#((damn it definitely SEEMS like it's mario time))

[plumberpower]

     "Wowie...! All-a Mario can-a say?"

     "What a good time to be a plumber~!"

[maiaczy]

Terence mayhaps

What if Terence D'Arby was in the Jojolands

Who do you guys think each of them would main in mario kart (my headcanons under the cut)

Jodio - Shy Guy (specifically the dark blue version)

Lowkey a pro at this game. Likes to challenge himself in time trials and knows all the best cart combinations. If there is a shortcut on the track, he WILL take it (and will almost always be successful). Actually enjoys Rainbow Road (the real reason for his psychopath diagnosis).

Dragona - Pink Gold Peach (I could see them picking Daisy too)

Just there to have a good time tbh. At least most of the time, because every now and then when they're doing particularly well their competitive streak kicks in, and trust me – once they get into it, they get REALLY into it (cross them at your own risk). Favorite track is Cheep Cheep Beach.

Paco - Bowser

He thinks gaming is dumb and a waste of time (definitely not because he sucks at it). On the rare occasion he does get convinced to play, he keeps bumping into walls and other players (it doesn't help that he picks one of the heaviest characters in the game). Known for notoriously running into banana peels. Gaming sessions usually end in him "inviting" the other players to the gym.

Usagi - Luigi

Relates to Luigi on a personal level for being the underappreciated helper of the group. He's actually quite good at the game. His aim is freakishly accurate and he loves to hoard items to target other players (for unknown reasons they seem to hit everyone but Dragona). Similarly to Jodio, he takes shortcuts almost every chance he gets, but unlike Jodio, it doesn't always go so well. Also probably likes Baby Park like the freak he is.

Charmingman - Dry Bones

Used to play with Mauka a lot, so he's surprisingly good, and can get quite competitive too. Drives solely on bikes, which give him some good ol' maneuverabilty to avoid all those damn banana peels Usagi keeps throwing around. Secretly loves the music tracks and sometimes listens to them while riding his bike irl, imagining himself to be in a race. Favorite item is Boo.

[the-oblivious-writer]

Let the Light In |4|

Tara Carpenter x Fem!Reader

Chapter Four: Leave That For The Adults

Summary: Tara has been driving herself crazy trying to figure out what she's feeling and you're not making it any better. And you get stuck having dinner with a certain teeth edging family member

Warning(s): Some angst, swearing, mentions of underage drinking, intoxication, dry heaving, gagging & throwing up

Notes: We get to see a little more of R's past in this one and I think you're gonna like one specific scene I wrote 🤭

Masterlist|Previous Part|Next Part

For what felt like the millionth time, three out of four of the ”core four” were over at your apartment to hangout with Anika. You, of course, like every time before, were hiding in your room—at least hiding is what Anika called it, but she couldn’t outright prove that. It wasn’t like you being in your room for hours at a time was out of the ordinary.

Each time they came over, Anika would try to convince you to hangout with them but your answer was always the same. They were just never your crowd, not now nor highschool, and you were fine with that. Anika, on the other hand, cared. She wanted you to get to know these people. They were her girlfriend’s friends, and now they’re her own—of course she wants you to find some common ground. She was fully aware of your rocky relationship with Tara, but that wasn’t going to stop her from trying. 

According to Mindy, your hatred for each other began out of the blue in high school. Her girlfriend still remembers when just hearing the faint sound of your voice was enough to put Tara on edge, and it seems it still does.

This was definitely going to take a lot more work than Anika initially thought…

“Chad, I swear, if you don’t stop throwing that blue shell at me,” Tara said in a threatening voice as she swerved along with her kart.

“It’s not my fault your Mario Kart reflexes suck—” Tara threw a pillow at him, “—Hey! No pillow throwing!”

“And…. victory is mine!” Mindy cheered as she raised her arms victoriously. “Take that, losers!” She continued the cheer, bragging away, as the others continued to groan.

“Since we agreed the glorious winner gets to choose where to eat, I say that diner around the corner,” she said, a satisfied expression still plastered on her face due to her win.

“Alright, I’m gonna take a leak before we go,” Chad sighed, evident defeat in his voice.

A light bulb goes off above Anika's head, a slight smile crossing her face at her thought. It’s practically full proof, she thinks to herself. “I’ll just be a second,” she tells Mindy and Tara before walking down the hall to your bedroom door and knocking.

“Yeah?” she hears you call out from the other side.

“We’re going to that diner around the corner, wanna come?” she asked you.

Well, shit. She knew damn well it was your favorite place to eat, its only flaw being it doesn’t deliver. Your groaning and shuffling could be heard by Anika, she knew she got you this time. You confirmed it when you swung your door open and said, “Sure, I’ll go.” 

She looked at you—it almost looked like she was analyzing you or something. You weren’t wearing anything terrible… right? You were wearing jeans and a Batman t-shirt, but you guess the t-shirt wasn’t enough for the chill fall weather in your roommate’s eyes. 

“Aren’t you going to be a bit cold?” she asked. At this, you rolled your eyes as you turned around and grabbed your older brother’s letterman jacket that was draped over your chair.

 “This should do the trick. Happy, Mom?” 

She smiled, rolling her eyes, before saying, “Very. Now come on.”

You trailed behind them the entire walk to the restaurant, since it was just around the corner the walk wasn’t long. When you all arrived at the restaurant, Anika made sure you sat at the booth with them—but she couldn’t stop you from hiding behind your menu, staring at its contents as if you weren’t going to just order your usual.

 Anika and Mindy sat on your side of the booth, and Ethan, Chad and Tara sat in front of you. Multiple conversations were happening around you, you were blocking it all out before the sound of your name made you blink. 

“So, Y/N, you’re into Batman?” you heard a voice ask. You put down your menu and slightly tilted your head as you looked at the curly haired boy who sat across from you. “It’s—It’s just I noticed your Batman shirt,” he stuttered as he briefly pointed to your shirt.

You slightly glanced down at your shirt. “Oh, yeah. He’s cool. You?”

He smiled, happily nodding. A conversation between the two of you eventually picked up. The conversation being Ethan excitedly asking you questions and you responding with short answers or a hum. But during all this, you couldn’t help but feel like someone was looking at you. It was probably just your mind playing tricks on you yet again, so you tried to ignore it. 

Eventually the food came, pausing your conversation with Ethan. You were quietly munching on one of your fries when Tara spoke up. “So, Y/N…” Here we go, “You only come out of your room for food and the occasional bathroom breaks… You’re kind of like a deer,” she chuckled before sipping her water. 

You furrowed your eyebrows. “A dear?” you practically scoffed. “What—well you’re five foot nothin,’ I don’t know why you’re talkin.’ Not to mention you’re bambi reincarnated,” you shot back. This wasn’t the first time somebody’s compared your habits to a deer.

“I’m five foot one!” she defended. “And what do you mean I’m bambi?”

“Those stupid eyes of yours—don’t change the subject! Why are you keepin’ track of my routine, anyway, huh?” 

“Oh, you are so full of it,” Tara said while crossing her arms. 

“Full of what? I haven’t accused you of anything yet, my little stalker. Simply asking,” you smugly replied with a shrug. 

Ugh, how Tara wanted to ki—smack that smug look right off your face. “Don’t you still sleep with a Spider-Man plushie?” she retorted before taking another sip from her water, her eyes never pulling from you. 

“Technically I don’t sleep with him, he just sits on my nightstand,” you embarrassingly admit in a quiet voice before you realize something. “Wait—how do you know about him?” you asked with a tilt in your head.

She suddenly avoids your eyes as she swirled her straw around in her cup. “You mentioned it at some point,” she finally murmured, clearing her throat at the end.

“You remembered that?” She remembered that? Even you couldn’t remember mentioning that to her.

“It’s not a big deal, not like it’s hard to remember.” It suddenly got silent between you, the others exchanging looks to one another. 

Eventually, all of them drifted off into their own conversations as you silently nibbled on another one of your fries whilst recounting the last few minutes to yourself. Your phone vibrating in your pocket pulls you from your thoughts. You reach down to grab your phone, but the message you're met with hits you like a ton of bricks as your eyes widen.

Sperm Donor (8:56 pm) I’m coming over this weekend.

“Shit,” you muttered. 

Anika turns to look at you. “What’s wrong?” she asked just before her eyes caught the words you were staring at. A second barely passed before you began to type a reply.

Y/N (8:57 pm) Is that tomorrow?

A moment passed—then another. You began to push down on your thumb’s cuticles to cope with the anticipation that was clawing at your chest.

Sperm Donor (9:01 pm) Yes.

Tomorrow was Saturday. You were initially going to help Tara with one of her assignments and hangout with Henry when you finished, but all your original plans just flew out the window. Now you would be stuck with your father tomorrow, which certainly wasn’t the ideal situation. You were never his favorite.

A foot gently tapped your own from under the table, pulling you from your thoughts. You glanced up to see Tara with her eyebrows knitted. You only cleared your throat while slightly shaking your head, trying to show you were fine. She gives you a once-over, an unreadable expression on her face, before she returns to her conversation with Chad.

You felt a hand on your shoulder, causing you to turn your head and look at Anika. “Do you need the apartment this weekend? It’s not a problem if you do,” she said in a reassuring tone.

“It’s alright. I’m just gonna take him to dinner. He doesn’t need to know where I’m living,” you replied in a voice so only Anika could hear you. You turned your head back before you could get a reply, but you saw her nod from the corner of your eye.

From the moment the six of you left the diner, you and Tara returned to your bickering. Chad rubbed his stomach, letting out a groan. “Shit. I shouldn’t have drank the milkshake and soda.”

Mindy rolled her eyes at him. “I told you not to drink both.”

You and Tara walked slightly ahead of the group, in your own world with the other as you squabble. 

“Yeah but if—are those ghost socks?” you suddenly asked.

Tara looked down to her ankles for a moment before looking back at you. “Yeah, and?” she said defensively.

You shook your head with a subtle, stupid smile on your face—she would have missed it if she wasn’t already looking at you. “Nothing. You look cute in them. Anyways, back to the point I was making—” Tara didn't hear anything after the word ”cute.”

Why are you acting as if you didn’t just call her cute? You were doing this on purpose, right? You must be, making her feel like this. Surely you knew. Surely you knew about the feelings you were inflicting—which are just stress! This was just another way for you to get inside her head—

“Watch out for dog shit,” you said as you pulled her by the waist, stopping her from stepping on the crap she was about to step on. She still felt the ghost of your grip when your hand fell back to your side. “You okay?”

She turned her head. “Yeah, fine,” she responded before looking back ahead.

“You seem… out of it,” you said.

Tara raised her eyebrow at you.

You hesitated, only for a second, before elaborating, “I just mean—usually you’d have a rebuttal for me by now. You doin’ okay?” You were now fully looking at her. Oh, how Tara despised your concerning eyes.

She looked to the side, no longer able to handle the weight of your eyes. “I said I was fine, didn’t I?” Tara let out an aggravated sigh as she  crossed her arms.

“Okay then…” You gave her a tight lipped look before hanging your head low as awkwardness swirled in your stomach. 

When you all returned to your apartment, you placed your leftovers on the counter. You were about to go to your room to change and bury yourself under your covers, but you’re interrupted by a phone call. You tense up, slowly taking out your phone and taking a peek at the caller id; you let out a quiet sigh of relief at the sight. You go to your room for privacy, leaving Anika and the rest of them in the living room. 

You didn’t realize just how long it’s been since you heard your mom’s voice; you wish it was under better circumstances. She checked in with you before making sure your father told you he was going to be in town—as vague as he was—and she also told you that her and your younger brother, Stephen, would be joining you and your father for dinner. You didn’t have any complaints, the last thing you needed was to be left alone with your father.

After about ten minutes, you stepped out of your room and walked into a living room full of people you completely forgot about. You stopped in your tracks, their heads turned to you for a brief moment. Tara was biting her nails, but dropped them once she saw you, quickly looking towards the television.

“Great. You’re all still here,” you retorted unkindly before sitting down in the loveseat. Your blatant comment earned you a kick to the feet by Anika.

“Be nice,” she mouthed. 

You lifted your legs, resting them on the loveseat’s armrest; you had no idea why you were sitting out here, anyways. Originally, you came out of your room thinking they had already left. You definitely weren’t in the mood for company.

“‘But when are you ever?” both Anika and Henry would remind you.

“Oh, um, Tara. I’m not gonna make it tomorrow,” you said after a few minutes of silence. 

“Why?” 

She sank further in the couch when she heard just how disappointed she sounded.

“Getting dragged off to this dinner thing—but I’ll make it up to you,” you answered. You wore that same stupid expression she could never put her finger on, that small, stupid smile that she was convinced she would miss if she blinked. In this case, it seemed you were using it to be… reassuring. 

You got up from your seat and went to your room, Tara’s eyes never pulled from you. 

Mindy looked between the both of you with raised eyebrows, a smirk playing on her face by the time you were fully out of the room.

“What?” Tara asked, her tone bored. 

“‘I’ll make it up to you…’” Mindy dramatically mocked you, cupping her hands together by her cheek.

“Shut up,” Tara mumbled, sinking even further into her seat and hiding behind a nearby pillow. Mindy would never let her live down the foolish grin she was wearing right now.

—

You haven’t seen your father since you moved to Woodsboro your sophomore year. He didn’t even come to see you after everything with Ghostface, not that you expected any more from him. This was just the type of man he was. 

When you get to the restaurant, your mom and younger brother are the first person you see. She greets you with a kiss to the cheek, and you and your brother settle for a simple nod. Once you’re all settled in your seat, you ask the question that’s been on the tip of your tongue since you walked in. 

“So, where’s Dad?”

Your mom sighed a sigh you knew all too well. “He’s on his way, there was just a little traffic. Stop worrying, honey. Leave that for the adults.” She looked at you with a gentle smile in an attempt to ease her words.

You exhale through your nose, moving your index finger against the glass cup in front of you. I am an adult, you wanted to say, but this wasn't the place for that. Not now.

“What’s college like?” Stephen asked, pulling you from your train of thought.

You continued to burn holes into the glass in front of you, half zoned out. “Still there,” you said. You could hear your mom clear her throat, causing you to glance at her for a second before glancing back at the glass. “Some of the classes are worth looking forward to, I guess that’s something.”

“Well, that’s good,” your mom spoke up. “You’ve been keeping up with your homework?” 

You nodded, but before she could get another word out, you felt a familiar grip on your shoulder. 

“Sorry I’m late, traffic was a bitch.”

“Dad,” your brother said, far too excited for who it was directed towards.

“Hey, buddy. How was the train?” your father asked while taking the vacant space beside your mom.

“It was okay,” Stephen answered him.

“Y/N.” 

You finally looked over to him. “Dad,” you responded with less enthusiasm than your brother.

 Stephen and your mom shared a look before she spoke up again. “Do you two know what you want?” she asked you and your brother. 

“Yeah,” Stephen said; you only hummed.

Your father cleared his throat behind a closed fist. “Did Stephen tell you yet?” he asked. 

You looked at him, then to your brother. “Tell me what?”

A proud grin crossed your father’s face, chuckling, as he delivered the news with glee. “He's gonna be a cop—just like his old man!”

Your mom silently sighed as you took in his words. “Great,” you said dryly as you went in for a sip of your water.

“I know it is. He’s gonna be great,” he went on while Stepehen nervously chuckled in his seat. 

“It’s not a big deal, Dad. It’s just something I’m thinking about.”

But your father only shook his head, replying, “It’s a calling, bud. You’re going to do amazing.” He was certainly pleased with the thought. You expected no less from tonight, your father always managed to make everything about his work. You were ten when you realized it would always be ”Officer” before “Dad.”

The waitress came with the food, leaving just as the interrogation began. “So…” your father started, “You’ve been staying out of trouble?”

You rolled your eyes, exhaling through your nose. “‘Course I’ve been.” You refused to look up from your plate.

He grunted, rubbing his scruffy chin before picking up his utensils. “Less of the attitude. I’ve got plenty of reasons to ask—or did you forget the shit you put me and your mother through back home? Huh?” 

You rolled your eyes again, slightly shaking your head. “That was forever ago, I don’t do that stuff anymore,” you said.

“Quit rollin’ your eyes—it’s a bad habit. Keep doin’ that and they’ll get stuck like that,” he continued with a familiar edge to his voice. 

The rest of the night continued like that; your father bringing up your track record, getting a rise out of you, and you responding with quips as you picked at your own skin under the table. 

Not much has changed since you were fifteen.

The best news you got all night was that your father would be heading home the same night. Relief washed over at the sound of his words, and as much as you love your mom and brother, you were grateful they had their own ride home. You were far too exhausted to be behind a wheel tonight.

You were not far from your apartment and you felt your phone vibrate in your pocket. You took it out and saw a message from Anika. 

Nik (10:53 pm) hey, went to carvel today. there’s a chocolate and vanilla swirl waiting for u in the freezer

You were now off to the side, leaning against a shutter, and slightly smiling. You replied to the message, typing a quick thanks, before continuing your walk to your apartment—but then, a hotdog stand caught your attention. The smell was alluring, and you felt your stomach grumble. Damn it. 

It was dinner with your father, how could you get much eating done? Your mouth was too busy arguing rather than chewing and swallowing. You were well aware with how unreliable street food was, but at the moment, you truly didn’t care. You stuck with a simple order; one hotdog with ketchup drizzled on top. You got a water from the store nearby, before sitting on a bench and eating. This was the most you felt at peace all night; sitting on a bench, listening to music with one side in, eating a hot dog and washing it down with a refreshing drink.

But peace could only last so long.

When you got home, you expected Anika to still be out with Mindy, you went to turn on the light, but it was already on. You furrowed your eyebrows and stilled. Anika usually doesn’t forget something like that.

“Anika?” you called out. You began reaching for the bat you had secretly tucked underneath your couch when you first moved in.

“Y/N? Yeah, in here!” It sounded like she was in the bathroom. You reluctantly retract your hand back to your side, and walk to the bathroom.

“Hey. Is something wrong—” You cut yourself off when you see an ill looking Tara hunched over your toilet. Mindy was holding her hair back as she gagged. 

Anika turned to you. “Hey, um, sorry to just drop this on you. I know you probably had a long night, but could you help us with something?”

You briefly glanced at Tara. “Yeah. What do you need?” You could hear the Carpenter’s gagging as Anika spoke.

“Can you keep an eye on her while we get her some supplies from the pharmacy?” 

You nodded, murmuring, “‘Course.”

You swiftly switched places with Mindy, lifting Tara’s hair while pushing a few extra strands from her face. She was clearly drunk, and you couldn’t help but admit how you despised seeing her like this. You didn’t go to a lot of parties, you only ever went if you were dragged to them, but from what you’ve heard, most of her free nights end with her being drunk.

“You’re never gonna lemme forget this. Are you?” she said between gags. You subconsciously move one of your hands to her lower back, rubbing soft circles as your other hand continues to hold her hair.

“You think I like seeing you like this?” you asked, tone genuine. Surely she knew you didn’t… Right? Seeing her in such an unhealthy state only brought the sense of—well you couldn’t find the right word, but you knew it was anything but a positive feeling.

“Don’t you?” she slurred. Clearly she hasn't puked up all the alcohol just yet. 

You looked at her, really looked at her, and sighed. You took your hand off her lower back to reach into your pocket for a hair tie. Tara missed your touch, it just did more than any painkiller could do for her, but she could never tell you that. She simply scolded herself, pouted, for even thinking such a thing. 

You ran your hands through her hair, brushing it back and tying it into a loose, but secure, ponytail. You push a single loose strand behind her ear which causes your knuckles to brush against her cheek. Tara’s breath hitches as she blushes. 

She hated you.

“No, I don’t,” you finally said. 

She wanted to say something, but before she could, she began dry heaving again. Your hand immediately went to her lower back again, rubbing gentle circles. You could hear the faint sound of your front door opening, and a few moments later, the bathroom door carefully opened. 

“We got everything,” Anika said while carrying a pharmacy bag.

Eventually, you and Anika were able to get Tara onto the couch in one piece while Mindy set everything up in the kitchen. “Oh, before I forget—Tara’s staying the night. Sam will freak if she’s brought home like this,” your roommate whispered while you wiped the remnants of drool and throw up off of Tara’s face.

You thought for a second before speaking. “Okay. She can take my bed.” Tara was now passed out cold, hugging a pillow close to her chest.

“Are you sure?” Anika asked. 

“I’m sure. We might not be on great terms, but my mom raised me right. I’m not leaving her on the couch. Besides, I’m assuming Mindy’s also staying to keep an eye on her, and you two shouldn't have to get stuck cuddling on a couch all night,” you said.

After Anika hesitantly agreed, you set up your bed and returned to the couch to retrieve Tara. She was still fast asleep, and it didn’t seem like she was getting up any time soon. You bent down and scooped her up, lifting her bridal style, and started walking to your room. Tara mumbled something incoherent, and her eyes fluttered open. She appeared confused, looking around then up at you.

“It’s okay. Go to sleep,” you said in a soft voice. Tara felt her cheeks warm at your voice hitting her ears.

You placed her on your bed and pulled the covers of her; you gently lifted her head to put your pillow under it. Her eyes were, once again, shut. You assumed she was asleep, looking at her for a moment, before leaving, but not without leaving the door open a sliver. Just in case something were to happen and she needed you—or anyone.

When Tara woke up, she was instantly shot with a pounding headache. She groaned, rubbing her temples, and after a minute, she looked around. This was not her room. Has she been kidnapped? If so, she is going to get the biggest “I told you so” from Sam. But suddenly, memories of last night came flushing in. All the embarrassing memories. She could remember starting off with a shot… then two… then three… then she woke up to Anika and Mindy helping her up and walking her out of the party. She had complained about not wanting to go back to her own place because Sam would kill her for the state she was in, so they brought her to Anika’s apartment, and Mindy messaged Sam that they were staying the night at her house. After that she felt like throwing up… and she did. A lot. She didn’t stop for a while, and then—oh, this is when the embarrassment comes in. That’s when you came home, and you took over while Anika and Mindy ran out for supplies.

Oh, you were so gentle with her. She nearly let out a sigh whilst looking back on it until catching herself. Snap out of it, she scolded herself, but then another memory appeared; you carried her to your bed and tucked her in… 

No. Mindy was wrong, and Tara still despised you. You were still the same asshole from high school who always got on her nerves.

She heard two soft knocks on the door. She looked up and saw you carrying a place of scrambled eggs. You stayed at bay—the door frame—as you awkwardly stood. “I wasn’t sure if you were awake,” you murmured. You walked over and placed the plate beside the water and aspirin you left her. “Anika made some scrambled eggs, and eggs are good for hangovers, so…” You shifted back and forth on your feet, arms behind your back with one hand gripping the other’s wrist. “I’m gonna go.” With that, you left the room, not waiting for a response from Tara. 

Tara finally leaves your bedroom after five minutes, immediately greeted by Mindy who was eating breakfast with Anika at the kitchen counter. “There she is!” Mindy smiled at her before putting a grape in her mouth.

“So loud,” Tara groaned, putting a hand to her head.

She lifted herself onto the stool beside them and put her head down, only lifting it slightly to look at her surroundings. She noticed a certain nuisance wasn’t there to bother her. 

“Where’s—” she began to ask, but Mindy seemed to have read her mind.

“Your lover girl had a morning shift,” Mindy said.

Tara didn’t have the energy to make a retort. She only said, “She’s not my lover girl,” before settling her head back down with heavy eyelids.

“What time is Sam expecting us?” Anika asked.

“Eleven, so we should probably get ready soon,” Mindy answered as she got up from her seat.

After a few minutes, Tara went back to your bedroom to gather her belongings. She suddenly realized she was wearing something unfamiliar—it was a hoodie. She looked down to see a black hoodie that went down to her thighs. When she tilted and turned her head, she could see a red and blue outline of Spider-Man in the middle. She could recall seeing you wearing this around before, both on campus and in high school. It certainly carried your scent. She could never admit she actually appreciated your gesture, but she didn’t mind it; the t-shirt you put it over wasn’t doing much to keep her warm.

It would hurt to keep the hoodie, right?

She looked over to the scrambled eggs you had brought her. She then sat down at the edge of the bed, swinging her feet, as she thought to herself. If I don't eat breakfast now, it’ll probably be hours before I eat. Anika went through the trouble, after all. She ate a few bites over your nightstand before taking an aspirin with the water that was left right beside it. 

When she got home, she greeted Sam as shortly as she could before collapsing on her bed, replaying last night over and over again. How was she supposed to face you in class the next day?

—

“Hey. You look like you got run over by a truck,” you said to Tara as she sat down.

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, do I?” she rhetorically asked, making a face at you as she took out her laptop.

Throughout class, her mind was constantly trailing back to your gentleness that night. Anika simply told you to watch her, she didn’t tell you to wipe the drool and throw up off of her face, or put her hair in a ponytail, or softly rub her back as she gagged and puked. The fact that you had somehow found your way into her head was really pissing Tara off. So pissed, in fact, that instead of going about her usual routine of bantering with you, she chose to ignore you.

You weren’t sure why Tara was ignoring you. Obviously something seemed off with her, but you had no idea what. Was she mad at you? She didn’t appear her typical mad—no, this was different. She's never taken her aggression out by ignoring. She always went the opposite route, using colorful words, but never did she use silence.

You must have done something terrible. But what?

As you walked to your next class, you thought back to yourself, retracing your steps to see what it is you could have done. You hadn’t done anything you haven’t done before, there wasn’t anything out of the norm. By the time you reached your apartment later that day, you were still trying to figure out what you could have done to upset Tara.

You immediately dropped to the couch, sitting with your head leaning back, as you held a pensive look. Anika walked out of her room just in time to notice your distressed demeanor. Before she said anything, she walked into the kitchen and returned with your chocolate and vanilla swirl, handing it to you. 

“Thanks,” you said.

“Wanna talk about what’s got you like this?” she asked, moving to sit in the love seat.

You slowly moved the spoon around in your ice cream. “I just… I don’t know what I did, but T—uh, t- this person is giving me the silent treatment. I don’t know why. I’ve been trying to come up with something, a reason why they’re ignoring me, but nothing’s been coming to me.”

“Well, you can be kind of an asshole sometimes. Seems like you’ve thought pretty hard on this; you care a lot for this person?” 

Her question catches you off guard, making her laugh. No way she’d ask this if she knew I was talking about Tara.

“Goodness, no. She’s just an—an acquaintance? If you can even call her that,” you said.

“You seem pretty sure of that.”

“‘Cause I am.”

“Then why do you care so much if she’s ignoring you?”

“I—okay. I could easily move past this whole thing if I wanted to,” you defensively argued.

“Then move past it,” she challenged.

“I will.”

“You’re gonna lose sleep over this,” she confidently said, walking away to her room. You huffed as you ate your ice cream, bitterly thinking to yourself, I won’t lose sleep over Tara freakin’ Carpenter.

Later that night you were sprawled on your bed… and thinking about Tara freakin’ Carpenter.

-----------

A/N: wonder what's gonna happen next 🤔

EDIT A/N: One of my favorite chapters of this series, so far

Taglist: @t-wylia @lesbianpepsi @jennasfav @alyciaddict @justafoolinlove @steffido1993 @niqmandu @severelyuniquereview @darklron @ravenousinferno @smut-religiously777 @beautifulmongerbanditsalad @vanatalye

[vbnhuet]

I’ve been home for a bit but more bowser head cannons!

I feel like he has his spiked chicken and bracelets in a bunch of different colours for various occasions

And since he has a giant shell and doesn’t usually wear clothes I feel like he has or thinks about wearing a dress from time to time since it just seems like a kind of clothing that wouldn’t be as restrictive for movement

Since in Mario odyssey Bowser have silver bracelets for his wedding outfit instead of black ones, yeah he definitely have a collection of them.

You talking about Bowser trying on dresses made my inspiration spark, so I just have to draw it. There's plenty of Luigi being in a dress, but I want to see Bowser in a dress too! He either saw Peach or Luigi wears them and wanted to try as well. Probably say something like "damn, do I look hot" after seeing himself. Thank you for the ask, please have a nice rest of your day :D

[edgy-ella]

IDW SONIC READERS, PLEASE READ THIS!!!!

I am begging you. On my hands and knees. Begging. More so than anything else I’ve asked of this fandom.

Please please buy the Fang miniseries when it comes out

Don’t just read it. Buy it. I will admit that I’m very guilty of reading through a lot of IDW Sonic through…less than legal means, and I know I’m not alone in that regard. But I think it’s really important that for this miniseries in particular, you actually go out and buy the damn thing. Show your support with your dollar.

Really think about it for a second—they gave Fang his own miniseries. Fang! An underutilized, underrated fan favorite for sure, but hardly a mainstay of the series. I’m sure that this was at least somewhat prompted by Superstars, where Fang is a major antagonist…but Bean and Bark weren’t in that game, and it already received its own online promo comic prior to the game’s release (notably, with Fang as the star).

Classic Sonic stories have also exclusively been relegated to one-shots in IDW, not a full on miniseries like what Fang is getting. Basically all of the IDW Sonic miniseries we’ve gotten so far have been plot relevant side stories to the main IDW comic that focus on side characters with little to no involvement from Sonic himself. Tangle and Whisper, Bad Guys, Impostor Syndrome…the only odd man out besides this Fang miniseries is Scrapnik Island.

Really think about it for a second. FANG is getting his own focus comic BEFORE KNUCKLES.

And that’s why it’s so important that we buy it.

I think Sega is using this comic to test the waters to see if people like Fang and want to see him in more future projects—be it comics, games, or even cartoons. But there’s more to it than just that.

See, Superstars hasn’t been doing that great. I know I said in an earlier post that people seemed to like it, but I retract that statement. It was damned by faint praise at launch, and now most of the discussion I’ve seen surrounding the game revolves around its flaws (chief among them being the middling OST and that the Steam version stealth installs an Epic Games service along with the game). No sales numbers have been projected as of writing, but it’s definitely been beaten out by Mario Wonder and Spider-Man 2.

So, Classic Sonic games aren’t doing too hot right now (I’m sure that many modern fans are jumping for joy at the prospect). But the classic characters are.

People really like the extended classic Sonic cast, just as much as they love the extended modern cast. From my experience, the two fan favorites are Mighty and Fang. Fang stands out to me in particular for a couple reasons: people were really upset that Sega specifically said no to Fang, Bark and Bean coming back after Ian snuck in a reference to them in IDW Sonic #3 (using their old team name from Archie, the Hooligans), and the fanmade 16-bit remake of Triple Trouble, Fang’s debut game, received private praise from many members of Sega and Sonic Team. People like Fang and the media he’s in, and Sega is starting to take notice. That’s why we’re getting this miniseries.

That’s why it’s so important that the miniseries sells well. If the big boys at Sega and Sonic Team see Superstars’ iffy reception but see Fang’s comic sell above expectations, then Sega will want to continue to use Fang (and potentially other “classic” Sonic characters as well) in more narrative driven projects. That means modern Sonic.

“But Sega won’t let any classic Sonic character into a modern Sonic project!” I hear you thinking. And to that I say, so? Sega changes its mind all the time. Remember that whole two worlds nonsense? That was thrown out with in Tailstube. Characters debuting in Boom and the comics were previously barred from the mainline games, but they’ve broken that “rule” in both Speed Battle and Frontiers. Hell, they’ve even been talked out of some of their sillier comic mandates, like characters not being able to wear different clothing.

For all their flaws, Sega does listen, and money speaks louder than anything. If this miniseries fails, Sega will just assume that people aren’t hot on Fang or the extended classic cast anymore and throw them back in the bar. But if the comic sells well, then Sega might take it as a sign that, hey, people like this character (and his two lackeys), we should put him in projects that fans are more interested in. Mighty and Ray probably wouldn’t be too far behind, especially given Mania’s success. Whether that means comics or games, modern or classic, who knows. What’s important is that it sends the right message to Sega, and they will listen to their consumers. That means us. If we don’t support this miniseries now, we might have to wait another thirty years for another chance.

[saytrrose]

Can we see More about your racing AU please?

Looks so amazing and i love It so much

I do suppose I could share the character design line up!

I really just need to finish designing all the go karts, (atleast most are done!) and then I can make proper cards for them and really get into the written details.

To be honest it’s a little hard to just ramble about info and details without specific questions to go off of, so I’ll try my best hhh

for starters, the tent? Not a tent!

It’s actually a stadium, the amazing digital race!

And rooms? Sort of tweaked, they are more like each character owns a personal garage, a large open space where they store their vehicles and then have a loft above that showcases their cozy safe havens. Bed, entertainment, basically a small room in a much larger one.

I haven’t revealed Ragatha, Zooble or Gangles karts yet but I’ll go ahead and just talk about all of them!

Caine:

Caine has a motorcycle, specifically one inspired off of the motorcycle I’m saving up for this summer, a Kawasaki Eliminator. It’s a cruiser, I’m thinking he has a 600cc model but considering Bubble is his right hand man and operates as the races pit crew- he’s definitely tinkered with Caines bike, making adjustments and improving the engine. God only knows what the little psycho did, but it’s a damn good bike that’s not supposed to rev as loud as it does.

Pomni:

Her kart is inspired off a Volkswagen Beetle, seemed very VERY Pomni to me. Her car mimics her outfit design a lot, I might do some color changes to be honest but it will be super minimal, it’ll be final when the cards are done! She definitely stops at the pit the most often despite her placement in a race, are my tires okay?? Do I need my oil?? I know you just filled it but it went down- is anything damaged?? Sweetie you did one lap..

Jax:

Jesus Christ he has a giant supercharger on the hood of his car, and he is absolutely one of those annoying mfs that reva their engine OBNOXIOUSLY loud all the time like he’s super cool. If you’re wondering who most of the skid marks on the track are from, that’s also Jax. Hes the best as drifting, and he loves to show that off. His car isn’t based too much on an actual vehicle?? I stared at Mario karts and pieced it together, but also gave it a very sports car look, the wing on the back fr fr I think Jax would dig that.

Kinger:

OHHSOSK I was so creative with his little wagon,,, it’s castle shaped!! And the best part? Operates like a rocket. In the back past the battlement (the crown looking thing you see atop castle pillars) ARE GIANT exhaust pipes and yes, they do spit fire !! Operates like a rocket. It’s very cool! (Also he has a great muffler because unlike Jax he’s considerate of others hearing 💔) Oh also, he has one of those silly horns, I forgot how to describe it but you can just look at how I drew it on his kart and you’ll know heheh!

Zooble:

Our second motorcyclist, owns a trike! If you don’t know what that is, picture a bike with training wheels but super badass. 3 wheels! It’s inspired off the Harley Davidson freewheeler, I like that design a lot but it’s def not actually a Harley because istg when you buy those bikes your just paying for the fancy name brand- expect it to be in the shop all the time, smh not good- BUT ANYWAY!! The looks are inspired off it though and I can’t wait for this one because it’s just as crazy kooky as Zoobles design is.

Gangle:

Her kart is based on my favorite car, classic style but not too cool because you can bet she has anime stickers on the back and a decal that says “please let me merge before I start crying.” It’s similar to a karmann ghia convertible, 1963. Cherry red (so so pretty) She always has the top down, unless competing because damn you gotta go fast. That car itself is really slow, top speed normally is 68mph, however people have modified them enough to get up to 120mph. Thats still pretty slow compared to others, but her kart only reflects the appearance of the ghia! It’s much faster and I assume Bubble works on all their vehicles if asked to.

Lastly, Ragatha:

Our 3rd motorcyclist. 4 Karts, 3 cyclists. Her bike is a futuristic style, if you want a good idea then look up “icare bike”! Not so much a straight forward posture, she leans over ofc, you’ll likely get the idea when you see her bike. I’ll be honest, I haven’t gotten too into her design yet because I haven’t started drawing but!! Dark blue leds,, everywhere yes yes so cool ❤️

Sorry that’s so much 😭 but yeah! Just need to finish 3 kart designs for you guys and I can make official ref cards 👀

[dellalyra]

JUJUTSU KAISEN - Where do they take you on your first date?

A/N: pixie attempts headcanons.

N A N A M I

Nanami is definitely bringing you to dinner. It’s classic, timeless and tried and tested. He’ll pick a nice restaurant, not pretentious or obnoxious and very cosy - with good food. He’s showing up to pick you up with a simple bouquet of flowers, after dinner perhaps a stroll in the nearest park or he will walk you home.

G E T O

I feel like Geto is a coffee shop date guy. Simple but casual. He’ll show up with that damn smirk in a black oversized sweatshirt and pay for both your coffees. It’s just easy with him, there’s no airs or graces and god do you have fun. He leans over the table to wipe some foam from your lower lip and then licks said foam off his own thumb, maintaining eye contact the whole time.

G O J O

The most gorgeous little French patisserie, all soft colours and macarons and cream puff pastries. He’d feeding you little pastries the whole time and you don’t think you’ve ever seen such delight in a person’s eyes or laughed as much in your life. Neither of you want the date to be over, so it carries over into buying take home desserts and sitting on the balcony of his penthouse apartment, giggling as he manoeuvres you into his lap and you battle it out on Mario Kart.

M E G U M I

Bookshop. Don’t @ me on this. It’s cute, he has two hot chocolates in hand as he picks you up and then you stroll around the large bookshop picking up books to recommend each other, you end up buying one for the other to read. Before you part ways, you grip his scarf and pull his head down to your lips and kiss him gently and quickly.

“Bye, ‘Gumi.”

Adorable, he’s so blushy you might faint.

Y U U J I

ARCADE. He lets you win everything. Wins you 100 prizes and you’re following him around like he’s an excited puppy. He gets really excited because he wanted to show off so he decides to do just that by setting the record on the boxing machine. When the highest record lights and bells ring out he pulls you into his arms and spins you around and kisses you in a flurry of excitement. Seems shocked with himself when he sets you down, he goes to apologise but you just pull him to kiss you again.

C H O S O

Okay hear me out. The aquarium. He wouldn’t know really where to go so you suggest the aquarium, it’s one of your favourite places and you think he’d enjoy it. You have never seen anything sweeter than how enchanted he is by all the sea creatures, when you get to the rock pools and you can pick up starfish and other small animals he is so gentle with them you might just marry him then and there.

I N U M A K I

Talking isn’t his strong suit, for obvious reasons. So the cinema is perfect, he buys you both HUGE buckets of popcorn and then holds your hand or has his arm wrapped around your shoulders the whole film. He is so smooth and doesn’t need a word to do it. You go for milkshakes afterwards and giggle through text and sign language if you know it about whatever film you saw.

Y U U T A

The zoo. You both just wander around cooing over the animals or laughing at the silly things they do. If you pick up a silly animal hat then he will definitely wear it because the smile you give him could convince him the sky was yellow. He has a little picnic for you both to share on one of the sweet picnic benches together - full of your favourites that he had asked around to find out.

N O B A R A

Eh? Shopping.

M A K I

A hike is something I can definitely see her enjoying as a first date, it’s easy to find things to talk about on a date - it’s active so she’s still happy and it’s something you both enjoy doing - when you need a hand jumping a small stream, she’s taking your hand to balance your jump, “Atta girl.”

N O R I T O S H I

Escape room. No question.

[rat-n-atty]

MEET MY SMG4 OC CLOVE!

(fucking finally)

(Also a bit of a redesign since I kinda changed my style a bit lmao)

Meet Clove! (Enid) a 22-year-old "mad" scientist who has made the poor decision to be Smg3's assistant but who exactly is she? What's her lore? What are her goals? Why is she an Ex-villain? and all the other amazing questions you might have (or don't idk) will all be answered here!...hopefully...

"Enid Gadd" (Backstory)

Enid comes from a long line of talented and successful scientists (like her grandpa, E. Gadd more on that in a bit) but she was always seen as a black sheep of the family in short.

Ever since Enid could even talk, she has always aspired to be a great scientist just like her family but it seemed like everything she did, it meant nothing so she became E. Gadd's student when she was young (considering she was practically raised by the guy damn)

It seemed like everything Enid did though was still not enough for her parents so she said "fuck it" and decided to become someone else's assistant in hopes that she could be a better scientist than all of them and that is when Smg3 comes in...

"Clove" (assistant days)

Now, Bowser was a terrible assistant so Smg3 decided to get a new one instead so one day while Clove was just walking around the Mushroom Kingdom city; she saw a purple Mario recolor next to a stand on the side of the street with a sign that said LOOKING FOR AN EVIL ASSISTANT (WILL NOT GIVE VACATION DAYS) (why would look for one in broad daylight you dumb bitc-)

So she took her shot, lied to 3 about being "inherently evil" but she also added that she was pretty good at making bombs (which was also a half-truth) so she became Smg3's assistant from that day on.

She didn't really know what to expect at first and she thought that Smg3's main goal of being a villain at the time was kinda dumb but it was better than home so she stayed and she stayed for a long time.

She eventually became evil and she got better at her inventions and her scientific studies all for the goal of ruling the world with Smg3 and telling her entire family (not including E. Gadd) to suck it...which now brings us to the YouTube Arc...

YouTube Arc (this is where shit goes down)

Smg3 and Clove had just started on their goals of making Snitch Productions but after Smg4 destroyed it all for no damn reason (like wtf man?) they wanted revenge and they wanted it bad (Smg3 more so than Clove)

So they came up with the anti-cast and got to work but after that failed Clove said "fuck it" and started her own projects again but she found out about the YouTube remote while she was doing her research ("The World's Cursed and definitely Powerful Objects that would destroy the world if laid on the wrong hands" (great title I know) ) So they all came up with the plan to steal it.

Things had started to take a toll after they had successfully stolen the Remote per sae because now Smg3 was drunk with power to the point where it was kinda concerning Clove a bit and this is the part where Clove found out Smg3's true intentions of using the YouTube remote; It was so much more than taking over Smg4's channel, it was deleting Smg4's and his crew's entire existence. Clove knew it was too much, even for 3 but she kept quiet about her conflicting feelings (but put a pin in this later )

A big-time skip later where Clove had actually caught Mario trying to steal Smg3's phone (to hopefully get everyone out of the graveyard, you probably watched the Arc lmao) but she betrayed Smg3 by giving it to Mario anyway and freeing the entire cast out of the internet graveyard in order to stop Smg3; Everyone was confused why but they didn't ask.

WOTFI 2020 (redemption arc begins)

The final battle was here and after Clove was revealed to be a traitor and helping the Smg4 crew, it's no wonder that Smg3 lost but he was never expecting his assistant, no...someone closest to him like a friend to betray him like that.

Since Clove was the only one who really knew how to work the remote (and she was the one who had it in her hands at the time) she was the one who sent Smg3 to the Internet Graveyard for the greater good of everybody else but now that 3 was gone...she felt like she had no meaning...no purpose anymore...

After she had gotten forgiveness from Susan, Smg4 offered Clove to stay with the rest of them at the castle but she declined and said she would just lock herself up in her lab instead.

Clove's lore goes on for ages...so I'll have to make a part 2

BI GUYS!

(update: there is a part 2)

[the-chessboard-is-personal]

season 2 time wahoo another damn liveblog am I right??

(liveblogging ii season 2, for if it's not obvious. same style as last ii liveblog)

1 - woahh! okay I love the style tbh. wait. Super Mario 3D World/Initial release date: November 21, 2013. this episode: Apr 2, 2013. INANIMATE INSANITY PREDICTED THE DOUBLE CHERRY???? ...huh. weird. why does MePhone have an app for that? y'know, RESURRECTION?

2 - MePad ? can teleport? ?? yeah that egg is gonna be relevant again isn't it

3 - BOW INATOR?? holy shit holy shit ohhg waow,,there is something in this episode that I want so much. lmao. "umm huh, lmhuehyahahuh.." (<- me attempting to spell what test tube said at the end of the ep)

4 - I didn't think the elimination song sucked.. hey wait why does it sound like they get killed or something when they go through the portal. also where does the portal lead

5 - SEVEN?? MeOS SEVEN??? oh huh. is that why someone who dies in space can't come back? OH THE NO SERVICE COMMENT WAS FORESHADOWING!!? wait why is that how it works. why does MePhone specifically get notifications about people dying. wh- okay?? that was ominous ?MePhone what does that rnean. ..chESS MENTIONED

6 - aaand there's another one. ANOTHER TWO??? .oh :| ...what the entire fuck. and yep this episode makes me uncomfortable. who would've FUCKING GUESSED

7 - oh so THAT'S where the portal lead. ..as down as the WHAT- ouhjghhu nooo... not a song

8 - ah yes, MePhone got The Common Code- oh. also idc what the objects say, ftrEwy7u9iop8oaTE7gI is a wonderful name for a challenge. or a password. each new MePhone gets less understandable because of the "techy" voice effec- oh he's dead. [sees Steve Cobs's reaction to the egg] ohh okay. one moment [walks away from the computer]please don't be like dsmp please don't be like dsmp please don't be like dsmp please don't be like dsmp plehokay. oh I don't like him

9 - ...I'm not crying you're crying.,, uohg this is the second time a show like this has had something that felt like it was directed at me. and the other time was Gothi talking to Xanu in Fool's Gold,.,. which was also about moving on.. is.. is that wh- oh hey a gravity falls reference. haha lol :) ...oh this is the depression eppisode. BITCH -> 🌮 <- BITCH

10 - aha! I've figured it out! the secret is MPABZCEAS!! holy fucking shit my joke was immediately kind of relevant. wha..suitcase?? y'know that voice kinda sounded like MePhone

11 - wHUH SMG4 SOUND?! oh wait that sound probably isn't from SMG4, that's just the first time I heard it. still though, neat. ...wild theory. I'm gonna sound like Fan here, but. "Is anything on this show real?" seems.hmm idk. sus. I call foreshadowing. hokay something's definitely going on with Suitcase. oH FOR FUCK'S SAKE yep don't like this episode either

12 - oh fuck they're in episode 1. oh fuck they're in HWUH ?? ..ohh MePhone hates Cobs too. hey if anyone's read this far, I want to know who's your favorite character from the alternate timeline, because why not! mine is Traffic Light

13 - woahhh MePhone backstory! oh. oh I do Not trust that "screen protector". HEY HEY WHAT WAS THAT WHISPER [turns on captions] oh. oh REALLY. HMM. ...wh. what. what what what what what ROBOT ADAM?? MEPHONE 3???? WHAT WHAT WHAT AAAAAAAA UH OH! UH OH OH NO UH OH!! ohkay this is the panic time, the time in every show tumblr freaks out about where things go CRAZY. OKAY OKAY I'M READY AAAAAA

14 - so the person who told me I should watch ii said I need to watch all of season 3 after this episode. I have no idea why! oh fuck! but anyway. that rneans I'll be splitting this section into actual paragraphs since this is the last episode of this liveblog. (<- said that before starting the episode). anyway.

okay. okay Fan just got abducted. ..hhhow did he know that. how did he know that MePad let Marshmallow leave. .hey hey what's with the shot of that panel with the hole in it. maybe I'm just tired but that doesn't seem..right. and not in the bad writing way.

uhm. hey 17:36 isn't supposed to be hitting me too whY IS IT HITTING ME TOO WAUGH.

"is that what you said to Pickle" OHH DAMN MY HEART DROPPED LIKE THE SCENE HOLY SHIT. wait IS FAN DEAD FOREVER??

wait didn't test Tube get eliminated? why did Microphone go through the portal??

looking at the comments for. tbh I forgot what reason when i saw this one

uh knew what KNEW WHAT OH FU-

anyway. so Fan glitching is. gonna be foreshadowing? oh boy let me guess... uhh.. wait why would Fan glitch. other things that glitch are..the tree MePhone made for Cobs? MePhone himself when Tissue Box sneezed on him?? that MePhone 3?? but none of that has anything to do with Fan..

unless.. AHA!

FAN IS A PROJECTION MADE BY ONE OF THE NEWER MEPHONES

COBS IS GOING TO KNOW WHERE THEY ARE AS LONG AS FAN IS THERE!!

although with Fan eliminated, th- oh there's an after credits scene?

UH. UM. WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT

AND THE OMINOUS OUTRO THEME. UH OH

okokokokokokayokayokayokay. that's obviously some kind of MePhone. the Meeple logo is there and it's phone shaped, so. that's pretty obvious. but not one that's been seen before, right? like not even a model that's been seen before, because none of them have the grabby hands.

because of the red X imagery I'm gonna guess this one is called MePhone X. and if not, well I'm gonna refer to it as that until I find out otherwise

with how scary that moment was clearly intended to be, we can all agree that Toilet just got permakilled, right? like. despite not being in space? that was definitely. not anything good that happened to Toilet there. I'm just gonna assume Toilet's dead, yep that just happened. aaand now there's a seemingly murderous (although maybe it had a grudge against Toilet for some reason, but I find that unlikely) MePhone roaming around. n e a t .

thiiiiinking that thing is the exception to the "each MePhone we see is dumber than the last" rule that seems to be present. hm. wonder who the Big Villain is going to be

welp it's too late to binge s3 rn so uh. yeap. okay. sure. that's a thing

[legobiwan]

Mario and Luigi for the drabble, “When I’m with you, I’m home.”

Thanks!

I realized I'm answering this one out of order. Whoops! Anyway, have some pre-Mushroom Kingdom conversations and lore-building as your author reminisces about the New York of the '90s.

~~~~~~

He wonders, sometimes, what their lives would have looked like if they had never left Brooklyn.

Barring a miracle - pretty bleak, in all honesty. Maybe being here, in the Mushroom Kingdom, was the miracle. He remembers the frenzied few days leading up to their disappearance. The previous few months had been a mess of unpaid bills and awful business decisions governed solely by spite and fear. They were probably a few months of missed rent payments away from eviction. They were definitely two days away from getting their kneecaps bashed in by some loan shark’s goons. 

He and Mario had gone for a walk, all the way down to Coney Island, 75th to Stillwell to Bowery, to the decrepit-looking Wonder Wheel and a depressingly empty Nathan’s Hot Dogs. It looked like the last of the hotels, some once-bright vestige of his mother’s era, had finally been condemned, tall wire fencing curling up towards the grey winter sky, a perfunctory guard which did nothing to keep out the local graffiti artists and homeless population. 

Luigi jammed his hands into his jean pockets, shivering. He couldn’t tell if he was freezing or terrified.

“What are we gonna do, Mario? We can’t stay here. If he doesn’t get us, the landlord will. You see how they’re starting to develop all that stuff around 86th Street. It’s going to travel north and we’re already behind two months in rent. We can’t stay in Bensonhurst.” Luigi sighed, little frozen puffs of air floating from his mouth. “I don’t even know if we can stay in Brooklyn at this rate.”

It was a miracle they weren’t out on the streets already. For once, their landlord’s habit of sitting around with a bottle of Thunderbird watching Honeymooners reruns and screaming at “that bum El Duque” to throw more strikes fell to their advantage. Sure, there was no such thing as maintenance in the dilapidated six-floor walk-up. But they were plumbers, tradesmen - a leaky faucet or misbehaving shower wasn’t going to be an issue.

Unfortunately, they weren’t also exterminators. 

Mario took a large bite of his hotdog, mustard splattering on the gum-stained sidewalk. It looked like something they’d hang in one of those trendy galleries that kept popping up in lower Manhattan, down around Houston Street. 

“We’re gonna be fine, Lou,” Mario said between bites, bits of bun falling from his mouth.

“We’re gonna end up homeless.” Or missing our kneecaps. Or worse.

Mario crammed the last of his dinner in his mouth, finishing off the hot dog with a few loud chews. He gave a contented sigh, licking at his greasy fingers before wiping his hands on his pants. “No, we’re not gonna be homeless. I’ve told you a million times, Lou, we could be in a cardboard box under the Van Wyck. When we’re together - “ Mario slung an arm around Luigi’s shoulder, pulling him in tight. “When I’m with you - I’m home. We’re unbeatable. And that means we’ll make it through this.”

Luigi eyed his brother’s yellow-tinged fingers and stained shirt cuff, hoping the impromptu moment of fraternal affection would pass. He could deal with Mario’s sunny optimism, usually. But living in a studio apartment one step up from a garbage dump had apparently encouraged his brother’s disposition towards a more slovenly existence. They might be home when they were together, but it wouldn’t hurt if Mario took a damn vacuum to himself once in a while. 

“Mario, I think this time - ”

“Oh, I get it.” The warm arm around his shoulder disappeared, his brother’s voice hardening. Luigi snapped his head to the side, his heart rocketing into his throat. What did I say this time?  

“It’s the location, isn’t it?” His brother gave him a searching, serious look. He looks just like Dad. He even seemed as if he were towering over Luigi, just like Dad used to, despite Mario being the shortest of the three of them. “You’d prefer a box under the BQE.”

Luigi gaped. “I - what?”

“Nah, nah, okay,” Mario waved his hands. “Let’s talk location. You wanna be by the Belt? Or maybe - “ A sly smile grew under his brother’s burgeoning mustache. “You want to move to Queens.”

“Oh my God,” Luigi groaned, slapping his forehead with his palm, pulling his hand down over his eyes. I’d move to Jersey if it got us out of this mess. “Mario, be serious.”

“I am serious! Your secret’s safe with me, bro. Even if you would betray Brooklyn like that." Luigi felt two steady hands take him by the biceps. “Besides, we’re gonna be okay.”

“Vinny Razzanti’s uncle said we had forty-eight hours,” Luigi groaned between his fingers.

Mario barked out a laugh. “Vinny Razzanti’s uncle couldn’t tell a pizza from a clock if we arranged the pepperonis the right way. The guy’s a dumbass.”

“Yeah, but he’s - “

“No, I ain’t hearing it.” Mario gently guided Luigi’s hands from his face, keeping his fingers wrapped around either wrist as he brought Luigi’s arms to his sides. “Look at me, Lou.”

Luigi swallowed down the wet desperation clawing its way up his throat, opening his eyes to his brother’s concerned, but steely gaze.

“If he comes, he comes. I’ve got a baseball bat next to the mattress and you can - “ Mario waved one of his arms in a broad gesture. “I dunno. Make some kind of exploding gadget or something. You used to want to show off your stuff to Cooper Union, right? Well, think of this as practice, you know, for the application.”

Luigi gave a small shake of his head. I don’t think home pyrotechnics meant to fend off low-level mafia muscle are going to impress the admissions committee. Not that they were going to waste their time with a twenty-one-year-old plumber’s application, anyway. That dream was long gone, buried in Cypress Hills along with their parents. 

“Here’s what we’re gonna do,” Mario’s voice broke through his dreary ruminations as he guided Luigi towards Bowery Street. “We’re gonna walk home, maybe pick up a cannoli on the way. Then we’re gonna check the answering machine. If we’re lucky - and I’m feeling pretty lucky right now - there will be a call from some lady in Borough Park.” His brother’s eyes gleamed. “No, even better, some widower in Carroll Gardens. One of those nice brownstones. She’s going to ask for our help. Clogged drains, backed up shower, toilet’s kablooey.” Mario made a slobbering sound meant to resemble a backed up toilet. Luigi thought he sounded like a dog on downers. “The whole shebang. We’ll say, of course, we can fix this, but we’ll have to charge the emergency rate. You know, business and all that. Three hours later - maybe four - boom! Vinny Razzanti’s uncle is out of the picture and we’ll be on our way to the good life.”

“You make it sound so simple, bro.” Luigi couldn’t quite contain the bite of sarcasm that accompanied that statement. 

As always, his brother took his waspishness in stride. Long strides, in fact, as they hurried past the metal skeletons that made up the Coney Island Train Yard, the whirr of traffic from the Belt Parkway rushing and thumping above them. Luigi felt like at any moment some old, rusted buckle would give way, sending a line of cabs and buses crashing into their heads.

He felt like that most of the time these days, to be honest. 

“It is simple, Luigi. You just gotta think positive. You never know what’s around the corner.” Mario tugged at his sleeve. “Now, come on. If we walk fast enough, we can get to Villbate’s before they close.”

“Alright, alright, you win, Mario. Something’s around the corner and for once, maybe it won’t be a guy with a baseball bat.” No. It won’t be a bat. It’ll be something worse. Like a flamethrower. Luigi was too tired to argue with his brother’s indomitable optimism. “Maybe we’ll get to your widower in Carroll Gardens and find the answers in her bathroom.”

Mario slapped his brother on the back. “That’s the spirit, Lou! Could be a whole new world waiting for us. Now let’s go - there’s a pistachio cannoli with my name on it and I am not missing out.”

“Hey, the pistachio cannolis are mine!”

“Not if you don’t run fast enough!” Mario gave his brother a playful push, taking off down Stillwell Avenue. Luigi watched his brother leap over a pile of trash bags, skittering between two cabs, one of which blared its horn in anger.

“Where you go, I guess I follow,” Luigi muttered to himself, adjusting his cap before taking off in his brother’s direction. And who knew? Maybe something was waiting for them around that corner.

[mayflowers515]

@tiaragamin

I played two games of Mario Party 9 not too long ago + a minigame mode!

First time through, I played as Bobby (Peach) with Hoppy, Kickin, and Picky (Daisy, Wario, and Birdo respectively). Kickin chose the board most likely (it was Blooper Beach anyways). So basically some interesting notes I picked up from that + potential hcs...

Kickin seems like he would be pretty good with minigames that require some skill. Bro literally got a perfect strike in Goomba Bowling. Funny enough, Picky also got a strike there- (she was determined ig). Ngl, Hoppy only got 13 points there, but I feel like she might've done better with that minigame (taking account the events that DID happen though, she probably was a little salty Kickin and Picky got it with that much ease-). Meanwhile Bobby didn't get any points. She tried copying what Kickin and Picky did, but... it didn't quite work out for her T^T

Okay, when it came to that and the previous minigame Player Conveyor, it made me think that Bobby isn't the best with certain minigames compared to others. She managed to get better in this round after the mini boss with Lakitu, though. (She struggled with that a little in the beginning but has pretty much gotten the hang of things by the time he was all mad and stuff-)

At one point, Kickin landed everyone on a 1v3 space and he picked the minigame Mob Sleds. I feel like, talking about characters here, he picked that thinking he wasn't going to get caught. But no joke- LITERALLY AT THE LAST SECOND BOBBY GOT TO HIM- Hoppy just dying laughing in the background and teasing Kickin when that happened. Picky was probably like, "Oh damn..." and Kickin is just sitting there with his jaw dropped like- "HOW?? HOW?!?!" (his ego got crushed there lol) Also, made me realize those Wario poses are literally him 💀

By this point, Bobby has gotten a better hang of the minigames. She was likely more desperate to try to catch up at least since she was in last originally- The others are impressed but also probably like "Oh, now it is on!" with her lol (if we're talking character here, she may not be so desperate to the point she would make everyone else get in the path of Mini Ztars, which I feel bad about btw because that's literally what I made her do and then I was thinking back about that decision and made me realize that Bobby would've just taken the Mini Ztars for the party's benefit T^T Ig the excuse I could put here would be that she was desperate because she kept falling behind before)

She still didn't do THAT good with all the minigames though. Particularly Upward Mobility (she wasn't as fast with it as the others were; partially due to my own inability to win that minigame lmao). I think she also does the memory related ones well. She wouldn't have THAT good of a memory as Bubba ofc, but she did good in minigames such as Plunder Ground.

Btw, not only is Bobby a total tild card in the minigames, but she is also pretty much the group's savior. The second the event happened where Mini Ztars were filling the board she just happened to get the right number needed to reverse them back to Mini Stars. The group was probably relieved as heck when that happened-

HOPPY'S MINIGAME SHOWED UP AT ONE POINT :)) Unfortunately she didn't win though 😔 (she definitely would win that more going by character though) Kickin and Picky were neck and neck by the end, and Picky ended up beating him. He was pretty salty about that since he was sure he would win now that Hoppy's rocket fell behind (his ego recovered in that gap between Mob Sleds and Launch Break ig and now it cracked again lol). Bobby did lose ten mini stars from getting 4th this time tho since they got Launch Break through a Fire Bro battle minigame... (this is weird cuz like, you want to feel bad because she keeps getting the short end of the stick when she doesn't win. She got fourth in quite a few of the minigames where she didn't get first, but like- she's also doing very well with them at the same time 😶 She literally kept swapping between receiving 1st and 4th with BARELY an in between- Talking character though, I feel like she'd be more likely to get like 2nd or 3rd in minigames. When she loses though, OH BOY SHE LOSES-

By the homestretch, the party was getting more into the Bowser Spaces (not AS frequently as that one experience that was mentioned for a different round but it was still a lot). Mainly Kickin kept getting those spaces, and let's just say... my dude's got LUCKY with those! 2 times out of 3 he landed on giving mini stars to last place, but the thing is... HE IS IN LAST PLACE LMAO. HE JUST KEPT RECEIVING MINI STARS FROM BOWSER. Even in the one time Kickin didn't get that in the Bowser Roulette he still didn't lose Mini Stars. There was a reverse mini game at one point (Thwomper Room) and he WON. By that point, Kickin was just joking like- "BOWSER SURE LOVES ME TODAY". Hoppy and Picky were just rolling their eyes. Bobby in the background just listening but also being sad that she didn't get out first (she and Kickin got hurt by the thwomp around the same time, but Kickin seemed to have gotten to it a frame before she did TvT' Also ig the excuse for Bobby wanting to get out here is that she couldn't imagine the others getting hurt by the Thwomps lol- The others would be like "Sure sure..." She can be mean against them if she wants to, but probably wouldn't be so mean to the point that they can't recover).

Also thought it'd be funny to mention that during the homestretch, Bobby just to happened to get the lucky space TWICE that led the party to the star island, but Picky was always the one that won all the Mini Stars at the end. She really did get lucky there- After this point, most likely everyone was certain Picky was going to win considering where she stood between the rest of the party, so they started to get a bit tense about that I think lol.

Near the end with the Bonus Stars, I genuinely thought Picky was going to win the Minigame Star since she kept getting first in many minigames. I guess I didn't keep track of how often she did, tho- Bobby still won it despite how many times she got 4th in some of them (she has really gotten better near the end ig). Speaking of Bobby and Picky, Picky had a LOT of Mini Stars in general, but because of Bobby landing on the Boss Battle space, receiving first place from Wiggler AND the captain bonus, I'm pretty sure that was the upper hand she needed cuz SHE WON!! Nobody was mad completely though since she was getting kind of screwed during the rounds. Though I can imagine Hoppy used what Kickin said earlier about Bowser loving him to her advantage though since he ended in 4th lol. Hoppy herself got 3rd (she was a little salty about that since she thought she'd do better, especially with the minigames but they were surprisingly not her strong suit this time. Kickin probably tried to tease her back about that lol). Meanwhile, Picky was just proud of Bobby for winning, though deep down kinda sad because she thought for sure she would win ;v; Bobby beat her by ONE mini star lol. For context, Bobby got 71 Mini Stars, Picky got 70, Hoppy got 53, and Kickin got 46.

Alr, second time through, I decided to play as CatNap (Shy Guy) with DogDay (Toad), CraftyCorn (Yoshi), and Bubba (Koopa). The board chosen was Toad Road since two out of the four Critters in that round (DogDay and CraftyCorn as was mentioned before) have that as their favorite. So what happened here that could be potential hcs? Well...

Not TOO much happened at the very beginning. Though at 10 to Win, I can imagine Bubba was absolutely trying his hardest to remember where every single card was despite how scrambled they all were. He didn't do too badly, but some of the cards were mainly ones he didn't want to get completely. CatNap's the opposite I imagine. He just chooses whatever seems right. That didn't work too well for him in this round, though (he got last ;-;) Crafty kept getting cards that supported everyone from what I remember (probably relieved her to know she could've gotten worse than she did). Pretty sure DogDay mostly won because of the cards the others chose (like a 1st card Bubba ended up getting at some point, DogDay was in 1st at the time and I can imagine Bubba just facepalmed when he did that-)

Just want to mention that Shy Guy's fourth place animation did make me think of CatNap, though I feel like if CatNap showed how he'd react to last place, he would just sleep away his sorrows if he got last lol

Speaking of CatNap, I feel like he's a menace in Mario Party. Like, anywhere else he's pretty chill, but make him play a game? Oh, it's like there's another side of him sorta- (he still keeps his laid back energy but he's clearly having fun against the party) Mainly thought of that because of him getting a 1v3 minigame (Spike-n-Span) and he pretty much wasn't holding back. He got EVERYONE.

I guess Bubba learned about how easy it was for CatNap to win that minigame because literally when he landed on a 1v3 space himself, HE CHOSE THAT SAME MINIGAME- He probably leeches off of the experiences he witnesses in the game and uses what he has seen to his advantage (it doesn't help for the others that Bubba has really good memory so he would probably know what to do to win; this could go for Mario Party in general tbh). Unfortunately, Bubba lost the minigame that time- Ironically enough tho, CatNap got out first lol

Every time the party kept getting Bowser Jr spaces, it was because of DogDay. I find it funny that Bowser Jr always paired him with CatNap tho (probably bc of him being first player tbf tho). First Bowser Jr minigame they played together wasn't so good. They played Sand Trap, and CatNap was a little confused on what to do. DogDay wasn't faring much better though. I feel like he was mainly waiting to see what CatNap was planning so he took his time. When they lost that one, I feel a part of CatNap was probably thinking "If we go down then we go down together :>" but another part of him felt bad because he legit had no idea what he was doing. DogDay was likely assuring him after that, hopeful that they'd win against Bowser Jr again next time. Sure enough, when DogDay landed on another Bowser Jr space, they did :) That minigame was Double Pounder. The instructions were easier for them to understand by that point. CatNap didn't really mind that DogDay got Mini Stars too that time (pretty sure DogDay wasn't in first by that point from what I remember). DogDay was just happy the two were able to win together. Probably gave CatNap a small hug after that. (Meanwhile Bobby in the background is just going: AWWWWWW 🥹🥹)

Oh yeah, Crafty was just chilling with her first place status in the first half too. She had about 33 mini stars during that point. She's not exactly planning on bragging about her status. She was just internally hoping she wouldn't get destroyed later TvT (she got this ahead because of a lucky space she landed on where climbed up a vine and got all the mini stars in that area- 12 MINI STARS) At some point, CatNap was catching up to her in terms of Mini Stars so there likely was some tension by that point. Crafty is just scared but at the same time defensive about her stars. Meanwhile CatNap was probably just silently hoping something happens to her stars and that he can get ahead-

This especially shows when Crafty got the Captain event. She legit chose CatNap to go last 💀 She was hoping it would be less likely for him to get the stars at the end if he was last. For more context, she chose Bubba to go first, then either herself or DogDay, but considering she was still in first, I think she was thinking that she could get the Mini Stars if she rolled high enough, so she would've needed to be the third person to do that- Unfortunately, Crafty's ploy didn't go too well. CatNap STILL got the stars at the end. Pretty sure that made them even in Mini Stars by that point-

CatNap just casually dominating most minigames... Pretty much like that with minigames like Pinball Fall. My guy literally didn't fall down a hole ONCE during his run- I think he probably has a bit of luck similar to Picky but he also is genuinely determined to win and happy to see the others struggling in the minigames deep down. Doesn't exactly voice this, but if you paid attention to his expressions, you'd know

Also, I think CatNap just pretty much wins a lot of the Reverse Minigames. The minute he hears that's what happens when the group lands on a Bowser space, he's like "K. I always wondered what happened if I just willingly jumped into this" in the most casual tone. DogDay would just look back at him concerned-

Meanwhile for Bubba, poor guy barely won many of the minigames (much less end up in 1st). I feel like he would still do very well in certain minigames taking character into account. He probably wouldn't be super fast though since he would prefer to calculate his moves I can imagine. Probably why he waited so long to even try to hit in the minigame Logger Heads (ironically enough though, he still ended up hitting a bomb at one point-) What made things worse for him was that he got no points and it was a Bowser minigame where they fought between half of the whole party's Mini Stars. He was already in last place by that point. He was likely frustrated about that, but pretty calm about the frustration anyway. Just silently facepalming and grumbling at himself for doing something he sees as dumb. Can also imagine that in general, Bubba would get much more quiet if he was in last due to the frustration but also because of trying to focus and think about ways to get himself back in the game. The party would probably be concerned about that-

Okay, I just wanna say for the record... The bosses in this round are the exact same as last time. For highlights there, Bubba got the captain bonus for the Lakitu boss and Yoshi's 4th place animation legit made me think: "Yeah, that looks like Crafty right there" because I could imagine her doing that 🥺 As for the Wiggler boss, CatNap was literally dominating everyone in that. He didn't even lose any points either. He also had the captain's bonus lol I imagine he just did all that with the most chill expression ever, too lol. He'd probably just be like "Imagine losing..." to everyone else in a casual way. If Kickin was playing against him, he would get offended by that so much lol

Speaking of dominating, there was NO CONTEST with the winner by that point. CatNap beat everyone by at least 60 MINI STARS- HE GOT 104 TOTAL COMPARED TO CRAFTY'S 40, DOGDAY'S 37, AND BUBBA'S 30 NEAR THE END- I blame that on Logger Heads tbh. The minute that minigame happened, CatNap just dominated Crafty in winnings. There wasn't really a chance for her to win now T^T Bubba was disappointed in himself but at the same time, not surprised that CatNap won now. He also blames CatNap's winning on Logger Heads and luck (since CatNap could get the captain's bonus easily since he was only a couple spaces away so he could use his 4-6 dice he kept on him) Meanwhile DogDay is just absolutely amazed by how well CatNap did. No bad blood against him at all. He's just happy for him :> (We love the golden retriever and black cat energy)

Finally, I decided to do one of the minigame modes for fun. I chose to play as Kickin this time and also adding Bobby, Crafty, and Bubba. I chose for them to do Choice Challenge. They had to choose between five minigames, which were Thwomper Room, Urn It, Tuber Tug, Polar Extreme, and Pit or Platter.

Bubba was the only one to choose both Thwomper Room and Urn It. LITERALLY JUST HIM. He got 200 points right off the bat. Bobby and Crafty were pretty worried by that point, but Kickin wasn't at all expecting that- He was probably making sure he won the next minigames he chose. Funnily enough, he was trying to go for Thwomper Room, too, but he must've accidentally chose another minigame. It would've been a StarStudent matchup there (sorry StarStudent shippers ;-;)

Bubba didn't choose Tuber Tug and Polar Extreme but Bobby, Crafty, and Kickin did, so it was literally just competition against those three for a bit. They practiced Tuber Tug first through Kickin's plea because he was wanting to make sure his Wii Remote worked (he wanted to make sure he could dominate his competition- Don't blame him). I can imagine Hoppy would likely be calling him a chicken in the background for not going straight into the minigame despite knowing how to do it. Either way, Kickin won the minigame and got 100 points. Crafty got 50, and Bobby 30. No practice was done for Polar Extreme as the instructions were simple. (Btw, this was the minigame Kickin accidentally picked over Thwomper Room-) All three of them still never made it to the goal, though Bobby survived the longest so she won. This time Bobby got 100 points, Kickin got 50, and Crafty 30. Considering how well she did with the minigames last time they played together, I can imagine Kickin would get pretty suspicious of Bobby. Though he isn't nearly as worried about her as he is with Bubba. Y'know... THE DUDE WHO GOT FIRST PLACE AND DIDN'T EVEN HAVE TO TRY TO GET THERE.

Everyone chose the Chance minigame, Pit or Platter. Kickin's ego was probably kicking in again by that point because he's usually good with skill minigames. This one wasn't his best attempt at it though. Hoppy calling him out probably cut him deep so he didn't choose to practice this time, even though he probably needed it- Either way, he just wanted to make sure it wasn't Bubba that won. Sure enough, Bubba didn't win that minigame. Bobby did

Bobby really proved to be a wild card when it comes to minigames, but it actually goes in her favor this time- She actually won against Bubba by 30 points. She had 280 and he had 250. Crafty and Kickin were pretty far down in terms of points though. Poor Crafty didn't get first place once- Kickin meanwhile is just glad Bubba didn't win but also a little salty that Bobby won since she won against him last time- It didn't really matter to Bobby that she won anyway. She was just happy to play with her friends. She let them know that too through her usual affection :>

(Sorry this was so long, but I had a lot of fun doing this- It's not everyday I'm able to play on my Wii due to college stuff 🙃 I hope you liked what I listed tiara, and in general, I hope y'all enjoyed =v=') Speaking of tiara, credits to her for the Mario Party 9 headcanons idea for the Smiling Critters. These were fun to come up with :)

[freezeyourchill]

I am once again thinking about the differences between Paper Luigi and Luigi literally anywhere else. Paper Jam be damned this is the most definitive proof that the Paper Mario universe is a separate reality

Think of any Luigi appearance other than the Paper Mario series (Luigi's Mansion, Mario & Luigi RPGs, 2023 Mario Movie, SM64DS, Galaxy, anything) and they'll have a decent amount of consistency. Luigi is characterized as timid, brave given the circumstances, usually quiet, always silly billy certified, and a bit clumsy but very sweet.

But most crucially for this post, he follows Mario's lead but never seems to mind. He's the butt of endless jokes and not nearly as renowned as Mario, but it generally doesn't get to him because he's got his big bro and that's all that matters (the Smash universe is also an entirely separate secret third thing so his Negative Zone from Brawl doesn't count)

Whenever Mario saves/finds him in the M&L RPGs, his first instinct is to collapse into Mario's arms with a big hug, sometimes with relieved tears. In the newest Mario Movie he's chattier than usual but he still firmly believes that any situation will be okay as long as Mario is there (another big hug upon their reunion). In LM3, Mario immediately rushes off after he's saved (again, with a big hug) but instead of being annoyed or even afraid, Luigi just grins and follows his lead, happy that he's back and they can work together again. In Dream Team we see Luigi's deepest darkest most intense subconscious emotions and revealed to us is immense love and care for his brother, unconditional support for whatever he chooses to do, and at worst a fear of Mario leaving him behind.

The point being that Luigi is happy to depend on Mario, perhaps to the point where he stunts his own potential, because Mario is his rock. They're a package deal and if you don't like one, the other will certainly not like you.

Compare this with the Paper Mario series. Some of the previously listed traits are still true: Luigi is a timid silly billy who obviously cares for his brother. Being with Mario still helps give him security and confidence, as seen in SPM.

No hug. Suspicious. Anyway, even if he does depend on Mario at times, the main distinction is that he strives to be more independent from him, if only to prove a point. He wants to prove that he's just as cool and doesn't need to rely on his big brother to succeed. He wants to do things himself, and play it off coolly.

As opposed to Paper Mario's more quiet attitude (which deserves its own post actually), he's chatty, snarky, and direct. And according to that one Toad in Origami King, he characteristically sneers. What's up with that?

Unlike other versions of Luigi, Paper Luigi is overtly jealous. He's got this odd inferiority complex that makes him want to be independent from Mario while also getting jealous of people who spend time with Mario on his adventures. Compare this with M&L Superstar Saga where Luigi was more than happy staying at home doing the housekeeping, and got physically dragged off with Mario via circumstance.

Famously, Luigi stretches the truth or outright lies to Mario about his own escapades in TTYD to appear as cooler and more competent. Luigi's companions will make sure to enlighten Mario with the real story. But the strange part of this comes from the collectable Super Luigi books that you can buy.

'Older, though less talented brother'? A 'no-doubt inconsequential errand'? In fairness he didn't write the books himself, but he describes them as being in 'excruciating detail' and 'like a history book'.

And I'm not at all saying he dislikes Mario. It's because he holds Mario on such a pedestal in comparison to himself that he tries to overcompensate and make himself appear more capable so that he can keep up. He loves his brother and nothing will change that, but there is this more psychologically complex aspect to him and how he regards Mario. Mr. L isn't as far off from his base personality as people like to think, and being the ideal host for the Chaos Heart isn't all that surprising. Besides, how many times have you seen Paper Luigi hug Mario?

[sinisxtea]

DOYOUNG ALBUM THOUGHTS

ok welcome to my album review rant today we're reviewing doyoung's album. it's a quite lengthy album too. tbh surprised at the amount of songs i actually enjoyed because ballards are usually a hit or miss for me, because i don't like hearing just straight vocals.

(im a doyoung stan i must stream yknow)

not going to review every song on the album bc i tuned out some of them... 😭

little light

upon first listen, i lowkey almost tuned it out, i'm sorry... but second time listening to it, since it is the title track, i'm paying more attention to it. the song is very j-pop coded?? in my opinion, the ballad-rock kinda vibe does fit doyoung and this was what i expected, but a teeny tiny part of me was hoping for a little bit more sm core style of music, with the experimental stuff, but this works too. havent watched the mv yet but i'll check it out soon, maybe look up the lyrics translation, cause songs have more meaning when you understand the lyrics too.

from little wave

tell me why it's giving mario kart... imagine listening to this while driving on rainbow road damn. no but this is such a car cruising driving song, and i pretty much liked it immediately upon first listen. the chorus is SO GOOD??? like doyoungs vocals shine on the whole album cause he's that talented but this one really demonstrates it i think. you can disagree with me lmfao idc. it's kinda giving 80s love ballad, and that's such a beautiful vibe of music i really like it a lot...

time machine

lowkey was a surprise to see mark and taeyeon featured on the album, but i actually really like this one. the vocals hard carried obviously, but mark + doyoung combo really hits hard lowkey they should do more stuff like this together. i'm a sucker for male-female vocal duets, so this one was so cute and sweet. i know why mark considers himself an "ARTIST" not a rapper lmfao. (also im waiting for mark's solo album...... SM PLEASE)

lost in california

THIS IS THE SONG I WILL BE REPLAYING OVER AND OVER THIS MONTH I THINK. hello it's so good why wasn't this the title track? it reminds me of "i don't think that i like her anymore" by charlie puth and that song hits hard. also the vibes are immaculate. seems way more sm core than ballad so obviously i prefer this lmfao... love the little harpsicord instrumental too that was so neat. sm pick ur title tracks better thanks.

rest

i got more appreciative of the song after the chorus came on, but it gives like jpop vibes?? jpop really has that hard metal/rock aspect, and this album has quite a few songs like that. all in all, this wasn't really a favorite favorite, but it definitely stood out to me because it wasn't a ballad lmfaooo. didn't add this one to my playlist but i do think it's pretty good.

dallas love field

this is so country coded guys...... and guess who actually listens to country? me anyways neat cause it's called dallas love field... but regardless i quite enjoyed this a lot, and seeing the country core vibes radiate off of this... like damn im gonna make doyoung cowboy edits soon just watch. (for legal reasons thats a joke im a doyoung stan don't come for me) the only weird part is the bridge, with all the voices chiming in, but other than that i like the phillips phillips vibes that remind me of my 2010s era.

[dappledpaintbrush]

OKAY ERM mini game rant bc I promise I am taking my pills (not). It’s not like revolutionary shit I just enjoy analyzing this game to pieces

Okay we all know that scene where Dimentio is like ERM AKSUALLY THE COUNT BETRAYED ME🤓☝️which is implied to be a straight up lie. but I’ve replayed the game and skimmed the game’s script and there’s some evidence that he was actually telling the truth- so anyways I’m chapter three we have this cutscene:

—————

Count: Does something trouble you, Nastasia?

Nastasia: Yeah, Count... You know, there's still time... You can still change your mind.

Count: That is enough, Nastasia. We've already come this far, so we shall forge on! But you needn't stay by Count Bleck's side. You can depart with my blessing.

Nastasia: Um, no, my count. I won't be doing that. My life is already sworn to you. Yeah, it's belonged to you since the day you saved me... I'll be sticking out with you until my game ends, 'K?

Bleck: If that pleases you...

—————

So this pretty clearly seems like Nastasia is simply talking about not wanting Bleck to destroy all worlds (and recreate them). BUT THEN we have Dimentio who fucking ruins the clarity by saying this shit

Am I reading too deep into a Mario game?? Probably. But what does this loser mean by, “Just what is our dear count playing at…?” WHAT does that mean. Like actually. Before this, Bleck was just giving orders to his minions so I’m not excluding any dialogue that could be referring to what Dimentio is so intrigued about. There is NOTHING in that scene that implies Bleck is “playing at” anything. If anything, Dimentio should direct that sentence at Nastasia, but he doesn’t.

While it’s pretty much basic common sense (and probably correct- I’m just insane) to assume that she is talking about the destruction of all worlds, what’s important is that she does not explicitly say what she is talking about. I know that’s a huge reach but given everything else, it is weird.

The fact that Nastasia does not specifically refer to what she is talking about + Dimentio’s reaction means that Nastasia is probably not talking about the destruction of all worlds- but the lack of new ones, something only Bleck and Nastasia are aware of. And unbeknownst to them, Dimentio is aware, too.

Something else that’s pretty damning is that we hear all about these new perfect worlds from every Team Bleck member. EXCEPT BLECK AND NASTASIA.

Here are just a few examples-

O’Chunks:

Mimi:

Dimentio:

Okay well everyone except Mr. L. But he was around for 3 seconds so he doesn’t really count. Point is- All Bleck talks about in the game is destruction. If I am correct (cause there is a shit ton of dialogue in this game), the ONLY time he confirms anything is when Mimi is talking about her idea of a perfect world is hanging out with Bleck, all he says is, “Well, different strokes for different minions.” Sir that is vague as FUCK

Anyways this shit doesn’t end here. Look at this dialogue from him in chapter eight:

This is. Definitely a sentence! :D

Count Bleck could have stopped at, “Better that I destroy them.” Hell, even if he said, “I shall make it as if they never existed at all!” that’s not that weird.

But he doesn’t. He says, “Better yet.” That implies there is something to be expanded upon PAST COMPLETE DESTRUCTION. AKA!! NOT REINVENTING THEM LIKE HE PROMISED

That’s not all. If you revisit Nastasia after you complete the game, you get this line of dialogue:

To me, this is dialogue, while tragic and beautifully written for a Mario game, is strangely worded. Specifically that last line.

“Then maybe there never was any point to that other world,” could and probably does mean that she’s essentially agreeing with the heroes (and everyone in all worlds) that destroying all worlds to create perfect new ones is NOT the answer to your problems.

But what makes me a bit unsure is the interaction in Chapter 3. It was the first scene I discussed in this post. As I said before- We can use that scene’s vagueness and Dimentio’s very unusual response to conclude that it is not impossible to rule out Nastasia was referring to Bleck’s lack of world recreation and not just Bleck’s destruction of all worlds. And here, in this post-game visit, “Then maybe there was never any point to that other world,” could refer to that very scene.

It may sound confusing, but think about it. Let’s revisit those lines again:

“… Now I understand what it was like when Blumiere turned into Count Bleck. If I have to live on with this feeling always burning inside me… Yeah, then maybe there was never any point to that other world.”

Based on evidence from Chapter 3, it is not impossible that, in this scene, she is accepting Bleck was “right” about not recreating new worlds. After all, his reasoning would be that he would not want to live on in a new world because of “that feeling always burning inside” Nastasia refers to. Now that SHE feels it, she finally understands and agrees with him that “there was never any point to that other world.”

Could this all be translation issues? Of course. But nevertheless, it is still the dialogue we were canonically given.

Also, you might be wondering why he would lie in the first place. First, the Dark Prognosticus (as shown in Carson’s story about Dimentio) talks about each Team Bleck member. If Bleck wanted to fulfill the prophecy of destruction, he would have to recruit them all just like Merlon recruited the heroes. In my opinion, “Hey guys, bleh heh heh, want to destroy all worlds and ourselves in the process?” is not a great marketing slogan.

On top of all of that, why would Dimentio plan to betray him? It wasn’t a spur of the moment decision, AKA Dimentio seeing Bleck was surrendering to Mario and taking matters into his own hands. He had been PLANNING this. He WANTED the heroes to defeat Bleck. Again, why? After all, Bleck was supposed to be doing exactly what Dimentio wanted: destroying and recreating perfect new worlds in the minion’s visions. Unless…

Of course, is it possible Bleck was telling the truth. It is possible Dimentio betrayed him because he wanted all the power and worlds to himself and only himself. That is more than likely true and, like I said many times, I am just reading too deep into it. But still, there is some interesting evidence in the game that suggests otherwise. At least to me.

but yeah tbh Dimentio was probably lying LMAO

[sinning-23]

Socket Wrench: Introduction

Okay so fuck it… I saw the Super Mario Bros. Movie and this is not my fault but its fucking Seth Rogan and they gave him massive douche vibes and I’m HERE FOR IT. Anyway. Here'shis trainwreck of a donkey kong x reader fanfic…. Maybe some chapters I haven’t decided on yet. Let’s get this shit going….

Updates:

Chapter 1 found here

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Introduction

The last place you wanted to be was tagging along with some brand-spanking new entrepreneurs but here you were, a brand SPANKING new entrepreneur yourself. Now owning one of Brooklyn's first female-owned car mechanic shops was definitely a current stressor. You honestly were just here for advice. Still, it was beginning to look like you were doing charity work for the city's people.

“So, you guys jump into the sewers often orrrr just this once?” You question, cringing at the smell of the water and just the thought of what DISEASES lay within it. 

“No, this one is a first.” The eldest, Mario answers, leading the way as you and Luigi, his younger brother follows. 

There's a tension in the air as the pressure builds, the pipe you’re hanging onto threatening to bust any minute now. It seemed that Mario was taking his sweet time reaching for the handle and you were beginning to panic on everyone’s behalf. 

“Damnit grab the thing!” You yip, seeing the water begin to burst out as the pipe rattles. It was too late! You were falling into the depths of the city with the pair, treading further into the unknown. 

So this was beneath Brooklyn….well besides the trains. This was far more intricate than the entire city's plumbing system.

Oh yeah, this was definitely illegal...

There were restriction signs at every damn turn! You sigh, already in too deep as you continue to try and explore with the two. 

“So, what made you want to start your own business?” Luigi asks, genuinely curious.  He probably needed some light conversation to calm him down, and to be frank it’d be helping you too. 

“I don't like working for others, I prefer to be my own boss, shit gets done quicker that way.” You explain, shining your flashlight at a more offputting pipe laid between the usual silver. 

Green sure as hell stuck out. Maybe this was where this whole leak mess started…yet there wasn't any water in the surrounding area.

Maybe it was further back?

You take a step inside, trying to focus on your conversation with the green-clad Italian, but with every tip-toe step you took, you felt drawn in, a breeze almost inviting you to come closer….

And despite every last voice in your head telling yo ass to stop…you didn’t.

[scarfacemarston]

Yelena Belova Fluff Alphabet

This can be read as x reader or with Kate Bishop. It can be viewed as queer platonic.I headcanon her as asexual as she is in the comics.A - Affection (how do they show affection to their s/o)She loves playing with hair or gussying up that matches with your gender identity. It doesn’t matter if it’s casual or something more formal, she’d love to dress you up and do make-up if you wear it. Quick kisses on the cheek, the largest of smiles that light up her eyes, hand holding - sometimes in public, letting you win in Mario Kart or giving you the fruit you need in Animal Crossing, hiding at least one treat and one drink to make an emergency pack if you ever have a “hangry” moment. She also likes to buy little trinkets she finds on her travels.

B - Best Friend (what are they like as a best friend?)She makes for a great friend. She’s very extroverted, and while she does have a bit of a wall, she is happy to make friends if it feels natural to her.. She knows when to joke around and when it’s time to be more serious. She knows when to lift you up, but when to bring you (or Kate) to Earth. She’ll show up at your workplace/university with a cup of coffee or tea just because she can. Did your partner break up with you? Well, do you want him dead or eat ice cream in our PJs, or both? (Then she remembers she can’t kill people like that anymore.). Expect shopping trips and walks with Fanny. She’s fine to veg out or have a fun night out.

C - Cuddling (do they like to cuddle? And how would they do it?)It takes some time for Yelena to become accustomed to positive touch again. As a child, she was clingy and cuddly, which was stamped out in the widow training. She loves cuddling with her dog on the couch, and while she’s not supposed to be on the bed, she sometimes ends up there. She’s not used to cuddling with people so she’d have to be introduced to it. It takes some time to warm up, but far quicker than Natasha.  She likes to wrap her arms around someone’s waist and lay her chin on their head or shoulder. 

D - Domestic (do they want to settle down? How good are they at cooking and cleaning) Yelena never thought domesticity for the sake of it was something in her cards, but she fell back into it quickly upon reuniting with Melina and Alexei, and it’s something she craves. It’s stabilizing and a great comfort. Black Widows are taught how to care for a household, as seen in Agent Carter. Yelena lived more off of MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) and protein bars, but again, she’d branch out to whatever she could find. She’s not the most tidy of people, but more so than Kate. She enjoys her Mac n Cheese but also comforts from home. She thinks chicken nuggets are the oddest things. Taco Bell is also odd to her.

E - Ending (if they had to break up with their partner, how would they do it?)She’d be brisk and professional as though she was breaking up with a business partner. She doesn’t want to think about the emotional aspect. However, she would be heartbroken inside. 

F - Fiancé (how do they feel about commitment? How quick would they want to get married?)Again, Yelena never thought about the domestic side of life or really any positive aspects. Queer Platonic or otherwise, I think she could definitely commit. She’s a team player at the very least, and she develops friendly relationships quickly, like with Kate. I think she’s a ride-or-die type of girl, and if you hc her as romantically involved, she’s hesitant, but it’s something she secretly would be open to. I think she’d really enjoy it. However, I do not see her getting married. She seems to have no interest in doing so in the movie or comics.

G - Gentle (how gentle they, both physically and emotionally?)She’s not as smooth as Natasha. She can be a bit more brash and more likely to jump into things. She’s very hardy. She’s broader and damn strong. She can take quite the beating. Outside of that, she doesn’t care as much about grace as Natasha did. She’s more relaxed in how she handles things like walking or handling objects, but she’s not sloppy and has her own grace. She can be very dexterous. Emotionally - she can be pretty gentle. Some people have called her more childish, but that’s not quite fair. She just cares and wants connection; she’s highly receptive to that. She can be blunt, but she does know when to soften her approach.

H: Hugs (Do they like hugs? How often do they do it? What are their hugs like?)Yelena seems quite tactile in some ways, but it depends on if SHE wants to hug. She loved hugging Natasha, and I can totally see her hugging Kate, but you have to have a connection before she’s giving hugs. Otherwise, she’ll step away or give an awkward pat on the back.

I: I love you (How fast do they say the L-word?)Depends on how you hc her as ace or aro or aro. If aro/aro ace, it’s not going to happen, but that doesn’t mean she can’t be affectionate or have a queerplatonic relationship. If she’s not aro, I think she’d feel it relatively quickly. I think she can be very sweet and excitable, and there are so many ways it could come out.

J: Jealousy (How jealous do they get? What do they do when they're jealous?)Depending on hc/canon:She can be possessive. She hasn’t had many relationships in her life, and sometimes, she has to check herself so she doesn’t become clingy… She also has to be careful not to push someone away. She was used to being second best in a lot of categories, and while she did excellent in her training, she wasn’t always at the top of her class, so that made her a little insecure as well as a friend or romantic partner. She’ll be polite at first as she tries to analyze the situation, but she’ll give sarcastic comments and a few borderline icy comments - things that could also be missed. She’ll glare when the person isn’t looking. If you start icing her out, she will have words about it, but she won’t beg for your attention. 

K: Kisses (What are their kisses like? Where do they like to kiss you?) Depending on your hc, of course.Soft teasing butterfly kisses. She’s playful; she’ll want them to chase her. It’s a quick peck or a swift kiss before she dashes to the other side of the room or speeds walk away. Other times, it’s holding her partner’s face in her hands before giving a slow kiss. It can become more heated, but not always!

L: Little Ones (How are they with kids?)Yelena wasn’t sure about kids outside of the Black Widow program as she wasn’t really around them too often, but her heart always hurt for them. Outside of the program, she’s quite decent with kids! She’s playful when she wants to be and is hilarious.  She’s sweet and would enjoy playing with them, but she has no desire to have children. Now, a bunch of puppies and or kittens? Hell yeah.

M: Mornings (How are mornings spent with them?) She prefers nights. She hates getting up in the morning. It was one thing when you were four, but at 26? No. Not if she doesn’t have to. If she does get up that early? It’s a labor of love. Luckily she doesn’t expect Kate to be up early in the morning, either. She prefers it to be a slow morning where she wakes up anywhere between 9-10, even 11 on her laziest relaxed days. She’ll wake up snuggled with her pillow or sometimes her partner, laying in bed as long as she can. She’ll nurse a hot cup of coffee and munch on either sugary cereal or last night’s leftovers. Sometimes, she’ll make eggs and toast or polenta, but cooking in the morning is not her favorite thing. She is not the most talkative in the morning. Once the caffeine hits her bloodstream, she’s more her peppy self. 

N: Night (How are nights spent with them?)Her job often requires her to work late. Sometimes, she’s wound up after her mission and will want to go out to do something fun or will find a way to decompress with a shower. She’s fine going out at night but also having a relaxing night. It also depends on your/Kate’s day. She loves eating casseroles and watching game shows or maybe enjoying wine and a cozy game. Sometimes it’s painting her nails and watching you play a game, or even just quietly cuddling. She usually goes to bed around 11. 

O: Open (When would they start revealing things about themselves? Do they say everything all at once or wait a while to reveal things slowly?)It takes you a while before you realize you don't know anything about her.  You know she’s foreign from her accent. You figure out things from her habits like sriracha and mac n cheese or her favorite beer, but her past? Nothing. She prefers to keep it that way. She will eventually let you in, but it will take a lot of patience on your part for her to reveal things about her throughout your time together.

P: Patience (How easily angered are they?)She’s extremely patient. She’s had to survey from incredibly uncomfortable places for long hours or even days. If she has to wait for something, she will. However, the more she discovers about herself, the less patient she is. She occasionally becomes very excitable, almost bouncing on her heels. In terms of anger, she’s slow to anger and pretty tolerant, but it can only reach so far. She might give two, three or even four chances if she cares for you, but it depends on how you treat her. If you throw her past at you, she’ll brood and sometimes agree, or she’ll have a righteous anger, feeling betrayed. She might bicker with you over things like chores or picking out where to eat, but actual anger? That’s not often.. 

Q: Quizzes (How much would they remember about you? Do they remember every detail in passing, or do they kind of forget? ) Yelena knows EVERYTHING. It’s part of her training, and she loves to startle Kate with what she knows, details that even Kate might forget.  She does the same to her partner/friends. She can’t help it, and she finds it entertaining. However, if there is something super personal, she’ll avoid mentioning it. At least she won’t forget your birthday, or a graduation, or a festival! If you’re in a relationship, no worries about the anniversary, too if that is something she celebrates.

R: Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)If it’s Kate, it’s eating Mac & Cheese in her flat. If it’s with you, it would be something sweet like driving to a beach or relaxing in the countryside, maybe near some woods. She has a small element of cottage core in her, so a day or two there would be fun, but she’d also love for you to play tourist with her in a new city.

S: Security (How protective are they? How would they protect you? How would they like to be protected?) She knows that some aspects of her life get rather wild, and while she does her best to prevent her work from spilling into your life, sometimes things happen. You will have one of the most secure homes in the world. She has all the tools to set up traps or distractions. She can turn anything into a weapon, even when half asleep. You’re safe. Emotionally, unless it goes against her core beliefs, she’s there to support you emotionally. Yelena doesn’t need protection and doesn’t want it. However, she would prefer something like you to have her back in an argument or support in something difficult she’s experiencing as a form of protection. 

T: Try (How much effort would they put into dates, anniversaries, and gifts?)She is a planner, but she is more of a loose planner. She’ll start with some things like calling in class/work and managing you to get a day off so you can sleep in if you want. She has already gone to the grocery store the night before to buy you your favorite treats and to make you your favorite meal if you choose not to go out. She has taken all your interests into account and has made an outline, but she doesn’t like things completely regimented. It’s more, “Do you want beignets or greasy plates of bacon?” “Do you want to relax on the beach or have a picnic?”. It’s your day. Gifts are the same; your interests matter to her. 

U: Ugly (What would be a bad habit of theirs?)She jumps to conclusions more than she should. Sometimes, she’s trying to be helpful by anticipating a situation, but not always. It can and has led to arguments. Less seriously, sometimes you find her gear and weapons in the oddest places in your home/Kate’s home.

V: Vanity (How concerned are they with their looks?)Yelena is stunningly beautiful, but she is a total femme. She takes great stock in her appearance, picking out fashionable clothing and styling her hair and her makeup at peak perfection. However, she is also flexible --- and sometimes “lazy” enough to go completely casual. Never messy, though. Yelena knows she’s pretty. The program values it, and she agrees she’s beautiful, but she doesn’t obsess over it. Kate thinks she should use it to get them free drinks, but Yelena just rolls her eyes at the idea. 

W: Whole (Would they feel incomplete without you?)She says she’s fine, really. She’s a former Black Widow. She’s fine. In actuality, while she would survive, she would feel the hole in her heart, whether friend, queerplatonic or more.  

X: Xtra (A random headcanon for them) She loves watching cooking competition shows! Great British Bake Off, Halloween Bake Off, and Master Chef, to name a few. Cut Throat Kitchen is a particular favorite of hers. She loves how diabolical they get.Z: Zzz (What is a sleep habit of theirs?) Yelena used to sleep with her hand held up and handcuffed on her back like Dottie Underwood. She sleeps purely on her stomach now because she can, and it’s comfortable.