#So hat/hood becomes part of the character

[angrybatart]

FULL COMIC

Oops.

[greeenchrysanthemums]

UPDATED appearances for the GG rivals au characters: now with Lizzie and Joel!!

Once again, i am no artist so they are just written descriptions with pictures here and there. Most of them are largely the same as the previous post, but I have added little tidbits to certain descriptions, some of which are lore related!

Gem looks similar to this gorgeous fanart, except her dress has slits up the side to allow for easier movement. This look is sometimes replaced entirely by a trouser and tunic combo of the same colour if she knows the mission she is being sent on will need a great deal of movement in close quarters or something to that affect. No matter the outfit, her sword never leaves her waist. Her hair is in a low bun with a braid wrapping around the front of her head, like this. I do not imagine her with horns in this au.

Scott and Impulse wear armour similar to how applestruda draws it in her au, with their cloths in shades of teal and yellow respectively. Scott has long, back length hair, that he wears down and covering one eye. He was born with heterochromatic eyes, one blue and one hazel. His teeth are sharp, and he has fin-like ears due to his Coral Crest heritage. Impulse has shortly cropped hair, stubble on his face, and two little nubby horns that are tipped in black extending out of his forehead. He also has sharp, clawed hands.

Grian's eyes are entirely black like a barn owl's, and he has feathers on the high parts of his cheek bones and ears. His hands end in sharp talons rather than nails. He also has bird-like legs and taloned feet. His wings are not visible, if there at all. He wears a red shawl/cloak that has a high collar and ends around his waist, held closed by a brooch in the shape of an eye, similar to this but golden instead of silver. It has a hood, but he only wears it if he is trying not to be seen. His undershirt is black, and it is a long sleeve. His trousers are brown.

Scar wears a similar black cloak as Grian, held closed by the same brooch, though he wears his with the hood up. The cloak has red flower detailing on the hem. His eyes are green, and his hair is brown. He has a single grey streak in the front of his bangs. His tunic and trousers under the cloak are both black and he wears his shirt just a little bit too open at the top. He also always wears a smile, but pretty much everyone can agree it is deceptively kind and fake. He looks the most human out of the whole cast, so much so that it is entirely uncanny. EDIT: I can't believe I forgot to mention! Scar has a cane as well. It's wooden with a gold handle.

Mumbo and Etho wear matching outfits, claiming it is professional since they share a job and shop, but it is something they choose to do, not something that is required of them (they are just very, very silly). They are simple outfits consisting of white tunics with black trousers and thick, leather aprons on top (mumbo's is red and etho's is a dark green). They both wear goggles and thick gloves, as well as chunky boots, all for safety since they work with explosives very often. Etho wears a black bandana to cover his lower his face, both to hide his scars and his identity. His goggles replace his headband in this look, doubling as what keeps his hair out of his face. His scared eye is missing entirely; he does not have a false eye, it is just an empty socket. Mumbo wears his goggles around his neck when they are not on his face.

Bdubs also wears thick gloves to protect his hands in the garden. His shirt is white, and he has brown trousers that are a tad bit high watered, something he claims is intentional as he does not want mud all over his trousers. The previous argument becomes moot, because over this outfit he wears a thick cloak that is almost always covered in some manner of flora and/or mud. He completes the look with a wide brimmed hat to protect him from the sun.

Cleo is also dressed similarly to Etho and Mumbo but her apron is a plain brown that is stained with soot. Her tunic sleeves are always rolled up to show off her strong arms and she doesn't wear her safety gloves nearly as much as she should. She forgoes eye protection entirely. One of her eyes is missing, replaced with a glass eye of a slightly different shade of green than her organic eye. Her hair is pulled into a much messier bun than Gem's, with frizzy stray hairs going every direction. She is NOT a zombie in this au, she is completely human.

Ren is dressed in all the typical regalia of a king, complete with a diamond encrusted, golden crown and a thick red cape with a fluffy collar. His thick beard is long and braided. His eyes are red, as well as blood shot, and he almost always appears angry. He, of course, has wolf ears and a tail. He simply would not be Rendog without them.

Martyn is dressed in the same armour as the other knights. His under clothing is green, as is the bandana he wears around his forehead. He usually appears worried, but he smiles often in the presence of the king. He always has a hand on the sheath of his sword, ready to draw it at any time.

Pearl wears a white tunic with flared sleeves tucked into a pair of high waisted black trousers. Over this she has a deep, red cloak that stops at her waist and is held closed by a circular broch that, when unclasped, takes the shape of crescent and wanning gibbous moons. She has a crescent moon shaped birth mark on the left side of her face. Her hair is always down and messy under her hood. When she is on the job, she carries a scythe strapped to her back, along with a crossbow. There is a sheath on her leg which contains a dagger.

Bigb wears a blue tunic with brown trousers, along with a thin white apron when he is working. He always seems to have flour stains on his clothes whether he is on or off the clock, no matter how hard he tries to wipe it off. Big strong arms for him as well.

Skizz wears the same armour as the rest of the knights, and his underclothes are black. The shoulder of his armour has a cross emblem on it that delegates him as a medic, and he has medical supplies carried across his chest. The sleeves of his tunic are ripped off and he does not wear his gauntlets, showing off a plethora of scars along his arms. He is a dove avian, but one of his wings is heavily damaged and half missing as a result of an old injury he sustained on the field. He has white feathers on his upper cheekbones and ears, but he lacks the talons that Grian has.

Tango wears a short sleeved red tunic and black trousers with big chunky boots that are never free of mud. His hands are clawed, and his ears are pointed; both are tipped in a red to black gradient. His eyes are entirely red. He has a long tail that ends in a tuff of fire that doesn't seem to actually have any real heat.

Jimmy wears a blue tunic with a brown vest over it. Brown trousers and chunky boots. His sleeves are always rolled up and he is always covered in some manner of dirt, both because of the work he does on the farm, and from being very clumsy. He has bull horns, one of which is chipped. He also has a tail and bull-like ears. He has a gold ring in one of his ears.

Lizzie wears a flowy purplish-pink dress that is thin, both to allow for free movement and to allow airflow in the Coral Crest heat. Her teeth are sharp, and her ears are fin-like. Her nails are very sharp. She wears her pink hair down with a string of pearls like this. She wears many silver and gold bracelets on both wrists, along with a few anklets on both ankles. She does not wear shoes unless she is out of the castle.

Joel Wears a thin, short sleeved white tunic and brown trousers under a set of armour. While Wintertide armour is more thick and sturdy, as well as a darker greyish colour, Coral Crest armour is more thin and agile, and is a lighter grey, almost white, colour. He wears no gauntlets. His hair is short and messy with the back pulled into a tiny ponytail. He has a short, scruffy beard. He also has fin-like ears, sharp teeth, and sharp nails. He puts on a tough guy act by scowling all the time.

[captain-jacks-coat]

my Once Upon A Time

Rumplestiltskin could predict the future. He didn't have to make the deal, but he chose to. He saw that the woman would become abusive towards her daughter, so he asked for her child so he could protect it.

The child was called Belle. Rumplestiltskin raised Belle as his own daughter and she was very happy.

Hansel and Gretel are orphans who can imagine things into existence. They run away from the orphanage, to find an exiled witch, who tries to feed them despite not having much herself. They imagine a gingerbread house into existence, and the witch adopts them.

One day, the witch disappears, and the villagers destroy the house. Without the witch to take care of them, Hansel and Gretel are alone and distraught. They attempt to imagine a world for them to live in, away from the people who want to hurt them. However, they imagine different worlds, and so the siblings are separated.

Hansel and Gretel's names are actually Peter and Alice. Peter imagines a world with pirates and mermaids and lost boys. Alice imagines a world with tea parties and talking caterpillars and painted roses.

The witch disappeared because she was trapped inside a mirror.

Aurora is forced to marry the prince of a neighbouring kingdom and turns to Maleficent for help.

Snow White loves Aurora. Snow's aunt, Maleficent, tries to help out by introducing the two. Aurora's fairy godmother, secretly an evil queen, doesn't approve and curses both girls into eternal sleep.

Prince Charming is childhood best friends with Snow. He kisses her forehead, which wakes her up. Snow attempts to kiss Aurora, but the nature of the curse means that she cannot go near Aurora. Aurora remains asleep.

Prince Charming doesn't go after the mystery princess and is forced to marry Snow after saving her. However, he rather likes newest servant girl - who is Cinderella, of course.

Ursula rescues the mermaid girls from their abusive father, Triton. They seek aid from above. The humans help them overthrow Triton, and the seas are divided so each of the princesses rule a different part. The sea and the land are now united.

Triton returns to his wife, the Evil Queen.

Goldilocks is homeless, and hides in the bears' house after being caught stealing food. When the bears return, they take pity on her and offer to take care of her. Goldilocks is raised by the bears.

Pinnochio was once a real boy who was cursed by the blue fairy (evil queen) after Gepetto refused to build the Magic Mirror for her. Gepetto builds a portal to send Pinnochio somewhere where a puppet can live. Pinnochio lands in Wonderland as a living puppet who can see through lies.

Alice, also known as The White Queen, falls in love with a madman who has an obsession with hats. Her adoptive sister, The Queen Of Hearts, is busy weaving a romance for a girl called Belle.

Belle, who lives with her inventor father Rumplestiltskin, gets sucked into one of her books. She falls in love with a character known as The Beast, and she becomes a fairy to free them from their curse. However, she can't stay with them, and she returns to the real world, and to her father.

Little Red Riding Hood is raised by the Werewolf, but she gets lost when she's little and the Werewolf thinks she intentionally ran away. The mother adopts her, and the Werewolf is really angry believing that the humans stole his child, and he swears revenge on the family.

Little Red Riding Hood meets a girl with golden hair who speaks Bear.

Rapunzel is a trans girl who is desperate to transition, but she is cursed to be stuck looking like a boy. Her adoptive mother is a sorceress who rescued her from an evil witch who wanted revenge on the vain royal family. She tells her mother that she is in fact a woman, and her mother searches for a spell to transition her.

Teenage Peter Pan flies to other worlds in search of his sister, but doesn't find her. However, he does find other girls and helps them. For example, a young princess called Rapunzel, who he brings back to Neverland for a little while and teaches her confidence, or Belle, who brings her father and chooses to stay with Peter, becoming the inventor fairy known as Tinkerbelle.

The Gingerbread House Witch is still trapped inside the Magic Mirror, which is unstable because it was made with dark magic. Maleficent employs Gepetto to study the Mirror, so she can free the Gingerbread House Witch, and hopefully find a way to wake up Aurora. She promises to restore Pinnochio if he helps, so he agrees.

The Werewolf finds Red Riding Hood and she remembers him. She takes him to meet her human family.

Peter Pan falls in love with a handsome teenage pirate captain.

Pinnochio lives with Hatter and Alice in Wonderland, and The Queen Of Hearts is now trying to fix things for Tinkerbelle.

Tinkerbelle falls in love with Peter's newest friend, Wendy, who can see dreams and stories.

Gepetto and Maleficent free the Gingerbread House Witch from the mirror, and they build another portal to Wonderland to try and find Pinnochio. Gepetto and Pinnochio reunite, as do the Gingerbread House Witch and Peter.

Maleficent stays behind to try and cure Aurora.

Charming, Cinderella and Snow go into the enchanted forest to try and find a cure for Aurora, and they find Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks, who help them survive in the forest. They meet the Dwarves who run an inn.

The Evil Queen and Triton discover Wonderland.

Charming, Cinderella and Snow leave the forest after finding nothing, to discover everyone else has gone to Wonderland and Maleficent is helping Aurora alone.

While the Queen of Hearts is trying to help Tinkerbelle, she spots Peter, and shows Alice, who tries to get to him but the Evil Queen smashes the Looking Glass.

Wendy begins to see the dreams of Aurora, and shows Tinkerbelle. Tinkerbelle makes the Captain's ship fly, and they ride Aurora's dreams into Aurora's world, where they meet Maleficent, Charming, Cinderella and Snow.

Peter trades his immortality, giving half his life to Aurora to wake her up.

Tinkerbelle, Peter, the Captain, Rumplestiltskin, Maleficent, Wendy, Aurora, Snow, Charming, Cinderella and the Lost Boys go through the portal to Wonderland.

Peter, Alice, and the Gingerbread House Witch reunite. Yay!

Pinnochio reveals that Cinderella is the mystery princess, and she confesses her love for Charming

BATTLE TIME

Triton sends his whole army of sea creatures and monsters.

Rumplestiltskin and Tinkerbelle build weapons for Alice's army

The Hatter and Cinderella make the armour

Wendy, Charming and the Lost Boys take care of the people

A crocodile tries to get to Peter, but the Captain takes his place. The crocodile bites off the Captain's hand.

There's a fair bit of fighting

Triton cuts off Maleficent's wings

Aurora and Snow raise an army of animals, the ravens supporting Maleficent and being her wings.

Triton becomes the Kraken, but he is defeated by the Gingerbread House Witch, who sends him god knows where.

The Evil Queen becomes the Jabberwocky, attacking Wonderland. The Queen Of Hearts fights her, cutting off the Jabberwocky's head and causing the Evil Queen to take her mortal form.

The Evil Queen makes one last desperate attempt, threatening to burn Pinnochio if they don't surrender

Geppeto becomes furious, sending the Evil Queen into a portal that causes her to fall to her death.

All curses are lifted.

The Captain takes a piece of Triton's trident and attaches it to a piece of metal, then attaches that to his hand. It looks like a hook, but it looks cool, so he keeps it.

Peter and Alice imagine hard enough that they manage to combine Neverland and Wonderland into one huge world. In the centre of it all, there is a Gingerbread Palace.

[yuurei20]

Jack Info Compilation part 1: Family and Hometown

Jack has a seven-year-old sister and 11-year-old (magicless) brother.

He says that his sister becomes jealous when he and his brother go skiing together on a local mountain, but he worries about her stamina, as he didn’t attempt the mountain for the first time himself until he was ten.

Jack says his brother is starting middle school this year and is “mouthing off more and more every day” despite how he used to follow him around everywhere he went. “But hey, it’s fun to go back and forth with a brother who’s got some bark.”

Jack said his sister once begged him to make her a flower crown, but after she “cried at how shoddy it turned out” he has “avoided making detailed stuff like that ever since.”

Jack says his two younger sibling used to make him his favorite food, pear compote, on his birthday and they play tag for six hours at a time.

On the subject of his hometown Jack says he has taken his siblings out camping in the woods a few times, would go fishing for pond smelt and, “The area I grew up in is all forests.”

There are many references to Jack’s hometown being cold and snowy: he mentions getting tan from skiing during winter break and racing a reindeer on a snowy mountain, saying, “Our winters are pretty snowy back at home, so I’m used to wearing hoods” and “I can’t stand hot weather.”

Ace assumes he is from Sunset Savanna in a vignette.

There is a mistranslation on NA where Deuce says Jack is “from a cold place that’s farther north than the Shaftlands.”

The original line is closer to, “You’re from a cold place in the northern part of the Shaftlands.” (NA will sometimes confuse the geography of the game, such as when NA-Riddle says the Queendom of Roses is landlocked in English, but on JP he is just saying that he lives inland. A grouping of islands in the shape of a rose, the Queendom of Roses is not landlocked.)

On the subject of his childhood Jack says, “I read a book in elementary school about pirates who sailed the seas and battled giant alligators. I thought the lead captain character was the best. I played pirates a lot back in those days. I’d put on a hat, wield a stick-saber, and go out with my friends in search of hidden treasure.”

Jack based his idea for Savanaclaw’s Halloween costumes on these childhood memories.

Werewolf lore seems to be a thing in Twst, with Jack saying that they are “the monsters that wolf-beast-people are said to turn into when they get possessed by the power of the full moon. Back home, they’d tell kids not to stay up too late or they’d turn into werewolves.”

[kleenex-tissues]

Can We Try Again? I'll Do It Right This Time

Summary: Jason Todd fights his entire life to find somewhere he feels safe. All he ever wanted was to be saved.

A character study on Jason pre-Robin to his time as Red Hood, and an ode to my love for the complexity of his character.

Read on AO3 here

This fic is rated M for graphic depictions of (TW) violence.

Jason Todd is just nine years old the first time he realizes the transient nature of human life. His father abandons him after a stint in prison, and his mother takes her last breath before his very eyes. It takes him an hour to notice she’s stopped breathing. He thought she was just taking a nap. 

When his father first leaves two years ago, Jason doesn’t understand where he is going. He doesn’t know what prison means or why so many men in blue outfits and funny hats came into their house to take his dad away. His mom cries, throwing herself against the floor, so he does too. He isn’t sure why, but it feels like the right thing to do.

His mother’s health starts going slowly, and Jason almost doesn’t notice that it coincides so perfectly with her increasing addictions. It starts small. She coughs a lot after her cigarette. She smells like smoke and it makes his nose burn, but he loves his mother and hugs her anyways. It was just one cigarette a day, but suddenly she’s smoking the last one in the pack before the night ends. The smell never goes away.

Then, the liquor bottle that sits beside their couch is empty, followed by a dozen more. Jason takes them out every week, and eventually, the bags become too heavy for him and they sit outside the door. His mom acts funny after she drinks, and her hands strike his face. His cheeks burn with her handprints, but he loves his mother and hugs her anyways when she apologizes.

Sometimes, she sits and coughs and vomits on the floor. Jason doesn’t know how to clean it up well, so the hardwood always has a little stickiness to it. He laughs when his feet stick and makes a game of it.

A year passes from the day his father left, and his mom said he would be home months ago. He wonders if that’s why she screams more or sleeps too long and makes him late to school. She looks pale – a new word he learns that week in reading class. He doesn’t know why she doesn’t move much, but one day she tells him to go down the street and grab the doctor. So, he bounds down the pavement towards the dirty door belonging to their doctor friend. He’s not sure what their friend will do, but he leads him back to his home anyways.

“She’s sick,” the doctor says, and Jason could have told him that. He doesn’t say why she’s sick or how he’ll help, but he stops by sometimes to check on her. 

His mom begins taking pills, and he assumes they’ll help her get better. She starts taking shots too, but he doesn’t think they’re helping very much because afterwards she lays on her bed and ignores him for hours. He eats cereal for dinner those nights.

The bills start to pool below the door where they come through the mail slot. He doesn’t understand money very well, but he knows they don’t have any. His mom isn’t working. Her medicine is harder to buy now, she says, so he starts mimicking the men his mom brings home sometimes and begins stealing.

At first, it's small things, a candy bar at the store because he’s hungry, a t-shirt he really likes that he knows will actually fit him. He’s not worn a shirt the right size since his dad left, but his mom can’t help that he had such a large growth spurt.

Then, his mom begins hitting him more, crying that she can’t pay the bills and it was all his fault, so he asks the tall guy who hangs around the alleyway how he can make more money. The man tells him to start taking car parts, so he does.

Jason is good at it. The guy gives him a tire iron and never comes back. He wonders where he went, but forgets about it quickly, more interested in what pieces he can take without anyone noticing. It’s a game for him, as all things were. He has fun, and his mom smiles and kisses his forehead when he brings back the money he got from the mechanic in the next neighborhood. He loves his mom, so he takes her kisses and hugs her even though she feels too thin and smells rotten.

He makes a large sum of money one week and excitedly brings it back to his home, where his mom lays on the couch and rasps out a breath. The needle is still stuck in her arm, so he pulls it out and throws it away for her. 

He sits with her, hopes she’ll wake up soon so he can tell her about his day, but she never wakes up. She went silent hours ago, so he runs back to their doctor friend and brings him to the apartment. Jason doesn’t know where his mom is going when the funny men in blue return and take his mother away under a sheet. All he knows is that she isn’t coming back, so he runs away. If those men catch him, he’s not sure if he’ll ever get to return either.

No one wants to help the dirty street rat, especially when no one in the neighborhood can take care of themselves. He hopes that Batman will come. He’s seen him flying through the night, helping the needy and defeating the bad guys. Jason’s needy right now. He’s alone and scared and misses his mom, so he really hopes Batman will come.

But one man can’t save every life in the city. 

Jason finds himself crawling through the gap of a broken door in a sketchy alley. It's just big enough for his small frame to move through, and the abandoned building behind it seems warm, at least for now. At least until Batman comes. 

But Batman doesn’t come to save Jason, so he has to save himself. He steals small things here and there to make a bed and keep his belly from hurting. Yet nothing he can steal will ever be enough for his hunger to go away, and the cold air of Gotham City never seems to cease.

Two years have passed, and Jason is eleven years old. He is cold and hungry and angry, and the man who he sat and prayed would save him every night is once more flying above the streets of Gotham, not a care in the world. Jason feels wronged.

So he pulls the tire iron he keeps tucked underneath his makeshift bed and sets off to the alley Batman came from. He puts the iron to the wheel of the Batmobile, desperate to get back at the man who never came to his rescue.

A shadow looms behind him as he struggles with the lug nuts. He knows it’s Batman. He should be washed over with fear. If he were anyone else, he might, but right now, all he feels is rage. He turns, his tire iron in hand, and goes to strike.

But Batman’s hands rest on his shoulders to hold him back. Even through the gloves, Jason feels the warmth — a warmth he hasn’t known since his dad went to prison and his mom stopped playing with him.

She used to kiss his head before putting him to bed and make soup when he was home with a fever. Her hands were always so warm, just like this, and suddenly he’s crying. Wet, hot tears stream down his face as he sobs into Batman’s chest.

There’s surely snot on his suit, but Batman doesn’t leave. He wraps his arms around the boy and holds him tight. It’s warm and for the first time in a long time, Jason is safe. He feels it down to his bones and the steady melody of his heart, beating ‘safe, safe, safe.’

His anger has subsided and he’s filled with grief. He mourns his family and the home he'll never return to, the boy he couldn’t save and the one that finally will be. He’s safe, so he lets all the emotion bottled up in his tiny body out into Batman’s chest, impossibly broad and strong. No fear will make way outside of the comforting arms of his hero, and he’s okay with that. Jason, for what he’s now sure is the first time in his life, is safe.

–

Jason forcefully tears himself from the ground at the age of seventeen, six years after meeting Bruce and two removed from his untimely death. He does not know where he is or how he got here, but he knows he needs to get away. It’s surely another way the Joker has decided to torture him, and he won’t be defeated so easily. He is Robin, the partner of Batman and he should never feel scared. They are meant to make the bad guys feel scared. 

His legs are unsteady as he runs haphazardly from the hole he emerged from. His chest is burning, and he barely notices the large T-shaped scar running down his torso. He didn’t remember Joker doing that, but he also doesn’t remember being buried six feet under. 

Talia finds him first. Jason tries to lift his arms into a defensive position, but his limbs feel like jelly and instead, he finds himself falling unceremoniously into her. He feels her grab him before the world goes dark once more.

He’s awake again, and he feels like he’s drowning. He flails around, attempting to grab something, anything to pull himself out of the water. It burns against the T-shaped scar, against his lungs, and rough hands reach in to pull him upwards. They grip against his shoulders, leaving crescent-shaped marks in his flesh. The tension of the water pushes against him, trying to keep him from breaching the surface, but suddenly he’s through and air reaches down his throat against his straining lungs. 

Voices indistinctly whisper around him, muttering in a language he cannot understand, but he picks up his own name and Bruce’s. He didn’t need to know the words they were saying to know that something was deeply off.

So he bolts, his legs fighting his will to move. He’s barely made it a few feet away before he’s knocked to the rough cave floor. A foot presses in the center of his spine, and he knows no amount of adrenaline pumping through his body can push back against the weight. He’s somehow done it – made it to Hell. Maybe he’ll see his father. But maybe even the Devil couldn’t find a place for that man.

The days after tell him, surely, that’s where he is right now. Talia is there, haunting the corners of his vision. She never speaks to him, and quite frankly, he’s not sure that she’s actually real. Her skin always emanates a hazy green, just like the water they pulled him from. She could have looked that way naturally, but his scrambled memory whispers otherwise.

Sometimes, she has a shadow. Mostly, it’s indistinguishable from the other shadows dancing along the wall, but every once in a while, he feels his stomach roll looking at it. This is when the shadow looks like Bruce.

The eyes are a different color, shining with the same green he sees around Talia, but the shape of them – those are Bruce’s eyes. He had spent so many years idolizing the man, memorizing every frown line and stray gray hair. He would know this face, and especially those eyes, anywhere. But he knows it must be a trick. Bruce was too stuck in the idea of redemption, for himself and others, to end up in Hell with him.

Jason often hears screams during his waking hours. Some are anguished. Some are gargled. But the screaming only ceases for a moment before it returns with a new voice. It echoes along the walls of the cave he is being kept in, shaking the stalactite dripping in the upper right corner of his field of vision.

That’s another thing – his head remains in the same position day and night. His arms are pinned to his sides and his ankles tied. They haven’t tortured him yet, but whatever demons are bringing those screams to his ears will come to him soon. He has no doubt regarding that, but he can’t be sure who’s face he’ll see above him next.

He hopes it isn’t Dick. He doesn’t think he can survive damnation with his brother’s disappointed eyes staring back at him. Jason knew, no matter what good he did as Robin, this is where he was supposed to end, but Dick never accepted that. He had that same fixation on redemption as their adoptive father, but with a warmth Bruce could never have. Dick made Jason feel like even he deserved a second chance.

Talia comes by the next day, and he knows the moment he sees the bowl in her hands, that he isn’t dead like he thought. He wasn’t lucky enough for that. Instead, he is damned to the clutches of Talia Al Ghul and a bowl of broth. It sits like lead on his stomach as she force feeds him, chiding him for fighting her iron grip on his jaw. He’s sure that at times he did hallucinate her presence, but this time, she is real. Terribly real and dripping with ill intent.

Her shadow takes form now, and he wants to cry when Bruce’s face stares back at him once more. His face is much younger and his skin a deep tan, and there is no care behind these cold green eyes. In fact, he cannot see anything but malice. He feels ashamed to be looked at this way with Bruce’s face. Has Bruce decided to abandon him just like his father?

The voice that comes from this mouth is different, however, and confusion begins swirling with the shame. This voice is high-pitched and no doubt that of a child’s. It tells him, in the same smooth way Talia speaks, that he is a fraud and “Baba was right to leave him to die.”

The rest of its speech returns to what he now realizes is Arabic, but the words won’t translate in his head. All he hears is that one sentence, over and over. Why was Bruce speaking this way? He would never want to see him die. 

Right?

Jason’s spirit falls further, despite it having already hit rock bottom days ago, but the shame and confusion now build into anger. He fights against his restraints, knocking the remnants of his meal to the floor. Talia tries to calm him, firmly pressing him back against the seat. He tries to move his head to bite her but to no avail; it’s firmly held by a thick leather strip.

He spits at her instead. 

Her face contorts in anger, cheeks flushing red, and she begins berating him. She’s screaming, “What a pathetic little ‘boy wonder!’ You don’t seem to understand the circumstances of your situation.” He stops thrashing around, and her face returns to her usual sultry smile. “Bruce left you to die. When the Joker kidnapped and tortured you, Bruce took his sweet time coming to ‘save’ you. The one man in the world you thought loved you left you to die and buried your body in a shallow grave.”

Jason attempts to shake his head before realizing he’s still trapped.

“Oh, yes. It’s tragic, really. But that’s when I came to save you.”

Talia began to strut across the length of the thin cave.

“See, the world had a little shift that brought a few people back to the living world, you being one of them, but it had some unexpected issues. Your body had already partially decomposed, and you would have never made it off of that mountain without me. I brought you to my home, finished reviving you in the Lazarus Pit, and nursed you back to health. I even brought your baby brother to see you.”

Jason is fumbling out a barely intelligible, “My brother…?”

His eyes trace to the figure now hanging from the ceiling. It’s Bruce, or maybe not. He isn’t sure until the boy speaks. “Damian Al Ghul, the blood son of Batman.”

–

Jason spends the better part of a year recovering and regaining his stamina. It turns out, being revived in the Lazarus Pit is not as easy as Ra’s Al Ghul makes it seem. He learns how to walk for the second in his life before building his motor function back to what it used to be. For the most part, he’s in better shape than he had been before his death, but he’s still only seventeen. He thinks he has been seventeen longer than he should have.

He tries to wear clothing that hides his autopsy scar, and gloves to cover his scarred knuckles. He doesn’t remember where these come from, but he can make some educated guesses. The one thing he can’t seem to hide, though, is the big shock of white that now stained his fringe. The rest of his hair has grown back to his natural ginger, something he used to dye black to match Bruce.

The brother Jason never knew about suddenly tails him everywhere. He’s silent mostly, only speaking to criticize his fighting form. His entire demeanor deceives the fact that he is only seven years old.

And Jason mutters, “I thought my childhood had been screwed up.”

Sometimes, they sit in a room together reading, and Damian asks him about his father. Jason says good things, at first, but as time goes on, he finds he only has angry words to spit about him. The man had abandoned Jason, and now he is abandoning Damian, too. Damian eventually stops asking, sated to sit in silence while they read Shakespeare’s plays. 

Jason finds that it only makes him resent Bruce more. 

They train together, and eventually Jason is able to brute force his brother into submission during spars. He likes that he now retains muscle mass. His lanky youth had held back any hope of being strong. Damian begins to undergo his own growth spurt, as well. 

But their repetitive schedule suddenly comes to an abrupt end when Jason hears of the one thing he dreads most: Batman’s newest Robin. Apparently, the boy appeared on the scene not long after Jason’s death day and was becoming a real concern amongst the League.

Jason leaves without a plan, pushed onward by rage and embarrassment. He doesn’t know what he will do when he arrives in Gotham, but he knows Bruce like the back of his hand and has no doubt he’ll find him. Combined with a healthy stack of guns and ammunition, he could do whatever he wanted. He can get revenge, or he can even take back what is rightfully his.

The fight is a blur. He remembers yelling at Bruce for abandoning him, for never seeking revenge. He doesn’t understand why reformation and revenge can’t co-exist. Bruce is crying underneath the cowl. He hurts the new Robin. He shoots at Dick. Bruce is on the ground.

And he wakes up in his old bed. Not the one in the mansion or the apartment. No, it’s the one he slept in when he was nothing more than a poor orphan on the streets. It’s just as cold as he remembers. 

–

Jason spends the next two years making life miserable for Bruce just to spite him. Dick comes to visit him sometimes, usually finding him in the alleyways of Gotham. He tries to talk, brings along meals from Alfred, and Jason walks away from him every time.

He sees the new Robin darting across the night sky. Dick says his name is Tim, and Jason laughs. He’s not sure what is so funny, but he finds he can’t stop. The laughter makes anger bubble in his throat. He cuts Tim’s line that night, and watches him fall before Bruce swings through to save him. That only makes Jason angrier.

He starts wearing a helmet, red like fresh blood, and takes on Joker’s original identity – Red Hood. It’s ironic, becoming the person who ruined his life. But he sees how it makes Bruce’s skin crawl, and decides he likes the name.

Most nights he only commits petty crimes. On nights when the nightmares seem to consume him, he turns to felonies. He particularly likes theft and arson.

Sometimes, when he becomes annoyed with Dick, he dons a makeshift Nightwing costume, and dumps a herd of criminals on the front steps of the police station. He likes to do good things, too, but he truly does it to see how much it frustrates his brother. He knows Dick can’t say anything because Jason is being a hero again, but Nightwing was never meant for anyone else to wear. He knows it was meant to be a slight at Bruce. It was supposed to empower Dick. But now, it’s empowering Jason instead. Dick struggles to stifle his anger.

Jason enjoys his time in the dark belly of Gotham, but he misses his family some nights. Those are the cold and lonely ones, when no amount of fire can make up for the fact that he’s nineteen years old. Nineteen year olds aren’t supposed to be crime lords. Nineteen year olds aren’t supposed to live in alleyways and a rotating chain of safe houses.

He never sleeps in the same place for more than a few days at a time, and he begins to miss the monotony of the mansion. He misses warm meals that weren’t made in a stolen microwave. He misses the things that made him gentle. He misses a time when he didn’t have to feel so angry. He misses Bruce, but he would never say any of this aloud.

His tipping point comes sneaking up on him one night. No formal announcement was made – it never was – that a new Robin was on the scene, but Jason knew the moment this child took his first step out of the cave.

It was Damian, his baby brother, here to finally claim his birthright.��The traitor.

And now even he looks at Jason with disappointment. He can’t take it. But he’s suddenly falling into madness the moment the words leave Bruce’s mouth.

“Jason, you were my biggest regret.”

The rest of his speech becomes white noise and red hot anger. There is fighting and blood, and even though Tim stops being the Robin, he is now Red Robin . That’s all the justification Jason needs to beat his face in. He plans to return for Damian another day. Then, Dick. And he wants Bruce to see every single time. He wants to show him what it really means to regret something.

Bruce disappears a few months later. Jason sees it as an opportunity. 

His costume is not nearly as high tech as Bruce’s was, but he only really needs the impression of Batman to pull it off. He doesn’t have it. All he gets in return is a set of handcuffs and a trip to Arkham. He had taken so many things from Dick; he supposes it was time he had to give something up.

He tries to count the days he’s been locked up, wonders if this is where they used to keep his father, but he loses track. The time blurs together. At some point, he makes friends with Harley Quinn. They share the burden of having been traumatized by the same men. She sneaks him an extra pillow, claiming that death always gives people a stiff neck. He doesn’t laugh as hard as she does.

When his mood sours, she plays therapist, finally putting her doctorate to good use. She does a decent job, he thinks, and some days, he almost thinks he can forgive Bruce. But then Bruce Wayne returns, and the anger with it.

He says he doesn’t care. Harley knows it is a lie, but she doesn’t dain to say it aloud. She just sneaks him an extra pudding cup that night. Jason cries.

When Bruce appears in his cell the next day, he ignores him, chalking it up to a bit of pit madness. He doesn’t believe that Bruce will ever look at him with those kind eyes again, but he steals glances at the delusion anyways. They sit in silence, and Jason is thankful that his mind isn’t so far gone as to start hearing voices.

Imaginary Bruce returns day after day, sitting in the same rusty chair in the corner of Jason’s cell. Eventually, Jason starts letting himself look at him, and then he’s yelling at him. He curses at him for having given up on him. He pounds his fist on the cell wall, screaming, and Imaginary Bruce stares back at him with a sad smile.

One day, Bruce stops being imaginary. He places a calloused hand on Jason’s shoulder, their eyes meet for just a moment, and everything comes pouring out. Jason cries, tearing at Bruce’s clothes in a desperate attempt to crawl into his arms. He wants to feel safe again. He wants to be eleven years old and do it all over again. He would do it right this time. He would become Batman’s pride instead of a symbol of his greatest regret. This time, Jason could be Bruce’s real son.

[greatwyrmgold]

Long before reaching the Wano Country arc, I'd heard a fair amount of gender discourse around Yamato, son of Kaido. When Kaido's retainers started talking about him, I was readying myself to consider Yamato through that lens. I'd already had some half-formed thoughts, but they'd need to be tempered by how Yamato was actually presented when he first appeared on-page.

I always knew Luffy could smash the Straw Hats' plans, but I never thought he could do that to me!

Luckily, Yamato's bullheadedness wins out over Luffy's, so I can start having informed opinions about Yamato Discourse by the end of the chapter. And there's one page which both strongly informs those opinions and can't be easily broken into separate panels.

Okay, so let's start with the simplest thing. Those two panels in the right-middle. Luffy is confused because Yamato called himself Kaido's son, but Yamato's build is feminine under those big swishy robes. Yamato explains that he "chose to be a man," and the conversation moves on. So that suggests that Yamato's gender is significant enough to comment on, but not a central focus of his character.

On the other hand, Yamato's introduction feels almost identical to those scenes in cartoons where some new character shows up in a mask, and they act badass and stuff, and then at the end of the scene they dramatically remove their mask/hood/whatever and the main characters gasp and realize that she's a girl! Yamato literally takes off a mask, and half a splash page shows off his womanly character design, and Luffy is confused that he looks like a girl. The only difference is that Yamato says he isn't actually a girl.

The point I'm getting at is that this makes Yamato not being a cis man feel like a plot twist. The specific type of plot twist written by uncreative or misogynist writers who need to include a girl character but assume that kids won't accept a girl character unless she shows off her badassery before showing off her femininity. This makes Yamato's gender seem like a major part of his character.

On a different other hand, Yamato's name box calls him "Kaido's daughter" with narrator's-voice certainty. It doesn't call him that because Kaido insists on calling Yamato a girl; he explicitly calls him his son multiple times in prior chapters. So does everyone else; they call Yamato Kaido's son whether Kaido is listening or not, so they're probably not just saying that because Kaido would whup them if they didn't respect Yamato's identity.

Yet the narrator calls Yamato a daughter.

If there's not some translation nuance I'm missing, this...it feels bad. The narrative draws great attention to Yamato not being a cis man, then the narration calls him a girl against the judgement of every character who has talked about him.

And on top of that, Yamato's explanation of his gender feels weirdly...I'm torn between "incidental" and "instrumental". Yamato claims he chose to be a man because he wants to be more like Kozuki Oden; his gender is a mere instrument to a gender-irrelevant goal, and it's a pretty minor part of that goal.

When I listen to actual trans people tell their stories (or read transgender characters written by trans authors), there's not one specific thing that they're trying to do by becoming a man/woman. This isn't that. Yamato doesn't feel uncomfortable in a feminine role or euphoric when she presents masc. Yamato's gender isn't anything so generalized; it's a single, concrete, cause-and-effect explanation. Yamato wants to be like Oden, so he's a he.

Uncharitably, it feels like an author who doesn't understand trans identities trying to guess why a daughter might want to be a son. More charitably (but not very), it feels like an author who wants to include more queer characters for whatever reason, but also wants plausible deniability to avoid any controversy. Yamato can be trans if you want him to be, or a deluded girl if you want her to be. Keep it ambiguous enough and it's win-win!

Most charitably, Oda wanted to include a transgender character without telling a transgender story. (Probably a good call; I'd love to see a trans seinen* write a battle manga about a trans shonen*, but Oda's not the right seinen for the job.) So he wrote a trans man, stuck in two panels explaining why he looks like he does,† and tried not to draw too much attention to it.

*TL Note: "Seinen" means "man" and "shonen" means "boy". Well actually, both terms are more specific than that, but for the purpose of explaining that sentence, they're basically "man" and "boy".

†Snarky note: Weird how Oda felt that readers needed an explanation for Yamato's boobs but not his horns. Yeah, Kaido also has horns, but it's not like Oda explained them either!

But if Oda was trying not to draw to much attention to Yamato's gender, if he was trying to include queer characters without making a big deal out of it, he failed. Yamato's real character design getting a dramatic "Samus is a girl!"-type reveal scuttled that before it could leave port. And that's not getting to the baffling "Kaido's daughter" label.

With the power of hindsight, I can see a better way to handle Yamato with ease. Have Yamato introduce himself to Luffy without Luffy getting confused by his appearance. (A dude who looks like a lady is far from the weirdest kind of dude Luffy's seen on the Grand Line. Heck, he saw a dude actively turned into a lady by Emporio Ivankov.) Later, when Yamato meets the other Straw Hats, Sanji can do his usual schtick, then Yamato can correct him and explain the Oden thing. This makes Yamato's gender identity clear enough from the start—everyone treats him like a man—without making a big deal out of it.

Also, get rid of that "Kaido's Daughter" popup. Lies have no place in that kind of character introduction.

[bubuslutty]

part 8: carpool karaoke

Pairing: platonic moon boys x fem!reader

word count: 897

Tags: reader is referred to darling because i said so (and steven calls her darling cuz he’s a lil british dude innit), some fluff with our boy Jake!!

Warnings: none

Summary: darling stays late to the library and texts jake to come n pick her up

a/n: Nu Nu & You Wish by Flyana Boss

Me: jake

Me: are you done with work?

Jake: yeah why?

Me: are you home?

Jake: not yet

Me: can you pick me up pls?

Jake: where are you?

Me: library

Jake: I’ll be there in 15

Darling waits for Jake in front of the library building, hood pulled over her head and trying to act like a roadman so she won’t get harassed or killed by some stranger in the middle of the night.

When Jake pulls up in his black taxi, she sighs in relief, bag slung over her shoulder and opens the passenger door, getting in and chucking her bag into the back seats.

“How was work?” She asked, turning her head to look at the man, a dark shadow cast over his eyes due to his hat, his gloved fingers resting on the wheel.

“Good, how was studying?” He asked.

“Torture, can I play some music?” 

“Sure. Are you hungry?” Jake asked and she paused for a second, “A bit yeah, do you want to go somewhere specific?”

Jake ends up driving them to his favourite Kebab place while Darling sings along to the music playing through the car’s speakers. And Jake bobs his head along the beat, tapping his fingers against the wheel when they’re at a red light while Darling sings her heart out to the cuntiest and girliest song ever, and this time it’s songs from a duo called Flyana Boss.

She even goes as far as to make a whole seated choreography in his passenger seat while he glances at her once in a while, secretly amused. She sure has a lot of energy when she has very visible dark circles and droopy tired eyes, maybe it’s human zoomies or some shit, whatever it is, it gives Jake some entertainment in his otherwise empty cab.

Jake also ends up victim to listening to whatever new music she’s listening to at the moment, gracing his ears with new noises and melodies every other week when he has to drive her somewhere. And sometimes, he adds some of her played songs to his own Spotify playlist, without telling her of course, because that’ll make her ego big for no reason and annoy him.

And when they do get kebabs, they sit at a two-person table, facing each other while eating. And Darling is rambling and babbling about random things, she does that sometimes, if she gets enough tired, she somehow becomes delusional and starts talking with no filter.

Jake doesn’t mind the chatting, he’s just happy to be eating something before passing out in bed to rest. But hanging out with their neighbour is also nice. It was nice to have to listen to another voice other than Khonshu’s or the screams of death and pain in dark hallways.

Jake doesn’t tell her about his job, she knows he’s a cab driver as cover, but has never asked anything about what he actually does. And she’s no dummy, she knows he serves Khonshu’s justice with his fists and a gun strapped up to him at all times.

To put it shortly, he’s quite a grey character while she’s violently colourful.

“Yep, that’s what I’m talking about, yummy in my tummy-” Darling talks to herself and nods while devouring her kebab and shoving chips down her throat.

“Thanks for paying, by the way.” She thanks him without looking up.

“Don’t worry about it, anything for my favourite clown.” Jake teases, taking off his hat and running his hand through his slicked-back hair, white crisp button-up stretching over his broad shoulders, muscled back and biceps.

“Hey!” Darling glares at him and he laughs, “You’re a clown. You sometimes dress like one, and you procrastinate revising for tests and then when they approach, you have a panic attack and Steven has to hold your hand while you revise.” 

“Don’t make fun of me, I’m trying!” Darling whines, taking a swing from her Fanta.

“I know,” Jake says, and that’s one of the closest things he can get to as a compliment.

“I’m done, let’s go.” Darling eventually says, slapping her hands on her thighs like a 40-year-old dad and starts cleaning up the table while Jake helps and wears his jacket and hat.

“Cheers, bossman! Good night!” Darling says loudly, giving the man behind the counter a thumbs up and walking out of the door as Jake gives the man a polite nod.

Jake unlocks the cab and goes around to his door, and when he notices her still standing there, he frowns, “What are you doing?”

“Look,” She points at the sky, behind him, and he turns around, “The moon looks beautiful tonight.” 

Jake looks up at the sky, free of any clouds and sees the bright moon shining in the middle of the sky, in all of its beautiful glory, “Hm, it’s nice.”

“Jake, whatever you’ve done tonight, you did a good thing. So thank you.” Darling says, voice low, almost a whisper.

Jake doesn’t say anything and keeps staring at the moon, feeling a warmth spread through his chest. He shivers and turns to look at her, “Get in, Steven has class tomorrow and so do you.” 

“Fine, mum.” Darling groans dramatically and gets in the car, buckling herself in.

“Can I play some mu-”

“Hell nah.”

“Why not? I thought you liked my music?”

“You’ve had your turn, now it’s mine.”

Tag list (pls ask to be added or removed): @bobastayhigh @weblesstherains @h-leigh @unspokenmoon @ahookedheroespureheart @thursdaywritings @gebstargeb 

[hughiecampbelle]

Hi, I’m pretty new to making requests and I’m quite shy about it so I’ve tried making a few here and there recently but I’m still learning how much detail to include and stuff like that so please bear with me!

Firstly, congratulations on your achievement and I hope you are feeling better 😊 I saw on your posts that we can request specific characters for the ship so I would love to request to be shipped with Frenchie as he’s one of my fave characters in anything, not just in The Boys. I’m female (she/her pronouns), have dyed dark red hair, green eyes, only 5ft tall (but I love being short), and I have a lot of tattoos, including both my calves/upper arm/wrists/foot, and many of which I collected while travelling so they have very sentimental meaning. I’m British but not a Cockney like Butcher. My style is all over the place but I have a huge love for jackets and hats, and I love both black and pastel colours.

Hobbies - I write poetry, and have done since I was very young, but I’m still shy about it. I’m an amateur/hobbying archer (barebow recurve) and it’s really becoming a big passion of mine and makes me feel like a badass Robin Hood whenever I practice. I love a lot of media – movies/tv/videogames and co-run a movie club. I also absolutely adore a really diverse amount of music but rock and metal have a particularly special place in my heart and I love rock gigs. Two of my biggest passions are wildlife and travelling, I love all creatures and any time I’m travelling or caring for animals that’s my happy place. I take part in local quizzes and try (not very well) to learn various languages like Spanish, Finnish, Japanese and, yes, a little French as well. I love crafts and photography and try to be creative. My fave place I’ve ever been is southern Africa. Fave movies include Edward Scissorhands, Fight Club, Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Personality – I’m a Libra and naturally super flirty but I struggle with esteem issues so I tone it down because of that. I think my friends would say one of my best assets is being funny, not in a comedian kind of way but in general conversation, I have quite a strong sense of humour. I’m very emotional and sensitive but see these as positives and I have a strong sense of justice as well. I’m a proud nerd and love the family feeling that fandom brings. I think my HP house would be Ravenclaw. My dream job would be running a sanctuary for animals. I always fall for people I’m friends with first, and I love sweetness.

I hope this is all ok and enough/not too much!

The second Frenchie sees you with your bow and arrow, that man swoons. He's a puddle of himself, a mess. For the first time in his life he's speechless. He absolutely adores watching you practice. You laugh at him, saying he has better things to do, but there is no place on Earth he'd rather be than with you

You two do this thing in the car or at the office where you switch off playing songs. Most of his French techno or rap, but there are definitely a few gems you've found because of him. He has an entire playlist of music you show him titled Mon Couer and he is constantly bragging about your perfect taste in rock and metal

Frenchie promises you, when this whole mess is over, when you finally take down Vought and Homelander, you'll travel the world. He makes you make a list of every place you want to see and he assured you, you'll see it all together. You'll be free to explore and travel. You'll never have to come back to this disaster of a city

That man loves your humor. If you can't laugh off the ridiculous and dangerous situations you find yourselves in, what's the point? He has a habit of making wildly inappropriate jokes that you can't help but laugh at. He's quick witted and he appreciates that you can keep up with him

Your sense of justice is what keeps both Frenchie and the team on the ground. It's what keeps everyone level headed in this fight instead of, like Butcher's thought process, an act of revenge. When the team is feeling defeated, you're the one to give him a pick-me-up speech, you're the one to remind them that this is a fight you can't give up on

Hope you like it my love!!!! Xoxoxo💜💜💜💜

Want to request a ship?

[call-sign-shark]

Hi darl, bc I'm obsessed with your OC Heaven and all her lore, I'm curious to know...What bedtime story would Heaven tell John's kids if she was babysitting one night? If not a bedtime story, what games would she play with them?

Ohhh Lee, this is an adorable and interesting question. Thank you so much for asking, and seriously, you make me blush. I'm so moved you're kinda obsessed with little Heaven! Thank you so much, I hope you'll like the answer! 🥺💚 Let's do this as headcanons.

• She's not so effective when it comes to games -- In fact, she lets Arthur does that because he's always so good at inventing little games and entertaining kids. When it comes to games, Heaven would usually pick Hide and Seek. Overall, the kids go for Arthur if they wanna play, and go to Heaven for activities (cooking, wandering in the forest etc...) or for stories because, God, she's the queen of Fairy Tales.

• Heaven is absolutely fond of fairy tales, myths, and legends. She is an inexhaustible source of stories and knowledge about such topics, partly thanks to her father.

• When John asks her to babysit his children or when the kids go to vacations at Uncle Arthur's house, they know they are going to have fun and get spoiled with French cooking and delicious pastries. But for sure their favorite part is when Aunt Heaven tells them bedtime stories.

• Since John's kids do not want to go to bed, she had found a very effective idea: rather than telling stories in the bedroom, she makes the kid gather around her on a comfy fur carpet on which she had placed a ton of pillows and blankets, right in front of the fireplace. Then, she sits in the middle so that the kids can lean on her or hug her - especially Katie, who always clings to her.

• She would obviously tell them her favorite fairy tales: The Red Riding Hood, The Devil With the Three Golden Hairs, and Goldilocks. She also invents stories from scratch, mixing her own imagination and her favorite myths/creatures.

• But what she likes the best is telling them the story of Alice's adventures in Wonderland because she's in love with Lewis Carroll's works. But there is a little plot twist with this last one...

• Sometimes, she replaces the characters with people from the family or with the family's friends. Taking this into account, Katie becomes Alice and her unnamed siblings are also assigned to a character. Want a few examples.

• "And then! Katie found the Mad Hatter, who looked like her own dad except he had a very great hat on his head. The Mad Hatter, chewing on a toothpick, was arguing with the March Hare. In fact, he wanted the March Hare to stop drinking whisky. Vexed, the March Hare stopped playing with his mustache, grabbed a cup of tea, and threw it at the poor Mad Hatter, who managed to avoid it!"

• It works every time, and the kids end up falling asleep all around her. The thing is, it does not only work with them...

• When she's telling stories, Arthur either leans against the door frame and listens to her, a faint smile etched on his lips and his blue eyes shining with undescribable affection. He falls in love with her all over again... Or he kind of joins the herd, sitting on the couch right behind them. When he does this, he 100% falls asleep in less than ten minutes.

• One time John spotted the whole scene and, putting one hand on his heart as if it has been too cute to handle, he turned towards Arthur and said with utmost envy "Lucky bastard."

✞ Heaven is “you” in Heaven in Your Eyes, an Arthur x Reader!OC ongoing series. Check out the Masterlist || Last chapter published.

[harr0w7]

OC LORE FINALLY!! (Not all, but I want to explain my drawing with it) (Trigger warning for 4buse)

Klayne (black hooded guy) ever since he lost his mother and found a job at the Diamond Organization, has lived his next 2 years being gas-lit, 4bused, mistreated, pushed away and cut off from the others by his boss Mayah. At his limit of endurance, Klayne attempted one night to murder Mayah with a silver knife, but the plan failed and all the rumors about Klayne being a bad person would become more difficult to be proven otherwise, especially since Mayah has already gained the other member's trust about Klayne. Therefore, Klayne escaped while being pursued by Mayah's bodyguards...

Klayne, thinking he has been left on his own, would never expect someone to come rescue him, nor help him; that until Rei (guy with the hat) shows up to him, telling him that he had witnessed for those 2 years Mayah's wrongdoings towards Klayne, apologizing for never acting on it out of fear and cowardice. Of course it took Klayne a long time before fully trusting Rei after all he has been through, Klayne has been hesitant to accept Rei's help and even believe his words, but eventually he gave in, realizing that Rei is just there to help him and is genuine with his intentions.

On their way to a safer place, both Klayne and Rei and the guards that were looking for Klayne got interrupted by a huge cat-like monster, an opportunity for Klayne and Rei to catch their pursuers off guard and run even farther away from them, leaving no trace anymore, but also a huge danger since the monster doesn't care whose blood it is going to feast on. The monster chases after the many bodyguards, harming and killing almost all of them, while Klayne and Rei are now on the other side of the forest; hiding behind a tree and a bush, waiting for any noise to disappear and escape entirely.

Rei and Klayne talk together, quietly, and have a heartwarming conversation until the cat-like monster finally finds them and chases after them too. On their way, Rei trips and falls, allowing the creature pursuing them to charge even faster and tackle Rei. Klayne is too terrorized to do anything despite him still holding his silver knife in his hands...he is watching the scene of his friend getting attacked, while he tries to approach very slowly, but his mind only throws him back to when he tried to kill Mayah, contrasting feelings of fear, terror, all mixed up in Klayne's damaged brain which eventually freeze him in place, his grip on the knife tight but he does nothing. However, Rei gets saved by Jupiter, another character I will introduce in another blog because for now this whole part is what will bring us back to what I have illustrated below:

a bit ahead in the story, Klayne and Rei find themselves in a cave, exploring it around and even finding a rather big rock stalactite. Klayne manages to take it off the ceiling, analyzing it with Rei. In this very cave, our protagonists meet the cat-like monster once again!

the monster attacks Rei again, immediately injuring his face and his arm; ripping part of his coat in the process. Klayne finds himself feeling terrified and helpless like the first time this has happened, he isn't holding his knife here, just the stalactite. But Klayne had had enough of being the bottom of the joke, the person that someone else (Mayah) turned him into, he is tired of trying to believe he is the worst and tired of proving others Mayah's words. He doesn't want to lose Rei, so he embraces courage and his strength to charge at the monster and slash its head off with the stalactite.

Klayne lets himself fall on his knees, reaching Rei; tears streaming down his face as he breathes heavily out of relief of finally fighting back, the suppressed stress, guilt and anxiety inside him which make the words "I'm not a monster" slip out of his mouth.

Rei smiles at him; he always believed in Klayne and always will, reassuring him that he can see that Klayne is not a monster, and showing his gratitude for helping him.

This symbolizes a huge step for Klayne in his journey to heal and forgive himself, giving himself a chance to fight back for himself, for the people who love him and take back his sense of identity, his own self.

I know this was long, but if you read it till here, thank you! I am seriously trying to develop my story more, a story I've been creating since 2019/20! I really hope I will make it to turn it into something, one day :)

and I hope the message of this story is clear, if not, well I'll be straightforward: the story is about healing, regardless of how long the journey will be, regardless of who you are, regardless of what you are, you are valid and your 4busers don't always have a reason to be who they are and don't always have a justification for what they did/do, sometimes they are just born evil and that's on them, not your fault. I'll explain Mayah in another blog of course, but;

Mayah will NEVER have resentment for what he did and does, but his victims will ALWAYS suffer the consequences, blaming their own selves because of him. He will never change, even if people try to help him.

[liljakonvalj]

I watched Disney's Robin Hood tonight, and here are some of my highlights:

This movie is so FUN. Even as an adult who has seen this movie so many times I laugh out loud multiple times when watching it

Prince John being fooled by The cross-dressing Robin Hood and little John because he cannot fathom the idea of Female robbers

Everything about their heist is fun- but especially kissing away the ring jewels, the entire conversation between Robin and prince John, Prince John's reflection in the ball, sir Hiss being stuck in a basket and the thieves colliding when running out with their bounty

We're really shown how wicked the sheriff is, stealing coins out of the cast of a cripple, the birthday gift from a kid and a beggar

Robin is very good with kids and gives the birthday boy a bow, arrow and even his own hat

Turns out both Marian and her Lady in waiting Kluck are also terrific with children and their little playing with the children is absolutely adorable

Marian having a wanted poster of her beloved in her room is so funny to me, I cannot get over it.

Robin being a horrible cook because he is thinking about his lady love 😍

The cartwheels he does when he hears that the winner of the archery competition will get a kiss from lady Marian!❤❤👌

Also he has zero chill during the competition. Someone with brain cells might think that he should mess up a couple of the shots to be more inconspicuous, but not him.

Cleaving the sheriff's arrow with his own is a Legendary TM moment though

The little turtle cheering for his dad was adorable. I really enjoyed the looks of all the contestants too!

Robin and Marian's love confessions when he's been found out 😭

Little John is literally saving the day multiple times during the aftermath of the contest while wearing a crop top. Also him just vibing with the prince, or "PJ", is a testament to his acting skills.

After the fight breaks out Robin and Marin agree to marry, where to go for their honeymoon and discuss their future number of children (robin:"We'll have six children". Marian: "no, a dozen at least") They both have zero chill and are so hot for each other, it would be sickening if i didn't love it so much

Lady Kluck literally being Player of the Game during the fight, every single thing she does is a win

The entire fighting sequence is a joy from start to finnish

The song "Love" while Robin and Marian just walk around in the forrest talking and being well ... in love 😭😍❤

The scene with the warerlillies, fireflies and the flower-ring while they gaze into each others eyes is the textbook definition of Romance

Much of the animation in A Phoney king of England is borrowed from earlier movies, but I like the little game I make of trying to remember wich animations are from which movie

I also like Friar Tuck's little theatre setup and Robin using his bow as a, well, bow when playing the violin

The song becoming such a hit in the town that Prince John raises the taxes even more, resulting in several people being put in jail (The jail part is not a favourite but the song being a hit is)

Friar Tuck absolutely losing it when the sheriff steals from the box for the Poor in his church.👏👏

The double take Robin does when he hears his friend is to be hanged on the morrow, first out of character then in character as the beggar.

(In the swedish version Trigger, who is suspicious of the beggar remarks that "han har en räv bakom örat" lit. trans ="he has a fox behind his ear" which means that he is up to something. I thought it was a fun pun considering Robin is a fox)

I view the whole breaking into the castle sequence each Christmas (as is tradition) but I always forget how much from the movie they cut out of the Christmas show

(The whole sequence with Robin masquerading as Nutsy, John freeing the prisoners and about half the fight/flight when they escape is cut from the Christmas show)

Trigger being unable to properly secure his crossbow is a great running gag. He calls his crossbow "gamla Bettan" in Swedish- probably translated: "Old Betsy". I wonder what he calls it in other languages?

And each time I watch I lament that Robin gets too greedy, just leave that last money sack that the prince is cradling in his arms!!

Robin (and little John) turning around to fetch the little bunny is so in character and kinda heartbreaking because Robin almost dies

Robin is really fearing for his life - especially in the burning tower

Robin's face after his escape and Skippy claims that he could've swum double the distance

Was the ending rushed? Yes. Do I care? No.

[whisper-and-tangle]

STH AU - New Beginnings - Blazamy Fanfic

Eggman's retired. Sonic's in the city. The Master Emerald is safe. Blaze is visiting. Shadow's got a crush on Sonic. This tries to focus on blazamy, but it includes sonadow at part 6 and onward. Work In Progress.

Character rundowns below!

Knuckles: Has more time to see the world around him, but isn't entirely sure what to do with this time- he mainly just follows Sonic around and tries to help people whenever he can. Still looking for something to protect now that the Master Emerald and Angel Island are in good hands, without need of a protector, Knuckles lives in his own apartment not too far away from Sonic and Tails's. His apartment is filled with gym equipment, books, and a sleeping bag he considers his bed. He still says he preferred life on Angel Island- he had a purpose then, atleast, but he's clearly beginning to like the world around him. Knuckles has his usual attire, occasionally with a hat.

Sonic: With Eggman defeated and retired, and no major threats except from the occasional rogue Badniks, Sonic lives a fun-filled life in the city, having sharing an apartment with Tails. Sonic & Tail's apartment includes a metal bunk bed made by Tails, Tail's logo carved into it, Sonic having top bunk 'Because he's older', according to himself. The place is relatively messy, having cans and packets of food left around occasionally- but Tails usually keeps the place clean, and Sonic tries his best to aswell- he just doesn't have the best memory and forgets to do so. They've got multiple video game consoles Sonic either found for a cheap price, or that Tails made, along with some video games Sonic would buy whenever he gets the money, Sonic being thoroughly invested in some of the games, and Tails enjoying a few of the more sandbox/creative games, yet still a master at most games he plays. Sonic wears his special grey jacket he found in a dumpster years ago, having sewn on a blue circle with a mimicry of his shoes on it for a kind of 'symbol' to have on his jacket. The hood, however, is covered in stitches- usually from where Sonic's quills pierced it, but it's in decent condition and isn't as dirty or torn as it was when Sonic first found it.

Tails: Spends most of his time with Sonic, at the apartment playing video games, or at his new workshop- the old one having, unfortunately, been destroyed by Eggman before he retired,- tinkering and working on new gear or gadgets, and trying to fix up the remnants of the Tornado, hoping one day it'll fly again. He wears hoodies most of the time, finding them warm and comfortable, most of his hoodies being orange or blue.

Amy: The only one with an actual house- albeit a very small one, but a house. A tidy house adorned with framed pictures of her friends and or adventures, Amy's been relatively happy in the city, getting bored now and then however. She has a small shelf of boxing trophies, and has made carvings as a hobby once, to pass the time, and has became quite great at it, although she abandoned the hobby long ago. She still enjoys adventuring and frequently accompanies Sonic and friends whenever Badniks are spotted. She's also starting to form a relationship with Blaze- and yes, this is a blazamy fic. Amy just wears her regular clothes pretty much.

Badniks, what's the situation?: Eggman was defeated, and Badniks were not all defeated. They run rogue causing chaos until stopped, usually by Sonic and his friends. Might appear sometimes, but I'll try to make their appearances rare.

Blaze: Not much has changed here! She's still in her dimension and visits sometimes, having a crush on Amy.

Shadow & Team Dark: Shadow has gained a like for leather jackets, which, although they frequently get torn, he loves. Rouge has learned how to fix them, however, Shadow appreciating the help greatly. Shadow's learned to become more open about his emotions, but he's only really open to Team Dark and he still prefers to keep to himself at times. Rouge travels alot, going on heists and treasure hunts- Omega has been trying to track down Eggman after he retired and fled off the face off the earth, nowhere to be found, having a large board set up on the wall of his room in Team Dark's apartment, which they place their theories on where Eggman might be on. He's also put up missing posters, but they got removed very quickly. Team Dark lives in a large apartment, each of them having their own room- Rouge's room being decorated with jewelry and extensive gems, alongside a comfortable, expensive bed, Shadow's messy room being covered in posters for metal bands and his bed- which has a metal frame- is never made, although it always has black or red sheets. Yes, he painted his room black. Yes, he needed Rouge to help him reach the top of the walls. It was hilariously embarrassing for him, although Rouge didn't mind helping. Shadow has a black and red guitar on his wall, which he plays occasionally, alongside a large drawer filled with 'edgy' t-shirts and leather jackets. His room always has a couple soda cans scattered in it. He usually wears a leather jacket with an edgy shirt underneath, Omega's room is slightly dusty but tidy enough, and it's rather empty excluding some weapons Omega keeps around in case they're needed. Rouge and Omega just wear their regular outfits. They're all eager to fight rogue Badniks, and are still searching for Eggman- but Shadow and Omega don't travel that much. Oh, and Shadow and Sonic do have crushes on eachother, but both believe the other would never have one, and neither of them want to admit theirs, but Sonic has considered admitting his- and told Amy about his crush, who encourages his frequently to tell Shadow. 'The worst he can say is no.' She tells him, and Rouge tells Shadow. Team Dark also know's about Shadow's crush.

Kit & Surge: After Eggman's defeat and retirement, Tails managed to become closer with Kit and even convinced him to move to the city- and get away from Surge. Kit is now in a private therapy session working through his issues and abuse, and teaching him to be independent and not entirely dependent on an abusive figure, and him learning how to be his own person again. However, Kit isn't alone in his trauma- He's got Tails as a close friend now, and Sonic has told Kit that he's welcome at their apartment if he ever needs someone to be there for him. Occasionally, Kit will visit Tails at the apartment whenever he's sad, feeling lonely, had an encounter with Surge (more on that later), or just needs a shoulder to cry on. Tails became more of an emotional support for Kit, and it helps Kit greatly to know that he's got someone he can count on, if he's ever feeling down, having a net to fall on if he ever does fall. But other than that Kit resides with Vanilla and Cream, although he would like to have his own apartment ,he doesn't mind having a kind parental figure, and likely needs one before he can fully move on. Plus, he can't afford one. Surge is furious at Kit for leaving, and they had to have a court case against Surge to have her leave him alone- but they won, eventually, and Surge, although still mad, leaves him alone mostly. However, they do have some encounters. Surge didn't change much with Eggman's defeat; she moved to the city, much like Sonic and Tails and Kit, but she didn't stop bullying people. She'd rob people, smash cars- Cause chaos for the sake of chaos, and is usually stopped by Sonic and friends, or by Kit, who she desperately tries to avoid- she doesn't want to see him anymore, and hates him deeply, because he once helped her- and is now getting better, and she believes she can't get better herself. She's envious of him, but doesn't realize it- and despite Kit's numerous attempts to get her to atleast try therapy, she refuses, and even tries to hurt Kit (although rarely) when she sees him. Kit, although he doesn't want to feel it, still feels like Surge is his sister- he can't let go of her, and is struggling to. But he's got friends, therapy, and help, and is much happier now.

OTHER CHARACTERS!: They may or may not be mentioned, but they're doing they're own thing in the city and having a good time too or whatever. Whisper and Tangle got married, Vanilla moved into the city w/Cream, and Team Chaotix became a bigger detective agency in the city, being incredibly effective at solving crimes.

Manic & Sonia: Yes, they do exist, and Sonic didn't know they existed until not too long before Eggman was defeated. They don't talk much, Manic joined a band, but they're all friends despite the little interaction they have with eachother. Sonic's happy to hear he's got siblings, and Manic and Sonia are happy to see their brother again. They probably won't appear much, but may be mentioned.

PART 1

Blaze put her hands on her royal robes, brushing off dust and ash which came from burning leaves- a test of her abilities during her training, that she easily succeeded. "Well," She spoke as the flames that once stood on the fallen leaves flickered out. "I suppose it is time for me to visit.", She turned to the sun as she prepared to leave her realm. Meanwhile, Sonic sat at a small coffee shop in a light, sunny area of town. The roads were all but empty as cars were on every corner, except, somehow, the coffee shop. It was serene and felt like a heaven of sorts; Sonic and his friends, alongside the workers, considered themselves the only ones there, at the mysterious coffee shop. Knuckles dubbed the shop 'The Myth', due to it's unusual calmness and lack of employees or customers, whilst Tails thought there must be an explanation for the absence of everyone. Sonic, however? He was still waiting for his coffee, and didn't entirely care for the mystery- legend,- whatever you'd like to call it, of the shop. He was tapping his foot against the floor impatiently, sitting at a table alongside Tails and Knuckles, who were discussing the odd circumstances of the shop. Tap. Tap. Tap. That's all Sonic was focused on. The tapping of his feet against the wooden floor. Tap, Tap, Ta- Coffee's ready. Sonic was at the counter, waiting for the employee to hand him his coffee before they even went to speak. "Oh- Uh, Coffee for a Mr.Hedgehog?…Is that you?" The employee said with an awkward smile. "That'dbemeyep. Thanks!" Sonic said as he was passed his coffee, speeding back to his table and spilling a few drops whilst he ran, Tails and Knuckles having finished their discussion; coming to a pointless conclusion of, maybe, it's better left a mystery. Gives the shop some charm.

"Hey! Y'guys ready to order now?" Sonic asked them as he sat his coffee down onto the table, waiting for a response. "Oh- Huh? I'll just have the same as you, Sonic." Tails said as he put his furry hands in the pockets of his orange hoodie, laying back against the comfortable chair he sat on. "Mmm. Not sure if that'd be the best choice for you, buddy. This stuff's strooooonggg. You'd be bouncing off the walls!" Sonic said as he took a sip of his coffee, wiping his mouth on his arm shortly afterwards. "Okay…Let me have a think." Tails responded, grabbing the menu as Sonic turned to Knuckles. "What?" Knuckles asked, crossing his arms. Sonic raised an eyebrow and they stared at eachother for a mere moment. "Fine." Knuckles sighed, "I'll order. Do they have any food?" Knuckles asked as he picked up the last menu, Sonic shrugging in reply. Sonic raised the hoodie of his light grey jacket as a burning light appeared not so far outside the shop, Blaze entering soon after. "Hello." Blaze greeted them as she went to sit at the table, grabbing herself a chair from a different, empty table. "This place is awfully quiet." Blaze said, in an almost confused tone. "Yeah. That's what Tails has been trying to figure out- decided to let mysteries be mysteries now though, s'pose." Sonic replied. "Hm. The silence is nice, atleast. Maybe I'll visit here more often." Blaze said as she stared through the windows of the shop at the empty streets. "That'd be cool! Maybe we could head over to this old landfill Tail's has been scavenging. He built a little barn-workshop thing there already, didn't you, pal!" Sonic said happily as he turned to Tails. "Yeah- um, it's still a work in progress, though. Need to remove some of the garbage around it. It's pretty good at the moment now, though. It's a barn made of scrap metal that I painted yellow- the roofs are grey and metal, obviously, but the walls are all yellow, and the floor is wooden. I also built my own logo- It's at the front of the barn, near the roof, a giant metal circle with two tails in the middle. Cuz, y'know…Tails." Tails said as he pointed to his Tails, smiling slightly. "He's also figured out how to boost our gear! I've been wearing some different sneakers, 'cause Tails is working on improving mine at his workshop! He's gonna add these booster things, right? They'll gather up energy around me when I need it and provide me with extra speed- He's even working on Amy's hammer, giving it heavier hits and easier targeting! He could probably even do something to help you with your fire powers, Blaze!" Sonic spoke encouragingly as he rested a hand on Tail's shoulder, removing it as Blaze replied, "….Amy's going to be there?" She said quietly. "Uh, probably. Her Hammer's sorta there, so-" Sonic replied, confused. There was silence for a minute as Blaze stared at the windows again. "Okay. That'd be nice- Uhm, going there I mean. Not Amy being there." Blaze continued, slightly embarrassed at the end of her sentence. "Alright, sweet! We could head there tomorrow, maybe, if you're up for it!" Sonic said as Tails finally decided his order, and Knuckles shortly after. Both of them decided on getting coffee cakes, which Sonic sped over and ordered with some cash he found on the sidewalk a few weeks back. Blaze left as Knuckles and Tails finished eating their coffee cakes, heading off to explore the town a bit more before she leaves. "That was cool." Sonic says to Tails and Knuckles, smiling as they all leave the coffee shop and head back to their apartments.

PART 2

As the next day dawned, Blaze quickly left her chambers and prepared for the day ahead; She headed to her training grounds, where she sat in wait, making a domino-line-esque trail of leaves which she then lit on fire, until she finally reached the correct time; Sonic had likely arrived- or started traveling to- the coffee shop by now, and therefore she must aswell, it being the agreed meeting place. As Blaze opens the portal, Sonic, Tails, and Amy stand outside the coffee shop, talking to eachother as they wait. Sonic tapped his feet against the pavement impatiently, waiting for Blaze to arrive- "Hey, guys- Do you know where Knuckles went? Isn't he supposed to be here?" Amy queried. "Ah! Right, Knuckles. Yeah he decided to stay home today. Maybe something was wrong with his cake." Sonic replied, Tails raising the hood of his, er, hoodie, leaning back against the coffee shop wall. "Isn't this considered loitering?" He asked. "Mm. Good question, actua-" Sonic was cut off by a spark of flame and an entry of another. Blaze. "Oh, hey Blaze!" Sonic waved as Blaze walked over towards them. "Hello, Sonic, Tails- and, uhm, Amy." Blaze said, "So, where's this landfill?" She continued. "It's just a few blocks away from here. C'mon, follow me!" Amy said, reaching her hand out to Blaze- who stood, awkwardly, for a moment- before grabbing Amy's hand, who began to run to the landfill- Sonic has gone in a blink of the eye, and Tails was hovering above. It was…peaceful. Happy. The streets may have seemed empty, but they were full of friendship that day- minus Knuckles, of course, who's currently puking up his guts in a broken toilet. Don't ask why. Blaze gazed into Amy's eyes as she was dragged along to the landfill, her glare only being interrupted by a sudden "We're here!" from Amy and an overwhelming stench of rusted metal and garbage. Although, as someone who was used to the smell of ash, Blaze wasn't entirely bothered. Nor was Tails, or Sonic, who both had spent time in the landfill before. Amy seemed indifferent aswell. "Okay- let's go! Oh, and, Amy? Tails finished work on your hammer yesterday. It's good to go!" Sonic spoke as he dashed into the landfill, just fast enough so that the others can keep up with him until they reached the workshop.

Eventually, they arrived at the workshop- it was quite impressive, for a shack made of scrap. It was free of rust and actually quite clean, excluding tiny pieces of dust that littered it. It was all Sonic described- just a bit more smelly. "Your hammer's in here, Amy." Tails said happily as he opened the large, garage-gate-like door, which had two cameras outside it to guard the workshop. Sonic zoomed into the workshop the moment the doors opened, standing in a friendly pose next to a workbench. Tails gleefully rushed over to a counter which Amy's hammer laid on,- the hammer had been modified slightly, with little change in appearance- but a great increase in power. "Here you go!" Tails said as he tried to pass Amy the surprisingly heavy hammer, Blaze standing behind her. "Thanks, Tails!" Amy said as she effortlessly lifted it and gave it a spin- literally, span it around in her hands before finally placing it back onto the counter. "I'll bring it back to my place in a bit." She said, "Speaking of my place- Hey Blaze, do you wanna head there later? We could have a movie night- the four of us!" Amy continued. "Sounds good- if Blaze and Tails are up for it." Sonic said as he rushed over, Tails nodding as a 'yes' whilst he focused on sorting his tools, and Amy finally turning to Blaze. Her face went red for a brief second, "Huh?- Oh, Uh, That'd be wonderful, Amy." Blaze stated, awkwardly and somewhat surprised. She wasn't entirely sure if she could be in this dimension for that long, but it's worth a shot- as long as she doesn't fall asleep halfway through the movies, she should be able to get back home in time. "I may have to be careful about the time, though." Blaze continued. "Alright, then! We can head over there in a minute- I can bring my hammer over there, too, then." Amy said, gesturing towards her hammer. She picked it up and threw it over her shoulder, Blaze walking alongside her as Sonic ran to Amy's house, Tails flying above him.

PART 3

Blaze turned round the corner, stopping as she arrived at the doorstep of the house. Tails sat in the front garden and drew sketches of the plants Amy had in her garden, drawing them in his orange notebook he kept inside his hoodie. Sonic sat next to him, watching him draw- According to Sonic, it's good for him to stop running and look at the world around him for awhile. He started doing that a few months ago, in the form of watching Tails draw. Amy grabbed a key from her dress pocket, unlocking her door and inviting everyone inside; "Guys- door's open!" She called out to Sonic and Tails, who rushed over when they realized Amy and Blaze had already walked inside the house by now. Blaze sat on Amy's sofa with her arms folded slightly, Sonic jumping onto the sofa soon after, with Tails curling up next to him, using his tails as a blanket of sorts. Sonic sat excitedly on the sofa with his knees raised, Amy sitting between Blaze and Sonic seconds later. "Right!" Amy stated happily. "So, movie time. What'd you guys wanna watch?" Amy said as she picked up the tv remote, turning on the television and going onto the movie channel. "We could rent one or just watch one on here." She said, turning to the others. Sonic looked at the movies ready to watch, squinting at the tv. "Hmmmm." He spoke in thought, attempting to decide. "Any's fine by me" He continues, turning to Tails, who shrugged slightly in response. "Have you got any ideas, Blaze?" Amy said, turning to her. "Hm?- Oh, uhm… I- What's your favorite, Amy?" Blaze said, briefly surprised by the question. "My favorite? Huh." Amy sat quietly, thinking for a moment. "Well- there was this one movie that I thought was pretty neat!" Amy said, smiling and heading to the rent a movie section. She chose one she'd bought before- Blaze turning to the screen with a sweet smile as Amy put on her favorite movie. It was 2 or so hours long, but the time past quickly for Blaze, who thoroughly enjoyed the movie despite it's noticeable flaws. Blaze held her head in her hands as she watched the movie, credits rolling mere minutes later. She folded her arms again, leaning back into her seat.

Amy glared over to her kitchen, "Anyone hungry? I could make some cupcakes in a half an hour or so." She spoke, turning to the others. Blaze nodded slowly, Sonic exclaiming "Sure, I could go for some cupcakes!" and Tails giving Amy a thumbs up. "Do you need some help? Haven't cooked anything in awhile, don't wanna get rusty-" Sonic asked, before being cut off by a polite "Thanks, but no." from Amy, who looked like she was remembering a horrible cooking accident which may or may not have been the time Sonic tried to bake cookies using a 'supercharged' oven Tails made and almost burned down Amy's entire house. Amy went into the kitchen, making the cupcake batter and eventually placing it in the tray and putting on her oven mitts, putting the cupcakes in the oven for 25 minutes, having taken 5 minutes to make the batter. The cupcakes were much bigger than regular ones, though, Amy having used too many ingredients- but she'd just cook them for longer to make up for it. She put her oven mitts back where they were, leaving the kitchen and heading back to the others. "Right," She said, "Those'll take 25 minutes, I'm pretty sure." She continued. "Cool," Sonic responded, "What're we gonna do in the meantime?" He asked awkwardly. "Oh- Hadn't actually thought about that…" Amy replied. Tails thought of an idea, "We could head out into the back garden- I could study some more flowers and Sonic'd have lots of room to run." He said, getting up from the sofa. "Yeah- that sounds good." Amy spoke, "C'mon!" She continued, walking over to the backdoor and unlocking it, going into the garden. Sonic ran through the door, Tails following soon after as Sonic runs in circles around the garden, Tails sitting quietly as he sketches more flowers into his notebook.

It was dark out by the time they entered the garden, although Sonic and Tails weren't bothered, Blaze entered the garden soon after Amy and sat on a bench near the backdoor, looking at the stars and wondering if she should truly be out here for so long. Amy, who stood in the middle of the garden, turned to Blaze who sat- somewhat worried- staring at the stars alone. Amy looked concerned, and walked over to Blaze, sitting next to her. "Hey, Blaze." Amy said to her, Blaze not noticing her presence on the bench until now. "Oh- Hi, Amy." Blaze responded in a sombre tone, barely averting her gaze from the stars to greet Amy. "Worried about home, huh?" Amy said in a comforting voice, moving her hand across the bench slightly, almost to reach Blaze's hand. Blaze was surprised, and frankly embarrassed by Amy's concern- she didn't want her friends to feel down, and she didn't want to worry them as much as she was. So she decided to sit alone. "I…Yes, I'm worried about my home. I'm just…worried I'm staying away for too long. I didn't want to worry you all about it, but that seems to have gone awry." Blaze said, sighing afterwards. "Blaze." Amy said, "You don't have to hide your sadness from us. We're your friends. You can tell us anything- we don't want you to be sad. If you're really worried about home, you can make a portal back. We don't mind- we just want you to feel happy." Amy continued reassuringly. Blaze blushed slightly, turning to Amy. They sat in silence together, for awhile. "…Thank you, Amy. You're a very nice person." Blaze said as she gazed into Amy's eyes, moving to hold Amy's hand as Amy replied. "You're a very nice person, too, Blaze. Don't ever forget that." She said as they both turned to the stars, watching them together- now with not a sombre expression, but two smiling ones.

Amy let go of Blaze's hand as a loud beeping noise came from the kitchen and Sonic ran into it, Tails following behind. "Oh,- the cupcakes must be ready! So, Blaze, do you want to stay for a bit longer? Remember- any choice is fine." Amy said as she got up from the bench and turned to Blaze, waiting to turn off the oven. "I…" Blaze spoke. "Think I'll stay a little longer." She said, smiling, grabbing Amy's hand and heading to the kitchen with her, where Amy released her hand and put on the oven mitts. Sonic stood excitedly, tapping his foot against the floor as he waited. Amy brought the cookies out of the oven, turning it off and placing the tray on the counter, removing the oven mitts once again. "Ohhh boy." She said to herself in an awkward tone. "They sorta got burnt." Amy said, turning to show the thoroughly burnt cupcakes to the others. "I mean- they could still be alright." Sonic said as he reached for one- burning his hand in the process- "Ow- yeah- they're definitely burnt." He said with an embarrassed smile as he pulled his hand away from the cupcakes. Amy giggled slightly and Tails smiled, Tails heading back to the living room and sitting on the sofa. "We could watch another movie." Tails said. "Couldn't hurt- unlike those cupcakes." Sonic said as he went and sat next to Tails. "Blaze? What do you think? Got time for a movie?" Amy said quietly to Blaze. "Yes," Blaze replied, "That'd be nice." She spoke as she walked over to the sofa, Amy sitting next to her. They put on a random movie- it was mediocre, but the bad parts ended up being inadvertently funny. By the end of the movie, they had all fallen asleep- Blaze woke up soon after the credits, surprised at how long they've all slept for. When did everyone even doze off? Tails was curled up on Sonic's lap, and Sonic was fast asleep leaning back against the sofa.- And Amy was leaning against Blaze, who quickly noticed this, blushing for a moment before she carefully got off the sofa. She decided she should probably head back to her dimension now- she looked at Amy and her friends sleeping as she began to open a portal, and left a note to them before she entered the portal telling them that she's gone and had a nice time with them. When Blaze arrived at her dimension, she promptly headed to her room and collapsed onto her bed, and slept until the next morning.

PART 4

Blaze awoke, sitting on the end of her bed, last night being all on her mind. She tried to ignore the feelings she had for Amy- keep it hidden from them, but now? There's no way she could even try. "But how will I tell her? Was she just trying to be nice last night?" Blaze speaks to herself, resting her head in her hands as she thinks about what to do next. "Who can I even tell this? Who would keep this a secret?" She says, Amy being the one she would tell- the one she could trust with anything, but this time? Amy is the one she needs to keep the secret from. "…Does she know I've got feelings for her? Was it that obvious? Should I not have left the note? What if I go back and she doesn't feel the same way? That entire encounter could've been platonic- Ugh, I'm overthinking this." Blaze says to herself, taking a deep breath and leaving her quarters. "I…should simply try and visit them again. Amy will- hopefully- tell me if she has feeling for me…I hope." Blaze continues, heading to the palace gardens and admiring the flowers. She sits down on the stone pathway, and plucks a single flower from the inbetween the grass. "Oh, sweet flower." Blaze spoke, "You are so free. You shine your colours brightly, without fear or worry. You…" Blaze stops for a moment, lying the flower back onto the ground. She stands and sighs, "You remind me so much of her." Blaze gathers her courage and begins to form a portal- she can't hide her feelings, so she may aswell try and face them.

Meanwhile, Amy had just woken up. She rubs her eyes and turns to where Blaze once was; "…Huh?…Blaze?" She says as her vision begins to adjust, turning her head down towards the note Blaze left behind. Amy yawns and reaches for it, reading it to herself. "Amy. It seems we all fell asleep- likely during the movie- and I was the only one to awake. I have headed back to my dimension, but I had a lovely time here. I hope to see you all again. Love, Blaze." Amy says quietly. "Oh.", She says, heading over to the kitchen and placing it on the counter. "I had a lovely time too, Blaze." Amy speaks, leaning over the kitchen counter and staring through the window at the dawning sun, a unique kind of flaming beauty unlike any other. It reminds her of Blaze. Amy raises her arms, stretching, and then walks back towards Sonic and Tails. She taps Sonic on the shoulder. "Uhm, Sonic?" She says politely. No response. "Oh, great." Amy states in a tired voice. "Sooonicc! C'mon, wake up!" She yells, shaking Sonic until his eyes begin to open. "Phew. You're up! Okay, so, we kinda all slept in. We completely fell asleep during the movie- Blaze went home a few hours ago." Amy explains to Sonic, who groans as he gets up from the sofa. He runs around in a small circle a few times, becoming refreshed and energetic as ever afterwards. Tails climbed off the sofa soon after, yawning quietly and heading over to Sonic.

"Huh. Guess me and Tails should get going, then- I think he's still a little tired." Sonic says, turning to a sleepy and wobbling Tails who looks on the verge of falling asleep. "Yeah. He's definitely still a bit tired." Sonic says in a joking tone, placing Tails on his back and opening the door to leave. "Bye, Sonic! See you later!" Amy yells as she stands at the door, waving as Sonic runs back to his apartment. Amy closes her door and heads back to her kitchen to make breakfast- Meanwhile, a spark of flame flutters in the air and turns into an inferno as a portal appears, Blaze entering this dimension through it. She awkwardly stands next to a flower shop, walking in and looking through their selection calmly. "I…suppose roses would work well. I wonder- is there any pink ones here?" Blaze sorts through the flowers, until she eventually reaches the 'valentine' section. "Oh dear…" She says, sighing as she sees the only pink roses in the valentine section, with a heart attached to the bouquet. "…This may be a bit too obvious." Blaze continues, walking over to the valentine section and quietly grabbing a bouquet of pink roses. She brings them over to the counter, slightly embarrassed. "Could I have the heart removed? It seems a little…on the nose, I suppose." She asks, the cashier replying "Sure." as they remove the heart with a pair of scissors, but adding "However, if you wanna be discreet, I wouldn't recommend going for a bouquet of pink roses. Kinda obvious in itself." the cashier says jokingly. Blaze simply nods and takes her bouquet, making her way over to Amy's house.

Eventually, she arrives at the door. She sits there for a minute straight (or not so straight), trying to gather her courage. "The worst she can say is no. The worst she can say is n-" Blaze had been repeating to herself, until the door cut her off as it opened, Amy standing behind it. "Hi, Blaze! Saw you standing there for awhile, you alright?" Amy asks. Blaze's face turns red as she turns away, embarrassed. "Uhm, Yes. I'm alright. I was going to ask…If you'd like to maybe, if you have the time, come with me to the coffee shop not too far away from here? You don't have to, bu-" Blaze replies awkwardly, being interrupted yet again, this time by Amy, "Blaze, that'd be great! It's a date, then." Amy states, overjoyed. Blaze blushes and turns to Amy, presenting her the flowers she bought. "I…yes, a date. That'd be great. I brought you these. Some flowers that reminded me of you." Blaze spoke, shyly handing Amy the bouquet. "This is wonderful, Blaze. Thank you!" Amy continues, placing the bouquet in a nearby vase and walking out her door, grabbing both of Blaze's hands and asking her, "So, when are we going?". Blaze stuttered for a moment, as if she was trying to process everything that had just happened. "…Now?" Blaze says with a red face. "Great!" Amy replies, "I think I know the coffee shop you meant, aswell. 'The Myth', right?" Amy continues as she runs down the street towards the shop while holding Blaze's hand, Blaze nodding in reply. They walked into the shop, no longer holding hands as they sit down at a small table in the corner of the shop. "…What would you like to order?" Blaze asks, looking through the menu that was left on the table. "Hm…could get some coffee? I'll go for a caramel frappuccino. What about you?" Amy replies, moving over to sit next to Blaze, looking at the menu with her. "Uhm…a frappuccino, aswell?" Blaze asks, confused at coffee terminology. "Okay! Should we get a frappucino to share, then? It's just, pretty much, a large frappucino with two straws." Amy says in response, Blaze awkwardly nodding in reply. "Sweet! I'll go order, then." Amy says as walks over to go and order, Blaze covers her face with the menu, thinking to herself. "This is really happening. This is actually happening." She says to herself, panicking slightly. She takes a deep breath and sighs as Amy comes back to the table, lying her menu back down on the table. "Frappuccino's gonna be ready in a minute. So, what's it like in your dimension, Blaze?" Amy asks. Blaze is briefly surprised at the question, but then answers; "It's…alright. I do prefer it here, at times, with you- In, um, this dimension. But my dimension does have it's beauty, and that I cherish. Why do you ask?" Blaze says, Amy replying soon after, "Because I like hearing about you. I like you." She says calmly, "Frappuccino's ready!" Amy continues as she walks over to the counter, the employee having yelled that the order is ready a moment ago. Blaze sits in thought while Amy gets the frappuccino, but she quickly returns and sits on the opposite side of the table, this time, placing the frappuccino on the table as she sits. Amy starts drinking the frappuccino, Blaze staring at her for a moment before she starts drinking it aswell. The day passes in a blink of the eye, and sooner than later, Blaze is walking Amy home from the coffee shop. They arrive at her house, and Blaze waves goodbye to Amy as she begins to make a portal home. "Goodbye! Love you!" Amy says as Blaze walks through the portal, Blaze heading to her chambers. Amy heads to her house and goes to bed, Blaze thinking about the words Amy said as she left- the entire day, she thinks about. They went on a date. An actual date. Amy even called it a date. "Wow. I think I'm in love with her." Blaze says to herself as she collapses onto her bed, falling asleep soon after.

PART 5

Blaze woke up, climbing out of bed and preparing for her day- tending to the gardens, training to help master her powers, and then, heading back to her chambers, where she began to form a portal. This time, however, she was not anxious or worried, but completely ecstatic. Nearly overwhelmed with joy, lovestruck and still processing everything that happened last time she visited, Blaze headed through the portal, meanwhile Amy was in a small shop not too far from her house, a jewelry store, to be exact. Amy walked up to the cashier, and spoke, "Hi, I'm here to pick up my locket? I sent the emerald here to get it made awhile ago." Amy said as the cashier replied, "Oh- yeah, I'll go get it for you." as they went further into the store and brought out a locket necklace, which they then gave to Amy. "Thank you!" Amy said as she walked out of the jewelry store, holding the necklace tightly in her hands and heading back to her house. Sooner than later, Amy was in her house watering a bouquet of flowers she had placed in a vase very recently, the flowers being roses of a pink hue- a gift from a very good friend. Amy then headed to her kitchen where she had a plate of sandwiches and fruits, alongside a picnic basket on the counter. "Everything here?…" Amy said to herself as she sorted through the basket, revealing a picnic blanket, what seems to be a necklace, but too covered up by the other items to be entirely visible, napkins, and small paper plates. "Okay, everything's here." She said in a relieved tone, placing the sandwiches and fruit in the basket moments after. Amy then closes the picnic basket and heads over to her window, where she sees a blazing inferno spark into existence, Blaze emerging from it as she walks down the street next to Amy's house. Amy rushed over to her door, leaving her house and rushing over to Blaze- "Hey, Blaze!" Amy yelled as she ran over to her, waving. Blaze was surprised at first, jumping back slightly, but quickly realized it was Amy. She walked over to Amy, who grabbed her hands and asked her, "Blaze! Would you like to go on a picnic? I thought since you took me out yesterday, I could take you out for a picnic today.- If you have the time, of course." Amy spoke, Blaze blushing slightly and nodding her head awkwardly in response. "That'd be, uhm, wonderful, thank you." Blaze said in reply, "Cool! There's this field not too far away we could head to- it actually kinda reminds me of Green Hills!" Amy continued as she gestured Blaze to follow her, walking throughout the city and eventually arriving at a large field past it. Amy found a small tree to sit under, setting down the picnic basket and placing the picnic blanket on the floor.

"So," Amy spoke, "This is the field! I visit here sometimes, I find it really relaxing and nice. So I brought you here!" She continued. Blaze muttered a shy "Thank you" and smiled as she gazed into Amy's eyes as Amy brought out the sandwiches, fruit, and paper plates she would place them on, but then paused for a moment, staring at the scenery before talking again. "Hey, Blaze, is it alright if I tell you some stories of Green Hills? This place just always… brings back some memories." Amy said somewhat sheepishly. "Sure," Blaze replied quietly, holding her head in her hands, watching Amy as she begins to tell tales of their adventures in Green Hills. Blaze sits there thoroughly enjoying the stories for what seemed to be minutes for her, but was hours as she listened to Amy, completely invested in the stories. Eventually, they came to a halt as the sky darkened and stars revealed themselves. "Blaze," Amy began to speak. "It's been really nice having you around. I wish you could've been there with us. You- I, would've loved it." Amy continues sweetly as she gazes off into the night sky, a smile on her face. "I wish I could've been there too." Blaze replies as she sits next to Amy, leaning on her and holding her hand as they both gaze off into the stars. "Hey, Blaze?" Amy asked as she took something from the picnic basket. "Yes?" Blaze replied. "I love you." Amy spoke as she revealed a golden chain necklace with a heart locket containing a red emerald in the shape of a flame, alongside a hammer carved from the same gem on the other side of the locket. "The gem…I found it with Sonic and Tails when we were going on some adventures. Apparently it's really rare. So, I thought, uhm, that something this beautiful and unique should go to someone beautiful and unique, so I'm giving it to you. I love you, Blaze. Will you…will you be my girlfriend?" Amy continued, moving her hand as if to give Blaze the necklace. Blaze's face turned red almost instantly as Amy asked her, Blaze frozen for a moment before answering. "I…yes. I'd like that." Blaze answered, taking the necklace and placing it around her neck. They gazed off into the stars one last time before packing away the picnic, Blaze holding Amy's hand as she walked alongside her back to her house. Amy opened her door and stood at the doorway as Blaze walked away from the house and began to form a portal. Blaze glared at Amy as she formed the portal, a smile on her face as Amy waved. "I love you! Goodbye!" Amy said to her as Blaze went to enter the portal, Blaze replying, "I love you too." quietly as she walked through and went back to her dimension. "I love you too." Blaze repeated as she arrived in her dimension, taking a deep breath then going to sleep. The last few days had been very different for Blaze- and she hopes they stay that way.

PART 6

The next morning, Blaze awoke to awoke to a phone call from a contact listed as 'Love 💜', answering the phone in a confused tone as she began to speak, "Amy?…Why- It's…I just woke up? Is something wrong?" Blaze said, while Amy sits on her sofa next to a pacing Sonic, who is incoherently rambling about his crush on a certain hedgehog. "No, Blaze, nothing's wrong. It's just…Sonic. And Shadow. He won't stop talking about him. He's got a crush on him, and he doesn't know how to tell anyone, so he came to me. He wants me to tell Shadow for him," Amy says in a tired voice, "BUT IT'S ALWAYS BETTER TO TELL THEM YOURSELF, BECAUSE IT SEEMS MORE GENUINE!" She yells, as if trying to tell Sonic something, who ignores it as he paces around a coffee table. "Okay. Well, what's Sonic doing? Other than talking about Shadow, I mean." Blaze asks, still somewhat confused at what to do here. "Pacing. And ignoring me." Amy replies, Blaze responding soon after, "Hm. Uhm, why don't you give Team Dark a call? Maybe you could tell the-" Blaze was cut off as Sonic zipped over to Amy's phone, yelling, "NO! No no no no no. If they hear it, then they'll tell Shadow- and, and Shadow'll think I don't have the guts to tell him myself- and he wouldn't be wrong either- maybe he'll think I didn't actually like him- or, or maybe he'd think I was just playing a prank an-" Sonic's voice quickly faded into incoherence, however, at the apartment of Team Dark, a similar conversation ensued. Rouge sat tired on the sofa, holding her head in her hands while Omega stood beside her. "Shadow, honey- Just tell him." Rouge tells Shadow in a drowsy tone, Shadow quickly replying as he turned to face her, halting his pacing, "NO! I am NOT telling that poor excuse for a hedgehog my- my feelings for him! I am the ULTIMATE LIFEFORM! What is he? Hm? WHAT IS HE, ROUGE?! He's pathetic, he's careless, and he's- " Shadow yelled angrily, but then suddenly paused for a brief moment. "He's…" Shadow's voice turned quieter. "He's free. He runs with the wind wherever it takes him, guarding any fortunate enough to cross his path- he has warned me of a coming doom so many times, and when have I ever listened? I was infected in mere minutes by the metal virus. Who am I to call myself…the ultimate lifeform?" He continues in a sombre tone. Omega awkwardly goes to sit on the sofa, and Rouge raises her head and forms a concerned and sympathetic expression. "Shadow The Hedgehog." Rouge says as she gather's Shadow's attention, as if a parent yelling their child's full name. "You have saved the world. You have rejected every evil being that tried to take you in. You persevered even when the world was against you. You are so much more than just an 'ultimate lifeform'. You're a hero, because a hero never stops fighting for freedom. And you've always wanted to be free. Don't ever put yourself down like that." She said reassuringly, putting her hand on Shadow's shoulder. Shadow sighed deeply and spoke, "Thank you, Rouge.", "But…I…how do I tell him? I love him, Rouge. I know that. I have no qualms about it. But, actually telling him? It's…a daunting task, to say the least." Omega gestured for Shadow to sit next to him, patting the sofa. Shadow walked over and sat, Omega slowly turning to him. "I will tell the hedgehog." Omega said bluntly. Shadow was certainly worried about telling Sonic, but it seemed Omega wasn't- Shadow's face turned bright red as he grabbed Omega, Omega already ringing Sonic. "PUT DOWN THE DAMN PHONE!" Shadow yelled as Rouge facepalmed, a voice then coming from the phone. "Uhm…Shadow?" An awkward Sonic had replied, who had just been pacing for the last however long, now in his own apartment. "SONIC!? Omega, get off me!" Shadow said as he pushed Omega away and held the phone close to himself.

"Sonic- I, you see-" Shadow was cut off as Omega leaned over and spoke into the phone, making Sonic very clearly embarrassed- "Do you want a date." Omega asked. "…Was that Omega!?" Sonic yelled into the phone, Shadow finally deciding that he has no way out of this conversation but one path; "HE WAS ASKING FOR ME! You stupid, idiotic, fool! I! was the one asking you on a date. ME!" Shadow didn't mean to say all of that, but he wasn't entirely sure what to say in it's place. "I…Yeah, uhm, that'd be great. How…how about we meet up at the coffee shop later?" Sonic said with a red face, "Oh." Shadow blushed and faked a cough. "Yes- uhm. Sure. I'll…be there. Bye." Shadow responded awkwardly as he hang up the phone. "Well done. That's sorted!" Rouge said as she went to head in her room, Shadow stopping her in her tracks. "SORTED!? I- NOW I AM GOING ON A DATE WITH HIM! How on any earth is that sorted!?!" He yells, furious. "Oh boo hoo. You're going on a date with your crush. Think about it for a moment, Shadow." Rouge replies jokingly, entering her room. Shadow does, infact, stop for a moment and think. Maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought- but he'd still have preferred to not have a confession forced out of him. He covered his face as he blushed, heading into his room and opening his closet, filled with leather jackets, turning on his music as he opens it. As heavy metal music boomed in the background, Shadow selected one of his jackets- one of his nicer ones, and put it on carefully enough that his quills don't tear it. He opens his drawers and takes out some red makeup Rouge gifted him, applying his red highlights aswell. "Okay." Shadow said as he stared in his mirror. He sighed deeply and then left his room, leaving the apartment and yelling goodbye as he left. He walked to the coffee shop, awkwardly waiting at the entrance, leaning against the walls and tapping his feet with arms crossed. "C'mon…is he not gonna show? Is he pranking me? Was this all a tri-" Shadow thinks to himself, before Sonic arrives in the blink of an eye next to him, wearing a grey jacket covered in patches of mismatched cloth, likely from shoddy repairs after Sonic's quills broke it.

Shadow stared at him for a moment as Sonic awkwardly held a miniature replica of the green chaos emerald, twirling his quills as he stood embarrassed infront of Shadow. Shadow was stunned, until Sonic began to speak, "So…", "This is for you. I always thought that the green one was your favorite- you've always got it,- so I made you this. Uhm, Knuckles made me this for me to give to you, I mean. I hope you like it." He said as he passed the replica to Shadow, who held it gently in his hands and gave Sonic a surprised stare. "It's…perfect. Thank you. The green one is my favorite." Shadow said as he began to smile, before turning away and heading into the coffee shop. Shadow sat on a small table, Sonic sitting beside him. "How's your life been in the city?" Shadow asks with a near-blank expression. "Oh, yeah, it's been pretty great- Tails is setting up a new workshop since the last one got destroyed when Eggman left, and Knuckles is actually adjusting pretty well to the city, with the master emerald being safe and all. Whisper and Tangle got married! Did you hear about that? There's a couple of rogue badniks here and there, but we're all pretty safe." Sonic spoke as Shadow rested his arms on the table, staring at Sonic with what would usually seem to be an intimidating gaze, but Shadow was merely completely invested in Sonic's tales. As Sonic finished recounting some of his adventures, he sighed and said, "Yeah. They were some pretty great times. Kinda miss them, sometimes, but the city's not so bad. Anyway, we should probably order now." Sonic said, chuckling at the end of his sentence. "Hm." Shadow replied as he grabbed one of the menus, looking through the different options. "A…regular coffee." Shadow said as he placed the menu down, "Cool! I'll, uh, have the same as you then!" Sonic spoke as he ran over to the counter, Shadow sitting at the table whilst Sonic orders. Sooner than later, Sonic brings the two coffees back to the table, drinking his on the way over. He sits down and passes Shadow his coffee, who takes it as Sonic passes it. Sonic finishes his coffee in a few seconds, placing it back down and resuming conversation with Shadow. "So, Shads, why do you ask about my adventures anyway? I didn't think they'd be that interesting to you-" Sonic is cut off by Shadow, "You like talking about them. I like seeing you happy." He says quietly, blushing. Sonic is stunned for a moment, "It's getting late. I should head back to my apartment." Shadow says as he leaves the coffee shop abruptly, Sonic waving goodbye to him as he leaves. "He likes seeing me happy. Well, how about that." Sonic says to himself as he leaves the shop aswell, night quickly arriving at the city, with both hedgehogs soon asleep. Deep down, Shadow hopes they'll meet again, like this. He hopes he can be more open about his feelings towards Sonic.

PART 7

When Shadow awakes in his apartment, he rubs his eyes and prepares for the day- pushing Omega out of the way as heads to the bathroom to brush his teeth and quills, leaving it soonafter. As he went to go back into his own room, Rouge called out to him, "Hey, hon, how'd your date with Sonic go?" she asks as she brews herself a coffee. " Shadow gave her a blank, tired stare, her shrugging in response , Shadow heading back into his room. "Y'know, maybe if it went well, he could come over here! Or do you not want your boyfriend to meet your family yet?" She continues jokingly. Shadow swung his door open and ran over to Rouge. "You called him already, didn't you?" He said, facepalming. "…No? I'm shocked you'd accuse me of such a thing. I respect your boundaries, Shadow." Rouge replied, placing a hand on Shadow's shoulder before quickly removing it as she finished her sentence, "That's why Omega called him. He'll be here soon, running around at the speed of sound and all that. I'll be going on a heist, so I won't be there to bother you too much." As Rouge said this, Shadow immediately lost any reassurance the start of her sentence gave him, and proceeded to state calmly, "Ah. Okay." and then walked over to the sofa, raising a pillow towards his face and screaming into it at the top of his lungs. "Can you respect my boundaries for once, bat?" He said as he placed the pillow back down, glaring at Rouge angrily. "…Shadow. We're your friends- you can cancel anything at any time, or I can for you- Either way, we wouldn't push something on that we know you wouldn't be comfortable with. But this Sonic thing has gone on long enough- you desperately needed an intervention. And you both seem to like eachother." Rouge replied sincerely, Shadow sighing afterwards.

"I suppose you're right.- The first part, I mean, I don't exactly require an intervention. I won't cancel this just yet. I'll…see how it goes." Shadow speaks as Rouge leaves the apartment, "Right- Well, I'm heading off on a heist. Call me if you need anything! Or don't," She says as she leaves, "You can handle yourself just fine, if I'm not mistaken." She continues. She waves as she leaves, Shadow taking a deep breath before collapsing onto the sofa. Omega walked over behind him as they headed to the kitchen, Shadow rubbing his eyes as someone knocked on the apartment's door. "Uh, Shadow?…" Sonic asked quietly. Shadow ran to his room, leaving a trail of dust in his wake, quickly applying his makeup and tidying himself up before letting Sonic into the apartment. "Sonic." He stated firmly as Sonic entered, Sonic looking around the apartment as Shadow brings him in. "This is my-" Omega walked into the room. "Our apartment. Rouge's usually here too, but she's left on a heist. "Huh, that's funny- could've sworn Knuckles got a call from Tikal saying something about a heist, too. Do you think Rouge went after the master emerald again?" Sonic asked as he waved at Omega. "I wouldn't be surprised." Shadow replied as he went to the kitchen and began to prepare a seemingly fantastic and complicated breakfast. "Well, I'm sure Knuckles would be happy about it this time. Gives him an excuse to head back to Angel Island for awhile!" Sonic said, chuckling as followed Shadow into the kitchen. "Impressive breakfast! I just usually have a chili dog." Sonic spoke as he watched Shadow cook, Shadow's head darting towards Sonic as he turned, speaking, "I can get you a chili dog instead." Shadow said in a serious tone, Sonic replying, "Uh, No thanks, I'm good. I can scavenge some food up on my way home-" He said, before Shadow cut him off. "I will not allow you to starve." Shadow spoke as he began to make a duplicate of the breakfast, finishing both of them in a matter of minutes. "There." Shadow spoke as he handed Sonic the breakfast that was clearly made to impress- multiple stacked pancakes drizzled with honey, adorned with strawberries and whipped cream, then finally a slice of butter atop the tower of pancakes. "Thanks, Shads!" Sonic said as he began to eat the pancakes, Shadow stating, "It was nothing. I make these all the time.- I don't even like them that much anyway." before Omega yelled from the kitchen, "No, that is incorrect. Rouge makes them. You begged her to show you how to make them because you loved them." Sonic giggled slightly as Shadow was unamused by Omega's addition. Shadow, of course, begrudgingly ate the pancakes anyway. Meanwhile, on Angel Island, Tikal sat next to the master emerald on a small garden chair, playing chess against a standing Chaos on plastic table taken from the ruins of Tails' old workshop. Tikal sat in thought, hand against her chin as she wondered what her next move could be. Then, finally, she spoke, "There." and moved one of her pieces. Her thoughts then quickly shifted from chess to a more serious matter- the bat-thief trying to steal the emerald once again. "I wonder when the thief'll show up again. I mean, I'm hoping she'll be gone with Knuckles here, but I should probably keep an eye out." Tikal said, Chaos nodding as Tikal got up from her chair and began to pace around the master emerald, keeping an eye on the nearby forests and sky. Soon, Tikal saw a red echidna gliding from the treetops.

He looked absolutely ecstatic. "Knuckles!" Tikal cried out, waving as Knuckles landed next to the emerald. "So, I think your friend Rouge came back here." Tikal said to Knuckles, Knuckles looking confused in response. "Why would she?…I thought Rouge was done with the emerald." Knuckles wonders why Rouge had arrived for a moment, but as Rouge emerged from the forest they had no choice but to stop her from reaching the emerald- Tikal slammed her fist into the ground, creating a small earthquake around Rouge, who manages to glide out the way- Knuckles goes to rush towards her, but she gestured for him to stop- Knuckles stops in his tracks, and Rouge presents a bouquet of flowers to him. Although they were very clearly just picked from the forest, Knuckles accepts them anyway. He blushes, before questioning her intentions; "Uh…thanks?- Why are you here, Rouge? You know you can't get your hands on the master emerald. You can't bamboozle me, Rouge!" He said as he raised his fist. Rouge looked at him with a completely puzzled glare, "Knuckles. I'm asking you out on a date. I don't know where you live, so I came here. Knuckles. Knuckles it was really obvious." She says, Knuckles lowering his fists and quietly stating "Oh.". "Oh, uh. Do you still want to go on the date? We could just have a date here,- If, uh, Tikal doesn't mind." He spoke blushing, Tikal awkwardly waving from over near the master emerald, yelling, "Yeah, that's fine! You guys can date here!" as she went back to her chess game, Knuckles telling Rouge to wait as he ran off into the forest. Rouge stood confused for a moment, before Knuckles returned with a table and chairs he had just made from a fallen tree, crafting them by breaking the tree apart into the shape of tables and chairs.

Rouge sat down, Knuckles sitting opposite to her soon after, resting his hands on the table. As Rouge continued her date, and Tikal continues her chess game, Shadow and Sonic had began to watch a movie; the moon rising, the two sitting on the sofa with a blanket over them, and Omega sitting on a chair next to the sofa. Sonic leaned against Shadow as the movie was reaching it's end, Omega still thoroughly invested in it despite the awful quality, Shadow mainly focused on Sonic instead. He sighed deeply, worried that he had made a bad impression, and that it was a mistake introducing him to Omega, and showing him their messy apartment- but Shadow tried to focus on the good things that happened during their time together at the apartment. All the times Sonic laughed, and was filled with joy. It happened a lot more than Shadow remembered, as he looked back on it. Maybe the whole thing wasn't so bad after all. Rouge was returning soon, and Knuckles drifted off to sleep as rain began to form on Angel Island, and night began to fall. She stared at him sweetly as he slept, Tikal grabbing a beach umbrella and placing it near the chess table. Tikal waved to Rouge, asking, "Uhm, Bat-girl? Do you want me to send Knuckles home? He seems pretty tired, I just don't actually remember where he lives. I don't actually think he told me." Tikal said as Rouge turned towards her, then back to Knuckles, who slept happily. "No, let him rest here for awhile. He deserves it." Rouge speaks in a caring tone, leaving the island soon after. She opened the apartment door to a cheerful Sonic and smiling Shadow, walking past them and waving hi to Sonic as she walked past, although Sonic too focused on the movie to notice. Sonic looks at the time in the corner of the tv, getting up from the sofa moments after. "Aw, sorry Shads, I've gotta head home. Getting late. I'd love to see you, again, though!" Sonic says to Shadow as he walks over to the door, Shadow following him. Shadow unlocks the door, speaking as Sonic walks out, "Apologies…about Omega and Rouge. They can be irritating, sometimes." Shadow says as he escorts Sonic out. Sonic smiles and replies, "Nah, they're great! Family's important, and you seem to know that well enough. They're always they for you, no matter what. Appreciate them for that. Anywayseeyoulaterbye!" Sonic replied as he gave Shadow a kiss on the cheek, blushing as he then ran back to his apartment. Shadow stood, smiling and completely frozen for 30 seconds straight. He touched his cheek, and then closed the apartment door as Rouge walked over to him. "So, did you boys have a nice time?" She asked. Shadow took a moment to form a sentence and remove his surprised expression, but he manages to do so. "I…Yes, I suppose I did." He said, walking over to his own room. He collapsed on his bed, "I really did." and fell asleep not long after.

PART 8

Amy, after visiting a flower shop with Blaze, had heard of rogue badniks nearby- Her and Blaze walked down the street, looking for where they were spotted last. Eventually, they found them as the two of them saw an unconscious Surge lying next to multiple shattered badniks, which were barely recognizable and broken beyond repair.- the badniks couldn't have possibly been the reason of Surge's injury, but she was injured either way. "Surge!" Amy cried out as she ran over to the unconscious tenrec, lifting her up and Blaze walking over aswell. "We need to get her to a hospital.- She's unconscious and could have serious wounds. I could try and cauterize any wounds- but I think it's best we get her to a professional." Blaze said as she stared at a near-lifeless Surge, Amy nodding and carefully picking up Surge's body, Blaze helping her. "Let's get her back to my house, call an ambulance there. I should have some medical supplies in the kitchen. Surge should be fine- But I don't know how she even got knocked unconscious in the first place. She's fought badniks before- this doesn't make any sense." Amy spoke as they rushed back to her house, running up to her door and bringing Surge into the house whilst Blaze goes into the kitchen to search for medical gear. Amy lays Surge down on the sofa, examining her for any wounds- however, a spark of lightning flies as Surge's eyes glow brightly, the lights of Amy's house flickering as Surge begins to open her eyes.

"Blaze, she's waking up!" Amy yells, Blaze entering the room with a box of medical supplies. Surge stares at her surroundings, confused for a moment as she opens her eyes before screaming as she realizes her location. She yells at the top of her lungs, and swings at Amy- too tired to actually strike her, however, Surge completely missing, being, somehow, incredibly tired from her fight with the badniks and in desperate need of rest. Despite this, Blaze drops the medical supplies and dashes infront of Amy, putting her arm infront of her as if to guard her. Amy puts her hand on Blaze's shoulder, trying to move her out the way as she speaks, "Blaze- we can't fight her! She's clearly hurt, we need to help!" Amy said as Blaze looks at her, then back at Surge with a worried gaze. She confessed to Amy what felt like yesterday- she won't lose her today. "Blaze. Please." Amy says, Blaze sighing and moving out the way, picking up the medical supplies and handing them to Amy. "I hope you know what you're doing. But she's dangerous, Amy. I've heard of her before- what she did to Whisper, what she did to Sonic, what she did to everyone back when Eggman was alive- it was horrible. I…just don't want that happening again. And I don't want you to get hurt." Blaze speaks as she hands Amy the supplies, turning away from Surge and gazing across the room at nothing. "Blaze…I'll be fine. Trust me,- I was the one who confessed to you, remember? If I've got the courage to ask an awesome magical fire princess from another dimension to be my girlfriend, I've got the courage to help an injured foe." Amy replies in a caring tone, attempting to comfort Blaze. Blaze turns back to Amy, smiling slightly. Surge tries to push away Amy, who was trying to check on Surge- but is ultimately too weak at the moment to do so, although that doesn't stop her from trying.

"She…I think she should be fine. Her enhanced durability should be helping her- but who did this to her? I…I mean, I saw Tangle talking to Whisper not too long ago- she didn't seem happy, and I didn't want to be intrusive so I didn't listen to them, but do you think, that…" Amy went to finish her sentence, but ultimately decided to stop. "Nevermind. Let's just focusing on keeping Surge up." Amy spoke, stepping away from Surge slowly and heading into the kitchen. "I'll get her some water- give her some extra energy." She said as she made a glass of water, Blaze staring at Surge visibly nervous, Surge trying to get up. As Amy entered the room again, she stopped and turned to Blaze. She put a hand on her shoulder, and said in a calm, reassuring tone, "Blaze. Please, trust me. I know you're nervous, and I know you're worried- but everything'll be fine. I'd do anything to keep you safe, Blaze, you know that, and I know you'd do the same for me. We're not going to get hurt. Nobody is." Blaze took a deep breath and nodded, Amy walking back over to Surge and handing her a glass of water. "Surge- here, you need to keep your strength up. Someone…someone really hurt you." Amy spoke, Surge taking the glass and drinking it. Surge 's eyes became brighter, and her fur was slowly beginning to turn back to it's normal green hue, instead of a pale variant. Surge began to speak, "F…Fuck off…I…I'll.." She said, trying to get up from the sofa- "Kill…you.." She continues, before collapsing back onto the sofa. Blaze glares at Surge angrily, crossing her arms shortly after. Amy looks at the both of them, walking over to Surge as a concerned look- not just for Surge, but for Blaze- forms on her face. Amy lifts Surge up slightly, holding her. "Surge, you really need to listen. We found you injured, and brought you here- we're trying to help you. Sonic isn't here, okay? Neither is Tails. It's just me and Blaze." Amy speaks, Surge giving her a furious look- or atleast the most furious look Surge could give in this state. "Look, you can go back to doing anything anywhere once you're better- but you're hurt, and you need to stay with me and Blaze until you're safe- I can't allow you to try and just walk this off." Amy continues, Surge looking slightly less angry afterwards. Amy walks back over to Blaze, Blaze blushing as Amy unexpectedly hugs her, Amy saying "You look like you need this." as she hugs her. As Amy stops hugging Blaze, Blaze asks her a question; "What'll we do about Surge? She's a clear threat- And not just to us." Blaze says, worried. "Well, we can't bring her into the hospital- if Eggman's still alive, then he'll come looking for a new minion- or, even worse, someone new finds Surge and she starts fighting for them. Keeping her here- even if it's just for the night- Is our best option, I'm thinking." Amy replied, worried aswell, but attempting to hide it to help comfort Blaze. "It's…getting dark. You should probably head back to your dimension- come back the moment it's morning, incase Surge has recovered by then." Amy continues, Blaze nodding in response, creating a portal. Amy kisses Blaze on the cheek before she leaves, "Love you, Blaze!" Amy says as Blaze leaves, Blaze replying, "Love you too, Amy." as she enters the portal. The portal then closes, Amy turning to look at Surge. She stared with a worried face, wanting make sure that Surge couldn't hurt Blaze or anyone she cares about- It's happened before, like Blaze said. Amy didn't want it to happen again either- but she can't just leave Surge to die. "I'd do anything to protect you, Blaze. I just hope I can protect you." She speaks as she walks up to her bedroom, leaving Surge asleep on the sofa, Amy falling asleep half an hour later- her worry that Surge would hurt Blaze and she couldn't be there to protect Blaze kept her up for awhile, but she eventually managed to fall asleep not long after.

PART 9

Amy woke up, rubbing her eyes and getting ready for the day- it's only as she walked down the stairs, she remembered. Surge. The monster on her sofa. She took a deep breath, keeping her hammer close by as she entered the living room. "…Surge?" She said, walking slowly and talking in a cautious tone. "Surge, are you-" She stopped. On her sofa, the lightning-wielding, violence-hungry, speed-demon was completely and utterly asleep. Amy was taken aback, and would've even described it as cute, for a mere moment- but that moment had passed, and Amy sighed in relief that Surge was asleep- atleast she couldn't do any harm now. As Amy turned to her windows, she saw a flaming inferno from afar; it faded swiftly, and Blaze entered the house soon after. "Amy," Blaze spoke as she walked over to Surge. "Is she better yet?" She continued with a disgruntled look on her face. "I…I'm not sure yet. She's sleeping, which is probably good- but we'll have to wait for her to wake up." Amy replied nervously, keeping an eye on Surge as they waited for her to wake. Blaze was clearly unhappy, but Amy wasn't sure of what to do. It's not like she was exactly fine with having Surge stay at her house either, really. She doesn't feel like she's got a choice in the matter.- Surge then slowly opens her eyes, groaning as she gets up from the sofa. "Eh? What?" She grumbles as she begins to wake, soon remembering her location. "Oh." "Fuckin' right." She looks increasingly annoyed as she realizes her location once again- "Couldn't you just, I don't know, throw me in a hospital?" Surge states as she falls back onto Amy's sofa. Amy goes to talk to her, but then Blaze pushes her back as she approaches Surge. "That can be arranged." Blaze says, her eyes seeming more akin to a blazing inferno than eyes themselves.

Blaze wasn't afraid to fight lightning with fire, and she certainly wasn't afraid to fight for Amy. "Blaze, wait-" Amy spoke, trying to defuse the situation, watching her every step like she's walking on ice, before Surge snaps back at Blaze. "C'mon, princess. Show me what you've got." Surge speaks, attempting to taunt Blaze into a fight. The lights flickered, only for sparks of flame to illuminate the darkness. "Do not test me." Blaze spoke firmly, Surge going to swing at her before a loud, thundering noise echoed throughout the house, knocking Surge off balance. It was Amy, who had just smashed her hammer against the floor. "STOP! Just stop it! What are you doing!?- Blaze, I told you that we don't need to fight her- And Surge, do you have a death wish!? Attacking my girlfriend in my own home!?!" Amy yelled angrily, the shockwave from her hammer launching Surge to the corner of the room, and pushing Blaze back slightly. Blaze looked nervous, as if somewhat sad- and Surge was in either awe or anger, and she yelled "Wow! Holy shit." in response, a toothy smile on her face, which quickly faded after Blaze glared at her, still showing a willingness to fight. Amy gritted her teeth, then stopped- she was no longer angry, her outburst having left quickly as it arrived- she was now looking on the verge of tears, holding her hammer tightly as she stared at Surge and Blaze. "Can't you all just listen to me for once!" Amy yelled as she dropped her hammer, wiping away tears. Blaze felt horribly guilty, and walked over to Amy in attempts to comfort her- Surge, somewhere deep down, felt somewhat bad. Begrudgingly, in attempts to remove this horrible feeling, Surge got up and turned away, muttering something under her breath. As Blaze comforted and apologized to Amy, they both turned to Surge- and both looked slightly puzzled. "What was that?" Amy asked, her voice still an upset tone. "…I'm sorry." Surge muttered slightly louder, crossing her arms and avoiding eye contact with either of the two. "…Say that again?" Blaze said as she laughed slightly. "I SAID, I'M FUCKING SORRY, OKAY!?" Surge barked loudly, turning towards them and grunting. "Huh…Uh…Thanks, Surge…Apology accepted." Amy wasn't entirely sure is she had forgiven Surge at all,- and it was more likely than not that she didn't forgive her, but she was at a complete loss for words, and said the first thing that came to mind. Surge had actually apologized to her, even if Surge wasn't happy about it, it was an apology. Blaze turning away from Surge and towards Amy, giving her a caring gaze- "Would you like to head to The Myth? That usually cheers you up." Blaze asked as she grabbed Amy's hands gently. "The Myth? That's stupid." Surge muttered as Amy looked at Blaze, "Yeah, that'd be nice." Amy replied. "Oh, and Surge? Your powers are definitely better now- considering what you and Blaze did to my house, I'd say you can go back out on your own- if you really want to." Amy added as she glared at Surge, a smile on Amy's face. "Finally. Now I can get away from you losers." Surge spoke arrogantly as she pushed past Blaze and Amy, walking through the door and leaving the house, her only goodbye being a far-off yell; "See you later, nerds!" Blaze rolled her eyes at Surge's comment, leaving the house alongside Amy as they walked towards the nearby coffee shop.

As they walked along, the wonderful calming breeze flying through their hair- the calmness, and serenity was completely disturbed by a loud, booming voice from where they were once walking. "WAIT FOR ME!" Surge cried out as she ran towards Blaze and Amy, who stopped and watched Surge rapidly approach. "Surge? I thought you didn't want to come with us?" Blaze asked, questioning the tired tenrec. "Yeah- well, you see-" Surge tried to think of a response, but ended up standing awkwardly in thought, clearly getting nervous, but quickly regaining her usual posture as Amy spoke, "Uhm, would you like to come to the coffee shop with us?", Surge replying quickly, "Pfft. That loser shop? I guess, since you're both practically begging me to go with you." Surge spoke as Blaze glared at her completely unamused, Surge changing her sentence soonafter- "Uh. Yeah, sure." Surge said, faking a cough and walking past Amy and Blaze towards the coffee shop. Blaze and Amy followed Surge into the coffee shop, the three of them taking a seat at a table. "So, what are you two getting?" Amy asked, looking at Surge and Blaze, who gazed at eachother for a moment, neither of them knowing what to order. "I'll just have the same as you." Blaze said, smiling at Amy. Surge, copying Blaze due to a lack of actual ideas on what to get, said the exact same. "Okay! Hm…you guys got any allergies? No? Okay. I'll think I'll just go for a coffee cake. Be back in a minute, then!" Amy spoke as she walked away from the table to go and order, returning minutes later with three coffee cakes. "Alright, here!" Amy said, placing down the cakes on the table- then sitting at the table aswell.

Amy and Blaze ate their cakes soon after- Surge complaining about it's quality as she ate it, "This is garbage. How much did you pay for this crap?" Surge asked, turning to Amy and raising an eyebrow. "…Surge, if it's horrible, then why are you eating it?" Blaze said in reply, her and Amy laughing slightly. Surge, who had just finished eating her cake, muttered "…shut up." before talking at regular volume- for Surge, atleast- again, saying, "This is getting boring, anyway. Why don't we do something else-" Surge stopped as she saw a group of rogue badniks aimlessly wandering the streets. "Badniks!" She cried out happily, charging through the coffee shop door and preparing to fight them. Blaze and Amy followed soon after, Amy yelling "Wait!" as Surge ran, Amy getting her hammer and charging at one of the badniks, swinging and launching it miles away. Surge dashed through 3, before turning to Blaze, who was about to engulf a charging badnik in a flaming tornado- before Surge jumped infront of her, yelling "Outta the way, princess!" as she tackled the badnik. Blaze, having frozen for a second- was blushing slightly. She certainly wasn't fond of Surge before- and Surge could certainly drop that nickname, but it was nice seeing Surge care about her. Blaze quickly brushed off the feeling and continued turning the badniks to ash, alongside Amy and Surge- and, in mere minutes, the badniks had all been felled. "Fuckin' sweet! Good job." Surge yelled with a smile as she raised her hands in the air victoriously, Blaze- and Amy gazing at her, as if she was the only thing that was there- other than eachother, of course. "It's getting dark," Amy said as she yawned, putting her hammer away. "I'm heading back to my house. You've, uh, got a place to stay, right Surge?" Amy continues. Surge looks at her nervously, going to nod but ultimately deciding not to- "No." Surge replied, having not had a place to stay for awhile now- "Oh. I'm sorry to hear that, Surge." Blaze says sincerely as Amy comes up with an idea, "We could have a sleepover!- if you've got the time, Blaze." Amy asked, Blaze and Surge nodding in response- sooner than later, they were walking back towards Amy's house, where Surge crashed on the sofa again, and Blaze having bought a sleeping bag on their way there. Amy and Blaze had a very different day, but ultimately it wasn't that bad- but Blaze felt guilty, due to the feelings she had for Surge- and Amy felt guilty aswell, having a need to confess these feelings to Blaze. They both hope to sort it out the next day, as the sky darkens and they fall asleep.

PART 10

As Blaze climbed out of bed, Amy walked down her stairway into her living room. "Surge?" She asked in a cautious tone. "You awake?" Amy continued, Surge rubbing her eyes as she rolls off the sofa and onto the wooden floorboards beneath it. "Ow." Surge mutters as her head collides with the floorboards. "I'm fucking tired. Where's breakfast." Surge spoke in an irritated way, clearly still exhausted. "Surge. This is my house. You may be a guest, but you'll have to get up if you want your own breakfast." Amy replied as she nudged Surge with her foot. "Ughhhh." Surge groaned as she raised her head from the floorboards. "Amy I'm so fucking tired. I NEED breakfast to wake me up. It's science, moron." Surge continued before slamming her head against the floorboards once again. "Amy. I'm SICK. I got hurt, remember? I'm in no condition to make breakfast." Surge yelled, her voice slightly muffled from where her head was lying against the floor. "You're sick, but in perfect condition to take down a group of badniks? Yeah, right." Amy said sarcastically, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow at Surge. "I was pushing myself to protect you and your girlfriend. " Surge spoke, trying to muster an excuse. Amy looked surprised for a split second, blushing before shaking her head and realizing the nature of the sentence; it was clearly, without a doubt a terrible excuse.

"You'll need to do better than that, Surge." Amy replied, recognizing the excuse. "Pleaseeee. Get me breakfast." Surge demanded, before a roaring flame was heard outside; Blaze soon waited patiently at the door, ringing the doorbell. "Oh- wait a second, Surge, Blaze is here." Amy said as she wandered to the door, letting Blaze in. "Hey, Blaze. Surge is on the floor and won't get up." Amy said in a defeated, tired and annoyed tone. "She's been like this since I woke up." Amy said as her and Blaze walked into the living room, gesturing towards Surge. "Hey, Fire-lady. Get me breakfast." Surge asked as Blaze stared at her, raising a hand to wave at Blaze. "Surge, we aren't going to make you breakfast until you get up. Infact, you should be making your own breakfast, considering you're a guest in Amy's house." Blaze replied, Surge lowering her arm. "C'mon, Surge. Don't be lazy." Amy continued, nudging Surge again. "Fiiinee. Help me up." Surge said, sighing and raising her hand towards Blaze. Blaze grabbed Surge's hand, trying to lift her up, Surge then throwing herself towards Blaze- Blaze grabbing her, almost in a hugging motion. Blaze's face turned red, surprised at the sudden event- then promptly threw Surge onto the sofa. "There. Now you're up." Blaze spoke as Surge was thrown against the sofa cushion, eventually sitting comfortably on the sofa, a tired and disgruntled look on her face. "Can I have breakfast now? " Surge asked, yawning. Amy replied seconds later, "No, Surge. You can make your own breakfast now, I think." Amy said as she walked off into the kitchen, ignoring Surge. Surge, annoyed beyond belief, yelled, "What!? Aw, c'mon! I did all the crap you guys asked me to do! I got up! Do I get NO appreciation around here!?", waving her hands in the air as she yelled. Surge groaned and calmed down slightly, lowering her hands. "You're all a bunch of misogynists. Expected better from you guys, really." Surge said, crossing her arms as Amy makes waffles over in the kitchen.

Blaze laughed slightly as she looked at Surge, replying, "Surge, how do I hate women? I'm literally gay." in a cheerful tone. "Well," Surge spoke, trying to think of a comeback, "You're not dating me. So you clearly don't love all women." Surge continued, a smug grin on her face as if she just won an argument. Blaze laughed in response, utterly confused at Surge's vision of misogyny. "You have to be joking." Blaze said as she giggled, shaking her head at Surge. "No offense, Surge, but I think you've got a flawed imagination of who a misogynist actually is." Amy spoke from the kitchen, laughing slightly. Surge did, infact, know what a misogynist was- she was just trying to insult Blaze and Amy. "Yeah,- Well I think your face is flawed!" Surge quickly yelled back, much to the amusement of Amy and Blaze. "Yeah, okay, sure." Amy replied in a gleeful tone. Amy then returned to the living room, waffles in hand; she then placed them on the coffee table not so far from the sofa, sitting on the sofa next to Surge, taking a waffle with her. "Finally! Some food around here." Surge stated as she grabbed a waffle from the table, Blaze sitting on the sofa beside her. As Amy & Surge ate their waffles, Blaze grabbed the tv remote from the table and asked, "Anyone up for watching a movie? I heard they released a sequel to the one me and Amy watched with Sonic and Tails." quietly. Surge, still chewing her food, replied, "Yeah, shure.", Amy responding soon after, "Surge, that's absolutely disgusting. Never do that again. But yeah, I'd be up for watching a movie.". With everyone in agreement, Blaze put on the movie; it certainly wasn't as interesting as the first, nor was the robots as good- they were cgi, instead of props, puppets, and costumes like the original.

Still, Amy enjoyed it despite it's flaws- saying what they could fix and how they could've done it, whilst Surge laughs and points out all the mistakes they made, mocking the directors. Blaze sat quietly, for the most part, invested in the movie- gazing into Amy's eyes every now and then. Eventually, the movie finished, Blaze yawning and absentmindedly leaning against Surge before sitting up again. "So, what'd everyone think?" Amy asked with an awkward smile, all of them knowing the quality was way below even low expectations. "It was…certainly a movie. Your criticisms probably should've been taken into account before they made it, Amy." Blaze replied, rubbing her neck as she responds. Surge then replies, laughing and agreeing with Blaze, "Haha, yeah! It was total crap! Worst thing I've ever watched!" She yelled, Blaze and Amy turning towards her. "It wasn't the best, but I wouldn't exactly call it that." Blaze replied, chuckling. "Yeah- It wasn't actually that bad, Surge. They just should've read the books beforehand- the creator literally had an entire book series before this! It had so much lore on the world, that they completely ignored!" Amy spoke, smiling. Surge then replied, "Pfft. Shut up- whenever you guys argue with me it just looks like you wanna kiss me so bad." laughing before a silence dawned, Amy and Blaze staring at eachother- blushing for a moment before turning away. It was awkward to talk about,- but they didn't exactly have a choice. They wanted to be honest with eachother, so they had to talk. "Amy, I think we need-" "Blaze, there's something-" Both Amy and Blaze spoke at the same time as they turned towards eachother again, Surge giving both of them a confused stare as she raised an eyebrow.

"What? What'd I say?" She asked, confused. "Uhm, Surge- I think we and Blaze should go talk in the kitchen for a moment." Amy replied, looking at Blaze before the two of them walk into the kitchen. "Amy, I- I think I may have feelings for Surge. I don't love her more than you, obviously- you're my girlfriend, I love you with all my heart- I just- can't shake my feelings for her, and I didn't want to keep it a secret from you- you've always wanted me to be honest about my emotions, so I thought you should know this." Blaze stated, embarrassed and worried to tell Amy this- Amy stood surprised fora moment, still smiling- before responding, grabbing Blaze's hands. "Blaze. I…was going to tell you the same thing. I love you too, and I have feelings for Surge too- and it's wonderful that you feel able to tell me this- because it means we can sort something out about it. We could both ask Surge to date us- Only if you're comfortable with that. I'd be fine with it, but I just, ultimately, want you to be happy." Amy responded, Blaze then smiling and hugging her tightly. "Thank you. That'd be wonderful, Amy." Blaze spoke, both of them entering the living room soon after, where Surge sat confused, Amy and Blaze heading back onto the sofa. "Geez, finally. Took you guys long enough." Surge said when Blaze and Amy entered the room, the two staring at eachother for a moment- both deciding that right now might not be the best time to tell Surge about their feelings. "What were you guys doing, anyway?- Nevermind, doesn't matter. All I know is that it's gonna get dark soon and I'm super fucking tired. Can I crash on your sofa again?" Surge asked, Amy looking at Blaze, as if to ask her if she's alright with it- Blaze nodding in reply. "Yeah, sure." Amy said soon after. The day passed quickly, Blaze leaving to her dimension not much later. Her and Amy slept comfortably that night, knowing that they confessed their feelings about Surge to eachother- now they just need to confess to Surge, and hope for a yes.

Please note that I don't usually write fanfic, and I'm not the best writer. So, uh, take everything I write with a grain of salt, I guess? What I'm saying is it's mostly bad. Also let me know if there's any typos! Don't proofread much.

[house-of-naga]

The Ducks

and the Padawans they represent:

Disclaimer: I initially stated they were all yellow with various hats. I'm reneging on that, because I think it's more meaningful this way and also because I didn't think the ducks would be as big a hit as they are currently. Another Disclaimer: I'm also starting to explore Seungmin's connection to the Force, and this is not all I have in mind. It'll be a learning journey for him though.

Vami/Venka:

Name Origin: SW name generator

Age as of 11BBY: 26

Actual Appearance: I took a lot of inspiration from Harbor from Valorant, since it seemed to fit his name and he was recently released when I started to write the Jeongin section -> Long, dark hair pulled into a bun, and a decently thick beard. Typically wears vests/tanks tops to let his arms loose.

Duck Appearance: His duck had a beard and a little sailor cap to represent his love of the water (esp. over the air). Vami thinks it's cute.

Little tidbits: Born on an ocean planet, and always really liked the ocean -> a big part of why he and Coria settled down on Arkanis. His master was a nautolan so it kinda always worked for him.

Sound (Hannie's Force): Hah, woodwinds.

Feeling (Seungmin's Force): An ocean breeze.

Coria/Cath:

Name Origin: SW name generator/Fire Emblem name

Age as of 11BBY: 26

Actual Appearance: I didn't really have a specific character in mind when I designed her like I did with Vami or Lissa -> Green skin, dark hair in a bob similar to Chaewon or Winter (I think I have an unhealthy obsession with cute bobs rn), doesn't have anything clothing that really defines her in my mind.

Tattoos: geometric triangles from her lower lip to her chin and then 8 squares over her cheekbones, 4 on each side (they kinda look like large freckles almost). The triangles denote becoming a Padawan, and the squares denote each year she's survived since Order 66.

Duck Appearance: Green duck with little Mirialan tattoos Coria painted herself. Black body with a Mirialan hood even though Coria doesn't wear one herself.

Little tidbits: Clearly likes to do arts and crafts in her free time. Gave herself traditional tattoos since she couldn't find another trained Mirialan to do it for her, but they're perfectly on center.

Sound (Hannie's Force): Either piano or cello. Maybe both.

Feeling (Seungmin's Force): Moonlight.

Lissa:

Name Origin: Fire Emblem character (I use too many Fire Emblem names in my fic lol I'm surprised no one's called me on this, but FE isn't too popular rn so I guess I shouldn't be)

Age as of 11BBY: 23

Actual Appearance: Like an older, scarred, and more buff version of her Fire Emblem counterpart -> long, blond hair, braided. Scars from years of fighting and being undercover up her arms. When not disguised, she wears basic shit like white t-shirts and black gloves.

Duck Appearance: Yellow duck. No hat, but braided blond hair instead.

Little tidbits: ghey. Also she saved someone important like... 20 chapters ago and it'll be a while til we see them again.

Sound (Hannie's Force): Deep brass (think tuba or trombone)

Feeling (Seungmin's Force): Not quite sure yet. Either mist or just straight rain.

Seungmin

Age as of 11BBY: 20

Duck Appearance: Yellow duck with a baseball cap. It's too perfect not to use.

Sound (Hannie's Force): Guitar, or hallikset. Y'know, whatever floats your boat.

Han

Age as of 11BBY: 20

Duck Appearance: Blue duck with yellow facial tattoos and a headdress similar to Riyo Chuchi's. These were also hand painted by Coria. (An homage to Hannie's master, Thassa.)

Feeling (Seungmin's Force): Sunshine 🥰

And that's it!

@31jindo :) (EDIT: they made some duck designs based off these descriptions that you can see here 🥰🥰🥰)

[aureiki]

show us the sexy accountant shuffle

thank you to the people who asked god bless anyways

The theme is surprisingly not as dark as the shuffle name implies, it's basically all of them dressed as Little Red Riding Hood characters ... 'but aiki, that's not how a shuffle unit works-' I dont CARE if this is how I want it to be then so be it.

Unlike the drawing I do still want them to have similar outfits, but each keeping an aspect of the character they portray..

- keito > red riding hood (the hood duh)

- mitsuru > wolf (wolf ears, claws, fangs etc)

- rei & tsumugi > grandma and mom (not too sure ab accessories for them)

- hinata > huntsman (hat and bow + arrows)

They all (except hinata) should wear skirts/dresses too bc ofc they should why shouldn't they!

overall gist is that they are performing for a school event (middle school or even a kindergarten) and is kinda putting on a hashtag dramatica and acting the story out (then dancing singing afterwards)

I think there probably wouldve been a lot of planning (on tsumugi and keitos part) as to who would be who and at first they probably decided that hinata would be red riding hood and rei as the wolf (father son bonding) but then hinata goes 'actually hasumi you've worn a dress before right :3 why dont you become red riding hood' 'what. no. why should I.' And hinata somehow turns the tables around and now KEITO is rrh and he just deals with it because hey this is for children after all!

A lot of blunders happen, considering they're idols and not actors, and even if it's for a bunch of young kids they still want to do their best to entertain them. Idk what else I have planned other than that but maybe it's just a chance for all of them esp keito to kinda let loose and have fun mitsukeito friendship should be real methinks

[camirazone]

Miracle of Chu: The Rogues Gallery

It wouldn’t be a good superhero story without some villains, although really only one of them is an actual villain and the other two were dragged into this nonsense.

Without further ado, here is our gang!

Sapphirus.

The whole story starts because of Sig accidentally finding the peacock miraculous on a search for bugs. He’s granted the power to become Sapphirus, who can make sentimonsters, and Sig just goes “why not lmao” and starts making some bug friends. Unfortunately he loses control of them pretty quickly due to being pretty new to his powers and they start causing issues, making him the catalyst for the events to unfold. 

Thank god for Argos existing as it gave me some good reference for what a male Mayura may look like. Thanks to @greenysoliatre​ for her original design as well which you can see next to Black Sig. Eventually he ditches the hood once everyone realizes he’s not a threat at all, but they still have a lot of work to do.

Lepidoptera

“Who the hell is this” This is Carmen, Greeny’s OC and sort of the catalyst for why this AU even became a thing in the first place. She found the butterfly miraculous in Oshare’s shop, the latter finding it randomly and thinking it looked ugly, so he put it up for sale at a cheap price. Carmen is immediately rushed into action by Nooroo, who tells her about a great threat, and feeling bad for buying her way into being a hero, she accepts the offer and becomes Lepidoptera. Initially she believes Sig’s sentimonsters are the great threat, so using her powers, she can turn the citizens of Primp into champions...until THEY’RE mistaken for the great threat. Of course, while everyone is tangled up in a huge misunderstanding, the real threat is lurking in the shadows.

I don’t have much to say on her design wise, other than that I was watching way too many Callimara videos for my own good and gave Greeny the idea to add a hat because I liked the idea of it looking quite sinister. She ditches it after it’s revealed she’s also not really much of a threat.

Drache

By far one of my favorite characters to write. Ayashii sounded like a kwami name, so we decided to make him a core part of the story.

Long ago, when Accord was Chat Noire, she was up against the all powerful demon Ayashii. Before Ayashii could get away with all the Miraculous, she used cataclysm to strip him of his corporeal form. This caused the miraculous to get spread out across the world and possibly other dimensions as well, but that part is irrelevant. Ayashii was lodged into the Dragon Miraculous, taking over the kwami’s body. Conveniently, it happened to be the kwami of perfection.

Years later, while Klug has a rough day at school, he goes home only to find one of Lepidoptera’s butterflies going about. Curious, he touches it and is accidentally turned into a champion. Of course his ass is kicked pretty quickly by Coccinella and Chat Noire, so he’s a little upset at losing this cool power. Luckily, or I suppose unluckily, he find the Dragon Choker, and thinking someone lost it, he just keeps it on him hoping to find the owner. Ayashii grins, finding a new body after all these years.

Now Drache goes around menacingly, hoping to get all the Miraculous in hopes of world domination. He is able to use the 5 Chinese Zodiac Elements (Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, and Earth) at his disposal (The OG show only really had Water, Lightning, and Wind which is kinda unfitting with Ryuko’s design.) His hair is blue here because it reflects the elemental dragons in Chinese mythos, who were blue. Longg was also that color before Ayashii’s possession of him, so it definitely adds to it. 

Character design isn’t my strong suit but it is definitely fun. Now we got our whole crew done. (Yippee!!)

[screwball-duck]

the BEST looney tunes cartoons (in my humble opinion)

after spending weeks - possibly months - curating the list of the top looney tunes cartoons, i have decided to share it with the world. i organized them based on character, and chose the cartoons that i think specifically follow this basic criteria: 1. they portray the characters in a way that is comedic and true to past writing and established character traits 2. they are entertaining, funny, and have well-executed gags 3. they give the authentic looney tunes feeling and are good representations of looney tunes as a whole if you are introducing a friend to looney tunes, or want to get into it yourself, i suggest you start with these cartoons. they are my personal favorites and i think they capture what makes looney tunes great. before i get into the list, some things worth noting: - i did not include the characters elmer fudd, yosemite sam, tweety, marvin the martian, the tasmanian devil, or any smaller characters. this was because all of these characters are usually paired with more major or more entertaining characters that i made lists of instead. i don't think these characters are enough on their own to make a separate list about, and i don't think that learning about these characters is a necessity when starting looney tunes. - if a cartoon features multiple characters, i put it under the character i thought that it represented best. for example, in porky and daffy cartoons where daffy is silly and funny, i put them under daffy. but in porky and daffy cartoons where daffy is messing with porky, and porky's forced to become sinister, i put those under porky.

finally: the list. (also a shift from my strict no-caps policy)

Bugs Bunny A Wild Hare (1940) - first appearance Hot Cross Bunny (1948) Buccaneer Bunny (1948) Rabbit Fire (1951) Bugs and Thugs (1954)

Daffy Duck Porky's Duck Hunt (1937) - first appearance Porky and Daffy (1938) The Wise Quacking Duck (1943) Duck Soup to Nuts (1944) Daffy Doodles (1946)

Porky Pig I Haven't Got a Hat (1935) - first appearance The Pest That Came to Dinner (1948) Often an Orphan (1949) The Ducksters (1950) Fool Coverage (1952)

Sylvester Life With Feathers (1945) - first appearance Who's Kitten Who (1952) A Bird in a Guilty Cage (1952) Gift Wrapped (1952) The Last Hungry Cat (1961)

Wile E. Coyote/Roadrunner Fast and Furry-ous (1949) - first appearance Beep, Beep (1952) Stop! Look! And Hasten! (1954) Whoa, Be-Gone! (1958) Wild About Hurry (1959)

Foghorn Leghorn Walky Talky Hawky (1946) - first appearance The Foghorn Leghorn (1948) A Fractured Leghorn (1950) Little Boy Boo (1954) A Broken Leghorn (1959)

Honorable Mentions* The Henpecked Duck (1941) The Great Piggy Bank Robbery (1946) Operation: Rabbit (1952) Mouse Divided (1953) Devil May Hare (1954) Birds Anonymous (1957) Robin Hood Daffy (1958)

Best One-Offs Porky in Wackyland (1938)** Cross-Counry Detours (1940) The Haunted Mouse (1941) Russian Rhapsody (1944) Dough Ray Me-ow (1948) Feed The Kitty (1952)*** One Froggy Evening (1955)

*these are cartoons that i almost picked for top cartoons, but didn't quite make the cut. but these are definitely worth being mentioned because they are almost if not equally as great.

**i know this isn't a one-off because it has porky in it, but i don't consider this a great cartoon for porky because he's really bland in it. i love this cartoon because of the ridiculous characters and backgrounds. ***this also isn't a one-off because there are multiple shorts featuring marc anthony and pussyfoot, but they're very small characters so i consider it part of that category.