#All three of these boys have parental trauma in some form whoop

[characteroulette]

Don't you just love getting accosted by ideas that end up being 18 panels long once you get it all mapped out??

Anyway, rest under the cut--

Why are they futzing about in a hat shop? Don't worry about it.

[goodlucktai]

i’ve got my eye on you

tmnt 2k12 pairing: don & mikey word count: 2k title borrowed from say yes to heaven by lana del ray

read on ao3

x

“Mikey?” Donnie says, hovering in the doorway uncertainly. “Can I talk to you?”

Mikey looks up from the dough he’s kneading with round eyes, more bewildered than anything. No one ever asks if they can talk to Mikey. His presence in his family’s lives is like sunlight falling on the planet, warm and touching everything and taken for granted. They can always talk to Mikey.

So Don’s question is a weird one, but Mikey doesn’t mention it.

“Pull up some counter, Dee,” he offers instead, patting at the one square foot of the surface that isn’t covered in flour. His fingers leave little clouds behind. “I’m almost done.”

Donnie props his hip against the island and leans there to watch his little brother work. Mikey’s ADHD is textbook in a lot of ways, unpredictable in many others; it’s definitely been a fun learning curve for his family. Don did a lot of research. He’s read that generally people with Mikey’s disorder tend to struggle with tasks like cooking, that it can be an outright Herculean task remembering to eat or even just mustering the energy to feed themselves.

But Mikey loves his kitchen. He gravitates towards it in all his different moods. It gives his pinballing thoughts and restless hands something constructive to focus on with a clear and present reward at the end.

Right now he seems pleased with the dough and gathers it up in a neat little ball before transferring it to a greased mixing bowl and covering it tightly with plastic wrap. When the bowl has been safely stored in the fridge to proof, Donnie joins Mikey in wiping down the counter, mostly for something to do with his hands.

Something’s baking in the oven. Music is playing on Mikey’s phone across the room, acoustic and downbeat and soothing. This room is where everyone in their entire extended family comes to feel safe, even if they don’t know or won’t admit it.

“So listen,” Don finally says. “About earlier. During the race?”

A grin splits Mikey’s face, likely remembering all the fun he had. They’d been looking forward to the ninja race for weeks, ever since Leo first floated the idea.

Leo has come a long way as sensei. It was hard at first, finding his feet, acclimating to this additional burden piled on top of all the ones he already had to carry, but maybe not as hard as it should have been. Leo has always been more of a second parent than a sibling to the rest of them. He’s always been the one they ran to first, even when Splinter was alive; the boy who had to grow up too fast, the one who tried his dad’s oversized jacket on over and over through the years until one day he was surprised to find he had outgrown it.

All this to say—Leo can always tell when his little siblings and pseudo-siblings are due for a break. He poured hours into planning this event, all for his tiny clan of six, and it really showed. The race was part relay, part scavenger hunt, stretching for miles back and forth across Manhattan.

They drew cards out of a bucket to decide pairs, divvying up into three teams of two. When Casey drew the card that matched Mikey’s, he lit up with a manic grin and whipped his head around, a reaction Donnie wasn’t expecting.

“Oh hell yeah!” the human whooped, lifting both hands over his head for a double high-five. “We’re gonna make this night our bitch!”

“Language!” Leo barked, scandalized, like they each hadn’t already heard—and said—a lot worse.

Mikey, for his part, slapped his palms against Casey’s, giggling madly. Donnie looked between the two of them with a frown forming on his face. He had the distinct feeling that he missed something. They all tended to live out of each other’s pockets anymore, trauma-bonding at its worst. Its best? Whatever. If Mikey and Casey were buddies, Donnie would know.

They were both adrenaline junkies, sure. They both liked going fast, living on the edge. As a ninja clan, that was sort of the norm anyway.

But Mikey in particular could outrun anyone in his family any day of the week. Nothing moved fast enough for him. They tried to keep up with him, but sometimes he got too far ahead. He wanted to walk on his hands to feel the grit of asphalt on his palms and the blood rush to his head, or spin in circles in front of the stove while the water boiled, or cartwheel during katas because morning meditation ran too long and his full quota of focus was all used up.

Understimulated, touch-starved, eager for attention, desperate for—something.

Donnie just didn’t realize how desperate until he and Leo crossed paths with Casey and Mikey halfway through the race. From the rooftop, Donnie could see that the token the other boys were gunning for was on the opposite side of the BQE—across five lanes, up on the massive signage structure towering above the expressway. They were on the wrong side when they spotted it.

Smugly, Donnie thought, Tough luck—they’ll have to find a way around. That’s gonna cost them some time.

And then Mikey flew over the guardrail, sprinting straight out into traffic.

Donnie’s heart jumped up into his throat and stayed there.

He was rooted to the spot, like someone watching a train barrel down the tracks toward an inevitable collision. His body forgot how to breathe.

It took his little brother all of fifty seconds to dodge box trucks and SUVs like it was a children’s game, to a chorus of blaring horns from drivers that did not slow down. An eighteen-wheeler missed him by a foot.

Mikey scaled the structure, retrieved the token, and shoved it into the pocket of his over-sized hoodie. Then he waved both arms back at Casey, and pointed down at the guardrail immediately behind him, clearly indicating that they should regroup underneath the overpass. They both disappeared from view on their respective sides of the freeway, off to the next leg of the scavenger hunt.

Don just stood there numbly watching cars go by until Leo doubled back for him.

Raphael and April won the race by all of four minutes—and with it bragging rights to last the next two months, unfortunately for everyone else—but Mikey was in high spirits the whole way home anyway, bouncing with every step. Their brothers must have assumed it was those endorphins from a full night of high-speed play doing their job.

Leo rubbed the top of Mikey’s head with his knuckles fondly, and Raph said something like, “God, you just don’t slow down, do ya?” because they had no idea. They didn’t see it.

Donnie trailed silently at the back of the group, heart pounding so hard he could feel it in his throat, his eyes, his hands. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from Mikey, afraid of what might happen if he let his guard down for even a second, replaying that scene on the expressway over and over and over. It took him hours to muster the courage to finally approach his baby brother in the kitchen.

And now they’re standing here together, and Mikey is humming under his breath, hands beginning to tap restlessly on the countertop. Donnie’s going to lose him in a matter of minutes. Trying to think of a delicate way to say it is getting him nowhere. He takes a page out of Raph’s book and just barrels in.

“I saw you run across the BQE for a token,” he blurts.

Mike tilts his head the way Icky does when she hears something she doesn’t understand. On one hand, he doesn’t deny he did it. On the other, more alarming hand, he also looks blatantly confused about why Donnie thinks it’s worth a discussion.

“We had to get the tokens to win,” Mikey points out, like Don isn’t the one who helped Leo with the rules and regulations.

Clenching his fists, and then folding his arms so Mikey can’t see his fists are clenched, Donnie says, “You wanted to win that bad, Mike?”

He can’t stop seeing the speeding cars; the smear of headlights in the dark; Mikey weaving his way across the lanes, his figure tiny and almost indistinguishable from the rooftop where Don was watching.

Donnie’s remarkable imagination provided the additional details: the way displaced air would have sucked at Mikey’s clothes at each near miss. The sting of the hot asphalt under his feet. The passing lights lighting up his face in fits and bursts, for seconds at a time, and maybe something distracted him—maybe there was a piece of glass or metal on the road and it cut him or he tripped—maybe a reckless driver merged lanes without warning—maybe, maybe, maybe one of a hundred things happened and Mikey was captured or maimed or killed, ripped away from his family because of a stupid, needless risk he took during a game.  

They’ve been dragged through war, outer space, time travel. They’ve all been hurt before, in big ways and small ones. It's just. It’s different this time, because it was a game.

Maybe Donnie should be angry at Casey for enabling this behavior. Casey may not be their brother by blood but he’s their brother by every other known metric science has to offer and he should have dragged Mikey off the expressway by the hood of his stupid pink sweatshirt and lit into him for being so reckless the way Leo, April, Raph and Donnie all would have.

But Casey has his own reasons for doing what he does—a dead mom, an alcoholic father, a little sister CPS took away—and if he were a regular, neurotypical, well-adjusted teenager, he never would have put on his painted mask in the first place. He never would have fallen into Donnie’s family.

Casey would have been the one to run into traffic if Mikey hadn't beaten him to it.

Like recognizes like. That’s why they were thrilled to be on each other’s team. They’re both chasing something. They both have too much going on inside their heads to ever just be still.

And Mikey is always all smiles, always the first to offer his siblings a hug or a shoulder to lean on or a safe place to hide from the rest of the world and something sweet to eat in the meantime. Mikey, who hasn’t cried in front of his brothers once since the night their father died, who hasn’t come into Donnie’s lab after a nightmare in even longer than that. He smiles and plays and supports everyone and gives them reasons to run and shout and vent frustrations and groan in exasperation and laugh until they get sick.

No one has to ask the sun to shine, it just does that. And it will until it runs out of fuel, some five billion years from now. The star death was always going to be inevitable. Constant output, finite resources. Nuclear fusion that will hopefully last for as long as it needs to, but not forever.

The sun will get tired one day, and then it’s not going to shine anymore.

“Dee?” Mikey says loudly, in a tone that makes it sound like he’s been saying it over and over. Donnie blinks and he’s back in the kitchen, and Mikey is in front of him, more than a bit confused, more than a bit worried, but here and safe and whole.

Not even a scratch. If Don hadn’t seen it, he never would have known it happened.

He unfolds his arms and opens them. He doesn’t need to say anything for his little twin to spring forward, their plastrons colliding with a solid knock that would have winded a human person. The counters are clean but Mikey is still covered in flour and so Don is covered in flour now, too, and it’s wafting to the floor in tiny cloudbursts every time they move.

It’s the kind of mess Splinter would have made them stop and clean up. But it’s not hurting anything to let the kitchen be a little messy. And it’s Mikey’s kitchen. It’s the one place in the world where what he says goes.

He winds his smaller arms around Donnie’s shell and squeezes as tight as he can. Smushes his cheek against Don’s shoulder because he isn’t tall enough to hook his chin over it the way he’d probably like to. He’s warm and he smells like butter and baked bread and summer and boy. He’s survived every single thing he’s ever done.

Donnie closes his eyes and tries to replace the lights he can still see on the freeway with the ones here at home.  

“Can I be on your team next time?” he says.

“Hell yeah, let’s do it,” Mikey agrees instantly. His voice is shaped so much like a toothy grin that Don can see it without looking. Mike doesn’t even know why he’s promising it, just that Donnie needs him to. “We’ll do a clean sweep, nobody’ll know what hit ‘em. B Team’s the Best Team, baby!”

He’s everything warm and light and safe about Donnie’s whole world, and he doesn’t seem to understand how dark every day would be without him. He doesn’t know what he would be taking from his family if he took himself away.

Donatello’s other siblings are self-destructive in obvious ways. Michelangelo, who is loud and obnoxious and has never known a secret he could keep for longer than a day, is somehow more subtle about it.

But now Donnie sees it. He knows what to look for.

[ohhophelie]

ORIGINS & FAMILY:

Name: Ophélie Evangeline Redgrave

Nickname: O, Fee

Birthday: 31 July 1992

Age: 28

Gender: Female.

Place of Birth: London, United Kingdom

Places Lived Since: London, United Kingdom; Saint-Malo, Ille-et-Vilaine, France

Current Residence: Kensington, London, United Kingdom

Nationality: British & French

Parents: Lambert & Sérephine Redgrave, née Callac

Grandparents: Harold Redgrave (grandfather, paternal, deceased)  Hélène de Broglie (grandmother, paternal, deceased) Aurélien Callac (grandfather, maternal) Ophélie Hervé (grandmother, maternal)

Aunts & Uncles: Charlotte, Georgina Redgrave (aunts, paternal) Anita Acton (aunt, paternal)

Number of Siblings: Three brothers; Sébastian Redgrave (38), Arnaud Redgrave (36), Gaël Redgrave (32)

Relationship With Family: Ophélie is closest to Gaël, her other two brothers see her mostly as the family fuck up although they all feel somewhat protective of her as the youngest. This was particularly meaningful during the wild years of her teens when an attention starved Ophélie might find herself in places or situations she was likely too young for, they were mostly all still at home and willing to come collect her from wherever and keep her secrets from their parents. Her father has always been distant, she sometimes fears he’d rather forget she existed. Her mother is overbearing and critical - after three boys she thought Ophélie was at long last the daughter who’d belong only to her, a little doll to shape as she wished. She was very wrong.

Happiest Memory: The freedom and acceptance she finally found in university, the Christmas and New Years she spent with Gaël in New York when spent a year at NYU.  

Childhood Trauma: oh boy - see this answer HERE

PHYSICAL:

Height: 5'4”

Weight: 110lbs.

Build: Slim - some might say too skinny

Hair Color: Blonde.

Usual Hair Style: loose curls, a careless, practiced ease. Sometimes she wears it up if she's bored enough, high ponytail when she runs

Eye Color: Blue.

Glasses? Contacts?: Neither.

Style of Dress/Typical Outfit(s): Expensive as fuck - if she had to choose a ‘style’ it would be classic. She isn’t conservative in the least bit, but she also isn’t one to go into more out there fashions - that is Gaël lane. She tends to favor dresses and skirts and more feminine looks. Ophélie caught in jeans is a very rare Ophélie. When she is home alone she is usually wearing a thin robe or some form of lingerie/pjs  

Typical Style of Shoes: Ophélie does not like to wear shoes. However, given that going barefoot is usually frowned upon in society, she can usually be found in heels that match whatever she may be wearing. If she is very close with someone she will take her shoes off the moment she enters their home, and at her own flat can always be found barefoot.

Jewellery? Tattoos? Piercings?: She has both of her earlobes pierced, as expected. At one point she had a cartilage piercing, but she long ago forgot to keep it open. Unbeknownst to her mother and most of her family, she has both of her nipples pierced. Ophélie will say to anyone who knows that these are her favorite piercings. She has a tattoo of a scorpion on the nape of her neck. Everyday jewellery includes a heavy men’s watch that belonged to her grandfather, whatever earrings she fancies on any given day, as well as rings. The one ring she wears at all times is made up of three interlocking circles - when she is anxious or focusing on something Ophélie spins this around her finger.

Scars: She has a scar on her shin from falling off a horse as a child. The most recent additions include a thin line across her chest/sternum and a nearly perfect large C in the center of her back - she plans on adjusting that soon.

Unique Mannerisms/Physical Habits: When she is focusing, Ophélie will twist her ring around her finger. She has the tendency to curl her hands into fists and dig her nails into her palms. She also chews on her bottom lip, which has caused a significant investment in longwear lipstick.

Athleticism: Ophélie grew up playing tennis with her brother Gaël and got into running in her teens. She never does any actual races mostly because she couldn’t be bothered and also way too many people near her. It’s mostly a way for her to focus her own mind/punish her body.

Health Problems/Illnesses: She absolutely has an eating disorder from the unrealistic expectations of her mother when she was growing up. It is something she has struggled with most of her life that her friends are likely unaware of. Ophélie also has undiagnosed ADHD, PTSD, addiction issues that are yet to be explored.

INTELLECT:

Level of Education: BSc in Politics and Philosophy from LSE - it wasn’t exactly what she wanted to study but a compromise that got her parents off her back. If possible she’d want to go back to school for linguistics or art history.

Languages Spoken: English & French natively, Spanish fluently. Functionally fluent in Italian, a lingering understanding of Latin from prep school. She has a very good ear for languages and dialects and can pick them up quickly.

Level of Self-Esteem: Fluctuates between “I hate myself I’m such a bitch” and “I love myself I’m such a bitch.” No in between.

Gifts/Talents: Very good at languages and remembering things she’s heard if she cares enough to focus, weirdly good at crossword puzzles if she has the patience, has the ability to come off as unthreatening and use it to manipulate people.

Mathematical?: Hell no, she absolutely cheated her way through math and she is not at all sorry about it.

Makes Decisions Based Mostly On Emotions, or On Logic?: Emotions, particularly whims. She does have a vindictive streak and while that is based on emotions she can adapt logic to her purposes is.

Life Philosophy: live fast die young bad girls do it well. No joking, she doesn’t really have one or doesn’t like to consider it, but if we had to define it, somewhere along the lines of ‘never let them see you cry’ IDK TBD

Religious Stance: Was raised Anglican, not really about it. Enjoys the art and melodrama of the catholic church.

Cautious or Daring?: Daring, boarding on reckless, she has the arrogant privilege of the very wealthy, that they are untouchable and almost immortal.

Most Sensitive About/Vulnerable To: Her mother, people trying to lessen her or force her to be something she is not, her eating disorder/body image

Optimist or Pessimist?: says she's an optimist, mostly because she doesn’t let herself project any other way; deep down is def a pessimist mostly out of self preservation and years of building up armor

Extrovert or Introvert?: Extrovert.

RELATIONSHIPS:

Current Relationship Status: fucking her way through the french bros/leadership

Sexual Orientation: bisexual in that she is attracted to all beautiful women and men who are older, dangerous, and low key damaged.

Past Relationships: Only real/serious relationship was with Charles Jameson (alexa play champagne problems by taylor swift)

Primary Reason For Being Broken Up With: being caught cheating whoops

Primary Reasons For Breaking Up With People: boredom, afraid of getting to close

Ever Cheated?: yep, and if not for the way he reacted she might actually feel guilty about it.

Been Cheated On: not that she knows of

Level of Sexual Experience: very high and no she will not be slutshamed thank you very much

Story of First Kiss: A boy she met while staying with her grandmother in France. She was 11 and kissed him on a dare.

Story of Loss of Virginity: She’d just turned 14 but told him she was older, it was mediocre at best but she loved the rush of power she felt when she turned him down the next time.

A Social Person?: Very - she literally wouldn’t be able to do her job so well if she wasn’t. Plus shes a slut for attention and once you cross the threshold between casual friends and very close friends - she’s loyal as fuck.

Most Comfortable Around: Paul for sure, although she feels safe and comfortable with most of the frenchies she knows well - Noa, Laurent, Guillaume, Delphine, Sofie - its Paul she goes to first, her ride or die bitch. Outside of the French she feels comfortable around Spencer, shockingly, and within the family it's only Gaël who she feels she can even be remotely herself around.

Oldest Friend: Camilla Berkeley, her brother Gaël. Most of the people she knew through grade school and her teens she grew bored of or dropped for Paul and the French.

How Does She Think Others Perceive Her?: Dancing right on the knife’s edge between hot and hot mess; a fuck up; shallow and vain. For those who know her well she often fears they think she might be stupid or reckless, not as devoted as she actually is.

How Do Others Actually Perceive Her?: Literally dancing right on the knife’s edge between hot and hot mess. Those closest to her often think she’s smarter than she herself does, hopefully they also value and recognize her deep loyalty. All should think she's a great time.

SECRETS:

Life Goals: To be happy and find something and someone that makes her happy.

Dreams: That she will stop letting the negligence and cruelty of her parents - mostly mother, hurt her. That she will matter to someone, be loved and wanted for exactly who she is and not who they think she should be or who she pretends to be.

Greatest Fears: Being abandoned by those she loves,  being hurt by those who should care for her, never being seen for who she is. Horses - she had a bad fall as a child and doesn’t trust them.

Most Ashamed Of: The walls she builds out of self preservation, lying to her brother when he only wants to help her.

Secret Hobbies: Puzzles - the more pieces and complex the better. It isn’t really that much of a secret because there is usually one in progress on the unused dining room table. Collecting first editions of her favorite books - it's a secret because she is usually too impatient to find a better deal or negotiate and will literally pay whatever the seller asks for it, usually above what it is worth.

Crimes Committed (Was she caught? Charged?): She has never been caught or charged, but possession with intent to distribute multiple illegal drugs, selling said drugs for organized crime. There was also that one time that she may or may not have led a man to his death, which although she has done her best to block this memory, would likely make her an accessory to murder.

DETAILS/QUIRKS:

Night Owl or Early Bird?: Both really,  but that's the insomnia and stimulant usage.

Light or Heavy Sleeper?: light sleeper when she’s alone, heavy if she’s sleeping with someone she trusts

Favorite Animal: penguins

Favorite Foods: strawberries, champagne,

Least Favorite Food: anything mint

Favorite Book: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Least Favorite Book: any of the myriad of self help books well meaning psychiatrists have suggested

Favorite Movie: Heathers, Jurassic Park  

Least Favorite Movie: emotional porn - aka any movie specifically designed to make you cry without any profound or complicated themes other than ‘life is short’

Favorite Song: Kyoto by Phoebe Bridgers

Favorite Sport: she’s a tennis bitch for sure

Coffee or Tea?: coffee although she does like tea

Crunchy or Smooth Peanut Butter?: Ophélie is allergic to peanuts rip  

Type of Car She Drives: lol no one let this bitch drive

Lefty or Righty?: Left

Favorite Color: the champagne sheer of the sun pushing through the curtains in an early morning, baby pink of her favorite peonies, rich red velvet of box seats at the opera, the soft golden grey of art museum marble floors.

Cusser?: Yep - but controls it around her family because she doesn't have the patience or stamina for the lecture/scandal it would cause her mother.

Smoker? Drinker? Drug User?: Never smokes, drinks pretty often, regular cocaine use since her teens, a more recent venture into pills.

Biggest Regret: Letting it go on so long with Charles, the fact that she still lets her mother’s cruelty hurt her, not going to school for what she actually was interested in.

Pets: two italian greyhounds named Pogo & Banana

[warfear]

WHAT’S GOOD, PARTY PEOPLE ?     the name’s mads :    twenty - four summers young, in love with cj from dawn of the dead (2004), mortal enemies with amc’s the walking dead and so very excited to be here. thus, without further ado, below the cut you’ll find the basics—the general gist—about my horrible, poorly written bastard children. 

trigger warnings for : cancer, death, kidnapping, abuse and assault !!

APOLSKIS, JULIAN      —      twenty-four, comic store clerk.

BASICS :     born in seattle, julian moved to fort elms when he was a whooping eleven years old. why, you don’t ask. well, because he got diagnosed with a gnarly case osteosarcoma and his father took ONE LOOK at that hospital bill and vanished into thin air, that’s why ! so, mommy dearest took her kids and skipped town as well. for less horrible reasons, of course. since then, his cancer has came and went and came back again. until finally it went for the last time, taking his leg with it as it did. he’s cancer free now ! three years and counting. we do love that for him … depressing facts aside, he’s in a punk rock band because we gotta Stick It To The Man. they suck but he’s decent on the drums and that’s all that matters. him. yeah, he’s a bit of a prick. a lovable prick. loves to play the devil’s advocate and hates talking about his feelings because ~ romantic trauma ~. but other than that, a decent guy, alright ! put some respect to his name. 

WANTED CONNECTIONS … 

ex - girlfriend :     bringer of trauma … she was his second ever girlfriend and their relationship was good, okay ! lasted almost two years. and then, without warning, she dumped him, THROUGH A NOTE. left without a word and that was that. a big bitch move, i’d say. 

mother :     the best mom there is ! worked three jobs to support her family after the deadbeat left, and is overall the best person juli knows and will ever know. she’s a second generation polish immigrant and very insistent on julian retaining his jewish heritage. pops was christian, so … gross. 

father :     not much to say about this bastard except he hasn’t spoken to his own children in thirteen years. not as much as a birthday card ! who knows where he is now. we’d like for him to be dead in a ditch but odds are he has a new family. i’d love for julian to knock him out, please hit me up for that. 

hospital buddies :     like i said, he spent most of his childhood in a hospital. so he must’ve made at least one friend there. they can be a teenager, they can be a senior citizen — as long as their friendship was thrust onto julian by sheer proximity and boredom. he’s obviously well now but i’d like for him to have a sliver of his past life close. 

DIMEO, BRANDON      —      thirty-five, mall cop.

BASICS :     very italian. a walking italian stereotype, really. his family is huge and he’s close with them all. too close. i’m talking yearly hunting trips, weekly family dinners, and a mother who still does his laundry. which means, yes, he’s a momma’s boy. a bit of a scrub, if you will. flopped out of the police academy in his early twenties, as he’d almost done high school, and settled for acting cop at the local mall. he’s a bit of a dumbass, and by a bit i mean a lot. unintelligent to the point where he can’t do basic math. emotionally unintelligent to the point where he can’t have a long - term relationship. we do love that. also a big fan of the charlie’s angels television series, AS HE SHOULD BE. he’d be an angel of charlie’s if he could be …

WANTED CONNECTIONS …

ex - girlfriend :     i’m talking first and only. probably didn’t get together until his mid - late twenties, and didn’t last that long either. probably had issues with his weird relationship with his mother, probably didn’t appreciate that he couldn’t clean his own house, probably wanted a man and not a little boy. she definitely dumped him. oh, well.

family :     he has A LOT. two parents ( i was gonna say obvi but is it obvi, i don’t think so. check yourself @ me ) and three brothers … but he’s the baby of the family, physically and mentally. i feel for his mother. i’d love for him to have a kid cousin, though. like one girl ( except his mommy ) he treats well. it’d be cute, shut up.

friends with benefits :     pretty self - explanatory. no strings attached, no commitment, no expectations … it’s all poor donnie here can muster in life. so do give it to him, please and thank. 

broskis :     he needs friends ! who aren’t other mall cops ( sorry egg take it up with HR ) … maybe dudes he’s known since high school, his OG home - boys. either to enable his antics or to call him out on his shit. i’ll take anything for brodawg over here. 

KINNEY, SAWYER      —      twenty-two, vet student.

BASICS :     god’s favorite. just kidding … i don’t think her love for him is much reciprocated. first dropped off as an infant @ the local church’s doorstep, then adopted. all is well ! no, her adoptive parents die in a car crash thirteen years later. she was there, too. sole survivor … even her baby brother passing away in the accident. shit’s tough, my dudes. she still has her older siblings, but who cares about them. was diagnosed with epilepsy shortly after ( she hates it, thanks ) and now lives with a disorder to remind her even more of the event. BIG YIKE LET’S MOVE ON … she’s a ray of sunshine ! loves animals and soccer to death. a social butterfly with no concept of personal space. insistent on not minding her business, plagued by a constant need to be liked by EVERYONE. book smart, emotionally intelligent … yet a whole dumbass. we love to see it.

WANTED CONNECTIONS …

cousins :     fun tidbit, after her parent’s death she moved in with her uncle and his children. so, give me those very children ! her siblings are both older than herself and i’m dying for some same - aged partners in crime here. who played soccer with her after school ? who tried beer with her for the very first time ? i am WAITING.

soccer pals :     captain of the local girl’s soccer team, since seventeen baby, sawyer’s in dire need of her soccer pals. y’all ever see the netflix original girls with balls ? yeah, me neither, but that could still be them versus the zombies. they’re all so close and athletic i NEED them to team up against the undead.

toxic church friends :     i’m not calling christianity toxic … i’m calling white church going pinterest loving bitches toxic. i just think it’d be neat for her to have people from that part of her life really pushing this ~ religious agenda ~ onto her further. you know, shaming everything that she does. WHY NOT ! can’t think of a single reason why not, actually.

someone to get under :     look … last year she got DUMPED by her boyfriend. it was rude as hell ! you don’t need to know his reason, okay … she did no wrong, mind your business … either way, give me SOMEONE ELSE for her to focus on so she can finally get over that skinny motherfucker. it doesn’t have to be reciprocated AT ALL, homies. she can thirst from afar … as long as her attention is redirected from ex - boyfriend to wow - possible - boyfriend. ja feel me ? cool.

OSWALT, KEVIN      —      twenty-one, waitress.

BASICS :     born in fort elms as rowan blake, this teensy bitch had a good life going. two parents, three older siblings, one cool ass dog… you get the gist. but all things must come to an end, no ? so, when rowan here was five years old, she was approached by a teenage girl by the name ryan, and booboo the fool as she was, rowan followed this older, much cooler girl right into a stranger’s car… and then rowan was no more ! she spent the next year thirteen years of her life as kevin oswalt, living with her new sister and new mother — creepily nicknamed mama. to say her life with the oswalt’s was good would be… well, it’d be a lie. because kevin wasn’t the first kid they ‘napped, and neither was she the last. lets just say that house was a shit - fest and we should be glad she managed to run away at the tender age of seventeen. by sheer luck, she wound up back in fort elms and by even more luck, she managed to get an education and graduate. unrealistic ? take it up with 2016 me. other than that super fun backstory, kevin’s baby. she likes books  ( always has, though it was her only form of entertainment for a good chunk of her life there )  and she likes french fries. she’s still discovering the world around her, even if she has been out and about for about four - ish years now. so if she’s a BIT NAIVE, then excuse her…

WANTED CONNECTIONS …

ex - boyfriend :     not to go into too many details but kev’s introduction to the dating scene was less than ideal… barely legal and kept under wraps for A YEAR. it sucked, okay. not a good first experience, IN MY OPINION. kevin has another but she’s stupid. EITHER WAY, that left her kinda fucked - up when it comes to relationships. so, when she started dating her other ex circa summer 2017, she was pretty not - that - into - him. sorry we can’t all be over our 30 year old boyfriends… she never even said those three little words and them bitches dated for a year. TRAGIQUE.

brother :     tragically, throughout the years, kevin’s brother is the single family member not picked up and that’s just… fucked, if you ask me. either way — his name is marcus blake but you can change his first to whatever ! he’s the sibling she was closest to as a wee bairn, alright. and i need him here… even if he wouldn’t know her as his sister anymore, but seeing as kev has managed to weasel her way into the blake family through mother and sisters REGARDLESS if anybody remembers or not, i’d say they’d cross paths anyway. oh, and he’s in a band… which isn’t to say juli’s, i mean it could be, but that’s not what i’m saying… anyways, that’s all.

bad influence :     kevin’s too nice. and i don’t like it. so, please, pretty please, give me a plot of pure mayhem. somebody less outwardly chaotic than pippa but more scheming, and maybe capable of convincing kevin to grow a spine. think penelope and josie in legacies… but not gay. i mean, it COULD be gay. i’m not saying it HAS to be gay… mind your business.

victim by proxy :     okay, hear me out… the oswalts are crazy people, and although kevin would like to be excluded from that narrative, she simply cannot. so, consider giving me somebody with some sort of connection to the kiddos missing  ( alternatively : to the man she shanked… girls, ya gotta read her bio, i’m not exposing her further :see_no_evil: )  so kevin’s guilt can just SKYROCKET. that’s fun, right ? make friends with some poor bitch who’s little bro went missing, knowing full well what happened… sickening, kev, get help.

ROSILIO, ODETTE      —      thirty-five, florist.

BASICS :     flaky defined. dropped out of high school, dropped out of california, dropped out of her own wedding … i mean, the list goes on. originally from mexicali, mexico odette moved to chino, california at the ripe age of five. her mother then proceeded to lose custody six years later. * that one vine vc * WAY TO GO, PAUL ! in and out of foster care since, eventually choosing to stay out for the remainder of her teens. until she got herself knocked up ( not by choice but ait ) and was forced to move back in with mommy … but hey, it all turned out fine in the end ! and when her daughter was four years old, she dipped forever. she’s since been living all over the states, only moving to fort elms five - ish years ago. and has indeed stayed put since. even if she did manage to pull a runaway bride. a bit of a bitch move, but at least she’s consistent. ish. because she’s not a bitch, okay, she’s simply … out of fucks to offer the world. can i get an amen. 

WANTED CONNECTIONS …

ex - fiancé :     like i said … left at the altar, that’s gotta knock you down a peg. or two. but she didn’t mean to stomp on his balls like that. in fact, they were very much in love at one point. dated for about two years until marriage was brought up and well, cold feet took over. and there’s no coming back from being a no show at your own wedding, is there. so that was that. marriage over before it even started. they didn’t get much of closure but that’s life for you.

mother :     a horrible mother, plain and simple. she was in and out of jail when odette was in her custody, mostly due to drug related charges which was … not cute, girlie was like eight years old. though who knows, maybe she’s cleaned up her act, and maybe she’s ready to get back in her daughter’s life. or maybe she’s just looking for money … either way, get miss marisa to washington !

employees :     i want … snotty teens, or early twenties bitches that she’ll have to manage. she’s had it with her own daughter, why not add more children for her to boss around. that, or somebody at work who she doesn’t wanna clock. an ally amongst the flowers. 

chino friends :     odette did indeed spend her early to mid teens on the streets and she must’ve made some friends along the way except for kai ( here’s your one mention of the simp @ salem ) … either some bad influences or some good ones. y’all ever seen the movie thirteen ? exactly like that. give me some blasts from the past to bring out the old odette.

[zora-moyashi]

First

Prev         Next

Core

Shine made a star and tossed it at the creature, it exploded, making the creature fall onto it's back. Shade ran out to try and finish it when a much, much larger version of the bird flew down to protect it's young.

 ZM

"whoop, that's bad news." with indigo magic she got to shade quickly and pulled him out of the way just as the mom bird was about to close it's beak around him. with the sudden stop of motion shade was flung away from chara a bit and hits a tree as he's not used to that. "what a pretty bird~"

"the baby was kinda ugly but that grown up is majestic." her eyes sparkle. 

  Core

(this is mom)

 ZM

(hi mom~)

Core

Shade got to his feet, Shine ducked back to the bushes. Shade growled

(this is baby)

ZM

(k i take it back, the baby's not ugly lol he looks like a good boi) "shade, this is what we call a tactical error haha! ideas?" she watches the birds carefully as the mom starts to come over to them

Core

The mother kept her young underneath her, as she screeched at them, Shine blindly threw a star, it going in the bird's mouth,

ZM

it explodes in her mouth and the bird falls to the ground. unclear if the shock made it pass out or if it blew her brains out. chara whistles. "nice throw shine" she goes over not caring about the baby that much.

Core

The mother swung her head, hitting Chara, part of the mother's beak had blown off

ZM

she is hit away but lands on her feet. "well that's no way to live, with that you'll starve to death. now we haveta kill you" she makes a knife and throws it into the wound worsening the crack.

Core

The bird screeched, Shade ran in, sinking his fangs into the birds neck

ZM

chara jumped up and lands on the bird's head she made a heavy mallet way bigger than herself and slammed it down into it's forehead.

Core

The mother fell, dead.

ZM

she pats her hands on her shorts as the mallet disappears and leaves residue on them "cool. the baby's yours you two." she hops down and cartwheels happily as her lv goes higher

Core

Shine looked at the baby, "I'm sorry." She said, Shade struggled getting out of under the mother

ZM

she lays on the ground watching a little bit warn out.

Core

Shade got out from underneath. Shine nuzzled the baby

ZM

"shine, we're not making friends here. you just helped to kill it's mother. it hates you."

Core

"B-But I d-d-idn't mean to.... I thought we were still playing."

ZM

"no, not right now."

Core

Shine looked at the baby. "I'm gonna keep him."

ZM

chara chokes on her spit. "excuse me??? " she sits up. "how do you expect to feed it or just take care of it in general???"

Core

"I dunno, But he is mine now." She said hugging the baby's neck.

ZM

"shade. talk sense into your sister. now."

Core

"If you can think of a name then you c-"

"skink." Shine said

ZM

she goes over to them. "no." she glares

Core

"I named him, I can keep him now." Shine said. Shade just shrugged.

ZM

"i hate to always be the 'bad guy' but." she goes over to the baby ready to slash and kill it.

Core

Shade formed his shield

Skink fluttered his wings, unable to fly yet

ZM

"haha. yeah sure shade. that's not going to stop me." she glances to shine to see if she'll do something to save her bird.

Core

"E-easy Skink." She calmed the bird

ZM

"no pets aloud unless you know what the hell they are." she makes a sword and hits shade's shield pushing him back a bit.

Core

Shade dug his feet into the dirt, pushing back. "Skink is skink, there!" "Actually they are called banshees." A voice said.

ZM

chara pushes shade away and almost cracks his shield as the green from gradient's soul shines through the sword for a second. shade falls against the bird. "who's there?" she looks around

Core

She saw a star in one of the giant trees. She had turquoise hair, a pair of white feathered wings and a tan scarf around her next. (achievement unlocked: Find Ink)

ZM

(haha yay!) she recognizes her as vanta looked like her before. "are you ink?" she turns to her.

Core

"That is correct, miss Dreemurr

ZM

she cringes at the name. "you're a hard one to find. what brings you here." she glares back at shine as to tell her to kill the damn bird.

Core

Shine shook her head no. "I made this world, I might as well stay in it." Ink responded, her eyes glowing as the mother healed

ZM

she shakes her head as the bird heals

shade uncovers his arm and sees it's seared were chara hit. he touches it gingerly and it's plenty painful

Core

Shade hissed at this burn, Shine looks at it

"Well, the two are just kits, and you expect them to deal with a full grown leonoptryx, you've caused so much damage and expect everyone else to follow the rules? Rather naive if you want my opinion."

  ZM

(hehe)"yoooo, i've not broken any rules yet! what are you on about?" chara sneers. i didn't expect them to take down the mom! just the kid! we're training."

Core

"You don't think traveling to different alternate timelines, causing damage and trauma is breaking the rules?" Ink asked, "And as for training, there are much better opponents for kits their age."

ZM

"i'd say not! hey, i'm not messing with code. i just have some powerful 'friends'. and what do you expect them to do? they won't brawl and everyone that would help is on a much higher level than them."

she goes over to the mom and watches as it's beak reforms

Core

Ink's eyes glowed as the mother picked up her young and flew off. "a bone general would be a good start." She said as a skeleton with blue armor and a sword formed. Shine started crying because Skink was gone

ZM

chara hates the sound of crying and holds one ear. "shine please, your bird is better off with it's mom." chara climbs up to where ink is. "so you have kits?"

Core

"That is none of your concern." Ink said, making a smaller version of skink, one the size of a house cat, to get Shine to stop crying

ZM

"one: would you stop spoiling my kits, two: one of your kits destroys the universe so it is my concern. three: who the hell is the other parent. or did you just poof them to existence like that little monster down there?"

Core

"one; I am not spoiling them. Two, Gradient is not technically my kit. Three, I cannot reproduce, so I simply create." Ink said, watching as Shade used his arm-blade against the monster, which blocked with it's shield

ZM

"whatever. you still made her. who are her siblings?" she asks more like a demand.

Core

(she's a lot different than the original, huh?) "I created Fallacy for Gradient to bond to, kits need something to bond with, normally it is the mother, if the mother is unable to care for them, a sibling should suffice, if the kit thinks the sibling could leave at any time, or sees that kit retreat to their core, they will try to quickly find something else to bond with, in your case, the male is bonded with the female, and the female to the banshee. Which tells me the male kit has had to retreat to his core, correct?"

ZM

"woah. that's fkn weird." she kicks her feet around. "well yeah you're right, but he was only out for like... 5 minutes."

Core

"Doesn't matter, that trust can break within seconds, you want to keep them stable, keep those bonds."

ZM

(oh and yeah she sure is different than other ink, it's kinda jarring haha) "yuck"

"i don't want to be a parent."

"kay fine, say i only need one, and i have it bond to me or shatter. that'd work fine right?"

Core

"Then you shouldn't have started your plan, and as for your question, the more bonds that are broken, the less likely they are to bond again, which would lead to aggressive or possible feral behavior." Ink explained as Shade dusted the monster

ZM

"excuse me a second." she hops a ways a way and starts swearing continuously at the top of her lungs followed by a frustrated yell. she slowly makes her way back with the kits looking at her like she's lost it. "cheating would be a lot easier." She says to ink

Core

"But there is no fun in a game with out a challenge." Ink said, spawning a purple spirit monster for Shine to fight against.

ZM 

(okay, also shimp chara)

"by this point i just want to win."

Core

"The longer you wait however, the sweeter the victory." Ink said, watching Shine

ZM

"i wanna live my days at the top of the world with no one to stop me"

"not, getting there."

Core

Then you should have stayed in your world, you had a choice, you decided to enter ours, so now you have to play the game."

ZM

she mutters "i wouldn't really call it a choice." she looks at ink "is it worth it to go with my plan even if i somehow loose and am trapped to serve one of those kids forever?"

Core

"Well that depends, my creator seeks to impress yours, so she may try to show off, if you will. With that in mind, she will make the game much more complex, enough so that logic doesn't apply, chances are however, she'll kill off her own creations like she normally does." Ink explained, as Shine defeated the ghost

ZM

"woah, you talk to the creators? crazy. be that as it may i suppose i'll just have to keep up my determination hm?" she looks over to shine who got an lv. a little confused how all the sudden she's not bonded with shade. she couldn't imagine that happening with her and asriel.

Core

Shine smiled, snuggling Skink

ZM

"well ink, i think gradient wanted to meet you? maybe i'm wrong but you should go check on her either way." she hops down from the tree.

Core

"I have no interest in meeting a variant, if you so desire, I can watch these two."

ZM

she thinks that over. “why would you do that for me? i'm just some random chara you know."

Core

"Is it that absurd to also be intrigued by your little game?" Ink replied coldly.

ZM

she's silent for a second studying her response. "know what? i don't like you. so that's a no." she turns on her heel and goes to the kits. she checks them both including their lv.

Core

Shade was at level 15, Shine at 12

"not too shabby in all honesty, assumptions are being made but can a star's lv be maxed out? perhaps at 100?" she asks them

Core

"No, it can go higher, though it takes much, much longer." Ink explained.

ZM

"hmm i see," she checks her own soul that's only on 10 at this point. she puts it away and ushers the kids up and to go back to the bubble. "so ink. don't mess with the kits please, this is a delicate operation and i don't need any distractions."

Core

"I won't, it's more interesting to just watch."

ZM

"i'll hold you to that" she waves her hand through the unstable part of space where the bubble left them and goes back to shatter. tonic looks at chara warily and goes up to them all apparently growing some nerve. tonic sits infront of them. "i only want to help, chara. i am unsure why you dislike me but at least let me be of some use to you when you need?" chara shakes her head "i'm a stubborn mule, just stay out of my way and your precious little feelings wont get hurt." tonic lets out a huff and goes over to the kits despite chara's protest. "what did you two experience out there?" tonic asks

Core

Shine showed Tonic Skink. "I made a new friend!"

Shade looked at Chara with a slight glare

ZM

tonic smiles "aw, it looks very pleasant" tonic was unsure of what it was but it didn't matter that much to them. "is there something wrong shade?"

Core

"They're up to something, but I'm not sure what..." Shade mumbled

ZM

"are you referring to chara?" they cock their head to the side

Core

"Yeah." Shade said sitting down next to Tonic.

Core

Shine was showing Skink to Dusk, who smiled at the bird

ZM

she looks to chara who is chatting with Olympia she mulls over if she should tell him her intentions, or if their loyalties belong more to chara. seeing as chara won't let tonic help they decide to help the kits instead. "um, yes she does have a plan"

Core

'Well, it isn't wise to trust Ink, she tends to look more for herself than others.' Olympia told Chara. "Do you know what it is? If she's going to hurt Shine I need to know." Shade said to Tonic.

ZM

"yes is would involve your sister. she plans to take both of your soulstones and control them after bonding with you. what will you do about it? you'll get yourself killed if you're reckless."

ZM

"no duh," chara says "in all honesty i hope to never see her again, i kinda feel bad for gradient tho"

Core

"We both know that I don't care if I get killed, as long as Shine is safe." Shade said, trying to think of what to do. 'About her, she really shouldn't be here, I'm honestly not sure but something just tells me that she isn't supposed to be alive.' Olympia acknowledged Chara, looking over at Gradient who was talking, or at least trying to talk with a split of Shatter that chara didn't recognize.

ZM

"i see," tonic stays quiet letting him think after a while they start again "perhaps if you get strong enough to fight her that would be the easiest course of action?" chara looks at gradient as well. "well i mean yeah, her whole world was empty, but i just thought she deserves to get another chance at life. you have a bad feeling about her?"

Core

"Maybe," Shade said Olympia nodded. 'Some things are not meant to be.' (Only one of Shatter's splits has her soulstone)

ZM

(hmm which one?) "should we inform shine?" chara folds her arms. "maybe so but i'm not giving up on her just yet."

Core

(The one that is gonna get rid of gradient.) "No, not yet." Shade muttered. Olympia sighed, looking over to gradient and the split Chara didn't know. The split had grey hair and pale, somewhat fogged over eyes, her mouth was sewn shut.

ZM

tonic quiets again, chara doesn't like olympia's tone so she goes over to check on gradient. "hey you two, how's it hanging?"

Core

"o-oh everything is fine." Gradient smiled softly

ZM

"mmhm." not convinced she looks at the split "so whore you? ghost type? dark?"

Core

The split shook her head for both questions, unable to speak

ZM

she pouts a bit, "normal? ground? steel?"

Core

She nodded at normal, she didn't seem to make eye contact either.

ZM

she makes a confused face turning to gradient "why are you hanging out with her of all the people around?"

Core

"She seems t-the least s-scary."

ZM

she takes another look at the split. "yeah okay?" she doesn't get it, in fact this split is giving her the creeps.

Core

The split's mouth was sewn tightly shut, Olympia teleported over. Gradient seemed intimidated by Olympia

ZM

"hi oly," she gives a little wave. tonic speaks up to shade, "we might be able to convince shatter to help us, she's not happy with chara's plan."

Core

"Which one is Shatter?" Shade asked. 'Her name is Scarlett.' Olympia said to Chara

ZM

"okay hey scarlett, i'll ask again, are you messing with gradient? i'm not trusting shatter's opinion on her."

"shatter is all of them combined." she informs

Core

Scarlett shook her head and pointed to her ears, showing she was only listening. "Really? that sounds kinda cool.”

ZM

tonic nods happily "yes it is cool." chara purses her lips, "you don't mind me listening as well?" she asked gradient.

Core

"O-of course n-not." Gradient smiled. "I bet that means they all care about you, huh?"

ZM

tonic scans all the shatter sisters and lightly shrugs, " i have not talked to all of them one on one so i'm unsure." chara smiles back and sits on the ground.

Core

Gradient went back to talking about all sorts of weird plants, called solar lilies. "Why don't you do that?"

ZM

tonic tilts their head. "you wish for me to do that right now?" chara's enjoying the bit of peace for however short she might cut it.

Core

Scarlett started undoing the string that kept her mouth shut. "Sure." Shade shrugged.

ZM

"okay," tonic turns rubbing their face with the back of their hand and goes over to scarlett seeing she's going to start talking.

Core

Scarlett then whispered something to Gradient before starting to sew her mouth shut again. "I'm s-sorry but I c-could just barely hear you..."

ZM

chara's content just sitting there even when tonic trots over sitting by gradient.

Core

(guess what) Gradient soon went back to talking.

ZM

(what what?) tonic's curiosity of what scarlett just said is gnawing at them. she looks at olympia as if asking for an explanation.

Core

(Scarlett used Perish Song) Olympia stayed silent, as if her mind was preoccupied by something else

ZM

(oh lord >:O dang it scarlet. i was so confused for a second i thought parish song was a ghost move but very wrong i am) tonic fidgets with her hands turning to gradient instead "um- what... what did scarlett whisper to you?"

Core

Gradient was about to answer when her eyes went dull and she turned to dust.

ZM

chara jolts up hearing scarlett's lv raise. seeing the pile of dust she hops to her feet and instantly goes for scarlett's neck with her newly formed knife. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!"

Core

Scarlett used protect as a bubble pushed Chara away, keeping Scarlett safe

ZM

tonic looked at the pile with no soulstone to be seen in shock. confused by shatter would do that. chara rubs her nose as she's pushed back as soon as the bubble goes down she goes to stab her in the gut hoping that if scarlett goes for another protect it fails. (gotta go bye(

Core

Scarlett got up and moved so quickly it looked like a blur. she was very fast.

ZM

chara growls in a low register and goes after olympia instead trying to pin her down with magic "what the heck man!? why'd you do it!"

Core

‘I already explained to you why.’ Olympia replied, teleporting

ZM

chara grunts irritated, looking back over to scarlett "well crap oly, why do you let me live here than? get your mind in the right way of thinking cause i 'plan' on destroying this world a lot worse than gradient would have!"

"I don't get you at all!" she whines, tonic is a little confused as well.

Core

‘Actually it’s not, your plan won’t alter the code of the timeline, while Gradient’s presence did.’ Olympia then explained. ‘It’s a matter of stability’

ZM

"ah? hahah moku has other plans, is that another reason why you took me away from nightmare's group?" she turns to face her again. "why is the code where you put the line you're not willing to cross?"

Core

‘Because we have seen what happens when timelines collapse, and it isn’t favorable.’ Olympia explained.

ZM

"pfft, sure." she rubs her head giving up on fighting "well she's dead anyway now not much i can do but reset, i have a feeling you'll get around me somehow and kill her either way."

Core

‘She just can’t stay here, there is already an ion cube here,’ Olympia said.

ZM

"there's a bunch of ion cubes somewhere in the multiverse. but whateverrr," she pauses. " I want to go see killer,"

tonic takes some of gradient's dust and stores it.

Core

Olympia sighed and opened a portal

ZM

"thanks!" she hops through and finds killer still hung against the wall.

Core

Horror was teasing Killer about being stuck

ZM

"hi horror," she goes up to them. "nice to see you're still hanging around killz~"

Core

"Oh f*ck off." Killer hissed before Horror destroyed the wall, freeing Killer

ZM

chara giggles, "ya know it's not nice to try to kill your friends."

Core

"I don't have any friends." Killer hissed, Horror whispered to Chara, "she says that yet she hasn't killed you yet." Horror snickered.

ZM

"i know right?" she whispers back with a grin. "can't fool me, horror's your friend, so are the other's. you'd be a mess without them."

Core

"I literally can

't kill Horror, I've tried." Killer said with a hiss, getting her knife

ZM

"doesn't mean you don't like her!"

Core

"I don't, she's obnoxious, annoying and the only reason she hangs out with me is because I am the only one who tolerates her!" Horror shrugged. "You ain't wrong."

ZM

"hey that sounds like me haha, you like annoying people it seems. there's nothing wrong with enjoying someone's company ya know"

Core

"I don't." Killer hissed, putting the blade in her pocket.

ZM

"actions speak louder than words killz~" noticing her standing down

Core

"Stuff it, the element of surprise is gone." Killer hissed.

ZM

"you're acting like an edgy teenager that's rebelling against your own nature. and granted, i don't know what's really going on in your head, if you hate me or horror or not. but, i do know i still consider you one of my best friends," she shrugs "so here i am."

Core

“That’s really a mistake.” Killer sighed, walking out of the castle

ZM

chara looks to horror wondering what she'll do

Core

Horror shrugged. “Wanna see something cool?”

ZM

"uuuuuuuuhh mayyyybe?" she takes a step back

Core

Horror went to the window and jumped out, hitting the rocks below with a splat

ZM

she looks down at her mangled body "well damn, that looked like it felt good." she climbs out the window and joins horror on the ground poking a mushy area of her mangled body with her foot.

Core

Horror slowly regenerated, her body fixing itself

ZM

"must say, that was indeed cool"

Core

“Told ya.” She said, standing up.

ZM

"yes you did." she hums to herself "yo, so what do you think about LJ?"

Core

“She’s fun.” Horror smiled

ZM

"is she one of your favorites to be around? I don't see you around her much"

Core

“Well she’s unstable sometimes and Nightmare is kinda protective of her.” Horror explained

ZM

"unstable how?" She tilts her head and kicks around the dirt under her finding a rock to pickup

Core

“She’ll get all twitchy and starts to babble stuff, all while laughing.” Horror said

ZM

"fair, I thought you might enjoy her ramblings so I thought I'd ask. but night is indeed protective, hmmm you know what would be fun?" she finds one and picks it up "I wanna get the kits to try and mess with LJ and killz. Maybe change their perceptions on life, It'd be good mental training. Know what? Yeah I'ma do that." She calls for shatter.

Core

Olympia opened a portal, surprising the crap out of Horror

ZM

"heyo~" she hops in the portal and goes up to the kits. "New mission, you two ready?"

Core

"Can I bring Skink? Please? Dusk taught me how to train him!" Shine begged.

ZM

"sure whatever" she's not thrilled but is going to deal with it.

Core

Shine smiled and brought the creature in her arms. Shade glared at Chara before walking

ZM

they go back out to horror "have you met the kids? they were dream's" she asks

Core

"Are you gonna eat them?" Horror asked, acting like the kits were fries and not living things

ZM

"hahah nah, and you don't get to eat them either."

Core

Horror raised a brow, "Is this supposed to be a joke?"

ZM

"nope, what do you mean by that?"

Core

"If you aren't gonna eat them, I am." Horror said, "They're food, food is for eating."

ZM

"ahem, no, they aren't food, do you consider yourself food? they're just like you ya know"

Core

"They're an easy meal, genocides are opportunists eaters, I am not one who is gonna pass up a meal." Horror crossed her arms

ZM

"haha, you totally ignored my question, but ey," she shrugs. "point is, touch them and your gonna die a thousand times over. there's plenty of meat around for you without these two."

Core

Horror growled slightly tapping her foot. "I think I know why Killer doesn't like you, you're no fun..."

ZM

"pffffff think what you want hon. do you wantta join us messing with LJ and killer or not?" she folds her arms

Core

"Yeah, yeah." Horror rolled her eye

ZM

"kay," she looks back at the portal which is now closed. she starts walking to the broken city with the kits "you guys wanna race?" she looks over at them.

Core

Shine nodded happily. Shade shrugged

ZM

"sweet," she stretches a little and coats her feet in indigo doing the same to the kids. "ready? "

Core

Shade looked at his feet in confusion, Shine nodded happily

ZM

"go!" she heads off quickly assuming the kits to have a hard time getting adjusted as she moves backwards to watch them.

Core

Shine started moving like a skater, keeping balance, Shade jumped

ZM

chara's pleased with how fast they caught on. they go through the dusty area and are nearing the city. she looks over to see horror wondering what if she is following.

Core

Horror grumbled slightly as she trotted on over

ZM

chara slides across the dirt to stop herself by the clock tower. coughing and waving the dust away.

Core

"Double, double disco queen, heading to the guillotine." She could hear

ZM

she looks around for her

Core

LJ was in the on the roof of a building.

[queen-scribbles]

🖊 for Adi and a bonus 🖊🖊🖊 for three more characters of your choice!

Meant to post this yesterday for Watcher Wednesday, totally forgot bc I was blasting through the prompt fill, WHOOPS. Since I don’t feel like sitting on it for another whole week, here we go.

--

Adi… Adi was a blast to play from the word go, because I made her to be an orlan version of Dagna from Dragon Age, so extremely cheerful, outgoing, sweet, excitable/passionate, and above all CURIOUS. It was so fun. (Also fun: running a party with two wizard who were competing for most times KO’ed bc apparently Aloth’s the only one I won’t swap out if I’m playing the same class :P) But things got real good about halfway through her game, when I went “Hey, I think she has an angst free past. No dead family, like Tavi, or two decades of slavery, like Emiri. She hasn’t really lost anything or whatever, there’s no trauma aside from the Watcher stuff and Awakened soul. Well-adjusted and un-traumatized Watcher, YAY. :D”

 aaaand she sorta cleared her throat and shuffled her feet and went “Welllll, actually, Mom, hate to burst your bubble, ‘cause I know how rare relatively-trauma-free characters are, BUT. I sorta had a massive crush on Heodan, so him dying in front of me would count as trauma.”

Me: “WELL CRAP. *additional grumbling about how OF COURSE she took the fact I like him as an NPC and ran with it to the point MAJOR CRUSH*”

So I incorporated that into her fics from there forward, which really just meant keeping it in mind most of the time, maybe with the occasional vague hint toward it. And then came that weekly prompt for NPC you wish you could save, and Heodan’s right behind Derrin for that one, so since I wound up with time to write two fills, I gave Adi a toehold into an AU where he survives the biawic. Aaaaand that persistent little fluffball never stopped bugging me to make it happen for real. Whole way through her game. And then after her game.”You know you want to” was repeated multiple times. And I did want to. So tbh caving was an inevitability, it was just a matter of how long it would take.And I don’t regret giving her this AU for real OR running an Adela 2.0 game where I made Heodan as a hired adventure so she could actually have him(you do rogues right, man, and WOW. He wound up in the party way longer than I planned bc he was just that good). They’re so sweet and soft, even as friends, and the number of things that happened in the game that just fueled the ship was fantastic. 

I’m gonna use two of the bonus three to gush about her parents, bc they’re pretty cool. They  pulled off the “arranged marriage, but actually fell in love after the fact” trope, because I love it. And I mean genuinely in love, not just “making the best of it”. Voltan and Magda are head over heels for each other. Good thing, too; things aren’t easy for reasons beyond the prejudice orlans face and other typical challenges. Ben comes along within a year/18 months of their wedding, so they don’t get a lot of time with just the two of them to figure out the flow of married life before it’s family life. And Magda miscarries twice between Texatl and Sirra,and then twice more between Tia and Isi(that they know for sure, there was maybe a third one in there that was early enough along she can’t swear she was pregnant, but she’s about 65% sure), and Isi and Zac are both hard enough pregnancies, they decide seven kids is enough. Since most of their orlan neighbors have at least ten children, they do face some scorn for their decision to stop(and societal pressure to reconsider), but they know what they want, and neither wants Magda to risk herself just for the sake of “keeping up”. Isi nearly killed her, so Zac was enough of a risk, and they are genuinely happy with what they have.  They’re very encouraging for whatever skills the kids choose to pursue, though they can’t help but play sliiiiight favorites to Sirra for Voltan and Adi for Magda, bc they follow the same career/passion. They love all of their children, they do, but it’s just easier to form a connection with shared interests, especially since Sirra winds up working with Voltan in his tailor’s shop, so they spend a lot of time together. But the boys and Tia are all encouraged in their pursuits are well, even if there’s not the same level of connection, and, for example, Ben’s cooking gets fought over regularly bc he’s that good and the whole family wants as much as they can get. They always affirm and praise progress and make sure all the kids know they’re proud of them.

And for the last bonus, let’s change canons but keep the theme of Orlans, and talk about Keya(Kind Wayfarer and Badass, healer on call for one Tavi Illani, who needs her… well, a lot). She’s a hired adventurer who only got made bc I had no idea how close I was to picking up Pallegina. /sweats Awesome as she is, I really wish she would give me her backstory, bc she’s told me nothing before meeting Tavi in the Charred Barrel. I know she’s from the Deadfire and likes being called ‘Boss’ when she’s in charge(vs “m’lady’ or ‘ma’am’ or whatever), but that’s it. And I feel like that affects how I write her, makes it harder to nail down her personality, that sort of thing. She’s still a blast, though. 

[news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog]

The one song TV shows always use to make us cry

Every so often while watching television, regardless of the show, the dialogue being exchanged between characters, or the kind of day I'm having, I'll involuntarily burst into tears.

Why? Well, once my eardrums recognize the gentle guitar strums of José González's cover of The Knife's song, "Heartbeats," it's all over. Chills travel throughout my body, a lump forms in the back of my throat, and before you know it my eyes are furiously blinking back tears.

Since the mid 2000's, González's rendition has been used to create some of the greatest music moments on television, effortlessly heightening feelings of grief and emotionally destroying viewers like me.

And though it's been more than ten years since I first heard the song, without fail, I cry every time. So in the sprit of good television and VERY good music, I decided to take a tearful trip down memory lane to look at some of the most heart-breaking "Heartbeats" inclusions.

SEE ALSO: We revisited the trauma of watching sex scenes with our parents for your entertainment

The song, written by Swedish electronic duo The Knife, was released in 2002 as a single off their forthcoming 2003 album Deep Cuts. If you haven't heard the original, it has a very fun and chill electropop feel, and the official music video features a bunch of kaleidoscopic skateboarding, birds, and trains puffing colorful shapes. Not super sad stuff, right?

But when Swedish indie folk artist José González covered the song to include on his debut 2006 album, Veneer, he gave the world a slowed down, soul-altering anthem — a perfect soundtrack to accompany television's most emotionally-charged scenes. 

From babies being welcomed into the world to bittersweet goodbyes, the track's purpose has been extremely versatile over the years. But despite the different scenarios it's accompanied, the song always managed to convey just the right raw and overwhelming sentiments.

Here's a look back at some of the most memorable "Heartbeats" moments since 2006.

A One Tree Hill kiss four years in the making

My first memory of hearing the José Gonzalez cover on television was in a 2006 episode of One Tree Hill titled "Some You Give Away."

It was Season 4 and Tree Hill High School finally won the state championship. The song plays after Nathan Scott takes the dangerous game-winning shot, and before you know it loved ones are embracing on the court in celebration, he and Haley share a passionate kiss, and Brooke and Lucas hug before she asks him the ~ultimate question~. 

“This is a dream come true…so who do you want standing next to you?” Brooke inquires. Next thing you know Lucas ditches Brooke to find Peyton and declare, "It’s you, when all my dreams come true you’re the one I want next to me." Then, as confetti rains down, "Heartbeats" swells in the background and the two share a legendary, long-awaited kiss.

The song also appeared in an episode later in the series (Season 5, Episode 5) as a nod to the emotional Season 4 scene.

Peyton emailed the song to Lucas with the message, "Play this song when you win the championship," and listening to it causes Lucas to come to the realization, "there are more important things than basketball"... aka LOVE. Profound.

Scrubs welcomes a baby boy

It's a big night for J.D. and after getting a pep talk from Dr. Cox he's off to become a father. Despite the anxiety and feeling of unpreparedness he has in the Season 7 episode, when "Heartbeats" plays over a touching montage of people in his life parenting their children, J.D. has an important realization that gives him the courage he needs to make it to the delivery room.

As a classic Zach Braff voiceover says, “I realized parenting is about sacrifice and I had to go in there and be there for my child, even if it meant taking some well-deserved abuse," J.D. is shown sprinting down the hall of the hospital to support Kim as she brings their child into the world. Thank you, "Heartbeats."

This Is Us says farewell to Deja

This Is Us — the drama everyone loves to spend their Tuesday nights sobbing over — had the absolute nerve to include Gonzalez's cover in one of the most moving scenes of the second season.

The moment I heard the song start during the "Number Three" episode, I KNEW we were in for trouble. I promptly tweeted in fear, because the only thing more devastating than watching the Pearson family say goodbye to their foster daughter, Deja, would be watching them say goodbye while simultaneously listening to "Heartbeats."

Hello, This Is Us don't u dare play Heartbeats you absolute villain

— Nicole Gallucci (@nicolemichele5) November 29, 2017

The song begins softly as Deja descends the staircase with her backpack on. She receives a farewell drawing and hugs from her foster sisters Tess and Annie, and Randall is seen signing papers to release Deja into the care of her biological mother, Shauna. Cut to Deja and Shauna embracing, and then, the dreaded moment arrives: It’s time to say goodbye to Beth and Randall.

The song fades a bit as heavy and thoughtful words are exchanged between Deja and her foster parents, but it’s still there, playing softly in the background, gently pushing the emotional moment to reach its maximum, tear-inducing potential.

"I don’t want you to think that... just because I want to go home doesn’t mean I don’t like living with you," Deja says over the music. "I know that. You don’t have to worry about that, I know," Randall replies.

Then, the two HUGGED one of the most powerful damn hugs on television. "Heartbeats" strikes again.

Another supercharged Superstore moment for Amy and Jonah

If you're a fan of Superstore, you know that Amy and Jonah have perhaps the most sexual tension of any coworkers on television. (Sorry, Jim and Pam.) So when we saw them alone at a golf course at night engaging in meaningful conversation, drinking a few beers, and laughing out loud a lot, we knew A Scene™ was on its way.

And wouldn't you know it? Just as Amy took a truly awful swing, completely missing the golf ball, "Heartbeats" arrived to let us know the true intensity of the adorable effing moment that we were about to witness. As the song plays, Jonah pulls a classic flirty move and attempts to teach Amy to play golf by wrapping his arms around her, slowing coaching her with verbal direction, and finally, moving their bodies as one to perfectly putt the ball into the hole. 

While this cute AF moment is going on, Kelly (Jonah's girlfriend) is seen leaving Jonah a voicemail, because WHOOPS turns out he completely forgot about their date since he was too busy celebrating his real soulmate’s expert-level golf game. Ah, the magic of "Heartbeats."

"Heartbeats" always delivers

Over the years the José González cover has been used in movies like Everything, Everything, and a number of other popular television shows, from Bones and 90210, to Brothers & Sisters and The Blacklist.

The original version has been featured on Entourage and Girls, and covered by other artists like Royal Teeth, Ellie Goulding, and even Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran. Tell me this 15-second video doesn't give you CHILLS???

The point is, whether it's an upbeat original or a soulful cover, "Heartbeats" always delivers, and it's decade-plus-long life on screen is a testament to its greatness.

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