eirenical | End of Week 14 and New Fandom?

Eh, not a great week, but there were extenuating circumstances. That being said, I still lost 0.2 lbs. ^_^ Hey -- a loss is still a loss, baby! ^_^ And I fit into a pair of jeans that I haven't since the end of college. *eg* So I'll just take that as a win and move on. ^_~

*coughs* So, about this new fandom... It's not really "new", per se. I've been reading fanfiction for it for quite some time, now. I've just never felt like I could write it before. *chuckles* So, the other piece of important information is that the Verizon guy is coming today to hook up my new TV/Internet/Phone. Why is this important or related? Well... I realized a week ago that if this was going to happen and I was about to lose my Cable DVR... I needed to clear out all the saved programs. O_O This was obviously problematic. Especially as I had just about every episode of Danny Phantom -- out of order, no less! -- recorded and waiting to be copied to DVD. So what did I do this week? That's right. I marathoned all three seasons of Danny Phantom. *falls over*

*chuckles* So... gave me inspiration? So, what I intended to do was write a short little one-off and get it out of my head. Problem? *screams a la Dash in Micro-Management* I don't do short! O_o;;; Over 5700 words into the thing and barely even touching what I'd intended for the plot, I realized that this had the potential to become another "And the Fox Declared to the Hound"... or worse, another "Forget Me Not". @_@ *flails* I have too many unfinished projects as it is! I needed a new fandom like I needed a hole in my head! *pants* *whimpers* Not to mention that I saw "Hair" yesterday and now have about three Berger x Claude fics swimming around my subconscious. O_O

So, the main gist of the DP fic (for the 0 of you who are interested...) centers around my irritation with the series finale. Two major things happened in it that annoyed me beyond belief. One... Sam turned into a selfish, (and even more) self-righteous bitch (than usual) and Danny blew his secret wide open to the entire world. OK -- one at a time...

1) Sam: Believe it or not, right up until Phantom Planet, I was 100% behind the Danny x Sam pairing. I like Sam! She's strong, independent, principled and she kicks major ass. Everything I like in a female lead. But then, in the finale, she did something I couldn't forgive her for. Danny had a moment of weakness and gave up his ghost powers. So what did Sam do? Did she try to find out why he did it? No. Did she try to understand the hardships he was going through? No. She dropped him like a hot coal and said she didn't want to speak to him. *falls over* What? Are you kidding me? *shakes head* Then the very second he gets his powers back, there she is smooching up to him and declaring her undying love. And Danny, the idiot, falls for it hook, line and sinker. What he doesn't see... is that Sam doesn't love Danny Fenton... she loves Danny Phantom. More precisely? She's revealed that she's more in love with the superhero lifestyle than she is with Danny.

2) Blowing his secret identity: Dude, really? What gives? I can understand you outing yourself to your parents at this point -- you just saved the world, they're never more likely to accept you than this moment. I can even understand wanting to out himself to Valerie... but to the whole freakin' planet??? You... you just don't do that! To go from not wanting your powers at all to wanting to be nothing but Danny Phantom ever again? To never have a life apart from your superhero alter ego? No. Uh-uh. Does not make sense. *shakes head*

So... needless to say, to tackle both those issues in one fic... will take time. O_O And there's no way I could do it in 2,000 words. Hell, at this point it looks like I may not manage it in 20,000 words. @_@;;; But... we'll see. ^_^

Snippet for those who care?

(And for the record, I'm placing "Phantom Planet" during their sophomore year, and this fic the year after that. Reasoning? In "The Fenton Menace", Danny is 14 -- and hasn't had a summer vacation in series yet -- and Jazz mentions that college is only a "year and a half" away, putting her in her junior year, two years older than Danny. Then "Reality Trip" happens over summer break and there isn't another one in the series before "Phantom Planet". Thus, the year after that, Danny and co. would be juniors and Jazz would be in her 1st year of college. Anyone care? No? Good. -.-;;;)

...

...

He hadn't been walking more than 10 minutes when a voice called out to stay him going any further, "Hey, Fen-turd!"

With his third heavy sigh for the evening, he turned to face the voice of his nemesis and biggest fan, "You know, Dash... I'm really not in the mood, tonight. Whatever it is, can we table it until Monday?" Oh... damn. That hadn't been what he'd meant to say. It wasn't really in character for him to stand up to Dash -- at least not as Danny Fenton.

The jock frowned at him, clearly put off by what he'd said, "What do you mean, you're not in the mood? Since when do you have a say in when I bully you?"

Danny shook his head, "You know what, Dash? You're right. Forget I said anything." Then he turned to try and walk away as quickly as he could.

A large hand landing on his shoulder stopped him, "You don't walk away from me, Fenton. Especially not when I'm talking to you."

Just what he needed. It was bad enough that all his friends had better things to do than hang out with him, it was bad enough that he was denied his only outlet for his frustration and it was bad enough that he had to deal with being bullied outside of school, as well. The worst part of it, though, was that there was a small, pathetic part of him that was grateful to Dash. Because... at least he was *something* to Dash -- even if it was only a punching bag. And that small feeling of gratitude... that just made it worse. Shaking Dash's hand off his arm, and feeling that bottled up frustration starting to bubble inside him like a shaken soda bottle, he rounded on the bigger teen and got right up in his face, "Look, I don't really care _what_ you want, Dash Baxter. I have had a really shitty night and I'm not in the mood for you, so just leave me the hell alone, all right??"

Dash blinked at him, clearly startled at the outburst, especially from someone who usually just took his abuse without complaint. He responded the only way he knew how -- he exploded back. Grabbing the other teen by the shirt front and hauling him in close, he balled up his other hand and slugged him across the face, "What the _hell_, Fenton? Since when do you talk to me like that, huh?"

Crouched on the ground where he'd rolled to his feet after the fall, Danny slowly dipped his tongue out of his mouth to touch the droplet of blood collecting at its corner from his newly split lip. A dark, almost sinister smile slowly stretched that same corner upwards. Turning his head to regard the one who'd hit him, his eyes started to faintly glow green, "Since now, Baxter. I tried to tell you -- not once, but *twice* -- that I wasn't in the mood to take your shit tonight. You didn't listen... so on your head be it." Then with a primal yell, he launched himself at the bigger teen, his own hand balled into an answering fist. With the force of his entire body behind it, the right cross he landed actually rocked Dash backwards. Watching the other teen stumble back a few paces, Danny's smile widened and took on an even more feral quality, "You really want to do this, Baxter? 'Cuz I'm not in the right frame of mind to hold back, tonight, and I have to admit... I would love for it to get around school on Monday that you got beat up by your own favorite punching bag."

...

...

Questions, comments, papaya?

Danny: *sweatrain* Why do I sense slash on the horizon?

Nuriko: Well, duh. This is Renee-chan we're talking about.

Danny: *twitch* Who the hell are you?

Nuriko: *sweatdrop* You know what... never mind. I'm gonna get out of here before she sees me and decides to put in more time on OB 4's rewrite...

Danny: O_o;;; That was bizarre...