#the series is almost done YIPPEE!!!!

[veveisveryuncool]

finally back home after a long battle..

kirbytober day 1: together again/friendship

[pirateborn-a]

     19..........

[ruthytwoshakes]

after 30 hours we’re done!!!

I love little pootis so much, a fantastic series. If you haven’t seen it yet I really recommend it!! I bought one of the plushies for my little siblings for Christmas hehe.

I’ve been wanted to make some fanart for it for a while, but I wanted it to be special! Since it means too much to me and my family :3 so I tried my hand at digital painting again! Here’s my process:

First I started out with the sketch and putting in the values, (that image is the scene I was referencing.) and since I have absolutely no idea how perspective works I just guessed and went “eh good enough.” I also used my radical composition skills to give the whole thing some life! (Golden ratio my beloved.) I should have gotten some reference images, first mistake, but I was way too excited lol.

Then I duplicated the layer and started painting over my sketch using some painting and blending brushes. Unfortunately I forgot to capture any in-betweens of this process so it makes it a little hard to explain. But once I got my values down and my painting rendered to point I wanted it to be, we started coloring!

And oh god! This is why the painting took 30 hours! This was my first time painting using this method, so I was so not ready for the coloring part. I’m in a love-hate relationship with gradient maps so the coloring was mostly done with blending modes, I think I used the linear light mode?

After watching a stupid amount of videos by Marc Brunet I finally got it! Used just one overlay layer and adjusted my colors and values as needed for this one. Used a couple gradients and other techniques to get the snow and the water looking how I wanted, and we’re almost done!

My favorite step! Adding a bunch of textures and sparkly stuff! It’s not for everyone but I really like it. And congratulations we finished our first painting yippee! Thanks for reading :3

little pootis by @quazies

[dwntwn-strnlo]

SPIDER MAN matt sturniolo

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 𝓈𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑒𝓇𝑒𝓁𝓎, dwntwn-strnlo.

↳ 𝐀/𝐍. everyone say thank you to my dad for saving me and killing a spider the size of my doorknob and giving me this idea! yippee!

help i also don't think i've ever done a fic that was just pure funny shit so idk if this is any good

↳ 𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆. matthew sturniolo x reader

↳ 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘. matt saves the day! woohoo!

↳ 𝐑𝐄𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐃? no!

↳ 𝐂𝐖! depictions of arachnophobia, swearing, a harmless spider but i still hate all spiders so idc its scary, not proofread

"why are we whispering?"

"we don't need it to hear us plotting against it."

attempting to walk out of the bathroom you undeniably screeched, which sent a large wave of panic through matt, whom sits comfortably on the gray couch in the living room.

you're quick to jump up onto the side of matts tub, cowering as you grip tightly on to the wall. legs and arms shaking out of limited room to balance, and just pure fear honestly.

you hear a series of rushed footsteps. "y/n?" matts voice is muffled through the wooden door, but you can still distinguish the worry in the way he says your name. he lightly taps on the door.

"dont open the door!" you panic, and then realize that doesn't sound the best. "fuck wait you need to open the door! but dont!"

"baby what the fuck is going on?" he queries, "are you okay?"

you take a shaky breath, staring hard at the large spider that sits on the doorknob.

if matt opens the door, then the spider would probably jump off or fall off. and you don't want to loose the spider, you want to kill the spider. you close your eyes, and then suddenly feel a thousand spiders on your skin so you open them again. ultimately deciding that was an awful idea and you are to never close your eyes, or blink ever again.

"matt. . ." you whisper, "there's a spider."

the sound of his laughter echoes through the house, "do you want help?" he giggles, also lowering his voice to a whisper.

"turn the doorknob very, very slowly." you mutter. "very, slowly."

"why are we whispering?" he laughs, but still keeping his voice low.

you huff and roll your eyes, as if it were completely obvious. "we don't need it to hear us plotting against it. he's probably already figuring out how to take me down." you inform slight annoyance in your voice, "and i don't wanna be the person known for dying because of a spider."

his soft giggle is barely audible when he starts to turn the doorknob.

your breath hitches as you stare harshly at the brown eight legged creature. if someone were to pass by they'd think you were trying to explode the poor thing with your brain.

as the door is gently shoved open, matt pokes his head through the cracked entryway. he looks down at the spider and narrows his eyes. "holy, shit." he mumbles, "that thing is massive."

"no shit!" you groan, "now kill it!"

he laughs before stepping all the way into the bathroom without ripping his eyes away from the arachnid.

putting his hands on his hips, he huffs. squinting at the bug for a second before turning to look at you with a teasing grin. "what if i let it bit me, i could become spider-man."

"matthew!" you narrow your eyes at him. "kill the fucking bug!"

"its not a bug its a-"

"matt!"

the boy laughs while defensively putting his hands up in the air in a mock surrender. "sorry, sorry!"

you watch hesitantly as matt pulls his airforce off his foot, and raises it in the air with both hands.

"bitch, be faster!" you groan, getting more antsy the longer the spider sits there, taunting you.

he turns his head to stare at you with narrowed eyes and pursed lips before swinging his shoe at the doorknob. "shit!" he screeches, eyes wide in fear. the spider falling to the floor, alive.

matt screamed out a string of profanities, before jumping up on the side of the tub with you, almost loosing balance. "oh god, oh god, oh god." he mumbles, the color of his face quickly drained.

its not long before the two of yours panic is recognized throughout the house, and chris comes swinging the door open.

he furrows his eyebrows at the two of you, finding you teetering on the edge of a bath tub with the visuality of fear written all over your faces.

he quickly follows your gaze to the spider that scurries across the floor, and stomps on it. he looks up at you and matt, narrowing his eyes. "yall are a bunch of pussies." he sighs, shaking his head and walking out of the bathroom.

"yeah fuck you, chris." matt mumbles.

"still wanna be spider man?" you tease, looking over to matt

"funny."

TAGLIST

@thetriplets3 @stxrniqlo @ifilwtmfc @iha8you @oneirophobic @20nugs @fenoy7 @mlimmm @prettysturniolo @ssturniolo

[aritamargarita]

GOLDEN || 008

HOLD YOUR APPLAUSE!

now i welcome you back… you’ve landed at the golden train station destination, don’t forget your luggage when exiting the train yippee!

i hope you get a couple of laughs out of this…because after a certain point literally nothing is going to be funny anymore *WINK* you know, in both series, i think we just can't have nice things lol.

with this series of unfortunate events, i present to you [name]’s bizarre adventure. *lights dim, curtains fall*

THAT MATCH MADE you feel pretty unsatisfied. All you can hope for is that this future Sable storyline can give you more than whatever you're doing right now. The night is still young, so there are many things waiting for you.

BACKSTAGE // 7:24 PM

You’re the last one out. The other three were already making their way down the hall by now.

You’re not exactly satisfied with that match from earlier. Truth be told, you wanted to wrestle with Chyna a little longer. Even though you were goofing around, you knew for a fact that Chyna had more than an irish whip in her arsenal.

You want her at her full potential! You’re sure she wants you at your full potential too.

If only you were put in a storyline with her instead of Sable, sigh..

You're not exactly alone back in gorilla either. As soon as you hit those curtains, Bret was leaning on the wall. "Done for the night?"

You look at him with a smile. “Yes.” You weren’t really impressed overall with your match, and you’d tell him this much. “If you were watching, don’t be surprised. I didn’t do much this time..”

Bret shrugs it off. “I still think you did something out there. That’s all that matters. Let me tell you a little secret,” He comes closer so that you can hear him a little better. “Shawn’s got a real big habit of making things all about him. Trust me, I know.”

The way he said it makes you raise an eyebrow. Now you’re really curious..

“..Still, I think you stood out tonight.” He continues.

“Couldn’t keep your eyes off of me, eh?” You tease. “I get it. Everyone seems to have that problem when they meet me.”

“Your name must be trouble, then.” Bret grins at you. “Causing it everywhere you go. By the way, what ever happened to watching me wrestle? Think it’s a little unfair if I can only watch you.”

"Listen, I wanted to tell you sorry. I kiiinda just wanted to go back to my hotel." You explain. “Other than make that one ringside appearance, there wasn’t anything to do, you know?”

“I guess I better back out of our bet, huh?” He stuffs his hands in his pockets. “Don’t know if I can trust you to hold up on your end of the deal.”

Bret must think he looks really cool doing that. You’re almost flattered.

“Oh no!” You say, dramatically putting your hand on your chest. “Whatever will I do?!”

“Hmm. Could make it up to me.” He says. “What do you have planned tonight?”

“Nothing…but..” You cross your arms. “If you’re about to say what I think you are, I thought the whole deal was if I talked to your crazy friend?” You hadn’t seen Pillman the entire show, let alone the last show. “I haven’t even seen him yet..”

Bret shrugs. He didn’t have an answer at first. “Well, maybe the guy’s just a little shy. You might’ve missed him. I talked to him the other day and funnily enough, it just so happens he talks about you a lot. I don’t blame him, but if I were you, I’d check the match card for tomorrow.”

Hmmmm……

“You don’t blame him, huh..” Whatever that means. “And I’ll check. Now, what do you want from me?” You’re sure that Shawn must’ve been looking for you by now, especially since you fell back.

“You said you’ve got nothing planned tonight, right?” Once you nod your head as confirmation, he smiles. “We’re gonna grab something to eat.”

“Is that an order or a request?”

“Whatever you want it to be.”

You’re not sure how to take that, but if there’s one thing you like, it’s people who are forward with what they want from you.

It’s probably another thing on your imaginary list that Terry’s instilled in you overtime. Closed mouths do not get fed. He’s got a lot of good lessons..

“Okay, okay. That’s fine.” There’s something else that’s been killing you, so you just go for it. “When you mentioned Shawn making things all about him, what did you mean?”

Bret decided to put it bluntly. “If you really want to know, he’s just a smart ass. Guy thinks he’s at the top of the world these days. I’m surprised no one told you what happened last month..”

“Not at all.” What exactly happened?

“Last month, I lost the WWF Championship to him and not in the way you think. That asshole put me in the sharpshooter and the bell rung without me even tapping.“

Damn. That’s crazy. You couldn’t even imagine the atmosphere backstage after.

The only thing you can say is; “Wow.”

He chuckles, which makes you tilt your head. “You should’ve been there. I ended up ripping a chunk of his hair out.…can’t say it might not sound a bit anti-climactic in my words though.”

“And this was like a month ago?!”

“Yeah. You just missed it. Believe it or not, we were actually pretty good friends a while back.”

“Seriously?” Though you’ve only known them for a little while, they seem like they’re from such different worlds. Then again, opposites do attract.

“Seriously.” He nods. “My only advice to you right now is to be careful who you trust. You’re in the lions den. Personally, I don’t think it’s wise to stay there.”

If you leave the “lion’s den”, where else could you go? You’re fully capable of making a name for yourself, but the ladder may work a little different here.

There’s more questions you want to ask. Hundreds of them, even. But things are cut short when you see Shawn yet again sauntering down the hallway with his arms open.

“Heyyy, I knew something was wrong! Didn’t see ya’ behind us!” He chimed. “You know you’re apart of the group, what do people say these days? No one left behind? Because you’re apart of the group, you know?”

He placed a lot of emphasis on group. Something that makes you look at him in confusion and makes Bret raise his eyebrow at him.

“Man, I sure LOVE being with D-Generation X,” He continues. “You know, the group. Now if you excuse us, we’ve got somewhere to be!” Shawn slings his arm around you and tugs you down the hallway.

“Sorry.” You turn your head towards Bret with an apologetic look on your face. “See you tonight?”

Shawn’s really starting to get on your nerves with this. It almost makes it worse now that this ‘Montreal Screwjob’ put that slight sour taste in your mouth about him.

“I feel like I’ve gotta put a leash on you or something.” Shawn chuckles. “Always wandering somewhere else.” You want to find the sweetness in his words, but you literally can’t. You’re too pissed off with him dragging you away like that.

With you giving no response, not even a sarcastic one, he suddenly stops. You step away and just stare at him.

With what Bret told you, could you really find it in yourself to trust Shawn? Could you even trust D-Generation X as a whole?

Somehow, you feel like the only person you can trust is Chyna. But maybe that’s because you have an fondness for her.

"What?" He asks. "Why're you looking at me like that?"

You simply shake your head and continue down the hall. The locker room must’ve been only two doors down.

“Woah, woah!” Shawn yells, speeding up so he can catch up to you. “Hold on a second there..!”

You don’t slow down or say anything to him as you open the door and head over to your things to hastily pack them. You need to find a nice outfit and you’d much rather do it alone.

Chyna and Hunter give a look to each other before turning back to you in confusion. Shawn’s making hand gestures towards you, but they have no fucking clue what he means.

You shoot the other two a smile before grabbing your luggage. “Have a good night.”

“Yeah…uh, you too.” Hunter replies.

After his words, no one really says anything else to you. The three of them just watch you push past Shawn and walk out the door.

“Man, you must’ve royally fucked up that one.” Hunter muttered. You didn’t seem to be in a good mood at all. “The hell happened?”

Shawn waits a moment before finally gathering some words together. “Yeah, yeah. Listen, it’s for her own good. You don’t get it, she was talking to Bret. Shady business, guys! We’ve gotta follow her.”

“I don’t think you should do that.” Chyna recommends. “You should leave her alone.”

“That’s a good idea.” Shawn thinks about it for a moment. “Buuuuut that’s not gonna happen. ‘Cause what if she leaves us for the Hart Foundation?! She was talking to Bret earlier. Sounds like they’ve got plans. Plans for what exactly?!”

“Dude…” For a second, Shawn thinks that Hunter wasn’t on his side. “…Holy shit, you’re right. She might just leave us. The woman’s new, this may be a test drive!”

Chyna couldn’t believe that Hunter was feeding into this. Seems like you couldn’t have friends outside of them. The more overbearing they are, the more you’d want to leave the group, and she most definitely didn’t want that to happen. “You guys—“

She tries to be the voice of reason, but the other two just weren’t hearing it.

“Get the car ready!” Shawn yells, quickly grabbing his own stuff. “She’ll be gone before we know it, this is a mission we can’t fail!”

You wanted to look nice. Not for any particular reason, of course. You think what you’ve scrapped together is good enough, so you pose in the mirror one last time for good measure.

This isn’t a date or anything. It’s just two co-workers hanging out in their spare time after the show. Yes, that’s right. Just two co-workers. It’s for business and whatnot.

Sure enough, the car ride didn’t entail anything that interesting. The two of you just sat in silence for the most part. Both of you were just focused on the road in front of you, with little small talk.

You didn’t know what to say. Neither did he. But there was a smile on your face that just wouldn’t go away as you idly drummed on your knee the entire time.

The thought crossed your mind to offhandedly mention how you almost cracked your head open when he called to tell you that he arrived. Just for light banter. You ended up not saying anything.

Finally getting there was different. The moment you two got out of the car was the moment you two could talk about everything in the damn world. At least he was nice enough to open the door for you.

You didn’t really know why, but you figured that you should get a feel for him, see what he likes to talk about..

This is really weird.

“Are you cold?” Bret suddenly asks. “If you want to, you’re free to use my coat.”

“No, I’m good.” You say. For some reason, this is genuinely making you nervous. Even though you’re hanging out.. “Thanks anyway.”

It is a bit chilly outside. Then again, it is December.

He opens the door for you again and you're suddenly hit with warm air. It feels much better. You just hope you don't start to feel uncomfortable with the heat by being there for too long.

It's not too much of a fancy restaurant, nothing five star or anything along those lines. It's just a local one in the town, you think.

It’s definitely not a Waffle House. This one guy in your life had a tendency to take you there at 2 in the morning and call it fine dining. By no means were you complaining about the food. The food is good. It’s just the idea.

The waiter greets you two. Bret’s the one that does all the talking as your eyes seem to wander off somewhere else.

You notice that it’s pretty quiet for the most part, though you can see people chatting away at tables.

Somehow, seeing people like just hanging around like this reminds you of when you were just like any other person. Right before you got into wrestling. It’s different this way.

The feeling of not being famous, you suppose.

It reminded you of that period of your life where you didn’t know what exactly you wanted to do. You guess you were at the right place at the right time because you got scouted in a strange way.

More than likely because you were nice-looking, of course. But you’re more than just looks and you demonstrated as such in your very first match.

Before you’re able to spiral in your thoughts any further, Bret has to tap you on the shoulder to get you to follow him.

“Whoops.” You mutter. And you follow right towards the dining room. Once you’re seated in a booth, the both of you are passed menus. “Ever been here before?” You ask, doing your best to make conversation.

“Nope. I just think it’s a nice change of pace. I’m the kind of guy who’ll eat fast food. But hey, I just said screw it, let me at least try to leave a lasting impression on a new friend.” Bret says, scanning over the menu. He wishes that the lights weren’t so dim in here…

“Ah. You and me both.” You too, we’re a victim of fast food. McDonald’s fries were too good to pass up. It’s like a tradition for yourself to go after every show.

Things are a bit different now. You want to try and get a better feel of the WWF’s schedule first.

On another note, it is safe to say you’re decently impressed. You just hope the waiters here weren’t as temperamental as Waffle House waiters.

“Hola! Oh shit, I mean, bonjour.” The waiter says in a terrible French accent. “I’m your waiter, Sèan, that’s right, don’t forget the apostrophe on the E, how may I take your order, eh?”

You don’t really comment on it, instead focusing on the menu. You’re not that hungry either. Somehow, that match had zapped away your appetite. Maybe you should just order ten cocktails and get drunk or something.

Actually, no, no. That’d be really embarrassing.

You lift your head up to give the waiter a smile, but once you do, it immediately falls.

…You look over at Bret, who was simply scanning through the menu unfazed. Did he seriously not know who this was?

Did his voice not give it away? You’ve gotta be kidding. This has to be some king of joke.

How did Shawn even nab a waiter outfit anyway? And most importantly, who glued that mustache to his face?! Is no one else pointing this out??

More importantly, he picked such a stupid name. Way to disguise yourself.

Still, Bret hasn’t noticed. But if he does, then you both more than likely are going to leave. While you’re pretty upset that he followed you here, you wonder how this’ll play out.

“Um..” You rub your temple. “Wow. Okay. Hi, Sèan with an apostrophe. Can I just get a water for now?” You start to wonder how in the hell he’s going to get access to the kitchen.

“Oui!” He gives you a thumbs up and you cringe. Honestly, you never thought you’d be in a situation like this in your life.

“Same here. I can’t figure out what I want for the life of me.” Bret says.

“You could get lost.” Shawn mutters, his eye twitching.

“Huh?”

“What? I didn’t say anything, kind sir. You wanted the water?”

As Bret gives his response to him, you start to wonder why your life has to be this way. Out of all things that could've happened..why in the world would Shawn follow you?

He leaves and you take a moment to rub your face with your hands. For once in your life, you'd just like to meet someone who wasn't that obsessed with you. You have had plenty of bad experiences already.

Meanwhile, Shawn is slightly panicking. You definitely knew that something was up. He goes over to another table, holding up a notepad. “Guys, we have a dilemma. I call this: Code Alfredo.”

“That is a stupid codeword.” Chyna blatantly says behind her menu. And quite frankly, she thinks what they’re doing now is stupid too.

Hunter slightly leans down the menu that’s covering his face. “I’m totally for it, man. Don’t worry. What happened?”

“I think she knows! I’m gonna try and get access to the kitchen. These idiots don’t even know I don’t work here.” He chuckles. “Slipped right under the radar. Hell, you could get your own uniform if you wanted to, Hunter.”

“Always wanted to try my hand at cooking.” He says. “Guess I’ll get ready for my shift, heh.”

“If she sees the two of you, she’ll know something is up. And I don’t want her to think that I had anything to do with this.” Chyna says, lowering her menu. But she, just like you, wanted to see how it’ll play out.

Shawn just laughs. What makes her think she’s not going down with this ship?! “The hell do you mean?! You’re deep in it now! You definitely play a part in this.”

“Ugh.” She groans, waving her hand and bringing up her menu to cover her face once again.

“C’mon dude. We’ve gotta get you a uniform.” Shawn nudges Hunter to get up. “And you’ll never guess what I did, I asked a camera crew to come over and we’re gonna….”

And back at your table, things seemed to be the same as always. You just can’t believe Shawn’s even here.

You’ve gotta find a way to make the best of this situation, maybe even try and distract yourself from the fact he came. Easier said than done.

“So, uh.” You cough out. “I’ve heard stuff about some kind of award show called the Slammy’s. Know anything about it?”

“Yeah. Most of the Hart Foundation is going, so I’m obligated to go too. I’ll be honest, I didn’t want to go.” He admits with a smile. “Thought it was dumb. Especially since I’ve already won last year. Three times.”

“Three?” You’re surprised. He must be good, damn. “What did you win it for??”

He counts them out for you with his fingers. “Best Submission. Best Music Video. Believe I was Hall of Fame bound as well.”

“That’s a lot stuff. Pretty cool.” You smile. And it was. You originally thought that you couldn’t imagine being picked for something like that, but apparently, you did! “I got nominated, too. Least I think I did. I think it was Miss Slammy?”

“Then I know who my votes going to.” He immediately says. “No question.”

You scoff. “Oh, you…”

“By the way, it’s pretty common for you to bring someone to the Slammy’s with you. Did anyone ask you yet?”

“No. Not at all.” To you, you figured that was a given since you were new and all. No one really knows you like that.

“Guess this is my opportunity then. Are you interested in going with me?”

Suddenly, yet another waiter comes by and you groan.

This time, you can identify him as definitely Hunter. He has a stupid chef hat on, and his glued on mustache may have been falling off, but he can’t hide those blonde locks of his.

“Compliments of the chef.” He sets your drink down and you look at it. Gotta be some variation of soda. This isn’t water.

“Hey, uh. I wanted a water…” You say.

“My bad.” He swipes it back up, then turns to Bret. “What did you want, dude?” Of course, his customer service was really bad. But you can’t talk…

“I just wanted a water too.”

You’re not understanding how Bret hasn’t caught on yet. Maybe he’s not paying attention too well enough. You kept seeing Hunter’s eyes darting behind Bret, which struck you as strange.

“Hey. Did you know Shawn Michaels won the Slammy’s five times last year?” Hunter suddenly says.

“What—?” As Bret is talking, a circular tray is smashed on top of his head and he crashes down to the floor. You immediately jump out of your seat.

You’ve gotta be fucking kidding.

Shawn dramatically rips off his apron and ushers the cameraman to come closer so that they could get a good shot of this beatdown. "You think you're better than us?! Tell your little foundation to stay away from our new recruit!" He kicks him.

"Stop that!" You yell. The attention was on all of you as Shawn continues to kick Bret. In attempt to stop his assault, you jump on his back. The people surrounding you are just enjoying the show at this point.

Because you're currently trying to choke Shawn out, Hunter takes over and starts laying blows onto Bret. Chyna has to come out of nowhere in order to try and separate you from Shawn.

Once she lifts you off of him, you look behind you. "Oh my god! You too, Chyna?!"

Well, now you know for sure this restaurant wont be allowing you guys to come back.

Ever.

i'd like to give an explanation as to why she stopped having “a thing” for shawn so quickly.…..the answer is clearrrr, it’s absolutely raven’s fault…she will never see being the slightest bit clingy as a good thing again LOL.

ngl this chapter was a struggle thanks to motivation and tumblr breaking every 5 seconds. i wasn't very happy but i think it just needed a new set of eyes (aka you who's reading lmao) i thank you for reading, big things are coming!

[ghoste-catte]

lee and gaara for the character bingo pls 🙏

Y'all know these are my lil guys!! And my first actual bingo, (tbh creature voice) yippee!!

I almost could've filled out just 1 card for them but I couldn't in good conscience say Gaara had never done anything wrong in his life (even though he had a very understandable reason for becoming a serial killer, aged 6). Also I'm really not unhappy with Gaara's character development later in the series (even in Boruto, terrible haircut aside). I wish he had gotten a rematch with Lee, obviously, and that we'd gotten to see more of his actual transition from "i love only myself" to "i live for my love for others and making amends for my past", but thats what fic is for! Other than that I really like him as an adoptive dad and I'm tremendously relieved they didn't arbitrarily pair him off with some random female character.

Lee is the biggest wasted potential in the series imo ... he was the perfect underdog who encapsulated perfectly the series' original thesis of "hard work can overcome natural genius" and "we aren't fated for a certain outcome", and then he just became ... a joke. Absolutely 0 character development in Shippuden, no dope powerups (yeah he can open more Gates but we don't actually see him working towards or achieving that). The ever-expanding cast and OP jutsus and all the "reborn son of a God and also the 4th Hokage" shit that happened to Naruto basically just left Lee in the dust and undid the entire moral of his story. I never won't be bitter about that, so that's why I'm here, 140 fics in, trying to give him some depth and the endings (and bonings) he deserves.

I almost marked off "no one understands them but me" for both cards, but actually fandom in the past 5 years or so has moved in a really wonderful direction with their understanding of both of these characters and especially their relationship. I'm really glad to see people explore the darker/angrier side of Lee and give Gaara real compassion and healing instead of writing him off as "crazy". And I'm beyond thrilled that the seme/uke dynamic stuff for them has more or less gone extinct.

[magpies4nights]

(Title is a joke don’t take this seriously (please don't go to Ecuador)) GASA4AM COSPLAY MEET UP AT 0°47'03.1"S 91°00'09.9"W 1:00 PM ECT, BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!!!! (dev log #10)

Hi guys. I haven't died yet, for the people who are waiting on my downfall. It felt like I was dying because I was sick! yippee! I mean, I still am, but I can walk around mask free because it's basically just a little itchiness in my windpipe, but compared to last week Friday (I felt so sick I couldn't even get out of bed without the help of my parents dragging me out or even lift my head for that matter), I feel great. With how sick I was, I kinda didn't get to work on the fan game as I hoped I could. Of course, I could have requested to have a break from classes, but I think they wouldn't be so lenient without a covid test and I'm sure it would have been negative. I also had to do homework on top of having a sniffly nose and walking around like I was hit by a car. You know heavy machinery? I had to deal with that with fogged up glasses. My mom apparently said that her dad lost part of his finger to a table saw, and I thought I was going to have history repeat itself, although hopefully that doesn't mean the 90's are making a come back. The only good thing that may have happened was the MTV shows, Humongous Entertainment games and the Parappa series. And before you argue with me, Nirvana started in the 80's, and Titanic (1999) is not a good movie. Rose didn't love Jack, she basically kills him in the end because there WAS enough room on that door. Everyone who says she didn't kill him is a Rose apologist/j

Anyways, no more depressing shit for now. I’m almost done with the locations. At last. I have one more to do and then it's everyone else’s sprites and maybe rework Xandra’s because there are some animation errors in her sprites such as her ears disappearing when she walks. So yeah, next week when I finally have down time and feel better I can work on them. With the way things are going I'll probably have to update y'all the week after my birthday (which is late March. You guys will know when I change my bio from 20 to 21 (whopee I get to finally drink *shudders*)), because good god, classes are also going real hard on me. Midterm on the 6th? No thank you. Not after that essay you made us write which I practically had several panic attacks because I thought that piece of shit was going to fail me. If you're asking if I failed, no, surprisingly it got me a 100. I don't know if the teacher gave me pity points but somehow she said my clarity and my content was great which is surprising because there is no way someone who is practically having a panic attack and is really sleep deprived could ever do that (me when I was writing that).

I’ll be honest, the bottom floor for the house was a nightmare because there would be times when I had to figure out how the hell it would do the thing I wanted it to do based on Xandra’s location.

Anyways, music time. For possibly the last time for dev blogs for this project:

WATER BOWL💧🥣 WATER- 🗣️ WATER- 🗣️WATER- 🗣️WATER BOWL💧🥣🗣️ W-W-W-W-WATER ✨𝓫𝓸𝔀𝓵✨ (I was sick (and I still am) when I made that song)

(I guess there's now 2 songs with vocals)

Oh yeah I also drew up some stuff to make up for Valentine’s Day because I think it’s funny. And also it’s to cope with the pain of when my parents said go to bed and I was sick and bored and I couldn't lift my head up.

I also drew up something which was an old concept I had with Priyah, where instead of just pestering Xandra she did it to everyone by disguising herself as an erson (specifically as a holiday erson) and since there was no valentines verson in GASA4AM that I knew of I decided maybe she could pretend to be one of them.

(Translation because I know my handwriting is horrendous: Hi guys I’m Valentine’s Verson but you can call me Val. I’m like your 4th cousin. (These guys don’t look convinced))

Trust me you will recognize her in that Valentine’s version/Val disguise once you smack her glasses on her and take the lipstick off.

[biggiedraws]

FINALLY finished ultra despair girls. rambles and ending spoilers ahead

i almost rage quit during the final boss fight because the combat mechanics were at their absolute worst (which is saying something because i found the combat incredibly frustrating front to back). but narratively the ending was. fine i guess. i think sdr2 did the whole "i reject your dichotomy" thing better and the way monacas plan got thwarted was kinda. dumb. i liked the fukawa/komaru development though! having monaca back komaru into a corner and then fukawa saves her, which monaca didnt account for, was good! but the whole. giant monokuma comes out of nowhere and tears the building down. defeat it and then you win!!!! really ruined the whole scene i think.

honestly komaru and fukawas friendship arc was the best part of the game. (also every komaeda appearance but thats just because im insane.) like the fight in the middle was SO yuri. especially when genocide jack held the knife up to komarus throat and she didnt even flinch??? obsessed. honestly fukawa kinda gets on my nerves as a character and that didnt really change, but it was cute that she finally made a friend. i liked it. the scene where fukawa finally got komarus name right was nice, and i like that she never once messes it up after that. and the way komaru tries to call her toko-chan once they become friends and fukawa really cant handle it so she goes back to fukawa-san, but then she calls her toko-chan in the after credits scene....... really good. theres more than that but just..... their relationship is a little unconventional but still really sweet and i like it. i think its good as the central relationship of the game. and also i think they should kiss

and. im sure ive complained about this before but im complaining about it again. absolutely BAFFLED at the decision to make the main villains abused children. genuinely what the fuck is that. its not that it COULDNT work but its not handled well at all..... like. yes they were manipulated by monaca, who was manipulated by junko. yes they werent REALLY the bad guys because komaru was being manipulated into siding with the adults for monacas grand plan (although by the end it was more like. both sides are wrong. so they /were/ still bad guys, just not the only bad guys). i dont CARE. the whole "woahhhh monaca was faking her disability for attention!!! because shes evil!!!!" twist??? awful. im not opposed to the concept of a character faking their disability for manipulative reasons but i resent the constant framing around these kids being "the bad stuff you went through doesnt excuse your actions". to be clear - im not saying that because you were abused as a child means its okay to kill all adults ever. but i am saying that kids acting out after being abused by their fucking parents is extremely reasonable, and the narrative is intentionally exaggerating this type of behavior in order to punish it. and im TIRED OF IT. monaca faking her disability for attention is literally explicitly because she felt like an outsider in her own family. yes it was manipulative. yes you shouldnt fake having a disability. but children whose needs arent being met will do whatever it takes to make sure those needs are met. and this is framed as Evil Villain Behavior and i am NOT HAVING IT. humanize the motherfucking abuse victims or die by my sword

anyway. overall. i got through it so it clearly couldnt have been too bad. i think im making it sound worse than it was - it does have its charms. but. i didnt really find the characters, plot OR gameplay that enjoyable. it has its moments but overall i didnt really have fun. so. not really a good game for me. but now its done and i can move on to the rest of the series!! yippee!!!

[msperfectsheep-posts]

part 2 of 5 of the self-love fic promotion 2. Beyond Imagination Fandom: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Young Justice (Cartoon), Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (Comic), Batman: The Animated Series, Batman: The Brave and the Bold Rating: Teen Relationships: (All of them are tagged on the work) Characters: Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne, Carrie Kelley, Stephanie Brown, Barbara Gordon, Cassandra Cain, Bette Kane Warnings: Graphic Depictions of Violence Status: Ongoing (on slight hiatus but my worms have been Worming recently, so who knows?) Official Summary:

“That wasn’t an answer, so allow me to ask again. Who are you?” For a moment, silence. “...I do not have time for such poor attempts at humor. Now, explain to me what exactly you’ve done.” “What I’ve done? Look, kid, can you just let me talk to Nightwing? I really don’t have time for this.” “Nightwing isn’t here,” the boy all but growled. “Todd, I suggest you end whatever game you’re playing before I make you regret it. Where am I and what did you do to me?” (Or, what happens when Robins and Bats are ripped from the roost, thrown into a world completely foreign and hostile towards their very being)

My summary: the robins and batgirls are thrown into a (slightly modified) real world! yippee! the entire plot almost 75k words in has transpired over less than a week in the story, but there's a lot of fun inside :)

[sunenjoyswriting]

Being saved by the person who you despise is more likely then you'd think (especially when they call you savior)!: Part three/The finale!!

PART TWO

Possible warnings: Very bittersweet ending. I think that's it

Writers note: Yippee finally fucking finished this series! This part literally doubles the word count of this series!! Yes, this will be the final part. I may make some other fics within the same universe, but the whole main story for this AU is done now.

Summary: Both Coco and Agott are looking for them other... But, their interaction doesn't go as smoothly as wished.

Qifery was disappointed in himself for failing to get Coco back to the Atelier, or back to being a pointed cap...

But that just gives him more time to make a new, more cohesive and professional, plan for getting her back! And to add in the apprentices in this plan this time! (they would probably be better at convincing Coco to come back, anyways.)

Anyways, back to Coco,

She had become more bitter towards everyone. Yes, even the other brimmed cap members (well, not as much towards them. But still somewhat bitter). Just because they saved her doesn't mean she should blindly trust them! That's what got her almost dead in the first place!!

... Well, there was one person who she wasn't bitter towards, even if they hadn't talked since before she was a brimmed cap.

Agott.

She couldn't stop thinking about her.

She wanted her to join the brimmed caps, to see the world past those strict views of the pointed cap she wore!

So, she decided to start a search for Agott, and then to convince her to join the brimmed caps! That shouldn't be that hard, correct?

Well, only one part of that would be easily... The finding Agott part, because it happens that Qifrey is doing his second attempt for getting Coco back, and he's bringing the apprentices this time!

Okay, back to the Atelier squad now (Also known as: Qifrey, Tetia, Riche, and Agott.)

As their search started, everyone split into pairs of two... Or, everyone was supposed to do so. Agott insisted to do this alone, for a reason she refused to state... So Qifrey, Teita, and Richeh paired up as Agott searched alone.

After about an hour of searching, Agott finally found Coco... And Coco immediately noticed her.

"Agott!"

"Coco!"

They had said the others name at the same time, as they both ran towards each other.

Agott was quick to notice Coco's brimmed hat... So Qifrey wasn't just trying to make sense of her disappearance when he said she'd turned to forbidden magic, huh?

"Agott, I have something I wanna ask you." Coco said, her voice having none of the disgust it did when she had talked with Qifrey those days ago.

"You may ask your question, Coco." Agott responded, her voice oddly soft.

Before speaking, Coco grasped both Agott's hands in her own.

"Agott, will you join me in the brimmed caps? Its not anything like those fools of witches tell you its like, I swear!" Coco asked of Agott.

This question stunned Agott... Her asking her to join the brimmed caps? Just what had gotten into Coco...?

It took Agott a few seconds to respond.

"... No. Coco, I'm not betraying everything I've worked for just for you, no matter what the reason is!" Agott answered, her voice quite confident in this.

"Agott, please! You've been fed so many lies about us! We're not evil, we just want freedom for magic! Sure, maybe some of the members seem off putting but I'm sure that plenty of the pointed cap witches are like that as well!" Her voice now softened, "Please, Agott. Join me, see past your strict views..."

Coco was pleading for Agott to join her... The words were sickening to Agott: This wasn't the Coco she had known for so long...

"Coco! The brimmed caps are evil! You're just grasping to them because one of them had saved you! That doesn't mean that us pointed cap witches are suddenly the bad guys, that just means one of the brimmed cap members has some damn common sense!" Agott responded, sounding angry with Coco... Though, there was still concern in her voice.

"AGOTT! JUST LISTEN TO ME! YOU JUST THINK WE'RE EVIL BECAUSE YOU'VE BEEN TOLD THAT!! WE. ARENT. EVIL." Coco replied, also sounding angry, but there wasn't another emotion seemingly in her.

Coco's grip on Agott's hands tightened, but Agott quickly pulled away.

"AND WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT YOUR GROUP IS EVIL, YET MINE IS? TELL ME! TELL ME, COCO!" Agott said.

"BECAUSE ONE LEFT ME TO DIE, AND ONE BOTHERED TO SAVE ME!" Coco replied.

Agott was yet again stunned... Coco was left to die by the pointed cap witches...?

Agott couldn't get herself to respond.

"Do you understand, Agott? Do you at least understand why I joined the brimmed caps...?" Coco asked, her voice softening, and sounding far more melancholic.

"... I can understand, but that doesn't mean I'm joining the brimmed caps. I only understood why you don't want to associate with the pointed caps anymore." Agott responded, her voice matching Coco's with the soft tone.

"... I'll wait for the day you realize the lies you've been fed. Just make me a promise, Agott. Don't tell anyone about our interaction here, not even your fellow apprentices." Coco asked of Agott.

"... I won't. I won't tell a soul, okay?" Agott answered, glad Coco wash insisting he join the brimhats anymore.

"Good. Then, I'll be taking my leave now." Coco said, quickly taking her Palm Quire out her pocket, and using a spell that made her immediately disappear... Probably a spell teleportation.

Agott just left the area, and quickly found Qifrey and the others.

"Did you guys have any luck in finding Coco? I didn't... I'm worried, frankly. What could've happened to her? Is she really safe...?" Agott lied.

"Oh, well, we didn't find Coco... How unfortunate." Tetia responded, buying the lie.

"Richeh is also very worried about Coco." Riche responded, also buying the lie.

"Yes, none of us found her... But, Agott, are you sure your didn't even get a glance of her?" Qifrey asked, seeing right through Agott's lie.

"I'm sure, Qifrey. I have no reason to lie about not seeing her." Agott answered, hoping Qifrey didn't ask more about this...

"... How unfortunate. I guess we need a better plan of locating her." Qifrey said, seemingly buying Agott's lie this time.

"Yeah. Riche agrees, we need a better plan." Riche added.

... Yeah. A better plan is all they need...

Oh, how unfortunate that no plan will be good enough (unless it includes being willing to search for hours, finally finding Coco, then kidnapping her. Maybe that one might work.... But I don't think that one is a good idea for other reasons.)

~ The end ~

… yes this is the actual end. Not gonna play the “or is it?” card on you guys again.

[yamatossideboob]

One Piece 1097 spoilers!

... Things I liked this week!

I love that our first glimpse of Big Kuma with flesh eyes as well as adult Ginny was put into a cover page request lol

Kuma's been drinking his Early JJBA Protagonist juice like a good boy

He's literally healing the sick, you cannot make this up. Except Oda DID EXACTLY THAT.

Hi Ginny, looking cute

LITERALLY TAKING OUR PAIN UNTO HIMSELF this would be so cringe in almost any other series but thats OP for ya

its confirmed, Kuma doesn't know what sex is. Yes he fathered Bonney, no he still doesn't know.

fr though this is really cute, I'm such a sucker for childhood sweethearts shite

One Piece explaining how centralised state economics functions, yippee!

Remember kids, violence against authority is good and morally correct!

I get such warm cathartic feelings from seeing the Rev Army in action...

God I love Ivankov even more now

also I love that the top left panel on this page looks like the tone was done with marker? did an assistant miss that and have to fix it before handing it to the postman lol, poor fella.

Funds eh? Given how we don't know yet how Kuma became king of the Sorbet Kingdom, I'm guessing he did to put WG funds into Rev Army hands or something like that...

When we get that Dragon flashback, I cannot WAIT to see this time in the Navy expanded upon. What happened that spurred him onto to take this righteous path?!

Getting some serious Ernesto 'Ché' Guevara vibes off Dragon this chapter... j'approve.

Interesting... some time over this 14 year gap Dragon got his scar.

More importantly, death flag for Ginny!

Also some time during this time with the Rev Army, Bonney has presumably been born... a guerilla revolutionary force on the move isn't a very safe environment for a small child, so unless we see her with Kuma next chapter, this begs the question of where she is, and who's taking care of her... interesting.

Also, for years now I've been half afraid that Dragon will be made into a villain in some 'as bad as the villains' crap (I am used to disappointment), but I'm glad to say little in the story has actually given me reason to expect this! I'm glad to see Dragon visibly distraught over one of his comrades being captured, as much as this spells doom for Ginny :S

AND we get more of this next week!! What a time to be alive!!

I've always liked Kuma ever since we learned there's more to him beyond being a WG stooge, and everything we've learned about him over the years, but this flashback is turning him into a firm favourite of mine... I'm such a sucker for narratively-doomed characters who are brave and noble and kind anyways. When this is over and we see Kuma (most likely lbr) finally die, it's going to hit harder than that agony bubble of his lmao. 💪❌

[luffytaro-zo]

How Luffy reacts when you suddenly run towards him for a hug

Warning: none!

Genre: fluff, could be read as platonic

Pairing: monkey d. luffy x g/n reader

Type: headcannon turned into oneshot because i couldn't stop myself

(a/n: this is my first work on this blog so please excuse all the grammar and spelling mistakes 😭 i know there's plenty of these kind of works but i wanted to put my own rendition to it, hope you enjoy!)

- lets out a little yelp but slowly wraps his arms around you, giggling softly

- the first time you did it he might have accidentally gomu gomu no you to the sea, but he apologises after by letting you hug him as much as you wanted

- we can all agree that luffy's love language is physical touch, so he has no problems when you come running towards him with your arms open.

- once you've done it enough times, he'll be prepared for it and might even attack you first when you least expect it.

"Luffy! Where are you?" you yelled from the front of the ship as you noticed a certain captain not at his usual seat. The Thousand Sunny gave off an evening hue as the sun began to set on the horizon, emitting tinges of red and orange. It was nearing dinner time and yet, despite the ship's cozy size, your captain was nowhere to be seen.

"Not here either.." you muttered as you checked the kitchen for what seemed like the umpteenth time.

"Hey y/n, dinner is almost ready. Could you help call the others for me?" Sanji calls out to you, his focus on the stove unwavering. Letting out a hum in response, you sauntered around the ship, calling out to your crewmates for dinner.

You were about to give up on finding your captain when you hear a sudden yell and two stretchy arms wrapping around your waist. Looking up to the foremast, there stood a rubber man grinning cheekily, snickering behind his strawhat. Before you could process what was happening, said rubber man flew towards you at full speed, causing both of you to tumble and hit a stray barrel on the grass deck. Landing on your bottom, you glanced at your captain who was hovering over you, donning the same cheeky smile you absolutely adored.

"That surprised me captain. You win this time round," letting out a small huff, you smiled softly at your dear captain; you could never really stay mad at him. His eyes lit up as he jumped to his feet, darting around in triumph. A series of yippees' and woos' echoed throughout the deck before it was cut off by a door slamming open.

"Oi Luffy! Y/n! Dinner is already served and I cooked your favourites! Better come eat them before they disappear!" Sanji yelled from the kitchen entrance, the commotion behind him getting progressively noisier.

"Ah, that's right! Let's go! Let's go!" stretching one arm to grab your hand, Luffy reaches for the balcony's handle as he yet again hurls the both of you towards the dining area.

You watched with an amused look as he almost bumps into Sanji, uttering a half-assed apology before rushing to his seat. Scuttering to your own seat as well, you peered at your captain's jovial face. Huh, you could get used to this.

(a/n: i have no idea how is this going to turn out but i just decided to go for it. feedback is greatly appreciated. stay safe and hydrated everyone! take care <3)

[gotmilk5101520]

Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia Watch Episode 13 The Battle of Two Bridges (Part 2)

Part 1

“No, no, no!”

*Screams in Troll*

“Hey, people!”

“The Bridge!”

Everyone is a little preoccupied at the moment.

“I ain’t ready to let go of this world” Everyone trying to survive 2020

“Seriously”

“Is no one gonna turn this blasted thing off?”

“Fine, i’ll do it!” When you have to do everything yourself.

“Not many people are lucky enough to say they were there when history was made” *Laughs in Wizards*

“Killahead Bridge!”

“The time is now!”

“AAAAAHHHHH!”

“Son!” “Father!”

“We’ve failed!”

“Nothing can stop his return!” There’s something about this part that still sends chills down my spine. I think seeing everyone’s reaction, mixed with the slow motion, echoing, and Strickler’s line is what makes it, that i wish the series had moments like this.

And Nomura was never seen again. Right? Right?

“Huh? Draal!”

“I’d hand you amulet”

“But-”

“You’re alive!” *Cries in Troll again*

“Father!”

“Oh, you gotta be kidding me!”

“No way! i’m not gonna jump in the sewer!”

“There’s gotta be a chicken surprise down there! Maybe two!”

You have a better idea?

“Bon appetit!” I thought so.

“Jim!” Of course how else will we get our final battle.

“Yet another Trollhunter killed under the same bridge”

“You want to see Dad. I get it, trust me”

“Dad made them for us?”

“Oh, i remember enough”

“I remember how his beard would scratch my face when he hugged me”

“How he used to make you laugh”

“But, most of all, how much he hurt you when he left”

“My son...”

“Father!”

“My son, what have you done?”

“Father!”

“But we don’t always get what we want”

“Shame.I’d hoped your death would be more entertaining than Kanjigar’s” “Yeah, yeah, you killed him” “For the last time, i didn’t kill him! He jumped off the bridge himself!”

“Jim! Oh, no!”

“Just in time to see their Trollhunter slain”

“But i’m not a troll”

“Now, that’s daylight for you!”

Books End.

So, now what?

Group hug!

“And with minutes before your play starts!”

“Oh, no, the play!”

“The play! I almost forgot!” How much time passed? Earlier they said the play starts in an hour. So, what has it almost been an hour? Is there like 10 minutes left?

“Hurry, Master Jim! Leave Killahead to us. We’ll take care of...”

How the fuck is he still alive?

“WAAAAAHHHHH!”

“Aaarrrgghh, your oath...”

“You might have been one then”

“But you’re one of us now, wingman”

“Boom”

“Boom”

“Your life more important”

“You’re not a pacifist”

“You are a pet!”

“Not pet”

“Wingman”

“Ditto, buddy”

“Now, let’s go take care of that bridge and make sure it never opens again” *Laughs in Irony*

Oh, great Jim dies. Time to start 3Below: Tales of Arcadia Watch.

*Kisses in Jlaire*

“Are you...?”

“Juliet dies in this?”

“No!” What version of Romeo and Juliet did he see?

“We survived the play”

“Did we?”

“I thought we just died” “You don’t “Die” for another two series from now when you’re a full gigantic, yet still humanly fuckable, troll” “Wait what?” “Nothing”

“And, Claire, i promise i’m gonna find your brother”

“Even if it means crossing into the Darklands myself” “You’re really gonna do that, are you?” “No. Why would you say that?” “Reasons”

“You mean we are gonna find him”

“Together” Claire has joined the party.

“Well, looks like everyone survived that torrential downpour” Not everyone survived.

“All hail Jim, the Bular Slayer!” Actually, it was Aaarrrgghh who killed Bular. Yeah Jim did the fighting, and stabbed him. But Aaarrrgghh was the one who finished Bular.

“Tacos for everybody!”

“Mm! This taste better than socks!” Tacos are better than socks confirm.

“Lighten up, Blinkous. Why do you always have to be such a grump?” Irony.

“We have the Bridge. Trollmarket is safe once again. Now we just gotta go through the second half of the season where the Trollhunter have to deal with an assassin, his boyfriend and girlfriend getting their own weapons, you becoming a human for a while, his mom almost dying, and a lot of other things to look forward too”

“Well, you said you wanted adventure and something more than this provincial life”

“Did that amulet help you find it?”

“Hmm... No”

“No?”

“You did”

Gay.

What a way to end it. Looking forward to the rest.

Oh, yeah Chompsky.

“Huh?”

“Yippee!”

And with that, it’s the end of the first half of season 1 (It’s actually the end of season 1 but we don’t talk about that)

Hey, let’s take Claire to Trollmarket. It’ll be fun.

[spaceshipkat]

If you're looking for thoughts on CCity, a booktuber I follow, beautifully bookish bethany, just did a reading vlog of the arc. She's very self aware of s/jm criticisms and addresses a lot of that in her thoughts on the book. Biggest surprise? No smut scene until page 590!

here’s the link, for anyone who wants it! thank you alerting me of it! so imma give some thoughts as i watch the vid, too, bc why not. (this’ll also help if you don’t actually want to watch the vid, which is ~20 minutes long, as i cover every point she makes or thing she shares) also, i am in no way taking this as hard and true facts about the book, am not interpreting what the reviewer says to fit an anti mindset, and am not attacking the reviewer. i’m simply listing what she says and giving commentary, as i do with any vid i watch and transcribe on here. just to get that out there. 

color me shocked there’s a lot of world-building in the first pages

apparently there’s a complex political system

there are blank pages for maps and lists of important things to know in the world

there are humans, shifters, angels, demons, satyrs, fae

a blend of sci-fi and fantasy (science fantasy? why not just call it science fantasy, blooms, if that’s what it is? that’s what Gideon the Ninth is and Tor has literally said that’s their most successful SFF debut ever)

Dani, Bruce’s best friend, apparently calls to mind Kate Daniels (Dani is a “super-powerful werewolf shifter”)

Part 1 is 90 pages

powerful friend groups are something that sj///m writes but, imo, not with any skill, so imma take what this reviewer says with a grain of salt

okay so we evidently get more diversity than what we typically find in an sj///m book but…this could mean anything from two bisexual characters and two black characters or it could mean every single character has some diverse aspect to themselves and…i’m leaning toward the former

“one of [Bruce’s] best friends is a dancer who sounds like she’s supposed to be black, another one is an assassin who i think is probably Asian” sigh if it’s not clear, it’s not rep (fwiw, the reviewer doesn’t sound certain)

there’s drugs in this. cowabunga. reviewer says that’s why the book feels a little older than her other YA. i just. don’t know how to feel about this. 

please insert every single gif of someone throwing themselves out a window here to understand how i’m feeling about 1) “vampyr” and 2) “purred” 

“I don’t do possessive and aggressive” excuse me? since when does an sj///m main character not do possessive and aggressive? is this…is this growth??????

i’m…shoot me, please: Bruce smells like lilac and nutmeg. what. the. heck. kind. of. combo. is. that. JUST STOP ALREADY. so pro tip: when i’m writing and giving my characters a scent or something (that’s never a unique scent, but something that comes from their shampoo or actual perfume or some shit) i look up actual perfumes, colognes, and shampoos to find good combos. I DON’T GO TO MY FUCKING SPICE CUPBOARD AND THEN GLANCE AT MY WINDOW BOX FOR INSPIRATION. 

i’m okay. i am. i just. Bruce sounds like she smells unappetizing.

Bruce hooks up with people but so far no heavy smut at page 183

there’s hints that there is something special about Bruce

it’s longer than it needs to be! no one is surprised! a big revelation at the end of Part 2

there’s a lot of scenes that make it clear she had fun writing them but aren’t necessary to the plot. where did all the good editors go? *insert fairy godmother falling backward onto a piano*

over the top banter, Bruce showing off her skills at the gun range with all the guys, she’s one of those “not like other girls” characters

another character has been introduced and is setting up for another side relationship (sigh)

there’s a scene where they’re summoning a demon, evidently

halfway through the book there’s a lot of sexual tension between Bruce and Hunt, and an almost kiss, but nothing more yet (i am shocked. genuinely. sj///m herself had said there’s more sex in this than her YAs, so…what gives?) 

yeah page 590 is the first smut scene. not written for shock value, but the reviewer feels that it is a pretty important point for the characters. hmm. 

end of Part 3 has more revelations and twists. at this point, i’m not really taking these twists or revelations as anything important or ground-breaking, simply bc the reviewer has mentioned there are twists and revelations at the end of every part and at several times between, so make of that what you will. i, personally, don’t put much credence to it. 

there’s a long villain monologue

she gets really long-winded in her descriptions, the first 2/3 could’ve been cut way down

the reviewer wants more fleshing out of the characters of color, some of the side characters aren’t white, we have a couple of queer characters

okay so…we’ve been here before. sj///m has introduced series with diverse representation and never followed through on it, killed off those characters, or wrote them horrifyingly stereotypically. just because she includes diversity does not mean it’s 1) good rep or 2) at all meaningful. i could be wrong! i want to be wrong! but i’ve been burned before. when it comes to CCity, i’m going in with an open mind for quite a lot, but not when it comes to diversity. i’m just tired of her writing appalling diversity and ordering us to accept it. 

the typical toxic masculinity thing apparently isn’t as bad, nor are the alpha male love interests

apparently there isn’t a full-on explicit sex scene in this book???? did…sj///m change her mind while editing? she said there’s more sex in this book?? i mean, she’s said that at pretty much every interview or panel she’s been on for CCity??? what happened???? 

(did she listen to me when i said that Adult =/= erotica???)

i’m not being serious there

unless…?

there are steamier scenes later in the book, though. why does this come across as a contradiction of what the reviewer just said, though? 

the reviewer feels this is set in the same universe as sj///m’s other books. apparently t0d and k0a are where the similarities between the universes (t0g and CCity) stem from. 

“it feels rooted in things she has done before” okay so there’s two ways this could go: it’s actually set in the same universe or sj///m was just too lazy to make up new worlds that actually feel like new worlds, the way she did bw t0g and ac0tar (since those are basically copy/pasted). imo this will be up to interpretation from reader to reader. laziness or a nod? who knows!

there are a lot of romantic connections between characters. yippee. 

this apparently has more of the epic scope of t0g than ac0tar, but i already predicted that (genuinely!) 

a lot of drugs and alcohol, the reviewer feels it’s handled in a responsible way, lots of f-bombs (and “other things”???)

through most of the book, Bruce is 25 (can’t wait to see how sj///m butchers people my fucking age) and there are other characters older than that (presumably the angels)

in conclusion, i will be making this sound from now until i read it (and maybe i won’t even stop then, who knows?)

[likeadeuce]

The Raven Cycle snippet: double date

I’m definitely a totally normal amount of curious about the references to the amount of dating girls that Gansey and Adam have done prior to the start of the series, and how that absolutely involved Adam getting roped into various double dates where he ends up not only dating world and prep school world but Gansey world. So I started a thing… (This is also the first sustained Adam POV I’ve attempted which is of course a very fun space to play in.) 

Gansey’s date to the party was, somehow, named Virginia Dare Newport. Gansey, like everyone else, referred to her as ‘V,’ but he addressed her as 'Dare.’ She was the only person Adam had met who both addressed and referred to Gansey simply as 'Richard.’ 

Her family was also from Virginia but, based on what Adam was able to gather from Gansey’s scattered exposition, they’d mostly spent time together elsewhere: summers in Maine, a multifamily hiking tour of England’s Lake district, an alternate spring break service trip to India for some kind of disaster relief. “Old family friend,” Gansey had said, while explaining the setup. “We bonded pretty hard the summer we were 11.” Bonded over, Adam had to assume, being preteens whose parents had given them names that could be shortened in embarrassing ways and agreeing never to do that to each other.

V went to a coed school in New Hampshire, the same one Helen had attended. In addition to being the friend of Gansey’s youth, V was some kind of protege of Helen’s. This all came together for Adam when he heard V introduce her date to another girl as “Gansey’s brother, Richard.” Of course that was how it would work, the siblings in this global spider’s web of their social circle, jockeying it out for Gansey supremacy. Adam attempted to cover his smile and avoid Gansey’s look that said, “Please just don’t.”

Gansey (Richard?) then took the opportunity to make sure everyone had met “my dear friend Adam Parrish.” Adam gave a shrug and wave and modulated his voice to precise studied but not too studied Aglionby diction. “Just call me Adam.”

The girl who had, moments before, been introduced to Adam as his date’ laughed and said 'Thank God.’ She smiled at him.  “I’m just Lynn. I think we’ll get along.” Adam hoped they actually might.

*

After watching Gansey and V for a while – lots of whispering in ears and laughing at shared jokes, hands on each other’s shoulder or back or playful taps at the other’s cheek –  Adam pulled his friend aside to ask, “Are you two together? You LOOK together.”  Gansey hadn’t mentioned this girl’s existence until less than a week earlier but Adam wouldn’t have been shocked if Gansey turned out to have a betrothal arranged by his family, understood but never spoken of, like Spock in that one episode of TOS where everybody ended up fighting shirtless. 

(Adam chose not to mention that particular comparison, and definitely didn’t mention that he thought of various STAR TREK series by their initials.)*

“V and I are old friends,” Gansey repeated. “We’re both busy people and you know. Long distance.” He shrugged as though that spoke for itself, like most guys who attended all male schools in the middle of nowhere had heterosexual relationships that weren’t measured in some degree of long distance.

Whether Gansey thought it would be different if it they weren’t long distance busy people, or if he even WANTED it to be different, Adam had no way of discerning. There he was with that ability to be transparent and opaque at once – one more facet of the Gansey Paradox for Adam’s field notes.

“Richard!!!” V called from across the room, “Did you see what happened to my drink?” Gansey, who had two Solo cups in his hand, nodded an apology at Adam before lifting one cup his date’s direction and heading toward her. When he reached her, he slipped the drink into her hand. She’d been a bit taller than him in  heels, but she’d taken the shoes off at some point, and  now she tilted her head so that her ear rested on his shoulder like they’d been molded that way. Gansey reached up to to touch her hair.

Lynn came up behind Adam now, and leaned into his shoulder. “Wow. I wasn’t sure before but your friend and my friend… they have definitely fucked, right?”

Adam looked down at the girl, almost comically petite next to him, hair the shade of red that didn’t exist in nature so you were supposed to know was it was dyed, and matching her lipstick. She had what looked like an actual diamond stud in her nose, and her sparkling blue-green eyes were surrounded by some very impressive if not entirely comprehensible-to-Adam eyeliner. The total effect would not have stood out in the food court of the Henrietta mall (though Adam was sure the raw materials were much more expensive; this enormous house belonged to Lynn’s parents) but in this context it struck Adam as striving to advertise ‘cool and different and indie’ in a way that was endearing and also a bit sad. She also struck Adam as extremely kissable, although he wasn’t sure when and how to get the moment to escalate.

For now, Adam followed Lynn’s gaze back to Gansey and V.  “You know what Robin Williams says in that movie.”

“Yippee-kii-yay, motherf. . .!” Lynn said with enthusiasm, then giggled. “Oops that was Bruce WIllis, huh?”

“Either way.” Adam let his hand travel down her arm until his fingers were stroking her knuckles. Carpe diem, motherfucker, he thought. Why the hell not?

** If Adam knows to call it ‘TOS’ he knows that episode is ‘Amok Time,’ but he is not ready to be that geeky and bisexual in the forward part of his narration brain.

[keelywolfe]

FIC: Bedside Stories ch.2 (baon)

Summary: Edge is tired of being in the hospital and that is a fact. 

Tags: Spicyhoney, Hints of Kustard Established Relationships, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Hospitals

Part of the ‘by any other name’ series.

~~*~~

Read it on AO3

or

Read it here!

~~*~~

With the IVs and all the monitoring equipment removed, the hospital room could almost be mistaken for a hotel. The walls were painted in cozily muted shades and the landscaped paintings were generic enough to match any accommodations they’d been given on their travels, even the most prestigious. The bed was the only distinguishing feature and even it was less confronting with the railings lowered; there was less concern about him tumbling out since the decision had been made to lower Edge’s pain medication to what he still considered unreasonable levels, but far more acceptable than the quantities that left his head swimming.

Currently the bed was somewhat sloppily made and Edge was settled on top of the blankets, fully dressed with his casted foot resting atop some carefully arranged pillows. Not generally one for fidgeting, he couldn’t help drumming his fingers against the bed-covers agitatedly. Today was they day the doctors agreed for his release; all they needed now was an orderly with a wheelchair and he could be out, away from this room and the four walls he’d been staring at for days.

It was honestly starting to verge on intolerable; he had crutches, the walk down to the parking lot was a short one with elevators to ease the path. And having to be the one sitting and waiting impatiently while his spouse read the release papers was a new experience, one he would have been happy to live without.

Particularly since Stretch seemed to be taking some measure of fiendish delight in it, his eye lights bright as they skimmed over the paperwork. He held up the checklist and said cheerily, “okay, babe, let’s go over this one more time.”

Edge sighed inwardly and nodded. He supposed he deserved this, considering how many times their positions had been reversed. It didn’t mean he had to like it.

Stretch looked down the slight protuberance of his nasal aperture at the sheet, “first question; what are you supposed to do this week?”

“Keep my leg elevated,” Edge recited flatly.

“right you are!” Stretch agreed, chipper as an abnormally cruel chickadee. “and what are you supposed to do every three hours?”

“Ice my leg to keep the cartilage from swelling.”

“you’re on fire, which, coincidentally, is not what you should do with your leg. okay, last one, this is a toughie,” Stretch leaned forward and asked with great solemnness, “when are you supposed to take your pain meds?”

Edge glared at him and gritted out, “As directed.”

Stretch beamed at him, flumping back into his chair. “a+, baby, great job! aced the exam.” His humor faded, replaced by an uncommonly steely determination, “so, this is how the week is going to go, yeah? the docs are highly paid medical pros who know what’s what and we’re going to follow the directions they gave us, that they went to many, many years of school for, and everything will go according to plan.”

“I’d like to think I know my own body best,” Edge muttered under his breath. Not quietly enough, Stretch’s eye lights flickered orange and he scrambled to his feet, stalking over to the bed to poke Edge in the sternum with a blunt fingertip.

“highly. paid. pros.” Stretch said firmly. “look, either you do as the doc says, or you might get to change your power stride into a drunken sailor lurch. follow the directions or you’ll never get to face Kevin Bacon in the dance off, yeah?”

“Yes, dear,” Edge grumbled. The situation was irritating, but blaming Stretch for his worries would be more hypocritical than Edge could stomach. Before Stretch could flop back into his chair, Edge hooked an arm around him and pulled him in, ignoring his squirming protests to tug him onto the bed and into his arms, pressing a soft kiss on top of his skull. “Love, I’m all right.”

“uh huh, sure,” Stretch managed to wriggle free enough to glare at him. “if i tried any shit and my excuse was ‘i know better than people who’ve gone to medical school’, you’d have my ass.”

Which was true, but aside from the point. “I’d like to state for the record that since I was admitted, at no point have I disobeyed any of the doctor’s orders.”

“not yet, anyway, but you’re still in arms reach.” Stretch gave up on clever escape attempts and settled against Edge’s side. “keep behaving at home, yeah? anyway, they should be springing us soon.”

“They should.” But there was no telltale sign of footsteps, nor the sound of rubber wheels on a tile floor and the irritable tension in his soul was on the verge of snapping. “Could you help me to my feet, I’d like to go to the restroom.”

Stretch pulled back, blinking with what would be a frankly hurtful amount of suspicion if Edge wasn’t sure he would have done the same thing were their positions reversed, “seriously? for what, all that healing grow you the ability to take a leak?”

“Don’t be crude,” Edge chided, “I want to wash my hands.”

“geez, i can bring you a wet washcloth, we’ll be home in like, an hour, why do you-”

“Please.”

Perhaps it was the urgency in his voice, but Stretch faltered, his sockets narrowing to show only the rim of pale white lights. It was perfectly true, Edge did want to wash his hands; even knowing that the hospital rooms were as clean as possible, everything freshly washed and sterilized, it wasn’t enough. He’d been here for days in this bed made up with sheets that weren’t his own, dressed in borrowed hospital gowns and subjected to sponge baths from the hands of relative strangers. The urge to scrub himself clean was constant and he was very much looking forward to showering in his own bathroom, but for now even though his release was imminent, his agitation was starting to slip his hold. At the very least he wanted to wash his hands with hot running water and plenty of soap before he put on a fresh pair of gloves, he needed that.

That Stretch’s expression abruptly softened was a small measure of its own relief, as was his nod. “okay, baby, let’s get you up.”

With some effort, Edge swung his legs off the side of the bed, Stretch helping guide the way. The cast was unwieldy, but it was hardly the first he’d ever had. Not the first broken bone or even broken leg, though Edge could admit it was the worst. He took a moment for his equilibrium to adjust before easing his weight into standing, faint spots dancing in his vision; it was the first time he’d been truly upright in days, but it was fine, just fine.

“okay, here’s the crutches--”

Stretch reached for them at the same time he did, and that was enough to somehow tangle the ends with both their own feet. They worked exactly as a lever should, knocking them both off balance and Edge tried to catch himself but the damage was done. All he could do was aim them both for the safety of the bed rather than the hard floor and Stretch yelped as they tumbled down to the mattress, Edge’s not inconsiderable weight on top of him.

That yelped turned closer to a wheeze as Edge accidentally jammed an elbow into his rib cage as he attempted to untangle himself from the maze of their limbs. By the time he’d managed to somewhat free himself, Stretch was laughing helplessly between pants for breath, “sorry, babe, that didn’t go as planned.”

“Yes, I suspected as much,” Edge said dryly. He was gathering himself for a second attempt, this time without the ‘help’, when a voice came from behind them.

“huh. didn’t think they allowed that kind of action in these rooms, but you do you.”

They both looked up to see Sans standing in the doorway, hands tucked in his pockets and his normal smile playing on his mouth. The dark stains beneath his sockets were a testament to his own days in the hospital, his normal hoodie and shorts rumpled as though they’d been slept in. Which was often the case hospital or not, but seeing it here seemed particularly poignant.

“heya, what’s up?” Stretch asked. He slithered out from under Edge in an eely little move that would’ve come in rather handy only five minutes earlier.

“only the sky and satellites,” Sans said easily. “heard they were springing you, thought I should stop by.” He stepped further into the room, but didn’t close the door, and his grin didn’t touch his eye lights. “hey, stretch, why don’t you go see how that wheelchair wrangling is going, yeah?”

Stretch gave Sans a brutally unimpressed look; he might cheerily claim the title of idiot, but he was nobody’s fool. Low and through his teeth, Stretch said, “i think the orderlies know what they’re doing, doubt they need an amateur to help ‘em.”

Implying that he wasn’t about to follow the unspoken order to leave. This new protectiveness was not entirely unwelcome; to be honest it was somewhat endearing, but Edge couldn’t allow it to take hold. He gave Stretch a gentle nudge, jarring him from his glaring with a quiet, “Go on, love, see what’s taking so long.”

If Sans needed to speak to him alone, then it was likely Embassy business and from the way Stretch looked between them with an expression of distinct unhappiness, he knew it. He started to reach for Edge, his fingers curling abortively into a fist before they touched what Edge knew was a lingering bruise down the side of his face.

“fine. wheelchair wrangling, sure, yippee-ki-yay,” Stretch said flatly. “yeah, okay, but if you upset him, remember that i’m the one stuck riding shotgun with him all the way home.”

Sans only gave him a wink and a finger twirl, “don’t even worry about it, i won’t give the edgelord a reason to whip out the big guns.”

The sound Stretch made was a step past rude and when he stomped out, he yanked the door closed with a near slam, echoing in the small room. Edge spoke before Sans could, asking quietly, “How is your brother?”

Sans seemed unperturbed by the change of subject, “doing all right. about like you, itchin’ to go home. he’ll be here a few days longer yet, they’d like to keep a closer eye on the noggin, but the docs say everything’s going as expected.”

That, at least, was a comfort. “I’m sorry.”

“ooookay?” Sans said slowly, bemused. He rocked on his slippered feet and something about that was upsetting; he’d given up slippers for sneakers some time ago. To see them making an appearance outside of his own home was disheartening, a step backwards. “mind telling me what for?”

The words came with some difficulty, clogging in his throat, but Edge forced them out, “Papyrus shouldn’t have been hurt. He was my responsibility.”

Sans was shaking his head before Edge even finished. “yeah, let’s back up a few steps here. look, you were leading the security team, but you ain’t the only one on it, and if i can forgive myself for not protecting him, i’m sure as fuck not gonna blame you.” Edge said nothing and Sans’s easy smile thinned, “but hey, since you’re going with unnecessary guilt, guess we can hop into why i’m here. after you get settled in at home and you get a mo’, might wanna check out the paperwork for your psych assessment. once you’re back on your feet, you need to schedule an evaluation with the department head shrinker before you can get back to work.”

Edge frowned, already shaking his head, “That won’t be necessary.”

Sans shrugged carelessly. “maybe, maybe not, but what it ain’t is optional. i had to do it myself. it’s only an hour or so, just a chat to make sure your head is on straight.”

“I don’t need a chat,” Edge said tersely. In fact, he was fairly sure it was the last thing he needed, and it was definitely not something he wanted. “I survived Underfell, this incident is hardly comparable.”

Never had Sans’s grin seemed so like his brother’s, sharp and darkly amused despite his blunted teeth. “welp, have i got great news for you, pal. you’re not in Underfell anymore, you’re here and either you play by the rules or you don’t play, you get me, little brother?” For all his vow not to stir Edge up, those two words made him startle, unexpected emotion heavy in his chest, “and you can keep your bitching about it, this ain’t my idea, it’s from higher up. but i agree with it. get it done, you hear me?”

“Fine,” Edge gritted out. It was a terrible idea and unnecessary, but arguing with Sans was less useful than shouting into the wind and expecting it to obey, “Is that all?”

“it was everything on my shortlist,” Sans said, all languid ease once again, “stretch should be back soon. go home, get some rest, watch some shitty tv, smooch your honey on his face as many times as you can. i’ll try to stop by once paps is back home, maybe we can schedule a playdate for you two martyrs, and you can chat about tossing yourselves on grenades or whatever else you have planned. maybe if you two idiots can stop taking on the blame for any shit that rolls downhill, you’ll have a good time.”

He started turning to door and Edge blurted, “Sans.”

Sans stopped, head tilting curiously.

It was difficult to ask, given the state of whatever the relationship between Sans and Red was, and yet, Edge’s normal sources were failing him; the Embassy servers were still closed to him and normally his brother would be the one he’d go to first. Therein lay the problem. “I haven’t seen my brother since the day they brought me in.”

“no?” Sans said lightly, but before Edge could do more than keep the tight hurt from showing on his face, Sans sighed tiredly, his head drooping, “yeah, i know.”

“Do you know where he is?” It burst loose and to ask this way, so straightforward and desperate, felt wrong, almost felt like a betrayal, but it was his brother and his bottled up concern was starting to leak around the edges.

Sans sucked on his teeth loudly, but the sudden sincerity in his voice weakened Edge with uncertain relief, “working on it. i’ll let you know if i get any bites.”

“Thank you.” It was all he could hope for.

Sans gave him a nod and then he was gone, sidestepping into a shortcut. Edge sagged back on the mattress, exhausted despite having done nothing today but a foiled attempt at standing.

If he couldn’t investigate his brother’s absence on his own, then Sans was as good as he could hope for as an alternate. He might be somewhat kinder than Red, but Edge recognized a commonality between them, especially when it came to seeking information with less than traditional methods.

Sans was wrong about one thing, though; it had been Edge’s responsibility to watch over all the diplomats, and he’d allowed his personal distractions to interfere with his duty. If his mind had been properly on the task at hand, the damages would have been so much less, and he could only imagine the fallout that the Embassy was currently dealing with because of it since his access had been taken away. It was strikingly similar to the events at the Golden City restaurant with Jeff, his distraction keeping him from protecting those he was supposed to keep safe.

Liabilities, Red called them. Called Stretch. His pretty little liability.

Even worse was a truth he hardly wanted to acknowledge. If he’d given in or ignored Asgore’s instruction and brought Stretch with him, Edge had little doubt his instinct would have been to protect him to the exclusion of all others. Protocol dictated that his concern should have been for the diplomats, but he couldn't pretend that would be true if his husband was there.

Edge shifted higher on the mattress, wincing as he struggled to arrange his cast back on the pile of pillows. The room seemed too quiet without Stretch, echoing emptily, and Edge let his head drop back on the pillows, staring up at the plain white of the ceiling as he waited for the wheelchair and the much-needed freedom to go home.

But the word ‘liability’ was heavy on his mind, and the voice was his brother’s.

~~*~~

As it turned out, the coveted wheelchair was so close to their room, Stretch came damn close to tripping over it when he sulked his way out. And yeah, it satisfied a certain vindictiveness in him to sweetly ask the guy if he couldn’t come back in a half hour or so, since there was important Embassy shit going on behind that closed door.

The orderly didn’t even grumble, probably too awed imagining what the top secret shenanigans might be to think about the fact that Edge was supposed to be off-duty, like, really off, not supposed to be doing any work at all and if almost getting blown up didn’t qualify a person for some paid time off, then that contract needed some review.

But even if it was satisfying to send the transport guy off while Stretch indulged himself in a little justified annoyance, it didn’t exactly keep the guilt from skittering on up his back. Stretch ignored it and wandered down to the nurse’s station where there were a few chairs and a table lined up in a sort of ‘waiting hallway’.

The chairs were even shittier than the ones in the rooms, thin-cushioned and cramped, and way too short besides. Stretch slumped down into one anyway, letting his legs sprawl out in front of him instead of trying to sit properly with his knees up by his ears. It was awkward as hell, but even that was almost welcome. Better to get all his sulks out before he got back into the room, because he honestly didn’t want to fight with Edge today, not when he was about to get him back home. Once they were there it’d be easier, he was gonna make sure of that; one week of rest wasn’t too fucking much to ask.

He was playing a very morose round of ‘Words With Friends’ on his phone, trying to figure out what he could make out of FIX with the letters he had, when the tippy tap of shoes on the tile made him glance up.

To his surprise, it was Toriel and Frisk, and they seemed equally surprised to see him. That at least made sense, he didn’t have many good reasons to be sitting in the damn hallway like an uncommon sort of houseplant.

“Why, hello, Papyrus,” Toriel exclaimed. Sweet lady that she was, she didn’t ask about his current location, even if her shrewd gaze said she certainly noticed it. Technically, she wasn’t a diplomat herself, she only came along as Frisk’s guardian, but try to explain that to anyone who met her, staring at the way she towered over most Humans as they looked up into her regal face.

Yeah, there was a reason that most Monsters still called her the Queen even if she and Asgore were divorced.

Hearing his name from her made Stretch smile reluctantly. Tori was about the only person who called him Papyrus these days aside from his therapist. It was per his own request, way back when she’d come to him and asked for his help with the lab work. She wasn’t his friend behind the door any more than Asgore was, but somehow, it was soothing to have at least one Monster call him by his real name. Plus, she had jokes; it was something, anyway.

Frisk offered a cheerful grin of their own. They were currently making the teenager years their own, all gangly limbs and flared rashes of pimples, but their smile was always warming. Good kid, worked tirelessly to get Monsters the equality that they damn well deserved. They’d gone a long way in showing Stretch that most Humans were all right.

Not that the little fucker from Underswap really deserved the title of Human, but yeah, anyway, that was trauma for another time.

Stretch forced a little leftover cheer into his voice, “hey, guys, what’re you up to?”

Toriel smiled, dimpling prettily through her short fur. “Visiting the other Papyrus.” Her laughter was bright and sincere. “He’s a dear, truly, but it is rather like eating a clock. Time consuming.”

“especially if you go for seconds,” Stretch added gleefully, and Tori let out another peal of laughter, shaking with it as she leaned against her child. Who only shook their head and took her weight stoically, their smile sincere.

“That was a good one,” Toriel sighed finally, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. “But if you’d something a little tastier than an hour, we’re heading down to the cafeteria for lunch. Would you like to join us?”

“can’t,” Stretch said, with true regret. Wasn’t often he got to spend time with a pure spirit of the punny kind. Stretch jerked his head towards the hospital room door. “edge is about to get sprung.”

Toriel only smiled, unoffended, “That is wonderful news, dear, won’t you give him my love?” And as Frisk bounced impatiently, she chuckled again. “Apologies, our love. Yes, yes, dear, I’m coming.”

The kid gave Stretch a cheekily salute and darted down the hallway towards the elevators, but before Tori could follow, Stretch caught her arm.

"tori?” Stretch asked, low, “can i ask a favor?"

"Of course,” Toriel glanced at Frisk, who’d paused, looking back quizzically, and called, “Go on ahead, dear, I’ll meet you in the cafeteria.” She returned her attention to Stretch, her expression curious, “What is it?”

"you got enough juice for a little healing yet?" It’d been a few days, she should be replenished, but Stretch didn’t want to assume, not when he was already begging favors.

Immediately, suspicion filled her soft face, "Yes, why?"

He glanced distrustfully around the empty hallway as if someone might spring out of the walls before he tugged up his sleeve, showed her his wrist. The bruises swelling there were stark against the bone, slender, dark smudges only slightly wider than skeletal fingers. Toriel’s eyes widened briefly, then narrowed, studying them, but when she looked back up at him, Stretch met her gaze steadily. There were any number of Monsters here in the hospital with healing capabilities but none of them were ones he trusted enough to show. Not even Blue, but that wasn’t exactly about trust, now was it.

Very carefully, Toriel took his wrist in hand, the fur on her fingers ticklishly soft. Her thumb skirted over the mottled bruises as she murmured, "He wasn't quite awake, was he?"

Stretch said nothing, only nodded shortly, and her expression softened. "I spent a great many years married to a former soldier myself. Promise me this isn't an ongoing issue and I'll heal it."

"i promise,” Stretch said immediately, all stark honesty and he didn’t think he imagined a certain tension leaving Tori’s shoulders. “it's only the second time he's done anything like that in all the time we've been together.” Well, not including fun-time bruises, but that was probably some tmi. “and he was drugged to the gills, too. it was an accident, but my bro might not see it that way."

"You may be right,” Toriel said, with the tone of one who worked often with his bro and had a fair idea of his inner workings. “I have a slightly different understanding of these matters than he might. Hold still, now."

Warmth glossed out from her touch, the soft green of healing and instantly the bruises faded along with the lingering discomfort. A couple seconds of effort to keep back a possible defcon situation with his bro. Not quite a lie, not in his opinion, but even if it was, it was one Stretch could live with.

“thanks,” Stretch said gratefully, tugging his sleeve back down.

“Of course, dear. You take care now, won’t you?” To his bemusement, she leaned down and planted a kiss on top of his skull, the same way she might’ve to Frisk on any given day. “Take care of that husband of yours as well.” Her smiled turned tremulous. “I owe him a debt that I can never repay.”

“every day i can,” Stretch assured her, watching as she walked after Frisk. Come to think of it, might not just be a favor for him that she’d healed those bruises. Hiding them from Edge had been a hell of a chore, too, trying to keep him from feeling even more like shit about it, and not for the first time Stretch wished he was better at healing himself. It would be a nice trick for special occasions, for sure.

The sound of the wheelchair returning caught his attention and Stretch hopped to his feet, wandering back towards the hospital room. Looked like it was finally time to head home, and that, friends and neighbors, was probably gonna take all the patience he could get.

~~*~~

tbc