#the tiger was actually the hardest one to get???

[zenathered]

New addition to the island family! 

[pinkykats-place]

Bungo Stray Dogs BL Fic Recs

Archive of our own

Disclaimers!

None of the stories linked are mine.

Some contain mature content.

Read tags. Check Ratings.

GIF not mine.

Note: If you read any of these stories and like them please let the author know with a kudos and/or comment!

Shin Soukoku (AkuAtsu)

Dragonfruit by CheeseSandwjch

Summary: Akutagawa shows up at Atsushi’s house injured from a mission; Atsushi takes care of him.

{One Shot}

Rated - Teen & Up

The Cat and the Coat by lunakoroleva

Summary: It's pretty convenient that Dazai lends Atsushi his coat when he's paired up with Akutagawa. It's pretty convenient that it's cold as hell.

Akutagawa gets his first kiss. Rashomon is warm. Atsushi acts like a cat.

{One Shot}

Rated - General Audiences

Seven Days to Fall In Love with Akutagawa Ryuunosuke by its_just_me27

Summary: “Yeah,” Atsushi looks down, purposefully avoiding eye contact. “So, you have to stay here for the next seven days,” he mumbles quickly.

“Excuse me?”

“Y—you heard me,” he huffs. “I can’t help it.”

Complete | 7 Chapters

Rated - Teen & Up

Silver Lining by maxxstrom

Summary: Finding out that a lie has pervaded years of your life isn’t exactly a great way to end a mission, especially when it results in complete ignorance about your own biology. At twenty years old, Akutagawa had thought he was done learning about himself, but that doesn’t seem to be the case at all. As it turns out, he hardly knows a thing.

Alternatively, asexual “beta” Akutagawa finds out that he’s actually an omega and has to figure out how to deal with his first ever heat (a series of unfortunate events that ends with Aku getting railed within an inch of his life).

{One Shot}

Rated - Explicit

A Push in the Right Direction by PocketsizedDinosaur

Summary: Five times Rashomon and Beast Beneath the Moonlight try to get their users together and one time they finally manage to do it on their own.

Complete | 2 Chapters

Rated - General Audiences

If you’re brave enough to love the ones you hate the hardest (you might find home) by bloodyhalefire

Summary: For people like Gin and Ryuunosuke, things like love, comfort, and contentment have never been anything more than pipe dreams.

However, when Gin returns home from work one night to find Atsushi and Ryuu sleeping together on the sofa, she wonders if maybe they aren’t as unattainable as she thought.

{One Shot}

Rated - Teen & Up

I'll call your name by caramelt

Summary: “Of all places to discuss the case,” Atsushi said as they made their way back to the busy crowd, voice getting louder with every step as he fought to compete with the noise around them. He had finished his chazuke not long ago. “Why a summer festival?”

“Has it not occurred to you that I'm taking you out on a date?”

Oh. Oh.

 — — —

Basically Akutagawa and Atsushi get together fluff.

{One Shot}

Rated - Teen & Up

I Love You (deeply) by SapphireSunstone

Summary: Akutagawa almost wishes he hadn’t heard it.

He wishes that there wasn’t another figure pressed up against him underneath his own bedsheets. Wishes that he hadn’t invited Atsushi to stay for the night when he realised how dark it had gotten. Wishes he hadn’t opened the door when the were-tiger had knocked.

Because now he has to deal with this.

{One Shot}

Rated - General Audiences

Series: Adventures in Partnership by guyfierimpreg

Summary: Partnership is a rocky road, but with Atsushi ramming down the clutch and Akutagawa working the shifter, they might actually get somewhere.

3 Works

Rated - General Audiences and Teen & Up

Stay by Glenraven

Summary: The port is loud with the caws of sea birds, the creak and clang of cranes and shipping containers, the rough calls of workers. Atsushi’s ears pick up all of the cacophony but parse none of it. All he can focus on are the words spoken by the dark figure in front of him, quietly, almost as though he is of half a mind not to be heard.

“Go out with me.”

Atsushi blinks. His ears don’t lie, but this isn’t making any sense.

“What?”

Akutagawa growls. “You heard me. Go out with me. This weekend. Let’s go somewhere.”

A hint of red crawls over Akutagawa’s cheeks. He wouldn’t blush if this were just a joke, would he?

{One Shot}

Rated - Teen & Up

and it was you by spirallings

Summary: Rashomon was Ryuunosuke's armor and his clothing created Rashomon. Even when his relationship with Atsushi bloomed into something more intimate, there was always that hesitation, that fear; to be vulnerable was to leave himself open for pain and hurt.

And then there wasn't anymore.

{One Shot}

Rated - Explicit

i just wanna know you by Wordless_Writer

Summary: "If he knew more, he supposed, about Akutagawa, about his pasts, his tics, his wishes... he wouldn't be having such a hard time right now. He'd know what to get him. How to... congratulate him...

Akutagawa hadn't been at the 'we defeated the guild' party and hadn't been mentioned in the local newspaper. When people approached Atsushi on the street, they never mentioned the person who had helped him. Who had been right next to him in the very picture that was published but cut out from the shot.

Atsushi didn't like Akutagawa... but he had helped so much... he deserved some..."

//////////////

or post guild arc atsushi tries to figure out how to congratulate aku

{One Shot}

Rated - SFW

With the Warmth of Your Arms, you Saved Me by Glenraven

Summary: Atsushi sputtered, eyes widened and cheeks red. Ryuu could practically watch his brain malfunctioning at the nickname. Since he was still wearing his shirt, he summoned a few tendrils of Rashoumon and had them wrap loosely around Atsushi’s wrists.
“Can you keep them there for me, sweetie?” he smiled. “I need the use of both my hands to worship you.”
Atsushi simply nodded, tugging lightly at the restraints to test their give. He could have easily ripped through them, but Ryuu knew that he liked the resistance and needed the reminder. He tended to have trouble keeping his hands off of Ryuu, and though Ryuu preened at being so irresistible, sometimes he really did like his dessert to sit quietly.
_______
Ryuu makes it very clear to Atsushi how much he treasures him.

{One Shot}

Rated - Explicit

A Mind as Clear as Day by BrainRotgoBrrrrr

Summary: Atsushi woke up to nothing.

Just, plain, white, nothing at all.

He blinked. He could hear things. People. Machines. Whirring and talking.

He remembered his name. That was all. It floated around in his mind, bouncing and echoing until he heard it clearly in his ears.

or

Atsushi loses his memory and wakes up in hospital, feeling unsafe and not knowing to trust those around him

Incomplete | 5/? Chapters

Last Updated November 2023

Rated - Teen & Up

Dazai x Chuuya x Atsushi x Akutagawa

Unexpected Heat by Princess_Cherry

Summary: Akutagawa almost never even got his heat, Mori and Yosano agree that the cause is a combination of his sickness and his malnutrition as a child, his body couldn’t afford to have his heat often but once in a blue moon he got his heat and no one was ever ready for it

———————-

In which Akutagawa goes into unexpected heat and his mates need to be there for him.

One Shot | OmegaVerse

Rated - Explicit

Love to spare by Princess_Cherry

Summary: Dazai smiled, he felt blessed to have these three people in his life.

He really had love to spare. 
— — —

In which Akutagawa, Atsushi, Chuuya and Dazai celebrate their 2nd anniversary, it starts wholesome but quickly turns steamy.

{One Shot}

Rated - Explicit

Pretty Kitty by scribespirare

Summary: Certain things make Atsushi...well, lose control, so to speak.

{One Shot}

Rated - Explicit

electric by quitepossiblyjanuary

Summary: They're always a little sloppy, but it's one of Atsushi's favorite parts about them, that messiness. He loves the feeling of Akutagawa's nose squished up against his face, changing every few minutes because Akutagawa likes to tilt his head this way and that, testing which angle is best for sliding his tongue against Atsushi's lips. He loves the feeling of Akutagawa's lips slipping and catching on his chin, his cheeks, as they blindly move their mouths against each other, eyes closed and too happy to care about neatness.

{One Shot}

Rated - Explicit

Something, Somehow by the_cricket

Summary: Atsushi doesn't meet Dazai by the river, and he doesn't join the agency. He saves himself from starving and figures out how to live, but he still ends up involved with both the Port Mafia and the ADA. Also, it's silly.

Complete | 3 Chapters

Rated - General Audiences

Be Good by orphan_account

Summary: It came out more or less by accident.

--------

“Are you okay, Ryuu?” Atsushi’s concerned voice finally broke the silence that had descended on the table.

“Oh I think Ryuu is much better than okay,” Dazai answered for him, glancing at Atsushi out of the corner of his eye before returning his attention to the man in front of him. “Could it be that our little Ryuunosuke likes it when we tell him just how good he is?”

{One Shot}

Rated - Explicit

Pet-a-cat, pet-a-cat, mafia man by amythecinnabunny

Summary: Nakajima Atsushi has this nifty little trick where he turns into a cat to offer comfort to people. Somehow, it leads to dating Nakahara Chuuya — after an accidental Italian vacation, that is.

{One Shot}

Rated - General Audiences

Hidden Colors by we_burnin_shit_yo

Summary: Atsushi brings in a pouch of fingernail polishes and Chuuya proceeds to do their nails while Dazai and Akutagawa hang out in the kitchen for food before joining their boyfriends which results in a fluffy polysoukoku evening.

{One Shot}

Rated - n/a

Dazai x Chuuya

Of Pinot and Patience by ChaoticQuill

Summary: In the morning hours after a night with Dazai, Chuuya finds himself addled by doubts that he'll be left behind again. Dazai, in an uncharacteristic move, offers to be patient.

— — —

Or: Chuuya worries Dazai is going to leave him, and they decide not to have sex again until Chuuya has overcome those doubts. Hilarity ensues.

{One Shot}

Rated - Explicit

[briankang]

sorry not to post about the charlie collab again but utterly fascinated with the decision to give it a physical edition like twice had with 'i got you' except like. 'i got you' was just a song in english? and it was so obviously made to be promoted here in the US but the thing i've always loved about eng songs from twice is they never feel out of place or off base and are so seamless in their discography, like...they just feel like twice songs. the charlie collab is just....so deeply out of place, especially looking at past collaborations (lil durk, alesso, tiger jk, LiSA, sky-hi) like...it's just such an obvious label ploy (i actually will not even blame jyp entirely, this is deeply on republic considering they're the ones distributing it) and such a WEIRD one at that, because who in gods name is going hard for charlie puth in the states in 2024???? i hate this for them and i hope the phys vers of the song means we won't deal with it on the actual comeback album, and if the song is there, ideally it'll be charlie-less because i know they still put their hardest into making it. also i'm so mad that pretty teal/turquoise color is being wasted on this fucking collab she better get her chance to SHINE outside of this

[humansofnewyork]

“I’m not really someone you call a planner when it comes to writing books. Sometimes there’s just a feeling, like: ‘I know I’ll be able to make something really good about this.’ Right now I’m working on an adventure book called The Adventures of Sloth about a sloth that goes on an adventure. My mom is helping me edit. I get stuck on the editing part because I just want to keep writing; it's like, ugh, can I do it later. I'm quite busy in my everyday life but I’ve written like eight to ten books. My favorite genre is fantasy because so many mythical beings just pop into my head every day. One time, I think in art class, I thought of a mythical being that combined a tiger and a bird and I called it a Terd. A Terd has the features of a tiger like the stripes and the jaw, but also wings. And it can breathe in outer space. Every time I write a story I focus on three elements: suspense, action, and dialogue. And I try to think of a lot of good surprises. Like what if it turns out that the Terd is actually part turtle too, and can breathe underwater? That’s called a plot twist. Dialogue is the hardest because you have to make it seem like a natural conversation that could happen in real life. You can’t just make it blibber blabber like ‘how are you,’ or ‘how was your day,’ or stuff like that. It has to have some juicy parts, like: ‘Did you know there’s a giant Terd on your back?’

[strawbs-screaming]

☆ how the boxers react to being flirted with ☆

Sorry for dissapearing (again), i was busy damaging my hearing, enjoy my woobification teehee

Glass Joe

- Really depends on how you flirt with him, if its poetic or really straightforward hes gonna turn into a tomato

- hes not giggling, its just your imagination nuh uh

- he def rolls in bed like a rotisserie chicken while thinking about ur pick up line

- hes gonna try to flirt back until its just a competition of who blushes the hardest

Von Kaiser

- actual jaw drop from him, the more poetic the better

- in shock, his brain literally turns off

- has to check his pulse because GODDAMN his heart is beating harder than usual (You may have a heart palpitation, kaiser)

- you live rent free in his head now congratulations

Disco Kid

- right back at you, if youre a bit too straightforward he may need to tell you to slow down

- youre getting a response IMMEDIATLY. And i mean it, fresh out of the oven, thrown at you with some sprinkles on top

- giggling while he calls you cute names like sweetie, honey, baby etc etc

King Hippo

- nice try, HES AROACE!! (GET HEADCANONED IDIOT!!)

- he laughs it off while making it clear hes not into you or anyone

- flattered though, appreciates the fact that you were willing to go out of your way to approach him

- if he was not aroace or only ace, he'd just smile, the more poetic you go with him the better you have chance of making him go red

Piston Hondo

- hes suddenly cosplaying a cherry

- loves poetic rizz, will definitely go back at you until both of your flirting attempts sound like two lovers mailing each other in opposite sides of the world while one is at war

- if youre straightforward he just gets flabbergasted, like what do you mean there isnt a build up for it with 20 poems inbetween??

- cant focus rest of the day, hes internally screaming off a mountain

- the sight of you just makes his ability to focus evaporate

- draws and/or writes about you rest of the day

Great Tiger

- if you use something clever you can get a small blush out of him

- if you're the type to go for poetic lines youre gonna need to call 911 because his soul literally vanishes from existence, tiger dont go into the light stay with us PLEASE

- has to have his clones give him flirting advice because his flirting skills are not there (like 80% of my hearing)

- his flirting attempts are just "damn, are you a construction worker?, because you are a building." no matter how much he tries

Bear Hugger

- he makes his reactions clear, literally emotes while you flirt with him

- if youre poetic or straightforward he literally just says "woah"

- he just turns into that one cartoon wolf im not kidding, literal "ohh mama hubba hubba" from this man

- his flirting style is very straightforward, not "hey babygirl" type but "youre so pretty i would leave all my belongings and change my identity if it ment i could hold your hand" type, do you understand??

Don Flamenco

- replies 1.2 seconds after you, he needs to have the last word here (or last rizz in this case)

- literal mirror, the more more straightforward & atrocious your lines are the more straightforward his are going to be until it devolves into both of you sounding down bad, when they go low, he goes lowER

- poetic lines makes him have a heart attack

- its actually possible to fluster him

- unironically says babygirl to anyone hes flirting with when approaching, it doesnt matter how tall, strong or flirty you are, your gender doesnt matter, he can and will call you babygirl, its a gender neutral term for him, corners you while doing it

Aran Ryan

- evil cackling, if you put a organ over his laugh you suddenly get a scooby doo villain, he sounds less like hes flustered and more like hes about to detonate a nuclear bomb

- unhinged lines, ends up getting restraining orders thrown at him

- brings things he finds cool to flirt, ranging from flowers to rocks (he was a evil crow in a past life trust me his left eyebrow told me)

- cartwheels away

Soda Popinski

- maniacal giggling, even if its not THAT good & ridiculously straightforward

- his pick up lines unintentionally sound like god tier shitposts & end up working somehow

- corners you (in the romantic way) if you're really direct

- has the silliest giggle when flustered, literal "hehe" coming from this man that could snap you in half if he wanted to

Bald Bull

- you think the others are bad at handling flirting?? Then you havent seen bald bull because OH MY GOD HES ABOUT TO LITERALLY FLY OFF THE EARTH

- hes actually fairly difficult to fluster but once you find his weak spot hes gone from there

- cannot flirt back, blurts something dumb out like "sorry im all red pretty people make me nauseous"

- he literally goes (> - <) when blushing & covers his face with his hands

- the more direct you are the closer he gets to passing out

- stutters a lot (omg y/n is that you)

- Bull, this is bottom behavior

- people use the most unhinged pick up lines on him, someone once told him "let me milk you."

- his hands automatically go 👉👈 if hes too flustered

Super Macho Man

- Stop boosting his ego please, he may be flustered but youre kinda enabling him

- dumbest pick up lines

- also another unironic "hey babygirl" user

- if he doesnt know what to do he just throws money & valuables, 5000 dollars be upon ye

Mr Sandman

- oh my god he has the sweetest smile ever (if you dont go too straightforward), he doesnt blush a whole lot but he just chuckles a bit

- if youre direct, his jaw also drops like huh??

- his weak spots are poems & small gifts

- a little bit dense but once he gets it he smiles like crazy

- giggling kicking his feet whenever he remembers that

[princess-of-the-corner]

https://www.tumblr.com/princess-of-the-corner/755040644887691264/honestly-the-sheer-broken-ness-of-time-travel-is?source=share

Same, whenever I tinker with ideas, I basically make like, a Chat Blanc equivalent more like a vision than a full timeline. Less 'what will happen' and more 'what could be'.

Also if we're sharing revised Miraculous in the asks again, I know I've bandied the about before but I've tinkered with my Twelve Miraculous since then XD

IE, I fuse some Kami with similar ideas so bull & Turtle are just variations on a theme over bubble shield or total immunity. Also the Kwami are broken into groups of four 'eras', and usually at least loosely connected by time of origin, though the connection actually grows weaker as the universe became more complicated. This is also why the Eldest trio have both a lot of power but also fairly simplistic abilities.

Creation (Planck) Ladybug - Creation & Purification Cat - Destruction & Mutation Snake - Ouroboros & Time

Elemental (Matter)Tiger - Combustion & Chaos Bee - Order & Subjugation Dragon - Storm & Power

Life (Abiogenesis) Peacock - Evocation & Transmutation Mouse - Multiplication & Duplication Turtle - Protection & Resilience

Animal (Caveasphaera) Horse - Action & Migration Fox - Mirage & Materialization Butterfly - Emotion & Transmission

Prodigious Qilin - Fission & Fusion OR Magma & Melting

Notes:

Rather than just the Black Cat & Ladybug one needs Sass as well for a wish equivalent. I also think each trio gets their own "Epic Magic" combo that is thematically appropriate.

Bee was tricky to place but as stability came about in the matter era & they embody order. I figure Subjugation is kind of like an evolution of that in the same way mutation and purification likely were. Pollen brings stability & structure to the chaotic powers.

I added mutation to give the Cat something to balance then, out with Tikki without majorly disrupting anything. Whether mutation or Purification cancel the other out is a coin flip as is the result of mutation so it can be either obscenely OP or useless. Hence not seeing much use but being a potential game changer.

Still not 100% on the Prodigious, but I think being a nuclear nightmare would sell the danger. Will need more research to determine powers beyond glowy hair. Likely from the same 'era' as the Elementals. Magma & Melting could also work as a terrestrial dragon equivalent & for combining objects/materials, but comes off as less OP.

The Peacock's power it to emphasize existing traits. Like re-organizing a metal into its strongest or weakest state; or to change the elemental composition of its target into another state. Its era represent multi-cellular life, plants, metamorphosis, & generally how things became competitive hence defense.

The final four have some of the broadest powers, but also the hardest to control as they embody a lot of chaotic, thinking, feeling entities. Kaalki has it easiest, being variations on moving from one locale to another, but there's a lot of ways it can go wrong. Fox can get into the minds of others, hence mirage, or materialize thoughts (IE) illusions, which can get messy.

& the Butterfly, well I'd be using the revised Butterfly lore we discussed. But I took away Transmission & Transformation for emotion and Transmission as Nooro came about when critters got even more complicated & communicative. As a result of their powers, the Butterfly can tap into a great many things but s we've seen with Akuma, not strictly 'control' them, merely guide. Hence being able to create such powerful Akuma, but not really control the specifics.

IE, Nooro is one of the most powerful, but also has the least direct control over their power, while the creation trio have some of the most simplistic powers, but have near total control of said power.

Not sure what the epic magic for each trio would be, or how Unification outside their own trios might influence other efforts at Epic Magic. But its interesting to muse on, at least for me XD

Sorry for the ramble!

fantastic on the powers

Re: Chat Blanc tho:

My problem with it is less it existing but more like.

Okay so Bunnyx says that Chat Blanc can't happen because she doesn't remember it happening. And she starts disappearing as the episode goes on. Very 'Back to the Future' where she has to make sure Blanc doesn't happen so she'll exist.

But it kinda... causes a loop that shouldn't happen? Because Blanc happens, but is diverted by Bunnyx interfering. But if Blanc happened, then Bunnyx can't interfere, right? So what caused Blanc?

That's why, if I do put Chat Blanc and the time nonsense in (instead of like, making it Sabrina instead or some shit). Then I have it a 'set right what once went wrong' type of plot. Where Marinette abuses the Rabbit's power for personal gain, putting herself in a groudhog day-style loop where she tries over and over again to win a date with Adrien. But her changing things keeps causing little cracks and the problems get bigger and bigger the more she tries to use Time Travel to fix it. Ultimately having Bunnyx step in and make her go through it the same way she did the first time, embarrassing moments and all and not successful. Which shows both a 'messing with the Timeline is unpredictable' and 'there's a reason only some people can use this power responsibly' and all that.

[youareiron-andyouarestrong]

Answer the Questions and Tag 5 Fanfic Authors

tagged by @mosylufanfic, thank you friend!

1 . How did you get into writing fanfiction?

I think I had been telling myself stories in my head since I was old enough to think coherently, but it wasn't until I was in college that I realized that I could write those stories down, and actually put them in the world to be read by other people.

2. How many fandoms have you written in?

According to AO3, I have written in twenty-six fandoms, not counting whatever's lurking in my writing tag in my blog. The fandom I've written the most for is Rogue One.

3. How many years have you been writing fanfiction?

I started writing things to be read in the spring of 2013, so...eleven years. which is insane to think about.

4. Do you read or write more fanfiction?

I read a lot more, but I am trying to set aside dedicated time to write...at least once a week.

5. What is one way you’ve improved as a writer?

I think my phrasing has improved a lot. I love writing long, involved descriptions and worldbuilding, plus snappy banter, which is a thing I think I've gotten a lot better at in the last eleven years.

6. What’s the weirdest topic you researched for a writing project?

not weird per se, but I definitely looked up Indian wedding traditions for my Kanej mehndi fic and Punjabi names for children (also for a Kanej kid!fic), not to mention I tried to figure out how London neighborhoods work for a Lockwood & Co. fic (I still don't know).

7. What’s your favorite type of comment to receive on your work?

The fact that anyone comments at all is a fact that continues to blow my mind, but anyone who tells me that they loved a turn of phrase, a description, or that one particular sentence flowed/hit home/stuck with them? may they be blessed in their endeavors forever.

8. What’s the most fringe trope/topic you write about?

I wrote a Mad Max: Fury Road prompt/fic where all the characters had beast aspects/animal traits but they weren't were-animals, or something like that? Idk, I really wanted to write tiger!Max and lioness!Furiosa, so that's what I stuck with. 9. What is the hardest type of story for you to write?

Multi-chaptered!! It is so hard for me to sustain a continued story with an actual plot. my latest Lockwood & Co. piece, passed down like folksongs was the better part of a year's worth of labor, not to mention heroic beta-ing, and me going back and adding and rewriting and adding some more.

10. What is the easiest type?

Anything in media res, where I can just jump right in and get to the "good stuff," like the kissing or the action. Too often I get bogged down with the "how did we get here?" or "wait, they were against the wall, now they're on the floor? how did that happen?"

11. Where do you do your writing? What platform? When?

Google Docs is the most convenient, also for sharing purposes, though if a document is like, my thesis work, I'd probably use Microsoft or something more permanent. Someday I'll save up enough to get Scrivener...like a grown up.

12. What is something you’ve been too nervous/intimidated to write, but would love to write one day?

I really want to write a sprawling Lockwood & Co fic that's like, involved family trees and weird anecdotes about the Lockwood family, and how ghosts like exist in other places. I would also want to start introducing original characters in different works, but I'm always afraid they'll end up sounding too much like a self-insert. But I'll get there!

13. What made you choose your username?

I had just changed my tumblr handle, and I didn't want the bother of having to keep track of two usernames! so I borrowed a line from a tumblr poem that I admired: "youareiron_andyouarestron." it stuck, and that's been my name ever since.

tagging @dangerously-human, @cats-and-metersticks, @menina89, @linearao3, and @oneofthewednesdays, if they want to!

[egretwing]

redrunningtiger: the basics

ok so. for those interested in my divorced redrunningtiger polycule thoughts . . .

hi there @snailchaser-the-medicinecat (this amazing fanart) — i'm a slow reblogger too but here! my rambles on their origin story, since i wanted to write it anyway :)

** fair warning for brief discussion of Thistleclaw and Spottedleaf, as I'm keeping at least the gist of SPH in my rewrite **

find the immediate reworked family tree and notes in this post

my runningredtiger thoughts are under this tag

starting off with redtiger...

These two were the first to get together. They were apprentices at the same time for about a moon before Tigerclaw earned his full name. While Whitepaw and Tigerpaw were best friends, it didn't take long for Redpaw and Tigerpaw to grow close too. Within three moons of Redtail and Willowpelt's warrior ceremony, the toms quietly but happily became mates.

Redtail admired Tigerclaw's strength and vision, while Tigerclaw was drawn to Redtail's intentional optimisim and dedication to his family. They brought out each other's best qualities (cheesy, I know). Tigerclaw tended to focus too much on a glorious future while Redtail was full of anxious what-ifs — but they kept each other grounded in the present.

They were together only a few moons when the truth about Thistleclaw was revealed to the Clan. Whitestorm, Tigerclaw, and the three siblings had become warriors within the past year and were still close enough. They closed ranks quickly; as Thistleclaw’s son, apprentice, victim, and siblings . . . there were eyes on all of them. Thistleclaw was put immediately under strict and constant supervision while ThunderClan decided what to do with him, and he still,, managed to get in a skirmish and die like a loser before anything happened. (Not going into too much detail about this, but I will at some point because it's important to me and the gang's story)

And they lived happily ever after until the divorce :)) more on that later :))

now for runningred(tiger)...

While Redtail was attracted to Tigerclaw first because of his character, it was different with Runningwind. Redtail realized one day that huh, that lanky tabby is actually sort of cute, couldn't stop the thought from developing, had a bit of a crisis, then talked to Tigerclaw.

Long story short (bear with me, I'm still working on Runningwind's character pre-Sandstorm) — Redtail intentionally pursued and got to know Runningwind with Tigerclaw's blessing. Of course, there were challenges as Runningwind reciprocated Redtail's feelings and a new dynamic developed. But they were all happy, and Runningwind and Tigerclaw maintained a good friendship over their mutual partner.

the rest <3

Eight moons before Rusty joined ThunderClan, Redtail gave birth to Sandkit and her littermates. Unfortunately, only Sandkit survived, which was hardest on Tigerclaw. Redtail stayed in the nursery with her until she was weaned enough for him to return to his deputy duties, at which point Runningwind took over as nursery parent.

All seemed to be going well from the outside, but Tigerclaw and Redtail started fighting more after Sandkit was born. Redtail was never fully blind to Tigerclaw's more violent tendencies, but trusted and encouraged his mate to do what was good. Especially after seeing what came of Thistleclaw. Still, having a kit of their own opened Redtail's eyes to what Tigerclaw was truly becoming, even with Redtail and Runningwind at his side — and it scared him.

When Sandkit was only four moons old, Redtail was surprised to find that he was pregnant again. This spurred him to truly break it off with Tigerclaw. He still loved him, very much so, but the relationship was not good for either of them at that point. Redtail did not keep Tigerclaw from their kits, but he did make the stipulation that their time together had to be under supervision.

Time passed, and Sandkit became Sandpaw around the same time her brothers were born. Swiftkit (named by Runningwind, clearly) and Lynxkit were certainly bulkier than their older sister and both survived until apprenticehood — but that's a topic for a later date.

Also for later is the, y'know, murder. Because Runningwind may be spared from Tigerclaw's teeth, but Redtail was not. Still, they were happy while they lasted, and their legacy, both good and bad, continues on through their kits.

aight that's all for now ^^ i've got descriptions of the three kits plus a leopardfoot design queued up so be on the lookout for those! byee

[epickiya722]

For the commentary can I get this passage from Blissfully Clueless? (Jin and Kenjaku fic) Thank you!!

"We wanted at least one child together, you know. Or do you? You possess her body. Do you have her memories? Memories of me and her discussing having a baby? Memories of when we found out we couldn't and the pain we went through?"

Kenjaku sees that curiosity in his eyes and wonders. He seemed so...

"Usually, humans aren't this calm and collected about their loved ones being possessed. It's a taboo practice."

"I know that. I just seen things that not a lot of other people have. Kaori had... abilities. But she didn't scare me. Loved her too much to even care."

"And I do?"

"Did. You did scare me, at first. But I got used to you. I accepted that you're not my Kaori. She didn't sew. You sew pretty good."

Kenjaku was a little taken back by that. It isn't often a compliment or two its thrown her way. Especially, not one on such an ordinary skill.

"You've noticed?"

He nods with a smile. It's a small one, but it's genuine.

"Yuuji's baby blanket. The one in his crib. It's yellow with a tiger on it. I don't recall ever picking one up like it. But I remember seeing yellow fabric in your hands once."

He takes his finger from Yuuji and holds out his hands for the baby. Kenjaku gently passes him over. The sky had gotten darker. Jin stands up, cradling Yuuji close to his chest in his arms. Kenjaku sees how his eyes shine when he looks at the baby. Even in the darkness, there's a light she sees.

"I hate you for imposing as my wife. I hate myself for allowing it. I was... I am a selfish, weak man. I just wanted to feel Kaori again. When I see her again, I hope she forgives me." Jin's words are venomous, yet he smiles as if Kenjaku is just as precious as the child to him. "I hate you, but I thank you for Yuuji. I thank you for allowing me to have time with him. To love him before you kill me."

[I talked a bit about this fic before in this post. Feel free to check it out!]

[Find Blissfully Clueless here!]

Ooh, this part probably was the hardest bit to write.

The overall idea of the fic just came spontaneously. Around that time, I was doing rereads of the manga and from the fandom I would often see Jin be unaware of Kenjaku pretending to be Kaori, a little naïve and/or them having a loving relationship and he is aware but doesn't care and I just decided why not write my own interpretation of what their relationship could be like?

None of it was actually planned, like a lot of my works, I just let the words. Come to me.

That part was hard because as I was making up words on the fly, I aimed to make Jin feel like... human. Like a man who is living in this fantasy to run away from his grief, but at the same time knows how wrong it is and feels he's betraying Kaori.

It's what made that particular part hard. I wanted to make this version of Jin different from what I normally had see but not seem out of place. Jin doesn't really have a concrete personality in canon just like Kaori, so it was like working with unprepared clay, a blank canvas.

With Kenjaku, it was the first time I wrote a fic where they were one of the main characters of it, so I wasn't used to writing them. Especially, when they're Kaori. I imagined how Kaori would be and geared Kenjaku's portrayal of her in an almost opposite direction.

The bit about the tiger baby blanket. For example! I have a headcanon that Kenjaku can sew given the whole stitches thing and in a motherly, twisted way I could see them making a blanket for Yuji. The color isn't random either. I went with yellow to reflect that's the color of Yuji's first hoodie we see him in.

This is actually just hitting me that it's perfect for this fic because yellow is often associated with optimism, with happiness. Jin wants to be happy with his family. He's happy that he at least got a son to love.

Yellow also means cowardice. Can even mean betrayal. Jin expresses he felt scared of Kenjaku and feels he's betraying Kaori.

Past me is a genius! 😆

The tiger part is also intentional. Yuji has the nickname "Tiger of West Middle" so I knew I had to throw it in there.

Speaking of Yuji, other thought also came to me, but this bit reminds me of Yuji's speech to Mahito. Just like Yuji in that scene, Jin admits to turning a blind eye, not wanting to face the reality. He expresses hatred towards Kenjaku and accepts his fate just as Yuji does to Mahito (who oddly enough has stitches).

Hard as it may have been, I enjoyed writing this fic since it made me feel better, as I wasn't having a good day that time, and it was another fic I felt like I did my best on.

Commentary Ask Game

[luis-block]

General Kallamar Headcanons ⚔️💙

⚔️Kallamar can put off the intimidation and bite of a tiger shark. That is until you question his actual power and capabilities as a leader, then his defensive wall comes down with little resistance. He will always have this front in the presence of his followers and most of the general population, all of which have no interest in seeing if the rumors of his weak will are true.

⚔️Has trouble saying no to his loved ones, as he wishes to please those closest to him. Has the hardest time saying no to Heket and you by far. Heket is mostly out of fear of her becoming angry at him, as her temper is easy to set off. But with you, it’s out of wanting to make you happy. You have never taken advantage of his need to provide and care for you, a fact which He appreciates greatly.

“Ah, you wish to go swimming again Dear? ... Well, I suppose a quick one wouldn’t hurt, hm?”

⚔️Likes his spaces to be quiet and calm in nature. I imagine he can get overwhelmed in large or load events. So when he is able to he likes his temple to be as calm as possible. It is said by his followers that often you can hear the waves rolling over the temple like a siren’s song, tempting you to join his branch of the Old Faith.

⚔️Practicing weaponry is Kallamar’s favorite thing to do in his free time. He has a large collection of weaponry from times long forgotten. This collection is meticulously maintained, and few are allowed in to see the gorgeous show of armory.

⚔️He will insist on teaching you how to battle if you don’t know how to already. He has the most knowledge of weapons out of his siblings and would have extra weapons your size, so you always have one.

(He will adamantly deny getting these just for you, he did just have them laying around. He swears!!) But will never reject soft kisses in thanks. 💙

[bonefall]

random thought: it would be rlly interesting if tigerclaw was the sibling of Redtail and Spottedleaf. It would probably ROYALLY mess up the family trees (I don’t know enough about them to know how) but him justifying their deaths would be really interesting

Sorry anon, can't do that one!! I actually specifically un-fucked the family tree so that they'd stop being so related. Canon randomly retconned, YEARS later, that Spottedleaf and Redtail were HIS AUNCLES in Spottedleaf's Heart!! Younger siblings of Leopardfoot!

AWFUL decision because Spottedleaf and Tigerclaw are flirting in the first book of TPB and they just forgot that 💀

They actually retconned in that like all of ThunderClan comes from Adderfang x Swiftbreeze, or Robinwing x Fuzzypelt, and those two couples smashed the kneecaps of canon's genetic diversity.

SO; in the Bonefall Rewrite, I blew them up with dynamite. I've made some changes since this point, but here's the previous draft of my ThunderClan family tree.

(Next draft changes: One-eye is going to become the grandparent of Mousefur and Runningwind. Patchpelt is getting woman-beamed to become the mother of Willowpelt. Speckletail is orphaned again, pending shuffles)

BUT ANYWAY; back to THIS ask.

I fixed in a way as to preserve the original canon, where Spottedleaf and Tigerclaw are canonically flirting, not the uncomfortable retcon of a years-younger book I do not respect.

Spottedleaf and Redtail are now the children of Rosetail! Their father is unknown but DEFINITELY not a Clan cat. Rosetail wanted 0% chance of the sire ever being involved. Their uncle Thistleclaw does not like this, seeing them as halfclan, but he can't do shit about it because Bluestar and her deputy Thrushpelt are in power.

Spotty was a really good friend of Tigerclaw's growing up, they even had a mutual crush. It broke Tiger's heart when she realized her calling was medicine, but they remained close.

When Tigerclaw's mom died of a horrible plague, less than a year before Firepaw joined ThunderClan, Spotty was actually there to help him with his grief. Her death in that raid was one of the hardest "things that happened," but Tigerclaw is willing to sacrifice anything for power.

Even his lifelong friend.

[lorenfangor]

actually here’s my list of Alternative Battle Morphs that I wish had gotten used

Jake: either he gets to keep the jaguar from 11 and alternates between that and his tiger or he finds a way to make the Howler morph battle-viable and keeps it as an ace up his sleeve; I sort of feel like this is basic because the Howler in particular is something people wish he’d use all the time

Rachel: I kind of think it would be neat if she switched the grizzly bear for the polar bear mid-series, or else if she’d stayed with the elephant as a primary and kept the ursine option open in an emergency

Tobias: why doesn’t he use a Hork-Bajir battle morph more often?

Cassie: wolf this and wolf that but honestly? Honestly? I want to see what she could do with the leopard from 19. If I’m sticking to canonical morphs she has, obviously polar bear is up there (and I love the idea of her and Rachel fighting back to back) but I’m also on Team Chimpanzee.

Marco: he’s honestly the hardest because he’s the least adventurous morpher, and the morph he has that I think would be useful in a fight (cobra) is really limited, but I’d still like to see more stealth and assassin work using one-hit kills, and Marco’s strategizing and planning would work well with something like a cobra’s glass cannon stats

Ax: if I gave him a battle morph based on what he got in canon it would be a bull. Intact bulls are fucking dangerous and he deserves to lose it now and again.

[bethanythebogwitch]

Welcome back to my series discussing the real-life inspirations for all legendary and mythical Pokémon. Today I’ll be covering gen II. For previous entries see gen I, all starters, all fish, and all non-fish aquatics.

The legendary beasts were a first in in the series for being legendary Pokémon that are actually the subject of legend. They were three Pokémon who were killed in the brass tower burned down, but were then resurrected by Ho-Oh. Each one represents one of the events involved in the burning of the tower. I personally like the theory that they were the gen I eeveeloutions before being revived. While the beasts are very cool, I don’t know if I can forgive them for introducing the roaming legendaries mechanic to the game. I’m going to hold off on covering the paradox beasts for now because I haven’t decided if I’m going to cover the paradox Pokémon at all and we haven’t seen paradox Entei yet.

Raikou is electric type and represents the lightning that struck the brass tower and started the fire. It’s also definitely the least utilized of the beasts. Entei gets a movie and Suicune gets to be a cover legendary but poor Raikou gets left behind. Anyway, it’s based on the raijū, a creature from Shinto mythology. The Raijū is the companion of Raijin, the god of thunderstorms. It is normally calm and peaceful, but during storms it will fly around as a ball of lightning and its roars sound like thunder. It is normally depicted as a dog or wolf, but can also be depicted as a huge variety of animals and mythical creatures. That’s pretty much a dead ringer for Raikou, but there’s still more. Raikou may also draw form the Nue, a chimera from Japanese mythology that is usually described as at least part tiger and can transform into a cloud and go flying around. In terms of real-life inspirations, Raikou is also based on Smilodon, the most famous genus of saber-toothed cats. These are commonly called saber-toothed tigers, which fits with Raikou being yellow (which is kind of like orange) with black stripes. Raikou’s shiny also makes it look more tiger-like.

(image: a depiction of a raijū as an abstract beast not clearly resembling any real animal. The source given fro this image was Ban Koko's Kanda-Jihitsu but when I looked that up the only references I could find to that work were the citations attached to this image)

(image: paleoart of a Smilodon depicting it as a large, thick-bodied cat with a short tail, brownish coat covered in spots, and protruding fangs from its mouth. Source)

Entei is fire type and represents the fire that burned down the brass tower. It looks like a combination short-muzzled dog and big cat and is based heavily on Barong, a heroic panther spirit from Balinese mythology. Barong is the leader of the forces of good who battles the demon queen Rangda in a struggle between good and evil. Entei’s shagginess around the head and neck resembles a lion’s mane and lions are associated with strength in many cultures. There is also a connection between lions and fire as in alchemy, a lion is used as a symbol representing the sun. Dogs also feature in Entei’s character design, especially saint bernards, who are large, strong, and shaggy dogs with shorter muzzles. Entei’s design is meant to look like an erupting volcano, with its fur being the base of the volcano, the plates on its back being rock broken open, the smoke emerging from its back being smoke, and its red and yellow facial markings being lava.

(image: a Balinese statue or effigy of Barong, depicting it as a large quadruped covered in shaggy fur with a cat-like face and decorated with a crown and jewlery)

Suicune is water type and represents the rain that extinguished the brass tower’s fire. It’s the hardest one to pin down a relationship to a real animal, but the designer said it was designed with leopards in mind. The leopard design plus Suicune’s connection to the north wind references Fūjin, the Shinto god of the wind, who wears a leopard skin. Fūjin and Raijin are commonly seen together, giving a close relationship between Suicune and Raikou. Suicune’s mane looks like an aurora and its ribbon-like tails move in a way that seems like waves or gusts of wind. Mythologically, Suicune draws from the qilin, a mythical Chinese creature. Descriptions of the qilin vary, but they are always depicted as ungulates (hooved animals) and in many stories can walk on top of water like Suicune. Chinese qilins are usually depicted as draconic and may have one or two horns. Suicune splits the difference by having two horns that fuse together. The Japanese version of the qilin, the kirin, is usually depicted as more deer-like, which more closely fits the clearly mammalian Suicune.

(image: a stature of a qilin at the Summer Palace in Beijing. It depicted as a quadruped with a horde-like body plan and hooves, but reptilian scales. its head looks cat-like, with a beard, long barbels from the snout, and small antlers)

The tower duo started the trend of having version-exclusive legendaries on the box art of the games. Despite this, legendarries being important to the plot wasn’t a thing until gen III, therefore the tower duo don’t have as much attention and lore as the box art legendaries that would follow. In theory they are both birds and their name comes from how they used to roost on top of the bell tower and brass tower until the brass tower burned down, causing them to leave. They are also both related to a legendary trio, with Ho-Oh being the creator of the legendary beasts and Lugia being made into a mediator for the legendary birds by the 2nd movie.

Lugia is one of the most iconic legendary Pokémon as well as one of the weirdest. It is really hard to pin down what this thing is supposed to be. Lugia is the guardian of the sea and is associated with storms and the color silver. While it normally lives underwater, Lugia can breathe air as and fly. It is notoriously classified as a flying type and not a water type. Lugia really should be water/flying instead of psychic/flying. Lugia was designed for the 2nd movie and the designer was surprised to find out it got added to the games as well. What exactly Lugia is is a hard question to answer. It looks a bit like a short-necked plesiosaur or a penguin, which fits it being aquatic. Its name and color might come from beluga whales. Another possible source is Bahamut, a gigantic, monstrous fish from pre-Islamic Arabian mythology that was one of multiple creatures that carried around the world. An older name for Bahamut is Lutīyā, which certainly sounds like Lugia. Lugia looks vaguely draconic and may be based on Ryūjin, the Shinto sea god who was a dragon that lived at the bottom of the sea.

(image: the painting Princess Tamatori Steals Ryujin's Jewels by Utagawa Kuniyoshi. Ryujin is depicted as a serpentine, wingless dragon emerging from a wave)

Together with Ho-Oh, Lugia represent duality, which is frequently symbolized as a dragon and a phoenix. The dragon represents masculinity and yang while the phoenix represents femininity and yin.

As mentioned above, the theme of duality represented by the dragon and the phoenix inspired the tower duo. Lugia is the dragon while Ho-Oh is the phoenix. Or rather, it is the fenghuang, the immortal bird of Chinese legend that often gets translated to English as “phoenix”. The Japanese name for the fenghuang is hōō, which is pronounced the same as Ho-Oh. Both are said to have many colored feathers like Ho-Oh. While the fenghuang is sometimes associated with fire, the fire and immortality aspect of Ho-Oh seem to come from the western phoenix, famous for rising from its own ashes after death. Ho-Oh likely does this too as the Sacred Ashes item is apparently Ho-Oh’s ashes and can restore your party members from fainting. Pheonixes are often used to symbolize immortality and rebirth, which fits with Ho-Oh raising the legendary beasts from the dead. Other possible inspirations include the Slavic firebird or the three-legged crow.

(image: a statue of a fenghuang from Nanning, China. It depicts a perched bird with a long neck and head crest pointing backwards. Its tail is that of a peacock's)

If Celebi had debuted after gen 6, it definitely would have been a fairy type because it is heavily based on fairies, nature spirits, and other mythical creatures. Celebi is based on nature spirits like the Greek dryads and Japanese kodama, but primarily the idea of kami. In the Japanese religion of Shinto, every object has an associated spirit or god called a kami that embodies that object. Celebi being a forest spirit and being found in a Shinto shrine clearly indicates that it is a kami if the forest, presumably Ilex Forest as that’s where its shrine is found. Celebi’s time traveling ability is likely a refence to fairy stores where someone will visit the land of the fairies for a little while, only to find out that years if not decades or centuries have passed in the brief time they were there. Or they may spend years there to find only minutes have passed back on Earth. Celebi’s physical appearance is a fairy mixed with a plant bulb. It’s worth noting that Celebi’s beta design clearly drew form Kokopelli,a god of trickery, fertility, and music worshipped amongst some Native American tribes of the southwest US. A depiction of Kokopelli has become a common symbol in the southwest US.

(images: left: three beta sprites for Celebi, with the first being an all-black silhouette of a cartoonish humanoid blowing a flute with long appeandages emerging from the back of the head, the second being a similar creature with short limbs and no flute now colored mostly orange, and the third being almost identical to the finished Celebi design. Right: the common modern depiction of Kokopelli, an all-black humanoid silhouette blowing a flute with multiple appeandages emerging from the back of the head.)

[wilsons-striped-ties]

april tc challenge (days 1-30 one shot)

original post here!

1. does your tc have a catchphrase or something they say a lot?

no but he does use "eh" a lot to start his sentence or to refer to people HAHA but there are some phrases he will just repeat in the exact same tone and way like "i don't know" when he's teasing someone

2. what’s your favourite memory with your tc?

i think when i gave him cupcakes on his birthday? the look of surprise on his face was priceless

3. have you dreamt about them? if so, what’s the best dream you’ve had?

yup, i think it was a dream where he asked to take a picture with me LOL i don't really dream about him

4. if you could move away with them, where would you move to? would you bring anyone else?

anywhere he wants to HAHAH it can just be the two of us <3

5. do you know their star sign? are your star signs compatible?

yeah he's a cancer and im a taurus and apparently we're very compatible

6. have they ever given you a gift? if so, what?

he gave our class personalized handwritten notes for graduation!

7. have you ever given your tc a gift?

just gave him a note and baked brownies for him today, i also gave him cookies and more notes and also cupcakes for his birthday!

8. what’s their best physical feature?

his dimples hehe maybe his smile too

9. what’s their best personality trait?

hes really thoughtful and sweet actually, quite sensitive too :'

10. what subject do they teach? do they teach you?

HISTORY yeah he taught me for years three and four

11. how old are they? what’s the age gap between you?

not sure of his age but our age gap is confirm above twenty years

12. if they could teach another subject, what do you think they’d teach?

he used to teach english too but he does just seem like a history teacher

13. have you ever hugged? what was it like?

I WISHHHHHHHHHHHH

14. what’s your dream date with them?

i would love to just go on a walk with him and hold hands or go to a museum or something!!

15. do you have any pictures with them? if so, when from? and if not, do you think you’ll be able to get a picture with them?

i just took a picture with him, i have at least six pictures with him i think, i always grab a picture when i see him HAHAHA

16. is your tc single? do they have any kids? or pets?

married with three kids, not sure about the pets (i offer as tri-*gunshots*)

17. does your tc remind you of any characters, whether they’re from a book, tv show or film etc.?

not sure HAHAHA

18. what’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve said or done in front of your tc? did they notice?

oh gosh the other time i served him the wrong coffee order cause i worked at my high school canteen for a bit HAHAHAHA

19. what colour do you associate your tc with?

dark blue, dark red, black, gold, brown

20. is your tc a good teacher?

THE BEST

21. can you remember the last thing you said to your tc or that they said to you?

"bye mr passion fruit" "bye, take care"

(this was today when i was leaving after teachers day)

22. how do you cope when you really miss your tc?

i write about him, look at our pictures, reminisce about some memories HAHAA

23. what animal does your tc remind you of?

i have no idea, tiger maybe?? in my head he's the most beautiful hurricane though. he'd be a really beautiful, complex animal but elegant and sleek too, but mischievous at the same time... maybe a fox? wolf? folf? HAHAHAH

24. if actors had to play you and your tc in a movie, who would you cast as yourself and who would you cast as them? why?

woah im not sure about that, i feel it's hard to play him and i have no idea about myself too whoops

25. what’s your favourite outfit of theirs?

his black/dark blue dress shirts? he always wears the same stuff

26. do you stay in contact outside of school? if so, how? (email, text, letters etc.)

yeah, text

27. in your opinion, what’s the hardest thing about having a tc?

the delusions and waking up to reality... the urge to do something to further your relationship but the fear and legal matters :'

28. do you flirt with your tc? do they flirt back?

I HAD A CHANCE TO BUT CHICKENED OUT i just do it subtly, he does tease me a little though

29. if you could ask your tc absolutely anything and get a completely honest response, what would you ask them?

what cologne did he used to use cause it smelt insanely nice

30. how do you think your tc would react if you told them your feelings?

i don't know... i think he'd just wave it off or maybe smile and look away and scold me or something maybe?

[learnplants]

Today's plant is very special! I mean they all are, but this one more so! This plant is called "Pteridium Aquilinum" but more commonly called brake fern or bracken! It's a plant that's native to the UK, but can live literally everywhere except for Antarctica!

In terms of conditions to live in, Bracken doesn't care! It's been found in the middle of forests, road verges, bogs and swamps, on the coast, in land, anywhere! It doesn't care about pH, soil type, amount of sunlight, wind etc!

It looks quite different from regular plants as well! Bracken grows great big green fronds that are divided and alternate down the stem! New fronds grow from the base of the plant, unfurling as it goes until it stands upright at about 2 metres tall and 1 metres wide! However, it doesn't last! In the colder months of autumn and winter, the fronds turn a brownish-red and die back down to the base, but if it's still warm enough, they'll stay for the winter!

The stem, or for the more fancy term, the "Rachis", looks hairy as it grows and pushes up in the spring to help form the fronds! The root system, or the "Rhizome" grows about a metre downwards but can spread out over hundreds of metres, allowing a large area of bracken to actually be a single plant!

Here's the most unusual thing about bracken, it does NOT produce seeds! It instead uses a much older method of spreading young plants... Spores! Like a fungus! They collect in these spore cases called "sporangia" underneath the fronds and let the wind carry the spores out! How cool!

Bracken provides good nesting material for birds and provides cover for amphibians, birds, reptiles and mammals! Fritillary butterflies love bracken, and are usually seen flying about them in April all the way to mid-August! It's also a good source for a massive variety of moth caterpillars, such as the garden tiger and the orange swift!

In mythology, Bracken is mentions many times over! For example, there's a legend that says if you hold the spore on st Johns eve, you'll become invisible, which is even referenced in William Shakespeares Henry V! It's also thought that witches hate bracken because if you cut the stem in half, it makes the greek letter for X, which was a symbol of Christ!

Uses now a days include culinary! Some Asian countries will eat the young fronds like vegetables or in a soup! But this is very risky, you'd bracken fronds contain Hydrogen Cyanide, which as you can probably guess from the cyanide, is not very healthy! You can get very very sick and possibly die from it, so it's probably best not to try it yourself! It even contains some carcinogens that can cause throat and stomach cancer! Other than poisonous food, it can be burned for ash to make glass and soap or it can be used a fertiliser!

Bracken doesn't have any pest or disease issues, but it does however cause issues for other plants! Because bracken is so damn good at growing, due to it's massive root system and it's use of spores, it tends to completely dominate it's environment! Which means we all need to try our hardest to maintain our ancient forests, by donating or otherwise supporting organisations that do this, such as the woodland trust in the UK!

Overall, Pteridium Aquilinum, or Bracken, is a very unique plant that grows massive, and causes a fair amount of disruption to forests! But without any more delay, here it is!

[clanofjones]

Ghosts of Our Days - Chapter Eleven

Ao3

<- Previous

Next ->

Chapter Eleven: Two's a Company, Three is a Crime

TW: Homophobic language and semi-graphic descriptions of murder.

A/N: Co-written with @theosb0rnway :)

Casey Jones never took the day off, that was a fact set deep in stone. If evil never slept, then neither did she, but this was different. 

He needed a day to process the idea that his boyfriend was not just a corpse in an icy coffin, but a being, a SPIRIT, that only Casey could see. He slept mostly, residing on top of the ice box while Raph watched her from afar, hesitant to make a move and not wanting to scare or piss off his lover. He didn't want to be double dead. 

The next day was far more productive, and Casey seemed to be in a much better mood after his almost day-long rest. The duo sat at the little coffee table in the middle of the room, Casey writing down ideas for his next moves against Shredder while Raph played with his ghostly sais. 

Who knew that whatever you had on your person also went with you to the next life? Raph didn't know much, or used to care much, about death, thinking he was some invincible force that even when battling Oroku Saki as Super Shredder could not be defeated, but now, here he was, thoroughly defeated. 

He was dead, and he was spiritually attached to the prettiest lunatic on planet Earth whose only current goal was to kill Super Shredder, not something normal like taking a shower or eating a meal that wasn't packaged. It was an issue, sure, but then again, to Hamato Raphael, Casey Jones was the definition of putting the 'hot' in psychotic. 

Said hot lunatic was actually being productive, scribbling some ideas down that Raphael surprisingly approved of. 

Ways to get that bastard's attention: 

Don't? Nah, that's no fun 

Bomb the old mansion 

Karai? 

Take down Tiger Face 

Fish Face 

Wolf Dude 

Beat the shit outta Hun! 

There was a giant scribbled star by the last one, making it officially Casey's favorite choice, despite it loosely having to deal with Shredder. Off to the side, there were little drawings of Casey using various weapons to kill Shredder and his Foot goons, which Raphael tried to ignore as best he could. Then something else popped into the scheming vigilante's mind, a way to get not only Shredder's attention, but the entire city's. A way to make himself truly known. It was a... different idea, but Casey knew she had to throw it out there. For all he knew, Raph might actually like it. 

"Hey, Raphie?" 

"Yeah, babe?"

"...What 'bout goin' after a cop?"

"A cop?" Raph didn't seem angry, which was a good sign. 

"Yeah! Get us actual attention from all the cameras and reporters and shit cause killin' the Foot ain't doin' nothin'." 

"Wait, you wanna... kill a cop?" Casey looked at Raph like the answer was the most obvious thing in the world, which it was. 

"Duh! Hurting one won't do anything!" 

"Casey, I agree that it'll get us the attention we need, but if we do that, it's gonna get us attention from EVERYWHERE. We're gonna have to be way more careful about what we do and how we're see- how you're seen." 

"So you're... not mad?" Is that really what Casey was focused on right now? 

"'Course I'm not mad, Case! Cops are assholes-" 

"Damn right!" 

"But we also gotta focus on keeping you safe. I know you can pull off the job, but the hardest part is making sure whatever they send after you doesn't find you." 

"I can handle it, Raphie. I hate you always rainin' on my parade, sayin' I can't do things like you can. Not like this is my first time dealing with pigs." 

"I'm not 'raining on your parade', babe, I'm just scared you can't do this by yourself." 

"Casey Jones wo-" 

"I know, I know! 'Casey Jones works better alone', but you can't work at all if you're caught, or worse, killed!" Casey sighed, but from behind her mask, he looked like he was in thought, chewing at her bottom lip. 

"Alright, I'll listen to you, just this once. So whaddya think I should do after I off the guy? Or lady? Or... what's a word for not a dude or a girl?" 

Raph did a facepalm. "It's just a cop, Case, Jesus Christ." 

"Yeah, you're right. But what should I do after I off the pig?" 

"Lay low. Before you do it, we should go out one last time for food and supplies, stuff that'll last us at least a month or so."

"A month? Hope they got those dumb little number puzzles at the store cause I'm gonna need 'em." 

"Sudokus, and yeah. Ya know ya' got me too, babe." 

"I know, but now that I can't pin ya down, I've gotta find other ways to keep busy." 

Raph swore he could hear Casey smirk and blushed a little, not that he could tell.

"I'm gonna need paint too, and I might... I'm gonna try to stop by my place, get clothes, money stash, firepower, all that." 

"Alright." 

"Raph?" 

"Yeah?" 

"...C-Can I let her see me? She's good at keepin' secrets, she doesn't know 'bout what we do, there's no way they could tie me to her if we're careful-" 

"Yeah. Tell her Mr. Turtle says he loves her, okay?" "Course, baby. I know she loves you too, a lot. Oh god, she has no idea that you-" 

Raph put a hand on Casey's shoulder and grimaced at her natural flinch. "Sorry. Look, don't tell her, it'll break her little heart and nobody wants that." 

"I wasn't going to, I'm not gonna hurt my baby sis like that, she's everything I've got left! A-and I left her all alone with Arnold... oh FUCK ME!" Casey slammed her fist down on the table and Raph could hear her crying underneath the mask. 

"It'll be okay, Case, I promise." 

"Will it though?" 

"If we get it done right, yeah. It'll be fuckin awesome." 

"You promise?" 

"I promise, dumbass." 

"Thanks, Raphie boy." 

"No problem, Casey baby." Raph put his arms around Casey, and even though she couldn't exactly do the same, he still tried his best. Casey broke the "hug" standing up slowly and stretching herself out. 

"Ugh! That fuckin table's so low, it's more of a pain in my back than Donnie!" Raph snorted, standing up through the table. 

"So where to, master planner? 

"First thing's first!" She smiled through the mask, "I need the rest my gear." It seems Raph had more experience breaking into Casey's house than she did, knowing how to climb onto the ledge and unlock the window so they could slip inside. Casey's room hadn't changed one bit, if you don't count the smell being fifty times worse. Given that it was 1 am, Arnold was fast asleep on the couch, and poor Angel was in the room right next to Casey's, no doubt breathing in that godawful smell and wondering when her brother would come back. 

Casey opened the door to the living room, sneaking quietly past Arnold and into Angel's room. He closed the door behind her, softly speed walking over to her little sister's bed. "Angel?" He ran a gloved hand through her hair and watched as the young girl opened her eyes. She seemed scared, and Casey realized it was because of the mask. "It's me, Ange, it's me!" He flipped the mask up to show off his real face for the first time in months. No paint, no skulls, no nothing, just Casey Jones. 

"CA'EY!" Angel whisper-screamed, getting up and jumping into her brother's arms for a hug. 

"Shhh! Gotta be quiet, lil sis! Don't want Dad to hear me, kay?" The girl nodded, a huge grin still stuck on her face. 

"I miss you, Ca'ey! Miss you lot!" 

"Me too, Angel, me too." He started to cry, Angel's grin dropping as she heard her sister start to sob. 

"Why you cryin', Ca'ey? Don' be sad!" 

"I'm not sad, I'm happy! I'm cryin' cause I love you, kiddo. I'm so sorry I left you here, I didn't want to, I didn't mean to, you don't deserve this!" 

They stayed like that for another few minutes, hugging while Casey cried, before Angel asked, "Where you go, big bro? Can I come too?" 

Casey shook his head. "No way. Casey had to go somewhere far away to keep you safe, and I gotta go back again until I'm done with my job." 

"Wha' job, Ca'ey?" 

"Somebody hurt me really bad and so I'm gonna hurt them really bad too. Remember how I taught you that? If somebody hurts you-" 

"You hurt ‘em too!" 

"Exactly! That's exactly right, baby sis!" 

Angel giggled, smiling up at her big sister. "When you gonna come back?" 

"Soon, Angie, soon. I promise. I'll be back as soon as I can be and then I'll never leave again! I pinky swear!" 

"You pinky swear?"

"Always." They locked pinkies and bumped foreheads, making Casey's promise something he could no longer break, not that she ever intended to break it. 

"Ca'ey? Where's Mista Turtle?" Casey's breath hitched and he quickly looked behind him to see Raph standing there, silently staring at him and nodding. 

"He's... he's back at my safe place, he's doin' alright. Want me to say hi to him for ya?" 

"Yeah! Mista Turtle gonna come back too, Ca'ey?" 

"Of course he is! We're both gonna come back as soon as we can!" He hated lying to Angel about that, but it was the best he could do for now. He couldn't bear to ever tell her the truth, it was too much. 

"He told me to tell you that he loves you VERY much and that he misses your stupid tea parties." 

"They're not stupid!" 

"Hey, tell that to him, not me! I love 'em!" 

"Yay! And I love YOU Ca'ey!" 

"Me too, lil sis." He paused. "Hey, Angel? You gotta promise me something now, alright?" 

"What is it, Ca'ey?" She bounced up and down on her bed with excitement. 

"If you see me on the TV, or hear about me from the bad people in blue, you CAN NOT tell them anything about me, okay baby sis?" 

Angel nodded seriously. "Ca'ey in trouble?" 

"Big BIG trouble." 

"Uh oh! I keep Ca'ey safe from evil people! I help you, big bro!" 

Casey smiled, a fresh wave of tears dripping down his face. "Thank you SO much, Angel, I love you, okay baby?" 

"I love you too Ca'ey! So SO SO SO MUCH!" 

"You go back to sleep now, okay?" 

"Okay... Are you gonna sleep too, Ca'ey?"

"In a little bit, yeah. I gotta do a few things first, but then I'm gonna go back and get some sleep with Mr. Turtle!" 

"Yay! Casey look sleepy, Casey need sleep!" 

"I will, Ange, I will. Can you go back to sleep okay or you need me here for a bit?" 

"Can Ca'ey stay?" 

"Of course. I'll always stay for you, Angel Jones." He sat down next to the bed as Angel tucked herself into the covers. 

"Love you, Ca'ey..." 

"Love you too, Angel." It took Angel about three minutes to fall asleep with Casey rubbing her back. The vigilante stood up, slipped his mask back on, and walked back into his own room, Raph following quickly behind her. 

"Ya gonna get some sleep now, Case?" 

"No. Gotta do a few more things." 

"You heard Angel-" 

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her." 

He grabbed a giant plastic bag from the corner of the room and started cleaning everything out. All the rotting food was thrown out the window, the clothes and weapons stuffed into a bag, posters yanked off the walls and shoved in as well. By the time the bag was full, the room looked like it had barely been occupied. 

"Let's go, Raphie. We got what we came for." 

"Whatever you say, Case." 

The duo made their separate jumps out the window and fled into the night. Now all they needed was just to get the rest of the supplies for the murder. Ah, Walmart. 

The place where you can go at 2 am and nobody, nobody, notices you, no matter how out of the ordinary you look. At least, the security doesn't notice. If Casey got a few odd looks from some equally creepy old ladies, she sure didn't give a flying fuck about it. 

As she picked out the biggest package of Sour Patch Kids he could find and put it in her basket, he noticed a little girl staring at him from behind her father's leg at the other end of the aisle. 

He wondered why the hell a little girl was in Walmart at 2 am, but once again, it was none of his business. He smiled and gave her a little wave, watching her gasp and wave back. 

"Casey, you don't need that." 

"Bite me, Raphie." He muttered under her breath. He walked past the little girl and gave her a wink from under the mask, smiling as she heard her talking to her very disinterested father. 

"Daddy! Daddy! The boy with the cool mask waved at me!"

 "Uh huh. Whatever you say, sweetie." 

Casey loved being herself. As she suspected, even with her blood covered clothes and dirtied skull mask, the dead eyed cashier didn't even seem to notice him. He'd just bought all the supplies for a molotov cocktail, homemade grenades, war paint, and some candy just for funsies and nobody cared!

Raph was right, stocking up on things before his next hit was totally paying off! Raph had been muttering to himself the whole time, Casey tuning him out as best she could. His negative attitude was totally burning a hole in his bad girl persona! 

He forked over some of the money she stole from the Foot goons to the cashier, who gave him a dead-eyed stare and accepted the bills. Casey doubted she would have spared a second glance if Raph, in all his ghostiness, had been visible to others, not only a mutant turtle, but also a semi-transparent ghost. Then again, the lady did work in customer service at Walmart in New York, she figured not much would surprise this lady. 

“Have a nice day– NIGHT! I meant night,” the cashier said, automatically course-correcting, eyes widening briefly as she blinked from the daze that must come with working such a long shift. 

“You too,” Casey said as she accepted some bags and exited. A soft ‘whoosh’ of air hit his face as she stepped out of the sliding glass doors with as much vindication as one could when one stepped over a door threshold. Idly, he realized he should probably get her hands on a car. Or at least figure out some mode of transportation other than his own gear. 

Shifting the bags into one hand as she walked into an alley, with Raph bobbing around her head, Casey fired his grappling hook. 

It caught in a more stable part of the ladder, in contrast to the part of the ladder close to the ground, which was mangled and bent all out of shape.

Casey kept to the edge, so that he ascended in a vertical climb to her stomping grounds. She had to fire her grappling hook twice, the second time impaling deep the ceiling of the small room he and Raph resided in, only ascending again after three light tugs confirmed that the brick wasn’t about to cave, and send Casey to an early grave. 

Any time before Oroku Saki’s grave was far too soon, she decided, spreading his newly bought wares on the floor. Investing in an actual table (or at least not a floor that was both freezing and almost definitely infested with any number of roaches and other bugs to make Raph die twice) wouldn’t be a bad idea either. 

She dumped the bags down on the ground, grabbing the bag he'd taken from his home and setting it down next to the first one and sitting down on the ground next to the coffee table. 

"C’mon Raphie! Don't be a stranger!" The turtle was hanging out towards the window, away from the short excuse for a table, slightly pissed that Casey had lied to Angel's face about getting a good night sleep. 

He begrudgingly walked over, not wanting to deny his lover, almost there when his foot fell through the floor. He thought he'd fixed this already! The angry terrapin could hear Casey's cackle as he pulled his foot from the floor, a growl leaving his throat. 

"Oh shut up." Casey stopped laughing for once, her face morphing into one of concern. 

"You okay, Raph?" Uh oh. Not Raphie, just Raph. That meant he was serious, and serious Casey Jones could sometimes be a scarier creature than the angry, insane, or even pissed sides of Casey Jones. 

"I'm fine, Case." 

"Raph. I know you're lyin', knucklehead. What's going on?" 

"Why'd you lie to Angel about sleeping?" 

"I didn't!" 

"Yeah, ya' clearly did!" 

"No way, man! As soon as I kill a cop, I'm coming back here and we can sleep on the ice box together! The two of us! It's really comfy once ya get adjusted to it!" Raph shook his head. 

At least Casey was serious about going to bed, that was a start. She still had a long way to go in terms of mental health, and if he was finally trying to get better, Raph wasn’t about to say no, even if it was sleeping on that godforsaken freezer box that his own fucking corpse was being kept in. 

"Alright. I'll sleep on the fuckin’ death box." Casey glared. 

"Don't call it that, asshole!" 

"Hey, my body box, my choice." Casey looked confused for a moment before shrugging. 

"I don't think the saying goes like that, but whatever, dude." Her face softened. "I'm sorry I yelled at you, Raphie. I didn't mean it, I promise."

"It's alright, Casey, I get it. You like it cause it's me in there, and you have your own way of coping. I should respect that. I DO respect it." 

"Thanks. That um... means a lot, babe." Raph could see a hint of an actual, genuinely sweet Casey Jones smile, taking the moment to sit down next to him, cup her cheeks, and kiss him softly what would be her lips under the mask. Casey gasped before pressing her lips to the inside of the mask. 

God, did he miss kissing Raph the normal way, pinning him against a wall, making out slowly until both of them were left breathless. She was pulled out of her thoughts as Raph broke the kiss, setting a pair of pants haphazardly on her lap. "Here." He pulled out a Sharpie too, and the older boy was impressed at how well he could hold it. 

"Woah! You weren't kidding when you said you could hold shit, babe! Holy macaroni, you're good!" 

They shared a laugh, Casey getting to work on redecorating the old pair of ratty gray jeans. Recreating his clothing took about an hour and a half, two Sharpies, a pair of scissors, half a braincell shared between them both, and an old burner phone playing Casey's "Battle Songs for Fucking Up Bitches" playlist. 

Putting on the newly acquired corpse paint took them another hour, Casey insisting on putting the white paint on herself first before Raph saw his face. By the end of it, his entire face, ears, neck, and forearms were covered in elaborate designs Raph took his sweet time making and touching up. Casey put on the first pair of redesigned jeans, slipping on a black long sleeved shirt before adding his Insane Clown Posse "Hatchetman" shirt on top of that. 

Her gear followed, then Raph with the bandana, and finally, the turtle lowered the skull mask over his love's face, finally readying her for the best part of the night. 

"You look beautiful, Casey Jones." 

"Thanks, Raphael Tomato." 

"Hamato." 

"Tomato, Hamato!" They let out a giggle before Casey started towards the door, taking the regular way out the building for once. It was time to go out and take down one of the worst threats to society. 

It wasn't hard for her to find a cop car just sitting around on some random street far enough away from the hideout that he wouldn't be chased back. Casey smirked to himself seeing the guy eating a donut through the side window. She pulled out his spray can, shaking it, letting the black paint attach itself to the wall, starting her latest masterpiece. That ugly bastard in his car didn't like that at ALL. 

He made the show of flashing his lights before hurriedly getting out of his car, cuffs in hand. 

"Hey kid! Drop the can and put your hands in the air! You're under arrest for vandalizing private property!" 

Casey continued to spray the paint, humming some random tune as he went. 

"Hey! Kid! Can you hear me? Kid!" 

"Oh, I heard you alright. I just don't listen to people as low in this world as you." He laughed. "I don't listen to assholes as evil as you." 

"Kid, the only one doing evil is you." He walked over to Casey and grabbed him by his freshly painted arm, causing Casey to flinch and whip around, hitting the cop dead in the face with the spray can. 

"Fuck off, grease-hands! My boyfriend just worked for two hours on that shit and I ain't lettin' a no good pig ruin all his hard work!" 

The cop stumbled back, blood falling from his nose and mouth. "Alright, ya little faggot," he pulled out the gun from his holster. "No more Mr. Nice Guy." 

Casey ducked as the shots fired, pulling out her own gun and shooting the cop in the leg. Unlike him, she never missed his targets. The cop screamed, falling to the ground as Casey pulled out his hockey stick. 

"Aw! Looks like Mr. Not So Nice Guy couldn't even beat up a fag like me! So sad!" 

The hockey stick swung down once, twice, five times, ten, until the pig was officially down on the ground. Then Casey pulled out a knife, relishing the look of horror on the cop's face as she stepped on top of him, kneeling on his chest and taking off her mask.

"I'm not even gonna lie, this is gonna fuckin hurt! Well, this is what you get for trying to arrest a lady just for makin' his art!" The cop looked mildly confused, but that was replaced by a wave of horror as the knife pressed against his skin. 

Casey gave him a false sense of security for two seconds before lifting it up and slashing his throat with one solid motion. 

"Go to hell, fag-" The cop choked out, his eyes wide as Casey watched the life slowly leave him. 

"How's it feel be killed by a fag? Cause it sounds pretty good to me!" As his head finally met the street, Casey could hear cheering from above him, seeing Raph on the rooftop and waving. 

"Look, Raphie! I did it!" He sounded like a kindergartener showing off their latest art project to their mom. 

"I know! I'm so proud of you, babe! Now hurry up with that paint, will ya?" 

Casey didn't waste another second, spreading the dead man's blood all over his gloved fingers and using it as a paint of its own. She alternated between spray can and blood, finishing up in a few minutes before going back to the cop and wiping the smeared corpse paint off his right hand. Raph smiled from above, so glad Casey remembered his rule about leaving no trace. 

Before she left, Casey went over to the car, opening it with his not bloody hand, and grabbed the half eaten donut from on top of the middle console. She climbed up the ladder to where Raph was waiting, gazing down upon her finished masterpiece. 

"It's perfect!" 

"Is that really one you're going with?" 

"Yeah, why?" 

"Alright, I just didn't know you were gonna do it." 

"But you like it?" 

“Of course I like it, Case, I love it! Let's get outta here." They spend the whole way home singing and laughing, Casey reminding himself to wash the blood off her glove so that no one could trace that lowlife's murder back to him. Oh, it really was a good night after all. 

Turtles POV 

The news was the only thing played on the TV anymore, much to Mikey's dismay, but Donnie controlled the living room now, so the TV was technically in his domain. 

The team was all piled up on the benches, sitting down to watch the 10 o'clock news like it was the newest superhero movie, popcorn, pizza, and all. 

"This is Channel 5 news, I'm Theresa Merdir. Breaking news, cop murdered on 5th and Walnut, killer leaves behind a disturbing message to all. Warning, this story contains images of gore and violence. Viewer discretion is advised." 

The group all looked at each other with worried expressions, save for Mikey who was focused solely on the TV. He gasped as the images were shown, many of the dead cop's wounds, but then they flipped to another chilling sight. Written on the cop's face in his own blood was: ‘Look up’, and the camera did exactly that, showing Casey's boldest artwork yet. April let out a gasp of her own. "Oh my god, Donnie, is that-'' 

Donnie looked equally horrified, he could only nod and whisper "It is." 

In a combination of cop's blood and spray paint was Casey's signature hockey mask next to tall, bold graffiti letters that read one single bone chilling word: "Skullshot."