#the lunch lady

[zip001]

some yummy eats in vancouver - chicken cutlet curry with cabbage and green onions, mi vit tiem (vn duck soup), yellow tail crudo, fried tempura fish cone, banana coconut cake, and king salmon over gnocchi and veggies (asparagus, squash, radish, mushrooms).

[thebubblesareevil]

The Lunch Lady makes sure Danny is well fed.

New headcanon: the Lunch Lady decides to attack Danny while he’s at home and finds him in the middle of trying to make a bread sandwich because his parents were too distracted by ghost hunting to buy groceries.

She refuses to fight him while he’s hungry, so she fills up his fridge and starts to cook. Danny watches her cook and starts to ask questions about what she’s doing.

So instead of fighting Danny, she ends up coming to visit anytime his parents are gone and they have cooking lessons.

[unclegrumbles]

ULTIMATE DANNY PHANTOM

THE LUNCH LADY

Pat Soucie - her Anglicized, married name - came to America in the 1950s, fleeing the oppressive regime of an Eastern Bloc nation. Her father was too sick to travel and all but forced her to leave without him. He was the only family she had left. He would die from his illness shortly after her departure and Pat never learned his actual fate or his final resting place. Once in the United States, Pat settled in Elmerton, a neighboring city to Amity Park, Illinois, which, at the time, had a thriving Eastern European immigrant community. Though Pat felt somewhat at ease being with her own countrymen, she still felt isolated without any of her family or friends alongside her. In the following years, Pat would marry her husband, not out of love, but out of pressure to conform with cultural traditions. Her husband's companionship was somewhat welcome, but it was clear that the two had no genuine connection. Their weak relationship soured when it was revealed they were incapable of having children and, for the rest of their married lives, they co-habitated their home more as roommates than spouses.

Pat had a long history of cooking for her community and made a career working in kitchens and cafeterias throughout the city. She spent long hours at her various roles. This allowed her and her husband to live comfortably thanks to their dual incomes - unusual for married couples of their background at the time - although Pat sought these longer hours to spend as much time away from her loveless marital home as possible. In the 1980s, Pat landed a job with Amity Park's own Casper High School as a cafeteria cook. Jobs in Amity Park were coveted by Elmerton residents for their better pay and more robust benefit packages. It was a dream come true. But throughout her life in America, Pat struggled to make friends and genuine connections. Her husband had died in the 1970's after a protracted and silent battle with alcoholism. Though not spoken out loud by Pat or anyone else, she blamed herself for his drinking. She had been quietly ostracized from the groups of women in her community for her inability to have children, and this ostracizing would keep her from remarrying. Her American co-workers, at best, treated her with a pleasant indifference. She learned to adopt the same personality, inadvertently keeping those around her at arms' length.

Pat never made waves, never caused trouble, and by all metrics was a model employee at Casper High. One fateful Thursday evening, Pat was scheduled to close the school kitchen. She politely shooed her coworkers away to enjoy the long weekend - a Friday to Monday vacation - with their families. After all, she was more than capable (and more than willing) to spend the extra time cleaning the place and preparing her workstations for the following Tuesday. In the process of storing food items in the kitchen's large walk-in freezer, the locking mechanism broke, trapping Pat inside. Her body was found the following Tuesday when her coworkers arrived to start their day. The media firestorm that would have ordinarily flared to life over such an event never gained much traction. The local police and the Illinois Attorney General conducted their own investigations that ultimately saw the freezer door manufacturer heavily fined. But in Amity Park and Elmerton, the impact was minimal. Nobody really knew Pat Soucie. She died without friends or family. Her robust savings sat in limbo unless or until a family member could step forward to claim them, but nobody - not coworkers or neighbors - knew her unmarried name, or her father's name. Even with the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the dissolution of the Eastern Block when the lines of communication between the East and the West began to open, no headway could be made in identifying her next of kin.

The people in Pat's life who knew her - or, perhaps more accurately, associated with her - would absolve themselves of responsibility for her passing. After all, it wasn't their job to check up on her, and if she didn't have a family, that was her business. Pat Soucie was reduced to an unpleasant memory and collectively swept under the rug, lest anyone in her orbit was forced to face an uncomfortable truth about themselves and their apparent lack of empathy.

But Pat's story didn't end there. Not entirely.

Soon after discovering the freezer door had sealed her inside, Pat had time to quietly contemplate her life. She realized that, for all her loss and struggle, for all her quiet suffering and hard work, she was totally and completely alone. She knew that nobody would come looking for her. She would die without anyone to mourn her, without ever having learned her father's fate. And when they found her, nobody would even know her real name. And in that moment of isolation, of desperation, she felt a gripping existential dread. She was going to die alone and utterly forgotten. It's the kind of dread that forces a person to get up and pace about their room like a caged animal, that makes them aware of your breathing, that makes their arms feel numb. The kind of dread where they can feel their heart pounding in their chest so hard and so fast they begin to worry they might actually be dying. And in that moment, Pat Soucie's psychic anguish rippled through the dimensional fabric separating Earth from the ectoplasmic Zero Space, leaving behind an echo of her fear, of her desperation, her isolation.

On Earth, Pat Soucie would eventually calm down. These moments of dread eventually pass. They can be powerful reminders of one's own mortality, but even more powerful motivators for self-reflection and change. Pat held onto a sliver of hope that someone might happen upon the freezer. But with the somber understanding that help was unlikely to arrive, she made peace knowing she would be with her father again soon.

In the void of Zero Space, an odd manifestation of ectoplasmic energy and post-human consciousness congealed into an approximation of the woman who was one Pat Soucie. It possessed some of her memories, but they were a blur of unpleasantness with an undercurrent of loneliness. That was what this creature felt most of all. Loneliness and fridigid, bone-chilling cold. It traversed the alien ethereal plane in which it had manifested for a time, always returning to the place of its "birth." Unbeknownst to Pat or her echo, her psychic imprint weakened the dimensional fabric between the two dimensions. During an equinox, when the dimensional fabric is at its weakest, Pat's echo was able to pass through the site of her psychic imprint and return to Earth.

Pat Soucie's ghost wasn't the first to haunt Casper High, but it would be the first to face off against Danny Phantom.

Powers and Abilities

Overshadowing: A politically correct term used in lieu of the word "possession" in an attempt to distance the act from its demonic connotations. The Lunch Lady can enter the body of a human being and control it like a puppet. In the 1990s, volunteer workers at a weekend food drive went missing at Casper High. Their bodies were never found. In 2004, a similar string of disappearances shook Amity Park. Danny Phantom discovered The Lunch Lady was the culprit, steering her victims into the abandoned freezer of Casper High's defunct sublevel where they died of dehydration. The Lunch Lady's control over her victims is absolute, and anyone freed from her control has no memory of their supernatural occupation.

Freezing Touch: The Lunch Lady is not unique among ghosts. Dying in the cold and a profound fear of loneliness are, unfortunately, far too common bedfellows. Echoes left in the void can manifest supernatural powers beyond the common IIF abilities. In The Lunch Lady's case, her touch seems to sap the warmth from a human's body. Danny Phantom would quickly learn that cold temperatures were extremely dangerous to his ghost form.

Spatula: A seemingly ordinary spatula. Pat Soucie's husband bought this for her when she landed her first kitchen job. This was shortly after they were married, before discovering their inability to have children. One of the only gifts Pat ever received in her life. Pat kept the spatula in excellent condition despite its heavy use, even going so far as to have it repaired on several occasions. It was a reminder of a promise of better times. The Lunch Lady doesn't remember the object's history, nor does it understand it's significance to its human predecessor, but it is drawn to the spatula nonetheless.

Kitchenkinesis: Perhaps as a result of having spent so long working in kitchens, The Lunch Lady possessed a limited ability to control the tools of Pat Soucie's trade. Utensils, plates, containers, even appliances moved at its command, though this power was mainly used to keep doors sealed, or to create a makeshift barrier to protect it from Danny Phantom's attempts to stop it.

---

A young intern working with the Illinois Treasury inherited the Pat Soucie file in the early 2000s. The case was long cold, but the higher-ups used it as a means to train newbies on their research skills. Nobody ever expected a legitimate claimant to step forward, though several opportunists had tried in the years following Pat's death. Out of the blue, the intern received an anonymous tip claiming to have learned Pat's original, unmarried name. With this new lead in hand, and with the cooperation of her home country's government, the intern was able to locate a modest but thriving family network of Pat's cousins from her mother's side. The funds that had been sitting in limbo for decades were finally distributed to Pat's next of kin. They celebrated the life, and mourned the loss, of this family member just out of reach. They would blissfully never know of her other, darker legacy, which now rested on a shelf inside a thermos in Danny Phantom's basement.

[phantomphangphucker]

Phic Phight - Chicken Soup For The Dead Soul

For: @briarlovesu @datawyrms

The Lunch Lady cares about diets and food more so than anything else. Sure she’s been antagonistic but that’s not her goal

The Lunch Lady wouldn’t consider herself to be any type of ‘villain’. Yes, she fought that child and his very poor diet pets -as much as everyone, children especially, need meat, an all-meat diet isn’t healthy- but that didn’t make her some kind of villain.

Besides.

She doesn’t honestly believe Phantom actually sees her as a villain anyway. And she’s absolutely sure he wouldn’t if he took any amount of time to look into what she does in her downtime. Sure there wasn’t anything grand about running the little soup kitchen that she did, but there was something to be said for ensuring those who can’t get a good proper meal for themselves can instead get one from her.

Especially because, quite frankly, Amity wasn’t super nice to their lesser off. If Phantom wasn’t a literal child she’d give him an earful about that. How was anyone supposed to eat right if well over half the city practically catered to the wealthy only! It was a real shame and pissed her off; blowing her top would go nowhere though… and would chase people away from the food.

What she had never expected was for the very halfa she was mentally grumbling about to shuffle through her doors.

Shuffle through looking like a badly basted turkey that hadn’t been plucked beforehand.

At first, she thinks he’s here for a fight, tensing and narrowing her eyes; but all he does is stare at her a little before shrugging defeatedly. This… wasn’t normal Phantom. Not by multiple cups.

One of her technical colleagues nudges her, eager for gossip obviously. Phantom was a well-known face in Amity after all, in both the child’s forms. “Heard the Fenton kid got kicked out. The argument was so loud the Lemon’s could hear it from in their house apparently”.

The Lunch Lady grimaces faintly, promptly making a damn point to be the one giving the halfa his portions. The brat actually has the spunk to say, “what? No cookie or cake?”, but it’s a little too empty to really be called a joke.

“No dearie. Sweets are a great treat but this is more focused on nutrition”, squinting a little, “those with little access need that the most”, the unspoken question is pretty obvious in her opinion, no matter how foolish and short-sighted Phantom could be.

He chuckles awkwardly and does that neck rubbing habit of his, “heh, yeah I guess that’s true enough”, glancing at the tray, “though this is probably the healthiest meal I’ve ever had”.

“WHAT”, she can’t exactly keep her anger out of her voice at that. That… that was COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE! Did the boys' makers FEED HIM THAT POORLY! She barely manages to keep her hair from outright flaming.

Phantom blinks and shrugs weakly, “well I mean yeah. They didn’t exactly spend much time in the kitchen, more important things to do you know I guess”, rolling his eyes and blabbering a little, “and the food was usually contaminated anyway and that’s if the fridge was actually working or the food hadn’t expired or simply been thrown out to make room for samples-”.

She winds up cutting him off, she was unaware anything had been THAT BAD for the child. HOW DARE THEY. “THAT IS COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE”, crushing one of the pot handles a little and forcing herself to calm down some seeing as she’s getting some concerning attention from both her coworkers and the others in hungry mouths, “how dare they”.

“It’s fine rea-”.

“No it is absolutely NOT. If I had known-!”.

Phantom instantly shakes his head, looking a little startled, “I’d rather you hadn’t done anything. Really. I’m fine”.

“If you were fine you would not be here and I don’t care what you say, you were not fine”.

Phantom sighs, “just- let it go I guess. I know food and whatnot is your thing, but I’m good. If anything all the contamination probably helped me out in the end”, tilting his head, “uh, the ecto-contaminated stuff anyway”.

That does give her a little pause, since he might actually have a point there. Phantom was far stronger than that other halfa and while most assumed that was ‘cause of means of creation/death and maybe age. But pre-exposure could have something to do with things. Food might have helped him some then! “Well I hope the food was helpful, but everything else is still unacceptable, dearie”. Phantom just shrugs at that but before he can walk off she adds in, “and as much as I hate to put off a good meal, why are you here? I’ve heard gossip, of course; but with you? who knows”, and gives him a very judgmental look.

Phantom blinks harshly and frowns, “well you’ve probably heard right. Secrets don’t stay secrets forever. And ‘we don’t want you destroyed’ isn’t the same as acceptance”; and with that he takes his food down to eat and dutifully avoids looking at her.

The Lunch Lady, meanwhile, honestly doesn’t know what to say. It was an unspoken rule that you just do not risk exposing the halfas secret. You just don’t. It was dangerous for everyone and even the realm as a whole. Not to mention that no ghost risks exposing each other to ghost hunters. How had vis makers even? Well, she guesses, he kept his lair core in the same place where they lived.. and they were the science types. Ghost hunters. Poor kid.

Well she’s done her duty. Fed the boy. And she’ll keep doing so and fine it was very satisfying to feed Phantom specifically especially since he’s turned down her very appetising offers so many times before. But… leaving it at that would be pathetic of her. They might all love to pick fights with the halfa but he was still a child ghost all the same. Child ghosts were to be protected when needed; period. Fed especially in her opinion.

But if she told the others. Told them that his makers. That ghost hunters. had effectively expelled Phantom from his lair core. Even Walker would come to the halfas defence.

So should she?

Eyeing him eating, putting away the food way faster than was healthy. Human or ghost. Sighing, she could understand in a way, the boy was very busy after all. But still!

…

He would probably be insulted if a whole bunch of ghosts, or humans, went out trying to help him. He could very well stay with those human pets of his but he’s clearly chosen not to. Sigh, that boy was far too selfless. Shaking her head some and making sure her look isn’t pitying as she watches him leave.

Then a blob pops out from the bushes and zips right over to him. Phantom raising a hand and petting the thing fondly.

Huh.

Glancing around the room and nodding curtly over everyone eating or simply socialising. Her coworkers/employees all cleaning up or packaging things away. All the food’s being taken care of. Good.

That means she can walk off to the door and poke her head out, watching the halfa walking off and getting tackled slightly by a few more blobs.

He laughs. Genuinely. And they rub some of the dirt off of his fingers.

Was he actually okay? Hmmmm. Actually, maybe someone, or someone’s really, was/were taking care of him. Blob ghosts.

She wasn’t even aware there was a sizeable population of them here. Phantom probably created them honestly, accidentally of course, just by being in his lair so much.

He took care of the town, the town developed ghost fauna, and now that fauna was taking care of him back apparently. It was also, adorable.

And she guesses that if he was ‘being cared for’ then she could keep his little ‘predicament’ to herself… for now.

…

But she absolutely does not trust those little blobs to feed him even halfway properly. Not a chance. If he doesn’t show his face around here at least once a day then she’ll go hunt him down and MAKE HIM EAT SOMETHING.

Nodding with a huff to herself before ducking back inside, not noticing Phantom glancing back and smiling a little at her retreating form.

After all, a hero doesn’t want others to fret over them. To worry. And now the Lunch Lady effectively wasn’t and wouldn’t.

End.

Prompts: The Lunch Lady runs a soup kitchen. and Someone gets a new perspective with blob ghosts

[autisticsupervillain]

Danny Phantom Villain Theme Songs

The Box Ghost

Bad Guy ~ The Cog Is Dead

The Lunch Lady

Hungry For Another One ~ JT Music

Sidney Pointdexter

Bully ~ Shinedown

Skulker

Hunt You Down ~ Saliva

Nicolai Technus

Prototype VIP ~ WoodenToaster

Ember McLain

What's My Name ~ The Descendants

Youngblood

Shiver My Timbers ~ The Muppets

Penelope Spectra & Bertrand

Words As Weapons ~ Seether

Desriee

Poor Unfortunate Souls ~ The Little Mermaid

Walker

Collective Consciousness ~ Metal Gear Rising

The Guys In White

Party In The CIA ~ Weird Al

Johnny 13 & Kitty

Criminal ~ Brittney Spears

Prince Aragon

Prince Charmless ~ The Secret Of Anastasia

Ghost Writer

Master Of Your Fates ~ Teen Titans

Nocturn

Sweet Dreams ~ Marylin Manson

Undergrowth

Humanity ~ Scorpions

Vortex

Thunderstruck ~ AC/DC

Hotep-Ra

Be Prepared ~ The Lion King

Amorpho

What A Fowl Day ~ The Stupendium

Freakshow & Lydia

Freakshow ~ Skillet

Vlad "Plasmius" Masters

My Lullaby ~ The Lion King 2

Fright Knight

This Is Halloween ~ Nightmare Before Christmas

Pariah Dark

Hail to the King ~ Metallica

Dark Danny

Sad But True ~ Metalica

[autisticsupervillain]

I love that half of Danny's rogues gallery are completely baffled by his school life. Like, Skulker just bursts out of a locker in the men's room and pins Dash to a wall, demanding to know how he's able to intimidate the Ghost Child and Dash has no idea what the hell he's on about.

The other half do understand it and despise how incompetent the school is. Danny finds the Lunch Lady berating the cafeteria staff on how to properly cook a steak, or finds Technus frustratedly updating the school's computers because they're so outdated and terrible.

[nightlightisjackfrost]

This needs to happen a kids club where Youngblood, Lunch Box, and Danielle Phantom are all in the same room.

Imagine the reactions of Danny, Vlad, The Box Ghost, The Lunch Lady, and maybe Ember

No the whole of Amity Park and the Ghost Zone

Think of the chaos

Think of the havoc

[ladyblackshipper1987]

Crack idea that popped into my head at 4am

That Vegan Teacher vs The Lunch Lady from Danny Phantom

Who would win?