#I should never have started this project; I feel sorry for all the robots :( they are literally the sweetest characters in these stories

[my-timing-is-digital]

[ Ooc: Asimov is at it again, breaking my heart. Data is gonna end up adopting all the robots. ]

[tangledinink]

raph fans come get y'all juice. chapter four of i'm sorry, teenage mutant what now? is up! read it on ao3 or below the cut!

[ prev ]

Okay, fine, he’d admit it. Dad was acting weird. 

Like, weird weird, not regular weird. Their dad had always been weird, which Leo had always chalked up to 1.) him being their dad 2.) him spending time in Hollywood. But this? This was off, even for him. 

Last night, he spaced out in the middle of one of Mikey’s stories, and Leo still wasn’t sure if he had literally fallen asleep with his eyes open or if he had just accidentally astral projected to the Twilight Zone or something. Of course, they had all then proceeded to say the most absolutely asinine, insane shit that they could think of in an attempt to goad a reaction until Mikey finally managed to snap him out of it by throwing some lentils at him. The day before that, he caught him rifling through that old shelf of weird knick-knacks that none of them were allowed to touch, muttering to himself the entire time like some crazy supervillain. Like, dude, had some ancient ninja ghost replaced their daddy, or what? ‘Cause this was getting freaky. He had kind of just thought Donnie was overreacting, but maybe he was onto something…

He hated it when Donnie was right. It happened annoyingly often and he could never admit it, lest he risk his twin’s ego becoming even larger. There’s only room for one egomaniac in this family.

“Think we can corner Dad on the train ride home and find out what’s happening? That way he won’t be able to run.” He said, casually, inviting himself into his twin brother’s room and tossing himself down on their bed.

 Donnie pulled his eyes away from whatever robotics project he was currently tinkering with in order to glare at his brother, spinning around in his desk chair.

 “Groan. Do we have to? That sounds unpleasant at best.”

 “Hey, you started this in the first place. And you agreed to the plan,” he countered, pointing accusingly at the other. “You don’t get to back out now.”

“I’m not saying that I’m not worried, or that I don’t think someone should talk with him. I’m just saying that I don’t want to do it.” Donnie defended.

“Bummer. You’re participating.” Leo deadpanned. “Between you, me, and Raph, we might have half a chance. And if not… Well. We’ve got the big guns waiting at home.”

 Donnie shuddered a bit. The Doctor.

 “I don’t know. Based on historical data, there’s about a 76.4% chance that Dad will attempt to bodily throw himself out the window of a moving train if we try to talk to him about his feelings.” 

 “Do you think we can find a train car without windows?”

 “I’ll do some research. I’m sure there are specs available online...” Donnie sighed, turning back around to face his desk and pulling out his phone.

 Leo hummed softly, knowing that Donnie would, in fact, actually do that, whether or not it was realistic.

“I’m serious, Donnie. We actually have to talk to him.”

“I mean, yeah, sure. I am too. But what the hell are we gonna say?”

“Ugh. I don’t know! You’re the one with a therapist! And you’ve been seeing her for how long now? Shouldn’t you know how to do all the talky-feely shit by now?”

“I’m autistic.”

“So?”

“You should get a therapist.”

“Off-topic,” Leo muttered, rolling his eyes. “This is, like, weirder than he usually is. Like… Something is for real wrong. It’s kind of spooky.”

“It’s Mikey.”

Leo scoffed. “It’s not Mikey.”

“Yeah, it is. He started being weird right after Mikey lit himself on fire.”

“Mikey didn’t light himself on fire, Dee.”

“Well, he clearly did something . And Dad keeps looking at him like he thinks he’s gonna combust at any moment. There’s a very clear pattern of behavior, Leo.” He insisted. “Also, you don’t know what the hell Mikey did, either, because we both know he wasn’t just playing with matches in his room.”

“He might have been.” Leo huffed. “That kid is way more fucked up than we give him credit for. Remember in the fourth grade when someone destroyed his science fair project?”

Donnie shivered. “You don’t just forget something like that, Leo.”

“Exactly! Playing with lighters is totally within the realm of possibility.”

“There’s a difference between enacting violent but justified revenge and doing simply dangerous stuff just for the fun of it.” Donnie countered, glancing up at the other through half-lidded eyes. “Plus, he’s used to all of us doing dangerous stuff for the fun of it! Dad wouldn’t react this way if he was just worried Mikey was gonna hurt himself. He deals with worrying Mikey is gonna hurt himself all the time. Nor would he let Mikey get away with this with nary a punishment if that were truly the case. In the very least, Dad doesn’t think the event was the result of Mikey just ‘playing with lighters.’”

“Oh, so what? It’s magic? His notebook magically caught on fire?” Leo challenged dryly, giving his twin an unimpressed look.

“Of course not. I’m a man of science.” Donnie scoffed. “I’m sure there’s a logical explanation, but, admittedly, I haven’t been able to intuit exactly what the cause was just yet. My investigation is still ongoing.” He sighed. “... But maybe Dad thinks it was?”

 Leo paused for a moment, rolling the thought around in his head, frowning a bit.

“You think Dad thinks Mikey magically caught his notebook on fire?” He questioned, raising one brow in doubt.

 “It’s possible,” Donnie said, shrugging. “We know that he’s superstitious.”

 Leo hummed softly, his hand automatically moving to spin the small silver bracelet on his wrist, running his fingertips across the smooth edges of the blue crystal in its center. One in a set of five. He supposed that that was technically true… ‘Superstitious’ wasn’t really the first word that would come to mind if he was trying to describe his father. It wouldn’t even be in the top ten. But slapping actual good-luck charms onto each of his children did kind of automatically sort him into that category, didn’t it?

 He knew his dad had a small altar in his room, and they would occasionally celebrate, or at least acknowledge, Japanese holidays that he had grown up with. But they didn’t have any other charms or amulets in their home, at least not that Leo knew of, just old knick-knacks and trinkets that lived on shelves or in closets. They had never gone to a shrine or temple or church or anything of the like in their lives, and he had never heard his Dad pray before. But the bracelets? He had always been really invested in that. Leo literally couldn’t remember a time when they hadn’t all worn them. He had told them since they were small that they ‘kept them safe ,’ and it had been a hard rule their entire lives that they weren’t to be removed.

 It was the kind of thing that Leo was pretty sure people would think was weird if he brought it up-- so he usually didn’t. He used to think it was weird, too, honestly, and kind of dumb. I mean, they were just bracelets, right? So what did it matter? But he remembered the one time he had tried to take it off when he was around seven. Even now it was absolutely vivid in his brain every time he thought about it.

 He hadn’t been trying to rebel or make trouble or anything, he had just been bored. He forgot exactly where they were, but they were waiting in line for something at some building with lots of desks and people milling about, discussing boring things. And there wasn’t anything to do! He had exhausted all viable options for entertaining himself: Annoying his father. Annoying his brother. Annoying his other brother. Annoying his other other brother. So he had basically run out of ideas.

 He hadn’t even taken the bracelet off. I mean, not all the way. He was just messing with it, kind of yanking it up and down his wrist, and seeing if he could wiggle it up his hand over his knuckles--

 But god, he remembers the way his father’s voice sounded when he caught him, biting out his name like it was painful. He remembers the look on his face, and even now it makes him feel small.

 Not because his dad was angry. But because he was scared.  

 He had never seen his dad look that way before in his entire life. Like he was about to watch the entire world crumble down around him. 

 It was scary. His dad was scared, so he got scared, too. He shivers a little bit at the memory, his frown deepening. They had left shortly after, and Dad had assured him at least twenty times that he wasn’t mad, and he was sorry for scaring him, and it was okay, but that he couldn’t take the bracelet off. It was important.

 Leo and his brothers had kind of decided after that that it probably was important and that they really shouldn’t take them off. Leo wasn’t entirely sure if he completely believed now that they actually ‘kept them safe’ or whatever, but he had certainly believed it then. And besides that, clearly, their father believed it, and that alone was enough for him. It was too small to really get off now, anyway. They had grown enough that Leo doubted he could wriggle his way out of it even if he wanted to. It was a small miracle that Raph hadn’t busted his with how damn beefy he had grown, but hey, he wasn’t gonna look a gift horse in the mouth or anything.

 “Okay. Fine.” Leo conceded. “So, Dad thinks Mikey has magic hands, or whatever. What do we do about it?”

---

The train ride over to the swim meet was relatively calm, filled with idle chatter and conversation. Leo, Donnie, and Raph had met their Dad at the station after school, and they spent the trip discussing the new leaf Donnie's Monstera was growing, the most recent viral street magic video Leo had seen, and the latest funny thing Raph's swim kids had done. Raph attempted, unsuccessfully, to prod their Dad into sharing as well, but the most he got was information about the latest reality show episode he had watched. Their Dad wasn't always the biggest sharer, but usually, they could at least get him to discuss the state of his Dojos, any new acting prospects, or celebrity gossip. He loved celebrity gossip! But not today-- the conversation stayed squarely focused on his three sons.

 Still, it had been pleasant, even with the slight stirring of anxiety in Raph's stomach. They were all busy more often than they weren't, so it was always nice to get to spend any amount of time together. Their pops didn't always attend all their various sporting events, recitals, or other competitions-- it just wasn't realistic. There was only one of him, after all. But they were getting towards the end of the season at this point, which meant that all the 'important' events were beginning to crop up on their calendars. Their Dad hated to miss those-- even if they did go pretty much every year. He always said he wanted to ‘brag about how talented his children were.’

 The sports center was just a short walk from the train station, and Raph glanced down at their father as they made their way into the bustling lobby. "You know where you're goin', pops?"

 "Yes, yes, of course. I could give tours of this place." His father joked, his frame shaking with his laughter. "You boys know how to find me if you need me. Now, go and have fun. And also, kick some butt!" He encouraged with a toothy grin.

 "You got it, pops!" Raph assured, smiling wide in response, herding his two younger brothers off to the locker room. Usually, they'd come here with the rest of their team. Rather than traveling with their Dad, they'd travel with the other kids and their coach. But this was the city-wide meet. Qualifiers only-- which thinned out the crowd. Raph knew there were other competitors from the Mad Dogs Swim Team around here somewhere, but until they could hunt them down, it was just the three of them. Luckily, this was far from their first rodeo.

"Dibs on Candy Locker!" Leo yelled.

"Leo, no one else wants Candy Locker," Donnie said.

"Do not touch the Candy Locker!" Raph shouted.

They did this every year.

The infamous Candy Locker.

  Raph, Leo, and Donnie had been competing in swim since they were eight and seven, respectively. And every year since then, all three of them had qualified for city-wide. And every year, city-wide was held at the Aquatics Pavilion at the Ithaca College campus. And every year that they came here, since they discovered it their very first time, the Candy Locker remained.

 It was basically a historical landmark at this point, and Raph was continuously baffled that it still persevered. There were rows and rows of shiny slate gray lockers in the changing rooms, free for whatever visiting athlete to use while they competed, just big enough that you could fit a swim bag in there if you really put some muscle into it, all labeled and neat. Typically, you would open a locker without a padlock, and there would be one of two things there. One: someone else's clothes and bag. Someone already took this locker, but is playing it fast and loose and trusts no one will steal their shit. That's cool. Stealing ain't the Mad Dog way. Two: An empty locker. Sweet, free locker. You can shove your shit in there. But at the Aquatics Pavilion, there was also a third option.

 That option was a faded yellow pillowcase filled to the brim with about two pounds of Halloween candy. 

 The running theory was that someone had stashed it here ages ago, forgotten it, and it had just been there ever since, therefore transforming Locker 336 into ‘Candy Locker.’ Raph wasn't sure if the staff at the school truly just weren't aware of it, if they just didn't feel like dealing with it, or if they too respected it enough that they couldn't bring themselves to destroy it. All he knew was that Candy Locker was forever, and a fixture of the institution. 

 He also knew that every single year, without fail, Leo tried to sneak chocolate out of Candy Locker. 

"You can't use Candy Locker. Leo! It's not open for use! It's Candy Locker, and it needs to be treated with respect!" Raph yelled, giving a low groan of annoyance as Leo just barely glanced back at him, just for a moment, this absolutely feral look of excitement in his eyes, and darted off, breaking away from their small group. Dammit. 

 All of Raph's little brothers were fast and small and nimble. Raph always felt a tiny bit awed when he watched how they moved-- weaving about obstacles like minnows swimming upstream, dancing and darting about in a way that always looked effortless. Raph was fast, too, and he was far more acrobatic than the average high schooler... Don't get it twisted, he was perfectly capable of back-flips and cartwheels. But small? Small he was not.

 It was tough being a big guy sometimes. I mean, he didn't dislike it by any means! He loved being large enough that he could see over crowds and keep an eye on everything. He loved feeling strong and powerful enough that he could plant himself in between his family and any kind of danger, and feel like a wall-- an immovable object. He loved being strong, relished the rush of pinning his opponents to the ground beneath him without any effort and smashing his way through obstacles.

 ... But with size and strength comes responsibility. Wait, was that the quote? Something like that. The point was, if he ran after Leo, he'd mow half these kids down.  And he didn't wanna hurt anyone or anything. He knew better than that.

"Raphael."

Raph's father knelt down next to him, his voice gentle, but nudging, demanding to be heard. It took Raph a few moments, but eventually, he glanced up at him, peeking shyly at his father from behind his hand and uncurling from the small ball he was rolled into just the tiniest bit.

 "Raphael, did you hit Leonardo?"

 He hesitated for a moment, and then nodded a tiny bit, sniffling loudly.

 "And bite him?"

He nodded again, drawing his legs up to his chest and hiding his face in his knees.

 His father sighed softly. "Red, we cannot--"

 "He pushed me first!" He bit out, and he could feel his face burn even hotter than before, all muddy with shame and anger sloshed together. "H-he was being mean, and, and he wouldn't leave me alone! And I wanted him to stop!" 

"I will talk to him, Red. But just because he pushes you does not mean you can push back. Or hit him, or bite him. You are bigger than him, Raphael."  This brought a fresh sob tumbling through Raph's chest, despite his best efforts. His father sighed again before slowly sitting down, holding out his arms.

 "Come here, my son." 

 Raphael rolled over onto his hands and knees, crawling into his dad's lap and burrowing his face into his chest. His dad's arms wrapped around him, squeezing him tight and rocking the two of them back and forth. And for a while, they just sat like that, quiet and still, hidden away in the hallway closet.

 "Is Leo okay?" Raph eventually mumbled, not picking up his head.

"He will be alright," Dad confirmed. "But you did hurt him quite a bit, Raphael."

"Sorry." He whispered. He wiped at his face with balled-up fists, hiccuping a few times. His mouth tasted salty, now, from the tears, but it still tasted bitter from the blood, too.

 "...You did a very good job coming to get me right away." 

 Raph hummed a tiny bit in response, but he didn't say anything beyond that. He wished he could fold himself up even tighter and hide. He wished he was so small he could fit in between the floorboards. He wished he could disappear.

 "You know, your gym teacher is very impressed with you, Red." Dad eventually began to speak again. "He told me all about how wonderfully you do whenever he sees you. You're bigger and stronger than the other kids in your class," He continued, and then laughed. "And I think that is very cool! And it makes me very proud to hear about how well you have done."

Raph finally dared to peek up at his father again, wiping some of the tears off his cheeks.

 "But I know it can be hard to be strong sometimes. It is a lot of work, being big and strong! You have to be careful with others around you, even if they're not careful with you back. That is very difficult!" He said, his hand moving in slow circles up and down his child's spine. "But I have seen you many, many times be big and strong to protect your brothers, and keep them safe, and to help them." He said, keeping quiet for a moment before exhaling slowly through his nose. "... Can I share a secret with you, Red?"

A secret? His eyes widened a bit, and he immediately nodded.

"I have been thinking that perhaps you boys might be ready to start learning proper martial arts at the dojo." Raph let out an audible gasp, his entire body perking up with excitement. Actual for real kung-fu and karate and stuff?! Not just blocks and poses!? "But I am a little worried that your brothers might hurt themselves, or fight with each other if I teach them." 

 Oh. Raph hadn't thought of that before. He frowned a bit, his brows suddenly pinched with worry. He hadn’t ever considered before that learning martial arts could actually be a bad idea. If he learned martial arts with his Dad, what if he just hurt his brothers worse? 

 "But I know how much you all want to learn. And I can already see how much potential you all have." He continued with a soft smile. "So I was hoping that you could help me. I don't like that you and Leo got into a fight, or that he got hurt... But now I know that you know what it feels like to hurt someone that you love. And that it doesn't feel very good, does it?"

 No... It felt horrible. He furrowed his brows, frowning before nodding a bit.

 "So I think that means that I can trust you to help me with teaching them how to be careful and strong at the same time, and keep them safe. Do you think you could handle that, Red?"

 Raphael swallowed hard, feeling this wet lump form in his throat. All the tears from before welled up in his eyes again-- even though he didn't wanna live in the floorboards anymore. His dad still trusted him that much? Even now, after he messed up really bad? He tried to tell his father 'yes,' but his lips were wobbling too much for his tongue to work right, so he just nodded as hard as he could instead. Yes-- He wanted more than anything to help protect his little brothers, no matter what. ‘Cause even when they made him so, so angry... he still loved them so, so much.

 "I thought so." Dad laughed, kissing the top of his son's head before ruffling his hair lightly. "And I know we will not have any more fighting like this. And no more biting , Raphael. We have talked about this. If you want to bite something, I will get you something else that is for biting. But it cannot be people! Understood?"

 Hiccuping a bit, Raphael nodded again. Somehow, he wasn't even upset to be scolded this time. And he knew that he had said he wouldn't bite people before, but this time he really meant it.

 "Good boy. Now, I am going to go check on your brothers. Do you want to stay here a little bit longer, or do you want to come with me?"

 Raph took a long, deep breath, swallowing the lump in his throat so that he could find his voice again.

 "I wanna see my brothers."

 "GET BACK HERE, LEO. DON'T MAKE ME COME AFTER YOU." He shouted, and was completely ignored. "Donnie--"

"Not involved." Donnie immediately replied, not looking up from his phone. 

 Raph groaned, trying to pick up the pace without taking out any bystanders, muttering repeated, "Pardon me's," and "'Scuse me's," as he went.

 Leo really wasn't that far ahead of them-- He wouldn't completely ditch them, but he did get far enough ahead that he was already breaking into Candy Locker by the time Raph rounded the corner, his face set into a deep scowl.

 "Leo. Don't you dare." 

 "Look! Untouched and beautiful as ever!"

 "Leo, do not eat the candy ."

"Wow, and they have all our favorites, too..."

 "They are at least eight years old! At a minimum , Leo!" 

 "Oh, pshhh. As if I haven't seen you wolf down two-week-old leftovers before." Leo scoffed.

 "Remember that time he ate beef jerky out of the trash?" Not helping, Donnie.

 "It was right on top! Practically untouched!" Raph protested. "And that's completely different! Plus, eight years is, like, twelve times longer than two weeks is!"

 "That math is not correct..." Donnie mumbled under his breath.

 "Chillax! I'm not gonna eat any of the candy." Leo said, holding his hands up in mock surrender.

 Oh, thank god.

 "I just wanna have one. To like... put on a shelf or something. I bet Donnie could make a little pedestal for it."

 Dammit.

 "One year." Raph said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Just one year. I just want us to leave Candy Locker in peace... for one year . It's a sacred space, Leo!"

 "Mmmm..." Leo pursed his lips, placing a hand on his hip. "Yeah, I mean. I see what you're saying, but... I'm pretty sure no one is gonna miss, like, one Tootsie Pop."

 "Stop messing with him, Leo." Donnie chided, cracking open a locker nearby, tossing his bag down and shucking off his jacket.

 "Okay, okay. Fine. Because I'm an amazing brother, I will refrain from interacting any further with Candy Locker until after the meet." Leo declared, slapping the locker shut again with a flick of his wrist and a satisfying metallic clack. "But know this, Raphael. This isn't over." 

 Raphael scoffed, rolling his eyes, glaring at Leo as he yanked open his own locker. He loved his brothers dearly-- he did. But they were really lucky sometimes that he didn't just snap their necks.

---

At this point, Yoshi had a pretty good handle on these types of events, and he knew well enough how to navigate. He knew exactly which corner bounced cheers and shouts about the least, knew just where all the vents, pumping in warm air to prevent all the swimmers from freezing their butts off, were hidden, so they could be avoided, and knew the best seating arrangement that allowed for minimal soreness the following day. Metal bleachers weren’t exactly easy on your back, after all! Armed with years of experience, (plus his cellphone and earbuds for when events did not feature his sons and he got bored,) he was fully committed to making it through the meet and focusing for the entirety of it. Had he made any progress on the whole Hamato Ninpo thing? Well, no, not exactly. Which was. Ah. Worrisome. But, now was not the time for that!

He was quite excited to watch his three eldest sons kick ass and take names, as per usual. 

He said 'hello' to a few of the other parents that he knew and made some polite small talk, settling down to watch the meet. Warm-ups were already done by the time he was all seated, and he could see his boys and the rest of their team from where they sat across the pool; audience members sat on one side, and competitors on the other. He watched them doing much of the same-- making conversation with each other and their teammates, checking their phones, and cheering whenever anyone they knew was in the water. 

 All in all, everything was fairly normal and expected. Yoshi still struggled a bit to keep himself focused, and not think too deeply about all the worries in his head, but it wasn't as bad as it had been lately... It had been nearly a week now with no further incidents, no questioning from his children, and no spooky prophecies or visions from his ancestors or anything like that. So he was beginning to wonder, or perhaps more accurately, hope that maybe it had just been a fluke. Just a one-off event rather than the beginning of anything trying. Maybe his family was fine, their identity and secrets were safe, and nothing further was going to occur to jeopardize that-- they could just continue to live in peace just as they had been.

 He watched the twins get up from the bench for their next event, shedding their hoodies and towels in favor of goggles, only to get waved over by an official. The two wandered over and joined him and what appeared to be another parent. He couldn't hear what they were saying from where he was, but the conversation soon became animated-- Donnie's arms crossed over his chest, Leo talking wildly with his hands, and worry immediately began to blossom in his chest. He had just gotten to his feet, beginning to make his way over to the group when the discussion seemed to dissolve, his two sons walking away visibly upset. Yoshi met them halfway. 

 "What is going on?" He immediately questioned, his brows knit together, forming wrinkled creases in his skin. He could see Raphael straining to see from his side of the pool, a similar expression on his own face.

 "Ugh. It's nothing." Leo huffed, a scowl set on his face, his hands on his hips. "Some Karen or whatever is just mad that we're gonna ruin her kid's record or whatever, so she talked the officials into drug testing us."

 "Which is obviously a complete waste of time and resources," Donnie added in, rolling his eyes.

 "She's just gonna embarrass herself when it comes back negative. As if we need any steroids to clean up shop." Leo declared, a small, sly grin growing on his face, offering out a hand to high-five his brother like, ‘Sick burn, right, Dee?'

 His brother accepted, slapping his palm firmly. "Indeed."

 Yoshi had broken out into a cold sweat, feeling as though his entire body had turned into stone, freezing him in place.

 "O-oh. A drug test. Yes, how silly..." He mumbled, forcing a grin on his face. "How. Uh. How exactly... Does that work? Is it going to take long? I would hate for the, uh, the meet to be held up...!"

 "No, they're just doing a rapid test." Donnie hummed. "Obviously it's going to be a smaller panel than they could achieve with a proper lab test, and not achieve quite as accurate or varied of a data set, but it should only take five minutes or so. I understand they're fetching the technician now, and then it should be as simple as collecting a urine sample to use. It can only reveal a 'negative' or 'positive' result rather than any more detailed variations or anything of the like, but of course, this isn't a concern for us, since we already know neither of us is using any drugs. It's actually a very fascinating process--"

 Yoshi wasn't listening anymore, because all he could hear in his ears was his own voice screaming TURTLE PISS TURTLE PISS TURTLE PISS.

  Logically, the test did not have the capacity to give such information. Donatello had just said that there were only two possible test results, positive or negative, and his purplest son usually knew what he was talking about regarding such things. So, reasonably, he knew it could not possibly come back ‘Mutant Turtle’. And rationally, he knew that his family had been under further scrutiny in the past and come out on the other side just fine. This did not ease his panic. It never did. 

Insurance cards? Check. Paperwork? Check. All four children? Check. He went over his list for the fifth time in his head, glancing down at his kids, two on either side of him, as they approached the office. Right... Yes. He had everything he needed. 

 So why didn't he feel even the least bit prepared?

 He had gone to such lengths to ensure the success of this plan. He had accounted for every document that would need to be forged, had crafted an elaborate story to explain his disappearance, and had paid dearly for the five bracelets that concealed his and his sons' mutant identities. He prepared for every possible threat to their new identities, and did everything he could to allow the success of their new lives.

 It wasn't like he didn't account for this. He knew that it would be an obstacle, and he knew that it would be one that they would have to face. That didn't stop it from being terrifying.

 The doctor.

 Despite all the paperwork he had fabricated, he knew that they wouldn't be able to avoid going to the doctor forever. Even if he falsified records indicating his sons were up to date on absolutely everything and in perfect health, this would only buy them a year or two before they would be due for a visit, or risk being barred from enrollment in public school. And even if he somehow avoided this, too, what if one of his children got sick? Or injured? Was he to simply keep them at home and deny them medical care? 

 No, no. He wanted his kids to have a normal life. He wanted them to be able to do things like go to school and play in parks and make friends with other children... and have proper medical care when it was needed. He wanted them to be vaccinated, to be screened for problems, to have regular check-ups and be able to go to the hospital when they were hurt. He desperately wanted this.

 But jesus christ, this was terrifying.

 "Are you ready, boys?" He asked, glancing down at his children once more. He was trying to keep his voice level and his body language calm, but he could tell that his sons could sense his anxiety. His heart broke a little when four pairs of big, horrified eyes looked up at him and they shook their heads.

 "Ah, where are my brave boys?" He questioned, nudging them ever so slightly, beginning the walk into the office. He held Mikey and Donnie's hands tightly so that they wouldn't be able to tell he was shaking. "Do not worry. I promise that Dr. Davis is very nice. Nothing bad will happen." He assured.

 The boys didn't seem too convinced. He wasn't either, truthfully, but he marched them inside anyway.

 It had been over a decade since he had last been inside a doctor's office, and even longer than that since he had been to a pediatrician. Yet somehow, it felt like nothing had really changed. Colorful wires with wooden beads strung on them stuck out from a brightly-painted table in the middle of the room, in sharp contrast to the faded burgundy chairs lined along the walls. Children's books and Highlight magazines covered every available surface, which Donnie immediately took to reading. There were a few other parents with their children as well, but the Hamatos were in no mood to socialize. After speaking to the woman at the front desk, Yoshi got to work filling out a literal stack of papers. He was so nervous, he messed up at least three different forms, and had to sheepishly request new copies.

 And then they waited.

 The longer they sat, the more the collective anxiety seemed to mount. Yoshi couldn't help the scenarios running through his mind over and over, each one ending with a doctor or nurse shrieking in horror and calling Animal Control--

 "Dad." 

 Yoshi blinked back into reality, looking down at his youngest son, pulling at his sleeve with tears in his eyes.

 "Dad, I wanna go home," Mikey whispered, leaning in close to him and sniffling a bit. "I don't wanna see the doctor." 

 Quite frankly, Yoshi was inclined to agree with his kid, to pick them all up and walk out right this very minute. But he suppressed the urge. 

 "I know, Mikey. I do not like seeing the doctor either." He admitted, scooping up the preschooler to hold in his lap. "But I promise... Dr. Davis is very nice, and, ah, I will not let them do anything bad to you... I am sure everything will be fine...!" 

 Before he could continue his, quite frankly, horrible pep talk, a nurse poked her head into the room from the back. 

 "The Hamatos?" 

  "Yo. Dad. You good?"

 Yoshi paused for a moment before he returned properly back to the present day, glancing over at his sons and giving a nervous laugh, which then dissolved into a cough. 

 "Ah! Yes, of course! I am perfectly fine! Why wouldn't I be!" He wheezed, and his sons exchanged looks.

 "Papa, honestly, it's fine. This will take ten minutes tops, and again, I assure you that neither Leo nor myself are engaging in any kind of recreational substances." Donnie said.

 "Yeah! All we gotta do is piss in a cup." Leo added in. "And then we'll be all set. It's just annoying. Here, why don't you sit down, watch some Netflix or something-- I know you like Netflix-- and we'll be back in a bit, okay? Just chill." 

 "Right. Of course. I am... very chill." Yoshi insisted, even though he could feel his hands trembling a bit. Gah! Stupid traitor hands! Stop it! 

 "Surrreeee," Donnie said, taking him by the arm and slowly leading him back to the bleachers, sitting him down and patting his shoulder. "We'll be right back, alright? Nothing to worry about." 

---

"Alright, you should be all set." Dr. Davis hummed pleasantly, offering a gentle smile to her latest anxious parent. "Everyone looks great! Healthy weights, nothing scary going on... We'll send you home with some literature and referral information for Donatello. I would recommend considering getting in contact with them if you can, especially since he's gonna be starting school soon, but beyond that everything looks fantastic." 

 "Yes-- thank you," Yoshi said, forcing a smile, shakily accepting the new stack of papers that the doctor handed over.

 Nothing had gone wrong.

 Well, a few things had gone wrong. Mikey and Raphael had both cried when they got their shots. Donnie had a small meltdown after being repeatedly touched by people he didn't like. And Leo had punched a nurse in the gut for upsetting his brothers. 

 But their bill of health came back clean. No mentions of turtles, mutations, cold-bloodedness, or reptilian features of any kind.

 They made it through. They would be okay.

 "... And we'll see you back in about five weeks for their next booster series, okay? Jacklyn up front can get you all scheduled!"

 Yoshi pursed his lips slightly, his mouth suddenly feeling rather dry.

 "... Ah. Yes. Of course." 

---

The concept of buoyancy was built upon that of displacement; the idea that two different forms of matter could not occupy the same space. Archimedes once theorized that water, a liquid, would be pushed aside by a solid mass, but an object of an appropriate weight, density, or shape could ensure that the displaced weight of the water was greater than the total weight of the object, therefore ensuring it to float. This is, of course, connected to the concept of forces. Gravity is a downward force that acts upon all objects; when an object is placed in a fluid, that fluid must supply a force equal in magnitude but opposite in direction to the gravitational force for the object to float. Scientifically speaking, it was all a matter of density and mass, and every action that one took in the water, as well as every action that the water had in response, could be explained through a series of formulas and equations.

 ... In a non-scientific sense, however, water was safe and soft and inviting. Water would make room for you, no matter who you were or what you were doing. Once you got in, it would change itself to make exactly enough space for your body. Water was fluid and changing, soft and gentle when you moved softly, hard and firm when you moved harshly. In the water, the way you move changes. The way you see and hear changes. Perception itself shifts.

 God, Donatello loved swimming.

 Even just swimming laps was great, but a race only heightened the experience, engaging every bit of his body and mind and encouraging him to push. From the moment the buzzer went off and he dived from the starting block, ( push off with your legs, you're going for distance, not for height, hands together, smooth entry point, ) to the lap down, ( head down, no breathing except for when you absolutely need to, arms go back and glide over the water-- imagine your fingertips skimming just over the surface, no unnecessary movement, just enough for the maximum propulsion forward with minimal effort, ), the turn at the wall, ( watch the floor, see the blue tile end and the white begin-- you know the math, count it out, at five you duck, chin to your chest, arms together, kick off the wall and get as much air off that sucker as you can, ) and the sprint back, ( kick from your hips, not your knees, no reserving energy, it's just a fifty, this is a ‘dash,’ so dash -- )

 Every second of it he was engaged, and every second of it he adored the experience. He didn't even slow down when he approached the wall, ramming into it at full speed and using his outstretched hands to stop himself and trigger the timer that stopped the clock. They didn't have to worry about slowing down. They wouldn't run into anything. Their own hands and the water would catch them. 

 Sucking in ragged breaths, he looked to his left, and then he looked to his right. Leo was right behind him, but as he glanced up at the display board on the wall to check his time, he grinned widely. He had more than a five-second lead over him. More than enough to qualify for Regionals-- not that he had been worried. Leo was well within the range as well, just as expected. The three of them always went to Regionals. And Donnie was quite pleased to note that the kid from Lane 4, the child, he and Leo had deduced, of the woman who demanded they be tested, was significantly behind the two of them. Sure, his time was good enough to qualify for Regionals, too...

 But it wasn't anywhere near as good as theirs. Haha. Suck it.

 One by one, all of the racers joined him at the end of the lane, bobbing about in the water and holding onto the pool edge or the lane lines, everyone out of breath and filled with adrenaline. He shook the hands of his two lane neighbors, congratulating both of them on a race well run, and once the referee blew his whistle, he clambered out of the water, hoisting himself up back onto dry land and moving to rejoin his twin.

 "Killed it." Leo said, though breathlessly, ("if you're not struggling to breathe by the end of a race, you're not doing it right," their coach often said,) offering a fistbump, which Donnie reciprocated.

 "As expected." He said, grinning wide as the two of them made their way back to the bleachers. 

 "Leo! Donnie! Nice!" Raph called as they approached, tossing them each a towel to wrap around themselves, each beginning to dry themselves off, peeling goggles and swim caps off their heads. "Good time! But, uh, what was with the--?"

 "Some lady made us do a drug test," Leo explained, waving a hand as if to dismiss Raph's concerns. "It was dumb, we both passed, it's all good now. Just annoying."

 "A drug test?! Seriously?!" Raph said, scoffing loudly. And admittedly, Raphala was no stranger to similar situations. Donnie recalled he had been accused of taking steroids or faking his age more than once in his various sporting exploits, but it typically wasn't taken as far as to actually test him. Donnie thought, vaguely, that he was almost surprised that Raph wasn't subject to the same treatment as he and Leo were today, but he supposed it did make at least a bit of sense. Raph was big-- he was tall and visibly muscular and powerful. People looked at him and expected him to excel in athletics.

 He and Leo? Not so much. Leo was only 5'5", and he himself barely passed 5'3" without his boots, much to his annoyance. They were both lean and clearly athletically inclined, sure, but they were both much smaller and slimmer than their older brother was. People looked at them and were often surprised by their respective sporting resumes. Especially him.

 "Yes, yes, it was an unfortunate waste of everyone's time." Donnie agreed. "But to no one's surprise, it came back completely spotless, and we were able to proceed without issue and completely destroy absolutely everyone, in your face Karen, thank you very much."

 "Is that why Dad's been freaking out?" Raph asked after a moment, raising a brow. Donnie followed his eyes to steal a glance over at their father on the other side of the pool, looking much better than he had before they received their test results, (both he and Leo offering him thumbs up from across the way once they had been cleared, and watching him sag with relief,) but still seemed a bit shaky.

 "Yeah," Leo said, wrinkling his nose. "I thought he was gonna pass out for a second there when we told him. He was sweating so much, it was disgusting."

 "He doesn't seriously think you guys' would come back positive or anything, does he?" Raph scoffed, frowning a bit, and Leo shook his head.

 "Nah, I don't think so. But you know how scared he is of doctors."

--- 

 Dad always got like this whenever they had an appointment.

 'This' meaning, of course, 'Visibly and overwhelmingly anxious and frightened, absolutely filled with dread and horror.' 

 They were all kind of used to it by now.

 When they were little, it would sort of freak them out, because every time they had to go to the doctor, he had to come with them, and he'd be in a state of near-panic the whole time. And if Dad was freaking out, then they should probably be freaking out too, right? Looking back, Leo recognized that he was always trying to hide it, but quite frankly, he did a pretty shit job at it. Now that they had gotten a bit older, however, collectively exiting elementary school years to enter junior high, they more-or-less recognized that Dad's doctor-induced panic was really more of a personal thing, and not necessarily something that they needed to worry about themselves. Leo still didn't really like the doctor, and he kind of doubted he ever would, but he wouldn't really categorize himself as 'afraid' any longer.

 Their Dad? Not so much. 

 The four of them had been long aware of the little note on the calendar in the kitchen, the sacred piece of literature that controlled all their lives, dictating that at four o'clock on this date, their dear father would be summoned to the doctor's office. And they knew that, of course, like he did every time, he would totally freak out. And, just as predicted, he had been an anxious mess all day, pacing around the house, mumbling nonsense to himself, (something about them being ‘onto him’ and ‘rat blood’ and other completely meaningless jibber-jabber.) 

 But this time, they had a plan. They absolutely could not continue to watch him like this. Everyone was in place. Leo looked across the living room, nodding to Raph. Raph glanced at Donnie, who checked his watch, and likewise nodded an affirmative. Mikey put down his sketchbook, getting to his feet, and the four of them, following his cue, fell into step with each other and filed into the kitchen.

 Mission: Save Daddy From the Horrors was a go.

 "Hey Dad," Mikey began, wrapping an arm around his shoulder and leaning into him slightly. Raph, at the same time, got to work preparing a pot of tea-- Donnie fetched the cream, Leo was on sugar duty. "So, we were thinking. Maybe we could come with you this afternoon?"

 Their father startled slightly, immediately moving to glare at Mikey with suspicious eyes. "What?! Come with me? Why would you want to come with me to a doctor's appointment?"

"Well, we were just thinking, it might be a nice, uh... family outing!" Raphael offered with a shrug, chuckling nervously and looking to the side. "And maybe we could, I dunno, get frozen yogurt on the way back?"

 "And we could watch that game show you like on the way over. With the mystery shrimp?" Donnie suggested. 

 "Plus, I mean, I've been meaning to get some acting tips from you? Not that I need them, obviously, but..." Leo added, placing a cup into his father's hands as he narrowed his eyes. 

 "... You boys are... up to something..." Dad mumbled, looking between the four of them with a slight frown. 

 "Up to something? No! Of course not!" Raph insisted, and Mikey placed a hand on their father's shoulder.

 "We just want to spend more quality time with you! As a family! Don't you want to spend time with us, your loving sons?" He questioned, batting his eyes. "Plus, we can get frozen yogurt! We know how much you love frozen yogurt, right?" 

 "Yeah, what they said," Donnie said. 

 "Pleaseeeee?" Leo went in for the kill, offering a dramatic pout, poking his lower lip out as far as it could possibly go. Mikey joined in shortly, combining their powers to reach near-dangerous levels of puppy-dog-eyes.

 "... I suppose... If you really would like to..."

  Score. They were in. Goal: minimize anxiety and get their dad home from the doctor's office in one piece for a change. And if they got some frozen yogurt in the process? What was the harm in that? As far as Leo was concerned, so long as they could manage to get their Dad through this appointment without totally freaking out, that'd be a win. And, if things went well, it would be that much easier to convince him to allow them to accompany him to future appointments, too. 

---

The rest of the swim meet went about as expected. Donnie easily got the best times in every event he participated in, and all three of them, plus a couple of their teammates, made it into the upcoming Regionals. Trophies and ribbons were given out in the end, which they had all immediately passed on to their father, ‘cause he was more excited about them than they were and would surely figure out a way to find space for at least some of them at home. Raph physically wrestled an ancient Twix bar out of Leo's hands, and once his little brother finally cried for mercy and swore to leave Candy Locker alone for the remainder of the trip, he unpinned him from the ground and allowed him to get back up. Normal stuff. 

 It wasn't until the train ride home that things got kind of weird. 

 About fifteen minutes in Leo started giving him these looks. Looks that said, ' go on, say something.' So Raph started giving Leo ' no, you say something ' looks. After some back and forth, they both tried to give Donnie looks, but Donnie completely ignored them in every sense of the word, pointedly refusing to look up from his phone as he discussed the process of coding artificial intelligence to their dad, who clearly didn't understand anything they were saying, but to his credit, was doing his best to nod along. 

 After losing a silent game of rock-paper-scissors played at knee-level, just outside of their father's field of vision, Raph cleared his throat, leaning over slightly.

 "Sooo, Pops... You been... sleeping okay?"

 "Hm? Oh, yes! You know I am always out like a light after my before-bed snack!" Dad replied easily with a chuckle, and Raph frowned, ‘cause he could tell just by looking at him that that was a lie.

 "Uh-huh. Right." Leo scoffed, not buying it. "That's crazy. Because, no offense, but you look kind of like garbage. And like you haven't so much as touched a pillow in, like... ever." 

 This immediately earned him a smack to his forehead.

 "Garbage?! I will have you know that I was voted Hollywood's ‘Sexiest Action Film Star’ five years in a row! No respect!"

 Leo whined loudly, rubbing his forehead and mumbling "ew," under his breath, but Raph knew it was all for show. Dad's infamous ‘Karate Chops’ never actually hurt. Though it could be that Leo was more hurting from the psychological damage of hearing their father refer to himself as ‘sexy’ than anything else...

 "I concur-- ew. And as fascinating as this factoid that you've cursed us with is, father, it doesn't really address the fact that you've clearly not been sleeping." Donnie remarked, still not looking up from his phone screen. Raph knew he was listening, though. He wasn't typing, no video was playing. He was fully engaged with the conversation. Just needed his barrier.

 "Yeah, if anyone is qualified to identify an insomniac, it's me!" Leo added in.

 "What we're trying to say is," Raph jumped in, hands held out and a nervous smile on his face, "Is just, uh. That we're a little worried about you, Pops. I mean. You've seemed kind of, uh, out of it... since..."

 "Since that thing with Mikey." Leo helpfully supplied, crossing his arms over his chest. 

 Raph noted the slight twitch in his Dad's left eye. 

 "What thing with Mikey?" Dad feigned.

 "Uh, the thing where he started a fire in his room? That thing? Ringing any bells?" Leo pressed, with a tone and a look that said 'yeah, nice try.'

"Oh, yes. That." Their dad said, waving a hand dismissively. "We have already discussed this, boys. The important thing is that Mikey was not hurt, and Purple, I know you are upset because you are not allowed to start fires anymore--"

"It's not about Mikey, Dad," Raph interjected. "It's about you! You've just... you've been acting... weird! And it's been nearly a week now! And-- and if something's goin' on, we wanna know!"

 "Nothing is going on." Their father immediately denied. "I already told you all. That was simply a freak accident, and it is not anything worth worrying about. I am fine! It is nothing you need to concern yourselves with."

"Dad, come on. There's obviously something bothering you!" Raph pushed a little harder, despite the anxiety bubbling up in his stomach, feeling like a soda can in a washing machine. "We just wanna help. Come on, don't you trust us--"

 "Enough." This time it was Dad who interrupted, his voice harder now, firm and definite. Raph flinched slightly. "I already said it is none of your concern. I am fine. I am perfectly capable of handling this, and I do not want any of you involved!"

 Raph opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but was surprised to find that there were no words. So he closed it again. He glanced over at Leo and Donnie, but they had about the same expressions on their faces as him. 

 "Please, Red." He heard the sigh in his father's voice, and he sounded softer now, tired even, and placed a hand on Raph’s shoulder. Raph glanced downwards, his eyes following all the knobs in his father’s fingers, the wrinkles in his knuckles. He didn't want to look at his face, because he knew that if he did, he would see him as an elderly man rather than Dad. He hated it when that happened, when he fell into that headspace... Just seeing people as people, just looking at them for exactly what they were, with all the familiarity and memories stripped away from them. "Just let me take care of this. I have everything under control." 

Raph frowned a bit, not entirely sure if he believed him.

 "We have a good life, Raphael. I need you to let me keep it that way." He said. "And to trust me enough not to get involved. Please."

 He didn't look at Leo or Donnie this time. Something in his gut was screaming at him that this wasn't the move. The words Dad was picking here felt... off. But the way his voice sounded... He swallowed thickly, and then slowly nodded. 

 "Yeah. Okay, Dad. We trust you."

Far beneath the city, below the concrete, below the subways, below even the sewers, the world eventually became city again-- Hidden below the oblivious humans above. At the edge of this city, a small vine grew from the soil, slow and silent, just at the seam of a brick wall. Ever-so-carefully, the vine grew and expanded, pushing itself upward, dark and veiled in violet veins. 

 The vine pressed itself up against the stone wall, curling unnaturally upward, and a bit of stone cracked in response, falling away to the soil below.

 The vine pushed further.

[ next ]

[lbova]

Rodney x Cappy Fanfiction

This is my first time writing a fanfic, so sorry if it's bad. There isn't enough Rodney x Cappy fanfic, so I'm writing my own gosh darn it. I love this ship so much. Characters belong to Blue Sky Studios Robots 2005. Hope you enjoy!

When you've become the CEO of your dream job, life couldn't be better. Two years ago, Rodney Copperbottom first arrived in Robot City to meet his idol Bigweld. However, he came to the city just to find out Bigweld had been forced into retirement thanks to his no good past CEO bot named Phineas T. Ratchet. When Ratchet took charge of Bigweld Industries, he outmoded millions of bots and sent Sweepers to collect them and take them to his mother's (Madame Gasket) Chop Shop, where they were melted into upgrades. Rodney knew he had to find Bigweld and save the city. Good luck was on his side, and he was able to find Bigweld, convinced him out of hiding, and defeated Ratchet and his cruel mother once and for all. Madame Gasket was thrown into the fire, and Ratchet was stuck on the ceiling. The Robot City Police took Ratchet to jail two days after. Rodney was seen as a hero, and was named the new CEO of Bigweld Industries.

Of course, none of this would have been possible if Rodney hadn't met Cappy. He first met Cappy when he crashed through the window of Bigweld's office and landed right in front of her. It was love at first sight for Rodney. He had never seen such a beautiful robot in his life. He met Cappy again when he snuck past the gates to get into the Bigweld Ball in an attempt to find Bigweld. Cappy saved Rodney from Ratchet's security bots, and flew him to Bigweld's workshop. Eventually, Cappy began to fall in love with Rodney. He was determined and confident, and he was kind and cared about others. After Ratchet's defeat and Rodney became CEO, Rodney and Cappy started dating. Rodney moved in with Cappy in her apartment a week after they started dating.

And now, two years later, they we still together. Although, being CEO of a very huge business wasn't easy. Rodney had been very busy the past two years, helping Bigweld come up with new projects and inventions to help bots' lives improve. Rodney would always come home late, always exhausted and tired. He would always feel bad whenever he came home late, knowing that he had kept his girlfriend Cappy waiting for him. He didn't want her to stay up for him, he wanted her to get a good night's sleep. He sometimes wondered why Cappy would still be with him despite him always coming home late. Some days, Rodney would wonder if he's even good enough to be her boyfriend. He's always late, he spends more time inventing and less time with Cappy. So why would she stay with him?

It was currently 12:39 a.m., and Rodney was finishing up one of his projects in his office. As he wrapped up his last adjustments to his project, he wiped his forehead and sighed. He was finally done for the night. Now he can go home, and have the weekend off. Rodney was so relieved that he had this weekend off. He normally worked on the weekends to further help out Bigweld. But Bigweld told him that he should take this weekend off, maybe spend some time with Cappy. Rodney offered Bigweld to call him in case he needed help, but Bigweld told him not to worry. Rodney put his tools back into his desk, turned the lights in the room off, locked up his office, and took a taxi home.

When Rodney arrived at their apartment, he took his keys out and unlocked the door to enter. He opened the door and entered the apartment, shutting the door behind him and locked it once he was in. He looked around the living room to see if anyone was home, but he didn't see anyone. He only saw his Wonderbot as they slept on a little cat condo peacefully. He guessed that Cappy was probably in the bedroom.

"Cappy, I'm home!", Rodney shouted not too loudly as to not startle Wonderbot awake.

He heard a voice cry out, "I'm in the bedroom!" He knew that the beautiful voice belonged to his lovely girlfriend Cappy.

He set his bag down and walked to the bedroom. When we entered, he saw Cappy sitting on the bed, reading a book. Cappy looked up from her book to smile at her handsome boyfriend.

"Hi sweetie. Welcome home.", Cappy said sweetly, as she set her book down on the bedstand beside her and got up to greet Rodney. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. Rodney also wrapped his arms around her to hug her back. He closed his eyes as he did, and smiled tiredly. He loves holding her close after a long day at work.

"Sorry I got back so late again", Rodney said softly, as he pulled away from Cappy to give her a quick kiss on the lips. "This project is taking so much longer than I intended", He continued.

Cappy smiled at him softly. Rodney loved her smile so much. He loved everything about her. "It's alright hon. I know your job can be long and stressful," Cappy said. "You can say that again", Rodney chuckled tiredly. "I am so ready for this weekend. I don't have to get up early and I don't have to work late."

Cappy couldn't help but giggle a little. "Me too. I can't wait to spend the whole weekend with you", she said. Rodney smiled at her brightly. He then let out a big yawn, stretching his arms out a little. Cappy could see her lover was tired, obviously. She can almost read Rodney like a book. And he was her favorite book. "Well then, maybe it's time for us to sleep, hm?", Cappy grabbed Rodney 's arm and gently tugged it, trying to pull him towards the bed. Rodney let her guide him to the bed, and they both laid down onto the soft mattress. Rodney let out a deep sigh, it felt good to finally lay down. Cappy snuggled closer to Rodney, putting her head on his shoulder.

Rodney rested his head on hers, smiling. "Hey Caps?", he slightly whispered, "Thanks for always being patient with me. I probably don't deserve it, but thank you for being sweet to me no matter what the day brings or how it ends." He wrapped one of his arms around her waist and said, "I love you."

Cappy shifted her head slightly to look up at Rodney. She smiled at him and said, "I love you too." They gave each other a good night kiss on the lips and drifted off to sleep. They had each other at the end of the day, and that was all they needed.

....................................................

OMG I finished it yes! Now I have my own fanfiction to read hehe. Anyway, hope you guys liked it! Let me know if you want more Rodney x Cappy stories, I'll be happy to write them!

[medusapelagia]

8 Au-gust: Robots and Androids - Part 7

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 , Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8[...]

Rating: Mature Relationship: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson WT: Android Steve Harrington, Wanted Criminal Eddie Munson, surgery on the android Words: 1673

“Why do you hate him?”

“Apart from the obvious?” Eddie sighs, Dustin is a smart guy but it’s kind of annoying having to deal with him.

“Yeah.”

“Well, to be honest, he is not special enough to deserve my hate. But I hate all the androids, and he is an android.”

“It seems personal.”

It is personal. But he is not going to share his emotional baggage with a thirteen-year-old boy.

“Where did you learn about robotics?” Eddie asks him.

“Here. My parents are both scientists and working with El helped me a lot.”

The little girl doesn’t seem to be a robotics expert but she clearly cares about androids.

"You are good at it.”

“Mum says I’m a genius.”

“Don’t brag. But you are good. You changed that battery like a professional.”

“I was scared out of my mind, but we had to help him, you know right?”

No, Eddie doesn’t know. The android is just a  pile of circuits, he doesn’t deserve their help or their pity.

“He saved your life.” Dustin insists.

“Can you understand that it’s in his fucking code once and for all?!” Eddie snaps.

“It is. But it was an emergency situation. Stevie is clever, he could have found a solution and let you die on impact. But he saved you. He shielded you with his body. Isn’t that something?”

“No, because he is going to bring me back to the Central to be killed after a fake trial so, no. It’s not something! It’s annoying and frustrating, ok? I don’t like androids and I don’t like the one that captured me, that sounds so strange to you?”

Dustin sighs and goes back to his computer “You must admit that he is fascinating. I have never met an android like him.” he turns toward Eddie “Did you?”

“I don’t know why you think that he is so fucking special.”

“Because he has feelings. And emotions.”

“He has not.”

“Talk to him. Without being aggressive, and you’ll see.”

***

Eddie can hate S.T.E.V.E. as much as he wants to but the android is really useful. In the few days that they have spent at the outpost he has helped Hopper make some repairs, he has cooked for everyone and he has finally managed to fix the stupid radio.

“Are you really going to call the Central? I thought we were friends.”

“We are not friends. You are my captive and I have to take you back to the Central.” the android replies in his monotone voice.

“Oh… that hurts. I was starting to think that there was something special between us.” Eddie mocks the android who looks at him with his plastic eyes without expression “So, when are we leaving, captain?”

“Hopper and I have fixed the biggest damages but Dustin wants to take a look at the engines before let us leave. He doesn't want us to explode in the air.”

“You are like the kid's personal science project, you know that right?”

S.T.E.V.E. tilts his head, confused.

“He would die to study you. To open that metal head of yours and take a good look at your fucking circuits.”

“Maybe. But he didn’t do it. And he said he was sorry for replacing my heart when I said I didn’t want it replaced.”

“Your heart? It’s just a fucking battery!”

“And yours is just a muscle.” the android retorts.

“That’s not…” Fuck the stupid android, fuck them all! 

The android stares at him with his eyes with no expression “I know that it means nothing to you, but I’m sorry that I have to bring you back to the Central." the android pauses "All of this would not be happening if you weren't a murderer.”

“I told you a million times that I’m not a murderer!” Eddie sighs “But you don’t listen to me. You never did. After all, why should you care, right? Your stupid video says that I’m a murderer so that’s what I am, right?”

Stevie seems almost sad, which is not possible because he is a stupid tin can.

“Why should they lie?”

Eddie stares at him, that’s not the kind of question he was expecting from the android. Well, to be honest, he didn’t expect a question at all, but the more time the android has spent with the little group the more open he has become.

“They didn’t lie. They just turn the truth in their favor.” Eddie takes an e-cigarette, he knows that soon he will not be able to smoke anymore so he tries to enjoy what he can “I’m no saint, ok metalhead? I have destroyed androids and I never felt bad about that. I was protecting my people, and I’ll do it again in a heartbeat! And I don’t care about your opinion if you think that I am a murderer or whatever! I didn’t kill Chrissy, that’s all I’m saying.”

“You always speak about Chrissy, was she special to you?”

She was. She was the most special girl ever. She was so kind and pure… everything that Eddie never was and never would have been. And she died. Because of him.

“I didn’t kill her.” he tells the android, the e-cigarette still in his hand “But it’s my fault if she died. I made the bomb. I knew it was there and I knew that there was the possibility of some collateral damages. But I didn’t care. So, yes, somehow your dispatch is correct: I wasn’t the one that moved the bomb next to the bleachers, but I still killed her.” his hands are trembling and the androids take the e-cigarette with a kindness that Eddie didn’t know he possessed.

“I’m sorry for your loss.”

Those are the same words Eddie told him days ago when he was talking about his human companion.

“Do you miss him?”

“Uh?”

“Your partner.”

“Bi… Tommy?”

Eddie stares at him. What was that? A glitch?

“Are you ok?”

“I’m perfectly working, thanks.”

Eddie nods confused “What was the name of your partner?”

“Tommy. Tommy Hagan.”

No uncertainty. Maybe it was just a glitch. After all, the android took quite a hit and almost exploded just a few days ago. It’s probably a normal android’s reaction. Maybe he should turn him off and turn him back on. But there is no way the android will let him turn him off, so he shrugs and goes back to look at the stars.

“How many can you see?”

“Sorry?”

“How many stars can you see from here?”

“One hundred billion.”

“For real?”

“More or less.”

“Fuck. That must be amazing.”

“What?”

“Being able to see so far that you are almost looking back in time.” Eddie replies, amazed.

“I can see things that are farther, but sometimes I can’t see things that are close.” S.T.E.V.E. murmurs.

Eddie stares at him wondering what he might mean, but the android gets up “If tomorrow Dustin will decide that we have enough fuel to get to the next planet we will leave. Enjoy your evening.”

Eddie stays all night staring at the sky, conscious that it would have been the last time.

***

“Get up. We are leaving.” The android wakes him up, he has a coffee and a piece of bread.

“I thought we were waiting for Dustin’s ok.”

“We were. But some troops are coming in this direction and I will not let them get to this planet. So we are leaving.”

“What if the ship explodes in space?!” Eddie objects.

“You were the one that wanted to die of dehydration in a desert. If the ship explodes it will be a less painful death.”

Fucking androids and their stupid logic!

He gulps the coffee in one go and gets dressed holding the bread in his mouth while he ties his shoes.

Joyce is waiting for them with a bag with some supplies “For the journey,” she says and Eddie thanks her. Before leaving, Joyce takes Eddie’s elbow and whispers to him “He is special. Don’t be too hard on him.”

Eddie doesn’t answer back and starts to run to follow the android. The metal tin is right, those people helped them, and they don’t need other problems.

At the entrance, Steve is talking with the strange little girl, El.

“You don’t have to go.” she is saying “You could stay here. With me.”

S.T.E.V.E. caresses his cheek “I have to kid. I have to protect you.”

“But I can protect you! I can! I am strong.” she insists.

“I’m sure you are. But there are other people that deserve your protection, aren’t there?”

“Mum?”

The android nods, then he points at something on his arms and shows it to her “I know you can’t read it but this is why I can’t stay here.” 

“Because you are a lone wolf?” she asks.

The android freezes “How…”

“Are we going, tin can? Or do you want to wait for your friends here?” Eddie interrupts them and the android turns toward him.

“You are right. We have to go. Take care El.”

“Take care too Stevie.” she replies, waving at them until she is just a little white point in the night.

Hopper gave them a transport and a thermal suit, they will leave everything on the crash site and somehow the others will recover them.

“They are good people.” S.T.E.V.E. says.

“They are. And they are leaving in the old way. No fucking androids around.”

S.T.E.V.E. stares at him for a moment but says nothing.

He starts the ship and after a couple of tries, they are able to leave the surface and get into space.

“I’ll try to make a jump to the next planet.”

“Do you think it will work?”

“‘I’m confident it will work.”

"How many chances?”

“Good.”

“Tell me the number.”

“67%”

“Fuck.”

“They are good.”

“Ok. Just press the fucking button.”

Eddie has never prayed, but when the android moves the hand toward the jump button he takes the necklace his uncle gave him and holds it tight.

Tag list: @shunna, @yourmom-isgay I hope you enjoy it!

[natimiles]

I was checking my AO3 statistics just for fun. So fetch some tea and have a seat, darling. I'm gonna ramble a lot!

2020 I was already playing Ikevamp, Ikesen, Ikerev, and Obey Me, but didn't write anything for them. Well, except for that one Obey Me fanfic. I was in the BNHA fandom and wrote lots of fanfics for it. However, most of them were reposts because I had to delete my account from another site. They banned my friend, and they were targeting Kacchako writers, so I saved everything I've ever written and reposted it on AO3 and Wattpad (which meand some of these fanfics aren't from 2020 but from 2018 and 2019). At that time, I was involved in a writing project for Kacchako and one for Ochako, so it helped me to write more.

2021 I didn't post anything on AO3 because I didn't get many views there. Since everything I wrote was in portuguese, and the BNHA fandom that writes and reads in portuguese wasn't really active there. However, I posted 3 fanfics on Wattpad (if you wanna check it out, just know I'm not active there anymore). Three fanfics for a whole year. Ouch.

2022 I wrote... 3 fanfics. Again. I didn't post anything on another site; I just didn't write anything else. I stopped playing Ikevamp after they released Sebastian's route and barely opened Obey Me. So I didn't write anything, even though I read a lot and had some good ideas. It was a weird year for me... I didn't accomplish anything. I could've spent the whole year sleeping, and it would have the same result: nothing. Sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound sad! It's just how I feel now that I look back and think about it.

2023 Sometimes I just write like a robot, and when I realize it, there's a whole fanfic ready to be posted. But other times, I struggle, and I spend a whole week writing a small scenario because the words just fly away from my brain, HASIHEUASIEHA. English is not my first language, and I had COVID twice, so my memory is fucked up. It was never good, but it got worse, HASIUEHAS.

These statistics aren't even for the whole year; I started writing again in October! I already had this blog in 2020, but I only reblogged. When I spent the whole year away from everything, I didn't even read here anymore. So I'm really happy and proud of everything I did in 2023! Being active here brought me some good friends (yes, all my mutuals are already my besties, and you can't run away from me! I'll chase you all if you try!) and I'm really glad to be back.

And for 2024, I hope everything gets even better! I wanna try opening requests too, but it's still an idea. I'm not sure if I should and if I'll be able to handle it HASIUHEUSAIHEA. I plan to write more (I have lots of WIPs, HELP AHSEUHSA) and to play the games I liked again (I'm already back at Ikesen!).

Hopefully, we'll all be together this new year too, simping and crying for fictional men 🤍🤍

[pattysplaceofplaces]

I don't know if you are still accepting requests. . . . . . Could you to do part two for that Doc x Female reader? I hope they can have more cute interactions (Doc's charm is really few people know)(◍•ᴗ•◍)

The Right Choice

Doc x Human Fem Reader

[Author’s Note: Yippee! More writing for Stray! This is a prequel I hope you enjoy! I might also do this sort of storyline with the other bots! Also sorry it took me so long to do this]

Tw: Reader gets scrutinized, reader also fakes her death

     Crypto pods began to open in sync with the dome collapsing. Humanity was relieved to find that the world was no longer infested with the plague and that civilization could begin to rebuild itself once more. What the human race wasn’t expecting was for a civilization to have been prospering since they hid away in their crypto pods.

The bots that once served them were living independently with their own sort of government. These bots explored the outside and welcomed humans with open arms. Unfortunately humans were not as kind as the dome was rebuilt and all the bots were forced underground once more, their freedom being short lived. Tunnels were built to the outside but it was built for so that humans could get in, not for bots to get out. 

You were one of the few people that were against the bots being locked up underground. Sure they were different but they still felt emotions, it’s not like they were evil ai’s wanted to rule the world like the propaganda said. Most people shrugged you off or even treated you harshly because you were sympathetic towards the bots. You were curious to see what the bots were actually like so as human society continued to rebuild you took a job as a delivery woman. You would deliver things to bots that could only be found on the surface. 

You had ended up meeting many types of bots. They were the complete opposite of what humans stereotyped them as. Bots were so kind. They would always thank you when you delivered them a package, they chatted with you and even invited you to hang out with them. Most of them didn’t even care you were human. 

That’s how you met Doc. He was always ordering plant specimens and fossils. Because you had stopped by his flat so many times both of you had started talking. He was intelligent but still fun to be around. You stared to give him your old books and taught him about all the history you remember being taught while you were in school. Whenever you worked you would take extra time to converse with him and his friends. They called themselves the Outsiders. They were all bummed about being forced underground but they never held it against you. 

You always had a small crush on Doc but you came to terms with it when you met his son, Seamus. His son had talked so highly about him and the way Doc treated his son was filled with such compassion. 

When talking with your human friends on the surface sometimes you’d accidentally ramble about your bot friends. Which your friends found annoying but moved on from. You had made the mistake of telling someone you thought you could trust about your feelings for Doc. The next day you were known as the weird girl who had fallen in love with a robot. You began to feel disconnected from humans and the society they built. You no longer felt like a human but you weren’t a bot. You felt like a disgusting fleshy mess that belonged no where.

“Doc, we need to talk.” You broke the silence. You two had a habit of sharing a comfortable silence. He would work on a project and you would read one of the many books he had in his house. The bot’s hands froze at your sudden statement. “Yes dear?” You loved Doc but sometimes it felt like he tortured you with that term of endearment, it made you wish for something you knew you may never have.

You were quiet for a moment, unsure of how you should spill the bad news. “Today is my last day as a deliverer. I got fired.” Now he was looking at you. You would never forgive yourself for telling him this even if it wasn’t your fault. “Meaning I won’t be able to see you or anyone else anymore.”  Doc knew something had to be wrong but he wasn’t expecting something of this severity. He was feeling so many things it was hard to name it. Was it sadness? Grief? Longing? Regret? Maybe even anger? The strongest emotion had to be blame. He should have confessed to you when he had the chance. He knew you liked him and he liked but like a fool, he waited for you to confess first. 

Doc moved closer to you at a speed you didn’t expect he could move at. “What if you just…Never went back up to the surface?” You open your mouth to speak but he shakes his head, his hands encasing yours. “I know it’s a lot to ask for but are you really happy up there? Do you really want this to be the end?” 

You have never seen him this passionate before, you were taken aback. You looked down at your hands and curled your fingers around his metal ones. He was asking for a lot but how could you refuse? You wonder if anyone on the surface would even know that you’re gone. You’re nervous about what the aftermath of this action might be. What if humans used your fleeing as an excuse to cause more controversy? What if they make up a lie that make the bots look bad? The Guardian has always told you that you were the only human that was welcomed and loved by the underground community. You knew that the Guardian would have your back. 

He guards the entrance that leads to the surface since it’s no longer necessary to watch out for Zurks. From what the other bots had told you he had amazing fighting skills but you wondered how much he could take.

“Please Y/n, I should have told you before. I shouldn’t have waited. The people here love you, the Outsiders love you, I love you.” You can hear the pleading in his voice. “Whatever problems this causes we can deal with together.” 

You nod and the next thing you know, your delivery vehicle is busted up near the deep water of the sewer tunnels. Your work hat and satchel float in the dirty water and in the human world you’re pronounced dead. Yet in the bot world you’re living a life full of love and freedom. 

You made the right choice.

[pesterloglog]

Jake English, Jane Crocker

Act 6, page 4188

golgothasTerror [GT] began pestering gutsyGumshoe [GG] at 6:05

GT: Jane!

GT: Forgive my botherations. I know this is meant to be a spanking ripsnorter of a day for you and all.

GT: But do you happen to know where the devilfucking dickens mr strider might be?

GG: Oh, that's fine!

GG: I had been meaning to message you sooner actually, but I suppose in all the hubbub today, it plumb slipped my mind.

GG: Which is a shocking fact on its lonesome, considering what I have to tell you!

GT: Egad...

GT: *Loosens collar a bit.*

GG: As for this Strider business, hrmmm. He's an elusive guy Jake. You know that.

GG: I talked to him yesterday. That's as much help as I can be!

GT: Shoot.

GT: I really need to ask him something but hes got his blasted auto responder turned on.

GG: Hoo hoo.

GG: I love that thing. :B

GT: He wouldnt be pleased to hear you say that.

GG: What do you need with him?

GG: Does this have to do with your crazy pen pal project?

GT: It most certainly does and time is of the essence!

GT: Today is the day i have to finish it and send it. Not a day later!

GT: So you see why i am feeling really friggin discombobulated at the moment.

GG: Sorry, J. :(

GG: This would be the birthday present... for your grandmother?

GT: No!

GT: It is for your grandfather simply to be *relayed* to him by my grandmother. A joint gift to him from she and i.

GG: Her and me.

GT: What? Who and you now?

GG: "A joint gift from her and me." Grammar, Jake!

GT: Oh for frigs flipping sake jane this is no time for your prudish pedantry! Leave your bookish malarkey in a dusty old library somewhere. I have an adventure to get on with!

GG: So if I have this straight, the big thing hogging up your plate today is not this marvelous new game which I have invited you to play with me, but finishing a robotic rabbit to give to my dead poppop?

GT: Bingo. *double pistols and a wink*

GG: You are a very strange and silly boy.

GT: Please jane we have addressed this.

GT: I am sending the gift back in time to when they are both alive and about our age.

GT: Or...

GT: Something like that. Something funny is going on here that i have not fully grappled yet but dag nab it if im not gonna see it through.

GG: Well,

GG: Godspeed, then! I do hope you can pull it off.

GT: Are you being fresh with me now?

GG: No!!

GT: Look jane i know youve never believed me and you think everything i say is some big cockamamie goofoff but i think today of all days is when you should start taking some things more seriously.

GT: Especially since i have always had your back. I have always believed in you!

GG: Hey! I have believed in you too.

GG: However, believing somebody isn't the same thing as believing IN somebody.

GG: But that much said...

GG: I think that maybe I am getting ready to believe some of the wild stories I've heard?

GG: Or, if not believe outright, reserve judgment on, at least.

GT: Is that so!

GG: I don't know!

GG: I'm still not sure what to think. But what I wanted to tell you this morning was...

GG: I had a really wild dream last night.

GG: And you were in it.

GT: Oh my. *glasses fog up. fumbles for kerchief.*

GG: Sh! Not like that.

GG: It was so real! I think we were in the game, even though we haven't started playing yet.

GG: I don't know what to make of it. Whether it was a vision of the future, or somewhere that exists now, or if it was just a really lucid dream due to excitement.

GT: What was i doing there?

GG: Um...

GG: Not a heck of a lot!

GG: I really want to tell you all about it, but it will take some time to explain, and we both have things to attend to.

GG: You with your time traveling rabbitwork, and I, my vigilant window gazing!

GT: Too true.

GT: Let us reconvene later and sort out all this shit at a leisurely pace.

GG: Yes, ok, good luck Jake!

GT: Okay you too jane! Bye!

golgothasTerror [GT] ceased pestering gutsyGumshoe [GG]

[toomuchfrogsummer]

I Hate It Here And Love You All.

How many times can someone be tossed into a well and climb back out? I meet people. They have that look, say something or show inconsistency that indicates they would toss me into a well given the right circumstances. The ones who seem trustworthy don't give me the time of day or I seem to be putting in too much effort, unsure if they even want me there in the first place. I would love nothing more than to find that person who isn't going to toss me away. I know I need to be strong on my own. I really am trying to be happy, here, in this life I find myself in. Deeply, this pain in my heart. I am turning robotic. How do I truly connect with others? I don't want to take up spaces I am not welcome in. No one safe is asking me to sit next to them. I am going about my life hoping someone safe will ask me to join them, even for a moment. I want to truly connect with someone. I don't know if I ever have. Looking back, what was real? what was manipulation? I hate it here. I also find it beautiful. I love spaces with myself. It is others that make me second guess my life, choices, decisions. I have many enemies who like to hold me close. I am seeing I am a gift with all that I give. How I need to hold boundaries within myself to prevent the situations I was in. I find myself incased within walls. There is a balance to this. I am teaching myself. I am doing so well, I miss people. I love people. I still see the best in them along side their pain that, if out of balance, show up as daggers. We are all Edward Scissor hands in our own ways. I am understanding who I can and cannot trust. The power of no, silence and observation. [Science]

I would love to find someone to experience life with in a balanced way where we can *life* side by side, some over lap yet independent. That extra push when things get too hard when alone. That extra voice that reminds you that you can do it, that your ideas are worth delving deeper into, that you can make a difference and to just exist with. That person to tell you when you are off base, need to be in check, though we should be able to do that on our own. These are for the extreme cases when life throws wrenches. I am trying to make my dreams come true as just me. It is hard when you have been hated, a disappointment and discarded so many times. Walking into a quiet apartment with lists of things needing to get done. Why? What is the point?

If a tree falls and no one is around, did it even make a sound? I would love for someone to hear this. To break this moment - 'Hey, want to do a puzzle? Want to help me with this? Want me to hold you for a moment? Even.... Whats for dinner?'

Someone to ask, What is for dinner...

Hopefully this idea won't die. I can act like I don't need it. I would love to melt into a safe person's arms. Is that healthy? Is that why the healthy people pretend I don't exist? Until then, I will keep projecting safe spaces for others to take shelter in. Bridging gaps. That is what we all seem to need.

Sincierly,

I hate it here and love you all.

P.S. Baby Reindeer fricked me up. It makes me feel like anyone I like is a potential deer. Clear lines were crossed in the show. I never want to cause discomfort. The door is always open, to enter and to leave. I don't want anyone staying who doesn't want to be here. Freedom is important to me. It makes it hard for me to walk into rooms where I am not sure if I am invited. Are they all whispering, 'Ewww who invited Martha?' ... no one, it just seemed fun over here. I wanted to try to make friends. I can go though. I am probably too old to be here anyway. 'Ope, sorry I walked into the wrong house, sorry for the mix up.' *Leaves, feeling guilty they lied and gross for inserting themselves again where they didn't belong.* Someday I will believe I am a blessing instead of a curse. Until then, is it a self-fulfilling prophecy? I am working on creating a third place.

[assbutt-writes]

A Heart Of Iron Chapter 1

Chapter below the cut

TONY

"If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now," Loki said, looking up at the horde of superheros standing over him, their weapons drawn. His eyes locked on Tony's, setting him on edge. Loki was up to something, and it scared Tony that he couldn't figure it out.

Deciding to ignore that for now, Tony shook it off and said, "Alright, get him on his feet. We can all stand around posing up a storm later. By the way, feel free to clean up!"

"Who gets the, uh, magic wand?" Nat asked, carrying the scepter.

Steve replied, "STRIKE team's coming to secure it."

Then, an elevator opened, and the STRIKE team walked out. Sitwell walked up to Natasha, and she handed him the scepter.

"By all means," she replied, eager to get rid of it, and started to walk away.

Sitwell examined it, and started to touch the tip, when Nat called back at him, "Careful with that thing."

"Yeah, unless you want your mind erased," Clint joked, probably referencing Loki possessing him, "and not in a fun way."

"We promise to be careful," Rumlow assured.

As they gathered up the gear, Steve walked past, talking into his com, saying "On my way down to coordinate search and rescue."

Loki shape-shifted into Steve, mockingly repeating what he said while cross-eyed and doing robot arms. He then transformed back into himself, saying, "I mean, honestly, how do you keep your food down?"

Tony had to fake a cough to hide his amusement. Thor then slapped an Asgardian muzzle over Loki's mouth, saying, "Shut up."

Tony packed up the Tesseract and headed into the elevator with the rest of the Avengers. Hulk tried to join them, but it was already full.

"Hey, hey, buddy! What do you think? Maximum occupancy has been reached," Tony said.

"Take the stairs," Thor suggested.

After a bit of negotiating, everyone agreed that Tony should be the one to show Loki his cell, as he was the only one immune to Loki's mind-control.

"So, this is where you'll be staying. Toilet's over there- Wait, do Asgardians need to use the toilet? Never mind. It doesn't really matter. Bed's over there- It's more like a cot, really- sink's over there, and here's where your food will come through. Oh, and we can take off that stupid muzzle." Tony explained to Loki, who immediately tried to teleport.

"Don't bother. Thor set up some weird kind of force-field that nullifies your powers," he said.

Loki froze up, and instantly his expression became guarded.

"Thank you for showing me around, but I think I can take care of myself. You may go now," he said, his face remaining expressionless. The only sign that he wasn't as calm and collected as he acted was his hand, which was starting to fidget with the hem of his cape. Tony instantly recognized the movement as something he did when he was on the verge of a panic attack.

"Um, are you okay?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yes. I suggest you leave now. You've finished showing me around, and I'm assuming that your fellow Defenders-" Loki started to say.

"Avengers," Tony corrected before he could stop himself. Great. Based on Loki's face, he just made things even worse.

"Avengers are waiting for you. Besides, why would the great Iron Man want to be around a murderer like myself? Surely you have better things to do than make conversation with the person who just tried to invade your planet," Loki hissed, the look on his face looking more like self-hatred than anger, with his eyes starting to water.

For now, the most Tony could do was give Loki some space. He knew firsthand how it felt when someone tried to forcefully "help" you when you're in that place.

JARVIS suddenly started talking, which made both Tony and Loki jump.

"I apologize for startling you, but Dr. Banner is requesting you in the common area to go over the security camera footage," he informed Tony.

"Sorry. I gotta go, but maybe we can continue this later?" he told Loki, who's face somehow became even more expressionless.

Loki didn't respond, and, not wanting to mess things up even more, Tony left.

When he arrived at the common area, he found that Bruce had an image from the security cam footage from when Loki tried to brainwash him with the scepter pulled up on his screen with another one next to it from the camera in Loki's cell.

"Tony! Come here! Take a look at this!" Bruce said hurriedly.

"Okay? What exactly am I supposed to be seeing?" Tony asked confusedly.

"Look at his eyes!" Bruce exclaimed.

"I'm looking? I don't get it," Tony said.

"In the one from earlier, his eyes are blue, but in the one from his cell, they're green!" Bruce explained.

"So? Maybe he was using magic to change his eye color or something," Tony said, exasperated.

"Maybe, but look at this photo from when Clint was possessed," Bruce said, pulling up another image. The eye colors from the earlier Loki one and the one of Clint were the exact same.

"Holy shit! So you're thinking that Loki was possessed too?" Tony exclaimed, completely shocked.

"Language, Tony," Steve reprimanded as he walked into the room, "And what did you say about Loki being possessed?"

"Steve! Come over here! Take a look at this! His eyes were the same shade of blue as Clint's during the battle, but when he went into the cell, which nullifies all magic, by the way, they turned green!" Tony said excitedly.

Steve froze.

"Okay. Have you talked with Thor? The eye color change could've been because he was using his magic to make them blue," Steve asked.

"That's exactly what I thought, but it would be a huge coincidence for it to be the same shade," Tony explained, "JARVIS, can you call Point Break down here? We need to get to the bottom of this."

[albertonykus]

Doraemon Movie Review: Nobita and the Island of Miracles (2012)

What is Doraemon? The title character of the Doraemon manga and anime is a blue robotic cat from the 22nd Century who keeps an array of high-tech gadgets in a portable pocket dimension on his belly, and has traveled from the future to improve the fortunes of a hapless schoolboy named Nobita. Although relatively obscure in the English-speaking world, Doraemon is a Mickey-Mouse-level cultural icon in East Asia (and some other regions, too). The Doraemon franchise was a big part of my childhood, and there are still elements of it that I enjoy now.

Doraemon has released theatrical films almost annually since 1980, most of which involve Nobita and his friends (kind Shizuka, brash Gian, and crafty Suneo) getting swept into adventures thanks to Doraemon's gadgets. Despite being of potentially broad appeal to fans of science fiction and animated films, there are very few English reviews of the Doraemon movies, so I'm embarking on a project to write about all the films that have come out so far. Good luck to me…

Movie premise: Nobita and his friends travel to the 22nd Century to visit an island that has been converted into a preserve for extinct animals.

My spoiler-free take: Conceptually appealing, but severely undermined by a contrived and underdeveloped story. Sad to say, one of my least favorite Doraemon movies.

POTENTIAL SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT

Review: By all rights, I should love this movie. I found the short story it’s based on (previously discussed here), in which Nobita tries to save moa and some other animals from extinction, to be one of the most memorable out of the Doraemon manga I’ve read, for probably obvious reasons. Nobita and the Island of Miracles not only expands on that tale, but also adds a whole host of remarkable extinct Cenozoic animals to its critter roster. (Something interesting I noticed was that whereas the original manga and next-movie teaser from the previous year’s Doraemon film incorrectly drew moa with wings, I didn’t see any scenes in this movie itself where visible wings were shown on the moa, making it possible that this was an error they caught during production.) Furthermore, one of the protagonists’ new allies in this film is a younger version of Nobita’s father who has been displaced in time, an interesting idea! From a conceptual standpoint, this movie shows a lot of promise.

Sorry to say, however, I like very little about Nobita and the Island of Miracles. To start off, there’s the premise that the extinct animals on the island preserve are sustained by the “life force” emitted by an immortal golden beetle that lives there. (No, this is never elaborated on any further.) The existence of this golden beetle drives much of the story, and yet it simultaneously feels wholly unnecessary. As an explanation for how the extinct animals can live on the island? That could have been chalked up to 22nd Century animal husbandry. As a source of wonder for the protagonists? One might think seeing extinct animals alive would have been enough. As a target for the villains to go after? The movie would have worked just as well if they’d wanted to poach the extinct animals.

Then there’s the fact that the entire story is built on contrivance after contrivance. Doraemon and Nobita bring the moa into their home by complete chance, unlike the original manga in which Nobita actively wanted to rescue extinct species. The reason Nobita’s father ends up in the 22nd Century as a child comes down to a series of accidents and a robot employee from the animal preserve being incredibly incompetent at his job. Doraemon sends all his weapon gadgets away for maintenance, and then the plot still has to devise ways to make most of his remaining gadgets unusable. (Why did he try hitting a charging Elasmotherium with the Anywhere Door?!) Right when the heroes need to fight a giant mech, Doraemon happens to rummage out his Big Light, which happens to turn on and happens to shine on a beetle that the main characters didn’t know was there. The list goes on...

The movie also tries to force emotional moments that don’t always work. For example, one scene has the main characters reminisce about their experiences with their parents, which was nice and all, but felt thematically odd at the same time. Despite Nobita’s father being a major character here, most of the story doesn’t particularly focus on the interactions between the kids and their parents. A conversation like this would have been more fitting in, say, Nobita and the Birth of Japan. (It also doesn’t help that much of the dialogue for this segment appears to have been borrowed from the 1974 manga chapter “Mom Swap”.)

Suneo of all characters gets a good bit of characterization in this film... or it would be good if it weren’t immediately undercut. When he and Koron, the young granddaughter of the village chief on the island*, are captured by the villains**, he tries to reassure her by saying the others will rescue them, even adding that Nobita is actually quite dependable in situations like this. (It’s rare to hear Suneo say anything good about Nobita!) Not only that, but when the villains threaten Suneo in an attempt to persuade Koron to give them information about the golden beetle, Suneo continues to insist that she shouldn’t tell them, a very brave gesture compared to his usual reactions to danger. Unfortunately, just then a pendant made out of a fossil of the golden beetle’s horn***, worn by Koron’s pet dodo, starts glowing, giving away the beetle’s location and rendering Suneo’s heroism moot. By the way, the fact that the pendant glows in response to the beetle and that this phenomenon can be used to track the beetle’s location are never mentioned before this.

*Yep, there’s a village of humans living in the middle of this extinct animal preserve. Why are they there? This is not explained.

**At least it’s not Shizuka getting kidnapped for once... 

***Why is there a fossil of the beetle’s horn if the beetle is still alive? This is also not explained.

Meanwhile, Nobita is panicking over how they’re supposed to save Suneo and Koron without any of Doraemon’s weapon gadgets. After this goes on for some time, Shizuka tells him to get a grip, saying (paraphrased), “Can you do nothing without Doraemon’s gadgets? I hate cowards like you!” Whoa! As much as I’d normally welcome Shizuka displaying aspects of her personality other than straightforward niceness, this reproach felt unearned, because Nobita’s concern came across as completely valid: how are some children, peaceful villagers, and a babysitting robot supposed to contend with 22nd Century criminals without weapons? What’s more, when the heroes eventually reach the villains’ doorstep, Doraemon reveals that he does still have a few potentially useful gadgets left after all. Maybe you should have brought that up back when the others were panicking and arguing!

Probably the most ridiculous part of this movie, however, is when the protagonists respond to the villain leader bringing out a giant mech by... running around and yelling. Somehow, this actually works to stop the villain from attacking. Maybe he was just as confused as the audience was...

(This is so far the only Doraemon film I’ve watched in theaters, and this may well have been the most awkward scene I’ve ever seen in a cinema.)

Now, how do I end this on a positive note...? Well, I guess we got this relatable Shizuka moment.

Star rating: ★☆☆☆☆

[writer-akihiko]

so mc running away i love it the angst 👌 so if its alright can you the same but with the dorm leaders?(pls do a good ending my poor heart cannot take it-༎ຶ‿༎ຶ)

Dorm Leaders + MC Running Away

So I apologise for the lack of happy endings, if you want to call it that. The scenarios turned out much more different than the First Years probably because of the power gap I had in mind. Also, for anyone wondering, the Vice Dorm Leaders will have a shot of saving you next! When I get to it... Cut for length. Also please help to share because I limited the tags!

Warnings: Character Death [Not you or the main boy], mentions of abuse and emotional manipulation [On the Reader] and violent actions [The Dorm Leaders]

"I'm not going back."

"Wh... What?" He was astonished. "YN... I've looked far and wide for you- please-"

No words left his mouth as you stepped away from him, tears in your eyes and you were going to make a run for it again.

Malleus Draconia

Your words struck a chord in him. He didn't mean it, but when you said that you weren't going back, he almost lost control. What did you mean you weren't going back? You promised him to be his Queen!

No... he's not accepting this. His Queen deserved better. His larger hands encircled your wrists, stopping you in your tracks. No matter how much you tugged and pushed, Malleus' strength was beyond you. In your sole despair, you fell in his embrace.

Every ache and injury struck your core, as you cried your heart out. "I can't go back Malleus," you whimpered. "I... I'm sorry."

Your hands gripped tighter onto his clothes. "I don't mean to fight against you, I-"

The Fae Prince sealed your bruised lips with his own, pulling your smaller form into his lap as he took in the moment of the bittersweet, longing kiss. "YN... listen to me," He said, his own ice cold tears falling onto your cheek, healing your wounds. "You never have to apologise for your suffering. Not even to me."

Malleus held you close as you drowsed off. The gentle smile hardened into a growl, as his back arched, black wings bursting out of his body. Malleus, in his dragon form, summoned the thorns to protect you, holding you as if you were his personal dragon hoard…

The principal, or more accurately the culprit, Dire Crowley was a fool to step out. It disgusted Malleus to his very core, his claws setting the very ground on fire as Crowley stepped closer. No words were exchanged between them. For all the suffering you faced, it was to be paid in tenfold as the dragon took a deep breath, releasing the fire in his chest.

"It was a fraction of her suffering…"

Riddle Rosehearts

He was ballistic. Riddle had been eager to bring you back immediately, but the sheer refusal and attempt to run away made him think that you hate him. He was blaming himself, sobbing to the ground.

Riddle's breakdown made you stop. No matter what you did, you still love him. Riddle's hiccups of sobbing paused at the feeling of your arms wrap around him. He wanted this, he wanted your warmth, he wanted- no… he needed you so badly he'd ceased to function without you.

"I don't hate you Riddle," You said, kissing his tears away. Your pretty Queen of Hearts had ruined the uniform he so proudly kept up with and Riddle himself was unkempt. Riddle cradled your sore body, letting you tell him your stresses and your breaking point abused over and over again by Crowley.

Riddle's heart softened ever so much for you, as he realised that he was to a fault as well. It was then he started to cry for you. "YN… I… I lost control. I know I can't be forgiven for the stress you went through so-"

"Rosehearts! You found her, how wonderful!" The jovial Principal cried out. In his hand was a magic tracking spell and that's when Riddle was struck with guilt once more. He doomed you, again. He… no, he refuses to end it this way.

Your loving self became meek, frightened by the aspect of being under Crowley's care once more. You trembled, reaching out to the hem of Riddle's coat. "Riddle… Please don't let them take me…"

He pulled you up, whispering to you. "When I cast my magic, run YN."

"Ridd-"

"Never thought you'd defy me, Rosehearts. Being a law abider and all~"

"Off With Your Head."

Kalim Al-Asim

"Y-YN?"

Kalim desperately hung onto your ankle, on his knees, begging and bargaining you to stay.

"YN… Please don't leave me again," He begged. "I'll… I'll stop dragging you to parties! I'll get you anything you want just please… please come back to me."

His tears wet your foot, as his grip left light marks on your ankle. Kalim never meant to harm you. He was so desperate to make you stay, but in his heart, he knew that he didn't have the strength to keep you with him if you desired to leave.

"How could you think that?!" You cried out. You stooped to Kalim's level, tackling him in hug so hard that he crashes to the ground. "I… I'd never leave you if I had the choice! I couldn't stand NRC anymore…"

You sobbed into Kalim's chest, wondering when it'd all end. You could never refuse Kalim, but what about everyone else? What about Crowley? Your spine shivered at the monster's name, wanting everything to disappear except for you and Kalim.

Kalim didn't know what to do. He didn't understand why Crowley would do such a thing to you. If Crowley was causing you such pain… He'd just have to get rid of the problem. You only deserve the best, after all. It's not his fault, nor is it yours.

You had cried yourself to utter exhaustion. Kalim gently wrapped you up in his jacket, cradling you to his chest. As if clockwork, Crowley appeared to the heartwarming scene, simply glad that you were going to be returned.

"Al-Asim, Dire should patch her up nicely-"

"No."

Crowley coughed. "What was that?"

"I said no," Kalim reiterated. "I have no reason to listen to you…"

"Since YN and I aren't your students anymore."

Azul Ashengrotto

How grateful he was to find you near the water. He almost turned red at the thought of you willing to search for him. Azul never thought you'd long for him this way, but you knew him, and you knew him well.

As if on cue, you looked beyond the trees to see your beloved, running from the sandy shores barefoot to be caught by your precious Azul. Azul doesn't have the best reflexes, trying to catch you without hurting you.

Azul took one good look at you, and the sight was enough to make him cry. Messy hair, cuts and bruises littering your skin possibly from running through the rocky forest, feet with sores from rocks… and tearful, sorrowful eyes.

Not an inch of sadness deserved to touch you. That was one of his core beliefs. He didn't say anything to prompt you to tell about what you'd been suffering. He knew. He knew every line of the story, and it made him ever so guilty that it led to this. If he just paid more attention to you, or at least try to.

Azul offered you everything. An ear to listen and his body for comfort, with his arms wrapping about you. If the simple action was enough for your forgiveness, he'd do it over and over again.

It was for a moment Azul held you, before running the water with you in tow. From the forest emerged the tweels, but what was behind you made you scream. Crowley, with his magic, retaliating against the twins' magic.

Azul wrapped you around his tentacles, drifting further into the ocean with you. He bent down to whisper in your ear. "YN, close your eyes. Don't look."

You shut your eyes tight as you did, hiding yourself in Azul's chest, away from the scene.

"May we never see you again, Crowley."

Azul and the twins in their merforms plummet into the ocean, deep down where Crowley would never come to touch you.

Idia Shroud

He wasn't surprised that the huge robot scared you. It was his secret project after all. He immediately let himself out of the robot, but he was hesitant to step into the forest. Idia was scared, but he still had to protect you!

"Y-YN..."

"Idia!..."

You stopped running, seeing your boyfriend pop out of the robot. Idia was quick to get over his reluctance as his panic shifts to your injuries instead. He wanted to cry out of joy from the mere chance of finding you.

Idia tried to treat your wounds as best as he could with the emergency kit conveniently equipped [he really did think of everything] although his wrapping technique was unkempt at best.

Idia's attempts to heal you made you forget of all the suffering. You couldn't help but laugh, realising how much you missed Idia. He knew that you needed this time. Oh, how he wanted to whisk you away...

But he might as well. You're his, right?

Crowley didn't get close to reaching you. Idia thought of it all. He tracked every move the principal made, fooling Crowley to think that Idia was with you the entire time, with the tracking device that Crowley so faithfully gave him.

"How desperate... it's honestly funny..." Idia scoffed at the idea of Crowley getting to you.

With the S.T.Y.X androids, Idia confronted Crowley, who was in sheer confusion.

"Crowley… burn in hell."

Leona Kingscholar

Leona didn't hold back. He couldn't believe you would say such a thign to him… The only conclusion he reached to was that you hated him. You hated his very core, just like everyone else… He was scared. It frightened him to the core that after everything he did, you still hated him.

"YN… stop fucking around with me," He said, grabbing onto your wrist. He wasn't about to throw a tantrum then and there. He had to get things straight. "Hey… tell me. Was I just a waste for you?"

"W-What are you talking about Leona?" You pushed against his chest, trying to get some distance but Leona was way stronger than you. The lion couldn't listen to reason. He simply went on about how you must've hated him, and how much you despised him.

"Did I mean nothing to you, YN?" Leona was shaking, his shoulders trembling from the mere thought of hearing those words.

You wrapped your arms around Leona, pulling him in close. "I never did… How dare you think that you stupid lion?!" You said, sobbing your heart out. You were equally hurt, but you never once thought Leona would think such a thing.

The emotional reunion was interrupted by the principal himself, pretending to be moved by such a scene. The false pretense of safety caught on to you, and you were sent into a panic, clinging onto Leona for fear of your life.

"I hate you!" You yelled, your body crumpling to the ground just as Leona caught you. "I hate you, I hate you. I don't want to go back, don't make me!"

If you were to scream anymore, you might collapse from exhaustion. Leona was quick to carry you in his arms, holding you close to his chest, where you were comforted by his heartbeat.

"Hoi, good for nothing principal," Leona called out, a single claw drawn out, igniting his Unique Magic.

"Move before I turn you to sand."

Vil Schoenheit

He was stunned to see you in such a state. He called out for you, and you stopped in your tracks. Was he that incompetent that he can't keep you with him? Did he not treat you right? Was his mere presence just torture for you?

Vil couldn't keep it in anymore. He needed to know. "YN… why won't you come back? Tell me, is it my fault? Am I not worthy of you?!"

The once prideful queen fell into shambles of insecurity as his mind won't stop painting images of you walking away from him, of you calling him your doom, of him being your captor… No, he didn't mean it…

"Was I the villain in your story?! WAS I?!"

Vil had never cried as much as he did. He needed to know that you didn't of him as a nuisance. He really was worthless if he made you feel unwanted… so please, he needed an answer.

"How could you think that, my love?"

You stooped to Vil's level, brushing away the tears that ruined his makeup with your very hands. Oh, your poor Vil… You were too selfish, thinking of your own suffering. With Vil in your arms, you felt whole once again. You gave Vil your actual answer, relenting every moment of your stress that stemmed from Crowley.

Oh… how his sweet potato must've suffered. Vil had a stuck of guilt, considering that he was under an Overblot as well. No matter, he had to make things right. For your sake, for his love's sake.

"YN, Crowley is trying to find you. But I… I have to set things right," He said, pulling you up.

The rustle of leaves had you on guard as from it came Dire Crowley, revelling in the scene.

"Schoenheit. You are supposed to bring LN YN to me immediately as I ordered."

Vil for once scared you. It scared you how enraged he was, and your heart wrenched at seeing the ink droplets by his hand.

"Vil, don't you dare-"

He turned back to you, whispering for you to run to Rook's safety. "Don't cry, my love."

You tried to hold the tears once again as you saw Vil shifting forms to an ink-like mess, this time his rage directed at Crowley. You could only run away, praying in your heart that Vil was safe.

[bigskydreaming]

Hi, I was reading your post about Jason punching Dick in the face when Dick revealed he fake his death was bullshit ( which it was) and it reminded me of an issue/question that has bothered me for sometime.

Why did people believe Dick was actually dead?

I’m not the most avid comic reader so maybe I missed something but it was always weird to me that everyone just accepted this especially given how Bruce was acting or should I say wasn’t acting.

This is a man when his child died another child had to come along and told him sir you are being too violent and emotional you need supervision. When his other child died he went all over the universe to bring him back to life because he knew it was possible ( which was happening at the same time), so why didn’t anyone think it was weird he wasn’t doing that for Dick. Can you imagine Dick really dying that soon after Damian it would be injustice Batman Version. You are telling me that Tim, Jason or Barbara didn’t think it was weird that Bruce didn’t also bring Dick’s corpse to the bring Damian back to life mission or mention it to themselves. Like what more likely Dick dead and Bruce is handling it well or that he fake his death to do something stupid and Dangerous after his partner/brother/ little bit my son the feelings are complicated died after he was knocked out and woke up to his corpse.

Oh man, this is like, the entire nature of my beef?

(Slight derail just to emphasize the fact real quick that Dick DID actually die, he was just revived quickly, but like, the trauma of his death was very real and its not like anyone was clued into Luthor having a resurrection backdoor built into his literal murder of Dick in the actual moment of it happening. So Dick’s death wasn’t fake, and additionally, he didn’t have anything to do with like, telling people about it, because he was literally comatose in the cave and recovering while Bruce was telling people....by the time Dick woke up in the cave, we already know that Alfred at least had already been convinced by Bruce that Dick was dead, so I have a kneejerk need to pushback against the Dick faked his death narrative by reminding people wherever possible that Dick had no agency in the spreading of that narrative. 

It happened without him being involved, and the only actual contribution he ever made to it was just not revealing he was alive before Grayson #12, after Bruce like.....emotionally, mentally and physically badgered him into accepting that doing so would be directly harmful to his family and he didn’t want to be the reason more people died when like, people had just died because he ‘let’ himself be captured and interrogated by Power Woman’s Lasso of Submission, did he?

SORRY TO BE PEDANTIC, just wanted to start this off on a clarification, even though I know the aim of your ask was very much in tune with the rest of my response. A lot of people don’t read the actual comics, so like, I’m never gonna skip over an opportunity to emphasize that the shorthand people use to refer to Dick’s death and the year he was with Spyral, is like, literally just shorthand for describing it. Its not actually an accurate description of how all that went down and who had the most hand in it).

BUT ANYWAY. BACK TO THE MEAT OF THE BEEF.

Okay so like, not only was the entire family and Bruce himself giving Dick shit for his death and Spyral, like, PAINFULLY egregious because it was literal victim blaming in every possible sense of the word....

None of it made a LICK of sense with ANY of their characterizations, and they ONLY all accepted it on face value because the Plot Demanded It, and when you're like, no, as a reader I say The Plot Demanded It is not a good enough reason for me to be like well sure, that makes sense......looking at the characters ACTUAL actions at face value pretty much just makes them all look like assholes?

Like, Tim has never gracefully accepted anyone's death. Ever. This is core characterization for him. He will go to the ends of the earth for his loved ones and to bring them back, prove they're not dead, refuse to let death be the final verdict for them. He was tempted to use the Lazarus Pit to bring his parents back to life. He refused to accept Bruce was dead long before he had any proof whatsoever of that theory. He tried to clone his BFF/future-husband Kon in his fucking basement like, dude was two whole inches away from going Full Dark Side in his quest to bring back a lost loved one no matter WHAT the cost.....and then you've got Dick unmasked onscreen, killed offscreen, and Bruce then reporting to the rest of them with zero inflection 'oh Dick's dead now. Its very sad' and Tim's just like, sure. Sounds legit.

I mean?!?!

And you're SO RIGHT ABOUT THE DAMIAN THING! Bruce LITERALLY LITERALLY LITERALLY went BEYOND the ends of the Earth, like, he full on chartered a fucking space ship to fly his whole family out to APOKOLIPS to bring Damian back from the dead by going to EXTREME lengths.....WHILE everyone else thought Dick was dead....

And not a single person looked at Bruce and was like, okay, not that we're not down to do this for Damian because we miss Stabby Smurf something fierce ourselves, but.....what the fuck is UP with you dude? Why aren't you displaying ANY hint of this same kind of energy in regards to your eldest son that you said you watched die right in front of you?

Like....I don't know that we were actually ever told that Dick's coffin was empty or had a fake in it, but like....this family of detectives who refuse to accept death, defy death, COME BACK FROM THE DEAD....not a single one of them said like, okay, if I'm gonna like, ACCEPT accept that Dick is dead and gone for good, I need to at least just see him one last time? That's literally all it would have taken for someone to realize hey something's a little wonky here. Where's the dead body, Pops?

Since when has Jason ever missed an opportunity to prove Bruce is a) full of shit, b) acting like an emotionless robot and all his kids deserve better especially when they've just like....died, c) just factually incorrect and wrong and jumped to a conclusion before it was conclusively proved, d) lying like a liar or e) all of the above?

Nobody even ASKED if Dick's body could be put in a Lazarus Pit? Yeah, Jason wouldn't necessarily recommend it himself, given what it put him through, but actually fuck that, I take that back, because I'm NOT actually of the opinion that Jason full on hates his life and actively spends every second of every day wishing he hadn't been resurrected, even if it had come with a huge buffet of additional trauma and pain.

And that's kinda what's implied when people just take it for granted that he would never be on board with any scenario involving using a Lazarus Pit to bring Dick back, because it suggests that based even just on his own experiences and feelings, he honestly believes Dick would prefer being dead and not have ANY further opportunities to be with his loved ones, his friends, help save the damn world again at some future point.....that Jason, projecting based just off himself, legit feels Dick would rather be dead than have another shot at life even WITH the downsides of Lazarus Pit usage? Nope. Sorry, I don't buy it.

Speaking of not buying it.....you know what was missing from all those soliloquies the others monologued at Dick about how they felt and were hurt and just devastated by his death, to such a point they can't seem to muster a single shred of happiness that he's NOT dead still -

(seriously, Damian was the ONLY person in ALL THE LANDS OF EMOTION-HAVING who expressed ANY kind of positive reaction to having Dick back. We were so fucking cheated of like.....ANY opportunity to have the characters show just how much they valued him by just being fucking HAPPY he was alive, no matter what else was involved....and then most of fandom compounded that by for years being like mmmm, no, Dick didn't get yelled at enough by his family for what HE put THEM through. Needs more yelling. More punching too. Bad Dick. Bad. This is the only way you'll learn not to die and get shipped off on a mission that you don't want but at least is to protect your family after being beaten into it by your dad whilst victim blaming you for dying in the first place. WHEN WILL YOU LEARN TO THINK ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE AND THEIR FEELINGS FOR A CHANGE, DICK?!?)

- But like, BUT I DIGRESS aside....you know what was missing from all those monologues about how hard DICK'S death and ensuing year of basically exile from his loved ones was for EVERYONE BUT HIM?

We never got a single line of explanation as to what everyone else officially thinks even happened to him in the first place?

Like, did Bruce straight up just say oh bad news kids, your brother umm. Expired. Spontaneously. There's no one to blame, he just keeled over, its all very sad.

Is that how that went down?

You're telling me that the explanation of Dick's death didn't come with a single pointed finger at someone for this family of blame-happy vigilantes to like, BLAME for the loss of this brother they all mourned oh so much, they just couldn't help but blame him for all the hurt it caused them?

The family that in every other fic is like OBSESSED with avenging and being avenged and all things vengeful and even tangentially vengeance-y....like didn't ask for a single detail on whomst the fuck deprived us of our brother-having?

Where were the attempts on Luthor's life by Jason (who I mean, yeah I know it was in a previous continuity, but erasing that timeline doesn't erase my awareness of the time Dick killed Jason's murderer so like.....mmm, just saying, woulda been nice)....where was the rage directed at the Crime Syndicate and references to how seriously and personally the Batfam took making sure that they were PUNISHED for all this and would never be free to wreak havoc on their world or their family again? What did they tell Damian when he came back to life, and how are you going to tell me that this fraternal little ball of fury didn't aim himself like a cannonball at whomever the fuck had DARED take HIS Batman from him when Damian wasn't around to have his back?

Not only does everyone else's desire to be avenged start falling really flat the second you factor in hey maybe Dick feels "mmm what about MY avenging" sometimes, and why doesn't anyone ever care about doing that for him.....but also, y'know what REALLY sucks about the ONLY person we actually SEE being blamed for Dick's death and ensuing absence being like....Dick himself?

Not only were his family all super keen on making all of this HIS fault and HIM the bad guy because of how it made them all feeeeeeel (and meanwhile fuck his feelings, am I right Batfam hfaklshfklahfkla).....

They somehow found a way to justify prioritizing this OVER ever even getting around to blaming some villain for his death in the FIRST place, in the entire year or so they thought he was still dead!

Like, you couldn't come up with a single target in all that time, but Dick's back two seconds, and you don't even give him a chance to EXPLAIN before you're punching him, shutting him down with 'I expected better from you' and turning away with 'I don't want to hear it, why am I surprised Dick Grayson disappointed me again'?

afshklfhalfhalfhla

Make it make sense!

And like, it won't, cuz it doesn't, and it never will, and like I said at the top, the ONLY reason it all played out this way is because DC doesn't give a fuck about character development and deemed it necessary to go down this way for the sake of the plot (which was totes worth it, I mean, glad we sacrificed characters for this A+ plot which was clearly the greatest plot of all time and definitely justified every story choice made or not made around it loooool).

BUT.

BUT BUT BUT.

The problem isn't JUST that DC is stupid, even though that is an eternal mood and quite the problem.

Its that the SECOND large parts of fandom decided to play along with DC and just accept the story at face value, only add to it and play into it exactly as it happened in canon with no significant deviations, and like, heaping on the LITERAL abuse from Dick's siblings while ignoring the LITERAL abuse from his father....

THAT....is when all of this becomes relevant.

Because the second people decided TO engage with the reasoning DC gave for what Bruce did and how and what Dick did and how and just not mess with any of that and have it all play out exactly like that...

The second people are like, okay we're FINE with not just dismissing this story as OOC writing that doesn't make any sense, and actually VALIDATING it to various degrees by engaging with it as is....

That's when 'OOC writing' stops being an excuse or explanation for alllll of the above gaps in character logic and actions.

Because its like, when you had abundant chance to REJECT this story and say nope, this was bullshit from start to finish and I'm not here for it, when you were just as capable of transforming literally ANY aspect of this story you didn't like into something that made more sense to you....

And you chose not to.

That's.....accepting it as valid writing. You were like, okay, I'm game to just treat this as a thing that happened, just like they said that happened.

For the chance to give Dick shit for it, see. For the angst, see.

And that's when I'm like okay cool, so when engaging with this story as is and accepting it on face value and just delving into the characters as they were SHOWN interacting with and around these events......for the angst or whatever....

You guys just all decided en masse to just hop, skip and jump over allllllllll the opportunities for angst inherent in examining even ANY SINGLE ONE of the above lapses in judgment or hypocrisy on the parts of the characters (who don't get to be excused by OOC writing if you're not going to call the story an example of OOC writing, whoops).

And its just like, uh, what's up with that?

[the-bjd-community-confess]

I was an active faceup artist for years, took intl. commissions and all. I was forced to go on a hiatus due to moving for work and health reasons. I feel better now and my life is stable, and I still get a lot of requests to open up shop again, but I just...I just can't. Working on my own stuff, and having a day job that covers my living costs, made me realize how much I actually dread it towards the end. 

 It's just not worth it for how little a faceup artist earns in this hobby, and how much one has to do to even get that meager payment. Hours and hours of leaning over a tiny head, destroying my back/eyes/wrists in the process. On top of that I do Photoshop mockups, take a lot of WIP and final photos, have to discuss matters with the customer, handle shipping and customs. Materials are expensive, and sometimes difficult to get. Even when a commission goes smoothly it's still a lot of work for very little pay. And often it doesn't even go well! 

 No matter how hard I try to reduce any risks/issues, I still have customers who try their hardest to make the whole commission an absolute nightmare to deal with. Like thinking it's okay to change their mind in the middle of the commission, as if it's no big deal and I should just start over (for free, of course). Hounding me for updates several times a day, even though I had just received the head a day ago and am extremely open about my schedule (like only painting on weekends). Approving WIP shots, and later admitting they actually disliked something early on but deciding not to tell me. Arguing about my prices, as if I am not already crazily undervaluing my own work out of fear of being harassed. Wanting me to change my style completely, and then being pissed when my work looks like...well, my work. Not replying to messages for a long time, and then complaining about how long the commission takes. On a more heartbreaking note, showing absolutely no enjoyment or enthusiasm throughout the whole commission and leaving me doubting whether I made them happy and did a good job. Never confirming they actually received a package. 

 And what for in the end? 60, 70, maybe 100 bucks per head when the customer is nice and willing to pay so much? Health issues? My own doll projects waiting to be finally customized by me? In other doll communities customizers are treated so highly, just look for how much Blythe customs go and that weird cult-like fanbase some artists have. But BJD faceup artists are just seen as little painting robots. Good enough to help you get that perfect face for your doll, but not good enough to be paid a decent wage or be treated with some respect. A lot of people don't even think of what we do as art. And I am not interested in the drama if I would open up "artist choice, 300$ per faceup, I decide who gets the slot" commissions. The community is just not made for that. 

 Sure, I made good experiences too. It felt nice to help people own the doll of their dreams, or to make that character they wanted for their doll come alive. I had some great customers that were a joy to work with. Creative, patient, friendly customers. Commissions I felt helped me greatly to get better at my craft. Moments of warm fuzzy feelings when a customer received their doll and was just so happy about the face-up. Interesting dolls I was happy to see in real life, or ideas I just thought were great and wanted to execute. 

 But all this isn't enough to make me return. I dealt with this all for a very long time cause I needed all the extra funds I could get, but I just can't muster up the energy anymore. I feel bad for my nice customers who had hoped to commission me again, and all the new people who just found my work and are sad they can't commission me anymore. 

 Sorry guys, offering commissions just sucks.

~Anonymous

[snoopdoodle]

Could o requests some tony stark and male reader where the reader was a top worker at SI but then peter came around and now he isnt seen/recognized as much, and tony just walks in on male!reader crying? Hope You can do it, love your writing so far :p

SOBS I LOVE THIS- also I think I tried really hard on this, so :] i hope it was up to your standards, and please tell me if you enjoy !! this was my first Tony request, so I tried really hard :} also I went really angsty for this so-

----

Tell Him Later

SECOND PART - Part 2

platonic!Tony Stark x male!reader

pronouns: he/him

summary: life had been hard for you, but your escape is Stark Industries. What happens when your escape turned against you too?

WARNINGS: divorce, blood, panic attacks, scratching at skin

 “No!” You yelled as your project flew off to the other. Tony was cackling while holding his stomach. “O-Oh my go-o-o-od…” He dragged out between laughter. His hand slapped the table and there were tears in his eyes. He was breathing heavily, trying to catch his breath again and you looked over at him. “Tony! It isn’t funny! It’s gonna break!” You yelled back at him, although this was the wrong choice as he doubled over in laughter. The table was a mess and you were near tears of laughter from the situation and anger for your project not working. “O-Ok.. come on kid l.. Hehe… let’s get back to working on this… what is this?” He spoke, looking at the mangled robot. He thought it would make you laugh, but it sadly did the opposite. You frowned, your face leaning into your hands as you sighed. 

“Tony…” you spoke. You felt tired and upset. Lately things haven’t been going well at home, so the Industry was your only escape. You mother had been yelling at your dad more, for stupid things that he didn’t even do most of the time! The sun beamed down in the lab, signaling that your escape-hours were ending. “Sorry, Tony. I gotta go, Mom’s been wanting me home earlier.” You spoke, lying through your teeth. There was a hint of dread in your already tired sounding voice. ‘Why do things never go as planned for me..?’ You asked yourself in your head. You frowned as your nose felt warm. That was a signal that you would start crying soon. It always happened, and you didn’t know why. Maybe it was genetic.

Tony looked at you, his eyes softening. “Hey, kid… you know, you can talk to me whenever you want.” He spoke, patting your shoulder. You stifled a cry and nodded, your voice was weak with the feeling of tears welling up in your eyes. Tony pat your shoulder again. That was your que. You sped out of the lab room, backpack on your back and your headphones plugged into your phone. You turned on your Spotify playlist as you listened to the opening. Your tears fell at the song. Freaks by Surf Course. You smiled as the song played and as the tears fell down your face. ‘Maybe tomorrow,’ you thought to yourself, ‘maybe tomorrow I’ll tell Tony what’s been happening.. Maybe he can help me.’

It didn’t happen tomorrow. Or the Next day. Or the Next. Tony was gone. ‘Probably fighting... he’s an Avenger, after all. Just hope he stays safe.’ You would tell yourself. Tony came back, although it was after 2 weeks. He brought this kid with him. You thought nothing of it, probably a newbie, maybe he’s showing him around? ‘Weird, how’d he get accepted at this time?’ That question popped in your head so many times, it was almost like the plague. It was strange… eh, whatever. You’d tell Tony what was happening during your lab time today.

‘He didn’t show up…. He didn’t show up! What was happening? Maybe that new kid was asking him a bunch of questions. He'll be back tomorrow.’ 

.

.

.

Why do you get your hopes up?

.

.

.

.

2 weeks. It had been 2 weeks since he had turned up to your daily lab time. Your parents had gotten the divorce they needed, but you were still in shambles. The divorce was ugly too. Screaming from both sides, including some yelling from you. However, you were still turning up to work everyday as this would go down at home. Somehow you had remained at the top of the leaderboards in Stark Industries. The first place rank thing, that was the only keeping you motivated to work. You wanted to be like how Tony had described you, “the son he never had.”  But there was this one kid, Peter Parker. He had passed your name and made it to first place.

You cried when that happened. It wasn’t even something to cry over, you just bursted out in tears. At other times, this would motivate you, but without Tony’s words of encouragement and with what was happening in your life, it brought you down into a new low. You were full on sobbing, your head ached from the tears, your hands were numb from working. Your eyes hurt and you were  sure the whole building could hear your cries. “Why won’t you stop crying, Y/N?! You’re such a baby, mom was right!” you yelled at yourself, crying even more at the thought. Your hands tore at your hair and your breathing got heavier. It was to the point where your chest had hurt and your ears were ringing, but you continued to spew hateful words at yourself. You could barely hear Tony yelling for you.

Tony had been walking down the halls of Stark Industries. He saw that Peter had beat you, and was shocked and proud of him. He wanted to see how you were doing, because he knew that you could bounce back to be even better… or so he thought. When he heard crying, he thought you had hurt yourself, so he turned to the supply closet near the room that he had passed. He waltzed over to there speedily, hoping the injury wasn’t too bad. But when he heard “Why won’t you stop crying, Y/N?! You’re such a baby, mom was right!” come out of your mouth, he clutched onto the med kit and ran to your lab room. When he got there, he was shocked, frozen in place.

Your desk was a wreck and you were full on sobbing. You were tearing at your hair and you had blood coating your hands. ‘That’s… from his scalp..’ Tony realized, his eyes growing wider at the thought. He jogged over to you, noticing your breathing was getting heavier by the second. “JARVIS, What’s wrong with him?!” Tony demanded as he called out to you. “K-kid… hey, can you hear me?!” You looked up with a dead look in your eyes. He was scared for your health, your head was bleeding at an alarming rate from the way you had scratched at it. “It appears he’s suffering through a panic-attack right now, sir. From what is happening, it looks like he will need medical assessment for his scalp.” JARVIS spoke, informing that man who was trying to get your attention.

Tony looked at you, and then around. “W-well how do I help him?!” Tony stuttered back. He couldn’t handle his own anxiety attacks, how was he supposed to help someone through a panic attack?! “Try to get his breathing levels at a normal rate, sir. It could help tremendously.” JARVIS informed. ‘O-Ok..’ Tony tried, you were still scratching at your scalp, the blood was dripping from your hands onto the ground. Your breathing was still heavy. He grabbed your shoulders, and in the calmest voice he could, he started speaking. “Hey, kiddo, look at me. Look, follow my breathing.” You sort of followed, your breathing wasn’t steady in the slightest, and you could barely hear him, but you were trying.

He smiled at the attempt, but still made you follow it. 4 in, 6 hold, 5 out. It probably wasn’t the right breathing method, but it was working. It took 13 minutes for you to get your breathing steady. Tears were still flowing from your eyes, and blood had stained your hair. Tony held your shoulder and you started to feel the pain in your scalp increasing. “I-I’m sorry, Tony…” You spoke, hiccupping during your words. Tony turned over to you, shocked at what you had said. “What do you mean you’re sorry, Kid?” He asked, the worry in his eyes showing. “I was acting like a child, I should’ve been better…” At this point you were spewing all the nonsense out of your mouth that your brain could come up with. Tony was confused at your words and patted your shoulder, stopping your rant. 

“Kid, you don’t have to apologize for a panic-attack. You were, and probably are still hurting. Mentally and physically, which by the way, we should get you checked up.” He cut himself off, which made you laugh. “JARVIS-” He spoke, but the AI cut him off before he could speak. “I’ve already gotten medical help, sir. The wait will be 2-3 minutes.” Tony smiled, as you yawned. “Kid, don’t you dare fall asleep, cause I don’t want you dying on me.” Tony spoke, seriousness in his voice as he was keen on keeping you awake and alive. You lulled your head over, sleepily, but your head was hurting. “I want to rest…” You spoke, tired. “Nope, MEDIC!” He yelled as he plucked you from your spot in the ground, alerting the medic of where you two were.

 Yeah, you’d tell him later.

[jayeeintheclouds-inactive]

wake up, stop dreaming

(part 1 of empty thrones and heavy crowns)

Notes: angst, major character death, second archon war, adeptus reader, dying zhongli, dead xiao + other adepti, au where rex lapis still has his gnosis, geo reader, implied (very vague) past zhongchi, unedited i have a project due in 3 days and i have not started procrastination 101

Summary: When your beloved father dies, a part of you does too.

Baba: Father in Chinese

a/n: pls forgive me i can’t describe dead bodies or write angst properly. oh the woes of being illiterate 👍

Your father had graced the world of Teyvat with his presence for nearly ten thousand years, and you think that you should’ve seen this coming.

Screams and shouts of the people of Liyue fill the air continously, becoming a constant ringing in your ear. But that is not what you focus on right now.

“Rest,” You whisper with a sad but serene look on your face. In your arms lay Xiao, who has finally succumbed to the darkness he had battled for years. He is dying, and you know that. There is nothing you can do to help him.

“You’ve served Liyue for so long. Take your well-deserved break, Alatus.” Your voice trembles, yet you still put a smile on your face for him. He opens his eyes for the last time, and you watch helplessly as his amber eyes lose all light. There is an uncharacteristic smile on his face.

Slowly, you lift his body from your lap and lay it down on the ground, making sure to arrange his blood-stained hair in the most presentable way possible. Caressing his hair, you carefully slot a Qingxin flower between his broken fingers - two of the flower’s petals have fallen off, and the rest are crumpled and dried. You don’t care.

Just as Xiao’s body starts to disintegrate into blue particles, you place a chaste kiss on his forehead before his body completely disappears. You mutter a soft prayer for your fallen friend and fellow adeptus whose contributions to Liyue will never be forgotten.

You look around. Your heart feels empty, and even though you know why, you don’t wish to face the truth. Many of the adepti, like Ganyu and Mountain Climber have long ascended to Celestia. If you could turn a blind eye to the blood-stained mountaintops of Jueyun Karst, you would’ve almost fooled yourself into thinking that this was just another peaceful, tranquil day.

But then a chill runs down your spine, and that’s when you know something isn’t right. Instinctively, you teleport to your father.

That’s where you see your worst nightmare.

Rex Lapis, in all his pride and glory, is sprawled on the ground. His archon clothing is torn and bloodied; a huge gash is visible on his chest. What usually was neat and smooth brown hair was now tangled and spread on the floor, with burnt edges of his hair. Most importantly, his eyes are shut. They shouldn’t be.

“Baba!” You scream hysterically the moment you see his state, and rush over to him at once.

“No. No, no. No,” You mutter, your face drained of colour. Gently, you turn his body around with shaky hands. Rex Lapis in his human form groans softly, letting you know that there is still life in him, and you release a breath you didn’t know you had been holding.

But the hope doesn’t last long. Similar to what you saw when you were with Xiao, the light in your father’s eyes is fading.

He sees you, and he cracks a smile. Wincing, he raises his right hand to place it on your cheek. You hold it firmly.

“You... you shouldn’t see me like this...” He mutters weakly, still fighting to keep the smile on his face. You choke on your tears.

He continues. “How many years... have I been on this world?”

“Shut up. You aren’t dying,” You lie to him (and yourself).

He only chuckles, but coughs out blood right after. You try hard not to grimace or cry louder.

“I’ve finished all my duties...”

“No.”

“Both Celestia and I believe...”

“No.”

“...that is it time I step down...”

“No!”

He ignores your pleas. “Do you remember when you were a very young adeptus... you were too scared to... let my hand go...”

You squeeze his hand tighter against your cheek, staining it with your tears.

“I do remember. And I am still scared to let it go.”

Because I fear that if I let it go, you will be gone forever.

It’s like your father can read your thoughts. He takes your other hand that is gripping on his archon clothing tightly, and caresses your hand with it. You can feel how his fingers tremble ever so slightly, getting his blood on your hands. You pay no mind.

“...Your dad and I will be waiting for you.”

“No. You aren’t going. Not now.”

But you too think that it is finally his time to go. He has been on this world for so long - just how many years of suffering and grief has he endured? You don’t want to imagine. Both you and your father believe that he should be having his well deserved break in Celestia, but right now, you can’t help but selfishly wish for him to stay with you just a little longer.

His fingers start to lose grip, and you swallow a scream.

“I hate you, Baba.”

“...I know, and I’m sorry. I love you.”

“...Will you tell me what Celestia is like when you reach there? I want to hear your stories again.”

“...Of course.”

When he finally goes limp in your arms, a part of you dies.

It’s like you’re a robot. You can’t tell what expression you’re making right now. Is it grief? Is it denial? Is it frustration?

His cold dead body is still in your arms, and even though your brain is screaming at you, He’s dead, he’s dead! There’s no use! You are desperately searching for any sign at all that would provide you the littlest of hope.

But there is nothing. His body is cold, his limbs unmoving, and his heart dead silent.

You finally scream.

Refusing to let go of his body, you hug his corpse tightly to you. You can’t hear anything now. The screams and shouts of the citizens of Liyue sound like they know that their archon has fallen - but you can’t hear it.

A golden flower shaped like a glaze lily blooms from the ground, courtesy of your Geo powers. But even though you are the one who summoned it, you don’t seem to notice as its petals engulf the whole of you and your father. You are about to sleep for a few thousand years, until you can face the truth again; which is probably never.

So what if you are running away from reality? Your world is dead anyway.

a/n: holy shit this is a piece of trash lets hope the other chapters aren’t as bad. was the death scene too short? i’ll try to fix it when i have the time.

[pesterloglog]

Jake English, Jane Crocker

Act 6, page 4136

golgothasTerror [GT] began bothering gutsyGumshoe [GG] at 11:05

GT: Jane!

GT: Forgive my botherations. I know this is meant to be a spanking ripsnorter of a day for you and all.

GT: But do you happen to know where the devilfucking dickens mr strider might be?

GG: Oh, that's fine!

GG: I had been meaning to message you sooner actually, but I suppose in all the hubbub today, it plumb slipped my mind.

GG: Which is a shocking fact on its lonesome, considering what I have to tell you!

GT: Egad...

GT: *Loosens collar a bit.*

GG: As for this Strider business, hrmmm. He's an elusive guy Jake. You know that.

GG: I talked to him yesterday. That's as much help as I can be!

GT: Shoot.

GT: I really need to ask him something but hes got his blasted auto responder turned on.

GG: Hoo hoo.

GG: I love that thing. :B

GT: He wouldnt be pleased to hear you say that.

GG: What do you need with him?

GG: Does this have to do with your crazy pen pal project?

GT: It most certainly does and time is of the essence!

GT: Today is the day i have to finish it and send it. Not a day later!

GT: So you see why i am feeling really friggin discombobulated at the moment.

GG: Sorry, J. :(

GG: This would be the birthday present... for your grandmother?

GT: No!

GT: It is for your grandfather simply to be *relayed* to him by my grandmother. A joint gift to him from she and i.

GG: Her and me.

GT: What? Who and you now?

GG: "A joint gift from her and me." Grammar, Jake!

GT: Oh for frigs flipping sake jane this is no time for your prudish pedantry! Leave your bookish malarkey in a dusty old library somewhere. I have an adventure to get on with!

GG: So if I have this straight, the big thing hogging up your plate today is not this marvelous new game which I have invited you to play with me, but finishing a robotic rabbit to give to my dead poppop?

GT: Bingo. *double pistols and a wink*

GG: You are a very strange and silly boy.

GT: Please jane we have addressed this.

GT: I am sending the gift back in time to when they are both alive and about our age.

GT: Or...

GT: Something like that. Something funny is going on here that i have not fully grappled yet but dag nab it if im not gonna see it through.

GG: Well,

GG: Godspeed, then! I do hope you can pull it off.

GT: Are you being fresh with me now?

GG: No!!

GT: Look jane i know youve never believed me and you think everything i say is some big cockamamie goofoff but i think today of all days is when you should start taking some things more seriously.

GT: Especially since i have always had your back. I have always believed in you!

GG: Hey! I have believed in you too.

GG: However, believing somebody isn't the same thing as believing IN somebody.

GG: But that much said...

GG: I think that maybe I am getting ready to believe some of the wild stories I've heard?

GG: Or, if not believe outright, reserve judgment on, at least.

GT: Is that so!

GG: I don't know!

GG: I'm still not sure what to think. But what I wanted to tell you this morning was...

GG: I had a really wild dream last night.

GG: And you were in it.

GT: Oh my. *glasses fog up. fumbles for kerchief.*

GG: Sh! Not like that.

GG: It was so real! I think we were in the game, even though we haven't started playing yet.

GG: I don't know what to make of it. Whether it was a vision of the future, or somewhere that exists now, or if it was just a really lucid dream due to excitement.

GT: What was i doing there?

GG: Um...

GG: Not a heck of a lot!

GG: I really want to tell you all about it, but it will take some time to explain, and we both have things to attend to.

GG: You with your time traveling rabbitwork, and I, my vigilant window gazing!

GT: Too true.

GT: Let us reconvene later and sort out all this shit at a leisurely pace.

GG: Yes, ok, good luck Jake!

GT: Okay you too jane! Bye!

golgothasTerror [GT] ceased bothering gutsyGumshoe [GG]