#I also remember I did this without refrence

[thingyanon]

I drew this a year ago in a sick, bedridden haze

[skelebellie]

so like many others, i’ve been watching Severance (Apple TV). here’s my quick little theory on the development of the story, so spoilers ahead.

I’ve seen in a previous post from someone else (who I cannot remember, sorry bookie), that Lumon is likely trying to identify which of the humors is “best”, or most suitable to conduct sufficient work in a compliant manner without resistance.

Essential to the concept is the Innies, individuals with no memories, a clean slate. Based around this concept, we have the four MDR members, who specifically represent the four humors. Who ill refrence below

Mark S. = Woe

Helly R. = Malice

Dylan G. = Frolic

Irving B. = Dread

These four humors also represent the emotions that can be afflicted when viewing certain “numbers” when refining the marco data. It’s my personal belief that in correlation with the employees themselves, the numbers may also respect testing subjects or future development behind Lumon. Specifically, that every number, in order to complete the quarter must be 100%. I believe MDR is the only department made of the four humors, and the rest are made of similar humors.

MDR is the headway for “Cold Harbor”, which may indicate the cryogenic freezing of DNA to recycle it into clones, as evident of Gemma and the goats (similar to sheep, often used for cloning). As MDR goes through data, it is “balancing” or even removing the humors of each clone to represent a perfectionist ideal similar to enlightenment, as Keir once did. Once “Cold Harbor” is complete, MDR will be disposed of, and a “perfect” clone will be created. For what they will be used for, I have no idea. It may also be why Ms. Casey seemed to emotionless.

What I think Lumon is discovering is that, humanity (the culpability to resist and think for one’s self) is developed from interaction between the four humors. And as such, a fluctuation within a person, represents the growth and developmental changes (Why Miss Huang becomes more ‘childish’ is because of a misbalance of humors). And that society develops as a whole by the interaction between the humors. Which is why MDR seems so forward thinking compared to the other departments.

Like Hippocrates, the four humors represent that a particular personality type or imbalance of humors can lead to disease (even death). The absolvement of all humors may lead to eternal life, or the perfect being.

This has probably already been discussed, and Im not saying anything new. But it’s a wonderful story to theorize on.

[firafruit]

Sketch Corner

Blue Lock Character Profile Study

Guess who finally got their laptop back! I did some quick sketch to calibrate my laptop color. Its not accurate, but close enough.

Also, i'm lowley kinda proud of this one ngl, since I drew this without refrence and just eyeballing the color lol.

My favorite's Karasu, obviously. Sae's side profile saved me time (man is gourgeous but I don't remember how he look like from the front). Nagi and Bachira are cute in this one. The worst, I feel like, either Rin or Yukimiya.

I DREW OTOYA FOR LIKE A SOLID 4 MIN AND HE TURN OUT TO BE THE BEST!!??? HOW!!??

[afreakingdork]

Weak Spot - Chapter 49

RotTMNT Donatello x Reader

What would you do if you walked in on Donnie like how @inky-spikes drew him for this week's chapter art?

Warnings: Aged-up Turtles, Romance, Meet Cute, Villain Donatello, Cussing, Crushes, Xenophobia, Fear, Intimidation, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Hurt/Comfort, Love, AFAB Reader, Vaginal Sex, Sex Rough, Sex, Penis In Vagina Sex, Creampie, Teasing, Scent Kink, Sexual Tension, Breeding Kink, Multiple Orgasms, Cunnilingus, Fellatio, Marathon Sex, Somnophilia, Bondage, Feral Behavior, Feral Donatello, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Public Sex, Dom Donnie, Human/Turtle Relationships, Turtle Noises, Roleplay, Sexual Roleplay

Synopsis:  A love story of villainous proportions! Though it hadn’t come easily, as these things rarely do, you found yourself in a whirlwind romance with a handsome and mysterious mutant. His idiosyncrasies had been easy to ignore as attraction grew into something more. However, will love endure when the unknowns about him end up being far darker than you ever considered?

Excuse me while I get incredibly mushy; you may known my rise origins, disastisfied with content, setting out to write my own love story, but did you know that I had never properly interacted with a fandom before? Why would I? I'm the type of person to only want to do what i want. This doesn't mean I'm not open to possibiltise, I love a good time saver and the truth, but most often, I just stay my funky little coruse. Then I received a piece of fanart.

I've always told myself, if you get fanart then you've made it. Well, I didn't know how much I had made it when I started talking to @unknownfanartist

It is not hyperbole when I say that I can credit everything about where I am now to my Contessa. Sure, I have my writing, but she gave me my community. Her friendship and the many others I hold dear now, she was the one who gave me every single one of those oppurtunties.

How does someone pay that back?

I've written her fics, is that enough?

It never feels like it.

I wouldn't be surrounded by anywhere near as much love if it wasn't for her. I wouldn't have found the people who bring me joy if it wasn't for her. My rise obsession probably wouldn't even be where it is today without her.

How do you pay that back?

I can't.

I can only use my words to show and say how incredibly thankful I am that you came out of the woodwork to draw little old me a scene from my silly little turtle fic. Contessa, I not only dedicate this chapter to you, but I have written it as an homage. I've jammed it with as many refrences to your work as possible while also slipping in some of your usual mannerisms.

Merry Christmas and thank you always.

P.S. @morning-sun-brah that includes you too because you opened the Pragma Elysium gates. I remember fondly waiting on pins and poodles to await your little updates. I have an ode to you here as well!

Fem!Reader References/Warnings Below Cut

Also available on Ao3

First 💜 Previous

LAST WARNING FOR THE 🍋 UNDER THE CUT. MINORS DNI!

Fem!Reader References/Warnings: bra removal, clit rubbing, breast teasing

You were shamelessly staring at your boyfriend.

In his usual spot on the couch, he was hunched forward in a way that made you worry about even his softened shell. With your phone on one knee, he had his tech gauntlet folded up to his face where code was spinning around his wrist. On your device's screen, a battle was flicking and flashing with all sorts of attacks. Attached by some unseen cord, data from the game was being sent right to Donnie’s gauntlet where he was studying it.

You adored him.  

It didn’t matter that he didn’t care about video games or understood anything you were talking about; he was a trooper. When you’d mistakenly gotten into this mobile game for its characters, he’d listened without judgment as you yammered on about the designs. Every time you thrust your phone into his face to show him something, he indulged your delight. When you left him for hours on end as you combed through the story line, he simply busied himself with other things while only occasionally disturbing you to remind you to hydrate or something similar.

Not quite as obsessed as Coral, who’d already spent an obscene amount of money on the game. You kept playing relegated to once a night for sanity's sake. Your plan had worked for about a week until it became increasingly necessary for you to put forth actual effort into the battles if you wanted to keep progressing. One too many rules and all sorts of caveats, you’d gotten by on sheer luck until it ran out. With Coral barely able to keep her mouth shut about what was to come, you’d been forced to buckle down and study.

Scheduling the evening to figure it out, Donnie was buried in a project designing something on his own and hadn’t minded in the slightest. Armed with the wiki, you began the tedious study of combat logistics. Cramming for what felt like hours, you adjusted your team in all the recommended ways and restarted said battle only for it to yield the same result. Having back-ups prepared, you switched around your character’s positions and began anew only for the timer to run out even sooner. Unable to accept what was happening, you reverted to the original team. In a mystified stupor, you watched a greater failure and somehow worse result. Spurned, you spent the next 30 minutes in an ever deepening spiral as your losses piled on one after the other. 

It didn't make sense. 

You did everything right. 

You followed all the suggestions.

By the time you scrambled over to Donnie, you were sure the look on your face was a horrified one.

It thankfully hadn’t worried him, but he’d abandoned his work to help you immediately.  

All found him sitting, examining the game’s code, and mumbling something about DPS and buffs.

You wanted to kiss him nearly as much as you needed to win.

The latter winning out by the tiniest margin, you watched on with building affection until he turned toward you.

“While the damage ratio may appear the same, the actual amount dealt by your opponent is being randomly generated within a certain range.”

“So the RNG gods are frowning upon me?” You sulked.

He hummed with some altruistic form of sympathy.

The current match ended with another loss. “I guess I’ll just run it over and over until I get the right number.”

“Or…” Donnie flicked his data wheel and then hit restart on the fight.

You sat up and watched as the same attack patterns went by, but this time you were dominating.

Donnie tapped the screen to dispel a few debuffs and you won.

“Yes!” You leapt and he caught you while lifting your phone out of the way. “Thank you! Thank you!”

He allowed you to ply him with kisses. “I can adjust the code accordingly.”

“Cheating?” You asked with your lips still to his cheek.

“You won’t be caught. A few imperceptible lines.”

“Done!” You removed yourself to give him space.

He chuckled and brought back up his screens to apply whatever he had in mind.

Back to watching him, you couldn’t help but muse over how his deviousness had been watered down. This once wretched villain now hacked mobile games for his love and your heart overflowed. He had done undeniable bad, but in only a year he came to lavish in his choice. Living finally came to him easily and you were overjoyed to be a participant of that journey. 

“Hey, Don.”

“Hm?” He had a small smile on his lips as he ran a new battle and studied the metrics it produced.

“Can I be the villain?”

“Of course.” He spun his code. “What do you covet, my dearest? We’ll put on a great heist.”

“I want to steal from you.”

He still didn’t look as the battle was won once again. “Something other than my heart?”

You had to put your face in your hands.

He was in a good mood which proved fatal for your heart.

Peering between your fingers found his smile spread wide. “You goofball, that’s not what I meant.”

“Done. Do tell me if you have any other issues.” He offered you your phone. “How then?”

“Thanks.” You hugged your device to your chest. “You like it when I pull one over on you.”

He slowed, clearly going through his memories.

“What better way…” Giving your game a parting goodbye, you left it on the cushions in favor of crawling towards him. “… then at your own profession?”

He sank into the couch to receive you. “In no demeaning way, in a no hold’s barred scenario, I’m not sure you’d be able to.”

“No?” Lifting onto your knees, you straddled him.

You saw his fingers twitch from where his arms laid out across the back of the couch.

You cradled his jaw and inched forward until your lips almost brushed his. “All the times I deceived you?”

“Underestimation.” He murmured, resisting to close the gap.

“Afraid?” You tilted your head and ghosted your mouth against his.

“I won’t fall for goading.” One of his arms slipped from its perch, but didn’t come around you.

“Test it then. What do you have to lose?” You gave him a protogenic kiss.

“Nothing I suppose…” He chased you for another chaste press.

You nosed along his jaw. “I’ll try to steal from you.”

“Everything mine is yours.” He sighed contented.

You pulled back to stare at him dully. “Roleplay.”

“You make a captivating honeypot.” He caught your hips and yanked them down for a grind.

You chewed your lip as your eyes rolled back. “N-not that.”

“Explain.” His grip loosened, but you felt his fingers at the ready.

“A game of keep away. See how much you still have in you.”

“You don’t believe I’ve gone soft.” He studied you.

“No, but I’m your weak spot right? How will you fare against me?”

His expression opened up for genuine surprise. “Fascinating…”

“See what I mean now?”

“Yes.” He urged you off his lap and you reluctantly tucked in beside him. “I won’t be going all out.”

“Worried about my safety?” You asked.

“Those aren’t terms. That’s a fact.” He adjusted his pants.

You flicked your gaze down to check what he'd fixed and he tapped a digit to your nose.

You swatted at him and he chuckled. “Clear mind. If someone were to steal from me, I’d employ all means necessary to get it back.”

You nodded remembering he’d mentioned something about that when revealing his backstory.

“I could torture you, but in ways you already know.”

“Not edging!” You whined, throwing your head back.

“The prize is sex then. Not a means to be utilized.” He offered his hand.

You took it with a squeeze. “Okay… Is this just an ‘if I win’ sort of bargain?”

He looked up to the ceiling in thought. “Let’s both win.”

“Even if I’m not successful?” You leaned your head against the couch and stroked his thumb. “Don’t patronize me.”

“Never.” He returned and seared an intensity into your eyes. “You’ll have gone up against me and survived. That’s clout enough.”

“I’ll be able to go to the Hidden City and brag at some bar?”

“You would most certainly be taken to meet someone’s boss if so.”

The honesty with which he’d said that9 brought your head up. “Oh…”

“What a way to meet Big Mama.” He rolled his eyes.

“Not doing that.” You gave an awkward laugh.

“A dry spell to enhance the achievement?”

“No sex until… when?” You worried over the last time such a restriction was implemented.  

He pressed your hand open to pair up his fingers to yours. “Two waves. One week to steal from me, we rejoice as soon as you do. Then another if you can keep it from me, broken if I find it.”

Giving a Vulcan salute to match him, you opened and closed the ‘V.’ “I win, you win.”

“Even, no harm. We stave off the pain of last time.”

Trying to foresee pitfalls, you slid off his pads to thread your fingers. “It sounds good… Is there something specific I should take?”

“Your choice.” He dipped in for a quick peck. “It’s all yours regardless.”

“Menace.” You whispered against him.

His smile said he agreed.

“Wanna start after a little…?” You pulled on his hand.

“Very much so. Yes!” He shifted the tide to pull you to him.

-

Donnie was in the shower.

It had only been a few hours since the heist begun and, having spent most of it in bed, he’d left you to rest while he washed up. Waiting to hear the telltale sound of the shower hitting a body, you snatched the closest thing to you and stowed away into the kitchen. Slamming the tap there on, you ducked down below the counter.

“Shelly?”

A single curious buzz came from your tech gauntlet.

“Mess with Donnie’s implants!”

A confirming buzz responded.

“Okay… Uh…” Turning over Donnie’s much larger gauntlet, you were sure you had previously seen it in some kind of smaller form. “Darling Protocol… shrink?”

The metal sat useless in your hands.

“Darling Protocol small!”

You shook the long band.

“Shorten! Reduce! Condense! Little! Mini!”

Staring, you resisted the urge to chuck it out a window.

Your wrist buzzed with interest.

“No, I have to do this. I feel bad enough I already asked for your help, but the stupid protocol is voice activated.”

More buzzing occurred and you could tell it was S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. wanting to know what was going on.

“It’s a… game we’re playing. I’m the villain and I’m trying to steal Donnie’s tech gauntlet, but it’s too big!”

Your band was silent and you ignored it in favor of the frustrating one.

“I don’t understand… How does this thing get all compact?”

Upon the last syllable, Donnie’s gauntlet shrank to the size of a watch.

“Synonym stickler.” You grouched before raising up.

“Darling protocol…” You tried to think of the way he’d say it. “Disengage tracker.”

Nothing happened, but you almost figured it wouldn’t.

“Oh, Darling Protocol sleep mode!”

With its holographic display, it looked like nothing more than a glorified bracelet. You couldn’t remember having ever seen Donnie charge the thing. It seemed indestructible and waterproof, but he had removed it on several occasions as you did yours. Since the apartment was fully under his command, he only really needed the device when he left.

“Can he track you now…?” You wondered, turning the object over.

Buzz. Buzz.

“You’re not supposed to help-! Wait, I got it?”

Buzz.

“You’re not doing it, right? Swear to me. I need to be the one.”

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

“Yes or no!”

It was impressive how much sass S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. could inject into a single vibration.

“… Yes you’re doing it or…?”

Donnie’s computer lit up.

Walking over to it, you saw  S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.’s little icon waiting there with annoyed impatience and a taping foot. “Hey, you updated your avatar to look like your new body!”

‘Thanks for noticing. You like?’ The little avatar did a twirl.

“I do, it’s very cute.”

He gave a gentlemanly bow.

“Did you help me?”

‘Now you ask a yes or no question?’ His lids lowered with put on irritation. 

“Shelly, please. I’m in a hurry.”

‘And I wasn’t busy? It’s 9:37pm on a Thursday.’

“Oh…” You lowered your gaze and pulled the gauntlet close. “That’s true. I’m sorry.”

His avatar appeared at the bottom of the screen with a wagging finger. ‘It’s a joke. I can be in up to 14 locations at once, no probbles!’

“Only 14?”

He snickered. ‘You’re right. It’s been a while since I last calculated. Should I test it? Dare me!’

“Some other time, I’m really sorry for assuming you’d be at my beck and call…”

‘You didn’t assume wrong, but accepted and, to clarify, I did not tamper. You got the correct bypass.’ He threw his hand up and a little log with a time stamped list of commands last executed appeared.

“Awesome, thank you!”

‘Have fun and fill me in later!’

“Will do!”

He saluted before he disappeared along with the light of the machine.

Looking down over the tidy desk, you scanned the surface. You had seen enough movies to know that hiding something in plain sight was one of the best ways to pull off a grift. It needed to be somewhere that didn’t attract attention and was easily overlooked. Finding nothing where a cylinder of metal could disappear here, you kept your feet moving as you rounded the apartment. Shower still going steady, you felt the urgency as you imagined he was nearly done washing himself off. From the paintings that adorned the walls to the coat rack near the door, nothing appeared right. Ready to return to the kitchen and unearth some rarely used pot, a glimmer of something caught your eye.

Slowing, you stared and had to study the space until you caught the source. Standing at his post stood the astronaut that had been forced back into your possession when you moved in. The metallic film on his visor threw an errant beam, but up close your body shadowed the piece. He hadn’t been altered much since his stay and, in fact, had mostly been forgotten about. A mainstay in the space now, you flipped his little visor up and down a few times to hide his haunting face.

Thinking it over for a moment, you gave a smile before digging your claws into the hinge. With little effort, the plastic snapped off and you set the toy back on the shelf just so. Making several adjustments so he was exactly as he was, you then moved to drop the miniaturized tech gauntlet over his face. It took twice the amount of fiddling, but you eventually got it to sit and turned in a way that looked similar to his true brim. Stepping back, you tried to recreate the light flicker effect, but it wasn’t the same. The metal had a different sheen than the plastic, but you smiled. Deeming it a cute first try, you imagined Donnie would probably find it in the next hour.

With evidence to dispose of, you wandered back to the kitchen long enough to throw the visor away. You imagined you’d at least keep Donnie on his toes with this little stunt and wondered if you should steal something else as a double bluff. Sleep tugged against the thought so you returned to bed with a giddy feeling. The dopamine rush reminded you of your game and you gave into the delusion that it might inspire you. Jumping in, you found dominating the battles to be infinitely more fun. Almost forgetting all about the roleplay, the story in your game finally progressed and you ate up the new dialog until Donnie emerged.

“Your turn.” He spoke casually as he rounded the bed to his side.

“Mhm, in’a minute.” You tapped viciously on your screen to get rid of some little dust bunny enemies zapping HP.

Not seeing as much as hearing, Donnie approached his side table and stopped. “Really?”

“Yeah, almost done.” Clearing the field, there was a burst of text that signaled some victory. “Ah, this is so great. Thanks again!”

“Y/N.”

“Yeah?” You let your phone fall flat on your chest and turned to look at him.

“My gauntlet.”

“Your-” You blinked wide before the recognition struck you. “-what?”

He threw his weight on one hip to stare down at you, bored.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” You salvaged a little dismissive persona. “I’m going to shower.”

“Technicality.”

You sat up and threw your legs over the side of the bed.

“This feels…”

He held his pause a little too long so you turned to look over your shoulder.

He was waiting there with a blasé expression. “…uninspired.”

You shrugged. 

“Wallet, keys, phone. Infantile.”

 “Oh no.” You dulled your voice for faux worry. “You must have misplaced it.”

Donnie sighed before bringing a hand up. “S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. I assume?”

“No.” You gave a sharp retort.

“He leaves a trail.” He raised one of his brows and you watched the whole apartment take on a faint purple light.

Standing and looking over your violet tinted skin, you turned a hand over to hear Donnie make a noise of confusion. “Find your trail?” You exaggerated your own brow at your boyfriend.

“He could have used the door.” Donnie grumbled, walking into the next room.

Knowing that’d be right next to where you’d stashed the gauntlet, you smiled at how you'd gotten the timeline right. Giving right up, you went to take your shower. You sometimes worried about the other tenants, but you loved how your apartment never ran out of hot water. Soaking up all ill gotten glory, you emerged a steamed bun and ambled out in a fluffy towel to find Donnie sitting on the bed with a laptop you’d never seen.

“What are we hacking tonight?” You mused and meant to sit down next to him. With your muscles liquefied, you let yourself fall over and bumped your wet head up against his bare thigh.

He made an irritated noise and jumped. “What did you have him do?”

“Who?” You rolled your head to look at him.

“S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.!”

It was a blow to your relaxed form. “I didn’t get Shelly’s help. In fact, I called him up just to tell him that.”

“Then how did you-?” He cut himself off with closed eyes and pinched the bridge of his snout. “Darling Protocol.”

“Took awhile to get the right words. At least you didn’t program the codes in.”

“I’m changing that.” He started furiously typing.

“No, come on!” You playfully whined and grabbed at him.

He leaned away from your touch. “I’ll bind the print outs. I estimate a 24 volume set.”

“What did I even graduate for!?” You bemoaned and wiggled off the bed to get into your pajamas. “Now here's your torture.”

“I’ll print it so small you'll need a magnifying glass.”

“The horror.” Pulling your towel off, you rubbed furiously at your hair. “What are you doing?”

“Locating it.”

“Fun. I assume there’s trackers in everything, but me. Is there one in the couch?”

The only indication Donnie heard you was a little smile quirking the corner of his lips.

Leaving him to his task, you finished getting ready for bed and, as you were about to tuck yourself in, you found him sat in the exact the same way. “You gonna sleep?”

He stopped by extending his fingers and holding them over the keyboard. “True.”

“What?”

He closed his laptop and turned to you with a heated stare. “For the time being, you’ve earned your first prize.”

You giggled as he came in with kneading fingers to your waist and a kiss to your cheek. “You’re wonderful, but can I bank it?”

He kissed a few more times until you would relent with your lips. “Suit yourself.”

“Do I get to keep it after you find it?”

He perked up and released you. “It’s close.”

You rolled your eyes into laying down. “Sure it is, Don. Answer please.”

“It’s… not?” He stared you down.

“Donnie.” Your pillow was beckoning you.

“This was not discussed.”

“Banking?”

“Multiple thefts.”

“I figured it balanced.” You snuggled down into the sheet. “Each one you find is a win for you too.”

He made a satisfied sound as he thought it over.

“Goodnight kiss if you’re going to stay up and obsess?”

Holding on for a few more seconds, he collapsed down beside you with enough force that it bounced your head from your pillow.

“Hey!”

“I suppose it’s no rush. I have the entire time you’re at work.”

“Mhm.” Your lids felt heavy.

He kissed your forehead and moved the laptop in his grasp. “I have to put this up.”

“Where’d you get that, anyway?”

“Mm, don’t worry about it.” He almost nuzzled your hairline, but found it damp so he hopped  out of bed to put the laptop away.

-

Waking first found you oddly calm. Consciousness came comfortably and recognition over what had occurred the previous night drifted to you. Capturing it with open eyes, you watched your partner’s sleeping form before dragging yourself out of bed. You’d make him breakfast for a change and, in only a slightly hunched stupor, you shuffled over to the kitchen. It was there, with the hidden object just across the room, that you had to keep reminding yourself over and over not to look. Checking would make it obvious. You needed to own this. You’d stolen from him, successfully so far, and that was the whole point of being bad.

You had said you wanted to be a villain.

Was that relegated to one nefarious act?

Pulling out a frying pan to make scrambled eggs, you pondered this query.

Villains were supposed to be evil, but Donnie had never struck you as truly bad. Doing a mental timer as the metal heated up, you folded yourself against the counter to stare at the egg carton. Wondering about the colloquial bad egg, it wasn’t something you could always tell by looking. One that was truly rotten would smell, but that didn’t mean all the bad ones stank. Instead, there were tests, things like floating it in water or getting it all the way to your lips. Nothing in the world was so black and white.

Flicking your gaze to the clock, it was about time so you spread a bit of butter to prevent sticking. Adding the eggs in, one crack at a time, you stirred them to make the scramble. A bit of toast sounding like a nice addition, you switched course. Lowering the heat and you left the eggs for a new appliance. Getting a toaster, you slotted the bread in and looked back over the bar. Clear across the apartment through sheer curtains, your egg was still tucked into his carton. Mostly a cozy lump, putting him in water revealed little other than it calmed him like a balm.

Life was the test of proclivities.

Everyone came in all kinds.

The world shades of moral grey and you fit into that same bland color palette.

Slowing at the thought where you hadn’t moved, you gave an amused puff of air.

How did you fit into all that?

You had been called good and bad over the years with a varying sense of hyperbole. For the average person, you imagined this wasn’t the sort of thing people applied to themselves. They read it in stories where the characters were exaggerated and it was usually clear who the antagonist was. The balancing scales weighing your heart to a feather was mythos. 

Turning around with the toast giving an almost done, you scoured the cabinet as quietly as you could. Slipping a bowl free with only a minor clink of ceramic, you set it down and riffled for your cereal. The type of food Donnie often chided you as not actually being suited for breakfast, you poured a bowl and unplugged the toaster just as it seemed it would pop. Switching between tasks, you plated up the eggs meant for two on one plate with the toast and then splashed a healthy amount of milk into the cereal bowl. Situated, you then sauntered back to bed and over to your partner's side.

He was facing outward which helped as you parted the curtains with your plate. Holding it up towards his snout, you watched the tiniest wrinkle as the scent of breakfast invaded his dreams. Within moments he was blinking awake and humming with slurred affection over you having made breakfast.

“I’ll leave yours here.” You told him warmly.

He hummed having been given the space to wake and you left the cereal behind to go eat your eggs in the living room.

You had just about gotten through your usual portion when you heard a snort of disdain. Trying not to laugh around the tines of the fork, you traded it for a point of toast.

“Y/N.”

“Mhm?”

Silence chased you and you put on your best pious pose as you waited for him to approach. It took a moment, but he appeared, standing nude and with the bowl clasped in one hand. Flowing a gentle current of irritation, he waited for some type of explanation.

“It’ll get soggy.” You offered.

“It’s already soggy.” He bit back.

“Shame. You were too slow I guess.” 

“You didn’t even leave me a spoon.”

“No?” You scooped another forkful of eggs into your mouth.

“Your ploys continue to be childish.” He turned to the kitchen and disposed of his breakfast.

“Crazy these kid games are landing, huh?” You chomped down on toast.

There was another minor bout of silence before he turned the tap on.

-

You were assaulted by your boyfriend as soon as you got home from work. Squeaking at the sudden intrusion, you almost thought it was a hug before his hands roved right into your clothes. Trying to fend him off as you were still half in the hallway, you were no match for his speed and strength.

“Donnie, what are you doing?!” Your voice warbled as he yanked your shirt straight up your body. “Stop, stop!!”

“Where is it?!” He growled, tugging your shirt down to bring you to his squat eye level.

“Where-ah!” Sliding into your pants he squeezed your ass cheeks. “Q-quit!!!”

Several angry clicks sounded in your ear until he lurched backwards, ready to pounce again in a moment’s notice. “My gauntlet! You took it with you! On your person!”

“I didn’t!” The reply popped out of you before you could grab it.

“It’s not here!” His eyes continued to scan you.

“It’s not-?!” You might have felt confusion if your blood pressure hadn't plummeted at the sight of  downy stuffing on the ground.

Stepping forward and pushing your angrily clacking partner out of the way, you found the apartment turned upside down. From the couch, where he’d ripped it to shreds, to the kitchen, where all the cabinets were open and leaking, you knew the bedroom had to be in a similar state.

A short, rattling breath emerged from your lips as you did a slow rotation. Not hooking on it, but passing by, you saw the little astronaut standing a proud protector on his lone shelf where he hadn’t been disturbed.

The spaceman had failed at one job and succeeded in another.

Some protector. 

“Donnie, what the fuck!?” You shoved him.

“Where is it!?” He was immobile.

“That’s the point!” You shoved him again and he relented a single step for your sake.

“Yes, but it doesn’t make sense! You had no planning! You had no time! Without S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.’s help how could you have-!?”

You slammed your palms into his plastron over and over.

He made a few irritated snorts until he let you push him back several steps.

“You are being such a jerk!”

A light bulb went off for him. “You did plan.” He walked away and you were left to stew with your coat hanging off one shoulder. “You proposed the scenario. You must have been plotting. For how long?” He walked up to his computer where all sorts of models were running.

“It was spur of the moment!”

Without a keyboard, lines of information were being written at an alarming rate.

“Donatello!”

“Depending on the length of time you had, any number of scenarios could have been implemented. If I take into account-”

Slamming the door behind you, you stormed back down the hallway and toward the elevator. “Shelly! Ugh, I know this is last minute and we just talked about it, but…”

Buzz!

“Wanna go get dinner?”

The single vibration nearly rocked off your tech gauntlet off your wrist.

-

“So being villain was fun for ten whole seconds.” You rolled the liquid in your glass where you were plopped down on S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.’s couch and had just finished catching him up.

Similarly aerating his wine, he held his goblet up as if he were making a toast. “Dump him!”

You snorted and had to scramble not to spill.

S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. repeated himself with a cheer that did cause wine to slosh out. Only for him, a mechanical arm appeared out of his back and wiped the liquid straight out of the air before it could fall.

“Woah…” The sound came out of you as your glass neared your lips.

“I’m sorry, but I’m having a blast right now.”

“I can see that.” You chuckled.

“Pizza at a real dirty restaurant, whine session with wine, like this is the thing! I’m doing it!”

“The human thing?” You asked after a sip.

“Yes!” His eyes turned into stars.

“I mean, you’re crushing it.” You turned and looked around what was a quintessential bachelor pad. Though the layout was identical to Donnie’s preference, the rooms themselves looked like movie sets. With a proper clutter budget, clothes were strewn about just so, little knick knacks made the space feel homey and there were even dirty dishes in the sink. “Did you have someone over?”

“Huh? No. Why?”

You gestured around with a sweep of your glass.

“Oh, pfft. That’s all me. I like to mess around and I like the way the space is. Feels like me, ya know?”

You softened. “Yeah.”

“I stole the dishes.” He pointed.

“Why?” You shook your head at how ridiculous he was.

“I don’t wanna clean the kitchen.”

“So, don’t use it!”

“I didn’t!” He chirped.

“You just wanted the sink full.”

“It looked lonely.” He tipped his head, commiserating.

“You know I thought this place was going to be nothing but a charging port.”

“Ew.”

“Right?”

“That is what dad gave me, but I ordered a bunch of stuff as soon as he left.”

“He’s ridiculous.”

“Dump him!”

“No!” You kicked at S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. and he let it connect for a metal thunk. “Ah!”

“Oops.” He leaned forward to study your leg. “You good?”

“No, yeah, sorry. I just forgot cause usually…”

“People dodge.” He snickered. “Not people.” He reminded you and then poured himself over the back of the couch. “See those clothes there.”

You looked where he was pointing. “Sure.”

“None of those fit. Those are just for decoration, but I have been trying new ones since I can now!”

“Fashion show?”

His eyes sparkled and he tossed his glass behind him where it smashed into the wall.

“Shelly!”

“My house, my rules!!!” He screamed as he launched himself, fists in the air, over the couch and into his bedroom.

Modeling several looks from something grungy where he’d smeared black oil under his eyes to something preppy enough for a country club, he was twisting in a simple t-shirt and jeans when he dropped right out of his purchasing process explanation for something else. “So, where’d you hide it?”

“You know.” You were draped over the couch.

“Yeah, but pretend I don’t.”

“That’s a secret.” You grinned.

S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. gasped. “In my own dojo!”

“I know!” You lifted a scandalized hand to your mouth.

“It’s wild though.”

“That he didn’t look there? Yeah.”

“Huh? No, but he kinda did.”

“What do you mean?” You lifted up.

A screen appeared in your face showing Donnie right next to the door in your apartment. Borderline feral and nearly crawling around on all fours, you watched him storm by the astronaut with his head on a constant swivel before he disappeared out of the camera's frame.

You let out a single satisfied laugh. “Dummy.”

“You can barely tell on the feed.”

“It looks good in person too. The only thing is it goes all the way around. If he had moved it, he’d have seen it wasn’t right.” You twirled a finger in demonstration.

“Why’s Major Creeponaut duct taped? Did you try to shove it inside?”  

You chuckled. “Nah, that was from our first kiss.”

“So gross!” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. screamed at the ceiling. “Tell me everything.”

“Do you want to know or not?” You laughed.

“Not at all. Tell me.” He took a few hopping steps over before he plopped down, legs crossed, in front of you.

“When a mommy and daddy love each other very much…” You began.

“Stop, stop!” S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. threw his arms out in waving embarrassment.

“They have the urge to-!”

“No, seriously stop!”

You blinked, waiting.

“You’re getting a message.”

You stared at him for a moment before you turned. “My phone’s on silent from work…”

“So?”

“How do you know?” Looking around, you searched for your bag and found your device.

“How do I explain…?” He rocked to one side. “I can hear the other electronics near me? Kinda like how you hear voices.”

“You’re not tapping in…?” You stared at an increasing number of messages from Donnie.

“I might be like dad, but I’m not dad.”

“It wasn’t comparing you to Donnie...” You thumbed over the preview which was an apology. “You literally stole dirty dishes.”

S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. let the comment sink in before he started laughing. “Oh, true that!”

-

Returning home, your boyfriend once again met you at the door. This time without the attack, he sullenly apologized and you gave him a proper hug. Kissing him back to a baseline mood, he scooped you up, carried you through an immaculate apartment, and to a freshly made bed. He set you down only to curl up in your lap where you rubbed his carapace as he opened up.

“I can’t… leave without my gauntlet.”

“Don’t you have another?” You spread your nails out for an even scratch.

He gave a heady hum and rooted closer to you. “Sentimental.”

“That one’s special?”

He nodded into your thigh. “There’s three more like yours, but only one of mine.”

“Tell me about it.”

Slouching, he sighed. “Not a first, but one of my more important inventions. A universal remote of sorts, it was my backup for my goggles.”

“The ones that short circuited?” You kept one hand to his carapace and used the other to brush the scarring on the side of his head.

He nodded. “I’ve never replaced it. I’ve been upgrading the original.”

Your hand stopped. “That’s… how old is it?”

“Older than S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N.”

“I didn’t… know.”

“I didn’t mention.”

“I’m sorry…”

He shook his head. “No, me.”

You patted him. “That’s not withholding, it wouldn’t come up. Do you know how old my phone is?”

“Yes, I know the model.”

“But did I get it the year it came out?” You tilted your head to glimpse his face.

His eyes moved as he thought that over. “Did you?”

“No, two years after. I was so mad; they released the next gen like a week after I got it.”

He didn’t make a sound, but squeezed you.

“Want it back? I’ll take something else.”

He thought for a long moment and you went back to giving him scritches.

He made a little hum before he spoke. “Is it safe?”

“Very.”

“I’ll make do.”

“You sure? It’s really not a big deal.”

He shook his head and reluctantly rose up. “You were successful. I want to honor that.”

“This wasn’t supposed to make either of us uncomfortable though.” Your hand dragged up to his shoulder.

“I’ll survive.” He kissed your hand with confirmation. “Besides, I’ve moved on to the next stage.”

“You’re not looking for it anymore?”

“Oh, I am, but I’ll need information.”

“Shelly’s records are closed and you didn’t find anything at the scene of the crime.” 

His head tipped back and forth as if weighing the options. “Typically I’d move onto kidnapping, extortion, torture, blackmail…”

You stared at him with a growing gaze. “I’m in for quite the week.”

“You think me relentless now?” He almost purred as he leaned into you.

You hummed in return, not taking the bait of his lips.

“Tomorrow.” He confirmed before pouncing on you to shove his carapace back under your digits.

-

Your morning began with retribution for yesterday’s breakfast. You were served what looked like a normal meal, but the orange juice had been all pulp, the eggs were covertly stuffed with shells, and the bottom half of your toast was burnt to a crisp. Laughing at the forethought, you got yourself cereal and he did an amused peacocking as he readied for his day.

Being the first to the bathroom, you hid his toothbrush in the shower.

He found it soon enough, but you heard him knock a few things over in the process.

Getting dressed found he had left all your clothes pristine, but had swapped all the drawers where they usually sat.

Laughing over how he must have prepared that one the previous day, you scurried to the door with a premonition. 

“Wait.” He trailed after, getting his head through a sweater.

You held a guard on your shoulders. “What?”

He made a timeout symbol and you relaxed. Pulling you close, his hands dug into your lower back as he languidly kissed you. Melting into him, you felt his hands move against you before a jingle sounded and he ran. 

“There was a time out!” You chased after him and your keys.

“I timed it back in.” He ducked around the bed. “Return my gauntlet!”

“Never!” You pivoted and charged the kitchen.

“Damnit!” You heard him leap. 

“No! I was here first!” Banging your body against a cabinet, you covered the drawer containing the spare with your body.

You screeched with laughter as he hooked an arm around your waist to lift you out of the way. “You should learn to use your opponent’s power against them.” 

“Or!” You got hold of the keys before letting your body go slack. It shifted his hold and gave you a momentary break. Just long enough to drop down to the ground and break free, you crawled the few steps out from where his long legs impeded him from making another grab. “Bye! See you after work!” You cheered and exited the apartment to him giving an annoyed huff.

-

The next few days found an escalation in what you referred to as the school yard bully ploy. Keeping it playful, it amounted to a prank war the likes of nothing you’d ever experienced. The back and forth sabotage was quickly subverted by your boyfriend's intelligence. Not able to hack your systems, he’d happily entered your bosses where he’d rearranged the entire calendar for the day. The ensuing mess reached throughout the company and IT was none the wiser to whatever was happening. It meant meetings with clients were missed and memos seemingly disappeared. You survived until lunch, nothing outright destructive, but it felt like pure chaos when you called Kaleb.

Your next plan of sneaking hot sauce into his food wasn't going to cut it.

With Kaleb's engineering background, your chill friend had whipped up what he referred to as a pie throwing robot in what seemed like too little time. It meant a detour after putting out office fires and meeting him at a pastry hop. There you ordered for the lot of you as a payment for your friend’s help. He’d attached spindly metal to your bakery box and sent you on your way with another request of pictures.

Promising it, you headed home with the box in tow and entered the apartment in a feigned huff. “I can’t believe you.”

Donnie spun around, smirking in his computer chair like a cartoon villain.

“I got you something still because I’m so nice!” You spoke loud and haughty.

“Pass.” His gaze narrowed on the box and though his lips turned it down, his eyes tracked you with interest.

“Suit yourself. I would never hurt a defenseless pastry.” Setting the container on the counter, you held down the little switch in the back that temporarily stopped the mechanism. You then opened the box wide so Donnie could see and picked out a croissant before closing it back up. “I’ll have your banana caramel roll for breakfast tomorrow then.”

He perked up.

Walking around and munching on your croissant, you looked at him. “Was I ruining dinner or you?”

“Take out.” His eyes were glued to where you’d just been.

“Nice, I’m ordering that place that always messes up your order.” You juggled your treat with your phone.

He made a noise of little interest as he crept over to the box.

You chewed your lip and tried to cover it with the pastry. “You gonna want the same thing?”

“Your choice.”

“Gizzards it is.”

He shot a sour look at you and you chuckled in a scroll.

Looking at it from all angles, he checked to find you trying to pointedly ignoring him.

A testing sniff to the air said he picked up on the promised treat inside and the quiet that followed indicated  your care in having Kaleb using layers of gloves had helped to cover your friend’s scent.

Cracking the lid for the softest scrape of cardboard against itself, he peered inside.

You switched over to your camera and prepared to record a video.

Finding the inside laden with treats, he opened the lid further just as you brought your phone up to track him.

In a flicking snap of metal, cream flung out and splattered across Donnie’s chest and chin.

Little snickers leaked out of you as you stepped up to record him fully. “Good, right?”

His lips were set and he opened the box further to examine the mechanism.

“Kaleb made it. He’s a prank king.”

“My regards.” Donnie grumbled, passing your phone a glance and grabbed his cake.

-

“I’m switching tactics.” Donnie announced the next night.

“What’s next?” You asked, hanging up your jacket. Thankful for the reprieve not because you’d been scorned, but simply because you were running out of ideas. 

You moved over to him.

He received you by holding out his hand.

You took it and he pulled you straight into a waltz.

Spinning with a flip of your stomach, you settled as he led you around and around.

“I’ll try my hand at seduction.”

“Is that new? I’m pretty sure I’ve fended you off before.”

“Sexual advances.” He clarified, his face neutral as he focused on the dance steps.

“Versus… what?”

“Romance.” Coming to a close, he lethally dipped you.

Your heart leapt into your throat.

“I don’t know how you’re supposed to outdo yourself.” You mumbled as he was slow to right you.

“I won’t be.”

“You’re building this up.”

He flicked a gaze at you and walked you over to the computer.

The usual plain purple background was displayed on the cluster of monitors. You looked them over before checking with him.

In a flick of his finger, you watched a large document appear. With little charts and tables, there was a bulk of words that he enhanced. Starting you at the top of the page, it read like a scientific paper, but the content was about touch limitations. Slowing after the third line, you turned to him with recognition. “This is from…”

Donnie didn’t respond and used a finger to slide to a specific paragraph. “’I find myself at a loss…’”

He was reading it aloud from memory as he stared directly at you.

“’I crave Y/N’s very being. Even as I know myself to despise contact, I find an impenetrable ache. This malady should be isolated and quarantined. This is not something to be studied. This is an ailment. A manifestation of a higher power sent to devastate my person. I consider this a visceral attack. I fear I will not recover. I’m already too far gone and therefore all data previous should be discarded. No longer the impartial party I can usually hold my standard to, I also cannot share this research with anyone. It would be revealing my heart, one that I thought had long stopped beating. It yearns now, cracking free layers of debris built up for its own protection. I will not survive this onslaught.’”

“This isn’t what you told me…”

“No..”

“You wrote this… back then…?” You were still reading over exactly what he had just spoken.

“Yes.”

“But the experiment…?” Hitting the end of the paragraph, the next picked back up with tedious data.

“I made it sound like I was doing it for your benefit.”

You nodded, your heart a steady thrum.

“I lied. This is the first recorded instance of my affection for you.”

“You make it sound like you’re dying.”

“I was.”

He hadn’t gotten any closer, but you turned to gawk at him as if he’d made some big move.

“…Care like that. It rips you apart. Rearranges your sense of self. The reason it is labeled ‘crush,’ but for me it was more.”

“Donnie…” Your insides swirled a confused mass. Though he'd since admitted his early interest, he never let on to the depths

“Do you know how long this document is?”

You looked for a little page counter, but not only could you not find one, you weren’t sure how accurate it’d be with the many tables. “No?”

“Over ten thousand words.”

You paled.

That day at the Thai restaurant, he’d spent an entire meal conveying it.                   

That must have been the shorthand version folded even further down.

“How long did this study last?”

“A week…? Or something like that. You said I was novel and sort of gave up.”

“I said many things. To you. To myself.”

“What are you saying now?”

“That I was a lost cause the moment you tried to steal my lunch.” He appeared in your face.

Your skin felt alit. Not with fire or chill, but something new. Surges of blood refreshed your body in a cleanse just for him. Prepared on a cellular level, you stepped closer with an innate shyness that you couldn't place.

You were reformed, but the you of the past emerged.

His fingers ghosted your cheek like you were too precious to touch.

It made your jaw wind as if tortured by yearning.

“I won’t say it.” Another waft of his hand urged your head to tip back without contact. “Not under these circumstances, but this is the closest yet that I’ve come to a confession-”

You kissed him.

A crushing force, he smiled into the exchange before wrapping around you.

You broke between presses for a needy ask. “My win… I need to cash it in… Now… Right now… Please?”

He nodded against your lips and steered you towards the bed.

Fumbling together you shoved at each other’s clothes until you turned to lead. “I top.”

“For the record, this isn’t-” He interrupted himself as your top hit the ground and he kissed down the new real estate of your shoulders. “-what I intended.”

“Yeah, no gauntlet for you. Upset?” You asked as the backs of his legs hit the bed.

“How could I be?” He smiled as he fell back with full confidence.

A trust fall into the mattress, he caressed your form as you crawled up to him. Kissing him senseless into the sheets, he handed himself over to your desire. An odd mismatch where only you held the mad fervor, you kicked off the rest of your clothes. Straddling him nude, you stared down at his wobbling form and he returned the gaze with abject adoration. Melting under it and wondering if this is how he felt back then, you stole his lips for the thousandth time and tried to put care into undoing his wraps.

He caught your wrists for a momentary reprieve and kissed your knuckles to calm you. Only stoking the fires, a whine escaped your throat and he reassured you with a squeeze to your arms that he was there; he wasn't going anywhere. Burying the need into him, you kissed and nipped down to your mating mark before you bit into it. His head rolled at the move and you felt the faintest insistence of his hips below yours. Not having the leverage to grind him, you instead focused on clenching your teeth with a minor gnaw until his skin broke.

You earned your favorite honed chirp.

Stomach doing backflips, you needed yourself stuffed to prevent more. Only shimmying his pants down enough to reveal his erection, you rose up adjusting his shaft at your entrance before enveloping him in one swift drop.  He exhaled sharply and you tossed your head back for a mewling noise as some basal itch was scratched. Rolling your hips into riding him, his jaw fell slack as he watched you. With his hands loosely holding the thick of your hips, he stared up as if cradling some precious treasure.

If his gaze were any indication, you were long sought and nearly unattainable. Feeling jittery, each rock sent tingles up your spinal cord. Lapping at your brain stem, misfires indicated waves of emotions, each drowning the next. From confidence to devotion, he poured them into you, not through your connection, but his gaze alone. His cock a superfluous peg there to keep you tethered and it was his face that was stirring on your ministrations.

His lips parted.

He spoke a short phrase in another language.

“No…!” You cried, grinding down hard onto him.

“It’s not proper.” He elucidated, grabbing your hands for a reassuring squeeze.

“You can’t just say it in another language like that!”

His eyes shimmered as he spoke it again in an entirely different way.

“Donnie!”

He had another and another.

You renewed your efforts, trying to stop him with your hips alone.

It only spurned more languages off his lips as he spoke his adorations in all the ways, but the one you understood.

“So unfair!” Your pitch rose several octaves as you grew close.

“I know.” He slipped out of a foreign tongue before dipping right into another.

“Then why!?”

“I won't say it like this. Not for some gambit!” He tugged down on your hips and you felt his knot expand.

“Shit, we’re g-gonna-!”

“Together!”

You could only scream his name as you both came. Body arching back to accommodate as much of him as possible, you heard a thousand words fly off his lips. Some a rehash of things you’d heard, he proclaimed a universal language of love.

Not coming down, but instead tapering off, he was slow to rise up and hold you. Moving deliriously with him, you found a limp press of a kiss before burying yourself into his neck.

Loosely running his hands over you with a revelatory awe, he nuzzled against your skin to mumble, “You are my greatest mistake.”

-

Fluttering lashes brushed the stiff plastron you were dozing against. Cozy and satisfied, your cheek slid against the smooth surface to glimpse your partner. His eyes open, he stared up at the ceiling with an expression similar to how you felt. “You up?”

In a blink of registration, he struggled to look down at you. “Hey.”

“Thinking?” You asked anew.

He hummed an agreement and pet your back.

“Bout what?” Settling against his pectoral scutes, you let your eyes close.

“When I mess up, it’s no longer a failure.”

You made a curious sound as that didn’t make much sense to your sleep coddled mind.

“Before.” His hand stopped and spread flat. “A misstep would cause ruin. I couldn’t afford them. With any, with you.”

“We messed up a lot early on.”

“And look where that almost got me.”

“Us and almost, but not.”

“True, I'm not brooding.” He did one long languid stroke down your torso. “A consideration, late stage revelation.”

“You’re surprised?” 

You felt him nod. “This whole exercise has been one mistake after another, but none damaging.”

“Yeah, as far as mistakes go…” You drew a curve with a finger to his plastron.

He squeezed your ass cheeks and you whimpered against him.

“Sensitive…” You huffed and scooted up to bury your face more comfortably against his neck.

He kissed the top of your head. “Referring to you or me?”

“Sensitive?” You chuckled.

“At fault.” He clarified, threatening to grope you again.

You tried to squirm away from him, but there was nowhere to go.

He relented by moving his hand back to the small of your back.

“Both.”

“Shame. I was going to applaud how vile you were.”

You blew an unintentional raspberry and sat up to stare at him, incredulous. “Sure, I’m so evil.”

“It’s true.” He arched a knowing brow. “You’ve ruined me.”

“I’ve taken one thing from you and pied you in the face with help, how is that ruin?”

“You’ve taken a great blight and nearly erased the stain.”

“You did that.”

“You spurned me on.”

“You mentioned this before.”

“I believe it.”

“You’ve been wrong.”

“I’ll admit it when I realize.”

You pecked his cheek. “Can’t wait.”

-

“Intimidation is next.” Donnie told you first thing in the morning.

You were breathing in the steam of a hot drink. “Huh?”

“My gauntlet.”

“Oh yeah. I was ready to just let time run out. Only a couple days left.”

“I want to win.”

“You’ve already won.”

“I have.”

Smiling into your mug, you let both warmths fill you before you went to get ready. The usual routine, you kept waiting for him to appear as a tower of terror, but he didn’t approach. Seemingly only getting ready himself, you got a goodbye peck on your way out. Carrying the press to your cheek through your commute. You worked with little worry and made it through the trip home without complaint. With anything waiting for you behind the door, you prepared yourself with a deep breath as you opened it.

Donnie stood across the room in a readied pose.

You took your time taking your jacket off and setting your bag aside before addressing him fully.

Unperturbed by the wait, you spied the style of outfit on him that you hadn’t seen in over a year. Cool pieces that were street wear reminiscent of his villain costume, sleek black utility pants were cuffed off with sharp combat boots. The understated bottoms accentuated his show stopping top where a wrap jacket was buckled off on one side and its enormous hood bowed around his shoulders, ready to conceal him at a moment’s notice.

You sensed anticipation in the air.

“Arm of the couch.”

Looking where he directed, there were clothes there. A splash of black with some gold accenting, you slid a hand over the cotton and what felt some stiffness mixed in. “Not really scary.”

“Stand off.”

“You have to give me a little bit more.”

“Change. You’ll see.” He walked off into the bedroom.

Staring after him and feeling a bit like you walked into a cut scene unprepared, you stripped. For clothes that definitely weren’t yours, they were tailored to your exact measurement and felt the epitome of comfort. Black pants hugged your body just right, but had a flexibility that you could move freely in. Doing a testing stomp in your own shiny new pair of steel toed boots, you looked over your arms. With one bare and the other emerging from a ballooned sleeve that was attached with a ring to your middle finger, you were wearing what you could only think of as a corseted hoodie. The top had the usual loose nature with a hood, but it was cinched around your waist and was obviously missing one of its sleeves. It gave you free roving motion to your dominant hand and perfectly coordinated with reaching to your hip where a pouch was strapped to that leg. Patting the pocket found something with a grip inside.

The only piece left that you hadn’t put on was a golden yellow bandana. Similar to his, it was missing the eye holes, so you carried it along as you walked over to the partition between rooms. “Don, what do I do with the-?”

You heard a warp of metal and watched as his bo extended to full height.

“Mask, if you prefer anonymity.”

“Like a cowboy.” You mimed holding up the fabric over your mouth.

He gave a nod and readied his stance.

“You haven’t really trained me to fight…” You felt jumpy and ready to dig into that holster.

“What have I taught you?” He charged forward, clearly holding back.

Using the golden mask, you blocked his bo as he telegraphed his swing.

“Not bad. Deflect would have been better.”

Twisting the fabric and tossing one end over the other, you looped it around his staff and yanked it to the side.

It brought his face up to yours.

“Mano e mano! I get it now.” You grinned.

“Tell me where my gauntlet is.” His voice husked.

“Never!” You lowered your center of gravity and twisted your arms around the mask to spin the staff.

He let it get sent further away.

Stumbling a few feet away from him and further into the bedroom, you panicked as he turned for another strike. A flick of his gaze hit your hip and you dug for whatever weapon was there. Finding two objects inside, you unceremoniously got one into each hand and then threw your arms out in a readied way that you had seen Leo do. The flick extended something and you had to glance down to see you were holding two extendable batons. “Are these legal!?”

He dropped his act for a moment to give you a bitterly sardonic stare.

Puffing up in annoyance, you charged him and he blocked with ease.

Though you had no idea what you were doing, you could feel his expertise. Through each swing, he was also leading you in what to do next. Teaching on the fly, he emboldened you to push harder. It culminated in a dancing duel around the apartment where you exchanged blow after blow. Neither of you once getting physically struck, you knew he could disable you in a heartbeat. Instead, it was about the battle and the heat to it. Charged from exhilaration and exertion, you pushed him back until he flipped over the couch.

He landed on the toes of his good foot on the coffee table and balanced his staff perpendicular to his body on his other raised knee to appraise you with an overflowing expression.

Further boosted by his pride, you squared for a stronger stance and lifted your batons. “Give up?”

“Yield and tell me where it is.” He responded coolly.

“Eh.” You gave a little shrug. “Don’t wanna.”

“Suit yourself.” With only the slightest dip, he launched, almost brushing the ceiling and you had to squander a few steps back. Losing your footing, he landed a force around you with his bo. The staff pressed across your front and, in a twirl that blurred your vision, he shoved upward. It manipulated the batons clean out of your hands and pinned your wrists above your head in one fluid movement. “Mercy?” He teased hot breath along your jawline.

Able to feel the staff with your fingers, you feigned your most pitiful expression which he ate up. Something you’d known from groping it before, it took only a quick slide for you to find the telescoping mechanism. His staff collapsed above you and you kneed into his stomach. Holding back since there was no air to press out and its firm surface would only damage you, you instead used it as a pressure point to throw your weight into him. Having lost his hand hold, it was just enough to throw him off and you both fell back onto the floor.

He scrambled for leverage and you fought to grab his hands. A silly squabble to an outsider, you caught a wrist of one hand and a single digit of his other to force them to his throat since you couldn’t manage over his head.

Leaning over him and panting, you smiled. “How about you beg?”

His grin grew wicked and you couldn’t steel yourself in time as his knees kicked up and his thighs slammed into your ass. It popped you forward until you were almost straddling his face and broke your grip. Swift, his arms swept downward to lock onto your thighs, but you dug your knees into the sides of his shell. Throwing all your weight to one side, he only caught one hip before you crushed said arm to the ground as you rolled. Momentum put him momentarily on top before it continued and you were the victor once again.

Kicking a foot out, you caught a sprawled limb under your boot and crossed his body to exert the rest of your force on his other arm. “Well!?”

He gave a breathy laugh. “Well done, where’d you learn that?”

“I didn’t. Full luck.” You giggled at him.

“I want you.” He purred.

A little shudder wiggled your hips. “Don’t cheat like that…!”

“I’ll make it worth your while.”

“A trick.” You pursed your lips.

“Tempting, but not that.” He whispered softly as himself and then projected his voice to show he was back in character. “Why fight when we could work together?”

“I betrayed you, stole from you, what’s to say you won’t do the same to me?” You put on your best glower. “I’ve got nothing to lose.”

“You also can’t end me like this.”

Shifting your boot where it was digging into his arm, you looked over to find he was right. He could probably break this entrapment now, but under the guise of the battle all you could do was continue to pin him. “Give me your staff as collateral.”

“It’s behind you.”

Staring him down for a long moment, you jumped away and scrambled to get it.

He was slow to sit up and show you his hands.

You extended his staff and kicked your lost batons away where they slid somewhere into the bedroom.

“To an exceedingly beneficial partnership.” He grinned.

“I’ll listen and nothing more.” You waited for the turn coat and got to your feet.

His hands stayed where you could see them. “A change of scenery?”

You adjusted your posture for a question.

The far finger on one of his hands came to his thumb. 

You held his staff ready to whack him.

He turned his hand over and snapped.

The lights went out.

Backing up where it was suddenly pitch black, you heard several pieces of furniture move until the lights came back on to a far lesser degree. It took a few adjusting blinks, but you found the sofa and coffee table had been pushed flush to the wall with the door. In its place sat a lovely round table, set ready for a romantic dinner. Around the room were now candles, all lit for a flickering honey amber glow.

“Wha-?” The bo loosened in your grip.

“I take my partnerships quite seriously.” Donnie stood ready in the kitchen.

“You…” At a loss, you walked over to the table. “You… uh… could have… poisoned it?”

“How does that benefit me?” He gestured for you to sit. “It would not reveal the information I seek.”

You collapsed the staff and sat down in the chair across from him. “From fighting to wine and dining?”

“I play to my advantage.”

“No scruples.” You looked over your place setting and the cutely folded napkin in the center of your plate.

“Some may say.” He turned and you noticed a large strange contraption on the counter. It just barely fit under the upper cabinets and had the look of a mini fridge. Grabbing a metal handle, it had an unlatching mechanism and it clicked to open. A puff of steamy air poured out and he reached in to remove two plates. A gourmet looking meal, he walked them over and exuded power.

You felt like you had already lost as you pulled your napkin into your lap.

He set your plate down without clinking the china and passed you a coy look.

You returned it with an unsure one and he simply smiled as he placed his own plate down. Smoothly taking his seat and flicking his napkin for placement over his legs, he scooped up a knife and fork to address you. “I see talent in you.”

“Should I be flattered?” Your mouth watered as the smell wafted up.

 “Up to you. I would be.”

“Such an ego.” You cut into a steak medallion and marveled how your knife slid through it like butter.

“When one can back it up?” He took his first bite and watched you while he chewed.

“What do I get out of it?” You smeared into a sauce and when you put it in your lips you had to break character to swoon.

He did the same to savor your reaction.

Clearing your throat, a little embarrassed, you tried the sides next. “Well?”

“Besides my tutelage?”

“Yes.” Turning your head from the bite, a happy little moan leaked from you.

You heard a little rhythmic thump and he was forced to readjust his posture.

Your heart somersaulted.

You could see a faint dusting to his cheeks. “You’d have my everything to command. My empire shared.”

“All for some gauntlet?”

“All for being the first to deceive me.”

There was something about his face.

That phrase was both in character and not.

The weight of truth shifting the scales, you had to openly gape.

That couldn’t be possible, could it?

No, he had scars to prove otherwise.

“Donnie-”

“Flukes.”

He read your mind and felt yourself sharply inhale.

“Not praying on naivety, jumping on a moment of weakness, or making a move while I was already down.”

You had to rest your fork and knife on the edge of your plate.

“You named your intent and executed. I am at your mercy. You are the first and only.”

Vision shifting, you returned to your plate and took a few bites in rapid succession to stave off your closing throat.

Across from you, you could feel his smile as he continued to dine the same.

You made it about halfway through before you went for a drink to find there wasn’t one.

He scrambled up and into the kitchen where he quickly returned with two full glasses.

Your smile felt like it took up your whole face.

You loved him.

Taking in the space along with a sip, you returned to him with the intention of giving your answer.

“I must have you.” He interjected before you could.

“You’ll over do it.”

“Impossible.” He dabbed his mouth before rounding the table.

He knelt in front of you and your entire body constricted.

He’d already said he wouldn’t confess his love under this guise so you hoped that extended to a proposal.

“What are you doing?” You held onto the pieces of your voice.

“There will always be more.” He held out his hand and you slipped yours into it. “My affections for you have no limit. They will continue to grow as long as you give them even the slightest attention. I’m bewitched and at your mercy.”

“which you didn’t call it earlier.” You almost felt bad interrupting his speech.

His grin said he didn’t mind. “Show my devotion under duress? When I can present of my own volition?” He brought your hand forward for a chaste kiss.

You melted. “You’re showing me your whole heart. Don’t you want to leave something to the imagination?”

“No. I only want you.”

“You’ve missed something.”

He dropped his sweet nothings to stare with genuine surprise. “What?”

“You already have me.”

He surged forward and caught you in a kiss. Draping your arms over his shoulders, you stoked the flames for a more tender press and he melted against you. Stealing as many as some unknown appropriateness allowed, he eventually retreated reluctantly. Parting with an extra peck to your knuckles, he held your hand as he crossed the table to return to his seat.

“I’ll need that to finish this amazing meal.”

“Sweet sorrow.” He mused, letting go.

You sent your lingering blush to your plate and took a few more bites.

“I may have jumped the gun.” He had a normal candor to his voice and you assumed the role play was over.

“Yeah?”

“I meant to do that with dessert.” He seemed a little irritated and bit his fork a little too hard.

“What else did you make?”

“Soufflé.”

“Shut up.”

“One vanilla, one chocolate.”

“Did they both turn out?”

“Hadn’t fallen last I checked.”

“I’ve never had a fresh one!”

“I hope to do it justice.”

Grinning, you hurried to finish your meal and he cleaned his plate. He then cleared the dishes for you and refreshed you with a glass of water which you sipped as he went to get the next course. “What is that thing?”

“This?” He set the plates down and gestured to the box. “A warmer to maintain the food.”

“The plates weren’t hot.”

“Smart technology.”

“Are the soufflés in there?”

“Yes, I have concerns about the scent transfer.” He readied for the hot air as he opened the door. “Hm.”

“How is it?”

“Haven’t fallen, but the smell…”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

He whisked two large ramekins out and your eyes shot wide in excitement at the fluffy overflowing desserts.

Getting up on sheer instinct, you walked over to him and he set them down on the counter for you to inspect. “If I poke it will it collapse?”

“Best to do with a spoon.”

“Fine, fine.” You feigned throwing your hands up and headed back to the table. “Oh, yeah!”

He hummed a questioning response as he approached.

“You won, let me get your gauntlet.” You passed the table heading toward the door.

“The dessert…” He sounded sullen as you left him.

“What about it?” You grabbed the gauntlet off the astronaut and turned.

His limbs sank and you watched the soufflés tip in his grasp.

“Ah, Donnie!”

They hit the floor before you could reach him.

“What happened? Why?!”

“Do that again.”

“What?” You surveyed the damage, steering clear of stepping in the fallen dish.

“Again.”

Unaccustomed to that bitter heat, you shrank a little into yourself.

He didn’t relent so you returned to the astronaut and hovered.

“Place it.”

You set it down as it was, nerves shaking your fingers.

He stared hard at you until you had to break eye contact.

“Pick it up.”

You did so and were slow to walk it over with your eyes glued to the ground.

“This whole time…” He sounded a step away from rage.

Feeling worse than the dessert looked, you held out the gauntlet.

You felt the weight of it leave your hand.

It brought anxious words to your lips. “I-I never thought I was outsmarting you. I just thought… you hide things in plain sight. It’s a trope or something. I wasn’t trying to humiliate you. I didn’t think it was clever. I’m sor-”

Something brushed your arm.

Having not seen it, you looked up to find him standing beside you. He wasn't facing you and was instead staring down at the table with an unreadable expression. Feeling hopeless, you watched as he reached out and caught the table cloth. Wincing in preparation, he gathered up each edge slowly and methodically. Everything on the table tipped and fell including your water which splashed before he tied the whole thing up into a giant bundle.

“Donnie, please-!”

Grabbing the knot, he tossed the entire sack into the kitchen where the dishes shattered inside.

“Donatello!”

He addressed you and you froze under the scalding heat pouring off of him.

Knees feeling weak, he held out his hand and on pure instinct you slotted yours into it. With the faintest pull, he led you the step to the table where you got the sense he wanted you to sit. Turning within his grasp to do so, you hopped up at nearly the same time he dropped to his knees. His name on your lips again, you almost spoke it when his fingers slid behind your ankle as if you were a porcelain doll. Something infinitely precious, he brought your left foot up and set your boot on his thigh. He then began the exceedingly careful action of unlacing your boots and you could only watch him with growing interest.

With one final tug, he pulled the lace free and only then worked to remove your boot. A slow rock to release it from your foot, he was just as careful in setting the shoe aside. Hooking the top of your sock with an attentive digit, he rolled the fabric down until your foot was free.

Your nerves flared as he cradled your arch.

You hadn’t had a chance to shower after the whole work day or from the following workout. “D-Don, wait!”

Ignoring you, his face lowered and he pressed a soft kiss to the top of your foot.

Sparks shot off at the delicate nature and he lifted only a few centimeters before placing another.

Your thighs pressed together and he continued his trek up until your pant leg stopped him. He then left you only to repeat the same process with your other foot. By the time he reached your hem a second time, you were love struck. Painting your utter being, you sent the adoration down to him where you saw it returned as he closed in. Coming up like you willed him to, he stopped short and a complaint died on your lips.

Fingers barely brushing your hips, he found your waistband and traced it toward the center. Not fully touching as if you’d shatter with the slightest pressure, he got the button undone and the sound of the zipper going down unraveled your mind. Hips trying to meet his hands, he left your fly down and moved to tuck his digits into your hem. Your arch helped and he used the space to shimmy the fabric down.

Slow and deliberate, he took your underwear down with the pair as he peeled the bottoms from you. Twitching with each inadvertent graze, it was the absence of lust that was your undoing. Pants pooling around your ankles, he removed the fabric one leg at a time before he neatly folded the clothes. Setting them aside as if they were precious garments, he gazed up at your legs as if he had never seen you uncovered before.

A creature unlike any other, his hands hovered, afraid to sully your perfection. Squirming to try to meet him, he avoided you with a near clinical nature until he ditched his research to feel you anew. Starting right where he’d left off on your right foot, he explored with his lips and snout as he tasted every inch of your flesh. Rounding the entirety of your calf before he would move upward, you were panting his name by the time he hit your knees. Nuzzling at the sound was the only indication he was aware of you. He worked your round thigh and avoided the area between your legs.

Shuddering as he mouthed up to the joint of your hip, he descended again and you almost wished you were a mermaid. Something with a singular lower body, you wanted him to continue forward instead of having to reset. A beached siren, you would sing him a sweet melody if only he would abandon his ship and offer himself up to you.

Moving through the same steps, this time when he reached your other hip socket, his hand extended in a testing brush of your cotton top. Tracing the gold boning in your corset, he skipped over your chest for drawstrings. Toying with the aglet, he removed himself from you and appeared to hover in your face. Sensing him like one would a hummingbird and fearing he’d disappear, you reached out.

He caught your hand and you waited with a weak whine in case he’d push it away, he instead pulled it close. Curling your digits to cup his cheek, he leaned his weight there while staring love into your eyes. Lips parting for a shaky breath, he gave a little nod before he turned to nose and kiss your palm. Needing more, but unable to extrapolate, you watched him put your hand back where you had been gripping the table’s edge for dear life.

He shifted focus with closed eyes as he reached behind you to undo the corset’s ties. The fabric soon loosened and he followed the hem around to the side. Lifting your arms, ready for him, he pulled up with the same rolling move to bunch the fabric as much as it would allow. Boning prevented much, but he got to your armpits before he adjusted his grip to flip the top off of you.

Feeling a sweep of relief that air-cooled skin granted, he was slow at receding as if it brought your being into focus. Wanting to scream that you were already his possession, his arms disappeared around your back again and you readied yourself for your bra to be removed. A silent pop, the fabric let go of its hold on you and he traced up feathered touches over your shoulder straps. Sliding them off one at a time, by the time the band unseated from below your breasts, you were gnawing on your now raw lip.

Thumbing over your chin to stop you, a mewl leaked out and his eyes watered at the sound. Wanting to soothe him or do anything other than hang on, you couldn’t wrench your fingers free as he knelt once again. Following up his predetermined path, he planted rows of kisses across your stomach. Yielding an immediate crop, you were on your back of your own volition and he only continued to sow.

Reverent to a fault, he filled the expanse of your torso without shifting to erogenous duty. Your breasts were simply more skin for him to trace. Etching your soul to paper for use in great academic discovery, he diverted course as he hit your collar and shifted to your left shoulder. Arm detaching from you for his own use, he curled his fingers under your wrist to lift further as he worked his way down. Feeling it in your very veins, you mourned what you did not know you needed. Something beyond you and of a higher existence, you could only tell for certain that it wasn’t sexual.

Infinitely more, the signals crossed in a way you couldn’t repair. Not made for his actions, you could only tell that what was between your legs felt inappropriate. Your leaking desire made a mockery of his work and you despised that it wasn’t within your power to stop. Wanting to be a pious vessel for him, your being quaked as he seared off each of your fingertips with a kiss.

Knowing that meant one more round, your head lolled as he returned to your chest. Making a V, he trended the other direction across your right shoulder and, in a swerve, your head bumped his. It knocked him out of his stupor where he briskly rubbed his cheek to yours. An animal-like contact, you returned with as much as you could before he deemed the interaction satisfactory and continued his work.

A puppet without strings, he sought your joints as he kissed across your other arm. Once carved and now painted, you moved for him. A master of none, he was reveled in you though he’d been the one to drain you of yourself. He animated through his lips and you only wanted for him to use you more. Feeling useless without him, he capped off the ends of your digits and appeared again, that roving elusive bird.

You thought you might fall over and he must have noticed because he grabbed your shoulders. Mentally thanking him, your head tipped forward and you felt him push. Odd as he had been more interested in operating around you, you resisted the move until you realized how you were being piloted. It was a turn and you felt doused in the fact that he hadn’t been able to reach your back.

“I can’t…” Your whine hit your ears.

You couldn’t move.

You’d plummet over the edge.

You’d leave this world.

You needed his anchor.

“You can.” He spoke warm beside your head.

Feeling a deep throb within your body, you couldn’t remember the last time he had spoken.

His voice now a foreign one, you shook your head and he let it fall to his shoulder.

“You can.” He repeated with a nuzzle.

A strung out noise pulled from you, you heeded his direction and he got you turned around. Edging you to curl forward and expose your spine to him, you imagined he would flay off chunks of your meat like a fish. Carving skills learned from years of training, he’d yield perfect filets and sear them off with only salt for flavor.

His lips hitting the base of your neck, you unintentionally cried out for the blade. None came and instead he kissed the worries away with each baked press. A toasted stone, it helped ground you and, as he filled out the expanse of you, some of your sanity returned. Tickling toward the center of your spine and downward, it caused muscle groups you’d long forgotten to contract. A writhing mess by the time he inched around your hips, he had to hold you down because you kept trying to rise off the table.

When he left you for a momentary reprieve, it felt like a breath. The first after near suffocation, it was a deep respite of illumination. Drinking in enlightenment, the rustling of fabric signified the change of being. Reality was being swapped and you were an autonomous being. As much of a fact that was, you also couldn't help your tether to Donnie. Newly born, his forging was of his responsibility. 

With a show of hands, he returned, standing, and picked up at your hairline. Moving up to your crown, you rolled your neck back to give him access as he worked his fingers into where his lips could not. Soon staring at the ceiling with some sort of sight, something moist barely tapped the top edge of one of your butt cheeks and your eyes widened as you placed it as his cock.

 He was not so innocent.

You were the same.

Keenly alive, you broke free from the last of your bindings and left him. He watched on, a painting of a mortal who’d tasted ambrosia and you the god doomed to fall. Your back turned to him, you got on legs that you knew would hold you. It was your body to command and the you who only moments ago thought otherwise felt like some curse you'd broken free from. 

An immortal unfairly imprisoned, his existence shifted as you stood nude and powerful. He was no master and had instead come to possess you momentarily. He was an ear to coax and despite your allure, he'd been the one to free you of his own violation. Shifting your weight from hip to hip, your head lifted high as you finally turned to him.

Whatever expression you wore destroyed what was left of him.

Caught having touched what no mortal should, a pathetic chirp exited his body and you approached.

Falling like a tower, he was forced to kneel as you towered over him.

Save for his eyes glued to yours, his being screamed of his lowly station.

A smile picking up your lips, he chirped again, even more pitiful, as you finished your approach. Where he looked up at the object of his worship, you shifted your weight to your right foot. Lifting the left that he started all this with, you touched the tip of your big toe to his pectoral scutes. Spurned by your being, he crumpled backward as you exerted pressure.

Placing the full force of your foot to ensure he’d stay down, he squeaked his compliance and you removed the appendage to regard the whole of him. Laying on his carapace, he spread with full submission and his cock swayed to flag you down. Regarding the organ with the affection that one might give an old childhood toy, you traced the line of his plastron to his face. Gaze piteous for his transgressions, you walked the side of him before moving to place a foot on either side of his head.

It gave him an unencumbered view of your sex and you watched him regard what was above him like a rare bloom. One only fated to have its petals spread once a century, you adjusted your stance a final time before dropping down. Knowing this to be his only chance, he caught your thighs as you sat on his face.

Tipping the bowl back to drink your everything in, your knees hit the floor and you cried out as his tongue pressed into you. Scorching heat of your defiling fall, you were sent further forward. You imagined he gave up breathing in exchange for this moment and you were forced to slap a hand to the floor to keep from doing an outright somersault. Eating you out like his very life depended on it, your other hand buried into his mask, pulling on the fabric and you shoved down the top of his head to make sure he served your ethereal being as he should. 

Nails bit your thighs as his snout nudged your clit. His tongue still buried, the appendage felt endless as he siphoned all he could. Your life force tied directly to his, your orgasm felt like it was coaxed by fate. Something needing to culminate to prove that both of you still existed in your current forms, the winding felt like a woven cloth. Made by the fates, the spool rotating for the world’s loom, you shouted.

His only signal, you ground down into him, snuffed out the last of his breath. Cumming only for your pleasure, you allowed your body to spasm and your voice carried the necessary tune. The design of which was orchestrated by him and you felt him still as he drank in the sound along with the last of your juices. Feeling weak and cut off from the god’s might, you slumped, arms no longer made to bear a load of mortality.

You were rising from your fall and it made no sense until you felt him readjust his hold. Dizzy and drunk off your own supply of chemicals, you slacked above him. Moving further, you were deposited onto the flat of his stomach and when his plastron pressed to your sex, you gave an overtaxed jolt. He chirped sweet nothings and aided in your come down until you were again clay for him to mold.

Formless, he searched for your shape, afraid to touch in case the wrong form be built. Reverted to your essential dogma, you needed to help your mate. Your hands rose on this instinct and you watched them as they moved to grab your own breasts. Rolling the fat sacks in your hands, they took what had to be the right shape so you left them. Trending downward, you squeezed bits of yourself, pinching skin and molding what had yet to find its place. Leading down your body and to the little pool you created over his stomach, a touch down into your sex cemented the last of you.

Ready to be fired, he was brimstone and his kiln sat at attention behind you. Lifting on clay limbs, they held your form up long enough to deliver it to the fires. There you dropped and felt yourself split in two as his cock plunged into your body. A snarl ripped from your partner and you felt weak as his Hephaestusian powers awoke. The volcano itself, he sought to overwhelm you. It was all too much and the words you formed made little sense. The foreign tongue couldn't reach you and you were trapped in the lava flow. 

He hadn’t moved. 

You had only been tossed in for your first fire in an attempt to set, bone dry.

Now paled and ready for the final cook, your hands appeared in your vision. Curious spread digits, they reached out until they found the ridge of his pectoral scutes. As soon you made contact, his own flew up to catch your wrists as if you'd mistakenly committed some great taboo. Afraid of what that might be, his face contorted as your body moved with his. His distress troubled you and you meant to soothe him. Reminding you of your connection, you clenched his cock and the twine paining him snapped.

A vibration revved so intense you saw the minor quiver of your fingers. Lifting one hand up to observe the phenomena, it disappeared up close and you frowned. Looking down to see the other hand still shaking, your brows scrunched as you tried to make sense of where the source was. Far stronger than your tech gauntlet, it seemed to stem from where you touched Donnie. Having seen him just injured, you felt like a bother for putting that jittery sensation onto him.

You'd have to let go to save him.

He still had your wrists cuffed so when you tried to retreat, he wouldn’t let you.

“Let go…” You protested.

He shook his head.

“What?” Your lips felt lame.

He pulled hard on your hands.

It tugged your digits up until your fingertips curled over the edge of his plastron. Skimming the skin above, you felt his chest oscillating at a higher frequency.

The vibration was coming from him.

Now searching for the exact source, you encircled his neck to find it there along with a guttural purr echoing from his throat. “I don’t understand…?”

“Churr.” He could barely get the word out as the sound swallowed up his voice.

“Churr.” You repeated the incantation and he gave a smile as the power turned up.

Hands now another connection point, this churr shook your very bone structure. The circuit completed, you again clamped down on his cock. He squeaked through the churr and you felt yourself descend. Not letting you traverse the depths alone, he encircled you as you finally began to ride him. A drag of your hips churned the water into a whirlpool that threatened to swallow you whole. Your partner, a devolution of chirps and churrs, disturbed the fluidity and kept you afloat until he forced you upright.

Folding overtop you, his knees kicked up as your backrest and you were buried into his chest. Feeling whole, your limbs wrapped around him as you rocked together. A pump to keep the water filling your vessel from sinking the ship, the back and forth exchange staved off the storm. Calypso christening your union, you felt like crying and the thought manifested tiny water droplets. Confused as your face wasn’t wet, you searched for the new leak and found it on Donnie's cheeks.

Brushing furiously to shoo the invaders away, you saw love as the source of the well. Forever bound, the overflow sought your ducts until you  dripped with little commiserations. Closer than ever, he brought your foreheads together for further commingling. His churrs echoed in your ears and quieted all useless noise. It slowed time until neither of you rocked and resorted to the smallest grind.

Depths plugged satisfactorily, the micromovements were only meant to maintain the connection. Growing weaker by the second because you had all you needed, you kissed and it felt like something new. Whether it was the roleplay or his new ability, your lip lock enhanced and he waxed poetic; there was no upper limit to his love. Soaring on the thought, it was amongst a thousand shallow thrusts that you came.

Having had no warning of your orgasm, when it struck, you drowned in the many tears. Something silent beyond guppy gasps, your wrenching signaled his own. Mind lost to the white noise of his churr, your wringing forced him to join you. His breath, his vibrations, and his cum brought true silence as your existence had been fully excavated. With Donnie’s locked knees as the only thing keeping either of you upright, you slacked against one another. Toasty, you allowed yourself to sleep, just like that.

- 

Waking was brought about by a jostle to your body. Wanting to doze for many more hours, you frustratingly found the room much darker than you’d left it. Many of the candles had burnt out while a few hung on, flickering with their last breath. Your head rolled to find a clock. You could almost see the one in the kitchen and, though it was upside down, you thought it read sometime after midnight based on the shape of the digits.

It meant you’d been like this for hours and it was Donnie who struggled to rise. Breaking the calcified seal of your hips brought an ache that cemented the time frame and you both groaned loudly to free yourselves. Uncoordinated and a mess, you fell away from one another. Weak and not wanting to lie on the floor a second more, you were the first to get on your hands and knees where his spent leaked down your legs.

Feeling like a filthy animal, you dropped your ass down and let his cum drip to the floor as you forced your bearings. They didn't come readily and you had to tap reserves. Summing all you could, you noticed a ramekin laying on its side. Reaching for it, its cool touch helped with your bearings and you turned it to find some kind of gooey mixture inside. There were spoons once, a far thought reminded you, but their absence meant you had to forage. With half open lids, you caught a nearby chair to get yourself upright.

Toting your prize along with your stumbling and trembling form, you made it to the kitchen and found blessed rest against a counter. Another chill that you despised for its wakefulness, you gathered enough strength to register you were close to the silverware drawer. Wondering about the mystery mixture, you took an embarrassing amount of time to draw a single spoon from the rest. Not to be deterred by one struggle, you rushed as soon as you had a utensil and plunged it into the dish. Getting a solid scoop of white fluff, you brought it to your lips for a burst of sweetness.

“Can… I have… one?” A raspy voice sounded beside you.

Looking with surprise, you found Donnie the source and wondered what had happened to have ruined his throat in such a way.

Unable to place it, you delved out another scoop and held it up to him.

He had to hold himself with one hand to the counter, but he leaned toward enough to take the bite and relished it without releasing the spoon from his teeth.

“That’s my soufflé.” Your own voice wasn't near as destroyed, but sounded thin upon listening. 

Frowning around your utensil, he allowed you to pull it out only to ask something. “You… don’t… want… some of… this…one?” He shook another ramekin.

“Chocolate.” You remembered as pieces started to assemble.

He nodded and scooped a spoon for himself out from the drawer that had been left open. Trying his gathered treat first as you had, he made a bitter face. “Cold…”

“So’s this one.” You noted, leaning into him to await your bite.

He took a while getting a good amount onto his spoon before offering it to you.

Like him, you held it with your teeth before the flavor made you release. “It’s good.”

He got out a repulsed grunt before he was struck with what looked like a migraine.

“You okay?”

“That’s… your first…” He grouched.

A laugh shined brightly through the dark before you realized it was coming from you.

He returned it with a smoker’s enthusiasm and you got your strength up by feeding one soufflés. It got you both ambling, unwashed, toward bed. In the morning you knew you would hate the decision, but until then, the mattress felt incredible. Amongst soft sheets that only wanted to soothe achy bodies, you snuggled in and found Donnie hadn’t been as close behind you as you thought. Searching for him reluctantly, you watched him trail up with something in his hands. Not huge, but an odd shape, he set it down with enough force that you couldn't help but get a good look at it.

He took his miniaturized tech gauntlet and placed it, like a visor, on the astronaut's helmet.

The toy was undoubtedly cursed, but the little guy had shown a higher aptitude for this sort of guard duty. Ruminating on his line of work, you let sleep take you as your partner collapsed by your side.

NEXT

You know my many merry holidays and thanks go out equally to my darling betas @tmntxthings and @thepinkpanther83

[magixfairyix]

Mercy 02:

Continuation of this AU where Darcy spares Iorda's life and soon regrets it.

Takes place on Earth after season 8. Iorda shows up at the Trix's apartment.

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Stormy opened the door and her face fell.

Shit.

"You three had better explain why you, one, look like how I described people who've tried to kill me," Iorda said with a glare, a small book—a diary—clenched in her hand. "And two, why the fuck I don't remember how I supposedly have magic according to this."

Stormy froze, hearing Icy and Darcy arguing without knowing who was at the door.

"Um... Icy!" Stormy called warily.

"What?"

"Darcy forgot to question if 'you-know-who' wrote everything down!"

Icy looked past Stormy to the door and she glared. She would have expected Darcy to think of all the ways this very stupid idea could've gone wrong, but Icy guessed that her sister was less swayed by logic and more swayed by a feeling of symapthy towards Iorda.

Darcy pushed down her expression that visibly showed her shock before she shook up, walking past Icy and towards the doorway. "Look, we don't know who you are. You—"

Iorda regarded Darcy with a cold look. "You, I'm not trusting."

Icy expected Darcy to continue trying to convince Iorda away, but Darcy gave a silent look to her that told Icy that her sister was aware that Iorda wasn't an idiot. If the girl wrote everything down then it would be obvious that she wasn't going to belive a single world out of Darcy's mouth.

"Fair..." Darcy said coldly with a shrug, stepping back.

Icy stepped back with Darcy, seeking to have a conversation with her sister. One on how to fix this and how to get Iorda away from them. They walked away from the door to leave Stormy to deal with Iorda, their sister making some sort of pop-culture refrence.

"This is why you finish the job," Icy hissed quietly under her breath.

"Point made, Icy," Darcy said, rolling her eyes. "You can yell at me later, but how are we going to get her out of here? She could tell the Winx if things go bad, knowing she also wrote about them."

Icy paused. 

"Should we...?" Icy started, gesturing a cutting gesture across her throat.

Darcy paused before shrugging.

"If you two are planning on killing me..." Iorda started, glancing past Stormy. She held up the necklase charm hanging from her neck. "Protection charm against dark magic."

Darcy shared a nervous look with Icy before feigning a laugh. "That won't work. We're po-"

Iorda gave her a deadpan glare. "I also wrote down that older ways of witchcraft still work against magic. Which I used to practice before coming to Magix."

Icy opened her mouth to retort, but Iorda saw that coming.

"And I'd rather have a conversation like adults than having one of you stabbing me," Iorda said bluntly. "So, what will it be?"

Stormy glanced behind her to her sisters, giving them a look that very clearly meant 'calm down.' Icy could very well go over to the kitchen and throw a knife at Iorda without giving her time to fight back, but if someone saw and allerted Earth's authorites then the Winx would most definetly find out.

Icy sighed, giving a nod to Stormy.

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Iorda felt like she was stupid for going into the appartment of three people, more so witches, who had tried to kill her several times in the past. But what she needed was information, and she knew she wouldn't be attacked.

Hopefully.

"So, you three tried to kill me," Iorda stated. "Correct?"

All four of them were seated around couches and a chair. Iorda was trying to stay calm and composed, Icy looked evidently fed up, Darcy was honestly cursing her past self for not remember how stubborn Iorda was, and Stormy was hoping she wouldn't have to bail her sisters out of jail by the end of this.

"That we did," Icy said plainly, crossing one of her legs over the other. "Several times."

"Is that what happened after..." Iorda paused, trying to remember the name. "Acheron was locked inside the Legendarium? One of you tried to kill me?"

"Or was supposed to..." Icy mumbled under her breath.

Darcy sighed, glaring at Icy. "You want to do this now? Fine. You're the one who decided to give Bloom that Prime Star and give up power, so you have no right to blame me for doing the same thing three years ago."

"You didn't kill me?" Iorda questioned, looking at Darcy in confusion as to why the one who apparently hated her the most would spare her.

"Yes, I didn't kill you," Darcy said, rolling her eyes. "You're all caught up."

Iorda paused, looking between the three of them. "I'm your... magical balance, right?"

The Trix nodded.

"So why didn't you kill me?" Iorda asked Darcy.

"Even she agrees!" Icy exclaims.

"Never thought I of all people would say this, but would both of you shut up!" Stormy snapped, sighing as she looks back at Iorda when her sisters decide to stop arguing. "What do you want?"

"To know what happened between Acheron and now," Iorda answered bluntly.

"Why?"

"Because I've apparently been living in ignorance for three years," Iorda said in the same, cold tone of voice. "The Winx probably think I'm dead. I don't remember my freinds. Or how to use my magic to even get to them."

"Then leave," Icy said firmly. "Because we're not telling you how to get back to Magix so you can snitch on our location to your pixie freinds."

Stormy paused. "Well, we did help them-"

"And we've also committed crimes that can and will get us sent back to worse things than Omega," Icy interupted. "Even if we did help them one time. Which, I'm starting to regret."

"I wasn't planning on snitching on you three," Iorda said, slightly tierd from the arguing.

"As if we'd belive that," Icy scoffed.

"From the looks of things, you three are trying to live a normal life," Iorda explained calmly. "And if I do find the Winx, I've 'died' before. I came back when my magic kept me alive, and I can think of a similar excuse."

Darcy thought deeply about this. "And from the looks of things, you do owe us..."

"Bullshit," Iorda scoffed, rolling her eyes. "I stopped the Ancestors from posessing you three on that weird planet. You three have owed me for years for that, and also for all the times you've tried to kill me."

Darcy glared daggers at Iorda, realizing how much of a pain she still was.

"Things aren't even, but since you 'spared me,' I'll act like it is," Iorda said firmly. 

"Look, fairy, after Acheron got sucked into that book again we tried to take over the world again. Twice. We helped the Winx defeat Valtor, who came back. And then we came to Earth," Icy explained, standing up with her arms crossed in front of her.

"And your psycho of a sister wiped my memories," Iorda scoffed.

Stormy repressed a snort at that.

"That 'psycho' also spared your life," Icy sneered.

"You don't get to talk about morality with me," Iorda said sharply. "Miss 'let's freeze the fairy's wings off.' The only one who gets to is that one—" She gestured to Stormy. "—who doesn't have personal grudges against my existence."

Icy stepped forwards, anger in her eyes, before Stormy grabbed her wrist tightly. With a sigh, Icy begrudingly sat back down in her seat.

Iorda glanced to Darcy. "Is the spell reversable?"

"Of cource not," Darcy said, leaning back in her seat. "It's been three years. If you found out about the spell earlier, then yes, possibly. But its far too late to get any memories back."

"So you fucked up my head?" Iorda said coldly, reisisting the urge to throw the vase on the coffee table at the witch. "Perminantly?"

Darcy gave Iorda a look as if to say 'what do you think?'

Iorda sighed, rolling her eyes. "Can I re-learn how to use my magic?"

"Um..." Stormy started slowly, looking between her two sisters. "With help yes, but the Winx are y'know, not here and you can't open a portal on your own."

"So help me open a portal."

Icy scoffed. "Oh please. We can tolerate having a civil discussion with you, but we're not helping you in any way to contact the Winx or to bring you to them."

"Why?" Iorda questioned. "I'm not going to tell them."

"They'll question how you managed to open a portal without any help," Icy retorted. "They might not have many brain cells shared between them, but your technology fairy friend would put two and two together."

Iorda thought for a moment.

Darcy guessed what she was thinking.

"No no no," Darcy started. "We will not."

"You don't even know what I was going to ask," Iorda said firmly.

"What's going on?" Stormy asked Darcy.

"She wants us to teach her magic," Darcy answered bluntly, rolling her eyes.

"I-"

"Okay, get out," Icy said as she stood up, turning a glare to Iorda. "We spoke. You know what happened. But we are not going to help you."

Iorda breathed in slowly to calm herself as she looked between the three witches. She paused for a moment before standing up, shrugging. She'd find something. Maybe some information in her diary, though she tried to burry her hopelessness.

"Fine," Iorda said, turning and walking towards the door. "Horrible seeing you three."

"The feeling is murtral," Darcy responded.

Iorda bit back a reort as she walked, eyes scanning past a table next to the door with several papers on it. Some of them was just spam mail, but one of them was useful. Iorda was not the type of person to use blackmail, but surrounded by this compnay she could let up a bit.

She lifted up an eviction notice and turned towards the witches.

"You three are getting evicted," Iorda said, smirking slightly.

Darcy was the first to walk over to where Iorda was, snatching the paper out of her hand. She was fed up with Iorda coming here, even though that part was the witch's fault. She'd forgotten how irritating Iorda was in the first year; before she started trying to be a perfect fairy.

Stormy had busy trying to convince Icy to calm down and trying to keep her seated on the couch. 

"That is none of your buisness," Darcy sneered, stepping closer to Iorda who held her ground.

One thing that Darcy evidently hated about this area in Earth was rent and how high it was. Stormy and Darcy both had jobs while Icy kept trying to figure out how to save Diamond, as well as keeping the house from burning down. It was a good decision. Icy would blow thier cover if she'd ever gotten into retail.

But even if Icy got a job along with Darcy's at some clothing store in the mall, and Stormy's at the grocery nearby, the prices of the houses in the area were going up due to some nearby renovations and new buildings.

It was shitty luck.

"How about we make a deal?" Iorda asked.

"How about we don't."

"I have a place that apparently, once again according to this—" Iorda begins as she gestures to her diary again. "I bought after working in Magix for five years, and Earth. The area isn't—"

"We are not moving in with you."

"The area isn't as good as here, but it is still close to where you work here," Iorda said. The witch's interuptions were annoying her at this point. "You either help me learn magic and you can stay with me—more than enough space—or you can get evicted."

"I'd rather get evicted," Darcy answered. "You can leave now."

Iorda gave the trio a once over before turning around. "Good luck with finding out another person who will actually take you three in."

She opened the door and shut it behind her.

The three were silent for a moment.

"... once again, this—"

"Is why you finish the job. Yes, Icy I know," Darcy snapped.

[womanexile]

I'm going to play devil's advocate (and go delulu) for a moment here: I think Taylor's going to be single for a while now. Why? You're On Your Own, Kid. I've always read tracks 5's as the point of the album. Some examples (im trying to keep it brief and I apologize for spelling mistakes and auto-corrects, it's 1 AM where I'm at):

All Too Well from Red, an album about how complicated emotions can be, has arguably her most "emotional rollercoaster" of a song as track 5.

Dear John from Speak Now, an album loosely based on the concept of "things she should have told people, but never did." has a song directly addressed to Mayer as track 5.

tolerate it from evermore, which I always read as an album about moving on from the past, has a song that discusses a failing relationship (which is heavily implied to have been a marriage or just really long) which, at the end, Taylor is implied to be leaving due to how unfulfilling it is, even if it was once great *coughs in Joe Alwyn* as track 5.

my tears ricochet from folklore, which I always read as an album about directly addressing the hurt the past caused, but not healing from it, has a song that discusses the pain of losing a partner, but explicitly not moving on, as the man still wears the jewels, missing her, while also tossing out blame *cough in Hiddleston/Harris affair and Harry Styles (my favorite duo (Hiddle)/trio (Calcium being an intrusion to all that is good))* and Taylor still speaks to him, while screaming at the sky, and feels she can go anywhere, just not home (which I see as symbolism for love in all TS songs) as the track 5.

Delicate from reputation, which discusses forbidden romance, has the most obvious example of portraying the theme, while also subtly hinting at the relationship being over already in the bridge and her only reminiscing and hoping to be remembered *cough in rep is about Hiddleston delusion*, as the track 5 (yes, I'm the Hiddleswift truther from earlier, hello).

These are the most obvious ones, to me at least.

You're On Your Own, Kid is a funny song in all possible readings of Midnights. I take the album as the third part of the reminiscence trilogy, as I've dubbed it. folklore is about addressing the past, evermore about moving on from it, and Midnights about learning from it. I take each song as her comparing a past situation to her circumstances with Alwyn (YOYOK past situation is obvious so I won't talk about that).

She starts with summer went away, I've always taken summer as symbolic of Hiddleston, but her yearning for love remained, and she tried to play it off as if it's cool, even if it wasn't, because if she did, that relationship would blow up in both their faces, with people already thinking it was PR and Kanye being a clown.

Alternatively, it could be refrencing the end of the honeymoon phase with Alwyn.

She then waits patiently, wanting to be noticed by a friend she likes (Alwyn), whom she potentially chased just because she misses the summer. The anyway is to me, a timeskip, of sorts. He's distant now, smoking with his boys, likely without telling Taylor about it, given that she heard it in his voice (disappearing at random for reasons she's not sure about; I swear I saw paparazzi pics of him kissing Laird in 2022, but I can't provide links, I just know I freaked out) and she touches her phone like it's his face, maybe because they don't talk much anymore and there's distance. In regard to the town line, it might be about how she's grown more closed off since Alwyn. She didn't chose this, she wants to be more open, but she'd stay like this for him. Forever, if need be.

She thought she waited years to meet him, that he's the one, only to learn he never cared and there were better options. All this time she was on her own, and didn't even realize.

She then decides she'll run away because she knows he doesn't love her. The Daisy May part is interesting because that's a nice, obedient woman. Joe Alwyn? Controlling? I wouldn't be shocked.

Now, she takes a taxi to take her there. When else has she used the word taxi? Come Back...Be Here and New Year's Day, ladies and gentlemen, certified Haylor songs. She also mentions dreams not being rare, which Wildest Dreams, ladies and gentlemen, certified Haylor song. It also repeats the better bodies part, meaning Harry was, in her eyes, the better option at that point. I think, Harry and Taylor were communicating throughout COVID after the first Grammy meeting and Harry knew Taylor was having doubts about Joe, que Boyfriends and Matlida, and he may have helped her mourn the relationship before it was over. During their midnight talking chats, he finally told her he still thinks of her, and she acknowledges it here, saying he wasn't alone in that.

She then proclaims how much she's given for a perfect kiss, but it solved nothing, because Joe wasn't perfect and how her friends (also the world and the fans) won't know what to say when she tells them. How the jokes weren't funny (the ones about her being everything and him being just Ken), which she's probably from his perspective, but sarcastically, because it was true, and how she took all the money with her, because he has very little in comparison. Her gown is bloody now, because she just destroyed her chances of ever marrying Joe, whom she wanted that with. But this was a step forward and she shouldn't be afraid. And he can't take away her future experiences. He can talk shit all he wants, it won't change that this is good for her.

So she'll make some frienship braclets and just exist for a little. And she can do that. She's on her own. She has been for a very long time.

- Faithfully, a delulu Alwyn not-enjoyer

I think you’re right about TS & HS communicating right before Covid. I have a theory on this. Both their albums had just come out Lover & Fine Line ( on TS birthday). And there are several things I put together from articles & interviews. I might make a post about it. Covid hits & TS goes off & right folklore & evermore ( with lots of Haylor songs) and HS writes HH (which to me every song is about TS). Satellite he says “I can see you’re lonely down there” so yea Harry knew there were problems with them.

And I never thought about Delicate being about TH. Makes a lot more sense than joe. That timeline is all kind of whack. It doesn’t make sense to me. She meets joe April 29th & is just blown away by him & so into him then a week later she’s being all flirty with TH at the Met & completely ignores joe & gets with TH?

I think she’s probably gonna be single at least till the end of tour maybe. She’s super busy at the moment.

[beebooks]

i finished a woman appeared to me (1904) and i am going to reread the introduction now that i know everything refrenced in it because i certainly didn't remember everything mentioned as i was reading

i liked 1904 but definitely prefer 1905. i think the writing is both stronger and easier to read. it relied much more on symbolism, as i said at times so much so that i was confused about what "actually happened". 1904 was much more dialogue heavy, lots of character monologuing, sometimes arguing back and forth. it was interesting and engaging enough, though i felt renee vivien's character was much more heavily criticized in that version, perhaps because there was more talking between characters, as opposed to 1905

san giovanni was one of the biggest characters to be cut between the two versions. she was a strange character, not so much because it's a case of two author inserts in one text interacting with each other, but because she was often so much more vocally critical of the pov character than even vally at times. she of course appears under different titles in 1905, but wasn't so much a person talking as an idea (other than the letters the pov characters sends that she replies too, though even then her identity is ambiguous) it was interesting to read (presumably) renee vivien's thoughts on her own writing and its reception, though i understand why it was cut from 1904. (or i somewhat understand. it seems a bit backward that the complaints about people's response to her writing is cut after she has gotten response on her writing. but maybe she just felt the same i do that it didn't add to the story)

another major change was the objects of vally/lorely's affection. in 1905 we are introduced to several different female lovers who all fall for her and are summarily discarded when they fail to arouse her amour, while in 1904 it's pretty heavily focused on her engagement to a man. the accusations of jealousy make more sense, and feature more heavily, in 1904 because there it is made clear that the pov disapproves of the whole affair, whereas in 1905 the engagement is only a small section, and the pov doesn't profess all that much jealousy towards the other lovers (perhaps because an engagement and, blasphemy to even think the thought, marriage, is a much more permanent situation and would take vally/lorely more definitively away from her)(also marriage is awful and humiliating and immoral)

what you do get in 1904 that you don't get in 1905, as i've already touched on, is san giovanni's thoughts, which one can assume at least resemble the author's own thoughts. her views on marriage and men are touched on in the chapter in 1905 when one of lorely's lovers gets engaged, but not as delved into as they are in the scene where san giovanni rants at a man for a bit. while at times she veered pretty heavily into radfem ideas about the Two Sexes, or at least uncomfortable ideas about the Female Principle(the good and the beautiful) and the Male Principle(beastial force and cruelty). a lot of 1904 was sitting around listening to san giovanni talk and sometimes commenting and maybe she acknowledged what you said but mostly she didn't. and maybe she called you an idiot

the last chapter is, as far as i can tell, very similar in both versions, except longer in 1904. it also felt more like vally was a person voicing her wants and needs in that scene than lorely did. lorely felt more like a final boss that has to be defeated than a person come to plead her case and try to gaslight gatekeep girlboss her ex back to her. eva also features more in 1904, which i missed in 1905 as i had to check the introduction to see who she was when she just appeared without explanation. in 1904 we see more of her previous to the end scene and she also seems more like a person who has her own thoughts and feelings on her girlfriend's past relationship

in contrast, ione was more her own person in 1905. her actions and thoughts are given more attention beyond just how seeing her worry makes the pov sad. i don't know really enough to speculate how the author's mind changed between the two versions that ione was given more attention the second time and her (as far as i can tell) still girlfriend was given less space and agency

i might change my mind as i ruminate more, i don't know, but i felt the pov character comes off as more likable in 1905, less like someone needlessly clinging to their own despair, and lorely is more distant than vally is. their relationship is also different, they interact much more in 1905 than they do in 1904. 1904 seems to me one where the feelings are much rawer, whereas 1905 comes across more polished in that aspect

[albon-o-positive]

rating the drivers based on their current haircuts

lewis: 100/10. undeniably the best hair on the grid. when he had his hair up in the two little buns(?) near the start of season I damn near became teamlh

george: 6/10. I personally don't think it serves cunt but it gets the job done. preferred his williams haircut but this one does make him look older so

charles: 9/10. to be fair I think any haircut this man could possibly get it'd still look amazing. life is so unfair

carlos: 9/10 also. ferrari should rebrand to the good hair team. mattia is not included because he wears a clown wig constantly

max: meh. 4/10. don't love it. to be fair I feel like I only see his hair when it's really gross and sweaty when he takes his helmet off

checo: 5/10. just a man's hair

daniel: 8/10 for the glow up. because godamn his hair in toro rosso was not serving cunt. it was doing the opposite. removing cunt so to speak

lando: 6/10 I am a lando curl enjoyer who also likes consistency. I have not been receiving either of that from him. to be fair like, he had that r e a l l y bad haircut a while ago which like anything in comparison is better, but max f's brother has not been doing his hair well I'm jusy gonna say it

mick: 6.5/10. he got a haircut recently and I really didn't like it. I can't exactly remember what it looked like before but I want him to go Back. I like it when he is boyfriend shaped

kevin: 6/10. viking hair. I respect it

alex: 8/10 for the red hair. personally I think he should bleach it and then re-dye it red so that him and I can match and also because then it'll show way more. but I think that's just me being selfish

nicky: 4/10. not a fan. can't really remember what it looks like (I'm writing all of these without looking a refrence) but I know I'm not a fan

seb: please don't hate me. please don't hate me. please don't hate me. 2/10. I don't like the long hair I'm so sorry please don't hate me

lance: -100/10. I'm sorry lance but what the fuck. his hair looked way better last season what did he do to it????? just like ferrari I think Aston need to rebrand...

val: 5/10. just a guy's haircut. neither here nor there but it's solid I suppose

guanyu: 9/10. very very very solid hair cut. looks good. accentuates his features. I like your cut g

pierre: 6/10. it's... okay. I really liked the blonde streaks he had during toro rosso. bring them back pls. or is there not enough money in the rbr budget for bleach

yuki: 5/10 okay I love yuki soso much yeah but I just Do Not vibe with the hair cut. I will let him off gently though because he looks like he takes good care of it

fernando: 4/10 it's okay??? I've never really thought about his haircut prior to this. can't say im a fan though

este: esteban I am so sorry but it's a 3/10 from me. there's just. so. so much better haircuts you could have

this is all in good fun and also just my opinion so pls don't take this as me attacking any of the drivers :)

EDIT: I manifested blonde Alex for you all ur welcome xx

[novaalexander]

Grew Apart [TASM!Peter Parker x Reader Oneshot]

Based On Grew Apart by Logan Mize and Alexandra Kay

Warnings/Before you read : ANGST ANGST ANGST maybe i’ll do a part 2 if people want it. Cursing aswell but thats to be expected in my works. Theres only one part where its refrenced briefly, but pretend TASM!Peter faced Defoe’s Green Goblin. Also totally not proof read i rushed this

Word Count : 1244

everything novaalexander

A/N : writing this because it’s easier than writing my personal essay for common app ... if yall have advice for college essays tho lmk bc idk what to do ... anyways on w the story

     I don’t tell ‘em all the things you said      I don’t tell ‘em ‘bout the night you left

     “Either you’re gonna tell me what the fuck happened last night, or you're gonna stop bouncing your leg around and watch the game,” Harry sighed as Peter huffed in response, crossing his previously bouncing left leg over his right. He’s been like this since Harry got there and it bothered him; not knowing why y/n’s stuff was gone when he entered Peter’s studio apartment. Honestly, the open room felt slightly deserted without what used to be traces of Peter’s girlfriend. All that his best friend told him is that she left the night prior.

     “I hate you,” it came out more like a cry than the statement y/n meant for it to be, “I hate you so, so much. And I can’t believe I wasted two years waiting around, BEGGING for you to care.” Whether she believed it or not didn’t matter, because her words stung Peter. She wanted them to hurt, she knew they would; because y/n l/n knew everything there was to know about Peter Benjamin Parker. 

     “Then leave..” He whispered, jaw clenching tighter with every step he took towards the girl.

     “What did you say?” y/n’s eyes squinted in mock confusion, mixing with the sadness that was quickly bubbling to anger. Head tilting upwards slowly, keeping eye contact with Peter until the very second she could feel his hot breath against her eyelids.

     “I said leave.” 

     And that was all y/n needed to hear in order to push past the boy, storming to the dresser near their shared bed and putting almost ever single one of her belongings into the brown luggage under her side of the mattress. 

     “It wasn’t anyone’s fault,” Peter finally said, and it felt like he was breathing for the first time, almost like he has been holding his breath since the second y/n closed the door behind her. “It just didn’t work out.” 

     Brown eyes lifted to meet blue, and Harry felt sympathetic. Not because he believed Peter, no. The sympathy stemmed from the knowing feeling that his best friend was lying, that he was truly hurting and was lying about why. 

     “She’s a good girl-”

     “She just wasn’t the one. We wanted different things...” another breath, this one deep and shallow in an attempt to keep his voice from shaking. “We had a good run.”

     Harry was frustrated, and he didn’t know if it was at or for his bestfriend because he knew he didn't have the full story. “Do you remember what you told me last week?” Harry gripped Peter’s shoulder, sharpening his gaze in attempt to get Peter to break, “All you did was go on and on, saying how you thought you were going to marry her one day, ” he lowered his voice, “and you want me to believe that nothing happened in the last four days since I saw you. That you and y/n just-”

     “We grew apart”

     “Oh that's bullshit, y/n”

     In response, y/n kicked her feet up on the coffee table and waved around the chocolate covered spoon in her hand. “Its not bullshit, Gwen. Breakups happen all the time, sometimes you just know when its time.” y/n stabbed the spoon into the remaining ice cream, placing the tub on the table by her feet.

     “You’re right,” y/n sighed in relief before Gwen continued, “breakups do happen every day.” She paused to think, not knowing how her next sentence would affect y/n. “And you’re right, sometimes you just know when its over. But is your two year anniversary really the time to decide that?”

     Y/n winced slightly at this, Gwen’s eyes softened.

     I could tell ‘em how you came in late

     I could tell ‘em how you looked me in the eye

     And told that lie with a straight face

     Two hours is how long it took y/n to get ready for their anniversary dinner.

     Two more hours is how long y/n spent sat on the couch, pacing around the kitchen, and ringing Peter’s phone numerous times, before finally deciding to wash her face and put her pajamas back on.

     Two more hours is how long it took Peter to come home.

     “Where were you,” y/n huffed out, eyes not looking up from her phone in an attempt to keep the little self control she could muster.

     “Work, but I’m here now,” Peter walked to y/n’s side of the bed, “with flowers...” he trailed, his girlfriend’s eyes still not meeting his as he leaned down to kiss her head.

     “Don’t you get tired of lying?” She finally looked up, a condescending smile played on her lips, contrast to the shakiness in her breathing. Standing from the bed, she spoke again. “Unless there’s a fight club under the Bugle, you’re gonna need to come up with something better.” She took Peter’s confused expression as fuel to keep arguing, watching as he reached up to wipe blood from the cut on hip lip. 

     “Is this how its gonna be, Peter? You’re gonna pretend to be confused, not gonna tell me where you REALLY go every night?”

     Peter knew he shouldn’t get riled up, knew not to burst when she was this close to losing it on him. The thought of spilling the truth came and went with each breath he took in and let out.

     Spider-man a voice in Peter’s head nagged. The voice of Green Goblin, then of Dr. Connors, then finally, y/n’s voice. Teasing him as if she already knew, like she was waiting for him to spill it out so she could dump him for putting her in that sort of danger.

     “Work,” he said again, jaw clenching as his eyes shifted from the ground to y/n, then down again.

     A forced laugh fell from y/n’s lips, and Peter felt sick. “Fuck you, Peter Parker. This,” her pointer finger moved between the two of them, almost accusingly. “This isn’t healthy. I waited till eight-fucking-thirty, on our anniversary, for you to pick me up for a six-thirty fucking date.” She screamed. For the first time since Peter walked through that door, y/n yelled until her face was red and throat sore. “I called you fifty fucking times, Peter. I burned a hole in the floor, pacing, worrying that something happened to you,”

     She knows is all Peter could think

     “Until I realized that you were just late. Typical Peter Parker, couldn’t even be on time to his own FUCKING anniversary dinner that HE planned. Couldn’t stay true to one fucking commitment, Peter. Is this how I’m supposed to spend my life?” y/n needed to breathe. 

     When Peter didn’t respond, y/n forced another laugh. This time it was hoarse, and it burned slightly when she felt it leave her throat. “I hate you”

     “He’s better off, and so am I.” 

     When y/n looked up, Gwen smiled; it was an understanding smile, not laced with pity or forced sympathy. She knew y/n wasn’t going to talk down on Peter, even if he deserved it. She wrapped an arm around the other girl’s shoulders, allowed y/n to lean her head against the blonde.

     Gwen didn’t say anything when she felt her friend shake, and a few drops of salt water fell onto her hoodie.

     “We just... grew apart”

———————————————

A/N - i hope yall liked it !! today has been a surprise return to writing after quite a few years, so please lmk your thoughts bc im defiantly a little rusty !

[prof-peach]

if fans wanted to include peach in stuff they write, would that be okay? and how would they write peach's personality? aside from "FIGHT ME" anyway, i think that much is a given lol. i only really write the anime characters 'cause that's what i know, but it sounds like it'd be kinda fun to try making a version of ash that fits into this blog's universe! nerf'd Obviously, but i think she'd probably appreciate how hands-on he gets when training his pokemon!

Ok, I get a lot of these messages, and I often hear folks wanting to throw peach into their stories and comics and writings, and I will always simply ask that if it’s published online publicly, to be linked to it so I can snoop and enjoy the content too. If someone asks about her in your work, let them know about the blog I guess? But literally I love that people take this stuff, these characters and stories, and make new stuff with it. No ones making money off my work here? So where’s the issue? Go for it buddy, knock yourself out, I’m all for it.

For you, and all the others out there who want to add peach, and other characters to your world building, I will give you a detailed rundown of the main lot, and how they behave, what they do, how they function. You can use that, use bits, or use none of it, I do not mind at all. If you’re creating something, you’re in control, not me.

So, peach doesn’t actually fight people as much as you’d think. She’s very aware most cannot and do not want to do that, and so she likes to keep to herself with regards to that aspect of her life, she doesn’t ask to spar with people, or even bring it up at all, but people ask her all the time, even if they clearly would lose or become hurt should she miscalculate during the fight. She looks at people like they usually create problems, and often has a somewhat reserved nature to other humans. You have to work quite hard to get anything more than formalities out of her. She will dead-pan handle people with blunt and very to-the-point statements, aid whenever possible, but very quickly get back to handling the Pokemon she so carefully tends. Her focus is clear, she’s all about hard work, her very small select family, and the Pokemon.

Her brutal, loud and brash personality only comes out with friends, family, difficult humans, OR any Pokemon. She will joke and laugh and play with Pokemon, but clam up around humans, maintaining tight body language and generally will be a little cold by regular standards. She does however have some weaknesses in this emotionless shield she puts up. When peach was young she was always angry, which swung so fast to sadness, back and forth. Her teenage years it just got worse and worse, it was crippling at points. She is to this day, full of fire and rage, even sadness, but now she has learnt to control it, to use it. When she sees that in others, it’s familiar, and she is pushed to drop the front, and be very real with the person. Underdogs I suppose, people who get bad reps, but deserve the same as everyone else. She can’t ignore it.

Once you start to pry open her personality, you’ll find she’s a lot more laid back and fun than originally appeared, you just have to work hard to find that side of her. She will meme reference, can’t dance to save her life, loves her coffee, and can be caught in quiet contemplation while gardening. This hobby is her calmest, and often is why she can stay so level headed when her quiet rage boils up again. Without time outside she will become grouchy, a little snippy, and lethargic. Will not go in the ocean for any reason other than life or death, is fine with ponds and rivers, or water at wading height. Likes the rain.

With regards to her training others, they usually have to tolerate her somewhat strict nature. She is a little....unforgiving, holds a grudge if you make a lot of mistakes, and has no tolerance for ignorance in the age of information that we all live in. In previous posts I’ve mentioned she’s only recently selected two students, after many years of testing kids who want to learn from her. Hundred tried out, only two have ever been approved. How she teaches is very fast paced, be prepared to get some scrapes and bruises, she will test your physical and emotional tolerances with intense tasks, carefully watching students like a hawk. Bad posture in your stance? She’ll be the first to tell you to sort it out. Not hearing your Pokemon partner? Right, now you spend the day without using words trying to communicate, let’s see how you like not being listened to.

This is a woman who has spent her life saying very little, and watching everything, she watches Pokemon and can see an issue from a mile off, and in battles, her observations are why she can react fast, and chose effective strategy to avoid damage and achieve results. Don’t let her body fool you, her strongest asset is analysing, watching, planning. Those skills have over the years transferred to people too. As a student, mistakes don’t go unnoticed with this professor.

Her methods are harsh but fair, and should you prove yourself, she will protect you with her life.

Because of her disinterest in kids and lots of noise, she does pass the training of students on to the other staff members whenever possible. Grey takes on the lions share of battle lessons, he is far calmer, more open and friendly, with patience for people, and an empathy that peach sometimes struggles to have. When you go through a lot of harsh training, and difficult events, it’s hard to change how you feel or think, with peach, well, she’s been through it. Most do not come out the other end in one piece, but she did, and it made her strong. You may think I mean strong like buff and big, and yeah sure she is, but I mean it mentally more than anything. Peach will not quit. She has learnt to destroy the boundaries that stop people getting hurt, gone is the fear that freezes you in your tracks, that feeling that you’ll pass out if you go one more step. She’s learnt to ignore it.

This means she’s a little forgetful at how it is to be normal, to be vulnerable and soft and squishy like students so usually are.

She has her issues, but for the most part, visitors get a laugh, a smile, a calm assertive confidence, and facts. She will indulge those who have genuine interest, or show a connection with nature, an understanding of the balance that needs to be struck for everyone to live well together.

Despite her many flaws, she’s fiercely protective, and will go above and beyond to defend the island, it’s staff, the Pokemon and the visitors. Injustice is her biggest gripe, along with littering, and she doesn’t stand by quietly if something happens that seems unfair.

You will not see her without Valka, her vulpix, close by. That Pokemon doesn’t like to be touched by strangers, at all, and will run the second someone comes at her with that intent. Peach will scold you for pushing yourself onto her, should you persistently try to get close to pet Val. They are in sync, if peach is sad, Val is sad, if Val is stressed, peach is stressed, and so on. They are inherently connected, it’s just been that long, the psychic bridge between them has been built, and reinforced over the years.

The only other Pokemon who follows her so endlessly is Booker, a teddiursa who’s pretty rough looking. He quietly trots behind, grouchy and stoic, they fight closely together a lot. He lost his mom a long time ago to poachers, and peach took him in, and changed her whole life for him. Not many people know, but Booker was the reason she left the rangers, changed career, and got so strong. Will tolerate people petting him but isn’t keen at all, grumbles a lot and tries to move away.

You may also need to know about the others, for the sake of writing, she here a few more bits that may be important to you, or others wanting to do this.

Grey is very tall, very burly, composed, tells bad dad jokes, is a bit of a goof if allowed to be. If he sees a pun, he’ll say it. Can’t help himself. Very nice guy to work with, good at keeping people calm and grounded. Pokemon are drawn to him like a moth to a flame, he gives off warm energy, and has inhuman amounts of patience. If you wrong his family however, he will snap back.

He grew up in the city, loves to swim and hike and cycle, can snowboard, is really sporty. A total brain box with held items, and boosting stats. He will explore many paths, to make sure visitors and students get the information they need, in a way that can be remembered and retained for later. Is a huge guy, but will get on the floor to play with a tiny Pokemon. Treats big “meaner” looking species like babies, very good with all pokemon.

His free time is spent either tinkering, swimming, or trimming his bonsai trees. This guy stares at screens a lot, so appreciates time away from them. Peach built him his own little greenhouse for his trees and tools, which he keeps clean and loves dearly.

His methods as a teacher are built around fun and games, he makes hard work easier to do by distracting trainers from the difficult bits, and focusing in on something more interesting or compelling.

His most commonly seen Pokemon would be a houndoom, Saxon, old battle veteran, retired now to herding and being a good boy. Very gentle, loves a pet.

Pari, now a fully fledged nurse, often oversees the labs front desk and pokecentre features, such as healing pokemon, and informing trainers who come to visit. Her skills with eggs and hatchlings is high, she’s great with younger Pokemon, and hands out good advice to trainers a lot. She’s not a fighter, never was, but can find any file, any study, any book, and any refrence you may need. A true bookworm, loves her romance novels, chat shows and upbeat celebrity gossip mags. Will cry at a lot of stuff, be it sad or happy.

She’s got a seriously upbeat personality, but if caught off guard or shocked, she gets a little flustered. Too much chaos will overwhelm her, but usually she’s on top of things. The years spent on the island have made her better at maintaining composure in emergencies. With lots of siblings, she’s very competent with others, and has a good ability to disarm cagey people with her jolly nature. Because of this, she can sometimes gain information from trainers that some of the more harsh professors may not have access to. Charming is a word for it.

Her partners are an eevee, and a happiny. They are quite sweet and well adjusted, the eevee gets a bit bouncy if you get it too excited.

[cursedthing]

ALRIGHT!

SO! We're self taught and honestly aren't sure how we managed to learn as much as we did BUT! We can share some pointers!!

References when drawing something you gotta have a reference picture, I mean you don't have to but it's good to have one. For example you can find reference photos for poses! [here is where you can get some pose refrences] Also here's a [post] about how one illustrator made references for some illustrations in a book!

Photo and color studies Look around you! What do you see? A toothbrush? Draw that! Look at how light hits it and it's texture! Take photos! Redraw video game screenshots! here's another [post] that has resources on this topic (how to make color more dynamic, building a palette, similar)!

Inspiration! Look at other people's art and try to see how they drew it, think of how they might have drawn one line, what was their process? Keep art that you like in one place and study it! Try to sketch in their style a few times when doing so.

Don't be afraid to make mistakes and always remember that art is messy a lot of the time. Look at speedpaints and drawing tutorials. Honestly there's a lot more to cover with this but we're not sure what else to mention without just digging a hole in the ground and putting you inside it and then putting dirt on top of you again.

Just sparkle on be yourself! Have fun with it! Experiment!! There's no wrong way to do art!!

hiya! Saw your tags and what specifically do you want me to teach you about drawing/to draw? :D

The basics if you can!!! Idrk how to explain it I just need to learn the fundamentals so I have something to build off

[justsomeectoplasm]

Some more Resh content for ya’ll

A very rough and heavily refrenced full body of my version of Resh and a few lines I think he would say. I still stand by my headcannon that his voice would sound like scar from the animated movie of The Lion king.

Anyway, backstory, notes and stuff under the cut (Watch out, it’s very long and very messy. Tumblr fucked up the formatting a bit.)

·Alef was considered a blessing.

 A child of light that fell from the sky could be nothing more than a sign from Megabird themselves

He was hidden by his mother who found him as she was stargazing and was later revealed by accident. The civilisation decided that he needed to be presented to the elders.

After that, Alef’s existence was made known by the elders, who elevated him to a royal status. They believed that this was Megabird’s gift for them: A future king to help rule the kingdom. He was dubbed prince and the elders had decided to prepare him to become a king.

·It was…stressful. There were so many expectations placed on him and he excelled in nearly every challenged he was given, but he was still considered not good enough by the elders who gave him a royal status in the first place.

One day, Alef had enough and set out to proof to the others that he is worthy of the title of king. And he did.

On his journey, Alef discovered dark stones. A creation that, if combined with light, could produce energy that will become the basis of most advanced technology.

Finally, the elders acknowledged his efforts. As a final test, Alef was sent to complete the four trials. He completed every single one and was crowned king when he was but a teenager.

The first few years of his ruling went great. Civilisation was growing and he was an excellent king.

But doubts started to rise when some of Alef’s citizens were questioning his creation. Those doubts grew into questioning if Alef was a good ruler to begin with. There were even attempts of overthrowing his rule by small rebel groups

Alef snapped. He finally had his title of king right in the palm of his hand, and it was slipping away through his fingers.

·He changed. He morphed his body into a hollow husk filled with darkness to seem more intimidating and he changed his name to Resh, a name he thought was befitting of his title as king.

Resh started to mass produce his dark stones, going as far as killing off light creatures to harvest their light. He even morphed some of them into creatures of unspeakable terror, never to change back again.

He was unstoppable. He ruled the kingdom with an iron fist and he was quite terrifying. His rise to power was his greatest achievement.

Unfortunately, it was also his downfall.

How the eden castle works.

So, most of the castle is gone. This was due to the darkness taking over. There only remains a few rooms and areas, and those are:

o   The royal garden

o   The throne room

o   The chambers

o   The court

o   And finally, the Royal library.

Resh changes when he exits the castle. He becomes more monstrous and disturbing.

There are still some spirits working around the castle. Although, you can’t relive their memories. They do strangely treat skykids as royalty though. I wonder why….

·Resh’s pets and creations are also more active at the bottom of the castle. Although, I wouldn’t recommend meeting them…

Resh’s personality

Resh is an….unstable man.

One moment he’s quiet and brooding over small things and the next he’s on a rampage destroying what’s left of the castle.

The solitude and the guilt of his actions is driving him insane. It doesn’t help that he sometimes sees a child of light dying in stormlock. (His main balcony from his throne room overlooks it)

Don’t think that he’s a lonely soul that lives in his castle though. He has a sadistic side to him that he picked up in his ruling and he likes to toy with others. His favourite victims are ones who claim to worship and serve him (He finds their devotion to him interesting and foolish.) He’s also rather sly and selfish.

His memory is foggy and he struggles to remember names of certain people in his life. He even forgot about his own mother’s face, how tragic.

· Resh is pessimistic and he rarely smiles.

·And sometimes you’ll see it. That little child that fell from the sky. Whether it’s the glint in his eyes or the way he fondly smiles at the pictures of his past that he stored away in the library. He’s still a child, underneath all that darkness.

Extra details (Such as design notes and other stuff)

Resh cries a black substance sometimes. This is a symptom of darkness when he rid his body of all light.

His favourite flower is a white everlily, a complex flower that often represents both royalty and death. He ordered that his garden would be filled with it.

He despises those who come to him to seek more darkness. He sees them as part of his mistake and thus, without even a hint of hesitation, yeets them off his castle.

I originally planned him to have earrings and he was supposed to be faceless. His head would form crown-like horns, similar to the one pale king from hollow knight has. But I dropped the idea and chose a simpler crown design. I dropped the earrings since the crown took up 90% of the rendering.

His body is like a full armour set and it sounds like it’s being held together by rubber bands. Every time he moves you hear snapping and creaking noises. He’s menacing af and he moves swiftly. But sometimes he struggles against the weight.

[taki118]

Go Watch the Venture Brothers

So just heard the complete and utter Bullshit news that Adult Swim has cancelled one of (if not the best shows) they have the Venture Bros. This series is one of those shows that for WHATEVER reason never got to the level of fandom Rick and Morty has even though they’ve been at the genre parody game longer and in my opinion better. 

The series is about Rusty Venture former boy adventurer and failing super scientist who in an attempt to keep his head above water in debt goes around with his two boys Hank and Dean, and bodyguard Brock on misadventues while various legal archnemisis go after him, such as the Monarch. 

So if you never watched or never heard of this 7 season series let me give you a break down on why you should, 

1) Art Style & Animation

Venture bros is one of those rare Adult aimed animated series that that really truly tries to utilize their medium to the best of their abilities. Season 1 had like such a small budget and corners had to be cut so it can be a little hard to watch at times. 

But with each passing season they get a little better, a little more fluid, go just a little harder and it truly feels rewarding to watch. Like seeing an artist you follow online improve over the years. Like they COULD have stayed with the choppy and stiff animation from season 1 it fit right in with its fellow adult animated shows but it didn’t. They strove for quality to have something that matched the story they were telling.

2) The Writing 

Venture Bros has some of the tightest and consistently great writing of ANY serialized show I’ve seen, adult, animated or other wise. Wanna know why? Cause it’s all done by TWO people (save for like one ep each season where one other person is allowed to touch their baby). Yeah TWO people and they work their asses off every season to interject, humor, refrences, parody, plot and character development in equal measure. 

3) Character Development

Um yes in case you were wondering that’s right an adult animated show has CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT  that holds as the series goes on. Not to give spoilers but characters will go through changes in alignment, relationships will develop and change, some characters will go through negative arcs where they are straight up unbareable for a season before coming out the other side even better than they were before. There is no end of epsiode or even end of season reset. Characters, settings, and dynamics all change over the course of the show and it feels just so god damn good.

4) Story Development 

Just like the characters the story of the Venture Bros grows and changes each season. Things that are set up even as early as season one are paid off as the series goes on. Like not to be that bitch but you know how RIck and Morty teases an overarching plot ALL THE TIME but like will often just spit in the face of fans hoping for more than like one episode a season addressing it? Yeahhhhhhh that doesnt happen here, fans are consistently rewarded for putting the time in to rewatch and really think about what happened in the series. Characters that are seen in the background or are just referenced by other characters will be brought in to be recurring characters, things that start off as a small detail or gag will be given larger relevance and each time they do this you get that “OH I remember that from last season! So thats what it was!” The writers WANT you to rewatch, they WANT you to analyze and they WANT you to theorize, and they give you a show that gives back the time you put in.

5) Parody & Reference 

This series does a great thing with parody. They make real characters  who are just as enjoyable as the characters they parody, they make story lines that both poke fun at the absurdity of the media but shows the writers love for it. So often parody and references are just used to mock the thing but with Venture Bros you feel the love and care so when you know the thing being parodied you can laugh but feel good about laughing cause they are never laughing at a thing maybe you cared for in your youth but rather laughing with it.

And it’s never just one thing. When they parody a thing its often layered with other things to make it even more unique. Scooby-Doo is overlayed with famous criminals, Laura Croft is mixed Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, GI Joe is given the look of the Village People and so on. They never go for the easy joke or reference. Hell theres an episode that starts with them reciting the lyrics to David Bowies Space Oddity for really no reason other than they could. They weave these things in naturally with their setting and characters so nothing feels out of place. Like if you dont catch a reference or parody you dont feel like “I think this isa reference to something?” like a LOT of things do not just adult animated shows. You arent taken out of the moment cause it all feels so natural. 

6) The Characters 

God damn these characters, I could go on for hours about these characters. From main to one off these are some of the most likeable characters you can find. I mean it when I say I can’t think of a single character I wish they had cut cause they are all so well created. Even the ones I hate i have fun hating cause they were made to be that way. I’ll be good though I’ll only talk about my absolute top faves.

- The Monarchs

You ever sit and wish villain couples could have functional  healthy relationships? Well look no further than Malcom Fitzcarraldo aka The Monarch and Dr. Shelia Girlfriend (yes that is her last name). The Monarch is a high strung impulsive saturday morning cartoon villain whos tendency to over react is only matched by his unspecified hatred of Dr. Venture. And Dr. G is his nonsense partner in crime who will cut a bitch if they don’t play by their admittedly weird rules. Both characters are great on their own but are better together. Though that doesnt mean they always get along. Like a real couple they have their ups and downs they fight, break up, make-up and grow stronger in their relationship with each season. 

- Shore Leave

Ok ok so I want you to imagine James Bond, mixed with GI Joe simmering in a cocktail of the most flamboyant gay men you have ever seen and you have one of my favorite gay characters/characters in general. Shore Leave is a member of OSI (the shows SHEILD/GI Joe parody organization) he’s loud, brash, flippant, sassy and highly competent at his job loving every second of getting to beat bad guys down within an inch of their life. I love seeing him play off the stoic Brock and the two have this great brotherly dynamic that’s never called into question. He also gets to have a very cute romance with Al the Alchemist (who is also great). I could talk about this man all day.

- Dr. Rusty Venture

They did such a good job with this man. He’s a self serving, sexist, perverted, whinny, self important asshole and yet you feel pity and genuine sympathy for him and want him to succeed. You can see how Dr. V was given a raw deal by his father who seemed to care more about his adventures than his sons well being and how this molded him into the bitter man he is today, but on the flip side you can see where he chose to use that as a crutch for his worst behaviors and impulses. Seeing him slowly grow and change and be an actual good father to his boys while all the while still be a giant dick is actually really great. 

- Dr. Byron Orpheus 

Ahhhhh Dr. Orpheus part Dr. Strange Parody part busybody stay at home dad, he’s just such a delight. Dr. Orpheus is a divorcee, with an unfulfilling job of maintaining order to the cosmos (which isnt as hard as one might think), and uses his magical ablities in ways most of us would (ie menial tasks and home chores). Overly dramatic and affectionate Dr. O is a delight whenever he appears, but he’s at his best around his daughter and old friends The Order of the Triad. 

Again I can go on but all these characters ranging from main to recurring are crafted with the utmost care for you to want to see them succeed or fail, to see them again even if you know it’ll never happen, and want them to cross paths with other characters. 

The Venture Bros is one of those series that I will ALWAYS recommend even to the pickiest of humor tastes. But if you don’t believe its as good as I said or don’t think the concept is to your tastes I’ll recommend a few eps that I think best show off the base idea of the series without giving much away. In terms of plot and spoilers, though somethings wont make a lot of sense. 

- S1 ep10 "Tag Sale – You're It!" - Dr. V is having a yard sale so of course all manner of costumed weirdos show up.  - S2 ep5 "Twenty Years to Midnight" - basically a fetch quest around the world to save the planet with daddy issues - S3 ep2 "The Doctor Is Sin" - Again daddy issues but with one of the best recurring characters and a great showcase of the series deeper emotional plots - S4 ep6 "Self-Medication" - Really embraces the parody as Rusty goes to a former boy adventurer support group.  Anyway the show is 7 seasons with 80 episodes, please go watch it. I will never forgive @adultswim​ for cancelling what was to be their final season. And in closing GO TEAM VENTURE!

[popculturebuffet]

March of the Penguins: Surfs Up! Review (Comission for WeirdKev27)

Hello all you happy pengy’s and welcome back to march of the penguins, my kev sponsored look at pengy media in march. If you wondered why there wasn’t an instalment last week, I was sick and thus this was my natural state for the last few days

As such I had to cut the opus segment, but I feel this is a fun enough theme to possibly do again next year. Still your getting both surfs up movies so...

So for those of you wondering why Surf’s Up, the short answer?

The longer answer is that like me Kev saw this film once, both of us in theaters, and vaguely remembered it, but otherwise forgot it... till he found out ten years later, WWE made a sequel to it, which i’ll be covering next week. This left him with an obvious question

I don’t have the answer yet, I may never have it. It may be one of those big cosmic what if’s. But I was still intrested enough to agree to the reviews and to dive into this film I half remembered and it’s sequel that honestly probably shoudln’t exist but does because like me, vince mcmahon is made of stone. Unlike me he’s made of lovecraftian insanity, hard tack, essential oils and screaming, but point is I’ve got some pengy movies to review. 

I couldn’t find much on the making of this film sadly, but to compesnate i’m going to reflect on something amazing: this was the SECOND film ever done by sony pictures animation. Yes before we got four hotel transylvanias, the best spider-man movie, a few aardman movies , and about half a dozen films cerfied by the fda to give you scabies, it all started with a buddy comedy that got three dtv sequels for some reason and this movie about surfing penguins. It’s just weird to think that an animation company I didn’t think much abou tall the way back then has had such a varied history. But with such a topsy turvey history was there any good in this one or did it wipe out at the start? Join me under the cut to find out. 

The Trailers Before Surf’s Up

This is a fun stupid side adventure I cooked up. See originally I was going to watch the film on Tubi, as I will with the sequel. But last week, just before my cold punched punched me in the face, I went to my library after far too long and got my card unblocked. And while for the most part it’s meant drowning myself in the wide and glorious variety of manga from my youth and various adventures of phoebe and her unicorn, it also meant checking to see if the library had the movie so I could watch it add free. It did so I did but that wasn’t entirely true as I forgot one of the funnest parts of old dvds, the ads. Seeing films from long ago I saw shoved in my face constantly on kids networks while I was just trying to watch chowder and total drama dammit like any respectable high schooler, it was nostalgic for me and fun too. So I thought id break them down both for my own amusment and to give kev some extra content since while I obviously coudln’t control this being delayed the way it was, I still feel bad it took this long. So without further adeu...

Water Horse: Legend of the Deep While i’ve never seen this film I remember getting bombarded with ads for it on cartoon network which only brought one thought to my head. 

It’s your usual mediocre kid movie: kid finds cg dragon monster, has to keep it from his mom along with his dad, uncle, mom’s sex buddy, weirdly age gapped brother, comic relief, child with benjamin button disease, hamster piloting a human whatever he is, and also there’s a kraven the hunter afoot they have to protect their new friend whose also the loch ness monster from. I just told you the entire plot and i’ve only seen the trailer. 

Daddy Day Camp:

This film’s mere existance has haunted me for the past century. See I liked Daddy Day Care. Partly because it refrenced the flash, partly because back then i Liked anything steve zahn was in, and partly because I also liked Jeff Garlin back before he was replaced by a terrifying cgi cutout because it’s more plesant than actually having to work with Jeff Garlin. I watched it far more than a middle schooler probably shoud’ve as it was one of my only dvd’s. So getting bombarded with ads for it’s shitty half assed sequel no one asked for that had none of the original cast filled me with a weird and deep hatred. 

Now i’ve grown as a person, allegedly. I’ve come to face harsh truths: Steve Zahn is awesome but picks very shitty films including the very film that made me love him Saving Silverman (That I may still cover because it is insane. Let me know or comission me if you want to see that), shitty sequels exist and Daddy DayCamp is throughly mediocre. But I still hold a special place in my colon for Daddy Day Camp as the defintion of a lazy sequel: They had no money to get anyone of note back, as evidenced by resulting to oscar award winning star of Boat Trip Cuba Gooding Junior, the kids are lazy hackneed bits including one named mullet that was in every tv spot for this because they were actually proud of a mullet joke which unless it’s about superman’s glorious permed mullet is never acceptable, and just looks hilariously half assed. Maybe i’ll also cover this thing some day. 

Storm Hawks:

The only tv show of the bunch. I remember it exists and has a fun setting nad character designs (i’ve always been a sucker for sky settings), but otherwise was just your standard action show. Still it got nerd corps far enough to make slugterra which was equally cliche but also had one of the best mons premises of all time in “SHOOT THEM AT EACH OTHER DAMMIT”. 

Spider-Man 3:

Now we’re into films I have seen and I rewatched both of these last two films decently recently. I watched Spider-Man 3 around no way home as I was showing my neice the rami films. She like dem even if she dosen’t like this version of venom. It wasn’t as horrible as I remembered, but it’s still not... good and while disco peter is enjoyably stupid, the scene with him dancing in the club is to superhero movies what the I think I love you scene from scream 2 is to horror. An embarsing moment we’re still not sure why or how it happened. 

Monster House:

Rewatched this one with @jess-the-vampire​ around halloween. Really damn fun and REALLY fucking killer animation. Seriously it’s gorgeous. Also connecting it to this film it was one of several John Heder did before his napolen dynamite fame evaporated. 

The Plot of Surf’s Up:

Surf’s Up is your standard “Punk ass kid has a talent his family and hometown dosen’t undrestand so he runs off to try and fufill his dream, it’s harder than he expects, his idol isn’t who he thought, he makes friends and learns the true meaning of things was love of friendship or no traffic accidents, he has a force love intrest, dedrich bader as a pengin trys to fuck a trophy”

You know a regular kids movie. But so you know what i’m talking about i’ll go into a bit more detail. 

Surf’s Up is a mockumentary, following the tenth anniversay big z memorial. Big Z was the world’s greatest surfer but apparently died a decade ago. But 

So you can probably see where this is going. So every year they have the Big Z Memorial at pengu island, the biggest surf spot in the world to honor him. So a camera crew heads off to the cold north of Shiverpool to follow a rookie surfer named Cody Maverick (Actual Cannibal and Actual Actual Abuser, Shia Le Bouf) , who thanks to Z visiting has had a lifelong obession with surfing despite having no real experince. Despite the scout not wanting to take him, Cody chases the whale their riding to get his shot, and heads to the island. 

There he encounters your stock characters: Love interest Lani (Zoey Daschenel), comedy sidekick Chicken Joe (Heder) and rival and boisterous asshole Tank (My boy and underated va legend Dedrich Bader), flanked by his manager, formerly z’s, Reggie, played by public nusance james woods. For some reason the film thinks we need a pixalated nut shot of reggie

Weird Sex Stuff In This Franchise Count: 1

Trust me.. one clip from two tells me we’ll need this. 

So after some shenanigans, Cody challenges Tank after he disrespects z, he wipes out bad and is prepared to quit , and he gets peed on by Z while he’s headling Cody, as he’s lani’s uncle and also pretending not to actaully be z even though the audience called that he was still alive about 30 minutes ago. Also

Weird Sex Stuff in This Franchise Count: 2

So naturally your standard shonen traniing arc occurs as Z has cody wax on, wax off, building a board and doing various stuff to ballance him while Cody opens the old curmodugeon’s heart. Eventually they have the falling out you expect when it turns out Z faked his death not for tax purposes but because he was afraid of loosing, hence why he dosen’t like competition. Cody goes back to surf, Lani yells at him, and Joe returns from his 20 minute comedy plot involving obnoxious savage native sterotypes that took 20 minutes of my life I wish I could get back. 

The finale is telegraphed: Cody gives up his chance at winning for friendship and fun and lets joe win, and has to navigate some deadly rocks with Z’s help. Z comes out publicly, reggi’es career is ruined and Joe is king of the beach at least till joker zaps him with the surfing skill drainer and vigor reverser. 

The Things I Liked About Surf’s Up:

Before I get into why I was mostly EHHH on the film I do feel some credit is due on the things it does right.

The animation.. is drop dead gorgeous. While Sony Pictures has made some questionable decisions, at their best and even sometimes at their worst the animation is a fucking wonder to behold and Surf’s Up, even this early is no exception. The water effects are top notch, something that later netted them Aardman’s underated Pirates, and the characters all look vibrant and intresting.  Except Reggie but it’s hard to make james woods not look like a reanimated corpse even in animation. It’s why Disney just leaned into it. The surfing is also just utterly fun to watch, on par with lilo and stich’s own landmark sequences, and ther’es some great pov shots that i’m astounded they pulled off in animation. The film may be light on plot and subtance but it DOES have style. 

Next the mocumentary idea is good. The execution dosen’t really work as they don’t really do anyting intresting with it and frankly a standard kids movie plot just dosen’t fit. The film would’ve been better if it was essentially an animated christopher guest movie: add a few surfers, have some comedic talent voice them. It’s not hard and i’ts something I do hope is tried again as I love a good mocumentary but here it’s really just an excuse the pad the film out. A LOT of the run time is just ad libbed attempts at jokes by the cast and while Heder, Bader and Daschinel are talented, they aren’t great at improv. 

The final thing i’ll give it is Jeff Motherfucking Bridges. The dude himself is great in anything and one of my faviorite actors now I think about it. So of course he’s fun here as Z, perfectly cast as the worn out surfer and serves as the perfect comedic foil to Shia “shouty pants” Lebeef. Every moment he’s on a scream, dramatically and comedically makes the film better. Z himself, while not the most original character, is still engaging, if entirely thanks to bridges: he’s funny, you get why he quit and his arc of getting out of his own ass and rejoining the world again as he regains his love of surfing is geninely touching, with the final scene , as mentor and mentee surf with tons of other surfers for the fun of it, being incredibly charming. I mean it’s set to get what you give by the radicals, so it has some help but Z is a geninely good character and I dread going into the sequel without him. Speaking of which. 

Everything Else About Surfs Up:

I will say Surf’s Up is not a terrible movie. Outside of some blatant padding and a quetsoinable moment or too, I was never offended. But it is a very forgetable film. Me and Kev both forgot it because.. it just dosen’t have that much. It has a decent soundtrack.. bu tone that by this point had been heard in tons of better movies. It has a decent cast but two of them have ruined any good will they built up and the rest aren’t given much to work with.

And a big part of the problem is the format: a mockumentary requires decently sized personalites. They can deadpan saying insane stuff, but you need oddballs talking to the camera or engaging personalities for it to work. But the characters are so thin outside of z that it dosen’t work at all. Cody is a try hard, his brother glenn is a giant asshole and a waste of brian poshen who spends all his screentime bullying his brother and making me wish a walrus would come for him in the night and put me out of my misery, lani is a genric love intrest, chicken joe is just “wow he’s kinda spacey” which works once or twice but dosen’t really work overall and Tank is just a generic bully whose only real comedic set peices are bullying children and not so subtly implying he fucks his trophys. 

Weird Sex Stuff In This Franchise: 3

There’s just nothing there to latch onto. I don’t care if Cody wins often because while I want him to show his brother wrong, he’s also so annoying half the time because Shia LeQuack is playing him that despite WANTING to root for him he makes me instead want that walrus to take another pass. I don’t care if chicken joe finds cody because he only met him yesterday, and I don’t care if cody and lani get together because again they met yesterday and their only together because the plot says so. 

And the message of the film, while valid it’s okay to just have fun with a hobby... dosne’t work. Cody’s wanted this his whole life. The message should be you don’t need validation, you just need a passion for something. To enjoy it. It dosen’t hlep lani yells at cody for wanting to win.. despite NEVER HAVING ASKED HIM WHY HE WANTS IT SO BAD. Instead of tying his need for the people back home who never got him to love him into his main character arc naruto style, they just ignore that he has a valid freudian excuse for being so competition focused and focused on z: Z Beleived in him when no one else did. 

The film is just flat and lifeless. It has a lot going for it but in the end.. it’s just a lot of nothing and trophy fucking. It’s memorable because it looks good but they didn’t bother ot put something that feels good underneath. It’s far from the worst animated film i’ve seen but it’s just right in the middle where it belongs and where it’ll likely fade from my memory again. 

Anyways join me next week to see Vince McMahons weird fetishes, join my patreon bellow to help keep the lights on and ask, or comment. Let me know what you thought and follow if you want more nonsense from me. Next time it’s the 400TH review as I tie a ribbon on a retrospective i’ve been working on for almost the entire span of this blog thus far. 

PATREON

TWITTER

[thisisarcanereverie]

Lazy Sunday Mornings and Bee Movie (Bucky Barnes x Reader)

A/N: Hey just a little one shot in between chapters of Should’ve Known to keep things interesting. 

Don’t be afraid to request some prompts

SUMMARY: Just a simple lazy sunday with Bucky with the reader partially annoying him with Bee Movie refrences. 

WARNINGS: fluff, just pure unadulterated fluff, Bucky is touchstarved I swear to god. Also 18+. 

You woke up that morning hearing the rain gently pat against the window and the steady breathing of your Bucky beside you. 

Last night had been a good night, for once Bucky hadn’t woken up in a cold sweat and heart racing. Instead he laid beside you in the bed and just slept in relative peace. You opened your eyes and saw the room bathed in the silvery light that came from outside. You silently groaned as you turned to face Bucky. 

His hair had matted in his sleep and his skin glowed in the morning light. You gently touched the tops of his cheekbones and admired him. 

He was so much stronger than he ever gave himself credit for. You hoped that one day he would realize how strong. 

“Mornin’ doll,” he murmured, his eyes still closed as he placed a kiss on your forehead. His prosthetic arm pulled you closer to him than you were before. You breathed him in deeply, the scent of his shampoo and body wash easing you. 

“Morning Buck.” You greeted, his lips moved from your forehead to your closed eyelids then finally settling on your lips. You pull back after a second. 

“Buck,” you said, “morning breath.” You felt his chest vibrate with suppressed laughter. 

You let your fingers wind themselves in his hair, he had cut it a while ago but it was starting to get long again. Not that you minded Bucky with long hair, in fact you kind of missed it. 

You didn’t mind it either way. 

While you were messing around his hair his pale blue eyes drank you in. To him you were beautiful, you accepted him as he was in whatever state he was in. His gaze finally landing on the scar you usually kept well hidden. You didn’t have the happiest or safest life, scars were bound to appear. Bucky kissed those scars every night, for each and every last one of them brought you to him. You did the same, the scars from his past, everything brought you two together. 

You went to go brush your teeth when his grip around you tightened and the man groaned. You laughed, he may be over a hundred years old but he still acted like a child. 

“Buck I need to go brush my teeth.”

“No”

“Buck I need to go brush my teeth.”

“No”

“I’ll give you a kiss as soon as my teeth are brushed. How about that.” the man groaned before releasing his hold on you. 

“I’ll hold you to that.” he said, as you stood up you felt a slight pinch on your ass and gave a slight yelp. His laughter filled the room as you hurriedly went to the bathroom. You gave him a mock glare and that made him smile. You were cute when you pretended to be angry with him. 

As soon as the bathroom door closed behind you Buck took a deep breath in and out. The rain outside nearly lulling him to sleep again when he groaned. He’s become so dependent on you when it comes to sleep. He used to be able to go to sleep, it took him a while but eventually got there, however you were now in his life. What was already a difficult task to begin with now was impossible without you by his side. 

He stretched as he stood upright, stretching his limbs to warm them up for the day ahead. Bucky spotted the stereo on the dresser and immediately went to put on some soft jazz. He honestly couldn’t understand the music of today. To him it just seemed like a bunch of metallic noises clinking together and the songs no longer had any meaning behind them. He will be the first to admit that there were some songs that weren’t like that, some songs were soft and nice to listen to. However, he typically listened to music from his time. Not that you minded, you were actually in a similar state of mind on the matter. However when training solo you would listen to some high energy music from today. 

Soft jazz started to echo through your shared apartment.

Bucky then felt your arms come from behind him and hug him gently. He felt you stand on your tip toes and whisper in his ear. 

“Ya like jazz.”

Bucky groaned loudly, painful memories of the movie you had forced him to watch resurfacing. He felt your figure behind him laugh at his despair. Bucky went to move away from you but you held on. 

“No,” he said trying (hardly) to pry you off of him, “we are not going there today.” 

“I seem to remember promising you a kiss once I got back honey.” you teased as he now gave up on prying you off of him, he groaned as he places his hands gently on either side of your face. 

“What am I gonna do with you.” He mused jokingly, he knew from the moment you entered his life what he was going to do with you. 

“Love me like bees love honey.”

“On second thought I’ll hold off on that kiss.” 

He weakly ‘tried’ to move away from you when your hands gently pulled him back to you and you laughed as you kissed him. 

He could handle all the Bee Movies jokes and teasing. 

So long as he can kiss you afterwards.

[raineyraven]

I need to gush about Thus Always to Tyrants by the oh hellos just cus. holy shit i love it and i have so many thoughts.

Out of all the ending songs to their albums, i think thus always to tyrants is the most satisfying one to me. The pure triumph and happiness just makes my heart burst.

Exeunt also has a sense of triumph, of finally starting to break away from their abuser, especially that "i have set my mind and my will: i am leaving" line. but its shadowed by their lingering feelings for them. They still call them "my little dove" and "my love".

Dear Wormwood has a greater sense of triumph. They have figured out who their abuser is and who they themself are. They are not their lover, they are their enemy.

And in Thus Always To Tyrants, they leave. And its that wild sense that they are finally free that really does it for me. They ask their ex-lover if they will learn to be better, "learn to love without consuming", but they still know that no matter what their ex-lover chooses, the protagonist will be able to live out the rest of their life in peace, without them.

I adore that thats where they stand with their abuser at the end. They do not feel responsibility to help them, and they do not actively wish them suffering. It shows that their time in the unhealthy relationship did not warp there perception of love, nor did it worsen their morality. Perhaps their ex-lover will recover from their abusive tendencies, perhaps not, but either way the protagonist will be able to live their life happily and freely.

And the lyrics are an absolute joy. "Where you go, I will not also" !!! "theres a wind alive in the valley / it will fill your lungs if you'll have it" !!! "where i go, will you still follow?" its so full and lovely and just ahhHHH.

I also don't know if the line "and the dry bones dance with the timbrel and lyre" is refrencing anything, but it reminded me of this story i remember seeing somewhere, about a witch who used her magic to make a pile of bones dance when she played music so she wouldn't be lonely. but i cant find where i saw the story :(.

ALSO ANOTHER THING I LOVE. the insrumental bit after the first verses. With that chorus of "ooos" leading up to when the beat drops, the guitar, the crashing drums, just that sense of unbridled joy. Thats the moment in the story i feel that the protagonist leaves for good, especially followed by that line "to and fro, i will not follow." just. man.

My absolute favourite thing in media is a victim finally recognizing and breaking free of their abuse, finally standing up to their abuser. I have such a soft spot for it, and Dear Wormwood is probably my favourite depiction of it. The Oh Hellos are a wonder.