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#revenant: pretty good!!!
shockodile · 11 months
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Revenant Preview Available!!
The June Revenant Patreon post is up, and it comes with a story preview!! Revenant is an 18+ story about an alternate timeline seven years after the events of Hellbound Guardian. It is effectively spoiler-free. The sample is roughly 5.2k words, and includes 3 comic pages and 5 illustrations- about 1/5th of the story total. It's available to ALL patrons! Micro-sampler you may or may not have seen before below!
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On top of this post, all patrons will have access to the previous four Revenant posts including various completed illustrations for the story as well as behind-the-scenes visdev work.
Thank you everyone for your support!
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aejeonghae · 1 year
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apex legends mobile: top 3 legends
revenant - ash - crypto
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doux-amer · 10 months
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Revenant is soooo mid which is disappointing because I was looking forward to it due to the actors and writer (this isn’t a flop like Jirisan, which I gave up on after 2–3 episodes, but it’s not really good). BUT. BUT!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m suffering from “poor little meow meow middle-aged man” deficiency and Professor Yeom Haesang suffers so much. I can’t believe I was like “Oh...okay” about his casting because I’m planting my palms against his windows, peering at him in his little cage and being fed because he’s had the worst life ever and it keeps getting worse. HAESANG *____*<3
#why are we not talking about him more on reddit/twitter/tumblr and why are there not enough gifs and pics of him breaking down#or looking slutty in his all black ensembles complete with a turtleneck#watch as this man's life continues to deteriorate! ep. 7 and 8 provided such rich sustenance for me#a simp for ajusshideul who are miserable#he's so small and sad and he can't catch a break#yeah okay hongsae is great too and he's a cutie but LOOK AT THIS 40-YEAR-OLD MAN!#technically i wouldn't even count that as MIDDLE age middle-aged but his actor is 46 so whatever#in all seriousness revenant exasperates me a little because you can see how it can be good#especially because there's a frame of reference to base that hypothesis on: signal. lol.#signal wasn't without its flaws but the characters and relationships actually had development and the main partnerships were intense#and the tension was high throughout#revenant is the same thing every episode pretty much#the first three episodes were pretty to really good and i loved the setup#and you have kim taeri hong kyung and oh jungsae and they're great actors#but the directing and writing aren't serving them well and you can see the drop in quality from the beginning to now tbh#there's only so much they can do if they're not being given enough from both#though the little bits that are good are the reason i'm sticking around to the end lol. that and haesang i'm going to be real#like haesang and sanyoung's relationship needed to be parallel soohyun and haeyoung's in a way in terms of how much#they grow to rely on each other and care for each other but we don't really get that
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latenightsleeper · 1 year
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“ student council president…~ “
Okay look—moonlight haven calls me a pretty boy and reven has a nice laugh—okay?
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amouramaryllis · 8 months
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i think I've died at least twice
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cephalon-celaeno · 1 year
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I think it's safe to say the curse is broken
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venefikus · 6 months
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quan chi is the literal embodiment of "i can make them worse"
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deadsetobsessions · 5 months
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Danny no longer has a haunt. So… he decides to find another one. And while he technically has a whole world (other dimensions aren’t an option because he’s going to stay near where Jazz’s grave is, damn it) there’s only a couple of other places with enough ambient ectoplasm to sustain him. Nanda Parbat, Tokyo, and Gotham.
Nanda Parbat had a weird old musty immortal that kept trying to summon him and exchange power for the ability to “take a worthy body and rain as much destruction” as he’d like. As if Danny would need a body to bring the world to its knees.
Tokyo… it’s too far from Jazz’s grave. He could ask Wulf or even open his own portal but when Danny tried it out, Tokyo was too peaceful. Obviously there’s crime, but nothing… nothing big like Danny’s used to.
Danny ends up picking Gotham, even if the sewer zombies and the weird group of rich fruit loops with an adoption problem creeps him out. So, he destroys the portal, packs up his parents’ house and sells it, and hauls ass to the cesspool calling his name. His family’s stuff is stored respectfully in a vault located on the deepest parts of his personal haunt in the Infinite Realms.
And honestly, he’s doing better. Sure, he’s got a shitty apartment near another revenant’s almost-haunt and he feels like he’s drowning all of the time, but Danny isn’t in danger of turning into Dan, he’s catching up on royal paperwork, and he’s got like a job as a barista. In his own coffee shop that paid for using his parent’s money (who, despite their hazardous everything, made a crap ton of money off of their more normal inventions).
Gotham’s got some pretty interesting local gangs, most of which respected the sanctity of Danny’s cafe. Sure, they tried blowing it up and tried extorting money from him in the form of “protection costs” but after three months of failure, they gave up.
(Really, the local gangs gave up when they saw him take three shotgun shells to the chest and continued to work.) (They didn’t know it never hit him. Intangibility is extremely useful.)
The Rogues, on the other hand, just gave Danny flashbacks. Their gimmicks are different, sure, but after years of Box Ghost, Skuller, Lunch Lady, etc., Danny’s more than done with costumed villains. They don’t bother him either. Some of the reason is probably due to Harley and Ivy, who had walked into the cafe and (because they were bruised and scratched up from a fight) triggered Danny’s mother hen tendencies. They were promptly fed and watered and caffeinated and their hyenas were also similarly taken care of. They declared the cafe under their protection and that was that.
Red Hood stops by, and begins to interrogate him. But when Danny met his… helmet eyes? The crime lord paused, paid for his coffee, and sat in a corner table of the cafe for the rest of the day.
And he kept coming back?
But Danny figures it’s because Hood was a revenant and people who had come close to death tends to feel more comfortable around him.
(Considering this is Gotham where people almost die every other day? Yeah, he’s pretty much friends with everyone. Or at least, less likely to get shot.)
(Hood does stay because of the King’s presence and the Pit calming itself, but also Danny’s hot and he’s got a sleeper build and Hood definitely did not imagine himself in the place of the heavy box he saw Danny lift effortlessly onto a table. No.)
But of course, the peace couldn’t last forever. But by then, Danny was so antsy, he welcomed the trouble with open arms.
It starts with a clown. Danny knows who he is. He knows who Danny is.
So, Danny has no idea why the clown thought it would be a good idea to aggravate the owner of Gotham’s official neutral grounds. See, Clovkwork? Danny’s learned how to gauge his own political importance!
“HAHAHAHAHA! COME OUT, DANNY-BOY! LET ME TELL YOU A JOKE!”
Danny comes out and grabs a chair, and with a flat expression, says, “you’re not funny and I hate clowns.”
And then he swings and slams the chair into the Joker’s face. Over and over again until Danny’s sure the clown won’t get back up. The thing about Gotham’s outdoor chairs is that they’re mad out of steel and are bolted down to the ground to prevent undedicated thieves (dedicated thieves can and will steal the bolted down steel chairs). The Joker’s hired muscle just watched this scrawny twenty-something year old yank the steel chair and take some of the fucking ground and the bolts with it and beat the fuck out of their boss who is the literal Joker.
They surrender on the spot and is taken to jail. Danny just smiles at the officers who come by and since he’s got pretty privilege and they don’t want to mess with the guy who, again, owns one of Gotham’s official neutral ground and also beat up Joker without breaking a sweat, the officers just lets him go with a warning.
And then the bats comes, and wow, Danny’s playing mentor to a formally dead person again!
But before that, the Red Hood asks for an autograph on the Gotham Gazette article with a picture of a tired Danny standing over Joker’s prone body. Then Hood stammers through asking Danny out (which Danny said yes to because he’s tired, not blind, and Hood is built like a brick house and HOT).
Batman interrogates him. Danny, who can tell that this man needs therapy and is Sad TM, tells Bats that Danny’s died before and that’s why he’s like this. He also calls Batman a furry, but like in a nice way. And then he kicks Batman out with a coffee and a file on Nanda Parbat.
Now, Danny’s got a date to prepare for and he realizes that maybe this is what Jazz wanted for him- to be happy and mostly safe and happy. (Or, happier, he thinks. It’s been a long time since he’s been truly happy, but this might be a good start)
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magicmalcolm · 2 years
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The seller I bought Yakuza: Like A Dragon (PS4) from also sent a copy of Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (PS4) for free, which is either incredibly generous or it's terrible enough they just wanted rid of it. 🤷
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iliketangerines · 2 months
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Hi!!
Can I request a quickie between mk1 Johnny and the reader in the back of a limo going to a red carpet event and she leaves her lipstick all over his face and neck?? And Johnny is super loving and sweet during it?
Thank you!!! Your writing is so good!! I read your revenant Johnny fics as bedtime stories 💖💖
worth all the stars
a/n: aww, thank you! i'm glad you like reading my revenant johnny cage stories!
pairing: johnny cage x afab!reader
warnings: nsfw (MDNI), creampies, blowjobs
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you grind into Johnny’s lap, dress riding up your ass as you kiss the actor and smear your lipstick on his lips and on his neck
Johnny  moans into your mouth, gripping onto your hips and squeezing your ass as his dick grinds into your clothed pussy
the both of you are in the back of the limousine heading towards the red carpet event, and thankfully, the window between you two and the driver is closed
but the both of you still try to be quiet, and you bite Johnny’s neck, making him bite his lip and dig his fingers into your waist in an effort to stay quiet
you grind your clothed pussy into his lap, and he moves his thumb down to rub at your clit through your panties
you whine into his mouth as your hips jerk into his fingers, and Johnny smiles as you throw your head back in pleasure
he takes the chance to nip at your neck, trying not to leave marks, but it’s hard with the way your hips grind desperately into his
the pad of his thumb rubs slow circles into your clit, and your fingers dig into Johnny’s shoulders as you beg for him for more
he can’t deny you
his thumb rubs at your clit in rough quick circles, and you whine and squirm in his lap in pleasure
Johnny wants to ravish you, fuck you in the limo as he marks you up and fills you with his cum, wants to tell you you look so beautiful for him like this
but he settles for telling you that you look good on his lap, all needy and whiny, and you moan, biting your lip to try and muffle your noises
he hums and brings your head forward to kiss you again, and he slips your panties to the side
you moan into his mouth and quickly undo his buckle as fast as you can without breaking the kiss and pull down his pants
his cock springs up, tip aching and leaking pre-cum, and you line yourself up
Johnny groans as you slide onto him, taking him fully, and he grips onto your waist and slides you up and down his cock
he purrs into your ear that you look so pretty, so beautiful just for him, that you’re so amazing for him, always supporting him
he rubs his thumb into your clit because he wants to see you cum, needs you to cum on his cock
you whine, and you pussy clenches down on him as you cum
Johnny kisses you, swallowing your noises and bringing his hand up to cup the back of your neck
he loves your pussy, loves how you’re so reactive, loves how you’re so good for him, loves you fully and completely
you whimper as he bounces you on his cock, and he tells you to touch yourself, make yourself feel good for him
you reach a manicured hand down to rub your clit, and Johnny groans as your pussy spasms around his sensitive cock
he grunts as he slams you down one more time and cums deep inside of you, and he kisses you again, grinding you against his lap as he comes down from his high
your pussy clenches down on him as you cum again, and your hands come up to grip at his shoulders in desperation
Johnny easily lifts you off his lap, missing the feeling of your pussy wrapped around his cock, and he cleans you up with the handkerchief stuffed in his breast pocket
you get down on your knees, lipstick smearing around his cock as you clean him up, and he groans at the sight but wills himself to not get hard as you lick off your cum
he tucks himself away and fixes his appearance, and you pull out a little compact mirror to fix your make-up
you go to wipe away the lipstick on his face and his neck, but he tells you to leave it, that he looks good like this with you all over him
you blush and before you can protest, the car rolls to a stop, and the driver opens the door
Johnny exits, the bright lights flashing as reporters take pictures of the way your lipstick is smeared all over his lips and neck, but he just helps you out of the limo
his attention is on you all night, and when he gets on stage, lipstick still all over him, all he can stare at is you as he gives his speech
he’s sure he looks like a love-sick puppy and like a mess, but it’s all worth it when you look at him, eyes shining and bright as he blows you a kiss from the stage
it’s all worth it when he comes back down from the stage with his prize, and you kiss him
it’s better than all the awards he could ever have
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jackdaw-and-hattrick · 11 months
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Snippet I probably won't use
“Can you fix it?” Jason whispered, eyes locked on the young man before him with a kind of long-dead faith. His knees had grown soaked where he knelt before him.
“I’m sorry,” he said, and Jason was shocked to see real tears in those bright green eyes, “there's nothing I can do.”
Something in him tightened, whatever hope he’d allowed to build in him quickly morphing to anger.
“Why not?”, Jason half yelled, the words tasting too much like desperation in his mouth.
“The thing is, the Pits, they're a part of you. The reason the rage never faded was because of what you are; a revenant. Decades of death throws permeated the ectoplasm, and when you were tossed in they saw what you were and bonded with your core. Like sees like and all that. What matters is that trying to remove those pieces from the pits would just break your core.”
“So?”
“Jason,” narrow hands wrapped around his face, the harsh cold shocking him out of himself, how did he know his name?, “it would kill you. Actually kill you. As in, do not pass go, do not collect, completely, totally gone.”
Jason fought the urge to repeat himself. He had things to live for, he had to remember that, no matter how much he was doubting their weight in the face of this new hit. He had never expected the pits to be cured, so why was he breaking over the confirmation of his suspicion? Why was he so hurt by the realization that it really was just him? Jason’s heart was that his heart? hurt like a bullet wound three days after when the ache set in.
“Hey, hey, look at me.”
Jason did. For the first time, he fully saw the man above him. He looked like an angel.
“It's ok. You’re ok. I know you don't believe that, but it's true. Look at you, you’ve got all the rage and sorrow of untold souls clawing at your head, and you still choose every day to be good. I’ve seen folks like you. Most take decades to move past their pain, but you? You took two or three years. That's like a week in ghost terms. You took all that hurt and redirected it to make your world a better place. I don't know about you, but that's pretty damn impressive. The pits are you, yeah, but so’s the progress.”
“Pretty damn hard to get excited ‘bout that right now.” Jason half-spat, half-sighed.
“Yeah.” the man pulled back for a moment, only to settle down next to Jason, one arm wrapping around his shoulder.
“What, no great wisdom to impart?”
“No, sorry.”
Jason looked up. It was a rare clear night, a new moon darkening the sky, and above he could just see a handful of constellations not drowned out by city lights. Thinking about the strange silver-haired angel next to him, some little childlike piece of him wondered if he was the moon cast down from heights to hold him.
“Pretty night.”, he said, cursing himself for breaking the soft quiet that had blanketed the two.
“Yeah, yeah it is.”
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Hey!!! Could you please share some undead folklore??? I am needing it for a story but it is very hard to go after it without only getting the modern conception of a "zombie"
Anon, anon I am blowing you kisses, I am utterly uninterested in modern zombies but I love me some undead folklore!
First things first: there are lots of words to refer to undead beings and they are often used interchangably. Personally I tend to call anything that was once human but died and then returned and is still a physical, corporeal being, a "revenant". This excludes ghosts and apparitions, which could definitely be called undead, but usually serve a different function in stories.
But, among revenants there is still a lot of variety! In their reason for being undead, in their appearance, their behaviour, and the rules they (seem to) follow. What kind of folklore you want to draw from for your story, will depend entirely on what kind of role they need to fulfill in your narrative. So here is some broad inspiration:
• In an earlier post I wrote about a category of revenant that I call "The Returning Recently Dead", who behave almost like a ghost with unfinished business and I mostly see in the types: the slighted (out for revenge), the grief-bound lover (could be tragic or horrific), the cursed with a duty (out to complete their task), the loving with a duty (out to protect their loved one). They all follow very different rules, but there's some great inspiration there! (Some more examples in this post.)
• There is also a specific folklore tale type called "The Grateful Dead" which usually involves someone being respectful of someone's burial place or otherwise kind towards the dead, who is later helped by a Mysterious Helper who can do fantastic things but doesn't seem entirely...human...
• Folklore also includes revenants that are more of a bad omen or a simply creepy sight to happen upon. The returning recently dead and the grateful dead tend to temporarily visit the land of the living, but some folktales depict The Dead as still very capable of interacting with life if they choose to, if only for their own amusement. This post about Dullahan has some great examples of that (dancing skeletons, undead processions, etc.) and this Icelandic tale is still one of my favourites.
• Of course most vampires are also revenants, but since most people will treat them as a category all their own, I will too. I do want to give a shout-out to what Montague Summers called "ghouls" and attributed to Arabic folklore. Especially the tales of Amine and Nadille, who each marry living human men, who then slowly find out that their pretty, pale wives, who hardly seem to eat anything and are only lively at night, are not what they seem. (You can read Summers' text here.)
One thing that is very important about all these undead, is that they are intelligent. Some of them can pass for human, others genuinely look dead, but most of them are capable of speaking and complex actions. They are not mindless killers or shambling creatures. Those do exist in folklore, but they usually end up more in the "don't walk across the graveyard at night or you'll be eaten alive" type of cautionary folktale that pops up all over Europe. Wich is all well and good, but makes for much shorter stories~
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call-me-strega · 7 months
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How to Become a Step-Dad: Lore
Edited: 10/16/2023
While I am currently in between writing chapters I thought I’d release a little bit of the lore that will be incorporated in the story or that I think is canon but might not get mentioned since the story is mostly Jason’s perspective.
What’s up with Jason?
So in this au Jason went through basically all his canon backstory and stuff already so that’s established and done with. Some smaller points that may or may not come up are things like his possession of the all-blades, his time on Nanda Parbat, Talia essentially adopting him, or his experience being Catatonic. Speaking of which, I have decided his resurrection came from his righteous anger combining with the ectoplasm in Gotham’s atmosphere, and he is essentially a revenant for the purposes of this story (he’s about a fourth ghost? Or maybe 3/4ths? 3/5ths? Idk yet).
He does already have a reputation in the Infinite Realms as “The Avenger” and “Son/Knight of Gotham” due both to the existence of city spirit Lady Gotham and the ghosts of people who’ve died in Gotham. He actually has a rabid fan club who want him to kill the Joker( if he became a ghost he’d be tried and banished to the nightmare realm).
I am also going to use “the pits are corrupted ectoplasm” trope in the story. However, they’re gonna be corrupted less in the sense of being straight-up poison and more in the sense of eating a weird mushroom with weird side effects (rage, slightly sentient/vocal core, white trauma streak)
As for his relationship with the Bat Family, we’ve moved to a point where everyone’s more or less made up. For Jason and Bruce specifically, they are now more civil. Their relationship is less “ What you’re doing is wrong and you have to stop.” vs “ I’m just doing what you won’t” and now it’s more “ I don’t fully approve of your decisions, but as long as you’re not killing people and coming home for dinner, I don’t care enough to nag you about it” vs “ You’re my dad and I love you. Plus actively killing people is no longer super necessary so I will give in but I still enjoy pissing you off”.
In terms of sibling relationships, Jason has like the cool older brother vibe but he’s actually the semi-responsible one that feeds you when you come over and makes you do homework and sleep properly. He’s still down for shenanigans but is low-key a mom friend. (Dick is not the “responsible one” he is a certified chaos gremlin. Not to say he can’t be responsible, he’s just not the one enforcing these things. He cares more about your social, emotional, and/or, mental state and would help you skip school to steal a penguin or go to ComiCon or smth if you said it was a “mental health day”). I think he has semi-regular hangouts with his siblings on a weekly basis.
I like to think that he and Damien did have a bit of interaction when they were both with the League so they do have a close bond there. He’s definitely apologized to Tim a bunch of times and they’re pretty close now they like scheming together, especially on how to annoy Bruce. Overall he’s largely made up and re-integrated with the family. It’s going to be mentioned later in the story that they resurrected his civilian identity as Jason Todd, so he can publicly be seen with his family and also to do work with the family.
This brings me to my next point of lore: that as Jason gains more control of Crime Alley, he focuses his efforts more into charity work. He’s helping the people get their education, get better access to healthcare, get better job opportunities, running soup kitchens, etc., and doing more humanitarian-focused work. He has got a pretty firm grip on crime and drugs so he’s shifting his focus more towards helping the people now. Even just being part of his gang can be helpful because he works with the Goonion (Goon Union) and offers good insurance plans and stuff. That’s part of the reason they resurrect his civilian identity is so that he can start working with/taking over the Wayne foundation.
What’s up with Danny and Ellie?
Okay so first things first in the story Danny is going to be the ghost prince (not king yet for a long while) and he acts as a junior member on the Council of Ancients who rule with Clockwork acting as his main regent. Meaning that Council + Danny make decisions and Clockwork is Danny’s ghost dad and is formal regent but mostly just handles things with help from the council. Essentially, after at least a couple thousand years Danny will be considered “of age” or eligible and take over the Infinite Realms; and after several billion he’ll become the ancient of space/reality and essentially become a god or primordial being of sorts. Also being of age is different than being an adult ghost. To be an adult ghost you need to have been a ghost for at least 20 years after your lifetime, unless you’re an eternal kid ghost like Youngblood or BoxLunch. So ghosts like Technus, the Box Ghost, and Lunch Lady are all adult ghosts. Whereas ghosts like Johnny 13, Kitty and maybe Ember either aren’t yet adult ghosts or became adult ghosts recently. Ellie ranks as princess and second-in-line, she’ll go through a similar process and eventually join the Council, become a diplomat, and/or rule as regent if/when Danny leaves the Ghost Zone. I’m gonna say all other afterlife’s and stuff are connected to the Zone and their respective leaders make up Phantom’s Court. (So basically he’s king and they are like the nobles). They all govern their own territories and Phantom handles any rouges or conflicts. When Ellie gets older she’ll move between realms on diplomatic missions to lighten some of Danny’s work. I haven’t decided what this means for anyone who is currently mortal and/or liminal. I might just have them live, fulfilling lives and pass away and move on to different afterlives. Or I might have them take places within the Phantom’s court or as advisors. And on the topic: Jazz, the Fenton parents, Sam, and Tucker are all fairly liminal, Jazz and the Dr.s Fenton a bit more than the other two. Everyone in Amity has a little bit of liminality, but not enough to affect their life spans or anything. Also, Vlad is still currently his usual, creepy, Frootloopy-self. But after screwing him over in this fic eventually, I want to have him arrested by the ghost police and spend several thousand years in ghost prison before he gets let out. Then he works on improving his relationships and post-redemption he’s going to be like that annoying, overbearing Uncle who tries to be cool and annoys you but ya don’t hate him. Another thing I wanted to go over is their obsessions. I wanna say the halfas all have dual obsessions bc it fits nicely with the half-and-half concept. Danny is protection and space. Ellie is freedom and family. Vlad is power and love. If I include Dark Danny he’ll be power and destruction and a reformed version would have control and safety.
As for his rouge gallery? Danny is able to help them find healthier outlets for their obsessions so they've become less of an issue. Now they kind of just act like Danny's annoying friends and/or extended family. The ones who were straight-up evil though are on indefinite time out in ghost prison though (e.g. Spectra and Freakshow). The gang still comes to visit him and Ellie from time to time though and he regularly sees them when he goes back to the realms for prince duties and stuff.
What’s up with Amity?
So after he turns 18, Danny decides to tell his parents about being Phantom. He’s legally an adult now and has been working toward getting emancipated anyways so he might as well. They took it like how I imagine slightly homophobic parents would react to learning their child was lgbt (side note: the Fentons are pro-lgbt. When Danny told them he was bi Jack said “Me too son!”, happy to have something to bond over). He tells them about the portal and becoming Phantom. They believe him and they are devastated and guilty.
In the next few weeks, they get into a couple arguments over them wanting to “fix” his ghost half. He blows up and tells them that by doing that they’d end up killing him and that Phantom is a part of who he is and they’ll just have to accept that. That night Danny leaves and with help from Sam stays in an apartment with Jazz near her college. He takes a two-year gap to get a handle of Infinite Realms and GIW stuff, plus doing a few small jobs to save up some money. Within that time the GIW gets taken down and the Fentons reach out bc their love for their children is stronger than their dislike of ghosts. Their relationship is still strained but getting better.
Dani also gets de-aged during that time and Danny decides to take care of her (partly for healing purposes and partly cause he wants to). His friends help forge documentation for her and he fights with Vlad over custody but ultimately wins and makes him pay child support. He’s saved up enough money and with a little help from Sam and Vlad gets an apartment in Gotham. He got a scholarship and is doing mostly online classes at Gotham University. He’s currently working part-time (I have not decided as what but I’m leaning toward mechanic). Vlad paid to have him enroll Ellie in Gotham Academy so she wouldn’t have to go to public school and Danny allowed it since it’d get her a better education. Ellie is going to start first grade in about 3 months since they moved to Gotham in June. (Just for reference, Damian is currently 12 and in seventh grade since I've decided not to move him up.)
Everyone in Amity knows about the discord between the Fenton's before Danny leaves. They don't necessarily know about Phantom though. Everyone kind of assumes Danny came out, fought with his parents then left. When some of them find out about Ellie another rumor circulates she was the topic of the fight. Regardless, the Fenton drama is kinda an open secret and most people sympathize with Danny. Whenever he comes back to town to visit a lot of people are really nice to him and Ellie, which he thought was weird until he learned what people thought was going on. Now he just takes advantage of their misunderstandings.
What's up with the GIW?
The GIW manages to get a hold of Ellie after Danny leaves Amity. When Vlad and Danny +Team Phantom find out they team up to rescue her. Danny also recruits people that he's met during his time away. For this mission, he recruits Constantine and Captain Marvel/Shazam. When the Fentons find out they want in too, almost as an apology gesture. They no longer want to try and "fix" Danny and are okay with Ellie's existence. They view her like family and want to help out. A lot of their views are still prejudiced but they're getting better, however, that's not the only thing straining their relationship. This is a step in the right direction though.
So they go in and infiltrate first in order to get Ellie out. Then they destroy the facilities behind them as they leave. Constantine and Captain Marvel then go back to the JL to work on getting to Anti-Ecto Acts repealed, something that is still in progress during the beginning of this fic. That's why they are gonna lay low while they’re in Gotham. The GIW attempted to experiment on Ellie while they had her but the containment unit they used destabilized her ectoplasm. She retains all her memory but is mentally and physically de-aged. Frostbite assesses her and says she needs to get extra ecto and to be near another halfa aura to help develop and stabilize her own systems. That leads to Vlad and Danny fighting over custody before Danny inevitably beats Vlad into the ground and walks away with custody and child support.
I think a full reveal about identities will happen after Danny gets confirmation that his existence is no longer illegal. It'll probably be after Jason asks him out but before he accepts because he wants Jason to know what he's getting into. Jason will probably be shocked but accept it relatively quickly. I haven't decided yet if I want him to live a mortal life with them and then die (either to move on or become a full ghost) or if I want him to be basically immortal like them and give him a position in the court.
~~~~ Find chapter one here
Chapter 2 now here
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medakakurokami · 10 months
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I finished over 100 visual novels, here’s a long post with some recommendations
Last month I hit 100 Finished VN’s over on the VNDB and I thought I’d shoot out some recommendations while the Steam Summer Sale is going on (even though some of these aren’t going to be on Steam)
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I already have finished up some stragglers and caught some shorter titles so it’s up to 104 Finished, but all the better. I have been reading some VN’s since 2015, but it really became a hobby and a genre I was invested in during Covid lockdown in 2020. I had trouble getting into some of the popular titles, but a couple of games that were lesser known at that time really blew me away that year and I started digging more into the medium. I still have a lot to try out and other classics I’m still interested in trying, but here’s a top 10 I’m confident in recommending to most people, at least the kinda people that would follow this blog. A few of these recommendations are actually multi-part series, but hopefully accessible all around.
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Planetarian ($10 on Steam and Switch, ~$5 on sale)
This is a very late entry onto this list but I think it’s an easy recommendation. This is a very short 2-4 hour visual novel that got a well received 2 hour movie adaptation in 2016, but it was strong enough that even while knowing the plot everything still hit hard. It is a story set 30 years after an apocalyptic event destroys most of the world, as a human junk-trader comes across a planetarium with a somehow-still-functional robot named Hoshino still performing her daily duties after 30 years without customers or coworkers. It can come across as a bit saccharine, but it is a quick, well made, and effective tearjerker.
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Narcissu 1st & 2nd (Free on Steam)
Narcissu’s first two parts are pretty compelling stories to do with suicidal ideation within the scope of the terminally ill. Which is to say they’re also real tear jerkers, and pretty open about some harsh self-reflective emotions. They both have stellar endings, and can be quite immersive despite the very limited artwork (if the screencap looks weird, the game’s art exists within a narrow strip on the screen, with a sentence or two reading out the story underneath it). Maybe the least accessible on this list, but a $0 price tag makes it easier in some sense to get into.
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Umineko no Naku Koro ni / When The Seagulls Cry (~$50 on Steam, $30 on sale)
Umineko you’ve probably already heard of, and here’s me recommending it. Umineko comes in two parts, on Steam referred to as the Questions Arc and the Answers Arc. Despite the split, the overall story follows the events of a certain day on Rokkenjima Island in 1986 as a family meets to discuss their inheritance and their family’s mysteries. Unbeknownst to them they are soon haunted, over and over again, by the revenant of the Golden Witch said to live in the woods of their family’s island.
I’m in the minority of preferring the Questions Arc, where well written and deeply human characters find themselves in deeply inhumane and nonsensical scenarios. The Answers Arc back seats some of that to start delving into an esoteric explosion of clues and backstories, and was still very entertaining even if I was more invested in the episodic stories than the overarching mystery. This may also be seen as inaccessible, $30-50 for a slightly older title and over 140 hours long on average playthroughs, but it is deeply absorbing.
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Witch on the Holy Night a.k.a. Mahoyo ($40 on PS4 and Switch)
Mahoyo is me and Nasu’s marriage counselor, it really made me see the good in him. It follows a young witch co-habitating with her magic colleague and the puppy-like boy that unwittingly steps into their world at risk to his own life, just as unexplained apparent murders are witnessed in their town.
This could possibly be a higher level recommendation, though it was apparently intended to have sequels and you can somewhat feel that in the isolated feeling of its main conflict. Despite this, the game is definitely worth experiencing for its classy charm and extremely well made action sequences that at times make you forget you’re not watching a full anime film. It’s also a showcase of Nasu’s strengths in writing character interactions and comedy, and he finally lets Show take over and stops Telling you piles of mage society worldbuilding quite so often. It is also has some of the highest quality production value I’ve ever seen, second maybe to...
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Marco and the Galaxy Dragon ($20 on Steam/Switch, less than $10 on sale)
Marco and the Galaxy Dragon is an explosive opera of art, energy, color, and of course music. It follows the orphaned Marco and her dragon compatriot Arco as they hunt for treasure across the cosmos, finding their way to Earth on the hunt for Marco’s mother.
If Umineko’s 140 hours seems steep, Marco has you covered with a quick 6 hour rundown of a rebellious orphan fighting back against her space alien menace to find her own sense of place and identity in the universe, along with ALL the friends she made along the way. If Mahoyo feels like an anime film sometimes, Marco actually just has fully animated FMV cutscenes that are fun as hell and have their own unique artstyle to the VN itself. Thousands of pieces of artwork and a 52-track OST fill the game’s short runtime with no cut corners and and overflow of passion from the devs. Honestly even if you don’t want to read it go buy it, it’s cheap and they earned it.
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White Album 2 (You’ll have to be creative to find this one)
This is the only recommendation that’s currently only available in an adults only 18+ Rating for the English translation. That being said, it’s one of the few erotic VN’s that felt justified in its pornographic scenes. The story is split into two releases: Opening Chapter and Closing Chapter.
Opening is a short and powerfully delivered love triangle narrative following Haruki, Setsuna, and Touma as their hastily formed 3-man light music band falls into itself with feelings. It’s charming but gut wrenching and sweeps you into its drama very effectively before kicking you on your ass in the end.
Closing Chapter is a long and drawn out disassembling of their lives as they fail to heal from the wounds of the relationships seen in Opening. It, to great effect, takes the readers own experience with how fun and passionate the Opening Chapter was, and shows how trying to cling to halcyon days can make us so dispassionate about our present lives. Painful stuff! Good music, too.
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The Princess, The Stray Cat, and Matters of the Heart 1 & 2
a.k.a. Noratoto ($40 on Steam for both, ~$15 for both on sale)
This is a very personal recommendation, and maybe one more easy to make on this blog where many of my followers might be receptive to sincere but slapstick ecchi comedy as art. Every route is highly different however and to me, some are pretty average for galge, while others stand out as amazing. The comedy writing as well feels like it was written by someone with actual comic writing experience, and not just regurgitating the usual ecchi manga jokes.
The general premise of Noratoto is the protagonist Nora, being transformed into a cat by Patricia the princess of the Netherworld, and he must reverse this curse via a kiss before it becomes permanent. A benign fairy tale premise, but one that somehow gives way to underlying stories about existence and finding purpose in families and where that leaves those without families or with abusive or divided families (it is from the same developers as Marco and the Galaxy Dragon, and the themes of finding identity without family match up very closely). Uniquely it is a visual novel written somewhat in 3rd person, narrated by a motherly voice as if the VN was being read to you as a bedtime story.
Like I said, it is dependent on route and some come across as your usual ecchi gal-game schtick, but some stick out, and if every route was as high quality as Nobuchina’s in the 2nd game, it would probably be my favorite visual novel.
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The Original Ace Attorney Trilogy ($30 on most platforms, $10 on sale)
You’ve almost certainly heard of Ace Attorney already and have most likely played it. This is me telling any Ace Attorney fans reading that the original trilogy still reigns supreme (regardless of Turnabout Big Top). This is also me telling anyone who has held out on trying Ace Attorney to try it, and to start with the original trilogy.
Obviously this trilogy follows the Meme Man Himself, Phoenix Wright, as he defends the innocent and brings the guilty to justice acting as both lawyer and his own main investigator. While each case presents a unique mystery, the original trilogy has an underlying arc that reaches from beginning to end with a massive conspiracy that Phoenix has to breach to bring justice to the perpetrators and resolve the memory and regrets of his beloved mentor.
These games have some speedbumps as you may be banging your head against the wall trying to find the right evidence, but the experience that breaks through does so with gusto, succeeding on what it sets out to be: games that make you feel like you’ve brought justice to the world.
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Utawarerumono Trilogy ($40/60 each on Steam, trilogy bundle $62 on sale)
Utawarerumono was my first proper visual novel, and it set the standards pretty high. I’ve posted about it several times in the last few years, and it remains one of my favorites. It is a labor of love on the part of the developers (the same developers as White Album 2), who developed the latter two games over the course of several years and have made this the spearhead of their company for the time being. Which makes sense, since it is about war.
The first game follows a masked man who is given the name Hakuoro waking up in a rural village with amnesia, confused about the strange population of beast-men living there. Despite not understanding his situation, his ingenuity brings the village prosperity. When the local lords try to put the village under their thumb, Hakuoro and the villagers are able to turn the tides against them. Their village grows into a kingdom as Hakuoro seeks the mysteries of himself and the world around him.
The latter two games pick up some twenty years after the conclusion of the first, and follow a man who is given the name Haku, waking up in the woods with amnesia confused about the... you get it. He is met by Kuon, a young girl on her way traveling to the capital of their nation of Yamato. Haku graciously accepts her help getting out of the cold woods, and decides to join her to the capital. As events play out, Haku finds himself under the direct command of the nation’s leader the Mikado, and carries out missions on his behalf as the nation continues to drag itself into war and conflict and Haku also seeks the truth of his identity.
These games are expansive in scope while still putting a large focus on the day-to-day lives of its characters. Around 100 hours across all three games it is impressive how much story it manages to fit in, but the pacing does bounce around between sweeping conflict and sleepy conversations. It is also in part, a strategy RPG game with the battles in the war being controlled by the player. These are decently made, especially well in the third game, but don’t ask too much of the player and the story remains the main focus and biggest portion of the runtime.
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The House In Fata Morgana a.k.a. Fatamoru
($40 complete version on PS4/Switch, ~$40 main game + expansion on Steam)
I’ve gushed about this enough on this tumblr, I’ll keep it brief.
You are a formless soul who is led by the hand of a mysterious maid through the doors of a mansion on an unknown plane of existence. Through each door lies a story of the house in a different era, all following people bound together in ways that leave them cruelly and violently undone by the end of their stories. The connection between these stories, the mystery of the house and the supposed witch that resides within, and the mystery of You the wandering soul all slowly unravel in a bloody show of catharsis and soul. The game is dripping with traumatic poetic text, grating beautiful music, and all of its atmosphere geared toward being oppressive yet enticing. One of the best things I’ve read.
Honorable mentions:
Va-11 Hall-A and Endless Mondays get shout outs as some of the best Original English Language VN’s I’ve read, with cool artstyles and a mature cast they manage to be fun and relatable. Va-11 Hall-A delivers a great arc for its protagonist and Endless Mondays has great dialogue on the threat of automation of creative industries.
Grisaia Trilogy and Hatsumira are both absolutely raucous trilogies that are a lot of fun. Not wholly recommendable to all, Grisaia has some strong moments and a hilarious unique cast but is a mess overall (but we love Michiru). Hatsumira is a bit more consistent, a more stable and fantasy-oriented Grisaia.
A.I. The Somnium Files duology are detective games with highly divisive endings, but great comedy and characters that make them very easy to get through and enjoy the whole way to the end. It’s just a toss-up whether you’ll like that ending.
Sakura Wars games are finally being translated, and they are a great showing for anyone who wants to try some classic dating sim stuff but with some pizazz thrown in with the setting and mecha combat.
The Tears to Tiara duology by the same developers of Utawarerumono and White Album is also one to keep an eye out for. The first game's definitive version isn't available in English and the second game is stuck on the PS3 and no longer available digitally, but if they ever come out on Steam they are worth your time.
Nanairo Reincarnation and Kinkoi: Golden Loveriche are also two solid ecchi comedy galge. Both have surprisingly deep and genuinely heartbreaking underlying mysteries and conclusions.
I still have a lot I wanna read, Planetarian is the only Key novel I’ve read. On the docket are Labyrinth of Galleria, Little Busters, the 9 -nine- series, and Kara no Shoujo and White Album 1 releasing on Steam this year. Some classics I didn’t mention are Fate/Stay Night, Muv Luv, Steins Gate. Muv Luv I read Extra and enjoyed it, but never pulled the trigger on reading the rest, I may at some point on a whim. Steins;Gate I played through half of on PS3 and now my PS3 is in the closet, the VN is really good and has a unique atmosphere to the anime, buuuuuuut knowing the plot has made it hard to want to restart on PC or another console. Steins;Gate is good, if anyone is reading this far and hasn’t seen the anime or read the VN, do it.
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Part 5 - dare not preach
Dp x DC AU: Regent!Jazz & Vigilante!Jazz
Masterlist Part 4
"And If I had the answers I'd have written them out so I could tell you what to do and what this thing is about. But all I've ever learned comes second-hand and I dare not preach what I don't understand." -Make A Move by Icon For Hire
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Content warning: briefly implied child abuse (Vlad is not a good guy by any definition),
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Time was lost in between bouts of consciousness, flashes of pretty eyes and fire hair,  soft muttering and gentle caresses against his skin soothing his aches. 
Jason was caught between heaven and hell, wracked with agony behind his ribs one moment and healed with persistent warmth the next, a never ending cycle. 
He wanted to scream. 
One bout of semi-clarity was of some citrus concoction on his tongue, gentle murmurs of a woman by his ear before she kissed him again, forced something down his throat again. 
He both loved and hated that woman. She felt familiar in a way that made his bat-honed paranoia rear its ugly head, the instinct to survive in his gut a heavy weight, but she brought him peace in the same moment she could damn him. 
He caught his name once, his real name, spoken by her as he swallowed dutifully, a spike of want in his heart almost a welcome change from the pain by that point. 
————————————————
Jazz spoke with the Lady frequently as the Red Hood, Jason, healed in her bed. 
The elder spirit, regal in mannerisms and aura, demanded the Regent to aid this one vigilante, this one knight and Jazz had finally figured out why. 
It was so obvious when she had all the puzzle pieces, the depth of occult knowledge both in her brain and at her disposal should have been her first resource used to dig deeper, but she’d allowed Danny and Frostbite to assume (and let her assume) that the Red Hood was an awakened Liminal who was recovering from corrupted Ecto in his system. 
The Red Hood had been Jason Todd-Wayne, the second Robin- bright light of Gotham- and he’d been murdered by the Joker. 
Unburied in my soil. 
Jazz groaned in self-contempt as she paced the graveyard of Gotham’s Crime Alley. It was decrepit and uncared for, not like the higher class cemetery of Gotham proper where the Rich and powerful are buried. She what’s spent the better part of three days researching her new bedmate roommate once he’d been stabilized enough to be on a consistent schedule for ecto-infusion. He’d be unlikely to regain full consciousness for another month or so, but he would recover fully. 
That was, if he understood what he had become in his near-fatal collapse. 
(Thanks to Jazz and her rash actions.) 
The Lady had been cryptic when speaking of Red Hood at first, but with his recovery and development of a strong proto-core Lady Gotham was eager to aid the Regent in making her once Robin adjust to a world-changing consequence once again. 
(At least this time he would have support.) 
Not only was Jason a Liminal with an indisputable death-claim, he had been a- a Revenant whose continued existence was a mind boggling happenstance of circumstance that was one in a infinite chance of ever happening again. 
The Lady claimed him. The Lady gave a bit of herself to resurrect her bright Light, the one who shouldn’t have died so young, not while he deserved happiness for the hope he brought to so many. 
(Damn it all.)
He clawed himself out of his own casket, to be found by Talia Al Ghul of all people… then survive the Lazarus Pits in body, with only Pit Madness to show for it? 
(It was a callous way to think about it, but Jazz knew that it had also given him his freedom in many ways, that Jason wouldn’t have if he was still just a Revenant.) 
(Did the Al Ghul know what she had found that night in dreary Gotham?) 
(Was she aware she had given Jason Todd a third chance at life- however much of one being death-claimed by Lady Gotham could be called a life.) 
The Lady, wistful once assured in the Regent’s anger having passed, swore an oath that Jason would never be forced to be a Knight again. 
(Jazz reveled in the understanding that Batman, Bruce Wayne, was destined to be Gotham Knight for his mortal lifetime- possibly beyond.) 
(Had he sworn his fealty by accident in his grief? Or had his donning that ridiculous gimmick been enough of a bind to tie his soul to the Lady?)
(Regardless, for his inaction, Jazz privately reveled in the satisfaction of the true consequences of his choices.) 
Jazz, who’d been pacing a strict line in the uneven row of headstones, came to a rest at the grave of the once-Revenant who now lay in her bed. 
Jason Todd 
He’d been only a year older than her little brother when he’d been murdered by the Joker, buried under a name that was half-complete. He was a Wayne in life, but not in death? How hypocritical of the old bat, to not give him the courtesy of giving him the hyphenated last name if he wasn’t going to bury him in the Wayne cemetery. 
What would it have been like if Danny had a grave, complete with a stone and inscription? 
(The portal was his grave. He’d died there and the house was his graveyard.) 
Would it have been up to Jazz to choose the words to describe her little light, the brightest star in the galaxy, the one reason she had for getting up in the morning… or would her parents have cremated him and put him on a shelf to prevent a corpse from ‘piloting’ his corpse? 
(Jazz still had nightmares about Danny’s death scream. The portal ripping him apart in the same moment it fused him back together.) 
(Into something different, something more.) 
(He was her little brother, the same one who she spent her birthday money on to get those ridiculous glow-in-the-dark stars.) 
(They’d spent hours forming constellations on his ceiling.) 
How does one paraphrase a life? 
Would Jazz start with his name, his preferred name, or with his date of birth? 
Would she put down ‘dearest brother’ or ‘missed’, ‘Be at peace’? 
No. Jazz knew she’d give the most important pieces of what made her little brother the brightest star in the sky- 
Danny, per aspera ad Astra.
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Danny had an unconventional memorial tucked away in the remnants of the Fenton lab, underneath the debris of what was once a strange machine to a world unseen. 
The portal was built into the wall with ample access space in the rear for intended maintenance, though it was not required once the portal was completed and functional. 
Jazz left flowers for Danny in that maintenance space three days after she first saw his transformation, yellow tulips, though she didn’t know the impact the action would have later in life. 
Once a month, Jazz would return to replace the dried flowers, dust away the cobwebs, close the door, rinse and repeat. 
Christmas was particularly complicated in the Fenton household, but the first year of Danny’s half-life was the worst Jazz could recall up to that point. 
It wasn’t the eerie lack of ghost attacks (thanks to her not knowing of the Truce then), or the winter storm being harsher than any other Amity Park had faced in previous years… No, it was that Danny had died, while nothing and everything changed. 
Jack and Maddie still screamed their arguments about Santa Claus, loud and proud for the world to be privy to. 
Jazz had extra tutoring to take up for Christmas presents. 
Danny… Danny still had to fight a ghost. 
Ghostwriter wasn’t a malicious ghost in nature, far from it in fact, but he was never a fan of her little brother. 
Jazz overheard Danny tell his friends about his ‘storybook adventure’ and she had to sleep in the access space for the night, just so she didn’t wake anyone with her crying. 
It wasn’t right. 
That thought repeated on a never-ending loop in her head as she tucked her growing limbs into the cramped space, eyes shut tight and the darkness shrouding her in safety. 
(That had been the first nightmare of her own death to come, fingers frantically searching for a pulse as she woke in the dark.) 
Perhaps she should have never left that darkness. 
Because then the anger that had been building inside of her would never have been unshackled after the release of the tyrant king. 
Jazz had been a patient girl her entire life. It was a necessary evil when raised by scientists to follow in their footsteps, though she had no intention to make her life into any imitation of her negligent parents, she learned those lessons at the knee of Maddie Fenton, who had given her life to the pursuit of ecto-science. 
(Built a very strange machine to a world unseen.)
When Jazz failed to achieve something, she observed and struck when the opportunity presented it. That’s how she’d survived ghost attacks for so long, escpecially when it was her own dinner- that and the ingrained knowledge to strike hard and quick when it was required. A paradox of a hunter and a hunted, but that was Jasmine Fenton’s upbringing in a nutshell. 
Jasmine knew Vladimir Masters was a bigger predator than she was capable of hunting as a young girl. 
(Jazz was just a little girl when Vlad became obsessed with her and her mom.)
(Only the dead truly knew what an older man could do to someone so much smaller.)
It was a waiting game that morphed as she grew, bones sturdy and teeth sharper as Ecto-contamination finally settled into her molecules- Death-claimed, Liminality. Vlad was a false halfa, just as he was a false friend to her parents and a false business man, but as long as he stayed out of her way in caring for her little brother than she would not destroy him. 
(She was a patient hunter.)
Pariah Dark was the final crack. 
(It needed somewhere to go, all that anger, all that rage.)
Jazz had been patrolling the outer limits of the ghost shield now that Amity was returned to the Living Realm, anxiety in her gut as Danny had yet to show from his battle against the tyrant king. 
He had obviously won if they were all safe, right? The mech suit would boost him enough, but could it really kill what was already dead? 
Hidden in the embrace of familiar shadows, Jazz witnessed Plasmius carrying an unconscious Danny over his shoulder and a…crown in his right hand. 
Not only had the bastard released the King for the Crown of Fire, he’d damned them all for the same item he’d stolen in the aftermath.
Jazz’s next actions weren’t borne from Vengeance, they were unfiltered rage.
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Vlad had died that night, Jazz believed wholeheartedly, he died before she locked him in his casket- a since soldered shut Fenton Thermos. 
Thing was, Jazz didn’t recall what happened between them- all she could really remember when thinking of that time frame was a green haze that was so similar in color to the damned portal. 
One moment, Plasmius had Danny and the Crown. The next, he was a beaten man in his human form with no rise and fall of his chest to convince Jazz he was alive. 
Was it concerning? Of course. Jazz never wanted to hurt anyone, especially not in a blackout rage state. 
(How times have changed.) 
Would she ever mourn Vlad? No. He deserved a far worse fate than a second death. 
(His sins were numerous.) 
If his casket would later be given to Pandora, the trusted Mentor of the Boy King’s Regent…. Well, where better to keep a body hidden than with a Matriarch who understands the sins of man? 
(Pandora had always believed in Jazz, the Regent’s soul was far too bright to be snuffed out without a war.) 
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Within the Infinite Realms, the Regent was called many things- titles that held little meaning to the one in question, but offered weight to her authority. 
The Lady of the Acropolis, for her mentorship with Pandora and position of respect among the populace. 
First Knight of the Star King, would be granted once her Regency was over and Danny was crowned. His epithet as ‘Star King’ was a beautiful homage of a lost dream. 
Death-Claimed Champion. 
It made the Regent grit her teeth when addressed as such, especially when she lived in Gotham presently- the city of Lady Gotham’s Knights… her Champions. 
Jazz had survived to adulthood as a highly contaminated Liminal, no patron to claim as her- Not even Pandora counted even though they shared a teacher/student relationship. 
Would Jason, Red Hood of the Alley, be able to handle managing his territory without the backing of a patron claim? The Lady did swear that the once-Revenant was no longer bound to her service, which meant he could pack up his gear forever if he wanted to.
Though that was highly doubtful. 
Jason was a strong willed man to lay claim to his haunt so quickly and hold fast for so long. Jazz shared her haunt with Danny, but that was only because he was the powerful Halfa and future King. His Haunt would never be challenged by a competent opponent, not in Gotham at least. 
Perhaps Jason would be willing to unite their haunts? 
It was a common tradition for older ghosts to allow weaker ones to share their haunt for protection, but that didn’t translate well to the Death-Claimed. 
(Jazz had a hunch that Jason was so in tune with his haunt that he instinctively knew when she or Danny stepped foot across his boundary.) 
(They tried not to linger, out of respect of another’s haunt of course.) 
Then again, Jason was the Baby Liminal between the two of them. Danny and Jazz should be offering him to share a haunt for protection. 
(Jazz couldn’t help but wonder what Jason looked like as a child.) 
(She would bet almost anything that he was an adorable kid.) 
(Would their kids be so cute?)
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There was a slight lilt of sadness that lingered over the daytime hero, Signal, that Danny almost choked on his Death Wish. 
The coffee, that is. 
Little late on the literal bit. 
Gotham (city, not the Lady) was an ever-gloomy fruit basket full of ghastly vibes. You see it and you know you’re in for a bad time, but that’s typically at night. 
So what was up with Sunshine Child? 
Yeah, he was clearly human and allowed to have off days, duh, but for it to hang like a shroud of storm clouds over Sunny? Yeah, no. That shit needs to be gone, like yesterday. 
“Hey, Sunshine!” Danny called out with a false cheer. It was too damn early in the morning for real cheer, are you mad, but Signal didn’t seem to notice as he approached the lawn chair the Halfa had decided would be his new throne. 
(At least Jazz would find it funny.) 
“Hi Danny. Can I help you with something?” 
Danny took a loud sip of his coffee before he went straight for the throat, “You’re doom and gloom this morning, Sunny. Whose bones do I need ‘ta steal?” 
“No, no, it’s fine. Just…” the meta Hero trailed off, voice tired as he let himself relax for a moment in Danny’s presence. 
(That’s right, Danny’s just a friendly civilian teenager with anger issues, right?)
(Oh he would be cackling at that lie when he had a moment to himself again.)
“My brother is missing.”
Danny blinked. 
“Your brother? One of the birdies?” He tried very hard not to pull out any of his jokes about traffic lights and Stabby Robin, but at least he didn’t sound condescending? 
“Sorta. Red Hood… he went off grid about a week and a half ago.”
(Yeah this isn’t something Danny should be privy to.) 
(Like at all.) 
(It’s not like he was housing the guy in his home right?) 
(Oh wait.) 
“Yikes, Sunny. That sucks, ‘m sorry.”
Signal sighed, “Yeah, thanks Danny.” He paused again, studying the canonical adoption bait that was Danny Fenton before he dropped a bombshell. 
“Batman thinks he’s dead.” 
(Danny almost cackled in manic glee at that statement.)
(Overshot the mark there, Bats. Yikes.) 
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Danny happily waved goodbye to his meta friend, a dorky salute with his coffee cup in commersiation of a shitty hour of the day to be awake, before he leaned back in his lawn chair and yawned. 
“Oh, what drama. Jazz is gonna kill me all the way if she finds out.” He said out loud to no one in particular. The occasional shade that kept him company didn’t bother to move at the sound of his voice now that Signal had left, but it did let out a mournful trill that made Dannny chuckle. 
“Yeah, yep, you’re right- when, when, Jazz finds out.” Danny laughed again, “Worth it.” 
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A/N:
Yeah, I wasn't expecting so much angst either, but apparently, that's my jam, because I literally cannot write anything else. Well, anything that doesn't sound like two robots trying to mimic humans at least.
This was supposed to be a more upbeat entry and look how epically I failed. I had to put a content warning up top because I wrote/heavily implied that Jazz was abused by Vlad due to his obsession with Maddie.
In other news, I have a playlist now for what songs I listen to while writing this. It's called 'Guns & Sword: Jazz on' 'cause 2am me thinks she's clever.
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howtofightwrite · 8 months
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I'm making a monster-hunting college student who is going in to journalism. I'm looking for monsters that good for starters to learn to fight and magic
That's, kinda, your job.
The thing about monsters is that you have a lot of leeway in determining how dangerous they are. We got a question, years ago, from someone asking, “who would win, a vampire or werewolf?” And the answer, as with yours is, it depends on your setting's rules.
You create your world, and that includes populating it with whatever monsters you want to include. You determine how powerful they are, how dangerous they are, how they appear, what they can do, and all the other important details that shape your world.
More than that, there's a lot of merit to cutting off the safe on-ramp. I mean, your character might go in with the intention of going after something that's easy to manage, only to find themselves dealing with something that is far more dangerous than they were prepared for. For example: Basic ghost hunting, only instead they find themselves being stalked by a powerful revenant of some variety (maybe a vampire, or ghoul, maybe something more exotic.) They may be in the woods investigating something benign, only to find themselves dealing with multiple cryptids stalking them. The only real limitation here is finding a hook you like to get your characters somewhere profoundly unsafe.
At the risk of going into a weird tangent, there's a fundamental difference between RPG encounter design and narrative structure, where there really shouldn't be. (So, this is almost more advice for GMs and DMs, rather than writing advice.) When you're setting up a story for your players, you want them to face, “level appropriate,” threats. The reasoning is pretty simple, total party kills, and players being smeared across the walls by some monster, like a toddler who just discovered an open jar of tomato sauce isn't fun.
In writing, you want those threats that feel completely out of your characters' depth. That jar of tomato sauce, and the prospect of what the toddler will do to your characters is very compelling for the audience.
The irony in this is, as a DM, you should be working to present that kind of fear to your players, even if you're not throwing them against foes that they have no chance of defeating. Just because you're putting the characters under threat, doesn't mean you're going to mercilessly snuff them out, that's what you have expendable NPCs for. If you can learn to do this well, it will result in a much happier group of players when their characters escape with their lives.
If that didn't seem relevant, then take this empty jar and remember that tossing your characters in the deep end will work just fine.
-Starke
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