his way.  Sam had a large grassy lawn, manicured hedges and shrubs dotting the fence that bordered their entire property. The fresh air smelled of cut grass and flowering plants, a soothing balm to Sam’s nerves.  She’d become a dragon, turned into something fueled by her anger and set fire to the football field. “That’s definitely not how I wanted to protest favoritism for the sports department at all.”

Sam stood in her doorway, thinking back to what she’d read in the book she bought from the Skulk and Lurk.  “If it’s true…” Sam reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a single red oak seed which she had plucked from the trees in the park at the bend of the creek.  “If it’s true I can learn how to be something just like that, but in control of myself.”  Moving into the grass, she dug up a small depression in the earth. “I could do so much for the environment and my friends.”  Sam whispered to the seed, “I return you to the Earth.” She placed the seed. “I claim the gift that is my right.”

For a heartbeat, nothing happened.  Another and Sam stood, sighing in disappointment.  Before she could even think oh well , electricity ran through the framework of her body, lighting up her nerves and filling her bones with a hum of energy.  The world blurred with impossible colors and Sam staggered backward. When everything stopped spinning, she grinned and flexed her fingers.  “Well, time to test this out.”

Jazz looked out at the football field wearing her usual black sweater and a thick jacket her father crocheted for her out of wool.  The chill that ran down her spine could have nothing to do with the Minnesota September chill even if she desperately wished it did.  A construction crew did it’s best to move the overturned bleachers off the field to be disassembled and replaced, but the trench dug in when it slid against the ground were still easily picked out scars in the earth, even from her distance.  The grass was charred where the flames - green flames that took too much water to put out to be natural - had reached - maybe even started.

A dragon.  Danny’s claim was hard to believe, practically impossible, but with the proof of it all laid out in front of her, Jazz could hardly say it was anything else.  It didn’t exactly have to have been a Ghost per say, of course. Their parents were frankly silly for thinking that was possible. But one of the portals, maybe the red portal, opening up and a dragon finding its way out?  Well, opening the portals at all likely created some link between home and the destinations, and if the Stone Henge Incident was any indicator portals could open at any time any place. It was possible they’d simply not looked in the right place for life in the red portal.

Everything beyond it was on fire though so they couldn’t exactly be blamed.

Jazz was struggling to wrap her head around the idea of her baby brother fighting a dragon that could tear apart such a large area in so little time.  How he survived at all, let alone won, was the biggest mystery of Jazz’s life so far. He was barely even 5 feet tall, how could he avoid getting hit? How did he even fight the thing in the first place?  Questions Jazz wasn’t sure she wanted answers to.

One thing is for sure , she thought, the media will try to cover this up with the biggest load, and I want to see what lies they come up with for this .  Pulling out her phone while walking away, Jazz opened up CNN to prepare for the chatter at school.

Danny didn’t have anything against chorus kids, heck he was one in middle school, but this was downright ridiculous.  Sam had been showing off her coolest find yet - actual magick. She turned herself into a barn owl with ink black feathers and flew around the lab in the eerie silence that barn owl feathers granted them.

As though offended that silent phenomena occurred, the air near the portal rippled and flashed with green sparks.  Sam perched on Danny’s head and Tucker nearly dropped his PDA as the green sparks tore the air asunder into a swirling pane of light.  Twelve ghosts, all singing off key and out if harmony, flew from the portal, and it snapped closed as soon as the last pair were out. Quickly fed up with the noise they were making, Tucker took aim with his Wrist Ray ™ and demanded “QUIET!”  One of the ghosts took exception to that, and Tucker felt like he’d had the life drained out of him directly at his shoulder blade, knocking him onto his knees. “ FUCK!”

Danny was filled and surrounded by void faster than ever before, and the nearest Fenton Ecto Rifle ™ was in his hands.  The discharge pushed him back a little but seeing the offending ghost get knocked back and burnt was worth it. Sam returned to Sam form and light rushed from her hands to bathe Tucker, giving him the look of kneeling in the summer sun.

The ghosts evacuated the lab, fleeing the angry teen and his gun while Tucker slowly stood up.  Danny rushed over, hand hovering an inch from Tucker. “Are you ok? That looked like it hurt.”

“Hurt like Dash punching me three times in a row full force.”  Tucker rolled his shoulder and winced. “Still not so good on moving.  Thanks though, Sam, how’d you do that?”

“I have no clue, that wasn’t a spell I spent time studying.”  Sam checked her pistol and and frowned in concern. “You good to move?”

Tucker stretched himself quickly, testing his range of movement.  All things considered, he gave a thumbs up and picked up a Fenton Ecto Pistol ™ himself.  “Yeah. Let’s go hunt down that chorus and hope we can do it by curfew.” Tucker nodded to Danny and the ghost boy grabbed his friends, who held their breath while they were pulled away from it.  Top side they breathed again and got on their scooters immediately.

It took nearly an hour and a half of following the noise, shooting the pairs of ghostly chiormen into submission and sucking them into thermoses, but they rounded them all up.  Thanks to getting the drop on each pair and offering no mercy, the trio was able to catch them in two coordinated shots. Danny hit one, Sam and Tuck the other, then they switched, and the ghosts were down for Tuck to get in the thermos.

Unfortunately, upon getting the last pair near a warehouse on the docks of the river, the Trio found yet another rip in the air, an odd shifting thing that refused to stay as one shape for Tucker and Sam to see.  Helpfully, Danny supplied, “It’s a tesseract. That’s fucking amazing to see, it’s so cool.”

And because Danny had the sheer gall to be impressed by geometry the universe punished his nerdyness by shoving a ghost out of the portal, ethereal form twisting between sizes and shapes before cubic chunks of green settled as a blue skinned man in denim overalls.  Bright red eyes blinked out at the teens and they sighed. Sam nearly had time to say hi when the ghost lifted his hands over his head, wiggling his fingers and shouted at them. “BEWARE!”

“Ok,” Tucker said as he fired his ectopistol at the ghost, blasting him back a bit.  The blue man dodged out of the way when Sam shot at him as well, right into Danny’s reach.  The punch had the ghost backing up into a wall yet again. “This is ridiculous.”

“The only thing ridiculous is how doomed you all are when I, the Box Ghost, destroy you with the power of cardboard!”  Danny snorted at the dramatics of the guy, and despite knowing damn well how dangerous a ghost could be, he found himself laughing.  When a shipping crate from below was lifted up and nearly slammed into him, Danny thanked the stars he had 360 vision. There was an uncomfortable wrongness as the box sailed through him, covered in Box Ghost’s aura of creaking crates, loud machines moving every which way and the impact of something heavy.

“That was legitimately sad.  Did you forget that we’re ghosts?  Boxes aren’t gonna hurt me dude.” Danny bared a ferocious grin as the Box Ghost reared up, looking ready to twiddle his fingers again.  “Also, Box Ghost ?  Really?”  Twin rays of ionized ectoplasm struck the Box Ghost with enough force to push him through the wall intangibly.  “No points for creativity on this guy.”

Danny slipped through the illusionary construct of the wall in front of him - he could so easily see beyond it, just had to look the right way - and stayed intangible as the box ghost threw someone’s stuff at him.  “Literally someone’s fucking mail, dude, why are you so fucking rude?”

Tuck and Sam busted through the door dramatically and Tucker aimed the Fenton Thermos.  “Seal for delivery.” The blue ghost got bluer and soon was gone. Danny dropped to the ground and flipped onto his back.

“Seal, an aquatic mammal in the arctic.  It uh, barks?” Danny looked hopeful. Sam looked less so.

“Sorry brain boy, that is yet another wrong answer.”

“Hey, I’m an Astrophysist, mechanical engineer and artist, not a biologist.”  Danny grumbled. “Speaking of biology, how you doin Tuck?”

Tucker spun the Fenton Thermos ™ on his finger like a basketball.  “I’m feelin a bit sore still but I’ll be way better once we all get home.  There’s still an hour before curfew and that’s all we need to study, right?”  Danny offered a thumbs up and Sam shrugged.

Then the thermos fell from Tucker’s finger right on the release button and all their hard work filled the warehouse before getting away again.  

“Tucker.”

“Yes, Sam?”

“When you’re feeling better I’m going to hurt you.”

“Right.”

Considering it took them over two and a half hours to find and catch - or in Box Ghost’s case splatter - all of the ghosts released by Tuck’s blunder, everyone got home at around midnight, leaving no study time for Danny.  Running a highly demanding brain and body on only five hours of sleep was Not a fun endeavor. Danny inhaled his breakfast, and if an upward glance was anything to go by spiked the electric bill with his secondary eating.

Jazz decided to be gratingly cheery anyway, like she always was.  “Mom! I just got the news from Genius magazine!”  Jazz was holding up a cover of said magazine and Danny rolled his eyes.  “You’re gonna be on the cover!”

“Genius Magazine?”  Dad grabbed up the magazine and stared at it for a moment before a low and potentially upset tone carried out, “is it the swimsuit issue?”

“Dad, please ,” Jazz rolled her eyes and narrowed them.  “this magazine is for, by and about women geniuses!”

“Firstly,” Danny said, holding up his spoon.  “Is Dr. Saturday in it?”

“…No.”

“Then they missed a genius.”  Danny felt his face twist up. “Secondly, I’m trying to eat and you bring up Mom being in the swimsuit issue of a falsely named magazine?”

Jazz ripped the magazine from Dad’s hand and groaned in frustration, her page flipping now the slamming of book covers.  “I signed Mom up so that the world can see that she’s a genius and not a ghost hunting freak!” Danny winced, rubbing his neck.  Sounded like Jazz heard as much of it as he did. Unsurprising, kids were assholes.

“They’re not ghost hunting freaks,” Danny said with only a touch of offense in his tone.  “They’re Ectologists, contracted regularly by the government. They’re also right about ghosts being real.”  Jazz opened her mouth to challenge that claim but even groggy and under fueled Danny’s brain was quick.  “Just check the football field for proof.” Quick but filterless.

“Well sweetie,” Mom said to fill the ringing silence. “If I’m going to be on a cover - which you should ask me for permission for before you go doing it - then I want Jack right there with me.”  Mom pulled Dad’s bulk to her, impossibly, in a hug. “We’re a team after all!”

The man in question beamed and pulled out… something.  Danny didn’t have the brain power to analyze tech at the moment.  “That’s right! Together we built the Ghost Gabber™! It translates the odd noises that a ghost makes, dissonant whispering sounds and all, into language that you and I can understand!”

“In what language?”  Danny frowned. “If you’re gonna sell this - which please don’t this is ridiculous - then it should be in like, all languages you’re gonna sell to right?”

“Mandarin, Spanish, English, Hindi and Arabic so far,” Mom supplied.  Danny nodded and slurped down the last of the milk in his bowl. “It’ll work for any language when it’s done!”

Danny stared at the thing and narrowed his eyes.  “Boo.”

“I am a ghost,” the thing rattled off back to him.  Which, well, fuck. That’s what I was thinking at least.

“It’s busted, responded to human speech.  Or you guys have the worst humor and that’s preprogrammed.”  Danny grabbed his lunch and headed to the door.  “Love you byyye!”

School was as mind numbing as ever, some privately funded construction crew contracted to fix up the whole school as fast as possible.  Luckily only one bathroom was quarantined by the construction, the rest of the damage on the football field. Which meant that Falluca’s test on biology was still a go.  Yay. Brain sluggish from last night’s hunting and lacking on biology knowledge to begin with, Danny was unsurprised yet pissy when he was handed back a D.

Taking their lunches into the library, the Trio ate quickly, everyone still feeling yesterday’s activities.  Soon as he was out of food to shovel in his mouth Danny was glaring at his test again. “I can’t have a D on a test!  I’m a Fenton!”

“The American Public education system is a relic and fails to accurately quantify intelligence.”  Danny stared blankly at Tucker, who shrugged. “Sam’s activism rubs off when she’s right.”

“If I come home with a D my mom’s gonna put me through martial arts training and have Dad  give me lessons on whatever it is I failed on.” Danny waved his paper aggressively. “My Dad teaching me biology guys, it’s horrible!”

“Well since you need to boost that grade I have an extra credit idea for you,” Sam said at one of the computers.  Danny turned to look at her screen and furrowed his brow.

“A purple backed gorilla?  Why is it’s back purple? That’s not a naturally occurring pigment in mammals.”  Danny turned to Tucker. “Right?”

“While I’m the last person you should defer to for knowledge on organic coding, you’re right.  I can only think of birds and uh butterflies? Those can be purple. Rarely though.”

“Extremely rare, only two males left.  Which is why you’re going to write a report studying it on why it deserves to be set free!”  Sam beamed at him with that smile she used when she wanted something out of him. Her aura sounded oddly like the cooing of an owl, with a hint of a cat’s meow.

“I don’t have time for extra credit, or your agendas, Sam.”  Danny groaned. “Gotta find that Box Ghost idiot before he manages to actually hurt someone.”

“Actually,” Tucker cut in, holding up his PDA.  “You do have time. You just need to manage it better.  Which is why I’ve elected myself to be your time manager.  Least I can do after Sam let all those ghosts out.” Sam glared, that meowing turning to a low growl, and Danny tugged on his jacket.

“I dunno…”  Could Tucker be trusted to manage even his own time, let alone Danny’s?

“It’ll be my job to manage your schedule so that you can do your schoolworkand catch that Box Ghost dumbass that Sam let out.”

“You do remember that I can turn into any animal I’ve seen right?”  Sam’s glare intensified, and Tucker swallowed. “I’ve been to the zoo many times, Foley.”

“Remember what happened when I let you manage the thermos, Tucker?”  Danny arched a brow, crossing his arms.

“I’ve already set a reminder,” the geek held up his PDA which flashed with bright green letters.  “Don’t let Tucker handle the Thermos.”

“What the hell?”  Danny sighed. “I guess we can do a trial run.”

“Sweet!  I’ve also scheduled some time for us to go check out that gorilla once classes are over.”

“Before I even said yes to doing a report on it, yay.  Aren’t you just the best?” Danny jabbed Tucker lightly in the arm and frowned when Tucker winced.  “How’s the shoulder?”

“Getting better.  I think I just need to rest.”  Tucker let Danny tug the collar of his shirt down though and Danny couldn’t hold back a gasp.  The flesh where Tucker had been hit looked to have rotted in the shape of a fist. “What?”

“Sam, that thing you did last night with the light, think you can manage that again?”

Sam walked over and sucked on her teeth.  Holding out her shaky hands, Sam willed that summer sun to her fingertips and pushed it into Tucker.  Danny watched, counting the seconds as the cell death was lit up with that rose gold light, burning away in waves until Tucker had a healthy back again.  It was a good thing he did, too, since Sam’s legs wobbled and Danny barely managed to catch her before she fell. “Well shit,” she croaked like she’d swallowed sandpaper.  “Gotta practice that more often.”

Danny and Tucker helped Sam into a chair and Sam gave a thumbs up.  Rolling his shoulder, Tucker’s gaze flickered between his friends rapidly.  “I feel awesome now and all, thank you, but that was a little extreme for a sore back.  That was a bruise, right?”

“No, Tuck,” Sam said between breaths.  “Necrosis. Don’t look it up. Shouldn’t be able to survive something like that untreated.”

For once, Tucker could tell from his friends’ faces that he didn’t need to have this information.  “Maybe… maybe the portal did something to all of us?”

Danny nodded, taking a seat and hoping his lunch didn’t decide it wasn’t too fond of what all he’d seen.  “I uh. Maybe? The radiation from the portal opening might’ve changed you guys too. I had a hazmat on and look what happened to me.”  Danny zipped up his hoodie, shivering. “Stars guys, I’m so sorry .”

“Said the guy who I pressured into the portal,” Sam countered.

“To the guy who coulda said enough is enough and stopped you,” Tucker added, ruining Danny’s angsty bad times.  He had negativity to feel dangit!

“You guys are dumb.”  Danny pulled the two into a tight hug.  “Thanks. I dunno what I’d do without you.”

“Probably finish dying, let’s be real.”  Tucker earned the punch he got from Sam, he really did.

The bell rang, and the Trio sighed.  “Well shit. Time to go back and do all that school stuff.”  Danny pulled away and grabbed up his bag. It was one of the few classes he had without Sam and Tuck next.  “See you guys later.” A few goodbyes later and everyone left to zone out in class and contemplate what that day in the lab had really meant for them.

While Sam was taking in all the key points of the lesson, she was also noting that she knew this part of history like the back of her hand.  The majority of Sam’s attention was on the spell she had jotted down in her notebook over the weekend but never got to actually go over until now.  She’d thought it could wait but with what had happened to Tucker… suppressing a shudder, Sam decided that learning a dedicated healing spell was wise.  By the time school was over, Sam was pretty sure she had the spell down, having written the words down on a notecard while whispering them until she’d filled it.

Once Sam found Tucker and Danny at the exit, she draped her arms over both boys’ shoulders and kept walking.  They caught up to pace quickly enough. “So, the zoo first or looking for Box Ghost first?” The three joked about that name plenty through the day, along with the ghost’s general goofiness, but Sam wondered what had to have killed the guy to have him fixating on boxes.

“Ghost first,” Danny said after a few minutes of contemplation.  “If we catch him right away we can get to the zoo and spend more time fully focused on it.”

It took them a trip home each to grab their scooters, then two hours of searching four different warehouses before the group actually found the Box Ghost.  When they found him he was going through mail yet again, and Danny transformed in a flash next to her. Sam held up her wrist ray, as did Tucker and Danny, who rose up invisibly to get a better angle.  Sam wasn’t sure how they coordinated the way they did but within a beat of each other, Sam, Tuck and Danny all fired on the ghost.

The Box Ghost tumbled backwards and into a wall, shaking his head and glaring at Danny.  A box was surrounded in a nebulous carona of green and rose in the air. “You DARE to attack THE BOX GHOST?!  IMPUDENT CHILD, SUFFER MY CORRIGATED CARDBOAD VENGENCE!” Danny phased through the thrown box, and with two shots from Tucker and Danny both, the ghost was not simply done, but yet another disturbing stain splattered on the wall of the warehouse.

“I hope you’re sure about the whole ‘rebuilding their bodies’ thing Danny.”  Sam didn’t want to be the person who killed a ghost the second time. That’d be beyond cruel.

“I’m sure, Sam.  That dragon ghost burned my ghost away till all that was left was my human body, remember?”  Danny gestured to his entire self, looking and sounding entirely confident. “Pretty sure I rebuilt my ghost body overtime.”

“True enough.”  Sam was still the first one out of the place though, and sighed in relief when Danny went human.  “Alright, to the zoo.”

Sam looked out from the observation deck binoculars at Sampson, taking her turn on gorilla watch.  “He’s so beautiful, so intelligent, so majestic!” Watching the gorilla pace in his cage Sam was sure he would be infinitely happier in the wild.

“What we’ve learned thus far, Sam, is that gorillas like to scratch their butts.”  Danny yawned, turning to Tucker. “How long have we taken to learn that?”

“Five hours.”  Tucker yawned, sitting on the floor.

“Time flies when you’re majestically scratching your butt.”

“C’mon guys, we could learn something about Sampson no one else has!”  A thought occurred and Sam turned to Danny. “You should try commun- oh.  Wow.” The boys were on the floor, both clearly conked out from the lack of sleep last night.  And Danny rolled over to cuddle Tucker in his sleep, which was sickeningly cute. “Maybe there’s a spell for it in my book… in the meantime…” Sam took a picture of the boys, chuckling.  “To the scrapbook it goes for when these idiots finally get a clue.”

By the time she got to the gorilla enclosure, she heard a loud roar from elsewhere in the zoo.  Presuming it was just a tiger or two waking up, Sam looked into the cage to see Sampson pulling on the bars of the door to his cage.  “You poor creature, stuck in here when you should be in the jungle.” Sampson saw Sam standing there and pulled even harder on the door, howling at her and staring desperately.  “…You want out?”

Sam decided to use her own Dumbass Teenager Action of the month and blame it on her own sleep deprivation.  She also blamed it on the control panel having an easy to get to, easy to use Open Cage button.

Sampson practically flew out of his cage and Sam followed after him.  She stopped, shock freezing her muscles up as Sampson tackled to the ground a… “Is that a fucking robot?”

The man made of steel and wearing black leather and a shoulder pad kicked Sampson off and Sam found herself caught between rolling her eyes at the mohawk and goatee made of green fire and backing away from the glowing ghost robot.

Sampson charged again immediately after being thrown, knocking the robot to the ground and rolling onto his back.  Sam felt herself laugh as the robot was tossed around by Sampson’s feet but it all felt so unreal. Is this what my life has come to?

Sampson was blinded by goo and Sam felt it time to act.  Reaching into her pocket, Sam pulled out a yellow rose she had collected from home for such an occasion.  Holding the rose with the petals in her palm, Sam whispered the spell she’d practiced maybe a bit too much.  That rush of warmth flowed from the center of her chest down her hand and into the rose. It grew, quickly, into a long whip with inch long thorns on it.  Directing it more with her mind than her hand, Sam swung her weapon at the ghost and the thorny vine lashed around his arm. Hooked into the arm, Sam yanked on it with the vine and pulled whatever weapon he had in mind off course.  A net launched out of a compartment too small for it and Sam held up her other hand, which had her wrist ray attached. “Zoo’s closed asshole.”

The shot of ionized ectoplasm left a crack in the shoulder plate of the robot’s armor.  He raised his other arm and the barrel of a cannon sprung up from his wrist. “You are in the way of my hunt, wench.”  Sam jumped to her left just in time, the returned fire striking the ground where her feet were moments ago. “You and that damned ape.  Thought I’d gotten the last one with me.” Speaking of, Sampson got the gunk out of his eyes and charged the hunter again, though the ghost dodged out of the way, phasing through a backhanded swing.

“So you’re the one who went around poaching the furs of purplebacked gorillas?  This is your fault? ”  Sam felt her blood boil and fired off another shot with her wrist ray, leaving another dent in the robot and knocking the ghost back.  “They’re going to go extinct because of you!”

“All the more reason to get the last ones in my home.  Unfortunately, you can put several bullets into something and it can still eat you before it realizes it’s supposed to be dead.”  The robot looked down at his body, which was now beginning to spark up, and growled. “Let’s see how well you can replicate that, shall we?”

Before the ghost could fire his cannon at Sam, Sampson grabbed him up from behind and tossed the ghost hard.  Sam’s whip fell to the ground as a rose once more, stem ripped in half. Scooping it up, she ran to the observation deck to get to Danny and Tucker.  “GUYS, GUYS WAKE UP!” Filling the rose with magick again, the stem grew out into a whip once more and she send it flying to the highest rung of the ladder it could reach.  It wound around the metal, clinging tight, and Sam willed it to shrink back to normal size, carrying her with it. The muscles in her arm burned with the strain of pulling herself up into the air like that, but the teen survived it.  Opening the door she saw the robot ready to pounce on her friends, and fired another shot. “Fuck off!”

Between the sound of her Wrist Ray™ going off, the robot stumbling backward and Sam’s naturally loud voice, it was no surprise when Danny and Tucker jolted upward in each other’s arms screaming.  Sampson leapt in through the open door howling in rage and tackled the robot to a table, slamming both fists onto his back. Sparks and pieces flew everywhere, and the ghost reached back with a strain to it’s hydraulics that Sam could hear even past the boys’ screaming.  Sampson was tossed off of the robot but immediately charged after him again, and the ghost vanished from sight.

“Holyshitholyshitholyshit!”  With that flash of light that Sam couldn’t look directly at, Danny was a ghost and grabbing up a raging Sampson by his underarms, flying off toward his enclosure.  Sam let out a sigh as she watched Danny put Sampson back and lock his cruel cage back up. When her friend came back, Sam waved. “ Why did you think lettin a gorilla out was a good idea?”

“He seemed pretty desperate to get out.”  Tucker had his mouth open and Sam covered it with a hand.  “We should go to Danny’s house immediately. There was a ghost here, a fucking robot with a flaming mohawk, and I think he was after Danny cause he didn’t come back to fight me or Sampson when we threw him in this general direction.”  Danny raised his hand and slowly gestured to the wall that had been destroyed by said ghost crashing in. “yes, the ghost being thrown by a gorilla may or may not have made this hole in the wall.” Thankfully the wall pieces were mostly in the observation deck.  And so, Sam held up her hands and started pulling on her magick. While utilizing the first spell she learned to put the wall back together, she explained what happened.

Danny flew them and their scooters back to his house himself.  While Sam and Tucker both got changed for a sleepover, Danny went down to the basement for something, coming back with a look of relief on his face.  “I hope Agatha doesn’t need to go back to the Zone tonight cause the Fentonworks defense system is primed and ready to fire on any ectosignatures it finds for the next 8 hours.”

“You have a… you know what never mind.”  Sam shook her head. “Of course you do. Let’s just… go to sleep and talk about what to do next in the morning, ok?”  Tucker and Danny agreed with her and the three of them found some spot in Danny’s bed, drifting off to sleep.