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coroddedvirgo · 1 year

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The new student arrives (Kyoya Ootori OHHC)

Hello and welcome to my very first ever fanfic! I’ve written countless fanfics but never actually posted them. I’ve also been in a huge ouran brainrot lately so to satisfy my boredom and brainrot I've decided to write this story.

Just a few things before getting started:

- English is not my main language, it is a secondary language to me so please if you see any grammatical errors ignore them

- this isn’t a y/n story i unironically find y/n stories difficult to write. this is a story of a pairing with an OC i created but you can pretend it’s you and change the name as you please.

- i imagined writing this in a movie/series script type of way it makes it easier for me to know who’s going to talk and how the story should go.

- please be kind i am very new to this so any good and constructive criticism is much appreciated!

without further ado, enjoy the story!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tamaki:

Welcome to Ouran Academy the place where the filthy rich kids go to play and relax on their rich kid duties. Only the wealthiest of the wealthiest can afford to apply here, of course with the exception of Haruhi Fujioka. Oh, Haruhi…

Haruhi:

“Senpai, can you please stop staring at me that way? It’s… weird…”

Tamaki snapped away from his thoughts and looked away hiding the tiny blush that appeared on his cheeks. Haruhi rolled her eyes at Tamaki, who always acted that way around her. She usually just dismissed him as clinically crazy. Haruhi was cleaning and tidying up the Host club room before they could officially open to the public but the reason she was doing it was because she had another task in hand. The other members seemed to notice this.

Kyoya:

Is everything alright, Haruhi? You seem to be in quite the hurry

This made her stop midway her cleaning spree.

Haruhi:

I’m sorry but I forgot to mention that the principal wanted me to give the new student a tour of Ouran before the bell rang.

Hikaru:

A new kid? Are they a first year or a second year?

Honey:

What if they’re in their third year?

Haruhi:

No. She’s a second year student.

Kaoru:

Wait… SHE?! The new student is a she?

Haruhi:

At least that’s what she implied when I met her yesterday

Kaoru:

You got to meet the new kid before anyone else?

Haruhi:

Yeah and she’s really nice too. She’s around Kyoya and Tamaki’s age.

Kyoya:

Oh really? Maybe you can introduce her to us

Haruhi:

No way in hell i am

Tamaki dramatically gasped loudly and turned pale as a ghost. Haruhi stared at him deadpanned. She never knows why he always has to do that dramatic effect.

Tamaki:

BUT WHY NOT? DO YOU NOT LOVE US HARUHI?

Haruhi:

No offense to Tamaki but the reason I don't want to introduce her to you guys is because I want a friend outside the host club, you know? It’s not that i don't want to introduce her but if i do you’ll just embarrass me and scare her off.

Tamaki’s eyes shimmered with glee

Tamaki:

Ah, but my dear Haruhi, that’s where you're wrong! My charm knows no bounds and my princely ways are sure enough to charm her!

Hikaru knudges Kaoru

Hikaru:

It seems to me Tamaki has found his new target

Kaoru chuckled in agreement.

Kaoru:

I can already imagine the over-the-top theatrics he’ll put up for her

Kyoya, the ever composed one, chimed in with a hint of enthusiasm.

Kyoya:

Now, It’s up to Haruhi if she wishes to bring her new friend. But I do advise if she’s not the theatrical type do not bring her.

Honey, who was still clinging on to his stuffed pink bunny, piped in with his sugary sweet voice

Honey:

I think it would be nice to have a new friend, especially if she’s around our age, right Takashi?

Mori-senpai who was quiet the whole conversation but listening attentively nodded in agreement.

Tamaki:

Do you know her name?

Haruhi shook her head.

Haruhi:

She never told me her name. All I know about her name is that in almost every piece of her clothing has an acronym sewn in. Other than that? Nothing.

—-------------------------------------------------

Disgusting. Putrid. Horrifying. Bright. Ugly yellow dress. Out of all the private schools he could’ve enrolled me in, it just had to be the one with the most atrocious uniform I had ever seen in my life. This color matched with nothing. I hate the white ruffles underneath it and the pink bowtie on top. Simply atrocious.

Uncle Hiroshi:

I believe you’ll love your new school.

Luz:

What makes you think that? The only reason I’m here is to please you and the family.

The harshness in her voice made his forced smile drop. He stared at his shoes trying to figure out what words to say.

Uncle Hiroshi:

Need I remind you it’s not my fault we are in this situation.

His words hung in the air leaving a thick tension between them, causing tension between him and Luz.

Luz frowned at his words. Feeling a surge of anger bubble up inside of her.

Luz:

Of course. I know it’s my fault. I’m well aware of that situation but just because I'm aware of it doesn’t mean I can't be angry.

Hiroshi:

You? Angry? Don’t be so childish. I have every right to be angry and rightfully so. Have you any idea what I did for you?

She scoffed and rolled her eyes at him.

Luz:

Any idea?... Any idea? You didn’t even fucking bother in listening to my side of the story, you believed theirs but what about me? You never cared. No one in the family fucking cared. You act so high and fucking might pretending I should be thanking you? For what?

Hiroshi:

VIVIENNE.

His voice cut through the air like a knife. Stern and Terrifying. The fury was visible in his eyes and face.

She stayed quiet breathing heavily through her nose like an angered bull.

Luz:

Don’t act like I didn’t overhear what the family said about me. I. Heard. Everything.

Uncle Hiroshi’s face went pale as her words cut through him like a sharp knife. He was so taken aback he couldn’t say anything back to her.

Luz:

You’re just like him.

Hiroshi:

The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

His words felt pungent and repulsive. She hated being compared to her father.

Luz’s eyes narrowed with a mix of anger and hurt as Hiroshi’s response hit her like a sharp dagger.

Luz:

Don’t you ever fucking compare me to that bag of shit. I am my own person, my own choices and my own fucking values. Just because we share the same blood doesn’t mean I’m destined to repeat his actions.

Luz's anger burned hot within her, fueling her every movement. She couldn't bear to stay in the car any longer, surrounded by her uncles toxic presence. Slamming the door shut with a resounding thud, she took a step away, distancing herself physically from him.

Without another word, Luz turned away and headed towards the entrance of Ouran Academy, her steps filled with determination and a newfound strength. She knew that she had to forge her own path, away from the toxic influences that threatened to overshadow her true identity.

Hiroshi watched her retreating figure, his heart heavy with the weight of his mistakes. He knew that repairing their relationship would require much more than mere apologies. It would take time, effort, and a genuine willingness to understand and support Luz on her own terms.

As Luz entered the grand doors of Ouran Academy, she took a deep breath, letting the determination within her rise to the surface. She was determined to prove her worth, not just to Hiroshi or her family, but to herself. And with every step she took, she vowed to leave behind the shadows of her past and embrace the person she truly was—a person capable of breaking free from the cycle of pain and disappointment.

As Luz stepped into the bustling halls of Ouran Academy, the sudden silence that fell around her was almost deafening. Conversations halted, and curious gazes turned towards her, studying her every move. It was as if time stood still for a moment, and all eyes were on the newcomer who dared to stand out from the crowd.

Luz could feel the weight of their stares, the whispers that traveled through the air like a current. She was acutely aware of being different, of not fitting into the mold of the typical Ouran student. Her appearance, her background, everything about her seemed to set her apart.

The students exchanged glances, curiosity mixed with a hint of intrigue. They were used to the elite, the wealthy, and the privileged, but Luz was a refreshing change. A ripple of whispers followed in her wake as she walked, a blend of curiosity, speculation, and perhaps even admiration.

Luz caught snippets of their hushed conversations, whispers of her uniqueness and unfamiliarity. Some seemed intrigued, eager to learn more about her. Others held a hint of skepticism, unsure of how to place her in their well-defined social hierarchy.

Haruhi:

Excuse me, Luz?

Luz turned around, relief washing over her as she recognized Haruhi's familiar face amidst the sea of curious onlookers. Haruhi's presence offered a sense of familiarity and comfort in the midst of the overwhelming attention.

Luz nodded, a small smile gracing her lips.

Luz:

Yes, that's me. It's good to see a familiar face. Thank you for remembering me, Haruhi.

Haruhi returned her smile warmly, unaffected by the surrounding scrutiny.

Haruhi:

No problem at all, Luz. I'm glad I ran into you. I can show you to your classroom and help you settle in. Ouran can be quite overwhelming at first, but you'll find your way around soon enough.

Luz:

Of course. Lead the way.

As Luz walked alongside Haruhi, the whispers of the students echoed in her ears, and she couldn't help but catch fragments of their conversations. The focus on her appearance, specifically her skin color, stung with a mix of discomfort and frustration. It seemed that her uniqueness had become a topic of scrutiny and judgment for those around her.

The comments about her skin color, ranging from judgmental to dismissive, highlighted the ignorance and prejudice that still existed within the walls of the prestigious Ouran Academy. It served as a reminder that even in such an elite setting, stereotypes and biases could persist.

Luz's steps faltered for a moment as she absorbed the weight of those words. It was disheartening to realize that her worth was being reduced to superficial judgments, overshadowing her talents, intellect, and individuality.

Luz closed her eyes trying not to focus on their words. She just wanted to get to her first class and be nothing, a ghost.

Kyoya:

Ah, fancy bumping into you Haruhi. Who this might be?

Luz and Haruhi turned their attention to Kyoya, who appeared unexpectedly in the hallway. Haruhi greeted him with a friendly smile, while Luz took a moment to observe him, her curiosity piqued.

Haruhi:

Good morning, Kyoya. This is Luz, a new student here at Ouran Academy. Luz, this is Kyoya Ootori, one of the members of the Host Club.

Luz:

Good morning. It is a pleasure to meet you.

She says a bit flat to him. Kyoya couldn’t help but notice her eyes, they seemed so empty and tired.

Kyoya:

Say Luz, do you wish to accompany me to the academy’s cafe? They have delicious pastries and coffee.

Luz considered Kyoya's offer, feeling a mixture of curiosity and the need for a much-needed energy boost. She appreciated his gesture and the opportunity to explore more of the school's offerings.

Luz:

Thank you for the offer, Kyoya. I could use a pick-me-up, and I've heard great things about the cafe here. I'd be happy to accompany you... only if it's okay with Haruhi. She was going to take me to my first class today.

Kyoya:

Hm… may I see your schedule?

A bit confused at his request she handed him her schedule for the day. Luz considered Kyoya's offer, feeling a mixture of curiosity and the need for a much-needed energy boost. She appreciated his gesture and the opportunity to explore more of the school's offerings.

Her schedule consisted mainly of focus on the arts, her strong suit. She was a very creative and artistic person, not to mention she also has a deep and profound love for music. Ever since she was little she surrounded herself with music and insisted on learning to play the instruments, sing, read and write notes. Her first class would be advanced music class with the history of music and its appreciation, English Literature, Then later it was practicing her German, and then finally it was advanced art.

Kyoya carefully examined the schedule she had.

Kyoya:

If it’s not a bother to Haruhi I could even take you to your class after we finish at the cafe. If that is alright with you, Haruhi.

Haruhi:

Oh, that would actually be perfect! Kyoya knows Ouran better than I do.

Luz was a bit hesitant at first but she ultimately agreed to grab coffee with Kyoya. Kyoya nodded, his usual calm demeanor unchanged.

Kyoya:

Very well. Let's head to the cafe then. Shall we?

Kyoya extended his arm for Luz to hold onto.

Luz hesitated for a moment, finding Kyoya's gesture of extending his arm a bit unexpected. However, she reminded herself that it was a common practice among the students at Ouran, a display of elegance and formality. With a slight blush tinting her cheeks, she gently wrapped her hands around Kyoya's arm, allowing him to lead the way.

Haruhi gave her a small piece of paper to which she said it contained her phone number.

Call me if you get lost or need someone to talk to. I’m always available. See you around!

Kyoya:

Shall we?

As they walked together, Luz couldn't help but feel a mix of curiosity and anticipation. She found herself observing the dynamics of the school, the interactions between students, and the vibrant atmosphere that surrounded her. The touch of Kyoya's arm provided a sense of security amidst the bustling hallways.

Arriving at the cafe, Luz let go of Kyoya's arm and took a moment to soak in the inviting ambiance. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee and the sight of delectable pastries filled her senses, heightening her excitement for the culinary experience ahead.

Luz:

Kyo-

She stopped for a moment not knowing if to approach him by his name or not.

Kyoya:

Yes? Don’t be scared of saying my name.

Luz:

Okay, Kyoya, what do you recommend I eat?

Kyoya:

Well my personal favorite is the strawberry tart. I love having it with a warm cup of tea.

Luz:

I think I’ll have that and the croissant with a white chocolate blueberry iced coffee.

Kyoya nodded approvingly, signaling to the waiter to place their orders. As they waited for their treats to arrive, Luz found herself observing Kyoya more closely. There was a certain air of mystery and intellect that surrounded him, and she couldn't help but be intrigued.

Kyoya: I noticed that most of your classes are mostly in the arts. Do you like that?

Luz nodded, a smile playing at the corners of her lips

Luz:

Yes, I do. It was actually my mother that raised me that way. She’s an artist too.

Kyoya listened attentively, his gaze focused on her as if he were unraveling the layers of her being through her words.

Kyoya:

Do you sing or play instruments?

Luz:

I used to

Kyoya:

Why is that?

Luz:

I- um…

She looks down a bit uncomfortable. Kyoya, noticing this, dismissed it and changed the topic of the conversation.

Kyoya:

Please excuse manners but it seems I never introduced myself. My name is Kyoya Ootori. I am the youngest son of my family.

Luz:

You have siblings?

He nods

Kyoya:

Two older brothers, Akito and Yuuichi.

Luz:

I have siblings as well but unlike you I’m actually the eldest. I have four sisters and one brother.

Their conversation was interrupted by the waiter bringing their food. When Luz took the first bite of the strawberry tart and her iced coffee she felt like she was melting. It passed her expectations. The combination of the sweet and tangy strawberry filling with the buttery crust was a delightful treat for her taste buds. She couldn't help but let out a satisfied sigh.

Kyoya:

I’ll take a guess and say you like the food?

She nods.

Luz:

It’s so delicious. It’s the best coffee and pastry I've ever had!

Kyoya chuckled softly, a hint of satisfaction in his eyes as he watched Luz enjoy the food.

They both finished their treats and prepared to leave the cafe, the pleasant conversation lingering in the air. As they both walked down the halls Kyoya would tell her quick shortcuts to arrive at her classrooms so she could avoid student traffic.

From the corner of his eye he noticed her scarf had something written on it.

Kyoya:

Pardon my intrusion but what does this stand for?

He gently passes his thumb over the small purple stitchings.

Luz:

Oh, that? It’s an acronym of my name. My mom used to do that to all of my clothes

Kyoya:

What does the V stand for?

Luz:

Vivienne. It’s my first name.

Kyoya's eyes flickered with intrigue as he listened to Luz's explanation. He found himself captivated by the little details that made her who she was. Kyoya had always been observant, seeking meaning in every aspect of people's lives. Luz's scarf, with its embroidered initials, piqued his curiosity further.

Kyoya:

Vivienne... It's a beautiful name. Unique and elegant, just like you.

Luz's cheeks flushed slightly at the compliment, a faint smile playing on her lips.

Luz:

Thank you… no one has ever said that about my name before…

Kyoya's eyes sparkled with a hint of playfulness as he responded.

Kyoya:

I must admit, Luz, your name holds a certain elegance and beauty that befits you. It's a pleasure to have met someone as captivating as you, with a name that holds such charm. It's a rare find in a place like Ouran.

Luz blushed slightly at his words, feeling a mixture of flattery and intrigue.

Luz could feel her heart gaining speed by the second. She didn’t know how to respond so he nervously chuckled.

Luz:

Oh stop you don't mean that

Kyoya chuckled softly, a subtle glimmer of amusement in his eyes.

Kyoya:

On the contrary, Luz, I assure you that I do mean every word. I have a keen eye for appreciating genuine beauty and uniqueness, and in you, I see both. Your name is just the beginning of the many intriguing qualities that make you who you are.

Luz's cheeks turned a deeper shade of pink as she tried to compose herself.

Luz: well- I- um...

Kyoya: This will be your classroom as of now. she was snapped back to reality when they arrived at her music classroom.

Kyoya's voice brought Luz back to the present, and she glanced at the door of her music classroom, feeling a mix of excitement and nervousness.

Luz:

Thank you for bringing me to my classroom today, and for the cafe. Hopefully we’ll see each other around?

Kyoya's gaze met Luz's, a mischievous glimmer in his eyes as a faint smile curved his lips.

Kyoya:

Of course, Luz. I believe our paths will cross again in this vast academy. I look forward to our future encounters.

His voice held a subtle undertone of flirtation, leaving Luz both intrigued and flustered. He gently raised her hand to his lips and with a delicate touch, he pressed a soft kiss against her gloved knuckles , a gesture both elegant and chivalrous. Luz's heart skipped a beat at the unexpected display of affection, her cheeks flushing with a deeper shade of pink.

The gentle touch sending shivers down her spine. She found herself momentarily captivated by his charm and the unexpected display of gallantry. Her mind buzzed with a whirlwind of emotions, a mixture of flattery and curiosity.

With a shy smile, she withdrew her hand, feeling a lingering warmth where his lips had touched. She stood there, her hand tingling from his touch, a mixture of surprise and intrigue filling her thoughts. She watched him walk away, her mind buzzing with the memory of his lips on her skin, wondering what this encounter might mean for their future interactions.

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corals-corner · 1 year

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Here's a bombardment of random questions:

What is the inspiration/reasoning behind your Tumblr username?

If you could use magic to do one mundane task for the rest of your life, what would it be?

If you could make the ultimate sandwich, what would be on it?

If you could invent a holiday, what would it be?

What book or series did you wish you could live in?

If you could be the best in the world at something, what would it be?

If you could have a lifetime supply of anything, what would it be?

What's your most unpopular food opinion?

What word do you want to be added to the dictionary, and what is the definition?

If you could, would you go to outer space?

I got all of these questions except #1 off a random website lol. You don't have to answer them all if you don't want to :P

Alright! Thank you so much :D

1) my inspiration for my user name was more or less randome. I liked the name Coral alot, so I began using it as my 'online persona', and my old username was just an acronym of a bunch of fandoms I was in, so "Corals Corner" just stuck

2) This is gonna sound basic, but doing my hair. I have alot of hair, so this would cut down the time it would take.

3) Alright, time for my love of food to shine! It would be on the Italian herbs and cheese bread from subway, bacon, turkey ham, roast beef, lettuce, cucumber, pickles, spinach, tomatoes, jalapeños, chipotle sause, mayo, and any kind of hot sause

4) National writers day! Idk if that exsist, but it would be a day where all types of writers could take a guilt free day(maybe week) off and relax, indeed have all the free time they want, this sounds weird af, but still

5) hmmm. Probably the WaterFire Saga by Jennefer Donnelly. I found her books when I was in 4th grade, and those are the main reason I'm still into mermaids :). I haven't read them all, and I only ever got to the ending of the first book, but I wo uld love to live in a world like that.

6) Art Supllies. I run out so quickly and I always need more.(money)

7)Orange Juice is much better than Apple Juice. Idk if that's unpopular, but I get so much shit about it. Also that dark chocolate is better than milk chocolate. Fight me.

8) ummm, idk about this one actually. but and my friends just say the randomest shit so probably something fucked up to mess with people

9) Being perfectly honest, absolutely not. I am terrified of the dark and of the unknown, and or large open spaces, so no. I'd be having a panic attack up there :')

Thank you so much for the questionns, I really appreciate them <3

#not any fandom #asks #ask response #respons #this was fun :)#tysm for this!!#also i know the sanwich sound like alot #but i would still 100% eat it

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foxounderscorecube · 7 months

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Her Majesty's Royal Coven - Juno Dawson

3¼ ⭐

I have a lot of thoughts on this book, but first, my overall opinion on the book is that it's alright. The cute little homage to Good Omens in the character of Annie Device and the repurpose of government acronyms for the secret magic stuff (as in the titular HMRC) are fun, and it seems like Dawson generally had a good time coming up with ways to add a secret magical layer to the real world. I thought the pacing was decent and the style is easy to read - although, having read Cruel Summer and Say Her Name since, I do think Dawson's style suits YA a lot better. At times, it feels a bit juvenile. There's a sequel for this coming out soon, though, so there's nothing to say that she won't be able to improve upon that for the next instalment!

Now, here's the thing, right. I feel like, broadly, there are two contexts which this book can be viewed in. The first is as vent art. Despite the digestible style, this book was, at times, really fucking difficult to read because it made me angry - which is not at all a fault! The premise of this book is to reflect all the weirdness we've had politically that has led to an increase in anti-trans sentiment. It does this pretty accurately, with Helena's doubts about Theo snowballing into single-issue obsession clearly echoing stories of big names like Rowling and Linehan. It's not the most complex metaphor, but it certainly works. Helena receiving the death penalty because she put absolutely everything, including the lives of those she held dear, at risk out of her pure hatred seems to act both as catharsis and as a caution: our main characters don't agree with the harshness of the sentence even if it is in law, and express worry that she will be seen as a martyr to the group of believers she's gathered and even radicalise others.

The second is as a bit of a cry for help; an attempt to let people know what's going on before our noses. In my experience as a non-binary person who's very online and generally tries to keep up with politics to at least some extent, a lot of cis people living their day-to-day lives have, at best, the vaguest idea that some anti-trans laws are being passed in some places. Most people don't really care about trans people - and not as in, "oh, they hate us", but as in, they just have no particular reason to think about them. A lot of people - again, this is all just in my experience - are in the camp of not really "getting" it, but they don't see trans people as a problem because, you know, they're just people living their lives. Which makes sense, really. Trans and non-binary people are affected by it more so we're going to pay more attention.

Where this becomes a problem is when you try to explain some of the shit the weird little anti-trans and TERF bubbles spout to somebody who isn't affected by it or aware of it. It sounds totally ridiculous! A few years ago, I remember trying to talk to my mum about it, and she just could not comprehend why people would bother dedicating their time to hating on trans people, and so was convinced it couldn't be a real problem. The fantasy aspect to this book, I worry, could take the bite out of the point that, I must stress, it makes pretty well to a reader who knows the political context. Like I said, the parallels of Helena's character arc with (previously) well-liked and well-respected people who went waaaay down the transphobia rabbithole are pretty clear, but if you read this as someone who doesn't know much about that (or, let's be fair, how radicalisation can affect people in general), her spiral could seem improbable, I would expect. Dawson also seems to have a little bit of a habit of making her bad guys do real villain monologues, which doesn't help things in this particular example.

I mean, these are just my thoughts on it. The characters are fun; the magical action scenes are a little more sparse than I'd like, but they're enjoyable; and seeing Theo gain confidence in herself as a witch is so heartwarming - she's a great expression of trans joy, and I hope she gets more focus in the sequel because she acts mostly as a plot device in this book.

One other thing I will say as a criticism, though - it seemed a shame to me that the little POC-centred coven run by Leonie gets so little screentime (so to speak). We see enough of it, and hear enough of its reason for being, that it feels like we're left hanging! Aside from it being a little prod at the fact that the UK government is pretty bad at remembering that our population includes non-white people, and being a very obvious indication of Leonie's frustrations with even her own childhood friends' tendency to be white-centric in how they operate, it doesn't add much. There's a bit of an irony to that there, actually, isn't there?

There's a lot of potential with this setting, but I don't think it quite meets it. It is very much worth the read, though - with its digestible style and intrigue, there's a lot to like about it and it was a fairly quick read. I'll definitely be reading the sequel, which I hope will do well to improve upon this!

#read 2023 #reviewed 2023 #books #fiction #fantasy

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am-i-the-asshole-official · 4 months

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WIBTA for dating my brother's boyfriend?

I know how it probably sounds from the title, but this doesn't involve any cheating. (Adding that disclaimer right here just incase you, the person reading this, tend to vote by just reading the first sentence)

🌺🏵️🌼

I(16F) will simply refer to them as Brother(17M) and Boyfriend(17M).

I have been friends with Boyfriend for a while, but never caught feelings until he was already dating Brother. I've discussed this with them both, and we all agree that it'd be alright if me and Brother both dated Boyfriend, as we'd all be consenting to it. However, I still can't help but feel weird about it. The reason for this is because I've noticed that people tend to think of polyamory as "A is dating B, B is dating C, C is dating A" Admittedly, this is unfortunately the first thing that comes to mind as well, despite it being far from the case here; I am strongly against inc*st. But that mindset is what's stopping me from doing this. Or perhaps it's a fear that other people will see it that way, I'm unsure. Either way, this has me debating if I should just let Boyfriend date solely Brother and have myself find someone else.

What are these acronyms?

#aita #am i the asshole

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whump-a-la-mode · 3 years

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Nemesis - Choose Your Own Whump 2

With A receiving the most votes on my last post, for this adventure we are going with a drugged Villain whumpee. Sorry about the generic name for this one, I really couldn’t think of anything else ^^

I hope you enjoy, and thanks to everyone for replying to the last post! As always, votes can be sent in through any method you want. Comments, asks, and PMs are all just fine. I’ll see it!

CW//Falling off a building, hostage situations, shapeshifting, medical abuse, extensive talk of sedatives, brief mention of a needle

Please note that the third scene of this piece is from the point of view of a drugged character, and thus the scene has some aspects that could be described as unreality. Please skip this scene if this would make you uncomfortable.

The video was grainy.

It was always grainy. That was the strange thing about it-- everyone carried around miniature computers in their pockets, equipped with tiny cameras that would have rivaled the most powerful devices of years prior. Any civilian could take a 4k quality video on some social media, but the moment anything actually important was happening, technology seemed to regress twenty years.

Hero supposed it didn’t matter. Their memory of the incident was certainly clear as day, better than any camera could ever capture.

And yet...

They clicked a button on the remote, and the clip restarted.

The sides of the screen were blocked out in fuzzy grey-- the video having been taken through the bars of a metal fence. Between them, the camera focused at first on the foot of a brown brick building, before panning upwards, only stopping upon reaching the roof. It took a moment for the visual to adjust, focusing against the glare of the sun overhead.

Two figures, on the building’s roof. Two figures seen so often together, in so many similar videos.

The standoff had taken from dawn till sunset. How Villain had gotten into the building unnoticed had yet to be fully understood, but, regardless of method, they wasted little time in taking hostage a group of professors, eating lunch together. A single one had been released, bringing with them a message:

“Everyone leaves. No one comes in. Everyone stays outside the fence.”

It had seemed like a trap, at first. Of course it had. It wouldn’t be the first time that Villain had played such a trick. After much debating, however, evacuation was deemed to be the best option, and the campus was soon barren.

The hours afterwards had been as long and hot as they had been nerve-wracking. The very thought of following orders from Villain made Hero’s stomach twist, but their orders were incredibly clear: Don’t do anything stupid.

It was an incredibly difficult order to follow.

Establishing a line of communication had been the hardest part. Villain had quickly disconnected any security cameras in the vicinity, alongside confiscating any technology their hostages might have held.

In the end, it was decided that a reporter would be the one to go in. One of the most recognizable faces in the city, and one that was neutral. Not fighting for either side, but representing the citizenry.

The whole plan bet on one fact: That the shapeshifting Hero could pull of the imitation.

It worked. At least, it worked for as long as it needed to. Villain accepted the olive branch, and allowed the supposed reporter to enter unharmed.

Of course, the illusion broke as soon as Hero opened their mouth. No matter how good they were at changing their shape, it did not change their voice. In the brief moment of confusion, the hostages had managed to make their escape.

Leaving only the two nemeses, and the building as their battlefield.

It was hard to remember the fight. They had waged so many battles against one another, they all seemed to blend together, at one point or another. There was broken glass, pushed over tables, exploding equipment, and then-

And then they were on the roof.

Villain was stupid, but they weren’t, well, they weren’t stupid. They may have had the moral compass of a kleptomaniac feline, and the brain cells to match, but they had common sense. A sense of self-preservation.

Forcing them to the edge of the roof... it was supposed to be like pushing them to a corner. Trapping them.

In the video, the two figures danced. Forward, and back, until one took the lead. Until they were up against the edge, with nowhere left to go.

They were supposed to stop. They weren’t supposed to fall.

They stopped their own fall, or at least they tried. They were telekinetic. Of course they did. But they were surprised, or confused, or, or something. They slowed themself down. But they did not stop. The force with which they struck the concrete parking lot below was more than enough to knock them out.

The video ended.

And... that was it. The end. Years and years of battles, some won, some lost, all ended. They should have been happy, and they were! They hated Villain, sincerely and truly hated them.

But no other villain fought like them. No other villain had their tongue, their wit. Their skill. Their fight.

Villain’s defeat should have been epic! The ultimate confrontation of good and evil, of chaos, and order.

Yet, their downfall was a simple trip.

In the corner of Hero’s TV screen, small white text helpfully reported to them just when that video had been recorded.

One year ago.

One year, since that day. Since Villain’s downfall. And now...

Hero’s phone buzzed. A text message. The confirmation of a meeting.

One whole year, and still, Hero’s mind was consumed by their lost nemesis.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The diner was terribly busy, and yet, when Hacker walked through the door, Hero had no doubts as to their identity.

Despite their rather stereotypical appearance, there was nothing about the person’s manner that would have indicated the sheer amount of time they spent behind a computer screen. They greeted the receptionist, pointed to Hero, and exchanged a few words beyond that. With a smile, then, they parted, and made their way to Hero’s table.

Their manner only seemed strange when they sat down, and Hero noted that the way they smiled seemed to pain them.

“Is this seriously what you people act like?” They hissed through bared teeth. “Can I stop smiling now? Or will they look at me weird?”

“They’re already looking at you weird.”

“They are?”

“You- You don’t need to do that.”

“Oh thank god.” Immediately, their expression fell into one far more analytic. Far less friendly. “I, uh, don’t get out much.”

“Really?” Hero raised a brow incredulously.

“I’ve got more important things to do than, uh, than going out. Anyways.” They stuck a hand outwards. It was partially covered by a fingerless glove. “I’m Hacker.”

“I figured.” Hero shook the offered hand. “I’m Hero, though I suppose you already know that.”

“You’d think people here would be, uh, a bit more in awe? It’s not everyday you get to eat in the same building as a superhero.”

“Keep your voice down, please.”

“Oh, sorry. Is it, like, a secret? You don’t have a secret identity, do you?”

“No. But when I’m out of costume, I’m not exactly that recognizable. So let’s keep it that way. Kapish?”

“Kapash. But, still, oh my god. This is so cool! A real life hero...”

“Yeah... Yeah. A real hero alright.”

A hero who could hardly focus during battle. A hero who infuriated their team leader more than they aided them.

“Anyways.” Hacker raised their head, a far more natural smile coming onto their face. “I have the... thing.”

“You mentioned that. It’s about Villain, right?”

“Mhm.”

The person across the booth leaned down, prying a laptop from a carrying case and placing it atop the table. It was a bulky thing, and as soon as it was turned on, the shrill sound of fans struggling not to overheat filled Hero’s head. Hacker clicked around a bit. They gripped the edges of the device, as if about to spin it around, before they stopped, frowning.

“It’s been a year now, hasn’t it?” They commented.

“Since Villain was captured. Yes. 374 days.”

“You remember?”

“Yes.”

“You miss them, don’t you?”

It was so direct. Hero couldn’t help but stutter:

“I don’t- Of course I don’t miss them. I hate them.”

Hacker looked up over the laptop screen to give them an incredulous look. It wasn’t a convincing lie.

“I don’t miss them.” Hero stood their ground. “But I want to make sure they’re contained.”

“I just... I don’t know if this is something you want to see. You’re trying to move on, and-”

“Show me it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. If it’s something to do with their containment, I need to know about it. I can’t let them hurt anyone else.”

“Well, that’s not the problem here. If you’re sure.”

With a sigh, Hacker spun the computer around, so that it’s screen faced Hero.

They weren’t sure what they expected. Some kind of... deep web threat? A message from Villain? A copycat? An escape attempt?

But they didn’t get any of that. Instead, the screen displayed a simple PDF. Medical records. At the top, in bold letters and a rather ostentatious logo, the header read:

Specialized Criminal Rehabilitation Unit of Organization

For the most part, the page was Greek to Hero. A slew of ID numbers and attending physicians with far too many acronyms following their names. What did make sense to them was the spreadsheet that made up most of the page, labelled:

Approved Daily Medication Dosage for Patient: Villain

The spreadsheet took up two pages with solid text. Hero did not recognize the medication names, of course, but they did not need to be a doctor to understand the entries written under the column labelled “Medication Purpose.”

Every single data cell, even as they scrolled to the bottom of the document, contained only one word. The same word.

Sedation

“This is...” Hero muttered, furrowing their brow. Scrolling up and down. This had to be wrong, somehow.

“I don’t understand most of it.” Hacker commented sheepishly. “But, uh, I have a few friends with some more medical knowledge than me. They’ve never seen anything like it. It’s more than enough medication to sedate a fucking elephant- sorry, excuse my language.”

“It’s fine.” The confusion in their voice was rapidly melting to fury.

“Even for major surgical procedures... nothing near this level would ever be used.”

“This has to be a mistake.” Hero shook their head. “A mix-up. Maybe it’s like... all the medications the facility ordered. And they just labelled it wrong.”

“Well, if it’s a mistake, they’ve been making the exact same one for an entire year. I’ve got 374 of these files. Newest one just got uploaded a few hours ago.”

“And they’re always the same?”

“With some minor dosage adjustments, but yes. That’s not, um, that’s not all of it.”

Hacker reached over, dragging the computer back so that it faced them again. There was more clicking this time, along with typing at a speed that made Hero’s fingers hurt, just to watch it.

When the laptop was spun back around, this time, it was a video.

A camera feed.

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Villain felt about to choke on their tongue.

It wasn’t a new feeling. More or less, it was the only thing they felt, anymore. That heavy block of muscle in their mouth, threatening at any moment to block throat choke air no air no-

They were losing their words again. Words... wordsssssss... Voices. Voices spoke words. Sometimes, they did. Sometimes they grumbled and muttered and sputtered and murmured like a car murmured. Cars... or was it cats? No, cats didn’t murmur. They purred. What else did they do? Not bark... no, barking too loud for cats. Cat go mew mew, real quiet like.

Cat’s meow, that is a cat’s voice. There were other voices, too. Quiet like cats. Two of them, two voices. They knew those voices, those were the doctors’ voices. The doctors liked to talk a lot. They talked, but they did not see. Or... no. They were not seen. Villain did not see them. They wanted to, but their eyes were broken. The engines in their eyelids would not run anymore, would not open the garage door, Sally!

One of the doctors’ voices got closer. A million miles away, a hand was laid upon Villain’s wrist, flipping over their hand so that their palm faced downward.

“Let’s move it.”

It was a silly thing to say. Nothing moved in this place. Nothing that Villain could see, as their eyes were broken.

“Is the other vein healed enough?”

“It’s going to have to be.”

Silly words... Villain wanted to laugh, but their muscles were firmly locked away behind a padlock.

“Okay.” The doctor sounded so sad. Why were they so sad? Villain’s mouth was full of soil. The doctor was tired. “I’ll get the rest of the medicines.”

“We’re going 30 milligrams up from yesterday on the Propofol.”

“Oh? Why?”

“They opened their eyes, yesterday.”

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Hero felt sick. In the top right corner of the security footage, the same logo from the medical records was displayed. The Specialized Criminal Rehabilitation Unit of Organization. Below it, a subtitle.

“Keeping the city safe.”

Was this safety? It shouldn’t have been. They had known, of course, what had happened to Villain after their capture and very brief hospital stay. It was what happened to all villains. They were sent to the rehab unit.

A therapy program. Helping villains to control their powers and reform their lives. To return them to the straight and narrow. But, now that Hero thought about it...

Villain was the only one who had never been released.

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Thanks so much for reading! Just like last time, there are two options along with every part of this story. Alongside each options is a question, so that you guys can give more specific suggestions if you so wish. The option that receives the most votes will be the choice that our Hero makes!

A.) Tell someone about what is happening - Who should Hero tell? (They are on a small team, as well as part of a larger Organization, for reference.)

B.) Attempt a more direct approach. Visit Villain in the rehab program - Should Hero try to rescue Villain immediately?

#whump #whumpee #whumpblr #whump community #hero villain whump #drugged whumpee #drugged villain #villain whumpee #hero villain prompt #choose your own whump #choose your own adventure #nemesis

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bellafarallones2 · 3 years

Note

From the meet uglies prompt list:

84. I’m not entirely sure who you are but we’ve been in a massive prank war ever since your first prank on your friend went awry and I was covered in paint

For JakeHollis, please? Sfw or nsfw! This screams them to me!

JakeHollis, SFW, very light angst, some absolutely weird vibes! QueerElfClub's Hollis cosplay is my headcanon for them always and forever

All told, Jake’s first day at Kepler High hadn’t been too bad. Barclay and Dani had told him roughly what to expect, including a rapid rundown of the Earth history he’d be looked at strangely for not knowing. So far, math was his favorite class, because it was the same as on Silvain. Mama had gotten him into something called AP BC Calculus, which seemed like far too many acronyms for a class about shapes. His next most favorite class was PE.

Now it was almost three, and the final bell had rung. Packing up his backpack had taken so much time that the hallways were mostly empty, and he wandered idly, looking for the exit. Barclay was supposed to be picking him up somewhere called the “kiss and ride,” though Jake had been assured kissing was not mandatory. No signs pointed the way, and Jake knew better than to ask someone for directions. Teenagers were the same everywhere.

He found himself in a wing of the school none of his classes had been in, passing rooms labeled ORCHESTRA and BAND and COLOR GUARD EQUIPMENT STORAGE. The sound of music came through the walls.

Finally, though - miracle of miracles! - he saw the light of day, and hurried towards the door it was coming from. The door was even cracked open, and Jake pushed it open the rest of the way and stepped out onto the sidewalk.

Something hit his head.

Something that made a klang noise against his skull, and he thought for a moment his head had cracked - he didn’t know how fragile these disguises were - but no, there was something else dripping through his hair and down his face and down all over his new colorful jacket. He looked down. It was white and foul-smelling, and when he blinked his eyelashes clumped and stuck together.

Jake was fairly certain neither Dani nor Barclay had mentioned this. He could barely see, just the edges of a person saying oh fuck, I’m so sorry, I thought you were Keith, and tugging him back into the school, which was not at all where he wanted to go.

“Let’s get you cleaned up,” the voice said, and Jake found himself in a restroom, without even the time to make sure it was the correct one - he needed to be in one called BOYS or MEN, or the one with a little outline of a person without a skirt. or GENTLEMEN. (Barclay knew a long list of things he’d seen printed on bathroom doors.)

But here he was, and he bent to the sink to wash his face and came up dripping. Then he repeated the introduction he’d given so many times already today.

“I’m Jake,” he said. “Dani’s brother.” (People knew Dani; she’d graduated only two years earlier. He told teachers he was Barclay’s brother. Barclay was a little older, but a better student than Dani had been.)

“Oh,” said the person. “I think I had an art class with her. I’m Hollis.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Hollis had curly black hair and brown skin, and the sleeves of their shirt were tattered like they’d been cut off and not hemmed afterwards. When they rubbed at the stuff on Jake’s sleeve with a wet paper towel he could see the fine line of muscle beneath the skin in their arm.

Jake took a deep breath. “Do you think you could point me towards the kiss and ride?”

By the time Jake climbed into Barclay’s truck, he was as clean as one could get with hand soap and paper towels.

“How was your first day?” said Barclay, tactfully not saying anything about the paint.

“Fine. I’m really glad you and Dani told me so much about what to expect. But when I was trying to find my way out at the end of the day a bucket of paint fell on my head.”

“Oh, dear.”

“Someone helped me clean up, though. Their name’s Hollis. I think we’re friends now?”

“Well, that’s nice.”

“One girl in my homeroom brought in brownies to share with everybody because it was her birthday. Are you allowed to do that even if it’s not your birthday?”

“I don’t see why not.”

“Can I bring in cupcakes tomorrow? The ones you make are really good and I think people would like me if I gave them some.”

Barclay looked over at him, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. “Alright,” he said. “I’ll make you some cupcakes.”

The cupcakes were gorgeous. Each was as the platonic ideal of what a cupcake should be, the cupcake held before the fire to cast a shadow in Plato’s confectionary cave. The cake part was delicate and moist and yellow, and the frosting was pink, dusted with rainbow sprinkles.

“Oh,” said Jake’s homeroom teacher when she saw him come in carrying the lovingly packed tray. Barclay had put crumpled saran wrap between each cupcake so they wouldn’t knock into each other. “Is it your birthday, Jake?”

“Nope! But I brought cupcakes for everyone.”

“Alright,” said the teacher. “You can start passing them out now, if you’d like.”

Jake held out the tray to each person in the first few rows in turn, receiving varyingly sincere ‘thank you’s in return. But sitting in the back corner by the window was Hollis, and when Jake got to them, he didn’t hold out the tray. No, he selected the most perfect cupcake there was, cupped its soft bottom, and shoved the perfect pink frosting into Hollis’ perfect face.

“Oops,” Jake said sweetly.

“Jake!” said the teacher. “What do you think you’re doing!?”

But Hollis was already laughing, wiping pink frosting off their face and licking it off their fingers. “It’s fine, Ms. B., we’re in a prank war.”

“Well, please refrain from waging it in my classroom!”

“I’m sorry,” said Jake. He’d never heard the phrase prank war before, but the word war he didn’t like at all. War was the slowly narrowing boundaries of habitable land, war was an enemy that was somehow both inuman and implacably angry.

The boy sitting to Hollis’ left was looking up at Jake with something like shock and anger in his face. Looking away, Jake held out the plate of cupcakes to him so he could select his own.

Jake still had trouble finding the cafeteria, and so most of the students were seated when he arrived. He was scanning looking for a seat where he wouldn’t be intruding on someone else’s friend group when Hollis’ waving hand caught his attention. “Yo, Jake! Come sit with us?”

Jake hurried over. Before he reached the table Hollis elbowed the boy who was sitting next to them, the same one who’d been next to them in homeroom, and he scooted hurriedly over into the next seat so Jake could sit next to Hollis.

“Hello,” Jake said, nodding at each person at the table.

“This is Jake,” said Hollis. “He got me good in homeroom with a cupcake to the face.”

The others at the table laughed.

“Jake, this is Keith, Madison, and Ty,” Hollis continued, indicating the boy who’d been displaced, a girl with purple streaks in her long brown hair, and a boy with a mullet.

“Nice to meet you,” said Jake. He listened to them talk as he unpacked the lunch Barclay had packed him. A sandwich on part of a baguette, a chocolate-chip cookie, a honeycrisp apple (Jake had just been on earth long enough to have opinions about the different varieties of apples), and a note reminding him that Barclay loved him and wanted him to have a good day.

His tablemates were discussing what they were going to do over the weekend. Ty suggested going to Walmart, which was shot down on the grounds that they’d done that last weekend. No one’s parents were out of town, which eliminated the possibility of a house party.

“There’s nothing to do,” Madison whined.

“Can you drive places?” Jake asked.

Everyone went quiet. “Yep,” said Hollis. “When Madison’s parents let her use the car.”

It was Jake’s first autumn on earth, and from his bedroom window on the second floor of Amnesty Lodge he could see the leaves changing colors, red and orange and yellow between the bristles of the evergreens. “You could drive around and look at leaves. I’d like to come along, if that’s alright.”

Everyone was silent, deciding whether that was the lamest thing they’d ever heard or so lame it went straight through the other side into being kind of a good idea again.

“Fuck it,” said Hollis finally. “Let’s do it. And of course you’re invited, Jake, let me add you to the group chat.”

That Saturday, a silver Honda pulled up in front of Amnesty Lodge. Madison was at the wheel, Ty in the front passenger seat, and Keith sulking in the back. Behind it was a sleek motorcycle, and the rider’s helmet reflected the autumn leaves above.

Hollis pulled off their helmet. Their hair was disheveled and gorgeous. “If it was five of us in the car someone would have had to sit in the middle back, and that sucks,” they said. “Hop on, Jake.” They were holding out a second helmet.

“Um,” said Jake, offering them a bottle of sparkling cider with gold foil around the neck. “I brought something for us to drink?” The agreement had been that they would drive to one of the pull-off spots along the highway and have drinks there.

“Sweet,” said Hollis. “Put it in the back of the car?”

When Jake opened the back door of the car he saw a case of white claw on the seat next to Keith. “Was I supposed to bring alcohol?” Jake said. “I could have.” There was wine at the lodge; sometimes on the weekends Mama and Barclay went wine-tasting together, because Dani’s ID said she wasn’t old enough.

“No, Jake, you’re fine,” Hollis said. “Climb on.”

Jake fit the helmet over his head and climbed onto the smooth leather seat of the motorcycle behind Hollis. “Hold on tight,” said Hollis.

The motorcycle roared to life like one of Silvain’s larger beasts. Then it leaped forward, swerving hard to veer around Madison’s parents’ car. Jake swallowed a shriek and held on tighter. He could no longer feel the soft fabric of Hollis’s shirt, only the beast beneath them and the wind tearing at their jackets and the red, orange, and yellow leaves racing by above.

By the time they reached the appointed meeting place the others weren’t even in sight.

“So,” said Hollis when they pulled their helmet off. “What brings you to Kepler?”

Jake knew how to lie, when presented with questions like this. But with Hollis they found they didn’t want to. “I got kicked out of my old school.”

Hollis’s eyebrows went up.

“For… stealing.” Stealing food, because his family’s traditional hunting grounds had been corrupted by the Quell, and everyone else had barely enough for themselves. The huge mounds of apples in the grocery store in Kepler were the first thing to convince him he’d been exiled to paradise.

“Damn, Jake. And here I thought you were so wholesome.”

Jake threw up a hang-ten. “Nah, I’m a real bad boy.”

“Are you… with anyone? From your old school?”

“Nope. Are you?”

“Nah.” Hollis took a deep breath. It was the first time Jake had noticed them breathing. Human beings had to breathe so frequently, he’d found, and he sometimes forgot to until his lungs reminded him. His old body had been able to hold its breath for over an hour, collapsing his lungs so he was sleekness against the water inside and out. Incompressible.

“Wanna make out?” said Hollis.

“Yeah,” said Jake.

Hollis leaned in and kissed him. The best part was how warm their lips were, how warm their face was, right up close to his. No, scratch that. The best part was how they smelled, a smell Jake hadn’t encountered on earth up to that point but knew now he could never get enough of. No, the best part was -

Tires on gravel. Jake startled, but Hollis didn’t stop kissing him, even as Madison honked the horn on her parents’ car.

To Jake, that was the most surprising thing, that Hollis would want to kiss him in front of their friends. Teenagers were the same everywhere.

#jakehollis #taz hollis #jake coolice #taz barclay #taz keith

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crhinge · 3 years

Text

My type falls somewhere between Hot Priest from Fleabag and Hot Priest from Fleabag.

Alright alright alright. Now that we’ve got the HOW out of the way (see previous post), what about the WHO?? Whats my type? What am I looking for? Well the answer is chaotic to say the least. I really don’t have a type, but like so many others, have fallen in love with fictional characters that I believe represent exactly what I am looking for. My type falls somewhere between Hot Priest from Fleabag and Hot Priest from Fleabag. Just kidding. But honestly if you guys know someone just like hot priest from fleabag, hit a girl UP.

I have narrowed down my type into ten key characteristics using the acronym: NICK MILLER (shout out to my trivia group for forcing me to sit down and truly think about this). Now Nick Miller represents the perfect balance that all men should work toward. He sets that bar so high, yet so low.

So lets dive into it shall we:

N - Nice.

Easy start. Heres the thing, You gotta just be a nice person. Im not asking for much. But again, it's a balance. You can’t be too nice. You gotta be willing to talk some shit, but in a confidential, you're my partner kinda way.

I - Intelligent.

I know I know. This is an annoying one, but I promise I am reasonable. You gotta be able to keep up with current events and interesting conversation. I don’t want a condescending dick, but genuinely just someone who knows what the hell they’re talking about. Nick Miller is a great example of this, he got into law school, but dropped out. He wrote an entire novel, but comes off as chill even though he’s actually frickin smart. Take notes men.

C. Confidence.

I cannot express how important this is. You gotta know who you are, love who you are, and own it. You can be weird as fuck but still confident; I will love you.

K. The Kool Factor. With a K.

Now the Kool factor is hard to define, but you know it when you see it. There has to be something different and interesting about you. A suaveness. A bit of a mystery. Hot priest from fleabag has the Kool factor. You are just extremely attracted to him and it is impossible to pin point why.

Miller - These are more bonus points than anything else:

M - Mustache. If a boy can pull off a mustache, that’s a huge plus in my book. Give me the facial hair

I - Independent. Please don’t be clingy. Be your own person,. Don’t wait up Boo

L - Laughter. I need someone with the same sense of humor. You don’t have to be hilarious, just be willing to watch Richard Ayoade shows with me so we can giggle together

L - Listener. No brainer. Next

E - Eyes. I am usually more attracted to dark features, specifically eyes. The darker the eyes the better. I don’t want to be able to tell where the pupil starts and the iris begins. Give me those black hole, demon eyes please.

R - radical and anti-reagan. Those political beliefs have never been so important. You gotta get on board.

Now that you know the basics of my type, here are a few examples:

1. Dev Patal. I mean. So out of my league but please date me.

2. Mark Ruffalo - he’s got the best energy

3. Bob Morley - this is a random CW celebrity that I am embarrassed to say I am extremely attracted to

4. Richard Ayoade - if you get it, you get it

6. Lip Gallagher from Shameless - we love an independent, intelligent fuck up. Big Kool Factor.

7. Hot priest from fleabag

xoxo,

Leeeee

ps. I do realize how incredibly superficial this all is. I am open and willing to give anyone a chance. These are just some general preferences for kicks and giggles.

#online dating #hinge #dating #my type #hot priest #fleabag #nick miller #seth cohen #mark ruffalo #richard ayoade #lip gallagher #bob morely #dev patel

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crim50n-r8er · 2 years

Text

Undertale: The Expansion Pack: Pacifist: Chapter 1: Ruin Part 1

The Yellow-skinned person, who we think of as Chara, moved around the pitch-black room, only illuminated with light from the hole from the mountain's peak and an area to the west. Chara would then go over to the pile of flowers and collapse onto their knees, and start to tear up. A minute of this happens, and with a poke, out from the ground comes another human...but partially transparent. The person rises entirely from the floor to reveal their pale skin tone with brown hair, rosy cheeks, brown shorts and shoes, red eyes, and a green sweater with a single, yellow stripe. The person looks down at Chara, still crying, and floats down. Then, not knowing what best to do in this situation, they hesitantly reach out their hand and rest it on Chara's back.

"It's alright," says the person in green and yellow.

It seemed the person had a feminine-sounding voice, and it sounded reassuring.

"I feel that your reasoning for coming down here was the same as mine. Come on. Let's go to that room to the west."

Chara then got up, went down the hallway to the west of the room, and went through the doorway to their left. What awaited in the center of the room was a small patch of grass housing a foot-tall yellow flower with a face.

"Howdy," the flower exclaimed happily. "I'm Flowey, Flowey the flower."

Chara hesitantly waved at the now known Flowey, slightly weirded out by all the beings they had encountered.

"Hmm... You're new to the Underground, ain'tcha?"

Chara nods to this statement to acknowledge it.

"Golly, you must be so bewildered. Someone ought to guide you on how things operate around here! I suppose little old me will have to do. Are you ready?"

Chara nods, giving the conscious flower confirmation.

"Well then, here we go!"

Suddenly, the world blinks between the room's surroundings and a black void and ends on the said void. Chara was floating in the air as a tiny, red, cartoonish heart was floating in front of them while everything else was black and white. Below the red heart was four things, "LV1," "HP," a Yellow bar, and "20/20."

"See that heart," questioned Flowey. "That is your SOUL, the very completion of your being! Your SOUL starts weak, but it can grow strong if you gain a lot of LV."

Chara questions what "LV" stood for, thinking it was an acronym.

"What's LV stand for? Why, LOVE, of course! You want some LOVE, don't you? Don't worry; I'll share some with you!"

Flowey then winked at Chara while sticking out his tongue. A little sparkle flew from his closed right eye as he did this. Just after this, five white, seed-like objects sprouted from behind the flower and floated above him in an arch formation.

"Down here, LOVE is disseminated through…little, white 'friendliness pellets.' Are you ready?"

Chara nodded hesitantly as she felt a bit unsure about this whole situation.

"Great," Flowy exclaimed as the "friendliness pellets" started flying towards Chara's current position. "Move around! Get as many as you can!"

Chara did as was told and floated over to one of the pellets, but when close, the pellet suddenly gained a burst of speed and shot straight through Chara's SOUL like a bullet. They collapsed to a pseudo floor of the void and coughed up blood in utter shock as the flower gave an over-the-top villainous smile.

"You idiot," the flower said in a trembling, villainous voice and wearing a vicious, toothy smile. "In this world, it's slay or BE slain. So why would ANYONE pass up an opportunity like this!?"

With this, Flowey gives a face that was genuinely intimidating and villainous, two black eyes and white pupils and a mouth with an unnaturally wide smile. He then surrounds Chara with the same pellets in a sphere around them."

"Die."

The pellets start to draw slowly towards Chara. At the same time, they cry for help, the person in green and yellow comforting them, and Flowey letting out an ear-piercing laugh with his toothy smile. Out of nowhere, though, a green flame pierced through the sphere of pellets, dispersing them and hitting Chara, healing them to full HP.

"What," the flower questioned in confusion.

Then, a white fireball hit the flower and sent the plant flying over Chara's head from behind. A tall monster would then appear in the void and float to Chara, getting up now. The beast seemed to be a female, anthropomorphic goat with small horns and a tunic with a symbol on the torso.

"What a terrible creature," said the goat lady. "Torturing such a poor innocent youth."

Thinking that the goat lady was another threat, Chara started to back away slowly.

"Ah, do not be frightened, my child. I am Toriel, protector of the Ruins. Every day, I wash through this place to see if anyone has fallen from the peak above."

Chara stopped backing away with these statements and just stood there to continue the conversation with the goat lady known as Toriel.

"You are the first human to arrive down here in a prolonged time. Come! I will guide you through the catacombs."

With this, the void fades back to the room to reveal the colors of Toriel. She appeared to have a white coat of fur, red eyes, white horns, and her tunic was purple with the symbol and sleeves a pure white.

"Follow me," the goat lady said as she left the room, going north.

"How come no one has noticed me yet," Exclaimed the spirit in green and yellow. "I was there right alongside you, and neither Flowey nor Toriel saw me. So what's going on!?"

Chara then goes to the spirit and pats their back to reassure them that they can see them. The spirit calms down, and they both follow Toriel into the next room. The next room was purple with a rectangle of red leaves on the ground with a light purple path leading to a forked stairway leading to a doorway at the top. In between the two stairways was a large blanket of the same red leaves, and in front of the said blanket was a twinkling, yellow star which Toriel paid no mind as if it didn't exist.

Before going up one of the stairways, Chara went over to the star and touched it. Then, with a voice of determination, the spirit following Chara said, "The shadow of the ruins looms above, filling you with determination. HP fully restored."

A menu pops up for only the two, and the player can see. From left to right, top to bottom, the menu read, "EMPTY, LV0, 0:00, --, Save, Return." Chara's SOUL was naturally hovering next to "Save," and deciding to do so, a new line of text appeared in its place. "Chara, LV1, 5:21, Ruins - Enterance, File Saved."

Chara saved their progress and then went up the stairway to follow Toriel into the next room. To the right were six pressure plates in a checkerboard pattern and a yellow switch on the wall behind them. To the left were a grey sign and a set of sealed doors.

"Welcome to your new home, innocent one," says Toriel. Allow me to apprise you in the operation of the Ruins."

Toriel would then walk around in a square, stepping on four of the six pressure plates and then going to the switch and flipping it, causing the doors to open.

She would then turn back to Chara and say, "The Ruins are full of puzzles like this one here. Ancient fusions between diversions and door keys. One must decipher them to move from room to room. Please adapt yourself to the sight of them."

Both Toriel and Chara leave the room, with the one in blue giving a glance at the puzzle to digest it before doing so. The next room was a vast hallway where it immediately turned right when entered from the south. It also had multiple amounts of the same yellow switches from the previous room on the north wall, labeled with yellow arrows on the purple walls the switches inhabit.

"To make progress here," Toriel says to get the attention of Chara. "You will need to trigger several switches. Do not worry; I have labeled which ones you need to flip."

Once this was said, the goat lady went over to the other end of the room to the west. However, right behind her, before she did this, she had a sign behind her, so Chara went to read it.

The sign said, "Press [Z] to read signs!" So the spirit in green and yellow read the message aloud to Chara as the message on the sign was in a language they couldn't understand.

Noticing a grey slab on the wall to the northeast of the room, Chara went to check it. The message on the said slab was in the same language, so the spirit read aloud, "Stay on the path."

"I guess that's our cue to go back to what we were supposed to be doing," the spirit said jokingly.

They head back on the path and cross a bridge over a small stream intersecting with the hallway. Right to Chara's left was one of the labeled switches, which they went to go flip. Chara crossed another bridge over another intersecting stream to see two more switches to the yellow-skinned human's left. The switch on the left was labeled, so Chara flipped it. This caused the spikes near the doorway to retract, but with the player's curiosity, they made Chara flip the other. Nothing happened.

"I guess you were just curious about what would happen," Toriel said. "Don't worry; it happens to the best of us. Regardless, you did great. Let us move on to the next room."

Chara follows Toriel into the next room, a turn to the left with a training dummy near the room's west wall.

"As a human taking residence in the Underground," Toriel said to get Chara's attention. "Monsters may attack you, so you must be prepared for this situation. However, fret not! The method is simple. When you confront a monster, you will enter a FIGHT. While you are in a FIGHT, have a pleasant conversation. Stall for time. I will come to resolve the conflict." Toriel then gestures to the figure near the west wall. "Practice by talking to the dummy. I will stand by the door and watch." She then went over to the door and waited for the yellow-skinned person to do as she requested.

Chara would then go to the training dummy and start a FIGHT. Like how it happened with Flowey, the room blinked between itself and the black void, ending on the said void. However, unlike that fight with the flower, a few more things are added. A thin, dark green, square grid was in the background, and four orange buttons were below Chara's stats, "FIGHT, ACT, ITEM, and MERCY."

"You encountered the Dummy," said the spirit, as if it realized its purpose to be a narrator to Chara's adventure. Not knowing where the "talk" command was, Chara looked through each one to find it in the "ACT" option. They then start talking to the dummy.

"They don't seem to be one for conversation," said the spirit in green and yellow.

Chara then looked at the spirit with their constantly closed eyes in a way that said, "No shit, Sherlock. It's a dummy!"

Chara then broke the silence. "At least Toriel seems to be happy with you."

Just then, some text appeared in front of Chara saying, "You won 0 XP and 0 gold," and with this text fading away, so did the void.

"Splendid, splendid," exclaimed Toriel. "You are so good at this."

Toriel then leaves through the North exit with Chara walking closely behind. The next room seemed to be two segments attached by a hallway which the entire room headed west. However, the segment the two were in was an empty room with a weird path with twists and turns with vines growing on the walls. Once again, Toriel speaks to grab Chara's attention.

"There is another puzzle in this room...I wonder if you can solve it."

She then began to head for the narrow hallway with Chara not far behind. As soon as Toriel made the second turn in the narrow hallway, a two-foot, white frog with a face on its black belly hopped into Chara. This put them both in the same black void for training with the dummy just a short while ago. Both Chara and the spirit accompanying them were shocked they would be in a FIGHT so soon after the exercise with the dummy.

"Okay," the spirit said to Chara to ease the situation. "I added some suggestions we can do in the ACT option. Go there."

With that said, Chara pressed the ACT button and selected the frog's name, that being Froggit. With this, three options come up: "Check, Compliment, and Threaten." Chara chooses Compliment with these options, with the spirit commenting on the events to experience. The player can't see the visuals of this themself. They can only see the battle interface Chara interacts with. The commentary Chara gave to the player is as follows:

"Froggit couldn't comprehend what you said but felt praised anyway."

Toriel comes into the battle void out of nowhere with a stern expression directed straight at the giant frog. Seeing the RUINS protector with this expression, the frog figures out that it was a bad idea to pick a FIGHT with this human. So, they just leave the battle void and go back to what they were doing before, with Toriel having her eyes follow him out. Finally, the battle void fades back to the narrow hallway that Chara was in before that mess started. They continued to follow Toriel into the western chamber having the spirit read a grey sign of stone as they walked.

"The western chamber is the eastern chamber's blueprint."

Thinking this related to the weird path in the eastern chamber, Chara went back and memorized the entire route and returned to Toriel, who was waiting at the end of the hallway. In the western section was a bed of spikes that were half the height of the fallen human and were surrounded by a moat of water.

"This wasn't here when I was last here," said the spirit accompanying Chara. "Did mom add it to this room afterward?"

Even though Chara now had questions that needed answering, they would have to wait until later, for it was Toriel's turn to speak.

"This is the puzzle," the goat woman said before looking at the said puzzle. "Actually, please take my hand."

The human did as they were told and held Toriel's hand. They then walked through the bed of spikes, the ones they treaded on retracting as they did so and following the path that was hinted with the one in the eastern chamber. Eventually, they reach the other side of the room, and Toriel turns back to Chara.

"I'm sorry, but puzzles seem too dangerous for now. Anyway, let's move on."

They exit the room and enter a long yet also wide hallway with occasional vines on the walls and what seemed to be a white pillar at the end. Once more, the goat woman grabbed the human's attention as she talked.

"You dome tremendously well, my child. However..."

She paused as she contemplated something and nodded as if she thought this was the right thing to do.

"I have a challenging request to ask of you..."

She paused once more as if she found it challenging to say was she was about to say.

"I would like you to trek to the other end of this hallway by yourself. Forgive me for this."

With this last thing she said, Toriel turned around and bolted down the hallway with both the human and spirit confused.

"Before you ask," the spirit said. "I do not know why she is doing this. So we might as well follow her request out unless you wish to do something before doing so."

Chara looks at the spirit, shakes their head, and starts walking. It took a few seconds, but the human reached the end of the hall with Toriel emerging from behind the pillar.

"Greetings, my child," she said. "Fret not, for I did not leave you. I was merely behind this pillar this whole time. For trusting me, I thank you. However, there was a fundamental reason for this practice."

She paused and looked away as if she felt bad for what she was about to say and looked back at the human.

"...to test your independence. I must attend to something for now, and you must stay here for a while. Please remain here. It is perilous to scour the RUINS by yourself. I think I may have an idea for this. I'll give you a cell phone."

With how the goat woman was speaking, that being very formal and of old ways, both the player and the human were shocked that she knew what a cell phone was and how to use one. Toriel then went up to Chara and handed them an old-looking cell phone.

"Figures," said the spirit who looked at the phone in the Chara's hands with their eyebrows furrowed.

The goat woman again grabs the human's attention by saying, "If you ever have a request for anything, please, let me know. Please be good. Alright?"

With that said, Toriel starts to take her leave. But, before she left the long and vast hallway, the human grabbed her tunic and thanked her, followed by calling her "mom."

"Hmm," the goat mother said in question. "Did you just call me..."mother," dear? Well...I suppose...Would that make you happy, my child? To call me..."mom?" Well, call me whatever you find most comfortable."

Toriel leaves to places unknown within the RUINS with that out of the way. The spirit then floats in front of the human with tears falling down her smiling face.

"Thank you for doing that favor for me. You honestly didn't have to."

Chara then shakes their head as if to say it's no big deal...at least they thought at the moment. Then, with the human and the spirit's now found loneliness, The player waits for Toriel to return. About 2 real-life minutes pass, and the player has Chara call Toriel and is given three options. "About yourself," "Say Hello," and "Flirt." Confused, the player decides not to choose that option, mainly because of choosing to fulfill that favor of the spirit calling Toriel "mother." They choose "About yourself" as they think that's a fair way to build upon relations with her. Chara then calls Toriel and asks her to talk about herself.

"You want to know more about me," the now goat mom asked. "Well, I'm afraid there is not much to tell. I am just a silly, old lady who stresses too much! If that is all, I will hang up now. Remember to stay in that hallway now. Bye, my child."

A click can be heard after that farewell, and the call ends. Then, with another three real-life minutes passing, Chara's phone rings, and they pick it up to hear Toriel on the other end.

"Hello! This is Toriel. My errands are taking a lot longer than I thought they would. I hope you can wait 5 more minutes. I thank you for your patience."

With a click, the call ends, and Chara, the spirit, and the player continue to wait. Finally, after another 5 real-life minutes, another ring can be heard from Chara's phone. Answering the call, they hear Toriel on the other end, presumably out of breath due to hearing some heavy breathing.

"Hello...This is Toriel. I found what I was looking for. But before I could take it...a small, white puppy accompanied by a mouse with red, white, and black fur snatched it away. How peculiar. Do animals like those two even like flour? Err that is an unrelated question, of course. This will take a little longer. I hope you understand."

The click of the phone indicated the end of the call once more, and the three continued to wait. Another 5 minutes pass, and like the two times before, Chara's phone rings, and they go to answer it. However, instead of hearing Toriel, the three hear the sound of heavy panting and a couple squeaks here and there. Then, after a moment in silence, the three hear three barks, a pause, and another bark. After that, a distant voice can be heard.

"Stop, please! Come back here with my cellphone!" And with that, a click was heard, and the call ended.

Thinking that the goat mom needed help, the player had Chara then leave the long and vast hallway, going out into the rest of the Ruins.

#tw long post #long post #cw long post #undertale #toriel #frisk #chara #flowey #the player

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geekgirles · 3 years

Text

Your Heart

Chapter 6 -- A Ghostophobe, a Giant Iguana, and Vegan Nacho Cheese

Word Count: 14402

READ ON AO3

As an aspiring astronaut, Danny’s dream had always been going to space.

Being able to look at the vastness of the universe, to literally look down on Earth and see every single country at once, to stargaze up close… All from the comfort of the space station as he leisurely floated around in zero gravity.

Really, that was all he asked for.

He was convinced he lost his chance when he got his powers.

Although not directly connected to his dream, the birth of Danny Phantom almost put his GPA in jeopardy several times. Before the accident, he used to be a good student, granted, not as good as Jazz, but he brought home good marks. But once the first sleepless night trying to catch rogue ghosts came, countless more were soon to follow.

Between the lack of sleep, being tardy to class or skipping it altogether, and many more instances of ‘teenage rebellion’ (all caused by his attempts to save everyone from malevolent spirits, not like anyone cared), Danny was sure his dreams of going to space had all but vanished before him.

There were no words capable of describing his joy when he miraculously pulled just the mark he needed to be accepted at Amity Park University’s Astrophysics degree. So what if he couldn’t go to a fancy college like Yale, or Stanford? That was Jazz’s dream, not his. Besides, studying at APU was perfect for protecting the town and getting access to the Ghost Zone.

He seriously doubted any of those preppy colleges would have granted him permission to build a ghost portal in their labs, anyway.

And so, he was closer to his dream than he’d thought he’d ever be during all of high school. During that time, he found solace in flying. Being one of the only two people in the whole world who could fly without help was even more special than being selected by NASA; a feat in itself. And it was so...liberating.

Even when he struggled most with his powers, just being able to fly made it all worth it. The immense relief that would envelop him whenever he just let the breeze guide him, lazily swaying in the sky and under the moonlight. The feeling he’d get whenever the adrenaline coursed through his veins as he picked up speed, sometimes even breaking the sound barrier when he felt like really challenging himself. Or just the chance to quiet the hectic voices ruling his life, even for just one moment: fight ghosts, save everyone, try to fit in, don’t let Mum and Dad find out what you are. Fight ghosts, save everyone, try to fit in, don’t let Mum and Dad find out what you are. Fight ghosts, save everyone, try toー

The mere chance to leave his worries behind, even for just a second, made the prospect of losing his one chance at his dream seem worth it.

Although...he did get the chance to be an astronaut during freshman year. But that was a story for another day.

Now, at twenty-one and with even more things to worry about, flying was still the one place he could find solace in. Tucker often told him that’d change the day he found himself a girlfriend, but let’s be real; who’d want to date someone like him?

Unlike high school, however, his problem wasn’t his look or his personality. The not-so-subtle glancesーwhich were almost predatory, might he addーand shameless gossiping and squealing he got from the girls around campus confirmed he’d grown from ‘Scrawny, Awkward Fenturd’, to ‘Tall, Dark, and Handsome Fenstud.’

The moniker stroked his ego, he wasn’t going to deny it. But the problem wasn’t his popularity with the opposite sex. The problem was how the opposite sex would react if they knew his secret.

Okay, maybe that was the wrong way to phrase that sentence. If the excited shrieking and squealing his alter ego received from the members of his fan club were anything to go by, any of those girls would faint in elation if they ever got the chance to date Danny Phantom. The polls from gossip magazines dedicated to discussing how hot the Ghost Boy was ーwhen were they gonna change that nickname to ‘Ghost Man’, anyway? When he was 40?!ー didn’t lie.

The real problem would come when his girlfriend got involved in his double life. And even if he wouldn’t want her to be involved, let alone fight ghosts alongside him like Tucker and Jazz did, deep down he knew it was inevitable. The moment his enemies found out he had a new girlfriend, they would use her to get to him. After all, what better way to defeat someone than to exploit his weakness? If Technus, of all people, could come up with that plan, anybody else could.

As he surveyed Amity Park from above, lost in his thoughts, Danny suddenly registered a source of heat coming from his right. Quickly swirling in the opposite direction to avoid the incoming projectile, a pink beam of ecto-energy, he quickly scanned his surroundings to identify his opponent. And judging by the way his Ghost Sense hadn't gone off, that could only be one person.

“Valerie.”

“It’s Red Huntress for you, spook!” A snarl, accompanied by another pink blast, came from above him. After blocking the attack with an ecto-shield, he looked up. Lo and behold, Valerie was hovering over him on her forked, black and red hoverboard, an ecto-gun protruding from her forearm and aimed directly at him.

Valerie Gray, also known as The Red Huntress. Amity Park’s most competent ghost hunter, after him. Who also happened to be his sorta-kinda-maybe-it’s-complicated ex-girlfriend. Or his S.K.M.I.C.E.G.F. for short.

Somehow, that acronym never had a good reception.

His story with Valerie was...an interesting one, to say the least. Their relationship was full of ups and downs, with the downs eventually becoming an integral and exclusive part of their interactions as Danny Phantom and The Red Huntress.

They started out as complete strangers. Well, not exactly. They both knew of each other back in the beginning to freshman year of high school, but they didn’t know each other. Valerie started out as another A-lister; haughty, self-centred, she made no effort to hide her disdain for those ‘bellow her.’ Of course, Danny, being Danny Fenton, one of the biggest losers in Casper High, was particularly low in her long list of those ‘bellow her.’

But that all changed thanks to a little ghost puppy he called Cujo.

Cujo was the ghost of a guard dog trained by Axion Labs, where Damon Gray, Valerie’s father, worked. They got rid of the dogs after upgrading the security system, with the misfortune of preparing the labs for any possible kind of assault, except for a ghost puppy with the ability to turn into a bigger, more menacing dog looking for his lost chew toy.

Needless to say, things could’ve gone better. If only because his accidental meddling had been indirectly responsible for Mr. Gray losing his job, the Grays losing their fortune and their house, Valerie falling from grace and losing her popularity, and her developing a huge grudge against all ghosts, especially him, that lasted well into present time.

If there were job applications for fucking people over that weren’t exclusively related to sex work, he’d be a pro.

As expected when someone dedicated their lives to hunting you, regardless of your attempts to befriend them or explain the situation, the two didn’t quite get along at first. Between Valerie’s newfound purpose to waste him and the fact that she never really acknowledged she’d been as terrible to him and Tucker as the A-listers were now with her, the two often butted heads even at school.

Their opinions of each other didn’t change until Skulker forced them to work together to survive his island and his attempts at hunting them both, when they actually had a heart-to-heart. Their civilian selves being simultaneously paired up for a Health class project also helped.

But what really changed things was the very same events that turned Danny Phantom into the Ghost King.

During Pariah Dark’s return, Danny Fenton and Valerie Gray really connected, and Danny learned to appreciate her in a whole new light. She was amazing while she fought Dark and the Fright Knight; the months she’d had to hone her abilities really shone through. Her attacks were intuitive, yet calculated. Her moves, nimble but they packed quite the punch. She was confident, and yet cautious enough to not get cocky.

As odd as it sounded, seeing her fight was incredibly hot.

...alright, so maybe he did have a thing for girls who could kick his ass. He blamed his dad for that one.

That day, something sparked between them...but only between Danny Fenton and Valerie; she still hated the Ghost Boy with every fiber of her being. She was positively furious when she found out he’d been chosen as the next ruler of the Ghost Zone.

Danny had to admit, anybody else with half a brain cell would have understood that crushing on a girl hellbent on destroying a part of him maybe wasn’t the best idea ever. Tucker and Jazz certainly thought so. But he was fourteen, hormones were high, and Valerie was the coolest girl he’d ever met so far, so…

Common sense be damned.

And so, they tried going out for some time. During those few dates the two went together he was over the moon, walking on air, he couldn’t believe his luck! He’d finally found a girl who liked him for him. Someone real and approachable, unlike his previous crushes on popular girlsーironically enough since Valerie herself used to be an unapproachable popular girl.

The universe itself seemed to want them to be together!

Not only did they dates suddenly get better thanks to some weird coincidenceーa blackout turning a dinner in a greasy diner into a romantic candle-lit evening, winning carnival tickets at the baseball game, the ferris wheel stopping at the most romantic point possibleーbut they seemed to be enough to get the idea inside Valerie’s head that maybe their relationship was worth giving up ghosthunting for.

Until Tucker, Jazz, and, surprisingly enough, Technus burst his little bubble. Turned out, Technus, who still didn’t respect him as his new ruler, seeing Valerie as a potential weakness, manipulated their relationship to keep him busy while he worked on his latest scheme.

The self-called ‘Master of Technology’ was also responsible for Valerie’s hatred of ghosts being renewed, for the destruction of her original suit followed by an upgrade to her current armor, and for Danny’s one-time experience in space (a happy coincidence).

Oh, and had he mentioned Technus’ meddling also led to Valerie breaking up with him before he could even ask her to go steady (hence the S.K.M.I.C.E.G.F. situation), giving him the most cliché excuse in the superheroing book, because she hated his ghost half more than she liked his human half?

Because it totally did.

Looking back, with Valerie’s icy glare set on him and a very menacing looking ecto-gun aimed straight at his forehead, maybe dating a ghost hunter set on killing him wasn’t his best idea. Fucking hormones…

“Look, Valerie, can we wrap this up? I’m really not in the mood.”

“Oh, we’ll wrap it up alright, Phantom,” she sneered, “with your ass in a body bag!” She shot at him again with the weapon protruding from her forearm. Seeing as the ghost only ducked the ecto-rays with relative difficulty, she changed tactics. Quickly typing down a command on her control panel, from between her fingers materialised three razor-sharp pink discs.

The moment her attention was focused elsewhere, Danny took the chance and flew off at top speed. Noticing his attempt to escape from the corner of her eye, refusing to let him get away, the Red Huntress stepped on the hidden button of her board’s body. With a whirring sound, the engines roared to life, allowing her to fly after him.

Once the Ghost Boy was within reaching distance and too busy trying to get away from her, with a swift motion of her arm, Valerie hurled the pink discs at him. At the sound of air being sliced, Danny turned his head just enough to notice the pink projectiles coming towards him from the corner of his eye. Maneuvering through the sky, he managed to dodge the first two, but as he ducked away from the second disc, the third came close enough to slice his upper arm.

Wincing in pain, not once stopping his flight, he cradled his arm to inspect the wound. Despite the oozing ectoplasm coming out of it, it was just a superficial cut. He’d live. As he registered the sudden heat approaching his back, Danny understood the only way to get rid of Valerie was fighting her.

As much as he hated fighting a friend, it was pointless to resist when said friend was trying to shoot holes into his body. And if he made the mistake of letting her get too close, he’d get caught in between her board’s forked ends, giving his chaser the perfect chance to activate the stinger and electrocute him.

“Hate to break it to you, Valerie. But I’m already dead, so body bags are pretty pointless!” Charging up his ecto-ray, hands glowing green, Danny shot in her direction, holding back just enough so Val would be forced to swirl around the sky to avoid getting hit. It was his signature move when facing off against Valerie: distract her with the need for an evasive maneuver in order to gain enough time to escape himself.

Just as he predicted, when the green rays of energy got closer to her, the Red Huntress willed her board to keep moving to the opposite direction of the blasts. What he hadn’t predicted, though, was that she’d change tactics and face the blasts head-on. The impact caused a plume of smoke to rise up in the air, hiding the girl from view.

Before he could fuss over her safety, however, Valerie rose up above him. Hunched down on her board before elegantly moving to stand tall, a smug grin on her face, she was surrounded by a bluish ghost shield coming from her preferred method of transport. He always forgot she could do that. “That’s too bad.” She said in a fake, sugary voice. “Guess I’ll just have to resign myself to seeing you fade.”

In an instant, she willed three metallic cubes to manifest around her head and shoulders. As the devices charged up, the Red Huntress gave chase to him once more.

Reacting almost a split-second too late, Danny resumed his own attempts of leaving her behind. Whenever an energy beam got too close for comfort, he either put all his years of flying to good use and miraculously managed to avoid getting hit, or he’d focus his energy on forming ecto-shields of different sizesーdepending on her ecto-rays' own intensity. The untrained observer would point out he could just turn intangible and the beams would harmlessly pass through him, but that was too simple. And fighting Val was never simple.

Even when she’d first got her gearーand by that he meant her old, non-Technus-upgraded gearーthe Red Huntress’ various weapons were all capable of hitting him even when he went intangible. Therefore, lowering his guard like that around her was like a clear invitation to get his ass whooped.

Getting frustrated, with Val still hot in his ghost-tail, he bellowed, “Would you just quit it?! I still got a mark from the last time we fought!”

Smirking darkly, Valerie forewent her cubic guns for her trusty ecto-grenade. “Then I know where to hit next.” She declared before throwing the dangerous device at him, hitting him square on his left shoulder.

As a burning pain suddenly spread through his left shoulder to the tip of his fingertips, not all was lost, for the resulting explosion had sent him flying across the sky to the asphalt, effectively putting some much needed distance from him and his pursuer.

Hands propped on the street and barely supporting his weight, Danny laboriously lifted his head up. All around him, people were either running away in fright of the impending battle or crowding the street as they pointed at him, whispering amongst themselves.

Lifting himself up to a sitting position, the halfa gently nursed his aching shoulder, wincing in pain whenever his fingertips touched the sensitive skin. Although whatever damage Valerie had managed to inflict upon him would soon be gone thanks to his enhanced healing factor, he knew he didn’t have the luxury to wait that long. Knowing the ghost hunter, she’d be around, looking for him. And the moment she found him, she’d waste no time resuming their confrontation.

The Red Huntress would never stop until the source of all her misery was finally banished to the Ghost Zone, or disposed off permanently.

Grunting in pain, Danny willed the cold of his core to spread throughout his body until it reached his hands. The moment his hand blazed a familiar, chilly blue he began caressing his suffering shoulder, the cold emanating from his fingertips a welcomed painkiller.

“Is there anything more unfair than being pummeled to a pulp when you’re actually holding back from hurting the other person?” He grunted, but his musings were cut short by another ecto-beam barely missing his head, a whiff of smoke coming from the asphalt that’d cushioned the hit.

His heart suddenly in his throat, the halfa gingerly looked up, only to find Valerie a few feet away from him, a smoking, double-cannoned ecto-bazooka resting on her shoulder, which only elicited the whispers around them to grow louder, more frantic. “Gotcha.” She said, her glare colder than his ice powers.

Adrenaline kicking his brain in overdrive, Danny frantically looked around, trying to find a way to escape that didn’t involve hurting Valerie or any of the onlookers. Argh, if only he could just turn intangible! As he futilely tried crawling away, his gloved hands moving against the asphalt floor below him, the sensation sparked an idea. Maybe turning intangible was useless against the Red Huntress’ weapons, but phasing wasn’t.

The only thing he needed was a distraction, and the whirring sound coming from the charging ecto-bazooka gave him an idea. It was reckless, but that seemed to be his thing lately, wasn’t it?

“Say goodbye, Phantom!” Valerie spat just as the weapon perched on her shoulder was done charging up, shooting a powerful blast his way.

Using the hand that was previously healing his wounds, Danny shot his own ecto-ray at the incoming projectile, causing his adversary to gasp in surprise. “Goodbye, Red!”

As the two forces came into contact with each other, under the stunned gazes of everyone present, they exploded into a blinding light that forced everyone, Valerie included, to shield their eyes. Wasting no time, Danny turned intangible, phasing through the floor and into the Amity Park sewer system. Once underground, he let his transformation drop, knowing Val’s Ghost Radar would find him otherwise, before making his way around the sewers in search of the nearest exit, his body leaning against the wall for support.

After what felt like an eternity, Valerie finally got her forearm out of her face. What was the point in having a dark-tinted visor if she could still be blinded? Once she’d regained the totality of her sight, that is to say, she no longer saw dark spots dancing around her vision, she quickly redirected her gaze to where Phantom stood.

Nothing.

Gasping, Valerie looked up to the sky. As her eyes scanned around for a black and white, flying figure, or even anything amiss in case the Ghost Boy had turned invisible, she soon realised the green-eyed spook was truly nowhere to be seen. Despite her growing frustration at losing her target, the Red Huntress quickly typed a command on her suit, hoping her Ghost Radar could still detect him. No such luck.

Growling in frustration with murder in her eyes, she jumped mid-air, summoning her hoverboard to appear right bellow her. Roaring the engines to life, she took off in direction to Elmerton, her home for the last seven years.

As she soared the skies, Valerie kept looking back and forth between her radar and her surroundings, looking for Phantom. “I was so close, damn it! Every time I think I finally have that ectoplasmic punk right where I want him, he up and disappears!” With a furious yell to the sky, she leaned on her board, using her feet to increase its speed.

Her gear had to be the only good thing that came out of her first encounter with that ghostly bastard. Even if she’d lost everything and her dad was constantly working long hours to keep her in collegeーher wonderful, incredible, genius dad, who deserved much more than just being a crammy security night guardー, at least what happened at Axion Labs all those years ago had given her two things: the gear necessary to become Amity Park’s most powerful ghost hunter, and the purpose to eliminate all bodiless apparitions from the face of the Earth.

Starting by Danny Phantom.

Valerie could only scoff at some people’s stupidity. Although most citizens had half the brains necessary to figure out Danny Phantom was a threat, there were still some who revered him as some kind of hero.

Oh, it was true. He saved the town from falling into that Ghost King’s claws, but didn’t anybody remember what happened afterwards? Because she did. Not even a week after ‘saving’ everyone from a fate worse than deathーand causing her some injuries and for her dad to both find out about her ghost-hunting escapades and forbid her from ever touching her equipment again, to add insult to injuryー, he ascended as the next Ghost King.

And people still celebrated him? Were they blind?!

It was clear that Phantom only ever fought the Ghost King, not to protect Amity Park, or whatever nonsense he kept trying to feed the public, but to dethrone him himself! He wanted that psycho’s position for himself, so he could keep terrorising the town with even less opposition than before!

“Hero my ass…” Valerie scoffed in disbelieving disgust.

But, apparently, only Valerie and the Fentons had any common sense on the matter. “Wow. Never thought I’d have anything in common with the Fentons…” she mused aloud. As much as she’d liked Danny when they were fourteen, his family was a whole different thing.

When she finally made out her apartment complex in the distance, the armored girl couldn’t help but carefully glide near their living room window, where she could see her father sleeping soundly on the couch after a long nightーtoo tired to even go to bed.

Carefully resting her gloved hand against the window glass, worriedly looking at the man who’d been her only source of comfort for as long as she could remember, her heart broke. “Don’t worry, Dad. I promise, one day Phantom’ll be mine. And then we’ll finally cash in that reward and leave this shit hole once and for all.”

With renewed determination, she went around her floor until she was right beside her own room. Due to her always leaving her bedroom window open, all she had to do was squeeze herself inside. Now standing in her room, she deactivated her suit, which disappeared in a swirl of electricity. Walking over her mirror, Valerie picked up a quasi-new set of clothes that were lying on her chair. “But first, let’s pay that college tuition. It won’t look good if I’m late on my first day.”

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

Phasing through the walls, Danny stumbled into his sister’s room. He would’ve fallen face-first on the floor hadn’t it been for his hands instinctively stopping the fall.

Her head snapping to the distinctive sound of a ‘thud’, Jazz immediately swirled around on her computer chair. “A little help?” Danny grunted tiredly.

Gasping at the state her little brother was in, the redhead all but threw herself at him in order to inspect any possible wounds, only to recoil in disgust when she caught a sniff of him, pinching her nose. “Ew! What happened to you to smell that horridly?! What did you do, die for real?”

“I phased through the floor and into the sewers.” The black-haired boy dryly corrected, not appreciating his sister’s skewed priorities. “Now, if you would be so kind as to help me out...”

Jazz at least had the decency to blush. Offering a hand to her brother, she helped him stand up before guiding him to her bed. Then she lowered him on top of it and resumed her previous inspection of him. She jumped back in surprise at Danny’s sudden, sharp inhale of breath when she accidentally grazed his left shoulder.

In an instant, she was basically in his face, fussing over him. “Danny? Are you okay? Is there anything wrong with your shoulder?”

“Everything’s fiー”, he stopped short when he registered her worried look. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I saw Valerie today.”

“Oh, no.” The eldest Fenton kid lamented, knowing where the conversation was headed.

“Yeah...I tried losing her, but in the meantime she landed a few mean punches on me...figuratively speaking, of course.”

“So I’m guessing your shoulder cushioned a nasty one?”

He nodded, barely turning his head to look at her. “Ecto-grenade.” He said simply, and Jazz cringed in sympathy. “Yeah. I numbed the pain a little by applying some cold with my powers, but a few real painkillers might do me some good until it’s properly healed.”

“Sure.” With a nod, Jazz got up from the bed and crossed over to the other side of the room, where her closet was located. Opening the door and standing on her tiptoes to reach the higher shelf, she grabbed her hidden first aid kit before setting it down on her desk. “Any other injuries I should know about?” She asked as she rummaged through her supplies, taking a small plastic jar with Ibuprofen from it.

“Just a superficial cut on my arm. It’s almost completely healed now, but putting a band-aid on it just in case wouldn’t hurt.”

Flopping herself down next to her baby brother again, medical supplies in hand, Jazz helped Danny out of his t-shirt. When she saw the burns on his shoulder, though, she couldn’t help but wince. “Are you sure you don’t want me to put some bandages on it, Danny? It looks pretty bad…”

The halfa sighed. He knew his sister would fuss over his health; she always did. “It’ll heal, Jazz. It always does.” Then he caught her expression from the corner of his eye. “...but if it’ll make you feel better, I suppose a few bandages just in case don’t so bad.”

Nodding readily, the aqua-eyed woman went to quickly retrieve some of the aforementioned bandages from her kit. Then she proceeded to wrap them around her brother’s left shoulder and pectorals. When Danny sent her a questioning look, she just shrugged and said, “Just in case.”

With his shoulder taken care of, Danny, almost begrudgingly, stretched his arm out to her, letting her inspect his cut. Even though he was right and it was just a flesh wound, it was still important to clean it. Pouring some disinfectant on a bunch of cotton balls, with the help of tweezers she gently dubbed the cotton against his skin, prompting Danny to wince in displeasure.

She rolled her eyes at his childishness, annoyed. “Oh, come on! You literally just faced a ghost huntress, walked around the sewers for who knows how long, and this is something to complain about? Don’t be such a baby!”

“Hey, you have no right to complain about me complaining! You’re not the one who’s routinely going through some kind of medical procedure.” And he’d never want her to go through one; not even a simple check up.

“Whatever,” she said as she put the band-aid on. She dusted her hands off before smiling proudly at him. “All done. Now, go get some rest before it’s time to go and you have to shower.”

Danny pouted. “Do we still have to go? Jazz, I’m injured…” He tried to bargain with his best sad, puppy-dog look.

Jazz wasn’t buying, though. “Should’ve thought about that before you assured me your wounds would heal soon. Come on, Danny, you know I’ve been dying to try this place out and you promised to take me.”

“Can’t you take Tucker with you while I rest, instead?”

“No, because,” she lifted three fingers up, ready to count her options off, “one, he’s not my brother, and I’d like to go with my brother. Two, if you turn your head to my nightstand ever so slightly, you’ll see it’s only 12:30 PM on a Saturday; we’re leaving at sevenーyou’ll have plenty of time to rest. And three...can you really imagine Tucker stepping foot in that sort of place even if I bribed him with $1000?”

Danny visibly deflated at that. “No…”

“Then it’s settled.” Jazz declared. “Go to your room and rest. I’ll tell Mum and Dad you came while they were working on the lab and that you’re tired from an all-nighter of working on an assignment.”

“You’d think they’d be surprised I’m not getting straight A’s with all the times we’ve used the studying excuse on them…” Danny muttered as he left his sister's room.

Standing against the door, Jazz shrugged. “Mum thinks spending so many nights awake studying is actually counter-productive, so…”

Danny chuckled before standing in front of his room’s door. Before going in, however, he called out to her. “Uh, Jazz?”

“Hm?”

“You’re the best.” He smiled at her.

She smiled back. “Anytime, Baby Brother.”

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

A deafening roar echoed throughout the manor. Her heart pounding, Sam ran as fast as she could along the corridors, barely registering where she was going. She took so many turns around the halls she lost count, all portraits and decorations merging together so it’d look like she was running through the same, never ending hallway. But she didn’t care. All that mattered was getting to the origin of the noise.

When she finally arrived before the gates guarding the bloodcurdling sounds, she skidded to a halt so abruptly she almost gave herself whiplash. Now that she was closer to the source, Sam could also make out the sound of screaming coming from inside the room. And when she noticed just where the roaring and screaming was coming from, her heart all but stopped.

The training room.

The place where the younger members of the clan practiced and perfected their magic. Whatever happened there now had a group of kids trapped!

She had to do something!

But, being the queen and therefore not being able to afford anything happening to her in fear of unleashing a civil war, she’d promised she’d wait for Wilhelmina to arrive, or at the very least, for Paulina and Star to support her.

Anxiously, her eyes kept darting back and forth in all directions, hoping against hope that someone, anyone, would soon come to help. They couldn’t risk their kids’ lives like that. Suddenly, the roars and screams only got louder, accompanied by the sounds of thrashing and the crunching of wood being broken.

Whatever it was that was going on, it was mayhem!

The minutes felt like hours and there was still no sight of her Minister of War or her handmaidens. Fear gripping at her heart, terrified for the sake of the students trapped behind those doors, Sam threw all caution to the wind. Willing her mind to clear so she could establish a proper connection with her anima, the Witch Queen cupped her hands together in front of her chest, taking advantage of the extra dose of adrenaline to fuel her essence. As soon as she felt the familiar pull of power, she opened her now blazing, violet eyes and shouted, “Aries!”

From her open palms a host of purple light began to take form. In the blink of an eye, the spell solidified, shooting forwards to the gates and effectively crushing them by sheer force. As the dust resulting from the impact cleared, allowing Sam to finally see what was going on, all she could do was gasp.

Standing tall and imposing in the middle of the room, surrounded by a group of terrified students who were hiding from it in the furthest corner of the classroom behind a row of desks, a gigantic iguana, the size of that dragon ghost that sometimes haunted the town, roared as it shoved tables out of its wayーtheir now spilled contents cluttered the floor.

When the giant reptile’s eye landed on her, obviously taking notice of the explosion of light, Sam felt her blood run cold. And yet, in spite of the danger, she preferred having the beast targeting her than causing harm to the girls. As the creature threateningly stomped in the direction she was in, the young queen formulated a plan.

If she could just keep the iguana distracted long enough until Wilhelmina came, she could win enough time to allow the kids to escape. But she’d have to tell them her plan as well.

“And I know how.” She mused aloud with a smirk on her face. She was just glad she was currently wearing pants instead of an extravagant dress.

As she waited for the reptile to get closer to her, biding her time, Sam intertwined her fingers save for her indexes and thumbs, which were in contact with each other. Then, just as the iguana’s claw was about to strike, she mimicked the action of a gun shooting with her arms. “Ignis!” She cried out.

From her fingertips she kept shooting energy beams at the monster as she ran in the direction the girls were in. When one of her beams hit the iguana in the eye, causing it to cry out in pain and, most importantly, to be distracted, Sam quickly slid down to behind the remaining desksーwhere the girls were.

“Girls, are you okay?!” She whispered-shouted as soon as she caught sight of them. They were a small group, six girls around the ages of 10-12.

One of them, a brunette with green eyesーViolet, if Sam wasn’t wrongー, spoke up on behalf of her friends. “Your Majesty! Oh, thank Goodness...Yeah, we’re fine. As soon as that thing appeared we ran and hid here.”

The violet-eyed witch sighed in relief. “Thank God. Alright, Violet, right?” The girl nodded, the smile on her face was so wide due to the Queen remembering her name, one would almost forget they were all in danger. “Right. I need you to tell me how this happened. And why are you guys all alone, shouldn’t an adult be with you at all times?”

Lola, a shy girl with black hair and glasses, and a distant relative of Paulina, answered instead. “Uh, well, we-we weren’t alone, your Highness.”

She’d have to tell them some other time that title was for princes and princesses, not queens. But first, saving their lives. “What do you mean, Lola? Who was with you?”

“Wilhelmina.”

“Wilhelmina?!” she repeated, a little too loudly. Wincing at the realisation, she hushed the girls in case the iguana had heard them. Whimpering in fright, the kids got closer to her, and she unconsciously wrapped her arms around them. After a few minutes and no response from the monster, Sam let out the breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Okay. Girls, can you explain to me why Wilhelmina isn’t here? It’s not like her to leave students unsupervised.”

“Class was ending, anyway.” Violet explained. “She said she had something to do and that she trusted us to clean everything up before we left.”

Sam did not like where this was going. “And the giant iguana?”

“We don’t know.” Lola said, then she pointed at one of her friends, a blonde named Tamara. “We were talking about the familiars we’d like to have when we completed our Rite of Passage while we were finishing brewing today’s potion when Tammy said she’d wish to have an iguana. And, boom!”

“Is that true, Tammy?” Sam questioned the girl.

Tammy nodded, tearing up. “Y-yes…I-I said...I-I’d like...a-an iguana and...and then...the p-potion...started b-boiling...and o-out of n-nowhere...that...that monster appeared!” She admitted between cries.

Panicking, both because of the little girl crying and the potential danger of being discovered, Sam scooted closer to her, wiping her tears away with her hands. “Shh, shh! It’s okay, Tammy. It’s not your faultーthese things happen!”

“R-really?”

The queen nodded, smiling reassuringly at her. “Really. This sort of thing happens all the time. You’ll learn what it is soon enough.”

“So I’m not in trouble?”

“No, you’re not.”

Before Sam could so much as blink, the girl threw her arms at her, hugging her. The raven-haired witch stiffened at the contact, not used to dealing with physical affection...or kids. After a minute, though, she relaxed and returned the embrace. Tammy needed comfort at the moment.

“What do we do now, your Majesty?” Violet asked, bringing her queen back to Earth.

“Is that thing going to eat us?” Lola insisted, looking positively spooked.

“No, no. None of that!” Sam assured them, letting go of Tammy. “Because I have a plan.” She motioned with her hands for the girls to get closer to her before continuing. “First of all, don’t worry. Iguanas are herbivores; they don’t eat meat, let alone humans! So listen closely, any minute now Wilhelmina, my ladies-in-waiting, and whoever else they’d called for help will appear through that door. I’ll share my plan with them and while we keep the iguana busy, you’ll run away from here. Understood?”

The group nodded readily. “Good.”

“Your Majesty, where are you?!” A familiar voice called out to her.

Crawling quietly, Sam dedicated one last look at the younger witches. “Remember, don’t move until I tell you to go, got it?”

“Got it.” The six of them said in unison.

With a nod of her own, Sam crawled out of her hiding place before standing up and breaking into a full run to the direction the voice came fromーapparently, it was Susan who’d called out to her, accompanying her mentor. The latter, as well as Star and Paulina, were blocking the reptile’s exit.

“Ignis!” repeating her actions from earlier, she shot another energy beam at the beast, before standing beside her subjects.

“What is that thing!?” Paulina asked, looking completely revolted.

“It’s the result of a spell gone awry.” The Witch Queen answered. “A girl got distracted while brewing a potion and this is the result.”

“What kind of distraction?” Star raised an eyebrow.

“What do you think?” Sam replied as if that was all the answer she needed.

Apparently, it was, because nobody else said a word until Wilhelmina’s hoarse voice broke the silence. “Your Majesty! What are you doing here!? You’re supposed to wait for help to come!”

The Goth couldn’t be bothered to pretend she cared about the protocol right now, especially not after discovering her fellow Council member had left a group of witches in-training completely unsupervised. “Not now, Wilhelmina! The kids are still here; we’ve gotta help them escape!”

“And how are we going to do that?” Star let out, trying to hold down the barrier of fiery, orange energy she’d created to prevent the beast from leaving the training room.

“I have a plan.” Sam turned her attention to the potion-maker in-training. “Susan! Do you have one of your Minisize Me potions on you?”

The Asian teenager reached for her bandolier and grabbed a spherical jar in her hand. “Always, your Majesty!”

“Good! While Star holds the barrier down, Wilhelmina, Paulina, and I will try to restrain our little friend long enough for the girls to escape. As soon as the last girl has left the room, you have to throw the potion at the monster. It’s the only way to take care of it!” She then turned to her lady-in-waiting. “Star, the moment this thing’s all tied up, you let your barrier go so the girls can leave, got it?”

“Yes, my Queen!” Both girls exclaimed in unison, readying themselves.

“Very well. Wilhelmina, Paulina,” she called out to them, “you take care of binding the reptile with me. Wilhelmina, since you’ve got the potions, you take care of its hind legs and tail; Paulina, you tie its left paw down. Ready?” Getting twin nods from her fellow witches, they all charged against the monster.

As Sam and Paulina projected their respective animas in the form of a lasso with a scream of “Conjunctionis ligaveris!”, Wilhelmina used her own essence to propel herself above the beast, landing nimbly behind it. While the young queen and the Latina struggled to keep the reptile in place, their purple and soft pink animas tied tightly around its front paws, the potion-maker rummaged through her trusty bag, looking for her BubbleBomb potion. At the same time as she tried to dodge the animal’s large tail.

Maybe Susan was right and she did need to organise her collection in a pair of twin bandoliers, just like her apprentice.

Just as she was beginning to get frustrated, her finger brushed against a sticky substance. A familiar, sticky substance. Crying out in triumph, she got the jar with the sticky, pink slime from inside of her bag, just in time to be lifted up in the air by the force behind the collision of the iguana’s tail hitting the ground. Using her momentum, Wilhelmina smashed the bottle against the floor, which then exploded in a bubble of pink slime, effectively restraining the giant reptile’s movements.

“Girls, now!” Sam cried out, struggling to keep her focus long enough to keep the iguana down for much longer.

The kids didn’t need to be told twice. As soon as their queen gave the order, they got out from their hiding spot and ran towards the door, where Star was waiting for them. Upon seeing them, she lowered her barrier, exhaling in between pants due to the physical exertion, thus allowing the group of kids to leave the room safe and sound.

Smiling at their retrieving forms, Star cupped a hand around her mouth to call out to the, now, youngest witch in the room. “Susan, it’s all up to you now!”

Determined to not let her queen and mentor down, Susan ran towards the closest wall before leaping in the air feet-first towards it. The moment her feet came into contact with its surface, the teenager propelled herself to rise high above the ginormous beast. As soon as she was within optimal range, she hurled the spherical jar at it, which broke against the iguana’s hard-as-steel scales. In an instant, a cloud of turquoise, twinkling smoke enveloped the beast.

Coughing and clearing the air around her with a wave of her hand, Sam dared look up to the direction the large creature once stood at. To her immense relief, she saw nothing. So willing her magic to deactivate, she walked over to where the, now, normal-sized iguana was.

Smiling, she picked the lizard up. “You gave us quite the scare, right, little guy?”

“What do you intend to do with it, your Majesty?” Susan asked as soon as she nimbly landed on her feet the same way a professional gymnast would.

“Why don’t you keep it? I believe you’ve mentioned Duke Scalynton needed a friend a few times now.” She suggested as she handed the iguana to the potion-maker in-training.

Looking down at the iguana in her hands, she turned to her mentor. “Would that be alright, Ms. Redring?”

“Perfectly so, Susan. Don’t worry.” Wilhelmina assured her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You did well today.”

Susan smiled brightly at that. Sam, on the contrary, could only frown at her. “Wilhelmina, the kids told me you were supposed to be looking after them, but you left them to clean everything by themselves before classes were officially over.”

The Minister of War remained impassive. “My apologies, your Majesty. I had other matters to attend to that required my immediate attention, and since today’s potion was rather simple, I supposed they’d be fine on their own for a few minutes.”

“So because you had better things to do you completely ignored one of our most important rules and risked the lives of six little girls in the process?” Sam seethed, arms crossed, her eyes blazing a dangerous, dark violet for a second.

Wilhelmina narrowed her own eyes on her. “Careful, your Majesty. I don’t believe you’re in any position to say anything. Seeing as how often you completely disregard protocol; or have you already forgotten that you should have waited for back up before facing off against the threat yourself, hm?”

Sam balled her hands into fists at her sides, knowing, and hating, that she had her there. Turning around to leave the room, she spat. “Just, don’t let it happen again.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it, my Queen.” The brunette let out, almost sinisterly.

Susan was petting her new pet when she noticed a shadow casted over her. Looking up, she almost gasped. “You did well today, girl. Just, do me a favour and keep that thing away from me.” Paulina told her with a smile, keeping a respectable distance between herself and the iguana in the teenager’s arms.

Susan’s mind, other times sharp and focused, was suddenly completely blank. Mouth hanging open and eyes blinking at random intervals, she was sure she was gaping at the beautiful woman before her. “Uh...I...I mean…,” she stammered, “y-you look good, too! I-I mean! You did good, too. Obviously. Ah! Not like you don’t look good, too! You always look good! Just...you know, yeah…” She finished lamely.

Oh, why couldn’t the iguana have eaten her before she spouted all that nonsense?!

“Okay…” The Latina drawled. “Well, I gotta go. See ya.”

“Yeah, see ya…” The teenage girl sighed dreamily, before realising what she was doing and facepalming herself.

Now that they were outside of the training room and accompanying Sam to her quarters, for they had to help her get ready, Paulina eyed her best friend’s knowing grin in distaste. “What?” She snapped.

“Somebody’s got a crush on you!” The blonde teased in a sing-song voice, the shit-eating grin never leaving her face.

But the Latina just huffed. “Please! And who doesn’t? I’ve had my fair share of admirers since we were in ninth grade, Star. Don’t make such a big deal out of it.”

“That may be true,” Star conceded, “but I think this is the first time a younger girl’s crushing on you and you’re actually nice to her. The Pauli from back in Senior year would’ve crushed her dreams in a heartbeat.” She commented offhandedly, ignoring the look of pure horror flashing through their Queen’s face.

The blue-eyed beauty just rolled her eyes. Since she wasn’t used to being on the receiving end, she often forgot how ruthless her best friend could be when she was met with some quality gossip. “I’m not eighteen anymore, Star! And Susan’s a good kid, of course I’m not going to be a bitch to her.”

“So you like her back?” The blonde asked, now feeling apprehensive.

“Are you crazy?!” Paulina snapped at her, turning her face in her direction so fast she almost gave herself whiplash. “First of all, she’s seventeen! I might like to party, but I’d never date a minor.” She sniffed in displeasure. Seriously, what was this girl thinking?!

Her fellow handmaiden sighed in relief. “Thank Goodness, I was actually worried for a second. Just...try letting her down gently, okay?”

“Who do you take me for? Besides, even if she were our age, which, again, she’s not, I just don’t swing that way.”

Star let out a hollow laugh. “Don’t try selling me the ‘I don’t swing that way excuse’, I’ve seen you throw your principles out of the window for the sake of screwing people over. And about letting her down gently, admit it Pauli, you can be a bit of a bitch.”

Sam, not daring to say a word, could only furrow her brow at what her subjects were saying. “What the Hell?”

Ignoring their queen’s silent judgement, Paulina gasped in surprise. “And what is that supposed to mean?”

Rather than backing off given her friend’s reaction, Star only snorted. “Oh, come on. Don’t pretend you don’t remember that one time in ninth grade that you agreed to go to homecoming with a complete loser just so Dash could play a joke on him.” Then, she turned pensive. “Hm, now that I think about it, we never did pull the prank on him...I wonder why.” She muttered to herself.

Paulina’s mouth made an ‘o’ shape at the reminder. “Oooooh, that’s right! Yes, I did totally do that. Such a shame the guy was a total loser; he at least had decent taste in jewelry.”

The two kept chattering away until they noticed their queen’s appalled expression, her jaw hanging low. Giggling sheepishly, Paulina tried to save some face, Star nodding with a forced smile beside her. “That was a long time ago. We’ve grown up, we promise.”

Blinking slowly at them, Sam forced her mouth shut. Doing a dusting-her-hands-off motion, she symbolically separated herself from anything having to do with their high school lives. “Something tells me we wouldn’t have got along growing up.”

“Then isn’t it great we only met outside of high school?” Star offered.

“I think I’d much rather you just talk to me either about things going on inside the manor, or whatever crazy shit you’re up to at college.” The violet-eyed witch insisted as she turned her doorknob to let them in. For that day’s appointment she wanted to spice things up a little, but she still wanted a simple look that matched with her usual self, hence why she needed the girls’ help.

“Oh. My. God!” Paulina exclaimed, raising her palms up as she entered the room. “You will not believe the drama that’s stirring at APU right now!”

Star, who was already seated on one of Sam’s chairs, made a sound of appreciation. “Ooooh! Do tell.”

As Sam went over to her closet and began to randomly pick up different clothes to ask the girl’s opinion onーt-shirts, jeans, skirts, dresses even…ーPaulina went on with her retelling, she and Star sporadically putting a stop on their conversation to give their queen some feedback. “Remember Tiffany? That two-faced, bitchy classmate of mine who’s been totally jealous of me since, like, forever?”

“Tiffany is a rather stereotypically bitchy name.” Sam commented, her focus on two different t-shirts. “As in, high school queen bee, cheerleader captain kind of bitchy.”

“I was a high school queen bee, cheerleader captain, Sam.” Paulina deadpanned.

“Oh!” Sam faulted, biting her lip in embarrassment as she wondered how she’d fix that one. “Well, your name is not stereotypically bitchy...Tiffany is. I mean, how many high school chick flick villains are dumb blondes called Brittany, or Tiffany, or Cassidy…?”

“She does have a point.” Star conceded, propping her elbow against the chair’s back.

With her index and thumb cupping her chin, the Latina ‘hmmed’ in acknowledgement. “Fair enough. Anyway, Sandra told me that Luka told her that Eliza told him that Tiffany’s out to get me ‘cause she’s so jealous it’s ripping her apart.”

As her ladies-in-waiting turned down her latest outfit, Sam arched an eyebrow, not following the conversation. “But didn’t you just say she’s always been jealous of you? What’s new about that?”

“What’s new is that now she’s jealous of me because Brad Carmichael, her ex-boyfriend with whom she broke up because he was dating a girl from Elmerton University behind her backーnot like she’s been a model girlfriend herself, if you know what I meanー, is apparently into me. And she can’t stand it.”

“But are you into Brad?” Star questioned, while Sam was busier wondering how she even managed to keep track of what Paulina was talking about in the first place. She’d already forgotten the guy’s name was Brad, for fuck’s sake! Her best guess was that keeping up with the latest gossip was some sort of ‘popular girl’ superpower.

Paulina let herself flop down on Sam’s bed with a noncommittal sound coming from her throat. “I mean, Brad’s cute, but I’m sort of seeing Matthew at the moment you know?”

“Sort of seeing?” Sam echoed.

“Yeah, he wants us to go steady but, like, I don’t know if I want to tie myself down to anyone right now, you know? I just don’t think I’m ready to be ‘Matthew’s girlfriend.’ But I know that if I tell him that, he’ll think I want to stop going out altogether, when I just don’t want to rush to label what we have. That’s all.”

“Why do you even have to become ‘Matthew’s girlfriend’? Why can’t he be ‘Paulina’s boyfriend’?” For a moment there, Sam worried the feminist inside her had ruined the conversation, if their silence was any indication, until Paulina, almost automatically, moved to a sitting position, looking like she’d just had a spiritual awakening.

“OMG, you’re so right! “ She exclaimed. “If Matthew can’t accept being labeled my boyfriend, then he’s not worthy of my time. Period. Thanks for the advice, Sam.”

“Uh, you’re welcome?” Sam said, feeling unsure. “Now, could you guys please help me get ready? ‘Cause I still don’t know what to wear…”

Both ladies-in-waiting exchanged a glance, before shrugging. Star was the one who voiced their opinion. “The clothes you have in your hands right now are fine. Just combine them with your usual look and you’ve got your casual, yet original, outfit.”

Looking down at the items in hand, Sam had to admit, they really seemed perfect. “Thanks, girls. You two are the best.”

“We know.” They said in unison.

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

The Verde Que te Quiero Verde was the latest rage in vegetarian restaurants. The establishment was owned by a couple of elderly Mexican immigrants who, per their grandson’s suggestion, had given the typical Tex-Mex food a vegan spin.

All websites reviewing the place gave nothing but praise to the meals and service, and about half of the comments recommended asking for their nachos with guacamole and vegan cheese. Its prices were also known for being very reasonable.

‘Lowly’ Mexican food turned vegan and exorbitant-prices free, the kind of place Pamela Manson would rather die than step foot in.

Which was why Sam was so thankful that Saturday night it was just her dad and her, for her mother was busy background checking anyone who wanted to rent the manor for the upcoming Halloween.

Her dad and her were already seated and looking over the menus, but she couldn’t help being distracted by her surroundings. Despite the more modern take, the Verde Que te Quiero Verde resembled the typical Mexican hacienda, with its white-chalk walls, the red tile roofs, its arches… The restaurant was even a two-story building whose second floor, which held even more tables, had balconies offering a nice view of the fountain in the middle of the room and tables surrounding it below.

It was positively lovely.

And yet...Sam couldn’t quite enjoy it as much as she’d like.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was definitely off with Wilhelmina. Leaving a group of inexperienced, little girls at their mercy while they performed magic? What was she thinking?! She had no idea how lucky she was, had anything happened to any of the girls and she would’ve been put to trial, leading to losing her position as Council member, at best, or to being expelled from the coven altogether, at worst.

Subconsciously, Sam gripped her menu a little tighter. Wilhelmina was already around when she was a kid and Grandma Ida was still queen. Back then, she remembered, she gave off this strict and stern vibe, even more so than Margaret with her by-the-book nature. But ever since she ascended to the throne, her strictiness had turned into outright arrogance.

Back when she was fourteen and had just volunteered herself as the next queen, Wilhelmina seemed the less willing to give in. She was the quickest to point out her age and inexperience, and Margaret and the, then, newly appointed Delilah miraculously managed to get their fellow member to give her a chance. If just barely.

Even know, after seven years of devout sacrifice in the name of the Amity Park Clan, that frustrating pain in the butt still hadn’t let go of her reservations towards her; often making snide comments that casted doubts on her leadershipーlike the one from earlier…ー, or looking over her shoulder with an air of superiority.

All that, Sam could, begrudgingly, put up with. But putting innocent kids in harm’s way and then having the gall to act all smug on her?! What if Phantom had been right? What if there really were witches up to no good right under her nose? What if…?

“Sammy?” Her dad’s voice cut through her thoughts like a knife cut through butter.

“Huh?” She responded, oh, so eloquently.

“Are you okay? I’ve been calling you for a while now and you haven’t answered until now. Also, it looks like you’ve tried to strangle your menu over some sort of terrible crime…” He pointed at the crumbled piece of paper in her hands to demonstrate his point.

Looking down and noticing the mess she’d made of the poor aforementioned piece of paper, she set it down gently with a sheepish smile on her face, “I’m fine, Dad. Just...thinking.”

“About what?”

“Stuff.” At her dad’s questioning, raised eyebrow she elaborated. “Frustrating stuff.”

“Kiddo, please, enter a literary contest; you’re so eloquent and articulate.” Jeremy deadpanned, setting his own menu down and propping his chin on his intertwined hands.

Sam rolled her eyes, letting out a hollow laugh. “Hilarious, Dad. Aren’t you supposed to be the preppy and optimistic one of the two?”

“I am.” He agreed. “But I’m also a Manson and your Grandma’s son. So you could say snarking runs in the family.”

Parents looking as smug and self-satisfied as her dad did at that moment should be illegal. Crossing her arms with a scowl, Sam slouched on her seat. “Whatever.”

Jeremy just shook his head fondly at his daughter. “You’re lucky your mother isn’t here right now, young lady. Otherwise, she would scold you on your posture.”

The mere mention of her mother made her straighten up, reflexively.

“But now seriously, kiddo. What’s the matter? You know you can talk to your old man about anything.” He offered her an encouraging smile.

Unfortunately, his readiness to be there for her only made her heart sank. No, I can’t, she wanted to say, but instead opted for, “I’m...having trouble with a...with a classmate.” She lied, hating herself for it. “I was elected as team leader, but she’s never quite been able to accept it. Maybe she wanted the position herself, maybe she just doesn’t think I’m good for the job...I don’t know. All I know is that she makes no effort in hiding her displeasure.

“Which, okay. I can take it, I guess. I mean, one more person who doesn’t like me! Boy is that old news...But she’s made a mistake recently and she didn’t even apologise; she just rubbed my own mistakes in my face. And I...I don’t know what to do, Dad.”

Jeremy stayed quiet for a minute, just observing his daughter with a keen eye. Maybe saying he and Sam were close was a little far-fetched; Pamela and, surprisingly enough, his mother had always insisted on signing her up for a million extracurricular activities growing upーironic, when one took the fact that she’d also been homeschooled for most of her life into consideration. But he’d learned long ago to not question it, after all, their Sammy had turned out okay and very capable in the end.

He had to admit, he didn’t always understand her, either. Like her interest in the occult, her love for loud, unsavory bands with questionable taste in names, or her insistence on being identified as a Goth since she was twelve. As a man used to making his wife happy with diamonds the size of strawberries, giving his daughter spiked collars for her birthday left him feeling a little queasy. But, hey, if it made her happy… As long as she didn’t join a cult he was golden.

But there were still moments when even Sam, his strong-willed, independent, confident baby girl, felt vulnerable against the cruel world she lived in. And it was in those moments when he had to take the lead and be the responsible authority figure in the relationship. Moments like now.

Reaching across the table, he rested his hand atop of hers, directing her attention to him. “Sometimes people will try to make our lives difficult, but we mustn’t let that stop us from doing what we think it’s right. So your friend doesn’t think you’re doing a good job leading the team? Then let her think that! If it’s only one person who feels that way, then she’s probably just trying to mess with you.

“But if the other people in your group feel the same way, then maybe you should take a moment to reevaluate things. Don’t be afraid to ask this girl about her opinion. Who knows? Maybe she does have something valuable to contribute.”

Alright, this was all great advice for actual teamwork, but it didn’t apply to her problem. She was trying to rule a coven, not decorate the gym for the upcoming prom. “What are you trying to say, Dad?”

“I just think you shouldn’t take everything on by yourself, Sammy.” He said as he patted her hand, then he leaned back on his chair at the same time as he picked his forgotten menu up. “Now, do you know what you want to eat, or should we wait a few more minutes?”

Sam couldn’t help sending her dad a small smile, even if it didn’t quite reach her eyes. She was about to answer when she caught sight of something over his shoulder that made her breath hitch. “Holy shit!”

Jeremy’s head shot up at that. “Samantha, language!”

Uh, oh. He used her full name. “Uh, sorry about that, Dad.” She apologised sheepishly, before standing up and pointing behind him, much to Jeremy’s horror. What was up with this girl’s manners today!? “It’s just that I know the person who’s just entered the restaurant.”

Turning around much more discreetly than Sam, Jeremy raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “You mean the people talking to the maître d’?”

Completely unaware of the fact that they were the focus of the conversation of two of the restaurant’s patrons, Jazz and Danny stood at the entrance, talking to the maître d’. Well, Jazz was talking to the maître d’, looking almost unhinged, Danny was just praying they wouldn’t be kicked out just because his sister had chosen now, of all times, to act as unreasonable as their dad.

“What do you mean there’s no table available?!” She screeched, causing a few customers to turn around to look at her and her brother to look away in embarrassment. “I made the reservation almost two weeks ago! Fenton, Jazz Fenton. Come on, I highly doubt there’s many more Fentons in Amity Park.”

The man tending to them had to be the most patient person on the planet, Danny figured. Or the most emotionless. “My apologies, Miss. But there really is no reservation under a Jazz Fenton.”

“Maybe you put it under another member of the family?” Danny offered before addressing the headwaiter himself. “How about under Danny Fenton?”

The employee looked through his agenda before shaking his head.

“And Maddie Fenton?” Jazz tried.

Again, the man shook his head no.

“Jack Fenton?” She was starting to grow desperate now.

And, again, no such luck.

Watching as Jazz’s eye started twitching, Danny genuinely feared he’d have to restrain his sister from doing something crazy when the sound of someone clearing their throat caught everyone’s attention. Looking at the direction the sound came from, the Fenton siblings could only gape at the sight of a middle-aged man with perfectly coiffed, blond hair, dark blue eyes, and sharply dressed with a crochet vest, light, khaki pants, and black dress shoes standing before them.

The mysterious man turned to the maître d’. “It’s quite alright, my good sir. They’re with us.”

The emotionless man suddenly developed a personality, for he smiled brightly at the other man. “Oh, I see! Would you like some extra chairs, sir?”

“If you don’t mind.”

“Of course, we’ll bring some extra chairs, utensils, and menus to your table momentarily.” And with that the waiter left them alone.

The blond turned to them, a welcoming smile on his face. “Don’t be shy, you two. Come sit with us.” And, by some sort of spell, they followed after him.

In the meantime, brother and sister shared a questioning glance. They were both obviously curious as to who these ‘us’ were. Clearing his throat, Danny ventured. “Um, excuse me sir, but do we know you?”

The mystery, well-dressed man just laughed cordially. “Oh, no. You certainly don’t. As a matter of fact, I don’t know you, either. But my daughter seems to know you, young man.”

Before Danny could so much as ask what he was even talking about, the man stopped beside a table, motioning with his hand to his companion. The halfa almost fell flat on his butt in astonishment.

Getting up from her chair was Sam. Although she had a different outfit than usual, her style was still mostly casual, as opposed to her companion’s preppy clothes.

She was wearing a simple black t-shirt with a drawing of a purple rose on it (why was it so familiar?); a neon green skirt with a spiderweb pattern; a spiked collar with a purple pendant was around her neck; and she wore fingerless, black fishnet gloves. Other than that she looked the same as always. She still had her trademark combat boots and thigh-length, purple stockings on, and her hair was still long and black on one side, while the other was shaved with purple undertones; a green ponytail in a purple scrunchie sticking up.

“Sam, is that you?” He breathed out.

The girl in question could barely believe her eyes. Right in front of her was Danny. She was almost stunned she could recognise him practically anywhere. But then she rationalised; of course she’d recognise him! He looked practically the same as always! With his messy, jet-black hair falling down his face; a pair of blue jeans, his favourite red sneakers...The only thing different about him was the hoodie he was wearing, really. It was mostly white, except for its red cuffs, zipper, draw strings, and the circle it had plastered on its front.

...well, the only thing that was different was his hoodie and the girl beside him, now that she took a better look.

She was around her height, but she seemed slightly older. She was a redhead sporting a cute pixie cut, with a lovely face and striking, aqua eyes. The girl was wearing a square, teal plaid dress over a white, long-sleeved shirt, and black tights with white boots. Her outfit was perfectly coordinated, except for a brown, leather shoulder bag that seemed oddly out of place.

Sam was sure she had never seen her before, but she was just so familiar…

Noticing she was up and Danny was still waiting for her answer, she hurriedly went over to him to shake his and his companion’s hands. “Yes! Yes, it’s me, Danny. And...I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but you are…?”

“Oh, I’m Jazz!” The mysterious girl perked up. “I’m Danny’s sister.”

“Oh, she’s just his sister,” Sam thought to herself, relieved. Wait, relieved? What did she have to be worried about? She thought best to shake those feelings off and stow them for later. “Nice to meet you. I’m Sam, a friend of Danny’s.”

Jazz’s eyes lit up in recognition. “Oh, so you’re Sam! Danny’s told me about you.”

“He has?” Both Mansons asked, but for completely different reasons. And only one of them knew exactly why they asked.

Just as they were introducing themselves, the restaurant’s staff came and set the two extra chairs and items down. His senses tinglingーonly it wasn’t his Ghost Sense, but a sense of danger he couldn’t quite put his finger onー, Danny focused his attention on the other man at the table, who seemed to be glaring daggers at him, for some reason. He swallowed the uncomfortable lump in his throat. “I’m sorry, sir. But I don’t think we’ve been introduced.”

The blond plastered a smile on his face as they finally sat down. To anyone else, it would’ve seemed friendly, but to Danny it looked oddly sinister. “Oh, my bad. I’m Jeremy, Jeremy Manson. I’m Sam’s father.”

While a primal fear clutched Danny’s heart in an iron grip, Jazz audibly gasped. “Wait, Jeremy Manson? As in, the Mansons?”

His sister’s astonished expression, as well as Sam’s mortified one, enabled him to ignore his sudden worries for a minute in favour of his curiosity. “You know them?” He asked his sister.

In turn, Jazz just scoffed, looking away from him in exasperation. Of course not only would Danny have no idea who he hung out with, he also had to embarrass them right in front of the two people in question. “Danny, I think you’re literally the only person in all of Amity Park who doesn’t know them. Ironically…” Seeing as he still didn’t get the hint, she gave up. “The Mansons are the descendants of Izzy Manson, the inventor of the machine that wraps cellophane around chopsticks, and therefore, they oversee the patent.”

“So, you’re saying…”

Ugh, somebody put her out of her misery, goddamnit! “She’s saying we’re rich, Danny. Very. Stinking. Rich.” Sam deadpanned. Well, there went that little piece of information she didn’t like her friends finding out about. Although, a part of her was about to burst out laughing at the way the boy’s eyes all but popped out of their sockets.

Danny, on his part, didn’t know what was more shocking. The fact that Sam came from a wealthy family, or the fact that she, a cynical, brooding, activism-oriented girl, was related to classy, perky, sunny Jeremy Manson. They literally had nothing in common! Not even facial features! Unless Sam was just a carbon copy of her mother, those were some weird genetics.

Danny’s prolonged silence made her grow anxious, so Sam quickly changed topics. “So...what are you doing here? You know this place serves vegetables, right?” She just hoped their usual teasing dynamics would save them from the awkwardness.

Luckily for her, it did. The halfa countered her teasing tone with an easy grin. “Yeah, I know. But Jazz was really looking forward to coming to this place and, since convincing our fudge-loving father to take her would have been impossible, she played the older sister card on me.”

Jazz just huffed in response. “Oh, shut up. Just be thankful this is a vegan, Mexican restaurant; you’re bound to find something you like.”

“Yeah, I can always just stuff my face on nachos with guacamole.” He quipped back.

The hazel-eyed student turned her focus to the older girl, her face lighting up. “Oh! You’re vegan?”

“Oh, no. I’m not. I’m just much more willing to eat healthy food than my brother, who I still don’t understand how he could’ve grown so much given his atrocious diet!” She finished pointedly.

“Hey!” Danny protested. “My diet’s not ‘atrocious’! So what if I’m not actively looking for vegan restaurants? I still eat everything I need.”

“I once saw you eat nothing but oreos and soda for two weeks when you were sixteen.” His sister pointed out, without missing a beat.

That made him wince, not appreciating the reminder. “Okay, so maybe that wasn’t my best moment. But, the soda gave me the liquids and sugar I needed and the oreos gave me carbohydrates and proteinーmaybe, if they’re baked with milk…”

“Oreos are actually vegan.” Sam pointed out.

Although her comment was meant to annul his point, it seemed to validate it, instead, for he sent a smug look at Jazz. “Ha! You heard that? Turns out I’m healthier than you, Daisy Green.”

“Oh, just shut up.” His sister grunted, exasperated.

The father-daughter duo just exchanged glances, not used to this sort of family interactions. After a beat, Jeremy spoke up. “How about we order, huh?”

Picking up his own menu, Danny’s face morphed itself in confusion. “Uh...I have literally no idea what to ask for. Sam, you’re the expert, what do you recommend?”

By his side, Jazz perked up. “That’s right! You’re vegan aren’t you?”

“Ultra-recyclo-vegetarian.” She corrected, although she wasn’t sure why; nobody ever really got the difference.

And, lo and behold, neither did Jazz. “Pardon?”

Sam was about to tell her to let it go, when Danny beat her to it. “Sam doesn’t just avoid eating anything with a face, she also eats everything on her plate.”

When he sent her a wink and a friendly smile, Sam almost puddled. She soon regained her senses, though. Alright, so it was touching that he retained that piece of information when most people tended to forget all about it, but that still wasn’t grounds to make a fool out of herself. Finally, she opted for pushing those feelings aside. “This is my first time here, too. But as the only experienced veggie-eater at the table, I’d suggest that if you’re not feeling up to experimenting with new things, then just stick to what you’d usually order from a regular Taco Bell.”

She lowered her menu for them to see as she pointed at certain meals. “For example, Danny, you could try ordering the Burrito Vegano. Judging by its ingredients, it's exactly the same as your usual burrito except for the lack of meat. So you shouldn’t miss much.

“If any of you feels more adventurous, then you could try the vegan Quesadillas, just keep in mind that rather than being exactly the same as the regular ones but with vegetables, instead of cheese they have humus.”

“What about snacks?” Jeremy asked, as enthralled in her explanation as their impromptu guests.

“Oh, I’m definitely ordering their famous nachos with guacamole and vegan nacho cheese. Everyone recommends it.”

“What’s vegan nacho cheese even made of?” Danny scrunched his face up in disgust. “Is it even edible?”

Sam scoffed. Typical carnivore response. “Not any less than the barely passable-for-human-consumption, acrylic orange paint that is the usual nacho cheese. And to answer your question, it’s made of carrots and peppers.”

“Wow.” Danny breathed, impressed once again by Sam’s ability to monologue without the need for breath. “You really have a strong opinion on nacho cheese.”

“Oh, you don’t even know half of the things she has a strong opinion on.” Jeremy muttered.

Before Sam could so much as protest at her dad’s familiar exasperation at her altruistic ways, a waiter, notepad and pen in hand, appeared behind her. “Have the ladies and gentlemen made their decision yet?”

Looking over the table and receiving nods in confirmation, the Manson patriarch took the lead. “I believe we have.”

“Excellent.” The waiter said. “What do you want to drink?”

“Well, I’d normally ask for a bottle of your best wine, but I’m driving tonight, so I’ll have a Mr. Pepper.”

“Of course, sir. And everyone else?”

“I’m driving too, so I’ll have a Lemon Nestea, please.” Jazz said.

It was Danny’s turn. “I’m not driving. I’ll have a beer.”

“We serve Coronita, is that alright with you, sir?”

“Yeah, it’s fine.”

Finally, he turned to Sam. “And you, Miss?”

“Another beer’s fine.”

The waiter wrote everything down. “Alright, so that’s a Mr. Pepper, a Lemon Nestea, and two beers; is that right?” At the sounds of agreement, he went on. “Alright. Have you decided on your food yet, or do you need more time?”

It was Sam’s turn to perk up. “We’ll have some nachos with guacamole and vegan cheese to share. I’ll have the Tofu Tacos; You make them yourself once they’re served, right?” The waiter nodded. “Then, yes. The tacos.” Then she pointed at her dad. “And my Dad’ll have the fajitas.”

As their waiter wrote everything down, she directed her attention at the siblings. “And you guys…?”

“Hm, I think I’ll have the vegan quesadillas.” Jazz said. “I gotta admit, when you said they have humus I’d already made up my mind! And you, Danny?”

Danny kept frantically scanning his menu. He didn’t know what half of those things were! All he knew was that it was Mexican food with extra vegetables. “Uh...I...I’ll have the Burrito Vegano?” He just hoped Sam was right and it’d be similar to the regular thing.

“An excellent choice.” The waiter commented before taking their menus away. “Your drinks and nachos will be out shortly.”

After the waiter left, they kept on chattering idly about everything and nothing. How Sam and Danny knew each other, why Jeremy had, completely out of the blue, decided to let them have dinner with them, what their parents’ did for a living… That’s when things got a little awkward. Although Mr. Manson was trying his hardest to remain neutralーSam’s constant glares served as a good incentiveーit was plain to see he didn’t think highly of their parents and their job.

Danny and Jazz would be lying if they said they weren’t already used to it, or even understood his concerns.

Just as their drinks were being served, Mr. Manson’s cell phone started ringing. He took a quick glance at the caller and immediately winced, which didn’t go unnoticed by his daughter. “Dad…? Is everything okay?”

“What? Oh! Oh, yes. Everything’s fine, kiddo. I just have to take this real quick.” He explained as he got up from his chair, about to make his way to a less crowded area of the restaurant. “I’ll be right back.”

“Is he okay?” Jazz asked, slightly concerned.

Sam could only shrug in response. “He says so.” Noticing the sudden rise in tension, she chose to change topics instead. “Um, I don’t really have any siblings to know better but, you two are close, right? I know my fair share of families who wouldn’t spend any non-essential time together otherwise.” Like mine, was what she didn’t say.

“You could say that.” Jazz replied, almost enigmatically.

Normally, Danny wouldn’t go into detail as to why he and Jazz were so closeーthree guesses why and the first two didn’t countーbut there was something about Sam that told him she would understand. Granted, he couldn’t tell her everything, let alone in the middle of a relatively crowded restaurant, but he could shed some light over her queries. He guessed he felt the need to be open and share things with her because the other day she opened up to him and Tucker.

“Well,” he started, “if I’m being honest, I’ve always been closer to my older sister than my parents…”

"How so?" Sam couldn't believe she had the nerve to ask him that when her own relationship with her parents was, most of the time, rocky, at best.

Did she really have to put him on the spot like that? “No, Danny,” he scolded himself, “you wanted to be honest with her yourself. Don’t blame it on her.” Rubbing the back of his neck, he tried to explain as best as he could while revealing as little as possible. “Uh... it's just...my parents are ghosthunters, as you know, so ghosts have always been present in my house, making things incredibly difficult for Jazz and me growing up.” Like eating savage, ecto-wieners for dinner, having every single personal problem compared to some ghost-hunting analogy, or being mortified and ostracised by his peers as a result. “And things...things only got even more complicated when I was a teenager.”

That was the part he couldn’t go in detail about. Mainly because what truly made things more complicated was the fact that all deep conversations, honesty, and family bonds were tattered the moment he became the very half-ghost whose dissection his parents often fantasized about. “As a result, I guess you could say Jazz and I ganged up together. The Fenton siblings against the world when our parents were too busy with their job.” When he felt Jazz’s warm hand on his cold one, he couldn't help but meet her concerned face with a small smile in thanks for everything she’d ever done for him.

A wave of sympathy washed over Sam at Danny and Jazz's predicament. It was easy to forget Amity Park didn't even know ghosts existed until seven years ago, when Phantom and his putrid kind appeared out of the blue, because witches never forgot their existence in the first place. She could understand being overlooked in favour of creatures of dubious existence must've caused them great pain growing up.

Noticing her heartbroken look, Danny immediately tried to lighten up the mood. “Don’t worry, though. We might not be as close to our parents as we were when we were little, but we still all love each other.”

“Yeah,” Jazz assured her, “no need to feel bad for us, Sam. It’s still nice to see a daughter being close to her dad like you two are.” Her words were meant to bring the hazel-eyed Goth comfort, but her brows knitted together in concern at the look on her face.

Albeit Sam was smiling, it didn’t quite reach her eyes. Lowering her head, almost hiding her face from view, she shook it, sadly.

After a minute or two of silence Danny was about to ask her if she was alright when she spoke. “Don’t let appearances fool you; my Dad and I aren’t exactly close, either.”

“But...but you two seem to get along so well…” Jazz started, but was cut off by Sam.

“We get along,” she confirmed, “but we’ve never been close. My parents are the complete opposite of me, and it showsーthey’ve never been able to understand me, my Grandma did.”

Danny almost regretted having to ask. “Is your Grandma…?”

The Goth just nodded. “She passed away when I was fourteen. She was the only person to ever understand me and accept me for who I am. You could say I’ve been on my own ever since, although in a psychological/spiritual sense.”

“Is that the reason why you’re Goth?” Jazz couldn’t hold herself back from asking, her psychologist instincts taking the reins of the situation. Shocked at her behaviour, Danny kicked her gently on her shin from under the table.

He ignored her glare in favour of distracting Sam from her question. “What about your mother, aren’t you two close?”

The harsh laugh she let out startled them both. “I might not be close to my Dad, but compared to my relationship with my mother, I’m practically a daddy’s girl.”

A shadow casted over her hazel eyes, other times so full of fire and mischief, and Danny didn’t like it one bit. Reaching over to grab her hand in his, making her gasp in surprise, he sent her a gentle smile. “Thank you for sharing that about yourself with us.”

She returned the smile. “Thank you for sharing that about your parents with me.”

They kept staring into each other’s eyes, not caring about anything around them, until the clatter of the nacho plate being set down on their table broke them out of their thoughts. While Danny chose to ignore her sister’s annoying smirk, Sam thanked the waiter. Then, she turned to the siblings. “Well? What are you waiting for? Dig in!”

They did as they were told, and their faces split in matching grins. Hmming in appreciation, the black-haired half-ghost dipped another tortilla chip into the vegan cheese. “This ain’t half bad!”

Sam just chuckled. “Told you.”

After a, surprisingly, rather pleasant dinner between the two different families, it was time to say goodbye. Since they were the ones driving them home, Jazz and Mr. Manson left first to look for their respective cars, leaving Danny and Sam some extra time to talk.

“Well, that was a pleasant surprise.” Danny commented, putting his hands inside his hoodie’s pocket.

“Yeah, it really was.” Sam smiled when, suddenly, a cold breeze whooshed by, making her shiver.

Noticing her hugging herself from the corner of his eyes, he immediately took action. “Here, let me help. It’s starting to get cold.” He said, even when his cryokinesis made him immune to cold years ago.

“Danny, I’m fineー” she began, but was interrupted by Danny slipping his hoodie on over her shoulders. As he lent her his jacket, their eyes locked. For a moment, time stopped. The Earth stopped moving. Nothing else mattered but each other’s eyes; Danny’s precious baby blue, and Sam’s vibrant hazel. Then, the sound of a not-so-distant honk broke the spell, causing them to quickly avert their eyes, a hint of pink dusting their cheeks.

Sam wasn’t cold anymore.

As Jazz opened the door for Danny, he waved her goodbye, which Sam returned. Now that she was alone with her thoughtsーand Danny’s hoodieーwaiting for her Dad to appear with his own car, she couldn’t stop herself from sniffing the garment. It smelled like wood and freshly rained soil, but there was something else. Something...familiar she couldn’t quite put her finger on.

Whatever it was, she liked it.

It smelled like Danny.

#Danny Phantom #DP #dp fanfic #your heart #my fic #danny fenton #sam manson #valerie gray #jazz fenton #jeremy manson #paulina sanchez #dp star #oc #ghost king! danny #ghost king au #witch queen! sam #witch queen au #enemies to friends to lovers

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