#phantombright tag

[phantombright]

[phantombright]

[7:16 PM] ghost poaster: theyre having a sleepover and talking abt feelings [7:16 PM] cryptid mod: put the legy up [7:16 PM] ghost poaster: the phantom is not taking this very seriously

[phantombright]

no wait hold on here’s an au

bobby fulbright is investigating the phantom (he either works for interpol or is a spy from another government even), the reason he’s set up to be partnered with blackquill is because he suspects blackquill’s phantom is the same person as the spy he’s investigating, and he’s hoping to learn more. and the phantom is still set to kill and replace fulbright (thinking he is just an average cop), specifically because he’s set to work with blackquill and it’s all just very convenient.

so what happens is that the phantom poses as someone else, in order to get closer to fulbright and learn more about him, except because fulbright already knows more about the phantom than they anticipate, he figures out the phantom before they figure him out. except one problem: bobby fulbright is fucking gay

he’s actually very taken in by the phantom’s attempts at getting close to him, so rather than reporting on them like he should (it is a really weird coincidence the phantom just so happens to be a close friend of his, and not something anyone would suspect), he just quietly observes and tries to learn more about the phantom by getting closer to them as well, and it’s this vicious gay cycle. they’re both very deliberately trying to get close to each other “for work” and they get kind of caught up in it ok. plus bobby fulbright obviously doesn’t know about the phantom’s assignment at this point

after that, either of two things happens:

the phantom carries out their assignment as intended, killing fulbright, and then later finding fulbright’s notes on them ranging from big significant things that can potentially identify them or their employer, to weird little notes like how they like their breakfast the phantom probably has at minimum a mild crisis about it (they grossly underestimated the complexity of the character they were set to play, they were this close to being revealed and caught, and their dead boyfriend turns out to be extremely gay for them despite knowing far too much about them). this also causes them to become so obsessed with the psych profile blackquill has even though it’s literal trash because, you know

the phantom finds out bobby is gathering information on them before they get a chance to kill him, and just don’t know what to do. if bobby isn’t just a simple cop but has complex, secret tasks, impersonating him (on top of their own work) is going to be near-impossible, not to mention, they have already been discovered before even setting things in motion, and there might not be any way to undo this. the only viable option would be to run away, but they’re being watched by their own employers so there is little opportunity to do so eventually bobby and the phantom reach the same page on who knows what, and they talk about running away together. because they’re gay

[phantombright]

best friends!

[phantombright]

okay hear me out, about me overthinking the phantom overthinking fursonas

the phantom gets close to bobby fulbright to learn about his mannerisms, lifestyle, personal preferences and habits, so they pose as whoever and befriend him, right? bobby is easy to befriend anyway so it doesnt really matter what kind of character they play for this, so they start out with a kind of generic and mild mannered persona and then eventually tune it more to fulbright so they get along even better

anyway, at some point, fulbright designs the phantom a fursona, because bobby is a giant furry, probably a fursuiter even, and he’s like “if you have a fursona too i can draw our fursonas together!!” and he’s pushed them to make one before but they just keep saying they can’t draw and arent creative (an excuse, they can draw perfectly fine, but they just wouldn’t know how to design some sort of animal-person based on themselves), so bobby takes things into his own hands and makes them one himself

and while this is good (it is a token of friendship after all, which is what they were going for), the phantom is kind of messed up about it. they don’t have a self or original personality or anything like that, and every identity they take on is just a role they’re given and forced to carry out for work... and here some guy just gives them one (with giant pawhands), for fun and friendship and based on what he thinks they are like! and a lot of it they can refute to themselves, like, “i made it yellow because you like yellow” (they don’t really), but other traits were put in “because it feels right” (”you can change it if you like”) and they have no way of deciding whether thats because of the role they’re playing or if bobby has somehow seen through them and knows more about them than they do. they find themselves thinking about their self and comparing it to the fursona. identifying real parts of themselves in the process. its weird and uncomfortable and furries should not have this much power!!!

and over time the phantom starts thinking of the fursona as their real self (i mean, what else do they have?), applying traits of themselves onto the character, and using the character as a reference for their self and being. bonding with bobby over their fursonas is a way they can have a real friendship but still project it away from themselves (as it all happens on paper)... they become extremely invested with it and even pretend to learn how to draw from scratch in order to do this with bobby

after the events of dual destinies, when everyone’s trying to figure out who the phantom really is and what they’ve been involved with, they eventually hint blackquill to their “true identity”, hidden under one of the kitchen drawers in bobby fulbright’s apartment... out comes a giant folder of furry art, mainly drawn by bobby, of their fursonas hanging out and drinking smoothies together

[phantombright]

19 cats in a trenchcoat: merc said "pillowfight" prompt but in my head, i always remember zombie fulbright has pillow stuffing in his stomach 19 cats in a trenchcoat: he either has the upper hand or can no longer stand upright ghost poaster: zombie bright just straight up body slams the phantom 19 cats in a trenchcoat: Yes

local spy attempts to bond with the corpse residing in their house, turns out to be a horrible mistake @tiredfutch

[phantombright]

@phantombrights i really like the idea of the phantom keeping a snake, and as for bobby, he strikes me as a rats type of person? they’re smart and social and lovely but sort of unpopular as pets because of negative stereotypes. anyway their pets obviously do not go very well together