#and maybe a few toons

[seltzher-bottel]

evil bnuuy

[just-bendy]

(( Asks are back open and we are starting the Christmas event! The Christmas event will basically just be them dressed up in holiday sweaters and have various Christmas decor around the house. ))

(( I will close the ask box again once it goes over 30, but I'll do my best to answer them quickly. ))

[revvywevvy]

yknow i've mentioned before that chelly is very capable of being violent and explosive. however the most ever angry i've ever drawn her is mildly upset. plus there was the memey-ish thing with chelly literally begging chip to let her bite maim kill people for him.

i kinda wanna draw chelly completely snapping. chelly getting a little too silly.

[nexus-nebulae]

*bonkbonkbonkbonk*

[frostbite-the-bat]

first quad hr of 2024 heres to 6568465465468748 more

[starlit-mansion]

still figuring out if i have any tolerance for posting art or if it is exclusively an exercise in making myself sad

[enwoso]

Hi can you write a Lucy bronze x reader. Reader is the shy one of the team and during teamnights and interviews reader is very reserved. With Lucy she isn’t as shy. Lucy helps reader slowly get out her shell (some fluff :))

JUST NOT ME — lucy bronze

*i truly apologise for the lack of posts in the past few days, i’ve had a hectic few days and i’ve been focused on studying so sorry if this sucks — posts will probably be a bit inconsistent over the next few weeks but i’ll be as active as i can<3*

navigation

"you excited?" beth asked as the car pulled into the entrance of st george's park, the familiar surroundings bringing a small smile to your face. this was your first call up to the england squad in almost a year, having been out with the dreaded ACL injury.

"i guess" you shrugged, beth shaking her head in amusement. you didn't really know how to explain it, of course you were excited, who wouldn't be happy playing for their country but you were almost nervous, what if you weren't up the standard of others in the group.

"always the women of few words!" beth joked, one you had heard many times as the arsenal girls loved to tease you about how quiet you were but that's just how you were cause not everyone was her.

they didn’t know that you needed a chance to warm up to people before you let them into your bubble, they didn’t know that even though because you don’t say a lot that you aren’t paying attention as you notice every persons small habits they have. cause not everyone was her.

you were a listener and not someone who could sit and chat someone's ears off for ever more than a day like the likes of beth mead and ella toone could do so effortlessly without even realising.

but maybe that's what lucy liked so much about you.

you and lucy had been together just nearing two years now, the two of you had known of each other for a while it wasn't until a night out in london with the lionesses that leah had dragged you to after you had said for days on end that you weren’t going, that you and lucy spoke to each other.

you sitting in the corner of the club, drink in hand as you watched millie and rachel on the karaoke a small smile on your face at their singing which was not the slightest in tune at all.

lucy spotting you sat alone slipping in the booth with you before asking you why you weren't doing karaoke like everyone else, you shrugging at the girls question before she asked you if you wanted to do it with her.

you face going red as you almost immediately shook your head, but lucy being lucy had her mission for the night and that was to get you to do karaoke, and to which she succeeded after sitting and having a few more drinks with you.

and from that night, the rest was history.

you rolled your eyes at beth's comment as she chuckled to herself getting out the cab first, getting her luggage as you followed close behind her, thanking the driver as you headed into the entrance of st george's park.

taking in the familiar surroundings, as you looked around noticing the few changes since the last time you were here.

"i'm not holding these doors open for the good of my own health, hurry up!" beth pointed out, her thick northern accent bouncing off the walls as she was stood in the doorway of the lift, pulling you out of your trace as you hurried to get into the lift. pressing the buttons on the side of the wall for the floor you needed.

you and beth getting out of the lift on the same floor, you noticing your girlfriend as she had her back turned the opposite way, a smile appearing on your face.

beth nudging you, "go on!" she whispered as you said a small bye to the blonde as she walked the opposite way.

"your here!" a voice cheered which you knew all too well, lucy stood at the end of the hallway in front of her room door as you stopped your suitcase at your own door.

you smiled seeing the girl, your smile getting bigger with every step she took closer to before engulfing you in a tight hug. your whole body relaxing in hers, the smell of her perfume that you had missed.

“of course i’m here?” you smiled confused at her reaction to seeing you stood in the hallway. “well the media was saying you were gonna withdraw because of an irritation in your knee” she admitted a small frown on her face at the mention of your knee, knowing how hard and the amount of hours you had put in just to get back to the level you were at just last year.

“baby, you do know i would tell you before i even told sarina if i was going to withdraw don’t you?” you asked her, your hands finding their way up the back of her training top, your girlfriend having been here since early as she’d had an early flight to catch this morning.

“yeah”

"anyways, i've missed you" you mumbled into her neck, nestling your head as her hands fell to your lower back you feeling her smile against your forehead as she kissed it.

"i've missed you too love" she smiled as you looked up with a lovesick smile on your face. lucy pressing small kisses to your cheeks, nose and chin before finally pressing a soft kiss to your lips — which you would be dammed to say that you hadn't missed.

it was hard at times being away from your girlfriend for weeks on end as she played in barcelona and you were playing in north london at arsenal. having to schedule weeks in advance of when you would next be able to see each other.

but it made moments like these all the more worth it.

when you would finally be reunited and be in her arms again. sometime you think the distance made the two of you closer in a weird way as you felt as though you cherished you time together more.

"you coming down to lunch?" your girlfriend asked as she pressed your foreheads together, the smile never leaving either of your faces. you nodded, "yeah, let me just put my bag in and chance my shoes"

lucy hummed as she let you go from the hug, grabbing your suitcase for you as you rummaged around your pocket for your room key, the green light flashing as you pushed the handle down.

the door shutting with a click as you opened your suitcase finding your sliders to slip on, “baby, you got another pair!” lucy whisper yelled, pointing to your pink crocs that you were pulling out of your suitcase as she sat at the end of the bed watching you.

“yeah?”

“so what? that makes it seven pairs you’ve got now!” lucy said exaggerating the amount, as you huffed rolling your eyes as if she didn’t have trainers lined up on her bedroom floor.

“three actually” you sassed standing up and checking your hair in the mirror as lucy pulled a face at you, you doing one back to her.

“now quit your complaining, i want food!” you smiled sweetly at your girlfriend grabbing her hand and pulling her up from the bed as she pecked your lips quickly before you left your room not before checking that you had your phone and key card to actually get back into your room.

walking down hand in hand with lucy to where food was being served, as you filled each other in on the journey here. lucy’s sounding a lot more exciting then your two hour car journey consisting of views of trees and beth chatting your ears off about anything and every.

saying a small hello to others that you hadn’t seen since arriving before grabbing something to eat and sitting on a table just the two of you.

"on sunday, i went for breakfast with my mum and you know all she spoke about was you!" you complained as lucy had a smirk on her face as she put another forkful of food into her mouth, nodding alone to what you were saying.

"that's because i'm her favourite" lucy laughed as you rolled your eyes. “clearly, it’s so annoying-“ you began before being cut off by two blondes joining you at the table.

"how do you do that?" leah asked, directing her question more at lucy than you, as she sat down beth following behind the captain. as the two sat down at the table you and lucy were sat at.

"do what?" lucy asked, confusion taking over her face as she looked to you who shrugged putting another forkful of food in your mouth.

"get y/n to have a conversation!" leah pointed to you as you felt your cheeks go a little red as a small smile appeared on your face, as lucy looked back to the blonde and the two others still not really understanding what leah was trying to get at.

"we always have a conversation?" lucy shrugged as if it was nothing, cause to her it was. you had never really spoken to lucy until she had brought you out your shell. lucy knew you were more reserved when it came to talking to others, you would speak but it would be very few words.

but she wouldn’t change it for the word cause even if you didn’t say anything back she knew you were always listening and taking in everything she was saying.

beth and leah began to recount all the the times they had talked to you and you only ever gave them a one word answer, the two pleading with lucy to tell them her ways.

"really? y/n over here is a little chatterbox!" lucy smiled over to you as you awkwardly smiled at the two not really knowing what to say.

"she's not at shy as she likes to let everyone think she is!" she bumped your shoulder, as you rolled your eyes the sound of your fork tinkering against the plate in front as beth and leah’s mouth hang wide open in shock.

"no i refuse to believe it, how!"

"your just not me" lucy joked, the four of you beginning to laugh as you nodded your head in agreement, "i mean your not entirely wrong"

liked by lj10 and 736,250 others

lucybronze no one compares ☺️

comments -

youruser awh how cute

-> lucybronze no i meant no one compares to me?

-> youruser your ego is sickening at times.

[etherealstar-writes]

I WANNA BE YOURS | LIONESSES X READER | PT 12

pairings: lionesses x reader

summary: in which you're accidentally added to a random group chat, not knowing they're all actually famous footballers, and obliviously end up having many of them competing for your love and attention.

part: twelve

part one here

✦ ——— ✦ ——— ✦

THE NATIONAL DIVING TEAM

the REAL karate kid HOLD ON I FELL ASLEEP AND THIS IS WHAT I WAKE UP TO Y/N BAE WHAT IS THIS 😭

elton OMG LESSI MY MEMES SKILLZ ARE FINALLY RUBBING OFF ON YA

stairway still cannot believe this tho y/n 😔

neev neither 😔

willybum the betrayal 😔

the REAL karate kid y/n just so you know, we are not okay 😔

lotte 😔

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ so um ....

neev Y/NNN YOU'RE ALIVE HOW WAS THE DATE

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ he never showed up got stood up 😔

elton oh

stairway that is so sad

willybum that truly is terrible to hear

the REAL karate kid very sad

neev that really sucks

meado you idiots! atleast be nice and pretend to actually feel bad! ignore them y/n i'm really sorry to hear that he didn't deserve you at all

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ thank you beffy 🥺 it's fine gonna thrive in my single life forever i guess 😔✊

stairway well y/n i'm free tonight 👀

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ so am i 👀

willybum absolutely not we have our semis tomorrow you're not going anywhere

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ that is very unfortunate georgia 😔 maybe one day

stairway 😔

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ you know now that i'm getting better at my woso knowledge do a few of your teammates just not like messaging? bcuz there's a few not on this chat

neev hold on a sec you're right! chloe, esme, kirby, turner and zelem aren't even in the chat

staiway you forgot to add them ??

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ and you guys just realised 😭😭

elton shhhhh i'll add them now

elton added ona batlle

elton oh nuggets

the REAL karate kid HELP

elton i am walking and eating a donut and i accidentally clicked on the wrong person

willybum added katie

willybum do not trust ella to add people to this chat anymore

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ omg hey ona!

kie oh my days

ona batlle hello! :) i am not on the england team?

earpsy you qualify to be here anyway don't ya worry

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ ona, may i just say you are very peng

stairway Y/N.

neev peng 😭😭

ona batlle i am not sure what that means but i can only assume that it is good so thank you!

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ do you think i'm peng?

ona batlle yes sure! of course!

stairway 😐😐

katie ur ugly

elton hey katie! nice to see you too

katie i was talking to you

elton that is not nice

katie neither is being friends with you

elton i am not sure where this attitude has come from

willybum i love this new zelem

katie i hope you fall in the shower

willybum i take that back

katie HAHAHA HELP

neev WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING

katie HAH WILLYBUM THESE NAMES 😭😭 and i'm not katie zelem

meado i cannot believe how you guys keep doing this you added katie mccabe not zelem

elton OMG IT WASN'T ME IT WAS LEAH I DIDNT DO IT THIS TIME

rusty metal you literally added ona earlier ...

willybum changed the name katie to mccard

mccard was that name really necessary? really?

willybum yes.

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ OMG THE KATIE MCCABE ILY

mccard hello y/n ❤️

willybum absolutely not stay away from our y/n mccabe

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ OMG CAN WE ADD STEPH CATLEY TOO I LOVE HER

the REAL karate kid HUH

stairway hey hey hey you're supposed to be the lionesses' biggest fan what is this betrayal

neev yeah 😔😔

mccard added steph

meado STEPHYY hey girl!

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ OMG OMG NO ONE MOVE

steph katie did you add me here to get attacked bcuz i'm aussie? and heyy beffy!

mccard not this time :)

steph national diving time?! help 😭😭

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ omg hi!! ily you're amazing

steph aww thank you y/n!!

stairway look toone what have you done everyone's stealing y/n away from us now

elton how is any of this my fault?!!

the REAL karate kid it is

neev it is

lotte it is

willybum it is

earpsy it is

brightness it is

daily it is

stairway it is

rusty metal it is

meado it is

mccard it is

elton

i hate you all so much

✦ ——— ✦ ——— ✦

part thirteen here

[kaciebello]

Wrong address

Masterlist Delivery Express ✿ Summary: The reader sees an opportunity to run an untapped market in Hogwarts.  She just wishes people would put the proper address on it. Warnings: mention cigarettes, no use of y/n Authors note: English is not my first language, so I apologize for any mistakes beforehand. I want to spread this into a one-shot series. Proofread by me and me only (Ｔ▽Ｔ) • Previously: Left on delivered • Next part: Too many voicemails word count: 1.1k

notes to deliver: 365

It wasn't hard to find the Slytherin boys, usually you could hear them from miles away. That is why sometimes when they want to keep their business private, they sneak into the room of requirements. Not only was it soundproof, but no one just stumbled upon it. Most importantly nobody knows they hang out there. Or so the thought.

The giant door slides open revealing a makeshift sunroom. Nobody should have been able to find them there, yet they are not surprised when they see a certain Hufflepuff girl with a yellow bow in her hair. She was fondling a note in her hand looking at it confused. She steps into the room as a door closes behind her, making her way to the number of sofas in the room. The room senses her presence, makes sure there is room for her, and even goes as far as giving her a cup of tea.

“ What you got there mail girl?” asks Draco before closing his eyes and soaking up the artificial sun. Maybe he won't get sunburned from this one. 

“ Note for one of you…” all attention was on her now. Curiosity reeks from the boys. They are not strangers to being delivered notes or letters from the girl. If anything, it became like a norm at this point. Not that they ever respond to any.

“Well dont keep us on the edge of our seats. For who?” Says Mattheo eager to open it and read it.

“That's the point. I don't know.” She says and sighs. Promptly burying her head in her hands. Eager glances are swapped for confused ones.

Various versions of ‘Why do you mean you don't know.’ leave the boys. She just looks at the note before speaking.

“ I usually have people write to who on the folded note. and you know, that system works! Sure, some people mix Fred and George but who wouldn't.” She pauses, thumbs of agreement. She fips the note. “ This one is addressed to ‘ the cute guy from Slytherin’.”

“Oh sunshine, isn't it obvious? Give me the note.” Theodor says reaching for it. Blasie stops him with a disgusted look. She knew this would happen.

“Like hell it's you, if anyone here is cute it’s me!” says Draco no longer behaving like a cat in a sun but one that is about to pull out its claws. One by one the boys got increasingly offended if they were not suggested by the others. The girl places the note in her lap and reaches for her tea. It was amusing to see her fight for the title of the cute boy in Slytherin. And some people say they are dangerous.  Tooning them out, she looks around the room to admire it. 

“Sunshine.” Says Lorenzo making her turn back to them and pay attention. 

“ Give us the note.” He says, his eyes were a tad bit crazy. She shakes her head and places the cup on a table. Sometimes her friends scared her, not for the reason many people thought. Looking closely at all of them. They all had the same look in their eyes. 

She gets up and swiftly moves to stand behind a sofa, making sure there is some barrier between her and them.

“Sunshine, give us the note,” he repeats extending his hand to her. She just takes a B-line to the door. A crashing sound behind her made her clutch to the note in her hand. A few steps before the door Mattheo appears and blocks her way. She knew better than to start backing up so she turned and made her way to the glass door that seemed to be leading outside. She however could never outrun 5 boys in their prime, no.

A decision was made right then and there. When she can feel Draco catching up to her, she ducks—Draco completely misses her and runs into the glass door. She however was already running to the fireplace. She was a few steps from it when Lorenzo jumped out of nowhere and tackled her on the floor. Making sure to turn them around so he sounded her fall. The note slips from her grip. The two groan on impact.

“Bro that was unnecessary.” She whines and rolls at her friend. Sitting her to him while he lies on the floor with a smile.

“Yeah, but I got the note…” He says and looks in the direction the note has fallen. His smile drops when he sees it. The note has landed in the fire just as the girl intended to. The sides curled and ashy, there was no saving it. A victorious cheer leaves the girl, while others groan in frustration.

Looking around the scene, some pillows were thrown on the ground. One chair was flipped over and was lying on its side. Draco was holding his nose as Blasie helped him up. Something told the girl his father won't be hearing about this one. Overall it looked like someone casted Bombarda in the middle of the room.

Turning to the friend next to her, making sure he's okay. He just waves his arm at her and jumps up. Before helping her up. In the meanwhile, the rest have sat down in their previous spots. Mattheo flicked his wand to clean the room up a bit. 

Silence sat among the friends. A new batch of tea was made, and they all tried to figure out what just happened. The only sound in the room was the fire cracking, the remains of the note still visible. It's Blaise who breaks the silence.

“Um, that was…” He swallows the rest of his thought, opting to just nod his head.

“Man, we should have read it together, just aloud.” Says Theodor, pulling out his cigarette and offering it to anyone willing to take one. Nods and hums of agreement were heard from the boys.

“You know, the girl that gave it to me was very cryptic.” She says sipping on her tea and swapping the smoke away occasionally. Their ears perked up but they were still licking their wounds to pay proper attention.

“ She said, and I quote. ‘ You know who’ and winked before running away.” She pauses to take a sip before continuing. “ I think she wanted me to give it to the one I thought was the cutest” Lost in her thoughts, her gaze remained on ashes. She did not even notice that the chatter stopped.

Silence from the boys. Until.

“Well, who do think it's the cutest?” She just sighs at the question. Here we go again.

notes to deliver: 364

Tag list: @daisiesformylove, @klimovatereza-blog , @lafrone , @enfppixie , @rafegfs , @frogtape , @lovelyygirl8

[zeezelweazel]

A fluffy Leah fic for her comeback???? Maybe r being the one to give her the armband when she gets subbed on or like Leah being shy when asking r to be there during her comeback game??

Leah Williamson| Welcome Home|

______________________________________

LEAH GOT AN ASSIST ON HER FIRST GAME BACK

(I also hit 1k followers 🥹 thank you so much guys)

I wrote this just to get my mind off jilly so it's short, sorry but I'm so sad rn

Finally some fluff to cleanse all the smut

____________________________________________________

You remember the day Leah tore her ACL vividly. You were on the bench, having been subbed off just a few moments before. Nothing compares to the feeling of absolute dread that filled your entire body the moment you saw her go down. When the stretcher brought her on the sidelines Leah looked at you her eyes wide and scared and you knew.

Her recovery was long and hard but you were there. For every small step forward and every step back, for every time she was angry or frustrated or sad you were there. To hold her and brush your fingers through blonde strands of hair and whispers sweet nothings in her ear and kiss her forehead. You loved her when she didn't love herself and you kept loving her as she got stronger and stronger. You watched as she picked up different hobbies and did amazing things she never thought she'd do.

And now you watch as she gets up from the bench to warm up and your heart soars. You grin wide as you try to keep your head in the game but your body is buzzing with excitement at what's to come.

Soon enough you hear the crowd soar and you look at the bench to see Leah, smiling free and happy, ready to take your spot on the field. You didn't care about being subbed off, having done your part, so you run towards her. You carefully slipped off the captain's armband and approached her.

The loud stadium was tooned out as your whole world turned into blonde hair and blue eyes. As you reach the white line you take Leah's hand, holding it longer than necessary, and you slip the arm band on. Leah pulls you in for a quick hug and you don't waste the opportunity to place a chaste kiss on her head.

For the rest of the match your eyes are firmly locked on Leah. You watch closely as she sprints around and goes for tackles, because of course she does, and you watch as she puts in the perfect ball for beth to score. She was perfect in every way even after being gone for so long. Only your Leah would be able to do that.

You jump up from the bench to celebrate, probably too excited for a goal in a match that's already been won, and you wish you could run on the field and scoop her up in your arms.

And that's what you did. The moment the final whistle blew you made a beeline for Leah who was already looking for you. When your eyes met you recognised all those different emotions swirling in her blue irises.

You pull her in for a tight hug, Leah giggling happily as you spin her around.

"I'm so proud of you baby, you did amazing."

Leah smiled at you blushing and placed her head on the safety of your shoulder. She stayed there in your arms until the team had to huddle in a circle while Jonas gave his post match celebratory speech. You squeezed Leah's shoulder from your place next to her when he talked about her injury, her recovery and the fight she had to put up to get here. Leah blinked rapidly, her head moving from the sky yo the ground as she desperately tried to fight off her tears.

You moved your hand to rub her back and Leah gave you a grateful smile even though the tears didn't leave her beautiful eyes.

"You did it baby, I couldn't be more proud."

She turned and placed a kiss on your lips, not caring about the rest of the team. You enjoyed the warm feeling of her lips on yours and the soft hands on your hips. You chuckled at the cheers and whistles of your teammates and leaned your forehead on Leah's.

____________________________________________________

[skipper1331]

Pleading Eyes // Ella Toone

"So what‘re you up to later?" Mary asked as you walked to the changing rooms. "I‘m going to Ellas" you admitted, a goofy smile on your face. "Ah, young love" Mary laughed, throwing her arm over you.

Ella asked you out a few months ago, the girl having a mad crush on you since the first time she saw you.

"She brought me flowers, yesterday" you told the older woman, a sheepish smile covering your face. "That girl is head over heels for you" the goalkeeper said as she was about to open the door to the changing rooms. "She‘s so fucking annoying and clingy, i don‘t even know why I asked her out in the first place" you heard your lovers voice, your heart dropped, face fell, soul hurt. Did she really say that? Shocked, Mary looked at you, a single tear rolling out of your eye. "Um, i think I’ll just go home without my kit bag" you turned around, about to go when Mary stopped you, "I‘ll get your phone and keys, they‘re in your bag, right?" She could read you like a book, you didn't want to go in there, you wouldn't want Mary to shout at Tooney, you just wanted to go home and cry.

Perks of having a cubby next to the keeper was that she could easily take something out of your bag without the rest of the girls noticing.

You could only nod, you couldn‘t understand why Ella would say something like that. Only a month ago, she confessed that she loved you.

-

"My gorgeous girl" she purred, her arms going around your waist, pulling you on her lap. Her eyes were full of hearts, looking at you like you‘re everything (which you are). For awhile, you just stared at each other, not getting enough of the beauty of one another.

"I love you" she blurted out, your eyes growing wide. Realizing what she said, "I mean- no, ehm, I don‘t love ya, you‘re cool, i‘m cool, we‘re cool." she stuttered, trying to help herself.

"You don‘t love me?" you looked hurt, maybe even offended. Are you not loveable?

"What? No! I just- you‘re gorgeous, so so gorgeous."

"But?"

"There‘s no but- why is this so hard? I love you! you don‘t have to say it back. Well, um, yeah, i just love ya" she didn‘t look at you, her eyes everywhere but you, the tip of her ears red, her cheeks covered in a blush.

"I love you too"

-

"Here are your keys and phone, text me when you‘re at home" Mary whispered as she hugged you before you left the facility. You felt heart broken and betrayed.

Mary wanted to shout at Ella, how could she say something like that? As If she wasn‘t the one who‘s smitten for you. Ella is practically obsessed with you and she dares to say these things.

Unknown to you and Mary, the young lioness cringed at her words as soon as they left her mouth. She felt dirty and disgusted by her wording.

Katie Zelem and Millie Turner just couldn‘t leave her alone, they teased and mocked her about you, about her love for you.

She was always talking about you, when you entered the room everything fell to death ears, daydreaming about your future together. She was madly in love with you.

Yet their teasing annoyed her, all she wanted was that they leave her alone, that they’d leave you alone. She wanted to protect you. She wanted to have you to herself.

Ella🤍

You forgot your bag, silly, but no worries got it with me;)

what time are you coming to mine?

You read the text, your eyes red and puffy from all your crying. You didn‘t want to reply yet you kinda wanted to? It was complicated. If you don‘t respond she would know something‘s off but you also didn‘t feel like going over to her or talk to her the next few days.

You

Sorry, not feeling well.

I‘m going to bed

Immediately, her contact popped up on your phone, she was calling you.

You accepted.

"Baby! What‘s wrong? I‘m on my way. Nan has already sent me her special soup recipe" the midfielder rambled, walking around her home.

"No" you stated firmly, "It‘s okay. I just need some sleep. Need some rest"

"Okay?" she wasn‘t conviced yet she respected your wishes. "Call me when you need anything, yeah?"

"Mhm" you hummed in agreement.

It was safe to say that you wouldn‘t call her, tears building in your eyes, her words haunting you.

"Good night, Ella"

Ella? She didn‘t like the sound of that. She didn‘t say anything though, blaming your not-well-being for it.

"Good night, my gorgeous girl, i love you" you hung up as soon as you heard the word 'love'.

You didn‘t know what to do with yourself, heart broken and alone. You were in no state of mind to sleep.

An hour later, after sitting on the couch, staring in to nothing you called the one person you’d known since forever.

"Mary?" you whispered through the phone, "can you come here?" your voice was quivering, "i don‘t wanna be alone" was sobbed.

It took the keeper about 5 minutes to get to your home. With the key she had she entered your apartment, wordlessly, taking a seat next to you. Your head fell on her shoulder, no words exchanged, it was simply enough that she was there, that you weren‘t alone.

"Why would she say something like that?" you finally broke the silence.

"I don‘t know"

"Am I really annoying?"

"No, of course not. She doesn‘t deserve you" the older woman put her arms around you, yourself crying in to her chest, "She‘s an idiot"

You cried yourself to sleep, Mary holding you the whole time. She was your best friend, the big sister you never had.

-

"Hey," your (still) girlfriend greeted you with a kiss on the cheek, "how are you feeling, my love?" she asked her hand slipping in yours. "I‘m fine" you answered, pulling your hand away, tightening your pony tail. "Need to talk to Mearps" you said, leaving the midfielder behind, kinda confused.

The goalie tried to fix your look the best she could to cover your eye bags this morning.

"You alright?" said person asked, oh how dearly she wanted to shout at the young lioness, the pain she caused. "Sure" you shrugged, not feeling anything. You felt numb, you just had to work and everything would be fine.

Training went fine, most of the time you sticked with Maya and/or Leah, ignoring Ella. You couldn’t look her in the eye, you were hurt and angry. If she shouldn't have asked you out, why did she? Did it have to come to the point where you fell in love with her and felt like she was the one.

Ella noticed your behaviour, she saw your state - the way you worked like a robot, she saw that you wouldn‘t look at her, that you would brush her off If she tried talking to you or If she tried to be close to you.

"Can I see you later?" she asked as you entered the changing room "i‘m going to Mary" you told her, nonchalantly. "Well, um, could I maybe join you? I would like to spend some time with you" she mumbled, scratching her arm, shuffling her feet. "Sorry, party for two" you grabbed your bag, walking to the door, "Mary! Hurry up!" Wanting to walk to her car, you left the room, Ella close behind, "Can I see you tomorrow?" she grabbed your wrist, stopping you, "I‘ll see you in training"

"No- i wanna spend time with you, not in training. Maybe I could take you out? Your favorite restaurant?"

"Sorry, got some plans already"

Walking away, you left her alone in the hall with her staring at your figure. Why wouldn‘t you want to spend time with her? Were you mad at her?

-

The following days were just the same, you barely talked to her, your texts were short and you avoided her. Something was wrong, she knew by now.

"Is she mad at me?" Ella asked your best friend, looking at the ground. She hated that you ignored her, "i tried to talk to her but she- well, she isn‘t like usually?" The lioness hoped to find answers and comfort in the goal keeper, comfort that Lessi could give her through the phone. "Ask yourself why" Mearps replied, tone stern. "I did! Every night. I don‘t know what I did wrong" Ellas hands were flying around, getting more upset and confused by every minute that went by. "If you don‘t know I can‘t help you" Even though, Mary wanted to shout at the shorter girl, she was still her friend and wanted that the two of you make up, you‘re made for each other. "Mary! I love her! I just don‘t know what I did wrong or what to do"

The keeper rubbed her eyes, trying to stay calm "so you know that you did something wrong, right?"

"I guess so, she’s ignoring me" she answered, still not understanding why you would be at mad at her.

"for a good reason" mary muttered under her breath, "What comes to your mind when you think about what you might have done wrong?"

"Nothing! I don‘t get it. One moment we‘re fine and the next she‘s all weird"

Now Mary was getting frustrated, how could she not think about the day she talked to Millie and Zel, "gosh! Think harder" the golie demanded.

"I really don‘t know, tell me"

The united keeper sat there for a minute, thinking. Thinking about if she should or not. "Remember the day, she forgot her bag?" she started, probably regretting later that she did. "Yeah, of course" tooney replied, waiting impatiently for more answers, "she was there"

"Where?"

"Tooney…"

Slowly, the girl understood what Mary implied, where she was. "Fuck. She heard what I said, didn‘t she?" Abruptly, she stood up, walking up and down, "no no no. I wasn‘t saying that" confused, the goalie looked at her, "i heard it too?"

"I mean, yes i said that but i didn‘t mean it like that! Shit! What shall i do?! A few days before that she told me how much it stressed her that Zel and Mills teased her about how obsessed i am with her. I just wanted them to leave her alone!"

"That‘s fucked up"

-

That evening, she drove to your home, the apartment she was so often at. Knowing what she did wrong she wanted to talk to you, explain that she didn‘t mean any of it. She sat in her car for minutes before she had the guts to get out. In front of your door, she stood for awhile, afraid to knock. Her heart was racing as she finally knocked on the door, she hoped you‘d be at home.

One minute went by, two minutes went by, a few minutes went by, the young lioness was about to leave when you opened the door. Your hair was in a messy bun, wearing one of Ellas hoodies (which made her smile a bit - maybe things weren‘t as bad as they seemed). Your eyes were red and puffy, bags under them. It looked like you hadn‘t slept in days. "Hey" she started, her eyes trying to read your body language, "i would like to talk to you. Can I come in?" She expected you to let her in, and not "No, i‘m actually in the middle of something" her whole face fell. Truth to be told, you weren‘t in the middle of something, just watching Mamma Mia. "Is someone here?" the girl asked, jaw clenching. Was that the reason you wouldn‘t let her in?! "move" she brushed past you in to your home, looking around. "Ella! Get out!" you told her, voice loud. For her own sake she found nobody, only a pizza on your coffee table, "No! Can we please talk about this? I can‘t lose you!" she was walking around the table, breathing heavy. "I love you! I can‘t lose you, you hear me? I can‘t!" She stopped in front of you, arms going around your waist, a so familiar place, forehead resting against your own. You closed your eyes, inhaling your favorite scent while melting in her grasp. You missed her so much. "I can‘t" she whispered, her accent thick. You wanted to forgive her, she just had to look at you with those pleading eyes and you would‘ve done anything but not this time, you were too hurt, too disappointed. "Maybe you already have" your voice was not louder than a whisper as you took a step back. It was her turn to look heart broken, "please leave now"

"Of course, i- i‘m sorry. I‘m sorry for walking in here even though you said no.." she looked at the ground as she strolled to your front door, "I‘m really sorry" she looked at you one last time before opening it, "just- i need to know, are we broken up?" her lip trembled, you could see the self-control it took her not to immediately start crying.

"I don‘t know"

-

At home, the Mancunian called her nan, a shoulder she had to cry on. "Nan? I messed up" she cried, "I said some awful things to y/n." When her grandma asked what the matter was. She started her story, telling her about the last few days and the days before, simply everything.

"Ella! That poor girl" her granny was shocked, how could her grandchild be so rude? Tooney only sobbed harder in to the phone, she loved you with her whole heart. She didn‘t want to lose you. She couldn‘t lose you. "If you love her, show her. Show her that you don‘t care what other people think"

"How?" the girl sniffled, staring at her phone, hoping a text from you would somehow pop up.

"Honey, you need to find out yourself"

-

And that‘s what she did. She stayed up all night, trying to figure out how she could show you that you were it, that you were her everything.

When training was called to an end all the girls went to the locker room, ready to take a shower. It was Ellas chance to make things right but she had to be quick before the first ones would go showering. Everybody had to hear it. "you can do this" she mumbled to herself as she stood on the seat of her cubby. She smacked her cleats together, getting the attention of everyone. All eyes were on her but the only eyes she wanted to have on her were yours. Clearing her throat, "hey," she had thought about what to say yet her brain didn‘t work. "I‘m Ella" her speech didn’t start like that when she practised it. The girls laughed, thinking this was some sort of joke of their team mate "and i‘m madly in love with y/n. A few days ago I said some horrible things about her which I didn‘t mean. I want you to know that she isn‘t annoying nor clingy," the midfielder looked at you before she continued "she‘s perfect. And I‘m the one who‘s clingy and annoying. I want to spend all of my free time with her and her only. I bring her flowers once a week because she deserves them. She deserves the best and more. I take her out all the time because i want to treat her right. All I think about is her, her smile, her laugh, her eyes. When I go to bed she’s my last thought, she’s in my dreams and she is my first thought in the morning. Well, the whole day she’s only thing in my mind. I said those things because i wanted to protect her but mostly myself. It‘s okay If you don‘t get it but ya know, i‘ve never been in love, i‘ve never experienced a love story like that and the teasing was too much for me. It scared me. But If teasing is the reason I’ll lose her because i can‘t handle it then i don‘t care." Ella looked at the two girls who teased her the most about you, "Zel, Mills, tease me as much as you want, i don’t care - not anymore." She stepped down from her cubby, walking towards you, "I‘m still an idiot for saying these things and i‘m so sorry that i did. I do love you. I love you with every inch of my body and I hope for your forgiveness, so please don’t. Please don’t break up with me" you looked at her, at her pleading eyes while the whole changing room looked at you. None of the girls had ever seen their funny and loud friend so quiet and vulnerable. Everyone was holding their breath as they waited for an answer. Wordlessly, you walked to the door. Ellas head fell, she bit her lip, trying to stop herself from bursting in to tears in front of everyone.

"Are you coming or not?"

The whole room let out a sigh of relief as you spoke up, the brunette running after you.

Alone, in the hall, you said, "hi" not knowing exactly, what to say. All you knew was that you didn‘t want all eyes and ears in your upcoming conversation. "Hey" you stared at each other, Ella not daring to say something. "That was quite a speech, eh?" you smiled, her speech was impressive to be honest, you didn‘t expect that. You didn‘t expect anything. The brunette crumbled under your gaze, were you making fun of her? The floor seemed to be interesting as she stared at it, her body slightly shaking. "Look at me, please?" you asked, the girl refusing to look you in the eye. "Look at me, Ella" you now demanded, stepping towards her. She took a deep breath before she lifted her gaze. She was scared. It was a rare sight to see her scared, usually she was confident, loud and funny. You were her weak spot. "I get it If you want to break with me, ya know." she mumbled, she wished she had never said that stuff about you. She wished she just accepted the teasing instead of risking to lose you. "I don‘t want to break with you" her eyes never held so much hope before, "you don‘t?" she couldn’t register what was happening.

"No. I forgive you, even though you have a lot to make up for"

The once pleading eyes shone with gratitude. Man, she loved you. She loved you so much. "Thank you! I promise you, you won‘t regret it! Lemme take you out tonight for a start?" she asked, rambling on about how she’ll treat you the right way, show everyone that you‘re the one.

"Sounds nice. Maybe though, we could start with a kiss for now?"

The midfielder grabbed your waist, pulling you in, your arms looping around her neck, "You’re gorgeous, so so gorgeous" she mumbled before her eyes flicked over your face, landing on your lips.

"Go for it"

And she did. Her mouth met your own in a gentle yet passionate kiss. Both of you sighed as you missed each others touch for the last few days.

Finally, you felt whole again.

There was no doubt that the young lioness had to make up for her action but she would do anything to be with you and for you. The two of you were on the road of recovery - strong, loving years to come.

————————

[bendyredrawn]

Ok so I’ve been getting a few questions about the ending of redrawn, to most I’ve replied saying I don’t really have one planned yet. But I’ve come up with a little concept;

So there’s the boss fight with bendy and henry defeats him with the reel (or something else I haven’t thought about it much), afterwards the exit is drawn for henry or it just builds itself, henry approaches it and opens the door.

He enters his home, and notices that he’s no longer a toon anymore, and is soon greeted by Linda. She tells him how much she’s missed him and that she’s so happy to see him all ok blah blah blah, then at a point she’s like “Oh honey, you can’t leave just yet.” Henry’s confused and like “Wh-what? What do you mean I can’t leave?”. She then says “Don’t you know you’re a star?”. Her smile gets all crooked and her body gets more distorted (maybe she morphs into bendy?). Henry then looks down at his hands and sees that he’s a toon again. There’s a shot of his face which then pans out to a reveal scene like this; a hoard of cult members watching henry from a tv screen with bendy looming over them.

Maybe like bendy doesn’t want to enter the real world anymore or it’s revealed the curse can’t be broken by Henry, so now he gets to torment the man who put the pen to paper and created him in the first place, for eternity?

some things might change (sum of it is inspired by another au, tho I’m unsure if the ending is canon anymore) but the basic idea is there ig

[lucawrites11]

the lionesses biggest problems against france and my solutions

keira walsh unable to lose her marker

the lack of a left footed centreback

poor defending of corners especially from hampton

terrible substitutions

a lack of speed and players in the box

a lack of creativity in line-ups making us completely predictable

okay, let's look at these problems in depth:

sarina loves a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 looking something like this:

however this line-up has multiple problems. the first is that it's predictable, it is a slight modification of the same line-up with the same people that has been used since the euros except it no longer has the same level of success because the opposition has figured out it's weaknesses.

the first major risk is the reliance of Keira Walsh. Germany had figured this out by the Euros Final. as one of the best holding midfielder in the world, she's absolutely crucial in terms of the passes she provides forward and her ball recovery but if you just put one player on her all game (in France's case it was Kenza Dali) you can mark her out and remove England's ball recovery ability and ensure that they struggle to get the ball forward.

Another weakness is that if Sarina choses to start Greenwood, as she did yesterday, there is no defender with a good left foot and that leaves the defence vulnerable and also limits the connection that Hemp can have with her full-back down the left. Furthermore, without Lauren James, Ella Toone doesn't provide the same speed running in behind in the 10 role and that switch with Russo to allow Russo to overload the midfield and start goal scoring play. It was something that she did multiple times against France but Toone didn't make her way into the box like James and there is no finishing. English is struggling without that out and out striker, and Lauren James compensated for that gap. Without James, speed in the frontline is also lost, leaving Hemp the fastest forward player and no one chasing after her to get into the box with her.

Also loosing Earps meant that Hampton was shaky and thrown off coming on and she has never been as strong at set piece defending. Khiara may be a better option to defend set pieces where France are deadly but that's too much pressure for a debut game almost. I would like to see Khiara get her first England cap in the next Ireland match to allow be more of an option for Sarina as competition for Earps and Hampton. Sarina also failed in terms of not making a subsitution until the seventieth minute and bringing on experience where England clearly needed more speed and fresh legs. Leaving Jess Naz, Grace Clinton and Jess Park's speed on the bench was criminal.

what's the solution?

in my opinion, sarina has to use an entirely new line-up that does a few things:

either takes Walsh off the pitch or uses a midifeld overload that allows her more freedom

brings more speed into the attacking line

places a winger or ten behind Russo with the ability to get into the box

makes space for a left-footed centreback

there are a few options:

3-4-3

this is my least favourite option. it solves the keira walsh problem by taking her off the pitch but that leaves stanway as the sole holding midfielder. furthermore, it gives space for a left footed centreback in alex greenwood but it means bronze is pushed into the midfield which she can play effectively and would allow for speed in the attack but can leave a defensive hole on the wings. also without a clear left midfielder (carter could maybe play where i've place clinton and if she does, clinton should replace kirby). however clinton has speed to get into the box and as does kirby. this is also tiring for the midfield however england does have the midfield depth to bring on in park.

4-4-2 (diamond)

4-4-2 is on the left and the diamond option is on the right

both are strong choices for this england side and i think that hemp can also play up front next to russo with mead on the right with bronze and clinton or stanway on the left. two centre-forwards in russo and mead/hemp allows the centrebacks to be occupied and for a high press which can interfere with the french attempt to play out from the back that they love. clinton allows has the pace to run in behind when russo or mead manage to steal the ball allowing for a quick counter attack. four in the midfield can also overload the three that the french place in the there and challenge their ability to mark keira walsh out of the game. furthermore, a strong press in russo and hemp/mead allows the midfield be bypassed because the four doesn't always provide a full overload. two upfront can also compensate for when russo drops into the midfield and to hold up the ball, this also allows for the full overload with five in the midfield to pull markers off keira. with a strong left back in greenwood who can play centreback, williamson can also drop into the midfield for an overload. a four at the back with the left-footed defender allows for a deep block if the ball is lost, something that is likely to happen if france play in the midfield again.

3-5-2

this is my favourite line-up

the five in the midfield allows for a complete overload that can release walsh and give her the freedom to pass forward. furthermore, there is the left-footed centreback in greenwood. bronze and hemp playing as wing-backs also allows for a deep block when they drop back and they are both fast at getting both back and forward on the defense and attack which can be the main weakness of this line-up however bronze and hemp can play well as wing-backs. furthermore, bronze, hemp and clinton can overload the final third to support the high press of russo and mead that ensures players in the box and speed on a break to that can work quickly to throw off a french defense and a build up of play from the back

i think this will solve a lot of england's problems going forward and back and release keira walsh in the midfield as well as throwing france off with a new line-up that they wouldn't be expecting

i would also like to see jess park and aggie beever-jones up front to provide support as a striker for alessia russo or speed in behind replacing grace clinton

[faeiri-tft]

PLEASE do the toontown online rant i want it so badly

this post kinda got away from me, and by "got away from me" i mean this 3000 word toontown rant is Part One. there will be a Part Two to this later in which i actually talk about the fanservers i wanted to talk about. anyway let's go

toontown online (tto) was a children's mostly-turn-based subscription MMO released in 2003. after a few years of obviously being on life support, disney gave a one-month notice that tto (and several other games) would be closing on september 19th, 2013. on the same day the game closed, the fan-run server toontown rewritten (ttr) was announced (with multiple other fanservers/fangames/reimaginings being established since), and is a few months away from outliving the original game

see, one thing about tto that allowed fanservers to crop up so quickly and easily was that it had, um, interesting choices. very interesting choices. like, "kids could use a code injector to turn their backyards into giant mashed-together nightmarescapes"-level choices

(loose video description: a rabbit toon running around a chaotic mismash of rooms, obstacles, and npcs that Should Not Be There. audio caption: Evanescence's "Bring Me To Life".)

but ok let's talk about the actual game first.

toontown online (tto)

the game starts with you creating your player character - you can pick from eventually-9 species, a couple body types, and 2 dozen preset colors. the gender code is a spaghetti nightmare but you won't learn this until the fanservers come about so don't worry about it. you're then taken to the Toontorial, which explains maybe 20% of the game's mechanics before setting you loose into the main game

the toontorial also gives you the basic "plot", such as it is: Toontown is suddenly* under attack by a bunch of boring businessrobots called the Cogs. their goal is to turn toontown into a dreary gray featureless corporate hell; their business activities are so boring that they're physically painful to be around. luckily, they can't take a joke, so the toons have figured out how to defeat them: by playing pranks on them until they laugh so hard they Explode

*originally, the game installer had a little animation giving a backstory for the Cogs' creation. this was never referenced in game, removed pretty quickly, and i think even the devs kinda forgot it existed

that's...pretty much the whole story! in that context, your toon progresses through all of toontown, helping some mostly-pretty-interchangeable shopkeepers, reclaiming buildings from the cogs, eating ice cream, etc. occasionally, the cogs would Come Up With New Tricks (read: major content update) and the toons would Find A Way To Fight Back (read: same major content update). that was the closest thing to Plot, unless you count "the devs scheduled a bunch of invasions of high-tier cogs right before the game's closure". but...i doubt most the kids really expected a Plot. mickey mouse was there

the gameplay:

the Free Account

there were two...pretty different approaches to playing toontown online. when the game launched, there was a 3-day free trial to the entire game, after which you got kicked entirely until you subscribed. at some point, this was changed so that the first area, Toontown Central (TTC), was Always Free - you could do all of that area's quests/"taskline" and limited activities, indefinitely, and in theory this would make you beg your parents for the rest of the game

i have no idea if this actually got more subscriptions or not. from what i can tell it just spawned more warrior cats

(source)

there were. a Lot of warrior cats. there were some other social activities, too, such as Fashion Shows (with your limited range of clothes) and Begging Subscribed Players To Summon Cog Buildings To TTC and Getting Chat Banned. ...however, as one of the subscription kids i didn't really interact with this side of the game, so i'm not the best person to talk about it

2. the Paid Account

mmm look at those crisp clear graphics. hell yes

a subscription account gave you access to this whole map, along with all these areas' tasklines. to progress through the game, you must complete a variety of "ToonTasks" for the Toon Resistance (it's called that. their catchphrase is "Toons of the World, Unite!". you were giving disney money for this). these reward you by increasing your max health (your "Laff Points"), slowly unlocking more combat options, and sending you to different, higher-difficulty areas of toontown

some of these tasks were...longer than others. generally, though, they all boiled down to: "just go fight some cogs"

combat:

(source)

toontown battles are turn-based: the players use their attacks ("gags") first, and then any surviving cogs attack you with, usually, office equipment and puns thereof (unless the cog is e.g. a Loan Shark, in which case they can just fucking bite you). if you defeat a cog, it explodes; if the cog defeats you, you "go sad" and are sent back to the safety of the playground, lose your gag inventory, and can't leave until you heal.

early on, most your battles are 1v1, but later on almost everything is a multiplayer 4-ish-v-4.

an...interesting feature here in the game's early days was that you could only Type Your Own Words to someone who shared their "friend code" with you IRL. otherwise, you had to use this thing:

(source)

you had a set list of phrases you could string together, which generally covered most the things you wanted to say. but it could get frustrating when you wanted to have a real conversation with your toontown friends! so...as the source above mentions, people obviously found ways around the system. turns out that if you let players move objects around their houses, they will use that to Draw Letters and pass their friend code along regardless

eventually - before the warrior cats, of course - disney presumably realized this system was pretty goofy (🥁) , so the game got a real chat, albeit one that functioned on a very strict whitelist. my favorite is that it didn't let you type numbers, however you could just say won too tree for hive etc. like. disney i really don't know what to tell you. anyway

(isn't he charming)

cogs come in levels 1-12, with levels displayed above their heads, and as you'd expect their damage output and HP increase with their level. however, the game doesn't...actually show you cog HP? instead they have a little colored light on their chest that fades from green to red until they explode. you see numbers on all the damage you do, and you see your own HP/laff, but never the cogs'. also lategame cogs are Too Tall For You To See Their Level once they line up for battle (which isn't actually that bad but it's funny). there's a formula for HP per level, but it's never mentioned in-game. i guess someone can teach it to you but then you have to watch them type "a level tin cog has won tree too health" and is that really worth it

(as you can tell i just…don't get this. "my kid is practicing arithmetic with toontown!" - marketing angle expressly denied by god. the stealth edutainment was right there)

anyway! in theory, you have seven base combat options ("gag tracks"), which combine in a variety of ways:

toon-up, which restores your teammates' health;

trap, which does guaranteed high damage but only if someone uses lure;

lure, which stuns the cogs for a few turns and is the only way to make trap work

sound, which does low damage to every cog;

throw, which does medium-high-ish damage to one cog; multiple throws combined give percentage combo damage, and hitting a lured cog will also add percentage "knockback damage";

squirt, which is exactly like throw but less damage;

and drop, which does high damage but cannot hit lured cogs, and has low accuracy unless you hit the cog with something else first

each gag track has 6 levels, which you unlock by using that gag track a bunch. you can't carry as many of the high levels with you - i mean, putting one piano in your backpack makes perfect sense, but two is just silly, right

a few years into the game's lifespan, level 7s were added - these were huge AOE that you could regain with every 500 track EXP. there was also something called "organic gags" to promote the please-log-in-every-day gardening system

every player starts with throw and squirt, and throughout the game you slowly unlock four more gag tracks. your choices are permanent: once you have your six tracks, you're locked out of the seventh forever.

in theory, all of this opens up a huge variety of combat options!

in practice, the battle strategy looks something like this:

use sound

as mentioned, almost all of lategame will be 4v4 battles, which means sound will almost always outdamage everything on earth. you don't even need four foghorns (the highest normal sound gag) to break 200 AOE damage, and the highest health a cog EVER has is 200*. and two of the boss battles can reward you with gag restocks and heals that you can use mid-battle with no consequences (other than having to grind for those rewards a bunch). and failing THAT, you can just...ration your foghorns and take 2 turns to clear a set of cogs, interspersed with healing.

(*okay there was something called "v2.0 cogs" but they were...strange, and we just used sound anyway)

sure, once level 7s were added you could use those occasionally. and you could fall back on lure+throw if you didn't want to use your sound restocks. but even then, for most of tto's existence there was something called the "knockback bug" which. well. just look at it

(link for transcript. it's tvtropes sorry)

if you are a target-audience eight-year-old this translates to "lure + throw will only do enough damage if the cogs Feel like it." like it's really just insult to injury at this point. this was the result of One misplaced variable and was not fixed until the game closed

in the tto era, if you didn't have sound, you were kinda doomed to be kicked out of every fight forever

(bonus fun fact: there were Four entire battle themes and they were 40-second midi loops. let me out)

the bosses:

each of the four cog departments has a Boss Cog. to face off against them, you have to assemble a cog disguise and collect enough merits/stock options/whatever to be allowed into the boss's office.

(pictured: your convincing disguise)

when you enter, your disguise pops off due to Reasons, and you have to fight through...a bunch of waves of normal cogs. it's basically a really long normal battle. once the minions are dealt with, you have to, inexplicably, do a live-action battle against the boss themself:

(loose video description: four toons defeating the CFO by using magnet cranes to hit him in the face with safes for 32 seconds.)

the live-action rounds aren't supposed to go this quickly, but it's still...kinda strange? certain reoccurring game areas require Parkour, but there are no battles like this outside of the Four bosses. the CFO's room is the only place you see these cranes and they have A Lot Going On. the other 3 bosses have their own unique weird mechanics. before the first boss was added we neither had nor needed the ability to Jump. it's just weird

once you've defeated the boss, you're given a reward of varying usefulness (the best/most unbalanced reward type is Unites, which are a free heal or gag restock you can do inside or outside of battle. essentially lategame toons can simply choose not to die. riv2u etc.)

and, um. then you get some more merits/stock options/whatever and do it again. and again. and again. and again. and agai

the grind:

so the thing is that tto was a subscription mmo. every addition to the game had to be measured, above all, in terms of "how can we best get kids to beg their parents to give us money." this especially shows in the suit grind:

(source/source)

you have to defeat each boss 78 times in order to get all their laff points - and as you proceed, you have to defeat an increasing amount of cogs to even be allowed into the boss (although once you max you get in for free).

by far the easiest way is to run through the designated HQ facilities - basically, cog fights interspersed with some platforming or minigames. you only collect your merits/whatever at the Very End of the facility. the only way to increase what a facility gives you is if your last battle ends during an "invasion" - a timed period where One Specific Cog replaces all street cogs, usually summoned with boss rewards.

the sellbot HQ grind isn't so bad. bossbot HQ - the endest-game HQ - frequently requires you to do an hour-long facility and on six separate occasions you have to do seven of them. if the invasion ends before your final battle, you have to sit around until someone summons another. if you lose your internet connection because it's 2008, or if your parents make you come to dinner, or if hacking or the game's general bugginess cause a server reset because you're probably in the busiest district for the invasion bonus, you have spent that Entire Hour On Nothing. the CEO (bossbot cog boss) probably also takes an hour because you and your fellow players are 10

this shit, combined with laff points locked behind gardening (time-gated), racing and golfing (multiplayer minigames with absurd requirements), and fishing (RNG-based with some fish being absurdly rare. i watched my mom fish for one every day for a month), meant that maxing a toon took Years, if you managed it ever.

it wasn't, um. it wasn't good

ok so what else is wrong with this game:

i had "aged out of the game" (lol) by the early '10s, so i'm not the best person to do a writeup of the hacking/scripting situation of those days. that said, what i'm going to do is give you a few examples, and i want you to just...look at them

(source)

(source). early '10s youtube was funny i'm trying to decide if i miss it

(source). fun thing to note here is that other players had collision, so a swarm of t-posing toons could just barricade the gag shop if they wanted to

(video description: toon who has Replaced His Head Model With An Anime Logo throwing thousands of jellybeans at everyone) (cw mild flashing just in case? and also the feather headband accessory)

i should note that the Bring Me To Life vid i started with was client-side, meaning only the player could see their technicolor hellscape. this guy's face was server-side. i do Not Think you should be able to do that

(video description: a player demonstrating use of a bot to get into the nutty river district, followed by other players using it to go to different game areas)

the above video was posted on august 17th, 2013. if you don't want to watch an Unregistered Hypercam 3 recording at about 5 frames per second, what's going on here is:

the player goes to a specific location and says a specific speedchat phrase.

a bot toon teleports to their location and provides some prompts on how to use it

the player tells the bot, via speedchat, to teleport to the (currently closed from the outside) busiest district so the player can follow

these "taxi toons" were server-sided, persisted across server resets, were made by a future fanserver dev, had younger kids referring to them as a "glitch" as if this were something that could Accidentally Happen, and stayed functional until the game closed

like...a lot of the "hacking" was just baby's first script download. this one - afaict also created by the laughing man head guy - is like...the fact that after years of no substantial game updates, someone effectively programmed their own "QOL feature" (note: not actually good for the poor mid-00s server being turned into a clown car) into a silly disney MMO and it just fucking sat there for a year is just. it's just.

i don't know what this is. this is not Playing The Game Toontown Online. this is nothing. this is everything. there are comments from 2013 on some of these videos saying stuff like "hackers killed toontown", but your game cannot have this happen if it is not already dying

and, like...it was. i'm not sure how many moderators there were by this point, but at the very end of tto, the number of active devs was One. the original devteam recently brought this up at the 20th anniversary celebration: devs just...slowly started getting pulled from the game, one at a time. there were a few updates after bossbot HQ - Field Offices, which i've basically never heard anything good about in their tto form ever; the Silly Meter, a yearly event...thing whose main function was to add unskippable dancing-inanimate-object cutscenes to your street battles; Parties, which...yknow parties were okay actually. i accept parties. but they weren't exactly a Major Game Update like the ones that had come before. in 2011 we gained the ability to Wear Hats. in 2012 the test server got some actual QOL updates that never made it to the main game; the final test server update was some maintenance in february, and then nothing for 18 months. disney was not providing enough resources to address the scripting because disney was not providing enough resources to address toontown. imagine being the last dev standing on an MMO that was older than some of its players, was losing its business model to mobile gaming, and spent most of its life falling apart at the seams. just imagine it, for a second

it couldn't have kept going, not like this.

on august 20, 2013, the closing announcement came: we had a month left of toontown online. the test server shut immediately; subscription refunds went out, and the game became actually F2P for the month; the part of the announcement that went like "we're shifting our focus to other games!" made a bunch of twelve-year-olds hate club penguin as if club penguin wouldn't also close in a few years; all the holiday events went off at once; and...

there wasn't a "thanks for playing!" popup. everyone online just got kicked, all at once. it was finally over

hey wait.

[frostbite-the-bat]

ok nvm no other rant parts but i have more thoughts on this im not that dumb or demanding about this stuff and ik there is a story in this event but again STORY LOCKED IN...EVENT.................................................................... IDK make me care for it if u want me to read it on a wiki but then again its not like its useful for any future big lore stuff but im haunted by this always bc i know some smart ass nerd emoji ahh mother fucker is gonna come to me and go BUT ERMMM IN THIS ONE DIALOGUE IN THIS EVENT BETWEEN SILLY WITTY NONSENSE DIALOGUE WAS SOME... KIND LORE STUFF IDK AND IT GOES AGAINST THIS oh my gofdddhdhhdddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd

[lionesses-lover]

I’m Yours - E. Toone

The one where she is fed up of everyone’s assumptions.

Word Count: 1.5k

Being private and being secret. Two very different things in the world of relationships. However, despite yours and your girlfriend’s best efforts, you had never managed to escape the bubble of secrecy in your relationship. 

You and Ella never meant to be a secret. You had never made an effort to hide that you fancied each other, you never made an effort to disguise the feelings that had blossomed for each other as you began to date and get to know each other more. It just seemed like everyone else thought you were friends.

———

You first met the bubbly brunette last July when you went to watch you cousin, Leah, lead the Lionesses out at Old Trafford for the opening match of the Women’s Euros. However, instead of spending the time after the match celebrating the 1-0 win over Austria with your cousin and your family, you found yourself sitting at a table in the corner of the room chatting to Ella.

She was so kind and beautiful and completely swept you off your feet. She spoke to you after every match and the endless flirtation reached its peak when she drunkenly came up to you at the party after the final, wrapped her arms around you and kissed you.

You felt like you were 16 and in love again. It was the most perfect first kiss you had ever had with anyone in your life. What made that moment even better was the drunken, lopsided smile she had given you afterwards before asking you to go on a date with her.

———

It had been about 8 months since that wonderful night and you and Ella had been together ever since. The pair of you spent almost everyday together and it was perfect. She even managed to convince you to go to a few of her matches, even though you remained stubborn that you were a Gooner for life.

The only issue was that no one seemed to realise that you and Ella were more than friends. Even Alessia and Leah who were always with you never noticed the loving looks you both shared. If Ella posted a photo with you on her Instagram all of the comments on it were people obsessing over your 'friendship'. It even got to the stage where Alessia was joking about being replaced as Ella's best friend and Leah was telling you how happy she was that you had made friends with her teammates.

The longer people believed you were just close friends with Ella the more it annoyed you, and you could tell Ella felt the same. The only issue was that you both didn't know how to start telling people. You had been dating for a while and you were worried that your friends would feel upset that you hadn't told them.

"Babe, I swear if I have to read one more thing about how were are apparently 'friendship goals' I think I'll go insane. How hard is it for people to realise that we are dating? I want everyone to know that I’m yours," your girlfriend to you one night when you were watching TV at her house. It was your last night together before Ella went away for international duty.

"I know love," you sighed, "I'm just worried Leah will hate me for not telling her."

"She could never hate you y/n, you're her favourite cousin," Ella replied, wrapping her arms around you, burying her head into the crook of your neck in an effort to get closer to you.

"Maybe we should just get it over with," you suggested, "I just don't know when the time will be right."

Ella looked up, leaned in and gave you a slow, loving kiss before saying, "We'll know when the time is right, let's not put too much pressure on it.”

You agreed with your girlfriend, before kissing her again, enjoying your last evening before she went away and you would have to wait days to see her again.

———

Today was the day. After what seemed like years apart (it was 4 days) you would finally get to see your girlfriend again. You were sitting in the friends and family box in Wembley with your aunt and cousin waiting to watch Leah, Ella and the rest of the Lionesses walk out to play against Brazil in the first ever Women's Finalissima.

Luckily, you didn't have to wait very look and soon enough your cousin was leading the team onto the pitch. Your eyes met with Ella's and she shot you a cheeky wink before proceeding to grin at you throughout the national anthems. You then watched as her face transitioned into her serious, 'game face' ready for kick off.

The game kicked off and England were dominating possession and had a few shots on goal, but it wasn't until the 23rd minute that England had their best shot. You could see Lucy running down the wing with the ball and then she managed to pass it through to the one and only Ella Toone.

You shot out of your seat with excitement and everything seemed to slow down around you as you watched Ella take the shot.

It went in. 1-0 to England. Ella had scored.

As soon as you saw the ball hit the back of the net you were jumping up and down, screaming at the top of your lungs. Your girlfriend had just scored at Wembley yet again.

"y/n,' you cousin Jacob said to you, frantically hitting your arm to get your attention, 'look at Tooney!"

You looked over and were surprised to see that your girlfriend had brought the celebrations of her goal over to the friends and family section and was grinning widely at you. Once she saw that you were looking at her she made a heart with her hands and blew you a quick kiss before running over to restart the game.

She had dedicated the goal to you.

———

Three hours later, after watching a very chaotic game that consisted of a 90+3 minute equaliser from Brazil before a penalty shootout that resulted in England winning the Finalissima and Leah lifting yet another trophy, you were sitting in the large party room with your family waiting for the Lionesses to arrive and celebrate the win with their loved ones.

Leah was one of the first ones to come out of the changing rooms, so you were busy chatting when you felt an arm wrap around your waist.

"Hey gorgeous," whispered your girlfriend.

You turned around and threw your arms around her, bringing her into the biggest hug and telling her how proud you were of her.

"Oh yeah Tooney what was your celebration about?" asked Leah as she seemed to finally begin to notice the love between her cousin and her teammate.

"I wanted to celebrate with my girl," replied Ella, looking at you saying, "I hope you don't mind but the moment just felt right."

"Of course I don't mind babe," you replied, kissing her cheek softly, "I'm so proud of you."

"Wait, are you two together?" asked Alessia, also finally noticing you and Ella as she walked over to see her best friend.

"Yeah Less," said Ella, "we've been together since the Euros, you were all just too stupid to notice."

You turned to look at your cousin. She was your hero, despite her only being two years older than you, so you desperately hoped that she would be okay with your relationship.

"Wow," she said slowly before pulling you into a warm hug, "we are all idiots. I've been telling everyone you two are just friends. I'm so happy for you y/n."

"Thank you Lee," you said smiling at your favourite cousin, "i didn't think it would take you all this long to notice."

"Well I was a bit suspicious when you were telling me about all the United matches you had been to," she laughed.

Ella wrapped her arms around your waist again before joking, "She's a United fan now Leah."

"Never," you replied stubbornly, "As much as I love you Ella I will never be a United fan. Arsenal for life."

She pouted before kissing you gently, "you're lucky I love you too."

"Okay," interrupted Alessia, "we're happy you guys are happy but we don't need to watch you kiss."

"Shut up Lessi," muttered your girlfriend, before pulling you in for another kiss.

———

Later that night you arrived back at your house after celebrating with the Lionesses. You had spent the entire evening with Ella and it was wonderful. But sadly she couldn't come back with you as she still had to stay at camp for another few days before the next match.

You got ready for bed before checking your phone and seeing that Ella had posted on Instagram. You opened the notification before smiling to yourself, your heart swelling with how in love you were.

@eIlatoone

liked by leahwilliamsonn, alessiarusso99 and 7358 others

ellatoone Finalissima Champions 🏆🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Always a pleasure to score at Wembley, even better to score in front of my girl. I love you y/n💕

———