KATE

[foreverphantom]

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weekend 0, saturday

[foreverphantom]

[ reading the note in the crying room ]

A "crying room"? First time I've ever seen one of these...

[sootprints]

[ she's here wearing a very sooty dress and this helmet. ]

I've never heard of such a thing, either...

[foreverphantom]

[ blinks down at her ]

...that's not yours, is it?

[sootprints]

[ she shakes her head. the helmet wobbles with the movement, because it is definitely too big for her. ]

I borrowed it.

w1, monday

[foreverphantom]

[ at the new allstars coffee, deciding to try something new--and he immediately spittakes it all over the place ]

Oh, that's lethal.

[sootprints]

[ jumps at this ]

What's wrong?

[foreverphantom]

There's so much sugar in this I think I can feel my blood turning to syrup.

[sootprints]

Oh. [ her shoulders sag a moment. in relief? ]

It's just sugar?

w1, friday

[foreverphantom]

[ well, kate is a fellow starfarer, which means she gets to see dante going absolutely ape on this new punching bag!!

by which i mean he's trying to go ape but uhhhh he's kind of bad at it? he hasn't used punching bags much. so his rhythm is off and his punches range wildly from good enough to send the thing swinging, to weak and misaimed so his hand slides right off it. ]

[sootprints]

[ kate's been hanging out in the lounge, mostly sitting on one of the couches and alternating between using her phone and reading a book. there's a little haze of smoke that rises from her head and lingers in the air... it's a good thing they got that roomba.

at some point, she'll lean in her seat to watch dante go. ]

Does that help?

[foreverphantom]

[ once he tires himself out a little, he takes a break, leaning against his knees. ]

...a little.

[sootprints]

... I suppose it's serving its purpose, then.

How are you feeling?

w2, monday

[foreverphantom]

[ dumps us in homo's cloudtopia, where dante is...the most ecstatic he's ever been? ]

Are you serious?! A whole city in the sky? Why would anyone bother going anywhere else?!

[ he also...looks different. shorter hair, less edgy fashion, no piercings...in fact, he actually matches his icons! ]

[sootprints]

[ she looks over to see who's talking

and jumps a little. who is he. ]

[foreverphantom]

[ her movement catches his attention and he also. jumps a little ]

Whoa! Uh, didn't see you there. Hhhhhhi...?

[sootprints]

... I'm easy to miss. [ flatly. even though that's less true here than in most places. ]

Are you... Dante?

w3, monday

[foreverphantom]

[ standing in front of oceanside's tarkea looking incredibly conflicted--somehow both angry and also nostalgic

pick a mem while you're at it ]

[sootprints]

There's an Ikea here, too? ... Oh, wait...

[ he can't tell, but she may be squinting at it.

in the meantime, hit me with anything! thinks about hot sauce lore and shakes. ]

[foreverphantom]

What?

[ not that the question matters, because a breeze picks up and suddenly, they are witnessing various short snippets of time, each separated by another gust of wind.

one is of Danny's dad holding up a chrome gun of some kind at the kitchen table while Danny and his sister Jazz eat breakfast. Brandishing it, his dad says "I'm just saying, if we can find that ghost at Jazz's school, we're gonna peel that ghost like an onion!"

Danny's mom looks perturbed at such a violent thought coming from her husband. "Well we can't completely vaporize it. Don't you want to at least examine the remains?"

---

Another gust: the whole family is piled into the. family submarine. Maddie, the kids' mom, eagerly says, "Nothing like spending quality family time with the people you love."

Jazz raises an eyebrow. "And by quality time you mean hunting down ghosts in a sub-aquatic death trap?"

Jack, with gleeful excitement: "You betcha Jazzypants! Whether it's air land or sea I won't stop until we capture a ghost and tear it apart. Molecule by molecule!"

Danny looks away uncomfortably. Jazz takes notice and asks him if he's okay. "Who, me? I'm swell. Every single molecule of me."

---

A third gust. In the kitchen, a small TV plays a news snippet. There is an inlaid picture of ghost Danny as he appears on his trading card, inverted colors and all, as the news anchor says: "...a mysterious benefactor has offered a million dollar bounty on the head of Amity Park's most famous ghost and hired the world's best known ghost hunters to track him down."

Most of the family is gathered in the kitchen listening to this and roll their eyes as they count down: three, two, one...

Jack bursts into the kitchen armed with a bazooka. "Nobody's catching that ghost kid except for me!"

---

A fourth gust. Danny and his dad are airborne in the Specter Speeder, chasing after a ghost Danny. (Look, it makes sense in context and won't feel weird to see here--it'll actually feel like both of them are equally Danny as the other) Jack, his dad, has his hand on Danny's shoulder and says, "Your old man's gonna show you how to catch a ghost!"

Danny, awkwardly: "Dude--uh, Dad. I-I don't know about this."

Jack initiates the targeting system on the Speeder, the points calibrating around ghost Danny flying through the air. "Okay. Now you're gonna want to nail him right between the eyes." The crosshairs combine and flash, indicating a lock on the target. "Now waste him! Take the shot, son. Make your old man proud!"

---

A fifth gust. Danny, in ghost form, is inside City Hall, and the interior is in disarray. Outside, reporters can be heard saying "ghost kid attacking City Hall during a town meeting" and "we now bring you live to an evil ghost teen on a rampage." The mayor stumbles into Danny's hands, and immediately a massive gun is pointed right in his face by his own mother.

"Get your hands off of our duly elected leader, you odd manifestation of ectoplasmic energy and post-human consciousness!"

She fires right for him, but another ghost, a huge wolf in a hoodie, intercepts and takes the hit for Danny. He implodes into a green portal while reaching out for him. Now, with no one left to help him, Maddie aims for Danny again. "By the authority vested in me by the city of Amity Park, I sentence you back from once you came!" ]

Week 4, Thursday

[sootprints]

[ dante where are you. are you hopital

she's coming with a bottle of water (i hope everyone visiting him brought one and now he has five) ]

[foreverphantom]

[ he is, in fact, hopital

he hasn't received any other water bottles tho! ]

[sootprints]

[ then he is receiving one now.

how's he looking....... did his eye get bandaged. ]

w4, sunday

[foreverphantom]

[ slurpin on a sugary coffee monstrosity with the same attitude as a guy smoking a cigarette while looking out over a foggy, rainy city ]

[sootprints]

[ comes over to join him. ]

... This weekend was a lot. How are you feeling?

[foreverphantom]

...mostly healed from Thursday, at least.