Big Guy & Little One

Grundy was in pain.

It was pain worse than usual pain, the kind that ripped into something far more important than his body.

Grundy had learned that this was normal in the White Place.

Grundy did not like the White Place.

The White Place was full of People in White, who liked to hurt Grundy and stare as his body knit itself back together. They talked to each other about recovery time, and so much ectoplasm, and how is this possible, and other things that didn't make sense to Grundy.

Grundy hated the sounds of their pens on their clipboards. He hated the metals that burned where they squeezed his wrists, or ankles, or neck. He hated when those metals were sharp and in the hands of the People in White, cutting through him layer by layer and hurting in ways he hadn't yet grown immune to.

A pulse of familiar energy poked at him.

The Little One.

The Little One was nice, friendly, despite being small and weak and cold. When Grundy felt that way, he only wanted attack things, scare them so they went away. The Little One was good in a way Grundy could not understand.

Grundy let out a groan from somewhere deeper than his chest, the sound carrying greeting-pain-monotony, responding to the Little One despite being far away.

He did not understand how it worked, but he didn't have to. It was instinctive. Probably the most natural-feeling thing he could remember doing since… since a time he couldn't remember.

The Little One pulsed back sympathy-pain-solidarity. Grundy only felt saddened.

The Little One was far too good for a place like this.

— — —

Dani wasn't sure how long it'd been. It was kind of hard to tell time when you had no senses other than pain.

She knew that she'd lost a considerable amount of mass both during and after her capture, and she felt every missing milliliter like an unhealing burn.

The GIW had been siphoning her off bit by bit, probably to run experiments on, or make weapons with, or whatever. She hoped whatever machines they were using blew up in their faces.

There wasn't anything she could do but stew in resigned anger.

Not until she'd felt the telltale chill of another ghost's presence sweeping through her.

They were BIG, whoever they were. Not quite yeti-sized, but still much larger than most ghosts she'd met were. That, and they were absolutely packed with ecto; like they'd been absorbing it for decades, but it had no place to go.

She dreaded to think how the GIW had managed to capture someone like THAT.

Though they'd definitely startled at her first attempt at communication, they'd seemed very eager to return it, and the two of them had been pinging emotions and sentiments back and forth ever since.

It was a welcome reprieve from the dark, silent, painful void that Dani now existed in.

— — —

The People in White hurt the Little One. They hurt Grundy. He did not like them.

They were no longer white, smushed red beneath his hands and feet.

The hallway was red as Grundy trudged down it. He did not need to think about where he was going; it was as instinctive to find the Little One as it had been to communicate with them.

The door that blocked him from the Little One was closed. He punched it, but it was made of the Metal that Hurt. He broke the wall down instead. The door was too small, anyway.

Grundy did not care about the machines and rubble and fragile things he crushed as he walked. There was a table in his way, so he smacked it aside, ignoring the clang it made when it hit the wall, the shattering noises, and the papers fluttering to the floor.

There was a small tank, made of metal and thick glass, on the far side of the room.

In it, a blobby green substance lay, barely enough to cover the bottom of the tank. Something about it made Grundy feel like his skin was being torn off.

Hello?-how?-friend?! Disbelief and excitement came through, clearer than ever before. Pain was as ever-present as it had always been.

Grundy had torn off the lid before he even felt himself doing it. It joined the table in crashing into the wall and falling to the floor, significantly more crumpled.

Grundy reached his hand in, hesitating for just a second before setting it down on the surface of the Little One.

Greeting-friend. Grundy did not know what he was doing. It was purely instinctive, but he knew he had to do it. Offer-comewithme?

— — —

Offer-comewithme?

Dani's excitement gave way to confusion.

She… couldn't. They knew that, right? She couldn't really feel what was supposed to be her body, just formless pain, but she was pretty sure she was just a puddle of goo right now. She couldn't even move; there was no way she could go anywhere.

Then she felt it.

A gentle pull.

Their ectoplasm tugging at hers.

That was new. She'd never felt anything like it before.

It was inviting, though. She felt… safe.

So she went.

Like a miracle, the pain stopped.

It was shocking, the sudden lack of something that had burdened her for so long. The other's ectoplasm surrounded her like a cocoon of warm blankets, soothing as a balm.

"Solomon Grundy…" A deep voice drawled, coming from all around her.

Dani froze.

Those were words. She could hear!

She would totally be crying right now if she could. She wasn't even ashamed to admit it.

Wait, shit. Had he been introducing himself? Shouldn't she try as well?

"I'm… Dani. With an I."

It was weird, hearing her voice but not feeling any actual sound. It seemed her friend had heard her, though, responding with a grunt.

Dani exuded joy, the phantom sensation of a grin on her non-existent face.

"Well, then… shall we go, big guy?"

— — —

The Fenton Parents get the chance to present their work to Bruce Wayne. He looks vaguely interested, and even purchases some personal protective devices and ghost weapons.

Danny's parents are really hopeful that this is the start of something big! All of their inventions are patented and if a big company like Wayne Enterprises decides to make a deal with them, that would meam the first real financial success in years.

Unfortunately, Wayne Enterprises never contacts them again. A few months go by and Danny sees a member of the Justice League using ghost weapons that are exact copies of his parents work without the fenton branding on them!

Did Bruce Wayne really just. Steal his parents designs and then sell them to the Justice League?????

Thats corporate espionage!!!

Danny gets so mad he literally flies to Wayne Enterprises biggest competitor, Lexcorp, and manages to finagle a meeting with Lex Luthor himself. It was suspiciously easy, but the moment Lex heard about an opportunity to get some leverage on Bruce Wayne, he personally invited Danny into his office.

An hour later and Lexcorps lawyers are chomping at the bit to start the lawsuit process. This is basically definitive, legal proof that Bruce Wayne and Wayne Enterprises has ties with the Justice League, that so great for lex he literally has to stop himself from evil villain cackling. Lex gices the lawyers cart blanche to go for the throat on behalf of the Fentons.

Danny is spitting mad! If the Justice League had gone to his parents, they probably would have made them personalized weapons for free. But instead Wayne stole his parents work and then, presumably, sold it to the League. All billionaires really are bastards.

Meanwhile, Bruce had purchased the weapons with the intent on keeping them for the Bat family to use. He removed the fenton branding because the neon green paint literally glowed in the dark and was not good for stealth.

Green Arrow borrowed a couple of the weapons for a ghost problem, one time, and now he is looking at the nastiest lawsuit Wayne Enterprises has seen in a long, long time.

Well shit.

Close enough, welcome back Phantom!!

Dpxdc

You know those comments " close enough, welcome back ____". Ok so hear me out.

Imagine an edit on tiktok of green lantern being badass, saving the day, compilation of the best fights and he throwing jokes while ending a villain. And then someone commented   "close enough, welcome back Phantom".

And the next thing people know, the internet was full of Phantom edits. All the videos are clearly old, of poor quality and could easily pass as fake, but as time goes on, more and more videos appear, All posted by different accounts. Of course, this only served to make everyone curious.

Obviously people are confused and the answers they were getting just weren't helpful at all. The explanations range from "retired small town hero" to "the greatest hero to ever walk this earth."; from "He didn't retire, he was assassinated by the American government" to "He would easily finish off Superman".

And It was when someone posted a video with the caption "List of Phantom rogues who would end Superman:..." with no other explanation that things got out of control. It goes without saying that this started a fan war.

By the end of the week, the only things the general public knew were: 1. Phantom was a (teen??) ghost hero that protected humans from other ghosts and ghosts of humans, apparently; 2. He protected a small town in nowhere, Illinois; 3. That he had disappeared without explanation.

And that is not worrying at all.

I'll probably add something else later, but for now that's it.

(Please correct me if you find any glaring errors; writing in English stresses me out on another level.)

Idea.

Danny didn’t disappear, he just went to college like Joe from Blues Clues.

Oh yeah, absolutely.

Danny promised himself that university would be different from high school; he's totally committed to being a straight-A student. His parents knew everything now, the revelation went surprisingly good. The portal was closed; the only attacks that have occurred since then were when some natural portal appeared, and Val had actually agreed to deal with any ghost that wanted to cause trouble, since she was closer to home. Which means that for the first time in a long time Danny could finally focus solely on studying, he was certainly going to do it.

The videos about Phantom started circulating around the time of the finals, so Danny has no idea what's going on, since he has a zero social media policy at the end of the semesters. Tucker, Sam, and Wes know about it and are making the most of the opportunity.

Wes making the most absurd conspiracy videos he can think of.

Tucker and Sam are reviving the Vines they made when Phantom was active hero, which they never had the courage to post.

In one of the videos, Phantom is fighting a rogue when the ghost throws an entire tree at him, hitting Phantom in mid-air sending him meters away. While Phantom was recovering, a male voice behind the camera shouted at him.

"Phantom, why didn't you phase through it?"

Phantom stopped in mid-air, his back to the camera, his head slowly turning until he made eye contact.

" I forgot I could do that."

Then promptly beeing hit by another flying object.

A snort could be heard before the video ends.

I had a lot of ideas for videos, but since I didn't write them down at the time, I don't remember any more, my memory sucks. But If I remember any later, I'll add them.

Close enough, welcome back Phantom!!

Dpxdc

You know those comments " close enough, welcome back ____". Ok so hear me out.

Imagine an edit on tiktok of green lantern being badass, saving the day, compilation of the best fights and he throwing jokes while ending a villain. And then someone commented   "close enough, welcome back Phantom".

And the next thing people know, the internet was full of Phantom edits. All the videos are clearly old, of poor quality and could easily pass as fake, but as time goes on, more and more videos appear, All posted by different accounts. Of course, this only served to make everyone curious.

Obviously people are confused and the answers they were getting just weren't helpful at all. The explanations range from "retired small town hero" to "the greatest hero to ever walk this earth."; from "He didn't retire, he was assassinated by the American government" to "He would easily finish off Superman".

And It was when someone posted a video with the caption "List of Phantom rogues who would end Superman:..." with no other explanation that things got out of control. It goes without saying that this started a fan war.

By the end of the week, the only things the general public knew were: 1. Phantom was a (teen??) ghost hero that protected humans from other ghosts and ghosts of humans, apparently; 2. He protected a small town in nowhere, Illinois; 3. That he had disappeared without explanation.

And that is not worrying at all.

I'll probably add something else later, but for now that's it.

(Please correct me if you find any glaring errors; writing in English stresses me out on another level.)

Some people's Home Alone hot takes are that Kevin is apparently evil for doing what most kids that age would do if they could in that situation

My Home Alone hot take is that if you walk into three consecutive death traps and still don't take the first chance to back out, you deserve everything that happens to you afterwards. Not in a moral sense, just in a "knowingly and willingly slapping a hot stove after you already got burned multiple times" sense

HE THOUGHT HIS LIL FRIEND GOT BAKED INTO A COOKIE I AM 100% DONE AWHH

PSA: stuttering in fics

as someone with a speech impediment, all of the people saying that only one type of stuttering is valid are wrong.

stuttering CAN look like this: "t-this is a-an example s-s-sentence"

OR this: "this-this is an example sen-sentence."

OR this: "t-t-t-th-..t-ttttthis is an example sentence."

OR this: "this is, uhm, an example, uh, sentence."

OR this: "this is an example sssssss-sentence."

OR this: "this is an examp-...this an example sentence."

sometimes the sentence won't even come out of your mouth at all.

there are probably many examples i'm forgetting, but that's the point! it usually is a mix of a few of these, but some people do one of them more often than others! some people with speech impediments have certain sounds that they almost consistently have trouble with (for me it's "st").

people with speech impediments also rarely-if ever-stutter whilst they're singing or whispering.

most importantly!!!! people with speech impediments are capable of saying a sentence without stuttering!! it can just be a gamble sometimes.

and if more people could portray the frustration that comes with stuttering and not being able to get words out, i'd be a very happy girl.

(fun fact: sometimes when my mouth won't let me say what i want to say, i get so annoyed that i just yell or grumble out "WORDS.")

this was your speech impediment PSA!!!!

The first rule of cable management is "out of sight, out of mind"

The second rule of cable management is that all true art is provocative. If zero people want to kill you over it, it's not good art.

S'ghetti Closet

we need more mean butches in media that never reconnect with their feminity and never feel longing for the nuclear life they gave up on. and I mean nowwwwww

AND THEY DONT BECOME COPS

I can clearly remember the moment I first realised my mother and I were living on completely different planes of existence. I was 7 years old and I came home from my school's first track and field day having placed second or third in every event. the teachers had been making jokes all afternoon about how many times they had to call my name. my friends thought I was cool as shit. my enemies thought I was cool as shit too, come to think of it. I was proud as hell. so I get home with the entire front of my shirt covered in ribbons like I was a military dictator who'd awarded himself every medal, I walk into the kitchen and tell my mum all about my day, and she goes "oh, that must be disappointing not getting any firsts." and I'm like no?? first of all the first place ribbons are red and I don't like red. second of all look at me. there's literally nowhere left on my body for accolades. I am fucking Jacked of All Trades. how could this possibly be a disappointment.

this is killing me

[beatboxes] is this anything............................................

L’appel du Vide

A French phrase meaning “the call of the void”.

It describes the fleeting, gut wrenching urge to do something dangerous; to step off the track, to swerve into oncoming traffic, or jump from a high place, not necessarily out of desire to do so. It comes from the whispering yearn of the unknown within us.

It’s not about wanting to fall, but wondering, ‘what if I did?’.

Oh, this is absolutely stunning 🥺🥺🥺🥺💕

Bruce understands that the robins will struggle to keep their secret identity more than he does with their friends and socializing. So he needs a contingency plan so if someone finds out they're robin, they won't suspect Bruce is batman.

Cue Brucie being the most overprotective parent ever.

He insists Dick is scared of heights. Dick will be swinging on a chandelier, showing off his skills while Brucie is running in circles under him, with his arms out, screaming "don't worry, baby! Daddy will catch you!". He's clinging Dick to his chest, whispering reassurances to him, while Dick is smiling, soaking up all the praise.

Pretty soon the adults are telling Dick off, "you're gonna give your father a heart attack one of these days".

It's 100% worse with Tim. After losing Jason, the 'Batman who's fine with bringing a kid to fight serial killers' is a lot more of an act than the 'Bruce Wayne who will die from heartbreak if his kid has so much as a scratch on him'. Tim accidentally got hit with a basketball one day in school and all hell broke loose in the principals office. It doesn't matter if that was 1% of the pain Tim feels during any training session or fight. That's his baby boy's precious face.

Me at 13: “god I can’t wait to go home and read fanfic”

Me at 17: “god I can’t wait to go home and read fanfic”

Me at 21: “god I can’t wait to go home and read fanfic”

Me at 41: "god I can't wait to go home and read fanfic"