#pariah “commit to the bit” dark

[unfortunatelyphoenix]

Since I noticed a couple Ghost Prince Danny things I decided to make my own, even if I don't know much about the series.

Vlad being the ever stupid fruitloop he is decided to try and steal Pariah's things again and woke him up again. Wanting a rematch he immediately stormed back to Amity Park, but before he dragged it back into the Infinite Realms for round 2 he overheard Danny talking to his friends about how he got summoned by the Justice League and through some hilarious misunderstandings on their part now think that Phantom is Pariah Dark's son and in turn the Ghost Prince.

Pariah, who surprisingly is ALSO a little shit at times (and is pretty much being called a little baby ghost's dad), immediately jumps at the idea of actually doing this hilarious prank and steals the group for sometime and manage to strike a deal that as long as he doesn't do anything horrible he won't be stuffed back into his coffin and they can do the bit. This ends up leading to Pariah Dark acting like Phantom's less than good of a person dad who actually starts to reform because he's too committed to the bit. This ends up leading to him, and everyone else, discovering he has surprisingly good parental instincts, having caused everyone to stop and look at him in confusion the first few (hundred) times he instinctively did a good parent thing.

Eventually though, something happens where Danny needs help but can't go to his friends or family, he can't go to the JL for help since he doesn't trust them and he's made it instinct to never go to Vlad, so he goes to the one ghost he does trust with this, Pariah Dark. It's at this point that Pariah realizes that it's no longer a bit and that he's become the closest thing Danny has to an actual parent, because let's be honest here, even if Jack and Maddie are good here they're still severely neglective of Danny and there's only so much Jazz can do while being 2-3 years older than him, and all the other ghosts who help him are more like mentors than actual parental figures.

Usually a ghost would have their parents to teach them if they're there as well, but Danny doesn't have good human parents and he died before they did, pretty much leaving him an orphaned baby, and no Justice League, JL Dark, or GIW will stop Pariah Dark from being the parent Danny desperately needs.

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 259

You know, going back in time, they thought it would be easy. Stop the end of the world by preventing the Being from well, coming into being. It should be easy to take them out, one death to prevent an untold amount of them. What could a child do?

Well. 

They really should have remembered that with a child usually comes their parent as well. And erm, said parent doesn’t seem to appreciate their logic. In fact, they are… getting their ass kicked. By a civilian. A feral civilian who apparently is very protective of said child-who-ends-up-destroying-the-world. 

They might need assistance…

[idontcaboose]

They finally track down the Red Huntress on the day they think the 'Invasion' will start. Valerie is the one that opens the door, they explain, only for Val to call Danny over. It's almost a "Who's on first" skit on how Valerie is trying to get information from Danny, only for Danny to be unintentionally obtuse. The Leaguers that went to get Val are hopelessly lost. Valerie is annoyed, and this interaction has decended into phone calls to Sam, Jazz, and Tucker, all to yell at the husband of the Red Huntress. By the end of it, they make up a fake treaty that states that Ghosts can't do these things in the living realm or be punished by King Phantom for infringing on the treaty. They tell the group these items are a part of the treaty:

Realms beings can not subtract from the living population. (There is paperwork for taking revenge on a living person, but it's not worth the time and effort.-Danny)

Realms beings have a maximum amount of property damage they can cause. (It's X amount of Sq foot, and X amount of hospital bills. The paperwork for causeing damage is also tedious, and most dont want to bother, so aerial fights are preferred, or just DONT CAUSE DAMAGE! -Danny)

If a Realms being is wanting to get a residency visa for the living realm, they have to go to culture classes to the country of choice and send the application to the Realms immigration office. (Currently, the wait list is 500 human years. -Valerie)

Of course, the League will want to see this treaty and have an audience with King Phantom over it. Danny "commit to the bit" Fenton-Gray and his just as bad wife set it up in a months time, and that Skulker was a "one in a million" problem. Yes, goodbye now, we have to set up the meeting, we will call you when we get word back from King Phantom.

The First Supervillain

So! A Typical "Early Start" AU where the events of The Show happen early in the Timeline. Like, in the 70's or 80's.

Danny never quite managed to fix his Public Perception, and even years into his career people still saw him as the Villain.

Coincidentally Valerie was seen as a Hero because of how often they were seen fighting. Even after they revealed their Identities and got together, they still had the occasional Battle. It was their love language.

His role as the Villain was Cemented when Pariah launched his Second Invasion of Earth after some dumbass accidentally freed him, and Danny took the Blame for it. Instead of being seen as the Hero who battled Pariah and stopped the Invasion, he was seen as the Tyrant to launched the Invasion in the first place, with Red Huntess being the one to defeat him in one final Ultimate Battle.

And honestly? He was fine with that. Now that he was the King of the Ghost Zone, he had the Authority to Regulate the Portal so villains stopped getting through. And that meant that he wasn't needed to stop random Ghost Attacks anymore. He could finally focus on College and his own Life, instead of sacrificing everything to act as the Protector of the Human Realm.

Val continued to be a Hero for a few more years, eventually retiring when it became Clear that the new generation of Heroes could pick up the Slack.

He went to College, got a Job as an Aerospace Engineer, and eventually proposed to Valerie.

About 20 years since his initial Accident, and he was doing great! He had moved into a humble home on the edge of town with his loving wife Val, his beautiful daughter Ellie, and his cute dog Cujo.

Yeah, life was good.

Until the day Danny accidently caused a Mass Crisis.

...

Superman was having some extreme trouble in dealing with his current Opponent. He had just been flying around the City, patrolling as Usual, when all of a sudden he had been attacked by a Flying Mech Suit.

At first he had assumed that Lex was giving it another Go, but he quickly realized that was not the case when the Armor seemed to Phase though solid matter in the middle of the battle. Lex had never made Tech advanced enough to do that on the fly.

This opponent was tough too. Strong enough and Durable enough to go blow for blow with him, and seemingly able to pull Advanced Weaponry from out of nowhere whenever he wanted. As tough as it was to admit, Superman as losing the Battle.

Then, without warning, the battle stopped. His opponent was staring at the space just behind him, with a look of pure dread. He turned around, and his heart stopped.

Floating behind him, staring right past him and directly at the Mech Suit, was the First Villain Phantom.

He looked much the same as when he had last been seen, although he was definitely Older. He had snow white hair, and glowing green eyes that seemed to stare right past him and into his very soul. He was wearing what seemed to be a costume of sorts, with an all black suit, white gloves, and white boots. Over his Shoulders sat a Cloak made of Stars, and above his head sat a Crown made of an Icy Blue Fire.

The Mech tried for a greeting, "Er- Hello t-Lord Phantom. How do you d-"

"Skulker."

"Y-yes?"

"What are you doing here? I thought I gave you explicit orders to stay in the Ghost Zone until further notice. You disobeyed me."

"Okay look. I got excited, that's my fault. It's just, I got anxious waiting. Can you really blame me? I've been waiting 20 years to take another Crack at the Human World, what's it matter if I left a few weeks Early?"

"I told you. You were supposed to wait exactly 20 Years, and you left Early. This calls for punishment."

"No wait!"

"Let's see how you feel after a few days as Soup."

The Villain pulled out a Thermos, and in a flash of green light, Skulker was gone, and the King was capping the Thermos. He then turned to Superman.

"I apologize for him, he decided to leave ahead of schedule." The King addressed him. "Now, Kryptonian. Rest and tend to your wounds, you will need to be in your best health if you want to continue saving the lives of those people below us."

With a dramatic flare, the King reached up and Tore a hole in Space. Through the Hole, Superman could only see an infinite Green Void, with the sound of screams cheering being heard through the rift.

The King departed through the Tear in Spacetime, and it closed behind him.

Superman tried to collect himself, and activated his League Emergency Comms.

"Attention All Founding Members, and Justice League Dark Members. This is Superman calling for an immediate Emergency Meeting."

He took a deep breath.

"Phantom is Back."

[j-jared]

This is why you don't sleep with the Tyrant King - The consequence is children

Constantine avoids involvement with the Infinite Realms for two reasons.

Who wants to deal with all those Ancients in the first place?

He’s avoiding yet another unhinged ex of his.

Of course, hooking up with Pariah Dark wasn’t really an actual relationship, more like a one night stand via dream walking (Nocturn owed Pariah, but seeing as it would be insane to release the Tyrant King from his endless sleep, he’d give him a dream partner every couple centuries) - regardless, Constantine doesn’t want to deal with that.

So yeah - the fact that the Justice League is attempting to summon the High King into the Watchtower has him wanting to drink more than usual.

Of course he gave warnings, but they’re dead set on doing so. A green folder had appeared in the secure “cursed artifacts” vault with no trace of whoever left it there. How else were they gonna find out how it got there?

So Constantine’s stuck there to set up wards, and is trying to find his way out of this one.

When the summoning circle worked, no one expected the teenager to pop out of it. 

Instead of Pariah Dark, or even the sarcophagus showing up, there was a white haired ghost boy with glowing green eyes the same color as the flames of the Crown of Fire. Except he didn’t look exactly like the others ghosts. He had a human skin tone, his proportions were exactly like a human teenager’s, and he was wearing a black and white hoodie with black sweatpants, for God’s sake. 

… Were ghosts able to reproduce with humans?

Before any of the Justice League can get into questioning, Constantine speaks up:

“You’re not the Ghost King.”

Green eyes settle on him, lighting up with recognition - Danny knows exactly who this is, with the amount of complaints on his desk about the blonde. Clockwork also informed him (he didn’t want to know but now he does) of the man’s stint with Pariah. 

Daniel “Commit to the bit” Fenton chooses to do just that.

“Of course not,” The confusion crosses the face of the heroes present- “That’s just because I haven’t had my coronation yet! I’m the Crown Prince, it’s practically the same thing!”

Oh, and the dread and realization crossing Constantine’s face is almost enough to make his core purr in amusement. 

“Now I will gladly answer all your questions, but first!” His eyes swept over the heroes before raising his hand and pointing accusingly at the British warlock.

“John Constantine,” his voice boomed, the temperature of the meeting room dropping as his face stretched with a smile too big and too pointy, “You owe me fifteen years of child support.”

[evilminji]

I just thought of something?

What if... Ghost King? Is Danny's JOB.

Like, full on, haunted house scare actor type job. Because? NO BODY Rules The Zone. That was the FUCKING POINT, Pariah.

That was WHY he had to go in nappy time. The ZONE? Has a strict Anarchy ruling system. So sayth [REDACTED] (probably God? But you are not authorized to hold this knowledge). But! Will that STOP crazy lil dudes from trying to control the infinte between?

NOPE!

And it's getting to be a PROBLEM. JLA Dark is running themselves ragged, playing whack-a-mole. Heck, Morningstar! Had to step in! He does NOT want to have to BABYSIT this! Then Pariah yoinks this lil town, BLASTING everyone with a fuck ton of undeath radiation, and? Like?

REALLY?! You couldn't wait for their coffee to brew?!

So they come with magical hazmat. And.... wait a minute. *teen hero spotted noises*

A child!

A COMMIT TO THE BIT, FENTON child! Reveal? With competent Superhero supervision to make sure it goes well? More likely then you think! Have some tutoring. Get your grades back up. Let's ward that portal.

.....wanna play Ghost King? We'll pay you.

(Deal. Ember can help with the dramatic musical entrance music. They can do outfits. Pyrotechnics. It'll be a group project!)

@the-witchhunter @hdgnj @babbling-babull

[five-rivers]

symbolic

[This fic is based on a prompt by @astatia-ghast! You can also read it here. Enjoy!]

.

“So, this is, like, a formality?  It’s just a ceremonial, symbolic thing?”

Clockwork sighed and Frostbite made a face.  Danny felt his shoulders twitch up defensively.  He liked both Frostbite and Clockwork, but together, they were a bit… much.  Plus, Danny didn’t like getting unexpected visitors at school, no matter how much he liked them.  He was supposed to be in Health right now.  And even if people didn’t look in the basement very often, the custodian had an office here.  

“No, Great One.  It is more than a formality, otherwise we would not be so… diligent… in asking you to do this.”

“I don’t really get why you’re asking me in the first place.  I’m not the only one who fought Pariah Dark that day.”

“You are the only one to fight him directly, one-on-one,” said Clockwork.  “You lead the army–”

“No, I didn’t,” said Danny.  

“You rallied them.  They supported you and acted to carry out your plan,” continued Clockwork, mercilessly.  “You know this.  Let us not waste time.”

“Okay.  But I don’t understand the point of crowning me - or anyone - as Ghost King if the Ghost Zone doesn’t need a Ghost King.  There hasn’t been one in hundreds of years.”

“Yes, there has,” said Clockwork.  “Pariah Dark was the King of Ghosts.  Until you defeated him.”

“But he was in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep.”

“And he was still king,” said Clockwork.  

“Great One,” said Frostbite.  “The position no longer has any official political power.  I do not think that there is anyone who would obey you simply on the strength of you being the King of Ghosts.  But it is of great spiritual importance.”

“So, it’s religious.  Ceremonial,” said Danny.  

“No.  Daniel,” said Clockwork, exasperated.  “Spiritual.  Ghosts are often called spirits.  The Infinite Realms, consisting mainly of ectoplasm, are shaped by the wills of their inhabitants, but such an arrangement is unstable, prone to falling apart under the influence of too many perspectives and intentions.  You would not be called upon to rule, but certain physical aspects of the Realms depend on the existence of a king for stability.  The King of All Ghosts, the King of the Dead, the Deathless, and the Neverborn.  One who has Dominion over the Earth, the Sea, the Sky.  Every place where the dead may be committed.  Every place where a spirit might dwell or come into being.”  He paused.  “In short, a reference point or template.”

“That sounds like a bad idea,” said Danny.  

“It is written into the oldest of the laws of the Realms,” said Frostbite, apologetically.  “But, in truth, you would not have to do very much.  It is simply important that such a king exists.”

Danny looked between Clockwork and Frostbite.  “I wouldn’t have to do anything,” he repeated.  “No laws, no tax stuff, no diplomacy, nothing?”

“I would encourage you on the subject of diplomacy,” said Frostbite.  “You would have a unique position from which to act as a peacemaker.  But it would not be your responsibility.”

“As you said,” added Clockwork, “the Realms adapted quite well to a king who was eternally asleep.”

“Okay,” said Danny.  “What happens if someone beats me?  It’s not like I’m invincible.  Is this the kind of thing that’s going to give someone, like, I don’t know, super murder powers?”

“No,” said Frostbite.  He sounded faintly appalled.  “Your powers should change very little, if at all.”

Danny licked his lips.  “This is really that important?  What would happen if I said no?  Because this honestly sounds like way too much responsibility for a random high schooler.”

“Yes,” said Clockwork.  “It would be too much responsibility for a random high schooler.  You are not a random high schooler.  You are a high schooler who spent the last two years defending an entire city and defeated Pariah Dark.  But if you want to see the consequences, I can show you.  Exactly.”

“You can?” asked Danny.  “Oh, right.  Time travel.”

“Indeed.”  Clockwork waved his staff, and a portal appeared in the air.  “After you.”

Danny gave Clockwork a suspicious look (he thought he deserved it, after how much fun he’d had repeatedly slamming Danny into a bell), but flew through the portal. On the other side, there was…

… Nothing.  

Absolutely nothing.  

Clockwork and Frostbite followed him through the portal.  Clockwork summoned a transparent blue shield around the three of them, which slowly filled with air.  Or at least some kind of gas.  Danny was in ghost form, so it didn’t really matter.

“So,” said Danny, casually.  “Where are we?  Heat death of the universe?”

“Yes,” said Clockwork.

“Wait, seriously?  I was joking.”

“I know,” said Clockwork.  “But this is indeed the heat death of the universe.”

“The heat death of the universe cannot possibly be my fault,” said Danny.  “It’s just, like, a thing.  A thing that happens.  Because of physics.”

“Yes.  The second law of thermodynamics.  Entropy in a closed system increases.  But your universe is not a closed system.”

“Because of the Ghost Zone.”

“Correct,” said Clockwork.  “Many laws of physics are reversed in the Ghost Zone.  Including that one.  Things can and do spontaneously become more complex.  Ghosts form out of raw ectoplasm.  Portals open to other times.  Space layers upon itself.  Entropy from this world flows into the Realms, and vice versa.  But the system is not stable.”

“A king is needed,” said Frostbite.

“But this isn’t going to happen for ages and ages, right?”

“No, this particular thing would not happen for quite some time,” said Clockwork, “but in the Realms, it is already beginning.”

Danny closed his eyes, feeling the massive emptiness around him.  “Okay,” he said.  “Fine.  I’ll do it.”

.

“Just like that?” asked Sam. 

“Just like that,” said Danny, taking a bite from his burger.  “They grabbed the crown for like a minute, said some words about what I was king over, bought me an ice cream - that was kind of weird - and then left.”

“With the crown?” asked Tucker.  He’d already eaten his burger and was leaning across the table.  

“Yeah, I mean, what would I do with it?”

“I don’t.  It’d be kind of cool.”

Danny thought about it for a minute.  “It was kind of cool,” he agreed.  “With all the fire and stuff.”

Sam sighed.  “I just hope that there’s not some weird side effect or fine print that’s going to jump out at you.  I mean, what’s ‘stabilizing’ all of this going to do to you?”

“They said that it shouldn’t do anything.”

“To your powers,” said Sam.  “That’s different.”

“I…”  Danny rewound the conversation in his mind.  “Heck, you’re right.”

“I’m always right.”

“But Frostbite would have said something,” said Danny.  “I mean, Clockwork might think it was funny, but he wouldn’t.”

“Would Clockwork think it was funny?” asked Tucker.

“Yeah.  He wouldn’t show it, but he’d think it.  He likes messing with people.”

“Fits in pretty well with you, then,” said Sam.  

“I don’t know,” said Danny.  “It’s pretty obvious that I like messing with people.”

Sam laughed, then started to clean up the burger wrappers.  “Well, if something weird does happen, you know where to find us.”

“And then you’ll say ‘I told you so?’” asked Danny, finishing off his burger and starting to help her.  

“You’d better believe it.”

.

Danny woke up in ghost form.  

This wasn’t unusual, exactly.  It had happened a lot in the first few weeks after his accident with the portal, when he didn’t have good control over his transformations.  On the other hand, it was always nerve wracking.  What if his parents came in?  What if he floated up through the ceiling, or walls?  What if he fell through the floor?  What if he triggered the house defenses?  

Somehow, none of that had ever happened.

Still, when Danny realized he was in ghost form, he woke up far more quickly than he did for anything but his ghost sense.  Which meant that he noticed that something was wrong almost instantly.  

It wasn’t a big thing.  Just a pull.  An itch.  But something in his brain, some instinct, tagged it as being very wrong.  

Something was wrong.  

But what?  

Still a little muzzy from sleep, Danny started taking account.  He had his arms and legs… good, okay…  Head…  Face in the right place…  He’d shrugged it off at the time, but those duplication errors had made him paranoid.  He was under a couple layers of thick blankets, which felt weird laying on his jumpsuit, as always…

He paused, then felt around his shoulders and neck a little more.  There was something– Had his jumpsuit slipped off?  Sometimes, it got beaten up and torn during a fight, but it never slipped when he was just hanging out or sleeping.  

But it must have tonight.  He could feel bare skin where he normally couldn’t.  That must be what he was registering as wrong.  The jumpsuit was itching where it was bunched up, and pulling at other parts where it was stretch.  Probably.  

Satisfied, he returned to human form and went back to sleep. 

.

Danny ran into the gap between the house and the shed to transform in private before flying to school.  It was easier and faster than taking the bus or walking, as long as he avoided the ghost hunters.  But before he took off, he paused. 

He'd almost forgotten waking up last night and feeling something off, but now…  His jumpsuit seemed loose, like it had been stretched out too far.  But he couldn't remember a fight like that.  Couldn't remember the suit ever not fixing itself automatically, for that matter. 

Underneath the suit, Danny's skin felt dry and itchy.  He took his gloves off and looked at the backs of his hands.  The skin was dry enough that it was segmenting into flaky, scale-like patches.  He frowned at them.  If this had been his human form, he would have blamed this on a new soap or shampoo, but his human hands had been fine.  Whatever was causing this, it was only affecting his ghost form. 

… It still might be because of soap, if his parents were mixing anti-ghost stuff in theirs. 

Danny hoped they weren’t.  It’d be a pain to deal with.  

He still had to get to school, though, and it seemed like this wasn’t going to kill him or melt him, whatever it was.  At least, it wasn’t going to do that soon.  So, he jumped into the air and started the trip to school.  

The loose suit flapped awkwardly in the wind and pulled weirdly at his shoulders.  And it was itchy.  

He didn’t like this development.  Granted, he rarely liked developments with his ghost form, but this one was particularly annoying.  

He landed behind the school, near the dumpsters.  Hardly any students came back here, especially this early, so it was a pretty safe place for him to transform.  He did a quick check for people, then flicked back to human form.  

He felt… normal.  Normal-adjacent, anyway, which was as close as he ever got.  Still, he was… concerned.  Which apparently showed on his face. 

“Did something happen?” asked Sam. 

“Do we get to say ‘I told you so’ yet?” asked Tucker. 

Sam elbowed him.  “We do that after we deal with the problem.”

“Not always.  Sometimes we say it while we're waiting to take action!”

“I don't think it has anything to do with the king stuff,” said Danny.  “I don’t see how it could.  It’s just weird.”

“So, what is it?” asked Sam.  “New powers?”

“Flaming crown hanging over your head?” 

Danny sent Tucker a glare.  “No,” he said.  “It’s something with my suit.  It’s… loose.”

“Loose?  That’s weird.  You’d think it’d get tight.  You have grown a little, after all.”

“Gee, thanks, Sam.  But, no, it’s loose and kind of itchy.  It’s never been itchy before.”

Sam and Tucker gave each other a look.  

“It’s loose, huh,” said Tucker.  “Like maybe it’s changing shape?  Into something more… kingly, perhaps?”

“Oh my gosh.  No.  It’s not that loose.”  The warning bell rang, and they all looked up.  “I’ll show you during lunch, okay?”

.

Lunch came quickly, and Danny, Sam, and Tucker just as quickly found an unused corner of the school to stake out and claim.  There was a small risk, back here, by the old soccer field, that a teacher might do a patrol to find smokers, but it was relatively small.

“Okay.  Here goes.”  Danny let his rings flick over, transforming him.  “What do you think?”  Then, he blinked and looked down at his hands.  “My gloves didn’t come back.  That’s weird.”  

“It does look looser,” said Tucker, starting to slowly walk around Danny.

“What’s that on your hands?” asked Sam. 

“I… don’t know,” said Danny.  Before, the backs of his hands had just been dry and slightly cracking, now, the skin was slightly raised in silvery flakes.  Almost like actual scales.  He swiped his fingers over them.  They didn’t feel like dry skin.  They felt smooth.  Like real scales.  

“Hey, I think there might be something stuck under your suit back here,” said Tucker.  

“Really?”

“Yeah.  You’ll have to take it off for me to see it, though.  The suit, I mean.”

Danny exchanged a glance with Sam, then reached up to his neck and unzipped the suit.  Instead of having to wriggle out of the sleeves as he usually did, the top half of the suit just sort of… fell off him.  

Behind him, Tucker sucked in a sharp breath.  “What?” asked Danny.  

“Uh,” said Tucker in a distinctly panicked tone.  

“What?” repeated Danny, turning to face him.  

“Oh,” said Sam.  “That’s not good?”

“What isn’t good?”

“Um,” said Sam.  “Uh.”

“Something’s growing there.”

“Where?” demanded Danny.  

“There’s, um, something growing on your back,” said Tucker.  He jogged around to look at Danny’s back again.  “It looks– Well, they look like wing–”

Danny jumped when Tucker touched– Something.  Not Danny’s back.

He sucked in a breath between his teeth.  “That’s bad,” he said, finally.  

“It– Yeah,” said Tucker.  

“And your skin…” said Sam.  

Danny looked down.  The scaly pattern on his skin continued up the backs of his arms and shoulders before disappearing beneath his tank top, except that past his elbows, the color slowly shifted from silver to charcoal.  

“Heck,” said Danny.  He twisted, trying to see the ‘wings’ on his back.  “What’s happening?  Is this– Did I pick up Dora’s amulet or something?”

“I don’t know,” said Sam.  “But I don’t think you’re turning into a dragon.”

“I’ve got scales.”

“But your wings are feathery.”

Danny twisted again.  He could almost see something in the corners of his eyes.  Maybe, if he warped his body he’d be able to see more, but that felt like a bad idea when he wasn’t aware of his current body plan.  

“Okay,” said Sam.  “We’re going to have to go to Frostbite about this.”

“Yeah,” said Danny.  He left off trying to see his ‘wings’ and bent slightly to tie his sleeves around his waist and rub his palms on his pants.  “Obviously.  But, uh.  I think after school.  This isn’t affecting my human half, and I really can’t miss geometry again.  I’ll die.”

Sam chewed her lower lip.  “This all happened since school started?”

Danny shook his head.  “No, I think it started last night.  I woke up because things felt weird, and then my hands felt all dry and flaky this morning.”

“That’s not too fast, then… I don’t like it,” said Sam.  “But you’re right that we can’t all skip again.  After school, we’ve got to go straight to the Ghost Zone.”

“Yeah,” agreed Danny.  “Yeah.  I think that’ll be fine.”

“I hope so,” said Tucker, “because this is kind of messed up.”

.

Sam pushed down on the accelerator, and the Spector Speeder floated smoothly through the portal.  

“Okay,” she said.  “Go ahead and change now.”

“You sure that’s a good idea?” asked Tucker.  “What happens if his face melted off during school?”

“My face didn’t melt off,” said Danny.  

“Do you know that?” asked Tucker.  

Danny looked at him flatly and went ghost.  

The top half of his jumpsuit was gone, and the bottom half had somehow fused with the tank top.  Sort of.  The sides of the top were open, and his boots were gone, too.  Which made it really easy to see what had happened to his hand and feet.  Their backs and tops were covered with shiny scales, and the skin between each digit was webbed.  His toes were longer than they were supposed to be, too, making his feet look like abbreviated swim fins.  Meanwhile, on his sides…  Were those gills?  They looked like gills.  

He felt something and looked over his shoulder… shoulders?  Shoulders.  To glare at Tucker.  

“What can I say?” said Tucker, shrugging.  “They’re fluffy.”

Needless to say, the wings were much larger, now.  Big enough for Danny to see them.  

“There’s a bunch of fluff on your back, too,” said Tucker, helpfully.  

“Thanks,” said Danny.  “That’s great.”  He returned to human form.  “Let’s get there as fast as we can, okay?”

.

“Frostbite!” called Danny, transforming as he bounded out of the Speeder and into the snow.  Sam and Tucker followed him.  “Frostbite, look!”  He transformed, then spun.  “Do you see this?”

“Yes,” said Frostbite, “your wings and scales are coming in quite nicely, but if speed is distressing you, I could give you something to accelerate the process.”

“I– What?  Wait, why are you acting like this is something you expected?”

Frostbite frowned.  “Because it is, Great One.  You have dominion over Sky and Sea.  Your form is changing to represent that.”

“Oh my gosh,” said Tucker.  “Dude.  Dude.  It’s the king thing.  This is happening because of the king thing.  Sam.  Sam, we totally told him so.”

“We did,” agreed Sam.  “But we should still try to fix the problem first.”

“No,” said Danny, forcefully.  He flew up to Frostbite’s eye level.  “It isn’t, is it?”

“It is, Great One.”

“Is it, you know, reversible?”

“No,” said Frostbite, confused.  “It is as permanent as your kingship.”

Danny covered his mouth to muffle a scream.  “And you didn’t think that maybe you should warn me that I was going to turn into the Starbucks logo?”

“You don’t actually look all that much like the Starbucks logo,” said Tucker.  “That has two tails and no wings.”

“I don’t care,” said Danny.  “Can you even use wings like this while you’re swimming?  Are these things even going to work with each other?  Who thought this was a good idea?”

“Great One,” said Frostbite, soothingly, “I apologize if I did not appropriately prepare you.  I had thought that you would understand that dominion over Earth, Sea, and Sky would require this.”

“Why?” asked Danny.  “It’s just– Okay, the scales and fins and stuff, that I sort of get.  I guess it’ll let me swim better.  But the wings?  I could already fly.  I could fly really well.”

“It is my understanding that it is largely symbolic.”“This is the part that’s symbolic?”

[on-leatheredwings]

Sleepover

Yandere! Damian Wayne x (Fem!) Reader

romantic > summary: During a sleepover, Damian makes his first foray into infatuation. > word count: 1605 > [ a/n: i just love writing from the yandere’s point of view! Damian is 19 or college-age here. honestly not much plot, just musings~ i will try to write from the Darling’s POV next time hehe.]

This must be love.

“Wow, Damian… I’ve never noticed but your nails are so pretty,” you compliment, satisfied with the boy’s upkeep. Damian feels his heart thrumming against his ribcage. You are holding his hand. 

Not for the first time either, but the thrill never fades. 

If this had occurred a year ago, before Damian learned of how casual (generous, even!) you were physical affection, he might have dumbly stated, “You’re holding my hand.” Instead, he simply thinks it, on loop, in one long string. 

You’re holding my hand. You’re holding my hand. You’re holding my hand.

Unbeknownst to all this, you simply paint his forefinger with a stripe of green so dark it looks black. 

“If we’re going to do this, it’ll be by my rules,” he had said. 

In reality, if you needled him any harder, he would’ve accepted pink nails with glitter on them. Who cares? There wasn’t anyone who dared to make fun of him at school. Not to mention, it’d be obvious to everyone that you painted them. You'd be marking him as yours, essentially. And at night… well, Robin wears gloves.

“Hn. How so?” Damian asks with feigned coolness. Mainly because he wants to hear you praise him. In your hushed, awed voice. When he dreams, you often sound like that. (And he quickly pushes that thought away.)

You look at him pointedly, grinning. Oh, he’s not so slick. You acquiesce to his whims anyway.

“Your cuticles are impeccable and your nails are finely trimmed… I’m impressed. Don’t you do martial arts, too? Crazy they aren’t more dinged up.”

Martial arts. That was supposed to explain his abnormal strength and fighting capability, the one time you saw him nearly break a man’s wrist for trying to pickpocket you. 

You accepted the excuse with only a little suspicion.

“It’s simple grooming.”

A catlike grin forms on your face. “Hm~ I don’t knowwww… Seems like you may be trying to catch the eye of a girl – you know, girls look at stuff like that.”

Damian frowns. 

He’s infatuated but not delusional. He’s aware this ‘sleepover’ is pretty platonic on your end. After nails, it’ll be skin care. Maybe you’ll even do your makeup and take goofy pictures with him. You’ll laugh and platonically huddle against him during a movie. You may doze off on his shoulder while he’ll be committing your every dewy, moisturized pore to memory. 

Because of Damian’s (self-admitted) social awkwardness with your peers, you think that gives you some sort of elder sibling-esque edge on him. You are the social butterfly, leading a naive, but well-meaning social pariah through the perils of young adult life. You don’t know you are so much more naive than he is, and he adores that.

Rather than addressing the question, he snorts. “When are you going to turn on the movie?”

You hum, completing his nail’s first coat. “Oh yeah, that’s right!” You grab the remote and press play. You continue painting, gingerly admiring his long, golden brown digits. Damian preens at the attention. 

As the movie plays, you pause often to look up and gape at the screen. It’s a horror flick, and boasts an abundance of cartoonish gore. While a bit more sensational than something he’d put on, he likes your dark taste. An annoying teenager gets their head hacked off with a chainsaw. You laugh and Damian feels his heart sing. 

There’s a chime that rings through Wayne Manor, and he has to bite back a groan.

“Pizza’s here!” you cheer. You begin to get up when Damian whips out his card in an instant. 

“I’ll pay.” To his delight, you gape in surprise, cheeks warming. 

“Oh… Thanks, Damian!” You never quite get used to him paying for things, but you at least know by now not to argue. You grab his credit card and – thank God – your fingers brush against each other. It sends the most pleasant trill down his spine. “Since you’re paying, I’ll go bring it! I won’t be long.”

A corner of his lips quirk. “I’ll be pleasantly surprised if it gets back to this room at all.” You stick out your tongue on the way out.

As soon as he hears your footsteps disappear down the hall – such clumsy, loud steps – Damian’s attention falls to the messenger bag you threw to the ground of his bedroom. He knows your diary is in there. (In his mind, he can hear you protest, It’s a journal!)

He’ll be quick. He flips open to a random page, and he already is laughing at your writing style. There’s little care for capitalizing letters and full of what you explained are “emoticons”, despite being handwritten. He flips to today’s entry, half-finished.

February 01. 

there’s a guy in class who’s pretty cute… one may even say HOT xP

Damian’s jaw tightens. He knows exactly who you’re talking about, and he won’t allow that neanderthal anywhere near you. At least, not again. Yesterday, you told him that your crush had smiled at you. Brushed fingers with you when passing papers. In the only class you have without Damian.

(Also, “your crush,” he scoffs. What a juvenile concept. You and Damian share something much deeper. His feelings for you are not so trivial.)

The semester is still young. Damian can pull any string to land himself in your anthropology class.

The rest of your entry for today (and the past days prior) isn’t anything notable except for when he’s mentioned. 

stressful day, but at least i have tonight with damian to cheer me up. he’s seriously the best …. i should tell him more often !!! (but it’d give him an even bigger head)

He doesn’t even attempt to stop the smile splitting his face. 

Damian’s keen hearing catches you striking up a conversation with Alfred in the kitchen. Despite your promise, he knows you will, indeed, take long. You love talking to everyone, even in passing. It’s an admirable quality, and one he envies.

He unlocks your phone and rifles through some messages of yours. He uses his own phone for documentation purposes. What else is there to do… He spies your jacket on his bed.

There is a shameful thought and Damian’s heart skips a beat. It is… frankly, it’s humiliating as a concept. Yet he’s enticed. It’s your jacket, after all. He brings it to his face delicately and inhales, almost shyly. Once he catches the familiar scent of your body wash, however, he allows himself to breathe it in. After being lost in it for a few seconds, he rips it away. 

Only to see his father standing in his doorframe. 

He knows what this looks like. Damian knows what this looks like. After years of working with the man, Damian can hear his thoughts as if they were his own, as they happen. 

Damian just smelled your clothes. Even if it was investigative in nature, he could’ve retrieved a sample some other way. Someone’s personal journal is open on the floor. A phone that he knows is not Damian’s is unlocked and displaying text messages. All these things are splayed out in a circle around him. It’s uncharacteristically messy of him, as well. Damian’s own phone is actively on his camera. Was he taking pictures? And most notable is the absence of you.

In summary? Damian must have some interest in you. And by this sloppy job, it’s quite emotionally charged. And at his age, it’s likely romantic.

Damian’s skin rises to what feels like a boiling heat. What is Father going to say? He can’t stop him – he can’t. Damian doesn’t even want to talk about it, let alone be reprimanded. A feral need to escape bubbles underneath his skin. Despite the panic, he channels years of League training and hardens himself. 

Bruce watches his son’s expression morph from dazed, to fearful, to steel, in real time. From Damian’s seat on the floor he offers his father only silent defiance. Bruce knows his son, his darker needs that stem from his cruel childhood. And perhaps he should’ve expected this to happen someday. Bruce exhales, eyes closing. When they reopen, his slate-grey eyes are firm and hard. 

“No one gets hurt.”

And by that, Bruce means no one dies. Because Bruce and Damian are Batman and Robin – they’re all in the business of hurting people. People who deserve it, yes, but it’s still hurt. Pain.

Damian feels immense relief. He wouldn’t have killed his father – he’s not that boy anymore. But a life without you seems similarly unbearable. Damian feels… shaken. He doesn’t know what he would’ve done. He also feels grateful, that it didn’t turn out any other way. 

His eyes drop to the jacket he holds in a fist.

“... Yes. Thank you, Father.” Bruce’s gaze lingers, but he leaves wordlessly.

This encounter reminds Damian of who he is. He is a detective, vigilante, assassin, and creature of stealth. He can’t be this careless, even if he knows you won’t notice. 

Damian returns your belongings to their place, exactly how you left it. Diary back in your bag, jacket to where you were lounging, your phone underneath a pillow, because you carelessly tossed it aside. You’ll inevitably begin to look for it and he’ll grin once he places it in your hand.

You finally return to his room, two pizza boxes of deluxe cheese (for him) and pepperoni (for you) in your arms. You laugh sheepishly. 

“Sorry for the wait, Dami.” His heart skitters at the nickname.

“It’s fine.” Your eyes glitter with excitement and optimism and purity. He finds it hard to look away, you raining down a gaze like that upon him.

“I was waiting for you.”

[the-witchhunter]

DP x DC: Why summoning the Ghost King and Danny when he expects Pariah Dark might literally give John a panic attack

So, this would not be the first time John has summoned something and didn’t get what he expected. To explain that, I’ll have to explain the Newcastle incident, and I will but going to give a brief overview of what the consequences are before dipping into that… because it’s a bit intense

So during a summoning one of the things you need to do is name the being you’re summoning. The ritual and sigils are what brings the being forth. Naming the summoned entity is part of the binding. The binding is what gives you an amount of control over the being summoned and offers protection to the summoner

So having the wrong name means they have no control over what they summoned. Naming the spirit puts it on a leash and muzzles it, having the wrong name is just letting it in without the leash or muzzle

Let’s just say at this point, Constantine’s past experience with summoning would make him super against summoning “the Ghost King” and one of the other magic users like Zatana would have to do it

John would be freaking out the moment the wrong guy showed up, he has some trauma around that. Even if it’s just Danny, this is going to dredge up some stuff and he’s going to have a hard drink afterwards

I will now be going into one of the most traumatizing moments of John Constantine’s life. As such, it’s going to get pretty intense and I’m toning it down a bit

Explanation of the Newcastle Incident Content warning sexual assault and abuse

In 1978 Constantine and his “magic gang” go to the Casanova Club to deal with a bit of a situation there. They arrive and there’s a lot of dead bodies in the basement and a very traumatized girl

Astra Logue’s father was basically a cult leader and an orgy enthusiast. He and his followers did some not so great things to Astra. Astra was psychic, so in her distress she summoned a hellhound named Norfolthing (actually a primordial elemental but that takes explaining) to protect her from the sexual abuse of her father and his followers. Norfulthing proceeded to commit sexual assault against the cult before killing them

John and the Magic Gang showed up to deal with the aftermath. In order to get Astra out of there and get rid of Norfulthing, they decided the best way to deal with this was to “fight fire with fire”

They then proceed to summon the demon/former god Nergal but the ritual didn’t have his name. Right ritual, wrong name. Nergal then proceeded to drag Astra’s soul to hell, Norfulthing raped one of the magic gang

John then spent the next two years at Ravenscar Mental Asylum and only managed to rescue Astra’s soul from hell about a decade later. She was still dead obviously but at least she wasn’t suffering in hell

So yeah

John has some baggage when it comes to summoning things with the wrong name

[sarcasmisavirtue]

This is a hot take even though I’m not sure why this isn’t that widespread… Regulus WAS NOT some poor innocent baby who was rebellious and righteous and soft in need of protection or whatever. And the characterization of him as such and erasure of him being a VERY WILLING death eater is fucking lame

Now, I like his character as much as the next person. BUT…It almost feels like the fandom took Sirius, Remus, and Lily’s personalities then fiddled with them a little, smacked them together, made him all forced and shit, and topped it off with just giving Jily’s pre-existing dynamic to Jegulus.

Is Jegulus interesting to me? Yes. But I loathe how it’s portrayed a lot of the time. And don’t get me started on the cheating on Lily plotlines and the demonizing of my girl in a lot of fics/lesbianizing to make it work. I don’t mind bi Lily. But making her lesbian just feels…Weird? A key part of her storyline IS her (debatable) love for James and eventually Harry. Even if she didn’t like James at first. And people make the argument “Oh it’s so misogynistic to have her life center around how much she loves her kid/husband!!” As if taking away that autonomy by erasing that part of her entirely isn’t because women ‘aren’t allowed to truly enjoy being a wife and mother’ and therefore misogynistic by demonizing a woman having the autonomy to enjoy ‘stereotypically feminine roles’. And they’re the ones limiting this canonically very cool and badass character to that by making said argument.

Could go on a rant about the characterization of Lily too but this isn’t about her

Also im not adding that to say Jily is the perfect end all be all ship. I could talk about Jily by itself any day because there’s so much to it. BUT, it’s still relevant.

In general, i just think justice should be served to Regulus + Lily. Love them both but some of yall do them DIRTY.

Regulus was a bigot. Point blank. He BELIEVED IN VOLDEMORT. Point blank.

And realistically speaking, it’s not even HINTED he betrayed Voldemort because he GAF about muggles. It was all about Kreacher. Which in and of itself is really interesting.

He was a death eater. He committed war crimes, probably torture, and murdered many people. He was in Voldemort’s inner circle.

He was not your UwU soft boy kitten who must be protected. He CANONICALLY was eager to be a death eater. Proud of it. He was the perfect pureblood boy. So many interesting things can be done with that but instead people decide to just butcher him and make him frankly very boring

Also no, he WOULD NOT get along with Remus/Lily. Lily was a muggleborn. Remus was a poor halfblood. Regulus was a death eater. And no, Regulus WOULD NOT support Wolfstar whether he was homophobic or not. Because, again, Remus was a poor halfblood.

Also he probably wouldn’t have a big beef with Snape like some of yall act like he would. Would he probably dislike him for being a poor halfblood? Yes. But he WOULD NOT GAF about him tormenting muggle born students unless it was for reasons OTHER than their blood status. (Like writing him to think it’s pathetic of him to hex first years when he’s much older. Etc.) Just because he was good to house elves (namely Kreacher. Though if it was on a wider scale isn’t really concrete to my knowledge and you can do whatever you want with it) doesn’t mean he was good to muggle borns.

I could go on a rant about Regulus’s character for days but like moral of the story

Absolutely hate how much people butcher him

Let Regulus be a bad person with nuance and his own character/personality beyond offbrand Remus, Sirius if he took the dark mark and was a little bit quieter, and the replacement for Lily

ALSO, he WAS NOT some sort of fucking pariah? The only reason he would’ve been isolated was because of Sirius, at best. But I doubt they’d be out here bullying heir black. Especially because he has ties to the Malfoy and Lestrange families via Bellatrix and Narcissa.

Also the fact he was allowed into Voldy’s inner circle ALONE says a lot about his talent, personality, and general capabilities

ALSO ALSO the fact that they use him to replace Peter as the fourth Marauder.

They WOULD NOT fuck with each other let’s be for real 😭

Like I said I like Jegulus but not how it’s portrayed 99% of the time. Like no one would ever be finding out about that shit. EVER. And it sure as hell wouldn’t be public. James also wouldn’t have cheated on Lily if they were together. Also, Jegulus wouldn’t have lasted.

People always have to tweak James and Regulus’s characters to make it work the way they portray it and that’s really telling

[aerinmoriarty]

Need to know your opinions on Selena Gomez new music vids.

Sunset blvd big Selena little benny!! Public v private etc

Younger and hotter than me she’s stuck on the lot not a real person?? Performance artlor themes abound!!

Ok so there is a LOT going on IMO, so this is not an exhaustive breakdown just the first points that come to mind. (And just gonna focus on the video for now, not the song or lyrics)

So I think the film set imagery is intended to be taken both literally and metaphorically. Literally, it’s an examination of how she feels in the industry as a woman in her 30s and as someone whose social life (and breakup) has been very public.

Metaphorically, I think it’s meant to stand in for a psych ward or similar institution, especially during the earliest stages of recovery from a major psychiatric incident.

Let’s go through it scene by scene:

Selena wakes up alone in what initially looks like a perfectly lovely bed. But as the camera pans back, the illusion quickly shatters. She’s dressed in something more appropriate for a funeral than bed. Then you realize everything is covered in cloth and you think maybe it’s a house that’s been prepared to be left unoccupied for a while. It can also be seen as a “padded room,” or similar. The camera keeps moving and it’s finally revealed as a darkened film set. But clearly an old, forgotten, abandoned set that has been packed up, and all but forgotten.

Selena walks past a crowd of people that looks at her and there’s even flickers of recognition, but none of them aknowledge her, or ask her what’s wrong or anything , and her expression seems downtrodden. It gives the impression of isolation despite being among others but also it feels as tho she’s something of a pariah.

She’s wearing a golden B necklace, which…. Is not only her fiancé‘s initials, but also her ex’s initial. She could have forced the viewer to associate it with Benny by having two B’s, so I think the choice to go with the single B and leave ambiguity was fun.

She goes into the bathroom and brushes her teeth. Which… I’m not saying that everyone who brushes their teeth in a public bathroom lives in a set, but… you don’t expect someone of her stature to be brushing their teeth in the same bathroom everyone else uses, you assume they have their own trailer. I think it’s a little detail designed to stress the point that she’s treating a set as a home. But also, i think many people think it’s a bit weird or gross to brush your teeth in a public restroom.

And clearly the young girl dressed like a princess thinks so, based on the judgey look she gives Selena. This whole scene gave me “Nothing New,” vibes. I think this girl is supposed to represent both the newest “pop princess,” and also her younger self. There is a feeling of shame about the whole thing, and Selena smiles weakly before departing to Craft Services for a donut.

She looks over at the young kids dancing, very Disney channelesque. It’s clear that the most obvious level of symbolism is supposed to be that there are huge elements of Selena that were stuck in the past and were living in a version of reality that wasn’t current. Many people who get famous while very young state that they feel like they’re in a state of arrested development at the age they were when they really got big initially. And I believe Selena was one of them until she really committed to trying to heal.

Selena goes back to the bedroom set and we have a montage of her pacing, journaling, talking on the phone, reading, all things that many people do while they’re trying to heal, trying to work through their past and do inner child work.

And it seems to be working, as light streams in over the set. She’s out of funeral clothes and into a lounge set that appears dark blue in the dim lighting of the set. Lighter and looser. A visual representation of her mental health status.

She walks hand-in-hand with Benny around the set. The background is calming pastels. She’s wearing a medium blue hoodie and black pants. I would call this a psych ward fit because there are no obvious drawstrings or shoe laces. At first, I thought I was reading into that but the camera spends a rather long time on her hoodie, showing no string, and we see her feet enough to see it’s some sort of slipper type shoe.

When we first see the hoodie, the impression I had of it was that it was stained, but when we see it in close up later on there are drawings on it like a cow and a devil. The images are kind of childlike, I need to think about them a bit more cause I’m still deciding the symbolism there…

Benny has a white shirt and blue jeans on. He’s carrying something with him that is revealed to be food and they talk and share food. In general, the impression given is that he is a benevolent figure who is the only one who really acknowledges her, tries to build her up, nurtures her. But since we have the earlier montage, we know she has done the work to begin healing. He has not healed her, he has supported her.

Benny departing during the day, and Selena being stuck on the set, unwilling or unable to leave, both give me vibes of psych ward visiting hours. It was also interesting that Sunset was on the other side of the yellow gate; it’s as tho both sunset and Benny are only accessible once she has healed.

After Benny departs, Selena walks into the darkness, down an alley that seems narrower than before. She walks past the sets, and past the trailers, which I think is meant to illustrate the fact that her staying on the abandoned set is by choice, not because they don’t have trailers.

In the end she’s back at the set because she hasn’t done enough work to heal, she hasn’t overcome her demons enough to be able to move on, leave the set, etc.

But I also think one of the reasons it’s a set is because of the fact that so much of her life has involved putting on performances, and the fact that… when you spend all your time pretending to be someone else, you cannot devote that time to actually growing the real person you are inside.

Buuuutttt that’s enough yammering for now lol

[redwolfstabs]

My thoughts on the Billy and Sam storyline ‼️

- bare with me, I got a lot to say about this.

• First of all- I will say I absolutely love and hate this storyline- I love it because I love Sam and Billy, I hate it because some parts felt iffy BUT ANYWAYS.

• Starting in the first movie here- hallway scene. We see two girls walk past Billy as Sid runs into him- after one of the girls pass, another passes and says “Hey christy, wait up!” Christina carpenter!! Anyways- he seems a bit distracted, doesn’t he?

You can see him look away for a moment midconvo- NOW I WILL SAY. This could just be his mannerisms, however, for this let’s say it’s not.

• this would mean that He might’ve had a fling with Christina sometime during his relationship with Sid. Not a shocker, really, considering he didn’t really seem to actually love her.

•Skip forward, Billys dead, Sam learns he’s her father, she’s an adult and has a little sister Tara.

• Sam sees hallucinations of Billy often in reflective surfaces, reason being: he’s her father. Once she knows this, and knows what he did, it causes her to distance from her family and woodsboro as she’s not keen on the idea of being like him.

• Billy kinda acts like herrrr.. “Dark Passenger”, so to speak. [if any of you get this reference I’m forever happy.]

• First time we see Ghostly Billy, it’s in the hospital. And Billy mentions that Sam needs to tell Tara why she’s being targeted. So, Sam does this.

• Later, we see Billy in the car with Sam and he’s being a silly stupid menace. He’s basically just like “let’s fucking stab whoever is doing this to you and your sister! Cmon! Stabby stab!”

• Now, you could interpret this as Billy caring about Sam and Tara. OR you could interpret this as Sam thinking that maybe Billy would actually care if he was around. Either way, this scene makes him a Grey character. As he still wants to commit murder through Sam, he’s suggesting this because it’s his kid in danger. It’s a grey character thing.

• Later, at the end of the movie, Sam sees him again. This time, it’s because her boyfriend Richie is about to murder her. Billy nods over to the knife, and when Sam looks at it then back at him, he kinda gives a nod. Which, could be a nod of approval. Which again, shows that maybe Billy could care about his kid.

• Scream 6. Sam reveals that killing Richie was pretty damn easy, because it meant her and Tara would be safe. However, because of this, she becomes the town pariah. They took Billy’s whole plan, and made it sound like her. Meaning they think she committed all the murders and pinned it on Richie. [which by the way, I didn’t like so much. Redundancy.]

• one thing I wanna mention, I believe it was Gale who mentioned Billy AND stu as killers. Most forget stu, think he was just a lapdog when he was in fact VERY IMPORTANT.

• Anyways. Sam comes across all the robes and knives with the robes and she’s immediately drawn to Billy’s.

• Sam gets her hallucinations back and the first thing Billy says is something like “How cool is this place-” and you can tell by her demeanor she’s unsettled.

• Team Loomis ‼️

• Sam ends up Taking said Robe and knife at the end of the movie to kill the ghostfaces who’re after her because of Richies death

• She doesn’t want to, because then she’s be proving to Billy that she’s a killer just like him. But she needs to survive. She really does.

• She gets a little knife happy, but that’s okay because she’s a Loomis

• TARA is actually the one who gets her to commit the final murder which I think is a slay EBDJSND

• At the very end of the movie, Sam looks at the mask in her hand [Which is billys] and then she drops it. It’s symbolic in a way, showing she’s lowkey kinda over this Loomis shit.

• I LOVE LOVE LOVE this storyline because it shows how Sam grows, and it also gives us a little bit of grey character Billy moment

[Reblogs appreciated, but not forced!] [ @smashlovesscream ]

[bet-on-me-13]

Danny commits to the Bit a bit too hard...

So! For the first few weeks after his accident, whenever Danny would try to help the people of Amity Park, he would be treated as a Villain.

No matter if he had just defeated the Big Bad of the Week or saved a Cat from a tree, everybody in town only saw him as a Monster or Villain to he feared and hunted down. Danny was really getting sick of trying to get them on his side, until Sam made a suggestion.

"Why not just...play into it?" She said, barely looking up from painting her nails.

It was just an offhand suggestion, but it stuck with Danny. Why shouldn't he lean into it? The people of Amity Park already saw Ghosts as Evil, and they already assumed he was in cahoots with the Ghosts attacking the town. Why shouldn't he just...play into it?

So he does just that.

From that day on, whenever Phantom was spotted he would dramatically monologue about his Evil Plans, or claim that another Rogues attack on the City was his own act of terror.

Box Ghost destroys the towns Warehouses? It was on his orders.

Ember mind controls masses of Teenagers? All part of his Plans somehow.

Every Adult in Town is kidnapped by Young Blood? Danny gave them over to a friend as a Gift.

He crafts an identity for himself as the most Vile and Horrible Ghost that has ever attacked the City, using his own infamy to cement his legend even more firmly. The town only sees a Monsterous Villain, who has eveded capture near effortlessly for months on end, who constantly attacks their City and gets away with it.

Of course he still needs an excuse for how his plans keep getting stopped, and he gets it when his girlfriend Valerie becomes the Red Huntress. Before that, he just claimed infighting or the Fentons getting lucky, but Valerie becoming the Town's Hero meant he had a plausible excuse for how he kept getting "Foiled".

Val was suspicious, because she was not as involved as Phantom painted her to be, but in the end she had no proof of him faking his defeats. And she couldn't come up with any explanations for why he would do that in the first place. I mean, who would fake being a Supervillain? It had to he something else.

This did come back to bite him a while later, when the Justice League decided that enough was enough, and dispatched Justice League Dark to recruit Red Huntress and help Deal with him.

Coincidentally, that was the same day Pariah Dark attacked the Mortal Realm and sucked Amity Park into the Ghost Zone.

And honestly? Danny had spent over a Year proclaiming himself as a Villain who commanded Ghosts to attack the Human Realm, and he had heard about the Right of Conquest being Absolute in the Ghost Zone, so why not make it official? Why not overthrow the Ghost King, become the Ghost King, and cement his identity as a Villain while also forbidding Ghosts from entering the Human Realm without his permission?

He may have gotten a bit carried away and forgotten that the Villain thing was a disguise...but hey! He was still preventing Ghost Attacks! ...mostly. That's got to count for something right?

He may have let the Bit run a bit too far...

...

Check the tags for more context!

[casualevan]

So... Pariah Nexus

I found it to be a swinging pendulum of quality. Back and fourth between badass and just kinda bad.

The action and animation are astounding and there are some fantastic bits of dialogue discussing faith and fanatasism. All great stuff.. buuuuut my biggest issues are with the tone and the plot.

It's the issue a LOT of Games Workshop stories suffer from. They want to be Dune meets All Quiet On The Western Front but also G.I. JOE meets Masters Of The Universe. A Grim Dark brutal depressing war story.... but a toy commercial at the same time. SPOILERS

The plot is set well after the end of a war for this one planet the Sisters of Battle, (Nuns with Guns in SPACE) Space Marines, (Marines IN SPACE) and the Imperial Guard (Starship Trooper normal humans with laser rifles.... IN SPACE) were defending against the Necron. (Alien mummy robots FROM SPACE!) The humans lost and now it is all over but the crying. A Sister, a Space Marine and a Guard are stuck behind enemy lines with a handful of civilian survivors and must fight their way past the remaining Necron and their nanomachine human zombies to get to safety.

The SIster and the Guard have some GREAT moments of debate on the nature of faith and duty showing the Sister's fanaticism and the cracks in her faith when contrasted with the Guard's more grounded and practical view of their shared religion. This all reminds the audience that Warhammer 40K is a nightmare distopia hellscape and the Imperium of Man is BAD. At least until the Space Marine shows up and "OH WOW HE IS SO COOL AND SO NICE AND HE LOVES DEFENDING CIVILIANS! PLEASE DO NOT READ MORE LORE AND LEARN THAT THE SPACE MARINES ARE ALSO BAD AND COMMIT WAR CRIMES! BUY OUR TOYS BUY OUR TOYS!!"

The closest thing to a character arc in the story is the Sister of Battle going from having disdain for the civilians, believing their lack of faith lost the war for the planet, to finally being convinced to not be such a starch ass and defend the literal women and children from killer robots...

...

...

and then she is imediatly shot by a robot sniper. YEAH. "I will now decide to NOT be a total jerk and help these people!" *BLAM* "...ouch... nevermind I guess?" She doesn't get a last desperate second wind action surge to kill the sniper and save the civilians, she just dies. As for that Guard she was debating with the entire time? She wasn't real. She was just a ghost in her head cuz battlefield trauma is a hell of a drug. The big heroic Space Marine (who's just such a great guy) agrees to stay behind and fight the evil killer space robot and tells the civilians to keep running. He survives and tells the Big Bad Super Robot that he and his fellow humans of the Imperium will keep fighting FOR THE IMPERIUM AND THE EMPEROR BLA BLA BLA BUY OUR TOYS!!!!! Then there is an epilogue of the last surviving civilian making it to a troop of other Guard... ... ... and then getting shot because they thought the literal child was infected with the Necron Zombie Nanomachine plague. So yeah.... everyone (except the cool Space Marine) died for nothing. We don't even get to see the Space Marine's reaction to the news. The story just ENDS. He lost an arm trying to keep these people safe and the story won't even tell us if he is sad or mad or just mildly annoyed. "EVERYONE DIES CUZ WAR IS BAD AND WRONG!!!! Please buy our toys and play our games." I'm NOT saying the story should have been sunshine and rainbows but at least have all that buildup and character death MEAN something besides pizza cutter all edge no point grimdark. Have the Sister die FIGHTING and saving someone. Show the Space Marine REACTING to the news that none of the civilians survived. OR if you still want to be grim and dark, have that lone survivor kid get DRAFTED BUY THE GUARD and sent back to fight. Show his face go from "oh boy I'm saved" to "oh no I'm going BACK?!"

all in all I can't recomend Paraiah Nexus. Three episodes behind a Warhammer+ subscription paywall all for story/tone whiplash. Go watch the Hellsreach fan animation instead.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Adam Levick

Jay Rayner, in a restaurant review for The Observer (sister site of The Guardian), sampled the salt beef sandwich, matzah ball soup, chopped liver, bagels, and pickles at a new Jewish deli in London called Freddie’s. (Freddie’s, London: “Over salt beef, I brood on the need to review this Jewish deli” — restaurant review, March 31).

The review was mixed. The Jewish journalist loved the salt beef sandwich, but it “pained” him to criticize the chicken soup as “desperately under-seasoned.” Something else that clearly pained him actually isn’t on the menu. Nor does it have anything whatsoever to do with the review. Though, as you’ll see in the paragraphs below, he tries desperately to imagine one:

And now I should warn you that it’s going to take a dark turn. When I first came across Freddie’s I was excited. For all my lack of faith or observance these dishes, kept alive by a vestigial memory of the shtetl, root me. Then I hesitated. Could I really write about a Jewish restaurant given the current political turmoil? Would I get abuse for doing so? Surely better to keep shtum.

At which point I knew I had no choice: I had to write about it. The horrendous campaign of the government and armed forces of Israel in Gaza cannot be allowed to make being Jewish a source of shame.

When Hamas mounted their 7 October attack on Israel, they committed both an atrocity and a provocation. With so many hostages taken, there were no good options for the Israeli government. Nevertheless, they managed to choose the very worst one. They have killed thousands, starved many more, destroyed homes and turned their country into a pariah. As it happens, they have also made life for Jews who live outside Israel and have no responsibility for the decisions its government takes, so very much harder. I deplore what Israel is doing. But that doesn’t mean I can “refute” my Jewishness. That is a surrender to antisemitism. And so I sit here with my terrific salt beef sandwich and my chocolate mousse, indulging that bit of my Jewish identity which makes sense to me. It’s not much, but it’s all I have. [emphasis added]

Life for the British Jewish community has indeed been much, much harder since Oct. 7.

The CST reported 4,103 instances of anti-Jewish hate in 2023, 2,699 (66%) of which occurred on or after October 7. This figure alone, they note, “exceeds any previous annual antisemitic incident total recorded by CST, and marks an increase of 589% from the 392 instances of antisemitism reported to CST over the same time period in 2022″ [emphasis added].

However, Rayner’s suggestion that the decisions of Israel’s government has made life for Jews “so very much harder” is itself a classic (and codified) trope that has been used by antisemites — blaming Jews in Israel for the racist actions of non-Jews in the UK.

It’s amazing that this even needs to be stated, but the only ones responsible for increased antisemitism — in the UK or anywhere else — are those committing antisemitic acts. Even if you buy into the author’s argument that Jerusalem’s military decisions since the barbarism of Oct. 7 have been the “worst” ones possible, or subscribe to the specific lie that Israel has intentionally “starved” Gazans, what people — other than those who are already predisposed to hating Jews — would take their anti-Israel fury out on diaspora Jews?

Only at The Guardian, would a Jewish restaurant critic writing a review about salt beef, bagels, and shmears feel the need to condemn and distance himself from the Jewish State.

[greencheekconure27]

Ideas for a Willow Star Trek AU

(Just the ideas, sorry.I suck at putting words on paper so if anyone wants to pick this up,I'm begging you please do.)

Jade is a half Romulan and half Klingon. She was adopted and raised on Vulcan by commander Ballantine, a Vulcan Starfleet officer and a close friend of Admiral Tanthamore, who found her after a mission to escort some colonists had gone very, very wrong.He does genuinely love her, but has never once told her about what happened back then.Despite knowing about her romulan heritage he raised her as half-Vulcan instead, as he believed things would be easier for her if she didn't know.Nor has he ever told her about a certain exiled Klingon general by the name of K'ael, who may or may not be her biological father.

(K'ael was not a nice guy. He was a charismatic political extremist who had some good points, but also committed many war crimes. Best let his legacy rest)

Jade went to Starfleet academy to follow in her father's footsteps and met Kit there.

Sorsha Tanthalos was born in a colony of descendants of the genetically enhanced supersoldiers of the Eugenics Wars (like Khaan & co) led by her mother Bavmorda.Never quite managing to meet her mother's ideals of "perfection", she ran way and joined Starfleet, making a dazzling career and eventually becoming an admiral.She is known for her diplomatic skills and is often called in for negotiations, though deep down she's tired and really would go back to being an explorer instead, not that she'll ever admit it.Sorsha despises her mother's legacy and everything associated with it, which at times leads her to make some questionable choices.

The Bone Reavers started out as a group of renegade Romulans fleeing from their government, but evolved into a mixed-species tribe of space nomads hanging out on the fringes of colonized space. They got by through trade, hauling cargo, salvage, and other odd jobs, as well as the odd bit of contraband ans space piracy.

At some point in time a newcomer called K' ael took over as their leader.Under him the None Reavers managed to rise considerably in power and wealth (and infamy) by serving as space mercenaries to whomever paid well, eventually allying themselves with an ambitious warlord called Bavmorda.

Unfortunately for them Bavmorda's downfall dragged the Bone Reaver's down as well: due to their indiscriminating attacks on border settlements, as well as Bavmorda's and K'aels atrocities, they became hated by pretty much everyone, making them pariahs and leading them to resort to criminal activities more often than before.

Scorpia is the leader of what remains of the Bone Reavers.She's seeking a home for her people away from the Federation or any other major power.

The Galladoorn is a humanoid alien species (hey, it's star trek) which recently allied themselves with the Federation, though they're not looking to join.They have an empire of their own, and are quite powerful, but appear to be fairly peaceful and benign at first glance.However as the series progresses they will gradually be revealed to have a dark side.

Madmartigan was a captain in the Galladoornish navy.He was court-martialed and formally exiled from all Galladoornish territories for reasons he refuses to discuss.He then joined Starfleet instead, earning the rank of captain incredibly fast, and got put in charge of an spaceship specialising in exploration and first contact much like the Enterprise did. Madmartigan often claimed to be the best captain in the history of Starfleet. The admiralty's opinions on this are ...mixed.

Airk Thaughbaer was Madmartigan's second in command in the Galladoornish navy, who took over his post as captain after his court martial.Last time Mads talked to him he was a vice admiral.Airk was killed soon after.

Madmartigan met Sorsha on a joint Starfleet mission and married her.She was promoted shortly after.They were happy.However about ten years in Madmartigan went MIA during a mission under mysterious circumstances.Sorsha had been the one who suggested him for the mission, and she never quite forgave herself for that.

Thraxus Boorman,the rather traumatized rookie ensign that was accompanying him was found only years later after escaping from a Cardassian prison, nowhere near the last place they were seen.The third member of the away team, Lt. Allagash, was never found and is believed to have been killed in action.Boorman refused to tell anything about what happened and resigned from Starfleet. He pops up on Sorsha's radar occasionally, usually to ask her to bail him out (again).

Willow Ufgood was Madmartigan's second-in-command and chief science officer. He stayed in Starfleet for awhile after Mads disappeared, became a captain, then promptly resigned over a"political disagreement" and returned to his home planet, where he became a renowned professor at a local university.

Kit and Airk joined Starfleet as early as they could, much to Sorsha's chagrin, as she's terrified they'll vanish just like their father.

And then Airk did just that.

Zivian Hastur is the current emperor of Galladoorn. A few years ago, he visited Earth for negotiations, and Kit, Jade and Airk got assigned as tour guides for his son, Prince Graydon.This somehow *accidentally* resulted in Graydon running off to join Starfleet.For diplomatic purposes, as a symbol of cooperation between the two powers, off course ,and definitely not because his father kept suggesting they seal the treaty with a personal union between him and the admiral's daughter.

Graydon joins the search for Airk as a science officer

Jörgen Kase is an experienced captain and Kit and Airk's mentor who gets put in charge of the search party.One last mission before he retires...yup, you've guessed it, he gets killed in the pilot episode.

Ensign Brunhild "Dove" Davids is Airk's girlfriend who asks her commanding officer for "personal time off" and then promptly sneaks aboard the search party's ship as stowaway to go look for Airk. She's a talented medical officer who likes to cook in her spare time. Her file says she was born on earth, but there are some odd discrepancies, and all records of her are a decade old at most.Also both Willow and Sorsha seem to know her even though she's never met them...very weird.

Willow only joined this mission as a last favour to Sorsha and because he's known the twins since their birth and is fond of them.But Kase dies unexpectedly and he's the most experienced officer on board so he's captain now. He is Not happy about this.

Boorman gets pulled out of whatever prison he's landed himself in this time by Sorsha to serve as their guide, being an expert on the area where Airk and his team were last seen.He eventually takes over as the crews navigator/ pilot

Jade is the security officer

Kit is the (somewhat self-proclaimed) second-in-command after the original XO, Silas, gets killed

Kenneth the mudmander is a non-humanoid telepathic alien of a previously unknown species that tried to hijack the ship to escape from slavers. He forms a strong bond with Graydon and eventually takes over as their guide after they leave known space (insert plot convenient wormhole)

Airk switched between divisions (and girlfriends/boyfriends) so often that nobody took him too seriously when he settled for command, claiming to want to become an even better captain than his father was. (he meant it, though).He's a bit of a jack of all trades, and a pretty good engineer, though he doesn't really believe himself to be particularly good at anything.He also gets trapped in holodeck malfunctions A Lot.

@the-grimsqueaker wyd think?

[electrasev5nwrites]

Ninja Daily: AIC 15

Konoha kind of sucked.

At least, it sucked when you were pretending not to know any one in town or how to locate any key locations. Being under constant surveillance by an ANBU team didn't exactly help Aiko get jollied up, either. By the day before the test, her nerves were strung out.

It wasn't so bad for her genin team, as far as she could tell. Konoha must have determined that they weren't high-level plants. Or, like, higher level plants than was expected. So the three-man ANBU patrol team (she wasn't fucking bitter that she apparently didn't merit a full-team with a captain. Of course not. Why would she be bitter about that? Being underestimated was a tactical advantage that someone who was fucking stupid enough to accidentally become the Mizukage wouldn't get often.)

- anyway, the team stayed on her ass like a tight pair of pants and occasionally signaled to each other in super-secret Konoha chakra pulse code which she definitely didn't detect or understand and wasn't fucking irritated about, okay?

She may or may not have spent nearly half the day in her hotel room glowering at the staticky tv while one of her ANBU watchers pointed out something that wasn't actually suspicious in what had to be a fit of optimism that something exciting would happen soon. Apparently they had a long shift. God, she remembered that grind. Patrolling at nights, under the open sky, sprinting over the rooftops- that was fine. But daytime surveillance of some dignitary or other mildly important personage was tedious.

"Poor bastards," Aiko said to herself.

One of the ANBU's chakra honed in on her, apparently augmenting their hearing to catch what she said next. Perhaps they thought she had some kind of communication device.

That kind of ability was a clue she latched onto out of boredom- that meant there was no one on the team who had augmented hearing normally. So there no Inuzuka around. But being able to temporarily sharpen senses with chakra implied practice in a similar skillset or above-average ability in chakra manipulation. A Hyuuga? A medic? Maybe even a Nara, actually. The team was either a bit green or a bit relaxed, judging by the fact that they hadn't seen fit to go chakra dark. Someone must have pegged her as lacking sensing abilities.

To be fair, that was true- but she was attuned to the type of cues that Konoha used from years of personal experience. Still. A truly cautious, paranoid team would have gone to the extra effort. She wasn't exactly being tailed by veterans here. Again, she was being underestimated.

'Or maybe', Aiko thought optimistically. 'Maybe Konoha is intentionally pretending to underestimate me in order to slip something more covert past my attention, or to try to pinpoint my abilities. Maybe-'

She sighed.

'This is getting stupid. Those are all possibilities, but I'm just wallowing now. I've got to get out of this room.'

Telling herself that didn't make venturing out to be a pariah in her hometown any more attractive. If she'd worn nearly any other headband, the reception would probably have been less pointed. But no. She'd had to fall in with Mist. She'd pledged to protect and serve the country with the honorable distinction of producing the most basketcases per capita in the goddamn continent.

'Well,' Aiko thought with dark humor. 'I commit like a motherfucker, at least. I ruin lives like nobody's business. Mostly mine, but hey.'

That didn't exactly bode well for Kirigakure, but she couldn't possibly be worse than Obito.

Probably?

Whatever.

It was the scent of spices and heated sauces clawing their way through her window that finally drew Aiko out into the streets. She followed her nose to festival-type stands set up for the exams. Aiko slipped into the crowds with only a flinch at the press of bodies. She was aware, too aware, that proximity to strangers was made even more alarming and dangerous with her reduced vision. Her heartbeat climbed from the effort of concentrating enough to offset her blurry, dark vision with what she was hearing to navigate. More than once her reflexes were tested by the effort of quickly but smoothly retreating from the brush of fabric or the heat of skin when she accidentally stepped too close to someone else.

It was unexpectedly exhausting. Unless she was pretending to be in such a bad mood that she was purposefully bumping into people, she had to be careful. She was being watched.

'They probably can't see that much.' Aiko felt a muscle flex in her neck. She suppressed the urge to look around and pinpoint where her observers had moved to as a vantage point- they would know that she would suspect she was being watched, but confirming that she was aware enough of her observers to locate them would provide data about her abilities. They'd probably send a better team.

That would be better for her pride, to be honest, but it was safest if she could be semi-certain that she could ditch the observers if needed.

Dried fish and the scent of octopus steaming in batter rose temptingly above the crowd, but she found it too hard to pinpoint the takoyaki stand. She took a chance on a queue where the air was tantalizingly mingled with savory scents. By the time she was close enough to pick up on the warm notes of soy sauce and frying chicken, it was a bit late to duck out of the line unseen.

That was fine. Festival karaage was the best. There was absolutely nothing like it. Her mouth watered.

She was nearly at the front of the line when something changed. Aiko kept her face blank, but her attention was turned backwards.

The noise of the crowd had changed- louder, although the tone and quality of the sounds hadn't changed. It was closer? Yes. Something on the far edge of the road was causing people to crowd away, forcing the slow stream of bodies to press closer.

Aiko focused on the area, just for a moment.

'Ah,' she thought simply.

The man in front of her moved away. She stepped forward unthinkingly and chose the medium-size serving when prompted.

'Now that I've noticed him, it's hard to imagine I didn't sense him approaching before now. He's not subtle, is he?'

Seeing -or detecting, rather- Gaara as an adult, Aiko reflected, made it difficult to believe that anyone had failed to notice he was a jinchuuriki. He oozed bad news. Even civilians could tell, judging by the way the crowd parted around him as he skirted the edges of the street on the way to the training grounds allotted for the foreigners. She didn't look at him as she left coins on the counter tray, but the grip of her left hand on the steaming cup was a bit too firm.

It was quite likely that a more obvious jinchuuriki had never obvioused. Gaara was, like, the prototypical jinchuuriki. Looking up the definition of a jinchuuriki would lead to a list of his most distinct traits and a warning to stay away.

How had he slipped by unnoticed?

Gaara was a classic case study of weak sealing- the steady fog of malevolent intent incongruous with his calm-faced exterior was a bit of a giveaway. The obvious fear displayed by his teammates made it painfully apparent that something was amiss, if absolutely nothing else.

What the hell was Konoha doing? Had they all collectively forgotten how to ninja, or was there a reason that they would allow an obvious jinchuuriki to wander the streets, undeclared?

No. Konoha had to know. Maybe… maybe it was a case of him coming into Konoha unremarked, rather than undetected. That fit the evidence better. But why would Konoha tolerate that?

'Sand is a traditional ally,' Aiko allowed. She stabbed a piece of karaage with the wooden pick and lifted it to her mouth. Hot juice spilled across her lips when she bit in, hastily licked away before it could make a mess. 'Maybe they're willing to go further than I thought to preserve that relationship.'

That… that possibility certainly fit in with what had happened after the chuunin exams invasion, that was for sure. Aiko frowned.

She needed to think more deeply on that. Just in case. She'd taken Konoha's quick assent to mended bridges as proof of Konoha's forgiving nature, as well as their desperation for any ally among the great nations when the largest two countries were Fire Country's dedicated enemies.

If that hypothesis was false- if the treatment of Suna was due to something intrinsic about their relations rather than desperation- then her goal might be harder to meet. It might require more drastic action than simply leaving Suna out to flap in the wind.

Well. There was always the several hundred kilometer long conclusion about why Konoha would prefer Suna to Kiri.

Her jaw clenched. The street food felt dry and tasteless in her mouth.

'I should go make sure my team is ready to go. The exams start in 14 hours. Is there anything I can do for them at the last minute?'

Aiko considered possibilities and discarded them just as quickly. With team 7, she'd sponsored bonding time- dinner, a sleepover, and one last check of equipment. But that didn't seem appropriate now, with a team that was nervous around her. It would be counterproductive. She'd already had her genin confirm their prepared status at the local office and….

Huh. She couldn't sense her ANBU team. Aiko felt an eyebrow raise, hidden in her bangs. Had they fallen back to a distance? Had her guard been lifted- no, that was ridiculously unlikely. It was possible that the team had simply been given shift relief by a more experienced or paranoid unit.

Well. It shouldn't matter. If she didn't 'know' anything about her observers, than she certainly shouldn't react to changes in their patterns.

After the karaage, she managed to find takoyaki hot enough to burn her mouth and make the proprietor joke about her having a cat-tongue. It settled in her stomach and left her feeling lazy and satisfied. She could go back and lay down, but it seemed like the spell would break and she'd go back to feeling like a caged animal in a place that should have been hers. Aiko was already walking, so she tossed her trash and let her feet carry her unthinkingly.

She did make one errand that lifted her spirits when her wanderings took her past a bookstore. Clever, clever Jiraiya. It really was a good time to schedule a release of a special edition- people would be in Konoha from the many countries with embargoes on his work. He'd make bank, not the black market that moved his work across borders.

'To be fair, he's probably involved in the black market as well.'

Aiko admired Jiraiya's business acumen even as she purchased her copy and sealed it away in a scroll. The proprietor gave her an odd look and put away the blue plastic bag she'd offered, but Aiko was done fucking around with the security of her Icha Icha.

The Icha Icha situation was, quite frankly, becoming ridiculous.

The last copy she'd dared to carry around had been confiscated by Suna when they captured her in the desert. The one before that she'd been forced to abandon due to Obito's sudden onset of jackassery, and then it'd been taken as evidence by Konoha before she got back.

Frankly, she didn't fucking trust anyone to leave her books the hell alone. What was up with that, even? She loved her books, but they weren't that valuable or unique. There was no reason that this should keep happening to her. It was weird, that was what it was. Just plain weird.

Walking became easier as the dinner rush ended and people streamed home. She haunted the streets until curfew forced her in, although she kept to back streets to avoid the crush of bodies. Surely she was still being watched, but merely wandering the city wouldn't betray excessive familiarity, as long as she avoided shortcuts and retraced her steps to return to the hotel instead of taking another route.

Her genin were already abed when she checked in. Yuusaku stirred when she slid the door open and counted bodies, but the others were fast asleep. He blinked heavily and made eye contact. Then he made a displeased sound and disappeared back under the covers. Aiko smiled wryly and closed the door.

It was all rather endearing, but it didn't bode well for their survival odds.

Well.

'Let them rest,' Aiko decided. 'They'll need it. And perhaps they just feel safer here. They should be more alert sleeping outside. If nothing else, they'll set a watch.'

If nothing else, the following morning brought the relief that her brats were at least sensible enough to make it to the exam room. She stood outside the exam center just long enough to see the poor fools who'd failed that pre-test stream out, dejected.

It took a surprisingly long time for events to commence. She didn't remember that, but then, she'd been busy with Anko at this point in her.. She'd been with Anko at the time before.

The foreign adults mostly milled around, waiting for further information. When the jounin were finally invited to observe the proceedings of the first event, Aiko joined nearly all the other teachers. She fell to the back of the line filing into a room that resembled the jounin lounge.

There was something a little odd, though, she noticed. There were certainly Konoha jounin in the room- but most of them weren't the genin teachers. There were a few teachers for older teams, she saw, but.. Kakashi, Kurenai, Gai, Asuma… nowhere in sight.

'Why would they separate the Konoha sensei, I wonder?'

Aiko slowly unwrapped a piece of gum and bit into it. She crushed the silver wrapper in her fist before tucking it in a pocket. Genma, who happened to be standing next to her, gave her a curious look.

His lips worked where he would normally have a senbon, and something brightened in his face. "I'll buy you a coffee in exchange for a piece of gum," he offered casually. He leaned into her personal space, just close enough for her to feel the heat of his body through her left sleeve.

Aiko was already reaching for the pack when his words registered. She glanced up at him incredulously. Was he flirting-

oh.

Oh.

Her gaze fixed on his smile, slightly crooked and displaying teeth that perfectly straddled the boundary of 'white' and 'too white'. Her heart shuddered uncertainly in her chest.

He smelled like the reinforced padding in his flak jacket and the same weapon's polish she'd always favored, paired with the 'scentless' Konoha type soap that actually had some notes of pine. He smelled like home and safety.

There had always been rumors about Genma being a flirt, but she'd never seen evidence before. Of course, he was… what, fifteen years her senior? So that previous lack of evidence made sense. Only a true, Jiyaiya-level creep would be so shameless as to flirt with someone who he should see as a child.

'Well. Actually. He's not that much older than me now,' she reasoned. 'Four years isn't a significant different for two people in their twenties.' When Genma reached out to take the candy from her, warm, calloused fingers accidentally brushed over hers. He was quite attractive, actually. God, look at those shoulders.

The look he gave her was entirely too pleased. That snapped her out of it.

It was probably far too late, but she rearranged her expression back into studied disinterest. "No need. Sometimes a person really needs gum." Pointedly, she wrinkled her nose and turned away from his breath slightly.

Genma's eyebrows rose slowly. Someone nearby snickered but she couldn't see who.

That was when the lights dropped.

Aiko tensed, shoulders drawing in. She cursed the reaction immediately but it was too late to do anything about it. How dark was it? How impaired was normal vision? She had no idea from her own senses. But logic told her the room was probably only dim enough to make viewing a screen easy.

…Genma, at least, had definitely seen that reaction.

Well.

'He won't know what to think about it. He'll probably just think I'm easily startled. Maybe even that I'm on edge about sudden environmental changes when in a small room full of high-level shinobi without a single ally.'

Actually.. yeah. That was a much more plausible explanation than secret night blindness.

A screen flickered to life- no, it was wavering, undulating along a loosely hung sheet. It was a projection. Aiko leaned back against the wall and watched what she could see. The display was bright enough- the problem was more that taller jounin were blocking the bottom part of the screen. Still, she saw her genin file into view, along with a whole host of others.

Her eyes darted across the distant room, cataloging genin mostly by hairstyles and what little could be discerned of their clothing from the ceiling camera. Team 7 bounced in near the middle of the group, in a mob of Konoha shinobi. Others filed around, spilling into the corners of the room and perching on desks.

Her genin had been some of the first in, and secured a desirable position against the wall. It was pointless, since Ibiki would split them and make them move, but Aiko still felt a little proud of how sensible her brats were being.

Ibiki entered like a hurricane, sending genin scattering in fear. She repressed a snort.

'Pity that there's no sound. I wonder what he's saying.'

The genin took seats according to verbal instructions. As Ibiki paced and pontificated, Aiko felt her attention wander. Her eyes were adjusted enough that she could make out darker silhouettes in the room around her, but not much more. The assembled jounin were quiet, breathing nearly in unison with nary a fidget. She could smell-

Aiko didn't let herself still, turning her face in continued perusal of the room she couldn't actually see.

She smelled mint. Genma was breathing in her direction, which meant he was watching her even as she was turned away from him. Surely the back of her head wasn't too stimulating, no matter how much of a flirt he was. She focused her attention on him without looking over. Aiko tried to hear his breathing, to pick up on the subtleties of his chakra to guess at his level of agitation or interest. Nothing came of it- he was too good, of course he was.

'Well. Of course the Konoha jounin are here to watch us. Is he here to monitor me in specific?'

The skin on the back of her neck prickled. She had the oddest impression that she could almost hear someone talking in the distance, a voice distorted and low. Aiko swallowed. Okay, that was weird. There shouldn't be anything wrong with her hearing. Was it her imagination acting up? She was more than a bit on-edge. God, she was so paranoid that she was trying to convince herself that she was hearing things. She needed a break, desperately.

She turned her attention back to the screen, portraying obliviousness to Genma's attention.

The test had started. Ryuusei was staring down at his sheet, pencil still as if he was waiting for the answers to the universe to bubble up in the answer space. Yuusaku was making lazy, sure markings that would certainly draw someone else to cheat off of him. If she knew him at all, he was marking wrong answers. She felt her lips curl into a smile. And her last duckling, Keisuke, was-

Aiko felt a deep sigh rise in her chest.

Keisuke had flipped his sheet over and was drawing a slightly wobbly kunoichi with improbably shaped breasts and… demon horns. Her hair and clothes were uncomfortably familiar, although shocking liberties had been taken with the neckline. The hip holster was spot-on, though.

'Little shit. Honestly. He seemed so quiet and well-behaved.'

That phrase caught in her mind, ringing like a bell. Shit. That was classic, wasn't it? Textbook misdirection. Aiko tilted her head back and stared at the ceiling mournfully.

'I can't believe I fell for that crap. I didn't notice a genin leering at me because I thought he was the least troublesome one.'

Pride aside, it was… It was kinda gross, Aiko reflected. Children are gross.

"Children are gross," she said aloud.

Someone gave her an odd look. A few people might have taken a step away from her. Probably wasn't personal. Certainly they were just trying to get a better view of the projection as it cycled through camera feeds.

Her brats made it through the test, along with about half of the teams. When the screen focused on Sakura's beaming relief as results were announced, Aiko looked away.

'She's going to be dead before the end of the day.'

It would be nice to forget that. It would be really, really nice to forget that.

An anomaly in the crowd drew her eye. Genma. He was too still in her peripheral. He was definitely watching her, not the screen. Had he caught the image that had prompted her to look away? He shouldn't have, but she had shit luck. Who else had been displayed at that moment? Could her motion be attributed to boredom or distraction, given her careless statement minutes ago about distaste for children? How should she play this off?

'Deflect. Make him think that something else is going on in my head, that it wasn't about the video feed.'

Deliberately, she turned her head and made eye contact as if sensing his attention had been what prompted her to look away from the screen. His features started to shift into false sheepishness, a hand moving to the back of his neck. Aiko tilted her head minutely, let her mouth twist into a wicked little smirk, and then slowly, obviously, ran up and down his body. When she made it back up to his eyes, the pretense of embarrassment at having been caught staring was gone, replaced by something sly and hungry.

She had just thought to deflect by leering- not to actually do anything. But.

He looked like he wanted a chance to get her naked and mouth at every centimeter of her flesh. He looked like an excellent distraction.

A warm thrill simmered in her body, too low for her to pretend the sensation was in her stomach. She lifted her head just slightly in challenge, flashing her neck.

Then she broke the stare and walked for the door.

Her pulse quickened when he followed.

His gaze was towards the exit when he stepped into the hallway, clearly looking to follow her out the building. He was looking the wrong way. She shut the door and slammed him into the wall, one hand in his collar and the other curled around the wrist that had reached for a weapon. There was a tense moment, then he let her press his wrist against the wall by his head.

"Not that I mind-" his amused tone hitched when she put her teeth to his neck to shut him up, deflecting from his mouth. She didn't want to kiss him-that was too personal. She licked. He made a sound she wouldn't have heard if she hadn't been against his throat. Something fierce uncoiled in her chest even as she was pressing a knee between Genma's legs.

She could feel his pulse jumping through her lips. She'd done that. The knowledge was intoxicating. Aiko smiled, and then scraped her inhumanly sharp teeth gently against his Adam's apple. Casually, she moved a finger to the underside of the wrist she held, checking at his pulse. It was just as fast- of course it was, but that was somehow thrilling. Was he intimidated, or just excited? Did he know that she could rip out his throat with her teeth, if she wanted?

"Uzu.-" He swallowed.

She smiled against the skin. Instead of answering, she squeezed his wrist.

It took Genma a moment to gather himself. "There's a- room upstairs," he managed.

Aiko really did not give a single shit. But she liked the way that his breath hitched. "What kind of room?" She moved her hand from his collar to the zipper, pausing a moment to check his expression. Genma's pupils were blown wide open and fixed on her hand. She tugged it up pointedly, then tilted it down as if she was going unzip the jacket.

"Yes." Genma twitched against her, as if he wanted to push her off and take control. He seemed to remember that hadn't been the question. "Control room. Or something."

Aiko huffed. "Konoha," she drawled, the irritation of the last months welling up again. "How welcome am I near classified material?" She pulled the flak jacket open and pushed it halfway off his shoulders. Yes. They were as nice as she'd thought. Aiko ran her fingers up and greedily squeezed at the muscles.

Genma sucked in a breath, and that was when she realized it'd been a test. God only knows what would have happened if she'd taken the chance to get close to sensitive equipment. Little shit. It was probably a trap. She'd walk in and ANBU would drop from the ceiling, and she probably wouldn't get to get anyone naked at all. Aiko bared her teeth and pushed him further into the wall, irritated. He finally spoke up again. "Utility closet." Genma jerked his head left.

That was a better suggestion.

"Come on." Aiko tugged.

"I have to disagree with Hatake. She's definitely an aggressive personality," Genma described. He slumped against the wall , picking idly at his teeth with his senbon. A truly brutal bruise was starting to bloom above the collar of his flak jacket, but he didn't seem to care. "Maybe she was having an off-day in Wave, or sticking to a role. She's quiet enough to get the drop on me and put me against a wall. Fast enough to catch me from reaching for a weapon- the thing with Gai wasn't a fluke." He nodded in acknowledgment to the other jounin, who was looking uncharacteristically serious. "I agree that she's dangerous, in theory at least."

"You did take a long while to report. I suppose she was also strong enough to keep you captive," Kakashi drawled without looking up from his book. "Next time we'll send a rescue team into the utility closet. Did she use the mop to incapacitate you? I bet it was the mop."

Genma shrugged. "It isn't fraternizing with a target if they initiate. I was told to get close, not how." He paused. "She's fairly hot, too. How certain is the Sandaime that she's secretly fifty years old? I don't buy it. There's no illusion that holds up to that much contact, unless she's got a Tsunade-level physical transformation going on." He sucked air in through his teeth. "If so, don't tell me. I want to keep that memory the way it is."

Kurenai made a disgusted sound at the crude basis for his analysis, but didn't disagree. She wouldn't know, really. She'd been watching the real-time exam with Asuma to call out camera shots to look for while Gai and Kakashi watched the foreigners watch the time-delayed version. But she'd paid enough attention to tune in when Kakashi let out a heavy sigh. She'd watched disbelievingly as Genma had followed his target away from the cameras too eagerly for a semi-public makeout session like a horny teenager. She'd nearly laughed, though, when Genma tried to trick Uzumaki into walking into the control room. That would have been… Well. It hadn't happened, in any case.

"While I, too, am overjoyed for our comrade's wealth of energetic activities with many new surprisingly youthful friends, perhaps we might address the matter at hand?" Gai gave an incongruous thumbs-up. "The safety of our beautiful young comrades is paramount! I, for one, am not yet convinced about the presence of such a mysterious person with a demonstrated interest in Konoha's bright blooming youths."

Genma eyed Gai suspiciously. He was never certain that the younger jounin wasn't just fucking with him. "Well," he started slowly. "I'm not a miracle worker. I determined that Uzumaki-san knows I was there to observe her. I don't yet know if she knows that I know she knows I'm her watch. I need to spend more time with her to narrow that down and determine a course of action and whether it's going to be plausible to turn her."

"She isn't attached to her team," Kurenai opined. "I read her as being more dutiful last night. If she wasn't lying about having no prior commitment to Kirigakure, they have something on her now. Unless we can eliminate that element, persuasion is irrelevant."

Asuma shook his head. "Maybe she just doesn't like kids. That'd explain your impression that there's little to no team connection. I don't buy that Kirigakure sent an unknown to represent them in Konoha. Yagura's a wildcard, but he's not insane. Unless he wants to provoke war, which would be particularly…" Asuma sucked in air through his teeth. "Imprudent," he decided.

"Is there another way to reconcile those possibilities?" Genma pulled the senbon out. "What circumstance could lead to a shinobi not being an unknown that Kiri wouldn't risk sending as a representative, but still make it plausible that she told Kakashi in good faith that she had no village attachment?" He nodded in deference towards the other jounin, who was both younger and more experienced.

He didn't think that Uzumaki had slipped a direct lie past Kakashi. She was good at deflection, at making someone look the wrong way for the trick- but he didn't peg her as an especially skilled infiltrator. No. She was something else, unless this was a helluva long con in action.

Kurenai crossed her arms and hummed. "Some sort of contractor situation?" she guessed, unenthusiastic about the theory. "Uzumaki could be a free agent who has worked with Kirigakure before."

"Or she could be on the outs with Kirigakure," Asuma said. He looked out the window, clearly bored with re-hashing what they'd all witnessed and discussed. "Kiri doesn't exactly have a high satisfaction rate. It could be that she feels the current administration is no place where she belongs. God only knows there's ten or so different factions of opinion on Kirigakure's reformation."

Kurenai nodded slowly. "That would fit, but not explain why she is here now. Unless Kirigakure recently had a change of administration leadership or policy that brought her back into the fold."

There was a moment of quiet.

Kakashi sighed, lifting his head. "That's where my money is. In order to determine the level of threat and likelihood of poaching Uzumaki from Kiri, we need to find out who is holding her leash and why she's cooperating with them." He shut his book and slipped it away. "The only thing to do is wait for our agent to return with information. But in the meantime, I don't like the way she flinched when the camera was on my genin. That looked like guilt to me."

Genma snorted. "I can't say. I wouldn't have known that was what had happened from watching her. Are you sure about the volume on these things?" He indicated the tiny black machinery that had been fished out of his ear with senbon and a prayer. "She tensed up when Asuma told me which shot was coming up next. I could swear she'd heard."

Kakashi's brow wrinkled. "Extremely unlikely. An Inuzuka could at that distance. I might pick out the communication, if I was paying attention. But we don't have any reason to assume she has augmented hearing capabilities."

He let the corollary hang.

Asuma said it anyway. "Don't have any reason to believe she doesn't, either, aside from it not being an Uzumaki bloodline." He snorted, disgusted. "That we know of. Whose to say? That's not exactly the kind of fabled ability that goes down in history, and the Uzumaki that any of us have personally known could hardly be called representative samples."

Genma's mouth twisted to the side. True enough. "That raises the question again of why Kiri had an Uzumaki, assuming she's not either an independent contractor or improbably well-preserved." Distaste colored his tone. "I gotta say, the only option coming to mind is unpleasant."

Kakashi looked away. No one else seemed to want to respond to that.

Kiri'd been one of the countries that destroyed Uzushiogakure- no Uzumaki in their right mind would have chosen to go there. It made much more sense that Kiri had captured some in hopes of making a more stable jinchuuriki, or gaining some kind of sealing knowledge.

If they went by appearances, this woman was about twenty- she wouldn't have been born when Uzushiogakure fell. That meant she hadn't been taken prisoner- she'd be a generation removed. It seemed like the kind of thing that Kumo had tried on Kushina and even the little Hyuuga princess. They'd probably taken a young woman or two captive and tried to manufacture their own loyal Uzumaki.

It made the target's slightly less proto-typical Uzumaki features take on an unpleasant pallor, to say the least. One parent with white or blond hair and dark eyes could explain how her features deviated from well-recorded clan norms.

Well. Genma shoved his hands in his pockets. "This is pleasant and all, but I'll see you tomorrow." He made a face. "We have a long day of surveillance tomorrow."

Kurenai huffed agreement. "I am exceedingly fond of training ground 44," she said in a dry sort of tone that implied the exact opposite. "I look forward to the opportunity. I only wish that you were so lucky as to join us, instead of your current task. I know how you suffer watching Uzumaki."

Genma didn't manage to hide a grin. He did have the better assignment.

"That's the spirit." Kakashi ambled to the door, happy to leave the building. The genin were getting briefed, and the foreigners had all been cleared out and escorted to their accommodations before they'd dared to begin this discussion.

Frankly, it was time to go home.

The signal came during that first night of the test in the Forest of Death. Aiko startled awake, reaching for a weapon. She'd trapped the absolute hell out of her quarters, now that there was no risk of genin stumbling into them for the time being. She could hiraishin to her students without much risk of someone getting into the hotel room. At least, not without leaving signs that-

She paused in the middle of adjusting her weaponry.

The seal calling for her attention wasn't in the Forest of Death. It was in Mizugakure.

"That seems… bad," Aiko said to herself. Her tone across dubious even to her own ears.

That meant Utakata or Mei. Both options meant there was a fairly good chance that she was talking into either a disaster they couldn't deal with, or a trap to kill her and replace her.

Well. Utakata was less likely to kill her, unless he was still really hurt. He thought that she'd consciously tricked him into helping her avenge herself on Mizugakure, and honestly, that made so much more sense than what she'd really done that there didn't seem to be much point in attempting to exonerate herself.

She suited up quickly, not bothering to wear the Kiri-style uniform since she wasn't representing anyone in Konoha at the moment. It was the work of a moment to pull herself across a distance that would take a lesser woman a good week and a half to cross, if that lesser woman happened to be an elite ANBU.

"As punctual as ever," Mei greeted calmly, and that didn't make much sense. Were they pretending to have a rapport? Was that what was happening?

Mei was in a uniform, hair pulled back professionally. Two hunter-nin were standing at opposite ends of the room. The interesting thing, however, was a prisoner bound on his knees at Mei's feet.

Aiko rolled with it, nodding graciously to her nominal subordinate. "How lovely to see you. Is this a social call?"

The prisoner looked up.

'Ah,' Aiko thought, closely followed by, 'Holy fucking shit.'

"Konoha has kindly sent someone to express interest in our political affairs," Mei explained cooly. She looked as though she might give the poor man a kick for good measure. She wouldn't, though. Not her style. "I was wondering what sort of accommodations you would like to offer our esteemed guest, and what length his stay might be. It is considered most polite not to invite guests long-term without input from the head of the household," she breezed, and if that didn't sound pointed, Aiko didn't know what would. It was probably some kind of follow-up joke to a conversation she'd had with the prisoner before.

Aiko looked at the poor bastard and didn't rub at her temples. She didn't. She just really wanted to. "Have you checked for wood clones?" she asked Mei wearily.

Yamato shot to his feet in unison with the fake hunter-nin who lunged at Aiko from behind, swinging. It was an exceedingly foolish move- Yamato was damn good, but he wasn't good enough to pick a fight in a room with two kage-level kunoichi and a hunter-nin. Aiko put down the clone with prejudice, but winced when Mei wasn't terribly gentle with the real man.

He hit the ground hard, bleeding from the back of his head. He'd probably have burns around his arms from the material that Mei had used to bind his arms in front in a way that had to be painful.

Typical.

The older kunoichi scowled at Aiko, calm facade thrown off. "I can't believe that. You just happened to know this specific Konoha nin?"

She considered and dismissed several obnoxious responses, including, "I know everything," and "I always ask that question, don't you?" In the end, Aiko settled for sighing and rolling a shoulder. "Oddly, yes."

Mei eyed her suspiciously a moment before she accepted the answer as it was. The older woman sighed. She crossed her arms. "Well. What do you think?"

Aiko toed at Yamato's leg. He didn't move. "I think that this is going to be a diplomatic nightmare."