#love letters ; ask meme .

[redstringraven]

TMNT’s 40th anniversary ask game ~ May I ask for number 22) , 26) and 35) ? Lots of love <3

TuT!!!! THANK u, cherry. loves of love to you, too 💜✨

(please excuse that this ask is visually a bit more of a mess. i wrote too much again for tumblr to be chill with my usual formatting. why am i like this.)

TMNT's 40th anniversary ask game!

22.) what is your favorite kind of pizza?

terrible news, everyone: i'm a pro-pineapple bitch. you may block and unfollow me now; i forgive you for being incorrect (/lh). i tend to be pescatarian if i can help it (i'm flexible due to money, and also i hate inconveniencing others especially if i'm a guest), so i prefer pizza without meats. i'm happy to eat any kind of veggie combination with the exception of banana peppers. never liked those for some reason. i also really like mushroom and eggs as pizza toppings. i'm kind of just an egg fiend in general; i love the taste of a well-made egg.

26.) what is one of your favorite pieces of TMNT fan art?

these things keep asking for one, but i'm gonna continue responding with however many i feel like. because it's not my dad. the scarf, by @hamsterandturtlesoup weakness is a sickness and a virtue, by @tatortart various candid illustrations by richard chen vis dev by kellan jett

35.) which character relationships are your favorite to write/draw?

...since we're both OC people, i'm gonna take this as an opportunity to gush about canon and OC relationships: two of my favorite brotps. because they're character relationships i adore writing with all my heart and soul.

mikey, gwyn & ash i mentioned previously that @plantdonutwrites (jenn) writes for mikey in our RPs, so i consulted her for mikey's perspective on this brot3. i will paraphrase her answer in this paragraph:

"all his life, mikey's been used to only having his bros as company; they're family in a way that puts the rest of us to shame. but as they grew older they met all sorts of people, some became an extension of that family. raph has casey or maybe angel when he wants to dip for a bit. don has leatherhead or the professor (bree, too), and leo has usagi even if he's not 'as regular' (and min-ji, too). his brothers have their separate circles of friends, but, against all odds, mikey doesn't seem to have that (at least not until cassia shoved her foot in the loneliness door). then he bonded with gwyn and ash... but then they left. he realized that it wasn't just that they didn't treat him like 'the annoying brother who tags along' but because they'd actually become friends, and they were friends who didn't humor him. they liked the comics he talked about, they love klunk, and they're interested in his art and ideas. it meant a lot to him to have that--to know what it was like--and when they weren't around, he really felt the difference. in an odd way they helped him become a more empathetic person, too."

it's harder to answer in ash's perspective because she has a lot less agency than gwyn and, because gwyn's paranoid/won't let ash out of her own hands much less her line of sight, ash doesn't get a lot of one-on-one time with mikey. she's interacted with him a LOT more than she's interacted with most people--which absofuckinglutely means something--but since she does consider herself 'dead' and is at peace with the possibility she'll be a literal shapeshifting weapon for the rest of her sentience, i think a lot of his meaning to her (right now) is very rooted in what he means for gwyn. THAT being said.

mikey is gwyn's first real friend. like. ever. in all the time she's been alive. very much in the same way that the brothers only had each other for most of their lives, gwyn only ever had ash. her community considered her a parasite and an omen, so she was essentially outcast. gwyn grew up feeling she wasn't wanted, had to earn any love she received, and when ash died and became trapped in the weapon, all that transpired and followed afterward re-enforced that. i haven't talked about darach a lot--deliberately--but know that he's a masterful manipulator in more ways than one. if ch'rell was brute force and intimidation, darach is more like the pot you put a frog in and slowly turn up the heat. you don't realize you're being boiled alive until it's too late. thanks to his influence, gwyn's been tricked, back-stabbed, cornered, and watched people suffer 'because of her' countless times. when i said she was paranoid, i wasn't really being hyperbolic. she has SEVERE trust issues. ...then came mikey. someone who, unknowingly, had already given them a taste of his character.

gwyn and ash had heard of mikey's rematch with kluh during their travels--that the match was made mortal, that mikey had not only won but had spared kluh's life when he had every reason not to. darach wouldn't approach someone like him, they figured. and as time passed, mikey continued to not just be open and kind with them, but again and again he's emphasized to gwyn that they just... CARE. to quote him "we don't keep you guys around for any benefits other than being able to know you". which, in so many ways, is unheard of for gwyn. she still struggles to believe him sometimes, but she trusts him. mikey is her first and best friend, he's someone she admires, and he's proven time and time again that ash isn't the only person capable of loving her, and that she's worthy of that love by just being herself. i had to spend a lot of this answer on exposition because OC, but... i earnestly can't emphasize enough how much mikey's come to mean to gwyn. he asked her not to leave again without them, and she promised she wouldn't. that promise to him has kept her from running away and isolating. even though she's terrified--for herself, for ash, for them--she trusts him. writing them makes me so happy. it's been such a delight to see their relationship evolve and the influences they've had on each other and their worldviews. i love this brot3 so goshdang much.

min-ji & raph min-ji belongs to jenn and, oh my god, i love her relationship with raph so, SO much. when we rp, jenn's obviously writing for min, and i write for raph.

again! consulted jenn! her answer paraphrased below:

"raph's pretty much the first assertive person in her life that had her back early on? her home life is complex; her family DOES love her but sometimes that love can veer controlling and toxic (responsibilities/obligations). raph was a type of personality she'd never been around before, and he cared about her well-being in a way that was unconditional. hanging out with him more helped her become more assertive and in touch with parts of herself she was forced to suppress to be more palatable to her family. she's found that being angry about something that happened to her, or something that was said to her, doesn't make her bad or a burden. raph doesn't expect her to shy away from her flaws or nuances. he lets her be a person."

as for raph's end, it's kind of hard to put into words. but i love that min-ji has become one of the very few people he will allow himself moments of vulnerability around. like. instead of it just happening, he makes the choice to let a wall or six down. they've created a mutual safe space between each other.

i think this has cultivated from a lot of things. min was much more timid when they met--raph even made a bit of a point, initially, to not interact with her so much because she was skittish and on-edge thanks to surrounding events. but through the events of our writing, he's watched her grow in self-confidence, be more open, and allow herself to 'take up' more space. she's also survived two major threats to her life, now, both of which have scarred her physically and emotionally, yet she persists and continues to extend kindness to people who, in his opinion, don't deserve it. but that's HER business (while he makes his feelings known, he stays out of it unless she signals him otherwise). she may not be a fighter in a literal sense, but he sees her as an equal. like, he's still protective of her in dangerous situations since she's not trained to fight--obviously--but... i dunno, i guess it's more like "i've been through shit; you've been through shit; if i say things look bad right now, you won't like it but you also won't give up". he doesn't feel a pull to coddle her if things are looking grim, i guess is what i'm trying to say?; he'll shoot straight with her because he knows she IS a fighter. even if she doesn't fight. does THAT make sense?

like i said, it's hard to put into words. but i think it's a combination of min-ji's emotional strength and kindness as a person, as well as the fact she's not an immediate family member, that make it easier for him to let those barriers down around her and have severely needed moments of vulnerability where he doesn't dismiss pain or fear or anything else he might be feeling. he knows min would never lash out at him, physically, emotionally, or however else. min-ji is kind, and she's strong, and she's safe. he trusts her, values and respects her judgment and input. much in the same way his presence lets her feel like a person, she's extended that grace to him. just in a different way. i love getting to write interactions between them. there's always something warm and comforting in their exchanges, light-hearted or more melancholic. it's nice. the love is very much there.

[thebirdandhersong]

sometimes (very often) I just sit there like ?????????

[millennial-tolkien-emails]

Letter 38

Hi Mr. Unwin,

I am THE WORST I am so sorry for not responding and getting this done — turns out I didn’t actually read your instructions carefully enough 🙃 But then also life got in the way (maybe you’ll be a little less mad if I explain that my wife’s health got MUCH worse, and I had to move out and go stay in a hotel all last semester because the pipes burst at my house, and then I got sick, and I’ve been barely able to cope with my actually insane workload at the university…)

I know you said “a word or two” would be enough for the foreword but like…if it’s going to have my name at the top then I should have something worth saying, you know?

I can’t find the letter that threw me, but here’s the thing. You really need a proper preface to this revised edition, and this “Introduction” is basically just a summary and is fundamentally useless to either a student or someone reading this translation instead of the OG Middle English. Soooooo I may or may not have written 17 fucking pages of commentary on translation….plus another 17 page metrical appendix 🙃

Anyway, that’s where I was in March, and then I got your letter yesterday and now I’m realizing that you literally just wanted me to write like ten lines. Whoops.

All I can do now is send you what I have. Obviously it’s way too long and I’m so so so sorry. It literally hurts my heart to do it, but I’ve marked in red the bits you could keep if you’re okay with a longer piece (1400 words), or if you want it shorter you could keep just the parts I’ve marked in blue (which is like 800 words). But maybe that’s still too long? IDK.

So

Sincerely

Sorry,

JRRT

[lvebug]

an andie eliot reading guide (tags drop pt 1)

[nethertrolls]

X the hemoshifter!

Truely amazing taste, we love a man with incredible range on this blog.

my cute little list so I can see the results huehe

Azra - I

Aiakos - I

Lykos - I

Eloise - I

Vitimi - I

Nereus - I

X - I

[navybrat817]

I love all of your stories so much! Just wanted to send something to let you know that your stories have given me some much needed escape over the years when things have been tough <3 I have to admit though, occasionally when I read a fic and it has characters played by the same actor appear multiple times I just think of the spiderman meme and need to take a break lmao 🥰

You're too kind, lovely! I appreciate the compliment and I'm glad my fics have been a bit of an escape.

And I get it. 😂 Different characters played by the same actor can be jarring, but I suspend disbelief. Like Steve Rogers and Ari Levinson are both played by Chris Evans, but look very different to me.

I also remind myself of celebrities out there who could pass as siblings or relatives, so I put them in the same category.

Again, I appreciate the kind words and hope you enjoy what's to come! Love and thanks. ❤️

[lovedlace]

tag drop

[redstringraven]

11 and 12

*crawls back over here after work week* >:J!!! thank you!!

(also, please excuse that this ask is visually a bit more of a mess. apparently i wrote too much for tumblr to be chill with my usual formatting. apologies. e-e;;; maybe it'll let me format it after the fact. it did not)

TMNT's 40th anniversary ask game!

11.) which version of raphael is your favorite?

like i said in the tags for the meme, it's obvious/a given that my favorite version for all the turtles is gonna be the 2003 one. but since i also said i won't stop/discourage y'all from asking anyway AND said i don't have a favorite out of the boys, i'll use this as an excuse to babble incoherently about some of the reasons i love them. it's not uncommon that i enjoy hot-headed characters. this could partly be because enneagram-wise i'm a 9, and we're the 'odd one out' when it comes to the anger/gut triad (i kind of touched on this concept in my enneagram series; apologies). so, while i often smother my own temper, i still feel it under the surface. i get being angry. anger is also often a secondary emotion--it's an emotion that comes up because you're attempting to disguise something else; "anger is easier" as some quotes may say. i find it interesting to squint and find out why we're 'angry'. what's actually going on? when it comes to '03 raph, i don't think his anger stems from any ONE thing, i think it's more a bundle and that's part of the reason it's so easily set off. a significant piece of it is probably due to things i discussed in his enneagram post: learning to recognize the world is cruel/uncaring and trying to find ways for him--and the few people he cares about--to survive. raph is also a very intense person. anger is an intense emotion. it makes sense that he'd find comfort turning to it when he otherwise can't identify or articulate what he's really feeling. and this isn't to say he's not emotionally intelligent (far from it), i just think he struggles to slow his head and heart down to put names and words to everything flooding him--and WHEN he struggles, he gets frustrated and impatient with himself, which just makes him struggle more. and i appreciate the handful of examples we get that in-series where he can't quite verbalize it, but you can still feel and see it. i think raph likes to take care of people. his brothers, master splinter, april, casey, tyler, mrs. morrison, angel--whether they're someone who he loves, or someone who can't fend for themselves, or both, he just seems to instinctually take people beneath his wing. he's still learning that vulnerability doesn't equate to weakness (you can't show weakness in a world that rejects you), and he's also still learning to harness and manage all those emotions when they turn to anger--steer them to something more productive and beneficial instead. because anger, itself, isn't inherently bad. it's what you do with it. this is something he struggles with at the beginning of the series but seems to get a better grasp of as the seasons pass. i love raph as a hot-headed character who's a marshmallow inside not because of the trope itself, but because it feels very real to me given the circumstances he grew up under, lives under, and how he views the world and how intensely he loves. he's not just there to be "the angry one" so we have that archetype on the team, there're reasons. it's both a strength and a weakness of his. one he's aware of and carries shame for. my man also has an excellent sense of humor; right up my alley. i love him very much but i've already talked a lot and should probably stop here. … also, he hates bugs and got fucking swallowed by one and proceeded to chest-burster his way out of it, like. we love to see a short-king winning and getting to reference a movie he probably loved in the process. talented, brilliant, incredible, amazing, show-stopping, spectacular, never the same; yee-frickin'-haw indeed, sir.

12.) which version of donatello is your favorite?

copy/paste that first paragraph from the above answer here.

hilariously, like how i seem to have a pattern of enjoying hot-headed characters, i also feel like i have a pattern of loving the more quiet and compassionate ones. this also probably plays into my 9 on the enneagram, since 9s tend to be peacemakers and our place in the web allows us to better see the perspectives of others. i, also, understand the struggle that comes with not wanting to 'rock the boat' and kind of keep those i'm surrounded by happy and chill and secure. but don's also SMART. and i've been a nancy drew reading/game playing bitch since i could read. puzzle-solving… mysteries… cleverness… GIMMIE THAT SHIT.

don was my favorite as a kid, and i think that came both from the fact he was 'the purple one' (joking that was a bias was half of a joke; shut up i was like thirteen) and because he was resourceful, clever, and observant. i loved his kindness, i loved how when things seemed dire he'd usually be the one with an idea, and i probably saw a lot of myself in him whether it be in playing mediator between my siblings, or in knowing a lot of seemingly Random Shit™ about a lot of Useless Things™, or in the simple fact that he often wanted to be left alone to do the thing(s) he was really passionate about. i got a lot of flack for all the time i spent on the computer as a kid. didn't matter if i was writing or drawing or reading about topics i wanted to learn more about--you know, productive/creative/thoughtful activities--i was constantly badgered that i was addicted to it and didn't spend enough time with my family. i guess any moment that don having a weird interest in something "paid off" was validating to me in a way? as well as him not being the strongest fighter, but still being valuable in the team unit (i'm an artist who grew up in a family of athletes). i also appreciated and admired that despite his kindness, he wasn't a doormat. definitely a do-no-harm-but-take-no-shit kind of guy, and lord knows teen!hannah needed to learn to stand up for herself better. so, yeah. i think as a kid i saw a lot of myself in don. i appreciated him for existing in that way.

all that obviously still stands as an adult, the 'favoritism' has just faded away as i've grown to understand and adore the other three more.

don's pretty outstanding, man. while he's usually the route of the pacifist, it's evident that he has a clear line in the sand, and once you've crossed that line… you're gonna realize that when you fuck around, you find out. and you're gonna find out very quickly.

he'll take what little he has around him to scrap together a breathing apparatus for a lost and brain-damaged triceraton (even though the triceraton was previously an enemy), he'll spend months trying to find a cure for a bunch of strangers he barely knows, he's able to empathize with a bunch of child-like nanobots… but at the same time, he'll also blast you with your own arm-canon, drill you into a pile of mulch, trick you into going to a hornet dimension, and verbally assassinate your dignity for all that it's worth.

i love that so much of him IS grounded in creation. making things. learning and understanding. and that kindness is often one of his main driving points. i just wanna take his shoulders and shake him sometimes. in the most loving, motherly and enthusiastic of ways.

…i also firmly maintain that he's physically the strongest out of the brothers. that detail, combined with him being the least competitive out of the four, really amuses me. because i like to think that when it comes to arm wrestling, someone might challenge don because they think nerd = weak. and don's initially not interested in humoring the challenge, but his brothers are behind him like ":)))c no. no, donnie you should do it. it'll be fun!" because they all know. and don's finally just like

… e_e … fine.

and proceeds to slam the other person's arm down before they even know they've lost. his brothers stand there with gremlin smirks, impish grins, snickering, mischievous boyish giggling, and don wanders off unceremoniously to get back to a project. he's got a lot to do today but this was a nice break.

[broodparasitism]

tears for fears: shout or head over heels.

almost went with shout but head over heels just because it's one of the very few remaining songs that brings out that 2010s-manufactured stranger things san junipero 80s nostalgia these days which is something i claim to hate but listening to that song i just...sympathise.

[oculusxcaro]

🍉 - What is something they have done that they feel the most guilt over? How do they handle this guilt?  Does the guilt ever get resolved?

Random Headcanons

There is one other thing that Khare feels like absolute shit about and that's not contacting her family as soon as she was able to, if only to let them know she's still alive. She'd been missing for months after all so naturally her family back home would be worried out of their minds, right? Only... the thought of hearing their voices after so long, to tell them she's okay when she's very much not okay is just too painful to bear. Khare often looks at phones and debates ringing them every time, perhaps even sending them a letter but she fears those at the facility finding out somehow, maybe even going overseas to bring trouble their way. Khare had her passport on her when she was abducted, which would no doubt provide valuable information leading them right to her family which would only be another way for her captors to find her. If her family doesn't know she's alive and haven't heard from her, they can't possibly be targeted, right? It's safer for everybody both that way, the only way she's able to protect them from her situation. She's not sure how they'd react if they knew she was alive, if they'd actually go as far as coming to America to get her which would only put them in even more danger. Better for everyone involved she just... waits a little longer, to make sure things have quietened down enough while she finds a way to purchase a ride back to Britain without getting arrested or uncovered as the monster she's become. Her resolve wavers every time she looks at her phone, knowing her loved ones are just a few buttons away if only she had the nerve to call them.

[aquillis-main]

💌 (I'll answer yours and others' when time and energy permit, I'm not ignoring you guys, promise 👍)

You're so wonderful and analytical! I wish I can be as analytical as you are at times. All I seem to do is piss people off with my statements.

Your artstyle is very fascinating, and the idea of a collab with our OCs or favourite characters keeps popping into my head every now and again. I would ask you about doing it at some point, but it feel like we're both so busy with other stuff...

[hirokiyuu]

besk/instance, besk actually getting instance to laugh really hard at something

Laughter changes the whole shape of Instance's face, and not in a flattering way. She smiles with too many teeth, her nose all scrunched up, the skin between her eyes wrinkling to make her look like a witch, and the sound itself isn't much better. And yet, even as that wheezing too-loud cackle clangs against each wall it hits, Besk can't help her own triumphant grin in return, alight with a strange and easy joy.

[sinners-go-to-drink-the-wine]

good morning! i love and appreciate you and i hope you have a wonderful week💖

Thank you Grace!!! ❤ ♥ ❤ ♥ ❤ ♥ ❤ ♥ I hope you have a lovely week as well!

[thissquirrelgirl]

 💕 (I shall do one for you when I get home but I shall send you one to do at your leisure)

[mystiika]

misc tag drop

[teethkick]

run wild pleasepleaseplease

ehehehhe ok so this is one of my oldest wips and i'm planning to dust it off this summer! mason and tyler fwbs that is definitely more than that from mason's pov but he's going to take what he can get.

song is run wild - frenship

scene from their first hook-up: