Welcome to the Starlight Toy Galore! How can I help you?
Apparently, 1 toy wasn't enough to in the analysis machine. Dick and Damian were compromised by the toys and refused to part with them.
Babs decided to go this time, but this wasn't the first time she came into the place for investigating, actually..
This was the 36th time she visited, not because a ridiculous tall, very obvious dork of a owner kindly remade his front more wheelchair accessible to enter and couldn't take a goddamned compliment to save his life.
This was her case dammit, and Batman wasn't going to ruin all her processes steps of plans she had already set back, steps now by visiting.
It seem this week was appreciated space theme background that was completely accurate with various sizes planets above attic seemingly look to be floating until one tiny pluto float downward only for a little 7 year old girl with pigtails to wind it up with a blue winding key and watch it float back up with the others.
Danny always went all out in the starlight Toy galore before what caught her eyes was a little boy that had a butterfly hairpin with a broken dolly, a bag of doll pieces that was the missing cracked head and missing arm piece walking up to a station where the Owner Danny Nightingale was await.
"Can you fix mah ma's Sally? Felix got mad at her for not giving him lunchie when he went out with the guys.. and.. and I got all the pieces..! I trade you mah hairpin for you to fix her!" the little boy said softly with quivering confident, raising the hairpin that he was wearing up with his hand.
The Danny looked down on the little boy and bent over slowly, his form still gigantic even crouched down as he nodded, whispering softly to the boy as he ruffled his little hair, carefully picking the broken dolly that seem way too small in those long thin hands.
Carefully placing dolly and the broken pieces out of the bag carefully, The Danny went to the cabinet above the station and pulled out a jar. She could see his body shake as though he knew she was watching. Now, if Babs could almost see what that jar said, she coul-
The hard tug onto her shirt cause her to turn to see a 6 year old little girl in black braids with rose designed beads, bright blue eyes, and a soft grin with a front gap toothy. She had a tagged name, and I'm Ellen Nightingale.
Ellen mischievous little girl who like to play pranks at the beginning but became sweet on her 3 months ago.
She was holding out a strawberry taffy out in her small hand, colorful sensory rings on three fingers and a ducky doodle in yellow and green marker on the back of her hand.
"Oh.. thank you." Babs said softly, holding out her hand to receive the taffy. Ellen smiles with wider, and her eyes gleamed brighter at Babs as she giggles, rushing off to where Babs was previously watching the Dann-..
Ack. She got distracted!
The little boy was walking away, smiling brightly with the fixed dolly now wearing his butterfly hairpin as Danny waved at him.
Ellen tugs onto his apron and points at Babs, whispering something lightly to him as he picks up something from his stationary. Babs felt nervous for some reason, considering he was a ridiculous tall man. Hell, he can give the killer croc a run for his money in size if he were broader instead of slim figured.
And here they come, alright. Babs smiles softly as they both come over. Before Babs knew it, a bouquet of lilacs and purple roses was nearly shoved in her face.
A heavily bright red-faced danny with his hands shakenly holding the bouquet as he tonguedtied on his own words.
"You did the order wrong, Papa!! It was ask, then give the flowers!! All that hard work pwactices over this last night, gone, You big oversized Dumdum!!" Ellen shrieked, pounding her tiny fists on his legs.
Danny wilted like a deflated tube man as if Ellen's tiny blows could hurt him, but Babs couldn't speak as she was laughing too hard into the bouquet she held over her face to hide how red her face was.
For: @duchi-nesten @rgbyshipper101 @torscrawls @charcoalhawk @armed-with-knitting-needles and Dizzlypuzzled
Jack and his wife haven’t been cool with the G.I.W. for a long time now, after all the group kept harassing their son! But they’re even less happy when they find out said group are harassing other kids and their son’s dog! Who harasses a blind kids guide dog for petes sake!
Jack knew that following trails of ecto wasn’t always the smartest thing to be doing, but that’s why he waited at least a little bit for his wife to catch up! The stuff was fresh so there was bound to at the least be some good samples to take! Maybe they’d even run into the ghost itself! Then they could catch it!
“Jack”, Maddie pulls on his jumpsuit sleeve, getting him to slow enough to look at her without, say, running into a pole or something. She points a few streets over… at the G.I.W. men looking around and waving their all white scanners.
Oh no those men are not getting the Fenton’s find! Absolutely not! Especially after they tried to ‘detain’ Danny-bot so many times! Jack makes a point to scowl at them, “oh no they don’t”, and starts moving quicker but quieter, Mads on his heels and readying a weapon in case this turned into a hunter vs hunter fight; not that those G.I.W. fools stood a chance against the Fentons!
They round the corner and Jack pauses, this was odd? Yeah odd. There’s a puppy, ghost puppy! It’s very green, put Its licking a person? and biting and tugging on them? Jack Fenton will not stand for a ghost, ghost dog or not, hurting a person! “Get away from that human, spook!”.
But then Mads hand is on his chest, “wait Jack, something’s not right here”, and pushing herself in front of him. Oh? Well she did notice things he usually didn’t! So he’ll wait on her!
The dog spins around and snarls at them, it has a collar that isn’t glowing??? clanging around. Why would a ghost dog have a living world dog collar??? ‘Not right’ for sure. But the ghost moving at them a little tells him what his wife was really concerned about, the person. The person seems to shove themselves off of the ground and grabs the ghost dog, possibly trying to pull It away from the Fenton’s but instead pulling herself to It/over It a little. She was a teenager! or a preteen maybe! And she’s bleeding. There’s… an electronic looking collar around her throat that appears to have rubbed her neck raw.
The collar was white. G.I.W. tech…
Oh Jack is not impressed.
The girl actually bares her teeth at Jack, “you, you leave, him, alone. He- he’s, done, nothing”. Oh geez she can’t talk very well. They should fix that! Right? And her hair’s pitch black, eyes bright blue; she… looks uncomfortably like Danny… Yeah he’s totally helping!
Jack was apparently a bit slow to come to that decision, seeing as Maddie’s already crouching down on her heels, “hey hey, it’s okay, why are you bleeding?”, her swallowing, “you know that’s a ghost right?”.
Jack nods a bit dumbly and shifts on his feet, “can’t be good to have all that ecto near!”. Maybe he could get the ghost dog to just, go away? By seeming friendly? A ghost dog is still a dog; It’s not gonna be conniving and tricky like those human looking ghosts all are. Holding his hands out and wiggling them, not surprised the ghost looks at him immediately, Jack was the biggest thing here after all, “hey doggy, if you’re just trying to be man’s best friend I promise we ain’t trying to hurt her”.
The ghost does lower Its hackles slightly, until the girl squeezes the ghost more. Maybe this ghost was her dog once? And It passed on with some loyalty to her still? Neat! The girl narrowing her eyes, “hunters. Bad”.
What! No! Hunters were great! He doesn’t even get a chance to object to that, Maddie speaking almost immediately, “hun, you are clearly hurt. We might hunt ghosts but I’d rather help a person than capture a ghost, okay?”.
Jack makes a point to laugh, but not too loudly, “yeah! Helping folks is kinda why we do it in the first place”. Jack wiggling his still up hands and taking a small step forwards, “I’ll even pet the ghost-”, again it was a ghost dog, not a ghost human. He could make an exception or two. Plus! He wonders what ghost dog fur felt like! Would it tingle! “-if that’ll make you feel better”.
She narrows her eyes more but starts coughing and shaking before just collapsing to the ground behind the ghost dog, the ghost yipping then throwing another snarl at them before turning to the girl and trying to get the collar off.
Maddie standing immediately and, like him attempting to step over; the dog spinning around on them immediately and snarling again much more aggressively this time and Its ecto-field seems to wiggle faintly… before it’s suddenly a very very big dog and a lot more dangerous looking.
Whelp! Guess ghost doggies got a few tricks up Its sleeve! Ha!
It’s standing over the girl, seemingly making sure to keep at least one leg in contact with her the entire time. Jack sticking out and wiggling his hands more, maybe if It smells him? That’s a doggo thing after all! Maddie stiffly following his lead and smiling nervously at the ghost, “she needs help, ghost”.
…
The ghost stares at them but, but! Sniffs their hands! IT DOES WORK LIKE A REAL DOG! So cool! But but but also Its collar somehow got bigger and thicker too! That’s a real world item?! HOW!?! But also, and this is a big but, Its collar says ‘Cujo’, which feels almost like a mental slap! And the ghost dog reacts instantly after smelling their hands, eyes widening, and shrinking back down. Barking at them while pawing the groaning girl like Its asking for help.
It smelled them and instantly trusted them. Like It knew their scent. Jack blinking, “Mads, isn’t Dano’s dog named Cujo?”. She nods a bit stiffly and moves forwards. But there’s no way this is Danny’s Cujo right?! Sure he’s never seen Danny’s dog, since Danny-boy claimed he didn’t need the dog at home since he knew the house ‘like the back of his hand’ but still! Danny wouldn’t have picked a ghost dog to be his seeing eye dog, would he???
…
Well he was weirdly ghost tolerant, and a ghost dog would be more durable. Oh he’s gonna give himself a headache, and there’s a girl that needs help. So on the mental back burner with all of that! Him moving to join Maddie next to the downed teenager; Jack making a show of ruffling the dogs fur in her line of sight; IT IS SOFT AND FUZZY AND FIZZY! So so cool! He’d love to clip off a sample! Focus Jack! Teenager bleeding and in pain!
Jack’s hand is still on the ghost when two voices speak up behind them, “ah, thank you for finding our property, doctors Fenton. It would be propitious if you could capture that abomination and allow us to reacquire our property”.
Oh absolutely not! Especially if this was maybe possibly Danny-boys dog. Him turning to them and putting his hands on his hips, “hey now, hunters keep what they catch”, smirking at the men, “if you can’t catch a tiny little dog ghost that’s on you”; regardless of It being able to be a real big dog too.
One of the men scowl, “we hardly care about that ghost, Its nothing but trouble. Hand over the girl”.
They… they meant the girl. The girl was who they were calling property! Oh that’s an even bigger hell no! Maddie simply glares at the men before moving to pick at the girls collar, obviously agreeing with Jack that these men can buzz off. Jack making a point to frown angrily, summoning out a weapon, “you couldn’t get our Danny so now you’re going after random teens! I, Jack Fenton, will not stand for that!”, and fires at their feet. He was sick and tired of having to defend his son from being taken by government goons! Even had to have Vladdie file restraining orders and fines against them! And now they were doing it to other Amity Park teens! Oh Jack, Jack is pissed.
Maddie can handle the girl, Jack’s about to throw down. Especially ‘cause they fired back. You don’t fire at Jack Fenton and expect to not get into a fire fight.
“You are protecting a known illegal ecto-entity and refusing to relinquish government property! Cease this immediately!”.
Jack fires again, of course the men’s suits basically nullify the ecto-blast; darn ghost proof clothing. The Fenton’s patented that! Well if the gun ain’t gonna get ‘em to back off then oh well, Jack don’t weight three hundred and forty-nine pounds for nothin’!
“You think this is funny!?”.
Jack laughs, cracking a set of knuckles, “I think you look funny! White’s never in season!”; Jack liked to think Danny got his sense of humour from him. They fire at him, getting him one in the shoulder, it’s just ecto-weapons so who cares, and Jack picks up the near by dumpster, lifting the thing over his heads, “you should run”.
They don’t and he yeets the dumpster at them, one managing to duck while the other gets nailed into the road. The remaining G.I.W. agent standing up and unclipping his black real person gun, Jack ain’t giving him the chance to use that. Bowling into the man, grabbing his belt, and chucking him into the road next to his groaning buddy.
The one he hit with a dumpster staggering up and grabbing for his own black gun, Jack huffing and running at him, “you know, I really, don’t like, bullies”. Grabbing a car bumper and pulling physically dragging the car sideways across the ground to bash into the agents arm and side; the gun goes flying and Jack shoots it into pieces.
“Jack!”.
Jack whipping his head around, accidentally ripping off the cars bumper a little, oops, and looks to his wife. She’s got the preteen girl, so small, in her arms and the ghost dog next to her feet staring intently up at the girl with all Its tiny dog focus. “She needs more than what I’ve got on me”.
He nods firmly, at least it looks like Mads got that collar off! Him turning back to the men, what to do with them so they won’t cause more issues? Hmmmm…. Ah! Sticking up a finger and running off to grab a stop sign and yanking that out of the ground, rushing back over to the men and beginning to twist its metal pole firmly around them.
“How dare you!”.
“This is against the law! We are government agents! What is wrong with you!”.
Jack, spotting a puddle, makes sure to kick as much muddy water at them as he can; which is a lot, he wears a size twenty-one after all. Before rushing off to his wife, “coming dear!”.
The girl is actually slightly paler than Danny-boy even! Worrying. Messy black hair and very unkempt clothing. He’s pretty sure there ain’t any homeless kids in Amity, Elmerton maybe? Looks like she’s passed out too, from the stress or lack of adrenaline maybe? “Where do you think she’s from?”.
She shakes her head at him, “I’m not sure, but she recognized us so she can’t be from too far away. And-”, she eyes him slightly as they begin to get a move on home, “-when I tried to figure out why the G.I.W. men would be after her, she said she’s close with ectoplasm. She wouldn’t trust me any more than that”. The ghost dog phasing through a bench to avoid breaking stride with them.
Jack smirking to himself when he hears someone shouting, “HEY! THERE’S SOME G.I.W. AGENTS TIED UP OUT HERE! ANYONE GOT RANCID WINE THEY DON’T WANT!?!”. Ah nothing brought Amity Parker’s together like hating on the G.I.W…. Or a ghost invasion.
Jack definitely feels a little weird just letting the little ghost dog run through the Fenton front door, it’s a good thing the house defences are down today! But maybe the ghost has something or knows something that they might need to help the kid out. Jack sort of hovering around Maddie as she gets the girl sat down on a cot, the ghost dog floating/hopping up right near by and pawing at the girls head gently like It was trying to wake her.
Maddie coming over with an ecto-scanner, the kind they use to detect contamination in humans not the kind for measuring the level of ghosts, and shoves it at Jack to hold while she goes about bandaging injuries. Jack’s not a huge fan of what he’s seeing, raw wrists and the still angry marks on her neck, her one arm looks like it’s been cut open and examined, a few broken toes and one definitely broken finger, shaved off patches of hair, and a cut that looks like it nearly nicked the girls eye as if she turned away at the last second. Those men likely did this to her… and they would have likely done the same to his Danny-boy if they’d ever been able to take him.
The scanner creaks from his grip faintly but it still beeps when it’s done. Nodding to himself slightly, looking to Maddie, “yeah she’s like Danny-boy, alright. Slightly less contaminated than him but eh”.
She nods, “and she looks a lot like Danny”. So she noticed that too? Whelp glad it wasn’t just his imagination then!
Jack humming, well it was weird but they’ve seen weirder! Did Danny know about his little look-a-like? They should ask! “How ‘bout I go get Dano? I know if I ran into a look-a-like I’d befriend them in a heartbeat!”, tilting his head, “maybe that’s why this ghost is protecting her? She smells like him? Like we do?”. Oh wait! They haven’t even confirmed if this is the same Cujo! He can feel Maddie stiffening a little when he moves his hand towards the ghost.
The ghost dog stares, tilting Its head, but not moving away from the girls shoulder, paws still against her face. Jack fingering the red tag, flipping it: it’s got ‘service dog’ written in a circle on the boarder and ‘guide dog: Cujo. Handler: Danny’ followed by braille and Danny’s cell number. Oh yeah this was Danny’s Cujo, why was he a ghost! Was that a new thing?! Did the G.I.W. KILL DANNY’S DOG! Jack glaring, “did those men kill my boys dog?”; he’d shout but he doesn’t want to startle the pup.
Maddie jumps a little, moving to touch the ghost with a hand softly, “we, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. Go get Danny before you break something. He should still be in his room studying”.
Jack grimaces, “what if he’s not?”, and shares a worried look with his wife. If Danny’s not here… and Cujo here was just killed then…
Jack heads up the stairs faster and louder than he probably should, nearly ripping Danny’s door off its hinges when he opens it, “Danny are you here!”.
And Danny -thank everything that he’s here!- nearly launches himself into the ceiling. Putting a hand to his chest, “holy fuck! Dad what the Hell!”, wheezing a bit, “why are you breaking my door off its hindges!”.
Jack wheezes himself a little and sags, he doesn’t even care that Danny just swore at him, before scooping Danny up in a hug, “oh thank everything you’re here! I almost thought those nasty men finally got you!”, and laughs.
Danny stiffening in his grip, “dad, dad what do you mean? Please put me down”.
Jack giving one last squeeze before relinquishing his grip and letting Danny back down onto the ground. His hands still on Danny’s shoulders though, “me and your mom found this girl all banged up and stuff and being chased by the G.I.W. and your dog was with her and your dog is a ghost so I thought maybe they killed him and took you and I was so very worried and I am glad I was wrong”, wheezing to catch his breath a little, “did you know your dog’s a ghost!”. Turning away from Danny but not moving his hands, shouting, “HE’S HERE! HE’S FINE!”.
Danny shifts slightly, craning his head around while Jack looks back to him. Danny wincing, “um, yes? Yes I did?”, swallowing, “his fur tingles so I, you know, figured?”, then quickly adding on, “but like, that’s cool, that’s fine. Didn’t even know for sure at first and he was still great. So it’s cool. Totally cool. Right?”; and gives Jack that hopeful look that makes Jack positively melt. How could he ever say no to that? Him wearing his sparkly anime girl fake eyes doesn’t help.
Jack blinking, so his boy knew? Huh. What should he even do about that? Danny said the dog basically offered Itself to be his guide dog from the moment they met. Pup was already trained and everything, he said. They’d thought that was weird and made Danny check if anyone was missing a service dog but he said he couldn’t find anything. Turns out he couldn’t find anything because the dog was dead! Hopefully of natural causes! Even if It looked like a pup! When it was small at least. But why would a ghost, dog or no, want to help anyone? Maybe Danny’s contamination made him feel more like a ghost to the dog? So many questions!
“Wait, dad, you guys found an injured girl being chased by the G.I.W. with Cujo? Is she okay? Why were they after her?”, Danny waving a hand around a little and looking off elsewhere, “Cujo likes to help folks so I’m not too surprised by that, but the rest? What the heck were you guys up to while I was up here studying starfish biology?”.
Jack quirks an eyebrow at that, “so a ghost dog just, helps people? Huh”, shaking his head, who woulda thought!
“Dad, focus”.
Jack laughing a little, “right, sorry Dano! We brought her here, since she’s petty banged up, your dog followed too”, and gestures a thumb towards the doorway, tugging on Danny’s sleeve lightly. Danny nodding so they both head out and start heading down towards the lab. Jack explaining more as they head down, gesturing wildly all the while, “some burns and cuts, broken digit or two, they had a collar on her even! I am not impressed! I tied them up in the street with a stop sign”, nodding to himself firmly, “they called her property. A human! Property!”; and scowls.
Danny blinks, hand on the wall as the get to the bottom of the stairs, “well that’s messed up, any clue why they went after this girl, besides them being goddamn assholes”.
“Language, son”.
“What your father said”.
Danny just shrugs while the ghost dog barks once, very clearly at Danny. Danny quickly and easily making his way over and roughing up the dogs fur, “hey Cujo buddy, you did very good. They didn’t get you or anything did they?”, scowling, “they better not have. I’d give you sh- a talking to for not avoiding them if you weren’t being all helpful”.
Maddie blinks at him, “can you sense where Cujo is?”; he made such a direct beeline after all. Danny stilling and eyes widening gives both of them the answer before he can even try to respond. Maddie sighing, “I’m going to guess this is yet another one of your powers that you elected not to tell us”.
“Heh”.
Jack and Maddie both shake their heads at him, not that he can tell, before looking to the still unconscious girl. Maddie grabbing Danny’s wrist, “Cujo was being incredibly protective of her, so yes he was being a good boy, but we’re thinking it might be at least somewhat because she seems like you. Highly contaminated and her pulse is slow like yours”, moving his hand over the girls wrist.
Both her and Jack jumping when Danny does, his attention basically snapping to the girl like a gunshot went off or something. Oh yeah Danny-boy definitely knew this girl. “Ellie?!?”. Cujo standing up and whining a little, looking between the two.
And oh wow they do look really really similar. If Danny was a few years younger and grew his hair out then they’d be basically twins! That’s weird right? As in really weird.
What’s even weirder is that ‘Ellie’ wakes up almost immediately, it was almost like something happened when he touched her or shortly after? ‘Ellie’ jerking up, looking straight at Danny with wide blue eyes, and basically collapses into him, “Danny! They were trying to remove my eyes and- and- and I’m not- not that strong”; she whines a little. Cujo gives her arm a small supportive headbutt, aw.
Danny starts patting her back, “shush shush, I know. You’re good now. Cujo protected you right? He did a good job and my folks too, right?”.
Jack… Jack feels really awkward, just watching this girl who looks like his son clinging to and nearly whimpering on his son’s shirt. Danny’s got his chin on her forehead and Cujo has scooched up to them both now, puppy chest pressed into both of their arms. He’s not too surprised that his wife moves before him, her putting a hand on ‘Ellie’s’ arm, ignoring the girls flinch, and rubs her thumb back and forth, “those men would never dare come in here, now your bandages aren’t too tight are they?”.
She sniffles, turns her head against Danny’s chest just enough to eye Maddie, “it’s… it’s okay”. But Cujo barks once and Danny sighs, “don’t lie you”.
Jack laughing a little, “I’m not sure you have any place bugging her for lying about her well being, you know”. Jack only laughing a little more when his kiddo blushes at that.
Maddie shaking her head, “just tell me where it’s too tight and I’ll redo it, are you in any pain?”.
Ellie has he face hidden in Danny’s shirt again, and her, “no”, sounds a little dejected, at least she adds on, “just… just my ankle”. And Mads gets to work re-bandaging her ankle better; Jack’s not even gonna try since he’s not exactly the gentle type!
Jack rubbing his neck, “what about ecto? Ya need any? I know Dano can need some sometimes when he does a lot of healing or uses any powers?”.
She stills, glances up basically at Danny’s chin, he gets the message and moves his head down, giving her like a little nod. It’s very cute… and very worrying. She looks to Jack, “that... that’d be nice”.
He gives her a silly little thumbs up and runs off to their lab storage fridge, grabbing a couple of the ‘safe to consume’ vials. She’s separated from Danny a bit by the time he gets back over, Danny grabs the vials before she can even try to. Him popping the caps off, oh yeah guess Jack probably should have done that. Oops! She had some broken fingers after all.
Maddie giving him a bit of a judging look, making him rub his neck, “ah sorry I didn’t think to do that”.
Danny tilting his head to the side a bit so Jack knows he’s talking to him, “it’s fine”, frowning, “do you guys know exactly what happened?”. Ellie shrinking a little and basically just focusing on sucking on the little vials awkwardly.
Jack winces while Maddie shakes her head, Maddie crossing her arms, “no never had a chance to ask and we didn’t personally see anything”.
That actually seems to make him smile, him closing his eyes and nodding, “that’s alright I think”, turning his head back fully to Ellie, “is there anything you want to mention? No pressure obviously”. She shakes her head, responding only when Danny just quirks an eyebrow in her direction, “ah right, no. Nothing”. Girl clearly wasn’t as used to Danny’s lack of vision as his friends were.
Danny snorting, “figures and you’d think with how I absolutely don’t hide it, that no one would forget about the whole Danny has no eyes thing”. Maddie cringes a little but the little girl actually laughs at that, so guesses Danny-boy knows that’s her kinda humour… aka his kinda humour. Maddie blinking at that then looking to Jack, he’s sure he looks as ‘dubious’ or whatever as her. “You two sure are a lot alike”. Everyone but Danny, well and Cujo, jumping when Ellie’s hand makes a loud cracking sound, her, ‘eeping’ -aw- and blushing furiously over that.
Danny sighing, tilting his head up to the roof and back down, grabbing Ellie’s hand and puts it on Cujo, whose ecto-field wiggles faintly, tongue lolling out. Oh! Could Danny, and this Ellie, get ecto based support from the pup? Neat! “Um okay. This is gonna sound pretty horrible and you’re probably gonna be a little pissed”, Danny rubbing his neck, oh no, “but, uh, Ellie was, er, let’s just say made from me. Made from me really unethically”.
Ellie glares at nothing, crosses her arms, and huffs, “we’re not the same though”. Cujo basically ‘chasing’ after her hands and sitting in her lap, getting her petting him again. Jack’s just going to assume that the dog can tell she needs it, either via some sort of ecto ghost sense or just good ol’ service doggy know how.
But… Jack blinking, “so, so cloning? I don’t know whether to be excited that that’s a thing that can be done with there being just a little bit of ecto in the DNA or freaked out that someone did that to my son!?”, gesturing a bit loud enough that his hands make noise through the air, “both?! Both!”. At least Ellie -daughter?????? Granddaughter????????- eyes follow his hands and she looks amused. “Am I A GRANDPA NOW!?!???!!!?”. Danny coughs and jerks violently enough that he headbutts Ellie.
Granddaughter!!!!!!
He’s A GRANDPA!
But oh is he ever going to kill those agents if he ever sees them ever ever ever again.
“Zone fuck“.
“Ow! Danny!”.
Danny groaning and rubbing his head, “well now I have a headache, you good Ellie”.
“You suck. Ow”.
Cujo floats off the counter, gets their lab fridge open, and comes back with an ice pack in Its mouth. Wow! What a dog! Jack definitely gets Danny-boys easy acceptance of a ghost dog now! So eager to help! And very ‘in tune’ or whatever!
Maddie glancing away and laughing to herself a little, while Jack just beams, “new tiny Fenton”.
She puffs out her cheeks at him, “I’m not that small”. She did not deny the Fenton name! Oh and he thinks the little cut on her face is gone too! Neat!
Maddie shaking her head and patting Jack on the arm, eyeing their son, “Danny”, waiting long enough for him to move his head towards her, “how do you see her?”. Oh yeah! Guess Jack shoulda just asked that! Maddie looking to Ellie next, “and how do you see Danny, little lady? And how old are you?”.
“Uh, technically two?”.
Oh no. So little! So young! Meaning he sort of didn’t miss the toddler years! Kinda! Preteen toddler???? Jack blurting out, “so there’s a Fenton toddler in the family again!”.
“What! No!”.
Danny turns away and starts laughing, even bending over. Ellie smacking his back, “don’t laugh at me! Fix this! I am not a toddler!”.
“You’re toddler sized!”.
“No! I’m three foot eight now!”.
“Oh wow a whole two inches taller than a toddler, I’m so impressed”.
She hits him again, wincing this time and earning a warning? nip? from Cujo who then barks at Danny. Danny shaking his head and patting Cujo’s, “don’t hurt yourself now”.
“Don’t baby me!”.
Danny sticks his tongue out in her direction, “if not baby why baby shaped”.
“You can’t even tell what shape I am!”.
“The shape of a baby?”.
“Oh my zone I hate you”.
“Ah so we’re just pretending you don’t steal my hoodies because they feel like me?”.
Ah so ghosts, and Danny… and Ellie, can actually sense the slight differences in each other’s ecto-fields then? Cool! Hopefully Dano, and Ellie, use that to avoid the more dangerous spookies.
“No. I set them on fire”.
“Yeah sure you do. I’veseen your clothing bed nests”. Ellie scowls at him while Danny more so moves his head to Jack and Maddie, “and to answer your question, sorta in between sister and, uh, daughter”. Ellie shrugging, “I’m just kinda vibin’”. Danny looks incredibly done with her.
Jack sharing a look with his wife before shrugging, eyeing the girl- the tiny Fenton, “whelp a Fenton either way I say!”, eyeing the dog ghost, “and a Fenton dog too obviously”.
Danny shaking his head seemingly to himself or something, facing Jack a bit more properly, “but he’s a ghost?”.
“A ghost dog. The you’ve adopted and registered, which how’d you pull that one off?”.
Maddie nodding, “and clearly tamed, and Its clearly retained training from Its living years”.
Danny’s blink is very owlish, “well now I feel stupid for making him stay and wander around outside to avoid the house. And uh, I accused them of being ableist if they rejected him for ‘being weird’, though I didn’t even know he was green at the time”. Jack laughs a little while Maddie sighs, “I’d have rather you not hid him yes, and I’m baffled no one felt the need to tell us your dog was clearly a ghost, but being out and about is probably how Cujo wound up finding Ellie here”.
Danny rubbing his neck, “they probably thought you knew”, and glances his head around, “eh?”, tilting his head at Ellie, “did he just show up randomly? Really?”.
She nods energetically, “yup! Then he left and came back covered in mud and walked all over everything, it would have been very funny if I hadn’t been chained to a wall”, and shudders faintly.
Danny giving the dog some head pats, “very good boy”. Jack joining in with giving head pats. The dog’s loving it, clearly, but looks to still be mostly watching Danny and Ellie.
The computer beeps, oh! Guess the system scan is finished! Meaning the house defences can be turn back on! Awesome!
Jack bouncing his way over to the computer and checking things out, still after a beat when it hits him that they really can’t have this on currently. He’s not going to set Danny-boy’s home to shoot his guide dog! That would just be mean! And! Very dumb. Very very dumb. Moving back over to the bench, “Danny… you think I can get a sample of Cujo’s ecto-field? For our system?”.
Danny manages to basically stare straight at him, and considering he doesn’t really need to blink, vaguely creepy, vaguely really neat, “just for the system? So the house won’t maul my pup?”.
Maddie actually glares at Jack, he’s got no clue why though. Her humming at him judgingly, “yes it will be only for that. No experiments”. Jack just nods along, slightly confused. Maddie looking back to the two kids, “and obviously Ellie is welcome to stay here, especially while she’s still healing a little”.
Ellie curls up a little, “no, no, I’m good”; which, of course, gets her barked at. WOW that dog could sure be a nag and mother hen! Danny promptly poking her one, “whelp looks like Cujo says you stay, so you stay”, sighing and turning fully towards her, “obviously you aren’t trapped here. Come and go, just stop being stupid?”.
Oh OH! It probably should have dawned on Jack earlier that this girl must have been homeless. Oh wow. Yeah no. Not cool! But if she’s only two that’s probably what she’s used to… So Jack rubs his neck, laughing slightly, “all our kids, and their friends of course! Come and go as they please”, tapping his chin and mumbling to himself, “which maybe we should have them at least text us when they’re going out or staying considering the scare we just had”, shakes his head and looks back at the little girl, “and you’re like Danny-boy! Spooky powers, spooky healing, so it’s not like you need to stay in bed just to heal!”. Sometimes he was slightly jealous of that but he wasn’t about to electrocute and douse himself in ecto over that! He’s pretty sure his entire family would give him hell for even considering that! Plus he still doesn’t like to think about how much that must’ve hurt and Danny being in the hospital was not fun. Jack could never put his family through that! Even if it would help with ghost hunting a little… in some ways. Actually no he’d get annoyed by having reactions to and being affected by things wouldn’t he? Oh yeah big time.
She blinks at him, then looks to Danny; oh yeah this was so totally looking more like daughter than sister. JACK IS A GRANDFATHER!!!!! Ellie fidgeting a little, “they’re really okay with that? Being spooky?”.
Danny chuckles and wiggles his hand back and forth in the air. Which what!? They were so totally okay with it! Maddie putting her hands on her hips, “Danny don’t worry her”, looking at Ellie when Danny just shrugs, “we’re fine with it. We just ask that doors actually get used and not phased through. And that if you’re going to eat the samples, just the ones with blue caps and three dots. Oh and no sucking ectoplasm out of the filtrator that’s gross Danny”.
Danny glances his head around, trying that while innocent act; at least Ellie laughs at him! Ellie running a hand through Cujo’s fur, “okay I guess? Cujo’s staying too right?”.
Jack beaming, “of course!”, and holds up their little field scanner sucker, again, they need samples.
Danny actually grabs up Cujo, sticking his tongue out in Ellie’s direction, “no stealing my dog, you”. She huffs at him but at least Danny holds the dog out to Jack for samples. Awesome! Ghost dog samples!
… maybe? Eventually? Dano will be okay with a little experimenting? Just a little? Maybe? Hopefully? Please? Oh he hopes so! But this’ll do for now as the scanner beeps and Jack bolts his way back over to their computers and gets to work excluding the little spooky pup.
Cujo floats himself to be on Danny’s head and barks once, claiming his person. Super SUPER adorable! Jack absolutely snatches a photo and he’s positive Mads does too! Danny scowling, “I heard that, don’t you dare post that online”.
Jack can hear the smirk in Maddie’s voice, “you were meant to, now come on, let’s get a certain someone settled”.
Oh Jack so needs to find that number one girl dad mug again! For support and embarrassment! And Danny won’t be able to tell unless she verbally points it out to him, meaning she’ll have to acknowledge it! Oh oh! Maybe Jack should get another one and sneak it into Danny’s stash of mugs? Sure he’ll have to contaminate it a little, since Danny can apparently tell things ecto-levels and all Danny’s mugs are definitely contaminated but hey! It would be adorable. Oh yes, he’s definitely getting Danny his own girl dad mug, even if, on paper, Ellie was probably gonna have to be legally his and Mads kid. Since she looked twelve or so and Danny was seventeen.
The computer beeps, meaning the security system is actually ready to go, Jack shouting, “TURNING ON THE HOUSE DEFENCES! SHOUT IF I MESSED UP!”, and hitting ‘okay’.
…
…..
“CUJO’S GOOD!”.
Hell yeah! Is Jack awesome or what?! This was gonna be great. New kid- grandkid, finally getting to meet and keep around Danny-boy’s mysterious doggy. Dano’s dogo! HA! Now to run up there and help get the little missy settled, figure out if she likes slime! or stars! or college football! Oh he so has to call Jazz about this too! She was going to be so excited, and confused, and probably annoyed, and pissed someone messed with her brother; or maybe she already knew? She did tend to know things a lot! And knowing her if she did know she would have left telling him and Mads up to Danny; such a good older sister! He’s glad they all have her!
Jack’s still gonna give those G.I.W. jerks a butt kicking though. A major butt kicking. A Fenton grade butt kicking.
End.
Prompts: The Fenton parents meet Cujo
The Fenton family finds out about Danielle and adopts her.
Danny lost his sight in the accident and manages to get Cujo registered as his guide dog.
Instead of a guard dog, Cujo was training as a service dog. And even in death he tries his best to help humans whenever he senses that something might be wrong.
The trail of ectoplasm lead to a darken alleyway of all things. Jack and Maddie followed it, but what was at the end wasn't what they were expecting at all
Everyone knows Danny has ghost powers. No one (or only the people who know in the show) knows he's Phantom
DannyMay-Day 23: Disable Danny AU
First thing you see when u gain vision for the first time in your 14 year of being alive is four dimension at once.
Must be trippy
Welcome to the Starlight Toy Galore! Temporary close for the day!
Danny could only blush heavily in his ghost form. His brightened green eyes watched Jazz pick out an outfit for his date. Ellen looked at the deep blue colored scarf before throwing it to the aside to the pile of rejected other colored scarfs.
"Now you have the braille menu that Tucker sent you of the restaurant, right? Remember to take your black bandana if your eyes get irritated again. Sam, you missed a chibi toy on the right side of his hair." Jazz spoke as she was judging two different colored turtleneck with narrowed eyes.
To Danny's eyes, the bright colors felt normal in his ghost form compared to the black abyss in his human form beside the luminous foggy shapes of ghosts, spirits, souls, demons and faes in his sights.
He can still remember the horrifying shock in mom's and dad's eyes was the last thing he ever saw as the pure excruciating pain sizzle in his eyes as they were showing the Fenton Ghost On Sight double Blaster that will reveal any ghosts hiding invisible to the human eyes and unfortunately locked onto him once again and blasted directly into his eyes.
Waking up in a hospital bed only to see nothing at all was pure panicked, being touched by something or someone hugging him was worse, especially when he couldn't see a god damn thing, only to see ember's head appears was when he realized something immediately.
He couldn't see anything at all except Ghosts. It didn't stop there as he saw a dashing tiny being with wings stealing a cube of sugar, a red parasite bug whispering to some junkie that he pummeled into paste the wall, and a wild spirit messing around from the very black shape form of a person that he couldn't see before sneaking back in their form.
Jazz told him about her telling Mom and Dad the truth about him while he was in a privates hospital room thanks to Sam, Dad actually broken down and Mom couldn't stop staring down at her hands as she had been the one to do the example on the double blaster.
Two month of him still unconscious after that event, and thanks to Frostbite being brought to heal him, Along side teaching mom and dad his needs as it seem he can see in his ghost form, but not in his alive human form.
He couldn't see the damage of his eyes in his ghost form. Only his eyes were much green with much paler pupil, but apparently, what Tucker descriptive of his eyes were his pupil went brighter then a rainbow pearl that cause his iris to go from deep blue to a much paler icy blue.
The struggle was intensely real after he left the hospital, especially now handicapped and kept bumping into everything and every wall, Cujo thankfully helping him along with his new blind cane. Kitty and Johnny 13 actually helped him out, considering Kitty had a cousin who was born blind.
He couldn't be the astronaut that he wanted to be, especially when now he was blind. He was so down in his own depression state upon realizing that It took Jazz, Sam, Tucker, Ellen, and shocking, Dash dragged him, caving himself into his room after 5 months in. His hair was the length of his waist after that, but he didn't cut it since he didn't trust his dad or Jazz to cut his hair again.
They brought him to a great museum with an audio speakers for blind people like him, wandering the halls with glimpses of soul spirits embezzling in their masterpiece, even some in old toys on display, and accidentally finding himself into a kid's crafts their art room upon hearing the sounds of a crying child.
He couldn't see what they were crying, but he could see the well loved toy that was a Raggedy Andy doll so bright with a joyous old soul spirit of a elderly lady with plush separated arm on the floor.
Danny helped clumsily tie the doll's arm back in place with the help of that soul spirit whispering in his ear about which thread is tied where and tighten up.
He wouldn't know it but feeling the warmth glowing off a child's inner joyful spirit playfully peaking out the shell that was a human.
Danny felt a new dream born before his sightless eyes. He ended up fixing beloved toys here and there in Amity Park, then word got out after he made a beautiful music box that has a dancing ballerina in her box for a sweet grandma who was a retired Principal Dancer due to her torn achilles tendon after Danny saw how down her spirit mumbling how she wished to dance in the opera once last time.
A fix here, donated parts, threads, fabrics, buttons, cotton full of lonely spirits there, rebuild a lost dream of spirits all around all for 1 tiny trade each. He didn't know that the people he helped have been collectively anonymous a goFundme in Amity parks for him after he spoke about wanting to make a space theme toy shop and repair.
Danny would be 26 year old before he decided to invest in a building after going through a gigantic tsunami of customer wanting him to fix their old toys, plushy or antiques.
Danny had to change his last name due to the fact that nobody wouldn't let him rent a building nearly as far as new Jersey, much less a shop after hearing his last name being Fenton. Getting a cozy shop in a gotham full of saturated Ectoplasm was a wise choice.
It would be 3 months later meeting a lady with a soul spirit more wild peaking out of her body in a wheelchair who made his heart skip several slow beats after doing that Ashidon motion against the parenting section bookshelf even though her real body is still at the public library's counter.
7 months in of being befriended and compliments Babs Gordon, while her dominating spirit is nearly crossing the line. obviously flirting to him alongside whispering about how she loves to pull his silky hair again to hear him make that cute whine. If only people and ghosts could see the patient and restrain he had on himself, he would've probably already passed out again from the blood rushing to his head that day.
He learned many things about Babs, even though her wild spirit is dancing, showing off martial art techniques seductively, and talking the many many ways she can take him out that made Danny feel his heart about to stop.
Ellen, his sweet clone daughter, apparently was the first to say something about his most obvious crush on Babs and helped him practice, even though he failed miserable at the result. He got a date tonight.
Who can only see ectoplasm and nothing else. Now having to rely on ecto contamination to see shit.
Of course, twist is that it only applies to Phantom. Now as Fenton? Low vision Danny. Everything gets hella hard to see near ectoplasm. It's a nightmare navigating his own house.
At some point Danny gets blinded and learns to use his ghostly wail to echolocate, and we have two options here.
Either A: The portal incident took his vision and he gets his scream and kinda automatically knows how to use it for echolocation. This makes the vigilantism learning curve a fair bit steeper, but he does it and it works.
Or B: at some point either his parents or the GIW try to vivisect him and go for the eyes. This one's more traumatic but it makes sense for if he's trying to be retired.
But at some point he gets to Gotham and falls back into his vigilatism. With option B it would start out messy and he'd struggle to make a name for himself, but either way his echolocation would get his clocked as a potential manbat double immediately.
The batfamily try to track him down and assess the situation but he always slips away right as they're about to catch him and while they never get any meaningful interactions with the new meta, they do learn that he's no manbat.
He gets a name for himself eventually, and it's fucking invisibat.
I just sort of feel the need to write, but don’t particularly feel like…you know…actually being productive with it.
So, here are some bits and pieces from fics I am (kinda) working on at the moment. Kinda a spoiler for chapter six of Caged Animals, but not all that much. Enjoy! :>
-Caged animals ch.6
He crouched ever lower, tensing his strong hind legs to point of shivering with the laden power. Clutching at the bars of the floor of his entrapment for better forward propulsion, Danny's pupils dilated, nearly blocking out all color on the pools of acid green eyes focused obsessively on one goal. Said goal lay before him. The opening, the sheet of plain grey steel. He hated it. Hated with such a passion right then. Lowering his head, the phantom child gave a screech the reverberated off the metal around him- a sound grating to the ears, warning of the absolute terror about to be wrecked-and launched himself straight forward with all the force his legs could manage.
The target came rushing up faster then the phantom had time to comprehend. Damn, too much power! Danny had about enough time to realize that launching himself head-first at a piece of steel that hadn't given way before was probably not the best idea he'd had in a while until-
With a resounding bang that echoed matalicly about the cage and the hidden room beyond, a head connected with grimace-worthy force to a solid surface. The noise of cloth and a body keeling over sounded as the occupant of the cage suddenly lost the will and seemingly know-how to stay crouched up right, instead listing to one side heavily until, with a burbled groan, the phantom fell with a clang; legs and arms twitching and trying to grip and swipe at thin air. If one were to walk in on the scene, the portrait of a beetle turned onto its back, hopelessly trying to right itself would be accurately represented.
Attempting to first clear the disorienting colors that danced in mockery across his vision, Danny blinked once, twice, three times. After a period of however long it took, the phantom managed to uncross his eyes and dully focus his gaze again. Note, very dully. Huh. Things were looking rather...odd...now. He was sure he only had one left foot before...right? And that ringing was back...but far, FAR more annoying.
Gah, get away, you..I'm...uh...I'm tryin' to..uh...ESCAPE! Yeah, that's what....hmm...
Danny gurgled in his throat and lazily flailed his arm in front of his face, sloppily batting aside something that was not there. Hm...perhaps he'd wait a moment before trying to get out again...The door didn't seem to like him much. And things wouldn't sit still...ugh, was the cage actually trying to move beneath him? No, bad cage! Managing to get ahold of his waving arms for a second, Danny clapped them to his suddenly throbbing ears and temples. It helped stop the spinning a little, but unfortunately did nothing for the cursed persistent ringing. Would that ever go away?
It must have been a few more minutes before he could process what was going on around him, a bit. Things still would blur out of focus but he could handle that better then the absolute disorientation of moments before.
-Birds of a Feather
Unfolding his great wings with a flourish, Danny the harpy boy stood motionless for but a second, perched upon the branch gripped by powerful claws, then pitched forward in a graceful dive-nearly down to the forest floor, wings tucked in good form tight against his lithe body- before flinging them outward at the last second, catching the errant breezes that shifted the canopy leaves. Grunting a bit at the force upon his extended limbs, Danny flapped once, twice, and thrice for good measure, gaining lift enough to clear the trees. Looking down- ah, yeah. THAT was a sight NO beast would never tire of; the sea of greens and reds and slight blues, stretched out beneath him as far as the eye could see (and his keen eyes could see very far, mind.) The soft sway of the land in gentle rolls giving way to taller peaks and steeper valleys off in the distance, if you looked hard enough. That was a ways away though- much farther then he cared to travel, anyway.
Practically shooting up into the endless sky, the black and white speckled harpy relished in the whistling of the wind through feathered ears capable of hearing a mouse's heartbeat half a mile away; the uplifting feeling of the air masses below roiling under his outstretched wings, cleaving the aether with arrow-sharp movements. Coming back to himself after the brief moment of flight-induced euphoria with the first take-off of the day, Danny glanced down at the ground, and saw he was over the lake, the tempting looking fish glinting silver and gold with the sunlight reflecting off their gilded backs. Perhaps he ought to catch one or two. Breakfast was always welcome, and his friend Tucker, a fawn, might enjoy one as well.
-Insight
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!"
Vlad leaned down to help the other up, offering his hand. The man didn't even look at it, just groaned, and stood up without the help. Vlad felt...well, a little offended at the brush off of help offered, but said nothing.
"Oh, no, it's fine. Just in a hurry, right? I get it."
Well, at least he wasn't angry at Vlad. The last thing he needed today was someone yelling at him for clumsiness while he waited for the bus.
Vlad relinquished the hand, seeing as the boy wasn't going to use it now, and backed up to properly see the other student before him.
The first thing that struck him was just how unbelievably thin the boy was. It was like a stick insect had suddenly decided it wanted to be a human, only with a bit more muscle. A lean but boy-ish face smiled in a friendly manor from underneath a spiky mop of inky black hair, his eyes blocked by dark sunglasses with blinders on the side-
Oh. That was why he hadn't taken his hand.
He... the other boy... he was-
Vlad blinked and jerked a bit forward, then back, taking hesitant steps in both directions. How...how did he not notice it was the first thought that came to mind. The thought immediately following it being 'ohgodIhopeIwasnotrudeohmygoshhowdoIdothiswhatdoIsay?!' In a stroke of luck, (or possibly lack thereof) the boy seemed to sense Vlad sudden discomfort, and offered a kind smile, turning his head to one side. After seeing the boy do this however, Vlad found that he didn't like it. It left a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach, like he was shaming the boy, even if he was the one turning away in the first place. Before he had a chance to say anything more though, the other bus stop occupant filled the silence.
"Um, hey dude...I got a question.." His voice dropped off, seeming like he was suddenly shy of something, and in a moment that would forever haunt Vlad's most embarrassing moments, he blurted out the first thing that came to mind:
"I have an answer. Let's see if they match." Oh no...A blush most likely more radiant then the sun lit up the silvery haired teen's face. Had he really said that? Really, he berated himself, making a quick recovery.
"I-I mean- uh, yeah, what's the question?"
The smile of the boy sent minuscule shivers down Vlad's back. God, if he didn't know any better, he'd think the boy was cu-
"Uh, when you slammed into me" Vlad winced "you kinda knocked my cane out of my hand. Er, do you see it? I think might be behind you"
Now it was the black haired teen's turn to look nervous and red. In all honesty, Vlad saw nothing embarrassing about the question; it was a viable query, and it was also pretty important it be answered. Looking behind him, Vlad saw the slender white walking cane in the grass of the median. Picking it up, he gently pressed the handle into the palm of the black haired one. A small "thank you" was given, and an even smaller " you're welcome" replied. Nothing was said. There was only the sounds of more students walking along, the cars rolling past on the busy road, and the slight wind that had picked up. Needless to say, it was awkward as all get out, for the both of them.
Soooo.....yep. That's it. I could have included more, but these were the ones I thought would be the most interesting. I hope you all, whoever you are, enjoyed these little pieces, and I apologize if I have offended someone. I don't mean to, really. Insightful was just sort of written on a whim, and I have been looking into making it better... Thank you!
Title: Beginnings
Rating: K+
Summary: blind!Danny AU, starting with how it all began. For Swaqqy<33
As soon as the bell rang, chairs could be heard screeching backwards, their owners more than ready to escape the classroom for the weekend. One in particular didn’t screech so much as slide as the boy that had been sitting there stood up, his hand making sure he didn’t lose his orientation.
“Come on Danny” Tucker walked over to his best friend and offered him a hand, though the black-haired teen shrugged it off.
“I can do it Tucker, it’s fine.”
“At least use your cane dude.”
“I don’t need the cane, just let me walk.”
“Danny, there’s no need to be so stubborn.” Sam chimed in, grabbing the boy’s books before he realized that they were even gone.
“I’m not being stubborn. The last time I used that stupid cane Dash grabbed it and tripped me. Sorry if I’m not so enthusiastic about that happening again. We all know he loves to recycle his tricks.” Danny grumbled, feeling around for his bag.
Sam sighed. “I’ve got them. At least let me carry them if you won’t use your cane.”
He didn’t look thrilled, but he obliged. He reached up to adjust the dark glasses that covered his glossy eyes so that they sat properly on the bridge of his nose. Somewhat satisfied with the way he though they looked, he began to use his hands, dragging the across each desk, to leave the room to navigate the student-filled hallway.
“Geez, Fen-turd, watch where you’re going. Oh wait, you can’t.” Dash’s voice was the last thing Danny had hoped to hear, and it was accompanied by a chorus of the jock’s friends laughing hysterically.
After a short, miserable moment on the floor, Danny felt Tucker’s hands wrap around his should, pulling the boy up. “Let’s go man, he’s gone.”
“Uh…here Danny…” He felt Sam’s hand lift his, open his fingers and allow something light and plastic to fall into his palm. “Looks like one of the jerks stepped on them. Sorry.”
Danny shrugged and shoved them into his jeans pocket. “I have plenty more at home anyway, it’s not like it matters.”
Without another word between the three of them, they left the school and headed towards Danny’s house. As per usual, Sam and Tucker did a rock paper scissors game to decide who got to walk their friend all the way home. This time Tucker won, and they parted ways as Sam headed in the opposite direction from the boys.
The Fenton Works wasn’t too far off, and the boys reached it without much incident. Tucker handed Danny his bag and can before giving his best friend a parting pat on the back.
“Alright, I’ll see you in the morning Danny.” The boy grimaced at his misplaced wording and gave a nervous laugh.
“Yeah. Bye Tuck.” Danny made his way carefully up the steps to his house and opened the door, immediately greeted by his sister’s overenthusiastic smothering.
“Hey Danny! How was your day at school? Did everything go okay? Did you make sure to record the lecture?” Her arms were wrapped so tightly around him that he could hardly breathe to answer, and even after she let him go he could still feel her finicking with his hair. “Why aren’t you wearing your glasses?”
Danny shrugged. His sister was always overprotective of him, but by now he was half-used to it, even if he still wasn’t too thrilled. “Fell off, broke. Where’s mom and dad?”He asked, trying to brush her hands away.
“I think mom is down in the lab. Dad’s upstairs taking a power nap after they were working late last night. Why? Do you need me to go get her for you?” Jazz finally let go of her little brother and used a gentle touch to guide him into the kitchen.
“No, I was just wondering. Don’t you have homework to do or something?”
“Oh! I do have a project due next month. I should probably get that finished.” The boy laughed as he heard his sister’s footsteps patter towards the stairs. “Call me if you need me Danny!” With that, she was gone, and he could hear her door creak closed even from the kitchen.
If there was one thing that Danny was somewhat grateful for, it was that his other senses seemed to have refined themselves to make up for the one he didn’t have.
He sighed, tapping his fingers on the table. Maybe he would go downstairs and ask what his mom was up to. Anything was better than listening to Mr. Lancer’s lecture on Watership Down again. Leaving his bag at the table, he took his cane and walked over to the door that led to his parent’s ghost research lab. He managed to get halfway down the steps before his mother noticed that he was coming.
“Danny! You’re father and I have told you a million times not to come down here without one of us helping you. You could fall.”
He let out a dejected sigh, waiting for his mother to race up the steps to help him down to the main lab floor. “Sorry. Didn’t really want to interrupt if you were busy.”
“I’d much rather you interrupt me and make it down these steps okay than interrupt me by tumbling down them.”
“What were you and dad working on last night? Jazz said you two were up late.” Danny said, attempting to change the subject.
Maddie Fenton sighed heavily. “Oh, we were trying to get the ghost portal to work but…we just haven’t been able to get it just right I suppose.” He could hear the disappointment leaking from her words.
“I’m sure you and dad’ll figure it out. You’re the best ghost researchers out there after all.” Probably the only ones who take it so seriously but…
She couldn’t help but give her son a warm hug, and Danny couldn’t complain since it was much less suffocating than Jazz’s. “Oh, if you’re going to stay down here don’t forget to change into your hazmat suit. Never can be too careful, dear.”
Although he didn’t wholeheartedly agree with the saying, Danny didn’t want his mom fussing over him more than usual, so he felt his way over to the family suit rack. He felt around on the fronts of the suits to find his, which was emblazoned with a large D, just so that he knew it was his. He unzipped it and stepped in, only bothering to take his shoes off since the suit had a pair of thick rubber soles already.
Once he was dress he played a quick game of “Marco-Polo” with his mom, finally pulling up a stool next to her. As she worked she did her best to explain to him what she was doing, in as detailed a way as she could manage. A few times she let him touch or smell what she was working with. When the piece was finally done, she explained exactly what the piece was for; it was the last little piece that she hoped would fix the portal. If it didn’t do the trick…well she figured that she and Jack would be better off moving on to other projects, at least for a while.
She installed it as quickly as she could manage without doing a sloppy job, then resolved to make dinner, wake her husband, and then come back down with him to test it one last time.
“Mind if I stay down here for a little while, mom?” Danny asked, trying to put off his homework even longer. For a moment he was sure she would say no, but after some awkward silence, she kissed him on the forehead and said, “Sure sweetie. Just be careful and call me if you need me.”
He knew his face lit up, but he didn’t care. The idea of being alone was comforting; it was far better than having people constantly fussing and picking at him. As soon as his mother had closed the lab door he got up and began to wander around. He ran his hands over the various surfaces, attempting to imagine what they would look like outside of his head. Solid, flat, square, round. The shapes felt like they had no real context, and yet they were at times all he had. The feel of something rough, something smooth, under his gloved hand…textures that were the only visual clues he had. With a sigh, he reached out for a wall, and began to follow it.
At a point the wall seemed to curve outward. He didn’t remember there being a cubby in the room. Maybe it was the portal? Despite the feeling in his gut he couldn’t help but sate his curiosity. His hand glided across the smooth metal surface until it ran into something round and small. A button? Why would there be a button inside of it? He fingered it, a part of him screaming not to press it, and another yelling at him to do so.
The latter side won out, and his motion was greeted by a wave of pain. It felt as though his body was being surrounded by lightning, conducting the energy and he couldn’t escape its grasp. He pushed against the sensation, trying desperately to escape before he was fried to a crisp. The machine was so loud in his head that he couldn’t tell if he was screaming or not.
Finally he felt it; sweet relief, the cool, solid floor. He rolled over, dazed and feeling utterly numb. He blinked dumbly for several minutes, not quite registering what he was seeing.
Seeing?
Danny closed his eyes again, as tightly as he could, then reopened them.
Was that the ceiling? It was a little fuzzy looking but…
“That’s the ceiling.” The realization was just beginning to dawn on him.
“That’s the ceiling!” He screeched, jumping up despite the soreness in his joints from the jolt of energy from the portal’s activation. “ I can see the ceeeeeiling~” He danced around, laughing giddily.
He went around the lab, pointing out things that he could name from the shapes he’d felt. “That’s a beaker…hammer…tweezers…the counter, stool…” After a few minutes he stopped long enough to look at himself in the labs mirror.
More than anything, he lost himself looking at his eyes. Round…glowing? Was that normal? He blinked a few times, trying to decide. His parents had said his hair was black too…he may not have seen black before but he was pretty sure that whatever color his hair was now wasn’t black. It didn’t feel like black at least. Maybe he…oh right, his parents would probably have a photo lying around, wouldn’t they? He began to go through some drawers before he finally found what he was looking for. It was strange, finally knowing what his family actually looked like. Sure, he knew his sister was tall, skinny, with long hair, and his dad was large set, and his sister took after their mom, save the hair…and even Cujo, his seeing-eye dog that had been run over a few years back…but there he was standing next to them, eyes like glass and not quite looking at the camera. After a moment of staring he took the photo back to the mirror and did a side-by-side comparison.
“I…don’t look like me…” He muttered, realizing that the portal had done more to him than just giving him his eyesight back.
The door creaking open snapped Danny back to his senses, and in a fit of panic he realized that his eyesight had just gone again. What? He blinked over and over again, but nothing happened. Temporary…go figure.
“Danny dear, dinner is ready!” Maddie called.
“I…coming mom.” He grabbed his cane from where he’d left it and went as quickly as he could towards the stairs, wondering why his luck had to be so rotten.
