If you do not have a profile pic, even marginally customized profile, or any sign of life behind a blank like/reblog/follow notification, you will be blocked and reported! Times are hard in these bot-infested lands and we are taught to show no mercy.
I like using side blogs as I tend to hyperfixate on my fandoms (currently Danny Phantom and Batman) and like having that organization so have a mini Tumblr Link Tree of my active blogs:
Hey! This is my DP-specific blog! While it is my DP specific blog, I will be posting any DP-related writing on this blog, just so I'm not confusing myself or anyone with separate blogs.
the people of amity park are very confused by the nature of plasmius and phantom's relationship because one week they'll nearly destroy the city while having an extremely grandiose yet obviously personal argument about the nature of good and evil and the next week phantom is stopping in the middle of his patrol to show plasmius an instagram reel he very clearly does not understand
The 13th annual international gender census, collecting information about the language we use to refer to ourselves and each other, is nowĀ open until 13th August 2026.
Itās short and easy, for most participants it takes 5 minutes or less.
After the survey is closed Iāll process the results and publish a spreadsheet of the data and a report summarising the main findings. Then anyone can use them for academic or business purposes, self-advocacy, tracking the popularity of language over time, and just feeling like weāre part of a huge and diverse community.
If you think you might have friends and followers whoād be interested, please do reblog this blog post, and share the survey URL by email or at AFK social groups or on other social networks. Every share is extremely helpful!
Survey URL: https://survey.gendercensus.com
The survey is open to anyone anywhere who speaks English and feels that the gender binary doesnāt fully describe their experience of themselves and their gender(s) or lack thereof.
Introducing my Val redesign and her place in this little AU of mine!
I've decided to write up a little drabble (fair warning, I definitely am not a writer lmao)
I'll post a second, gallery post without the story in-between the art and with Valerie's original sketch and character design notes.
"The last thing that Val wanted, today of all days, was to have to see the wretched ghost dog that had so thoroughly ruined her life."
Rest of the story and more art under the cut:
And yet here it was, close enough to her to bring its ambient ghost chill to her skin, staring up at her with itās fiery red eyes, and vocalising itās low, echoing whine.Ā
Valerie had, up until now, tried to hold her tongue about herā¦ Distaste, displeasure, disgust, rage, betrayal- at the ghost dog, Cujoās, recurring presence at her school. She kept her mouth shut, if only for Dannyās sake- seeing as the boy couldnāt decide whether he was terrified of ghosts, or if his heart bled for them. Sheād overheard more than enough conversations of him and his friends complaining about his own parentās stance on ghosts.Ā And she didnāt miss the awkward and uncomfortable look on his face, or the way it paled, whenever Val had found herself speaking up in class about her opinions.Ā
How Danny could be raised by ghost hunters, and live in the countryās most haunted town, and still come away with anything other than fear and hatred of ghosts eluded Valerie. Though, then again, she may just be biased.Ā Unlikely.
The mangy ghost mutt just seems to insist on being an obnoxious staple, an inescapable factor, in her life. It started with Phantom bringing the hound out on patrols with him. Heād just claimed that āCujoās a sweetheart, he just likes to play- and if I can get him to consider ghost hunting as play, then heād be a lot easier to handle.ā She had rolled her eyes.Ā
And then, somehow- Valerie had no idea how this had gotten approved- Danny Fenton had turned up with the glowing green hound in a service dog vest and mobility support harness. It followed him around throughout the day, helping him navigate the school, and conveniently warding off Dash and the other A-listers.
The ghostsā āDanny Phantom Certified Safe Ghostā patch was made to infuriate her, specifically, she thinks.Ā
The ghost had, fortunately, stayed under Dannyās control so far. Most likely that was thanks to the promise of that infernal pink squeaky toy and a pouch of glowing green dog treats. But Valerie was sure it was only a matter of time before the dog got into an incident.Ā
And that time was now.Ā
Cujoās presence in the school was a nuisance to her on most days, but she definitely didnāt have the patience for it today.Ā
She was the definition of bone tired. Yesterday, she had barely gotten any sleep in preparation for an exam, which was followed by a gruelling shift at work.Ā
After work, sheād gotten her complimentary managerās meal- Nasty Burger had definitely lost all of itās allure to her after 2 years straight of seeing how it was made- but she never got the chance to eat it. Almost as soon as the paper bag was in her hand, her ghost alert on her wrist had beeped and she was thrust into action.Ā
It was an easy fight, no sweat off her back- but by the time she returned to her meal, it was cold, and the grease had turned the chips and burger buns soggy. With a grimace, she binned it and headed home.Ā
Another few ghost fights had followed her that night, and she never did find herself something for dinner. Sheād fallen into a lackluster 5 hours of sleep the second she got through her front door.Ā
She slept through her alarm, not having the time to grab even a protein bar before she was racing out of the door.
And as she had entered the cafeteria, her stomach angrily protesting itās emptiness, she discovered that sheād also managed to forget her wallet in the rush to get out the door. It was probably still sitting in the pocket of her work pants back at home, and she definitely didn't have the energy to fly there and back right now. It'd be best to conserve it for the rest of the day, she thought. So, she sank into her usual seat in the corner of the cafeteria and groaned, and ran a hand down her face. Maybe that explained the headache she had been developingā¦Ā
It could also be the reason she didnāt notice the creature's approach until it was right by her side, threatening to soak her with its ecto-slobber. Sure, itās ecto-signature had been coded out of her tracking devices, but the mutt wasnāt usually this subtle or stealthy. Especially with the very physical leash attached to its collar; which was laying on the floor tiles by the dogās large, clawed paws.Ā
Valerie growled under her breath and gripped the pendant of her necklace tight in her hands; the buzz of her suit's energy radiated off the golden medallion in her palm. She met the ghostsā eyes with a deep glare, and it seemed to return its own.Ā
Itās shoulders twitched, as if preparing to jump up at her- maybe it finally recognised her and had come to finish her off for good? ... Good luck with that, Mutt. He wasn't getting any closer, not if she had anything to say about it-Ā
āYeah, thatās rightā¦ Hold still, and Iāll make this quick.ā The anticipation of a fight rolled over her body, making her limbs feel shaky. She held her fist out, scanning the room around her subtly to make sure her weapon would be hidden enough, but found her sight of the crowd to be slightly disorienting.Ā
No matter, vision seeming to swim or no, concealing her blaster beneath the cafeteria table should be fine. But, before she managed to pull her focus together enough to summon it, one Danny Fenton comes to the rescue.Ā
Though who was he rescuing? Valerie, or Cujo? Valerie would argue he was rushing to the aid of the ghost, if he was wise.Ā
Fenton sped over before gripping his wheels tight to come to a stop at the head of her cafeteria table. āCujo- what the hell, boy, heel.ā He commanded between huffed out breaths. He must have raced across to her from the other side of the cafeteria, Val realises.Ā
The ghost ducks its head and looks at Danny guiltily, but makes no effort to return to Fentonās side.
She scowls, bringing both of her fists to her chest. Hopefully Danny didnāt see the glowing red energy she had been trying (and failing) to summon. āYou know, Iāve tried to keep quiet about you bringing this ghost, of all ghosts, to school.ā She mutters.Ā
āI know.ā Danny murmurs, averting his eyes from her and shuffling forward in his chair.Ā
āBecause against my better judgement, I trust you.ā She expresses, her shoulders relax when she sees Danny lean forward to pick up the dropped end of Cujoās leash. āBut if you canāt keep him under control-ā She grumbles, issuing him a warning that she knows he doesnāt understand. Sheās been able to keep her identity as the Red Huntress under-wraps, after all.Ā
āI know, I know, Iām sorry Val.ā Danny says. He plants a foot on the ground for stability and leans the rest of the way forward to pick the handle of the leash up. āI thought Tucker had a better grip on his leash. But Cujo just took off- Cujo, heel.ā He tries again, glaring at the ghost.Ā
Once again, the ghost makes no attempt to move. Valerie watches as itās shoulders tremble again and it draws its paws closer together while it stares at her intensely. The ghosts swirling red eyes cloud her vision, so she pointedly looks away before it makes her more light-headed- since when did the sight of a ghost make dizzy? Sheās so off her game.Ā
Cujo nods itās head, poking itās bright green tongue at her and letting glops of glowing drool fall to the ground. Gross. Danny seems off-put by it too, if the way his brows rocket up to his hairline and his eyes widen is any indication.Ā
āIt shouldnāt be allowed to do that at all- Itās a monster, remember.ā She hisses.Ā
Leash in hand, Danny rests his elbows on his knees and looks back at her with a frown. āIx-nay on the onster-may, Val.ā He says with an unimpressed tone. āHeās just doing his job.ā He says slowly, reaching out to scratch behind the ghost's ear. He whispers a quiet āGood boyā to him, which has Valerieās frown setting deeper.Ā
āNuh-uh, not good- that damn ghost is anything but good.ā She protests, āIt nearly attacked me!ā
āCujo would never,ā Danny says, rubbing Cujoās cheeks and smushing around the excess skin of his face with his palms. āLook at this sweet little face.ā He says, guiding Cujo to face her. Any other student might describe Cujoās eyes as round and sparkling, as his tongue lolls out of his maw happily. Valerie only sees those large fangs of his. āHe just loves to do what he was trained for.ā
āOh I bet.ā Val says bitterly. āPhantom would train him to attack me.ā
Fenton shoots her a look, one brow quirked higher than the other, and his head tilts to the side. āWhy would Phantom want Cujo to attack a random student?ā He asks, letting go of the dog and sitting back in the wheelchair again. As soon as Danny settles and pats his lap in invitation, Cujo morphs back into his (deceiving) puppy form and plops down. Danny fishes out a treat for him, and hands him that damn pink squeaky toy. The ghostsā deceptively blunt fangs sink into the pink rubber as the squeaker inside whines.Ā
āHeās not all that great.ā Valerie huffs. With Cujo back on his leash and distracted, she feels comfortable relaxing a bit more. She slept horribly, she doesnāt need to be this tense- she leans forward against her empty table. āSomeday heās going to show his true colours.ā
āColour, singular; heās just green. Black and white doesn't count, theyāre tones.ā Danny quips. Valerie rolls her eyes so hard her headache flares up again and she winces. āAnyway- Val, out of curiosity-ā
āWhat is it Fenton?ā Valerie mutters through gritted teeth, rubbing a circle on her temples to try and soothe her headache.Ā
āDid you- Oh, I donāt know- Stay up all of last night, potentially doing something physically draining, without eating before or after?ā Danny asks without a breath.Ā
ā... What?ā Eyes narrowing, Valerie looks back at Danny again. He canāt have any clue that sheās the Red Hunter, Danny never sticks around during ghost fights, and no one else has ever alluded to knowing her secret.Ā
āItās a normal question-ā Danny says quickly. āYou- Uh- You work out, right? If I remember correctly, youāre a black belt. Did you, like-ā He pauses, eyes flitting around as he tries to think, āDo you have a competition you were training for? Or something?ā He guesses.Ā
Val flinches. She can't tell him the truth, that she was out ghost hunting, so she accepts the excuse he doesnāt know heās offered her. āYeahā¦ Thatās it. I donāt have time to train during the day between work and school.ā She agrees. āYeah, I was training.ā
āRight,ā Danny nods, āand you havenāt eaten.ā
āHow could you possibly know that?ā She asks.
āOh, uh- Samās diabetic, and Cujoās trained for diabetic alert.ā Danny points out. Whichā¦ Yeah, Val remembers seeing Cujoās patch for that now, and she thinks sheās seen the dog alerting to civilians after ghost fights. She had just brushed it off as a PR thing; if Cujo could alert to a random civilian's low or high blood sugar, that meant that Phantom got to swoop in and educate the public and look like a hero. Though Valerie knew better. She knew to beĀ suspicious of how he even got those resources in the first place.Ā
āCujo was alerting to your low blood sugar.ā Danny continues, āAnd you look-ā
āHow do I look, Fenton?ā Valerie challenges
ā... Like you- uhā¦ Like youāre- um.ā Danny struggles, voice cracking, āUh- You look lovely?ā Danny winces.
āThat was a terrible save.āĀ
āYeah, I know.ā Danny sighs, āLook, the point is, do you have food? You need to eat.āĀ
āThatās none of your business.ā She huffs, though her cheeks feel a little warm at the reminder that she forgot her wallet.Ā
āIt is if Cujoās gonna break away again to alert to you.ā He says. āHeās too helpful.ā He mutters, stroking Cujoās back.Ā
āHeās a good for nothing ghost.ā Valerie retorts instinctively.Ā
āHeās been quite good for me, actually. Sam, too.ā Danny points out, an almost smug expression spreads across his face.
Valerie frowns and looks away from him.Ā
"And heās good for all those civilians he alerts to during fightsā¦ā Danny points out, his tone sickly sweet, before he chokes and stutters out, āor so I've been told, because- obviously- I'm not... at those..." Danny coughs. "Anyway. You need to eat something. Come on."
"I don't have lunch money today." Valerie points out. "I'll be fine, I've got work right after school, I'll eat there."
"You should eat now, though, is the thing." Danny says. "Don't worry about the money. The second Sam hears Cujo alerted to you, you'll have to fight her not to buy you lunch." Danny continues.Ā
"I don't need your pity, Danny." Valerie says.
"It's not pity-ā Danny groans, āLook, it can just be a juice box and a granola bar if you're that bothered by it." Danny says. "That's like... 3 bucks worth of food. You can pay us back or give us extra fries next time we're at Nasty Burger. Just... please, come with me, have some juice, get your blood sugar back up." Danny locks the wheels of his chair and extends a gloved hand to her.Ā
Valerie glares at it, then flicks her eyes to where Sam and Tucker are sitting. Tuckerās head is down, heās either got his nose buried in some gadget, or heās scarfing down his meal. Sam, though, is staring right at her with a puzzling look, as if she were trying to read their lips to gauge what they were talking about. But when she sees Valerie notice her, she quickly turns away and sits back down.
Valerie glances back at Dannyās hand and sighs, not rolling her eyes this time, and takes it. Itās preformative, she didnāt need him to help her stand- heās seated too- but she still uses his help up. Disengaging his breaks, Danny spins around and guides her back to the table.Ā
āHey Tuck,ā Danny calls out, āDo you mind getting another juice and a granola bar?āĀ
The moment the request is out of Dannyās mouth, Samās eyes widen and her mouth falls open. She turns around to start digging through her bag.
Tucker looks up from his PDA, āWhat for- you know Iām saving right now-ā He begins, but heās cut off when Sam thrusts her card into his face with her manicured hands.
āUse that. Juice, granola, and something else substantial. Doesnāt matter what, my treat.ā Sam says quickly.Ā
Tucker looks between the card and her, shrugs, turns his PDA off, accepts the card, and stands āWhatever. Can I get something too?ā He asks. Sam has already turned back to face Valerie and has shuffled to make room on the seat next to her. Tucker takes Samās dismissive handwave as a yes and walks away.
āWhatās happening?ā Valerie asks cautiously, slowly lowering to the seat beside Sam, as the goth places a small, plastic wrapped fabric container on the table. It strikes Valerie with an odd sense of familiarity, but she canāt remember where sheās seen one of these packages before. When did her mind start to get this foggy?
āI told you, once Sam figures out Cujo alerted to you, youād have to fight her to get her to back down.ā Danny said, situating himself back at his usual spot at the head of their table. Cujoās leash has been tied back to the frame of his chair, not that it looks like the dog has any intention of gallivanting off now that he has his favourite toy between his paws.Ā
Sam rips open the plastic packaging to reveal a small, orange fabric case. āI hope you donāt mind the colour, Iām all out of anything else.ā She says. She unzips the case, revealing a small device inside.Ā
Oh, now she remembers. This is one of those blood glucose monitor kits that sheās seen Phantom handing out when Cujo alerts. āI suppose youāre where Phantom gets these kits then.ā She says, unable to hide her displeased tone. She already knew that most of the school was head over heels for the vigilante ghost, but she assumed he acted as a lone wolf. Which, yes, meant she assumed that these kits were likely stolen- but somehow she feels worse knowing that Samantha Manson was his supplier. You would think that her best friendsā ghost hunter parents would have taught her a bit more sense.Ā
āYep, they were my idea. Itās easier to educate some people about blood glucose levels when they actually get to experience a test.ā She says proudly, unpacking one of the test strips and loading it into the machine. āOne test kit per person; may as well put my parentās gross amount of money to good use.ā She explains. "Now c'mere, gimme your hand!" Sam says, holding out her palm.
This post is getting long enough, I reckon- and while I did do a lot of research to get this right, a lot of which hasn't ended up in this little drabble, I might save it for a dedicated one-shot on Ao3 if ya'll like this!
The TLDR is that Valerie Gray is Valerie Gray; she's not a fan of Cujo being out and about around the school, no matter how many good deeds she sees him doing. That might only change when she's forced to get along with him and confront what it is he does for others.
You can choose to interpret this as Val also being diabetic; I did consider how the nano-bots her suit is made of would effect her blood glucose levels, but chose to keep the diabetes rep to Sam.
because he very clearly does not want to be one. there's multiple plot lines about him wishing he could get rid of his powers and live a normal life. he's constantly talking about wanting to have "a weekend free of ghosts!" "a camping trip free of ghosts!" etc etc. he seems pretty desperate to get away from it all. so it clearly doesn't give him a sense of purpose or anything. its like a chore to him.
in s3 we see that he doesn't even like the positive attention he gets from being a hero with him trying to avoid his fans. he doesn't take any enjoyment out of dash being excited to be around him when he's phantom. he used to like that paulina liked him, but pretty soon that became something that annoyed him as well.
he doesnt even like superheros. according to tucker in season 2 danny doesn't read a lot of comics, or at least not superhero comics, and the one we see dani reading in s2 looks more scifi than superhero.
he doesn't have any real drive or motivation for being a hero. no dead relative no moral code passed down from a mentor, literally nothing. he just is one. its like a fact of life.
so ive come up with a couple answers that i like.
Danny has a very strong sense of responsibility. This is probably the most canon accurate answer. If something bad happens to someone, and he feels like he has the ability to have prevented that disaster, he's going to blame himself for that disaster. We see this with Cujo causing Valerie's dad to lose his job. We also see it in the Spectra episode where Danny beats himself up for literally every mistake he makes.
The interesting thing to me about Danny's strong sense of responsibility is that he's not really that nice of a guy. He can be really rude and dismissive even to the people he loves. And he doesn't seem super hung up on the morals of what he does. He has no problem overshadowing people, or using his powers for personal gain, or using them to humiliate Dash. Like he really doesn't have much of a moral compass beyond "I don't want people to die."
But "I don't want people do die" pretty quickly spirals into "I need to be a non stop vigilante" when you have ghost powers and think that the bad actions of others are your fault if there was even a slim chance you could've stopped them and didn't try.
Danny consistently tries to do what is morally right the way that a tired teenager begrudgingly takes their dog on a walk. Life would be so much easier if he just left things alone. The town would probably be fine if he let things go for a day or two, we know that he thinks this as well because he's constantly saying stuff like "I don't want to care about ghost fighting this weekend." Surely he wouldn't even think about taking a break from his regular ghost fighting if he didn't think Amity Park could survive a couple days on it's own. But then the dog is looking at you and it looks so sad and restless and it would be so much happier if you took it on a walk. And you're tired and just want to scroll on your phone but you're not really doing anything this afternoon and it'll take like 30 minutes before the dog is tired out so you just do it anyway. That's kinda Danny with his ghost powers in my opinion. If that makes any sense.
In large part I feel like Sam and Tucker probably just told him to start fighting ghosts and he did. Hear me out on this but it's my personal head canon as to why he took up ghost fighting in the first place. While Danny doesn't have much of a desire to be a hero, Sam and Tucker totally do.
Tucker loves superheros. Sam has strong morals. Both of them love things that are unusual and don't want their life to be boring.
And Danny is usually pretty agreeable with whatever they want him to do. He really value's their opinion, even if sometimes he can be oblivious to how he's ignoring them/hurting their feelings. There's a ton of scenes in the show where, when faced with a moral dilemma, Sam and Tucker both have a strong opinion on what Danny should do and he just agrees with one of them.
So I very much see a scenario where Danny, Sam, and Tucker have been learning about Danny's powers for a couple weeks, a ghost attack happens, and the two of them tell him to do something about it. So he does something about it. Because they're his friends.
Danny can be kind of a passive protagonist sometimes which is another thing I find really interesting about him. His opinion is pretty easily swayed by the people around him. And it's shown as both a flaw and and a positive thing which is also really interesting to me. Because he can be swayed to do something bad but he can also be swayed to do something good. It's a cool trait to give a teenage character because obviously teenagers really care about their peers opinions of them. And we know that Danny really doesn't want to be seen as a loser, which is another thing that points to him kinda just going along with popular opinion. So basically I think Danny became a superhero because of peer pressure.
And okay. This is my super crazy one based on the weird crazy Danny I have in my head. So this is basically all head canon take it or leave it. But Danny is like. Super obsessed with normalcy. It's the biggest difference between him and SamAndTucker. Sam loves to be unusual and go against the grain. While Tucker doesn't really like being seen as weird, being a technogeek is a huge part of his identity. But Danny consistently is described as exceptionally average by the people around him. Literally all he wants is for things to be normal. It's why he doesn't want to fight ghosts. It's why he doesn't want ghost powers. It's why he gets upset at his parents sometimes.
I mean it makes perfect sense. His life is pretty crazy. He was alienated from his classmates before he even got a chance to take a swing at the social ladder because his parents are crazy ghost hunters. He grew up surrounded by ecto weapons and crazy experiments and a lab underneath his house. When you look at Danny, his interests and opinions and personality, he's really just an average guy. The only reason he's a social outcast is because weirdness just kind of clings to him, not because he himself is weird.
And he'd really just like to maintain the status quo if at all possible.
So what is normal when you die and become half ghost? Suddenly you're a teenager with superpowers. There's no real script you can follow when that happens. Except there is. Because even if no one like that exists in real life, there's plenty of examples of what a teenager who got caught in a horrible lab accident and ended up with superpowers should do.
Even if Danny isn't a big fan of superheros, surely he can still use superhero backstories as a reference for what he's supposed to do here. He isn't thinking about what he wants to do with his powers the way Vlad did. He's just thinking "Okay. What is the thing you are supposed to do in this situation?" And according to most media, the answer is Become A Superhero. And so he became a superhero.
This is why it feels so much like an inevitability that he's Phantom. Because to him it kind of is. To Danny, in my opinion, there's kind of a checklist in his mind titled How To Be A Perfectly Regular Teenage Boy. He likes video games. He likes junk food. He likes football. He likes pretty girls. And then that all kind of gets jumbled up with the introduction of superpowers. So now he has a new checklist in his head called How To Be A Perfectly Regular Teenage Boy With Superpowers. He saves people. He uses his powers to fight bad guys. He does the right thing. That's what you're supposed to do when something like this happens to you so that's what he does.
Thanks for reading all of this I really don't know how to end it. But I love Danny Fenton. I love him so much. This guy is just so strange. What is up with him.
Here's me trying to interpret how Danny's hazmat suit would look like if it were more realistic, based on my experience with biohazard PPE.
I feel like I also need to add a disclaimer to not use this as safety advice. Please consult your local health and safety guidelines prior to handling ectoplasm, ecto-contaminated materials, and/or ectobiological organisms!
Hey, weāre in line for some absurd temperatures here in the southwest this week. This is very important to know and keep in mind. Be safe, stay hydrated, stay out of the sun as much as you can.
Additional you can also put them on your palms, also, make sure to always use a light towel or kitchen paper and donāt put the ice bags directly onto your skin!
