#Arin writes

[yellowsweater-bluevest]

“I don’t think I’m straight.”

Steve had reached that conclusion exactly ten seconds before saying it out loud. Laying upside down on the couch of his house with his best friend draping her legs on top of him.

“Is that what you were thinking about?” Robin asked, not lifting her eyes from her book.

“Yeah, it just makes sense.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

Steve hummed thoughtfully. Did he want to talk about it? Was it important enough? Did it change anything?

“I feel the same,” he said. “I thought being gay would feel different.” For a second, Steve was sure Robin would tell him that was a stupid thing to think.

“Are you gay?” Robin asked instead, because she is Robin. She was able to ask something in a judgemental tone without being judgy.

“I'm not straight.” he repeated.

“Pretty sure there are more than two options.” She explained with a joking tone. It was lucky, she thought, that she found a zine hidden in a library when she visited her aunt in Indianapolis.

“How do I know what I am?”

“I don't know, actually,” she said, putting her book down. “I've never seen what the big deal with men is.” Robin explained, crossing her arms. “That's how I knew.”

“I definitely see the big deal with women,” Steve responded simply.

“What about men?”

“I think I always saw the big deal, I just pretended it did not exist.” Steve explained.

“Oh, sweet old denial.” She teased. “How do you feel about this?”

“I would feel better if I had better taste.” Steve deadpanned, causing Robin to laugh and kick him. He slid out of the sofa dramatically to the floor. “Kicking me while I'm most vulnerable, Buckley? I see your game.”

“I have been bidding my time to find your weak spot, Harrington.” Robin joked lightly, jabbing Steve’s legs with her foot. “You will fall, Steven!”

Steve retaliated by pulling her into the floor.

“Look who's falling now?”

“Whatever,” Robin pushed herself to sit upward, sitting on the floor with her back against the sofa. Steve mimicked her with his back against the coffee table. “Who is the guy?” she asked.

“I don't wanna tell you,” Steve whispered, more out of respect for their tradition than anything else. “You’ll make fun of me.”

“Of course I will,” she whispered back. Steve reached for her hand to intertwine their fingers and she held him without batting an eye. “That’s kinda my job as your soulmate.” Steve chuckled. “I have to make sure whoever it is doesn’t mess up our vibe, you know?” He didn’t.

“I’m sure he won’t."

"Are you really gonna make me guess?" Steve lit up at the suggestion. Before he could speak, Robin continued "I'm not gonna guess, just tell me."

"Are you afraid of getting it wrong and looking like a fool?" He teased.

"It's Eddie." She answered less than a second later.

Steve did not respond, shocked at her quick response.

"Who's the fool now, Steve?" The smile on her face was infectious to Steve, who poker her with his foot.

"How did you do that?"

"By having eyes."

"What do you think?" She closed her eyes and hummed as Steve waited for her response.

"I think he looks at you the same way you look at him."

"I should ask him out."

"I can be your wingman!" She exclaimed.

"Oh, my god, yes!"

"We have to make a plan," Robin yelled. She jumped to her feet, letting go of Steve's hand, and dashed up the stairs. "I'm going to get some paper."

Steve stayed behind, sitting more comfortably on the floor, and removing the magazines they had on the coffee table off.

They made a plan, that ended in more of a disaster which is a story for another time. There is only one thing that is important.

Eddie said yes.

[solreefs]

Foster’s Six

Sophie Foster has a plan. Something audacious and brilliant and long overdue. It won’t be easy. But with the right team, she just might be able to pull it off.

In this high-stakes spin-off of Keeper of Lost Cities series, Sophie and her friends will put their skills to the test to try to destroy the matchmaking system from the inside.

after a million years, my fic for @keeper-big-bang-2024 is done! thank you so much to the hosts for their patience, and my two amazing artist partners for being willing to wait for me :)

this Linh piece is by the incredibly talented CG, who has been a joy to work with.

and this was drawn by the wonderful Denny @leavesrcool, who was way more chill with my lateness than I was, and also just a really fun person to share internet space with. you can see their post of this art here!

[in-my-attic]

My mother would always ask me why.

Whenever I got in trouble as a kid, she would ask me why I did it, and I would tell her I don’t know. She’d tell me that wasn’t an answer and back and forth we’d go. I suppose that wasn’t entirely true; I knew why I poured all the soap down the sink or jumped on the couch for the hundredth time or hit my brother with a kickball, it was just that I didn’t know how to say it.

I read too much as a child. Ironic, how much I struggled with words, when I knew so many. I quoted lines from the books I read, slipping them into conversations to see how they fared off the page. But I could never come up with the right words of my own.

I started properly writing when I was seven, though I made up my own stories long before that. Writing, I found, was infinitely preferable to speaking aloud. Even in pen, mistakes could be crossed out and reworded, whereas once I spoke a sentence, I had no further control over it.

But even in writing, I am never quite satisfied. The words never quite look right, the sentences never flow the way I want them to, every turn of phrase gets a little off-track.

It is worse when it is something important, something I care about. I analyze every word, every individual letter, and it still always ends up wrong.

Look at me, spilling my guts and they come out all twisted, trying to bare my heart to you and instead just bleeding out on your rug. Always, always, that question. Why why why? And always, always, my reply. I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know.

I don’t know! I’m trying and trying and trying and it’s never good enough, not for me, and I am so afraid it won’t be good enough for you, so I just say I don’t know.

[adeleba]

The Arin retrieval arc is going to be insane

please don't translate the ninjargon, they're just there to give the illusion of "epic" anime opening ToT

[cable-salamdr]

Sora but she’s Czechoslovakian and hungry for Kapusnica and Gulaš every single day (aka me)

+ Some Swiss Landchinder Arin and Sora (because of my Swiss Arin hc) but they’re fully decked out in stereotypes, with the only accurate thing being the spiderman backpack. They’re headed to the Reuss to jump in and get to school (/s, however it’s one of my fave myths that I once saw somewhere)

[arkad322]

Do you guys think that the reason that doc Wyatt couldn’t say arin parents name because, both or one parent(s) would probably meet the ninja(s) , or most definitely sora . But neither the ninjas nor the audience would be able to to know that these are arin’s parents ( they probably changed a lot since the merge) , and either the ninjas or the parents let slip out that they know arin , and they all latter have a realization

Anyways I’m going to cry in my corner know

[lightning-chicken]

“wolf clan jay becomes jordana’s mentor” yes i love that idea. but have you considered: wolf clan jay becomes a corrupted arin’s mentor.

arin finding jay on the opposite side of the battle.

arin seeing one of his heroes, fallen, and learning that if one of the ninja uses shatterspin then maybe there’s nothing stopping him from using it too. all he needs is a mask and the gong. a mask and a gong. it’s easy.

arin getting to know jay, and discovering a person just as conflicted as he is. a person who is still, underneath layers of doubt and skepticism and bitterness and sorrow, trying to do good. looking at himself in a mirror and finding it easier and easier to picture the wolf clan’s mantle draped over his shoulders.

arin thinking that with shatterspin, maybe he can finally grow powerful enough to have a chance to prove himself - because if shatterspin was really that bad, why would a ninja be using it? ninja fight for good. he can use shatterspin for good. it’s not dangerous. this is his chance. this is how he can finally be useful. this is how he can still be a hero.

arin considering that maybe it’s not so bad to fall.

[scaryarin]

Real talk, Stanley spent most of his life going out of his way to defend and comfort his brother. He probably spent those 30 years lying awake at night worrying about Stanford being on his own again. He still remembers Ford as the timid kid who couldn’t defend himself. Not to mention, the last time Stan saw Ford he was a complete wreck and Stan didn’t know why for 30 years. He probably just thought Stanford was having some kind of mental breakdown. I think he probably felt a lot of guilt about that because he wasn’t there for Stanford, even if none of it was his fault.

[localguy2]

I hate that this is genuinely something I'm writing rn, but nothing has more RATTLED my faith in the writing team's ability to write a Zane story then him calliNG ARIN CRINGE-

[froginninjago]

This was a conversation that happened when everyone reunited after the merge, prove me wrong:

Zane: Arin! Could you help me understand something?

Arin: Oh! Uh- yeah, of course!

Zane: Thank you. What are "glowing blue orbs?"

Lloyd: *spits out tea*

Kai: Zane... Where did you hear that?

Zane: I read it! It was on this informational website I found called "Archive of Our Own!"

Sora: Zane... Zane that's not an informational website...

Zane: I don't understand. It says archive, does it not?

Lloyd: It isn't exactly...

Arin: An archive of historical records.

Sora: It's more like a fan-forum!

Zane: Ah. That doee explain the questionable wolf-pack dynamics.

[vivilingriphyn]

The Sham | Lost Memories Ch■

"ARIN!"

Arin saw Lloyd and Zane, shock and distress evident in their eyes as his own widened when he realized that he wasn’t in his mech anymore. Sparks of electricity still danced across his body painfully from the first electric shock but before he could even scream this time he felt his back collide into concrete and his bones letting out a sickening crack. His eyes rolled up in his head and as he fell forward, quickly falling unconscious but not before he felt multiple hands catch him and the sharp crackle of a whip now echoed in his ears.

[yellowsweater-bluevest]

Steddie Microfic November

Prompt: Rest || WC: 387 words || rated: G || CW: none For @steddiemicrofic (who i forgot to tag, oops)

Steve wakes up panicked.

The clock on his nightstand tells him he is late to pick up the kids from Hellfire. Not a couple minutes late, a full hour and a half late.

He had laid down for a nap three hours before he had to go get the kids -who are no longer kids- from the club. He's been feeling sick for some days, so he figured rest is the best medicine.

He gets up from the bed, his hair wet, his head dizzy, and steadies himself for a few seconds before rushing down the stairs. He races to the door when he hears someone humming in the kitchen.

When he goes to investigate it, he finds Eddie. He is cooking something over the stove, making himself home.

"Finally awake, Stevie?" Eddie asks, turning his head to look up at Steve.

"I fell asleep."

"Yeah, so we figured." Eddie goes back to cooking what looks to be soup.

"Are the kids-"

"I left them at school in the dark," Eddie says sarcastically. "Obviously, I called Nancy to pick some of them up and drove the rest home myself."

"I should go apologize."

"You should go lie down," Eddie tells him, adding something to the soup. "You need rest."

"I'm okay."

"How long have you been sick, Steve?" Eddie questions. Steve looks away, finding the wall suddenly very interesting.

"After dropping the kids, I came to see you," Eddie explains. "I know where you hide your spare key so I came in, went to find you, and saw you in bed."

"I was tired."

"You were burning up!" Eddie exclaims, mixing the pot. "I put a cold towel over your head and came here to make you some soup."

"So that's why my hair was wet."

"No, that was sweat."

"Gross."

"Yeah, you should probably take a bath, I will bring you the soup when you're done."

"I can't ask you to take care of me." Eddie scoffs playfully before walking towards Steve.

"You didn't ask, sweetheart," Eddie holds Steve's face. His hands are cold against Steve's feverish face. "I like taking care of you."

"You are even making me soup."

"Munson family special," Eddie jokes. "Now go, wash that sweat off!"

Steve can't help but laugh as he climbs up the stairs. He will be okay.

[solreefs]

all that was me is gone

@let-them-sing-of-others I was your secret santa partner! many thanks to @song-tam for hosting this year again, it’s been fun. sorry I’m cutting it so close to the deadline, my internet has been sketchy today.

Claire, I didn’t know you before this, but you seem like a very cool person, and your writing is incredible. hope you like this. also ao3 won’t let me gift it to you for some reason, sorry about that.

summary:

Billow and breeze, islands and seas, Mountains of rain and sun, All that was good, all that was fair, All that was me is gone. -Robert Louis Stevenson

It’s always been Tam and Linh against the world, until it wasn’t.

words: 3,413

link

[in-my-attic]

It’s like taking care of a puppy, sometimes. An irritating puppy that chews on the same thing every time.

Come on, I ask my brain, what have you got in your mouth? Spit the thought out. A sigh, a shake of the head.

Dying? Again? I told you, we don’t get stuck on that anymore.

Sometimes my brain spits it out easily, other times I wrestle with my brain for hours and get bitten for my trouble.

And each time it ends the same. There is nothing to be done except to pull the thought out of my brain’s teeth, throw it away, and keep going. Over and over and over again, no matter how tired I get.

[bluuscreen]

lotta people liked my screenshot edits, especially on twitter, so here’s a screenshot redraw :p if only because i wanted some lighting practice

[cable-salamdr]

Haha jk the gays are alive and well here’s some more Bumblebee propaganda + a vague reference for older Percy