#2 friends in particular

[kiynania]

So like what if Vex's plan to overthrow the current emperor of the Never Realm backfired HORRIBLY

Like he still manages to erase Zane's memories and manipulate him into thinking he's the Ice Emperor, but once they get into the castle, Vex tells Zane to like cause harm to them or some shit like that and Zane goes like "I don't wanna hurt anyone. Justice will be served, not revenge, " and then the emperor goes like,"What justice?" And then Zane tells the story that Vex told him abt how they're the true emperor and how the current emperor is the cruel ruler and then everyone is just batshit confused abt the whole thing but when they like kinda connect some pieces, they throw Vex in the dungeon. With Vex out of the way, they don't know what to do with Zane, they ask him if he had a family or something, but Zane goes like "I don't even remember my own name, much less if I even had a family," and then randomly he tries to see what the staff can do, so he points to an empty spot and like causes the entire spot to be filled with ice and apologizes over and over again, so he let's go of the staff and they lock it up somewhere in the palace. Since the Emperor didn't know what to do with Zane, they kinda just let him work at the palace(still thinking), but every once in a while, Zane just goes wandering in the Never Realm for short periods of time, he encounters villages and makes little ice sculptures just outside of all the villages bc why not, he never fails to return to the palace so they could continue his work, bc of this, Zane's known as "The Frozen Wanderer"(im bad at names pls don't judge me.) But when the ninja(+pixal) go to the Never Realm, they aren't informed of this "Wanderer" so one night Pixal's just sitting in the snow thinking abt Zane and Kai can't sleep, so he goes outside and also sits with Pixal. After a little bit of keeping each other company, a random person with a hoodie over their head, Pixal and Kai start getting ready to attack bc both of them think that the hooded person's going to attack, but then he takes the takes the hoodie off and it's revealed that it's actually Zane so both Kai and Pixal go like "ZANE!" and him a big, tight hug, but Zane gets so confused, and then he's like, "Who are you?" And both Pixal and Kai are extremely confused until they realize that Zane doesnt remember anything so they try to explain to Zane that he's their friend/partner but all Zane does is try to explain that they've got the wrong person and this just goes on for like an hour until Zane realizes he has to go back to the palace and tries to leave but Kai grabs their arm but all that does is make Zane a bit scared so he pushes Kai to the ground and makes like an ice wall and as he getting ready to run, there's a little pain in their chest from using too much ice at once(that one scene in s11 ep 27) so it weakens him a bit which gives Pixal the upper hand and sprints around the wall to help Zane but it doesn't help and Zane refuses Pixal's help and starts bolting for it. Pixal and Kai try to keep up with him but due to Zane being in the never realm for 60+ years, he has more WAY knowledge abt the Never Realm and they successfully outrun Pixal and Kai, and it leaves them both distraught that they're own friend/partner doesn't remember them. But what's more important is how in the world are they gonna address this to the rest of the team???

[elena-illustration]

ocs in a pathologic style

[intotheelliwoods]

AUs within the 2 Arms Left AU, where the other brothers lose something and gain an older version of themselves instead

2 Legs Left (2ll)- Donnie loses a leg in the movie, ends up gaining a future self who also lost a leg to help him through

2 Eyes Left (2el) - Raph loses an eye in the movie, ends up gaining a future self who also lost an eye to help him through

2 Bald Heads Left (2bhl) - Mikey gains hair by the end of the movie, gets an older self who helps him cope through him inevitably going bald again

[gigamuffin]

i get so irrationally frustrated when i see a jack aubrey that doesn't meet my standards of thickness its stupid

[somegrumpynerd]

This little interaction made me so happy! Killer really fought through Dream to give Cross his necklace back

Asjlkhdkgkd I'm so glad you liked it!! I had fun putting a little story into that one ^^

And, because I am normal and don't think about these guys for hours every day, here's some backstory:

When Cross first joined, Killer actually took to him pretty quickly (Dust and Horror did not get warm welcomes). Which is to say he immediately started flocking to Cross to annoy him and compete with him on missions. Cross didn't have the benefit of knowing Killer already to see these were affectionate annoyances, so to him Killer was just some guy who had a problem and wouldn't leave him alone.

During that mission, Nightmare was calling a retreat when he put a hand to his chest and realised the heart locket was gone. Killer saw him looking all around frantically and had a good idea what was lost, since it was the one thing Cross would absolutely not part with since he joined. So, Killer ran back out towards the stars to look for it, because why learn self preservation now. It was the first thing to convince Cross that Killer actually was being (relatively) friendly, despite all the annoyances.

And also, a doodle of the afterwards of that picture

because it's probably the only time he's managed to get Killer to shut up lol

[melisusthewee]

Esteban Kukuriczka as Adolfo "Fito" Strauch in La Sociedad de la Nieve/Society of the Snow (2023)

[tio-trile]

Did anyone bawl their eyes out while working on the sequence where Brooklynn gets on the plane?

Me.

(And after me, Josh @kngstr who revised the scene. Although he might have been bawling because of all my boards he gotta fix. /jk /unless)

......but seriously, I had "Gun for Hire" from Arcane on repeat while I planned/boarded that scene to get the ✨vibes✨(that directly caused Guns for Hire to be my top song for Spotify wrapped that year lol), and then Josh mentioned referencing ATSV a lot and having the ATSV soundtrack on loop for that scene, so hopefully something emotional came across from those more or less. After that, the animation team, effects, music, and the lighting team (Magician Eric Hawkins) did their magic (that sunset!!) to bring us the final scene we're seeing, and it was even more glorious than I imagined 🥹

[sentientstump]

big sticks and one computer

[ratatatastic]

"Have you ever seen [Barkov] fall? Has he ever fallen? He's never fallen his entire career!" "Uh—It's, uh, funny and I don't know if he'll care that I say this, but he's got those—he doesn't like the blades that you can snap in and out quickly. So when he needs to get his skates done in the middle of a game, he's gotta fully take off his skates, get 'em sharpened and retie them up—which is like one of the few guys in the league, I think, that still do that. So sometimes he'll have absolutely no edge, and he'll just find a way to, like, compensate and get through it—which is incredible." "That kind-of sucks though 'cuz that's like a bad dream to have. You're waiting on something else, like—even if the trainers just like snapped it back in or whatever, like maybe they had something different they can put in there. He probably wouldn't even know!" "[...] this guy's particular. He knows his game and he's goddamn good at it! And we don't say a word so!" "'Barky, we need you out there for the face off! There's two seconds left!'" "That's what I mean! He'll compensate and he'll still look better than all of us! Like if any of us had no edge like that, we'd be screwed, right? And he goes out there and does the Barky things that he does. We're all grateful for it! He's been getting me paid for 10 years now, so."

The Cam & Strick Podcast | 7.30.24 (x)

loving my captain face... absolutely smitten with the man hes spent a decade with despite still not being invited to his house... thats love babey oh hes absolutely swinging and kicking his feet

THE LITTLE SMILE HE MAKES AFTER HE GOES "hes been getting me paid for 10 years now so 😃"

[puhpandas]

what are u guys' dream game after sotm? since itll be the last game centered around the mimics backstory and integration and stuff (hopefully) theres basically a whole world of possibilities for currently neglected storylines lol

[mangofresca]

zephyr | 18+

ii.

“We could leave, y’know.”

Romano startles, head turning over his shoulder as if he were searching for a spy, a conspirator. Sometimes, that’s not unlike how Portugal feels here, always a little too relegated to the outside for comfort, too close to the inside for tranquility or freedom.

He shakes the thought away, eyebrow raised in question at the only other person here who hasn’t exhausted him yet.

Romano’s eyes flick from his face to the windows, to the rain pelting the windowpanes, and he scoffs. “And do what? Get soaked?” His fingers tap the glass in his hand, and Portugal watches with muted disinterest as the wine rocks back and forth, back and forth, an ocean all its own, confined and confined and confined.

“Better than staying here.” Staying here and playing pretend with a government who can only just tell him and Spain apart, and Portugal doesn’t have the stomach anymore for the accent or the language or the face of it all.

Romano tsks, and, for some reason, this infuriates him, as if Romano is content to sit here and be lessened, nothing more than a jewel on a crown on a head who so blatantly picks favorites. Like they’re above it all, the two of them.

He turns, and he leaves, and he doesn’t care enough to see if anyone watches him go.

vi.

“That was–”

Portugal is already pushing up off the bed, flicking hair from his eyes. “Want a drink?”

“Obviously,” Romano snorts, but he sounds like he’s amused, and when Portugal turns around to look at him, all he can see is the way Romano’s lips curl around his teeth, how his cheeks look when he smiles.

ix.

Romano snores when he sleeps, raspy and rough, and when his hair falls in front of his eyes, his nose crinkles with the tickle of it, too deep in dreams to bother moving it away.

We shouldn’t be doing this, Portugal thinks, because things are messy, only getting worse, and he doesn’t understand how Romano doesn’t grow restless beneath a thumb that demands obedience, that is all too comfortable pressing down on the pulse of their throats, hard enough to feel it beating, not hard enough to choke.

“I wish this was easy,” he says instead, and his skin goes cold when he realizes he means it, green eyes already looking down at tanned legs tangled with his, errant curl brushing his collarbone.

He’s gotten used to that, too.

iv.

Portugal can see him on the docks again, hair just as windswept as that first time, waves falling over each other to brush against dark eyelashes, to curl into knots at his hairline.

Spain’s hand is heavy on his shoulder, smile tipping into something that more resembles a bridler than a brother. “You look like you’re thinking hard,” he says, and Portugal hears the warning in it like a bell tolling within his head. “Everything all right?”

“Fine,” Portugal replies. The weight on his shoulder feels suffocating.

vii.

“We should have sex here,” Portugal says, out of the blue and apropos of nothing, voice hushed into a conspiratorial whisper when he leans himself into Romano’s ear.

Romano coughs, splutters, eyes narrowing when Portugal only grins at him.

“Not now, obviously,” he continues, because his brother is here, and his—their, because God forbid any of it is really his—government, too, and he isn’t stupid enough to try anything here, now.

Romano wipes the coughed wine from his lips, arm crossed over his chest as he settles back into the wall behind him. “Please,” he says, and he already sounds scandalized and petulant, “as if I’d settle for anything less than a bed. You think I’d let you fuck me on a settee? Not a chance.”

“I think,” Portugal replies, smiling, “you’d let me fuck you anywhere I want you to.”

Romano scoffs again, furious and blustering, but his shoulder brushes Portugal’s arm, and he doesn’t move it away.

v.

Lively doesn’t adequately describe it when it finally happens.

Romano has him pinned up against the library wall, holding Portugal’s wrists against hand-bound books and shelves which haven’t been dusted in God only knows how long, but all Portugal can think is how difficult it is, when kissing Romano, to push him away, to have him be the one pressed between linen and literature.

He manages, only just, and the heady, groaned gasp of surprise he receives pleasantly makes it worth his while.

x.

Portugal can see him on the docks again, hair wind-knotted and wild, exactly like it was that first time, exactly like the second, like every other time, every other time.

He can’t discern the expression on Romano’s face, too far away for detail, sunlight blinding on wave-crested waters, but he can see him turn around, see him walk away, back to that house and that voice and that hand and that crown.

He almost regrets leaving without a goodbye, but he knows, is certain in the knowledge, that expectation for their kind is the heartbeat of disillusionment, and he doesn’t have it in himself to be disappointed by someone so supine as to find comfort here.

Nothing ever gets resolved with avoidance and shame, but their arrangement never really did have room for much else, anyway.

iii.

He has a dream, then, that lingers worse than a bad hangover or a bloody wound. Maybe it’s years after their last conversation, or maybe it’s days, or maybe it’s hours; he can’t be bothered to keep track, not that their kind usually does when it comes to time.

(Hard. He wakes up hard, and that’s not how his dreams usually go—or, not the ones with Romano, at least.)

Romano was over him, or under him, maybe—not that it matters, because it doesn’t matter, not really. What matters is that Romano was close, breathing against his neck, sighing his name, and it’s—

It was slow, the way they moved. Tender, close.

Odd.

viii.

He’s gotten used to it—the way Romano’s voice hitches, goes taut, tight as his white-knuckled grip on pearl-hued sheets. He’s gotten used to it.

He’s gotten used to it.

i.

They meet officially, formally—and notably without supervision—on the docks of Almería, both windswept and water-worn, and it makes Portugal wonder how long Romano had been standing there for him to look like that, like he himself had blown in with the breeze of the ocean, side-swept bangs tangling into soft knots at his temples.

He is sure he himself is no better, likely worse—a ribbon can only do so much with the whipping winds that dance themselves through his sails—but he doesn’t bother brushing his hair from his face before approaching, grin ticking at the corners of his lips.

Romano blinks at him, hazel eyes owlish before settling into something calmer, almost bored. “Oh,” he says, “it’s you.”

Portugal smiles and tips his head. “Hello,” he replies. Always best to start with hello.

[malt-rants-and-stuff]

ALSO posting this as its own thing :)

Working adults au gave me streamer shirahama and expected me, the streaming fiend, not to latch onto that forever??? different text color version and no text version under cut:

[icewindandboringhorror]

Recent images I suppose ~

[b-blushes]

a process is occurring. but we stay silly

[monstersteam]

(3/2 & 3/3) Henhouse

[starleska]

you guys see it right. it’s not just me? 😳