#My rule on posting my kids is that they have to have a full colored picture

[juukai]

DCAtober day 6: Hue

moon/sun x reader, ~3k words, fluff

plz be kind I haven't posted my writing in years

The question was innocent enough and asked extremely casually. Somehow it still threw you off just enough to have you looking up from tying Jamie's shoes for her so that she could leave.

"Huh?"

"Your favorite color, star! Somehow we don't have that information yet. Which is weird, I could have sworn we would have asked as part of your first introduction day..." Sun tapped his chin and gave the impression that he wasn't quite looking at you, though without pupils it was hard to tell. He seemed to be muttering that last part to himself- or to the both of them in there- at any rate.

You shrugged and tightened the last of the bows for Jamie and sent her off to her waiting guardian. An early pick-up today, it hadn't even been nap time yet. You hoped that she was going to get to do something fun at home with her family.

"Well, I suppose if you ask again reeeally nicely this time, I'll let you in on the secret."

Sun huffed in obvious play outrage. "I asked you nicely the first time! My manners are impeccable!" You grinned at the lack of the plural there- it was no secret that Sun thought Moon was slacking on manners. The two of you watched each other for a few moments before his shoulders dropped and he gave you a simulated sigh.

Ha! Point to you.

He must have seen the smugness creeping in, because just as suddenly he had his hand clasped to his chest and another outstretched in your direction as he swept into a bow. Point lost, now he was going into full thespian mode.

It was really hard to not either push at him to get him to stop or to start laughing before he could even speak.

"Please, my dearest and most precious friend!" Oh, he was really leaning into it. He had a little accent going and everything. "We cannot continue like this. Will you not gift us with the knowledge of the hue held closest, the most cherished, in your heart?"

You were doing a terrible job of not laughing at him. Some of the children were giving the two of you strange looks, while a couple others were giggling at the theatrics.

"Oh my god, please stop."

His grin hadn't changed and yet somehow it looked so self-satisfied. If there weren't a bunch of kids around to set a good example for, you'd definitely be pushing him now. It was still very tempting anyways.

He rolled his wrist, reminding you that he was waiting for you to answer him. Between chuckles you finally gave him the response that he was waiting for and dipped lower in his bow before standing up straight with a flourish.

"You're so dramatic." You didn't give him a shove, but you did purposely bump into him once he was completely upright again. He let you and swayed with the motion to give you the effect that you were looking for, and probably also to soften your thunk against his hard frame a little for your benefit.

His rays spun merrily as he looked out over the daycare to get a beat on what the kids were all doing, then returned his attention to you. "Why thank you! We do try our best."

For a while the two of you just stood near one another, the both of you watching different zones to make sure that everyone was following the rules and playing nice. Sun didn't always seem to prefer when there wasn't a guided activity going, but naptime was coming up before too long and you knew Moon harped in their headspace that the kids needed a little wearing out before they were expected to sleep. There was only so much the moondrops could do to help them get to sleep, and the kids always settled for a story better if they were tuckered out.

"Why'd you want to know my favorite color, anyway?" you asked after a while.

"Hmm?" Sun perked up at your question, though he kept looking out across the room. "Oh, one of the little ones wanted to give you a star sticker earlier, for being such a good helper and since we usually call you star! But it seems like they might have forgotten now. I can still give you a sticker, though, if you'd like."

You laughed and waved one hand vaguely. "No, that's okay. Now you know for next time. I guess that got missed somewhere in our introductions." You looked at him and then thought about it for a moment. "... Y'know, I don't know yours either. What's your favorite color, Sunny?"

"Yellow!" He answered so quickly that you had to wonder if that was what he legitimately preferred or if it was a scripted like- sometimes the animatronics, for all that you forgot that they were programmed to be the way that they were sometimes and that they weren't just really weird looking people, couldn't escape a coded response.

"Uh huh. Not sure if I expected that or not." It seemed like too obvious an answer, since he was yellow. But then, it still would have been fitting, you supposed.

The two of you went your separate ways for a while a little later, Sun going to return to taking a hands-on approach to playtime when one of the kids came up and asked to go to the bathroom. It wasn't too long once you came back that it was time to start clearing the softer area of toys and foam shapes to drag out the nap mats and blankets, You helped to get them all set up with the children while Sun made his way to the light switch.

The music shifted to a version of the normal song that was much calmer and quieter, and lacked the goofy sound effects sprinkled in, as the lights dimmed. You stayed off to the side as Moon came back to the area and passed out little wrapped candies to everyone who sat nicely for story time. He gave you a rather impish little look as he made a big show of skipping over you with the distribution of the drops, which earned an echo of amused little giggles. You didn't really want one anyway but you still put one hand on your hip and wagged a chastising finger at him.

You collected all of the wrappers from the candies while Moon took a poll on what story everyone wanted to hear and then started to recite from his internal library. Sometimes he used physical books just so that he would have pictures to share with the kiddos, but today he recited it without one while the kids hunkered down. Most of them were asleep before the story ended and you watched from a good distance away as Moon checked on the remaining few stragglers to make sure that they didn't need anything, then he left their immediate area so as not to disturb them.

You knew that his sensors had picked up that they'd fallen asleep when he approached you. He only put so much distance between him and them when everyone was out and he wouldn't be needed for a while.

"Finished hovering?"

His chuckled softly. "Brat. Are you going to go take your break?"

You shrugged. "In a bit. Thought I'd keep you company first, I'm sure Sun won't mind if my break bleeds over into his time a little."

Moon's faceplate ticked to the side once, twice, and then a full spin in delight. "Oh, he minds. But Mr. Manners needs to learn to share." You laughed, though you were mindful of your volume. You'd gotten plenty of scolding in the past from the naptime attendant, who took his job of making sure sleep happened very seriously. It and security were about the only things he seemed to take seriously.

"You two bickering again? Over lil' ol' me?" You snickered. "You see me almost every day, I don't believe for a minute that either of you actually mind me going on break."

Without having pupils to make it visible, Moon was forced to roll his eyes with his whole head. "Of course we don't, we want you to take your breaks." You could see him pause to give his programming time to work through not needing to tell you to rest. It was a process, he had explained once, bypassing certain triggers to his protocols since adults weren't people that he was in charge of unless it was for security. "That doesn't mean," he continued, "that we like missing time with you."

You were not getting flustered by the robot. "Aw, shucks," you joked as a distraction. "You two are going to make me blush."

He made an amused sound before a comfortable silence settled between the two of you for a couple moments. He watched the children for some of that time, on the look out for any signs that someone was stirring, but luckily most naptimes went very smoothly and stayed dull. You made your way over to one of the craft tables after a while and Moon shadowed you all too quietly for a tall animatronic covered in bells.

You started to clear the table and get things organized again when you came across a sheet of stickers that reminded you of earlier. "Hey, Moon Man?"

"Yes, Starling," he answered in a sickly-sweet tone. You might have deserved that teasing, you know that he doesn't like 'Moon Man', you just used it anyway to annoy him.

"What's your favorite color?"

He hesitated, tilting his head at you before he looked down at the stickers in your hand. You saw the lightbulb in his brain go on. "I am obligated to tell you blue or purple."

You wrinkled your nose at that. "Okay, gross. They really don't let you guys pick your own favorites? Is Sun's actually yellow?"

He stared at you for a moment that felt like it stretched on a little too long. Was he trying to think of something to say? Was he talking to Sun? There couldn't have been something in his programming that kept him from talking bad about the rest of his programming, right?

You only noticed that he'd been slowly leaning in close to you when he stopped. "No."

"No..?"

He didn't move back at all. "No, it's not his favorite."

"Oh." The atmosphere between the two of you was starting to feel slightly heavy but at the same time you didn't move to put any extra space there. "What... are your actual favorite colors? Can you even answer that?" Hopefully they could.

It took some time for Moon to respond but this time you really did get the feeling that he was having some sort of communication with his counterpart. It was a loaded silence.

"Yours."

Huh? "Mine? What, you both like my favorite one?"

He shook his head slightly and the bell on the end of his nightcap jingled softly. "No." He seemed to hesitate and you let him have time to give you an actual answer, just like you'd let him have time to get around the knee-jerk reaction to tell you to nap. "Your color is our favorite."

You started to open your mouth to express your confusion about that, but stopped short when his cool, clawed fingers met your cheek with extremely gentle tenderness. "The color of your skin, your hair, your eyes." His hand cupped your face and tilted it a little further up towards his. "The colors of the clothes you wear aside from your uniform, the ones you pick the most often during crafts time, the one of your phone case."

You were pretty sure that your brain was short circuiting. Was he really saying these things, holding onto you like this? Sure, you and the both of them had gotten pretty close over the time that you'd been working inside the daycare, especially recently, but nothing like this. Was he joking? This wasn't the way that he had ever messed with you before, you had no reason to believe that he would be now, but him being serious made just about as little sense. Your lips parted like you were going to say something, though you had no idea what it could have been. Nothing actually came out.

"The color of your lips," he continued as if your floundering had drawn his attention there and you felt the pointed tip of his thumb just barely brush underneath your bottom lip, which made you squeak. "Your blush."

And now you could feel that you were blushing. Your cheek felt hot against the contrasting temperature of his hand.

"I..." You didn't actually know what to say. You stared up at him, still pole-axed, for a moment before his intensity came down by a few degrees. The way that he held you and looked at you was still achingly gentle, but the pressure of it lessened enough that you could feel some of your higher thought processes rebooting. "You... You both?"

His free hand came up to hold your other cheek and he used that to hold you still as he pressed the teeth of his faceplate against your forehead. "Both of us, I assure you, starlight." He stayed there for a moment before pulling back with a soft chuckle. "Did you not notice?"

You shook your head, dumbfounded and wide-eyed.

"Sun thought he was being so obvious. He's losing his mind that I was right and we just needed to be a little more... forward." He practically purred the word and you felt your face heat even further.

"Was he? Being obvious?" You didn't have any idea that this was coming. Were there signs that you had missed? You thought that he was just being friendly! That they were both just friendly! For as much as you found yourself forgetting that they weren't actually just sentient and independent beings also performing a job every day it had never once occurred to you that they could develop feelings like this. That felt like it was doing them a massive disservice now while Moon held you in place and stared at you.

Another chuckle. "A little, but obviously not enough." He backed a little more out of your space, and took in the look of surprise still on your face. A hesitation came over him then, though he didn't release you. "Is this okay? Am I making you uncomfortable?"

"No, no! It's okay!" You reached up and held onto his wrists over the ribbons and bells on each. "I just... can't believe..."

He snickered and you could see the way that his constant smile strained at the edges into something so mischievous and smug but with the hold that you had on him and him on you, you could also feel the way that he seemed to be nearly vibrating with energy. He didn't look it, he always outwardly seemed so much calmer and nonchalant than Sun, but you could feel the slight tremor against your skin and you could hear the muffled way that his internal cooling system was working hard to keep his temperature even.

"Then we have your permission to pursue this?"

The answer was out of your mouth before you even had a chance to think about it. "Yes. Both of you." It didn't strike you as something strange until after you'd said it. You had never really considered how logistics with one of the highly advanced animatronics would go, let alone with two separate AI. But this didn't seem strange to them, or at least to Moon. And Sun had never brought anything up before, though he had obviously spoken with Moon about it if there had been this supposed conversation about the tactic that they should take for their approach. He'd chastised Sun teasingly to you for needing to learn to share, but it seemed like there must have already been some sort of discussion about doing just that.

Moon's expression was downright devilish. "Good. In that case, would you mind staying a little late tonight? I think I might need some help once the daycare's closed..." He laughed at your spluttered response and leaned to press his mouth against your forehead one more time before letting you go with visible reluctance. "Don't worry, I'll put in a note to your manager for an overtime request. Now, naptime's over."

You felt very much like a mouse being cornered by a cat as he looked at you for another few seconds before he took a couple steps backwards. "Have fun with Sun, little star."

Oh. He was making his way to the light switch. "Wait-!"

He cackled at you before he lunged for the light and slapped the button.

You missed the change between the naptime and the daytime appearance as you blinked to adjust your eyes to the light. There was a moment where no one made a sound while Sun completely took over and the standard daycare music started back up. A couple of the children started to rouse but there'd still be a small window of peace until you went and got them up for lunchtime and whatever other activities Sun had on the docket for the day.

That quiet was shattered when Sun's eyes landed on you just before he started marching your way. "Moon got to kiss you first?!"

Oh, so that was what he'd been doing to your forehead? "Oh boy," you breathed as seven feet of excited and agitated robot burst your personal bubble.

[thousand-winters]

Something I love about TOH is how it lets adults be wrong and make mistakes and be whole messes that do not have their shit together because... yeah, that's just life. Adults aren't so put together as one believes when they're a child, and of course they can act rashly and fuck up because of their emotions and generally experience the entire spectrum of human emotion.

It would be lovely if the fandom would be less racist about it tho.

It keeps driving me mad to think about because with characters of color, one mistake is taken and generalized as their entire behavior despite having proof that it was a one time thing, a extreme born out of emotion or after many things have happened, while for white characters it's well understood it was a one time instance.

Nobody took Eda's "I'm going to break every bone of your body" toward King (who, mind you, is like 8yo and the kid she raised since he was a baby) seriously, nor said "Eda totally threatens King with bodily harm every time she's angry". It wasn't a serious threat, King wasn't bothered by her because he knew that, and the world kept spinning, nobody made a bigger deal of that than it had to be, despite the fact that it's objectively a horrible thing to say to your kid.

Nobody said either "every time Eda is feeling unneeded, she avoids talking to her kids and ignores them for days and then attempts murder-suicide on the name of good", although the avoidance aspect of it at least IS more in tune with her general lack of coping mechanisms.

Now, Camila making Luz go to camp? Suddenly she was the devil and evil, and Eda should take full custody of Luz, despite the fact Camila was shown as gentle and loving since moment one, and your kid endangering other kids by bringing live snakes and fireworks to school is objectively something alarming that can't be swept under the rug. There was no point at which Camila was depicted as anything but loving and concerned, even during Grom, Luz's fear was about hurting Camila rather than Camila hurting her and yet people insisted she was abusive until Thanks to Them.

Even after Yesterday's Lie. I mean, Luz is 14. I don't know about you, but if I had a kid known for being a bit careless and reckless and act first before thinking, I would be worried sick knowing she's in a land where half the things alive try to eat you and it's also ruled by a genocidal emperor. Hell, even if my kid wasn't reckless, I would be clawing at the walls about it. Camila wasn't being evil for wanting Luz to stay by her side, especially since they only had each other.

Then, of course, there's Darius.

I'm so sick of people being condescending to people who like Dadrius, even in art posts, all like "guys, but don't forget Darius was shitty to Hunter for years", because it's exactly what I'm talking about of taking one event and extrapolating it toward his entire behavior despite the fact the information we have been provided indicates that was a one time thing. Not only we have the Palisman Logs that confirm Darius usually didn't pay attention to Hunter, which, mind you, isn't a crime because he had no responsibility over Hunter and everyone thought Hunter was being treated well by Belos, but we also have the hint of Darius reacting so viciously because of Hunter sewing the Golden Guard's sigil on his cloak and reminding him of his mentor, which is not something that happened every thursday.

I know everyone understands actions born out of emotion in adults, no matter how wrong they are, because of Eda and even some of the other adults who objectively speaking did way worse in the matter of mistakes toward their children, like Gwen or Alador. Yet, people keep refusing to believe that Darius only did that once but nobody ever says "yes, here are the examples and clues that he was this way for years" (because they do not exist) and just keep repeating that he did or that he has the vibes of someone who did (bestie, that's just racism).

It's so strange because Hunter is not stupid. He knew to be on guard of Kikimora and Kikimora was always shitty to him. He can take a clue, he's not a baby. He refused to accept the help of the Owl Fam and the Hexsquad for a good while because they were "the enemy" and in his head he had the idea that he shouldn't trust them even if he wanted to. Hunter's behavior is affected deeply by Belos' abuse, but he wasn't reacting to everyone in the way he did to Belos, excusing their behavior and generally letting them all walk all over him.

If Darius really had picked on him for years, he wouldn't have been so quick to trust him after Any Sport in a Storm, and we got a bunch of little mentions and hints that point to how their bond started to grow behind curtains, which would be really weird if Darius had always been an overly hostile presence in Hunter's life before. Can you imagine him being all chill with Kikimora if she had hypothetically went "oh, well, I guess I was wrong for trying to murder you"? Hell no.

Even Perry and the Parks didn't got spared from this.

Of course their reactions to their kids getting expelled could have been more graceful, but they were evidently not thinking super clearly at the moment and every other moment we've seen them with their kids, they have been loving and supportive. Hell, even in that same episode we saw how the Parks were, if anything, more concerned about Willow's education to the point they were willing to change their whole life to be able to stay to homeschool her.

Adults make mistakes. People make mistakes.

Stop acting like people of color can't make mistakes without being the epitome of evil.

[the-s1lly-corner]

*explodes into your request box*

HEY HEY HEY, im back.

Came to ask an platonic Child!reader with the rest of the gang.

BUT HEAR ME OUT

Child reader is like an wolf in sheep's clothing, like reader has an cute expression on their face but when someone tries to touch them, they'll go like: "touch me and ill rip your hand off" in a full innocent voice and that cute smile.

And child reader has shark teeth.

Tyy!

*explodes*

- 🦭

The cast x child!reader (platonic)

throwing this together after waking up from a really nice nap! i still have the kinger request to work on but my brains still stumped.. sobs.. requests are still open by the way! you can find the link to my rules in my previous post, or you can look in my pinned! :O apologies if some sections for the characters are a little short, my brains still a lil okfvokffvovf from waking up TToTT

CAINE:

a child? in the circus?

he doesnt quite know how to make of it, i mean... its not like he has to make any accommodations, the circus is a place for all ages afterall!

i give you this new concept: dad caine

lightly scolds you when you threaten someone, bad manners!

i think he would be like a stereotypical eccentric dad

in house adventures seem to tone down just a touch so theyre not too intense or dangerous for you, keeps an eye on you to make sure you dont get stuck anywhere or flung across the room

rip bubble, you probably pop them when theyre within a foot of you

pinches your cheek only to have his hand comically chomped off ("now now (reader)! what did i tell you about biting! time out!)

POMNI:

similar confusion that caine has, but like, more so

how did a kid even get their hands on one of the headsets??

honestly i think pomni might be the type to be uncomfortable around kids; she doesnt hate them she just doesnt know what to do with them

also kids can possess a different kind of cruelness when they really put their minds to it and shes already in a mentally precarious position as it is

she doesnt avoid you though!

was bitten a grand total of one times, she made the mistake of trying to take you somewhere during an IHA and she didnt make you aware that she was going to put her hand on your shoulder

JAX:

okay you cant swear in the circus, but i feel like jax has some very creative ways to work around that, making these new colorful euphemisms that dont skip out on the crudeness. he teaches you some of his favorites just to watch the world burn

lightning fast reflexes, should you try to bite or hit him; not that hes going to try to put his hands on you

actually

i can see him picking you up via scooping his hands under your arms, or literally just holding you up by the scruff of your next

congrats theres now the image of jax holding a flailing sheep child in our heads. his shins will be kicked in the second you get put down

thinks its funny when people have to do double takes when you let out a threat or say something dark

RAGATHA:

i think she would be a cool babysitter, or big sister figure to you

similar to caine she will lightly scold you when you're being 'rude'

doesnt try to figure out why you dont like being touched, also respects it. respects your space as well, she doesnt totally baby you

she is a little sad that a kid so young got stuck in the digital world, though

even if you could remember things, i dont think she would ask out of fear of possibly upsetting you

likes making you little things (small pillows, plushes, ect) since i can see her being into sewing.. might be because shes a doll, though

KINGER:

i said it once and ill say it again, kinger is dad. like i already hc he had kids before getting stuck in the digital world, but i also like to hc that he and gangle have a dad/kid relationship, at least when kinger was less... paranoid

like he still has the capacity to be a father figure to you, but i think with you being a little... ermrmfl.. he might be a little put off

tells you stories about "being a king" (ie embellishing the one time he was put in charge during an IHA ages ago) and tells you about some previous in house adventures

youre so short he genuinely doesnt see you approaching sometimes so he either gets jumpscared by you or literally trips over you on accident

is so so apologetic once he gets over the initial shock of suddenly meeting the floor

really if you follow this guy around and show interest in his interests hes gonna adopt you

he knows your threats arent empty, even if they arent hes not going to try to find out

ZOOBLE:

zooble seems like the type of person to find some vague amusement in kids swearing or saying out of pocket stuff, i cant explain why

cant teach you swear words thanks to the censoring of the digital world but hey... they can still spell it out...

honestly i hc that zooble themselves doesnt like being touched so hey you dont have to worry about that, they personally get it

cool older sibling energy. while ragatha gives off sweet n caring older sister, zooble gives off the energy of a cool older sibling who like. idfk skateboards or something

zooble skateboarding real

not much else to say here

GANGLE:

similar to pomnis but this is more so because gangle is intimidated by other people thanks to her shyness!

i think gangle would be in the same boat as you and zooble, in terms of touching, but in gangles case its because shes made of ribbon and thus can be pushed around very easily

would cry on the off chance you snap at her :(

she lets you into her room sometimes to let you draw with her! kids like drawing right?

thats her reasoning, at least

i mean hey, it gives you something to do and gives you a break from all the chaos

actually pretty okay when her comedy mask isnt broken, actually makes an attempt to properly get to know you and crack a few jokes

[justaturtleindisguise]

It's been almost a year but-

THIS ARTIST IS WORKING ON HIS TMNT AU AGAIN AND HAS CONCEPTS TO SHOW !!

Hello people, I know it's been a century but sadly having a full time job as a high schooler makes one burn out asf !!! Happily for me, and for the like 2 people who still remember my sillies, my poor little beaten up brain started thinking about my silly turtles again !!

SOME MUTANT KIDS !!!

Raphael for size comparison <3

Slash's design was alread finished in my last post, and honestly he's my favorite. I love his colors n the general vibe he gives and I think I peaked. He's a aligator snapper turtle, and was previously an animal.

Mona and Wade were a little harder for me, the colors still looking a little wrong in my eyes, so I'll maybe try new ones when I can !! But they will be suficient for now-

Mona Lisa is a marine iguana, and was previously human.

Wade is a green sea-turtle and was previously an animal.

Also have an extra doodle of the world's biggest emotionally unavailable teenager asshole /aff

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOW SOME HUMANS !!! FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THIS AU-

Our dearly April O'neil and one of the Caseys <3

Still clothe-less for anatomy reasons (and cuz i suck at designing clothes-)

April is 17 and Casey is 14 !!

My AU will have two Caseys for reasons of-

I love sapphic Capril to death, but I love Casey from 2012 and Junior too much to let them go, so why not have TWO CASEYS??? It's my silly au, I make the rules !!

For humans, besides April n the Two Caseys, I have Sunita, Timothy, Karai, Shinigami and Irma with designs swimming in my silly ol' mind.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: I do want to use my entire brain in the au now, but I have to be realistic.

The full time job and end of high school really do make me too mentaly and physically tired to work on it as much as i want.

I'll be working on everything at my own pace, will probably be able to do updates on my silly arts twice or so per month, if I manage to wrestle my want to sleep the whole weekend-

I think that's all !!!

I'll try my best to not abandon my turtles and their world for so long again,, <333333

Now I shall sleep, cuz it's almost 1 AM and i have school in the morning ooops-

[ilovechuuy4]

My Baby Here on Earth, Showed Me What My Heart Was Worth. So, when it Comes to be My Turn Could You Shine it Down Here for Her? ✧.*

Girl Dad!Boothill

Warnings; none!!

A\N; the number of times i see that boothill was canonically a girl dad w/ an adoptive daughter breaks my heart. Cause he didn't even get to watch her grow up it makes me cry so hard every damn time. (Boothill watched his daughter’s life be taken in front of his own eyes when his planet was nuked. She had just started to walk he didn't even have the time to make a gravestone cause of the IPC demolishing the entire planet 🙁) BUT ANYWAYS ENJOY THIS UNTIL I POST REQUESTS. (D/N is daughters name)

Headcanonsˏˋ°•*⁀➷

• He adores his daughter; he's doing anything and everything she wants even if it means he's dressed in a princess outfit.

• Boothill always, I mean always reads his daughter a bedtime story before she falls asleep and sometimes, he falls asleep with her.

• Despite Boothill being a 'robot' or having mechanical body parts, his daughter still loves to take marker and stickers to the metal and draw doodles / put stickers on him.

• Daddy daughter dates / dances are Boothill's entire thing. He's not going to miss the chance to go to his kid's school for a fun dance. He also takes his daughter on multiple fun 'dates' and outings

• 'Competitive' game nights with each other. Playing player against player games with his daughter and purposely loosing so she can be happy.

• Boothill isn't a strict father, but he does have his rules such; as no sugar before dinner (obviously), schoolwork before screen time, no cursing until a specific age etc.

• When his daughter was getting her ears pierced, she got scared so he got his pierced with her, so she wasn't as scared and now they wear matching earrings.

Scenarioೃ⁀➷

There Boothill sat, in the couch that rest dead center of the living room. His little girl sitting on one of his legs, his right arm draped over her as she drew on his metal arm with paint pens. Small doodles with fun colors, the paint pens were scattered on a little tray that always lays in the man's lap along with multiple sticker sheets. There was a soft smile on his face as he watched her color in her doodles. Her tongue stuck out from between her teeth as she focused on staying inside the lines.

He chuckles softly, adjusting his position for something more comfortable for the two of them. "You're not hungry yet, munchkin?" He asked, his southern accent overlapping his words as he glances down at his rainbow-colored arm and then at her. "Not really papa. But goldfish do sound good." She murmurs, not taking her eyes off her drawing.

He smiles, his hand rubbing her back gently. "Alright then, let's go get you some goldfish, baby doll." He said, gently removing the tray of stickers and markers before standing up, her in his arms. He struts over to the kitchen, placing D/N onto the counter as he gets out a bowl to pour the goldfish in. He opens the cabinet where there was the Holy Trinity of all sorts of Goldfish.

There was the rainbow colored ones that were supposed to be all the same taste, but his daughter insisted they tasted different. Pizza goldfish, cupcake goldfish, double chedder goldfish, s'mores goldfish and more. It was like the entire cabinet was full of them but it really wasn't, he just knew that his little girl liked them so much. "Which type do you want?" He asked her, he watched as she pondered her answer.

"The rainbow goldfish!" She said with a bright smile, watching as her dad grabs a the bag of goldfish and poured her some. "Eat up, munchkin." He said, placing the bowl beside her on the counter. She smiled as she starts eating them, she glances at her papa with a bright smile, her mouth slightly full of goldfish. "I love you, papa!" She said all giggly. "I love you too, sweetheart." Boothill says with a soft smile, gently kissing her forehead.

[respectthepetty]

Pit Babe Colors Ep. 10

I'm challenging myself with this show and seeing how good my color skills really are, so I'm doing my normal thing of watching it double-speed on mute, but now, the captions are off also. It's just colors and vibes here. Also, people stay spoiling this show for me in their reblog tags on my posts, so I know Charles and Jeffrey made a dumb plan but I have no idea what it includes beyond Jeffrey going to Big Red's.

Hand over heart, I think Sonic is really pretty, which is why I haven't fully thought he is a baddie, but I need a reason for him refusing to wear blue! North gets it together every now and then, but Sonic? Boy, quit relying on that face and follow the damn color assignment!

I'm missing something but I thought Charles and Barbara were fine yet here they are fighting, but Charles spidey sense is tingling, so something bad is gonna happen or will he have sex with Barbara like they did last week? And now the glasses are off! They better not have sex on this track.

Barbara is racing?! Dean was racing last week! Was Dean informed of this plot twist? Did Barbara get healed having sex with Charles last week?

You can take the red off the boy but you can't take the red out of the boy. You are acting so sus, Jeffrey! You had a full conversation with Charles and now you are just lurking in the background. Someone spoiled that he and Charles made a plan, but if the plan is murder, he is already failing at not being suspicious.

Another hand-over-heart moment, I have no effin' idea what happened on that race track because there was so many blues then a car went off the track, and I had no real idea who it was, but I do know JEFFREY HAS SOME EXPLAINING TO DO with his suspicious ass!

Big Red lives in the same place he has his cult meetings to show off his superpowered kids? Isn't there a rule of not having cult meetings where you spray your EIGHTY MILLION BONSAI TREES! That seems dumb and contradictory, but I'm not a mega villain so what do I know?

Red is usually an emergency room color, but the red yelling at me as Barbie feels all the bad things that happen in an emergency room is a lot. Charles isn't dead because color-coded boys in love get happy endings, but Barbie is probably feeling everything right now and it probably sucks.

"Don't be suspicious. Don't be suspicious." Jeffrey, you need to make out with Alan quickly to prove you're gay, because you canNOT do crimes, and are about to be in Kentana territory again. Whatever you and Charles planned, it was dumb and Barbie is now crying.

KENTANA! Are you in on this too?!

*Record scratch* Jeffrey went back to Big Red's with the dumb plan he and Charles cooked up involving Charles dying, yes? Yes! Kentana, as Big Red's whatever-he-is, knows of the plan, SO WHY IS HE BEING BEAT UP?! Kentana, break Kimberly out and run away to the beach together. Big Red doesn't even wear red! HE SUCKS! Leave!

Stuck between the blue and the red, I see. A choice has gotta be made, Kentucky Fried Chicken. Wings or Thighs? Legs are not an option. Legs are reserved for the elite squad of Peter, Alan, and Kimberly. You don't get legs! (WHERE IS KIMBERLY?!)

Barbie woke up in black. He has no man, but he has his powers, so either he is about to enter his rich widow era or he is going to go Kill Bill on these bitches.

Horrible take. Awful take. The WORST take, but . . . if Waymond didn't decide to be bad, he would have been the perfect person to comfort Babe and ease Barbie's pain, pero . . . he had to be a little bitch instead.

Oh, NOW you wanna follow the color assignment, Sonic. NOW?!

Well, Jeffrey picked up your mantle with his not-all-black outfit and bright ass white-wrapped flowers. This isn't a wedding, Jeffrey! IT'S A FUNERAL! Jeffrey, a note from The Sign's Dr. Chalothon - FAKE IT! Sir, that empty grave is supposed to be your roommate and partner-in-dumb-crime, yet I haven't seen one single tear from someone who just lost their buddy. You're more sus than the entire cast of Dead Friend Forever. How does Barbara not suspect your ass with his spidey senses?!

Damn you, Saltburn!

KIMBERLY! AND HE'S IN BLUE! *sliding down the wall and sobbing on the floor* MY BABY HAS RETURNED!

Wait! Pause! *squints* Why did Jeffrey bring Kim? And why to Alan's house? What in the Chuck E. Cheese is happening?!

Alan, Jeffrey's roommate is quote-unquote "dead" yet you are living your best life. Can you try to be sad too or are you in on this plan and this is why Kimberly is now looking beautiful on your couch?

The blue is between y'all, but just like Charles and Barbara having sex on every surface when Kimberly was being held hostage, do y'all have no shame? Making heart eyes at each other immediately after burying an empty coffin that was supposed to be Charles. Shame! At least pretend that Charles is dead! Or fill Barbie in on this dumb plan.

Vegas' Hedgehog, you pretty bitch. I hate you.

Barbie is watching the crash, and Jeffrey and Alan are playing footsie over Charles' quote-unquote "grave." But I already know I'm more upset for Barbie than he will be for himself because he'll forgive everyone for this bullshit lie in less than two minutes.

Does Barbara think Waymond killed Charles?! He might be shitty, but he is backed by the blue. He ain't guilty! Go speak to your boyfriend's roommate and his new boyfriend, Barbie!

Oh shit! I wasn't expecting you to actually go talk to them! Hold up! Is that blue on Jeffrey?! Does he actually not have anything to do with Charlie's quote-unquote "death"?

SONIC IS WEARING BLUE IN THE BACKGROUND!

Like I know shit is going down right now because Decanus sabotaged ANOTHER car *Pikachu face* but I don't think he is in on the dumb plan to "kill" Charles so . . . Kimberly wore blue this episode and Sonic is wearing blue (even though I think there is a shimmer of red there), and I'm crying in the club because this is all I wanted, and sorry to all of y'all, but the show could end right here, and I'd be happy.

Oh no. My man is crying. I am no longer happy. I am in pain. Why is he crying so hard? Was Dean his best friend? His brother? This feels personal. Jeffrey, come give our man a hug! Right now! RIGHT FUCKING NOW, JEFFREY!

Seeing Alan cry hurt way worse than anything else that happened. Charles isn't dead, so I'm just upset that Barbie has to cry and more upset that Barbara is going to be cool with whatever dumb plan Charles made without telling him, but Alan's tears were unexpected.

However, Sonic is back on his bullshit next week, so I can't stay in my feels too long.

And I get to see Peter while someone fully commits to the blue.

Oh, and we get to see the dumb-plan-that-made-Barbie-cry in more detail. *Arthur fist* Be upset at Charles for just one episode, Barbara. Just one damn episode, please. He didn't try to assault you like Waymond, but Charles has played with your emotions several times, and I just need you to knock 👏🏾 his 👏🏾 ass 👏🏾 out 👏🏾 too 👏🏾.

[rafesbbyy]

IMPORTANT NOTE!! ⚠

Tw- Mention of genocide, dead bodies etc

This is a difficult post to make, an important one for sure, but one that I'm hesitant to post. I'm grateful for every little interaction i get with my posts and fics, but it's time I set some rules considering everything that's been happening.

First, If you're pro-Israeli miliary/government, a Zionist or literally anyone hiding behind the excuse of 'antisemitism' to excuse, justify and even celebrate the genocide of Palestinian people, I want you to get the fuck off my blog.

Seriously, stop following me and stop interacting with me. I can't believe more fic authors aren't doing this, but I have to be true to my values and put this out there because I fucking cannot take the amount of horrifying shit takes I've seen on the Palestine genocide. I have no interest in followers who support the murder and ethnic cleansing of any nation/people/race. So many fic authors that I've admired have disappointed me so much with either their silence or with their support of the terrorist government of Israel.

The past few months have been shocking, horrifying and hard to swallow and I can only imagine it's far far more difficult for Palestinians who are being bombed one after another. I've come across videos of babies being blown apart, of Israeli soldiers beating and shooting fucking kids, of men and women being stuck under rubble knowing help is not on the way because Israel is not only bombing but cutting off water, food and electricity. All violations of human rights. But in these difficult times, there have also been writers who're showing their support despite the death threats they're getting and to all of them I just wanna say please don't stop showing support, don't stop spreading awareness and don't stop boycotting. So many creators that I didn't know of, I know of now because they alone stood out with their support for Palestinians.

All I want to put out there right now is to please support your fellow writers who are loud and proud about Palestine. And, to stop interacting with creators who have no problem excusing and celebrating the genocide of Palestine. Stop following me if you disagree with me, if you're a Zionist pls. Block me go ahead, I don't want your bloody conscience. I'm shaking with anger, with fear but I'm also hopeful because never has our future looked so bright and full of support. My blog will always, always be a safe space, especially for people of color. Thankyou.

[s4ndg3m]

COMMISSIONS! FROM ME! YAY!

Status: Open!

okay, gonna start this with.. i have no idea how to make a comms info post. i was going to try and make a carrd but it's... a lot! so, under the cut, i'll have some examples and prices and some info on what to expect! (LONG POST) (YE BE WARNED)

Rules! (and some general info)

because we need that

Don't haggle with me. I'm not selling you old furniture, you're paying me for my time and effort.

For smaller commissions, I require pay up-front

Larger commissions (over $30) can be paid half up-front, and half later. For both ours' insurance!

I can do cashapp, zelle, or paypal.

Time taken on each piece will vary, of course, and I can give you an estimate when we hash out details. I can provide updates as well! Don't be afraid to check in whenever! I won't feel rushed or hassled if you just want to know how progress is :)

If you have literally ANY questions. ANY OF THEM. at all. just message me. Even if you're not sure if you want to commission, or don't intend to at the moment. Have a curiosity? My dms are open, friend. And my ask box too, if you'd rather. I'm so open to questions it's unbelievable. I am almost begging you to ask... If you have something to ask.

YAY / NAY / MAY(or, what i will and won't do)

YAY!

Furries

Humans

Roblox avatars/characters

Fandom

Oc

Light/medium mech

Ships (including selfship)

Suggestive

(Artistic) nudity

Multiple characters

Whatever's not on my "no" list! Please please just message me and ask if you're unsure. Even if you're not sure about commissioning and just want to see if it would be possible! I won't bite, I promise. :)

NAY!

Nsfw

Fetish (even if not explicit)

Heavy mech

Heavy gore

Anything proship/comship/whatever the hell they're calling it. NO KID DIDDLING! OR INCEST!

Anything vivziepop related. I don't like her or anything that she makes.

Celebrities (actors in a role, sure, but just the guy? the plain dude? just some guy on our earth who works a job? a real person with a life? no.)

MAY! (or, things I'm on the fence abt)

Horror

Minor gore

Large scenes (not my strongest skillset)

Whatever! I'm okay with stepping outside of my artistic comfort zone, so long as you're okay with the result varying in quality (and possibly taking longer, depending on what you ask for) Again, and I CANNOT say this enough, JUST ASK ME!!

WHAT I HAVE TO OFFER!

Okay, so, as shown here, for a standard commission i'll have 3 sizes, along with 4 stages of completion.

The stages are sketch, line art, flat colors, and render (shading/lighting)! sketch is the cheapest, and render is the most expensive. I'll list some prices for each size below :3

Head

Sketch - $5

Line art - $7

Colors - $10

Render - $15

Half

Sketch - $10

Line art - $15

Colors - $20

Render - $25

Full body

Sketch - $20

Line art - $25

Colors - $30

Render - $50

Add-ons!

Background (any commission automatically comes with a simple one, free, to be pictured in examples) - $15

Extra character - $7-$20 depending on what you're getting! just ask

COMPLEX object (like a weapon) (simpler ones r free) - $5-$10 (again, depending. just ask)

Anything that would take me more time and effort than usual, really. Time and effort is what you're paying for! I try to keep most of these pretty cheap, cus you're already paying for the drawing itself lol. Just ask if you're unsure.

Other kinds of stuff I'll do!

Icons! (or emojis, they're very similar)

These are basically just the head w/ colors, so $10 If you want an emoji set (or icon set, i guess?) it'll be +$5 for each additional one!

Reference sheets!

These are fun to make! They'll include 2/3 full-body shots of your character (front, side, and/or back), 1 head shot, flat colors, and some spaces for info! You can add in the info yourself, or have me add it in for you (no additional cost). They'll run you around $50 (however, you can add/take away stuff to change the price.)

Character page!

I will just. draw the character a bunch of times. $30 base price (sketch quality) can go up to $70 if you want them VERY spruced up (full render)

FINALLY. What we've all been waiting for... Examples!

These are fullbodies! (with their categories and prices in alt) (First is a commission of one of my friends ocs, last one is moff, @/sneablebeable 's character!)

these are rendered pieces w/ backgrounds! (though pokémon like these, I would consider chibi, making them a slightly lesser price.)

Reference sheets! Highly customizable, these are 2 I did for art fight a lil while ago :)

sketches! (with complex background, with extra character) For these, I can include basic values to help with composition, but usually done just cus i feel like it. (no extra charge if I do).

Half body (in the style of a valentines card)

Icons!

Thanks for considering me! or... just checking this out! reading this far! whatever!

[wielderofmysteries]

(We Need to Talk About Narset)

[Left: Narset, Enlightened Master - Livia Prima. Right, clockwise from top left: Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory, Dr. Shaun Murphy from The Good Doctor, Sam Gardner from Atypical, Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds.]

(This is a re-upload of the original article since there were some formatting issues with the original. You can still read it at this link, but the pictures aren't full resolution.)

This is article is intended to be a primer for my larger upcoming article on autistic representation in Magic.

I found out about Narset in 2018, when I had just started learning about Magic’s lore for the first time. I was overjoyed to see that Magic’s first official autistic character seemed to be the complete opposite of the stereotypical depictions of autism I’d seen in other media. Instead of a nerdy brown-haired white boy, Narset was a 50 year old Asian woman and a badass martial artist. As an Asian autistic kid, I often felt invisible and underrepresented in the media I consumed, so Narset really meant a lot to me.

However, when I actually read Narset’s lore, I was disappointed to find that she wasn’t nearly as revolutionary as I’d thought.

When the Dragons of Tarkir stories were being published in 2015, Doug Beyer, a writer and designer for Magic, confirmed in a Tumblr post that Narset was intentionally created to be an autistic character.

=========

maudlingoblin asked:

hi doug!! reading the new uncharted realms, i felt an enormous amount of sympathy for narset, specifically with reference to the beginning sequence with her as a kid. the restlessness, the sensory overload, the self-distraction with counting and observation - these, to me, heavily code narset as being autistic. i am autistic myself and it would mean the absolute world to me to know that a character in a game i care deeply about is like me, and many other folks. is this something you can confirm?

dougbeyermtg answered:

That was the intent, yes. The most important part of Narset’s character is her amazing mind, which is central to her potential as a powerful Planeswalker and as a pursuer of knowledge — but it happens that she processes information and input differently than a lot of other people. Tarkir denizens might not have a term for the autism spectrum or being neurodivergent or neuro-atypical, but those terms would correctly describe her. In this timeline she is not khan of the Jeskai, but no matter the circumstances, she hasn’t let go of her commitment to seeking her own path to wisdom and truth. Kudos to Creative Team member Kimberly Kreines for exploring this aspect of Narset in her story “The Great Teacher’s Student.”

[https://dougbeyermtg.tumblr.com/post/112727174244/hi-doug-reading-the-new-uncharted-realms-i-felt]

=========

(Art: Dragonlord Ojutai - Chase Stone)

The Great Teacher’s Student tells the story of Narset’s childhood under the rule of Dragonlord Ojutai. At eight years old, Narset was a pretty realistic autistic child, having many traits that I shared. She fidgeted restlessly, had sensory overloads, and her mother found it difficult to take her out to public spaces. Narset’s brain was extremely pattern-oriented, one of the most defining traits of autism. She saw numbers everywhere, and counted to soothe herself.

=========

The cries of the merchants, the bold colors of the wares, and the too-sweet aromas of the produce were like walls that made the marketplace feel too tight, too close, too much. The muscles of Narset’s legs twitched and her lungs felt cramped. She tugged at her robe; it was strangling her. Her mother must have cinched it too tightly.

“Stand still,” her mother scolded from above. “You’ll knock something over.” She was poring over the apples at the top of a tall mound too high for Narset to see.

Narset tried to stand still, but she couldn’t. The restlessness inside her wanted her to move. Sometimes when she felt that way she distracted herself. She would count things, or search for patterns, or study people’s expressions. But she knew the marketplace too well; she knew its numbers and she knew its patrons. She had already taken inventory. The man with the cane was limping less that day, putting more weight on his bad leg; Narset supposed the balm he had purchased from the herbalist the week before had worked to ease the pain. There were, as usual, three dozen meat slabs hanging at the butcher’s stand with an average of eighteen striations per slab; the average number of striations hardly ever changed, although sometimes there was greater variance. The merchant at the squash stand had uneven stains on his sleeves and three stray threads hanging from his robe; he must have gotten it caught in his cart and had to pull himself free. And there were sixty-eight apples in the mound in front of Narset; that was accounting for the volume inside the mound, which she couldn’t see but could predict well enough. There would be sixty-seven apples if her mother would ever just choose one.

Her mother hemmed and hawed, her fingers alighting first on one apple and then another, fluttering over the choices, but never settling.

She’s never going to pick one, Narset thought. We’re never going to leave. Panic set in. Her vision blurred, her ears rang, and her forehead began to sweat. She frantically searched for something else to distract her, but there was nothing else she could see. At eight, Narset wasn’t tall enough to see over any of the stands or any of the bodies. It was like she was in a never-ending maze of tall sweaty, smelly people-trees.

She was trapped.

[The Great Teacher’s Student - Kimberly J. Kreines]

=========

Narset was a believably written autistic character in this story, but that doesn’t automatically mean it was good, or that it was what autistic people wanted to see. To be clear, this story was neither unrealistic nor offensive to me. Writing Narset as an autistic character was something the creative team genuinely cared about and tried to do well. But I was still disappointed because Narset in this story is just another example of the “autistic savant” trope that the media can’t seem to let go of.

Fictional or real, almost every autistic person you will see in the media will be a savant; some kind of socially-inept genius whose intelligence or skill far surpasses their peers. This person may be a mathematician, a surgeon, a child prodigy who attends college but can’t tie their shoes– the list goes on and on. You’ve probably seen many stories like this before.

As a child, Narset had an extraordinary memory and a gift for mental math. She was able to calculate the volume of a pile of apples, find the exact trajectory of a falling apple to catch it in mid-air, and memorize things like the pattern of a river’s flow; all at a glance.

In The Great Teacher’s Student, Narset accidentally knocks over a pile of apples at the market, upsetting the merchant and prompting her mother to send her outside. Dragonlord Ojutai noticed Narset’s talent and desire for knowledge as she explored the field outside, and wanted to encourage her. He tutored her from a distance for several years before officially deciding to train her as a student when she was 11 years old.

After this moment, the story shifts its focus almost entirely to Narset’s academic journey. We get to see that in the years that passed since Narset became a student of Ojutai, she was still really, really smart. She finally felt challenged and supported in the way she needed, and she was good at so many things.

In fact, she was better than everyone else at everything.

She learned more, and faster than everyone else. She won every fight. She spoke Draconic intuitively, and Ojutai constantly praised her. At age 15, Narset became the youngest person to ever hold the rank of Master.

=========

As she looked back now, she recognized her time at the sanctuary as the best years of her life. She was happier than she had ever been; she was challenged, recognized, fulfilled. Her restlessness had ceased haunting her; she had felt a sense of peace. And while she wasn’t physically moving, she knew she was on a path, going where she was meant to go, becoming who she was meant to be. Ojutai was leading her. And not a day went by that she didn’t thank her dragon for the gift.

Narset advanced more quickly than any other student, climbing the ranks of Dragon’s Eye Sanctuary, moving upward from the lowest balconies to the highest terraces, until one day Ojutai called for her to come stand on his own private perch.

[…]

“My student, Narset, it is time. Your hunger for knowledge is your greatest strength. You have become strong, and powerful, and wise because you have never stopped seeking enlightenment.” The dragon beamed down at her. She knew what was about to come, and for one glorious moment everything felt perfect. “I now bestow upon you the title of Master, which you have assuredly earned, and with it all the honor and responsibility it brings.” Ojutai bowed his head and rested his giant paw on her shoulder.

Narset bowed her head in return and clasped her small hand over the dragon’s paw, making no attempt to wipe the hot tear that streaked down her cheek. At fifteen, she was the youngest master Ojutai had ever named. She had reached the top.

[The Great Teacher’s Student - Kimberly J. Kreines]

=========

I didn’t like how Narset’s story focused so much on autistic exceptionalism– on how Ojutai gave her special treatment because she was better than everyone else at everything.

Autistic achievement should be celebrated, and Narset’s desire for endless learning is so deeply, truly autistic. But I feel like Narset’s story and those of other autistic savants are just so extraordinary that it’s too hard to relate to them. These kinds of fictional portrayals and real-world news features attempt to endear autistic people to allistic (non-autistic) audiences by saying, “Look! Autistic people aren’t bad, they’re actually better than us!” But focusing on exceptional individuals doesn’t help to humanize autism.

It sets an unrealistic expectation for autistic people, and can be extremely alienating. Autistic people shouldn’t have to be superhuman to be respected, and the truth is that the overwhelming majority of autistic people are completely ordinary.

When I was diagnosed with autism at age 11, I obsessively searched the internet for information about autism, to learn what other autistic people experienced, and what “normal” people thought of us. I learned that geniuses were loved, and everyone else was hated. I hoped for years that I would magically develop some kind of incredible talent so I could be like the autistic geniuses in the news. I hoped someone would notice me and enroll me in college early or make me famous so I would be respected for something. It didn’t happen. It wasn’t fair to myself, but when I saw stories about savants, I didn’t feel proud to be autistic. Instead, I saw myself as a failure.

Autistic savants don’t need more representation. Most autistic people, even most of the geniuses and prodigies, will never have the kinds of opportunities that Narset and other famous savants have had. But when neurotypical people have only ever seen autistic savants, they expect you to be a genius. And when people expect you to be a genius, being ordinary just makes you a disappointment.

The Magic narrative team clearly recognized the fact that most allistic peoples’ first exposure to autism is through popular media and that it’s a major influence on the audience’s image of what autism is like. So they tried to make a good first impression by making Narset a positive portrayal, but it backfired in one key way: Narset’s writing in this story was so focused on making her as extraordinary and obviously autistic as possible that it neglected to make her a human being. She’s believable, but not compelling. Narset’s story is about an autistic character, but it’s not really about what it’s like to be autistic.

(And I hate to say it, but… there’s nothing revolutionary about making your Asian autistic character a math genius.)

What frustrates me about the way Narset was written is that I actually believe her autism was extremely under-utilized in her writing.

Autism is lifelong, but I don’t really feel like the story treats it that way. Beyond the first scene of Narset as a younger child, the story doesn’t show how Narset’s autism affected her life other than making her really smart.

Upon realizing that Ojutai had nothing left to teach her, Narset became restless and anxious again. She was desperate to learn anything new. When she was 16 years old, Narset discovered the lost history of Tarkir, and it was the possibility of new knowledge that ignited her Planeswalker spark.

Narset’s greatest challenge was that she was literally so good that she couldn’t get any better.

As a child, Narset was shown to have trouble communicating and interacting with others. After Narset became Ojutai’s student, she’s barely shown interacting with anyone other than Ojutai ever again. How did Narset’s differences affect the way she interacted with her fellow students? Did she want to try to make friends? What happened to her mother? How would she have felt about Narset’s progress? The story doesn’t explore any of this. What about her overwhelming sensory overloads? Did she still have them? If so, did her triggers change? She used to soothe herself by counting and finding patterns. When her anxiety returned later in the story, did her coping mechanisms change or stay the same? This isn’t shown, either.

At the end of The Great Teacher’s Student, Narset was still a teenager, but she’s supposed to be about 50 years old now. We know that the present Narset is an independent autistic adult, who has friends and goals and decades of life experience, and that’s beautiful– but we never get to see how she got there. How did she learn to make friends? How did she decide what she wanted to do with her life? That journey is what I want to see being written for autistic characters.

(Art: Quiet Contemplation - Magali Villeneuve)

To contrast, Narset’s story in the Khans of Tarkir timeline does address these things. In Enlightened, Narset is the narrator, and she speaks personally of her challenges as a young autistic person: her academic struggles as a daydreaming student, her feelings of alienation, being bullied, and how she threw herself into her training to cope. These experiences and feelings carried on into adulthood, and influenced the way she approached her responsibilities as the Jeskai Khan.

=========

As a young girl, I had the same “problem,” as my teachers called it. I always lived in my head, but not in the way the instructors wished. I dreamt of fantastical worlds and used the scrolls given for lessons to draw them, incurring the wrath of my elders. I found solace in my own mind and often had difficulty knowing how to talk to others. It was as though my mind was always five steps ahead of my mouth. It was so taxing interacting with others. I never knew what to say, often causing me to blunder, and I was embarrassed in front of my teachers and classmates. I then went over those failed interactions in my mind, and I found the imaginary worlds more forgiving.

Studying was a way to escape my anxiety and I eagerly embraced history and philosophy, memorizing all I could about Jeskai teachings. I impressed my teachers, but I still felt like an outsider. I did enjoy sparring with those who had taunted me, easily humiliating them in combat as they had humiliated me with their words.

[…]

Even though I am now their khan, I still felt like an outsider—like the young girl always fumbling her words—only now I don’t show it. I think this has been what gives me the strength to do what is needed, looking at the Jeskai like I am not really a part of them.

[Enlightened - Matt Knicl]

=========

Overall, I feel like Enlightened was a much more thoughtful story despite being much shorter. Sadly, Tarkir’s time travel plot means that version of Narset no longer exists. We haven’t gotten any stories featuring Narset since 2015, so the version of Narset we saw in The Great Teacher’s Student is the Narset we are stuck with.

I don’t necessarily believe that Narset is “bad” autistic representation. I still love Narset, and she means a lot to me. But Narset’s stories are focused on setting her apart, separating her from other people, and showing that she is too different to be a part of the world around her. In my opinion, Narset deserves better than that, and that is why I believe Narset is not the best autistic representation Magic has to offer.

My next article will be about the autistic representation I wanted to see in Magic. Something a little more down-to-earth. Something I could more easily relate to. And I found that in an unexpected character: Nissa.

[steddieas-shegoes]

Acrostic WIP Game!

Tagged by @griefabyss69 who has been a writing FIEND lately, thank you!!!

Rules: You will be given a word. Share one sentence/excerpt from your wip(s) that start with each letter of that word.

The word is: G O L D E N

G

“I can handle ‘em if they do,” Eddie nudges Steve with his elbow. “Go on. I promise not to burn the house down.”

O

“Oh! And I scheduled a massage for you later. They’re coming to the house this afternoon. I’ll have the kids out of the house so you can get the full effect.”

L

“Like what goes on birthday cakes?”

D

“That’s how your daddy was feeling. He needed a little break from all of his chores.” “Daddy has chores?” Dustin asks as he colors furiously over a coloring page from his superhero book.

E

Eddie doesn’t really hate the work involved on a farm, not even when it involves literal shit, but he can’t help thinking how he wouldn’t be doing this if he didn’t care so much about Steve.

N

“Can I just come inside?” Mike groans, throwing his head back. “Not until lunch. Your dad needs some quiet.”

All of these are from the third chapter of my omegaverse WIP that will start posting when my bang is done! I'm super excited that this brain worm took off the way it did and I'm looking forward to sharing something different from my usual with everyone! I'll tag @just-my-latest-hyperfixation @wormdebut @thefreakandthehair @starrystevie @runninriot and anyone else who wants to share!

Your word is: R I C H

[lunar-eclipse-bunnies]

this is my first official tumblr dtiys ong

i've been on tumblr for three ish years? and only really grew when i joined lego fandoms, so i think its FINALLY time i host my own dtiys!

the rules are as follows:

1.] must include at least one form (kid nya or mei, teen nya/adult mei, elemental forms, etc) (does not need to be full body) 2.] draw from either their many canon oufits OR Chinese fashion, like hanfus or qipaos. 3.] use the tag #lunas400dtiys and tag me in your submission post so i can see it (spam me if i don't respond or reblog it in a few days, i might have missed it!) extra: PLEASE don't tag them as family or sisters. they are either friends or girlfriends, whichever is more palatable to you. headcanons are also super allowed, draw your own hc mei/nya, i wanna see em! last of all i look forward to other peoples' compositions should they choose multiple characters have fun with the composition, colors, forms, etc! just have fun with the idea of a funny little crossover!

the prizes are as follows:

first place - 2 characters, full body, fully colored + cleanly lined piece second place - 1 character, full body, fully colored + sketchily lined piece third place - 1 character, waist & up, some color + sketchily lined

DEADLINE: NOVEMBER 30, 2023

art without the text & flats under the cut:

[streetkid-named-desire]

Writer's of Night City Tumblr Community!

What started as a Discord server to unite Cyberpunk 2077 fanfic writers, is now also a Tumblr community!

This was created because the Cyberpunk 2077 is such a visual fandom. But, wherever you find visual art, you also find writers. Albeit, in smaller numbers...

Sometimes it can be demoralizing wanting so badly for your work to be seen and you try so hard to remember, "It's a small subset of the fandom, numbers don't matter." And thus, this server and community was born.

As of right now, you cannot use side blogs with Communities. If you have questions or concerns, you can ask or DM @streetkid-named-desire which is my Cyberpunk 2077 side blog.

If you are interested in joining the Discord server as well, DM me!

Reply to this post or DM me if you want an invite!

Rules of this Community

These are the same rules as the server. And, just like the server, I will screen people that ask to join this community to keep Zwei, her sycophants, and other known predators and their enablers.

I am not shy about that, no. I explicitly do what I need to protect the members of the server and this community. If you take issue with that, make your own!

With that being said:

By joining this community, you agree to follow these rules which are subject to change or moderation at my discretion as needed, and agree to any moderation actions that may need to be made for violation of these rules up to and including removing the post or removing you from the community.

No bigotry: Full stop. Zero tolerance policy for any kind of bigotry.

Be nice: You are expected to not start drama in here or be shitty about other people in the community. If you are shitty to people in this community when outside the community and I find out, I will remove you from this community. No shit-stirring allowed.

Constructive crit only when someone asks: As this is an already small subset of the fandom, be nice. Don't like, don't read, etc. If you are looking for constructive criticism, please mention it somewhere in your post!

Keep politics to a minimum: art is political, cyberpunk as a genre is political, but politics are also inescapable, especially when you're of a marginalized identity. Keep it in context e.g. if your work features politics, you want to discuss meaning, etc. We're not here to debate economics, democrats vs republicans, current wars, etc. There are a million other activist spaces and this is not one.

For content warnings: Use common sense and decency. My own work features sexual assault and the genre is filled with sex, drugs and violence. Use common sense: Sexual assault, incest, domestic violence, violence/death against kids, etc.

No AI (defined as art or writing created entirely by a large language model. If all you did was type in a prompt to get the bulk of what "you" wrote? We don't want it.) No exceptions (unless you genuinely couldn't tell it was AI).

Respect established romantic orientations of characters: e.g. Kerry and Johnny being bisexual, Judy being a lesbian. Side-characters or characters where it may be much more fuzzy are okay. Do not argue about this. If you want to argue, take it to your own blog.

Unless this Community grows to become unmanageable, I am the divine ruler of this community. I am too old and have too much to do to worry about internet drama. That doesn't mean I don't care about making this space nice, it means that I prioritize what I want this space to be.

Content Guidelines

As this is a community for fanfiction writers, your posts should be centered around writing. They can include multimedia such as VP, but generally should be around writing.

OC development is also welcome and encouraged. However, that does not includes aesthetic development. We're not gonna discuss mods or review whether this hair color or another looks better. This would be about OC backstories, plans in your fics or AUs, etc.

OK to post:

Original work only: You can reblog into communities, however, it should only be used to reblog your own posts. We want to support each other and that means sharing our own work.

Links to resources: Do not reblog a random post written by some random Tumblr user about grammar rules or what tropes to avoid etc. Quality resources from other places on the internet. *Note: Reblogs from authors, publishers, or other writing app blogs are okay. e.g. Neil Gaiman, Novlr, OTW, etc.

Brainstorms, requests for feedback, etc. If you need to throw shit at a wall and see what sticks, this is the place!

Discussions of lore as it relates to writing: for example, how certain cyberware might be written or changed, fanon, etc.

Gripes about the writing process, personal struggles with writer's block, etc. (Though, try to balance it out with sharing your work/positive posts too!)

Links to templates, lists of prompts (preference given to Cyberpunk 2077 and science fiction prompts), or other creative resources.

Introductions of your OCs: You can share photos, but make sure to actually tell us about them!

Photostories: Use discretion. If it's significant and meaningful, if it has multiple parts, if it is related to your fics or OC development (such as illustrating backstory). It should include captions for dialogue or text explaining/telling the story.

Art/commissioned artwork if it relates to your fanfic or OC development. e.g. if you had a specific scene illustrated or want to write about the symbolism or other details about the artwork.

Your own commission posts: Please tag these as #open for commission and only post once a week if you wish to regularly promote it. Only tag the first post. This is not only to make sure we can easily find the post, but so we also give others fair chances to have their own posts seen.

Not OK to post

Virtual photography not related to introducing an OC, photostories, or fic illustrations. @fereldanwench runs a Cyberpunk 2077 Virtual Photography community I recommend checking out if you want another place to share your VP! You can DM her for an invite or more info.

Ask games unrelated to OC development or fanfic writing. Please tag these with #oc ask game, and check the tag to see if it has already been posted.

Writing unrelated to Cyberpunk 2077: Outside of sharing links to your AO3, this place is focused on Cyberpunk 2077 fanfic. Links to AUs with the same character are okay, within reason. For example, if your same OCs are in a Baldur's Gate AU, you can post the link to the main fic. Please do not post a link to every chapter.

[internetgiraffekid1673]

Did you know you can move onto other brainrots and STILL be stuck brainrotting on the old thing too? My brain is a decaying piece of wood that has become an essential breeding ground for several species of rot. One of them is still the BatFam variety, so onto the next member!

Initial traces of Carrie Kelley, my child! Be honest, how many of you who have seen the Nightwing and Red Hood posts thought that I was doing Tim next? Well HA! Joke’s on you, I make the rules here! I have a very specific order in my head, and I will stick to that order!

Carrie is technically an elseworld’s Robin from The Dark Knight Returns, but Robin is my favorite superhero, and anyone who has been Robin will get my attention (yes Robin. Not Batman or Nightwing or any of the individual characters who have been Robins. Robin as a hero, regardless of who it is, is my favorite). At this point, she’s actually graduated to Catgirl and then her own iteration of Batwoman, but in my head, she’s the same age as Damian or younger, so she gets to stay Robin in my art for a bit.

I did two traces here because, unlike other Batfam characters, Carrie is in so few comics that I can’t just FIND a perfect, full body action pose from an angle that I like. The first trace is by far the most popular and easy to find picture of her, but it has her hair blowing around in the wind. This is a Problem, you see, because Carrie’s hair is a special challenge for me. In The Dark Knight Returns, she has this very distinctive hair shape that I do not like looking at OR drawing. So I knew the pose I used for my reference was going to need to be a pose where I could update her hairstyle. But, I also needed a full body, and that first photo is iconic, so two for the price of one again.

Stylization time! Carrie was honestly really easy to stylize, her hair is just a bit of a nightmare for me. I finally got a handle on it after the complete project, but it took a WHILE! Anyway, I more or less just lifted her updated hairstyle from her Batwoman costume and some cosplayers. And no, I’m not giving her pants. Damian and Tim are edgy Robins, they can have pants. Dick, Jason, and Carrie are not edgy Robins, so they get short shorts. I did give up on coloring her sleeves green. Too much of one color for me to effectively handle when her gloves overlap her sleeves. Also, I need to draw more characters with capes. They’re so fun to draw!

Characterization pose! In the comics, Carrie wears her goggles as a civilian too. I interpret this as her needing glasses, so I gave her regular glasses instead because wearing the same distinctive goggles you wear as a superhero is maybe not the best way to keep your identity secret. Comics Carrie has like one friend that you don’t see after she puts on the costume, and her parents don’t remember they have a kid, so it’s not like she has a whole lot of people to be hiding her identity from, but it’s the thought that counts. Schoolmates and random civilians and nosy reporters and all that.

I put her in a Girl Scout uniform for her civvy outfit because I think that it’s important to her character. The whole reason Batman took her on was because she was 1) crazy/traumatized/determined enough to buy herself a Robin costume, fight petty crime on her own, and follow him into dangerous situations and 2) used her Girl Scout first aid training to save batman’s life and splint his arm after he got his sh*t rocked in an ill-advised fight. I figured a salute, even if it’s a bit of a sassy one, was a good pose for her not just because of this, but also because The Dark Knight Returns is a very depressing comic, and so Batman calls her “good soldier.”

If you saw the first two posts, you may notice that I did not trace the hero text for this one, and that I used the same font for both names. This is because 1) I didn’t feel like the regular Robin font with the spiky R fits Carrie’s vibe, but she doesn’t have any comics covers of her own I can steal from and 2) I feel like Carrie’s personality is the same as Robin and Carrie. Unlike with almost everyone else, there’s no posturing, no distinction, no divide there. So the same font works for both personas.

Nightwing Edition

Red Hood Edition

[jotun-design-party]

Contest Submission Rules

Jötun Design Party is a Marvel Loki fanmade character design contest, dedicated to encouraging artists to be more aware of racist visual shorthand to make a more inclusive fandom space for artists of color.

If your submission is found to rely on orientalist or otherwise racist imagery to make Loki seem more alien, more attractive, etc, your design will not be considered/your submission will be disqualified. [#orientalism] is a featured tag on my blog, where I have shared informational posts on the topic. You can also check the [#FAQ] tag on this blog. I also encourage you to do your own research on the topic to ensure the design fits within the guidelines.

No AI generated or AI enhanced art. The design must be completely designed by you, not imags generation.

Your design must be created for the design contest entry. Modifying your old Jötun designs is allowed, but there must be significant changes to the design as to differentiate it from your previous works.

Entries will be judged based on design, not skill.

You are allowed to include designs for multiple characters (ex: Jötun!Thor, Angrboða, Fárbauti, etc.) as well as for multiple versions of Loki (Ikol, Stories, Kid Loki, etc) so long as there is at least one Loki design submitted.

However, as shipping discourse can get incredibly out of hand, please refrain from submitting ship art to the contest.

Your drawing should be a full-body, with a clear view of the design(s), and clear color and lines. Shading/finished lineart is not necessary! The design(s) simply must be visible enough to tell what is going on in order to qualify.

Do not put down other contest members; any and all competition should be friendly.

Informational blurbs about your Jötun headcanons are not only accepted, but encouraged!

Tag @jotun-design-party in your submission, and tag your piece as #jotun design party !

Winner Information

The first place winner will receive a full-body drawing of a character (original or otherwise) of their choice.

The second place winner will receive a half-body drawing of a character (original or otherwise) of their choice.

The third place winner will receive a bust-shot drawing of a character (original or otherwise) of their choice.

*i am not comfortable creating fanart for harry potter or dsmp

@trackmarvel

[cyclesprefectpress]

[image description: 8 photos of a letterpress broadside printed from handset type and a linoleum block illustration. the poem is titled The Interview, written by a young poet for the 2024 edition of Words of Courage. the poet answers questions like what musical instrument, or animal, or color would you like to be. they would be an Afuche Cabasa, a tarantula, and the sound of a bird being eaten by a tarantula. printed from lead type, handset in Motto and Neuland; illustrated in pink, red, and blue is a tarantula playing the Afuche Cabasa. there are motion lines embossed out of the sheet for the shaking effect of the percussion. full text under the cut. end description.]

behold my abominable contribution to this year's Words of Courage publication 🎉🎉

WoC is a yearly publication of poetry broadsides written by patients at Seattle Children’s Hospital, and designed, printed, and bound into portfolios by local letterpress & book artists. this year’s whole edition will be scanned and posted there in a couple weeks & previous years are always there to see!

knew that i wanted this one immediately; this kid is SO cool and funny. personally i am deeply arachnophobic and have been doing some spider illustrations as exposure therapy. so far no discernible effect!! still very afraid of em. don't like to see em. research phase is a horror. but i am getting better at drawing them.

the Neuland for the sound effect was a no-brainer to me, plus i knew i would be varying the size and we have the original hand-cut stuff so each size of the face has little differences in the letter forms that you can spot. that little change in angle on the Cs, i love it so so much.

i didn't want to make the spider a cartoon. this reach for the skies pose is a real thing tarantulas do as a defensive back-off posture, so i was aiming for more of a posterized-from-photograph feel on the linocuts. reduction cut for the pink and red passes, separate block for the blue. the little bit of wobbly registration between the red and blue blocks helps the posterization feel, and some people also said it reminded them of riso, which i thought was very neat.

thought about printing the motion lines from rule as well, but it's a lot of text and i wanted it to stay very readable. so i made an embossing jig out of masking tape and hand-scored each of the lines into the edition instead. easy! well. simple anyway. 100 of em does strain the wrist so i only did a few at a time over a couple days. i finished a little ahead of schedule and this felt less…stressfully complicated than some other projects I've done so I kept looking at it and worrying that it wasn't actually finished?? when i'm not looking at it i still worry about that. but i'm, hmm, when i see it i'm really pretty sure i was correct to stop here.

The Interview    Q:        Rio, if you could be an animal, what animal would you like to be? A:        I’d be a tarantula. They make beautiful webs. Some tarantulas eat birds!   Q:        If you could be a color, what color appeals to you?

A:        I’d be red velvet like the red velvet cupcakes at Cupcake Royale. I’d also be aqua blue, the color of hospital masks.   Q:        What loud noise would you like to be if you could be one? A:        Definitely the sound of a bird screeching while being eaten by a tarantula.   Q:        Suppose you could be a musical instrument? A:        I’d love that! And I’d love to be a Latin Afuche Cabasa. It’s a stick with tiny metal spheres around it. When you rotate it in your hand it makes the sound Chichichichichichichichi.   Q:        Rio, can you imagine having wheels?  A:        I can! I’d be a buggy. I ride the hospital buggies every day when I’m here. They make me feel happy and fast! And wanting to go! Go!

[come-on-shitty-boys]

// The Rules of K. Ink. inked 03. //

prev << 03 >> next

*The nature of this series may be not be appropriate for all readers. Content warnings include: vulgarity, heavy swearing, and implications of adult relations.  Due to these themes, this series may not be suitable for readers under the age of 16.  Reader discretion is advised.*

Kuroo Tetsurou knew he made a mistake when you came waltzing in with that cocky grin plastered on your face.  He was hoping that, at the very least, you would have some humility with the situation, but you just proceeded to sidle right up next to him at the counter, eyes trained up at him as if you were the one giving him the opportunity of his dreams.

“Well, well, alley cat.  I had a feeling that you wouldn’t be able to resist me,” you say low and smooth, the corner of your mouth twitching up into a teasing smirk.

He could already feel the steady drum of a headache settling in behind his temple and he had a sneaky suspicion that it wouldn’t be going away anytime soon.  His bright eyes blinked slowly, almost unamused, before he pushed away from the counter, walking off further into the shop leaving you behind. 

“If you’re going to work with me, kid, you better learn to move those damn legs,” he shouts, leaving you to scramble in an effort to catch up to him.  This was everything that you’ve been hoping for ever since you first stumbled across his Instagram feed all those years ago.  He had just been starting, no more than 200 followers and maybe a dozen likes on his posts, but the talent and the seeming mastery of the craft was all there, even if he was only 20.  His page had grown with him as an artist and you had been right there every step of the way, admiring from afar, picking up his techniques and incorporating them into your own work.  He was, to put it simply, your biggest inspiration, your push in the right direction.

You clutched the strap of your bag.  It had been in the back of your car, waiting patiently for the call that you knew was coming.  Sketchbook, pens, pencils, inks of various colors, everything that you could possibly need to make the most out of your tattoo artist apprenticeship.  You felt like a kid wandering around a toy store.  Frames upon frames of artwork were displayed in the front window of the shop, each piece signed with an extravagant ‘KT’ in the bottom corner.  Paintings of various sizes littered the walls depicting various landscapes and buildings, each one seeming to carry an essence of home between the brush strokes.  It has you slowing to a stop, leaning in close for a better view at all of the tiny individual shapes that pulled the full picture together.

“Did you make these?”

“Rule number one.  Don’t ask pointless questions.  You’re here to learn, not uncover my life story.”  Kuroo doesn’t even bother to look back at you.  He just pushes open a door to a small supply closet, taking something down from a shelf.  His smile was almost too kind when he turned back to you, but his eyes didn’t carry that same sentiment.  They were almost cruel, narrowed to a point that you could barely make out any color at all.  “Welcome to K. Ink.  It is K dot Ink and you will call it as such.”

“But your sign says-”

“I know what it says!”

“And your instagr-”

“K.Ink was taken!”

“So you chose k-”

“Rule number two! Do not call my shop or anything associated with it Kink!  Now, I have some work to finish, so I can’t deal with you right now. Bokuto took a massive shit earlier and now the bathroom fucking reeks, so I’m going to need you to take care of that for me.  Unfortunately, our toilet brush is having some technical difficulties and had to be taken to the repair shop, but luckily for you, we do have this toothbrush.  I’ll see you in a few hours, kid!”

“Hours?!”

“I told you.  Massive shit.  Remember, if you breathe through your mouth it won’t smell as bad!”  Kuroo pushed the toilet cleaner and the small plastic toothbrush into your hands.  “Gloves are in the cabinet.  Have fun, kid.”  He gives you a firm pat on your back that has your body lurching forward as he walks by you.

“Wait!  Kuroo!”  If he heard you, he sure didn’t act like it, because he didn’t even acknowledge you.  He just kept moving, black boots tapping rhythmically against the tiles as he disappeared back into his own work space.  You stared down at what he had given you, not exactly the materials you were expecting to need for your apprenticeship.  Accept defeat or march in there and tell him no? Accept defeat and you’re left on your hands and knees scrubbing a disgusting toilet bowl, nose deep in a smell you could do without.  But, telling him now, could just result in him telling you to leave again.  He wouldn’t even give you a second chance.  Taking on an apprentice was already out of his comfort zone, surely one fuck up would just have him shooing you away with your tail between your legs.

You pushed your sleeves up, reaching for a pair of gloves in the cabinet and letting them snap down against your wrist with a satisfying noise, holding a tight grip on the handle of the toothbrush. 

Defeat it was.

Hours seemed to pass and each time you heard a set of footsteps, you could only hope that it was Kuroo coming to finally tell you to stop scrubbing.  But he never came.  Those bells above the door just kept chiming as clients arrived and left, satisfied with their K. Ink experience.

“You’ve had them scrubbing that bathroom since 2 p.m., Kuroo.  I’m pretty sure it’s cleaner than it’s ever been,” Akaashi stated, peering up at Kuroo over his glasses.  It was almost 5.  With walk-ins unwelcome and only a handful of piercing appointments scattered over the next few hours, the work day was closing down and the other two staff members of K. Ink had to have a proper introduction with the newest member of the team, who apparently was just doubling as their janitor.  

“They’ll be fine.  It hasn’t been that long.  Besides, you smelled that bathroom!  It needed a good cleaning.”  Kuroo shrugged, leaning against the front counter, typing away the caption to an Instagram post.  

“Kuroo, you’re supposed to be teaching them how to be a tattoo artist, not how to clean toilets.”

“I didn’t teach them how to clean, they figured that out themselves.”

“Kuroo-” Akaashi warned.

“What?”  There was not another word from the desk clerk.  He simply shook his head, pushing his glasses back up his nose, turning his attention back to the computer.  “Akaashi!” Kuroo whined, sinking down against the glass countertop.

“I just cleaned that.  Don’t get your fingerprints all over the glass or else I’ll make you clean it.”

“Then I’ll just make-” he paused.  Akaashi could practically see the gears spinning inside Kuroo’s head.  “Do you remember their name? Kid, apprentice, I don’t know, whatever their name is- they can clean it when they’re done in the bathroom!”

Akaashi rubbed his face over his hands, bringing his coffee mug up to his mouth.  No amount of caffeine was going to get him through this day, hell, through the span of your time at the shop.  “You don’t even remember their name and you have them scrubbing our toilets?  You’re absurd, Kuroo.”

“You’re going to give me hell over this forever, aren’t you?”

“I’m going to give you hell about it until you see that this is ridiculous.”

Kuroo just sighed and rolled his eyes, stepping back from the counter with his hands up in surrender.  “Everyone has to go through some sort of shit when they get an apprenticeship.  It’s just how it is.” 

The smack of his palm against the door made you jump, had you scrambling for the toothbrush that had long been forgotten and had been traded for cycling endlessly through the same three apps for nearly two hours now.  The door teased open just as you had dipped your hand back into that disgusting toilet bowl to at least pretend like you had been scrubbing away this entire time.  

“I’m not going to lie, this is a pretty disgusting thing to watch.”

If you weren’t so determined to keep this damn apprenticeship, you would’ve smacked the absolute shit out of him with that nasty toothbrush.  You could just slump down against the wall and look up at him.  “It’s not exactly the most glamorous thing to do either.”

He leaned against the door frame, arms tucked over his chest.  “Come on, wash up, and let’s go.  I got another job for you.”

“What?  Am I going to be polishing your tiles with your gym socks?”

“You know, that’s really not a bad idea.  Maybe some other day.  Just move your ass and get up.”  He waited in the doorway just long enough for you to scrub your hands under the running water of the sink before stalking off back towards the front of the shop with you having to almost run to catch up with him.

“Kid, this is Akaashi Keiji, he’s the front desk clerk, you know, the one you blatantly ignored this morning.”

“Hi.  Y/N.  It’s nice to meet you, Akaashi,” you state, reaching your hand across the counter for a greeting.

He nods, giving your hand a firm shake.  “It’s a pleasure.”

“Bokuto!” Kuroo shouts as if he wasn’t ten feet away from the piercer’s room.

“He’s with a client right now.  You’ll have to give him a few minutes,” Akaashi says, eyes darting from you to Kuroo and then finally settling on you, studying you like a textbook, steel eyes tracing over every inch of your face before finally nodding in contentment.  

Kuroo hummed as he leaned back against the counter.  “Well, we have some rules to finish up anyway.  Where were we?  Four?”

“Three.”

“Right.  Rule number three.  There’s a shop a few doors down.  You know the owner’s name, you’ve almost said it.  We don’t talk about him here.  You keep that snake-ass bastard’s name out of my shop.”

“Snake ba-? Oh! Do you mean Dai-”

Kuroo raises his index finger up to your lips.  “What did I literally just say?  Rule number four.  Listen.  You have ears.  You better use them.”

“What’s your problem with him?  He’s cool,” you pause, eyeing your new boss up and down, letting a smirk pull at your lips as you watch him start to unravel at the mere discussion of he-who-shall-not-be-named.  “Cooler than you.”

His voice is low, almost a growl as he leans into you, stooping down so he’s right in front of your face.  “Tell me rule number three, pip squeak.”

“‘Keep that snake-ass bastard’s name out of the shop.’  Yeah, got it, boss.  It was just a question, damn.  What?  You two have some secret romance going on?  Are things not good between you two in the bedroom, is that what this is?” You ask, mock sympathy painted over your face.  “You know, it’s actually really common for men your age to have perf-”

Kuroo looks at you completely exasperated and utterly baffled that that’s where your mind instantly went.  “Do not even finish that sentence.”

You turned to Akaashi and gave him a teasing smile.  “That’s a yes.”

“Rule number five.  Do as I say.  If I want you to rewire the electrical, you’re going to rewire the-”

“No, they aren’t.  That’s how you get a fine from the fire department.  You already have a health code violation against you.  Don’t be stupid,” Akaashi warns.

“Fine!  No electrical work! But, rule five still stands.  For these next few years, you better be ready to be at my beck and call whenever I need you during business hours.  Which brings us to our sixth and final rule.  Do not contact me outside of business hours.  We are not friends.  I do not want to be your friend. This is a strictly work relationship and it will remain that way, are we clear?” Kuroo finishes, raising an expectant eyebrow at you.

“Alright, that should get you all finished!  You wanna pay cash or card?  Cash?  Great, then I can go ahead and take that from you.  Remember to just give me a call if you have any questions or concerns.”  The big man who had tried to stop you during your desperate attempt at gaining your apprenticeship emerges from a room, a client sporting a nose ring that was still a little red trailing behind him.  He smiles brightly and waves as the shop door closes behind them.  “Man, you never would’ve believed how much she bled!  I mean, I get it, you just got a needle jammed through your nose, but damn!  I haven’t seen one bleed like that since I did your eyebrow, bro!”  He turned his attention to you.  “Had blood dripping down his face like crazy.  Looked like someone had beat him real good upside the head.  I’d wipe it away and woosh! More blood.”  The man paused, finally getting a good look at you.  He leaned away from you to look you over.  “Do I know you?”

You shake your head, holding your hand out towards him.  “Y/N.  I’m Kuroo’s apprentice.”

“Oh! You were-” He laughs nervously, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.  “Sorry about the toilet.”

{Taglist: @boosyboo9206 @universal-s1ut @zamorazz // never miss an update! send an ask or dm to be added to the inked taglist!}