#“I've got you.”

[jellyfishinc]

Hello! Hope it's okay if I send a suggestion for the drabble game 🥰 How about 71 "I've got you" for the brothers? No rush of course! 💖

For @silenzahra

It goes without saying the Mario Brothers have a twin bond.

A twin bond that’s always kept them connected, even when they were babies.

We all know the story of how that twin bond helped Mario save Luigi with the help of a herd of friendly Yoshis.

But here’s what most don’t know: it’s also helped them when one of them is unable to voice what’s wrong with them.

Take for example when Luigi was getting bullied in middle school.

It took Mario a while to realize what was happening, but as soon as he realized the dread and fear he’d been feeling the past few weeks wasn’t his own, he didn’t hesitate.

The moment they got home, he confronted Luigi about it in their bedroom.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” is all Mario had the chance to say, before Luigi burst into tears and confessed everything.

Another is when Mario slid on the mud during soccer practice and twisted his ankle, and instead of getting it looked at, tried to walk it off.

Only Luigi knew the truth, because the sharp shooting pain in his own ankle wouldn’t leave him alone.

So when they made it home, Luigi pulled him into the bathroom and got to work icing Mario’s ankle.

“Don’t do that again.” Luigi ordered, and Mario knew better than to argue.

“I won’t.”

This was the norm for them growing up in Brooklyn, and no matter how intrusive it may seem at times, neither of them would give it up for anything.

So really, in the aftermath of the Brooklyn Battle, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise how quickly they picked up on how not fine either of them were.

Here they are now, trying to hide it from each other in their parents’ apartment in a rare moment when they have it to themselves, when it just comes right out.

“Why won’t you talk to me?”

“You’re not okay!”

The realization they’ve both spoken at the same time startles them, to where they don’t speak again, instead laugh awkwardly before going to their room to sit on their beds.

“We suck at this, don’t we?” Mario asks first, to which Luigi nods.

“Yeah, we do.” Then he says, “It’s weird, not knowing how you feel already.”

“You don’t?” Mario asks, surprised.

“No...” Luigi says slowly. “Why, do you?”

It’s a simple question, but it’s enough to completely throw Mario off by surprise.

“Lu, I feel everything.” Mario emphasizes. “I was so sure at least some of it had to be coming from you, but if you’re not feeling anything…”

This only serves to confuse them even more, until Mario muses out loud, “Even though you’re usually the one that feels everything, and I’m the one that’s constantly pushing everything away.”

“Everything?” Luigi repeats, then comes closer. “Show me.”

“What? No.” Mario shakes his head, but Luigi won’t let it go.

“Mario, come on. Show me. If you’re right, I need to see.”

Mario rolls his eyes, but proceeds to pull off his shirt, revealing the ugly bruises on his back from where he got tossed around.

“Mario.” Luigi gasps in horror.

“You weren’t supposed to see it.” Mario mutters, wincing when Luigi flicks him on the forehead.

“So what, you were just gonna let me think you were fine when you weren’t?” Luigi demands. “Did you think I would forget about our twin thing?”

“No.” Mario growls.

“Then why?”

“Because I forgot about it, okay?” Mario blurts out, stunning Luigi. “I was so caught up in exploring a kingdom full of mushrooms, going on some great adventure with a princess, I forgot I had a way to track you down the whole time, and never thought to use it, not even once.”

“Mario…” Luigi tries to reach out, but Mario won’t let him.

“Don’t. Please.” Mario begs. “We’ve had it our whole lives, always using it to suss out when we’re hiding something, and the one time it could’ve saved you, I forgot.”

Mario yanks his short back on, wincing. “But you didn’t forget, did you?” he says knowingly, no accusation in his voice.

Luigi wants to deny it, but he can’t, so he shakes his head. “No.”

“Of course not. You were alone and scared, while Bowser was doing God knows what to you, waiting for me to remember all I had to do was lean on our twin bond and you would’ve been saved sooner. But I didn’t. Instead it was a miracle I saved you at all. One wrong move…”

Here, Mario stops and clamps a hand over his mouth, trying to stop himself from screaming as he cries.

Luigi, for his part, just sits there and lets Mario cry on his shoulder, rubbing his back.

Then he says, “I knew about what happened on the rainbow road.”

The blunt statement is enough to get Mario to stop crying long enough to look at him. “Huh?”

“The night before the wedding. One of Bowser’s minions told us that Bowser would be getting married, and that we’d all be ritualistically sacrificed.”

“What?” Now Mario’s guilt has turned into anger, but that’s not what Luigi needs just yet.

“The monkey king guy filled us in on what happened. He said you were driving on a road made out of a rainbow, and one of those turtles with a blue shell came after you, and blew up the road. And when you hit the water, you got swallowed by a giant eel.”

“Aw, Lu…” Mario says guilty, but Luigi shakes his head.

“No. That’s not why I’m bringing it up. I’m bringing it up because I knew it wasn’t true.”

Mario’s eyes widen. “You did?”

“Uh huh.” Luigi confirms. “You said I didn’t forget about our twin bond, and you’re right. And it’s because I didn’t forget that I knew you weren’t dead, and that you would save me, one way or another.”

Now Luigi puts both hands on Mario’s face. “So why would you think for one second I’d care how you saved me?”

“But–”

“No buts.” Luigi says firmly. “We got pulled into a world we’d never known existed. And we were navigating it alone, for the first time in our lives. Honestly, if it were me, I couldn’t say if I’d forget either.”

Luigi pats Mario’s face in a light slap, then says, “So can we stop the pity party now?”

Now Mario’s the stunned one, then suddenly, he’s back to bursting into tears, grabbing Luigi tightly as he cries into Luigi’s chest.

“It’s okay, big brother.” Luigi whispers, stroking his hair. “I’ve got you.”

[eastgaysian]

[podcastwizard]

because here's the thing here's the thing the question was not "would you be more surprised to run into a fairy or a walrus" the question was "would you be more surprised to find a fairy or a walrus AT YOUR DOOR" and while no, i do not believe in fairies and would be surprised to know they EXIST i would NOT be surprised to find one at my door. HOWEVER, if a WALRUS shows up at my door i have to contend with the fact that a walrus somehow made it to my apartment specifically and knocked on my door for god knows what reason. i would be more surprised to know that a fairy EXISTS, of course, but NOT that they're at my door, do you get me?

[tofixtheshadows]

I've been thinking a lot lately about how Kabru deprives himself.

Kabru as a character is intertwined with the idea that sometimes we have to sacrifice the needs of the few for the good of the many. He ultimately subverts this first by sabotaging the Canaries and then by letting Laios go, but in practice he's already been living a life of self-sacrifice.

Saving people, and learning the secrets of the dungeons to seal them, are what's important. Not his own comforts. Not his own desires. He forces them down until he doesn't know they're there, until one of them has to come spilling out during the confession in chapter 76.

Specifically, I think it's very significant, in a story about food and all that it entails, that Kabru is rarely shown eating. He's the deuteragonist of Dungeon Meshi, the cooking manga, but while meals are the anchoring points of Laios's journey, given loving focus, for Kabru, they're ... not.

I'm sure he eats during dungeon expeditions, in the routine way that adventurers must when they sit down to camp. But on the surface, you get the idea that Kabru spends most of his time doing his self-assigned dungeon-related tasks: meeting with people, studying them, putting together that evidence board, researching the dungeon, god knows what else. Feeding himself is secondary.

He's introduced during a meal, eating at a restaurant, just to set up the contrast between his party and Laios's. And it's the last normal meal we see him eating until the communal ending feast (if you consider Falin's dragon parts normal).

First, we get this:

Kabru's response here is such a non-answer, it strongly implies to me that he wasn't thinking about it until Rin brought it up. That he might not even be feeling the hunger signals that he logically knew he should.

They sit down to eat, but Kabru is never drawn reaching for food or eating it like the rest of his party. He only drinks.

It's possible this means nothing, that we can just assume he's putting food in his mouth off-panel, but again, this entire manga is about food. Cooking it, eating it, appreciating it, taking pleasure in it, grounding yourself in the necessary routine of it and affirming your right to live by consuming it. It's given such a huge focus.

We don't see him eat again until the harpy egg.

What a significant question for the protagonist to ask his foil in this story about eating! Aren't you hungry? Aren't you, Kabru?

He was revived only minutes ago after a violent encounter. And then he chokes down food that causes him further harm by triggering him, all because he's so determined to stay in Laios's good graces.

In his flashback, we see Milsiril trying to spoon-feed young Kabru cake that we know he doesn't like. He doesn't want to eat: he wants to be training.

Then with Mithrun, we see him eating the least-monstery monster food he can get his hands on, for the sake of survival- walking mushroom, barometz, an egg. The barometz is his first chance to make something like an a real meal, and he actually seems excited about it because he wants to replicate a lamb dish his mother used to make him!

...but he doesn't get to enjoy it like he wanted to.

Then, when all the Canaries are eating field rations ... Kabru still isn't shown eating. He's only shown giving food to Mithrun.

And of course the next time he eats is the bavarois, which for his sake is at least plant based ... but he still has to use a coping mechanism to get through it.

I don't think Kabru does this all on purpose. I think Kui does this all on purpose. Kabru's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder should be understood as informing his character just as much as Laios's autism informs his. It's another way that Kabru and Laios act as foils: where Laios takes pleasure in meals and approaches food with the excitement of discovery, Kabru's experiences with eating are tainted by his trauma. Laios indulges; Kabru denies himself. Laios is shown enjoying food, Kabru is shown struggling with it.

And I can very easily imagine a reason why Kabru might have a subconscious aversion towards eating.

Meals are the privilege of the living.

[mistbix]

so i've been re-watching atla....... expect more art soon

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

I am incredibly serious right now when I beg you all, please, and if you have Twitter or Tiktok or whatever to please spread the word: click on an author's profile on Ao3.

You want to know if an author has written more? Want to know if they're still writing? Want to see more from them? Want to know if they've written a trope or kink or sex scenario you enjoy?

Click on their name. And look at their profile.

I cannot tell you how many times in the last six months someone has read a new or newer fic of mine and said they (a new reader who has read nothing else I've done) "can't wait to see what you do next!" I've written 50+ fics and over a million words already.

"I don't know if you're still writing..." click on my profile. I am. I literally wrote a 128k+ fic for that ship last month.

"Would you ever do X?" "Please do Y!" I already did. Click on my name and look at my works.

Archive of our Own is a library. It's an archive. Not social media. It is your responsibility to fight back against the laziness that corporate algorithms have trained into you.

Click my author name. Just click it. Just click it.

Before you demand more, or ask if a writer will do XYZ, or wonder if the author still writing, or anything - click on their profile. Click on the author's profile.

I'm not trying to be mean or condescending or anything like that. I'm just exhausted. It's disheartening and frustrating to repeat myself ad nauseam, because someone couldn't take thirty seconds to do the tiniest bit of work to see if I've written lately, if I've written more for their ship, or scan my works to see if I've written what they're asking for. Please. Please. I'm begging.

Click the author's name, and explore before you ask.

[liimonadas]

a part of me goes out to all the monsterfuckers who are surely missing the old design. a bigger part of me is gay

[derpiedoxie]

I like the silly little new indie show

Someone give Pomni a cookie

[sadmages]

In my mind palace my tav and Astarion are playing the exact same game of 5D chess and they don't realize it yet

[canisalbus]

If only Machete wasn't so distinctly white and waifish. Otherwise one could possibly use a lookalike to fake his death and just run away with vasco. But finding someone that resembles machete would be almost as hard as making the choice to end a life to save your own.

.

[inkskinned]

actually sometimes being neurodivergent is great bc you have a particular kind of Silly Mode that just . manifests glory. harmless fun is my precious side quest & i have a high score in whimsy. like okay if i gotta be the first dork in the dance pit it's gonna be me and this random toddler and we're gonna avril-style rock ouuuuttt

[dragondawdles]

the beastie <3

[wizard-laundry]

the text originally read "EGADS! DO MY EYES DECEIVE ME?"

[ikkoros]

cactuars are the sanrio of eorzea, actually

[originalartblog]

Apparently much-needed reminder that reposting artists' art (by saving the images or screenshotting them and reuploading them yourself) on other platforms without the artists' expressed permission and without credit is theft and an insult to their passion and craft. You are profiting (in views, in attention, in feedback) from someone else's work and ideas, who do not get that feedback for sharing their creation.

If you are an art reposter, you are a thief and I have no respect for you.

[mipexch]

i love animating these little freaks