From the tumblr prompt: What if Danny's ghost form reflected his ghost maturity instead of his human maturity? Halfas are different, especially without being in the ghost zone to speed it up, it must take a lot of energy to develop. (I bet he'd almost never use it if he turned into a toddler when he went ghost)
.
.
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Maturation
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When a ghost forms from a death, they generally look about the same as they did when they died and change from there. No messy second childhoods required.
Other methods of forming a ghost, however...
Well. Danny didn't exactly die, and a ghost started from scratch needs time to mature. Especially if they're building off of a human blueprint.
Danny doesn't realize he didn't just get ghost powers until over nine months later.
.
"Wait, wait, wait," said Danny, squinting up at Frostbite, who was his friend and therefore not likely to be pulling his leg. At least not about something as serious as this. "Are you trying to tell me that I've been, what, pregnant with myself for the last nine months?"
"An apt analogy!" said Frostbite, who apparently did not have enough knowledge of human culture to understand why that statement and all its implications were horrifying. "Of course, you are not giving birth to another individual. Instead, your other half is maturing."
"Is there any way to, uh, stop it?" asked Danny, nervously plucking at the paper on the examination table. "Because I really, really can't be randomly turning into a ghost baby for however long this maturation thing is supposed to last."
Frostbite looked like Danny had just suggested he murder someone. "Great One," he said grimly, "you do not know what you ask." He knelt next to Danny, and still wasn't quite short enough to look him in the eye. "What you're asking..." His voice was soft. "To snuff out a ghost that young... Not to mention what it would do to you as a whole."
Danny laughed. Stupid anxiety reaction. "It-It wouldn't kill me, though, right?"
"I do not know," admitted Frostbite. "But it would certainly remove your powers. Your other half is their source."
"Right," said Danny. "Okay. I sort of expected that. So, what do I do?"
"I would suggest," said Frostbite, "staying here until your ghost half is at least as old as you are now. For safety reasons."
"How long do you think that will take?" asked Danny.
Frostbite's grin became rather fixed. "Fourteen years, or thereabouts," he said.
"Frostbite," said Danny, aghast. "I can't wait fourteen years."
"It's possible that being in the Ghost Zone may accelerate the process somewhat, as compared to staying in the human world. The high-ectoplasm environment is more nurturing."
"How much faster are we talking about?" demanded Danny.
"I would need to run more tests to be certain," said Frostbite. "And compare the ectoplasm concentration of your home to the one here. It is unfortunate, but there are no ghosts quite like you."
Danny groaned. "Thanks," he said. "But I can't stay. Not even for a week. I have responsibilities. What should I do to just... I don't know. Manage this? Keep myself from turning into a ghost baby in the middle of the day, or during a fight?"
Frostbite looked intensely uncomfortable. "I am unsure. You are still intending to fight?"
"Yeah?" said Danny. "I kind of have to."
"Don't let the ghosts you fight see you in your other form."
Duh, thought Danny. "I don't have a death wish," he said instead.
"They are extremely unlikely to try to destroy you. It is much more likely that any adult ghost that saw you would adopt you. And you wouldn't have the ability to resist."
"As soon as I got back to my proper age, I could," said Danny.
"That's another thing I am concerned about," said Frostbite. "You have several ghostly mental tendencies already." He tapped Danny's forehead with an icy claw. "I am unsure how much more your other half will influence this one. Clinging to an older ghost is instinctual for infant ghosts. Which your other half is."
Danny closed his eyes, centering himself. "Okay," he said. "Anything else I should know about?"
"Mh, yes. Great One, when was the last time you measured your height?"
.
"You don't think I'm aging?"
Frostbite attempted to explain.
"You don't think I'm going to age until I catch up?"
.
Danny flew the Spector Speeder away from the Far Frozen, laden with various health instructions and several gifts the yetis said infant ghosts tended to enjoy. He was okay. This was fine. He'd fought things just shy of godhood with glitchy invisibility, unreliable phasing, lackluster hovering, a magic soup can, and whatever of his parents' inventions happened to be working that week. What was one more?
Too much.
He briefly let his head rest on the steering wheel.
Apparently, even this respite was too much for the universe to give him, because the Poltergeist Proximity Alarm started to blare. He jerked his head up.
Somehow, in his second of inattentiveness, he'd been surrounded. By eyeball ghosts.
Maaaaybe he'd just drifted into their meeting, and they'd let him drift back out?
The ghosts raised their hands, each one glowing ominously.
Yeah. He didn't think so, either. He hit the accelerator and-
Time shuddered.
He was suddenly very much not in the Spector Speeder, and still surrounded. How-?
Several of the eyeball ghosts touched him, and his skin pulsed with pain as ectoenergy was forced through it. He gasped, then choked as white rings sprang up around his waist. Not now! Not already!
He couldn't stop it. He was too full of energy.
Just like every time before, his mind went fuzzy as it adapted to radically different sensory inputs.
"... should keep him in ghost form until it catches up to his human age," said one of them, as he came back to himself. "At least."
"We'll need a longer-term solution than simply feeding him too much power to stay human," said another.
"Clockwork will have something," said a... a third? Danny wasn't sure. They all sounded the same, and Danny's field vision was limited from the... basked? Yeah, it was a basket.
Who was Clockwork?
"Regardless, we must ensure he is raised correctly," said one of the ghosts, putting a delicate emphasis on the last word. "Teach him respect and obedience."
The others voiced their agreement.
Danny didn't like the sound of that. He reached for his human half, just as a clawed green hand reached into the basket. Energy flushed through him again, and the warmth of his human half fluttered out of his grasp.
The clawed hand then pulled a blanket over him, tucking him in. And... actually... he was pretty worn out by everything... ectoenergy took time to process properly for a body as tiny as his currently was... it would be okay if he... fell asleep...
Right?