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Danny was sitting lazily at his desk, fiddling with a pencil doing precisely jack all. He’s so into doing nothing that he doesn’t notice his ghost sense going off before a ghost comes up through his floorboards, nearly scaring him to full death.
Danny putting a hand to his chest and wheezing while staring at a sheepish-looking Dora, “Ancients, Dora. Knock would ya?”. She fiddles with her hands, “but you can sense us, isn’t that knocking enough, yes?”. Danny sighs at that and gestures her over which is all it takes for her to stop holding herself back from practically tackling him in a hug. Putting her head under his chin as he speaks, “it’s good to see you too, Dora”. She just hums happily before letting go and straightening out, brushing off her dress.
Danny’s eyes pretty quickly go up to her head, him grinning wide at the dainty silver knot-work crown with small spikes coming off pointing upwards, “ah you finally got crowned eh?”. She nods with a bit of a blush before floating to sit on his bed, him getting up and following, sitting down next to her and bumping his shoulder against hers, “so everybody treating you all royally and shit?”.
That gets her giggling, putting a hand over her mouth and nodding slightly, “yes. They are much more respectful to me now, the maids don’t treat me much different though; which I am quite thankful for”. Danny snorts, he could understand that, “yeah being treated all officially and proper-like by everyone would get real old real fast”.
“Much of the town does that to you, yes?”.
Danny nods and sags dramatically sideways some, “oh it can be so annoying! But fine, better than getting shot at or hunted by my own government”. She purses her lips at that, humming to herself slightly before speaking her mind, “ah yes, your ‘mortal government’”, shifting faintly, “I know they do not treat you well, quite the shame, but are they otherwise good?”.
Danny quirks an eyebrow, a bit unsure where this is going, “that honestly depends on personal opinion”. She looks honestly disappointed at that, “oh”. Making Danny quirk an eyebrow, “you sound disappointed, why?”.
Dora hums again and rings out her fingers, “well it’s just, there is so much work and the people are so needy and there is a great many things my brother neglected. I do not know what I am doing and I fear I am doing it all wrong”, leaning against him, resting her head on his shoulder, “I thought that it was modern society and humans who helped liberate my kingdom and get rid of that wretched man, so maybe those two could be of help again”.
Danny raises his eyebrows and starts chuckling lightly, “okay I don’t mean to seem mocking, but basing your rule on my government would be one of the dumbest things you could do. We start wars with anyone who doesn’t agree with us, there’s more support for owning guns than safe schools, our government couldn’t be bothered to give a rats ass about trying to stop slowly poisoning the planet, anything related to health care is a fucking a joke, the rich and fast food joints get more finical help than pretty much anyone else, and that’s all without mentioning the scumbag dumbass we literally just got kicked out of power. America’s government is pretty fucked. Most human governments are at least somewhat fucked”, shaking his head and chuckling at her shocked expression, “plus our government is set up for a species that effectively can’t survive on their own or off of the land, most humans have zero fucking idea where their food comes from or what’s even in it. Don’t get me started on the ridiculous obesity issue or the whole crazy debacle that was the cigarette industry. Our government is for a heavily reliant species, a heavily social species, and a heavily ill species. My government makes more money off keeping people sick than keeping them healthy, so it doesn’t. Universal health care is treated like some messed up communistic dream, even though it should be common sense. The prison systems are big massive business, Hell homeless people will willingly get arrested for food and shelter because it’s easier to be a prisoner than a free man for a lot of people here. Racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia; is rampant in the government here. So really, it’s not a good place to go getting ideas from”.
Dora blinks, “oh, is it that bad?”.
Danny chuckles and leans his elbows on his knees, “don’t get me wrong, my government, the American government, is definitely a lot better than some other places but humanity and earth-wise it is by far not the best. Fuck, it’s not even in the running. Especially when that orange dumbass was in power. I mean, our government can’t even be bothered to make sure people have clean water. It’s pretty fucked up. Freedom of speech is a great thing though, but I doubt I need to tell you that. Common fucking sense”.
Dora nods a little, “and your government is rather unkind to ghosts as well”.
Danny hums and nods, side-eyeing her for a second, “yeah. China’s also got some weird anti-ghost and anti-reincarnation laws, sucks to be Tuck. Russia’s got a few. But everywhere else treats us as either non-existent, not worth making laws about, or equal to human beings. The UK, Germany, Canada, Ireland, Cuba, France, New Zealand, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland; they’re all pretty good about us ghosties, Japan’s pretty good too. But in America? Our existence is definitely illegal, which is not fun that’s for sure”, flopping back to lay on his bed, “Amity’s pretty much a haven in that regard. Turns out Vlad’s good for something, covering his and by default everyone else’s ghostly hides”. She giggles at him for that, pitting a hand over her mouth and crinkling up her eyes, “so one piece of advice would be to not let Vlad get involved in my kingdom”.
Danny barks out a laugh, “now there’s an idea! He’s good for ghosts in politics here, would be horrible in the Zone though”, pointing at her, “but that’s because Vlad is like most human politicians are. Slimy, self-serving, lying out their ass, promising sweet nothings, showboating, and following the money. There’s a lot of sayings about politicians but they can pretty much be summed up with: never trust a politician, they’re all scumbags. ‘Cause generally the good clean ones never get elected, or when they do the system blocks them from changing things and they wind up doing a whole lot of nothing or only make things look better rather than being better. Even when the people overthrow their government, the new government is usually more of the same or drastically worse, unless they get lucky anyway. So a good piece of advice would be to keep any promises. Being transparent is a really good idea too, no one will trust you if you hide things. If you fuck up you’ve got to own it, otherwise that’s gonna bite you in the ass so fast”, Danny hums and taps at his chin, “honestly, so long as you don’t set your kingdom on fire, destroy all the good supplies, support any potentially extremist ideologies, or put profit before health; you’ll probably be okay. Some things you definitely should do though is keep a good eye on your knights and anyone else in positions of power, be friendly and available for anyone to talk to, and just ask your people if they’re happy. You’re queen, you’re meant to be both friend and advocate for your people. A defender and someone who sets the standards”.
Dora taps her chin, tilting her head, “but what am I to do about what they ask of me? And the ones who don’t like me?”. Danny gives her thigh a pat, “you meet what needs you can and that are reasonable, people always ask for some completely unreasonable shit. Like Dash trying to petition for football practice to be held all year round, even though doing that in the snow is stupid. Or vegans trying to get the whole world to one day stop eating or using animal products, not only is that dumb it’s also impossible and insanely unhealthy. And people will sometimes do shit that just makes no sense, like those people that stole billions of dollars of maple syrup. As for the liking you thing”, he shrugs, “nobody likes everybody and no one is liked by everyone. When you’re in a place of importance and power you’re under a microscope, and no one looks good that close up. So fuck ‘em, but also listen to them. The people that stand against you are sometimes a little right or have some kind of point. And some are just stupid bigots. There’ll also be people who show ‘support’ but are really just trying to get in your good books or use you, that you’ll probably have no issue recognising”. Danny knows full well Dora was quite familiar with manipulation.
Dora nods thoughtfully, “yes I imagine not all will be as obvious as Aragon or Vlad”. Danny can’t help chuckling, “Vlad’s actually usually really sneaky, he just doesn’t give a fuck if me, my friends, or my dad notice. Half the time he actively wants us to”.
“I am quite glad you are unlike him”.
“Damn, me too”.
Dora nods and the two are silent for a while, her speaking back up again after some time and looking up to the ceiling, “what if... what if fights break out or war even”.
Danny purses his lips, tough one, “no one really has the answer to that one. People have their specific inclinations, sure but that’s it. America prefers to go in guns blazing, the rest of the world justifiably hates that aspect of us. Other countries prefer peacekeeping, like Canada. Others are quick to give up, like France. Russian prefers to hyper control their own people, same with North Korea but that place is a bajillion miles worse. Really you have to figure out what’s best for you, your people, the stability and sustainability of your kingdom, and how any actions will affect any relations with neighboring kingdoms or specific strong ghosts. Like if you suddenly have a moxo-wasp infestation and your solution is to get rid of all plant matter for a while, then you’re going to have UnderGrowth knocking on your doorstep; bad idea. If you’ve got infighting amongst the citizens then either hear the sides out and solve the issue, which won’t always be possible, or put your foot down and send in your knights. Course being a ghost means you’ve also got the option of going dragon on their asses. Trust yourself but don’t be afraid to seek advice, like you’re doing now”, Danny nods to himself, satisfied with his response. War was a complicated issue.
Dora hums and smiles down at him some, “I can see it, you’ll make a good High Sovereign someday”. Danny blushes at that, pushing himself back up and rubbing his neck, “ah well, I sure hope so”, chuckling, “we’re a lot alike in that way, both of us gained power by taking it away from someone who was misusing it and hurting people. Sure it mattered a whole lot more for you”. She shoves his shoulder gently, “Pariah was far worse. Aragon is no Pariah”.
“Yes but Pariah never did anything to me beyond abducting my town, which was more the fault of Vlad. Aragon, well, he was cruel to you personally for a long long time”.
She shakes her head, “still. Aragon was cruel but no monster. I do see the point you’re making though, and we are much alike”. Danny grins and pats her head, her squeaking a little, “yeah and when I’m crowned you’ll have been queen for well over a year”, pointing at her with a goofy grin, “maybe I’ll be coming to you for advice”. She giggles lightly at that, “I think I’d like that a lot”.
She goes back to leaning on him, him brushing her hair with his hand. Dora sighing a little, “it would seem human society wasn’t all that helpful this time”. Danny just shrugs, “eh, you’ll find your own way, and it sure as shit’s gonna be a step up”.
“Well I would certainly hope so”.
Danny grinning and chuckling, “yup. Now how you feel about exploring the wonders of the modern world and playing some video games?”. She giggles and nods eagerly, capping her hands together once, “oh yes! I very much would!”; making Danny cackle loudly as he gets up and moves to set up.
End.