#actually they're both pretty all the time

[marbofmoorock]

Would love to see Kinger and Queenie, as well as Zooble and Caine drawn in this AU TOO. PLEASE MAKE IT HAPPEN! Fantasy Winter Wonderland, so perfectly in season. Maybe Caine and Zooble could have a dynamic of some kind, where Caine could be like Zooble's caring Uncle who wears goofy sweaters and tells funny stories about from his imagination about a fictional life in the circus as a ringmaster (he's a chatterbox beause his head is a mouth, lol), and Zooble is like an angsty college student caught in a feud betweenn divorced parents, moving in with her uncle to get away from all of the mess.

I'm gonna make a short story of it, would love to see accompanying art!!!

-----

Cainooble: A Winter Wonderland Special!

It was a wonderful Winter Wonderland of a day, Christmas had just passed, and everyone was out playing in the snow to enjoy the winter days before the new year. Pomni and Gummigoo laugh and play out in the snow, sliding down the hill on Gummigoo's new sled his parents got him for Christmas. Gangle watches them timidly from the top of thr hill as a sort of happy third wheel to their group, wearing a kimono and a fluffy coat as well to stay warm, preferring to watch them play. Ragatha and Jax share a hot cocoa in a nearby house as siblings, chatting away about what they loved most. Kinger and Queeenie in another house enjoy some quiet time together, with a few friends over, including Dobby Dog, Orbsman, and many others.

Then there's Zooble, a frustrated 20 something, having just quit her job due to transferring colleges, unable to stay at her local college due to how much her parents fought. Zooble was so done with their fighting as an only child, she literally was having trouble with her identity, looking for support and help, but they're too distracted with yelling at each other over such silly things like money. She decided to put her foot down and move to the University in the next town, packing up her stuff to go live with Uncle Caine, his father's brother whom was usually fun to be around and actually cared about Zooble. He lived in Mulberry, a Picturesque Town in Minnesota, that was postcard worthy during the winter.

She drove the somewhat icy roads carefully and found herself pulling up to Uncle Caine's nice house. He was a bachelor who never married, so he had lots of room in his big house for his precious niece! Growing up she would visit and make Christmas cookies and chill with her cheery Uncle, although they had stopped that recently, due to her mother trying to be possessive a out stuff and starting fights with her dad, them trying to leave Uncle Caine out of the feud. Zooble, while slightly disgruntled over all of what happened at home with mom and dad, was slightly relieved at seeing Uncle Caine's house as she found his neighborhood.

Not too long after she carefully parked the car in the driveway, Caine came out of the house in a coat.

"HEY HEEEEEY, THERE'S MY FAVORITE NIECE, Salutations on thus blustery cold daaaaaay!"

Zooble, seeing Caine, smiled weakly, happy to see Caine after all that she'd been through, leaving the house to come live here.

"Thank you do much Uncle Caine. Mom and Dad haven't been their best lately..."

"DON'T YOU WORRY YOUR PRETTY LITTLE HEAD, YOU'LL HAVE A FRESH START HERE IN MULBERRY. It's the quietest town in Minnesota, and it's SUCH A MIRACLE you didn't skid off the roads, they're quite icy here. I'm so glad you made it, I was tempted to call, but i knew how competent you were Zoobie!"

They both hugged it out for a moment in the cold, Zooble felt like crying because she was so grateful to her uncle Caine. Caine noticed she's clinging to him as they hugged and held her close as well.

"It'll be okay, Zoobie, it'll be like your last visit, but LONGER! THAT'S RIGHT, YOU GET TO STAAAAAY HEEEEERE, FOR AS LONG AS YOU'D LIKE." Said Caine, with an exuberant voice that sounded like a game show host. "WE'RE FAMILY AFTER ALL. Go on in. There's hot cocoa in the kitchen. I'll get your bags! Oh, and feel free to just call me Caine, I think you're old enough to just call me by my first name now, hahaha!"

Zooble nods silently, her smiling expression more present as she's happy that her Uncle took her in.

Inside, she sips her hot cocoa, and Caine comes in shortly after, with most of her bags, of which he gets the rest in a second trip.

Then he joins Zooble for some hot cocoa once he's fully back inside with Zooble's luggage altogether by the door.

"So Zoobie, what do you think of Mulberry? It's so lovely here, no?"

"Yeah, it's pretty great Caine, I'm gonna like it here."

"I'm soooo delighted to hear that! It's so nice here Zoobie, you'll love plenty of people your age here, and the college is small and cozy. Mulberry U was my alma mater, you know. Aaah, it seems like yesterday when I walked out with my communications degree! The TV station has been a perfect job for me, telling everyone about the weather is certainly a real peachy job with its own challenges, but as Mark Twain once said, make your vocation your vacation, and all will be well, hahahaaa!"

Zooble smiles, happy to see her uncle in such good spirits.

They chat the rest of the night, and Zooble gets a good night's rest. As she goes on, she adjusts to her new life in Mulberry and becomes friends with Pomni, Gangle, and Ragatha, as well as the other tadc cast in the neighborhood, including new characters.

The End.

Knock knock! Guess who's online again! 🥂

For now, check out the sketches of the characters in the form of teenagers / children + bonus ( AIS AU ⛸️❄)

+bonus (I drew the art a long time ago, but decided to show it only now)

Unfortunately, I was away for a long time due to personal problems. The beginning of the year turned out to be difficult.

I was COMPLETELY deprived of the opportunity to draw on a graphics tablet.I also had to move in with my dad after a fight with my mom. Now I'm drawing on my phone in the Ibis Paint X app with my finger, which is unusual for me.

However, there is some good news! It's my birthday next month, and my dad promised to give me an iPad! (I've never used it before.)

Therefore, I will temporarily post less art on Tumblr.(sorry)

[mimipolo]

i am begging

the «reuniting with your ex in the games» BUT it’s Nam-gyu falling for Thanos’ ex😭😭

Nam-gyu x reader

|This was fun to write but I'm not totally sure I did the idea justice

|Also guys when I finish all the requests I DO write for other Squid Game characters especially if they're underrated 🤞

It was easy to want to find a distraction during the games, the pressure of just wanting to survive and leave with a pretty amount of cash being the only thing pushing him forward.

But conventionally that's when he noticed you. It was during the 6-legged race, you had already formed a reliable looking group and were encouraging a frantic looking man. He didn't understand how he had missed you throughout the other games but now his eyes always drew back to you like a magnet.

You weren't even doing anything that special, just talking to that bastard's chic that left him broke. It was your soft look of concern for her that had him falter slightly, he was holding his food as he stared in your direction.

He wanted to talk to you, badly.

As he's biting the inside of his lip, considering whether or not you'll ignore him a familiar cheerful voice comes up from behind. Thanos lazily swinging an arm around his shoulder.

"Whatcha looking at ma boy?" He asked in a playful tone, grinning dopily as he follows Nam-gyu's line of sight, only to land on. You.

His face screws up dramatically as he looks between the stricken look on his friends face and then back to you. Nam-gyu's about to speak up and ask Thanos to hype him up to go talk to you but he's not given a chance when he's suddenly being dragged towards him by both shoulders.

Thanos leans in to whisper, but he's still comically loud. "Nah man, that's my ex, total priss. Trust me you don't want that." But thing is he wanted it, and bad.

He's momentarily speechless as he glances between you and Thanos, torn between his loyalty and this new warm feeling you're giving him. "Yeah...uh huh." He doesn't mean a word of it, you're definitely going to remain on his mind until he can find another way to get to you. He's brought out his thoughts by a clap to his back. "Right idea man." He says nodding his head with a furrowed lip before spinning on his heel to bother someone else, most likely Se-mi.

He couldn't care less what he was on about, your smile was sweet and he felt eager to get your care and attention on him instead. Nodding to himself with a new found resolution as we walked to his bunk to eat his food.

It was honestly unbearable trying to ignore your prescence, he's high off his rockets but he's still looking up at the ceiling stupidly as he tried not to make it obvious he was actually looking at your way and you're only standing in front of him amongst a vast crowd.

Everyone was on their way to the next game, though the colours seemed to blur and blend together he could make out a stage which everyone instinctively stepped on. What kinda game is this supposed to be? His mind is too jumbled to decipher everything like he usually would and he finds himself easily joining in on Thanos' antics.

Blood smeared the doors and floors, the mocking song that blared from above ringing in his ears. All he really had to do was get into a group with the right number, that's all, if he could understand that at least he'd be just fine.

"Two!"

The child like voice sung out and for the last time chaos erupted. His gaze immediately moves to locate Thanos, they had been in every room together so far so he didn't think this time would be any different.

Apparently he judged wrong.

The purple head of hair making some unexplainable noise before grabbing Min-su by the shoulder and skipping off.

What. The hell.

He wanted to kill him, wrap his fingers around his neck and wring him to death, taking his cross as a reward. But now wasn't the time to fantasize. He was quickly growing irritated, cursing under his breath as he looked for anyone he could easily grab.

And that's when his eyes locked with yours.

You look as frantic as he is, and he's genuinely disturbed to realise that all he's thinking about is that you noticed him in this bloody situation. He's stopped in his tracks but you're rapidly advancing towards him, grabbing his arm roughly and tugging him towards a door, not even bothering to give him the chance to accept. He wouldn't have said no way.

When another desperate player tries to grab you to join their room he quickly comes back to reality, swaggerdly pushing the man away from you and rushing to close the door behind the two of you and locking it.

You're panting. Hair falling out your hairband which you briefly grab and retie. Finally your face rises to meet his eye, finally. His back is pressed to the door still, content on watching you do the simple action of tieing your hair back. Noticing your now slightly relieved gaze on him a helplessly boyish grin forms on his face as he swallows shallowly.

"Hey."

"Hi..."

His minds scattered and he's looking for words to say to you but he's cut off by the announcement that it was safe to leave the rooms. Seeing you lean off the wall to leave he steps aside, if he was sober he would've cringed at how you didn't even have to say a word to him to get him to move. He doesn't care right now, pleased to watch your retreating back profile.

His heart stutters slightly when you turn back to look at him with tired yet considerate eyes.

"Think the game is over, you coming?"

He breathes out deeply through his nostrils as he tucks his hair behind his ears as he speeds up to walk beside you. He was doing a terrible job of trying to suppress the smug grin threatening to reveal itself but you didn't seem to notice and if you did you were mostly unbothered. Instead prioritising looking around to see the remaining surviving players.

When your eyes meet with a certain someone. Sensing the shift in your mood he doesn't know why he's surprised to see a still cheerful Thanos leaving a room with Min-su meekly following behind. His mood clearly shifts when he catches sight of you, quickly approaching the two of you, shooting Nam-gyu a judging look.

"You bitch... who woulda thought you'd end up here when you left ya boy when he was at his worst."

"We're not doing this right now, I'm tired man." He scoffs and crosses his arms at your words, rolling his eyes as he rocks from side to side.

"Convenient of you to leave after the fuck up at the competition."

"Well yeah, you managed to find a new hobby I wasn't a fan of."

You spat the words out bitterly, only getting another tsk from Thanos as he tongued his teeth. Nam-gyu could feel himself sobering up and he was able to recognise he was getting to see you up close, how grateful he was. Even if you were scolding his best friend, that scowl on your face making his heart race.

Unexpectedly those pretty eyes turn to look at him questioningly, looking him over carefully.

"You close with him?"

God knew how badly he wanted to say no to have a chance of gaining your favour but an alliance with Thanos had still done him good until now, even when he ditched him. He bit his inner cheek as he looked anywhere but your eyes.

"Yeah..."

"I see."

Thanos honestly felt offended seeing how reluctant Nam-gyu looked to admit he knew him but before he could throw any sort of tantrum he's being ushered away from you and towards the crowd of disheartened people heading for the exit. A small laugh leaves you as you watch the two, stuffing your hands in your pockets as you watched them. That guy, he didn't seem the type to be around someone like your ex, at least from what you saw today.

Everyone's currently catching their breaths and mourning those they lost. Thanos was occupied with rapping random lyrics at Se-mi and Min-su, meaning a great opportunity to potentially sneak off and see you. He wouldn't ask for anymore of those pills, he needed full focus right now, and this time analyse every curve of your face to the t.

Se-mi spares him a mean side glance as she notices him slipping away, only sighing and leaning her cheek on her palm. She couldn't care less for where he was going but she wouldn't lie and say she wasn't slightly surprised to see the man leave his dictator's side without an announcement.

You're sitting on the edge of one of the bunks, mindlessly staring towards the floor, the small group of friends you had made had been illuminated in the last game and it had left your last source of community disjointed and broken.

Your head perks up at the sound of someone clearing their throat, your brows raising slightly when you find it's the guy from before. You smile lightly at him and he swears he's found the meaning of life.

"We were a pretty good duo in that last game huh?"

"Guess you could say that."

"I was uh thinking. I could try and convince Thanos to let you in our group. I know he's-"

"I'm good."

Your blatant rejection stung more than it should, instinctively tucking his hair behind his ears.

"Thanks though, I appreciate the thought."

"Oh, course."

Immediately he forgets about all the ways he could try and convince you. Spacing out at your oddly gentle sounding words that had him strung on each syllable. He's dumbly nodding as he looks up at you with his hands peaking out his tracksuit.

"You're not as bad as him."

You say honestly, you knew of your ex's right hand but he had never particularly stood out to you until now, and at his luck in a generally good light. Tilting your head at him at his silence you sigh and lean back on your hands.

"You shouldn't listen to him too much."

"Right, yeah."

"What's your name by the way, mines [Name]."

He hadn't realised that you didn't know he already knew your name. It took several on the low eavesdropping sessions but it was a prize he proudly acquired himself. Chuckling sarcastically at himself he realised you had also asked him his.

"Nam-gyu. I know Thanos is a dick and all but you can come to me... If you want."

He had an easy going expression on but his heart was racing and he genuinely feared it might stop right in front of you, he's convinced he's pushed this too far already, obviously you'd want nothing to do with him when he's literally best friends with your ex. Yet you chuckle slightly and give a soft nod in return, a knowing smile he felt he'd been waiting ages to be directed at him.

"I'll keep that in mind, Nam-gyu."

Fucking jackpot.

[erinwantstowrite]

What do you think about Jason and Tim relationship? I know that fans are split between hatred for each other or the best brothers. But what do you think?

i fully believe that the writers dropped the ball on what to do with them.

i disagree with what they did with Jason coming back- they didn't have any direction for his character besides that they wanted a huge dramatic twist and Jason has stagnated because of it. him coming back as pretty much nothing like himself but then having zero good writing to convince me of his tragedy?? it's why a lot of people just ignore canon. if they were gonna bring him back, they should have gone in another direction.

if i HAD to keep jason as an anti hero, i would have written him to have a compulsion to protect Robin. a deep rooted fear where he projects his own time, experience, and feelings as Robin onto Tim (and even Stephanie!!) because of the damage that was done to him mentally. jason had long lasting brain damage. he was in a coma for months after he was suddenly revived, he was catatonic when Talia was taking care of him. the Lazarus pit might have healed that, but there would still be residual affects. Jason would feel younger than he is, he'd feel like a stranger in his own body. add on to that with severe cpstd, and you have a recipe for a kid (he was what, 18? 19? physically? when he got to Gotham?) who has a warped perception of his life and relationships. he would have memories that were forgotten to him, not just in his recovery stage but in the time before he died. he would have the feelings of a kid who wanted his dad to save him, who was angry at his mom for hurting him, who now has to struggle with why he ever came back at all. i'm sure he would be angry at everyone. he'd be confused and hurt and he wouldn't have a means to understanding his own feelings. but at his heart, jason was always a good kid, and he protected people, especially people who couldn't protect themselves

it makes no sense that jason came back wanting to hurt robin

so yeah, i'd have written him to be angry and volatile like a teen lashing out at a safe parent to be angry with, but when Tim or Steph were there, he'd dial it back immediately. at first it would be about not wanting to scare them, wanting to keep them safe as a way to help the kid that did die in that costume, somehow and someway. but eventually it would be about Jason seeing them, seeing how capable they are, and feeling protective over them, not just Robin.

but that isn't what happened, because the writers couldn't care less about how trauma actually effects people. they had him attack tim and become basically a sociopath and it felt like a cheap "gotcha!" twist that no one asked for

that being said, their canon relationship isn't terrible. in the beginning they didn't get along at all, obviously. but now, they have a respect for each other. they act like siblings. Tim has said multiple times that he doesn't hate Jason nor holds a grudge. Jason said that he should, but Tim didn't care. sometimes when I read them, I think about how well they might have gotten along if Jason never died. because let's be real, Tim was always headed for the Batfam with or without Jason's death. that's why fics where he's adopted earlier and Jason doesn't die are pretty popular. though in my opinion, they often overshadow that Dick and Tim are also brothers

i think they have a complicated history and relationship but they are siblings. they aren't texting each other everything (Dick and Tim, i fear) or having emotional conversations more than once every seven months but they'll play video games with each other, drop by unannounced to the other's house to eat their food and complain about something, and they work together well. they have a lot in common and they're both previously only children who became second children and eventually middle children. they both experienced neglect though it was very different versions.

in one universe where Tim had died, Jason mourned him. i think that says a lot about how they care about each other

if only the writers would let it STAY that way and not have Jason regress over and over just because they're terrified of character development

[twstfanblog]

Ok uh, can I request a Silver x reader? Bro you know how he only washes his hair and body with one bar of soap? Yeah, I just want to wash his hair. Bro looks radiant as is but imagine if he actually used shampoo. So yeah, we're washing his hair in the sink or the tub like a child

It's just a soft moment with some feelings realization. Like Silver just gets hit with the truck that is his feelings and is just like "how tf did I not notice this before?!"

Silver doesn't like to be idle but bro is gonna need a minute for this windows crash to process. Meanwhile Yuu has been trying their best not to jump this man from the get go and is currently just trying to figure out what to make for dinner after they're done drying this beautiful mans hair.

There doesn't need to be a confession or anything, just Silver being a walking loading screen is enough lol

Thank you so much!

Hair Care TLC

Silver x Reader

Silver wasn't sure how or why he had fallen asleep, but when he opened his eyes to Ramshackle's ceiling, he remembered.

The prefect had found him in the woods with a few of his animal friends, a bottle clutched in their hand as they approached. They had basically pleaded with him to allow them to wash his hair. A notion he had at first turned down, he had washed his hair only a day ago after all.

(He didn't say anything at the pinched expression they gave him).

But, as always, they only needed to ask a few more times for him to yield to their whims. The next day, he was seated in one of Ramshackle's beat-up chairs with his neck craned back to drap his hair into the kitchen sink.

He wasn't expecting much. He had washed his hair before after all...But as his droopy eyes blinked back into the waking world, he realized that was possibly the quickest he had ever fallen asleep.

The prefect gave a single laugh, telling him the second they had started to massage the shampoo along his scalp he had basically passed out ( Not mentioning them panicking for a few seconds when he suddenly went completely laxed in the chair). Only as they had stopped and were rinsing out the fruity-smelling soap did he wake up.

Silver knows he should speak, ease their concern for his well-being or at least apologize for falling asleep on them. Instead, he was suddenly captivated at the vision before him. The sun had started to sink in the sky, the rays now angled in such a way they back lit the prefect in an almost holy light. The perfect backdrop to their gentle smile as they ran warm water over his scalp and carded their fingers through his hair.

It seemed to fully awaken something in him. It was always there he noticed, soft and waiting patiently to spring forward and choke-slam him into the pool of adoration hidden inside him. He wasn't sure if he was blushing as he sat up, staring at the prefect in almost poorly hidden wondering as they spoke.

"You said you never used conditioner before and Vil only got me the shampoo. So...we're gonna just dry it and see how it all turns out!" They smile, managing to figure out the magical handheld dryer as they angle it to Silver's wet hair, "Tell me if it's too hot."

It was mildly worrying that Silver still said nothing, looking at them with a focused stare and only blinking when air blew directly into his eyes.

Before long, his hair was dry, silver strands shinier than ever before. Each lock almost godly in its volume and placement. The prefect couldn't help but be locked in their own silence of affection. Silver was always beautiful, both physically and in personality. And with his hair achieving new form in soft and shiny strands only showed how pretty he was. His aurora eyes staring into their own, reminding them of the cotton candy skies of a meadow from their dreams. They felt their face flushing, the images of Silver laying in that field with them with flowers in his hair filling their mind, "God, you're attractive..."

Seeing Silver's eyes widen, they realize they had said that out loud.

Clearing their throat, they shoved an old hand mirror into Silver's hands. Stammering as they turned away and tried to hide their reddening face with their own hair and hands, "Um. What do you think? Looks nice, right?"

Silver had looked into the mirror for a few seconds, looking back to them with a sudden fierce determination, "Can you do my hair like this for our wedding?"

"O-Our what?"

[morgannalefey]

I'm going to try one more time because I'm I dunno a glutton for punishment or something. I don't have a lot of hope, though. My impression is that most folks aren't actually reading everything I have to say and are, at best, skimming. Which, to be fair, is par for the course on this site. For this reason there's a tl;dr at the end you can jump to if you're so inclined. The rest of this post is pretty long in order to explain, but if you don't really care about the explanation and just want to be horrified, go for it.

I'm fifty nine years old. I have been married for thirty six years. Prior to that marriage, I had been with a lot of different people in the 8 years between when I became sexually active and I got my spouse. So I am not inexperienced in either sexual encounters, problems relating to sexual relations, relationships (both long and short term), nor differences in hygiene habits.

In response to your incredulity over people's learned behaviors fading over time:

Habits of childhood can be difficult to unlearn. It's possible to make an effort to change a habit, but then for other things to come up that distract and the change gets forgotten in favor of the muscle memory from childhood. There are many things that I've learned over time that are better ways to do a thing, but sometimes still forget that I've learned a better way and resort to how I originally did the thing. There are many reasons why this might happen such as distractions or having too many things to think about so my body operates on autopilot for some things. If this continues for a while, one typically loses the new habit and has to relearn the new way of doing things. Though it does tend to come back faster than the initial attempt did, it's still a conscious effort that has to be made.

Back to the main point. The assumption I'm attempting to address here is the one where everyone learns all the same basic hygiene lessons and that no one could ever have any reason for not having learned to make sure to wash their privates all the way down to and including the perineum and anal area. This assumption carries a whole lot weight. Here's a partial list of things being assumed:

That they have a parent or family member who has taught them how to clean themselves well.

That the family had water that was safe to wash thoroughly in most of the time.

That the family had the money to pay for the water bills and didn't deliberately avoid certain washing rituals because of the cost of water.

That they had present family members at all.

That they weren't living unhoused for part or most of their childhood, making washing (and especially washing the private parts) less common or safe to do because showers and such weren't always available and washing on the street could get one arrested.

This is a list of situations I can think of off the top of my head that might mean a person wasn't really taught how to clean themselves properly or that might have prevented them developing the habit. It is hardly exhaustive.

Because I recognize that people have very different lived experiences than I have had, when I'm faced with a situation like has been mentioned in this thread, I'd be more likely to just ask some questions or try to have a conversation about it. As I said before, assuming that the relationship was otherwise a good one. No one is perfect and if I threw out an entire, very good, loving, and supportive relationship because of discovering a situation in my spouse's upbringing that was weird and a little gross to me, I wouldn't still be with my spouse. If, after talking with them, it turns out that they're just a lazy, dirty person who won't even try learning a new way to exist in order to not make their partner sick, that's a completely different situation.

Now that being said, I've broken up with a guy because of how he chewed (I could not stand it, his whole family chewed like that. Even the slightest possibility of having to spend my life around those people gave me the screaming willies. Still, I did mention it to him and he was unwilling to adjust how he chewed for me. So that was it). I've broken up with guys because I couldn't stand how they smelled even after showering.

I'm not saying it's not a break up worthy offense to not keep one's privates clean for one's partner. I'd probably be far less inclined to talk to him if he were an occasional partner, not a "boyfriend" but "boyfriend" suggests a certain degree of emotional entanglement that usually means one has put some effort into the relationship. It just seems extreme to not even talk to the boyfriend about the issue to see how they respond and instead to just dump them, but maybe that can be chalked it up to my extreme old age.

tl;dr Not everyone learns exactly the same lessons about washing their privates. Basic hygiene is a skill that has to be taught, it is not instinctive. Not everyone grew up with the same resources, family, water, time, as everyone else. The term "boyfriend" seems more involved than "fuck buddy" and so taking the time to talk to the boyfriend about something that's bothersome doesn't seem like an unreasonable course of action.

[lailols]

Kai’s Pretty Girlfriend [4]: Confusion?

OT5 x f!reader

Warnings: lots of kisses and a little dry humping <3

Ever since the game things have been pretty tense in the dorm. Well, maybe tense isn’t the right word but awkward? Not between you and Kai, never between you and Kai, but there’s definitely a difference in the way the guys treat you.

It’s not even spoken about and if you hadn’t known them all for so long, maybe you wouldn’t have realized. But you can tell. It’s almost as if when they’re with you they default to their ‘idol’ personalities.

You feel it when you visit the practice room to drop off food on a long day and while Kai greets you with a hug and a kiss, the guys simply thank you and disperse to eat.

You feel it when you’re watching anime with Soobin in the living room instead of his room and rather than you leaning against each other and borderline falling asleep on top of the other, he keeps a large distance between the two of you.

You feel it when you’re talking with Beomgyu and instead of having conversations that range from deep and intense to silly and random, he keeps it surface level before he makes an excuse to leave.

You feel it when you stay up late to make sure Taehyun eats when he makes it to the dorm after he stays to practice more, and he politely thanks you but tells you he already ate and then you wake up to him sneaking out of the room later to go eat.

You feel it when your messages with Yeonjun go from being filled with silly pictures, and videos of some new choreography he’s come up with to read messages and reactions rather than actual responses.

You especially feel it when you come into the dorm when Kai is out to wait for him to get back and sit in the living room to watch whatever’s on and everyone scatters suddenly having other things to do. Or when everyone starts eating out of the dorm instead of begging you to cook or ordering takeout. Or when… yeah, it’s been a lot.

It’s not hard for you and Kai to make a plan to corner the guys and address the tension that’s settled over you all. It took a bit of convincing from Kai because you’re, admittedly, feeling a little rejected. What else are you meant to feel when they go from having you in an intimate way to flat-out ignoring you?

It's a perfect reflection of the talk they gave you and Kai after the movie incident. You and Kai standing in front of them while they're sitting on the couch.

"You guys have been avoiding me."

"No, we haven't. We literally had dinner together yesterday." Beomgyu is right but the dinner was shrouded in silence with them leaving immediately after they finished eating.

"It wasn't the same as it used to be, and you know it." You take a breath before continuing. "Listen, if we... If I made you guys uncomfortable, I'm truly sorry. We don't have to do anything like that again, I just want us to be good again."

"There wasn't anything wrong with what we did. We're just... confused." Taehyun's words are accompanied by his brows furrowing as if he's trying to figure out the answer to a problem. You would probably consider it cute in another situation.

"Confused about what?"

"What you want from this. What you both want from this. Even if we didn't do much, you can't expect us to act as if nothing changed when something did."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Was it just a one-off thing? Are you guys experimenting or something? You went from begging us to leave the dorm for you to have alone time or doing things quietly to fucking in front of us and letting us participate. It's a big change and while we were okay with it, we don't want to push boundaries."

You expect Kai to answer, but he turns to you first.

"Well, I guess experimenting is the best way to put it.”

“So, Kai wants to watch us fuck you?”

“No!” Kai exclaims in answer to Beomgyu's question but then continues in a softer voice with red crawling up his face. “Well, maybe, at some point. But what I mean is, I don’t mind if you want to do that or anything really.”

“Anything like?”

“Anything that y/n is comfortable with. Actually, she should really lead this." All eyes turn to you.

"Um, like Kai said we're okay with me being more intimate with you all if you're okay with that."

“Why?” Taehyun asks, and, really, why does anyone do anything? You don't need to do this with them. You and Kai are as close to perfect as you can be. You shouldn't need to seek anything else, but you are. Is that so bad? Is it selfish? Probably. But you want it and you think they might want it too, so it can't be that bad.

"We don't really have a reason. Just a feeling and we wanted to try it out with you."

“So you guys have an open relationship?”

“No!” Both of you exclaim.

“No, not that there’s anything wrong with that but, ugh, I wouldn’t trust anyone else with y/n the way I do with you guys. So, maybe, but not with anyone else. If that makes sense.”

"It doesn't, but I think we get the gist. What do you want exactly from us?" Soobin asks, and though you've never seen him in the setting yourself, you imagine it's similar to when he's in meetings speaking on behalf of his members. Making sure he knows what's expected so he can make a decision that doesn't make the group fall apart. And, really, this is one of those decisions.

“I want us to be close like we were. And maybe more? It feels kind of selfish but you guys are all so good to me, why wouldn’t I want to be doted on by you?”

“So we get to have you?” Beomgyu's getting excited, shifting forward in his seat.

“Yes, if that’s okay with you all.”

“All of us?”

“Yes. Or no? If any of you don’t want to, you don’t have to, obviously, but I’m okay with it. With you. All of you.”

“Oh.” It’s quiet until the four form a circle and start playing rock, paper, scissors.

“Um…” you and Kai stare awkwardly at them. “What are you doing?”

“Seeing who gets to kiss you first, duh. Use that big brain of yours. Go ahead and prepare yourself.”

“Wait! I want to play, what the hell?!” Kai cries indignantly.

“You get to kiss her all the time, suck it up. Shit. Do you see what you caused?” Beomgyu is out.

“Fuuuuuuuck.” There goes Soobin.

It’s a war of nerves between Taehyun and Yeonjun. They don’t even notice Kai turning you to him and planting a kiss on your lips until a moan leaves you when he bites on your bottom lip.

“Hey! No! That’s cheating!” Beomgyu’s words startle Taehyun out of his thinking and Yeonjun ends up winning the round, jumping up and letting out a screech of victory before pulling you out of Kai’s arms.

“So, you come here often?” Yeonjun brings a hand out to tilt your head up at him with the other making a home on your waist.

You let out a giggle before playing along, wrapping your arms around his shoulders. “Sometimes, I haven’t seen you around before though.”

“Well, this may come as a surprise to you, but I do in fact live here.” He’s steadily closing the distance between your faces as he speaks.

“Are you sure?” You tilt your head up until your lips are barely touching. “I swear I would’ve remembered a face as pretty as yours.”

You cut off his screech of ‘you stole my line’ by pressing your lips to his. He freezes for a bit before relaxing and returning the kiss. His lips are soft and plump and taste faintly like a strawberry chapstick you're sure you lost a while back. He squeezes your waist once, twice, before rubbing his tongue gently against your lips to get you to open up for him, which you obviously do.

He pulls you impossibly closer to him and deepens the kiss before a different set of hands wraps around your body and pulls you away.

"Hey! Keep it in your pants, old man! We still haven't gotten to kiss her yet." Beomgyu is holding you against his chest as he shouts.

"I won! I can do whatever I want. It doesn't seem like y/n was complaining about it either!"

"Well, she couldn't with your tongue two miles down her throat," Taehyun interjects smoothly before taking your hand and pulling you away from Beomgyu. He gives you a soft smile before bringing a hand up to your face and caressing your cheek. "This okay?"

"Yes. It's okay, I'm okay." A bright smile rises on his face in response to your words and he brings your lips together in a short, but sweet kiss that leaves you wanting more. You can’t help but lean into him again. He smiles into your next kiss and his free hand moves down to your hip giving it a short squeeze before pulling away. This time he uses the grip he has on you to keep you separated but the look in his eyes is so warm that you don’t doubt you’ll find yourselves in a similar situation soon.

Taehyun has always been a bit reserved with his relationships, wanting them to be known but kept private. Though your situation isn’t anything like that, it makes sense he would want to fall into you away from the prying eyes. You look around for Soobin to see him still sitting on the couch.

“Yah! Choi Soobin don’t make her chase you!”

“I’m not! I just want her to be comfortable. Four first kisses is a lot in one night.”

“Thank you for wanting to make me comfortable, Bin.” You say as you slowly walk over to where he is on the couch, hesitating a bit before straddling his lap. “But I want to kiss you now, is that okay?”

“Yeah, yep. Totally! So okay with me it’s actually insane.” He finishes with a soft smile that is so cute, you can’t help but indulge yourself a little. Leaning down to press a short kiss to each of his dimples and nose before bringing your lips to his. He sighs softly and moves his hands up to your waist, drawing little circles with his thumbs.

You know that this is meant to be a small kiss, something of a marker of the new relationship you’re stepping into with the guys, but the implications of that new relationship are finally catching up with you. Maybe you should've pulled him off the couch to kiss him because this can quickly get out of control. Especially with the way he puts his all into the kiss. The way he’s not even trying to dominate the kiss but going with the flow whether that means you’re leading or him. You can’t help but shift your hips down to meet his. And, oh, the sounds that leave him after that make you want to drag him to your (Kai’s) room and see what other sounds he could make. But you forgot about the people watching.

“As hot as this is, I would like to kiss y/n before I turn fifty.” And with that, a familiar set of hands are wrapping around your waist in an attempt to pull you off Soobin. Too bad, Soobin doesn’t seem to want to let go. Just as you’re starting to wonder how far he’s willing to go with the others as an audience, he pulls away and presses a last peck to your lips before taking his hands off you.

“Hey, you.” Beimgyu says after wrapping your securely in his embrace.

“Hey.” You smile up at him.

“Ready for the best kiss of your life?” Kai lets out a prompt ‘Hey!’ at his words.

“You can try your best.” You challenge.

Rather than responding to your words, he just cradles your face and presses your lips together. It feels like something clicked into place in your mind. There's no doubt in your mind that there is nowhere else you should be than right here surrounded by these five men.

Beomgyu's thumbs rub back and forth across your cheeks as your lips move in tandem. Against your expectations, he does not try to deepen it more than this. He just kisses you as if he has all the time in the world.

When you pull away from Beomgyu, you look around to find five fond smiles turned towards you. You don’t really know where this is going to lead but you trust these men so fully that you know they’ll treat you right. You only hope your heart can handle it.

Step four is “completed”, yippie! I don’t really like this chapter so if you see it updated at some point, mind your business. >:(. If it’s unclear, you and Kai had a talk off-screen about what you wanted. Now we get into the member specific chapters! Guess which member goes with which description! Masterlist

[hotvintagepoll]

Paul Newman and Robert Redford (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting)—My god, their chemistry. It's iconic. And very very sexy. They're kind of canonically in a throuple in the first one, so that's kind of like playing an actual romance. But also, they're the central relationships of both films and their inexplicable devotion to each other is a key driving force in them. Those blue eyed bastards. I love them.

Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen (White Christmas, Wonder Man)—YES! Danny Kaye and Vera Ellen were couples in White Christmas (1954) and Wonder Man (1945)!

This is round 3 of a mini tournament. Each poll lasts for three days. If you'd like to send additional propaganda supporting your favorite hot couple, you can reblog this post with your propaganda added, send it to my asks, or tag me in it. To vote in all the polls, click here. Happy holidays!

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut]

Redford and Newman:

The following propanda was submitted by the anon who lives in my vents:

[drags self out of the vents reeking of stale gasoline] SO ABOUT THAT NEW MINI POLL.......may i suggest: ROBERT REDFORD and PAUL NEWMAN in BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID. MY REASONING:

thagt was some of tha gayest shit i've ever seen in my entire life and i'm only 23

but for realsies, that movie was literally a love story between butch n sundance. every single thing they did, they did together

THEY'RE EVEN PERFECT OPPOSITES IN PERSONALITY—butch is the optimistic guy who never shuts up and is less intimidating than he looks; sundance is the pessimistic brooder who looks harmless because he's pretty, but is the most dangerous guy you'll ever meet

AND THEN,,,,,, EVEN WHEN THEY (SPOILERS) HAD THAT THROUPLEY THING GOING ON WITH ETTA IN BOLIVIA, AND ETTA EVENTUALLY WANTED TO LEAVE, SUNDANCE STILL CHOSE TO STAY WITH BUTCH AND DIE RATHER THAN LIVE A SEMI-SAFE LIFE WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND!!!!!!!! LIKE!!!!!! GIRL WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!

AND THE FINAL SCENE I—i need to stare at a WALL—

plus the fact that paul newman and robert redford were actually besties irl meant that their chemistry was OFF THE CHARTS. even when i was A VERY STUPID LITTLE KID and i watched that movie for the first time, i was like ".......so um... are they, like, in love with each other and that lady?"

PLUS THE FACT THAT THE MOVIE WAS DIRECTED BY THE SAME GUY WHO WOULD LATER DIRECT THE STING AND THAT MOVIE WAS JUST AS, IF NOT MORE GAY, I—

O-|-< (← me lying dead on the ground)

THE TRUST, THE INTIMACY, THE BANTER, THE LOYALTY, THE INHERENT HOMOEROTICISM OF DYING SIDE BY SIDE—

they're gay, your honour.

ergo, dear mod, i humbly ask that you consider two of my blorbos for the mini poll bracket <3 if you need more information, literally just dm me or tag me, i'll be hangin' out in the vents 😎🤙🏼 as usual (unless my house explodes into bats)

Danny Kaye and Vera-Ellen:

[valvertweek]

.

(definitely a good read because there's a lot of good inspo down here):

High Stakes (submitted by @little-linda):

maybe elements of case-fic

(I feel like this one is pretty self-explanatory)

Toulon Era (submitted by @little-linda):

Special thanks for follow ups with M-sur-M and Post-Seine. Because there's nothing better than a 30-year-long situationship

Fate & Faith (submitted by @lesbianslugreaction):

Fate in regards to soulmates, them being two halves of a whole, the way their lived experiences are mirrored, and their strangely frequent accidental meetings... You can take this into so many different directions: fluff when they're meant to be, angst when they're not, and so forth. Like Vicky put it: "When love has fused and mingled two beings in a sacred and angelic unity [...] ; they are no longer anything more than the two boundaries of the same destiny." Faith in regards to Valjean finding something new to believe in, Javert losing his long-held beliefs, and the two of them learning to believe in each other, perhaps...? After all, in most post-Seine narratives, it's the faith they have towards each other that ends up saving them both, even when they have little faith in themselves. I'm using faith to mean something like devotion in this context, but it can of course also apply to Valjean's belief in God and religious symbolism too—monstrous Saint Michael and all that. Really, I just love anything that accentuates the things they do have in common. Opposites and foils are all well and good but lack meaning without the crucial similarity that is also present. What can I say? I like my old men in agreement and head over heels in love💕

Time (submitted by anon):

passing time, time-travel, time spent together and apart, time loops, different seasons. Very flexible

The River and The Sea (submitted by @secretmellowblog):

“Man Overboard,” or “Billows and Shadows” — basically, anything to do with the symbolic ocean/drowning imagery that’s so central to both their characters! The chapter in the novel that compares Jean Valjean’s suffering to the suffering of a man who’s been thrown overboard off a massive ship, the rescue on the Ship Orion, Jean Valjean’s faked death, Javert’s actual death— etc etc., so much to take inspiration from! And people could take it in a fantasy direction really easily; there are lots of exciting water creatures.

Patterns (submitted by @redthepear):

As in things that repeat themselves, leitmotivs, but also why not go for maximalist Valvert fanart with a bunch of cute patterns :D

Coincidence/Providence/Chance (submitted by anon):

very Valvert. chance meetings and so on

'Elements' and 'Sun and Moon' (submitted by anon):

re: the previous suggestion about water; I thought about something broader, maybe all elements - "fire, water, earth" or maybe "sun and moon"

[bokettochild]

So, this sparked some debate, and after sleeping on it, I have decided that:

It IS an ability.

I know some of you said it's probably just a sick costume change, but at least in OoT, it's gotta be magic, because Sheik is built in a whole different way than Zelda. When comparing their silhouettes, there is just no way she only changed clothes, and used a binder or smth! Sheik is a bit wider, with broader shoulders, and definitely has more muscle mass (I checked the official art for reference, since the game sprites all look pretty similar due to the time when the game was made).

With that in mind, if Sheik is, in fact, a magical disguise that can be activated and deactivated at will, the question remains: is this an ability passed down, or a skill-set only a precious few know about?

One might infer that Impa taught Zelda this ability in OoT, but what about Hyrule Warriors (shhh, I know it's not cannon), where Impa is implied to not know about Zelda being Sheik until it's revealed? At first I thought this would mean that it's not actually a sheikh ability, but then I remembered one crucial little detail:

The yiga.

They're an offshoot of the sheikah tribe, capable of using shape-shifting magic to change their appearance, both in body type, gender, and who knows what else! A skill-set they likely didn't learn after splitting but may, in fact, be a thing sheikh are taught in order to better perform their duties of protecting the crown.

What I'm thinking is that it's a sheikh ability that is commonly used in the place of costumes so the sheikh spies or soldiers can move varitibly unseen, blending in wherever they go. It's not, in fact, a power passed through the royal lineage, but a spell taught to their princesses as a means of protection should they ever need it!

Which leaves one final question: can Legend use this spell?

My thoughts? Yes! He's well adjusted to shape shifting already, as most of his games include some method of using items to either change his appearance, his species, or his dimensionality (he becomes flat, ok?)

With this in mind, he'd be able to use the skill if it was taught to him, and since he spent his Oracle adventures in the company of Impa, it's likely she might have even taught him the skills, knowing (because she's sheikah) that he's a prince and thus should be taught the same protective measures as his sister, since protecting the royal line as a whole is the duty of the sheikh, so Legend counts under that.

TLDR: Legend can shape-shift into the opposite gender at will, he just never sees a need to, YET

Hey, so, thought that I've had for a very long time, like, really long time, but was always to hesitant to share

If Legend IS Zelda's brother, does that mean he gets all the abilities that Zelda gets, since they have the same heritage?

What I'm getting at is, if Zelda can become Sheik, a man, does that mean Legend could just....shape-shift into a woman? At will? like, he IS king of the shapeshifters over here, it would be very on brand, but do you think it's possible that he could?

[kit-screams-into-the-future]

another post for @bttfjanaury! this one's @itsthemorph's mermarty au and very predictably i got carried away with it LMAO.

yap session and bonus stuff below the cut:

once again i came up with an entire backstory for this au, and if i were a fanfiction writer i would genuinely consider writing it since it's a lot less visually comedic than the weredoc au (and comedic in general, it's played a little straighter than "man turns into dog and is thoroughly inconvenienced by it") (unfortunate [in reference to visuals] bc i enjoy drawing mermarty a great deal more than weredoc GBJKGJ) bc i really like the premise but i'm pretty bad at fleshing out a narrative in enough detail to last the whole story so bullet points it is:

doc has decided to take a break from his time-travel-related research and go on vacation! the fresh coastal air might jostle a couple ideas into place, and while he is a nuclear physicist and not a marine biologist he wouldn't mind checking out some of the local aquatic life

and by local aquatic life he meant like normal fish and stuff. a nice mollusk or two even. so when he ends up fishing an entire boy out of the water instead he's understandably very shocked

before doc can move past the "where did he come from??" thought to register his more fish-like qualities, the boy makes a run (a swim?) for it. fortunately or unfortunately for doc, he ends up being able to register the fish-like qualities after all since he gets dragged into the water along with him. the moment doesn't last too long, though, and the fish-boy is gone as soon as doc realizes the guy has a fish tail instead of legs

doc gets back on the dock (haha), thinks about the whole ordeal for a bit, and decides that the best course of action is just to assume he hallucinated the whole thing in a fit of heatstroke or something like that. he's here to relax and get his thoughts in order so he can continue working on his time machine! there's no time to investigate fairy-tale creatures or whatever supposedly living off the coast of california!

it's not shown in the comic but i imagine doc has a little portable radio next to him as he was fishing, so some time passes before he catches a glimpse of something shining in the water underneath the dock

he looks through the cracks in the dock and lo and behold, it's the same boy from earlier! doc greets him, and the boy immediately disappears under the water. doc thinks he's scared him off until a few minutes later where he pokes his head out and says hi back

they get to chatting and doc learns a couple things:

1. his name is marty!

2. he was trying to get doc to realize that he forgot to put bait on his hook but got his hand caught on it, and was trying to get his hand unstuck from the hook without ripping it open before doc ever had the chance to see him, which he obviously failed at

3. both the being seen and ripping his hand open, because in his haste to get away after being seen by doc he ended up doing that anyways. so there's like a lot of blood coming out of his hand now? but like don't worry about it. it'll be fine. he thinks.

4. he really likes whatever it is that's playing on the radio

doc insists on patching up his hand and initially marty refuses but lets him do it eventually, and marty tells doc that for a land dweller he's actually surprisingly nice. doc says nah anyone would want to help out someone hurt, especially if they're the one's who caused it. and marty's kind of confused by that because his family's always warned him of how dangerous humans are, which he kind of never thought too hard about until now where his time off this particular coast has really proven them correct, because he's encountered a bunch of humans over the past couple weeks and they've all tried to kill him or catch him. doc's the only one who's actually bothered to say hi!

after learning that particular not-at-all-concerning tidbit, doc asks him to elaborate because there's a lot to unpack over there, but someone else walks onto the dock before marty can get a word in and he takes off

marty does not return, even once the other guy leaves, and when doc packs it up to return to the place he rented out for the vacation he overhears a conversation among a group of men about spotting something weird in the water earlier and that it kind of looked like a mermaid? and that if any of them manage to catch it they'll all be rich as thieves. and another guy in the convo goes no you're thinking of rich as kings, you're mixing it up with a different analogy. and the first guy goes no i'm not i said what i said

so now this vacation is doing anything but clearing doc's mind. he's really worried about that little fish guy

there's a couple more ideas i had but halfway through writing out this bullet list i've realized that if i were to actually write this as a fanfiction, i'd probably want to keep those a surprise. so what i just wrote out is kind of the equivalent of one chapter

edit after thinking about it a bit more: since most humans have been trying to kill him, marty really has no incentive to let a guy know that he's wasting his time fishing with a baitless hook. so a. he's still pretty optimistic that most humans aren't out to get him, even if his experience off this particular coast says otherwise, so he was trying to be nice anyway or b. (which i think is a lot funnier) he has started to pull on people's lines as a way to fuck with them. i think if i wrote this i'd change it to this one

i based mermarty off of a guppy fish! specifically this kind of guppy fish:

i was searching up kinds of fish and he just had the vibe of this thing. although now i think i should've made him a flying fish instead. for the pun

alternate ending to the mini comic:

the other one makes a little more sense since just approaching a guy whose species doesn't know about your existence unprompted is pretty stupid even for marty (and also i thought it was funny that the hook didn't have anything but doc ends up catching something anyways) but i still think this one's funny too

[weebsinstash]

you know what I wanna see. A yandere finding out they're getting platonicly cucked and getting like really offended because they find out you basically pretend to be a different person around them?

Like I can't decide which Hazbin man I'd like the idea for more but I keep veering back towards Alastor/Vox/poly radiostatic where they find out that you've just been keeping up an act with them and that you show the true you to other people, which hurts especially bad if he/they is a soulmate to you

For example, both men know you as this, shy reserved young lady who mostly keeps to herself and you do things like read books and do puzzles and you're overall pretty softspoken and kind of awkward. Then they catch you hanging out in public with a group of friends and you're standing there in a totally different outfit than they usually see you in, getting, basically just loud and happy as you interact with your friends? Just hollering out on the side walk or something, "no, no, you don't understand, when rock lee dropped the weights that was THE best anime moment of my entire childhood, it was iconic, rock lee was HIM, he was THAT GUY--" and you're laughing and snorting and all shoving each other around as you talk and goof off and you happen to look over and see Vox/Alastor there and just, deflate. You very obviously don't want them to see you like that. You have a very "oh shit I've been caught doing something I'm not supposed to and I'm going to get in trouble and I'm really worried and sad" visible reaction that they both clock immediately

Because imagine like... you were just doing this because you thought they would judge you and they never actually gave you a reason to hide things from them, you were just insanely anxious and feeling under pressure from the relationship that you hid everything you assumed they wouldn't like, which was... almost everything about you, so your new demonic hubby finds out you've been, in a way, essentially scared of him this whole time? Thinking he's a judgmental piece of shit which maybe he is but thinking he would do that to YOU though?

The two wanting to like actually I mean it genuinely HURT your friends because, what the fuck do you mean all of them have been getting to see this adorable true unique side of you and meanwhile the people you're actually 'supposed to be with' scare you and you lie to them and think they'll be cruel to you, kinda justifiably because they're notorious Overlords but also kinda unwarranted since they've been really nice to you specifically?

"what if Alastor didn't like if his darling was a gamer or heavy tech user" well what if Alastor wasn't a fan but he ultimately respected your autonomy enough to let you do it anyways because you're a working bill-paying adult and he's actually significantly more upset about the fact you think he would treat you poorly and would go to significant lengths to hide such huge parts of yourself from him?

"what if Mr Professional CEO Vox thinks his darling is a huge dork and cringe and wants to make you more traditionally feminine" yeah and what if Vox would LOVE a darling that can smoke weed and binge on pizza and anime with him and he's mad that you two could've been hanging out sharing genuinely mutual hobbies this whole time? (And also Vox is... a huge dork already ok the way he talks to the tvs and stuff is such dorky white guy shit fr if you told me he was in a frat with guys named Tanner and Hunter and Skyler and they chugged beer and watched family guy I would believe it immediately)

I'm even over here like, "what if Valentino started trying to force his employee crush to start looking and dressing a certain way and he's like 'hmm you know what? I hate it actually. Go back to doing your own thing, boo'" because he's actually like So Down that when you stop cracking jokes and being as cute he immediately hits the reverse

Lucifer finding out you've been trying to like, pretend to be this calm collected woman because you're trying to be formal and fancy with him as the king of hell and a creature that has existed since your entire family line existed and you're EXTREMELY intimidated, and then HE'S ALSO trying to be all macho and tough because, pwease dont hate him for being a lil small, he promises he can be a good husband for you 🥺👉👈 he's just a silly lil guy who loves his daughter and is a little goofy about ducks and then he finds out you're like, one of those "weird girls" who spent recess catching bugs and you can start rambling off about things like, "you know there's this misconception that mantis shrimp can see colors in a larger spectrum than humans can but some of the colors we can see that they cant involve certain 'transition' colors that are helpful for actually fully perceiving objects and seeing fuller shade ranges and things like shadows and--" and now you guys can watch nature documentaries together

But it's just like. You get the two sides of the same coin because, you can think of cute bonding moments when they find out who you really are and their opinions on your interests, AND you can think about them being INCREDIBLY jealous and possessive that you were trusting other people in a way you didn't trust them, and sometimes even people you know much less than them as well. Just because they're willing to share you by letting you have your own autonomy doesn't mean they're not going to get their feathers ruffled that you've been having what they perceive as actually quite intimate moments with, you know, people that aren't them :) it's the kind of thing that might make certain types awfully CLINGY, you know... some may even get a little POSSESSIVE over a discovery like this. good thing you've been practicing your charisma on all your little friends, because something is telling me your social circle just got a whooooole lot smaller.....

[higuchisora]

In a season without a Noxus plot line, The Hunt for Jinx becomes the story. Without having to rush everything for the dramatic invasion ending, I'd like to imagine they'd have more time to focus on the actual important stuff. Like the development of these characters (primarily the sisters and Caitlyn).

In this, I'd imagine the time skips are longer here. Act 1's major story beats will probably be relatively the same (save for some fiddling, such as making it take longer for Vi to become an enforcer, Caitlyn being less blatantly elitist, etc.). The only extremely significant plot difference is that the confrontation with Jinx doesn't end with Caitlyn hitting Vi and abandoning her. But from there onwards it's entirely different. Tensions between Piltover and Zaun become beyond hostile- they're in an outright civil war. No one can pass between the two cities safely. Blood stains both streets. The bridge hasn't just been closed- it's entirely destroyed, blown up in yet another one of Jinx's big acts.

This is where we get a somewhat similar reading of the sisters to the game. Like in League, Jinx has become the "Joker" to Caitlyn and Vi's "Batman/Robin" (in terms of going out of her way to specifically menace them, etc.), and she seems to be the only one capable of slipping between the two cities and making it out alive. Her acts range from "loud/annoying but harmless" to "loud, annoying, and devastatingly deadly" with seemingly no pattern to it.

As this continues, Caitlyn becomes more irate, more unhinged, more obsessed with catching Jinx to the point that she can hardly function anymore outside of fixating on her evidence boards or patrolling through the streets. This creates a rift between her and Vi pretty quickly, though they both try to brush it under the rug, until eventually they just can't. Vi has been struggling with her own actions for a while now (as well as Caitlyn's), trying to justify them and being less and less convincing to herself each time.

She tries to bottle it, first out of guilt towards Caitlyn and eventually out of guilt for everything and everyone else. People she's hurt, people she's lost, people she misses. She no longer remembers when she was last able to recognize her own image in the mirror. She finds herself to be beyond redemption. After all, Jinx- grave as her sins may be- Jinx was many things. But a traitor wasn't one of them.

As someone who values loyalty so much, to Vi, a traitor is the worst thing anyone could be. Unfortunately, she realizes she's become the thing she hated most. With this self-hatred fueling her thoughts, Vi slowly begins to pull back from Caitlyn. She initially clung to her, seeing her as the only constant left in her life, but after not being able to look at herself the same, she begins to look at Caitlyn- and realizes she doesn't recognize her anymore, either.

She makes a few attempts at trying to rectify this, a part of her not wanting to give up on Caitlyn (or herself) without trying. After all, it was never too late to change, right? To do better? Even if it didn't undo the past, it could keep the future from being worse. However, all of her attempts get soundly rebuffed by Caitlyn, each response being harsher than the last. The last one- whether it's gassing someone, or shooting at a kid, or what have you- ends with Caitlyn hitting Vi. It shocks both of them in that moment, so much so that neither of them seem to breathe for what feels like an entire minute.

Just as quickly, Caitlyn rushes to comfort Vi, apologizing profusely, begging for forgiveness, fussing over her- and Vi lets her do so, lets Caitlyn lead her back home to get her checked and rested. She doesn't address it again- but it's too late. This is Vi's last straw.

She doesn't say anything, but Caitlyn seems to realize she's lost her. She tries to coax Vi back onto her side, "Are you still in this fight, Violet?" And Vi tells her she's "the dirt beneath your nails, Cupcake." It's not romantic. Caitlyn doesn't know what to make of it. She puts Vi on leave to recuperate, opting to lead the strike teams alone, still hunting for Jinx.

Jinx, on the other hand, notices her sister's absence immediately. She tries to tell herself she doesn't care, but that lasts about five seconds before she all but loses it to her own paranoia. Where is she? Jinx's last stunt couldn't have gone that poorly. It wasn't even her worst- it wasn't like she was counting, but she hadn't even brought the nail bombs that time. She doubted more than a handful of people died. (Silco had even bitched about it, the way he usually does when he thinks she's "wasting time" playing around so much. He finds her smaller stunts to be juvenile, and though he never bats an eye at her conduct, he's always insistent on her doing things for "the cause." Like reaching out to Sevika. Or being more strategic with her assaults on Piltover).

Vi couldn't have been injured, couldn't have died. Did she abandon her again? Did she finally grow tired of Jinx?

It drives her up the wall, sends her into the kind of frenzy she hasn't experienced since that wretched dinner party. Who the fuck does Vi think she is, leaving Jinx behind? What gave her the right? What, was she trying to move on? To forget about her sister? Did she really think it'd be that easy? That Jinx would let her walk away? If anyone was supposed to leave, it was Jinx! It was her turn to leave her sister in the dust! To leave Vi begging and pleading on the ground, haunted and so alone. To have her chasing Jinx's shadow, the way Jinx chased hers for years! This wasn't fair, what the fuck, how dare she?

Jinx goes ballistic. Her next act is reckless, more than ever before. She walks right into the heart of Piltover, blowing up important buildings (government, law enforcement, memorials. All of it will go down in a blaze. She'll take them down with her if it's the last thing she does-) cutting enforcers down left and right. She lights everything up around her, blue smoke curling into the sky. She's not leaving until she gets what she came for. She's not leaving until Vi looks her in the goddamn eyes and says it- so Jinx can finally put a bullet in both of their skulls.

This can go several ways. Maybe Vi does go out there, unprepared and horrified, eyes locked on that rising smoke, without so much as her gauntlets as she flies through the streets, desperate to stop her sister- or maybe she doesn't. Maybe she was more injured than she'd previously realized, from not only her previous battle but from years- a lifetime, even- of abuse, of subpar and inhumane conditions, of sleepless nights and skipped meals and constantly running on empty. Of years of stress and grief and anxiety and rage and exhaustion and betrayal. Perhaps that blow to the stomach wasn't all that hard, but it was the straw that broke the camel's back. The last push that sent that massive tree crashing to the ground, if only someone were nearby to hear it.

So for the first time, Vi is told to rest, and she stays there. Not really resting, exactly, she's not very relaxed- but maybe "benched," at the moment. Vi confronting Jinx could go a range of ways that would be delightful to explore, but I'd like to consider what would happen if she doesn't go.

The smoke rises, the city burns, the people scream- and Vi isn't there. Enforcers- whatever remains of them- flood the streets, but Jinx only sees shadows and lights and bodies, bodies, bodies. That she-devil is there, saying something, screaming it, but it doesn't matter. None of it matters, because Vi isn't there.

The voices get louder. Jinx turns up the volume. They're not the only ones who can scream. She sprays brass at the flocking masses of demons. Lets loose another volley of explosives. She's almost out, could only carry so much with her- but Vi. Isn't. There.

Jinx won't be able to recollect what happens next, but eventually it all goes dark. She wakes to the cold concrete of a prison cell floor. In the prison uniform, she's ironically more covered than she's been in years, but bereft of her weaponry, she feels utterly naked. Her braids are gone- not just untied, but chopped off, as if they were afraid she could hide things in them (she could. She has). She tunes Silco out. She doesn't feel like hearing him nag. She doesn't have it in her to feel bad for making him all worried and upset. She doesn't feel like doing anything, at the moment.

People come in and out of the prison, including the she-devil. But none of them are Vi. She tunes them out, too. It's all a blur.

It isn't that the rage is gone. It probably never would be. But it's distant. She's lost the energy to wield it. All that's left is the exhaustion. It consumes her, not unlike a weighted blanket. Or the shackles on her wrists and ankles.

Vi, meanwhile, has regained consciousness. She wakes to fresh destruction around her, breathing in the tang of iron and dust. The taste of ash is impossible to swallow down. Not even moments later, she learns Jinx is in custody, awaiting execution. She feels hollow as she watches the Piltovans celebrate. She ignores the protesting of her limbs, climbing out of bed. She slinks through winding halls with nostalgic ease. It didn't matter how many years its been, her muscles still remember how to sneak through places where her kind are unwelcome. With the right timing, she makes it in unnoticed.

Vi sees her there.

Jinx looks smaller than she has in years. Curled up and despondent. She doesn't turn to the sound of the door opening- it's unclear if she's ignoring it, or if she hasn't even registered the noise. Her hair is all but shorn off. Her hair always grew fast- give it a few weeks, and she'd have a bob, not unlike the one she had as a toddler. Vi approaches after a moment of taking in the sight of her, unnaturally still.

As with many points within this story, this meeting could go several ways. Maybe Jinx doesn't even belive she's actually seeing Vi, and so she doesn't respond for a while. Maybe she tries to muster up some cruel barbs, a cutting remark. Maybe she actually does manage to summon her emotions, maybe she's simply burnt out. But it doesn't really matter what she says or how, or if she says anything at all- ultimately, I think it would end with Vi unlocking the cell door. Perhaps similarly to canon, Vi takes Jinx into her arms. There's no “changing the story” talks, or “using her explosives for good”- Vi buries her face into blue hair, and hugs her sister.

If you prefer tragedies, this could be the perfect “rejected last chance” moment. Maybe Jinx tells Vi to fuck off, or she accepts her fate, having lost all hope, and gets executed, Vi following shortly thereafter in some fashion (by her own hands). Maybe Vi disappears after Jinx's death, from both Piltover and Zaun. But I'm personally very picky when it comes to how tragedies play out, and usually don't prefer them. And so I'll indulge myself with musing a more hopeful alternative.

Many (such as Overton herself) claim the sex scene in the cell to be Vi's “chance to be selfish” and to “Finally get to choose what she wants.” I'm personally of the belief that she's clearly shown time and time again in season 1 (and even a good amount of season 2) that her main desire, above all else, has consistently been to reconcile with her sister. As such, her “selfish moment” in this storyline would be, most likely, to unlock Jinx's shackles. Eyes blurry with tears, she'd fumble to unlock them, and all but rips them off.

Jinx doesn't know what to make of it, if she even wants to- she's tired of hoping. But Vi is here, visibly battered, but here. And Jinx has never really stopped craving Vi's attention, not really. Even if it meant dying by her hands (“it had to be you.”). Even if she tries to verbally protest, she won't stop Vi from releasing her from the cuffs. She won't complain about the hug, though the accusations would start to fly. “Of course,” Jinx might say. Of course, Vi is here now, at the last minute, trying to play hero. Did the cop girl dump her or something?

Vi is past the point of wanting to argue, though. She's all but blubbering. Nothing she says really makes sense. The only thing that's clear is that she's sorry (for what, is unintelligible), that she just wants Jinx back, no matter what form that takes. Jinx might find that too good to be true. But Vi is unyielding. She's at a point where Jinx could probably kill her, maybe take them both out, and she probably wouldn't fight back. Might see it, even, as the better option. They've both stained themselves in blood, now. Zaun reviles them both, Vi the most, but Jinx not far off- she's killed more than Piltovans, and though they stand behind her attack on the Council, some will never forgive or forget.

Vi isn't sure if there's a way out. If any of it even matters anymore. If her and Jinx can ever be “better,” if they could do anything other than die miserably. But she doesn't care anymore, either. Let Ekko pull Zaun back together. Let Caitlyn dive headfirst into battles until she breathes her last- did Vi even have a right to care about anything anymore, with how thoroughly she'd abandoned everything that once mattered to her?

She grasps Jinx’s face. The gentlest hold, on the one last precious thing in the world to her. She's abandoned so many things. Zaun. Her people. Her values. Whatever wasn't already ripped viciously out of her hands, she'd let go of, in the foolish search for comfort, for familiarity, for stability, for everything to be “right” and “make sense” again, in a way it hadn't since it all went up in flames.

Couldn't she just have her sister? If nothing else, could this be the one thing she got to have? Even if Jinx ran off, wanted nothing to do with her ever again- to see her run free, even just in fleeting moments for the rest of her life- she just wanted her sister back.

By the time the guards return, Vi and Jinx would be missing.

[kwimii999]

Nightowl UI - Part 2 - Update #1

(All updates related to part 2 will be deleted once part 2 is released)

I've been busy with work all week and now I'm dealing with health issues so for now there won't be a lot of update about the UI as much

If you refer to this post, you should know that I'm currently working on CAS (Including CAB+CAP), Game Entry and Loading Screens.

Main Updates

Game Entry

Even the game entry is taking a long time because I have to make it coherent with everything else I've done so far.

One would say, " what's wrong ? it looks fine" but no, not everything is coherent yet haha.

Options Menu + Mod Info Menu

I've been fighting the options menu and the mod menu for a while, I need to figure out why the background becomes white and make it black because it actually BURNS my eyes when it happens lol

Game Loading Screens

nothing much to say, it's all done haha

Create-A-Sim Loading Screens (NOT finished)

as you can see, I messed up the create a plumbob loading screen really badly, those hexagons are supposed to be deleted which I will do once I get back to updating the CAS-CAP-CAB loading screens.

Create-A-Sim

CAS has a lot of progress compared to both CAB and CAP

Thing is the main reason why It's taking me so long is, coherence. I need every single thing to be coherent, the same colors for the same icons. Sometimes it's kinda hard to do that because the icons aren't 1 singular image files. they're all in different images depending on what image you're looking at, and you have to recognize it. That's what's been taking me so long

Create-A-Pet

CAP has a little more files but nothing too crazy, I haven't touched anything yet but it's not going to be very difficult either

Create-A-Plumbot

I got progress on CAB, I only have a few files left, thing is, there's so little, I was surprised when I first opened CAB for the first time lol

Bonus Updates

Live Mode

Live mode recieved some changes which I think makes everything more coherent with CAS, Game Entry and everything else so far :) I think I like it even 'more now ! I used to feel like it looked odd and out of place but now I'm pretty happy with the color combinations.

Additional Information :

Did you know ?

I changed the apparence of the small window that appears when you download things from the launcher haha - If you downloaded the App Loading Screens, you should have this :)

I wish I could change the launcher too !

[oopsiedaisiesbaby]

ohmygosh ohmygosh ohmyGOSH

Yes to bodyguard Clegan. But what if Gale was a politicians son??? America's beloved first son???

Or a royal?

You are so correct for this 🙌 Let's roll with a first son au because I don't know enough about British royalty lol Link for post referenced as inspiration ❤️

Maybe it's cliche as hell, idc, but Gale is not amused about all of the attention being the president's son garners. Especially not all of the people that like to cozy up to him to try and get in his dad's good graces, all the people that think his dad's a stand up guy, and especially not the complete and total lack of privacy because the secret service is always up his ass.

So you can imagine when this goofy, pain in the ass, vet, that insists on calling him Buck becomes his head of security Gale is not amused. He's extra annoyed that the dork is actually disgustingly attractive too. Of course, as he does, Bucky ends up actually endearing himself to Gale. They become fast friends but neither will allow themselves to let it become more because they've already overstepped too many boundaries that potentially compromise Gale's safety.

Basically Bucky gets treated like one of Gale's friends (an invitation to the table, lounging on the beach or playing in the water on vacations, lazing on a couch reading with Gale in the afternoon) basically he's a really bad bodyguard. Until he isn't.

Someone tries to attack Gale at a rally because one of his dad's policies and Bucky handles it. Afterwards he's got Gale's face in his hands demanding to know whether or not he's okay. He's so scared, he's shaking and Gale's clutching his coat insisting he's fine. It takes a minute for Bucky to believe him but he finally calms down and presses his forehead to Gale's and makes him promise to never do it again and Gale kind of laughs and promises.

Bucky handles it so efficiently Gale's dad is impressed enough to offer him a position in his own detail, but Bucky insists on staying with Gale and the president lets it go. It helps that he doesn't give af so he has no clue how Bucky's essentially been fucking around on the job on the governments dime.

Bucky's a little uptight about not being so lax anymore but Gale pouts and bats his eyelashes enough that Bucky finally gives in. After that, they're both of the existential mind that you only get one death so they need to live as much life as they can. Basically, it leads to a feelings confession of terribly sappy proportions that could cause cavities.

They're both well aware of how bad it would be if it got out so they resolve to be secretive about it and they get things figured out and it's unbelievably good for a few months. Like full on honeymoon stage for about 3 months and it just never comes down, even when they argue.

One day, John is away for something or another one day and ofc Gale gets kidnapped. The kidnappers are baffled because this rich spoiled brat is cool as a cucumber and it's because he knows John would never let anything happen to him and he's definitely been called about this not so little fuck up.

Naturally John busts in and takes care of business while Gale just sits there all pretty. He gets Gale's bindings undone telling him they've "really gotta stop meeting like this" and how he's gonna teach Gale hand to hand combat so he can take a day off from time to time. Gale gets all huffy because "what did [he] need a day off without [Gale] for anyways?" And John?

Proposes right then and there in front of all those bodies and because Gale is equally as ridiculous he says yes. The PR department tries to sanitize the story when it's told to the press until they realize there's no stopping/saving them so they're just not allowed to do press about their own relationship anymore lol.

This means that Gale has to get a new head of security and they both hate every single person that comes across their desks, sits to interview with them, so Gale tells John to find someone rather than leave it up to his dad's detail and naturally John picks his bestie Curt.

I'll stop here because I simultaneously didn't include anywhere near as much as I wanted to and this is already rambling on lol In love with this concept though ❤️

[hypokeimena]

like the thing is if someone wants to have a conversation with me about tone in image descriptions i am happy to have that conversation. i have obviously pretty strong feelings about the role of the person-interpreting/translating but i think it's fair that not everyone feels the way i do. i actually often think the faux- or sincerely-"objective" tone of image descriptions is often an incredible tool for comedy! e.g. posts like, my little nephew just gave me what he calls his "duck" [image of a lemon] image id: a lemon.

that's fucking funny! deadpan can be funny! however, sometimes other forms of description are more important. image descriptions MUST BE short,* which means you are limited in the amount of extraneous description you can include. if your description takes more than ten seconds to read out loud you're pushing it.

this can GENUINELY cause problems. the description i wrote about that stupid tswift pic was me actively choosing not to do research and source it more effectively, because to ME, part of what made the op funny was not having any idea tf was going on and that was the part of the experience i wanted to focus on in my description. it doesn't necessarily matter WHAT IS IN the photo, it matters what it is adding to the post (i think all of us now understand that for e.g. memes it's more important to describe the memes and what they're doing in the post than it is to carefully describe the type of armchair someone is sitting in while saying 'why are you booing me. i'm right'.)

so someone else who experienced the post differently - i.e. by recognizing it as from the music video - is going to describe the post differently from someone who would have to do research to source it. they're going to produce two different descriptions. your experience shapes what you understand. which is necessarily going to be subjective! and i get that it's scary to add your own experience into the description, but you ARE ALREADY DOING THAT.

which is to say that i think if someone had added a description about the ME music video that's fairly detailed that would also have been both accurate and funny, but it would have been a different joke. you know? because different people have different experiences of that image.

i do, genuinely, think there is a real issue in things like description in that i do think it is genuinely aversive to expect people to do 10 minutes of research every time they want to write an image description. i also do think that people being wrong in image descriptions is a problem, which is why i do often end up doing research or deciding not to describe certain posts if i can't be sure i know what i'm talking about. but not every post is like informing you about art historical fact or something where it really matters which specific artist produced an image, or if it is a modern reinterpretation, or various other things where you need to be sure you're conveying information that will seriously alter the meaning of a work.

image IDs should accurately describe reality. but like, sometimes people are going to make a mistake. the way you react to mistakes matters! sometimes you just edit a post to fix a typo or to correct a white guy actor you misidentified and i think different people have different ideas about what level of confidence you should be feeling to write descriptions - i've acknowledged different levels of confidence being necessary for description writing in this post! i get it! reasonable people can disagree!

however being like "well you're not wrong but what if you HAD BEEN wrong" ---- i'm going to eat you. i wasn't wrong!! and even if i had been, being wrong isn't the scariest thing in the world to me! seems like it'd suck to live like that though!

*obviously transcriptions of text will be long and transcriptions of text/art mix like comics will be even longer but i think a lot of comic transcriptions are not very good, in that they often don't effectively summarize the art component of the description.

[likablemuffin]

Its nice that blood is red against snow (Whumptober)

(From: Random ROTTMNT oneshots)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Day 19: Blood Trail

So...this hadn't exactly been...the best time ever.

Donnie had said that there was a group of mutants that was stealing things from people and hiding away in a forest near NYC to stash them. Honestly, the fact that they hadn't been caught yet was quite impressive, considering the fact that Donnie was able to so easily find out basically everything about them.

So, even though it was in the middle of the winter and there was snow everywhere, the Mad Dogz set out to stop the criminals. And honestly? It wasn't going that bad!.... At first... they had found the villains hideout pretty easily, but they did not expect the villains to have literal guns. 

So they were all running around and dodging the bullets. Thankfully, the mutants weren't very good at aiming, considering the fact that they accidentally shot each other a few times. So the turtles were able to take back a lot of the stuff the mutants had stolen. 

"Leo! Portal us out of here!" Raph yells at Leo from across the battlefield. Leo was literally dancing around the bullets, but he stops when he hears Raph calling to him. "You got it, hermano!" Leo opens a portal next to Raph and Donnie, and they both jump through. Leo turns around to see Mikey tying up a whole bunch of the mutants. 

"Hey, Mikey! We gotta go, bro!" Mikey turns to face Leo and starts running over to him. However, the thing that Mikey doesn't notice is that one of the mutants is aiming his gun directly at him. Leo notices though. "MIKEY!" Leo quickly opens a portal behind where Mikey is standing and lunges at Mikey to push him in. 

However, the mutant still fires the gun, and instead of it shooting Mikey, it shoots Leo's leg. Leo cries out as he and Mikey fall into the portal and disappear. The mutants (that are still alive. A few of them were actually killed from their careless shooting.) looks at each other and then the places where the turtles disappeared. One of them, the boss, starts yelling at the others. "WHY WOULD YOU LET THEM GO????" "You think I just let them go?! I didn't know they were going to have portals!" "OH MY GOSH, YOU'RE SUCH AN IDIOT."

_______________________________________________________

Raph and Donnie stumble through the portal with all the stolen stuff. "Phew! Thank goodness those guys weren't good at aiming those guns!" Raph says as he dusts some snow off of himself. Donnie stands up and fixes his goggles that had partly fallen off his head when he went through the portal. "Yeah. I can shoot way better than those bastards." Raph scoffs and glares at Donnie. "I thought I said no swearing?" Donnie looks at him with an unimpressed expression and starts picking up some of the stuff off of the floor with his metal arms. "Well, I guess I didn't hear you."

Raph groans and face palms. He then turns around to see if Leo and Mikey are in the lair yet. He's very surprised to see that they're both nowhere to be seen. "Hey, Donnie?" Donnie pauses from picking stuff off the floor and turns to Raph with a questioning look. "Yeah?" "Where are Leo and Mikey? Shouldn't they be here by now?" Donnie shrugs and looks at his tech gauntlet trackers. "Well, I suppose we can...see?" 

Raph quickly walks to Donnie's side to also look at the gauntlet. "What? Whats wrong??" Donnie taps on his gauntlet a few times. "They're both out in the middle of nowhere..." Raph screams in Donnie's ear. "WHAT?! ARE THEY OKAY??" Donnie puts one of his fingers on Raph's mouth. "Please don't scream so loud in my ear." 

Raph blushes slightly from embarrassment. "Ah, sorry, Dee." Donnie waves his hand. "Its fine. But why do you think I would know if they're okay or not?" Raph starts running over to the garage, where the turtle tank is. "Lets go find them then!" As Raph runs into the garage, Donnie runs after him. "HEY! DONT START UP THE TURTLE TANK WITHOUT ME! YOU'LL BREAK IT!!"

__________________________________________________________

The first thing Mikey sees after being smashed into one of Leo's portals is Leo himself. Leo's arm is over Mikey protectively, and he's looking at Mikey. "H-Hey bud...you okay?" Leo's voice trembles as he speaks. "Yeah, I-I'm fine. What about you?" Mikey starts sitting up but stops when Leo releases a hiss of pain. "Leo? Are you hurt?" Leo attempts to smile at Mikey, but it ends up just looking like a grimace. "Nah, I'll b-be fine..." 

Mikey huffs. "I know you're lying. What hurts?" Leo looks around awkwardly and attempts to sit up himself. However, he has to stop halfway through trying and lay back down again. "Leg..." Mikey sits up fully and looks at Leo's leg, being very surprised to see that Leo's leg has a bullet hole in it and is currently bleeding everywhere.

"OHMIGOSH- Leo! Why didn't you tell me you got shot?!" Leo attempts to shrug while lying down. "It really isn't that bad..." Mikey frowns. "It certainly looks bad to me!" Leo shivers from lying down in the snow for so long, and Mikey realizes they should probably get into somewhere where there isn't so much snow. 

"Leo? Can you walk?" Leo shakes his head gently. "I-I don't know if I can, Mike..." Mikey frowns again and stands up to view their surroundings. The snow around Leo's leg has turned a dark red, and only from seeing that does Mikey realize how dire this situation is. Mikey crouches down next to Leo. "Maybe I could help you walk? All that I know is that we can't stay here, and it looks like you lost your swords..." Leo attempts to push himself up with his arms, and he does manage to push himself off the ground a bit. "Yeah, we c-can try..." 

Mikey nods and reaches one of his hands out to Leo so Leo can take it. Leo slowly reaches towards Mikey's hand and manages to grab it. Mikey starts carefully lifting Leo up off of the ground. Leo hisses in pain when it gets to him having to actually stand up. "Leo, come on, we gotta go..." Leo looks at Mikey. "S-Sorry, it just really really hurts." After a few more minutes of struggling to find out a good way to get Leo off the ground, Mikey finally manages to help Leo up.

Leo instantly leans almost all his body weight on Mikey, to which Mikey almost falls over. Leo notices this pretty quickly and tries to put less weight on him. "Jeez, sorry, Mikey..." Mikey shakes his head. "No no! Its alright! Now, can we try to walk?" Leo nods, and Mikey starts trying to get Leo to take very small steps. 

Leo almost falls over a few times, but they're able to walk quite a bit from the original spot they were. However, over time, Leo starts to get a bit more sluggish and unable to take as many steps. Mikey notices this and starts walking a bit slower. 

After even more walking and Leo barely being able to keep himself up, they spot a cabin. It doesn't look old, so it's probably someone's summer cabin. "Leo, look! A cabin! Do you think you can make it over there?" Leo shakes from the cold, but he still manages a smile at Mikey. "Y-Yeah, I should be able t-to." Mikey smiles back at him, and they continue walking. 

When they reach the cabin, Mikey checks inside the windows to make sure no one is in it. There isnt. Of course, the door is locked, but Mikey is able to literally just rip off the doorknob. Leo's feet are basically dragging on the ground at this point, and the moment Mikey and Leo enter the cabin, Leo falls. Thankfully, Mikey is just barely able to catch him before he hits the floor. "Leo-!" 

Mikey carefully lays Leo on the floor. "Good job, Leo." Leo smiles shakily at him. "T-Thanks..." Mikey takes Leo's medic pouch and starts shifting through it to find something to help Leo. Leo's eyes start to drift shut, and Mikey has to quickly shake him to keep him awake. "Don't pass out on me, Lee!" Leo groans from being shaken, but he nods none the less.

Mikey ends up finding some gauze that he wraps around Leo's leg. Leo hisses in pain when Mikey tightens it, and Mikey instantly feels bad. "I'm sorry, Leo! I'm just trying to stop the bleeding." Leo feebly starts speaking. "T-The bullet..." Mikey looks at him confused for a bit before he realizes what Leo's trying to say. "Yeah, the bullet is still in your leg, but I don't think we have anything to get it out right now...but when Raph and Donnie show up, we'll fix you up as good as new, okay?" Leo gently nods and lays his head on the floor. Mikey sighs and gets more gauze to tie around Leo's leg. 

______________________________________

"What do you mean the trackers stopped working?!" Raph shouts from where he's driving the turtle tank. Donnie groans and yells as loud as he can across the tank. "I DONT KNOW WHY! THEY JUST STOPPED WORKING!!" Raph stops the tank and gets out of the driver's seat to walk to Donnie's side. "Do you think it's because of the snowstorm?" Donnie starts basically punching his tech gauntlet. "Probably, and it being a fucking snowstorm doesn't make me feel any better about the fact OUR BROTHERS ARE OUT THERE." 

Raph stands next to Donnie, unsure of what to do for a bit. "Well... maybe there's something outside that'll tell us where they went? This is around the spot that they first showed up after portalling away, right?" Donnie stops smacking his gauntlet screen and looks up at Raph. "Yeah, but what could there possibly be that would tell us where they are?" Raph walks over to the door of the turtle tank, opening it and stepping outside. 

He gets instantly hit by a blast of cold air, but he still manages to look around. As he looks around, he notices something that not only makes him feel instant relief but also instant fear.

It was a blood trail.

Raph steps back into the turtle tank. "It's not exactly the nicest thing ever...but I found a lead. I don't think we'll be able to follow it in the turtle tank though." Donnie runs up to Raph. "Really?! What is it?" Raph grimaces and looks behind him through the doorway. "A blood trail.." "WHAT?!" Donnie instantly runs out of the door and starts following the trail. "A- DONNIE!" Raph calls after Donnie as he starts following the blood trail too. "WAIT FOR ME, DONNIE!!"

After Raph finally catches up to Donnie, Donnie takes out two flashlights from his battle shell. One for Raph, and one for himself. They continue following the trail and trying their best to not lose it, which is a bit hard since the snowstorm keeps covering over parts of the trail. And even though it's not exactly the prettiest sight, Donnie and Raph find themselves stressing every time the blood trail stops from more snow covering it.

They continue following it until they come to a cabin, which is clearly where the trail ends. A random doorknob rolls towards Donnie, probably thanks to the wind blowing it. Yep, Leo and Mikey are here.

Donnie and Raph start to climb up the stairs, and Raph knocks on the door. Raph has never been more happy to hear Mikey's voice. "H-Hello?" Raph instantly rips the door off its hinges, not even thinking about the fact that the cabin is probably someone else's. Raph definitely doesn't like the scene that he sees in the cabin. Mikey is sitting on the floor holding Leo, who not only has tons of bandages on his leg and looks to be passed out, but he looks genuinely blue. Which, considering the blood trail and bloody bandages, means that Leo has lost a lot of blood. Which is not good.

Donnie rushes in so fast that Raph can swear he felt wind blow his mask tails as Donnie went by. Donnie skids to a stop at Leo's side and starts to check the bandages on Leo's leg. "Was he shot?" He asks Mikey. "Y-Yes. The bullet is still in his leg." Donnie nods. "Probably a good idea to not get it out without any proper equipment. Good job, Michael." Donnie gently pats Mikey on the head and stands up. "Raph? Could you please pick Leo up?" Raph softly walks into the cabin and crouches down to pick Leo up. 

When Raph picks Leo up, Leo groans softly, which causes Raph to almost drop him from shock. Of course though, he doesn't. They all walk out of the cabin and walk back to the turtle tank. When they get inside, Raph gently sets Leo down and goes to start driving the tank. Donnie walks up to Leo, picks him up, sits down, and holds him. Mikey comes up next to him and sits down next to him, putting his head on Donnie's shoulder. "Thank you for showing up..." Donnie looks over at Mikey. "Of course I showed up. I would never be able to forgive myself if I said you two would just be fine and didn't come to get you."

Donnie turns his head around again and is very surprised to feel Mikey start crying. "Mikey..?" Mikey sniffs and gently takes Leo's hand. "I-I thought Leo was going to d-die..." Donnie leans his head onto Mikey's. "Well, he didn't. And he'll be fine, okay?" Mikey sniffs again. "I know... t-thank you, Donnie..." "Of course, little brother." Raph starts up the tank, turns it around, and starts driving back to the lair. And by the time they get back to the lair, Donnie, Mikey, and Leo are all sleeping together in a turtle pile.

The best part is that Leo is smiling.

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