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crystalninjaphoenix · 4 months ago

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A Final Straw

A JSE Fanfic

SepticHeroes AU: Part 38

First Part | Previous Part | Read on AO3 at CrystalNinjaPhoenix

I got into the flow of this story so quickly guys. I wrote like 3500 words in a day lol And then another 3500 more. Which like, I'm very happy about because a lot of personal stuff has happened but I managed to get this done anyway. Anyway, this chapter is about Marvin and Schneep. The two of them decide to once again try infiltrating SepTech in the hope of finding proof that McLoughlin is connected to Anti-Virus. And oh boy do they find something. Hope you enjoy! ^-^

===============

Schneep sat on a bench in Neun Park, idly looking around. It was a cloudy day, so not many people were out and about. Perfect. It meant he and Marvin wouldn’t need to talk too quietly during their meeting.

After the two of them had both visited JJ at the safe house yesterday, Marvin had pulled Schneep aside, both of them standing on the front stoop of the house. “We need to talk more about the SepTech stuff,” he muttered. “Can you meet me at the park tomorrow?”

And so, here Schneep was. Technically he was on his lunch break, but Marvin seemed very serious when he pulled him aside, so he figured it was worth the travel time from Greengate General. He’d been waiting here for a bit, though. They’d agreed to meet at one thirty, and it was now one forty-three. Marvin was late. And if he was too late, Schneep would have to leave and they’d have to meet up some other time—oh no wait, there he is. Walking down the sidewalk towards the park. Schneep narrowed his eyes and whistled for his attention.

Marvin jumped slightly, on edge. He only relaxed a little once he realized Schneep was the source of the sharp noise. Visibly annoyed, he hurried over. “No need to draw so much attention,” Marvin grumbled.

“There is literally nobody else in sight,” Schneep said, straight-faced. “And you are thirteen minutes late.”

“You counted?”

“Of course I did. I told you I only had an hour. Not even that much, if we take train times into account. What took so long?”

Marvin scowled. “My boss told me to help out another coworker with her duties cause she was a bit swamped. But the moment I appeared to help, she fucking disappeared, and I had to edit everything myself. Fucking asshole. I know for a fact she had nothing else to do, it’s not like the station is that big.” He shook his head. “Anyway. Sorry.”

“You should have just left once your lunch break came around,” Schneep said. “It was not your responsibility to do her job.”

“Well I really don’t want to risk rocking the boat at all. I need this job, and not just for the money. It’s the only way I can stay ahead of the rest of the news, a lot of the time. Which is a great segue to what I wanted to talk to you about.” Marvin sat down on the bench next to Schneep. “So you know how you found those weaponized SAMs in Dr. McLoughlin’s lab, right? And you know how the League was keeping an eye on McLoughlin because of that, right?”

“Yes... what happened?” Schneep asked. “Did they find something out?”

“No, but word of it is finally coming out to the public,” McLoughlin said. “Channel Five is going to run a story on it tomorrow. The League isn’t going to be happy about it, since it puts SepTech in a bad light. SepTech provides a lot of their gadgets, after all. But I guess they can’t do much to stop them.”

Schneep blinked. “Interesting. So this has spurred you to action, has it?”

Marvin smiled slightly. “You know me so well. If McLoughlin really is working with Anti-Virus—or even is Anti-Virus—he’ll want to hide everything more securely now, knowing that people will be watching him closer. The court of public opinion, you know. It’ll be much more difficult for us to find proof of his activities. We need to act fast.”

“Tonight?” Schneep asked.

“The sooner, the better,” Marvin said. “If you can’t, I’ll do it myself.”

“Ah ah ah.” Schneep raised a hand. “You have not yet told me what the plan is. I cannot decide to join if I don’t know what your plan is.”

“Oh... well, I only have a vague idea so far,” Marvin said. “We go into one of the SepTech locations and try to find files.”

“Physical files? If McLoughlin is working with a technopath like Anti-Virus, the files are likely to be all online,” Schneep pointed out.

Marvin was silent for a minute. “Right. Well, we’ll need to find some way to hack into the servers, then. I can find something to help, though. I’ll talk to the Dismantler’s family, they sell that sort of stuff. If I do that after work, I could probably get something by tonight.”

Schneep chuckled. “Very well. Sounds like a good enough ‘vague idea’, but we need to elaborate. Which location? Are we just checking out the North one, with the laboratory?”

“If there’s any physical proof about what McLoughlin is doing, it’s probably going to be there,” Marvin said. “Unless he decided to move it all since Jackie found the SAMs... eh, but if we’re going to look for online files, it doesn’t really matter what location we’re looking in, is it? SepTech all uses one system.”

“Well if they are good about their cyber security, files specific to a location should be stored in the location in question,” Schneep said.

“Hm.” Marvin frowned. “Maybe they have that, but I know SepTech also has a system that connects all the buildings in Daindover. Some sort of network. Channel Five did a thinkpiece on it online once. And Jackie once mentioned that McLoughlin had a systemwide digital assistant, that can’t work without a system in the first place.”

“Hm, true.” Schneep nodded slowly. “And if McLoughlin is involved with a technopath with a software focus, then he would want a connected network so he can have access to everything. I see, I see...” He checked the watch he was wearing for the time. “What time are you thinking about doing this?”

“It depends on how fast I can get something from my sources, if I can get anything at all,” Marvin said. “What if I just text you? I can say ‘hey you forgot something earlier today, want me to drop it off?’ and you can say ‘no that’s fine, we’ll meet tomorrow.’ But we’ll actually both leave to meet up outside the North SepTech location.”

They quickly hashed out the details of where they’ll meet, and what they’ll do once they decide to infiltrate the SepTech building. With their time limit, they couldn’t figure out everything, but they came up with the basic idea of Schneep using his powers to get in, then let Marvin in from inside and be a lookout for him as he did the majority of the searching for information.

And soon after that, they both had to hurry to get back to their respective workplaces before their lunch breaks ended.

===============

Later that night, Schneep donned his Specter costume and hurried across the city. It was easy to travel while invisible, since he could sneak aboard any train without a ticket.

Marvin was waiting in full Spitfire Cat gear in an alleyway across the street from the North SepTech building. As Schneep walked up to him, he could see Marvin fidgeting with a small item in his hand. But Marvin couldn’t see him.

Hmm... a perfect opportunity for a prank, maybe? No, wait. Bad idea. Marvin’s powers could hit Schneep even while he was intangible, and he didn’t want to be burned by a ten-inch-wide beam of solid-heat energy. So he simply popped into view in front of the alleyway. “I—”

Marvin shouted in surprise and shot a beam of orange energy at Schneep.

Luckily, Schneep was able to duck in time, going limp and dropping to the ground. “Marvin! It is me!”

“Shit, sorry, Sch—Specter!” Marvin relaxed. “I guess I’m a bit on edge.”

“On edge? It is just a normal heist.” Schneep got to his feet. “We go in, we get information, we get out. Speaking of which, did you manage to find something to hack the system?”

“Heh. You make it sound like a TV show.” Marvin grinned. “All ‘I’m in’ and stuff. Anyway, yes, I have.” He held up the thing he was messing with. It looked like a normal USB stick, except with some green circuit patterns on the metal plug part. “Got it from the Dismantler’s family. It was made by one of the first technopaths, Net Work. Or... well, technically it’s based on something made by him, since back in Net Work’s day people still used floppy discs. But the Dismantler and her father both assured me it could easily hack any computer system and copy down files.”

“Huh. Interesting.” Schneep nodded slightly. “In any case, ready to check this place out?”

Marvin tapped his ear, where he had on the radio earpiece they’d used for the jailbreak. “Ready. Call me when I can go in.” He gestured for Schneep to go on. “Lead the way.”

It was easy enough for Schneep to get in. He could spot the dark circles on the walls that were SepTech cameras. It was easy to sneak past them last time, but he decided to avoid them now, just in case they’d been upgraded with infrared vision since his last infiltration. He made his way through a blank spot on the wall. Once inside, he was able to navigate more freely, heading to a side entrance to block off the camera feeds. He brought a tiny bottle of black paint for the express purpose of covering them.

“Alright, Spitfire, head around the left side of the building,” Schneep reported once he’d done just that. “There is an employee entrance that way. Once I see you, I will open it from the inside.”

“On my way,” Marvin reported, and only a few minutes later he was in sight. Schneep pushed it open, which looked very strange since he remained invisible while doing so. Marvin slipped through the gap. “Hm... maybe I should’ve worn street clothes?”

“No, it is fine, this is why I will be the lookout,” Schneep said. “Now... we just need to find a computer with system access and also a USB port for your... hacking device.”

Marvin chuckled. “It’s called a NetBreak.” He glanced around. “Hm... maybe this would be easier if I just handed this to you and had you do it.”

“Why all this doubt now?” Schneep asked, mildly annoyed.

“You’re right, you’re right, it’s too late. I’m just noticing flaws now that I hadn’t thought about in my rush to get here.” Marvin took a deep breath. “At least if something goes wrong now, we can back each other up. Now let’s go.”

Schneep nodded. “Head forward, I will be around you. But invisible.”

The two of them carefully walked forward, both of them keeping an eye out for cameras. There would be less of them inside, in all likelihood, but they still shouldn’t let their guard down. Schneep had been caught last time because of a motion sensing camera in the lab, after all. Who knew how many more of those there were in this location?

===============

God, was it already past midnight?! McLoughlin stared at the clock in the corner of the computer screen, blinking slowly. Time always seemed to move so fast when he was working. One moment, it was nine pm, the next, it was 12:30. “Jeez,” he muttered to himself. He took the remote out of his pocket. “Hey, display my outline for the SAM upgrade project.”

The image on the computer screen switched from blueprints to a series of written bullet points. McLoughlin leaned forward, scanning the writing. He had to read each of the points a couple times to really process them, but he was about halfway done. Good! He loved when things went smoothly.

He should probably take a break. Normally, he could work for a couple more hours, but tonight he must have been extra tired. Bummer. He’d been so tired lately, even though he was pretty sure he wasn’t doing enough to make him so exhausted. Perhaps burnout was approaching. All the years of working on project after project. It would be worth it, though. He would be able to change the world.

“Alright, SAM, time to wrap it up for the night,” he said, leaning back in his chair and stretching. His special SAM perked up at the sound of his voice, recognizing the command of ‘wrap it up’. “Hm... should I brush my teeth tonight?” He chuckled. “Yeah, probably. There’s no technology that could fix cavities, and I’ve already forgotten a lot recently.”

It was fairly early in the night... well, early for him, at least. He could probably head home no problem, just catching one of the night trains to get back. No need to crash in his makeshift bedroom in the lab. Though... he’d been a bit concerned about the lab recently. He kept thinking about that one night when the alarm woke him up in the middle of the night claiming there was motion detected in his bedroom while he was sleeping. It was probably just him moving out of the blind spot in the camera, but... with everything else going on, it left him uneasy. Maybe he should install more cameras—no, wait, he already did that, didn’t he?

“Unusual activity detected,” said the familiar robotic voice.

“Gah!” McLoughlin jumped in surprise. “What?” He took out his remote, speaking into it. “Explain further. What sort of unusual activity? Where?”

“Unauthorized download of files,” the voice said. “Located on floor five. Database being breached.”

“Well defend the database!” McLoughlin said. Was the interface not doing that already? That’s what it was made for, that’s why it was so adaptable. Well, obviously it was made for more than that. So much more. But not everything worked out perfectly.

“The program is proving difficult to deal with, but firewall defense is in progress,” the interface’s voice said.

“Are there cameras in the room the hack is coming from?” McLoughlin asked. “Can you display the feed from them, if so?”

The nearby computer screen flickered and then switched to the feed from a security camera positioned high up in the corner of a large space. Looked like one of the office floors, with rows of endless cubicles. A figure was bent over in front of a computer in one of these cubicles, their back to the camera. Were they wearing a cape? That was some sort of supervillain, wasn’t it?! McLoughlin leaned closer, squinting. This man was also wearing a mask of some sort with some pointy bits. “Are those... cat ears? A villain wearing a cat mask?”

“The closest match is Spitfire Cat,” the interface said.

“Spitfire Cat? I don’t—whoa, hey!” SAM had suddenly flown up into the air and was gently bumping his arm. McLoughlin looked down at it. “What? What is it?”

SAM looked up at him as well, the camera lens focusing on his face. A small spinning circle appeared in the corner of McLoughlin’s vision.

McLoughlin’s mechanical eye flickered, its iris going through the cycle of possible color options before landing on a red color. His posture relaxed, and he nodded. “Something must be done.” He turned to the side, walking towards the lab entrance. “Let’s send out the security force.”

===============

What was that? Some sort of... humming sound? Schneep frowned, confused. He looked around for the source of it. There was nothing in sight, so he started walking around, listening for the sound to get louder. It was coming from down the hallway. He walked past a spot on the wall, completely nondescript... but that’s where the humming was coming from. Strange. Were there some electronics in there kicking into high gear? But... what?

Curious, Schneep leaned through the wall, looking around. It was dark beyond, but he simply turned on the night vision in his goggles—and immediately gasped in shock. There were SAMs here! Hidden in a tiny room. He glanced over his shoulder and saw a futuristic metal door, the sort meant to slide to open. This room—it was built secretly, deliberately. Was it made to store these SAMs specifically?

The humming noise was coming from the SAMs’ hovering mechanism. They were turning on, sliding off the shelves lining the room one at a time. Once they were all active, he saw a tiny red light flick on above the camera attachment... and then instantly, all the Machines turned to look at him. Attachments on the side slid open, and out popped some sort of dart guns.

“Scheisse!” Schneep cursed, running out of the room just in time to avoid the darts that were fired at him. The secret room’s door slid open and the SAMs began pouring out, flying after him. They must have had infrared vision or something, because he was invisible! He ducked through another wall to avoid the next barrage of darts. He ended up in a small break room area, with sofas and a small kitchenette. “Spitfire!” he shouted into his earpiece. “Fucking emergency happening!”

“What?!” Marvin’s voice came over the radio. “What is it?!”

“More SAMs with weapons! They are active and coming after me! Possibly you too!”

“What?!” Marvin shouted. There was a slight pause, then he cursed. “I haven’t gotten nearly enough info onto the NetBreak! Whatever firewall this system uses is fucking beefy!”

“I can try to lead them away from you, but there are a lot of them!” Schneep hissed. “Some may already be heading your way!”

The break room’s door burst open, pushed down by three SAMs flying at it. Two black ones and a red one. They all immediately locked onto Schneep. The red one made a beeline for him while the others fired their darts.

Schneep yelped and went completely intangible, falling down through the floor to the room below this one. Some sort of storage closet. “Change of plans, I have fallen down to the fourth floor to avoid them,” he said.

“Why?!” Marvin shouted.

“To avoid them, I just said so! I was in a room with one entrance, there was no other way out!” Schneep opened up the closet door—and gasped as he saw a handful of SAMs fly past. “Fuck! Spitfire, there are more on this floor! We need to get out of here!”

“Okay, okay! We’ll make do with what we managed to get so far,” Marvin said. “I’ll meet you at the same entrance we—oh shit!”

“Spitfire? Spitfire!” Schneep yelled into the earpiece but received no answer.

The lights in the hallway turned red. “Security alert. Security alert.” The robotic voice came on over a speaker. “Intruders found in the building. All employees are advised to stay at their stations. Do not panic.”

A few doors along this hallway opened up, confused faces looking out. Someone shouted, pointing at the SAMs. A blue one turned towards them at the sound of their voice. The person quickly retreated into the door they’d come from, but the blue SAM continued to turn, seemingly scanning the hallway. Probably looking for Schneep or Marvin!

Schneep retreated into the storage closet and ran through the back wall, taking a shortcut into another part of the building. Getting out of here would be no problem for him. But what about Marvin?! He knew Marvin suggested that they meet up at the side entrance, but... maybe he should go find him, anyway?

He ran out into a hallway—only to get immediately spotted by a green SAM. An attachment opened up, a door sliding open on the top and a long, thin thing popping out. A thin beam of red light shot at Schneep. He cried out as it hit his stomach, burning into him! Quickly, he dodged back the way he came. That was a laser! He patted his stomach, hissing. It burned right through his costume, a line that swiped across his midsection as a result of his dodging. Okay, these were more of a threat than he expected. If they had energy attacks, they could hurt him even while he was intangible... as that one just had.

Part of the wall started to glow red. Wait a minute. Was the SAM trying to cut through the wall?! Panicking, Schneep dropped through the floor again, landing on the third story. “Spitfire, I am going to linger as much as I can,” he said into the earpiece. “In case you need help. But these things can hurt me, so I may need to flee soon.”

Marvin did not respond.

===============

“Okay, okay! We’ll make do with what we managed to get so far,” Marvin said, pulling the NetBreak out of the computer he’d plugged it into. “I’ll meet you at the same entrance we—”

Crash! A SAM flew through a frosted glass door nearby, shattering it. The camera lens immediately locked onto Marvin and a compartment on its underside slid open. A large gun dropped down, firing at Marvin.

“Oh shit!” Marvin threw up a shield, but it wasn’t enough. The heavy projectile was like a cannonball. It slammed against the shield and the shield slammed into Marvin, knocking him down. His supersuit hissed upon contact with the solid-heat energy, burning slightly but luckily taking the brunt of the damage so his skin wasn’t hurt by his own energy. Marvin laid there for a moment, stunned. Schneep was yelling in the earpiece but he couldn’t respond.

Then the SAM flew into view, aiming that cannon-like attachment at him. And adrenaline kicked in. Marvin shot to his feet and jumped onto the nearby desk, then vaulted over the cubicle wall. The SAM fired a cannonball at the spot he’d just been, then turned to follow him.

Other SAMs were pouring into the room through the hole in the glass door. Most of them were black, but there were a handful of other colors, too. All of them had various weapons out and aimed at him. Marvin ran, keeping a dome of a shield around him. It managed to stop the smaller darts and lasers, but one of those cannonballs would be disastrous. Luckily, those ones seemed to be slower to load and fire than the others, and much rarer too.

Normally Marvin would feel bad for causing property damage... oh, who was he kidding, he would never feel bad for causing SepTech property damage. He’d never liked their alliance with the League of Heroes. But he felt even less remorse now as he ran at a wall, sending out a fan of solid heat energy to cut his way through. He kicked down the remaining supports and ran out into the hallway.

The lights out here were red. “Security alert. Security alert,” repeated a mechanical voice from a speaker. “Intruders found in the building. All employees are advised to stay at their stations. Do not panic.” Then it started the message over.

More SAMs came flying down the hallway towards him. “Fuck!” Marvin cursed, sending out beams of energy towards them. He aimed at the main bodies of the Machines, but missed a few times, only shearing off their peripheral “tails” or the weapon attachments. A barrage of darts hit the backside of his dome shield and he glanced over his shoulder to see more SAMs coming from the opposite direction. These things were converging on him! They must be coordinating with each other somehow!

He took a deep breath and charged forward, blades of glowing energy slicing through SAMs as he got close. He managed to run through them without getting injured—

“Gah!” No sooner had he thought how lucky that was, then he felt something pierce his legs. He looked down and saw some darts lodged in his lower shins and calves. “Shit.” It was never good to be shot with a dart. Because you never knew what they were meant to contain. He had to get out of here before whatever that was took effect!

His mind scrambled for a solution, and he remembered how Schneep had simply fallen through the floor to avoid the SAMs earlier. Couldn’t he do that too? He looked down at the floor and conjured up a pair of glowing yellow blades, directing them to saw around him in a circle. They did so, and the floor beneath him broke. He landed with a crash on the next floor down, making sure to bend his knees to take the fall.

He’d landed in some sort of office. A woman screamed in fear as he appeared, cowering beneath her desk. “Sorry!” he said. “Don’t worry, SepTech can afford repairs!” He cut through the floor here as well, continuing downwards in a straight line. Above him, SAMs were flying after him, firing more darts and lasers, but were all blocked by his shield.

Once he was on the ground floor he sprinted to the exit, running until he recognized the path he’d taken to get in here. “Specter!” he shouted into the earpiece. “I’m heading for the exit now!”

“Ah, coming to meet you!” Schneep said.

Marvin said nothing more, just ran, quickly losing the SAMs in the twists and turns of the hallways. He knew how to get back to the exit, he did, he did!

The shield around him flickered.

Marvin gasped, stumbling a little. He hadn’t dropped concentration, there was no reason his shield should flicker. Unless... those darts he’d been hit with... Were they full of neutrinalin?

He stalled for a second to bend over and yank the darts out, wincing at the pain. One of them had about a quarter of the vial still full. He could see the distinct pale lavender color. “Fuck!” he hissed. That was definitely neutrinalin! And he’d been hit with, what, four of them? His powers were going to fade fast.

But luckily, he could see the exit now. He ran for the door. “Specter, where are you?!” he hissed.

A figure suddenly appeared in front of the door—Schneep, his features totally hidden behind his mask, goggles, and hood. He pushed open the door and gestured for Marvin to hurry. Marvin put on another burst of speed. His shield flickered again, and he shouted in surprise as a laser hit the back of his shoulder. No time to worry about that!

The two of them burst out into the side alley, and immediately both ran for the front of the building. “What is up with your shield?!” Schneep asked. “Are you okay?!”

“They have darts full of neutrinalin!” Marvin said. “I got hit.”

“Fuck!” Schneep glanced back over his shoulder. “There are so many of them! Take some out before your powers fade!”

Marvin nodded. He spun around, sending out a wave of yellow-hot energy. It burned and smashed against a good number of the SAMs, but even more of them were coming!

And for a split second before turning back around, he saw him. McLoughlin, wearing a rumpled white coat, walked out of the side entrance. His face... In all the pictures and videos Marvin had seen of him, McLoughlin looked very cheerful, very smiley. But now... his expression was totally blank. And his right eye glowed red.

Marvin shivered, then ran forward, putting on a boost of speed. He put up a curved shield around himself and Schneep, but it felt harder to do than usual. That would disappear soon. They had to get to a safe place before that happened! “Come on, we have to lose them!”

Schneep nodded. He’d looked over his shoulder as well, no doubt seeing the same number of SAMs, as well as McLoughlin. He grabbed Marvin’s hand and pulled him onwards, dodging around a lamp post for protection from the SAMs.

McLoughlin simply stood there and watched them run.

===============

It was a boring night patrol. Jackie sat up on top of one of the tall skyscrapers downtown, bracing himself against the slippery slope of the glass roof. He had his old police scanner radio with him. He knew that the Red Line could alert him to crimes happening in the area, but he’d never turned that feature on, preferring this way of doing things. In fact, he hadn’t even brought the Red Line with him tonight. He just felt weird about it.

He looked up into the sky. There were never many stars visible in Daindover, what with all the light pollution created by a big city. But sometimes he imagined flying so high that the city lights wouldn’t have any effect on the night. It would be so beautiful up there... but everything down here would be so small. That might be nice. But he couldn’t fly that high. No hero could.

He’d been up on a rooftop like this the day he’d been accepted into the League. The day he met Chase. Things had changed so much since that day. Was he... the same person he was back then?

Noise came from the police scanner. “Reports are coming in from the North SepTech location, multiple calls from within the building. Employees are reporting intruders, as well as Semi-Autonomous Machines with ‘guns’ of some sort.”

Weaponized SAMs?! Jackie sat up straight, starting to slide a little on the sleek roof. He grabbed the police scanner and shoved it into a pouch on his belt. He had to check this out! Without stopping to think, he pushed himself off the roof and launched into the sky, shooting through the air towards the North SepTech building.

The North building... that was where McLoughlin’s lab was! The one with the secret room of SAMs in the first place! It couldn’t be a coincidence. Were there more in there? Ones they hadn’t discovered? But—how? The police and the League must have combed the building!

His thoughts raced as he zoomed through the sky, high above the city. It was cold up here, but travel was so much faster when you didn’t have to go around obstacles like buildings. Only a few minutes later, he started diving back down towards the streets, scanning the roads below for any signs of anything going wrong. The scanner said that employees inside the building were calling the police about this, but there might be things to see in the surrounding area—is that Marvin?!

Yes, it was! He would recognize that Spitfire Cat costume anywhere! And with him... that purple costume. Schneep, as the Specter? What were they doing here?!

The answer to that question revealed itself when Jackie looked a bit further down the street. A swarm of SAMs! They were chasing Schneep and Marvin, firing at them from various weapons. Right now they were too far away to hit, and Schneep and Marvin were effectively dodging and weaving around lamp posts, trash cans, benches, and decorative trees. But the SAMs were catching up.

Panic and anger flooded Jackie’s mind. He dropped like a rock, rocketing to the ground. He landed hard (maybe a bit too hard) right in between his friends and the SAMs. Then, with a mighty shout and all his concentration, he pushed all the air forward, creating a gust of mighty wind. The sudden attack sent all the SAMs flying, beeping faintly as their hovering mechanisms tried and failed to compensate for the turbulence.

“Ja—Windstorm!” Schneep gasped, skidding to a halt and looking back at him. “What are you doing here?!”

“Getting you, apparently!” Jackie said. He ran for the two of them, wrapping one arm around each. Marvin yelped in surprise. “Hold onto me!”

Confused, both Schneep and Marvin wrapped their arms around Jackie. He jumped into the sky, rising quickly. Schneep screamed in fear, and Jackie would have teased him about the high-pitched sound if this wasn’t a clearly very serious situation. Instead, he simply flew away, putting as much distance between them and the SAMs.

He didn’t stop until he’d put a good few streets between them and the SAMs. Then, he slowly lowered to the ground in an empty park. No, wait... that was a graveyard. He probably should’ve spotted the church. But it was too late, this was where they were landing, so they all had to deal with the spookiness. At least it was guaranteed to be empty.

“Hooooly shit!” Marvin stumbled. “That—that—f-fast! Fast!” He leaned against a nearby headstone. Then he realized what he was leaning against and quickly jerked backwards. “Ah... sorry,” he muttered to the stone.

Schneep sat down on the ground, looking very shaken. “Afraid of heights?” Jackie asked him.

“F-fast,” Schneep said, repeating the same thing Marvin had.

“Well, yeah, I had to get you away from those things,” Jackie said. “SAMs can fly, but they’re not fast. And they can’t go more than two meters off the ground, or about seven feet, I think. So flying high and fast was the best solution.” He looked back and forth between the two of them. “Do, uh... do you guys need a moment before I start asking you questions?”

“I think I’m good,” Marvin muttered. “But I have a question of my own. What were you doing there?! I mean, I’m glad you were, but—were you on patrol?”

“Yep.” Jackie nodded. He quickly explained the thing about SepTech employees calling about intruders and SAMs. “Which, now that I think about it...” He narrowed his eyes. “Okay, I don’t want to be too suspicious, but... you’ve both broken into places before—in fact, Schneep broke into that exact building before—”

“Yes, we were the intruders,” Schneep said, climbing to his feet.

“Why?! And what could’ve possibly led to those SAMs being there and chasing you?!”

Schneep and Marvin glanced at each other. “You explain,” Marvin said shortly. Schneep sighed, and did so, telling Jackie all about their plan to infiltrate the North SepTech location to see if there was anything suspicious about McLoughlin.

Jackie listened. Annoyed at first, though that was soon replaced by a sinking feeling. “You... you guys shouldn’t have done that,” he stammered. “I-I’ve been keeping an eye on McLoughlin. I haven’t found anything—”

“Yeah, because all the illegal shit was kept in secret rooms!” Marvin interrupted. “I’ll bet good money that he’s been doing this for a while. That storage room Specter here found was probably for the SAMs that were still under construction. Once they were done, he shipped them off. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some in other SepTech buildings!”

Jackie hated to admit that made sense. “I just... maybe Anti-Virus was infiltrating the building at the same time you were?”

Schneep shook his head. “The SAMs only went after us, ignoring all other employees. Why do you think that is? Because I think it makes the most sense if they were defending the building, stopping us from finding things out. Even if McLoughlin is not Anti-Virus himself, there is no doubt that he is at least working with him. Otherwise, the SAMs would not come to get us. It would be the normal SepTech security force.”

“Yeah, and those things had neutrinalin!” Marvin added. “That shit’s hard to get on the black market cause the League keeps a tight hold on it. If Anti-Virus was just some random villain, he’d have trouble getting enough to fill up those dart guns. But if he had connections to the League—like through SepTech—”

“And McLoughlin was there!” Schneep added suddenly.

“Oh, you saw him too?” Marvin asked. “I thought you did.”

“Wait, you guys saw him?” Jackie asked.

Marvin nodded. “He watched us leave. And... that expression on his face...” He shuddered. “I’ve seen a lot of villains in my lifetime. The ones that had blank looks like that were always the dangerous ones. Because you could tell they didn’t care.”

Jackie blinked. He walked over to a tall angel statue and leaned back against it, resting his head on the book the statue was holding. He rubbed his eyes. “Just once, I would like to be right about someone,” he muttered. “I would like it if everyone I know didn’t turn out to be embroiled in this villain shit.”

“Should we be offended?” Schneep asked in a half-hearted joking tone.

“No, no, I-I know you guys are... good guys,” Jackie said, raising his head. “Even though I don’t really agree with what you do, I know you mean well. Though, uh... seriously, you guys should reconsider your lines of work.”

“Well gee thanks,” Marvin drawled, folding his arms.

“I will remind you that I paid for Chase’s medical fees,” Schneep added.

“Look, I just—I-I wish something was straightforward for once!” Jackie said, his voice growing into a shout. “I know that the world is complicated, and I know that life isn’t easy, but—but really. Every single person I get close to has turned out to be—to be—”

“A villain?” Marvin asked.

“Not even that!” Jackie threw his hands in the air. “Lorelai and Josh, the two Heroes I was really getting to know, turned out to be just, like—I-I don’t know! They weren’t the Heroes I expected! My handler sucks, and like, I know JJ was blackmailed and Chase probably had some shit going on in his past life, and their personalities aren’t different, but like—I don’t know! I don’t know anything! And honestly, I’m sick of not knowing anything! For once, I would like my feelings to be right, for my hopes to not just be hopes! I would like it if the guy I was starting to sympathize with didn’t turn out to be working with the villain who’s been terrorizing me for months! If he’s not Anti-Virus himself! Like—I like McLoughlin, believe it or not! I like him!”

“Oh you don’t know him,” Marvin said. “Do you even know his first name?”

“Yes! I do! Because he’s a public figure! And like—that’s gotta suck for him, you know? I’ve been bothered by people before just because I’m a recognizable Hero now, I can imagine how he would’ve been bothered, too. No wonder the guy hides in his lab so much. And the guy has no family! No friends! His best friend is that SAM he made! He was in a fucking explosion and he had to build his own prosthetics afterwards!”

“He was what?” Schneep blinked.

“Yeah, I know, right?!” Jackie looked at him. “Nobody ever thinks about that! The accident is semi-public knowledge, but as far as I can tell, he’s gotten no support for it! I know he must’ve gotten medical treatment, but like—there was no one there to help him afterwards. And that makes no sense, because he’s a nice guy. A bit awkward, maybe a bit too loud, but he’s nice, and he genuinely loves his robots and wants to help people with them.” He sighed. “Or at least... that’s what I thought.”

Marvin sighed. He walked over to Jackie, and after a moment of hesitation, reached out to put his hand on his shoulder. “I know. It sucks. But the world’s not nice. The only thing you can do about it is try to help others realize that too.”

Jackie looked at him, shocked for a moment. Then he shrugged off Marvin’s hand. “No.”

“H-huh?” Marvin blinked.

“If the world’s not nice, the only thing to do about it is be nice anyway,” Jackie said fiercely. “Because guess what? I’m part of this world. If I’m nice, then the world is a bit nicer too.” He looked to the side. “I’m... sorry about your grandmother, Marvin,” he whispered. “I’m sorry that happened. I’m sorry you haven’t been able to feel that grief.”

Marvin took a step back. Tears immediately came to his eyes. “Jackie...” He started to say something, but his words got caught in his throat.

Jackie took a deep breath. “On this occasion, I was wrong again,” he said. “But I’m not always going to be wrong. You guys... you’re good, despite what I first thought about Spitfire Cat and the Specter. I’m not wrong for changing my mind about them.” He looked back towards the North SepTech building. “This SAM thing... it doesn’t look good for McLoughlin. There’s no other way to spin this, really. He’s doing some shady shit, even if it’s not connected to Anti-Virus. And as a hero, I got to stop that.” He rubbed his eyes. “It’s late. I’m gonna go home, sleep the night away, then first thing in the morning, I’m going to confront him. In my full Hero authority.”

Schneep cleared his throat. “Are you sure you want to wait? What if he covers things up in the meantime?”

Jackie paused. “He might... But the SAM thing was pretty public. I heard about it on the police scanner. He can’t cover that up. He might try to explain it away as a coincidence or something else, but there’s no denying what everyone saw. It’s reason enough to ask him some questions, at least. Probably even detain him for a bit. I-I don’t think too much will change in a night.” He shrugged. “Besides, you guys said you hacked the system, right?”

“Hopefully,” Marvin muttered.

“Jackie...” Schneep hesitated. “What... what time will you confront him? I-I think it would be good for you to have some backup.”

“Oh!” Marvin nodded. “Yeah, we can be there... I think. At least, Schneep can be. I don’t think they ever saw him being an intruder.”

“Not with the naked eye, at least,” Schneep said.

Jackie blinked. “You guys would... be there?”

“I’ll be outside, at least,” Marvin said. “Ready to swoop in if something goes wrong.”

“And I can be your backup for the confrontation,” Schneep added.

Jackie glanced back and forth between them, then nodded. “I... I would appreciate that. Um, maybe... we meet outside the building at eight-thirty?”

“Eugh. Early.” Marvin curled his lip. “But the earlier the better, I guess.”

Schneep nodded. “Yes. We will be there.”

Jackie smiled. “Thanks, guys. Really.”

His eyes drifted towards the north again. Was McLoughlin really Anti-Virus? His gut told him no. But... he needed an explanation. And no matter what, there was no denying the suspicion surrounding McLoughlin now. He was involved in something. And Jackie needed to find out what. It was what a superhero would do.

#jacksepticeye #jacksepticeye fanfiction #jacksepticegos #septic egos #septic egos au #jacksepticeye au #marvin the magnificent #dr schneeplestein #jackieboy man #brigid writes fanfiction #septicheroesau

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the-angry-acrobat · 5 months ago

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Helloo it's meee (btw my nickname is Ray, put that on my intro post like two minutes ago lol)

I've wanted to ask for a very long time and recently I've been doing a bit of "fuck being afraid of social interaction let my inner extrovert shine"

How does working at a circus as a minor work? It sounds so so so cool to me because I've never met anyone from a circus/even been to a circus my whole life.

Give me so many details (if it's ok and u wanna)

Is it like your family's? How often do you perform? Is it travelling?

hi!! great nickname :)

wow, that’s really motherfucking awesome of you, it’s about time we fucked anxiety around social interaction. proud of you

okay so firstly thanks so much for asking, I really appreciate your interest and I would loveee to tell you all about the circus! prepare for my large info dump lmfao

so for one, there are many different types of circuses around the world. circus is first and foremost performance art—some see it as a deeply-rooted, and perhaps even immutable, form of expression, and for others (including myself), its innate artistic inclination makes it destined to remain forever changing and incomplete. but both sides agree on this notion of genre; as global conversations have intensified and as the contemporary circus community has begun the process of dismantling categories, the focus is shifting to a widening of perspectives in time and space.

contemporary circus are performances designed to showcase circus acts and arts, an evolution of what has come before, drawing on dance, theatre, and philosophy as much as, if not more then, the circus in its original form. it’s synonymous with creativity, sparked with original thought and resulting in much diversity.

circus nowadays is different to how the traditional circus was, which is now seen as classical, with various acts included in a lineup deemed essential by its proponents. it came with more narrative and aesthetic rules. the contemporary circus are shows that keep reinventing themselves overtime, a collective consciousness.

the circus I work in is a performing troupe full of many different performers, acts, and arts included—and the troupe is like family. my older sibling and I grew up around them, and with some of them, and in the circus, because we have been working and performing there since we were really young.

the circus is owned, run and managed by a really talented and experienced lady that has performed all over the world. our foundation is a building where we have all our equipment, apparatuses, rigging, tools, and much more, but we could technically be referred to as a travelling circus, seeing as we do quite often move around and perform in different venues, including different towns, cities and sometimes states, and if we’re not in a theatre or a festival, then we do set up tents and a big top etc, like devotees of the ring lol, or raison d’être. we’ve worked with and collaborated with other circus in the past, including multi generational circus families, road shows, and performances big and small.

my sibling and I have basically always been in the performing world. we started training when ww were really little. some of the performers that trained us had worked in cirque du soleil, which is basically the crowned head of the circus industry today, and an institution for some of the biggest and greatest live performances of all time. we trained in acrobatics, aerial, tumbling, contortion, trapeze, hoop, silks, different forms of dance, corde lisse, spanish web, tightrope, miming, magic tricks, clownery, manipulation, stunts, flying trapeze, cloud swing, cabaret, musical instruments, drama, etc and have been performing and working in the circus for a long time. we love the circus, our home, a lot, especially because of how complicated and difficult our blood family situation is.

a main aspect of circus in my opinion is razzle-dazzle — being big, bright, showy and entertaining. there’s no better way to showcase circus arts and talents. drawing in an audience’s attention for showcasing the strange and the unique is one of the greatest things to experience. circus performers are probably most accurately referred to as artistes, or artists. we perform whenever we can, and there’s also always different shows and venues coming up.

this ended up being so long lol. thanks again for asking! I hope this was informative enough but let me know if you have any other questions, you can ask me anything at any time 🖤🎪

#ana posts #asks #answered asks #circus life #circus #🖤

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commanderpigg · 7 months ago

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Quote from 2023:

I want to see my love of art reflected in next year’s summary; whether it be through more completed long-time projects, more original art, or more experimentation. Also, improving my fundamentals like better anatomy, posing, lighting, etc. The future is uncertain, and the horrors persist…but so will I 😈

I persisted BINCH!!!!!

Okay, so I didn't draw every month. Who cares. I actually had a lot of fun with my art this year, did so many full color illustrations, and managed to start one of my long-time projects. I think that joining Art Fight really helped. Not only has it encouraged me to explore creating and developing my own characters, it was so rewarding to gift art directly to people who spent so much love and time on their OCs!

I think that because of the shock from the events of my 2023 and trying to fill the void in my heart after the pokemon anime with satoshi ended, i cycled through quite a few fandoms this year. It's been fun, and really pushing me to adapt to and try different styles. My fundamentals still need work, but I'm working on not avoiding difficult poses/compositions and instead attempting them even if they end up wonky!

Also...I'm aware I didn't post more than half of these on tumblr...maybe I should just for archival purposes ^^; I've kinda gotten over my 'if it doesn't perform numbers on sns, it's not good' mindset, but I think I'm still trying to get over the 'people know me for one thing, and idk how they'll feel if i stop making content for that one thing' mentality. NGL, I still want that external validation from having my art recognized, but making art that I'm personally proud of is still my main priority. Bah, add that to my goals for next year.

A lot of life events (mostly positive!) in 2024 also led me to do some other artistic pursuits like...

nail art

sewing (i made that!!! and it has pockets!!!)

cosplay (even managed to squeeze in a last minute casual tifa cosplay lol)

and even video editing!!! (I won't post...for now... but if you know my youtube, you know... lol)

Anyways, I hope to continue this creative energy and motivation into the next year. I realized that I'm not gonna get anywhere by just standing still, so even if I don't show that progress publicly, I want to keep practicing and improving! Rather than only moving with bursts of inspiration, it'd be nice if I could go back to consistency, because I know that ultimately, that's the only way I'd be able to tackle my larger projects. I'm also very likely to join Art Fight again in 2025, so maybe...flesh out a story or design for an OC?? Quite ambitious, but cautiously optimistic for the future!

art fight character credits (july): curlymedusa, MuscleHakase, Helimations

#i ranted a lot in the actual post so let me say this here:#Thank you so much to everyone who keeps supporting my silly creative pursuits and interests #Like I'm serious I think it was a huge motivation factor in my art this year and my healing journey in general #summary of art #summary of art 2024 #my art #it me

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wifiwuxians · 7 months ago

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Baby girl of all time ( aq ) . And also maybe xy and jacket of hlm fame but u can separate / choose just 1 from the 3 if u want,

oh shit okay let's Go

First impression: "Oh shit what the hell happened to her. Also WOW WAIT A GIRL"

Impression now: Baby girl who I will protect with my LIFE. I love drawing and writing her and really need to do it more often, I found deep solace in her design since I'd come from Hotline Miami and one of the characters I drew most also has this fringe, so she's very satisfying for me to draw... I just love how she is a complete gremlin with a rude mouth who gets all cute when she's around someone she likes and wants to be in the good graces of... She is my little schemer angel

Favorite moment: This is audio drama only and may be a false memory but she and Xue Yang are doing their bickering and he's like "alright shortie!" and she's like "STINKY!" and it was just very important to me that she said that

Idea for a story: As well as the story I suggested for Song Lan, I'm going to show my ass here and say that I've been playing around with an Arcane AU for a hot minute now LOL I really want her to just go crazy and be powerful, you know? It's not super in line with what I usually do with her or see her but I just... Want to indulge. And what are AUs for if not that. So yeah! Jinx A-Qing, growing up in the underbelly of a toxic city and stealing from the surface with her older brother. It could be so good. Especially with everything else Arcane has going on

Unpopular opinion: I genuinely don't think I have one? I just wish she were in more stuff because like I said before everyone in the arc is of equal importance. Nothing would happen without all four of them

Favorite relationship: It's hers with Xue Yang. I'm sorry. It is. You know it, everyone knows it. Like Xue Yang with Song Lan, it's the what if for me. They're crazy sibling coded whether they like it or not and the way they bounce off each other is delightful for me to write and draw. They're both street rat gremlins and they deserve to mouth off at each other, and I also endlessly long for a world in which they actually have each other's backs. I love them so much it's unreal I can't go into too much detail or I'll start crying

Favorite headcanon: Hmmm that's a really good Q. I kinda just roll with these guys any which way so it's hard to pinpoint, but I guess my favorite thing that I do is give her a green scarf she never takes off in modern AUs because it was a gift from her brother (: But that's... not really a headcanon aksdjfg OH OH! I really like the one that her mother taught her to lie and pretend to be blind before her passing

First impression: "Man this guy fucking sucks he's annoying as shit. When does this part of the story end I literally could not care less"

Impression now: WELP I could spend literal hours talking about all my thoughts and feelings for this little shit but the summarized version for the sake of everyone is He sucks he's annoying as shit and I love him so much. He's super important to me on like a personal level so I am peak annoying about him yaaay

Favorite moment: It's hard to really have a favorite moment for a character who is admittedly rather difficult to follow along, due to the Behaviors, but I like his helicopter blade spin and fun little skipping in CQL, I like his backflips and "I need to get back before it rains" in the donghua (that second one for emotional reasons), I like him staring numbly after receiving candy in the manhua and in the novel I think it's him putting fresh straw in A-Qing's coffin while he waits for his life to magically fix itself

Idea for a story: Since I've covered another few involving him already, I'll share one idea that I would really love to write someday but that I just never get around to... Xue Yang tests the nails on himself to see just how much he can get away with (aka seeing if they can work on the living), effectively giving himself amnesia. He's found by Song Lan, hell-bent on revenge for his temple, but Song Lan cannot kill someone who doesn't remember his crimes. Memory restoring roadtrip ensues. It would be so fun (and also not!) for me to write...

Unpopular opinion: I don't need to write this one out lmao

Favorite relationship: If you've been reading the others I've answered, you'll know it's basically a tie between A-Qing and Song Lan. I just. There's so much that could happen between them. So much good, fun, terrible stuff for me to explore. Song Lan took up most of the space because he's just the favorite guy, really, and he alone makes me feral, but I love the gremlin-off that he has with A-Qing as stated above... And I mean yeah, Xiao Xingchen too, but it doesn't tickle my brain as much as the other two ): maybe because we saw a lot of it already in canon so there's not a lot for me to do there and my brain demands puzzle assembly to the maximum. Honestly, all relationships he has in canon are intriguing and worthy of exploration, but those initial two are my top picks

Favorite headcanon: TRANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

First impression: "Is this guy ok" Impression now: This guy is definitely not ok. But that's fine. I'm here for him, I'm here to help him get out of the nationalistic toxic mindset. Take my hand it'll be alright Jacket you need not suffer anymore

Favorite moment: Definitely him rescuing Ms Girl from her abusive situation (which was also a building full of recently deceased people JDHFJHF) and taking her home and making sure she was okay, by a phone in case she wanted to call someone, on the couch so she'd have her own space, all bundled up with a blanket and a bucket nearby...

Idea for a story: I fear most of my HLM juice is depleted after dedicating so much of my life to it, but it might be nice to write something about him and his time in the military with his Special Ops tm. See how he was dealing with all that on a psychological level (hint: not well)

Unpopular opinion: He's only selectively mute, but has a bit of a speech impediment and talks slowly like Wen Ning lJHDJKFJ

Favorite relationship: Aside from him and his girlfriend, which sort of cemented my kind of love for ships in which partners are of similar personalities and full of boundless patience and adoration for each other, it's him and his best friend (so historians say) from his army days, who he still dreams about constantly and who he's shown to care enough about to go on a whole revenge killing spree for. That man saved his life and he was unable to do the same and it clearly kills him inside

Favorite headcanon: The speech impediment thing tbh and the idea that he's actually got these sad, gentle eyes under the scary chicken mask

#a-qing #xue yang #jacket (hotline miami)#AN INTRUDER LOL #ask game #thank you so much BIG HUG #long post

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ryuichirou · 1 year ago

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Replies

A couple of replies today!

Anonymous asked:

Edmundedmundedmundedmundedmundedmundnebulacollegeedmund YESSS I have been fed content and I'm so motherfucking happy

The boy looks wonderful in both bunny suits ❤️

Hehehe thank you so much!! I love love love drawing boys in bunny suits, so I am very happy for the opportunity to draw Edmund wearing it…both options~

Anonymous asked:

If Jack and Ortho sees Vil in that outfit, I'm sure they find it attractive.

Of course they will, everyone would~ not only these two.

(related to the latest event)

But I would love to see their reaction to Vil in that outfit as well… I feel like Jack would get visibly flustered, but wouldn’t look away even for a moment.

Ortho would take pictures and record Vil just so he always has the image of Vil looking so good in his head lol

Anonymous asked:

Ok, but those Crewel/Deuce comics, fulfilling another fantasy of mine 😩👌

Actually, the funniest thing is that I've always imagined that those two would have a secret relationship and only would start "officially" dating when Deuce graduated nrc. Like on the weekends, Deuce would tell people that he's going to visit his mom or a cousin, but in reality, he's going to Crewel's place for "extra credit."

Funny scenario: 19/20 y/o Deuce posting on Magicam that he's in a relationship with Divus and all his notifs are from his friends blasting "ayo? 🤨" Then he gets a text from his mom like "DeeDee, you know I will support you in everything and anything but don't make the same mistakes as I did when I was younger, this is how you were born 😔"

(related to this comic; sorry for the late reply!)

Thank you, Anon, I am happy you liked the comic!

Out of all the first years, Deuce does feel like the type to officially go out with a teacher after graduating lol I can’t explain it, but it feels right in a weird way. I wonder if any of the first years would suspect that Deuce isn’t really visiting his mom or a cousin whenever he leaves to spend time with Crewel…

Also! His poor mother, this boy just keeps making her worry lol At least Deuce isn’t going to get pregnant, so that should be a relief…

blackbutlerfandomnerddomain asked:

If we had a battle of crossovers, who would win: GreenViolet or LilIdia

Hmm, how are they fighting? Is this a fist fight? Then Lilidia, because Lilia would outsmart Greenhill, and Violet and Idia both are wimps who can’t fight lol

In terms of a relationship… it’s a bit difficult to compare them because both couples are kind of confused within themselves. Greenhill is a bit oblivious about Violet’s feelings, and Lilidia are both confused about them being online friends lol so now I imagine these four looking at each other confused because they don’t know why are they even here and what is going on.

If both ships are established relationships though, it would be a tough fight, because Greenhill and Lilia are both competitive.

GreenViolet could win because Greenhill knows Violet better than Lilia knows Idia. And Lilidia could win because Lilia is a war veteran who would get super excited about winning and then teasing Idia about them being the best couple ever…

Anonymous asked:

All You Wanna Do by Samantha Pauly, the live Broadway version reminds me of Alois. Especially the last two minutes…

Wow, listening to this while thinking about Alois was quite a journey! 😬 It really does fit him in a lot of ways, and the last two minutes are especially heartbreaking. Ghhh I love Alois’ story so much.

Thank you for sharing, Anon.

Anonymous asked:

The last ask regarding the Leech parents and their reputation if both of their sons started dating. Out of all the characters you ship them with, which one would make the best impression? My first thought was 🥁 Riddle 🥁

If Floyd would ever settle down (which is hard to imagine with his unpredictable personality), it would definitely be with Riddle. I also think Riddle would make a great son-in-law. Even though Riddle would be very nervous meeting The Leech parents. Riddle Leech has a nice ring to it. Maybe Floyd would take Riddle underwater to live in the coral sea. Goldfish Riddle confirmed??

But then again, I wonder how Mrs. Rosehearts would feel if her son decided to marry the son of a "Yakuza" boss. Mrs. Rosehearts and Mrs. Leech meeting each other?! 👀

(this is related to this reply)

Sorry for the late reply, Anon! Your ask got me thinking as well, as you can see lol

The Leech parents would absolutely love Riddle! Both because he is hilarious (so uptight, I mean, upstanding!) and because he is genuinely a surprisingly good pick. Just like you said, he is so polite, so well-educated, at times it almost feels too good to be true, how come Floyd of all people brought home such a good boy? They always expected Jade to be the one… They’ll absolutely let the boys know about it lol embarrassing all of them.

Riddle would be super nervous and a bit scared, but parents are parents, even if they are scary fish mafia parents. So he has to be respectful and polite. Which is honestly only going to amuse Mama and Papa more – Riddle is so tiny and cute with his baby face and tiny hands and stuff, but oh so serious. He’s like a baby doll… they would woobify him a lot lol and tease him in general, but always try to be stealthy about it. Maybe they just don’t want to scare him away because there is no way Floyd finds someone else similar to Riddle lol

Also! Riddle being a goldfish merman is such a fun theme, I love it when people draw him like that. Floyd really should turn him into a merman, poor Riddle is going to be so confused. He is reversed Ariel lol

Oh Mrs Rosehearts is going to hate this so much… Leaving her alone with Mrs Leech is such a bad idea, because Mama Leech is going to play along at first, complaining about how having sons is such a huge source of stress, how rude and ungrateful they are sometimes, and just how much she wants them to just be good and proper at everything that they do. Mama Rosehearts could even think that they are on the same page at first (even though this Leech woman is way too dramatic…)… Mama Leech would just troll her the entire time, just as she does with everyone she talks to… but she’ll like her a lot, she’ll consider her a good friend afterwards <3 and call her every day.

Another potential partner that the Leech parents would love is Idia, and we have some thoughts about them, but I’ll share them a bit later – there is another ask related to this topic that I’ll try to write a proper reply tomorrow. So consider this a teaser and thank you for your patience 👀

#replies

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akfamilyhome · 1 year ago

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YouTube 2023 Year in Review

Welp! Guess it's that time of year again. I'm sure 2023 has been a...pretty interesting year to say for quite a few people. And for me personally, it's also been a weird little year that's great in some parts and could be better in others.

What have I been up to?

My life right now is kinda divided into three parts:

A) the "IRL" stuff, as in working on my editing day job and spending time with family.

B) working on YouTube videos which I still have the passion for,

and C) playing video games, collecting cool things and socializing with my online friends.

I've always felt that it's difficult for me to put equal attention to all three, and lately, it definitely feels like I'm focusing on 'A' and 'C' more. Of course, my day job is kinda how I make a living at the moment so that obviously gets priority, but that doesn't mean I want to ignore my YouTube stuff! It's just hard to sneak in a few lines of script-writing while multitasking at a day job, and only being able to freely spend time on 'B' and 'C' during night isn't the most productive way to go about things, especially with other things that aren't YouTube production. I also have games I want to play, art I want to draw, folks I'd like to hang out with etc.

And that's a fine, healthy way of going about things online for regular folks! But I don't want my YouTube channel to stagnate as a result of this, because I still love making videos! I have support from folks on Patreon, and I still hope to continue growing the channel so that it becomes more sustainable to do frequent updates.

Part of me has always thought about just quitting my day job once I have a decent amount of money saved up and just try doing YouTube full-time and rely on Patreon, even if there's a very low chance it'd be sustainable. Of course, that's a big gamble, and I'm not truly sure if that's really the best way to go about things. But those are just my inner thoughts and I've rambled long enough...

So, I apologize for the above situation sort of being the root cause of the recent slower pace of my YouTube channel! The pace of the channel this year is about the same as in 2022, if not a little slower. I didn't really get a lot of dormant scripts from 2020-2021 off the ground, but being true to what I said in last year's Year in Review, I did end up working on a lot of spontaneous ideas even if there wasn't a "big" core video! In fact, I think almost every video released in 2023 that we'll discuss below were spontaneous ideas.

I'll talk more about what's to come for the channel in the end of the post, but for now, as usual, we'll take a look at each video I made during 2023 and I'll share my thoughts and some fun facts about each!

A Trip to the Hong Kong Kirby Pop-Up Store

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Various things were put up on the channel from January to March, including a funny little short for Mario Day and a new trailer for a revamped Patreon, but the major thing I put out was a look at the Kirby Pop-Up Store in Hong Kong! This was my first time doing a scripted documentation of an in-person event, and Nintendo Hong Kong would eventually do more events like Nintendo Live 2023 Hong Kong, and I'll definitely be talking about them on my channel eventually!

As for fun facts...uhh...I suppose Patreon patrons get to see the full unedited raw footage I took from the event lol

Top 10 Nintendo Trivia You NEVER Knew

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This year's April Fools video...was also a last-minute sort of idea, if I recall correctly! The concept is simple: it's a parody of generic Top 10 trivia videos in terms of presentation, but the curveball is instead of just doing other blatantly obvious fun facts, the facts would actually be super obscure, inconsequential Nintendo facts that barely anyone would've known about, so in the end it's kind of a legit trivia video in a twisted way. The facts in the video were sourced from new research, me asking friends for suggestions and some of my old posts on Twitter, so there were a few 'fun' facts that were left on the cutting room floor, and here's a good place to share them!

In an early version of the GameCube instruction manual, Mario 64 was used as a placeholder game

The infamous 'black box' in Super Mario 64 DS is not a visual glitch as commonly believed, and briefly appears in E3 2004 footage

Prototype screenshots of Mario 64 have appeared in an early print of the game's box art...and on a Nintendo Monopoly board in 2006 (next to the ? Block on the right side of the board if you're looking)

The Onion in Hey! Pikmin has white and purple in its colors, even though white and purple Pikmin never appear in the game

The original 3DS had two separate sets of black & white colors, for some reason

And to finally come clean...yes, around 30% of the video's script was generated using ChatGPT, as part of the joke. Mostly the introductory bits at the beginning of each segment, since it definitely did not give me the results I wanted when I asked it to describe the specific details of each fact, so y'know, hopefully that's a sign it's not coming for my job of talking about obscure Nintendo things! And don't worry, this will probably be the only time I ever use AI in my videos.

The Better N64 Wavebird Experience

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This is a follow-up to a 2021 video where I also used the N64 Switch Online controller on an original N64, albeit with a different adapter! This actually isn't a case where I received a free product to do a review on, I just happened to read about a better alternative, pre-ordered it online, it arrived in April and I decided to knock out a quick review/comparison video in 2 days!

As such, this is more of standard informative review video, but in all honesty, I still really like this setup, and it's in my opinion still one of the best controller options for original N64 games. So much so, that I recently completed my NSO controller collection by picking up a Sega Mega Drive 6-button NSO controller to eventually use with my original Mega Drive! I'm still looking for the compatible 8bitDo adapter though, so maybe when I eventually do, that can be a quick little video on the Plus channel for patrons!

The Most Expensive amiibo

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This is my favorite video I put out this year! The Qbby amiibo has always been in my sights for a while, and I've gone on record saying that I'd make a video on it if I got my hands on one.

Back in 2019, I once saw a Qbby amiibo being offered on Yahoo Auctions for a relatively cheap price, but to afford it I asked for extra donations via Ko-fi. Looking back on it now there were probably better options I could've taken, but either way the listing got cancelled and I refunded everyone who donated for that. Then sometime later I saw another relatively cheap BOXBOY package in a local listing, but then the seller never replied and deleted the listing, so the amiibo has eluded me until now, and there seems to be no signs of Qbby stock going down any time soon. My hope for a Qbby reprint continues, and hopefully this video still serve as a little awareness boost for folks who are wondering why he's one of the most expensive amiibo around!

Some of the gag editing on this one got spruced up a little bit which I enjoyed doing, but you also probably noticed that I got a turntable specifically for those glamour shots! ...yeah, I'll probably get more use of that thing later on as well.

The Kirby Battle Royale online joke wasn't exaggeration: I couldn't find anyone to play online with! I suppose that is to be expected for, y'know, playing a mid 3DS game in 2023, but it's a shame that Kirby Battle Royale doesn't at least offer a option to play with friends, and from some experimentation, it seems that two of my US-based friends were able to match with each other online while I couldn't, which also suggested some region-based matchmaking was at play. Oh well! There are some better 3DS games out there that I'd still like to play online one last time before their servers shut down this April.

Tetris...on a McDonald's Nugget

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Continuing the trend of 'make video on a recent find' for the third video in a row, it's the China-exclusive McDonald's Tetris Chicken McNugget! For an unscripted Things of Interest video, it turned out pretty well, kinda like the Rhythm Tengoku arcade video in 2022! Compared to the first unscripted TOI back in like 2018, I've definitely gotten a bit better at rambling since.

I was kind of a few days late to the party, and some other videos about the Tetris Nugget from larger channels have racked up more views since, but that's not really the point! As a casual Tetris fan that happens to be in proximity to mainland China, something as bizarre as this is totally right up my alley. Covering China-exclusive gaming stuff just kinda reminds me that I have yet to do a video on the iQue Player though, which I really want to...

FlashBoy Plus: The $95 Virtual Boy Flashcart

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I haven't really taken a YouTube sponsorship deal yet, but I do get emails about doing reviews or ad reads of items on occasion, like new Switch gaming accessories from different third parties and whatnot. Unfortunately, that's not really the type of stuff I do regularly on the channel unless I find a great angle to tackle it from, so the only review offer I've done on the channel until now is a limited Switch physical release in 2020.

When I was offered to review the FlashBoy Plus, I was definitely intrigued despite having already previously covered the HyperFlash 32, a technically better option! Virtual Boy flashcarts are already a very niche thing, so I gladly took the opportunity to take a look at any new option out there, and even if it's not a mainstream topic at all it does kinda appeal to me specifically.

In the video, I mentioned the (very cool looking) clear cartridge shell was not a publicly available option yet at the time of the review, but looking at the order site now, it has been added since! So hey, good for them! It is honestly pretty sick to have a transparent Virtual Boy cartridge.

Playing PC Games with the SNES Mouse & Famicom Keyboard

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I started work on the next core video right after the FlashBoy Plus video (more on that in the last section), but getting sick during early December forced me to delay it, so for that month I decided to do one last spontaneous idea: a followup to the 2021 video where I used the Famicom keyboard and SNES Mouse on a computer...but this time on a proper PC!

A thing that was brought up in the comments was one setting in particular: when I was changing the mouse settings in the Control Panel, there was a 'Enhance pointer precision' option that I didn't uncheck, which presumably slows down the mouse for precise movements. There wasn't a super noticeable difference when I unchecked it during further testing, but when I coupled it with further increasing the mouse sensitivity in games that allow you to change it in-game, I was actually able to get the SNES Mouse to move at a decent pace in some games! Of course, that requires tweaking with additional settings that would normally be overkill for a regular mouse, so it's still not practical, but at least there was a setup that would alleviate some of my complaints in the video.

Akfamilyhome Plus videos

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Over on my second channel Akfamilyhome Plus, once again there's a variety of stuff! There's Mario Wonder memes, a new high quality video game rip album, archival footage and more. If there's one thing you should check out though, it's the supercuts of me playing Everybody 1-2-Switch with my Discord server. It's the best kind of chaos. Long live Kitchen Timer 4.

This year, 8 new unscripted bonus videos were released publicly! You can enjoy watching me:

Visit the 3DS eShop on its final day of operation

Check out the Nintendo DSi XL Demo Video carts

Look through gaming goodies on a Chinese second-hand market

Unseal Captain Toad Treasure Tracker for the 3DS

Read through the 2010 Nintendo Anti-Piracy Manual

Unbox a complete copy of the original GBA Play-Yan

Compare the two popular 3DS capture card models

And check out the Nintendo Power...rewritable cartridge!

And over on Patreon, 8 more exclusive videos are also available, featuring things like a slew of Nintendo cleaning kits, iQue DS games, the Chinese Mario Movie DVD and more! As always if you don't want to wait till some of them rotate into public availability, they're all available on Patreon for just $1 USD a month!

The fuuuuture

Okay, so what's next for 2023?

I mean 2024. Oh god the typos are already starting.

Right before the FlashBoy Plus video came out, in late June 2023, I did a video topic poll on Patreon, asking what idea I should do next. Out of the four options given, one of them is a continuation of a limbo project from 2021, and the other three were spontaneous new core video ideas I came up with and wanted to do.

Well, one of the spontaneous new ideas won the poll, so the next core video is...

A look at the camera and sound apps on both the Nintendo DSi and 3DS! I originally wanted to get this out in December, and you all know what happened to that plan, BUT the script is done, the VO recording is done, footage recording is well underway and I am confident I'll be able to get it out this January. I really like how the script for this one shaped up and am commissioning some banger thumbnail art for it (🐦), so I REALLY hope you'll look forward to it!

Afterwards, there are a few in-progress ideas that I also want to work on for quick videos afterwards. As mentioned above, I visited Nintendo Live 2023 Hong Kong which was hosted on November, and ALSO the Nintendo Hong Kong Pop-Up Store which is running from December to January, so both of those would make for a perfect video in a similar vein as the Kirby Pop-Up Store video last year!

I also went on a trip to Japan last August, and took quite a bit of photos and footage. I still want to share my findings and experiences of being in Tokyo for the first time that I could remember, so there will be a fun little piece about that going on the Plus channel in the future!

And don't forget, I'm making a video about every game I beat during 2023, continuing the thing I started last year!

And after ALL of the above is done, I still have the remaining core video ideas from the June Patreon poll I did, since I did say I'd eventually love to do all of them, and that desire still hasn't gone away. I don't know how the rest of 2024 will go for this channel but I'd say this is a fantastic starting point, and I hope it'll all go up from there, since I'd really love to be more productive on here, while trying to keep that A-B-C balance in check!

So yeah! That's it for the 2023 Year in Review. If you've made it all the way to the bottom, thank you for reading! Here's a 25-use invite link to my Discord server as a little something! Thank you to all of you who've supported me this past year, whether you're a viewer or a patron, and I hope to keep up the work this year and try to strive for better!

#akfamilyhome words #year in review #Youtube

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torchmlp · 2 years ago

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what quirks do you think the quarry counselors would have in a MHA universe?

I have been chewing on this ask since yesterday, shaking it around in my head like a bag of marbles. This is such a fun question but it's also so hard because quirks can be literally anything in the MHA universe. But here's what I've come up with:

Dylan:

The first idea I came up with for Dylan was the manipulation of electromagnetic radiation. He can't create radiation, he can only work with what's around him. The level and ease of control he would have would be directly proportional to the level of photon energy produced by the different waves in the electromagnetic spectrum. For example, radio waves have the lowest frequency and photon energy, meaning it would be pretty easy for him to manipulate them (and I can just imagine tiny child dylan asking his parent(s) why there's always people or music in his head that only he can hear). Gamma rays have the highest photon energy and would be incredibly difficult for him to control. He'd also probably have a secondary mutation to protect him from ionizing radiation so he doesn't accidentally give himself radiation sickness or cancer. To what level that protection went, I don't know. Visible light is part of the EM spectrum, but so is infrared and UV light, so he'd probably have some way to sense those (dude can see Shrimp Colors 0_0). He'd also be a walking WFI hotspot since those are mostly microwaves that he could draw to himself lol.

The other quirk I thought of was something to do with precognitive reasoning, similar to Nighteye's foresight. He would be able to see a situation and determine a number of different outcomes of that situation based on the level of knowledge he has of the details. The more he knows, the more accurate the outcomes he sees are, and he may see more possible outcomes as well. Drawbacks would be he could only use it a few times a day without giving himself a massive debilitating migraine.

But I think we all know what power he would truly have: his Mind Gun

Abi:

I only have one idea for Abi, but I really like it. Her quirk would allow her to bring her drawings to life for short amounts of time. This includes inanimate objects as well as animals and people. How much energy it takes to bring a drawing to life and how long it lasts is proportional to how much time and energy Abi uses to make it. However, living creatures and objects that could act outside of Abi's direct handling (versus her wielding a gun or something (give the girl a gun! she should be able to shoot something, as a treat)) take more energy to animate and/or don't last as long. They also can only follow simple commands from Abi (though more complex commands could be given the stronger Abi's quirk grows). For example, a shield Abi spent ten minutes drawing would last longer than a shield she spent one minute drawing, and would last longer than a squirrel she spent ten minutes drawing. I could see her just having a sketchbook full of different drawings she made beforehand to use or her drawing on her skin to have things for later or if she's in a pinch and doesn't have anything else to draw on at the time.

Emma:

Emma to me would have some sort of mental quirk, with perhaps a five-finger contact activation requirement. By touching someone and giving them a verbal suggestion, she could plant an idea in their mind as if it were their own. How long they believe the suggestion and/or go along with it would depend on how hard Emma was concentrating, how believable the suggestion or idea is (the more believable the more likely it will stick), and the person's mental fortitude. Once Emma stopped concentrating, the person would be able to tell that the idea came from her and not themselves. She could have multiple ideas planted in multiple people, but the more ideas and people, the harder it would be for her to hold her concentration on them.

Jacob:

Obviously Beerdar, the ability to pinpoint the exact location of beer within a building lol

For reals though, I think Jacob's quirk would be something deceptively simple, but would have a lot of possible applications. A fun idea I had was a quirk that, a limited number of times a day, he could increase his proficiency in any one skill that he possessed for a short amount of time. How proficient he became would depend on how good he was at the skill to begin with. It would basically give him a brief boost to ability without having to put in the time to practice/learn/build up to that level, but as soon as the quirk wore off, he would forget/lose everything the boost gave him. He'd probably use it to boost something dumb like how hard he can punch something until Kaitlyn came along and actually talked him through how useful his quirk actually was.

Kaitlyn:

What I think would be really cool quirk for Kaitlyn would be something along the lines of concussive blasts, like, she can concentrate energy into certain contact points on her body (fists, elbows, knees, feet, etc.) to deliver bursts of energy into her hits. She would be able to use them to increase her running speed and jump distance, and would probably have a secondary mutation that would give her a sturdier musculoskeletal structure so that she didn't break her bones and tear her muscles every time she used her quirk.

Ryan:

I think Ryan would have an area of effect quirk that affected everyone/everything within a certain distance from him. I think it would be something along the lines of quirk nullification, like Aizawa's erasure. The strength of the nullification could be dependent on how much conscious effort Ryan puts into it. Like, he might be able to have a sphere around him that mildly weakens quirks without much effort on his part, but if he wanted to fully turn someone's quirk off or increase how far his sphere of influence was it would take more concentration to do and to hold. Perhaps, as he got older and got a better handle on his quirk, he could also control who the quirk affects, instead of just a blanket activation on everyone.

Nick:

Nick has been the hardest one for me so far. I think he would have a transformation type quirk. For some reason I can't get Kevin Levin's ability from Ben 10 out of my head. Nick could have something like that, but instead of just touching something to absorb it and change his body, he'd have to eat it or something equally weird. He'd have to have crazy strong teeth and digestive system if he had to eat stuff to integrate it into his body. How long it lasts would probably depend on how much he ate, and how long it had been since he had eaten it.

Laura:

The idea I had for Laura was something along the lines of Second Wind. Her quirk could replenish her energy and allow her to keep going with whatever she was doing. The cost would be a bigger burnout after the effect of her quirk wore off, proportional to how much extra energy she consumed. She could activate her quirk multiple times, but each activation would increase her crash at the end. She definitely has used her quirk to spend several all-nighters studying for her exams, and has ended up in the hospital at least once by overusing it.

Max:

The quirk I had in mind for Max was he could boost someone else's quirk based on how much of a bond he had with that person. The stronger the bond/friendship/relationship, the stronger his quirk would affect their quirk, and the farther away they could be from each other and still have Max's quirk work. Since he and Laura are so close, their bond would be especially strong, and the effect on Laura's quirk would be much greater. It would also allow Max to determine where the people had bonded with were, again how well that worked would be dependent on how strong their bond was and how far away from him they were.

There are so many possibilities with this, and I might have to come back and add to it if I think of something else later. What ideas does everyone else have? I want to know what you think!

#the quarry #bnha #thank you for the ask!#i will continue to chew on it

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snzinite · 1 year ago

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Mudrock

SNZ STATLINE: 7/10 wetness, 3/10 mess, 7/10 pitch, 6(8)/10 volume

"HUHHESSSCHH(oo)!"

loud, sort of aggressive sneezes when she lets them out

(tries to) only let them out in her suit where she can contain them and clean up any spray or mess (spray is common, mess is not)

emphasis on "contain". she seals the plates inside her suit so that no one hears her and nothing escapes (not that it could i mean look at it)

not super feminine sounding but if they were to hear her it would give her away (headcanoning that she tries to keep her identity a secret if she's in the suit)

sneezes in ones or twos with a few seconds in between, but she's liable to keep sneezing a bunch over a couple of minutes if something's setting her off

if she's not in the suit she stifles. it's quieter than if she let them out but not by much

MUCH girlier though

"Het-(xngh)-choo!"

the kind of stifle that's difficult to spell and that be clear what she's doing, but the 'choo' is more of a vocal tic than an actual let out sneeze

puts a finger under her nose when she stifles, usually as part of extending all the fingers on the hand in a sort of "curtain" between her mouth and anyone else in the vicinity

sneezes in threes and fours when stifling. it just doesn't relieve the tickle as much

can hold back decently well, but not forever, and the tickle never really goes away until she takes care of it

very breathy buildups paired with nostril flaring, but can also just sneeze with very little warning

pretty bad allergies to the grasses of Letha/nien (RIP her movement in Twilight...)

this is actually partially responsible for her silent and stoic reputation in the movement lol, people will be talking to her and she'll appear rock still while sneezing her brains out

speaking of: sneezing too much disrupts her arts because of the sudden concentration lapse. her golems will slush out into mud if she goes on a rapid enough fit

has been known to slip up and sneeze full-force out of the suit sometimes. it's nbd but she doesn't like to do it because it draws concern out of others

if she sneezes a bunch she'll apologize or say "excuse me" in her regular voice (betraying a little bit of the tickle if it's bad enough)

dust makes her SCRATCHY af. however it alone won't make her sneeze that much

now if she came out of a grass field into a dusty library? stifling is a lost cause

#snz #snz kink #sneeze kink #snzknights #snz headcanons #this might actually be my best post yet #dog i did mudrock research and it paid off #wink wink hint hint for the eventual fic #theyre coming i promise

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sayakxmi · 4 months ago

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[Magi reread] Night 79: Alibaba's Sword

Lmao that Alibaba behind him. You gotta respect how much he trusts Aladdin to keep him safe from Yamraiha's attack here.

Imma be honest. It kinda annoys me, bc I'd genuinely love to either say more or throw in more screenshots etc, but the problem is that the chapters of this arc so far have been really exposition heavy. Like, what do you want me to say. Yamraiha explains to Aladdin what Borg is. That's it. That's what's happening. Similarly previous chapters. And it's literally I either send you everything or I send you nothing, bc it's also difficult to just cut it in the middle. I'm doing my best.

Ok, but this made me wonder if it's like... natural natural, or was it Ugo's design, y'know?

Bye, lol.

Sorry to cut Aladdin like that, but what even is this panel.

I've always liked this about Magi's magic sytstem. Idk, it's so simple in theory, it's all about ordering the Rukh, but at the same time it just feels really cool.

Also, headcanon time. Cuz we see magicians sometimes draw magic circles and shit, and I don't recall it being explained in more detail. My idea is that it's to write out orders somewhere. Most magic is just based on orders in the magician's head, but certain spells can be extremely complex and delicate. So, for example, a very specialised healing spell would require somebody to write the orders down, because one mistake could fuck somebody up.

Half a page later, and I'm like, oooh, right. I like it, because it's scientific.

In general I'm always a lil iffy at the divide between magic and science in fiction, like, bro, magic is science. It's just a different branch of science.

Love that thing behind him. But also jesus fuck, what kind of memory and thinking speed you gotta have to be able to cast spells that have hundreds and more formulas.

Ok, that's really cute. Look how happy Yam is that somebody wants her to teach them magic. ;;;

Alibaba stop comparing yourself to people.

I like the entire page, but look at Alibaba and Aladdin trying to call out Amon. They're so worried : (

Aww

Idk, it makes me kinda sad that it was the only time his father came to visit. Looking back, Alibaba knew some parents sucked, but his personal experience was only with Anise, so I can imagine he went to the palace with some expecations. I mean, Rashid went to get him, personally. That had to have meant something, right? But then he just noped himself out of Alibaba's life. Like, I understand that, he was the king, he had things to do, but man. Alibaba had literally nobody in the palace for a while.

Thinking abt this panel, or maybe overthinking like I tend to do, it probably mattered all the more, because Rashid was the only person who allegedly wanted Alibaba there. The only ally, if you will, so of course it mattered to Alibaba to have his approval, and to see him actually visit him. Not to mention

(cute!) he looks really young here, still, so it seems like it's been before other people started warming up to him. : (

omggg

Baby

Alibaba, right after sharing a story that obviously shows that something meant to him a lot: but it doesn't matter ^v^

He does look sad in here tho. And also idk, Morgiana looks a little funny. She has no mouth, but thankfully, she doesn't need to scream.

Once again thinking how it's so fucking weird that Rashid gave Sinbad this sword.

Like, bro, that's some randomass kid who tries to create his own country. I sorta get that you like him and you find him more deserving than your sons, but bro, that's, like, national heritage.

Wait, what? Does the official translation use similar wording? Where Sinbad hurt his country and its residents?

Also, love me the parallels.

And the beginning of Cassim Flashback Every Arc. He doesn't necessarily haunt the narrative, but he sure af haunts Alibaba.

Wait a minute

Don't remember how it went in SnB, but if Rashid doesn't say exactly that, that'd be disappointing.

Alibaba-Sinbad parallels, Alibaba-Sinbad parallels!

In general I adore these two's dynamic on a personal (the relationship between the two) and on a thematic/narrative level (parallels and stuff like that, the fact that in the Final Arc Alibaba even wears clothes similar to the ones Sinbad used to wear... I could get into it, but not here).

Mmmmmm yes

Yea, that must've been one hell of a moment to experience.

Also, is that supposed to be Rukh in the bg or?

This looks so fucking silly.

Cuz you don't get her, Sinbad.

Also, like, we know I don't like Alibaba/Morgiana as a romance. I really don't, for personal and writing reasons.

BUT I don't believe it was always doomed to fail.

Every time I reread it, I can see why people like this ship, even if I could never myself. Early on, their friendship was really fun. It had this effortlessness to it, just like this moment, with Sinbad looking at Morgiana and seeing a girl, so a girl should wear pretty stuff like necklaces or bracelets, versus Alibaba who sees Morgiana as Morgiana, and he understands that she's strong and a warrior, so he find something that makes her look cool and powerful. And he does it like it's no-brainer. Yeah, obviously I'm gonna get Morgiana awesome golden claws!

That's also why it's so infuriating when Ohatka shifts them (rather forcibly on Alibaba's side) into romance, and suddenly it's like he stops seeing Morgiana, and starts seeing his imaginary girlfriend with Morgiana's face. Alibaba and Morgiana had a fine relationship that could have been easily transformed into romance, and, frankly, I grew to love their friendship upon my rereads [I genuinely recommend to reread the manga after the Final Arc, because FA bastardizes so many characters that at times it feels like a slap in the face], but the moment that switch happens, it's like they're two different people. It doesn't help that we've been going through the slow and steady process of depriving Morgiana of any plot-relevance, which culminates with that friendship->romance jump. Alibaba used to be a person who got Morgiana, why doesn't he anymore?

Anyway. Enough of that.

Idk if Ohtaka had planned for the Slave Arc by that point, but I love to read Sinbad's expression here as genuinely distraught.

That's genuinely sweet and empowering. These chains used to bind her, but she gave them a new meaning, it truly feels like she's taking back the control she was deprived of. Jamil made these chains into a reminder of her abuse, but she turned them into a proof of kindness of those around her.

Sinbad lowkey looks like he's dissociating, lmao.

#saya's magi reread #alibaba saluja #morgiana

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ultraphobic · 2 years ago

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Hi Lane! 🎅🏻🔮

I hope the family event went well! How did your week start?

AWWW 😍your cat so cutee

This series is called Never Tear Us Apart: The Untold Story of INXS and it has a good rating on IMDb, I think. By the way, what are your favorite INXS songs or albums?

OMG!! Slaughter headliner of the festival how cool! I am very happy for you!

Helix looks very cool! I hope to get a piercing before Christmas or after and a nose piercing is one of the most interesting in my opinion because you can do anything with it like you said!

Thanks for the spotify link! I just hope that one day they will release all the albums on streaming because people don't have the opportunity to get acquainted with Warrant, especially with the Jani era, literally the most popular and famous albums and nothing else lol.

Aww about the drawings sounds very cute and shiny haha. I love this kind of thing! Your story about the T-shirt made my day better, thank you!

I hope your surgery goes well! Wow portrait tattoo?? great! Would you like to be a tattoo artist?

someday I won't make mistakes remembering different time zones and climate differences, but not today lmaoo :(I'm sorry! OMG your summer is really hot, it's terrible. I'm feel sorry for you. I am from Russia and Estonia (it sounds really strange lol, just one part of my family is half from Estonia and half from Russia) and now in some parts of Russia the opposite is -38 lol. In the part where I live, the coldest day was -18

What a cool choice of musicians! I think Jani was very interesting because he's one of the most incredible musicians I know. And Patrick is cool too!

Whoa! You are a real multi-instrumentalist! I play the bass too! (and on some other instruments, but very bad lol) I think that you will definitely be able to sing! It's quite interesting and as my guitar teacher says, it's not that difficult, the main thing is to overcome your fear (if there is one)

Wow! Your Christmas celebration sounds very cozy and homey. this is very nice! About look at lights, this is my favorite part of Christmas! people always make such interesting decorations and it makes it more festive.

🎄 Do you like to give or receive gifts more?

🎄 Which gift was the most memorable for you?

🎄 Do you prefer to make a wish list or are you waiting for any gift?

🎄 Would you like to play in any band? and what style of music would you prefer?

hey santa!!!

my week has started off well! i went into the new location for my store & went to start setting up and today i'm just resting. tomorrow i'm training on last minute sign offs on piercings and then thursday is opening day! we're all booked out for opening day so i have to be ready to be fast and in and out with piercings.

i'll definitely check out the series!!! kick is my favourite inxs album & my fave songs are just keep walking, never tear us apart, don't change (this one is special to me), suicide blonde, dancing on the jetty, disappear, need you tonight & original sin. inxs was one of the bands i grew up listening to along with a bunch of other older bands from aus & aotearoa and i think that influence is still there so whenever i don't feel like listening to glam but i still wanna listen to something older i go back to a childhood playlist (i think on my spotify theres a public playlist called best of australia & aotearoa which showcases some old and new stuff!)

i know im so excited!!! i was nervous when they kept delaying the lineup announcements but it looks killer so i can't wait! tickets go on sale while i'm working all day tho so i hope i can grab one while i'm on break or something. if i miss out on presale vip maybe i can grab one when they go out to the public tho! if i miss out on vip i'll just get a ga ticket.

i am sort of nervous about the venue they chose though as i have been there before, and while they are fine during actual shows the moment a concert is over they do tend to kick everyone out quite rudely (much like last weeks festival!) and tell people they can't even hang around outside because of "trespassing". this would be fine if they were'nt LITERALLY ON A MAIN STREET OF THE CITY IN SYDNEY. like they're literally next door to a mcdonald's. it's quite odd. at least they give out free water after shows.

i hope you can get piercings soon too! i think it's best to get piercings in winter as well because you don't have to worry about the not swimming part of healing.

i do hope they release the other albums on streaming at least soon! it seems that they're only available in the us and possibly canada from what i've gathered from my online friends. i'm missing the live albums, a few compilation albums, and of course belly to belly and ultraphobic. i only bothered getting ultraphobic and belly to belly as local files (and the dog eat dog bonus track) though because spotify has issues with their local files a lot and i didn't want to keep redownloading like 5 albums over and over again.

i'm glad i made your day better haha! i made a bunch of really silly shirts for my family and currently i'm working on a bunch of glam metal related ones for a glam discord server i'm in because i told them if i got the job i did and away from my old job (my old job suuucked they underpaid me and broke a bunch of labour laws and stuff. i'm gonna sort that out soon and get what i'm owed dw) then i'd make a few shirts for them.

i'm hoping i can save up for the surgery within the next year! it's a trans surgery so it's not anything majorly urgent or anything that has to happen or i'll die if i don't get it in the next month or anything but i really would like to get it asap lol. and yea! the portrait tattoo is going to be of jani which SOUNDS like i'm obsessed which i promise i'm not in a weird way it's just that he (and warrant) have become so important to me in just the last 9 months. and usually i would never get someones face tattooed on me because it's so rare for an artist to get it right but i did manage to find an artist that does it really well! (@chloemoontattoo on instagram)

i would love to be a tattoo artist! i haven't really found my art style yet so it's still a distant dream for me but as i'm already in the body modification industry i:

a) already have one of the qualifications (infection control certificate)

b) have something that looks good on a resume!

so it's possible! and i do have a backup plan of photography or continuing piercing (or both!) so i won't be stuck if i can't do it

woah you had -18? the part of aus where i live i don't think it's ever gotten that cold! at least not while i've been alive. i think maybe it's gotten to 4 or 5 but never in the negatives as far as i know

yeah i have an attachment to jani and i know theres probably someone who thinks it's weird but i do genuinely think we'd think similarly and relate on things! i think we'd be able to talk for hours

i have a little fear of singing in front of people but it has gotten better over the years! i used to not be able to get up and do anything in front of people but now since transitioning and also going to therapy for a while i have gotten a bit better! i think i could front a glam band if i stopped caring what people thought while i was onstage and also if i could FIND PEOPLE WHO WANTED TO START A BAND HERE. theres like 3 people my age into glam metal which kinda sucks.

questions!

i like giving and receiving equally i think? i don't like receiving gifts unless i have also given one (unless it's my birthday lol) but i love picking out stuff for people! gift giving is my love language

i got a new bass a few years ago! and a guitar the next year! that makes it sound like my family is rich but we're not those were my only gifts and because my bday is so close to christmas they were combined as bday/xmas gifts! (i also know what i'm getting for my bday next year. cus it;s my 21st i get something big)

i make a wishlist but only because nobody ever knows what i actually want! my mum asks me to make a list otherwise i just get clothes i won't wear and new underwear so this year i put a few bands for cds, a cd player, and a new room fan cus mine doesn't rly work. i think i'm also getting a new cd tower though cus i ran out of room on my little cd shelf i took from my parents when they moved their cds into a cupboard, the shelf only stores 75 and i think i have like 100 cds now (over 8+ years of collecting!) i am about to do a whole room redo so i am trying to ask for stuff that will be helpful to rearrange my room/redecorate, but i know i will have to buy most new furniture myself. the only stuff i'm not replacing is my desk, bed, and wardrobe (which is built into my room), (and my shelf/ stuff already mounted on the wall)

i would LOVE to be in a band, hopefully a glam metal band, but unfortunately like i said before, there's like no one my age into that genre in my area which sucks :(. i'd be happy to play any instrument in that hypothetical band, except drums bc i can only really play a basic 4/4 beat on drums so i wouldn't be very good at that.

thank you for your message santa!!! sorry for rambling so much i got carried away

#secret santa ask

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1eoness · 2 years ago

Text

professor!re4r leon fucking u.. i think (or at least wanting to fuck u)

cw content : leon size kink kennedy (jk) | sub-afab-fem-reader and dom!leon kennedy | age gap(ur 22 he's 27), leon masturbating, penetration, slightly weird ooc leon ♡

[to clarify, i am 18. anyone <18 and anyone >18 uncomfortable with interacting pls dni]

authors note bc i love rambling; btw i'm writing this in public at some boba cafe can u believe that lol im literally supposed to be studying but hwatever fuck it leon make me go blaahhhhhh. btw what do i call this? a fic?blurb?drabble? idklmfao by the way i have NO idea on how to write professor x reader shit so im sorrhy if this sucks ass.

synopsis : conflicted and flustered professor!leon kennedy of your local college struggles to improve his class' average because students like you—incompetent, airheaded, spoiled and klutzy— make it difficult for him :(

‿︵‿︵୨˚̣̣̣͙୧ - - ୨˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵

you heard the rustling of laptop bags and stationery as leon's students left for that morning lecture. though, they moved slow and drowsy; for leon is sure nowadays this generation can't afford to wake up at 6:00 in the morning to prepare for a 7 a.m. lecture on "deviance and crime control."

especially you.

kennedy is a sharp man. he harps on students even if they get a B on any assignment, but he swears it's on his tough love (to which a lot of students aren't really aware of, just that they know this stoic pretty-face of a man has high standards.)

he is also keen on attendance. something girls like you seem to take lightly. it was absurd, really. most professors don't give a shit, do they?

it would've been fine with leon if you missed lectures even twice a week as long as you emphasized your understanding of his lessons through putting stellar effort on your schoolwork. but the best you've gotten on his class was a B- drawing close to a C+.

so, he needs to have a chat with you. urgently.

"l/n, i need to speak with you." leon spoke, confrontative as his black jeans peered from your right peripheral vision. he stood tall beside the edge of the table where you sat. jesus, was he trying to give you a heart attack? (he always had this habit, he'd just pop out of nowhere. he has silent feet.)

yes, you may have missed his lectures from monday to thursday to go to macedonia with your family: but if leon were given the opportunity for a vacation he would snag it too, right?

you looked up at the young professor, wide-eyed and a bit intimidated. what the hell did you do this time? you closed your laptop, gave leon your full attention. leon has also noticed this about you; you're quick to pay attention but you have the memory span of a dumb rabbit. maybe even the IQ of one too, if leon was rude enough.

so you sat there, hands on your lap as you fiddled with the pleats of your blue plaid skirt. the color makes his heart beat a little—he loves the color blue. and the way it looked on you... wait, no. what the hell was he thinking?

"you couldn't even spare the few minutes to e-mail me that you'd be missing four- four, of my classes in one week." he emphasized with a slate tone, and the way his eyes peered down at you added that he needed your reasoning of the situation. he'd love to hear what you had to say for yourself. "i had to talk to your friend, ashley, for some clarification. even the president's daughter has the dignity to show up to my class with a verbal apology." leon scolded as his fingertips met the pages of your notebook. did you even care about his classes? :(

much to your chagrin, your lips were pressed in sheepish silence. hopeless, even. you didn't even have anything to say for yourself? how pitiable.

you simply can't miss class, that wasn't right! just because you thought you could hide in the shadows amidst leon's collective of 73 students (yes he counts), you aren't out of his eyes. in fact, you stood out to him even if you were just an incompetent scholar.

he sighed at your silence. "fair enough, an apology can't compensate for your lack of presence or decorum." he then placed your paper on the desk, you had gotten a D. you were never a bad student but this was your first D ever! your eyes widened and he caught on even though he could only see the crown of your hair. "surprised? because i'm not." leon uttered flatly while his pale fingers flipped through the papers right in front of you. you even spotted a few contractions— when did you even pass this?!

but you weren't a bad girl to him, no. you were capable of shame and guilt. you looked sideways, unable to meet his eyes and training your vision to the floor. you felt low, disappointing a professor that gave you numerous chances to break out of your awkward shell.

"you're a smart girl, you know that?" he finally sighed softly. he wanted you to look at him, make him another promise that you'll start putting effort in his class. he needed to maintain his class's average or else he'd prove he was an inept professor, and he can't do that when he lets 'students like you' get away with shabby attendance and subpar schoolwork. "i don't just give students chances. but that doesn't make you special." and it was true—he's voluntarily failed 6 of his students before. "you'll do something about this, right?"

"yes, professor kennedy.." you muttered modestly.

"hmm?" he hummed inquisitively as he took your paper back. he was willing to give you a chance. "listen to me. i'll give you the chance to redo your paper. i know when students rush their work and if i see even a hint of redundancy in it—i will take all my chances back. and you are never taking absences from my class. i don't want you entering even a minute late, or leaving a second early. i hope we're clear, l/n."

naturally, you were scared. so you nodded up at him after countless confirmations that you will do you work and that you'll show up to class no matter what. he has to use your word against you, he's sorry but it's for your own good.

once he was satisfied, he gave you a nod and turned his side, dismissing you. after all, leon was a busy man. you're not his only student.

it was when you walked out the building and then 20 minutes away from it that you felt like crying. you hated being scolded by him :( but just when you were about to go through your bag for your handkerchief, you were stuck with an inconvenient realization. you forgot your handkerchief.

‿︵‿︵୨˚̣̣̣͙୧ -♡- ୨˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵

leon just stared at the table where you sat from just now, backpack strap over his shoulders since he was just about to leave. he gripped onto either of them slowly as he stared down at your handkerchief in contemplation.

a twofold baby-blue hankie embedded with a subtle floral print. tentatively, he picks it up with his hand and examines it. for a minute his mind went blank, conflicting between chasing you and just returning it to you or to leave it by the lecture podium for her to retrieve tomorrow (when you hopefully attend his lesson again.)

..but blue was his favorite color.

"damn it." leon, with a barely audible mutter, shoved the handkerchief in his jacket pocket. he felt like the most guilty man in the world, poor boy.

...

leon sighed.

he wasn't celibate.

his hormones were in shambles once he got to his place. perhaps part of it was because he knew he hasn't graded the recent tests yet.

manspreading, tie loose, shirt stuffy and jeans undone while his hair wisped in slightly disheveled directions. cold breaths followed out his pretty mouth.

"nnn..fuck.. uhh-" leon whimpered into the baby blue cloth, laced with your perfume. he felt so guilty, so perverted. he shuddered every time he could see over the edges of the cloth, seeing his cream-leaking tip from previous orgasms spurt teasingly. "ahh- fuuuck, p-please-"

his grunts were high. he was close to crying, staining your pretty handkerchief with guilty-pleasure-ridden tears. spilled milk, it trailed down his pretty shaft as he pumped it over and over. his motive was you— you were just so fucking stupid and had so much naivete, it absolutely vexed him knowing how endearing you were.

until a slip of leon's mouth surprised him, earning a small squeak from him as he accidentally muffled your name in your cloth. "fuck, y/n- a-ahh.. u-uhh..hmfff.." he was frustrated; whining and cumming while his mind stirred with the thought of you and your pretty eyes and the photographic memory of your dumbstricken face.

he gave out a tired whine into the cloth, so, so close to crying his frustrations out. he just wanted to eat you. christ, and he was so hard for you it made his head ache..

he could only watch his girth that pulsed with white. he pried the sweet handkerchief off his lips, breathing roughly and wiping his tears. he felt so, so sorry for you. the color of the cloth looked exactly like the skirt you wore yesterday. and yet to top it off, he (ashamedly) wiped his cum off with your dainty cloth. oh, he's so sorry..

‿︵‿︵୨˚̣̣̣͙୧ -♡- ୨˚̣̣̣͙୧‿︵‿︵

he didn't want to come to this point. or maybe he did and god was force-feeding him with culpability (he's atheist). he offered once to tutor you personally. one-on-one, no distractions. and so suddenly, someone's skirt was on his clean carpet floor..

your blouse draped over your shoulder and was pulled above your bra carelessly. he handled you with so much ease, squishing you into position while he tried to slowly push his thick length into your syrupy hole. you bit the knuckle of your thumb, and whimpered timidly that he was too big. but look where you were now.

"fuck- you're so- you feel so good.. shut up and take it all, yeah?.. hmmff-" there leon goes, harping you again. you were so loud but it wasn't even your fault, not when he was pistoning his cock into you and paying no hesitation to his pace. you were simply too sweet for him not to please. "sweetheart, hold onto me.." he mutters.

he was pushing every squeak and cute little wail out of his pathetic student, rutting his tip into that spot. "n-nnghh- aah!~" you were running low on words.

"yeah?- mhmm...ffuck, right here? huh?" the feeling of him thrusting against that spongy part more and more sent your mind further into autopilot. you were past squirming around and pushing him away, you just had to take it.. and take it.. and you were doing so good ♡.

"l-leoonn.. m-mm!- fffeels t-too good-" you babbled, mind stuffy with the pleasurably-shameful feeling of being gorged with your professor's thick girth. he shuddered at the way you uttered his name so adoringly. to leon you were so dirty but so, so cute. he had you puddled into tears beneath him while he fucked into your cute little hole with fervor. he just wanted to stuff you full, make you his, adore you forever.

he whined softly into your shoulder. you kept clenching down on him and it made him impossible to think. his phone was ringing on his bedside but he doesn't even give a shit—if anything he tried to drown it out by thrusting into you faster, to which made him lament into your skin. he even adjusted your hips up impossibly further.

"l-leeonn, n-no..— n-no more, please!!-" you blabbered adorably, voice mumbly and whiny as you clawed at his shoulders or back— you didn't know anymore.

"shhh shh.." he cooed over your cries with a quiet and honeyed voice, planting a soft kiss to where he could reach on your face or head. "i know, i know, it feels so good, hm?.. just let it feel good, baby—ahh, fuck-.. uhh..." he moaned lowly into your shoulder, unable to stop the way he rutted his cock into your creamed-up cunt. you seemed to be enjoying it, so why were you complaining? leon thinks to himself smugly but he knows he can't act on his pride. after all you made him like this—submitting to his carnal urges...

you didn't wanna cum a third time, huh? silly little girl.

leon growled quietly into the crook where your neck and shoulder met. you've never heard that sound from him. he held you down, constraining you, and squished you further into his mattress. a helpless and surprised yelp lolled out your tongue as he went impossibly quicker while he cursed like he was about to break down in tears. leon was mercilessly grinding his cock into all your sensitive spots, not letting your pleas of retort contest him. "fuckfuck- u-uhhh, take it, baby, c'mon... do it f'me, it's gonna feel so good-.. ahh!-"

he couldn't even finish his sentence—just piping his cum in you roughly as if he were proving a point, growling whinily along the way. he even kept fucking you shallowly while you were a dumb, sniffling mess with no sense of self-assertion as you creamed all over his shaft uncontrollably a third time. consecutive and quiet whimpers could be heard from you while you soaked in your overstimulation, needing him desperately to reassure you again through the overbearing pleasure of being pushed past what your cunny can handle.

"poor baby." he muttered to himself breathily as he gave the last of his tired, frustrated thrusts and pulled out of you; giving you the time to breathe while he pats your hair down comfortingly. his fluttering eyes finally closed as his head found refuge in your neck, slightly limp with exhaustion as he huffed cold breaths on the wet patches of your skin.

he pulled his head away after a minute of regaining what's left of his strength. leon looked down at you with subtle puppylike eyes, like he was sorry for ever being so harsh on you; even before he fucked the shit out of you. you quietly took your handkerchief to wipe some sweat off his neck— and his cheeks went a little rosy, remembering what he did to it that day you "lost" it ♡.

seems detergent can't wash something like lust away!

#leon kennedy smut #leon s kennedy #guys im sorry if my writing is pretty vague idfk lmao #re4remake leon smut #THIS IS SO BAD AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH #leon kennedy x reader #leon kennedy x reader smut

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bathomet-writes · 2 years ago

Text

it’s so easy

summary: Mikey and you had been secretly dating for over a year, and a lot has changed in both of your lives. The Kraang invasion, the people of New York, it all shook up the status quo. On a rooftop date, you and him spill the tea and reconnect about what's really important.

relationship: Mikey x F!reader

warnings: romantic, fluff, humor, secret dating, slight hurt/comfort, sfw

word count: 3,191

author's note: another request for @/snipersiniora!! 💕 (ngl i listened to the reel big fish cover of “it’s not easy” while writing so this is loosely inspired by it lol)

You don’t know why in all the time you’ve spent in New York, you’ve never been up on a rooftop. The view was amazing.

There were a couple of reasons as to why. Your hatred of high places, for one. With a strong enough breeze, you could go flying off your roof and become intimately familiar with the pavement below. Sometimes your neighbors would set up lawn chairs and shoot the shit, which was fine enough. You’ve just never been comfortable enough to want to join them. Lastly, it was a little difficult to skate on. The crowded atmosphere and uneven terrain made it the last place you would want to find yourself on a nice evening such as this.

But, the rooftop of your building had one upside: it was the place you got to see Michelangelo.

You clicked your heels together as you sat at an empty folding chair leftover from one of your upstairs neighbors. He wouldn’t show up for at least another 30 minutes, but you couldn’t help but jump the gun a bit and wait on the roof anyway. You’ve been keeping yourself busy, drawing random sketches onto your iPad.

Mikey and you had been friends for a while, but you officially started dating about a year ago. Not much has changed between you two, even after the Kraang invasion.

He was his same upbeat, eclectic self. But Mikey was also a little more confident. He carried himself differently, with a knowledge and experience you couldn’t even begin to relate to. You were a human, he was basically a superhero.

You bite at the tip of your drawing pen. Why was it whenever you started thinking about him and his brothers, you got inexplicably frustrated.

Was it because Raph, Donnie, and Leo still didn’t know you two were dating?

No, not really. You and Mikey weren’t really concerned with labels. You two were content to continue hanging out like you always had, just with a little extra…intimacy.

Maybe it was the fact that you had to hang out in precarious places such as your rooftop. Why couldn’t you just go to your apartment, or the lair?

“No, that’s not it.” You grumble to yourself, tapping the pen against your cheek.

“What’s not it?”

Mikey’s head appeared right above yours. He had just landed on the top of the wooden overhang you sat under, hanging like a spider.

Smiling, you sit up a little more straight to give his snout a peck.

“This…caricature. I just can’t capture his likeness. It’s missing something.”

Mikey blushed, dropping from his perch to sit next to you. “Allow me to offer you my artistic perspective!”

You happily oblige and show him your screen. Thinking about your fellow tenants had made you unintentionally start to draw little doodles that looked like them. You couldn’t help wanting to draw the people you knew. Your weird, human neighbors were quite the characters. Almost a little more weird than the turtles, in your opinion.

“Oh, I know this guy. Is this the one that knocked at your door at 3 AM asking for a DVD?”

Mikey pinched to zoom in on your sketch. You don’t know whether your drawing was that accurate or if he was just great with faces. Either way, you can’t help but smile even more.

“How did you know?” You snuggle closer to Mikey, leaning in. “He insisted that I had borrowed his copy of Cats. And I was like, ‘Dale, I already own it on Blu-ray. Why in the world would I steal your DVD?’”

Mikey fell into your lap in hysterics. “NYAHAHA—! You didn’t!”

You weren’t lying about the interaction having happened, but maybe you embellished the part at the end. You just loved making Mikey laugh.

“I did!” You beam.

“Your neighbors are so weird, even for me. And the only neighbors I have are the sewer gators.”

You set your iPad down on the patio, scooching Mikey to lie fully in your lap.

“Her name is Leatherhead and she’s lovely. I met her family once, on the way to the lair.”

Ignoring your sly tone, Mikey curled up into you like a lap cat. He was practically purring from how happy he was to finally be in your arms. It’s only been a couple of days since he’s had the opportunity to see you like this, and he was absolutely touch-starved.

“I missed you,” he sighs. “Patrol has been intense lately.”

His tired smile told you that he’d rather not get into it right now. You hum, petting the side of his head.

“I missed you too.”

Talking about his brothers wasn’t necessarily a taboo topic, but right now was the time for Mikey to relax, to unwind. You had plenty of stress in your own life too. Maybe it wasn’t as important as keeping the city safe, but it was tiresome to you nonetheless.

You both just wanted to forget about everything else, just be together. That was what these rooftop hangouts were for. And if that was good enough for Mikey, it was good enough for you.

But your smile faltered, if only for a moment.

Mikey’s eyes were closed as he continued to relish your head pets, unaware of your subtle shift in mood.

“Tell me more about your neighbors.” Turning his head, he speaks softly into your hand. “I love hearing about the people you live with. They’re interesting.”

“Well, this town is kinda ‘interesting people’ central.” You shrug.

“Yeah, I know. Are humans in other places like the ones here?”

Dragging your fingers along his textured skin, you think about it. You hadn’t really gotten around much, but you figured that NYC was a little unique compared to other major cities.

Your lips ease back into a lazy smile.

“Sort of. This place is sort of a big Melting Pot, y’know? It doesn’t really matter where you come from, everyone ends up wherever they are…for whatever reason.”

Mikey looks up at your face, his expression dripping with curiosity.

“What’s that mean?” He smirks.

“It means that people are weird. This place has a lot of people. Therefore, New York is just about the weirdest place there is!”

You two laugh, basking in each other's presence. After looking down at Mikey, you feel a little more normal. Work, life, all of that didn’t really matter anymore. Or at least, it shouldn’t.

“My neighbor’s aren’t all that interesting, Mikey. They’re just your run-of-the-mill folks, day drinking and sitting on the stoop.”

“Woah…” He gasps, sitting up. “Day drinking?”

Internally, you chide yourself. “I wasn’t supposed to say that.”

“Don’t worry, your secrets are safe with me!” He smiles, zipping his lips shut.

“I shouldn’t gossip…”

You roll your eyes a bit before they land on Mike. His eager, expectant expression was just too cute. Who could say no to a face like that?

Suddenly, you’re filled with bubbly energy.

“Okay, okay! Liz told me that Bill said that Debbie’s grandma was apparently—“

You whip your head around, making sure the coast is clear. You never knew who might be listening in, your neighbors were terribly nosy.

“She snuck Hennessy into the apartment meeting. Last Sunday, when we got together with the building manager, they had coffee and stuff…”

Mikey quickly scrambles over to grab a free chair before sitting directly in front of you. Enraptured, he places his head on his hands.

“And she added a little extra somethin’ into her mug? How scandalous!” He wiggles his eye ridge, fully getting into the story.

You launch forward and gesture wildly with your hands. “No, that’s the thing! She put the booze…in the coffee pot.”

Mikey’s smile dropped.

“You don’t mean—“

Grimly, you nod your head.

“I mean a whole room of people, shnackered at 10 AM. On God’s day.” You chortle.

He covers his mouth in genuine shock. You chuckle, looking at his wide-eyed expression.

“And I know that Liz was the one who ratted her out, the bitch. She of all people would know what Hennessy tastes like, I saw her drink 5 whole cups with my own eyes!”

Mikey moves his hands away, his voice hushed. “She sounds like a bitch.”

You kick your legs up and recline farther in your chair. “You don’t know the half of it.”

Liz was your next door neighbor. She always had a knack for being right outside your door whenever you stepped out to go to work. You left early everyday just to accommodate for the inevitable one-sided conversation. She was old, and very lonely, so you didn’t mind her chatting your ear off.

But she was also very bitter. Even more so after the Kraang invasion.

“I swear, I keep seeing those…frog men. They flip around my windows at all hours of the night, whooping and hollering up a storm! Who do those punks think they are?”

You’ve seen a lot of different reactions from people after the turtles officially became public knowledge. Usually, it was just casual disinterest or disdain from the more conservative crowd. Old people, cops, etcetera.

But for some reason, the people you lived with just happened to be either really old or in law enforcement. They hated all mutants, and they didn’t have any problem letting you know about it.

You nearly get lost in your own thoughts before Mikey nudges your knee.

“I think she’s the one who threw a flower pot at my head that one time.” He chuckles, rubbing the back of his noggin.

Sighing, you lightly knock his leg with your foot. “Yeah, that’s Liz. If rent wasn’t so good here, I’d move out in a second.”

“Aw, they’re not so bad!” Mikey shoots a toothy smile at you. “It’s not the worst thing someone’s thrown at me.”

You meet his grin with a small frown.

“How do you do it?”

Mikey cocks his head. “Is that a rhetorical question?”

“Ugh, no? Yes?” You lean back and stare up into the sky. It was a clear day, not a cloud in sight.

“You’d think people would be a little more thankful to the guys who saved their asses from alien invaders.”

You seethed, thinking about all the nasty side comments and quiet whisperings you’ve overheard in your hallways.

“Hey, don’t get angry on my account.” Mikey reaches out and gives you a good-natured pat on the leg. “My family’s used to people wanting to kill us all the time, so a flower pot is actually a nice change of pace.”

“I guess so.”

Then, you realize it.

This was why you were so stressed out. Whenever you think about the turtles, you can’t help but associate them with all the negative energy you’ve been surrounded in at home. You thought you had thicker skin, but you feel your heart start to sink.

“You know, it’s funny.”

Mikey sighs, musing to himself.

“Sometimes I think about how weird it’s been lately. Splinter always told us it was important for us to not be seen, to stick to the shadows. It was because of the ninja thing, mostly. But I know he was trying to keep us...”

He picks nervously at his palm, tracing the lines of his hand.

“Safe?” You ask.

“Sheltered.”

There was a sadness creeping into his voice. You hated the sound. It was just too bittersweet for you to handle. You cautiously look back to Mikey, waiting for him to finish.

“But, then there was April. And Casey, later on. I thought there might actually be a chance for us to make it out in the human world. The whole yokai/mutant thing with Draxum was…well, a whole thing.”

Mikey briefly looked back up to make sure he wasn’t boring you too much. Not that he didn’t like to talk with you about stuff like this, it was just a little hard.

When you give his hand an encouraging squeeze, he sighs.

“But, I knew we kinda wouldn’t have a choice to stay in the shadows anymore. After the Kraang, that is. Leo told us we wouldn’t exactly be getting the red carpet treatment.”

“Humans are stupid.” You huff.

“You’re a human, and I don’t think you’re stupid at all.”

Mikey squeezed your hand back, a sad smile forming on his face.

It wasn’t like he needed the entirety of New York to accept him and his brothers. With April, Casey, and especially you, he had all the human approval that he could ever want. He searched your face, and he knew that you were starting to slip.

You try to swallow down the lump in your throat before speaking up.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up all this.” You run your thumb along the edge of Mikey’s.

Mikey sits up, puffing out his chest. “That’s enough. I will not have you getting sad because of me!”

Suddenly, he stands up, bringing you along with him.

“I’m not sad, I’m mad!” You scoff, rubbing your nose on your sleeve. “I ought to throw ceramic vases at Liz, see how she likes it.”

Tutting you, Mikey leads you out into the middle of the roof. There was a concrete slab next to the door that led back into the building, where you had placed your backpack earlier. You watch as Mikey sneaks around, dipping behind your back, to dig through your bag.

“You know a good way to get rid of all that anger?” Mikey whispers, rising up.

“What are you scheming back there?” You cross your arms and spin around. “Stop messing with my—“

When you turn around, you see Mikey holding up your trusty pair of skates right up to your face. He held them by the shoelaces, a cheeky grin peeking around them.

“Skate the hate away, baby!”

“That’s a beautiful thought,” you smirk. “But I couldn’t.”

“Oh, then let me help you.”

You gasp, feeling Mikey drag you over to your chair to push you back into it. Once you fall, he moves down to pull off your sneakers and lace up your skates.

Blushing, you watch him lovingly guide your feet in. He sticks his tongue out as he ties little bunny-ear knots.

“Mikey…!” You giggle, his fingers tickling your ankle. “This is too much.”

Whenever you started to become sad, you could always count on him to lift your spirits back up. You tried to stay as endlessly positive and go-with-the-flow as Mikey, but it was difficult sometimes. The inner optimist in you was finding it more and more hard to navigate the nihilistic world you found yourselves in.

“There! Now c’mon.” He smiles.

Mikey lifts you back up, pulling you to glide over to the concrete by the door.

You can’t help the goofy smile that creeps in when he spins you around. The flat surface was just big enough for you to skate a couple of inches away from him.

Your shoulders slump, all at once feeling happy again.

“What did I do to deserve you?” You fold your hands behind your back and circle Mikey.

Chuckling, he tries following your face as it spins around him.

“Nothing. You were just in the right place at the right time.”

He stood there idly watching you elegantly sail past him. It was fun constantly making him have to twist around to keep eye contact with you, and you feel laughter begin to bubble up.

You snatch his hand, forcing him into an awkward dance with you.

“Care to join me?”

You grin from ear to ear, placing a hand upon the small of his back. Or rather, his shell.

Surprisingly, Mikey is caught off guard by your bold move. You watch with glee as his face flushes a bright pink. He stutters, a little bashful at being led around by you instead of the other way around.

“I g-guess I don’t have a choice?”

You pull him closer, pressing up against his plastron. “Nope!”

The two of you spin around in lazy circles for a while. The blazing sunset on the horizon brought a new feeling of warmth and comfort, a heavenly glow lighting up your eyes. The entire city looked like it was bathed in orange, Mikey’s signature color.

It was a good look for New York.

“Wow…” You sigh, marveling at the beautiful world around you.

“I know.”

Mikey shifts a bit, managing to stand an inch or two higher than he usually is. You were both about the same height, at least that was what you kept insisting to him. But he wanted to look down at you for once. He wanted to hold you like you held him.

“You make me feel accepted, you know.”

You blink against the light of the sun before looking back at Mikey.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. You just let me be me. That’s all I need. You make me feel all…sparkly.”

You bite your lower lip, holding back a chuckle.

“Sparkly, huh? That’s a unique adjective.”

That was the best way Mikey could describe it. You and him had so much in common, mostly in terms of your hobbies and your personalities. But there was just something about being around you so much that showed him how different you were. In a good way, obviously.

You were human, he was a mutant. There was the ninja-ing as well. You both had wildly different life experiences.

Slotting your head between his neck and his shoulder, he hugs you tightly.

“What about you?”

His warm breath makes you shudder, practically melting into his hold.

“You make me feel…”

You move your skate to engage the rubber stopper. The world was seriously starting to spin.

“Shiny.”

“Hey, are you copying me?”

Playfully scoffing, Mikey picks you right off of your feet and spins you around again. You laugh into each other's embrace, and you hold on for dear life as he pins you securely to his chest.

“It’s true! You make me feel all shiny and new.”

For a second, you feel your thoughts wander back to your earlier conversation. You don’t like having to shift into serious mode, but you needed to say just one more thing. Mikey moves away to get a better look at your face.

“I know it’s not easy. Having to save people when they don’t even—“

“No, it’s not. But when I think about all the people who do care, who do understand me…”

Mikey smiles, tipping your chin up slightly to look at him. He always wanted to do that to you.

“It’s easy. It gets easier everyday. All I have to do is have you right here.”

Then, your heart flutters in your chest. You didn’t notice it before, but Mikey stood a little taller than you now. You don’t know if he had a growth spurt or something, but there he was. Looking at you, his eyes sparkling in the sunset, you knew there was a lot more to Mikey than anyone thought.

Even you.

“I love rooftops,” you sigh, moving up to brush your lips against his cheek.

Angling his head around, he leans into you.

“I love rooftops too.”

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#rottmnt x reader #tmnt x reader #sfw #mikey x reader #michelangelo x reader #rottmnt mikey x reader #requests

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