#right now it's just 'what will keep me the coolest while also not sticking to me' bc midwest summers are so. so so fucking humid

[leitmotif]

got a star shaped carabiner so when it's finally cool enough out for me to actually care about how i'm dressing my butch swag will be off the charts :3

[duhragonball]

Cold Water

All right, so let's talk about this Dragon Ball theme park that doesn't exist.

@jasminewave brought this to my attention last week and I mostly got interested in the Saudi Arabia connection. I saw some hype about the park news on Twitter, and people excitedly asking "Where is this?!" I guess they were too blown away by the announcement to actually notice any of the mentions of its location.

I mean, it's not like they're keeping that a secret. This 56-second "trailer" features a newscaster reporting that people are converging in Saudi Arabia in search of the Dragon Balls. Then the narrator says "coming to Saudi Arabia". Even if you don't look up "Qiddiya", the answer's right there in the press release.

There's nothing substantive to the video. A lot of special effects, shots of people interacting with buildings and other attractions based on the Dragon Ball franchise, a kid shoots off a Kamehameha, some women ride a roller coaster, you get the idea. But none of it is real. I mean, the roller coaster was probably real, but they probably filmed actors in a different park. They may plan on building a roller coaster shaped like Shenron, and they may plan on building a replica of the Capsule Corp. building, but it's not what they showed in the video.

That kind of irks me, because I've seen plenty of people get swept up in the hype for this thing. They're excited because they saw this:

And they think it's the coolest thing in the world and it's a real place they can go to right now. Except the Dragon Ball park looks a lot more like this:

This is a still from a video on Qiddiya's YouTube channel, so it's not like I'm talking behind their backs here. The video's from three weeks ago, and it shows a lot of footage of the construction work going on at the site. It's a lot of cuts of construction crews and equipment, with powerful, uplifting music playing in the background. This is what Qiddya looks like in 2024. The Saudi government has big plans to construct a bunch of parks and other attractions on this site, but it'll take years to finish it all.

To put this in perspective, they're also building a Six Flags park in Qiddiya, and that project began construction in 2021. I found a message board called "themeparx.com" where people share photos of resorts and parks that are under construction. And the Six Flags looks a lot like this:

I mean, it's coming along. There's some other photos that show roller coaster tracks and other structures that you can recognize as theme park-related, but you can tell it's nowhere near ready for the public. And this is about two years' worth of construction. It'll take a while before this thing has its grand opening.

And let's be clear: The Six Flags construction started in December of 2021. Six Flags Qiddiya was announced way back in 2016. The Dragon Ball theme park was announced last week. So this construction site we're looking at could very well be a peek into what the Dragon Ball park might look like eight years from now.

Now that I think about it, that makes some sense. Qiddiya's also supposed to have a water park too, and I wondered why they planned all these theme parks for the same location, but they're not building them all simultaneously. By the time the Dragon Ball park is ready to build, the Six Flags will probably be ready to open, along with whatever else is ready, and that gives them time to see how well the whole thing performs. If Qiddiya succeeds, they can move ahead with the next wave of projects. Or if it fails, they can scrap the whole thing, or just stick to the initial set of attractions. I guess my point here is that they might not even build the Dragon Ball park. A lot can happen in a decade, and plans might fall through between now and then.

What I find irritating is how they basically "announced" the thing with a slick video "trailer" that uses images of a park that doesn't actually exist. At best, it's based on a bunch of conceptual artwork and blueprints. At worst, someone just slapped a bunch of stuff together. The park images in the video remind me a lot of the Conton City map in Xenoverse 2. Just a bunch of familiar settings from the anime, all smooshed together into a single area. It wouldn't take much effort for a skilled CGI team to make a similar layout for a hypothetical park. So there's no guarantee that the imagined park in the video has any ties to the park they're actually planning to construct.

I find the whole thing misleading, because the "announcement" and the video are presented like a commercial, promoting the park like it's a real thing you can go to right now and it'll look like it does in the ad. It'll be years before we can see for ourselves how this turns out, so why bother hyping it up at all? Wait until it's done, and then promote it.

I'm not sure what the point is of these slick video packages. Normally, I'd chalk it up as an attempt to showcase the work being done, as a way to reassure investors or taxpayers that their money is being put to good use. Except this whole Saudi Vision 2030 project is being financed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund, which is under the direct control of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the country. Maybe they're just making videos to show to him personally, or maybe he wanted the videos made to show off to the rest of the world.

Ultimately, it all boils down to propaganda. They're not announcing a theme park because they want people to visit tomorow. They're announcing a theme park to get people talking about how cool Saudi Arabia is for building the theme park. Like I said last week, watching the video packages WWE ran for Saudi Vision 2030, I got the impression that one of the main goals of Saudi Vision 2030 was to promote Saudi Vision 2030. They just want everyone to know about all this stuff they're building, even while they're still in the middle of making it.

I just find it obnoxious, especially when the video's not even a minute long and shows zero images of an actual park, but you see bottom-feeders like Geekdom101 rushing to "report" on the story. He's got a six minute video up where he presumably "reacts" to the official teaser and talks about how cool this is going to be. Maybe he has ideas on what they should put in the park. It doesn't really matter, because I already know he has nothing to say about it, since he only knows what everyone else knows, which is in the teaser video, which doesn't actually show anything. It's all a mirage until there's an opening date.

And maybe the initial hype has already died down, and I shouldn't be giving this non-story more oxygen than it deserves. But it is a Dragon Ball theme park, and we'll probably hear more about it in the coming years, so maybe it's worth writing this down for posterity. I just kind of wish I could skip ahead to the part where it all goes hilariously wrong, like Willy's Chocolate Factory, or the Heroes of Wrestling PPV. That's what's so frustrating about this. At this moment, the Dragon Ball Park in Qiddiya is probably just a stretch of empty desert. At best, there's some trucks or something on the lot. It's not even a failure yet. It's just... nothing.

[radioactive-earthshine]

Hello. I'm very new to DC as in I only got into it as of April of this year and it started the animated YJ side then moved into the comics. I don’t know a lot and I'm really confused about somethings. I do plan on reading the comics but for now that just seems really intimidating so I'm sticking with fics. I really am loving Sunshine Falling but I want to know about Thad and Preston bc they haven't shown up in the show and I'm so new I don't know where to look. Are they canon characters?

I know I keep saying how much I am stunned when people (comic fans) say they don't know who Thad is and then I remember you gotta start somewhere. While the Young Justice animation is excellent, it is an entire alternative universe to the comics in it's own world with it's own history and thus everything you have seen should be taken with some caution.

Thad and Preston are canon comic characters.

Preston Lindsay

Preston is one of Bart's best civilian friends and he shows up in issue #1 and is a reoccurring character throughout the majority of Bart's series.

He's a great friend to Bart and accepts him for who he is and thinks he's the coolest even if one of the first thoughts he had about him was that he was a JERK.

He gets over the chilliness very quickly.

We learn throughout the comics that he is an aspiring director, he loves films and he makes movies in his free time sometimes coopting his friends in his projects. He also LOVES comics and is partial to After-Life Avenger.

He's supposed to have BROWN eyes, ignore the fucking blue eyes istg.

Preston also becomes Bart's very first 'big case' where Bart had to choose to do the right thing over protecting his own secret identity. Preston is a battered child and the whole story unfolding around that can be read in issue #6 (probably one of the BEST issues in all of Impulse imho).

Bart saw Preston being abused in his home as Impulse, not as Bart Allen, so when he was prepared to report it he would essentially have to out himself. Bart chose (obviously) to help his friend rather than keep quiet to preserve his identity.

Preston and Bart grew VERY close after this issue.

Some other highlights from Preston include;

The time he got "shot" by toxic waste dumpers and he thought it was the coolest thing.

"One of those guys shot me? Oh, boy!" Then Bart's soul just departs his body in guilt.

Preston also thinks Bart's mom is hot, which is, y'know, a requirement for all future hero boyfriends that are bisexual.

Speaking of being bi... He thinks Bart is really cool and is the BEST if you know what I mean...

"He's really great!"

Preston is 10/10 a GREAT civilian friend and I miss him dearly.

Thaddeus Thawne

To read him at his best and most interesting read Impulse issues #51-#53 and the entire Mercury Falling arc #62-#66.

Thad's history with Bart is complicated. Thus far in the comics he is firmly on the side of villain/nemesis (and an extremely successful one). Regardless of no matter how much he should have had redemption, or how much one was already set up.

He's a clone of Bart and fulfills the "evil twin" trope. He was created first and foremost to be a weapon and an agent of misery to fuel nihilistic spite and hatred. It's complicated, and the short-hand version of it is the Thawne line is entrenched in a one-sided blood feud with the Allen line for overall petty comic reasons that are justifiable to them.

Thad had no say in this and did not even know there was another option... Until the Mercury Falling arc where he got a taste of something he never had while impersonating Bart... love.

Thad in particular bonded with Helen and described her as "so full of warmth" and as a person who loved him, and as someone who he genuinely liked. Thad also felt love from Max and was strongly swayed away from his "task" just by experiencing their love as well as Bart's friends' love.

Unfortunately...

"Condemning those who condemned him to this and solitary single-minded existence!" - That alone was the launch into a redemption arc, but no we can't have fucking nice things.

In a perfect world Thad would have come back. Max would be willing to accept to him back and he did offer to take him in when he learned that Thad had been impersonating Bart all along. There would be a little tension, some acclimating, and an entire issue could center around Bart and Thad finally trusting each other after mutually sucking to communicate or something.

We... did not get this.

His interest and character development plummets after Mercury Falling, and his highlights afterwards include successfully murdering Bart, and then suffering a fate worse than death via Wally who took all his speed and turned him into a living statue reminding everyone that the Flash Family is more like the Flash Mafia and you don't fuck with them.

So that is a rundown of these two and where to read about them Preston is in so many issues it's hard to pinpoint single issues but Thad's "run" is easier to single in on.

I am so very glad you enjoyed them in my fic.

They are going to be just fine together.

[greenlikethesea]

emails between dustin and max, fair ithilien verse

these will likely never see the light of day, mostly written to make @sparklyslug smile and give us some character work. basically, they're tech savvy and email each other!

the only context you need to know for these two emails is that max, in her prior email, told dustin to stop being such a dick to megan and stop meddling in steve's affairs.

06-14-1998

SUBJECT: Two photos, one question

Madmax,

I know I’ve already seen you in person and we worked it all out, but I want to tie up this thread too, because if nothing else, I’m a completionist. Suzy’s brother Samson says it’s because I have a Virgo moon. I have literally no idea what that means, but I’m sticking to it.

This reply is a week late because I had to stop being mad at you first. Not because you were mean, which you kind of were even if you acknowledged it, but because you were right, which you absolutely were. And you know how much I hate it when you’re right. I am lonely, and I’m pissed off because neither of them are fucking happy in their relationships and could be perfectly happy with each other. Fuck, Eddie won’t even officially tell me that he’s dating Josh, even though he’s been in the picture for a while now. And god, it’s bad. He and Steve haven’t spoken to each other in like four months. Steve’s drinking again, and doing that thing where he thinks he’s hiding it. No one else knows, but I know him, and I know the tells.

I’ll have you know that I’m only going to keep my mouth shut about Megan for everyone else’s sake. You all act like I’m out for blood with her, and that’s not true. I just think he should be with someone who actually knows him. I wish he’d think with his whole brain instead of his heart (and, to be real, his dick, because she is objectively hot). 

Okay, enough about that, it’s thoroughly depressing me. Subjecting myself to utter mortification in order to not mope around and be single: I caved. I got a profile on Match.com. I have filled out more information than I did the last time I went to the doctor. And because apparently my shining personality is not enough, I’ve attached two pictures for the profile. Please tell me the one I look the least bad in. Be honest. Not that I have to tell you to be honest, because you will be, but really, don’t hold back. 

Glad I finally got to meet this mystery girlfriend you keep mentioning in your emails. You didn’t tell me Claire was that fucking cool. Way to hold out on me. If you don’t want to go with her to the next Weird Al show on account of it being, in your oh-so-incorrect words, “unspeakably lame,” I will gladly go with her as a friend. I’ll pick her up and everything. 

Forgive me if this is crass, but I feel like you’ll get pissed if I pussyfoot around it – are you gay now? I know you were kind of in bisexual land for a while, but Claire is for keeps, I think. I know you haven’t been together for a long time, but sometimes you get a vibe. 

Love,

Dustin

SUBJECT: Re: Two photos, one question

Darlingest,

Claire is the absolute coolest. I’m pretty sure I’m in love with her, which is frightening and not something I want to touch now that I’ve written it out, so don’t ask for elaboration. The only annoying thing about her is that she works nights right now, so coordinating plans with her can be tricky. But that means I can write this email to you in peace, and that also means that she’ll be wide awake when you see Accordion Man next month, thankfully without me.

Let’s get the pertinent shit out of the way: they’re both good photos, but the second picture’s better. Not that anyone will believe you if you tell them I told you this, but you have a great smile. The nerdy girl of your dreams would much rather see you silly than serious. It’s weird to see you serious. I know you wanted a brutal critique, so I showed them to Erica when she was over yesterday and she said you look constipated in the first one. Call her, by the way. She’s pretending to not miss you but she’s worried that you haven’t reached out. I told her you’re just busy and that you skipped out on our phone call too (which fuck you, by the way :D), but she’s still worried.

As for the topic of my sexuality – grateful as always that you didn’t pussyfoot around it – one of the interns in the office refers to herself as queer and that sounds good. I feel a little uneasy about it sometimes, because Billy weaponized that word to an absurd degree, but it also feels like a fuck you to him, in a way. I think I’ve heard Steve use it a few times too, and if he’s using it in a positive way, I can too. (Yeah, he’s finally owning being queer, even though he’s not telling anyone still. I don’t know why. We’ve all known since like 94. 95, at the latest.) Not everyone likes it, but I do. I hope that answers your question.

I can hear Claire poking around the kitchen for something to eat, so I should probably help her out. It’s a good pain day today, barely need my cane at all. 

Call me, you bitch. I miss you.

Love,

Max

[rayj4ck]

It occurs to me that I’ve had this in my head for a while, but never actually posted it. So here comes a spicy take:

Linkle was the most wasted character in the entire Legend of Zelda series.

I heard somewhere that the first LoZ game was based off the experiences of the creator when he was exploring around his backyard. And that feeling is back in full force now more than ever.

But you know what’s been sitting on top of that like an elephant? Zelda, Link, Ganon. Zelda, Link, Ganon. Wisdom, courage, power wisdom courage power the chosen sword only the hero can use chosen by the goddess chosen chosen chosen. Link is the chosen one. Always the chosen one. And you’re playing Link! You’re the chosen one! Congratulations!

Except when you’re not. Putting aside physical characteristics, I don't know about you but some days I just don’t feel chosen. Put a pin in this, we’re gonna come back to it.

So Hyrule Warriors comes out. It’s a non-canon horde fighter with a bunch of familiar characters from a bunch of other games. Neat! And a few new characters. Check this one out, she looks a lot like Link, and she’s sure she’s the chosen one. But Link is also here? He's always the chosen one. But she has this compass that's definitely magic in some way, maybe even goddess-type magic. Very exciting.

Then they make her a klutz. No big deal, it's not really a character flaw, so it's not something to get mad about.

Then they keep sidelining her missions. Literally putting them off the main path, and not affecting the story in any major way.

Then that keeps happening all the way to the end. I don't think she never meets up with any of the big characters in a major way (I think she meets Zelda once? It doesn't stick), and they give her the "Oh no, some of Ganon's forces remained!" cleanup battle while Link and Zelda were...busy? Napping? She was literally an afterthought in the game.

Now let me take you down this scenario. You're playing along the main missions when you get to a Linkle one. Maybe you've played her side missions, maybe not. Doesn't matter. You start it up, and uh oh, clumsy Linkle, always going the wrong way! She stumbled right into the BOSS ARENA. You think to yourself "Oh this poor lady, she's gonna get taken hostage by Ganon," but you play along the level anyway and do your best to fight through it. It's hard, but not impossible. You even get to fight Ganon! And...win? Huh?

She won. The evil is defeated, the sky changes back from red and black to blue and white. Elsewhere Link and Zelda are scratching their heads wondering what happened. This lady, just a chicken farmer not chosen by anyone, was strong enough to defeat the evil.

Now, this is pretty crazy even for a hypothetical, but I think we can get away with it because this game isn't canon. Wouldn't it be fun to say that because of this the cycle is over? Link and Zelda and even Ganon are free from this curse of constantly being reborn and dragged around by the neck for their destiny, all because someone from outside the three won the day.

(Also this is only tangential, but I got you to click one Linkle post, I'm shooting my shot now. They gave her some of the coolest weapons we've seen? Like, Twili Midna has some good ones like just creating and dropping a pillar on a dude, and the one where Link just uses his giant fairy mommy is pretty fun. But like, Linkle has akimbo multi-shot crossbows [which is the closest thing you'll get in Hyrule to being John Wick], super-speed lighting boots, and is proven to be friends with cucccos. CUCCOOS. THE MOST POWERFUL FORCE IN THE ENTIRE CANON. Literally indestructible and will fuck up your day if you hit them too much.)

TL;DR? Linkle could've been Nintendo's way to say "You can make a difference even if you're NOT chosen. You can still win the fight against the big bad."

[mathewryf]

I've been thinking about that whole "Bugs Bunny could stop thanos" post, and I've been thinking about how that whole power system with toons works. Basically as long as it's funny, a comedic character could defeat literally anybody, right? It's literally "as strong as the writers need them to be" in the purest sense.

HOWEVER, the rule of comedy isn't the only thing that can defy logic to reach a possible outcome. There's also the "rule of cool". Basically, as long as something is cool enough, it'll work out, logic be damned. This is what heroes in Action Movies run on. Dual Wielding machine guns and never running out of ammo, gunning down all the bad guys... that's really cool, and so the "rule of cool" allows it to happen. Once again, a "as strong as the writers need" solution is on the table. Of course, pitting a cool character against a silly character gives the silly one the advantage, as the rule of funny can completely knock the wind out of something cool. Those dual machine guns do no good if the silly character can stick their fingers into the barels and stop the bullets.

That said, it's not like the cool character would be helpless. the "rule of cool" would still be in play as long as long as the cool character can do something cool enough to trigger it.

And of course, one of the coolest things in fiction is watching the underdog come out on top. This means, at a base level, the cool character ALWAYS has a shot of turning the tables just because it would be cool. Basically it goes like this: funny has the advantage against cool unless one of the possible results of an interaction would be cool enough to warrant priority.

Basically what I'm getting at is there's a hierarchy here, but that hierarchy isn't cut and dry.

Now me personally, I don't think Thanos could do anything cool enough to overcome Bugs Bunny's rule of funny. I feel like he's too serious of a character to be able to play around any of the gags Bugs has. Even with the cool factor villains have, Thanos is outmatched. GOKU on the other hand does have a slim chance of pulling something out of his ass to win. He's not nearly as serious as Thanos, and even without getting into his gag-manga roots he's open-minded enough as a fighter to play around Bugs' gags. The hard part is that he'd have to play around them long enough to build up to a cool moment™. Make no mistake though, he'd be at an ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE disadvantage just because Bugs has so many tools at his disposal. Goku would have to really work to get a meaningful hit in, where Bugs just has to have enough variety in his comedy to keep it from getting stale. Also, while Vegeta does have a better chance of beating Bugs earlier in the fight just because he can attempt to invoke the power of comedy himself, the catch is that he might not be creative enough to invoke that power more than a few times before his act gets stale.

All of this is just taking into account these two tropes. There are absolutely other "rules" that could come into play. For example, there's comedy's theatrical partner TRAGEDY to consider. Just like the other two tropes, tragedy operates on that same rule, just focused on a different tone. If one of the potential outcomes of a situation would be the most tragic, odds are it's going to happen. As far as where on the heirarchy it would fall, I'm sort of in a jam. A tragic character by its very nature would ALWAYS be doomed in one way or another. In that sense, the power of tragedy would both ALWAYS be active, while also being self-defeating. In a way it's almost like the only way for a tragic character to "win" is to make sure both parties in the fight lose in some way. ... Man what a ramble that turned into

[jjkyaoi]

actually im making a headcanons posts abt my ideas for a potential nancy and eddie best friends relationship because yes i’m fucking annoying 😊😊😊 but they’re both individually my favorites out of the older kids so i think they should kick their feet together

• they bond over steve. to no one’s surprise, because nancy’s cool and amazing and scarily observant so she’s aware that eddie has a thing for him, even when they’re in the upside down. she knows the pathetic little goo goo eyes from a mile away, and because it’s steve harrington and she was with him she feels comfortable sliding up to him while they’re walking along the endless maze of dark bullshit that is the upside down and being like, “i know you’re into my ex boyfriend. 😊” and eddie bites his tongue so hard he starts coughing

• mind you, nancy’s completely aware that she’s into robin, because she’s cool like that, so she just kind of raises her eyebrow to him and pointedly makes a gesture to robin, who’s trying to make steve skip between the vines with her, and is like. “it’s fine. irdgaf 🤷‍♀️ “ and eddie feels the air leave his lungs in such a strong burst that he almost falls over with it

• they become close immediately after it. eddie latches onto the anomaly that’s nancy wheeler because he thinks it’s fucking insane that she dresses like a grandma and is a part of the school paper yet keeps guns in her bedroom and is apparently, for some fucking reason, a legitimate monster hunter. nancy’s never really had somebody be so interested in her completely without, dragging somebody else into it, so she’s kind of like ok be serious for a second ‘cause she thinks he’s fucking with her. but he’s not, and then she latches onto him with the same ferocity

• when eddie makes it out post volume two, nancy keeps him in their basement like they did with el. dustin whines and complains about it but she grips him by the shoulders and gives him the famous nancy wheeler 😊 threat so he (begrudgingly) let’s eddie go. nancy makes a whole fucking pillow fort for him down there, and constantly sneaks down some parts of her dinner, and comes downstairs sometimes just to sit and talk with him and eddie has also, never had somebody who’s wholeheartedly interested in his company so he just kind of sits there. and is goofy about it

eddie: nancy, i don’t need all of this pillows—little bit fucking concerned about how many damn pillows you have in the first place??? and jealous. extremely envious and bitter

nancy: shut up.

eddie: ok!

nancy: you’re right, though, i don’t need all these, because i’m sleeping in my room while you’re down here on the cold floor without anyones company, so you’re going to shut up and take these and you aren’t going to make a quip and/or comment about it for the rest of the night.

eddie: you are the coolest person i’ve ever met

• it weirds mike out, how much they get along, because his stuck up sister shouldn’t be painting eddie-stick-it-to-the-man’s nails whenever he walks downstairs, and he shouldn’t be catching nancy wearing one of his bands shirts and she shouldn’t say, “oh, hm? eddie let me borrow it” when he asks because that’s—not something frilly skirts nancy wheeler does. but she does now, apparently, and it weirds the fuck out of him.

• eddie loves to imprint on the people he cares for, physically, so he’s like consistently hanging off of her. he tugs on her hair whenever he wants her attention he taps her on the shoulder along with the beat when a song he likes get a drum solo, ruffles her hair frequently and it makes her brain white out with older-sibling-has never been shown-affection syndrome, and it’s just really.

robin: okay, nance, i have to—i’m sorry, i don’t mean to harsh your vibe or whatever but what is eddie doing. genuinely. what is he doing.

eddie, sprawled across nancy’s legs and repeatedly poking her in the face and pinching her cheek for no reason:

nancy: he does this.

• nancy’s like, 80 percent of his impulse control but if he were to start a bar fight he would chicken out of it when it got physical and nancy would finish it for him.

• they’re the 😊 and 😒 dynamic but like, platonically

• everyone in their group is so convinced they’re dating becaus e of their general. everything, and dustin tries to breach this topic while he’s over at the wheeler’s once and eddie snorts milk through his nose

dustin: i mean, i’m just saying, it’s cool that you’re together and i’m happy for you, but it’s—the whole thing with jonathan and steve dude it’s fucked and i-

eddie, trying to tell him he’s queer without telling him he’s queer: dustin, the boyest guy ever, there is no chance i would ever get with nancy wheeler . ever

dustin; …okay, i’m a little bit fucking offended on nancy’s behalf, now-

eddie; dustin henderson

• nancy doesn’t like to get intoxicated because she likes having a clear mind and considering. what happened the one time she didn’t, it isn’t something she feels comfortable doing most of the time However eddie pesters her to get high with him for approximately 3 whole days straight like a fucking insane person until she’s like OKAY. jesus. calm down. weirdo

mike, coming downstairs to see them blasted out of their minds: eddie 😕 can you stop corrupting my sister please i’m tired of people saying she’s cool now

nancy, before losing her fucking mind in laughter; i’ve always been fucking coolBitch

• nancy tries her damn hardest to infect some of her style into eddie’s life because she frequently takes his shirts, but he grabs her by the face looks at her calmly and says nancy wheeler i would fucking die for you but i also will shoot you with your own guns if you ever make me put on those 67 year old woman skirts

• eddie’s a very clumsy person. he doesn’t mean to, most of the time, but he’s always kind of bringing disaster wherever he goes and nancy’s always kind of picking up for him. like they’re walking along the street and eddie’s not looking where he’s going and there’s a crack in the floor and nancy grabs him by the hand and yanks him away. she has a sixth sense for his bullshit now it’s like her spidey tingle he says

nancy; you’re about to spill that drink everywhere

eddie: could you stop examining my behavior

nancy: could you stop breaking thinsg in My house that i let you in

• eddie’s totally the type of friend that just decides to randomly start moving when an adrenaline rush hits him for no reason. like they’ll be listening to music in nancy’s basement and he’ll suddenly be grabbing her and begging her to dance with him even though the Most he can do is that dumb little sway and she is so. incredibly fond that she just shakes her head and says OKAY.

eddie; do you think steve’s gay? like… did you ever see anything …..a little bit… you know…

nancy, in the middle of painting his nails; if you’re asking me if i think he’s into you then i can’t say, because he hasn’t looked at me in the eyes since the “i want to have kids with you” debacle, however i can say that yes he does like men. in general.

eddie: holy shit. are you like 100% sure?

nancy: i mean, at least i think so. again. he hasn’t looked at me, eds, but you spend enough time with a person like steve and you notice things and trust me i have

eddie: you are my best friend & the light of my life

nancy: i know. mess up this nail job again by moving and i’ll hurt you.

• nancy’s a little bit of a worrywart. not as much as steve is, it’s just in the way where she’s lost a lot of people when she’s let them become her friends so she’s always kind of hovering. always kind of watches what she says so she doesn’t hurt someone like she did barb the last time she saw her, and it takes her awhile to sort of break out of that mindset but. she does. eventually

eddie: would you ever move in with me?

nancy: no. absolutely not.

eddie: oh, c’mon wheeler, i thought i’d finally broken your icy little shell of a heart-

nancy: not giving that a response. i’m not living with you because you had unnamed stains on your bed for months, and you keep me up with questions like “are worms real” at 3AM when i choose to stay down in this basement with you, so no i’m not.

eddie: fair enough

• sunshine and sunshine protector perhaps?

• they totally would be the type to talk shit. like nancy stomps down to her basement after somebody pisses her off at school and eddie sits up because he knows it’s going to be a good one, and eddie tells her all the drama because when you’re the renowned freak people don’t really care about letting you hear things, and they’re 100% catty little bitches.

nancy: ok, i didn’t want to be that person—

eddie, immediately invested; oh is it bitching hours? are we- are we bitching?

nancy; you shut up. i’m not—okay. listen. tammy thompson’s a wonderful person, and i think she’s got a bright future and she’s a sweetheart, but she. her singing

eddie: she sounds so bad . she is so tone deaf

nancy: SHE SOUNDS SO BAD oh god i’m sorry

• nancy is the only one who can reign him in when he’s on his bullshit. he’s being particularly loud and everyone’s like GODDDD eddie shut up ☹️ and nancy just looks at him. and he wilts like an unwatered flower and lowers his volume and she’s like thank you 😊😊

[monkiementor]

Hi I was wondering if you could do a jin x clingy reader

You can take your time if you already have a lot on your plate..

OMG OMG MY FIRST JIN ASK !!!!E@DWD

Clingy much...

Jin x clingy gn reader [fluff]

Jin would be somewhat confused half of the time. He doesn't understand how you would be so clingy to him, especially since he's a demon. He didn't mean it like that at first but you kept going on about how he was the coolest being in existence to you. So, he started to get used to it, and now you two are practically joined at the hip! And even though he can tell you're a clingy person, he doesn't know if he really enjoys it? It's kind of weird... Yin would tease Jin about it sometimes, "You were totally blushin." and then laugh when Jin would glare at him. But Jin knew she was right. He could feel your arms around his waist, your head resting on his back as you listened to him talking about anything. And whenever you hugged him, you'd hug him very tightly which would make Jin's heart race. That's not normal. You don't seem to notice, just continue to talk happily while clinging to Jin like you're an oversized teddy bear. And sometimes, you would say something stupid. Like,

"Your eyes are so pretty!" Or, most embarrassing times, "I'm so happy we're together!" and give Jin one of those cheesy little kisses. Which, okay, Jin definitely loves. Even if you don't realize, Jin does. It made him a bit dizzy with all the mushiness. But Jin doesn't want to admit it because it makes him so giddy. It's annoying how much Jin craves skinship but also wants nothing more than for you to stay like this forever. So Jin keeps trying to figure out how to tell you that he loves you. How do you confess your feelings to someone? Does Jin say them when you're hugging? What does he do when he's in bed with you? Is he supposed to kiss you goodnight? Hold hands? Hug each other? Jin never understood humans. Yin on the other hand cares for you, no matter what. And when you two are together, he always has a smug look on his face and a mischievous glint in his eye. Then he would tease about you and Jin's relationship.

"You two are so cute together. I think you should just lock lips already!" Jin would glare at Yin and try not to think too hard about it. When you ask Yin what he thinks about relationships, he'd shrug nonchalantly. "They're not for me, and besides they're gross!" He said sticking his tongue out, making you laugh. But Jin loves your clinginess, it makes him feel safe, like no matter where or who he goes, you'll always be there to protect him. That's the best part!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

[astrolo-t]

Morning Sun Pt. 3

Pairing: Ellie x Reader

Word Count: 800~

Warnings: MDNI pls, Cursing, Alcohol, LOTS of Angst, Ellie running at literally any sign of conflict or messy feelings.

A/N: Ughhh this part always gets me :')

SUMMER

On a particularly hot summer night, where the air is so thick and humid that your clothes begin to stick to you like a second skin, you and Ellie decide to camp out in the living room atop a nest of blankets. It was the coolest room in the house and in Ellie’s words better than “slowly dying of suffocation” in either of your bedrooms. 

Despite the heat sapping out any energy the two of you might’ve had, the two of you stay up a majority of the night just…talking. Conversation comes easy, as it always does, the two of you filling the space between you with stories from then and now, plus a few bad jokes and shitty puns courtesy of one Ellie Williams. It was the first time you’d slept in the same room together. It was also the first time that you witnessed Ellie’s vivid nightmares.

It started with slight finches in her sleep and quiet whimpers, but those weren't what woke you. It was those whimpers turned to screams and her wildly thrashing against the blankets that jolts you awake and has you turning your attention to the girl beside you.

You were at a loss for a while wondering what you could do, how you could help her. You decide quickly that if nothing else, you could try and keep her from hurting herself. With this in mind you pulled her into your chest, not anticipating how it might frighten the girl even more. She flails against you with renewed force now, digging her fingernails into your skin and screaming at someone who wasn’t you to let her go - begging for Joel to “fucking get up”. The sound of her voice, gravely and hoarse from screaming causes your eyes to burn with tears of your own. You hated how powerless you felt then, unable to help her when she was right in front of you. Loosening your grip a bit, you still hold her firmly telling her over and over, “Hey I’m here. Shh, I’ve got you.” 

Eventually her hands stop their scratching and her screams give way to soft sobs.

“I’m sorry…” she gasps into your neck. “I’m so fucking sorry.” 

You shake your head and whisper into her hair, “It’s ok. We’re ok.” 

Ellie wants to believe that, she really does. But after so long of dealing with the nightmares that appeared everytime she simply dared to close her eyes, she knows better than to hope for such a thing. She would never forget those last few moments with Joel before he died - no, before he was killed. So no, she didn’t believe that she would ever truly be “ok.” Not while Abby still walked this Earth and Joel’s murder had gone unavenged. But she had already decided when she let Abby and Lev go in that boat she would have to find some way to be.

“I fucked up. But I thought that I - that we had time. I didn’t know that he’d-.” She trails off with a sniff before starting again, “You know he took me to the Wyoming Museum on my 16th birthday? I was so fucking excited but…of course that didn’t stop me from being a little shit.” You feel her smile into your shoulder at the memory. 

“Of course you did, you’re Ellie.” You whisper to her as you caress her hair, happy that at the very least she was no longer crying.

“Things were pretty good between us then.” You feel her smile fade and she pulls away from you, wiping at her eyes, sniffling.

“Maybe those are the parts you should focus on.”

“I can’t.”

“Yea you can. You just have to-”

“Y/n…. I can’t…unsee him.” Ellie says with a tone of finality pulling away from you to meet your eyes, “Every time I close my eyes I’m right back there on the ground…” She trails off and it’s then you realized that you were at a loss for words. Despite your best efforts to ‘fix Ellie’ and make her happy, the truth was, you weren’t sure if there was anything you could say or do to make things better or at the very least console her. Not right now anyways, so instead you simply ask her, “What do you need El?”

She's quiet for a while. Thinking way too hard in that head of hers. Finally with a shrug she looks up at you between strands of auburn hair and answers, “I don’t even fucking know, not yet.”

You offer her a wry smile, moving the hair from her slightly red eyes,“That’s ok, we’ll just have to figure that out.”

[ihaveabsolutelynoideas]

About Sunset pts 8 & 9

AHSKDISNDBH 🥹🥐🥹🥟🥺🥞🥺🥦😭jDJIDNEN😬🪸🦊😍😍💃🏻💃🏻🌈🎍✨✨☃️🥐🧋🎊🎉💗❤️SJSISNDBJS🦔🎊 KAODNSWN 🪺🪴🐭SHSIDKWN 💚❤️💜💙

…Okay now that that is out of the way please allow me to scream about my favorite rainbros in a slightly less feral way.

Vio - my eggplant rollatini. Say it as many times as you want but that tunic is not violet. Your color square is lying to you.

Vio is very much Four's reasoning and logic. Despite having his own emotions his actions are all logic based: he split to surprise Wild out of his own head, he's not concerned about the others because Wild killed the iron knuckle, and he's okay with Wild running off because he thinks Wild needs to cool off.

All of these are calculated moves. He's not concerned about the emotional aspect and so his actions, while reasonable, are pretty cold to everyone. He's not really considering what splitting in front of Wild would do besides snapping him back to reality nor is he thinking about any hurt feelings on Wild’s behalf.

And that is just the coolest thing! Logic and reason, disconnected from emotion, can really quickly turn stone cold so I LOVE seeing that on display here.

Blue - My blueberry pie! Your hair tucked behind your ear and constant shade give me life, amen

At the absolute other end of the spectrum, we have one of the emotionally driven parts of Four - angry, bold, feisty. I love that his first action is to step up on Wild and dare the champion to push him away again. Without anything holding him back, Blue really embodies Four's anger and confidence.

But what's really jumping out at me is that Blue is the part of Four that insists that Twilight is going to be fine. Which really surprised me because I thought it would be Red or Green.

Whereas Vio seems to understand there's a chance Twi will die, Blue just up and says "No one's gonna die!". Then he says later that they shouldn't "be so hasty to give our enemy a victory". His confidence doesn't just extend to his own abilities, apparently - it's a testament to Four's faith in Twilight. Blue is ready to defend Twilight but he seems to really trust in his strength, too.

Also him yelling at Vio to explain Four's reasoning is just the funniest fucking thing Blue really said "YOU DON'T PAY ME TO THINK >:("

Green - My little string bean please take better care of yourself

Our leader and embodiment of the heroic spirit!

Green was all over the place. Filling in as the leader and most stable version of Four, Green was doing everything he could to mitigate the risk to Twilight. Even the risk his other parts posed.

As the one who seems to embody the heroic spirit the most, Green was focused pretty solely on managing the external risks of his overly emotional parts and Wild. Using emotional suppression, of course, because god forbid any of these heroes solve their problems any other way!

When he spoke to Wild he pretty clearly appealed to Wild's heroic side and pretty much requested Wild pull himself together because Twilight didn't need this shit right now. It was an act completely devoid of care for Wild's mental state, but in a different way than Vio's was. Where Vio is sticking to facts, Green is just pulling the normal heroic stupidity of "Nothing matters but saving the person in distress, even at the cost of my own well-being".

And he keeps that up, even when interacting with his other selves. He quiets Red, not with comforting words but by just demanding Red stop crying. He also offers himself up as a target for Blue and Vio, willing to physically fight himself to save Twilight. This is good for Twilight, but it doesn't really solve any of Four's complex feelings on the matter - all he did was bury them under the weight of responsibility. He's able to get past that for now but who knows how long that damn will hold.

And speaking of breaking dams, let's talk about our most adorable Four- Red. Our cranberry and cream cheese muffin. (Can you tell I’m hungry?)

He's Four's emotional core. He's feeling everything Four was working so hard to suppress. His fear, his pain, his grief - everything. It's all on Red's shoulders. And it's not just the burden of Twilight's injury, either; Red is concerned about Wild too. He's really the only one, actually, because everyone else is so focused on the goal. He tries to stop Wild and stares after him before the colors are recombined, obviously wanting to go to Wild to help him. He calls out Vio for his plan, well aware that the shock of the split probably did some damage to Wild's psyche. He also turns on Blue, who really didn't help by jumping straight at Wild's throat. While everyone else is focused on Twilight's physical well-being, Red is the only one to care about everyone's internal well-being.

Of course being in a hero, he's pretty quickly reined in by the other parts of Four who are content with pushing all that emotion to the side. But if we ever see these colors again I'm willing to bet Red will have a rather pivotal role, since he's literally the most emotionally open Link we’ve ever seen.

And now that i've gushed about the colors, here are a few other things I really loved about this update:

1. Wild looking like he just discovered he's in a simulation. His hands reaching out like he's gonna try to touch the matrix was so fucking funny to me. And everyone ignoring Wild's questions! This guy asks, rightly, What the fuck am I looking at? And everyone just ignores him completely! Like I know it wasn't supposed to be funny but it was actually hysterical on repeat viewings. Look at him:

He's so lost

2. The Champions. OMG what gorgeous work! The amount of detailing is jaw dropping! Oh, and Revali! He's so fucking FLUFFY!! Who gave him the right to look so cuddly? No wonder this guy was so determined to prove himself he looks like a baby!

3. Wild's breakdown. I don't normally talk about Wild but it was pretty freaking cool to see his brain start folding itself like an omlette. His grip on reality is kaput and it seems like this is going to be worse than just his usual stare into the distance as he watches a BOTW cutscene. I am actually tentatively excited to see where it goes.

[undertale-data]

[Image Description: An Undertale chat box that has “WHY FANS LOVE UNDERTALE” at its center. Next to it are a line chart and an Egg from the Dating Hub on its left, and a CRIME measurer (also from the Dating Hub) on its right. End I.D.]

[Image Description: a pie chart titled, “LEVEL OF LOVE FOR UNDERTALE.” The textbox on the top right reads, “On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the least and 10 being the highest, how much do fans enjoy Undertale?” From the top going clockwise, 12 or 0% chose 5 and below; 23 or 1% chose 6; 98, or 4%, chose 7; 325, or 12%, chose 8; 529, or 20%, chose 9; and 1664, or 63%, chose 10. End I.D.]

It’s clear from all of the data analyzed so far that fans who took the time to answer our survey love Undertale. It is unlikely that they would have taken the time to answer so many questions if they had not, and even less likely that they would have come across our survey in the first place. Naturally, it comes as no surprise that 63% of our responders gave their love for Undertale a score of ten out of ten. 95% gave their love for Undertale a score of eight or higher, and only 12 responders responded with five or below, a number so small that their responses had to be lumped together to be visible on the pie chart. Of those, only 3 responders gave their love for Undertale a score of 1, and based on those responders’ other answers, it is likely that they were only intending to troll. We are very fortunate that the vast majority of responders took the survey seriously, enough so that responses like this are barely a blip in the data.

Now, for our final analysis post of the event, we will delve into the reasons that fans love Undertale so dearly.

(Essay and highlights under the cut.)

There have been countless essays on the impact that Undertale has had on people’s lives. I can hardly add more on the subject than what has already been said, but I hope this summary can provide a brief overview of what stood out among the over two thousand answers given in response to this survey. That said, due to the sheer volume of answers, I could not read every single one in depth—however, I did skim all of them, and some that stood out or were representative of several responses have been highlighted below. If you would like to see what every fan who consented to share their response had to say, you may view the full list of responses here. Note that these responses have not been edited in any way. This document may take a long time to load, as it is over 100 pages long.

(Warnings for mentions of suicidal thoughts in the following essay.)

Several responders loved the theme of choices mattering in Undertale. Whether people played the pacifist, merciless, or neutral routes, they enjoyed how the game reacted to their actions. For some, it even made them consider their own morality. One touching response explained the impact that the theme of mercy made on them. “I realized that Mercy isn't something that's given to those who deserve it. Flowey didn't deserve it. I don't deserve it myself. Shoot, we ALL need Mercy in our lives.” Many fans left similar comments about how the themes of Undertale made them better people.

Undertale changed how its fans treat others, and it also changed how fans treat themselves. The theme of staying determined and the messages of hope in the game were a light to a very large portion of fans. I cannot list all of the fans who said that Undertale helped them out of a dark place, or that they would not be alive if not for Undertale. “DETERMINATION became a metaphor for not killing myself at a really rough time in my life and I’ll always cherish that. Undertale isn’t afraid to go to really dark places but at the same time holds on so tight to its hope.”

Undertale brought fans together in unexpected ways. Some said they met friends or significant others through the fandom. “I wouldn't have met my now husband without Undertale,” one fan said. A different fan who is non-native English speaking mentioned that the game and the fan community helped them to learn English.

It would be impossible to discuss Undertale without mentioning the fan community. Whether for good or bad, many responders mentioned the fandom in their responses. Overall the feelings towards the fandom seem positive, though many made references to “toxic” parts of the fandom without specifying which parts they consider toxic. Others rejected the idea of toxicity in fandom. One response said: “[SLAMS FIST ON DESK] I KNOW MOST PEOPLE SAY THE FANDOM IS TOXIC AND CRINGE OR WHATEVER BUT OH MY GOD. The Undertale fandom, both the UTMV and the actual UT fandom, has been so much fun to be a part of. I've met countless friends because of our shared interest in something related to the game! The art people create can be breathtaking and so inspirational, and the fanfics are so so good!! I've seen people write incredible things for this fandom and it's what made me continue writing!”

One thing that makes the Undertale fandom unique is the way it embraces various AUs. Some fans are tired of AU content, but the majority of responses show a love for the creativity behind AUs. “Roll your eyes at the 50th AU Sans all you want, it's encouraging people to step outside the boundaries of fanart and pushing people to make their own ideas! I mean, hell, it was how I gained the confidence to start making my own original content.” The lack of a judgemental atmosphere seems present in the AU community, according to the responses we saw. There is an interesting balance between AU and canon (sometimes referred to as “classic”) content that another responder pointed out: “The fandom helped keep the game alive all these years, with all of its AUs. Although personally, I always enjoyed AUs that kept characters as close to the classic material as possible (dancetale, outertale) I do appreciate the creativity of the fandom. They almost created entirely new stories with new characters of their own! If it weren't for those people, the Undertale fandom would have probably not been as active as it is now. I do feel like we're getting a resurgence of classic content now too! (In 2021)”

Regardless of the many AUs the fandom has created over the years, the original game of Undertale still feels like home for many fans. They wished they could reclaim the feeling of playing the game again for the first time, but even though we can’t reset time in real life, there is still a special feeling for fans each time they play Undertale. One fan said, “Even the best fics I've read can't capture that feeling of nostalgia/almost-"coming home" that comes with hearing the music and talking to the characters.” This feeling is one that can be cherished time and time again. In the words of another responder: “It always feels welcoming like home or like comfort food that I never grow tired of no matter how many times I go to it.” Others pointed out the strength of the found family trope in Undertale, which likely contributes to this feeling of “home” as well.

As mentioned briefly earlier, the music is part of what makes Undertale feel like home for fans. Even when responses focused on other aspects of the game, many would throw in a comment about the soundtrack at the end. One comment focused on the music said “IT'S SO GOOD like I will literally go through the entire thing over and over and not be bored with it. It makes my monkey brain so happy you have no idea.” Like with the game itself, the music has incredible replay value, an amazing feat considering most of the tracks use the same few motifs. “I think what I like the most about Undertale is how the music attaches you to the story,” another responder said. “They're simple melodies that stick with you throughout the whole game, and they can remind you of both good and bad times.”

If the music sticks with fans in their hearts, then the game’s lore sticks with fans in their minds. Even six years after the release of Undertale, fans are still creating new theories and digging up new secrets. The way the game breaks the fourth wall in particular intrigued many fans and has stuck out through all these years. The awareness that the game shows for the RPG genre makes it memorable. The game plays with the player’s expectations and turns them on their heads, all while reminding the player that they’re in a game. There are few other games that do this on such a large scale, so it’s no surprise that fans cite this as one of their favorite things about Undertale.

Lastly, the LGBT+ representation in Undertale has been a huge draw for fans. Especially in 2015, the sheer volume of non-cishet characters was unprecedented, as one fan pointed out: “It's practically unheard of to see so MANY from just one source, especially during its heyday in 2015-16. Hell, you can't even GET the true pacifist ending without helping two gay couples hook up. It's really nice to see all of them being accepted for who they are and not judged for their sexuality or gender, at least in-canon.” The LGBT+ cast including Frisk, Chara, Napstablook, Monster Kid, Mettaton, Alphys, and Undyne each connected with fans in unique ways. It’s clear how important this is from responses such as: “There are canon nonbinary characters 🥺. i have never seen representation of myself before.” “It made me gay and trans so thanks for that.”

Once again I am overwhelmed with just how much there is to say about Undertale. One responder really understood when they compared Undertale to an iceberg, explaining that there are so many layers to the game that there is something for everyone: “everyone can find something to enjoy in the lore/game regardless of what kind of fan they are! Being able to appeal to various types of fans—from simple happy shipper people to deep dive lorediggers—is the mark of the coolest games!” I would have to agree with them.

It’s been six years, and despite everything, it’s still you. Thank you for reading, participating in this survey, and above all, staying determined.

Highlights:

DETERMINATION became a metaphor for not killing myself at a really rough time in my life and I’ll always cherish that. Undertale isn’t afraid to go to really dark places but at the same time holds on so tight to its hope.

I think the coolest thing was having the opportunity to watch the AU community grow from its bare roots. It's nearly insane how big and complex it's gotten, unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Roll your eyes at the 50th AU Sans all you want, it's encouraging people to step outside the boundaries of fanart and pushing people to make their own ideas! I mean, hell, it was how I gained the confidence to start making my own original content.

i love how the lgbt rep is so naturalized... there are just gay people! and its nobodys business!

The music is my go to answer, but what I really really REALLY love is how the minor characters have so much personality to them when you talk to them. They aren't incredibly important to the overall story, but they're all so likeable and diverse that you just can't help but like them immediately!

I think it was the first videogame I have played that broke the fourth wall that much. Of course there has been other videogames that broke it but just for one or two tongue-in-cheek jokes. The guilt of killing mama goat was also something intense as well that I appreciated as an experience and that I didn't think a videogame could cause on someone.

I love how no character can be seen as completely bad! Everyone builds up Asgore as some horrible villain, but he turns out to be a 'fuzzy pushover' who's broken and just wants his family back by the time you meet him. Then you think Flowey's an irredeemable killer who engineered the suffering of the monsters across many timelines, and he is... but he also used to be the kind and beloved Prince Asriel Dreemurr, traumatized by his death and subsequent rebirth, projecting his best friend onto you.

The fact that choices matter in the game. Your first playthrough and getting the golden ending for the first time. I can never replicate those feelings again, wish I could erase my memories and replay the game from the start.

I wouldn't have met my now husband without Undertale.

(Toxic parts of the fandom aside) The community is possibly one of the kindest I've ever met. Cringe culture is completely dead, and I feel like I can be myself. I felt a very close connection to many of the characters, and I loved consuming content about them when I was in a rough patch in my life.

just everything, the whole game has just impacted my life so much. i know it sounds really lame, but when the game first came out, i would purposely put my hands in my pockets and sway slightly, like sans' idle animation. of course i dont do that anymore haha, but undertale still really impacts me to this day, and i wouldnt have it any other way :)

it made me gay and trans so thanks for that

I realized that Mercy isn't something that's given to those who deserve it. Flowey didn't deserve it. I don't deserve it myself. Shoot, we ALL need Mercy in our lives.

The thing I love most about Undertale is no matter how many times I play or watch a playthrough it always makes me genuinely happy. It always feels welcoming like home or like comfort food that I never grow tired of no matter how many times I go to it. Toriel still makes me feel all warm and cozy in her home, the Skelebros always make me laugh, and I still cry on the inside watching Frisk comforting Asriel. And on the flip side the No Mercy run still invokes the negative emotions in me as well. In short Undertale just feels like a second home to me and I always wish I could stay.

The reader inserts are my favorite way to decompress after a hard day

I think Undertale helped me discover my love for 8-bit games, and made me realize how IMPORTANT music is in video games.

the worldbuilding and character design are my favorite parts of the main game apart from the music! I’m also a huge fan of the random AU music- not for like underswap or underfell i like the stuff where someone makes a megalovania for a random au where gru from despicable me replaces sans as the character. i think its funny

Just... the vibe, honestly? Even the best fics I've read can't capture that feeling of nostalgia/almost-"coming home" that comes with hearing the music and talking to the characters.

there are canon nonbinary characters 🥺. i have never seen representation of myself before.

[SLAMS FIST ON DESK] I KNOW MOST PEOPLE SAY THE FANDOM IS TOXIC AND CRINGE OR WHATEVER BUT OH MY GOD. The Undertale fandom, both the UTMV and the actual UT fandom, has been so much fun to be a part of. I've met countless friends because of our shared interest in something related to the game! The art people create can be breathtaking and so inspirational, and the fanfics are so so good!! I've seen people write incredible things for this fandom and it's what made me continue writing!

There's a scene where Frisk (the player) is going towards what is presumably going to be their death. They will fight Asgore and he will use their human soul to break the barrier and free his people. The music, despite the player's impending doom, is... triumphant. You are not the triumphant one here, and yet, the score invites you to experience the monsters' joy and happiness as they tell you the tale of their subjugation. The monsters are going to be free. This is their victory, but they don't hate you or want you to die. They're just... happy. That scene has always struck me very deeply. I feel it represents the best parts of Undertale.

I loved how well thought out the Geno route was. It really made me feel like I was doing something horrible, and the characters were very obviously reacting to dire circumstances.

I dunno? I like Undertale for it's characters, story, music, secrets and many more. I am not good with Headcanons but I also like the neutral endings and how different they can depending on who you spare and kill

I was very bad at english before, i thought i couldn't progress because i was very shy and not confident. But my sibling and i wanted to have the best experience with this game so we wanted to play it in english. It's this game and the fandom which helped me to make huge progress in english !

THE SOUNDTRACK. IT'S SO GOOD like I will literally go through the entire thing over and over and not be bored with it. It makes my monkey brain so happy you have no idea.

to avoid writing an essay i will say one word. Mettaton

It is like Toby specifically made the games to fit the iceberg meme and it's awesome, everyone can find something to enjoy in the lore/game regardless of what kind of fan they are! Being able to appeal to various types of fans - from simple happy shipper people to deep dive lorediggers is the mark of the coolest games!

I love almost everything about Undertale as a game on its own. The music, the art and especially the characters and how they interact. They made me feel at home. Undertale means a huge amount to me. (I even got a tattoo of the castle when you and MK walk together!) The fandom helped keep the game alive all these years, with all of its AUs. Although personally, I always enjoyed AUs that kept characters as close to the classic material as possible (dancetale, outertale) I do appreciate the creativity of the fandom. They almost created entirely new stories with new characters of their own! If it weren't for those people, the Undertake fandom would have probably not been as active as it is now. I do feel like we're getting a resurgence of classic content now too! (In 2021)

the mystery. toby fox refused to give answers to anything and i think thats very sexy of him.

I just feel guilty for liking it so much when I'm in my 30's. But I recently got diagnosed with ASD, so I guess it explains things a bit. Many ppl consider Papyrus to be neurodivergent, and some adult fans are too, so seeing that makes me feel a bit better.

i think about "Despite everything, it's still you" everyday of my life.

I like how it's just as funny as it can be serious. All routes are this way. I laughed as much as I cried when I played the Pacifist route and then once I opened the game again and Flowey was telling me to let them be happy, I immediately turned off the game. I somehow felt bad.

The Found Family Trope

The True Pacifist Ending is just...man. And the fanworks about saving everyone even when the game doesn't let you? MANNNNNN

I think what I like the most about Undertale is how the music attaches you to the story. They're simple melodies that stick with you throughout the whole game, and they can remind you of both good and bad times.

there's honestly a LOT to love about this game, but i think one of my favorite things about it is just how many lgbt+ characters there are??? i can think of alphys, undyne, frisk, chara, mettaton, napstablook, monster kid, asgore, mad mew mew, the dress lion, the royal guards, and arguably even papyrus off of the top of my head, but im sure i'm forgetting a few from just undertale alone (there's even MORE in deltarune)!! it's practically unheard of to see so MANY from just one source, especially during its heyday in 2015-16. hell, you can't even GET the true pacifist ending without helping two gay couples hook up. it's really nice to see all of them being accepted for who they are and not judged for their sexuality or gender, at least in-canon.

[Image description: A wordcloud in the shape of the capitalized word UNDERTALE. The text is white on a black background, and uses the font found in the game. Some of the most visible words are: Game, Love, Music, Life, AU, Store, Friend, and Feel, which represent the most common words in the essays people wrote about their love for the game. End of ID]

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 318: On Your Left

Previously on BnHA: The Hawksquad+Lurkers were all “well this sucks” and sat around a bit talking about how maybe they should actually come up with a new plan that is actually good, but then in the end they were like “nah.” Deku was all, “THERE’S SOMETHING INSIDE ME THAT PULLS BENEATH THE SURFACE!! CONSUMING, CONFUSING!! THIS LACK OF SELF CONTROL I FEAR IS NEVERENDING. IT’S HAUNTING HOW I CANT SEEM TO FIND MYSELF AGAIN. MY WALLS ARE CLOSING IN.” Just, literally that whole entire song. All Might was all “Deku you should take care of yourself, try eating a thing,” and Deku was all “BYE, ALL MIGHT,” and just LEFT. He left!!! What the fuck!!!

Today on BnHA: Endeavor is all, “maybe if Deku didn’t listen to All Might he’ll listen to me instead.” Deku is all, “[doesn’t listen to Endeavor]” because, well, yeah. The Vestiges are all, “surprisingly, even we are a little concerned -- maybe you should get some rest, kid.” Deku is all, “((Ò ‸ Ó)).” The Vestiges are all, “holy shit.” Deku is all, “[wanders the ruined city streets terrifying the populace on account of him looking like Shelob had a baby with one of the Nazgul].” Some shriveled-up puppeteer villain asshole is all, “HORIKOSHI SAID IT’S MY TURN TO ATTACK DEKU TODAY SO I AM GOING TO SUMMON MY FRIGHTENED HELPLESS ATTACK MOB!!” Kacchan is all “WHADDYA MEAN THEY FOUND THE NERD!!! -- oh wait, that’s me, I found him. I found the nerd, you guys.” And just in time, too. I was about to owe a whole lot of people a whole lot of dollars.

so I have been super good about spoilers this week as always, but let me tell you guys, for the past 36 hours my dash filters have basically been nonstop “manga spoilers” this and “bnha 318” that, and so I’m coming in with a fair amount of hype here. your move, Horikoshi

oh, good! they got Endeavor to call Deku to try to talk him out of it. what a great and wonderful plan

“listen up kid, you haven’t slept since March and you are basically a walking biohazard right now, I’m just telling it like it is. didn’t you get shot like three times?? and there was a whole thing about how you urgently needed medical attention?? and supposedly we gave it to you, but I mean you haven’t even changed your clothes and don’t seem to have any fresh bandages or anything, so did we?? did we, really?? and also we all got blown up yesterday, so yeah.” hmm he’s making some reasonable points here you guys, but you sure do go on and on, Endeavor

oh he says foreign aid is finally on its way! I’m sure they’ll be very helpful. I mean in fairness they can hardly be worse than the home-grown heroes at this point

hey Enji, could you maybe try appealing to Deku the sixteen-year-old human boy, as opposed to Deku The World’s Last Hope? he does have value beyond his quirk. I know that’s always been an incredibly difficult concept for you to grasp, but could you maybe TRY, jesus

and also we’re worried about you as a person?? you’re just a kid and you’re pushing yourself way too hard?? you were going to say that part next, right. why the hell didn’t Hawks make this call instead

“don’t worry about me... I’m completely fine” Deku you do understand that saying it over and over again doesn’t actually make it true

and again with the rush!! all the rush rush rush!! we’re running out of time, we can’t let AFO and Tomura keep getting stronger, I have to end this now, there’s no time to rest, etc. etc. etc. just the constant pressure of this whole big countdown on top of everything else

holy shit, you KNOW it’s bad when even the Vestiges are telling him to chill

these guys are basically the walking talking embodiments of self-sacrifice; if even they’re telling him he needs to take five, then he must seriously be like half a step away from death’s door

OH SHIT LMAO

DIDN’T EVEN LET HIM FINISH HIS SENTENCE BEFORE HE SENT HIM INTO THE FUCKING SHADOW REALM WITH THAT FUCKING LOOK. HOLY FUCK. DIDN’T EVEN KNOW IT WAS POSSIBLE TO DIE TWICE. SHIT

(ETA: so I’m pretty sure this was just Danger Sense activating and so he cut them off to go do more hero stuff, but I’m gonna go ahead and stick to my original interpretation anyway lol.)

anyway so how’s everybody doing. we all good? En, you good? Banjou? Shino? I’m imagining you guys all curled up in a little ball on the floor right now lol. can’t say I blame you though, no shame

lmaoooooooooooo

“SHEESH.” sheesh indeed, lmao. “what in the FUCK was that”

see, this is why y’all need Kacchan. you need someone who’s not going to back down from him no matter what. if it’s a matter of out-stubborning Midoriya fucking Izuku, then there’s only one other person on the planet capable of that, and we all know it. don’t pretend like you don’t. I am not going to shut up about this! we’ve had our hurt so now what about SOME COMFORT, DAMMIT

“I’m afraid that he’s becoming influenced by my conscience” nah are you kidding Nana this is all 100% made-in-Japan pure original Deku right here

see, Banjou gets it. “that kid, he’s totally going on his own.” exactly. this was so inevitable it was basically scientific law

“well I for one don’t see the problem with Deku being so obsessed with saving everyone else that he pushes himself until his body and soul literally fall apart” okay, whose speech bubbles are these?? we’re about to have words

lol of course

well you always did prefer the direct route didn’t you. but even you can’t possibly think this is okay lol

dark AU!Kacchan please tell us more about your badass doomed timeline in which everything went to shit and you apparently had the same character arc that Deku is having right now except it somehow made you sexier instead of turning you into a rabid t-rex. I have so many questions

oh so now you want to help??? well -- good, actually. sorry if that sounded offended just now lol

(ETA: so at first when I got to the end of this chapter I was wondering if Katsuki B. had somehow summoned his alternate-universe counterpart through trippy OFA space telepathy lol. but in the original Japanese there’s no reference to “we”, so this appears to be a mistranslation. this line should probably read more like “if there’s something/someone out there that would be able to complement/complete the current Midoriya Izuku [it would be]…” which, oh hello, is that Horikoshi once again reaffirming that Deku and Bakugou complete each other lol. “guess what guys, the Vestiges ship it too" heck yeah. they know what’s up!)

look how admiring his boyfriends are. HORIKOSHI GIVE US THE REST OF THIS BACKSTORY ALREADY GODDAMMIT

“meanwhile somewhere in the depths of the ruined city, Deku was having a dance-off with the villains”

I like how the villains all have this “AHH WHAT THE FUCK” kind of body language to them lol. I mean if it were me, and an eldritch horror suddenly clawed its way from the shadows with its writhing glowy tentacles and pants-shitting nuclear death stare, I would probably just die on the spot. no need to stick around. only pain awaits

lol for a minute I thought this was Can’t Ya See-kun and I was like “WHAT A FASCINATING CROSSING OF PATHS” but it’s just some random girl

he seems genuinely confused lol

Deku it’s because you look like something that crawled out of a sewer drain, sweetheart

lol they just took his word for it?

so trusting. even though they’re immediately hauling ass anyway just to be safe lmao

“my appearance is frightening to others” no shit Deku it’s because you look like a fucking alien exorcism. you look like a Lich that got caught up in an oil spill my dude

NO NOT THE CHOSEN ONE ANGST AGAIN

I RAN OUT OF ESSAY JUICE FOR THIS ALREADY HORIKOSHI!! I’VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT IT FOR MONTHS NOW WHAT TOOK YOU SO LONG!! BUT ANYWAYS, GOOD!! I MEAN, BAD, THOUGH, OBVIOUSLY. BUT YES

“ENJOY THIS MONTAGE OF DEKU BATTLING A RANDOM KAIJU AND WANDERING THE WOODS LIKE A DERANGED GREEN BABA YAGA” okay yes but sir, exactly how much longer is this going to go on. if it’s a matter of you wanting to make sure we get it, let me assure you that aside from a few stray chuunis who think that Deku embracing the Darkness is the coolest thing he’s ever done, all of us here in fandom fully comprehend that this is Not Good

-- OH SO IT’S LIKE THAT

really. with the flashbacks to his loved ones’ smiling faces and everything. not even gonna try to aim above the belt, huh

AND NO KACCHAN??! NO CLASSMATES?!?! IS HE PURPOSELY NOT THINKING OF THEM??? OR ARE THEY BEING SAVED FOR THE NEXT PAGE??? SO HELP ME, IF THE NEXT PART OF THIS SENTENCE IS “CAN PROTECT THEM”, OR EVEN WORSE, “CAN SEE THEIR SMILING FACES AGAIN”, I...

WHAT DID I JUST SAY

(ETA: my man did Sero and Kaminari fucking dirty lmao. I miss their smiling faces too omg.)

the sheer, unparalleled irony of him saying this while he stands there looking like the gargoyle demon from Fantasia got crossed with an umbrella that got struck by lightning. Deku :(

oi who the fuck is this clown

is he controlling this mob with his evil hair. “what if I made an exhausted, running-on-fumes Deku battle a brainwashed mob at Ground Zero.” Horikoshi do you just have like a checklist of horrible things you want to do to your protagonist

easy there Sasori

well joke’s on you buddy because he’s apparently “completely fine”, so

“here’s to hoping that you know more about AFO’s location than the others” jesus christ Deku you really have hung your mercy out to dry huh

now he’s forcing his mob of terrified prisoners to attack Deku ahhhh. sucks to be them. at least they’re not being controlled by bees

so Deku is saying that Sasori’s control can be broken with “physical trauma.” similar to Shinsou’s quirk I guess. but so does that mean he’s gonna have to hurt them? ( •﹏•)

NO NOT MORE SAD EYES

“DEATH BY EMPATHY!!!” HORIKOSHI NO

fuck. he looks like he’s on the verge of passing out

this is what happens when you nerf a character’s self-preservation stats in favor of spamming their bone-breaking stats instead. NOW ACCEPTING BRAIN CELL DONATIONS FOR A BOY IN NEED!! with your loving generosity we can hopefully help him live to the ripe old age of seventeen

OMGFGGG

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

[grabs your hands] ლ(*꒪ヮ꒪*)ლ [swings you in a circle] へ(ﾟ◇ﾟへ)

THASSSSSSSS WHATSSSSSSS UPPPPPPPPPP

HORIKOSHI REALLY SAID FUCK THAT MASK (ノ°ο°)ノ YOU FINALLY LEARNED!! IT’S CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT!!!!

JUST FOR YOU KACCHAN, HORIKOSHI LEFT THIS ONE BAD GUY WHO’S STILL WEAK TO FIRE. GOD BLESS

IT’S YOUR COUNTERPART, KATSUKI B!!!! HOW WE DOIN OVER THERE IN THE TRIPPY COSMIC OFA SPACE REALM LOL. DO WE BELIEVE YET, FANDOM???

LIGHTS!!!!

INSTANT RESULTS!!! IT’S SUPER EFFECTIVE!!!

(ETA: imagine what this must look like to Deku though. he’s been caught up in this dark cloud of despair and exhaustion that’s been building up over... I’m gonna go ahead and say “weeks”, because yeah. and now he finds himself here, in the place where All Might’s legacy ended and the torch was passed to him. and the world is in ruins, and he’s surrounded by frightened people who are all trying to hurt him -- because who isn’t trying to hurt him, these days -- and he’s scrambling to figure this all out, but meanwhile the weariness is finally starting to catch up to him, and so he’s basically just standing there in a fog of complete and utter misery.

and then all of a sudden through that haze, he hears the one voice that’s more familiar than any other that he knows. like, I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he thought he was just imagining it at first. Kacchan showing up to save him right when he’s at his most desperate and feeling the most alone. Kacchan, showing up to save him.

this is the person he always looked up to as a child (to be fair he was quite a strange child lmao). the person who was even closer to him than All Might. the person he always thought was amazing. and bam, here he is now. appearing in the sky out of nowhere to one-shot the bad guy with a single blast (which, btw, that was his armor-piercing attack too lmao dslkjlk take it easy there kiddo). like, that must have felt absolutely surreal to him, especially coming at a time when he’s already half-delirious and barely hanging on to reality. he must have really thought that he was losing it there for a second.

but he’s really there. it really is him. and for this brief moment -- before the rest of the situation catches up to him, and he remembers about all of the fucked-up AFO stuff, and remembers why he was so afraid and why he was pushing everyone away -- for just this one brief moment, he’s too exhausted and stunned to do anything except to just react. just stands there, looking up at him in awe.

and you know, it almost reminds me of...

just. you guys. the character development. the freaking character development. someone who brings reassurance. someone who shows up and makes you think, “oh, it’s all going to be okay now, because [person] is here.” the role reversals. the growth. the payoff!! because who is the one person who always had faith that Kacchan would one day grow up to become an amazing hero like that. WHO IS IT. YOU ALREADY KNOW.

omg. anyways, bless you Horikoshi, my feels which have been on backorder since fucking September have finally arrived lmao. yes, good, thank you. worth the wait. it is always, always worth the wait. fuck yeah.)

“LOWFRIES” SO YOU’RE TELLING ME THE WHOLE GANG IS HERE, AHHHHHHHH (º̩̩́⌣º̩̩̀ )

BEAUTIFUL. WONDERFUL. SENSATIONAL. I DON’T EVEN CARE THAT JUMP IS ON BREAK NEXT WEEK. THIS RIGHT HERE WILL SUSTAIN ME

[this-world-of-beautiful-monsters]

into the gloom you left behind

Title taken from the poem It Bruises, Too by Kwame Dawes.

Prompt: Left Behind

TMNT IDW.

(tw kidnapping, family separation, very tangent references to noncon, grief, guilt, implied mind control, mental health issues, catatonia)

You can find the whole collection on AO3 here.

Dear Leo,  

I honestly don’t know if this letter will find you. I’m going to print copies off of Don’s computer and leave them all over the city, stick them in places we used to go together—some of our good scavenging spots, that library you like, that one cool spot by the river, the access tunnel into Broadway, some of your favorite spots in Central Park or the High Line. Like messages in a bottle, cause if you leave enough one's gotta find its destination.  

I’ll even try to leave a few near the Foot stronghold if I can. That place stinks, btw—how can you stand it, dude?  

Hold on, I should probably let you know who's writing to you just in case the amnesia theory's right. In fact, maybe I should give you a rundown on who you are while I'm at it.  

Your name's Leo--full name Hamato Leonardo. You're a kickass leader, an amazing ninja, and you love to read even though you don't give yourself a lot of time for it. You've got a dad who's also a teacher and a rat, a mom who loves you a ton even if she's not around you anymore, and three awesome younger brothers: Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo. I've drawn a picture of us on the bottom, so you can get a better sense of who we are. Sorry if it's a little rough.  

We've got some cool friends, too, but I don't want to name them in case this ends up in the wrong hands. The rest of us are already way too deep in...I guess you could call it a war? And we might be on different sides. Don't worry, though! It's not your fault and you're gonna remember where you belong pretty soon.  

I'm Mikey, your youngest and coolest brother, and I'm writing to you because...because, well, I know you don't like it when we curse, but we fucked up, Leo. See, we were running from this guy named Shredder, a really bad dude who killed us in our past lives (Donnie wants me to add "might have" so fine, whatever, he might have killed us in our maybe past lives).  

Anyway, he wants us dead now, and he hurt our friend Casey real bad, so we were running away from him trying to get Casey to the hospital. Only you got hit by a tranquilizer or something and you fell, and we didn't see you. None of us even noticed we were gone until we were at the hospital, and by the time we went back to look for you it was too late.  

You were...changed. You didn't recognize us anymore. You were all weird and violent and we were so scared, but under it all I could tell you were hurting. Shredder hurt you so deep you couldn't even figure out who or where you were, not really.  

I know it's not you, though. It's not. I don't know exactly what happened to you, but I'm trying to keep believing that you didn't mean to hurt us. The Leo I know would never attack his own brothers like that.  

Although I guess it wouldn't be entirely out of left field. We did leave you behind, after all. I guess that's why this sort of feels like an apology letter as much as anything.  

I'm sorry, Leo. So very, very sorry. I'm sorry this happened to you and I sorry we messed up and I swear on my life that when you come home, we'll never leave you behind again.  

I say when and not if because you will come home. We've been working around the clock to get you back, trying to figure out how to get you away from Shredhead. There's an answer to what's been done to you, a cure.  

I don't know if the Tin Can used electricity on you like the Winter Soldier, or magic like Splinter thinks, or demons like in all those movies you don't let me watch, but we can figure it out. We're smart that way.  

Although I gotta admit, it is hard to get our shit together the way things are right now. I don't think I ever realized how much work you put into leading and coordinating us, keeping us all on task. We're all guilty and stressed out and we keep getting into fights when we're together, fights I know you would have shut down right away.  

But even when we fight, we agree about how much you love you. Because you are loved, Leo, so very much. You're one of the most loved turtles in New York, maybe in the whole world. I don't know if it feels like it right now, but you've got a whole family who loves you to bits and who's not going to stop before you're home.  

Raph misses you a ton, you know. You guys fought before everything happened, but it doesn't matter anymore, not that it ever really did. He'd do anything to get you back. And Don's working himself to the bone trying to figure out how to help you, to give you the protection you need. Master Splinter spends every day meditating, trying to figure out how everything fits together, how to help you the most.  

And me? I do what I can. I'm trying to keep your room clean, you know, without messing up your stuff too much. When I'm not doing that or out looking for you I've been trying out some new Japanese dishes, stuff I think you'd like for your welcome home feast. Cool, yeah?  

If that's not enough incentive, you'll be able to pick the show for every movie night for a month after you come back. We've decided. Raph's gonna bitch and moan about it later, but whatever, he'll live. I don't even care if your stuff is burning, because seeing how happy it makes you is enough.  

As I'm writing this I'm thinking about what you might be doing right now. I want to think you just train all day like you used to and bitch at Karai or whatever, that all Shredder makes you do is kick some Savate around, but I don't know.  

He could be making you do bad things, or doing bad things to you, things we can't see. Sometimes I hear Donnie and Raph talking about it, but they always clam up when they walk by. I think they know something I don't but I'm too scared to ask.  

And you know what? I don't care. Whatever he makes you do, whatever happens while you're with the Foot, you're still our brother. There's nothing you can do to make us stop loving you and doing everything we can to help you heal. We'll look after you, Leo, I promise, same way you look after us.  

You're going to come home, and then we're all going to kick Shredder to the moon and go out for the best pizza we can find. You know, Chicago-level pizza. That's a promise, big brother, and I always keep my promises to you, same way you keep your promises to me.  

I have to go now, dude. I've got a meeting with someone who's going to help me figure out how to get you away from Shredhead and bring you home. I'll tell you more when you get back, okay? You'll want to hear all about it, and you know how much I like to tell stories.  

Love love love love,  

Mikey  

P.S. I promise not to watch any more episodes of She-Ra until you get back. Yes, you do too watch it with me, even if you're supposed to be way too macho. I've noticed that you're in the room every time I turn it on, you know.  

Oroku Saki doesn't crumple the letter or throw it at the wall, although the paper crinkles ever so slightly as he lowers his hand. He lifts his head, gaze unreadable through the helmet as his eyes bore into the black-clad man kneeling before him.

"Where did he find this?"

The man shifts a little, eyes darting anxiously. "Lion...no, Princess and Crow, my lord."

Saki nods. "I see. Outside a pizza shop?"

"Yes. DG's Corner, I think it was called. Should we stake it out?"

"Perhaps. I will have to think on it." The Shredder turns the letter over in his handle, examining the picture carefully drawn in colored pencil. A rat and a woman hold hands over four small turtles in red, purple, orange, and blue. Each figure is carefully labeled, including the one in blue, who is designated You (Leo).

"Did you see when or why he picked it up?"

"No, my lord. I apologize," the man replies, eyes downcast. "He was leading the group when we realized he'd stopped, and we found him holding the letter in his hands."

Saki nods slowly. "What happened?"

The man shrugs. "He just looked kind of confused, my lord. A little blank. We could see him staring at the paper, but it didn't really look like he was reading; his eyes weren't moving. He looked so out of it we thought he'd been hit with--"

"And then what?"

"Well, he looked up at us--through us, almost. It was...odd." The man squirms slightly, keeping his eyes carefully fixed on the ground. "I asked him what it was, and he said he didn't know. I mean, I could tell it was English, so I wasn't sure how he couldn't figure out something, but he just told us he had to go back home. By the time we got back to the base, he was, well..."

He gestures to the turtle sitting next to him. Oroku Leonardo sits with his back straight, chewing his lip gently as he stares off into the middle distance. He clearly has not processed what his companion, his erstwhile second on his last mission, has said, or any other part of the conversation. He has clearly not been processing anything for a while.

Saki sinks to his knees before the little turtle, lifting Leonardo's chin. "Her spell's fighting back, good," he says, almost to himself. "I hope she manages to shore the cracks up properly."

"Sir?" the other Foot soldier asks.

"Take the chunin to Mistress Kitsune," Saki orders, not looking up. "She will undoubtedly be able to help him. When she's done there, bring him back to my chambers."

"Yes, sir," the Foot soldier says, rising to his feet. He's got the look of a man carefully not knowing the full meaning of back to my chambers.  

"Oh, and Lieutenant?" Saki calls, giving Leonardo a little nudge. The boy stands up obediently, if a little hesitantly, and Saki rises to join him.

"Yes, sir?"

"Have Kitsune take a look at you and the other soldiers on that mission as well. It wouldn't do to get any unseemly rumors started."

The man's eyes widen slightly behind the mask, but his respect and fear for Saki are stronger than his terror of Kitsune. "Yes, sir." He bows out of the room and heads off down the hall, Leonardo trotting at his heels.

Saki looks back at the troublesome letter. Tracking down and disposing of them all will be tricky, but luckily his soldiers are very good at destroying things without question. Leonardo will never have his doubt or mind shaken by such a pitiful silly little piece of paper again.

He turns to the nearby fire and tosses the paper in among the flames. It's gone all too soon, chewed up and devoured, with nothing but a bit more smoke to mark the way.

_____

The street names Lion, Princess and Crow, and DG's pizza shop are shoutouts to my amazing fellow writers and freaks-in-arms @leonsi, @princessgemma12, @crow-dog-blogs, and @dg-darkfantasy.

[violenceenthusiast]

ok i had a thought that makes me wanna dip my head in acid but in a soft way...

dean and claire having a father/daughter saturday of fun and low-grade mischief, going to an arcade and joke-fighting over what stuffed animal to get with their tickets and getting slushies and while they’re taking a break to grab burgers claire says “yknow i’ve been meaning to go get- wanna come with me while i get a new piercing??”

and dean pinches in the direction of her ear a little and says “what, you don’t have enough of those already?” as if he doesn’t think they’re the coolest thing.

she waves him off, eyes flicking between the burger in her hands and the table “i don’t know i just thought it’d be something else fun to do today.”

dean’s only half teasing when he asks “you want me there to hold your hand?”

claire rolls her eyes and looks to the side with half a smile, “oh shut up.” but it’s true, she does want him there to hold her hand– she may be a hardcore hunter who will take a knife cut or a monster bite in stride, but she always gets a little nervous before each piercing. maybe having dean there will make it just a little more manageable.

––

they get to the studio and claire signs the forms, picks out her jewelry, takes a seat to wait while they get ready for her. dean is pacing, looking carefully in each case, at each display. the nice person behind the counter sees him looking and asks “did you want to get something pierced today too?” claire cracks a smile at that and dean looks up at the counter clerk a little wide-eyed, eyebrows raised and mouth half open in surprise, huffs out a breath and looks down as half a nervous smile pulls at the left side of his mouth. he sticks one hand in his pocket and gives one wave with the other as he says “ha. nah, no- just here for her today” as he gestures at claire. he goes to sit with her until the piercer calls them back to the room that’s set up for them.

claire is getting a conch piercing and it’s going more easily than usual- partly because dean is there with her, partly because there are shockingly few nerve endings in the middle of the ear cartilage, and partly because the woman doing the piercing is insanely pretty and insanely good at what she does (she used to be a phlebotomist so she knows a little something about blood, needles, nervousness, and a given person’s propensity for fainting). while the piercer is busy marking the ear, claire looks over at dean in his chair and unable to contain the question any longer asks him, “you ever thought about getting a piercing?”

“me? nah.. it’s just not- i mean they would’ve gotten ripped out for sure by some- by accident.” he was about to say ‘by some monster’ but caught himself before he really weirded out the nice piercer woman. he hadn’t thought about him and piercings in a long time. he had slowly stopped wearing even rings and bracelets as much over the years in case they got caught on something during a hunt (though now he had a new ring on his left hand that he never took off). a piece of jewelry actually in the body was even more of a ridiculous idea for a hunter. but he wasn’t a hunter any more, not really. hadn’t been for about a year. after chuck and getting cas back safe and human.. with sam and eileen running their witchy little hunter hub from the bunker.. it had just seemed like his opportunity and his time to break out of it all. wow okay in that split second he trailed so far off from where he started.. where did he start? ...piercings! right. he remembers being young and not being able to take his eyes off the men in bars with the metal glinting in their ears, noses, lips.. now he knew the staring had been more about the men than the jewelry but it hadn’t not been about the jewelry either. was this one of those things he got to think about now, again, for the first time in a lifetime?

claire takes a moment to make sure she isn’t woozy any more and gets up to go look in the mirror at her new adornment. she smiles and dean snaps out of his own little world to say “you like it?” 

she looks at him through the mirror “love it.” and then, mischievous, “your turn.”

“my turn??”

“oh absolutely.” a moment of raised eyebrows and incredulous silence then, “if you decide you hate it you can just take it out. c’mon i saw your face, you want one you can’t hide from me.”

she’s right. he protests weakly, but she knows him all too well at this point and she’s right and the goading from the piercer only encourages her.

“okay okay fine. but nothing too showy.”

they decide on a rook. it’s not too prominent but it’s definitely there, definitely unique, it will look okay on it’s own if he never gets another piercing, and if he has to jump in on an odd hunt it’s far enough into the ear that it would be hard for it to get caught on anything or ripped out. dean picks a simple, stainless steel piece with a lapis lazuli setting– blue for his husband (though if you asked him he would deny that’s why he chose it. but only at first).

he can’t believe how jittery he is about the whole thing, but this time claire holds his hand. it’s over before it’s begun and he thought it might be painful like the tattoo was, or like any of the number of painful little things that have happened to him over the years but it’s not, it mostly just feels strange. it’s nice to be surprised like that.

dean hops off the bench like claire did and goes to the mirror half expecting to hate what he sees. but he’s surprised for the second time in barely a minute. the glint of the metal in his ear doesn’t just look good, it looks right. like it was meant to be there and he had been awaiting it’s arrival but didn’t know it. something hard to name, something small, something he didn’t know was missing until he found it had just found its way to him, slotted into place and settled in his ribs. he feels quieter but also on fire– like he’d be satisfied to just sit and read a book, like he could face god and win (again).

from behind him claire asks, “like it?”

he smiles. “love it.”

––

they kick around for a little while longer, each of them forgetting about their new piercings until they catch sight of the other’s or until they catch their reflection in a shop window and take a second to admire the newness. eventually claire begrudgingly admits she has to get back to campus to get some work done. dean drops her off at her dorm with a hug and a “stay out of trouble”. 

dean makes the drive home to cas, just lost enough in happy thoughts and memories from the day that he forgets to put on any music until he’s already half way home. 

he gets to the house and finds cas watering the plants in the living room. he leans in the doorframe, watching his love gently tend to each plant in turn. dean doesn’t say anything, he knows cas knows he’s there and will greet him when he’s finished seeing to his darlings. in the meantime dean gets to delight in the sight of the curve of cas’ back as he bends this way and that to reach the plants, the delicate and reverent care he shows each leaf and vine.

cas finishes his routine, sets the water down and turns to greet dean. he freezes half way to saying hello because something is.. something.. something is... he can’t put a name to it, nothing is wrong but dean is.. shifted. not different.. but different. dean is holding his head oddly turned to the side and it doesn’t help either that dean is smiling around a secret and they both know it. cas narrows his eyes but brushes off the feeling long enough to cross the room and give dean a kiss, quick but whole and familiar. dean turns his head to look at a plant and ask a question about it and “accidentally” reveal his new addition. cas, who hasn’t taken a single step backwards since coming over to kiss dean, of course sees the jewelry immediately and exclaims before dean even has a chance to start his made-up question. 

after some very amusing joke-yelling from both sides, it’s revealed that cas just absolutely loves it. and not that dean was worried cas would hate it but dean was a little worried cas would hate it. or worse, that he would judge it. but cas loves that dean tried something new, loves that he chose something blue, loves that dean seems just that little bit more at home in himself. and from the slight blush in his cheeks and ears, dean can tell cas thinks it’s a little bit sexy too. 

––

dean keeps thinking about how much he liked getting a piercing. he gets it on a fundamental level now, gets claire and her array of silver and gold. he’s got the taste for it now, the itch. he’s thinking about going back for another one. or two. but what else, what next? he cheekily wonders about picking based on what would drive cas wild. 

...dean goes back in secret a month and a half later to get his nips pierced. it doesn’t stay secret for long. not from cas, at least. 

[marauderundercover]

Taking Chances Ch. 28: Summer Changes (School)

AO3

Prev

A week after the Disney movie marathon, Marinette was finally back on patrol. No thanks to her dad though. If it was up to him, she’d probably never patrol again. Luckily for her, (unluckily for him) her brothers were adamant on her coming back to the field. Which led to her current problem. Hanging upside down from a gargoyle near Wayne Enterprises.

“Ukht, what have you done?” Damian asks, and though she can’t see his face, she can tell by his voice that he’s exasperated. Join the club, she thinks, at least you’re not upside down.

“Why do you automatically think I did something?” She asks, trying desperately to turn around so that she can talk to him. It was really awkward talking to someone when you couldn’t see them but you knew they were near you.

“Because you are the one hanging upside down,” Damian says flatly. She huffs.

“It’s not like I want to be, Robin. It just kind of happened,” She says.

“And how exactly did it happen? I have never seen your yoyo betray you like that before. Not even in the videos when you were still very new.” Damian says, and she swears he’s smirking. He’s definitely laughing at her on the inside, and as much as she wants to be frustrated, she can’t. It wasn’t easy amusing her little brother (unless you were an animal) so she wasn’t about to ruin it.

“Hood made a bet relating to this exact gargoyle and I’d never been this way before and I just, I don’t know. Somehow I misjudged where my yoyo was going and next thing I know, I’m tied up and Hood is gone.” She says, sighing.

“Where did he go?” Damian asks.

“Over here so I could record the dumbass trying to untie herself.” Jason says with a snort, she manages to turn just enough so she can see him and stick her tongue out at him. He chuckles. “You’re the one who somehow tied herself up with a magic string, I’m just getting the proof so I can show Wonder Woman.” He says and Marinette’s jaw drops.

“You wouldn’t dare!” She screams, struggling against her yoyo, finally able to get the string to loosen slightly.

“Oh, I’d dare.” Jason says and Marinette just knows he has a huge smirk underneath his stupid helmet.

“But Wonder Woman is the coolest person ever and she can’t see me like this!” Marinette complains, trying not to grin when she feels the string start to move the way she needs it to. She ignores Jason’s next remark, instead focusing on the string and- yes! She free falls for a moment, laughing at her brothers’ panic before she swoops up and jerks Jason’s phone away from him.

“You little shit!” He calls after her, starting to chase her.

“You’ll get it back once I delete the videos!” She calls back, laughing as she continues swinging through Gotham, a warm feeling in her chest as she looks over the city that has quickly become her second home.

---

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” A voice screams, making Marinette jump out of bed with a yelp. She clutches her hand over her heart, glaring at her oldest brother.

“Are you trying to make sure I don’t make it past my fifteenth birthday?” She asks with a huff. Dick just grins.

“Happy birthday kiddo! I can’t believe you’re already fifteen!” He exclaims, picking her up in a giant hug. She wants to complain, ask him to let her down, but it’s nice, so instead she returns the hug the best she can. Until she glances out the window.

“Richard Grayson.” She says in a tone she usually reserves for enemies. She feels him stiffen, the hug turning into more of a restraint than a cuddle.

“Yes?” He says.

“Did you honestly wake me up, before the sun, because it’s my birthday?” She asks.

“Yes?” He says, his voice cracking slightly. She purses her lips and lets out a long sigh.

“Dad has a no killing rule.” She says, and suddenly she’s back on the ground.

“Oh would you look at the time, Mar’i needs another bedtime story loveyousomuchgottagobye.” Dick rushes out, practically sprinting out of her room. She just smiles and shakes her head. She’d learned intimidation tactics from Jason and Damian, who both claimed her size made her an easy target against bad guys. They were right, of course, so she was fine with a few extra lessons. Seems they were working. Deciding to call her Maman and Papa since she’s already awake, she frowns as it goes straight to voicemail. It would be nearly eleven in Paris, so the bakery shouldn’t be too busy. She quickly checks the Akuma Alert App to make sure she hadn’t missed anything while she slept. Nothing. So why weren’t they answering? She had assumed they would be waiting for her call since it was the first birthday she’d spent without them. Sighing, she lays back down on her bed, closing her eyes and trying to fall back asleep.

As she lays there, she frowns as a realization hits her. This was the anniversary of her birth mother’s death. Her mood instantly sours and her stomach churns. It was the first year that she could do something about it, the first year she could visit her grave. Quickly making a decision, Marinette throws on a pair of black leggings and an oversized black hoodie. Hopefully no one would spot her.

“Kaalki.” Marinette calls out quietly, not wanting to wake Tikki (who had somehow slept through Dick’s intrusion).

“Oooo, Guardian, are we sneaking out?” They ask, an amused smile on their face. Marinette frowns.

“Yes, but it’s for a good reason.” She says, and Kaalki snorts.

“Whatever the reason, I’m happy to be of assistance.” They reassure her. Marinette smiles and calls the transformation, opening a portal in the cemetery where her birth mother is buried. Her Maman had taken her once, right after telling her she was adopted. It was extremely hard to avoid being akumatized that day, and Marinette steels herself before dropping Kaalki’s transformation. Today would probably be even harder. Pulling the hood over her head to try and hide her identity, she glances around the cemetery, unsurprised to see the small place empty. Despite its small size, it was well taken care of, with beautiful trees adding shade and creating a melancholy feeling. Taking a deep breath, she walks over to the tombstone in the far corner, underneath the Willow tree. Bridgette Le. Died July 9th. Marinette barely notices the tears that start to form as she sits down, tucking her knees into her chest.

“Hi Mama. I-I’m sorry I haven’t really been by to see you much. Did you know I’ve been spending the summer with Dad? Sometimes, I wonder if you would’ve been okay with that. None of us really know why you left, why you didn’t tell him. I’m not blaming you, I just wonder if you would’ve been okay with me knowing him.” She talks, though she knows she’ll never hear a response. And she tries to pretend that fact doesn’t hurt her. “I have brothers. Four of them. They’re all great in their own ways, but they all also make me want to rip my hair out. Three of them are older, Damian’s younger than me. He kinda acts like a big brother at times though. And I have a big sister, Cass. She doesn’t say much, but she’s awesome. She’s in Hong Kong right now, so most of our conversations have been video calls. I have a niece, too.” Marinette stops, wiping furiously at her eyes. She didn't want to cry. At all. But knowing her birth mother would never be able to be part of her life, would never know any of these people like she did- it was hard.

“Guardian, please breathe.” Kaalki says, floating up to sit in front of Marinette’s face. Marinette blinks at the Kwami before listening to them. If they were worried, then Marinette was more lost in her head than she originally thought.

“And today’s my birthday. I was excited at first, and then I remembered the other thing that this day was. Remembered that it’s also the day you-” Marinette pauses, and grits her teeth. “I am so sorry, Mama. I am so sorry that I caused your death.” She chokes out, dropping her head onto her knees, trying to suppress the sobs threatening to break out of her chest.

“We need to go. Marinette, we need to go.” Kaalki urges, patting her cheek urgently. Marinette calls the transformation and falls through a portal, closing it quickly to keep the butterfly that was surely after her from following. She definitely didn’t need to test how far the victim had to be to be akumatized. The second she lands, she lets the transformation drop and the sobs break out.

“Shit Pixie.” Jason curses, and suddenly she’s wrapped in a warm hug, sobs tearing through her as she continues to apologize.

---

Jason Todd had been through a lot of weird shit. Waking up in a pool of green water after being fucking murdered by the Joker, was weird. Emotional baby sister falling through a portal into the room and sobbing? Also weird. But also heartbreaking. He grabs onto her and just holds her, desperately trying to give her some type of comfort.

“Shhhh, it’s okay Pix. I got you.” He mumbles, holding her close. Damian rushes in, sword drawn, face scrunched up when he sees them. Jason shakes his head, this wasn’t something that they could fix with a sword. He wasn’t exactly sure why his baby sister was crying so hard, but he had caught a couple of muffled apologies, so whatever it was, he didn’t think it was something that he (or Damian) could kill. Or, rather, maim, since she was against murdering people that were against her for some reason.

“Has anyone seen Mars, she’s not in her room-” Replacement starts, freezing as he walks into the room.

“Excellent situational awareness, Drake.” Damian mutters, glaring at him. Jason shoots both of them a glare, now was not the time to be fighting. Especially since the kid’s other parents were on their way to celebrate her birthday. If they showed up and she was sobbing, they’d take her home and never let them see her again. And Jason was NOT going to let that happen.

“Anyone know if M’s decided to not kill me yet?” Dick asks, walking into the room with a huge grin that falls the second he sees what’s happening. Jason resists the urge to roll his eyes. Apparently none of his brothers could read a fucking room. Instead of staying at the edge of the room like Damian and Tim, Dick walks over.

“Hey kiddo, it’s okay. We’re here.” He says softly. The kid pulls away from him, though he can tell it’s a little reluctantly, before launching herself at Dick, her sobs starting to die down. Jason lets out a short huff, running his fingers through his hair as he tries to think of what could have set her off. There were no akuma alarms, but she fell out of a portal. Which means she was out of the manor when she got upset. He watches as Dick pats her hair gently and whispers to her. God, he’s such a dad. Then again, he’s been mother henning him and their other brothers for years, so it’s not really a surprise.

“I’m sorry guys.” Marinette says suddenly, her voice small as she stays hidden in Dick’s arms.

“No need to apologize, Pixie Pop.” Jason reassures her. She finally pulls away from Dick and Jason’s heart, honest to god breaks at the broken look on her face.

“She died in childbirth, you know.” She whispers, and suddenly it makes sense. Why she was sitting there sobbing on her birthday, why she’d fallen out of a portal.

“That is not your fault.” Damian says firmly, walking over and standing face to face with Marinette, something Jason knew annoyed the girl. Damian was two years younger, but a little taller than her. She didn’t seem to mind now, though.

“But it was. If I hadn’t been born-” She starts and Jason frowns at the thought.

“The world would be a much shittier place.” He says with finality, not leaving room for her to argue. “Pix, you’re amazing, and the world would really suck without you. Never be sorry you were born.” Jason says firmly, stumbling slightly when she launches herself at him, wrapping her arms around him tightly.

“Thank you Jay.” She mumbles, and he can tell she’s crying again, but this time it’s not sobs, so he thinks it’s fine.

“Come on, let’s all watch a movie.” Repla- Tim suggests and Jason raises an eyebrow at the idea, briefly wondering what kind of movie he’d pick. They all pile on the giant sectional that Bruce had bought specifically for impromptu movie nights as Tim sticks the DVD in. Jason just snorts as the title card for “The Addams Family” comes on, settling back in the couch, ready to watch one of the greatest movies ever.

---

“Thank you again for flying us out here for her birthday.” Sabine says, smiling at him. Bruce returns the smile and nods.

“Of course, thank you for letting her spend the summer here. I know she’s appreciated the break from her classmates.” He says, his smile quickly fading at the confused look on both Sabine and Tom’s faces.

“What do you mean?” Tom asks.

“Marinette hasn’t told you?” Bruce asks, suddenly regretting bringing it up. Why hadn’t she said anything? They were her parents too. Sure, she’d made it clear they couldn’t know about Ladybug, but her class wasn’t a hero problem. They were a civilian problem.

“We knew that she wasn’t hanging out with them as often, and that she didn’t talk about her class as much as she used to. We just assumed that she was busy.” Sabine says, her face a mixture of sadness and anger.

“My apologies, I assumed she’d talked to you.” Bruce says, feeling as if he had crossed a line. Would they be mad at him, for her telling him something she hadn’t told them?

“She’s always looking out for others first,” Tom finally sighs, a tired smile on his face. “She probably thought she was saving us from being akumatized.” Bruce’ jaw clenches. Had Marinette really suffered in silence to avoid being forced to fight her parents?

“We can continue this conversation later, right now we should focus on her birthday.” Sabine says, placing a hand on Tom’s arm. He nods and Bruce makes a note to talk to the two about the possibility of her switching schools.

“She’s probably in her room.” Bruce says, leading the two towards the stairs.

“Actually, Master Bruce, the children are all in the informal sitting room. I believe they snuck down to have a movie night after Master Dick woke Miss Marinette to wish her a happy birthday.” Alfred says, Bruce watches his face and knows that’s not all, but doesn’t press. It had to be something that he couldn’t talk about in front of the Dupain Cheng’s.

“Of course they did. Thank you, Alfred. Alfred, this is Sabine Cheng and Tom Dupain, Marinette’s parents. Tom, Sabine, this is Alfred Pennyworth. He’s the man who raised me.” Bruce says, smiling at him. The three exchange pleasantries and soon Bruce is leading the two to the sitting room. He pushes the door open gently, careful not to let it slam. He spots a sword on the floor near Damian and quickly grabs it, moving it away. If he was woken up suddenly, he would still panic and attempt to fight his way out.

“She looks so peaceful.” Sabine whispers, and Bruce smiles, a genuine smile, he didn’t have to fake a smile when most of his children were together and safe and happy. Or, quiet, at least. It was rare.

“I’ve found them like this several times.” Bruce admits, pulling out his phone to show the two all of the pictures he’d taken of the kids piled together sleeping. Sabine and Tom smile widely at the pictures and Bruce quickly sends them their favorites.

“B, I swear to god, I can sense you in here. Let us sleep.” Jason mumbles grumpily.

“Sorry Jason, Marinette’s parents are here so it’s time to get up.” Bruce says, amused at the way his son’s hair was attempting to defy gravity. Jason looked around sleepily, waved lazily at Sabine and Tom, and then collapsed back on the couch. Bruce sighs. “Would the two of you like to have a cup of coffee while we give them a few more minutes to sleep?” He offers.

“That would be lovely.” Sabine says, and Bruce leads the two to the kitchen, hoping Tim (who had sat straight up after Jason flopped down) would take the hint and wake up the others.

---

Marinette sighs happily as everyone sits down at the table for dinner. The day had been amazing, despite the rough start. And her Dad had even flown her Maman and Papa out to spend the day with her. They couldn’t stay for long, they had the bakery to run after all, but it was still nice to see them. Marinette glances at the end of the table where a place was set, but no one sat.

“What’s with the extra plate?” Jason asks, turning to Alfred who was sitting in the chair next to it instead of his regular seat.

“It is for Miss Le.” He says, and she can almost feel everyone freeze. Her throat tightens, but she still smiles at him with watery eyes.

“Thank you, Alfred.” She says quietly. He nods.

“You are quite welcome, Miss.” He says. She clears her throat and looks back at her Maman, noticing that her smile was also a little sad. It had been all day, but Marinette was certain it wasn’t anything to worry about. Bridgette had been close with her Maman, surely she was just mourning her today, openly for the first time in a long time.

---

Marinette groans at whoever is trying to wake her up.

“Five more minutes.” She mutters, burrowing deeper under the covers. It was summer break, why wouldn’t anyone let her sleep?

“Come on sweetheart, your Papa and I want to talk to you and Bruce.” Her Maman says, and she immediately sits up. Was she in trouble? Had her Maman figured out the whole Batman thing? Had she figured out the Ladybug thing?

“Uh, okay.” She says, sliding out of bed and stepping into slippers. She wasn’t sure how serious the conversation was, but since her Maman didn’t stop her from walking out of the room in her pajamas, she relaxed slightly. It couldn’t be that serious, right? She follows her Maman into her Dad’s study, glancing wearily at the clock in the corner. Her Maman was often too observant. Hopefully she didn’t notice anything odd about the clock. They all sit in silence for an entire minute until Marinette can’t handle it anymore.

“Am I in trouble?” She asks hesitantly, looking between her parents’ faces.

“Of course not, we just- We noticed how different you are.” Her Maman says and Marientte frowns, furrowing her eyebrows. Different? She was different?

“How?” She asks.

“You’re happier than I’ve seen you in months honey. Your smile reaches your eyes, you talk freely, you seem peaceful.” Her Maman says softly, and Marinette blinks in surprise. Had she really been so easy to read in Paris? Had her parents really been able to tell? She’d wanted to hide it from them, not let them see how everything was piling on her, crushing her. She didn’t want to worry them.

“What do you- how-” She stumbles over her words, trying to figure out where she messed up.

“We didn’t know why until we talked to Bruce.” Her Papa says and she turns to glare at her Dad, feeling a little betrayed. He holds up his hands in surrender.

“Marinette, you didn’t tell me not to tell them about your class.” He reminds her, and she huffs.

“Guess we can cross mind reader off the list of things you can do.” She mumbles, making her Papa snort.

“It wasn’t just that though. We’d seen how restrained you had become, how you never went out with friends and you stopped talking about them.” Her Maman says softly. Marinette grits her teeth, hugging herself to try and hold herself together.

“I didn’t want to worry you.” She says, her voice barely audible. That wasn’t the main reason though. She didn’t want to fight her parents, and if they knew everything going on with Lila, they’d definitely be akumatized. She couldn’t fight them. Not if she could help it.

“What would you say about transferring schools?” Her Maman asks suddenly, and Marinette jerks her head up, looking at her with wide eyes. Transfer schools? It would be great, amazing, fantastic, but- but her classmates would still come to the bakery. Still give her the same odd looks they’d been giving her since they found out that she’s a Wayne.

“What school?” She asks, because yes, that makes a difference. Chloe had transferred schools not long ago, and Marinette did not want to trade Lila for Chloe. She’d rather not deal with either of them, if she was being honest.

“Gotham Academy.” Her Maman says, and Marinette feels lucky that she wasn’t drinking anything, because she would have definitely done a spit take. Gotham Academy? As in, live in Gotham year round? What-

“Are you giving me up?” She asks, suddenly hurt. Her Maman’s eyes widen and her Papa pulls her into a giant hug.

“Of course not honey.” He says, rubbing her back gently and squeezing her lightly.

“We asked Bruce if he thought Gotham Academy would be a good school for you. He offered to let you fly home some weekends, and any of the breaks you want. Or to fly us out here if you have time off school. You don’t have to say yes, and you don’t have to make a decision right now.” Her Maman reassures her as her Papa lets her go. Marinette turns to look at her Dad, his face unreadable.

“Would you really be okay with that?” She asks, and he nods.

“We all just want you to be happy, Marinette. Wherever that may be. And we’re all willing to work together to do that.” He says and she smiles, letting out a soft sigh.

“I- I’d need to think about it a little more,” She says, running through the idea in her head. It seemed perfect, besides the whole ‘bouncing back to Paris for attacks’ thing. But she’d been doing it all summer, it had been fine so far. And maybe, maybe, Hawkmoth would even be defeated by the end of summer. No matter what, things were changing and Marinette was trying her best to keep up.

Next

Tag list:  @maribat-bdbwm @vixen-uchiha @stainedglassm @liquid-luck-00 @laurcad123 @waiting247 @jayjayspixiepop @mizzy-pop @jjmjjktth @trippingovermyfeet @queenz-z @thepaceperson @iloontjeboontje @toodaloo-kangaroo @ritacrow-blog @deathssilentapproach-blog @kittenmywaythrulife @nerd-nowandforever @tazanna-blythe @jaybird-and-co @jumpingjoy82 @lady-bee-fechin @corporeal-terrestrial

[condorclaw]

...so we could all use a little fluff after yesterday, right?

TW: description of a panic attack with referenced abuse. The scene is in bold if you want to skip over it, and is a small part of the story

-

Michael didn’t understand much about the world, especially since Snowchester was all he could remember.

What he did know was that there were both kind people, and people who were not so nice.

Michael’s dads knew what was best, he had realized. Many times Michael had been approached by strangers in his own room, with dadboo swooping in to clutch him to his chest protectively. Michael didn’t know what was so bad about some of these strangers, but in his dad’s arms, he felt protected, so he figured dadboo knew something he didn’t.

Dadboo wasn’t the only one in Michael’s life who he felt fully safe around. There was his other parent, dadbee. Dadbee wasn’t as tall or as strange as dadboo was, but dadbee would stand with dadboo, a weapon clutched in his hand whenever a stranger would invade the house. If Michael listened to Technoblade’s metaphors in the possible future, he’d look back on this time and compare his fathers to a sword and shield.

There was another important guardian in Michael’s life too: his uncle Tommy.

Tommy had hair that reminded the kid of gold, fangs that were as sharp as piglin tusks, and always some kind of mischievous glint in his eye. When Michael’s dads were away, Tommy came to watch over him, something Michael had grown to look forward to.

Ever since the two met, they had a strong connection, something that was cemented with Tommy knowing Michael’s native language, being able to communicate with him better. Tommy was also teaching it to his fathers too, dadbee getting good enough to ask Michael what he wanted for dinner, and being able to understand Michael’s answers, while dadboo was the best at giving one-word instructions.

His family was so cool, and Michael would tell Foolish Jr. about them whenever the little totem came over for a playdate. Just like Michael, Foolish Jr. had an uncle as well, but unlike Michael, Foolish Jr. had never seen his own, hearing that he had been taken somewhere secret. Michael felt sorry for his best friend, while also being happy that he had such an awesome uncle himself.

Tommy was even missing an eye like him! Michael didn’t know how he lost it, and whenever the piglin asked, Tommy would just mumble something in response about “green”, and saying that Michael could hear about it when he was older. Michael didn’t mind, it just made him feel closer to the blonde.

The world was confusing, and things didn’t make that much sense yet, but Michael knew that he always had dadboo, dadbee, and uncle Tommy by his side to protect him.

-

“You two have fun, okay?”

Michael watched as Tubbo tried forcing a large metallic object into his bag, even beginning to stomp down on it before Ranboo ran in frantically.

“Tubbo, we just need to check on the borders of Snowchester, we don’t need-”

“Nukes can come in handy, Ranboo!”

“HOW!?”

Tommy rolled his eye in mock exaggeration, glancing down at Michael, who turned his head to stare back. “Your dads are never getting out of here, guess I can’t babysit tonight.”

Michael stomped his hoof in frustration, letting out a loud snort of annoyance, which caught both of his dads’ attention.

“Tommy, what did you tell him?” Ranboo’s eyebrow raised in suspicion as his eyes gazed down at the huffy piglin.

“That the two of you are slower than the Eggpire’s “ultimate takeover”.” The pout on Tubbo’s face was enough to make Tommy burst into his signature laughter, the couple eventually joining in on enjoying the joke. Michael didn’t understand what was happening, but began to giggle in little snorts, not wanting to be left out.

“Okay, okay. I think we are taking a while,” Ranboo muttered, tilting his head to look down at Tubbo accusingly. The ram hybrid stared back, sticking out his tongue in mock aggression.

“Don’t you want to be safe? We could run into a pack of wolves and have to defend ourselves.”

“Tubbo, I think the nuke killing us is more likely to happen than being killed by mobs-”

Michael let out another frustrated cry, beginning to hop in place and slam his hooves down on the floorboards. Ranboo and Tubbo both looked at him, ears folding back sheepishly.

“Sorry,” Tubbo mumbled in piglin, rubbing the back of his neck. Ranboo nodded along with that, bending down to rub Michael’s head affectionately. “Okay, we get it. We’re going now. Have a good time, Michael.” Ranboo gently booped Michael’s snout with his own, standing up once the piglin squealed happily,

“Ranboooo, we have to make a stop at the warehouse,” Tubbo tugged on his husband’s jacket once the enderman stood.

“Tubbo, we’ll waste time-”

“Do you want the nuke to be left here with our son then?”

“...okay, w-”

“GOODBYE ALREADY!” Tommy let out a battle cry, shoving the two parents through the door and locking it behind them. Michael chirped happily, clapping his hooves at the amusing sight. Even inside, they could still hear Ranboo and Tubbo talking faintly. Uncle and nephew listened closely, waiting until the voices could no longer be heard.

“Okay, those two are gone now. We now have the whole night to ourselves.” Tommy turned, giving Michael a fanged grin. The piglin began jumping on the spot excitedly, flapping his stubby arms.

-

Tommy had been surprisingly good at managing Michael, even understanding how to keep him happy while making sure he was safe. The lack of a language barrier made everything a lot easier too, but even Tubbo and Ranboo were surprised at how well Tommy knew how to do a lot of household tasks that parents normally took over. The two of them had once come home to a spotless house, Tommy telling them that he needed to kill energy through cleaning after putting Michael to bed.

Currently, Tommy was preparing a bowl of steamed carrots for Michael, keeping an eye on the piglin playing on the floor while also focusing on the pot boiling. Michael’s favourite food was potatoes, but his parents had told him that Tommy didn’t really like those much, so he had to have something else. Michael’s next favourite was carrots, which was something Tommy did like too, and he always made them the way Michael liked.

On the floor, Michael was playing with his stuffed bee. It was a gift from his dadbee that Michael loved squeezing into, and it was even the size of the piglin himself. It was rather silly to see him clutching onto a giant bee, but it was also a very cute sight.

Michael pretended to attack the large plush, leaping into it at full speeds and rolling across the floor like he always did. Tommy chuckled at the sight, removing the pot from the stove and turning it off. “Be careful, little man. Tubbo’ll kill me if something happens to you.” He muttered light-heartedly.

Michael oinked in understanding, rolling his bee across the floor once more. Upon doing so however, a thread caught onto the edge of one of the floorboards, unravelling the bee slightly and exposing the stuffing. Michael stared at the plush toy quietly, his eye wide as tears started to spill from it.

Setting aside the carrots for draining, Tommy quickly turned around upon hearing a panicked squeal. He spotted Michael clutching the ripped bee close to his chest, sad little oinks escaping from him. Tommy slowly made his way over to his nephew, crouching down to see him better.

“Did Mr. Bee get hurt?” Michael nodded, oinking out what happened to his favourite toy. Tommy turned, glaring at the floor with a huff.

“How dare you fuckin’ hurt him. Mr. Bee never did anything to you, stupid pieces of wood.”

Michael giggled a little, tears still falling from his eyes. Tommy turned back to the piglin after “getting angry” at the floor, an understanding smile appearing on his face. “Michael, do you know where Tubbo keeps the rainbow string with the tiny stabby sticks?”

The piglin gave a curt nod, pointing to one of the chests along the walls. Tommy stood up, stretching his body before leaning down and gently picking up Michael. Michael was placed in his high chair, with Tommy bringing over the bowl of drained carrots. “You eat these, okay? I’ll have the coolest surprise for you when you’re done.”

Michael’s eye widened again and he quickly began to gulp down his food, Mr. Bee forgotten for now. Tommy let out a panicked laugh, quickly taking the bowl from Michael and stared at his nephew eye-to-eye. “You only get the surprise if you eat slowly, okay? It’s not safe to eat that fast.”

Michael frowned, folding his arms and muttering something.

“Woah, and where did YOU hear that word from?”

Another snort.

“...okay, I’ll admit that I did say that.”

Michael’s lip curled in in satisfaction as he stuck his tongue out at his uncle, Tommy placing his hand to his chest and gasping dramatically. “Wow, you’re so fuckin’ rude. I can’t believe you’d do this to your own flesh and blood.”

Michael pointed to the right side of his head.

“...flesh and bone. Stop being so sassy tonight.”

Another stuck-out tongue.

-

As Michael began to eat, Tommy looked through the chest his nephew had been pointing to, finding the needles and threat he had been looking for. The blonde gave a fist pump in quiet celebration, heading back to where Michael had left the stuffed bee behind. He sat down and picked up the plush, surprised at how light it was. With his materials there, Tommy began to sew up the toy.

Wilbur had taught him how to sew during the Pogtopia days, when Tommy's clothes kept getting torn due to running from the Manberg guards. Wilbur eventually became far too busy to teach Tommy more, which was when Niki stepped in to continue teaching Tommy, and started teaching Tubbo as well.

Tommy didn't have the best childhood. Actually, that was an understatement. Tommy had one of the worst childhoods possible, with the constant threat of war and death looming over his head as he charged into battle with his family and friends. It was the worst experience Tommy could have ever gotten, and even though the wars were over, there were still the rising threats of new ones. Ones that he'd probably be forced to participate in.

But for now, everything was okay, and that's all Tommy wanted.

Michael was a bright young lad, appearing to adopt similar mannerisms to Tommy's own. While he'd never say it to anybody, Tommy was incredibly fond of his nephew. Michael had a loving family, and a wonderful home to live in. He didn't have to care about wars, or being exiled, or being imprisoned, or-

Tommy felt his heart rate drop for a moment, accidently pricking himself with the needle he was sewing with. "Shit," he muttered, quickly shaking his hand to alleviate the sting.

Michael looked over at him, hearing the curse. His ears were perked up and he oinked inquisitively. Tommy responded with a thumbs-up, letting out a fake laugh. Michael copied his actions, giving a similar thumbs-up motion with his hooves.

As Michael continued to eat, Tommy continued to sew, his mind suddenly a lot more crowded than before.

-

Michael slurped up the last of his meal, licking his lips happily. Carrots were always filling, especially when Tommy made them.

The piglin began to let out chirrs, gazing in Tommy's direction as he wiggled in his seat. Tommy looked up from what he was working on, eye softening when he saw how energetic and happy Michael was after the meal.

"Alright, I'm coming."

After removing Michael from his chair, Tommy brought him over to where he had previously played with his bee, setting the boy down carefully on the floor. "You ready for the best fuckin' surprise ever?"

Michael nodded rapidly, clapping his hooves and flapping his legs.

"Shut your eye."

Michael did so, one of his hooves rushing to cover up his functioning eye. The other hoof covered up his skull eye, despite not being able to see anything out of it. Tommy smiled fondly, placing the stuffed bee in front of his nephew. The bee was sewn up shut, a large red bow tied around its thick neck.

“You can look now.”

Michael removed his hooves and immediately started shrieking with excitement. He rushed forward, almost flattening himself into the plush toy. Tommy stepped back, folding his arms and leaning against the wall with a smirk. “Is your uncle the coolest, or what? Don’t answer that, I know I am.”

It was funny how despite being different species, Michael looked so much like Tubbo in the moment. Tommy recalled a similar situation with Tubbo that happened in the ravine of Pogtopia, and how it happened shortly after Quackity had joined the group. Quackity had gone to secretly fetch items from his old office, returning to Pogtopia with them alongside Tubbo’s beloved bee plush that had been abandoned on the former vice-president’s desk.

The bee was ragged and torn, but a still-recovering Tubbo had been happy beyond tears to have it back. He held it all day, with him only letting go as he slept that night. Tommy had slid the bee gently out of the older boy’s arms and tried to stitch it back up. It didn’t go as well as he had hoped, but Niki had found him underneath the moonlight, and was the one to assist in repairing the plush. Tommy had made Niki promise that she wouldn’t tell Tubbo it was him, but looking back at some of those messy cross-stitches, Tubbo probably figured it out within seconds.

Upon waking up, Tubbo found his newly-repaired bee and began to bleat excitedly, clutching the toy close to his chest and burying his face in it. It had been a moment of joy in the darkness of their situation, and certainly lifted Tommy’s own spirits.

Michael was acting just like his father did then, the memory causing a soft smile across the blonde’s features. Tommy was so lost in his thoughts though, he didn’t notice Michael rushing towards him. In the piglin’s excitement, he had forgotten the one rule his parents had set up for him.

He grabbed a hold of Tommy’s leg, squeezing it tightly in a hug.

Tommy's eyes shot open at the sudden contact, the pressure on his leg constricting him, preventing him from moving it. He couldn't move his leg, he couldn't move his leg, he couldn’t move his leg.

His voice caught in his throat, the walls of it tightening as his breathing sped up. He couldn't scream for help, he couldn't cry out for anybody. All that was there was the searing pain of his wounds as his body was scraped along the ground, Dream's voice in his ears that Tommy couldn't run, that Tommy couldn't beg, that Tommy couldn't leave.

Michael had looked up at his uncle at that point, suddenly aware that the mood in the room had shifted drastically, and still clutching the leg. Tommy returned Michael’s look, trying to weakly shake his leg, which had become numb.

“Michael. Leg.”

It was two words, but Michael immediately realized what he had done, the piglin stepping back a few feet with an apologetic squeal. Unfortunately, Tommy’s head was now spinning, and couldn’t make sense of the room. He was real, he was real, he was real. He wasn’t dead, he wasn’t back in the prison, his head-

Tommy collapsed to the ground, making Michael jolt. Michael started oinking nervously, trying to find out what was going on, and what he could do. Tommy’s head felt like it was going to split open, and he shut his eye tightly, hands clawing at the wooden floor as he tried to communicate with Michael, making sure not to scare him even more. “Brain’s upset.”

Tommy wasn’t able to open his eye to see what Michael’s response was, but Michael was frantically looking around for something that could help. When his parents were upset, he would curl up next to them, snuggling into their sides, but he couldn’t do this with Tommy. His fathers’ one rule had been to never touch Tommy, especially if his uncle wasn’t looking, and Michael had broken it on accident.

Going over everything he liked to do when scared, Michael’s eye landed on his bee plush. Whenever he was worried, he liked to hug it. Would his uncle like doing that too? Nervously, he tried nudging it towards Tommy, little by little. When he thought it was in good-enough range, he let out gentle honks, trying to get his uncle’s attention. It took a few minutes, but Tommy’s eye eventually opened slightly. It looked glazed and unfocused, glancing around the room for a moment before landing on the soft toy placed in front of him.

Slowly, he let go of the floor, the process taking several minutes for him to even reach out for it, but Michael waited the whole time. He gave the toy one move delicate shove, allowing it to roll until it stopped in front of Tommy with about a foot of distance between them. Once more, Tommy grabbing the plush took a while, his arm trembling, and his face pale, but eventually he got a grip of it, pulling it into his chest as quickly as he could.

“Thanks,” Tommy muttered weakly, Michael’s ears rising as he smiled.

-

It was about a half-hour later before Tommy fully calmed down, the comfort of the bee plushie combined with the gentle sounds of Michael’s chirrs lulling him into a more comfortable mindset.

Weakly he got up, the bee plush sitting in his lap as he rubbed away the tear stains. Tommy glanced over to his side, noticing Michael watching him carefully. His head was cocked to the side, and though he seemed happy that Tommy was up, his eyes showed worry for the older boy.

“I’m great, Michael,” Tommy lied a little. He was certainly feeling a lot better, but Michael probably wouldn’t understand if Tommy said he still felt a little disoriented. It was best to reassure the kid more than anything else. Smiling back at his nephew, Tommy carefully handed the bee plush back to him, the worry in Michael’s eyes being replaced with relief and joy.

With a grunt, Tommy hoisted himself up, praying that his arms or legs wouldn't give out again like they did before. He was still shaken up, and definitely not wanting to come in contact with anything else at the moment, his skin feeling cold and exposed from the aftermath. Michael watched him closely, taking a few steps away whenever Tommy would stumble in place, and looked like he was about to fall over. Letting out a sigh, Tommy looked over at Michael, gently smiling at him. "We could use a break. Do you have anything you want to do?"

Michael practically beamed.

-

"Hello~!" Tubbo slammed open the door, his mouth pulled into a cheeky grin.

Ranboo followed behind his husband, letting out an exhausted yawn as he carried a stack of leather almost up to his chin (and for Ranboo's height, that was saying something). "The world's most tired man is back, along with the living embodiment of a firework hyped up on crack."

"Ranboo, don't say that," Tubbo frowned, placing his hands on his hips. "You're nowhere near enough to be as colorful as a firework is."

"Are you implying that you're the tired one here?" Ranboo set down the stack of leather, beginning to brush remaining bits of meat from the leather off of his hands. "Because it seems like I had to do all the work."

"Hey, you're the one who said we should get leather!"

"And that to YOU somehow translated to "let's kill every cow in a four-mile radius". Now I've got gunk all over me."

"We-"

"OH MY GOD, WILL YOU BOTH PLEASE FUCKING SHUT UP?" Tommy yelled from where he sat on the carpet, spinning a plastic spinner that landed on the color red. Michael oinked in agreement, trying to reach the red spot on the plastic mat with his hind leg. Tubbo and Ranboo's conversation was immediately forgotten, the two watching in awe as their son was playing Twister.

"C'mon, big M. You've got this," Tommy encouraged. When Michael wasn't looking, Tommy carefully slid the mat closer together, making the spot reachable for him. Michael placed his leg down, letting out a squeal of victory. Tommy whooped excitedly, Michael raised a hand to give Tommy an air high-five, when he slipped and fell down, squealing in surprise.

"I know last time with Battleship was the weirdest I thought this could get, but I literally have no clue why you keep teaching him games out of his age range." Tubbo muttered, confused, before taking off his uniform and hanging it up on one of the hooks. Ranboo nodded, following Tubbo's actions with his own coat.

"Michael's a trooper!" Tommy folded his arms with satisfaction. "Next time I'm teaching him chess."

"Do you even know how to play chess?"

"Um, of course I do."

"Then why-"

"Okay!" Ranboo clapped his hands together, interrupting the conversation before it spiraled once more. "I assume you two had a good time?"

Tommy and Michael looking away from the couple awkwardly wasn't a good sign.

"Well, it was a good time," Tommy began to explain. "There was just a little accident though. I'll tell you two about it later when, y'know, somebody certain's asleep. But all you need to know is that Michael handled it really well." The blonde looked down at the piglin, flashing a fanged grin. Michael returned the smile, standing up on his stubby legs and rushing to Tubbo to give him a hug.

"How was the patrol thingy?" Tommy stood up as well, stretching as best as he could.

Ranboo and Tubbo were now the ones that looked away awkwardly.

"So somebody," Tubbo began, itching his cheek. "Might have suggested that we should get leather while we were out."

"And SOMEBODY," Ranboo flashed Tubbo a glance, folding his arms. "Decided to commit a mass cow genocide-"

"You know what! That story's not important right now!" Tubbo waved his hands frantically, laughing awkwardly as he avoided eye contact with a glaring Ranboo. "The point is, we didn't end up doing what we wanted to do-"

"Wonder who's fault that is-"

"-SO WE DECIDED TO DO IT ANOTHER TIME!" Tubbo finished, looking like he was about to start sweating buckets. "So, if it's okay, Tommy… could you maybe look after him again tomorrow?"

Tommy grinned again, nodding his head several times. "You can count on it, Tubbs. We definitely need to fuckin' talk about what happened tonight first, but hell yeah! Sounds good to me!"

"If you tell me Michael killed somebody, you're immediately fired as a babysitter and an uncle." Ranboo lifted up Michael from Tubbo's side, allowing the piglin to grab at his horn.

"Michael, if you ever kill somebody, don't tell your dads." Tommy whispered to Michael in piglin, fully knowing what was coming next once Michael giggled.

"Tommy, what did you say to him."

"Manslaughter is pog."

"YOU DID NOT-"