#only if he thinks it might be bad enough

[sibillascribbles08]

Okay! Finally got this done (focused on a lot of other things but I did not forget). This is the 9th prompt that @sehfi asked for (it is not letting me @ you love tumblr it's great)

Promise I'm still workin on these y'all just a bit slow going alskdjf

anyway have more dads

Raising an infant who was still relatively half turtle, maybe just a little less—approximately 43.7% according to Donnie—made it very different from raising a typical baby. Any advice they got was usually from Splinter, who raised four of these kids once, and anything Splinter couldn’t answer, Jason and Donnie would put their heads together to figure it out. 

For example, as Splinter warned them early on, the turtle gene kinda destroys the whole immobile to crawling to walking phases. Holly could crawl pretty much a day after she was born, and she got proficient at it. Jason sometimes felt bad that her “room” at present was a giant decked out tank. But given her size at the time—she fit in his palm for crying out loud—it became a necessity. Heaven knew where she’d end up if they let her wander free. 

But when she got bigger—at least big enough that Jason held her with two hands—she was allowed to scurry about the apartment with minimal supervision. And scurry she did. Any room that wasn’t closed was immediately explored. She crawled under furniture, into crevices, up a few shelves, and somehow onto the kitchen counter once. 

Jason asked Splinter if his boys ever did this. Despite the fur on his face, it was easy to imagine him sweating when he said yes. Just imagine keeping up with four of them in a sewer of all places. He assumes it's why his hair went grey so fast. 

And if she could get around like this on all fours, well, Jason dreaded what would happen when she figured out the whole bipedal thing and her hands were much more free. 

At a year and a half, Holly figured that out. Longer than usual for most babies but considering she could navigate so well on four legs, the transition to two wasn’t nearly as pressing. Evidently the motivator was trying to climb up to the table to get to the freshly fried shrimp Donnie or Jason would leave on the table. 

And, like Jason suspected, the trouble only increased.

If only he bothered to realize that her scampering around on two legs wasn’t the only concern when it came to her getting bigger. 

“Get back here!” Jason shouted after his daughter. 

Donnie laughed and encouraged Holly to run off with the big bag of fruit snacks. Damn his husband for not helping. The last thing they needed was her ripping into that package and eating herself sick, because that is something she did on the regular. And Jason would clean up the puke nine times out of ten because Donnie would get way to squeamish with it. 

Also those were his fruit snacks. 

Holly giggled as she took off down the apartment hallway toward her room, the bag crinkling as she went. Jason began to catch up, only for an arm to catch him by the stomach.

“Donnie!” He immediately snapped and tried to thrash out of the turtle’s grip. “Let go.”

“No way, she deserves a head start.”

“She is going to eat those and get sick.”

“Relax.” Donnie pulled him closer. “Let her have some fun.” 

Jason didn’t stop trying to wiggle free. “You’re going to say that until she steals your snacks. Now let go.” 

Donnie lightly shook him back and forth, teasing. 

“Quit it.” Jason snapped. “Quit it or I’ll bite.”

“How do you know I won’t be into that?”

“I know for a fact you are not into that, Donnie.” 

Jason felt the breath on the back of his neck before Donnie’s sharp teeth gently brushed over the skin. “Bite me and I’ll bite you.” 

Jason quit struggling but turned his head to glare. “Don’t threaten me with a good time.” 

Donnie shrugged. “If you insist.” He sat on the floor, arm still tightly wrapped around Jase’s middle. 

Jason didn’t get a warning besides that when he felt Donnie nip at his ear. He jumped and fought to hold back his laugh. “Hey. Knock it off.” 

“Nah.” He bit his earlobe next, then trailed down his neck. They were all gentle, only enough to tickle, and that was possibly the worst part about it.

“Donnie!” Jason squeaked and tried to tug away. “You’re making me ticklish.” 

“A successful distraction.” 

“Oh yeah?” Jason managed to say despite another nip to his shoulder. He saw Holly leaning out of the door to her room. The fruit snacks were gone, but it was doubtful she’d eaten them. Perhaps she couldn’t open the bag. Or maybe Jason’s laughter caught her attention. Anytime she saw her dads having fun she just had to join in somehow. 

Donnie blew a raspberry against the back of Jason’s neck. He burst out laughing again. 

Holly scurried over—on all fours this time—her eyes wide and curious. 

“Ah, the criminal returns.” Jason held out a hand for her. “Where did your spoils go, ma’am?” 

Holly took his hand. Her four little fingers held onto his. She stared at it, then at her dads, then at his hand again. 

Then she giggled, opened her mouth wide, and bit him. 

The pain hit, hard, but thankfully it was still dulled enough by shock that Jason didn’t rip his hand away, which would have made everything worse. He just stared at his daughter, who still had her mouth on the part where his thumb meets his palm. 

“Uh,” Donnie said. “Is that—”

Jason saw the drop of red start to slide down his skin. Holly stared at him, clearly confused. Then her face twisted in disgust and she pulled back, smacking her now red lips. 

Oh, that was a lot of blood.

“Okay!” Donnie immediately scooped Jason up and carried him into the kitchen. Jason held his hand under the sink for a moment, letting water run over the injury and oh that made it sting twice as bad. As soon as he pulled it back Donnie pressed a spare dish towel over the injury. 

“Sit. Sit.” Donnie gave the demand before he simply picked Jason up again and plopped him into the kitchen chair. “I’m calling Leo.” 

“Donnie, I doubt it’s so bad—”

“Calling Leo.” He announced and walked out of the room. 

Jason pouted, but kept pressure on the injury. He heard Donnie speaking on the phone, and then Holly’s concerned whines. After a few minutes, his husband returned and carefully sat her on the counter as he worked on cleaning out her mouth. Holly protested at first, a few sharp whines and even a scream, but eventually relented. 

It was during this that Jason actually realized just how big her teeth had gotten. Not something you think about with how fast kids grow. 

Leo flashed into the apartment with a portal, a med kit tucked under his arm. 

“Man, where is it this time?” The slider already cracked a few jokes as he approached the table. “Is your daughter going to give you a scar to match the one Donnie gave you?”

“Not funny, Nardo.” Donnie snapped and picked Holly up. She clearly wanted down, waving her arms and reaching towards the floor and then towards Jase, but he didn’t loosen his grip. 

“Sorry, I’m going to make fun of that until we all die.” Leo kept grinning as he rolled his eyes. “Come on, let’s see the damage.” 

Jason let Leo work, keeping his eyes on his daughter rather than the injury in question. He didn’t really want to know how deep it was. Seeing stuff like that would still remind him of that nasty injury he got on his leg years ago. Despite how much time had passed, anything that made him think he was back in that storage room made his breathing halt. 

“Thankfully not bad enough for stitches, but you’re gonna wanna keep this clean and avoid moving your hand too much or you’ll reopen it. Hope you don’t mind some tight bandages.” Leo said before stretching out some medical tape and getting to work. 

With everything properly wrapped up, Leo stowed his supplies away and stood. “There, let me know if anything weird happens with it. As for you.” He turned toward his niece and tapped her on the nose. “Watch your chompers.”

Her answer to that bit of advice was to open her mouth and try to nip at Leo’s finger.

“Hah, apparently not.” The slider kept smiling. “Cya Tuesday Donnie.” 

“Yeah, thanks Nardo.” Donnie called after his twin as he vanished through another portal.

Jason sighed and stood. He walked over to Holly and reached out for her, but she opened her mouth again and he retreated.

She really didn’t like that, her whine shifting into tears and a wail.

“Whoa, whoa.” Donnie shifted his grip so she was laying in the crook of his elbow instead. “What’s wrong?” 

Jason frowned as he watched her. He reached out again and the tears slowed, but once again when his hand got close enough she opened her mouth. He didn’t let go, but he moved his hand away, and once again she got frustrated.

“Wait,” Jason said. “She probably thinks it’s a game.”

Donnie blinked at him. “Huh?”

“You were playfully biting me and we were laughing. She probably thinks it’s a game but she doesn’t realize how hard she’s biting.”

“Oooooh.” Donnie carefully lifted her up so she was at eye level. “Holly. No no on the biting.” He snapped his teeth again. “Yes yes with this.” He gently smooched her head. 

Holly still didn’t completely get no and yes sometimes. She knew what the words meant, of course, but sometimes it was harder to explain specifically what about her actions were a no-no. 

Thankfully even at this age she was pretty good at mirroring, so sometimes it was just a matter of repeating a behavior until it stuck. In fact, Donnie repeated himself a few times, showing the actions again. Then he shifted her around so she faced Jason.

He reached out for his daughter again. He let her take his hand. But this time instead of opening her mouth she instead pressed the bottom half of her face against it. She didn’t exactly give him a kiss. More like she just pressed her lips together and blew out some air. 

Jason snorted, then laughed. 

Her face lit up and she repeated the motion a few times.

“Okay, okay.” He took her in her arms. “Don’t do that too much. It’s so cute I might throw up.” 

“No, no, keep going.” Donnie pulled out his phone. “I need a video.” 

Holly giggled, still repeating the motion over and over again. Who knew how long it would take for her to get tired for it. 

Oh well, he could tolerate it. Her delight made the lingering pain in his hand more than worth it.

[snekdood]

"if we make america worse and more of a dictatorship that will be even harder to unravel and make it the way we want the country to be, maybe then everyone will join our Glorious Revolution!" bb girl you cant even be in the same room with someone who thinks you should vote, how in tf do you think you're gonna unite people to fight in The Revolution with you? it's gonna be you and your 5 friends, i hate to break it to you.

[rexscanonwife]

Ok FINE maybe I'll listen to Epic the Musical

[mokeonn]

Before I go to sleep I leave you all with this piece of advice: sometimes you don't actually have to answer big political questions, sometimes you can just say "I am not smart enough to know that, I just know the small things I do to help." Like you can often times completely avoid making a fool of yourself if you just say you don't know.

[feroluce]

Belobog was my fave main quest but a lot of it is so. Contradictory. It's like they had multiple groups doing different shit and none of them checked in with each other for consistency. And you see this so much in Gepard's profile.

So in the main quest, they made him unfailingly, unquestionably loyal to Cocolia. Gepard's character arc is him learning to question authority etc etc. And this isn't even a bad thing; that's a story worth telling! It makes good conflict between him and Serval! And I love that we got Gepard as a boss battle and I get to see him all the time in SU!

But then you look at his character stories and it's like. The complete opposite.

According to his profile, Gepard has already HAD this awakening, long before the Astral Express, and he'd already decided Cocolia sucks. Even outside of his stories, there's a pretty damning readable between him and Pela.

He even disobeyed direct orders right in front of her- he has been disobeying orders for a while now!

So I've decided I'm marrying the two different sides of this into a 1.5k fic-ish thingy, because I think there's some fun potential there with Gepard not trusting Cocolia, but still having to pretend to be a good obedient little soldier.

Anyway. I love to think of it as like. Gepard knows Cocolia has sunk into her apathy. He can see it in her eyes every time he looks at her. She doesn't care. Not about him, not about Pela, not about all his soldiers on the frontlines giving their lives to protect the citizens. And that's... It makes him bristle a bit, but ok. Gepard can deal with this. Even if Cocolia no longer cares, as long as she does her job then it's fine. Having compassion behind an action doesn't matter as much as the action itself. If Cocolia's heart is no longer swayed, then he'll just have to care twice as hard to pick up the slack. He considers it part of his duty as a captain of the guard anyway. It's fine. Gepard can deal with it.

And then, Cocolia starts coming down to the restricted zone. Issuing direct orders.

And Gepard realizes he is in way over his head.

Because Cocolia orders him to stay back and issue commands from the ramparts, away from all his comrades, away from where he can protect them.

Gepard had thought nothing could be as bad as watching a fellow guard die right next to him. But the first time he watches someone struck by a killing blow, so far away, it hurts. Every defensive scar across his arms itches, his fingers curl in want of a weapon, the cold cannot numb his hands enough as they desperately ache for his shield. It hurts.

Gepard tries to find any reason to stay. Because surely... He knows Cocolia has lost her love for her people, but surely... She wouldn't...

One day, Cocolia orders for their gunners to advance 20 yards. There are no survivors. She almost looks like she smiles.

Gepard doesn't sleep that night.

Pela brings him the report at the end of the first month; and then the month after that, and the month after that. A significant uptick in losses, and all of it started on that first day Cocolia started overriding his authority and issuing her own orders. The ends of Gepard's pens have all been nearly chewed off. Pela outright calls Cocolia an idiot, and Gepard corrects her. Cocolia isn't an idiot. Gepard had known her through Serval, knew her through all her college years and then some, and he knows how intelligent she is. It's not that she's stupid, and it's not that she's inexperienced, it's nothing of the sort.

Cocolia knows exactly what she's doing.

She must, there's no way she could make such a horrible mess of things so badly by accident. And Pela, quick as a whip, sharp as a tack, always too smart for her own good, catches onto the meaning behind Gepard's correction without any further prompting. The tent goes deathly quiet, nothing but the wind howling outside.

"...She's trying to kill us," Pela whispers, her voice swiftly suffocated by the silence.

Gepard swallows. He can't bring himself to correct her this time. There is nothing he could say that he would actually mean.

His gaze drops, back down to his desk and the reports on it. The names aren't listed, just the numbers, but Gepard knows them, knew them, and there must be something wrong, something he's missing, because why, why would she-? What could this possibly accomplish-?

“Gepard! Focus!” Something snaps right under his nose, and Gepard startles, eyes instantly honing in on Pela's irritated face as she leans over his desk. She holds his gaze for a moment before she huffs and begins to pace, wedges a knuckle between her teeth and bites like Gepard hasn't seen her do since cadet school.

Pela angrily strides from one end of his tent to the other, words hissed between her grit teeth. “What are we going to do?” In the dim lighting, Gepard can just barely see the damp spot of blood weeping under her gloves. “We need a plan.”

“A plan?”

“Wh- Yes, a plan! Unless you want more people to die!” Pela rounds on him then, all the wrath of a blizzard, winds roaring and snow sharp enough to cut.

“We don't even know-”

“What does it matter?! She killed-!!” Pela cuts off with a garbled noise when Gepard leaps up from his desk, hastily shoves his hand over her mouth. The prosthetic, not the flesh one, because he knows better than to assume Pela won't seize the opportunity to leave teeth marks in his skin.

“You're right. I'm sorry, I'm sorry; you're right. But you need to keep quiet.” Pela quirks an eyebrow at him and Gepard can read the question in her face. “Because we both saw what she did to Serval,” he hisses.

It's amazing the snow plains haven't thawed out yet, the amount of heat Pela can put behind a glare. The mere mention of Serval, and the smoking ruins Cocolia had made of her life and career, have her bristling up like a riled cat. The sudden hot breath she takes fans fog across his metal skin, and Gepard wisely keeps it in place until Pela finally sighs and reaches up, taps her fingertips against the back of his hand.

The second she's free, Pela bats him away and then her knuckle is right back between her teeth again, Gepard leaning back against his desk with his arms crossed to watch her resume her pacing. “If we spread the word, she'll have us discharged and make sure we can't even touch the frontlines,” Pela's voice seethes like an open sore. Gepard nods but keeps his silence. He knows better than to get in her way.

“And if you and I are both out of the picture, Belobog is fucked.” A little harsher than how he would have put it, but there's no denying that they're both important to the city's survival. Pela has the restricted zone running as efficiently as ever, and Gepard had become the youngest captain on record for a reason. “We need to keep this tight under wraps, at least for now… It can't leak to anyone higher up the chain.” Another nod. “Serval might know other discontents…” Another n-

Gepard's head snaps up. “No.”

“No what?”

“No. We're not involving Serval in this.”

Somehow, even the same tone that leaves entire squadrons shaking in their boots has never worked on her. “You're not deciding that for her, Gepard.”

Pela hadn't seen the worst of it, though, back when his sister had just been banned from the Architects. Serval's pride hadn't allowed it. Pela wasn't the one to find her passed out bottle still in hand, hadn't been the one to wash the sick out of her hair or carry her to bed. 

Serval still has trouble thinking clearly when it comes to Cocolia, still can't quite bring herself to be objective. And Gepard maybe doesn't want her to be purely objective- but he would worry a lot less if she thought twice before she acted more often.

“At least let me be the one to bring it up to her.”

“Whatever, fine,” Pela gestures affirmatively at him as she paces past, and Gepard sighs. Good, at least that's one thing he can help.

From there, it's a lot of hemming and hawing and frustration. Cocolia has them under her boot, and Gepard and Pela both know it. Even with the way she's been cracking down on freedoms lately, Cocolia is still, overall, liked by the people. It's unlikely anyone would believe them. They don't even have solid proof, because most people don't know Cocolia as well as they do and won't see the clues in the same light. 

The Fragmentum has been ramping up in recent years, too. Everyone is struggling just to survive as is, they can't afford a fight on two fronts. Gepard is a damn good captain, one of the best for that matter. But they're at a massive disadvantage, his experience is narrowed to fighting a defensive battle against monsters, that's all he's ever done. That's all anyone there has ever done. He has no way of finding first-hand knowledge for taking the offensive against a human opponent, and if he goes at this blind, there's no way he'll get everyone out unscathed. He's going to lose people. He's going to lose a lot of people.

He'd never thought before that Cocolia would have it in her to have someone killed. And with this new knowledge, he has no guarantee she won't go after Serval or Lynx if she decides to retaliate.

Gepard has to remind himself to breathe when he realizes this.

Pela writes down every name the two of them can come up with. Lists and lists of names and groups and anyone they can think of who might be an ally in all of this. They memorize every bit of it, make their plans of who to talk to and when. Gepard watches the sparks reflect off Pela's glasses as they burn the evidence together.

Pela finally leaves, far too late to make it home, but says she wants to stay in the restricted zone anyway to investigate. Gepard watches her make her way in the direction of Dunn's tent, watches her back until she's out of his sight and squashes down the urge to follow and keep an eye on her. His tent feels empty.

In the morning, Gepard is up before the wake up bells. He drags himself out of bed, leads his soldiers through their morning training. The same people gravitate to each other everyday. Friend groups and training partners. There's an ongoing rivalry between a few squadrons that everyone bets on. Some of them have lockets around their necks, keepsakes, mementos. Some of them wear wedding rings.

Gepard is suddenly, painfully aware of something acidic clawing at the inside of his throat, of a heavy weight low in his chest that blooms, takes up room until it threatens to spread his ribs. His mouth tastes of bile and blood.

He rearranges the schedules. Puts himself down for every open patrol into the Fragmentum, makes sure he'll be on the frontlines every single time Cocolia visits.

He only hopes that it's enough.

[quietwingsinthesky]

“least favorite” isn’t anywhere close to bad. it just shows how damn hard the competition is going, but we’re talking about gold medals all around for each actor i’ve seen portray the doctor so far.

[dont-offend-the-bees]

Fuck I hate being an adult. I need a more adult adult to help with the volatile emotional situation.

[fleouriarts]

feeling bad about my art lately. will probably not post for a while. but i wanted to at least dump some stuff here before i retreat into my hidey hole

[shakingparadigm]

In a modern au I think the wagyein would be like one of those gaint ass crocodiles that Ivan gets away with keeping because its technically a service animal. As long as its on a leash its all good and not a threat to the public!!

Ivan being rewarded with a more expensive and unique kind pet like a whole fucking crocodile honestly seems pretty in line for him 😭 especially since it adds a new "chic" flair to his photoshoots and his general aesthetic. Imagine Ivan's new photoshoot drops and he's in a suit posing with a fucking crocodile. Insane.

I really like the imagery of this large, scaly and dangerous looking reptile being tamed as Ivan's pet, something that could help boost his image and push that luxurious, enigmatic vibe. You know, like how stereotypical evil lairs have sharks or other rare and dangerous animals guarding the entrance or simply acting as accessory. That kind of vibe. I also like the imagery of this sharp creature being forced into submission and captivity. Forced to become a good, obedient pet, holding in its urges and keeping its teeth hidden. A being taken from the ruthless, grimy darkness, cleaned and maintained to perfection, forced to perform for the cameras. Ivan can empathize, he knows what it's like.

"Technically a service animal" is fucking hysterical. Ivan going Hello, sir! Please excuse my emotional support 12ft crocodile. Don't worry, he's very well-behaved.

I actually think Ivan would get along very well with his hypothetical crocodile. Just like the wagyein, he'd feel connected to it in a very personal way. Also just like the wagyein I think Ivan would be the only person it would never harm. In my head I have the mental image of Ivan petting and cuddling it as if it were a puppy.

[silusvesuius]

nelvas Problematiq*eyes roll back into my skull* *falls flat on my face with cardboard cutout physics* ((7 hours later)) *wakes up in barren wasteland* I know everything now.

[angrybatart]

Stagehand teaching the others about being a traveling spirit. (It's not going well.)

>:D Who else is looking forward to turning the others yellow? Not that I know when they're coming back.

[cerealbishh]

"You okay?"

"Mhm."

"Good, now go get ready and wish for the best."

[exausta-verytired]

this is far from the worse one it's the example I give for not being explicit but like I fully internalized the word "nymphet" when I was young I thought that was a real thing and a normal way of refering to myself because I could tell there was something different between me and the normal happy kids but I didn't know how to say "adultification, religious racism and anticomunism made men objectify me and the fact I was already 'broken' made them comfortable enough with just being another rapist instead of the first one" so I just used that instead

[ladsofsorrow24]

what does it say about sasuke or kishimoto as an author that the image of sasuke being lovey-dovey with sakura or even karin is so contradictory to his character... yet the image of him and naruto being exactly that is somehow the most natural conclusion for these two...

[ante--meridiem]

Extremely confidence boosting to me that every time I've read my poetry out loud in public at least one person has come up to me afterwards to say they like it. More confidence boosting than people telling me I'm good at anything else which usually just feels very awkward because poetry is something I don't feel I can self evaluate at all because I know how easy it is for something to accidentally come out cliched/overwrought.

[masked-autism]

i get so upset whenever I'm reminded dt17 was planned to have more than 3 seasons and all the stuff that got scrapped and changed due the cancelation... i will never forgive disney for this