#just gonna skitter into my dumpster fire now

[frnkiebby]

f u c k~🎃

[augment-techs]

Hope this isn’t being rude but you don’t like Tomberly? Or rather the fans of the ship? Is it okay to ask why? Genuinely asking.

....Well, I'm gonna get eaten alive for answering this, but I'm so bored right now I also do not care. How to put this.... It's not necessarily that I find Tomberly to be an inherently bad pairing, or find that the people who have this for their OTP to be especially unpleasant in every facet of their being. No, it's more like...a very specific type of Tomberly shipper that can--and HAS--ruined my day because they cannot FATHOM these two characters, SPECIFICALLY, being in a relationship outside of each other and making it the entire rest of the fandom's problem. Like, in the 90s, I could understand it. I was in kindergarten, but it was literally one of the first ever kid show pairings that delivered a kiss and felt like they were perfect. Fine, great, awesome. But it is 2023. They are now the ONLY Rangers LIVE that have kissed, and a lot (and I do mean A LOT) of these shippers feels like that's destiny, it is written in the stars: They were Meant to Be. They Are The Best. There Will Never Be Another True Pairing. They are the LOUDEST and MOST ANNOYING about this when literally anything in media shows the characters in another, different romantic relationship (Tommy) or perfectly happy and fulfilled being on their own (Kim). And I am stuck with that one scene from the Birds of Prey/Harley Quinn movie just BLASTING in my brain every time one of these fans crosses my dash with a snide remark about Tommy/Kat in ANY narrative, or making heart eyes at Kim just standing next to Drakkon in the comics in any dimension ever:

And this is not even bringing up how they are generally dismissive of other characters outside of these two, because where one goes, the other follows. (Examples: Trini, Zack, Jason, Kat, Tanya, J.J., Hayley, Bulk and Skull--not getting into it with these two, but it is a PROBLEM--and on and on and on.) Not to mention they have a tendency to dismiss any flaws (Kim being selfish, a little manipulative, dismissive of other people's feelings, too into her looks, sometimes being too one-track minded vs Tommy's lack of any personality outside of being a Ranger, being secretive and dramatic in the early days, constantly picking fights, making everything a big deal, being a doormat, being too submissive, being jealous) as just bad writing/bad acting, instead of just... Understanding that maybe there is a POINT to this? These are the inconvenient shippers mind you. These exist in every fandom, it's just a little harder to avoid them when you're in a SMALL fandom. And I have my own biases; as a consummate multishipper I see characters are beneficial only if they can branch out into BETTER characters, with better options and plots ahead of them than just Good Girl Meets Rugged Guy, They Kick Ass, They Fall in Love, They Live Happily Ever After blah blah blah blah. Also, and I cannot stress this enough: I am almost exclusively a fan of the PR COMICS. And the comics are doing their best to make all their characters multidimensional and slightly different from what we had in the 90s. Which means I can look back at the live action MMPR series and say, "Both Kim and Tommy Were a Dumpster Fire, I Don't Think I Like Them Very Much," and happily skitter back to their current comic selves and say, "You're a dumpster fire, too. But that's okay~ You're teenagers who make mistakes and are still growing into yourselves and can make new choices. Nothing is set in stone and the multiverse exists. What are you going to do about it?" * * * tldr; I don't HATE Tomberly. I don't HATE their fans. I am a multishipper who believes in options and not dunking on any other possible relationships they might have outside of each other. I like Kat Hillard, I like Matt Cook, I like Tommy, I like Kim. These are not mutually exclusive and I am okay with anyone as long as they're not needlessly cruel to other fans and what they like. I might find Tomberly boring, but so what; I also thought every relationship in FRIENDS (outside of the basic Chandler/Monica), Beverly Hills 90210, the Superman Animated Series, and the ENTIRETY of GLEE (that wasn't roasting Rachel Berry) was boring. I don't like it, I skip it and move on. If I happen to be a little snide myself in posts about them...

[impulsivefanwriter]

The Start of Smith Shark-Pup Forge

I LIVE!!!! And for my grand return to Tumblr, may I present... This fic for the SPBNR Sharp-Pup AU :3

Enjoy

---*--- Kai was going to kill Garmadon, revive him with his own stupid Mega Weapon, and kill him again.

That is, he would, if he could just get out of this bag-

Seriously, how had the Mega Weapon transformed the bag previously stuffed over his head into a bag that covered his entire body? And why was he struggling so much to get it off, it was just a cloth bag, it shouldn’t be this hard-

In a fit of frustration, he bit into the fabric and was pleasantly surprised when it shredded and he was able to worm his way out of the hole.

He gaped at the sight around him. Ninjago City. Or, at least he thought it was Ninjago city. It was lit with every colour of the rainbow, drowning out the stars above. But that wasn’t the part that threw him off.

It was how big everything was.

The smallest buildings around him were the size of the tallest buildings in Ninjago City, but they didn’t even come close to the tower in the middle of the city. Kai nearly got dizzy looking at it, and he wasn’t even standing close to it. 

Heck, just the night lamppost was taller than any lamppost he’d seen before. And that alley dumpster- it was taller than him! Taller… by a lot. A weird amount, actually.

…

So either everything was so much taller than normal in this weird Not-Quite-Ninjago-City, or… 

Or he was smaller than normal. A lot smaller.

His question was quickly confirmed when he tried to stand, only to overbalance and fall forward on his paws.

Paws. Not hands.

WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE FSM-

Kai stared at his hands (or lack thereof), and finally got a good look at himself.

Oh. Oh no. Oh nonononnononono, what- 

What was he, some kind of shark… puppy… mix? Pinkish red splotches on small, smooth scales secretly rough as sandpaper, mostly blue with an underbelly of white, a fin spiked up on the top of his head with smaller fins spiked like his hair, and a red collar. A collar. Like he was nothing more than a common house-pet.

Kai growled, then balked at how weird that felt. He ran his tongue over sharpened teeth; definitely some kind of Shark… Pup… thing.

He would ask why, but the answer was ‘The Universe was fucking with him, as always’. 

“H-heh, c’mon. L-let’s talk this out.”

Kai’s head snapped up. The voice sounded familiar in a way, though he couldn’t quite place it. Still, they sounded panicked. Scared. 

His instincts were firing at him.

Stumbling over his paws, Kai immediately fell face-first (snout-first?) into a puddle of mud. When he stood, shaking the dirt from his eyes, he fumbled over to a dumpster and tripped over an open garbage bag. Ewwww… just his stupid luck.

“Th-that’s a nice l-looking knife you have there.”

Kai shook off the garbage and bounded down the street, growing more confident with every step. His movements were fuelled by fire, little sparks and melted paw prints in the asphalt trailing in his wake. Someone was in trouble. A knife. An alleyway. His problems could wait.

“You like it?” A different voice. “It’s my father’s.”

Kai growled again, picking up the pace. The conversation seemed so close, but because of his small size (and general lack of control over his new form, despite getting better at it as adrenaline and protectiveness shoved him forward), the empty street took forever to cross. The streetlamp flickered overhead, casting his shadow across the alley.

“Or, rather it was, before Lord Garmadon’s last attack put him in the hospital.”

That almost threw Kai off balance, but he quickly corrected his movement before he could go skittering into the storm drain- the way he was right now, he might actually slip in- and kept running.

“L-look, I’m sorry, I really am, but hurting me isn’t gonna help hi-” 

A strangled yelp. Kai felt hot fire building in his throat, smoke slipping through his clenched teeth. Almost… there…!

“Oh I know that. Doesn’t mean it won’t make me feel better.”

Kai skittered into the alleyway, snarling. A person holding a knife whipped around to see what had just happened but kept their hand firmly around the throat of a teen in a green hoodie. With mud covering many of his spots, the darkness of night covering the rest, and patches of garbage visible in the splotches of moonlight, he surely was quite the sight even without his new shark pup form. 

Despite the smoke curling out of Kai’s mouth (if the people could even see it in the dim alleyway), the stranger with the knife didn’t seem to be intimidated. They merely laughed. “What, brought your little puppy with you? Your stupid sea dog?”  

As the green teen squirmed, knife flashing too close to their skin, what little patience Kai had evaporated. A jet of fire burst from his mouth. It roared across the alleyway, licking at the walls and charging toward the stranger. 

The stranger screamed and dropped the knife, blocking the fire with their arms. The flames washed over the green teen without burning them. Kai was across the alley by the time the flames flickered away, leaping at the stranger and biting their leg. 

“MOTHERF-“

Kai leapt away from the stranger as they hopped on one foot in pain, finally crashing into the far wall. Ignoring them, Kai grabbed the edge of the green teen’s pant leg (the closest thing he could reach from the ground) and dragged him toward the alleyway exist,

Together they ran for several minutes through the streets away from the alley, until Kai’s stubby little legs outweighed his ninja training stamina. He tumbled as he missed a step, rolling several feet before coming to a whining stop on his back. Ouch, his feet hurt. No, that was right… paws. 

The questions of where was he, what was he, how did he get back to his family and form crashed back into him, tearing at his mind and threatening to strangle his lungs. He buried the feelings down but they kept rising back up, bubbling under his skin and grabbing at his chest, his heart, his head, his thoughts. Stop it, get a hold of yourself, figure out the situation first-

Someone scooped him up. Kai let out a startled noise, weakly pawing at fabric until he realized it was just the green-wearing teen. He calmed a little (just a little; he didn’t like getting picked up, and certainly not by someone this much taller than him at the moment), and finally got a good look at the kid. 

Dear FSM, it was like looking at an older Lloyd. Fix his hair, change his eye colour, and boom, it was like staring at a mirror of the future. Kai could see Lloyd looking like this teen, and it wasn’t just the green hoodie. 

“So, um, hi there…” The teen said. Kai stared at him. “Thank you. For saving me, I mean. Nobody else would have done that. Figures; I’m about to get stabbed and the only one willing to help is a stray shark pup-“

The teen noticed his collar. “Or, not a stray. Let’s see-“

Kai squirmed a little as the teen grabbed the tag on his collar, but the grip, despite being firm, was incredibly soft and gentle. 

The teen flipped the charred name tag; it must have gotten burnt in the alleyway. “All I can make out is Smith… is that your name?”  

Smith? No, his name was Kai. His last name was Smith. But there wasn’t exactly a way he could communicate that right now…

The teen was annoyingly yet understandably oblivious to Kai’s struggles. They ducked their head, the ground suddenly very interesting. “My name’s Lloyd… Lloyd Garmadon.”

No, he couldn’t be Lloyd. Lloyd was, for starters, short. And younger. And- and-

And didn’t get nearly killed in an alleyway by a stranger seeking revenge for something Garmadon didn’t. There was no way the others would let that happen, even with Kai’s disappearance. Cole wouldn’t. Zane wouldn’t. Jay wouldn’t. Nya wouldn’t. Sensei Wu wouldn’t. And yet…

Was… Was this Lloyd after all? Had he’d travelled into the future, landing in this strange form? He stared into Lloyd’s eyes, desperately trying to convey who he was. But Lloyd just looked at him with stinging unfamiliarity, a wariness in his eyes that broke Kai’s heart and tore the pieces to shreds. 

The teen- Lloyd- put Kai back down. “So, uh, in case you didn’t know who I was, you can run now…”

Kai stayed put.

The teen blinked. “Oh, uh, I guess… well, it probably wouldn’t matter to you, huh? Besides, my father-“ the word was said with venom- “Likes sharks, so I guess that means they like me.”

After a moment of thinking, Kai head-butted Lloyd’s leg to mimic how he would give his younger brother one-armed hugs. Lloyd smiled a little; his first smile of the night. “So, uh, Smith, got anywhere to go? I better get home, my mom’ll be worried…”

MOM??? 

Kai filed that away into the ‘freak out about it later’ folder in his brain, right next to ‘repressed feelings’. He stuck close to Lloyd; the chances of running into him in the city while stuck in this form would be impossible, and there was no way he was letting his brother out of sight after the knife incident. 

Lloyd scooped him up again. “Well, uh, I guess if you insist… No promises Mom will let me keep you, but you can stay at my house for the night I guess. I’ve never seen a shark pup that can breathe fire…”

Came with the territory of being the Master of Fire, apparently. Kai scanned the streets for dangers as Lloyd started down the sidewalk. No matter what, he was determined to protect his not-so-much-younger-right-now younger brother in this strange city.

And nothing, not even his strange new form, could stop him.