#'bc he recovered from a severe injury' about it

[flaticeball]

"mark stone, who loves hockey more than life itself and could not be kept out of it if he were capable of so much as walking up a flight of stairs short of handcuffing him to a radiator, is complicit in a years-running conspiracy to... use the cap rules as written in a completely legal way that multiple other teams have done constantly year after year, including being willing to simply miss months of games in the regular season despite his team sometimes being in a highly competitive playoff race that might see them miss the playoffs entirely. this is what i believe, because vegas is evil and everyone on it is a moustache twirling disney villain who is constantly scheming against the rest of the poor innocent league who never times things in a convenient way with the cap and playoffs and is being pushed around by the big bad evil gold team." please be so fr lmao

anyways, fuck yeah vegas w, i love you forever mark stone.

[awzominator]

Day 13 Scars

the amount of effort I had to put into these and they still don’t look how I want is frustrating but alas time is not on my side

ramblings under the cut

Mikey: Gave Mikey Lichen Burns from that one time he got disintegrated and then reanimated via electricity. He died n got better and honestly it is one of the most violent injuries that I recall for him. Like he plays it off so easily cuz he has super powers and all that jazz but that’s so messed up. Also Raph yelling for him OOOFFFFF will never forget how filled w rage and hurt that dude was. He was ready to kill ❤️ Such a wild episode and I love how Mikey was so depended on in order for the plan to succeed. It was Mikey’s turn for the Self sacrificing bit and he crushed it

Leo: Get Shreddered idiot!!! The fucked up knee and throat from when he got beat up and thrown thru the window. This is def my fav event to happen which is a wild thing to say. It’s the most obvious thing to go for but I personally loved the farmhouse arc and Leo’s need for recovery. That dude is still not well and is repressing stuff but they don’t have time to heal. Their lives are too chaotic, too much is on the line, and Leo can’t afford to take the time to heal 100% none of them can tbh. I know a lot of ppl hate how 12 handled his knee injury but I loved it Bc it’s obviously not better but he’s a stubborn idiot who chooses to push everything down and out. He is the healthiest turtle for sure. I’m pretty sure in later episodes his knee gives out a few times don’t quote me tho it’s been a few years aha

Raph: His broken shell! After watching Lone Rat and Cubs and seeing where it came from, I always wondered if Splinter looks at it with loads of regret. A physical sign of his short comings that one time they almost got caught by the Kraang. A warning and a constant reminder they’ll never be safe, that splinter wont always be able to protect his babies no matter how hard he fights. I also like to HC he becomes the most hovering and overprotective of Raph while he’s still recovering Bc that shell broke so easy. Honestly seeing screen shots of close ups of Raphs shell is awesome to see both shell and plastron are broken.

Donnie: UGHHH THIS DUDEEEE !!!!! Literally had the hardest time Bc he goes thru a lot also but it’s more emotional and mental dude is fuked up in the head fr. I asked several ppl for help Bc I didn’t want to do another lichen burn thing from Karai’s trap. In the end I played around w the suggestions to see what would look most appealing to me. The scars on arm are from Slash (such a good episode thank you for the suggestion 🙌) as his arm was injured and in a sling at the end of the episode. The head scar def a big creative liberty Bc he does get injured there a lot ahah. I was thinking of Fourtrap again which lead to thinking about the time that Leo blew him up accidentally during is emo phase XD

[thatstheproblemwithnapkinman]

something that kind of annoys me is when peoiple genuinely criticise tom taylor's nightwing run by saying "dick is so out of character in those 2 issues where he gets the shit beaten out of him and then falls through his window"

bc

that is taken out of the context of dick recovering from a traumatic brain injury so yeah he's going to be off balance after being whacked in the head MULTIPLE TIMES what are you talking about?!?!

it's ok, just breathe

the panel for reference

Nightwing (2016) #83 pp. 12

don't believe me?

dick gets shot in the head just above his left ear, which you can see in both of these panels and in the cover for nightwing (2016) #50 (if you pretend if's a mirror image bc why is it on the right)

Batman (2016) #55 pp. 21 Nightwing (2016) #50 pp. 2

Nightwing (2016) #50 Cover

you can also see his brain scans in the same issue which nicely show the area of damage and literally list what happened

Nightwing (2016) #50 pp. 2

so he lost bone (skull), blood (obviously), brain tissue (we'll come back to this), cerebrospinal fluid (bc there was a whole in his head), and suffered from severe vascular swelling (we'll return here too)

so, what brain tissue did dick lose?

here's the very basic anatomy of the human brain

John Hopkins Medicine - https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/anatomy-of-the-brain (i drew the red circle)

now the ears sit just in front of the cerebellum, roughly somewhere around the red circle which lines up with the brain scan showing the damage is roughly in that notch where the temporal lobe and parietal lobe meet

the temporal lobe is involved with speech, rhythm, and short term memory

the parietal lobe is involved with pain and touch recognition, recognising objects, and oh would you look at that, spatial recognition

dick go shot in the part of the brain that tells the body where it is in relation to objects

no wonder he had a hard time fighting and trying to climb through windows, his coordination was all fucky

now the cerebellum is the part of the brain that affects balance BUT but but but we haven't talked about vascular swelling yet

vascular swelling is where the walls of the blood vessels swell (whodathunk) and this causes a reduction in the blood supply as they swell inwards

outward swelling with increase pressure on the brain which is not good either BUT this reduced blood flow = less oxygen to the brain = damage

there's a reason the symptoms of hypoxia pre-passing out are pretty much limited to your brain bc that's the organ that goes first

so with a decrease in bloodflow to his brain, there is a decent change damage was also done to every single part of his brain

now the blood supply does come in past the cerebellum so tbh there probably wouldn't be that much damage if at all however even with that it would explain how dick was still effected from getting shot

so having learned all that, lets take a look at issues 81 & 83 shall we

in #81...

Nightwing (2016) #81 pp. 5

he gets whacked in the head by heartless, someone with enhanced strength

Nightwing (2016) #81 pp. 12

he passes out because he's been whacked on the head near to where he was shot

Nightwing (2016) #81 pp. 13

this is nicely confirmed by babs

Nightwing (2016) #81 pp. 19

he gets pushed back whilst fighting and due to his injury induced lack of spatial awareness, he falls down the stairs

then in #83, after fighting blockbuster, almost getting shot again, and flying through a helicopter...

Nightwing (2016) #83 pp. 12

he falls through his window

so yeah, i do think this is reasonable for dick to do given he's recovering from a brain injury and has just been hit in the head and probably hit it whilst falling down the stairs

and if you've made it this far, i want to emphasise the 20 million valid reasons to criticise tom taylor's nightwing run, but this just isn't one of them

[judebelle]

Comforting gavi bc of his injury 🥹

it'll be okay - p.g. x reader

a/n : couldn't find a gif of him in the spain vs georgia match but gavi get well soon!

cw : fluff, angst, pablo in pain, injury, poor medical references, me using my limited knowledge of acl injuries lmao, reader not knowing how to comfort him, swearing, barely edited

wc : 1.6k

pairing : pablo gavi x fem!reader

---

the one game.

the one game you couldn't make it to was the one game that you needed to be at the most.

your boyfriend, pablo gavi, was playing for spain in a euro qualifier. you had an exam that day, so you couldn't be there to support him.

"no te preocupes, baby. good luck on your exam." (don't worry, baby. good luck on your exam.)

that was the last text your boyfriend sent you after you apologized again for not being there for him, even though you were already right outside your exam room.

with his reassurance, you stepped into the room and tried your best on the exam.

you weren't sure as to why pablo had to start for this match. spain had already qualified and he was already overworked as it was, but you didn't question his coach and managers and just brushed it under the rug.

unbeknownst to you, pablo had suffered an injury during the match. as you completed your exam, unaware of the events unfolding on the field, pablo battled through the game with determination. eventually, the fatigue took its toll, and he found himself nursing an injury that would later reveal itself as a full tear of his acl as well as an associated injury to his lateral meniscus.

your absence from the game meant that the news of his injury remained hidden from you, leaving you unsuspecting of the challenges he faced without your support.

you exited the exam hall, confident that your relentless studying had paid off. you opened your phone, intending to message pablo about your exam. you completely forgot about his match until you saw a ridiculous amount of notifications on your lock screen. as you scrolled, your heart sank upon discovering the news. shock and concern shook you as you read the details of your boyfriend's injury.

many reports outlined the severity of the situation, describing how pablo had most likely torn his acl during the match. a wave of guilt and empathy washed over you as you absorbed the gravity of the news. instantly, you dialed pablo's number, desperate to speak with him.

your heart sank at the monotone beeps that met your ear. stupid idea, he wasn't going to pick up the phone when his whole fucking knee was messed up. you realized that you were too far from the stadium to rush over there, so you sent him a few texts notifying him of your knowledge of the situation and made your way to your shared home.

---

you knew that there was not much you could do in terms of helping with the injury. all you knew was that pablo will be gutted when he gets back. you weren't an expert, but you saw the clip of the injury and the tears that spilled from his eyes. this was a serious injury and he would have to sacrifice a good chunk of the season recovering.

that's when a guilty feeling settled in your chest. you would've no doubt, skipped your exam to be there had you miraculously known what was in store for him. maybe if you were in the stands, you would've been able to see if he was okay and talk to him.

as you entered the house, you hurriedly kicked off your shoes and washed your hands, getting the house as comfortable for him as possible. you fixed up the bed, put a few ice packs in the freezer, and started making his comfort foods.

being an athlete means that pablo is always on a pretty strict diet, but you snuck in a few treats in his bed side drawer because you knew he'd need them.

after what seemed like an eternity of waiting and anxious preparing, you finally heard buzzing from your phone.

"hello? pablo?"

you heard a pained grunt and some shuffling before he strained out,

"y/n.."

"oh, thank god you're okay! what's happening? any updates yet? when are you coming home?"

pablo interrupted your rambling with a soft laugh, almost forced, before speaking. "despacio, mi amor," (slowly, my love.)

you pause your tangent, freezing in place and waiting for him to say something. you're about to start speaking again when you hear the front door start to open pablo's voice on the phone.

"i'm home."

---

two men walked beside him in case he needed assistance walking through the front door, but he was more than capable on his crutches. you dropped the phone from your hand as you saw pablo walking in from your place in the kitchen. you rushed over and he sent you a tight lipped smile. he told the two men that they're good to leave, and they did.

you finally walked closer to him, wanting to throw yourself onto him but stopping once you remembered his condition. you huffed in annoyance before ultimately pushing your lips against his fiercely, but not too hard.

he kissed back, but couldn't wrap his arms around you as he needed to hold his crutches to stand. you broke away and looked down at his knee. he was wearing a grey tracksuit, but you could see something under his pants on his left knee, most likely a brace of some sort.

"pablo, you have no idea how confused i am.. what happened? tell me everything!" you led him to the kitchen while walking beside him incase he needed help. he begins to fill you in on how he was challenged during the match and he didn't quite turn right, and his knee was already hurting from the beginning of the match, but they told him to play on.

"they ran some tests. i don't know what the results are yet, but they're quite sure that i completely tore my acl and injured my meniscus. if they're right.. i could be out for around nine months. my season is done.."

you had no idea what exact muscles and tissues and bones pablo was naming, but yo knew that acl injuries were no joke, and needed to be taken seriously. also knowing pablo, he plays passionately and has had a great season so far. the fact that it's being cut short is not fair to him.

nothing is.

"ai.." you hissed sympathetically "well, i don't know much about acl's, but i do know that you need to rest properly. and you being the stubborn man that you are, i will be here to make sure you do exactly that, okay?"

you didn't give him time to respond before placing some plates and bowls on a tray and taking them upstairs, telling pablo to stay put. you hurried back downstairs before helping up the stairs, letting him use the crutches as well.

after a few minutes, he was upstairs and into bed. you sat beside him on the bed, his head turning when he felt it dip.

"i smell food.." he smiles sheepishly as you giggled. he must've been hungry after the match. you lifted the tray from the table beside you and placed it beside him. you placed a pillow under his head, making sure he was sitting slightly upright.

you sat crisscrossed beside him and took a spoonful of a soup you made him, blowing lightly as you smiled at him. he was waiting patiently while looking up at you. you brought the spoon to his lips and tilted so he could sip. you did this until the bowl was empty.

pablo, once again being the stubborn man he is, tried to tell you that he didn't need all the fuss, and that you could relax. well, you were even more stubborn. you let him sip water through a straw before turning on his favorite show on low volume on the tv.

"baby, i don't need all this-"

"shh, just relax, cariño. let me take care of you.."

you layed beside him and moved his head to lay slightly on your chest, his eyes still fixed on the sreen.

you had propped up his right leg, under a spare pillow, making sure to keep an eye on it. the doctors would be doing frequent visits and you were determined to make his healing process as smooth as possible.

"you really are an angel, you know that, y/n?" he looked up at you, the glare from the tv shining in his brown eyes.

"you've only told me that a hundred times, guapo." you leaned down to place a soft kiss on his forehead.

he hummed softly at the contact, needing the relief.

"i just... i wish i didn't have to miss the whole season. i was doing really well.. it's not fair."

"i know it isn't, pablo. if you ask me, you shouldn't have been starting that match. you need your rest, you're still young."

he huffed in annoyance, letting out all his frustration.

the room fell silent, the faint sounds of the show you had turned on filling the air.

"y/n..?" he whispered gently. he sounded nervous.

you hummed in response.

"what if - when i return - i'm not in the same shape that i was.. what if i can't play well anymore?"

his words broke your heart. he shouldn't have to worry about this at his age. you sighed softly, your hand running through his soft locks. his eyes fluttered shut. he always liked when you did that.

"you won't have to worry, baby. as long as you rest properly, and take it easy, you will be fine. the more you worry, the worse it will get. just.. just let me take care of you. everything will be okay. it will fall into place."

his lips stretched into a soft smile, your words calming him. your hand was still running through his hair, making pablo's adam's apple bob up and down.

"i love you." he whispered, his eyes opening to look into your eyes as he said it.

you bit your lip and smiled softly.

he looked so cute.

"i love you too."

you pressed your lips to his again before leaning into each others warmth.

you both drifted off to sleep.

[forkloverr]

i started catching up on mha again bc im tired of getting spoiled💔 MEANING DABI BRAIN ROT HAS RETURNED MWAHAHJA

i came up with this random scenario. something like reader getting cut, idk by what, tho. some kind of accident. and dabi takes care of her wound. maybe he says something along the lines of "u have to get used to ur scars." IDK THIS WAS JUST A SHOWER THOUGHT😭😭 I JUST THOUGHT IT WAS A CUTE LITTLE SOMETHING SOMETHING

'you drew stars around my scars' - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

warnings: mention of severe injury, fluff, names such as 'sweetheart' are used, dabi is probably a bit ooc but let a girl have her dreams LOL word count: 2,407

Rain swallowed your aching body. How long have you been running now? No, there was time to look behind, just run, run. The grey folder in your hand threatened to melt into sopping nonsense, once important intel now no longer legible. How sloppy had you been? You did everything you were supposed to, but one mistake, just one dire mistake, had led you to be running from the cops. How embarrassing you thought. Now the league is really going to doubt your abilities as a valuable member. They chose you to retrieve new information about the heroes, and now here you are. Scratch that. Focus on the now. That doesn't matter if you’re caught, or dead. The muscles in your legs pull and strain, pushing again and again and again until fire spreads all over your nerves. Maybe it's just the adrenaline, but you were sure you would have already fallen apart by now, pieces to the ground like a broken puzzle.

Crap. The rain turned into an intense downpour, practically draping the world in a dark grey blanket. You’re barely able to see what's in front of you, everything is a blur of rain and wind. Where was that street again? Maybe you already passed the hideout, or maybe- A bloodcurdling scream escapes your shaking lips, you trip and fall to the soaking ground, the impact harsh and rough. You feel hot rain running down your leg, but why is it red? Blood. Its blood. You’re used to that. But that's not someone else's blood. It’s yours.

All you see is a river of yourself pouring out but you can't stop. Not yet. Must keep running- You stop to look at what caused this, and it’s a piercing metal fence post you had failed to see. You try and lift yourself up to continue running, but your head pounds with excruciating pain. Running isn't an option anymore. Are they still behind you? You have to get back, you have to. You’re especially vulnerable now. Screeching pain escapes with every limp as you attempt to continue. How could someone as careful as you not only be caught but then also injured? Stupid mistake. You struggle on the slick road, grabbing onto anything you can for support. Then, you see an opening between the buildings, an alleyway. That's good. Maybe you can sit and recover until this all passes over. You start to approach the alleyway, but the closer you get, the more intensely humid it feels. The closer you get, the more… blue.. it glows. Right as you get to the entryway, a leather-coated arm snaps under your arms, grabbing you like a wet cat into the darkness.

“You're bleeding, you know.��� A deep voice whispers in your ear. Huh, why is that idiotic tone familiar to you? “Are you an angel?” You squint your eyes, delusion and pain overriding your common sense. Only a dry laugh in return. ‘Far from it, sweetheart.” You slowly move your eyes to his face to discern whether or not you should punch this “stranger” for harassment. You start to piece together the blobs of purple, silver, and black appearing before you. Then it all makes sense. “Oh my god. Dabi what the heck.” A stupid cocky smirk is painted all over Dabi’s lips. He sets you down, moving his hands to rest on your shoulders to keep you from attempting to move, pulses of pain still moving through your body.

You and Dabi had a weird relationship. You both entered the League around the same time, but that was about the only thing you had in common with the man. He was a complete enigma. He was overly confident, sarcastic, petty, and almost childish. But for some reason, it felt as if he has a soft spot for you. He doesn’t treat you too differently than the others, but with Dabi, even the smallest of details matter. Everyone knows how reserved he is with his feelings. So when he does act ‘out of character,’ you notice. “Saw you needed help, quite the escape you made.” You reply with an annoyed growl, not appreciating the situation you’re currently in. Your brain then takes a moment to fully process his words. “Wait, how did you know I needed help? Unless you… YOU FOLLOWED ME?!?” A quick scoff. “Can a guy not have a hobby nowadays?” He teases. He continues, “Nah, I just-”

“You were worried about me, weren't you?” Surely he wasn’t actually, you were merely teasing him back. But something in his gaze shifts, for just a moment he moves his eyes to the side, avoiding yours. Odd. “I'm offended that you would insinuate that I feel anything more about you than you just simply being my ‘coworker’.” He rebukes. “If my legs worked, I would kick you so hard right now.” You seethe, squirming around in his tight grip. “I bet you would, sweetheart.” He gently puts you down and drops one hand to graze your injury. A sharp hiss escapes from behind your teeth. This is all just so amusing to him, isn't it? “Well, what are you going to do with me? Torment me some more? Tell me how stupid I am?” God, he’s so close you can practically taste his cologne. Messy staples shape into a grin, the kind of dirt-eating pearly grin that ticks you off every time he dares to show it. “Turn you in.” “WHAT.”

He cracked himself up, cynical laughter echoing through the alley. “Calm your pretty self down, I'm going to take you back to the league. Looks like you got yourself a pretty deep wound.” “Wait what did you say-” “No time for chit-chat.” He swoops you up bridal style. Normally he’d throw you on his shoulder like a bag of potatoes- however, he doesn't want to risk making your injury worse. Or that's at least the excuse he’ll dig up if he’s questioned. Entering back into the unpleasant rain is not a feeling you missed. Despite having a fire quirk, Dabi’s body is surprisingly cold. So that just made it worse. But for some reason, your own body temperature has risen by quite a bit. And actually, now that you think of it, your heart is still going 90 miles per hour. Weird. Must be the remaining adrenaline. Your body shifts to try to relax, feeling weightless floating amidst the smooth fall of the rain. You start to feel a bit too relaxed. Once panicked breaths now turn into rhythmic ins-and-outs, almost in sync with the same rhythm of Dabi’s.

---

The next thing you remember is a strange poking sensation on your cheek. Frankly, it's quite annoying. “Mmm…. what do you want.” You peak open your tired eyes to see Dabi struggling to wake you up. “We’re here. Don't make me drop you.” Where exactly is ‘here’? This doesn't look like any part of the league’s hideout you’re familiar with. Must be Dabi’s room, you reason. Dabi then walks over and hovers over his bed, setting your back to be up against his pillow. “Stay there.” He grumbles, his footsteps trailing to the other side of the room. The deep thumping of your heart returns. 

You know Dabi, but you don't know him. He likes to keep things hidden, that's for sure. Motives, feelings, his past. How much can you truly say you know about his character? All of that makes your head pound, can you trust him enough to be in a room with him, alone? Maybe he’s looking for an easy kill, you would never have a chance at escaping. You’ve become a fly caught in a charming fly-trap. Maybe that explains his strange placement of attention on you, scouting you out for the perfect opportunity to remove you. Your thinking stops when Dabi turns back holding a white box. He stops at the side of the bed, pausing and opens his mouth like he was going to ask if you mind about him sitting next to you. Of course he was going to anyway regardless of your reply. No need to waste the words. The mattress dips as he positions himself to be close to your injured leg. Your nerves shifted from being on fire to those of fear. Your eyes shakingly move up to Dabi’s, searching for any expression of enjoyment or even anticipation of his new kill. All you get in return is a stern yet calm look from Dabi. “You look scared.” He grumbles. “Do I… Do I scare you?” His voice is low and gentle.

For a second, the intimidating man in front of you reminds you of a small child. You’ve never seen or heard Dabi like this. Even if it really is the bare minimum of emotion, it almost makes you feel guilty for questioning his motives, even if it was rightfully valid. You shake your head no. It's not a complete lie, maybe this tightness in your chest is something other than fear, something you haven’t felt in a while. A suppressed tidal wave of emotion that had always been pushed to the background. Nevermind that. “...Good.” He sets the white box down, carefully opening to lid to reveal what's hidden inside. Bandages, disinfectant, cotton balls, and more are organized into little sections in the box. It’s a first aid kit, although more suitable for severe injuries. Almost like he can read your mind, he breaks the silence.

“I always keep one in here. I have my.. fair share… of injuries.” Dabi lowers his gaze. Part of you realized that those scars aren't just a scary villain facade. No, it was something Dabi was ashamed of, a bad memory forever etched into every crevice of his skin. “I’m sorry.” You croak. Dabi ignores the apology, it's not your fault after all. It’s daily life to him now, a new normal. And it has been ever since that night. But you didn’t need to know that, no one did. This was the real and raw Dabi, even if the name “Dabi” is also a false pretense. “Well, how bad is it?” You nervously ask. Dabi sucks the air through his teeth. “It’s a pretty deep wound, probably will leave a scar.” Immediately you recoil. Not that looks are all that matter, but having a giant deep scar on your leg for the rest of your life is pretty jarring. Especially a scar earned in such an idiotic way. Every day after this will be a constant reminder of your stupidity every time you look at yourself in the mirror. Dabi can sense your muscles tense up. He places a hand on your good leg and looks up at you. He opens his mouth to speak before hesitating,

“You.. you have to get used to your scars.” A melancholic expression is painted on his face. You can tell he really means it. His hand then hovers above your leg with the antiseptic and a cloth from the kit. He pauses again. “I’m just going to be honest with you, this is going to hurt real bad.” “This is just how I wanted to spend my night.” You sigh, trying to hide how much you were dreading the next minute. Dabi takes a moment to reply. “Uh.. not trying to make it weird or anything, but are you ok with me touching you?” Dabi tenses slightly out of embarrassment. Why is he acting so weird? you wonder. Dabi is all about barking orders and never stopping to ask anything. So what if it’s going to bring you pain? Doesn’t affect Dabi. So why should he care so much to even ask? 

“Oh, I don't mind, I feel like you know what you're doing.” You shift slightly in anticipation. He grunts an ‘ok’. Lowering his head back to the bloody gash before him. Immediately after he pours the liquid on your injury you clench your jaw and hold on for dear life on the bed. Muffled curses hide behind your lips as you resist completely losing your cool. You can take this, you’re a grown adult, right? Dabi amusingly looks at your face, chuckling to himself. “You look really funny right now.” Through gritted teeth you grunt, “At least have some compassion!” Dabi then cleans up the wound with the rag, for such a rough-looking individual his touch is rather soft and gentle. He gingerly presses on your wound, working all the way around it. He turns back to the kit and gets out a roll of white bandage. “Lift your leg up.”

You try your best to follow his orders, but your muscles are stiff and are screaming in pain. Dabi sees your straining expression and lets out a sigh. “Stop. I’ll do it.” In quite the coy manner, Dabi slips one hand under your thigh, and moves the other to be by your knee. You feel the heat rising to your cheeks, a dusting of pink. He then begins to lift your thigh up and bends your knee until your leg is a triangular arch. Dabi unwraps the bandage with his teeth, then secures one side under your thigh to begin wrapping your leg. Holding the beginning of the bandage, Dabi carefully covers the entire wound, making sure the bandage has a secure grip on your skin, but not tight enough to hurt you. Surprisingly enough, Dabi wasn't done. He opens his black leather jacket to dig in one of the inner pockets and retrieves a hot pink Hello Kitty band-aid. You can't help but stupidly grin. “Dabi, why do you of all people have a Hello Kitty band-aid in your jacket.” Dabi returns your smile. “Toga.” One name explains it all. Toga had a habit of gifting cute things to the league. Because everything is “so bland here.”

He unwraps the bandaid and places it in the center of the bandage. “Thought you’d like it. More than me anyways.” He coughed. “Who knew the elaborate Dabi was such a softie.” You giggle, shifting around to sit next to him on the bed. “Hey, Dabi?” “Mm.” “Thank you..” Dabi turns to look at you, then stoops down and softly kisses the spot where the band-aid was. You can feel your stomach tickle with butterflies. “W-what was that for?!” You gasp, feeling your heart practically jumping out of your ribcage. He smirks. “What, you’ve never heard the expression ‘kiss it to make it better?’”

[bonefall]

maybe with the ending.. make it be like the link between Breezepelt's leaving to join Kin and his POV in AVOS? of course from Nightcloud's perspective but

like. she would be injured and recovering away from the clan. but they would be unaware that she is alive and like in canon assume she died and hold her a vigil. Breezepelt, who is already at low point, taking it very badly - yes he was pushing her away bc he was hurt and angry and started taking it out on her, but.. it's still his mom. his Mi. and she is dead? or is this stupid clan just going to believe this to make it easier? are they really giving up on looking for her, or her body??

i can see Nightcloud being the one of very few, if not THE Only one, things that kept Breezepelt in WindClan at this point. and without her, what's the point? it's not like anyone else likes him. the link is gone and they buried it in a bodyless vigil. so it's what pushes him to actuall take the step and leave.

not sure how well it would align with the timeline and events. and how soon Darktail was assembling cats from other clans like Breeze. but i think it would be interesting and heartbreaking if at the end of her SE, Nightcloud just arrived back to WindClan and asks where Breezepelt is and someone tells her.. he either was missing since this morning or just left the clan earlier the same day. like, just have them miss each other by a hair.

I'm thinking that the second-to-last chapter is her with Pickle, having a bit of a sabbatical to unpack everything that happens through the story. Mostly because I want to throw her into some kind of pretty garden as a nice setting for this lmaoo

A LOT of BB stuff is being added to Nightcloud's Pannage that wasn't in the main series; Hillrunner's abuse, her mentor Addersong, several expanded little background characters now complete with their own side conflicts. I think what I can bind all these things with is Nightcloud considering what a Clan means.

Because of her new reputation, I'm noticing I'm writing scenes where she's intentionally doing and saying things to try and sway them. While also grappling with her resentment towards them, and things she can't change.

There's a bit of a melancholy air so far, so I'm starting to feel like the best ending is just having a bit of space to herself to think. Ultimately, she decides that it's more than Breezepelt or Crowfeather that binds her to WindClan. It's the life and connections she COULD have.

WindClan cats are also quite religious next to other Clans, so I really do mean "sabbatical." I'm going to have Addersong die of old age shortly after they reconnect, so she's in Pickle's Garden talking to her new friend, choosing cats she's lost to pray to as patron spirits to give her the traits she feels she needs, and just recovering both physically from injury and spiritually from turmoil.

So all that to say; it works well that by the time she gets back, Breezepelt has joined The Kin. He was one of the first to join when he started calling for members anyway, so having Night be gone for about two or three weeks sounds appropriate.

[dunaldoodles]

Some Ardent facts bc I love them and no one can stop me from talking about them! Put under a read more bc ik its a lot.

They're unusually large for a Vessel! Even as a hatchling, they were pretty big. Accelerated growth via power feeding and Soul infusions just made them even bigger. Shadow is a little jealous of this.

Despite their lanky appearance, they hit like a runaway freight train. Even with the injuries they've sustained, they're a force to be reckoned with!

They're nearly entirely blind. They can see blurred smears of color and light and movement, but rely on a modified version of World Sense to get around.

They also use it to sense Soul, and follow Hornet's safety lines and shortcuts throughout the kingdom to get places they normally can't.

They have several prosthetics! Their left arm was originally designed and paid for by Hornet, and later upgraded by the Pale King. It's made of Pale Steel, and had an attachment point at an artificial shoulder for cleaning and to keep them from bleeding Void when its removed.

They also have mechanical wings! Three of them, moved by Void, with the leading edge made of steel, bones made of steel rods, and webbing made of Hornet's silk. One of their original wings had to have a brace outfitted for it and the gossamer cut and replaced with silk. They're strong enough for short flights, but Ardent mostly uses them for emoting and boosted jumps.

Their left leg is corrected with a brace made of steel alloy, leather, and high-grade spidersilk. It's built more for comfort and correction than anything more, and while it allows them to walk normally, they still have to be careful, since the ruined leg is still weak.

They used to be left-handed, but after Firefly burned off their arm, they were forced to be right-handed until Hornet could get them the prosthetic. Now they're ambidextrous!

The injuries they have mean they almost constantly leak Void from somewhere, whether it be from their tail, a re-opened wound, or the cracks in their face. This also means they're one of the few adult Vessels who's physically required to eat on a regular basis to keep their Void content up.

Their low Void content also means that reproducing is particularly dangerous. A lot of Void is needed to make an egg, and in the three times they've done it, they've nearly died each time and struggled for months to recover. Both Tiso and Hornet have banned them from breeding.

Their nail doubles as a cane at their insistence. Mostly because they refused to use the one Hornet got for them. Its still somewhere in their nest, covered in tooth marks from their spawn.

They actually do have a bedroom in the house they share with Hornet, Tiso, Shadow, and Nyrffrin in Dirtmouth. They do not use it. Instead, they decided to build their nest under the stairs. Whenever Tiso doesn't feel like cuddling an ice block, he uses their bedroom.

Lover of all things shiny! They have a hoard under their nest full of random bits of metal, smooth stone, and precious gems that they've collected since being freed! Definitely inherited that from PK.

They really aren't the sharpest nail in the forge, and get confused very easily. Also very trusting of just about anyone. This is both a blessing and a curse.

Now that they're allowed to be a person, they've set about exploring and trying everything new they physically can, from trying new foods to exploring new places and trying new experiences! They'll do just about anything once!

They're extremely opinionated at times, and more stubborn than a stag. Once they've made up their mind on something they deem important, you will NOT be changing their mind.

That being said, they're very food motivated, and more than willing to concede on most things if you offer them a good enough meal. There's some things that not even their favorite snacks will be enough, though.

Very kindhearted and compassionate. They're the sole reason Firefly is actually still alive, and the sole reason she's willing to try to be a better person. She won't admit this, but they are her best friend.

The basis for their personality was actually my boy! He's an old man now, but still a beloved member of my family. When he goes, Ardent will be his memory. :)

[web-novel-polls]

Favorite Disabled Web Novel Character Tournament

Last Checked: October 31st, 2024 - Please check the original post for updates

Submissions End: TBD

Rules

One character per submission

Submit as many times as you want

Must be from a web novel or an adaptation 

In-world disabilities that don't exist IRL (ex: a character unable to use magic in a world where everyone else/most people can) will be accepted as long as you think it qualifies as a disability

Mental & non-physical disabilities will also be accepted, including mental illnesses & neurodiversity

The WN doesn't explicitly have to mention they're disabled/their disability, but I don't want to include pure headcanons since this tournament is more about highlighting canon disability representation. Feel free to talk about any headcanons in the ask box though! I enjoy hearing y'all's thoughts :)

Tag: #disabled WN characters tournament

Submissions

Cui Buqu from Peerless

Submission: Chronic fatigue, vulnerability to illness, heart in the wrong spot. Basically generically chronically ill 

(The following is all from the Less Popular Danmei Character Tournament bc it’s really good propaganda lol)

Submission: He’s mean, he’s disabled and unapologetic about it, he’s a genius and all his braincells escape him when faced with his rival, he’s a secret agent and has no martial arts, he’s deeply in love and will never say so unless pushed, he will liken his rival to his sun and then tell him he’s the most annoying person he’s ever met. He’s a bastard little fox <3 

Additional Propaganda #1

Additional Propaganda #2

Fu Shen from Golden Terrace/Golden Stage

Submission 1: Fu Shen's leg is broken in battle. He has to use a brace and a wheelchair while he recovers.

Submission 2: 

Crippled legs/wheelchair bound for most of the novel  propaganda: The prologue of the novel is him basically suffering an assassination attempt which crippled his legs horribly when a bunch of rocks fall on him. Despite being wheelchair bound for most of the novel (he later gets these like leg exoskeleton support things but he can't wear them for more than a few hours or something and still has to use the wheelchair), he's still depicted as being just as badass and respected. His men still hold him in high regard, and he still goes around investigating shit and even once using a crossbow to take someone down. He also uses people underestimating him now that he's crippled to his advantage. His love interest is also incredibly sweet and remodels his whole estate to be wheelchair accessible right before he moves in after they're married. 

Carrd/Image Link

Gu Mang from Remnants of Filth / Yuwu

Submission: He's missing some of his souls, which renders him intellectually disabled and amnesiac.

Wiki Link

Gu Yun from Sha Po Lang 

Submission: He's half-deaf and half-blind, but still a badass.

Wiki Link

Hua Cheng from Heaven Official’s Blessing 

Submission: Blind in one eye and uses his magical butterflies as a disability aid to help him see!

Jing Weiyi from The Imperial Uncle

Submission: Jing Weiyi's leg was broken when he fell off a horse when he was young. Afterwards, he walked with a limp for many years. 

Ji Yushi from Mist [Unlimited]

Submission: Hyperthymesia... Basically, he can remember almost everything, and while that helps some in the scenarios of the novel, it also has a huge detrimental effect on him, and he needs pills to calm his mind and such. I'm not sure if it really counts as a disability, especially since there are less than a hundred people with this in real life, but I think it should count for this tournament since it's neurodivergence and such. 

Kim Kiryeo from The Hunter of the Other World Who Is Being Misunderstood

Submission: Kiryeo has a badly healed leg injury which makes it difficult for him to walk and impossible to run, lungs damaged by smoking that heavily limit his physical ability, lung cancer that causes him to cough up blood occasionally and a severe depression to the point of memory loss. He couldn't receive treatment for his leg and cancer due to the lack of money and in the end gave up on it and started to smoke to cope.

Mae Yakbing from Best Teacher Baek

Submission: She has a rare chronic illiness that causes her to get sick often, grow weak over time and die young.

Mu Tianchi (Jing Wang) from The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish

Submission: Jing Wang is mute.

Shen Qiao from Thousand Autumns

Disability: Blind

Shen Qingqiu from The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System

Submission: Chronic illness. SQQ is poisoned by a fictional poison literally named “without a cure.” In universe his condition is treated much like a chronic illness that requires constant monitoring and maintenance (medication, check-ups and regular qi infusions) in order to keep in check. Even when he adheres to his treatment regime, it still has unpredictable flare-ups that could put him in serious danger if they happen at the wrong time. The flare-ups (which happen randomly and vary in length unless he receives medical aid) completely block his ability to use qi thus making in-universe actions that are normal/habitual for most his peers (such as flying) much more risky for him. 

Shi Qingxuan from Heaven Official’s Blessing (TGCF)

Submission: Ends up with a broken arm and leg that is not healed

Song Qingshi from Mistakenly Saving the Villain

Submission: 

ALS before he transmigrated (hopefully this counts, it's big part of his character as a doctor and he thinks about it a lot, and he even gets panicky in his new body when his limbs go numb!!) It's also not explicitly said but he's very autistic coded and canonically has a hard time understanding metaphors, communicating with other people/understanding others emotions, and when he's reading about medicine or doing experiments he hyperfixates and doesn't do anything else for the entire day. When he's with others he gets so anxious he ends up putting on a stern face, so people think he's scary when he's internally panicking 

Wiki Link

Wei Wuxian from Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation

Submission: Wei Wuxian has trauma responses to several things, in particular dogs and the sparky sparky spirit whip. There's no way he doesn't have PTSD with everything he went through.

Xiao Xingchen from Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation 

Disability: Blind

Xue Xian from Copper Coins / Tong Qian Kan Shi

Submission: 

Peddling my disabled gay dragon again... He's paraplegic for most of the story, and this affects him in his true form and all of the forms he shapeshifts into. He also gets a wheelchair at a certain point and he's so happy about it 🥺  He's also, like, such a vibrant and charming character. Hes soooooo annoying(affection and approval) and so over the top and i support him in everything. Also lets not forget that he has a tiny noodle form and curled around his bf's wrist like a bracelet. this lives rent free in my head what a move

Carrd Link

Zhou Zishu from Faraway Wanderers

Submission: He injects himself with the Nails of Seven Apertures for Three Autumns. These nails result in him becoming sickly. The effects of the nails are a limited life span, halved martial arts strength, periodic pain, a ruined sleep schedule, and withered meridians. 

Wiki Link 

Rejected

Ballister Blackheart from Nimona

Reason: Not from a web novel

Sapphia from High Class Homos

Reason: Not from a web novel (Webtoon)

[foreststranger]

BLADE - There’s A Major Problem: II

ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢ(ꜱ) *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

↳ you’re dragging around a dead body for like the first half or so and mentions of blade wanting to die (bc he’s blade)

ꜱᴛᴀʀʀɪɴɢ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

↳ 『honkai: star rail』blade x gn!reader ft. kafka as emotional support and sam as worried sibling (SAM IS A WEIRD ROBOT TRANSFORMER LOOKING THING??? IN LOVE 😍)

ꜱʏɴᴏᴘꜱɪꜱ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

↳ a continuation of my last post (read it here) since it was fun to write and i think it’d be nice to continue bc i’m so many ideas. anyway the synopsis for the last post was:

“a kinda (barely) angsty-hurty/comfort-maybe-ish-sorta (?) unpolished short-tiny-small-lazy fic where blade dies so you gotta drag him back home and wait for him to heal himself back to life or wtv” which makes complete sense

in this post, you bring blade home with the help of kafka and take care of him as he recovers.

𑁍 ᴡᴏʀᴅ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ: 1.1k

ɴᴏᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

↳ OMG BLADE INSIDE A LITTLE HOUSE IN KAFKA’S NEW QUEST RAAAAA BLADE LOVERS STAY WINNING 🦅🦅🦅🇺���🇺🇸 NOW MY FANFIC IS LITERALLY CANONICAL 💯💯💯 #domesticblade #imnotdelusional #bladeisliterallyinlovewithme #weliveinahousetogether #andwehavesevenkids #real please bear with me and my tangents bc i swear i’ll write for other characters (when i come up with ideas) but there’s so many thoughts i have about blade ajdhsmaksjhshakaksjs anyway sorry for this unpolished, rushed, messy thing i just want to complete it now so i can move on to NEW IDEASSSS

“[name].” She leaned in, grabbing the phone out of your hands and scaring your spirit out of your body.

“*Xianzhou profanity*! Kafka! Oh… you scared me.” You rub your forehead. Your splitting migraine had only worsened after Kafka’s sudden appearance.

“How’d you make it here so fast? I mean, I thought you were on-“

“I thought you wanted to get him home first. You can ask as many questions as you’d like after, hm?” She always had a tendency to cut you off. You leer at her before responding.

“…Right, yeah. Yeah… we should, uh, get him home first. Okay. Let’s… let’s go.”

“Are you alright there, [name]?” She giggles, bringing her face closer to yours. “You sound… nervous.” Tension grows in your brain as if it were being pulled on.

“Sorry. Just a headache. How’ve you been?” You try to make some small talk to distract yourself. Though Kafka doesn’t reply. Your hands grapple for Blade’s forearms while Kafka reaches for his legs, the two of you easily lifting him off the ground. His body dangles so limply that it causes you to wince.

“I can carry him myself, if you’d prefer,” she offers. “Blade isn’t the easiest to bring around.”

“No.”

“No?” Kafka lets out a soft snicker, her voice soft and sultry as usual. “And why’s that?”

“Because I want to help carry him.” You walk backwards, trying to maneuver Blade through a fence.

“You’re struggling, dear. Maybe I should just-“

“I’m fine, Kafka.”

It’s been several hours now. You’re tired and thirsty and hungry and in pain. Everything is sore and you’re not sure how much longer you can walk.

“Kafka? I… I don’t think I can walk any further.” She sighs as you screech to a halt. You set Blade down as gently as you can, his arms bouncing as the collide with the ground.

“I can tell. I told you before, didn’t I? You can walk home. Bladie and I will follow. Get some rest, [name].” Despite her kind words, Kafka’s ‘I told you so’ smirk makes you internally groan.

You crash through the door, kicking off your shoes as you race to the bedroom. From the nightstand, you snatch up some first aid supplies — a roll of bandages, rubbing alcohol, and an antibiotic ointment. You’ve treated Blade’s minor injuries before but never lethal ones. Cuts and scrapes were what he came to you for, not enormous gashes.

“Kafka…? Will this be enough?” Your head turns to the doorway as she pulls Blade along, gracefully lifting him onto the bed. There was poise in every little movement of hers, even while carrying corpses.

“Sure,” she answers. Vague answers were the bane of your existence. Maybe Kafka in general was the bane of your existence. Like true in-laws, you didn’t really get along with any of the other Stellaron Hunters, either. Their line of work was… questionable, and they were an interesting bunch.

“Would you like me to stay and help, dear?” Kafka asked, staring at you intently. Her eyes always freaked you out a little. You can’t help but look towards her ear instead. From her earlobe dangles a glistening pearl earring.

“I can take care of him on my own, don’t worry.” You give her a tired, pathetic thumbs up as reassurance. “He’s in good hands.”

As Kafka leaves the room, Blade begins to stir. His eyes tightly shut as he rustles around on the bed. You’re at his side immediately.

“Blade? Don’t move, please. I’m gonna patch you up first.” You’ve never been good with your hands and you weren’t exactly a doctor, but you’d be damned if you didn’t at least try. He opens his eyes and glances up at you. Blade looks exhausted. As if he was on the cusp of achieving a goal he’s dreamt of all his life, but failed just at the finish line.

“Are you alright? You look so sad.”

“I’m fine,” he answers, his tone clipped. It’s evident that he was holding out hope; hope that perhaps this would be the last death of his.

“Sit up for me. I need to see your stomach.” His tailcoat has a long cut at the front, though it was hard to see much due to the drying blood. Blade did as you asked, dangling his legs off the edge of the bed and leaning on you for support. You hold up his upper body with one hand while the other undoes his button. It pops open without much resistance. He doesn’t seem to be looking at you as you slowly slide his sleeves off his arms. The sight is… not as gory as you’d prepared for. Blood coats most of his chest, and thankfully, it’s all you can see.

“I’ll be right back, Blade. I have to get a towel.”

After a gruelling few minutes of bandaging his wounds, you toss him one of your shirts. It’s a little small on him, tightening around every one of his curves, outlining his figure perfectly. Maybe you liked seeing him wearing your clothes.

“How do you feel? Is everything okay?” He nods in reply.

“Blade? You look… just adorable right now.” You lean in close and pinch his cheek. He doesn’t seem to have a reaction, but you swear you can see a hint of redness on his face.

Then, you hear the ding of a notification coming from your pocket. You take out the phone to be greeted with another text from a Stellaron Hunter.

“…What are you doing?” Blade stands up, leaning over to see what you’re doing on his phone. You turn it off before putting it back into your pocket.

“You got a few texts from Sam, so I thought I’d respond. They were just… checking up on you.”

“Mmh.” He sits back down onto the bed. Your hand reaches out to support him as he does so.

“Are you hungry? Thirsty? Need anything?”

“…Just you,” Blade sighs. The sudden silence of the room fills you with a quiet peace. Like, despite just seeing your lover dead, everything might turn out okay. Blade lays down and you decide to join him, right by his side. His arm wraps around your waist, limply pulling you close to himself. A feeling of warmth fills your heart as he spoons you. Then, in that moment, you’re sure that everything will turn out okay.

ask before translating, taking inspo from (not copy), reposting, etc. my work. remember to credit me and if you’re taking inspo from it, please @ me as I’d like to see what you do with my ideas!

[beemers-hell]

I’m curious about the timeline in the dad AU. Because in the main series everything happens in very quick succession. In the first few episodes we technically don’t know how much time has passed, but Hank still having the bandages from the previous episodes’ injuries tells us it hasn’t been long because he hasn’t fully recovered yet. But in the dad AU, bank is a baby during episode one and then we see her at several ages while Hank has his consternation design. But in the series depredation onward seem to happen in the span of one very bad day. And obviously bank didn’t go from a baby to an adult in the span of a day.

so like, in this AU, how much time passes between each episode and how old is Bank at that time? And what things play out differently than canon?

yeah so I definitely take the timeline of the main series like, SUPERRRRRRR loosely with the timeline of Dad AU, but if I had to map it out:

And before anyone asks the reason I draw Depredation Hank whenever I draw Bank when she's like, a kid/tween, and Consternation Hank to represent Hank in the present is cause uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yup! Listen the main series timeline doesn't make sense in the first place with the wrench Project Nexus and Arena Mode throws into it we kinda just gotta ball LMAO. Pretend Depredation Hank already looks like Consternation Hank when that shit happens in Dad AU and ignore the .5s with Sanford and Deimos and we're good. I place 5-11 at the point I did bc Hank doesn't get MAG'd until Bank's in her late 20s, im trying my best lol

[imagine-knowing-a-name]

OKAY so random but I read “Omnia Vincit Amor” right and I was thinking you know how Natasha moved on married Wanda had a kid named her y/n yada yada yada you get the point “WHAT IF” reader never died but rather survived the fall but fell unconscious and was taken by someone like anyone who took care of her and all but she had lost her memories so she obviously didn’t know her life before u til one night racer woke up and EVERYTHING just came crashing together and she made it a mission to find Wanda and Nat also to show and tell nat that it wasn’t her fault she chose Wanda and that she would have done the same if it were her in that position I know this story was creat MONTHS ago but the crazy thought just popped into my mind when that story popped out on my search all of a sudden and I sat here thinking “what if”

omnia vincit amor (what if...reader survived)

Summary: what the anon said ^

Pairing: Wanda x Natasha (& platonic relationship with Y/N)

Word count: 2411

Warnings: Brain injuries (probably inaccurately represented bc I know nothing medical), a little bit of angst during recovery. It's a bit hurt/comfort but probably the happiest ending of this series.

A/N: This is literally the fastest I've ever written a fic, thank you so much for the ask

Part 1 Part 2

—————————————————

Natasha had trained her whole life for moments like this: to make the right decision in an instant; never doubt it, never dwell on it, never get emotional about it. After all, she was raised for survival, and that was the only way through.

So why could she not control her tears now? The irritations pricked her eyes from the moment she saw the fear on your face, her vision blurred before your body could even hit the ground. You’d hidden it under a mask of acceptance, but she saw it. Your face was the only thing Natasha saw when she closed her eyes; the pain she’d seen and missed every time she’d ignored you for Wanda. She finally saw it, but by then, your face was expressionless, too late to apologise to.

Wanda had to pull her away from the edge, back to the quinjet to run from the failed mission. They couldn’t even see your face up close.

If they had, they would have seen the breaths you were still taking.

—————————————————

Your first memories were police interrogations. An officer yelled about what your organisation had done and the atrocities they had caused, until a doctor stepped in and warned the man of your state.

“You should be grateful they saved you,” the officer scorned. He was quieter now; the pain in your head subsided, though it didn’t fade completely.

According to the doctor, you came in with a severe traumatic brain injury, spending days in a coma they weren’t sure you would wake from. The amnesia was expected, as was the pain, but they believed you would recover eventually with time, medicine, and therapy.

Eventually, you had to be released from holding on medical grounds. Your complete memory loss meant you could offer nothing to the police; your uniform was all they had to tie you to the criminal organisation, and that didn’t even say what role you played in it, or if you had even been aware of their actions. For all anyone knew, you may have been just a janitor. All they did know was that someone had wiped the database of all traces of you; you were a ghost, with no clue of your own identity.

Now you were released into a hectic world, told to make your life anew.

—————————————————

Seven years later, that memory was not as distant as you would have liked. You still frequented hospitals and appointments in the hopes of returning your life’s memories, but to no avail.

There had been some breakthroughs, scraps of memories from long ago. You could picture a woman, her features were out of your grasp, but her laugh, and the sight of her shoulder-length red hair replayed in your mind. You held tightly to the memory, thinking of it over and over again, trying to add more to it. Was it a date? You had both been laughing, just the two of you, so perhaps. Had you been close to her? Something inside told you that you were, that you’d been special to each other, but you couldn’t place it, couldn’t even remember her face.

You worked at a small restaurant, and your coworkers had tried to set you up with friends and customers before, but in 7 years, you hadn’t been attracted to any of them, nor anyone else you encountered, and you couldn’t answer their questions as to why. But perhaps it was this – your brain subconsciously keeping itself for this woman.

The more you thought about it, the more frustrated you became. If you were so close, why had she not come to find you? You didn’t even know if she was real, or just a false memory your brain had conjured up to ease your constant search for something.

—————————————————

Your ‘road to recovery’ – outlined years ago by the doctors – featured several activities designed to memories in your mind. Trying different hobbies, foods, meditations; anything that might trigger thoughts of your past, or lift the fog of your mind. It clearly hadn’t been that effective – you wondered what you even did in the past – but it had become a routine that you enjoyed. It was how you found yourself at a new park one Saturday, close to where you sustained your injury. If you had worked in that building, there was a chance you lived nearby, and something in the park would look familiar to you. 

Nothing sparked recognition in you, until a child ran past, as fast as their little toddler legs would carry them.

“Y/N! Come back here you!” a woman’s voice laughed.

You turned around before you even knew why. Whether it was the name itself, or just the way the woman said it, that made you act as if she had called for you.

But then you saw the red hair, and recognised the laugh that had plagued you ever since you found that one memory. 

“Natasha?” The name had come from nowhere, but it felt right, it matched the woman… and she certainly matched your memory. There were more of them now, all playing in your brain all at once: bowling, movies, dinner dates, sleepovers; the amount you had done together was overwhelming, and her face finally formed in your imagery. You were the only unknown left in your brain, nothing was filling in, until-

“Y/N?”

That name again, but now it was directed at you. It fit. The name you chose 7 years ago was the only one you could remember having, but this one –Y/N– fit like no other name ever had.

The woman –Natasha– held the child in her arms now, and slowly approached, taking every step like a dog stalking its prey, fearing that each new step might send it running. You eyed the woman, then averted your attention to the bench beside you. You slowly took a seat, your head was spinning now with an overabundance of thoughts and names and skills rushing back, you had to hold your head up as Natasha sat quietly beside you, not disturbing the peace with further questions.

“Big Y/N,” the baby in her arms babbled. You looked up to see her smiling at the child, though a tear tracked down her face; her eyes were worried when they turned to meet yours. 

“I think I know you,” you said at last.

“I think I know you too,” she replied.

“I wasn’t attracted to you.”

A smirk spread on her face, and her head tilted in amusement, “if you’re the person I know, you’re not attracted to anybody.”

“I’m not… or I haven’t been… I don’t know.”

Her eyes track over your face, her eyebrows slightly knotted. She looks concerned, and ready to ask questions. You’ve never been able to read someone so well. “You can ask questions, maybe it’ll help,” you sigh, “I just don’t know if I can answer any.”

“How bad is the memory loss?”

“I didn’t-”

“I pick up on things. It’s part of my trademark really.”

“...It’s bad. I lost it all 7 years ago and only today did it start to come back, just now. Even with my recent memory, I don’t remember all the things that I should.”

“But you recognise me now?”

“I… I think so. Natasha?” She nodded, prompting you to continue. “You and Wanda were dating, and I used to join you a lot.”

“That’s correct, you got me and Wanda to confess to each other actually.”

“I had your engagement ring in my room.”

“It’s on Wanda’s finger now.”

“How long did that take you?” you chuckled, eyes down at the ground. You could see Natasha smile wider out of the corner of your eye, a little bit of the old you coming back.

“A while,” she laughed, “I went and talked to your grave for moral support first, which…guess we’ve gotta get rid of that.”

Silence fell at the mention of your time apart; her thinking you were dead, while you couldn’t even remember being alive. Eventually, Natasha spoke up, “Can I- do you mind- ?” with her hand raised, you understood what she was asking, raising your own hand to meet hers. She sighed at the feeling, at the knowledge you were actually alive.

It was at that point that the child began to get restless, tugging at their mother’s hair to go home. “Alright, alright, love, we’ll head back soon,” she appeased, and turned to you, “Would you be ready to meet the others again? Or do you have a place of your own I can at least drop you off at?”

Now that you had memories of the others, you missed them, and grieved the fact you’d spent seven years without them. You wanted nothing more than to let them know you were okay, and reminisce, but you weren’t fully you, at least not yet. Seeing Natasha alone had almost been too much to handle, and she was one of the calmest teammates, understanding your social cues without too much verbalisation from you. Even just from your silence, she guessed your decision and understood it.

“Give me directions to your house. I’ll drive you.”

You tried to get dropped off a few blocks away at first, but Natasha had caught on, prompting directions to just outside the rundown apartment. Some of your windows were still boarded up, and the stairs outside were cracked into disrepair; you couldn’t even say the inside was much better, but when you had no documentation or proof you ever existed, there was little accommodation you could afford.

“Say hi to Wanda for me, please?”

“I’ll pass it on, maybe come see us when you’re up for it, or text me and we’ll come over. She’s going to want to see you before she believes me.”

“Thank you, Nat, I’ll let you know.”

—————————————————

The screen had been dark for hours, but still, you held the device before you, only now noting your own reflection.

Acting on impulse, you clicked your phone back on; the blank chat with Natasha opened once again, and this time, you began to type.

"Come over tomorrow?" you sent, "Wanda and baby are welcome too"

'sent' appeared below before you could change your mind and, in truth, you didn't want to. The pair had been your closest friends in the world until you'd gone 7 years without each other; they would have mourned for you. You could only imagine how they would be feeling now. You wanted to apologise for how the mission ended, for all the grief you brought them. You wanted to tell Natasha you didn't mind her choice, and thank Wanda for taking care of her in your absence - it wouldn't have been an easy effort.

Three dots appeared and you tossed your phone across the bed. You weren't ready to hear an answer just yet.

You felt no more prepared the next day when the doorbell rang. To see them again, purposefully, was one thing, but memories were still coming back. Now you could remember the compound, your current apartment was no comparison; you could only even afford the bare minimum of furnishing, much less all the decoration there used to be.

The fears fled your mind the second you opened the door, and Wanda rushed in to engulf you in a hug. Tears brimmed in her eyes as she looked you over, holding your face in her hands. 

"I'm sorry," came your breathless greeting. Wanda steered you to the sofa and sat you down, Natasha following behind with the baby in her arms. "For how the mission went, and what you went through and-"

Natasha cut you off. "I thought I was coming here to apologise to you, not the other way around" 

"I don't want you to apologise, this life was all I wanted for you, it was the choice I wanted you to make."

"What matters now is we made it back together," Wanda soothed. "I'm sure there'll be time for tears and apologies later, just not now. There's been enough of that. Where have you even been for seven years? I want to hear it all."

Hours passed with the three of you exchanging stories. You were introduced to their child officially, as their namesake, and learned what the other Avengers had done in your absence.

Natasha strapped the younger Y/N into the car first, leaving you and Wanda alone when it was time to say goodbye.

She listened to your thanks, then waved it off, stating you would have looked after Natasha just as well had she made the other choice. "You know, Natasha and I discussed it after you texted, and I understand if it's too much, but… living with you was half the reason we didn't move out before, and we have a spare room in our house. If you want… move in with us? It'll be just the same as old times; meals together, movie nights, days out… and the toddler is actually quieter than living with the rest of the Avengers team… somehow tidier too."

Wanda spoke with such earnestness, it left no room for self-doubt, and with the way Natasha smiled when she came back in and met your eye, you could tell she agreed. Your apartment was not a home, especially now that you remembered what was. Your home was with them. You said yes.

—————————————————

Natasha laughed as you jumped, your eyes glued to the screen. "You don't remember the jump scare?"

You flit your eyes to hers, then down to the ground. It was all she needed to see to shuffle closer, bumping her shoulder against yours. "That's okay, it gets me too sometimes."

"Not in the same way," you mumbled, "have we watched this movie before? before the accident?"

Natasha nodded; you saw the concern underneath.

"I don't remember it. Some things just aren't coming back to me, and other things that I keep forgetting."

"That's okay," Natasha smiled, she took your hands into hers, "you can't expect it to be better all at once."

"But what if it never is? If it never gets better? I don't think I'm ever going to be the same person that you and everyone else remembers."

"I don't mind if you're not that you. You don't have to be. All I want is to spend my time with who you are right now, because I lost seven years of it, and I never missed anything more."

[im-an-insane-man-lover]

Okay this is really long and absolute yappery just. I NEED to shove this out somewhere besides with my pookie

So I think like a few people know who Alexi is??? Right, my silly until dawn oc. Him and Mack (or Moose) are me and my friends silly ud ocs right

I'm focusing more on these sillies than Alexi IN ud so I'm yapping about them !!! Because they're so silly

To the 3 people (pookie and like. Idk other goobers) who might read this tell me if you want more yapping of them because they're infecting my brain rn and I want me and pookie to yap more

ALSO INCLUDING SOME DOODLES AND DRAWING BY POOKIE!!! @roverthegoober

GOLLY I love these guys..... a LARGE portion is just like angst or the aftermath of the ud events

Two goobers meeting in early middle school only over the fact Alexi was asking him for help on work and after that he kept bothering him. Not even for help, asking random questions, and trying to know him better.

Alexi having Mack over for a movie night, and he's either forcing him to watch some sad rom-com or all of The Thing movies and explaining the comics and lore, pointing out small details and references in or related to The Thing (its his favorite horror series? I think it counts as a series right)

Like after the events of ud (saying everyone lives ending), they're both screwed up, but Mack had suffered from tbi (traumatic brain injury). Alexi is also suffering, obviously. Half his face is still messed up, his arm and hand are, but he doesn't have severe head injury (facial yeah, but erm... not head or brain, yknow)

Alexi isn't making any efforts to talk to anyone else (the group, not REALLY his family except if it's his brother, which is unlikely), but he's talking to Mack. Only talking to Mack, even if they're both struggling and trying to recover, he's literally worried sick about him and not metaphorically (because his anxiety is increased tenfold now)

Depending on how severe the tbi is, Mack COULD have memory issues with recalling what went on that night and everything that happened (long-term memory loss, he'd also struggle to remember how to do this or that and what this is etc). So Alexi is just dumbfounded.

Alexi can remember everything perfectly fine, and he just can't grasp that the person closest to him can't?? He can't go to Mack for any questions on what happened, how he got injured (at least for the injuries he wasn't present for, or Mack already told him after) and he can't go to him for any reassurance and comfort.

He's just in shock because he is ABSOLUTELY NOT going to confide in someone else, like family or a friend, because you have to be so insanely close to this guy for him to trust you to that extent.

So, over the years, he's sticking with Mack since he still remembers him, but not completely. He can't recall facts about him or moments that happened between them, and its not completely Mack.

ANYWAYS, IM GONNA LEAVE THAT THERE BC I DONT WANNA YAP ABOUT SAD SHIT ALL IN THIS POST

Don't come after me for anything that's not super medically accurate. Im not a doctor or anything. im just spit balling to get an idea out. Like Mack would probably have different symptoms and stuff, but this is just for silly fun for our ocs and I just wanna be silly 😞😞 this is literally just for fun so don't come at me with a pitchfork and mob

More art giggles

I love these guys I need them dead

Alexi was almost a theater kid, but he was too scared to because of his anxiety, but he still really wanted to try singing (he wasn't exactly too big on the dancing portion). He only did a few times at his house in his room, but his mom caught on and offered to get him a personal vocal coach (or trainer, idk the exact title).

So he CAN sing somewhat, but it's been a bit since he has, and he definitely isn't telling that to just anyone. Mack only found this out when they jokingly had a karaoke night, and Alexi didn't suck at singing

Also, if anybody is confused about why he has red hair, sometimes it's because his natural hair color is red, but he dyes it black. His older brother has black hair, and he was really close with him, and so around the start of high school, he started to dye it a bit to try it, and eventually he just ended up doing it completely and making it a routine.

Mack helps him dye it sometimes, but that's not often since he isn't the super best at it..... helps with getting Alexi what he needs mainly

OKAY THATS ALLLL !!!!! IM GONNA try to finish drawing Mack and Alexi as Paul and Sam from TGWDLM and sleep...

[figbian]

Tell Me of the dunmeshi wip 👀 that title bangs. also tell me about frat au and how much of it is based on The Frat.

dungeon meshi wip CONTAINS MANGA SPOILERS so putting it under a readmore. everyone else has to suffer thru frat au info.

frat au is only Sort Of based on The Frat (dear readers, this fanfiction author joined a fraternity and is a brother of [loud car horn]). due to the like ways fe3h works narratively, it felt a lot more true to a Good AU to be honest to an all-male fraternity, so it draws on The Frat's past (as we didnt haze, but hazing definitely used to occur) as well as info from other fraternities or fraternity-like structures (and a handful of How Do College-Age Boys Behave anecdotes coming directly from my real life college-age brother who is Not a frat boy).

sylvain, dimitri, and others are in a frat. their fathers (plus rodrigue lol) were in this frat. etc. not exactly explored but crucial to the narrative: how traditional fraternities uphold like lineage and legacies in college settings and why that creates bad gatekeeping etc etc etc. basically the ways fraternities suck on an individual level (hazing, unhealthy relationship to substances, pressure to conform to a certain set of standards, etc) AND the ways they operate on a structural level in a shitty way.

the plot however is: sylvain returns from some time off at university. in his time off, he's effectively ghosted his friends and no one knows what happened/why he vanished. felix is recovering from an injury that delayed his journey to become a professional tennis star (<- lol). they've known each other for so long, they both have dead brothers, but also how much do they really know about each other?

posting this snippet SPECIFICALLY for brothers of [siren wail]. i think youll all recognize the inspo for 'the green room.'

“maybe we should shift to explosions,” raphael said as he came back into the room, looking over at the car crumpling into a tree playing on the television. “for the vibe.” “the vibe,” agreed sylvain, privately wondering if there was that much of a difference between crashes and explosions. he figured that any kind of disaster suited the green room. the windowless room in the phi ep basement––named for the carpeting, which had, once, allegedly, been green (sylvain’s efforts to deep clean last spring had failed to prove anything except that one should always wear shoes in the green room)––was less of a vibe and more…well. the couches were all leather––easier to clean if someone puked on them; the ceiling had suspicious stains; the walls were covered in bad murals painted over several years of pledging––and sylvain would know they were bad, being an art history major; the tv sat on a pile of wooden crates. at least the sound system wasn’t terrible. when sylvain wanted to impress girls, he never brought them to the green room. he sat back on the couch and spread his legs. “yeah, fuck it,” he heard himself say. “explosions.”

dungeon meshi fic is suuuper rough rn. its Probably a 5+1 of 5 times marcille's friends died and 1 time they didnt (hahaha) but what i have written so far is all about chilchuck going senile and dying. the fic is very obviously tackling like "what happens when the people you love and remember as young and full of life grow old, and how is preparing for someone's death as painful as their death itself" BUT ALSO is about "what if the dragon part of falin makes her age at the same rate as marcille...and how is that, in some ways, worse than if she just lived as a human did?" bcs As You Know im always interested in the question "when is it true that living beyond when the narrative expects you to is worse than dying?" that part just doesnt have a lot written.

there is NOT a lot written that i posted for wip wednesday but here:

chilchuck has lost most of his teeth, so he has to eat porridge and other soft foods. “at least it’s not monsters,” he says to marcille every morning, which was funny the first few times and now is depressing. “yeah,” says marcille, pouring some sugar into his tea. it’s unclear to marcille––who, despite having half a century to prepare for this, feels unprepared––exactly when chilchuck seems to think it is. he keeps asking about his wife, his shop, his daughters, whether or not they could resurrect falin.  “have i reached out to her?” he asks. his wife, he means. mostly he seems to think they’ve just defeated the winged lion. marcille has not gained much patience in last fifty eight years; having to admit to mistakes she made fifty eight years ago every day for the last couple of years has been––hard. it’s been hard. “no,” she says, gritting her teeth. chilchuck’s ex-wife died fourteen years ago. marcille learned many mornings ago it’s best to convince chilchuck to write her a letter that cannot be sent rather than make him relive his grief every day.

[csmelody]

AAAAAAH sorry if this has been said before, or was meant to be an obvious thing implied by your work,

But i just keep thinking about the lore etc youve built up, and one of the things i end up wondering about is the healing magic (and now, how it interacts with magic resistance etc etc)

Bc like

Its Established that magical energy was left over in nats wound and severely impeding the healing process, but that it could be activated and set right (bc it was a magical injury? And was in the process of being healed?)

( Is essence/magic always neutral and potentially restorative like it is in the other place for spirits, and just applied to induce harm, or are there inherently different energies? [Electricity runs our hearts and keeps them beating, but can also stop them, or start them?])(Is essence inherently restorative?)

Its Established that going to the other place ptolomys gate style results in a) injury/aging/negative effects and slow recovery and b) an abundance of magical energy within the body upon return

Also established that kitty has resistant powers (reg and sword.), some sort of kinship with the amulet which has inherently similar powers, and shows resistance to meshing fully with bartimaeus (did she see less of an effect coming back from the other place than ptolomy due to this and not just bc of duration spent?)

So if nat went to the Other Place would he potentially have ptolomy level effects, negative ones but also in the amount hes suffused with energy? (Ptolomy "brighter" than kitty)

And more importantly given its a "magical injury" and energy is present, is it possible the energy is potentially stopping or slowing the healing/recuperation/relearning?

Is it possible that bart could do the same thing he did with the side injury, or similar, in order to fix/speed up recovery post dimension hopping were it a non magic resistant person in question? (Whether it can be done from the outside, or must be done from the inside)

Did kitty recover on her own more effectively because (along w just keeping more energy out longer) she wasnt infused the same way in the first place, and her sort of 'restorative temple', (as one has in a human body apparently,) was never accessed, and therefore never disrupted? (As we saw bart (who is made of essence, same as other place) couldn't really properly get into it?)

Does the body react badly to the other place because of a disruption to like, whatever is going on in there that makes it good for a djinni to be in there? Is it a similar disruption to what caused nats wound to get janked up?

If i understand/remember correctly the presence of the magic in nats wound allowed for barts healing, but its presence prevented/slowed natural healing. As time went on for both kitty and ptolomy after their adventures, they regained some of what was was lost, but kitty much faster and more fully. /but,/ she also lost the glow (energy/essence?) faster i think? (Resistance chasing it out? Continued exposure to the amulet?)

Ptolomy didn't seem to Really lose the glow and the healing was there but very slow paced, kind of like nats wound. (Magic not leaving, natural healing reduced)

All this leading to

If bart /could/ help w the effects of ptolomys gate field trips by activating the energies or something similar, (just not with someone resistant to magic like kitty who is our only other example of whats up w all that,) and bart /realized/ that,

Is it just oh fuck i could have helped ptolomy. I could have /saved/ ptolomy. Any advantage could have been the one that would have led to a different outcome?

Added onto whatever circumstances (honestly probably nats life being saved and him nearly not recovering. Again.) led to getting the knowledge that, yeah, you probably could have if youd known to, and known how (even if its impossible to know if it would have changed anything)

.

.

Uh. Sorry for rambling and ranting. All this to say thank you for the good fic, im clearly invested. Ive read it thrice.

It is very late though so i apologize for any eccentricities, faux pas, and/or inclarities in this here message. I probably should have slept on sending this but for some reason im worried ill forget what im thinking about now if i dont.

Oh also Please feel free to ignore this or respond without posting the ask itself for whatever reason

(eg not to clog dash, somehow ive gotten too close to a spoiler plot point idk, you just dont feel like it, its just incomprehensible, the government will find and dissappear one or both of us if they see this due to nefarious machinations we're yet unaware of... all good reasons.)

In general, No offense meant, and none will be taken if likewise. :)

First off, spoilers up to chapter 30 of The Lost Artefact. Probably not that far, but just to be safe. And I'm sorry it took me weeks, but I was just so focused on writing and not losing momentum. I hope you end up seeing this. Plus, I'm trying my best to say what needs to be said without spoiling the rest of the story. It's harder than you'd think. Okay, so, these are questions I want you to be wondering about, so I guess I did my job. 😂 And I'm not offended, I'm deeply flattered! I love chatting all things Bartimaeus.

The short answers for TLA are that magic is neutral, intention is the key, and ageing isn't a wound or a condition, so it's not 'curable' by magic. Here are some things I took into account:

Nathaniel wasn’t healing properly because the residual magic kept burning through the stitches and the meds.

Bartimaeus feels instantly reinvigorated when he’s summoned into Nathaniel’s body in PG, as does Nathaniel. So magic can’t be inherently bad to humans. In fact, it’s a symbiotic relationship when done right, and we get the sense that this is how it’s supposed to be with humans and spirits, actually, just like Ptolemy’s conversations with Bart foreshadowed.

Essence can burn through human flesh and skin (when the body is put through ‘unnatural’ circumstances, like eating a bunch of humans), as exemplified by Nouda. So magic isn’t inherently all good either. However, we don’t get a sense that there’s a timeframe exactly for this. Faquarl seemed to be doing well and he was in his host (Hopkins) for quite some time.

I took the Ptolemy/Kitty conundrum differently. Essentially, I based it on the fact that Kitty is a healthier individual, stayed in the OP for a shorter interval, and didn’t die soon after. Ageing, like I said, isn’t a wound or an illness, so it doesn’t function the same. At least that’s what I figured.

As for how Kitty and Bart literally didn’t mix, I figured that Kitty’s resilience should extend to magic in general. She resists the bad, but also the good. But it’s not like she totally cancels out Bart, and there are different types of resilience.

That's all I'm going to say for now. Otherwise, I think I'll just be giving myself away, hahaha. I should really get started on a Bart master list so these are more organised...

Anyway, feel free to drop a question anytime. (Or a prediction! Always fun.)

[whistlingstarlight]

If you want to try to ramble about the Mother series, I'd love to hear what you have to say

Okay I

Cannot at all guarantee this will be coherent it's very hard for me to put some of my thoughts on this series into words, especially as omitting a lot of context

Not gonna even try and make this spoiler-free bc the spoilers are what I love most abt it, so heads up on that. This may end up having follow-up posts depending on how long it gets, but for now I'm mainly gonna talk about the characters as they're what I love most about the series. We'll be here forever if I try to explain the plots too

Also, Mother is a surprisingly dark series past all the nonsensical whimsy. There's themes of bullying, death and child neglect mentioned in this, you've been warned.

The Mother series is very unique, as it is (overall) an RPG set in the modern day. 198X for Mother 1, 199X for Mother 2/Earthbound, and an unknown time for Mother 3. On top of fighting things like aliens and robots, you also fight crows, gas pumps and hippies. Weird time, but a fun time too.

The protagonist of Mother 1 is Ninten, who's mission is to stop an invasion from the alien Giegue, as well as recover the pieces of a song for a woman called Queen Mary in the fantasy world of Magicant. Ninten doesn't get a huge amount of development due to being a silent protagonist, but I find the types of psychic abilities he learns to be indicative of his personality: he learns mainly defense and protective abilities, he wants to keep his loved ones safe most of all. He is also one of the first canonically disabled protagonists in a video game, being asthmatic.

The first friend Ninten meets on his quest is Lloyd, a timid but intelligent boy with a love for rockets and other gadgets. Unfortunately he's the victim of severe bullying from his schoolmates, to the point he spends his free time in a garbage can on the school roof to avoid them. Befriending Lloyd is a key moment in Mother 1: he is the only companion absolutely mandatory to complete the game, and when he joins you the overworld music changes from the song "Pollyanna" to the very appropriately named "Bein' Friends".

Ninten's next friend is Ana, who joins the party after the boys return her hat to her in the hopes of finding her missing mother. Ana isn't very physically strong, but her psychic abilities are extremely powerful, enough that she's been having dreams of Ninten before she even met him. She and Ninten harbor feelings for each other, shown late in the game when they dance together in a mountain cabin.

There's also Teddy, in his late teens/early twenties, leader of the local criminal gang, who joins the group to avenge the deaths of his parents. He kicks Lloyd out of the team, believing him to be too weak, but Lloyd later saves them from a robot attack by destroying it with a tank. Teddy's severely injured and has to stay behind to recover, but grows to respect Lloyd as a result. In the original release it was implied he died of his injuries, but in rereleases it's confirmed he recovered and started over, leaving his criminal past and becoming a club singer.

After recovering the pieces of Queen Mary's song, it's revealed that she is Maria, Ninten's great-grandmother. Magicant is the last remaining ghost of her consciousness, and before it disappears she reveals she and her husband, George, had been abducted years ago to become Giegue's surrogate parents. The song you've been learning was the lullaby she sung to him as a baby. When you finally confront Giegue, it's a very unconventional final boss battle. You don't kill him, you don't even physically beat him; you sing the lullaby, reminding him of his mother Maria. He even offers to let Ninten come with his before he leaves, acknowledging him as family. He swears to return someday, though.

Mother 2/Earthbound is simultaneously a remake and sequel of the first game, and it's protagonists are noticeably similar to their predecessors. Ness is the new main protagonist, and like Ninten is mostly silent. He loves his family dearly, to the point that if he doesn't phone home regularly he will become homesick. Unlike Ninten, who practically stumbled into his journey, Ness and his friends are prophesised to save the world from Giegue (now known as Giygas). Ness must also learn a song, but this time from visiting powerfu energy spots across the world.

The first friend Ness meets is Paula. Much like Ana, she is physically weak but extremely powerful psychically. She's been kidnapped by a cult, and after her rescue (and reuniting briefly with her parents), joins Ness on his journey. Her telepathic abilities are invaluable in meeting with the next friend, Jeff.

Jeff Andonuts is from overseas, living at a boarding school. The only member of the group without PSI, he more than makes up with it with his technological prowess. After hearing Paula's call for help, he sets off to meet up with them. His best friend, Tony (one of the first canonical gay characters in gaming!), helps him out of the school, and Jeff heads to his father's science lab in hopes he can help him get to Ness and Paula over the ocean.

Dr. Andonuts is... absent, to put it tactfully, despite only living the other side of the lake from Jeff's boarding school, he hasn't seen his son in ten years. Jeff even corrects himself whenever he calls him Dad.

Extra note: the novelisation is... not my favourite, but Jeff is physically disabled in this version, using leg braces and later prostheses although how he gets them is a bit yikes. He also uses an off-roader wheelchair in one chapter, and personally this is smth I've adopted as my headcanon

The final member of the party is Prince Pu (who received a much more unfortunate name in translation that I refuse to call him :]), from the Eastern kingdom of Dalaam. He goes through some... absolutely nightmare-inducing meditative training before joining the group, and if you want to see what I mean look up "earthbound mu training" on youtube.

Mother 3's main protagonist is Lucas, although aside from the prologue you don't actually get to play as him for quite a while. Lucas is initially a shy but still very happy boy, but after the brutal death of his mother and disappearance of his twin brother Claus, and the subsequent neglect from his father Flint, who spends all his time searching for Claus, Lucas becomes a shell of his former self. Yet he has a signature PSI ability: PK Love. And at the end of the game, when offered to restore or destroy the world, despite having experienced nothing but loss and loneliness for years, Lucas chooses to love the world that hurt him.

Kumatora is a so-called "princess", but by choice she doesn't really live up to the role. She continues the trend of incredibly skilled PSI-wielding girls, but unlike her predecessors is a rebellious tomboy.

Duster is the successor of Lloyd and Jeff as the group's non-psychic member, but the similarities end there. Duster's a grown man, raised as a thief by his father Wess. Unfortunately, Wess holds the title of Fucking Terrible Parent. He's verbally abusive to Duster after he makes an honest mistake, and the game all but outright states he permanently disabled his son by overworking him. Duster walks with a limp, a fact that is mentioned in-game and was even animated into his walking animation, a detail that I appreciate a lot as someone who also walks with a limp.

There's also Boney, Lucas's loyal dog. He accompanies Lucas throughout his journey, remaining a constant and reliable companion.

Then there's Pokey Minch, Ness's neighbour from Earthbound. There's... honestly so much to talk about with this character, so I'm gonna save it for a post dedicated solely to him. He's surprisingly complex and quite a tragic character despite the antagonistic (and.. almost irredeemable) role he plays.

This post really doesn't do these characters justice, but they mean so much to me. The games are all noticeably more challenging before you meet your friends, because struggling alone is tough. All three groups are quite diverse and a lot of them come from difficult backgrounds, but they're all treated quite respectfully. They send some important messages, especially for the time the games were released; disabled people can still be strong, girls can be as skilled as boys (if not more so), you don't need special abilities to be important.

[synteis]

Xingdae Fight of 2015

N.B. This is a repost from my old Tellonym.

Jongdae and Yixing both belonged to Exo-M.

They have a one year age gap and Yixing is the elder. Jongdae joined very late and had a very short training period which was especially tough given that he now needed to sing in Mandarin which he didn't know before his audition. Although he had tutors and lessons and such, Yixing, who is a native Chinese speaker, took him under his wing and did a lot of coaching and teaching, both of phrases for interviews but also pronunciation for songs. My understanding is that Yixing also tutored Jongdae in dance, another area of initial weakness. Jongdae was an eager pupil who always credited his teacher and as they got older, started looking after Yixing in small and large ways, the most prominent example is attending Yixing's solo Pathcode shoot and worrying about him staying warm (27:33 https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3rmasa).

Yixing had been making his own music since his trainee days and had the goal of releasing an album and/or contributing music to an Exo album. However, SM is very strict about how tracks and lyrics are accepted so artists typically have to compete with other tracks and win. Nevertheless, you can hear some of Yixing's early work in his Lost Planet solo 'I'm Lay' as well as in this SM Rookies practice clip of Seulgi and Irene (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuxQa9_eSLQ).

After the first two Chinese members left Exo, Yixing wrote the music and Chinese lyrics+rap to Promise in reaction and this was his first song to be properly featured on an Exo album. However, because Korean is not his first language, he asked the Exo group chat for help and Jongdae was the only member to come down. Jongdae would adapt/write the Korean lyrics to Promise with Chanyeol ultimately writing the rap. This initial collaboration would spark a whole series of demos that they made together with Yixing generally contributing the music and Jongdae generally the lyrics. Jongdae would normally perform the majority of the vocals on the demos. The goal for Yixing was to prepare 100 demos to present to SM to show that he/they were ready for their own album for more of their music to be featured on Exo albums. This collaboration brought them even closer together and they were very affectionate with each other during this period. Ultimately though in late 2014 the USB with the masters of the demos was lost and never recovered. They were able to reconstruct Promise and there were a few non-master files of some of the songs but they had lost a huge amount of work.

Shortly thereafter, the remaining Chinese member outside of Yixing, Huang Zitao, who had had many injuries during his time with Exo and at the time had one severe enough he couldn't perform, started to make moves that suggested he too might leave. This period is very complicated and was very uncertain for fans and for the band because Tao's father got publicly involved in his quest to have Tao sue SM for mistreatment (largely bc of the injuries and how they'd handled them) while Tao had previously maintained he had no plans to leave ever. It's also clear that with the departure of the first two members, SM had been scrambling to sort out how promotions in China and Exo-M would work regarding both the two Chinese members as well as the two Korean members but Tao, as a Chinese member was clearly a key part of whatever plans they had.

At the same time, Yixing was in negotiations with SM that ultimately led to him opening his own Chinese studio which initially was supposed to be focused on managing his Chinese acting. His bargaining power was presumably strengthened by the loss of two going on three of the four original Chinese members given that Exo's original vision was fundamentally based in part on serving the Chinese market and expanding SM's reach in it.

Ultimately, Yixing opened his studio at the beginning of April while Tao's father's letter was published at the end of April.

In the middle of these two events is the Japanese fan meeting (https://youtu.be/lOHEypLdako?t=390) which contains one of the most iconic Xingdae moments: Jongdae picking Yixing as who he would be a fan of if he was an Exo-L and indicating it by backlogging Yixing whose face is hidden. The grin that spreads across Yixing's face as he gets picked is everything and Yixing ultimately breaks the chain they'd had going to pick Jongdae back.

The next time we see them together is for the May 30/31 concerts of Exo'luxion. In between the fan meeting and those concerts, Yixing begins filming for Go Fighting! (where he gets very close to the other Chinese celebrities on the show, all older than him), Tao's father's letter is published, Yixing has an injury on the set of GF and SM officially announces that they are in negotiations with Tao in the hopes of convincing him to stay.

NOW my personal read of the May 30th and May 31st concerts, both of which were performed in Shanghai, is that I think the May 30th concert is more or less normal between them. In the Chinese versions of the concert, Yixing performs 'My Answer' with Jongdae and Kyungsoo with Yixing largely providing piano accompaniment as well as some vocals. The vast majority of these performances are very tense and weird because Jongdae completely refuses to make eye contact with Yixing, even when he's initiating it or when neither of them is singing and Jongdae is also seemingly very adverse to being close to Yixing. For example, watch the May 31st performance and this one from August. l tend to use the My Answer performances as a marker for their relationship since it was clearly designed to take advantage of their chemistry and instead showed the breakup. HOWEVER I personally think that the May 30th performance, has basically normal interactions between the two of them.

I'll also note that unlike other fights in the band like Chanyeol and Baekhyun's Obsession era fight, I don't really think the other members took sides.

Take for instance, the two members outside of Jongdae who were closest to Yixing: Minseok and Baekhyun. On stage throughout the tour, they have fun together and in the Second Box we get the three of them at ease in their couple talks and roller coaster adventure. But we also don't see a rift between either of these two and Jongdae. This tells me that neither of them did anything either in terms of what sparked the fight or during the fight that the other members had a serious problem with.

Another factor is how long this fight last, it took until Jongdae's birthday in September for Yixing to publicly apologize and from October to March, we start seeing some signs of the rift healing though this is only fully confirmed by the November 2016 (a little under two years after the fight) when they do their double Lose Control/Hey Mama! promotions that it's clear that everything is forgiven between the two of them. So it was a serious fight between two people who are not prone to fights and which lasted a long time, which is less surprising given that they are both stubborn people.

SO this is what informs my XingDae breakup take.