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spookfished · 5 months

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nov 2023 media roundup

hello again :3 welcome to the world from 2024!! im doing backlogs of media reviews lol. well i was really busy. and then i was super busy playing umineko!! looking back at this month, it seems like i didnt read a whole lot this month, but then i forgot that ruzhui is literally 300 chapters long. so.. a couple of these i read uh quite a few months ago by now so the review might be a bit stale. however i had like 80% of this written for several weeks so theres only a couple! this will be posted on my neocities at some point

books:

ruzhui by please dont laugh: f/f. after a terrible breakup, college yun an is happy to leave her life behind for some TIME TRAVEL! but while disguising herself as a man to avoid discrimination, she gets looped into a matrilocal marriage with businesswoman lin buxian?! intended as a fluffy palate cleanser after pdl's previous work a clear and muddy loss of love, i think it still kinda ended up getting mired in politics two thirds of the way in, when a lot of us were here for the moments with miss malewife yun an and her powerhouse wife? on the other hand, its hard to stretch out fluff for an entire 300 chapters without contriviances. i also really enjoyed how it managed to balance like. idk. 'returning to the simple emotions of the past' with 'holy shit guys the past actually sucked ass lmfao'. its a pretty relaxing read, so id recommend checking it out if youre into f/f!

the devil comes courting by courtney milan: f/m romance. can romance bloom while trying to create the first telegraphic encoding for chinese...? sooo cute im a huge fan of courtney milan as always. surprisingly goes into some pretty heavy topics including like. forced assimilation via child stealing?????? i thought it was well handled though the ldr stuff and the way amelia grows as a person was soo nice

the marquis who mustnt by courtney milan: f/m romance. the son of a conman returns home for one final trick. meanwhile, naomi just wants to take her medic class. the two become engaged on false premises and of course, catch feelings. once again extremely cute im very charmed. also liked the pottery details :3 i think in every fake engagement the whole 'pretending to themselves they dont have feelings' is a little ridiculous so i liked that they just like. acknowledged it at the outset. i think its honestly more compelling to be like 'yes my feelings are sincere and true however X still outweighs '. loove a guy shackled by duty

wandering souls by cecile pin: follows anh and her two siblings, refugees of the vietnam war. ok honestly i dont remember a lot about this book :( sorry but i did like it! its a really fast read and made me really sad so id recommend. (DISCLAIMER: AMERICAN) i also feel like i dont read a lot of non-american diaspora books so thats pretty interesting as well. nice prose also :]

detransition baby by torrey peters: a trans woman who yearns for motherhood, her detransitioned ex-boyfriend, and his pregnant partner struggle to find a way to live--together, or apart? ok sorry this is another review written in january so its kinda weighted more negatively. i had a LOT of thoughts about this in november but i forgot most of them. this novel is a deep look into a very specific kind of queer subculture--a subculture which is both very white and very annoying. sorry. the characters feel like a vivid, true-to-life depiction of the poeple i try to avoid at my little liberal arts college. however, it ALSO feels like the kind of really good gossip that you love to hear secondhand. also, the author shoehorns in discussions of race in ways that are really jarring and also, kinda bad? i honestly really loved the inner voices of all the characters which is why it sucked when i got to suddenly read a copy-pasted twitter thread about intersectional oppression instead. (especially coming from the mouth of a cis wasian woman..?) it feels all the more tokenistic since we immediately go back to the inner struggles of ames and reese instead. ugh. however, it sparked some really interesting conversations with me and my friends. i also got to learn more about ah i guess transfem detransition? as opposed to transmasc detransition. they are very different! um but i guess id recommend?

comics/manga:

surviving romance: action/horror webtoon?? the woman living in the body of a romance novel character is determined to get her picture-perfect happy ever after-- at all costs. everything goes according to plan until the day zombies attack the school. chaerin is forced to bond with the faceless extras of her story, and find out what is rotting at the core of *love every day*. very solid writing!! i like how the author gradually introduces characters, and how the tension ratchets up as more people to care for becomes more people that can be lost. definitely goes into some orv-lite type themes, which i appreciated. i guess my only complaint is that despite the solid execution it didnt really ~wow~ me in any way... still worth checking out though :3

run away with me girl by battan: f/f romanceish? two high school lovers meet again after midori decided that their relationship was just a childish whim. but even though midori has decided shes straight (and is married with a kid on the way!), maki still has feelings for her. dude soooo cute the art style is not personally my thing but i felt like all of the characters were really grounded and the introspective parts were really interesting. some beautifully atmospheric parts! would recommend :3 witch hat atelier kitchen (reread) by shirahama kamome: a spinoff of witch hat atelier, where the two teachers qifrey and olrugio make food together after hours! gorgeous art as always, and some cute recipes too! i reread this since an official english translation came out lol. monotone blue: short furry m/m about apathetic, aloof cat hachi, who meets aoi--a shy transfer student who happens to be the only lizard in the whole school. pretty lighthearted for the most part, but also heavily implied a sexual assault scene?? or at least the vibes?? in a way that treated it far too lightly and left a bad taste in my mouth. possibly worth reading for the art, but idk :/ definitely falls into the romance trap of having a love interest go "ill save you from these bad guys!" for like a cheap plot device and then not really going into it

movies/tv:

parasite: class-focused comedic thriller? the kim family finds a way out of choking poverty by working for the extremely affluent park family. its almost too easy--until it isnt. man everyone says parasite is so good. AND IT IS!!! i cant believe i took so long to see this movie i got to see it with some friends over thanksgiving break and it was so good :] had me stressed for my fucking life sitting at the edge of my seat. has a lot of meat to bite into analysis-wise but is also just so crushing in many ways.. the ending stuck in my head for a long time. rewatching it this january was honestly more stressful in some ways haha

revolutionary girl utena: allegory-heavy commentary on shoujo and princess narratives and the nature of heroism and-- f/f. utena is a girl who aspires to be just like the prince of her dreams. she is somehow wrapped up into an engagement with anthy himemiya, who calls herself "the rose bride." ahhhh i still havent watched the last two episodes actually. people always say "utena is a fantastic show but PLEASE mind every single trigger warning" and its true! utena tackles some really heavy subjects in a way that is delicate, understated, and vicious. i watched a bunch of these episodes late at night in the computer lab and they honestly left me breathless. has so many layers of symbolism to dig through that it can honestly be overwhelming, but also very compelling just on the surface! watch utena. also watch this amv https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THN3gYKYojs

the wonderful story of henry sugar: a netflix adaptation of one of roald dahls stories (within a story). it was cute :3 not a lot of sticking power lol but i think this is the first wes anderson production ive ever watched. very visually distinctive!

video games:

lethal company: cooperative horror game about trying to collect garbage in a dystopically capitalist world ft. proximity chat! dude this game is blowing tf up i tried playing it with neil but 1. we are huge pussies 2. its really only feasible with 3+ people

music:

TILT by nanoray: anime breakcore is one of my truly guilty pleasures. i see the anime girl on the cover and cringe a little bit HOWEVER nanoray is a really good artist. the intro is so liquid... i think the album as a whole really just sweeps you up into a groove. some of my favorite tracks are into and DOGWALK2000 THE LONELIEST TIME by carly rae jepsen: i was so mean to carly rae jepsen in middle school. im so sorry miss jepsen i was just so tired of hearing call me maybe everywhere. im now a changed man. just a really well constructed pop album 👍admittedly not as iconic to me as emotion, but joshua tree and talking to yourself are my favorites atm SAYONARA WILD HEARTS OST: ive never played sayonara wildheart, but i think its a rhythm game about girls fighting each other on motorcycles? with bisexual lighting and tarot cards? but anyways this is a synth-y lush pop album thats super fun! it feels like it tells a story (probably bc it does) and it always makes me want to listen all the way through :3 my favorites are sayonara wild heart and their clair de lune remix

anyways if you read to the end, thanks as always! its really interesting to try and condense my thoughts about something into one paragraph.. sometimes its easier than others huh! im almost done with the december one so please look forward to that 👍

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roukabi · 1 year

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if you're still into hadestown id love to hear more details of act II in your broadway x nytw au :)

OHHH ANON DEAREST....... YOU’VE ACTIVATED MY INFODUMP CARD!

ok ok first of all i am so sorry for my incessant videnoirposting, rest assured i am still very very into hadestown and I Will become normal again! and i have a backlog of ht-related art to finish lol.

Second.... BOY OH BOY DO I LOVE TALKING ABOUT MY NYTW x BWAY AU!

(for the uninitiated: for the longest time i've had this nytw x broadway au, called the “Old Song” au, in which nytw orpheus becomes a very sad ghost and haunts the present (broadway) orpheus. Meanwhile, nytw Eurydice and bway Eurydice find each other in Hadestown and try to help each other 'survive'. I’d recommend reading the first part, otherwise the rest of this post won’t make much sense. I'll drop the link in a rb.)

(And I'm putting this under a readmore, because this is gonna get long.)

Now there are a few things I forgot to mention in that post, one of them being what this whole AU is actually about. Greek tragedy says that, despite what we (the audience) desire and what we understand, the characters will still fail. And that's alright. Life goes on, sometimes for the better. It's awful, but it's not the end.

In this AU, we're past having the characters try and fail. And y’know, it wasn't the end for them, either! Their failures mattered then, and they will now! Orpheus and Eurydice's futures will still go on whether they want them to or not!

But... because they are worlds apart, with (seemingly) no other way of reuniting and having the happy ending they desired... does that leave any hope for either of them?

This leads me to another theme of Hadestown, and the one I'm focusing on in this AU: despite everything, there will always be hope. It might take a while to see it, but it's always gonna be there. And how this AU is gonna work out is that we'll see this hope manifest in some characters (bway Orpheus, nytw Eurydice), how the lack of hope manifests in others (nytw Orpheus, bway Eurydice), and how all of that is subject to change as the characters grow. Somehow, though, they'll all have to cling onto that hope - that struggling dream of a better future - if they want to finally build a better life.

enough cringe talk about themes let's get some found family in this house

Soo.... Act II! I'm gonna start a bit ahead, where the first post left off: the Orphei are traversing the underground, and nytw Eurydice is giving bway Eurydice refuge.

Anyway, where we last left off, the Orphei have made it to the underworld! bway Orpheus kind of broke the Wall, which nytw Orph (nicknamed Ghost in this AU to make things easier, and to let nytw Orph distance himself from his past life) takes as good sign. If he can get past the wall like that by singin' a little tune, then the rest of the journey will be a cinch!

...It was not, in fact, a cinch.

Everything in Hadestown is Really loud, Really bright, and Really unfriendly to trespassers. Bway Orpheus gets overwhelmed very quickly and nytw Orph gets frustrated - he knows this place already, and also knows that strolling in during daytime hours is a one-way ticket to death (see Hermes's advice in Wait for Me).

They end up hiding in some abandoned worker cabin for the rest of the day, a rather unproductive start to their journey.

It's not helping matters that the Orphei had quite the argument back during Chant - nytw Orpheus got after bway Orpheus for not helping Eurydice, and it got to the point where he deliberately tried to break bway Orpheus's optimism so that he'd "wake up" and "finally try to be useful"... yes he was projecting, no it was not fun, yes it is still eating at him, and Yes, their relationship is... pretty strained right now. As if bway Orpheus's self-esteem wasn't already garbage.

This isn't the case for the Eurydices though! They're chilling in the house nytw Eurydice borrowed from Persephone + are escaping work quotas. The bad news is that they're content with sharing a name, which is kind of frustrating to try and write. Oh well!

Anyway, bway Eurydice finds it nice to have someone who actually understands her. Not that Orpheus wasn't understanding, he really, really, was, but he just didn't see the world the way she did. And nytw Eurydice can talk to someone who hasn't lost their head to the mines + machines! So yeah they hit it off real fast.

Eventually, though, bway Eurydice asks how the other managed to get stuck in Hadestown for so long. Nytw Eurydice stiffens. Frowns a bit. She stares at the floor for a beat or two before telling her that she doesn't know. Forgot.

She does know. She knows that it could probably happen to bway Eurydice, too, given all their similarities. But she's not going to be the one to break this new girl's spirit.

It's a vow that nytw Eurydice makes around the same time nytw Orpheus does, too. bway Orpheus isn't sleeping, and whether it's the noise outside the cabin walls, or the sneering voices in his head, nytw Orph doesn't really want to know.

That poor kid. He'd been nothing but kind to nytw Orpheus, trying to make his (after)life more bearable, a little more colorful - and nytw Orpheus had the gall to tear him down. He wouldn't have dared to hurt him if he were his old self.

It's just that bway Orpheus doesn't know how the world really is. Hadestown was cruel, and its brainwashed people wouldn't stop at hunting him down. Hades wouldn't let Eurydice go - not without an impossible price to pay. Nytw Orpheus didn't want to crush his successor's hopes by telling him all that.

And yet, he kind of... did.

Damn it.

He’s got to be better toward that boy. For both their sakes.

The nytw duo realizes that, despite what happened to them before, they can’t let it interfere with the future of the bway duo. There’s still a chance for things to turn out, and after all, they aren’t the ones with something to lose.

However, not everyone in this story has this mindset. There’s still one more thing I really forgot to mention in the last post...

Because of her appearance in both NYTW and Broadway Hadestown, Jessie Shelton’s fate, Clotho, is here to add even more conflict! What about her sisters? uhhhhhhhh don’t worry about it lol they’re fine. She’s with the bway Lachesis and Atropos, but this is likely to change.

Clotho’s not pleased with the trajectory of this story. It was her job to keep it from changing, and now her #1 enemies are coming around to throw wrenches in her plans? Well. If she’s going to clean up the messes they’re making, she might as well have fun with it.

Clotho ends up terrorizing all four heroes, but really the bway duo, and mostly bway Orpheus because in the end, it's his actions that will determine the outcome of the story. The nytw duo is Very Much Not Happy with Clotho’s existence and they get very protective of their counterparts whenever she shows up.

bway Orph tries really hard to guard nytw Orph from her, knowing their history and all. It doesn’t really work, but he tries!

(Clotho does, at one point, threaten to kill bway Orph if the Orphei continue their journey. Remember this.)

The Eurydices learn more about each other the more questions bway Eurydice asks - Do you think your Orpheus is looking for you? Is he down here? Will everyone forget about me, too? Different words, all asking the same thing: Is there a chance for me to get out of here?

bway Eurydice tries not to show it, but she’s scared. She has no idea what she’s gotten herself into, and she’s desperate for a ray of hope.

Nytw Eurydice tries her best to reassure her, but sometimes she just can’t answer.

bway Eurydice does ask if the other workers could break free of Hadestown’s brainwashing. Nytw Eurydice thinks it’s possible.

Meanwhile, the Orphei have taken to sleeping during the day and moving at night - to keep from getting caught. bway Orpheus isn’t handling this well, nor is he handling the constant overstimulation, the paranoia of being an ‘outlaw’, all the pain and horrors inflicted on Hadestown’s people, Clotho being Clotho, etc., and one night he just... breaks down. He never thought the world could be this cruel.

Luckily for him, though, a certain someone who understands exactly what he’s going through sits down with him. Lets him vent. Gives him a hug.

Nytw Orpheus finally apologizes to the boy for his distance, and convinces him that not everything is awful; they have each other, and the very reason Nytw Orpheus is down with him is that he cares about bway Orph and wants to protect him.

It’s here that bway Orpheus starts to smile again.

From that night on, things are a little better. Sure, all the terrible things mentioned 4 bullet points ago still exist, but now the Orphei are joking between one another, collaborating on songs, and climbing the petrified trees scattering Hadestown’s landscape.

And for the Eurydices, life-after-death is getting... almost bearable?! Nytw Eurydice made the other a notebook of all her surface memories, just in case, and it’s not like either of them stopped singing. They’ll go out and check if one of their Orphei is out there. Sometimes they’ll just talk for hours about whatever the Memory of the Day is.

For the first time in decades, there's a sound so sweet and clear against the echoes of steel on stone: laughter is heard in the realm of Hades.

A month or two pass, and neither party has found the other. It’s around this time when the bway duo wonders about their companion’s past.

It’s a topic that sickens the nytw duo, but they figure it’s time to talk about what happened. Time to show where all these mental - and in some cases, physical - scars came from.

After nytw Orpheus turned, Eurydice was almost immediately offered sanctuary by Persephone, who took pity on her. Eurydice took it, as long as she didn’t have to see Hades ever again.

She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t upset with Orpheus. She was actually pretty bitter about him for months, before she came to terms with how powerless they both were in that situation.

However, time wore on, and the mini-revolution Eurydice + Orpheus created fell further into obscurity. Less workers remembered what happened that fateful night. And then, to Eurydice’s dread, not even the gods knew who she was anymore. Afraid of losing herself, Eurydice hid by herself most of the time, alone with her memories in the old goddess’s house. At least without Hades knowing her, she couldn’t be tracked.

For Orpheus... well, he definitely didn’t receive a hero’s welcome upon returning to the surface. Wholly blamed for the loss of his wife, Orpheus, too, hid himself from the public. His relationship with Hermes soured as he pressured the poet to move on. It wasn’t just a shift in the people, either - in the rare times when Orpheus played music, his songs were so sorrowful that nature herself turned gray, and wept. Believing the change in Orpheus to be a curse, the townspeople banished him. Not that Orpheus had any time to grieve - he had brought upon himself the fury of the Maenads, whose courtship he refused. They slaughtered him by the river and threw his bones into the current. (Hermes found them, but never told Eurydice.) Orpheus woke up as a ghost, stuck on the surface with his guitar. No longer could he be seen, heard, or touched by mortals. Not that they’d want to find him, anyway, Orpheus thinks.

All four members of this Songbird Quartet are in tears by the time the tales are told.

It’s also worth mentioning that both nytw Orpheus and Eurydice conveniently left out the part where Orpheus turns.

It’s also also worth mentioning that nytw Orpheus takes off his red jacket for the first time since death, letting bway Orph see the extent of the Maenad’s brutality.

The strangest thing happened to the nytw duo, though: things started getting much better for them once the bway duo came into their lives. Orpheus is finding his hope again and Eurydice has found meaning in her afterlife. Through the tragedy, something good did happen.

(... uh, little side note: I really hope y’all are catching on that the relationships between Orphei and Eurydices... are platonic in a brother/sister sense. I mean, I can’t stop you from shipping them, i guess, but romance isn’t what I’m aiming for... that’s all.)

A n y w a y , what ho! After months of searching, bway Orpheus gets the biggest smile on his face upon seeing his beloved Eurydice creeping through metal stacks surrounding Hades’s mansion (it’s work hours). The Orphei agree to split up for a bit: bway Orpheus reunites with Eurydice, while nytw Orph makes a quick last look for his own lover.

He travels a little far, and then farther, getting increasingly desperate. Where is she? Was he never meant to find her? Is she on the other side of Hadestown? Where is she now?

Panic and heartache spark in his chest and he starts to call her name into the expanse.

“...Orpheus?”

The voice is from behind. Orpheus won’t dare turn around. Not again.

She knows this. She knows his posture, too, and the shape of his hands - which are shaking. She comes up to his side and takes one before facing him. Tears are already spilling over his cheeks.

“It’s you.”

Tears threaten to spill on Eurydice’s cheeks, too.

“It’s me.”

yayyyy they’re together again! it’s really sappy and they keep apologizing to each other for everything. It’s a little sad when Eurydice puts a hand on Orpheus’s scarred face but that’s neither here nor there.

But woe! the happy reunion is cut short when a loud, booming voice shakes the songbirds’ cores:

“Young man!”

Eeeheeeheheeehee

the nytw duo, realizing that their sibling is now in Huge Danger, rush to Hades’s mansion. There stand a stricken bway Orpheus, a dreading bway Eurydice, Persephone, Hades, Hermes, workers... and the Fates.

There’s a moment of “woah everyone’s here” as the Songbird Quartet recognizes one another.

Hades and Persephone don’t recognize nytw Orph, which is great for some reasons and terrible for others.

Hades tells bway Orph that Eurydice can’t go back - she signed the deal, and sold her soul. Orpheus, horrified, looks at her, and Hades... and nytw Orph, who was too afraid to tell him.

Nytw Eurydice, on the other hand, stares down Clotho with a ‘what the fuck do you want’ look. Clotho just smiles.

Hey, so, remember when I told you that Clotho threatened to kill bway Orpheus if they kept looking for Eurydice? Well.........

Hades calls upon the workers to drive bway Orpheus out. Unfortunately, though, Clotho has also given them the order to kill. Her word isn’t questioned: If Fate wishes it, then it shall be so, after all.

Clotho + her sisters nab bway Eurydice. Two workers restrain nytw Orpheus, who, while not knowing what exactly will happen to bway Orph, can deduct from Clotho’s threat that it won’t be good, and begs Hades to spare the boy. Nytw Eurydice, still wearing worker clothes and remaining undetected, sneaks out of the fuss and creeps behind the mansion (if we are thinking of the stage setup, where everyone is kind of in a circle, the nytw duo are on the opposite side from where the Fates + bway Eurydice are).

Workers circle bway Orpheus, and he gives nytw Orpheus one last terrified look before the first strike lands.

Now, we all know nytw Orpheus as a guy who’d have no problem throwing hands during Papers. Except this Orpheus has been ruined by his past, and freezes up when he sees the mob attack bway Orpheus. There are screams in his ears that aren’t there, the smell of metal, blood and wine, and a thousand terrible scenes in his head. It’s too much for him to watch.

...But the very reason nytw Orpheus is down here is because he cares about his newfound brother and wants to protect him. It was the one thing he promised to do.

So god damn, what was he doing?

Something snaps in him and he tries once again to wrestle his arms away from the workers holding him back. They don’t budge - nytw Orpheus’s strength is his words, not his muscles.

But then a low thud sounds against nytw Orpheus’s ears, and the hold goes loose.

“Go!” cries nytw Eurydice, wielding a shovel and slamming its head against the other worker’s. “I’ll get Eurydice!”

nytw Orpheus gives a quick nod of thanks to his lover before rushing up to bway Orpheus, grabbing a pickaxe on the way.

Bway Orpheus has tried to flee the pack, but they keep catching him and throwing him down. He’s exhausted, he’s injured, and they aren’t letting up. One of the workers - the largest one in the mob - raises a pick. Orpheus can’t get himself off the ground.

Then there’s a flash of red, a scream, a metallic smell.

bway Orpheus dares to open his eyes and sees that the mob has stopped, paralyzed with shock. The worker who held the pick now clutched his arm instead, pressing against a long, gruesome tear in the skin.

And standing in front of him, a pickaxe in his hands and a wild, cold glare that’s stark against his bloodied face - is Orpheus’s brother.

A couple steps behind the mob are the Eurydices, and one of them still has her shovel. Nytw Orpheus shouts at the workers, telling them to back off (in a much ruder way). The workers, seeing the outcome of fighting these three, retreat.

Nytw Orpheus, chest heaving, drops the pickaxe and carefully steps over bway Orpheus so that he is behind the latter. He gently scoops the boy into his arms. He’s blacked out, but he’s still got a pulse, thank the gods.

Now, while nytw Eurydice did do what she said she would (free Eurydice), that doesn’t mean she got rid of the fates. And of course, Clotho appears.

Nytw Eurydice somehow keeps enough composure to not beat the shit out of her with a rusty shovel. She gives Clotho enough time for her to say that while, yes, the initial murder plan was foiled by our heroic rulebreakers, the damage has already been done. bway Orpheus has been told that his lover sold herself to Hades, and on top of that, the people who could’ve been his friends on the surface nearly killed him in Hadestown. It’s not like this was a sudden effect - Orpheus’s worldview started crumbling the minute he entered Hadestown. This was just the last step. Now with that sweet, sweet doubt in his head, things should go back to normal.

bway Eurydice is quite shaken by this - it’s her story, too. So nytw Eurydice swings her shovel a bit to get her to fuck off. Clotho does. (I like to think that the Fates can appear + disappear in a plume of dark smoke. Just a lil thing that’d look cool in animation.)

The three of them kinda. stare at each other for a bit.

They take bway Orph to nytw Eurydice’s house to patch him up and rest. Nytw Orpheus washes the blood from his face, and there’s a distant look in his eyes as he recovers from what he did. bway Eurydice, who’s a smidge intimidated by him, says she thought he was pretty cool back there. It gets nytw Orpheus to laugh just the slightest bit, and thus, a friendship is born.

Nytw Eurydice and Orpheus take some time to catch each other up on what happened to them while bway Eurydice looks after her Orpheus.

He wakes up after some hours, a little worried, but with Eurydice there he settles down. She jogs his memory of what happened.

He starts venting to her, apologizing profusely for putting everyone in this mess and placing all their hopes on a song he couldn’t finish. Nothing Eurydice says can comfort him.

Unfortunately, Clotho was right: bway Orpheus is shattered. He goes on about how he is at fault, not just for Eurydice’s imprisonment in Hadestown, but for forcing nytw Orpheus to re-live his trauma to save him, and putting nytw Eurydice back on Hades’s hitlist. He’s hopeless, he says. This whole journey is hopeless. And because he’s the one to blame, he’s better off leaving.

He tries to leave Hadestown, despite the other three trying to get him to stop, but there’s another force keeping him from going too far: the workers. They’ve been listening to his plight, and they feel their old humanity come back to them at his sorrowful song (If It’s True).

Orpheus looks at his family, then looks back at the workers. Perhaps he did do something good for these people. Perhaps there’s still a chance for them.

Hermes comes up to the quartet, bearing news (it’s kind of his thing): Hades has also heard what the workers are starting to whisper about - a possible revolt against Hadestown’s cold-hearted structure - and demands for the four of them to come to his mansion. It’s judgment time.

Nytw Orpheus, who is bitter toward Hermes, demands to know why he didn’t help bway Orpheus since he was a god. Hermes, unfazed, asks why he couldn’t prevent the mob from attacking bway Orpheus, if he’d already lived Orpheus’s life. This quiets nytw Orpheus’s anger.

At the mansion, Hades tries to intimidate bway Orpheus before he actually passes judgment, though a very aggressive nytw Orpheus protects the other. Not today, Hades!

Persephone gives the Eurydices a bit of advice - maybe a mix of the London and NYTW Seph verses for Chant II - as she, too, heard the poet’s song.

The Fates are also there, watching. Plotting, probably.

Finally, Hades gives bway Orpheus his task: Sing a pretty song, and perhaps Hades will make use of him and spare his family. If he fails, it’s to the Great Beyond for all of them.

bway Orph is shaking like an autumn leaf. He’s not done with his song. It never worked the way he wanted it to. He’d tried to get nytw Orpheus to help him with it, but he’d refused, saying that if the song were really special, it would’ve come straight from bway Orpheus’s heart.

From the heart. Okay. That’s what Orpheus will do.

And to make a long story short, it works. beautifully. Orpheus sings his song of love and it swells as everyone else joins in. It’s like the heart of Hadestown is glowing.

At the end, Hades remembers his love for Persephone. He remembers his humanity. The old gods dance as if they were young lovers again.

And Orpheus just about blacks out again from cathartic relief. (Side note: I like to think that nytw Orph says something along the lines of “Easy there, rockstar!” I know the term won’t come around until the 60s but I think it’s really cute :))

Well, things seem to be going alright now! Hades isn’t as Bent on Harming the Four, Persephone’s smiling again, the workers are getting hopeful, and our four songbirds are together now.

... Except, a look of unease haunts the nytw duo’s faces. They know what comes next after this. So does Clotho. The song wasn’t the real test, as we all know.

bway Orph asks if they can go, Hades says no, blah blah blah we've been here before.

Hermes tells the four (well, mainly the bway duo) of the task ahead. They are, of course, dumbfounded and frightened by what it entails. They look back at their older siblings, wordlessly asking, “did you know?”

Nytw Orpheus and Eurydice look away.

The bway duo demands them to tell the full truth of how they were separated. So they do. They tell their doomed successors that nytw Orpheus failed to bring them both out, and that the chances of it happening again are high. It’s completely up to the new duo, and the nytw duo didn’t want to talk of it out of fear of crushing their hopes.

The bway duo is... not pleased. They’re not just crushed, they’re betrayed. How could the nytw duo lie to them for so long, lead them down this path just to pull the rug out from under them?

Nytw Orpheus reaches out to bway Orpheus, but the latter backs away, and leaves them. Bway Eurydice just shakes her head. She leaves them, too.

That night, when the four are preparing for the journey out, bway Eurydice finds her lover cupping his carnation in his palms. They talk quietly about the trek ahead, and Eurydice tells Orpheus that, even though their predecessors failed, that doesn’t mean they will, too. For what it’s worth, said predecessors didn’t have dead companions to travel with. And if the nytw duo were able to change (for the better) because of the bway duo’s actions, then maybe their ending could, too. “If they could do it, so can we.”

Orpheus smiles, but his doubts still gnaw at him. What if their actions changed the outcome for the worse? He just wanted everyone to be safe and happy, but what if this night’s events shouldn’t have happened the way they did? Especially with Clotho’s plan unraveling faster than ever, did they really make all the right decisions? Could he put faith in himself, or was everything that the townspeople said up top, about the harshness of the world and all, really true?

Speaking of Clotho, she appears once more to nytw Eurydice. Eurydice snaps at her for putting everyone on the road to ruin, but Clotho merely states that she’s not the only one trying to get what she wants. Like it or not, everyone had a part to play. “This story of ours was your doing, too,” she says. “Now you finish it. I’m just helping it move along.”

As Clotho departs, Eurydice finds that statement... oddly comforting. If bway Orpheus just holds onto the hope he’d always had with him, then maybe... just maybe...

It’s a long night, and it’s a little odd with two somewhat estranged couples sharing a house. Eventually, they all decide to try and make amends in the tiny living room. Apologizing, conversing softly about their fears and hopes, curling up together on the surprisingly large worn couch. bway Orpheus lets his brother hug him.

“I’m scared.”

“I know,” nytw Orpheus whispers. “And I have so much faith in you nonetheless.”

They sleep together on the couch that night. Lovers, brothers, and sisters say “I love you”. Hell, friends do, too, why not. There’s an air of peace in the stony caverns of Hadestown, and it’s enough to bring the four to a restful sleep.

They’ll need it for the journey ahead.

And, then, that morning, they set out, and...

OHHH, GEE! Look at how long this got! Gee whizz, look at the time, too! I think it’s time to stop. We’ll leave the thrilling conclusion for another time!

Thanks a billion for the ask, anon, and thanks a lot to you, reader, if you actually got this far! I don’t write much, but when I do, I get really into it...

There’s some stuff in Act I of this AU I still haven’t talked about - mostly silly fluff between the brothers, fluff between the sisters, some angst between the brothers, orphydice fluff, and nytw Orph’s strained relationship with the new Hermes, but again, that’s for another time.

#OOOOAGHGH maybe notn didn't give me carpal tunnel but writing this sure did!#this was so much fun tho. i got so excited when i read the ask bc that's a Thing I'm Really Passionate About!#I've been refining it for years! no i don't like letting old ideas go lol #hadestown #hadestown au #hadestown broadway #hadestown nytw #orpheus #eurydice #orpheus hadestown #eurydice hadestown #nytw x broadway crossover #old song au #rook roars!#long post #rook's mailbox #also sorry if i misinterpreted all the characters. i promise bway orph is still sweet n loveable it's just that (class) war is hell #caps tw

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eveandtheturtles · 1 year

Text

Started with a Kiss - Chapter 3: Interrogations

Summary: The two worlds finally collide

A/N: I almost forgot to post this so enjoy bc I think I will post only once this month? Low chances for end of February lol. Mostly bc 1) My partner is visiting me yay! 2) Chapter 4 is still very much wip and I don't have backlog anymore, boo. Word count is 7k for this one so beware! Comments and reblogs are very much welcomed!! lemme know if anyone wants to be added to tag list.

AO3 Link

Ship: Kara (OC) x Donnie

Kara was running barefoot. There was blood trickling down the side of her face, she could feel bruises forming on her ribs and she broke her heels but she was alive. Her feet were also bleeding. Great. Her knuckles hurt. Good, she hoped she broke at least a nose.

She and Cheryl split, right outside the club. She pushed her friend into the taxi and booked it. She knew they were after her and couldn't risk her friend's life. There had to be a tracker on her. How? When? She was so careful! Not careful enough. She cursed herself in her mind. Idiot, idiot! Her lungs burned.

Once she deemed she was far enough she stopped to catch her breath. She inhaled sharply through her nose. No time to waste. She started patting herself. Bag, dress, hair? The bag was an obvious suspect, she would need to throw it out. Checked her dress. Okay, nothing she could tell from the initial search. Locs? She ran her hands over the thick coils. There!

What was that? A tiny bug, no bigger than a pinky’s fingernail. It fluttered its wings. Kind of rusty on the edges, looking like it was made of tin can metal. She frowned. Then she squashed it.

"I really hoped you wouldn't have done that," someone said from above.

She flinched at the sound that came through one of her hearing aids. During the fight, one must have gotten smashed and now was malfunctioning. Just perfect. She removed the broken aid and looked up. Then she cursed some more. It was the turtle guy.

Donnie dropped down from the low roof. Kara shifted into a fight position. Okay, Weasel and the turtles? That couldn't be a coincidence. Well, it could have been but she didn't like the look of all that. Her eyes went scanning their surroundings. Where were the other three?

He saw how on high alert she was. If he wanted to avoid an unnecessary fight he needed to play it cool. He put his tech bō away and raised his hands up in an act of non-aggression before signing.

He tried to go a bit lower, bending his knees to almost crouch. He almost forgot how tiny she was.

She eyed him, distrust on her face and her shoulders tense.

he added and her glare hardened. <The mob at the club - am guessing they are after you.> Something in her expression told him he was right.

She clearly considered what he said. He could tell she was thinking about it. It gave him some hope that she might listen. He relaxed and straightened up, ready to extend his hand to her. Kara though didn’t think so. Immediately she bolted.

He sighed disappointed and cursed and chased after her. He shouldn’t have mentioned the H0AX thing.

They both didn’t go far though. Suddenly at the mouth of the appeared two men. With guns. Kara froze. Donnie though immediately grabbed her and spun around. The bullets ricochet over his shell. Most must have hit the walls but he heard a groan or two.

Finally, they had to reload so he sprung up and ran, holding Kara against his plastron - princess style. She glared at him but honestly, this was preferable to being shot full of holes by the mob.

Suddenly a van parked with a screech in front of them and the side door opened.

"Donnie!" April yelled.

Thank god. He sped up and jumped into the car, shutting down the door. April hit the pedal just in time right before the new spray of bullets hit them and they drove off.

"That's our girl?" April asked, speeding through the street. She trusted Donnie got any cameras. She wasn’t so hot on getting a ticket.

"Yes," Donnie groaned as 'their girl' kicked him in the stomach.

"Feisty," April chuckled.

"Mhm."

He huffed and sat her down, quickly moving away before she could kick him again. He leaned back on the car's floor and took a breath in.

Kara was glaring at him while he was taking a moment in. She didn't like this one a bit. Sure it seemed he wasn't in cahoots with the mob but it still didn't explain how the said mob found her. She figured the bug was his. She recognized April, so that must have been when they got her. So far he didn't mean her too much harm. In fact, he just saved her life. With the right arguments, they might want to protect her and Cheryl. Especially Cheryl. She hoped her friend was safely back in their hotel room.

She sighed and tried to relax a little. Here comes nothing. She knocked on the metal floor for his attention. She signed once he looked in her direction.

Donnie tilted his head. <Deal?> He took in all of her injuries. They really needed to take care of it.

<You clearly are here to arrest me, I’m not stupid,> She huffed. <Those people back there? They are Big Boss's men. Ever heard of them?>

<Yeah, he's been getting a bit louder after Shredder left a vacuum in the crime world.> Donnie was already bringing up files he had on Big Boss. The brothers had a few fights with him in the past year. He was rising fast in the ranks using the fact that the Foot was pretty much scattered and disorganized. Ever since the Kraang someone has tried replacing Shredder but no one could. The brothers liked to think it was also thanks to their efforts.

Kara explained. <I- right,> she paused and looked for her bag. It was laying next to Donnie so she reached for it. Got her ID, credit card, and a small, silver cylinder. The rest she tossed to him. <Throw it out. I think they might be following me.>

Donnie nodded after catching it and threw it out the window.

she confidently suggested. <And few other big fish like him.>

Donnie tried to retort but she waved her hand at him.

<And yet he is still out there,> she pointed out. <And I have an inside scoop with proof no lawyer can ignore. Not everything can be found online. Plus, he is trying to kill me. That means I know something you don't, no?>

<That police will decide.> Donnie shot back trying not to fall for her arguments. He instead fished out some antiseptics and bandages to clean her up.

Police? Yeah no, thank you. She’ll pass. She avoided getting a record this long, she wasn’t planning on getting one now. Especially since all it would do was put her and nothing more. The state wouldn’t just put a hacker like her behind the bars. They would probably try to put a leash on her.

So in the choice between freedom in hiding, death, and a state-issued collar, she was obviously going to pick the first option.

Donnie moved closer. He was holding cotton swabs. He waved to get her to look at him again since she seemed so deep in her thoughts.

<I’m going to patch you up,> he told her and took her foot in his lap. There were cuts with pieces of glass and debris. He winced, it couldn’t be too comfortable to walk on.

She hissed when he started to clean it all up and she braced herself. Other than that she let him work. Which, in Donnie’s opinion, was nice. He usually struggled to keep Mikey in one place. Raph would try to sell a “Tough Guys don’t need stitches” but really was just scared of needles, Leo would just try and hide. It was always like herding cats.

No surprise there then when he quickly was done with her feet, and hand, and now was finishing up on her head.

Kara watched him work. Quick, thorough, precise. He probably did it a lot. Must be tough to be a vigilante. She sat still when he placed a gauze over the cut on her head and secured it. She looked up and caught his eyes. He couldn't blush but she has seen that look on men many times. The "I know it's wrong to stare but-" look. She smiled. She just found her opportunity for freedom.

Innocently she reached up. Even sitting he loomed over her a little. With the back of her fingers, she brushed over his cheek. His eyes widened just like during their first meeting but this time she could get a good look at his face. She tilted her head and stretched herself upward, raising on her knees a little.

Donnie didn't know what was happening. One second he was playing nurse and the next his heart was about to jump out of his chest. Stunned by her behavior he tried to make sense of it. Then her lips were on his and his brain turned off.

The little peck she gave him a week ago had nothing on this. He was suddenly flooded with her scent, her taste, how soft and pliant she was against him. On instinct, he pulled her closer. Her small hand traveled over his plastron up to his shoulder and neck. The unexpected heat between them was threatening to consume him.

"We're close to the house! You guys okay over there?" April called from the driver's seat.

The spell broke. Donnie pushed Kara back.

"Yeah! All good!" He called back. His mind was racing. What the hell just happened?

He looked at Kara. Her chest was raising and falling quickly trying to catch her breath. The pupils in her green eyes were blown up. She was smiling. That smile. The way she licked her lips. It was brief, her demeanor immediately melting into something more vulnerable and sweet. But he knew what he saw. A cat who caught a canary.

Despite the blood rushing in all directions but his brain, he realized something. She was seducing him. Playing him. Or at least trying.

Anger rose in him. Mostly at himself. How easily he let his guard down around her. His fascination with her was working against him. He gritted his teeth and moved away.

Get a grip, Donnie, he scolded himself. He wasn’t Mikey who would most likely fall head first for the act.

No matter how tempting it could be…

Kara watched how his face went from embarrassed bliss to silent fury. Whoops. She played her cards and apparently met her match. She watched him raise his guard, glaring from across the car.

Still, that was a pretty damn good kiss, She thought to herself. Her fingers brushed over her lips still feeling the tingles.

The car soon stopped. Donnie must have been still pissed about the kiss because as they were getting out he just grabbed her around her middle and carried her in under his armpit like luggage. No more princess-carry for the menace. She wasn't happy about it. It was a dick move considering her ribs hurt like a bitch. Unfortunately, this was probably the safest she could be at the moment. She could bear a bit of the turtle's wrath and hold onto her belongings in her hands.

He dropped her like a sack of potatoes on the kitchen chair and moved away. It was interrogation time.

She folded her feet up, one leg up, heel propped on the seat while the other was horizontal on the seat. Donnie and April were talking, whispering so even with one functioning hearing aid it was impossible for her to get. They finally faced her, how nice, and sat down. She briefly wondered which one would be a good cop and which one the bad one.

"What's your name?" April wrote down in a notebook she procured from somewhere.

"Glitch, H0AX, whichever you prefer," Kara wrote back. She looked almost bored, slumping a little in her chair.

April rolled her eyes. "Donnie said you wanted a deal, the least you could do is introduce yourself.”

Kara raised her eyebrow, reading the sentence. "Why does it matter?"

April shook her head and wrote back quickly, barely holding herself back from slamming the pen down. "The chief of police would need one to help you out."

"I don't want a deal with the police, I want a deal with you 5 or however many of you are out there. I will give you whatever you want but in exchange - no police, no mob." Kara pushed the notebook back.

April huffed. Sure, she could understand the disdain towards the police but the least this girl could do was give them her name. They weren't even negotiating anything and this half-pint of a woman was making demands without giving them much. April shot a look at Donnie. Unfortunately, he seemed to be doing something with his tech, his brow ridges furrowed and tongue slightly peeking out between his lips.

“Fine, no name then,” April glared at H0AX as she wrote. “Then whatever you have for us better be good.”

“Oh, it is. Just ask him, if he can break in,” she slid the notebook back to April and looked at Donnie with a light smirk.

“Donnie?” April asked

“Hm?” He asked as he furiously typed in code lines. He had all the holographic screens up around him, and the backpack he carried with him containing his power sources and processors was making loud noises as the coolers were working overtime.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to eliminate the human error,” he responded, only briefly glancing up at Kara.

The hacker in question pulled the notebook to herself. “I imagine he wants to get all my data so that you can just give me up to the police. I might have struck a nerve ;)”

She held her phone up. The screen was glitching a little but the young woman didn’t seem too stressed about that. She just observed.

Honestly, she was curious if he could. After all, he DID find her. Couldn’t have been easy…. She made sure of it. There of course had to be elements of luck but not all of it is just a lucky guess. There were skills involved. Those holo screens? She had seen prototypes, glitchy little buggers, but couldn’t really touch them but it seemed he had sensors attached to his hands and it worked seamlessly. She needed to ask him about it. She watched him fascinated following the lines of the codes he was using. Marvelous.

Her head tilted and she prepped her chin on her hands. He was cute with his tongue sticking out a little as he worked quickly. His six fingers were zipping through the screen racing against her own program.

“Booyah!” He got in! Ready to call his victory he sprung up but then a big, red ‘Warning!’ sign appeared in front of him and his holo screen shut down.

"How?!" He yelled.

He won against Sacks’ 15-year-old computer program and even shut down fucking Krang's ship! He won against aliens! There was nothing he couldn't do. He knew that. Still, he missed the trap she set in. A subtle, little line of code…

He paced the room. He was the best, damn it! Meanwhile, she… he looked at her.

Small, cocky, confident. Unafraid to reach for what she wanted. She knew she was good. Her coding style was very much like her. Bold but with easy-to-miss elements if you weren’t paying attention. Somehow, his lips twitched in a brief smile. They tingled remembering the kiss. He quickly covered his mouth by running a hand over his face. To gather his thoughts. So infuriating.

Kara looked down at the screen of her phone with the ‘Hacking Attempt Avoided” message upfront. She looked over the data gathered from it and whistled. She really wanted to go over it all. But first things first.

She took the notebook back and wrote ‘Dr. Kara Williams’ in large letters.

Donnie made a tiny squeak as he clearly recognized the name. “Ohmygosh,” he whispered under his breath.

April looked at him confused waiting for further explanations. He took a deep breath in and held it before letting it out. Calm down, Donnie. The first wave of excitement passed and he got annoyed again. How dare she! It’s almost like with Dr. Stochman all over again!

“Dr Williams, she’s-,” he started explaining to April, “she’s the leading mind behind many inventions in biotechnology but holds no patents. ‘Wellbeings of others holds no price’.” He recalled all he knew and swallowed. “The inventions are mostly aimed at aiding in disabilities. Bionic exoskeletons, the new generation of hearing aids and cochlear implants, learning programs, AIs, microchi-.” Suddenly he realized something. he signed.

Kara looked intrigued. She leaned forward and waited for him. Donnie licked his lips as his brain finally connected the dots.

<It was never meant for machines. The material you made it out of is completely biodegradable, it dissolves when a task is done,> he started pacing, excitement building up, and his hand movements quicker. <The chip is meant for the human body. It’s not that it’s imperfect, it is completely perfect for the task at hand! Improved neural connections? Probably outside stimulation to- to speed up recovery from physical traumas? Is that what you are doing?> He stopped in his tracks to confirm with her.

<You’re close. There’s more to it but yeah.> Kara grinned, extremely happy to see him work it out so quickly. <It’s still in the Alpha stage when it comes to human trials but with minimal modification, I am able to create electronics-compatible versions.>

Donnie was so torn right now. Why was this brilliant mind dealing with criminals? What was motivating her? It was absolutely boggling his mind and boiling his blood.

April looked between the two and sighed. She reached for the notebook again and wrote: “Will you help us now?”

Kara read it and nodded. She could give them something. She pulled up all the files she had on Big Boss on her phone. Best to start there. He was an issue. He could easily hurt Cheryl and physically damage Kara’s research. If he hadn't done that already. She will need to check on the security footage later.

With a few swipes of her finger, Donnie received a request for file transfer. He shot her a look but accepted. Quickly he read through and exhaled. It was a lot.

<How did you get all that?> He asked.

she explained.

April read over Donnie’s arm and her journalistic instinct was kicking in. If she went with this to the station. It would explode.

Kara added. <As long as I and my friend are kept away from the cops and safe from being shot by the mob.>

Donnie told this to April.

“We will need also things on Archambault,” April reminded him.

“Right,” he agreed. <How much can you give me right now on Mylan Archambault?>

<The French guy? Yeah, sure.> Just like that more files were sent to Donnie. It seemed that she wouldn’t have to try and seduce Donnie after all. She looked up. Pity. It would have been fun.

Donnie and April looked through everything. Evidence of embezzlement, corruption, shady deals…. Immediately Donnie forwarded that to Chief Vincent. At least they got that case closed. He sighed and looked up.

Her bright, green eyes were on him. There were a few encounters with humans Donnie and his brothers had. They usually invoked fear, panic, and running away screaming. Sometimes they would get aggressive. A brief memory of the failed attempt at breaking into the police station from years ago resurfaced. But Kara didn’t react this way. There was something in her look that was disarming him. She looked at him like she wanted to know what made him tick. Undressing almost. Stripping him to the core. Something squeezed in the pit of his stomach. Donnie turned around to break the trance he got himself in.

While he was staring at her Kara held his gaze with ease. She wondered what was going through his head. She didn’t know why she wanted to tease him so much. Bully him gently. He was different, minus the whole turtle thing. Not naive, but innocent in some way. Brave but timid. Skilled and sharp as a knife but modest. She wanted to grab him by the shoulders and- what? Show him the world? Wow, that was cheesy as hell. He was all the things she just wasn’t.

“So, I understand we do have a deal?” She wrote in the notebook back to April.

“I need to make a phone call but I think we will,” April replied and gave a nod to Donnie. She'd better bring Leo in on this.

And so, Donnie was left with Kara alone. Again. He sighed sitting back down on a chair next to her, facing her. Might as well try to make polite conversation.

<Why do they want to kill you?> He asked.

She scratched her neck. A frown formed between her brows. To be perfectly honest she wasn’t sure. <For my fabulous personality?> she joked. She admitted. It was true. She normally kept her ‘work’ relationships brief and to the point.

Donnie looked inquisitive, waiting on her.

<One - they got smart and figured out how to copy my microchips,> she started listing them. <Highly unlikely, though.> She added. <Two - the chips gave up before they could do whatever they wanted and that’s why I’m the target. Or they want to get rid of me before whatever evil takeover they want to do in case I spill. Three, > there she just raised her arm and made a noncommital ‘idk’ shrug.

She hasn’t dealt much with Big Boss, she knew some people though. From when she was younger and would grab any job possible to keep her and Cheryl afloat.

she tried to joke but was also curious.

he snorted and shook her head, giving her a stern look.

He barked a laugh. One time, he did entertain the idea of ‘improving’ his brothers but then he visualized the downsides of such an experiment and- no. Brainiac Raph would only be the stuff of theories. <Trust me, they aren’t.>

<So, I figured. They must not know much about tracking IP addresses, since we’re not having this conversation in New York.> She said keenly observing his reaction.

He got flustered at that. She grinned. <Sneaky.> She poked his leg with her foot.

he admitted, moving a bit away from her in his chair.

<About?>

<Well, you, why you despite all your intellect chose to do,> he gestured around, <this.>

<Yeah, we’re not that tight friends yet,> she replied.

He tried to make her understand. He responded to Leo, he didn’t want to fail him.

It didn’t work exactly. <And I don’t owe them shit. I owe you. This isn’t USSR to pass my gratitude among the collective.> She frowned and sat straighter up, putting up a wall. <I’m giving you enough as it is that I don’t need your holier-than-thou pity to justify my actions in your eyes.>

He bit his lips feeling the frustration rising. Kara didn’t wait for him to reply and just got up, wincing at the pain in her feet. Wrong move. She had to tiptoe to the kitchen and see if they had anything to drink. She was thirsty.

While they argued, April called New York.

"Hey, Leo?"

"April! Hi!" There was a smile in his voice. She heard Mikey shouting his hello and Raph throwing out his own greeting. It made her smile. "How's the mission?"

"Well, the good news is we got her," she said.

"What's the bad news?" He asked a bit quieter. She could hear him walk, probably away from his two other brothers.

"Sharp as always," she sighed. “There's someone after her. She says it's the Big Boss. I think I saw Weasel outside the club so that would check out."

"Weasel? Are you sure?" He was now on high alert.

"Yeah, and here's another thing." She glanced back to the living room/kitchen. The duo there were moving their hands in a very animated manner, of which she understood nothing from.

"What is it?" He was bracing for the more bad news.

"It’s… I don’t know, it’s Doonie. I think she is trying to get some hooks into him, he’s so far not giving into it." At least she hoped so. She omitted the detail that she saw Kara kiss Donnie on their way to the temporary hideout.

Leo groaned. That could play in so many different ways. Donnie usually was on his side of things, preferring logic and pragmatism to emotional outbursts…. but he also could be incredibly stubborn when he got something into his head. He hoped that whatever feelings there were or weren’t wouldn’t cloud his judgment.

He sighed. "Donnie’s an adult.” He tried staying somewhat optimistic on the subject and trusting his brother like he said he did. “He can make his own judgment calls. If it’s a wrong one- we’ll be there to help him out.” He said. “She’s smart right?”

"Yeah and really cute," April chuckled.

“If you say so…” he grumbled on the other end of the line. “What I mean is… I think I get him, a little. We all do….”

She sighed. The four turtles were like her family now. It hurt her to see them save the city time after time but have to stay away from the light. They deserved more. “Yeah. Hang in there little brother,” she chuckled. "I'll call you again before we leave California."

"Sure, just ah, make sure that Donnie-"

"I'll give him the talk, no worries," she assured him. “Maybe I’ll reserve a shovel one for her.”

“Thanks.” They disconnected a moment later and April went to check on the nerds.

She was surprised to see Kara, not at the table. There was tension in the air.

“What’s up?” She asked Donnie, who glowered in the hacker’s direction and shrugged.

“Nothing.”

“Alright…” It seemed she had given Leo outdated news. Has the problem taken care of itself?

She grabbed the notebook and went to the kitchen and waved her hand to get Kara’s attention.

“You mentioned your friend, where is she now?” She wrote and slid it to the younger woman.

Kara read the message and raised her phone. She has been texting Cheryl for a bit. The girl made it to the hotel and managed to grab their luggage. She barely slipped by before someone stormed their room as Cheryl heard while still in the lobby.

“We need to get her,” Kara wrote. “She knows about the turtles and she’s my family.” She glared firmly at April expecting resistance but got disappointed when instead the reporter nodded.

“I’ll tell Donnie.” April wrote.

It was a quick discussion from then on. Cheryl got herself an Uber, just in case someone would recognize April’s van. Once she arrived, she knocked on the doors the agreed amount of times and said the password. This whole thing was something she actually came up with because she wanted to feel like in a James Bond movie (after all they already were chased by bad guys). April didn’t want to comment but raised her eyebrows very pointedly.

When April opened the door, Cheryl recognized her from the con. “Sneaky. I’m not sure if I like you, or hate you right now.”

“Hi,” April replied. “I’m sure we’ll work something out.”

“Mhm.” Cheryl set down her and Kara’s luggage. Then she noticed her friend, sitting by the table. Immediately she ran up to her friend and squeezed her tightly.

Kara let out a strained whine and tapped Cheryl. She was overjoyed to see her friend too but needed to breathe.

Cheryl chuckled and let her go. She took off the blonde wig. She signed.

<It might throw off the pursuit,> Kara replied.

Then Donnie entered the room and Cheryl’s jaw dropped. <Wow, you’re huge!> She both signed and announced vocally.

“Thanks?” He replied, taken aback a little.

<Sorry.> Cheryl composed herself. <I’ve only seen you in Kara’s drawings> She jumped away from a punch to the ribs from her friend. <She said you’re tall but damn, how’s the weather up there?>

<Drawings?> Donnie blinked, ignoring the joke, and looked at Kara, who blushed and stubbornly looked away, not in the mood to explain herself. So what she drew her encounter with them in La Pettite? Who wouldn’t?

<Oh yeah, she doodled you and your brothers, pretty spot on if you ask me.> She nodded, ignoring the death glare drilling holes in her skull. <A whole page just for you though.> “Ouch!” She rubbed her side where Kara punched her.

“Alright,” April clapped her hands. “Since we’re all here… I guess we should talk about sleeping arrangements since we’ll be leaving in the.” She checked the clock. Well, it was later than late. “In the evening.”

Donnie raised his hand. “Um-”

“No, you’re going to sleep, I know you took some naps but over the past four days I don't think you had more than 6 hours total, Don,” April interrupted, scolding him. “We all need to be well rested to drive AND potentially deal with the mob.”

"Alright," Donnie gave in reluctantly.

"Great, now if anyone is hungry there's food in the fridge," April offered. "I'm gonna hit the shower AND the bed."

Kara and Cheryl were given a bedroom to share. Cheryl was out cold after all the thrills of the night had caught up to her the second she touched the pillows. Kara on the other hand was still up.

She was too buzzed up to sleep. The mob, Donnie… Something else was also itching at the back of her mind. If only she could put her finger on what She tried meditating and limited yoga stretches due to her injured feet but it didn’t help. She needed to do things. Act. Get tired. Her options were limited though.

Usually, she’d solve the sleeplessness by going out, dancing the whole night away, and finding a one-night-stand. It always got her clarity of mind. Something she desperately needed right now.

But no, she was stuck inside, hurt with a target on her back.

Frustrated, she left the room to get a glass of water. As she was passing through the living room she noted the blue glow of Donnie’s holo screens. He was also up, half sitting on the sofa, legs stretched out and squinting at whatever he was reading. The curse of a brilliant mind. Overthinking. His shell and height must have been a burden with human furniture too. She smiled and rapped her fingers over the counter to get his attention.

His head jerked up.

<Oh, hey,> he greeted her, seeing her there. <Shouldn’t you be asleep?>

<Same goes for you,> she pointed out. She walked from the kitchen to him and sat on the armrest once he pulled up his legs.

He shut down his devices. <Nice scarf.> he pointed at the silk wrap around her hair.

He grinned despite himself, trying to cover it up, but his shoulders shook in a bit of a chuckle. She smiled back proud of herself.

<So what you’re thinking about?> She asked.

<Mostly what to do with you once we get back. I was texting my brothers about it.> He tried to look stern but she thought he was rather cute like that. Looking over the rim of his glasses like a strict professor.

<Ah, so I am a collective problem.> She smiled.

<You kind of really are.> He smirked.

<Thank you, that's so kind of you to say.> She grinned and he shook his head amused.

He looked over at her taking in how different she looked without her makeup and flashy clothes. Just an oversized t-shirt, shorts, hair wrapped up and- he frowned. He didn't notice that before. A jagged scar on her throat. Must have been covered by makeup before…

<What's this?> He asked, gesturing to it.

She looked at him almost startled. Her hand went immediately to it, then dropped it, but her movements were stiff and guarded.

<Nothing, unless you buy me dinner,> she tried to put him off but it didn’t work.

He still looked like he wanted to ask more. <Must have been a terrible knife fight, the cut looks like it was deep and ugly. If it wasn’t for how quickly we heal I bet you could compare it with some of Raph’s.> he theorized then he looked at her face and thought that he did fucked up a little. Her eyes went a bit glossy and her whole body was rigid.

She shot up from the spot and tried to get up and leave.

He acted quickly. An arm shot forward and grabbed her wrist. <Sorry.> He signed.

She paused looking at him. She ripped her arm from his hand and huffed. <You don’t spend time around other people huh?>

She huffed a small laugh, still uncomfortable from his little blunder. <Wild guess.> She rolled her eyes. After a deep breath and a second with her eyes closed she added. <That particular backstory you unlock at level 100.>

<Like… 5 at best. You’re on the Hard Mode though,> she warned him.

<Cool, what level do I unlock the criminal mastermind backstory,> he joked and she threw a decorative pillow that lay on the coffee table at his head.

He caught it effortlessly. He wondered if she was going to leave now but no, she sat down again.

Some of the discomfort still remained but she decided to stay.

<You want a backstory you gotta tell me how you became a badass ninja genius,> she smirked.

<Fair. You remember Sacks Industries?> It wasn’t like it was a secret how they came to be. Not after they met April and Vern. Then Casey. While they weren’t just telling everyone about it he was sure Mikey and Raph were hanging out with some humans and some of them must have been told. Not sure about Leo.

Donnie preferred the digital world instead. He never talked about himself as openly as with her. Having Kara right in front of him with no disguises felt… somewhat liberating.

Before he knew he was telling her how they met April and took down Shredder.

Kara was grinning, more relaxed, and engaged in his tale. As it was with their conversations she had to ask him to explain some signs here and there but otherwise - completely engrossed. It was flattering.

<Wow, that’s crazy,> she signed encouraging him to continue.

And so recalled the rest of the events. They both had a moment once he got to describe the outdated system in the Sacks tower.

<Wait, so he had like all of that,> she gestured widely. <For fifteen years stuck on top of a skyscraper?? Why didn’t he just take it all down? The materials could have rusted. Circuitry could have fried! And he didn’t have an antidote.>

He waved his hand at her.

<Ugh, that’s so dumb!> She groaned. <Billionaires shouldn’t be allowed.>

<Absolutely.> He nodded in solidarity.

<Continue please,> she urged him to finish.

He chuckled. <There isn’t much left to tell, April and Vern got the serum, and we kicked Shredder's ass and saved the world.>

<It still sounds awesome, you basically stopped a Resident Evil scenario, who knows!> She was sitting there all wide-eyed and in awe of him and he felt embarrassed.

he replied but then he saw her face. Serious, determined.

She stood up, wobbly, on the sofa and clasped her hands on his cheeks. The temperature raised in his body because suddenly he thought she might kiss him again but-

“Owowowowowow!” He flailed a little, his face burning.

She pinched his cheeks and started pulling at them. Then slapped her palms on his face and squished it. She looked dead serious.

<Never! Ever! Lower your accomplishments. Be proud, damn it!> She signed, pulling her hands back. She still stood very close to his face. <You were the one to stop the toxins.> She poked his chest. <Your brothers might have beaten Shredder but if it weren't for you we’d all be dead.> Then she flopped back down. She finished and crossed her arms

He rubbed his face, holding it together. She really was a hands-on person. He smiled and laughed a little. <You are so weird.>

<Yeah, I am,> she agreed proudly. <That being said, did you guys also take care of the giant alien ship four years ago?>

<Who said it was aliens?> He smirked a little and hissed still feeling the sting in his face.

She gave him a doubtful look. <Well, you cleared up it wasn’t a mothership of yours with the previous tale, but giant rift tears up the sky and an even bigger hamster ball starts assembling in the sky just to Tetris away seconds before finishing - that sounds like superhero stuff and you four are superheroes so!>

He grinned. <Well, I don’t know that’s classified information.>

She stuck her tongue at him. Suddenly, she yawned and stretched.

<You should try going to sleep.> He suggested and she whined, shaking her head.

<No, don’t wanna.> She protested. <Tell me about the spaceship. Must have been looking so cool up close.> She tried to redirect his attention.

He snorted and sighed amused. He did enjoy the attention a little bit. <If you insist but you better share something yourself later.>

<Alright, alright> She chuckled. <I’ll tell you something. Later.>

Kara woke up to something warm, but very firm under her cheek. Not a pillow. And also to a feeling someone was watching her. She cracked an eye open and slowly her vision focused. It was Cheryl. She was grinning from ear to ear and pointing somewhere. Kara's brain wasn't online just yet. She groaned and turned her head away, nuzzling the stiff, vibrating, kind of textured… She looked down at what she was laying on. It was an off-brown colored…plastron? Oh boy.

She looked up. Donnie was still asleep. His head was dangling backward, glasses gone, mouth open, drooling a little and probably snoring, judging from the vibrations in his chest.

Kara flushed a little, not remembering how she ended up sleeping on top of the turtle man. Either way, she was already up.

Her sudden movement woke Donnie up. He looked around confused and bleary-eyed, trying to locate his glasses. He said something and Cheryl answered. Then he noticed her, staring at him like deer caught in headlights.

There was a pause.

Then she darted up and ran to the bedroom she was supposed to be in. She needed a shower and a moment to compose herself.

When she rejoined the others she saw April looking like she would give her a shovel talk any moment now. Cheryl was grinning from her spot by the kitchen aisle and Donnie… Donnie had his back to them all standing by the coffee machine.

Okay, time to put on her brave face. Nothing happened plus why should she be embarrassed in the first place? Ridiculous.

They all had their breakfast, during which Kara discovered Donnie was a coffee snob. Of the extreme kind. It was kind of hilarious. Cheryl informed her he has been going off for the past half an hour on bean quality and optimal brewing methods. At least that's where she turned off her hearing aids 15 minutes into the rant.

The two friends snickered looking at April’s pained expression. Clearly, the reporter had witnessed this more than once before.

Later they all agreed on the driving order then packed and set off to New York.

It was during Donnie’s shift in the car, driving. April was taking a nap and Kara was leaning over the wall fixing her hearing aid. They just hit the highway when her phone vibrated. It was a single text. Two sentences. But it froze her blood. Her hands started shaking and she looked at Cheryl with utter terror on her face.

Cheryl frowned, alarmed, and leaned in, gently touching Kara’s shoulder. She glanced at the phone’s screen. Then in the direction of still out of it April and driving Donnie.

<It’s going to be okay.> She tried to reassure her friend. She pulled her into a hug.

She gently pried the device from Kara’s hands and turned off the screen with the message:

[Detective: He’s out. Thought you should know.]

Tags:

@madammuffins @followmetoyourdoom

#eve scribbles #donnie x oc #donatello x oc #tmnt fanfiction #bayverse turtles #tmnt 2014 #tmnt 2016 #bayverse donnie #swak

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idontknowiknow · 6 months

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SELF INDULGENT 2023 YEAR IN REVIEW WRAP SCREENSHOTS POST

the things that gave me yearly summaries were: duolingo, inaturalist, storygraph, pocketcasts, and steam. was hoping tumblr would do another but ehh.

read more for lies damn lies and statistics feat yours truly

DUOLINGO: i am peculiarly motivated by xp. it's so not the point. and yet. it compels me. currently learning german, japanese, indonesian, italian, chinese, and welsh. finding chinese the most difficult by far, but they are all very interesting and rewarding. i am extremely basic at all of them still. am furthest in japanese and german due to previously learning them in high school and remembering enough to catch up a little, also spent a little while doing duolingo german previously and came back to pick up where i left off, but the others are totally new to the past 3 months. today i learned the sentence: Dwi i'n hoffi dysgu :)

INATURALIST: i am not very active on inaturalist but i enjoy it :) some cool things: a pied currawong came to my garden and i saw a ghost mushroom in someone's backyard (but, not knowing what it was while i was there, i didn't take a bit home with me to be able to see it glow in the dark >:| )

STORYGRAPH: pretty normal year. hard to choose favourite books... i was going to list some but it quickly spiralled out of control. ehh. probably if i rated them on this app it would tell me how i ranked them, but i don't feel like it

POCKETCASTS: it irks me somewhat that these are my top 5 most listened to podcasts; they just had the biggest backlogs that i caught up on. i guess i did relisten to all of taz having previously unsubscribed, so. mindscape, spacepod, and dungeons and daddies are probably my actual fave podcasts.

STEAM: it looks like i just... stopped playing games midyear lol. but that's because I spent the last 6 months playing dragon age 1 and 2, but ea doesnt want to give me stats apparently. wish i could get the games bought elsewhere to be on steam. ah well. and at some point I also played re:curse. so really i played 6 games this year. unless i forgot any other indie games.

#year in review #2023 #happy new year

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ninjadudettekira · 2 years

Photo

This art piece made me scream into the fucking void omfg, this was brutal. 77 layers and a lot of folders on Ibis Paint X. Hopefully I didn’t miss any mistakes cause I did when I showed this to Discord, and while I was posting this I almost forgot to unhide Ben’s pillow.

In one of the Ben 10 Discord’s I’m in, someone was like “Hey I’m working on a Ben 10 character mixtape and was tempted to add Brutal by Olivia Rodrigo for Ben just for these lines.” And I was like “Yo I’m tempted to draw that!” And here we are 4 days later. (In app time says like 16 hours and 18 minutes lmao.) More details about the drawing under the cut cause, boy oh boy does Allie have a lot to talk about with this piece.

I used a lot of screenshots from the show as a reference in order to draw how I saw this in my head. The second one was actually a reference to Young Justice episode Misplaced where Billy saw Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad on the TVs from the store he was walking past. “I feel like no one wants me” I was originally just going to do only Azmuth and Ben, but I wanted to do a three thing and I ended up going with Julie since their relationship in UA was rocky. (I also debated using Grandpa Max over her, but I couldn’t think of a time where Max was like that.) Also fun fact everytime I kept writing “feel” I did “fell” and took me so long to get it right. I was gonna go with a school background, but I couldn’t get it right so I went with what I did. Y’all know how when your life is a mess everyone seems like a shadow to you and everything around you is fuzzy? That’s what I was going for there. Also the fact that people want Ben for his aliens, not himself. “And I hate the way that I’m perceived” For the news report I did use the screenshot of that pose itself because I honestly couldn’t get it right when trying to freehanded it nor did I want to straight up trace it cause of how I had the TV screens. Figured there was no harm in using the screenshot itself for it. Just like “feel”, I had a tough time writing “perceived” correctly, I kept doing “pre-” over “per-”. Listen pretty sure I’m dyslexic so bare with me, English is hard. “I only have two real friends” Despite the fact that Kevin and Gwen are in their Season 3 Alien Force outfits, this takes place in UA. I went with those outfits for that lyric simply because I wanted to lmao. (And I guess cause it makes more sense cause before Vilgax came back the trio was having a good time? It makes sense I swear.)

“And lately, I’m a nervous wreck” I was originally using a photo of Danny from Danny Phantom as a reference cause he’s been a nervous wreck in some episodes, and I couldn’t remember Ben ever being nervous like how I wanted to draw him to do a reference. But Danny just ended up being thrown out the window when that wasn’t working out, ended up doing what I did though. I was originally gonna color the floor, but I was playing around with brushes on Ibis and that happened. I kept it cause it worked for what I was going for lol.

Also just a FYI, my DeviantArt is Kira Sema so that’s why my watermark in the panels say that over my actual name/username here. I’m trying to keep my newer artwork with a consistent watermark that leads somewhere if someone were to look up the name. (Despite the fact I’m still very backlogged on uploading old/current artwork to my DA.)

#Ben 10 #ben 10 fanart #ben 10 uaf #ben 10 alien force #ben 10 ultimate alien #ben 10 art #ben tennyson #gwen tennyson #kevin levin #azmuth #julie yamamoto #brutal olivia rodrigo #lyric art #Fun fact I don't even have this song on my playlist yet I drew a whole goddamn art piece of it #Sad Ben hours #One of these days imma make an animatic cause I've had ideas for my own stuff lol

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diphthongsfordays · 2 years

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Last Line Tag

I have so many of these backlogged, lol. Seriously, it's ridiculous. But I'm going to use them as motivation to actually get some proper writing done again, so I'm saying it's fine!

Tagged several times by the wonderful @winterandwords, thanks!! Because you've tagged me a few times, I'm using that as an excuse to post a slightly longer thing. This is unedited and whatnot, but I love the contrast of timid, terrified Ailin at the start who thought power was about fear and control, and Ailin here at the end.

Last thing from Deathdancer! This is part of the final confrontation with Jevesh (the mastermind of the plot) and Orvon (the assassin Jevesh hired that Ailin just turned against him with the power of Evidence)

Not entirely sure why, but unable to help it, Ailin stepped inside. The wagon shifted slightly with her weight, and Orvon barely glanced back before turning his full attention on Jevesh again.

“You,” hissed Jevesh, eyes bulging for an instant at the sight of her before he got his face back under control.

“You weren’t lying,” said Orvon, quietly, not looking at her.

“She was,” hissed Jevesh. “She is! She’s playing you! She’s gotten inside your head, twisted it all up with politics and ploys. This is why I point your blade, man! To avoid these sorts of schemes muddling your thoughts!”

He was desperate, all the effort of a scream held in every whispered word. Ailin couldn't blame him. She'd faced down Orvon's sword before. They all knew Jevesh was staring his own death in the face.

“You think a sword is all it takes to kill people,” said Orvon, his voice flat, empty as a desert horizon in the night. “You think I don’t have to consider the politics of it. You think I don’t have to know how every little world works before I walk through the cracks no one else can see. You think I don’t need every bit the intellect you do.”

Jevesh licked his lips once, back ramrod straight, hands curling into fists. Ailin took a slow step forward, then another, moving along the edge so she could see the side of Orvon’s face. It was as terrifyingly neutral as his voice. He may as well be a nameless clay model, made by some artist so skilled in anatomy they forgot that emotions existed.

“I am cheating Hazarys themself,” Orvon breathed, "Taking life before time decreed it. You think that could be done by a simpleton, Jevesh? Do you think you alone could defy a god?”

Jevesh’s eyes darted to Ailin, almost pleading. Orvon followed the movement, and glanced at Ailin.

“Why did you follow me?” he asked. “You know how this ends.”

“I know how you plan it to end,” Ailin shrugged, chest aching, muscles cinching around her lungs with the shear audacity of what she was doing. “It’s not the same thing.”

“And how do I plan it to end?” Orvon raised an eyebrow.

“Death.”

Jevesh shuddered slightly, the authority in his stance rapidly falling away now, shattering into fear.

“You can’t save everyone, girl,” sighed Orvon. “I’m not sure why you try.”

“And you can’t kill everyone,” Ailin countered. “I’m not sure why you try.”

The ghost of a smile twitched the corners of Orvon’s mouth. He shifted a half-pace aside, letting Ailin move forward to fully face Jevesh.

She stepped up slowly, infinitely aware of the knife still hanging in Orvon’s right hand, but her timesense stayed still.

“I’m not here to help you,” Ailin told Jevesh, quietly. “I’m here to arrest you.”

“As if,” he scoffed, all bluster and bravado and blatant terror. It made her stomach twist, guilt winding between her ribs, pressing painfully with every breath. This isn’t power. It never had been.

“Which would you prefer?” asked Ailin. “That I leave you to Orvon’s version of justice? Or that I take you to face the full might of the city you’ve wronged?”

She could give him that choice. Death or capture. Maybe it wasn’t much of a choice. Maybe it was the farthest thing from mercy she could offer a doomed man. But it was all she had left.

Because however it ended, it ended today.

“Why do you care?” asked Orvon, frowning at her. “You have the chance to get justice against the root of all your problems, and you cast it away?”

“What you’re talking about is revenge,” said Ailin. “And what I’m talking about isn’t justice.”

Both men stared at her. Jevesh had almost stopped breathing, eyes wide and unblinking.

“You tried to ruin so many lives,” Ailin met his gaze. “This is just an answer to that. One of many, I’m sure. But that isn’t revenge, and it certainly isn’t justice. Just one of many solutions. Make your choice.”

I tag (no pressure!!): @akindofmagictoo, @thegreatobsesso, @avrablake, @papercutsunset, @the-orangeauthor, and open tag for anyone who wants it!

#deathdancer #my writing #tag games #last line tag #writeblr

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r0b0tb0yband · 2 years

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🐋

Getting to know you Questions for the Mun! | not accepting (this is backlog lol)

🐋- share a Weird/funny story?

[I've been sitting on this one because I didn't know what story to share. I had one then I lost it, so we're going with the backup plan. This story happened across a full day.

This was back in the other town where Roe and I met. It's a weekend, she slept over the night before and we had plans to do some shopping and make a day of it.

First thing to happen was on the way to the bus station: we got stopped by a Mormon who tried to convert us. Cue like, 5 minutes worth of polite nos before we threw the "we're in a hurry" card and hurried on.

Get to the bus station, try to check bus times, see bus getting ready to leave. In the sprint to get onto said bus, I forgot they were electronic sliding doors and pushed them open. We still missed the bus.

Okay fine, we'll walk. This was a long walk too. We were not impressed. Do our thing in one spot, take a long ass walk again to another spot. Most of this day ended up walking and complaining about missed buses.

Last stop was Walmart. Things are normal and we stop on the way out to use a gacha machine thing that would give us a little Winnie the Pooh in some kind of animal outfit. (I still have some of these little things for what it's worth.)

Head across the road to wait for the bus, and while we're standing there, Roe realizes she forgot her wallet in Walmart. In the Walmart that was closing. Without checking for oncoming traffic, she sprints across the road, screaming expletives the entire way through the massive parking lot. I followed her back across the road (more carefully) because I didn't want to take the bus without her, but I swear I haven't seen her run like that since. It was beautiful.

Bonus: The only other stupid story that comes close to this majesty is me and another friend. We were on our way home from Ruckers (arcade-type place where I used to play a ton of DDR) and the weather was heading into rain. The fastest route was across train tracks because it was a straight line, but you know, metal.

So this version of me hated thunderstorms with a passion. When a big clap went off, the friend who is not afraid of storms stopped and went "you did yo see how big that one was?" but got no answer from me. She paused to look around, only to discover that I had bolted down the tracks at the speed of light out of fear. All I heard somewhere behind me was "hey wait for meeeee!"]

#fanmail #the other manager (mun)#vcn vet #meme response

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eigwayne · 4 months

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Today I watched a couple eps of a handful of shows I'd been working on. I want to finish one or two so I won't feel bad about starting Witch From Mercury or Parallel World or something else on my backlog. But man, sometimes finishing a show is a slog.

I'm on episode 50 of Court Lady, a show with unlikable characters and far too many plotlines that just keep dragging on. I forgot about Ma Hainyu and the other secondary/tertiary characters from the pirate group for a while there, they appear so rarely. And it breaks the tone AGAIN from the high drama of the palace, which was gearing up to resolve, it felt like. And now it's just dragging its feet about everything and especially Lu Yingying's arc, which is the worst arc of the whole show and I hated Fu Yin's stupid not-revenge arc a lot. The more I have to see Prince Liang, the more I hate the show, so you can imagine how I am suffering through this part. Also, this is the main character who gets called a Mary Sue the most in reviews (out of the other shows in this post) but is least Mary-Sue-like, imo. She had a modicum of wisdom and sense and self preservation, and apparently that is unbelievable for most viewers, I don't know.

I hit episode 20 of Stand By Me 2021. The main character is still a moron, sadly, but the palace drama and Xuan Lu's character are keeping me interested. I don't mind at all that there's ahistorical powerful female-led organizations- I mind that the main character is the sort that should have been killed for being fresh in front of the emperor in the first episode but faces no repercussions for hardly anything at all. They want me to believe this is such a dangerous court but they let this imbecile prance around with a sword and stick her nose into everyone's business? My ability to suspend disbelief is pretty decent but I am struggling with this. And the emperor's in love with her. If I were Cheng Yi I'd throw out my back on purpose or something to get out of acting in yet another drama where I had to fall in love with a girl who is so stupid she can't hold her own in a conversation with a toddler. This is the third one. Third! The man is cursed by his pretty face- born to do comedy, forced to do idol.

Besides that, I hit episode 7 of Rebel Princess, and this show is twice as long as it needs to be already. Every scene, every plot element is dragged out past its limits, and this is coming from someone who thought the childhood arc in Minglan was fine. They keep telling me the main character is beautiful and virtuous but they show me a spoiled brat. The actress, while beautiful, is too old to believable play a fifteen-year-old, as are most of the other actors, and they should have sucked it up and gotten younger actors for this arc. I heard this is a bit of a vanity project and I'd believe it.

And I'm on ep 12 of Goodbye My Princess. I started the original version, not the director's cut, and sometimes I wonder if I made the right choice. But this is another one with an unlikable, kind of greasy male lead, plus an amnesia arc which is often a snore-fest, plus we just introduced another woman to the love polygon, so we'll see, maybe I will be glad I saved myself three episodes.

I wish I was better about dropping things, but my brain just won't let me. Never mind just these shows- every once in a while, I think about going back to Ashes of Love or Destiny of White Snake or even Hot Blooded Youth. LOL, that one would be my inability to let something go versus my gut reaction to Huang Zitao's face. It'd be a disaster. But I still sometimes entertain the idea.

#currently watching

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frenzyferret · 2 years

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Oh Snap! I Nearly forgot I had this!

No seriously, I forgot about Tumblr lol.

So to those who are still following and still active... Hi. I'm uh... not dead! I've just been more active on Instagram, less active on here. Thoooooo I'm back and I got a backlog of art I want to share, so that's what I'm going to do. Heard Tumblr had scheduled postings so that's how I'll post a majority of my art Also gonna be cleaning up my Tumblr in the meantime since my god, it's a mess. Old art is gonna stay up tho, too lazy to remove it. Look forward to some new art soon :) 👌

#status #status update #back from the dead #new art soon

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after-nine-at-the-oasis · 2 years

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What. the heck

xdd

Okay promo time

AHH new newbies??

New newbies :DDDD!!!

Yeah I suppose it has been a while since we've gotten some lol!

And we've been down to only two so ┐⁠(⁠ ⁠∵⁠ ⁠)⁠┌

Anyway oooh that's exciting :D

OH WAIT YEAH THAT MEANS THEY'RE ATTENDINGS!!!

Shaun said that and I like did not register/process it at all XD

Anyway YAYYYYAYAYAYYAYYY SHAUN AND PARK ARE ATTENDINGS!!!! WHOOOOOO :DDDDD!!!

Anyway lol (I came back to edit that I'll be real because I forgot about it but saw it when I saw the summary for the next episode just now - I only posted this like 10 minutes ago but actually 5 because I accidentally just saved it as a draft without posting it first lol aaaaanyways - and I felt like it needed to be mentioned xD)

Asher xD

Lol ready to see him happy again <33

Also ready to see all his trauma >:)) :DD

I better

Or I will do it myself xD

Lol anyway

AHHHH Lim's back :DD

Aww Lim :'))

And yeah, he did save her life :'D

Them your honor <3

Oh no 😧

Lim :(((

Yeah I get it

To a lesser degree but yeah it's hard to accept that your life has changed and you can't always do what you used to be able to :'((

WAIT GIRL WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO WITH THE MOTORCYCLE NOW????

Sorry not the time XDD

Oh no :o

Lim :'(((

I hope she doesn't have to step down but if she does I hope she finds something really good to do :')

Okay and that's about it! Those are the last of my final thoughts, and now it's time for the. . .

REVIEW

I LOVED THIS EPISODE SOOOO MUCH 😭😭😭😭!!!

From the angst on like, literally everyone's part, to the relationships, to the surgeries, to everyone being okay??? It's amazing :')).

I said a LOT in my liveblog, especially near the end (as I am wont to do with the good doctor lol, but especially after it's ended and there's no time limit on me and my backlog xD), so this review will be pretty short.

First of all! Jordan, you did great <333. There wasn't much of a focus on her but she did amazing :')). Also Glassman, had to make some tough calls but again, he did good <333. Ah, and Andrews? Fantastic <33. He had to make some stuff calls, and he also got some good emotional moments but yeah, good for him, wonderful <3. I love them all so much :)). I mean them and also just all of them in their little family lol.

Lim and Dalisay (plus that guy with Crohn's)!! I am so glad they're alright :'D. I mean Lim has some stuff to work through, and trust me when I say I'm not trying to make it seem like this is an awful fate or whatever or that her life is pointless now that she's paralyzed, that's not what I'm trying to say it ALL. But it still sucks, and it's jarring, and while I know she'll be okay, it'll be a hard journey, and I hope she does well along the way <3. And I really hope we get to see some oft he lasting affects of Dalisay - on all of them, really - and don't just stop seeing her so much :')). I still love her even if her/this plotline's mostly over now so I hope she sticks around besides just being there <3.

Morgan and Park!! Lol it's weird I listed Lim and Villanueva together when every other one's gonna be a ship xD. Anyway, THEMM 😭😭😭😭. I can't y'all, they don't deserve this heartbreak and neither do I :((. I honestly see Park's point though, but I do think she's ready to put them first. I think they will (PROBABLY) get back together, after a little while, just because I don't see one of them leaving the show quite yet, nor do I see them being able to be working together still after breaking up xD. But, yeah,I really hope they come out of this alright <33.

Shaun and Lea!!! They are so amazing 😭😭😭😭😭. I just- I can't. THEY'RE M A R R I E D D D D D D!!!!! I just love them so much :'DD. Shaun's plot with Steve was fascinating, and Lea stepping up to help was just *chef's kiss* amazing. Even through her turmoil (and Shaun doing his job even through his), she helped, and she supported Shaun, and she did an amazing job :'))). Also I swear that last scene (and the first one xD) was SO FREAKING SOFT 😭😭❤️🥰🥰😍😍. They're so adorable I can't, I love them <333.

Asher and Jerome!!!! Yes I'm leaving them for last even after Shaun and Lea, it's because I LOVE THEM, OKAY? Anyway lol.

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰😍😍😍😍😍😍🥰🥰❤️❤️❤️😭😭❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 THEY SAID I LOVE YOUUUUU

THEY'RE IN L O V E YOUR HONOR :DDDDDDD 😭😭😭😭😭😭❤️❤️😍😍🥰🥰🥰🥰❤️❤️😭❤️!!!!

Also I watched it back and yeah Jerome definitely did not say anything lol. Like he was trying but he most definitely did NOT lol. Asher did though so that's all I need <3.

But that is actually a lie I'm gonna need an "I love you" from Jerome at some point in the future, I don't care when, and I do miss a kiss 😔😔. Mourning the loss of the kids we could've had lol. But nah, that looked like an amazing hug <333. I would've loved a kiss but it probably fit better without one :))). That just means I need one in the future though lol.

ANYWAY!! The T R A U M A Asher went through this episode :o. Like DANG y'all can we address that??? Probably the most added trauma (like yk Shaun's ain't new) besides Villanueva and Lim!!! I really hope we do see the long-term effects/the consequences of that in the future. Also Jerome being scared and worried for Asher was amazing 😭😭😭❤️❤️🥰. Literally I love them so much. Oh and Jerome calling him Ash was what I LIVE FOR. That was AMAZING. Beautiful, my babeys, we love nicknames xDD 😭😭😭 <33333. Just- them 😊😊☺️☺️☺️😊.

Overall, I really, really loved this episode. It was such a great season premiere, and everybody played their parts perfectly. I meant in the plot, but the acting was amazing too :'D. I'm still having so many feelings lol. Most of them happy because I'm thinking about Jerome and Asher, and Shaun and Lea, but still lol xD. It was an awesome episode, full of suspense and cool plot points and twists (twists included in the cool). I thoroughly enjoyed it, this episode was just great. I think it's the start to a truly wonderful season.

What an amazing episode. I'm looking forward to what's coming up next in the series! This has been my review of. . .

The Good Doctor, Season 6, Episode 1: Afterparty

It was so great. And I am super excited for the next episode - it's going to be wild, I'm sure of it. See you next week for my review of. . .

The Good Doctor, Season 6, Episode 2: Change of Perspective

See you then!

#the good doctor #tgd #oasis's tgd chatter #they did NOT name it afterparty #I swear lol 😭😭 xDDD #lol anyways #yeah #STUNNING premiere #and I have a feeling the rest of the season will follow in its footsteps #and by that I mean the greatness things but like I said I wanna see the effects #let's not skip over that lol #anyway yeah <333 #love y'all :)))#byee!!!

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steve0discusses · 5 years

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Yugioh S3 Ep4: Pharaoh Kitsch

Ah, I just found out what happens when you put a quesadilla in an air fryer (it was still delicious but looked a lot like modern art) So now that nothing else can possibly surprise me today lets go over to Yugioh. Bear in mind, I am still sick as a dog and my brain only recently came out of a pretty intense fog so I think this recap makes sense but it might not. Which is on brand for this show so wtv.

Tea went to hell recently. She’s still kicking. But, unfortunately in hell.

Yugi’s still getting harassed by a swamp person who can’t stop talking about how good he is at Business.

I’ll be honest I’ve been on dates with guys professing to be Business experts (they’re not) where I basically wanted to lie on the ground exactly like this mid conversation in the middle of the damn restaurant.

So anyways, it’s this episode where Pharaoh decides to try something new. Mostly it’s because he had only a limited number of cards to choose from but also because it’s everyone’s favorite kitschy thing that I guess is back in fashion again that’s right it’s a rainbow.

This sounded like a joke on the show but I was just me talking to myself in this last blurb. *long, exasperated sigh*

(read more under the cut)

Anyways I just deleted about 4 or 5 different art rants (I’m pretty sure it was like 11 rants actually, I get pissssssed when I’m on Dayquil) where I pretty much snapped about trends, and it went way off topic. Apparently Dayquil me is just like up in arms about the neon 80′s pink rainbow unicorn trend that was super fun for a little while, but it’s been like 6 years and it’s *still here* and it’s like guys, while I was super down 6 years ago, now I am 30. Do any marketers out there even know how old millennials are supposed to be?

Anyway, before obsessive bad marketing happened and rainbows became a meme to comfort us in these hard times, rainbows used to be out of fashion when this episode aired in 2001. Just bear that in mind if you are a baby in the room and you think unicorn stuff everywhere is normal, it didn’t used to be. It used to be wearing multiple belts was normal and dying your bangs blonde and then parting them aloft and to the side, only allowing your freshly dyed hair to touch water maybe once a week. The cover “Mad World” just came out on the radio and we listened to it unironically. So Pharaoh using a rainbow was supposed to be a joke. Not like...a mundane thing we wouldn’t blink twice at in 2019 because rainbows are freakin everywhere.

And I should clarify that I’m referring to the the hyper cute Lisa Frank Revival. Not about how rainbows are a political symbol since the 90′s--that’s fine--that’s always been a thing, and I’m not docking the actual use of a rainbow both as a pride flag and as a Hawaiian license plate. I’m docking the market saturation of rainbows aimed at the five adults who can wear this stuff and still go to work somehow.

Anyway, a lot of Yugi’s duel is centered around Gansly making fun of his cute ass Kuriboh and saying it was too adorable to ever be effective so now I guess Pharaoh has decided to destroy the hell out of Gansly with a rainbow to get his revenge and to get his point across. Which is very Pharaoh of him despite the fact that this card is the opposite of Pharaoh’s entire emo/alt-rock aesthetic. Pharaoh just really needs to get in the last word always.

We get some more vignettes of what everyone else is up to and I gotta say they made a great use of Joey.

Photoreal penguin sure asked a lot out of me. My brother on the other hand who freakin loves penguins was like “THIS IS THE BEST.” and I was like “but how did the penguin pick up a ROPE?” and he was like “shshshshshhh don’t ruin penguin for me!”

I guess using it’s beak? Or maybe there’s little human fingers on one of it’s little flipper wings?

Anyways, the Kaibas have recovered from their orphanage/falling off of a cliff episode and are back to arguing in the way where Mokuba kind of lectures/begs his older brother and Kaiba goes “hhhrhhghghhhhh”

Mokuba is also just going off about whether or not Seto was a good parent. He’s not. Seto is a terrible parent, and I am shocked that Mokuba is still surprised by this. Seto is a freakin child, but hey I guess Seto is better than a war criminal?

Mokuba just expects a lot out of Seto Kaiba. Over the course of this show, it’s becoming apparent that Mokuba is slowly starting to see the cracks in his older brother, I’m just surprised at how long it’s taking Mokuba to figure out that his brother has not just cracks but is spilling out basically everywhere and getting everyone they know possibly killed in the process. Most likely Duke Devlin. Still shocked Duke Devlin is still alive.

Mokuba’s not quite there yet, he’s still holding out. He’s still trying to reason with this kid who is flying a blimp onto an island he once blew up like a James Bond villain so he can play a bunch of cards on it. Mokuba’s...pretty delusional, but I guess so are all Kaibas.

On the other side of town, Yugi decided he was kind of feeling bad about Pharaoh falling repeatedly on his own face. Which is also Yugi’s face. But also neither of their actual face since this is entirely in VR.

Nothing was even fired at Yugi’s direction. He didn’t even get a chance to like...reach for his cards. He was just like “Oh damn never mind oh damn.”

Like all the rest of these characters seem like they still function pretty good at like 400 HP but Yugi is just out at like 1200 it feels like. Shouldn’t it be you can play until you hit 0? Not like it matters since Yami would just take over anyway.

On the other side of town Tea is rewriting memories with characters who were absolutely not here for this moment in S1.

Could be that Tea has finally decided to recognize Duke and Serenity into the fold as much as Tristan, Joey and Yugi, or it could be that her memories are so freakin borked from S1 Pharaoh’s mind wipes, that she actually legitimately thinks both were there.

Funnily enough, she did not add Bakura to this memory. Whenever any other friend has had a vision where their buddies rallied them on, Bakura has always been included, but not this time. Nice. Maybe Tea is the only person who has figured out Bakura ≠ friend. Or maybe Bakura was just straight up written out of everyone’s memories when he died? Hell knows, the show still hasn’t talked about it. Bakura hella died, and no one has even talked about it. Of course no one is really next to each other at the moment so fine, I’ll let it pass.

Anyway, she decides to use this opportunity to prep for the upcoming Ironman challenge that I’m pretty sure she does once a year.

There she goes, on her way to probably save Mokuba’s ass with her own ass, yet again. Tea and her weird strength. I have no idea where she stores it. I have no idea where it comes from. But Tea is like some sort of primal force of nature and she rarely ever uses it.

And then..........this happened.

And then a purple horse with a scantily clad knight on it crosses this bridge to stab the fishman in the heart-it was a lot of unexpected stuff, guys. Again, completely normal for 2019. I could probably get a shirt with a rainbow and a unicorn with a knight on it from like...Target.

Oh My Oh My I just typed “unicorn on rainbow shirt target” into google and one of the first thing that popped up was a shirt with a chibi rainbow unicorn dabbing. My eyes. There were so many search results. Freakin dabbing. This particular shirt is clearly for children and not for 30′s but man I know like 6 people my age who probably already own this shirt.

Anyway, my apologies to all the fans of this fad, this is your time to shine, make the most of it, you are all valid and it is fine to love what you love. We all like different things. I’ll be here in my corner eagerly waiting for this fad to mercifully end so I can finally go back to the Tim Burton wannabe illustrator I used to be before I had to adapt to the hyper cute phase we’re in right now. I mean you have to humbly deal with the cards you’re given, and sometimes that means you have to draw some rainbows both in cards and also in actual drawings.

Doesn’t mean I have to like it.

So, when Noah realizes he can’t exactly beat Yugi with cards he reaches for this instead:

And guys, Yugi doesn’t even hesitate.

Like remember how Pharaoh walked straight into a creepy clown tent and shoved himself into a little tiny box in a dark room and got hellllla abducted in less than 2 minutes? It is SO EASY to abduct Yugi Muto. In fact, on seeing this magic door appear, Yugi even told Pharaoh “that’s a trap” and Pharaoh was like “that is a trap” and they both were like “I see no other options.”

When it’s like, Yugi, you are OUTSIDE. There’s no walls here--you could go literally anywhere else but the door.

But WTV, it’s Yugi logic.

#Yugioh #yugioh recap #photo recap #s3 ep4 #this was gonna go out like Sunday but I was way too sick and legit forgot #and also no joke I kept ranting about like weird ass stuff #because of the dayquil #so I had to come off the dayquil train before posting #so really making a backlog for when I get sick was pointless because I couldn't post it anyway lol #yugi muto #tea gardner #noah #seto kaiba #mokuba #rainbow kuriboh #I also meant to post this wednesday but I pressed the edit button instead of post #so apparently I still wasn't better yet from this flu that just won't freakin end #but third times the charm lets see if I actually get this from my draft folder into my blog

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