+1 Ghost Boy

[schrodingersghost]

True to his usual luck, Danny makes his grand entrance to the Nexus by skidding across the plaza when his attempt to slow down after exiting the portal fails.

He was really starting to hate portals.

With a groan he rolls over and rises back up into the air, stopping to float a few feet above the plaza.

"Oh, great. I have no idea where I am. Again. Could this possibly get any worse?"

He stops and slaps himself on the forehead.

"And... I just jinxed myself. Awesome."

Comments

[outpostcook]

Kinner's gaping at the oddly-dressed kid, who seems to be floating. He shrugs. He's seen stranger things here, but a floating kid is still pretty weird. He knows there's a population of oddly-dressed young superheroes in the Nexus, and maybe this stranger is one of them. The little cook folds his arms and gives a friendly smile. This kid's doing better than he did when he first showed up, and he was a grown man.

"You're in the Nexus. Kind of like...a crossroads between the universes. My name's Joseph Kinner, formerly of the 1938 Secondary Magnetic Expedition under Commander Garry. Pleasure to meet you." He can't help but raise an eyebrow, more curious than anything, "If you don't mind me asking, kid, what's with the floating? Don't see that too often."

[schrodingersghost]

Danny frowns at the guy who was staring at him. Which, fine, staring happened a lot. He was just glad he didn't have to deal with the screaming and running away part.

Which also happened a lot.

"Never seen a ghost before? The name's Danny Phantom."

Nexus. That sounded weirdly familiar. "Weird question I know, but I don't suppose you've seen any ominously glowing green portals around here."

[outpostcook]

Kinner's not the kind of guy to run unless a certain shapeshifting alien or something reminding him of said shapeshifting alien are involved.

The little cook shakes his head. "Nope. Not seen any. Though I'll let you know if I do."

He thinks for a moment. Phantom seemed a bit on-the-nose for a ghost, but hey, stranger things have happened.

"Phantom, huh?" Kinner smiles. "Names have a funny way of working out sometimes, kid. I would be a ghost by some people's reckoning, being dead and all, though I can't float. That's fine by me."

[schrodingersghost]

"Wait, you're dead?" That caught his attention. "But... you don't look anything like the ghosts I've met before."

For one thing, he wasn't green. And he couldn't feel anything from his ghost sense.

[outpostcook]

"'Fraid so." Kinner nods. There's nothing green about him but his polar jacket. "During the expedition I was on, we found an alien frozen in the ice and unthawed it so we could do research. It woke up and thanked us by havin' a bunch of us for a snack, yours truly included. It attacked me, and I woke up here."

He pauses, thoughtfully. "I don't feel much like a ghost, to be honest. I can grab things, and can eat and drink without any trouble. Everyone can see me. Honestly, it's better that way."

[schrodingersghost]

Danny stares blankly at him.

"I feel like I should say something sympathetic here, but I really don't think that covers it."

[outpostcook]

Kinner's used to stares after he explains what happened with the Thing to people.

"Eh, there's nothing you can do. And I'm all right now." Kinner gives a hoarse laugh. "As good as a man can be after being eaten, at least."

[schrodingersghost]

"You do look surprisingly not dead. And, um, not eaten. Considering."

[outpostcook]

"Thanks." Kinner gives a sardonic smile, less at the ghost kid and more at the irony of the whole situation. "I'm glad I don't look eaten. Funny thing about that particular alien - it made copies of the people it ate. So there's another me running around in my homeworld."

[schrodingersghost]

"And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse. That's worse."

[outpostcook]

Kinner nods grimly. "Tell me about it. And the worst part is there's nothin' I can do about the fake. What a world, huh? I run a fish shop here, though, so dying hasn't been a total loss."

[schrodingersghost]

"Well, I guess that's something?"

What else could you say to something like that? He didn't really get the appeal of running a fish shop, but hey, if it made the guy happy.

[outpostcook]

Kinner smiles. He's doing good business, at any rate.

"Hey, I was a cook when I was alive, so I may as well keep on bein' a cook now that I'm dead. It's what I know how to do."

[schrodingersghost]

"Good luck with that?"

It wasn't really something he could identify with. He'd never even flipped burgers.

[outpostcook]

"Thanks for the good wishes, kid." Kinner gives Danny a smile.

"Reckon I'll be just fine. I do better business here in the Nexus than I ever did back in my homeworld. Funny how these things work out."

[iwillcatchup]

"Great costume colors." Peter grins. He walks around the floating man, with a tilt of thehead.

"You are in the Nexus. Welcome."

[schrodingersghost]

"Uh, thanks?" What did you say to compliments on your superhero color scheme?

"Yeah, that other guy mentioned. So... just how many universes meet up around here?"

[iwillcatchup]

"No idea. I have not counted them all." Peter smiles. He holds up a hand, in which there is suddenly a brochure, that he had retrieved for the man.

"Here."

[schrodingersghost]

Danny grins and takes the brochure. "Nice trick. So what, is this the tourist treatment?"

[iwillcatchup]

"Hey now... don't downplay my amazing abilities." Peter grins.

"Tourist. New person. It is good to help others. Those here helped me when I showed up out of the blue."

[schrodingersghost]

"So I guess that happens a lot around here? Showing up out of nowhere, I mean."

Not that he was complaining about the welcome. This was already the nicest introduction to a new dimension/world/time he'd ever had. And that was including the massive face plant he'd done into the plaza floor.

[iwillcatchup]

"Sounds about right. I showed up out of the floor."

"I'm Peter." He sticks out his hand.

[schrodingersghost]

"Danny Phantom. But most people call me Phantom." When they weren't calling him other things.

He reaches out to firmly shake Peter's hand. This close, the chill of his hand was obvious even through his gloves.

[iwillcatchup]

Peter glances down at his hand when he feels that chill.

"So most people, huh? Just because your last name, or another reason?"

[schrodingersghost]

He lets go and allows himself to float a little higher into the air.

"Ghost, Phantom. I guess it's easy to remember."

And when the other option was Inviso-Bill, he was all for Phantom.

[iwillcatchup]

Peter does know other kids who can float into the air -- who are not ghosts.

"Guess it is."

[alittlehinky]

"Well, it could start snowin' again any time now," Cricket volunteers. He observed the tumble across the Plaza, and it was slightly less surprising than seeing the man floating now, but either way, the Nexus has seen weirder.

He's being followed by a Lillipup dressed in a fluffy lilac doggy coat and matching booties. Evidently this was their daily stroll.

"You got any warm clothes? You ain't exactly dressed for this weather."

[schrodingersghost]

"The cold doesn't really bother me." Not since he'd figured out how to use his ice powers, anyway.

And weird. Another guy that didn't seem to recognize him as a ghost.

[alittlehinky]

"Lucky fella, then," There's something of dry humor in Cricket's tone, and his little smirk is hard to miss, but he doesn't seem afraid or unfriendly.

"So, I guess you're here by accident. Probably won't be too hard to get you home unless you're dead, but if you need t'know where anything is, I don't mind helpin'. My name's Cricket."

[schrodingersghost]

There is a long awkward pause before Danny answers. "Um, being dead might be a problem. Why will it be harder to get home?"

"I'm Danny Phantom." He gestures at his own floating, glowing self. "Ghost, if you haven't figured it out."

[alittlehinky]

"Well..." Oh, dear. Cricket looks worried. "I mean, I ended up here after I died? Like as an afterlife, I reckon. And I can't go home on account of being dead and buried there. What was left of me, anyway."

He makes a face. "I noticed you was floating, but that don't have to mean 'ghost'. There are witches and gods and whatnot around here, too. Did you die back home?"

[schrodingersghost]

So apparently his ghost sense didn't cover dead people who weren't ghosts. It was a good thing to know, he guessed.

And also really weird that this was the second dead but not a ghost guy he'd met here.

"Well, that kind of sucks." He shrugs. "I've been a ghost for a while. I actually spend most of my time in the living world back home."

[babyavenger]

Peter's been here about a week and half by this point and he's getting used to how things work-plus he finally got to meet Thor and that's always a plus. He was sitting at a table at one of the cafes sipping at his drink when the portal opened-before it did though there was a harsh prickle at the back of his neck and looked up just in time to not be in time to catch the falling kid.

He hops up, over the small fence and goes to offer a hand up.

"Whoa! Dude! That was-Where did-? Uh... Are you okay?"

[schrodingersghost]

By the time Peter gets there, Danny had already flipped himself into the air and taken his first look around.

He gives Peter a puzzled look, glancing slightly down, as his feet were firmly planted on nothing several feet above the plaza surface.

"You need something?"

[babyavenger]

Oh hey, he's got super powers. That's cool. He's met so many super people here-it's a little bit awesome.

"Uh... no. I was just-uh... you kinda fell through a portal? But you seem to have it under control."

[schrodingersghost]

"That kind of thing actually happens a lot." A pause. "Usually minus the faceplant. I can totally land those normally."

Most of the time.

[burning_blue_flame]

Rock blinks, wide-eyed, at the other’s entrance. That was quite the tumble he’d taken, and she briefly wonders if he’s all right. And then he starts floating, and Rock concludes that he must be okay if he’s capable of something like that. Perhaps it’s a bit naive of her, but oh well.

“This is the Nexus,” she explains. “I don’t quite understand it myself, but I have a copy of the brochure if you’d like to read it?” She’s already holding out it out for him.

[schrodingersghost]

"The Nexus, huh." He reaches out to take the brochure with a hand that radiates a chill even through his glove. Pulling back he flips through it and makes a face.

"Oh great, another one of those places."

[burning_blue_flame]

“Another?” She raises an eyebrow at this, hand falling to her side. “You’ve been to places like this before?”

[schrodingersghost]

"I spend a lot of time in a place that is, and I quote, connected to every place and time." He grins wryly. "But I'll admit the whole alternate dimensions thing is a new one."