Yes yes, I have a lot of WiPs that I should have focused on and updated before writing a new story, but ADHD and depression makes that really fucking hard. Really I'm kind of amazed I was even able to write this! Speaking of, this chapter was written over the course of like a week and is still mostly a rough draft of the idea. I just really wanted to post it on Halloween for obvious reasons so I decided that this was at least passable and since it hit the 2000-word minimum chapter limit I'm trying to hard to meet nowadays I figured that was good enough. I was originally going to make Danny's roommates Xavior and Rowan, but it's kind of implied that those two are at least juniors while Danny here is a sophomore like Wednesday will be- yes she has classes with Xavior and Bianca, but that can be explained by saying she's in advanced classes, and Enid said 'the past three years' when talking about Bianca winning the Poe Cup so that would mean she SHOULD be a senior, but I'm making her a junior. Plus by keeping Danny as a second year that means Jazz is at the proper age to be a senior and I wanted to include her.
"Either they didn't think this through, or mom and dad are idiots."
Jazz gave a heavy, annoyed sigh at Danny's comment from her spot sitting next to him in their new school's waiting area, "Mom and Dad are eccentric Danny, not stupid," she tried to explain, "after all the trouble we, and by that I mean you, had as Casper after the ghosts started showing up–"
Danny was quick to cut his older sister off, "I wouldn't have had half as much trouble," he spat the word out, "if Dash and Lancer weren't assholes."
"Lancer never gave me any problems," Jazz retorted, "and even if he did, Nevermore has an amazing reputation for scholastic achievement. The fact that Mom and Dad–"
"And Vlad," Danny reminded her.
"And Vlad," she agreed, "were able to get us enrolled is an amazing opportunity for both of us!"
The dark-haired teen shook his head, "It's also one of the only schools in the country that's considered more dangerous for humans than Casper, and that's for people who aren't the only descendants people can find of one of the most zealous and successful witch-hunters of the Salem Trails!" He hissed. "We're going in with targets on our backs Jazz, without any way of shooting back." Well, that was a lie. Danny had plenty of ways to defend himself if any of his soon-to-be classmates decided to try and teach the Fenton siblings a 'lesson', but with them not being allowed to bring any of their parents' weapons or inventions to the school Jazz sure as hell didn't. "And that's without the fact that they thought forcing us to leave Amity and all our friends was a good idea!"
Jazz gave him a blank look, "Danny," her voice was as dry as a leaf in late autumn, "when was the last time you even spoke to Sam or Tucker?"
He looked away in annoyance at the question, Danny's building anger turning into a cold lump in his stomach. The worst part was he couldn't even refute his sister's point. Ever since his accident with the Ghost Portal his relationships with his friends had been strained at best. Part of him wanted to say they just drifted apart as they grew up, but he knew that was a lie. It was his insistence on keeping what the Portal had done to him a secret, how it had changed him, that made their friendship fall apart.
He felt his sister's hand rest gently on his shoulder, "Danny," she sighed, "I know you're worried, it's a normal response to change as one grows older, but it's important to learn to adapt and–"
Whatever insightful analysis born of Jazz's fixation on psychology his sister was going to try and impart was cut off by the door to the headmistress's office all but slamming open and the exuberant form of Jack Fenton strutting out with a beaming grin. "It's official!" He boomed out happily, "My kids are Ravens!"
Jazz shook her hed in exasperation, "We were already ravens dad," she reminded him, "Casper had the same mascot."
"Nevermore doesn't use a mascot," the British accent of the school's principle, Miss Weems, corrected her as she stepped around Jack Fenton's large frame to adress the two teens. "The raven is simply our institution's emblem."
Danny raised an eyebrow at the principal, "It's still the thing all the sports teams and school spirit stuff uses right?"
His new principal pursed her lips, "Our athletic activities are focused on personal achievement and small groups that are organized through clubs, we don't have a single or fixed set of standing teams that represent us."
The older woman's words made Danny think of Sam. She would have loved Nevermore. The gothic architecture, the apparent disregard for sports teams, the catering to Outcasts and standing apart from normal society… the only thing she would have complained about were the mandatory uniforms. He remembered how upset she was when she discovered that her family had no Outcast ancestors and she didn't seem to have any psychic potential. He and Tucker had laughed and assured her that she was the closest thing to an Outcast they'd ever met.
None of them would have ever guessed that Danny would end up losing his own Normie status less than a month later.
The two siblings stood to follow their parents and principle away from the main offices, grabbing their bags as they went. Their admission hadn't been 'late', but with the start of term only a few days away they didn't have the luxury of getting to take their time moving in. Or the ability to be picky about their rooming situations.
"Daniel," Weems held her arm out, "allow me to introduce you to your new roommate, Eugine Ottinger."
Eugine was shorter than Danny, something the teen was still getting used to after his recent growth spurt had left him standing at an even six feet, with thick messy black hair, thicker glasses, and slightly large teeth that he showed off with his eager smile. The room itself was larger than Danny had expected, even with the large stacks of boxes and even barrels pushed up against one side of the room Danny doubted he'd have any issue fitting his stuff. There was even a low bookshelf that he could keep some of his models and trinkets on and a knook in the wall where he could set up his guitar stand!
Eugine walked over and held out his hand for Danny to take, "Hey, it's nice to meet you," he greeted.
Reacting on reflex as much as an actual desire to be on good terms with his new roommate Danny quickly took the offered hand and gave it a shake, "Yeah, you too." He had to admit, he had been expecting a colder welcome. Being the new guy, entering in as a sophomore when most of the students came in as freshmen, showing up after the typical move in window, and not having any alumni family members, he had been worried he was getting set up to be even more isolated then he'd been at Casper.
"Well, we'll let you get settled in while we go introduce Jasime to her own roommates," Weems said jovely.
Danny's mother, Maddie, stepped into the room to rest a hand on his shoulder, "We'll meet you at the front lobby in half an hour to say goodbye, okay?"
He gave her a small smile over his shoulder and an even smaller nod, prompting her to let her hand slide back down to her side before stepping back over towards the door and leaving with Weems, Jazz, and his dad. The soft click of the door seemed to echo in the now nearly silent room, the two boys unsure what to say next.
Eventually, Danny nodded to himself and picked his bags back up from the floor, "Right," he made a show of giving a small grunt from the weight, "Anything I should know about this place?"
The shorter boy shrugged, "Uh, most of the students are either vampires, sirens, gorgons, or werewolves." It might have been Danny's imagination, but he was pretty sure Eugene's voice had perked up as he named the last group. "They make up the biggest clicks, we call them Fangs, Scales, Stoners, and Furs. After them, the biggest group is people like me, humans that have some kind of psychic power, but there aren't enough to be considered a major group. Then you have the other monsters like hunchbacks and gnomes, but there aren't a lot of them here. I think we might have someone who can bend and stretch a lot, but I'm not sure if they are human or a monster."
Danny nodded again at the information. Even if it wasn't anything particularly useful or enlightening, it was still nice to know some of what he'd be getting into.
"Some of the vampires have been here for decades," Eugene continued, "so be careful. Some of them are pretty old school with how they see normies… and psychics," the boy almost seemed to wince.
The taller teen turned towards his new roommate with a frown, "How bad?"
"Not really," Eugene was quick to assure him, "Weems is really strict about that kind of stuff. They can just be… intense sometimes. Or at least, that's what I hear. I spend most of my time outside class at the Apiary Shack."
"The what shack?" Did Nevermore have apes? Ancients he hoped not. After the whole mess with Skulker and Sampson Danny had been subjected to way too many taunts about how he discovered that Sampson was a girl and why he was even looking to ever want to be around any kind of monkey again.
Thankfully Eugene was quick to correct Danny's fears, "It's like a kennel, but for bees." He explained. "Everyone has to be part of at least one club so I founded one dedicated to raising bees last year, Nevermore has a lot of extra space and funding so Weems lets people start-up clubs and social societies really easily. It's a lot of paperwork to get a charter though, and if you break the rules about them she'll force you to shut down."
That got Danny's attention, "Is there an astronomy club?" Ever since he had gotten his powers he had gotten into the habit of spending his early nights flying around to try and catch any malignant spirits quickly before he going to bed, but before that he had always loved watching the night sky. If an astronomy club already existed he'd have to make sure his name was on the list and if there wasn't already one on the books, well, he could always dedicate a duplicate to filling out the forms.
He shrugged, "I never asked… do you want me to?"
The witch hunter's descendant shook his head, reigning in the burst of excitement that had raced through his body at the thought of finally having the chance to stargaze in peace again. "It's fine," he assured him, "I'll check it out later. So, anything else?"
Eugene suddenly looked nervous, "Well," he began, "maybe. There's a rumor going around, one of the people who can… find stuff out, has been saying that you and your sister are from a family of Outcast hunters…"
Danny looked away, his jaw clenched. He had known that his family history would come out eventually, but he had hoped that he'd at least have a chance to settle in before having to worry about anyone wanting to go after him, or worse Jazz. "They used to be," he admitted, "back before World War Two it was a big tradition dating back to like, the early colonization of the US… but something happened in the forties and suddenly going after most Outcasts wasn't the family business anymore."
"Most?" Eugene asked the obvious question, "Who do you-?"
"I don't," Danny almost snapped, "hunt anyone for being an Outcast. My parents hunt spirits and ghosts, but my sister and I aren't part of it and none of us have ever tried to even hurt a monster or a psychic."
The glasses-wearing bow blinked in confusion, "I thought ghosts could only be seen by–"
"Not all of them," Danny cut him off again, pulling open his bag to start unpacking, "some are more powerful and can do a lot more than just make a cameo in someone's dreams." He shook his head and sighed, carefully setting a small model of the ISS on one of the nightstands next to his bed. "It's a whole thing back in Amity, usually they can only go back and forth with between their realm and ours using natural portals but my parents made a permanent one artificially and now a lot of ghosts use it as a revolving door."
"So it's like having some regional Outcasts," Eugene gave his own nod, "that's kinda cool."
"The ones that come to our side aren't exactly the nicest," Danny explained sadly, moving on to pulling out his clothes, "so it's not exactly something to be excited about."
"Oh… well, you won't have problems like that at Nevermore!" Eugene assured him before seeming to remember who he was talking to, "Probably anyway."
Danny gave a tiny snort. He didn't know how the residents of Nevermore would react to having two Fenton-Nightingales walking around their halls, but he was sure that he had dealt with worse than anything they could throw at him. No, the hard part was going to be dealing with it all without revealing what he was. Even if Outcasts might be more accepting of his inhuman nature there was always the chance his parents could find out, and that would just lead to a whole other mess he'd have to deal with. No, even here, among the strange and inhuman, it was better for him to pretend to be something he was not.
A bit of an abrupt ending I know, but I'm running low on time to write and publish this for Halloween and to be honest that last line felt like a really good stopping point given the feel I'm going for in this story.
The next chapter will also take place before Wednesday arrives and will explore Danny's first few weeks at Nevermore and what kinds of relationships he's building with various other students. The show's actual storyline will pick up either in chapter 3 or 4 depending on how chapter 2 turns out. I'm really just writing this as I go instead of having a basic outline planned out like I usually try to.
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Happy Halloween Everyone!