I'm here for the fandom!

currently working on some pieces that if I'm lucky might get sold in a gallery, i also found a in person art club where i can go and...

...shudder...

be social.

but seriously you never get a more feeling of big fish in a small pond clarity than going to a place where people are using the oil paint, water colors, acrylics, and some are using the same tools are me and doing an 1000x times better. but then i remember that i have my own style and i'm self taught and i don't use fucking AI.

Solar had only meant to be gone for a minute to get something before the Play Date could begin, the plan was to paint and decorate the door plates and food bowls that the children had made at the last visit to Eclipse’s dimension.

He was supposed to just grab some glitter glue from the gift shop but he was then held up by some calls from parts and service; apparently a mop bot had taken the phrase ‘wash your mouth out with soap’ a little too literally. After ten minutes of walking the humans through some of his upgraded programmes he may or may not have added out of sheer boredom he then walked back into the daycare…

The only one in there was Jack who sat in the middle the ball pit island looking up forlornly, Solar followed Jack’s line of sight upwards and gave an audible gasp of horror.

Floating above the ball pit was the rest of the children, Jake was sitting upside down on the bottom half of the tower’s stage while Andy and Charlie helped Dazzle fly by holding her hands, Andrew was floating a little off a playset watching this all unfold.

“WHAT THE HELL?!” Solar shouted; they all turn to look at him.

“Join us Solar…we aaaaalll float here” Andrew called with a creepy grin.

“How are you even doing that?!”

“We’re ghost kids and Charlie is magic not that hard of a leapt of logic, surprised we could still do this with bodies though” Andrew stated as he put himself on a reclining seating position as if he was sitting on a beach chair.

“I try to not question this sort of stuff” Andy said as Dazzle giggled while doing a barrel roll towards Solar.

“Look Uncle Solar I’m like Wendy from Peter Pan!”

“Please come down if Sun sees you up there, he’ll blue screen for sure!” Solar begged reaching up for her but she just floating out of his grasp.

“But this is fun” she whined.

“Come on Solar think about it, this is good practise for us. What better way to escape bad guys than just flying away?” Charlie explained flying down to him “We decided to try it here cos you have nets and everything is padded up and if we do fall it’ll be in the ball pit”

Solar really wished he had a counter argument to that but couldn’t think of one that would convince them, so he gave a heavy sigh.

“Fine but you can only fly in here and only when an adult is present agreed?” he decreed and the children nodded in agreement before floating off to see who could fly the fastest round the daycare. Solar looked down at Jack who gave an unhappy sigh as he watched from below.

“I miss my wingies” he mumbled.

Solar gave him a sadden look, when the Creator kidnapped Jack he had somehow disabled Jack’s ability to transform. He had told Jack that his main form was enough for his duties but Solar would bet his tool box that it was because the Creator did not want to risk Jack stumbling across a form that was immune to dark Star power.

Solar walked back to the security desk and inputted a few commands and a cable whirred to life and scrolled down next to Jack, he prodded it a bit and then looked back at Solar.

“Moon used to be able to fly too you know?” Solar said as he connected the hook to Jack’s back and the USB cable to a port so Jack could control the wire, “It’s not magic or wings but it should be enough”

“THANKS DAD!” Jack shouted and leapt into the air doing the same swimming swinging motion moon once did, the children giggled as he approached and Dazzle held his hands as they started to fly about pretending to be the Lost Boys looking for treasure and then played follow the leader and act like they were all in a rollercoaster complete with loop-de-loops and drops.

Solar could not help but noticed that as the hours went by, they were getting better, before the ghost kids were slowly floating like unsteady balloons now, they were angling their bodies and dipping and swerving with some amount of success. They were by no means hawks or fighter jets level of fast or skill but they were improving. Solar was making notes on how to introduce obstacles or to practise fast take off as Charlie had stated this would be a good way for them to avoid dangers. Hard for this mimic guy to harm them if they shot off like rockets.

Sun walked with in with a tray of snacks, he placed them on the security desk before looking around the Daycare.

“Where are the kids? In the playsets?” he asked, Solar did not answer just pointed up. Sun did indeed look up to see Dazzle floating above him giggling.

“Hi daddy!” she beamed.

Sun fainted.

Eclipse stared down at six kids in front of him, the six children stared back, Dazzle and Jack had arrived through the portal and after minute of greeting chatter the six children had turned to Eclipse and then there was long silence of expectation that hung in the air.

Was it possible to have your fight or flight response triggered by children? Eclipse wondered.

“What?” he demanded.

“Sooo…what’s the plan?” Andrew asked.

“Plan?”

“You seriously didn’t agree to a play date and not having something in mind?”

Eclipse’s plan was to dump the brood on Roxanne and let her be the fun Aunt she always proclaimed herself to be, but before he could ask her, she had grabbed the illusion disk and ran off to the mall with Monti and Ballora leaving him without a plan or even a back-up plan.

I have plans upon plans for all my enemies and every eventuality that could cause us harm and the worst-case scenarios but not a single one to entertain children Eclipse thought to himself. He could just shove them out of the lab and let them explore the pizza plex but the idea of leaving a creature of chaos like Jack free reign with someone as equally chaotic as Andrew filled him with dread, no they needed a sitter.

And he was the sitter…

…

…

Well shit.

“Let’s get out the lab first and see what we can do” he stated and the children followed him quietly which unnerved him even more.

The children can sense my fear, like blood amongst sharks Eclipse thought to himself.

The truth was the children were quiet because they were curious to what Eclipse could possibly have planned, Eclipse rarely openly agreed to do fun activities it was always veiled as an experiment or a test of their bodies and abilities. Jack and Dazzle were quiet because they were being polite and going along with the group.

They left the theatre and Eclipse finally gave a sigh of defeat.

“So, what do you lot want to do then?” he asked.

“I knew you didn’t have a plan” Andrew smirked to which Eclipse glared at him. 

“We could do arts and crafts?” Dazzle suggested holding up her hand.

“And make what?” Jake asked.

“Oooh we could make stuff for our room or Clippy!!” Charlie declared.

“I know we have crafting clay in our day care” Dazzle said quietly “If you guys have some you could make him a food bowl”

“Yes, I love that idea!” Charlie beamed happily.

“He’s a robot he doesn’t need a food bowl!” Andrew scoffed.

“He likes to feel included!” she retorted angrily.

“I guess we could make like signs and stuff for our doors” Jake shrugged.

“Great it’s decided we’re doing arts and crafts!” Eclipse announced and ushered them through the day care doors, Dazzle and Jack immediately began to rummage through the supply closets until they returned with the goods needed. She made a pointed effort to put down the table covers and give everyone a plastic apron, in a blink of an eye Jack had placed everything they acquired on the tables with brushes and paints in pots, clay in bowls and pens and paper arranged in a neat array for easy grabbing.

Eclipse watched as the children got to work, the boys flattening out their lumps of clay to make a panel to which they could carve their names into and checking out the different print shapes they could use to decorate.

“I am going to make a bowl for Muffin!” Jack declared.

“Yeah, I’ll make one for Cleo!” Dazzle said and they too got to work.

Eclipse settled himself at the security desk and opened Moonshine’s game, at the very least he could work on that while they make a mess.

For about an hour there was just the quiet chatter of children as they traded tools and paints, offering up suggestions for the food bowls like putting paw prints or their names on the sides. Eclipse himself was also in the zone as he began to mine for copper keeping mindful of any bugs he would need to report to Moonshine.

The doors opened and Sunshine waltzed through, Dazzle beamed happily rushing over with her creation in hand.

“Daddy! Daddy look!” she beamed “I made a food bowl for Cleo and once its dried I’m gonna paint it so we can put snackies in it for her!”

Sunshine looked utterly baffled by this deer child, he had no idea who this was or who Cleo was and why they would be eating snackies out of a food bowl, but what really threw them for a loop was being called ‘daddy.’ There had been many times a child mistakenly called them that but it was a first to be called it with such conviction, so they did what they always did when that happened, Sunshine corrected her.

“That’s a very nice bowl and I’m sure this Cleo person will love it but I’m not your daddy…” he began to which the deer child’s face crumpled into one of complete despair.

“Yes, you are!” Dazzle cried “You are my daddy!”

“I’m really not”

“That’s not true! You are my daddy! You adopted me remember?!” Dazzle was getting more and more worked up tears now trickling down her face, “Are you poorly like Jack was?! Is that why you are saying mean things?!”

“I’m not being mean I’m just saying I’m not your dad…” Sunshine began to which Dazzle began to cry.

“Nooooo!” she sobbed “You are my daddy! You promised to be my daddy! You can’t hate me too!” at this point all the other children had stopped and Jack was now itching to tackle the person who made Dazzle cry.

“I…I…uuhh…” Sunshine rambled this was the first time a child was this set on them being their parent, it was now Eclipse had heard the racket and looked up from their work.

“What are you yelling about?” he demanded.

“Eclipse!” Sunshine gasped in relief; they had been so distracted by this deer child they had not even spotted Eclipse hidden behind the security desk. “Help us out please!”

“Eclipse! Sun says he’s not my daddy anymore!” Dazzle bawled running over to him, dropping her bowl which Sunshine quickly saved from splatting on the floor and making a mess. “You have to fix him like Solar fixed Jack!” 

Eclipse looked down at Dazzle who was now hugging his legs and soaking his pants with tears. Sunshine looked over to the other children and while the kids they knew looked bemused and watching everything unfold unsure what to say or do. The Halloween moon model was glaring at him and … was it pointing a Taser gun at him?

“Dazzle…that isn’t your Sun, this the Sun from this universe” Eclipse explained picking her up, she rubbed her tears from her eyes.

“What? He’s not my daddy?”

Eclipse looked to Sunshine; Sunshine looked sheepish before changing into Moonshine. Dazzle gave a confused whimper and Jack leapt up and scanned the room trying to see where Sunshine had gone to; much akin to a dog whose ball got palmed down instead of thrown.

“I guess these are Dazzle and Jack that Charlie told us about” Moonshine stated walking over and handing Dazzle her bowl “She didn’t tell us you were an animatronics she just said you were ghost kids like her”

“I’m not!” Jack declared “I’m just a robot!”

“Okay then…” Moonshine muttered glancing at Jack before turning back to Dazzle “Did you say you were making a snacky bowl for Cleo?”

“Uh huh” Dazzle murmured looking over her bowl.

“Well, it got a bit squished in all the ruckus shall we try and fix it? Then we can put it to dry” Moonshine offered “And while its drying we can have our own snackies”

“YAY SNACKS!” Jack shouted.

“Is he always like this?” Moonshine asked.

“From what I’ve heard…yes” Eclipse sighed putting Dazzle down. As the deer child walked back to her table Moonshine heard a growl from behind him and saw the Halloween version of himself staring up at him.

“Can I help you?”

“Where is that Sun man who made Dazzle cry?” he asked in a quiet but firm tone, “I wish to taze him”

“No idea” Moonshine said without a second thought “Hopefully you’ll never run into him again”

Sorry Sun Moon messaged his other half looks like your staying put for now.

well people want me to but fucking sod's luck as soon as my fingers hit the keys my brain went lol nah i got nothing.

me: b...but we had at least one idea for each dad!

my brain: yeah that was last week i got nothing now.

me and my friend are doing a soul link Nuzlocke game on Heart Gold and Soul Silver, my husband is doing a nuzlocke on his Pokemon moon. and i thought i'd share a little rule i created to help people who are both new to Nuzlockes or those who struggle with them.

Introducing:

The Revive rule:

1] you may use revives in game BUT ONLY THOSE YOU FIND, be that on the floor, on pokewalker routes and other such mini games, been given as gifts.

are Candy count as revives.

You CANNOT BUY them.

2] you can only use revives within two minutes in game and in real life of the pokemon dying, i see revives as emergency CPR you can't revive someone if they've been lying on the floor dead for hours can you? this includes cut scenes you are stuck behind a long cut scene that takes more than two minutes. use that time to say goodbye.

Now i can see people going "But using revives defeats the whole point of Nuzlockes" and yeah it does, however i would like to start by saying it depends on the game. in pokemon Sun and Moon I've was given and found 10 revives before i even got to the second island. in Heart Gold and Platinum i'm lucky if i find 10 revives before i even get to the elite four!!

Not to mention that it also adds more of the emotional trauma that is tied heavily to nuzlockes.

picture this if you will: you're on a route to the first gym, a mistake on your part and a well times critical hit from your opponent and your starter dies. you have found a single revive but you are hit with a dilemma, your starter wasn't going to be your ace in the first gym as their types didn't match well. you did however manage to score a good type match up on this route.

would people like more dad alliance stories? i've got a few in my head but i would like to know if people want it before i start.

Eclipse was catching up on Parts and Service paper work and emails while keeping an eye on the boys’ readings, things seem to looking good with nothing outside of expected parameters.  He paused for a moment when he noticed that Andy’s stress levels were spiking and then he got a warning of mild abrasions on his legs and arms.

“Huh?” he muttered he better check on that, might just be some rough play.

Then he heard it.

“DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!”

Eclipse did not realise he was moving until he found himself vaulting over a fence to follow Andy’s voice. There he found Jake and Andrew huddled together and a Moon Model Halloween decoration walking away with Andy over their shoulder with the poor kid looking like he was about to have a panic attack.

“GET YOUR HALLOWEEN REJECTED LOOKING ASS AWAY FROM MY KIDS!” he roared. 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Solar and Sun were standing nearby happily watching Dazzle as she ran around cooing over the castle before declaring that she will the princess of the forest and clambered inside to stake her birthright. Sun checked their cooler to make sure that they had everything for their picnic before pulling out two sodas and handing one to Solar.

“This is nice” Solar said. “I can see why you do this often with Dazzle”

“Heh, yeah Jack looked like he was having fun though we might need to tell him that he can’t climb up the trees with his dagger hands” Sun said.

“Or jump up on equipment, I’m going to have to check to see if the bridge’s brackets are ok after that…” Solar mused.

“None of that, we are having a family day out. You are not on the clock” Sun declared.

“Says the guy monitoring the children in the castle play area?”

“I help one kid find their mummy…” Sun began only to see Solar give him a look “Look being a responsible parent is different from being on the job. We can inform the park owners if it looks like Jack’s damaged anything ok?”

“Ok” they both took a sip of their soda and enjoyed the relaxed playful atmosphere of the park, for a grand total of two minutes.

“GET YOUR HALLOWEEN REJECTED LOOKING ASS AWAY FROM MY KIDS!” they heard someone roar and Solar sighed giving the soda back to Sun.

“That’ll be my son” he sighed wearily “Better get Dazzle in case we are going to be evicted from the premises” Sun smiled sadly and turned towards the castle. Solar followed Jack’s tracker to the big play structure to see a very strange sight, Eclipse holding a boy who was hugging him like he was a life preserver on open ocean, two boys huddled behind him and Jack standing there looking very confused. Even stranger was Eclipse seem to be comforting said clinging boy.

“I…I thought…he was gonna…gonna take me away…” the boy said between shaky breathes “I thought I was gonna…be…t…tra...trapped again…I don’t wanna…not again…please not again…”

“You’re safe, just breathe can you breathe for me? You need to let your systems cool down, ok?” Eclipse said softly one hand rubbing the boys back in a soothing pattern. “Now listen to me…” the boy looked up at him.

“I am NOT losing any of you again do you hear me? Did you really think after everything I haven’t put precautions in place in case you got taken? Let me tell you something I have twelve plans in place if anything happened to any of you, fourteen more for if you were taken off world. Each of you have an interdimensional tracker placed in your bodies, you could be on the other side of the multi-verse and I will still find you” he explained.

“I’m sorry” the boy blubbered.

“You’re okay, everyone is okay” he then glared at Jack. “Now what the hell is your problem? Why did you grab him?”

“I wanted to ask questions!” Jack exclaimed.

“By manhandling him?!”

“He kept running away!”

“Cos you were scaring him!”

“Not my fault!!!”

“Jack!” Solar called out and Jack turned to him,

“Hi DAD!” he declared happily.

“Can you please tell me what happened?”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dazzle had clambered into the castle giggling with glee at all the pretty carvings on the wall showing fairies, flowers, and all sort of forest creatures. She looked around and saw a throne and beamed happily already imagining the fantastic adventures Princess Daring Deer and her Pumpkin Knight could do.

“Oooh this castle is so pretty!” she heard someone coo and saw a black and white puppet walk in and rub one of the carvings she then turned to Dazzle. “Heeeeeey!”

Dazzle waved shyly.

“My name is Charlie what’s yours?”

“My name is Dazzle; I like your hair it’s all sparkly”

“Why thank you” she beamed putting her hand through her hair “I like your ribbons”

“Wanna play?” Dazzle asked.

“Yeah!”

“Ok I was thinking princesses and knights my friend Jack was gonna be the knight but he went off somewhere…” Dazzle explained.

“My dad…well not my real dad he’s my adoptive dad said that Princesses don’t really have any power in royal courts they’re kinda just there to be married off and look pretty…” Charlie said “We could be queens! They can do all sort of important stuff!”

“Yeah, but we can’t both be queens!” Dazzle retorted.

“Then I won’t be a queen I’ll be…your court magician!” Charlie declared.

“Yeah, I like that! That sounds cool”

“But I can only do pretend cos Eclipse says I’m not allowed to do magic without an adult around” Charlie stated 

“Pretend is just as good!”  Dazzle exclaimed “Wait you can do magic too?”

“Yeah. Can you do magic?”

“No but my daddy can!”

Charlie perked up at that, she had not heard of anyone else capable with magic so maybe this was her chance to she could find a teacher! That would one less thing for Eclipse to worry about and that would make him less grumpy!

“GET YOUR HALLOWEEN REJECTED LOOKING ASS AWAY FROM MY KIDS!” she heard Eclipse roar, speaking of grumpy she thought I better go see what that was about.

“Dazzle!” a voice called and Sun crawled in “Hey sweetie can you come with me for a minute?”

“Sunshine what are you doing here?” Charlie asked.

“Sunshine?” the Sunny Model replied.

“Never mind I have to go cos I think Eclipse is mad at someone”

“Eclipse?!”

And with that Charlie teleported away, leaving a very confused Sun and an amazed Dazzle.

“She really could do magic!” Dazzle gasped.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So, Dazzle mentioned that they were like her so you just decided to kidnap them?” Solar said trying to keep his composure after Jack just happily admitted in a public area that he wanted to take a child away for questioning.

“I was going to bring them to Sun and see if they were a relative” Jack stated, “They could be siblings or cousins to Dazzle, I needed to confirm with Sun”

Andy had calmed down at this point but was keeping a firm grip on Eclipse’s arm, the other boys were now just watching out of curiosity and to see if Eclipse was still going to rip this Jack o’ Moon a new one.

“There are better ways of going about that Jack you should have come to us first, now I think you need to do something don’t you?” Solar declared his arms crossed and giving him the dreaded dad look of disappointment.

“Okay…” he mumbled before walking over to Andy and Eclipse and knelt so he looked as non-threatening as possible. “I am sorry for scaring you, I was only going to ask you a question but then you started running and I thought we were playing tag… I did not mean to frighten you.”

“You’re not going to take me away?” Andy asked.

“What? No!” Jack cried out. “I mean it would depend on the circumstances, like if you were in danger or something!”

“Did you call that Eclipse guy your dad?” Jake asked.

“That guy is Solar” Eclipse exclaimed loudly. “And no, we are not related, he is a dimensional variant of me”

Sun and Dazzle then came running up and Jack skittered over to her.

“So, are we getting kicked out?” Sun asked.

“Aaaw Daddy, I want to stay here for a little while longer, we didn’t even get to have our picnic!” Dazzle cried out pulling at Sun’s jumper.

“Daddy?” Eclipse demanded looking at Jack and Dazzle and then at Sun and Solar. “Never thought you were the sort to want kids of your own, then again you did have a habit of never separating your home and work life” he chuckled, but before he could comment further Charlie suddenly appeared albeit on top of the swing set.

“Heeeeeey Eclipse, I heard you shouting everything okay?” she asked, Sun ran over gave a worried yelp before helping her down and Charlie smiled happily at him in thanks. She then saw Dazzle and the boys; Charlie tilted her head as she looked at Dazzle and then at her brothers giving each group a good stare.

“I thought so you’re a ghost kid too ain’t ya Dazzle?” she exclaimed happily.

“How did you…” Sun stuttered.

“I have super powers I can sense ghosts and stuff!” Charlie declared proudly.

“Wait a second…you said Dazzle is a ghost kid too. That would imply there are others” Solar said cautiously with Sun and Solar now staring at Eclipse with a silent demand for answers, Eclipse stared right back with no intention of giving the two anything.

“Okay you caught us; me, Andy and Jake are ghost kids happy?” Andrew declared in annoyance.

“Andrew!” Eclipse snapped.

“What? They have one of their own, they can’t give you any shit over it unless they want their own kid to be taken away” the boy stated calmly.

“He has a point dad” Jack admitted.

“Okay let’s start things over” Sun declared clapping his hands once to get everyone’s attention. “I’m Sun, this is Solar. The one that chased you and is very sorry about doing so is Jack and the faun and totally not a ghost kid is Dazzle”

“I’m Jake this one is Andrew and the one holding on to Eclipse is Andy, and Charlie is the black and white magic puppet we are also totally not ghost kids” Jake said pointing to each of them in turn.

“Are you guys like triplets? Which one is evil one?” Jack asked bluntly causing Solar to give a soft groan of embarrassment.

“Andrew” Jake and Andy said without hesitation to which Andrew just gave a shrug.

“Well, it’s very nice to meet you all, how about in the way of an apology I treat everyone to ice cream, how does that sound?” Sun said which cause Dazzle and Charlie to bounce up and down with excitement.

“Hey if you’re paying” Eclipse muttered before looking down to Andy “Are you okay with that?”

“Yeah, I mean he didn’t mean to scare me so I guess I’m okay with it” Andy said softly.

“HORAY!” Jack shouted and with that they left the play area to the food court, it was not anything huge it was more aimed for people to bring picnics but there were a few food shacks one of which sold locally sourced ice-cream.

“So, what flavours does everyone want?” Sun asked cheerfully but paused and looked to Eclipse “Do they have any allergies I need to know about?”

“Not that I know about” he murmured.

“Can we even eat?” Jake asked.

“Let me check, hey Solar how is your stomach? Any issues?” Eclipse demanded, Solar who was reading out the options to Jack turned to look at him confused.

“Fine…why do you ask?”

“Then yeah you guys are able to eat, there shouldn’t be any problems” Eclipses said to Jake, he beamed happily at Eclipse before trotting off to go with Sun and the other to make their orders.

“Why did you ask me though?”

“I used you as a prototype for a working nano stomach in case I ever needed another source of energy.” He explained and Solar gave an angry growl.

“Why am I not surprised you used me as a guinea pig?” he growled.

“Consider it payment for bringing you back from the dead, given the circumstances you got a pretty good deal!”

There was an awkward silence between the two as the watch the others get their ice cream.

“So…Jack calls you dad and Dazzle calls Sun Daddy?” Eclipse asked.

“Yup”

“Never thought you were the sort to start a family, didn’t think Sun was your type either” he smirked.

“Oh, fuck off!” Solar snarled “it’s not like that!”

“Suuure” Eclipse chuckled.

“What about you? I can’t wait to hear the explanation as to why you have brought three boys and a child puppet to an adventure park!” Solar demanded, with that Eclipse just glared off into the distance.

“I did not adopt them; I did not take them they just…I don’t know came to me and before I knew it, I was looking after them. It all started when Andrew showed up and demanded I made him a body, I then found Andy and Jake stuck inside our dimension’s version of Stitch Wraith and well…Charlie is her own long story.” He grumbled watching each kid excitedly get their ice cream and Sun herding them back towards them. “Why did Sun ask if any of them had allergies? Their ghosts, not like they are going to die of an allergic reaction.”

“You’d be surprised” Solar said, “We found out that sometimes a soul will still react to those stimuli, Dazzle is like that with peanuts. Even though she does not have lungs she would still start wheezing and struggle to breathe if she eats anything with peanuts in it. God poor Sun was so freaked out that day”

“How does that work?” Eclipse asked his scientific mind and concerned father instincts both demanding more information.

“My guess, either she was constantly told that peanuts were bad for her or she might have had an extremely bad reaction when she was younger and it just stuck with her so much it imprinted not only on her mind but her soul as well. Which tracks when you think of how ghosts tend to cling to stuff from their previous lives.” Solar explained. “And as much as Moon and I would love to study that phenomena further Sun would kill us if we tried.”

“A pity”

“Look Eclipse I got a strawberry and cream cone!” Charlie declared showing him the said treat “It’s got bits of actual strawberry in it!”

“Nice” he said, he noted that Andy and Andrew both got chocolate mint and Jake got caramel, Dazzle was already tucking into her vanilla ice cream that was coated in rainbow sprinkles and Jack had something purple?

“Look Dad I got lavender ice cream!” Jack explained as Sun handed Solar his ice cream as well.

“Sounds…tasty?”

“Turns out the ice cream makers here like to experiment now and again” Sun stated before handing Eclipse a vanilla ice cream who took it tentatively. They all sat down watching the world go by eating their treats while all three solar models thinking about how weird their lives had turned out despite their completely different views on life and roads they have taken in said lives they had somehow all ended up adopting kids and finding themselves here, now united by their kids love to climb on stuff and eat frozen treats. If you had asked Sun if he could see himself sitting with Eclipse eating an ice cream two years ago, he would have probably slapped you.

But now…

“Andrew what’s wrong?” Dazzle asked quietly “Why are you crying?”

That got Eclipse’s attention and he turned to see Andrew hunched over trying to hide the fact that he had tears streaming down his face. He checked his monitoring programmes and there was no indications of pain or malfunction, he started to check all the readings to try and find the cause of the problem when Andrew spoke up quietly.

“I know it’s just ice cream…just average ice cream…but, it’s been so long since I’ve eaten anything, tasted anything…” he whispered. “I don’t know I just got really happy about it”

“That’s okay!” Dazzle chirped up and gently patted him on the back “I felt like that too after I had mac and cheese at Sun’s house”

“Yeah, I can’t believe I forgot how good food taste and feels” Jake added, this started a whole conversation about food and what their favourites were.

“My favourite is sponges!” Jack said.

“Yeah, Sponge cakes are nice, I like the chocolate fudge myself what’s your favourite flavour?” Andy asked.

“I like gristle” Jack said and no he did not elaborate.

The three dads watched this with interest, Sun and Solar happy that their kids had found like minded friends and Eclipse was now dreading the fact his kids were probably going to start asking him to cook stuff. This fear was further put in place when Charlie declared that she wanted to try Sun’s amazing Mac and Cheese to the agreement of the others.

“Well, we’ll discuss that later but right now why don’t you finish your ice creams and go play?” Solar said, Jack all but inhaled his and bounced up and down while waiting for the others to finish. Once they had they all ran off back into the play area Charlie and Dazzle planning on playing in castle and the boys playing Tag with Jack.

“Socialising is important for children’s development” Eclipse mused out-loud.

“Yup its why we came out here” Sun said.

“I would like to propose an exchange”

Solar and Sun looked at him confused as Eclipse turned to them.

“I propose that my children go to your house and try this Mac and Cheese and engage with activities with your two kids, in exchange you can bring them to my dimension and I will set up some activities for them and my children there. What time would best suit your schedules?” he said, there was a pause before Sun burst out laughing.

“What?” Eclipse demanded angrily he had tried his best to sound respectful and polite!

“You made a playdate sound like a business deal!” Sun chuckled.

“But what Sun is trying to say is that yes, we would love for Charlie and the boys to come over for a play date, and if things go well we could make it a regular thing. I can understand having four kids makes it hard to get stuff done?”

“You have no idea” Eclipse grumbled.

“So, we can make an arrangement of regular play dates so each parent gets some time to themselves, we can work out a rota later” Solar said. Eclipse thought out it, this deal would work out for him as it would give the kids times to explore stuff that he did not have the experience or knowledge in like cooked food and games and it would allow him time to work on projects that require strict concentration.

“Very well I believe this alliance can work”

This is a fanfic idea I have had for a while and finally decided to work on.

Based on the Sun and Moon Show, and Eclipse and Puppet Show, canon is fast and loose cos I want to let these dads and their broods be happy goddammit!!!

The Dad Alliance

Was it possible for a ghost kid to die of boredom? Andrew was starting to think it was, it had been over a month since Eclipse finally built his body and figure out a way for him to possess it. When Eclipse started to work on Jake and Andy’s body it came with a few issues; mainly it was because Andrew and Andy wanted the same body. After all it was their old body before the whole Stitch Wraith saga so naturally, they would want to reclaim some normalcy by having that, but they did not want to share the same appearances because hey how creepy would it be to suddenly have a clone of yourself living with you?

Eclipse had suggested that each boy gave him a list of desired features that they could add to give each other some individuality empathising on it being toned down stuff like skin blemishes like freckles and moles, different hair and eye colour, or hair styles “Not a Mohawk!” he had declared to which the boys groaned in annoyance. 

However, Eclipse had forgotten that Andrew and Andy were parallel versions of each other so even though the two had written their lists at different times in different locations they had somehow written the exact same list of features they wanted. Now both boys wanted these features and not their ‘plain’ bodies and Eclipse found himself back at square one with keeping the peace with these two squabbling dimensional twins.

It was Roxy that found a middle ground by suggesting that they compete for it through a racing game tournament, they would number the features on the list and play that number of races. So, for example whoever won race 1 would get to have the feature listed as number 1 in this instance it was having lighter brown hair. The result was two boys who could be mistaken for siblings but not clones of each other and because the boys were on equal playing levels they got an equal number of features.

That was a month ago and it had been a week since Jake and Andy finally got their bodies, Eclipse put their old body in storage and then an insane number of locks on it. Andy wanted to put it in the trash compactor and watch their prison be reduced to a trash cube, but Eclipse explained that the power source would probably level the pizza-plex and everything within five miles of it if they did that.

So, off to gather dust bunnies in storage it went.

Roxy helped the boys and Charlie to order stuff online to help make their rooms more homely and with Eclipse’s help with building furniture their rooms now looked less like a storage for lab equipment and more like a futuristic bedroom. Ballora naturally took them shopping for clothes which resulted in Eclipse dragging Ballora out of the mall after nearly maxing out the credit care and giving the kids more clothes than they knew what to do with most of which were too ‘high fashion’ to be used by anything other than super models.

But that was last week…now Andrew was bored and he knew the others were too, Eclipse had them doing stuff like Simon Says and bean bag toss to measure how well their bodies were doing but after a while those games get dull. 

“Right get your shoes on we’re heading out” Eclipse declared gruffly which all four perked up to.

“Outside? You mean outside, outside or outside as in out of the lab?” Andy asked.

“Outside, outside” Eclipse stated “We’ve done as much as we can in here for now I need to get some readings on how your bodies do outside of lab conditions”

There was a soft groan from them as they realised this was just another check-up; they understood that they had basically completed a whole-body transplant and Eclipse explained that he had added a lot of features to help them feel ‘human’ so it was understandable that they would need to take things slow.

However, what kid enjoys check-ups?

Eclipse opened a portal and ushered all four through, fully expecting them to be in an empty field or garden lot to see how they deal with dirt or something boring like that the kids were surprised when they saw that it was in fact a car park in a forest. What got their attention was they big gates that stated “Tumble wood Adventure Play” all of them stared at the sign as it slowly dawned on them where they were.

“I think this should be sufficient for seeing how your bodies handle more demanding tasks for your motor functions and balance. Maybe later we can look at other functions as well…” Eclipse muttered checking his readings to make sure they were synced to his computer in his head than in the lab, he glanced down to see Jake hugging his leg happily.

“Thank you thank you thank you!” he beamed, the solar model made an uncomfortable noise and patted Jake’s head with barely disguised affection.

“Right now, before we go in there’s one last thing I need to go over with you three in particular” he declared “While in this dimension animatronics are less uncommon so hopefully we won’t get as much flack as we do back home…”

Charlie looked at her feet sadly she still remembered being called a freak that time she went to the park nor anyone else’s confused stares when she left the Pizza Plex.

“However, what is Taboo in both worlds in human animatronics, there is a reason why Faz bear never just made themselves robot pop idol and called it a day and why even us Day Care Models look like we do. People get very upset when we approach Uncanny Valley levels of human appearance.” He explained “So if anyone asks you where your parents are just tell them that I am your au pair”

“You want us to tell them you’re a pear?”

“Au Pair” Eclipse corrected “It’s another word for nanny, but if anyone doesn’t buy it then give them my number and I’ll talk to them like that”

“Won’t they find it suspicious that our au pair and dad have the same voice?” Andrew demanded.

“Not Necessarily” Eclipse stated using his old Solar Flare Voice.

“You sound like a robot” Charlie giggled.

“I think that’s the point” Andrew exclaimed.

“With that out of the way” Eclipse stated “I think the usual rules apply out here, don’t get hurt, don’t get in fights, don’t break the rules or laws and NO MAGIC Charlie!”

“Aww”

With that said they went in and once past the entry gate the kids could see that this place was huge! There were wooden climbing frames of all sorts, some of them smaller for the little kids, others were big multi levelled climbing frames with zip lines, ladders, bridges that connect to several tree houses, several slides each looking more fun that the last. Heck it even had a wooden castle complete with a play moat which connected to a water play area. All of it made from wood and given a natural forest feel to it.

The boys were practically vibrating with excitement as they finally got to a gate to enter, as soon as they were in, they shot off. Charlie watched them go and glanced at Eclipse who had found a bench to sit at.

“What about me?” she asked.

“What about you?”

“Didn’t you say that this was to see how their bodies deal outside?”

“I can multitask” he stated “I can get my readings and take you guys somewhere fun to burn off some energy”

“You big softy” she chuckled.

“Shut up and go play!”

She did not need telling twice and was already making a beeline for the forest castle.

The Boys had run up to a rope bridge that went up into the nearest climbing frame, Jake and Andrew clambering up with the simple mission of getting as high up as they could. Andy stopped at the top of the rope bridge to look around merely taking in the view and fresh air after being trapped inside a box for months he was more than ready to enjoy every experience he got.

As he looked around, he saw other kids playing on the swings and parents racing after toddlers but he stopped when he saw…a faun?

No, it was a deer animatronic with purple ribbons in her hair and big green eyes who was skipping about looking at everything probably trying to think of where to start first, she then saw Andy and they locked eyes. She tilted her head in confusion.

Eclipse did say Animatronics were more common here and that she could very well be the mascot for this place she certainly fit the whole forest theme but it was what he heard her say next that made his skin go cold.

“You’re like me?” she asked.

Eclipse’s warning was still fresh in his mind, He remembered that most of the Pizza Plex Animatronics had a scanning feature so they can get people’s guest files, but Sunshine and Moonshine could use that feature to scan for injuries too.

Could this deer tell that he was not human? What would it do if they found out he is technically deceased? Kick him out? Give him to the authorities? Lock him away in a lab while they would poke and prod him to figure out how a human soul was in a robot body? He could feel his whole-body tense up at that idea, no never again. Eclipse may have them in a lab but he respected Andy’s need for space and did whatever tests Eclipse needed at his pace he understood that Andy did not like feeling trapped.

He then saw an animatronic that looked like it belonged in a pumpkin patch come up to her and they began to talk, Andy decided to use that as a chance to get away from the situation and clambered further into the tree house. He was going to get as far away from those two as possible and then find Jake and Andrew to warn them to stay away as well.

He had found a wooden tunnel that took him to the next tree house and was crawling through it when the entire thing juddered violently causing him to fall flat on his face. He looked down between the gaps of the planks only to be meet eye to eye with something glowing orange, it pulled back to reveal it was that same pumpkin moon model that had been with the Deer clinging to the bottom of the tunnel like a creepy spider. That would be alarming on its own if you did not also know that the tunnel was high up from the ground and no normal person should be able to reach it.

“Found you!” it beamed “We have questions!”

Andy bolted and he could hear the robot scrabbling behind him as he ran through the tree house, he saw flashes as the thing crawled past the small windows trying to beat him to the door, he froze for a second as it loomed in the door way, arms out to catch him.

“Why are you running?” it asked “We want to ask you something”

Remembering a move he saw in a video game he ran forward and then at last minute dropped to the floor and slipped right past under the robot. His legs and arms stung from the grazes he got from the dry wood but right now he was focused on getting away from that thing.

“Is this a game?” he heard it ask, “Okay I can play! I will give you a head start”

Now the pounding of his feet was tempered with the sounds of the pumpkin model cheerfully counting down from twenty as it watched him run, maybe it’s security feature and play programming had a glitch but he was not going to question his luck.

He bolted past other children who carried on unaware of his plight, he crawled through tunnels and clambered over climbing frames and anything else to just try and get some distance.

“Nineteen…twenty!” he heard it yell “Ready or not here I come!”

He had come to a platform with rope fence that was like a crow’s nest in the trees, he looked back and nearly threw up in anxiety when he saw the robot was heading his way with such unnatural speed crawling over play equipment like a hellish spider on a caffeine high. In his panic he glanced around before seeing the Zip Line that take them back down to the ground, he grabbed it and launched himself off as he zipped down, he swore he could feel that thing’s fingers graze the back of his neck.

But he made it to the bottom with a thud and looked up to see the robot staring down at him. He took off running again and saw Jake and Andrew come down a slide.

“Hey there you are!” Andrew shouted “Where the hell did you go?”

“We need to…” Andy started when he felt two large hands grab his waist and lift him in the air.

“FoUnD Yooooooou!” the moon model declared “now come with me”

Jake and Andrew stared in horror as this Pumpkin themed robot put Andy over their shoulder like a sack of potatoes and began to walk away. The boys found themselves frozen in terror as Andy was taken.

This was it; he thought as his mind began to race in sheer panic, he was only free for two weeks and now he was going to trapped again, locked away again this time he will not have someone else to talk to he will put in another box alone, trapped, blind, unable to feel, touch or hear anything. Trapped, unable to die unable to leave unable to breathe. Trapped, trapped, trapped, TRAPPED.

Andy was on the verge hyperventilating but as tears began to streak down his face he found the strength to scream.

Me: dear brain why the hell are you playing the Rubert Bear Frog song on repeat? i haven't heard that song in literal decades [which shows my fucking age right there]

My brain: oh my bad dude, i can change the channel. what did you have in mind? i have cosmic end of the world scenarios, environmental end of the world scenarios, society collapse scenarios and the classic your grisly demise situations...

me: ...

...

...

Me: crank that frog song shit up!!

Me: Yes i know i'm tired but i'm on a night shift i can't exactly do anything about it, we'll just have to power through ok?

My Brain: nah mate not that

Me: then what is it?

My Brain: SUDDEN BOUT OF RANDOM ANXIETY FOR NO GOOD REASON!!!

i was at my sister's baby shower and just pulled it out to doodle an idea when my BIL came over and asked if i could draw him something i said sure and ask what he had in mind. he said he wanted a monster with horns and wings. not really pushing the envelope but whatever, i also added highland cow features cos i know he likes them.

30 minutes of doodling later and i showed him it.

"Oh wow that's brilliant!" he said "Its just like AI art"

the one upside that people don't think about often with having cats is that how safe they make you feel in your own home. I mean yes if there was an actual break in the cat is as good as a chocolate fire guard but i mean the more common mental shit.

its late at night, i hear tapping at the window and the skittering of claws?

oh that's just Smokey remembering that windows and glass are not a theoretical construct and is now on his way to see if the windows at the front of the house hold true to this as well.

loud bumps in the middle of the night?

yes that my lard ass ragdoll cat jumping down from the desk whoever said cats are stealthy have never heard my cats stomping around.

footsteps in the dark followed by heavy movement on the bed coming towards me?

that's just Smokey wanted his midnight love bumps and cuddles.

waking in the middle of the night to the undeniable presence of the something that has a unquenchable hunger and desire for flesh?

Yup Smokey who likes to sit on my bedside cabin and stare me down in the mornings till i feed him.

what i am saying it would take a ghost nothing short of writing its own fucking name in blood on my walls for me to finally realise that my house is haunted and even then i'd be checking my cats to make sure they didn't cut themselves and by sheer random chance manage to get blood splatter on the wall that spells out Teddy Ghost Boy.

and you don't realise how much of a security blanket that is to be able to chalk any unknown noise to the cats until you're away from home...at a hotel...and you hear a random noise. it took me a second to remember and then that cold dread filled my heart...