Fanfic / Stranded Side Story: Bonding

Bonding is the third side story to Stranded written by NeoMark. Danny, Star and Sam tell Tucker about a dinner party that took place with their families at a country club.

Tropes:

• Accidental Misnaming: Eleanor doesn’t care enough to remember Jean-Luc and Colette’s names since she hates them.
• Actually Pretty Funny: Sam and Star find it hilarious that Eleanor hates the Beviers for being awful people as much as they do and for insulting them right to Stella’s face.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Poor, poor Star has to go through a lot of this in this story when her mother hosts a dinner at the country club between them, the Fentons, and Johnathan. It really hits home when Stella, in an effort to make Star look good to the Fentons, begins bragging about her daughter's looks, skills and accomplishments, all while not-so-subtly implying that she'd make a great wife for Danny, despite the fact that Danny and Star are still teenagers and have only been dating for a few months. It's so bad that Star thinks that she'd rather be dealing with the Monster Of Specter Island again.
• Awkward Father-Son Bonding Activity: Gender-Inverted when Stella tries to reconnect with her daughter Star.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Johnathan Strong and Stella Bevier have a very strained relationship. When they married, they were both very much in love, but their different values and upbringings eventually caused them to drift apart over the years, and Stella ended their marriage on very bad terms when she ran away with an upper-class Frenchman. Johnathan is still very much resentful towards Stella for cheating on and leaving him, being a bad mother to Star, favoring her new husband and stepdaughter over their daughter, and generally being a stuck-up and unpleasant person who does not care how her selfish and thoughtless actions affect her ex-husband and daughter. While Johnathan tries to tolerate Stella for Star's sake, and Stella has realized how she hurt her daughter and is genuinely trying to be a better mother to her, they still very much dislike each other and throughout this story, get into petty fights over their past marriage. However, during a ghost attack where the two are endangered trying to protect their daughter, they both show concern for each other's lives and were happy that they were safe. Johnathan and Stella even share a small moment where they show they still care for each other. This leads to them becoming Amicable Exes.
• Badass Bystander: Sam spies on Colette messing with the Fentons' food and calls Danny to warn him. She also stops Colette from ruining the fourth course by stealing her wig and the bottle of lemon juice, and sends Danny a picture of her new disguise.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: At the Country Club, Pamela Manson tells the Fentons not to talk to her family or act like they know them. The Mansons later learn the Fentons are guests of Stella Bevier, who is a Golden Guild member and on the club's board. When Stella asks the Fentons if they know the Mansons, Jack and Maddie say they don't.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Eleanor is very nice woman. But try to get on her nerves and she'll show how mad she can get.
• Blatant Lies: When Sam points out Colette is still grounded for what she did in "Swapped", Colette claims she "got off early for good behavior". Sam doesn't buy it for a second.
• The Bore: Stella admits that she gets tired of listening to Paulina always bragging about one day marrying Danny Phantom.
• Break the Haughty: While explaining herself to Eleanor in the aftermath, Stella breaks down sobbing and laments that she just wanted to do something nice for a change by having the Fentons for dinner, only to ruin it with her insensitivity, impulsiveness, and taking her frustrations out on her ex-husband. She apologizes to Star, Johnathan, and the Fentons for her behavior.
• Brutal Honesty:
  • The Fentons are very open of their disdain for the Beviers.
  • Eleanor makes it clear to Stella she doesn't understand why the latter left Johnathan since Eleanor hates her second husband Jean-Luc and stepdaughter Colette for being awful people.
  • Eleanor also doesn't like the Mansons for being stuck-up Professional Butt Kissers.
  • Johnathan bluntly points out to Stella that she's the only one in their family who the Fentons dislike.
  • Stella is pretty vocal about her disapproval of Maddie’s fighting skills because she doesn’t consider it feminine.
• Call-Forward: Star's plan to dress up as her alter ego Starlight Spirit for Halloween happens in "Costumed".
• Calling the Old Man Out: During "Fifth Course", Star loses her temper with her parents' bickering any chance they get, questioning how they ever married and fearing ending up like either of them.
• Comically Missing the Point: Colette does notice that Danny Phantom looks and sounds similar to Danny Fenton but instead comes to the conclusion that they're somehow related.
• Commonality Connection: Johnathan and Jack find that they are both interested in golf and Billington's Island, much to Danny and Star's surprise.
• Control Freak: Stella insists on everyone staying for all the courses during the dinner party with the Fentons. When it doesn’t go as well as she expected, her first response is to blame Johnathan. Johnathan admits that even when they were married, Stella was prone to throwing tantrums whenever things didn’t go her way and pinning the blame on him for her own poor decisions.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Danny and Virgato part on good terms after he helps the latter get his revenge on Vlad.
• Dirty Coward:
  • Jeremy and Pamela hid under the table and didn't let Sam help the waiter so he would become the tiger ghost's food instead of them.
  • Colette used Sam as a human shield to save herself from the ghost, claiming being a vegan would make her better to eat.
• Enemy Mine: Danny forms one with Virgato by convincing him to leave Amity Park alone if Danny hands over Vlad.
• Entitled Bitch: Stella acts like things should always go her way and everyone should appreciate her efforts, and when they don’t, it’s clearly Johnathan’s fault since it couldn’t possibly be because of her own poorly thought out decisions and elitism.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Even Vlad can’t stand a pompous idiot like Jean-Luc Bevier.
  • Virgato is disgusted by Vlad’s cowardice and lack of honor.
• Everyone Can See It: Even Colette has figured out that Sam has feelings for Danny.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • While Stella tries to be nice to Paulina for being Star's former friend and a member of their social class, she is exasperated by her obsession with Danny Phantom since that's all Paulina ever talks about, and even believes Starlight Spirit is a much better match for the ghost boy.
  • Sam would prefer Danny date Star than Colette.
  • Even Stella doesn’t like the Mansons for being annoying social climbers that are desperate to get into the Golden Guild.
  • Jack and Maddie know they’re eccentric and don’t mind Johnathan calling them that.
  • Even Jack and Maddie don't approve of Stella and Johnathan's constant quarreling, especially in front of others like their kids.
  • Eleanor is a Nice Girl but can't stand snobs like the Beviers and Sam's parents.
  • Stella doesn't get along with Johnathan but she's still worried for him when Virgato attacks him. Similarly, Johnathan is concerned when Stella runs into Virgato's rampage to find Star.
• Eviler than Thou: Sam quickly finds Colette to be even more of an obnoxious, snobby brat than Paulina.
• Evil Is Petty: Being the spiteful assholes they are, Vlad and Colette each try to sabotage the dinner party between Star’s family and the Fentons.
• Exact Words: When Colette wonders how Danny Phantom knew about her scheming and why he is even at the country club, he answers, "My girlfriend and I are having dinner and we took notice of what you're doing", not revealing his and Star's identities or that Sam alerted them, since it's not exactly a lie.
• Excellent Judge of Character: Eleanor can easily understand any person by just watching them a little.
• Expy: Danny considers Virgato one of Kintaro from “Mortal Kombat”. Not that Star or Jazz get the reference since they never played that video game.
• Failed Attempt at Scaring: Danny Phantom initially tries to scare Colette away from the country club by appearing out of nowhere and saying "Boo", but she is just confused. He then exclaims, "FEAR ME", to which she is less than impressed.
  Colette: Iz zhis some joke? Zhat is the best you can do?! Polyester is more terrifying than you right now...
• Female Misogynist: Stella holds Maddie's fighting skills against her because it's unladylike.
• Fille Fatale: Colette charms an employee at the country club into getting her a waitress uniform so she can pose as a member of the serving staff. Colette then flirts with the servers assigned to bring the Fentons their meals so she can get access to their carts and sabotage the food.
• First-Name Basis: Star's mom reminds Danny that he may call her Stella.
• Food as Bribe: Vlad hired Virgato for "a month's worth of prime meats".
• Forgot About His Powers: Danny Phantom tries to talk Colette out of ruining the third course meal for their families at the country club but then remembers he can just overshadow her.
• For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself: Star plans to wear her Starlight outfit for Halloween.
• Framing Device: This side story features Danny, Sam and Star telling Tucker about the events that took place while Tucker was visiting his grandpa.
• Heroes Love Dogs: Sam saves Eleanor's corgi Lucas from the tiger ghost.
• Hilarious in Flashback: A flashback from before "Found" shows Jazz upset for not having a sister. She learned about her brother's female clone Dani in "Found".
• Impossibly Tacky Clothes: The bright pink floral dress that Sam's parents made her wear to the club. Everyone except them thinks it's the tackiest thing they have ever seen.
• Innocently Insensitive:
  • Stella doesn’t notice how embarrassed Star is because of her comments on her talents and relationship with Danny, which Johnathan calls her out on.
  • Stella also doesn’t consider that Maddie would be offended by her insults about her fighting skills, which Maddie takes great pride in.
• Irony: Sam was forced to come along so her parents could try to get into the Golden Guild, the most elite of the country club. She also expected the head of the club was going to be another elitist snob. Instead, Eleanor is a pleasant person with little tolerance for Sam's parents, whom she kicks out due to their cowardice and offers Sam to join the Guild when she's 18.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Johnathan, the Fentons, and Eleanor are more brutally honest than jerkass, but they are correct in their assessments of Stella's flaws and blunders, and what horrible people the Beviers are.
  • Johnathan points out to Stella she was embarrassing Star with her earlier comments. He also correctly informs her that she’s the only one from their family that the Fentons hate.
  • Eleanor tells Stella she hates Jean-Luc for being a conceited moron and his daughter Colette for being a massive brat.
  • Johnathan points out to Stella that Star doesn’t need any help in her relationship with Danny. He accuses her of only setting up the dinner party out of guilt for being a horrible mother to Star since she married Jean-Luc Bevier and wanting to improve her standing in her daughter and the Fentons' eyes.
  • Johnathan outright tells Stella that Jean-Luc is nothing but a pompous moron with a spoiled daughter. Jack and Maddie definitely agree with Johnathan since they have nothing nice to say about the Beviers either, having quickly realized what awful people Jean-Luc and Colette are not long after meeting them.
  • Jack and Maddie also call Stella out on ruining her own family by leaving her loving husband Johnathan and daughter Star for the narcissistic Rich Bastard Jean-Luc Bevier and his bratty daughter Colette.
  • Johnathan and the Fentons are right to criticize Stella’s parenting since her overindulgence of and failure to properly discipline Colette only fuels her stepdaughter’s Spoiled Brat nature. The fact that Colette disobeyed Stella by coming to the country club to try sabotaging the dinner party doesn’t do Stella any favors.
• Lampshade Hanging: There is a part that is centered around Stella with Jean-Luc and Colette, even though Star, who is telling the story, isn't there. Tucker questions how she knows this and Star explains her mother filled her in.
• Laser-Guided Karma: All characters have their actions rewarded or punished by the end of the story, but special mention goes to Jeremy and Pamela, whose unpleasant behavior directly results in them losing their country club membership.
• Lesser of Two Evils: Sam's parents made her go to the Country Club by telling her it was either that or babysitting her cousins who are Enfant Terribles. Sam even quoted this trope word for word.
• Let Us Never Speak of This Again:
  • Danny does NOT want to relive how it felt to overshadow Colette.
  • Stella asks Johnathan to never mention how he had to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on her after she fainted at the club.
• Like Mother, Like Daughter: Johnathan calls Stella a spoiled and impossible shrew like her mother.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Virgato has four arms and is a powerful ghost.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Johnathan and Stella have this reaction when Star begins crying after expressing her frustration and heartbreak with her parents' inability to get along since their divorce and confessing her fears of it affecting her own life, especially her relationship with Danny.
• Narcissist: Stella is hellbent on making sure the dinner goes well, not just for Star, but also to look good in front everyone.
• Never My Fault:
  • Stella blames her ex-husband for ruining her chance to get along with Jack and Maddie when it's actually because of her own character flaws that they don't like her. Later, Johnathan outright says Stella had this habit back when they were married, blaming him for her own poor decisions. Subverted in the end when Stella finally admits her faults and takes responsibility for humiliating her family at the dinner.
  • Colette as usual blames Star for her getting covered in food during Virgato's rampage, disregarding that she went behind her parents' backs to try to steal Danny again, which Star points out.
• Not Helping Your Case: Stella's attempts at bonding with the Fentons aren't helped by her vocal disapproval of Maddie's combat skills, constant fighting with Johnathan, and inability to control her bratty stepdaughter Colette.
• Nothing Personal: Virgato tells Danny this when explaining he only attacked the latter at the country club because Vlad offered him prime meat as payment; Virgato had no idea Danny was the ghost boy, nor of Vlad's disregard for Amity Park.
• Obnoxious In-Laws: It turns out Stella's mother and Johnathan did not get along when the two were married.
• Open Mouth, Insert Foot:
  • Stella brings up that she thinks it is unladylike to fight, something Maddie finds insulting. Stella tries to diffuse the situation by saying some women can fight, which only annoys Maddie more.
  • When Eleanor sees Stella and Johnathan, she assumes they are back together and expresses how happy she is for them by admitting that she never liked Jean-Luc or Colette Bevier, pointing out that Jean-Luc harassed women at the club and Colette was a brat, and Eleanor could not understand what Stella saw in either of them. That was until Stella informed her that she's still married to Jean-Luc and is meeting her daughter's boyfriend's family.
  • Jeremy and Pamela Manson insist on being rude to the Fentons or talking bad things about them, until it turns out Eleanor likes the Fentons.
  • Once Eleanor comments having met Sam before, the latter's parents are so afraid she gave Eleanor a bad impression that they insist Eleanor must be mistaking her for someone else. It turns out Sam gave a good impression.
• Panthera Awesome: Virgato is a four-armed bipedal tiger ghost.
• Parental Marriage Veto:
  • Star worries Danny's parents will forbid them from seeing each other because of her parents' yelling at each other.
  • During said yelling, Stella tells Johnathan her mother warned her "about marrying a common lawyer".
• Pass the Popcorn: Seeing how Virgato is giving Vlad a deserved beating for trying to enslave him, Danny wishes he had some popcorn.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: While Stella doesn’t mean any offense, she has some old-fashioned views on gender norms as she looks down on Maddie’s combat abilities because she considers them to be unladylike.
• Properly Paranoid:
  • Sam realizes Colette is up to no good when spotting her at the club and decides to tail her.
  • Danny, Star, and Jazz rightfully suspect Vlad is planning something when he shows up at the dinner. Sure enough, he unleashes Virgato to get revenge on Danny and Star.
  • Star is instantly suspicious of the flowers Vlad donated to the dinner, which turn out to be Blood Blossoms that impede Danny's powers.
• Professional Butt-Kisser: The Mansons are this to Stella and Eleanor, much to their annoyance.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Eleanor gives Golden Guild membership to Fentons and kicks out Pamela and Jeremy based on their actions. And it's only the start.
• Refuse to Rescue the Disliked: For as long as Vlad is the only one being attacked by Virgato, Danny will just watch. Once Virgato declares he's going to destroy the city, Danny will interfere.
• The Reveal: It turns out Vlad didn't get involved with the events of "Found" because he was busy facing Virgato's wrath.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: Colette notices that Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom have similar appearances and voices, but she just thinks it's because they're relatives.
• Running Gag: Someone mentions Kintaro and someone else fails to get the reference.
• Saying Too Much: Danny Phantom says Colette won't mess with the families' dinner anymore, prompting her to ask how he knew that. He uses Exact Words to justify it.
• Self-Duplication: Virgato can split himself into two copies, but they each only have two arms instead of four like the original.
• Service Sector Stereotypes: Stella tells herself that, for as long as Star is happy, she shouldn't care if her daughter's future husband ends up becoming "a manager at a fast food joint".
• Sick and Wrong: Danny does NOT enjoy overshadowing Colette and has no plans to relive that experience, something he makes very clear to Team Phantom.
• Skewed Priorities: To Sam's disgust, she sees that Colette, during a ghost attack, changed back to her dress and wanted to flirt with the server to get the desserts she ordered.
• Shipper on Deck:
  • Stella admits she's a shipper of Danny Phantom and Starlight Spirit, unaware of their secret identities.
  • Eleanor thinks that Johnathan and Stella have remarried, preferring him over Jean-Luc.
  • Eleanor comes to support Star's relationship with Danny after he saved the former's life.
• Shout-Out:
  • The above lampshading was a deliberate one from Dragon Ball Z Abridged, with Tucker using the very line Vegeta used to question Frieza knowing things he shouldn't have known.
  • Jack and Johnathan bond over a series called Billington's Island. By NeoMark's own admission, it's "a stand-in Gilligan's Island".
  • Danny outright calls the four-armed tiger ghost "Kintaro". Star and Jazz having rather confused responses made it clear they never played Mortal Kombat.
  • At one point, Jack calls Virgato "Hobbes" and later, "Shere Khan".
  • Regarding the above mention of Shere Khan, Star is briefly proud that she "got that reference".
  • When confronting Virgato, Danny asks if he's "looking for the Hundred-Acre Woods".
  • After Virgato is defeated but Jeremy Manson continues to complain about the Fentons, Johnathan angrily grabs his collar and says, "Listen, you pompous..." before Eleanor intervenes. Later when she offers the Fentons a club membership, Pamela Manson tries to object on the grounds that there are no openings. Eleanor then decides to give the Mansons' membership to the Fentons, prompting Jeremy and Pamela to faint. This is similar to Mulan when Shang confronted Chi-Fu after the Huns were defeated before the Emperor arrived, and how Chi-Fu reacted to Mulan being offered a position as one of the Emperor's advisers and being told that, since there's no available spot, she could take his.
• Slimeball: Eleanor makes it clear to Stella she despises Jean-Luc for always flirting with the women at the country club and acting like a jerk to anyone he clearly didn’t find attractive.
• Smarter Than You Look: Maddie, being a skilled fighter herself, realizes that Virgato isn’t as mindless as he acts when he demonstrates knowledge of martial arts.
• Spoiled Brat: Team Phantom, the Fentons, Eleanor, and Johnathan can see that Colette is clearly this.
• Strong and Skilled: Virgato is a powerful ghost who is also skilled martial artist that can give even a black belt like Maddie a hard time in a fight.
• Sympathy for the Hero: The Fentons and Team Phantom feel bad for Star for having to deal with her parents' constant arguing during the dinner party.
• Tampering with Food and Drink: Colette spikes the second course, French onion soup, with tabasco sauce. She also tries to spike the third course, tossed greens with vinaigrette, with shredded pepper and the fourth course, roast chicken, with lemon juice but is foiled by Danny and Sam, respectively. Colette is able to ruin the final dessert course by cracking a hole in the crème brulée's caramel layer and filling it with random spices and grape jelly, but is exposed before anyone can eat it.
• Taught by Experience: After what happened in “Maternal Instincts”, Vlad doesn’t buy that Danny would give him a 5-minute head start before Virgato starts chasing him since he knows the ghost boy will only give him 5 seconds. Danny confirms it but points out Vlad wasted those 5 seconds by asking him, “And by that, you mean five seconds, don’t you?”.
• Tempting Fate: After getting her dress ruined and grounded, along with her pie ruined when her face landed in it, Colette declares the night couldn't get worse. Virgato, still chasing after Vlad, roars into the window of the limousine she's in, terrifying her into a fetal position.
• Trauma Button: Tigers become this to Colette because of Virgato.
• Ungrateful Bitch: Johnathan calls Stella out on being this by blaming him for her own screw-ups at the dinner party and not appreciating the fact that he took time out of his busy schedule to support their daughter by coming to an event Stella organized at the last minute and without warning so they can bond with the Fentons.
• Villain Has a Point: Vlad sees Jean-Luc Bevier for the self-important moron he really is.
• Villain Respect: Virgato grows to respect Danny after seeing that, unlike Vlad, he’s not a weak-willed coward.
• Wham Line: Akin to the monster of Specter Island, the tiger ghost ends up revealing his sentience when he says, "I did not agree to this..."
• What Does She See in Him?: Eleanor doesn't understand why Stella married a snob like Jean-Luc.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: As a result of Vlad sending Virgato after Danny, Colette develops a fear of tigers.
• Wig, Dress, Accent: Colette's disguise in order to sneak into the country club as a waiter and sabotage the Fenton and Strong families' dinner.
• Womanchild: Johnathan outright calls Stella "a spoiled brat in a woman's body".
• Worthy Opponent: Virgato considers Danny as one of those. He doesn't think the same about Vlad.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: After Stella apologizes for her actions during the disastrous country club dinner and believes her family and the Fentons are better off without her in their lives, Star, Jack, Maddie, and Johnathan lift her spirits. Star assures her mother some parts of the battle were fun, Jack and Maddie admit Stella can't be all bad after she stepped up to protect Star (which also saved Danny and Jazz) from the tiger ghost, and Johnathan acknowledges she meant well, even apologizing for how he acted, grateful that Stella saved their daughter.
• You Can Talk?: The tiger ghost, Virgato, reveals he's fully capable of speech.
• You Do NOT Want To Know: When Jazz wonders where her father was hiding his blaster, Jack admits he'd "rather not say".