This is so impromptu, but I feel like chatting about the main throuple of Ghost Demon Pink, and what better place to do that than my own site??
Okay, so quick character break down:
Leslie
Olivia’s stepmother, based heavily on Delia Deetz from the Beetlejuice Musical. She’s happy-go-lucky and a rich influencer. Olivia thinks she’s a ditz.
Dion
Olivia’s dad. He seems to attract the supernatural to him. Works as a video game designer and translator. Knows, like, six languages, I think.
Ethan
Symin’s science teacher. Specializes in human biology, but has an interest in other sciences as well. Doesn’t like talking about the supernatural.
Spoilers!
From here on, there are going to be spoilers! For…whatever this story will one day be. Currently, it’s still very much a vibes project, but I’d like for it to develop into something one day, whether it’s an animation, visual novel, musical, whatever! I also realize that day may never come though, so if you’re not in the mood for waiting forever, read on!
Leslie and Dion
I’ll start with the least spoilery. Leslie and Dion are married, obviously, since this is how Leslie becomes Olivia’s stepmother. For the timeline that I’m thinking of, Leslie and Dion have been married for a little over a year, so they’re still fresh out of that honeymoon phase!
When they first met, they immediately got along due to both being very positive people, tending to look on the bright side. Dion was just divorced from his first wife, who was far more negative, so Leslie was a breath of fresh air. And Leslie, in turn, found Dion’s excitement addicting, seeing as she just came out of a depression and finally accepting that she’s (spoiler!) a dead woman. Literally. She’s a walking corpse.
Even better is that Dion finds supernatural shit left and right, so when he learns she’s a dead woman (which is illegal!) it doesn’t even phase him, much to Leslie’s relief. He isn’t scared and they don’t make any zombie jokes. They just treat her like a living human, which is what she wants at the time.
One issue between the two of them is that they’re both pretty enabling. They’ve often pushed each other to heavy drinker, skipping work, doing dangerous stunts, etc. just because the other tells them it sounds like a cool idea. Neither of them are very realistic, so they often set high expectations for each other and themselves and both end up collapsing pretty hard when they aren’t realized. Dion is able to pick themself back up pretty quickly, but Leslie takes a lot of coaxing.
Another issue the two of them will have to work with is their difference of parenting styles. Dion was always around kids growing up and even after divorcing his first wife, they made sure to stay present and active in Olivia’s life, so they have far more experience with parenting. With Leslie, however, not only has she led a pretty adult-only lifestyle before Olivia comes in, but she also had a strict childhood. Her parents were heavily authoritative and Leslie vows to never become parents like them. This ends with her having a very lax style of parenting.
She lets Olivia get away with a lot of things that Dion would never do, such as using foul language. Both of Olivia’s parents have a strict no-swearing rule for her, which she knows and follows…when they’re around. When it’s just Leslie, she swears like a sailor, because she knows Leslie is too soft and forgiving to tell.
Leslie often puts on a brave face, pretending things don’t bother her, which Dion knows. He’ll have constant conversations with Leslie to not let Olivia bully her, but Leslie continues letting things go, because “oh, she’s just a kid!!” This will be pushed, of course, but this isn’t the post to talk about that.
Leslie and Ethan
Now let’s jump to the most spoilery couple! I’ll try not to go too far into detail, because I have a lot of details for these two, but let’s keep this short and sweet. Ethan and Leslie are exes…from the 70s. They were both part of a free love commune, so their days were spent with a lot of sex with four others, but they found themselves drawn to each other the most.
They often got away from the commune just to spend time together and even talked about breaking away permanently and getting married. Ethan even meets and tries to build a relationship with Leslie’s parents. He has to do a LOT of lying, because the life he’s led is not exactly what Leslie’s strict parents like, but he actually finds it easy to get along with them. Wanting to marry Leslie and impress her family eventually leads him to study medicine and get a degree. I haven’t decided if he goes all the way to get his doctorate or not—I’m leaning towards not, because he ends up working at a high school, after all. But then again, society sucks and requires so much for so little, so I don’t think it’d be that farfetched.
The biggest difference Ethan has with Leslie and Dion is that his head isn’t quite as far in the clouds. While he still has big ideas, he also has an easier time to be realistic with them, which leads to him having an easier time executing his plans. Wish that were me.
BUT this isn’t always a good thing, because sometimes he will have an idea, come up with a plan for it, and execute it, before fully realizing that the idea is actually a very bad one. This is how Leslie ends up dying and reviving as a walking corpse. Which in turn leads to Leslie being fucking pissed, having a mental breakdown, running away from him to not see him again for 50 years, and falling into a depression until she meets Dion.
Relationships! ouo)b
She does meet Ethan again, though, obviously. Olivia will be visiting Symin at school one day and Leslie will be coming to pick them up when they run into each other. I’m thinking it’ll be the first time Olivia will see Leslie not be her happy-go-lucky self, which piques Olivia’s curiosity and she bombards Leslie with questions until Leslie ends up yelling. Once it’s clear Leslie won’t give her anything, Olivia starts going to Ethan instead, starting another chain of events~
The themes of Leslie and Ethan’s relationship is going to work a lot with guilt, forgiveness, right and wrong, and how someone can harm when they’re trying to help. A big thing I want to focus on is Leslie not forgiving Ethan for what he did, because it quite literally ruined her life (and also I kinda don’t believe in forgiveness anyway), but instead the two of them learning to move on and improve. Plus, them both being considered undead and being kinda raised in the same time period (Ethan’s a little bit older than Leslie, but I haven’t decided by how much yet), they end up being the only two to really understand each other in a way no one else can.
(for my Helluva peeps, can you see how blitzfizz is effecting me??????)
Ethan and Dion
Okay, this is the relationship that took me by surprise!!!!!
Believe it or not, I did NOT start out with this being a polycule. It truly was supposed to end with Leslie and Ethan moving on from each other and Leslie being happy with Dion.
But then I started thinking about Dion meeting Ethan!
I don’t know exactly how it’ll happen first, but I’m thinking Dion and Leslie are out together when Leslie sees Ethan again and goes “oh shit, it’s my ex.” And Dion, being the little shit that he is, goes “Well lemme just” and kisses Leslie in full view of Ethan.
Did I mention that Ethan is still in love with Leslie by the way??? Yeah. Things don’t start off well.
Dion doesn’t officially meet Ethan until much later, and by then, Ethan will have an established relationship with, not just Leslie, but also Olivia. Which puts Dion at kinda an awkward position. Because, of course, Leslie’s been shit talking about him, but Ethan also helps Olivia a LOT and maybe saves her life even, so Dion’s kinda thankful for him too. This ends up with Dion trying to keep their distance, but Ethan ends up very present in Leslie and Olivia’s life, so he ends up present in Dion’s as well.
And Dion is not immune to Ethan’s charm.
Ethan is smooth, okay? There’s a reason he was able to get along easily with Leslie’s parents, he’s just a likable guy and knows how to say the right thing. He’s caring and loves so deeply he’ll make you feel like the only person in the world.
So yeah, Dion quickly gets infatuated with him, which Leslie will notice and call him out on!!
But remember, these two enable each other. By this time, Leslie would have been getting along with Ethan more, so she’ll actually push Dion to be like “if you like him, ask him out!! Its cool with me”.
Which is when the polycule officially starts, with Dion being married to Leslie and dating Ethan at the same time. Leslie and Ethan will eventually fall back for each other as well, but they have a lot of work to do before they get there. But I have decided that they will get there, eventually.
All Together Now!
It will be a long time coming, if I ever get here, but them all dating each other is going to be SO much fun. The little scenarios I keep playing in my head—they all just play off of each other so well, with Leslie and Dion enabling each other and Ethan trying to rein them in. With Leslie and Ethan being brand new to parenting and Dion trying to guide them. With Ethan and Dion being dorks cause they’re new at their relationship and Leslie trying to set them up. It’s big and messy and chaos and I love them so much.
Sometimes I have to stop myself and ask “Am I forcing this? Why are they really all dating each other?” But honestly, this is one of the most natural love stories to come to me, and love stories are HARD for me okay?? This is RIGHT. These three are meant for each other. It’s going to take a lot of work, but their ultimate happiness is with each other.
And the best part is that Olivia and Pink gets another parent!! By the end of the story, they’re gonna have, like, five parents. They’re both the luckiest and unluckiest children alive. They deserve it <3