#And lost it all when I got home

[kakusu-shipping]

It’s my blog and I’ll post what I want to even if what I want to post is a Post Mario Movie Mario X Luigi mini fic because it’s my blog and I’ll post what I want to

So far away, and still together.

In which Mario and Luigi move in

“Last box!” Mario called, the loud thud of said cardboard box hitting the floor causing Luigi to flinch. “We’re officially moved in.”

Moved in... Moved in to Toad town, in a world so far away yet just a single pipe from Brooklyn. So far from that apartment they’d grown up in, from their food thief uncles, and mama’s fresh pasta. So far..

Mario’s hand brushed Luigi’s, and the younger flinched, pulling his hand quickly away on reflex.

They’d always been together, Mario and Luigi, as more than just brothers, as long as they could remember. When they were kids it was fine, no one batted an eye. Why was Luigi in Mario’s bed? He’s scared of the dark, and they shared a room anyway. Why does Mario kiss Luigi on the forehead so much? He’s affectionate, let the boy be affectionate.

It wasn’t until Middle school, when their father clonked their heads together, when they’d almost had their first real kiss, when their mother sat them down and talked in her worried, loving voice. She’d explained it like they didn’t know what they were doing, like they were confused, like she’d done wrong by not splitting them sooner.

They got separate rooms after that.

Sense then it got harder. They remained ever the same, but quieter. Secretive. Careful. They didn’t want to disappoint their mother, or get whacked over the head again by their father. They were lucky they were Italian, and affection was the normal between their family. Though somehow it never felt like enough.

“Lu. Luigi. Look at me.” Mario’s hand laced in Luigi’s, there in the living room. Their living room. Their home. Luigi turned to his brother, face red and eyes wet. Here in this house so far away from everything they’d ever know, in a locked house all their own, Mario laid a gentle hand on Luigi’s cheek and pressed his lips over his brother’s.

It wasn’t their first kiss, they’d snuck in a few, and it wasn’t like it’d been forever sense they’d kissed, just earlier today in fact while packing up Luigi’s room they’d exchanged a peck, yet this one. This one. It made Luigi’s leg’s shake.

Luigi wrapped his finger’s around Mario’s overall straps and pressed closer, closer, closer, never close enough. Mario held onto Luigi’s cheeks, bending back into the desk from his bedroom now propped here in their living room, it was all he could do to stop himself from toppling over.

Here in their home Luigi thought this kiss could go on forever and he wouldn’t care. He could run out of breath and keep going. He could starve and still stand there, his lips pressed against his brother’s.

When Mario moved his hands to Luigi’s shoulders and pushed him back, the younger resisted, using Mario’s overalls to pull himself back, pressing back into his lips harder, closer, deeper.

“Lu-” Mario spoke into his brother’s lips, pushing him back again. The older gasped for breath, practically sitting on his old wooden desk.

Luigi found himself snapped out of his trance, immediately retreating three large steps back and he spilled apologizes, wringing his hands together in front of his chest. His cheeks flushed, his eyes stung with tears. He’d gone overboard, he’d always gone overboard. He’s the reason they’d gotten caught in the first place, and nearly gotten caught so many times after. And now here he was, putting Mario at risk again in their brand new home. Why’s he gotta be such a screw up-

Mario’s lips once again pressed to Luigi’s, soft and quick and enough to shut him up. “Deep breath, bro.” He said gently, placing his hand on his brother’s waist, “In and out, nice and slow.”

Luigi took a few steadying breaths before laying his forehead on his brothers shoulder, “I’m sorry..” He shook softly, gripping onto the front of Mario’s overalls.

“For what? Kissin’ the love of you life openly and passionately for the first time in your life? Taking my breath away? Pinnin’ me to my desk like a horn dog?”

“I-I did not PIN you!” Luigi shot up, face deep red as he pushed away from his brother.

Mario chuckled, pulling Luigi back, “You didn’t bend me over the desk kissing at me like you’d never see me again?”

“Shut up!! Shut Up!!!” Luigi slapped his hand over Mario’s face, pushing at him again, “I did not bend you over!!!”

Mario continued to laugh, kissing at Luigi’s hand before scooping him up and spinning them both and toppling onto the couch with Luigi on his lap. The younger buried himself into his brother’s shoulder, ears burning red.

There were boxes to unpack, cleaning and sorting and probably some paper work to be done, but it all could wait.

For now, Mario and Luigi laid comfortably together on their little beat up loveseat they’d bought off some guy in Kings for $250, in their living room, their house, so far away from the little apartment they’d grown up in. So far away, and still together.

[ryllen]

Look what came through the mail today! The letters & ( •̀ω•́ )σ 3 little gremlins from letterstoear.

Just wanna say i adore the flower stickers on the letters too much, they are that much worth mentioning.

[general-cyno]

I've been musing about it for a while, thanks to some posts I've read recently too, and honestly... one of the (many) fascinating aspects of zolu to me is the way they share parallels/connections and or similarities to important figures in OP's world. spoilers for the most recent arcs and reveals ahead!

perhaps the most blatant and one of my personal favorites, are luffy and zoro's similarities to roger and rayleigh. as OP's mc and someone who's on the road to become the pirate king, luffy's own similarities to roger have come up a lot throughout the story and they've been acknowledged or pointed out by other characters like shanks, rayleigh himself and yamato, for example. from the goofy parts of their personalities, to the strength of their wills, and their dreams, luffy and roger's parallels are consistent in OP,

and as seen in rayleigh's brief memory of their first meeting, the straw hat luffy received from shanks was originally worn by roger back when he was young.

albeit the circumstances are a little different - with them stumbling upon each other by chance vs luffy going out of his way to meet zoro after learning of his name and reputation - this first meeting is still reminiscent of zoro and luffy's, with both ray and zoro initially rejecting roger and luffy's invitations to join them in their journey.

as for rayleigh and zoro, there's also a bunch of parallels between the two!

due to his previous time as a bounty hunter in the east blue, zoro made quite a name for himself and as OP progresses, his renown as the pirate hunter and the straw hats' swordsman is only second to luffy's. he was also the 2nd straw hat to get a bounty, and he's usually right behind luffy whenever their bounties go up. similarly, rayleigh was (and still is) considered a legend second to roger himself, strong enough that garp still views him as a powerful foe the marines can't easily defeat and managed to scare blackbeard away from amazon lily without an actual fight, despite the latter's strength.

there's other stuff too: the eye scars, both zoro and ray being greatly skilled swordsmen, their love for booze, being users of all three types of haki and even their epithets! from what I've read from other OP fans in discussion threads and through some internet search, rayleigh's title of "dark king" in jp is actually the name or word for pluto (the god of the underworld, roman mythology's equivalent to hades) in said language. in comparison, "enma", the name of zoro's most recently acquired sword and the "king of hell" title that he claimed after defeating king in wano, are a direct reference to the buddhist deity of the same name in jp mythology, also known as yama - a god of the underworld in charge of judging souls.

from the most recent flashbacks of the god valley incident, too, you can see the physical resemblance between these duos:

(as a bit of a side note, I think it was nice that rayleigh not only took it upon himself to mentor luffy, he was also the one who protected zoro from kizaru in sabaody and after the timeskip, during the straw hats' reunion in the archipelago and as they bid their farewells, zoro went out of his way to thank him for everything too.)

all in all, considering how close roger and rayleigh were (to the point roger called him "partner"), their strength, reputation and their overall journey with the roger pirates crew - the fact that luffy and zoro share more than a few clear similarities/parallels to them is really good imo, and it speaks both of the importance of their relationship and of the kind of figures they're bound to become, or are already becoming, in OP's world and ongoing history.

although it'd be sweet to have zoro and luffy directly refer to each other as partners as well (which kid and killer, another captain/first mate duo, have done too) I'm not sure it'll happen, if only for the sake of keeping the relationships between luffy and the crew balanced, so to say. still, like I said, knowing how close luffy and zoro are and that they share parallels with other captains/first mates, I think that says a lot about them regardless and the importance they hold for each other and the story as a whole.

another interesting resemblance between zolu and characters who are connected to one another involves, of course, shanks and mihawk - both of which are not only acquainted with each other, as rivals and friends of sorts, but also served as luffy and zoro's mentors/guides at different points of their lives and presently stand as their eventual foes to face in order to reach their goals of becoming the pirate king and world's greatest swordsman.

aaand last but not least, because it's yet another favorite of mine: joy boy/nika and shimotsuki ryuma. I sort of talked about it in another post, and I find it pretty cool. nika and ryuma come from different eras and don't exactly have much to do with one another but luffy's DF awakening and defeating kaido led to "joy boy" (since luffy refused to take credit for it directly by name) being hailed as a hero to wano that's comparable and only rivaled by ryuma, who in the past defended the country and was considered a legendary swordsman, whose sword shusui (that zoro wielded for a while) is a national treasure even.

since the hito hito no mi: model nika is a mythical zoan and vegapunk's speculated that devil fruits come into existence as manifestations of hope and wishes (or a potential for human evolution someone's desired), among other things, nika's existence as an actual god is kind of a subject of current debate in the fandom BUT. the fact remains that whether real or myth, he's still mentioned in old texts and his story has been shared among those enslaved by the WG, as a call for hope and freedom. in addition, even though he was human, ryuma also became revered as a savior figure and a sword god by the folks of wano.

so when you have luffy embodying the sun god of joy and liberation,

and it turns out zoro is none other than a descendant of the shimotsuki (frost moon) family, who resembles the former daimyo of ringo and the god of the blade ryuma,

well. those are some crazy parallels luffy and zoro share outside of their equally kinda crazy and meaningful relationship, as individuals and crew.

[deoidesign]

.

[bunnieswithknives]

sorry if idk this but what do you think about Wordgirl now in 2024 do you still like it do you still want to make art or talk about it or are you just done with all of it forever and plus i seen that you haven't made art of it since 2022 so you just done with all of it oh yeah and what about The Magnus Archives + Wordgirl ao3 fic too like is that just going to be and i know that your working on 2 au's now just wanting to know that's all

My interests tend to come in intense bursts and then fade. Unless something like, big happens like it gets a reboot its unlikely I'll be coming back to it anytime soon. As for the fic I don't have any current plans to finish it unfortunately.

[meteors-lotr]

I think Thorin should be glad he died, because if he survived you know Bilbo is gonna drag is ass all around middle earth to make him apologize to basically everyone they met on that journey for a variety of different things, and I don’t think his pride could have handled that

[lookingforsneha]

Post-Azkaban Wolfstar and 'Where'd all the time go',

Cause you know they get so forgetful, when they look in eachother's eyes.

[spotaus]

Thinking about Orchid and her connection to my take on Gender (because this was meant to be about her and the Crew but it just devolved into a character analysis kinda??? More trauma-dumping maybe???) This is very much an oc/personal rant so feel free to ignore it 🫡

So, Orchid started off as a character I didn't really think much of (hear me out this is going to be relevant) because I wanted to add a 'girl' character but didn't know what to *do* with her, y'know? She was always going to be the strongest one there, she had the odds stacked in her favor with her parents. She was always going to be the gloomy side-character to match Reset's energy. But I think she's gone through every stage of Generic Woman I could possibly find.

At first she was angry and abrasive (think Fell!Sans) where every other word was a curse and she was likely to throw the first punch then laugh as she kicks her enemy while they're down. This was when Reset was a cartoonishly self-centered villain whose goal was simply to prove others wrong. Then Orchid became a sort of sisterly figure. This was short-lived, but she was the one comforting people who Reset would torment, but would ultimately follow his orders, because at this point he was actually a danger and sadistic. And then there was the phase where the story mellowed out and she became the token Goth Girl who, yes she was strong, but was heavy on the 'whatever' energy. Then there was her Era of deep self-loathing and anxiety about her worth that held her back and made her a much more timid and meek character who would only lash out on occasion.

Now, Orchid is the best of those iterations I've written yet. She's calm, level-headed, and a natural leader. Her father raised those traits into her. But she's very reactive, and can be silly, and when she's comfortable it's likely that air of importance transforms into something more comfortable and familiar. She laughs loudly and grins wide, she likes loud video-games but loves to read in the quiet. She's extremely disciplined, and normally no one can get through her tough exterior besides her best friend, Reset. She does what she does for her own enjoyment, sure, but she's thought of every angle and makes her choice to help Reset and control the others with her whole chest. She still worries she won't live up to her invisible expectations, and that and her loyalty are her two driving forces.

I know that Orchid is important to me because she's the longest-running female oc I've had. I have a rough relationship with womanhood/girlhood and I know looking back that Orchid recieved every ounce of my distaste for being a woman that I could shovel into her. That never made her less of a character, she was actually always one of my favorites, and rarely was she a 'punching bag oc'. I just... projected onto her a lot. And she's a good sign of how I've learned who I am. I've decided that my own femininity is something I could live without. I'd rather not associate myself with it, and I'd like to leave it in my past, focusing on a future where I'm not tied down with any gender roles or expectations. That won't happen, but I've come to terms with it myself. Orchid though? I figured out through her that I don't have to hate women characters. My own distaste for my circumstances doesn't mean I have to push it onto my characters (on God I've never expressed anything rude to actual people, that'd be rude as hell and uncalled for, but I have a bad habit of disliking fictional women in media). So, Orchid is a well-roubded character finally. She has motivations abd goals and a *lot* more depth than I ever expected her to. She's happy with being a woman, she's content. She's not treated differently for it in unfair ways by those she cares about, so she doesn't mind it. She likes to wear pretty outfits and lets Reset add bows to her ribbons. She doesn't let being a woman hold her back in the slightest.

So, yeah. Orchid is one of my babies. If I ever leave this Fandom behind for good, she's one that's coming with (Ichor, Orchid, and Pretender all have human designs I can use elsewhere lol-) but in the meantime I'll just rotate her around in my brain for a while longer.

If I'm right, she's been with me for nearly 5-6 years and I went through a *lot* with her as an outlet. So, she's kinda just like an old stuffed animal. A lil ripped, matted fur, maybe a stain or two, but there's a story there and that makes it important beyond belief.

[jrueships]

im going into my new work tomorrow, first time ever😐

[rabbiteclair]

a while back my mom discovered that the owner of the company was stealing basically all of the money that he was supposed to submit for things like 'taxes' and 'health insurance' and 'court-mandated payments' for the employees, listing them on the pay stubs but then pocketing the money to help keep the company afloat

she then made sure that everybody in the company knew, submitted her resignation effective immediately, and spent about the next week calling government offices to report every crime, regulatory violation, and breach of employment contract that she could think of. and now it looks like the series of investigations that she kicked off might be the thing that finally destroys this man's company.

sometimes I'm proud of her

[artinandwritin]

Just a few little doodles of gussiri and their cat(s) (i think it's funny af LMAO)

[vroomian]

Well that was the most disgusting hour of my life! I need seven showers and a memory wipe!

[p1harmonie]

i hate buying stuff online

[coquelicoq]

.

[weallpartyatybcpatricksfuneral]

if I think too hard about how the original evil dead trilogy all takes place in like. a weekend. i feel like throwing up

[pupkou]