ninja-go-to-therapy

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I wanna be a helpful member of society, but unfortunately, I really like Sonic 3

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rly like the headcanon of macaque not knowing how to make knots or bows look pretty so that's why he stopped wearing them

Edit: made a little comic

speedpaint and little bonus under the cut

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Merry crisis you nerds

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past shadowpeach i will always love u

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Easier Said Than Done

Thank you so so so much to @grungekitty-77 for writing the entire second half of this. You're amazing and I love u so much

Summary: the day of the trial has come.

Trigger Warnings: mentions of dehumanization, ptsd, and everything that comes with damage.

1361 words

Wes Sánchez was a prosecutor.

He’d only ever become interested with the judicial system at all after a movie about an optimistic girl going through law school and proving everybody wrong about her being some ditzy blonde airhead had come out when he was young. The interest had lingered over the years, and he’d started out studying defense. But he’d quickly learned that it wasn’t exactly what that movie had portrayed.

“Have a seat, Mr. Smith.”

“This is stupid. We all know he did it. Bastard deserves to rot in the cursed realm…”

Defense wasn’t so much about catching people in lies as it was demanding proof that it was a lie in the first place.

The nindroid sat in front of him, neutral and unblinking. Though Wes knew better, the guy barely even looked alive. 

Wes had found that he was more partial to the former. He could find a flaw in even the most airtight of alibis. But much more importantly than that? He needed to sort out the testimonies.

-“It’s not… abnormal for us to leave without telling each other,” the green ninja said, fidgeting in his seat. “But he wouldn’t answer his phone, and — and it had been a day… by the time we realized he was—”

-“Is this even necessary? Every other bad guy we’ve kicked the ass of has been hauled off to Kryptarium, no question!”

“Ms. Smith, I don’t have answers for other cases you’ve been involved in. I’m here now to prove this man is guilty. By all means, I’m on your side, here.”

She slumped into her chair, nodding, though she still didn’t look happy about it. The Smith siblings shared a bit of an anger streak, it would seem. That could quickly become… problematic, on the stand. 

-“It was… immensely hard on all of us. Our family was torn apart…”

Though the emotions were real, Wes worried that an argument could be made against the nindroid solely for not being human. 

-“He’s my best friend… I was so angry, I just…”

-“I can’t do this!” Cole heaved, breathing in short gasps that certainly weren’t helpful for his current state. “I can’t—!”

“Let’s take a break, Mr. Brookestone,” he offered.

Though he was no longer hyperventilating, he still shook his head rapidly, as if he hadn’t even heard him speak. “I can’t…” he repeated, hands cradling his head, “I can’t go back…”

The problem with ninja was that none of them were going to be easy. Each of them had glaring flaws that could be flipped on them in an instant in the courtroom. 

“Alright. I’m going to play the bad guy. I need to make sure you’re ready for whatever the defense is going to ask you. This isn’t going to be fun, but we need to prepare for this.”

-“—I’ll fry that man if I see him again, you can be sure of that!”

-“What the hell does that have to do with anything? That whole love triangle thing was stupid!”

“I understand, but it was very public knowledge that both of them were pursuing you. It will come up.”

-“No.”

“…no?”

“You’ve got enough angles for them to come at you from, you may as well be a circle. We’re not giving them that ammo.”

The green ninja frowned, but didn’t argue.

-“…I don’t see what my being a nindroid has to do with this.”

Wes sighed. “It shouldn’t, but it does. Your humanity will be called into question the second you open your mouth.”

Which narrowed them down to one option. The blue ninja certainly had his own set of issues, but Wes was confident that, if nothing else, at least the jury could relate to him.

But god, if he didn’t have his work cut out for him on this one.

“Cole, you need to breathe.”

“He looks sick!”

“Please say something… I know it’s scary, but we’re going to be right there the whole time, I swear! We won’t let anything happen.”

The first day of the trial started off poorly. 

-“Is it true that you electrocuted Mr. Hamada after breaking into his home?”

“Uh — yes… but that’s not—!”

“And is it true, Mr. Walker, that you proceeded to beat him with the aid of Mr. Garmadon, before dumping him on the steps of the police precinct? That hardly sounds like proper arrest protocol. Did you read him his rights while you were dragging his body through the snow?”

The fire ninja spent half of his time glaring at the accused, a red glow emanating from his fists. Wes suspected that the only thing keeping him in check was the ice ninja’s hand on his own, silent communication telling him to knock it off.

It certainly wasn’t helping the argument that the ninja were violent.

In retrospect, Wes should’ve predicted this. The case was so clean. The only flaw anyone could possibly find in it, the only hiccup anyone could point to, was the Ninja.

He was getting eaten alive in this cross examination.

“You were homeschooled, correct?”

Wes stood, desperate to end whatever this was.

“Objection! Relevance, your Honor.”

“Mr. Sánchez was the first to bring up the witness’s background, I’m within my rights to ask follow up questions.”

“Overruled then. Continue.”

Wes cursed under his breath. He felt like he had buried himself here. He thought the blue ninja would be the most palatable to the jury, but that might’ve been the wrong way to go.

“Yes. I was homeschooled.”

“Were you ever taken to the doctor?”

“Of course I was!”

“Were you ever given a tetanus shot?”

Shit. The Walker’s weren’t anti-vax, were they? 

“I don’t….I mean I didn’t…..I don’t know. Nobody ever told me that stuff.”

Jay was sweating. He was flustered and this was everything Wes had been afraid of.

He should’ve risked the love triangle with Nya, or leaned into the emotional argument and put Kai up. Jay didn’t look like the picture of normalcy that Wes was banking on.

“Leave my parents out of this!”

“If the witness would refrain from yelling in the courtroom.”

This was bad. After how hard Cole had tried to push through his trauma, it was going down the drain.

“Didn’t you have a very public feud with the supposed victim?”

“Have you ever completed any certified courses on conflict deescalation?”

“Are you even aware of the district you conducted this unlawful arrest in?”

“An affidavit from one Fugidove of his treatment upon quote and quote arrest by the ninja.”

“You mean to tell me that a trained ninja that fought the likes of the Overlord on more than one occasion, was helpless to a simple office worker?”

Wes watched everything slide down hill far in slow motion, but it still happened far too fast. He was suddenly giving his closing statement.

“I beg you not to get hung up on the details and semantics of this case. We have all the proof we need of what crimes were committed, and who they were committed by. I want you to remember the chains, the collar, the dog crate. I want you to think of Mr. Brookestone’s breakdown on the stand and ask yourselves if you truly want the perpetrator of these crimes to go free.”

He thought he did a good job.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we have laws for good reasons. No one is above them. It is a reckless precedent to set if we allow one group of super powered individuals to act with impunity towards them. This is not a question of this man’s guilt, this is a question of how we expect justice to be done. My client, guilty or not, is entitled to rights. Rights I believe we have proven he was denied beyond reasonable doubt. This choice, right now, this is how you tell these very powerful people what they are and are not allowed to do in this city.”

Unfortunately, opposing counsel did a better job.

“We the jury find the defendant not guilty of the above entitled actions.”

Wes could barely hear the second half of that sentence over the absolutely enraged uproar behind him. 

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When encountering someone stuck in an Apology Loop, I do not uselessly ask, or worse, demand that they “stop apologizing.”

Rather, I have found it much more useful to affect a theatrical tone and formally “absolve” them. “Like a Renaissance pope, I absolve you, my child.” Usually the combination of having the absurdity of the situation highlit, combined with a touch of physiological release if I can get a laugh, is enough to soothe their nerves a bit and get them to break the loop. And who knows maybe they feel absolved I dunno I have an authoritative bearing

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Can we put this somewhere in the top 5 sexiest things Shadow has done please

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all of your followers: damn i miss Damage so much

damage, every christmas: STOP TELLING PEOPLE I'M DEAD

HAHAHSJENAKAB

well maybe if u guys actually asked about it once in awhile 😔 /j

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oh man, damage, i remember those days..... sighs wistfully

One day I will finish writing it

Not this year and maybe not the next… but I WILL finish it

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if damageversary has to come out a few days late this year i will still read it, i love your writing!

Aww ty bb :)))

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DAMAGE FANS ASSEMBLE AND REMIND KAT HOW MUCH WE LOVE THEIR WRITING!!!

Omg really 🥺

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I need to know if anyone literally ANYONE even gaf abt damage anymore

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movie called technically blonde where she goes to trade school instead

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obsessed that after a traumatic experience, ford was talking to fiddleford like hey :( we can work this out okay :( here are some meditation techniques and logical tested ways to deal with trauma and fiddleford went full mad scientist mode and said "if i cant see the traumatic experience it cant see me" and invented a device so powerful it killed an immortal