Ectober 2021 Masterpost

Day 1: Trick vs Treat 💚💜

Day 2: Scream 💚

Day 3: Mutant vs Cryptid 💚💜

Day 4: Glitter vs Goo 💚💜

Day 5: Fairy Circle 💜

Day 6: Twilight 💜

Day 7: Abyss vs Swamp 💚💜

Day 8: Splatter vs Poison 💚💜

Day 9: Cape vs Mask 💚💜

Day 10: Mummy vs Doppelganger 💚💜

Day 11: Maze vs Doors 💚💜

Day 12: Tarot 💜

Day 13: Void 💚

Day 14: Music Box 💜

Day 15: Curse vs Blessing 💚💜

Day 16: Stingy Jack 💜

Day 17: Found Footage 💜

Day 18: Flytrap vs Spider Lily 💚💜

Day 19: Cosmic Horror 💜

Day 20: Full Moon 💚

Day 21: Host 💚

Day 22: Theft 💚

Day 23: Ruins 💜

Day 24: Nightmare vs Sweet Dreams 💚💜

Day 25: Boo! 💜

Day 26: Pumpkin 💜

Day 27: Burial 💚

Day 28: Insect 💚

Day 29: Echo 💚

Day 30: Summoning 💚

Day 31: Insomnia 💚

Total:

10 💚 (Trick)

10 💜 (Treat)

11 💚💜 (Combo)

What Was Bound, What Was Loosed 5

Written for Day 31: Insomnia

Warning: Depression

Part of this series.

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Danny could not sleep.

He had spent so long these past… Days? Weeks? Months? With all his sleeping, and then the rain, it was hard for him to tell how long had passed, but he’d spent most of it asleep.

But now he was awake, and had been for more than a day, and he itched with it. His skin felt like it would crawl off his body, and at the same time far too tight.

Not a Demon

For Day 30: Summoning.

Warnings: referenced animal death

Casper High did not have home games. That is to say – the NFHS (and branches thereof) scheduled games at Casper High, but the opposing teams never showed up. This had a tendency to allow the Casper High Ravens to get much closer to the playoffs of any given sport than they rightfully should, based on skill alone.

However, other teams didn’t exactly like to acknowledge that they’d been scared off by ghosts, things hardly anyone believed in, so the public rumour mill provided other explanations. Sabotage. Bribes. Sudden illnesses. Scheduling conflicts. Mistakes and miscommunications from the scheduling entities.

Consume 2

If Consume rubbed you the wrong way, don't read this. It's more of the same. Written for Day 29: Echo.

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Clockwork made an egg for Daniel.

Not as in he made him breakfast (although, from a certain point of view, Daniel had been breakfast). But as in he constructed a spherical casing of hardened ectoplasm, tough and solid enough that a reforming ghost wouldn’t be able to absorb it into their form, and filled it with ectoplasm with an energy level just below Daniel’s threshold for dissolution.

Metamorphosis

For Ectober Day 28: Insect.

Warnings: I talk about melting Danny

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There had been something wrong with Danny lately, and it was summarized and encapsulated by how he stared at the cubby under the desk in his room. Safe and dark and hidden… especially if he pulled some of his blankets in there with him. Almost the right size and shape.

The right size and shape for what, Danny wanted to ask. He had no idea. But every dark, contained, safe space he’d seen lately got a similar reaction from him. Like he was assessing their suitability for… something.

Ectober 2021 day 27: Burial

A Story About a Pumpkin

Read for Ectoberhaunt plot goodies. <3

Warnings: unreality, void Danny, bodysnatching

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There was a student here.

She was having a hard time keeping everything straight since she came here - there were too many ideas! Too many stories! It was distracting.

But there was a student. And if there was a student, that student was there to be taught.

She was a teacher.

She folded her hands, trying not to pick at her skin. There was a habit that carried over even into dreams.

There was a knock. Shuddering. Her pencil almost rolled off her desk.

Dreams. Yes. She was dreaming. Probably. She’d dreamed about making poetry. It had been a while since she really played with that. The things she could try now that she had the time.

But, first, a student. The student had been here… for a while, she thought. They’d played some word games, always a good exercise. Maybe that’s where the poetry had come from?

“What would you like to do next?” she asked the student. Perhaps, something about science. She felt like science would not work properly here, but this seemed to all be about things she liked, and she liked science.

Why wouldn’t science work here?

A knock. Like someone trying to get in.

Boo!

Warnings: general body horror, blood (sorta), graphic injury

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Danny lazily watched the white blob ghost drift across the school's front lawn. He should really do something about it before someone freaked out and called the GIW, or, worse, his parents. But it wasn't doing any harm, and it seemed a shame.

Loved 11

Written for Ectoberhaunt Day 24: Nightmare vs Sweet Dreams

Warnings: Man, I don't even know what to tag this for anymore. Just prepare to be disturbed.

Rating: M

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Danny nuzzled sleepily into his blankets. He'd just had a very odd dream…

Time to wake, little one.

Danny stirred, mind still blurring at the edges. Parent? they whispered in his True Voice.

Ruins

I don't think this needs any warnings.

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Many places in the Ghost Zone appeared crowded and ruined. Buildings built on buildings built on buildings, all at odd angles, in dozens of different styles from dozens of ages, all in various states of decay or construction. Stairways went up and down, twisted, turned, and inverted, only rarely leading anywhere. Doors floated free or attached like barnacles to buildings that would have groaned under the extra weight if gravity had a greater presence here.

Theft

Warnings: Graphic violence

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They watched. Gleaming eyes glittered unblinking and lidless in the vast expanse of false night. They waited. They would need to move quickly, and soon, but for now it was too early.

They did not have the talents of the ones they watched, but they could see that. They were made for watching.

And waiting.

Finally. They saw it. An opening.

Consume

For Ectober Day 21: Host

Warnings: cannibalism, wombing

(Don't worry, though, no one dies (more than usual).)

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“Daniel,” said Clockwork, startling Danny from his contemplation of an especially antique clock, “come with me. I want to show you something.”

Ectober 2021 Day 20: Full Moon

Loved 10

Warnings: unnatural pregnancy, other general eldritch abomination creepiness, unreality, radio static beaming knowledge directly into a character's head, and cults

(For Day 19: cosmic horror)

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Clockwork plucked Danny out of the highchair and brought him to a dim living room. Shadows were thick in the corners. In the real world, Danny's shadow would be twitching at him, eager to join them and play, but now it was as quiet as it ever was in the Dream.

One of the shadows jingled.

Day 18: Flytrap vs spider lily

Training Video

Another Exhumed entry!

Warnings: mentions of death, etc.

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“Hey,” said Patterson, “now that we’re pretty sure you aren’t going to leave or sell us out to the GIW, you need to watch this video.” She dangled a vcr tape in front of his face.

“Selling you out to the GIW was an option?” asked McGee. “I wish I’d--”

Patterson slapped a hand over his mouth. “Do not finish that sentence.”

Jack-o-Lantern

Exhumed was the second winner of my poll, so here's a fairly short, fluffy piece for it!

Warning: mentions of dead bodies and past violence, none actually shown 'on screen.'

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“Detective Patterson,” said Danny, “why did you leave five messages on my phone on a school day?” After the whole ‘I’ve been sort of dead for a couple years and also I get into massive amounts of trouble all the time through no fault of my own’ revelation, his parents had gotten the whole family cell phones.