#AH PIXAL

[kindaasrikal]

The tragic existence of the Ninja and co having faces that look so much like another’s, knowing that the face in the mirror is one that mimics a mothers and a fathers, even if they wish despite for it not too.

How did Harumi feel after her parents died and the last thing she had of them is her own face?

How did Pixal feel not knowing of shes simply a copy of someone long gone, or if this face is her own to bear?

How did Arin feel knowing that the only reason he remembers how his parents look like is because of a reflection?

How does Sora feel looking at a face that should be her own, yet all she sees is the faces of those who hurt her most?

How does Wydlfyre feel not knowing of her face look more like her mothers or fathers, questioning why is doesn’t look like Heatwave’s or Caregivers, and wondering why she wished it looked more like Kai’s?

This is part two!

First post :D

Did Cyrus Borg ever look at Pixal when he first designed her, and wondered if that would be how his daughter could’ve looked like? Did he ever question and wonder why he made Pixal look the way he did, despite knowing the answer deep down inside of him?

Did Wydlfyre look at other dragons and realised how similar they looked to their parents? How they had their father’s eyes, or mother’s tail? Did she ever question Heatwave-her father- or the caregiver robot -her mother- as to why she did not have her father’s long fangs or her mother’s sleek skin? When she was finally told they were not biologically family (yet in their hearts they always will be), did she ever sit and wonder whose face matches hers?

When the merge happened and she heard Arin wish for his parents, the ninja wondering where their parents are, Sora in grief of her own, did she ever sit in front of a mirror and tried to pick apart which part would belong to whom? Would her eyes be fierce like her mother’s, or would they be as determined as her father’s? Would her hair be as vibrant as her father’s bold locks, and would her mother bear the mark from birth like she has? Would she wish to have a smile as caring as Kai’s, like how she wishes to have Heatwaves warmth and Caregivers security?

Did Arin ever stare at his face in hope he would be able to fool himself into thinking he was looking at his mother’s instead? Or did he once realise that the only reason he even remembered how his own parents looked like was by his own face? Did he ever feel pain by looking more like his mother than his father? Or would he focus too much in his fathers features when it was his mothers face he last saw? How many times did he cry as a lost child wondering when the next time he sees his parents it won’t be through a mirror?

Did Sora ever wish to scratch off the features that made her look so much like her own parents? Her mothers eyes that seemed to bore into her own and her fathers frown that mimicked hers perfectly? Did she ever cry in gratitude over her pink hair, yet feel loss at how much she never fit in even with her own family? How many times did she cry when she thought she was acting too much like her mother, or her father? That her face warped into expressions that she remembered so clearly on their own faces?

How many times did she catch her self smiling, and loving and fond look in her eyes when she looked at people she cared about, only to realise that she barely ever saw this look on her own parents? That the reason her heart ached, was because the only way she ever will see such a look pointed at her from their own faces was with her own?

How long did Harumi sit staring her face to ensure she never forget the look of her parents? How many times did she move her face to mimic the same ones of terror and fear and acceptance that she last saw on her parent’s face? On their funeral, how many times was she told she looked exactly like her parents? That they must’ve been proud to have such a beautiful daughter? Did she cry, when she wished she looked just as beautiful as her mother once did? Or did her anger at the world climb higher when strangers would say she looks so much like her mother, the queen, despite being adopted? Did she ever scratch at her face, trying to change it, hoping to pull her eyes out when told they look so much like the kings, and not her father’s?

Did they ever wish that their face were their own, and not a sick reminder of what they once had?

Bah since some (haha, one of you actually) of you wanted the dragons rising characters, i did that and slapped you with Harumi too cause shes just tragic.

[jordanhaszane]

Pixal comes back to the monastery with Zane and Frohicky rushes over

Frohicky: AH! Master Zane! So glad you have return- notices Pixal Oh! Well if it isn't the woman from the broom that Master Zane keeps talking to, it's good to meet you in person! Pixal: Wh- what? Frohicky: Oh yes, Master Zane has been talking to this broom with your picture on it all the time and he says that it helps him solve problems, and I have even caught him sleeping with it- Zane:

[ninjagobythenumbers]

Bechdel Testing Ninjago

So, a little while ago I did the Bechdel test on Ninjago because I've always seen the show as sort of an interesting case study in how women are portrayed in cartoons. Of course, I'm aware the Bechdel test originated as a joke and something passing the Bechdel test doesn't make it feminist/not. Rather, or for me at least, it's an indication of how deficient female representation can be at an aggregate scale. As a way to analyze Ninjago, I feel it works as it shows how female representation over the course of the show. If you're interested I'll now discuss my thoughts on how the analysis went season by season. DISCLAIMER: I did this for fun.

The pilot was easy. Nya's the only one, so test failed across the board. The first episode that passed the test was when Jay's parents came to visit. Yay Edna! Mystake does show up in episode 7 but, I don't count it as she has not yet been named. 12&13 had a kid's mom in a bus which I decided was enough cus hey, Mom's a name she uses.

Here's where we really get going. Patty Keys, their real estate agent continues to show up through seabound as a background character, which is pretty cool imo. Episode 5, Mystake finally gets named. Episode 6 was huge for my chart as it's the introduction of Misako. You'd think episode 7 is when her and Nya talked but that's actually when Nya and Gayle had a lil convo. From then on I spent the episodes just staring at the Nya and Misako thinking "talk to her talk to her talk to her." Fortunately, when they did speak, Nya and Misako would be discuss like science, maps, and fate of the world so I never ran into a problem with rule 3. That is, until Rebooted.

The good news is Pixal's here so it'll be years before we fail rule 1 again. The bad news is we've got a love triangle so goodbye rule 3. Nya actually talked to her student, Sally, and Pixal quite often but it was so often about Jay or Cole so I would just be scouring the episode for a single exchange where they talked about anything else. During the Tournament, Nya, Pixal, Skylor, and Misako were all in different groupings and it was rare that Tox or Camille would say something so no rule 2/3 successes until late season.

The good news is, the love triangle is over so we're back to rule 2 usually meaning rule 3. The bad news is, Pixal's in Zane's head so we're back to hoping Misako and Nya say something to eachother. Nya usually shared her scenes with Wu, Ronin, and Jay during these seasons so chances were few and far between. However, unlike the first few seasons where the default was male, we're now getting some female henchmen (Bansha and Dogshank) so that made things easier.

Thank you for being in Day of the Departed Edna Walker. Early Hands of Time was tough because Nya, Misako, and Commander Macchia were rarely in the same scenes. In the latter half of the season though, we thankfully see the return of Pixal. Maya also helped us with some wins.

What a breath of fresh air. Thanks to Harumi & Ultraviolet's introduction, Pixal's return, Mystake's upgrade to a reoccuring character, and Nya & Misako's continued support, failing even rule 3 is pretty rare during the Oni Trilogy. We run into some complications during Hunted because though we have Skylor and the aforementioned characters in Ninjago and Faith & Jet Jack in the First Realm, sometimes people don't talk to eachother. And that's ok. Overall, smooth sailing.

Ah??!? What happened. Worry not. I realized this was, in part, because the Oni Trilogy had 20 minutes worth of chances for women to speak to eachother, these were only 10 minute episodes. So, for the sake of comparable units of analysis, I considered each pair of episodes to be 1 episode. I'll show both charts until DR.

It looks a little better, but it's still not at Oni Trilogy levels. Still, I'd be curious to see what the test would look like if I dissected the earlier episodes into 10 minute chunks because it's probably not a great sign if 10 v 20 minutes makes such a big difference. Ok, proceeding. The Fire Chapter was usually pretty successful because Pixal, Aspheera, or Nya would usually end up talking at one point or another. Gayle even helped at one point. The Ice chapter usually achieved successes through Nya talking to Sorla. In one episode, I counted the Preminent's roars as conversation with Pixal. The Ice Chapter had quite a few failures largely because, as in previous seasons, all the women were split up.

Despite the fact that Nya was one of the longest lived ninja, Prime Empire has total failures at levels not seen since before season 2. This is largely because for the most part, Pixal and Nya are never in the same episode. Racer 7 helps but she was only there for a bit. I should point out that I feel like the 10 minute era is really when Pixal starts feeling like part of the team to me. She's always part of homebase meetings and always plays a key part in missions. Alas, if she's not in episodes with Nya, that's not going to show up on my chart. It's a reminder of the fact this test doesn't show substance.

Master of the Mountain is similar to the other seasons of its era. The fact the 10 minute era tended to show its plots episode by episode (ex: Ep 3 = Plot A, Ep 4 = Plot B, Ep 5 = Plot C) rather than all in one really takes a toll on the test. For the most part, Nya and Vania were our only chances for success and it was rare they'd share an episode. We also had the rare rule 3 failure with the Queen of the Munce episode. Thanks Jay. The Island only had Nya until they found Misako, so it was struggling even more.

It feels right to see all green when it's a Nya season. In the beginning of Seabound, they put Nya, Pixal, and Maya on a boat together and by jove it made things easy. Late season was a bit trickier because Nya was on her own journey. Crystalized had Skylor, Pixal and some ressurected villains saving the day. Late Crystalized is the way it is because it had so, so many different groupings. I have a chart based on groupings and this season was such a challenge.

I really felt the difference with Dragons Rising. I mean, you can see the difference, but it was even more clear when doing my data collection because it was just so easy. Rather than grabbing at scraps of dialogue like I had to do in early seasons, there was often a wealth of more meaningful conversation between female characters to choose from. As with the Oni Trilogy, a female villain with a female henchman makes things easy because they scheme together. We also had Nya and Sora on a joint quest. Funnily enough, there is a rare rule 3 failure because Sora and Kreel only talked about Kreel's friend in one episode. Episode 17 had the classic split up issue and actually would've failed entirely if not for Agent Underwood, which is actually a great example of my next point. You can really tell how male is no longer the default because not only is there the introduction of all the fantastic new female main characters, but also there's plenty of random female characters scattered throughout. I haven't seen DRS2P2 yet but I expect it'll be more of the same. I should mention I also made a chart with the reverse (two named men in an episode who talk about eachother about something besides a woman). Only three episodes fail in any capacity. (Say thank you to the Akita, Pixal, and Harumi solo episodes). If you read this whole thing, thank you. I had a lot of fun doing it. Let me know if there's any other charts I can do!

[jaywalker-enthusiast]

Was thinking about Pixal meeting Lloyd post aging up and had to draw the thought.

[ID: A three panel comic of characters from ninjago. In the first panel, Pixal points to Lloyd and asks “child?” In the middle panel, she looks to the other ninjas in front of her lined up together. They awkwardly say “yeah…” with varying expressions. In the last panel, Pixal turns her body away from Lloyd and covers her chest with her arms. She says “Ah. Sorry…” to Lloyd, who responds by saying “Pixal you’re a robot.” with an uncomfortable expression. \End ID]

[basicallyjaywalker]

YOUR ARTSTYLE IS SO PRETTY

I AM LIVINGGGG

I FINISHED MY SKETCHBOOK!!!!

(I am BEGGING you, please click for quality, I put so much into this!)

Close-er ups:

Thanks to everyone who gave suggestions!

@vesper-the-ghost Lloyd (although I made him as Lil’ Lloyd)

@little-nightfury17 DR Lloyd

@artyfartyperson Lava

@basicallyjaywalker Nya

@fading-through-existence Noisemaster and Mutemaster

@redefine-your-identity NRG Nya

Im so freaking proud of this piece

Reblogs >>>>>>>>>> likes

[somelegobird]

I need something to do so uh,,, *ahem*

What every character has said they love(d) (according to the fandom wiki transcripts)

Same structure as my wish list, this doc has it colour coded and some extra notes from me if you're curious.

I'm not taking tone into account here because I can't understand it!! I'm also only counting stuff that they said themselves, if someone else said they love something/one it won't be counted. Maybe if I get bored one day I'll create a second version in the doc that does include them, but don't count on it.

I've only done this to the episode The Spell at the Waterfall (DR s2e5) because that's the latest transcript available SOMEONE PLEASE GO DO THE TRANSCRIPTS AAA

Acronix

For Kai and Nya to try and escape

Arin

The idea of looking out for ways to help anywhere he can

His parents

Benthomaar

Trimaar

Brad

Planting flowers

Chen

Buttons

Lessons

Cole

To visit his Mom and Dad

The smell of land hurtling towards you in the middle of the night

His Tread Assault

Ceremonies

Chocolate-covered shell peas

Slow jam

Dareth

Mr. Pale's work

When a plan comes together in his head

Delara

Nadakhan

Dr. Julien

Zane

Ed

A tour of the Bounty

To see Nya again

Edna's crumb cake

Edna

A tour of the Bounty

To see Nya again

Fedulian

To catch the ruffian that broke into his place

Garmadon

What the Oni did with Ninjago

Harumi

Lloyd

Jay

When it's Zane's night to cook

The idea of whoever finding the identity of Samurai X becoming the green ninja

Daffy Dale

Their new gis (in Rebooted)

The hacking capabilities of the Techno Blades

The Weekend Whip

Fritz Donnegan movies

His room in the Tournament of the Elements

Roller Skates

Skiing

Cleaning the hull of one of Nadakhan's ships

Parades

Going in and kicking snake butt, or whatever passes as a snake's butt

Mister Cuddlywomp

Nya (Six times)

The smell of arcade in the morning

Kai

The idea of the ninja holding a tournament to figure out who is the best

The gold highlights of their uniforms

A good old fashioned rollercoaster

Nya (twice)

When a plan comes together

Sitting around and talking instead of doing

Crazy ideas

Clutch's book

The "infinite lives thing" of Prime Empire

His Golden Dragon Raider

Karlof

To build

Lloyd

The dark

The idea of being called "Mutt the Miracle"

The Destiny's Shadow

Lou

Kai's energy

Mechanic

Spider bombs

Misako

Garmadon

Lloyd

Murtessa

To see a demonstration of Jay's elemental powers

Mystake

Ninjago

Nelson

Bananakhan flavoured ice cream

NinjaFanInfinity

The New Ninja and the Classic Ninja working together

Nya

To go on a date with Jay

The lights of Day of the Departed

Jay

Nyad

The song of the whales

Percival

Studying at school

Pixal

Zane (Three times)

Pythor

Revenge

Raggmunk

The smell of screams in the evening

Ronin

The Allied Armor of Azure

The Ninja's TV spot

Rufus McCallister

Zane

Sora

Allotted recreation hour

Arin (twice)

Spitz

The smell of new old stuff in the morning

Suetonius

Mucoid hat mondays

Trimaar

Benthomaar

Vangelis

Vania

Wu

Scenic drives

Misako

Zane

Pixal

Below is this list but ordered chronologically and the lines are directly copied from the transcript (and it says what season & episode they are). There's also some lines that aren't included above because they weren't directly about one person's love

Rise of the Serpentine

(Rise of the Snakes) Kai: And will be declared the Green Ninja! I love it!

(Home) Jay: Mmm. Oh, I love it when it's Zane's night to cook.

(Home) Wu: Yes, Zane. We would love for you to make dinner.

(Snakebit) Ed & Edna: We'd love a tour!

(Snakebit) Lloyd: I'm the son of the Dark Lord. I love the dark. I eat this stuff for breakfast.

(Snakebit) Cole: Hi, Mom and Dad. Of course, I'd love to visit.

(Never Trust a Snake) Pythor: Hmm, I love revenge!

(Can of Worms) Cole: Ah. I love the smell of land hurtling towards you in the middle of the night.

(The Snake King) Kai: I love the gold highlights.

(The Snake King) Kai: I love a good old fashioned roller coaster,

(The Snake King) Jay: So whoever learns the identity of this Samurai is the one who will become the destined Green Ninja. Ha! I love it.

(Tick Tock) Dr. Julien: And the only reason I'm about to do this is because I love you.

(Once Bitten, Twice Shy) Nya: Sure! I'd love to.

(The Royal Blacksmiths) Lou: Kai, love the energy, hate the hair.

(The Rise of the Great Devourer) Cole: I love this thing.

Legacy of the Green Ninja

(Darkness Shall Rise) Wu: Also, I love scenic drives. 

(Double Trouble) Cole: I love ceremonies. 

(Double Trouble) Brad: And I love planting flowers.

(Child's Play) Jay: Oh, look. A first edition "Daffy Dale." I used to love that nut growing up. 

(The Last Voyage) Rufus: I love you, you stupid Nindroid.

(Island of Darkness) Misako: There was a time when I loved him very much.

(Island of Darkness) Kai: Oh, I love my sis.

Rebooted

(The Surge) Jay: I love the new threads.

(The Surge) Jay: Ha! I love it! 

(The Art of the Silent Fist) Jay: Hey, I love this song.

(Codename: Arcturus) Jay: I love Fritz Donnegan movies.

(Codename: Arcturus) Kai: Ah. I love it when a plan comes together.

Tournament of the Elements

(Only One can Remain) Jay: Haha! I love my room!

(Only One Can Remain) Cole: Look, chocolate-covered shell peas. I love these.

(Ninja Roll) Jay: Oh, roller skates. I love roller skates!

(Ninja Roll) Chen: Button, button, I love buttons.

(The Forgotten Element) Chen: I love lessons.

Possession

(Stiix and Stones) Ronin: Hey, love the armour.

(Grave Danger) Jay: Whoo-hoo! I love skiing! Haha!

(Curseworld, Part I) Cole: I do love a slow jam.

Skybound

(Public Enemy Number One) Ronin: Been meaning to say, love the TV spot.

(Public Enemy Number One) Kai: Haha. I love my little sister.

(My Dinner with Nadakhan) Jay: Ha! I love it!

(Wishmasters) Lloyd: Uh, sounds great. Love the idea.

(Operation Land Ho!) Edna: And after you save Nya, bring her over for a bite. We'd love to see her again.

(The Way Back) Nadakhan: But do you still love me? Delara: Of course.

Day of the Departed

Nya: Oh, this is my favorite holiday. I love all the lights.

Ed: I know, son, but I love your mother's crumb cake.

Hands of Time

(A Time of Traitors) Jay: Aw, I love a parade.

(Scavengers) Kai: Oh, yay, I just love sitting around and talking instead of doing.

(Scavengers) Jay: I love it!

(A Line in the Sand) Raggmunk: Ah, I just love the smell of screams in the evening.

(The Attack) Jay: Mister Cuddlywomp… is a teddy bear I used to love when I was five, but now he's totally lame and—

(Secrets Discovered) Lloyd: I love it!

(Pause and Effect) Wu: I should have told you I loved you before you went to—

(Out of the Fire and Into the Boiling Sea) Acronix: I suppose escape is impossible, although I'd love for them to try.

Sons of Garmadon

(Game of Masks) Harumi: I...I love you.

Hunted

(Iron & Stone) Dareth: I love your work.

(Iron & Stone) Karlof: I love to build!

(Two Lies, One Truth) Mystake: And I fell in love with this world he created.

(The Weakest link) Dareth: I love it when a plan comes together in my head.

March of The Oni

(Into the Breach) Garmadon: Love what you've done with the place.

(Endings) Misako: I love you. 

(Endings) Kai: I love crazy ideas.

Secrets of the Forbidden Spinjitzu

(The Belly of the Beast) Jay: Oh, thank you, Nya! I love you.

(Boobytraps and How to Survive Them) Kai: Yeah! I love...that book.

(Ninja vs Lava) Jay: Oh, thank you Nya! I love you!

(The Message) Zane: Pixal, I love you.

(The Kaiju Protocol) Pixal: If this doesn't work, please tell Zane... I love him!

Prime Empire

(Superstar Rockin' Jay) Kai: Huh. I love this infinite-lives-thing!

(One Step Forward, Two Steps Back) Jay: I love you!

(The Temple of Madness) Jay: Don't leave me! I love you.

Master of the Mountain

(Queen of the Munce) Murtessa: I would love to see a demonstration.

(The Skull Sorcerer) Vangelis: I love you, child, but why don't you ever listen?

Seabound

(Long Live the king) Trimaar: I love you.

(Long Live the King) Benthomaar: I love you too, Father.

(Papergirl) Nelson: I love Bananakhan

(The Calm Before the Storm) Jay: Ah, I love the smell of arcade in the morning.

(Nyad) Nya: she mouths "I love you."

(The Turn of the Tide) Jay: Nya! I... I love you.

Crystalized

(The Call of Home) Nyad: Oh, I love their song.

(Public Enemies 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5!) Kai: Wow. I love this thing!

(A Painful Promise) Jay: Take care of Nya. Tell her I love her.

(The Fall of the Monastery) Mechanic: I love these things.

(Return of the Ice Emperor) Pixal: Zane, if these are our last functional moments, I want to express that my love for you is ingrained deeply in my circuits.

(Compatible) Pixal: I felt things ... I never felt before. I felt ... love. For you.

Dragons Rising season 1

(Return to Imperium) Past Sora: I'm just excited about getting back to my work is all, but love allotted recreation hour.

(Mindless Beasts) Percival: I love studying at school!

(Mindless Beasts) Arin: Love the sound of that.

(The Temple of the Dragon Cores) Sora: I love ya, Arin, but not everything is some big cosmic plan.

Dragons Rising season 2

(The Blood Moon) NinjaFanInfinity: New ninja, classic ninja, working together? Love it!

(Shattered Dreams) Suetonius: Mucoid Hat Mondays. Yes! Love.

(Shattered Dreams) Fedulian: I'd love to catch the ruffian that broke into my place, but I have a business to run.

(Shattered Dreams) Sora: Arin I love you buddy, but you got to realize that not everyone tells the truth.

(Beyond the Phantasm Cave) Arin: What? No! I love you! I miss you!

(Force From the East) Spitz: Ah, I just love the smell of new old stuff in the morning.

If you notice an error or want me to order it in another way for ease of use, feel free to tell me!

[the-ninja-legacy-whip]

What does the Ninja's family think of their child's love interest?

Ray: *glances at Kai* *glances at Skylor* *glances back again*

Ray: ...how

Kai: TF YOU MEAN 'HOW'????

Skylor: *cracking up off screen*

Maya: ...isn't that what Lilly said when you proposed to me?

Ray: .......WELL—

Kai: HA

. . .

*witnessing Jay absolutely going apeshit on someone that wronged Nya in some way*

Ray: ...So how soon are you guys getting married again?

Nya: D A D!

Jay: ASAP

Nya: Jay!

Maya: Nya

Nya: Mom?!

Kai: KAI!

. . .

Ed: Ah, finally, our son's bringing a girlfriend home at last!

Edna: Or a boyfriend, he's bisexual

Ed: Darn tootin', everybody wants him

Jay: OKAY, okay...! Aaaaaand here she is!

Sunni: Hello! ^-^)/

Edna: ...That's not Nya????

Jay: MA

Sunni: Why can I say I expected that? ^-^;

. . .

Ghost!Julien and Ghost!Aurora: SHE'S PERFECT

Zane: I know T-T)9

Pixal: \(^-^)/

. . .

...And then there's Lou-

The Business Card

The Soap Opera

My Future Son-in-Law

Trying to Upgrade

. . .

Oh, wait, forgot one:

Koko: ...I have many questions

Lloyd: *lies on flooring listening to Moral of the Story by Ashe*

[traffic-light-eyes]

lloyd hcs? i wanna hear them ALL

Oh boyyyy here we go. I think my LONG Lloyd headcanon post is still one of my top posts, so you can check that out there. I already know this is gonna take a while, so strap in. Dunno if I'll get to all of them or not because I still need content for the future, though.

He's a hungry kid. Always hungry. They don't know if he's having some belated puberty thing where he's hungry 24/7 365 or if it's just his heritage, but he's just. Starving. He gets shy about it, though, even when he knows that his friends would never belittle him because of it. He'll just shyly and slowly push his plate towards Zane and look at him with his big puppy eyes and a pout and Zane can do nothing but give him what he wants (you're spoiling him, Zane. - What would you do in that situation, Cole? He looked horribly pathetic, and I couldn’t do anything but give him another slice of pie.)

He is either chronically online or he has 0 knowledge of the internet. No in-between. For chronically online, his vocabulary mostly consists of tiktok references, and you can definitely hear Zane crying in the distance because he doesn't know what Lloyd is saying. For 0 knowledge of the internet, Jay and Kai make jokes and references to tiktok/reddit/Twitter/etc. and when Lloyd doesn't understand (and subsequently tilts his head like the adorable dragoni he is), you can hear Jay crying in the distance and the soft shushing voice from Nya as she tries to calm him down.

He will steal all shiny things. Shiny rock on the ground? Yoink. Jay left a particularly sparkly bolt on his desk? Well, it's Lloyd's now. Loose change on the counter? He'll take the shiny ones, thanks. He doesn't use the money. He just owns it. When Garmadon came back and saw his stash of sparkly things, he was like, "Ah, so you did inherit some of my genetics. I was getting a bit worried."

Contrary to popular belief, he doesn't own many plushies. Just one. It's a little stuffed tiger with half-off eyes and practically tearing at the seams. Kai won it in a claw machine for him back when he was a kid, and he will not part with it nor have any alterations to it no matter what. It's his and it has survived all the fires in the monastery, the crashes of the bounty, and the angry throws at the wall when Lloyd is mad (he immediately picks it back up and cries for throwing it). He remembers each mark, each missing patch of fur, every scratch on it stupid beaded eyes, and he treasures it. Because his brother got it for him.

He bought Jay a Hatsune Miku body pillow.

He's not a very good gift-giver, actually. If it was December, and he was tasked with some white elephant something he would perish at the spot. So, to combat that, he buys trinkets and things that remind him of his friends or things that he thinks that they'd like, and during the holiday or birthday, all he has to do is stuff it in a bag and put a bow on it. During the missions where they miss the holiday/birthday or if they're not close to his stash of presents, he gets really upset because he can't show them how much he loves them because nothing nothing can compare to the year of scouring shops and finding that cute little spoon engraved with Zane's initials that he found in a thrift store.

More of the gift giving: he's bad at showing affection or just verbally saying that he loves his friends, so he does the neurodivergent thing of just. Giving them pretty rocks or, like, soda tabs. Cole was horribly touched by the rocks, and now he has a shelf full of Lloyd rocks. Sometimes, to calm down, Lloyd and Cole paint the rocks. There's a cute collection of ninja look-alike rocks sitting next to their photos. When Lloyd was younger and everyone started gunning for his affection, Kai got a bunch of jars and wrote everyone's names on them. The person with the most soda tabs by the end of the year would have won the "Lloyd's favorite" award. The thing is, though, they never stopped doing it. When Pixal joined the crew, she was surprised to find herself a jar with her name on it with a purple soda tab.

Speaking of Pixal- a little after she joined, she realized that Lloyd had not finished school. When she had asked about it, she was told Wu was teaching him. She searched more to find out exactly what he was being taught. Lo and behold, it was exclusively ninja things or ancient, ancient history. And much to Lloyd's annoyance, she immediately stormed up to him and got him learning some algebra. She was not going to let him live his life without schooling. When she realized that he was having a lot of trouble with high school mathematics (because she had assumed that he was in the highschool age), she slyly went lower and lower in the education scale just to see where he left off. She was horrified to find he had not exceeded 5th grade math. No more than 5 minutes after his daily lesson, all of them (save Lloyd) had a nice, long conversation about his age and his schooling. She made it her life duty that Lloyd became one of the smartest gosh darned people in Ninjago.

On a lighter note, Jay and Nya sometimes have robot battles for fun. But. Not aggressive or combat related. They make robots do silly tasks like planting a flower or making a sandwich. They always make Lloyd judge who did it better because he has 0 clue the mechanics behind it, and he doesn't pick favorites. (Even if he's not trying to be his father anymore, he loves stirring up chaos by making each of them never truly beat each other by a lot)

He had a lisp as a kid. He didn't know it at the time, but it was because his mouth was unfamiliar with his sharp teeth. It makes him speak funny. For a while, he just didn't speak at all because he was embarrassed when the other darkleys kids made fun of him. He toughened out, though, and sat in his room, reading out loud to himself (occasionally with his kind roommate and friend Brad helping him) to correct his speech. To this day, he sometimes messes up words because he doesn't have proper speech therapy. But it's just another cute Lloyd thing to the team.

Mkay. I only did a few for just in case someone else asks for Lloyd stuff

[amour393]

ok. dragons rising part 2 thoughts

these will be in no particular order but I'll try to stay somewhat organized XD

spoilers ahead!

(this ah. got long)

Characters

Lloyd: As sad as I get when I think about Lloyd growing up, I love what they're doing with him. Seeing the parallels between him and Wu is so poetic and I LOVE the dynamic with Lloyd and Arin. Lloyd is kind and strong and wise and he has been treated so well in dragons rising

Arin: Speaking of, Arin is absolutely amazing. He is precious and adorable and I love him. Sweet polite boy I love you so much you have never done anything wrong ever and I love you

Sora: Sora is fine, I like her but I'm not like obsessed with her character like I am with Arin. I love Sora but I'm never super jazzed about her. Her arc in part 2 was alright but I wish it had more buildup. I think with a few more moments here and there of her trying to use her powers without Riyu would have made the payoff much better. And I know they were trying to go for a "resistance never quits" moment with her speech at the end but. Idk it just didn't hit the same

Zane: Zane I love you. I feel you I also am BROKEN over Pixal being gone. Literally everything about Zane in part 2 was perfect. I love him so much and he loves pixal so much it makes me unwell. Also. Zane Day is now an international holiday

Nya: I love Nya's dynamic with Sora and how she gets to be like. The first positive female influence in Sora's life. Especially because Nya didn't have that as a kid or uh ever so I love that. HOWEVER!!! Oh my goodness gracious give Nya feelings. She has emotions. She has trauma. What are we doing guys. I'll go episode by episode later but I am incredibly salty at how Nya was treated in episode 14. and also. OH MY WORD. WHAT ABOUT JAY. You have said his name TWICE and Cole looked more distraught than you!!! You care about this boy more than almost anyone else in the world!!!!!!!! Why aren't you acting like it???????????? I see you with a lightning dragon but that's like the most we get.

Kai: oh Kai I absolutely love how they are treating you and i also hate it. It's like with Jay gone they were like haha let's make Kai stupid so he'll be the new comic relief! However I love teacher Kai. He is my favorite, the growth, the development, the parallels! Yes! Kai is an accomplished ninja!! He's been a ninja for over 10 years at this point!! He has learned so much and grown so so much since then and I love him so much.

Wyldfyre: I'm about to make a lot of people really mad but I absolutely despise Wyldfyre. I love the concept of Kai having a kid to train (and all of them each having a next-gen kid to train) but Wyldfyre was not the right fit and I just disliked her more every time she was on screen, which was really upsetting because every time it switched back to her and Kai I was already annoyed and I don't want to be upset when Kai's onscreen but she is just so intolerable it made it hard to enjoy Kai, which is so so sad because I absolutely love Kai! Wyldfyre is selfish, arrogant, irritatingly reckless, petty, and INCREDIBLY rude and disrespectful to Kai. I don't care if she was raised in the wilderness. Kai spent all of part 2 trying to help her be better and the most of a character arc we got from her was her. Not acting like a jerk. Which we should not have to be proud of!! Not being a jerk is expected!! That's not a character arc that's just being a decent human being!! I think Wyldfyre's character could have worked in theory if she had literally any likable characteristics but she just doesn't. I don't think I have ever disliked a ninjago character this much which is such a bummer. It fills me with rage every time they compare her to Kai. Sure, in the early seasons Kai was kind of reckless and a bit self-absorbed. But not nearly to this extent, and Kai was still likable. The things about Wyldfyre they try to play off as humor aren't funny, they're just annoying or gross. I'm not opposed to the concept of Kai adopting a feral child, but if the feral child is like this then I don't want it. Replacing Wyldfyre with Skylor or a new character that is actually likable would have made Dragons Rising SO much better.

Cole: on a MUCH more positive note, I literally don't think they could have done Cole any more perfect. I am SO GLAD HE'S BACK I MISSED HIM SO MUCH. Cole being thrown into the Land of Lost Things is absolutely heartbreaking and says so much about his character. Cole, who had an entire character arc over fear of being forgotten ending up in the Land of Lost Things? I AM BROKEN. Dad Cole is back and better than ever. He found a bunch of children and immediately adopted them? Perfection. Could not be better. He actively chooses to remain in the Land of Lost Things to protect them?????? Amazing so in character it hurts and I love him so much. A lot of this season made me remember how much I love Cole. I spent this entire season freaking out over Jay that I forget how much I love Cole and this season did not fail to remind me. His first line being "NO ONE TOUCHES THESE CHILDREN!!!!!" is amazing and perfect and so in character. I cannot applaud what they did with Cole enough. Well done. I am very curious to see where Wu is leading him, can't wait to see him in season 2. I will die mad he didn't get to see Zane or Kai or Lloyd but ITS FINE IM FINE

Geo: I would throw him in with the other characters but oh my gosh. Geo's existence is absolutely perfect. The symbolism?? The metaphors?? Absolutely perfect. Him being a hybrid of two peoples who have a reputation for hating each other being the Master of Fusion, of bringing two things that don't belong together? I am destroyed. It occurs to me that when they first met Geo was probably like "yeah, I'm half geckle half munce and I was exiled from my people since they hate each other and they will never reconcile their differences" and Cole was like "Well that sucks but I have some good news for you" but then Geo couldn't even leave to try to find Shintaro. I am depressed. I love love love Geo based on his symbolism alone, not to mention the fact that his powers are genuinely super cool.

Other Characters: when i tell you I lost my BLOODY MIND when gulch showed up it is a vast understatement. I freaked out I screamed it was amazing. It was so fun seeing Gulch again. This is the dragons rising I love, new characters doing important things and running into old characters we know and love. Frohicky is fun I love him. Lobbo has never done anything wrong and I'm so proud of him for winning the Zane lookalike contest. Slay king. Jordana is uh there I guess, she's boring so far. I will give thoughts on Arrokore when I talk about episode 14

Villains: Beatrix is incredibly boring and I am SO glad she's not gonna be the actual villain. Lord Ras is much more interesting and compelling (is Chima the Wyldness????? Because he is definitely from Chima and the writers are COWARDS for saying anything different). This is the first time we've had a Ninjago plot genuinely stretch across more than one season and I am sooooo relieved that Beatrix isn't actually the big bad. I'm really excited to meet Ras' master. I'm not going to lie I literally forgot about Rapton and had to come back and talk about him. I cannot emphasize how neutral I am about him. He is a Guy and that is the extent of my feelings. Same with LaRow I keep forgetting about her

Speaking of villains! That brings us to the Administration. I absolutely love it. The concept of the Administration is so interesting and I cannot WAIT to learn more about them and see more of them. There's something so interesting and also poetic about an organization of micromanagers being part of the same realm as the Realm of Madness that just. hnng. The Administration is totally sick and i can't wait to see more of them. Which leads us to...

Jay: Hm. Ah. Where do I begin. When I tell you I screamed, I lost my freaking mind it is not an understatement. I think I've watched those same 20 seconds like 30 times at least and I need those five lines tattooed on my brain. I have so many emotions. It breaks my heart. I'm elated. This is everything I've wanted. I'm so mad that's all there was. It makes perfect sense. Why would they do this. There's something that destroys me so much about Jay- sweet, kind, fun, creative, quirky, genuine Jay- in an organization of micromanagers. He is passive-aggressive and sassy and degrading and mean and I LOVE HIM. It is so inherently not who Jay is (except for being sassy I'm so glad he's a little brat) and I think that's great. It makes me SO excited to see what they do with him in season 2. If they don't do him justice I will RIOT. This has the potential to be one of my favorite plot points in all of ninjago history if they do it right, but if they do it wrong I will be broken. He looks so good in this animation, I absolutely LOVE IT. He is beautiful and sassy and it BREAKS ME that they don't know he's there. They were so close and they missed him. No one knows Jay is there. I am destroyed. He's a manager!! He's working his way up in the world!! I am so proud of him. He would buy himself a worlds best boss mug. Everyone loves him and they hate him. I might make a whole other post just on how I need that reunion to go but. I miss him so much. So much. I don't know how long I can wait without them knowing he's there. Go find your brother. You know where everyone else is now GO FIND YOUR BROTHER!!!!

Episodes

11. Temple of the Dragon Cores - Solid episode? It makes me curious about the lore. Surely either the Wyldness or the Garden are Chima there's no way Chima is separate. There are literally snail people and giant trees. If that's not Chima core idk what is. Rapton is there I guess. The guardian thing was cool. Lloyd dropping random earth-shattering facts is such a Wu thing to do I am LIVING for it.

12. Gangs of the Sea - When I say I spent this whole episode wishing for Bentho I'm not joking. I freaking miss him why didn't they mention him it would have been so easy!! Arin you are so cute and I love you.

13. Wyldly Inappropriate - This episode filled me with so much rage solely because of Wyldfyre. I'm sorry Wyldfyre truthers I am happy for you but oh my word it's just painful. She is so arrogant and just straight up unkind I hate her so much. This episode would have been so much better with Skylor instead. Or literally anyone but Wyldfyre.

14. The Last Djinn - Ok as a skybound truther I have So Many Emotions about this episode. How did Nya know this was a place of the djinn and she was just? Fine? Ok. Arrokore is fine as a character but i absolutely hate what it did to the Djinn. Having a character who has lost their whole society is fascinating! I would have preferred if they made him more of a Ronin-type recluse, where he's extremely paranoid and distrusting instead of just straight-up depressed. All of the experience we have with Djinn is that they are extremely powerful and evil and crazy and dangerous. Switching from Nadakhan to Arrokore was such a hard shift that as a fan it was so hard to be able to enjoy Arrokore as a character. That's not the main thing I'm upset about, overall he's likable and he's fine, I just think he could have been a lot cooler. My main issue with this episode is Nya. Is she just perfectly fine? GIVE HER EMOTIONS OH MY GOSH. SHE HAS TRAUMA YOU COWARDS SHOW IT!!!!!! Literally one of THE most traumatizing times in her life was directly tied to a Djinn and she runs into one and she's just. Fine? There was pretty much NOTHING that alluded to Nya having any sort of history with the Djinn except maybe a little bit of salt when she's talking about their showmanship. A Djinn kidnapped and tortured the love of her life. A Djinn almost destroyed her entire home. A Djinn captured her and caused her own possession. A Djinn killed her (more or less). You want to look me in the eyes and tell me she's going to run into a Djinn and just be perfectly fine? Absolutely not. They could have done this SO much better. Show the trauma. Show the distrust. Show me Nya jumping in front of Sora, show me the fear running through her. Give me Sora asking how Nya knows so much about the Djinn and Nya just can't bring herself to answer. Or she does! And we get a moment of "the only other person who remembers is Jay, and he..." [ACTUALLY SAD MOMENT THAT GENUINELY SHOWS THAT NYA HAS EMOTIONS AND ACTUALLY CARES ABOUT HER LITERAL FIANCÉ WHO SHE LITERALLY GAVE UP HER LIFE FOR] and maybe Sora comforts her! A "we'll find him, Nya" moment. Just a moment. Nya left and Jay fell apart and I hate how Nya is shown to be perfectly fine when Jay has been gone for years. We could have had a little arc of Nya overcoming trauma and distrust and learning that not all Djinn are the same! Okay, fine, we didn't get that. But how dare they let Nya start wishing. Wishes got her killed. Wishes caused the most traumatic weeks of her life. Wishes almost killed the love of her life. You want to tell me that she's just totally fine firing off a few wishes? SHE DIED. GIRLY DIED AND SHE'S JUST MAKING WISHES LIKE IT'S NOTHING? We could have had a moment of Arrokore saying they have to wish for it and Nya being like "NO Sora you can't trust him, they're all the same" and then Arrokore proves himself! Even so, Nya should not have let Sora make a wish without protesting, and she CERTAINLY would not have made one herself. As a skybound stan this episode made me so sad. It was genuinely a good episode but I am so so broken up over what could and should have been. Zane did put a picture of Pixal on a broom though so this episode gets points for that

15. They Call It Doom - YOU'RE TELLING ME THE ADMINISTRATION JUST CASUALLY ALSO SHOOTS BLUE LIGHTNING. FINE OKAY THAT'S GREAT. I already shared my Nya and Arrokore and whatnot thoughts but still. I'm still salty. Anyway this episode's ending was glorious. Teacher Kai you will always be famous I'm so sorry this is the trainee you got stuck with. NO ONE TOUCHES THESE CHILDREN lives in my head rent free and his powerup is so so cool. Baby Serpentine. yes.

16. Land of Lost Things - so you're telling me that Cole has adopted stray children who have run away from home because they felt unwanted and unloved. no I'm totally fine I'm SO normal about cole and his character and the respect he got and the sacrifice of him staying there to protect these kids. I am so broken but its fine I'm fine everything is fine

17. The Administration - See aforementioned thoughts on Jay. The Administration is so cool I love them and I am stoked to see more of them. It's giving men in black tbh. They are so cool. When they follow the directions and find Zane and they're like oh hi Zane! we didn't even know you were here! A) peak comedy and B) when he said "who did you think was going to be here?" THAT WAS DIRECTLY TO US THEY WERE TALKING ABOUT JAY AND IM SO MAD AT THEM FOR IT NOT ACTUALLY THOUGH. Also I don't remember which episode Zane Day and Gulch was in but every moment of that was both perfection and also the peak of comedy. The music when Jay walks on screen destroyed me it was so so good. He is a tired office worker the headcanons were RIGHT. Cannot get over that. I love the look of the Administration, the style, it all looks so good. The concept of a whole organization with an entire division assigned to realm reassignment is fascinating. I want to see Kai's teaching in this episode is great and the parallels between him and Wu were amazing. At the end of the day Jay was here and that gave me enough serotonin to last me a good long while.

18. Absolute Power - I'm not gonna lie this was hard to enjoy because I just wanted to see more of Jay but it was a solid episode. I wanna know what Beatrix' sister's elemental power was. Ras is very cool I am so glad he's going to have a bigger role. Nya and Cole's relationship in this episode is everything to me. They are So Siblings and also Best Friends I love them so so much.

19. We Are All Dragons - good for the Imperium kids starting the revolution, but Rapton being the traitor made no sense. It's like they tried to pull a Kallus in Rebels but there was not nearly enough buildup for this to make sense. I really couldn't care less about Rapton so I'm not mad about this it just didn't make that much thematic sense lolll. I did really like Sora's moment with her parents and rejecting them in favor of the found family, but her speech didn't make sense. It would have hit so much more if she actually explained what ~being a dragon~ means but she really just went WE ARE ALL DRAGONS!! and everyone went YEAH!!!!!!!!!! like girlie uh what does that mean. I liked the parallels but Lloyd's moment was better.

20. The Power Within - I still don't understand why Beatrix wanted to uh. destroy the universe but pop off. I'm not gonna lie I literally cheered when Wyldfyre got sucked into a mergequake. Kai's reaction was in theory great but i am still salty it was over Wyldfyre, this child has been absolutely horrible to you Kai what are you doing. I don't understand how everyone is perfectly fine when everyone comes back from the merge quakes when Beatrix literally went through one of them. I loved Sora's showdown with her parents and I can't wait to see what's up with Ras. I will DIE MAD THERE'S NO MURAL ON THE WALL but WHATEVER.

Returning Characters

I want Pixal back so bad. I'm very optimistic she'll be here in season 2 and I cannot wait for her to be back. I'm hoping that she'll come save Zane from, idk, sensing his signal or something.

SKYLOR. OH MY GOODNESS BRING BACK SKYLOR. I need her back so bad it's unreal

I want Vania back. I want fugidove back. WHERE IS GARMADON. WHERE IS HE. WE HAVENT EVEN MENTIONED HIM WHERE IS HE.

I miss Ed and Edna and Lou and Cyrus Borg and Scott and the elemental masters (WHERES KARLOFF I MISS HIM SO MUCH) and BENTHO and yeah. i miss them

SO, I have a lot of thoughts as you can see and this probably isn't all of them. I want all of everyone's thoughts please send me asks send me messages I just want to scream

AND BRING BACK JAY

[writing-hat]

flowers to tend a wound

the glacier fic!! I finished it a while ago, and figured it would be best to post it on tumblr since it's something sweet and short <3 (and kind of messy sorry)

/!\ TW for wound! /!\ (and mistakes as usual cuz I never pay attention to that) and some mutual pinning (they can't confess they're stoopid)

this is around 2.9k words! Enjoy!

“Ah, Zane!”

The robot jolted, apparently caught off guard. This surprised Cole, who was used to a Zane always readied for any of the other ninjas jumping on him. But he had probably been distracted by cooking dinner, which wouldn’t have been too surprising.

Without turning around, the other sighed. “Cole. You startled me.” He straightened up a bit, humming at whatever he was cooking- it already smelled heavenly to Cole. “What is it?”

“Sorry. I just wanted to know if you had seen my cake leftovers?” Cole groaned, crossing his arms. “I have a suspicion on who might’ve eaten it, but I wanna be sure before I throw hands, since I got it wrong last time.”

A chuckle. “Yes. Jay ate it all.”

“Damn it, I knew it!” He threw his hands up. “Ever single time! And of course he left for a mission!” He shook his head, taking a seat behind Zane. “Why didn’t you go by the way?”

“I am needed here to cook.”

Well, Cole knew his friend. There was something else bothering him in his voice. Something that made it so he got surprised when the earth ninja came by. That made him curious, of course; he wanted to know if he could help him in any way- and if it was too much, Zane could always tell him he didn’t want to speak of it. “And?”

The nindroid sighed, before turning around.

Cole’s eyes widened. He had a tissue attached around his right eye. Something he probably usually used in the kitchen, pink, like his apron, with white hearts decorating the thing.

“You’re hurt?!” The earth ninja got up in an instant, restraining himself from approaching the other too fast. “What happened?”

“The Mechanic blasted my eye.” Slowly, he removed the tissue, letting the wound appear.

This time, he gasped, approaching Zane to get a closer look- not out of curiosity, but out of worry, because based on how the ice ninja had winced when revealing the missing parts to the cold, there was no way it didn’t hurt.

“When did that happen?!”

“During this morning’s mission. It’s…” He brought metallic fingers up, brushing over the wound. “It is still fresh, unfortunately.”

Cole raised his own hand to the hole, tentatively, waiting for something in the icy eyes to push him away. But nothing came up, so he slowly touched the skin, taking his fingers away as soon as Zane hissed at the feeling.

“Sorry.”

“It’s alright. I suppose some of my sensitive wires got touched.”

“Why hasn’t Jay fixed it up by now?” He grumbled. “Instead of finishing my cake.”

Zane’s lips twitched, tempted to chuckle, before he sighed, turning back around to watch over the meal- a curry, now Cole could see it, with rice already cooking on the other side of the stove. He could feel his stomach grumbling in hunger at the sight, but it was quickly dulled away when Zane brought him back.

“We lack materials. He promised he’d try to find some when coming back from the mission, but… I doubt there will be any. Pixal already asked Cyrus Borg, but it seems like there’s a limited stock of titanium everywhere. I said I could wait.”

Cole frowned, placing a hand on the robot’s shoulder to demand his attention. “But it’s bothering you. I can see that.”

Zane felt conflicted; he usually didn’t share what his troubles were to the rest of the team- unless they became too heavy for his shoulders alone. But thoughts, and worries about his appearance? This wasn’t something he talked about with any of them.

But he could never hide anything from the earth ninja. He wasn’t really sure how he was doing it, but it felt heart wrenching, every time he told him a half-truth. And when Cole looked at him, with concern, and a need to protect him… Zane was ready to give up his role, and fall into his arms to be protected.

This wasn’t something he was used to feeling. He shook his head, a sad smile stretching his lips. And that made Cole worry more; he wanted this current pain to go away. He couldn’t bare seeing him like that. “It is not… the most wonderful thing to look at.”

The hole was big, taking a whole quarter of the face. The dark blue liquid that made sure Zane could be up and running had clearly been cleaned off, but could still be seen inside- though it had stopped bleeding a while ago. Wires and strings were tangled, when they weren’t torn, probably sharing a pain that Cole couldn’t even begin to understand. The metallic skin around still showed some of the dark traces left by the blast.

“At the very least,” Zane spoke, wanting the attention away from his wound. “Jay said that he would help remove the sensitivity whenever he is back, if he doesn’t find the right materials.”

Cole realized he’d been staring, and took a step back. “Sorry. I just… I hate seeing you hurt like that.”

This time, the smile that appeared was a sincere one. “Thank you for worrying about me, Cole.”

The earth ninja smiled back, placing both hands on the ice ninja’s shoulders. “You’re welcome.” He hesitated, before pulling Zane in a hug. The latter blinked, clearly not expecting this out of all outcomes but, enjoyed it nonetheless, taking a few seconds, before letting his face relax, closing his eye as he hugged back Cole.

“…Do you need help with dinner?” The voice was hesitant, wanting to help, but knowing very well he couldn’t really do anything of use in that matter.

A quiet laugh made it to the black ninja’s ears. “Just to prepare the table, if you can.”

That stayed a win. He broke from the hug, a grin on his face as he looked at Zane. “Sure!”

They ate in a good ambiance. Jay kept trying to excuse himself to Zane, having not found any titanium for now to fix his face. The nindroid kept repeating that it was okay- though this seemed sort of useless with how the lightning ninja already felt guilty for this situation.

After sharing their meal of the night, with Cole still hesitant on hitting his best friend for eating his food earlier, Jay and Zane went to the ice ninja’s room, where a table stayed whenever the nindroid required repairs. He laid on his back there, letting his friend tinker and figure out what he could do to make the other feel better.

It wasn’t the first time he had to cut away Zane’s sensitive wires- the ice ninja asked for that to be done often, when the zone touched by the wound hurt too much to deal with it. Painkillers weren’t an option for him, so they did with what they had.

It started in a small silence, with Jay’s background music filling the room. Zane felt… anxious, of asking his friend about his feelings; he was still bothered by his lack of composure from earlier.

Well, bothered wouldn’t be the word, but he, for once, couldn’t place the right words on his ideas, and unfamiliar feelings.

“Something you wanna tell me?”

Zane sighed, grateful his friend could understand his emotions without needing him to speak up. “Yes. There is… something.”

Jay waited, but his friend had apparently said all that he could. “Something important then.” A whistle, as he reached for the tools he’d use to get rid of the sensitive wires. “What is it?”

“It’s about Cole.” He blinked, feeling the name escape him without wanting to. Unfortunately, his metal plates could display his blush, turning his face in a shade of blue. Ashamed, he looked away from the blue ninja, trying to figure out his next words. “Well, not Cole specifically. It is more about how I reacted with him earlier.”

There was an amused hum, making Zane’s eye twitch in annoyance. “And how did you react?”

Ignoring how his friend sounded, he huffed. “I usually keep my-” He had been about to say ‘feelings’. By the First Master of Spinjitzu, what was wrong with him?! “-troubles, to myself. But earlier, I could not keep my mouth shut when it came to the pain this zone brought.” With guilt, he added in a lower voice. “Nor the- aesthetic side, of this wound.”

“Because you want Cole to find you beautiful.”

Zane gasped, sitting upright on the table, looking at Jay alarmed. “What?! What- how can you say things like that?!”

Jay raised both hands, innocent-like, his hands still holding the tools. “What? Am I wrong?”

There was a self-satisfactory grin, on his face. One Zane found himself frowning at. In embarrassment. He didn’t answer his friend, instead turning his head away so his lone eye wouldn’t have to put up with the mocking face- earning him a snort.

The blue ninja shook his head. “Proof is here; you don’t mind me seeing you with your wires tangled and dangling from that hole in your face-”

“Of course! You’re my friend, and the one helping me out. I don’t mind showing you vulnerability!”

“So you don’t see Cole as a friend.” Jay snorted. “Noted.”

“This isn’t what I said! Stop twisting my words!” Zane crossed his arms, feeling his blue liquid pump fasted in his ears. “Cole is a great friend!”

“Oh, I’m sure he is.” Before he could answer to the taunt, Jay tapped the table. “Lay back down. I still need to get rid of a few wires, and clean the spot.”

Reluctantly, the ice ninja did as he was told, crossing his hands on his chest.

He didn’t like that feeling in his stomach. But at the same time… he sighed, closing his eye when he felt the tools come back inside of his wound.

They didn’t speak again, Jay still humming, apparently proud of the mess he was leaving behind inside of his nindroid friend. The latter still battled with his thoughts, trying to figure out how long, exactly, did he think he could lie to himself that way.

When the blue ninja brought a tissue up, to clean the zone, Zane sighed. “How would I even confess?” He swallowed thick. “How can I even be sure that he feels the same?”

Jay stopped what he was doing, blinking at the confused robot. “Wow.” He started. “Love really makes people blind, huh?”

His metallic lips thinned, not able to find something to say after that. But the understanding look of the blue ninja did manage to make him relax. Just a bit.

They made a few tests, Jay touching with a rod his wires, and all that was around. Effectively, Zane felt nothing. With a reassured sigh, he thanked his friend. For both the repair, and the talk.

He luckily didn’t need to precise for what.

“So it’s better now?”

Zane nodded, having to turn his head around to face the earth master. The latter sighed, reassured, and raised a tentative hand to the wound. He hesitated, until the ice ninja nodded, and brushed with his fingers the metal, feeling the cold under his fingers.

The nindroid found himself disappointed he could not feel anything for now.

“How long before they get the supplies?”

“A week, at best.” He shrugged. “It’s okay, I am getting used to it. Although Sensei assured me I didn’t need to go on missions for now.”

Which meant he wasn’t allowed. Cole winced, feeling bad for his friend. He knew too well the frustration of staying behind when the others faced the action. They all did.

He must’ve felt so sad.

So, an idea came to him. One, he hoped, would help his friend get better. It wasn’t anything big, but, it could help him pass some time, and feel better about this wound.

“I have an idea. Do you want to try it?”

A tilt of the head, as the other considered it, before nodding with a soft smile. “Of course. Anything you can think of can help.”

Cole didn’t seem to notice the sentence, but Zane did. And he swore on the First Master he had never felt his circuits warms so quickly before under the weight of shame. Especially since, well, without being mean to the earth ninja, his ideas weren’t often good ones.

But he had a good feeling for this.

So when Cole offered a palm for Zane to take, he did so, gladly following him to his room.

In there, the nindroid was first completely blown away by the numbers of flowers, hanging from pots attached to the ceiling, or resting in vases conveniently placed on his desk, or in corners, near his record player, for instance. Zane blinked multiple times, regretting not having his other eye to take in more properly the breathtaking scenery, amplified by the beautiful rays of the sunset.

Cole let go of Zane’s hand, walking to a pot on his desk, where the sun was sure to hit first. Based on his sensors, those were fresh ones, most definitely taken care of carefully for the last two days. He grabbed a five of them, and turned back towards Zane, a shy smile on his face.

Zane could swear he was blushing, too.

“I was- if you let me try- I mean-” Cole bit his lower lip, looking to the side, not able to form the right words to ask for permission. Because now, when he looked at Zane, his idea felt nothing but dumb.

The flowers he had picked for this were yellow carnations. He had taken care of those for the last three days, thinking of Zane, and how he could make him feel better about the state of his face. A face, Cole found himself to stare much more then once. Because he found him beautiful.

And so, when the ice ninja had been concerned… he had thought this could maybe help lift his spirits up.

But now… Zane might think he was trying to cover up the inside of his face, instead of the wound. Which wasn’t the case at all.

And he felt dumb.

Delicate fingers came to touch his knuckles. Cole’s breath was taken away, and slowly, he lifted his head up to look at the one he had wanted to help. The one he wanted to love.

Zane was smiling to him, quirking an eyebrow. And Cole could swear the metallic plates had been tainted by some shade of blue. “Are those for me?”

Cole blushed, looking back at the flowers. With a small voice, he answered. “Y- yes. It was for…” He didn’t finish, still not feeling better about his idea.

The nindroid placed a hand on his cheek, letting the earth ninja take his time to look at him back. Once their gazes met, he closed his only eye, making Cole understand he was trusting him to try it out.

He took a deep breath, and slowly, placed the flowers inside the hole. Each time, he felt the nindroid shiver when the stem went too far, where his wires could still sense, but no sound came out, nor did he move away.

When he was done, he took a small step back, and cleared his throat. “Done.”

Zane opened his eye, blinked, and walked to the small mirror Cole kept on his desk. He grabbed it, and looked at the result.

The five flowers Cole must’ve spent hours upon hours taking care of now rested inside hole he had found nothing but deforming lately.

But now?

The sight was pleasant. Some sort of relief washed over him, and he sighed, finding himself not hating his appearance anymore.

Thanks to Cole.

He turned around, finding the latter fidgeting with his black coated nails, and looking embarrassed. Warmth filled his heart at the sight, and he walked back to the earth ninja. Before he could ask any question, and make Zane lose this boost of confidence, he kissed his cheek, softly.

“Thank you, Cole.” He shook his head, knowing he would’ve cried if he could at the beautiful gesture of care and worry. “Those are absolutely beautiful.”

Cole’s heart skipped a bit, and if he’d been blushing before, the ninja knew his cheeks must’ve been burning now. When the ice ninja noticed, he looked to the side, a sort of shy and silly smile resting on his lips.

Lips he found very much kissable.

So, gathering his courage, Cole placed a knuckle under the metallic chin. Zane’s eye met his own, and he swallowed thick, trying to find his voice again.

“May I?”

Zane blinked, suddenly feeling his emotions swirling and exploding his senses. Showing him how they both had felt for a while now. And a confirmation, that Cole’s heart had displayed the same constricted feeling. One that would hurt, and forbid them to move if they hadn’t done something about it.

A mutual pinning of some sort.

Love really makes people blind.

And once the realization struck? The feeling felt liberating.

With a chuckle, he answered. “You may.”

Cole smiled, and leaned forward. Zane did as well, shortening the wait for them both.

Their kiss felt amazing. It made them sigh, pressure and adrenaline coming back down to make their hearts beat faster. It was incredible.

It still felt so when they broke apart. With heavy breathing, they let their foreheads against one another, the relief bringing them both to release what sounded like silly giggles to their ears.

-------

some notes I gave myself when writing so you can see my process of writing

(Zane is so emotional my guys omg he would be a mess if he ever had to confess his love to Cole. at least me thinks.)

hope you enjoyed! see you around!

[qiangweirosa]

cuddling

" Jay and Nya have a rare free day. They spend the morning together in bed. "

relationships: jay/nya tws: none wc: 595 extra: tooth rotting fluff yum....

read on ao3!

The room was warm. The lights were off, and the curtains were opened just enough to let a few rays of sun shine through. It heated up every surface it touched, and illuminated the room dimly. 

Kai and Cole were on patrol duty today, which meant the others had a rare opportunity to stay home. Lloyd was in the kitchen, most likely cooking something for himself, and as for Zane and Pixal, they had mentioned something about training together, practicing their joint combat. 

That left Nya and Jay here, in bed together, their limbs entangled and with the covers half covering them. 

They had been awake for a while now - it was hard to get out of the usual habit of waking up at ungodly hours -, but had stayed in bed, preferring to bask in each other’s company in silence. 

The others would probably make comments if they knew Jay had spent the night in her room, Nya mused. The thought made her chuckle, her eyes staring into the ceiling as she kept thinking. 

Her trail of thought was cut short when she felt Jay shift, his lips pressing against her neck as he nuzzled her shoulder. She instinctively moved her head a little further, glancing at him. 

They exchanged a few looks, a silent conversation taking place, before Jay resumed with his kisses, slow and sweet, trailing them all over her neck. 

Nya let out a sigh, playfully rolling her eyes. Her hand moved to tangle in his hair, gently scratching the back of his head as a means to reciprocate. 

This went on for a little while. Jay occasionally moved to press kisses on another close area, and Nya would respond with her own affectionate touches. 

He laid on top of her by now, his arms wrapped around her waist and pressing to always be closer to her. Nya enjoyed the feeling, the sweet affection they couldn’t afford to indulge in often. 

Most days, they barely could steal any time to themselves, between training, patrols, or the others in the Monastery. So whenever they had the chance to cuddle and spend so much time together, just the two of them, they took it wholeheartedly. 

On Nya’s face had formed a fond smile, from all the thinking and reminiscing. She always ended up like this whenever she thought of Jay; sappy, and soft, and while she didn’t like it much when they were younger, she had to admit it was a pleasant feeling. 

She glanced back to Jay to express her feelings once again, only for her smile to drop as she spoke up for the first time since they had woken up. 

“If you bite me I’m kicking you out.”

Jay froze, his mouth slowly closing as he settled his head back against her shoulder. He stared up at Nya, a pout on his face and with tired puppy eyes. She deadpanned back at him. 

“You’re so mean to me.”

“You just tried to bite me??”

“It’s affectionate!”

The two of them laughed, Nya shaking her head with a sigh, and Jay moving back up to press a kiss to her face.

“If you truly loved me you’d let me bite you.”

She stared at him, raising an eyebrow. Her head tilted to the side, and she flicked his forehead. 

“Whatever you say, Jay.”

She heard him let out a yell of protest as she laughed, ruffling his hair. Jay wrestled to get out of her hold, and they bickered through their laughs. 

Ah, they truly loved the mornings they could spend together. 

[spinchip]

They send Cole in to talk to him because Jay’s never had a serious relationship other than Nya (and they're still together,) kai’s only ever had flings, and Lloyd was as knowledgeable on break-ups as a wet pile of leaves. Cole is the resident expert on heart break, being as he’s had 2 long(ish) lasting relationships that had both come to a tragic end- albeit, even he wasn’t quite experienced with this level of heartache. His ex boyfriends were from highschool, and nothing ever mattered in highschool. Especially not since he’d become a ninja. Who cared if Joaquin cheated on him with Lexi? He saved ninjago from countless evils. Joaquin was probably regretting it now!

Kai nudges him and exaggerates his eyebrows silently, motioning towards the kitchen door. Okay, so Cole was stalling. Just a bit. He was a little afraid he’d be out of his depth on this-scratch that, he was certain of it. Maybe if it were Jay or Karloff, he could manage- but Zanes emotions ran wide and deep and it was so incredibly hard to navigate those waters. Alas, he was specially chosen for this mission. He had to try.

He cautiously creaks open the kitchen door and finds Zane… chopping vegetables. For some reason, he’d convinced himself he’d find him curled up on the counters crying his eyes out. Yes, Zane was a very emotional person- but Cole forgot how deeply Zane hid that part of himself away. He can’t rely on the obvious for this. He’s gotta go into ninja mode, really do some nitpicking recon.

One sleeve of his sweater is rolled up, the other has rolled down and hangs dangerously close to getting tomato juice on it. Oh man. He’s really upset. Zane was meticulous about cleanliness, especially in the kitchen. His mind is somewhere else.

“Hello Cole.” He offers the master of Earth a smile, “If you have come to ask about dinner, it will be ready in an hour or so. I will call you when it is time to eat.”

Oh, clever clever. Polite as a peach but a not-so-subtle dismissal tacked on at the end, which means there’s no way for Cole to redirect the conversation gently. Zanes is banking on him losing the nerve to confront him. Well, Coles is no coward (And the others would just make him try again later. Better to rip the bandaid off now, right?)

“I actually wanted to talk to you.” He starts, swallowing thickly, “About how you're feeling.”

Zanes hands still just for a moment over the next tomato before he soldiers on, “I am fine.”

Cole frowns, “Zane… I’ve been through it too. It sucks… it’s okay that you’re not fine.” He tries softly.

Zane places the knife down, picking up the cutting board and setting the tomato aside, “I understand your concern, but I am fine. My romantic relationship with Pixal has ended, but we will remain friends and that is agreeable with both of us.”

There’s a pause as Cole tries to think of what to say, “You’re really… just okay with that?" At this point, an upset Zane would have gotten that kicked-puppy expression and opened up a bit more. Maybe started wringing his hands together, or shut down completely. Was he really fine? Zane? "You two have been together for what, four and a half years?”

“Five years, three months, and 12 days.” Zane corrects gently as he wipes down the counter.

“And it’s... over? Why did she end it?”

Zane gives him a quizzical look, “Cole, I was the one who terminated our relationship.”

That shocks Cole so badly he actually has to grab the counter for support. his feet nearly slide out underneath him, and he struggles to regain his bearings, “What!?” He gapes, “But- you were like so in love with her!”

Zane cringes and he can’t quite hide it, “I certainly believe I was, yes.”

“Well, what happened? What changed?” He forgets he’s supposed to be helping Zane with his heartbreak, curiosity leaping forward.

“I do not wish to discuss that.” he murmurs, pulling out a large pot and setting it on the stove.

“Ah, yeah. Sorry.” He scratches the back of his head, “It just feels so sudden. I didn’t even know you were feeling this way…”

Zane shrugs uncomfortably, “I did not want to say anything until I was certain of my choice. I thought about it for a long time before I approached her.”

Cole catches that and connects the dots faster than he thinks Zane expects him to, “A long time?… since the Never Realm?” He ventures carefully.

Just like that, Zane's face closes off completely. He stiffly continues to make chili, but does not acknowledge Cole's presence. He doesn’t comment on what he said, and pretends like he never heard it.

Cole decides to speak again, “Y’know what happened in the Never Realm…” he lowers his voice, pitching it low enough so no one could even consider eavesdropping. Something just for Zane, “No one blames you. It wasn’t your fault… We don’t love you any less because of what happened. I know it can be scary to wonder what we think of you, but my opinion of you hasn’t changed. I’m sure Pixals hasn’t either, so you don't need to run away. We still see you the same.” He says genuinely, reaching out and patting Zane's shoulder.

Zane exhales and the air in front of him swirls with snowflakes. He brushes Coles hand off but not unkindly, “You do not understand. I spent sixty years in the Never Realm.” it’s not a surprise but Cole still winces, “She still sees me the same, but I have lived a lifetime without her, a life completely different from this. I am the one who does not see her like I once did. I am not the man I was, and I feel nothing…” He shakes his head and re-words his sentence to be kinder, “I no longer feel romantic love for her.”

“Oh.” Coles not sure what to do with that.

“Thank you for your concern, Cole, but I truly am alright. I have had decades to distance myself from that pain.” Zane assures him with a smile. “Now please, allow me to return to our dinner.” He motions to the pot, and Cole takes the dismissal this time.

When he’s nearly out the door he hesitates, peeking his head back in. Zane has gone back to cooking, one sleeve rolled and the other slipping down. Maybe that’s just who he was now.

“I have one more question.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know if I want to know the answer.” he admits, tapping an anxious finger along the door frame.

“Then do not ask it.” Zane says. His voice is light but there’s a firmness there. He offers the advice with a push.

Cole accepts it and lets the door swing shut behind him.

On the tip of his tongue is do you still see us the same?

How do you see all of us, now?

[crying-over-cartoons]

borg: ah pixal, what brings you here?

pixal:

[jays-therapist]

I love skybound so much. Not because it's well-written. It is a clusterfuck, but it has so much potential for AUs and rewrites. Like if you change the pairing, the vibes of skybound are altered drastically, mostly because the romance is so integral to the plot. It has seasons of build up. So i've just been sitting here,,, thinking about how skybound would go if you just swapped the pairings around. It’s driving me insane. What would happen if you just changed the guy/guys in the ice!?! What chaos shall ensue?!?!

I will now officially order these pairings from "least likely to alter canon too much" to "OH GOD OH FUCK HOW WOULD THIS EVEN WORK":

Bruise: this has actually been done before successfully and I think it's the one least likely to differ from canon. It already has a lot of build up, what with the season four homerotic fight scene in season 4 and the rekindling of their friendship in season five. Just throw in some magic ice and a sexuality crisis and boom you got season 6, but this time it's gay!!

Mudshock: I thought I'd put this here. Again, there's a lot of build up for this pairing already. Mudshock is going through their divorce arc in season 5. But then Jay sees them all together in some magic ice and has a realization. Things might get a little more complicated towards the end because we're adding Cole to the mix, but I can see this playing out in a way pretty similar to canon. It's just like "The Parent Trap" but Jay's both the twins and the spouse trying to fix his divorce and it's actually nothing like "The Parent Trap" at all!!!

Plasma: Umm okay I can kinda see this happening??? Kai would obviously need a lot more screen time in season 6, and they'd probably need more build up in earlier seasons, but i think it'd be funny if Jay looked in the magic ice mirror thing and saw his ex-girlfriend's brother. And then he spends the beginning of season 6 like "there's no way i like Kai,,, he's so stupid and mean and strong and beautiful and determined and... ah fuck."

Techno: Okay, this one's really hard to figure out, mostly because Pixal is there, but I guess if you interpret her relationship with Zane as platonic, maybe it could work??? Zane would also have to not wish himself away three episodes into the season. And there would need to be more focus on Zane and Jay's relationship after seasons 3 and 4 if romance is to be introduced. And Nadakahn's motivations would probably be very different. Fuck, this would change the direction of the whole season. I'm down

Polyninja: HOW??? WOULD THIS WORK??? IF YOU'RE A WRITER LOOKING FOR A CHALLENGE I DARE YOU TO TRY TO REWRITE SKYBOUND WITH PLOYNINJA AS THE MAIN PAIRING BECAUSE............ HOW

[colebrookstone-irl]

Hello Cole. I am requesting confirmation that @superstar-ninja-jay-walker is the one who exploded the Hangar Bay. Thank you.

~ @pixalborg-irl

Ah, hey Pixal

Uhhhmmmm

By law and possibilities of being electrocuted I am not allowed to deny nor confirm that

I'm gonna continue eating my noodles and pizza now .

[akariarda]

Will you ever stop breaking my heart ,all over and over again...

Ep-4,Escape

Episode 3

Misako and Pixal are trying to escape.Garmadon finds out Misako lyed to him,and he wants revenge.

"Send them!"Garmadon ordered to Harumi."We need to find my son."

"Yes ,my emperor."Harumi bowed deeply."If we are to trust that woman at all..."

"We'll see," Garmadon said darkly."For her sake, I hope so."

******

"Pixal, are you okay?" Misako asked gently, sitting on the floor.

"I will be fine," Pixal said in her robotic voice and stood up.

"Where did Garmadon go?"

"To find Lloyd," Misako said, swallowing her saliva.

"But you lied to him..." Pixal looked at her incredulously. "It wasn't a good move to lie to him for my sake."

"Of course I wouldn't let him hurt you," Misako said to Pixal.

"But what have we gained now?" Pixal asked, feeling down. "I'm a nindroid, I don't feel pain like you humans, and he certainly wouldn't hurt you severely."

"He has already broken my heart many times, and I had to watch him do the same to our son. That's worse than any physical injury he can inflict on me."

"He will be furious when he returns." Pixal insisted.

"We need to find a way to get out of this."

"How?" Misako shouted, having lost all hope by now and clearly on the verge of a breakdown.

"You need to calm down first," Pixal tried to calm Misako by placing her hand on her shoulder, but she just stood up and shrugged it off.

"How can I calm down?" Misako asked, this time a little more calmly.

"How can I calm down when nothing is fair?" She tried her best to hold back tears, and thankfully, at least that was working.

"I have a feeling you're not talking about our current situation." Pixal asked, baffled.

"Just ignore that," Misako waved her head. "I have collected myself, and now we need to come up with something."

~~~~~~

"My emperor," Harumi approached Garmadon again.

"We found nothing."

"What do you mean nothing!" Garmadon shouted and started choking Harumi with his powers.

"You have deceived me again."

"No, my... emperor," Harumi choked. "I'm..not..the one..who. lied..to you..."

"True," Garmadon mumbled and let her go. "But I know who has."

******

"The doors are open!" Pixal exclaimed joyfully.

"I can't believe they haven't changed the codes to open the doors." Misako laughed. "Well, this was your home, of course, you can open all the doors."

"Suddenly you're in a good mood?" Pixal looked at Misako in wonder.

"How could I not be?" Misako laughed. "I finally see a glimmer of hope in all of this."

"Hurry now," Pixal warned. "Garmadon could show up any minute."

"Lead the way," Misako followed Pixal.

******

"Misako!!!!" Garmadon shouted angrily as he entered the room where he held Misako and Pixal.

"What?" He asked, seeing no one there. "How..."

"ARGH, you won't escape from me this time, Misako!" He yelled as he walked out into the hallway.

******

"Did you hear that?" Misako said in astonishment as she and Pixal ran down the stairs.

The elevator was not a reliable option.

"I did, Misako, keep running," Pixal shouted and grabbed her hand.

******

Garmadon burned with anger as he pushed through the floors.

"Not this time!"

*****

"Faster!" Misako yelled, but suddenly stopped when a silhouette appeared in front of them.

"Garmadon..." she whispered.

"Quickly!" Pixal shouted.

"Before he notices, go the other way."

*****

Garmadon couldn't help but laugh when he heard the robot's voice.

"Ah, so you are here," he murmured and locked eyes with Misako.

******

"It's too late..." Misako whispered when she and Garmadon locked eyes.

For a moment, they froze in fear, but then they both assumed a fighting position.

This time, it won't pass without a fight...

Garmadon just continued to laugh coldly.

Episode 5