#But we'll get there

[jackyjackdraws]

Family bonding time so that Stanford can recover from the trauma he had to endure

(also some Fiddauthor in the corner because after reading BoB I am more into it than before and that's not a stretch)

[areyouokaypanda]

Making steady progress through campaign two and... anticipating.

[superlarva]

Much needed cuddles!

Raising Dominoes has reached double digits!!! I've never been this committed to a project before and I can't wait to share more!

Here's Chapter 10 - Reunited.

Prologue: 00 Previous chapter: 09 Next chapter: 11

Summary: Rex and Fives visit Echo at the hospital.

CW: Implied/referenced child abuse, food insecurities, hospitals, missing limbs

Chapter 10 �� Reunited

Fives bolted into Echo’s room before Rex could even think about stopping him. One second the boy had been holding his hand, the next the door was beginning to swing shut after him.

In the split second that Rex had been able to see into the room, he caught sight of a familiar figure in a long white coat standing next to a bed occupied by a small boy. The shades were not drawn this time, and there were less machines beeping away. From the fleeting image it looked like Echo was doing better.

Rex followed Fives into the room and his breath caught in his throat at the sight of the kid climbing up onto his twin’s bed. Worried that Fives was going to accidentally hurt his brother, he quickly covered the distance between them and reached for Fives, ready with a lecture about proper behavior in a hospital, but faltered when he heard a deep chuckle.

“It’s alright, Rex,” Kix said, smiling as he finished hanging a bag on an IV pole.

Rex frowned, worry etching creases in his brow.

“He’s being careful. He won’t hurt him,” Kix reassured. He walked around the bed to Rex’s side and lowered his voice so the boys would not be able to hear, “Trust me, they need this. That was the first time I’ve seen anyone get near the kid without him flinching.”

Rex nodded, but his frown deepened. Echo weakly shifted over in the bed to give Fives more room.

“See if you can get him to eat anything,” Kix whispered before turning on his heel and starting for the door. When he reached the door, he looked over his shoulder at the twins and waved, “Okay, Echo, I’m going to go now. I’ll be back in a few minutes to check on you, alright, trooper?”

Echo made no response, but Kix did not seem to expect one since the door was already clicking shut behind him.

Rex should not have felt uneasy being left alone in a room with his twin boys. It was ridiculous, really, but the way Echo stared put him on edge. The boy’s eyes never left him, not even as Fives snuggled up next to him, close but not touching. Not even when Fives called his twin’s name.

Echo’s eyes were cold and evaluating. Sizing him up as if he were a threat. Rex supposed that was probably what he thought he was: someone else that would hit or yell, someone else that would poke and prod with needles.

Rex really only had one move. He backed away from the edge of the bed slowly and sat in the chair pulled up beside it. Echo’s eyes followed him.

It was Fives who broke the silence, “Are you better now?”

Echo blinked, his eyes slowly pulling away from Rex’s to settle on his brother, “…yes.”

His voice was so small and though he wanted to sound brave for Fives, it was more than clear he was lying. His face was pale and gaunt, his voice hoarse and dry, and he was still surrounded by bags of meds and beeping machines.

“So, we can take him home now?” Fives asked hopefully, lifting his head from the pillow to address Rex.

Rex shook his head, “We have to wait for Kix to discharge him.”

Fives let out an exasperated sigh and let his head drop back into the pillow dramatically. After a minute of silence, he turned to Echo, his voice soft, “I missed you.”

The corners of Echo’s thin lips quirked up into the image of a smile, but an image was all it was. There was no sincerity to the motion and the smile dissipated quickly, face contorting in pain, or grief, or sadness.

The boy’s mind was elsewhere, his sad eyes darting around the room before drifting back over to study Rex. Rex smiled, though he was afraid his was as empty and meaningless as Echo’s had been, “Uh, Echo, it’s nice to meet you. I’m… I’m Rex.”

Rex cringed at his awkwardness, but he forced himself to gauge the boy’s reaction. There was none. Echo remained still, eyes locked onto his.

Rex broke eye contact, dropping his gaze to the gift bag still clutched in his hand, “Oh, um, Fives, do you want to give your brother his present?”

“Oh, yeah!” Fives jumped off the bed and retrieved the bag, crinkling it around loudly as he climbed back up, kneeling at Echo’s side. He held out the present in front of his brother, “I saw this at the… the gift shop and- and Rex said I could get it for you!”

Echo reached out slowly and took the bag, letting it rest on his chest as he used his remaining arm to attempt to fish out the gift.

Fives watched his twin struggle for a moment before his excitement won out, “It’s a book!”

Echo finally pulled out the book and turned it over, looking at the cover.

“It’s a- a guide book. For Kamino- no, um- Coruscant. That’s where we are!” Fives exclaimed, excitement and his difficulty remembering what Rex had said about the book causing his words to come out breathless.

In Rex’s eyes the book was worthless—a cheap tourists’ guide to Coruscant—but it had been the only book in the gift shop, and Fives had insisted Echo would like it. Who was Rex to dispute his claim?

Echo turned the book over one more time to look at the back and set it down at his side. “Thanks,” he said quietly, looking at Fives before turning his attention to Rex, voice now so soft Rex had to strain to hear it, “Thank you, sir.”

Rex smiled, and this time he was sure it looked genuine, “You’re welcome.”

“Do you like it?” Fives asked, beaming at his brother and bouncing a little on the bed.

Echo nodded, his eyes flicking over to Rex and shoulders tensing.

He was lying.

He was lying and he thought Rex was going to what? Punish him for it? Call him out on it? Make both of them upset?

“Wow,” Fives breathed, flopping back down onto the bed, seemingly oblivious, “I’m so happy to see you.”

“I’m so happy to see you,” Echo repeated, tearing his eyes away from Rex to face his brother.

“Does- Does it hurt?” Fives asked, looking at the places on the sheets where the lumps ended.

“Not really, I’m just tired.”

“Can I see?”

Echo shifted to sit up a bit higher on the pillows and pulled the blankets down. The stumps where his limbs used to be were wrapped up in bandages. His right arm had been cut just above the elbow, his right leg above the knee, and his left leg below the knee. It was a miracle the paramedics had been able to arrive in time to stabilize him before he bled out.

“Not much to see,” Echo rasped, letting out a strangled laugh that quickly morphed into a coughing fit.

Rex rose from his chair instinctively, “We should get you some water.”

Echo flinched back at the sudden movement, screwing his eyes shut, coughing subsiding for a moment to allow a small whimper to escape his throat.

“Okay, okay, I’m sitting down,” Rex slowly lowered himself back into the chair.

Fives hovered over Echo, hands twitching like he wanted to touch him, but he was not sure he should. Instead of offering any sort of physical comfort, Fives opted for verbal, “It’s okay, Rex is nice. He’s nice.”

“He’s nice?” Echo managed weakly, eyes opening a crack.

“Mm-hmm! Nice,” Fives answered cheerily.

Echo began coughing again and it took all of Rex’s strength not to get up from the chair for a second time. There was a glass of water on a tray full of food next to the bed and Rex pointed to it, “Fives, can you get that water for Echo?”

Fives turned and grabbed the cup, pressing it into his twin’s hand. Echo took it and brought it to his mouth, arm trembling under the small amount of weight. Much of the water spilled down the front of the boy’s papery hospital gown and onto the sheets, but Rex was relieved to see him take a few gulps.

Echo passed the glass back to Fives and relaxed back into the pillows, giving out one final cough.

“That feels better, huh?” Rex asked, relaxing back into the chair himself.

Echo blinked, “…feels better?”

“Yeah, doesn’t it?”

The boy slowly nodded, “Yes, sir.”

“You know what else would help you feel better?”

Echo swallowed, his eyes darting over to where Fives sat next to him before returning to stare blankly at Rex, “No, sir.”

“Some food in your tummy,” Rex nodded to the tray of food by Fives.

Fives pushed the tray over to Echo, who shook his head, “I’m alright, sir.”

“Aren’t you hungry?” Rex questioned, concern written across his face.

“A bit,” Echo confessed after a moment. The boy dropped his eyes to the bowl of stew and looked at it like it was a cup full of bugs.

“Are you allergic?”

Echo shook his head, still watching his meal with disgust.

“You just don’t like it then?”

The boy shrugged.

“Okay…” Rex mumbled, wracking his brain for a nicer what to ask what the problem with the food was.

It turned out he did not need to.

“So then why won’t you eat it?” Fives asked.

“I…” Echo started, his voice barely audible, “I don’t deserve it.”

Everything stopped for a moment: the beeping of the machines, the little particles dancing in the waning light, even the beating of Rex’s heart. The kid thought he did not deserve hospital food. Hospital food. It brought Rex back to the first night he brought home Fives, when the boy had cried because he was “being too nice” to him.

Vaguely Rex wondered if Echo thought he did not deserve the meal because it was nicer than whatever type of sustenance he was used to, or because he was accustomed to having to work for his food. Neither option made Rex very happy.

In fact, he was angry.

No, angry was not quite right.

He was livid.

Rex gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before his heart exploded with rage. When he opened his eyes he was met with twin sets of chocolate colored irises staring back at him.

His heart melted, “You deserve it, Echo.”

The boy kept his face unnaturally still and Rex wished he could read what was going on under that carefully maintained mask.

“You deserve it,” Rex repeated, louder this time. He looked down at the floor, hoping to hide the sadness in his eyes, “Everyone deserves to be able to eat when they’re hungry.”

The room was silent again. Rex did not dare look up from his shoes. He did not know if he could bear looking into their innocent faces after everything they had been through because of him. Because he had done everything he could to not look back.

If only he had, then he would have found them earlier, before-

“I can eat it,” Echo’s quiet voice cut through Rex’s thoughts.

He snapped his head up to see both boys looking at the tray of food with downcast expressions.

“I’m sorry, sir” Echo muttered, his shoulders tensing, “I didn’t mean to make you upset.”

“What? No, no, I’m not upset,” Rex said, waving his hands around as if that would prove his sincerity. The last thing he wanted was for his boys to be tiptoeing around him and worrying about upsetting him.

The twins looked up at him skeptically.

“Not upset,” Rex reassured, giving them a small smile, “Not upset, just- Hey! I’ve got an idea.”

Echo’s head tilted to the side, one eyebrow cocking up in interest.

Rex turned to Fives, “Hey, bud, are you hungry?”

“Uh-huh?” Fives’ brows crinkled together.

“Why don’t we go down to the cafeteria real quick and get some dinner to bring back here? Then we can all eat together.”

“Okay,” Fives agreed easily, sliding off the bed. Once his feet hit the ground he turned back to his twin, “Okay?”

Echo nodded, “Okay.”

The rest of the evening was spent answering Fives’s one hundred and one questions about the hospital and watching Echo slowly pick at his food long after both Rex and Fives had finished. When he finally pushed it away, he had only gotten through around half, but when Kix came in to say goodbye at the end of his shift, he seemed ecstatic that any of it was gone at all, so Rex counted that as a win.

At around 8 pm both boys were exhausted. Rex was about to suggest that he take Fives home for the night when the boy passed the Coruscant guidebook to his twin, “Can you read to me?”

Echo smiled softly and took the book, sandwiching it between his chest and his hand so he would be able to keep it steady as he read.

There was no way Rex was interrupting this. He leaned back in his chair and listened to Echo rattle off facts about the Bureau of Ships and Services Heritage Museum.

After a few minutes Fives shifted in the bed next to his brother. “Cuddle?” He asked, looking at Echo hopefully.

Echo put down the book for a moment to pat his shoulder, “Here.”

Fives smiled sleepily and inched closer to his twin to rest his head on his shoulder.

Echo resumed reading and in no time at all Fives was asleep. Rex watched as Echo carefully set the book down so as not to disturb his brother. He then pulled the covers up around Fives’s shoulders. As he did, he noticed Rex looking at them and frowned in a silent question.

“You take such good care of your brother,” Rex said softly.

Echo looked down at Fives, a real, true smile spreading across his face, “I love him. I’d do anything for him.”

@marierg @stressed-cherry @ffdemon @renton6echo @bambambunny @tearfulsolace @rndmpeep @brokenphoenix99 @nerdy-valkyrie @xylionet @tazmbc1 @eyayah123 @the-bad-batch-baroness @sarcastic-nebula @ihaventpickedausername @sexysmeagolshitposting @emma-1409 @marcadamia

[cowardlykrow]

I was scrolling to see your NPMD art (I came here from the adorable sleeping lautski art you made) and your Tinky drawings are giving me life

he’s a menace. he’s just a little guy. he’ll haunt your family. he’s the funkiest creature you’ve ever seen. he’s got cute little eyes that go both directions. he’ll bite your fingers if you give him the chance. I love him so much

He is truly a menace, the tiniest terror, a bastard through and through!

[levinbolts]

did i tell you guys that kanver is a dilf? no? well, here's his daughter kala 💚

[lovingshadowpeaches]

yall ever make an AU where everything is the same except Wukong, Macaque and MK are systems and then you develop one headmate

i did, meet Scylla(plus my fav doodle closeups)

[rhaenin-time]

ok one reason I get so pissed off about the way "colonization" is misused in fandom is because it's a reminder that if you have half an idea and care in how the world functions, you can't even escape from that shit in fandom. All you can do is get to engage with it in various other contexts that lack the real-world degree of personal involvement — but not all of it. And that might actually be a good thing, a break from the personal connection and a chance to look at those issues in a different, less glaring light.

Or it would be. If not for all those people that can seemingly recognize that colonization is a "singular evil" when it benefits them, but who will immediately drop the subject or even get angry when it no longer does. And my big issue here is that I'm not just talking about fandom.

Now, I could write a huge essay on this and I probably will, but I've learned I tend to get things done more when I simply release little posts on the subject to gather into one for later. So that's what I'm going to do.

So I'll keep this short and sweet, and say for now, one of many reasons the overbearing misuse of "colonization" in the asoiaf fandom bothers me is because it echoes the same misuse and/or weaponization I see over and over again in real life. I see it when white anglo westerners speak of white Russians, white Latinos, Han Chinese, Arabs, Muslims, Jewish people be they zionist or not, and honestly the list goes on. Even in how European nations and overseas settler states sometimes talk about each other.

The following sentiment is shared by many I know: for a variety of reasons, I do not like it when people from colonial nations use the idea or even the fact that another group has engaged in colonialism as an excuse to be xenophobic. And I especially don't like how that's often the only time people are interested in the concept of colonization.

Probably because I do not like the mindset behind xenophobia, and I especially don't like colonization being trivialized and weaponized, often by beneficiaries of colonization, to support that mindset. And I truly hate how freely and thoughtlessly people do it to the point that it permeates not just real life but even fandom discourse, and how angry people become when you point it out.

[nicosraf]

I’m interested what’s your view son romance, sex, monogamy,relationships.

Are you romantic? What’s your thoughts on gay love and expressing it?

It’s probably a weird ask but I’m curious on how your mind works

love abm and a&m by the way you should be really proud of yourself. I also love that you are an author who actually interacts with their audience.

You deserve to treat yourself for what you have done.

Ok let me stop talking now I’m kind of embarrassed. You make really cute characters. I might love Lucifer now. 🫣

mmm really skirting what I'm comfortable talking about on Tumblr but i really like talking about being gay lol so ill chat a little

I'm too romantic, though I haven't been in an official relationship for a few years by choice (needed to work on myself etc etc). I hate being gay most of the time to be entirely honest with you. I love the act of being gay a lot; I love men and loving men, (if you're my friend, you have to put up with me talking about guys all the time I'm afraid) and I love gay culture. But being gay has caused me a lot of pain and I've only recently started being happy with who I am and coming out to most of the people I know. (And ABM played a major role in that funnily enough).

Anyway that's all just backstory for me to say that I love gay homosexual love and I love gay people so much. Yeah gay communities have so so many problems, but gay love is something very special to me, almost divine. I think there's so many diverse ways of expressing gay love that we all need to protect; I think the masc4mascs who think their love is more "pure" gay male love are the worst. Gay sex is good, messy, also divine to me, but I'm still working on not hating myself for it.

I'm monogmous myself, I think, and gay communities being so polygamous has had its up and downs for me. I think some people blow this poly "issue" out of proportion, though I wish guys would be upfront about whether they can handle monogamy or not skskks

Thank you for liking my books! maybe i'll get a treat tomorrow. and i'm happy you find my characters cute, i think they're cute too :) Thank you for the ask

[tauforged]

very rough draft on a fun new dnd character that ive been bouncing the concept for around in my head. hes some sort of ocean-flavored druid and he's befriended all the local herring gulls. hes also a water genasi because im predictable i love water hair so sue me

[hyperbali]

Been a while since I did a schmoopy art dump, I kinda missed doing it!

Anyway I'm Mx. 'Never Pays Attention to Canon' so here's a bunch of Sidon/Nikoe

The old lad is Tekan, who's been a healer so long he was there for Sidon's tadpole years and is not remotely impressed with shenanigans

[illiana-mystery]

Hey Martin!

[chaotictarlos]

I am refusing to let myself be stressed over the tragedy and just keep remembering that all roads lead to the wedding and season 4 ends with Tarlos on their honeymoon.

[mollyjames]

Dragging myself, crying and bloodied back to adobe, forced to acknowledge they are still the best choice to compile pdfs

[valtiels-darkness]

😞 //But what if we’re both sleep deprived?

The snake Sannin stood before the slumped figure of one of his protogé. Barely able to keep themselves standing at all, let alone their eyes open, yet out of sheer stubbornness, they were. The Sannin was no better off. His nerves were frayed and the noise in his head only became louder. Nearly drowning everuthing else out.

It caused him to be... less pleasent to be around. However, his main objective at the moment? Get Kimimaro to bed. So, with that he cleared his throat to gain the other's attention. "I'll be retiring." Pale fingers went to card through soft white strands in a manner very much how his mother would, admiring how they nearly blended into his skin. "You should do the same, you'll be useless during your training."

((GETTING THERE!))

[kuyatecallate]

HC - Grimora is always hounding Magnificus about his apathy towards aesthetics, so she made him this get-up to look more 'mystical' (he lost a bet; only reason he'd willingly participate)

Sure he doesn't wear it, but he hasn't thrown it out, so that's gotta count fer something right?

[whentommymetalfie]

We need more moodboards!! ✨😏💛

you shall have them! I'm so happy to know you enjoy my self indulgent silliness and thank you for enabling me ❤️❤️